Sampson.2403

The Season ends on Monday (I'm assuming sometime in the afternoon?)

What is the earliest that we can stop playing Ranked Games and lock in our rating for the Season?

I've been playing power mirage for the last couple seasons and i just tried out condi mirage last night. I can say without a doubt that this axe condi build is super OP, 10x better than power, and 50x easier to play. Try playing power and landing mirror bladed, 3 mindwrack centered jaunt, sword stomp bursts. Your fingers get numb, literally.

If you're already familiar with how to play as a mirage, learning this build is super easy, super forgiving and way over powered on mobility, defense and offense.

Being able to do all of this damage and evades without charging mantras or ramping anything up (its 24/7 on demand burst), having extra hp, the insane synergy of sigils and adventure rune and also having portal is a total joke and a free carry to plat 2-3.

In other words, I love it! ;)

Hes playing a +1 build, so he's practicing his +1s! ;)

I lost 13 games in a row this past Saturday night. Never underestimate the power of a casual wine tasting afternoon.

I've always thought chat was overrated. Body language and skill animations are enough.

My only issues with these two classes are the passive endure pain and passive elixer s.

I thought Anet wanted to remove passive game play, yet these two skills remain and they are the poster childs of brain dead, do nothing, passive traits.

> @"Yannir.4132" said:

> > @"Poelala.2830" said:

> > > @"Sampson.2403" said:

> > > While it's true that your teammates are determined by the RNG Gods (and Godesses), you can still have a big impact on your games in solo/duo que.

> > >

> > > Understanding your role, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of your teams comp vs the other teams comp and basing your individual strategy on this information and how you execute said strategy will determine your rank pretty accurately in the long run.

> >

> > ^ This. I was stuck in plat 1 for a while until I just solo queued and now I'm top 25. A lot of it comes down to your impact as a player.

>

> Sure but is that competitive? Your rating reflects your skill as a solo player, but does the game mode actually reflect what it's supposed to? Your skill as a solo player could just as well be measured with 1v1 arenas. When you have 5 such individuals that can function as a team, why are they not permitted to carry on forward with that?

No ones disagreeing that making your own team and being on discord is way more competitive. But given that this is what we got, you have to live with it. The point is that its not all luck, you do have some say in what your rank will be, even if the conditions of the ranked mode are sub optimal.

While it's true that your teammates are determined by the RNG Gods (and Godesses), you can still have a big impact on your games in solo/duo que.

Understanding your role, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of your teams comp vs the other teams comp and basing your individual strategy on this information and how you execute said strategy will determine your rank pretty accurately in the long run.

What other MMO Games are out there where you can do end game pvp without having to do the xp/gear grind? This is one of the major reasons I play GW2.

> @"SilentSam.1589" said:

> GW2 was never developed for the uber-dedicated, maybe at first that is what they intended but decisions made over the years have switched its focus to a very casual friendly environment placing it squarely in MMO with training wheels category.

Agreed. For casual dudes like myself who still enjoy a ranked pvp game this is great. If you're a hardcore gamer looking for real competition and recognition, then sure, there are much better options out there.

Im curious which games (pvp mode) that the OP does qualify as playable. Im going to assume the list is pretty short, if not empty.

I'd be burnt out on gw2 by now as well if i played thousands of spvp matches before the game was even released :D

Good video though, you got a nack for it.

> @"Sanity Obscure.6054" said:

> > @"Sampson.2403" said:

> > Online games are all about collaboration and relationships. Forcing people to play alone will have a direct impact on a declining population and overall decrease interest in the game mode.

>

> I feel like this was *the* problem from PvP from the start - there was no in-game voice chat included. Having a game that requires such collaboration and teamwork needs a much faster method of communication that does not hinder gameplay like text chat.

>

> I think this is the biggest reason to the decline of PvP. You lose a lot of humanity in the process of taking away people's ability to talk, and many turn to emotions to express themselves instead, which is mostly salt.

>

> Allowing voice communication gives solo queuers a more equal footing against dual queues.

Yeah i see your point, but there is also a potential bad side to allowing voice chat. You'll have the try hards screaming insanity at you and then you'll have people like me who play totally wasted on the weekends saying strange things.

Great Video man. Keep them up! I'm going to start playing this build in ranked next season. Started playing in unranked, I love infinite horizon.

I think your best bet is the power reaper greatsword build. You can see it on meta battle here:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Vampiric_Greatsword

Yes its pure luck...but only if you dont know the secret. A bronze player and a plat 3 player are more or less the same skill. The only difference really is your IP address.

