Guild Wars 2

I was in Story Mode of Sorrow’s Embrace, game crashed. I’ve tried logging in half a dozen times now and it crashes when it tries to open my character select screen.

Thoughts?

bloodreign.1294:

-snip-
Ahh, I get it now. Sorry your pun/joke back fired on me. Didn’t realize I said “Reaver”, instead of Reaper in my first post. I was in a hurry. Plus, in my defence I’ve only seen the Firefly movie, Serenity. And that was quite a while ago.

But DO think Reapers and Reavers in the Firefly stories are both awesome. Yeah I’d hate to ever meet a Reaver, but in an evil twisted and creative way, pretty kitten cool. But that’s one of the reasons I love Necros too. ><

If you enjoyed the movie at all, you should definitely watch the show! Only 13 episodes, doesn’t take long to get through.

I do think Reapers are extremely fun… it MAY be my new main in HoT. The Druid I think a close 2nd. Unfortunately I’m just not that excited about the Berserker and I’m sure I’ll try a Revenant for a bit.

Runiir.6425:

I’m thinking you didn’t play with the traits then. I found myself nigh unkillable as a reaver… snip

Kal Spiro.9745:

I would say it depends greatly on what you’re idea of fun is. I didn’t play Reaver nor Druid… snip

bloodreign.1294:

Don’t get why you brought Firefly up at all, but okkkaaayyy…

And to each his own. I did find Reaver to be a lot of fun. Not my fault that you didn’t. shrugs

Guys guys guys… wow. Right over your heads! Please do not criticize something you do not get, especially if you’re the one that’s at fault.

REAVERS are men driven crazy that live at the edges of the border planets in the show Firefly. And no, they are not awesome. They will kitten you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin into their clothing. And if you’re really really lucky, they’ll do it in that order.

REAPERS are the elite profession you’re looking for in Guild Wars 2.

Nice job.

Haleydawn.3764:

The pun isn’t funny if it has to be explained…
It’s Reaper btw, not Reaver. That’s your Firefly reference.

Schurge.5194:

I enjoyed the Reaver play-style… snip

I’m glad you two get it at least. =P

bloodreign.1294:

Reaver is great.

Hello fellow browncoat. Binge watched some Firefly recently, have we?

Btw, Reavers are NOT great.

ODB.6891:

Leo G.4501:

Gav.1425:

Torolan.5816:

That´s what I love most about this forum, people always assume the worst to happen and are never satisfied with a viable solution that is not the most efficient.

How hard can it be to tell on TS that the ranger should not use the 4 on longbow, put his tanky bear pet away for some other, totally irrelevant pet and put some healing gear on?^^

It’s hard enough to get a pug ranger to run spotter, let alone swap his entire build, gear, and playstyle for you.

Pushing trinity forces an even more strict meta.

Shall I use the advice spouted to those dirty PUG play-how-you-want players?

Try joining a guild for your group content ^^

How does that statement even apply to this situation? What makes you think players in a guild are any better than random pugs? How does being in a guild change either the need for, effectiveness of, or desirability of a particular profession/specialiation?

Because part of being in a guild is being a team player. If you’re not, then you’re not going to be in the guild very long. It’s about getting to know people and figuring out the best way to run content. If people pug, they couldn’t care less most of the time how they treat others.

So it’s not meant to really be a control effect that becomes a normal part of PvE play then? That’s disappointing. I was hoping to see more use of it in dungeons or raids.

Jordo.5913:

“but the developers say no
so i gotta let you go
my world comes crashing down once more
i guess i’ll never pick you up again…..

ice bow 4, i’m gonna miss you"

looks like “Ice Bow 4” song wasn’t made to be wasted after all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IrkCqPMS18

You have changed my life. Thank you for the link.

Have I been missing it? They talked a lot about Taunt being attached to some skills allowing for more control, making the enemy attack you for so long, but I haven’t seen it on the new skills at all. Did they do away with it or am I just overlooking it?

I have 11 lvl 80s fully equipped in Exotics or better. One of each class, plus an extra Ranger, Guardian, and Elementalist. I’ll have a 12th, the Revenant, once HoT releases.

