Kuma.1503

You're right. In the past Pw2 was reserved for games higher on the scale. And I should note that the existance of a scale should already suggest that there was a spectrum even back then. In the past, it was easier to distinguish games that were Pw2 vs those that were not. This was before gaming companies began to evolve their tactics and intenionally muddy the waters. As a result of rapidly evolving monitization practices, we've had to adapt the term. And in instances where determining whether a game is Pw2 or not becomes unclear, we simply need to ask better questions. This is where it helps to lay out the many P2w tactics develepors may use and the varying degrees of sevarity in which they may present themselves. This allows us to ask more targeted questions. Instead of asking whether it's possible to buy power at all, one question we ask is "how feasible it is to keep up as a free player"? If paid advantages can be overcome with time, the quesiton becomes "how much time". Depending on how much free time you're able or willing to spend to keep up as a non-paying player will determien will determine whether you consider that game too pay to win or not. Ask your average gamer who hates Gacha games and they'll tell you games like Genshin and Starrail are P2w. Talk to your average Honkai fan and you might get a long speil about how "The game is actually very generous with how many gems it gives out, so you don't acutally HAVE to spend money if you just play the game" (This is an actual conversation I've had with a friend of mine who plays Honkai games). Attempting to view P2w as a binary thing actually hurts us, because it lets games that just barely skirt below the line get away with a free pass. Giving players the ability to "technically earn cash shop items in game" is a classic way game companies will pull the wool over the eyes of players who fall victim to this black and white thinking. ...With all of THAT out of the way In Gw2's specific case, while it has some Pw2 elements, the overall game is very low on the spectrum, so I would not personally consider it a P2W game. I've sunk thousands of hours into it and frequently reccomend it to others. Others may disagree with me, and that's fine. Where they draw their line may be different than where I draw mine.

Gamers will never agree on the definition of Pay 2 win. It is not a binary thing where a game either is or isn't pay to win. It is a spectrum. There is a wide umbrella of design choices that can be considered Pay to Win. The more of these a game includes, higher it will rank on the spectrum. Depending on which Pay 2 Win practices a person is sensitive to, that will determine whether the consider a game Pay 2 Win or not. Getting gamers to agree on which practices are excusable or not is impossible, because everyone is different. Gw2 falls low on the spectrum. However, it IS on the spectrum. Here are a few Pay 2 Win practices GW2 includes: Pay for convenience - You can buy build templates, bag slots, bank tabs, character slots, ect. When I first started this game I had to constantly drop loot and other resources to make room in my bags. I deleted more max level characters than I can count to try out other classes. After spending money I don't have these problems. Most consider this a minor P2W element so it does not fall on many gamer's radar. Buying gold with real world money - Gold in Gw2 only gets a player so far. However it is possible to kit yourself out with legendary weapons and full ascended gear with a few credit card swipes. Skipping months worth of grind. This would be far more eggregious in a game like WoW where gear must be constantly upgraded, and player skill can be completely trumped by superior gear. Thanks to Gw2's horizontal gear progression, this is far less of an issue. Additionally, player skill matters far more than gear in Gw2. Pay for the best cosmetics - There are some great sets of gear that a player can earn in game. You can also buy gems with gold, so any cash shop item is technically earnable in game. Nontheless, if you consider Fashion Wars 2 the true endgame, then credit card swiping can absolutely give a player a leg up against their competition. Pay to skip grind - It is said that a real world job is the best gold farm in Gw2. Instead of spending hours in Drizzlwood or Silverwastes, you can work a job and convert your paycheck into gems. If you value your time more than a few extra dollars then you might see nothing wrong with this. As previously mentioned, A player can also swipe their way to a legendary this way. Pay for a head start - These take many forms. Story skips, level boosts, Exp boosts, more powerful starter gear (that you will eventually replace). These don't give players any lasting power. They will give a new player a head start on other new players, but the advantage will quickly diminish with time. If you don't mind any of these, then odds are, you don't consider Gw2 Pay to Win. If someone did have a problem with these, for example, if they HATE inventory management and your inventory is always cluttered. They might see this as a design flaw, and see bag slots/bank tabs as ANET selling them the solution to this design flaw. If they fall under this camp then they might consider Gw2 pay to win. This difference of opinion has nothing to do with mental gymnastics, it simply comes down to what your prefrences are as a player. Personally, I think ANet struck a good balance. Gw2 is a Buy to play game with no sub fee. The very minor P2win elements the game does have are barely noticable for me. They're a small price to pay for being able to enjoy this game practically for free going on 5 years now. I do wish the game would stop putting loot containers in loot containers though. I'm trying to clean my inventory, nesting doll loot containers just make me want to rip my hair out.

