Guild Wars 2

Hi folks,

I’m wondering what order people are leveling their masteries in. I have basic gliding, bouncing mushrooms and updrafts. Then I finished the first Exalted one since it was required for personal story.

Now… I’m not sure. I know I’ll do them all eventually, but does anyone have advise on the most practical path? Thanks

In anticipation of the expansion I recently came back to GW2 to play through Season 2 of the Living Story. I’m a little more than halfway through but have decided not to bother finishing. The story is decent and I want to see what happens next, but each mission seems to consist of a really annoying fight.

Bosses seem to have huge health pools that take a long time to whittle away, and they usually revolve around some kind of gimmick to complete the fight. Not only that, but they hit really hard. I’m constantly going from full health to downed in 1 – 2 seconds without having any idea what happened. I typically finish each mission with a few pieces of broken armor. I have not enjoyed a single one of them.

People may think I just suck or whatever, that’s fine. But for feedback to ANet, as someone who comes and goes from GW2, playing through these episodes has been an exercise in frustration that has just led me not to bother playing.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

Just a question here because I am curious. The idea of the Living World is that there is a storyline that you take part in, that you are involved in events that shape Tyria in permanent ways—how would you all convey the sense of progression and change without also making changes to the landscape? I see a couple of comments regarding creating things, not simply destroying. Do you all have any other ideas?

As others have said, I don’t mind when some things are destroyed. It’s just that it has been a little overkill in the destruction department. When we’re constantly facing an existential threat, it loses all sense of drama and severity. I’d like to see things created as well, or people working to repair things that have been destroyed in the past. New stuff discovered.

I also don’t think you need major landscape changes to convey permanent change in the world. I remember pre-launch, ANet used to talk about lots of new event chains being added to zones over time. New stories being told through event chains, some of which wouldn’t even be announced and would be discovered by players.

In many ways I feel that ANet has lost its vision for this game – post launch and pre launch seem to have very different philosophies.

I played the Living Story Season I off and on, and am currently catching up on Season 2. Season 2 has been good so far, but I have one plea for ANet regarding the Living Story:

Stop blowing everything up.

I get that you want to make permanent and dramatic changes to the world, but more often than not you’re just destroying something. It’s the low hanging fruit of dramatic change. It’s also saddening – I particularly love Kessex Hills, but the whole zone is marred by the ugly Krait tower. Now you destroy Fort Salma in Season 2. It’s depressing.

So instead of blowing up the great world you’ve created, and then potentially leaving it damaged forever, I’d suggest you build more new things instead. If I hear about new things in the game, I get excited. If I hear about stuff being destroyed, it just makes me sad and frustrated.

I agree, really do not like having to “finish” mobs in PvE. It just feels pointless and annoying to spend time “finishing” a mob after killing it.

Also agree with others that it just feels like a way to sell finishers from the gem store to PvE players, instead of something that is fun by design.

Yeah, I feel bad complaining, because I know that GW2 actually really needs permanent content additions. Permanent content is good.

I guess I was just disappointed that this particular addition marred one of my favourite zones in the game.

Just wondering if the large chunk of Kessex Hills will remain changed forever, and if poison spores falling all over the zone are permanent.

This probably sounds whiny, but I really loved Kessex Hills. It was such a beautiful zone. I’m kind of sad a large section of it turned into and Orr-alike.

I have precisely the same problem. I also play a female Asuran Elementalist.

I want to hear the NPC dialogue around me, but the constant attunement swapping lines (literally every 2-3 seconds) at loud levels drives me crazy. I have actually stopped playing my Elementalist because of it, which is sad because it was my main.

If ANet could please, please, please add a separate slider for your character’s combat lines it would be so appreciated. This sounds hyperbolic, but it is currently my biggest issue with the game. I am very sensitive to audio stuff and annoying/repetitive sounds lead to me quit games.

This has been brought up before, by me even, but it’s been a while and I’d like to ask again: Could we please have an option to disable the combat one-liners? Or at least a frequency slider?

On most characters it’s fine, but on my Elementalist it is unbelievably annoying. You’re getting the same 4 – 6 lines basically on constant repeat as you switch attunements every few seconds. The problem has actually gotten worse since voice was added to the “ride the lightning” skill.

I can turn dialog down, but then I don’t hear any voices at all! Please, if ANet could consider this, it would be wonderful.

Several times now I’ve had to input the same credit card information from scratch in order to buy gems. My saved credit card appears with the last four digits visible, but the option to use it is greyed out and I’m told to re-enter the whole thing.

Why is this? Can I fix it? It seems lazy, but on several occasions now I’ve gone to buy gems and then decided not to bother because I’d have to go find my wallet and go through the hassle of entering it from scratch yet again.

LOVE the Super Adventure Box. Congratulations to the ANet team on a job very well done. It’s a blast and brought a huge smile to my face, especially the music.

