Guild Wars 2

I am another who can not stand jumping puzzles. I thoroughly enjoy exploration and was thrilled to learn that GW2 rewarded such an activity. I had my mind set to earning the Been There, Done That title. Please understand, I don’t care one whit about equipment or legendaries or stuff like that. I just want(ed) the title because it was proof that I’d, well, Been There.

I say “want(ed)” because the jumping puzzles have dashed that hope. As noted in a few posts above, there are some vistas that REQUIRE jumping puzzles. Having tried (and failed) countless times, I have given up. That both saddens and angers me, because had I known from the outset that jumping puzzles were included in the exploration title, I would not have wasted my time even starting. I feel as if my time has been wasted. I don’t mind wasting my own time but I don’t like having others waste it for me.

Some have said I should befriend a porter and simply have them port me up to the offending vistas. Or join a guild to find a porter. To me, that sounds sleazy and I won’t do it. I don’t like the idea of “befriending” people just to use them. That goes counter to who I am, both in real life and in game.

I also say “want(ed)” because I’ve pretty much stopped playing now. Not “just” because of the jumping puzzles; although they’re a major factor, there’s a bit more to it than that. Lately, I’ve been signing in just to do Dailies and that’s about it. Even Dailies are beginning to feel like chore. I don’t have HoT and have no intention whatsoever of getting it. It does not offer anything at all that is of interest to me. Now, hearing that HoT has required jumping aspects, that’s yet another reason I won’t be purchasing it.

Ok, how about this:

Character A completes the map the old-fashioned way. Player is then given the option, on a per-character basis, to PAY (either with in-game currency or with real money) to open either all waypoints or only vital waypoints. If Player takes this option, Player forfeits all benefits and rewards afforded by World Completion for that specific character.

Now, let’s go back to my personal bugaboo: in my opinion, vistas should be divorced from World Completion. As I’ve mentioned, I hate them with a red-hot passion. There is a reason I DO NOT DO jumping puzzles (and thus will never get the benefits/rewards and I’m ok with that). It really chaps my hide that there are some vistas that are reachable ONLY by jumping (in some cases, by multiple bouts of jumping). If I want to do World Complete, these blasted jumping puzzles are mandatory. I think that’s an absolute disgrace. It is vistas that will keep me from ever doing a second World Complete. It is vistas that will probably keep me from accomplishing my first World Complete.

Have I mentioned how much I despise jumping in GW2?

coso.9173:

No pne has to do map completition if they dont want to. Just go and unlock the wps you need for cities and world bosses and youre done

This is true and not true, simultaneously. Please understand where I’m coming from — I don’t do PvP, WvW or dungeons, but it is my understanding that those playstyles necessitate certain armor and weapons. It’s also my understanding that, if one is to get Legendary gear, one MUST do at least one World Complete. Thus, if gear is important to you and if gear is a major motivator for you, yes, you must do World Complete.

Now, for me, personally, I couldn’t care less about Legendary. I don’t care one whit about gear or looks or whatever. As long as equipment covers the essential bits and allows me to progress through the game, I’m happy as a clam.

The reason I want(ed) to do World Complete is simple: I want(ed) to be able to say I did it. It’s the completionist in me. The mobs have proven to be no issue — I’ve managed to get to 80 on two different characters, even with what most people would consider lackluster gear. I enjoy(ed) adventuring and exploring. But those gawd-awful vistas (the ones that require jumping) have pretty much rendered the World Complete goal unreachable for me. It’s not because I can’t handle the mobs, it’s because of those bleepin’ jumps.

So, yes, no one has to do World Complete, but there are reasons why folks may want to. Either for Legendary or just to be able to say “I did it”.

I’m chuckling because some of you don’t like doing the hearts. Personally, I don’t mind the hearts at all. Sure, they can be a bit grindy, but that’s ok. For me, it’s the vistas. I’d gladly do double, even triple hearts if I could just avoid those gawd-awful vistas.

Heck, I’ll even take the vistas that don’t require jumping. Give me an odd path or winding road to get to the vista and I’m ok. Add in jumping and my jaws get tight. Vistas and jumping should be divorced. Period.

Honestly, the prospect of having to do jumping vistas again is the one thing that has completely turned me off of doing World Completion/Map Completion a second time. I may not even be able to complete it once, because there are several vistas that I just. can’t. get. to. I wish I’d known that before I started making the attempt.

And that makes me sad, because I truly enjoy exploring. It’s just about my favorite activity in GW2.

I’m another who’d like to see Map Completion account bound, but I can respect that other people don’t. Don’t understand it, but I can respect it.

