Guild Wars 2

Whhh…..?

Now, I’m even more confused…..

This whole Balth/Lazarus plot was just poorly handled.

I have to say, I enjoyed the HoT story better than the current season. Of course there were flaws, but overall it was ok. It’s nice that I don’t have to grind masteries and replay map objectives. Dialogue was pretty good. Characters weren’t a huge pain in the a— like today. It seems the Mordremoth battle had some fixes since two years ago. It’s much more epic now. I wasn’t that impressed with the ending, but at least it’s coherent.

Season 3 just imploded for me. The story and plot pretty much collapsed in the 5th and final chapter. Although HoT wasn’t that great, I look back fondly on it. It’s better than what we have now.

I replayed HoT yesterday for the first time in two years. I have to say I enjoy it more the second time around. The map objectives were cut out and I don’t have to grind masteries anymore. IMO, the HoT story is better than the mess we had in season 3. It had flaws, though.

In all this discussion, I forgot to mention HoT. So I replayed HoT, and beat it. I have to say, I enjoyed it more the second time around.

The beginning was good. The final battle was well done. Though the story felt short, I like that I don’t have to grind masteries anymore. Trahearne had an honorable death. That he resisted Mordremoth’s control to the bitter end solidifies my respect. As the Pact Commander, I was sad that I had to put him away. I never had the absurd hatred that SOME in these forums had over him. “Wahhh!! My PC needs moar attention!!1!” Pffahh—-cry me a river.

However, HoT clearly had flaws. Eir’s death was weak. She should’ve had a more heroic death. Faolain was just shoe-horned in, no explanation. I knew she had a role to play, but it should’ve been properly explained. The Rata Novus reveal was….lame. “Dragon weakness” lol Noooo really? I could’ve told you that!

I have to say, powercreep is still there but it’s not as bad as HoT. I really like Spellbreaker and Firebrand. Nothing seems to scream OP, except Holosmith and Scourge. They are the problem.

Holosmith does absurd damage in Photon Forge. The low cooldowns and mobility on the holo sword shouldn’t put out that kind of damage, imo. I can do 3k on auto-attacks alone. On top of that, Holo can put out condis and boons like nothing. It’s ridiculous.

Scourge just puts out ridiculous amounts of torment and burning, the two most potent conditions in the game. Shades have basically NO cast times. How are you supposed to play against that?

Holosmith and Scourge specs just scream ‘MOAR DAMAGE’ without much more thought. It’s blatant powercreep.

Spellbreaker is just fine. Dagger is really weak, it lacks mobility and the damage is mediocre. Full Counter can be countered by blinds and evades. Our spec line is mostly focused on boon-stripping, not so much damage. I’ve played it thoroughly over the first two days and I haven’t gotten that much success. It has its tradeoffs.

Holosmith and Scourge, on the other hand, I agree. They both have absurd damage.

I partly disagree.

The powercreep, IMO, seems to come from Holosmith and Scourge. That seems to be the consensus. Those do a _ton_of damage. They need to be toned down. Otherwise, all the other specs seem to be fine to me.

I like spellbreaker! Traitline is fantastic. I really like the concept. The only thing I hate is dagger. Dagger is straight GARBAGE. No mobility at all. The damage is not even all that, plus I just get kited to death and have trouble landing hits. Utilities are ok. The anti-stealth skills are pretty useful imo.

This is why I quit pvp. The expansion is around the corner and there is still no word or any plans for a new game mode.

I and many others are simply tired of freakin conquest for 5 years. I can’t even muster an effort to play unranked, that’s how tired of it I am. I’m sick of fighting on a point. Even when fighting off-point, the fighting still revolves around points! Conquest has gotten ridiculously stale and boring. It’s just not fun anymore.

I think I know the real reason why modes like TDM or annihilation don’t get support. Because deep down people KNOW that players will dump conquest like a hot potato! You all know this is true! Don’t lie.

If the plan is still to support only conquest, well….keep losing players!

All this talk of “useless” tells me spellbreaker is fine just as it is. I like its design. It’s not focused so much on damage, but in utility. The trait line is mostly focused on boon stripping, which is an interesting new way for warriors to play.

The new changes are perfect. The difficulty has been adjusted for lower levels, specifically the end boss. The boss mechanics are improved. It’s much more PUG friendly.

Thank you!

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

FYI the tier scaling changes are in for Shattered Observatory. If you were having trouble at 25, give it a go now and see if it feels much better.

It is perfect! Thank you!

Hah! This thread is still open!

