Guild Wars 2

Likewise I’ve never seen anyone complain about auras.

They seems more occupated to create new outfits that cost 9 euros than improving or balancing the game.

ive never bought a single outfit in this game and i refuse to do so simply because they arent armors. i cant mix different peices together. if i could i would buy em

agreed, the new effects are simply embarrassing…
Anet should be ashamed.

I rarely post on here but could you please just stop? What was an awesome fire shield is now a fire egg potato thing. Fireball is ridiculous and looks out of place. Give people the option to dial down the spell effects and revert all of these changes. This is kittening stupid. You’re turning a visually stunning game into gross potato 2.

Arenanet, you will NOT receive so much as a single kittening dollar in gem purchases from me until you revert this horrible, disgusting BULLkitten visual nerf back to the previous version.
NOT. ONE. SINGLE. DOLLAR.
I encourage everyone else that’s similarly feed up to make the same promise.

Hirosama Nadasaki.6792:

It’s not a terrible thought at all, ignoring the major playerbase is the worst thing they could do, and the sooner they snap awake from this demented delusion the better.

I wish I could have foreseen these visual nerfs before investing so much time & money into GW2, but I never dreamt that superb graphics art would actually be removed from this game. We were given a lot of new content with Heart of Thorns, but much was taken away too in terms of rewards & salvaging materials… I could have lived with that, but stripping my characters of their powers visual appeal is something I cannot accept or tolerate.

Hopefully, Arena Net will come to their senses, but until then I’ll put GW2 on hold & devote my gaming time to Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, and Mad Max.

WTF!!! Do they really think someone will take this game seriously, when all the effects look like from 90s?! Any new player that joins for free to see the game won’t even think about buying it. I wouldn’t if I saw visual effects like that in 2015. Not worth the price. It’s hard to enjoy the game now. I really start to consider switching to a better looking game, even though my heart breaks, as I really do love GW2.

It’s obvious now after they double downed on this visual vomit despite all the upset players on this forum that posting here is useless. I encourage everyone who is upset with these changes to take our plight out into the rest of the Internet. Mock these changes on YouTube, twitter, instagram, and anywhere else. Lets see if we can get some attention from the reviewer scene. If we can be ignored here, lets see if they will ignore the negative publicity.
I got several friends on board with the launch of HoT, hey its free now to try. They got hooked right away and bought the expansion. I am now absolutely embarrassed that I ever mentioned it. I can’t even play the game now, it’s too absurd to enjoy. I was almost to the point of getting ley line mastery, but I don’t even want to log in now. I am going to enjoy some of the holiday new releases for a while and hope anet comes to their senses. When I am done with FO4 and a few other new games I will check to see if the game is playable again, otherwise will start the refund process. This is not the game I bought 3 years ago, and it’s certainly not the expansion I just dropped $100 bucks on. This is bargain bin garbage at best.

Possibly what makes me the angriest is that I actually did the stupidest thing of dropping the insane amount of $50 dollars for a bloody EXPANSION (at the time I did so the entire witcher trilogy was $45 on Steam, and I STILL trusted Anet so blindly), and some people spent even more on it, and now we’ve just been the target of a blatant bait and switch.
The only think keeping me in this game right now is my dear friends, and even so I find myself playing Skyforge more than I play GW2.

When I read the patch notes, I couldn’t believe it. After all the negativity on the visual clutter issue they reduce effects even more? That is just terrible. Especially as elementalist I feel now as if I am playing a total different class than two years ago.
With the Auras they really overdid it. They might look better and you are better visible but there is on big Problem:
YOU CAN’T SEE IF YOU HAVE AN AURA ACTIVE!
I could live with the new design if it wasn’t this extreme transparent.
But in the End when I look at all the other visual nerfs there is only one thing to say: Why is there no slider or other option to customize this by your own? It makes absolutely no sense to how these changes are forced on us.
Give us back our beautiful animations!

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns/user-reviews

You need to express your dissatisfaction in places like these, not the forums.

Daharahj.1325:

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns/user-reviews

You need to express your dissatisfaction in places like these, not the forums.

You should express them on both.

Liewec.2896:

agreed, the new effects are simply embarrassing…
Anet should be ashamed.