The classes that I have multiple of, I am planning on giving a dedicated non-dps role to. The extra Guardian is built very tanky, the Elementalist is for heals, and the extra Ranger for now was just because I wanted to make another for looks and for lol-range dps, but that will turn into a Druid (and unknown to me, his looks will fit right in!).

So, safe to say I’m sure there are others out there in my situation who will have some heals on hand if need be.

1. Reaper
2. Druid
3. Scrapper
4. Chronomancer
5. Berserker
6. Daredevil
7. Herald
8. Dragonhunter
9. Tempest

I like it. Remember, Charrs were the first Engineers. These “Scrappers” learned to use what they got to fight. Other races learned from them.

Kodama.6453:

ArchieD.6972:

Think of the concept, not the numbers. The numbers can follow.

Sry but I have to say: the way you describe the concept, it seems to be broken too.
You said ranger would get the pets skills to use. These are balanced around one fact: except the f2 skills, each of your pets skills is tied to ai.

There are 9 pet families in game without any new upcoming pets for hot (I hope there will be some). So the ranger gets a total of 27 skills which he can use on demand now. Sure, you are only able to use 3 of them which are tied together, but still it is a giant raise of skill diversity. And there are some really hard hitting attacks in this list (like drakes Tail Swipe, some vids in forums show the drake, which doesn’t have a power level even close to a player ones, this can hit for 19k and more), if you pair that with the really high mobility of a ranger, this becomes a beast.

About the “tweak the numbers” thing … I really doubt there would be so much effort to tweak every single pet skill in this game to get this idea to work. Anet is having a hard time to balance the skills, which are already in game at their current state. If they had to fix all these skills, this would be total chaos.

I was leaning much more on the “or are tied closely to its skills” part of that statement. You’re not going to get the auto attack. But maybe all bears have a defensive skill, a taunt, and an interrupt. And depending which bear you get, there will also be a bleed, or a daze, or whatever. CDs on these skill of course.

Dadnir.5038:

-snip-

You would’ve saved yourself a lot of headache if you just understood the first thing I said when I mentioned gaining stats from the chosen pet. I said:

“You also gain attributes equal to 20% of your pet’s when you sacrifice them. (arbitrary number to be adjusted)”

What that means is I put zero thought into that number. None. It would, of course, need to be adjusted for balance. Maybe it’s 5%, 1%, 30%, who knows. Whatever it takes to make you on par with having the pet. Of course it won’t be the same as having one, that’s the fun in it. It will be two different play styles. There will be times when having a pet may be a better option, then there would be times where not having it would be better.

Have you thought about having access to some of the pet’s skills means that you would have to be in melee range (if it’s a strike) which puts you in more danger than sitting far back as you would with the pet. Likewise, if mobility is a high priority, it’d be easier not having to deal with a pet.

Think of the concept, not the numbers. The numbers can follow.

Mist Form
Speed increase: 66%

Swiftness
Speed increase: 33%

Yet you move at the same speed, Mist Form is no faster. What gives?

Ehecatl.9172:

I dislike any mechanic that seeks to completely remove the pet as a viable choice by giving the ranger unbelievable buffs and all the pet’s utilities.

Elite specs enhance the old mechanic with new options, it doesn’t make the old mechanic redundant and useless.

My suggestion was not to make running with a pet not a viable choice, it was to make running without a pet a viable choice. Big difference. Tweak numbers, whatever, for balance. I’m not a game designer and I’m not going to pretend I know what would be balanced without running tests. This is why they have Betas and have tons of feedback.

Dadnir.5038:

-snip-

I can respect all you’ve said, but I don’t think this goes completely against the core mechanic. The pet is “still there” as you have made it part of yourself and you have abilities tied to it. Perhaps it could be like the Warrior’s berserk and have a cd, I don’t know.

It would be easy for a minor trait in the Druid line to be “any skill or trait that would affect your pet would affect you, with reduced affect, instead while a pet is sacrificed.” No need to reword any existing traits. (just an example, don’t jump all over me for it)

Believe me, I’ve thought about the negatives and considered there would be some tweaking that would need to happen to make it work, but it could work.

