Guild Wars 2

We are not able to restore guild banks for a variety of reasons, as confirmed by the final line of the document linked above.

Another update on the roster. Fraelina has dropped out and Qwho will take over!

While I appreciate the discussion around the dolyak issue, it wasn’t my intention to refocus the discussion there so much as provide an example of a point.

To pivot from that discussion, however, would WvW be better or worse off if we removed dolyaks entirely and went with the setup we use in EotM or something similar?

I think there are good reasons to keep dolyaks, but I wonder if we might be able to solve many of the problems we’ve discussed here by eliminating that sense of the supply chain of battle? It might just have the effect of making supply far less limiting.

Would it instead work to go with a combination of the two and have a guaranteed minimum amount of supply from holding a camp and have dolyaks carrying the extra? I’m curious what you all think.

As for the discussion around how to more closely involve guilds it’s definitely something we think about and I think there are intriguing ideas in here.

Right I will be back later.

Thanks for a good discussion today.

Chris

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Iason Evan.3806:

Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

He/She’s referring to a box of fractal weapons that lets you choose the weapon.

Ok thanks. I I wanted to ensure we were talking about the same thing.

Chris

videoboy.4162:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Will you elaborate on how you feel about his idea to make the pets just be new skins, without any unique abilities?

Personally I like that idea.

Chris

I ate a couple of the Omnomberry Cookies. They were AMAZING. Thank you, Christina!

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Iason Evan.3806:

Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

Zyphent.2967:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Thats fair, just something else to put forth.
What about doing it like the Achievement armor, tying it to specific tiers.
For example, beating fractal 50+ lets you buy the helm, 60+ lets you buy the Gloves, etc.

This would both allow the team to take their time making it (release 1 piece with 10 Fractal levels in a single patch), as I doubt they have time to make and model a full armor set at once, while also providing more incentive to climb higher in Fractals.

Hi Zyphent,

I will discuss the idea with the rewards team, specifically in regard to a slow burn creation of an armor set.

Thanks,

Chris

Malchior.5042:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Hello Chris,

I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals? That’s sort of the way I interpreted your response, given unique armor/weapons is always in high demand within the actual game world itself.

Also, I’ve sent you a forum PM regarding a conversation we had a couple weeks ago. Look forward to hearing your reply

Take care and get well soon!

Hey Malchior,

‘I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals?’

Correct.

I will check my PMs shortly.

Chris

synk.8762:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out. However i think this is a really interesting global reward idea so I will pass it on to the rewards team.

Thanks Wolfey,

Chris

Could you expound a bit on why this is an issue for you? There are pets that are available in a limited frame of areas and different level ranges, just like some weapon skins only drop in certain areas. If the difference between, say, a Jade Spider and a Cave Spider was purely cosmetic, then you’re not talking about vertical progression at all. The guy that has the Jade version has no advantage over the guy with the Cave Spider. All that’s going on here is cosmetic changes, and perhaps some bragging rights.

I honestly don’t see a difference between things like area specific Ranger pets and Fractal skins. Likewise, if players want WvW armor, they need to go to WvW. Or the massive amount of varied PvE that people need for Ascended gear. Or locking Cultural T3 behind a gold wall. They all require playing in a certain area of the game for more than a passing moment. In fact, I’d suggest that these are exactly the kinds of rewards that work for Fractals. It benefits the players that run them with a cosmetic benefit, without an imbalance. I believe that’s an excellent way to get people interested in the content without forcing them there.

I promise I’m not trying to be contentious here. I’d just like to get a firmer grasp on the how and why of rewards being matched with content.

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Hey guys,

There’s been an update to the roster. Denshee is no longer able to make it, so Zoose will be filling in for him.

Watch RU tomorrow. We’ll hint at some things…

Thank you, Dahkeus.8243, for the kind words!

Since a lot of the questions seem to have fizzled out, I’m going to go ahead and lock this.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to ask such great questions! I appreciate those of you that kept it constructive and on-point.

Much love

Hey all,

I just wanted to clarify since we saw some confusion about this, both in this thread and on Reddit. The summary I posted was a summary of feedback I took from you guys in this thread and sent to the devs. It is not a reflection of changes that are or will be made (necessarily).

That doesn’t mean we aren’t doing anything about the feedback in the summary, it just shouldn’t be considered “Balance update notes”.

Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion.

