Posts by Marty Silverblade

I wouldn't recommend playing a profession just because someone told you it was ideal. That's dumb to begin with, but consider that if this is going to be your 'do everything' character you're going to be spending hundreds of hours playing them, so you'd better pick something you actually want to play. Spending that much time doing something you don't enjoy defeats the purpose of playing a game. Having an effective/optimal/whatever character doesn't count for anything if you're not motivated to play them.

Personally I prefer professions with a lot of variety in playstyles. Not just a lot of builds, but types of builds - so a Rit could spirit spam, be a viable weapon user with Spirit's Strength, be a minion bomber, be a party support character in various ways, etc.

No. The contents of your storage are not dependent on your ability to access them.

Quote from Asca Lante

Grand Court of Sebelkah is killing me today, any tips on how to push through this one?

Firstly, it's worth noting that Grand Court of Sebelkeh is the noob trap of Nightfall. It exists to teach you the importance of damage. Without knowing anything about what's going wrong for you, I suspect you're not killing things as efficiently as you ought to be. If you are, this mission is pretty straightforward, if not, it's tough.

As for advice, I can't be specific without details. Post your builds - a screenshot of your interface with hero panels open will suffice. Hopefully you picked Norgu.

Aside from that, pulling back at the start to allow the margonites to get together in the middle makes things easier than rushing straight in and fighting three smaller groups on three sides. Also make sure you've got your Lightbringer title up as previously mentioned.

It looks like some of the forums (specifically, Gladiator's Arena, Explorer's League, Guild Recruitment, PUG's and Grouping, Off Topic, Nolani Academy of Arts, Screenshots, and Site Feedback) aren't linked properly - presumably Kevin rearranged some things but didn't update the links for whatever reason. I also found some pages where the CSS is broken but not in a way that prevents usability. Not sure why that's happening.

Quote from Red Fireball

Maybe a list like this?

That list is solely for items whose stats cannot be replicated, i.e, my third point above. Greens with unique/PvP only skins aren't put in the unreplicable box.

People generally don't consider greens to have much prestige and I am no exception, but there are three things I don't entirely ignore:

-The ones whose model is either unique or only otherwise available as a PvP reward (e.g, Willcrusher). Unfortunately I don't think there's a list of such items.

-The ones from Sorrow's Furnace for nostalgia's sake, though sadly they're usually badly modded.

-The ones which are modded in a way that is inconsistent with what would usually be possible. All of them are junk too, though.

Quote from OS T

Also,what is that samurai dude doing in the site background if its gw2 please replace it.

It's a promotional image for Winds of Change.

Items will provide their effects when equipped regardless of whether they're identified or not which allows them to be tested. For example, if you equip an unidentified sword and your max health goes up by 27 then then sword has a pommel of fortitude granting +27 health. This is a very obvious example; other things take a reasonable amount of effort, and some would likely take far more effort than they're worth. Items which cannot be equipped (eg armor items) cannot be tested. Regardless, do be aware of confirmation bias and such.

That's the official download link, unless they changed it which I don't think they have done. It'll be flagged as dangerous because it modifies the way another program runs which is inherently suspicious behaviour.

Just talk to support and see what happens. Apparently they're extremely generous nowadays - I've heard stories of people freely telling support they were banned for botting and then getting unbanned. If you can somehow give a reasonable indication that the account is yours you should be able to get it back. Do you remember the information you used to make the account, like real name or address or something? That should do it even without the codes.

This is where we moved to after the shut down of Guru. Nobody gave a damn about Guru2. This site has been running for over a year now.

The app could run GW with the log in info passed in via command line switch. The decrypted info would be produced in the code and sent straight through to the Anet authentication server without needing to handle a log in screen.

Regardless, it's a moot point. The creator would still have access to your logged in account. What would stop them from doing things with it while the app is running? Unless they've found a way to get access to the chat functionality without anything else, which I very much doubt.

