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binge crotching
Apr 2, 2010

If you want to get all the lore and so on from the story, finish the original personal story before you start with living world season 1. That said, season 1 isn't fully rereleased yet, so you'll want to watch the recap thing after you finish the missions.

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Tambaloneus
Feb 5, 2007

I miss my cat someone buy me a kitten.

Will there be another of those supply drop whatsits for the anniversary?

MajorBonnet
May 28, 2009

How did I get here?

Tambaloneus posted:

Will there be another of those supply drop whatsits for the anniversary?

Looks like no: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/wxvh2i/psa_no_supply_drop_this_year_it_seems

Mr. Neutron
Sep 15, 2012

~I'M THE BEST~
There appear to be no big sales either as of yet.

Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY



Which is so weird because, as far as I can tell, the supply drops are really popular (and a great value).

Cutedge
Mar 13, 2006

How can we lose so much more than we had before

Inzombiac posted:

(and a great value).

I think you answered why they didn't come back lol

Hakame that engineer rifle build is so fun to use, thanks for posting that

I will say, after playing a bunch of elder scrolls online for some reason and then coming back to play guild wars 2 for awhile, guild wars 2 really has so much more of a community feel to it compared to eso. Outside of dungeons and pvp, eso really does feel like you're all just playing a single player game at the same time.

iGestalt
Mar 4, 2013

I'm a little torn on what profession to play. I've never been a fan of Thief in GW2, so what I'd normally end up playing is right out.

Instead I was thinking Warrior, but I can't help but feel it's a bit.. bland? I'm torn on what else I might enjoy - but nothing really appeals. Does Warrior become more engaging at higher levels / more flashy?

Hello Sailor
May 3, 2006

we're all mad here

iGestalt posted:

I'm a little torn on what profession to play. I've never been a fan of Thief in GW2, so what I'd normally end up playing is right out.

Instead I was thinking Warrior, but I can't help but feel it's a bit.. bland? I'm torn on what else I might enjoy - but nothing really appeals. Does Warrior become more engaging at higher levels / more flashy?

Revenant or Guardian makes for a flashy Warrior, they combine magic effects and heavy armor. Engineer gets all sorts of things that go boom.

iGestalt
Mar 4, 2013

Hello Sailor posted:

Revenant or Guardian makes for a flashy Warrior, they combine magic effects and heavy armor. Engineer gets all sorts of things that go boom.

I was contemplating Guardian. I don't typically go for 'Paladin' types but it looks like it could be a little more engaging than a Warrior would be. Ideally something that can use two-handed weapons (GS / Hammer are good fun on Warrior) is a plus.

Demon_Corsair
Mar 22, 2004

Goodbye stealing souls, hello stealing booty.

iGestalt posted:

I'm a little torn on what profession to play. I've never been a fan of Thief in GW2, so what I'd normally end up playing is right out.

Instead I was thinking Warrior, but I can't help but feel it's a bit.. bland? I'm torn on what else I might enjoy - but nothing really appeals. Does Warrior become more engaging at higher levels / more flashy?

I wanted to like the gun sword, but standing still just breaks my brain. I'm used to being in constant motion.

The big numbers are real nice though.

Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY


iGestalt posted:

I'm a little torn on what profession to play. I've never been a fan of Thief in GW2, so what I'd normally end up playing is right out.

Instead I was thinking Warrior, but I can't help but feel it's a bit.. bland? I'm torn on what else I might enjoy - but nothing really appeals. Does Warrior become more engaging at higher levels / more flashy?

Warrior is pretty bland. Revenant is better and flashier.

Hello Sailor
May 3, 2006

we're all mad here

iGestalt posted:

I was contemplating Guardian. I don't typically go for 'Paladin' types but it looks like it could be a little more engaging than a Warrior would be. Ideally something that can use two-handed weapons (GS / Hammer are good fun on Warrior) is a plus.

I love hammer on Guardians, even though it's not really part of their meta right now. They get a leaping overhead smash on a short cooldown and another attack that launches enemies into the air.

binge crotching
Apr 2, 2010

Inzombiac posted:

Warrior is pretty bland. Revenant is better and flashier.