The build is not in June. Just wanted to squash that before it became a thing! :P

Orpheal.8263:

I’d like to hear from you in review of being a player, rather than in review of beign a Developer, what do you think personally about Lore Fractals that would work similar to the Bonus Mission Pack Chris.

Sadly I haven’t got about my suggestion yet any direct response, because i think it falled under the overall flow of the general discussion of more lore fractals being found positive by you.

But my suggestion wasn’t just all about more lore fractals, it was more based around the question of *how to add more lore fractals and how to unlock more lore fractal content over time to incentivize people to keep on playing fractals and not stop doing them directly after the first successful run after having seen some new lore"

I think the concept around the Bonus Mission Pack and how it was implemented into GW1 was perfect and it would be perfect also for Anet.

I for example would go buy Tomes of Memories in the Gemstore directly as account upgrades to receive this way access to very special Lore Fractals, that could be played either completely solo or as a 5 to xx person Group in relationship of it, if a Fractal would get designed as Raid Content to be able to be played also with more than 5 people, if the Fractal Gameplay Design allows for it through Up Scaling the Monster Density/Difficulty ect.

I made some pages ago a more detailed version on how for example a Ghosts of Ascalon-Fractal based on that Bonus Mission Pack Design with unlockable content, like readignb through a book with chapters and verses could work like.

I found the readable books in GW1 awesome and I’d love to see that feature somehow gettign back into GW2. Fractals would be the most fittign place for this feature, as the Fractals itself reminds me very much about the BMP.
The BMP was also very rewarding, did it offer to the player unique weapon skins as rewards only receiveable, if you bought the BMP and played through successfuly the missions of the corresponding books and if you completed the books, that worked like the dungeon diaries with complete entries everywhere, the book copied itself into a new clean one and the complete one could get used as a reward token to trade in for some massive exp, gold, karma ect. bonus rewards that was worth all of the effort in completing the book to turn it into the reward token.

I really also like the thought about it, that the Fractals are like some kind of huge *amnesia" of broken memories from the past, that we, the players have to collect to remember us on what happened in the past to reconstruct step by step more of our memories to unlock this way in the tomes of memories more new mission content from the lore.

Before this CDI gets closed, I’d really love to hear from you (or the reward team xD), what they think about that idea, because i think its alos a great way to make some profit also, if its content you get only through the gemstore to receive that way some optional new content that can reward you with lots of other new optional optical rewards, like new weapon skins, armor skins, lore based minipets from the past and so on …

PS:

Just as a reminder
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/0/0c/Storybook.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/5/51/Gwen%27s_Story.png

PPS:

Not to mention that these books would be surely something awesome for the Art Teams also, because the books already have very nice art in GW1

http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/c/c3/End_of_the_World_page.jpg

Hi Orpheal,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

I think we would not want to add another layer of complexity to fractals in terms of another branch but I would want to see us adding more lore to the fractals (ensuring this component is included as a wrapper with game play implications) should we create more.

Regarding the option to play with < or > 5 players, that is something I have asked Izzy to comment on so hang tight.

Chris

madmuffin.3968:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Wolfey.3407:

Chris,
What would you think about introducing special types of pets for Rangers within fractals, mostly as tamable rewards after the boss fight.

Examples:
Jade Maw – Once Jade Maw is defeated, a tamable Jade Crab spawns by the chest.

Molten Boss- Once the molten duo is defeated, a tamable Molten Hound spawns by the chest

Captain Mai Trin- Once she is defeated, a tamable Watchwork Moa spawns by the chest

Special ones:
Aquatic Ruins- If you get the Dolphin path, after killing the giant jelly fish, a tamable dolphin spawns by the chest.

Would give Rangers more pets that we have been asking for
Encourage more rangers to play fractals

I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out. However i think this is a really interesting global reward idea so I will pass it on to the rewards team.

Thanks Wolfey,

Chris

I’m not sure if it’s 100% accurate but right now the wiki says Juvenile Wolves can only be found in the Eternal Battleground (which seems kind of odd, but assuming this is actually the case) that means there is already a precedent for location exclusive pets, else the same argument could be made that “Rangers that don’t do WvW would feel let out.”

If that is the case then we will remedy it. I will check. Thanks for the pointer.

Chris

Wolfey.3407:

Chris,
What would you think about introducing special types of pets for Rangers within fractals, mostly as tamable rewards after the boss fight.

Examples:
Jade Maw – Once Jade Maw is defeated, a tamable Jade Crab spawns by the chest.

