Why Ursan is a blessing

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
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.
Well, how much of a noob can she be if she has made it all the way to DoA. I would think she might have picked up at least one proper tactic or two in that time. Of course, Ursanway will make DoA easier when used by decent players. - as will any balanced build. I defy you to prove how UB has somehow magically recoded DoA to render the mobs powerless in this area. The difficulty of the area remains the same. But again, read the second portion of this issue - the one regarding status. "Elite" is a status symbol - affected by the Haves and Have Nots. So long as the Have Nots can obtain the same items as the haves without even having the Have areas unlocked, UB's effect on the "status" is minimal.

Quote: Originally Posted by Abedeus 2) UB did hurt prices. Did you notice, that Armbraces were 4-8 ectos less a month after UB appeared? So tell me, what affected prices before GW:EN, and UB? UB is simply another in a long line of specialized farming builds that has no overall bearing on the supply and demand of items, thus the prices, except perhaps to speed up the inevitable. Armbraces would have dropped a few ectos any way, given time - whether that drop happens a month afterwards or four months afterwards is irrelevant. If I and a dozen of my friends ran balanced non-Ursan teams through DoA and gave away all rewards for free, that would have a greater effect on pricing than UB does now. Are you then going to complain that Anet should stop us from giving away all these rewards for free because it hurts the status of the elite areas and the economy?

Quote: Originally Posted by Abedeus
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. 3 - So we went from - "sorry your particular build is useless - forget the fact you had bushels of fun playing it, and forget the fact that out of the thousands of possible character creation choices only a dozen will be accepted by the player community into PUGs" to - "go ahead and pick the build you have the most fun playing and when you hit the tough areas, here is a skill to help you through."

4 - I have seen the same with several farming and CC builds. UB is hardly any different in that aspect. Really, if a friggin bot can run some of these builds, how much skill is really needed?

5 - And the real problem we have is that with BE, you are limiting the vast number of choices we have with professions and skills more so than UB does. When players form groups to balance a party to have maximum effectiveness in any given area, you are already limited the builds - essentially using CC builds for this area, thus minimizing any variety we have in professions and builds.

In essence, we are telling every monk in the game, "You need to run these eight skills, with this AP allocation, to be the most effective monk in the game. So, now every monk in the game runs the exact same build in the game, as do the tanks, as do the rangers, and as a whole, we then have the same carbon copy teams running around in the game thus from all the thousands of possible choices, the game itself limits the validity of choices to a very small handful. Well, so much for that touted variety of profession combinations and skill choices we are supposed to have.

In that case, I ask then what was the point of giving us all those choices to begin with? Wouldn't it have made better sense to only create the dozen or so skills that created the balanced teams and use the programming time for other pursuits? Why then say we have all this potential variety and choice of class and character when the vast majority of it is useless? That is the problem with the game - not UB. The vast majority of players look down on Mending as a poor skill to use in game. If that's true, then why was time wasted programming that skill, and why do we not simply petition Anet to remove the skill from the game since it is a poor skill and never used? Why not simply do that with all the other skills that are unused by the player base, and that the players feel are poor skills.

Let's just have Anet get rid of them all, therefore leaving only the good and useful skills, and then we can petition Anet to revamp the character creation process to only allow us to pick one of the dozen or so templates of the effective builds in the game. By doing this, we eliminate the risk of noobs ruining the PUGing experience as they will be forced to play only the builds that help balance the team and are effective in all areas of the game, and learn to become more skilled with them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
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. Exactly why UB has little bearing on the overall prices of high end items. The player base is limited and finite. Therefore the potential demand for any given item in the game is very limited. Farming is an on-going business - always was, and always will be. Therefore, as long as farming continues, the supply of any particular item will continue to increase and outpace the demand of the item, therefore the price of the item will drop. This has happened long before UB and will continue to happen long after UB is over and forgotten with.

Hanok Odbrook

blockkiller

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2007

empty

D/Me

why discuss about UB, use it if u want to, don't use it if u don't want to use it, i think UB has no effect about wich build people use, before UB people used builds straight from wiki. the real guys are the people that make there own good build creativity rules

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

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

Live Forever Or Die Trying [GLHF]

W/Me

You guys can't seriously claim there's any skill involved in using Ursan. You don't even have to use any interrupt or use adrenal skills in a particular order, it's just target closest and spam all the skills as they recycle. Literally.

The sum total tactical skill involved is to not target the next mob until this one is dead, and avoid sprinting away from the monks. And even sprinting away from the monks isn't that bad as long as you don't lose ursan on the way.

We're talking a one-skill skillbar here, which still is better than any conceivable set of 7 normal skills plus one non-ursan elite. So hell yeah it's overpowered.

No-one disputes Ursan is effective -the combination armor-ignoring damage and near complete damage mitigation from perma-knockdown is godly- but christ, don't tell me it requires even the modest skill an Eviscerate axe-warrior takes to play.

Which is why I stopped using Ursan. It's just mind-killingly boring to play. Looking at the screen is completely optional, just target nearest and spam those skills.

