Sparrow

I actualy find myself refreshed when reading posts from El Duderino or I'm Squirrel. Not because they are always right(mostly in my perspective), but because it's associated with the truth which apparently the Guru community fears above anything else. It's as if they are still stuck in the trailer videos long before gw2 launched and are now desperatly trying to justify the shortcommings of this game. You can see it(feel it) in every second post. That subtle hint of disappointment coupled with overexaturated praise...it's just so blatently obvious.

Like this:

Darkobra, on 04 May 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

...As if the level speed has anything to do with what the author of this post was trying to say, or even with the general grind all together.


I agree that the grind in this game is ridiculus at points. Far far far beyond what WoW had/has. The sheer fact that any real material like lodestones can not be gathered while just doing the casual farming here & there. The carrot on the stick legendary which is the actual gw2 end-game, and again the depth-lacking monthly updates, which while cute seem to be there to divert the attention from the real issues and break the monotony of this game.

:B


EDIT: Seriously? NO ONE is commenting here about the first gameplay video of Dark Souls 2? INCREDIBRU!

My impressions are that graphics have been improved significantly and gameplay wise, I feel it a bit awkward, like if the character animations were faster than in DS1.

Loperdos’ Short Bow/Dual Pistol Build

Loperdos’ preface: I am by no means an expert on thieves, this is a build that I’ve been kicking around for the last couple weeks because I was curious if it could be done.  In the 350+ hours I’ve played on a thief, I wanted to see if I could run with a build that was a bit different, albeit not unique (given the immutable law of the internet).

I am fully cognizant of the fact that ranged DPS is quite a bit lower than melee DPS.  Pure DPS is not the purpose of this particular build, if that’s what you are looking for, look for a D/X backstab build, which will net you the most and highest damage.  That being said, the purpose of this build and the variant below (created by Phenn) is to provide an outline for a different weapon-set than most thieves are accustomed to using.  Some of the things that are different about this build as compared to other PvE builds is that you do not have to enter melee range, you have high mobility and survivability through that mobility, decent single target damage, great AoE and group utility.

Special thanks to Phenn for helping me work through this build and being there for the theorycrafting and testing phases.


THE BUILD



WEAPONS



HEAL/UTILITY SLOTS

Slot skills are a bit more open for two reasons.  First is that slot skills are largely situational, generally swapping between them depending on where and what is being fought.  In general running with at least 2 utilities that benefit from SA-I (20% CD reduction on Deception skills) makes it the most worthwhile.  



ARMOR & TRINKETS



TRAITS



CONSUMABLES (optional)



PLAYSTYLE TIPS AND TRICKS

Just like most thief builds, there are some basics that will help increase your survivability by loads(and yes, I realize that some of these are "duh" statements, skip if you prefer, I won't be offended, I promise ):

Phenn’s Short Bow/Dual Pistol Acrobat

THE BUILD (Click Here)

Like Loperdos’ build above, the following build depends on positioning and evasion for survivability, and maintains range at all times. Similarly, the primary damage-dealer is P/P’s Unload with SB for AoE and general support. The build utilizes the Short Bow and Dual Pistols, Berserker equipment and weapons, and depends on Crit Damage for DPS. Our choice in traits, utilities, food, and sigils however, will maximize our dodging potential:

• Feline Graces gives an extra dodge.  
  
• Healing gives Vigor with is a dodge every 5 seconds.  
  
• Signet of Agility gives two extra dodges.   
  
• Food increases endurance recharge with a flat increase of one dodge every 7.15 seconds.
  
• Sigil on offhand pistol gives two extra dodges after every kill.

You can see that dodging becomes a critical component of our build--so use them, and use them often. We don’t have to save them for pure evasion, but can (and should) use them as often as possible.


WEAPONS AND SIGILS



TRAITS 15/30/0/25/0

The build actually follows the most balanced trait distribution available to thieves. It offers flexibility in traits across all weapon sets, making it suited for our purposes, and allowing a shift to other weapon sets if necessary.