Molten Boss- Once the molten duo is defeated, a tamable Molten Hound spawns by the chest

Captain Mai Trin- Once she is defeated, a tamable Watchwork Moa spawns by the chest

Special ones:
Aquatic Ruins- If you get the Dolphin path, after killing the giant jelly fish, a tamable dolphin spawns by the chest.

Would give Rangers more pets that we have been asking for
Encourage more rangers to play fractals

I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out. However i think this is a really interesting global reward idea so I will pass it on to the rewards team.

Thanks Wolfey,

Chris

Jandopo.2107:

Wow, look at those Amazing replies <3

Thank you for all the effort, Mr. Whiteside!

No worries I generally reply like this when I am at home. When I am working or more recently in recovery I am unable to reply like this.

Thanks to you all for being patient with me and adding all the value you have in this CDI.

Chris

Dalanor.5387:

yayuuu.9420:

How the hell can dredges dig in the metal platforms and pop out of nowhere? Are 1000 dredges hidden under the platform and they can turn into ghost, cross the metal plate and pop up? this is just stupid.

Not stupid, just not realistic which is fine in a “fantasy” game, but be immune to blind and still can’t see players under stealth is the same.

ps Don’t ever implement anti-stealth mechanics to dredge Chris or i will get murdered by the community. =]

Haha.

Chris

Needless to say, we’re very sorry for the bug that prevents the timely arrive of the Gifts of Exploration. That was some pesky bug, but it has been well and truly smited, so those gifts should be in your in-game mailbox. If you have a continuing issue (which would be very rare) please follow up with a ticket, or update the ticket you already have in the system.

Thanks to everyone for your patience!

SkylightMoon.1980:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

LordByron.8369:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

This is the point…….but aren t you giving too much credit to small minorities non representing “the fractal community” just because their ideas are more in line with yours?

(see lore)

IF once again you will come up with a fractured 2.0 (that reduced fractal playerbase), you could understand what went wrong…..

‘This is the point…….but aren t you giving too much credit to small minorities non representing “the fractal community” just because their ideas are more in line with yours?’

No i am not. And those that like GW story, variety of gameplay and challenge therein are not in the minority.

Chris

Hey mr. whiteside I had a question/suggestion regarding fractal rewards. Is there any possibility that the devs could implement features in fractals that acknowledge solo, 3 man fractals. I saw earlier suggestions for it relating to people not being able to find groups. But what I wanted to ask if would Anet be willing to implement modes for solo or 3 man fractals where the fractals have the same difficulty as perhaps a 5 man, but give better rewards? Recently I have been running 3 man groups with my guildies in fractals 39-49. Its extremely difficult at higher levels, especially on dredge or shaman. We do it because we haven’t really felt any challenge from 5 manning high level fractals, and 3 manning it, even soloing if thats possible, is very very fun and challenging. It has sent us to put much more effort into our builds, even changing our skills/traits/utilities multiple times during a specific fractal depending on what boss or mob pull we are on. Is there any possibility that we could receive better rewards for 3 manning, 2 manning, or even soloing it(also those who do it with 4 people)?

Hi SkylightMoon,

I have asked Izzy to discuss this idea with you.

Chris

Faux.1937:

To bad Anet you put into the game the +1 agony Res items.

I would have loved to see all Items that give agony taken away and just have AR as a reward for your account for more fractals you do and fractal achievements you’ve done. Or making it like the Magic Find, where you have levels and must do Fractals to up the AR%.

ALOT less clunky and much easier to deal with, manage and to understand.

Is there anyway you would go to a Magic Find type of system for AR instead of what we have now?

Hi Faux,

I have asked Izzy to discuss this with you.

Chris

Romo.3709:

Chris, why has your post been edited so instead of you not engaging at the current time was changed to not engaging at all, ever. Are you stating it’s over?

I am.

Chris

Scorch der Juengere.7328:

Instabilities and Metrics

hide spoiler

LordByron.8369:

Wonder why MOST people avoided most instabilities?
Because they are NOT FUN.

Is it really that simple? For example, I found the Mist stalker (Mossman) instability really fun. More funny than fun in the sense of challenging. But nevertheless, I had a great time with my team. Nevertheless, I did not play it again. Perhaps I will someday, but it is rather unlikely. Because why should I do a level 31?
Of the people I play with, rather few are level 50 (me neither). So we prefer to choose a level such that people level up. That is why we often run 49 or 39 (depending on agony resistance). 39, by the way, is also a very funny level (enemies explode on death).

