Guild Wars 2

Looks like most of my feelings have already been voiced by others. Just tossing in additional dissent. I think flying mounts would be bad for the game:

Like it or not, Guild Wars 2 has always been part platformer. (Honestly, I love that about the game.) The entire world has been designed with this in mind. Flying without limits would completely obsolesce that design. I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to World of Warcraft and how it did/didn’t ruin that game…but I don’t think WoW makes for a valid comparison because of this fundamental difference – platforming.

What limits would NOT obsolesce old content? Honestly, I have no good ideas. The best I can come up with would be to prevent flying in most places (pretty much all of the game as we know it right now)…or to replicate exactly what they’ve done with gliding – use updrafts, leylines, or a similar mechanic to create small areas where flying can work (everywhere else, it wouldn’t). I don’t think either of those options are particularly appealing (especially if flying were to be the first new game mechanic that doesn’t work in old content).

Going further, flying mounts would obsolesce two expansions’ worth of mastery lines. It’s not just gliding – why would we care about ground mounts either?

One might then ask what’s so bad about making old content obsolete? It makes the world feel small. It makes the game feel like there’s far less to do. Guild Wars 2, from early on, has worked to keep all content areas viable as the game progresses – be it world bosses, achievements, karma farming, daily quests, etc. Even crafting at high levels requires the use of low-level materials at times. Making old zones obsolete would go completely against how they’ve done things…and I think changing that would make the game worse.

I highly doubt that GW2 will ever have flying mounts. If they were to add them, I think they’d need a GOOD reason to do so. Some way of enhancing the platforming experience. Gliding was a WONDERFUL example of this. I MIGHT see a place for something like hovering or double-jumping type mechanics in the future (rather than full flying mounts)…but looking at the PoF mounts…I think that’s exactly the type of stuff we’ll be getting in this expansion.

Unless a more creative person than I can come up with a solution, I think the game is far better without flying mounts.

I must admit, I like fishing in my games. Something to do on occasionally when I just want to relax. I’d love to see what Anet might do to such a system too.

So I’ve been scanning through the gem store and gear skins a fair bit lately. Particularly, outfits. I’ve noticed some common things that strike me as odd:

1. Antlers. SO many headpieces – especially in outfits – have horns/spikes/antlers/feathers on the head. Some examples:
- The Champion of Tyria outfit. This is the one that really got me thinking. It’s such a strange design with those things sticking out the top. It’s clearly not practical…and they hardly seem decorative. Just…odd.
- Exemplar Attire’s mask has a bit of a horn sticking up. Not the worst though. I just turn off the helm on mine.
- Nature’s Oath is covered in antlers so I do at least understand their use here. Still, I turn off the helmet on mine.
- Brahm’s Wolfblood Outfit doesn’t have horns so much as tusks. I’m not a fan.
- Dwayna’s Regalia has GIANT feathers sticking out. I dislike this less than other designs, but I’m still not a fan.
- I don’t know what that is on the Winter Solstice Outfit…but it’s sure something.
- The Harbinger of Mordremoth Outfit speaks for itself. Yikes!
- The Scallywag Helm isn’t exactly a horn or anything as much as…what? I think I might have seen that design on some herbivorous dinosaur in the past?
- The Triumphant warhelm goes horizonal with its design. Careful not to tip over!
- Berserker’s Helm. It doesn’t even fit the preview window! XD

2. Faces. Some weapons do this too, but faces/heads on your armor.
- The Champion of Tyria pops up again. Is…is that a baby’s face on your shoulder? O_o’
- Sentinel Outfit. ALMOST one of my favorites…but for birds. They’re all over. I don’t mind the one on the helmet so much, but the shoulders…and the hands. It just seems silly. Why? Why are they there?
- The light bladed armor set
- The houndskin mantle
- The seer’s mantle
- The Ambrosial Chef’s backpack. It’s a bull’s face…sticking out of your back. Mouth open comically…and breathing fire.
- Lava Skull backpack.

