But it already does that. Reflects from Guards and Mesmers, Stealth from Thieves, everyone can res, and you can even increase party DPS through Might stacking with Engies or Eles. The issue with dungeons in GW2 are that the encounters are poorly designed and can be easily cheesed. The more recent fights in season 2 of the Living World show better AI and more tactics, which is a good step forward. However, Anet pretty much lost their dungeon team, so I don't know if they'll go back and rework the old dungeons.
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Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Announcement
- Thread starter Retro
- Start date
But it already does that. Reflects from Guards and Mesmers, Stealth from Thieves, everyone can res, and you can even increase party DPS through Might stacking with Engies or Eles. The issue with dungeons in GW2 are that the encounters are poorly designed and can be easily cheesed. The more recent fights in season 2 of the Living World show better AI and more tactics, which is a good step forward. However, Anet pretty much lost their dungeon team, so I don't know if they'll go back and rework the old dungeons.
I wonder how specializations work in Heart of Thorns as well. Like... Would becoming a druid allow you to shapeshift or would it just only give a few new skills?
Curious as to what new weapon types the Ranger has access to as well as that's what I played. Wouldn't mind dual wielding on my Ranger. It's been so long since I played I can't even remember if that's even an option. I just used the long bow but I do want to try out different things. Even on the other characters I had made.
Curious as to what new weapon types the Ranger has access to as well as that's what I played. Wouldn't mind dual wielding on my Ranger. It's been so long since I played I can't even remember if that's even an option. I just used the long bow but I do want to try out different things. Even on the other characters I had made.
silvermember
Banned
They fired the guy who designed all those terrible instances.
With that said, I think arenanet pretty much thinks dungeons are not in their future.
An interview with Massively revealed an important detail in how Mastery works;
Thus, Mastery is not a "Jungle only" thing that has no relevance outside the new zones.
Here's a transcript of what was said during the Announcement:
The "new profession mechanics" bit makes it sound like there will be a shift in how the entire class behaves. The rangers' current profession mechanic are their pets, so it sounds like Druid might change that somehow or even potentially replace it. It could be shape-shifting (though that seems a little unoriginal) or whatever. The trailer showed a Staff Ranger still commanding his pet though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
It sounds like Staff will be the only new weapon type Rangers gain (I've seen several places mention that it's one weapon per Specialization), but it's fairly obvious that Specialization is a platform that they'll utilize to add more alternative advancement / progression to the existing professions.
Thus, Mastery is not a "Jungle only" thing that has no relevance outside the new zones.
Here's a transcript of what was said during the Announcement:
Colin Johanson said:
The "new profession mechanics" bit makes it sound like there will be a shift in how the entire class behaves. The rangers' current profession mechanic are their pets, so it sounds like Druid might change that somehow or even potentially replace it. It could be shape-shifting (though that seems a little unoriginal) or whatever. The trailer showed a Staff Ranger still commanding his pet though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
It sounds like Staff will be the only new weapon type Rangers gain (I've seen several places mention that it's one weapon per Specialization), but it's fairly obvious that Specialization is a platform that they'll utilize to add more alternative advancement / progression to the existing professions.
Excellent presentation for an excellent game. Having played over 4300 hours across my account it's nice to see something refreshing coming to the game in the coming months. My biggest hope is that the trait system gets a complete overhaul. Static bonuses are incredibly boring.
Thanks for clarifying!
It's funny... I showed all my friends the trailer and they all want to jump back in. Sounds like a lot of game changing mechanics that I like.
I'm actually rather surprised the level of interest my friends have in the expansion. The fact the game is buy to play is a nice addition as well.
I really hope they plan to add more expansions. Even if they don't add new areas in content patches then I can always count on expansions.
Did they mention how many specializations each profession gets?
No problem, that's why we made a thread on gaming side in the first place; expansions are attention-grabbers and there's a lot of potentially new or returning players with lots of questions (and lots of dis/misinformation to correct, but we'll side step that for now).