UTILITY/HEAL SLOTS

Much like Loperdos, we’ll be taking utilities that complement our primary defense mechanic, but in our case we’ll emphasize dodging.



ARMOR & TRINKETS




CONSUMABLES (critical for this build)



PLAYSTYLE TIPS AND TRICKS

The following are a few tips on playing this build in order to gain maximum effectiveness:

And there you have it.  The two builds put together by Phenn and myself.  Thank you for taking the time to read it, as I know its a long post with lots of descriptions.  I'm wordy, so shoot me.    As time goes on I will be editing, updating and contributing to any discussion that comes from this particular thread.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to in-game message me/add me as a friend: Loperdos.7924.

For those of you that have worried about the balancing of skills between PvE and PvP, you'll be glad to hear that ArenaNet has plans to continue to split skills as necessary:

Have you ever visited the Grand Piazza in Lion’s Arch, gazed up at the Lion’s Court, and thought to yourself, “I wish there was a little corner in Tyria that could take me back to a simpler time”? Well, if so, you’re in luck! We were given the supreme opportunity to preview the Super Adventure Box last week, and now we're going to give you all an idea of what can you expect. It's sure to make quite a few of you squirm with nostalgic feels.

Below you'll find an overview of our adventures, as well as a list of rewards, and several tips and tricks. If you have any further questions about content you're about to read, just let us know by posting!


Getting Started
For the entire month of April, you and your friends can step into a whole new world. By now, those of you who frequent the lovely Rata Sum will have noticed a giant blue box stationed near the city's Magustan Waypoint. From there you'll want to speak with Moto - the visionary and mastermind behind the project. Aside from being the gatekeeper, Moto sells a wide variety of items in exchange for baubles and bauble bubbles; the new coin-like currency found all across the Adventure Box (we'll go over their acquisition later on). Once you've had your fill of window-shopping, you'll be allowed to enter the box. Make sure to grab a Super Coin from the vending machine at the gate to proceed!

    

(What's that, you say? A backpack cover that you haven't seen yet? Well, now you have!)

A Whole New World
Load up your Aladdin soundtrack, because you're about to enter a whole new world. From the revamped UI right down to the ridiculously catchy chip-tune music tracks, everything has been remixed into an 8-bit style. Upon first glance, some of you might think this is a glorified jumping puzzle. Never fear! While this has a few jumping puzzle elements, consider this a Jumping Adventure. As you progress through the simulation, you'll encounter classic video game moments combined with jumping puzzle scenarios. Now, I know I have friends who would rather floss the toes of Tequatl all day long than even set foot near a jumping puzzle. If any of you are in a similar situation, there is an easy mode that bypasses those tricky situations (see happy cloud in lobby area). However, my advice is to stick near a friend and play follow the leader. This isn't the Mad King's Clock Tower we're talking about here. Give it a few tries and before you know it you'll be up to your belly in baubles.

Those baubles won't acquire themselves, though. In order to build up this new currency, you'll need to hack, slash, poke and smash your way through the world. The most common color bauble is blue, and can be found just about anywhere you can imagine. However, if you explore a bit deeper you just might find some other colors, which in turn are worth significantly more. Initially, your character is limited to carrying 250 baubles, but expansion to a higher limit is a possibility in later worlds.

As mentioned earlier, baubles are your ticket to several new rewards both inside the realm of Super Adventure Box and in Tyria. The former is spent inside the several merchant shops set up throughout the world on trinkets and tools that will make your travels much more convenient. For example, the shovel can be purchased from Tom Nook the store's shopkeeper for 100 baubles. Once purchased, the shovel skill will become permanently unlocked on your character's skill bar, even if you leave and come back later. You'll be able to easily regain your investment by locating the several hidden dig spots; some more inconspicuous than others.