Well, I just PUGd and beat Shattered Obs. I got exactly what I wanted, an adjustment for the lower level fractals, specifically the endboss. I think it’s much more fair and friendly for PUGs now.

I have to say, I like the design and utility of spellbreaker. I like that it’s not solely focused on damage. Spellbreaker is as the name says: dispel and strip boons. It has a clear purpose. Dagger seems ok. Full Counter seems OP, though. An evade, retaliation, block, absorb every 8 seconds?! I think that’s going to be a problem.

Panda.1967:

DeceiverX.8361:

Natto.5819:

IndigoSundown.5419:

TexZero.7910:

The same could be said of the power of every elite spec we have details on.

Scourge Barrier and Shroud interaction looks busted
Weaver’s nonsense 20% condi duration and damage + 40 more skills
Thief’s 150% killshot damage from 2k range
Firebrands entire overloaded kit

But hey we’re approaching blizzard levels here where in, if everything is OP then nothing really is.

Except of course, the core stuff. Playing a core spec build feels a lot like playing a character in GW without a secondary profession, only more so. It can be done, but
chances are you are going to be underwhelming in comparison.

In competitive play, the core-only choices offer too few counters to what the Elite Specs offer. It looks (so far, at least) like that situation is not going to improve with the new Elites. Honestly, that’s about what I expected.

Did Anet ever promise that there would be no power creep? It feels like if someone doesn’t commit to buying HoT or PoF, they shouldn’t play competitive.

They actually did for HoT. Notice the lack of them mentioning of it for PoF.

I won’t be purchasing the expansion, though. The power creep is too much as it is. If I can’t compete on core, I know for sure I’ll be leaving.

Actually they said it again for PoF too… watch the announcement video again. He stated quite clearly once again that “Elite specializations are simply another way to play the game” they are not meant to be power creep. He even stated yet again that they are meant to be equivalent in power to Core…

And yet…look what happened with HoT. Powercreeped to oblivion. The exact. same. things were said in these forums by players and devs: “They’re ‘not meant’ to be powercreep!” “They’re only an addition to your character, not a requirement.” Well, they are powercreep. Already, I’m reading the same talking points as in 2015.

As for spellbreaker, -sigh- THIS is why I’m skeptical about elite specs. Referring to OP, I read evade frames and already I’m not liking it. As a warr, we have high HP/armor, Endure Pain, Adrenal Health, high condi cleanses and access to resistance. We have enough sustain as it is. We do not need invulns or evades! There’s a reason the light HP/armor classes have them, they need them.

Granted, I won’t judge spellbreaker fully until I play it, but I’m not liking first impressions. Let’s slow down the hype train a bit and make sure we stay on track.

Because it is!

Raids are unfriendly by definition and design.

I don’t have much confidence in PvP. I think overpowered elite specs will be released again to hype up the expansion. They’ll be OP by design. But then again…who knows? Maybe ANet will surprise us.

I WILL say this. I’m staying away from PvP. I’m not getting suckered a second time.

Hevoskuuri.3891:

JTGuevara.9018:

Elite specs, as we all know, are OP. HoT elite specs have ruined this game for the worse. They have destroyed PvP and WvW. They also have made some PvE content trivial although it’s not that big an issue. They changed the speed and flow of combat. These specs give you everything in one build: offense, defense, cc, condis, condi cleansing, invulns. They don’t take much skill to play. My fear with PoF is that history will repeat. PoF specs will be overturned compared to HoT and core specs, due to their design. That PvP and WvW will bleed players dry once again.

The elite specs have ruined nothing. Aside from some (understandable) balancing issues after launch, they were a great addition. Did you honestly want to play your core profession through 2 expansions with the same skills and traits, with the same meta?

I’m sure Anet has learned their lesson about balance, and the new elite specs will be as they say: more OPTIONS for your class, instead of overtuning them to be necessary in order to compete with everyone else. And any balance issues there might be, they’ll get patched soon anyway.

Elite specs have most certainly ruined something, they ruined the pace of this game. You can get condi’d pretty quickly in wvw/pvp. Also the amount of invulns/evades available is crazy. It’s like no thought was put into how elites were designed.

Meh…we’ll see how PoF is. I’m still skeptical.

Ayrilana.1396:

I found the LS3 story to be just fine. It may help to play it again in a single playthrough as you’re likely forgetting things which are keeping it together.

I think Anet is going towards elite specs as being the core of a build similar to how elite skills were in GW1.

