Guild Wars 2

Having to pay to waypoint has made this a very anti-social game, not something ArenaNet would have wanted I think.

For example, I’m in the last area of Orr, finding it pretty tough, try to get a skill point, die, waypoint to repair armour, waypoint back to near skill point repeat over and over.

Try to ask for help, it’s like a ghost town, of course people that are not near would need to waypoint in, help me and waypoint back to where they were, there’s no help, nobody even close, spend lots of my hard earned silver, give up.

Thinks I’ll go and look at the Halloween event, need to pay for waypoints and pay to return.
Go and help the few friends I have, need to pay again.
Go to the bank, nope have to pay.
Go look for some DE’s in other areas, need to pay.
Go join guild mates, need to pay.

Get bored waiting, log out.

Just everyday play it would be nice to be able to join friends, go around different areas, go res somebody, join a DE the other end of the map, go and repair, sell stuff, have to pay for all of that.

For me paying for waypoints is preventing a lot of social interaction, it’s pretty much like a single player game.

I would have gladly helped you

Both waypoints and repairs are moderate costs easily recouped in one heart quest, one event or one round of gathering. PvP tab go to heart of the mists take portal to Lion’s Arch – that makes one leg of going to the bank/merchant/changing zones free.

Ravina Gray.4719:

Both waypoints and repairs are moderate costs easily recouped in one heart quest, one event or one round of gathering. PvP tab go to heart of the mists take portal to Lion’s Arch – that makes one leg of going to the bank/merchant/changing zones free.

What level are you? This is certainly not the case later on.

At the start waypoint costs are reasonable, the issue is that they scale up quicker than the rewards, at max level the reward for an event is less than getting there cost you.

I think they should make waypoints free and increase repair costs to balance it out, meeting up with friends or guildies or going to do a dungeon shouldn’t cost anything, and dead would still be punished.

The main point that concerns me about the cost of waypoints is it’s making it a very anti-social game.
It would be nice to waypoint around to be able to interact with other people, take part in events, go and help my friends and other people, a lot of the time I can’t justify the cost.
If I get problems somewhere, I want to go and do something else, not just get bored log out

Would be nice to have a bind point or a free type of home town/base port, around once an hour cooldown.

I can understand why the cost of waypoints. It’s basically a way of taking excess cash out of the economy. The fact that they end up costing as much as it does to repair one piece of armor is a little unfortunate though. I’ll spend it to help my friends, but random strangers? Not so much. Maybe when I’m better established and have built up some money it will be a better option for me.

Not sure how people are still having problems with this… just don’t spam way points for everything?

And yes, even at level 80 if you do a DE or two, kill things here and there the cost is easily offset. How are you paying to go to a bank? Getting back to Lions Arch is free, it’s also free waypointing around a capital city..

Even when I do visit Orr, I only waypoint into the zone, you can just run around within the zone and within 15 minutes, you’d have made back the waypoint cost (maybe more!) depending on your drops.

If you’re meeting up with people for a dungeon, you have even less of a reason to complain. You get 26 silver upon dungeon completion not counting the loot drops. Champion mobs or boss mobs depending on instance drop quite a bit of silver too. I know for a fact champion gravelings in AC drop 5 silver when you kill them, 7s if you have omnoms.

TLDR: Just don’t excessively use waypoints, unless it’s directly across the map and you’re sure you’d be there for awhile, running does not take that long at all.. I’m pretty sure if you’re trying to meet up with a friend, you’re not just going to help with one event and then bounce..

“Having to pay to waypoint has made this a very anti-social game, not something ArenaNet would have wanted I think.”

Amen, in the first game I would map travel all over the place to help guildies/alliance members. In this one I don’t do that as much because of this needless cash sink.

Maybe they could make it that you buy the waypoints (make it an achievement)? So you pay your 3 silver but after that it’s free. Or at least greatly reduced.

@ Lumines He’s pointing out the existence of the mindset you’re advocating.

If you are losing money on repairs, go to a lower level zone. The cost is fine. It’s your chain dieing that is the problem. Not trying to be rude, but it sounds like your over extending. Stay in areas where you only die sometimes and you’ll make money.

Or, upgrade your gear, change your build, or try something new if you really want to hunt in the hardest areas.

