Guild Wars 2

So how far will I get into leagues playing nothing but staff ele?

I couldn’t be more disappointed with what has happened to the expansion content. I’m referring to the changes to hero points and to the way we experience masteries.

October 25th:
Bug Fixes

• Itzel Poison Lore is no longer a Mastery requirement for story.

October 28th
General

• Changed the total cost to fully unlock elite specializations from 400 to 250.

Verdant Brink

• Turned the Mordrem Flamerider hero challenge into a commune point and moved it to the old location of the Coztic Itzel hero challenge.
• Updated the hero challenge near Itzel Village in Verdant Brink so that earning it is more clearly understood.

Auric Basin

• Updated the Toxic Bacon hero challenge in Auric Basin so that earning it is more clearly understood.

This is an excerpt from the Game Release Notes forum for HoT. The Verdant brink update to make the hero challenge near Itzel Village “more clearly understood” was the removal of the mastery requirement. the same goes for the Toxic Bacon hero challenge in Auric Basin. There was yet another instance of this in Verdant Brink for the hero challenge that required poison lore in the Itzel mastery track (I couldn’t find this in the patch notes, but it can now be accessed without poison lore).

These changes are removing a feature of the game that ANet developers talked about with excitement and enthusiasm before launch. The explained to us that they want players to experience moments when they discover a piece of content that they are unable to access because they don’t have a certain set of abilities. Then the player has an incentive to gain experience in the jungle and master the techniques and skills that will get them to that content they encountered before. That is what masteries are supposed to be about. But that experience was taken away. Probably because of community complaining that It was taking too much time or that they had to grind for masteries. Players want instant gratification.

But I can say that I got to experience that feeling of achievement before the mastery requirements were taken away and the content was nerfed. I spent loads of time exploring the jungle and participating in events to train poison lore because I knew I needed it for the hero point in verdant brink. And to be completely honest, I completely forgot about that mastery and about that hero point (for a good reason). There are so many events and so many event chains that while I was training my Itzel mastery I was more focused on the events and the stories they told than anything else. Then all of a sudden the bar at the bottom of the screen lit up, allowing me to unlock the mastery. I was excited! I remembered the hero point and went after it, gliding down into that tree and fighting off the Coztic on the way. Then stepping into those poison brambles and watching them retract with my presence… It was an incredible experience that left me laughing with excitement and delight. That is the experience that ANet developers wanted to create, and they succeeded. But now they are destroying it.

I’m grateful that I got to experience that bit of content when I did… But what does that mean for the rest of the game. Getting the adrenal mushroom mastery doesn’t mean anything for the Toxic Bacon hero point anymore. That element of achievement and excitement is gone. The reputation the developers have built up for pandering to an audience who wants easier content is just being strengthened, and it’s sad and frustrating to me and other players like me. I’m so excited for raids… but now I’m questioning how long their difficulty will last before they just become really long dungeons.

My opinions towards these changes are based on my own experience so far. I’d like to see further discussion on this topic and read other people’s opinions.

This is also something worth checking out if you’re interested in this topic.

This seems fun
Number: 437
Character: Maelstrom Navigator

woops >.< I’ll fix that

oh wow, that just made it really morbid

So on that little island in Bloodtide Coast called Brand Barrier Isle (the place where groups are always farming ToT bags) there’s an interesting character effect that I’ve never noticed before. I’m not sure how it works, but sometimes a swarm of what looks like bees will follow characters around in a cloud above their head. Just thought it was neat and worth sharing. There are pics if you want to see it. they’re the small yellow dots. The third pic is two swarms over other players.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Tempest-Thoughts/first#post5547908

This may help you understand a part of why tempest is bad.

TheDaiBish.9735:

EnlightenedNavigator.8296:

It’s not a matter of balance or anything like that. It’s just a matter of adding new skills to the game.

Whenever new skills are added to the game, it IS a matter of balance though.

my point is that I don’t think that’s really holding them back at all. adding any kind of combat thing to the game always creates a shift in balance. OP is asking why we don’t have these things. I’m saying that it’s not because of balance. It’s because we just haven’t gotten there yet.

