Guild Wars 2

Can you please include an option for the account name to NOT be an email address?

Can we have an option to change our account name to NOT be an email address? Even if there is no link between Playspan and GW/GW2, the hackers apparently have a list of email addresses for a bunch of gamers. It is not a wild leap for the hackers to assume that some of those email addresses might be valid GW2 account names.

Whether you like camera smoothing or not may be related to one’s tolerance of screen flicker. Back in the CRT days, refresh rates less than 80hz quickly gave me a headache. The new camera system seems to have a similar flicker effect to it while moving. So please add an option for camera smoothing. Maybe even a slider to dial in the amount of smoothing needed.

To those that have or will mention “combat effectiveness”, please keep in mind that someone with sore eyes or a flicker induced headache will have poor performance. Their combat efficiency may well improve by use of camera smoothing.

Followup – They did get the ticket back on path. While I don’t know for certain why I received the fail message, I am posting the support response here since it contains the probable reason and might be of use to anyone else getting a similar message.

The pertinent of the support response:
“In regards to the error message, you received; I learned it is common to receive the error message, if the original message had expired. Most of the times the message will expire due to the amount of time that passes from when it was sent and when action was attempted. Also, outside factors such as an update occurring between when the message was sent and when action was attempted could cause the message to expire early. Even if you never clicked on either option in the message there is no need to worry, the account system will not allow access to the account unless you chose to allow it. If you take no action at all, the system is designed to deny the login attempt.”

Dinks, I actually said I doubt they would ban multi-button mice. But I have followed enough threads on mice, game pads, joysticks, macros etc to to gather that the TOS could be interpreted that way. I agree, it would be a silly thing for Anet to do. That said, there is a pinned thread under Account Issues on the topic “Our Policy on Third-Party Programs” where mice and other things are mentioned. There isn’t a formal answer pro or con yet from Gaile Grey as of this posting.

I also don’t see how a click to move option promotes bad playing habits. How does being able to click on a tree and have the AI run the toon over and be smart enough to chop it down promote bad playing habits? Or run to that distant landmark while the player has a chance to pull away from the keyboard for a bit? Instead, it would give players with RSI issues a chance to rest their wrists so that when they did need to mash buttons in combat, they could be pain free. Let the computer do the work out of combat and the player do the work in combat.

If the tech is so modern, how come GW2 is using a movement interface dating to the early 1980s? IIRC, Teleguard on the C64 used a version of WASD. I played that one BTW. A modern interface should off load some of the tedium to the CPU, not force the player to command every twitch of the toon. The later developed click to move does that. If WASD is such a superior interface, why do so many folks need or want a special multi-button gaming mouse? And BTW, based on what I read in other threads, using such a mouse could be interpreted as a violation of the GW2 TOS since it can confer an in-game advantage over someone using the game ‘as designed’. I doubt Anet would go that far…..

As I said above, I am not asking for a replacement to the WASD GW2 movement system(dodging is cool), just an addition to let my wrists and elbows rest while my toon runs to the next doomed tree.

I am guessing that most of those ranting against click to move are under 30. Many of you will have a different outlook a few years from now when your wrists and elbows get sore after a couple of hours of keyboard mashing.

Would a GW1 type click to move be useful for me, YES! Not as a substitute for the current combat system, but as a chance for my wrists to rest while out gathering mats for crafting or map running to avoid waypoint costs. Why shouldn’t I be able to click on or near that tree across the valley and have my toon run to it while my arms relax? Or click on loot have have the toon run to it and pick it up. Looting was simple in GW1, much more painful in GW2.

GW2 seems designed by folks under 30, right handed, with fast reflexes and perfect color vision.

And yes, I have been playing computer games since before Diablo 1 was released by a little company called Blizzard.

In case you didn’t know, F12 is a shortcut bringing up the char select/logout menu. I don’t know if there is a way to append the Char Select click after that. Might save a few seconds. I know it’s not a answer to your original question but am hoping it might be of some use.

