Guild Wars 2

I think part of the problem we’re facing is that people have to make a choice every time they get their hands on some materials: use it for yourself, or the guild? From what I’ve seen from the guilds I’m in so far is that most people tend to pick themselves (or rather, their own wallets) over the guild’s stockpile.

An example? I’m in a small Charr roleplaying guild on Piken Square. We have 41 members, of which 3 actively donate, with another 2 occasionally donating. The rest just either doesn’t seem to play enough to actively collect materials or gold, or doesn’t care (enough).

I can only imagine this is a recurring problem with many guilds. Sure, if you have 500 players, with a fraction of 40-50 actively donating and working towards the guild, it gets easier. But in small guilds you’re done for.

What I’m trying to say is that I believe that the guild hall should either be funded solely on materials that are only useful to the guild hall and are automatically donated to the guild. Say for every 1 tree you chop down, you donate 1 invisible ‘guild log’ or whatever. It means people can work towards their guild hall without sacrificing their own pile. Of course, the droprate should more forgiving compared to say Lamp Finials, which are just stupid.

That or just scale the required materials needed depending on the amount of players in a guild. Would certainly make my life easier…

LETS PLAY INVESTIGATORS. I’LL BE KASMEER.
OKAY. THEN I’LL BE MARJORY.
IF YOU’RE MARJORY, YOU GOTTA LET ME GIVE YOU A KISS.
UH.
COME BACK!!

Every. Minute. I’d have shipped these kids off to some never-visited corner of the WvW maps long ago if I had the power.

I tend to run Axe-Axe on certain fights in the raid because of non-stop movement requirements and because I’m getting absolutely bored of GS attacks. Especially Vale Guardian’s kite phase makes it annoying to land a full 100B which means the fight boils down to just auto-attacking and bursting. Might not be as great DPS-wise but at least it adds some mobility, doesn’t require you to stand still every 6 seconds, and it’s a nice twist. Besides, Axe 5 destroys Pocket Raptors.

The thing is, I don’t mind losing. It’s part of the game. But at some point it just becomes demoralizing to lose another match. I’m not arguing that MMR/matchmaking works or doesn’t – frankly, I think I’d like to see my own MMR at some point before I can actually claim I’m good/bad/indifferent. I don’t really know enough about it to complain.

But as far as I’m concerned I’m not a bad player (but I might very well be). I don’t make mistakes, I know how to focus/prioritize, and how to play the (safe)stomp/save/cleave game. I’d like to think I’m not bad. But losing several matches in a row does make me feel like it.

Hell, if you see me in-game, feel free to point out mistakes and/or give me advice. I want to improve, even if it’s just for the sake of winning. I hate to lose. I hate to waste time. Losing matches in this ranked system is a lose-lose (pun not intended) for me.

Dahkeus.8243:

Wow, that picture is really appropriate. I’ve seen a lot of self pity party posts about being stuck in tiers, but you’re not even trying to hide it.

So tell me: Do you honestly think you have no room for self improvement?

Oh I’m sure I’ve got something to improve on. I still make mistakes and I’m far from perfect. But there’s always these little giveaways at the start of matches that tell you how it’s gonna go – certain classes being over-or under-represented, a completely silent group, and so on. It also boils down to no matter how good I (think I) am, I’m not gonna be able to be everywhere at the same time, and I’m not gonna be able to pull a bad group through.

The only thing I really need for my Year of the Ascension Part II is the daily matches. Nowadays I’ve realized I’m gonna get stuck in Ruby one way or the other. Log in, do my 3 matches, log out again. Best to accept you’re not gonna make any progress, because fat chance you won’t.

Out of my three matches so far today I’ve lost all three, and naturally, we have the Mesmer with 10 points at the end of the match, the Elementalist who stopped moving only to rant halfway through the match, and did so in whispers after the match had ended, and people camping close in a winning match despite our Lord being zergrushed.

So okay, fair enough. You win some, you lose some. With this pip system I tend to win one or two and then lose ‘em the two matches after, so this is it. Stuck in Ruby, log in, do daily, log out. Winning losing, doesn’t matter. Just sad that this is what the Season has boiled down for me – farm daily, log out. Just my two cents.

People tend to forget that a Legendary isn’t just one item. It’s the grind, the journey, the spiraling path towards the end.

Climbing a mountain is just the few minutes you spend at the top. It’s the climb, the achievement, the memories.

Mind however that I’m lamenting the loss of my new greatsword leggy. Q__Q

Sounds like you’re in dire need of more developers. Are you hiring?