Absolutely. I don’t understand what they are doing right now with this game: Broken WvW, visual nerfs, ascended armor prices – and I even PAID them 50 bucks for HoT!!! I am asking myself why!!?!

Everyone knows that the real “End Game” of Guild Wars 2 is looking good.
Skins, auras, weapons, outfits, color coordination, these are the real marks of an end-game player.

So then, why do they keep destroying the visual appeal?

The game was launched with a ‘painterly’ style. The map, the UI, the cut-scenes, it all has a very beautiful style that displays the talent and passion of the artists at work.

So then why would they remove some of the best looking skill effects?

Honestly, this is a terrifying set of changes.
I now have a very real fear that the game I love is sick and dying, as I watch the things I adore about GW2 slowly be cut-out and discarded.

I get that Anet couldn’t care less what customers want because we just gave them our money. I hardly doubt that these changes happening some weeks after HoT-release is a coincidence. “We have their money now, so we can screw them hard!”

I mean seriously: One of the most discussed topics on the forums + topics in classforums full of players being concerned and angry about those visual noise nonsense. And not only does Anet lack answers to those topics they even seem to intentionally mock players by just nerfing further on.

I can hardly think of a more obvious sign of “We don’t care!”

And what makes it all even more rediculous is that the changes do not address the problem at all! Because as said before to effectively reduce visual clutter the scaling explosion/burning/whatever effects on the enemy have to be reduced. That would make an impact and would even make sense!
But totally ruining the animation of projectiles and ground effects doesn’t make any sense! NOT ANY! It just ruins the game and makes people disapointed, sad and angry!

I really would like to know what they are smoking over there. Maybe I can get some for me so i can at least imagine the missing animations if i ever manage to reach this Anet-level of madness! -.-

I am disheartened at both the continuing visual nerfing despite the evident unhappiness in the community and the total lack of communication on this issue.

I have always thought that skill effects and animations were not good enough in this game compared to magical flashy Korean grinders, and the nerf to fireball, mesmer wells and now even auras is beyond my understanding. The game looks outdated enough on high-resolution screens already because of the ancient engine — why make it look even worse?

Ridiculous changes. What is even more ridiculous is that they have yet to respond to numerous complaints. If they continue with this behavior and don’t revert these changes I will be moving to a different game. As of now, I have completely lost interest in playing a game whose direction is dictated by people who are so out of touch with the player base and changing spell effects that have been in the game for years. Add a graphic option to lower spell effects or revert all these recent changes.

Ain’t they, Anet, gems of creativity and common sense? I don’t mean to insult, but if you found insulting, be known that the words form themselves, naturally.

Lishtenbird.2814:

I am disheartened at both the continuing visual nerfing despite the evident unhappiness in the community and the total lack of communication on this issue.

I have always thought that skill effects and animations were not good enough in this game compared to magical flashy Korean grinders, and the nerf to fireball, mesmer wells and now even auras is beyond my understanding. The game looks outdated enough on high-resolution screens already because of the ancient engine — why make it look even worse?

Exactly. I always thought for example that Elementalist’s Lighting Strike should be updated to a new animation, because it always looked really crappy visually. Now I lost hope and they will propably make it even more crappy and barely visible, because they want to destroy the beauty of the game for no reason.

VaderCookie.8137:

Elementalist

• “Wash the Pain Away!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Flash-Freeze!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Feel the Burn!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• The following skills have had their effects replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise: Frost Aura, Magnetic Aura, Shocking Aura, and Fire Shield.

Mesmer

• Chaos Armor: The visual effects have been replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise.

Necromancer

• Executioner’s Scythe: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.

Lets see how many other skills were reduced and not listed in the patch notes.

What the heck!?

More with the visual noise? How about the darn audio noise? Do I have to hear all this yammering from my character every 3 seconds? If they wanna nerf something, nerf that.

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam. Let me play in relative peace without wanting to gouge out my eardrums, or having to turn off my speakers because of repetitive actual NOISE.

Incredible. Skills that barely have an effect are being nerfed now. Auras look sooo bad its funny.

