Author: Zubon

This is becoming a running joke in our dungeon runs. You can help it become a meme.

In the Ascalonian Catacombs exploration mode, path 1 is guided by the NPC Hodgins. By the middle of the path, he is dual-wielding flaming scepters. The usual approach is to sprint through rather than clearing all the enemies. At several points, Hodgins is having none of this, whips out his dual scepters, and goes berserk on whatever enemy he feels like, caring not a whit for his own (surprisingly good) survival. Group of gravelings? Hodgins wants to solo them. Gravelings fighting oozes? He’ll take all comers. Ghosts, trolls, whatever you can find? Hodgins wants their flaming blood on his boots.

Hodgins is hardcore.

: Zubon

[Update: as of 11/15/2012, blast finishers were removed from Evasive Arcana, eliminating most of the ability to create and then exploit fields with a staff. It is not clear if the elementalist will remain a viable support class.]

• Best roles found: group support, event AE damage, WvW siege weapon destruction
• Pros: skill variety, combo fields and finishers, ranged area effect attacks, area effect healing, area effect buffs, high mobility, moderate control
• Cons: damage, damage resistance, health, underwater combat, elite skills, high attention needed for effectiveness
• Difficulty: low for leveling, events; high for late game effectiveness
• Not tested: sPvP dagger/dagger builds

The elementalist is one of the two best group support classes and the worst solo class. To get the most out of it, you need to be with other people. To get the most out of it, you need to constantly switch attunements and use all 20 skills. You will love this class if you run dungeons, if you attack towers with a zerg in WvW, or if you like to hit large groups of enemies with giant, flaming rocks. You will love this class if you draw satisfaction from seeing others succeed. You will hate this class if you play a lot of underwater content, if you compare your damage to others, or if you need to see the big numbers on your screens rather than the combo effects telling you they are on others’ screens.
Continue reading [GW2] Elementalist Review

How are your server’s WvW match-ups? Ours have been dramatically one-sided, with one server wiping the floor with the other two. This week, we are the victors; last week, a different server held 75% of the map consistently.

I am told that one of our competing servers had an exodus last weekend, with a major guild or seven leaving Eredon Terrace. (There are stories about what happened, but never trust Us when they tell you what is wrong with Them.) Numbers disparities are hard to overcome, and once your server is losing that badly, people stop trying. You cannot build the momentum to get past your own gates, while people flock to the winning team. The winning server has a long queue for WvW and your WvW team is half-full at best.

Bandwagons are a problem that will continue as long as free transfers are available (to more populous servers). People generally want to be on the winning team. Without server transfers, this just means that people are more likely to hit B and join WvW if they are ahead. With server transfers, people leave losing servers and join winning servers. Any swings are exaggerated by immigration. Continue reading [GW2] Unbalanced

The jumping puzzles immediately appeal to metagaming instincts, like when the puzzle game gives you a fixed number of pieces so you know your solution will incorporate all of them. Once you realize you have found a jumping puzzle (whether one with an achievement or one that just leads to a chest), you start looking for the next perch. You stop thinking about the terrain as a game rather than a world, and you put on your designer’s hat to think of how you would design the next step.

“Hmm, there is an achievement named “Urmaug’s Secret. There is an NPC named Urmaug in Lion’s Arch. Let’s give that area a second look. Aha! Now how do I get up there…”

People in games and stories like to design games and puzzles for the heroes, and they are usually fair ones that they can solve. If I am protecting myself and my stuff, I am not playing fair with whoever is trying to kill me. Also, I am probably not going to design a home with one path through it, in which I must pass through every room in the house to reach my bedroom.

: Zubon

I want guesting to work.

I am on one of the high population servers, always at “high” or “full” when I check. I want to visit friends on other servers, but I am worried about being able to get back in any reasonable time frame. A guildmate claimed to have needed more than a week to get back to Isle of Janthir. I presume you can get anywhere during off-hours, but it would be nice if the advertised feature existed.

You can switch servers freely 1/day, which is great if you have friends on only a few servers and never want to go back and forth in the same day. I understand the WvW abuses that led to needing the limitation, but it would be nice if the advertised feature existed. Guesting would not have the WvW issue, and you need not be limited per day.

: Zubon