Guild Wars 2

Well, according to the dev livestream:

For motion sickness, we do have options to turn off some camera options such as camera roll etc.

This is good to know, but it needs a LOT of clarification (and doesn’t really suggest that the devs know that this is an actual issue, not just a ‘oh, I feel a little woozy’)
How will changing the camera setting for mounts impact the camera the rest of the time? Will we be having to flip settings back and forth to get on and off a mount, or will it be a simple “don’t use this” button like turning off drunkeness effects? Importantly, will we get to test this before launch, so we can give the devs actual feedback on if it has the effect they think is does?

The other thing that was mentioned, but needs clarification, is that mounts are needed to get into “some” areas- the implication was that those were extra explorable areas like jumping puzzles.

The question is, will any of those areas be needed for map completion, or event (world and guild)participation, or story progression? Will they slip mount use into story instances?

They said the same sort of thing for the Zephyrite skills, and those ended up being mandatory to finish story, or participate in certain events and reach certain WPs so you could progress through the map. It is amazingly frustrating to be told something is ‘optional’, and then have a story instance that requires you to use that skill or tool.

Before we shell out $ for the expansion, we need to know if using a mount will become mandatory at any point for game progression; as in you can not Do The Thing unless you are using a mount. And it’s not just about not wanting to spend the money, it’s about having to miss out on a massive part of something we love, because is makes us sick.

Carighan.6758:

rdfaye.4368:

Personally, I LOVE the mounts as they are, and I was very against them before the demo. The camera seems to be a large part of the issue—perhaps a toggle to “Use standard camera when mounted” would work.

That’s my problem here, I understand people want this issue resolved, but if they in any way touch the animations, that’d be a reconsider-my-purchase thing for me. Those animations made me pre-order. They’re that slick and detailed.

And my problem here is that the animations make me violently ill, so if they remain a mandatory part of gameplay, without any way for me to mitigate the effects, I won’t be purchasing the expansion, even after playing the game since beta. Those animations keep me from pre-ordering, they are that debilitating.

kellenburger.9245:

If they can’t give us an option to tone down the wobbliness I will play the new maps on foot. I hope that will be possible.

The mounts are mandatory for certain areas of the game, they have stated that. They aren’t just a fun add-on you can choose to have or not. That makes this doubly frustrating, because it means those of us having the issue are all or nothing, either we get sick, or we don’t get the expansion.

We can argue with other players until we’re blue in the face, and it doesn’t mean a thing.

It only matters if we can get through to the DEVS that
~Visually Induced Motion Sickness is a real thing, not just a preference, not just something you ‘get over’ or ‘learn to deal with’.
~It doesn’t just happen from VR rigs.
~Having mandatory content who’s visual aesthetics (not actual functional game mechanics), however pleasing, make a chunk of your player base violently ill is not good, and needs to be managed somehow.

Mounts are going to be required to experience the new content. This is a fact.

On one hand, we have the ‘majority’, who think the animations are cool, oh so realistic, and pretty please don’t mess with them because we love it so much- people who’s gameplay is not impacted negatively in any way by the mounts. Their love for them is purely cosmetic, and if the mount animations hadn’t been the way they are now, would never have known any different. Their issue with the idea of changing mounts is cosmetic. They will be able to play the game, regardless of the mount animations.

On the other hand, we have the ‘minority’, who love the idea of mounts, but are experiencing non-trivial, real world disability from the current implementation- their gameplay is significantly impaired, and in some cases is a deal breaker; with the mount animations they way they are now, they will not be able to play the new expansion.

And here in this thread, we have a whole lot of people who think their non-game-breaking cosmetic frills and ruffles are the priority, and the people who are being actively harmed by a game they love playing should “just learn to live with it” so that their frills and ruffles don’t get taken away from them.

Fortunately, I think the Devs will be much more responsive to the people for whom the game is actually causing harm.

martin.1653:

I don’t want to sound too heartless, but how do you people that get motion sickness deal with other games?

I don’t play them. I just don’t. Which means, despite being someone who really enjoys gaming, I am left out of 90% of the modern gaming industry. And it sucks.

My absolute favorite game company, the one I used to help run the fan convention for, who allowed me and my wife to make a tabletop RPG of their IP, just came out with a new game, and the only way I could play it, or even watch someone play it, was by turning on node movement, toggling the transition effects, and changing how the mouse movement worked. And even then I had to take breaks regularly, and not look at the screen when we had to move rapidly.

