Why Ursan is a blessing

blue.rellik

blue.rellik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Melbourne, Australia

None

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSpirit
Great. Kind of reminds me of my Signet of Illusion build.
The difference is that signet of illusions is a gimmicky build to do some crazy stuff and requires you to have a high illusion attribute

Quote: Wrong! If that is true, then why are most Ursans wielding a zealous weapon? Think.... Wrong! A zealous weapon isn't needed to maintain it all the time. Think....

Quote:
If I have a high Norn rank, I deserve to be able to show it off since I worked hard for it. Oh yeah, killing those dragon spirits over and over again makes me pro at Guild wars

DarkSpirit

DarkSpirit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

Redmond

Quote:
Originally Posted by Biostem
It doesn't care about how you allocate attribute points, nor does it care about what equipment you're using.
Quote: Read. My. Post

I said

Quote:
Originally Posted by blue.rellik
A zealous weapon isn't needed to maintain it all the time. Wrong! A zealous weapon does have an effect, it helps to maintain it. Think...

Ursan is ANet's greatest blessing to PvE (read the OP)! If you have a problem with it then you dont have to use it. Everyone has a choice to use it or not.

macie28

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Surrey, BC

[DL] Desolation Lords

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by capblye
I concur with the OP and isildorbiafra ... Ursan is a blessing in many ways.
I too am a somewhat experiences player, and i enjoy the challenge of modifying buillds to suit an area, coming up with skill sets to offset the enemy.
However, not everyone enjoys that as i do.
Some folks want a catch all build that easily gets them through (what they feel) is a hard area.
Ursan is that build.
In short, GW is a game that is supposed to be fun for everyone.
My idea of fun may not be the same as the next person.
If Ursan provides them that fun, then so be it.
I just dont understand the negative attitudes from so many "experienced" players.
Why do y'all even care about Ursan?
You dont use it ... great for you.
Why want to Nerf it?
Do you really feel slighted in some way because some noob ran the same dungeon you did with no skill whatsoever?
Who cares? the noob bought the game same as you.
Take pride in the fact that you ran it with a well thought out build and tactical skill.
That should be all the recompense you need.
Leave Ursan alone. hear hear

To all those elitist haters out there who thinks they're so good now that they can't party with pugs and atleast show them some of the tricks you've learned along the way, get a life man. GW should be fun, don't stress too much, if you do, stop playing it.

blue.rellik

blue.rellik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Melbourne, Australia

None

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSpirit
Wrong! A zealous weapon does have an effect, it helps to maintain it. Think...
A zealous weapon isn't needed to maintain it all the time. You are disagreeing with what I said thus that means you are saying a zealous weapon MUST BE USED TO CONSTANTLY MAINTAIN Ursan Blessing.

Is that what you are saying?

i hurd raedin posts wus hard

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSpirit
Ursan is ANet's greatest blessing to PvE (read the OP)! If you have a problem with it then you dont have to use it. Everyone has a choice to use it or not. Read: I have time to grind (1st fail) titles (2nd fail) to max level (3rd fail) to get into 95% of pug groups (4th fail), and if I don't have one campaign, I'm rejected from them automatically (5th fail).

Farming to r10 ursan isn't so bad, as you can do it at few different ways - farm books in NM/HM, do dungeons, farm monsters, vanquish... But farming to r8 lightbringer IS BAD. It requires you non-stop farm at one or two spots for few hours for few days. I got to r4 at my ele and my ranger and I didn't want to get higher, it's just so boring.

Oh, and if you are thinking this way, that is ,,have a problem - don't use it''.... I'll use bots, to farm 5 times more than you. And if you have a problem with it, don't use bots or use them. Or if someone shoots you with a gun, you have a problem, just don't talk to that person. Or if someone is constantly stealing from charities, don't report him to the police - if you have a problem, don't steal from charities. Nice philosophy, eh?

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Ursan is a 'blessing' because it lets people who are bad at PvE (yes, it is somehow possible) beat PvE.

That's the simple truth.

The real discussion is whether people who are bad at PvE deserve to be able to beat PvE (i.e., use Ursan) or whether they should be forced to lern2play.

