Guild Wars 2

Lionguard and Krytan/Valley Harpoon Guns from PvE cultural weapons vendors do not have the appropriate skins. PvP versions of those same weapon sets do have the correct models, so it’s obvious they exist and should be there for PvE versions too.

Tested only via preview window. Screenshots taken for detail.

Details:
PvP Locker in Heart of the Mists used for previewing PvP Lionguard & PvP Valley skins.
All three Lions Arch Cultural Weapon Vendors used to test Lionguard skins.
T1 Divinity Reach Cultural Weapons vendor tested for Krytan skins.
Wearing basic issued PvP heavy armor in Heart of the Mists.
Wearing level 80 Knights Vigil heavy armor of the Soldier in PvE areas.

Human male warrior.

Same results wearing other sets of armor.

Cultural armor, like others, is available for unlock as a PvP skin.

There are no PvE skins that can be ‘carried over’ to PvP.

I would not support PvE armors or weapons being carried over to PvP without going through normal PvP unlocking system.

Hmm. I feel like the camshow was just…

… lacking any soul.

I am on metered internet, so I would like to know ahead of time how big the patch is, to best decide how it will impact my data limits.

As a side note, can the launcher or wiki show the size of each patch, or something? Is there any other place I can check how big it is ahead of time?

The title says it all. Goldselling mail has become a nuisance for many people. The ability to block mails from anybody you have not added to your friends list would be a great feature for those of us who are sick of goldseller mails filling up our inbox every day.

Usually, I get one mail a day, though on some days I can receive up to three mails as I unwittingly pass by stolen accounts in-world. I block and report them all, but I’d like a way to completely block unknown accounts from sending me mails.

Free content every month is why I haven’t complained about the free content every month.

I’m going to vote for another new zone of some sort, a new permanent zone.

I didn’t even know there was a Passion Flower. I thought they only dropped fruits.

I’ve been harvesting tons of fruits too. o.O

Actually, ArenaNet has already stated elsewhere that it would be a good idea to hold on to them.

Volomon.9147:

The only reason I don’t enjoy dungeons is the effort put forth to sometimes open a dungeon via event, and the effort required to get a group. A real LFG system must be made.

Would you support a LFG or instance finder system similar to the Structured PvP (sPvP) battle menu? How much would this improve the quality of dungeon running for you? Do you think this would significantly impact the grind?

NaughtyProwler.8653:

Anything repeated to the point where you no longer inherently enjoy the activity you are participating in must be considered a grind (to me).

A flexible yet accurate description of grind. I like that definition, but how would or could a game developer fine tune their highest tier rewards while avoiding grind? If everyone’s concept of it is different, how do you avoid it while still ‘enforcing rarity’?

I make the assumption that this is why you need 1200 Tokens for a full suit of armor, instead of… say… 300.

ArenaNet has stated on multiple occasions that they hold a philosophy of little to zero grind in their game. Since the concept of what constitutes a grind is subjective, this leads me to wonder what they think of Dungeons, Dungeon Tokens, and the Dungeon Token Rewards.

Let’s take Ascalon Catacombs as an example piece, as it is the first available dungeon. For a full suit of Exotic Armor, you require 1200 tokens. A single path run will net you at minimum 60 tokens, with an additional 3-12 tokens from extra bosses killed. For running all three paths, you could gain a rough estimate of 207 Tokens per day (9 extra tokens from bosses, plus 180 from each unique path run). At this rate, it would take you six days of running the dungeon to get your set of armor, not counting boss ‘farming’ at 3 extra tokens per boss.

Does ArenaNet consider this a Grind? Do you consider it a Grind? If so, how much grind is this in comparison to other games that undeniably DO support and encourage grind? For those of you who do not enjoy grind, is this acceptable to you?

I have not done the math on other dungeons such as Arah or Fractals of the Mists. If anyone else has the equivilant math on how to attain a full set of Exotic armor from the other “Original” dungeons, or attain the minimum full set of trinkets/backslots from FotM, I would welcome that information and commentary on it.

Addendum:
Would you support a LFG or instance finder system similar to the Structured PvP (sPvP) battle menu? How much would this improve the quality of dungeon running for you? Do you think this would significantly impact the grind, particularly by cutting down on the time required to get ready to do a run?

