LunarRXA.5062

I value my naptime more.

I'd be really disappointed if it got removed. It rewards players for paying attention and mastering terrain/movement sensibilities. All of the patterns that are required to do the T3/T4 wisps can be learned on T1/T2 if you reset the nodes often enough. Players can also take innate swiftness/stun-breaks and incorporate them into their builds because there's a mistlock singularity before Mossman. I actually really enjoyed learning all these little niche tips/trick to get more comfortably through content.

I apologize? I don't post on the official forums much. Generally, I consider these forums over-zealously moderated, but I can understand why such a rule exists. I'll keep that in mind for future reference. I try not to make a habit of posting too much, but I enjoy helping players improve their understanding of the game when possible.

You know, I logged into my alt-account for the first time in a few months yesterday. I had **_hate mail_** from this thread in it. I had nothing better to do so I whispered the player, talked with him and learned a few things. 1. He was a WvW player that wanted to run a "One Size Fits All" build. Tougher PvE content isn't suitable excessive defensive traits. His traits were a _mess_. 2. He was running 3 stun-breaks and excessive condition-cleansing with Fire/Air/Weaver - Mist Form, Armor of Earth & the Burn Cleanse Cantrip (fighting Fire Djinn). 3. He was running the grandmaster "Blind Foes whom you burn," while fighting Veteran Djinn (defiant & immune to blind, generally) over the more offensive skills. 4. I suggested to him that he should try casting Glyph of Storms in Earth Attunement for the pulsing AoE blind/storm. 5. I suggested that he run Fire signet in place of one of his stun-breaks, as well as dropping one of his offensive trait-lines (Fire/Air) for Arcane/Defense. Doing so would allow him to take evasive arcana which would turn his dodge in water into a condi-cleanse and his dodge in earth into a blast finisher (as well as Arcane/Shield proc on %) 6. I also suggested that he could consider taking earth traits for the "Diamond Skin" Grandmaster which effectively makes you immune to conditions so long as you can keep yourself topped off (most of the damage from Fire Djinn is from multi-stack burning application) which will get cleansed at 1s intervals +90% HP/Ele. 7. Using Durability Runes on Weaver? Weaver is all about abusing dual-elemental utility to deal high burst damage or control enemies; setting up burst windows. When you over-compensate with defense you're left with no meaningful offense to reduce the number of enemies you're fighting. Eventually they got to the point where they could handle a Djinn. We talked briefly about the importance of breaking their break-bars to melt them. Obviously, dealing with more difficult mobs on an offensive Weaver build (designed for WvW) is going to be a bad experience. He was lacking in % power damage modifiers (Persisting Flames > Blinding Ashes). This is exactly why we have build-templates now; to swap between WvW/PvP/PvE traits on the fly. He was seriously lacking in damage which was making poor use of his ascended marauder's stats and sword-main hand. They were getting really, really upset about sword going so far as blaming the sword for being garbage and PoF for putting a garbage weapon into the game. As it turns out, the problem wasn't the content. The problem was the way the player was interacting with it, poor build decisions, excessive defensive traits/utilities and poor positioning (grabbing 1-2+ Djinn is something Elementalist/Thief is going to struggle with) no matter what sort of build you play sans like Trailblazer's Sw/F Condition Weaver. He was running 2 stun-breaks and a condi-cleanse (on top of the fire-cleanse trait in fire) and trying to brute force "Defense is the best offense," vs. some of the toughest mobs in Path of Fire. **As an Elementalist, adjust your traits, adjust your utilities, but smart, fluid, intelligent play focused around offense is your best defense.**

Marauder's if you can get it. Intelligent, well-timed skill-use and well though-out rune/sigils can make a big difference. For example; Stamina/Frenzy sigils can be useful.

The thing is, people with a casual, role-playing mindset in PvE in GW2 tend to struggle the most. They want to play GW2 plug-in/play and that's fine to an extent, but it's not really a way to play the game that's conducive to having a smooth gameplay experience because, while it may be your character, you're not growing significantly in strength via gear in GW2. You've gotta learn how to cohesively build synergy within your passive (armor/weapons, runes/sigils + traits) and active-gameplay (skill usage, activate combat, dodging, direct damage mitigation, stun-breaks and expected gameplay responses). When you're lacking in both your character is a deaf mute.