If I have to play a story again just to comprehend it, that means that it wasn’t told in a coherent manner. The story just kept changing focus. I think it’s asking a bit much to expect players to remember key details while trying to making sense of what’s going on.

The only stuff I’m worried about is the new elite specs and the story.

I’m worried that PoF specs will be overtuned compared to HoT and core specs. It’s literally history repeating itself. Also, the story in season 3 was bad. It doesn’t give me much confidence.

Now that the expansion has been officially announced, there will be a lot of hype in the upcoming months. I’d like to temper that hype for just a bit. There are two things that I’m worried about with this next expansion:

- elite specs
- story

Elite specs, as we all know, are OP. HoT elite specs have ruined this game for the worse. They have destroyed PvP and WvW. They also have made some PvE content trivial although it’s not that big an issue. They changed the speed and flow of combat. These specs give you everything in one build: offense, defense, cc, condis, condi cleansing, invulns. They don’t take much skill to play. My fear with PoF is that history will repeat. PoF specs will be overturned compared to HoT and core specs, due to their design. That PvP and WvW will bleed players dry once again.

Second, the story. Season 3 was a mess. There was no cohesion in the story. It tried to tell too many things at once and its focus kept changing with each episode. My fear is that it will be the same in PoF, that the writing will overuse plot twists and that the story will be rushed. I know that this is an MMO, but let’s not forget that RPG is also in there. Every RPG needs a good story.

Apart from those, I’m good with everything else. Fractals, mounts, maps, bosses. I think those will be fine.

A better plan would’ve been to try and destroy the aspects and fail so Lazarus gets resurrected anyway. That would’ve made much more sense.

Now that season 3 is finished, I can judge it fully. Nothing really had a purpose. Jormag and Primordus woke up only for Balthazar to put them back to sleep. Lazarus was resurrected only to be put back down in the same episode. Then the confusion with Balthazar and the aspects. Disappointing.

Xenon.4537:

I agree with OP. Season 3 is pretty messy. It juggles too many plot lines. They introduce things and then never deal with them (braham, rytlock) and they do a poor job of treating old characters with respect. They tease a fake lazarus for several episodes and then all in one episode they bring back the real lazarus and then kill him immediately… Not to mention I think it is just beyond the pale that we are treating the human gods like villains now… I can only hope the expansion has a plot twist to rectify this.

I hate how Taimi is there to solve all the worlds problems. I hate how she never makes a mistake. She ALMOST makes a mistake, but catches it in time to save Tyria. Not to mention she conveniently has a heat shield right after we had to go do an annoying quest for a heat shield. But what I hate most about Taimi is how she calls us constantly on her cell phone. This is a fantasy game, and yes I get it we have Asuran technology. But cell phones in this type of game is just annoying and breaks the immersion. I hate it. Feel free to disagree, I don’t care. This is Guild Wars, not Kim Possible.

Overall I think season 2 had WAY better story and it was focused on a clear narrative. I think people love season 3 mostly because it added a bunch of new maps… I’m sorry but Maps =/= story. Maps are nice, and I love them, but maps =/= story.

Again… Maps =/= story.

P.S.

I’m sick of Marj and Kas’s lesbian relationship being shoe-horned in every other episode. I want them to actually be real characters with a real story that is actually relevant to the elder dragons and Balthazar. All they did throughout season 3 is sit around off-screen and show up to flaunt their relationship for 5 minutes. I. Just. Don’t. Care. About. Their. Personal. Life. It is irrelevant to the story. I want them to be treated as real characters with a real story that actually matters.

Don’t even get me started on Mary Sue Jr, Taimi. She takes after her mother! (Scarlet) Every time that communicator came on, I’m just like, “Nope, stop calling me! I don’t care about freakin ley-lines! Your voice through that kitten device is shattering my ears.” I’m with you, she hardly makes mistakes. Like Scarlet, she makes the Asura colleges and councils look like amateurs. I get that she’s a prodigy, but come on.

The handling of Lazarus was just pitiful. At the start of the season, I was truly invested in the last Mursaat, the White Mantle but then it just fell apart. Balthazar just popped in out of nowhere. The dragons were mishandled. Jormag/Prim woke up for 5 minutes only for Balthazar to put them back to sleep. Livia came in for 5 minutes to resurrect the real Lazarus only to put him back down. THIS is the big mission of the Shining Blade? Stupid. Why not just destroy the artifacts? At least try. Or here’s an alternative, attempt to destroy the artifacts and fail and he resurrects anyway. That would’ve made more sense. It’s like nothing that happens has a direction or purpose. You might as well just left it blank.