You see, contrary to popular belief, in gw2 spvp, your IP address is very much like a lottery ticket. The secret is to sum all of the numbers in your IP address (except the 1st and the last number, those don't matter) and divide by 666. If your number comes out to an even number, and its a mon, wed or fri, you will win most of your games. If the number comes out to an odd number, its a tuesday, thurs, sat or sun, then you will win most of your games.

Always so surprised how dumb most people are to not know this yet. Its not rocket science. Gzus

Bookmarked this a while back and started watching again, really cool. Could you make some videos on how you fight certain classes and break down what skills you are using and why?

Thanks :)

I think its ridiculous how people are using the argument that duo que shouldn't be allowed because it potentially gives those 2 players an advantage. Well no shit shirlocks, that and having more fun with your friends is the reason you team up with people.

If you don't wanna play with other people on an MMO, that is totally fine but that's your choice to play solo. Any game with a team mode where you chose to play solo puts you at a relative disadvantage right off the bat, that's just common sense.

Online games are all about collaboration and relationships. Forcing people to play alone will have a direct impact on a declining population and overall decrease interest in the game mode.

> @"Swagg.9236" said:

> > @"Solori.6025" said:

> > > @"Swagg.9236" said:

> >

> > > And, honestly, if you are able to act or inflict effects while under a cloak of a impunity (i.e. mirage dodge, chrono blocks and CD resets, distortion, blurred frenzy, stealth in general, AI forcing an opponent to take evasive maneuvers while you just walk to a better position or keep your distance all while continuing to attack, letting DoTs do the heavy lifting while you play passive and engage as little as possible; and all of this is JUST for mesmer alone), it's effectively a "passive effect." There is no active maintenance on most of these duration-based effects. You pop them off (often instantly) and then continue acting as if nothing had happened; you're just now invulnerable on some level. It's horrifically passive.

> >

> > It's like the brick wall is multiplying.

> >

> > Mirage dodge is an active skill, requiring you to dodge. It is an action that must be taken. **Can you explain how to get mirage cloak doing absolutely nothing?**

> >

> > Assuming you are talking about reliable blocks because lol signet blocks are irrelevant (and coincidentally, one of the only examples in this thread of a mesmer passive effect that would be relevent in some way) it requires an activation. It is an active skill. **Can you explain how mesmer can get a relevant block doing absolutely nothing?**

> >

> > Blurred Frenzy is a stationary 1s evasion that requires an activation, or an active skill. **Can you explain how blurred frenzy can be activated without a key press?**

> >

> > AI forcing you to take evasive manuevers? You mean the phantasm summon which is a damaging skill, that is also an active key press? (Honestly I shouldn't even justify this part with a response because it is actually poor argument. It's like saying only mesmer has skills that force you to evade, and this isn't even getting in to the fact you could randomly kill the phantasm or clones before they execute their intended function) **Can you explain how you summon a phantasm doing nothing?**

> > Did you mean conditions? The conditions that require you to activate skills in order to do damage (I am aware of runes adding conditions on X requirement, though I intentionally disregard those as the damage they put out is not enough to kill you alone) **Can you explain how you are able to load conditions on someone without doing anything?**

> > Did you mean the CD reset that takes up a utility slot that isn't used in almost any meta build? But ALSO requires you to activate the skill to get the effect.

> > **Can you explain how you are able to fully reset your CD's doing nothing?**

> >

> > It's like you want this narrative of passive to stick (even when proven wrong on multiple fronts, like, you know, the very core interaction of this game)

> > I would love explanations as to how in this game you are getting these interaction on a mesmer while doing nothing. Because that's what passive means in this game and has since pre-release.

>

> Time invested for a period of invulnerability or a CD reset or a block chain: 0

> Given that they all have durations that infinitely exceed their cast-times, it's very, very easy to overlap them into an extended cloak of invincibility while still retaining near full control of one's actions. Given that one casts a phantasm skill (something that has an actual cast-time) at the safest position possible (and sometimes from stealth outright), means that its long-term effect is going to independently overlap with whatever else you are going to do. The skill activation is initiated by the player, yes, but the fact that most of them are instant or near-instant while still granting invincibility periods that are nearly full seconds or multiple seconds, it's easy to just do whatever one wants with total impunity. At that point, it might as well be a passive effect. There is no risk or real effort in using them, so they're basically passive. I don't know why you think that pressing a whole bunch of buttons which grant invulnerability for free really entitles anyone to think that they're committing to active risk.