Perhaps there could be compromise:

Suggestion 1) Character A completes Queensdale and Kessex, Character B completes Field of Ruin and Caledone Forrest. The account counts it as 4 zones done. That said, if Character A visits Caledon, she will still find it fogged in.

Or

Suggestion 2) Character A completes the world on her own, reaping all rewards and benefits. The Account Holder now has the option to purchase (either in game currency or via the gemstore) an All Waypoints Pass for subsequent characters, either on an account-wide basis or on a character-by-character basis. This option would include a complete unfogging but would not fill in any hearts, heroes, vistas or PoIs.

Of course, subsequent characters wouldn’t get any leveling credit from opening waypoints, nor would they get rewards for completing zones. Having it as an option satisfies both sides, I think.

Having cut my MMO teeth on the original EQ (shortly after launch) and having spent a good amount of time at EQ2, DAoC, WoW, Horizons (later known as Istaria), Vanguard, LotRO, FFXI, FFXIV and probably a few more, I suppose I could be considered an MMO vet. And I must admit, there are times when I do miss traditional camps. Camping provided a great opportunity to get to know people. Some of my best game-friendships began as pug-members. I also enjoyed the opportunity to sit still, letting the pullers pull to the group rather than being constantly on the move. Between camps and the trinity, there was a real reason to group up, which I don’t really see in (PvE) GW2.

I also miss being able to trade with other players or drop items on the ground for newbies to “find”. I enjoyed taxi rides and learning languages. I didn’t even mind weight restrictions or paying for repairs on busted equipment.

However, as others have pointed out, however, camps came coupled with so many other horrible game aspects: kill stealing, node stealing, naked corpse runs, de-leveling and so much more.

Now that I’m playing GW2, I’m absolutely reveling in the freedom granted to me. As noted in the second post, my preferred playstyle is solo. Since I do 100% PvE (no PvP, dungeons or WvW), there’s no real need for me to group up. I cherish my independence and the ability to do for myself. I understand I’m playing a multiplayer game but I prefer to play it on my own terms, independent and able to go where I want, when I want. I love the ability to start, and more importantly, to stop whenever I want without having to ask permission, give explanations or make excuses.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy interacting with others via chats and the occasional RP (either observing or participating), but I prefer to be able to move about without having to worry about how my movements affect others.

If I want those other aspects (forced grouping, camps, node-stealing and so forth), there are plenty of other places to find them. For now, GW2 is a refreshing change. Except for the vistas. I could easily do without the jumping vistas.

Add me to the list of those who’d love a personal house. Add me to the list of those who’d love a Carpenter craft to help furnish the house. I’ve played a few games with personal housing and it was wonderful. I’m thinking specifically of EQ2 (are we allowed to mention other games by name?). Some of the homes created were nothing short of spectacular — such creativity in the community!

I left FFXIV before housing was implemented, but I hear it’s pretty good. LOTRO and Vanguard (great game, too bad it went bye bye) had fun housing, too. And, of course, I hear SWG housing was also nothing to sneeze at. I still regret missing that one.

In short, adding housing to GW2 would be a definite win as far as I’m concerned. We have a Personal Story. We need a Personal House.

I’m relatively new also (restarted the game in August), and until about 3 days ago I didn’t know world completion had anything to do with legendary/ascended gear. I’m not the materialistic type, so gear is not a motivator for me. For the most part, I couldn’t care less about having the latest/greatest/flashiest gear or weapons. As long as it looks decent, covers all the essential bits and does the job I need it to do, I’m ok with it.

I don’t raid, I don’t PvP or WvW and I haven’t done any dungeons/fractals. Since I solo 99% of the time (by choice), I probably won’t do any dungeons unless I can solo them.

I say all that to explain why I, personally, am attempting to do World Complete and why I don’t think it is “the worst” (in answer to the OP). I’m doing it because I find it enjoyable… 90% of the time. I truly enjoy exploring and experiencing the vast, varied and beautiful world of Tyria. Getting recognition (EXP and AP) for my travels is nice, too. The only part I despise is vistas. If it weren’t for vistas, I’d probably do it on several characters.

Getting back to the topic of caps, several have said they are saddened by the existence of the AP cap. That’s how I feel about the level cap of 80. As long as I’m still exploring the world and earning EXP, I’d like to see the number increase, given that virtually everything one does earns EXP. Personally I don’t even care if I get any new shinies; I just like seeing the number go up.

