Shivvies.3921

As utilities, I'd use Blood Fiend, Rise, Signet of Spite, Well of Suffering and Flesh Golem.

By the way, I've been playing a lot of Reaper lately, since my last comment up there, so it is not that relevant now. I can tell you, it makes little to no sense to use anything other than berserker stats on Reaper in PVE and overland. We are so incredibly tanky, and we have SO MUCH more tanky options in trait lines (just use Death Magic and if you want overkill, Blood Magic) it is a huge loss to spend your stat points elsewhere. With full Bloodlust stacks you'd have 3kish power. Power is directly proportional to your damage. And you need to crit as much as you can (preferrebly 100%) which makes Ferocity a very important stat. In any case, try a build like I linked before changin stats. If that works for you, great. If not, sorry but math is clear. Damage is tied to stats and build. If you want a defensive thing carry a few pieces of Marauder or Cavalier but if you ask me, don't overdo it.

Yes, you are underestimating the value of stats.

Well, You really want greatsword for dragon hunter. Longbw is a bad weapon. Like, really bad. If you are not averse to swapping weapons, get a scepter and a focus on back bar for the symbol and the continuous damage thing (focus4 I think). Warrior can be very survivable. It is build. And Warrior has in-sane CC. Just use maces on backbar. But yes, not the best spec to solo bounties. I'd use axe for front bar on ranger instead of dagger. Stacks might too. And Maul - Hilt Bash - Maul - Worldy Impact is pretty impressive damage. All aside, Reaper is pretty much the best for soloing open world group mobs. Shroud is insane damage, greatsword is pretty impressive in terms of utility and damage and axe builds up life force pretty fast. Not my first choice, definitely, but based on what you are looking for I'd say give it another chance. Cheers!

I have a beast of a machine. Stable 80-100 FPS although I limit it to 60 so as not to have big variations. Performance mode is not that. You are saying there are no strobes because you are not sensitive to them and just not seeing them. Cheers.

This is the most uninformed post I have seen in a while. I have been playing games for over 35 years. There are games that give me very painful headaches due to photosensitivity and there are that does nothing to me. I also have been going on stage for over 20 years. We have our own lighting technician due to my photosensitive migraines. Some strobs really hurt me even when directed at the audience. This game, in 90% of its content, is fine. Some effects, some cutscenes, some combinations though - knock me down real bad. And there are actual ways to reduce stress on the photosensitive folks. Some games employ them, and even then, since you cannot account for ALL levels of photosensitivity, they give you a warning. I usually don't risk it if it isn't a title I've been waiting for a long time. So, yeah, whatever you say. We're quadriplegics trying to swim.

So, apparently, we un-meld when we mount up - as I shout "ONE BECOMES TWO" whereas all I do is mount the raptor. Also, far as I can tell, whenever I dismount rather fast after mounting or if there are less than a few seconds between to dismounts I THINK the game thinks I'm on cd and spawn my pet un-melded. It is better using my second pet as my main pet - still, melding / un-melding thing is an annoyance. This kind of makes me think that the melding mechanic is not playing well with the mounting giving you a new bundle. Dunno, can2t claim to have any knowledge of what's going there under the hood but it might be that Anet had to jiggle things into place and engine won't let them fix this easily. So, some Dev input would be lovely. Cheers!

What I mean is REALLY good players with really good setups and a lot of experience are not benchmarks. I probably should have said "nearly impossible for most of us" instead of "nearly impossible" to be fair though.

Sure, that is your average player with average experience doing solo overland... Right.

Disclaimers: I'm a semi-casual player who's just recently made it to scale 100 in fractals, never have raided and who has slow reflexes so my rotations are likely not really tight. Also this is pre coffee so with more focus I'd probably do a bit more. I kittened up a lot of chains due to it is being morning for me. Condi Chaos Mirage (full Viper) on average golem with 1 mil HP 9k; Power Soulbeast (Berserker Assassin mix) on average golem with 1 mil HP 12k; Power Staff Daredevil (full Berserker) on average golem with 1 mil HP 9k; Power Dagger Deadeye (full Berserker) on average golem with 1 mil HP 8k. I suspect about 40% more of these numbers would be the standard. I usually end up at 30-45% lower than the high end raiding group benchmarks. Cheers!

Ah, I missed your "not adjusted for gear" bit. Well, I never had a reason to test "without boons" but now I have something to do after I clean kitten poo I guess...

I'd never argue against "preference." This is a game and definitely personal preferences in content that does not affect others' enjoyment are #1 reason to do anything. That said, the reason I talked about that was basically sometimes people do not realise how EASIER they could have had it. If you have played a berserker necro with good damage runes and sigils and dislike it, it is 100% fine to go whatever you want as long as you do not think that you'll be effective in raids or fractals with that (and I'm pretty sure you do not think that at all). What is considered to be bad by the community usually assumes the optimal conditions for a Machiavellian result. So I wouldn't take "this is bad" comments seriously. The only problem is then it is not easy to give you a benchmark. I can only speak about benchmarks I have experience in - and I have always used glass cannon stats in solo. Considering all these, though, 4800 dps seems pretty alright considering that is above the average I see in squads for open world. There are usually 5-10ish people who do high numbers and rest do 2-4k in open world squads against scaling bosses. This is most probably using "farming builds" though, geared towards getting the highest number of tags, so take that with a grain of salt. Cheers!

