Naxos.2503

You got it entirely right. It's rather refreshing to see someone gets it still. Fractal is the only the relic that applies burning, it requires using Earth to trigger Bleeding. On a fire themed character, Runes and specializations are all tweaked toward Burning, not Bleeding, hence I'd have to waste a sigil and improve crit chance to trigger a Sigil of Earth, which is woefully inefficient, or go Earth Specialization which is even Less efficient. Relic of Fractal just doesn't work on a thematic level, nor does it even work on a practical level. PS : You also pretty much devined what I used for my Flame Shaman, which is indeed : A charr, camping Fire at all times, using Glyph of Elemental Harmony for healing, Glyph of Firestorm, Signet of Fire, Glyph of Lesser Elemental and Glyph of Elemental. Specialization in Fire, Arcane and Weaver, all of it to specifically boost fire. I used Baelfire Runes used to be, they'd also shift 7% of my power to Expertise which was a benefit to my setup, and made the build viable on PvE and WvW even if I didn't build it for efficiency

Apparently, they seem Really against the idea of anything creating an entity, so I dont know whether they will bring that back in the same form it used to be (as a non controllable entity). I just miss thematic upgrades. I have a fire elementalist character without any fire related relics. How is it sensical for my flame shaman to use a relic for Poison or torment damage because that's the only condi relic allowed ? Give Me FIRE ! My inquest engineer also feels sad without his golem, but at this point I'd settle for a relic that activate on crit every 20/30 seconds to trigger a crowd control attack and gives me something like Protection or Fury as it despawns, I dont know, just to have a bit of identity back to my chars.

Honestly, most people who used and enjoyed Summons from runes liked them for thematic reasons, it could be as simple as summoning them similar to a mesmer Phantasm on a 30 sec cooldown to deliver a specific attack. It would be Something, and it wouldn't bug Anet or whoever else got annoyed at summons for some reason, since it would be summoned and despawned after the attack. It doesn't even need to be a physical entity

9 months post release : No summon relics. No Burning synergy relics. In fact pretty much most of the condi users beside Poison got scuffed. Very little synergies for crowd control. Some relics are entirely useless to a good number of classes, Ressource relics in particular. And many more that I'm not using but others are prolly also missing. So much diversity and fun lost. For what ?

I have read it, and it doesn't adress anything I've expressed since the release of that content. Thus, I feel no obligation to give it any more time than I have already given to it by expressing my feedback post release. I'm not disliking the post or anything, merely stating the fact that the game no longer seems interested in having me play it. I haven't played since SoTo released and the post doesn't give me any reason to engage with it, since it's basically a "Everything going on schedule" post.

The lack of answers regarding that specific issue from the devs -have- led me to drop the game semi permanently. My biggest interest in the game has been thematic character builds, which this update has ripped to shred, and nothing has thus far has compensated for it. Now, if the devs said "Not to worry, we'll add all the effects back over time" then I'd probably be playing less, but still playing. It's been months after Soto dropped, and i've not seen it mentionned. Much more worrying for me though, is that they've also not said the opposite. Which means they know it's an issue, and seem to be purposefully avoiding to adress it. I've not felt any desire to come back and play since that update dropped, and that is not going to change, as I now believe they fully intend on Not adding them back. I still check the forum to see whether or not this is adressed but every time I have less and less reasons to check. And for those who feel like quitting because of that is overblown : Dont judge. We all play differently and for different reasons. I dont grind. Ever. I gain gold very slowly, and every ounce of it went into my chars to be tailored to use a very specific build. Their appearance is tailored to match that build. That's how I play the game. That update ruined 9 of my 12 chars. No relic has been able to make it work, because none of those relics go beyond the theme of "Numbers go high !". It was a bland update. I got nothing from it, and lost from it. I have no reasons to login because I'm missing pieces of my chars that Anet hasn't said they'd give back.

To be fair, none need any complicated and flowery language to make a point : The rune system as it was had more content than the relics do, and thus more overal choices. The relic system while it has more freedom as a System is woefully unfinished, and thus the "more choices" arguments hold little to no water.

