Shadow Form meets the end

The question is how toned down to these areas need to be made? NM Dhumm can already be done with two players + 6 henchmen in about two hours, and the builds can only get tighter as time goes by (future skill balances unaccounted for, of course). And they can do it without SF, for that matter.

Also, allowing "newcomers" to get through elite areas also sounds a little.... off to me, personally. By the time you're attempting these areas you should at least have some grasp on what's skills are good for what situations.

edit: But, yeah, I agree with what you said about items. I don't see why getting rare skins and difficult titles is seen as so necessary, but apparently they are to some. I can understand wanting something, but getting upset if your favorite (or the best) method of working towards them is nerfed because it'll take you longer (or, even crazier, being upset because a skill allows people to earn these items faster, making your own worth less)..... I don't know.

Go to ToA, what groups are forming? There is RARELY a UW grp that gets far without a perma SF.

Only wandering into an already-cast AoE, touch skills, environmental effects, and some dervish-type enchants go through SF. You have nearly full immunity to spells and attacks. Depending on what area of the game, I'd say that's 90-95% of ALL damage right there, and if done properly it can be maintained indefinitely. Now why the hell would you take a warrior tank that can't really do damage and doesnt have nearly the same kind of skill as that? Dont forget, perma's can tank AND put out damage.


And guess what? You're wrong, because Anet admits it and has a total functionality change planned. My only complaint is that they're JUST now doing something about it. As if people being able to farm 200 ecto in less than a week (trust me, I did this) back in the summer of '08 didn't set alarms off. All along all they've done is make the whole UW more difficult when in reality all it required was this change.

EDIT: Yes, they did nerf SF after the mindblade incident and change the plains, but the fact remains that they allowed such an OP'd skill effect to remain in tact is beyond me. Hell, I want prot bond back if you think SF isn't godmode.

sf is not godmode

Just because someone can farm 200 ectos in less than a week back in the summer of '08 does not make it godmode.

On the subject of PvE assassins being weak in non-SF PvE: this is untrue.

Let me describe the bar.

12+1+1 Critical Strikes
12 Dagger Mastery

Golden Phoenix Strike
Death Blossom
Moebius Strike
Optional
Optional
Optional
Critical Agility
Critical Defenses

It has a constant buff of +33% IAS, has a total of 94 armour at max Sunspear (this is nearly the equal of a Warrior with Sentinel insignia, except the Assassin has room to throw on Survivor insignia instead), 75% chance to block (which, if maintained, is constant). Already you have one of the most survivable frontline builds.

Only three slots are needed for the ridiculous damage of MS/DB chains.

You then have three slots left for whatever you want, two of which can be PvE skills. This means you could bring support for the party like Vanguard wards or SY, you can bring Dash for regular movement speed boost, you can bring Pain Inverter or similar utility, you could lengthen the attack chain by one and get a more steady, less risky chain, etc. You could bring cover enchantments, condition removal, whatever.

Without shadow form, the Assassin remains the ideal front line damage dealer, with both the highest damage and the best survival.

Or, for those who like the scythe:

Critical Strikes 12+1+1
Scythe Mastery 12

Critical Agility
Critical Eye
Way of the Master
Aura of Holy Might
Asuran Scan
Malicious Strike
Optional
Optional

There is one critical issue you failed to address which makes your whole argument void:

PUG People who only ever experienced assassins as either dirt-naping narutos or SF tanks and would rather take elementalist as hm damage dealer.

And that matters why?
I think the fact some is trying to party with such n00bs is a whole bigger problem in the first place.


Trolling ain't cool. Don't do it.

Leave them in their ignorance. PUGs were always stupid, no need to care about it now. They'll either evolve or die. Probably the latter.

Because it means that any proof of assassins being actually sturdy, powerful and usefull PvE damage dealers does not make it through once people start QQing after SF nerf happens.

Warriors have shields also.

/12characters

i think they should keep sf blocking spells and just let attacks go threw it that would make it not as powerful but still a pretty good skill, however this might be to similar to sb idk

Agree here, there are a number of areas in the game that many players have never experienced, that is bad game design. Now we have two modes there is no reason why every player cannot experience the whole game.

Yeah, it's more like "noob mode". Seriously, any game mode that gives a player invincibility is god mode, so while it's a nice catch phrase you are trying to foster, it simply isn't true.

change shadow form? cool
change prot spirit? neato
change discords? sure
change obby flesh? go for it

a new farm will arise.. oh, just you wait.. and I'm dying to abuse it

As long as you kill him before he hits you he can do as much damage per hit as he wants! Such a gimmick!
As long as you run in the other direction so he can't hit you... WHAT A GIMMICK!
Monk uses Word of Healing on half-dead player! GIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIICK.

Warriors do big damage in Guild Wars, and Aatxes are level 29 Warriors. If that's a gimmick, then the entire game is. And, if the entire game is a gimmick, then nobody who praises any aspect of it has any place to complain about any specific aspect being as such.

As an aside, the marketing strategy for GW was, by definition, a major gimmick.

You just don't take the effort to troll anymore, really.

Name me one game where they allow you to be permanently invincible to 90-95% of skills, all attacks and any spell.

edIT EDIT! Online game.

Name me one reason why everyone feels the compunction to keep cross referencing GW to the other games? If I cared about what other games did, I would be playing those games. Again, if this broken build was wreaking havoc in PvP, then it would be a no brainer. This is PvE for crying out loud. Where your opponents are digital manifestations, not real people. No matter how you cut it, this is about people wanting to maintain the status of vanity items which aren't even real. If people are really that petty, then some self examinations of their real lives are in order. The beauty of it is that I've seen a lot of responses saying that, while it should be nerfed, people still had no qualms about abusing it in the mean time. Talk about hypocrisy! Power gaming in and of itself is not bad. Most people who power game have already beaten the game the "good old fashioned" way. Some people just look for ways to have a different kind of fun. This right here is how I envision all you purists.

Because a few of those "other games" are able to be successful and praised without dumbing down the entirety of the game to the lowest denominator.

Try again, sir.

QFT: This isn't about purists and people who like things the way they are, they just love their e-peen. " I want the most ecto, and I want the most value for my stuff and I don't want anyone else to be nearly as rich as I am." SF really narrowed the gap between powertraders/farmers, and guess who doesn't like the one group getting close to their own? Face it there's 3 things left to do in this game: grind titles, farm, or powertrade. And some people use #2 to supply #1, and nerfing SF cuts off the funding to finish off some "money-sink" titles, thus leaving the only option left to do in GW is powertrade, and I'll be damned if I have to spend even one second powertrading an item in kamadan, and I'm sure many people have that same idea in mind.

The funny thing is...in many other MMORPG or just plain Online RPG, with enough grinding to max level and all the uber gears, its possible to get to the point where everything barely scratches...

So if you compare SF to those games...

For 5...18 seconds, all hostile spells that target you deals 1 damage and all attacks against you also deal 1 damage.

LOL.