[GW2] The Ultimate Grind: Making a Legendary

A little while ago, I made the decision to work towards a Legendary. When I initially started playing Guild Wars 2, I didn't care much for the flashy weapons and the incessant grind that came with them. However, about three months ago, I became infatuated with the feminine blossoming bow, Kudzu. I didn't really know where to begin, but I expressed my interest, or fantasy rather, to my guild. and casually started collecting things (Obsidian Shards here and there, being more vigilant with my dailies, saving my globs, so on so forth). I made a list of every component and how much I needed, and went along my way. I wanted to make this little post to document how I took my first steps towards making this longbow, and where I currently stand in this process.

I read somewhere that it was best to start with my Mystic Clovers, as a guildmate sent me all the components for the Gift of Wood as a gift, and I already had purchased my Bloodstone and Sigil of Conjuration, and I finished World Complete months and months ago. I poured all the karma I had into Obsidian Shards and every time Balthazar was open and I had enough Karma, I would buy more and more, making sure to put some aside in order to make my Gift of Mastery. I followed the 10 Clover recipe, and although it was hard to throw in ten globs at a time, I wielded good results. I initially made my first 30 by myself, until my friend and guildmate (an excellent farmer) offered his globs to me to use. We created a deal where I would borrow his globs and if I received T6 mats, he would get them and have to send me 10 Mystic Coins, and if I got clovers, I got to keep them for myself. In no time (after about three weeks or so), I had 70 Clovers. I dropped down to the 1 Clover recipe for my final seven, and by this time I had already completed a full stack of Obsidian Shards for my Gift of Mastery as well!

After creating my clovers, I started working on my crafting. I purchased my Gift of Wood Recipe (10g) on my Thief and did a fast craft to get her to 400. Having all of the components, I created my Gift of Wood and scratched it off my list. I slowly started working on my Leatherworking as well, and purchased my Gift of Nature recipe (10g) for when I was able to make my Gift of Nature. I started salvaging everything blue and yellow, selling my greens, and being on top of farming as best as I could. 

I started putting globs aside for my Gift of Fortune and got some more help farming things for my Gift of Nature, mainly omnomberries, and started running Twilight Arbor religiously again. Recently, about two weeks ago, I retired from the dungeon having completed it and buying my Gift of Thorns. 

We four-manned my last run! We joked that TA was my boyfriend... and we needed to part ways.

Getting my leather was easy enough, and it was cheap to buy my last like 50 that I needed. A few days ago, I finished getting my thief to Level 400 in Leatherworking, and farmed omnomberries with a guildmate. I popped all my ingredients into my crafting window and produced my Gift of Nature, another item to cross of my list! I've also started making an effort to go into the Obsidian Sanctum too. I'm now only 140 Badges of Honour short of my Gift of Mastery. 

In all honesty, I'm very close to my Legendary. Closer than I was 2.5mo ago. I now have 101 Globs of Ectoplasm and 20 Icy Runestones. What I'm struggling the most with is knowing I need to pour 80 more gold into Icy Runestones and I have no idea how I'm going to get my precursor, Leaf of Kudzu. I've started slowing down a bit, as I've been pouring a lot of gold into making this weapon. However, I do have a lot of thanks to give to my guildmates, as they have been both supportive and helpful of this venture. 

Currently, I'm looking into getting a magic-find set from Crucible of Eternity so I can be a little more efficient with my farming. 

All in all, I think I'm very close to my Legendary. I do have a recommendation to others, though: DO YOUR WORLD COMPLETE FIRST!! I'm working on it for a second time and it is a pain in the butt. Seriously. Save your pennies early and you will not have trouble making a Legendary. <Says the player who spends all her money on useless stuff. :3

Good luck!

[GW2] Becoming a Leader: A Learning Curve

Change is hard for everyone. Back when my few guildmates and I decided enough was enough and we moved to Tarnished Coast, it was a bit of an adjustment for some of us. The players on this side of the mountain were friendly and active, and covered a variety maps, made an effort in WvW and then some, and it was something we hadn't seen in months. However,  this was a needed change, as I expressed in my post a few months ago. The adjustment was big for me, however. 

Dance for Dolyaks 2013! 

During this initial period, I was given rights to the guild; full leadership rights both ingame and in the mumble provided to us. I was excited,  but wary. Back on Darkhaven, I didnt do much leading, although Valkyria was my idea and created under my name, so how exactly how was I supposed to lead a guild that was more goal-orientated and had the same mentality leader prior to me? I expressed my uncertainty multiple times but the core members didn't seem to think the same way. Conscious of these feelings I had, I embarked on a new lesson of leading in game.