I suppose I’m somewhat interested in the expansion and what Balthazar will do next. But…meh. I’ll tell you all this. The expansion had better step up their storytelling considering the rush-job done in this season to justify it. Still, I don’t have that much confidence in it.

flog.3485:

Matter of taste as well for me. Season 2 might have a clear goal but it was soooo slow, only started to pick up at the middle of the season and in the end, personally, I am more willing to replay season 3 all over again with a new character than season 2.

You dislike it’s chaotic nature, OP, but the story wants it to be chaotic. And it is chaotic because we killed a freaking dragon which released a lot of magic in the world as well of having a bloodstone that exploded. I would say though that the character of Kerida felt poorly introduced to the story.

As for the next expansion, it seems like, based on the trailer, that we are back to having one major story point to focus on: stopping Balthazar from messing around with the world. So I don’t really understand your fears.

And please, seriously, I fail to see how “magnificent” the ending of Zhaitan was. We all know that the final instance was sooo lackluster and even Anet admitted they didn’t have enough time to design a proper endboss fight.

If a story is too chaotic, it means there’s too much going on. If there’s too much going on, the story can’t really communicate much to the audience. There’s too much conflict. If the story can’t communicate, the audience will get confused! Hence, what happened with me in the later half of the season. I was like, “Balthazar? Wha….?” You had the ‘fake Lazarus’, then you had the REAL Lazarus….I’m just like _

Also, we don’t know anything about the next expansion. On the surface, it seems that the expansion will primarily focus on Balthazar’s trek to the desert, but…we’ll see.
Also, after a lack-luster ending to HoT and season 3, with its constant shifting of focus, I think I’m right to worry a little bit. Season 2 was slow, but it was worth it, imo. I suppose season 3 had promise, but they should’ve stuck to Lazarus and built Balthazar from there, say revealing him at the end of ep 6. _That_would’ve been a blockbuster to get people interested. Eeh..whatever. I’m no writer. I just give an opinion as a part of the audience, nothing more.

You’re right about the Zhaitan fight, but I’m primarily talking about after the fight: the celebration at Fort Trinity. That was a pretty good ending!

Now that season 3 has come to a close, I have to say: I’m disappointed. Season 3 is a mess. It’s incoherent. The story lacked focus and was clearly rushed to promote the expansion. Honestly, it failed. It didn’t promote me and hold my interest. It was juggling too many plot elements at once. Dragons, Dragon’s Watch, Lazarus, Balthazar, Shining Blade!! Frankly, I’m burnt out. Livia was just…meh. I just didn’t care as much anymore.

In comparison, season 2, imo, was much better. First-off, the story had a clear focus and theme: Mordremoth. All the events in season 2 revolved around Mordremoth. The exposition of Scarlet, the rise of Mordrem, the assisting and gathering of world leaders to combat Mordremoth, the Pact campaign into Maguuma Wastes, access to Priory’s Special Collections, the exposition of the Zephrite mission to protect Glint’s offspring. The story was told pretty well. It took its time, it was not rushed. It was detailed and easier to follow. It was engaging.

I worry for the story in this next expansion. In any RPG, even MMOs, you just can’t be reckless with your story. It breaks immersion. Do not think that players don’t notice. We may not say it, but we know it. The story doesn’t have to have all these plot twists and turns, it just needs to be engaging and coherent. The personal story, for example, had a simple goal: Kill Zhaitan. That’s it! It had a magnificent ending. ‘Fear Not This Night’ brings a tear for me to this day.

Benjamin Arnold.3457:

All the feedback from all the posts on the forums here has been incredibly informative, and we are watching closely to see how people feel as they get more confident with the mechanics.

That said, we have also come to the conclusion that the tier scaling is a bit off for boss 3. It is too difficult at tier one. We are rolling out some balance tweaks in the next patch that will ease the difficulty curve so that lower tiers are more introductory. We also have some bug fixes incoming that should help alleviate some pain points at the higher tiers as well.

Thank you very much!

Dominik.5162:

I am sorry but level 25 is perfectly fine as it is, i went in there solo to do achievments i was missing and it was fine. If you have problems at level 25 you need to rethink how you approach new content, maybe be a bit more open.

Having more mechanics and well telegraphed mechanics in fractals is really great, the fractal team has been the best in terms of fun and engaging fights for quite some time now. It’s not 2012 anymore, where almost all bosses are simply dps sponges and have maybe 1 mechanis which you can ignore anyway.

