Guild Wars 2

Xyvol.1265:

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if a disable option is implemented or not. The people talking down to you are jerks and bullies, and they will continue to be so regardless. Hide mastery level, they will use something else. Maybe not having a Legendary or whatever new armor piece came out yesterday. Whenever they say something judgmental and stupid, ignore, block, or have your character point and laugh at them.

Except legendary weapons and gear that just came out yesterday mean nothing. Anyone with money can get a legendary weapon, and if you can acquire gear in one day it can’t be that special. Whereas even multiple people in this thread have claimed that Mastery and AP supposedly tell you how experienced someone is.

How about you let me deal with what happens if they still harass me after being able to hide certain things about my character.

ProtoGunner.4953:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Amaimon.7823:

“the only people who hide stuff have something to hide”
- hidden man

In any case, AP and Mastery Level tells you less than absolutely nothing about anyone. If you are kicked from a party based on AP or ML, then assume the latter is so stupid you never wanted to be in a party with them, anyway

Pretty much this. If someone is judging a player based on this, they don’t really understand the game themselves and will prolly hold you back.

Wrong, low AP usually reflects bad playing. But it isn’t a must. I don’t care about AP but usually if people have low AP they are significantly worse in dungeon runs than ppl with a couple of thousand AP.

Nah, that poster is right. If you gave me someone with 3000 AP and someone with 6000 AP and the later was putting forth that they should kick anyone with under 5k AP, I would kick the later, because while they both might play badly, the later already proved their ignorance.

While it’s true someone with very low AP is probaly inexperienced, it’s also true that someone that puts a high value on AP doesn’t understand the game either because half of it can come from solely doing dailies while high end content gives very few in comparison.

Anyhow, on the matter at hand, I do think you should be able to hide various things including AP simply for the sake of privacy, not because people are going to be jerks or whatnot but because it should just be a choice.

I judge people based purely on their appearances. Meaning if they have ugly armor or weapon skins, I don’t associate with them at all. I might even be a jerk about it.

Are you going to ask for a way to hide your appearances to thwart people like me?

No, you’re going to tell me I’m an idiot because my opinion doesn’t equal fact. It’s the same exact thing with Mastery Points, AP, or anything else in this casual game. GW2 is not based around numbers and gear; therefore, a metric like item level – which lets you judge whether people can perform at a glance – is not needed. There’s no way to know whether someone can play their class or execute fight mechanics at a glance; you must see them in action. At best, low MP/AP serves as a “warning signal”, but as long as you have any Masteries required for a fight, you’re fine.

You’re asking for the option, but as others have said, it doesn’t solve the problem you’re having. An option that doesn’t solve anything is a useless option.

Corax.7381:

I judge people based purely on their appearances. Meaning if they have ugly armor or weapon skins, I don’t associate with them at all. I might even be a jerk about it.

Are you going to ask for a way to hide your appearances to thwart people like me?

No, you’re going to tell me I’m an idiot because my opinion doesn’t equal fact. It’s the same exact thing with Mastery Points, AP, or anything else in this casual game. GW2 is not based around numbers and gear; therefore, a metric like item level – which lets you judge whether people can perform at a glance – is not needed. There’s no way to know whether someone can play their class or execute fight mechanics at a glance; you must see them in action. At best, low MP/AP serves as a “warning signal”, but as long as you have any Masteries required for a fight, you’re fine.

You’re asking for the option, but as others have said, it doesn’t solve the problem you’re having. An option that doesn’t solve anything is a useless option.

Well to that my answer is what ArchonWing said:

ArchonWing.9480:

Anyhow, on the matter at hand, I do think you should be able to hide various things including AP simply for the sake of privacy, not because people are going to be jerks or whatnot but because it should just be a choice.

You can yell over and over that hiding certain things won’t stop people, but you still forget that there’s a startling lack of privacy options. I don’t care about the ~~~meta-game~~~ (i.e. Lots of Damage Fast all the time), I don’t do raids, I’ve done fractals and dungeons occasionally if I wanted a specific item, but I always explicitly stated in the LFG thing that it was meant to be done at a leisurely pace because I don’t like rushing through content. Certain things, like my mastery level and AP, have no bearing on my experience in the content I play. I’ve played since the game came out, and have a full understanding of my classes and their roles (when I do take part in content with other people that aren’t friends). I don’t believe my mastery level or AP should define me, so I don’t want them to be visible on my character. Make your judgements based on my performance, not what you think my performance will be based on an arbitrary number.

And of course, before anyone comes to me to say AP isn’t arbitrary, consider this: Someone could have AP over 10,000+ or something, but have never stepped foot in a dungeon. But you’ll assume they’re super experienced with dungeons because they have a high AP. There’s very little correlation.

SmirkDog.3160:

You can yell over and over that hiding certain things won’t stop people, but you still forget that there’s a startling lack of privacy options

Startling? You must be extremely new to MMO’s. Most games don’t allow you to hide ANYTHING. The fact that you gear isn’t displayed (or your stats), in itself is something 99% of other MMO’s don’t allow other players to do.