Hello Engineers,

When I read threads talking about builds and someone brings up the open world, I often see “open world is so easy just use whatever”. Whether or not that is true, I thought I’d start a thread to talk about them. We don’t all focus on sPvP and dungeons. I’d really like to see what other Engineers are using and hopefully find something new to freshen up my playstyle.

Right now I’m using a FT/EG might stacking build. It works fine, but I find that FT can get a little boring sometimes with skills 1 and 2 doing most of the damage.

So! What do you guys like?

Yeah, I agree. You can always guarantee there will be a greatsword skin… but pistols and rifles? Hardly ever.

Agreed, as an Engineer it’s quite upsetting not to have a pistol or rifle skin. We’re already so limited in what weapons we use.

I’ve stopped playing my Elementalist because of how often the voiceovers happened during attunement swapping. Hearing “Earth, fire, I am the wind!, etc” literally every couple seconds just drove me to reroll it was so annoying.

Hellkaiser.6025:

Had to fix that, both groups cannot coexist without major design changes by game developers. And those changes can’t be made until we shove a boot up the publishers rears and tell them to get back in their box and stop directing the games in the way that they seem to be.

Why not? I don’t mean coexist in the same game, I mean by playing different games. What “major design changes” are you thinking of?

Hellkaiser.6025:

Please don’t take offense to this, but we all know by now that these kinds of threads are not going to go anywhere, get no real red feedback and generally are just going to attract differing opinions which clash.

Yep. Been tons of these threads since launch. Basically, some people like to just play for fun and others like the illusion of progression. There are different MMOs out there to satisfy both groups. We can peacefully coexist. The end.

Dante.1508:

I don’t know if it’s the circle of people i hang out with in game, and our guild has 500 players but i’ve never met a person that plays sPvP ever in game…

Yep, and this is just one more reason why it is frustrating. They focus all their balance around a gamemode that most people never even participate in.

Charr. They are the quintessential Engineer race.

I agree, they seem to balance exclusively around sPvP and it drives me crazy. I have never played a single match of sPvP and it’s so disheartening when I get PvE nerfs because of something I have never done. Honestly, I wish sPvP wasn’t even in the game. It’s already a completely separate game from the rest of GW2 but it ends up hurting PvE.

But ANet made three game modes, and it’s their responsibility to try and balance all three of them.

drkn.3429:

Everything works in open PvE, period. Get your gear, learn mechanics, make use of resources and you can breeze through open PvE with anything; heck, you can even autoattack most of the time.

That isn’t really true. At best it’s very misleading. Sure, you might by able to “get by” with certain abilities if you really loved them… but it would be rough and you would be seriously gimping yourself. I play an Engineer, and despite the fact that I think turrets are cool they are objectively very weak.

And more importantly, why should any open PvE player have to just “get by” with weak abilities because some guy in a completely separate game was apparently OP? Why design two separate games but make them share a ruleset?

Orion the Cursed.1206:

The thing is they have to be balanced for sPvP. Imagine if 2 engi can hold off 5 players indefinitely.

I understand that this is a concern, but I think if it’s that much of a problem then they should work differently in PvP and PvE. It’s Arenanet’s responsibility to balance the game for more than just sPvP.

I’ve never played a single game of sPvP and never intend to. I like the open world. It’s extremely frustrating to be nerfed or held back from needed buffs all because of something I never do.

Hopefully turrets are looked at soon. I’d love to use them but weak damage and crazy long cooldowns make them so impractical.

Edit: Pre-release I kept imaging whipping out a bunch of turrets at one of the many “Defend this spot” events and holding the line… really wish that dream could become a reality in a meaningful way

1) Charr love big guns

2) Charr love to drink whiskey

That really about sums is up for me.

Another Engineer of the Iron Legion. I quite like this armour for an Engineer.

Edit: Added another screenshot since the lighting was poor

Imperatora.7654:

The targeting issue is the one and only one reason I wont use grenades. Underwater they are fun all a kitten on fire, I use them even without talents, but on land they are the single most annoying weapon in the game.

Agreed. It’s the only reason I don’t use them.

I think grenades should work like the Necromancer’s staff. #1 is autoattack, but the rest are ground targeted.

I’m looking for advice on which profession is the most quiet.

I really love the Elementalist, but hearing “I am the wind! Fire! Water!” every 5 seconds drives me crazy. I also really love the Necromancer, but find their weapon’s noises to be very loud, relentless and overpowering.

So, what profession to do you think makes the least amount of sound? Both weapon noises and voice clips. Basically, I’m trying to avoid loud and/or repetitive audio.

I’m really, really hoping for some kind of toggle or slider for player character audio. Some of those often repeated lines are really driving me crazy.

I agree that there is a lack of competition, but I actually see that as a positive thing. I like how cooperative GW2 is compared to other MMOs.

I have no interest in dungeons, so that’s kind of a bummer… but I don’t really expect to have the monthly cater to my playstyle either.

The problem with Daily Dodge is that the definition of dodging is far too narrow. It requires you to evade an attack at the exact, precise moment it strikes.

