Kurowolfe.7124

A problem that plagues many, affecting their performance. Will there ever be a solution? Doubt it. But it does suck how it breaks the game mode for so many, turning an even fight into a joke. And in this current meta....

Tried playing SEA peak time, the frame drops were horrendous for some reason. There is always lag (many of us joke that ANet forget us Asians exist in the games), but tonight the lag spikes are there, ON TOP of the frame drops and screen freezes. Like, almost everyone in EBG on all sides are struggling. The next beta is coming soon too, so dear devs, please check your servers. Please remember us for once (T_T)

*looking up* What happened here lol Hmm, I suppose some people are happy with the change, mainly those who plays simple DPS classes who were actually hindered by the old retal and resistance. I saw so many memes about how eles have been ignored by the devs in terms of buffs, those who don't know how to utilize the class and its elites best, and they're the ones who benefit the most out of this change. If it's a zerg vs zerg situation, then yeah, the change/nerf to these two may be good to at least make fights faster and more.. dynamic in terms of damage output, I guess. But I'm referring more to the situation where you're massively outnumbered by your enemies, like your small 10 vs the enemy's map queue blob (which happens more often these days...). If there are several of these small groups on your side, it'd be fine, but more often than not, you are the only organized group, and the only one who used to have a fighting chance to at least slow that blob down. Now, no more of that, they only had to W-key, be as aggressive as they could, without any fear of both mechanics and actual 'resistance' and 'retaliation'. 'Resolution' only means you're determined to die over and over again, though I just feel it means that fight will 'resolve' faster. Anyway, I found an old MMO that has more charm than the current GW2, and I've been happily playing it. So good riddance to this game finally

The new stuff they introduced just isn't the same. It might've worked for PvE, but it certainly doesn't reward interesting fights in WvW. I dunno about PvP, I'm not a PvP person, unlike the balance devs. I mean, now there's almost no repercussions to going full-ham burst/condi DPS or even both at the same time. At least with the old resistance and retaliation, these people would at least be aware that they can't just faceroll the keys outright, and stagger their skills a bit, or wait for an opportunity to strike. Now though? You can just throw caution to the wind and go yolo, and not having to fear dying in return much. This is also an issue with how server fights go on. At least before, when you're in a smaller organized group, say 10 players, going against a 40+ man opponent zerg, there's still something you can do to even out the odds by punishing reckless DPS, and you don't outright give up then and there. Now there's really nothing much you can do in that situation, they'll just walk right over you. Recently, with the server population system change, guilds have been transferring into bandwagon servers just to have an easier time, since smaller numbers rarely if ever win zerg fights now, and it's been a mindless W-key fest. I mean, ANet will benefit anyway, since transfer fees are rather exorbitant, yet people will pay them anyway. (also reason why that alliance thing will never be a thing, wink) I dunno, I just wanna vent out somewhere. I'll probably get used to it sooner or later, but it certainly isn't easy, when you almost exclusively play support classes. I feel rather useless in-game now, I can't even keep my DPS servermates alive long enough lately, it's demoralizing. Side note, I am looking for a new MMO to play, but I still always gravitate towards GW2 back. That will probably have to change soon, so if anyone have any suggestions on good MMOs that has an active combat system, do tell. I'm ready to leave GW2

Apparently ArenaNet's bots started autobanning people who uses VPNs due to false positives? Heard a lot of news of those being affected, including my own guild leader. They submitted their appeal, and probably will get their accounts back soon, but this just feels like a middle finger up our asses from them, since in certain replies, they mentioned that they do not sanction the use of VPNs. Alright, understandable, but in certain cases, it's the only way we could even get into the game in the first place, especially for us in the east. 1.5k ping is nothing, I have had ping spikes of up to 12k, EVEN with VPN, and waypointing back after being defeated sometimes takes 2 minutes in the worst of times. I probably am truly done with this game, at least for a few weeks. With the new LW chapter coming soon, many PvE players will be returning for a bit, which may make the lag situation even worse than it is. And seeing how the devs are not willing to elaborate on the reasons why these people got banned in the first place when asked, it just feels that they don't care anymore, or no longer capable of maintaining the WvW mode. I'm just glad I found a passion project to fill up the void left by this formerly beautiful game xD

