Guild Wars 2

I don’t know if it’s the right place, as always I’m a bit confused with that forum who won’t search stuff. Sorry if I give mods extra work.

With this being said, I just wanted to thank whoever was in charge of polishing the Personal Story ; I had to wait a bit to pass “Light in the Darkness” with my reroll(s), but it was all worth it and I finished my human storyline yesterday quite satisfied.

FROM THE PALE TREE TO ARAH

• You don’t feel second-class hero anymore. I don’t know if I was biased towards what I read/heard about Traeharne during my first run of the Personal Story, but the building-up of the Pact and your relation with the Marshal is not so frustrating anymore. He asks for your input, has a bit more character-development, and is globally much more pleasant to be around. It’s not much, just extra dialogs here and there, and to be honest I’m not even sure it wasn’t there before because I don’t have the original story graved in my mind, but I felt… left out of the loop the first time around, frustrated by the fact no one would really acknowledge me. Now ? Not so much. Without stroking my player-ego too much, I felt valued.

• It feels less clunky. The cinematics, the global “flow” of the story, even the infamous last battle fit together. I actually had the feels for Zott & Elli— kitten you, writers ! I always had this “rushed” feel during my first run, especially in the last three zones. Again, maybe nothing really changed but I hope it’s not just me going mental and that I did not invented the weird cameras-angles and overall rush of quests the first time around. Cos’ it scares me.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• Lots of dialogs got “muted”, especially the first ones (It started with Demmi during the defense of the OFW storyline). I actually wrote down some when it dawned on me that it was recurring, and I’ll post it in the appropriated thread.

• “My Greatest Fear” choices may be potentially bugged/clunky while grouped. Especially when you share your instance with someone at the same point as you ; the choice my mate (and instance-owner) picked worked fine for him, but I got bumped into another. Strange. Even more strange, he ended up trading his own last objective for mine at the end of Chapter 7.
  To be clearer, it went like this :

1. During CHAPTER 6 – THE BATTLE OF CLAW ISLAND : The Light in The Darkness story instance :
- Instance owner picked ; “Make another suffer” which led to this chain ; Striking off the Chains > Wet Work > Willing Captives.
- I (being at the same point in the story) got instead ; “Dishonored by Allies” which led to this chain ; Shell Shock > Fixing the Blame > Marshaling the Truth.

2. We meet up for the next story instance that we share in common, Battle of Fort Trinity. This time I host it, which led my buddy to be bumped into my chain of events and getting the same final quest than me, even if it did not fit his own chain of events (Delivering Justice which was mine instead of Liberating Apatia, his own).

It worked just fine before the NPE, since we played my 1st Personal Story together. The rest of the story involving choices (like the Orders’ plans) went on fine. So, as a PSA, don’t group for Light In the Darkness or chapter 6/7, I suppose.

Oh, well that’s a shame. Here’s to hoping they have a way of collecting data. Thank you for the heads-up

NEW MASTERIES SYSTEM

• Masteries Tracks : The principle is great and much better than the hearts in term of “taming” the map ; it is also much less linear, as you will likely need to come back to some areas that are “locked” by gliding for exemple. Simple “hacks” like the speed and bumping mushrooms are a just enough reward for dumping points in their respective masteries.
  Now, I don’t know if it’s because we only had access to a little portion of the zone or because I did a bit of everything, but the progression felt extremely long and repetitive ; I actually replayed the story a couple of time to advance my gliding faster.

COSMETICS ASPECT

• New Collection(s) : There’s not much to say in this category yet, as I simply glimpsed at the news makeshift weapons ; they are nice. The Revenant armor design is also very nice, with its metallic patterns giving an impression of ragged/tattered pieces without being too “overlord of darkness”-ish.

MAP CONTENT

• Day/Night Cycle : This gives the same feeling of battling against the enemies in the Silverwastes, but the added stakes of preparing for the night gives it a very cool feeling of survival. Now, it would gains a lot from being explained a little ; I know that, as players, we’re often a bit coddled, but the whole night defense feels like a rush of running around aimlessly, as we can’t see supplies numbers on the map and apparently can’t take back the rally points, for exemple.

• Overall Difficulty : I won’t lie, I got my kitten kicked a lot, even with professions I was familiar with. And to be completely honest, I did not dislike it.

TO SUM UP

• The Good : Going back to my initial feedback of Guild Wars 2, I am very happy to say that a good portion of my wishes came true in term of storyline and game mechanics. The map design is great and inventive, Gliding is fun so far and I am very hopeful for what Heart of Thorns has to offer (Guild Halls, group content).