I loved warrior for years (still the only character I've done map completion with) because I could go anywhere and do anything and still be extremely survivable, but renegade/herald are both so much fun that over the last 2 years it's been by far my most played character, and the only one I've actually completed all the story up to EoD with.

I've been running dual swords the entire time, and it just looks so much cooler than warrior with two swords.

Hakarne
Jul 23, 2007
Vivo en el autobús!


Cutedge posted:

Hakame that engineer rifle build is so fun to use, thanks for posting that

I will say, after playing a bunch of elder scrolls online for some reason and then coming back to play guild wars 2 for awhile, guild wars 2 really has so much more of a community feel to it compared to eso. Outside of dungeons and pvp, eso really does feel like you're all just playing a single player game at the same time.

I'm glad you like it! And I agree, having played ESO this game has the best community feel (and I say this as someone who loves playing MMOs solo). No matter where you are or at what time, if something pops up you can shout on the map or in guild and people will swarm to assist. If someone's downed it feels mandatory to try to res them. The game does a great job of fostering community and cooperation I think because it never makes you group up or do anything extra to cooperate. It just happens, and having more people show up is only a good thing.

iGestalt posted:

I was contemplating Guardian. I don't typically go for 'Paladin' types but it looks like it could be a little more engaging than a Warrior would be. Ideally something that can use two-handed weapons (GS / Hammer are good fun on Warrior) is a plus.

I definitely think you should try Vindicator (Revenant). And it just so happens the last effort-post I'm copying from the old thread is a Vindicator write-up. If you want to do BIG DAMAGE with a GS then it's right up your alley.

BadLlama
Jan 13, 2006

Honestly surprised they haven't given thief a 2h sword and some samurai build thing

Hakarne
Jul 23, 2007
Vivo en el autobús!


This is my Vindicator post. This is for a Revenant Elite Specialization that requires the End of Dragons expansion.

Ok here's a big post about Vindicator. There's at least one interested party so you're all getting a blast of info!



I hated Vindicator in the beta. One dodge felt terrible in a game built around dodging, and as I previously mentioned the one-dodge nerf to Mirage made me stop playing that spec entirely. But after spending some time with it I've really come around to the playstyle. They didn't just take away a dodge, they replaced your second dodge with a lot of utility options and burst damage. Also you get a lot more evasion time off of that single dodge so imo it can actually be more forgiving for mitigation since you don't need to time everything perfectly. You can also use it proactively for defense and offense instead of just sitting on energy waiting to dodge. I'll start with the three dodge variants from the GM traits and what they're good for:

Forerunner of Death: The BIG DAMAGE jump and (imo) a siren's song for people who want to try Vindicator. Unless you're making a max DPS build for raids or fractals I think this is a trap and the worst of the three dodges. Sure the damage/15% damage buff is nice, but that's all you get along with a smaller dodge AoE. If you're using this against actual people they will run out of it 9.5/10 times since it's so telegraphed with a smaller radius. Try the others unless you really know what you're doing with it.

Saint of zu Heltzer: This one is solid and is popular in the seemingly small number of people that run a Vindicator in WvW. I don’t see it too much in Open World though, but I also don’t see a lot of Vindicators out either! AoE barrier and healing on your single dodge really enhances it, and abusing energy sigils gets you a lot of extra sustain out of this, although they did nerf this outside of PvE. It's good but not my favorite...

Vassals of the Empire: This is my favorite and I feel like most people sleep on it because the others are more straightforward and flashy. It adds a ton of utility, survivability, and damage. If you take this your dodge will grant you and your allies Protection, 10 Stacks of Might (8 in WvW), extend the duration of all boons already on you by 2 seconds, and AoE chill/damage your enemies. You can do some pretty crazy things if you build around this and it really enhances boon generation for you and allies. I swear by this talent for both Open World and WvW, and you'll see a lot of synergy come out in the builds that use it.

