Guild Wars 2

Dear Chris.

I don’t normally post on the forum but as you are making the effort to interact with your community I thought it I would give you my feedback on 9/9 update. FYI GW2 is the only MMO that I play.

Firstly, I like the changes to the Trading Post, various interfaces and the changes you have made to minis. It makes them much slicker and i have already adapted to them.

However I cannot support or endorse the new approach to new characters, the level gating of skills, class features and map features. In the case of many of the scholar classes, it makes them very very difficult to play at lower levels and in fact makes the new player experience worse are you loose the ability to use various skills and tricks that keep you alive. I have walked away from my newish ele character for a while because I feel that you have robbed me of the ability to effectively defend myself and attack with a full range of skills. Not to mention that the effort I put in over the last week or so before the 9/9 patch have has been for naught as you have removed some of my attunement and the combo’s they offer. I feel robbed.

Id be interested in hearing about the User Testing that ANet carried out on this latest release. Did you get any actual players to test the new user experience? Or was it all done “in house”? Don’t get me wrong, the actual implementation of the new patch seems effective and well done, so that’s a win from a dev pov, but from a user experience/customer viewpoint, this is far from your finest hour.

Im not against in game hints and tutorials for new players. But I don’t see why most of that could not be incorporated into the starting instances when a new character is created. As its mostly a single player instance you can pause it to bring up pop up boxes etc to show the various features. That way you teach new players things without disturbing the rest of the game or harming the user experience of vet players.

Additionally when in game, rather than locking off/hiding features in the world such as mining nodes, vistas etc again, why not make bring up a pop up box when you first encounter them? Find your first copper node? Then up pops a box saying “ this is copper node, you can mine it with a mining tool and craft items using the ore. Mining tools are purchasable from NPC vendors” etc. Anyway, you have a official Wiki for the game. New players can always look there for more in depth guides and hints.

Finally, im not sure that locking off your characters personal story behind a level gates is a good idea. One of the attractions of GW is that its that a level of skill is required to play the game. Part of the attraction of it is taking your L20 toon into a L25 instance and being able to win through skill and co-operation with others. By removing this option along with level gating some of the other skills and customisations you are endangering the original ethos of GW2 that skill and gameplay are important and making it more like other, less intelligent MMO’s like WoW. You were praised at release for this approach and recent games like Eldar Scrolls Online were attacked for not having the features you implemented at release. Don’t go messing up what makes this game unique and successful.

I hope that you are taking note of the mood around this update. I personally would give ANet a lot of respect if you listened and rolled back or at the least re-organised some of the new features like the skill and level gating that we are unhappy about. It would prove to us that as a company you are listening and reacting to your users.

Cheers!

Iain

The sad thing is that with nearly 200 posts in such a short period of time, mostly negative, ANet will prob take no action.

The locking mechanism is locking the visuals so new players see less, like nodes on the map as an example. But you can still farm wood when you see it. It’s just giving people time to learn what various markers mean as they play.

Respectfully tho, how hard is it to walk up to the symbol on the map and go “oh, I can mine this”……..

I really don’t see the point of this update. Who in their right mind as a game dev would “sign off” on this? A few of the cosmetic things are nice in that they tidy up some of the interfaces but not all that important compared to some of the issues in game play that have existed for ages. Its like re arranging deckchairs on a ship when the engine is struggling. Priorities ANet!

Im also annoyed that my current alt has LOST features. As a low level ele, I logged in to find HALF of my attunements have gone and I cant get them all back until L30!! Why strip out features? Do you think that as a 28 year old, IT systems designer and long time gamer im suddenly too dumb to press the F1-F4 buttons in a rotation? I spent time grinding mobs with all the ele weapon combos to unlock all the attacks. Now, im genuinely not sure I can be bothered.

Also, locking my personal story behind a level cap is also a stupid idea. Guild Wars 2 was meant to be as much about skill of the player than about their level. I have the skills to do L20 story instances when im L15! Iv been playing for TWO YEARS! Part of the challenge and attraction to GW2 was taking on things bigger then yourself and winning.

I rarely post on the forums as I don’t believe that it ever really achieves anything. But ANet, you have royally annoyed and alienated your community, especially the vets. And your game is meant to be all about community.