Edit: it’s a serious offer.

I’d love to see some statistics on all of this. % players that have X division, how many % of the players have which wings, and how many people are in which division/tier. Would really help to shed some light on where the real bottlenecks are, where people get stuck, and which division is bloated.

Edit: I’d also watch Evan Lesh PvPing. I’m really curious to see how he’d experience the current system.

Dunno, getting the legendary wings in one season might be a little too much, but champion wings are far from the legendary. :P

Quick question, but why aren’t the Champion’s Wings of Glory available at Ruby? I’m lacking 5 tickets. I figured getting into the next division meant also getting a shiny new set of wings, but like this you gotta get to Diamond to buy the third tier wings. Feels kinda counter intuitive to unlock them for purchase at Ruby but not being able to buy them until Diamond.

Edit: mixed up division names, fixed

Solid read, agree on all points. Still not expecting anything to change (my main, a warrior, hasn’t entered the Mists since the launch of HoT, so I’m pretty pessimistic), but if they do, this is a good place to start reading and thinking.

I’m really curious to see what people’s ranks, divisions, and match numbers are. I always thought I was a somewhat experienced player when it came down to matches played but lately I’m starting to think I’m still a complete noob. So I want to compare! Share the numbers!

Here are mine:

Games played: 1,210
Games won: 614
Rank: 79, Phoenix
Division: Ruby, tier 1, 0 pips

I think carrying in itself is something you can’t really do in this game. Yes, if you’re a solid player you can support your team and work towards a victory, but let’s be honest here: you’re 20% of your team and you can only be in one place at a time (exceptions made for portal mesmers & pre-nerf turret engies). Team up one amazing player with 4 scrubs that don’t stomp correctly, he’s still going to lose. Unless, of course, the opponents are even worse…

TL;DR: a good player can help carry, but can never carry alone

/pondering the statue of an Ascalonian Hero inside the Urban Battleground Fractal does currently not progress the meta achievement’s status. Pondered several times before the statue was destroyed to no effect.

Ran into the same issue, was about to post about it. Kind of crippling for RP, this. Q__Q

Edit: the patch also ate /p chat bubbles.

2nd week in a row I only got 2 out of 4 guild rewards, and plenty of others in my guild had the same problem.

As the title states (old WoW Steelseries mouse, for the record). Was wondering why the silly thing broke down this time, but I realized it works just fine with the ‘old’ client, and only stops working in the new client.

inb4 ‘buy naga’ though. I know. I know. Q__Q

Doinking.3429:

<snip>

Dots and capitals, my friend. Dots and capitals.

Also kind of Anet’s fault for placing the mentor tag/title as the first unlockable perk in the Pact Commander trait. Placing it a little down the mastery track would make them a lot less obvious.

TL;DR:

Pros: everything looks great. New content, new cools story. New cool specs.

Cons: Slightly grindy. Quickly repetitive. Annoying mobs. Faren’s still a kitten.

A Berserkers look at Heart of Thorns

To make for easier reading I’ve decided to split this up in several chapters, with TL:DRs at the end of every one of them. Please try to keep in mind I’m trying to be unbiased, but I’m not altogether neutral on all of these points – and sometimes someone’s gotta be the devil’s advocate.

The Pros of Heart of Thorns

1) The storyline was appealing. I’ve really been looking forward to seeing how things ended up with Glint’s Egg, and how the story would revolve around Destiny’s Edge and their inheritors. In that aspect I think HoT really delivered; feels were had and I’ve pretty much finished the entire new storyline in a single inning. As far as was possible. But more on that on the Cons.

2) The maps are a pleasure to look at. With the different routes, mini jumping puzzles, and dozen different angles to approach a location, the maps really delivered on the visual part.

3) The new Elite specs are awesome! I’ve been looking forward to running around setting things on fire for a while and I’m pleased to announce things have been set on fire indeed.

4) Masteries were actually really interesting to chase. As promised, unlocking a new mastery opens up new possibilities to exploring or finishing a map.

5) The new outfits, armor, and collections are pretty kitten snazzy. To name a few, Lunatic’s Outfit and the Bladed Armor are awesome!

6) New awesome legendaries! We’ve seen three so far and I’m eager to see what they’ll do with one-handed swords, torches, and greatswords (totally not biased here). The way old precursors got new skins and the system to build precursors is definitely a step in the right direction.