Open World

For my pure Open World/Story Vindicator I use Celestial Armor:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAEZlZSHMU6hlSNsTyhpSfsSKgp+1esF-zRhYBRBUFRchbB5ZGBThkZIUbC0bEURBwi+nRA-e

Edit: I made up an alternate starter version of this build for people that boost to 80 and have the Celestial starting set:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAEZlZSHMU6hlSNsTyhpSfsSKgp81e0F-zxYUhoAZUjIOwdQZlRPJQgFgJDA-e

It probably costs ~20 Gold to buy what you need off the TP in addition to your free exotic Celestial Armor. You'll need a Berserker's Greatsword, Superior Sigil of Strength (may be overkill for stacking up to 25 Might) and Stamina, 6x Superior Rune of the Eagle, Assassin's Amulet and Earrings ("Opal Orichalcum"), and Berserker Rings ("Ruby Orichalcum"). You'll take the "Rapid Flow" trait for the Swiftness and "Amnesty of Shing Jea" to help make up for the lost Might generation from not having Incensed Response. These two choices will also give you more sustain.

So why the hell do I use Celestial armor on a Vindicator!? Because it's the same armor I already had and use for the even tankier Celestial Renegade build. Because it has a lot of hidden synergy that truly shines with Vassals of the Empire. Let’s take a look at what's going on with everything here. When you enter combat you'll gain 6 stacks of Might, Fury, and Vigor for ~8 seconds thanks to your Fireworks Runes. The trait Incensed Response gives you 5 Might every time you grant yourself Fury so you'll actually get 11 stacks of Might just for entering combat and every 20 seconds after that. Every time you use a legend skill (any utility skill or energy meld) you gain Might as well, which is enhanced to give you more power also thanks to the Notoriety trait. You get enhanced Vigor from Song of Arboreum, which by itself is not enough for permanent Vigor. However, it is thanks to your Fireworks Runes and Vassals of the Empire! With your dodge giving you Might, Protection, Vigor, and extending all your boons you will easily have permanent 25 Might, Fury, Protection, and Vigor. If you play it right you can also have nearly permanent Regeneration and even Quickness when you’re on Jalis (Quickness is easily permanent on the Alliance Legend thanks to Scavenger Burst). The minor trait Balance in Discord will give you ~8 seconds of Regen when you swap legends, which you can do while you’re up in the air for your dodge. So what I like to do when I can is start my dodge then swap legends before I land, which also gives you Regeneration/Fury right before the boon extension on Vassals of the Empire procs. Pretty neat, huh?

Add it all up and that is fantastic damage and mitigation. It’s also the only way I know of to get permanent Protection on Vindicator, and the mitigation from that is worth more than the healing from zu Heltzer imo. Your heals are only on a 10 second cooldown in Alliance Stance, and you have two of them if you use Alliance Tactics. The short cooldown on your heals also makes the trait Battle Scarred (which gives you stacks of Battle Scars when you use a heal) more valuable for sustain, even with the nerf to Battle Scars.

So enough theory, how does it play? It’s pretty straightforward. You can ignore swapping to Viktor in all but the toughest situations. Greatsword and the Alliance legend aren’t very energy intensive so you can just hang out in that for most things. Spam GS5 for fun explosions and GS2 for damage/Vulnerability (which gives you Battle Scars). Also spam Scavenger Burst for permanent Quickness, Fury, and Might (7 stacks thanks to Incensed Response and Notoriety) and to apply Burning to your target. See, those condition damage stats on your celestial armor aren’t a total waste! You can also use Spear of Archemorus off cooldown too for a nice damage boost. Dodge soon after it comes off cooldown, although you can hold it a bit if you think you’ll need it as there’s a good amount of padding on your core boons.

Everything else you can save for situational usage. If you’re only rotating between those 3 or 4 skills you should have plenty of energy for whatever you need, whether it be healing, extra damage, chasing/disengaging, etc. If you need extra healing, mitigation, or CC switch to Jalis and you have all the survivability and a good CC in Forced Engagement. If it really hits the fan you can swap to your staff too for the best CC in the game, more blocks, condi cleanse, heal, and an energy refill thanks to your sigil. You can use Energy Meld proactively to pad your Protection/boon duration, or save it if you think you’ll really need a second dodge.

