Guild Wars 2

I’ve been away for a while but I am back enjoying my guardian and buying gems. The last thing I expected to see tonight was for my symbol of faith to have the most hideous, bright orangey, colored ring replace it’s subtle yet stylish visual effects.
I went to the options to see if I can change it back and I can’t. I can have my character have high textures, reflections, everything on max, except my abilities.

Bottom line – I want an option to change the visual effects of my spells back to what I am used to and what I like. And I want it yesterday.

Taking advice from the “How to give good feedback” sticky I would like to discuss how the Wardrobe feature may be improved by allowing players the ability to access all armor collections, regardless of profession and “armor class” restrictions. Only as it pertains to cosmetic appearance not stats.

Lord of The Rings Online by Turbine has a wardrobe system that allows all classes to wear cosmetically any piece of armor that is obtainable by players. Gameplay wise they have multiple classes that use three types or armor “heavy, medium, and light” respectively but they have a “Cosmetic Outfits” tab on their character display that will replace the appearance of any currently equipped armor to one that you have in your inventory. If the item you have is not wearable by your class (say you can only equip light armor) then the game has provided the “Wardrobe” tab in your bank where the appearance of any piece of armor can be saved (not the actual item). Once the appearance is saved you can then apply it to your character using the cosmetic outfits tab without running into any restrictions. Since it is the appearance of the item you are using and not the actual item.

This may sound confusing but for those familiar with the system it provides endless possibilities for creating a unique appearance to your character. For references please feel free to visit the blogs of several talented and passionate fans of Lotro and its cosmetic features.

http://cosmeticlotro.wordpress.com/
http://starrymantle.wordpress.com/
http://materialmiddleearth.blogspot.com/

Currently in GW2 if you salvage a piece of armor that is of your armor class the wardrobe system will record its appearance, allowing you access to it whenever you want. I propose this should apply to all headgear, shoulders, chest, gloves, leggings, and boots regardless of armor class. Allowing all humans to access all gear that is wearable by humans, all norns access to all gear that is wearable by norns, and etc. including but not limited to cultural armor.

The results would be purely cosmetic and superficial but absolutely positive and beneficial to all fans of the wardrobe system.

Zylonite.5913:

I am wondering if it would have been better if there was no LS contents at all?

Without the Living Story we would be missing the temporary: dungeons, achievements, and rewards. I also doubt that we would have seen the intro of RNG coffers since it would not be accompanied by the “limited time offer” feeling of urgency.

We would still have received the new pvp maps, new pvp features, changes to WvW like culling and rewards, and changes to traits/professions.

Now here is the interesting part – instead of temp events what would we have gotten?

I cant say. But what i can say is I still believe this Living Story Project to be a Frankenstein’s monster. The best thing to come out of it were two dungeons…and MMO players enjoying fun dungeons is NOT a revelation! Why did you not just spend more time making more dungeons, or fixing the old ones – giving Zhaitan a proper death.

Before rant mode kicks in I’ll end with this – Living Story has not offered anything.

HiddenNick.7206:

Another FESTIVAL!!!

I did not realize this until now but you are right. Its another celebration thats coming too soon after Dragon Bash.

I suppose celebrations are the “kill x boars” of Living Story events.

It blows my mind because this event was planned MONTHS ago. Meaning its very possible another celebration event is being made even as we speak right now. And another can be marked on a calendar already.

Fortus.6175:

I believe Stealth should be good enough, no need to give it so many good things on top of that while not having ANY way of dealing with it other than swinging your sword in the air

Maybe Fortus. But the “stealth” ability is in the game – and works the way it does – because of a very specific profession, lets not kid ourselves.

The Thief profession was implemented because its game play style caters to a very specific group of MMO players. Rogues, Thief, Assassins, call it whatever you want but they are all the same. Burst dps, lots of control, and invisibility(not visible; not perceptible by the eye) aka “stealth”.

You cant change “stealth” without changing the very core of the ever popular Rogue class. I felt before that “stealth” should behave more like stealth, using camouflage, secrecy, deception and the like. But thats not a Rogue class anymore…thats something else. Something im afraid the Rogue, Thief, Assassin class fans would not play.

Use your imagination or just take an already existing weapon from another profession. This is not a suggestion topic as much as an open discussion on what kind of flavor of a range weapon we would like if we were offered one.
I like the Scepter abilities but its visual and conceptual style are not to my liking.

So if I had to imagine a new ranged weapon I would choose:
Hand Blaster! Like Mega Man or like Goku, either is fine.

If I had to borrow I would choose:
Long Bow! My guardian using a golden long bow like the Zenith weapon…wow. Something very Greek gods about it lol

your turn.

Clockradio.3257:

…to get you excited about WvW?

What would have to change/be added into the game to make it more appealing to those who primarily farm PvE events and dungeons?

I am not big on WvW but I remember having a very fun evening and I believe it had to do with something very specific. Small scale battles. 4-5 of us running around capturing quickly and evasively. Almost like a sPvP match.

The times I have gotten frustrated with WvW was because in large scale battles (Zerg fights) I am killed quickly and often times without knowing what exactly is causing my death. In sPvP when you die against another player in a 1v1 or a 2v1 you think “well maybe if I had used x instead of y” or “next fight with that player I will time my abilities better”. I find I learn nothing from being killed by a zerg, I only wish i had more AoE anything.