Personally I think Ursan is game-breaking crap. It's beyond me why ANet seems to think this is a good direction to take the game. But it's pretty obvious that they do.

misguiding_prophet

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2008

Mo/

Hanok is my hero <3

ursan will get nerfed more quickly if ppl continually complain about its power- leave it. Lazy farmers like me can easily make 100k just by button smashing and not worrying about anything else. I still havent reached r10 ursan so I still have to 600 -_-

Realize the fact that even skills such as pain inverter make a lot of elites wane when comparisons are made. I primarily use them for farming purposes as do most other ppl. Individuals who have difficutly in normal campaign missions might not have had the opportunity to get high enough norn ranks in the first place to begin using ursan effectively. Those that are in the position of having high ursan and hvae difficulty with say raisu in HM, or DoA will find the campaign much more enjoyable than be traumatized by it and hate it completely.

Think about it, if there are people who rely on ursan, then in a way it is a good thing. It means they might not not have received the appropriate exposure to the game to develop their own, effective builds for their respective professions. Until they do, they can rely on Ursan. People have the psychology of getting sick of repeatedly using one build everywhere. So ursan would be a catalyst for ppl finding equivalently powerful builds.

Sab

Sab

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
1) UB takes away the challenge of "elite" areas.
Conclusion - False.
Ursan allows people who are otherwise unable beat an elite area, to beat it. There is no challenge when literally anyone can succeed with Ursan on their skill bar.

----------

(I don't care enough about prices or pugging to argue the next points)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
4) UB takes no skill to use.
Conclusion - False. You C-Space and mash three buttons in no particular order. If you seriously think that takes skill, then you're probably borderline retarded.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
5) UB removes a basic mechanic of the game - skill building.
Conclusion - False. Making and adapting builds is an essential part of Guild Wars - there is no "not wanting to make builds". If people are too stubborn to change their build, or they don't have the knowledge to, or they can't bother, then they don't deserve to advance through the game. With that said, you can complete the majority of casual PvE with an empty skill bar, so don't even start with the whole "you need to spend hours making skill bars" argument. If you're attempting HM or the elite areas, then presumably you accept that you need a decent understanding of skills in order to complete them.

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Ursan allows people who are otherwise unable beat an elite area, to beat it. There is no challenge when literally anyone can succeed with Ursan on their skill bar.
That's funny - as I am running secondary characters throughout the campaigns, I haven't noticed any decrease in the challenge or difficulty of these areas. Did UB re-code the game to remove the challenge? If so, somehow, the new build of the game failed to be downloaded to all three of my computers upon which the game resides.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab You C-Space and mash three buttons in no particular order. If you seriously think that takes skill, then you're probably borderline retarded. As you do with many CC and farming builds. Again, perhaps you need to read a bit closer - the contention here is that it takes NO skill to run UB - that means skill to use it along with the skills of using proper battle line tactics. The proper terminology here is that UB needs very little skill to use. However, if you still need proof positive - when I have some free time, we can meet up in DoA - I'll run UB and show you how a complete lack of skills still equates to failure with the build.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Making and adapting builds is an essential part of Guild Wars - there is no "not wanting to make builds". If people are too stubborn to change their build, or they don't have the knowledge to, or they can't bother, then they don't deserve to advance through the game. With that said, you can complete the majority of casual PvE with an empty skill bar, so don't even start with the whole "you need to spend hours making skill bars" argument. If you're attempting HM or the elite areas, then presumably you accept that you need a decent understanding of skills in order to complete them. I never said you didn't or shouldn't need some understanding of the skill bar and tactics in this game. However, there comes the point when it simply does not matter how well skilled you are at a particular build if that build does not meet one of the limited few CC builds that teams require in certain areas. That is my point of contention here. I love the amount of choice we have in creating a character's class. The problem arises when the freedom is stripped away by imperfect mechanics within the game. Just because someone may not have as much time to dedicate to BE as others does not mean they shouldn't have an equal opportunity to visit and succeed in any and every area of this game. Unfortunately, UB is the imperfect solution to allow this to happen in the imperfect mechanics of the game.

Hanok Odbrook

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

....So, wait. You love the amount of choices, but you are defending Ursan? Thanks to that skill, people don't want, for example, damage dealing warrior, tank, party support or even a wammo. They want Ursan. And people don't want MM necromancers, SS or BiP's - they want Ursan Necromancers. How about that? If someone loves SS, PuGs tell him ,,gtfo get an Ursan and grind to r10 n00b''. If someone wants to tank with E/W or E/D, they tell him ,,gtfo get an ursan (...)''.

It's a bit strange - you are defending Ursan Blessing, the skill that tells 9 of 10 characters to USE IT OR GTFO, and yet you are talking about people that like their own builds? Wth bbq qq kthxbye?

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

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

Live Forever Or Die Trying [GLHF]

W/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
That's funny - as I am running secondary characters throughout the campaigns, I haven't noticed any decrease in the challenge or difficulty of these areas. Did UB re-code the game to remove the challenge? If so, somehow, the new build of the game failed to be downloaded to all three of my computers upon which the game resides. Perma knockdown.