It’s probably not an intentional choice to ‘put you into combat’. The game is just coded to put you into the combat state whenever you take damage. They would probably need to write an exception for falling damage if they wanted to change that.

Also, how many times have you taken a painful fall in RL and immediately enter a full sprint or jump? Give your virtual body time to recover.

Does nobody know?

Foreword: Please refrain from conspiracy mongering or angry/negative comments about the Gem Shop or any associated employees who work on it. Posts that derail the topic will be reported.

I have a few suggestions for the Gem Store, and I hope the Monetization Producer employee (who will remain unnamed) will take note!

• Offer ExtravagantTown Clothing! This has been a common suggestion, but I’d like to point out that less fancyTown Clothing skins should also be available through normal gameplay, and prestige skins should be available ONLY through gameplay.

• Offer less random grab-bags, more direct products. I’m no economist, and I don’t have the professional experience to back any claims that RNG are a bad idea. It’s worked well in other games before. However, I personally feel grab-bag offerings should be kept to a minimum, and only to Dyes and Event Chests.

• 1h, 6h, 24h or 1 week Waypoint Tickets. Eliminates waypoint costs completely for the duration of the account upgrade.

• More Freebies! – Keep at least one monthly freebie up on the Gem Store at all times. A single item, changed out once a month. It could be a hat, or a pair of gloves, or a common minipet.

• Unlimited/High-Capacity items – Yes, I realize that offering an unlimited item means somebody won’t buy it a second time… so offer it at a steeper price. Offer unlimited bank/merchant/trader summoners for a heavier price. Offer multiple use repair canisters (50 uses?). Multiple use boosters, or better quality boosters. Offer unlimited tonics. Deluxe versions of other items may just sell well.

• Armor & Weapon Skins – You can continue offering both of those through your chests, but consider adding different sets through direct sales similar to how you handle costumes. Leave the super sexy stuff in the chests if you like… but I personally would have purchased a box of Halloween armor transmuters for the holiday.

There are all sorts of other ideas out there. Let’s see what the rest of the community has to offer?

There are no servers specifically for the North American eastern coast.

8/10 for Nirra Aernis. Easy to say first name, which is important for realistic character interaction!

Marcus Tyber, male warrior

If you’re not interested in the current offerings for weapon and armor skins,
hold on to it. Chances are good that with new content, there will be new items you can purchase for karma. If you spend it all now, you may regret it later when new stuff comes out!

You cannot regain used skillpoints, no.

You can however go questing in the other racial starting zones and pick up all the skillpoints you find in those areas. Doing that is a great way to quickly grab a bunch of new skills without too much effort.

Just like Queensdale and Kessex Hills starting zones, Gendarran Fields (25-35) is also part of the Krytan climate system. Harathi Hinterlands (35-45) after that as well. Both of them are very warm regions, with a distinct summery feel to them, though they are ravaged by war with the Centaurs.

Following that, Bloodtide Coast (45-55) and Sparkfly Fen (55-65) are both warm tropical and swamp areas, underneath Lion’s Arch, though I believe Sparkfly Fen qualified as Maguuma territory according to achievements. Mount Maelstrom (65-70) follows those two up with a slow shift away from the carefree tropics of the aforementioned zones.

All five of those should seem very warm and summery, and happen to point you right in the direction of the final zones which have you fight off the minions of Zhaitan as part of your personal story:

Straights of Devastation (70-75)
Malchor’s Leap (75-80)
Cursed Shore (80)

Should be noted that Straits of Devastation begins a trend of a very dilapidated and doomed atmosphere characteristic of Orr. A lot of the stuff reminds me personally of Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribbean… with barnacles and kelp and other sea life remnants all over everything. It’s also filled with undead. It may not be warm and summery, but at least it’s not cold!

P.S. – My level numbers may be inaccurate, but they are to the best of my memory. You may want to double check them before jumping in head first.

Does anybody have any information as to what the new dungeon drops are called?Screenshots, database entries, drop rates?

Arena.net

“Each dungeon has a new set of unique items with new stat combinations, ranging in rarity from masterwork to exotic. These items have a chance to drop off of certain bosses in the explorable mode of each dungeon.”

‘Harassment’ would be a very vague option. At least with ‘Verbal Abuse’ they know to check recent chatlogs of the person at the time of the reporting. How would they know what to check?