Our numbers had dwindled, and after recruiting two of my old gaming friends and a couple of other players, we started working towards goals as a small group. Getting people to eighty, grinding dungeons and fractals, and working towards buying guild missions, which we learned was costly and time consuming. We pugged frequently, often short numbers or people with high enough levels, and I didn't do much leading. Sure, I made executive decisions when we didn't know what to do, but I wouldn't call that the entire definition of leading at all. And Miraza, I know you'll be reading this and that you'll disagree :), but nonetheless. We continued on like this for a couple of weeks before two things happened: I encountered a problem player among us, and we unlocked guild bounties. I'll start with the ladder.  

As we built bounties, I studied them. I wrote out a master list of names and what maps for easy reference, I tried to understand mechanics, and I tried to know every path. When we were finally ready for bounties, I was initially lax. I didn't stop side chatter in mumble and we were always short on time,  so we ultimately failed a few, even with two experienced returning players and our arsenal of core players. Our communication was weak, and our coordination suffered. Tired of constant failures, and frustrated,  I constantly said how I was sure we were capable of this. We had tackled Arah before, I knew we could make this work. And then, what did Anet do? Bounty training missions. One target in fifteen minutes, 3000infl reward.

We queued up a handful.

After evaluating our previous strategies amd listening to my officers, I put my boot down. No more chatter. Either you're calling locations for bounties or you're not talking at all. You were to listen for battle strategies while in fights, and you were taking this as seriously as Tybalt takes his apple cider. We made a day with eleven of us and tackled a few training missions, all successes, before I asked if everyone wanted to tackle a real bounty. No one said no. So we popped a bounty tier 1.

Our first target was Poobadoo, arguably the easiest bounty.  A heavy hitting quaggan with a small path in Kessex hills. We found and burnt him down with nine minutes on our clock, and we raced off to Timberline falls for 2MULT, a new bounty golem with a scary mechanic. Thankfully,  I spawned on top of him. I pinged my location and everyone arrived, excited.  We could do this! We started the fight and struggled at first, but upon getting the mechanic with the sparks down... we burnt him down! We succeeded, and with two minutes to spare. I congratulated everyone, stressing how integral the communication we just showcased played a massive part in this win. We took success screenshots, and went on our way. Since then, bounties always yield successes rather than fails (unless we're just going for rewards to catch others up) and we understand what it means to communicate efficiently and effectively.

I was on my laptop at the time, but Mimee sent some screenshots my way! Our first victory!

Now, back to the former. While we learned what effective communication meant and how to use it, we struggled with a player with a... I-know-more-than-you mentality in our roster. Initially we felt this player was great. They were friendly and listened... until they got comfortable with us. Our core is close, but not too close as to alienate others. We include others and are always friendly, but we also like to pick on each other verbally, though always in a joking way; I see us as a family, and I hope the others do, too. 

While running with this player, he would make jabs like the rest of us, which is great! It's welcomed, it shows us you're comfortable with us, and as long as it's playful, there's no foul. Sometimes, the guys pick on me, but that's fine because I'm sassy back, so no harm... However, I started to feel that some of these jokes from this particular player were a little mean. Often I can take a hit; I'm pretty resilient or will roll my eyes or something. Usually. Though, when these jokes from this player were said, I often felt a little cornered. I raised my concerns with Miraza and an officer, but stressed that maybe I was being a little too sensitive. 

It wasn't until the Super Adventure Box came around that my officer noticed this behaviour too, and asked me about it. I explained that I wasn't sure why there was a different tone of voice being used with me. Long story short, my officer spoke to the player and then they spoke to me, and apologized. We left that at that, and the relationship seemed better again after we had talked it out. I felt initially if I had spoke to them first, it would be confrontational. Moving on, however, we started bringing this player and their new character into dungeons with us, after they had made it to 80. Being able to relate, as they were playing a condition-spec engineer, I tried to offer advice where I could. 

This is when we started to have a bulk of our issues. Countless times we explained that their spec should have them standing at mid/long range, as their max was 1500r with their spec, but they always preferred melee-range, which resulted in a lot of downs and deaths, and often frustration on our part. There was a lack of miscommunication, and it resulted in longer runs, more repair bills, and higher frustrations.

My officers and I were starting to lose our patience, so one day, I took it into my hands to research another build that might be more viable for their particular playstyle. Maybe Power/Toughness/Vitality, Tool kit and Rifle or Pistol/Shield with some elixirs and the bomb kit that would let them get into that melee range they enjoyed staying in. I brought this up in mumble to them, explaining I had looked it up and thought it would work really well. When I explained it all, excited to hear if they wanted to try it out, they responded that they liked their spec, and they liked being in melee range. I explained that although they had loads of toughness, they were still prone to taking heavy hits and going down pretty fast. Response? They liked dying!

