I was gone for about 18 months and I am having a blast. I like the extra exp on class stories so I now do ones that I would never have done before. I am a total PVE player. If I get bored, I will unsub. Right now, having lots of fun.

Any updates to this with the recent changes? I found as DPS, I had to use my companion as a healer. For me last fight before the final boss was the hardest.

Nice post that I agree with having played many of the same games you have.

Subs went up 33% according to EAs quarterly report. http://news.ea.com/press-release/company-news/electronic-arts-reports-q2-fy16-financial-results I know I am one of those new subs back after a year and half off.

Just waiting for forum account to be approved.

Hi, Are you still recruiting? Are you an alt friendly guild? Thanks.

I experienced the same - prior to patch Tank companions were very weak at keeping aggro.

Possible error in chart - Jaesa (dark) - weapon only gives me moderate influence gain with her.

You are right - just did it again and got over 5k influence even picking dark choices she disapproved of.

Old player recently returned. I have been doing class stories I have never done and noticed the influence for those companions goes up pretty nicely. For my old BH though having Mako at just 10 influence at level 55 is painful. For a test, I just ran Black Talon solo and got 4560 influence in about 20 mins. The bad side is a picked two light side convo choices (+200) which did not match my BH because I wanted to see the max influence. Not sure if there is weekly lockout on that, but will run again without choosing light on those two and see how much influence I get.

Maybe I a missing it but you can still take your time and do everything and craft. Personally on the characters stories I am doing for the first time, I have been training every other planet to offset part of what you are talking about. I have been staying on the planets long enough to keep my crafting up to my current level.

You can still do all the other content.

No, basically it is a way for people that want do all the main class stories, to be able to do that without having to redo the generic missions just to make levels in order to complete the class stories.

After playing just storylines and some lower level heroics both before and after the "nerf", I would not mind seeing the companions get a little boost. But they should not get put back to the level of pre-nerf. Pre-nerf there was simply zero risk of dying. I came back after a year off and was stunned at how easy the game had become.

I always delete blind invites - your "study" we would be a bit more valid if you actually asked people as opposed to blind invites.

I was gone for about a year and re-subbed to play 4.0 about 10 days ago. I was actually shocked at how easy the game had become. I have not played since this latest patch but welcome more of a challenge. I am very interested to see what it is like with the "nerf".

Nevermind - found the answer.

Thanks. I only have about 4 million creds right now, so I thought the gathering route would be the way to start. Is there still profit in the lower level materials? I am leveling so fast now, it seems almost useless to do many equipment upgrades while leveling. Also, the PVE game seems much easier with the new companion influence system, that I have not come close to dying so no need of medpacs or stims.

I see inflation has gone crazy so I am pretty poor now. What are the best skills for banking some fast credits? What raw materials are more in demand now? I have almost every gathering and producing skill in the 400 range amongst various characters.

Looks good.

I am back after about a year off. Looking for a casual adult guild. I am not a PvPer. Mostly look for a group of people that like to help each other out. My main is a BH and I progressed to full Columi gear before I stopped playing. Also, have a 46 Sniper and a couple others around level 30. In game you can contact Necaro or respond here. Thanks!

Working as intended. You need to defeat your opponent with other skills.

I found this: 10 slots 5 set by weapon so all warriors using a mace/shield will have the same 5 Second 5 set by profession and race so that will provide some variety until the "best" cookie builds are figured out. http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/part-one/

Where is GW2 hiding the "no 2 characters alike skills"? As I understand skills are set by your weapon so two warriors both using a longbow - have the same skills. Am I missing something?

How many concurrent players do either of these games have?