Guild Wars 2

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few. You did the right thing on reducing the Hero points. Thank you.

Gilburt.9146:

IndigoSundown.5419:

You were having a lot of fun doing Hero Challenges, getting satisfaction from finding them and completing them. How is that gone? Could it be that the activity itself was not fun, just the reward?

Yeah, they should just remove all rewards from everything, because rewards aren’t satisfying at all. Rewards/achievements aren’t satisfying at all. We should just start with everything unlocked. Would not ruin the game at all… I said the satisfaction of seeking them out was gone, not that the game-play wasn’t fun.

Actually, I believe this would be a better game without so much focus on reward, but then it wouldn’t really be an MMO. I hope that Raids and Masteries provide the sense of accomplishment you want. I’m fully behind the idea that obtaining whatever is gated behind those is time-consuming.

ANet now realizes its mistake with Elite Specs, which was in not being clear how much it would take to unlock one. They’ve compromised. Unfortunately for you, it means you have shift your sense of accomplishment elsewhere.

I’m in favor of the change, though I don’t think they’ve gone far enough. Exploration should be something for solo play, not herd play. Unfortunately, it will probably take months with many complaints about no one wanting to come help with the one-and-done HC’s for ANet to realize that. I’m not saying they should be easy, but they should be possible to solo — and not just by those who can solo a dungeon.

I kinda had the feeling calling them “Elite” was going to give the wrong impression for a system of horizontal progression. I mean who could have predicted that would make people think they’re supposed to be superior to standard choices?

((facepalm))

After running around most of the night yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Hero Point adjustment is a good thing. Before it felt like a chore to earn enough points to unlock even a single skill/ability. Now it feels like I’m making reasonable progress.

In other words, it’s fun again.

As someone with multiple characters, some who barely had any surplus points when HoT launched, this will help a great deal. Masteries are still a grind, but since Masteries are account wide I can accept that they take a while, and it’s not that bad once you’ve got the basic ones. Plus I can casually earn Mastery XP while I’m working on the Hero Points.

I feel like I deserve a title for having done it before the change

IndigoSundown.5419:

Gilburt.9146:

IndigoSundown.5419:

You were having a lot of fun doing Hero Challenges, getting satisfaction from finding them and completing them. How is that gone? Could it be that the activity itself was not fun, just the reward?

Yeah, they should just remove all rewards from everything, because rewards aren’t satisfying at all. Rewards/achievements aren’t satisfying at all. We should just start with everything unlocked. Would not ruin the game at all… I said the satisfaction of seeking them out was gone, not that the game-play wasn’t fun.

Actually, I believe this would be a better game without so much focus on reward, but then it wouldn’t really be an MMO. I hope that Raids and Masteries provide the sense of accomplishment you want. I’m fully behind the idea that obtaining whatever is gated behind those is time-consuming.

ANet now realizes its mistake with Elite Specs, which was in not being clear how much it would take to unlock one. They’ve compromised. Unfortunately for you, it means you have shift your sense of accomplishment elsewhere.

I’m in favor of the change, though I don’t think they’ve gone far enough. Exploration should be something for solo play, not herd play. Unfortunately, it will probably take months with many complaints about no one wanting to come help with the one-and-done HC’s for ANet to realize that. I’m not saying they should be easy, but they should be possible to solo — and not just by those who can solo a dungeon.

There are people that don’t like doing raids or PvP(any type of PvP, including WvW, but then again, PvP automatically had the Elites unlocked so that’s a no go). There’s another thing that most players are forgetting, it was not intended for us, the players, to use the Elite Specs on the FIRST play through of HoT, that is why the original cost was so high(which I knew long before since I paid attention when they stated that the ~200 HP you would have left over from World Completion would only unlock half the ES). It’s quite apparent that most people don’t know how to think and read anymore, nor listen and comprehend…Colin was only partially correct in saying the cost wasn’t well stated before hand, it was, just no one listened and grasped the significance of the information being spit out.

Nilix.2170:

I feel like I deserve a title for having done it before the change

Sure, how about “The Lifeless”? jk

Nilix.2170:

I feel like I deserve a title for having done it before the change

I agree, anyone who is willing to hunt down every single HP point does deserve some form of recognition. Whether it be a skin or title.

Zaklex.6308:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Gilburt.9146:

IndigoSundown.5419:

You were having a lot of fun doing Hero Challenges, getting satisfaction from finding them and completing them. How is that gone? Could it be that the activity itself was not fun, just the reward?