Now frustrated, I explained that it really bogs down a party. They said we didn't have to bring them with us if we didn't want to. Anyway, this went on for a few more minutes before they got frustrated, and we decided to just let it go. However, after this conversation, this player became even more difficult, refusing to take part in bounties or events with us, and eventually left because they felt that they were left out and that I had targeted them. 

Were there things I could have done differently and better? Absolutely, I'm willing to admit that. I could have made that conversation a lot more private than it was (two idle people in the channel who added nothing to the conversation until the end, when voices were starting to rise) Did I have to research other builds? No, but I did want them to understand what constructive criticism was. 

These two things, bounties and this player, have taught me a lot in a short span of time... Since then, we've gained several active members, we've opened our own mumble for just guild members, we've unlocked Treks, and I've become more willing to raise my voice and... actually lead. I make sure there are items on players that are helpful, skills we might be need, organize parties for large events, and make sure everyone is up to speed. I'm more willing to have an open door to others, and be firm when I have to be. I don't know if this is earning me respect or if our newer players see me as an appropriate leader, but if there's anything I've learned, is that there's always more to learn and there's always ways to improve. 

I wouldn't have been able to do it without help, though. My SiC/officers/core members are all supportive and I know they all step up to the plate when and where necessary. I just hope that as we continue to play this game, and maybe branch out into other games together, I am still capable of being a strong leader, and that I can become even stronger and more knowledgeable. For now, though, I'll continue to move up in this learning curve.

Your Gender Has Nothing To Do With Gaming

So, story time:
Last night, I was playing Guild Wars 2 with three of my guildies; We had just run our Fractal daily and then up to level 13 with some pugs. Afterwards, we were selling things, putting things into the bank and just taking a break in general in an Lion's Arch overflow (our server, Tarnished Coast, is quite busy). I was milling around in the bank, putting some things into my personal storage and our guild storage (we're collecting yellow swords and greatswords for forge food) when someone called out in /say:

"LF innocent girl that has no other sexual partner to compare me to."

At first, I thought nothing of this and just went along what I was doing. Typically when I have something to say, I end up getting a dickish response no matter how nice I'm trying to be, and besides, I had nothing to say to this. Some people were going "Lol" in chat, etc. But then, the person went into /map and started saying:

"LF innocent girl that has no other sexual partner to compare me to."

To which a person responded:

"Are there even any girls online?"

At this point, I simply made a face in chat ("o.o") as well as someone above me! They messaged me quickly and asked if I was indeed a girl. I laughed and responded yeah, and was curious to see where this mapchat was going, but I already had a feeling. The first person that said the "LF innocent girl" goes:

"Girls don't play video games, especially not GW2."

Alright. Normally I just turn off chat at this kind of stuff, usually they're trolls. But I couldn't. I hate this mentality and behaviour more than anything in video game communities, large or small. These couple of people started saying that playing video games lowered our femininity, and it made us less appealing (I think my bf of two years would disagree.) The other girl who had messaged me, Tempest (not full char name), went:

"Yeah, because us girls really don't like video games, and we totally need a big strong man to be in our lives to prove our femininity!"

Some people started chirping that her and I were liars, as we had said that we were indeed girls, and we definitely were playing. Players started saying we should be in bed so we could wake up to make our men sandwiches and breakfast in the morning, or that we should be "trained" to do certain sexual favours for them without being asked (Really?). At this point, my guildies were trying to get me to leave the OF and go somewhere else, but I told them no, I had to duke this one out. Tempest and I became more and more sarcastic and blunt, saying that it was our boyfriends who made us sandwiches (which is true, my bf does make me lunch but that's usually when we're gaming together; well, fancy that GW2 jerks!).

As this started to escalate, and we started to point out that these guys were probably lonely, whiny teenage boys who haven't had a girlfriend yet, or absolutely need the physical contact. My guildmate (and irl friend) started to get involved, backing me up by saying that I was indeed a girl. The first person started saying I probably haven't accomplished anything yet, to which I responded, "I'm a guild leader, and I have two level eighties in full exotics w/ weapons and ascended gear while taking my degree."

Then, it took an ugly turn. The first person said:

"No means yes, and yes means..."

Which resulted in the people who were on this guy's side to turn and go, "too far."