Thanks for your speedy response. I have to admit that when I typed that, it was my less aggressive tone. If I had typed my first thoughts, we would have been up to our eyeballs in kittens. I know that customer support is a difficult mostly thankless job. Before retiring, I wore many hats at a mid-sized state agency including security admin, network admin and one of the team leads on the help desk. So I do understand the problems in rolling out a new product. Been there. But that experience also made it clear that this ticket had wandered well off the desired path and wasn’t likely to find its way back. If I was a bit too harsh, I apologize.
Hopefully, the team lead can get the ticket back on path, because I am somewhat allergic to kittens.

What are you stocking the company fridge with? It is having an adverse effect on your support folk’s ability to read and comprehend tickets before they start pushing buttons.

Incident # 120925-003455

Brief review – I received one of your “login attempt from new IP address” emails that your email authentication system sends out. I clicked on the link provided, clicked Deny and received a Failure message. Filed the support ticked on why I was receiving the Failure since I did want to Deny logins from that IP. First response from CS wanted my account name and serial number which I provided. Second response was for me to try authenticating my email adress. Failure #1. How am I receiving a “login attempt from new IP address” message if I haven’t already successfully authenticated my email? I tried again. Third response was notification that CS had changed my password. Failure #2. Nowhere did I indicate I was having login problems or ask for password assistance. They also provided a link to security info dating from when GW1 was a new game. I tried yet again. Last response from CS included the following “Based on the information provided you appear to have access to your Guild Wars 2 account. If you are receiving notifications of attempted access, please do not click any links in those messages and disregard them.”

So is it now official policy that I should ignore email messages from your email authentication system?

I have yet to get an answer to the click on Deny and get a Failure message question which was my original support request.

In a real life first aid class, one of the first points they made was “Don’t do something that causes you to become a victim that someone else now has to rescue.” Secure the area first, then rez.

If you only play one set and really want the #4 skill next to the #1 skill for button mashing reasons, you can redefine the keys to swap them. But prepare for confusion if you swap sets or characters as key redefines are account not character based. As Blarrg pointed out, skill bar customizations is not one of GW2’s strong points. Every staff wielding ele has the same 1-5 skills as every other staff wielding ele.

I like the idea of setting a home country or region and blocking access from other areas. As Amon pointed out, it would be possible to use a VPN service to appear to be logging in from somewhere else but it raises the bar a bit. Anything that blocks the script kiddies is at least worth a thought. If there is enough money to be made, the real hackers will probably find a way. I would still want to get the “out of norm login attempt” messages.

Another factor is the ability of folks to correct type the password. I would guess the average person has a really poor chance of correctly typing MA4n4%$&7854kkn4q32kl2$(24cb in to a blind password field. They will have a better chance with #blindhorsestompskittens! but many will still miss it a lot. Too high a frustration level and they will use an easy to type(and guess) phrase or just give up.

EvilDogg, do your kids have their own computer(s)? If so, maybe a keylogger/network sniffer there is the source of the breach. I have had to clean up a lot of computers that friends started having trouble with after they let their kid/niece/… use it. Kids click first and worry almost never about dangers.

I think a lot of the problem is the use of email addresses as logins. All the hackers have to do is spam the top 10 email providers with a phishing email crafted to look like a GW2 authentication email request. Anet has already trained GW2 users to click on this link in the email. Once someone clicks on the link, the hackers have an email address that has a high probability of being a valid GW2 account name. (there would be some false positives, some folks will click on anything). Now all they have to do is what the blog posting said, try a set of common passwords. Years ago, a security study found that in a sufficiently large organization(~1000 IIRC), someone would have the password NCC1701. If the hackers get a large list of likely GW2 accounts, they only have to try a few passwords per account in order to successfully crack several. After all, they don’t care WHICH accounts they hack.

The login name should be something other than email address and also something that is NOT shown either in game or on the forums. This would minimize the chance that a breach of a 3rd party site would produce valid GW2 account names.

They could also do what they did in GW1 and force the use of one of the in game character names as an additional verification check.

The smartphone authenticator thing is fine for those that have smartphones but not everyone wants the monthly expense.