Now, I can’t tell what most people did. But what metric would tell you that I like Mist stalker? I would really prefer it to the 49 one (which you barely even notice… in fact, although 49 should be by now the one I’ve run the most, I just had to look it up what it does). I like some instabilities and dislike others. But most times they are not the reason I choose one level over the other.

Class balance

hide spoiler

For me as a player that enjoys the randomness of Fractals and is in no hurry to finish them, class balance looks fine. As long as people don’t push enemies randomly and are focused on the game, everyone is welcome in our group.
We once had a Necromancer who run some condition damage. We were quite surprised how much damage he did when combined with 25 stacks of might. I think all classes can bring something to Fractals. Guardian is not the only class with reflects and especially not the only class with defense against projectiles.

Different Perspectives

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timmyf.1490:

I’m a strong believer that our different perspectives, if used constructively, can build something better than each of us individually could build.

More minds means better ideas, but the CDI will require us to put down our swords and axes for a few moments and try to find common ground. Not normally the way we react to different opinions on online forums…

Agreed, but how to continue from there on?

Should we build more example encounters like the timmyf-dutchiez-boss (here ff.)?
And, just to note, some of the lore players have still to finish this job.

Should we build more examples of alternative paths like Tub for Snowblind (here)?

What I get from these examples, is that players want more choice. That leads me to a question: how many of you save the Inquest in Crucible of Eternity explorable? Do you like how it is done there? The morally decision aside, you can there choose to get a bomb that drains a good amount of the health of the next boss at the “cost” of an additional encounter. Would you like this in Fractals?

Randomness, on the other hand, seems to be a bit more debatable, as it does not align with speed-running very well. How important is this consideration? Some people here (including me) have spoken for more randomness, other for less.
Can we here find something that both sides are okay with?

I guess a Boss that behaves randomly (upon reaching 50% of his live, Boss will either transform into a kitten or into a puppy… each providing a different sort of challenge!) is also not what speed-runners would appreciate. Or is that okay?

Or what about the availability of alternative paths (see Tub above)? You know, there could be a speed-runners codex that disallows the usage of such paths. People that enjoy to take an opportunity that is given to them, on the other hand, can find the variety that they want. What about something along these lines?

It is great to see a different opinion in this discussion.

It just goes to show that you shouldn’t make assumptions that the way you play is the majority. That would be my first rule for engaging in any CDI regardless of topic.

Chris

Iason Evan.3806:

Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Bart Weird.9671:

Of course you don’t like tht the hardest challenging content in fractals (lvl 80) could have been solo/duo’d most of the time, but was it really the reason to remove it? When do we finally see challenging content in fractals?..and i don t mean unavoidable agony which ticks for all your health whn entering combat if you don t have over 100 agony resistance.
I would rly appreciate some challenging content. Also make the mistlock instabilities random on each new fractal you can get, makes your experience at least a bit more exciting.

Hi,

I understand what you are saying in regard to instabilities but I really don’t understand the rest of the post. Could you take a little more time explaining what you mean please?

Chris

Michael Walker.8150:

Hi,

Great idea this CDI!

How about introducing past Living World content as “educational” fractals with less/little rewards but experiencing the whole Living World in one piece, kind of like a series’ DVD?
Or even scrap the idea of little rewards and make those “educational” fractals as hard as the others.

I know you are going to give us a summary of past events pretty soon but I’d still prefer playing through them.
And I think that fractals could be both, very hard and challenging for the people who really want that hard content and then something more story and dialogue driven for the explorer type of player.
Maybe include a guide-o-tron, or Taimi or both?

Seems like a way for adding more content while using already existing one.

Michael

This would be cool but I wouldn’t house it in Fractals.

You can also find a lot more CDI topics and info here Michael if you are interested:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Collaborative-Development-Master-Sticky/first#post3662022

Chris

Chris Whiteside.6102:

dutchiez.7502:

spoj.9672:

Adding dragonite into fractals would be nice. Atm dungeon runners are forced to do wvw or open world to get their dragonite. And they have no shortage of emp fragments and bloodstone dust.

God yes! Please add dragonite as a reward to fractals or dungeons in general, so the dungeon runners who don’t enjoy zerging content but do enjoy having BiS gear can stop grinding temples!

I will discuss this with the rewards team and find out their opinion.