I certainly wouldn't declare that the motivation for the creator must be to steal people's accounts - this is certainly something a lot of people would want, including the creator - but you'd be a fool to trust them. For me to even consider such a thing I'd want explicit knowledge on how it functions, i.e, the source code. Perhaps the log in information is encrypted between the app and being input into the GW client in a manner that ensures the creator isn't ever able to view it.

Server maintenance. Game should be up again in half an hour.

https://twitter.com/GuildWars/status/928300542157234177

My favourite missions are the classic noob traps: Thunderhead Keep and Grand Court of Sebelkeh (Factions doesn't have one because its timed missions instead teach people to be terrible). As someone whose primary interests are game mechanics and builds something which specifically attempts to teach you why spamming Flare or Conjure Phantasm stops being effective is much appreciated.

As for the quest, I'd also nominate Althea's Ashes. Obviously it's one of the most (probably the most) iconic Prophecies quest, but there's a specific nostalgia element for me too. The first time I did it we had a level 7 monk, a level 9 necro, me as a level 13 mesmer and a henchman. We got right to the end (after starting from Piken Square nonetheless) but we just couldn't fight our way up to the pedestal - the combination of warriors jamming the stairs and the rangers shredding us from their elevated positions was too much. We wiped twice, but then on the third attempt enough went our way such that a clear lane opened up in front of me and I ran for the pedestal. After wiping again, I checked my inventory and sure enough, I had the ashes. I told the other two people to give me their jars and instead of trying to kill the charr, try to block or draw them off so I could get through. We planned out precisely what each of us was going to do and then managed to replicate my pedestal run. Finding a way to succeed after you've all but admitted defeat is about as satisfying as it gets.

My favourite explorable (which presumably is what you mean to ask) would probably be Spearhead Peak. It contains a good mix of enemy types, some challenging geography, the boss with Ferocious Strike (which I wanted for my Warrior), and is on route to The Granite Citadel (where you can craft Dragon Armor, which I also wanted). The random group of dwarves that occasionally spawn from the north is a nice touch too.

Yeah, I'm getting that too. Perhaps it's not downloading properly at all. One thing that stood out though was that the filename has dots in it - that should be reserved for separating the filename from the extension. Renaming it didn't help.

For me it failed the first time but then succeeded on the second. I've uploaded it here if you still have issues: http://www.filedropper.com/7sclearlineuiv4820048200

There have been some technical issues in the last day or so which for the most part seem to have been resolved. It looks like the Like functionality has been renamed to Thank You. I don't know why.

Prophecies is my pick because of the varied environments and enemies, and the medieval fantasy aesthetic is my favourite. It also has a sense of adventure that the others don't due to the relative lack of outposts. If I had to pick a single part of it, I'd say the Shiverpeaks. Only thing I really don't like is how many 6 person areas there are. The desert really should have been 8.

Nightfall is generally pretty good. Riding in the wurms is an entirely unpleasureable experience, but that's the only issue of any significance.

Factions is my least favourite of the campaigns because trying to find my way around the city areas gets tiresome (even Kaineng Center now with its 100 million NPCs) and having the missions be timed was an atrocious decision. Doesn't help that they also featured big mobs, exploding enemies, and npcs you frequently have to protect.

EotN has a similar feel to Prophecies with the environments (Charr Homeland especially), though knowing how GW2 actually ended up makes me much less enthusiastic about it. Reused dungeon levels don't help.

I wasn't having issues logging in or loading areas so I can't comment on that, but rerunning the scan tool gives me the same list of timeouts it did before.

My favourites tend to be those with sentimental value. I suppose it helps that I prefer the traditional medieval fantasy stylings over those used in Factions+NF. As such, I'd say the flamberge is my favourite, though it's not the kind of thing I'd usually go for. I don't recall what made inspired me to pursue one as my first big buy (45k!) - my tastes have changed in the last 12 years. Oddly, the ingame design is nothing alike to the real life flamberge.

For me it's not so much about a specific profession as it is being able to perform in certain roles (namely melee) and build diversity. Generally I prefer to play casters but that isn't the case in GW. Not sure why. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go for Rit, with Ranger in second.