Tengu and Kodan would need some serious work if they were put into the game as playable characters. Both fit their roles perfectly as NPCs but the Kodan models/textures are bland (look at their small, expressionless faces) and both of these races have animations that are nothing special. Not to mention both these races seem like it would take a lot of work to make respectable/believable female counterparts.

Im not partial to birds in any shape or form but I’m not opposed to them as a new race, same with Kodan, that is if we see them improved to be on par with the already playable races.

I am impressed with how so many players have more than three level cap characters. I have an:
80 guardian
80 engineer
80 mesmer
and a low level warrior and elementalist.

I struggled very much to level up my mesmer and I have yet to recover from the leveling bun out though months have passed. Three level cap characters and Map completion has severely diminished the thrill of experiencing the world(for a 4th time).

Tachenon.5270:

Galen Grey.4709:

Is it that bad to play other older content for 7,8 days between LS releases?

No, I’m all for playing older content. As I’ve said, it’s the older content in GW2 that’s keeping me here. I am not against new content. I am not against new content every two weeks. I am, as I’ve said, against non-seasonal temporary content because it comes and goes and therefore does not become additional older content. Therefore, the amount of older content available to do between these rounds of new content is not increasing. I believe this is bad for the game.

There is not much more to do here today (between living story episodes) than there was at launch. Fractals, if you like that. How many different ‘dungeons’ are there in the fractals? Have any been added? Then there’s Southsun Cove, if you like the events there, which I don’t, but that’s beside the point. What else? The aetherblade jumping puzzle, if you like that. Oh, and those DEs that were added so early on that no one noticed they were new and therefore didn’t comment on their newness.

Anything else? Besides balancing and tweaking?

The emphasis on temporary content is, in my opinion, keeping the core game in stasis. Now, before someone feels obliged to point out (yet again) that the devs have said that they intend to add more permanent content along with the continuing delivery of temporary content and have four teams working on all this stuff stuff stuffy stuff, I’ll say this: yes, of course. Devs say a lot of things. A Cryptic dev once said, and I quote, “And I will continue to remind you that nothing said before launch, or even now, is a ‘promise’ and to continue to construe it as such is just playing to human nature.” And so, as far as I am concerned, anything a game developer says (not just anet – all of them, everywhere, in every game), particularly in regard to what may be in the works, amounts to little more than hearsay and rumor mongering until it actually appears in the game. Be that as it may, I maintain that they should not be adding some permanent content along with the temporary content, I say it should all be permanent content, and it should all be content with substance, something that will stick to our ribs, so to speak, and not more spam the F button junk that is the MMO equivalent of potato chips and candy bars.

So. We will see what we will see, and we will see it when we see it. See?

I liked your wall of text so I quoted it all. If I may I would like to pull out some favorite lines:
-“[I’m] against non-seasonal temporary content because it comes and goes and therefore does not become additional older content”
-“There is not much more to do here today (between living story episodes) than there was at launch.”
-“The emphasis on temporary content is, in my opinion, keeping the core game in stasis.”

Friendly reminder to all is that Super Adventure Box is not a part of the Living Story Project. SABs miraculous creation and opening was apart from what at the time was the Flame & Frost Living Story chapter. Let us pray it stays independent of this Frankenstein monster known as the living story.

Kaaboose.3897:

…My favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn’t cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. This isn’t what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn’t fair! HE DID’NT GET OUT OF THE kitten – A – DOODIE CAR!

LOL!
I weep for the Anet dev that falls into your hands Kaaboose!

Edited:
Or mine…what have we become? lol

Galen Grey.4709:

Actually Dragonbash, Skypirates and even the bazaar had content specifically designed to get you playing those areas.

Dragonbash had the effigies…

If the effigies for example were meant to provide content for about 15 hrs (I estimate thats how long it took me give or take (3 days playing at about 5hrs each day) and these people finished it in 30 mins because they teleported around, next release they’re not going to reduce them to make it easier on players like me, they going to increase it so that it will be impossible to finish in just 30 mins. Worst yet, Anet will be bashed because they’re designing the game around the gem shop because they’ll claim obvious the reason for the effigies was so that people loose 3g or so in teleportation fees there by forcing them to convert real money into gems. Finally they will complain there is nothing to do because 30 mins and they were done.

What can Anet really do to combat that?

I purposefully did not mention effigies and holograms because they are not good at getting players, heck getting me, to visit old areas. They are certainly not good at getting me to care about it.

F&F had events happening in Diessa and Wayfarer. Achievements/quests involving the Refugees were found in those two areas. The double agent quest had you running all over both these areas. The invasion itself were happening more in these two areas than anywhere else. This is good. WAY more could have been done like changing all dredge into Molten Alliance dredge, permanently changing dynamic events to reflect the Molten Allaince, a new world boss, new hearts, BUT as the first Living Story Project it was good.