Those are just SOME examples too. I’m sure there are plenty more in both categories. I just don’t understand who these are for. I find them rather off-putting…but that’s just my sense of aesthetics. I’m curious what others think. Do these items have fans out there? Are there other gear themes that seem off-putting to you?

Finally, right off the bat, I would like to request: DO NOT insult anyone else based on their tastes (or really, based on anything).

EDIT: Formatting

Thanks for the help! Man, I wish tooltips would find a less…generic term for physical damage (perhaps “physical damage”) so it’s clear what they’re buffing. I’ve clearly misunderstood how I specialized more than one of my characters.

I love what I’m seeing of the world so far. Enemies seemed interesting. Water and sky looked GREAT! Exploration felt GREAT. Can’t wait to see more.

The raptor felt great most of the time, but I can’t decide whether I like how it controls differently than the character. That’s frustrating, but I may get used to it. Turning via keyboard felt especially off (and nausea-inducing).

I love the idea of unidentified items and how you’re using that to fix inventory issues, but PLEASE pull qualities yellow and above out of the green salvage items. Maybe just make green and yellow unidentified – that’d work for me. Additionally, the price to identify seems too high. Feels punishing.

Do condition builds benefit from “damage increase” traits?

Several classes have traits that list a “damage increase”. I understand that a long time ago, this excluded conditions. Is this still the case? Searching around, I’ve had difficulty finding a clear answer.

Thanks!

Laivine.9308:

Svarty.8019:

Nihevil.8024:

currently you have to go to a heart vendor to do this each time you want to identify items.

That’ll be fun in WvW …

Fear not! Unlimited Identify o’ Tron on gem store for 1000 gems…soon!

I’m actually expecting and okay with this. I don’t think identification in the field is terribly important…though I’d probably buy the gem store item anyway. =P

When I last posted, I hadn’t properly accounted for the cost of identification. I do think that price needs to be about 1% to 5% of what it is now.

Further, I didn’t realize that exotics were potentially in that loot pool. Exotics and rares should definitely be separate. Being grouped together, I no longer feel free to simply salvage them away.

I now see this as an expensive convenience that I would never have chosen if I had been given the choice. …but the path to fix identification seems pretty clear and easy to fix. Hopefully it will get changed.

I’m sure others have said this by now, but I also love this feature. I definitely want it kept. Here’s why:
1. Gear drops in GW2 have gotten crazy over HoT. I’ve heard the term “Inventory Wars 2” used more than once. You’re constantly having to deal with all the garbage items that fill up your bags. Unidentified items let you find out what you’re getting LATER. In the meantime, they stack.
2. Your inventory is kept clear WITHOUT it slowly filling with useless glyphs/runes.
3. You can still salvage the items without identifying. At least with the greens (the only ones I’ve found so far…maybe the only ones that exist), weren’t you going to do that anyway?
4. You can vendor them as normal (if that’s your thing).
5. If you DO wish to identify the items, you can do so in bulk. At a heart vendor. It acts as a small money sink and you do occasionally get nice/collectible stuff for the trouble.

I had the same knee-jerk reaction when I heard about the identification system being introduced, but it actually DOES serve a purpose here. It’ll greatly improve MY quality of gaming and I bet it’ll do so for most others too. I’d love to see this system added to older zones as well – as many as is feasible.

I was just wondering about this earlier. Got a Steam Link and it works pretty well. It’d be nice to play GW2 in front of the TV without a mouse and keyboard…though that probably isn’t realistic.

For now, I’m just trying to find a good setup for using a G13 keypad and MMO-style mouse without a desk.

