Guild Wars 2

Please fix it. It looks awful.

It bothers me how few options we have for earning these points. In the core game, leveling traits and skills happens as you level. You can do literally anything, anything at all that interests you and get the points you need. Now, I just feel so limited in my options.

Zyga.2580:

As a side note, do you guys do this often? have you even seen the yakslapper achievement? is it fun for you guys to put things out of possible reach? This achievement and the one where you DEFEND the yaks, are well out of range for…. anyone, I’m willing to bet that not a single player has this. It seems rather impossible with such low spawn rates and such a high number demanded.

Yakslapper is getting drastically lowered in HoT. It will now be within reach (2500 Yaks).

Will the gold be replaced with some other non-gold reward to maintain interest in dungeons, particularly those dungeons whose rewards are already generally considered not commensurate with the time and skill investment (i.e. Aetherpath)? Perhaps a less random means of earning rare drops such as what is happening with fractal weapons in the update?

Garambola.2461:

I will never, ever understand why people complain about recycled holiday content. Isn’t that what traditions are? Or do people make the same complaint about Halloween or Christmas being the same every year IRL too? Something new is always welcome, but if everything was demolished each year it would not be the same holiday anymore. It would only be a date when something new happens.

A portion of people aren’t bothered by the recurring mini games (although there are aspects that were absent last year that they’d like to see return). Mostly what these people are concerned about is the story. Year one and two had different stories to follow for Halloween. Then, last year the story was a repeat from the previous year. There’s a lot to be explored surrounding the Mad King and his family, and some people would like to continue advancing in that story.

Cameron Rich.3905:

Kitty.1502:

ArenaNet stopped supporting Dungeons with new content 3 years ago.
ArenaNet stopped supporting Fractals with new content 2 years ago.
ArenaNet stopped supporting Guild Missions with new content 2 years ago.
ArenaNet stopped supporting Raids with new content.. starting Oct?

Ultimately I only bring this up because ArenaNet has a strong history of not supporting us with new content. I just wonder when this will happen for raids too, another aspect some of us will grow to love and it will then lose support. With that said, they are adding supposedly new world bosses that are challenging, so we got that going for us?

Fractals is getting a revamp and additional rewards (like the new weapon skins we announced) with the expansion. You can read more about this here:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-brand-new-fractals-of-the-mists-legendary-backpacks-ascended-salvaging-and-more/

Guild Missions, as we have announced this week, will be getting a lot of love so to align with the new guilds structure coming with Heart of Thorns. I’m personally very excited for this! There’s a blog post here with much more info:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-mission-changes-and-improvements/

We’re serious about delivering quality, challenging encounters with our raid content, and as Steven said in our announcement of Raids, we have 3 raid wings being developed, the first of which will become available shortly after HoT launch. These raids are going to be intense, and ask of players not just their time, but their skill.

Don’t just take my word for it, this weekend we’re allowing you to play our content as part of the Beta Weekend Event. We’ve spent a lot of time and poured a lot of love into this content, and simply cannot wait for players to get their hands on it.

And dungeons?

DBZVelena.5186:

Could you add a screenshot to clarify? it would help the devs a lot.

http://s18.postimg.org/8jxp9t19z/gw038.jpg

It’s not really easy to notice, but everything inside the TP’s UI is slightly blurred. It isn’t as crisp as any other UI or the rest of the game.

Ever since the first update this week, the TP’s interface has been blurry and slightly out of focus. It doesn’t impede use, but it’s just slightly inconvenient.

Oh come on. I get that regular armor has clipping issues with charr and there are a lot of interchangeable pieces complicating matters, but outfits should not have these issues.

I’m very glad that they considered our tails with the spiky bits on the end, but couldn’t they at least have sprung for a tail flap? There’s even a part on the back that looks like it could have made a good one.

This is unacceptable on something that was designed as a whole unit without the option to slot in different pieces.

I’’m having the same issue. Already submitted at ticket. Supposedly the bug is related to using the gift in the Heart of the Mists.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Alerno — Taking what you have (and everyone else has) put on the table I do wonder something. I want to ask, and hope nobody will bite my head off here.

You mention wanting to know there will be more to the game. The new and continuing episodes of the Living World count towards that, right? The fact that players know there’s a team working on new content and features, and that there are releases on a regular basis? I fully understand that may not fulfill every desire, but it does show a continuing commitment to “new stuff” for us players, wouldn’t you agree?

Honestly, no. It’s wholly insufficient and inadequate for conveying the kind of information we would like regarding “new stuff”.

