Guild Wars 2

Have you ever read the book, “How to make friends and influence people”? There’s a trick in that book that shows how to get what you want from others. It’s called giving those others what they want. Here’s an example from that book:

Ever notice how a friendly dog gets lots of attention and kindness? Why is that? Think. Why is that? It’s because the dog shows care for everyone else around it. It doesn’t care about itself, it cares about others. By giving people what they want (a nice, friendly dog), the dog gets what it ‘technically’ wants (since it doesn’t really care): attention and love.

I’m going to now relate this to Guild Wars 2: communication between the devs and the players. There is a lack of communication from the devs. Because of this, it creates dissent, unhappiness, and anger from the players.

We want to enjoy your game, we want to play your game because it is a great game. But for many of us, the game is becoming less and less fun, and thus, we don’t want to play it anymore. There’s no reason to do something for fun that’s supposed to be fun if it isn’t. If so, it becomes a waste of time and just leaves people disgruntled.

I’m not speaking for everyone. I’m not even sure if I’m speaking for the majority, but I do know that I am speaking for a portion of the playerbase when I say communicate with us. Tell us what you’re doing. Don’t hide changes in the patch notes (the steal ‘bug fix,’ which most thief players consider a nerf), instead, when you release a patch, reveal everything that you know that has been changed. Stealth changes are a no-no.

A lot of these problems, in my opinion, started with the 2014 September Feature Pack. The personal story was gated, as were the 2-5 abilities of every character. Instead of gaining abilities by using already known ones, the players were, in a sense, punished, and had to grind to get their 2-5 abilities. The personal story was always a nice break from the grind and the farm when a character reached the right level, but by gating the personal story into 10 level x Chapter number, it created a massive hole in that respite. As a result, people tend to use Tomes of Knowledge to avoid leveling.

There were unnecessary changes, too. For example: the “what’s coming” popping up every time a character leveled was not needed at all when there were bugs to be fixed, and balance checks/patches to be made.

Please, listen to us, and talk to us. Blizzard does a great job with communicating with their players. One-up them, and do even better. Without communication, players will just leave the game, disgruntled and angry because they feel like they are talking to a wall.

ArenaNet, you’re not a wall. You’re a group of human beings that could easily change that unhappy portion of players’ attitudes by just talking to us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

~Aegis

You have my vote.

There’s an extremely easy solution to this problem:

Use the old skill point color and the new hero point icon. Boom! Visible.

Artaz.3819:

Dear ANet, you do realize that Gold Sellers will now pick a highly liquid asset that represents approximate gold value (i.e. Globs of Ectoplasm) and use that instead, right? Of course, they’ll continue to use +500g immediate sales as well.

I’ve seen similar measures done by other MMOs and guess what happens? Alternate items are used instead and it’s a very vicious cycle.

Limiting gold transfer rates does not work. Monitoring and then quickly freezing/holding suspicious activity like a credit card company does work (quick release logic, is the send on the receivers friend list/in his or her guild/did they actually send a reply or to message, were they recently in a party, etc.). The KEY to gold sellers is quick delivery. If the gold sellers can’t guarantee a 48-hour or less turnaround, they go out of business as word gets around.

This is bad bad bad. Stop before you reinvent the economy for players. At best you killed a portion of the Gold Sellers gold assets (which they stole) from the 15% gold lost from Trading Post fees. BUT that all that doesn’t stop the hacking and only effectively increases the outside sale price of gold by 15%. At worst, you just upended the trading post economy and lots more legit playing and core players will lose out on the new screwed up economy.

Thanks for the Glob of Ectoplasm rise … doh ><

Jade Arkadian.9280:

I don’t think this will solve anything…futhermore I think you are punishing legit players.

First off, as it happened with GW1 before, people (and chineese gold sellers) will start trading/sending objects instead of gold (Ectoplasm globs as an alternate currency??) to bypass that gold cap.

Also I think this is will hurt community driven events. How the hell can you organize a raffle, a contest or whatever with a gold prize if you can’t gift more that 500 gold per week?

