Scleameth

aww - I missed out. I was online to just about 00:00 GMT, but I was really tired and know that once you get stuck in WvW time just flies by and another 2 hrs was probably on the table... I chose to get some precious sleep!

yeah GMT is what I meant. Just a little late-ish, but there's always a chance I'd be up.

oooo - what time GST? Perhaps I can join?

Oh, just one more thing to add... My personal story lead me into territory waaay of the beaten path at around level 40-ish if I remember correctly. Well as a result, I thought to myself that I'd get there when I get there, because I had to tread some dangerous paths in order to reach it. What I'm basically trying to say here is: by all means ask for assistance if you're at the correct level for your personal story. If you let your level surpass the required level for the personal story, the rewards you get might not be anything special, but if you do it at the required level the rewards are actually useful. Personally I found that playing the game at any level on any map is just as enjoyable, if not more (looking at Orr), than playing high level zones. I mean I'm not in it for the xp anymore...

I could make it tomorrow, but it seems we need a 5th?

Wow congratz!

You can buy fireworks there whenever you feel like it!

Yes, when you gather or kill, it will pop up on the bottom right, but you can also access via your hero screen ("H") on the left there are a few tabs (2nd from bottom IIRC). there are all kinds of achievements that you can view there.

Just to add to the hearts - they lead you around most of the time into events. So complete the event first and then return with what you were doing with the heart. Stick around after events, since many of them continue on with a new event. If there is a "group boss" around, go check it out and don't shy away because you think you might be too low level - lots of times there are people around engaging the boss already and they always help to res if you're downed. Or even use map chat to ask if anyone wants to help with the boss. I fought numerous bosses either by asking for help or reacting to other people asking for help. It might be worth your while to complete one or two maps 100% early on and you get a good reward. If it was not for the transmutation stones I got from these completions, I dunno what kind of weird combo armor I'd be wearing now!

I'm easy with any upgrade really, but I suppose that an additional 100 guild bank slots would be a little overkill at this stage. But between Guild bank and buffs, because it does not look as if any of the other routes would offer much of a muchness? How long do these buff banners remain available? If there are buffs that last 24Hrs and I tag it on hour 23 after it's been pegged down, do I only get 1Hr's worth of buff or does it last 24Hrs but the banner disappears after the 24Hrs expire?

voted buffs.

A tentative yes from me... I will have a more complete picture of our weekend's plans later in the week.

Thanks again to everyone for patiently hanging around! It just seemed that the trip to the doctor's/hospital was never gonna reach a conclusion! 15 mins wait here, move over to the next cubicle, wait another 15 mins. X-rays, wait another 15 mins, then get the shots done and wait 30 mins. It just adds to frustration! But thinking back, it was actually a rather nice dungeon run! A few laughs when I got mobbed by some knock down effects - basically spent the whole time on my back until dead without getting even one standard hit in... The chest drops could have been better IMO.

X-rays now... And everyone is working in slow motion today it seems... I'm 15 mins' drive away so looks like I'll be at least 30mins late. Real sorry everyone.

Would you believe I'm at the hospital at the moment with my lil boy... He was coughing all night and having some issues breathing. Nothing serious I'm sure, but I'm not sure I'll be home on time. I hope to be home in time but it does look like ill be 15-30 mins late, but if there's anyone else that wants to take my place you're more than welcome

Heh, well I'm playing Sacred 2 on PS3 so legendaries is not really on the cards but I'm just wondering how the heck the guys in the video link in my previous post got these items during the beta weekends? Unless they had a whole lot of help from other players...

no promises, but perhaps I'll see you online tonight. the WvW refresh is perhaps just a little late for me. I actually only realized today that WvW counts toward 100% explorer and I was kind of sad, since I don't get to venture around WvW too much without being ganged up on just outside our gates! I did some research today about what it takes to get Twilight and realized that I just might need to play forever to get all the items required at the rate I'm going at the moment Oh well, short term goal is to get my guild armor, then crafting. In between I'm trying to update my character's outfit, since I think I've been running around with my current look since level 50! (at least it feels that way!) I've got some new pants, but it does not suit my chest piece that well... and I don't like chainmail or spikes... really limiting for heavy armor guys.