The regularity of the Living Story assures us that we’ll get more of the same: story content to fulfill a few hours worth of regular play and maybe a new map with meta events. We know we’ll get more open world PvE, but it doesn’t tell us about the attention other game modes are getting behind the scenes.

And one of our biggest fears as a community right now is that because open world PvE appears to be the focus, we think that maybe those other game modes aren’t getting any or very much attention. We’re afraid more effort is being poured into the Living story than those other areas.

As a community, we want to know that something is coming along in those other areas. We want to know that something is coming along to change up how we play on a regular basis and to give us more than a few hours worth of challenge (via WvW changes, PvP maps/modes, instanced PvE, new weapons, races, skills, whatever). The thing is, we DON’T know, and we can’t know if any of these things are on the way because we haven’t been told and the Living Story isn’t even related in the slightest.

That’s why we want more info about what is being worked on, to know that love is coming towards other parts of the game.

Orpheal.8263:

I wish ANet would tease and promote GW2 with the same kind of quality, like SE does for FF14 and all this, I repeat myself – without that those Teasers spoiled the players with anything story related

Oh wow, I know for a fact that I’d hate FF14 based on watching a friend play, but if those trailers aren’t exiting, I don’t know what is.

I’d love for the the same quality of trailers for gw2.

However, I think we also have to realize something: FF14 has arguably more content en each of those releases than gw2 does. Just looking at the first one I saw new races, maps, and raids among other things.

If we applied the same trailer format to gw2, we couldn’t do more than our trailers already do: tease another story episode and maybe a map or event. It’s pretty small by comparison.

Here’s the thing which really relates to this thread, though:
I’m OK with smaller releases, but because you have smaller, more frequent releases, it makes the changes feel less significant on their own. So, help me stay invested and feel like my time is going into something that will eventually pay off (in terms of game mechanics and diversity), I have to know where the game is going.

I don’t need or want to know where the story is going.

What I do want to know is whether or not we’re going to have more diversity in the game in order to continue holding my interest.

You’ve been doing a great job with open-world PvE. Congratulations. Please, by all means, give yourselves a pat on the back, but what else is being worked on? Will there be new PvP game modes? Will we be getting new dungeons? Will there be more cooperative instanced PvE other than dungeons? Will there be any significant changes to keep WvW fresh?

And most importantly:
How soon can we expect these, or at the very VERY least, what is the priority of this project?

I will accept any delay or cancellation providing you’ve kept us abreast of the situation REGULARLY. If you update us on the situation with some degree of regularity, it boost my confidence in seeing SOMETHING I like being released.

I think a good way to do this might be a monthly round-up post talking about the kinds of things that are being worked on as well as delays.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I’m curious about what you have in mind with this suggestion, so thanks for the details.

I’ve worked out the following concept some time ago and have had a link in my signature since then:

Lishtenbird.2814:

This idea has been brought up at some point in the past, but I decided to rework it a bit and review again with the new leveling changes in mind, both NPE restrictions and different (not cost-efficient) leveling items. I’ve recently finished leveling the 4th character to 80, and I can say that the best way to level a character for me at the moment despite all the XP and Killstreak boosters is… playing PvP on another character and getting Tomes of Knowledge.

So, what is an Experience Accumulator?

An item which, when activated for the first time, gives you a buff and consumes the levels your character gets, and when activated on another character for the second time, returns the levels at a 3:2 ratio (so, you receive 2 levels for each 3 accumulated levels; extra levels are preserved inside the accumulator). The “level”, not “experience”, functionality is required to deal with uneven experience required for different levels.

Experience Accumulator can be forged in the Mystic Forge and requires:

• 1x Gift of Exploration
• 1x Gift of Battle
• 1x Gift of Competition – can be acquired free of charge upon reaching rank 20 in PvP.
• 1x Gift of Experience, requires:
  • 1x Vision Crystal
  • 1x Mists Stone
  • 1x Crown of Laurels, can be acquired for 10 Laurels and 100’000 karma by a level 80 character only. The amount of Crown of Laurels required can be discussed, but with all the other stuff in the recipe in mind, I believe that a single one is enough. Can be accompanied in some way by a completed Personal Story requirement.
  • 1x Gift of Dungeon Offerings. Ideally, I would prefer Gift of Dungeon Offerings to be replaced by Gift of Gauntlet which is granted upon beating all bosses and Liadri in a dedicated Gauntlet instance, but I see that it would require a lot of extra coding; however, it would be more skill- than grind-or-get-carried-or-buy-a-path-based as in the dungeon case. Alternatively, Gift of Gauntlet can replace Crown of Laurels. Gift of Dungeon Offerings requires:
    • 1x Offering of Baelfire
    • 1x Offering of the Sanctuary
    • 1x Offering of Knowledge
    • 1x Offering of Zhaitan

On the other hand, this looks like something to forge a precursor or a commander tag…

Why Experience Accumulator should exist?