Have defense in your build? Don’t glass cannon with this much trouble. Build tanky. That will help a lot.

Paul.4081:

“Having to pay to waypoint has made this a very anti-social game, not something ArenaNet would have wanted I think.”

Amen, in the first game I would map travel all over the place to help guildies/alliance members. In this one I don’t do that as much because of this needless cash sink.

It’s been pretty much a single player game for me, the very few parties I’ve been in have been all over the map/world.

The guilds I’ve been in have been pretty dead, no contact, no messages, nothing going on.

I want to be able to play with other people, interact with other people, be sociable, travel about the map/world, to do things with other people, I don’t want to have to consider “Can I afford to travel there and back”, I don’t want to sit there bored with something I can’t do alone, and think I’ll travel about some and try to find some action, and then just log off because if I travel about a bit it’s going to cost me a shedload of silver.

I would like a social game like GW1 was.

“Have defense in your build? Don’t glass cannon with this much trouble. Build tanky. That will help a lot.”

Not a lot of help when there’s a champ and 3 vets around a skill point and your on your own !

Like I said earlier, unless you’re all the way across the map, it does not take that long to get to such and such event to help things out. They don’t NEED you if it’s an event they can finish in a few minutes. Even if the event finishes by the time you meet up with your friend, you guys can carry on your merry way together and hit the next few events together.

In a lot of zones, the big group meta events are ones you’d really want numbers for. Those even with a massive zerg don’t finish in a blink of an eye, running across even just half a zone doesn’t even take that long so you won’t miss it if the event just started. The game needs gold sinks, the waypoint system isn’t even that harsh of one if you don’t excessively use it. People that warp from event to event happen to be the ones that complain the loudest.

If you want to save more money, warp to the capital closest to the zone you’re going before waypointing. Extra loading screen sucks yes, but if you’re making such a big fuss about waypoint costs, that’s a slight remedy you can utilize already in the game. Not some magical solution you want but isn’t implemented yet.

I think some of you are missing the point here……………

“The cost of waypoints is having an impact on the social aspect of the game”.

Game breaker? Pathetic.
I guess you’ll just have to work harder to bring in the doe then ! ^^
There’s plenty ways to earn cash. . .

Solid Gold.9310:

I think some of you are missing the point here……………

“The cost of waypoints is having an impact on the social aspect of the game”.

That´s what I thought too…
By the way, why do you die that often?

LOL @ all the self entitled brats that just jump in here to tell you " l2p"

sorry but 80silvers round trip is NOT recouped on one heart, anyone saying otherwise isnt lvl 80 yet

i agree with the op, the game needs cash sinks but the higher than it should be waypoint cost DOES work against the social aspect of the game, if im halfway across the map when someone says " need more for fire elemental" you can be dam sure i wont be porting to it because its gonna cost me 40silvers even if im in the same zone, that is NOT ok in my book

i still play the game , but i can also say that it does deter me from moving around and participating in events or helping out guildies or randoms, i would port everywhere if it was a reasonable 25s capped cost but as it stands , its a wee bit too expensive for lvl 70 + characters imo

Luigio.3265:

LOL @ all the self entitled brats that just jump in here to tell you " l2p"

sorry but 80silvers round trip is NOT recouped on one heart, anyone saying otherwise isnt lvl 80 yet

i agree with the op, the game needs cash sinks but the higher than it should be waypoint cost DOES work against the social aspect of the game, if im halfway across the map when someone says " need more for fire elemental" you can be dam sure i wont be porting to it because its gonna cost me 40silvers even if im in the same zone, that is NOT ok in my book

i still play the game , but i can also say that it does deter me from moving around and participating in events or helping out guildies or randoms, i would port everywhere if it was a reasonable 25s capped cost but as it stands , its a wee bit too expensive for lvl 70 + characters imo

80 silver? I’ve never seen a waypoint cost more then 4 silver at level 80. What are you doing that requires 20 ports!? And to pay 4 silver requires porting arcoss the whole world, its much cheaper in the same zone. What is this 80 silver nonsense?

“By the way, why do you die that often?”.

I don’t particularly die too often, but it’s quite hard when your on your own, and there’s no chance of any help, against a champ and 3 vets.

And this thread is not about me dieing.

It’s about how I feel about the effect waypoint costs are having on the partying and social aspects of the game.