How people is supposed to lend money to a friend who urgently needs to buy gems because he want to get something that is available for only 24h if they are tied to that 500 gold restriction?

Also you are messing with people who own a personal guild for storage and banking purposes… In my case I was storing my extra gold in my guild bank to buy my legendary weapon…now my money will be trapped there for 2 weeks.

As usually, some players (goldsellers, account thieves, spammers…) abuse the system…then everyone gets punished…

I agree with these two posters. This isn’t going to solve anything.

Casual players aren’t idiots, and they don’t want easy mode. They want a game where they can relax.

I’m a casual player. I love hard games, though. It’s when they get stupidly hard that it becomes a problem with me. I haven’t fought Teq in awhile because of his absurd difficulty and lack of loot to compensate for it. I’m not going to attempt to kill him, and if I win, just get a spoon for all of that.

Hardcore players need to stop equating casual players with easy mode and stupidity. We’re not stupid, and we don’t want easy mode. We want a balanced game with the occasionally fun hard mode.

Gaile Gray.6029:

JackDaniels.1697:

Everybody that hates the NPE is going to take over the discussion after all the fixes have been released I believe. You’re going to see multiple posts by the same people that hate it, and it’s going to seem like a lot more people dislike the new changes, when in reality, it’s just those same people that really want to make their point across. And not that there is anything wrong with posting more than once, it is a discussion after all, but you get my point.

I mean you can see the evidence of it now, with people complaining in one thread over the subject, and then having some of those same people from that thread start up new threads on pretty much the same topic.

I do agree that some minor changes need to happen, but hopefully Anet doesn’t give in to the pressure and make a complete 180 to the NPE, because I believe some of these changes are good for the game.

So I can’t wait to chime in when all the fixes are done. Should be interesting.

I agree with you about this. I think it’s premature to gauge how NPE will play at the current time, because we do know changes are coming.

And yes, you do see some forum members making the same points again and again. That truly is not helpful to the review and discussion, in that the devs would prefer a focused, clear, concise statement rather than realizing “Wait, it’s that same person, saying the same thing for the 19th time.”

I don’t want to rain on your parade, but usually, it’s not the same person saying the same thing for the 19th time. There are MULTIPLE people saying “rollback the PS.” You have to learn to listen to important feedback that’s being said by multiple players.

Yes, most of them don’t say it in the nicest way possible, but when there are those who do, and many of them, then you realize you have a problem on your hands.

Hannelore.8153:

Yes, people are using DPS meters now.. no ArenaNet has not done anything about it. I’ve also heard there are ways to see other peoples gear and builds, presumably by examining the game’s memory—this is illegal, but such programs are difficult for ArenaNet to detect without something like Blizzard’s Warden.

There’s also some DPS meters that monitor the screen and thus are completely legal, and ANet wouldn’t do anything about those anyway.

You serious?? People HAVE these programs?? That’s not right at all!

Tybalt. He’s too darn hilarious.

“Demmi’s been kidnapped by pirates! Cool! I mean… interesting.”
“And I have a lovely set of… apples.”
“What part of secret society do you not get?!”

And many more I’ve forgotten.

I submitted! I’d love a map.

Also, anyone who did not post this: “Custom 3D Player Character Statues. PLEASE” for "Other’ on question 4 is wrong. … :P

Although I run Zerker (not pure, mind you. More like 90% Zerker), I find it offensive that players are kicking others for not having the same or ‘correct’ build.

That type of thinking (and its toxic community) is what made me leave League. I hate the “there is only one build, and you suck if you don’t use it” mentality, it’s not right, it’s not healthy, and it isn’t appealing to newer players. I love Guild Wars 2 because I can have my playstyle and succeed in it (for the most part)!

I hope you come across more players that don’t carry the ‘all or nothing’ build mentality because bullying is not cool.

OP, I read your posts, and I do not believe for one second that you have a level 80 Thief. Or you do, you never used him/her in PvP or WvW, or you have, but not enough to understand the Thief.

Regardless of what the truth is, your suggestion would kill the Thief class. Acro Thieves are already dead due to the Feline Grace nerf. Shadow Arts was weakened, especially due to the Shadow’s Embrace nerf.