And Anet had a solution to all this. A solution that dozens of games have used before. A solution that would have appeased nearly every group of players. Optional toggles to reduce 1) All graphic, 2) Others’ graphics, or 3) No graphics.

Problem solved. Those who have problems seeing beyond spells can reduce graphics, starting with others and extending to their own if desired. Then again, this was said the first day they talked about reducing visual noise.

Siobhan.5273:

VaderCookie.8137:

Elementalist

• “Wash the Pain Away!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Flash-Freeze!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Feel the Burn!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• The following skills have had their effects replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise: Frost Aura, Magnetic Aura, Shocking Aura, and Fire Shield.

Mesmer

• Chaos Armor: The visual effects have been replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise.

Necromancer

• Executioner’s Scythe: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.

Lets see how many other skills were reduced and not listed in the patch notes.

What the heck!?

More with the visual noise? How about the darn audio noise? Do I have to hear all this yammering from my character every 3 seconds? If they wanna nerf something, nerf that.

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam. Let me play in relative peace without wanting to gouge out my eardrums, or having to turn off my speakers because of repetitive actual NOISE.

Oh, please don’t let this be the only thing anet reads in this whole discussion. With their current level of common sense the next patch will say “Removed all sound effects and voice overs from game due to player distraction”

Game of the day! Find Frost Aura on the screen. No? Yeah? No. I don’t see it neither.

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam.

Or those shouts. The new ones are totally narm, overly complex, situational, like something a child would consider “epic” after he sees a superhero cartoon. When repeated 1000 times while you play a shout build in a new multiple hour HoT map, that sounds just awful.

Taigen Raine.8752:

Siobhan.5273:

VaderCookie.8137:

Elementalist

• “Wash the Pain Away!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Flash-Freeze!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• “Feel the Burn!”: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.
• The following skills have had their effects replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise: Frost Aura, Magnetic Aura, Shocking Aura, and Fire Shield.

Mesmer

• Chaos Armor: The visual effects have been replaced with a new version to reduce visual noise.

Necromancer

• Executioner’s Scythe: Reduced the visual noise on the effects associated with this skill.

Lets see how many other skills were reduced and not listed in the patch notes.

What the heck!?

More with the visual noise? How about the darn audio noise? Do I have to hear all this yammering from my character every 3 seconds? If they wanna nerf something, nerf that.

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam. Let me play in relative peace without wanting to gouge out my eardrums, or having to turn off my speakers because of repetitive actual NOISE.

Oh, please don’t let this be the only thing anet reads in this whole discussion. With their current level of common sense the next patch will say “Removed all sound effects and voice overs from game due to player distraction”

heh, you’re likely right, let me rephrase this..

ANet, try to be REASONABLE in your nerfs.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam.

Or those shouts. The new ones are totally narm, overly complex, situational, like something a child would consider “epic” after he sees a superhero cartoon. When repeated 1000 times while you play a shout build in a new multiple hour HoT map, that sounds just awful.

Exactly.

Agreed ANET will not receive another dollar from me until this is rectified. QUIT nerfing effects for the sake of crappy esports!

All your doing ANET is alienating your player base more and more…..sad. IF people were not into visuals we would not be buying dyes and awesome looking legendary items and choosing classes as well sometimes based partly in how cool they perform visually in game. Not to mention alot of the items in your gem store are based on visuals not just functionality.

So not one more penny from me until some of these so called visual adjustments are reverted.

I’ve actually found myself tweeting to their twitter account my disappointment with their lack of any acknowledgement on this issue. Please, Anet, respond to the community about this.

And I thought Anet really do listen to its community… I feel deceived. They simply do not care that thousands of people are unhappy, just not everyone is posting it here. They just log off and go play other games saving their dignity.

The auras were one of the most beautiful aspects of the graphics engine! Now they suck! STOP DOING THIS ARENANET!

This is such kitten! I’m so disgusted with the graphics changes. This can simply be an individual user’s option to tone down effects. It doesn’t have to be done to EVERYBODY!

STUPID. STUPID. STUPID!

I have to admit, this one surprised me. While I understand people being unhappy with crashes due to the intense graphics, those people have the option of tuning down their own graphics.

Instead, ANet tuned down everyone else’s?

