Guild Wars 2

Wake me up when i can use a greatsword.

I’m in shock as to how much players and their attitudes towards content has regressed over the last decade or so. There was a time when if something was soloable, it was considered throw away content no one took seriously. Now if something can’t be done day one with no one else’s help, it’s considered over-tuned or for the no lifers.

I have zero sympathy for anyone that can’t complete content because they refuse to play an MMO like an MMO. Frankly, i’m tired of these people. They’ve ruined this genre with their incessant whining for every little aspect to be turned into some single player game.

I’ve not made it through a single Tequatl without crashing since the patch. I come back every time and get thrown into empty worlds that faiI. I never crashed before this. This is pretty infuriating.

i5 2500k
GTX 970
16 GB ram
SSD

Khristophoros.7194:

Ald.9418:

I look at elite specs as a long term progression path instead of what the majority here seems to see them as. I have no problem with their current iteration. Then again, i’m old school and could work on certain missions for years without calling them a “grind”.

Perhaps Anet should have done a better job explaining that instead of making them seem like something that “came” with the expansion and could immediately be played. I could see that argument for sure.

That doesn’t fit the GW2 design philosophy. Equipment, skills, classes, etc… are not supposed to be behind a grind wall.

Designs and philosophies change.

The main gripe a lot of players had with the game was a serious lack of long term meaningful progression, aside from legendaries. I’m sure Anet saw this in their feedback more times than not.

The “grind” aspect i’m tired of hearing about. Players have become so focused at doing every little aspect of this game and many others as efficiently as possible that they forget to actually play the game and enjoy it. Instead of rushing about trying to get all these masteries complete in one weekend, just play the game and they’ll come.

Now as far as alts go, i can understand. There’s a simple solution to correct that.

I look at elite specs as a long term progression path instead of what the majority here seems to see them as. I have no problem with their current iteration. Then again, i’m old school and could work on certain missions for years without calling them a “grind”.

Perhaps Anet should have done a better job explaining that instead of making them seem like something that “came” with the expansion and could immediately be played. I could see that argument for sure.

I approve this greatsword message. Make it so Anet.

Rev’s are bad. No one should be rerolling one. In fact, no one should even bother playing one. I’ll go ahead and take it off everyones hands so it doesn’t feel left out though.

The one to Rule.2593:

I’d rather greatsword so i can use my twilight on it

Greatsword as well because they have the best looking legendaries.

Misguided.5139:

Ald.9418:

I’d insta 80 if i hadn’t taken a 2 year hiatus and thus haven’t collected enough tomes.

Best i can do is level 53.

That including your birthday gifts?

Aye.

I’d insta 80 if i hadn’t taken a 2 year hiatus and thus haven’t collected enough tomes.

Best i can do is level 53.

I’d like to know what percentage of the economy is controlled by what percentage of the players. It’s my belief that a very small percentage controls the majority going back to the precursor debacle at launch. This to me is not good for the majority of players.

The economy had been a disaster since launch when a few players made bank creating large quantities of a certain precursor. That began the market manipulation of which is still controlled by a small percentage. This is why real world economies have no place in MMO’s. They stink for everyone except the 1%.

The best thing Anet is doing is removing the ability to buy and sell the new legendaries. They’ve been dictating the economy for far too long. and it’s about time this was remedied.

Joining the bandwagon because it’s true:

Nothing, because thief.

I will not stop my crusade to get Rev a greatsword, so my vote goes for that. Though i’d prefer it in a power build, i’ll take what i can get.

Hell, i’d argue it’d be better to see the standard 2 tanks, 2 healers, 6 dps comps everyone’s accustomed to. I know it’s cliche and all but it would diversify the group comp in a much better way.

I’m sure comps will change based on bosses anyways so i’m not worried just yet. It will be concerning if the remaining bosses behave like the first and allow for the 9/1 comp to be successful though. I don’t believe Anet wants to see that and i’d be surprised if the majority of the raiders would either.

Jaetara.4075:

As an ele I had hard time facing almost any of the specs, they are all overpowered except Tempest that is a joke. It’s impossible to die in 3 sec from a Dragonhunter or die from Scraper’s aoe while he is focusing the archers… it’s a shame to not be able to hit a daredevil once or not be able to bring Riper below 50%. All the specs do insane damage and they have many tools to survive for ever. They seam like up grates rather than new options and people still don’t know how to play them like the old stuff.