Here are some videos of it in action on my two favorite test subjects, Mayatl the Fierce and the Champion Avatar of Balthazar. I intentionally didn’t use Staff/Viktor so you could see how tanky it is with just the simplified playstyle. You can do some pretty crazy stuff if you get fancy with weapon swapping and Alliance Tactics but it’s not necessary for all but the hardest content.

Vindicator vs Mayatl the Fierce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roPJSqDpNd8

Vindicator vs Champion Avatar of Balthazar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=203XTJQYGwY

So yeah, the damage and sustain on this is awesome with all of the synergies you have going. You will absolutely tear through open world content and you’re pretty resilient while you do it. It’s not quite as survivable as Celestial Renegade since you have to be in melee, but it’s close and it destroys things even faster in PvE.

Fractal DPS/Utility

This is where you go with Forerunner of Death as all you really bring is damage, damage, and more damage:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAExzlZSHMU6hlSNsTyhpSfsSKgJ9lasD-zRZYBRN3XVQgmRwUG1mCVUB2eQEjFAkEgZR/zI-e

Edit: Thanks to Mr. Neutron, I tested Shiro/Jalis instead of Alliance/Jalis and it's straight-up superior damage with a simpler rotation. Just dodge when you have full endurance, run Impossible Odds when you're on Shiro, run Vengeful Hammers on Jalis, and spam GS5, GS3, and GS2 on cooldown. Doing that got me an easy 32k+ DPS (updated for current patch). I'll leave the Alliance info below in case you really want to use that instead but Shiro/Jalis is just better and easier. Here's the 32.3k benchmark video so you can see how easy it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDJkqxgPQyQ

Note this is on a huge hitbox and you’ll get lower DPS on smaller targets. So this build excels on larger targets or when you need lots of burst and/or AOE.

I used the Snow Crows build (https://snowcrows.com/builds/revenant/vindicator/power-vindicator) as a baseline but tweaked it so you can provide some utility and have a little bit of sustain in pug fractals. As the Crows mention, most of your DPS comes from Greatsword so you don’t lose a ton of damage by not weapon swapping. I also used Jalis so I have the option for sustain, stability, and CC. Try to avoid switching to staff as it’s a massive DPS loss, but if you really need huge CC, blocks, condi cleanse, etc, it’s there. Snow Crows benchmarks Power Vindicator at 36.9k, but I usually pull 30-32k with my tradeoffs which is fine for me and you’ll be competitive on DPS meters if that’s your thing.

I use a simplified rotation: In Alliance use GS5, GS3, GS2, and Spear of Archemorus off cooldown. Use Nomad’s Advance 1x. After your second Spear, swap to Jalis and turn on Vengeful Hammers while you run through your GS priorities. When you’re low on energy you swap back to Alliance and repeat. Use your dodge off cooldown to keep the damage buffs up.

Here’s a video so you can see the rotation:

https://youtu.be/xSB8Q5fdK-k


Alternative Suggestions for Open World/DPS

WvW Roaming

I tried a whole bunch of different set ups and I keep coming back to this for having the best balance between damage and sustain. It’s all about constant, unrelenting pressure combined with lots of evade frames and healing while you keep up the pressure. Oh, and disgusting amounts of burst damage thanks to a 100% crit rate and lots of Might. Once again you’ll want Celestial Armor with Firework Runes and Assassin's Greatsword/Accessories/Backpack. This is the same gear that’s found in the Open World build, but you’ll need Cleansing/Energy Sigils in your weapons:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAExzldQMsHyj1QcMHqj9RksAigl+UfsF-zRZYVhtF1YzIYOjMlC9qCU8BIkVAW0/MC-e

(I have a full set of Precise WvW infusions so I actually use a Celestial backpack and 1 Berserker earring, but it’s a really minor stat difference)

This once again makes good use of Vassals of the Empire for damage and sustain, so you’ll see a lot of the same synergies described in the Open World build. You will generate tons of Might, Vigor, Protection, Stability, and Fury which is what gives you the edge. On the flip side, boonstrip can slow this build down a lot. However you generate boons pretty rapidly so you can recover quickly and won’t completely stall out if your flow gets interrupted.

