I have friends with ultra wide monitors and they told me it's night and day on FPS
Guild Wars 2
- Thread starter Tral_sl
- Start date
Argarth
On the verandah
- 1,210
- 1,050
Agree. 3840x1600 on a 1080Ti, and it really is a massive improvement. Getting a smooth stable 75 FPS (native refresh for my monitor) with mostly high settings, shadows on medium.
I still have to set "Character model limit" to low or lowest in crowded areas though, but that is probably more a CPU issue.
(completely gave up and uninstalled a couple of years ago, because I found the terrible performance unbearable)
Grim1
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 4,864
- 6,821
New zones are very vertical. They have mechanics to help (zip lines, glider boost) but the skyscale is a lot of fun and very useful in those zones. Good hunting.
Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
- 12,052
- 11,528
ShakyJake
<Donor>
- 7,634
- 19,272
I haven't played much into the expansion, but apparently there's a lot of woke bullshit thrown at you.
Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
- 12,052
- 11,528
Grim1
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 4,864
- 6,821
Don't believe so. Pretty sure when I was exploring before working on the campaign I could use them immediately. Kaineng has a bunch.
/shrug Hate the woke stuff as much as anyone. Getting close to finishing the campaign and didn't really see anything overt.
But the main characters are women and they talk incessantly about their feelings. So I tune it out. Visuals are great, especially on widescreen so I focus on that.
- 2
cradeg
Molten Core Raider
- 86
- 47
replaying the complete story with a mechanist > working on getting zhaitan down ... ORR still looks beautiful to be honest. Best MMO for me currently with running fractals for group fun and soloing champions now in open world with my trusty mech !
I am in love again
... ORR still looks beautiful to be honest. Best MMO for me currently with running fractals for group fun and soloing champions now in open world with my trusty mech !I am in love again
- 1
Skinner
Trakanon Raider
- 819
- 1,137
So finally got around to finishing up the expansion and playing around with many of the achievements. Expansion overall was fun, but probably a generous 7/10 for me, ranked between HoT and PoF (with PoF my overall favorite). As far as a super rushed expansion goes they did a decent job.
The zones, all of them really, are gorgeous and rather creative. I had a negative outlook on the sailing skiff and fishing going into the expansion but I have to say both of them won me over and are two of the biggest highlights for me. I’m still not a fan of the siege turtle as it’s a somewhat pointless 2 person slow tank mount that’s really only good for CC and niche uses in a couple of the new maps.
Story was okay. My biggest story complaint was unlike HoT and PoF, there really wasn’t any buildup to EoD and the entire introduction to Cantha just felt weird and rushed (which it was). The story wraps up several loose ends and basically concludes the central Tyrian storyline started 10 years ago. As a conclusion to 10 years of lore it was kinda neat and sad, but as an expansion story it lacked the epic feel that I had with PoF and going toe to toe with the God of War…and initially losing.
There are 3 PvE zones with a combined total of 4 metas and I found all of them fun, but none of them currently have the impact or rewards of the HoT metas and are more inline with the meta events of PoF, so that’s disappointing and concerning regarding longevity. After completing all of them nearly a dozen times the newness and novelty wore off and now there‘s literally no benefit that I can think of for doing them, other than rolling the RNG dice for a rare Jade Bot upgrade drop…
…which is also the only “new” thing I can currently think of that is an expansion “must have”, but even then most are quality of life features/upgrades. Outside of fish from fishing and a couple cooking indregients that may be new, the only new notable resource is some ore in the final zone that’s incredibly plentiful and two ascended/legendary tier resources that are used in crafting the new legendaries.
As of right now it also looks like the 3 biggest winners of the new elite lottery are Engie, Necro, and Guardian, while the two clear losers are Ele and Ranger.
The zones, all of them really, are gorgeous and rather creative. I had a negative outlook on the sailing skiff and fishing going into the expansion but I have to say both of them won me over and are two of the biggest highlights for me. I’m still not a fan of the siege turtle as it’s a somewhat pointless 2 person slow tank mount that’s really only good for CC and niche uses in a couple of the new maps.
Story was okay. My biggest story complaint was unlike HoT and PoF, there really wasn’t any buildup to EoD and the entire introduction to Cantha just felt weird and rushed (which it was). The story wraps up several loose ends and basically concludes the central Tyrian storyline started 10 years ago. As a conclusion to 10 years of lore it was kinda neat and sad, but as an expansion story it lacked the epic feel that I had with PoF and going toe to toe with the God of War…and initially losing.
There are 3 PvE zones with a combined total of 4 metas and I found all of them fun, but none of them currently have the impact or rewards of the HoT metas and are more inline with the meta events of PoF, so that’s disappointing and concerning regarding longevity. After completing all of them nearly a dozen times the newness and novelty wore off and now there‘s literally no benefit that I can think of for doing them, other than rolling the RNG dice for a rare Jade Bot upgrade drop…
…which is also the only “new” thing I can currently think of that is an expansion “must have”, but even then most are quality of life features/upgrades. Outside of fish from fishing and a couple cooking indregients that may be new, the only new notable resource is some ore in the final zone that’s incredibly plentiful and two ascended/legendary tier resources that are used in crafting the new legendaries.
As of right now it also looks like the 3 biggest winners of the new elite lottery are Engie, Necro, and Guardian, while the two clear losers are Ele and Ranger.