They can do this with the other Living Story projects. Take them to Timberline Falls, Mount Malestorm, Harathi Hinterlands. Scoop out the old hearts and dynamic events and add new ones that support a new story for the area that compliments and adds to the current Living Story project.
Both Sky Pirates and Bazzar are organizations that are not anchored to any particular part of the world because their domain is the sky so they can be placed anywhere! Toymaker Tixx had a more relevant influence in the world than both the Sky Pirates and the Bazzar because he actually went from place to place with his airship lol

Were they not suppose to make the WORLD feel alive, relevant, and changing? Are effigies enough and I am just asking the impossible?

nirvana.8245:

I’m a little perplexed. My understanding of the living world was they were introducing new content as a means of showing how the world was changing and evolving. But by removing that content after a short period of time aren’t we just reverting to what the game was before and showing how it is not changing or evolving?

Thank goodness, thank you nirvana.8245. For a brief moment I felt like i was crazy for being the only one that noticed this.

@Kaboose
I liked your video and I agree that the Living Story focus on providing its best features(dungeons and achievements) as temporary content is detrimental to my enjoyment of the game.

I wanted to use this space to write something directly to the Developers but I feel so disconnected from them that we may as well be speaking different languages. I say I want an expansion and they reply “expansion worth of content in Living Story”, I say I want a new area/zone and they reply “region worth of content in Living Story”. Apparently they are a completely different kind of player of games than I am. I thought we were the same because the level 1-80 experience was something I enjoyed but since January (except for SAB) its been really awkward and confusing.

I…I think we should see other people Anet…

Vayne.8563:

1. The reason, in my opinion, temporary content is temporary..particularly things like dungeons, is because after a month or two, those dungeons would take traffic away from everything else. Anet wants people in the open world, not in a handful of dungeons. People who like dungeons and come from other games were dungeons are central don’t get this at all. Dungeons aren’t really central in this game. Anet wants the world to be bigger than the dungeons. Leaving the dungeons in divides the playerbase. They saw this with fractals. Everyone complains there are less people in the world. Right. Because five people at a time in a dungeon means less people in the open world.

I liked your other points but I am quoting you here because I believe this is what the Devs promised – to bring us back into the world. If I may let me recap:
-F&F was good at this because it brought us back to Wayfarer and Diessa where we had achievements to do, refugees that needed various things, and the entrance and exit to the MF dungeon.
-SouthSun was their best attempt because it (for a short while at least) resurrected, an otherwise waste of development time, SouthSun Cove. New events and a world boss.
-Dragon Bash and Sky Pirates are the worst because they took place in what is already the most popular area to park your character…Lions Arch. Dragon Bash is a holiday so I excuse that but Sky Pirates being exclusive to LA and even having its dungeon located there too is ridiculous design wise and lore wise(how do you explain a base being built in LA without the Vigil, The Whisper, or the Priory not to mention the Lion guard noticing??)
-Bazzar of the Four Winds is out tomorrow but it has its own little area exclusively for itself. This is probably the worst because its taking place outside of the world completely. In a vacuum if you will.

Below I have attached a map of the world and I have colored the areas which I feel could use some attention. 12 areas that I never visit, at all. After World Completion these areas might as well have dropped off the map. I was pretty generous too as I only went to Blazeridge Steppes tonight to help guildies with the world boss, I go to field of ruins because its usually empty and i can farm coffers, and I put Southsun Cove because I went once to check out the new content but I havent been back since.

These places can use a make over, use some new events, new world bosses, new vistas, hearts, races, jumping puzzles, what have you. Why couldnt they just build the floating Bazzar above one of these empty areas? Would bring players back to the area and at the very least revitalize some already existing events. No actually that wouldnt be the very least, the very least would be that it would get players to remember that this particular area exists at all.

szqec.5762:

• PVE:
  On the other hand GW2’s PVE is great. The leveling process is much better than WoW’s. Events make the world interactive and fun to travel, skill point challenges sometimes surprise you, vistas are pain in the kitten yet rewarding. Crafting is fun because of discovery.
  …
  Maybe they should make the events there as hard Grenth and add some super hard events. That ought to bring the zone back to life. Maybe make world bosses harder too.

First of all i like what you said about how there is no communication in GW2 pvp compared to WoW battlegrounds. Of course that means less trolling and griefing but it also means less participation and team work when it comes to strategy. I just realized that when i do pvp even though im surrounded by other players it pretty much a solo experience, for me anyways.

Your comment on leveling being great I couldn’t agree with you more! I loved all three parts of the Personal story – my Asuran personal story, my Vigil personal story and even the Traherne personal story was interesting(though i still hate it was more his story than mine). Events are fun and yes Skill points often do really challenge you! Those are wonderful surprises. however you didnt mention heart missions which are a personal favorite for me, easy to jump into and varied.

Your last statement about making world bosses more challenging is a tough nut to crack. How do you make a boss fight challenging and engaging when world bosses and dungeon bosses hit like trucks(and no class is meant to be a meat shield or healer). In Molten Facility and the recent AR dungeon what they are doing is making the environment itself your actual enemy. Constant mobility and awareness are required to defeat the boss. Its a good direction to follow and i hope they continue though personally i feel these kind of fights would be even more exciting if there were more defining roles instead of full dps or guardian lol

Thanks for your thoughts by the way.

I wonder how the shooting range would have worked. Would you have been put in to first person point of view and shot at moving targets, that sounds like fun. Would be cool if you could collect a high score that others can see and compete with.

