[Guardian is getting dual pistols]

     I will say this. I have more hope in Guardian getting good P/P than I do in most professions getting it. Yes, Guardian has gotten some nerfs, but overall it has been in an ok spot. And if anything, the P/P are already starting off in a better spot than the other two P/P the game has. Thief P/P has been a joke and a meme for a long time now, and it has been in need of a rework all that time. It took them years to fix Engi's P/P to finally make it in a good state to which people want to use it because it is actually good and fun to use compared to people using it because no other condi weapon really.

     So, for Guardian, I am not worried at all that it will come out in a bad spot when it come comes due to Guardians track record. It has had more highs than lows. That is one of the big reasons I am excited for it because it means I can forget about Thief's P/P because those will always be more a meme and a joke with their pitiful damage.

[The best years of Guild Wars 2 are behind us]

     I actually disagree here. The reason I say that is because if they stick with adding more core weapons to the game than I think it has a long life ahead of it. Core weapons being added means people won't get bored of combat as fast and finally get to play their fantasies out the way they wanted. For example, I have wanted pistol on Ele for a long time, and now that is finally happening I am excited. I can't wait until they add off hand pistol to it expansion later. I can't wait until they add main hand pistol to Mesmer eventually as well to fulfill all my dual wield pistol fantasies.

     I couldn't care less to be honest about the map size anymore or the story. That is not why I play this game anymore. I play it for the fashion and combat. And as long as they keep adding new looks and adding core weapons I will be happy and content.

[Guardian is getting dual pistols]

     Honestly, I was not expecting this for Guardian. I fully admit I am not a Guardian main at all. This change though will make me play it more. It fits the Holy Warrior thing too. Because Van Helsing, the clerics from Equilibrium, the priests from the movie Priest, and many more come to mind. You could even do Castlevania : Dawn of Sorrow with Soma as well who used pistols in those two games. I can't wait for this to come.

[Pistol in SotO? Rly, Anet?]

     I am actually excited for pistol for ele. I never really did want a longbow with it. I am just not a fan of bows in general to be honest. Rifle would have been ok, but pistol is my preferred choice. Would I have preferred dual pistols with it? Yes. Do I get why they didn't do dual pistols though? Also, yes. Basically if they added off hand pistol now it would be 8 new skills plus the weaver one making it 12 I believe just for offhand pistol with pistol. So, P/P would would have been like 30+ new skills having to be made for it to work. So, I get why they didn't go that route.

     Now, I do hope in the future though we get off hand pistol for them when it is less work on their plate, but for now I am content with just main hand pistol.

[Guild tags]

     I am kind of against this mainly because I am in the TINY guild, and due to the cap on how many people there can be in one Guild there are 4 TINY guilds with all of the using the TINY tag. So yes, some people can troll with it, but most people won't. And if there is two Guilds with the same tag not planned I don't see it as much an issue to sort out by just asking the person if it is the right Guild or checking out the links they provide. But the current system is fine as is, or they need to increase Guild member cap to like 3k to people don't have to make duplicate tags.

[Virtuoso Redesign]

5 hours ago, mirage.8046 said:

exactly. yup, at that point, you wonder whether said elite spec should be scrapped or go to the drawing board again.

Or it should be kept as is because it is fine as is. You make portals and shoot blades through portals like Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay series. The spec does fine damage as well for it being ranged focused. It is also closer to the original mesmer in GW1 as well, so if you want the clone gameplay, there is two other elite specs already for that. Virtuoso is fine as is for people like me who prefer it that way. 

Edit: and Yes, I did read your suggestions. I still prefer the current way it is designed over the song stuff.

[Login and Login exe crashing. [Merged]]

Yeah, I ran all my network tests as well, and I am getting full speeds and able to log in just fine to other stuff. This problem is on their end. I don't know what the connecting factor is that allows some but not others, but they should at least now know something is broken if not already aware.

[Login and Login exe crashing. [Merged]]

Just now, Seth Moonshadow.2710 said:

But are you currently able to or not?

Also, my reset was 3 hours ago. I don't think there was an update? My wife said she didn't see one on login.

