Guild Wars 2

Sernius Alathar.6538:

Universal tokens = bad idea ~ this thread has been around for awhile, and its just basically a lazy way for players to get rarer armor/weapon skins.

So lazy = not wanting to run the same dungeon 26+ times in order to get all the armor I want for ONE character? That’s not being lazy. If making a universal currency results in some dungeons not being played at all and some being overplayed then you fix those particular dungeons to make them on-par with all the others, so there is no vast advantage to doing one over the other.

Bottom line is I’ve gotten totally burnt out on GW2 from doing TA till my head was ready to explode. And I still don’t have all the gear I want, and every time I log in I’m reminded of it, get annoyed, and log out.

I’m not lazy. I just don’t want to be bored to death and want to actually enjoy what I’m doing. If I wanted endless grind for mats and armor I’d go back and play WoW. GW2 is supposed to be better. It’s the game that’s supposed to give you flexibility and options so you don’t have to farm and grind the same content over and over again to get what you want. But apparently this does not apply to dungeons, because it’s same old tired reward system, now with even more restrictions and penalties.

Anyway, I said my 2 cents worth. If you disagree and think multiple currencies is peachy keen a-ok that’s fine. But to me it’s what broke the game for me, and I’m finding it really difficult to find a good reason to come back because the thought of doing another TA run makes my stomach churn, and being reminded I don’t have all the gear I want unless I do more TA makes me frustrated to all hell.

I think you overestimate the value of DX11 and what it would require to enable all those features.

“To encourage players to participate in a wider array of dungeon content, we’ve designed the system so if you complete the same dungeon path twice in one day, you’ll receive the normal reward for completion, but won’t receive the bonus gold reward again during that day.”

You know what would better encourage people to play different dungeons? Combine all the dungeon-specific currency into one form of dungeon currency so we’re not stuck farming the same dungeon 30+ times in order to get the gear and/or skins we want. This way, if you want the Twilight Arbor weapons, you don’t have to do the TA dungeon until you’re sick to death of it; you can do any variety of dungeons and dungeon paths and still be able to buy whatever gear you want. You say you want us to be more diverse in our dungeon play yet you don’t give us any good reason other than penalties to play other dungeons. What good are CM or SE currency to me if I want TA gear? None, so why would I bother doing them?

Diminishing returns doesn’t encourage people to play other dungeons, all it does is penalize and frustrate players who are trying to earn the gear they want as quickly as possible.

You encourage by providing options, not by placing limitations.

Here’s the biggest problem I have with transmuting the appearance of items — it’s a one shot deal, and the previous look is lost forever. But what if we were able to use a new kind of stone that would turn the look of an item into a skin that could be applied at a later date (soulbound, non-tradeable, non-sellable, and non-salvageable of course).

Cause here’s the problem. Sometimes you just want to be a fashionista and mix things up, especially around holidays and events. All of my mesmer’s weapons are from the Twilight Arbor dungeon, and not easily replaceable. So there is no way I was going to put any of the Wintersday skins on them because I would lose the original look and have to farm TA to get it back. Not ideal.

Another option is to buy a second weapon and apply the skin to that weapon. But the problem with this option is that unless you have a ton of gold to spend you’re most certainly going to be using a lesser-quality and lower-statted item, they may or may not have the rune or sigil you rely upon. This is what I did during Wintersday, and I got by, but also felt that it was not an ideal situation.

What I would love to have is an “Extraction Stone” that copies just the look of an item to a skin, and places all the necessary restrictions on it so that it can only be used by you, for your own personal use, on that particular character and could not in any way be sold, salvaged, or traded as a skin or after the skin is applied to an item.

This way I can change up the look of my weapons to match my clothing or take advantage of special themed event skins without having to buy all new sub-par weapons or lose the default skins I worked long and hard to acquire.

Well after a horrendous run thru TA the other night (first time since the changes) let’s just say we won’t be doing that any more till phase 2. Between the lack of being able to use a waypoint, the general inability for others to rez you (takes too long and seems to always put a giant bullseye on you), scaling changes that makes fighting trash mobs take twice as long as before with greater risk of death for no added rewards, and changes to the worms that makes them nearly impossible to fight (not a single square inch of safe ground to stand upon now that they spit twice as much as before, even around corners and thru terrain; oh, and that also cannot be reflected despite clearly being projectiles), there is absolutely no fun or enjoyment to be had. 2-3x the time and effort for absolutely zero extra reward. How is that considered an acceptable design choice?

I understand where you’re trying to go, but where you decided to make a pitstop along the way is a very poor choice. My friends and I will be sitting dungeons out until the final changes are made, because the current state is unacceptable.

I don’t understand people using the word NEVER. As in “I’ll never be able to play with my friends”. This is simply not true. You can transfer from an EU to NA server and vice versa and play with all your friends there for a week or more. Then transfer back and play with those friends for another week or more, and so on. We don’t yet know the cost of transfers, but since it will cost gems you won’t necessarily need to spend real money.

Another alternative is to buy a second copy of the game and establish yourself in the other region. Yes you’ll have to start again, but you’ll have your friends there to help you along, and you’ll be able to mail things from one account to other, including gold, to help out. This way you can play with whichever friends you want, whenever you want, no 7 day window, and for a one time flat fee and no recurring transfer costs.

So right there you have 2 options. Are they perfect? No, but either are far from NEVER.

Loosifah.4739:

Oh right, just buy a whole new game, spend 60 dollars and invest time and effort in rebuilding everything you have. Everyone has the time and money to do that.

