Simple Questions Thread

[Venkman]

Yea I find the jump puzzles to be hit or miss. I like the pirate cave one with the veteran troll at the end, mostly because there was only a few minor jump puzzles and the one at the end was more about lighting than accuracy. I absolutely hated the one in Lion's Arch that lead to that chest at the end. I don't know they tested it all that well with all character heights, with the double pain being the retarded non-reward from the chest.

That seems to be a theme though. There are certain styles of events where the rewards in no way match the effort. These zone puzzles seem to all be like that. Either I can't use the reward at all, or I've way outleveled it.

[kildorn]

A few jumping puzzles annoy me. Mostly the really high up ones, because I get serious vertigo going on with them (about 80% up the sylvari tower for instance I start feeling uncomfortable)

Yay for irrational fears.

[Rasix]

That might get difficult for me, heh. I have trouble driving over bridges.

[Tannhauser]

A few jumping puzzles annoy me. Mostly the really high up ones, because I get serious vertigo going on with them (about 80% up the sylvari tower for instance I start feeling uncomfortable)

Yay for irrational fears.

I get that same feeling.  There is a peak in Lornar's Pass that made my head spin.  Still got it though!

[Tmon]

A few jumping puzzles annoy me. Mostly the really high up ones, because I get serious vertigo going on with them (about 80% up the sylvari tower for instance I start feeling uncomfortable)

Yay for irrational fears.

I get that same feeling.  There is a peak in Lornar's Pass that made my head spin.  Still got it though!

Yeah, I've had the same at some of the taller ones where you have to jump to a 2x4 then run to the end of it to get the view.

[Sjofn]

The heights don't bother me (working as a stagehand cured me of any fear of heights ... Ingmar would say I am TOO cured), I just suck ass at jumping. 

[Genev]

I have a slight problem with some heights (not all of them, kinda wonder how it works for me tbh o.O), but it's never translated into a game world :/

[sachiel]

My hands get sweaty from a fear of heights, which I think is a pretty bad evolutionary trait, but I was definitely getting a little moist palmed from the sylvari jumping puzzle.  Hell of a thing to put in the 1-15 zone, but loved the jungle spider for my ranger at the end.

[ajax34i]

Never had any problems with heights in games, and I think it's mostly because atmospheric haze is never rendered correctly, and my brain realizes it's a fake situation with no danger at all.

[Bzalthek]

The jumping hasn't been so bad for me.  It's the other shit along the way that I fall for.  For example, there's a big one in the Charr starting zone I think it is, and I'm jumping along and suddenly, rockfall insta-gib. 

[ezrast]

Am I going to be screwed later if I never do the story quests?

[Zetor]

There is at least one POI that is only accessible via story quests (in the first Orr zone), so it's going to be a problem if you want 100% map completion. Of course you can always ask in chat to tag along in someone else's instance...

[01101010]

There is at least one POI that is only accessible via story quests (in the first Orr zone), so it's going to be a problem if you want 100% map completion. Of course you can always ask in chat to tag along in someone else's instance...

? I don't think it is restricted like that. What area are you talking about specifically?

[Zetor]

Caer Aval in Fort Trinity (Straits of Devastation), it's walled off from the rest of the zone.

[March]

Can someone explain finishers/combos to me?

I've looked them up, and I think I get that if I shoot an arrow through a fire AOE it turns into some sort of Fire arrow... but what does a "whirl" combo finisher mean with a Water aoe heal zone?

Like I say, I sort of think I get it, but there doesn't seem to be any feedback in the combat log (which sucks by the way) and I don't really get a visceral visual that something good is happening.

Should I care?  If I should, why doesn't the game give me the feedback that combos are important?

fake edit: oh and yeah, what Kildorn said above... other than 10 health for 1 vitality, what do stat points do per point?  (and why would you build a tooltip that just says: Toughness 153 + 43)

[Venkman]

You basically got it. The finisher changes the graphic and the little heart thing you see is the title of the effect applied. For example, if I drop a Fire Ring and someone (or I) shoot a projectile finisher through it, it applies Area Might, increasing Power and Condition. Buncha charts out there, and i can't seem to locate one I thought was really good. But here's another one.