• Because many people think that, despite ANet’s initial intentions, the real game starts at 80, not at character creation. Everything else is a drag – you can’t have your skills, your traits, your gear/runes/sigils, your looks for a long time, and you have to do things you’ve done several times already over and over again.
• Because you can already get Tomes of Knowledge and (skill point Scrolls) for PvPing (and PvEing depending on the current LS rewards) on another character.
• Because you can already level significantly by crafting, which is something that requires no skill but a lot of gold to buy mats and a browser to open gw2crafts.net.
• Because you do not need a month of camping a character to learn how to play it because
  • you know how to read and simply study Wiki and guides,
  • you’ve been seeing what other classes do since you first started playing,
  • most skills aren’t that different between classes apart from the looks and names,
  • you understand that there’s little point in “learning” something that is available for several levels but you won’t be using at level 80 – which is very often the case with the trait changes in mind,
  • you understand that the only way to learn playing a level 80 character efficiently is playing a level 80 character.
• It has an initial time/material sink, especially the Gift of Exploration sink tied to the most expensive items in the game.
• It’s optional.

In the time it took me to get some of those things the first time, I’d already leveled seven other characters to 80. Great idea, but far too expensive.

Is there any chance of updating Sonder to take things like Nougets, Skulls, and Fangs for the associated gifts. He use to trade these things back in season 1, but then they disappeared. And since with Maize Balm, the ToT bags are basically here forever, it’d be nice to be able to continue my progress on the mad king’s weapons.

I’ve been waiting for the Grenth event to be active for so long now.

Adding in the option to complete the defense event was nice, but farmers seem to want this event to fail, meaning I have to wait for the defense to pop, fail, and the event chain to restart. It’s very frustrating because I have to wait on the world and other players to get these traits.

It wouldn’t be so bad if I could trigger the events associated with my traits myself (like with skill challenges). However, all this waiting for someone or something I can’t control is positively upsetting.

Can we get any sort of update on changes to this system?

I’d really like to echo the third point.

I mean, it’s adoreable in small numbers, but at Teq… no. Too many backpacks. I’d like the option to turn it off just like with instruments.

There’s nothing I would love more than a chance to redo lost shores, given that the crippling lag pretty much prevented me from experiencing it the first time around.

Mityr.1320:

A warrior, thief and ranger with staff…u sure abt that ?:o

Whenever people bring up the possibility of non-magical classes using staffs, I like to think of it this way: you don’t have to use a staff for magic, same as you don’t have to use a greatsword for slashing.

The Mesmer’s use of the greatsword shows us that weapons can have vastly different applications and uses. So, as far as staff goes, it’s possible a thief, warrior, or ranger could use it as a melee weapon (as it would in martial arts).

Quite a long time ago, perhaps even two years ago since I can no longer find it, there was red post about the possibility of adding more existing weapons to classes (like sword for ele, dagger for mes, ect).

The idea comes across fairly regularly at least on reddit, so I’m just curious if it’s possible to get an update on this as to whether the idea was scrapped completely because of feasibility or if it’s still possible but simply not in the picture for the time being.

maddoctor.2738:

Cross.6437:

With the exception of Pvp and Wvw, everything you just mentioned boils down to repetition.

If you can imagine a way for pve not to be all about repetition you can tell us. Every MMORPG designer out there would love to hear it.

From my previous post:

Our pve is in need of attention for new repeatable content akin to a dungeon.

PvE is repetition by its very nature. That’s not exactly something we’re going to change.

What I’m saying is that at this stage of the game’s life, what a portion of us are wanting is new repeatable content akin to a dungeon. That is, something to introduce new unique rewards and challenges -something to change up our normal routines and introduce more novelty.

Eventually it too will become old. We’ll need more -be it another dungeon, another class, another race, whatever. It’s part of the natural growth of the game to add things like these to continue to hold on to our interest and time.

I’m not suggesting a new, groundbreaking thing to replace dungeons or overturn the way PvE works. I’m only stating that it is certainly time to add more (with regards to dungeons and such) to the already vibrant and immersive world in order to maintain our interest.

Direwolf.8796:

Schwarzseher.9873:

If you can live with almost no new content coming, no real endgame

No endgame? It really baffles me when I hear people say this.

There is TOO much to do! So much so, that i never feel like i can achieve enough in my play sessions.