People could be accused of harassment for any number of things, but without a text box to enter what your complaint is… how would the GMs know what to look for?

Disconnected during the final phase. That was ridiculous.

This sounds like a good idea, though it may get cluttered with large guilds. Maybe with these ideas?

The gold dots only show up on the local part of the minimap, so you don’t have a cluster of gold dots because of a guild group way off in the distance. However , the gold dots would show up on the world map though for that zone, so you can still -find- that cluster of guildmates.

I’d be more in favor of an actual romance storyline with choices and consequences and eventually unlocking an NPC sidekick, rather than just some flirty waitresses.

Also, sorry if I came off rough, but I found it silly that Risen anything should be classified or counted differently than any other Risen. I personally consider them all part of the same group, and I think it fits the lore of the game to have only Risen in the heart of Zhaitan’s territory. If it weren’t for that, I’d suggest adding other groups that aren’t Risen at all.

Perhaps more Inquest, Nightmare court, etc? They might be evil too, but they have just as much reason to fight Zhaitan.

Inaccordance.7910:

The issue exists throughout the game. This is the problem. There is no consistency in the classification methodologies for mobs. Irrespective of species, risen, bandits, and the like, all count as one type. A human risen is not human, but risen. A human bandit is not human, but a bandit. At the same time, the classifications drake, hylek, krait, giant, and so on, are respective to species. This represents an inconsistency in the classification system.

This I can agree with. There needs to be a more consistent way of classifying mobs.

What would prevent people from using these and actively farming?

… and why smoking? Disgusting habit. No thanks.

Inaccordance.7910:

So a risen giant is no longer a giant? It’s no longer giant in size or similar in any other way to a non-risen giant? I disagree. I could see your argument if, in the process of being corrupted, all lifeforms were changed such that the resulting forms were all exactly identical in appearance and behavior, but they’re not. Risen giants appear and behave differently than risen drakes. This is why they are called ‘risen giants’ and ‘risen drakes’—to differentiate between the base types. If they were all just ‘risen,’ then they would all be labeled as such.

No, it’s not just a giant. It’s Risen (proper noun) now, part of a completely coherent set of enemies that do not attack each other. It is part of THE RISEN. Emphasis on the proper noun. Everything else about them is secondary to that. That’s the whole point of this. Just like Pact, Bandits, Branded, Icebrood, and whatever other multi-species groups you have out there… what they were/are beforehand is secondary to what they are now, and that’s Risen.

In regards to risen brutes and risen thralls, there is less of a difference, but it’s still there. In such cases, their base types are their races—human, norn, charr, and asura—and not ‘brute’ or ‘thrall’. ‘Brute’ and ‘thrall’ are descriptors like ‘risen’. These terms primarily describe the behavior of the model. Brutes wield hammers, acolytes buff allies and immobilize enemies.

And Giants smash stuff with big feet, and Hylek shoot poison darts. This doesn’t mean they should be counted separate from the achievements’ Risen category. You just seconded my point.

If there is enough reason to separate a Risen Giant because it looks different, then you should separate risen Charr and Humans. If there is enough reason to separate a Risen Giant because it is named differently, then you should do the same for Risen Nobles and Thralls. They do look and act completely different, don’t they? a Risen Brute charr does not look the same as a Risen Noble human, nor does it behave the same way. Where do you draw the line with your logic?

You ask if they should be in separate categories. I say they are in separate categories already.

No, I was asking if they should be counted separately towards the variety achievement like you want Risen Giants to be. Right now they don’t, and should not.

Nurvus.2891:

A giant is a giant – a risen giant should still be a giant, or count as whole new race: risen giant.

No, it’s NOT. Why is this so hard to understand?

A whole new race? How in the world does that make sense?

It’s Risen now. It’s a servant of Zhaitan. The goals and affiliations are 100% Zhaitan, and thus it is Risen. Like I already explained, just because it’s called “Risen Giant” does not mean it should be included in a separate category. It’s Risen, just like Risen charr, Risen humans, risen drakes, quaggans, hylek, fish, eagles, and whatever else you have.

The Risen is the army of Zhaitan. It’s not just a word that means they smell bad and look like they are rotting. It’s specific affiliation according to game mechanics. It only makes sense that they should count together as one category.

So far the only reasons I’ve read for why it should be changed is because ‘they look different’ and that people think you should be able to get everything done in Orr without having to leave.