If you're crafting gear from Vasburg Armory you don't need upgrades. That stuff is uninscribable and already has the mods you want. Just craft wands in the same way you crafted the focuses. It's quicker and possibly cheaper.

Two entirely non-essential things that may or may not be on the improvements list:

-Linking to a specific post (via clicking on the post number in the upper right corner) doesn't work.
-Spoiler tags don't open. It's not so much an issue for actual spoilers, but sometimes when people write long posts (often guides) they put certain things in them to avoid derailing their post. The content was saved - it can be seen in the page source - it just that the tags don't open.

I suspect what he means is that if someone sends him a whisper while he's afk then by the time he gets back it'll have disappeared due to the large flow of dialogue. I haven't heard of any tools that do this though, only a few websites like you linked.

http://argos-soft.net/Archive/GwDressUp/

Use at your own risk.

My understanding it's a forum rank, tied to your post count. It's like on Guru except instead of/in addition to your forum title ("Adventurous Submitter" in your case) you get stars as well. Some user groups have fixed amounts, for example supermods (like myself) have six regardless of post count or any other factor.

Plenty of maps here: http://archive.guildwarslegacy.com/15/15%20The%20…Thread.123.html

Linking to a specific post doesn't work so you'll just have to scroll down.

Where are you up to/what are you trying to do? 1v1 situations are very specific events, namely Augury Rock, Tihark Orchard and ~3-4 side quests in EotN. Each is different and as such requires a different approach. Generally speaking skills that punish the enemy for attacking are the way to go for Necros, or just go /Rit and use a spirit spammer build, though again, the details depend on the quest. The wiki often provides build direction for these sorts of quests.

Were you alt-tabbing between full screen and something else? That tends to produce rubberbanding for some reason. If you're a frequent window switcher either play in windowed mode or minimise by clicking the button in the corner.

GW isn't a game you can blitz through. You need to take care in every aspect to get through. This is why I asked you to post your skills+attributes+level+gear initially (and I'll do so again now) and took the time to explain some key concepts to good build structure. Getting better takes learning and realistically that involves failure. We'll help you as much as we can, but aside from beating the game for you you've got to invest yourself into getting better. If you're not prepared to do that then GW just isn't your kind of game.

There are skills that allow you to do so. All professions have access to Resurrection Signet (you should have gotten it in Pre), though you need a morale boost (typically via boss kills) to recharge it. Monks, Rits, Paragons and Dervishes have access to resurrection skills that recharge normally. Given you're /Monk, you have Resurrect and Restore Life available to you from either quests or trainers in Ascalon.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Resurrection

Which mission? The server will kick you off if you don't do anything for 12 hours or something but certainly not five minutes. Possible explanations: you were killed by a mob who wandered out of compass range by the time you looked back (though you can discount this one because you were watching), there was a timer you were not aware of that expired, an NPC you were meant to protect (namely Rurik) moved onwards and got killed promping mission failure, you got killed by something other than enemies (some missions have enemy catapults or hostile environmental effects).

If you got any rock candies then you can sell those for a sizeable amount of cash. Those are what people want. It's better to sell them unopened so you'll still get something if the contents end up being largely trash.

The only melee profession available in Prophecies is Warrior, so that's what you'd have to play if you wanted that. A melee Ranger/Warrior works well though, so if you wanted to be able to use bows, melee weapons, pets and so on (though not all at the same time) sticking with Ranger would be your best bet. It's a better option than Warrior/Ranger. You're ages away from being able to switch secondary professions though, so making a Warrior and seeing how you like that might be preferable if you don't like Ranger or are willing and able to play two characters. Note though that hitting multiple enemies with attacks is something you can only do with a scythe (limited to Dervishes, which are from Nightfall) or with certain attack skills, such as Cyclone Axe. This isn't GW2 or a similarly unrealistic(/stupid, depending on your point of view) game where you can swing weapons around in massive arcs as if they were made of paper.

