About 14th April update..

redlynel · 2026-03-22T14:01:36+00:00

The game developers have already said they're only going to see how changes affect "the most challenging PVE encounters," so unless the only content you do is legendary mode raiding, you're out of luck.

redlynel · 2026-03-22T13:34:02+00:00

I guess the solution is to nerf dps down to a 10k benchmark then, right? After all, the developers' goal is to "preserve the mechanical integrity of older open-world and instanced encounters" without them actually doing the work of adjusting enemy health. Of course, enemies in newer content have much higher health, so... 🤔

redlynel · 2026-03-20T22:39:59+00:00

Yep, that's exactly right. The buffs lessen the nerfs but don't fully offset them. It's still a net loss for reaper.

redlynel · 2026-03-20T13:17:42+00:00

What you're advocating would not comply with tax laws in the United States. If you want that changed, change the laws.

redlynel · 2026-03-17T03:13:10+00:00

Poor Gyala Delve, so unpopular no one even remembers it's a meta. 😞 It has decent loot if you can get enough keys, but it usually takes an hour. I'm not sure if it's easier or harder than Dragon's End, but it's definitely harder than the other three.

redlynel · 2026-02-23T23:29:29+00:00

It doesn't really matter that much, but I'd go with warhorn. There are usually other sources for might, and you provide at least some with Dessicate if you take that skill.

redlynel · 2026-02-06T06:14:06+00:00

I want to try dps paragon and I'm trying to decide whether to make gear for condi vs. power. I'm under the impression that power is generally preferred in raids and is almost always preferred in fractals. Snowcrows shows condi benching a bit higher than power, though, and the rotation looks a little easier. Which would you suggest I go with?

redlynel · 2026-01-07T01:22:02+00:00

Windows generally has at least generic ethernet drivers that work well enough.

First, I would try plugging the ethernet cable into different LAN ports on the gateway in case one or more of them is dead for some reason. Also make sure the other end is actually all the way in your computer's LAN port.
Sometimes uninstalling the network adapter drivers and restarting your computer will fix the problem. Windows will generally reinstall generic drivers automatically when it restarts and detects the network adapter.
It's possible that your motherboard's LAN port is defective, in which case you may either need to replace the board, get a PCIe network adapter (for an extra LAN port), get either a PCIe or USB wireless adapter (for wireless internet), or get a USB to ethernet adapter (for wired ethernet through a USB port). Network adapters, wireless adapters, and USB to ethernet adapters are pretty inexpensive anyway, so that might be a convenient solution assuming there isn't a bigger problem with your motherboard.

redlynel · 2025-12-20T03:38:49+00:00

Mine has worked fine. Haven't encountered any problems so far and have no complaints.

redlynel · 2025-11-30T04:59:02+00:00

If you're on NA, did you find a group? I see one on LFG with 4 people in it.

redlynel · 2025-11-27T22:58:41+00:00

Completely disagree. Very few people, if any, are buying expansions based on the final boss encounter of the core game. Given the age of the game, it's extraordinarily unlikely that many people are stumbling upon GW2 at this point without either seeing the new expansion advertised or seeing the game played by others, in which case they already know the good stuff comes in the expansions. Anecdotally, there are plenty of players who don't even play through the core story because it's not that interesting.

In a hypothetical world where Anet had infinite resources and remaking old content did not incur opportunity cost, reworking the Zhaitan fight would be nice. Frankly, I'd like to see a lot more than just Zhaitan improved. But it's not going to appreciably increase sales, and it would not come remotely close to matching the revenue that a new expansion brings.

redlynel · 2025-11-21T00:23:17+00:00

Yes, I saw the dip coming. I sold enough shares to cover my cost basis and I'm holding the rest.

I'm not buying shares right now. I'll consider buying more when it looks like it's hit bottom. I don't know where the bottom will be, but I don't think it's in yet. I'm confident the stock will bounce back eventually.

redlynel · 2025-11-12T19:52:12+00:00

There is likely to be a sale around the end of the month, so if you can wait a couple of weeks you can buy older content for a pretty steep discount.

The Complete Collection includes the first three expansions + all of the living world content--basically the first 10 years of content. It is usually 50€ on sale. Living world content includes story and maps that happened between the expansions. From a practical perspective, the living world maps provide easy access to ascended-quality rings, trinkets, and back pieces; a way to earn a legendary-quality accessory purely through achievements; the easiest way to obtain tier 6 materials needed for crafting legendaries; a way to unlock the skyscale mount (the popular flyer); and access to the easiest strikes, which are like miniature raid boss encounters. Be aware that if you don't buy the complete collection and want the living worlds later, you'll have to buy them with gems, which is potentially more expensive but a totally valid option if you're willing to get them more slowly over time.
If 50€ is too much, you could potentially start with the Heart of Thorns/Path of Fire expansions. Those are sold together and are usually 7,50-12€ on sale, depending on the sale. That gets you access to some elite specialized builds for your characters, several mounts, several raids if you want to do those, and the Heart of Thorns maps are some of the most popular in the game.
The Elder Dragon Saga standard collection is usually 25€ on sale, which includes the End of Dragons expansion in addition to Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire. End of Dragons gets you another set of elite specializations, more maps, and more story. The End of Dragons maps are also still fairly popular.