These are the things that I do in the end game (and its not everything): Living story, dungeons (there’s what 30 different dungeon paths?!), fractals, working on ascended, working on legendaries, doing world events, fighting world bosses, Guild activities, jumping puzzles, PvP arenas, World vs World (including ebg, the 3 BL’s and eotm – which all offer different experiences), going after achievements etc.

Playing WvW for 2 hours straight is satisfying enough and that’s just one thing out of all those others. If I get sick of it, I jump out and do one of the other things.

Unless you’ve got multiple legendaries, full ascended, tens of thousands of AP, high ranks of PvP / WvW, Fractal 50+ level, and have literally experienced every single feature and aspect the game has to offer multiple times over… then I don’t see the argument for no endgame. Those comments should be reworded: “There is a rich endgame but it doesn’t interest me”.

The game is full awesome content and things to do! Thanks Anet

With the exception of Pvp and Wvw, everything you just mentioned boils down to repetition.

Fractals and dungeons don’t change and we haven’t gotten any new ones with decently balanced rewards to make them worth our time. (I’m looking at you, Aether Path). Eventually you’ll get tired of running the same 30 paths. The same is true of guild missions and world events.

Ascendeds and legendaries? They boil down to repeating content for resources or gold.

So, ultimately, the most dynamic end game is limited to game modes requiring pvp interaction, and worse -those game modes haven’t received a significant content update in two years.

Our pve is in need of attention for new repeatable content akin to a dungeon, and our pvp needs a new game mode. Yes, we have an end game, but it is more stagnant than is currently desireable after two years.

What we have is good, but it’s time for more. That’s just the nature of human interest.

Adjusting the prices for individual traits to make them comparable to pre-patch prices (a fraction of the cost of the original trait books), would go a long way to smoothing things over by making traits affordable again.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

5: Town Convenience: The ability to have town services in the Guild Hall. (I just want to point out that I am not a big fan of this due to the impact it could have on our current Cities.)

Whatever goes in, whatever doesn’t, just please make it feel like a place worth visiting from a practical and utilitarian standpoint.

fellyn.5083:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Not next year, no. Not months from now, no. It’s coming, and it’s coming very soon.

In fact, I’m going to a review in less than an hour, although that doesn’t set a release time quite yet.

What I wonder about is this: What if someone says something is coming “in the next couple of days” or “within the next week” or “by the end of the month” and then testing reveals an issue that delays the implementation? Would you rather hear something rather specific, like “in the next couple of days,” even while you know that it could change for reasons outside our control? Or would you rather hear “soon” and not have as solid an expectation, but also take on board that the implementation is a top priority (as was mentioned in the thread about the Currency Exchange changes)?

I feel that either answer isn’t perfect, so I’d welcome your insights. You should know that I truly do understand that “soon” is frustratingly vague and I argue against.. I mean, “I gently speak in favor of alternatives…” whenever we can use something more meaningful. On the other hand, saying something more specific can result in flaming “You promised it by XX time!” comments, because even a casual possible release time could be adopted as an absolute date/time/time zone promise.

Thoughts?

The answer is to revert to the old system that worked while the new one is being fixed. Instead of leaving the one in the game that makes everyone feel like they’re being used.

I agree with this one with a small addition.

Because it seems so obvious to us that this is the logical choice (simply reverting it), next time something like this happens, could you explain in simple terms why reverting it is not an option?

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an event since beta with less information prior to launch than this Halloween. I mean, even if it were exactly the same, a preview page or an update to last year’s page to say this year’s dates would be nice.

Lowest Animal.8014:

I agree with the idea of alliances as a solution to WvW population imbalance. Here is my vision of how it would work:

Alliance > Server > Guild

Using established server rankings, group servers into alliances such as:

Alliance A = Servers 1+24+21+18+15+12+9+6
Alliance B = Servers 2+23+20+17+14+11+8+5
Alliance C = Servers 3+21+19+16+13+10+7+4

The rankings used to divvy up the alliances should be a few matches or a tournament after locking transfers to prevent last minute mass transfers and let the rankings settle.

A better way to distribute the WvW population may exist this is just my best guess so far.

Next, make transfers to any server within your alliance free at any time with no restrictions. While at the same time making transfers to servers outside your alliance expensive with restrictions in place to hinder trolling or other bad behavior. This would be a permanent change.

For new players they should be locked out of WvW for at least the first 10 to 20 levels then asked to pick an alliance. The game then transfers them to a random middle tier server within their chosen alliance.

An alliance page could be added to the WvW window where news, goings on, PPT of all servers, and maybe an in game alliance only forum could be accessed. An alliance restricted part of the forums could be vital to encourage organization between allied guilds.

