pfuetzi.5421

I also think the difference between hardcore and casuals is somewhat made up because proficiency is fluent and not an either or. Player might considers themself experienced while other would say they are noobs. It is not clear what people expect: Is is sufficient to not wipe the group on an encounter, probably not. How much of a damage descepancy needs there to be to be a "leech" tough? How well do you need to understand a certain encounter? All of that is often not very clear and I think most toxicity araises when those expectations clash.

If you use the recommanded build and rotation, reasons for "low" numbers is probalby that you don't have the right timing when chaining your skills. You can queue your skills so that there is no pause between them. However, when you are too fast, skills might not cast at all and CC skills will cancel other skills. You also need to know what your high dps skills are and how they are influenced by your traits. I don't play elementalist but some traits of other classes give you a % dps boost for a couple of seconds after certain conditions are fulfilled. That is when you want to cast your big dps skill. Getting that right is often more important than pressing your "filler" skill in the right order. Also, getting a good opener helps a lot at the golem 😉 Edit: As mentioned before the youtube number are no average of a good player but usually the absolut maximum if you do it near perfectly. I would imagine that you can improve a lot with some practice and research. However, from my experience, you will need to invest a lot of time to get minor improvement at some point. For me that is around 70% bench (at which point I usually don't bother any more ;-))

The rotation seems to be not that easy as the first sentence on the SC page stats: Condition Mechanist is a very strong Condition Damage class that has a fairly high skill ceiling

I don't know. I rarely even see someone requiring good dps/bigs dps (and if they ask I guess they want someone that can pull 80%+ bench on the golem). DPS almost never comes up in discussion unless a dps player rivals the healers for dps or we fail a boss due to lack of dps (and that almost never happens nowadays). For example, I can't even remember the last time an updraft was needed for gorse (which was rather common back in the days when pugging...). I mean, I can hardly pull 70% bench on any of my classes but still feel comfortable to join any raid wing (including cms) and kill the boss without being carried.

Sorry, you clearly have no idea what a social contract is and you are missing the point completely on what I am saying. However, I am tired of explaining because I am afraid you will never get it. I am out.

How do you know best practices: Experience and asking other player. Sharing what worked for you and trying the suggestions of others. When things work, keep doing it and the best practices will spread 😉 There is no enforcement needed, because you want to use them. Social contract is tricky indeed. That's why I said it is interesting what everyone expects and discuss it. It is a good method to reflect one's own behavior (that is what the TO did with his thread btw). It can also be used to explore where we as a community want to be and why. For example, do we want to change the role of commander in way in order to achieve certain goal. For example you could argue that commanders "should" be more inclusive and explain more, so more player are inclined to do harder content. Or on the contrary, you might argue, it should be expected less from the commanders, e.g. other players can explain the encounter and organize the group, in order to encourage more player to tag up. Pros and cons.

My point is simple. My examples show that your simple assessment of "commander's squad, is commander's squad. If you want your rules, make your own group" is insufficient, because certain behavior are expected and some will not be accepted (you called one of my examples scaming (rightly so)). Thus, the question is what more is needed and you even asked it yourself (though presumebly ironically). I gave you the answer: a social contract which involves for example "The commander will not scam me". That contract is usually implicit which makes it worth discussing as perceptions of it will differ. The TO essentially asked whether he broke the (implicit) social contract with his behavior (as commander's squad, is commander's squad. apparently didn't work). So what are the bounderies of that social contract can be discussed. I also don't know what makes you think that I think, the commander should explain everything. I never said so and don't think they should. Do I think, the TO could have handled the situation better? - Yes. That's why I said it might also be worth discussing best practices... So everything is highly relevant to the topic at hand and is directly linked to the TOs question 😉 And to make the point even more specific: Do I think the TO broke the social contract? No, he clearly stated experienced, a new player joined and he kicked him. Was that a good idea? Probalby not. The content is so easy that more energy went into communicating the kicking and much more time was wasted. Best practices would be imho to be rather lenient with easy content in which a new player cannot wipe a group. I would not explain the whole encounter but just write: "If you get aoe under you, move out of the group, otherwise follow tag". That way, even if that player leeches a couple a runs, he will be more experienced after. Worst case by being kicked, the new player learned "ok, if I want to do content, I don't tell the commander that I am clueless next time..." And if you want to kick the new player, don't beat around the bushes: "Sorry, this is an experienced group and we want a fast kill." Then kick them. Both of it, is what worked for my groups.