Remember, this is all just for fun, throwing out a suggestion. They already know what they’re doing for the Druid, they’ve already stated that you’re going to have your pet as a Druid. Just relax and don’t get your panties in a bunch.

Skyline Crash.6254:

Dadnir.5038:

Would be totally overpowered if the ranger were to be affected by pet’s trait. What do you do about shout?

- does guard grant you stealth and protection?
- does sick’em grant you 40% damage and 40% movement speed?
- does Search and rescue force you to go to the downed player and rez it?
- does protect me! protect you with your own body, resulting in no damage mitigation at all?
- Signet of renewal will pull allies condition on you, are you ok with that?
- vigorous training need a pet swap… sad, that make 1 trait out.
- Allies aid if you are already rezing your allies do you need the search and rescue thingy?
- Empathic bond, will you pull your own conditions to yourself?
- Clarion bond, how will it work?
- Alpha training become useless, you won’t take the first strike of your pet.
- Companion’s might free might and bleed on every crit… totally OP
- Pet’s prowess free movement speed and critical damage?

There are to many hindrance to that idea of yours, sorry.

1. Reduced effectiveness
2. Reduced effectiveness
3. Ranger does a stronger revive.
4. Reduced effectiveness
5. Reduce effectiveness of conditions applied.
6. I think you could still pet swap (as in you have the ability to use their active skills/gain some of their attribute properties) so this wouldn’t be a problem.
7. Basically a second search and rescue. Skills do this all the time (I.e. guardian and their smite on heal and regular smite). While one is on CD you can still use the other one.
8. Act as condi clear with reduced effectiveness.
9. Pet swap still remains, see 6.
10. Ranger gets 2 stacks of opening strike.
11. Add an internal cooldown.
12. Reduced effectiveness.

Pretty much this. Numbers can be tweaked of course for balance.

1) Sure, the spirit is a part of you. Tweak numbers.
2) Same as 1.
3) Haven’t thought it through, but I like Skyline’s suggestion.
4) Remember the spirit is a part of you, it can be a part of your actions. I’d say it uses its spirit to protect you.
5) Again, the spirit inside you does. Perhaps you get a little bit of the conditions, but not all of it.
6) You don’t have to fight with a Sacrificed pet all the time, it would still work when they’re not. This would be one that if you think you’ll have a sacrificed pet most of the time you probably don’t want to take it. It’s like taking Greatsword traits and not using a Greatsword, why would you do that?
7) Same as above, you might not want to choose that one if you won’t have a pet out.
8) The spirit will cleanse you.
9) Again, maybe one you might not want to take. See 6.
10) Like Skyline said, I’d think you’d have two stacks of it.
11) Leave as is. It’s in the Beastmastery line, probably a bad combination if you’re sacrificing your beasts. (or if you want people to play as they choose, then do what Skyline said and put a cd on it)
12) Again, Beastmastery. Leave as is. If you’re not planning on using a pet, don’t take pet traits. (again, see 6. replace “a pet” with “greatsword” and it’s the same thing)

I know a lot of people don’t like the pet mechanic with the Ranger. To be honest, I’ve always loved the Archer archetype but hated the idea of having a pet. So, instead of asking for it to be removed, or just given an option to remove it, I’ll suggest a new skill, and it may change the idea of the Druid a little bit.

What we know:

All the Elite Specs revealed thus far have had additional abilities, or upgraded abilities to their F skills. We can only expect the same for the Druid. And since the F abilities for Druids are tied to the pets, here’s a suggestion for them.

Sacrifice [F5]
Sacrifice the current pet, becoming one with its spirit. You gain its power and abilities.
1 sec. cast
10 sec. cooldown

Revive [F5]
Revive the pet, releasing its spirit.
3 sec. cast
10 sec. cooldown

The new [F5] skill would flip upon using it. The pet UI would change to new [F1] to [F4] skills that mimic the pet’s skills, or are tied closely to its skills. You would no longer have the option to switch to a different pet using [F4] as you have sacrificed one.