I don’t care about the ~~~meta-game~~~

Then don’t care about it? No one even brought it up.

(i.e. Lots of Damage Fast all the time)

Chrono tank? Bunker ele? Celestial builds? Those have all been meta, and neither of those are max dps. Just look at druids.

I don’t do raids, I’ve done fractals and dungeons occasionally if I wanted a specific item, but I always explicitly stated in the LFG thing that it was meant to be done at a leisurely pace because I don’t like rushing through content.

Same for a lot of us. I fail to see why you would need to hide anything if you do none of these? Especially because these things were a majority of your complaints. If you don’t do something often, chances are, you aren’t that good. Which is probably why you run into so many issues with other players, especially with the attitude that experience, or credentials, don’t matter.

Certain things, like my mastery level and AP, have no bearing on my experience in the content I play.

Sure they do. For instance a person with 1 AP will NOT have updrafts. A person with less than 160 AP, probably doesn’t have all of the final tier HoT masteries. They are barely an indicator of that, but they are the only ones we get.

I’ve played since the game came out,

So have plenty of others who are still bad at this game.

and have a full understanding of my classes and their roles (when I *do take part in content with other people that aren’t friends).*

You claim this, but yet you seem to have so many issues with people? Something does not add up. And I’m sorry to say this, no player has a ‘full’ understanding. Things change, and people find out new things about the classes everyday.

You don’t care about the meta, so i highly doubt you theorycraft, which is essential to understanding any concept.

I don’t believe my mastery level or AP should define me,

And it doesn’t. Nor has anyone said it does.

so I don’t want them to be visible on my character.

This has nothing to do with what you posted above. If you want that option that’s fine, but trying to scapegoat it on an argument no one has made, is dishonest.

Make your judgements based on my performance, not what you think my performance will be based on an arbitrary number.

Arbitrary to YOU. If you have had HoT since release, and you still have low MP and AP, chances are you either don’t play the game often, and if you do, you don’t actually do anything. Both are indicators of low performance. This is reality. Like it or not.

And of course, before anyone comes to me to say AP isn’t arbitrary, consider this: Someone could have AP over 10,000+ or something, but have never stepped foot in a dungeon.

And the chances of this? Extremely low. But even if that is the case, why not tell people (in the squad) they have never set foot in a dungeon? Why did they wait so long to do a dungeon in the first place? Food for thought.

But you’ll assume they’re super experienced with dungeons because they have a high AP. There’s very little correlation.

No one has said this. What a sad strawman. Also if you have 10k AP if never sat foot in a dungeon, you still have 10k AP, which means you have still played more than someone with 2k Ap.

You don’t get 10k in a short period of time. You had to do dailies for one thousand days at least, but the chances of that being your ONLY source of AP, are laughable.

FrostDraco.8306:

No one has said this. What a sad strawman. Also if you have 10k AP if never sat foot in a dungeon, you still have 10k AP, which means you have still played more than someone with 2k Ap.

You don’t get 10k in a short period of time. You had to do dailies for one thousand days at least, but the chances of that being your ONLY source of AP, are laughable.

So what you’re saying is that you proved my point, and that ignoring you doesn’t work. And I can’t exactly block you here, now can I?

You really like picking apart every little bit of what I say, and separate parts of sentences in order to make it look like something I said doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, I still want to hear a dev’s opinion on this. I’m a bit bored of hotshot tryhards ‘explaining’ to me why I’m wrong for asking the people who make the game if it would be possible to add a new feature. Maybe I’ll start a new thread and say I want responses from people at ANet or something. Of course, then I’d get told I’m not being fair to real players by excluding them from the conversation or some crap like that.

Of course it is possible. Very little that is requested on these forums is truly impossible to code.

But there is always a cost. As Anet has already paid to implement tools and systems to combat in game harassment one would likely need to demonstrate why the existing tools are failing a large portion of the community in order to justify further resource expenditure as suggested.

It would be rare to get a Dev (that could actually implement this) response over a suggestion.

As noted before, you can post your suggestion in the QoL Sticky, which is purportedly read by the Devs.

Personally, I’d rather have the Devs spend their time and resources on something else, such as content.

Good luck.

SmirkDog.3160:

FrostDraco.8306:

No one has said this. What a sad strawman. Also if you have 10k AP if never sat foot in a dungeon, you still have 10k AP, which means you have still played more than someone with 2k Ap.

You don’t get 10k in a short period of time. You had to do dailies for one thousand days at least, but the chances of that being your ONLY source of AP, are laughable.

So what you’re saying is that you proved my point, and that ignoring you doesn’t work. And I can’t exactly block you here, now can I?

You really like picking apart every little bit of what I say, and separate parts of sentences in order to make it look like something I said doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, I still want to hear a dev’s opinion on this. I’m a bit bored of hotshot tryhards ‘explaining’ to me why I’m wrong for asking the people who make the game if it would be possible to add a new feature. Maybe I’ll start a new thread and say I want responses from people at ANet or something. Of course, then I’d get told I’m not being fair to real players by excluding them from the conversation or some crap like that.