I'm with you there... I had a horrid time this morning, dying about 5 times just because I got all mixed up with the buttons I pressed and the outcome I saw on the screen. I spent so much time looking at the skills to make sure I'm doing the right things that I could not keep up with the pace of the battle... I suppose I'll get used to it completely but pls don't do that again soon! @Lujate: I'm so sorry about the mesmer! Last thing anyone wants to see is "increase recharge" let alone on 4 skills.

Wow, that's something that hasn't crossed my mind to be honest. I always just took for granted that the guardian would be viewed as some sort of tanky profession with heavy armor and such, but... looking at the base stats that this build tool provides, it certainly confirms that the guardian, thief and elementalist all have the lowest hp with warrior and necromancer leading the race. The listed build tool is actually my favourite, because you can check which conditions, boons, controls and combos apply with your selection. It also shows you the reduction in timers or duration addition gained with traits. I've just not been able to save the links successfully...

My first ever guide, so it might not be profound or anything that's not already created by countless others. This is more a guide about my general play style and because I'm soloing about 90% of the time, I find that this is about the best approach. I've read and watched a number of guardian builds, but gained mostly tips from them rather than following someone else's build to the tee. This build is mainly for PvE, but I don't need to reset my traits for WvW or dungeons. Weapons, Skills, Traits About the Guardian: The Guardian is not best suited for burst damage or ranged damage, so getting close and staying close is my #1 option. Once you're close, the guardian has some good Area of Effect skills and due to some good toughness he's able to stand and deliver against mobs of 3 or more with some comfort. I've tried my hand at the "group event" champions/elites and found that those are labled "group" for good reason, so although the guardian is tough, he's not indestructible. In general, facing a veteran mob is not a problem so feel free to rush in and let the blood flow. Getting close and staying close: The greatsword is ideally suited for this and offers 3 combo finishers as well as 1 combo field. A DIY combo weapon, great for soloing. 1v1/more CC mob: Symbol of wrath (combo field + burning + retalion) Binding Blade (DoT + combo finisher - cleansing bolts) Leap of faith (Blind + combo finisher - retaliation) 1v2/more CC/ranged mob: Binding Blade (DoT + pull them all toward you) Symbol of wrath (combo field + burning + retalion) Whirling wrath (Area of Effect + combo finisher: cleansing bolts) Leap of faith (Blind + combo finisher: retaliation) <-- due to traits, my Symbol of wrath lasts long enough to pull this one off right after Whirling Wrath ends = 2X combo! Leap of faith is also a great initiator, although it does not have the greatest range. The blind it offers is enough to get some good damage done before the enemy comes to his senses. So you're close and now how to avoid damage: 1. Virtue of courage (Guardian Virtue) - this activates every 40 seconds and grants Aegis, which remains until you take a hit. 1 free round of zero damage. If you take your first hit you can activate Virtue of courage for another reload of aegis which makes 2 free rounds of zero damage. 2. Leap of faith (Greatsword) - places a blind condition on the enemy which makes him miss, it's short duration but 1 free round of zero damage and aegis is still up if you initiated with Leap of Faith. 3. Shield of wrath (Focus) - although this has a long cooldown, it's a nice shield which can take 3 hits. 4. Ray of Judgement (Focus) - add another blind, enemy missed with another free hit and add Smite (Scepter) for a bit of Area of Effect. 5. Traited Virtue of Justice blinds nearby foes! 1 more zero damage hit. 6. Renewed focus - recharges all virtues + invulnerability/block for 3 seconds. So here we have 9 instances where the enemy swings and misses and if used right against a 1v1 or 1v2 situation, you walk away with zero damage. And if you used Renewed Focus then Virtue of Courage and Virtue of Justice are recharged! This gives you 1 more block and 1 more blind! Total: 11 blocks and blinds (no damage!) If you equip the mace, it can add one more block! Now that's a whole lot of fighting without taking any damage! What's the use of skills and traits? Well you're going to run into trouble more often than not. You're going to need your heal and every bit of additional damage you can put out. Skills: Signet of resolve. This is the strongest heal for the Guardian and has a passive which removes one condition every 10 seconds. Traited, the cooldown is reduced from 40 seconds to 32 seconds. Because time feels like an eternity when your heal is on cooldown, that 8 seconds makes a huge difference! Purging