Chris

Hi,

I thought I had updated on this but it looks like i didn’t. The rewards team likes this idea too.

Chris

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Zok.4930:

It would be cool if Fractal rewards, like the relics, could be combined with tokens from other dungeons in order to get cooler prettier gear. Then people could farm combos of old dungeons and lower fractal levels (assuming they have no AR) in order to get special skins. It could improve the reward, get people into old dungeons, and provide a new (updated) path to acquire skins.
For example, instead of just 180 tokens from CoF for gloves, you instead need 180 CoF tokens, 180 SE tokens, 500 Fractal Relics and 20 Ectos. Now people are doing multiple dungeons and fractals to get gear, and doing multiple steps to get a piece of armor that is more unique and challenging to acquire. I think that would boost FoTM for casual players and get them interested in it as well because gear is attainable for casual players through relics.

Yeah a global ‘Dungeon’ reward system is an interesting idea. I will pass this on to the rewards team for their thoughts.

Chris

FYI the rewards team really like this idea.

Chris

Whit.2385:

Thank you for the information – stuff like this goes a long way with forum goers at least. (not being sarcastic)

Question though, and hopefully you might be able to answer this: Why does the removal of the glory etc… and the implementation of the new pvp rewards have to be separate? Is this a technical difficulty? Merely one of convenience? A question that cannot be answered due to revealing too much? I am curious why there is a gap?

Also – will ranks be adjusted to a flat increment? Because, otherwise, as mentioned previously, it seems that the higher you are ranked, the more time consuming it will be to attain a reward – so higher ranked players are awarded for the their time less than lower ranked players. Unusual system to say the least, especially given that the pve-side of things (achievement points, basic leveling) all is far more forgiving and even (no drastic curves like in other mmos).

I’d love to answer that first question but I’d rather leave it up to either John C or Colin if they wish to dare:P

As for the second! Can’t say too much about this, sorry ;( but remember this patch is just rewards phase 2 and the final phase is just around the corner! (It’s not too long after this patch) Disregard any rumors about the feature build being months away. We’ve worked so kitten this build, we are here struggling to be patient just as you all are :/

p.s. further more consistent leveling in pvp will come feature build;p

D I V A.6018:

I always wondered why Anet finds it appropriate to stream some random match worth 75% of a stream‘s time?

People are desperate to know more about the upcoming “feature patch”.
Anet is best advised to talk more about it to prevent a disappointed comminity once again, because right now many are overhyped again.

Relevant post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Next-RU-questions-for-Allie/page/2#post3750702

LordByron.8369:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

This is the point…….but aren t you giving too much credit to small minorities non representing “the fractal community” just because their ideas are more in line with yours?

(see lore)

IF once again you will come up with a fractured 2.0 (that reduced fractal playerbase), you could understand what went wrong…..

‘This is the point…….but aren t you giving too much credit to small minorities non representing “the fractal community” just because their ideas are more in line with yours?’

No i am not. And those that like GW story, variety of gameplay and challenge therein are not in the minority.

Chris

Wethospu.6437:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Wethospu.6437:

shogei.8015:

Spoj The Second.7680:

Mikuchan.7261:

hendo.1940:

For goodness sake, stop with these puzzle suggestions, if you want to scare off what’s left of your dedicated fractal community, just throw in a bunch of obnoxious puzzles like all of the terrible suggestions in this thread and watch how nobody can be kitten d to do FOTM anymore because it will end up as Aetherpath 2.0 where it’s not worth the tedium.

For goodness sake be more constructive?
Also, the entire fractal community is doing a puzzle fractal as it’s first fractal constantly so I really don’t see the problem.
Yes, Swamp is a puzzle fractal, hate to break it to you.

Thats not the reason they do it though. Noone enjoys do the wisp puzzle. None of the pure invironmental puzzles are fun after doing them once. Puzzles arent replayable or repeatable. And even if you somehow make them randomly generated they will still eventually become boring because theres only so many iterations that can be generated. Fractals is a place where people go for difficult combat in pve. If you want environmental puzzles you should be doing jumping puzzles and guild puzzles not fractals.

I enjoy the heck out of the wisps puzzle, and not just because it is fast when you do it right. That fractal almost always gets my group laughing at ourselves. We then move on to shred whichever boss we are given.

The uncategorized fractal with it’s lightning staircase and harpies is also a blast – and a challenging set of fights.

