Guild Wars 2

vesica tempestas.1563:

I Played initially for 6 months, then took a long break to play eso and wildstar, then came back for HOT, and I’m loving it, here’s my take:

New zones – nice challenge, can solo everything apart from champs, Meta events in later zones fail a lot, and that’s how it should be – I don’t need to win all the time.

Masteries is great fun, its really nice having multiple avenues for progression, and its actually pulled me in to old zones to build my fractal masteries, really looking forward to getting ley-lines later.

Precursers – Not for me, but its going to drive the economy and I get we all benefit from that, also those that don’t need to get a legendary x weeks and just gather as they go may well like the option. It doesn’t affect me so its all good.

Story telling, MUCH improved, reminds me in some ways of GW1 story telling.

Raids, looking forward to doing it at some point once people relax a bit about it, again its a nice option in there, doesn’t affect me that I’m not getting value out of that content just now.

‘Grind’ is only a grind if you do something you don’t want to do, if your doing something and your not enjoying it then your being your own worst enemy and a fool.

graphics @ music – totally gorgeous.

Crafting – quite satisfying, really difficult to achieve max level, gives me long term goals (and I’m not aiming for a legendary yet)

Cost – I happily treat myself to £8 a month, and I get 40 hours a month out of that easy – very nice and I’m in control.

Guild – I’m in a big family friendly guild, and it’s pleasant and helpful with regular events – something you don’t see anymore in other mmorpg.

- earning gold – 2-5 a day without trying to hard, seems fine.

The negative – WVW, needs work, I’m looking forward to the changes. I played wvw in ESO and that gives perspective on what is good and bad, and GW" just needs a bit of design work to engage the masses.

You see its all about perspective, if you enjoy a game, play it, if you don’t enjoy a game don’t. Much like a party, the worst kind of party goer is the one that stand in the middle and moans about everything ‘they’ don’t enjoy – be a man and take responsibility for your own gaming choices, and enjoy what you do select.

Great post! Even though I personally don’t relish HoT at all, you made me see how good it can be for the right player.

Blasino.3128:

First time I’ve seen this one. Using glassdoor to determine the state of the company to determine the state of the game.

I kid.

Oops, sorry forgot to say I already deduced China launch was a failure. Glassdoor just confirmed it. :p.

One thing I was happy to read on the glassdoor forum was the failure of GW2 in China. Exactly as I had felt. GW2 began changing big time with mega server, NPE, for the China launch, and unfortunately brought on detrimental effects to me and my bud’s enjoyment of this game. My bud is Chinese! Hahaha. Anyway…. Foolish moves that I feel were likely instigated by NCSoft.

The other night I logged into the game just to check for mail from another bud, and happened to see a witty conversation on map chat in Divinity Reach. Man that reminded me of old time fun before ANet killed the big RP community… Sadly for me there isn’t anything as fun as hanging out in Queensdale semi playing the champ train and listening to the witty RP players on map chat any more. Once the game removed the best game content which was created by players, the game remained was just mechanical steps. No wonder it is so boring now.

Oh, well. China launch. Done by a company that knows little about China. Lol. Sad.

Luac Agwayen.6419:

Would have liked to send this somehow directly to a feedback person…but couldnt really find some.