One argument i can kind of agree to, this fractal has more bosses and harder bosses than most (comparable to Nightmare). This however is ok as long as they don’t overdo it with long fractals like these. I am really glad we have 2 longer fractals in the mix now, but the next one should probably be a bit shorter again.
It is kinda the same thing with Explorable maps and Meta maps in open world. Both things are wanted and needed, the balance is important.
And that is what is important here too.

Lv 25 is NOT fine as it is. PUGs are going to avoid this. It needs to be nerfed.

Again, I did this at lv 25! Do people really think the difficulty at 25 is fine as it is? I think not! I have zero problems with the difficulty at higher levels, leave that as it is. Just 25. Just nerf the lower levels.

Faaris.8013:

Did it for maybe 40 minutes in T4 until we decided that it’s getting late and postponed. We wiped 3 times at the boss with the ball on the checker board and one person had to leave. Since the game was about to patch, we couldn’t get a replacement in.

My first question was how long this will take when we mastered it. Right now, we need 40 minutes average for the T4 dailies, and that’s just fine. If we need 40 minutes for this one fractal, I will skip it. Not because it’s not fun, but simply because of the time required. And you cannot really speed up the jumping around at the first boss, we already kill the adds within a few seconds. It is a fun fractal, and I love that for the first time, I have the opportunity to learn it without having to watch videos before.

I don’t do raids mainly because I cannot dedicate that much time staying focused on the game and paying attention. I expect a fractal to be done within 10 to 20 minutes.

See, this is why I hate raids. They take. too. long. Dodge this. Stand over there. For 40. freakin. minutes. How the F—- is that fun?! It’s just an archaic BS concept from MMOs past. I’d rather watch paint dry for an hour.

This is why 99% of players don’t bother with it. It’s not that they’re “bad players”, it’s because it’s pointless! It’s a gigantic, pointless, time-sink. And time is precious in this world.

I’m going to cut to the chase. I hate raids. I despise raids. I hate the entire archaic concept of them. However, I will tolerate them. Still, fractals had to be messed with and put a raid boss in there. The new Shattered Observatory fractal.

I play fractals to AVOID raids. If I wanted raids, (I don’t) I’d play raids. Fractals are supposed to be small-medium dungeons. You guys were on the right track with Chaos, Nightmare. WHY did you change this? I tried the new fractal. I PUGd up to Ark and wiped 10 times. As it is now, I’m not playing this stinking fractal ever again.

IMO the fractal should’ve ended after Viirastra boss. Ark could’ve been another separate fractal as a stand-alone boss. If that’s not possible, then nerf the difficulty at the lower levels.

Raid cancer is literally spreading.

P.S: This is at level FREAKIN 25! Normal!!

Livia and the Lazarus confrontation just felt rushed and flat. It was just….pointless. Why even bother resurrecting him? Just destroy the aspects. Lazarus was brought back to life only to be struck down. It was like…kitten man. I actually felt a bit of empathy for him. See, THATS a problem. If the writing is so bad that you have me feeling empathy for the villain then you done f-ed up.

Now, the oath. As a human PC with the chosen path for shining blade parents I didn’t mind it as much at the time. But now that I look back and have read the points of view from non-human players(mostly charr) I’m thinking, WTF are the writers doing?! Let’s see, I just took a blood oath merely because I was curious about something?! It’s like joining a cult because, “Hey all the cool kids are doing it!” The whole thing just felt like a prank by Anise and co. I used to take the Shining Blade seriously before this, now I’m not so sure.

I defended the story and writing at times, but no longer. Not anymore. The entire story just feels like bad fan service right now. It’s just incoherent. It’s a mess.

Story: Bad. Disappointing. Storytelling needs to step it up. The story is trying to focus on too many things at once and failing. Season 3, as a whole, is just incoherent and all over the place. Lazarus, Shining Blade, Balthazar, Dragon’s Watch and the dragons. Its just confusing to me and I’m sure many others when the direction of the story constantly changes direction. Also, tone down the wit and snark. Episode 6 was drenched in it. Everybody’s got jokes! Everyone’s trying to be witty. I didn’t mind it as much earlier in the season, but now it’s just making me angry. My human PC makes me want to punch him in the face every time he talks. Taimi, too. Gw2 story just feels like a sitcom now. Like who writes this dialogue?

Gameplay: Good! A lot of interesting encounters and puzzles. Orr looks fantastic! Much better than Draconis Mons.

The good things about episode 6 are the maps, encounters and puzzles. Basically everything BUT the story.

