Guild Wars 2

What’s your favorite monthly update and why?
I think this topic will be fun and also good for ArenaNet to see what people like (maybe)

Mine was The Lost Shores.
why :
I know this is a difficult subject for some people but personally i don’t mind Ascended gear and i love the fractals dungeon. i also REALLY liked the way the lost shores event developed. it was a really living world on that weekend, the lag was a big issue for everyone but at the moments without lag it was a-ma-zing.

I would really like to see more events like the lost shores (without the lag ofcourse), the flame and frost story is ok, but to me it doesnt feel “alive” it developes once a month and for me it would be better if the whole story arc would have been in one month.

April.
It restored a lot of my faith in the company thanks to SAB. Instead of being a callous money-grabbing exercise, there was a LOT of content available of a unique flavour with great rewards attached (the SAB weapon skins; perfect for a Mesmer!).
And the things they DID add to the Gem Store were just straight-forward purchases, not gambles.

We need more of this kind of stuff and less crappy BLC oriented stuff.
I would regularly lay down cash in GW1 to “Reward” ArenaNet, as I knew exactly what I was getting when I spent money in the old store.

This April update was the first time I’d bought gems for real money since Halloween. If they manage to keep it up, I’ll keep giving them money.

If they regress to the bad old ways of selling you a random chance to own something cool with ridiculously low odds, I’ll stop spending money with them again.

I really liked Halloween and to a lesser degree Christmas.

I think they made too big a thing about the living world, so it was bound to be anticlimactic. Maybe this month will change that. One can hope.

I really liked the scavenger hunt sorta quest on Halloween, and the jumping puzzle too, even though I didn’t beat it. LIked the maze and the PvP as well.

October 22.
No changes for Ranger proffesion, promised significant changes for next patch.

November 15.
No significant changes, still waiting for them to this day.

Was fun

In terms of content updates I’m going to say Halloween and the latest frost and flame content update which includes super adventure box. I think these two had the most immersive gameplay for me. I actually rather enjoyed the story missions with Brahm and the … ummm.. charr lady kitten. (and I typed kitten as in young cat. Sheesh with these boards you never know.) I’ve forgotten her name. And of course Super Adventure Box was just a whole lotta fun much like the Mad King events. Not terribly story driven but something you can just take a moment or two to enjoy for what it is. The skins were kind of a grind after a while but meh, its a small issue.

Now in terms of class updates, as someone who plays ranger (or used to) none of them. Which is a shame as it really has cut into my enthusiasm for the game. I have a character and concept that I like but I’m unable to enjoy 70% of the content with him. So dungeons, WvW, PvP all just feel like a core with my ranger. There is only so much to do in overworld PvE before I’m all “oh look new shiney video game is out.” Which is kind of sad as Rangers aren’t even all THAT great in PvE. Just really tanky.

Halloween – I had a ton of fun with the different events, particularly the Mad King mini-dungeon. My only complaint was having the JP a non personal instance, but otherwise I loved all of the Halloween content.

The Super Adventure Box is pretty fun too, but for me it can’t quite compare with the greatness of the Mad King.

I was on hiatus from the game so I can’t speak for Wintersday. The living story…interesting in concept, but I haven’t been enamored with the storyline thus far. And Lost Shore…well, I did get some nice loot from the Ancient Karka but I did not have much fun doing the event. I just powered through it out of sheer stubborness, but it felt grindy and unfun.

Halloween > Wintersday > SAB > Lost Shores > F&F

The seasonal events were nice and I loved the change of atmosphere in LA. Although the lag fest and subsequent loot nerfs from the Lost Shores patch really kitten me off…I never had so much fun watching hundreds of people spontaneously drop dead from a barrel rolling karka. I don’t really care for fractals so I’m gonna pretend it doesn’t exist.

I enjoyed SAB like a whole lot. Thank you for making it a soloable dungeon! And for designing enemies that telegraph their moves and an awesome boss that isn’t a giant HP pinata. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a dungeon.

As for F&F…it’s been nothing but a disappointment. I know ANet is trying something new with the story instances, but they all boil down to rushing through waves after waves of enemies. It’s mindless and not engaging in any way. Less fighting and more story/character development please.

I liked the Christmas content. A bunch of stuff showing up in the world map, new content, stuff to do with friends or alone, changes to the scenery. It was really good!

I like the Living Story instance content, but the events going on outside the instances have been fairly dull and nothing feels like it’s changed, despite the story. I don’t feel drawn in. Hopefully that will change soon.

Wintersday > Halloween > SAB > Lost Shores >>>>>>>>>> F/F

Liked: Halloween , then SAB.

There rest range from disappointing (Wintersday totally lacked that festive feeling that GW Wintersdays have) to awful (Lost Shores / Ascended Gear – ruined the game).

I guess the ones not specifically mentioned here fall into “mediocre”, usually because they’re breaking something for every thing they fix, and the content is not interesting at all.

In terms of content, Halloween followed closely by April.

SAB gave me the PERFECT swords for my sylvari mesmer.