I won't comment. That was where I called them a rapist & a sexist, and hopped off to Caledon to run TA. We brought Tempest along, and we all got along really well. She even admitted to having like, five level 80s. I made a friend out of it, at least. My guildie who had got involved stuck around, and I guess this guy started asking him if I was hot irl. Thankfully, he didn't comment and came to the dungeon shortly after.

What I'm trying to say is:

It's 2013. Why do people still get their panties in a twist about what gender you are? Someone in the above scenario (which lasted well over 20min, that was just the semi tl;dr version!) even said, "What does it matter?  Gender does not define the gamer." AND IT IS TOTALLY TRUE. 

Yes, there are girls out there who make it a thing to pick up guys, or to seek attention. Yes, there are pretty girls who play games. Yes, some of us have boyfriends (or girlfriends, what have you! :) and go to school, and have jobs, and have a life outside of the gaming sphere. 

What happened reminded me of a time I was at work with my best friend, and our coworker at the time asked us what we liked to do in our spare time. We admitted that we enjoyed playing video games, and that we had actually met online through a game and have been close ever since. Her response? "Pretty girls shouldn't be playing video games."

Look, what the hell do you want us to do then? Sit in coffee shops all day? Shop? Sit all prim and proper and do nothing? (This is what her tone conveyed, not saying that this is what non-gamer girls do)

Gender does not:

- Define how good or bad you are at a game. 

- Make you a liar in any way. 
- Tell you what games you can/should play, and can't/shouldn't.

And it happens all the time, too. Not just MMO's like Guild Wars 2, but in MOBAS like LoL and HoN, RTS games like Starcraft 2, FPS games like Halo and L4D2/TF2 (worst experience to date!). Like, really? Are you that mad/threatened that the person who got more kills than you or has more level 80s than you is a girl? 

I went through a phase once where I actually told people I didn't game; I left it out of conversation. I turned my Steam tag into other things, took my gender off profiles, or simply avoided to communicating with team members. Being a girl in gaming communities got so bad that I was being kicked from groups in L4D2 before the game even started because "We don't need a stupid girl on our team." Sorry, are you threatened I might actually be good at that game? (spoiler alert: I am! Story alert: it's how my bf and I bonded before we made it official!) At the end of that phase, I learned: DO NOT HIDE WHO YOU ARE!! Be proud of yourself, and your interests, and stand up for yourself too! 

That's why I didn't leave the overflow yesterday, because I wasn't going to let someone chase me away with kitchen and sex jokes. And sometimes, you might find a friend in the crowd (Like Tempest! Who's the sweetest thing.). Just remember, gender doesn't define the gamer, folks, and neither do assholes who try to make you think that it does.

that felt good to get off my chest.

Tarnished Coast!

So, lately some of my guildmates (as well as myself) have been feeling... lonely. Northern Shiverpeaks became a very quiet server, and their WvWing has been less than acceptable. Not wanting to stand by idly anymore, I asked my guildmates if they were interested in moving, and it turns out, some of them were already considering the move before we had started talking about it. Our guild leader and some of our officers had unfortunately lost interest and other games were more appealing, and we wanted a fresh start on a busier server.

With this in mind, on top of the server issues (NSP has some people who are very elitist, and some of the community is quite rude, if you ask me) and the inactivity we were facing, I rounded up two of my former [VALK] guildies who were going to start playing again, Mininae and Pinkie, and the rest of us on NSP who wanted to see a change (Miraza, Wooly, Talon, Crimson, Becs, Slone and Baba.. Others showed interest but seemed on the fence) and we considered our server options. I named a few, but out of our options, Tarnished Coast stuck out the most. It's the unofficial roleplaying server for Guild Wars 2, it's a tier 2 WvW server, and on the WvW official forums, there was a very comprehensive post that provided infographics about the server population. The only problem was, it's very busy and "Full" most of the time, so getting in can be a little tricky.

After about an hour of waiting, Miraza, Crimson, Baba and I all managed to make a transfer a few nights ago, Talon the day afterwards. We're still waiting on the rest, but so far, Tarnished Coast has been lovely! People are friendly, and there are people on almost every map I've visited so far! Plus, I enjoy watching the roleplayers; it's very inspiring, and it kind of makes me want to try it out as well. :) Wooly brought our move to the attention of our guild leader, who today has moved leadership over to me. I feel fancy, I'm a guild leader of NeX now! Phew, leader of two guilds; originally, those who moved were planning on making a move to [VALK], but which the leadership of NeX being passed onto me, it's nice to know we can continue to represent. Over the next few days, I'm going to clean up the inactivity, and hopefully see if we can get some new players into the guild and make it a community again.

All in all, the move was much needed. I feel rejuvenated, and excited, like I did when I first started during head start! I feel like the updates coming up, too, will be amazing, and will hopefully bring back some players.