7) GW2 takes a step away from ‘regular’ MMOs by not making the gear useless when a new expansion comes out. It’s nice to know that whatever gear you’ve worked hard towards to create and collect, it’s still useful, and not just going to be banked cause it looks cool, but sucks statwise.

8) on the same note, there’s no need to farm half a dozen maps to get to max level. Only to do it all again in two years. After all, level 80 is still the max… right?

9) Have you seen those new minis from the Rata Sum Fractal? NNNNGH. Awesome.

10) Gliders! Gliders! Gliiiiders! I’m already hoping they’ll be allowed in the rest of Tyria at some point.

11) Guild Halls! This all looks amazing…

With the enthusiasm about shiny new things out of the way, however, come the cons. And it’s not all sunshine.

The Cons of Heart of Thorns.

12) The maps, while good looking, are also something to really get used to. They’re not as clear-cut as other maps, and can be a challenge to explore. I’m a little OCD when it comes to finishing zones and it didn’t sit well with me having to leave a map before I had completely finished it, simply because I couldn’t fit myself through kitten in the ground somewhere.

13) As far as Elite specs go, however, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. I can’t help but feel slightly jealous when I see Necromancers being awesome.

14) Masteries turned out to be fairly grindy. While it worked well while still doing map completion, exploring, and story, at this point I’ve more or less hit a wall: finishing the first map will require me to gather another ~3 million experience, while I was doing map completion to get that experience in the first place… eh. I understand that it’s a fine thing to force us to take things slow and reward things over time, but doing the same event chains a few dozen times a la Silverwastes doesn’t really get me going. I can recite some of the conversations in Maguuma by now.

15) Yes, your ascended gear is still best-in-slot…. as long as you don’t have a new Elite spec that requires a completely new kit. Changing stats on Ascended gear is luckily a thing, but I’m still going to have to farm for new rings/accessorizes/back items. Mixed feelings.

16) While you no longer need to ‘level’, you still have to ‘level masteries’. Splitting hairs – you’re still going to end up having to get to mastery level 50+ to fully enjoy the end-game content. Mixed feelings once again.

17) As for Guild Halls, I can’t really comment – I haven’t unlocked one yet. My small guild was struggling to get enough firepower together to clear out the mobs. As I’ve heard conflicting claims regarding the numbers needed to do it, I’m either going to have to find 5 or 15 more players. Was a little discouraging to find out it’s not scaled.

18) The mobs in Maguuma aren’t hard, I suppose. They’re just balls to the walls annoying. I’m struggling against a fair few of mobs – not because they’re a challenge, but simply because they’ve got a set of annoying abilities. Makes me more and more inclined to skip mobs because fighting them isn’t fun – it’s just aggravating. Mordrem Snipers and the frogmen Bladedancers are good examples. Not hard to fight, but it’s just very annoying when you get downed out of nowhere again. Less than fun.

19) The currently final story mission is an incredible pain in the everything. Between bugs making Canach’s fight impossible to finish (fixable, of course), or the Caithe and Mordremoth fights being fairly infuriating between the constant damage, lack of safe zones, and endless stream of damage/reflects, it doesn’t make for a very fun encounter. I struggled less on my first solo attemps, but helping friends out has actually gotten something I’d rather not to, simply because the fights only help to make me want to break things. A wasted chance!

20) Waypoints: if you’re gonna add them, at least make them usable. Nobody likes contested Waypoints (exceptions made for masochists?).

I think that’s more or less it. Please don’t mistake my criticism as hating – I still think GW2 is one of the best MMOs out there at the time. These are just my two cents. I’m also well aware you simply can’t please everyone. If these things change, great! If not, no harm done. No reason to bring out the pitchforks and torches (Berserkers are allowed to, however).

The Blighted Canach fight in Hearts and Minds is still bugged. Goes immune to damage at about 30% and the ‘pure’ Canach does not drop his shield, making the fight impossible to complete.

Between waiting for tomorrow to do the story, or farming Masteries now and doing it today, I went for option two. …And still bugged.

Edit: reset the mission, left the zone, ported back in, and it worked.

Not sure if anyone else got the same problem, but whenever I’m on Noble Ledge, the visual effects end up giving me a splitting headache. The blowing wind/sand constantly turns a bright white which really hurts the eyes. Kinda glad I’m done with the achievement but I’m not really eager to go back there. I understand turning down the physics might help this but it sounds kind of a stretch to turn it down for 2-3 events in the entire map. Suggestions?

Those items are trophies, and never end up in your inventory – at least not the ones rewarded from the storyline. You can check them in Achievements > Collections > Basic Colelctions > Crusader’s (or your choice in pack) Pack.