The point is, that the company actually thought about those issues, and built in work arounds, and that’s partially because someone high in the dev team gets motion sickness, and said “how can we adapt for this”.

Visually Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS) is a very real thing, and it can be debilitating. I don’t play any first person games, side scrollers, etc, because they cause such severe nausea even to watch someone else play that I usually end up needing to lay down. (Yeah, that ‘climb the double helix while it’s moving’ story bit was a nightmare)

I lasted for about 2 minutes on the mount before the nausea and impending migraine set in. I didn’t even get out of the starter instance before I had to leave the game.

The biggest issue for me was that the movement response was so far removed from my character controls. When I am just moving me, or my glider, I know exactly how much to tap one key or another to get the effect I want, and I know when I stop tapping the key, my character or glider will stop moving. What I see on the screen, is what my hands are telling me I am doing.

Because I also have some physical limitations in my hands, getting my controls to where GW works for me, and I can participate in most game content is important to me. I don’t change my settings unless I absolutely must, and then there’s a learning curve.

The mount doesn’t fit those controls, at all. It doesn’t move in ways that are predictable, it doesn’t stop moving when I stop controlling it, it twitches and swerves in directions I don’t think I’m telling it to go- what I see on the screen clashes with the other input my brain is getting, and it hurts. Lots. It wasn’t fun, and it really doesn’t make me excited about the expansion- especially if I’ll be required to have a mount to play.

It’s not about ‘dumbing down’ or ‘changing’ the game to make a few happy (which is a really ableist and exclusionary viewpoint, anyhow), it’s about making sure the tools exist to accommodate all players, and keeping the needs of multiple types of players in mind when designing the game.

For example, I stopped playing another MMO, even though I wanted to enjoy it and run around with my spouse, because they refused to toggle camera after effects like screen shake. It would “ruin the experience” to be able to stop the camera from joggling every time something exploded nearby.

Anet, on the other hand, lets me turn that off. No one else has to lose the impact of the screen going wonky from too much eggnog, and I can avoid actually barfing in the real world if I toss back a few in Holbrak.

That’s the same thing that’s being brought up here- something about the movement of the raptor mount is causing illness, even in people who aren’t normally bugged by it. People who are prone to motion sickness (from mild ew, all the way to OMG bring me a bucket…) are getting hit harder.

So what’s causing it, and what can be done about it that maintains the integrity of the mount concept; without requiring the player change settings every time they get on a mount, and certainly without requiring a person to take medication just to be able to play!

Went through with another person, and only about half the items we could both look at. The rest would go to whoever interacted with it first, and then it wouldn’t respond to the other. :/

One of our guildies has a flibbit-eared Mesmer named Hex-Crazed Asura.

CMM.6712:

Ameepa.6793:

CMM.6712:

I love the new map , ley line gliding especially. I like the come back of hearts. I like the sunsets. I love the “new” feel to it and the nod to Guild Wars 1. I don’t like that I can’t find a Skritt to revive anywhere…

Skrits are not dead, look for Passed out skrits

Thanks to an awesome guildie I found them, after chasing around the Disillusioned Skritt for an hour or so (not getting credit for reviving them! ARGH!

Yeah, the wording and action on that is really unclear- usually revive means ‘find someone dead’, or we’re supposed to take a noticeable bucket of water to someone noticeably passed out. I could only find three passed out skritt, and then only by holding down the key to make the name show up, cause they blend into the rocks.

My sad? I miss the GW1 destroyers. Those were creepy.

Now that we have the lovely Guild Treasurer, who shown you how many of a material you need, and stores the materials for the guild until they are ready to be used- can we please have the same sort of NPC for crafting Legendaries? Someone that would, once we tell them which thing we’re working on, would:

1) Show us how many of each material we’re going to need in total, and what those are used to craft; for example, if we need fifty quintillion elder wood logs (seriously, how does Tyria still have trees…?), how many of those become planks, vs used in some other way, etc…

2) Store those materials for us, thus freeing up bank tab space, and keeping those mats from accidentally getting used elsewhere.

3) Give us a quick visual reference of how we’re progressing in collecting the bajillion things you need to make a Legendary, without having to use 3rd party sites.