They've added two fairly impressive zones in the last season of Living Story, so I don't think you need to worry about them not expanding the world without an expansion.
You have played since they added the Silverwastes zone, right? It's so damn good, definitely wade back in if you've got an 80 and can spare the bandwidth to reinstall.
Not yet. Supposedly one the the Youtube commentators asked about it last night and was told it's one per profession initially (with more specializations to be added later), but I don't have a source on that info so I can't say for sure. It does sound about right though.
I actually haven't played since they introduced fractals. It'll be good to return though. I will likely install it later this week to see what I've missed and good to know about them adding new zones.
I think the Druid Specialization interests me the most unless there's something even better. Curious about the ones for the other classes I have though. =)
Astral/H3X
Member
I'm wondering if they'll make a way for dervishes to come back. IIRC (haven't played in a WHILE) Necros have an effect added to their staves that give them a scythe like appearance, and I can see them working their skills into Guardian. Hrm.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
@ BattleMonkey, I am sorry you feel that way. It's nearly the opposite for me.
H3Xanti, I unfortunately think it won't happen mate. The story seems to revolve around the idea that the human gods have abandoned them, and left them stranded. The Dervish profession would take upon the avatar of the gods. It was a really cool idea, but it seems to be living on in the new Revenant profession.
Only he does not take the form of the human gods, but different powerful deities in the lore. One of them was the legendary Dwarf, and another is a crazed Monkey-God thing. When you take on the different forms as the Revenant you will get a new set of skills, so it seems the mechanic works a bit like a Dervish.
But will they use a staff? That will be interesting to figure out.
I can also only speculate on what a Necro will turn into with a Greatsword. Since they are cloth wearing and light armored, do you really see them as Death Knights? I imagined more something like .. Actually Revenant seems more like a Light armored profession to me.
H3Xanti, I unfortunately think it won't happen mate. The story seems to revolve around the idea that the human gods have abandoned them, and left them stranded. The Dervish profession would take upon the avatar of the gods. It was a really cool idea, but it seems to be living on in the new Revenant profession.
Only he does not take the form of the human gods, but different powerful deities in the lore. One of them was the legendary Dwarf, and another is a crazed Monkey-God thing. When you take on the different forms as the Revenant you will get a new set of skills, so it seems the mechanic works a bit like a Dervish.
But will they use a staff? That will be interesting to figure out.
I can also only speculate on what a Necro will turn into with a Greatsword. Since they are cloth wearing and light armored, do you really see them as Death Knights? I imagined more something like .. Actually Revenant seems more like a Light armored profession to me.
TharpDaddy
Member
My favorite 3 classes in GW1 were Ritualist, Dervish and Paragon, unfortunately none of them made it into 2 but the new class looks like it might have some ritualist/dervish style to it. I'd love if that was the case, I loved the idea of mesmer but just didn't find it fun to play in 2.
If I had to guess, the standard retail box will probably be $49.99, but that is complete speculation.
No way. If this is 5 zones and a few new features it will not match the cost of an entire game. It's going to be $20-$30.
It's a better price point to be sure, and I wouldn't object to it being cheaper than expected. Like I said though, just guessing.
Well I'm not going to buy it for more than $30, and even that much is pushing it.
Gotta remember it's buy to play and no subscription fee. I think that's a fair price.
This is coming from someone that's stopped playing Guild Was 2 (and will go back with the expansion) that currently plays FFXIV.
Though... I feel FFXIV's expansion offers more, I think Heart of Thorns offers some great things too and especially ones for a boxed copy and a game that releases content patches far more frequently than FFXIV does.
I really really REALLY like the first game but haven't played as much of the second game. I feel like there is not enough sense of progression with the skills and I feel I just stagnate with the ones I have already. I remember GW1 with hundred of skills (yes there was a lot of copy pasta) but still it was a nice. But I do like the jumping puzzles in the game. I think I stopped played 2 years ago after beating the halloween tower puzzle, damn it was nice, but I was playing GW2 only for the jumping puzzle at the end...