Oh, at the moment I can't log in at all. Keep getting the firewall error even after I reset modem and restarted my PC for a just in case. So, I would like some word on this as well for when they can fix it.  

[Login and Login exe crashing. [Merged]]

I have been having the same issues as you. I haven't been able to log in. I am thinking the log in server is down for some accounts because I was able to log in just in at reset.

[Do you Use Discord or Teamspeak or something else, when talking to your community?]

I prefer in game text chat personally. I have discord, but I don't really use it that much because I am not a fan of VC in gaming in general. I just don't like it nor care for it. I mainly use discord for when I do use it for just text chatting because I personally don't really care to hear your voice. I don't care if it is easier for some encounters. Text works just fine.

[CC kills this game]

5 minutes ago, Ashlin.3708 said:

Yeah WvW is a good place to experience it 😄 sometimes even PvP.
Honestly though, the pvp world, I could care less if its in, Its super cheap and would be nice if it was toned down a bit there, but  Usually people going heavy CC have very little going for them so you can counter.
It's PvE where I mainly care. Some events, some bosses, It just gets totally out of control. Think Halloween, why does EVERY SINGLE MUMMY have CC. what kind of logic is that? 
Add high toughness to your character, just have fun.

Yeah, I am fine with it as well in the PvP/WvW world. It is par for the course there. As for PvE, I guess it depends on the fight because I can't remember a heavy CC fight. There are the knockback mummies of course, but I just outrange them at times or learned their attack look to dodge the attack. My main problem is mainly visuals in big fights which is getting fixed, but yeah, sorry, I can't really think of CC causing me much problems in PvE.

[CC kills this game]

I am guessing you are talking OW here, but just learn to dodge and you are fine. It is not that bad. If you want a CC fest, you should try WvW where you can get locked down easy if you make a mistake and accidently jump into a zerg. Not that I have done that before.... >_>. *cough*

[Accepting the fact that I will never obtain a skyscale.]

3 hours ago, Dayra.7405 said:

My main critique on the skyscale is: it makes the game to easy and this is especially true for all areas released before it.

     Which is why I love it and prefer it over the others. I don't care for challenge that much. I prefer the easy path every time which is why I love flying in other MMOs too over ground mounts.  

 

[Legendary regrets]

16 minutes ago, AoTsuki.8675 said:

Legendaries are not made equal, some look way better than the others.

     Well, more to legendaries than just looks though. Only reason I am going for mine is for the QOL they have with free transmute charges and stat switchable on the fly plus the rune and sigil stuff. I couldn't care less if the actual weapon looks bad because I am going to transmute over it anyways.

[Accepting the fact that I will never obtain a skyscale.]

     I used to think that way until I actually tried getting it, and it turns out it wasn't that bad. The longest part if you want to save money is getting the charged quartz for it if not on events that give it out. But overall the skyscale is easy compared to getting legendries which I just now finally started after years. Heck, the time it takes for me to get Diamond each week in WvW is longer than what it takes for most parts of the skyscale collection. 

[Missing Old Vault Key]

     So, I am trying to get some mastery points done, so I can finish my Arborstone. I can't seem to find the old vault key though on any of my characters. I did a gw2efficincy check as well for it. When I go to the spot, the chest that contains the key is also not there. Is something I have to contact support about, or am I missing something here which the wiki is not mentioning  for it to show up?

Edit: After restarting game, it finally opened for me. I guess I already opened it before just don't remember. Just didn't open for me at that time for whatever reason. /shrug 

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:38 AM, Lily.1935 said:

Final Fantasy 14 Also introduces new combat features in their expansions. Simply updating the available classes wasn't enough. Guild Wars 2 has expanded the classes traditionally through Elite specs. And with the expansion we're taking a step back from elite specs and likely going to add new skills, weapons and or traits. And this is something that Final Fantasy 14 does similar. FF14 wants you to play multiple classes though, its not like GW2 where one class has dozens of different builds, every class is a single build. So When FF14 has an expansion they always add new classes because that's their chosen combat feature. Iteration on existing classes isn't enough even in their model.