You also gain attributes equal to 20% of your pet’s when you sacrifice them. (arbitrary number to be adjusted)

What this does:

This allows people to carry the pets they want to get more power or more support as before, but puts more control in the user’s hands rather than relying on AI that is so easily forgotten about. People can still play as they used to if they choose.

It’s not the perfect solution, I know. But I think now is the chance. I know it’s late for suggestions, the major decisions for the elite spec have been made, but here’s hoping!

I’ll try to put this as simply as I can.

Just because the Druid was used as the example of what a specialization is does not mean that they were working on it the longest, or that they are having trouble with it, or that it is in worse shape than the other specializations.

It COULD be that: they feel most confident with it, and therefor don’t think it needs as much player testing as the other specializations. Or that it was actually one of the last one’s chosen, and since they were excited about their newest decision they decided to use it as the example. Afterall, it was only concept stuff that they revealed. Or maybe they thought that the initial reveal of it was good enough to hold rangers over, and are revealing other specializations first since that is NEW information and not just a more in depth look at an already known specialization.

There are PLENTY of reasons why they could be holding off on “officially” revealing the Druid other than it’s in terrible shape right now. When they release a batch of specializations, they do it at one a week. Well, they have to choose one. If the Necro hadn’t been chosen by now, they’d be yelling “Necro is in trouble! Why no reveal yet?”

So just sit tight. It’ll be alright.

Monk Tank.5897:

Oh someone please photoshop a Grim Reaper driving a moissonneuse plz.

Close, but no moissonneuse.

As someone who has some form of 3d modelling experience, I can say it doesn’t seem as if it should be that hard.

Create a parameter that only affects the hair, and create a void mass surrounding the headpiece in the area you want to clip (namely from the inside face of the headpiece out) then lock that mass to the headpiece itself, so that when the headpiece is resized for whatever reason, the void shifts with it. Whatever hair doesn’t fall within that void still shows.

Now I don’t know what modelling program they use, but this seems to be well within reason.

Neural.1824:

Thaddeus.4891:

Melee weapon = More dps, but more risky

Range weapon = Less dps, but less risky

Sound just perfect for me.

Only in a fantasy MMO.

What do you think this is?

Yes, that’s how they run their betas. They’re called “Beta weekend events.” There were three before the release of the core game, and IF they decide to do what they did with those three (though sadly it doesn’t sound like it will be) it’ll be capped off by a unique world wide event.

I missed the first Beta weekend, but it was something like a white bunny that killed everyone? I’m sure it can be youtubed. The second Beta weekend was capped off with The Shatterer dropping branding stones across the Charr starting area, those who died from the branded or otherwise (I actually had a stone land on me, killing me instantly!) turned into a branded creature and fought those remaining. The third capped off with a Hunger Games like event, where you slowly lost health, and had to fight for rations and weapons and hide out. They were pretty neat! Hope they do something like that again!

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

You tell my hundred stacks of dragonite ore that I shouldn’t have kept it. Princess is very happy.

I’ve bought 3 extra bank tabs I believe, and I’m running out of space again. No way could I keep that much ore lying around! I think I have 73 ingots atm.

But yeah, I have Princess, and was very saddened to discover that there is no way for me to use the ore I already collected.

Anet, please add some way to do this! I have spent money to create the ingots to save space just so I didn’t have to throw them away, now I’m left with a lot of ingots I will probably never use. I don’t think that one should be punished, for the lack of a better word, for wanting to save space. Something similar to bloodstone bricks maybe? It doesn’t make sense to me that you can break one down but not the other. Same goes for the Stars.

Any feedback on if there is something in the works would be helpful, that way I don’t keep spending money to save space. Appreciate it!

Aidenwolf.5964:

You conveniently left out that we paid for the game.

The B in B2P stands for Buy.

I paid, I received what I paid for.

You did receive what you paid for. Hours upon hours of entertainment. Stories and events that won’t ever happen again. If you’re so concerned about money, please skip this expansion and wait for it to be free with the next one. Milk and bread is more important. No room for saltiness.

Vagrant.7206:

How selfish of you to think that you need to be compensated by a company that has given you thousands of hours of enjoyment, just because they decide to make it easier for others to do the same.

