• Breaking News

    Friday, July 9, 2021

    Home Unlabelled Guild Wars Was going through an old Hard Drive and found GW screenshots. I guess this screen must be pre-Heroes' Ascent?

    Guild Wars Was going through an old Hard Drive and found GW screenshots. I guess this screen must be pre-Heroes' Ascent?

    July 09, 2021

    Guild Wars Was going through an old Hard Drive and found GW screenshots. I guess this screen must be pre-Heroes' Ascent?

    Was going through an old Hard Drive and found GW screenshots. I guess this screen must be pre-Heroes' Ascent?

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 02:02 PM PDT

    WM vs. EvIL championship builds - 2006 - Prophecies nostalgia/history post

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 05:21 PM PDT

    Hey guys,

    I wasn't thinking about making this a series, but someone in my last thread encouraged me to do more of these, and I actually stumbled across something that comes chronologically after the last two posts I made.

    Post 1: spike meta (EP mixed caster spike)

    Post 2: spike meta gives way to balanced/split builds (EP vs. EvIL]

    And without further ado, I found these builds from a War Machine [WM] vs. The Last Pride [EvIL] match in 2006, during the '05-'06 Guild Wars World Championship in Taipei. It was the final game of the championship:

    https://gwrank.com/matches/868

    To contextualize this for y'all, remember, we were just coming off a spike meta where two teams of (usually) mixed casters would head to the flag post and engage in an 8v8 spike match-off. That metagame was crushed, I believe during winter 2005/2006, right before this match, and that set the stage for a new balanced/splittable meta.

    Let's actually start off with The Last Pride's build, on the right of the screen:

    Build ethos: Balanced warrior spike build.

    1. E/Mo Ether Prodigy utility ele - Back then Ether Prodigy was an epic energy regen skill, which was later nerfed somehow I believe (correct me if I'm wrong). This allowed him to pump heal party out, something which would be very useful against WM's balanced pressure build. I suspect that EvIL did their research and knew WM would be running something like this. He also has further utility with Ward Against Melee and Blinding Flash. Finally, to contribute to the spike, he would use Lightning Orb followed by Lightning Strike. Enervating charge if other skills were on cool down, or for additional damage, I believe. Do note that apart from his party wide healing, he'd also be an asset in split engagements, being able to shut down warriors with Blinding Flash and his ward. The damage isn't laughable, either.
    2. W - Basic hammer warrior. When spikes were called he would use Backbreaker followed by crushing blow, preferably on a monk, and that monk would be out of action for 4 seconds. The ranger or mesmers would ideally blackout the other monk, meaning there was 0 protection or healing during these 3-4 seconds, apart from what was already provided (and not ripped off by the mesmers). The Me/E could also use gale on the other monk rather than relying on short-range blackout. For split purposes, he's a stand alone hammer warrior with his own healing and a brutal knockdown ability.
    3. Crip shot ranger - A Guild Wars classic. I believe this guy would be the flag runner, and also the first to split off and provide some pressure in the base if needed. His poison arrows allow him to whittle away at guards, and in a split scenario his cripshot is invaluable to reduce enemy movement. During spikes, should he be available, he would want to black out one of the monks. This would free up the mesmers from having to do so, and thus they could participate in the spike.
    4. W/E Charge Warrior - This guy's job is to provide additional damage on the spike, plus increased mobility via charge. If the other team split off then he could use "Charge!" and a squad of EvIL's players could quickly respond, or if need be, get back to the main battle quickly. An axe warrior with Eviscerate was generally a more effective damage dealer, but Charge! is too invaluable in this instance, so a sword warrior was chosen as he does not need an elite skill to inflict deep wound (sever artery -> gash). Gale is also used. Note that between the hammer warrior's 2 knockdowns (backbreaker, bull's strike), the two of them could have an enemy monk or other opponent on the ground for 7 uninterrupted seconds if done correctly. Normally gale would only be for 2 seconds, but with the warrior's Stonefist Insignia it goes up to 3. (Note that Gale was later nerfed to have a 50% fail potential for non-elementalist users, effectively removing this staple of the metagame.) Like the other warrior, also a decent damage dealer and stand-alone component for splitting. Gale also pairs well with the Me/E's gale and/or blackouts from the rangers or mesmers, perfect for a split scenario.
    5. Me/E Gale Dom mesmer - He's a spiker who inflicts damage using Energy Surge followed by Energy Burn. If the ranger is not available, he would use his blackout to shut down one of the monks while a spike was called on the remaining monk. Another option would be to use gale. The problem with black out is that he would not be able to spike, either, so ideally it would come from the ranger or he would opt for gale. With his shatter enchantment he would be able to rip off any pre-existing protection (like prot. spirit or guardian) from targets, plus dealing damage. With both monks blacked out or on the ground, and enchantments ripped off, the enemy was left very vulnerable during spikes. Also note that all his skills sap energy from targets - something that is especially useful when spiking monks, if they do manage to survive, or during split scenarios when only 1 enemy monk is available.
    6. Me/Mo dom mesmer - Exactly the same deal as above. I suspect that draw conditons was a way to mitigate the effects of WM's condition pressure. If this player drew all the poison on to himself, it's easier for the monk's to simply remove the condition from him and that way they neatly mop up all the poison. Once again, it looks like EvIL knew what they were going to be up against.
    7. Divine Boon Mo/N healer - This build was really cool because you could basically run a protection monk yet still have the ability to heal because every prot. spell cast also healed via divine boon. Offering of Blood used to be just a 10% sac of health, so hardly anything, for a nice chunk of energy which more than offset the loss from maintaining Divine Boon. It was later nerfed to 20%, which I think was the end of the Divine Boon healer. Fun fact, there used to be pre-made PvP builds like the famous W/Mo "Paladin" (warrior with mending), and a variant of the Divine Boon healer was one of them. Finally, I should mention that this monk was obviously very effective at splitting as a both stand-alone healing and prot monk in one.
    8. Divine Boon healer 2 - Same exact thing.

