Guild Wars 2

Hello, fellow Tyrians:

I purchased Guild Wars 2 to play during the holiday season, and now that the holidays are over I have a few things to share with anyone interested.

Let’s get the complaints and recommendations out of the way first.

My major issue is the red circle “void zone” graphic that this game uses to signify an attack that should be avoided. As someone with terrible eyesight, including a problems distinguishing certain colors apart from others, this graphic is extremely hard to notice. I realize it isn’t for the majority of players. However, for me, it means many downs during encounters such as the Eternal Flame. My suggestion is to allow this feature to be customized, allowing for the circle to be a basic color of your choice.

Another thing is the lack of a first person view. The ability to take screenshots and hide the UI is there, but this is the missing piece. I have a habit of stopping when I see something “breathtaking” and grabbing a screenshot to post on Twitter. The majority of the time our character is in the way.

Finally, the Trading Post. Elsewhere in the game we are able to preview armors and are limited to previewing just our armor class. This should be carried over to the Trading Post. Allow armors and weapons to be previewed, and add a search option for Light, Medium, and Heavy.

That’s it! I honestly enjoy the foundations this game is built upon. The only thing I haven’t had a chance to do yet is Fractals, so I have no opinion on that. As for my character, I’m playing an 80 Elementalist and at that point where I realize full dps gear isn’t going to cut it. I’m experimenting with trait builds and other stat combinations to try and find what playstyle works for me, though I seem to be leaning towards a tanky support role. Jumping puzzles are amazing. The world has many iconic locations. I love that I can assist low level friends and still benefit via dynamic levelling. Meta Events are fun, with many players rallying large groups to fight together. Orr is awesome, though sometimes frustrating when cantrips are on cooldown. Too much to list. lol.

So in closing; Good Job ArenaNET. I thoroughly enjoy the game and will definitely be playing it for the foreseeable future.

-Tony

Toxyn.9608:

My major issue is the red circle “void zone” graphic

My eyes are fine, and I overlook the things fairly often myself. UI customization is probably this game’s greatest weakness, especially for those of us who were spoiled by WoW previously, in which you can tweak almost literally every aspect of the ui via addons.

Hopefully Anet fixes this weakness, without letting addons n’ such take over like WoW has.

Toxyn.9608:

Another thing is the lack of a first person view. The ability to take screenshots and hide the UI is there, but this is the missing piece. I have a habit of stopping when I see something “breathtaking” and grabbing a screenshot to post on Twitter. The majority of the time our character is in the way.

Trick for this; type /sleep and zoom in all the way. You should be able to position the camera in a way that your character is actually not in the screen. If there’s a bush or log or something to hide behind, use that as well.

Not the best option, but it gets the job done. I do think I read somewhere that they might be making 1st person view an option at some point, so here’s hopin’.

Toxyn.9608:

Finally, the Trading Post. Elsewhere in the game we are able to preview armors and are limited to previewing just our armor class. This should be carried over to the Trading Post. Allow armors and weapons to be previewed, and add a search option for Light, Medium, and Heavy.

I’m positive I’ve seen a dev post saying that preview armor from the TP will be in at some point. No ETA that I’m aware of, but a lot of people want it, so give it some time – we’ll have it eventually.

Light/med/heavy filter would be great. Or simply a “useable” checkbox.

Welcome aboard!

Haltus Kain.4578:

UI customization is probably this game’s greatest weakness, especially for those of us who were spoiled by WoW previously, in which you can tweak almost literally every aspect of the ui via addons.

On the topic of add-ons, I must say that everyone being on an even playing field is a breath of fresh air. I prefer there being no add-on support, as I do not feel compelled to chase after things such as PvP node timers and such.

I believe that allowing the color of the void zone circle to be changed can be done through the game’s options menu.

i could have sworn i have used “preview” in TP, even if just for stuff my char could use… could be mistaken though, i’ve seen that complain too many times for everyone else to be wrong

huh..

Toxyn.9608:

Edited for brevity

All good points and things that are already topics of discussion.

A lot of visually impaired folks have the same complaints with you, and Im glad you recognize that the problem doesnt impact the majority. A feature to change the color of the circles would be a nice quality of life change. Im guessing not one very far up their list though. With that said, is this your first MMO? I ask because in any game, there are some graphics that show bad floor, whether it is churning earth or fire. If you cannot see the colors or difference in colors you would have the same problem.

Trading post preview: Everyone wants it, no one understands why it wasnt in the game at launch. I can only hope that with the large updates in the next month or two, it will be added.

cesmode.4257:

With that said, is this your first MMO?

No, I played a few older ones such as Ultima, Runescape, and Everquest. However I’ve been spoiled by the visual cues that WoW’s void zones give, which have particle effects rising from the ground instead of just a flat, faint outline.

It’s just that GW2’s red circle is one of the problem colors for me. I’d change it to a bright yellow if I had the option to. It would vastly improve my ability to survive.

Maybe you could try the graphics enhancer program discussed in this thread to make the circles stand out more?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/better-colour-overall-graphic-FXAA

Not sure if it would make a difference with your eyesight, but worth a shot!

That graphics enhancer looks beautiful.

Had I known there was no option for a first person point of view, I would not have purchased this game. Not seeing through the eyes of my character is a serious detraction from game immersion and a fatal flaw.

Thanks for your thoughts. Gives me some insight on what to expect as a new player, myself.

As a newish player myself, loving this game just for the relaxed and casual leveling aspect.. rewarded for exploring out of the way places (with Jump Puzzles, Vistas, World treasure chests and “hidden” NPCs/beasties/events) – makes a nice change for me and loving it so far.

All classes seem fun and very viable (even the engineer is fun for me even though it perhaps has most bugs/issues)

Great community on many servers and being able to move servers for free every 7 days (right now.. paid by gems later) is a great way to test out your home server.

Still needs many improvements, bug fixes and content/systems/features added but this is still a very, very young game so I’m hoping to be here and enjoy seeing it develop and grow as years go on.

:)

Enjoy the journey and fun times ahead for you I hope.

Being able to only preview armor and items you can use will be corrected some time in the future. I had read where it was disabled as a first step towards fixing something else? Perhaps the TP preview?

But it’s my understanding that at some point we will be able to preview everything like we used to.

I agree with the TP suggestion. I dropped by it ONCE, was quickly overwhelmed with items my toon had no use for and lacking any option to reduce the number of viewed items I closed it, never to return.