Guild Wars 2

Why isn’t there a dedicated thread for this? Whatever. I’ll create one for my thoughts, but I’m just going to dump this here and then never look at it again. Hopefully y’all Anet employees see it.

We’d love to get your thoughts on our three brand-new elite specializations! Were they fun to play? Did they change the way you play your profession in a meaningful way?: I only play Ranger, so I haven’t been able to experience any elite specializations.

During daytime, we’re showing two new outposts and a big pile of events that go along with them. Are they fun? Do they tell a compelling narrative that helps bring you into the world? Do the events feel meaningful, challenging, and interesting?: Although there were fewer events, the daytime ones were fun. I enjoyed both of the longer events.

Does the Mastery system feel like a system that works to provide meaningful progression? Does it make you care about experience and Mastery points? Does it provide a framework that you think we could regularly add more to in live updates? Knowing your progress won’t be wiped, does it make you want to learn as many Masteries as possible so you can use them to overcome additional challenges later?: I honestly hate that the map is set up in such a way that if I choose NOT to use the mastery system, I’m left running around and hoping that the path I’m on is the one that will lead me where I have to go. I found it difficult and frustrating to get around this map, and once I’d played through the two new daytime events, I didn’t feel like it was worth it to keep exploring the map since I couldn’t make it to any of the “defend this position” events in time, anyway. I assume this is going to be the way of things, though – either I must use the mastery system, or I will have to bite the bullet and run full-tilt to an area hoping that I make it on time to do whatever I want to do.

Overall thoughts: I actually enjoyed the last beta weekend’s content more, even though it was impossibly bugged, for a couple of reasons.

- Verdant Brink is a pain to get around. Like, seriously – the mini map does nothing. I had to kind of just… run into stuff when I thought I was in the right area for a path until I found it. Also, the verticality is not my favorite, but at least the map from last weekend made it possible and viable to run everywhere instead of having to rely on training up the mastery skills. Not so much in Verdant Brink.

- Night time – boring. Day time – fun until I had done both of the longer events, and then… boring. There was so much more to do last time, or at least, it felt that way.

- I appreciated that the enemies died more quickly than last time, but I feel like there needs to be more random challenges that aren’t part of events. The two bosses were good start! I hope there’s more of that.

To that effect, I really enjoyed the events that encouraged working together from last beta weekend – it reminded me a lot of the Twisted Marionette or the first iteration of the Mad King’s Realm (the second version of Mad King’s Realm being almost impossible to handle as a single player or small team).

Anyway, on that note, I’m still on board for HoT, which makes me happy. I haven’t played GW2 in… oh, at least a year. Maybe more. I’m excited to see HoT when it’s released, and I’ve missed playing GW2; so far, the beta content feels more like the content released in the game’s first year, which I really appreciate. I said it last beta weekend, and I’ll say it this weekend – I appreciate that players are being encouraged to play WITH each other, not AGAINST or AROUND each other, and not being forced to team up or join a huge horde because the content is too difficult to handle in a smaller team or solo. No one was screaming orders in map chat or being huge jerks during either of these beta weekends! People were just working together and having fun. I really, really appreciate that, guys. Thank you for that. I missed it.

Using the questions provided in the announcement post -

- Do the elite specializations feel like they are creating an entirely new role for your main profession?: As a ranger, I did not have the opportunity to try any new elite specialization.

- Do you feel the need to use your entire skill bar in battles?: I play my ranger specifically so I can use my entire skill bar to my benefit. I’m pretty good at deploying skills at the right times so I can be as effective as possible.

- Does teaming up with other players feel more rewarding?: It feels more rewarding now than it has in the last two years, but less rewarding than it did when the game launched and people were playing WITH each other, not AROUND each other.

- Do you find yourself wanting to change your skills and traits to overcome encounters?: Nope. I’ve been playing this ranger setup since the day GW2 launched.

- Does night feel different from the daytime?: Yes.

- Does it change the way you play while night is active?: Yes.

- Is the nighttime meta-event experience that we’ve shown so far engaging and fun?: I feel like once the night-time events are polished and the entire map is available, yes.

- Does the Mastery system feel like a system that works to provide meaningful progression?: I’m not a huge fan of metagaming, and none of the mastery skills particularly interest me or seem helpful for my play style.

- Does it make you care about experience and Mastery points?: Nope.

- Does it provide a framework that you think we could regularly add to in live updates?: I’m sure you could for the people who use it.

- Does it improve the experience of gathering materials if you’re working on building items that require specific crafting materials that previously had no clear place to earn them?: I have no information with which to answer this question.

- Does it feel like it will help keep the core world we’ve built today still a place you’ll want to return to and play in, and do you feel rewarded for doing so?: So far, yes.

BioFringe.7945:

Seriously people…it’s not even over and the complaints, conjecture, and paranoia is piling in. Let’s all take a deep breath and try to relax. After all, it’s just a freak’in game.

You’re right. It’s silly to be upset over a game. It’s not silly to be upset over dodgy answers from that game’s developers, though.

And I am only speaking for myself and the players with whom I am acquainted. Many of those have already left or put GW2 on indefinite hiatus. So I’ll amend my statement:

Some players are not going to move forward with GW2 until they take a step backward and answer the applicable questions honestly.

Why did they choose an Anet employee who doesn’t have the communicative skills to answer these questions? Poor dear can barely string a sentence together. Although it does explain the overuse of PR-approved key phrase "moving forward" and how long it’s taking to reply.

Perseus Ithikus.5483:

Shocking amount of time being taken between answers only for most of them to be generic PR replies.

Agreed. As someone with lots of experience in making PR-appropriate statements, this is just silly.

No one will move forward with GW2 if they don’t take a big ol’ step backward and address their player base’s questions honestly. I wonder if they realize that.

I’m surprised that so many people are getting so upset and being so incredibly disrespectful to the Anet team. First of all, the game itself has only been out for two months. Less than that, actually. We’re lucky you’re getting new content at all. They didn’t have to do this for their players, but they did. We’re all pretty lucky in that respect, too, since there’s no subscription in this game.

This game is here for your enjoyment. They could easily just turn off the servers while they fix stuff and give you no access at all. And, let’s not forget, these are human beings who are working hard to correct mistakes, just like every kitten one of you would have to do. We should all endeavor to enjoy the parts of the game that do work, and be happy that we have the opportunity to play new content so soon after a game’s release in the first place.

This is Aiode, my Necromancer My husband actually suggested I throw her picture up here. I think she’s pretty cute, but there’s some serious competition!