I’ve supported ArenaNet and bought all their expansions since Guild Wars Prophecies.

And you accuse me of selfishness when I’m a bit miffed that they don’t bother to include an additional character slot with an expansion?

Please re-read what you quoted. It’s selfish to think that you need to be compensated BECAUSE Anet decides to make it easier for new people to enjoy the game.

Whether an additional character slot should be given with an expansion is a different conversation on its own, but just because they don’t include something that is not required (whether or not you’ve used up your 5 character slots is on you, you knew that’s how many you got when you bought the original game with the option to buy more) but you could use it does not mean you’re entitled to it. I think it’s an incredibly generous gift to include an extra slot now after all the complaining people did.

Dangit, I missed the memo again!

scerevisiae.1972:

ArchieD.6972:

Anet handing out freebies left and right, and still you complain.

---

All Professions at 80 | http://tinyurl.com/oj4e9hr
1500+ Hrs Played | http://tinyurl.com/ppq4ksz
No Precursor | http://tinyurl.com/6lwv48m

The irony continues…

Ha! I really need to update my signature… No irony there btw.

http://tinyurl.com/9mtktpf

Not sure if you followed the links, was meant to be more funny than anything. I’m still waiting on my first to drop, and never would I ask them to give me one for free. I know it’s something that’s very rare and takes time!

If you’re happy with your prepurchase, you can probably stop reading now.

If you’re not, and you think that because newcomers are getting the core game and the expansion for the same price as you’re getting the expansion, that you need to be compensated in some way, continue reading.

When did you start complaining about the core game being discounted? When it was only $30? $20? Did you finally start complaining when it was $10? Tell me, what is the difference in someone getting the core game for $30 less than you, and them getting it for $50 less than you? They are getting a better value, regardless, if you’re talking straight money. So then why is it so different when they get the game for free rather than paying $10? It’s just another $10 off, like the other discounts. I think what many people fail to realize is that the expansion was going to be $50 regardless of what the core game sold at. It’s just a discount like any other.

How selfish of you to think that you need to be compensated by a company that has given you thousands of hours of enjoyment, just because they decide to make it easier for others to do the same. You know what you got from the deal of having to pay more for the game? You were able to enjoy the game all this time! THAT’S your compensation.

You got hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of entertainment, and yet you complain about someone else getting the game at a discount.

I would love to see you here on the forums the first time they put HoT on a discount, cause it’s all the same.

scerevisiae.1972:

ArchieD.6972:

….the bundled character slots in the non standard editions are staying.

They’re adding an additional character slot on top of that for veteran players who prepurchase.

Please understand what you read before you make a fool of yourself.

The irony… re-read what I wrote, I’m only talking about std edition.

You might want to re-read your original question. Standard was mentioned 0 times. “Bundled,” as in the “bundled” character slots in the Deluxe and Ultimate editions, however, was mentioned. A freebie because people moaned and groaned is not considered part of a bundle.

I did go on to read your next comments complaining about $50 and edited my post. Glad you caught it before I changed it so you could see how I thought you sounded (and still do).

Anet handing out freebies left and right, and still you complain.

….the bundled character slots in the non standard editions are staying.

They’re adding an additional character slot on top of that for veteran players who prepurchase. If you’re complaining about the fact that you, as a veteran player, don’t get an extra character slot if you buy the standard edition after the release, well, I don’t know what to tell you. You must not care too much about the game if you’ve played it for so long and don’t care to prepurchase or buy an upgraded edition. In that case, why get so upset over not getting the character slot?

Amidst all the controversy over the expansion price, the core game being included, and everything else people complained about, y’all took the time to really consider the feedback, and delivered the best possible response I can imagine.

As a veteran player who isn’t directly affected by this public address, I want to say thank you for considering the community’s concerns and being transparent with your business model.

Whether it’s what we want to hear or not, publicly addressing high topic issues makes for a happier playerbase! It lets us know that you hear us!

Ha ha, I’ve never noticed that! There are definitely some other weapon effects that I’ve noticed to be off though, I think the warrior gs #4 being one of them.

Needs to be useful.