Have to admit to a facepalm moment on this one. Too many years of GW1 where char select popped you back to the nearest town. It just hadn’t ‘clicked’ that GW2 was starting me where I had last stopped.

Agree. Someone needs to modify the “kitten” string to " kitten ". Or maybe " tribble " just to change things a bit.

They need to add an afk option that “safes” the toon. Sometimes nature, family members or the UPS person want attention NOW. A player shouldn’t be punished just because real life demands a little attention. And teleporting does punish since it costs and you then have to run back to where you were.

As far as stability and performance, I have to agree. My 4 year old Q9300 quad-core and GTX-460 works great driving a 24" 1920×1200 display. Sometimes I have to beat Boinc over the head and make it pause a GPU using project….. And the game has been stable, even during the beta weekend events.

Both GW1 and GW2 had and have bot problems. Basing game play decisions on bot worries is rather pointless. Given the speed at which bots showed up, the “toon has no brains” model of GW2 didn’t slow them down much. Where money is to be had, motivated criminals will find a way or hire someone to find a way. Look at how fast accounts were hacked. There are a bunch of things Anet could do to lower the player’s workload and still keep much of the GW2 flavor they seem to want. I hope they do at some point as all of the required continuous button mashing makes my wrist sore. When the joystick I ordered for MechWarOnline shows up, I will experiment with mapping buttons to it in hopes the different motion will help.

Damaging friendly fire would change the game flavor and not just for eles. Diablo 1 had FF damage and I can’t count the times I killed a party mate with my thief/rogue bow using toon. With the right bow you could get 3 arrows in the air at long ranges, only to have the fighter step in the way.

Attacking from high places was actually encouraged in GW1 as a smart tactic and even rewarded with higher damage for arrows and thrown weapons. This game seems designed to reward mindless fast button mashing instead of smart tactics. Taking the high ground has always been considered a good combat tactic. Rather than making the critters in the valley invulnerable which is a rather lame thing to do, improve the AI so they either move to cover or run away. Or don’t put them there in the first place.

this is basically how GW1 worked. Anet choose to go a different direction with GW2 and force the player to do everything for the toon. One solution to the 100+ dense pack furballs is implement friendly fire damage. When AOE damages everybody including the caster, folks won’t be so quick to run into the massive ball of fire.

Have you verified the 4 key strokes is a game limit? IIRC, USB keyboards are limited by some aspect of USB to 3 or 4 keystrokes in queue. PS2 ports, if the keyboard itself is capable, can queue nearly infinite keystrokes.

I shouldn’t have to purchase and maintain yet more stuff to cover Anet’s poor security model. Using email addresses as user ids violates one of the basic concepts of computer security 101. User ids should be secret yet Anet forces the use of a user id that hundreds of your closest friends and family already know. Their response is to suggest creating a special email address just for GW2. This means that some other company can provide the storage space and cost of maintaining the special email account. Not to mention the GW2 player has yet another password to remember and an odd email account to check for those “out of norm login attempt detected” messages.
Anet knew this model had problems early into the GW1 game. They improved it somewhat with the added requirement of knowing one of the account’s character names. Why this simple security enhancement was left out of GW2 is beyond understanding. Why with all of the hacked accounts they had in GW1 and the NCSoft master account they persisted in using this model in GW2 is even more indefensible.

Attunement swap <> weapon swap. That said, I would like several sets of load-out boxes where I could put various weapons sets. They could even continue to use inventory slots. BUT, while in the load out boxes, they could not be sold or salvaged. I have lost a couple of best I had at the time but not equipped weapons during an inventory clean out. There could be a check box to indicate/select the active set. You should be able to assign the same weapon to multiple sets. Set1( Dagger1 + Dagger2), Set 2(Scepter1 + Dagger1), Set 3(Scepter1 + Focus1) …

Something I just found in the wiki, double tapping the AOE skill key DOES auto-target the current target and fires the skill. At least it works for my elle’s 7 skill.