My hope is that with this system alliances reward guild organization and team work creating a tight knit community. Allied servers become battlefields guilds can move between so they can avoid queues, being too outnumbered in certain time zones, and maximize their impact on the match. This will make guilds will important beyond “which big guild zerg owns this map” and hopefully also solve the coverage problem.

Huh, I like the idea of keeping servers as they are and allying ourselves with a shared score via an alliance system. T1 still gets their intensity., and T8 still gets their “rural”/strategic feel.

Berk.8561:

Think about it like housing. People can choose to live in areas that are rural, suburban, and urban and each has trade-offs. Jut because rural or suburban people have problems doesn’t mean that they all secretly want to live in a city and people who live in cities don’t want to be forcibly relocated to the suburbs or out into the country. People have different tastes. Whatever solution you choose to pick the scoring and population imbalance problems, please do not implement a solution that assumes everyone wants to play on Blackgate or Jade Quarry. I don’t. If I did, I’d have transferred already. And if people on Blackgate or Jade Quarry wanted an Eredon Terrace experience, they’ve had plenty of opportunity to transfer cheap or for free.

Take my +1. Just take it already.

I agree with the fundamental idea being presented that various levels of play should be maintained in order to suit people’s tastes.

Perhaps a good way to do this would be to create worlds with different population caps. High population caps for servers meant to be higher Tier, and low caps for more “rural” servers.

applecup.3047:

My problem with the alliance thing is that it boils down to turning wvw into alliance v alliance – megaguild v megaguild. To an extent that is how wvw rolls at the moment, at least in high tier servers, but it also has the effect of shutting out roamers, newbies, small and/or unconventional guilds, etc. As someone who’s been on the recieving end of guild drama, I’m also not keen on the idea of such a huge part of the game potentially being dictated by the whims of guild and megaguild politics – a difference of opinion between a couple of people that ultimately resulted in an alliance kick could result in tens of people suddenly unable to play a core part of the game through no fault of their own.

I really want to emphasize this post. The red post proposal sounds lovely, but only really for guilds. Ultimately who it hurts are the roamers and players who are new to WvW.

Someone like me who reps a more social guild as opposed to a competitive one, would likely find himself in a random server/alliance.

But Cross, the populations would be more normalized, making it more fair, right?
Well, sort of. You see, organization is always going to trump randomness. An alliance focused on WvW with sheer numbers and centralized locations both in-game and out of game will trump individual competence every single time.

Right now, I can be a part of my social guild and participate in WvW on the server forums/TS, which is nice because this is something my guild can’t provide, and I’m not willing to leave my guild.

So, while the populations will certainly be brought more in line, I foresee this method as creating a significant gap in ability between the various servers/alliances.

Captain Unusual.9163:

So. Up until my 4th character got to that point, I never actually realized that the greatest fear we picked was a story division. Silly me, right? I always felt that Krait Orb kind of came out of nowhere.

But then I did the storyline with Apatia and the Krait Orb, and was going to be going through Tonn’s story next. But…I guess now I can’t?

Is my only option now to just read it on the wiki and lament that I’ll never get to experience it?

I’d seriously appreciate if someone from ANet could come tell me if that’s true, or if they’re fixing it.

If I’m understanding your issue correctly, you did the Krait Orb story and thought you should do Tonn’s stuff next?

No, there are three story divisions. Krait Orb, Tonn, and the Mesmer. You get one, not all three, and it’s determined by the fear you tell the Pale Tree.

The only way to see those other stories is to watch it, read it, or create a new character with a different fear.

This is super disturbing news.

[Guild Wars 2] doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun

This is straight from the manifesto.

As you rework the trait system, please keep this in mind. We don’t want to spend hours preparing to have fun. We want to be able to experiment and try new things with our builds. The current system doesn’t allow for this freedom without a major time or currency sink.

Please, by all means, teach the new players, but ease up a bit. Give them a little more at a time (such as unlocking all the skills in a tier of a trait line at once), and really ease up on the vets who know what they’re doing (make the unlocks account-bound).

Let us spend more time having fun, and less time preparing to have fun.

Kulpath.6314:

I can’t bring myself to spend money on a slot so I can have 2 lvl 80’s of the same class.

But you can convert gold to gems and save up for it.

Kulpath.6314:

Oh boy. You want to laugh. Yesterday I deleted one of my level 80’s so I would have a new charecter to experience all the new changes.

Why would… why would you even do that? Between the trait changes and this, what possessed you to believe this was a good idea? -not to mention the lost birthday gift potential.

Just buy an extra character slot.