NormalFish
Banned
So I've read through the supposed changes in multiple places now (and it's possible I've scanned over it multiple times), and I still have one major question:
Is there any estimate on how many new skills are going to be added with the expac? Lack of skill variety is literally the only thing keeping me from playing GW2 regularly.
Is there any estimate on how many new skills are going to be added with the expac? Lack of skill variety is literally the only thing keeping me from playing GW2 regularly.
Well as a minimum I would say 5 new weapon skills (through a new weapon per class), and then a new heal, 3 new utilities and a new elite. In terms of skill variety? Doubt its gonna change much.
GW2 has been the best MMO I've ever played as far as world evolution and feature updates. If all the content they've given us so far is free, I can't WAIT to see everything that Heart of Thorns brings.
NormalFish
Banned
That's what I feared. Guess I'm playing the original, still.
Not if the class only gets a new off hand weapon, like mesmer getting shield.
Have they said if existing weapon skills might change in the spec, though? I guess it's possible they could change main hand abilities to go with whatever shield brings.
Nobody knows yet.
Specialization is supposed to give each profession new heal, utility and elite skills in addition to new traits and weapon selection. Since specialization is supposed to add an entirely new profession mechanic, that in itself may drastically alter how the base skills work (someone did a great writeup on Reddit about that, here's the link).
If you're expecting a return to the Guild Wars 1 days, that's simply not going to happen. The developers have commented repeatedly how difficult it was to balance and maintain that system where hundreds of skills (many of them copies or subtle variations on each other) simply isn't feasible.
They have not, it looks like this week is focusing on Mastery, but supposedly they're going to cover a new topic each week so.... stay tuned. I'll bump this thread with any large updates and continue adding them to the Articles and Media section of the OP.
New blog post:
Journey into the Heart of Maguuma in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
And one announced for tomorrow;
Journey into the Heart of Maguuma in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
And one announced for tomorrow;
http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/gu...layers-‘first-look’-guild-wars-2-heart-thorns
Livestream stuff starts at 2 p.m. EST tomorrow at twitch.tv/guildwars2
Most likely we'll see the mastery system in-game. Aww Yiss
Livestream stuff starts at 2 p.m. EST tomorrow at twitch.tv/guildwars2
Most likely we'll see the mastery system in-game. Aww Yiss
Details on the new Profession have been released;
Revenant: The Master of the Mists
Some Highlights, and discussion on the new Conditions and Boons (including Taunt, which is surely a boon for those who felt GW2's combat was too unpredictable);
And a reminder that ArenaNet (and a playable demo) will be at PAX East in Boston, March 6–8, and at Rezzed in London, March 12–14.
Revenant: The Master of the Mists
Between now and the launch of the expansion, you’ll learn a lot about the revenant’s skills and abilities. We’ll start that process today by talking about the following:
- Unique profession mechanic
- Unique resource system
- Heavy armor
- Medium health pool
- Color scheme: red, black, and misty white
- Hammer
- Mace
- Axe
- Legendary Demon Stance: Mallyx the Unyielding
- Legendary Dwarf Stance: Jalis Ironhammer
Some Highlights, and discussion on the new Conditions and Boons (including Taunt, which is surely a boon for those who felt GW2's combat was too unpredictable);
And a reminder that ArenaNet (and a playable demo) will be at PAX East in Boston, March 6–8, and at Rezzed in London, March 12–14.
My first reaction was that Taunt might really unbalance the encounters in vanilla game, but thinking about it further I suppose there are various things that keep it from changing things too much. Bosses have Defiance, and GW2 "tanks" and "healers" aren't as great at these jobs as classes in actual trinity system games. It's just one more CC effect with a twist
Yep, it's just anti-fear. I think the short duration is the key difference. In every other game with a taunt it would have a lasting effect of increasing aggro on the caster making him the tank where in GW2 once the buff is gone everything snaps back to the way it was just before the taunt.