I know the masteries system is incoming, but if one doesn’t have HoT, all EXP earned after 80 will (continue to) be wasted.

mtpelion.4562:

Emelyn.8729:

mtpelion.4562:

There are only 353 Moldy Bags available for sale, and those only because they were listed 3 years ago at too high of a price…

As an aside, how can one tell how long an item has been listed? I know I can see how long my items have been listed but I didn’t know we could see how old other people’s listings were. That information could prove quite handy, not only for buying but for future listings, as well.

We can’t actually see it, but if you go to a site that charts pricing history you can see if it has been very static at the price and volume to get an idea as to how active the market is.

Ah, I see. Thank you — I didn’t even know something like that existed.

mtpelion.4562:

There are only 353 Moldy Bags available for sale, and those only because they were listed 3 years ago at too high of a price…

As an aside, how can one tell how long an item has been listed? I know I can see how long my items have been listed but I didn’t know we could see how old other people’s listings were. That information could prove quite handy, not only for buying but for future listings, as well.

I have to disagree 100% with you, ZanchinFissure. I’m not sure where you got your evidence that a “vast amount of the playerbase” dislikes underwater. I, for one, love the underwater bits in GW2. Of all the MMOs I’ve played, it is, hands down, my favorite underwater. It’s pretty and I find it very easy to navigate. So far, I haven’t had any trouble with underwater combat, either. And, when I’m in the mood to avoid combat, I just keep swimming. Honestly, when I swim on the surface, I’m typically never even aggro’d by mobs.

If it’s simply a matter of being able to get from Point A to Point B without combat, why not waypoint?

I’ll qualify all this by saying that I don’t do PvP or WvW. Perhaps those underwater experiences are significantly different from PvE? Is that the bit you find distasteful?

I wonder… if people don’t have HoT, will they still accumulate (unspendable) Mastery points? Or will any experience earned simply be wasted? It would be nice if the points were banked. That would be incentive to eventually spring for HoT for those who don’t get it on Day One.

Beldin, I don’t see the need for the snarkiness. I explained that I enjoy having the stat boosts but would rather avoid the additional exp bonus piled on top of that. It’s not a matter of me being too dense to simply “not use food”. I already don’t use food.

Scribe the Mad, I didn’t know that about the Chocolate Chip Ice Cream! I’ll look into that.

All I want for Wintersday is…

…to take Vistas out of World Complete. Make them their own miserable little masochistic category. Vistas and I do not get along at all. I know “how” to do them, I can usually see the routes, I’ve even resorted to occasionally researching some of the more hidden or complicated paths — I just stink at actually doing them because I don’t do well with platforming. I either over-jump or under-jump and the result is the same. Splat. I’m pretty sure I’ve died more to Vista climbing than I have to mobs.

To BrotherBelial and NTDK: yes — getting to 80 so far in advance of world complete makes me sad (game-sad, not RL sad). I wish I could slow the leveling process, OR keep leveling to infinity.

To Just A Flesh Wound: That’s where I got my initial information that all food gives exp. I was just hoping the wiki was out-of-date or that there was some hidden food that hadn’t been discovered.

To Zomaarwat: I didn’t know that! Thanks for the info!

To BrooksP: I hadn’t thought of it in those terms but that makes sense. Sooooo, not only am I already getting an accelerated exp boost with food but I’m getting actual extra exp on top of that. It’s just too much.

Perhaps I have missed it, but it seems all food items give 10% exp on killing foes.

I know a lot of folks enjoy leveling as quickly as possible and that’s fine. But for my playstyle, my GW2 characters level too quickly. Virtually everything they do awards experience. Thus, my characters are rapidly approaching 80 even though they are nowhere near done exploring. As far as world completion goes, my highest World Complete is only 50ish% done at level 78 (gah, she just keeps getting exp!!!).

I know the game doesn’t “end” when I reach 80, for me, it does, in a sense. The idea of having exp going to waste saddens me. And, while the Masteries concept is nice, the only Mastery that I’m somewhat interested in is hang-gliding, and that can’t be used in the old world (at least that’s the way I understand it).

I would love to use food for stat boosts (and for the achievement), but food increases exp, so I had to stop. Is there any food that doesn’t give exp? If not, might ANet consider making some?

As long as it’s consistent throughout the game, it doesn’t matter to me how it’s pronounced. After all, this is Tyria, so the pronunciations are Tyrian. If “kway” is the Tyrian pronunciation, then "kway"is correct.

For another example, until I heard it pronounced, I thought Tyria was pronounced Tie-REE-ah. Now that I have heard native Tyrians pronounce it, I know the correct
pronunciation sounds like the back part of “cafeteria”.