I think a lot of you are reading the suggestion here wrong. I mean, think about it. It’s not a matter of balance or anything like that. It’s just a matter of adding new skills to the game. He’s asking for a new weapon in a way. If you view Warrior sword mainhand as a different weapon from Ranger sword mainhand (which it may as well be since it’s a completely different set of skills) you can start picturing every instance of every weapon as it’s own weapon. In this case, adding a mainhand shield or an offhand scepter is just adding in a new weapon. Which they have already done with elite specializations. I’m sure this kind of stuff will come in time. I would love to have a dual shield guardian. that sounds really kitten in a way.

Edit: boy my post sounds confusing. but it makes sense. you just have to think about it a little.

Warning: This is not me hating on tempest, so if that’s what you’re here for then you’ll be disappointed.

Elementalist is my main class, so I was pretty excited for tempest. However, when I first started playing it I felt very unsatisfied and went away not liking the profession. I didn’t really know why, though, and I think a lot of people are experiencing the same thing. It’s just not satisfying. Well, I keep thinking and thinking about it and I’ve begun to understand my feelings for the specialization. What I’ve realized so far is something about the utilities. The Tempest is supposed to be the caller of the storms. Letting us do that with shouts makes perfect sense, but there’s a problem with the way they’ve executed it. Storms are not short. Storms are not a combustion of power that go away just as quickly as they came. When we think of a storm, we think of a torrent lasting all day and all night. A sand storm does not pass in an instant, wildfires last days, and hurricanes crawl slowly across a place, tearing it a part over time. That is what is missing from the Tempest. That sense of “Hey, we’d better not go over there (or we’d better get out of here) because there’s a pretty bad storm.” Instead, we call a storm that’s over the moment it begins. I know shouts are traditionally instant speed, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It would still make sense to have a shout that calls a long lasting storm. That seems waaaaaay more thematic with the Tempest. Kind of like a shaman shouting an incantation to bring rain. Anyways, I think this would make tempest way more satisfying. The shouts themselves would have to change, sure. Like “Feel the Burn!” could slowly pulse out small amounts of burning while “Eye of the Storm!” could create an area where allies cannot be stunned (and maybe grants super speed to allies in that area on cast?) “Shock and Aftershock!” could create a crippling storm where it is cast that pulses small amounts of damage to those inside (to make up for the immobilize), and “Flash Freeze!” could grant frost aura on cast but leave a field that pulses chill. That would have to be balanced of course since chill is pretty powerful. Rebound is just a mess and needs to be completely overhauled in my honest opinion. I don’t know what to do with that. And of course “Wash the Pain Away!” could be something along the lines of a pulsing area of effect heal and hell, maybe even make it a water field. My point is, these shouts should call long lasting storms. Not weather flashes. That’s part of what’s missing from the Tempest class and part of what’s making it feel so unsatisfying.

This is a forum discussion where people are rating the elite specs. In almost every single case, Tempest is in the bottom three.

tldr: The Tempest shouts should create long lasting AoEs. If you want my reasons, they’re up above.

Just started having this problem. I reinstalled my operating system yesterday and installed GW2 onto my new system today. I got an error message when I hit play, something about directx9 if I recall correctly, and it shut the client down. I ran it again except now it’s stuck downloading one file at an average of what seems to be 50KB/s. No progress is made on the download. From what I’ve read, uninstalling and reinstalling isn’t working. I hope this gets fixed soon. The number of people experiencing this problem will probably draw anet’s attention.

Edit: I can click play, but it gives me the same error message.
“Unable to initialize 3D output. Please verify that you have installed DirectX9 and an updated video driver.”

I finally prepurchased HoT (I knew I would eventually) and I have been having loads of fun with the beta.

Even though there are supposed to be three tiers to Verdant brink, even the middle layer that we are on now has a lot of verticality to it, which I love. I was worried that the map would mostly just be three flat layers, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Gliding has been really smooth and the mastery system itself has been fun to progress through simply because the game has a sense of progression again. (though I do think the masteries are going by a little too quickly. I’d like to see them take longer so that sense of progression lasts.)