As it is, I can’t really tell a difference having a lot of it or not. I CAN tell a difference when I have more power.

There are none.

This needs to change! Gold blobs when the shield is on the back, and gold sparkling blue blobs when it’s in hand please. Ty

Teratus.2859:

ArchieD.6972:

I’ll just leave this here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Suggestion-Racial-Skill-Slot/first#

Guess we came up with more or less the same kind of idea ^^

Yeah, you went much more in depth though!

I’m all for keeping the racial skills unique and viable without them being an essential part of a build that forces someone to choose that race. I feel like racial skills should be free of charge, this would at least get people leveling up to use them more. Maybe they do something unique that profession skills can’t do. Like perhaps there are bosses that decide to target random races, so all the asura get pulled into a warp or something and have to use their racial abilities to escape.

One example would be for Charr, their charzookas could have less power than other profession abilities, but they could also have further range than any profession ability has. Say there’s a part in a fight where you can’t survive within a certain distance, and the only ability that can hit the boss from that range is the charzooka.

And do other things for other elites for each race. I’m not saying this is the perfect idea, just getting some thoughts out to spur conversation, and maybe some more ideas!

I’ll just leave this here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Suggestion-Racial-Skill-Slot/first#

“…you’re locked in here with me!”

This is what I imagine my Warrior says anytime I get chained or chilled in melee range of the enemy. Whirlwind away and no running back!

Sadly, it’ll be reduced to when I only get chained after this update to the dashes. I can understand that they want to limit how far the dashes take people, but I know for many people, that will slow them down in the open world. I take that as a negative. If I’m running faster, I should be able to jump further, right? Physics. And for those who use it as a defense mechanism, it limits the effectiveness of the debuff. If I’m crippled, I shouldn’t be able to jump as far as I can when I am not.

Please rethink this Anet, it only makes sense to keep it working as it does now!

Reference for those of you who don’t get it

So the other day I ran into this issue with the bonfires that you can choose whether to have an experience, karma, or magic find buff. I had a MF buff on me from earlier, lasts an hour, and I joined a rather large group. I had been holding on to this bonfire for the longest time, months, hadn’t had the chance to use it really use it. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity since everyone was stacking Magic Find with banners and food.

I set the bonfire down, and lo and behold, I can’t choose the MF buff because I “already have it.” Well, I don’t care if I already have it, the fire is for everyone else. This is very limiting!

Two easy solutions. Either take off the limitation to choose the bonfire even if we have the buff, or give us the option to cancel a buff that we have by right clicking it and choosing “Cancel.”

Waste of the only bonfire I ever had.

Faux.1937:

Great Sword on thief

We all know its either getting a LB or Rifle errr I mean We all know Thief is getting GS

Why you might ask a GS?

1) Its a 2hd melee, thief needs 2hd Melee
2) Its a Samurai/Ninja Katana Theme
3) Not enough Classes has GS in the Medium Weight compare to Other Wieghts
3a) Light: mesmer/necro/ele (FGS IS A GS DONT JUDGE ME!) Heavy: Warrior/Guardian, see only 1 Med has GS so Med needs one.
4) Every class needs a GS (Lol dont hate this joke please)
5) B.c Anet loves GS’s
6) Gs’s
7) Again…. GS
8) Why do you keep questioning the GS?
9) GS
10) B.c its a thief… Duh, it can just steal it from the Stupid Necro

Glad to see the positive comments for this idea! cocowoushi makes a good point, some races’ racial skills may be more powerful than others, but that’s not something that can’t be balanced. (Though it should already be “balanced”)

I like what Mortifer said about them being free of charge, I would think that being your own race, you naturally know how to do these things, whereas the professions are learned.

Donari, for the UI, as someone who only uses hotkeys half the time, I’m probably not the best person to answer that as it’d most likely end up being a skill that I would click. If I would have to guess, I’d say the plus or minus key?

I can say that none of the racials seem like they’d be a huge benefit over other races’. The cds can increase/decrease accordingly as well as their affects if they need to. But much more visual indications of races using their skills would be great.

These actually sound pretty good. The norn might seem a little op, though. I posted something about 50 min before this wanting to see more done with the racial skills, this would definitely do it!

