What do we see at 33% when Lord Hizen uses the Grappling Hook Hideout for the second time? Did Ellen KIel think he needed some movivational speech before coming back to the fight?

jul.19.2023: fixed missing guids for effects since previous.
jul.19.2023: fixed cbts language since previous.
jul.19.2023: changed cbts_effect2 orientation (again, sorry) to original*1000 clamped to int16.

Because I can. 😎

A Patch for a Patch of a Patch 😎

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/134006-game-update-notes-july-18-2023/?do=findComment&comment=1945970

• Written in Stone: This trait now has a 25-second internal cooldown when granting an aura in PvP only.
• Signet of Restoration: Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Signet of Water: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Flamestrike: The first strike of this skill no longer inflicts burning in PvP only. Reduced the secondary burning duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in PvP only.
• Dragon’s Tooth: Reduced burning duration from 10 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP only.
• Desert Empowerment: Fixed an issue that caused this trait to grant more barrier than intended in PvP and WvW.
• Fixed an issue in the Silent Surf fractal that caused pets to be affected by the final encounter’s boon stealing mechanic.
• Removed a context menu “Invite” option that was erroneously enabled.

Today I learned they removed the barrier generation from Skill 1 on the Mace.

You mean Mace Blast formerly known as Barrier Blast, i. e. the 3rd skill of the Mace autoattack chain on Mechanist which apparently was stealth-nerfed in the June 27th update?

It’s changes like these that I find rather disturbing.

When Mechanist was released in EoD neither Barrier nor Alacrity have been new concepts. So I have to assume that ArenaNet wanted the autoattack chain to provide Barrier and via Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits also Alacrity.

I further have to assume that they later (June 27th update) wanted to completely remove (not just adjust) Barrier and Alacrity generation from Mace autoattacks and move it to Energizing Slam (Mace 2, Leap) which is also not mentioned in the official patch notes.

• So, which is/was wrong? The original version of the autoattack chain or the updated one?
• Why not tell your players that and for what reasons you changed your mind?
• Why not update the official patch notes, if you have forgotten to mention it?
• Or did you think nobody would notice or care?

I’m not even sure that these undocumented changes are a big nerf to Barrier/Alacrity generation but it changes what you need to do in order to maximize it, i. e. you no longer need to outwait the autoattack chain, but (only) have to use Mace 2 every 6 seconds which you probably did anyway.

The knowledge (and hence skill) gap between average and highly proficient GW2 players is already huge which is one of the main reasons that balancing is so hard. And that’s why I find not (properly) communicating changes to skills so disturbing.

@TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip

 jul.18.2023: updated for jul18 game build maybe.
 jul.18.2023: added kanaxai cm to default logging list.
 jul.18.2023: evtc: player added to table only if in combat.
 jul.18.2023: evtc: retired CBTS_EFFECT.
 jul.18.2023: evtc: added CBTS_EFFECT2 (changed orientation encoding).
 jul.18.2023: evtc/api: added CBTS_FRACTALSCALE (src agent is scale) on log start.

I tried … to more or less guess what ArenaNet’s reasoning is. Personally I wouldn’t mind Rifle on Ranger, but then I probably want Dwarf as a playable race, too. 😎

Well, they dont have explosive traps. Their flame trap probably uses some natural way of making fire.

It is indeed a bit suprising, but I guess the reason is that they are Rangers and not Hunters, i. e. their bond with nature is so strong that using firearms is out of the question.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ranger

Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled survivalists with traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation.

oh, you did not even upvote your own screenshot or rather removed the automatic self-upvote when creating a post/comment? That’s true sportsmanship. 🏅 👍 from me then.

Exactly! My favorite back item … Mark Y Golem … took quite a while to get it but looks really nice on my Asura Engineer/Mechanist Bolloxx with Plasma Shield and Plasma Mace…

@meldrik@lemmy.wtf Week 29, 2023?

GW2Wiki Game updates/2023-07-18

I’m getting a bit tired of this messing around with stuff that wasn’t broken while not fxing stuff that actually is. Luckily in Open World pretty much anything works and so I’m just ignoring this patch, too. That is, I’m not adjusting any builds, unless I feel something is completely off when I actually play it.

I think the Skyscale is a good example of how a reward should be. You have to work for it and it makes a big difference when you finally get it.

I did the collection(s) on two accounts and I knew beforehand that it woudl take a while. The GW2Wiki has all the information you need. So I worked my way through it without any rush, making a bit of progress (almost) every day. Nothing was unreasonable hard or expensive …

… and both times it felt great to unlock and even more to actually use the Skyscale. (Sorry, Bunny!)

Kinda weird that GW2, although famous for its Fashion Wars, does

• neither have first person camera while mounted
• nor a character shot tool (zoomable character preview with selectable background and lighting)

You partially have the latter when previewing Makeover/Hairstyle Kits, but why not the whole/real thing integrated into the Hero panel?

I created 8 characters at launch (all professions back then) and fully completed all 5 starting zones on all of them. This was when loot did not scale up with your level and I ended up being heavily over-leveled and never getting useful gear or materials from loot or rewards.

I also picked 2 crafting professions on each and tried to keep them relevenat, i. e. I wanted to craft my own gear. Silly me.

I played a bit of sPvP but no WvW. I played no Dungeons at all. Fractals did not exist back then.

I got burned out (hated playing the game) and took a long break from around Mid-Heart of Thorns until around Living World Season 4.

So, what would I do different or rather what would I do today, if I were to start from scratch (on a fresh account) again?

• I’d still create one Character of each Profession (9 = 5 + 4 additional slots) and play all of them for a bit, i. e. until level 40 or 60 which really does not take long with today’s increased Experience (XP) rewards.

• I’d buy 3 Unlimited Gathering Tools, a Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic and at least enough Shared Inventory Slots to transfer/share these items across all characters.

• I’d (initially) only do Essential Map Completion, i. e. remove all map fog, unlock all Waypoints and get all Hero Points (POIs and Vistas when bumping into them and Renown Hearts only when more or less completing them by accident when doing Events) when exploring zones while avoiding to over-level too much.

• I’d pick 3 (one of each armor class) out of the 9 professions/characters I played until level 40 or 60 to be my Scouts and continue leveling them to 80, get Exotic Gear for them and a decent Open World Build.

• I’d buy an additional crafting license so that I can cover all 9 (8 + Scribe) Crafting Disciplines on my Scouts and start leveling up crafting. No rush, but the goal is get to Ascended Crafting on all disciplines (but Jewelcrafting and Scribing of course).

• I’d commit to one of my (now level 80) Scouts to be my Main which would be the first (and probably only) character to complete all Living World content and all 3 Expansions (to unlock Maps, Masteries/Mounts for all characters). Other characters (espoecially the Scouts) might follow, e. g. to complete missing achievements while freshen things up a bit.

• At least on my Main (maybe all Scouts) I’d start doing Fractals and getting Ascended Gear (at least Ascended Trinkets).

• I’d start playing WvW on my Main or one of my Scouts, whichever has the best (easy to play) Roaming Build available.

I find WvW to be much more casual and a lot less toxic than sPvP. WvW dailies are also often faster to complete than PvE dailies.

• I’d completely ignore sPvP apart from maybe trying out builds/gear in the lobby.

• I’d play/progress my other characters whenever I get bored with my Main and/or Scouts.

• I’d take more frequent (but shorter) breaks from GW2 and play something else or not play at all to avoid getting burned out (essentially hating to do something I used to enjoy).

Note @meldrik@lemmy.wtf: Extracting the thumbnail from videos or rather links in general now (0.18.0) appears to work, but the (vertically) more condensed layout sucks.