So rather than you spending another $60 they should have to spend millions to make it convenient for you?

Well yes, obviously. He’s stated numerous times he doesn’t care what it takes to implement the feature, just that they do it.

Bliss.1647:

Hobocop.1508:

Bliss.1647:

Thrashbarg.9820:

It would have been nice to be able to guest between EU and NA servers, and hopefully they continue to work toward making that possible.

I’ve seen quite a few mentions of meeting in overflow in this thread. That doesn’t allow playing open world content together, only dungeons (as far as I know).

This is incorrect. You can play open world content together in overflow. You just need to form a group in an overflow region (Lions Arch) and then you can go anywhere in the world with your group.

No. Simply forming a group on an overflow in LA doesn’t allow you to play open world content with your group of cross-server members.

Currently, you must all be in the same overflow server of that particular zone, and in order to do that, an overflow needs to exist, and one member of your group has to be on an overflow in the first place so you can join on them. Most zones don’t have the player population to even have overflows in the first place, so this kind of thing doesn’t happen very often unless you happen to form a group at that particular moment with someone on a server that has overflows in the zone you want to play in.

This is again, incorrect. I very often join non-fractal groups while i’m still in overflow. Could you explain how our group gets to AC or CoF in your theory? Because that’s exactly what i’ve been doing.

To play together in open world you all need to be in the same overflow. This is not the case if you want to do fractals or dungeons, as those are instances. But in either case you can never team cross-region, meaning, if you’re on a NA server you cannot ever play with someone on an EU server.

Since most open world zones do not have overflows it’s not possible to play with people from different servers unless you’re doing fractals or dungeons. Guesting allows you to play together anywhere in the game. Currently you can only do that if an overflow exists. That’s the difference.

Warder.3491:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

No, you seem to misunderstand. You cannot play with people from EU servers if you’re on an NA server, and vice versa, unless your idea of “playing” is to chat and hang out in the same party. So that restriction already exists, due to the fact you’re on separate datacenters. The datacenters cannot communicate in a way that permits playing together. This isn’t a new restriction, it’s the way it’s always been.

And let’s say they create a server on each datacenter that’s specifically designed to allow people to transfer for guesting. What happens when the free server is full and you can’t transfer? What happens when you’re finished playing with your EU friends and want to transfer back to your home NA server but it’s full too? What then?

That we can’t actually play cross-region is accurate, obviously – that’s the whole point! But where you’re claiming it’s a technical impossibility (although you at first said the servers were completely isolated from each other, when that’s clearly not the case), I’m saying that it’s not, it’s just a more difficult solution that ArenaNet seems unwilling to commit to, despite their proclaimed intentions that playing with our friends is of great importance to them.

What your second part of the post is getting at, or why you’re asking me, I’m not sure. It has very little to do with anything I’ve said, or my suggestion thread. Again, I’m not bothered by specifics. If some solutions brought up in this thread or elsewhere aren’t practical, I don’t care. Something must work. However, you seem insistant that there is no solution that will work, and you seem to actively dislike the very thought of this issue being resolved. Why is that? Why not try to come up with solutions instead?

It’s a technical impossibility given the current setup and infrastructure as the datacenters do not communicate in any way that allows it. If there is any communication between them it’s minimal, and I never said there wasn’t any. I said they don’t communicate, the implication being not in a way which makes cross-datacenter guesting possible. Of course they can communicate, obviously, because we can chat and transfer from one to the other. But that’s irrelevant.

To make cross-datacenter guesting possible would require no small amount of time and money along with a significant overhaul of the infrastructure, something that’s just not going to happen in order to provide a free feature. I know it’s not the answer you want to hear, but that’s the reality.

And it’s not like you’ll never be able to play with your EU friends. There are ways, albeit less convenient and requiring some gems and/or cash. But it’s completely possible to do. So making it sound like it’s impossible is incorrect. It may be inconvenient, but it’s not impossible.

OscarKitteh.7198:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

Well they’ve been pretty consistent in not implementing things they’ve specifically said they had no intentions or could not be implemented, despite public outcry. So really, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a reversal on this one.

There are significant problems with your suggestion. First off, it forces everyone to take up twice as much server space as you’d have both an NA and EU spot. That’s not practical. Second, since each datacenter is isolated from the other and do not communicate, how would they keep each copy synchronized? In the event of a communication issue which copy takes precedent over the other? Can you imaging the mess if there is an issue and a few thousand accounts get corrupted? How happy would you be then?

If you want to have a presence on both an EU and NA server simply buy a second account. Problem solved. Then you’ll be able to play with all of your friends no matter which region they are in and not have to worry about paying for server transfers or 7 day lockouts.

Oh right, just buy a whole new game, spend 60 dollars and invest time and effort in rebuilding everything you have. Everyone has the time and money to do that.

Data centres can’t communicate? Really? We live in a digital age, not the age of the pony express. It’s amazing that in Guild Wars 1 this wasn’t an issue. And I and I imagine many players would take a few hours of downtime if that meant the ability to play with all of our friends.

So really, we should just shut up because they have failed to do something they promised to do at the start, something they did in a game that is eight years old and worked fine without major catastrophes.
We have features like multiple guilds that are worthless because if you are in a guild that is on a different server, you can’t play with your guildies. And if you belong in guilds that are in different regions because your friends are there, then oh, just shut up and suck it up.