They’ll be highlighted there, which means you’ve unlocked them. Hope this clears it up!

The door just opened on Piken Square around 1.45 (just when it turned dusk/night in the world).

I’ve got the same problem. Can’t interact with the door, or the NPC for that matter.

DrMORO.4627:

Heard in-game that a German website has all the locations on maps, AND on video.
Anyone know the link to this?

http://www.guildnews.de/guides/guide-zum-neuen-erfolg-loewenstein-vernichter/792/1/karte-und-video/

There you go! (it’s kinda annoying if your German is rusty, though…)

Race: Charr
Gender: Male
Issue: new face clipping with glasses/certain helmets

Original thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Charr-face-clipping-with-glasses-helmets/first#post4815199

Not much to tell. The glasses pretty much sink into the face, hiding most of the actual model. In case of the T3 Cultural Heavy helmet, the snout just sticks through.

We might not have funky issues with Necro-masks, but charr males with new faces have our own issues (clipping glasses, helmets). Link included~

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Charr-face-clipping-with-glasses-helmets/first#post4815199

Purple Miku.7032:

Warrior:
-GS : Rush – goes past target unless activated in close-range
-GS : Rush – runs in place if used against a large target unless used underneath the target
-Sword : Savage leap – leaps past target unless activated in close-range
-Sword: Savage leap – gets obstructed mid-air sometimes mid-jump or towards end of the jump and ends up going either side-ways or turning completely around, doing a full 180.
-Sword: Impale – can get obstructed if used on a moving target even if there are no objects nearby and the ground is flat.
-Sword: Riposte – stubborn activation if used after dodge-rolling. Sometimes it will take a second keypress (or being clicked on) if casted while moving. Problem does not persist if standing still and is definitely caused by trying to activate it right after a dodgeroll.
-Utility: Bull’s charge – charges way past enemies unless used close-range (basically need to stand right in front of target)

GS: Rush – seems fixed at the moment. It works against world bosses and the likes now, too.
Sword: Savage Leap – seems to suffer from the bugs as it is. I know for sure the obstruction bug is still around.
Utility: Bull’s Charge – seems to work. I think. Will check.

-Garr

I’ll keep this short – the Inventors and Reading Glasses clip terribly with one of the newer Charr faces, and so does the Cultural T3 Heavy helmet.

Now, I understand clipping happens (especially with Charr, it seems) but this is just sad.

See included screenshots.

Oh, I’ve played 5 matches as Turret-engi so far and it’s awesome. No fuss, no effort, just casual, sit-back-and-let-them-run-into-my-guns. Now I just gotta find out how to beat ’ em. :P

I played a few matches as Bunker Engi earlier. Man is that stuff straightforward and incredibly user-friendly. Drop turrets, mash abilities, kite and use your rifle well = kill. Just gets a little weird when you gotta drop them in combat or when you get focused.

Will let you know how it went once I run into a hambow.

Frankly, if we do add a tutorial, I’d rather just see a rank requirement for ranked fights. Or a minimum of games played/won. Bad enough to see level 3 chars in ranked matches, even worse so when they turn out to be clueless (compared to being alts with the know-how).

Bunker-Turret-CC Engis are one of the few things I honestly struggle with (the other one being blind thieves who know how to play) as a Hambow Warrior. I can honestly say I wish I could beat them to death with their own turret.

Oh, we won the match fairly hard, so I’m not complaining. It’s just a new low to see the enemy team beg for a few kills for a daily (I’m also at 93% rating atm, dunno if that’s high or low – I suppose it’s low!)

We’ve read these posts before, and I’m not gonna stress the obvious, but today I had two rangers begging for us to stop moving so they could at least kill us for the daily. Of course, they had no place in the ranked matches with that attitude, but… still.

People should queue up for PvP because of the thrill, the challenge, and the satisfaction when you destroy a team. Not for dailies.

It’s not really fitting in the spirit of PvP (even though the spirit of PvP means killing your opponent in as many colourful ways as possible) to dump your team the moment you won’t win. I hate to lose, sure, but… well, what happens, happens.

Regardless, the PvP dailies could really do with a remake. My biggest beef are the “Win with Class X” ones. I really don’t want to have to relog to an alt I am absolutely horrible with to finish the one PvP daily that rewards the most track progress.

Eh, I wouldn’t say invis is OP (I’ve managed to down a few thieves in their invis tonight, woop woop) but it makes for incredibly boring fights. Trying to chase someone you can’t see as a warrior is about as much fun as watching paint dry. Course, I can name a few more setups I loathe fighting….