I would have thought ArenaNet would have been trying to create a game where people get together and interact, not put restrictions in place that achieve the exact opposite.

“What is this 80 silver nonsense?”

80 silver, 3 silver, whatever. Anything that makes you question yourself if you want to map travel to help your buddies is surely bad?

I really don’t have too much of a problem earning money or anything of that degree, but I do agree that Waypoints should be free (Or at least for the map you’re in).

Towns are nice because they’re free, but what irritates me is that as you get world completion it becomes a scenario of “Yay! I just got unlocked another waypoint that… I have to pay to use…? What fun!”.

Could you imagine if in the first Guild Wars if you had to pay to fast travel? It would be totally unacceptable.

Not only that, but if you die you get a double slap in the face because you’re faced with an armor repair cost and the cost of using a waypoint. (I’m not against the repair cost or anything like that as I feel deaths should be punished to a degree.)

Bottom line, if you’ve been to that location and unlocked it then it should be free to go there, or at least in the same map, but traveling to different maps instantly I wouldn’t mind there being a fee. Kinda like how it is in towns.

Two things in my opinion:
1) people who are not 80 yet should NOT complain about waypoint costs, because they have no idea about what they are talking about.
2) costs are a bit high at 80, but definitely not “game breaking”. They should simply remove the default fee, if you teleport to a WP you are standing on it costs 1s50c which is silly, it should cost nothing.

Oh and another thing…
Don’t forget that in other MMORPGs, you not only pay to use taxi-like transports, but you also waste time staring at a screen for several minutes (can be VERY long for long travels) without being able to play. At least in GW2 you don’t have that.

Korrigan.4837:

Two things in my opinion:
1) people who are not 80 yet should NOT complain about waypoint costs, because they have no idea about what they are talking about.
2) costs are a bit high at 80, but definitely not “game breaking”. They should simply remove the default fee, if you teleport to a WP you are standing on it costs 1s50c which is silly, it should cost nothing.

1) Why’s that, why would they have no idea ?

2) Yeah “Game Breaking” was a bit over the top, but it’s definately spoilt my Guild Wars experience, and how good it was going to be to team up and play with human beings.

I agree. Free map travel was an amazing feature in Guild Wars 1, which made me wonder why other MMOs don’t have that.

Solid Gold.9310:

1) Why’s that, why would they have no idea ?

Because waypoint costs under 80 are a joke compared to what events and hearts give you. So people who are not 80 yet and post “waypoint costs are just fine” don’t have a clue about what they are talking about.

Solid Gold.9310:

2) Yeah “Game Breaking” was a bit over the top, but it’s definately spoilt my Guild Wars experience, and how good it was going to be to team up and play with human beings.

It needs to be toned down at 80, I agree on that. This said, this travel system still has huge advantages compared to travel systems in other games (see edit in previous post).

the thing is, there are already PLENTY of gold sinks in this game, and being that they let bots run rampant for a month before even starting to do anything means theres already ridiculous amounts of gold running around the system, all it does is hurt the people that cant farm very well or with limited playtime, because its not doing anything to cull the injection of gold into the economy at this point

at the very least, traveling around the SAME MAP should be free, or very very cheap, i understand travelling to other zones should cost more, but why do i need to pay 5 silver to port 10 feet away? that makes no sense, and yes i know i can walk there, but the default fee for inzone traveling is too high

Korrigan.4837:

Oh and another thing…
Don’t forget that in other MMORPGs, you not only pay to use taxi-like transports, but you also waste time staring at a screen for several minutes (can be VERY long for long travels) without being able to play. At least in GW2 you don’t have that.

I have never played a game with that type of feature. Are those by any chance those free download games that you see ads for all the time?

It might be just me, but they seem very cheaply made anyway and to have a taxi system where you have to wait between travels sounds like a very bad gameplay decision.

It would be like comparing Triful (Guild Wars 2) to Jello (Free download ad games).

Sky.8035:

Korrigan.4837:

Oh and another thing…
Don’t forget that in other MMORPGs, you not only pay to use taxi-like transports, but you also waste time staring at a screen for several minutes (can be VERY long for long travels) without being able to play. At least in GW2 you don’t have that.

I have never played a game with that type of feature. Are those by any chance those free download games that you see ads for all the time?

