Raizel.8175

If you've ever played any RPG, GW2s build and equipment system won't be rocket since or witchcraft for you. Stats are pretty much self-explanatory and if you bother to read traits, you'll realize that there are pretty obvious choices for whatever kind of playstyle you wish to play. The main issue with GW2 is simply that a lot of people simply don't want to use their brain - in spite of the game harassing you both with the training and the build tab in the hero panel on several occasions.

Wrong. It did help community-building for those who are actually interested in community-building. It's not the games fault - a MMORPG, I might add - that people refuse to do basic socializing. You may even find people who're posting here if you bother with socializing. Actually found out that Yoni is in the same DE guild I am. I know that it's easy to blame the game and in a majority of cases, game design either is at fault or is a main contributor, but in GW2s case, players often act a lot dumber than they should've been allowed to.

Arah is basically the main victim of this patch. Maybe I'm a bit masochistic, but no more Lupus A**holicus is making me kinda sad. ...and the undead chicken, oh... the undead chicken... What have we lost...

The event is perfectly fine in its current iteration. What's wrong with having one community-building mainstream meta event?

My beloved Twilight Arbor Aetherblade Path... 😭

No no no. If you try to teach and explain mechanics, people will insult you for being a toxic elitist. Just look at all the hate Teapot got and is still getting. Funny how I can clear DE every single day just by using the LFG. Exaggerations much?

I'm not against GW2 being on the casual side. That's perfectly fine with me. I am however against GW2 being a Mario game where jumping is entirely optional.

Just saying: If everyone in open world would play that way, you'd fail certain events with timers. One of the more prominent examples would probably be Chak Gerent. If everyone wouldn't care about any kind of decent DPS, you'd probably have at least all three DPS phases or maybe even fail the event.

Really? In clownfiesta squads with a low amout of organization and communication, I still see half of the squad dying to Soo Wons one-hit AoE. 7k on average isn't hardcore. You'd be kicked out of every single raid with that amount of DPS if you play anything apart from full support builds. You don't even need to break Soo Wons defiance bar to finish DE with ~5 minutes left on the timer. In the DE guild I've joined, people just don't bother and simply go for the tail instead. Combo fields aren't necessary either, but they sure are amazing if used correctly. You can also easily use Marauder/Dragon/Trailblazer/Ritualist or other stat combinations and still do decent DPS. In fact, most open world builds are hybrids between DPS and survivability.

No. Really not. When I started playing GW2, I just took some random dps-optimized open world build from metabattle and did 10k~15k DPS in HoT meta events. Since I was actually interested in playing the game as an MMORPG, I took part in organized meta trains and - duh... - socialized. That even got - at that time - clueless me into raids. All that without ever trying to min/max everything. GW2 also doesn't require min/maxing at all. GW2 is a rather skill-spammy game. If you've followed the thread about the Hs accessibility challenge, you'd realize that a decent build and decent gear will do most of the damage. Those LI builds reach 30k+ DPS with 20 APM and below. You know, that's exactly why I love events like DE - because you have to play the game instead of leeching. I myself often leech certain events like Octovine simply because the event design really favors leeching and perusing second monitor content. I can just do damage on the Octovine and call it a day. DE on the other hand forces me to play which is simply good game design. The people who perform poorly are - at least in my experience - people who don't even bother and keep dying to AoEs. I never said that open world content should be hardcore content. It's just wrong though to assume that there can't be difficulty progression/variety in open world content. Just because DE needs you to do some mechanics and have some DPS doesn't mean that it's hardcore content. The only thing that's remotely hardcore about DE is organizing maps. You also can't have the entirety of open world content consist of farming maps. You do need some prestige content - even in open world - that leads to community building which - surprise, surprise! - DE actually does. There are several DE guilds now which do DE daily which is awesome. Not really. After almost 10 years of build-up and the EoD content leading to DE (including the tutorial area), basic knowledge of fundamental game mechanics at least consists of dodging, CC and proper movement. Add DE and Jade Bot buffs and that alone should be sufficient to beat DE if you have at least a halfway decent build. Well, you're fighting a friggin' dragon. Makes sense to focus a little bit on combat, right? No. Basic game mechanics and a decent build. A decent build already allows you to just smash your head into your keyboard for decent DPS. More than that in nice to have, but not necessary. Most people just want to get things done comfortably which includes people being able to pull their own weight by knowing about and applying fundamental game mechanics. That's in no way hardcore but - at least in every other MMORPG - the standard and common sense. It's perfectly reasonable in that regard to argue that the majority of open world content has been too easy if people won't know about and/or are able to deal with those fundamental game mechanics.

It would easily be inclusive if people would play the game as an actual game, having basic knowledge of fundamental game mechanics and applying said knowledge while playing, instead of some kind of interactive movie. The problem isn't DE being too hard - it really isn't -, the problem is the vast majority of open world content being too easy. The problem is that most of GW2s open world content can easily be consumed as "second monitor content". It's not a "game problem", it's a "player problem". That doesn't mean that it's your fault. It does mean though that there are several people who join DE with the clear intention of riding a bus instead of carrying their own weight.

Only noticed the change yesterday and boy... it's really horrible. Hope they'll revert that.