Don’t underestimate mini games in games, look at Pet battles in World of Warcraft. Or farmville-ish mini games in WoW or DragonNest.

Araris.7839:

1. No character progression beyond 80.
2. No End Game content beyond grinding dungeon/fractals.
3. The only answer Anet seems to have in regards to rewards is….grind.

+1

To me I have progressed my character as much as I think I can. I have 100% World Exploration, a build that’s not the most popular but my favorite, complete T3 cultural armor, more gold than i have ever had before, and a shield that personally i think looks like the coolest thing in game.

I wish I could have some project to work on that is moldable. I think of Dimensions in Rift and how many hours I could invest in projects of that nature. Or the Foundry in Neverwinter. Giving players the ability to create the content that currently the Devs are unable to deliver.

Hell Avenger.7021:

I think what people want is a coherent LONG story campaign with expansive contents, and not these tiny updates with massive grinds built into it.

They are trying to compare these “episodic release” as TV shows, well too bad none of the current content has any quality climax to make people wanting to see the next thing. There isn’t any real goal. Who are we fighting now? Some pirates? GIVE people a purpose in your storyline, and not some random weird out of nowhere bs.

This is bad project management, you have 4 teams and they are creating incoherent stories.

You guys really want to develop it like a TV show? Take some inspiration from Game of the Throne, not freaking CSI Miami, where every episodes are barely connected.

Yes, yes, and yes.
I’m happy to see that there are players that realize the devs potential and how they are squandering it away making mini holiday-imitation events.

I have not forgotten the “Personal Story” feature and how we were told choices we made would influence our adventures in the world. Was that just for leveling up? Just a gimmick? A bait and switch? Looks like it because the Living Story project makes it seem like they jumped ship on a lot of their ideas that got me to buy the game in the first place.

TriggerSad.2597:

Skill 4a: Zealous Retreat – Block the next attack. If blocked, the user is teleported away blinding nearby foes.
Skill 5: Wrathful Wave – The user spins around once, striking each foe with greater intensity as he spins.

I always support more weapons for any class. I especially like the idea of Zealous Retreat but I do remember some Devs in a video explaining they purposefully have given Guardians several ways to jump into a fight but not out of one.

It must be one of their philosophies for the class which I don’t mind calling stupid. Mobility is King in this game, what good is a philosophy if its not practical.

GoldenTruth.2853:

If you’ve done the jp and the dungeon then I would say you did do the content and can state what you want about the Sky Pirates patch (I don’t consider grindy achievements content, but I do consider things that aren’t directly achievements like the decoration of Lion’s Arch content).

I like what you said, if you have done the jumping puzzle and the dungeon its reasonable to say you have experienced the content. Everything else really does not stand on its own. I feel the “mystery” of who killed Mr. Who Cares no name was delivered poorly. The best part about it was the cut scene and its thematic style. But the investigations, the murder itself, and the weak escort quest (taking the wounded from point A to point B in a straight line with spawning mobs) very disappointing.

So I told you what I dont like. Let me tell you what I would like from a Living Story chapter:
A new open world area complete with its own place on the map, vistas, points of interest, dynamic events, and hearts. Dynamic events and hearts help to explain an overarching plot unique to the area. Also included is a continuation of the personal story. Not the dragon slaying personal story but rather what we experienced in the first 30 levels of any character. A story that revolves exclusively around your character. To be clearer: on my Asuran I chose to have the Infinity ball as my great invention so my story revolved around me and my invention. Perhaps we can have several options to choose from that are specific to our race or profession that will influence what kind of adventures and discoveries we will make. Include a conclusion to the story and toss some achievements in there. A world boss and/or dungeon would be appreciated.
Or
Do everything I have mentioned above but inside an already existing area. Replace the old hearts and dynamic events with new ones and change the landscape while adding new vistas and points of interest.

An amazing Living Story chapter would consist of
A. A new open world area complete with its own place on the map, vistas, points of interest, dynamic events, and hearts. DE and hearts help to explain an overarching plot unique to the area. Also included is a continuation of the personal story. Not the dragon slaying personal story but rather what we experienced in the first 30 levels of any character. A story that revolves exclusively around your character. To be clearer on my Asuran I chose to have the Infinity ball as my great invention so my story revolved around me and my invention. Perhaps we can have several options to choose from that are specific to our race or profession that will influence what kind of adventures and discoveries we will make. Include a conclusion to the story and toss some achievements in there. A world boss and/or dungeon would be appreciated.
or
B. Do everything I have mentioned above but inside an already existing area. Replace the old hearts and dynamic events with new ones and change the landscape while adding new vistas and points of interest to get the player familiar with the new look and to encourage exploration.

This is what I imagined when they began talking about the Living Story project influencing and changing the world we knew.

mrstealth.6701:

Hell Avenger.7021:

Let’s put it bluntly. The living story is only holding people’s interest for NOW. People are waiting, and once they cannot wait anymore. They will move on to the next thing.