You could even get adventurous and make getting this person into your home instance a side quest, with a set of things you have to do/build/acquire so they agree to work for you. Yeah, there’s the ‘easier’ option of making it a Hobo-tron model that you buy in the gem store, but quests are more fun

Oh so very much this- and the fact that the wiki is accessible from in game. This means that I’m using the wiki multiple times, every time I’m in game. Extra bonus love for the people who keep on top of updating the lore, even the stuff that isn’t directly part of the storyline. I’d love to see more of that, there’s little snippits and hints and stuff all over the world that aren’t explained.

Have done it twice now, and unless there’s an invisible cup of water I should be aiming for a la Bugs Bunny, the achievement is bugged ‘cause I still don’t have it.

Please, please, pretty please let one of the new features be a notification, or blinking signal or something when your XP bar fills up while you’re working on a Mastery.

I can’t tell how many times I’ve been running around, and suddenly noticed that it’s full, and I have no idea of how long it has been full and I’ve been basically wasting XP.

We get pop up windows for regular levels, wobbly flashy chests for rewards, flashy arrows and stars and whatnot for things on the map, we should get some sort of visual that tells us our Mastery bar is full, and we need to pick a new path.

And I want to be clear, here; I’m resigned to not getting Winter’s Presence. It is an optional shiny that I don’t have the capacity to obtain. I’ll live without it, even if I get to where the JP is the only thing I have left to do.

I think people elsewhere in the forum have given several good ideas for making WP accessible, without diminishing the work that people who can do the jumping puzzle did- it is highly unlikely that the game would be retrofit to reflect those ideas.

I hope that, in the future, Anet will hear our voices and not put rewards behind non-accessible content. There’s plenty of ways to do that and still have challenge involved.

I also am very firm in my disappointment at the inclusion of a deliberately disabling ‘puzzle’ in non-optional story content. If anything in a game needs to be accessible and non-harmful to every player, it is the personal storyline content.

noraia.8570:

Hey Eleri, if you don’t mind saying, was it seizure inducing elements or migraine inducing elements (or something else) in HoT and if so, is it possible to describe where? I don’t have the expansion but if I do later I don’t want a nasty surprise x.x

It was kinetosis- motion sickness without actual physical motion. I managed to finish the mission before it hit migraine stage, but not before the debilitating nausea and vertigo. It’s the first part of HoT Act 4, and it is deliberately designed to be disorienting- which is why I have such an issue with the design decision. It isn’t just hard, it is meant to make you dizzy. Several of the HoT zones are nausea triggering, too- narrow passages, lots of jumping, gliding and not being able to tell exactly where you are in reference to things. I’m pretty much exclusively playing in Auric Basin because of it.

CIndeR.3479:

I am colorblind. Many traps, and tell rings (like the ones in the winterday JP) are extremely difficult for me. I have to work extra hard and put in more effort because I am disabled in the visual department.

Oh, it’s the old “I got over my issue, so should everyone else!” argument. You know what, that doesn’t make you sound “empathetic” to other disabled players, it makes you sound judgemental. You’re completely hooked on the idea that the disabled people raising their voices just aren’t trying hard enough and/or playing hard enough.

And you’re completely stuck on the “You want to make it easier!” thing. Until you get that making something accessible doesn’t mean making it easier, it means making it not a roadblock, and that designing game play to be accessible isn’t the same as taking away from people’s accomplishments, we’re not going to get anywhere.

You know they used to make the same argument about dropped curbs on sidewalks- they were an added expense, they were being installed for “the few”, no one really needed them, because they could just to X, Y, Z instead… and yet statistics showed the biggest early adopters weren’t the people in wheelchairs, it was the moms with strollers.

Making something accessible isn’t a “special accommodation” that takes away from others- in most cases being accessible benefits everyone.

CIndeR.3479:

You are right, there are people who are simply unable to get certain items from the game. But to make it easier for those people is to cheapen it for others who are proud of what they’ve done.

Not easier, equal. We should all have an equal chance to get things in this game.

When you make content that is especially difficult or impossible for players with disabilities to do part of a requirement for an event, item or story, then you are actively excluding players. You are making them less than the other players.