While trekking across this 8-bit paradise, those of who are particularly nostalgic of this style and era of gaming will find the developers feel exactly the same way. Outside the change in scenery and chip-tune goodness, one of the most noticeable changes is the lack of a mini-map. Aside from the occasional finger point, you'll have to rely solely on remembering what you've done and where you've done it. You'll be presented with several backtracking opportunities throughout the instance to reach 100% completion just like the good ol' days of Zelda and Metroid on the NES.

Enemies and Obstacles
Moto is one asura who recognizes the importance of good combat training. Armed with your trusty wooden stick, you'll encounter several different types of classic enemies. In the beginning, you'll have a few mild sparring sessions with your neighborhood monkeys and turtles, but as you progress further these enemies will evolve in ways that will test even the fiercest dragon slayer. Turtles will be flipped, alligators smacked, and crazy monkey samurais will be out for blood. There's even a spider pit - or as I like to call it, NOPE.

Aside from the 8-bit Nopes, you'll often find yourself hopping through swamps and treetops to reach the end of the level. In traditional jumping puzzle fashion, players will progress by jumping across logs, rocks, bridges and other pieces of landscape. Luckily, fall damage has been turned off, so leave your broken armor woes at the door and take some risks. Checkpoints have also been implemented sporadically throughout to allow for a bit more forgiveness and leniency. Don't get me wrong though. One wrong jump can have you on the ground again, or in some cases something worse.

It's important to know exactly how both enemies and platforming obstacles work. While it may seem like a particular creature has beaten you in every way imaginable, step back and analyze what you're facing. Just like the everything outside of the Box in Tyria, every enemy can be beaten, and there's no jumping puzzle that cannot be solved. Part of the fun will be figuring all of this out alone, so we won't give away all of the dev's secret tricks (yet)!

Gem Store
Along with the rewards you can purchase from Moto, there will be a few items that you can get from the gem store, as well. You'll be able to purchase a new set of mini-pets, a Super Adventure Box o' Fun, and a flashy PvP finisher.

Tips and Tricks

• Partying up with friends is encouraged, but not required. You can solo this if you want.
  
• Kill the rabbits. Go on! They're real friendly.
  
• Be on the lookout for mini-jumping puzzles inside the Adventure Box.
  
• Don't be stingy. Baubles are everywhere.
  
• Buy the bauble wallet upgrade. Any baubles you collect beyond your limit will vanish into thin air (likely into the greedy wallet of Zomorros).
  
• It is possible to acquire more than three health hearts.
  
• If you're in it for the baubles, don't leave keys behind! Keys can be used as offensive weapon so you won't be left defenseless are you carry it.

I'm just going to say it now: you're going to love Super Adventure Box. And not just because it's a kick-back to old school video games, but because it's really fun. ArenaNet, you have really outdone yourselves with this one. I can't wait to see what types of events you guys think up next.

For more information, you can check out the official event page and ArenaNet's own SAB FAQ.

no, I think they should randomly make the events start within 3-5 hours timers, with 1 hour windows.
That way online timers dont work and every event isn't swamped with 100 people.

If you're bothered by the text clutter on the screen, you can turn of character nameplates in the options menu. Once this has been turned off, you can still hover over a character to view their name and title.

The difference is practically night and day.

I love when people know I'm stalking them. Adds another layer of creepiness that really adds to the hunt.

Guardian "Anchor" Build through Altruistic Healing

Video Guide found below:


Speed runs of various dungeons can be found on my page so you can see the build in action, more are being added every week:
https://www.youtube.com/strife025

I have also received feedback on what builds we use for warriors and mesmers, my recent guide regarding this subject can be found in the respective subforum:
http://www.guildwars...-dungeon-build/
http://www.guildwars...dungeon-groups/
_______________________________________________________________________________
Updated 2/24/13:

