Tue 25. Sep 2012, 15:05
WvW/Queues: Makes obvious sense with the times there considering we are all europeans
I have found the queue times to be getting better during the week days (weekends still suck) but I can live with the queuing times I have found of late. Most has been for me 40 minutes during an evening non EB.
Alliance thoughts: Yes it is nice to do things with them, not saying I would like to do that every night, because I am always going to prefer the roaming rather than zerging scenario., but that is the point of being in an alliance to work together on a couple of nights +. To be able as Mark as said to co-ordinate to take control of more of the areas and so on. Also, I wish Anet would put in alliance chat as would make communication so much easier in that regard.
If we aren't going to work with the alliance there is no point to being in one imo.
Gear: When I first read your post Mark I was a bit hmm but upon re-reading I think I get what you are trying to potray.
I concur with what Marc is saying.
When I first dinged 80, being totally clueless I went to the TP and bought various level 78 exotic pieces and spent most my money with a mix matched set. It was TOTALLY stupid thing to do.
After understanding better I levelled a LW to 400 and crafted myself a full set of level 80 exotic gear with the exact stats I wanted.
I then, upon seeing how the legs looked (can you say leopard print?
) went and purchased T2 Norn cultural armour and transmuted the legs and bp with the exotic I had made for a much more pleasing look for me. I got to say it was very frustrating having spent a gold buying the BP and transmuting it., to then put the emblem on and it completely changed the look again...wtf is with that!
I do not have the time or indeed inclination to farm dungeons over and over for the "cool" looking armour and sure the dungeon graphic armour looks great but I will cope without
It is pretty expensive to purchase runes I have found, along with jewellry. The exotic weapon I got was a bargin though. The only thing I am not fully equipped in is jewellry as wearing masterwork atm until get around to farming what I need.
I would say off the top of my head the difference between rare and exotic is about 13% and between masterwork and exotic 20% plus you would not want to waste runes on masterwork gear so it becomes a bit more.
No doubt someone going to correct me on the above but I would say that is ballpark
I think it is totally viable to get yourself masterwork gear with stats you like as a starting point and for very little money whilst you farm karma/badges etc. and you will be able to participate in WvW quite fine imo.
I think that level makes quite a difference in the game, along with specs/skill level.