Hmm, I’m not sure where to start here. Some thoughts in no particular order:

- It would help to know what generation/model of i7 you’re using. The generation of i7 is probably more important than knowing it’s an “i7” itself.
- I doubt your CPU is the bottleneck anyway. I don’t believe i7s have ever had integrated video (at least, they haven’t in a while). So you should have a discreet video card. Knowing what video card you’re running would help.
- Have you tried limiting the number of players shown at a time? …or the view distance? That might help mitigate the problems in the meantime.
- If none of that works, I’d tinker with the other video settings for a bit. There are a lot of new visual effects going on in the new zone. Perhaps one or more of them are proving difficult for your video card.

It would be nice if the expansion were able to run just as well as old content, but unless there’s a bug causing this, that seems unlikely to change (at least in the short-term). Optimization as you’re requesting is typically a pretty big undertaking – if not monumental. You probably want to look into how to improve things for YOU.

Ouch, man. Sorry to hear that! You could always TRY opening a ticket to see if they’d do anything for you. Might be worth a try. I just wouldn’t hold my breath. =/

I’m still a bit sore about some soulbound (NOT account bound – soulbound) gathering tools that didn’t get updated when all gathering tools were changed to be account bound.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I didn’t (mean to) imply one would not be able to get places with access to all varieties of Mounts. My point was that gliding has its uses in the new (demo area of the) map. As opposed to the opening post stating there was no opportunities or use for gliding there.

Ah, my bad. I read the context of the topic into it. Understood. =)

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I used gliding in the new map to get places I could not get to on my Mount. Seems like they have a place in the desert.

I’d pick at that a little. We don’t have all the mounts yet. Gliding is temporarily useful for what has yet to be unlocked. I believe it’ll remain useful. I just doubt anything in PoF (except MAYBE some achievement stuff…MAYBE) would be unreachable to those without gliders.

Pino.5209:

JackOfAllGames.2409:

Cylokin.2560:

Are people having a laugh? That was as easy instance as they come!

Come now, don’t be mean. I know people that took a few tries to get through those enemies. It comes down to how well you know the game…which often comes down to how much you’ve had a chance to play. It’s not cool to belittle someone having trouble.

Belittling is even remotely the problem. OP was asking for nerf from Dev while crying out for help at the same time and claiming to be a fractal vet to make a point as for the legitimacy of the request.

Ohh, I missed the fractal vet part. Yeeeaaaahhhh…nevermind me then. =P

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Hope dies last, doesn’t it.

Gliding was a great feature of HoT and they know it. If PoF maps were glider friendly they would be quick to announce it as a sales pitch.

Hmm. I disagree with your assumption. They aren’t bundling the feature so why would they harp on something that the potential customer may not have? They’re making a big push to sell THIS expansion. Part of that is wanting players to feel like they don’t have to buy a bunch of stuff to catch up (after all, “catching up” to high level play is something GW2 has bucked all along).

Further, why would they need to try pushing HoT? GW2 is part platformer at its core. Always has been. Gliding is a REALLY fun mechanic for a platformer. When you see it, you want it. The glider, just by existing, will continue to make people want to buy HoT.

Then regarding the glider’s use… Have you ever used the glider in the original maps? What about Dry Top? Silverwastes? I know I have. Those maps weren’t designed for gliding, but it’s a REALLY convenient feature to have. My own assumption (which holds true SO FAR in the beta) is that this expansion will work similarly. I expect gliding to be a CONVENIENCE, never a REQUIREMENT to get anywhere.

I think the Living World Season 3 maps were a good indication of ArenaNet’s mindset toward masteries. You get platforming abilities that are unlocked roughly one map at a time. You’ll primarily use those abilities in that map, but they may also have SOME use in the next. …but the platforming tools you’re unlocking are for that general area – nowhere else. I don’t expect to use nuhoch wallows in the original game. I don’t expect them in PoF. I don’t expect to need gliding in the old world. I don’t expect to need it in PoF. It’ll just be a lot of fun to have. =)

Aomine.5012:

This is only the beta, and we don’t know what other mounts function atm.