I think the main key is you will only lag at your local night time. But yeah, ever since the new patch dropped, the lag was unbearable during my nighttime. Exitlag won't even run, and neither ProtonVPN nor Mudfish could mitigate the issue much. Ironically, during reset (or CST night-time), I have no lag at all, since that's my morning. Yet a few of my NA peeps are struggling with the same thing I had. I've done everything I can: -repair, fresh reinstall, lowest settings, even uninstalling my antivirus software, nothing worked. So yeah, anyone from Malaysia is fucked for now, we'll have to wait for either the patch to stabilize or for several patches to fix the patch. Or just wait a few weeks or months. I've told my guild I'm taking a leave from WvW in the meantime; the stress of not being able to perform because of factors outside my control been messing with my mental health severely, that I had a relapse, and no game is worth ruining your health over. I truly wish there's something we could do to fix it on our side, but the ball's outside my court, and probably in ArenaNet's. And you know who they pretend that we don't exist outside of being a steady income from server transfers xD

Despite my VPN, that lag. It's super annoying how you can't even cast anything with the lag.Just venting I suppose, I'm getting sick of letting my group down because I couldn't perform well enough just because of a trivial matter like lag.Lag.

Thank you for the well-wishes! I did take a secreenshot at the 2010 mark xD About the rank requirement change, I was aware of the change in requirement from rank 2k to 500 for the legendary chest piece, and for a while I was sorta mad about it since I was at 1.7k when that happened, which means I have been grinding for years for nothing. But in the end, I feel like the 2k mark is more of a personal goal now more than anything, so I stuck on with it. Yeah, there's too many things you can do in PvE. Like, overwhelmingly many. So many things that are possible to farm, I don't think 24 hours a day is enough to cover them all if you are really going for it. Hence why I have abandoned all things PvE other than maybe Central Tyria mapping and a few AB meta here and there, and focus exclusively on WvW. Especially after the spoiler stories first in Lake Doric, then Drizzlewood Coast or whatever that charr place name is. Still miffed at how stupid the story turns out to be there. At least WvW only has a few things that you can work on, and seeing how ANet pretends that we don't exist, I can just take a break for a few weeks, come back in, and see not much has changed.

I know this is rather random and self-serving, but finally after like 4 or 5 years of doing WvW (1st year only EotM, the rest EBG), I got to rank 2000! It has been a long term goal of mine, since before this you can only buy the legendary Mistforged chest piece if you are at rank 2000. So I do WvW seriously at first, then casually after a while, with this goal in mind. I didn't even notice I got to my goal until I got to level 2010 because I was too busy fighting a 40-man guild zerg with only 7 of us, and managed to get a 5 level boost from a kill xD The game mode has really changed in the 5 years, most probably for the worse tbh, but I'm glad and happy I've at least completed this goal before the game dies off. I still do WvW if only to catch up with my guildmates and friends, and maybe to stay awake when I needed to remain awake for health reasons, but it's been more or less fun nonetheless. Thanks to everyone who I have met along the way, especially the JUST and TEA guild members who got me into WvW in EotM all those years ago!

Seems the new Frost Legion meta is gonna be structured like a kind of WvW map-wide battle against Jormag, with taking keeps and whatnot.I guess that is why the actual WvW scene got shafted to the side, they spent their expertise for yet another LW map :# Sighs of resentment aside, I suppose it is an interesting change for the hardcore PvE players to experience. But I swore off new LW stories because of a story spoiler in Lake Doric, then in Thunderhead Peaks, that really rubbed me the wrong way, and made me disappointed in the story devs involved. If anyone here is doing the meta when it releases, do share how it is though. If it's decent enough, I suppose I should follow what ANet is saying and abandon EBG for some PvE-style WvW xD

Well, from what I understand, FFXIV recently increased the FtP level cap from 35 to 60, and opened up the first expansion Heavensward for free play as well, possibly to pull in more players. It certainly is a lucrative aspect for me, since I actually played FFXIV FtP a bit because I wanted to follow my friends who left GW2 and went to do raids there instead. But when I remember just how lonely I felt trying to level up my Mi'qote Pugilist in Ul'dah and its surrounding areas with almost no player chatter in the world map, with my 'friends' nowhere in sight to help despite them asking me to level up quickly so that we can do the end-game raids together, I stopped myself. FFXIV has a very interesting story from what I played so far (level 25) yes, and even the small sidequests and FATEs you find seem interesting, but oftentimes you almost have no interaction with anyone else at all, since the game focuses more on end-game content (almost exclusively raids, I never even knew it has a PvP lol). The supposed 'mentor' icons around just sit there and do nothing. GW2 is different, it felt more lively in PvE, at least in Central Tyria's hubworld anyway. I started FtP as well, and there's always something happening around when leveling. Map, and even say chatter, is usually there. You can ask questions, and usually you can get a good answer and guide, amidst all the troll answers. I'm surprised that Queensdale still has a few mentor tags running around even after that exodus from that one MMO game some time ago, welcoming new players and doing guild recruitment. Other starter maps also usually have some people running around no matter what time, usually willing to help in doing quests together. The community has changed probably for the worse within the 4 years I've been playing, but it's still welcoming and lively. It's one main strength that GW2 has over FFXIV I feel; the sense of community even within the starter and hub areas. I ended up falling down the WvW hole, and I have made my points on what I experience and feel in the 2-3 years I've been doing it in a post before. It's not great, but the sense of community, while dying, is still there. I usually log on just to meet up with my guildmates and some servermates and chat nonsense or catch up on news while we fight others. I also usually like reading whatever nonsense that is in the teamchat and mapchat, whether it be drama, rant or even goofiness. I never felt alone in there; it's probably the reason why I stuck on with it despite WvW in general being stuck in a rut and being shafted aside. And if it fails, I can always return to doing map completion, where there'll be people around as well. Side note: another thing I like about GW2 more than FFXIV is the player character races. In FFXIV, you get 8 different kind of humans that barely any different from one another (except the Lalefell, which really bugs me since they look like they would attract a very deviant sort of crowd). GW2 at least has more variety in builds, even if humans and norn are pretty much the same, and sylvari being 50/50 human with plant skin and hair. The other races are more varied as well (hoping for tengu or even skritt playable race lol)

