Guild Wars 2

I, as well, have been getting some pretty big ping spikes. I have a 35 Mbps connection, from Brazil, and ping is usually stable at around 160ms ~ 200ms. Today, had spikes over 1000ms, and it varied a lot, from 160ms as usual, to 600ms, back to 300ms, then 1000ms, leaving me with pretty unresponsive skills and actions.

I have to agree. I see what they were trying to do with this, encouraging us to play ranged using the longbow, but it really should be something we can choose, not something that is forced on us. The minor traits of an elite spec should be something that synergize with the core mechanic, or a specific boon/condition the elite spec has good access to, like DH with cripple.

Alright, things I enjoyed:

• Verdant Brink! The place was amazing, the design with all the vines all around is amazing, the music was top notch, the Itzel village is awesome, and we only got to see a portion of the map! I’m so hyped to see all the maps and explore every nook and cranny of them.

• The Enemies! They are hard, but not enough to make them annoying. You need to learn how to fight them before you succeed fighting them, and each enemy is unique, what makes the fights more interesting and fun!

• Adventures! I loved those! A casual activity we do for fun, but at the same time we can make it a hardcore activity by trying to master every adventure and make the perfect run, becoming the best bug catcher in the world! (I hope we get titles, I want to show everyone that I’m an awesome bug catcher). I just wished it was available more often.

• Revenant! The class is awesome! The animations, the lore, and this time it felt really strong after all the changes (kudos to Roy) and the addition of Shiro and swords. I probably won’t main it mostly because I grew so attached to my guardian, but it can become my close second.

• My character can talk! And it sounds badkitten! Finally being able to get there and take charge and give orders and feel like a real commander of the pact, I loved it! And talking to NPCs in instances without the side-by-side cutscenes and even in the open world is awesome!

• Day events! They were pretty engaging (when they worked properly) and felt like an extension of the instanced story. It just needs some bug fixing and some health tweaking to make some event steps not stall so much, and others feel more impactful (the wyvern died so fast… ). If the final iteration of the night becomes as engaging, and we get some sweet rewards, I can really see me spending a lot of time there like I do in Silverwastes.

• Dragon Hunter’s Traps! While I still think the class needs some work, mainly on the traits, I loved using the traps. It gave the Guardian a new bursty playstyle to burn single or stacked targets.

• Masteries! Gliding is awesome! And when the mushrooms didn’t send me flying to my death, it was pretty fun and useful as well. They change the way I traverse around the map and get me access to new places, and I’m so hyped to see how much more impact it can give in later tiers and later maps! I just wished we could unlock the mastery tracks through simple objectives to give it more meaning, since we could start mastering Exalted Lore without ever meeting one or even knowing they exist.

Saucermote.9140:

I don’t know that I’d put much if any player variation into these, as they are an unlock, and you are then adding in lag variance. In my ideal vision of this, you hit interact once and a little arc would appear showing the path to the destination, and you’d hit interact again, and the mushroom would take you there, assuming you were on top of it. If you attempted to move your character or hit escape, it would cancel.

I don’t really like having to press F twice, I’d rather have some sign show the direction when you step over the mushroom, and then you press F once and it gets you there.

I think from the perspective of anyone who was not a Sylvari Trahearne felt like a scene stealer. Because my first toon was a Sylvari, and we meet him in the second story chapter and learn who he is, what he does and what he is supposed to do, it felt more natural to see him return and be like “Hey, you again! Funny meeting you here”, and everything that happened after.

I second Shaltif. You either give us mid-air control (but that could lead to a change of design anywhere bouncing mushrooms are involved, what could be impractical now) or you guarantee that the fall will be safe.

The one that makes you hit the branch killed me a couple times as well, until I figured the exact place you need to stay on the mushroom to be able to go in the right direction.

