farkov47

MazingerZ, on 12 December 2012 - 06:17 PM, said:

No no no ... it is brilliant!

Are the more hardcore players, which includes those with lots of free time, going to spend real-world cash on gems?  Maybe, but most will just say "eff it, I'll just grind the gold and buy the gems in game."

Now, will the casual people, who have less time to play ... who may have more disposable income ... will THEY pay with real-world cash for stuff they want? More so probably, yes.  They want the cosmetic stuff.

Hmm ... won't those casuals just buy cheap gems with gold to get the stuff they want?  Oh crap, yes they will!  ... but wait! ... if the prices on gems go up so high they CAN'T buy what they want with in-game-gold, they'll HAVE TO spend real-world money on them!

*tweedle mustache, maniacal laughter*

FoxBat, on 12 December 2012 - 06:17 PM, said:

Gems are fake currency, wholly manipulable by ANet.  Gems are basically a Gift Card.  There is no limit on them. If you believe there is one, then that is like (IMHO) believing that Starbucks one day will just say "sorry, you cannot buy that gift card .. we've run out of Starbucks Bucks, come back when a couple people buy some coffee with Gift Cards and we can give you theirs."

Then: think of in-game-gold as "loyalty points".  When you collect enough of them, you can trade them for a Gift Card!  So, spend enough time in game and slowly ... slowly ... earn enough points to get a freebie item from the gem store!  Yay!

It is a closed system ... once money goes into the store, it never comes out. Since there is zero way for you to get your gems turned into actual money again, when you trade gems-for-gold, you're basically just trading a currency with a fixed value (gems always buy the same amount from the gem store) for a volatile one (gold-price-to-gems exchange rate fluctuates).

Now lets say you buy gold with your 800 gems ... and 2 months later gold-to-gem rate is more favorable, and you trade that gold for 1600 gems.  HAHA!  You just doubled your money!  Well, honestly, did you?  ... and should Anet care?  You turned your fixed value Gift Card into twice as much in loyalty points then back into a gift card ... either way, you're stuck spending it in ANet's store on stuff that costs them zero to make/stock.  The 2 days it took that art dude to design the armor before it hit the gem store didn't cost much  ... they'll get that cash back quick.

Quote

I'm not sure I get what you're saying.  Cheap how?  The price for gems in real-world-money never changes.  800 gems today is the same price as 800 gems on day 1.

Do you mean cheap as in, how much gold it costs to buy gems?

Low gold price for gems = people convert gold into gems.  Those people then buy cash shop items for gold, basically.  They're paying zero actual money for the cash shop items.  Anet is saddened by this.  People are gobbling up the content they made to sell for real-world-money without paying real-world-money for it.

High gold price for gems = people buy gems with real world money.  ANet happily accepts it and is collecting, basically, 'free money' because you're paying them real money for non-real-world currency (gems).  People that use that for gem store items, or people turning those gems into gold (because you can get a LOT of gold for your gems right now compared to previously) doesn't matter to ANet ... either way ANet already has the money in their pocket.  What you do with your Gift Card doesn't matter to them, you still can only use it in their store.

Gremlin, on 06 December 2012 - 11:38 PM, said:

Software development is an evolution.  The idea is that the same mistakes become harder to make.  The flaws are smaller.  You get more robust tools, libraries and processes that keep that from happening.  Only when something new and innovative is done is there more room for error.

People are very forgiving.  Such as the Trading Post.  Yes, some people complained, but the community in general were forgiven because a game-wide auction house had never been done before.

The issue comes when there are fundamental issues with the game that drive down into the core.  Like map exploration being blocked because of bugged Skill Point Challenges.  That's a critical block in QA.  You have impeded the ability for people to achieve one of the goals of the game with this bug and the only workaround requires a server restart.

Other events are things like bugged Orr events for opening Arah.  Those also require a server restart to unclog.

It's scale and severity.

An application that needs to be kicked every few hours because of a memory leak is different from an app that locks up your computer every five minutes.