So basically everything Elementalists have been doing since release. Gotcha.

The last thing we need is more ground targeted abilities. I have no issues facing the direction i want to go.

Azure.8670:

Ald.9418:

I’d absolutely kill to be able to use Greatswords.

be careful what you wish for, you could get Ranger gs and never use it because s/x and hammer are better

If we got Rangers GS then we’d be the best tank in the game by far.

I’d absolutely kill to be able to use Greatswords.

Bearhugger.4326:

ODB.6891:

This is wrong in so many ways. Their design succeeded, but they made the mistake of allowing gear stat combinations in PvE that were superfluous. They left clerics, nomad, cavalier, rampager, etc gear sets available for PvE players to choose from, when there was not a need for them. There should have been a single gear set for PvE. That way players would not have chosen safety net gear to begin with and would not be looking at the need to handhold these players now to make them feel wanted or needed. They did not want to just correct this mistake after the fact by removing the unnecessary gear stat combinations from PvE, so now they are trying to find ways to force relevance of those stat combinations now. Had they not made this mistake to begin with, they could have balanced encounters properly around this base level of stats. They would not be trying to find ways to make players in zerk gear die without the assistance of dedicated healers. They would not be fighting with the condi cap and struggling with balancing condi versus melee damage as much. They would not be struggling with tuning bosses and mobs to hit hard enough to kill players in full nomad…at the expense of everyone else.

You call me wrong in “so many ways” then you proceed with a suggestion to officially kill other players’ favored playstyle in order to preserve your own.

The solution to Arenanet’s problems is to promote build diversity, not to discourage it. God forbid some people like to play something that’s not fully glass-cannon, and they have the right to ask for viability in group content. “Play your way” works in both directions.

ODB.6891:

They did succeed in implementing their trinity of damage/support/control, but players stuck in the traditional trinity mind set still cannot adapt to a new paradigm. The new paradigm did not have those three elements as separate players….it is for each player to do all three of those things at once. We still have so many players struggling to understand that they are supposed to being doing damage, using support abilities and traits, and using control abilities and traits ….all at the same time. ANET seems to have given up on educating these players and decided to revert back to dedicated roles so these players will stop complaining. Hence we have our two new dedicated healers…ventari and druid.

How did they succeed with their vision when the vast majority of their players did not accept it after 3 years? How long do you want them to give the players to adapt before scrapping the idea? 10 years?

ODB.6891:

It is a matter of opinion and personal preference as to whether ANET’s damage/support/control was an improvement over the traditional trinity’s tank/healer/dps. I don’t think one is an improvement over the other…they are just alternatives. I personally enjoyed the alternative, but it looks like that alternative is about to end because ANET could not stick to their vision.

Personal opinions are what they are, but here’s a fact: in 3 years there hasn’t been a single competitor that has copied GW2’s party mechanics. Dynamic events, or some lesser form of them, have been copied by nearly every other MMOs since then. WvW has inspired a lot of new PvP modes in 3 years. A gear and level normalization in PvP has been implemented by a lot of other MMOs. Cosmetics rewards are becoming more popular in MMOs as well… But in 3 years, no one has been willing to copy GW2’s party mechanics. That’s a pretty good sign that the classic trinity of tank/DPS/healer is still viewed as superior.

They stuck to their vision for 3 years and it has turned their group PvE into a wasteland. It’s time to try something else. Tank/DPS/healer or something else, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not the status quo.

ODB.6891:

Instead they are letting the unwashed masses cries overwhelm them into reverting back to WoW.

Feel free to blame WoW and its players for every GW2 design decision you dislike, but the fact is that WoW has a healthy and challenging group PvE experience while this game does not, and for 3 years, players have been asking Arenanet to do something about it.

ODB.6891:

The real problem here, is that ANET is not just making these dedicated healers useful, they are making them mandatory to success in raids. This violates their entire phiw policy. Success in a raid will apparently require these healers….you will have to bring one…whether you want to or not…if you plan on completing the content.

Have you done the content to say they’re mandatory? Unless I missed something, all they said was that they were killing the 10x berserker groups, and good riddance because that’s just stupid.