Weltall Zero
Member
Taunt use on players is something I've wanted to see in WoW for over a decade. Funny that ArenaNet should be the ones with the balls to implement it, although that's becoming a trend lately. Should be quite hilarious in any case!
It definitely has me coming back and leveling up while I wait for the expansion. Everything just sounds perfect with this new content and with how WoW is going it looks like the fun is either with GW2 or FFXIV.
Taunt is more likely to be a short-duration "reverse Fear" or the world's slowest force pull than any kind of snap aggro ability. We don't have a ton of details yet, but given how Guild Wars 2 handles things now the precedent isn't there
Also worth noting that during several of their livestream events, they've shown enemies that have a new Defiance mechanic that's a bar instead of a stacking buff;
No word on how it will work, but a lot of people think it might be similar to Wildstar's "Interrupt armor" mechanic or allow for more precise use of control abilities. PvE combat may be changing a lot with Heart of Thorns.
Given how Guild Wars 2 has worked up to this point, that seems highly unlikely. Even if they did have an inescapable damage spike, there's still the Downed / rally mechanic, invincibility frames while dodging, invulnerability skills (Endure Pain, Mist Form, etc.), etc. That sort of cheap wipe crap just doesn't exist except as a fail state (Marionette nuked everyone from orbit if the event failed, for example), I don't see them adding it in now.
Weltall Zero
Member
Also worth noting that during several of their livestream events, they've shown enemies that have a new Defiance mechanic that's a bar instead of a stacking buff;
It might simply be a more visual way of displaying the current Defiance mechanic, maybe? It really needed something better than a single icon with a small number on it among the sea of buff/debuff icons with numbers. A lot of people didn't even know about the defiance mechanic at all; making it that much more prominent seems just perfect.
Edit: From reading Wildstar's Interrupt Armor mechanic you mentioned, it seems identical to GW2's defiance? Or am I missing something obvious?
It's represented in-game as a counter, but there's also bar that indicates when it's regenerating. Because of that, it's possible to keep using abilities that remove a charge to keep it from regenerating multiple stacks. The way Defiance in GW2 works, once you break through defiance, the next CC goes off and restores all of the Defiance charges at once.
Weltall Zero
Member
Ah, my bad, I assumed that was the case in Wildstar as well. So wait, when you remove the armor in Wildstar, as long as you keep pelting it with CC's in Wildstar, they will all work? Sounds a bit crazy, but I guess CCs will be much more rationed to compensate for it. It's interesting in that I guess it promotes coordinating to fire all CCs at once, which is more intuitive that GW2's implementation which is harder to explain and coordinate.
From memory in WildStar if you kept pelting an enemy with CC they would eventually regenerate their armour due to becoming immune/resistant to the CC. I may be wrong there, I haven't played for quite some time.
No, from the way I understand it, you can keep using abilities to keep Interrupt Armor from generating a ton of stacks; those CCs don't work, but they keep the enemy from building up a ton of charges again (in contrast to GW2 where they automatically get all of their charges back).
I dunno, it's been a while since I played the WS beta, and since everything about the game was so off-putting I wasn't too inclined to pay it much attention. Maybe it's changed or I'm forgetting how it worked.
Ploid 3.0
Member
Provoke in FFXI PVP was fun hah.
Bumping the thread since a lot of folks were waiting for it to be on sale again;
They also had a press event where a lot of folks got to play the demo they'll have at PAX East and get some impressions / do interviews. Here's a list; https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-demo-previews/
Angry Joe's interview is probably the best of the videos, the US Gamer review is probably the best written one.
They also had a press event where a lot of folks got to play the demo they'll have at PAX East and get some impressions / do interviews. Here's a list; https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-demo-previews/
Angry Joe's interview is probably the best of the videos, the US Gamer review is probably the best written one.