The big news for SWTOR this week was the 2nd round of layoffs at BioWare and the exit of Executive Producer Rich Vogel.
I break down what’s happened to SWTOR from a business perspective and the gamer’s perspective since the game launched.
Was story truly the 4th pillar? Did BioWare over-develop storyline class quest and leveling content to the point of neglecting endgame content? Was the game launched too early?
We have a winner! Mesmer is the class that the most people want to see me play in GW2 BWE3, per the informal Twitter poll I ran over the weekend:
http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai1ixFtN01H8dGQ0YkNCLW5ZVjlpVktGLTdfV0pvcXc#gid=0
I looked at the Mesmer talent calculator to theorycraft about the key mechanics and their implications, especially in PVP. If you’ve played Mesmer, I’d love to hear your opinions on the class and your perspective on the balance challenges that I talked about.
UPDATE (2012/07/17): People have been asking about my target Mesmer spec, so here’s my initial take:
This is an illusion-based spec where the emphasis is on Phantasm damage and three buffs that scale with # of illusions. I haven’t used Portal Entre so I have no idea how good it is.
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If you liked the Dubstep track, check out Jakk’s channel and tell him Taugrim sent you:
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This video contains 1v1 fights between the following classes in Guild Wars 2:
There are a couple key takeaways:
In the video I am spec’d with my “Run and Gun” Warrior build.
For the next Beta weekend (July 20-22), I’m going to let you folks decide which class out of the following I’m going to try next: Engineer, Mesmer, Necromancer, Ranger, Thief. The current vote tally is here.
To vote, post a comment below or Tweet your vote to me. You can vote in both places, in which case your vote will count double.
For more Guild Wars 2 content, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Twitter.
Twitter: @taugrim
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If you liked the Dubstep track, check out Jakk’s channel and tell him Taugrim sent you:
http://soundcloud.com/jakk
This video features intense 2v2 fighting between the following comps in Guild Wars 2:
1. Warrior/Guardian vs Elementalist/Warrior
2. Warrior/Guardian vs Warrior/Guardian
The footage showcases the criticality of strafing, rotating CCs, and support to extend a player’s time-to-live under sustained focus fire.
In the video I am spec’d with my “Run and Gun” Warrior build.
For more Guild Wars 2 content, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Twitter.
Twitter: @taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtv
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
If you liked the Dubstep track, check out Jakk’s channel and tell him Taugrim sent you:
http://soundcloud.com/jakk
I try out a Guardian build that focuses on Meditations / Signets. This build provides multiple sources for sustained healing, superb mitigation against direct damage with 1950 toughness, good condition removal, two ranged gap closers, ranged attacks, and solid sustained damage.
Five of the seven traits selected for this build improve the usage of Signets and Meditations.
Note that I have revised the weapon pairings after the video based on feedback and subsequent testing.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUAQRAsd7elYgSDHHSJEm4Eh1DCaQ/hVgjXPgYEbIA;T4AA1CnoqxUjoGbNuak1swYgxBjtIPMmiA
Amulet + Jewel: Soldier’s + Berserker’s: 923 power | 569 toughness | 514 vitality | 75 precision | 5% critical damage
Runes: 6 x Rune of Divinity
Sigils
Let me know your questions and feedback, and please share your tips and builds!
EDIT (2012/07/08): been getting some great feedback from other Guardian players. For the next Beta event I’m planning on testing the following changes:
a. switching the offhands to Sword/Focus and Sceptre/Shield
b. replacing Runes of the Forge with Divinity. This build is already pretty tanky so this change will help it pack more punch
c. replacing Pure of Heart (which I now know heals for 655 on Aegis removal) to Resolute Healer, which creates a Shield of Absorption when reviving
If you didn’t catch the announcement in last week’s GuildCast (see 31:06), a new GAMEBREAKER show is debuting in July. The show is called BuildCast and will focus on PVP theorycrafting, build analysis, and gameplay. Matthew Sorg (@tamgros) and I will be co-hosting :)
For more Guild Wars 2 content, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Twitter.
Twitter: @taugrim
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