Guild Wars 2

Anet, you just broke the thing that brought me to this game in the first place: resource camping/stealing.

I used to marvel at how, when seeing another player, I welcomed the sight of them. Nothing in the game pitted players against each other in competition over loot or resources. No longer.

In terms of my enjoyment (which is what counts if you want my play-time and my money), you broke the game, and, a piece of my heart.

I am, of course, talking about the dragon holograms.

We’ve become so used to cooperative PvE that even this bit of competitiveness really feels out of place. I’m not sure how it could be done differently, it’s the same as other events after all, but… yeah, it’s noticeable how much we’ve been spoiled (in a good way ino) with our PvE style.

This happens at these events where you end up fighting each other for these “nodes”.

Then we are back to the old MMO style “GET AWAY FOR MY MOB!!!” “OMG KILLSTEALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” “GO DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Just form a party and co-operate instead of complaining. It worked fine for me to do that and nicely asking ppl to wait a couple of seconds before interacting with the holograms…

When I farm the holos, I always dread seeing another arriving first.
I sigh with relief when I’m first and there is no one in sight – all mine!
I wait when I see someone incoming, but I know I’ll get less loot and it’s annoying.
Most people don’t wait.
And I wonder, why ANet keeps breaking their manifesto promises over and over again?

Agaetis.4518:

Just form a party and co-operate instead of complaining. It worked fine for me to do that and nicely asking ppl to wait a couple of seconds before interacting with the holograms…

Really? I was in a party with another. I waited for him to come to the holo spot I found. Another person came and activated it before my party member arrived. Your point fails. Stop defending ANet when they are in the wrong.

The event lasts for an entire month. Let the over eager crowds thin out.

I usually waited around for about 10 seconds seeing if anyone was on their way. I was jumping up and down next to it when someone arrived and I knew another was incoming…people got the message: wait.

I always wait for 2 minutes before I activate the hologram. In addition, I still prolong my encounter for next 30 s before I slain all the holograms.

Stark.1350:

The event lasts for an entire month. Let the over eager crowds thin out.

Already started to see it. During NA Prime last night, I was with a group of 4 guildies, never saw a single person until after Jormag was over with. Coffers are dropping in price because they are easy to get. They drop off EVERYTHING, not just the holo creatures.

I found it difficult to even tag minions in a group of more than 2 or 3; they simply die too quickly. I don’t think it was the best design decision, but as stated the crowds will thin once people start completing the achievement. Mobs would seem to be a more efficient way of farming the candy/coffers so I’m hopeful that the hologram camping will be less of an issue once the first week has gone by and the achievement has been realized.

You only get less loot if theres so many people there that you fail to tag in time. With 2-5 people you should have no problem tagging all of them as long as you use aoe.

Agaetis.4518:

Just form a party and co-operate instead of complaining. It worked fine for me to do that and nicely asking ppl to wait a couple of seconds before interacting with the holograms…

That doesn’t work with warriors camped on each one. The knockback might work who knows the mobs die to one spin/100b.

The way they implemented it doesn’t make much sense. The only good thing is that it’s inefficient to farm the dragon coffers that way, so it’s for the achievement only. I’m pretty sure throughout the month there will be an event where we have to kill those, and if not it’s a month to do it. Plenty of time.

Garrison Storm.3046:

I found it difficult to even tag minions in a group of more than 2 or 3; they simply die too quickly. I don’t think it was the best design decision, but as stated the crowds will thin once people start completing the achievement. Mobs would seem to be a more efficient way of farming the candy/coffers so I’m hopeful that the hologram camping will be less of an issue once the first week has gone by and the achievement has been realized.

The holo creatures SCALE with the level zone you are in. 3 80s in a level 15-25 zone will one-shot them, go to higher zones and they are easy to tag with a group.

People don’t realize this and just camp a low level zone

LilMcGinley.3890:

Garrison Storm.3046:

I found it difficult to even tag minions in a group of more than 2 or 3; they simply die too quickly. I don’t think it was the best design decision, but as stated the crowds will thin once people start completing the achievement. Mobs would seem to be a more efficient way of farming the candy/coffers so I’m hopeful that the hologram camping will be less of an issue once the first week has gone by and the achievement has been realized.

The holo creatures SCALE with the level zone you are in. 3 80s in a level 15-25 zone will one-shot them, go to higher zones and they are easy to tag with a group.

People don’t realize this and just camp a low level zone

You’re right, I didn’t bother to check that out… the low level areas were making the mob farming very efficient so I guess I was one-stop shopping. Good to know, thanks.