As the Topic says im with GW2 since prestart. Im playing very regular and often. Over those years i enjoyed it quiet a lot as my 15 chars would let it assume. I tried everything in the beginning and as it is, i dont like Dungeons and Fractals much, and WvW or PvP i dislike with a passion ( this is still a harmless expression ). Im someone who likes to play WITH people instead AGAINST people.
And i’m sure lot of people will flame me for what i have to get of my chest. But i know also there are people who think the same.
So during all the time playing i’ve been watching world chat and map chat a lot. My experience is that lately the community got very toxic, especially during meta events, but not only. So if that happens im usually turn off chat or say something to help. Often enough i get flamed just because i try to help. Or offer a solution.
Nonetheless it really is happening now that i refuse to do so, as it’s not rewarding or leading to something.
Also the Frustration Level with this game increased a lot for me. I was looking forward to the expansion, being a player of GW2 and for the most liking it a lot. So after release of HoT i was really into it to see what, where when and how. Soon enough i got to the point where i thought, why did they do that? It is not fun nor rewarding, it is annyoing and blocking the experience of a good game. I am speaking here of the the fact that a lot is locked behind the success of certain activities. For example mastery points for those so called adventures, just terrible. No fun and most annyoing. If i wanted to play a jump and run game, i would play something else but not GW2.
At a point where i want to level masteries, im blocked because i cant get the necessary points. As mentioned they are locked behind those activities and other options that are way to extreme of unplayable ( again here the adventures, or the achievements of the story, really some of them are way to difficult).
One of the biggest disapppointment is the precursor crafting, as someone who never had the luck in all the time to find a precursor, i was looking forward to the crafting. And got screwed over big times.
You know, forcing someone to play a certain playstyle to get the needed materials to craft the precursor is simply wrong, most wrong. Why do i need to play PVP or WVW, for getting this? Why were you not so considerate to actually put in the options for PVPers to get the stuff their way and PVEer their own way. To connect this was always wrong and inconsiderate, not customer friendly. I mean it is possible, just look at the fossilized insects for amnrite weapons, PVEers do the events, PVPers the reward track.
That’s how it should have been. I’m less annoyed by the fact that the pre crafting takes a long time and a lot of money that is needed over time. Never had it anyway. But i would have been able to get it over the time.
Same locking problem goes also for some collections. You need this event to get that item. Great….event hardly shows up or in case of Meta, failes 99% of the time ( yes thats a sidekick to the dreaded Tangled Depths map). This map must be the most disliked/hated one ever. Just today i read a conversation between people. Example: TD is a good map, if you dont enter it… Anymore questions? I have not seen this Meta being successful once single time…and i dont know how often i participated…im actually tired of it currently.
On the other hand my favorite map is Auric Basin, this is the most beautiful one. I like the story around the exalted and hope there will be more in the future.

Fazit: for someone who enjoyed the game a long time, im tending more and more towards ‘meh, no thank you’…. i hope and wish for better times again. I want the joy back.

PS: Oh and for the love of life, get a new RNG, this is just hilarious….ppl who are with the game from the beginning get hardly anyhting and new accounts getting everything thrown after…

So now i have the most of my chest. Please refrain starting a flamewar.
Also would like to talk to some player who think the same, to see what everyone is about to do and go on. PM me? ^^

Thoroughly enjoyed your post. Thank you! I am playing other games until ANet finishes balancing this expansion. Life is good if I have fun. It Is also fun for me to watch the Gw2 forum now, like watching a Titanic movie. I hope you have fun too, whatever choice you make. Just stick to only doing the things you like. And remember all mmorpg games are putting up their old expansions for free, or for very low prices. It is a good strategy to pick up another game, and come back after you read about the changes. Take care.

Agree with Kravick.

Ok adding FFXIV to mmorpg raid rotation.

Yep, dank OP.

I am really happy many Mmorpgs are going the grind route. It holds grinders to pay for all development cost.

Right now I just reactivated WoW sub, paid $4.95 for all old WoW expansions and having fun cruising easy mode, looking to duo raid dungeons with my best bud so we don’t need to deal with guild politics for fun and mounts. EQ free old expansions and free high level mercy are hoping to get my attention. I have ladies calling me. Hahahahha so it may be a while I can muster the time to, um, play HoT.

OK. Happy all the mmorpgs are employing grinds. It enables casuals to have a ball, have good lives, and not pay much moola. Yay for capitalism and mmorpg monetization system!

Thank you very much! Leet dudes

Really no point to argue here. If the game wants to sell HoT expansion to me and my friends then do what the OP suggested. If not, cool. We are more than happy to wait till HoT becomes free, and new level cap is 90.

We no got time to grind. Would have paid to play now.

But happy to wait and play for free.

Months ago I had witnessed a large ring of farmers in the form of 3 guilds farming with speedy efficiency with multiple porters speeding up their run. They ignored any real players dead by their feet as they took a break. I was amazed by their efficiency.

I hope the devs will be looking at how many of the guild halls are achieved by farmers, and how it may impact the future of this game. Some farmer guilds may easily recruit real players to unwittiling help them by attracting the real players with guild benefits. Some farmers may sell guild halls, and at the same time kick out real players who had helped build the guild. I may be wrong. In fact, I am hoping I am wrong. Sorry if this sounds presumptions. I just don’t want to see emotional hurt to any real players.

Back in EQ I joined a group of long time in-game friends only to find out they were farmers, that used me.

Thank you.

The community had changed months ago. I saw huge organizations of farmers running together in the form of multiple guilds with portal casters to zerg. They did not rez anyone not in their guilds, even when the corpse was right by their feet.