If you want to farm coin and karma, sure… stay in Orr. That’s the best place to do it. If you want to collect your top tier mats, sure, stay in Orr. That’s the only place to do it.

But if you want to get your achievements done, don’t complain about having to take the minuscule effort to go somewhere else.

The Risen are fine as they are. It makes sense for both lore and game mechanics, as I already explained.

They don’t need to be in separate categories simply so you can get your dailies done in Cursed Shore without having to take the two minutes and three silver to waypoint somewhere else.

TravisTrout.6803:

Agree with the OP and Kiryk. It’s both odd and irritating that Risen seem to lose all identity other than Risen. Is it not still a giant? A drake? A fish?

No, actually. The power of the Elder Dragons’ corruption supersedes whatever else they may have been before. A charr and a human may be very different before corruption, but once they are absorbed, they are both simply Risen. Whether they end up as Risen brutes, thralls, wizards, or those bloody putrifiers… they are ALL just Risen.

If we do not differentiate between the origin of Risen creatures when speaking of human, charr, norn, asura… why would we differentiate giants, quaggans, drakes, fish? Because they have a special name? If we are separating by name, should Risen Brutes and Risen Thralls be in completely separate categories then? No.

They are all simply Risen. Both in game mechanics and in lore, this is exactly how it should be.

Simple addition that would perhaps be fitting. Storage for Rare crafting materials such as corrupted orbs, or crystal shards.

Lionguard and Krytan/Valley Harpoon Guns from PvE cultural weapons vendors do not have the appropriate skins. PvP versions of those same weapon sets do have the correct models, so it’s obvious they exist and should be there for PvE versions too.

Tested only via preview window. Screenshots taken for detail.

Details:
PvP Locker in Heart of the Mists used for previewing PvP Lionguard & PvP Valley skins.
All three Lions Arch Cultural Weapon Vendors used to test Lionguard skins.
T1 Divinity Reach Cultural Weapons vendor tested for Krytan skins.

Wearing basic issued PvP heavy armor in Heart of the Mists.
Wearing level 80 Knights Vigil heavy armor of the Soldier in PvE areas.
Human male warrior.

Same results wearing other sets of armor.

Having a better account password, along with using the multiple extra layers of security ANet offers us does indeed make this effect redundant… but that’s not a bad thing.

In security, redundancy is not a negative. It’s a positive. Having a bank PIN is something I definitely support, as long as it is simple and fits the lore of the game. Perhaps a visual minigame lock (similar to smartphone unlock puzzle challenges) would be an enjoyable and optional addition to the bank.

I support the OP’s suggestion 100%. Good idea.

Same on Tarnished Coast.

Will player be required to attend the 10/28 16:00 GMT Event to receive credit for the “Attend the Party” title track?

Will players unable to attend the 10/28 16:00 GMT Event not be able to complete their “Attend The Party” and "Emissary of the Mad King " title track?

Will there be chances for players unable to attend the 10/28 16:00 GMT Event to fulfill their title tracks?

In the most simplest concepts, you could layer an AoE attack. If NPC Bob needs to be killed by Boss Badguy, you could accomplish the same effect in a completely unstoppable effect.

There are abilities that Bosses have that block players from attacking or interrupting them, various scripted events as part of the event sequence. These are hardcoded into the event, and players cannot stop them. During this time, the boss could target the NPC who’s got it coming, and fire off the kill shot.

If it’s a melee boss, it could be a sword throw or something. If it’s a caster boss, it could be an AoE explosion that just happens to hit the poor NPC for much more than it hit you (because there was an invisible kill script happening at the same time).

The point is that there are creative alternatives, and I think many of us would like the more immersive experience of being there and active when our NPC dies, not watching through a window.

This is a common trope for video games these days. If an NPC character ‘needs to die’, the player is locked out of the game by a cutscene where the enemy ends up killing the NPC without the player being able to do anything to stop it.

It seems like it would be a great dramatic effect, but it’s not. Doubly so if the player was actually winning the fight easily, then suddenly the boss decides to one shot your buddy? What? It’s annoying, and breaks the immersion completely.