Orr looks fantastic! It’s as how I envisioned it. Lush green with some gray. It’s a land in transition. It’s also much more friendly to explore than Draconic Mons. The new fractal is pretty good too.

Unfortunately, season 3 story just fell apart. Too many plot elements. You had Balthazar, Lazarus, Jormag/Primordus, Rytlock, Taimi, Dragon’s Watch, Shining Blade. The story is just incoherent and all over the place. There’s no central focus. It just keeps shifting around. Lazarus > Primordus/Jormag > Balthazar > back to Lazarus

Chrono.6928:

i actually liked it… a lot.

Sure it was a little all over the place but that’s how they’ve done all the living world stories so far. They give a few answers and a lot of new questions. Closure? Ha come back a few seasons or expansions from now.

I am curious as to why balthazar returned? Where has he and the others been all this time? Why does he suddenly not care about us or tyria?

A little? Try a lot. Season 2 wasn’t like this. Season 2 had a central focus: Modremoth and the dragons. All the sub-plots: exposition of Scarlet, the rise of Mordrem, the attacks on Salma/Concordia, the assist of the races and the gathering of world leaders, Ogden, the story of Caithe. They all revolved around Mordremoth.

Season 3, on the other hand, was a mess. It started off ok with Lazarus, then it just lost focus. It couldn’t decide which direction to go. The central focus of the story kept changing with each episode. I’m just there thinking, “What is the story trying to communicate to me? It’s doing way too much.” I just became more confused as time went on.

“We’re going after Lazarus!”
“Wait, Jormag/Primordus are awake!”
“Ok, we’re going after dragons!”
“Wait we need a machine.” “Ok, we got the machine!”
“Wait, Balthazar is here! Lazarus is a fake…”
“Rrggh—ok—we’re going after Balthazar….”
“Wait, we’re going after Lazarus again!”
“……seriously?……fine whatever”

Granted, I will give credit that the Lazarus and Mursaat story is officially concluded. Still, the Mursaat have been dragged through the mud thanks to this sloppy writing and I just wasn’t as invested as I was in the beginning of the season.

Honestly, the storytelling needs to step it up. As it is now, I am NOT excited for the expansion.

Looking at season 3 overall, I’m disappointed. I’m sorry to say, gw2 needs to step up their storytelling. It is sloppy. It is a mess. The story is clearly trying to do too many things at once. Too many plot elements: Lazarus, Balthazar, Dragon’s Watch, Jormag/Primordus, now Shining Blade?! Livia?! The writing needs to pick a narrative and stick with it. Otherwise, you just confuse people. Season 3 started off ok, but then it just fell flat.

That being said, I’m glad that the Mursaat story is officially over. At least season 3 ended the way it was supposed to.

This is one of the reasons I quit PvP….again….

I’m tired of playing the SAME THING for 5 years straight. I’m tired of circle-dancing, capturing points, it’s just not fun to play anymore. It’s not just stale at this point, it’s PUTRID. ATs are nice, I guess, but it’s still freakin conquest!

Bring in TDM to queue. Don’t even listen to the elitists about making PvP “competitive”, just make it fun to play for the community. These elitists should know that MMOs and competitive PvP do not mix.

Here’s an idea: You all know the Southsun Cove arena used for Crab Toss? Put THAT in for 2v2. Spacey, no obstacles, perfect for fighting. An actual arena. The 2v2 custom map with the stairs is disappointing. It’s not for fighting, it’s a corridor. There’s no space to move.

I don’t agree. Elder dragons were getting pretty stale. As forces of nature, they were too impersonal to hold peoples’ interest. Shifting the story towards the gods is a step in the right direction.

Although, I did dislike chapter 5. It was just botched, imo.

Asked myself the same thing. PvP is just not fun anymore. Elite specs have completely ruined it. This is why population plummeted. Spam gameplay. Unfun gameplay. Core builds are simply more fun to play.

I remember the days when builds actually took some skill to use. Core builds kept the game at a level pace, so you had time to counter your opponent. HoT changed all that. Elite specs drastically raised the pace of PvP. That people still think that PvP can become “competitive” is ludicrous. Elite specs barely take any skill at all!

Also, tournaments aren’t the answer. People are sick of tired of conquest. We want TDM. We want something new to play.

PierPiero.9142:

JTGuevara.9018:

People knock the build diversity here, but it’s much better than PvP. In PvP, you are really limited in what you can do due to the nature of Conquest. Your builds, first of all, must have elite specs. Otherwise, your loss is assured. Second, your builds revolve around capture points: whether it’s decap, bunker, mid fights. Everything you do is in relation to points.