One reason I feel HoT is going to be like you described. Only a couple real players came by….

Ok here is probably “why” to my bewilderment: :P

http://fortune.com/2015/11/24/areanet-investing-in-esports/?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE

“After 13 months of testing Guild Wars 2 PvP (player vs. player) through events—including a World Tournament Series that spanned Beijing, Boston, Cologne, and Seattle—ArenaNet teamed up with ESL to run two global ESL Pro League seasons. The first one runs December through February and the second one will run in spring 2016. Sixteen teams will be vying for $200,000 in cash prizes each season. And the winners of these first two seasons will compete in a separate Super Bowl-style event in late 2016 for a separate large, but undisclosed, prize pool.”

So much for my past gem support for the “manifesto.” :P Now I vaguely recall way back around launch time I had read something and said to myself, “The devs sure seem to love PvP, I wonder how it will pan out…” Then I forgot. Doh.

I don’t blame them. Most of my rl friends are playing PvP online games. They are just not playing GW2 PvP though. Well, good luck to ANet. Take care and I’ll have fun elsewhere. Thanks for a fun vanilla time. Don’t really need another. I can always log in and goof in old zones when I miss it. For real! It beats the pants off HoT.

morrolan.9608:

I agree with you but it was obvious in the first November after the the launch that the manifesto was gone with the introduction of the ascended tier

Hey! Agree with you!! I left the game that November, and stayed away for a year. Then made the mistake of coming back because a buddy of mine wanted to try this game. hahah, Well I still don’t have any ascended, and will never work on it. I’m just not interested in gear upgrades. For me it is much more fun to use random drop blue gear for a bit of challenge in soloing.

Besides, crafting is boring to me. I am never going to make ascended gear.

The lesson I learned is never to play a free to play or buy to play game which has a method of buying ingame currency with real dollars.

No more FTP games for me either. I’d pay for subscription for GW2 if it goes back to vanilla style, and buy a “vanilla” expansion instantly.

The business model was somehow not working for them. One would need to be an insider to look into details on why. Such a great concept… such failure… ouch.

IndigoSundown.5419:

NCSoft acquired ANet a long time ago and has been the publisher for both GW and GW2. The only recent news about the relationship was an announcement that ANet would self-publish HoT.

Aye. But HoT development began long ago. I’m sort of watching to see if the next expansion may be different. Sort of hopeful.

Right or wrong, I still feel NCSoft takeover of ANet may have something to do with new direction toward grindiness. It was probably not a friendly takeover, being 2 of the 3 ANet founders left to form their own company. (Pretty easy to find this history online.)

NCSoft history involves creating mega grindy games. Lineage, Aion, .. The moment I saw glider mentioned it brought back visions of Aion wings. Warning bells rang for me… So far the glider is doing exactly what the Aion wings did, cosmetic sales, stamina dependency. A grind and lots of store items.

I didn’t buy Hot partly because of Aion wings=Hot glider.

Anyway, … there are other visions that die in our global economy. Sad, but true.

This is why I just want to be a little guy in any game. Have the basic fun of meeting other players. End of the evening, go relax. heheh. Oh yeah, now me level 11 in WoW, again.. woot.

Lesson I learned is never trust marketing moves such as “The manifesto” again. Amen.

GW2 got me to spend big $ supporting it due to my trust every single one that spoke with sincerity on the manifesto video were the rebels with sincerity, vision, and a promise they would strive for.

I was on board with that “vision”, to the tune of donating very generously into this dream, buying 5 accounts, 64 alt slots, each with store gathering tools, made 5 guilds with full storage, cosmetics, home instance nodes, etc. etc… I took every chance to support the game,, even though I’m just a soloer.

For me, I just enjoy being the little guy, run around in the dynamic events where it felt so good to just hang out with strangers who might be playing an event or two based on their busy schedule in life. I had so much fun with anonymous strangers who instantly came together in a dynamic event, and felt the DE was the best thing ever in any mmorpg.

Well, look at what we have now.

Lesson learned! Trust eroded. mmm.. no regrets. :p In my life I would much rather be the fool than the one fooling people. I can sleep well. :P

I do feel devs might have run into some hard knocks in their attempts. But still, it’s pretty obvious too when things are done just to create gem shop exchanges and accommodate farmer/player exchanges… We are not stupid. There is so much I’d give to the game if it were just cosmetics. But alas, not enough. We had to have “grind”. And the content is not right for me now either… so much for ever trusting ANet again. Sorry to say so. That is life. We all learn lessons.