Leablo.2651:

The many objections that players have against this feature pack and Anet’s response to those issues in the weeks to come will show us how well they are listening. I’ll give Mike’s sincerity the benefit of the doubt, but ultimately as a developer Anet can only speak with its patch notes and has to deliver on its promises there. The players have certainly spoken, now let’s see that listening happen.

Yeah, this is the first big patch since everything really hit the fan a few weeks back. How they respond now is going to say a whole lot about the kind of sensitivity they have the to community’s expectations.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

Just a question here because I am curious. The idea of the Living World is that there is a storyline that you take part in, that you are involved in events that shape Tyria in permanent ways—how would you all convey the sense of progression and change without also making changes to the landscape? I see a couple of comments regarding creating things, not simply destroying. Do you all have any other ideas?

If creating things in the environment is off the table, then the very least I need is for characters beyond the map to be talking about what’s going on.

Kessex Hills has human towns. Why wasn’t anyone in Divinity’s Reach talking about it? Why did’s the Queen have anything to say on the matter? Show me how these events are shaping public opinion, otherwise, the world becomes a creepy place where it feels trapped in a single day -or worse, where people are forbidden from talking about it.

What about the orders? It’d be wonderful to get some more dialogue about the current threats, rumors, and plans.

However,more ideally, I’d like to see more active involvement of the characters from the personal story/elsewhere in the open world.

For example, you brought back Riot Alice in Dry Top, but she didn’t do anything. Characters like our Krewe or Warband taking part in things (like having someone like Dinky show up to help fight ghosts in the LS) to show that they are still around would be nice.

Just generally not seeing LA as a wasteland would be a welcome change.

Zelanard.5806:

Seriously… what did you expect? its a feature pack… Not an expansion.

He literally said at the bottom of his post what some of us were expecting:

Piogre.2164:

And let’s not forget we’re not getting:

-fixes to the precursor market (precursor crafting)

-removal of hobo sacks

-the SAB (just turn it back on as-is!)

-a real fix to cloth prices

-various camera fixes and/or first person

And I’ll add my personal, “Improvements to the Trait System” to the list

With the exception of maybe SAB, none of those are “content”, and all are completely within the realm of expectation. And when compared to the major face-changing-ness of the April pack… the September one just doesn’t hold as much gravitas. It isn’t that these changes aren’t requested, but they’re just aren’t nearly as noteworthy (at least, not 3-week announcement/hiatus-worthy)

If at all possible, get rid of the specific task = specific trait system. It’s very tedious.

A general task = any one trait of your choice (or more preferably, tier of a trait line) would be so much less tedious and more streamlined.

Guhracie.3419:

You want us to go through the traits list and do something you should be doing because you can’t be bothered to go through this 43 page thread that’s been around since April? This “specific information” you’re after? It’s all here. It’s been stated and restated.

Yes. That’s exactly what he wants, because now we have a focus and a purpose.

JonPeters.5630:

Cross.6437:

JonPeters.5630:

Lazuli.2098:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

JonPeters.5630:

Thanks. I’ll pass this on.

So, this is how it works? Cherry pick ONE PERSON’s “list of things I don’t like”, while ignoring 40 pages of really good feedback and ideas? OK. I’m done with this thread.

From this response from JonPeters and his initial post it is obvious that Anet is not going to fix their new leveling process or trait system except the individual tasks themselves.

I’m discouraged since I used to like leveling new alts but can live with just playing my level 80s instead.

To be clear we are looking at the system as a whole but recognize that changing that will take longer than is satisfying and are looking for ways to improve the current system until a time at which we can make a better overall system from the ground up. Specific suggestions on what traits are poorly placed are helpful for #1, specific suggestions on #2 are also welcome but are going to be read but not responded too right now.

So, if I’m reading this right, are you saying, you’re looking for quick changes to make the system more bearable while not confirming or denying the possibility of a holistic revamp at some point in the indeterminate future?

Because knowing that would really settle some of my anxiety about the existence of this request for feedback.

Yup. and I would replace the word possibility with the word probability…

He wants to know how to make what we’ve got tolerable in the more foreseeable future, which means he needs clear and concise lists focused on a single topic in order to act more quickly and effectively.

He’s telling us what he wants so that he can work on something specific. This is how feedback is supposed to work.

We all know the current system is majorly flawed. Heck, THEY know the current system is majorly flawed, but they’re trying to do what they can in the short-term so that they have the freedom to consider the long-term.

Orikon.8170:

JonPeters.5630:

Cross.6437:

JonPeters.5630:

Lazuli.2098:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

JonPeters.5630:

Thanks. I’ll pass this on.