Overview:
This guide should provide you a starting point for running Guardian in an organized dungeon group that focuses on speed runs. Because of the nature of both traits and utilities, Guardian is the best "tanky" class to use as an anchor in organized dungeon runs. What this means is that typically in speed runs, you want one class that has higher toughness then the other 4 classes, and is built to survive while holding agro without giving up too much dps. This is what this build allows you to do, while giving the other party members freedom to run full berserker to focus on DPS. In my personal groups, we run 1 guard/3 war/1 mesmer as seen from my other guides and dungeon walkthroughs, while in high level fractals where reflections are key, this can be changed to 2 guard/2 war/1 mes. Below I will explain the reasoning behind my choices, and you also have the option to watch my various dungeon guides from different class perspectives to see how it all works out in a real world setting.
______________________________________________________________________

Build & Equipment:
http://gw2buildcraft...d.17.16.19.1i|e

Thanks to gw2buildcraft, you can now see all my gear and traits in the link above. Instead of listing everything out, I will explain why I went knights armor, berserker ascended gear, and list my full weapon choices below.

As far as gear goes, the reason you go for Berserker Ascended gear is because it has the highest crit damage ratios besides exquisite jewels, per below:

• 5 stat points - upgrade slot of trinkets and backpack
  
• 7 points - Ascended Back Piece
  
• 8.5 stat points - Ascended Rings
  
• 8.7 stat points - Ascended Earrings
  
• 9.4 stat points - Ascended Amulet
  
• 10 stat points- traits (not an equipment, but listed for comparison)
  
• 12 stat points - glove, shoulder and boots
  
• 12.8 stat points - 1H weapons and amulet
  
• 13.33 stat points - Earring
  
• 14 stat points - Backpack (rare version from guild armorsmith)
  
• 14.22 stat points - 2H weapons
  
• 14.4 stat points - Coat
  
• 16 stat points - Ring, helm and legging

What this means is, you lose less minor stat points by going for berserker gear higher on the list if you are making a balanced build with knights/berserker pieces. With Knights weapons, I also have the ability to switch to ascended berserker earrings in the future when they are released, while still maintaining close to 3k armor and most likely having good berserker ratios still.

Soldier Runes are one of the best runes in my opinion, by having three AoE shouts which also remove conditions, it really frees up the utility slots of the other 4 members of your group. A big part of being a successful guardian, is watching that party window and knowing when to use shouts for both condition removal and also minimizing damage. These runes are also extremely valuable when running through trash of various dungeons, especially harder runs like in TA or Arah.

The following list are the weapons I use which are statted based on the situation/combination I use them in:
Greatsword with Power/Prec/Toughness and 5% crit chance sigil
Hammer with Power/Prec/Toughness and 5% crit chance
Staff with Prec/Vit/Healing and 50% energy on swap
Scepter with Power/Prec/Tough and 50% energy on swap
Focus with Power/Prec/Crit and 5% crit chance
Shield with Power/Tough/Vit and 5% crit chance
Sword with Power/Prec/Crit and Bloodlust +10 power stacks
Mace with Power/Tough/Vit and 30% chance to heal
I don't have/use a torch.

Knights gear (Power/Prec/Toughness) can be crafted or comes from SE and Arah dungeon tokens.
Berserker gear (Power/Prec/Crit Dmg) can be crafted or comes from CoF, CoE, and Arah dungeon tokens.

The reason I took the sigils I did in the weapons I did are because of the situations and combinations I use them in.

Greatsword and Hammer with 5% crit chance are their for both increased damage from criticals, and also because crit chance synergizes well with life steal food and AH.

Staff and Scepter with Energy Sigils are so I always have that extra dodge available when I need to get out of melee range. This allows me to instantly dodge + heal in any situation, sit back and stack might stacks with staff 4 (more heals) or range dps with scepter in the rare instance I need to get out of melee range because of low health.

By keeping the 5% crit chance runes on my offhand weapons, I will always have 5% crit with my 1-hand weapons.

Now this gear isn't set in stone for this build, this is just what I've found from play experience works for me and my group. Around 3k armor allows the Guardian to maintain agro from the 4 other berserker classes who have ~2100 armor (or less in the mesmer's case). The lower your armor value falls, the harder it is to maintain agro. 3k is a good balance with the current ascended gear that allows you to draw agro and still do respectable damage as the tanky anchor role.

