User:GW-Incarnadine

 = Background = Who am I? No-one of consequence. And if you must know, get used to disappointment... ;)

Basically, I notice little mistakes here and there, so I try to help out and fix them. Sometimes I get ambitious and rewrite a sentence! Really, I'm just glad to be able to help provide a better quality Wiki for everyone.

Currently I'm expanding my user page and trying to add to some of the drop rates articles.

= Playstyle = I'm a PvE player pretty much through-and-through. I tried a little PvP when the Isle of the Nameless was available and had a couple of wins, but my machine isn't the zippiest so I leave the PvP to the experts. I find most PvP players are chest-beating egomaniacs anyways. And to all the PvP fans that will cry "heresy!" reading this - I'm sure it's technical, challenging, etc., but don't look down on me because I don't like it.

Most of my play is solo, unless I'm on a mission, then it's henchmen or other players as a last resort. I don't have much luck with pugs; they tend to contain a very disappointingly high proportion of players that don't seem to know what they're doing, sadly. That's not to say that I don't like groups at all, it's just that I like to have things organized and efficient. I like to describe myself as a "technical player"; while I can laugh and make jokes, I don't like stupid deaths because of sloppy play. I've worked with some players that were an absolute delight and I tend to remember every one of them for that; conversely, I've worked with utterly miserable players that screwed up everything and made a mission/quest a nightmare that I just wanted to be over.

Sounds bitter and angry? Perhaps, but for me, "those people" ruin my gameplay experience. I'd rather not have that happen.

One slight problem of me going solo all the time is that I don't bring resurrection skills... pretty much ever. This tends to cause a lot of consternation among groups when I do join one for a quest. I can't count the number of screams I've heard because of it... My reaction tends to be "Well If you hadn't died we wouldn't be having this problem, now would we?".

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[[Image:Warrior-icon.png]] [[Image:Monk-icon.png]] Laeral Undomiel
Laeral is my preferred character for tough spots and farming. She just broke one million XP recently (early June 06) while doing Canthan quests.
 * }
 * PvE character
 * Level 20 Ascended
 * Prophecies campaign

Playstyle

 * I prefer using a sword and Gladiator's armour for Laeral, stylistically. Hammers seem... well, slow, crude and slightly butch. There are times where I'll use an axe, more for experimenting with the skills and whatnot, but the sword is my main weapon. My preferred skills are Gladiator's Defenses, Riposte and Deadly Riposte - let the enemy kill themselves, saves me a LOT of work.
 * I tend to collect different styles of swords and trick them out with upgrades for specific situations; for example, I have a fiery longsword with extra damage while hexed for those pesky Ice Imps outside the Ice Caves mission.
 * My equipment usage varies a LOT depending on the situation I'm in; I try to be very aware of what I'm going to be fighting and plan accordingly for weapon switches.
 * All Tyrian secondary profession skill quests have been completed and I switch among them freely. I tend to use certain combinations for certain situations, although I have to say I've never been fond of or seen much use for Ranger as a secondary.
 * I've been experimenting with a W/N against melee swarmers such as Minotaurs, Mountain Trolls and Grawl (Southern Shiverpeaks) - Necromantic Traversal is a FUN skill in those situations. Grawl Crones use Chilblains, which kind of borks the typical W/Mo maintained enchantment setup I use, so W/N makes sense. One time I was up to 86 intricate grawl necklaces...
 * W/Me is another favorite combination, and I've made what I consider a 'trick' build for farming things that blind me, such as Sand Elementals - it uses Illusionary Weaponry, Cyclone Axe and a mesmer +27/-1 energy offhand. Having a warrior that sweep hits for 31 damage and has 55 energy is odd, but satisfying. It's also a good build for taking on Ice Imps and Hydras. Dolyak Signet and Elemental Resistance, ahhh!

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[[Image:Monk-icon.png]] [[Image:Mesmer-icon.png]] Ehlissa Undomiel

 * }
 * PvE character
 * Level 20 Ascended
 * Prophecies campaign

Ehlissa is my favorite for hunting undead and questing/exploring with friends. She has infused armour dyed silver consisting of Judge's body and leggings with tattoo hands and feet pieces; I think it looks nice and distinctive. My favorite activity with her is farming undead for materials and such from Beetletun into the Cursed Lands; Shield of Judgement makes me SO happy!

I just decided to change to black armour (27 Jun 06), mostly to burn off cash. Now her judge's armour chest and leggings are black, which looks VERY nice indeed. I'm also fond of her Canthan armour which I had dyed green for a bit, but which is now black as well. Conspicuous consumption!

I'm currently working on getting her to 80% exploration of Tyria.

Playstyle

 * Most of my play is solo with Ehlissa, so I will typically run Smiting Prayers including Shield of Judgement for most situations.
 * I switch among different staff types depending on the situation. Normally I use maintained enchantments and a lot of Smiting Prayers, so it's typically a desert 20/20 collector smiting staff with perfect upgrades. I'd like to try a Canthan weapon combo though, the crafted 20/20 smiting wand and 20/20 smiting offhand are very appealing!
 * I just started practicing with the 55 monk build again. The first couple of times I tried it I got pasted and thought "This is a huge waste of time". After a pause and some testing I discovered it's huge FUN! Now I run towards Avicara instead of away.
 * Last night the Dunes of Despair bonus fell to an exceptionally organized group. The Necrotic Traversal/vamp-weapon death/Rebirth trick worked WONDERS. Kudos to all in the group!

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[[Image:Necromancer-icon.png]] [[Image:Mesmer-icon.png]] Ysabel de Grace

 * }
 * PvE character
 * Level 20 Ascended
 * Prophecies campaign

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[[Image:Elementalist-icon.png]] [[Image:Mesmer-icon.png]] Ariel Incarnadine

 * }
 * PvE character
 * Level 20 Ascended
 * Prophecies campaign

Ariel is my tank, pure and simple. Earth magic rocks (pun intended). Between Kinetic Armour and Armour of Earth at 16 Earth magic, her AL is over 200. Lure the monsters in, raise shields and BOOM, Crystal Wave, Whirlwind/Aftershock. Lather, rinse, repeat, collect loot. Nuking's fun, don't get me wrong. Death from above in the form of giant-ass rocks, yay. But nothing beats sitting in the middle of a ton of trolls or minotaurs and BOOM BOOM BOOM taking them out, while tanking EVERY hit and not feeling it.