You’ll want to synch your weapon and legend swaps – pair Greatsword with Jalis and Sword/Sword with Shiro. Start out in GS/Jalis and drop Inspiring Reinforcement on your approach. Hit them if you can but the main thing is the Stability so you’re not CC’d during your opener. When you’re in range hit them with Forced Engagement for Taunt and Weakness, then gap close with GS3. Next hit them with GS5 followed by GS2. If you’re lucky and they didn’t break out of the taunt they’re gonna be hurting really bad. If they did break out they probably just burned through their dodges which is what you really want out of this.

Now you dodge, and while you’re in the air swap to Sword/Shiro. If at all possible, try to line up your weapon swaps with a dodge so you don’t waste the energy gained from your sigil. By doing this you’ll also extend the duration of the Regeneration granted by the Balance in Discord minor trait. When you land you’ll get 10 more Might, Protection, Vigor, and you should still have some stability from Inspiring Reinforcement that will get an extra 2 seconds added on. Now use Sw3 and turn on Impossible Odds. When you stop attacking from that immediately hit Sw2.

This combo is an absolutely devastating amount of damage and is very hard to avoid since Sw3 sticks you right on your target. If they’re not dead you can try to finish them off with Deathstrike and/or Shackling Wave. By this point you’re low on energy, but the Vindicator dodge helps here! You should be able to dodge again if they’re still alive and starting to counter pressure, or preferably they’re trying to heal up and you can hold your dodge a few more seconds to line up with your weapon/legend swap. If they’re still alive you’ll have to adapt, but always use Inspiring Reinforcements ASAP so you don’t get CC’d. You’ll probably need to get more defensive as they’re unloading on you so turn on Vengeful Hammers and/or use GS4 to block. You’ll probably need to dodge as soon as it’s off cooldown to stay alive, and make sure to weapon/legend swap ASAP since the energy management on this is pretty rough.

Edit: It should also be mentioned here that the dodge can be... very wonky. Swapping weapons or trying to use any skill at the very end of the jump seems to occasionally mess it up and stop you from getting the boons from your dodge. If you're swapping immediately or soon after you enter the dodge you should be ok. You may notice in the videos below that my initial burst rotation doesn't have an issue with the dodge or boon applications. It's as the fight goes on and CDs get slightly out of synch so I swap late.

And don't mash buttons as you're coming down. I think in at least one of the videos I'm jamming on my heal and it ended up canceling my dodge boons. Another "fun" bug is crossing over a CC field, like necro fear, will pull you out of the air mid dodge and stop you from getting any boons out of it. It desperately needs a bug fix.

But despite all that it's still really strong and fun. Just be aware you may have a few deaths or stall out in a fight if your dodge shits the bed on you.

Here are a few example videos showing it in action.

An example of a nearly perfect burst opener…twice in a row:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENUjIS5gX5k

A little bit longer of a fight against a Willbender, followed by a lengthy chase from a Chronomancer... then killing the Chronomancer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcDAxWSAf9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSR5KxQbg0Y

A fun 2vX attempted camp gank where I instead got to do lots of stomping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbgWA6jinlU

Finally, a 1v2 against a FB and another Vindicator. This really shows the sustain on this build, and I was still able to break through all the healing the FB was crapping out. Then two players from the other faction showed up and I was still able to fight them to a standstill and make my escape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFvtuHYwUQ0

That’s all for now. Vindicator’s a lot of fun once you get used to it and I hope this makes people want to give it another shot!

Hakarne fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Aug 26, 2022

404notfound
Mar 5, 2006

stop staring at me

Hello Sailor posted:

I love hammer on Guardians, even though it's not really part of their meta right now. They get a leaping overhead smash on a short cooldown and another attack that launches enemies into the air.

I want to like the hammer too, but the skill set is just kinda... weird? The symbol, rather than being a dedicated skill, executes on the third hit of the auto-attack chain, which makes it really hard to use consistently. Most of the rest of it is PvP-oriented utility (immobilize, launch, ward), but severely lacking in damage to make it a competitive option versus the other weapons.