Well, how important is it for you to play with your friends? If it’s as important as you all make it out to be then spending $60 should be no big deal. Better than paying for server transfers over and over again. And since you’ve all made it clear that playing with your friends is more important than anything else, why do you care if you have to start from scratch? You have friends who can help you along. So I don’t see the problem here. Unless maybe playing with your friends isn’t all that important and you’re just making a fuss cause you have nothing better to do. I dunno.

GW1 was a completely different game that wasn’t a true MMO. So comparing it to GW2 is not relevant. Different games, different engines, completely different architectures. The only thing they have in common is the name.

And no, I don’t think many people would accept a few hours of downtime. You have a problem about starting from scratch to play with your friends but you don’t have a problem with perpetual outages, character corruption, and account rollbacks that would be likely otherwise? Yeah, sorry, not buying that one.

As for your last paragraph. Essentially, yes.

Warder.3491:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

Well they’ve been pretty consistent in not implementing things they’ve specifically said they had no intentions or could not be implemented, despite public outcry. So really, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a reversal on this one.

There are significant problems with your suggestion. First off, it forces everyone to take up twice as much server space as you’d have both an NA and EU spot. That’s not practical. Second, since each datacenter is isolated from the other and do not communicate, how would they keep each copy synchronized? In the event of a communication issue which copy takes precedent over the other? Can you imaging the mess if there is an issue and a few thousand accounts get corrupted? How happy would you be then?

If you want to have a presence on both an EU and NA server simply buy a second account. Problem solved. Then you’ll be able to play with all of your friends no matter which region they are in and not have to worry about paying for server transfers or 7 day lockouts.

What? No, you misunderstand. The data centers DO communicate. I can add a friend in the US to my friends list and see them online. I can whisper to them. I can send them mail and receive mail from them in turn. I can join their party. I can see their dots on the minimap when we’re in the same zone. I just can’t kill things with them, or go with them into dungeons.

Furthermore, I don’t believe for a second that data storage space is a problem, but let’s say it is – it doesn’t matter for my suggestion. I proposed one home world in each region with free transfers between them, perhaps with an imposed time limit. No extra storage space required.

No, you seem to misunderstand. You cannot play with people from EU servers if you’re on an NA server, and vice versa, unless your idea of “playing” is to chat and hang out in the same party. So that restriction already exists, due to the fact you’re on separate datacenters. The datacenters cannot communicate in a way that permits playing together. This isn’t a new restriction, it’s the way it’s always been.

And let’s say they create a server on each datacenter that’s specifically designed to allow people to transfer for guesting. What happens when the free server is full and you can’t transfer? What happens when you’re finished playing with your EU friends and want to transfer back to your home NA server but it’s full too? What then?

Helequin.2608:

I understand WvW is a large issue here. I’m asking this as a question then:

Why does it matter which “home server” you are on if you can freely guest to others, or which server you’re PvEing in, other than WvW?

Would it be feasible to have each player flag a specific server (i.e. their home) as the only one they are able to represent in WvW? Then just allow people to transfer between all servers for free, but make it a severely restricted and paid feature to change which server a player has flagged for WvW.

In the end, I think my question is:
Server transfers between any two servers (including EU/NA) were already working and completely okay, except for their impact on WvW. So why would we need a distinct code/feature called guesting (which consequently allows people to pile on a full server where transfers did not)? Wouldn’t restricting accounts to only representing one server in WvW but being able to transfer freely for other aspects of the game make more sense?

Because when you guest to another server that’s part of the same datacenter your account info doesn’t go anywhere. You’re just temporarily allowed access to a different server.

But the same isn’t true if you want to guest to a server on a different datacenter. To do that would require moving your account there, which results in either your account taking up twice as much server space (not good) or giving up your server spot on your original server with the possibility of not being able to go back there when you’re done guesting (also not good).

Warder.3491:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

No, you’ve been told why it’s not possible. Characters cannot inhabit both datacenters at the same time. I think that’s pretty kitten clear. You say “they choose not to” as if you believe they are purposely placing a limitation just to annoy you. And why would they do that?

And while it’s clear you want it done no matter what the cost and exclusion of other features and content, I’m sorry, but that’s simply not going to happen, especially for a free feature.

If that makes you no longer want to play the game, well that’s your choice.

I’d suggest you don’t speak for ArenaNet. What’s going to happen or not is their decision – all we can do is try to influence them, which is what I’m doing here.

I don’t believe they’re trying to annoy us. That’d be stupid. I do believe that they’re trying to get away from something they very clearly implied they intended to do because it has proven difficult to implement. That’s not okay. However, you’re thinking in blacks and whites – if they can’t (or won’t) do guesting, that means it’s over. Done. Finito.

Me, I’m thinking that I don’t really care how they implement it as long as I get to play with my friends. I made a suggestion in the suggestions forum about allowing for one Home World in each region. Does that offend your sensibilities as well?

Well they’ve been pretty consistent in not implementing things they’ve specifically said they had no intentions or could not be implemented, despite public outcry. So really, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a reversal on this one.

There are significant problems with your suggestion. First off, it forces everyone to take up twice as much server space as you’d have both an NA and EU spot. That’s not practical. Second, since each datacenter is isolated from the other and do not communicate, how would they keep each copy synchronized? In the event of a communication issue which copy takes precedent over the other? Can you imaging the mess if there is an issue and a few thousand accounts get corrupted? How happy would you be then?

If you want to have a presence on both an EU and NA server simply buy a second account. Problem solved. Then you’ll be able to play with all of your friends no matter which region they are in and not have to worry about paying for server transfers or 7 day lockouts.

Warder.3491:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

You have no idea how much a server transfer is going to cost. It might be $30. It might be $1.