Yes, Pact Commander would be ideal to be unlocked from the start in Pact Tyria, and I’m actually okay with the Gliding track being unlocked from the start in the Maguuma Jungle since it is not tied to any specific race or character in lore, its just a thing our character develop while in the jungle. We could have an NPC mention it right at the start of the map, maybe even in the first personal story instance, and that would cound as the unlock, or something like that, since I really see the gliding being the first mastery the great majority of players will start mastering first.

I like the Elder Dragon’s concept and what they do to the world. They put the world in a situation of desperation, making people do drastic actions for survival, like teaming up with your enemies, but at the same time they are forces of nature, and they rise the question of the consequences of fighting and destroying them, since you could be bringing inbalance to the world and cause even more destruction than the Dragons would cause by themselves.

But at the same time, I do think we need more champions and villains with interesting backstory, and we know that dragon champions can have those because of Glint, the Pale Tree and Ceara (who I actually like despite the overall community hating her). So I expect to see more of Mordremoths champions in this expantion, like the Tree that Malyck came from, and maybe other compeling villains unrelated to the dragons.

So, I’d say wait and see. There are a bunch of unawnsered questions and a lot of plot points that could make this expansion’s story really interesting (Caithe, Glint’s Egg and her secret in the jungle, Rytlock and his trip to the Mists, Trahearne and Destiny’s Edge, Malyck’s Tree, the Bloodstone, the Exalted potentially being a branch of the Mursaat and the White Mantle, the corruption of Sylvari and how it affects the main character if it is one, we could even start hearing or seeing potential problems caused by Zhaitan’s death, there could be threat from other Elder Dragons leading to the next LS season, and maybe much more).

Agreed. I’d rather have very few but more cinematic cutscenes, like when Rytlock appears, and have the conversations occur in the game while I play and control my character like they’re doing, much like how it’s done in games like Borderlands and Portal as well.

I don’t know if Anet would change this aspect of the mastery system in this point of development, but still, it’s just an idea I’d like to share. (Don’t know if people have posted anything similar, but still…)

How about having to do specific objectives to unlock the mastery track to be able to level it up, instead of having all masteries available at the start? It can be something simple, like speaking to an NPC, but just to make some tracks make more sense, since the way it’s currently implemented we can start training in Exalted Lore without even meeting an Exalted, or starting to master the Fractals track without ever doing a fractal.

I’d suggest having simple objectives to unlock the tracks before its available to master, like speaking with an Itzel to unlock Itzel Lore, speaking with an Exalted to unlock Exalted Lore, finishing a Fractal to unlock the Fractal Mastery, reaching 400 of a crafting discipline to unlock Legendary Crafting Mastery, and so on. I think this would give an even better and impactful Metroidvania feeling, since not only you are unlocking new abilities to change the way you interact with the jungle, but you’re unlocking them as you interact with the world in a meaningful way.

If it was only me, I’d go as far as having a specific objective tied to each tier instead of having the mastery points, but that is probably just an urealistic dream at this point, so just tying it to the track itself is good enough.

Let me know what you think about it, because maybe, if enough people like the idea, the devs might consider it.

I had the exact same problems. Some times missing the jump would also cause me to fall into the huge cliffs and die. It would be good if they removed fall damage after using the mushroom and if they find a way to standardize the trajectory despite the start position, because even being over the mushroom could cause slightly different trajectory if you’re closer to one border than to the other border or the center.

Revenant

I really enjoyed the profession. I played it last beta and felt it was kinda weak, but with the recent buffs to the profession I felt it was really strong and fun to play. I’m not an expert on meta and min-maxing to say how it stands in the current meta compared to other profession, and what is the optimal build for the revenant, but I don’t have complaints. I played a more power based build with Shiro and some support from Ventari, using sword/axe and hammer, sometimes switching to staff. I had a lot of fun with it and I can see myself playing a lot more with it when HoT releases.

Dragon Hunter

As a guardian main, I decided to go for the Dragon Hunter in this beta, since it would be the elite spec I’d be able to give better feedback on. I actually enjoyed it, even if I have some issues with it. I like the traps, it can be used for really burst builds, stacking tons of bleeding and vulnerability. I like how Guardians are really verstile when it comes to utilities, and the traps adds even more options to be used depending on the situation.