So I thought about how much I use my racial skills on all of my characters…

I don’t.

Not because they’re not fun or unique skills to use, but they’re not as powerful, as was intended. I think doing something to make them used more often would help to give identity to your characters. As it is now, nothing really sets the races apart during normal play aside from when you’re leveling up your story.

So why not have a racial skill slot? Any of the racial utility skills can go in this slot. Think about how now in large encounters we could have a commander going “we need charrs over here to do [insert skill]” and it won’t interfere with how they play their profession. Because really, did I forget how to Charr just because I learned how to carry a banner?

Forgive the bias of the Charr talk, that’s my main. Seriously though, thoughts?

IndigoSundown.5419:

Fwiw, back in 2012, there were beta weekends in April, May, June and July (iirc). The game released late August. Now, we’ve got beta in May, so draw your own conclusions. I just doubt HoT is as big as the entire game was.

That’s true, it certainly won’t be as big. But they’re still implementing new mechanics that must be checked countless times over. At this stage, the size of the game doesn’t matter so much. The size really matters in the production time before you get to alpha. It’s bugs and polishing now, which you can conclude that it’s smaller so there will be fewer bugs to fix, but do you remember how many bugs were shipped with the game? I doubt they’ll want that to happen again.

Then again, this Beta is different than the Betas before the original release were. Perhaps they decided on a model that they believe will benefit them the best and get the game to us sooner by shotgunning these three short tests back to back. We won’t know til they announce something.

I see so many people speculating on when the release date will be, or wondering what stage of production level that HoT is at right now. Well let me point you in the right direction:

http://www.centercode.com/blog/2011/01/alpha-vs-beta-testing/

The link above explains fairly well the differences between alpha and beta testing. In short, the game is currently in Beta testing phase, which means that it is currently completely built, and has been tweaked many times over. There will still be some bugs, there will be stress tests, but for the most part, the game is complete.

As someone who has not had any experience on the production side of the gaming industry but has been very involved in the production side of other ventures that are artistic in nature and require very careful attention to detail, I can say that even though it is “complete,” there are still many small details to focus on to get right so that the final product is something that can be released without needing an extensive amount of revisions or updates.

Remember that they are releasing this for use by millions of people, each with a different computer/set up. A bug that appears on my computer may not show on yours, and figuring out how to fix that from a developer side while still delivering the desired product is not an easy task.

Hopefully this tidbit clears up a little misconception about the state of the expansion. As with the release of the game, I would expect them to do a few stress tests, one every month or so, and the game would be released a couple of months after. I’d expect a late summer/fall release at the earliest.

So I’ve been logging in, doing my dailies, collection my Writs of Experience and Tomes of Knowledge… I’ve got quite a few lvl 20 Experience Scrolls.

The thing is, I have 9 characters already. One of each profession and a second Ranger. I know which of those Rangers will be running the Druid specialization. I have enough Tomes which to make an instant 80 with an Experience scroll, if anything that’ll be the Revenant. But what about the other Tomes, Experience scrolls, and Writs? By the time HoT hits I’ll have enough for another instant 80.

What class do I make again? I know we probably have to wait to see all the specializations to really make a good decision, but without knowing, what other profession already has a lot of variety? Enough that making a second one would seem like a completely new character?

Also note, I don’t even know if I want to make them instant 80s, I like leveling up, that’s the part I enjoy about the game, but I may as well use them, right?

It’s cute when people post qq threads threatening to stop playing the game like it’ll change anything.

This is the direction Anet has chosen, and they’ll continue on that path. Any other balance changes will come as they see fit, not as you see them.

When the five powers combine…

Think about it, Elementalists have Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. With so much focus on the F skills (as seen with the three specializations they’ve released thus far), it only makes sense that the 5th F skill will be…

HEART!

It’s even in the title of the expansions, Heart of Thorns! And to put further emphasis on the F skills, what if we’re now able to combine different elements to provide different affects with our skills? Add Earth to Fire and now you’re throwing hot coal all over people. Add Water to Wind and you can increase the damage of your lightning attacks by electrocuting everyone standing in the pool of water. And Heart… well, Heart weakens the souls of the enemies, gets them at the core of who they are. It makes them more susceptible to being damaged. Add it to Earth, and Bleeds last longer. Fire is stronger, Water chills and provides more healing.