Randin
Trakanon Raider
- 1,924
- 875
Info update from the devs:
ArenaNet Studio Update: The Future of Guild Wars 2 – GuildWars2.com
The major bullet points:
ArenaNet Studio Update: The Future of Guild Wars 2 – GuildWars2.com
The major bullet points:
- The active player population has doubled in the last three years
- EoD has outsold PoF (presumably comparing similar timeframes)
- Now that EoD is out the door, they're working again on getting the game on Steam. They're expecting to get it out this year
- The WvW restructuring is also continuing on
- Living World Season 1 is being rebuilt as something more like subsequent LW seasons, and is going to be released as free content. First episode is releasing in April
- Work on LW Season 6 has begun; looks like it's going to at least partially be set on Cantha alongside the expansion (not a big shock)
- They've confirmed that there will be an Expansion 4, though it's still a long ways out.
- 3
No dates on the wvw betas, they don't even list any wxp bonus events that they have been running once a month since the "cornerstone" blog.
Alliances will probably be delayed till next year while pve gets all the goodies, meanwhile the 1 wvw dev is working on the 10 year old queue bug I guess.
Alliances will probably be delayed till next year while pve gets all the goodies, meanwhile the 1 wvw dev is working on the 10 year old queue bug I guess.
Randin
Trakanon Raider
- 1,924
- 875
Essentially just continuing work on the stuff they've talked about before, getting matchmaking working on WvW rather than having the server-based teams, stuff like that.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
- 45,440
- 73,512
So how did the elementalist turn out in EoD? I kind of want to play this summer but will probably roll a new character.They have no idea what an Elementalist is, how it plays, and they are willfully ignorant over the communities concerns regarding the class. No one at ANet seriously plays the class and all of their “balancing“ around the class in the past has been around retarded unrealistic crap such as immobile golem DPS benchmarks with all buffs and casual experiences in PvE pressing 1. When the layoffs first happened one of the ANet devs who nerfed Staff Ele posted a goodbye message on Reddit with 3 others saying one of his most memorable moments was when he realized how OP Staff Ele was during a stint in WvW when he got on Stonemist castle walls and was able to use a full channel meteor shower on the zerg below, and how after he felt like he needed to nerf the ability…and did. This was the nerf that limited the amount of targets and how often meteor shower can hit and is considered one of the final nails in the coffin for staff ele viability.
In the last two balance patch passes, Power Tempest was nerfed and condi Ele particularly condi weaver were slightly buffed. The reason given at the time in patch notes and on the forums was that power was better than condi in too many situations and this evened the playing field. Literally the next balance patch pass after that they reverted the condi ele changes and left the power tempest nerfs. In both patches they claimed Elementalist is in a good place.
It’s good to see both Reddit and twitter replies shitting on ANet, memeing, and laughing at this spec once again being MELEE FOCUSED. I’ll reserve my final judgement on the spec until I get it in my hands and give it a spin, but like I said toTuco nearly 25 days ago “Hammer Ele doesn’t inspire me with much confidence“, and everything I’ve seen thus far just looks like more of the same.
Zindan
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 6,640
- 4,420
Started playing again recently after my oldest nephew talked me into running the HoT storyline with him, of course he hasn't been on since then, lol. I still strongly dislike the zone design of HoT, though honestly only Verdant Brink makes me pissed off. The Story is alright, but I have zero interest in the new "destiny's edge" group: Masculine/Feminine Lesbo Duo, the Emo Jock, the Thoughtless Cripple and the Forgettable Furry. The point am at in the HoT story, it seems they will kill off all the other OG characters, aside from the Furry (who I dislike), so its all rather blah. Haven't decided if I want EoD yet or not, but probably will just try out the Guardian elite spec that opens up, I'll make that choice once I'm done with HoT / PoF.
Game is still pretty good. None of the elite specs for Ranger / Necro (my fav classes) fully support my playstyle, though Necro Soul Reaper is close enough that I use it as my main. Running on a 3060ti, at max settings the game will drop down into the 40's for fps in big zone META trains, but normally stays in the 80-90 range (in HoT). I think it stresses my CPU much more than GPU though (i5-11600k). I do hope they are thinking about a GW3 with an updated engine (keep the art style though, its great).
Game is still pretty good. None of the elite specs for Ranger / Necro (my fav classes) fully support my playstyle, though Necro Soul Reaper is close enough that I use it as my main. Running on a 3060ti, at max settings the game will drop down into the 40's for fps in big zone META trains, but normally stays in the 80-90 range (in HoT). I think it stresses my CPU much more than GPU though (i5-11600k). I do hope they are thinking about a GW3 with an updated engine (keep the art style though, its great).
- 1
Skinner
Trakanon Raider
- 819
- 1,137
EoD day 1 nerfs across the board for Ele, including Cata. Then they buffed Cata. Then a couple weeks later they nerfed Cata again. Several weeks ago they then nerfed Staff Ele (Yes seriously) and the Flame Greatsword Elite Skill 5 in WvW (Damage was further nerfed and the max number of targets were reduced from 10 -> 5). The guy in charge of WvW balance for the last year or two who has been shit during this time then left the company.
From what I can tell Weaver is still best damage Ele. Everyones still playing Guardian, Necro, and now the new Engineer the Mechanist and new Mesmer Virtuoso. Catalyst is still dead for all the reasons previously listed unless you get a large hitbox target that stands still and doesn’t move at all or play him as a Quickness Buff support bitch.
I forgot Thief is in the game so I’m not sure what their place in the Meta is currently but I know Warriors and Rangers are getting pretty fed up with their current state.
That said, EoD didn’t bring any real new end game content so you wouldn’t miss out on anything new by playing off-meta. All of the meta events in EoD are pretty easy and consistently completed through the LFG and the new strikes lack enrage or timers so any random group comp can more or less complete them. Challenge Mote EoD Strikes are a different story.
Supposedly ANet is promising a complete overhaul/balance patch in the near future thats directed at every class and every weapon that everyones waiting for, but whatever.