What I don't know is whether it's a buff to players who were in the field at the time (and therefore stays with them through duration even if they leave the field), or it's a buff that only applies as long as you're in the field.

[Genev]

From what i saw from regeneration, it's an xx second buff.

[Tyrnan]

Projectile finishers will generally apply a condition to the mob it hits depending on the field type you fire through (burning for fire, chilled for ice etc). Firing through a light field will remove conditions from players around the mob you hit, water will apply regeneration in the same fashion and dark will steal life from the mob and give it to you. Note that most, if not all auto-attack projectiles only have a 20% chance to proc a combo effect for balance purposes. Whirl finishers are basically the same as projectiles but are an AoE that shoots out bolts in random directions with the same effect as projectiles.

Leaps either apply a buff to you or a debuff to your target depending on the field type. And Blasts are basically the AoE version of leaps, applying area buffs or debuffs as appropriate. The buffs/debuffs have a set duration and will persist if you leave the combo field or it disappears.

[Zetor]

Some combos are more equal than others in a group setting against hard-hitting mobs and bosses.
Smoke+projectile/whirl: blind (if you keep an enemy perma-blinded, he won't be doing much damage)
Water+blast: aoe heal (pretty sizable, too)
Light+blast: aoe retaliation (this damage can add up very quickly if the enemy is AOEing, esp. if it's using conditions)

I found these the most important ones for general mobility and pvp:
Lightning+blast: aoe swiftness
Smoke+blast: aoe stealth

[Nevermore]

Can someone explain finishers/combos to me?

I've looked them up, and I think I get that if I shoot an arrow through a fire AOE it turns into some sort of Fire arrow... but what does a "whirl" combo finisher mean with a Water aoe heal zone?

Well, according to the chart, a whirl finisher in a water field creates 'healing bolts'.

[ffc]

I was just wondering about combos myself.  I found two really nice charts listing fields and finishers.  This chart shows which classes start which fields, and this chart shows which classes do which finishers.   

[Venkman]

Nice tables. A couple more graphics I found. Both informative but the second takes a second to decipher:
 
Fields and Finishers by Profession
Some tried their hand at an infographic

Many classes can cast both fields and finishers. And some can do it quick enough to get their own benefit. I personally like Flame Ring and Arcane Bolt or Dragon Tooth (depending on my equipped weapons) for Area Might, but also Static Field and Arcane Blast or Ice Spike for stacking vulnernability. Depends on length of the fight.

But I'm also just getting good at recognizing a small set of fields. I like this system though and want to get better at it.

[Threash]

My favorite as a dagger/pistol rogue is black powder for a smoke field then heartseeker for a leap finisher right through it into stealth and backstab finisher.

[MrHat]

My favorite as a dagger/pistol rogue is black powder for a smoke field then heartseeker for a leap finisher right through it into stealth and backstab finisher.

Also you can steal "Gunk" and then throw it.  Leaping into that gives you Chaos Armor which always feel awesome.

[Nebu]

Ok, this is a really dumb but sincere question:  If all I want to do is PvP (sPvP and tournaments) is there any reason to level at all?  So far I'm not seeing any tangible benefit to it.  Is the only reason to PvE to be more effective in WvW? 

[KallDrexx]

Ok, this is a really dumb but sincere question:  If all I want to do is PvP (sPvP and tournaments) is there any reason to level at all?  So far I'm not seeing any tangible benefit to it.  Is the only reason to PvE to be more effective in WvW? 

Correct ,there is no reason to touch the PvE if you are staying in SPvP all the time.