For example, imagine an Ettin. We all know their huge slow attacks. You see one starting to charge up, so you dodge away. Did you avoid the attack? Absolutely. Did you get credit for it in the daily? Nope, because the daily wants you to wait until the absolute last moment to evade.

Kiting also comes to mind. For all intents and purposes kiting is dodging, but it doesn’t count.

Fantastic guide! Thank you for making it. I just made a Guardian and found this very helpful. I particularly enjoyed the “Interesting Synergies” sections.

I have an attunement dancing D/D Elementalist. Anyone familiar with this build knows that you are switching attunements literally every couple of seconds.

This means that the little ‘one liners’ my Asura calls out when switching attunements happen literally ever few seconds. “Air! Behold, the power of fire! Water!”. As you can imagine, hearing the same few lines every couple seconds for hours on end grates on the nerves.

Simply, it is driving me crazy. It has seriously gotten to the point that I don’t want to play the profession anymore. I would really appreciate it if the audio team could look at reducing these lines.

It said in the patch notes that there was new content in Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau and the Norn & Charr Capitals. However, I’ve been to all of them and can’t find anything. I ask in map and no one else can find anything either.

Does anyone know where this new content is? I was really looking forward to seeing it…

I don’t think it would be that hard, and I really would like the feature.

-Restrict it to players that have already completed their “racial” personal story. After level 30 there is no racial specific personal story, so there’s no reason to prevent someone from switching based on this.

-Swap cultural armour for its equivalent on the other race.

I would definitely pay for this feature in the store.

Just completed this, was a blast! Great job ANet.

I loved the “toy” Sylvari with their mechanical voices saying some of the lines that Sylvari NPCs say. Then when they malfunctioned and attacked us “Everything has a right to…. die!”

Personally, I tried it a few times and gave up in frustration. It’s not that the puzzle is “too hard” per se, it’s just annoying to attempt.

1) It’s timed. I’m sorry, but I don’t like this. I find it stressful instead of fun. I’m usually slow and deliberate with my jumps.

2) Failing puts you through a loading screen and then forces you to sit there waiting for a while. This is really the one major issue for me. It’s just so annoying to have to wait so long between attempts that I stopped trying.

So unfortunately I wasn’t really a fan of this.

(The environment itself is incredible, I should say. Beautiful, and having it within the Snowglobe in LA’s was inspired)

I prefer it this way. Both Halloween and Lost Shores were very confusing and I had no idea what was new and how to find it. I don’t necessarily want a step-by-step guide, but this is a good move.

Remember, if you don’t want to know then you can choose not to read it. However, for those of us who do want to know, it’s nice. Really everyone can get what they want here.

1) 0
2) 0
3) 0
4) 0
5) 0

I’m nowhere near done with the content that GW2 already offers, and I have no interest in gear whatsoever. The only reason I looked forward to getting full exotics was so I’d never have to think about gearing up again… well, before the patch, of course.

Here’s what happened on my overflow:

1) Everyone stood around waiting in Lion’s Arch, nothing happened.

2) The boat to Southsun arrived, everyone left.

Not particularly impressive given the fact that this was a “special, one time event” that people scheduled their weekend around.

Yeah, I agree. Not only is the event extremely confusing, getting information from ANet on how to progress is like pulling teeth. Then the actual events themselves are full of lag and bugs.

On my server (Ehmry Bay) the fight works, but nothing happens after it. You talk to him and it’s the same message as before, and no map is mailed to you.

Where are you getting these drops though? From the karka invasion events?

I’m not sure how to get any rewards at all. You got lots of rares and exotics? I haven’t gotten a single item.

Title says it all. I don’t want to miss Saturday’s one time event, but I see no indication of where it will happen.

My main is a D/D Ele with evasive arcana in PvE and the blast finishers were a huge part of the fun.

Totally took the wind out of my sails with my Elementalist.

Arenanet should not be catering to the kind of players that want this. There is, literally, no way to ever please them. They don’t want the carrot, they want the chase. They will quickly grind out all the available ascended gear, get bored, demand more “progression”, and then move on. That’s what they do. What happens after people max out their Ascended gear/infusions? It’ll happen, and almost always faster than developers think. What then? Just add more? How are we not heading for a treadmill?

You can either try frantically to give them more carrots to chase after (treadmill) and betray your original fan-base in the process, or you can actually stick to your vision and the millions who supported you without the traditional endgame will still be around.

No, it won’t make me play more.

I am simply not interested in grinding a dungeon for stats, so I will just miss all content that requires infusions.

" An MMO is about making your character better and better to beat the upcoming content. "

This, really, is not necessarily true. Not all MMOs are like that. Not everyone likes that. A lot of people game to GW2 specifically to escape that from other games.

“The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative.”

What. The. Hell.

Are we not going to get an explanation as to why they changed their entire vision for GW2 for the past five years? This is not the game I signed up for.