The bow feels good, but I don’t really like being grounded for the skill #2, and because the skill #3 is so gimmicky, since you have to hit a shot with a shot and it doesn’t last long, I think actually hiting a big projectile should be more rewarding and impactful, maybe reflecting the shot instead of just destroying it or giving a bonus damage or effect if a projectile is destroyed by the shot, like stacks of burning, maybe a daze or stun, what would interrupt the skill that generated the projectile, like if it was a ranger longbow #2.

Most of my complaints are on the traits, though. I think it lacks synergy with other weapons and lines, and it only feels useful if I use the longbow and a bunch of traps. We have two traits that only works with longbow (Hunter’s Determination and Heavy Light), and Piercing Light is the only place guardian can access bleeding, and it has no sygergy with anything else.

I’d suggest making Piercing Light also reduce cooldown of traps, since it is the only utility type that doesn’t have cooldown reduction trait, make Dulled Senses apply cripple for any hard CC (stun, knockback, knockdown, pull, launch) to work better with hammer #4 and GS #5, bundle Heavy Light and Hunter’s Determination together and make another condition based trait, since I feel Dragon Hunter still don’t add enough to a condi guardian with just a single bleeding trait. It’s still better to get Zeal for Kindled Zeal and Symbolic Power, radiance for Inner Fire, Renewed Justice, Radiant Fire, Radiant Power and Amplified Wrath, and Virtue for Inspired Virtua, Supreme Justice and Permeathing Wrath (there might be an even better build, but that’s what I use). Maybe make cripple do damage, like Necro with fear and chill, or something to synergyze with the bleeding trait, or even something else for burning, like bleeding or cripple cause burning, or vice versa (of course with some ICD). Also, Hunter’s Fortification isn’t a fun trait, I don’t see me getting a simple 3 seconds radial protection as a grandmaster trait since guardian has other sources of protection, like hammer auto attack and shield #4. I don’t feel it as the sort of support a Dragon Hunter gives, I think it should give more active support, like the block from Shield of Courage and the Longbow skill #3. As the theme of Dragon Hunter suggests hunting rather than protecting, it would be better to at least apply weakness to enemies instead of protection to allies, or it can be a condi cleanse trait that synergyze with the line in some way.

Other issues

Besides everything, I think there are a few issues that stopped me from testing more builds. Mainly the fact that not every stat set was available (no Nomad’s nor Sinister’s) neither every rune and sigil. For that reason, I’d suggest instead of giving the boxes with those items, make a beta only instance where people can buy whatever they want like in the WvW borderlands stress tests, and make stats swappable in equips whenever you are OOC.

Well, I hope to have helped, even if just slightly. If anyone has anything to add or to correct me, I’d love if you reply.

~ArtVeigar

Map Bonus

I tested the map bonus for a couple hours. I went toward and item I really need and its pretty rare to get by other means than the TP currently, that is Silver Doubloons. The only map that offered Silver Doubloon was Brisban Wildlands, so I spent a lot of time there.

While the concept is really good, I think it still need some work done to achieve what it aim to. Here are my main issues with it right now:

. The UI is fairly lackluster and ambiguous. I feel it needs to explain better what Next Reward and Other Reward means, since it could mean that I’d get the next reward until a specific time when it would rotate, or that I’d get the next reward for the next event and then it would rotate for the subsequent event, or if I’d have a higher chance of getting the next reward, but with some small chance of getting any of the other rewards from any event.

. There was no clear visual sign that I’d gotten the bonus. Yea, it appeared on the right side as any new item that gets dropped in the inventory, but at first I didn’t know if it was just a random drop or the event reward, and if I wasn’t paying attention I could easily miss it.

. There was no explanation about when I’d get any item from an event. Some events gave it, some didn’t, and I didn’t understand the item rotation. Because of that, I couldn’t say how many events I’d have to do before I get one of the item I needed.