That's what you get with 5 ursans in the team. That equals near-complete damage mitigation. And that sure as hell makes any area a lot easier.

John Panda

John Panda

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2007

in my house

The Arctic Maruarders [TAM]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
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!
honestly, anet made a better form of a pug for you to get into, which is a guild.
Join a guild do the missions. if not why change from ursan? ursan is good for pugs because most of the time pugs fight and argue and lack skill. ursan is perfect for every pug. if you are tired of ursan and your guild ursans everything get a new guild.. their are plenty of elite pve guilds. go join one.

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
The proper terminology here is that UB needs very little skill to use. However, if you still need proof positive - when I have some free time, we can meet up in DoA - I'll run UB and show you how a complete lack of skills still equates to failure with the build. D/Mo teams in the NF event lost games. Does this mean the template was not broken?

Skills are not supposed to be balanced to the minimum potential of their use, based on poor players.

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus
....So, wait. You love the amount of choices, but you are defending Ursan? Thanks to that skill, people don't want, for example, damage dealing warrior, tank, party support or even a wammo. They want Ursan. And people don't want MM necromancers, SS or BiP's - they want Ursan Necromancers. How about that? If someone loves SS, PuGs tell him ,,gtfo get an Ursan and grind to r10 n00b''. If someone wants to tank with E/W or E/D, they tell him ,,gtfo get an ursan (...)''.

It's a bit strange - you are defending Ursan Blessing, the skill that tells 9 of 10 characters to USE IT OR GTFO, and yet you are talking about people that like their own builds? Wth bbq qq kthxbye?
Uhmm. It's called class discrimination. Maybe you haven't been playing all that long, but I remember a lot of complaints from players saying they couldn't get into PUGs because the general player base looked down upon their particular profession. Didn't matter how good they were playing it - they were still discriminated against. I remember an instance in Factions where I had my Assassin and my Ritualist in the Viz Square outpost. Even before my Rit had finished loading there were a half dozen invitations on the Party bar. I couldn't even bribe my way on to those same groups with my Assassin. So I went with my Rit. The group missed Masters, and we all agreed to give it another shot. I told the group I wanted to go through with my sin this time so at least I could advance that character through the storyline. There was some refusal at first, but since I had proved to the group that I wasn't a complete noob, they agreed. I think we just missed masters the second go around, but got it on the third try (again with my Assassin). It was like that the whole time in Factions until Nightfall hit and I could pick up Heroes and skip the nonsense with my sin.

The elite areas have seen the worst forms of this discrimination. All we have now are two different groups discriminating against each other. We have the original groups who did not allow weaker builds or professions to join the team, and now we have those very same builds and professions using UB to form their own teams. Tit for Tat you might say.

Quote:
You've discovered that perception is subjective. That way madness lie, but OK.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius
Perma knockdown.

That's what you get with 5 ursans in the team. That equals near-complete damage mitigation. And that sure as hell makes any area a lot easier. And it still remains all relative to your own personal experience. A balanced team of all human players will always find any given area easier than a non-balanced team filled with Heroes and Henches. And neither team has any influence on the other's perceived ease of that respective area. Again, I haven't noticed any change in the difficulty of any area of this game because other players run UB. The only differences I notice are the ones I directly influence myself - my own team's formation and own character's skills and AP allocation. Any area of this game is only as hard or as easy as we ourselves choose to make it based upon what we take into that area. And since these areas are instanced, they cannot influence the perceived difficulty of a separate team. Oh, and if memory serves, there are several different types of monsters that are immune to knockdown in the game, rendering this particular attack useless.


Hanok Odbrook

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

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

Live Forever Or Die Trying [GLHF]

W/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
A balanced team of all human players will always find any given area easier than a non-balanced team filled with Heroes and Henches. And neither team has any influence on the other's perceived ease of that respective area.
Again, I haven't noticed any change in the difficulty of any area of this game because other players run UB. So all that text equates to a statement that I don't have to run Ursan if I don't want to. I didn't know that was at issue; in fact I DID stop running Ursan because I no longer wanted to.

Here's a question to you: can you conceive of any skill which you would consider unbalanced?

Let's imagine a skill which when used insta-kills all the mobs on the map and teleports the drops to you. You're not forced to use this skill; it's completely voluntary. Is this skill overpowered? Unbalanced? Game breaking?

Or is it perfectly fine?

Jiub

Jiub

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

The Sky Pirates

W/R

i dont particulary care about ursan blessing, but the whole "description of a typical human group" made me laugh. its so true

Sab

Sab

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
That's funny - as I am running secondary characters throughout the campaigns, I haven't noticed any decrease in the challenge or difficulty of these areas. Did UB re-code the game to remove the challenge? If so, somehow, the new build of the game failed to be downloaded to all three of my computers upon which the game resides.
If you're not finding your subsequent runs through the game any less challenging, then you're not learning anything from your previous runs. The game itself doesn't change, but *you* can. If you keep running the same crappy bars, then of course the game is going to be difficult. But, if you learn from your previous experiences and tailor your build to each specific area, then you'll find the game much easier.