Really? Wow. Just … wow.

iriyabran.6218:

I am chronically and seriously ill since I was 16 and atm I’m pretty much also homeless.

And I’m saying this cause even my own life doesn’t disgust me at the moment as much as this aura effects nerf.

Gw2 was my only safe refuge, my only escape but it’s been nothing but brutal disappointments one after another since HoT.

It broke my heart to read that. I’m really sorry. I’m a dedicated volunteer to help the homeless and ill, so let me know if you will ever need anything.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Nerf the “Violets, not violence”. Nerf the “Get some water from the dolyaks, and put out those fires!” audio spam.

Or those shouts. The new ones are totally narm, overly complex, situational, like something a child would consider “epic” after he sees a superhero cartoon. When repeated 1000 times while you play a shout build in a new multiple hour HoT map, that sounds just awful.

On this point, I love my shouts. I love hearing “Feel the burn!” “Aftershock!”

But at the same time, it’s embarrassing to think other people are hearing that. I would love an option so only I can hear my shouts.

Just gonna copy my thread over to this one:

I don’t understand why they keep nerfing visuals like ele fireball and auras but then go to increase the visuals of some legendaries to extreme lightbulb mode.

What is the point of “reducing visual noise” if you are also increasing it. I may still just be mad about the fireball nerf but this just makes no sense to me.

I am pretty sure they are aware of this thread more and more now. I also sent a tweet to them about this and on facebook. And I am sure we will see some action taken to fix the unhappiness they have caused(or so we can hope)

Talrune.5130:

I am pretty sure they are aware of this thread more and more now. I also sent a tweet to them about this and on facebook. And I am sure we will see some action taken to fix the unhappiness they have caused(or so we can hope)

lol

I guess you’re not basing that on their response to the uproar the new desert BL caused in wvw.

LunarWind.1659:

Everyone knows that the real “End Game” of Guild Wars 2 is looking good. Skins, auras, weapons, outfits, color coordination, these are the real marks of an end-game player. So then, why do they keep destroying the visual appeal?

The game was launched with a ‘painterly’ style. The map, the UI, the cut-scenes, it all has a very beautiful style that displays the talent and passion of the artists at work. So then why would they remove some of the best looking skill effects?

Honestly, this is a terrifying set of changes.
I now have a very real fear that the game I love is sick and dying, as I watch the things I adore about GW2 slowly be cut-out and discarded.

Apparently the people in charge don’t understand the importance of keeping the former beautiful special effects. I am certainly not getting a substantial reward by getting a few exotic drops daily and an ascended chest every two to three months.

Stripping the visual appeal from GW2 doesn’t leave much else for many considering most players post level 80 are striving for a superior & unique appearance in the form of flashy weapons, armor, and effects. This is exactly why people invest so much time & money into obtaining a legendary and earning gold for gem store attire. How can Arena Net not be aware of this?

Like others, I find the timing for these visual nerfs very suspicious… after Heart of Thorns was released… after months of bombarding us with how cool elite profession combat skills & powers would be… only to have them taken away shortly afterwards. It’s both sad & infuriating.

If only they gave us the option to choose what visual changes we can select—- I don’t think anyone would have complained about it. Here’s a sample of what I had in mind… for options, I didn’t have much time to do it, but as long as the general idea gets across.

Anet,

Isn’t it about time for a response on this thread? This is affecting the morale of your customers and in the end that affects your profit through customer retention and gem store purchases. To be blunt, avoiding this thread for so long is unprofessional and inexplicable. This is the first place you want to resolve issues like these, before they get out into the wider world via other forums. Ignoring this just doesn’t make any business sense. I, like many others, care about this game. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother to discuss this point time and again, as objectively as I can. There is a clear failure of customer relations in this forum and I cannot believe that you are unaware of this. If there is no-one on staff with the training or time to manage this forum and provide at least the impression that you’re listening, hire somebody – even temporarily. Hire an intern and introduce them with the disclaimer that they’re only learning, that they might make mistakes but at least you’re providing a point of contact. The player base will, I’m sure, accept and appreciate the effort. Your customers just want engagement with you. Again, I can’t believe I’m saying anything you’re not already aware of and I cannot guess at the reasons why you keep silent when it’s detrimental to your business, and when some simple customer expectation management – for which there is ample training and resources out there – would benefit your business. Your players don’t expect you to be omnipotent or infallible. They want to help you grow this game. Sometimes they will disagree on your directions but avoiding that discussion isn’t going to make the problem go away, not here and not in any other avenue of life.