"Look at all those chickens!"Well, we got a balance patch coming soon, regardless of how bad or good it is. It seems rather bad for me overall, but again, low expectations and such, and I can't tell until we get a chance to try it. So no matter, I'm okay with a shake-up, good or bad.

Hmm, I just want a big change is all. Like the previous big patch, where everyone tried to adapt and find the best ways to abuse create a new meta. The current playstyle for most guilds I've fought are just the same old story, it's stale. I don't even mind getting nerfed, I just want change. But if it's fake news, then who am I to argue? Might as well remain pessimistic and not have any expectations at all. WvW is only good for money from transfers anyway

Not much reason, I just got tired and bored with the current meta and playstyle, it's been a few months since the last major one. Well, notwithstanding the global pandemic anyways.Though I do sincerely hope that the balance team members don't think that the current balance is the best they can come up with...

But, with the nerf in WvW, the skill now heals for around 400 instead of the 2200 it used to be. And to me, aegis don't mean shit when you get CC'ed and pushed around like a ragdoll 6 times continuously on an improper zerg push. And bad calls happen. I suppose it depends on the commanders then, I can adjust my skills to their needs and ask them in advance. Some exclusively wants us support firebrands to only heal and cleanse for some reason, and some only wants us to give as many stability stacks as possible, in face of the strong CC meta atm. Some want all, and I try my best to give all, while staying alive as long as possible xD

Alright, thank you! Now it makes me wonder why it is seen as a necessary skill for support firebrands, if it only grants aegis to others.I'll swap to Receive the Light for support, and the Litany skill for the burn firebrand then

Pardon my being oblivious and dumb for a bit. I tried asking in LA, in EBG and even my guildmates on multiple occasions, but no one gave any answer. Might as well try here.Does Restoring Reprieve, the normal healing mantra for firebrands, only heals yourself and not your allies? I've only noticed the tooltip for the skill with the new major healing nerf on it, and noticed it's written as self-heal. While granting only aegis on allies when untraited.

And funnily enough, my minstrel FB deals what feels like a healthy 500 burn damage per tick with Purging Flames, so much so it's a viable skill to waste enemies' cleanse skills. I switched mace/shield to mace/torch just because of the bonus burning damage, on top of the condi cleanse on torch 5. And I honestly had more fun playing a burn firebrand recently, usually seeing close to 10k burning damage ticks and close to 500 retaliation damage ticks only using Carrion and Shaman stuffs and on max food and oil lol. So yeah, the power, healing and stability nerfs may be negotiable, but condi bunker builds are just so much attractive to play as atm

Well, another 2 months with a host server that barely has the population for a host. I like how ANet keeps pairing our server with a newly-minted host that barely fulfills the god-forsaken glicko's criteria for a host server. What's new this time though is that they immediately put us in T2 smack dab between two massive servers, one having a link server that is super fat WvW-wise, because of the glicko. This, and having to deal with the massive rework/nerfs later this month and think about how to overcome all these reworks, and I'm generally am always tired after a raid session in EBG. And I'm not about to give Anet my money just to change servers and fit into their probable agenda of raking money off transfer fees. I'm just tired thinking about this game in general. Still, at least my friends are still there. Weren't it for them and their sudden outburst of regular fractal runs, I would've not logged in at all.