I used d/d and short bow before you or anyone else calls me out as an ‘abusive d/p thief.’ Regardless, many others have given plenty of suggestions on how to counter a thief in PvP/WvW. So, those suggestions from players who know how to deal with stealth reveals the fact that you’re either lying that you have a thief, or about your experience with the thief class, or your understanding of the thief class, as I stated before.

Ugh…

I thought tracking your own DPS was fine using some programs, but… other players tracking your DPS? That seems fishy.

Also, those people are absolute jerks for kicking you. I wouldn’t give up on fractals, though, very good loot. You just need to find the right group in LFG. Or find a guild even that doesn’t care if you’re 50 AR under because they are willing to carry you so you can get that AR.

(My guild did that for me)

I would not mind a change in GW2’s content difficulty, but the current way the devs are doing it is wrong. I’d also like to note that I stay away or leave other MMOs (and I also left League for this reason) because of toxic communities centered around the ‘one ultimate build that you must have, or you can’t compete.’

GW2 is… or was about having fun with your playstyle. That you could succeed with your playstyle. From a thief player’s perspective, the recent patch hasn’t given us that. Granted, it’s a recent patch so balance changes are coming. :P

I have some really bad ones that I’ve shamefully stolen.

Which dragon is best with computers?
Tech-quatl.

How does Jormag like his tea?
Ice-Brewed.

That’s all I got. :P

Idea from reddit. I didn’t make up the name or the idea! Credit goes to u/rabidsmiles for the idea and u/rune2004 for the name.

Memory of Lion’s Arch pass: takes you back to Lion’s Arch before Scarlet destroyed it. It works because it has all the crafting stations, TP, Bank, Mystic Forge, etc.

Also, please don’t make it look like an old movie when you use the pass. Let us see the colors!

I noticed this, too. At least the Menu playlist not working.

The playlists have been bugged in certain places since the June 23rd patch, and even before then.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Custom-Playlist-No-longer-Random/first#post5094651

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Buggy-Custom-playlists/first#post5250629

Anet, I’ve given my most constructive feedback on these bugs for months—I don’t understand why you haven’t addressed them and I don’t know if it’ll be a simple fix or not, but please, please, please fix these problems with our custom playlists. Preferably in the next patch.

Lucky Shot.7650:

EKAN.4051:

Lucky Shot.7650:

Batman did, because they’re the weapon skins we deserve, but not the ones we need right now.

Hm, which ones do “we” need right now then? ^^

Oh I dunno, it was just a quote, and I never understood that really, like in the movie the guy could have said the opposite and it would make sense… or not.

I detect a Dark Knight quote. Or was that Batman Begins? Either way, both good movies.

I noticed that when you go to any scene in Old Lion’s Arch in the Personal Story, it’s drowned in a brown overlay color. I don’t like that because, you’re doing your personal story, not a memory.

I know it’s a silly thing to nit-pick about, but I’d prefer not to have to turn off Post-processing every time I enter a PS segment with Old Lion’s Arch in it. The PS takes place about 3 years before current game time, but it’s not treated like a memory like anything in Old Lion’s Arch.

Besides, I also like looking at old Lion’s Arch, it’s pretty.

I would also like this. My poor little red panda just can’t keep up with my asura thief. :P

Hakuryuu.8634:

I’ll just put this here

I think the only people ‘losing their minds’ around here are the ones freaking out over ANET saying it’s okay to report spoiler players.

Dinks.2478:

Gaab.4257:

Wow. I don’t like spoilers either but I don’t see any particular reason that BY ITSELF ALONE it would be something to report in a game. Can anyone please point out for me the relevant text in the game’s license that forbids it?

While playing Guild Wars 2, you must respect the rights of others and their rights to play and enjoy the Game. To this end, you may not defraud, harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress and/or unwanted attention to other players. This includes posting insulting, offensive, or abusive comments about players, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, reporting players maliciously, attacking a player based on race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated.
Repeatedly spamming spoilers in map chat and lfg is straight up harassment and griefing and SHOULD be met with the appropriate response of a suspension.