• The Bad : I expected the specializations to play a bigger part in the initial profession, like a continuation of levelling with more powerful skills, but I realize now it may have unbalanced the rest of the game. My main regret is not a really a downer, I just wished I had more time to test everything but, heh, I’ll have plenty of time when the expansion comes out.

• The In-Between : Maybe I just grew very comfortable with my overall skills and I just need to get accustomed to the expansion, but there seems to be a unbalance in term of difficulty or at least, I do have trouble advancing seemlessly. Now, maybe it is the way it is intended, as a lot of people asked for more challenging content, and I am not saying it is good or bad ; it is just my observation. We’ll see !

**I could not find a Masterthread, so I apologize if I am simply blind.

I’ll go a bit further and say that to me, when Heavy Armors features boobplates, corsets (Draconic Armor and its slimming effect) and various unstrategic holes (ie : ribs, back, boobs), I don’t consider them “average-looking” and will place them under the sexy category.

Now, based on the various opinions here, I gotta say we don’t have the same definition of the word “sexy”.

Exemple : I don’t consider the “Sneak Thief” outfit sexy for a female, but trashy (which isn’t a bad thing in itself). I also have a problem with how it fits a guy thief ala Assassin’s Creed style while we have a “courant d’air” kind of outfit for the other gender (you can’t be a trashy guy ?). But I complain about this just like I complain about the lack of variations in medium armor (trenchcoats, trenchcoats everywhere) ; it’s all about choices. And we gotta recognize we lack choice when trying to convey another feel than “half naked” to the light armor department.

When I go back to GW1 and I see my mesmer armors, nostalgia hits me hard. Moar fanciness, Anet please !

EDIT : the best thing to me, would be how Light Human Nightmare is the same for both genders ; copy-paste this template to every trashy, bulky or curvy outfits you want and I’ll be one happy bee.

Yes, I’m going to agree with previous posts ; There are a lot of sexy, if not easy on the curves-armors already. I did have a bit of a problem “clothing” my human ele ; sometimes it’s a few hole here and there, sometimes she holds her boobs in place with air magic. :p

I’m all for diversity, but I believe you have plenty of ways to make your char sexy with what’s already in place. What is she ? Have you raided your wardrobe storage to try and find stuff you might like ?

PorceleinEve.2973:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Cazamar.7148:

Most Germans also speak English.

yeah.. eem.. no!

you’re wrong, they do, over 50% of the german populace knows how to speak english just fine. they just don’t want to. they prefer it that you speak german. bow to your overlords and all that jazz..

Your claims are becoming ridiculous and you obviously have an issue against some others nations that is beyond a simple matter of servers.

“We”, “Us”, what are we in, a nuclear world war ? Are we that different that we can’t even get along in a video game in which we don’t even have in-depths interactions ?

Throwing accusations and running into circles in a wide echo-chamber is not going anywhere either.

And what’s up with the alleged demands people did here ? I don’t see anything related to “speak this and that”, safe for OP, and even if it had its flaws, the main post had a point. But does one spanish, french, english or german speak for all of its countrymen anyway ? What is it, United Nations ? No one told me about electing a head of the french subdivision of GW.

It’s getting ridiculous. If you can’t even listen to what the other party has to say and allow the debate to go forward, don’t participate in threads when you’re just here to settle a score and endlessly repeat what you want to say. We get it, kittens are everywhere, idiocy is not country-bound.

You bump into a stupid player, you either try to give him a few pointers, or you see it’s not your job to educate him if he’s hellbent on being a fool and you move on. You don’t go and insult a whole nationality for a few nasty guys. Raising awarness on a recurring problem ? I’m all for it. But constantly repeating a whole kind of players are terrible because a bunch of dudes did something is borderline intolerance. Mind you, it’s trending these days.

Seriously… People complained zones were empty, so Anet made the megaservers and they did it right. Now you’re going to complain about people being on “your” servers ? On a MMO ? Just because your server is labelled X or Y, it doesn’t mean it’s a no-go for any other kind of speakers. Quit hiding behind false accusations and cringy generalizations and try to see beyond your own nose. Wether your english, korean, zulu or portuguese, I think there are more priorities than to ask languages-ghettos so everyone is comfortable hearing its own language on a video-game.

You’re on a multi-player game. Sharing space is the key.

Ok, Originally, I just wanted to add my two cents as I felt I was kinda part of the main debate for once, but since you raised some interesting points, I’ll answer to you, hope you’re okay with that I don’t want to be the cause of this thread going south.