Haze, on 05 December 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

Few things for these fractals. For Asura you can reflect the bolts back onto the golems if you position your group in front of the golem and put a wall of reflection down. I run 2 guardians in my group and we clear this boss in under 1 minute because at 20+ the agony is a instant kill on the golems. Still need to record a video of this since it's the only fractal I don't have recorded.

For Ascalon, he only pulls out greatsword if you go into melee range. If everyone stays range he stays in staff form until he dies.

For Shaman, it's best to pull the elementals to the shaman, to kill them and get the shield down fast. You can wall of reflection and spirit shield on the shaman to block both the lava elementals and his bow attack when he gets out of the shield while killing the elementals. If the spirit shield is on him it will keep blocking his agony arrows when he is out of the shield. If anyone goes down they should rally from killing elementals since this is obviously the hardest part until you can get back to range. Here is an example of a quick easy shaman fight.

Level 27 fractal Guardian here.

TL;DR of below: Every skill has a time and place. Make sure your traits have a decent enough of diversity to be effective in a majority of situations (so you can change them and on the fly). Consecrations have a big place in this dungeon. Weapon choice matters. Don't sit in the back and cower.

-----------------
Most of what is said above is true, but I hope I can contribute a bigger picture to how to get a decent fractal build going, and not just toward PvE in general

One of the biggest things to note is changing skills and retraiting as you move along the fractals (essentially unimportant in levels 1-10). For example, you may bring Wall of Reflection, Shield of Absorption (with 30 sec duration), and Stand Your Ground! for the beginning of the Uncategorized fractal (post level 10) to defend against the harpies who have an AoE ranged KD. Upon reaching the boss Old Tom, however, you should swap Wall of Reflection (because it is useless aside from condition removal which can be granted from almost every other guardian skill) for another skill, such as Sanctuary (more protection against bosses attack), or a shout.This, of course comes from experience, so learn your fractals =p

This of course varies by build, and as I personally run 0-0-30-20-20, I have room for flexibility as far as that goes, i.e. traiting for a longer duration Shield of Absorption+ longer consecrations, or maybe condition removal/meditation cooldown. Also dual symbol traiting/shout mastery + empowering might)

There are some skills which I personally find become obsolete in the later fractals, but some I find are key:

-A Stun Breaker (already mentioned): Save Yourselves vs. Judge's Intervention. Judge's Intervention is neat, Save Yourselves is practical. Save yourself (literally) the trouble, as it also grants increased DPS plus health regeneration/protection.

-Projectile reflection/absoprtion (earlier I mentioned changing your skills as you move along, this is one of those situational things, there are some points in a fractal where projectiles are simply non-existent, and therefore these skills should be quickly reslotted, with anything even semi-useful, shouts provide global utility, meditations are good for survival)

-Heals: Shelter vs. Signet of Resolve. Through experience, I personally prefer Shelter, but it's personal preference here. I find if you don't have the agony resistance necessary for a fight, bring Signet of Resolve, as the bigger heal is more likely to save you. For all other fights though, Shelter is IMO better for a majority of the situations I find myself/party in, especially when your dodge bar is low, or you've been caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

-Elite Choice: Renewed Focus/Racial elite summon. I understand your desire to run a support build, but you get far more on-time utility than compared to the Tomes. Racial elite summons are good for dps and to eat damage (obsolete in later fractals because they can't eat Agony, unfortunately). Most boss fights aren't really built well for the tomes (what i mean is, fights where you sit still and dps until the boss dies with a dodge every 20 seconds in the fight), and are usually "die unless you dodge/block the attack(s)" (the only ones that comes to mind where tomes are useful are maybe the two in the Swamp Fractals).

-Weapon Choice: Swap these. All the time. I don't mean just click/press your swap button. I mean, literally go to your inventory and change your weapons. Use Greatsword when __________. Use Hammer when __________. Use Staff when __________. Use Scepter/Shield when ______________. Use Scepter/Focus when ____________.
You get the idea.
You don't have to put too much thought into it. Really. I promise.
Scepter dps > Staff Dps. Staff utility > scepter utility, but that's not really fair. Scepter/Shield/focus provide far more effective utility IMO than the AoE heal Staff provides. I'll breakdown a few of the fractals' final boss fights for you, so maybe you  can get an understanding of how much skill choice is important and varying.