ArenaNet did post the mounts and what they do. If you care to see, they’re listed here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/path-of-fire/#mounts

(…or if I misunderstood you, sorry.)

It might be a bit over-tuned, but that hardly seems unusual for personal story type stuff.

If you’re open to suggestions, perhaps you could post what you’re using? Some classes, builds, and stats just don’t work as well as others for soloing.

Personally, I like the system a lot as-is. What I’d hope is that a happy medium can be found. Perhaps a min and max mount size per race? …or give each race a mount size range that better fits and then scale based on that slider.

More dye channels would always be nice. If feasible, I’d definitely like this as well.

Xanctus The Dragonslayer.2318:

ok this is new. virtual motion sickness is an thing? not trying to be mean here but i’m genuinely surprised here.

Yep. Giving the illusion of motion without moving can really mess with some people. (I’m luckier than many, but still get it at times.) The trigger specifics and severity differ from person to person, but it’s fairly common (in some form or another). Something about the mount just seems to trigger a number of people. Hopefully ANet can figure out a good fix that works for everyone.

Hmm. Not I. Mine have continued coming in. Both in the beta (today) and live (each day I’ve logged in this week).

Edit: I’ve kept the same material (vials of blood) since I got my board. Haven’t switched yet. (In case it’s relevant.)

Okay, I think I understand. The mount ARE in fact going faster, even while not using the jump boost. Run alongside other players who aren’t mounted and the difference becomes clear.

That said, it’s not a TON faster (to where running on foot feels awful), but it is noticeable.

EDIT: This is only speaking of the raptor. Other mounts may have different speeds.

Unfortunately, every player needs their own. It’s this way with all the premium passes. I’ve tried getting a friend to join via teleport to friend and such before. You get ejected (in Mistlock, you’re booted to Lion’s Arch) if you don’t have the item on you.

Umm… Sorry, what was the question? I see the question mark, but I do not follow.

Don’t forget that they can always introduce new weapon types too. It’d be a fair amount of work, but what isn’t? It’d be feasible enough for an expansion.

Me, I wish they’d de-couple weapons from elite specs entirely. Just slowly add weapon options to the classes as needed. Make the special part of an elite spec JUST how the class mechanics change.

I foresee the same. Dumped my bank-full of low-level materials the moment I saw this. >_>

I could be wrong, but hey, buying prices for gems were quite good. Whatever happens, it’ll stabilize in time.

I think mounts in the home instance are a WONDERFUL idea. I don’t know about the buff mechanic…I’d probably avoid that (lest it become a daily chore)…but definitely like the idea in general. +1 here.

To the OP: If you are dissatisfied with the game, I think you’re approaching this the wrong way. From your original post and what I skimmed through since (I apologize if I missed something), I keep seeing you speak in generalities. Generalities are difficult to turn into anything constructive. I’m assuming that you wish the game to change for the better and aren’t here to troll. Specifics are what you need to improve anything. What are some specific instances of how HoT failed your expectations? What are some contrasting examples of how the original game succeeded?

I do further question what you REALLY want here. Your idea “casual” seems pretty murky to me (again though, generalizations do that). We may simply fundamentally disagree here. It sounds like your definition of casual involves a lack of challenge. Mine involves a lack of time constraints. I don’t mind a challenge so long as there isn’t a clock on it…and so long as there isn’t too great a penalty for failing. I like to explore when I wish, progress at my own pace, and not have to struggle to keep up with a gear progression treadmill. If I fail, I don’t want to work for long in order to try again. This game meets my type of casual VERY well. Yours…again, I’m struggling to understand. That’s why I think specifics would help. …and fewer generalizations may help diffuse the general mood of this topic. (Generalizations leave everyone to their own assumptions and that makes constructive discourse difficult.)

I’d also be curious whether you’ve played HoT lately. Whether your impressions of the expansion still hold true today. Like many have mentioned, the game WAS re-tuned to be less punishing (and more than once, I believe).