Was this really done to prevent camping AA? Let me get this straight... To make Sword AA less... you nerf the CDR, giving us one less mechanic to manage, fewer skills to use, and lower APM. Resulting in sword having to sit there and AA more while skills are on CD. Everytime Anet nerfs something on Engi to promote more skillful play, they remove skillful play. This is why I gave up and havent logged in months now. Will check back in a few more months to see if Anet gets their gears in order.

Overheat holo has always been a gimmick. It works when you can catch someone unaware or if you find someone who doesn't know how to deal with it, but fight someone who knows how to play around it and the build's flaws become very apparent. The most toxic thing about it is that you can set up the burst then surprise someone out of stealth. But it takes so long to set up, and Holo stealth is so brief/limited that it's difficult to catch someone off guard with it if they're paying attention to their surroundings. You generally won't surprise someone with this more than once. WIthout the element of surprise you can just watch their heat levels and be ready to dodge when it's full. You'll know exactly when it's coming even if they try to stealth to hide the telegraph. Then they're stuck standing right on top of you, taking self-inflicted damage with all of their toolbelts on CD. It's very funny when it works. Makes for some amazing screencaps, but it's too inconsistent and falls apart the instant your opponent becomes aware of the gimmick.

Wth happened while I was gone?

Engineer has no weapon swap because kits are additional "Weapons". The only problem I have with kits is that, unlike traditional weapons, they have not been updated to keep up with modern GW2. They are in desperate need of reworks. The medkit reworks were a good start, but Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, and Toolkit still need to be looked at. Mortar meanwhile... Just needs a better mode. Get rid of the ugly placeholder please. Rewrite them with the Mortar models in Drizzlewood coast, they look so much better.

I didn't play pre HoT, but I loved PvP in late PoF. Fighting Mirage as a newbie was like bashing my head into a wall, but that aside I could pick any class and have 2+ meta builds to choose from. And many more that were Great.

Build diversity is better than it's been in years. But it still pales in comparison to where it was pre Feb 2020.

The impression I get from ele is that it's balanced right now. It's rewarding if you put the time in, but punishing if you mess up. For all the busted things ele can do, there are equally busted things on other classes that can meme them into the dirt. And that's the problem. The meta is DPS dominated right now which encourages ele players to also build glass. Glass ele works... But it has a punishing skill floor. Miss one dodge and you die to a stiff breeze. Most people would rather not put in he extra effort it requires to perform at a baseline on ele for something that is just "balanced". If ele isn't overtuned it feels like you're putting in extra work for no extra reward. This is especially frustrating when there are classes with much lower skill floors (Guardian) that are overtuned. Even if you put FoTM aside and play for fun, going on loss streaks isn't exactly a fun experience, so most don't bother. I've also noticed how much easier games become by comparison when I swap to Ranger or Scourge. And I have like 3k hours more eperience on ele. Even with all that said, I don't swap because ele continues to overperform most where it matters. It's fun. The most fun class in the game (besides engi) imo. If I took PvP more seriously I'd probably complain more, but I'd do so with full knowledge that I'm asking for my class to be overtuned.

I just choked on my water lmao

Anet should revert the PvP only nerf to sigil of cleansing. Sigils are something every class has access to, and undoing this nerf will disproportionately benefit those with poor access to condi clear. Specifically those that cannot effectively cleanse multiple condis at once.

Increased CD doesn't matter if you get even 1 rez. It's a straight buff if you get multiple.

The skill is so toxic its acronym triggers the kitten filter. I didn't even know DE had this. I figured trapper rune on your dodge roll was annoying enough.

Why does Death's Advance acronym trigger the kitten filter?

If you're that jaded, why not afk from PvP entirely? There's better experiences out there.