I am guessing that all or most of the developers and in-house beta testers are right handed, under 30, with excellent reflexes and have good color vision. I say this because GW2 seems to favor high speed continuous button mashing to get things done, has no predefined left hand option, and doesn’t seem to offer any options to change interface colors to help those with less then a full spectrum of visible colors. I have played GW1 thousands of hours and have never had the sore wrists that I have developed in a few hours of GW2 playing. Why? GW1’s click to move. Simple example. Loot collection. Picking up 5 loot piles in GW1 requires 5 mouse clicks. The GW1 character AI runs the toon to each loot pile and automatically puts the loot in inventory. In GW2, it takes many and continuous movement button pressing to do the same thing. And the loot markers in GW2 are far more subtle than those in GW1. Another example, cross country travel. GW1, click on distant objective, character AI runs the toon there, complete with limited obstacle avoidance abilities. This allows the player several seconds of time off the controls. GW2 requires full time input from the player. Skill targeting. GW1 assumes you want to target the critter you are fighting. GW2 brings up a AOE targeting circle, which is generally halfway across the screen. And uses red/green to indicate in or out of range. Red/Green deficiency is the most common type of color blindness. I have to wonder how many folks can’t tell the difference between in range and out of range or friend, foe and NPCs. (Yes, I know about the double press skill button to target AOE on current target, but it is buried in the wiki that wasn’t available at launch so I didn’t find out about it for a while.) I have a friend that pre-purchased GW2 like I did. He has some color blindness and he did several years of SCA fighting, resulting in less than fully functional wrists and shoulders. He quickly became so frustrated with the UI and resulting wrist pain that he gave up and returned to GW1. There is a lot to like about GW2 but I feel like in comparing GW1 to GW2 that I have moved from a mid-2000’s UI(GW1) to a mid-1980’s UI(GW2). My GW2 toon has about the same user friendliness as my Telenguard toon did on the Commodore 64.

Suggestions:
1. Implement click to move as a supplement to the current movement. Keep the current movement methods, but add click to move as a way to move cross country, pick up loot and harvest trees, ores and herbs, and interact with THAT npc.
2. Make the loot markers more pronounced, perhaps using a thick white outline with brighter sparkles.
3. Have an option to have the AOE target circle begin on the currently targeted critter and move the mouse pointer to match. If no critter is targeted, have the AOE start 30 feet in front of the character.
4. Allow options for changing the colors of in game indicators.
5. Allow some type of command to allow players to take a break without having to return to one of the few safe places. The toon would become inert, unable to affect or be affected by the local critters. (May not want to allow in pvp but would be very welcome in pve. )

You can also get other materials. Cinnamon sticks and walnuts from trees and stones from ore. You will occasionally get an extra log or ore but that seems less common than getting other stuff. IIRC, I have on rare occasions found stuff that doesn’t make much game sense, like loot bags or even weapons.

And possibly even a text message feature as well. If we create a GW2 only email address as suggested by support folks, chances are it isn’t going to get checked very often. After all, its only function is as a placeholder for the GW2 login name. We may well miss timely notifications of possible account hacking attempts. Being able to have the notification messages sent to additional frequently checked addresses would lessen the chance the we will miss the “attempt to login from new IP address” type messages. The quicker we see them, the quicker we can take appropriate curative measures.

I think the reason companies are forcing the use of email addresses for user ids is to cut down the number of tech support tickets of the “I forgot my user id” type. Of course, this violates basic security measures so they compensate by suggesting you create unique email addresses. I wonder how they are going to handle “I forgot which email address I used for this game” tickets? It will happen. And imagine the tech support nightmare that will ensue if Google or Yahoo decide to start charging a small $1 per month per email address fee! And don’t say they won’t. I have already had one company start charging for email addresses that were “Free for Life”.

Using email addresses as a user id violates basic computer security 101, as most folks will use the most common email account they have. This means that half of the user id/password combo is public or nearly public information. This leaves only the password protecting the account. GW1 acknowledged this by requiring the use of a in game character name as an additional authenticator. Having to create (and then check for messages) separate email accounts for each game/forum is crazy. Most folks have trouble keeping track of passwords for multiple accounts. Asking them to have numerous email accounts, each with unique passwords is a recipe for mass frustration.