Lady Lozza.9670:

Take a pill is not a practical solution for everyone. I’ve tried medication for when I travel long distances by bus or car, it didn’t work for me.

Additionally, altering how your brain works (as my quick Google search of dimenhydrinate indicates – I’m not trained in such things, nor a medical professional, ask your doctor, caveat emptor, lorem ipsum, etc.) …is probably not something you want to do regularly on a long-term basis. As this is an MMO (a game people tend to play longer-term and regularly), that strikes me as bad.

As someone with moderate motion sickness problems (I can usually sense the problem before it starts and deal with it, and MOST games don’t trigger it), this wasn’t a huge problem for me. I just noticed a distaste for the mount controls/movement at first and adjusted how I was controlling it. (Though I understand that people with more severe problems may not be able to compensate so easily.)

What I do notice, if it’s of any help:
- If I zoom in closer (I almost always play zoomed out as far as it’ll go), I start to feel the early warning signs.

- When I use A and D to turn the mount, I get a much stronger warning sign. If I try making the mount weave back and forth, that accelerates that feeling. Turning is the only thing that normally STARTS to trigger it for me. I’m not an expert, but I believe the problem for me is the “bungee cord” camera effect:
1. The mount turns
2. The camera is delayed, very slightly moving at first.
3. Then the camera accelerates quickly (unnatural-seeming to my brain), whipping around. The unexpected (unnatural movement that my brain can’t accurately expect and compensate for) and not facing the direction of motion are what typically trigger my motion sickness.
4. Then the camera slows down – taking longer to center than my brain expects. I have the illusion that the camera is moving farther than it should. I believe this is my mind trying to overcompensate.

- Turning is not an issue when done with the mouse – only the way the raptor mount (the only one I have access to) moves with the keyboard.

My settings are:
Res: 1920×1080 (windowed fullscreen)
FPS: Around 100 average, but a minimum of 55 (if I’m really trying, spinning the camera back and forth)
Frame Limiter: Unlimited
Interface Size: Small
Antialiasing: FXAA
Render Sampling: Native
All other relevant drop-down settings at max (I do have the character model limit as high, but I doubt that’s a relevant factor)
Ambient Occlusion: On
Best Texture Filtering: On
Depth Blur: On
Effect LOD: On
High-Res Character Textures: On
Light Adaptation: On
Vertical Sync: Off
Motion Blur Power: Middle (unset, I believe)

Until you get a good chunk of the daredevil unlocked, I’d recommend trying to settle on something else you like (sword, dagger, pistol, etc.). Since (as others have said) you can’t use both rifle and staff, you’ll need to have something else for your alternate weapons anyway. Now is the time to learn what you like. I’d recommend experimenting with both melee and ranged options for whichever elite spec you end up sticking with.

IMO, elite specs aren’t worth USING until you’re nearly done unlocking them. Better to use a fully unlocked basic spec.

Vindicus.2130:

the season 3 maps are all pretty fun and awesome except Draconis Mons, steer clear of this HoT map wannabe after you get the story/mastery points from it.

Aw, it wasn’t THAT bad. Honestly, I probably had the most fun with that map. I LOVED the grappling gimmick. Plus, if you took the season’s maps in order and earned the masteries, it was pretty easy to use the thermal tubes to get around quickly (even before you got the waypoints). Most of the difficulty is in the scavenger hunting achievements.

At the very least, people should give Draconis Mons a try. It does seem to have the greatest number of detractors, but not everyone hated it…and it was definitely no Tangled Depths (nor even Auric Basin, which closed off paths depending on which events were completed).

As others have said, use the LFG tool. Look for a taxi group, getting people together for the next map reset. Join the map. If it’s full and you can’t, try to find another.

There are times when there just aren’t any good groups running, but I’ve found it pretty easy to get a group most of the time.