Hammer 2 is cool and good though

explosivo
May 23, 2004

Fueled by Satan

Turns out to get my mount I just had to log back into my alt where I was given the mount as a trial prior to buying the expansions. It dinged as "owning a mount" when I logged in and now can use it on my Necro. I want those hours of my life back where I was running between objectives and didn't have to be :argh:

iGestalt
Mar 4, 2013

Thanks for the class advice. I'm gonna play around with the suggestions and see if I enjoy all of them. At the very least i do enjoy Warrior, bland or not.

Real big fan of them letting you get a mount at Level 10, though. And finally getting to experience GW2 mount systems.

Deformed Church
May 12, 2012

5'5", IQ 81


Hakarne posted:

This is my Vindicator post.

Thanks for this! I've just picked up Rev for the first time since HoT and I'm looking forward to giving this a try when I catch an HP train.

Damn Dirty Ape
Jan 23, 2015

I love you Dr. Zaius



So are all of the best builds EoD based?

Also, does anybody have a Mesmer build? Looks like I'm a chronomancer.

Ort
Jul 3, 2005

Proud graduate of the Andy Reid coaching clinic.

iGestalt posted:

Thanks for the class advice. I'm gonna play around with the suggestions and see if I enjoy all of them. At the very least i do enjoy Warrior, bland or not.

Real big fan of them letting you get a mount at Level 10, though. And finally getting to experience GW2 mount systems.

Warrior elite specs are cool. Berserker feels extremely visceral and fast paced, spellbreaker is kind of this cool more methodical spec with neat visuals.

Abroham Lincoln
Sep 19, 2011

Note to self: This one's the good one



drat Dirty Ape posted:

So are all of the best builds EoD based?

Also, does anybody have a Mesmer build? Looks like I'm a chronomancer.

They're just newest so they're what most people are interested in playing. There's very, very few builds that are completely core, but almost every elite spec still sees use.

(but also I never play mesmer so I can't help you there)

Redmanred
Aug 29, 2005

My hometown japan
:japan:
drat, it's been a good 10 years of GW2

Luggage
Aug 29, 2009

iGestalt posted:

I'm a little torn on what profession to play. I've never been a fan of Thief in GW2, so what I'd normally end up playing is right out.

Instead I was thinking Warrior, but I can't help but feel it's a bit.. bland? I'm torn on what else I might enjoy - but nothing really appeals. Does Warrior become more engaging at higher levels / more flashy?
Granted, he can make any spec look good, but maybe check out this Bladeswon build and guide by Vallun. He's the resident build crafter at GuildJen.com and also pretty good in PvP/WvW. I reckon his builds contain a lot of thought and it seems he gets something anywhere between decent to OP out of every elite spec.

https://youtu.be/Q9zOed99008

Luggage
Aug 29, 2009

drat Dirty Ape posted:

So are all of the best builds EoD based?

Also, does anybody have a Mesmer build? Looks like I'm a chronomancer.

For Chronomancer you will want to play a Power build. The meta build for group content is on the upper end of difficulty, so a normal all-round Power build should suffice.

https://guildjen.com/chronomancer-open-world-build/

Make sure to also watch the video for advice on how to play the class and best use the class mechanics.

jokes
Dec 20, 2012

Uh... Kupo?

Are hybrid builds good, or is it severely suboptimal such that im a liability or something? or are SOME okay and most are terrible?

Saraiguma
Oct 2, 2014

jokes posted:

Are hybrid builds good, or is it severely suboptimal such that im a liability or something? or are SOME okay and most are terrible?

some are okay, most are terrible, I think weaver and soulbeast are the good grieving users atm

Eltoasto
Aug 26, 2002

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.



jokes posted:

Are hybrid builds good, or is it severely suboptimal such that im a liability or something? or are SOME okay and most are terrible?

Hybrid as in power and condi stats? If you look for builds that use celestial gear, then they do a bit of everything. A build that's doing some damage and some support in celestial gear can be great for just running around and doing open world metas. High level fractals and raids will end up wanting a more specific build.