1. Heavensward introduced Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist
2. Stormblood introduced Red Mage, Samurai, and Blue Mage
3. Shadowbringers introduced Gunbreaker and Dancer
4. Endwalker introduced Sage and Reaper

Not even for FF14 is just reworks enough for their expansions. And we can't expect it to be enough for Guild Wars 2 either. Reworks are great, but that's not a feature onto itself. That's just maintenance of the game that is required.

     What you are saying is true with them adding other stuff plus the reworks, but I think GW2 should be different in this regard mainly because of how big their team is and how slow they put out content. Don't get me wrong, if they were capable of adding new weapons and reworking on the scale needed to fix to the core stuff I would be all for it. I just don't see it though from past experiences and content output. Reworking core weapons and some trait is basically the same as working new elites resource wise, so I would rather they focus on doing just that for the first expansion to set the ground work for the next ones. Because I don't see them putting that much resources into core reworks and new weapons and traits etc... 

     In my eyes, this is pick which one you would prefer they do, and I prefer the rework side. Yes, it's not a direct expansion feature in that it is exclusive to the expansion you buying since it would affect all of the game at the same time, but I truly do think it is needed to come with the expansion because that is when resources are strongest for it. The normal balance patches is usually just numbers and not much reworks. The only thing I can think of is the engi rifle in the past few years, and people have been asking for them to make it better even longer. I don't know how many active team members there are on the combat side, but I think normal patches won't work with the resources they normally have which only really leaves expansion resources to fix all that is needed animation wise and everything else. Numbers is fine though with the smaller patches.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

1 hour ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

 

I think there is a disconnect here. When players are asking for broad reworks or balance passes for existing weapons with the next expansion, I don't think they are asking for exclusive expansion features available only for those who purchase the expansion. They are actually asking for core features and polish to be released with the expansion in the place of elite specs.

This is not unwarranted. Overarching balance features and world polish that affect both core and expansion content have been released with every expansion so far. A broad pass at core weapons may be a bit more ambitious than the updates to core content with previous expansions, but still much less content than entire elite specs and not unprecedented.

     Thank you. This is what I was trying to get at with my posts. 

Edit: I would be 100% ok if they fixed core weapons and stuff and added no new weapons. It would still give the variety of building they promised by making old stuff actually be useable which makes it in a newer state especially if it was total reworks. And yes. everyone who didn't buy it would also get the update for the weapons which I am also ok with. It would bring in a breath of fresh air to the game and builds. 

     The other stuff of the expansion can be the selling points for all I care. I am just tired of unused weapons being left in the dust after all these years. So if they are focusing on combat with new energy, I would prefer they use that energy at least for the first expansion on fixing their past mistakes with full gusto instead of adding new weapons which might not even be used.

Edit 2: 

In the current design and implementation of elite specializations, we feel that with every new expansion there’s been increasingly limited “design space” left to add new and differentiated roles for each profession. In other words, most of the playstyles that we’d like to see supported for each profession already exist or should exist within their existing elite specialization options.

With our next expansion, our goal is to further augment the combat options for each profession by adding new tools to their arsenal and by lifting constraints that will unlock an unprecedented number of playstyle customization options—while keeping the feel of Guild Wars 2 combat true to its origins. Theorycrafters are going to be very busy.

     So, no where does it say in that post it is going to be  expansion only content with the combat features making what I am asking a possibility. Yes, Elite specs have been expansion only for the past 3, but that doesn't mean the newer ones are going to be that way. They could very well mean fixing the old core stuff. 

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

36 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

Reworking weapons isn't an expansion feature though. That's a basic part of a life service game like an MMO. That stuff just needs to be done.

Also, Necromancer Pistol is perfectly fine as it is. The damage output is pretty comparable to Scepter. Scepter is a little bit stronger while traited. But its not like weapon swapping is locked. So there's no reason not to take both. Pistol you can get 2 skill twos in before swapping so its just a matter of optimization. You honestly could just run pistol if you really wanted to and it'd likely be fine. you damage will take a hit but it shouldn't be major enough to get you kicked from a group. If you want to run just pistol and parasitic contagion, do it. Run different sigils in your off pistol and warhorn, you can still get quite a bit of value from swapping.