Personally I would find 4 all-combat fractals in a row to be tiresome and boring. I suspect that the people on this thread, the ones suggesting all the puzzle fractals, would agree with me.

Sure, simple and shallow puzzles work wonders if you find lightning staircase challenging / interesting.

Luckily not everyone thinks like you or this game would be really really boring.

I agree with Shogei personally. There is nothing wrong with variety. We just have to make sure we get the balance right. Not sure about your final comment Wethospu simply because you don’t have access to metrics to show you just how many people do or don’t like this kind of content and in design assumption is very dangerous.

Chris

Variety is good. Shallow encounters, not so much. Variety and deep encounters are not exclusive so I can’t understand why people keep pushing only one of them.

Yes, without metrics I can only speak for myself. Hopefully I don’t need any metrics for that.

If your metrics show that people prefer shallow encounters then I suggest focusing more on the living story instead of fractals.

And herein lies the issue Wethospu:

‘Variety and deep encounters are not exclusive so I can’t understand why people keep pushing only one of them.’

You are correct, variety and deep encounters are not exclusive. People aren’t pushing just one of them. They discuss areas of one and another in order to formulate opinion and ideation. This does not mean they are creating silos, they are just exploring how to make each individual area better in order to lift the overall combined experience.

You are, therefore, assuming something that just isn’t the case.

No one is attacking challenge in this conversation but some are being overly defensive and attacking perfectly reasonable brainstorming and discussion for fear of something that boils down to lack of understanding about what the CDI is.

Chris

The Lost Witch.7601:

I believe that alternate paths are probably necessary in content that poses a challenge to the way we build our characters. Otherwise group requirements could become really strict. Which doesn’t work out in fractals at all, since we are posed challenges through a random selection. (It would lead to kicking people in order to get a specific profession)

We need to have alternatives to make it through, like:

• Access to environmental weapons that can offer us the skills we need.
• Support NPC’s we can choose that can fill the gap in our team.
• The option to pick our path. (Ignoring what we can’t do, perhaps picking a more lenghty but less tactical fight instead.)

Yeah i think alternate paths is a good idea especially with an associated risk and reward paradigm.

The AP idea can also refer to doing a boss differently like Shaman in Grawl.

Chris

LordByron.8369:

well then i ll put an idea here…

I think devs should question why people skip or avoid particular content and prefer other sort of content in fractal…

Since today the only development guideline for fractal was “force them to do everything even if bugged or totally unbalanced”

Maybe its time to question if the issue behind it isnt a lack of quality.

Instability for example:

Did you ever thougt how Outflanked would work in a game designed to work with lag?
what about Mist Stalker when you are stun from cliffside seal and you can t do anything?

Wonder why MOST people avoided most instabilities?
Because they are NOT FUN.
Didn t data proves how most people hate them?
They add a new layer of unbalance….

Get your metrics see what people like, compare them and see the common points…
From there you can design better fractals and fix the old ones.

For example…the ascalonian fractal change was really awful, now you mostky have to wipe because npc’s AI is terrible.

And for once solve the issue of guardians having really too much impact in any fractal Group….

You can see they are almost mandatory from 30+

Or maybe, just maybe it could be different people like different things?

This said your point in regard to metrics is valid and we do indeed use it carefully to try to determine design flaws through game-state vs. player-state data.

Chris

Purple Miku.7032:

Chris, I really hope you don’t miss my post here but I’ll understand if you do… based on how many of them you have to sift through.

My biggest desire for FotM requires me to highlight one of the bosses on this game and use it to compare with other fights found in GW2.

Giganticus Lupicus

This is by far one of the most engaging boss encounters in the entire game and something worthy of being bragged about. Whoever came up with the idea for Lupi was a genius. Even the lore behind him is intriguing…

This game needs boss encounters like this.

While I’m aware of the fact that very experienced players can take him down in under half a minute (a bunch of eles can take him down in 7 seconds, lol), it’s a boss that doesn’t require you to rely on other players unless you are very experienced yet at the same time can give a full team a great deal of difficulty.

Seriously, this is just the perfect boss encounter. Is there any chance of us getting boss fights similar to this in fractals? Molten Duo is nice, but the fight mechanics aren’t nearly as unique. While I do like that there is a “second phase” after the first of them is killed, compare it to Lupicus’s three phases each with unique attacks and behaviors.

Simply put, Lupicus is a legend in the PvE world of GW2 and I want to see more fights like this. I’m sure many others will agree that it’d be thrilling to have more encounters of this nature. Afterall… fractals is meant to be the “elite” content of the game, yeah?