Hmrh. I ran into a likewise engineer in a match tonight. Kinda sad to see people like those are still around. Best bet is to block/report for verbal abuse and let it rest.

You can also try hoping you’ll never run into him again, but who knows.

I’m not sure if this is intended or not, but since the new Feature Pack went live, all of the Juvenile pets/animals vanished from Plains of Ashford (I’ll have to check if it’s the same in other zones).

Kinda weird to only be able to get your next pet at level ~20 as you move into Ashford.

Wow. I’m amazed to see both an official response AND a fix in such a short notice. Colour me impressed!

I did this achievement again with two friends, figuring I knew what to do and as such, it would be easy. Nothing is more true. When I got the achievement, all I had to do was rescue the 7 NPCs on the western part of the map. However, when doing this with a group, the achievement did not work – instead, it appears you have to save the NPCs on the other shore as well.
This makes little sense – do achievement parameters change when you do them with more or less people? Or did this change overnight?
-Saddle

Okay, yeah, just solo’d On Swift Wings and Dropping Like Flies. It’s indeed soloable – the trick is to get your rear in gear the moment you talked to the female Priory member. Just save them, kill the mobs, and be fast. If you’re quick enough to can talk to them before mobs spawn, instantly saving their hides. When you get the “[F] Order Retreat” opinion, talk to them, it’ll count.

Easier than expected.

Bloodstealer.5978:

Come to think of it your toon name now becomes familiar.. you were in game yesterday complaining the sand giant wasn’t doable in the time cos of the knockbacks and fears and you can’t do enough DPS because of it, which was laughable at the very least … hmm I see a pattern emerging.

I’m giving this achievement another go and we’ll see how it goes – I’m still gonna point out that the first time around doing the achie run, the mobs went into a ressurectable state. They didn’t the second time around. Regardless, the state of the Sand Giant has very little to do with this achievement. Suffice to say that at later attempts I did him just fine without stability. Dodging is enough. Regardless, last time around we pulled him with ~10 minutes on the clock, and it being new content, we had few people to do it. I can only dodge for myself – there’s no way I can hold the hands of everyone else there.

Now why are we discussing Sand Giant on an achievement thread, again?

I’m expecting us to heroically save Trahearne and seeing him claim a more active place in the storyline once again. Besides, name an NPC that could do what he does (meaning he’s not part of the Order, yet knowing what Elder Dragons are like, and has combat experience with them). I can’t think of anyone (except Ogden, but he’s with the Priory).
Regardless, I kinda hope he comes back. I liked that twig… even though I never got to like him like I did with the other major NPC characters (Forgal, Sieran, Tybalt). Maybe S2 gives him the chance to come back stronger. I’d certainly grant him and his writers the chance.
Signed, Garr

Yeah this looks either bugged or badly designed. The problem is that after you talk to the caravan, these mobs will spawn all over the map (I believe we’re talking about 12 mobs). Where at the first try they went into a “ressurectable” state and allowed me to get them on their feet and tell them to retreat, now they just die when their health reaches zero – resulting in dead mobs.
Now this would be doable, with a group, but the way it is right now it just reminds me of Dropping Like Flies 2.0. Only with the NPCs spread out waaay further.

When the NPCs die they should just go down in the regular NPC-ready-to-be-picked-up state; not dead. That fixes this entire issue and turns it into something doable, other than the group-requiring efforts it would take now (and doing this at 6 in the morning, I can forget about that group.)

Signed, Garr

You might also wanna talk to Renuu (female Asura, who can be found on the Sanctum, right in the middle, under the Wind Crystal). She’s got her own theory about the red-sailed ship…

Anyway, there are several hints about how the Zephyrites travelled to Cantha: apparently, they put up decorations of all the nations and cultures they visit, and you might already spot many Cantha-themed items throughout the Bazaar.

Also note how the red-sailed ship has very Cantha-styled lanterns and the red-and-gold cloth.

I think that, by definition, a fight that encourages people to shoo others away in an MMO game is a sad, sad situation.

You’re playing an MMO. Massive-Multiplayer. You’re all well aware that there will be people around – people that might just want to kill that same boss. If you’re going to tell other people to go away, then clearly there’s a situation that does not fit in an MMO setting.

Not gonna argue about good or bad because that’s sort of down to personal taste, but if you’re gonna tell Five-Year-Old-Billy that he can’t play cause the other five already there might get less candy, you’re doing something wrong.