I’m tired of waiting, and I’ve had more than enough living story. It just feels like we’re bouncing from one random, completely unrelated story to the next. None of it matters, and none of it has anything to do with the rest of the game’s world or story. Random steampunk flying pirates show up out of nowhere to crash an already somewhat silly celebration…I feel like I should be watching this from the back row of a theater while a man and his two robot friends heckle the screen.

mrstealth your words in this comment and your previous ones, encompass my own feelings about the current state of the game.
The Living Story Project is not delivering a story as well scripted or acted out as what we were given from lvl 1-80. We do not hear our characters talk, we do not get to make choices as them, and we do not see their personalities which we chose influence their decisions. Not to mention the story they are involved themselves has no impact on them or the world.
1. Dredge and Charr unite to fight the world and spawn mute refugees out of thin air. They are defeated after one of their facilities is blown up…never to be heard of again. (dungeon removed)
2. Mute refugees are moved to previously abandoned island and tricked into a binding contract. They rebel and we punch them in the face. (dungeon removed)
3. Speaking of punching, lets Bash some Dragons! You remember the dragons right? Lets celebrate how they aren’t a threat anymore (since we wont see an expansion anytime soon lol)
4. Sky Pirates attack festival! Turns out not only are they able to steal airships from the army that conquered Orr and slayed a Dragon but they can also create a fortress within LA itself without anyone noticing! Good thing they aren’t very smart when it comes to putting a lock on their front door! (Dungeon soon to be removed)

Fiontar.4695:

…If the last two updates are indicative of what to expect moving forward, then things aren’t really any better, they just provide an illusion of productivity by providing an update every fortnight. It’s fast-food content that provides no real nutritional value and leaves you feeling hungry.

They can’t call it Living World content, because none of it makes the world feel alive. They shouldn’t call it Living Story content, because there is never enough actual story. (We really should get 3-5 Story Instances at least on par with the story and game play experience provided by the Personal Story with each installment).

It really feels like fluff content slapped together by a studio that has forgotten how to produce content. I mean, look at the amazing amount of content of all sorts and the massive, detailed worldspace it inhabits. Arenanet clearly knew how to harness it’s employees and direct the project in a way that produced an unprecedented amount of at launch content for an MMO. What happened to that studio?

ANet developed over 1600 Dynamic Events in five years, while also building everything else that went into the game. If they could have produced even 300 new DEs around the world over the last ten months, we would have a true Living World. Instead, DEs are suddenly “too hard” and we get this Living Story kitten instead.

I think your point is absolutely appropriate. I mentioned before how GW2 fans are being deceived or deceiving themselves into lowering their standards.

The Living Story Project does not live up to the quality that the level 1-80 experience impresses on you, not story wise and not content wise. It also fails to make the world of Tyria feel alive. F&F went from January to April and the majority of it was nothing but “achievements”. When it “concluded” the only thing that changed about the world was that the content was removed.

SAB had more of an influence in the world because Moto is still there and the Box is still there also. Not to mention several players who you see running around with weapons from SAB because they were purchasable with tokens earned inside the event.

Dont you dare touch my SAB you Living Story devs! dont you dare!

I feel I have no other choice but to use my Scepter for both boss encounters. This troubles me a lot because I do not like Scepter damage or its aesthetic style but I must if I want to contribute any kind of Dps.

With the first boss encounter the golems appear to gain an electric bubble when it hits the lasers that dazes your character if you get within melee range. I can not always keep the golem following me while 4 other team mates relentlessly(and rightly so) bombard it. It is just more practical to use a range weapon – Scepter for Guardian.

On the final boss encounter it is ridiculous to attack her only in melee since she hits hard, fast, and stacks bleed that can quickly overwhelm you(plus cripple and weakness). As far as I have seen if you remove them she easily puts them back on you.

The groups of mobs also I find are just better to attack from afar. Their unique composition of range dps with strong melee attackers that can CC (not to mention those casters that focus fire) are very good at making short work of me before my 1.5 sec heal is finished casting.

Now as I said above I feel forced to use the scepter if I want to contribute any kind of Dps. My guardian as much +healing I give him is not a Healer that can ignore attacking and just focus on spamming 1k heals over and over like a Priest in WoW, Rift, Tera, etc.
Please do not make dungeons that corner me into making a particular weapon my only choice. If you will then I insist you give me more options in ranged weapons so that I continue to have variety and freedom.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

I’m disappointed that Anet thinks a money sinks, some skins, and grinding achievements, are passable as content…

It seems to be all about the gem store and making money, now….much greedier Anet than the Anet I knew from GW1.

Hello OP, I understand your point. Let me add that the “Living Story” has by far been the most unorthodox and to me the most disappointing series of updates an MMO has ever had. Instead of:
-new areas with hearts and events
-old areas with new hearts and events
-new personal story
-new permanent fractals or dungeons with their own rewards(stat or cosmetic wise)
-new weapons
…we get what you explained which is temporary money sinks and grinding achievements which i feel are more like tasks, labors.

I still can not believe F&F took so long to complete. For a long while all that event encompassed was fixing signs(walking up to something and clicking F). The most exciting part of that Living Story chapter was the dungeon which lasted less time than everything else and was tainted by RNG rewards.