MagmaRed

MagmaRed

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Mar 2007

Our Crabs Know True [LOVE]

R/

Giving bad players (Mending W/Mo, Double Dragon Ele, 55 in enchant stripping areas, etc.) a skill that allows them to do well without learning how to do well is not good. I'd rather the bad players do bad, fail, and get mad. Then, if they WANT to play the game, they learn how to improve. When they take Mending off the skill bar, and replace it with Mending Touch, they start getting better. Ursan is so powerful, a complete moron can do HM DoA and succeed. I'd much rather the complete morons quit the game, or actually stop being morons.

isamu kurosawa

isamu kurosawa

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

United Kingdom

Me/

I say let the disillusioned players keep their little blessing, maybe even buff the other two then they can have 3 "1337" builds. Every ursan player i've met seems to think they are great players full of skill because they completed DoA on the 9th try using ursan.

Meaawhile, I'm off with my alliance running builds that matter, require skill and because it doesnt consist of 5 overpowered damage guys and 3 bad monk bars is actually more efficient.

I never understood the monk builds in ursan teams anyway, blowing mass energy running WoH along side HB and heal party for huge single heals or energy killing party heals with no hex/cond removal, no damage prevention and worse of all due to the nature of ursan the monks actually have to take res.
Any team setup that requires a monk to take a res i'll keep out of, especially if the other monks on the team opt to take rebirth

isildorbiafra

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2007

The Netherlands

W/

Ursan is just a taste of what is to come; and is a result of the new no player level cap that is to become guild wars 2!

In the future skills will be grind based with benefits/ improvements only and directly as a result of grind. That is the easyest way to maintain a good balance between skills and player level.

The skills becomes more powerfull as a player increases in level.

So get used to it.

And again: but for 0,1% of players that invented those all powerfull builds, the rest are all clones trying to impress. Keep tapping those numbers, but above all have fun!

MsMassacre

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

I agree with the OP. Yeh, sure, it's frustrating that nobody will group your experiemental inspiration/fast cast trapper mesmer or whatever, but the good thing about CC team builds is that they make grouping fast and easy.

Some of my best memories of GW are doing 5-man SF runs back in the days of the gear trick, or B/P groups in tombs. If you think either of these took any more skill than an ursan group, then you are wrong. They were just as cookie cutter. Once you'd done them once, you could do them with your eyes closed.

The simple truth is; easy cookie cutter team builds make pugging work. Without them, GW is too complex a game for pugging to be anything but frustration.

masteroflife

masteroflife

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

Can Ursan be used in pvp? Nope!
Does PvE take skill? Nope!
Does amout of Skill in GW relate to Ursan? Nope

Discussion over.

skanvak

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2007

La Maison des Drakkens

W/E

Well, at first I am not really eager on nerfing skill but there is a problem with ursan. We are using it with my guild for sometime now, and some "lassitude" is beginning to be felt by every one.

The problem is that when you compare the ursan elite skill, it is better than any other (especially the other 2 blessing and devervish tranformation). Wich mean that after the first rush of "yeah! we defeated this zone or DOA. that's great". It became borring when we want to go somewhere, the answer is "ursan team" every time. Not even Ursan, wolf, raven mix.

I agree that the Norn blessing are a king of bonus overpowerful skill that must stay so. BUT some fixing must be done to keep the game a skill bar building game and "the ursan go bashing game". There is a problem when only one build can be play. When no more brain is needed to play the game.

I suggest the following thing :
_ make the quest to obtain URSAN as hard as the skill is powerfull.
_ make the raven and wolf blessing as good, may be complementary (they already are a bit)
_ put the same deactivation time
that of the dervish avatar. Or may be put 2 to 5 minutes desactivation. Or better, that it will be deactivate until a moral boost is gain (boss killed). May be raise the cost to 25. THAT is the problem.

This will allow to keep the skill overpowered but still make other build credible alternative. The skill would be use to pass difficult part of GW so as not to be blocked but it won't be possible to used it ALL the time.


About some others comments :

Ursan as no counter :
wrong, energy degeneration are good counter (well En are counter to everyhting). two energy drain are enough to get the ursan out of form to a skill barr genreally useless.