If you must have an NPC killed off, stop using the cutscene cop-out. You have coded in plenty of brutal control effects for the game. Use them. Immobilize and stun our characters, knockback, pull, launch… whatever you need to do to keep our characters from saving the NPC, but don’t just suddenly enter a locked cutscene where we have no reasonable way of knowing why we were suddenly so useless.

It would be bad PR for arena.net to ban words relating to other games.

As it stands now, if you have a downed penalty and you are defeated, a piece of your armor will be damaged. Isolated falling incidents which lead to instant defeat do not damage your armor unless you fall several times in quick succession. However every combat related defeat will damage your armor, no matter what.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Fighting as hard as we can, using whatever tactics we can, and yet we hit the dirt in defeat nonetheless. We’re down, but on top of that – our armor is damaged. We know we lost, we’re embarrassed that we lost – but why must we dread and expect another damaged piece of armor on top of that?

I could understand if your armor had a -chance- to be damaged when you’re defeated, but that it is always damaged every time you go down is insulting on top of the frustration of losing. Worse off, if there is nobody around, you have to spend even more coin to waypoint out!

GW2 seems to be built around a casual mindset, yet it punishes you arguably more than GW1 ever did with defeat. In GW1, you were hit with a steep 15% death penalty. In GW2, you still get a death penalty to my knowledge, though how exactly it affects you beyond revive issues is beyond me.

PROBLEM: Armor damage is a 100% chance on defeat when carrying a downed penalty.

PROPOSED SOLUTION #1: Give Armor a sliding chance of damage depending on the magnitude of downed penalty.

- Grey penalty (first down) = 5% chance to damage armor
- Yellow Penalty (second down) = 25% chance to damage armor
- Orange penalty (third down) = 50% chance to damage armor
- Red Penalty (fourth down) = 75% chance to damage armor
- Instant Defeat (fifth down) = 100% chance to damage armor

At any stage in your downed penalty, there is always the chance that you may not damage a piece of armor.This offers less ‘fear and frustration’ about defeat, while still retaining the concept of punishment.

Isolated defeats in combat will not automatically damage your armor. Repeated defeats against a foe you that clearly outmatches you, or careless gameplay, will end up damaging your armor more often.

You could consider extending the time of the downed penalty as well.

PROPOSED SOLUTION 2: Remove armor damage completely and replace with a more harsh Downed Penalty system more like GW1’s Death Penalty system.

GW1’s Death Penalty system encouraged you to find different tactics to defeat your enemies, instead of punishing you monetarily for failing to do so the first time. The following concept would be more familiar to GW1 players, and less frustrating as the current.

I would leave it to ArenaNet to find balance in these numbers, of course.

For each point in downed penalty, you would receive negative ten percent (-10%) of all primary attributes, based on your current normal amount. So, if you have 100 points in Power, you would lose ten points. For each successive downing, you would again lose ten points.

If those numbers are imbalanced or too harsh, you could incorporate a diminishing returns system. Starting with -10%. The first point gives you negative 10%. The second point gives you -10% of your already penalized attribute, and so on.

Thoughts?

I would rather see a cancer awareness drive for ALL cancers. Not just breast cancer. It is far more likely that I will contract a completely different cancer (specifically colon cancer, thanks to a separate underlying condition that also cannot be cured), yet most of the research funding that goes to the ‘pink’ doesn’t actually get used to research other or universal cancer topics. Just breast cancer.

That’s ignoring the disgustingly commercialized aspect ‘Pink Ribbons’ and related products have become.

I’m tired of hearing about Breast Cancer Awareness. Believe me. I know about it. I want to hear what’s being done for the OTHER ones.

Let me get this straight… you are blaming ArenaNet and the game for the lack of players in the world at 3:30 in the morning? Seriously?

The same issue happens in EVE Online too. It’s called .01 ISK wars. It’s been happening constantly for years and years, and the solution comes up on its own. Eventually the price will dip low enough, one person will buy a majority of stock and relist it at a significant profit – starting the cycle anew while making a handsome wad of cash.

The key to that trick is buying up almost all of it listed for that price, so others have no choice but to buy from you at the new high price.

That probably won’t work in GW2 as the markets are global to not just one server everywhere, but the entire game across all servers. Buying up entire stock of something like a crafting material would take orders of magnitude more gold than is even in the game right now.

Please no.

I like how my human male warrior actually looks strong enough to hold the thing up in the air above his waist. The females seem like they’re struggling to carry it.