On the other hand we did get SAB which was the most thought out, polished, and rewarding(literally) thing to come out of GW2 this entire year. This makes me think no one in the Living Story project had anything to do with it. Its own unique commercial, its own gaming experience with combat mechanics, jumping puzzle mechanics, unique aesthetic style, rewards that can be purchased with tokens AND by RNG in chests, tasks that where areal achievement to complete, and even its own soundtrack.
Saying it all really blows my mind.

F&F, Southsun, and Dragon Bash have all disappointed me. They have not lived up to the quality the level 1-80 experience impressed on me. Add the RNG push and the “achievement” grind and you got me skeptical about the integrity of the game.

I enjoy your idea of having events relevant to the main story in say an expansion take place in areas that we have some relation to(such as the starting areas).
I pictured a dragon or any villain destroying Metrica Province and i became emotionally involved in an instant.

Also thank you for the video. Never mind FlamingFoxx, I enjoy video and audio explanations very much. Thankfully I have not entered the state of mind (arguably more like the lack there of) of not being able to focus on one thing for longer than 8 minutes.

When I got to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features I do not find anything on GW2 or Anet

My search on the internet only leads me to people recommending I just delete all the files myself but I have heard this is not the appropriate way to uninstall anything.

I do not want this game on my PC anymore(simple). What are the steps I need to follow to make that a reality?

Thank you.

I got my mini pack. Thank you.

My belief is that it was originally planned to be a holiday event(once a year) but due to its unexpected success among a great deal of players I like to think that it is being worked on at this very moment for another release this year. However that is just speculation based on the fact that SAB is still present in Rata Sum. If you speak to Moto he explains its closed because he is “upgrading”.

I hope they do bring it back as something different than either a Holiday Event or part of the Living Story project. Holiday Events are very fun/polished but are only once a year. Living Story chapters are…light on story, heavy on achievements…only once a lifetime…RNG based rewards….in short Living Story is very foreign to what i experienced in SAB.

I have the same ideas as Zahara.3842 about what is going on here. Its strange we are told to fight the same people we were sympathizing with not too long ago. Did I not return lost belongings to some of them, heal them when they were wounded on the road, etc.
Odd also that the alternative to not helping the suspicious Consortium exploit refugees is not participating in the living story.

With SAB I felt luckier than usual because I found the Shield, Greatsword, and Scepter skins in the chests. I sold them and made some quick gold which felt good but I also ended up farming SAB to buy(via Baubles) the same weapon skins for all my characters.

I thought if i put the same effort into the MF dungeon I would get the jet pack, I would just have to be persistent. I feel I have been, doing this dungeon at least 5 times a day(twice on my guardian, twice on my engineer, and once on my mesmer) for several days. I have received no special reward save it be the recipe for the tonic that turns you into the Charr boss.

As of right now I feel bamboozled, duped, taken for a ride, all in all i feel cheated. Past events had lead me to believe that my goals in GW2 were achievable if I invested the time and believing this fueled me to keep coming back to MF. Now, after being exhausted by days of nothing I realize that i could very well play myself into a coma and still not have the item i want drop. I am left with two miserable results:

1. I do not have the item i was farming for.
2. I have done the dungeon so many times I am not even left with the awe or joy the dungeon initially impressed at me my first few runs.

I have been exhausted and find myself disinterested with logging on until this Molten Alliance story is done and over.

Dramatix.8527:

Don’t you dare putting them in the Black Lion Chests again Arenanet or i promise i’m deleting this game!

That would be a disappointment. I am not sure why they did that for the Molten Alliance weapons but hopefully they have not seen a significant increase in Key sales from the gem store.

I read from the Dev Josh (creator of SAB) that their goal is to offer weapon skins that are available for a short time and then never again so it adds a level of prestige for the owner. That was handled well for SAB because you had to do things inside the game that was unique to the event to earn it. While Bram and Rox weapons will be sold in the gem store my hope is that other weapon skins that are just as unique and impressive will drop OR be for sale via tokens from the new temporary dungeon.

Grimwolf.7163:

The simplest solution, as I see it, would be to have your weapon still show as sheathed while a kit is active, and somehow provide an option to hide the Engineer backpacks.

I like that you recommended a practical solution as i think that’s what the devs are striving for as well.

Ideas like a legendary changing the look of one or all kits is only as good as its likely hood of happening which i believe isn’t much. We all should instead try to think of a way to make legendary weapons visually relevant to those whose kits completely hide them.

My solution would be to do what the Quip does/did for toolbelt abilities, namely the grenade ability. Which is to change the visual effect of a kits attack. I believe the Quip changes the grenades into strings of confetti which goes well with the theme of the Quip. Have it change all the kits attacks to something similar(within the theme of the legendary). Perhaps “The Predator” legendary can change the flame throwers “Flame Jet” into a barrage of bullets instead of fire.
After all the main appeal of a legendary is completely aesthetic, the look of it and its attack is what drives people to work for it.

I’m am happy that the Devs implemented content that I have found myself continually enjoying EVERY day since its release. Content that does not reward me with new gear with bigger stats or heaven forbid more levels past 80.

This is what i had always wanted from a MMORPG, where you stop progressing/climbing vertically (new expansions, more levels, new gear stats, etc) and you start progressing horizontally – which to me is exploring more in depth where you are. Rediscovering old areas, enhancing your character through new ways that set you apart but does not make you so powerful that the game becomes too easy.