Elliyana.8936:

If only they gave us the option to choose what visual changes we can select—- I don’t think anyone would have complained about it. Here’s a sample of what I had in mind… for options, I didn’t have much time to do it, but as long as the general idea gets across.

That’s a very good idea. I hope that they implement the sliders and keep the original effects. Part of what makes this game so fun is all the flashy effects.

I’m not suprised by this they continue to disappoint me with their nerfs to my favorite classes. They seem to not have a problem with giving legendaries pretty effects while taking away from others. By next year this game will look like guild wars 1 and all specializations will nerfed to the ground I can almost guarantee that. Also, I don’t expect a response from them I hardly ever see a response from them.

I have to agree, these changes are simply wrong.

If you must nerf the visuals for PvP then why not have two sets, one for PvP (minimal), and one for PvE/WvW (normal).

Still no response…

Earlier this afternoon I stumbled upon a player in LA with an Anet tag. I made my disappointment known to him/her. The following image is the convo I had with him/her.
(Sorry about the poor quality, only have kittenty old MS Paint to work with)

The Greyhawk.9107:

Earlier this afternoon I stumbled upon a player in LA with an Anet tag. I made my disappointment known to him/her. The following image is the convo I had with him/her.
(Sorry about the poor quality, only have kittenty old MS Paint to work with)

I’m sorry to say that your approach was a little ..heavy handed. As the poor guy said several times, he’s not responsible for the issue and he handled the conversation very peacefully all things considered. It would probably be more effective to befriend anet devs if you see them in-game. Getting them on your side makes them more likely to champion your causes, rather than frightening them from entering the game. But I understand your frustration. It’s not easy finding the right way to explain that frustration to the person who is (seemingly) responsible. If you see him, or another dev again, try to win him over. Get them to see you as a person, and not a credit card number or player alias. It’s worth it.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Earlier this afternoon I stumbled upon a player in LA with an Anet tag. I made my disappointment known to him/her. The following image is the convo I had with him/her.
(Sorry about the poor quality, only have kittenty old MS Paint to work with)

I’m sorry to say that your approach was a little ..heavy handed. As the poor guy said several times, he’s not responsible for the issue and he handled the conversation very peacefully all things considered. It would probably be more effective to befriend anet devs if you see them in-game. Getting them on your side makes them more likely to champion your causes, rather than frightening them from entering the game. But I understand your frustration. It’s not easy finding the right way to explain that frustration to the person who is (seemingly) responsible. If you see him, or another dev again, try to win him over. It’s worth it.

Nope. Already tried that bullkitten. Doesn’t work with these guys.

This thread has more views than the PvP league on Twitch. Why have we not received a response yet?

The Greyhawk.9107:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

The Greyhawk.9107:

Earlier this afternoon I stumbled upon a player in LA with an Anet tag. I made my disappointment known to him/her. The following image is the convo I had with him/her.
(Sorry about the poor quality, only have kittenty old MS Paint to work with)

I’m sorry to say that your approach was a little ..heavy handed. As the poor guy said several times, he’s not responsible for the issue and he handled the conversation very peacefully all things considered. It would probably be more effective to befriend anet devs if you see them in-game. Getting them on your side makes them more likely to champion your causes, rather than frightening them from entering the game. But I understand your frustration. It’s not easy finding the right way to explain that frustration to the person who is (seemingly) responsible. If you see him, or another dev again, try to win him over. It’s worth it.

Nope. Already tried that bullkitten. Doesn’t work with these guys.

I don’t doubt that you have, but it’s not going to be a quick process winning hearts and minds.. and it’s not up to you alone. We should all befriend the devs if we see them. (Adopt a dev today! lol)

And before you mistake me for a white knight, my goal is the same as yours: to improve a game I enjoy. I just think a full frontal assault isn’t going to work in this case. Just my 2 coppers.