Abroham Lincoln
Sep 19, 2011

Note to self: This one's the good one



jokes posted:

Are hybrid builds good, or is it severely suboptimal such that im a liability or something? or are SOME okay and most are terrible?

This really depends on your definition of 'hybrid' since a lot of the top meta builds and group compositions are hybrids by definition, either as healers or boon support. A given strike or raid comp is split into 2 groups of 5, and both groups need a healer, alacrity giver, and a quickness giver. Sometimes these overlap, but hybrid support roles in that sense are always necessary.

jokes
Dec 20, 2012

Uh... Kupo?

I mean power and condi builds. Like, I want to feel good about abilities that do damage and also have condition damage

Abroham Lincoln
Sep 19, 2011

Note to self: This one's the good one



Most of the builds you can find that are labeled "condi builds" use Viper's stats, so they blend power/precision/condi/condi duration which I guess makes them a hybrid? Condi virtuoso is really crit dependent for proccing bleeds, for instance.

WvW and sPvP are the other places where getting wacky with stats is usually valid, since survivability starts being significantly more important.

ghost story
Sep 10, 2005
Boo.

BadLlama posted:

I am finding PoF more of a slog, I cannot get the second mount because I do not have enough mastery points. Anywhere to get the points requires that mount so... yeah


and after typing that I found a whole area unexplored in crystal desert with the mastery point I needed.

This is what you need - http://dulfy.net/2017/09/26/gw2-path-of-fire-mastery-insights-guide/

It breaks down mastery insights by what existing mounts/masteries you already have. There is also video/text guides that goes along with each point. Yes the website looks horrible now (its designed/meant to be viewed on mobile - its gw2 is just in maintence mode now that Dulfy isn't active anymore). Don't let that deter you!

Luggage
Aug 29, 2009
So what's the deal/meme regarding Lord Faren? There are like half a dozen silly minis for him, but I've never encountered him as an in-game character. I get why you would want half-naked Kasmeer, but who is that dude?

Ra Ra Rasputin
Apr 2, 2011
Maybe in another 10 years there will be mini-pet battles and we can finally find out if Speedo Faren or Bikini Kasmeer would win in a fight.

Mr. Neutron
Sep 15, 2012

~I'M THE BEST~

Luggage posted:

So what's the deal/meme regarding Lord Faren? There are like half a dozen silly minis for him, but I've never encountered him as an in-game character. I get why you would want half-naked Kasmeer, but who is that dude?

From what I remember, he is your best buddy if you play human and pick the noble origin. You meet him at several points throughout the story.

AmbientParadox
Mar 2, 2005

Luggage posted:

So what's the deal/meme regarding Lord Faren? There are like half a dozen silly minis for him, but I've never encountered him as an in-game character. I get why you would want half-naked Kasmeer, but who is that dude?

He’s a main character for the human story. Later, he plays roles in nearly every expansion and LWS. The short end of it is he’s an outgoing and open minded noble from Divinity Reach. This means he often volunteers to do outreach to the other nations on behalf of Krytan humans. However he has like, zero combat ability and just survives on grit and a can-do attitude. He’s a friend of the Commander too.

Meskhenet
Apr 26, 2010

Luggage posted:

So what's the deal/meme regarding Lord Faren? There are like half a dozen silly minis for him, but I've never encountered him as an in-game character. I get why you would want half-naked Kasmeer, but who is that dude?

Lord Faren is probably the best NPC in the game (after joko)
You have to do his meta in Verdant Brink at least once

MajorBonnet
May 28, 2009

How did I get here?
I always try to do his meta when I'm in VB. They need to scale down the collection event in the middle of it, otherwise it's A+.

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Inzombiac
Mar 19, 2007

PARTY ALL NIGHT

EAT BRAINS ALL DAY


Meskhenet posted:

Lord Faren is probably the best NPC in the game (after joko)
You have to do his meta in Verdant Brink at least once

Excuse me, Tybalt is the best character aside from Joko.

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