—

PS:
Any chances we could have a fractal related to the fall of Orr or anything of that nature? I apologize for being so biased towards this aspect of the game’s lore… it’s my favorite.

I didn’t miss the post Miku (-:

And no piece of GW lore is of the table for consideration in regard to fractal creation.

Chris

timmyf.1490:

maxinion.8396:

This is a great post, and I think summarizes the concerns of high-difficulty players quite well. The example you guys came up with is also wonderful. A++ discussion!

I do very much appreciate this as the highest Fractal scale I’ve ever attempted/completed is 25. So thanks!

I’m a strong believer that our different perspectives, if used constructively, can build something better than each of us individually could build.

More minds means better ideas, but the CDI will require us to put down our swords and axes for a few moments and try to find common ground. Not normally the way we react to different opinions on online forums…

I’m especially interested in our next CDI on GUILDS! <prods Chris> You heard me? GUILDS! <prod prod> ;-)

So Timmyf this is very interesting. I have been thinking for about a week now that Guilds would be a topic I would really like us to discuss next but I can’t remember (not 100% with it currently) if i stated that in this thread? (-:

Regardless we have to discuss with the CDI community if they want to continue with Devs choosing topics or not but it is interesting if I didn’t mention that I was thinking about guilds for others to be in the same mindset.

X-Files…..

Chris

Wethospu.6437:

shogei.8015:

Spoj The Second.7680:

Mikuchan.7261:

hendo.1940:

For goodness sake, stop with these puzzle suggestions, if you want to scare off what’s left of your dedicated fractal community, just throw in a bunch of obnoxious puzzles like all of the terrible suggestions in this thread and watch how nobody can be kitten d to do FOTM anymore because it will end up as Aetherpath 2.0 where it’s not worth the tedium.

For goodness sake be more constructive?
Also, the entire fractal community is doing a puzzle fractal as it’s first fractal constantly so I really don’t see the problem.
Yes, Swamp is a puzzle fractal, hate to break it to you.

Thats not the reason they do it though. Noone enjoys do the wisp puzzle. None of the pure invironmental puzzles are fun after doing them once. Puzzles arent replayable or repeatable. And even if you somehow make them randomly generated they will still eventually become boring because theres only so many iterations that can be generated. Fractals is a place where people go for difficult combat in pve. If you want environmental puzzles you should be doing jumping puzzles and guild puzzles not fractals.

I enjoy the heck out of the wisps puzzle, and not just because it is fast when you do it right. That fractal almost always gets my group laughing at ourselves. We then move on to shred whichever boss we are given.

The uncategorized fractal with it’s lightning staircase and harpies is also a blast – and a challenging set of fights.

Personally I would find 4 all-combat fractals in a row to be tiresome and boring. I suspect that the people on this thread, the ones suggesting all the puzzle fractals, would agree with me.

Sure, simple and shallow puzzles work wonders if you find lightning staircase challenging / interesting.

Luckily not everyone thinks like you or this game would be really really boring.

I agree with Shogei personally. There is nothing wrong with variety. We just have to make sure we get the balance right. Not sure about your final comment Wethospu simply because you don’t have access to metrics to show you just how many people do or don’t like this kind of content and in design assumption is very dangerous.

Chris

Lilith Ajit.6173:

I must say that I am impressed with the way conversation has gone today. I am also saddened because right when I feel we are working so well together and being constructive, and having conversations (not just proposals), this thread will end soon. Very sad.

Thanks to everyone promoting good conversation.

And yes. We need siege in the Ascalon fractal because reasons.

Personally i feel that the conversation/ideation/discussion in this CDI has always been pretty good (We have certainly got a lot from it) but it has been clear tat there has been a pretty big divide in so called player types up until yesterday.So with that in mind in mind I am going to extend the CDI until Monday!

However if the conversation loses its value between now and then (Which sometimes happens at the end of a CDI topic cycle) we will close it.

Chris

Amstel Steel.2058:

Tyler Chapman.1832:

Loot table for rank up reward boxes:

• Small reward boxes will contain random crafting materials and stardard loot
• Medium reward boxes will contain 1 scroll of knowledge(skill point) and rewards similar to the small chest but in the next tier loot table above it.
• Large reward boxes will contain a tome of knowledge(1 PvE level/skillpoint), 5 champion bags, and 5 scrolls of knowledge (5 skillpoints) each. Tier 5 crafting mats included.