Something bothered me with that statement, and I now can explain why. Other games expansions certainly do -not- work like this. An expansion is a self contained content patch. It's released -in full-, from the moment it is paid for. This is not it. Everyone paid full price for 1/4 of an expansion, and the expectations that we'll get the rest of the content later. Personally I did not see that mentionned anywhere when it was announced, if it was, it certainly wasn't advertised. There is a very clear difference between an expansion, and a paid patch. With the current amount of new content (next to nil) that cannot be considered an expansion. I will elaborate : No new weapons for any classes. There is an unlock of Existing weapons, but there was no new asset added, nothing beyond ticking a box to allow weapon usage. No new Elite Spec, we knew that, but it still bites, as currently no class had a significant gameplay change. No new mount. The skyscale is an existing mount, though it has genuinely been improved, artificial limitations initially set when it was first created were simply loosened. The only new element added was the Fireball which is a notable feature. 3 maps, of which 1 reuses existing assets entirely. 1 map is still missing and will be delivered piece meal Relic system is literally Rune system being tweaked and split. It's an existing system. It's only saving grace is that it technically isn't part of the expansion, but the expansion supposedly heavily leans into it, which is a gray area at best. 40 core relics, 12 new effects, out of 100 existing rune effects, of which it was not confirmed that they'd add all the missing effects on a 1 to 1 basis. So, what did this expansion currently add ? A new daily system replacement with the Wizard's Vault, which is significantly different enough to count, despite it's pitfalls. It is also not specific to the expansion and is in fact released to every player, with it benefitting expansion holders more. So, in the same way as the relics, calling it an expansion feature is debatable and at best, a gray area. 3 new maps, which no matter how they're decorated are still 3 new areas 2 armor sets A couple of masteries. A storyline. Now if we sum it up, this expansion brings paying players : A story, 3 new maps, one of which reuses assets heavily, 2 armors, some masteries. None of these Needed to be in an expansion and could have been released as a living story episode with more focus to each of it's parts. I do however believe that calling it a Living Story episode would have raised the issue of it being paid for on release, as opposed to previous Living Story episodes. In this particular case though, the content released is simply not expansion worthy.

You're not, but apparently voicing criticism and expecting some sort of answer from the devs is a high crime of treason and punished by ostracism and ridicule. I'll take my chances and weather out this situation onto other games. I was hoping to see a statement before I do, but I suppose this is fine regardless. I hope the story's okay for everyone that's playing through, in most releases story was generally decent and interesting, so here's hoping the only thing they fumbled was the system.

Where did that even come from ? Did I do anything to deserve to be compared to a bot ?

It's perfectly fine to enjoy the game. Enjoyment however, is subjective. I wish you good fortune ahead.

Worst part is, I dont hate the game, I just feel betrayed because something I crafted over many years has been taken away from me, and all I have are "maybes" as to whether or not I'll have them back. If anything if I should have quit right here and there, instead I'll go on a hiatus. I just want to see a response from the devs that shows they understand the concerns players have of having existing mechanics and content removed with nothing to compensate other than fareaway promises. If I hated the game, I wouldn't have bothered creating and tailoring those characters over 10 years, and continuing to do so over the years. I love that game, I hate what they're doing to it.

The problem with that is that the third update means within 3 quarters. That's mid 2024. *Edit : Since someone is confused by what I mean by that, I'll refer you to This : Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure Launches Today – GuildWars2.com And quote : "The story that launches today will continue over the next three major releases (roughly one major release per quarter), joined by system updates, additional rewards, new weapon proficiencies, new instanced combat encounters, and more. " then direct you to the board-like roadmap under the statement. If we assume that we get update 1 by the end of this year, which is still 4 months away, update 2 by the end of march/april, then we get update 3 by roughly june/july next year. This is going to be a long time. If they plan on adding a few relics with every major update, it'll take 1 year before players have access to everything they used to have. What they should have done was to first replace all existing effects of rune 6 and in future updates, if they wanted, add new effects which -would- have been great. But right now it's just an all around nerf to everyone with promises of improvement over time. They're lucky this isn't technically part of the expansion and freely "given" to all, because otherwise people would have paid to be downgraded

I'm in that boat as well, and will go on a hiatus. I've built up my chars carefully, they've been butchered. I have no ties to the game currently beside my chars, so that's that

Here's a thought for ANET : Remove the scuffed relics we have now, bring back to rune 6 effect, and dont replace them till they're All properly replaced. This is a severe downgrade to many builds that are not adequately compensated for, this is Punishing.

Those summons arent effective for afk farming, which has always been the hunting ground of one class and that's Necro. To a far lesser degree, engineer. Neither of which are affected, and neither of which relied on those. This just punish quirky and interesting builds and gives nothing back

Half of my chars are unuseable as is because the relics dont adequately replace the effects they took away. The story and maps are delivered piece meal. The only thing I can somewhat appreciate, even if i question the utility of, is that the wizard's vault stuff is not Permanently shelved after cycling, Here's the bad aspect of it for me though : I have spent a lot of time carefully crafting my chars to not just appearance but gameplay wise to be thematical. This axed about half of my chars from a thematic and Useable standpoint. The only thing those relics replaced are -boring- effects. No effect is ground breaking. They forcefully downgraded half of my char and took away something that was important to them from a story perspective and from usage perspective. This is NOPE. Till they fix this, I'm out permanently.

After checking, it's quite bad. A lot of effects are not covered by relics at all currently, to wit : Condis : Bleeding, Fire, Confusion Skill type : Glyphs Skill recharge : Many weapons have skills that recharge under 20 seconds from skill 1 to 5, rendering some weapons unuseable for Rune of Fireworks. Funny enough, most skills that Do go over 20 seconds are condi based, where Fireworks is Power based. Summons : -NONE-. Power : Heavily skewed toward Burst, many Hybrid such as Rune of infiltration are not possible Stat transferance (ex : 7% of power to expertise) : -NONE-. I can prolly add to the list as I sift through my chars but holy hell is this devastating. Thus far, half of my chars rune choices are completely invalidated, requiring a complete new set of runes. Along with that, a couple are downright unuseable due to the rune's effect not being replaced by relics.

