Simple Questions Thread

[Threash]

Seriously? how do you stealth?  That skill is the bread and butter of double daggers.

[Phred]

They're still going to trend upward. It will approach sanity when it hits 1g:100 someday.

xmas time will get worse.. guildies are buying gold every week to WvW and equip 'shinies'
i'm not sure if this is arena.net's intent... but really, no one is going to buy legit gold at this rate.

Gem prices are down to approx 1/2 what they were at peak last week.

As of last night they were at like 60s with a past week peak of 79 or so, unless I am very much mistaken. They dropped that far overnight?

Last week it peaked at 1g20/gem. Today it is 58s. http://www.gw2spidy.com/gem

[rk47]

time to buy bank slots and char slots! 

[Phred]

time to buy bank slots and char slots! 

Ya though it looks like it's still trending down. I'm glad I bought mine when it was 38s/gem

[March]

Are folks looking at opposite sides of the arbitrage?

At this moment, it costs 82 silver to buy 100 gems, but 100 Gems will yield 58 silver.  There's some big fat asura with HFT software making a killing on this.

[Venkman]

Something wierd recently. I launh the launcher around 8pm so it can patch if it needs to before I get on around 9. But then at 9 I log in to character select, and the game quits and then downloads a patch if there is one.

Are they releasing patches during that window and I'm just unlucky? Or did they change how patches work?

[Ingmar]

They just pushed one then yes.

[amiable]

1. Not that I can tell. It was doomed from get go when we chose large pop servers to start on.  Hard get people to RvR together with a 3 hour queue.
2. SBI, JQ, IoJ, BG, CD, SoS are were most of the RVR action is.  Top guilds are stacking these servers because the current meta of 24/7 coverage > battlefield organization.  This can change week to week since free transfer allow people to move en mass.
3. Shouting warriors are great support chars.  Warriors are just plain great so if you change your mind you can just respec latter.

I am on IoJ which an awesome RvR server.  The queues are only bad on Fridays.

Tazel, I joined IOJ and have been leveling a few different characters and testing them out, I think I have settled on an Engy (just like the mobility).   What's the guild scene like?  Are there any decent guilds on the server who are looking for new folks for RvR?  Honestly I will probably be putzing around in PvE for a good while still but I like the game enough that I would like to check out the more organized side.

[tazelbain]

I don't have a good answer since I am looking for a new guild myself.

[Threash]

If I'm not wearing my full MF gear, even in pvp, i really feel like i am not playing efficiently.  It's annoying, i wish at least in pvp MF didn't work, but you even get 30% MF as part of the over matched buff.

[Signe]

Trophies.  Am I missing something?  You can salvage some and junk some, but some are just there.  Can't salvage them and they don't sell with the junk option.  Like flowers.  Maybe you're meant to decorate your home instance with them?  Oh wait....   

[Lantyssa]

If they can't be sold or salvaged, they're probably turn-ins for the nearby heart.  If colored gold, then they're rare crafting materials.

[Signe]

Thanks!  I was going to find info on their forums but official game forums cause me to lose the will to live.

[Tmon]

If it is a turn in item it will say something like, "xxxx near y would be interested in this" when you hover over it.

[Numtini]

I just upgraded my bags at level 30 and figured out half of what I was carrying around was junk. I just trashed it.

[Lantyssa]

Thanks!  I was going to find info on their forums but official game forums cause me to lose the will to live.

Try typing "/wiki xx" where xx is the item in question.  Avoids the forums and takes you right to info on what you want to know.

[Signe]

Oh good.  Thanks!  Yay!   

[eldaec]

How do servers work in this game?

I read all sorts of confused contradictory stuff about cross server play, transfers, bullshit regional restrictions.

Trying to work out wtf as I want to give this a go in the new year.

[Lantyssa]

I'm not aware of any regional restrictions.  Server transfers are free for the moment, but it's best to choose the server you think you'll want at the start, as that may change later.

If you are in an overflow, or a dungeon, you can join people from other servers.  In the future they intend to have guesting, but with how long it's taking those plans may change.

Influence (guild point thingy) is per server.  So Bat Country on Gates of Madness has a different pool than Bat Country on Jade Quarry.  So if you want any guild perks, play on the same server as the guild you'll be representing the most.

[sachiel]

The regional restrictions are NA/EU.  Those restrictions don't count for server transfers and don't count for grouping up, but do count for that entire group being able to enter a fractal as you won't be able to join the same Lion's Arch Overflow server.  I think it also matter for entering the same dungeon. 

[eldaec]

So you can group cross region but can't then enter an instance together?

That would explain the apparently contradictory nonsense while being utterly bizarre. Just bizarre enough to be true I guess.

[sachiel]

So you can group cross region but can't then enter an instance together?

That would explain the apparently contradictory nonsense while being utterly bizarre. Just bizarre enough to be true I guess.

Yes, you can use gw2lfg.com and join in a group with a EU player and have fun party chat time.  They will be a blackbox on your group panel.  They won't have the option to "Join in Lion's Arch (Overflow)" on their panel.  That's the restriction for fractals as you all have to be in the same shard when the first person enters the fractal dungeon.  For regular dungeons, you can cross-server group, and when the first person in the zone, regardless of server, enters the dungeon, the other people on different servers will get a popup "Would you like to join your group in <Insert Dungeon Here> Explore Mode?" popup and you'll be whisked into the dungeon with your group.  I'm pretty sure that is NA/EU restricted as well, but not 100%.