flames. Has a rather good Area of Effect ring of fire and acts as a combo field which grants burning blades for your great sword's Whirling Wrath and Binding Blades as well as Fire shield for the Leap of Faith. Signet of judgement. The passive reduces incoming damage and active grants retaliation which sends damage right back to it's source! Traited, cooldown is reduced from 20 seconds to 18 seconds (woopy I know... really not much to rave about, but it's a rather short cooldown and up and running before you know it). Renewed focus (Elite skill). Invulnarable for 3 seconds and recharges all virtues. This has a rather long cooldown, but I use it to shave an additional 3 seconds off when waiting for my heal to recharge Last but not least, spirit weapons. I prefer Hammer of wisdom most of the time, because it has a knockdown. Sometimes this can be a bit of an annoying element, since close and personal is what you want, the hammer smacks your foe right out of your CC area. So pay close attention when your hammer starts swinging (the third swing is the one that knocks back your opponent) and act accordingly. Or wait for the mob to start his critical swing and "command" the hammer to interrupt and knock down. Sword of Justice is nice for extra damage (a long thin blue floating pet), which I use mostly under water. Shield of the avenger is nice against ranged enemies, but normally I'm in the fight before I notice how nice it would have been to have the shield around just about now... I don't use Bow of truth (yet). I list spirit weapons last because it fits into the next section, Traits, where I get dooldown reduction and longer duration. Traits: Zeal - 10 points Create symbol of wrath when your health dips below 25% - free damage and combo field! In other words don't use heal when you're above 25%. Spirit weapons recharge 20% faster. Radiance - 10 points Blind nearby foes when activating Virtue of Justice. Signets recharge 20% faster (mainly for the heal). Valor - 20 points +200 toughness. Gain Aegis when your health dips below 50% (Another free block!) Virtue of Courage is recharged when you rally. Not ideal to be downed, but it happens... a lot. so getting 1 free block when you get up is real nice. 100% chance to burn foes when you block - real nice because since you're going to be blocking a lot, you'll be burning foes a lot! Honor - 20 points +200 health. Aegis heals on removal (now since you block with Aegis about 3 or 4 times in a good fight, you also get 3 or 4 heals for free! Not a ton of healing, but every little bit helps! 2 Handed weapon skills recharge 20% faster which is a good thing for great swords! Virtues - 10 points (I wish I could add more here, because of the cooldown to vitues and duration of boons.) Virtues grant boons. Spirit weapons last 50% longer. I mostly equip items and armor that add power and toughness, but precision and condition damage modifiers are also nice and I try and get these on about 30% of items. Recently I've come to appreciate modifiers to healing... but my play style is more about avoiding damage than healing so only about 5% on the healing modifier. My ideal split: Power - 30% Toughness - 30% Precision - 20% Condition Damage - 10% Healing - 5% Others (like magic find) - 5% So there you have it. The problem with playing this type of Guardian too long is that whenever I play any other class, I mostly forget to dodge or a least try and avoid damage! The heals for other classes are also not as impressive as I found with the Guardian who can heal for about 3/4 health. EDIT: My current gear stats (using Flooxim's Gear tool)

I'm in!

Nope, no lag issues at all. I only once had a bit of lag and it turned out about a 20 second delay in any world action vs what my character was doing on screen. I had to adjust my 3G antenna and that was the end of my woes. Frame rate is a big problem for me, although I've found a happy medium now albeit at the cost of a little higher GPU temp. But first of all I'd turn of all shadows and turn reflections to sky and water only or just turn it off. That should increase your frame rate by about 4-5 fps. I've found playing at just over 20fps is fine, but when it gets to WvW or many players on screen during biss fights, I just turn gfx to lowest default settings. Even then my fps can get rather bad... I had a WvW garrison take over fight the other night at about 3fps. Not ideal at all.

It's my son's birthday that day, so there will be family in and out the house all day... I'll only be able to make it if we could have it later - after the kids are asleep already. About 7/8pm GMT? Or I'll have to skip this one and fall into the next run. But let's wait and see if Zorbi could join then there would be 5 without me.

Thanks for not minding the time change everyone!

If 2hrs earlier is too early, then how about moving it 3hrs later? By that time the kids would be asleep, but I'd be instructed by the "holder of the slipper" to keep it quiet so I won't be talking on C3...