-Uncategorized Fractal: Raving Asura and his army of 4 Cat Golems.
-Raving Asura has a 3-projectile attack which he uses about every 10 seconds or so. Each projectile inflicts agony. (I run Wall of Reflection, Shield of Absorption, and Sanctuary to counteract this, granting 50 seconds of protection versus Agony). You can dodge these projectiles. This boss cannot be killed, and is not part of the objective of winning.
-The Cat Golems each individually activate after the death of another (you face one at a time), and are what you have to kill in order to defeat the fractal. Upon the defeat of all 4, all 4 will revive and you will face all 4 at once. Greatsword does wonders here, as the golems have no anti-CC (Defiant) and you can pull them all in at once for quick kill, this helps especially when your party members are incapable of dodging agony projectiles from the main boss when you run out of  projectile reflection/absorption.

Urban Battleground Fractal: Captain Amysh.
-I would argue consecrations here are almost useless, and would suggest Spirit Weapons if you have the proper spec, or Shouts (which you can't go wrong with).
-Everything's easy until he brings out his Fiery Greatsword and one-shots everyone. Maintaining Protection/Retaliation through shouts, or DPS (through spirit weapons, however small) works well. The immobilize on the Scepter, if you can time it with his Fiery Whirl will save you and your party members lives.

-Volcanic Fractal: Legendary Grawl Shaman.
-If you don't cheat, this boss I find is the most challenging for PUGs and truly makes or breaks the team.
-You need to maintain max range, and standing still is a quick way to get killed (you get set on fire if you stand still). Therefore, scepter/shield or focus is generally the best way to handle it. You can melee the boss if you're brave and have lots of blocks/endurance regen, but not a good idea unless you're running 2+ guardians to do this... there are particular times you can melee though.
-At every 25% mark of the boss' health, he will spawn Lava Elementals, and spawn his shield, which requires 30+ attacks (any source of raw damage/bleed/poison) to break. If you don't break it in time, he'll heal about 20%, making you have to repeat the process again. However, due the Guardian's lackluster ability to cause multiple hits in a small span of time (aside from Smite and Whirling Wrath), I suggest going support here in the form of speccing against the lava elementals. If you can get a Shield of Absorption up, you can protect against the lava elementals and give your party members a base of operations against the main boss' shield. I would actually suggest Greatsword here, as you can pull the lava elementals toward you and begin culling them whilst your teammates focus on the more important objective.

As similar as the Volcanic and Uncategorized fractals boss fights' were, keep in mind that getting to both of the fights are very different, as Volcanic has a section where running hammer is very effective, as well as Uncategorized having sections where SYG and Retreat are both very good choices.

Anyway, just my 2c.

None of this changes the fact that they added the Infusion system which sets precedent for GearScores.


In GW1, infusion meant you took a quick trip to Iron Mines and simply walked past a bunch of Mantle/Summit too busy fighting eachother to fight you ....  fought through not more than a dozen Scourge Nightmares & squishy weak trolls ... and the majority of your "fighting" there was just dealing with those silly Tundra Giants who posed no real threat.  Or you could even skip all that by having a capable (dare I say "skilled") Runner sneak past all that crap and trigger the cutscene with the Seer.  

There were quite a few dungeons in THIS GAME that a skilled group could pull this off in to make the dungeons a lot faster, and it was a GOOD THING.  Instituting GearScores does the opposite of this nomatter how much they attempt to reduce the grind involved.  We used to be able to use skill to get what we wanted, with or without being in exclusive Dragon-Chaser's guilds...  We could WvWvW just fine too without being in a guild or having to meet someone else's specific teaming requirements.  And most importantly, it wasn't decided by Gear.