The use of our character’s voice is a huge improvement. I didn’t think I’d care much about it at first, but it honestly makes playing a lot more engaging.

Events have been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what the night cycle is going to be like once it’s had more work.

The only thing I’ve had a problem with is Tempest. I didn’t think I would like it to begin with, but it’s been better than I was expecting. However, It’s just not satisfying. Rebound’s effect should last longer, but it also doesn’t really feel like an impactfull elite skill because we can’t see the effect. I do like the overloads a lot, though I do think they could be a little more powerful. The fire overload (inferno, I think) doesn’t have the visual effect that it needs. There are other things, but I’ll probably put them in a different post. I tried to be specific, so I hope it helps!

The beta itself is really well done, so two thumbs up for that.

(also, this isn’t really related to this post, but I can’t figure out how to equip the HoT glider skin. can anyone tell me how to do that? thanks!)

Solved.

Nvm, I fixed it ^.^’ I just had clients already running in the background apparently. Thank you for looking into it, though!

My game isn’t loading. When I run the .exe nothing happens. When I run it as admin, it asks me if I want to allow whoever to make changes and I click yes. Then nothing happens. I’m not sure what’s up, but some help/advice would be awesome.

Yeah, I know they never said they would. And I’m okay with them not doing anything this week. I was just trying to figure out whether or not they had done something that I just wasn’t catching. Ty for the responses.

Anything? So far ANet hasn’t put up a teaser on twitter or a blog post talking about some element from HoT. Am I missing something?

nolop.8095:

The difference is just a very small number yet this very small number makes a world of difference to people.
The most fascinating part is how some of you are able to passionately support two contradictory points.

The stats don’t matter; The stats are everything.

If someone would figure out how that works in the human brain they cold make you spend all your money on .. well nothing essentially ^^

Now new in the gamble chest thingamagig “the Tome of +1 power” increases the power of you character by 1 ! (can be used once per character)

To clarify for those who don’t understand, because this has been said a few times now, people are not supporting contradictory points. To understand what we mean you have to recognize the difference between the game and the individual. The stats do not matter to the game. They are negligible. All of the content in this game is still easy with full exotic. However, the reason we are claiming that the stats are everything is that they are everything TO THE INDIVIDUAL. I value the numbers not because they are going to change the game for me and allow me to sweep over content that you could hardly attempt, but because I like having the biggest numbers on my character.

Your “Tome of +1 power” is a perfect example. I would go apekitten over this and work my butt off for it. It holds the same value that ascended has. It is not a game changer. It is not necessary. The stats don’t matter to the game. They matter to me. If you close the gap, they lose that personal meaning and I just spent ages working towards something I don’t want any more. Nobody should be bothered by the gap because, as far as the game is concerned, it really is meaningless, and you casuals in your exotic tier armor can do anything that I can do in my ascended armor.

Idk how to do more than one quote (it’s super cool how you people do that. I’m going to figure it out some day), but this is for the guy who quoted me and said we shouldn’t make ascended for the stats, we should make it simply because it’s endgame content. That’s really stupid, and I’m not quite sure what else to say about it. What would be the point? Maybe I’m misinterpreting what you said or remembering it wrong or something. But if I’m understanding correctly, that’s just a really silly idea.

in response to another previous post about legendaries, this is a REALLY GOOD POINT. I didn’t think about it because I don’t have one. Would those of you who would have the armor gap closed also have the weapon gap closed so that legendaries are the same stats as exotics? And if not, why is that different?

No. God, no. Please. Everyone who made ascended for the stats would feel cheated instantly. Idgaf if the stats aren’t worth it or whatever. They are still bigger and they are still better and that is why people make it. Believe it or not, there are people out there who actually like being rewarded for their efforts.