I love how this was ignored completely.

“Demmi’s been kidnapped by pirates! Cool! I mean.. interesting.” – Tybalt.

Tybalt, you will be sorely missed. :’(

I have to agree. I merely used one Tome of Knowledge and it annoyed me. I don’t understand the need for the change, and I’m scared it’s going to remain that way as Anet rarely changes their new interfaces. I dislike this new interface for two reasons:

1) It’s very obtrusive, tends to get in the way of things.
2) It’s very annoying to have to go through per level.

Some info/response from Anet would be appreciated.

You are complaining about a class that’s in beta…

…

…

…

This isn’t the final product.

This is a great guild. You’ll get a lot of laughs (especially from Creo—great sense of humor), and we have plenty of events. Come join!

Or “Those raptors belong to those asura?” or something like that. I know it uses the word “those” twice which is considered a no-no, but we can work on that.

This happens in the HoT areas, too. I don’t like it at all, especially with the surviving soldiers event where you have to escort 10 pact survivors to the camp. I did 9/10 of them, but because I got confused by the terrain and couldn’t help the 10th, the event went grey, said I was ‘inactive’ and then the 10th soldier got to the camp.

I got no reward despite I helped 9 out of 10.

No wonder that it didn’t seem like Pact Commander II speed was working. :O Ouch. :/

I’m hearing voice clips all from all over the map. Like I was fighting some harpies, and I heard “retreat!” next to me, but no one else was there besides me and the harpies. O_o Please fix?

Linfang.1087:

I know and still believe in Anet’s Manifesto, which they still uphold to this day. Sure the game is not without flaws. The continual class balance or imbalance, the choice to grind or play with the odds of the ridiculous RNG, but let us be reminded of the things we no longer have to worry about. (Mind you I been playing MMO’s since 1997)

-Waiting for a Tank or Healer before you can start a Dungeon.
-People inspecting your gear, and basing your effectiveness off it (Gear Score also)
-Going toe to toe as a cloth class against a Mob and not being killed in two hits.
-Camping named mobs for rare drops.
-Retrieving your corpse after dying.
-Corpse Camping in PVP.
-Experience penalty for dying.
-Having to roll/transfer to another server to play with friends/guilds.
-Re rolling because you picked the wrong spec/stats.
-Drowning.
-Only able to play certain classes because of Racial restrictions.
-Kill Stealing
-Ninja Looting
- ! Endless Kill/Fetch Quests
-End Game Epic Raiding Elitism
-Subscription fees/services
-Moving interrupts spells
-Forced to play either “Good” or “Evil” race
-Limited access to areas based off Race/faction/Alignments.

And many, many more.

Sure some of you never had to experience some of the above, or took for granted those mechanics are in not Guild Wars 2, but I never forget. I am not a fan boi, and GW2 is not perfect, but the people behind the game are just like you and I: Gamers. Who want this game to be continually successful for years to come, and to continue to break every mold out there. kudos to them.

I totally agree to this. People are ungrateful human beings, who forget all too quickly the best things they have been given.

TheRandomGuy.7246:

AegisRunestone.8672:

Regardless, it’s still illegal in GW2 to use DPS meters to track other peoples’ DPS.

Nope. It is legal. Here is the link https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/66m13h/anet_this_really_should_be_part_of_the_game/dgjwapj/

That’s really disappointing to read. That allows exploitation of other players, it isn’t right. I don’t think other players—especially guildless ones—will stay long if this continues. I can understand personal DPS meters, but ones tracking other players? No, to me, that’s wrong, even if Anet has said “it’s okay now.”

I hope this is a bug with the Nov. 17th patch. >.>; I only have 15 of those stones, and I make Mystic Forge Salvage Kits regularly.

I kinda agree. I’m finding myself playing my regular characters more. The raptors are fun, but… I really wanted to play with the Weaver in a safe PvE area. And no, the test golem in the PvP lobby wouldn’t make me appreciate the spec.

I don’t like WvW, and I rarely do PvP… if at all. I’m very disappointed we don’t get to play with the elite specs this week.