Tuesday coming up, DMC comes out, too! I'll be picking that up and giving that a whirl. It'll be my first DMC game, so I can't wait to try the series (even though its a reboot!). I can't wait to talk about my first impression here. Definitely will be updating next week!

My Engineer Build

In this post, I wanted to highlight the build I'm using for my Engineer (PVE spec, but I tend not to change for WvW depending on how my party rolls). Unfortunately, it's still a work in progress because as a non-crafter, I have to find my gear or farm for it... or beg my guildies haha. However, I can at least say that my armour itself is completed... my accessories, on the other hand, definitely need some work. 

Overview shot of my Engineer's Hero screen. For anyone's curiosity, the dyes I'm using are Celestial, Abyss, and Icing.

 When I realized how much I actually enjoyed the Grenade kit, I started to use it more frequently. Originally, I thought that a Power build might be better, until I realized how much DOT (damage over time) I could do with my conditions, and how I would be more helpful in party situations. When I asked for suggestions, my guildmates suggested Twilight Arbour, and I did not disagree.

My full stack of TA armour, and my transmuted helmet because the headpiece for TA is  ugly and I'm a very aesthetic player. 

Although I didn't realize it at first, I feel like the TA set (or any Precision/Toughness/Condition DMG armour set) is crucial for this kind of build, especially if you feel like there is a slack to pick up for due to the last update the Engineer's dealt with. I find that players who complain about this change the most, however, are people who don't have 30 traits into the Grenadier line (more on my traits after). To pick up some of the slack from the update, my guildmate helped me pick out some pistols and runes that, after using them, have really helped. 

They were originally "Dragonshot" pistols, but I transmuted them  to Lionguard skins until I find another skin I like more.

 On my main hand, I have the Superior Sigil of Earth, which has a 60% chance to cause bleeding on critical. Some might argue that the chance isn't high enough to bother with this sigil, and even though I only have a 43% crit rate, but it's also good to remember that sigils now affect the grenade kits, hence the "nerf"... and thus why those who are complaining should learn to adapt to the changes. My offhand has the Superior Sigil of Corruption, which gives me +10 CD each time I kill an enemy, and stacks to 25 = 250CD! I find it's easy to stack this while running fractals or WvW, so combined with my other sigil, my damage has barely suffered at all from the "nerf". In fact, I feel like I have benefited from the update, because it forced me to learn more about weapons and my class, and get out of my comfort zone.

As for my accessories, they could use a bit of an upgrade.

My only exotic piece is the Karka shell...

 I'm not really sure what I should do with these quite yet... but I think I'll have to look into some more accessories that cater to Precision + Vitality.  As for my skills, this is what my skill bar looks like (below)

I use my Healing Turret, which I burst immediately after setting up for an area heal/regeneration for my allies (I've noticed some positive feedback from this, which is nice). My number seven Elixir changes frequently. Sometimes I put up the Elixir Gun for WvW, other times I'll switch the Elixir to another for removal, etc. To be honest, however, I don't use it that often unless I'm in WvW and I'm using an Elixir gun.
Eight and Nine are naturally my heavy hitters. Bomb Kit/Big ol' Bomb is especially good when we have a Guardian with pull, or when I'm kiting for my party; nine is my standard "lay waste and watch them burn" skill. My ulti is my Mistfire Wolf, typically because it does quite a bit of damage, or is a good distraction tool. Sometimes I'll use a supply drop, but not often.

My trait lines! They are as follows:
Explosives: 30 Points
Adept: Skill III "Forceful Explosives" Bombs & mines have a larger explosion radius. 
Master: Skill VIII "Short Fuse" Reduces recharge for bombs and grenades by 20%. Grandmaster: Skill XI "Grenadier" You throw 25% farther, and you throw an extra grenade with every grenade kit skill.

Firearms: 30 points
Adept: Skill VI "Hair Trigger" Rifle, pistol, and harpoon gun skills recharge 20% faster. Master: Skill V "Precise Sights" 50% chance to cause vulnerability on critical hits. Grandmaster: Skill XI "Coated Bullets" Pistol shots pierce. 

Inventions: 10 points
Adept: Skill II "Explosive Descent" Release a barrage of grenades when you take falling damage. You take 50% less damage from falling. 

I haven't tweaked my skills in quite some time, as I find they've been fairly helpful for the most part, but I do enjoy reviewing them. The additional damage received from these lines is also fairly helpful.

For the most part, I'm most concerned about my accessories, but I've become fairly comfortable with everything else. Hopefully I can update this post when I find a more reasonable set of accessories.