I know it may seem far fetched, but think about if for a bit, we have strong Mesmer NPCs, Warriors, Rangers, Necros, pretty much everything except for an Ele. So who might be this new Master Ele who can combine all 5 elements at once??

I’m sure you can guess.

Woa, boy. This went on for a while! Let me just clarify a few things:

1) I DO run with zerker gear on my guardian, never said I didn’t!
2) I DO change my weapon sets depending on the fight. I mentioned the staff cause it gives a nice Might buff, heals, and swiftness (WHEN it’s needed.)
3) It WAS understood that the whole party did not have AR.

For those asking for things they said to prove they had a crappy attitude, I haven’t said anything they said cause it sounds childish to repeat it. But if you insist, one instance while doing the last boss in the dredge fractal, the elemental that you have to kite under the lava buckets and dump it on him, they kept attacking from the side when we’d get close to the bucket and pull the boss away from where we needed to chain him to dump the lava on him. After about the third time I finally spoke up and asked them to “Please kite under the bucket” they responded with “kitten” “we know how to play” “^.” So yes, I knew I was not in good company.

I understand people wanting to do things as fast as possible, I do. In that case, a group asking for zerker, I’ll bring my warrior, and we’ll stack and kill stuff fast, and that’ll be that.

That was not this group. They weren’t zerker, at all. On that last boss, I didn’t even know stacking was a strategy people used just because it’s so easy fighting it the normal way. Every group I’ve been in is happy to get that as the last one because it’s short and easy, and not a single one has had a problem with it, until that one.

So yes, you can blame me for not being prepared to do a fight differently than I’ve done it the 20 times before. If I knew from the get go that they were going to do a strategy that would pretty much stack agony on you, I would’ve probably switched characters or not run with them.

I play that character cause I like its style, you can’t fault anyone for playing the way they like to. It’s a game, that’s what it’s meant for. If you’re wanting to be a little elitist and only want people running the meta, that’s your prerogative, but specify beforehand. Hell, people handicap themselves all the time while running content because it’s more of a challenge and is more fun. That’s half the reason I’d run no AR on the 10-19 scale, it makes me pay attention more.

But one last thing. All of you so quick to pass judgement does nothing but reinforce the negativity in the community. I try to stay respectful to everyone, and go out of my way to help others, but it’s disheartening to see such reactions.

Seera.5916:

ArchieD.6972:

Lol I do 10-19 without AR with no problem all the time. It’s not that big of a problem, except when a group pretty much tells you “hey do this thing that is guaranteed to stack agony on you.”

zombyturtle.5980:

Sounds more like a lack of communication and an unskilled team that anyone having a crappy attitude.

They did have a crappy attitude, trust me. I wouldn’t say they did if they didn’t.

Did you tell them at the beginning that you had no AR? Or did they find out when you started dying more often than they did?

It’s one thing if they start the Fractal knowing that you will likely die more often if mistakes are made or things don’t die quickly and then kick you later on when it comes true. But an entirely different thing if you didn’t tell them and they later asked you why you were dying so often and you went: no AR and then they kicked you.

They died more often than I did. Except when I forwent healing myself through the agony at the beginning of that last fight for their sake (throwing down the wall at the beginning). I know at least one of them didn’t have AR.

But again, I’ve never had trouble out of that fight before when we actually did the fight normal.

It’s less of a “having the required amount of AR” and more of a “can you avoid dying from agony.” Well, yeah I could avoid dying from it just fine by dodging the mechanic that stacks it except when you tell me not to dodge the mechanic that stacks it.

Lol I do 10-19 without AR with no problem all the time. It’s not that big of a problem, except when a group pretty much tells you “hey do this thing that is guaranteed to stack agony on you.”

zombyturtle.5980:

Sounds more like a lack of communication and an unskilled team that anyone having a crappy attitude.

They did have a crappy attitude, trust me. I wouldn’t say they did if they didn’t.