If there were better ways they would be doing it that way. Yet another person who insists upon calling the devs lazy liars. You were told why it can’t work the way you want it. Told in very clear, easy-to-understand terms. So transparent in fact, birds are flying into it as we speak. But because it’s not the answer you want, it’s not good enough. Well tough nookies. It is what it is, and you’re going to have accept it and work within it the best you can.

No, you’re wrong. We were told why they’re choosing not to do it the way we’d prefer them to. There’s a difference, and it’s quite a big one. Creating ways for us to play with our friends is not an impossibility. I don’t care how they do it, but I do care that they make sure we can do it.

Or, in simpler terms:

Nerfs to classes, implentation of more tiers of gear or broken events will not make me quit a game – any game.

Not being able to play with my friends, however? Well, let’s just say that’d decrease the longevity of any game right quick, right there.

No, you’ve been told why it’s not possible. Characters cannot inhabit both datacenters at the same time. I think that’s pretty kitten clear. You say “they choose not to” as if you believe they are purposely placing a limitation just to annoy you. And why would they do that?

And while it’s clear you want it done no matter what the cost and exclusion of other features and content, I’m sorry, but that’s simply not going to happen, especially for a free feature.

If that makes you no longer want to play the game, well that’s your choice.

pedrelot.3169:

Guesting across regions would be really easy to implement, they already have the code for it.
- Just do the same you do for a transfer but mark account with a guest flag.
- When the guest flag is active you are not allowed to enter WvW
- When player ends guesting do a transfer back to home server.

So easy even a child can do it, amirite?

So what happens when you try to return to your original server and it’s full? Uh-oh, then what? Or are they supposed to hold that space for you, preventing other players who are PAYING for a server transfer to be able to transfer there, while you’re off playing on an EU server also taking up a server spot no one else can have? Not to mention that your character data is now taking up 2 server slots instead of one.

Yup. Just so easy!

Shanaeri Rynale.6897:

I agree WvW is a big part of the game. But there were other ways of making it work other than tying it to a server.

I’ll also dispute the lack of region guesting is a small issue. You can just see the depth of feeling here and on other forums to see that it’s clearly not.

You mention the fix is to transfer to them and play and then come back. Except there is a big fly in that ointment. It’s going to cost each and every time I do that.

So if I want to do Arah with some US friends i’ll need to pay 30 buck, once that run is over and some guidies want to do a fractal marathon that’ll be another 30 bucks and another 7 days.. How is that in any way shape or form practical?

Basically there are better ways of doing it than what we have seen or been told. It would be really cool if we had some technical transparency and reasons why they did’nt work.

You have no idea how much a server transfer is going to cost. It might be $30. It might be $1.

If there were better ways they would be doing it that way. Yet another person who insists upon calling the devs lazy liars. You were told why it can’t work the way you want it. Told in very clear, easy-to-understand terms. So transparent in fact, birds are flying into it as we speak. But because it’s not the answer you want, it’s not good enough. Well tough nookies. It is what it is, and you’re going to have accept it and work within it the best you can.

Shanaeri Rynale.6897:

I dont think they sat back and went ‘lets find yet another way to annoy our customers’ I think what we’re seeing is the limitations of the game’s architecture which seems to be based around the importance of WvW(before you refute it, look at how many game mechanics have been compromised because of WvW).

I know it’s possible to do massive OLTP across datacentres. Companies do it with more data, less latency and with more precious data all the time.

You dont need to create another datacentre. All you need to do is create another environment or use load balancing(which the Anet tech talk tells us is fantastic) to create a space where people can go.

Heck, why not make overflows multi region for that matter.

I don’t think anything but a ground up redesign will solve it which is at this time seems very unlikely.

We’ll never know the reasons ofc to reveal that would be to give out Anet’s IP.

If you have an established guild you cannot move to a server as all your upgrades and influence will go. Why? WvW of course.

The game world, the community and in game possibilties have never seemed so small tonight.

Well for starters WvWvW is a huge part of the game. So compromising that so that a relatively small number of people with friends around the world can all play together is not a particularly sound business move.

You also have to remember that guesting is a FREE feature. As in, does not in any way generate revenue. Meaning, any changes that require significant resource investment are unlikely to happen since the feature cannot pay for itself and would leech time/money from other areas. This is why you’re not going to get a 3rd datacenter or any other kind of restructuring that would require a significant infrastructure investment.

I’m sorry that the lack of globalization in guesting is a disappointment, but it’s just a tiny part of the game that affects only a tiny % of the playerbase. Considering there will still be ways in which you can play with your friends from around the world (with some minor limitations) I simply do not see the reasoning for all the ill-will and bemoaning people are doing.

If you want to play with your EU friends transfer to an EU world and guest with them. If you then want to play with your NA friends transfer back and play with them. The only limitation being you need to wait a week in-between. It’s really not that big of a hindrance, certainly not as calamitous as you and others make it out to be.

Kimyrielle.3826:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

There are many reasons why your suggestions are bad one. If it were “just that easy” they would do it. But they can’t. It’s something that you and others are just going to have to accept.

I don’t want to start a huge fight with you, but suffice saying that I find it funny that you’re saying that my idea is oh-so-bad for oh-so-many reasons, but you fail to point a single one of them out. Your entire line of reasoning is “Whoever is disagreeing with the devs must be wrong.” and "Whoever is disagreeing with the awesome things they give us is a “drama queen” (to use your own words). I am not sure I want to discuss on that basis, so this shall be my only response you will get.