[quote=5808760;Aidenwolf.5964:
She was getting called an idiot a moron and a fool by players who were on a “legendary” quest and needed events to fail.[/quote]

Their behavior was far from “legendary”. hahaha..

It’s ironic.

Maybe you can disband members who engage in this behavior….

On the other hand:
Sounds to me you are an honest guild leader to ask for an option to discourage this behavior. I wonder if a dishonest leader may simply abuse the disbanding command, and disband many members who had helped to build a guild, then sell the guild for cash or gold.

I hope ANet QA had combed through things like these.

TY, I may buy the next expansion and get this one for free. By then beta will have been done, hopefully.

Iozeph.5617:

It’s the same rhetoric the Paiz’s were bandying about when lotro was criticised for over monetisation, that ‘players would complain but otherwise would keep playing and paying.’ That, rather than -oh I don’t know- feeling cheated, duped, taken for granted and quitting, and so in turn with what ever spending they’d done in the store.

The history is there, of eroding promises, of systems such as organised raiding, dungeoning, and pvp(the ettenmoors, lotro’s wvw/pvp) being left to wither on the vine in favour of experimental gambles(war steeds, mounted combat, Big Battles as well as fiddling with the fundamentals of how player characters are crafted trait trees etc.)and of the resultant eroding of the player base and following server consolidation. Lotro is only just trying and hoping to climb out of that hole but now has the added obstacle of being an outdated game built on an outdated engine. Is any of this sounding familiar? It should.

Omg thanks for pointing out the Lotro case. Yes, “experimental gambles” is what we have in HoT. Lotro’s gambling a whole expansion on “mounted combat” immediately gave the scent of “one huge grind” and that was when I left Lotro. Tried to check it out the other day but the graphics and engine are indeed out of date, so .. nay.

Atm goofing in WoW with a bud who never played it before so we are having fun starting new toons playing casually there. I intend to skip WoW’s failed experimental gambles too. :p Hopefully one day GW2 will go back to the vanilla game. That is when I will return. If not, at least it was a fun ride. Glad I did it.

P.S. Never bought Lotro’s failure expansion, did not buy HoT either. So atm I’m not bitter at all. Just in shock, like watching another Titanic show. There must be many reasons why the devs went that route… but not my place to figure out. I’m just a customer. I’m guessing they studied a lot of data to decide.

Ashen.2907:

I think that a larger number of smaller upgrades, with much smaller price tags, would have been the way to go."

I like this because I’ve been wondering…
Can someone tell me if the two things below are possible? If not, please enlighten on why not. I’m just a casual player with little interest in guild halls, but I do wonder about the future of the game. Thanks.
1) The new HoT guild system seems to encourages players to join big guilds for the benefits.
2) Gold farmers may build large guilds, and attract real players to unwittingly help them. Like, these large farmer guilds will help real players to run through HOT content and achievement, but meanwhile help themselves too in their business.

I am just wondering if this is something ANet needs to watch out against, in case the game atmosphere gets impacted down the road.

Or maybe ANet’s intention is to make HoT an attractive expansion for the farmer guilds to stay in this game. The farmers are going to pay a “tax” in gold sink in making guild hall progression, but will in turn be allowed to use real players if necessary by recruiting real players into their guilds? Just wondering, because I had seen this happen in Everquest to a degree, mostly in the form of raid gear being awarded by farmer guilds to real players who join their guild, but the real players must return their raid gear upon leaving the farmer guild… things like that.

In the end, both farmers and real players are buying expansions and spending $ in game. The few EQ farmers I knew certainly did that. They bought cosmetic items for fun too.

Perhaps ANet is starting to view farmers as a more stable player base than ordinary players like me who tend to leave easily. Just wondering.

Thanks for any enlightenment! Meanwhile, I do feel Ashen’s suggestion above is good for the game because it gives smaller guilds a chance to survive, and maybe in the long run it will be a good thing for the game.

Actually I have deleted posts when I feel a white knight (Sir Vayne) will give me a lengthy reply that I don’t care to read, nor to respond. So, a good solution is to just delete my posts. Truth be told, I just deleted 2 posts last night even thinking of him. lol that’s fear!

Carry on. I’m done with this forum. My current conclusion on HoT is: I am going to find a subscription mmorpg. Gem store does not work well when a company is driving its game design toward getting people to the gem store at every turn. Grind is the best “nudge” for people to hit the gem store. Hence grinds.
Game play thereby suffers!
Um, out of here.