If you need more survivability or don't have ascended gear, you can always go more knights jewelery. If you WvW alot, then arguably P/V/T gear is better then berserker as well, where more health is key and berserker gear on a guardian isn't really ideal. It just depends on your playstyle and what you enjoy doing.

Also for any high crit % class, Omnomberry Ghosts/Pies (or even lesser versions like Mixed Berry and Blackberry) are a key component to survival. <Edit> This food now has an internal cooldown of 1s, meaning you can only heal at most, once every second, which realistically, is probably more along the lines of ~1.5s on average. It is still the best food for getting back health in a high crit build though, so I still use it on all my classes for harder encounters. For pure damage, something like the 100 power/70 precision food will be better, or other pure damage foods when you don't need healing.
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Basics:
First off, the actual build is a typical boon/shout build that heals. This is NOT a pure support build, it is a tanky DPS build whose primary focus is to deal moderate damage while relieving pressure from your party as the anchor. Many people don't seem to realize how valuable Altruistic Healing is in a group setting, while both allowing you to passively support through shouts, soak damage, and still deal significant amounts of damage yourself.

The first thing you want is enough health to survive conditions and large spikes, but not spec too much health where it dimishes your effective hp from healing. In PvE vitality on gear isn't required, because of the lower amount of conditions in most instances and the fact that most large damage moves can be avoided through dodging. The toughness from all gear slots really helps to increase your e-hp because of the huge amount of heals the guardian has making toughness more valuable once you get an adequate hp pool. In addition, you have a large amount of power for direct damage and retaliation damage, plus precision (and bonus from the major trait) to push your crit chance up to levels where you will apply might stacks and life steal procs from crit a good amount of the time.

As far as Greatsword vs Hammer is concerned, they are good for different reasons. If you know you won't need ranged weapons at all, then having both on swap is ideal. In high level fractals if you run 2 guardians, you always want one with Hammer and one with GS, with Scepter/Focus or Shield on your offhand.

Greatsword's strength comes from it's AoE pull, the blind/leap, and the burst heal from Whirling Wrath coupled with Life Steal food.
Hammer's strength comes from near 100% protection uptime, more sustained healing from the symbol ticking on a 5 melee group, and Ring of Warding for certain pulls to interrupt groups of mobs.

Learning when each weapon is valuable is just something that comes from playing Guardian and getting your own experience. I will say that I primarily use Greatsword, Hammer, Staff, and Scepter/Focus and don't really touch the other weapons that often.
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Traits:
The main focus of this build is Altruistic Healing in the Valor Line. This coupled with the more crit based traits in the Honor line, and a high crit chance/toughness build, allows you to be the anchor for your group so that the other 4 members can focus on DPS.

With Altruistic healing your base heal per boon with this build is 72 for each boon per person (including yourself). In addition, all symbols which continuously proc 1 sec boons will heal at every tick and might stacks act as individual boons meaning 5 might stacks = 5x72.
Virtue of resolve = 102 per tick
Regeneration buff = 168 per tick
Dodge Roll Heal = 429 heal per roll in AoE

As you can see, we have a large amount of ways to keep sustained healing. If you are able to time your dodge rolls (also why I use superior sigil of energy on certain weapons) you can "tank" for a good portion of time, including protection boons.

The Honor line focuses more on cooldowns and utilizing crits through Empowering Might and Vigorous precision. You also have the option to run Pure of Voice which stacks with runes of the soldier in the rare case you need even more condition removal.

The main reason you put your last 10 points in virtues is for the excellent options that it gives you for reflects, which are key in a few named dungeons and a variety of fractals, especially at 30+. The added benefit is that all your virtues proc boons on your group, which is nice with AH as well.

Skills:
Shouts will be the primary utility skills that you will be using. They synergize with AH to give you heals, provide valuable defensive boons for the entire party, and remove conditions with Soldier Runes.