Essentially you’re proposing a “no child left behind” policy. The people who don’t want to do the work to make ascended should be able to have ascended stats anyways because it’s not fair otherwise, right? Regardless of the amount of work we put into something, we should all be equal. Lets get rid of the ascended gap because it encourages competition and takes away our right to be as good as anyone else.

Let me tell you something. I am halfway to ascended. It’s been FUN for me trying to make it because I’m IMPROVING my character. I can’t wait to finish it. This is something that makes me happy, Nolop. Do you think the others who worked hard to craft ascended will feel any different?

TL/DR: No

Just a Q for thought. Is there any chance Alacrity will effect ICDs? it would be cool if they did. There might be evidence in the game already somehow that proves this is or isn’t a thing. I’d love to hear about it if there is and what everyone thinks about it. ^.^

I’m trying to make the Bifrost (without using the TP) and I’ve finally decided to tackle the dust collection. For those unaware, the Bifrost requires full stacks of T3-T6 dust. So, I’m wondering what the most efficient way to get T3-T5 dust is (again without using the TP.) Any advice not involving the TP would be great, thanks!

Canach was with us when we were with Kas at the party thing. investigating the ministers to see who was spreading rumors about the queen and scarlet meeting up. He was there again at the summit. Both times he was Anis’ dog. He didn’t even speak to other DE 2.0 except maybe Kas. Was there any other time? I went back and re-watched the cut-scene. He is in a shot with them for about two or three seconds at the end. And it’s not very obvious it’s him, either. Maybe it’s just me, but this is the kind of thing I like to see the story address rather than a blog post. I know it’s little and there’s enough complaining on the forums already. It’s just that this really got under my skin.

So, when did we learn that Canach was a part of Destiny’s Edge 2.0? In the most recent blog post about the story so far, arena net has included Canach in with Brham(sp?) Marjory, Kas., Taimi, and Rox. I’m not sure if I missed anything, but I don’t ever remember experiencing this happening. As far as I know, he still works for Anise. This reminds me of the whole debacle about Mordremoth’s name back when it became official. Our characters never actually learned it’s name. that was more acceptable since it was all over the forums. but I have never even heard of this being a thing. Why is arena net letting us know by putting it in a blog post rather than letting us learn about him joining DE 2.0 in HoT?

Or you could use this link ;p
[mod edit: referral link removed]

oh my o.o i guess we can’t put referral links in the forums. sorry, anet ^.^’ note taken

A certain level of logic is needed when trying to dish out punishment… If you are in a car and speeding at 10 over the limit, your fine is going to be less than if you are speeding 25+ over the limit. Simple example that shows the use of logic when it comes to punishing someone. Now, assuming that this actually is an exploit as defined by arena net, this person IS WEARING AN ARMOR SKIN…. do you understand? Does that logically constitute a ban? Utilizing A PURELY COSMETIC CHANGE does not provide any financial or tactical gain in guild wars 2. Therefore, it does not effect anyone else in the game. They are not gaining access to better stats. They are not stealing from other players. They are not gaining any kind of currency whatsoever. This is just a cosmetic change to their character that was unintended by arena net. It does not constitute a ban, nor does it constitute much of anything else. The skins should be removed, obviously. But that is it.

Just curious, what is CDI?

Jitendra is right. I figured it was just a different camera angle, but his picture is taken much further back than yours, Kaos. Jitendra’s picture is still the one to find.

wow… Is that some kind of Charr equipment that’s fallen into a chasm? I haven’t the slightest clue where this one is ._.

deSade.9437:

EnlightenedNavigator.8296:

Leave your account name in your comment so I can mail you your g.

/snort
Hm. Excuse me.

Sorry, M8. I’m not used to forums and didn’t realize that your name on here = your account name. I cleared that up with the first guy who found my spot when I realized my mistake. I’ll remove that part of the first post.

This is amazing!! I check back every day to find all of the locations you all post and it is so much fun ^.^ thank you everyone for playing along with me and keep it up. My favorite entry so far is Jitendra’s latest entry. Very beautiful. Most of these really are gorgeous. I may post another entry soon if I find something challenging and beautiful enough to compete.