Heroes killed PUG :

I totally agree. Heroes are better than human, and on some spot better than even the better human like interrupt : they don't have the one second thinking delay or lag (brain take about one sec to process any information); monk seem to know excatly when to heal... heroes and henchmen sould have weak IA even if coherent.

dargan

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Oct 2007

Freedom Warriors [CCCP]

E/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
Oh, and if you are thinking this way, that is ,,have a problem - don't use it''.... I'll use bots, to farm 5 times more than you. And if you have a problem with it, don't use bots or use them. Or if someone shoots you with a gun, you have a problem, just don't talk to that person. Or if someone is constantly stealing from charities, don't report him to the police - if you have a problem, don't steal from charities. Nice philosophy, eh? Kudos for broken logic. Let's compare using Ursan with using 3rd party tools in GW for profit, shooting someone or robbing the poor. Great stuff. lol

Is Ursan causing an unbalance in the game's economy? No.
Is it harming the PvP skill balance? No.
Is it disrupting the enjoyment of other gamers that choose not to use it? No.

Move on, nothing to see here.

Pleikki

Pleikki

WTB q8 15^50 Weapons!

Join Date: Nov 2006

???oo ???ugs ???lan [?????????]

it shouldn't be Blessing it should be CURSE lawl its for newbies in my opinions

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Is Ursan causing an unbalance in the game's economy? Yes, it's easy to do DoA, UW and FoW. Armbraces and items exclusive to those areas are getting cheaper. From 100k + 30 ecto, it's now 100k + 24? ecto.

Is it harming the PvE (why did you say about PvP? this is PvE forum) FOR the skill balance? Sure, it's best elite skill in the game for every profession, how it isn't unbalancing?

Is it disrupting the enyoment of other gamers that choose not to use it? Yes, we want to use balanced groups, but 99% of PuGs want Ursans and Monks -.- So we have either choice NOT TO go to FoW/UW/DoA and NOT get what other people could, or we are forced to go as a monk.

sterbenx2

sterbenx2

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

New England

Lunatic Legion

N/

I still think Ursan and maybe the other blessing skills, were added as a way for people to do what they want after the population fallout when GW2 is released. I would think that after GW2 goes live, Ursan might even get a "buff"

Skilled players that don't like Ursan, myself included, should simply ignore it and move on. These wanks that use it often have not and will not suffer thru the challenges and learning experiences that made us capable and strong players. Thus, we get our lols.

I'm tired of the Ursan debate now. Its over, get used to it. Let them have it. At least I know, anything they can do, we can do better.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Okay, let's get over it and not buy GW2. Who knows, maybe instead of RPG they'll make that game an FPS game, where people with reflex will be better than people with... Uhm. Not skill. What it takes to stereotypical RPG? Oh, right, grinding abilities.

Or... Maybe I will buy. But then they'll change the game so it will be an RTS... Or a sim. Who knows, how they will change their vision in the middle of the game.

masteroflife

masteroflife

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by skanvak
Heroes killed PUG :

I totally agree. Heroes are better than human, and on some spot better than even the better human like interrupt : they don't have the one second thinking delay or lag (brain take about one sec to process any information); monk seem to know excatly when to heal... heroes and henchmen sould have weak IA even if coherent.
since when does hero monks knew when to heal or prot. and you want them to have weaker AI? geez, as if they don't cast through shame and diversion and attack through SS enough, or frenzy and heal sig, or maybe just fail to use skills like Rage of nan. interupt is the only thing heros are good at, even then, they end up interrupting the wrong thing anyways.

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by masteroflife
interupt is the only thing heros are good at, even then, they end up interrupting the wrong thing anyways. Corpse exploitation, and upkeeping/monitoring Hexes and Enchants.
It's why Sabway is so damn good.

Akaraxle

Akaraxle

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

Italy

E/

Ursan prevents people from playing their profession and waters down any complexity there could be in PvE, therefore it is not a blessing.

Whiskeyjack

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2006

KOFU

People who use Ursan are either scrubs or just lazy imo. I have more or less stopped caring about ursan, i still despise the skill and all it represent's but I simply dont use it, nor will i party with anyone who does. What really concern's me though is how Anet have discarded the whole skill>time played idea which is what attracted me to GW in the first place. I will think very carefully before buying GW2 because of that.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

I won't play PvE until they nerf Ursan. Someone said that we don't have to use ursans to play in PuGs? Oh, rly. Look at the screenshot that I just took.