I don’t normally complain/post much on this forum because I just tend to play the game and let the changes wash over me like jazz. We just run as a group and enjoy the content. Not bothered by milking the extra 1% or 2% crit chance or condition duration out of my stats. I have a life.

However I do think this element of this change will affect the game experience of most casual and hardcore players. By only allowing a trait or stat increase every 5 levels puts a hold on a players feeling that they are progressing. It feel like all the main interesting content (WvW, events etc) are all now reserved for L80/endgame characters. Its a bit of a spit in the face for those of us who have enjoyed and supported that game over the last year and a half.

Also, for those of us who do have L80 characters and have put all the game time and grind in to get to that stage we find out that a lot of it was now for nothing? We have to spend more in game gold and time to get our toons back to their initial stats? It’s not the odd 1% / 2%, its major traits and effects.

ANet, although the rest of the update was good (not sure it required so much hype to (note: it didn’t)) you hare in real danger of driving away a lot of casual players with a change like this. Why should I put in the time when you can take a lot of it away from me?

The Norn have just got (i think) a wonderfully over the top waxed moustache as part of their character creation.

An Asura Engineer with a Victorian waxed moustache would be…………

PIMP

Last month it seems that the Norn gain the ability to have a HUGE waxed moustache as part of their character creation. Which is awesome.

However, the Male Humans are still left with very few option for facial hair. Its either “chin fluff” of “full Moses”. Anybody else yearning for more bigger and better human facial hair beard/moustache combos?

I think its hillariously amazing. My new Norn Necro looks like a Victorian Boxer.

Really want that sort of facial hair for the Human builds too!

I do understand what you mean. I love running dungeons. When I started the biggest issue for me was the flack and abuse i sometimes got because i didn’t know the paths, what to do, how to support a group properly etc.

However I would recommend that you use the “looking for group” function:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lfg

Pick the dungeon you want to run and look at the groups who are advertising for members. I would recommend running a dungeon a few times in story mode to get an feel for group play. When you join a group, change your chat status from “say” to “group”. TELL you group that you are new to dungeons. Most players are very happy to tell you what to do in each section of a dungeon. But if you don’t speak up I/we assume you know what to do. Communication is the key.

Also if people give you abuse, leave the party and dungeon and find a new group. Its only a game, you shouldn’t have to put up with abuse/rudeness.

Finally, when you get close to L80, speed running dungeons are a great way to earn lost of Gold and Karma. Make sure you drop Magic Find and Gold find boosts (either food or boosters) when you run for that extra bit of cash, karma and general loot goodie-ness.

Hope that helps in some way.

Ta!

Hello

I’m on FoW and looking for a new Guild to join as the on im currently in has unfortunately died.

I’m 26 year old chap who’s online a couple of nights a week, sometimes more and at weekends. I enjoy running dungeons, world events, WvW as well as wondering off and doing my personal story with my character.

I just like playing socially with people without any of the agro, immaturities or demands that iv seen with other guilds and their members. Sadly I don’t have any form of mic/chat/teamspeak.

One L80 Mesmer with all the trimmings and now working on a Necro.

Anybody want to recommend their (grown up) guild to me I’d be interested

Ta!

Iv said it once before but i’ll say it again………

I genuinely think that the biggest mistake ANet has made was changing tack to make the updated/living world events so frequent.

While the events last year where not always perfect, the quality and depth of content in terms of new game play, crafting mates, achievements, rewards etc meant that it felt more like a “special event” rather than just an “game patch”. By committing to pushing out new living world content pretty much every month, ANet is no longer giving its dev and writing team long enough to develop new and interesting content. Because of this they are forced to fall back on a set of templates around materials, grinding and limited rewards rather than allowing their teams to make something genuinely new.

This is why each living story update and this year’s Halloween event just feels “less” compared to last years living world content. It is just the same skeleton templates from previous events populated with less content because the dev team is only just getting over writing the last living world event. Same maps, same style rewards. just chuck in some zerg events and champions and push it out there.

With the exception of Halloween, iv treated pretty much every Living World update this year as background noise. If iv fancied a change iv run with the zerg but 75% of the time, i just ignore it.

In summary, I still love this game, that’s why as a 26 year old gamer im still playing regularly over a year since release, but ANet if you want to avoid killing off your own fan base you should go back to doing fewer but bigger, better and longer lasting event. Quality of release, not quantity.

