AliamRationem.5172

I definitely hope GW3 has more instanced group content and I hope they abandon the non-trinity and basic UI stuff to give us more nuanced group roles and better encounter design. I think the open world content in this game is great, but I agree a little more balance including more resources put toward instanced group content would be nice.

Call me crazy, but if GW3 released today I'd be playing it. Wouldn't you? I don't really see a downside to that. I like GW2. I've spent years playing it. But I'm always ready to move on if I can find something better. I don't consider enjoying a game for years wasted time just because I don't get to bring the rewards I earned with me. They only have meaning to me while I'm actively playing the game.

I don't really see a difference here. If $50 is a trivial amount of your time, then what are you losing? You get whatever enjoyment out of your legendary weapon that you want, and when you stop playing for whatever reason that's $50 you aren't getting back.

I'd rather have a new game based on the same IP than a remake of the same game with updated graphics. It can't be a revelation that the rewards you earn in an MMO are temporary, lasting only until either you stop playing or the game shuts down. I can understand why an impending release of another game you intend to play exclusive to this one would be demotivating, but this is still years off and may not happen at all. Why should that have any impact at this point?

True. But it's also true that any class can handle them with a good build and some know-how. It sounds like the OP may be a bit lacking in the latter and may have to rely a little more on the build to get the job done. Hence the question.

Condi reaper is very strong. It can probably get over 20k DPS in celestial gear while also having very high sustain. Sorry, I don't play it or I'd offer you a build. It's too bad you don't like ranger. Untamed can tear these champions down very quickly. Like Broodmother and Tengu. A lot of people seem to think ranger is a ranged class with pet tanks and that playstyle would be a big turnoff for me. But this being GW2, I find it's best played by getting up close and personal at melee range while the pets are just there for boons and unleashed attacks.

I dunno. My guild is slowly being taken over by mesmers. Between chrono and virt, mesmer seems highly competitive in every role and arguably the outright best in a lot of cases. And of course it has about the best overall utility of any class, too. It doesn't hurt that most people find them fun and interesting to play, too. Especially chrono.

No because investing resources into underwater specs would necessitate investing resources into underwater content. It's a cool idea, but underwater combat feels like garbage where normal combat feels great. I wouldn't like to see more of it.

Convergences give you a huge damage buff if you hold onto your collected essence. You can also use potions and sigils of night and demon slaying to further magnify your damage output far beyond what is possible under normal conditions. This makes convergences not a particularly useful metric for comparing classes.

Are the cats more or less the same or is there some reason the tiger is listed twice (is that even possible to do?)? I've been using the tiger and the jungle stalker because I heard cats have the best DPS and in solo the might on the stalker is useful. Is there a better option for some reason?

They said "Fun or not brainless", so I'm gonna go with they were saying reaper is fun.

It's true that it encourages using the skills whether you need the effects or not, but unless you're playing a class that has more than two weapon bars (i.e. not ranger) functionally there isn't a lot of difference. You're stuck in that weapon bar for longer than it takes to use all of the skills, so you either use them all or, in the case that a skill is lower DPS than the AA chain, you fill with AA. This isn't much different than spamming. You just choose the order based on what you need first and push buttons.

But you can rent-a-skyscale on that map, no?

Drizzlewood? Doesn't that map have parachute drops? You could glide in right?

I don't think you need a flying mount for a single thing that isn't directly related to flying mounts (e.g. griffon mastery courses), do you? And whenever you do, don't they give you access to a temporary?

Condi tempest was dealing a bit too much damage relative to other elementalist specs. A shave to its DPS was appropriate.

If you want to argue that all elementalist specs should perform a bit higher than standard for obvious reasons, I'm with you. But tempest was outperforming the other elementalist specs while also being the easiest to play and the best support spec. A trim on its damage output probably wasn't unwarranted from that perspective.

I was first day playing my ranger, just trying to unlock all the pets. So I walked into WvW to get the one there and immediately get attacked by a condi willbender. I haven't touched pvp in years and I don't know anything about playing ranger. So I just panic pressed some buttons and the willbender was downed in two hits. I had to check combat log to even see what I did. By comparison, condi doesn't seem like that big a deal.

I prefer sword myself, but most people looking for easy want range and scepter is the option for that type of build.

I might do something like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGAFsE26WZGMN2FbhRijqzZ7C-DyIY1ov/MSQCEn6QhHDYZRpNA-e Much better damage, easy full uptime protection, easy might. Should deal pretty good damage. You could also use trailblazer for a bit better damage.

I'll be honest. I coulda used more cowbell.

You know what else will make it seem like players aren't interested in fractals? A 3 year gap before releasing a new fractal.

I obviously can't say whether or not they'll tone down the visuals for you, but a few tips you might share with your groups: When she flies to the center, there'll be a split phase immediately following. Any ranged attackers should move out of the center so their kill zones don't overlap anyone else. If you have more than one melee, determine ahead of time who will "greed" by remaining on the boss. If you have invulnerability, the damage can be prevented. Immediately following the split phase there'll be a breakbar. You want to CC this, but not too quickly. Slow CC to finish the bar at the last second is ideal as it gives you more time to DPS. This is especially important during the water phase as avoiding the second part of water phase by finishing the fight early avoids the easiest point of failure for most groups. You can also skip air phase if you're able to deal enough damage during this time. When fire phase begins, stand near the center until you see which area on the perimeter is clear so you can move there. Move as a group from safe zone to safe zone to avoid fire waves and meteorite impacts. After the meteorites drop in fire phase, the boss will stand in the center. You can DPS her for a few seconds here, keeping an eye on the rocks to see which one is the last remaining so you can get behind it. Don't try to stand behind rocks early as you won't knock which ones will be destroyed and you miss out on DPS. When water phase begins, have everyone group up outside of the center so that you all get pushed back to the same place. Move as a group into the center, being sure everyone stands in the green circles to spread the damage. The blue beams spawn in a clockwise direction. If you have no stacks, step in front of the group in the direction of the next spawn to catch the beam. Mind your stacks and begin moving back behind the group at 3 or 4. If stacks reach 10 you die. If you do have to deal with second water phase, stay out of the middle and don't attack the boss. I think the most important piece of this advice (aside from everyone staying alive by handling mechanics properly) is managing the breakbar. One reason this boss may feel like a health sponge is because you have small windows of time where you can deal damage. The boss is always moving around or phasing, forcing you to deal with mechanics. The breakbars at the center represent a significant period of time where your group can DPS. So if you can manage this properly with slow CC to finish the bar as late as possible, you give your group the best chance to skip the dreaded second water phase that kills most groups that struggle with this fight.

This. I wish they'd at least make the icons more distinctive.

Yeah, it's pretty sad. Weaver even gets outperformed by tempest and catalyst. What's the point of a pure DPS spec that isn't great at DPS?