P.S. I was an idealist that tried to support gem store with $ to help many players who may be jobless. Back in EQ I had close friends who were disabled, and unable to work. I once even mailed a check to a jobless in-game friend. When I began playing GW2, I loved the game so much, and felt the game needed a lot of players with time on their hands to support the gaming world. So a part of me felt it was my duty to support ANet revenue so that the game will in effect, employ the jobless players who can staff a game world with activities .. Yes they all look cool running around me, no matter if they are employed or not. In the game world we are all equal. I loved that feeling because I know many jobless people are good people. So.. I had intentionally spent a lot of $ in GW2 gem store just to support this idea of player cooperation via invisible donation to the game by players who can afford it, to help populate the game with players who otherwise would not be able to afford to play.

Well, as it turns out, I have to admit I was wrong. What we have here in this game, as in many other games, is a dysfunctional social environment. That, I don’t need.

Sorry for the spill of how I really feel at this moment. I am very disenchanted, having lost my old concept of a “game world” is where everyone appears equal, no matter what their real life situation is. But when some people who view “grind” as “work”, and lecture people like me about it, it’s an awakening to me. People’s values are now screwed up. And I want no part of this. Sorry for the rant. It’s actually a painful story I have learned after years of mmorpg games. Sad for me to realize. Kind of ugly in reality. Especially when the game company is the profit-making force in this dysfunctional “social” game.

Grind Wars.

Been grinding myself for some achievements, but it always feel like a slave.

Work to me is something I make profit on.

A slave works for no pay. When I don’t get paid, I’m a slave. lol yep it’s like having a slave master telling me, “Do it or you don’t get lunch. Do it or you don’t get this fantasy sword, which is by the way the fun you get in our game.”

Huh? Fun in your game means “work”? Omg I must be crazy to play your game. lol no pay?!? for work in this so-called game? This so-called game means “work”?

Game is something I spend $ on. Hence, no more spending money on a game that wants me to “work”. Can’t believe the new ethics some gamers have. Every time I read the word “work”,… Ok, you do the work. In my job I can make far more money with my time and just pay in the gem store. BUT, hey, wait a minute, why should I provide for your fun with my donation in cash to the gem store, just so you who can not donate to the game in cash lecture me about “work”?

Mmm, mmmm, all along I’ve been donating $ to the gem store so those who want to “work” in a game can actually have ANet be a profitable company and be able to play for free with their ample game time, and “game effort”. Lol, the so-called “effort”. Man wake up, in real life, your effort is work. In a game you should be paying for your fun. Not expect people like me to donate $ to support the game. I am done supporting Grind Wars 2. :p My entertainment value has changed, thanks to the lecture of those who feel I should “work” in this game.

This issue sets a precedence for the future. Any of us may have our other accomplishments “removed” after a “game system change”. How about if only big guilds get a speed buff to reduce cooldowns in ascended armor process?

One day Guild Wars may just turn out to be a game that big guilds war against little guilds. hahaha.. Maybe Jennifer Lawrence will star in a movie titled “Guild Wars”, part 5 of “Hunger Games”.

Nay. Unless it’s more of vanilla GW2, expanding to other land areas of lore, and only requiring blue armor to adventure. I’d pay a subscription for that. (My guardian made it to 80 in blue armor.)

But based on ANet’s push to totally deviate from vanilla GW2 so far, and driving more sale in gems, I doubt it will happen.

Akatosh, aye. I’m very leery of this “free to play” game now. hahaha. Even my legendary weapons may be replaced with “Divine Weapons” come level 85.

Well needing ascended gear to beat raids mean a lot more gem purchase. It’s all about revenue.

I was already thinking about this tonight. It won’t surprise me if another expansion or two from now there will be a new level cap. Then people will need to re-make all of their ascended gear to beat the new raid bosses.

This game may not stay at level 80 for the next expansion. Even the “Manifesto” had been cast aside. More revenue is always needed down the road.

No. I did not buy HoT based on the alarm bells ringing in my head when I read the pre-launch hype…..

I see myself maybe playing HoT when the expansion becomes part of the package upon the next expansion sale, or the 4th expansion sale. Not worried about the HoT zones being vacant in the future at all. Devs will modify it because they do not want to host vacant zones. :P

But I do not plan to buy another expansion until I see the game is heading the direction I enjoy.