90% of pugs are Ursans. And if that elementalist looks for ursanway, it's 96%. Can't you understand, it's like a parasite? Either you agree to being assimilated by it, or you die from boredom and rejection. Parasites should be KILLED!

skanvak

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2007

La Maison des Drakkens

W/E

Though I agree with you, the same thing is true from the obsidian tank "silly" build (I play a W to fight not to stay still). The difference is that Ursan is less tiedous to play and marginally mor fun.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Oh, yeah. Too bad that there are E/W tanks, E/D, W/E and R/E obsi's, BiP's or SS necros, fast cast nukers WERE allowed into the team, normal nukers too, splinter barragers... Now only ursan. It replaced 9 characters -.- I mean come on, out of 291 elites, Ursan is better than 289 non-PvE-only elites. The 2 remaining are Healer's Boon and LoD.

And MORE FUN? Wow, you must be bad at this game. You mean that pressing 1 -> 2 -> 1 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 2 -> 1 and so on is FUN? Or sitting in front of screen for 24/7 grinding titles till you get the tunnel syndrome (WoW episode in South Park - that pain in wrist, which occurs after over fatiguing it). Real fun.

V Hope you are being sarcastic.

Alex the Great

Alex the Great

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2007

America.....got a problem with that?

[Lite]

W/

I agree, ursan is gay, but it dosen't affect us so i'm gonna stfu

skanvak

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2007

La Maison des Drakkens

W/E

Abedeus, tanking in obsi without attacking is dull, at least in ursan I attack that why it is MARGINALLY more fun for me in W. I want to kill monster, that's fun. Obsi does not kill that's not fun, bottom line.

Now, I agree this statement "out of 291 elites, Ursan is better than 289 non-PvE-only elites". So don't confuse the side I am in.

Div

Div

I like yumy food!

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I can eat yumy food

Dead Alley [dR]

Mo/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by skanvak
Abedeus, tanking in obsi without attacking is dull, at least in ursan I attack that why it is MARGINALLY more fun for me in W. I want to kill monster, that's fun. Obsi does not kill that's not fun, bottom line. We've never needed a obsidian tank for DoA, so I don't see what's with everyone's obsession thinking they need one. If anything, ursanway proves that you don't need a supertank to do these zones. But yeah, ursan's pretty lame. But if it gets nerfed, 100000 noobs will start crying about how they suck again because they can't abuse an instawin skill.

shru

shru

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

I've said this before and I'll say it again... Ursan is the "IWAY" of PvE. It's easy to use, takes little coordination, and is extreamly easy to form a group. The only areas or instances ursan trumps a balanced or trinity build is when you're PUGing. And tbh, if I ever decided to PUG again (I hope it never comes to that), I'd actualy prefer to play Ursan, as it's virtualy idiot proof.
Ursan is going to be played untill it's nerfed the hell into the ground, then people aregoing to continue playing it unti'll GW2 comes out.
There is an easy way to avoid ursan though; FIND A RED ENGINE GORED PVE GUILD, QUIT PUGING LIKE DUMBASS RED ENGINE GORED-TARDS, AND QUIT RED ENGINE GORED QQing.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Sure Ursan is the IWAY. But people didn't need to play IWAY. They had at least 10 other builds for each profession.

I am in a PvE Guild, in the biggest PvE alliance in Poland. And guess what, everyone plays ONLY ursan. Why? Because it's faster to find people to it. I mean - come on! In IWAY you had to know how to play a paragon, warrior or any class from earlier versions of the build. With ursan you must know how to spam skills (no-energy skills... worse than signets, as there is only counter in Diversion and other skill-disabling skills) or... spam monk skills. But with each party member with at least 60+20 (only r10's are taken to pugs...) + 8/16 = 88/96 AL and above 600 hp, it's REALLY easy to heal.

Akolo

Akolo

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2006

V??xj??, Sweden

Stop Stealing [agro]

Mo/

if everyone in your guild plays ursan.. well...

enough said

misguiding_prophet

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2008

Mo/

Ursan will get nerfed, if it hasnt already. My opinion is, that its a good farming tool. I am title grinding, but the drops compensate for the tedious runs and I get more practice with the 2 week old monk that I made.