Though, I could understand if they made the elite specs playable NEXT week in PvE, WvW, and PvP.

However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say the beta weekend is useless. The purpose of this weekend is to explore a little of Elona and have fun with the mounts. But… I’d still liked to have played with the elite specs.

Loved the raptor, and I wished there was more to explore. Also, the nod to the Lion King was pretty awesome. My only issue with the raptior is… well, it needs more climbing mobility.

My biggest gripe was being unable to play with my Elite specs. I noticed when I made an Ele, that the loot boxes gave me a sword—the Weaver’s weapon. It made me assume that we would have gotten to play with our Elite specs.

Changes are, I will not get to play with the Elite specs next week. So, I’m basically out of luck if I want to try the deadeye to see if it’ll make my thief a true assassin (w/o rifle), or the weaver, which I want to destroy things with fiery lightning.

As much as I appreciate these live showcases, I’m also a little unhappy. Back when the creative creations were shown on the front page, I had a chance of showing off my writing as long as it was a short story (you said that yourself, Gaile, to me).

Then, I finished one during last Wintersday, but since the showcase went live, there’s no place for any writing at all. This is extremely disappointing and it’s unfair to those of us who have no drawing skill, but have excellent writing skills.

I recommend some sort of change in how the Community Showcases are done so that writers are not left out. My only idea is: have the live showcase, but then also post them on the front page as well, except including chosen written works.

Sadly, I know, even if you do change this, my short story won’t be there because it’s months old.

Congratulations, though, to all the artists who get chosen for the showcase.’

I apologize ahead of time for sounding so bitter, BTW. But I feel like people who have great talent are being unfairly kicked out of any opportunity of being noticed because they write, cannot draw, cannot create music, etc.

Okay, I’m going to give my feedback:

The Good: What was done right.
- The new icons for various junk items, which tell that which sells higher apart from the others.
- Trading Post – I’d prefer to have the Sell Immediately option selected first, but that’s a personal preference. Otherwise, it’s really neat to search based on class and attributes.

The Okay: What I mean by the ‘okay’ is that it’s not really needed.
– Giving rewards (money, items) at level up.
– Giving directions to PoIs, Vistas, Hearts, and Skill Points.

The Not Needed:
- Too many commander icons on the map.

Change Required: This means what needs to be changed.
- Personal story needs to be returned the way it was. Why? Forcing an unlock every 10 levels deters people from wanting to play it. I’m also level 46, and I want to play the next step in my story, but now, I must wait until 50. This is not progression, this is a step backward because people could do their personal story sequences at a lower level if they wanted to.
- Skill lock-down was not a good move. It needs to be reverted.

In Summary:
- Giving players options is better than restricting their options. This is why you have so many people complaining about the skill lock-down and the personal story—you, anet, have taken away options.
- Those two “Change Required” points are the main reason most people may not start playing again or even start playing the game for the first time.

Arenanet, I hope you take the time to read this post and carefully think about your own options and what the players desire. Thank you.

I have to add this for the sake of humor.

So, months ago, my guild played mostly humans. I was the only asura. So, we were going to do a dungeon, and everyone wanted to see if they could cover me up all together (I didn’t mind).

Then someone walked passed us. Stopped, and asked: “What are you doing?”

Then one of my guildmates said: “We are cuddling. Do you want to cuddle with us?”

The guy said: “Sure!”

That made my day.

This is exactly how I felt about the Crystal Arbiter outfit. I wanted that Crystal Glider soooo much, just not the rest of the bundle.

So, I went with the Exalted Glider instead, and I traded gold for that one.

I am ruining shields?? I feel so sad now.

;p

I decided to participate in the Wintersday events this year, and I got ideas for Vini celebrating Wintersday! This fun little short story will entertain you. It takes place three years (current day) after my fan story about her.

Warning: This contains minor spoilers for The Shadows of Rata Sum.

Here’s the link to the story!

Enjoy! Also, any feedback, and catching of spelling errors/grammar would be appreciated!

This is why you must play asura (female specifically). I have never been annoyed with her voice quips.