I'm saying this as a raider. You'll be fine to just run pistol if you don't want to run scepter. as long as you know the basics of the rotation you're golden.

     Well, I was mainly talking Thief P/P there for that example. And for me at least, reworking old weapons to be good is an expansion feature because it has been neglected over the years to the point some are just laughing stocks. I don't think it will be done though normally with their track record without it being an expansion feature. It would have been done now  if that was their focus.

     I will use another game as an example for a new combat rebuild. FF14 reworked many jobs that were underperforming or messed up(MCH and SMN) , and they always did the major reworks under expansions for the benefit of showing stuff getting fixed and to save money. Getting the weapons that are lackluster now totally reworked would be an expansion level thing, and it would excite many people who have been asking for it for years. You don't always need new weapons to excite people especially if you are rebuilding weapons which is basically like a new class in other MMOs.

     I have accepted the scepter for necro even if I would prefer the other. It doesn't bug me that much that I can't use it. So, I am ok with where it is at because it is not getting nerfed. My wish to change it is based more on wish feeling. I don't expect them to ever do it because of its meta status. I don't expect them to change that for an expansion. My issue is primarily with P/P Thief because of it's meme status which I want removed which is something the rework could fix basically making it a new playstyle.

     They have failed in their balance job with a lot of traits and weapons. I want them to fix that mistake first before they even attempt new stuff. You need a solid foundation before you can move on, and in my eyes, the current foundation is cracked and broken. They have not done the patches justice over the years, so I would rather they focus expansion energy and use that to fix it if it means it will actually get fixed. I wouldn't see it as a waste at all.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

57 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

Why use old weapons than? Why not just give them access to weapons they don't have access to? Seems like that'd be a better solution. It would help to increase play time in the game. Like if I got a sword on my necromancer or a Longbow on my engineer that would incentivize me to play more to get either the right skin, ascended version or legendary version. Which translates to more play time. If they just give us the same weapons but not unlocked for core with new abilities it doesn't get me to play to craft these new weapons. i'll play to test them out for sure, but that's few hours in game overall.

At least that's my perspective on that.

 

     I have the opposite feeling. It would actually get me to play the game more because I now have access to weapons I have wanted to use for a long time, but I couldn't use them because their damage was bad. It would make me more interested in playing the game. Again with my example from the necro forum, if they changed P/P Thief with new skills with their new direction under Deadeye for example to be meta instance level. It would make me spend more money and time on the game because the true gunslinger theme finally came to be. I don't think I am the only one either with caring more about weapon theme overall.

     Now, I am not saying don't add new weapons because that would be great, but I really do think they need to focus and fix the old stuff first before they even attempt at adding new weapons. Some of these have been in need for a rework for a long time now.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

13 hours ago, Lily.1935 said:

Opening elite spec weapons to core would result in more homogenization rather than more theory craft. I can tell you the setup for each of necromancer's elite specs if all weapons are available. And its extremely obvious that this would be best.

Scourge: Scepter+Torch & Pistol+Warhorn
Condi Harbinger: Scepter+Torch & Pistol+Dagger
Condi Reaper: The only one that might not use either, but its more likely it'll be Scepter+Dagger & Pistol+Torch for their condi build.
Power Harbinger: Greatsword & Axe+Focus Which, btw, is the exact same as what reaper is now.

Unlocking these weapons to core makes the elite specs less interesting, not more...

     Doesn't that more or less show then that the other necro weapons need to reworked/improved to be actually good if the pistol and torch override all the other weapons we have access too? If they did open, that may force A-net to actually rework the others to be in good meta levels.

Edit: I should say weapons in general from other professions as well because if the elite weapons make them meta that shows how bad of a state they are in for the game. IMO, that means they should be reworked to be meta level to allow more options and gameplay giving variety to combat.

Also, reworked weapons would be new because they would be adding new skills to them plus balance meaning they are technically new weapons. So, A-net wouldn't be lying when they said new stuff as well.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

7 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

Just to clarify, when I said 4th trait line, I meant within the specialization. Currently they have 3 trait lines in each specialization, so that's what I mean.