[Genev]

I prefer to level some before doing it, to actually know how the class plays and get a feel for it before getting dumped with full lvl 80 gear and stats/skills, but thats my personal preference.
I know we ahve somebody in the guild who's lvl 8, despite being online quite ofte, simply because he doesn't do anything else than spvp.

If you feel you know the class/will get to know the class well enough by purely spvping, then nop, no need at all to level up ever.

[ffc]

Are there stats on items that increase damage done by conditions like burning and confusion?  When I shop at the trading post I see gear with +power or +precision, then I'll see something with +healing, and basically I have no idea what is going on.

[Rasix]

There's lot of gear with + condition damage (malign).  There are also runes and food that add +% burning duration.

[Murgos]

There's lot of gear with + condition damage (malign).  There are also runes and food that add +% burning duration.

Are there published formulas for how much difference 1 point of + (healing, toughness, condition damage, etc...) makes?

I did some small experiments on identical mobs with +10 power and saw ~5% change in raw damage.  Then did the same thing with +10 condition damage and saw no change in poison damage, though to be fair +5% may have been < 1 point of damage.

+Vitality is easy, 1 point = 10 hit points and I've heard that point for point +toughness is better than vitality for an effective hitpoint calculation but I'd like to know the actual numbers...

[Raknor]

So I've found the Shatterer and the second dragon last night.  Are there any other cool things such as those that I'm missing if I don't hit a zone while its going?

Also, if you're 65+ and need some xp. Just north of the second dragon there is a spot where two DE spawn within a few hundred meters of each other.  They pretty much spawn back to back or even at the same time. Running between the two will give you about 8k xp for gold medal each. Each even seems to have about a 6 minute timer.  Stumbled upon this last night as I found about 30-40 people crewing through them both. Bring something that does AE damage though. Stuff just seems to melt. I think it was the first time I actually wanted to use a staff on my guardian just to tag everything.

[Zetor]

There are 'big events' in every zone that give the reward chest in the end, they typically are timed and/or require significant build-up from DEs before they start. These are LONG encounters too, especially ones with soft dps checks like Claw of Jormag (aka Spine of Deathwing 2: electric boogaloo).

Aside from the ones in the noobie zones, I seem to remember three dragons (Tequatl, Shatterer, Claw of Jormag), the Megadestroyer (also another boss/DE where you need to split your zerg or you'll likely fail), the Priest of Lyssa, and the Avatars of some gods (Balthazar, Grenth) in Orr. A lot of these are timed, and some people were saying in chat that they logged in for the Shatterer every 3 (4?) hours to get their phat loots. In my experience the loots weren't THAT phat (some greens and gems, 1-2 yellows), but you do get a lot of loot when you kill one of the big bads.

[murdoc]

I did the 'Slay the Shatterer' event last night and got a bucket of loot - think 2 greens, 4 blues and 2 runes which wasn't bad for a level 46 that only got a bronze medal due to running around taking screenshots. One thing I thought was that it was extremely easy. I didn't notice a single dead body on the ground and it took a very short period of time to take the Dragon out.

Not that I'm complaining - I just expected it to be a bit... more? I find that this game goes from stupid hard to very easy and back to hard and I don't really get when or why it does. I couldn't live for 30 minutes 2 nights ago while trying out dual-axes, but last night I was murdering groups of 3 mobs that were at least 2-3 levels higher than me with the same weapons.

Either way - I love the big zone events and I LOVED that the Dragon was circling overhead as I was playing for about 2 hours before the event actually kicked off.

[tazelbain]

Disappointed with because they are on a timer and people just stand around waiting to bust open the dragon pinata.  Funny how usually the event is delayed because no bothers to do the preceding event.  You'd think with something as awesome as a dragon, they make him a bit dangerous have a big quest chain. Maybe if a lava shaman was riding on his back he might be tough. Awesome art on very lame boss and its jacking economy.

[murdoc]

The best was all the people asking in chat where the Dragon spawns and someone replying with the link to the Waypoint in the middle of Destiny's Reach which, judging by the complaints, a few people took.