No one is making you respond. No one is making you visit this thread.

You don’t seem to understand what my argument is, which is probably due to you not actually reading what I have to say.

No one said you were ‘wrong’. What we said was that it’s a useless waste of time and resources to code. But of course you don’t know that, because you haven’t actually read the responses you have gotten.

Code and game options don’t just pop into existence. They require someone to sit down and work on them, which takes time, which takes money. At which point is the time and money it takes to make something not worth making it?

And you have done nothing but prove my point. You are thin skinned, and can’t take any criticism, or even prove a good argument for the things you want. “Because I want it and we should have it”, is not an argument. It’s just you claiming things which people may not agree with you on.

Serious.7083:

Mastery rank is less important to me than level, it’s just another way of saying my X is bigger than your Y. No point in displaying it at all.

It is pretty pointless as well. It does not say which masteries you have. You can assume they grabbed gliding, bouncing mushrooms, and probably the ones in LS3 ….. but after that it is a complete mystery unless they have all of them. They could even not have stepped food in the HOT zones at all and all the points are for CT things.

There should be something for players to quickly judge other players. Not to be elitist, just to quickly tell, if I will need to take it slow or breeze through a mission. To be frank I’m yet to see “OMG LOW noob rank” → Kick.

Dunno how ppl have low mastery ranks though. I came back after a long break and got all Masteries maxed (Tyria + HoT) in 1 good month.

Some people only play 2 or 3 hours once or twice a week. Thus, it takes them a long time to complete Mastery tracks.

jcnc.3268:

There should be something for players to quickly judge other players.

There isn’t, simply because there is no metric that would allow for an objectiv ranking of player skills. You not only need to be able to rank a players experience and skill with a specific part of the game (many of which need wildly different skills and knowledge), but also with the playstyle expected of them.

For example, I have friends who like to run dungeons and fractals, and do pretty much nothing than that (well, raiding these days, too). They know the ins and out of every dungeon encounter this game has, and the meta strategies to deal with it. Drop them in the open world, and many of them are simply lost because they don’t know anything about the encounters nor have any experience in dealing with a substantial part of the players they’d come across. How would you rank them to “quickly judge” them should you encounter them anywhere in the game?

No matter the metrics you decide on, all ranking systems (whether they be plain numbers like AP and mastery points are, or something completely different like a special aura or skin) are weak to people gaming the system and playing purely to increase their rank without actually putting in effort to understand what they’re doing. I know several people who play purely for AP, not caring how they get those AP. They’ve got all dungeon and fractal achievements, but are some of the worst players in those areas because they’ve spent their energy almost exclusively to find the easiest way of getting themselves carried to the achievements and not one step beyond.

Lastly, there will always be people incapable of dealing with unknown entities or adjusting to others who are then falling back on judging others by whatever ranking they can get their hands on (AP, mastery level, wvw rank, pvp finishers, whatever). They will always find a way to rank people and discriminate because of whatever ranking they have come up with. Give them more ways to rank people, and they’ll find even more ways to misuse the system to discriminate. Hiding the numbers from that kind of person usually doesn’t help either. As others have said, the best way to counter those is to ignore/block and move on.

everything is mean everything discriminates and you have you point it all out.
i mean change it all to better suite me.

I’ve got under 2100 hrs played since launch and recently got my final mastery level (173 atm). It’s definetely doable if you are willing to get the points and I do like the challenges to get the mastery points. However I have not heard of anyone making any kind of comment based on another person’s mastery level.

It could be because I play different content (haven’t set foot in dungeons in an incredibly long time, did do fractals recently though). But from my understanding they want PvP ranks to be something to show off, Masteries to be something to either show off or give an indicator of dedication just as WvW has rankings. I don’t really care about the mastery level displays, as someone that often runs as a commander in new maps it just means I can identify if people probably need an explanation for something.

If I do a fractal I pretty much accept whoever wants to join, obviously most of the content I do in GW2 isn’t really hardcore to begin with. I only did raids to get the mastery track unlocked (so I could continue earning spirit shards). I don’t do much fractals because I can’t swap to a different character at will due to agony requirements.

If you experience lots of discrimination in LFG you could perhaps try find a guild that doesn’t bother with that whole AP requirement nonsense that used to be very common in dungeons.

Asking for 5 – 6k AP is arbitrary and stupid. But my experience is that someone with low AP like 500-1500 is usually significantly less experienced and dies a lot more/does not know the skips etc.

I had a good experience lately though, accidentally joined a low level group in SE3. I told them in short everything and they followed. They even manged to do the rather long skip after the first boss. I was extremely surprised as usually 1 or 2 always die there. I asked them if they play 2nd accounts, but it seemed they were just dedicated players. So there it is. There are a few exceptions and I am glad I do it from time to time.