. It felt unrewarding. After the couple hours I was in Brinsban Wildland I probably did about 10~15 events and got 2 Silver Doubloon. That’s too little. And when I didn’t get it, I got itens I didn’t care about. And because Brisban is a wide, open area with sparse events occurring here and there, it doesn’t feel engaging enough to hook me there for long enough for me to actually get enough Silver Doubloons to compensate for my time there, when I could be in Silverwastes, Dry Top, the new HoT maps or doing dungeons and fractals, where I’d have more fun and greater rewards.

Things I’d suggest to make it feel better:

. UI revamp and a UI component to be seen while playing, instead of just in the World Map, maybe somewhere in the minimap or next to the Event info on the top right side of the screen

. Bouncing chest after completing event

. Reward something at every event completed

. Give better reward to longer, more challenging or time gated content like group events, Jumping Puzzles and mini dungeons.

. Make it clear how many events it take to get each specific item, or maybe be able to select your prize after events, so its easier to farm for specific materials.

Mastery System

In the course of the weekend, I was able to finish the second tier of gliding and the first tier of Itzel Lore. As of now, I think the progress is well paced, it doesn’t take long enough to fell like grinding, but doesn’t take too short to be able to rush to the end of the tier and be done with it. I still don’t know how fast I’ll be able to get it with the complete maps and all the Personal Story chapters, so if any change is going to be made, I hope it takes a bit more time to get it.

I really like the feel of training a new reward track. Every track you train, mainly the first tier, open a new way to traverse the map, get to new places, new heights, be able to excel in the adventures. The mastery system can truly become the best possible way I’ve ever seen progression being handled in a MMORPG, but it needs to keep me invested. It cannot be too fast to get, and each tier I get must change my view of the locations and the content, it must be meaningful, like the first tier of gliding and Itzel was, and more importantly, I think the later tiers must be even more impactful to justify the increased difficulty to get to them. I haven’t seen many updrafts in the current explorable places, so the second tier of gliding didn’t feel that much impactful, but I expect other parts of the map and other maps to have more updrafts, battles on cliffs that you can fall and get back using them, like the first version of the Wyvern fight, and such. And the same to be true about every other tier.

Adventures

I really like this. It is a simple, casual minigame that adds to what you can do in the jungle. I saw myself repeating an adventure over an over trying to get gold, and it wasn’t easy (I actually couldn’t get gold in any, but I blame it on the event stall that kept me from being able to activate and practice more). And the leaderboard added that indirect competitive level that I love as a PvE player, the competition where everyone wins, but you try to see who wins better. Now I’m really curious about the other kinds of adventure there will be in future maps.

Fisrt of all, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed this beta. I won’t be able to play much tomorrow, so this is my final veredict of BWE1. It made me a lot more hyped for the launch of HoT, but I cannot say it was entirely perfect. But that’s what betas are for, to spot those imperfections and be able to correct them. (Disclaimer: everything said in this post is entirely my opinion and it can differ from everyone else that played the beta)

Verdant Brink

Daylight meta events feels really good. They are fun and engaging, and I really like the character interaction during the events.

But as you may already know, there are a couple issues, mostly related to bugs. Here is the list of bugs I was able to find, you probably know them already, but just to be sure:

. Itzel chain: Feed the Itzel and protect the basket bugs as you fill the baskets but the event doesn’t recognize it

. Itzel chain: Wyvern died so quickly it surprised me. It didn’t feel nearly as threatening as I expected. I think a simple buff to HP might help in this case.

. Laranthir chain: Escort event can stall when they arrive at the ruins

. Laranthir chain: I think the Vinetenders’ health are too big and they spawn too quickly, making the event take really long.