    Build summary: The idea is that you have a balanced warrior spike that focuses on disrupting enemy monks via gale, blackout, and knockdowns. In the event that 8v8 wasn't working for whatever reason, the build was highly splittable and every single player has high utility in 4v4 or smaller skirmishes. Truly a well thought out build.

    ​

    And now, for War Machine:

    Build ethos: Balanced pressure/spike build.

    1. Hammer W/E - Same as the hammer warrior above. Note that they opted for gale instead of bull's strike, which would give him the ability to affect a reliable 7 second uninterrupted knockdown if timed properly (surely he practiced this and had it down perfectly). The only disadvantage is loss of damage (Bull's Strike is nice for that), but it looks like they preferred a more reliable knockdown. His job is to go around bullying the enemy, and when it comes time to spike, he uses his Backbreaker and Crushing Blow to knock down and inflict deep wound. As before, he's also a stand-alone player, available for splitting and ganking.
    2. Migraine Mesmer - His job is to spread as many hexes as possible, in order to slowly drain enemy health and apply pressure. Distortion, which I hadn't mentioned before (the crip shot rangers have it on both teams), is a good defensive skill if spiked or for split scenarios where healing is tighter.
    3. Crip shot ranger - There's two rangers, and either one of them could be the flag runner (it probably depended on who was more comfortable in that role, as well as the circumstances of each match). This ranger is very good at splitting and ganking, but unlike the ranger for EvIL, a principal objective of this guy is to get poison on as much of the enemy as possible to drain health and apply pressure. Blackout is used on monks during spikes, just like with EvIL. It's also effective, again, at shutting down lone monks during split scenarios. Distracting shot helps, too.
    4. Divine Boon Mo/N healer - Same as above.
    5. Charge W/E - Same as above. Helps the hammer warrior with spikes.
    6. Crip shot ranger 2 - Exact same as the crip shot ranger above. Again, could be the flag runner as well.
    7. Necro hexer - His job is to spread as many hexes as possible, once again to weaken the enemy and apply pressure.
    8. Divine boon healer 2 - Same as above.

    Build summary: Whereas EvIL applies very little constant damage but very high concentrated damage, ie, a true spike, WM's build focused on whittling away their opponent over time and then finishing off weak opponents with a quick warrior spike. Notice that there's no spike skills from any of the other roles apart from the warriors. One might think that, hey, how do they kill anyone, then? Well, it's because their opponents should, in theory, be on lower health thanks to all the condition and hex pressure. EvIL needs a higher spike output because outside of spiking they apply very little damage to their enemies.

    As for splitting, if hexes and conditions are debilitating for 2 monks, they'd be even more debilitating for just one.

    ​

    Who won? EvIL took the match 2-0. You can read a full match report here. It looks like game 1 was an 8 on 8 pounding with some minor splits, whereas in game 2 both teams opted for a split-and-gank approach.

    ​

    My thoughts? Honestly, looking at the builds, I thought EvIL was better prepared. On paper, their spike looks more powerful than WM's pressure, and I also feel like they had better odds in a split scenario thanks to their skillsets. It was also clear, as I said before, that EvIL knew what WM was going to bring. The heal party E/Mo and the draw conditions on the mesmer look like nice counters to pressure.

    If I recall correctly, I think EvIL was always the #1, with WM a close second. I wonder if WM didn't prepare something a little different because they didn't trust themselves to beat EvIL with a mirror build.

    ​

    Conclusion: A lot of things in these build got nerfed. Gale warriors got nerfed. Distortion got nerfed. Offering of Blood got nerfed. (Ether Prodigy, too?) That said, the idea of a balanced build with 8v8 abilities but also a strong split and tactical capacity came to characterize the metagame of Guild Wars GvG right up until Factions. I believe it continued even after Factions, with new roles for the new classes, and it probably continues to this very day. Unfortunately I haven't been following much since Prophecies, but for those of you who have, you have these guys to thank for your balanced, splittable builds.

    This truly was a golden time when people finally got a hang of how the game was played, and now it wasn't about how to play it, but rather about how to play it better than my opponent. It stopped being less about build order wins or perfect spike timing, and more about true tactical play and strategic decision making.

    Me personally, I feel like a lot of that was lost with Factions. I feel like we had barely gotten started when they introduced new skills and new classes. But hey, c'est la vie. I know that I really enjoyed this era of the game, and I hope you all have enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.

    If I stumble upon anything else interesting from the era you may hear from me again. Cheers!

    submitted by /u/shortyafter
    [link] [comments]

    Made me think of Lyssa, Goddess of Illusion and Beauty. I always imagined her as having two faces rather than the separate entities of Lyss and Ilya, who are twins.

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 09:24 AM PDT

    Codex Fix

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 11:26 PM PDT

    Very simple, change the cap on Codex to 300-500 a day? 100 codex points a day is just insane!
    submitted by /u/MisterHaxx
    [link] [comments]

    Nostalgic Traveller's Diary: Behind me in the distance behind my left shoulder you can see the Black Gate leading to infamour Mordor. No, I won't go any closer just for your amusement, just getting here took me 5 attemps...

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 01:20 PM PDT

    Most fun and easy Healing build for PvE?

    Posted: 08 Jul 2021 01:45 PM PDT

    What is the most fun healing build?

    And easiest?

    I want to focus mostly on a fun to use elite skill but also easy to use.

    submitted by /u/JPUlisses
    [link] [comments]
    Read more
    at

    No comments:

    Post a Comment