Imagine you are a brown eyed person, and you enjoy a game. Most of the time, the colour of your eyes has no impact on your gameplay; you make some adjustments, you avoid optional content that is difficult for you, and you keep playing. Then they start adding required content that works better for blue eyed people. Blue eyed people can get through it just fine, so can green eyed people… but for brown eyed people, it is difficult, even physically debilitating and harmful.

And people’s response to that? To tell you to suck it up, quit whining, just ‘keep practicing’, to not expect the devs to make it ‘easier’ for you, because that ruins it for everyone else. All because you want equal access to the game.

This whole attitude is exactly why, when I got violently ill playing a particular HoT story mission, I wrote directly to GW2 support… only to be told I needed to go post on the forum, because that’s where the Devs are.

I didn’t want to post here on the forum, because despite it being 100% better than most MMOs, it is still filled with people who would happily insult me, belittle me, and berate me for trying to ‘ruin’ their game, just because I expect better out of ANet- not content that is deliberately designed to trigger physical disability.

From the news today:

This gift will continue to require Icy Runestones and a gift comprised of various materials, but it will also require a new Gift of the Mists…

The Gift of the Mists is where you will find the Gift of Battle, which is purchased for Badges of Honor and a special material crafted of ascended and fractal materials; the Gift of Glory, purchased with the new tradable material Shards of Glory that only comes from Player vs. Player reward tracks; and the Gift of War, purchased with a new tradeable material, Memories of Battle, that only comes from playing World vs. World.

If I am understanding this correctly, crafting any of the new Legendary weapons will either require PvP and/or WvW, or spending gold at the TP to buy the materials to make them?

In other words if you PvE only you either have to start doing PvP/WvW, or be completely at the market mercy of those who do?

ETA: I am aware that the existing Legendaries already need PvP/WvW… I’m just not entirely sure that being dependant on the marketplace is the best way to be inclusive of PvE

Was mulling this about in my brain while I worked on Mawdry. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place in our materials storage, that was specifically for holding all the things you needed to make something.

Take Mawdry for example- the list of mats needed is a mile long- so you keep going back to the wiki to see what you need, and trying to remember which thing you’ll need 3 stacks of, and how many of those you need, and so on and so forth. Time consuming and frustrating- especially if you screw up.

So what if you could buy from the TP a special temporary material storage tab for Mawdry (or Legendaries, or other things that need a long list of supplies)… You buy it, activate it, and now, when you right click to deposit materials, is also gives you an “Deposit in project storage” option. And you can go into your bank and view that project to see what all you need, and how much of it. When something is full, it puts it in regular storage instead.

You could move things from there to regular storage if you really wanted to, but it would confirm that first, and it wouldn’t pull stuff out of that storage for crafting, so you couldn’t accidentally use up somethign you needed to save.

Want to work on a specific Legendary? Buy the project tab for it, and store all your stuff in there, instead of your regular bank tabs.

Given how it sounds like Precursors & Legendaries are going to be much more complex to build, something like this could really be a lifesaver.

I am an uber casual player. I have absolutely no problem with not being able to participate in raids. Raids are there for the people who love raids. They should be able to do their raids, and encourage others to get on board with doing raids, and have loads of fun doing raids, and get Cool Stuff for the effort they put into raids.

Raids are awesome, as long as they are optional; like World Bosses or Dungeons or Fractals or WvW & PvP.

However, if it gets to the point where I am functionally required to participate in raids in order to access general content, or major portions of storyline, then it is an issue.

One thing I haven’t been able to find is What does a new Guild Hall have in it?

I can find stuff about decorations and upgrades and shiny special things to add after you have a Hall, but what does that first 100G and taking a Hall actually get you? Or do you just have a bare bones building that you have to spend/do more to get any utility out of it?

Sadly, my experiences with beta weekend are proving my biggest fear correct- this is not a good expansion for people with motion sickness issues. Narrow corridors, angled paths with low visisbility, lots of twisty passages with little to distinguish them. After an hour of playing I’m headachy, dizzy and nauseated.

There’s not really anything that can be done about it (yes, I have played with camera controls, graphic settings, etc, etc. It’s a physiology thing I can’t change.), but it makes me bummed that it looks like I’ll to miss out on new story content.