[eldaec]

Weird.

I"d assumed there was a technical restriction that anet had decided wasn't worth the effort. But that sounds like a (weird) design choice.

[eldaec]

Can anyone point me at a simple 'build your character like this' guide. Everything I read says class is more about how than about what you can do? But then singularly fails to explain how what your guy can do is actually determined.

Or just tell me what to play if aiming for control/support/heals, which is what I always end up on in the end.

[Lantyssa]

Er, you don't really have dedicated roles like you're used to.  The closest would be some builds for Guardians, water Elementalists, and maybe some Mesmer or Necro set-ups.

Mesmer is a highly active class though.  I find it isn't so much about control as it is organized chaos.

[rk47]

Guardian = melee with magic - think paladin
Warrior = non squishy melee dps
Thief = squishy melee dps with stealth
Elementalist = nukes , aoe has heals
Necro = dots, debuffs
Engineer = Beta Class
Ranger = hunters
Mesmer = Kinda oddball class - patient players only. Takes time to get better.

[Threash]

That makes mesmers sound bad, they are the best class for pvp atm.

[rk47]

That makes mesmers sound bad, they are the best class for pvp atm.

you will not faceroll with this class without effort, i feel.
even pve takes time to figure out.

[Maledict]

Weird.

I"d assumed there was a technical restriction that anet had decided wasn't worth the effort. But that sounds like a (weird) design choice.

It is unfortunately linked to technical restrictions they are working on (and will be fixed in January). The long and short foot is that fractals use the personal story quest system rather than the dungeon system, so currently they have a whole host of annoying issues with the,. The main one is that if someone DCs in a fractal they cannot rejoin the group at all, which obviously ruins your run. The stuff about NA/Euro entry is linked to that (although obvious less of a problem).

The fix for DCs in fractals should also fix this issue.

[Lantyssa]

That makes mesmers sound bad, they are the best class for pvp atm.

They're really hard to get used to, and not something that will click for most people.  That also makes them tough for others to counter.

I won't claim to be good at PvP, but it's rare I die in PvE.  Even in dungeons I'm usually the last standing.

[proudft]

My mesmer is still wee, and I am pretty fragile and trying to figure out how it works when I mess around with him, but when I'm on my high level warrior and something is going poorly (i.e., I attacked some champion because I am dumb), and some random mesmer shows up, I am a happy camper because 9/10 times we are going to win due to clones/phantasms running around like maniacs and dying for me, a stranger.   

I've played each class to about level 15 or so, and axe-axe / misc warrior, the first one I tried, is still my favorite.  Longbow / axe-horn ranger is a surprising second.  Elementalist/mesmer/thief in a three-way tie for third, the rest are down in the meh lands.  All ranking purely on 'fun' of skills, though the warrior and ranger have been more survivable they are much higher level than everyone else so those comparisons aren't really fair yet.

[Zetor]

Survivability depends a lot more on build (gear stat choices + traits) than class, though obviously some classes have better tricks than others. In general pve (against normal / veteran / silver elite mobs) the most important thing is to make the mobs not hit you. This can be done through AOE blinds (directly or via combo finishers in a smoke field), block/invulnerability/projectile reflect skills, AOE crowd control (knockdowns, slows, roots, dazes), and aggro splitting (pets/clones, just like GW1). If all else fails, dodge. Against champion mobs, blind and most of the CCs become a lot less useful, but the value of pets and debuffs (especially chill/weakness) goes up; think of it as fighting an elite boss or AV in COH, where you had to overcome a lot of innate CC protection to get anything to stick - and if you did, it'd only hold or disable the mob for a second or two. Just as in COH, the way to beat tough baddies like that is to debuff them to crap while buffing yourself to crap.

FWIW I play an elementalist (both staff and dagger/dagger for range/melee) using a 'tanky' build and gear, and I barely ever die in pve and wvw unless I get massive aggro from 2+ veteran mobs that both have CC skills / stand in fire during a boss fight / encounter a zerg of at least 4 people in wvw (me being solo) ... and even then I have at least two ohcrap buttons to deal with the problem. Haven't played enough spvp to tell whether that holds true there as well... I'm also pretty sure that if I went 30 points into fire/air and switched out my gear for berserker's, I'd go splat fairly quick. 

[kildorn]

Mesmers of any stripe basically go from "okay and confusing" to "holy shit this class will not die" with the post-60 traits. It's a bit of a slog to that point at times, because your time to kill is low as shit. Good if you have a duo to level with.

They do turn champs into wimps, which is awesome. Feedback is also hilarious on certain painful mobs.

[Fordel]

Mesmers are bullshit. That is their class identity. Just like in the original GuildWars.


Good bullshit, Bad bullshit, they have it covered. There is like, almost no moment when I play with or against a Mesmer, that I am not going "what a load of bullshit!"

[Fraeg]

Mesmers are bullshit. That is their class identity. Just like in the original GuildWars.


Good bullshit, Bad bullshit, they have it covered. There is like, almost no moment when I play with or against a Mesmer, that I am not going "what a load of bullshit!"

pretty much sums it up.  I do pretty good against Mesmers, but I have to say it is the one class I am really tired of fighting.  Every time I find myself in a 1v1 vs one I find myself going "Great, hear we go again."

If you want to play a class that will have the enemy absolutely frothing at the mouth, play a mesmer.  That or play a thief and take advantage of the rendering issues.