^ agree. Go to higher level zone. Most of the mob does not die in 3 slash.

They really need to make the mobs last longer in lower level zones. Friends who are low level cannot go to the high level zones, but are put at a disadvantage because there are 5-10 people standing by a hologram, which are typically killed instantly before some of us have a chance.

I had no problems so far. Might depend on server. In fact, people apologized if they attacked the mobs before you got to them. I was in a party last night in Bloodtide Coast. Was a lot of fun

Joey.3928:

I had no problems so far. Might depend on server. In fact, people apologized if they attacked the mobs before you got to them. I was in a party last night in Sparkfly Fen. Was a lot of fun

There is holo in sparkfly ?

You just have to be faster than other players/enemies. I don’t like fighting over mobs too. ANet wanted it this way, so we have to live with it. Maybe it gets better. The chances of good loot are low anyway.

@ Jaga – It depends what you consider “good loot”. The coffers and Zhaitaffy were selling like crazy last night, so farmers were frantically trying to capitalize on it, knowing that the prices were going to plummet. It’s no wonder there was a lot of competition for the holo nodes.

I agree with the suggestion to cooperate with the other players in the zone. There’s no reason why it needs to be cutthroat for a holiday event. Actually…there’s no good reason for PvE to ever be cutthroat, other than players being inconsiderate.

I do wish ANet had made the holos similar to the Wintersday present spawns, where it dropped the items on the ground for any player that got there before they despawned (whether or not they tagged the actual mobs).

Wanted to throw this out there..

I noticed at around 7pm EDT last night I went from getting 4-5 coffers a holo to 1-3… no patch, no update. Stealth nerf? Even today my drops were in the constant 1-3 range, never any more. Maybe some insane DR? I hopped to 3 different zones and on 2 characters, same result.

Anyone else notice this?

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Agaetis.4518:

Just form a party and co-operate instead of complaining. It worked fine for me to do that and nicely asking ppl to wait a couple of seconds before interacting with the holograms…

That doesn’t work with warriors camped on each one. The knockback might work who knows the mobs die to one spin/100b.

The way they implemented it doesn’t make much sense. The only good thing is that it’s inefficient to farm the dragon coffers that way, so it’s for the achievement only. I’m pretty sure throughout the month there will be an event where we have to kill those, and if not it’s a month to do it. Plenty of time.

Just curious, if this is ‘inefficient’ way to farm D-coffers, then what alternative is there at the moment? Been farming these things for hours, got around 1000 then took a break.. still no wep ticket XD I feel bad because I am running a zerker war with speed buffs up the kitten and run through all the icons on the map before other people get to them, I see people come, try and then leave because they cannot compete. I hate that I have to resort to that, but it’s what’s working atm.

Pro Tip: Don’t wait around with a dozen people for one hologram. Go out into the world, play the game, enjoy the sights… and look for the Dragon Hologram icon on your mini map!

In the charr starting area, there were dozens – literally dozens – of uncamped holograms! In zones like Sparkfly Fen, Mount Maelstrom and Brisban Wildlands, holograms unclaimed as far as the eye can see!

Six forbid you actually play a game you paid for instead of short-cutting around with the rest of the herd.

deviller.9135:

Joey.3928:

I had no problems so far. Might depend on server. In fact, people apologized if they attacked the mobs before you got to them. I was in a party last night in Sparkfly Fen. Was a lot of fun

There is holo in sparkfly ?

Bloodtide. Fixed it sorry!

I must agree with the OP on this one. I would have just liked to see the Candcorn return from Halloween. That was based on a reskinned node mechanic for mining….and it worked because those are player specific nodes that everyone can hit equally without any stealing at all.

The very least that they could have done/ should have done is have had the mobs pop out and players fight, but also have a holographic gift box pop up there that could have sit at that location for the next 3 minutes. That way everyone can equally get the node even if a selfish individual snagged up the kills.

While lots of tips on how to cope with Arenanet’s appalling design decision are all well enough, it does nothing to deal with the main problem. Please re-read the title: I no longer feel like a comrade in arms, a fellow gamer, or just like two nice guys, when I meet someone.

Suddenly, everyone is the enemy, and it is me against the rest.

Please don’t try to defend Arenanet on this one. Workarounds are one thing, but not needed. If I had the heart to log in again this evening, I’m sure I could create many such strategies.

I really hope they take this point to heart, because it was core to the PvE part of the game.