However, you can bypass all this learning and slap Ursan on your skill bar. It has the effectiveness of a well-designed build, but requires none of the knowledge, intelligence or skill to run it. It removes the challenge from skill building and execution.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook As you do with many CC and farming builds. Again, perhaps you need to read a bit closer - the contention here is that it takes NO skill to run UB - that means skill to use it along with the skills of using proper battle line tactics. The proper terminology here is that UB needs very little skill to use. However, if you still need proof positive - when I have some free time, we can meet up in DoA - I'll run UB and show you how a complete lack of skills still equates to failure with the build. Okay, so even with Ursan, you can't run out of your monk's range and aggro the entire map and expect to survive. That's common sense, and nothing to do with Ursan. The *build itself* still requires no skill - there are three buttons you hit on recharge. You'd have to intentionally play bad in order to screw up an Ursan bar.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
I never said you didn't or shouldn't need some understanding of the skill bar and tactics in this game. However, there comes the point when it simply does not matter how well skilled you are at a particular build if that build does not meet one of the limited few CC builds that teams require in certain areas. That is my point of contention here. I love the amount of choice we have in creating a character's class. The problem arises when the freedom is stripped away by imperfect mechanics within the game. Just because someone may not have as much time to dedicate to BE as others does not mean they shouldn't have an equal opportunity to visit and succeed in any and every area of this game. Unfortunately, UB is the imperfect solution to allow this to happen in the imperfect mechanics of the game. If your build doesn't work or is not wanted in a certain area, change it. You don't need Ursan on your skill bar to make a build that's minimally acceptable in PvE.

As for dealing with class discrimination, you deal with it the same way you'd deal with rank discrimination in HA. Start your own groups, or make friends and join their groups, or use some social skills and talk your way into pugs.

odly

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius
Let's imagine a skill which when used insta-kills all the mobs on the map and teleports the drops to you. You're not forced to use this skill; it's completely voluntary. Is this skill overpowered? Unbalanced? Game breaking?

Or is it perfectly fine? That skill is inbalanced.

To balance it you should add that the area scales with frequest use from 0% of an area to 100%. You'll receive full 100% after using the skill 10.000.000 times. After using the skill it is disabled for 30 sec.

But is you zone 3 times in succession to certain zones, spinning right and left after zoning you can mysteriously get it to recharge right away. This only works between 23pm and 5 am wherever you may live and only on the odd minutes of the hour.

There you go, I've fixed it for you.

misguiding_prophet

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2008

Mo/

Ursan = a get rich quick scheme that works VERY WELL. If you have problems with it, then fine- but dont suggest for a minute that having a prejudice against a skill gives you an air of superiority.

All good builds are supposed to run effortlessly in their effective contexts, Ursan seems to be one of those "builds" that can be used ubiquitously with the same efficiency. Why does this then warrant negative criticism?

There are at least 2 professions with over powered skills at any given one time throughout the various different reconstructions the game goes through. You can either accept it, or ignore it. But to make such an issue out of it suggests that some (those who perceive UB to be a negative, contemptible thing) might have ego problems.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

2 professions with overpowered skills? Name them.

And since when a team build = 6 characters with one skill (ONE SKILL IS BETTER THAN ANY SET OF 8 SKILLS!) + 2 monks that don't even have to have a condition removal.

misguiding_prophet

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2008

Mo/

At least 2 professions implies that there are more (perhaps all of em, but I cant say that with complete certainty)- definitely from first hand exp Dervish and Ele have extremely powerful hurting capabilities.

What is wrong with that build? It was primarily designed to score UW chest as quickly as possible. And no one I know that has used ursan in farms, has ever said "ONE SKILL IS BETTER THAN ANY SET OF 8 SKILLS".

Most ppl who use Ursan prcast Inspiriation stances prior to using Ursan- so its not necessarily wholly relying on ursan :P

enmitee

enmitee

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2007

[Liar]

Rt/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab

If your build doesn't work or is not wanted in a certain area, change it. You don't need Ursan on your skill bar to make a build that's minimally acceptable in PvE.

As for dealing with class discrimination, you deal with it the same way you'd deal with rank discrimination in HA. Start your own groups, or make friends and join their groups, or use some social skills and talk your way into pugs. this is the root of all class discrimination making UB the EXACT reason why these classes that "need to change their build" can play in PUGs without trying to be nice to some elitist players who will only accept you if your a hb/terra/renewal nuke/ss/bip.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Maybe people using Ursans don't cry about them, because they have nothing else? They have no skill to use a non-Ursan build, no skill to get elite skills (lul) from bosses to use a cookie cutter build.

Dervish has an extremely powerful hurting abilities? What? It's a perfectly balanced class - it can moderately well tank, deal damage at same level as warrior, yet has less armor, for exchange of a bit more hp.

And elementalist... Well, in EVERY RPG there is such class. In DnD it's Mystic Theurge/magician classes/clerics (death magic), in WoW there is a nuker, in Ragnarok Online it's High Wizard, in Diablo 2 it's Sorceress or Druid... It's just a standard class, like a healing cleric/monk or tanking warror/cyborg. Besides, a Necromancer can deal as much damage as elementalist, in HM even more (Spiteful Spirit ignores armor, and since monsters use skills/attack faster, it deals more damage than in NM - and mobs have increased armor, so their uber power is almost reduced to 0).