I noticed this in the discussion. If true (and can anyone confirm this?), that appears to be a serious outlier, i.e. double what players report other optimized professions seem to be able to achieve in similar circumstances. I must confess that I try to stay out of balance discussions, but stuff like this kinda gives the game a black eye. Power Chrono can burst for that because the Chrono profession is the reason for the meta currently. They also die really easily. So the 24k burst on the golem means almost nothing. It is nearly impossible in solo conditions. Also, Chrono is not the easiest profession to play. I mean, I did not have much problem with my Mesmer but there is a reason people say "save your 80 boost for your Mesmer" :P Cheers!

I also do not play necro a lot but I have a pretty newbie necro in my static who does 10-12k bursts in open world without boonshare. I THINK he can sustain 8-9kish if he can just stand there and dps if that gives you an idea. Cheers!

I don't understand. Necro is like THE profession to go full on 'zerker. You guys have more hp than a defence traited warrior AND access to multiple tanky pets. Solo is basically a "dps role" for all professions really shorter TTK is queen in solo and doubly so for necro. I'd definitely go full zerker and scholars with force / accuracy on weapon. Cheers!

kharmin, I literally can disable your legendary armour look. My question is not whether it is a valid argument in a vacuum or not. My question is why this is even an argument when I can make everything generic and all I see is generic particles from no one in particular. Also, the legendary auras and such are NOT the problem for the majority of photosensitive people. White strob / eclectic strob is. If your argument had actual hold in Anet's vision, we'd never have the ability to disable people's looks. We can and even NPCs look flashier in that situation. Cheers!

I literally do not understand how it is any different than changing everyone's appearance to generic weight armour? Which you can do right this moment? How is that even an argument? "They do not care" is valid. "It undervalues the flashy effects" contradicts what is already in the game.

This. Probably engine / map coding related but along with the loot pickup counting on the exact spot where the map controls are, crafting and then using the map in Mistlock is a pain and it feels like I paid for the privilege of getting annoyed on a daily basis :expressionless: Cheers!

"It loses Anet money" - well, have you seen Lowest character detail? Everyone is wearing generic weight armour and nothing else. This doesn't stop people from making legendaries though. Flashes disabled LOCALLY is not going to lose Anet anything except maybe some dev time. However, this is a health issue. I can't play as long as I'd like to play. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people on the same boat. It would make the game much more friendly to those of the atypical optic nerve persuasion. Cheers!

This really limits my GW2 playtime :')

I know what we're talking about and "much slower" is not accurate. I myself was in bootcamp with 30 kilograms of "kit" on me doing all sorts of physical stuff and "slower" comes after you are tired. Also, not having everything covered might give you a (very) small edge in a featureless plane but not in say, Maguuma Jungles. Also also, a well distributed 30 kg (60 lbs) would impair movement in a much less noticable way than a kit - it is basically a single, large, clunky weight on your back versus "more on your whole body/joints." Also in the news, chainmail bikini is a painful thing to wear. It is not sports bra. If you are a woman with large breasts your movement is impaired further (possibly, to an extent). In any case, like I said above, I do not really care about the realism of the situation insofar as it applies to the discussion here. I do, however, like to geek out about realism vs. tropes. Cheers!

Without a question. There being a "heavy armour makes you look like a doofus" Hollywood trope does not preclude the "Hollywood shooters are extremely accurate" trope. We also are talking about really old, much fail prone weapons in conjunction with medieval armour AND lack of proper, scientifically reached techniques from breathing to posture. In any case, I do understand this is not an actual discussion of realism - I mean, it is a fantasy game. We throw magical energies around, hit 8 times to everything around us within 2-3 seconds, throw greatswords and have them come back to us etc. I just wanted to chime in with the trope versus reality checks. I despise overly sexualised women's armour in games. I do not despise "sexy clothing" for anyone. When it is for the proverbial male gaze, it is disturbing and alienating, in my opinion. I do not want GW2 to be that game. We already have Vegas Cloth Armour which is the weirdest, out of place kitten in this game which is meh of the highest calibre. However, these are my opinions and ideas. I will leave it at "I despise this type of sexualisation" and will not bring realism or another pointless point of discussion into it. Cheers!

I remember the wise words of Sean, line editor of GURPS 4th Edition Characters, when I see such things... "You can't dodge a bullet because you can't see it coming." THis, of course, does not mean you can't anticipate the shooter and get out of the way. However, "mail and plate armour restricting movement" is a bit of a film trope. I am a materials scientist and a nerd. I have friends who make historically accurate weaponry, armour etc. - even better, using historically accurate methodology. It is significantly more work for lower quality but clears the "but this is modern steel" argument which is not really an accurate argument but good job I have nerdier friends who like hitting hot iron with a hammer for hours. You can dodge roll, wrestle, jump, pirouette, dance (until you can't - it IS tiring) in a well made mail and plate made to the specs. Cheers!

I'll echo the sentiments here. The ability to turn off friendly / enemy/ squad/party... even self-effects may seem like a bandaid in terms of dev vision and the alternative of going through each and every effect and making a photosensitive-friendly version may be out of the question. This, I understand. But it is an opt-in and a health issue. Please consider the band-aid. I mean, it is hard to explain to people who have no issues with this, obviously but to give you an idea, I love my Mirage and I'd like to main her but I can't if I'm not at my best that day because when I'm like that, I can't look at the screen and stay sane for extended periods of time with all the flash. So I main other classes when people depend on my ability to pull my weight. Now, my particular case, I don't expect to be sorted at all - if I can't Mirage, I can't Mirage. I understand there is a limit to what the design philosophy would allow. Since the design is focussed on making the gunplay more reliant on senses than the UI, I expect a self-effect slider to never happen but that was meant as a means to convey how it is for some people. Cheers!