Yeah, they should just remove all rewards from everything, because rewards aren’t satisfying at all. Rewards/achievements aren’t satisfying at all. We should just start with everything unlocked. Would not ruin the game at all… I said the satisfaction of seeking them out was gone, not that the game-play wasn’t fun.

Actually, I believe this would be a better game without so much focus on reward, but then it wouldn’t really be an MMO. I hope that Raids and Masteries provide the sense of accomplishment you want. I’m fully behind the idea that obtaining whatever is gated behind those is time-consuming.

ANet now realizes its mistake with Elite Specs, which was in not being clear how much it would take to unlock one. They’ve compromised. Unfortunately for you, it means you have shift your sense of accomplishment elsewhere.

I’m in favor of the change, though I don’t think they’ve gone far enough. Exploration should be something for solo play, not herd play. Unfortunately, it will probably take months with many complaints about no one wanting to come help with the one-and-done HC’s for ANet to realize that. I’m not saying they should be easy, but they should be possible to solo — and not just by those who can solo a dungeon.

There are people that don’t like doing raids or PvP(any type of PvP, including WvW, but then again, PvP automatically had the Elites unlocked so that’s a no go). There’s another thing that most players are forgetting, it was not intended for us, the players, to use the Elite Specs on the FIRST play through of HoT, that is why the original cost was so high(which I knew long before since I paid attention when they stated that the ~200 HP you would have left over from World Completion would only unlock half the ES). It’s quite apparent that most people don’t know how to think and read anymore, nor listen and comprehend…Colin was only partially correct in saying the cost wasn’t well stated before hand, it was, just no one listened and grasped the significance of the information being spit out.

Doubtless you have a link proving that assertion.

ScribeTheMad.7614:

One of the biggest problems ArenaNet has, is they use known terms from gaming without considering the implications.

They called it Elite, and wanted people to grind for it.
Elitists see the term “elite” and latch onto it “Oh Em Gee guyz it’s an elite spek onee 5 peecent of popuulation shud eevr be able to urn it!!!!11!oneone”

You think I’m exaggerating, or just mocking people.
I’m not.
I’ve had several people straight up tell me that most players should never be able to unlock it because “it’s an elite spec”

It’s just a word, used to describe a new traitline and weapon unlock.
And somehow being able to zerg enough hero points makes it special?
No, not really, just really time consuming

They used the term (imo) more to be able to justify limiting you to only one of the new spec lines for balance reasons (yay esports) than any sense of it truly being “elite”.

Because if it were truly elite it would need to be more powerful, and if more power is directly gated behind the expack then the expack is pay to win.
(because buying it gives you a numerical advantage over someone who has not)

People need to take a step back and stop applying other games definitions of terms to every other game that uses it.
Why aren’t elite specs only for the elite players
Why aren’t rares rare
Why aren’t exotics exotic
etc

I feel like I should repost this, because all the hardcore people who are flying off the handle over this just reaffirms that post. The elite spec is simply an additional trait line. The reduced HP requirement makes it much more accessible to those with numerous alts and allows them to explore the new world with a functional, more complete build early on so they aren’t running around the jungle with a mostly empty trait line.

This isn’t a slippery slope where suddenly Anet is gonna start handing out legendaries to everyone because they aren’t. There are still tons of hard-to-reach rewards for hardcore players to spend countless hours hunting in order to inflate their ego further. Plus, there are still raids coming out, and if I’m not mistaken Anet has even said that they are aware that not everyone will be able to do raids and that they are actually okay with that. Fractal levels are also being raised to 100, how about that?

Players should be able to experience most of the new content WITH their new specializations. It didn’t make any sense to have them fully unlocked at the END of all the new content. There are still plenty of rewards to achieve, the 250 HP requirement is a good compromise. I don’t think new specializations were meant to be the “challenging content” Anet was talking about. I’m guessing that’s what raids and higher level fractals are gonna be.

Tommyknocker.6089:

PopeUrban.2578:

Runiir.6425:

As has been said multiple times, don’t call it elite. It is not “elite”. Elite is a title given to an alpha class, as in…if you are a reaper you will slaughter every single individual in PvP that isn’t also an elite of some kind without even trying. THAT is elite. This is nothing more than another option, that frankly shouldn’t cost a single HP more than any other spec line.