But really, frustration runs high in situations like these, you are just at a bad place at a bad time to be the receiving end of all that frustration. Try solo roaming when your server goes higher in tier as we had heard you guys are planning, and the zerg fights are more equal. It should be a bit easier and more fun, especially as a ranger. Back on topic. Roaming has been made harder with everything that has been stated in the thread, so much so that I simply stopped doing so and focus more on group and zerg-oriented builds, hoping to be more useful. And with the advent of builds and classes that are essentially immortal, and people who plays these builds and either spawn camps or ganks even on their own, any of these solo roamers are seen as a threat that requires more than 10 people to finally kill, only for these immortals to come back and do it all over again. Those who solo roam tend to carry these builds, so better be safe than sorry :p

So the natural progression from there is to make the armors, which I thought was possible at first since I was playing 6 hours a day by the time I finished Warbringer (without the boosters, my bad). But changes happen mostly for the worse, and to be honest I sorta lost interest in WvW in general. So it's now a side goal, despite the impression that I seem to really want it. Now I play WvW for an average of 30 minutes a day, with guild/friend runs on weekend nights. Getting enough levels would be nice, but it's not something that I am actively working on. About the SEA time lag, I'm quite aware of the inherent distance lag since I am in Malaysia, and I've adjusted to that lag. But I also played during other time zones, and I noticed that around SEA and OCX time zones are when I tend to get the most episodes of lag spikes of up to 4k ping during zerg fights. Sometimes, it takes up to a minute before I can waypoint back after being dead. Disconnecting mid-fight is also a common occurrence, to me and my guildmates, thus killing our momentum in our already lopsided 10 vs 20-to-50 fights during our guild run during peak SEA time. It's partially the reason why we eventually stopped playing every night, and only during weekend nights. Like you all said, there's nothing that could be done at this point, but I just feel like sharing how things are to a supposedly rare SEA time player like me. About the hostility to new players, I do agree with everyone in saying that sometimes we just don't have time to teach the new players properly. I remember earlier in the year some guilds still do open group practice runs, but those no longer exist where I am in, probably for the reasons stated above and more. We're just too busy trying to fight a losing battle most of the time, due to being outnumbered and overwhelmed. All the small things that you need to know, like knowing when to pull EWP and knowing not to close an open wall/gate choke during a zerg fight, you can only learn either from observing the veterans over time, making the mistake and getting berated at (thus burning the message in your memory; usually the case), or being told explicitly by mentors (very rare). I've seen some veteran mentors who were at first always typing out these advice and being patient about it, grew silent and cold as the year passed by, which to me is saddening. Nowadays whenever a new player who wanted to be serious in WvW asks for guides, I usually would just refer them to known open WvW guilds and ask them to join said guilds, since guildies tend to be more willing to teach the in and outs of the mode, and running with them in proper guild runs being the best way still to learn WvW. Sorry for the wall of text, but I like discussion, and while I wanted to discuss more, I feel like it's already too long. Thanks for the comments though, I learned a lot from reading everything through, really appreciated!

Grinding in WvW is slow and tiring, even with boosters maxed. Getting to level 2000 for the legendary armor crafting seems like an impossible dream at this point.Hackers and cheaters never will get punished. I think it's ANet's policy to not entertain any reports on hackers, even with video evidence?A few players are so fickle. Changing servers on the fly, some at the slightest of inconveniences or difficulty. I know of some players who jumps servers every 2 months or so, chasing the current flavour server of the moment.South East Asian time is suffering. The inherent lag spikes and disconnects that is only there during SEA time play (even in sPvP and some PvE maps). Server populations that varies wildly, with some servers being totally stacked, and most others being ghost towns.WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players. Not many people are willing to teach new players of how things work in WvW, the do's and don'ts. Mistakes in plays are slammed by veterans often. I got my build ridiculed by this diamond ranked commander tag, despite me not being able to afford meta gears at that time. A friend of mine got so turned off by his servermates' ridicule, that he said he will never make another legendary weapon/armor/trinkets, since those are the only reasons he would even do WvW. It got better during the Warclaw's debut, but only for a while.You can make a lot of friends and acquaintances in WvW, even more so than PvE. Close guildmates, and just the regulars that you see around and have a chat with, while you get your behind rammed by 50+ man 4 guilds zergs.WvW lately being fun only when said friends and acquaintances are around. But when they're there, even the worst situations are made bearable. And the occasional breaks and lucky hits are cause for awesome celebration.I did kinda learn to play better, thanks to those who took their time to teach newbie me. These kind souls are getting rarer lately, but they're the star players in my book. And those skills transfer to PvE too, yay!Clear communication is important, as with good stress management. It's a stressful game mode after all. I'd like to believe I'm better in both aspects than I was last year.In all, many ups and downs. I rarely play WvW now except during guild raids, but it's still an enjoyable time, despite the stress and the broken-ness of it. Here's hoping I can get to 2000 sometime next year, or at least 1600 for just the footwear :p