Saying that,,at least 2 professions implies that (...)(perhaps all of them)'' means almost same as ,,all characters can deal a lot of damage''. So they are balanced... But you don't get the point.

Ursan:
1. +200 health.
2. +20 armor.
3. Speed boost.
4. Armor-ignoring damage (about 100 every 4 seconds).
5. Mass weakness and increased physical damage.
6. Perma-knockdown and AoE damage.
7. Ability to hide 7 other skills when Ursan is down.
8. Everything said above is, as long as skills are being spammed, maintained even for 3 hours.

Give me a build (2 professions, 8 skill) that can make what Ursan made. Oh, and don't forget that it can't use enchantments, stances or things that cast slower than 1 second and have more than Ursan skills recharge.

And don't forget - your build must be immune to Blind or Dazed conditions, Empathy, Backfire... So use only signets/skills. I should say only skills, because signets can get Rusted, but hey... Would be too hard for you, Ursan defenders.

madriel222

madriel222

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2008

Denver, Colorado

Reign of Judgment [RoJ]

Me/A

As one without EotN quite yet, I can say with certainty that despite UB's abhorrent power, its effect on the game (especially the elite dungeons/areas) has been both a burden and a blessing. On one hand, it has been an absolute nightmare trying to find a PuG not only for DoA, but for any of the elite areas. Now granted, it is probably in the best interest of the PuG to run UB. Why? PuG's have a terrible tendency of failing as it relies on all members to be on their game. UB takes some of that risk away, upping the chance for success. All you here in the DoA local chat is "GLF Ursan." I think it's fair to say that these aren't "n00bs" denying the acceptance of any other legitimate build, but rather wanting to succeed even if there is a weak link in their chain, so to speak. Oh well, only the rare PuG for me nowadays.

On the other hand, there still is a cluster of individuals who decline the Ursanway and want to deliver the beat down to Mallyx and his minions the old fashioned way. Whether they are veterans looking for a challenge or individuals like me who don't possess EotN, these players are few and far between, but, and I tell this through my own personal experience, these have been some of the best PvE players I've had the pleasure of meeting. Everyone needs to be on the same page and at the top of their game to have a relatively fast and successful run through an elite area. In general, non-UB groups that I have entered have had such qualities. Imagine my surprise when a group actually asked me to drop my BiP necro in place of an assassin! An assassin? In DoA? Turns out miracles do happen. There are players out there wanting to play for the challenge of the game, despite the existence of the highly potent outlet available to them.

So don't be so disgusted with how UB has changed the face of GW's elite levels. Should you decide to forgo the way of the bear, should you find that rare group still itching for a challenge, I think you'll be very happy when you stand over Mallyx's dead body with sword and shield after an epic battle.

isamu kurosawa

isamu kurosawa

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

United Kingdom

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by enmitee
this is the root of all class discrimination making UB the EXACT reason why these classes that "need to change their build" can play in PUGs without trying to be nice to some elitist players who will only accept you if your a hb/terra/renewal nuke/ss/bip. Funny how the most elitest players are the worst isn't it?

Sab

Sab

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by enmitee
this is the root of all class discrimination making UB the EXACT reason why these classes that "need to change their build" can play in PUGs without trying to be nice to some elitist players who will only accept you if your a hb/terra/renewal nuke/ss/bip. Did you actually read on? If you did, you'd know how anyone can complete any area with any profession, without resorting to Ursan. Stop whining about elitists and blaming class discrimination - take initiative. Ursan dumbs down so many aspects of GW and hands them to you on a nice silver platter. People who need this don't deserve to be beating the hardest areas of the game.

KalleDamos

KalleDamos

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2007

*sarcasm* While Anet fixes Ursan, lets fix SY, TntF, NRA, Cry of pain and every other PvE spesific skill till they fit with the meta!*/sarcasm*

It is PvE, it is a good skill, it counter's stupidity, it makes even casual players able to run the more 'elite' areas in PvE. It is not broken, it does not need fixing. Like others have suggested if you don't like it and you build discrim because of it, go play PvP you whinners. But serioulsy, not broken, no need for a fix, and if you cannot aggre, please gtfo and go play WoW where all the skills are the same and there is no real concept of a 'build' as we GW players know it. Danke.

Orange Milk

Orange Milk

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

Ganking, USA

Retired

R/

I really do not like Ursan and have no idea why ANet even placed it in the game. There are something like 1100 skills available for PvE use. Ursan blessing is one skill that changes your entire bar, so now all those 1100 or so other skills go out the door to get covered with dust and never used.

If YOU or your team can not come up with a build out of 1100 plus skills to defeat an area/mission/quest and run Ursan all the time you need to uninstall. PvE is already easy enough.