And even if a healer is required, if there isn’t a single person in your group that is willing to put a few group heals on their bar to help the group progress then I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you need to stop hiring cowboys in your guild. The only problem that could happen is if revenant and druid are the only viable healer classes, because the ranger class does not typically attract very “healy” players, and the Ventari stance looks very boring. (That tablet…) If elementalists, guardians, engineers, and maybe shout warriors are viable group healers then it shouldn’t be a problem to have 1 or 2 players heal.

Also, welcome to DPS/Control/Support, where healing is a form of support, and tanking is a form of control. If you can’t find a healer then maybe other forms of support will work. We don’t know yet.

I love you.

If the basis for your PVE group content is completion time rather than actually completing it, then your content fails to properly challenge your players. GW2’s group PVE content is by far the worst out of any MMO i’ve ever played and i’ve played them all since ’99.

I’m personally in favor of expanding the trinity to what it once was instead of sticking to the boring one made popular by WoW. Tank/Heal/Support/CC with DPS being the least important. Unfortunately the encounters and content need to actually be designed for this to prevent everyone from just throwing nothing but dps at it.

The core design flaw in GW2’s group PVE is that you can just throw dps at it and do better than the alternatives. That’s been a huge mistake in my eyes and one that’ll hopefully be corrected in the expansion.

Lets not fix a huge problem because it may create another problem down the line. That’s what i got from the OP. Could it happen and will it happen? I’m sure it will, but anything’s better than the current garbage zerker meta.

I’d love to run a full bunker tank and support build and let all the zerkers do their thing but the current content doesn’t encourage it. It’s not required because the current group PVE content is terrible and has been since launch. That needs to change if this games PVE is ever going to be taken seriously.

Are there really great groups that make everyone else look terrible? Absolutely there are. Unfortunately when clear times become the best indication of skill rather than the act of clearing difficult content, then the content is subpar.

This can be fixed by encouraging and requiring different play styles and gearing as well as more intricate boss mechanics. This is what i feel Anet is trying to accomplish and i for one welcome it.

Revenant Horton Heat.

The absolute weakest aspect of GW2 is the organized group content. It simply isn’t fun without a trinity in my personal opinion. When everyone runs pure glass cannon dps builds because everything dies in ten seconds, then we have a problem. We’ve had this problem for a while now.

I understand this was a selling point for the game for many, including myself. Unfortunately, after a while, i came to the conclusion that i missed the organized nature of the trinity and was willing to put up with the headaches associated with finding healers and tanks, rather than continue with GW2 despite loving everything else about it.

On the other hand – GW2’s combat system is by far the best of any MMO as far as PVP goes.

I’d personally rather have the use of a greatsword myself. I was looking forward to playing a Shadowknight(EQ2)/Dark Knight(FFXI) archetype and am sort of bummed i can’t use a greatsword.

I play my thief in dungeons only if there’s a ranger there that knows what he’s doing and drops Healing Spring in melee range.

Of course it’s going to be worthless when everyone can easily level every craft.

The only way to make crafting truly profitable and needed is to make it extremely difficult and expensive to level one while making crafted gear the best gear. I’m talking one crafter per guild with every member feeding that person crafting mats.

Warriors have no business complaining about anything PVE related.

Being able to go full glass cannon without consequences was bad for the game.

I’m still completely boggled as to why such a ridiculous item even exists. I’d like to know who thought having a consumable giving 10 seconds of stealth to anyone was a good idea.

Gave my first ascended amulet to my guardian, so that needs to be upgraded still. I’m not a fan of glass cannon.

High level undead zones have been done to death.

I’d like to see something less depressing.

Dxtory is the best options wise but requires fast write speeds to take full advantage of.

I personally use Afterburner since it’s free and takes a much lower performance hit than Fraps.

DanH.5879:

Dolan.3071:

Bullwinkel.7839:

I wouldn’t play a thief in PvE. They just don’t have enough cleave options to even be suitable for proficient dungeon running.

Venom sharing. You’re welcome.

for 300 range ? really ?, while boon skills have 600+ ?,
and still hits only 5 targets as others, you have to tie your group with shackles for it to be effective. and because most pugs run as headless chickens…. not useful much
(or doing the cantabrian circle)

This.