Does the name “World of Warcraft” ring a bell? Yeah, the most successful MMORPG of all times for now.
Other games which have such transports are DAoC (must have been the first AAA one I think), LOTRO, SW:TOR, all games in which you jump into a taxi and then have to watch it move/ride/fly to destination.

So no cheap free download games, but major AAA titles.

I understand why waypoints have a price – it’s a gold sink, discourages you from farming DEs, etc. – but what you’re saying is true: I did help out random people out with skillpoints and whatnot on quite a few occasions – probably the most fun you can have in this game, by the way – and it really takes a sizeable chunk out of your already high income tax. So not just that, you have to have quite a bit of money if you’re going to aid someone who asks for your help.

Why would you punish and discourage behaviour that’s absolutely the most crucial part of your game?

I agree the costs of waypoints scales up a wee bit too much. Perhaps if waypoint travel within a zone was capped at 1sp it wouldnt be such a sticker shock.

Korrigan.4837:

Sky.8035:

Korrigan.4837:

Oh and another thing…
Don’t forget that in other MMORPGs, you not only pay to use taxi-like transports, but you also waste time staring at a screen for several minutes (can be VERY long for long travels) without being able to play. At least in GW2 you don’t have that.

I have never played a game with that type of feature. Are those by any chance those free download games that you see ads for all the time?

Does the name “World of Warcraft” ring a bell? Yeah, the most successful MMORPG of all times for now.
Other games which have such transports are DAoC (must have been the first AAA one I think), LOTRO, SW:TOR, all games in which you jump into a taxi and then have to watch it move/ride/fly to destination.

So no cheap free download games, but major AAA titles.

I have played WoW, but for a very brief time so I never experienced the taxi system and the other games I have never played, but wow man! That sounds terrible! xD

I don’t know about you, but if I were a game designer, I would rethink that decision because it must throw off the pacing of the game.

It actually reminds me of the taxi feature in the game Grand Theft Auto IV. It had a feature where you could enter a taxi to get to your destination, but it offered an option to skip having to watch it, which I really liked.

Sigh, almost beat my record. I lasted 1 hour without someone mentioning WoW

So wait… not being able to warp around willy nilly to play with your guildies/friends is killing the social aspects of the game, but skipping over meeting everyone one would come across in the field and participating in the dynamic events filled with even more people and meant to be filled with people (like those that can’t manage their cash flow and so must run) isn’t killing the social aspect either?

Pretty sure this is just another veiled “I warp too much and I’m broke!” thread.

“Timbersword.9014….. Pretty sure this is just another veiled “I warp too much and I’m broke!” thread.”

Geez, sorry to dissappoint you but it’s not. (Nice try but your way off).

Yeah of course you meet different people out in an area, but they generally have different things they want to do than you want to do, partying up is pointless because they go their way which is different than your way.

Yeah DE’s can be great fun with a fair few people, and following through a chain of events, after which everybody goes and does their own thing.

They are social, get together events in a way, but not the sort of “socialising” I was thinking of.

Whilst I think that waypoint cost does scale up a little too much, I think the problems you are having with skillpoints, that say have a champion sitting on them, aren’t really caused by that. One problem in Orr right now is that players tend to ignore challenging events and particularly champions in favour of following routes that maximise income. That’s a problem that does need to be addressed, I reckon, but not by making things easier, I hope.

Should really have a disclaimer or at least a sticky on the site about how anti-social GW2 is, for being touted as an MMO ~ https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/links/Article-A-history-of-MMOs-and-Console-games

@TOPIC
I agree, the costs don’t make sense ~ if anything, this advocates at least having a 2nd option… personally, at this point I wouldn’t mind ANet giving into the “Mount” demands.

Anyone remember back in the day, when people were complaining about ES: Oblivion’s “insta-travel” by clicking on place on your map?

The complaint revolved around “insta-travel” trivializing the world.

Yet here we are with GW2 (virtually a carbon copy of an Elder Scrolls game) that says mounts would make the world feel small, now stop complaining and pay our way point costs!