So, this is how it works? Cherry pick ONE PERSON’s “list of things I don’t like”, while ignoring 40 pages of really good feedback and ideas? OK. I’m done with this thread.

From this response from JonPeters and his initial post it is obvious that Anet is not going to fix their new leveling process or trait system except the individual tasks themselves.

I’m discouraged since I used to like leveling new alts but can live with just playing my level 80s instead.

To be clear we are looking at the system as a whole but recognize that changing that will take longer than is satisfying and are looking for ways to improve the current system until a time at which we can make a better overall system from the ground up. Specific suggestions on what traits are poorly placed are helpful for #1, specific suggestions on #2 are also welcome but are going to be read but not responded too right now.

So, if I’m reading this right, are you saying, you’re looking for quick changes to make the system more bearable while not confirming or denying the possibility of a holistic revamp at some point in the indeterminate future?

Because knowing that would really settle some of my anxiety about the existence of this request for feedback.

Yup. and I would replace the word possibility with the word probability…

If you are going to revamp the whole system in a matter of months, why not just go the route of least resistance and most happy players by unlocking all of the traits?

That’d probably create more grandfathering issues than is reasonable to deal with in a space of time between now and the creation of a better system.

The point is, the current system does do what it’s supposed to do: it slowly introduces players to the trait system.

That said, the system is tedious and sucks especially for vets, but it does link traits to some kind of progression/reward system. They want to keep that sense of achievement and gradual learning, so reverting the system into the free-for-all isn’t the right answer at this specific juncture in time.

So, the best that can be offered in the interim is to lessen the burden created by the present system, which is why he’s asking for feedback on specific trait activities.

JonPeters.5630:

Lazuli.2098:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

JonPeters.5630:

Thanks. I’ll pass this on.

So, this is how it works? Cherry pick ONE PERSON’s “list of things I don’t like”, while ignoring 40 pages of really good feedback and ideas? OK. I’m done with this thread.

From this response from JonPeters and his initial post it is obvious that Anet is not going to fix their new leveling process or trait system except the individual tasks themselves.

I’m discouraged since I used to like leveling new alts but can live with just playing my level 80s instead.

To be clear we are looking at the system as a whole but recognize that changing that will take longer than is satisfying and are looking for ways to improve the current system until a time at which we can make a better overall system from the ground up. Specific suggestions on what traits are poorly placed are helpful for #1, specific suggestions on #2 are also welcome but are going to be read but not responded too right now.

So, if I’m reading this right, are you saying, you’re looking for quick changes to make the system more bearable while not confirming or denying the possibility of a holistic revamp at some point in the indeterminate future?

Because knowing that would really settle some of my anxiety about the existence of this request for feedback.

Daggos Skelito.2910:

Cross.6437:

JonPeters.5630:

Actually not. Generally speaking tutorials are hard to implement, boring for experienced players and overwhelming for new players.=

Can we use this as an argument to make this trait system unlocked account-wide?

I’m all about helping new players, but the current system is tedious and expensive for veterans who make alts. It sort of flies in the face of more alt-friendly systems like the wardrobe and ascended gear.

Wouldn’t account wide be a good way to flag new and old players? Seems to me everyone would be happy. (not so much new players)

Something I think we also need to make clear:

JonPeters.5630:

The best tutorial is a system that slowly puts the content out to players because it gives experienced players something to achieve while reducing complexity and option shock for new players.

Traits are not a normal achievement like titles or legendaries. Traits are a core part of combat in gw2 and character progression. They are not something that should be any more difficult to earn than a normal skill because they are vital to being able to perform well in the game.

They should be earned because we need them. They are not a trophy that we wear for looks without any impact on our playstyle.

JonPeters.5630:

Actually not. Generally speaking tutorials are hard to implement, boring for experienced players and overwhelming for new players.=

Can we use this as an argument to make this trait system unlocked account-wide?

I’m all about helping new players, but the current system is tedious and expensive for veterans who make alts. It sort of flies in the face of more alt-friendly systems like the wardrobe and ascended gear.

momofuku.5248:

Suggestions:

1. Allow traits to be acquired purely from level ups alone – either at the same time trait points are rewarded (lv30, 36, etc) or some other interval. For example, at Level 30, allow a player to unlock 1 Adept trait of their choice within a line. You can keep the current trait unlock achievements where they are, but give us a means of acquiring them from just level ups alone.
2. Allow us to continue unlocking traits from re-leveling past 80 – keep track of this somehow (every 6 level 80 level ups would be fine).

These would be beautiful changes.

Could we maybe just streamline things a bit more? Maybe, Instead of awarding individual traits, unlock whole tiers at a time (not just one tier of a trait line, I mean all trait lines for that tier)?