WvWs problem is as in PvP, elite specs and conditions. Also, there are some broken stats, dire/trailblazer. Even so, WvW allows you to run what you want, provided it helps you and your small group or zerg to survive and not be a walking loot bag.

I used to be an alarmist about WvW, but I’m enjoying it more and more each day.

If you delete dire/trabalizer you have also to eliminate power stat like soldier or settler or cleric ( as it has been done in spvp ) . There are power build much more unbalanced than trabalizer or dire. There are warriors or guardians who hit like trucks and have a lot of active defense ,regen and toughness. I agree with you that there are balanced problem , but it can not be only on trabalizer/dire becouse “i don’t play it” .. if you want to balance you have to balance all the stats … not only what you don’t like

The problem is not amulets, its elite specs. Powercreep is what ruins WvW. Also, it was worse back then at post-HoT release. Elite specs were even more absurd. Honestly, I think they’re superior by design. No matter how much you nerf elites, they will still be better than core due to class mechanics. They need to be completely reworked.

I like the new reward system! As a bronze vet, (yup we exist!). I have zero problem with pip gains on rank and outnumbered. Vets have been playing a game mode they enjoy for years and not getting rewarded for it. Now they are.

As far as outnumbered goes, keep it as is! It’s perfect. The outnumbered buff “counters” itself, so to speak. All the bonuses trigger the players to quickly show up, eliminating the buff and thus solving the “problem”. It’s pretty crafty on Anets part lol.

To pvers, as a fellow pver sorry but I disagree. This system is pretty good. Its not demoralizing, vets are capped at diamond like everyone else. They just get faster. And that’s fine because they put their time and effort over the years.

Jumpin Lumpix.6108:

Would make wvw exciting again, and would make winning at the end of the week mean something.

Would also be a great way to add skirmish tickets which many have been complaining about.

NO. Learn from PvP. The more you try to make a game mode “competitive”, the more it’s going to fail. WvW has already been down that road with the tournaments. Let’s not repeat history.

It’s hilarious seeing people blame “casuals” for pvp being ruined. “Casuals” are just here for the loot. Can you blame them? That’s all we ever offered them. They’re here because of rewards and dailies, that’s it. They’re not ruining pvp.

If anything killed pvp, it’s the “hardcores” and tryhards in these forums that tried to push this “competitive” scene down everyones’ throats. They’re still doing it. Even as esports has kicked the bucket. Instead of “How can we make this game more fun to play?” it’s “How can we make this game more competitive?”

People knock the build diversity here, but it’s much better than PvP. In PvP, you are really limited in what you can do due to the nature of Conquest. Your builds, first of all, must have elite specs. Otherwise, your loss is assured. Second, your builds revolve around capture points: whether it’s decap, bunker, mid fights. Everything you do is in relation to points.

WvWs problem is as in PvP, elite specs and conditions. Also, there are some broken stats, dire/trailblazer. Even so, WvW allows you to run what you want, provided it helps you and your small group or zerg to survive and not be a walking loot bag.

I used to be an alarmist about WvW, but I’m enjoying it more and more each day.

Yeah, I said it. I always naturally gravitated to WvW more than PvP. Sometimes I literally cannot stop playing it. I just get caught up in the small-scale fights, zergs, roaming, ppt, guildies, sticking with tags. Nothing but fun. Nothing but fights. Nothing but fun fights!

However, PvP is the complete opposite. Conquest has been shoved down our throats for 5 years. There’s no 2v2, 3v3 TDM. There are no separate queues for solo/5v5. Ranked is an abomination. E-sports was an embarassment, I’m GLAD it’s dead. The PvP community is in a state of denial about their game mode. They don’t want to make big changes to make it more accessible for people, except to throw them rewards. Ascended gear, etc. Automated tournaments are nice for established 5v5 teams, I guess, but this community still thinks that PvP can be “competitive”. All these new teams were supposed to develop a “scene”. But…nothing. Whatever happened to making PvP fun? A “competitive” scene doesn’t happen when you force it, it happens when people find a game fun to play. If this makes me sound like a “casual”, then so be it.

What I see is that WvW is in better shape than in the past and miles ahead of PvP in terms of fun. Much better than the early post-HoT days.

RedCobra.7693:

JTGuevara.9018:

All this defensiveness lol. Seems I hit a nerve around here. You guys need to relax. I’m not trying to take away ATs, I support them. I’m just saying that they’re not going to grow like people say they are. They’re not the answer. You need queues. You need tdm.