TL;DR
For being an MMO, GW2 goes out of it’s way to split its players… the waypoints and their costs are a prime example of this mindset.

thats why i strongly approve moas being mounts!!!! =D cmon who wouldnt wanna ride a freaking moa…i agree the price on the wps tends to get to you but only if you are not making any money whatsoever, like…say, when you are just map jumping…thats gonna take a lot of money out of you just from using wps but you SHOULD make it back just doing events, hearts and/or killing enough stuff for junk and what not

This is not solely about the cost of waypoints, or how much you could/should make back per whatever.
It’s not about how many times I die and have to repair and waypoint back.
It’s not about me using waypoints too much.

It’s about the effect the waypoint charges have on the social aspect of a game.
It’s an MMO, people should be getting together, doing stuff together, helping each other (Maybe), this is not supposed to be a single player game, but boy does it feel like one.

Try to stay on the social impact waypoint costs may cause.

Anybody fancy coming over to Orr and helping me with a few skill points, nah didn’t think so. you don’t know me, I don’t know you, why would you spend a few silver to help somebody you might never meet again.

@Solid Gold: “It’s about the effect the waypoint charges have on the social aspect of a game.”

Don’t think you can pin the fault on Way points. People are following the money: event chains with lots of taggable mobs, circling around ore farming routes etc. that’s why you can’t get people to do content, particularly content that is a bit more challenging than the norm – since that takes time when they could be getting more money elsewhere in less time.

I tend to use the free portals or walk everywhere. Zero in game cost, nice scenery, things to do along the way. In fact I think I have the most fun while in transit from place to place!

Try it sometime, slow your pace and just have fun.

@ferguson “I tend to use the free portals or walk everywhere.” I do that somewhat too, but would be nice to have a few more gates like the one between Divinities Reach and Ebonhawke, particularly as then you wouldn’t have to follow the same routes so often.

I’d have no issue with the waypoint cost if it simply went by distance and not level.

I can fully understand it costing a few silver to go from Lion’s arch to Cursed shore (1 end of the world to the other), but i can’t understand how it costs a few silver to go from 1 waypoint to another within Cursed shore (the same zone).

It’s even worse if you want to go to a lower zone to help people out, you get there and get lowered to the correct level etc. Now all drops are pretty low and you don’t get much money etc – yet the travel costs are the same!.

Umbra.5180:

Would be nice to have a bind point or a free type of home town/base port, around once an hour cooldown.

We actually do have something like that, and it can be used as often as needed. Open up your PvP tab and go to the Mists. From there you can go through the Asura portal to Lion’s Arch. This costs nothing.

Of course, you can’t use this when you are dead, but it still helps transport costs considerably when you want to return to home base.

Well, seeya I guess. Waypoint costs really arent an issue.

roqoco.4053:

@ferguson “I tend to use the free portals or walk everywhere.” I do that somewhat too, but would be nice to have a few more gates like the one between Divinities Reach and Ebonhawke, particularly as then you wouldn’t have to follow the same routes so often.

I agree, I would like to see a few more free portals between major hubs. That would help defray some of the travel costs without having free waypoints everywhere.

MajorMelchett.6042:

I’d have no issue with the waypoint cost if it simply went by distance and not level.

I can fully understand it costing a few silver to go from Lion’s arch to Cursed shore (1 end of the world to the other), but i can’t understand how it costs a few silver to go from 1 waypoint to another within Cursed shore (the same zone).

It’s even worse if you want to go to a lower zone to help people out, you get there and get lowered to the correct level etc. Now all drops are pretty low and you don’t get much money etc – yet the travel costs are the same!.

This. At least limit the costs in low-level zones to the corresponding level range.

Pressing B and using WvW to zone to Lion’s Arch is free. That’s helped me a bit to defray costs.

I haven’t noticed the cost of waypoints since level 1 to about 20, to me this doens’t stop me from traveling around at all.

To me it’s not actually the cost (I am level 80), but the principle behind it. It’s like if they charged a dollar to vote: the money isn’t the issue, its that voting is supposed to be free.

If free travel was something that was innovative in GW1, then they should have kept that feature for GW2. Besides, is anyone seriously going to complain if the travel costs are made free? If they need more gold sinks to compensate, then raise repair costs. That way we lose money for our bad play, not for wanting to meet people.

FREE TRAVEL FOR ALL!

MeyaEnyo.2580:

I haven’t noticed the cost of waypoints since level 1 to about 20, to me this doens’t stop me from traveling around at all.

Wait till you’re 80 bud.