It is power creep in the sense it gives us more options, but its less power creep than what an elite spec would give us. And it wouldn't influence boons and DPS much if at all. They'd still have the same constraints. For example, say they added a GM trait in Blood magic that allowed your Shroud skill one to heal allies in its radius and changed its skill to target allies for core and harbinger with low but reliable healing scaling. Lets say Transfusion does stronger burst healing but this new trait is more reliable. It is power creep in a sense, but a trait like that doesn't buff something to being over powered.

I think that's the direction they'll be going. Side grade traits which change up options more than it just being a better option.

     That makes much more sense. My brain went to an immediate 4th new line, so on Engi you would have Explosives, Firearms, Mechanists, and let's just say inventions. But if it is within the actual Explosives specialization with a 4th line, than yeah it would be more possible to balance.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

10 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

New traits were actually part of the original vision of Guild Wars 2. Back before the HoT was even a thing Arena net had talked about creating new traits for each attribute I think they were called back then so you could build into different things. Which to be fair to arena net, they did add new traits during that time. Necromancer didn't launch with Dhuumfire for example. And they had added a new heal to each profession. Signet of vampirism was added later as well. It wasn't until HoT that those things got locked into Elite specializations and it was a controversial decision at the time. Mind you, elite specs had a lot of positivity around them, but there were some problems the community had with the concept and locking new skills behind these elite specs was one of them.

Now, you say its rephrasing of an elite spec. Which it isn't and here's why. Elite specializations come with a new weapon, a completely new specialization with12 new traits, a new profession mechanic and 6 new utility. Any one of these parts does not equal a whole. New traits don't mean a new elite specialization. That's less than a 4th of an elite spec and the bulk of an elite specs work would be going into the new mechanics they bring. Overall even if they give us 12 new traits and a weapon that's less than half the work they'd do in a 2 to 3 year expansion cycle if they were to make a new Mechanic.

Personally, I'd Like to see new mechanics, but that's the last thing I think we'll be getting in the expansion. but new traits are the lowest hanging fruit possible and the absolute easiest to implement. Don't think that new traits means a new specialization, because it doesn't mean that. It means that Each specialization could potentially be getting a 4th trait line sometime down the road. Sure this changes how the UI needs to be displayed, but that's pretty minor for more options.

New weapons are similarly light on a work load. They have new animations and visuals, sure but that's at most 60 new skills across all professions and that's assuming every single profession got a two handed weapon. When you compare that to End of Dragons which added over 150 new skills with the utility, weapons, and mechanics its so much easier. And its likely the number of new skills would be closer to 30 if each profession got a new weapon.

So no, new skills and or utility doesn't come close to what a new elite spec brings but it is good enough to satisfy a lot of people with more frequent releases.

Hmm. OK. I see what you are saying now, and it makes sense with what you presented. I don't personally see them adding a 4th trait line though to add. If people are already complaining about stuff being overpowered, imagine what a 4th line would bring to dps and boon numbers.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

12 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

The Number of people who think Arena net is lying in their post is astonishing. Clearly Arena net need to be clearer on what "New Tools" mean because my instinct says that it means new traits, utility skills and weapons/weapon skills. And if its "We made these elite specialization skills and weapons available to the core professions" that would be an unsustainable change long term since Arena net would run out of that after one expansion and what would these new tools be for the second expansion? or the third? or the fourth?

What some of y'all think is going to happen is unsustainable and ultimately a good way to really upset the player base.

     Well, new weapons and traits usually meant new elites which is not the case now since they said no new elites. So I don't see them adding new traits at all because that is basically a new spec along with new weapons. That only really leaves fixing the old weapons to be good and traits along with the unlocked weapons. Because anything else really is just a rephrasing of new elites which they said they are not doing.

[Next Expansion, no Elite specs but?]

     I read it as giving the elite spec weapons to all elites and for them to fix old weapons that stink damage wise for them to rework to be good number wise. Example, P/P Thief again and other under used weapons in instanced content. Would give more variety to combat.