New expansions with more levels does not work. The content is consumed faster with every new expansion and we the players and the Devs are left with empty zones, unused raids and dungeons.

taugrimtaugrim spoke a little about this a while ago. I agree with a lot of what he says but not all of it. Check it out.
http://youtu.be/0Zn81sY7pqI

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Lost Levels.

I never tried them after the first attempt.

Is that the level in Mario where you’re on some kind of boat and you have to navigate through enemies, flying bullets, and canon balls coming from all angles? I remember a level like that. I cant imagine how that would be here in SAB, especially since when you get hit you get tossed like a beach ball.

But I thought killing the frog boss was something i couldn’t solo but i did. Then i completed the rapids level. Im pumped for more!

Is this where I post to show support for SAB? I Support it completely, its great fun for me and I have been really diving into the entire event.

A question i have is what is the duration of this event. The email i got mentioned just the month of April but I am confused with a lot of what I have been reading. Such things like it is not complete and will be receiving updates and the amount of updates depend on how well it is received by the player base. Does that mean you have to gauge the reception of SAB and at the same time change how much work you’re putting into it in the space of a few weeks? Will we know when the final update for SAB will be before the event ends (in case we are saving Baubles)?

Also I like that Dev Josh mentioned Mega Man!

I agree this holiday event is by far the best i have experienced in any mmo. Everything else including my dailies have fallen to the waste side lol

I completely support the Living World team to continue focusing their efforts on this project. Dont let go of a good thing.

caiomacos.1694:

Fairymore.8609:

You know what would be great for a pistol skin?
If it was Mega Mans Mega Buster lol

It would have to be a glove. =)

It would have to cover the players hand yes, but with some clever uses of clipping that could happen since all characters that use pistols have an animation where their hand and pistol are aligned and straight(when firing).

I think it would work and more importantly would be awesome

You know what would be great for a pistol skin?
If it was Mega Mans Mega Buster lol

And where is the level that gives props to Rock Man? Talk about being left out? lol

Hello fellow engineers, lets get hypothetical for a moment.

Say instead of Legendary weapons (shield, pistol, rifle, harpoon gun lol) we can work to get a unique model+skin for one of our kits. A completely new and stylish look equal to those of Twilight, Sunrise, and the Juggernaut.
So i ask you, which kit would you work to make look “legendary” and what effects would you like?

Be creative. Look at The Juggernaut for instance, not only does it leave a trail of water when its swung but it also changes the appearance of wielder.

Personally i’d go with having the Flame Thrower look like a Gatling Gun and having only the number one ability (flame jet) effect/visual changed from a burst of fire to a barrage of bullets. That’s pretty legendary to me.

Current Kits (flamethrower, bomb, grenade, etc) and their uses remain the same except that their appearances have optional changes.

What i am thinking is have the Flamethrower have the same abilities and attacks except change the look of the weapon and attack animation to that of a Gatling gun. For example Flame Jet wouldn’t look like a burst of fire but instead a barrage of bullets (doing the same damage, hitting the same number of targets). The other abilities will require creativity.

Hopefully this does not sound far fetched because to my eyes this has already been played around with before in GW2.

I think it would be awesome if Engineers got an actual Gatling Gun Kit with unique abilities but it is unlikely that professions will be getting new weapons anytime soon and when that happens i think its still a long shot to wait for this kit in particular.

Tera is an mmo where classes are bound to one particular weapon type (Slayers to great swords, Lancers to…lance and shield, etc) only. Interestingly enough they implement weapon skins to give a new look to what otherwise might get boring to look at. Berserkers only wield Great Axes but you can purchase a skin that makes it look like a two handed mace(a very cool one i might add). Lancers can obtain the skin of a Sword and Shield if they want that more classic look. They are not new weapons or classes so there is no need to go through the balancing dance.

Therefore i suggest new (optional) skins for Engi Kits and for other weapons used by other professions as well. Its not as dramatic as implementing actual new weapons but could impress us players just as much if the visuals are gorgeous.

If you want one you should go for it because the reason you gave doesn’t hold water. Its a lot of work you have to put in to get one so even if you’re not the only kid on the block with a legendary you certainly are part of a very exclusive group.

I for one will never get one. The barrier to entry is far too high for me, the maxing out crafting part alone is enough to turn me off. Crafting is the most annoying necessary evil in mmos to me personally.
As for buying one…2k gold might as well be 2 million gold.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

No, “you” want mounts.
Many players have no interest in them. They would serve no useful purpose in GW2 and would only increase server load and lag.
Please search the forums as this has been posted at least once a week for the past 6 months and another thread is really not needed.

Mounts in GW2 is a particularly interesting topic because its similar to Transmog in World of Warcraft. The Transmog feature allows you to change the appearance of your gear without changing the stats. You see it took years of forum posts to get this system in game. The devs mocked it and players like the one i quoted or others here said they didn’t want it for X reason. But today it is in game and everyone uses it.

I believe mounts in GW2 is on the same boat.
A feature that the devs refuse to put in
A feature that lots of players say they don’t want for X reason
A feature that if it were available everyone would use and dare i say…enjoy.