You could still tie them to events or something in the world. Make it a new reward tab to show all the things that you need to do (no more than 5 things) in order to unlock your master or grandmaster skills.

As it is, I could tolerate the new system more if it just weren’t so tedious (or expensive to buy).

Or at the very least make the trait unlocks account-bound. It really discourages build experimentation with the current system and it is very VERY tedious and not alt-friendly.

Once upon a time I could talk to new players about builds I’ve found useful, and they could try it out (admittedly for a few silver) and make a decision on how they want to play. Now, if I do the same thing, that player is left with a laundry list of things to do just to try it out -and there’s nothing worse than spending a whole lot of time on something you don’t really want.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

Something that would help is if you could gather a thread for each dungeon (perhaps you’ve all already created one per dungeon?), and list out the major changes that you feel the dungeons would need to make them better, in concise bullet points. That way it’s easier for us to provide them to the development team.

Regina, shouldn’t you create those threads yourself and sticky them if you were honestly concerned about our feedback on the matter? Putting it in players hands will mean a very mismanaged and disorganized series of repeating threads if at all.

Also, aside from the imbalance with rewards to time for dungeons, I honestly think that what many of us were hoping for with dungeons was not changes to current ones but rather whole new paths or new dungeons on top of the ones that currently exist.

So, that’s one of the things that’s disappointing us.

Beldin.5498:

Cross.6437:

I don’t need it to be super specific either. Just descriptive enough for the imagination without revealing too much.

Some examples:
“We’re currently working on new rewards in PvP because we want to increase the variety of unique rewards available in that game mode.”
or
“We’re currently working on reviewing dungeons rewards because we want to ensure that rewards line up with average time investment.”

Two things. That’s all I need:
*The area they’re working on
*What their general hope is in improving that area

So something like : " we work on a precursor hunt"

You know how that turned out .. didn’t you ?

To be fair, we have no idea how consistently this is being worked on or how many other things the same department is working on at interferes with the development. We’re only told well after the fact when the project has reached problems. More transparency would help placate the masses.

Also “precursor hunt” would be the wrong kind of hint. It’s too specific. You’d want something more like, "we’re reviewing the legendary crafting process in order to make it more goal-oriented.

Lynne.8416:

@ Vayne
They are communicating with us…via blogs, feature packs, twitch and updates.

What exactly do you want from them?

I posted this elsewhere, , but Honestly, I just want monthly updates on the forums to say what they are working on.

A while ago an employee posted an analogy about how they can’t release too much information on how they’re developing a potato and how it can change in the course of development and that change might upset people who were expecting something else.
But I don’t need all the details. I just want to know what they are working on right now because that will tell me what the company’s priorities are, and where the game is heading.

So, simple statements from Pvp, WvW, and whoever else like:
“We’re working on x and we hope that it does y.”

I don’t need it to be super specific either. Just descriptive enough for the imagination without revealing too much.

Some examples:
“We’re currently working on new rewards in PvP because we want to increase the variety of unique rewards available in that game mode.”
or
“We’re currently working on reviewing dungeons rewards because we want to ensure that rewards line up with average time investment.”

Two things. That’s all I need:
*The area they’re working on
*What their general hope is in improving that area

Gibson.4036:

In another couple of months, perhaps we’ll get a CDI on “Traits” in which we can all repeat what we’ve said in this thread while devs occasionally pop in to say, “Interesting. I can’t reveal anything we’re working on, but thanks for the feedback” and the few white knights we have left can applaud how well ArenaNet listens and interacts with the players.

We haven’t had a CDI in more than half a year.

nightwulf.1986:

If we believe they are out of touch, and this interview is some sort of indication of such, be direct about what you are looking for. Let them know exactly what it is you want from this sort of communication. Where do you want the lines drawn?

Honestly, I just want them to say what they are working on.

A while ago an employee posted an analogy about how they can’t release too much information on how they’re developing a potato and how it can change in the course of development and that change might upset people who were expecting something else.

But I don’t need all the details. I just want to know what they are working on right now because that will tell me what the company’s priorities are, and where the game is heading.

So, simple statements from Pvp, WvW, and whoever else like:
“We’re working on x and we hope that it does y.”

I don’t need it to be super specific either. Just descriptive enough for the imagination without revealing too much.

Some examples:
“We’re currently working on new rewards in PvP because we want to increase the variety of unique rewards available in that game mode.”
or
“We’re currently working on reviewing dungeons rewards because we want to ensure that rewards line up with average time investment.”

Two things. That’s all I need:
*The area they’re working on
*What their general hope is in improving that area