That was unfortunate, but predictible, people raised that issue when Relics were first revealed. It was bound to essentially destroy many a build. And because I doubt Relics are easy to get, everyone is now stuck in build reset hell. No transition allowed

They mentionned quarterly releases specifically. Meaning by definition that most of the content is due for release in 2024. I'm quite on the backfoot there as I didn't foresee content being cast that far away from "release". In fact, it feels like people who Bought the expansion have essentially Crowd Funded 3/4 of the expansion, as it seems a fair amount of content mentionned has not been developped yet. And I perfectly understand if people are particularly annoyed at that sentiment, since that's not what buying an expansion is supposed to be like. This essentially confirms my current hiatus. I dont feel like the price tag reflect the content we're getting at release. It'll be worth the price when the content is fully released and not before, that's my take on it, everyone is free to have theirs.

If you want to make a Just pool, representative of the playerbase to give advice on how to balance the game, the last thing you do is compose the group of the exact same type of player. You either make it fully varied, with equal representation of casual, pro, old and new players. Or you build it to reflect your playerbase as it is currently and renew the batch every time you call on it. The first method is easier to manage, the second require more work but is more accurate a representation. By definition "Fun" for a casual player and for a pro player is generally Very different. Taking advice from only one will alienate the other. Taking the opinions of both allows for atleast a compromise. It let's the dev see what is considered efficient and thus fun from a pro player's perspective, and what is interesting and thus fun for a casual. Honestly though ? If it isn't already happening, then I dont see it happening.

I'm fine with most changes, but I question two of them, specifically The rune/relic thing, doesn't feel like it was actually necessary, if anything I think rune levels should be removed and every rune on the Exotic level. There is no point for masterwork and rare runes, none use them. If relics are too limited to craft or gated like ascended stuff, it's going to throw a fair amount of players in build reset hell for a fair amount of time, which feels unnecessary. The second change is more specific, I dont mind removing the specialization weapon lock, and I can appreciate adding more weapons to classes, but I Seriously question some of the weapons picked for their given classes. Rifle for mesmer ? Dual maces for ranger ? You're sure you dont have those reversed ? There is Range in Ranger right ? how do we not have a rifle for a hunter setup yet ? Axe for thief ...? That is literally the least delicate weapon beside hammer... Longbow would have made much thematic sense. There are no specializations to carry and justify those weapons now, they have to fit with core. I struggle to see how Core Thief can work with an axe.... I dunno, some of them feels alright : Guardian with Pistol can work with a Shield as a tactician type of warrior, along with shouts. Warrior Staff works for martial arts, dual swords for necromancer kinda make me think of dervishes, which is cool. But then... Axe thief and rifle mesmer...

Mostly people that dont know what to expect really. That plan can go either way, but some got disappointed by past experiences and would rather avoid a repeat, while others understandbly want more content without draught and are willing to take a shot. I'm of the first category, but again, so long as they stick the landing, I could go for it. Personally I dont see faster content as a good thing, because by definition, faster rarely goes in hand with quality, so if that's the only thing that changes, I'm unlikely to be satisfied. I'll simply stay cautious, as will others. It's not so much a crystal ball as not cutting them a blank check really, which I think is fair

I honestly dont mind paying for content, so long as the effort it deserve is put in. If it's just pushing reskins for equipment, and a mastery that is limited to one map, which is slowly expanded with barely a difference of atmosphere and content, then it's very simple : I wont pay for it. If time is taken to design equipment and make it not only varied but Fitting in the world, if the mastery makes sense and isn't just a one time gimmick, and can change gameplay across many previous maps, and if the map is expanded in a meaningful, thematic and contextualized way, then I will happily pay for it. Just because they want to sign off on Living World doesn't mean the world they're making should be less alive. That's what I reproach to the latest releases. It's not alive, I dont feel the warmth, I dont watch fleshed out characters. I watch stereotypical characters with little to no history interract with eachother in cliche ways, in a pretty cardboard world. When I brought friends to the game, I sold it to them like so : It's a rare thing, to see a game that was made with love. I haven't seen that love in a long while, and that's what the game needs more than frequent expansions. It need TLC.

If they want this to stick they Seriously need to put in more effort into writing their characters, properly contextualizing them, fleshing out areas and making them tie in with the rest of the world. Yes, that is quite clearly a critic of EoD, which essentially had none of those things. IBS started out alright, and took a turn for the absolute worse when they decided to turn well established character into a comical villain (Smodur) for cheap drama. Note that they could have atleast alleviated this by having hints that Jormag was speaking to him, but they didn't even bother going that far. There is a clear lack of effort and writing continuity with the latest releases which does not bode well for future content.