PorceleinEve.2973:

snip

I think it mostly depends on personal experience ; that’s why we can’t get along on this thread.

You feel like it’s normal for people to speak english on GW, and I will say it’s the most logical choice (I tend to channel my inner-Vulcan on these issues). What I disagree with you is that “french, german, spanish” are all entitlted kittenes who refuses to “lower” their standards for the sake of playing the game. Broaden your mind ; as I said it already, it’s a 12+ game. Some people just don’t know english, and I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to bare them from accessing english zones. Personally, most of the time I don’t even know where I go when I get taxi’d by my guild… And it’s a pretty common thing to believe all the “action” is on english servers (more people/more stuff done/more WvW potential) and to hop on it.

In closed-games (dungeons/fractals/parties), I will often, if not practically always bump into people speaking english first. Now, you can see when people are not native (sometimes it’s a bit broken, sometimes they are speaking to you then repeating to their buddies in say, german). When in dungeons, you don’t say hi, you say “english ?”, which is kind of the same thing. But I never, ever got confronted to non-english speakers entitltement. Am I blind to it ? Or is it simply not a true issue, but more like a battle of egos getting prickled too often ?

PorceleinEve.2973:

snip

That’s just not true. You can’t paint whole community the same color because, sadly, you’re bumping into the worst of it. Some people just don’t care about the group— they think about themselves without understanding that, by not cooperating, he jeopardizes the whole event not only for himself but for everyone. It’s a kitten mindset, granted, but I don’t think it’s exclusive to non-english speakers.

I never saw anyone demanding to speak their language, safe for OP ? I can’t tell for others games, simply that it mostly depends not on the nationalities, but on the community mentality. I had the best of times on the Secret World, and I sticked around not only for the awesome storyline, but for the genuine kindness of people. Granted, it’s a more obscure, mature game, but still, instead of seeing people jumping at each others throats, you have real communication and civility. And that kicks kitten.

PorceleinEve.2973:

snip

Well, OP did pointed the “broken english” of some non-native speakers, which is what irked me the most I think. I, as in, me, insignificant player in the mass that compose HW, perfectly understand my place in the Great Alchemy of things. I’m french, thanks Dwayna I can speak a solid english. But to say I’m only one of the few functionning like that ? It’s a bit unfair. prejudices against the triumvirate of hell is also an issue, I think. Granted, when you get confronted to the problem a number of times, you tend to generalize. But don’t ! Learn to live and let go.

I understand we all care about the issues as players, especially if we feel like it’s hindering the gaming experience. But I also feel a bit of an underlining, a good ol’ battle of egos as well as classic clichés and traditional scuffles between nations. I feel like I’m running in circles here myself— I don’t think it’s such a big deal. Stupidity knows no boundaries, and I learned to block & report my way out of GW. We don’t have the best of communities, but it’s also up to us to be positive in hope players will be respond to that.

(Thanks for the answer anyway, Eve ! Twas nice, I really expected nasty stuff.)

This thread made me sad.

I’m french. I’m always talking in english first in the game because it’s the fastest approach/I guess most people are english/or they know a bit of english anyway. If any of the latter doesn’t apply, we try to adapt in dungeons or fractals, because I might talk english, but it doesn’t mean everyone does : in this particular case, I’m the odd one, while people talking in their native tongue only is a pretty commun, logical thing. They should be able to play a 12+ game without having to master others languages— not that it’s not nice when people try.

When it’s in Open World, if you’re not a big serious commander that won’t tolerate people being people and basically doing what they want, I don’t know why it should matters to you whether or not people talk english. I’m not even sure you can truly perceive if people don’t understand you or if they do and just decide to do whatever they want. World-events tend to fail for a lot of reasons, not just because of miscommunication, which itself isn’t exclusif to : “we don’t talk the same language, so it must screw things up.”

Finally, I don’t think it kills your immersion if I tell you merci. Actually, I’m trying to be nice. It’s like I’m giving you two bucks and you spit on me because you wanted 10. How am I even supposed to guess you’re english on top of it ?

Also, the way you say “us” and somehow distance yourself from your fellow non-english players… It sounds a bit obnoxious. No offense, but not only is your idea of “splitting” Megaservers basically going back to what was before, but it’s also quite narrow-minded. Megaservers were truly a blessing for empty maps and failed events— I’m having so much fun levelling my rerolls and witnessing zones ALIVE ; I hadn’t seen that since launch. It don’t care if people talk french, german or spanish in the chat. They don’t bother me, they don’t threaten my good old country, and most of all, they should be able to talk in whatever manner they see fit.