According to you: commander's squad, is commander's squad. If you want your rules, make your own group. Again your argument, not mine... By the way, I never talked about "rules" but about best practices and social contracts. If you don't know what those are there is probably a wiki about it... The "rules" argument is actually your straw man. I never talked about rules...

Why? Because you would prevent interaction as described by the TO! Why? Because it sets expectations for everyone involved! Why? Because it makes interaction so much smoother! For example: I think it is good practice to stat your role if you leave a group. Of course, you don't owe that to anyone but it is a good idea to enforce such behavior anyways. Do you think it is good practice that a commander kicks you at last boss to invide a friend? Do you think it is good practice that a commander ask for kp he doesn't have himself? Do you think it is good practice when a commander asked for kp but his friend gets a free leech and not telling anyone? Do you think it is good practice that a commander doesn't kick the guy who has no clues and wipes the group over and over? According to you, that would be all fine, he owe's you nothing and his rules (which you possibly don't even know). If such things happen you would probalby leave the group and blacklist the commander. Luckily that doesn't happen (or rarely) because there is already a social contract! Luckily! Otherwise, pugging would be hell. The questions is rather where the bounderies are. If there is truely no social contract at all, players are as free to join any groups they want (because the game allows it) as are commanders to kick whoever they want whenever they want (as the game allows that). I hope everyone agrees that that is an undesirable perspective...

You are missing the point. Noone talks about the ability to kick. The whole discussion is about whether it is "ok/sound/appropriate/dumb/irresponsible/necessary/etc." as I stated and as was asked for by the TO. And as this thread shows players do have different opinion about that, thus debate. And I think it is actually a good idea to come to a common understanding what is best pratice for commanders. There are pros and cons to different approaches.

Nowhere in the game it is said coms need to have the requirements they asked for. Nowhere in the game it is said coms cannot kick you without reason just before a boss is killed. So, we have established that what the commander role entails is a social contract of sorts that is not specified within the game 😉 So whether it is "ok/sound/appropriate/dumb/irresponsible/necessary/etc." to kick or rather when to kick is up to debate.

I agree, it is your group and you can make the rules. So, it would not villainize you for it. However, an easy strike with one new player, I would have given them a pass, especially as they were forward about it. You don't need to be nice but you shouldn't expect other players to like you for it 😉

I am quite certain, playable Tengu will be released together with Wing 8 🙃

I think, it is because there isn't a large enough pool of players to match them properly in a reasonable time.

Btw: There are also a lot of mechs because it has so many playable builds: Power-Mech, Heal-Mech, Power-Alac-Mech, Condi-Mech. I don't see where the class is underpowered at all... Just because one build (Power-Mech) isn't the ultimate faceroll anymore, it is still a very beginner friendly build that gets the job done.

I agree. Moreover, this might actually be a great opportunity to gain some confidence 😉 T1 fractals are very easy and if you just say "hi" you are good to go. From my experience, it is also no problem at all if you say you are new to fractals. In T1, no need for roles really. I would suggest that you just join a group even if it is not "your" fractal just to see how it goes. It will progress your personal fractal lvls as well.

Luckily, bosses hit like a wet nuddle or you attack them from behind, so you don't get smacked by their attacks. Stacking is the way to go (as already mentioned). That is how the group content works in this game. No way around it. You better make your peace with it or you won't be happy. Nonetheless, sometimes range is still helpful to keep attacking when a boss switches postions for example. As for builds. Base Engi Condi grenates works just fine and Rifle Holo should be ok as well. However, some of the high dps skills are still melee in those builds. Btw, Jump shot should be considered a melee skill or a gap closer to get into melee 😉

I second the previous comments. You can play anything you want as long as you perform ok on it. There is nothing wrong with your own build. I would say, if you can reliably hit 20-25k on the golem (with all buffs/all condition), it is sufficient. You probalby won't be top dps but should be able to clear every raid boss without getting totally carried (especially with emboldened). Doing mechanics and not die is worth at lot 😉. Fractals are easy to start with. T1/T2, you can probalby play whatever you want but you need Agony Resitance at some point. Just give it a try and see where you land. btw: I actually like meta builds because I don't have the time and knowledge to optimize my homebrew build. "Meta builds" are a very convenient way to get started because they just work and even when you don't play them optimally, you usually get enough out of it to do good enough 😉