Some guy on page one othis posted about being "lucky" enough to come up with an origional build. It's not luck, it's just a tad bit of work, the tools are there (1100 plus skills + Wiki + Time + Effort = Win)but hey when you have a "easy win" Ursan Blessing button to push, who wants to do that? Why create a bar full of skills when you can just click one skill that fills your bar for you?

Ursan basically makes this game dummy, it's bad for the game imo, but it's here and it's never gonna go away or get nerfed, PvE only skills don't get nerfed. Too bad most all the PvE Only skills need torched as they are unbalanced and foolish.

KalleDamos

KalleDamos

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2007

Unbalanced? You sir, make me laugh.Who is going to complain, the monsters? Do we hear Shiro crying about being ganked in 2 minutes? Do the Destroyers cry about snares and interupts behind our backs? While PvE is easy, and while I'm all for original builds you need to think for a second. Who is more likely to get into a group. Someone running Ursan or someone running a unique build that no one has heard of and most people think 'looks shakey'. It is not about being lazy, its about being able to get into a group.

You are thinking PvP sir. In PvE little needs to be 'balanced.' PvE skills make it easier than it need to be, i admit but they do not need to be balanced. If they started to balance them they would not be unique PvE skills. They would just be skills, just be other skills. They would not stand out, they would not be unique, and they would more than likely be crap. So yeah, balance is not the option to these.

Pyro maniac

Pyro maniac

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by KalleDamos
Unbalanced? You sir, make me laugh.Who is going to complain, the monsters? Do we hear Shiro crying about being ganked in 2 minutes? Do the Destroyers cry about snares and interupts behind our backs? While PvE is easy, and while I'm all for original builds you need to think for a second. Who is more likely to get into a group. Someone running Ursan or someone running a unique build that no one has heard of and most people think 'looks shakey'. It is not about being lazy, its about being able to get into a group.

You are thinking PvP sir. In PvE little needs to be 'balanced.' PvE skills make it easier than it need to be, i admit but they do not need to be balanced. If they started to balance them they would not be unique PvE skills. They would just be skills, just be other skills. They would not stand out, they would not be unique, and they would more than likely be crap. So yeah, balance is not the option to these. stop posting please and learn to play something else then ursan

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by KalleDamos
Unbalanced? You sir, make me laugh.Who is going to complain, the monsters? Do we hear Shiro crying about being ganked in 2 minutes? Do the Destroyers cry about snares and interupts behind our backs? While PvE is easy, and while I'm all for original builds you need to think for a second. Who is more likely to get into a group. Someone running Ursan or someone running a unique build that no one has heard of and most people think 'looks shakey'. It is not about being lazy, its about being able to get into a group. Read again my post and please, give a build better than one skill - UB. There is no single build or a team build that can do so much as UB. If they, for example, gave those UB skills 5-10 energy cost, it would require some skill to use it. Or use of e-management.


Oh, and basing on your logic - They nerfed Spirit Bonders, 1/4 second cast Shield of Absorption or Protective Bond monks because mobs were complaining?

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

I think most people on Guru have a problem with Ursan because it takes very little skill to use.

Regardless of the low skill it takes to use, it is still one of the most powerful builds, if not the most, in the game, for general PvE and elite missions.

Simply because it is easy to use does not render it weak.

As a monk (my current class, and I have played all of them, some extensively some not, and found Monk to be my favourite) I would rather a pack of r10 Ursans as the rest of my team (monks obviously don't use Ursan Blessing unless you have too many monks, and Ritualists are probably better as high-powered healers than as Ursans) than to go with whatever the players thought up themselves, which is usually very terrible.

And in the cases when it isn't (and often this means a wiki'd HM Balanced team build, which loses all your credibility for original builds since you basically just took it off wiki. I'm looking at the DoA players who run 1 warrior, 3 eles, 1 necro, 3 monks and then attempt to say that they're more original than the Ursans...) the 'skilled' build is harder to use and hence lowers success chances.

I'll take an easy-to-get, high rate of success victory over a hard-to-do, difficult to succeed victory any day. Efficiency FTW.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk
I'll take an easy-to-get, high rate of success victory over a hard-to-do, difficult to succeed victory any day. Efficiency FTW. So why not take bots or hacks? Efficiency > game balance, no?

Jetdoc

Jetdoc

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Jul 2005

The Eyes of Texas [BEVO]

D/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk
I think most people on Guru have a problem with Ursan because it takes very little skill to use. I thought one of the key cornerstones of GW was "Skill over time spent"?

KennyC

KennyC

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

W/Mo

Ursan needs to be hit hard. Really, really hard with a giant kevlar coated nurfbat. There is no skill involved in it's capture or the grind associated with the max level.

In fact, I'd go as far as removing it from the game entirely.