You’ll pardon me for my spelling errors, or maybe you won’t. English is not my native language, yet I feel like I should constantly apologize for trying to adapt and cater to a majority who’s sometimes not really understanding at all. Crazy, right ? Good thing I don’t judge a whole group for its few black sheeps.

Firstly, thanks for being so articulate— at least you’re calmly stating things.

Now, I kinda agree about not forcing players ; I do enjoy my characters’s esthetics, but since April’s fools in about pranking people, It’s not such a terrible thing to bear (especially when you disable the filter) and its still better than the bobbleheads !

As a frenchy, I didn’t even connected the dots with the Alps tragedy ( I was actually much more in a Amelia Earhart feel/old movies), but I can get why you’d be upset. Now I don’t think Anet intended to offense anyone (not an excuse, I know).

So many players are bothered by April Fools, and well… It does look petty and makes me think a lot of them are complaining for the tiniest thing. It’s just for a day However, I agree the amusement tend to wear off. Perhaps Anet could make it fade after a while ?

Cazamar.7148:

Game designer. And i am the prince of Wakanda.

Can’t wait to see your movie, mate.

TO SUM UP

• Replayable content is a key focus to me. I don’t care much for zones getting changed and events set in stone since risens are still plaguing Orr two years after Zaithan’s death. Consequences are alright in instanced zones, but Kessex Hills being trashed has no impact on a new player ; time continuity should not be the main concern, while a full access to Guild Wars 2 story and its development should.
• Lack of diversity for armors are a thorn in the side of customization features ; If I want to play a “covered” elementalist, I should be able to do so. Each profession having a distinct “feel” does not justify the same option copy pasted for each light/medium armor ; skimpy female characters or bulky male characters ? It is lazy at best.
• I finished Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall alone and it sucked a bit for a coop game. Now I can be part of massive champions-killing and it’s awesome, but maybe there are too few group content at this state. I am not saying we don’t have enough dynamic group events, but it does feel like we are doing the same things over and over again a little ; I heard about raids, and if Anet is really looking into it, sign me up !

**Final Spell-check in progress

COSMETIC ASPECTS

• “That went better than I expected ! ”The. Customization. Is. Awesome ! Seriously, I think Anet deserve some kuddos for it. But since not everything is flawless…
• Armors, especially women’s. I do not want to stirr anymore fights on the subject, and I am voicing my opinion on this particular thread solely because it represents my own game experience, but I really find it to be an issue that your character, as a woman, will stroll around the battlefield half-naked. I was really upset when I saw the Sneakthief attire for men— a nice, shadowy outfit – and compared it to my lady thief’s stripper attire. And it’s a problem for every professions I made ; my only workaround was to do Asuras or Charrs, but the reverse was sadly true ; it seems you can’t be sexy or remotely sophisticated while being a “beast” race.
  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against sexy, vulgar or half-naked outfits ; it’s a part of the customization to be for everyone’s taste— but that’s the thing. I don’t feel like I have a choice ; you are doomed to get questionous attires on women casters, and it’s lame. I feel trapped with having norn or human light armors, and let’s be honest, the reverse can be true for men ; I can only do bulldozers for my heavy guys. I am not trying to advocate for realism in video games but where is the balance ; where is the choice ?
  So far, this “mere” detail is my most negative point on Guild Wars. I expected more than adolescents designs and less “dolls” effects on characters. At least a way of removing shiny lipgloss ? When I am wondering what my mother will think if she ever see the characters I play with, I draw the line.

GROUP CONTENT

• PvP Content - Back in GW1, I never set foot in PvP. I was young, it seemed weird, and I would get my butt kicked most of the time. Now, I am not saying it got easier, but it is much more accessible, and the addition of rewards are actually motivating me to go once or twice a week— Although I do liked the old daily system, which was quite natural to do— perhaps it was to easy ?

• WvW Content - The only problem I had with WvW was that I had to go there to finish my exploration (another old topic, I know). Now that this title is behind me and that I achieved rank 14 for my legendary, I do find it quite enjoyable ; here I am, fending the land with so many characters I can hardly discern their races, bursting into forts and happily tagging during skirmishes. I do regret the fact that most groups will just endlessely “assault-rince-repeat” the sames places over and over again, without trying to truly conquer something ; I am not saying some commanders or guilds are not well organized and will coordinate scouts as well as builders with their initials troops, but it just seems pointless to rush around the maps for the sake of farming points. I know farming is part of MMO, but it does not have to be everywhere ; instauring cooldowns on forts’ capture or making upgrade imperatif could be sweet move— but I don’t wish to attract the ire of WvW players either.