>

> Nobody engages unless one has all of the low effort buttons up. And even when one engages, it's only for as long as the low effort buttons sustain the user's impunity of action. It's a huge joke that really can't qualify as anything active since there is no risk to the user. They aren't automatic, but they're so effortless to use that they encourage an overall very passive style of gameplay which revolves around arbitrary timer countdowns rather than self-risk, spacing, aim or raw movement.

But those still aren't passives. A passive is something like passive endure pain or passive elixer s that get activated without any player input.

If i one shot burst a warrior or engineer he could be afk and not die because of passives. If i one shot a mesmer he must ACTIVATE distortion or mirage cloak dodge before or during the burst to avoid it.

Pretty important difference. You can make your point, which i agree with (to a degree) without using the word passive incorrectly.

For example, when i target my blink or jaunt to an area it'll show green but then i fire the skill and get the no path message.

Doesn't it make sense to just show a red target icon if it's not a valid spot to blink to?

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> > @"alkaline.2938" said:

> > I voted against the "one shot" meta.

> >

> > Not that I think its particularly over powered or anything. I just prefer a slightly higher time to kill. Eating a 30+k crit from a dead eye because someone failed to notice the mark is definitely the fault of the targeted player. However a single error ending a fight presumably before one person even knows it began seems more indicative of a twitch shooter rather then an mmo.

> >

> > To me a adrenaline pumping fight is fun, screaming boom headshot while seal clubbing is not.

> >

> > This is only personal preference, and not suggesting a balance change is needed.

>

> Have you actually ever tried yelling "BOOM HEADSHOT" while landing 30k damage? Don't knock it until you've tried it.

BOOM HEADSHOT 4 LiFE

I have a question about unblockable attacks. If a guardian has aegis up and i mesmer GS sword 2 (mirror blade unblockable) at them, the mirror blade will hit and create the clone, right? Will the aegis buff still be up after this or does it get cleared because it failed to block the attack?

> @"Yannir.4132" said:

> > @"Sampson.2403" said:

> > > @"Yannir.4132" said:

> > > > @"Faux Play.6104" said:

> > > > I'm thinking you have to do damage while downed to get rallied. What you did before you were down is irrelevant.

> > >

> > > That's indeed correct, you have to do damage to rally AFTER your opponent has been downed as well. Any damage you did prior to them getting downed is irrelevant in regards to rallying.

> >

> > You have to do damage, while downed, to the enemy player who eventually dies or any enemy player?

>

> The enemy player needs to get defeated in order for you to rally. Doesn't matter which opponent that is but they have to be cleaved to 0/stomped before the same happens to you.

No i understand that lol. What im asking is for example if i get downed and there are 2 enemies around me and my team. Lets say the enemies are a ranger and a warrior. If the warrior is downed and stomped, but i only do damage to the ranger (while im downed) do i still get rallied rallied from the warriors death?

> @"Yannir.4132" said:

> > @"Faux Play.6104" said:

> > I'm thinking you have to do damage while downed to get rallied. What you did before you were down is irrelevant.

>

> That's indeed correct, you have to do damage to rally AFTER your opponent has been downed as well. Any damage you did prior to them getting downed is irrelevant in regards to rallying.

You have to do damage, while downed, to the enemy player who eventually dies or any enemy player?

There's a lot of assumptions about how duo Q will adversely affect newer players which is total crap.

Im a newer player, and i can tell you that lack of being able to play with friends is a giant buzz kill. Ever since i first hit 1600 with my buddy and learning about this solo q restriction in plat 2 and higher, he has basically quit, and I've been logging in a lot less. The only reason i still play is because the spvp game itself is pretty damn fun, but i doubt that ill ever invest the required effort/time into improving my game to get to plat 3 purely because i have to play the ranked mode alone.

The only argument that i see people posting against team play is that those who group up have a potential advantage against players that don't. Well no shit, But that's a terrible argument for not allowing it. That arguement holds as much weight as suggesting to not allow players to use gaming mouses in ranked because the extra buttons give them an unfair advantage.

If you don't want to team up with someone and play the game then that's on you. There's nothing wrong with wanting to play solo but there's definitely something wrong with forcing everyone to play solo.

I've played several RTS and MMO pvp games at high competitive levels and while they all have their own individual problems, i can say without a doubt that this solo q restriction is pretty near the top on the list of stupid shit.

Yes, it's very odd to have a solo Q restriction on an MMO where the only ranked mode is 5v5.

[https://imgur.com/a/Oqqs5vG](https://imgur.com/a/Oqqs5vG "https://imgur.com/a/Oqqs5vG")