Now it will be decided by Gear.   They aren't taking that back.  They're not even apologizing for it.  That "Keystone" that defines what a "Treadmill" really is, isn't going anywhere.  Grind or no grind.... the system that requires you to do acquire these infusions instead of raw skill to overcome these hazards  IS THERE, AND ITS NOT GOING AWAY.

Gilles VI, on 27 November 2012 - 05:59 PM, said:

That probably would have only lasted until the "shallow" power curve they keep braying on about.  Even if its a minimal increase, you ruin the WvWvW's concept of an even playing field, let along the idea that in order to see the latest tier of things to come, you need to have gone through the previous tiers.  That is all well and good in an instanced world of GW1, where everyone is having the same adventure.  But in an open and vibrant world of GW2, there should be no need to (and truly, there isn't) to kill Zhaitan more than once unless you want to.  Never mind the fact that FOTM feels like 9/10 different half-finished dungeons glued together that you're going to have to complete at least 10 times a piece and at most, three of them 30 times if you're striving to get the Infused Ascended stuff.

Back on topic, I can't believe people are still defending the amount of grind on the Ascended gear. If GW2 is man enough to admit that they made a mistake and that there's just too much of a jump in the amount of time, effort and gold needed to obtain the gear then why can't you?

And for the billionenth time, no one can give a reasonable explanation to why Ascended gear needed to have better stats. All we have are lame excuses like "well Ascended gear is optional". Well since it's optional and you can do with just exotics then why are the higher stats needed on Ascended gear?

i don't get the point of them acknowleding that the ascended gear is so grindy to get and yet release them like that anyway, I mean, do they have a meeting about those stuff?
"Hey guys, the community doesn't want grind neither item progression how shall we handle ascended?"
-"meh, make it around 250 t6 something and other items that would cost hundreds of gold and time to farm, they will love it"

What the hell are they even thinking.

So it turns out to be one of those stop-gap bandage deals.

"Oh noes, gear grinders are leaving! Quick, throw in really grindy super-needing-high-demand-materials recipes/items to stop them!"

This keeps those people semi-happy for a while.  They get to push and grind and score new, better gear and flex epeen.

"Oh noes, non-gear grinders are leaving! Quick, lower requirements for the stuff we just put in!"

Now they'll tinker with the recipes and made Ascended available elsewhere and easier to get.  That will quell some of the anger from the people that hate grind.  Sure, you have to grind ... but less! Hurray!

"Oh noes, those original gear grinders, who have the gear, are done ... and others are 'catching up' to them!  Their epeens are shrinking!  Quick, throw in more gear with insane requirements for them!"



I did this dance back in the Everquest days. I hated it.  New content too grindy for anyone but a fraction of people that like it (or just have the hours to throw at it), that gets a welfare-nerf to make it easier to get for everyone else ... rinse, repeat.

Sure, there is a slim chance this is a case of one design or coding team not talking to another.  Maybe team A added the gear and team B added the recipes ... and team B is just ignorant and hasn't played the actual game enough to know 50 ectos and 250 t6 mats not only is out of reach of most players but it'll spiral the prices of pretty much all the higher level goods upwards.

Still, I find it hard to believe ANet just stumbled onto the standard grindfest MMO playbook by accident.

Lucas Ashrock, on 21 November 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

How do farmers wearing arah armor devalue yours? Are you wearing the armor to impress others, or are you wearing it to remind yourself of your accomplishments? If the former, then honestly, you're in the wrong game. If it's the latter, don't let other peoples' habits affect how you feel about your own efforts.

I'm more concern over being banned for this than what some schmuck thinks of the armor I wear. I want Orrian armor because I genuinly like the model and have been fretting over the multitude of bugs and inconviniences that settled in my way of getting it.

Got the chest already, and 20g on top of it after 4 hours of excruciating farming. Wish me luck, or curse me for "defying conventions" set in place by Aney. Ha! What a joke.

Zippor, on 20 November 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

Simple question: why it is not real pvp? Do realise that not everyone cares for the steril, pseudo-fps king of the hill crap.

Zippor, on 21 November 2012 - 12:12 AM, said:

They just get banned.