If you want to play with your EU friends you can always transfer to an EU server, and then back to a NA server to play with them.

Yep, that will SO solve the problem!!!

“EU player: Kimy, want to play a dungeon with us?”
“Kimy: But of course! Can you wait 5 days, because my transfer is still on cooldown? Pretty please?”

Well I was trying to keep it concise, but ok.

If you allow someone to copy to another data center for guesting purposes you either have to move the data or copy the data. If you copy the data that means 1 account is taking up twice the space. Multiply that by up to 3 million accounts and that’s an awful lot of wasted space.

If you move the account then it’s no different than doing an actual world transfer, which removes you from your current server and will not guarantee you a spot to return to when you’re done guesting.

So that’s 2 reasons right there.

I’m not saying you can’t disagree or dislike things the devs do. But assuming you know better than they do, or that they’re somehow lying to you, or purposefully doing things kitten is simply unfair and uncalled for. Why is “we know you can do it, you just don’t want to” always the first place you and others go when you’re told you can’t have a feature you want? Do you think the devs sit around a big table and dream up things to implement in ways that they know will annoy and frustrate people?

I mean, is it really so hard to accept that there are technical limitations that simply do not allow the feature you want? Or is that not possible? That everything and anything can be accomplished if the devs just try hard enough, no matter how much time, energy, or money it takes, and whether or not the cost grossly outweighs the benefit and at the exclusion of everything else?

Ema.4953:

My goodness people on this forum are a HUGE bunch of whiners. You demand everything and when you get something, you complain it’s not enough. If you keep complaining and ArenaNet decides to pull the plug, what will happen to your precious cross server game play then? You’ll have to move on to another game to do nothing but complain about.

ArenaNet are doing what they can, in a time frame that they can realistically do it in to make people happy. What do they get? The biggest bunch of whiners I’ve ever seen.

Wah wah I’m on an American server and can’t play with my EU friends … change servers then. It’s not that hard. If all your friends are on EU (or US) servers, and you want to play with them, change servers. Don’t give me the whole “oh but I’m in the US so being on a foreign server will be too slow” rubbish – I’m in Australia and have to use a US or EU server, I don’t have a choice of a server in the southern hemisphere, the amount of hops it takes from AU to US is far larger than from the US to EU.

Seriously, there is no pleasing some people. At this rate the amount of whiny little brats on this forum, I wouldn’t be surprised if ArenaNet doesn’t decide it’s not worth it and pulls the plug altogether. Your perceived sense of entitlement is astounding for a $60 game.

Careful, that’s infraction worthy. Not sure why. Not constructive. Trolling. Off-topic. I’m sure the mods will come up with something.

Unless you’re bashing Anet anything you say is apparently infraction-worthy.

Oh, and just so this post isn’t considered off-topic:

I for one am grateful for the new feature. Thank you Anet. I have friends on multiple servers who have been unable to get all in the same place, and it will be nice for all of us to reliably and consistently play together. Kudos!

Kimyrielle.3826:

Martin Kerstein.3071:

This is not the case with guesting, as you are still “registered” on your home world.

Fine – then send our character to the other datacenter while guesting, together with a “can’t WvW here!” flag. Come on, you guys did it that way in GW1, and now, almost a decade later you’re telling us it cannot be done and expect us to buy that? Sorry, but no.

Alternative suggestion: Re-enable unrestricted free world transfers, but everyone has to pick a “WvW home server” (since the entire reason behind the transfer restriction is indeed WvW, there is no other). Cross-continent transfers do already work, so no work needed to implement that at all. The “WvW homes server” cannot be changed unless with a huge amount of gems. Entering WvW is only possible when the character is on their actual WvW server. Problem solved and everyone will be happy.

If the solution were that easy I suspect it would have been done that way. Why do you assume Anet is lying to you? GW1 was a completely different game than GW2. You cannot expect things to always work in the same manner.

There are many reasons why your suggestions are bad one. If it were “just that easy” they would do it. But they can’t. It’s something that you and others are just going to have to accept.

If you want to play with your EU friends you can always transfer to an EU server, and then back to a NA server to play with them.

Geikamir.6329:

I really don’t understand why we can’t guest across regions. Could we please get some official response on why? Could I pay for the option? Because I would.

This was such a huge selling point for me. I play on an EU server but work really odd hours and often times just want to play with more people on certain days when I am on late at night in EU.

Look 3 posts up.

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

i don’t see whats the deal with NA/EU guesting. i don’t wanna play when everybody else is sleeping anyway…

Don’t you know, as a regular forum poster you’re required to continually kitten and moan about everything Anet does? And speak, as good drama queens do, as if you’re completely crushed with disappointment and despair, as if Anet took your puppy out back and ran it over?

I thought everyone knew this.

The thing that gets me is this. As of now you’ve NEVER been able to play regularly with ANY of your friends that are on different servers in normal PvE. NONE of them. This feature, while not perhaps letting you play with all of them, will let you play with at least some of them. And yet this is somehow a bad thing?

Some people simply are never happy. Why we continue to allow them to post and fill the forums with endless QQing is beyond me. There’s a reason why the gaming community considers the GW2 forums to be one of the worst, and this is why. No praise, no thanks, no gratitude, just endless complaining.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves. That is, if you weren’t all entitled little kittens.

Oh and mods, feel free to delete this and issue my infraction point, which I’m sure will be any time now.

Does the inability to enter WvWvW while guesting mean that one cannot enter the Heart of the Mists at all, even just to use as a means of gating to Lion’s Arch? Or is that considered just an sPvP area?