With respect to your second post:

-The armors you can get from Ascalon City are both better than the upgraded Pre-Searing set. It's nothing revolutionary, just a better version of what you started with. There are a few different sets but they differ only in appearance.

-Play whichever profession you want. Playing something you don't like for whatever reason defeats the purpose of playing in the first place. I wouldn't turn your back on the Ranger based on your experience thus far - the issues you're having will have occured regardless of which profession you picked.

-People recommend Rit because there are builds you can run which are effective even if you have a single digit number of brain cells. This is ideal for GW2 players who play GW1 just for rewards in the former. If you actually give a damn about GW1 you ought to not feel any incentive to play Rit just for the sake of it. All professions are perfectly capable of completing the content so focus on finding the one that suits you the best. You can always make more characters to see how you like them.

-You don't have a lot to work with so I won't be critical, but in terms of builds:
--Power Shot is trash. It's just x damage rather than +x, and if you're not underleveled/facing other rookie issues you'll be spending a skill slot and 10 energy on what amounts to nothing more than an auto attack. If it's worthwhile now then ok, but keep in mind you ought to outgrow it.
--Generally speaking you don't want to split your attributes more than three ways unless you have a good reason for doing so. For a Ranger, Expertise and a weapon attribute (Marksmanship is the only one Rangers have natively but you could get others with the relevant secondary profession) are a given. If you want to take a pet, which you should at least for now, then Beast Mastery makes three. If you want a heal (also a good idea, at least for now) your best bet would be Troll Unguent, which is in Wilderness Survival, so you'll have to split four ways in that case. Heavy attribute splitting is something that plagues Ranger builds generally, so I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't go for five. That's never worthwhile.
--To be clear, you pick a primary and a secondary profession. Those labels are very deliberate. You are a ranger. You do ranger things. Your secondary is there to supplement your primary. If you take /Monk to be a healer or /Elementalist to be a nuker you're doing it wrong. What you should do is look at particular skills in other professions that you can use to complement your existing skills. Given you're /Monk, something like a reusable resurrection skill and maybe a hex removal would be the things you'd look at. Bane Signet (with 0 Smiting) could be worth keeping just for the knockdown. Also know that later in the game you'll be able to switch your secondary freely later while you're in a town, so if you end up not liking Monk you can try whatever else you like.

-A list of skills obtainable via quest can be found here. You can also check skill trainers for new skills.

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With respect to your third post:

-Henchman levels are based on the outpost you got them from. So Piken Square has level 6 ones, but if you went back to Ascalon City they'd still be level 3.

-Ignite Arrows, presumably. Combining it with Dual Shot makes for a nice punch. GW1 has scatter mechanics, so they will flee after a time. At least if they're moving they're not attacking or using skills. I don't know what you mean by "cleave damage".

-I've undoubtedly got some bows in storage which are trash for me but useful for newbs. Add me to your friends list (Marty Silverblade) and I can give you one. Hopefully our timezones overlap.

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As an aside, Nicholas the Traveler is collecting Charr Hides this week. If you want to make financial issues a thing of the past, at least for the medium term, you'll want to trade hides for gifts. You can obtain a maximum of five. Each (UNOPENED) gift can be traded for ~4 globs of ectoplasm, which can in turn be traded for 6000-8000 gold. Here is his current location. He'll move at the end of Sunday (American time, not sure exactly when or what that is for you), so get on it. If we meet up to trade bows I can give you a hand with this if you need.

I'll nominate Frenzy. It's a perfect representation of how GW was meant to be. One of the core concepts it was built upon was that a good team with mediocre bars ought to beat a poor team with meta bars. Skill choices were important of course, but execution was more so. Frenzy is simple in function but complex in application, allowing for skilled players to be rewarded with better results. That it's been meta consistently since day one and yet never been modified says it all imo.

What level are you? I recommend staying in Pre-Searing until level 7-8 before moving on. It's not strictly necessary, but for a new player it'll save some grief. The impression I get is that you're really underleveled due to charging straight through the main quest.

What skills + attributes are you running?