Aethercat.7906:

Un-findable. Next please.

It’s not unfindable. Look in the details. this definitely feels like Caledon. But those aren’t houses, so you can avoid the small downs. Look in the background. That’s rock. There are also “god rays,” so that leads me to believe this is possibly in a cave. Now begins the hunt. The only one i can’t get to so far is Jitendra’s >.<

This is terribly frustrating. I know where this is, I just don’t know how to get there.

Here’s Shriibot’s first, and a little slice of my home town second ;p Lets see who knows about this little garden.

Manu.6078:

I welcome the idea but I would like to point out one small issue that must be taken into consideration. There is in the game this "Twisted Watchwork Portal Device " http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Twisted_Watchwork_Portal_Device, who can teleport you to places inaccessible by normal means. Example:

Ah, thank you, Manu. Well, a revision to the rules is in order.
Rule 6: The use of Watchwork Portal Devices is strictly prohibited. Please keep the fun rolling and don’t use them.

I want to play a game. 1g to the first person to take a picture with the same background and post it here. Then, if you so desire, you can do the same as I am doing. If this becomes something that a lot of people get involved in, I would like to propose some rules.
Rule 1: Pictures can be taken ANYWHERE in GW2.
Rule 2: It must be possible to figure out where you are from your picture (no screenshots of a wall/corner/ground/cloud/anything that is unreasonably vague)
Rule 3: If at least three people agree that a picture is unreasonably vague, that picture is disqualified and anyone may feel free to post the next picture.
Rule 4: Do not post a picture unless you have solved the previous one or there have been three votes agreeing that the previous picture is unreasonably vague.
Rule 5: This game is based on an honor system. Please respect that and if you post a picture, be prepared and willing to send a gold to whomever solves it.
Rule 6: The use of Watchwork Portal Devices is strictly prohibited. Please keep the fun rolling and don’t use them.

Happy hunting! (and remember to disable your UI with ctrl+left shift+H)

Edit: Posting rule 6 here to keep newcomers from missing it.
Edit: Omitting me being stupid ;p

This is my main, Maelstrom Navigator (you can call her Mael). She is an elementalist and is the only character I ever really play on, and she is very much corrupted by Mordremoth!! She cannot wait to see what is in store for her in the jungle ^w^

They could make dedicated servers for the maps that would be effected by multiplayer content (like tower of nightmares and escape from LA) and give players the option to join them when they try to load into those maps. It’s not about trying to fit it in with stuff like already existing fractals or anything like that. They would just make it very clear that, “Hey, this is S1 content and if you want to go back and experience it this is your opportunity.” Idk how hard or how much of a mess this would be. it’s just a sugestion. But I think it would definitely be a huge mistake to leave new players in the dark about how we got where we are. The xpac will bring new players, and this content needs to be available to them. (also, I’d like to play some of it again myself.)

Thing is, they’ve been working on the xpac for a while now but have still been releasing S2 and stuff. I guess now anet is going into overdrive on the xpac and that’s why they can’t really focus on anything else? I don’t see how re-releasing old content would take a lot of resources. It seems like they would have everything they need archived ‘cause they’ve already made all of it.

It’s been a while since the end of S2, but we haven’t really seen anything happen within GW2. I was expecting the time between then and HoT to still get a good amount of attention and content (like re-releasing some of the old S1 bits. this would be a perfect time for that in order to catch new players up on what’s going on,) especially since anet has been so consistent with releasing good content for the past X months. But I’m beginning to worry. Maybe I’m just being too impatient and they have something good in the works, but I’d like to see something more satisfying than the lunar new year at least by next Tuesday. Any thoughts? Am I expecting too much?

I’m pretty sure there was a time when Anet said they’d be giving players an opportunity to replay old content. Since there cannot logically be any story progression until the expac (Collin said the story of the expac starts immediately after the pact is destroyed) we won’t be seeing anything like lions arch being rebuilt or anything at all to do with Mordremoth and the LS so far. I would wager Anet is going to take this time to open up the old updates to players so that we can experience any content we may have missed and to reinforce the story of how we got here.

skullmount.1758:

Moon.7310:

Another question is, why the heck is this minipet accountbound… so unlucky people will open 1million bags and still not get it, while others may have useless seconds.