The two shouts you will have on most of the time are 'Hold the Line' and 'Stand Your Ground'. These are both low cooldown to utilize condition removal, and 'Stand Your Ground' especially is valuable for a variety of boss and trash run encounters to prevent yourself from being knocked down or stunned.

Your third utility slot will be situational with either reflects, or 'Retreat'/'Save Yourselves'. Retreat should be used for trash running and for any fight where an extra Aegis would be extremely useful, like the Destroyer in CoE 3. 'Save Yourselves' is great for taking multiple conditions from your party, as a 2nd stun breaker, or for any fights where you really don't need an extra Aegis for the group and you find yourself holding more agro where the boon uptime would be more beneficial.

As far as reflects go, your primary options are either Wall of Reflection or Shield of the Avenger (Spirit Shield). In general, you will be using Wall of Reflection most of the time, because it actually reflects damage and has a shorter cooldown. On a few fractals, you will want both wall and shield up, which is most prevalent in the Harpy fractal. 100% reflection uptime from 2 guardians makes fractals like the harpy and shaman fractal extremely easy, which is one huge benefit of guardians in your group. Because Spirit Shield can now take damage and be destroyed, you do need to be smarter in it's placement so it will still absorb projectiles but not be hit by melee attacks.

The dungeons where I generally use reflects include:
- CM dungeon
- Certain bosses in TA
- Certain bosses in SE
- Magg Defend in CoF
- Certain bosses in HotW
- Certain bosses in Arah
- All of Harpy Fractal
- All of Dredge Fractal
- Both bosses in Shaman Fractal
- Both bosses in Swamp Fractal
- Situationally in Ascalon Fractal
- At the Ice Elemental in Snow Fractal
- Situationally in Colossus Fractal

There could be some areas I'm forgetting, but for the most part, those are the key areas where reflects are valuable. Part of learning the Guardian class is just knowing when you will need to swap skills for certain situations, which really applies to all classes.
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Conclusion:
This is obviously not the only way to play guardian, and for many people may not even be the "best." There are many other viable guardian builds based on a situation or playstyle. From my personal experience though, I believe this is the "best" build for me. It is highly flexible, does good damage, provides excellent support for a speed run group running 4 berserker classes, and can be used for a variety of settings.

Hopefully this will help some other guardians out, especially for running some of the harder dungeons in the game.

Good luck!

There is no benefit to adding more classes. Expand the existing classes and at the most (yes the most meaning this isn't even necessary) add a new race.

Hopefully Anet hasn't forgotten ALL they learned from GW1 and doesn't shoot balancing in the foot by adding more classes.

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I know you said you think the manifesto didn't lie. Other people would suggest quite the opposite. I red-bolded the parts that are the typical suspects in these threads.

Last, it is our prerogative to discuss the game however we feel. Many of the people here making complaints still play the game. We are allowed to voice our opinion. You trying to diminish that by saying we are like jilted lovers is your opinion, and it has no factual bearing on whether we can express our opinions or not. If you don't like it, you don't have to read about it.

Quote

I think I just wet myself.

I am a thief and have also seen this type of poor gamemanship.

I would not get too worked up about it. If they only know how to run a dungeon with their cookie cutter 100b spam then they may not be able to adapt to difficult situations and will probably just leave if challenged.

There are many fine players of many different professions out there and I'm sure they will be willing to take other profession pugs into dungeons.

There is no competition more vile and more out of place in MMORPGs in 2012 than PvE competition.  Shame on those complaining that "someone else got something."

Congrats to those who got lucky with their rewards, that's awesome that they'd hand these out for this event!

No, the game hasn't changed much yet. I wouldn't bother with others' opinions on where the game has gone lately. You'll get those who defend the game until death who will tell you nothing's wrong and those who enjoy complaining as much as possible who will tell you it will never get better and can only die from here. Just look at recent patch notes and see what additions have been made. Or log in? It's not as if you're paying extra money to jump back into the game.