Thats my thoughts anyway.

Iv said it once before but i’ll say it again………

I genuinely think that the biggest mistake ANet has made was changing tack to make their updated/living world events so frequent.

While the events last year where not always perfect, the quality and depth of content in terms of new game play, crafting mates, achievements, rewards etc meant that it felt more like a “special event” rather than just an “game patch”. By committing to pushing out new living world content pretty much every month, ANet is no longer giving its dev and writing team long enough to develop new and interesting content. Because of this they are forced to fall back on a set of templates around materials, grinding and limited rewards rather than allowing their teams to make something genuinely new.

This is why each living story update and this year’s Halloween event just feels “less” compared to last years living world content. It is just the same skeleton templates from previous events populated with less content because the dev team is only just getting over writing the last living world event. Same maps, same style rewards. just chuck in some zerg events and champions and push it out there.

With the exception of Halloween, iv treated pretty much every Living World update this year as background noise. If iv fancied a change iv run with the zerg but 75% of the time, i just ignore it.

In summary, I still love this game, that’s why as a 26 year old gamer im still playing regularly over a year since release, but ANet if you want to avoid killing off your own fan base you should go back to doing fewer but bigger, better and longer lasting event. Quality of release, not quantity.

Thats my thoughts anyway.

You are:
[ ] Married
[ ] Have Girlfriend
[x] Employed
[ ] Have Pets
[ ] Have Children
[x] Are an Adult
[x] Have a Life
[ ] Have no Manual Dexterity
[x] Climb Mountains

You Think Living World is too:
[ ] Hard
[ ] Time Consuming
[x] Temporary
[ ] Full of Jumping Puzzles
[x] Now rushed and poorly thought out due to lack of time given to the dev team to create something new

You are Currently Threatening to:
[ ] Quit
[ ] Uninstall
[ ] Kick Colins’ Dog
[x] Tell the Internet That You are Upset
[x] Just treat Living World a “Background Noise” with the added option to get the odd bit of extra snazzy gear

I genuinely think that the biggest mistake ANet has made was changing tack to make their updated/living world events so frequent.

While the events last year where not always perfect, the quality and depth of content in terms of new game play, crafting mates, achievements, rewards etc meant that it felt more like a “special event” rather than just an “game update”. By committing to pushing out new living world content pretty much every month, ANet is no longer giving its dev and writing team long enough to develop new and interesting content. Because of this they are forced to fall back on a set of templates around materials, grinding and limited rewards rather than allowing their teams to make something genuinely new.

This is why this year’s Halloween even feels “less” compared to last year. It is just the same skeleton template from 2012 but populated with less content because the dev team is only just getting over writing the last living world content. Same maps, same style rewards. just chuck in some zerg events and push it out there.

In summary, I love this game, that’s why as a 26 year old gamer im still playing regularly over a year since release, but ANet if you want to avoid killing off your own fan base you should go back to doing fewer but bigger, better and longer lasting event. Quality, not quantity.

:/

There is an awesome 4 part youtube video series about the Mesmer. Have a search. Each video is about 50-60 minutes long. I didnt understand the Mesmer until i watched it. My main L80 character is in that class

I tried a recently Necro. Although I was leveling quicker than i did with the Mesmer, i just didint find the class “fun”. But thats probably a personal thing

My 50 pence worth

Hello

I’m on FoW and looking for a new Guild to join as the on im currently in has unfortunately died.

I’m 26 year old chap who’s online a couple of nights a week, sometimes more and at weekends. I enjoy running dungeons, world events, WvW as well as wondering off and doing my personal story with my character.

I just like playing socially with people without any of the agro, immaturities or demands that iv seen with other guilds and their members.

One L80 Mesmer im still tooling up and one low level Guardian

Anybody want to recommend their (grown up) guild to me I’d be interested

Ta!

I’m looking for a new Guild to join as the on im currently in has died a death.

I’m 26 year old chap who’s online 1 or 2 nights a week, sometimes more. I enjoy running dungeons, world events, WvW as well as wondering off and doing my personal story with my character. I just like playing socially with people without any of the agro or immaturities that iv seen with other guilds and their members.

Anybody want to recommend their (grown up) guild to me I’d be interested

Ta!