…but again, as others said, don’t just port into the map, hoping to find a group ready to go. Unfortunately, that almost never works.

As a casual player myself, I have NO idea what the OP is talking about. The game was far more difficult to solo when the expansion FIRST came out…but it got better quickly:

1. I learned to stop using green gear. Period.
2. I learned how to make money so I could buy orange gear.
3. I learned to dodge attacks and actually pay closer attention to how my characters were built. I had no reason to do so until HoT. Most things ‘til then were pretty easy to autoattack to death. At first, the expansion felt unfair, but I started to get used to it.
4. A few weeks in, the expansion got NERFED. Maybe more than once. (I don’t recall.) Suddenly, the game was fairly easy again…MOST of the time. Now the challenge was in specific areas rather than every group of pocket raptors or mordrem.
5. As the game stabilized, exploration become fun again. I could solo many of the hero point spots. I figured out how to reach more and more mastery spots. I advanced. The game was good!
6. After some time, living world chapter 3 came out…and it was GOOD! New zone after new zone. New stuff to collect, achievements to hunt, mechanics to play with (I had a blast grappling from tree to cliffside to tree).

The game’s been good for some time now. (From a casual perspective.) The devs owned their mistakes, fixed them, and even changed a lot of the grey-area stuff that the playerbase just generally disliked. I find it difficult to still beat them up over mistakes so long ago. Especially since they were so fast to fix ’em.

Regarding map design, I do at least KIND OF get that. *cough*tangleddepths*cough* …but much of it was pretty easy to learn and traverse. Especially once you got a few ranks in gliding (which itself was pretty easy). There’s a balance between an area that’s fun to explore with lots of secrets to uncover…and a freakin’ maze where you can see your goal on the map but CANNOT find which tunnel goes there (Tangled Depths).

Further, some of the design was also pretty frustrating – having to do an event chain before you could remove the vine barrier to get where you needed to go (unless you unlocked the 3rd mastery in mastery line D, went to THIS location somewhere else to teleport past the vine barrier HERE…). That was also pretty bad design IMO, but it really ISN’T that difficult to learn to get around. …but the last five or six zones have been pretty great for the most part. I think the devs learned from their mistakes in HoT and we’ll have a pretty great expansion ahead!

Agreed. Feels a bit like a negative buff to Scourge.

Just piling on, as others have said, the PSU is a likely culprit with those symptoms. If you can underclock some of your hardware (warning: adjust clock speeds at your own risk, be sure you know what you’re doing, etc.) you may be able to mitigate the problem for a bit, but the only cure for a bad PSU is a new PSU.

I’d also check things like CPU temp (and other temps if available). The system might shut down if overheating. It could also be a number of other failing components, but an aging PSU is probably most likely – PSU capability decreases over time. It’s probably just barely keeping up with a normal load. Then when the video card really kicks in, BAM!

Bump. I’m still getting MASSIVE lag every time I visit. Sometimes it’ll subside for a bit, but when it’s bad, it’s BAD.

I’ll be fighting a mob when my attack just doesn’t activate. Then suddenly autoattack seemed to rapid-fire and all the enemies are in different locations.
…or…
I’ll be fighting a mob at Balt’s place when my attacks freeze again. My target freezes. Seconds pass. Then I’m suddenly downed, trying to recover as my target and 3 others are all on top of me.

The lag in the new zone is so common, it’s just un-fun. …but then I go to some other place (Lake Doric, Bloodstone Fen, Lion’s Arch, Gendarran Fields, etc.) and no lag! At least, nothing noticeable.

Often during the lag spikes, I don’t even see ping times change. I’m wondering if this is a DDoS issue…but I know next to nothing about how the GW2 servers are set up.

If it’s helpful, I’m often experiencing this around 10 PM to 12 AM (midnight) PST. North American servers.