Yes, I’m aware that I can’t pug my way to victory. But that’s beside the point. I used my own experience as an example. If ATs are all that the PvP community has to look forward to, we are in trouble.

You can’t really expect ATs alone to hold regular pvpers interest.

Nobody’s angry, they just think you’re wrong; dont dismiss peoples opinion just because they disagree with you. its infantile.

I have NOT dismissed anyone’s opinion just because they disagree with me. That is false. I just think I have a better argument.

I merely just questioned the narrative that ATs were going to usher in a new competitive scene. All these new teams were supposed to be chomping at the bit to compete. Obviously, it hasn’t happened.

Really? Nobody’s angry? Some seem to be in a bit of a tizzy over those mean old “casuals” trying to take their toys away. lol

CattivoUomo.7198:

I’m with you on rotating in some new maps. They should test them in EoTM though, in my opinion to gauge people’s reaction. Also, maybe not adding on top of the maps in WvW since it can stretch some of the world population a bit thin. That being said, Anet took a beating with the last WvW map because, in my opinion, stuck up WvWrs couldn’t wrap their head around how to fight on the new map, and it wasn’t ‘zerg friendly’. I personally think it’s a great map!

DBL is a beautiful map! The only problem, IMO, is the elevation. There are way too many cliffs. This is what makes it hard to traverse the map. Yes the map is the same length as ABL, but it takes longer to travel because of the obstacles of HEIGHT.

flog.3485:

JTGuevara.9018:

Yeah, I agree. I’m confident that ATs as they are currently will fail. There’s simply no incentive to form teams not only because of rewards, but because they are facing people way above their current skill level. I really think you need different levels of tournaments to make them work.

And how exactly do you create different tiers of competition with low PvP population ? It is already happening in ranked and even with a given rating you still get lopsided matches. Anyway even if you create that, the same thing will happen: manipulation of games with smurf accounts 2.0 (in NA especially). At some point you are gonna need to accept that gw2 PvP will never ever reach the potential of a true PvP focused game. You also make it sound that no team whatsoever will ever improve (if anything unranked should get 5v5 only separate queue). How do you expect them to improve if they are stuck facing the same team of their tiers ? And how do you account for the level of a PvP team reaching another tiers if there is so much disparity between tiers in the first place ? You really believe that all “pro team” up there will spend their entire day playing every single tournament of the day if you basically only need to to only win two tournaments to qualify for the monthlies ? Make daily rewards more appealing and more people will join. That is pretty much it.

Ranked is not a tournament. It is a LEAGUE. You get rewarded win or lose. Tournaments are different. There are actual stakes. You do not get rewarded if you lose. You get eliminated from the competition.

To create different tournament levels, I’d simply use MMR. (Low: 0-500, Mid: 500-1000, High: 1000-1500) Easy. As far as lower level teams improving? Simple. When they consistently beat the crap out of their peers, they’re ready for higher levels. You gotta walk before you can run. As far as accounting for disparity? Again, simple. The more teams play, the less the disparity over time, like any game. The difference now is that everybody plays with their peers as opposed to just throwing everybody together. Throwing rewards at the problem will…not…solve it. Look at ranked.

Last thing, I agree. PvP will never reach its potential. That ship has sailed long ago. Conquest has been shoved down our throats for 5 years. But…so what? That’s no excuse to not make changes. “Low population” is not an excuse to avoid changes. Unless, people don’t care about PvP anymore. In which in any case, change is pointless. Because nothing changes if people don’t care.

Xanctus The Dragonslayer.2318:

the rewards are decent 500 g at the end of a month is not bad. I agree with JT. U need a lower level tournament so that u can have rookie teams as it stands now u have teams like JFK and such just gonna kitten on new teams. And yes u can go to unranked to practice rotations, but honestly to stand a chance u need lots and lots of practice to stand a chance like practice srimss etc

Exactly. If teams keep getting rolled, they’re not coming back. Period. No matter how much rewards you throw at them.

Yeah, I agree. I’m confident that ATs as they are currently will fail. There’s simply no incentive to form teams not only because of rewards, but because they are facing people way above their current skill level. I really think you need different levels of tournaments to make them work.

I welcome better rewards, yes, but tournaments won’t help this game unless they’re accessible to the majority of players. I think different levels of tournaments are the best thing to do. As it is now, new teams are just going to walk straight into pro and established teams and crash out of the first round. You can’t learn anything from that. New teams and regulars need to play with people on their level. I argue that’s a better incentive than rewards.