Just came back after 6 month

yramrag

So, with the announcement of the new class and new paths for all existing classes, I thought I would come back and take a look. The last time I was here, the new massive pvp area just got launched (cant remember the name), and TR got merged to the ground with the Assault skill change.

I have a max level TR, CW and GWF. Can anyone be so kind to give me summary of what have since happened in the game for the last 6 months? Where do people get mad gears nowadays? Any advice for me to get back into the game? What's th situation with pvp bots and dungeon exploiters these days?

Thanks in advance!

ortzhy

patch notes are your best friend

bioshrike

OP, sounds like you stopped playing around when Guantlgrym came out - that was a wash, IMO. Since then, they've released Module 1 "Fury of the Feywild". It's a pretty fun area, but it works off of repeatable quests and tiered mini-zones, which can get a bit grindy. Still, it can be fun. There have been some additions to professions - You were probably here to see Alchemy released, but since then, Weaponsmithing and Artificing have been added, (the former creates fighter and rogue weapons, the latter creates wizard and cleric items).

Module 2 "Shadowmantle" is due out in less than 2 weeks, and with that comes a new class - the Hunter Ranger, and a new Paragon Path choice for the original 5 classes.

Best wishes!

eldarth

ortzhy wrote: »

patch notes are your best friend

Yep - read the patch notes forum posts. They are notoriously summarizations.
About 25% of what was changed in game, and about 1% of foundry changes..

arontimes

The various tier 2 dungeons have had their shortcuts ninja patched, making them nigh impossible to legitimately finish at the recommended gear score levels. This led to a massive price increase on unbound items. Also, I'm not sure you were here for it, but dungeon chest epic set items were made BoP. However, when you do get a set item, you can choose which specific item you get. The end result of this change was that it was three times easier to get the set item you want by doing dungeons, but buying the set item on the auction house was much, much more expensive.

Regarding PvP, Domination is surprisingly balanced despite potential massive gear score differences between teams. In theory, it can be extremely one-sided, but in practice, most players don't have godlike gear, and you're equally likely to face under and over geared players on the enemy team. Individual games may be one-sided in either side's favor, but over the course of a dozen or so games, it averages out so that the majority of your matches are balanced.

Gauntlgrym is theoretically balanced, but in practice, the Delzoun Explorers are stacked with PvP focused guilds. This means that they almost always win the overall battle. Over time, more and more guilds joined Delzoun, causing a snowball effect that is detrimental to the health of the Gauntlgrym game mode. Right now, we Luskans simply run the consolation prize (Fardelver's Crypt) as often as possible to farm for coins and t1 items to sell. That, and the three Gauntlgrym daily quests (PvE, PvP, and dungeon).

fondlez

arontimes wrote: »

The end result of this change was that it was three times easier to get the set item you want by doing dungeons, but buying the set item on the auction house was much, much more expensive.

As far as I know, they did not change drop rates, nor make dungeons easier (certainly not three times easier). BoP from Feywild was also applied to many other areas such as Seal items, Glory and Gauntlgrym vendor sets.

The net result has been a drastic reduction in average player income and the speed of gearing. This trend is set to continue in Module 2 by the elimination of tradeable Coffers and Coalescent Wards from Invoking, while Shards become much more expensive due to changes to the Fusion Enhancement system creating much higher demand.

In addition, Module 2 will introduce further differentiation between rich or geared players and the rest of the playerbase due to Artifacts (effectively 3 extra equip slots with up to 1000 stats each that are also usable in PvP) and significant Active Bonuses from Companions in your Companion Active Slots (PvE only). There will also be an additional dungeon and Boons to grind. All of these also add to your Gear Score - something the playerbase tends to give far too much credit in practice.

TR: your Lurker's Assault got nerfed to hell and back but gained a teleport ability. Your CoS spam has also been drastically reduced. Your Impact Shot now benefits from Recovery and almost all TRs use it in PvP now.

CW: has lost or will lose its ability to spam or fast clutch a control Daily like Arcane Singularity due to a huge nerf on AP gain with Entangling Force (removal of AP gain per target). The same has happened to Shield AP gain. Also, Shield is much less useless for ledging or pushing mobs because it is now capped to 5 targets. Your High Vizier set does not stack with other High Vizier CWs.

GWF: you will lose the ability to animation cancel WMS in Module 2. But gain a TON of superb over-synergistic abilities stolen from GFs if you spec into Iron Vanguard (yeah GF's get nothing in return). If Hunter Ranger were not coming out at the same time, this would be Flavor of the Month class by a mile (probably still will be).

melodywhr

mod note: i would follow the advice in this thread and check out patch notes, game news from the main page and just dive in and play... no one can give you as great of a perspective as you, yourself, can. and it's free.

thank you.