• Everything is awesome (when you’re part of a team) ! Elitism in dungeons and fractals tend to make me wrickle my nose very hard and very often these days. Some people just want to enjoy cutscenes ; I get you did the dungeon a billion times. But if you want to bark at everyone for failling a stack -which won’t always work depending on your team-, don’t pick the “all welcome beginners team” and go to the “Full Zerg X prof not allowed 5000HP+ only” perhaps ?
  I think it is time for more group content, because it comes to a point when grouping is not even fun anymore and the divide between casual/news players versus hardened warmongers is creating bad karma.

ABOUT
_A long time player of the Guild Wars series (I was around 12 when I first stole my brother’s account but shh), I only joined the game in 2013 no thanks to real life. After almost two years of playing semi-regularly while witnessing the game evolving, I feel the upcoming expansion is a good excuse to give a little feedback of my time in Tyria.

As a player, I obviously have my own preferences, so I might not get highly technical in matters of game mechanics and skills, putting emphasis on lore and storytelling instead. Also, I am not criticizing a precise point, but merely delivering my game experience as a player who embarked a little late ; if this ends up not being useful or badly-worded (I hail from the land of baguettes and stinky cheeses), my apologies. I hope I am forgiven._

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Been there. Done that. The game was not bad at all to begin with. Truth be told it was not what I expected (choices that don’t really matter on the long run, racial origins being somewhat unrecognized, zones stuck in narrative-limbo), but I did not let personal disappointments spoil my experience ; I also understand there is little to be done on these topics, for they are pretty minors anyway. As a newcomer in a field of veterans, however, I did feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to do.
  Crafting, Dungeons, World bosses WvW, PvP, Fractals, Living story… I remember that particular time when, after a tireless night of mapping the Borderlands, I finally shared my joy of having finished the exploration on my guild channel. Answers were pretty depressing. “Yeah, we’re like, doing a 5TH run”. It is, however, not a problem inherent to Guild Wars— I regularly see “old” players complaining about the lack of content to keep them busy. But while they might leave from the game because of boredom, I tend to leave discouraged in front of all these goals seemingly unreachable, sometimes even unavailable. I realize I don’t have to do it, but I want to and feel like I can’t.
  On the contrary my boyfriend, one of these grumpy veterans, got quite bitter after witnessing improvements he did not get the chance to enjoy ; levels rewards or various changes were making my playthrough “easier” according to him, so I guess it is a matter of perspective. There was this thing with recipes being soulbound, for exemple, and the story of how he bought expensive weaponsmith recipes with his huntsman character. But I think he just doesn’t have much luck in general… :p

GAME MECHANICS

• Look mom, I’m flying ! First thing first, I enjoy the mobility of combats in Guild Wars 2. I’m especially satisfied as a thief, rogues being my favorite classes in video games, with all the twirling and backstabbing fests. Being able to jump is refreshing, and even if I initially loathed jumping puzzles, I got better at it and came to, if not enjoying it, be less anxious about it ; but I still think puzzles such as the Aetherblades Retreat or the Dry Top bamboo jump are not really fun after a dozen falls, and that simply jumping into a mesmer portal is not very cool either. The most agreeable puzzles I did so far were the ones where the journey was more rewarding that the end-chest ; the Silverwastes jumping puzzle was beautiful, for exemple, and my blood pressure thanked me.
  Lastly, bosses have also been improving in mobility, and a certain fight with a certain champion in a certain golden place was immensely enjoyable— challenging enough without getting infuriating.

• “Sounds like too much trouble.” There is less variety in this game than its predecessor as there is only one primary profession— yes, this point is another “I played the old game and I’m comparing them”. But in my defense I will say that the wider range of usable weapons is a fair trade. No pistols for mesmers, though. (Okay, I might be trolling a bit on this one).
  I won’t extend much on that one since HoT specializations are yet to be seen, but I am confident in trying what Anet has to offer. I am merely wondering if we will have more skills implented down the road, because I do get a feeling of “mastering” classes a bit too early. Either it’s me getting too comfortable with my builds, or there are few skills to mess with.

• “ My pet is down !” My favorite class was -and still is although it can be a hard thing to defend – ranger. I loved the freedom it possessed back in GW1 ; traps, spirits, conditions, run… Now, I won’t whine about pets, because I think others have said everything much better than I could ever hope, but I grew to resent that darn pet.