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
If you're not finding your subsequent runs through the game any less challenging, then you're not learning anything from your previous runs. The game itself doesn't change, but *you* can. If you keep running the same crappy bars, then of course the game is going to be difficult. But, if you learn from your previous experiences and tailor your build to each specific area, then you'll find the game much easier. However, you can bypass all this learning and slap Ursan on your skill bar.
EXACTLY - it is your choice on how to play through the game. How you choose to play has no effect whatsoever on my game playing experience in PvE, and vice versa.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab Okay, so even with Ursan, you can't run out of your monk's range and aggro the entire map and expect to survive. That's common sense, and nothing to do with Ursan. The *build itself* still requires no skill - there are three buttons you hit on recharge. You'd have to intentionally play bad in order to screw up an Ursan bar. And I can say the same about many other builds as well. The current popular sin build is a snoozer for me. I c+space, and run down the skillbar - rinse and repeat. UB is not unique in this regard.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sab As for dealing with class discrimination, you deal with it the same way you'd deal with rank discrimination in HA. Start your own groups, or make friends and join their groups, or use some social skills and talk your way into pugs. And this is what UB has provided to many players - a chance to avoid the usual CD nonsense and form groups of their own. Your statement can actually be applied to those who claim they can't find a non-Ursanway group as well.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius
Here's a question to you: can you conceive of any skill which you would consider unbalanced?

Let's imagine a skill which when used insta-kills all the mobs on the map and teleports the drops to you. You're not forced to use this skill; it's completely voluntary. Is this skill overpowered? Unbalanced? Game breaking?

Or is it perfectly fine? No, this skill is overpowered - it also has no relation to UB whatsoever. The skill you describe is Godmode. However, Godmode is not game breaking - see Doom for proof.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Did you actually read on? If you did, you'd know how anyone can complete any area with any profession, without resorting to Ursan. Stop whining about elitists and blaming class discrimination - take initiative. Ursan dumbs down so many aspects of GW and hands them to you on a nice silver platter. People who need this don't deserve to be beating the hardest areas of the game. So, any game that offers an easy mode, and players of that game who play easy mode should not be allowed to finish the game? Sounds pretty silly to me. Everyone playing this game paid the same $50 to enjoy the priveledge. I personally see no problem with having a way for everyone to enjoy every part of what Anet created, regardless of how they go about doing it. Hey, if the worst player in this game wants to use UB to go an kill Mallyx, as long as they are having fun playing the game - I don't give a rat's petootie about. How they play the game has no bearing on how I get enjoyment out it. But perhaps that's because I don't really give a rat's petootie about status symbols and player rankings in this game anyway.

Hanok Odbrook

enmitee

enmitee

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2007

[Liar]

Rt/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Did you actually read on? If you did, you'd know how anyone can complete any area with any profession, without resorting to Ursan. Stop whining about elitists and blaming class discrimination - take initiative. Ursan dumbs down so many aspects of GW and hands them to you on a nice silver platter. People who need this don't deserve to be beating the hardest areas of the game. then tell me this, why do most groups, not saying all, would not attempt to invite my mesmer into a group unless is t were guildies and friends? or a good restoration rit in balanced fow builds? from the way i see it, its the noobs that want you to run "the build they want" that resort other noobs or people, to resort to ursan blesssing as most random PuGs they go to will not let them run the build that they want to test unless they are friends or guildies.

KalleDamos

KalleDamos

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2007

Hanok Odbrook those are some of the wiesest words I have heard on Guru.

Sab

Sab

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
EXACTLY - it is your choice on how to play through the game. How you choose to play has no effect whatsoever on my game playing experience in PvE, and vice versa.
Numa addressed this point, which you've failed to answer. The point was, that someone undeserving of a reward can take an easy shortcut to the reward with Ursan. Without Ursan, that person would have no other way of obtaining the reward.

If what others do in their own instance has no effect on you, then you probably won't mind a magical button that instantly maxes out all their titles, or a command that generates all the money and loot they want, or a button that fully explores the entire map and opens up all the outposts for them. While you personally may not care, can you see how others might? The point is not that Ursan does this, it's that Ursan is to a lesser degree, also a shortcut through the game.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
And I can say the same about many other builds as well. The current popular sin build is a snoozer for me. I c+space, and run down the skillbar - rinse and repeat. UB is not unique in this regard.
No bar you can make up with normal skills has anywhere near the power or simplicity of Ursan. You're not going to use this Sin bar to complete the hardest parts of the game with the efficiency of Ursan. Not even close.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook And this is what UB has provided to many players - a chance to avoid the usual CD nonsense and form groups of their own. Your statement can actually be applied to those who claim they can't find a non-Ursanway group as well. Those who claim that cry class discrimination or complain that they can't find a group are lazy (including those who can't find non-Ursan groups). I'll address this later.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
So, any game that offers an easy mode, and players of that game who play easy mode should not be allowed to finish the game? Sounds pretty silly to me. Everyone playing this game paid the same $50 to enjoy the priveledge. I personally see no problem with having a way for everyone to enjoy every part of what Anet created, regardless of how they go about doing it. Hey, if the worst player in this game wants to use UB to go an kill Mallyx, as long as they are having fun playing the game - I don't give a rat's petootie about. How they play the game has no bearing on how I get enjoyment out it. But perhaps that's because I don't really give a rat's petootie about status symbols and player rankings in this game anyway. Your first sentence is a complete misinterpretation of what I said. Firstly, finishing the game constitutes just that - beating everything up to and including the endgame missions in normal mode. Anything further is extra - Hard Mode, DoA, Urgoz, and other endgame missions and dungeons.