Thank you all for the help! From what I’ve learned:

1. Fire/Air/Tempest (which I have already done some experimenting in) is pretty much the go-to. Within those specs, I’ll experiment.
2. I should give up on condi builds (at least for a while). Power is the way to go. I might not go FULL zerker if I need a bit more survivability…but I’ll try full zerker first.
3. I really need to up my dodging game. The proper way to survive is to avoid ever getting hit.
4. I need to give staff and scepter another look. Especially staff. (Since it should be better with power…and I may have just been confusing slow cast times and animations with low damage. I need to look at the numbers.)
5. I’m not breaking those blue bars alone. Learn where my options are (for groups)…but don’t bother trying to break them unless others are helping.

This has been very helpful! I now know where I can narrow the scope of my experimentation. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something fun that’ll work.

Thanks again! =)

Hello all. I know this is kind of a broad topic here…but I’m having trouble understanding elementalists. I have quite a few classes up to 80 now. Most of ‘em make sense and have several interesting builds I’m toying with…but when it comes to the elementalist, I just don’t get it. (…which kind of stinks. The “wizard” is usually my favorite option in any given RPG and this class seems like the one I should like most.) I guess what I’m having trouble understanding is what makes ELEMENTALISTS good? Why them over another class?

To narrow things down a bit, here are some things I’m having trouble with:

1. How do you handle the lack of weapon swapping? All the builds I’m looking at focus on very short range attacks, almost always using main-hand dagger, but a lot of fights are A LOT easier with ranged attacks. Do I just need to “get gud” at melee? Am I missing something great about the ranged weapon options? (I’d much prefer a ranged build, but scepter seems to have trouble with AoE situations and staff seems poor against single targets.) I’d try using conjured weapons…but unlike the engineer, the weapons disappear within a time limit or number of uses. =/

2. What are some of the standard methods of breaking the defiance bar? I don’t see a lot of options offhand. Is there some standard rotation or something obvious I’m missing?

3. Is Tempest spec worthwhile for solo PvE? The overcharges seem really nice, but A LOT of the traits seem underwhelming. I finally had to give up the notion of using the druid specialization to make a hunter build that I could enjoy (condi axe/torch + shortbow). Perhaps this is a similar situation.

4. How do you normally handle survivability? As a cloth class, I’m having far more trouble surviving combat than with my necromancer or mesmer. Again, being in melee doesn’t help.

5. I’m having trouble deciding on a build. Nothing seems to “click” with me. What kind of build do you normally run in solo PvE? Condition or power? What specializations do you choose (and which trait synergies should I watch for)? Which weapons and utility skills do you utilize? The closest I’ve come to liking a build so far is Fresh Air. Any other good ones?

Thank you!

Randulf.7614:

I assume this is why payment wasn’t authorised for buying gems?

Not sure about that. I just bought gems without an issue.

I enjoying crafting…up to around 400. Cooking especially. Most of my characters have maxed cooking. Multiple have maxed (400) jewelcrafting. Many have another somewhere around 400-450. None yet have 500. That end grind is expensive and just not fun anymore. I’ll do it eventually for better gear, but I’m dragging my heels.

End-game crafting is extremely grindey with the number of materials needed…and it lacks variety. There are so few different types of end-game materials. The things I like about leveling it up just disappear toward the end. The high levels consist of making a bunch of expensive things that you don’t need, trying to scrape your way up high enough to get something you’ll actually USE.

Oh! I forgot. Like Danikat mentioned, definitely try another class. I think warrior is one of two classes I have yet to find a liking for (along with the hunter/druid). My personal favorite so far is the thief. They can work with either power or condition damage competently (though I believe power builds are FAVORED, you don’t have to go that route). They have a lot of dodgy abilities. They have a lot of quick-firing attacks. The daredevil specialization just adds to it – more dodges+mobility, a TON of blue-bar-breaking options, deal damage WHILE you dodge, etc.

Other classes I’ve enjoyed include the necromancer (many different fun build options, hard to kill with their reaper/whatever-it’s-called form).