Its account bound? That really sucks. If people are opening thousands and not getting it, how the kitten are normal casual people supposed to get it?

It’s not for casuals. It’s for people who are willing to spend hours every day grinding in the labyrinth or who are willing to buy possibly a million ToT bags. Having Gwynefyrdd is not a sign of being a casual. It’s a sign that you worked your kitten off or spent a kitten ton of money. I’ve spent ages in the labyrinth and opened I don’t even know how many bags. If i get it, i want to be one of the few. Sorry, casuals, but sometimes there are things that you don’t get to have.

MauricioCezar.2673:

Enlighted : Feedback of players is what makes a game fit inplayers taste. What youa re saying is to us NOT talk about what we dislike, so anet just keep making what they want without care what plkaers want? You know, this will comes to a point where no ones will come to play the game (Also, no one making paid process as indicating the game to other ppl to buy, or buying gems). I as myself have made a lot of feedbacks talking about things I liked in the game, but its not the pretty words that makes the you become better, its the critiques. As a designer, Game Designer and a screenwriter, I’ve received several and several heavy critiques on works that I liked a lot, and did not received a single good word about it. It just made me remake and being better. Your sense of critiques are a bad thing, don’t fits in the real/professional wrold, so, or you are just a casual player that don’t work with this sort of stuff (And I don’t care if you are), or you are a child that will yet have to taste about what I’m talking.

I know it’s good to have critiques, but it’s not healthy to have nothing but negative feedback. I very rarely see the community saying good things about Anet. It’s always just the bad stuff. If we only ever tell them what we don’t like and never what we do, then how are they supposed to make the game better. The idea that we should only tell them that we don’t like their game is stupid. It doesn’t encourage improvement. It doesn’t encourage anything. Yes, it’s okay to say that you don’t like parts of the game, but most of what I hear in map chat and see on forums is along the lines of “everything Anet touches turns into crap.” What does that accomplish? Nothing positive, I can assure you. if that’s all anyone ever said about you, (this is for everyone in the community who only ever complains about Anet,) then you’d probably give up. telling the devs what we like is just as important as telling them what we don’t like. I just wish people would encourage Anet, not discourage them.

-Mael

Anet has given us solid content since the beginning of season two and most people really like it. They did an amazing job with all of it. Obviously they can’t roll out high quality content non stop. that’s asking too much of anyone. What they are giving us is really enjoyable, but everyone always bashes on Anet ‘cause of the little things that people disagree with. Imagine if you brought doughnuts to work ’cause it’s Friday and people like doughnuts. But everyone starts shouting at you and telling you that you suck ‘cause you didn’t get every single person their favorite flavor. They’re totally ignoring the fact that you just spent you time and money to get doughnuts for them and are really just trying to make you feel like kitten ‘cause you screwed up. That’s what I see when I look at Anet and the community. Everyone’s complaining ‘cause they didn’t get the exact doughnut they wanted. The feature patch is a break so that the devs can create more content FOR US THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR. I don’t think it’s part of the story at all so they aren’t trying to fit these achievements in with the story. SAB isn’t their concern right now ‘cause they’ve got to work on Halloween and the rest of season two. they have a lot on their plate. When they do SAB they’ll do it ‘cause they have enough time to make it good. So stop kittening about not getting the doughnut that you wanted and start giving some positive feedback. Quit ignoring all the awesome stuff that Anet puts out. It probably makes the creators really happy and excited about their work when people tell them how much they like this or that or some certain part. But all anyone ever does is say that they hate everything. It’s really depressing and is starting to make me hate the community. You’ve become a bunch or really mean people…

Sorry, Anet, on behalf of the community. I for one really appreciate the incredible game play you give us all the time and I know lots of others who do as well. Thank you for the adventure, and I can’t wait to experience more!!

-Mael