I mean even the dude/dudette who started this topic might have already tried ursan, if they havent then they have spoken out of sheer ignorance. Sure its simple, but one can obtain great pleasure from simplistic builds. Some of the best builds in the game are simple.

Missions are best done with friends and guildies- enuff said. Those who bitch about pugs/ ursan centered pugs, need to analyze again why they couldnt find "friends" or guildies to join them in the first place lolz

blockkiller

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2007

empty

D/Me

what makes ursan that good anyway, the effect are easy made. en a regular build does more damage so

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Really wanna know?
+20 armor, making everyone at least as hard as a paragon, + a shield, you can get +16 since you need only Ursan Blessing.
+200 hp...
Mass knockdown, spike damage, AoE weakness, speed boost...

I mean come on - There can't, I'm saying there CAN'T be a skill that gives so much and requires so little. A quick quest, 30-40 minutes and a lot of grind.

blockkiller

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2007

empty

D/Me

u have last norn rank?

blockkiller

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2007

empty

D/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
Really wanna know?
There can't, I'm saying there CAN'T be a skill that gives so much and requires so little.d. yes but eight skills can do that

blockkiller

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2007

empty

D/Me

ursan really is not good for the creativity of the players, u don't have to think about ur build just use ursan. the only thing that is necessairy is some monks. while without people have to think about teams with different proffesions. why would u pick your proffesion now, just take ursan, why would u buy skills just get ursan, why would u think just get ursan.

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

At an Insit.. Intis... a house.

Live Forever Or Die Trying [GLHF]

W/Me

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by blockkiller
u have last norn rank? No, I have life. But on pugs, they take ONLY r10 ursans.

Oh, and there is no build that will give +20 armor, +200 hp (UNREMOVABLE, so don't use enchantments, stances or things that can be interrupted), elementalist-like damage, uses 0 energy, 0 adrenaline and can roll through PvE with ease. Oh, and there is no build that can MAINTAIN those bonuses.

blockkiller, next time no need for 3 posts...

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Well, in the dozens of threads and hundreds of pages devoted to this topic in the last eight months, let's see if I can make a summary of the issues here:

1) UB takes away the challenge of "elite" areas.
Conclusion - False. UB has no effect on the difficulty level in any area of this game. The only affect UB has is one's own perceived level of difficulty while exploring an area. A team of Ursans running an instance of DoA cannot affect the perceived difficulty of a balanced team running another instance of DoA at the exact same time. UB simply requires less time and energy spent forming a balanced team to achieve a similar level of perceived difficulty - just as a balanced team will have a perceived level of difficulty that makes the area seem easier than an unbalanced team will.

2) UB hurts the status and price of high end items.
Conclusion - False. UB has no more effect on prices than any other cookie cutter farming build. The entire idea of CC builds is to create a character that can farm an area the quickest and easiest. All UB does is allow someone to use a CC without having to consult Guildwiki. After all, UB has no affect on the prices of Zaishen Keys; it has no affect on the prices of the mini-pig or mini-rat, yet already players are talking about waiting until the prices of these items drop before they buy them. The only effect on pricing of high end items are the farmers themselves. In the GW supply and demand economy over the last three years, prices have always dropped because the farmers have always been able increase the supply faster than the demand.

In regards to the perceived status of these items, again the only effect on them are the players who sell them to other players. The only way to maintain an "elite" status for elite items is to prevent the trade or selling of them to players who did not actually complete the objectives required to obtain them. So long as a complete noob who has never visited an elite outpost, let alone made an attempt at the area can simply buy what he wants, the status of these items will continue to drop the same as the prices.

3) UB has killed the PUG.
Conclusion - False. The PUG has been long since dead before UB and before Heroes - class discrimination and noob abuse was what killed the PUG. Both Heroes and UB have actually allowed players previously shunned to be able to form their own PUGs. The screen shot provided by Abedeus proves the point. How many players were in DoA prior to UB? From what I have heard, not very many at all - it was a ghost town much like any outpost in Propecies is now.