It’s not elite because it makes you OP. It’s elite because of the level of what it grants you compared to core specs. It’s elite because you would be OP if you could take two of them at the same time.

It’s an “elite specialization” not a “specialization that makes you elite”

Now all you need to do is tell all the others this gem. I have been trying all day to tell players that it is not intended to make you a god of the <insert X class here> but it seems many still call it an elite thinking it is so.

I still think another term would have been better though. I just call it your specialization now.

Edit: also what Bhima said.

Oh I KNOW it is just another way to play your class. My problem is the nomenclature “elite” means the highest tier, the alpha level, limited in number. As they have repeatedly drummed us about them not being any stronger or more powerful than other specializations, they are not elite. Using one doesn’t make you elite.

The reality is, that this alternate specialization (seriously, alternate, advanced, enhanced, or additional would have worked so much better than elite) is horizontal in theory. Meaning it doesn’t add any actual power to your character, just more options. Seeing as while you level up you get more options that always cost the same, there is no reason or point for these ones to cost any differently, or even be handled any differently. They grant you access to a weapon while they are equipped, Alright, for THAT yes, sure, lets have the first unlock cost more. The skins and runes? These should cost more (hell make them cost 100 for the skins (weapon/armor piece) and 100 for the set of runes. The actual skills and such though? Are just more options theoretically with no real power boost/increase and thus should cost the exact same as every other spec line/utility line IMO.

We already have the mastery (linking this to map was a horrible choice, if the new maps were truly better/more interesting we would do it there anyway so no reason to lock this) as unlocking things others don’t have access to without doing the same thing, so little reason to gate things even more.

Mind you, I despize gating content anyway, I like to alt and experiment with builds, gating things harshly destroys the ability to actually try out things under various circumstances. 400HPx9? Extremely ridiculous. 250HPx9? A whole lot more manageable. Especially when you add in how little people will be doing those group HP challenges in HoT after the initial zerg is done. Something every MMOer has learned regarding open world content in ANY game, not just GW2…counting on other people to show up and help is horrible game design unless those people will be rewarded for the effort. HPs only reward you once. Frankly the events in HoT don’t even reward you that well. You are rewarded better in Tyria for staying and completing an event than you are in HoT. HoT events need tuned so if you only tag and run on, you get rewarded almost nothing, if you stay and fight till the end you are rewarded well. Currently you get more exp if you run around the map tagging events and moving on to just let them fail. You earn more exp/hour for your mastery this way and that is quite a problem I would like to be looked at next.

kankanKk.2748:

I agree reduce to 250hp, but why nerf the hp difficulty.
Most of the hp become veteran, a party can zerg around the map.
Where is the challenging endgame content???

Raids. Soon™

TheUnknownw.4293:

Everyone complaining about 400 being too much. Tell you what, i was happy with 400. I felt i was going for something, not just click and boom everything is done. I was woking towards something.
Stop nerfing stuff because average low skilled players can not do it. Really, if you wanna do something endgame, you should work for it, and i dont mean grind, i mean you have to get good and do stuff which requires skill.
All devs should understand that there are a lot more of negative posts because every player who can not do something because he is incapable of doing it and doesnt want to learn to do it will come and complain to get stuff “for free”/easy way. Players that are having a good time and are working towards hard content and so on dont have time to come and complain, they stay in game and play, they get better and they manage to do what they want.

It requires no more skill than levelling up in any other MMO to get an elite spec. I concur with other posters that the word “elite” just masks a basic progression path. People found it too time consuming and alt unfriendly.

Levelling is not something players can’t do.

Hey I know I’m kinda late to the party, busy week and all. But I wanted to say THANK YOU to Anet for listening to their fanbase and lowering the HP needed for the elite specs to 250.

250 seems like a good and fair balance and it gives people options to choose how they want to unlock their elite spec, either by 100% completing vanilla Tyria or by playing HoT, instead of having to do both (though if I’m not mistaken central Tyria only gives you ~214 HP so you still need to do some HoT for your elite spec, but that’s fine!).

It’s also a good change for the altoholics among us (myself included, I have a character for each class!). Getting 250 HP on all my characters will still take me a lot of time but that’s fine, at least it won’t be such an insane grind anymore as it was going to be back when elite specs costed 400 HP.

So once again, THANK YOU ANET! Thanks for listening to your fans!

radioAspen.6829:

This is such a lovely change. Right choice, anet.

Agreed 1000%