Robert Hrouda.1327:

It’s one of those human things to do something with the path of least resistance and danger, especially when there is a reward at the end. I could make enemies never drop their aggro on players and force them to fight every single mob, but I don’t see that as a viable solution right now.
I think the better solution is to look at why people are skipping things, and approach from a different angle. Trash mobs have too much HP, and can’t be counted on for lucrative drops from a Risk/Time vs Reward, so people interested in making money (most groups) aren’t incentivized to do it, whereas the end chest/boss are more guaranteed and accountable returns on time and risk. I also think there is something to be said about interesting trash mob mechanics making them more enjoyable of a fight.
I can’t make the rewards from trash mobs so lucrative though that people just farm the first couple trash mobs/boss in a dungeon and then rinse/repeat. We encountered this when people just farmed the first boss in an instance and then restarted it (earlier around launch time), and we had to adjust the content as a result. It’s a fine line you have to walk to encourage players to get to the end, but make the process of getting there rewarding enough as well.

I don’t imagine this next update will resolve all the skipping behavior. The path of least resistance is engrained in people, and even if I do everything I could to incentivize people, there will still be those who skip stuff. I have been fixing exploits that will require players to complete more of the events in dungeons, but I am sure people will still skip what they can to get to their end goal.

For now I would encourage those not looking to skip to find some folks who don’t like skipping and make a guild with them… or maybe look for guilds that are dedicated to not skipping, and tag along with them. I’m in a couple of them (anonymously), and it really is an effective solution to playing the game the way you want to play it: Find other people with similar interests and band together with them.

Well you pretty much hit the nail on the head. The trash mobs require too much time and effort to kill for little to no reward, which is why so many people want to skip them.

Now you could try and change things in a way that requires people to defeat all the mobs before moving on, but IMO that’s not the right way to go. Forcing people is never the right way. You have to find some way to make the time/risk/reward ratio appealing, either by increasing the rewards, decreasing the time/risk, or a combination of both.

One idea might be to have an extra reward given at the end of a path for having cleared it. This way those that want to skip aren’t forced to kill all, but could be enticed. And those that do kill everything get a little something extra at the end for the effort.

Just another 2 cents: as someone who has run TA over and over and over again in order to acquire the weapons and armor, I can honestly say that after the first few runs the joy is gone, and you really just want to get thru it as quickly as possible. The goal isn’t to do the dungeon, the goal is to get the blooms in order to get the armor/weapons.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink the current implementation of each dungeon giving a separate type of reward. Maybe a better way to do it would be to have one common dungeon currency that is awarded by all the dungeons and could be used at any of the dungeon vendors. This allows people to do whatever dungeon they like instead of forcing them into doing the same one over and over again until they are sick to death of it, which also happens to be a big motivation for skipping mobs.

I’m not sure if it’s been posted in a previous art thread, but it’s been a long standing issue. If you attempt to transmute the starting head piece of an Elementalist (in my case, the Flame Eye) onto another head item it becomes invisible, as in, you see no head piece at all as if you have it unchecked. Oddly enough, it DOES show up on the character selection screen, but not in the game. Also odd is that it does not say “transmuted” as do other items that have been transmuted do.

Picture #1 shows the Flame Eye visible on the character select screen.

Picture #2 shows that despite being checked it’s not showing on the costume screen, and the description shows that despite having been transmuted (evidenced by the stats) it does not say so.

Picture #3 shows that it’s also not showing in regular gameplay.

Yup, stealing boons from the Princess Dolls will do this to you. It happens to me whenever I use Arcane Thievery on them.

If you use Arcane Thievery (or possibly any ability that steals boons) on the princess dolls to strip and steal their boons you get hit with some kind of perma-slow debuff that doesn’t show as a condition and can’t be removed.

The only way I’ve found to clear it is to get downed, die, log out, or zone.

I have to assume it’s some kind of bug.

Using Arcane Thievery (or I assume any other ability that steals boons) on the toys, especially the dolls can do this to you. The only way I’ve found to clear it is to log, zone, die, or get downed.

When I moved the slider I could see my height change in the preview, but when I confirmed it I was still the same height as before in-game. I know this because I stood next to an NPC that was the exact same height I was and we’re still the same height.

I know people have used it successfully to make themselves taller, so I do I know that works. I just question going shorter. I wish there was a way I could find out for sure without having to burn thru more kits at 350 gems a pop.

I used a total makeover kit to adjust my height one click lower and it seems as though I’m exactly the same height I was previously. But I’m reluctant to burn another kit to try again, knowing full well Anet’s inability to give refunds or replace items.

Anyone else try adjusting their height down and having it work properly?

I transmuted my charr elementalist’s Flame Eye onto another headpiece and while the transmutation itself was successful (item shows as Flame Eye, with the Flame Eye icon, stats are correct and are applied when worn) it doesn’t appear when equipped. It’s as if it’s unchecked even tho it’s most definitely checked.

Oddly enough it CAN be seen on the character selection screen, just not in-game.

Anyone else run into this problem? Any known fixes or workarounds?

Excellent to hear! But is there any chance you can also bring back Magister Tassi for a few days for those that were unable to turn in their books?

I’m not affected by this personally, but for those that were hit by Sandy they have no way of turning in their books to get the back item. While I commend Anet for giving them a way to get the witch’ kittenit seems they overlooked the back item.

This thread is really long and I obviously haven’t read it all, so I apologize if this has been brought up before.