This just started happening to me – either the new dye doesn’t show in preview (it’ll flash for a second or two, but then reverts), or it does, but when you hit ‘apply’ the preview turns all the pieces the same colour. In game looks fine. Tested this across all my characters (yes= the preview is broken):
Human female- no
Human female 2- no
Norn female – yes
Norn female 2- yes
Asura female – yes
Asura male- yes
Sylvari female- yes
Sylvari male- no

I had the same issue trying several times this evening.

I almost always do turrets because I’m more effective at them than zerging about.

I’ve not been where people are yelling at me, but I think that it’s because I’ve lucked out and been mostly on maps where one commander is calling time (in map chat, and not assuming that everyone is on their TS) and is very clearly stating when various turret skills need deployed, and where.

Yes, please. I would like to see my town clothes turned into Outfits that all my characters can wear, instead of them taking up space in my bank tabs.

Then again, they’re just gathering dust in my bank tab, because wearing my beloved GW2 dragon shirt now puts me in a dorky pair of booty shorts, and not the nice skirt it did before.

So while we’re at making town clothes outfits and not tonics, maybe we can make outfis modular, so we can mix and match pieces?

I poked at a few times, and I was ahead(ish) but quit as soon as I realized the goo was soulbound. I really dislike soulbound non-weapons/items.

Metrica Province, for the sheer amount of NPC dialogue and amusement happening.

Genavelle.9516:

But for those of us who used Trapper builds, this patch is devastating. I can’t even bring myself to play my Ranger at all since the patch, and that was my MAIN character for THREE years.

My main is (was) Ranger that I’ve had since day 1, and ground targeting traps was a major focus of how the character playes, both solo and in teams. Suddenly losing that functionality is going to mean having to rebuild the character, and relearn how to play effectively.

I’m quite dissapointed, and "it’s not realistic’ is a rather pitiful excuse.

piano man.1672:

Anyways back on topic, I’m hoping parts of it will be JP-styled to suit those who like a challenge, and parts of it will easier to traverse. Personally, I suck at jumping puzzles, but would like to see both to cater to both audiences and yet still be accessible to all.

This is what I’m hoping for too- optional places that are a challenge for people who like those, but the main things accessable to everyone.

Basic things that require mastering techniques are always kinda a bummer- I never have managed to get that skritt POI in Silverwastes

And why in the world did it translate the numerical represntation of “Fifty dollars” into “kitten”

Last time I checked, numbers weren’t swear words

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Its not about loving, or not loving our guild. It’s that we’re being told we’re not good enough, despite loving our guild. We’re being told that being small is not acceptable. Based on comments made, its starting to feel like unless we are ‘x’ size (number still not finalized) we are not considered guilds.

And our only recourse is to “invite more people!”; regardless of the intent, makeup or structure of our Guilds. Because obviously the fault is ours for not being a real Guild. We couldn’t possibly have any actual grounds for concern, because we’re just oversized parties. /sarcasm.

From much of the preview material we’ve seen, the content of HoT is focused on very vertical landscapes, with gliding between them being a major mode of travel.

How are these spaces going to be compared to, say, some of the major JPs in the existing world? Is jumping and precision hand-eye coordination required to progress through the general landscape, as compared to other zones? Let’s say Metrica Province is a 1 on the Jumping In Zone scale, Frostgorge Sound is a 5 and Dry Top is a 10.

I don’t begrudge anyone their skills, but I know where mine are not, and I don’t want to commit to kitten expansion if it isn’t something that I’m going to be able to play.

Finn Dove of Myst.7819:

Since a lot of us (it sounds like, and I know I fit into the category) enjoy being part of a Very-Small-Guild – I wonder if Anet would consider offering sort of a tiny guild hall that has some of the features of the larger ones but perhaps not everything.

My guild is a small group of very close knit people, scattered across the globe- so we’ve been feeling left out of most Guild events & perks since they started- there’s really only ever a party’s worth of us on at the same time- so no Rushes, Bounties, etc for us. Bummer, but we’ve lived without them.

However, it’ll be a major dissapointment if we won’t be able to avail ourselves of a Guild Hall because of our size & structure. At least with GW1 Guild Halls were accessable to guilds of any size, even if it did take longer to build up Stuff.

(now that all the threads are mushed into one incohesive 3000 post mess, ugh!)

I think a good majority of us can agree that it isn’t the $50 that is the real issue- we’ve all paid about that much for expansions for multiple games in the past. It’s the value represented by that $50 that’s at issue.