Are you filling out your team? Pre-Searing is built for people soloing, but everywhere else you should have a full party. There are henchmen you can add in outposts if you don't have other people to play with. The Warrior, Monk, and Ele will be your best bet.

Hold alt in towns to show all npcs. Ctrl will show other players in town and enemies in explorables.

Armor can be obtained via crafting or collectors. There are two armorers in Ascalon City who will offer better stuff than you have now. Upgrading your armor here is recommended, and especially pertinent if you didn't grab the upgraded set in Pre-Searing.

Weapons can be obtained via enemy drops, quest rewards, and collectors. You can craft them too but I don't typically find any with particularly worthwhile stuff.

Resurrect your pet by using Comfort Animal.

I also suspect that trying to get to Piken Square isn't something you should be looking to do just yet? Have you done the The Great Northern Wall mission? Or largely cleared the Old Ascalon + Regent Valley + maybe a few more areas around there?

Easiest VQ: Putting aside ones which are trivially easy like Zen Daijun for Factions characters, I'd say Witman's Folly. A combination of generally weak enemies (grawl) with other mobs (imps and shadows) that aren't powerful enough in the group size + context to be of any real threat.

Hardest VQ: Joko's Domain is tough because of the undead Paragon boss that can rez the team super quickly, plus wurms are just terrible to play in imo. 40AL in HM doesn't make for a good experience, especially against those Sandstorm Crags. A non glitched Tannakai Temple is really tough too.

Easiest Mission: Aside from Augury Rock and starter missions, perhaps Thirsty River? I've never had any difficulty with it whatsoever. Actually, Curse of the Nornbear.

Hardest Mission: I'm inclined to say Ring of Fire NM, assuming you don't have heroes or they aren't loaded with meta stuff. It's definitely harder than most HM stuff with a meta team. The front way into the base is a bit harder than it used to be due to updates, and the back way is significantly harder due to the Incendiary Arrows change. The big mobs of spiders will wreck caster balls incredibly quickly. Aside from that, Tahnnakai Temple is worth a mention for being atrociously designed - what you ought to do is take your time and pull carefully but because it's timed you have to be an idiot and rush in to get masters. Of course, most of the Factions missions are timed, but this was the only one with a really disproportionate time limit. Pushing people to go faster is fine if you take care to ensure you're teaching people to play better, but they didn't and people just learned how to be bad. Vizunah Square is another one. Ray of Judgement hurts a lot more (as does Mind Burn and probably some other skills) now given it's over time, plus Togo and Mhenlo love sitting in it. Eternal Grove for obvious reasons. Gyala Hatchery too if you want master's completion. From Nightfall, Gate of Madness is tough start to finish. Grand Court of Sebelkah probably warrants a mention due to being a noob trap, which is the reason it's my favourite of the campaign. Oh, Dzagonur Bastion too.

Tyria would be a no. You need to complete both Thunderhead Keep and Sanctum Cay, which reward 1k xp each.

Cantha... there isn't enough leeway to skip Raisu Palace and Imperial Sanctum, and getting in there requires obtaining heaps of xp. You could probably skip grabbing quest rewards if you group with someone who does it instead and can teleport you through, though I very much doubt you'll be able to do that at every place required. Figuring out how to get past gates would also be a necessity, though I don't know anything about that.

Elona... Consulate Docks gives 1k xp. You'd need a way of mapping the desolation without wurms. It is possible to run through it, though probably not at level 1 and in all parts of the map. So, no. There's also the challenge mission in the desolation which requires killing, though if you clear the middle bit and do all the portal jumping and such then maybe you can get away with it, but there'd be no leeway whatsoever.

Regardless, it's be interesting to see how little xp you could get them done with.

I don't know what "in years" means precisely, but I imagine your issue would be due to a build that's either outdated generally or no longer applicable for what you're trying to do with it. Skill updates may have invalidated the run somehow. Current builds are at gwpvx.com. You may also be missing equipment that is now essential for the build to run. This is also listed on that site.