I for one found the clocktower to be impossible to accomplish, even after 5+ hours of repeated attempts. And that’s fine, I’m willing to accept I simply do not have the skill set required to complete such tasks. I like the challenge of figuring out jumping puzzles but do not have the twitchy reflexes to deal with split second reactions.

But here’s the problem, I also don’t like having content in my games that I’m utterly incapable of completing or participating in. That leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

So what about an idea like this: wherever possible there is an “easy” version and a “hard” version of these kinds of activities? This way those that want and can manage the greater challenge can (and be rewarded appropriately), while those who simply aren’t able to accomplish the event on hard can still do it, albeit on an easier setting, so that they don’t feel as though they are left out. For example, the “hard” clocktower would be the default while the “easy” version could eliminate (or greatly reduce) the rising tide so those with lesser reflexes are more able to complete it without getting angry, frustrated, and left out.

This way nearly everyone is happy and we all win.

Well it would have been nice if mesmer projectile reflection actually worked on him

Sooo, sometime between now and midnight Pacific time. Maybe.

:)

I have to think it’s been mentioned before, but I figure it can’t hurt to say it again. The staff clones use the old version that hugs terrain while we use the new version that doesn’t. This makes it really easy to figure out who is the real mesmer in PvP.

Gaile Gray.6028:

Kain Francois.4328:

The Frog smiles upon us today!

Thank you for clarifying this, Gaile Gray!

You’re very welcome. They are both cool newsletter — GW and GW2 — and I don’t want anyone to miss them.

Nightwatch.2653:

As a side note, I would note some irony/amusement in that they are sending these ads to both valid/open accounts and to customers who they have banned (either wrongfully or rightfully).

Oh dear. That doesn’t seem quite right, but I am not sure how to prevent it. I’ll talk to the newsletter person about that.

I also noticed I got the newsletter on every email account that I ever used for GW1 and GW2, not just the current one.

Did this for the first time tonight in story mode and I was able to PR thru every single gate that blocked off areas that should only be available in exploration mode.

Josh Foreman.8250:

This area was supposed to be hooked up before launch but we got swamped and the script I wrote didn’t get submitted to localization in time. It WILL get hooked up and operational at some point. (Though everyone is actually MORE swamped with post launch content than before we shipped, it seems) What really sucks is that it can be seen from outside, which really ruins the effect. It’s not supposed to look like UFOs or be reminiscent of anything alien. and Ceiling Cat was going to be a super secret Easter egg that only a very few would ever see. What sucks more is that this is one of those projects I did almost entirely on my free time (as is the fragmented garden statue of Caudicus and the Lion’s Arch Lion sculpture) and it’s getting out there in a completely stupid ugly way. I’m not blaming anyone but us. It’s totally natural and healthy for fans to poke at every corner to find this kind of stuff. Just makes me sad that something that was supposed to have a very specific mood is ruined for a lot of people now. anyway, I appreciate you guys bringing it to our attention.

Y’know I was going to go check this out but after reading this I think I’ll pass and wait for it to be correctly integrated and experienced as Josh intended.

Jihoko.3927:

While this would certainly be a good addition if you’re talking obscenely low drop-rates (otherwise there would be too many legendary weapons), I don’t think this would solve the dissatisfaction/depression/madness I’ve seen from people trying for a legendary. I have played enough MMO’s to know that people aren’t any happier running a dungeon dozens of times trying to get a single item than they are throwing items in a forge. If anything, it’s even more of a grind and it’s still random. Yes, you get other awards, but you get other awards from the forge as well: just not the ones you want. Having anything other than a precursor drop from a boss isn’t going to be what those people want, and you can bet they’ll be just as unhappy.

Besides, this is already in the game to some extent. I have heard multiple times that there is a small chance for precursors from the big event chests that pop when you kill an elder dragon, and I’ve even heard tales of people getting precursors as random world drops. The poster above me that said “don’t you think people would have said something?” is right, and they have. I’ve seen many reports of this on fan sites and in-game. It’s often met with skepticism from people that haven’t got one off an event/drop, but that’s to be expected, regardless of the truth of their claims.

Ultimately, this legendary madness comes not from bad mechanics (though there is some of that at work) but from players treating them like the primary PvE end-game. There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding that the stats are slightly better than normal level 80 exotics, thus pushing players that don’t care about the skin grinding so they can have the “best” weapon. I too thought this until discovering that this was a misconception based on data-mining, they may have intended for higher stats at one point, but in-game legendary weaps have the same stats as normal exotics. They are not the primary PvE end-game, they do not advance your character, they are there as a very long-term achievement for dedicated players who really want to stand out, guild leaders who have financial support from their guilds, those lucky enough to get a precursor drop, or the very-rich w/more money than sense.

I could understand the complaints if there were no other skins to go for, but that’s simply not the case. There are dozens of unique, hard-to-get but not impossible skins out there to work towards. Some are bought with dungeon tokens, others from Kharma or PvP, and still others from static MF recipes. If players realized their legendary fervor was misplaced (they are not the best, or even best looking weapons in the game unless all you care about is making yourself a visible target in PvP) they could set more realistic goals that would still occupy their time in-game across a number of locations and varieties of gameplay.

This message will likely fall on deaf ears because it’s human nature to want that which you can not have. If arenanet makes legendaries much more easily attainable, they won’t be near as desirable or prestigious. Those people that thought getting a legendary would make them content, prestigious, etc. will quit when they realize they forgot how to do anything but grind and that no one cares about their dime-a-dozen legendary anyhow. Luckily humans aren’t slaves to that instinct and we can easily adapt our goals to be both more realistic and more fulfilling, though I fear far too few ever realize this.