The GW1 expansions were comparably priced, but on top of the added content (which was quantifiable at the time of purchase- you know you were getting new armor, new continents, etc not “this will get bigger eventually”) they all included a new character slot to accomidate new classes. That was a standard with the basic expansion, and other goodies were on top of that.

With HoT, they’ve excluded the character slot from the basic level, in essence charging $25 (the difference between the basic level and the deluxe) for that character slot (plus fluff- an ‘exclusive title’ and a mini are not game-changing content). So people are upset about being charged a significant premium, for something that was standard all other times previously.

The other thing that is upsetting people, it that they’ve bundled the two games, with no stand alone option. Now, this may seem to make absolute sense for new players, and then saying “We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.” (Gaile, on reddit) sounds reasonable.

But for people who are already playing it is:

a) Giving new players twice the value for half the price- they get 2 games for $50, where the vast majority of long time players will be paying $100+ That feels very much like penalizing long-term players. With the GW1 expansions everyone was in the same boat paying for both.

This also covers the people who recently bought GW2 in anticipation of HoT- having been told it was required, they assumed, as with GW1, they’d need to buy the main game, first. They’re paying twice the cost, for the same value as well.

b) Giving them a second copy of the game, that they can’t really use, not even to bring someone else into the game- not unless you dig up your old game and serial number. If they were allowing for some sort of seperation, people would be less dismayed about ending up with an ‘extra’ copy of the game.

How is it a bonus? It isn’t like we suddenly have an extra copy of the game lying around. It isn’t going to be GW2 and HoT, as seperate entities.

Unless you mean we should take the copy we already paid for, and hand that and the serial number over? Which is technically true, but not a particularly elegant solution.

And, really, it isn’t the $50 that has most people upset. It’s the $50 for absolutely nothing besides access to the expanded content. Previous GW expansions at the very least included an expansion slot for new character classes at the base purchace price. With this, we’re being told just access is $50, another character slot will take an additional $25 to get (with fluff).

One could cynically assume that they are banking on people being cranky about that, and buying gems to get a character slot, instead.

Since the character slot only comes at the $75 level (Sory, the .99c thing is marketing fluff. It’s $50 and $75), they’re essentially charging us an extra $25 just to get a new character slot, and some fluff.

Yes, the $50 is a good deal for people who haven’t got the base game- for people who’re already here, and playing, it is awful.

(Someone elsenet suggested that it means we can all take our original purchace of GW2 and give it and the serial number to a friend so they can play… Noble, but still not the best solution.)

ETA: We have 3 people in our physical household who play- another $150 to keep playing is not small change.

Yes please to the GW1 armor not outfits.

How about some sort of Uber Transformation Charge that allows you to one time apply an armor skin to armor of a different class- like putting a light armor chest skin, onto a medium armor chest piece.

Looking foward to seeing what’s talked about on Ready Up; as someone who has significant issues with kinetosis caused by unexpected camera changes, I’m hoping that some of these changes will come with the ability to turn them off. Nothing ruins my game (and makes me lose my lunch) faster than the camera jumping and sweeping around randomly when I don’t expect it.

Tangentally, I get why the camera does the sweeping pan when you die, but shouldn’t it go back to where you had it when you get back up? Having to adjust that is kinda a pain. And why do you have to point your camera angle down to be able dive underwater? (Once you’re under, the arrow keys work fine).

GHannes.6407:

Q: Will it be possible to play activities e.g. Crab Toss with your Guild from the Guild Hall?
I think it will be lots of fun to play Crab Toss while hearing everyone scream at you on TS while you use the fishing pole.

Oh, I second this request. Activities in the Guild Hall!

How much of the new areas will involve JP- like mechanics? I’m not talking having to jump around for extra things (like llamas or coins or badges). Everything is described as being vertical, will there be areas of normal gameplay that can not be reached without JP-esque paths? If so, will there be ways around that, like only having to do it once, and then there’s a WP, or being able to lake a longer but smoother route?

Will we see any solid post-Zaitan changes to the rest of the known world? (Fewer Risen, new growth in Orr, that sort of thing…)

Will there be noticeable, worldwide impact to the Sylvari, including Sylvari PCs?