I for one would like ground mounts in game. But they have to go in with both feet with race specific mounts, fully customizable(appearance wise), and a unique control system (similar to Lotro or similar to some traveling powers in Champions online).

I became frustrated and very agitated today when attempting AC path 1. My group could not progress. We were four 80s and a level 59. I was under the impression dungeons were going to receive changes to become more forgiving but i quickly realized these changes were to make them less forgiving.
-The spider boss now has a frontal cone attack that will lock you in place while doing damage to you. Not sure what that was suppose to achieve other than be annoying but we killed it.
-The trash mob in the trap hallway (the champion) now has the ability to go underground and burst out damaging players. Annoying and dangerous because he does it repeatedly now. Whats odd is that after he comes up from the ground he is see through and invulnerable for 1-2 seconds.
-LT Kholer. I cannot stand this boss and his mechanics. It is tedious and his AoE pull and AoE attack combo is not forgiving for anyone especially my engineer who if she gets caught is quickly downed. Now Lt. Kholer has adds and I do not understand why this was needed.

I am upset and feel like i have been left out of the loop some how. “Easy” was never a word i used to describe dungeons in GW2. In fact because of the lack of a Tank and Healer I would describe them as challenging and chaotic. Now i can add frustrating and unavailing to the list.

Snowy.9580:

Jovel.5706:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnkOOixuDo

The option to toggle between the current combat mode and this combat mode.

Wouldn’t it give the players using it an unfair advantage if it’s so easy to win, making it an exploit of sorts? (Unless the made it official and shoot themselves in the foot again).

What do you mean by this feature making it easy to win?

I think having this feature would be amazing! It would help me enjoy the game better. As the original poster mentioned this game goes halfway between Action based combat and the click target style and instead of it feeling accommodating it feels lacking.

The same arguments every time, every popular mmo. This topic has gone on so many times it makes me realize i have been playing these games for a years and years.

To the Devs:
What is being asked for is the freedom to create unique looks for our characters with the resources the game already provides. Allow us a way to use the look(not stats) of any armor (light, medium, heavy) on our characters and i promise we will impress you. We will create outfits that will astound your most talented artists and maybe even inspire them.

To those that are opposed:
Your objections and arguments are not unique, nor original.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/981899278
This is a link to an old WoW thread called “The Appearance Tab” where the same objections are being given. The time stamp says 2010 but it started long before WoW remade their forums and multiple threads were made with each containing 500 posts
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2228176043?page=26
Finally the devs of that game came to their senses and allowed players to customize their avatar’s appearance. Now they are moving forward and removing restrictions on weapon types (as long as two weapons share the same animation, for example axes and swords, you can now have an axe look like a sword). I see this as the same as our situation here on this thread.

Lastly i would like to direct you to one of my most favorite fan made sites called Cosmetic Lotro where a very talented fan creates very well made outfits from the game Lord of the Rings Online.
http://cosmeticlotro.wordpress.com/
In this game there is a tool that allows any class to cosmetically wear any kind of armor they want. Did the game implode? No. What happen instead was that fans began to create the most amazing combinations of gear and several blogs emerged forming a sub community to this game. I hold Lotro’s Cosmetic Tab to be the absolute best at what it does.
Do not be afraid of how this will destroy your experience in the game. Rather let yourself imagine what YOU will be able to do when this is implemented.

Try to shoot now you stupid rifleman!

Khisanth.2948:

Coraxe.5804:

I agree with you however they are gone before I can click the portrait and do all that.

I guess you can call it a bug. There is apparently some sort of exploit that just let people teleport around the map.

I’ve had the same problem with people disappearing too fast to use the in game report. A simple solution is to add a /report <player name> which brings up the usual dialog for reporting.

Thanks for the tip Khisanth. I do not believe its a bug but rather a hack/exploit. In another popular MMO (Blade and Soul) its called a Teleport Hack and its used by bots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YQtoliiulA

Now for me it was more difficult to report them let alone click on them because they appear and disappear so quickly. But rest assured they are hacking/exploiting and are probably bots.

Conversation with Old Fiach:

“Tell me about the battle against Jormag.”

“When Jormag rose from the ice, our people stood like a mighty armored fist against the dragon. Days stretched into nights, and norn threw themselves against the dreaded Ice Dragon.”

“What happened next?”

“Jormag cut through the norn, hundreds at a time. In the face of destruction, the Spirits of the Wild led our ancestors south to Hoelbrak, where we live and grow today.”

Pretty cool huh! Imagine a large army of Norn in battle armor jumping off of cliffs to get on top of the dragon, hundreds on the ground trying to tie down its legs and then Jormag just shrugs them off like fleas and with his one fel sweep of his might claws he snatches the life out of all of them. Must have been an epic battle.

GCleonardo.3947:

And i don’t know what is wrong with them

Yes to all of it. I would love mounts in GW2 and cultural mounts would be even better!
I wonder what creature Asuras would domesticate to ride…or maybe they wouldn’t bother and they would make awesome…something that hover off the ground.
Oh and mounts with seats for two players would be way cool too.

Toss all the restrictions ya want at it (cant use in WvWvW, only a 68% speed increase, very expensive, etc) i wouldnt care i would just like to ride one in the PvE world.