In addition to that, that very screen shot proves that not everyone is looking for or desires to run Ursanway. So in fact it is not impossible to PUG any area without running the build. Anyone who cannot do so simply needs to expand their friend list and/or find a new guild. This very thread and the dozens of others like it are a good spot to find such like-minded individuals, is it not?

4) UB takes no skill to use.
Conclusion - False. Just like any other CC build, some modicum of game strategy and teamwork must be employed in order to be successful. UB is hardly Godmode. All UB does is remove the necessity of Build Experimentation (BE) by providing a ready-made CC build with which to use. After this became such a hot button topic, I did a little experimenting with UB to see what all the fuss was about. I visited many different areas, including the Magni tournament, and played several different ways - from complete noob-way to using everything I have learned over the last three years playing PvE and PvP in the game. It is my conclusion that UB is hardly a panacea for p**s-poor game play and tactics, and bad teamwork. Does it make certain areas easier when playing with decent tactics - absolutely, however I have noticed the same thing when running CC builds, and forming balanced teams with other human players.

5) UB removes a basic mechanic of the game - skill building.
Conclusion - False. Just like #1, a player using UB has no effect on the concept of BE. All it simply does is remove the necessity of forcing players to BE if they do not desire to do so. It gives players another option of being able to go through areas they normally would not be able to get through otherwise without spending many hours changing what may be a favorite build of theirs, simply to advance through the game. Giving players an additional option to accomplish a goal is no different than an FPS giving players the "stealth" option or the "blow 'em all to hell" option of completing a mission objective. It would be the equivalent of allowing a pure healing character to win the Magni tournament simply by playing that characters strengths skillfully rather than having to completely change that character from what it is into something that is was not created to be. Since GW is a game designed for the casual player, and BE is not a casual mechanic, requiring many, many hours of time and trial and error, UB is the imperfect solution to that problem.

6) UB is overpowered.
Conclusion - True. There is no doubt, as elites go, UB is the most powerful. Sometimes, when I am looking at the elite list each of my characters have I wonder how some elites are granted that status, as they seem completely useless and I have often found similar non-elite skills to work better in some cases. However, UB certainly grants a lot of power and ability to play through the game. How does it do that? By removing the Time Played vs. Skill mechanic. If memory serves, GW was advertised as being a game geared towards the casual player and thus removing the notion that defines many MMOs of time spent in the game grants you more power than whose who have played less. UB defines that concept in a nutshell - no longer does a player have to spend countless hours pouring over skill lists and partaking of many, many frustrating trial and error runs before hitting on a good skill combo for an area. They can now pop on UB and head out, with very little time spent and wasted. The better and best players - a game's core audience will use that ability to work out strategies and learn from the experience, thus using UB to eliminate the need for trial and error and thus save precious game playing time having fun and advancing through the game. The bad players will always be bad, and UB has little effect on that concept, therefore has little bearing on the matter at all.

In the end, the only question becomes: Is UB gamebreaking? After eight months, the answer would have to be no. There are four million people playing - GW has redefined the genre and is the first MMO to seriously give WOW a run for the money. Players devote countless hours to playing the game, enjoying the game, and helping others in the game. UB has not slowed down the GW player base one bit.

Hanok Odbrook

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

1) It's true, that elite missions are no longer elite. Even my friend admitted, that she's a noob and Ursan is the only way she will make it through DoA.

2) UB did hurt prices. Did you notice, that Armbraces were 4-8 ectos less a month after UB appeared?

3) Sure it didn't kill. It just made everyone from ,,learn to play the class, then go with cookie cutter team'' to a ,,grind the hell out of title until your head explodes, then you MAY join us''.

4) It doesn't take any skill. You run to a mob in 4-6 ursans and spam 1-2-3 skills.

5) It did remove. I don't know what the hell did you write about, but if team needs 6 players with 1 skill and 2 monks (WoH, LoD or HB - wow, 3 types of monks...), it removed the need of building a team build.

6) It is overpowered, no denying the fact.

And no, in GW doesn't play 4 millions players. Just 4 millions copies were sold, of all games. So if everyone bought all chapters, it's just 1 million. And not everyone is playing - I don't know, maybe the half of those people. It's around million, if for example each person has 2 games. But then again, some players have 2 accounts. So, as opposite to WoW, where accounts can get frozen, buyed copies =/= active players.