Athan.7956

tbh I don't like Scepter in any class, the VFX and SFX are weird, also I can't tell if this weapon is a magic wand or a real scepter.

Thanks for pointing it out! I have also reported this bug several patches ago, but no fixes. I quite like this flavor text, so I hope they fix the Valor traitline too!

- Original and interesting professions (mesmer, rev, etc) - Elaborate profession mechanics + elite specs - Branching storylines and coherent storytelling - Coherent and sensible lore - Voice acting (I really like my char's voice) - PVE and pve emphasis

Given how extremely convoluted and complicated weaver is, I wouldn't mind if it were OP. If you're an excellent weaver you get stellar dps, if you make mistakes you're downed. Seems only fair to me. As things stand, you do stellar dps with faceroll classes clicking 1-2 buttons, and as weaver you do poorly if you're mediocre and "okay" if you're good at it. Makes no sense and contradicts behaviorism and game design.

Thanks for the info, yeah this sounda non-sensical. I hope they realise that this spec is trying to be something it isn't at present.

Cool, looking forward to it!

Yeah, branching storylines are much better than linear stories, but it's great that you can at least replay these episodes. What do you mean by "fuller instances later"? Are the episodes in the expansions longer that PS chapters? I only played the first episode of each expansion but they seemed super short.

Guardian is a cool class to play as. Like others have said, world only matters for some pvp content, just make sure to pick the server (NA/EU) where your friends play. I think that greatsword is the best leveling option for guardian, though scepter+torch is also very fun and gives you some much needed range. You can have two sets of weapons so just play around with the ones you like best. As for race, I think that "chemistry" between class and race is important. I'm having a hard time imagining an asuran guardian, so charr probably works best. Though lore-wise, norn and human are the best choices for guardians.

The whole theme of the guardian is virtues and the class is balanced around the virtues. That's why it has the lowest hp in the game and about a third of its traits focusing on improving virtue actives and passives. I understand the devs' intention to create a new playstyle, but why undo core class mechanics? IIRC the holosmith has a new mechanic that replaces its kits but you can deactivate the photon forge. Why lose the virtue passives? Elite specs should be an upgrade that complements/enhances the class playstyle, not one that contradicts and cripples it to the point that guardian mains do not want to play it. In this case, it feels like they take something that works well and strip it of the things that make it work well. Someone here was saying that core guardian is actually better than WB, is this true? To those who have experimented with the latest build, is the loss of virtue passives really worth it?

After experimenting with different story branches, I finally found the personal story that I liked the best, and I completed the personal story last night. This was extremely fun! I can't remember the last time I had so much fun and was so immersed in a storyline in an MMO (single-player games are a different story). The game basically allows you to hand-craft and role-play the character you want to be, with the background and choices that fit best. I particularly enjoyed the first two chapters, but all chapters were actually great in building a relatable character that is fighting for a great cause. The story was really immersive even despite the numerous bugs and -at times- poor writing I encountered. The factors that contributed to this positive experience for me were: cutscenes at key moments with cool oil-paint-like artwork that does not age, critical dialogue in cutscenes, speech bubbles in the open world, recurring characters in every corner, intertwining stories (e.g. the dungeon stories coming together with the main story), coherent overall theme (unlike most games that bounce between themes), the fact that side-quests match the theme of the zone you're at (e.g. Pact quests around Fort Trinity), the party at the end of the final quest and the amazing song. It was quite fun to actually play a character going from zero to hero and I'm looking forward to playing the expansions!

I was quite excited to play elementalist, the ability to command all four elements at once had a cool vibe and was fun at first. This is what got me to start playing GW2. However, the more I continued into the game, the more I understood why everyone recommended players (especially newbies) stay away from this class. The class is essentially high risk for average or low reward. It is a light armor class with the lowest hp in the game, making them *the* squishiest class in the game. On top of that and despite this handicap, the class is forced into melee range through all core and elite specs: daggers, swords, hammers. I'm sorry but I thought this was the mage class? Scepter is not even properly ranged, the only truly ranged weapon is the staff, but it's a dps loss and only useful in some support builds. With this class you're also constantly attunement swapping, because the skills have too long cooldowns and want to push you to swap elements. As such, you're often locked out of the skills you need. The reward is versatility, but that's about it. The class does not offer more damage than other classes and relies on constantly dodging everything or camping water to survive. As an elementalist, I always found myself playing water just for the passive healing because otherwise I would be dead. Downed elementalists are a meme for a reason... Even veteran players say that the class is too much effort for what it's worth so this isn't just me. Sure, highly skilled elementalists may pull off some nice dps, perhaps even a little higher than other classes, but at what cost? Memorising 25-30 different skills (especially for weaver) for and swapping around elements just to pull up the skill you need? Why do this when other classes can just spin-to-win with 1-2 skills and achieve the same result? Frankly elementalist, although a great concept, is poorly executed and driving players away from playing it. I swapped to another easier class and never looked back. I'd only play elementalist to RP being the Avatar or if I really wanted to cripple myself. Unfortunately, it sounds like the new catalyst spec will perpetuate the above issues too.

The hammer is the wrong weapon for a mage profession. I understand that they're trying to create unique classes, but the elementalist is advertised as ranged mage and instead all its specs are melee (d/d, sword/dagger, now hammer). Scepter doesn't work as "ranged", it's semi-ranged. Elementalist is only really ranged when underwater. A rifle or longbow would have been the right choice for a new spec, not another melee weapon.