Paradoxoglanis.1904

Damage calculations like in WF are definitely interesting, but honestly that game is a power crept nightmare and the gameplay is suffering because of it. There is elegance in simple but effective systems and i think adding more complexity to gw2 stats would do more harm than good.

I think it would be fun to have a big ffa arena in the open world even if it had pve balance. However, the pve crowd will unanimously be against it and a lot of pvp/wvw people would rightfully see it as a broken mess.

Its roughly 1500 games to get to rank 100 with a 50% win rate. Its best to have other reasons to play pvp, where legendary armor is more of a long term commitment reward. My suggestion is just keep playing the classes you like and try to keep having fun. If you try to get really competitive and worry about win rate (since you get more pvp rank when you win) you will likely just become frustrated & toxic and may end up quitting before you reach rank 100.

When starting out i would recommend one of the meta builds, you can look them up on metabattle or godsofpvp. If you like playing thief then keep playing it. It takes a bit of practice but once you start learning combos and map rotations it gets even more fun. You can play off meta if you really want to, but it is much more difficult and it takes a lot more game knowledge to be effective with them.

Low population makes for highly volatile ranking, so its pretty common to fluctuate roughly 200-300 rating in a given season. If you are around the average skill level it is harder to climb in rank even if you make small improvements. Its only at the really low and really high skill levels that you will quickly climb or fall to where you belong.

Conditions are an issue because they are poorly implemented for a competitive game, similar to a lot of other things. They've rarely been really overpowered, its just bad design.

> @"Junkpile.7439" said:

> Fight guilds afk in spawn while enemy cap T3 stuff. Can't anet add some better report options. I always have to use botting when i report them.

...ok?

If it was a wvw and pvp expansion that fixed issues like skill lag, class design, bugs, then yes.

The reason why you dont see more build creativity is because builds need to fulfill roles in conquest. Top players understand how all the classes skills and traits work, where synergies are, and what situations they are useful, and the meta is formed by testing everything and finding what works best. The main problem with pvp is power creep and bad class design. Low skill players can be more effective by playing low skill floor meta builds. High skill players can push meta builds to their limits making non-meta builds practically useless.

For conquest objectives and mobility, the main problem is we are still in a stalemate meta where side node fights are endless and require a +1 or teamfight rotation to end.

> @"Touchme.1097" said:

> I am currently playing WvW with my sword/dagger weaver in full berserker/assassin gear and PvE build and every player can kill me in 1 second without giving me a chance to even perform half of my skill rotation.

Not to sound overly arrogant and elitist, but I think thats all the wvw community needed to hear to judge this post. Its nice to see first impressions in a game full of veterans especially when the steam release is coming, but I think you need to put more time into learning the game before you are really able to critique it.

Cluttering up zones with all of these mobility gimmicks is not a good design idea. Some things like the odd updraft or mushroom can be nice because it allows for more 3 dimensional map design, but adding in too many takes away more important elements of gameplay.

If you are sick of pvp then take a break, nothing is going to change. Anet will never prioritize pvp development over anything that makes money which means it will still be the same after EoD launches, just with new broken specs.

I always used scepter/focus FA ele for roaming/clouding. It comes with the fun perk of being so squishy you can get 2 shot by someone elses auto attack.

More clutter = more bag slot sales. Reducing the number of different loot bags and other junk is probably one of anets lowest priorities, just above wvw alliances.

Yes it is possible. No it is not recommended.

If you just want to try something that plays differently than pve then you might have some fun. If you are looking for some competitive gameplay, or are trying to become a more skilled player then you will almost certainly get very frustrated and disappointed.

> @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > @"ProverbsofHell.2307" said:

> > > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > So he is aware of the balance communication issues and the balance patch release issues.

> > >

> > > Now is this good, because he knows what's lacking or is it bad because nevertheless nothing happens?

> > >

> >

> So in feb25 when they made that announcement they didn't know anything about releasing a new expac? (Because otherwise they should have known, that their goals would be unrealistic.)

I kind of got the impression that the xpac was a very sudden decision after the initial disappointment of LW season 5. It was announced in mid march so I wouldnt be surprised if they didnt know about it in February.

Every class can be built as a glass cannon, or an unkillable tank, or a condi dps, or power dps, or hybrid, or support, etc... There are plenty of different elementalist builds across the 3 different gamemodes. The descriptions are really just for lore. They dont describe how classes are actually played.

> @"Ragnar.4257" said:

> I just enjoy how whenever this topic comes up, some mouth-breather always says "you can't dodge conditions".

>

> I'm genuinely interested how these people survive in real life. Do they have handlers?

I happen to be very good at avoiding condis irl. Its only in game where they are op. Though I must say confusion is far too common irl.

Just ignore your rank and play for fun. There is barely any point in playing competitively in the top 25, let alone in silver-low plat.

> @"snoow.1694" said:

> I still can't believe that we have waited months for what we have received.

I have some bad news for you if you still expect quality pvp development after all these years.

Crabgrabber because I like to grab crabs.

- Save your big cleanse for their steal burst, most thieves will blow a lot of initiative and cooldowns along with steal. If you cleanse that burst quickly you put them at a big disadvantage.

- Keep pressure on them whether its your own condis, aoe, burst, etc. Condi thief barely has any defense other than mobility and stealth.

- When fighting pretty much any thief build, you need to pay attention to the map and enemy rotations. Thieves are much easier to handle if you know roughly where they are and where they are likely to be. For example, you can jump to no port spots, position yourself to kite away if you get bursted, save defensive skills in anticipation for burst, etc.

Unless they hard counter your build, this should be enough to deal with them in most situations. Good thieves will always be a pain, but with practice its pretty easy to anticipate and counter the average ones. Also if your build has projectile defense that helps a ton.

> @"Ragnar.4257" said:

> The only problem with symbols was that they covered the entire node. This has now been addressed and they are easily counter-playable.

>

> As for necro marks..... just.... LOL? Apart from the #2 they are not spammable (and the #2 is so bad you can literally ignore it), they do not last long / pulse, and they do very little damage.

>

> I find it very strange that given the plethora of other AoE in this game, you would pick out these 2 specifically. Calling out necro marks..... when Renegade and Nadesmith are standing right over there laughing their kitten off.

From the original post:

"I don't have problems with the level of damage or being bursted down quickly.....I have problems with the excessive AoE spam in this game".

"1-2 centered around AoE gameplay would be fine.....having like 7 elite centered around AoE spam like PoF..."

What is wrong with guard and necro aoe being the most bothersome for the OP? Aoe corrupts & unblockables are pretty strong. Symbol uptime is insanely high on some builds.

WvW is an 8 year old niche gamemode that isnt getting any new development. At this point if you dont still love playing then you should probably take a break for a while. Then you can come back to try the xpac along with everyone else.

Unfortunately gw2 is not very beginner friendly despite being catered to casual players. In order to figure out how to acquire the right gear, get exotic/ascended stats, make half decent builds, get involved in end game content etc. you pretty much have to figure it out from outside sources. It doesnt help that there is a huge difficulty gap between the core game (levels 1-80), and the expansions.

Your best options are probably to look up open-world builds, and focus entirely on making a decent build for your preferred class. You will learn how to be effective in combat with practice, but as a new player your build/class can make or break your experience of the game.

> @"Remocpower.1362" said:

>1 person who's job is dedicated to balance could come up with more than 14 changes. In 9 months.

There are 0 people working on pvp full time. Call it whatever you want, but this gamemode is dead.