I think what many that are opposed to ingame systems miss is that segregation already happens. Implementing a good ingame system would actually be more inclusive than the current system imho. Atm groups ask for very high kp and LIs because those metrics are very flawed. Furthermore, many players resert to Discord communities, etc. because it is much easier to organize groups and find players. In sum, a lot a people are excluded that might get a chance if there is a proper ingame adaptation of those features. People like Obtena.7952 are afraid that players will be segregated via an ingame system but the segregation is already happening and an ingame system might help to mitigate that.

For end game content, you need dps, boon support and healers. As you already have beserker gear, I would not craft Vipers as that is just more dps and there are almost no bosses for which condi-dps is better. Harrier could work for Firebrand and Herold altough other healers are better atm. Firebrand is nice for fractals though. Edit: For Power DPS (berserker Gear), Willbender, Herold, Vindicator, Bladesworn, Berserker, Spellbreaker, all work well

I would actually prefer when there was no immersion-breaking outfits but it is no gamebreaker for me. It is also hardly a new trend imho. Ever second toon runs around with silly wings and particle overfow which is much more immersion breaking than the pillows if you ask me.

How about, it is a fun fight? It is new and exciting. I would rather play with a new group and wipe all day on that encounter than doing any world boss for the millionth time. I do not care for the reward at all. It is the gameplay I am interested in. I actually don't get that attitude at all. Doing something because of the reward should be the exception rather than the rule. PS: btw, there is a shard vendor in LA iirc.

I think when it comes to instanced pve the combat system is the biggest advantage and disadvantage to gw2. Because it is so dynamic and versatile (see my last paragraph), playing your character to its full potential is really hard. Therefore, to make pve content achievable by a wide player base, the boss mechanics cannot be too difficult. However, that means that for players who can control their toon very well, the content is really easy and they can carry the rest really hard. Furthermore, gw2 "roles" (Heal/Alac/Quickness) have emerged because it is an easy way to organize a group. There is nothing wrong with everyone playing a build that does some boons/healing but that would be a pain to organize in order to make sure everything is covered. It is often said that raid encounters are "stand in greens" / "avoid reds" but that is not true (even for the earlier encounters) altough, to be fair, some of those mechanics are skipped nowadays because of power creep. However, usually only a couple of experienced player need to and usually will do those mechanics. If you are pugging you will notice that groups often wipe when that is not the case, e.g. when random players have to do those mechanics (Sabatha green bomb*/ sloth poison) or when players are unfamiliar with a boss-specific mechanic. Also, many subtle mechanics are handled by experienced player and you wouldn't even notice they did something (e.g. boonstrip bosses at critical moments; apply group aegis/stability against certain attacks; projectile reflects; clearing shards at Xera; distort Sloth's shake and many more). There are actually a lot of things you can do if you know your class and the mechanics of an encounter, enabled by the combat systems far beyond stand in greens and avoid reds. * I know it is not random who gets the green bomb but for many pugs it kind of is 😉

I had a similar experience with the fractal in T3 in that we needed a lot of tries to beat it. We had no healer and the meteor after the fire phase killed us. We adjusted our builds and finally killed the boss. And here is where the similarities with the TO ends because I thought it was really cool. It was a challeging fight for us at the moment and we figured out a way to make it work and succede. I loved it. Everyone was really happy that we finally did it. Never once did it occur to me that I wasted my time because the reward was not good enough for my time investment...

I have never seen someone get kicked before the first attempt because that player choose an off-meta class. As long as the boss dies, people rarely complain even if the off-meta build did subpar dps for example. As a dps you should do more damage than the offensive quickness/alac providers. As a boon-provider, you should be able to give a decent uptime of boon. As a tank, you should know where to move the boss, etc. Most wipes happen because mechanics are failed, players don't adapt if things go south, bad movement (taking unnecessary damage), etc. There are almost no bosses that required a hard dps/healing check. Edit: It can be very helpful though to change some skills for a specific encounter to make it easier for everyone. With the right build, sometimes just the right ultilities, you can makes fights sooo much easier for everyone if you know when to use them and carry your team hard even if some player screw up.