This, this, and THIS. And yes, it will completely fall on deaf ears.

izari.8203:

CaptainFabulous.8410:

Actually I feel just the opposite. The absolute worst thing, and one of the reasons I hated the end game in WoW, is investing a ton of time and effort in dungeon run after dungeon run and never getting what I wanted. No, just no. That’s the WORST way to do rewards. Such a system certainly doesn’t hide the RNG. IMO it makes it even more irritating. And while killing Uber Lord the Nether Prince the first few times is fun, after the 50th time and still not getting the Helm of Awesomsauce you’ve been busting your kitten for a month to get it’s no longer any fun at all.

I think the point of OP’s suggestion is to make an alternative method of getting the precursor ALONG with the MF.

If you don’t want to grind a boss for it, fine, keep sticking with the MF. But if one of the rare world bosses may also drop it, it gives you something else to do. Take a break from tossing crap into the MF; it’s still gonna be there when you get back.

I like the idea, personally. I hate the concept of the mystic forge and will more than likely just completely shut it out of my mind and pretend it doesn’t exist.

I would, however, love going back around the world and killing world bosses when they’re up. That’s what interests me, not sitting in one spot wasting gold.

I’m not necessarily against it, I was merely commenting on the OP’s notion that spending a ton of time and energy for a tiny % chance of getting a worthy award is fun. It’s not. And I wouldn’t want to see such a system that relied solely on this to be implemented. Random chances to get the stuff you want just sucks, no matter how much you try to polish it.

Actually I feel just the opposite. The absolute worst thing, and one of the reasons I hated the end game in WoW, is investing a ton of time and effort in dungeon run after dungeon run and never getting what I wanted. No, just no. That’s the WORST way to do rewards. Such a system certainly doesn’t hide the RNG. IMO it makes it even more irritating. And while killing Uber Lord the Nether Prince the first few times is fun, after the 50th time and still not getting the Helm of Awesomsauce you’ve been busting your kitten for a month to get it’s no longer any fun at all.

Alur.7510:

The biggest nail in the coffin on the whole “FoV is detrimental to gameplay or performance” contention is the fact that myself and many others use triple monitors to obtain an enormous FoV with almost no negative impacts to game experience.
Why would it then not be possible to increase FoV for single screen users with less powerful graphics cards and just have them decrease shaders or textures if performance is that much of a concern, makes no sense.

I saw this many times, and I can’t have the same experience as other friends of mine cause I don’t have 3 monitors? PLEASE come on.

Because making the screen wider by adding more monitors or shrinking the window is not the same as squeezing more information into a fixed viewport.

And it’s the inability to understand this that makes it clear people who are calling Jon a liar really do NOT understand anything about FoV despite what Naminator thinks.

Tik.2381:

Remember the warning about personal attacks please… I stopped using them. I suggest you do as well, lets keep this discussion about the FoV.

I’m not telling you any real reasons, It is just that to me their explanation makes sense after thinking about it and the past reasons we had issues.

Rather then us go back and forth disagreeing. Why don’t you tell me why you think Anet is out to screw all of us over by not putting in an FoV slider if it does not fit into those three reasons they mentioned?

Because the reasons don’t matter. The entitlement brigade just wants what they want and don’t like being told no. The reasons are irrelevant, because even if Jon said “if we did this the game will crash every 10 minutes” they would still call him a liar and insist they should include it anyway.

Tik.2381:

The great level of ignorance of the people telling the DEV what will and will not suffer.. blows my mind.

I’m sure if it would cause no harm they would do it.. you don’t think they test this sort of thing?

Seriously. But don’t you know that game devs are all idiots and the players always know more and better?

Rpgtabbycat.5869:

So I was watching that video comparing the FOV of 100 to 75. I must be the odd one here but the fish eye distortion from the 100 FoV was actually making me dizzy and nauseous and not the FoV 75.

Nope, does it to me too. While I’m open to the notion that the current FoV causes problems for some people I personally have never had it, and greater FoV actually causes me to get dizzy. And this is coming from someone who can’t play FPSs due to severe VR sickness.

Seems like most people here don’t seem to understand the difference between using 3 monitors or windowed mode versus artificially increasing FoV in a fixed aspect ratio. They are NOT the same, and all of the issues Jon raised are alleviated when you increase the aspect ratio but are all painfully apparent when you don’t.

Increasing the aspect ratio by using 3 monitors or windowed mode gives you a naturally-greater FoV. But to get a greater FoV without increasing the aspect ratio it’s necessary to distort the image to get it to fit, leading to all the issues Jon discussed.

Let’s try and least have some idea what one is talking about before one starts complaining and calling Jon a liar. Cause otherwise one just looks foolish.

Radium.5019:

I dont understand why i should have to overclock my CPU just for gw2 when the game rarely uses 20% of it!

There’s no way it’s only using 20%. More like 60-70 which means it’s maxed out on this game.

Radium.5019:

Helpful comments only please there is no reason to rage.

Cbuzz did give helpful advice. The problem is your CPU. You seem to be the only one raging here, blathering on and on in multiple threads about how you can play any game on the planet on max settings, which honestly 1.) is BS, 2.) irrelevant.

While there surely will be continued optimizations of the game engine as time goes on, you’re unlikely to see a significant improvement. Either overclock the hell out of it or upgrade cause what you see now is realistically as good as it’s going to get. This game requires a lot of horsepower to run well, and AMD CPUs simply do not have the necessary per-core horsepower to do it justice.