I don't want GW2 to turn into a plug/play walking simulator that's designed for people that, _deliberately_, don't look both ways before crossing the street. I'm fine with the game having some more casual, exploration focused areas within maps, but this game's community often makes me feel like it wants to be rewarded for failing. In 90% of my interactions and experiences with newer, more causal focused players their builds are an unfinished, incomplete mess with an assorted, hobbled together combination of armor-stats, random runes (lacking T4/T6 bonuses) and whatever innate sigil is on their weapon. This is completely independent of their active skill choice. It's pretty much like filling up your car with apple juice and expecting to take it on a cross-country road trip. Instead, inevitably, they break down on the side of the road or start raging about how the game is too hard because they're wearing tupperware training wheels. Lots of casual players just seem to want GW2 to be this plug and play experience where they unlock their Soulbeast, their Dragonhunter, whatever, and GW2 auto-designates their build based on their weapon choice. The expansions are endgame content designed for players that make **deliberate** build choices. They're not places where you should be running around if you struggle to kill veteran mobs. They're placed meant to encourage and facilitate open world cooperation. This isn't a single-player game; if you choose to play it that way and you're struggling then you're making an active, concerted choice to struggle.

It really just depends when you queue up for Fractals. People that run CMs tend to want slightly more specific compositions because minimizing boss phases minimizes the corresponding number of mechanics, and generally reduces the complexity of boss attack patterns that only occur at pseudo-enrage timers. The T4 + Rec groups really aren't all that picky anymore unless you're doing like 3-5k DPS with the Firebrigade boon cocktail. The best thing you can do is really to just make your own groups. You don't "need" any specific class to do Fractals; it's just about boon-access, how you're going to scale your group's damage, and mitigate instabilities or fractal specific anguish. I did a regular 99 Nightmare w/ no boon supports a few weeks ago and it was some of the most fun I've had in quite a while because people had to play well. I've done Mai Trin on my Engineer in T2 progression on my alt account spamming condi-cleanse / healing turret, & Elixir Gun's Super Elixir / Acid Bomb and fumigator (3). The reason people ask for Firebrigade (Meta/Non-Meta) variants is because it covers the widest array of options with the least degree of stress, anxiety or communication.

Yeah, I agree. I don't like running 100cm anymore because the boss just darts around so much. It really puts a big damper on what sorts of builds you can pug it with. I definitely agree about only breaking her bar in the middle. I think it's really misleading to even have a break-bar on the side with how huge it is.

The thing about T1/T2 players is that they're generally very weak in analytical and pattern-recognition skills. They panic instead of calming themselves down and observing whether the attacks occur under certain conditions, in certain patterns or have various static vectors such as Sunqua's final boss. Generally speaking, rather than talking or discussing amongst themselves they tend to assume that the encounter is "broken," "too difficult" or "badly scaled." Whether it's 23/24/25 or 48/49/50 in T1/T2 these Fractals are meant to be benchmarks, litmus tests, for whether you're ready for more challenging fractals. It's okay not to be ready. When Fractal Instabilities start coming into play it really does help to have a better understanding of how to take advantage of swapping your traits. Whether your group needs a little more healing, a little more condition cleanse, crowd control (CC) or stability. Lots of players these days take to blaming a lack of dedicated support classes. It's more difficult for them to accept that they have the tools to solve their own problems and look towards dedicated support classes to be their problem-solving panacea. The problem is, when they rely on a dedicated support class like Healbrand or Alacragade, they don't learn how to contribute towards a group-wide solution. "The Lost Knowledge" of Fractals is understanding how to acquire more sustain or support-utility independent of support builds at a minimal damage loss. The thing is, you shouldn't really consider DPS the be-all/end-all paradigm for Fractal progression. What are your problems? What are your solutions? Where are they? How do you work together to make best use of your individual build, class and "identity" to eliminate specific problems? Dedicated Supports are a relatively new part of GW2. The game functioned without dedicated supports from 2012 to October 2015 w/ Heart of Thorns. It's all about intelligently using your traits and utility skills to provide momentary support; anticipating and preparing for problems ahead of time. The problem isn't Fractals are "too hard," - it's that players don't know their classes. When I was leveling my Engineer on my alt account and did Mai Trin in a T2 group I was cleansing conditions like a madman with Healing Turret & Elixir Gun (Super Elixir, Blast Finishers & Fumingator). It's not that you "can't do X, Y or Z" it's that you're unwilling to look more deeply into your repertoire of class traits and utilities.