Land of Cheese.2584:

“If Mordremoth can attack the Mother Tree in the Grove, it can attack anywhere!”

LOL. This one annoys me to death.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10715283/3/The-Assassin-of-Rata-Sum

Chapter 2 is up! It’ll be exciting!

Edit: I should say… it IS exciting!

Come on, people!

hlaraujo.3210:

There is so much in this expansion other than elite specs that is really sad to see you guys talking about how useless this is if it doesnt include elites ????

I never said it was useless. I think it’s silly to call this demo weekend useless. We’re exploring some of the maps and playing with the raptor mounts.

I did see the stream, and I was still hoping to play the elite specs in a PvE area, as I’ve stated many many times, I have no interest in WvW or PvP.

So, I feel like I’m limited to waiting until the expansion comes out and farm hero points for my elementalists that don’t have a lot just so I can TRY the Weaver. While I main a thief, deadeye does not interest me at all. My thief is a classic assassin-hard-to-catch type who uses daggers as her way of the kill. Sniping is not her thing.

Can you understand my frustration now? I want to try the Weaver at max spec, and I do not want to play WvW and PvP to do it. We should be allowed to test the specs wherever. If Anet changed it so that next week we could test the elite specs in ALL modes (but not have Elona explorable, nor mounts), then I’d be fine with that.

Nebelparder.3751:

AegisRunestone.8672:

Idea from reddit. I didn’t make up the name or the idea! Credit goes to u/rabidsmiles for the idea and u/rune2004 for the name.

Memory of Lion’s Arch pass: takes you back to Lion’s Arch before Scarlet destroyed it. It works because it has all the crafting stations, TP, Bank, Mystic Forge, etc.

Also, please don’t make it look like an old movie when you use the pass. Let us see the colors!

I need that.

So do I. That’s why I posted it! XD Glad there’s someone else who needs it.

I’m personally not interested. I’m hoping it’s optional.

Funny you say that. I was playing my thief in WvW about 20 min ago.

I felt so worthless.

This is a bad idea. You going to make thieves riot because of the fact they used to be able to dodge 3-4 times in a row (RIP Feline’s Grace). And no, most classes can’t dodge 3-4 times in a row. The max is 2.

Regardless, dodging ONCE is a very bad idea. Not only does it punish players for not dodging properly, and also it punishes players who dodge when they didn’t mean to. Sometimes, it’s easy to double tap the keyboard keys and dodge when you didn’t mean to.

The current system is fine the way it is. Leave it that way.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

Repost from the “Communicating with you” thread:

What I don’t like about the NPE:

Personal Story
One thing I always hated about the Living Story was that it feels like timewarping every two weeks. The Personal Story on the other hand was able to win me over because I could decide when I want to drive my story forward. Now that is gone, now the story comes streamlined and packaged in small bits every time I level 10 levels.
The biggest gripe I have with the new system was that the old system was almost perfectly fine and could’ve been made perfect with just small changes. There is no need to “protect” the player from the story.
And if the rumors are correct, then they’ve cutted out part of the story and rearanged other parts, so they don’t even make sense anymore…

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I want to be able to access my story at any time. The PS was a great break from the grinding and gave a lot of experience, so it was both fun and rewarding.

However, I completed my Chapter 5 PS with my Thief recently. She got to level 51, and now I’ve been grinding her to level 60 as much as possible. She’s 56. And I don’t appreciate having to spend 9 levels of grinding events, hearts, etc. just to unlock Chapter 6!

I would like to see a rollback on this particular change. I think it would be more helpful than not to have the personal story be a break again.

What about fan stories?

Nope. It’s just less common now. I heard it yesterday on my asura thief.

… before Scarlet destroyed it.

I know Google exists, but it’s very difficult for me to find the right pictures. Is there a place I can go to explore Old Lion’s Arch in its entirety? Either that, or can you guys help me collect pictures and maps?

Why do I need these? I’m writing my character’s story (see in my sig), and to finish Chapter 12, I need to be able to describe Old Lion’s Arch.

(This part is my variation of ‘Setting the Stage’)