Other minor bugs related to the area:

. Visual bug after the event of planting the bombs to explode the Vinecrawler

[img]http://i.imgur.com/kzXk1pl.jpg[/img]

. I don’t think this is intended, but you can get this mastery point without getting to the top of the stone by jumping from where my character is and spamming F until you get the dialog screen

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Gbq918I.jpg[/img]

And my last issue is with the bouncing mushrooms, mostly due to the fact that you take fall damage after using one. Some mushrooms bounce you to lower levels and can kill you from fall damage (like this one for instance)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/IP77gFY.jpg[/img]

And some may bounce you toward obstacles in the way, making you hit it and fall down to your death (like this one, that can make you hit the branch over it)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/XVEDFMe.jpg[/img]

The place where you stand over the mushroom, if you are in the center or near the border, can slightly change your trajectory and cause these sort of problem, so I’d suggest checking the bouncing mushrooms for potential accidental deaths.

I won’t say much about the nighttime event, since it has been stated that it is an early build, but because there is no character interaction, no interesting chain of events and no explanation about the progress bar and what “Security Level” means, it’s just a bunch of escort and defend events. Not really that interesting yet, but I can see the potential and I understand the concept.

Finally, I really liked the new enemies. Each one has something new and interesting, like the snipers who are just like a zerker player, reking if unattended but die quickly, and the Smokescale, that can be really dangerous if you don’t know how to fight it. It does make you think more about what are you fighting before you engage.

This was pretty much my greatest fear this weekend. I still hope I don’t get a random one, or else I’ll flip tables so hard, there shall not be a table unflipped in the world.

And I third this. I came to the forum to post pretty much what was said, only that OP was able to say with much more detail than I would.

I spent a lot of the day trying to farm for Silver Doubloons in Brisban, and it didn’t feel rewarding enough. First because there was no bouncy chest or anything to tell me I got a bonus, second because it didn’t reward everytime, and third because the one loot I wanted was cycling with low tier crafting materials that I didn’t care about. So, the couple hours I spent there rewarded me very few Doubloons, and I can’t see myself doing that for God knows how long until I get 250 to craft Juggernaut. And indeed, the UI was pretty confusing. I’d suggest making it more clear if the event will give a reward and which reward will be given.

So, since its impractical for devs to come back to these maps and make the events as engaging as Dry Top, Silverwastes and the new HoT maps probably will be, to justify myself going back to these maps to farm instead of just sticking to the new maps, and to justify doing other content like JP and mini-dungeons instead of just cycling through some events, it must feel more rewarding.

But overall, the concept is really amazing, and if adjusted and tweaked right, it can be a very good reason to go back and enjoy the old content instead of just storming through it when you’re doing map completion with an alt.

Well, the question was:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

right now, The Hunter skin is only available from one weapon: the precursor. once the skin is changed to look more like the legendary rifle, how will we be able to acquire the current skin?

And that I’ve answered. Now, if you want to know if there will be any other way to get it, that I don’t know.

In the same blogpost you can read:

The second collection in your journey involves doing your research, talking to the experts, and honing your craft. You’ll need to barter for knowledge, seek out great minds and convince them to teach you their tricks, and prove your ability at the crafting workbench. All this work allows you to refine your base precursor into its next iteration. Completing this collection unlocks a recipe to do just that, resulting in another nontradable exotic weapon with the existing precursor skin.

I feel for you. Haven’t played 50+ hours yet, only about 20+ these last days, but still, its too much time spent in something you can do nothing about but have faith. Literally faith. I wished they’d do something less random, something that would reward the ones who work the hardest, and something you know you’re progressing. Because it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve killed VW, it doesn’t make you any closer to the beta key.

They could have made the beta key cost 10k bandit crests or something like that, if they wanted people playing at SW, and it would ensure that only those who works hard and want to be a beta tester actually get it. Otherwise, its no different than selecting random number of players from a player pool, and that would be less painful as well. I like the idea of making players work for the opportunity to play the beta, but it was poorly executed. RNG is always unfair, and makes our effort worthless. I don’t care about the 200 champ bags in my inventory right now (because I got tired of opening them after the last hundreds), I just want the beta key….

I’ll stop rambling now, but just for you to know that you’re not the only one suffering from the endless farming.