Curse

Sanji · Jun 30, 2005, 07:04 AM // 07:04

It's no secret, with the current state of Guild Wars, it's pretty painful to be a completionist.

Because of that, I'm looking for people's opinions on what unlockable content has a high priority and stuff that aren't really worth worrying about.

Now, some people aren't keen on being frugal, that's fine. However, I figured this could develop into a good resouce for people who might not be able to make the informed choice in how they invest their hard earned points.

Of course, this breaks down to opinions, so if you wish to name a Skill/Rune/Component you specifically think someone should get or avoid, explain why or why not should you disagree with someone.

ICURADik · Jun 30, 2005, 03:49 PM // 15:49

Superior Runes: Weapon Skills, Expertise, Divine Favor, Earth/Air. That's about it. Superior runes don't add a signifigant amount to Mesmers or Necros, and both these classes generally make better secondaries than primaries so you generally won't be able to use a rune anway.

Weapons, IMO every character that can, should use a Zealous upgrade. Especially energy strapped warriors. Attacking once every 3 seconds cancels out the negative degen portion the upgrade. Most sword/axe users are generally attacking almost once a second so in reality you have 3-4 bars of energy regen. For Bow users Vampiric is also nice with Dual shot and Kindle/Ignite Arrows. Hammer users might want a Furious Haft to help with the ever present adrenaline problems Hammer users have.

For Staves, Insightful of Warding will help most casters greatly. For the Elementalist who doesn't need as much mana, Defensive of Enchanting works great with the Elemental Attunements.

Skills... There are far too many to say which are necessary. Honestly, I would never spend my PvP rewards points on skills. They are far to easy to recieve in PvE.

Sanji · Jun 30, 2005, 09:38 PM // 21:38

Thank you for the response.

Yeah, I have to agree with you on skills. They seems like a pretty raw deal, even for the Elite Skills that are all the way in Hell's Precipice.

You really think Mesmer doesn't have anything to offer, Superior Rune-wise? I ask this because I'm missing Superior Domination and Fast Casting. While I doubt I'd blow -75 Health for Fast Casting, I've not been decisively convinced either way regarding Domination.

I haven't dabbled much in necro, but I've heard of the benefit of using it as a secondary due to Soul Reaping's rather poor reputation in PvP.

Superior Hammer Mastery definately is on my shopping list, as is Hammer Upgrades. I'll have to look into a Furious Haft.

What is about Earth that makes it good for Superior? Wards or does the damage scale up as well?

Cymmina · Jun 30, 2005, 10:29 PM // 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by ICURADik

Superior runes don't add a signifigant amount to Mesmers or Necros, and both these classes generally make better secondaries than primaries so you generally won't be able to use a rune anway.

My Me/N is going to have to disagree here. Investing in a superior (non-vigor) rune for necros and mesmers (or any character) allow them to be a little more diverse in their skill selection. For instance, going to only 10 in an attribute and adding a superior rune on top of that saves a significant number of attribute points that can be spent to make skills in other attributes more useful. There's more than just 12/12 for attribute distribution.

For PvP, I would recommend superior domination for mesmer runes. There are so many skills, it's hard to say which ones you *should* take. I will say that Guilt/Shame aren't the best choices for PvP.

Fiery/Icy/Shocking weapon upgrades should be unlocked if you want to use the Conjure [Element] skills.

Ensign · Jun 30, 2005, 11:02 PM // 23:02

A lot of key upgrades (zealous, elemental parts, minor runes) are fairly easy to unlock through PvE. The most important unlocks are those things that are both critical and hard to find.

Roughly in order:

Vitally important and difficult to unlock:

20% Enchanting Staff Wrapping
Vampiric Bow String (+5)
Vampiric Hammer Haft (+5)
Furious Hammer Haft (+10%)
Superior Vigor
Superior Absorption
Superior Swordsmanship
Superior Axe Mastery
Superior Hammer Mastery
Superior Expertise
Superior Fire Magic
Superior Air Magic
Superior Earth Magic
Superior Water Magic

Vitally important, but relatively easy to unlock:

Zealous Sword Hilt
Zealous Axe Haft
Zealous Bow String
Elemental Hilts/Hafts/Strings (all)
Defensive/of Defense weapon upgrades (all)
Minor runes (all)

Useful but non-critical, harder to unlock:

Insightful Staff Head (+5)
Vampiric Sword Hilt (+3)
Vampiric Axe Haft (+3)
Enchanting Sword/Axe/Hammer/Bow upgrades (20%)
Fortitude upgrades (+30)
Superior Marksmanship
Superior Divine Favor
Superior Healing
Superior Smiting
Superior Death Magic
Superior Domination
Superior Inspiration
Superior Energy Storage

Obscure stuff that's marginally useful, but still a pain to unlock:

Sundering weapon upgrades (20%)
Of Mastery upgrades (20%)
Superior Strength
Superior Tactics
Superior Survival
Superior Beastmastery
Superior Protection
Superior Soul Reaping
Superior Curses
Superior Blood Magic
Superior Fast Casting
Superior Illusion

Of course this is just a loose list, if you need something from a lower list for a build (say, superior Blood for an Order spammer or Superior Beastmastery for a spirit Ranger) go ahead and grab it. I personally would not bother unlocking skills until everything even remotely interesting was unlocked.

Peace,
-CxE

Rieselle · Jul 01, 2005, 03:50 AM // 03:50

I might be wrong, but it might be a good idea to only unlock the things you need as you need them, and hoard your faction.

If prices are going to move, it seems like they are more likely to go down than up, so spend wisely