Household (as in real world mailing address) bulk discounts for the HoT expansion would be nice

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

nGumball.1283:

Please sir, find that game that has no grind and only has content and enjoy it for yourself.

Elder Scrolls
Mass Effect
Fallout
Dragon Age

It’s actually quite easy to make a game with no grind and only content.

Myst Online, but that’s such an utter outlier that it is in a category by itself.

Anyhoo, grind…

I think the distinction between Grind: repetitive/time consuming actions required for game advancement vs Farm: repetitive/time consuming actions for optional game enhanements is a super important one.

There’s not a whole lot of gameplay dependent Grind in GW2. All of my 80s have gotten through their LS without an ounce of Ascended gear, most of them with only one or two pieces of exotic gear, and almost all of that from drops rather than crafting or purchace. (I’d even say there was more of it in GW1- there were areas you could not complete without having to go and get specific elite spells.)

On the other hand, even though crafting technically falls under the “Farming” category, it absolutely 100% is the most grindyest activity in the whole game.

Spending time gathering materials to make repetitive items (90% of which you will delete, because the market is saturated with them, even after you set aside the ones you will use) just to be able to advance to the next level of materials (at which point the previous level of materials becomes completely useless), where you repeat the exact same recipies, to make the exact same series of items, just with fancier mats. No wonder people who decide to craft things feel like their game is grindy, because it really does qualify- even though they’ve chosen to “Farm”

The only crafting dicipline that isn’t a fixed, linear grind is Cooking. At least there the materials you gather throughout the game are useful at all levels, the recipies aren’t blatantly predictable (so you’re actually discovering things) and you don’t (usually) end up with piles and piles of the same relatively useless item just so you can get to the next level.

So, yeah. While ANet is correct in that that there is very little “Grind” required for gameplay, their “Farming” and crafting mechanism is EPICLY grindy.

Edited to Add: SO points out to me that another major facet of “Grind” is the sense of high effort-low reward, very low enjoyment. Most ‘grind’ feels like it is pointless repetition.

Race: Norn
Sex: Female
Profession: Thief
Armor Piece: So Many Boots

I’m wearing the T2 Cultural Predatory Leggings, and they clip with almost every pair of medium boots out there. I previewed most of them, but I figured after a dozen different screen shots, you’d have the idea

I would adore if the Exploration and Lore Masteries could open up new tidbits in existing zones. There’s lots of potential there!

Please pass on to the team how much it is appreciated that Mastery isn’t going to just focus on weapons and combat.

You know, it is entirely possible that some of the Sylvari we see in the cut scene aren’t Pact soldiers gone bad. There are other, not born of the Pale Tree, Sylvari out there. And without the protection of Ventari & the Tree, they will have had no resistance to Mordremoth.

“Look ma, I’m a…”- use a transformation tonic
“Wintersday in July” Use a wintersday tonic any day during the summer
“Why I otta…” Use /threaten at least 3 times during a Champion battle.

I kinda like the idea of having NPCs in each zone that could hand out optional, interesting tasks that aren’t what already spawns there.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

You must be new around here.

SNERK hope springs eternal that we can have a nice talk without it being a kvetch session. Crazy, I know…

Korossive.7085:

You didn’t just mean…

…naaah

…couldn’t be.

In the theatre. Before leaving highschool. Next thing you know I’ll be shaking my cane and telling you kids to get offa my lawn.

At what point did this become a “I don’t like X about GW2” thread, when the original intent was to talk about how nice it is for an MMO to have a clear cut, enforced behavior policies?

Is it really that important to turn any thread mentioning something Anet does well into yet another “I hate Living Story/RNG/GemStore/Yaddayaddayadda” gripefest?

Sheesh!

Danikat.8537:

There’s a lot Anet does right.

Very much so. They’re not going to make all the players happy all the time, because that’s impossible- but I think the overall of GW2 is a positive, enjoyable experience, both from an IC and OOC perspective.

I opened them when I was reflexively opening all the bajillion other packages. I won’t be opening any more, thas’ for sure.

And while stacking the uses would be awesome, it would make the infinate tool buyers cranky.

What stacks and what doesn’t is a complete mystery to me. It isn’t even consumables don’t stack/non consumeables do, because potions and food stacks, but not salvage kits and tools. Why wouldn’t all like items stack, except for weapons and armor?