Tyler Chapman.1832:

These rewards are just a stepping stone for what is to come in the feature build. Try not to overanalyze these current rewards and sit tight. Unfortunately we cannot grant retroactive rewards with this type of change but just wait to see how we deal with this come the feature build! I can’t say anything further regarding that because it’s just way too big of a spoiler, but information is coming soon.

Can the skill points at least be retroactive please? My lvl 2 pvp characters will need them for the unlocks. Or am I to assume skill points will be retroactive come the feature build rewards?

Edit: I guess a lot could change where skill points may not even be the currency for pvp unlocks. I dunno, I just hope unlocks are much better than the 300,000 glory and 40 gold that was needed for the 8 healing skill unlocks. I read it will be just enough to “get your feet wet” so time will tell.

Yeah the scrolls and tomes are account bound

Awesome story, and thank you for sharing it, Mr. eX!

Julischka Bean.7491:

This morning I logged into the game to play a bit before going off to work. Problem was I couldn’t log in. It seems that sometime while I was sleeping an email authentication thingy had been activated on my account. I logged into my email and found nothing about such a thing being activated. I went to the official help site and couldn’t log in there and couldn’t log into the forums either.

I was in full blown panic mode. I was positive that I had been hacked and the email associated with my account had been changed.

Being locked out of everything, I could not find an email address to contact support, but “support@guildwars2 .com” came to mind so I tried that.

At five something in the morning central time, I received a reply almost instantly.

An Angel named..well not sure I can name names on the forums..but his name begins with M and he was at work at 3:00 in the morning Pacific time.

This Angel asked me to send in answers to some questions which luckily I knew the answers to.

I guess the answers pleased him because he sent me a link to change my password and he did something to get rid of the authenticator because once I changed my password I was able to log in with no further problems.

Words cannot express my how I felt when I logged into my account and found it 100% intact

Gaile, hunt down “M” and give him a big hug from me.

It all took less then an hour…outstanding work.

Lisa-Very, very, very happy.

Hi Lisa. Awesome story, and I will find our friend “M” and I will be sure to include him on my Christmas Cookie List, too!

Thanks for letting us know things are ok for you now!

seebo.8701:

Hi Gaile,

Support have responded and have corrected all my issues.

Thank you for your guidance.

I’m very happy to hear that, seebo, and appreciate that you posted to let me know.

Hey everyone!

For the next episode of Ready Up, we have a few things on the schedule! First up, I will introduce myself and answer some questions that you guys posted here. After that, we’ll be talking about the next few episodes of Ready Up. You won’t want to miss that.

Following that, we’ll be doing an All-Star scrimmage with Jonathan “Chaplan” Sharp and Josh “Grouch” Davis shoutcasting. We have invited some of the top players in the game to participate in a scrimmage. This includes some of the top rivalries, so you won’t want to miss it!

Similar to the way we did the last one, we will have you guys vote on which team you think will win, and award bonus rank points for the weekend accordingly.

Here’s the full plan:

• 250 rank points will be awarded for the weekend (regardless of vote).
• If you guys win the vote, we will grant a bonus of 500 rank points.
• This time around, we’re going to open the voting up ahead of time rather than doing it during the stream.

Here are the rosters:

Team Caed
YourfriendMarvin
Genyen
Chaith
Zoose

Team Supcutie
Sizer
Qwho
Reevzy
Phantaram

Subs
Reikou
Symbolic

To vote on which team you think will win, go here.

Remember, every vote counts, so don’t forget to put yours in! We’ll see you there.

Thank you for submitting these questions. We will review the questions from this week’s thread, as well as those from the other language forums. We will chose a group of them to hand over to the various Development Teams. Their replies will be posted in all language forums on Friday, March 21.

Daishi.6027:

Tyler Chapman.1832:

This build is so fun, it should certainly shake things up a bit.

Crazy changes are crazy:P

#elepocalype

Let the elements guide you

As much as I’d love to see eles being given love <3~ Can this please not just be a trading warriors for eles situation. If we keep going in a round about flavor of the yearly quarter style then there is no real progress, just the status quo with a new face.

It’s not really going to be like that. Everythings getting new crazy stuff, I am just personally overly hyped about the Ele changes. Honestly I see every class being in a pretty good spot. It’s hard to tell what is going to come out of the build. Hence why we’ve kept the balance changes to a minimum amount.