Secondly, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from finishing those zones without Ursan, except your own laziness. I've listed the ways to get around class discrimination already, and I've used exactly that to beat just about everything there is to beat in PvE with my Mesmer (and without resorting to Ursan).


Quote:
Originally Posted by enmitee
then tell me this, why do most groups, not saying all, would not attempt to invite my mesmer into a group unless is t were guildies and friends? or a good restoration rit in balanced fow builds? from the way i see it, its the noobs that want you to run "the build they want" that resort other noobs or people, to resort to ursan blesssing as most random PuGs they go to will not let them run the build that they want to test unless they are friends or guildies. Since pugs are so "noob", play with guildies or friends? That seems like a pretty good idea.

Feurin Longcastle

Feurin Longcastle

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2006

The key question has not been answered by Ursan defenders. Can you think of any skill mechanic that could ever be considered imbalancing for PvE? Would a skill that killed all the mobs on the map with one button press be bad for the game? I should hope you think it is. Anet has in the past with PvE-specific nerfs. Now ask yourself why this is.

The same logic applies to Ursan. It obviates the need for any build design or planning. It throws any modicum of required skill completely out the window. Come up with a rationale for Ursan that doesn't apply to the Auto-Kill skill.

Hanok Odbrook

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Numa addressed this point, which you've failed to answer. The point was, that someone undeserving of a reward can take an easy shortcut to the reward with Ursan. Without Ursan, that person would have no other way of obtaining the reward.
Except to buy it from someone who has gotten the reward. Perhaps you missed this point I have made on more than one occasion. The status of the reward is moot if it can be bought by someone who didn't earn it. At least, with the Ursanway teams, they are actually going into the area.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
If what others do in their own instance has no effect on you, then you probably won't mind a magical button that instantly maxes out all their titles, or a command that generates all the money and loot they want, or a button that fully explores the entire map and opens up all the outposts for them. While you personally may not care, can you see how others might? The point is not that Ursan does this, it's that Ursan is to a lesser degree, also a shortcut through the game.
Actually, I wouldn't mind that at all. Again, titles, gold, rewards, all of that is just so much fluff to me. I play this game for fun. I set my own goals and things I want to achieve. My satisfaction comes from being able to obtain those goals - not what other players may think of the visible results of those goals or rewards.




Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab No bar you can make up with normal skills has anywhere near the power or simplicity of Ursan. You're not going to use this Sin bar to complete the hardest parts of the game with the efficiency of Ursan. Not even close. True, but the point of contention here was that UB takes little skill to use. I simply argued the fact that it is not alone in that category. Regardless of whether any of the other "idiot" builds can be used in any or all areas of the game, UB is not unique to this point. However, with the proper team (just like running full Ursanway), even any of the "idiot" builds could probably be successful in the hardest parts as well.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Your first sentence is a complete misinterpretation of what I said. Firstly, finishing the game constitutes just that - beating everything up to and including the endgame missions in normal mode. Anything further is extra - Hard Mode, DoA, Urgoz, and other endgame missions and dungeons. But it's still content included in the game. Personally speaking, I don't think even the "extra" content should be denied to anyone, if it is something they would enjoy playing. This is especially true for those casual gamers who simply may not have the time to dedicate to learning the intricacies of BEing their specific profession. Simply because someone plays GW part time does not mean they do not "deserve" to play and succeed in these areas using only the basic forms of tactics and strategies taught by playing through the game.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sab
Secondly, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from finishing those zones without Ursan, except your own laziness. I've listed the ways to get around class discrimination already, and I've used exactly that to beat just about everything there is to beat in PvE with my Mesmer (and without resorting to Ursan). As I have - with a character of each prime and never having to change secondary or use UB myself. As I said before (either here, or in another thread) most of the time I forget that a particular character I am playing has the skill unlocked. When I run into trouble, I simply analyze what I did wrong and head back to try different tactics. About 90-95% of the time, I succeed on one or more following runs without ever having to change one skill.

Hanok Odbrook

FlamingMetroid

FlamingMetroid

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2007

standing on your last control point, while the rest of your team is to busy killing mine

The Luminaries [Lumi]

A/

IMHO if Ursan existed in rl, we could all be athlete-celebrity-geniuses in no time at all, which isn't fair to the people who dedicated time to learning something or were just born good at it. I'm siding with Sab on this one, just because I want everything in rl and that's what would make me happy doesn't mean I deserve it. Ursan takes away much if not ALL of the challenge of certain areas and the fact that someone whose been playing 4-6 months can put this on their bar and mash 3 buttons in no particular order, can be as good as someone whose been playing since release isn't fair at all.

cellardweller

cellardweller

Likes naked dance offs

Join Date: Aug 2005

The Older Gamers [TOG]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook
Except to buy it from someone who has gotten the reward. Perhaps you missed this point I have made on more than one occasion. The status of the reward is moot if it can be bought by someone who didn't earn it. At least, with the Ursanway teams, they are actually going into the area. Price check on Mallyx statues and LV titles pls