Ever thought that that famous sentence you initially wanted to quote may rather apply to people like yourself instead of the developers? It's not the developers fault that people limit themselves to a fragment of GW2s content. Since we're already quoting famous sentences and the like: Ever heard of Platons Parable of the Cave? Perfectly fits the occasion. That's normal and healthy for MMORPGs. You need crossover points for subcommunities so the community as a whole doesn't fragment further. You also don't need to be a hardcore person to be successful in content like DE or Strike Missions (especially the first three EoD strikes) - those only require very basic knowledge about fundamental game mechanics. The problem isn't the "can", it's the "want". People got away with effortless gameplay in open world content for years and sadly got used to it. You can participate in an abundance of open world content while having that open world content as "second monitor content" whereas the usual "second monitor content" basically turns into "first monitor content". That's not really healthy for a game. DE is perfectly doable by casual players. Again: the problem is the "want". DE - as stated above - only requires very basic knowledge about fundamental game mechanics.

Ok, I take that back. Thanks for adding it today. xD

Can we finally have some of the... well... more "exotic" mount skins, I guess, please? Dreadnought Raptor constantly cycles in and out of rotation. Some other skins like the Roadrunner Raptor haven't been seen for half a year. I actually feel trolled by Arena Nets marketing department by now.

I originally posted this under General Discussions. It was later moved here though. Would have prefered it if it had stayed in General Discussions since these builds are also good for open world gameplay. As long as you do decent damage and are able to pull your weight, nobody will really care what build you're using. At least I've never had problems trying out LI builds in PUGs on EU. Funny thing is that these builds are more likely to reach their potential due to being easier to apply than more complex rotations on meta builds. People really have to get rid of that notion that golem DPS is everything. Actual encounters aren't golems and mechanics will disrupt rotations and gameplay. Then discuss? What's wrong with sharing information here? Dude, both the builds themselves and the original videos are literally linked in the video description. At least interact with the content instead of outright complaining.

Please what? Guardian is exceptionally powerful - both in damage potential and survivability. Both cFB and cWB sit comfortably at ~40k DPS and both have a rather easy rotation meaning that they're more likely to reach those ~40k DPS in actual encounters than other builds with more complex rotations and similar damage potential. That's especially true for Willbender on which you only have to use F1 off CD and then bash your skull into your keyboard for massive damage. For high survivability builds on Guardian, you may want to check Lord Hizens builds on his yt channel. Those are exceptionally powerful for solo open world gameplay while still keeping decent damage potential. I won't deny that other classes aren't powerful, but it really seems like you're intentionally downplaying Guardian. Guardian has a very powerful toolkit and is inherently broken due to only being reliant on burning. That's what makes cDPS Guardian both cheaper than other cDPS builds and allows for a more diverse damage composition than other cDPS builds - you do have a certain amount of pDPS damage after all with your usual cDPS Guardian builds. Considering damage potential: Virtuosu sits at ~41k DPS, similar to Willbender and Firebrand, is more expensive (Writ of Masterful Accuracy hurts...) though if you want to play ideally and also relies on resource management (blade stacks) and Crits, which Guardian doesn't. Harbinger sits at ~41k DPS, similar to Willbender and Firebrand, relies on managing two resources (Blight and Life Force) though and features a more complex rotation. Ranger only sits at ~37k DPS with a rather annoying and scuffed cDPS build and a more complex rotation than Guardian. Specter sits at ~40k DPS, is more expensive than Guardian though and also needs allies to reach that potential. I won't deny that Mechanist is broken and could use some adjustments. TL;DR: I don't get why Guardian is supposed to be weak. Guardian is one of the strongest and and also one of the more versatile classes of the game. No offense intended, but maybe this is simply a l2p issue on your part.

Not really. Mechanist is overpowered and does need some adjustments. Guardian and weak? Guardian - at least Firebrand and Willbender - are still overpowered and could use some adjustments.

I wouldn't generalize "raiders". The raiding community is rather diverse. Even people like Teapot are in favor of these LI builds. In all honesty, considering what I'm used to, I'm already happy if stuff doesn't turn into a total clownfiesta. xD

Yeah. That's something I don't understand either. Especially in training or low LI/KP squads, people should be fine with LI builds. In such squads you'll most likely do more damage with a LI build than some very intricate and complex build. What people don't seem to understand is that mechanics will ruin complex rotations. No matter how high golem DPS is, raid bosses aren't golems. I dare say that some of these LI builds mentioned in that competition will easily outdamage more complex builds/rotations. LI Mechanist is probably especially noteworthy in that regard. Back when Soulbeast was implemented, I had some very solid experiences with Shortbow/Shortbow-Soulbeast. I still don't get why that build is still infamous. Is it human nature? Jealousy that those easy builds can trump the complex build you're playing?

Part 2 added in opening post.

Should he play the game for you or should we be able to expect some self-reliance from you? You know, the original videos and builds are linked. You could do a little bit of work yourself, but here you are: Complaining about something that's made by the community with the intention to help the community. Seriously...

In all honesty, it's your own fault for not applying to one of the several "turtle runs" which pop up on the LFG daily.

Why was this moved to Instanced Group Content when LI builds are perfectly fine for open world - especially meta events - and story content too? Such a dumb move from the moderators... Especially so because LI builds could help people during events like DE or people who are trying to get into instanced content but won't browse the subforum...

Oof. People badmouting EoD again just because you can't be (brain-) afk all the time. EoD maps are still well populated - you just have to use LFG to get into a populated map.