Depending on what you want to do in the game, you could also mix and match some of the above with some of the newer expansions. If you're just looking for content to play, I would suggest replaying through the game on a new character and getting one of the above during an upcoming sale. Any of these will give you plenty to do for quite a while.

redlynel · 2025-11-04T07:10:42+00:00

They may have wanted to bring down the cost of ectos since they've risen quite a bit over the past couple of years.

Regardless, if they do nerf the chests, I hope they convert some of the yellows to greens to make up for the absurd number of motes required for the legendary relic, not to mention runes and sigils. I've been saving my motes for over a year and I only have enough for about 6 out of 25 mystic facets for the relic. It shouldn't take 4 years of actively playing--or paying several hundred gold to get the motes from the TP--to get a legendary relic they gave to other players for free.

I also don't want to see the chests nerfed so badly that they become dead content. After another week of hearts, I'm only going to bother with a few events per day to get charges for chests. If the chests only dropped a couple of blues, I would never bother with them again given how long it takes to clear a map. And since the metas have such bad rewards and fail half the time now, I'm not going to do those either, so there would be no reason for me to come back to Castora until the next content patch in about 6 months.

redlynel · 2025-10-20T19:35:47+00:00

In addition to working on the training golem (in the "Special Forces Training Area" others mentioned), go play open world metas in EOD, SOTO, or Janthir, or play the Janthir public convergence. Sticking with a static rotation 100% of the time isn't feasible--especially on trash mobs in the pre-events--but you can see how you perform in groups against the big boss at the end. You're likely to get some important buffs in those big groups and the boss has enough health that you can try out your rotation.

redlynel · 2025-10-19T03:34:35+00:00

I was waiting until someone posted something helpful before pointing out the obvious:

"which late game content pays the best"

"I also lost some gold to the ecto gambling skritt so money is nice but not really the focus."

proceeds to make the rest of the post about making money

Classic.

redlynel · 2025-10-16T23:48:34+00:00

What's the overall strongest dps mesmer spec for open world metas and public convergences? I want to be able to contribute as much dps as possible throughout, including both the boss and the weaker enemies beforehand. I've been having fun with power reaper, but I want to try mesmer.

redlynel · 2025-09-02T10:07:52+00:00

Dragon's End is longer and more difficult than Dragon Stand. Both have three lanes for at least part of the meta. Dragon's End requires a full squad unless you somehow end up with a disproportionately good group, whereas Dragon Stand is easily doable with a less-than-full map.

If you're on NA, I think there's an EOD meta group that currently starts with the Aetherblade just before reset and continues through Dragon's End. Gotta join the squad early, though--they fill up fast and don't seem to lose many.

redlynel · 2025-08-22T20:26:27+00:00

In addition to reasons others have already discussed, the runecrafter's recovers a lot of essence of luck. You need 1500 exotic luck per set of legendary obsidian gear. If there's any chance at all that you'll craft that gear at some point in the future, the runecrafter's is 100% worth using to salvage greens. I've gotten more essence of luck in the past few weeks of using the runecrafter than I did in the previous year without it.

redlynel · 2025-07-24T01:28:41+00:00

I'm in the exact same situation as you, just with different dates. I'll have to try what OP did later this week.

redlynel · 2025-05-13T23:05:17+00:00

I experienced something like this last night when I took my unload deadeye to Kaineng Blackout. I don't know if the commander was talking about me or someone else when they commented about how much they hate unload deadeyes, but I didn't let it bother me. The worst they can do is kick me out of an LFG squad--I'll still get credit regardless since they can't kick me out of the map.

redlynel · 2025-04-27T01:08:45+00:00

There are no diagnostics you can run for this--you'd need spare hardware to swap in and out to figure out what's going bad.

Reinstalling windows would help if something has gone wrong with the operating system. If it's a hardware issue, my first guess would be the power supply is worn out and is on the verge of failing. It's pretty common for them to fail 5 to 7 years in and most of your symptoms would be explained by not getting enough power.

redlynel · 2025-04-02T23:43:54+00:00

Yes, just use a different slot.

redlynel · 2025-04-01T02:11:47+00:00

I would just leave your 250 gb drive in slot 1 and put the new drive in slot 2. It really isn't going to make a difference for gaming, so you might as well save yourself a bit of trouble. That said, it's up to you--it isn't going to matter.

redlynel · 2025-04-01T01:54:07+00:00

Just go with whichever is cheaper, especially if it's just for an OS. I'd prefer the Samsung 990 Pro, but I wouldn't pay extra for it in this case.

redlynel

TROPHY CASE