While it’s great when it works, the range is way too freaking small. There’s been encounters where i swear I’m standing right next to everyone and they still don’t all receive my buffs.

Yet another thread as an example as to why legendaries should not be tied in any way to gold and instead should be rewards for in game achievements of difficult content.

It’s not even close for Fractals.

My legendary is relegated to farming ore/wood, while my guardian can actually contribute to a group.

Thief really needs a group buff of some kind without having to rely on finishers. Perhaps a mini time-warp of some sort.

There’s a reason you really shouldn’t try to mimic a real life economy in an MMO. Real economies are terrible. You’re left with 1% controlling 99% much like you see today.

Playing the market should not be the best way to make money in a game. Playing the kitten game and contributing to your server should be.

Game economies should revolve around crafting. Unfortunately, newer MMO’s feel this need to allow anyone and everyone to max all their crafts rather easily. Make this process difficult and long and only for the dedicated and you have a step in the right direction.

Get this speculating nonsense out of my MMO.

Chests would be a perfect place to increase the availability of lodestones.

Temples should guarantee them.

Scaling dungeons would be great.

Anything that allows us to take more than 5 players into a dungeon would be fantastic.

I identify them all since i consider buying dyes just wrong. It takes the fun out of finding a dye i need.

Or, get rid of town clothes and allow players to transmute those outfits on their normal combat gear.

I really don’t understand this thread at all.

Done human on both guardian and thief without issues. Granted it was easier on guardian, i mean what isn’t, but everything went pretty smooth on thief as well.

Players need to change their playstyle, build, and/or gear if they’re having issues.

As long as legendaries can be bought, either straight out or by buying most of the components, they will never be symbols of achievements.

Playing the kitten game while being out in the world contributing to the community and accomplishing team oriented goals should net players a legendary after a long process of events not tied to gold.

Market manipulators and brokers can still make all the money they want trading items needed for the large amounts of craftable skins available in game while staying away from legendaries.

The entire economy revolving around legendaries is bad for the players in the long run.

I’d argue that we need more forced grouping.

Solo game-play has completely ruined MMO’s and deviated them from what they originally were.

Another solution, and one that’s been suggested since beta, is to allow us to save multiple builds that we can swap between out of combat.

I personally change my builds 3 or 4 times a day depending on what I’m doing.

tic.7425:

Ald.9418:

Sometimes i wish we’d go back to forced grouping to even level.

This would weed out everyone that refuse to be social and actually do stuff with other people.

Go back to?

really…

I don’t remember ever needing to be forced to group in any early MMOs.

You don’t remember having to be in a group and finding a camp to pull mobs to you as the only form of leveling? MMO’s existed before 2005.

Players were more like minded then and went out of their way to help others because they had to, otherwise they’d get nothing done. While i don’t miss the huge time sinks, i do miss this aspect.

Maylojager.1307:

As requested by op:
Precursors aren’t a problem.

The ability to buy everything for a legendary, including the legendary itself, minus dungeon tokens and badges, is the problem.

Having a player run economy while the above is true is an absolute mistake.

Legendaries should be a long process of in game activities not tied to gold. Leave the gold sink to the amazing skins of non legendaries and develop an intricate system of legendary acquisition that rivals EQ’s system through rare feats of actually gameplay.

Sometimes i wish we’d go back to forced grouping to even level.

This would weed out everyone that refuse to be social and actually do stuff with other people.

How exactly is pet revives and rez orbs quantified as “skill”?

I’ll give you bosses prior to Maw since agony is avoidable, but come on now.

The real problem is that Maw never took any skill other than agony resist. The encounter should be the most difficult one in the entire dungeon where agony can be dodged but with a lot more intense mechanics. Instead, it’s an “I already won” before the encounter even starts.

Giles Marchand.6970:

after doing 75% of the damage to The Iron Forgeman I dodge rolled into the lava, I died and for the next 10 minutes I sat there as my group dealt the last 25%.

Not getting loot if you’re dead is an obvious problem, but you made a mistake and admitted it. There has to be consequences for doing so, otherwise we go back to the rez-rushing nonsense and no one leans how to play properly.

Players have to take it upon themselves to understand how they synergize with the group composition they have at that current time, and not run the exact same build and playstyle for everything.

Purple power baby.