Since I’m living in their world, I’ll pronounce it their way (even if it sounds goofy to me).

I can think of two right away:

1) AFK flag. Better: AFK flag that sends an automated message back to any /whisper that comes in. Best: AFK flag that allows the player to set his/her own unique personal return message.

2) The ability to make notes on the Friends List. Where did I meet this person? What are their alts’ names?

3) Ok, I lied — here’s a third… ability to bind Stow Pet to a keyboard shortcut.

I’m sure I’ll think of more later.

paintpixie.7398:

I would like to ask an honest question about capes. Hopefully, somebody here can answer it for me?

Why do people like capes?
I have always hated them. I can’t stand having to look at a flowing bit of fabric all of the time, while I’m playing a game.
Is it because, for instance, it’s a good place to put a guild emblem? Does it make you feel like a superhero? I really want to know. Because people seem to ask for capes a lot in this, and other games. What do people like about them so much?

I agree with the clipping issue. I’ve seen that happen in other games, and it’s probably part of the reason I dislike them.

So glad you asked this, Paintpixie. It’s something I’ve wondered about too. Personally, I’ve always disliked capes. Helms, too. In other games, I’ve always taken the option to hide capes and helms. If there is no option to hide, I generally forego the benefits/stats of having the cape or helm, because I simply don’t like capes or helms.

I’ll be interested to read answers to your question!

Ranger.

I play almost exclusively solo by choice. That can be problematic since mobs tend to like getting up close and personal. With my pet, I can generally avoid fighting toe-to-toe and still take on pretty much everything the game has tossed at us. We’ve even taken on mobs that are 5-6 levels above my own. Usually successfully. Usually.

I have several alts, most of whom are rangers. My highest ranger ding’d 78 just yesterday. My one exception alt is a warrior; she’s only level 2. Did I mention I don’t like fighting toe-to-toe? That probably explains her low level. /wink

I haven’t done any dungeons yet. I’m not motivated by having the “best” build or the “best” gear. The build I have and the gear I have are enough to get the job done.

I also don’t do PvP or WvW. Those sorts of playstyles don’t appeal to me in the least (but more power to those of you for whom those styles are enjoyable). Perhaps that’s where the warrior would shine, but for now, for me, for the way I like to play, it’s ranger all the way.

I thoroughly enjoy the underwater bits in GW2. Matter of fact, of all the MMOs (and single-player games) I’ve played, I find GW2’s underwater to be the most enjoyable. Part of that is specifically because there are no breath meters. Another part is because the water is crystal clear.

The initial dive from the surface is a bit clunky (and I wish I could actually dive off a ships or cliff — other than the diving goggle spots), but other than that, I think underwater is very well done. No complaints here.

That’s pretty much what I thought. Thank you, RoseofGilead, for confirming.

I didn’t know about the availability status, though, so I’ll give that a go.

Earlier today, I had a lovely chat with another player, but neglected to make note of his/her name. I can remember the first name but not the last. Is there any way to search, in-game, for character names?

Also…

1) Is there any way to note AFK status? At the very least, I’d like to flag my character as AFK when needed. Even better, I’d love for any incoming /tells to get a standard, automatic return message, stating my afk status. At best, I’d like to be able to write my own, individual afk message. Is this possible in GW2?

2) Is there any way to make notes on my Friends list? I’d love to be able to make a note detailing which character befriended whom (I have a few alts) and special notes about the Friend, such as where we met or what we talked about. Is this possible in GW2?

3) Is there any way to find out who is in zone? In other games I’ve played, one could type /who and get a list of all the players/characters nearby. /whoall might return everyone in the zone. /whoall ranger might return just the rangers. Is something like this possible in GW2?

4) Is there any way to determine the profession and level of characters without being physically next to them? Sometimes, when listening to or participating in /map chat, I’d like to know more information about the other participants. Or, if someone sends me a random /tell, I’d like to get a bit more info. Is anything like this possible in GW2?

Thanks for any answers!

I purchased the game this evening after having thoroughly enjoyed the “free trial” weekend. Sadly, tonight, the audio is stuttering terribly, voices and music, and that was not the case over the weekend. The sound cuts in and out every few seconds (thank goodness for subtitles).

Mt weekend character was on a medium population EU server. I tried playing her tonight but the sound (or lack thereof) was rather off-putting. Since I’d wanted to try a different server anyway, I deleted her and re-created her on a different (high-population, USA) server. Same awful audio.

It’s not a deal-breaker but it does put a bit of a damper on things, given that it wasn’t bad during the free trial. Thanks for any help in getting the sound back to the way it was!