I have been watching this thread and others like it for a while and tbh, I can’t see a) what the issue is b) why many of you are complaining.

There is no issue here. Dragon chests are dropped, for free, as part of the normal game. It is stated that the drop rate for jade skins is incredibly low for the regular chests (about 0.00something per chest). That means that every time you open one you have a 0.00something % chance on each chest of getting a weapon skin. The chance of finding one does not increase as you open more. Its 0.00something % chance on each chest. That’s the facts. That’s the maths. Regular chests are plentiful and free. It should be no stress.

Now of course you could spend you in game gold or real money in the form of gems. But, just because you have spent fake or real money on something does not increase the mathematical chance of those chests in question. You are buying a heap of gambles not a bunch of certainty. You want the 100% certainty of getting a weapon skin then go buy a weapon skin, not a box with only a 1.00something or 0.00something % chance of acquiring the item you want.

Why you would want to spend real money (other than the £’s you pay for the original game) buying things that do nothing to increase your performance in-game and exists only as a onscreen set of pixels representing a string of code hosted on a server somewhere is beyond me. I have never, nor will I ever buy gems or anything from the gem store.

Sorry if that sounds fairly blunt peeps. But all the crying over this is fairly silly.

If you think im wrong, let me know

Can you Farm the CoF (Path #1) dungeon when you are under L70?

I’ve played GW2 for a while but im quite a casual player and still feel fairly noob-ish. What you need to remember is that the ele, necro and mes range from being totally squishy to quite squishy in terms of hand-to-hand combat. Just because you Necro is holding an axe does not mean he should be physically toe-to-toe with an enemy.

I play Mesmer. The best thing I learnt to do is stay at range, kite and actively dodge attacks. Additionally, the 3 classes you have described don’t necessarily do a lot of straight up damage so you need to learn what all the different conditions do and how best to stack and combine them. The GW2 wiki has a good section on the conditions and there are a whole host of very good youtube guides out there. Have a look, hear what they have to say and try applying it to your own game (but dont be ruled by others opinions)

Finally, don’t feel that by changing class and starting again you have “failed”, it’s better to start again with a class you come to love then grind on with one you don’t really like. I ditched a L43 Warrior to start my Mesmer. I should have done it a lot earlier.

Hope that helps in some small way

Vaxor.4039:

I know that feeling. Usually I need 2-3 days to earn 1 gold. I’m doing events, world bosses (dragons etc.), sometimes dungeons. By doing dungeons you can earn 50 or 60 silver for 1 dungeon run (+ a few silver for items from mobs to sell) so you could try do dungeons 2/3 times per day if you dont want to farm so much. Sell crafting materials on trading posts (it’s a good way to earn some money).
So ya, that’s my way to do it (slow way :< )

Id love to get more than one dungeon run done a week but I have problems finding people to run AC or CM atm. Sad Face etc.

Ricky Da Man.5064:

COF p1 your welcome.

:-) So basically level up to L70 and just run it whenever you can?

Any tips for making money in the mean time? If I get maulled in wvw (happens more times than im proud to admit) then its costing me quite a percentage of the moeny i do have to repair my gear. Basically I spend most of my time doing dailys, buying high level crafting bags and selling the content hoping to get about 80 silver-1g out of it.

Ok, iv been playing GW2 for about 6 months now. Iv finally settled on a character (having had a few false starts) and now have my mesmer up to L42.

My issues is this. I can never make ANY gold. The most I have ever had has been just south of 5G. How the Kitten are people making 60/70/100/200G? Im doing everything i can, doing all my dailys and monthly, world events, crafting items then selling them but im still only just keeping my head above water.

Can anybody point out to me what im doing wrong? Should I be trying to do more dungeons or something?

Thanks

Note, I have never, nor will I ever, buy gems with real money.

I have no other programs running in the background. None. I have raised a trouble ticket.

Hi. I tried the fullscreen window thing and it seemed to solve it up till about 3 days ago. Now it, goes quiet and locks up in windowed mode. I have to click in the game screen again to re-engage the game. Any ideas

Hello

My client keeps on minimising ever 1-2 minutes or so. Has only just started happening after i changed from hardline broadband to wireless connections at home. Iv checked all the firewall settings etc and its programmed to let the client “in”.

Any thoughts because is become pretty unplayable atm.