Engineers have a TON of combat options in their toolkits (it’s like having up to 6 weapon swap options available).

Elementalists tend to be squishier than other classes, but are fairly popular and have some fun build options. They’re great at dealing out tons of damage. They have a fair amount to learn if you want to master them – you only get one weapon set (no swapping), but you have a different set of fighting options per weapon per element (of the four elements).

Mesmer was a lot of fun to level as well…but I can’t fully endorse it as I’m still experimenting with that class at endgame.

I’d recommend trying thief for their more mobile fighting style, but I’m biased.

What you end up enjoying at high levels will depend on lot on YOU. Me, I enjoy collecting and exploring, but don’t enjoy PvP or sticking to schedules (as is common in raiding).

What I enjoy then is achievement-hunting, leveling multiple characters to 80, experimenting with my characters’ builds, map completion, collecting item skins, doing the various solo stories (which I rarely do while leveling), joining the world boss train (somewhere in the world, a giant world boss is spawning roughly every 15 minutes), jumping puzzles, leveling the crafting professions (cooking is easily my favorite…and offers some very useful buffs), and so on.

I’ve thought this for a a while…but it’s a shame that many achievements can’t be repeated. The first such achievement to come to mind is “Lion’s Arch Exterminator”. I had a blast searching around Lion’s Arch for those 50 Karka hatchlings. I’d do it again, just for fun…if I could.

I would like achievements to be tracked on a both the character and account levels. Some rewards might be nice to offer per-character (History Buff’s [Spirit Shards], Fine Dining’s [Metabolic Primer], Koutalphile’s [Bag of Mentor’s Supplies]). Others, I understand, likely go only to the initial account unlock (Old Tom’s [Mini Old Tom], Leystone Armor’s [Ascended Armor Chest], etc.).

Even if no rewards were handed out, it can be fun, just knowing what each character has accomplished.

With all that said, I recognize that things aren’t as simple as “just add character achievements”. Things like Emergency Response Hero would take forever to complete on a single character. Thus I’d suggest that either certain achievement remain account-only, or both the character AND the account have their own separate counters and most rewards remain tied to the account version. I’d be plenty happy with either. (I’d probably choose the latter, myself.) I’m guessing the ANet UX people would likely have better ideas in that area though.

This may be my favorite Living World chapter yet. A bit of politics, seeing Divinity’s Reach come under attack, and having to fight back the White Mantle to start. Loved it. Then a new high-level Krytan map was revealed! I’ve wanted a high-level Krytan map for some time. Wonderful.

I enjoyed the manor fight…though it seemed a bit over-tuned on day 1.

In the instanced areas, I enjoyed the scavenger hunt aspects. In Lake Doric, I liked:
- Seeing more aspects of bloodstone corruption.
- Having new “fun” items like that endless miniature tonic.
- Having many different things to hunt down in the new zone. From the jade fragment currency to the Cin achievement parts and Letters to E to the mastery points and jumping puzzle. Exploration is one of my favorite parts of the game and this map in particular seemed to excel at that.
- The stealth-ish aspects of sneaking into the White Mantle controlled town for sabotage were excellent. I enjoyed that thoroughly.
- I liked the general tone of this map. There is a war going on, but it’s never overly grim. There are peaceful areas. There area places of beauty. Hope abounds in this war-torn place. It may not be the most realistic, but it’s what I want in this type of game.
- I always enjoy large open maps like this one.
- I’m glad to see the return of some of the glider skills – if only in limited circumstances.

Some things I haven’t cared for:
- The cannon and many other events are difficult to solo (without using a glider)…and yet so common that after a few days, people rarely bother doing them.
- I’m not a big fan of time-gated content. Waiting 20 minutes for an event because you need a piece of lumber for the Cin achievement doesn’t feel great. I do like the idea of day/night cycles and periodic events, but the effects of them haven’t been great. I’m not sure where the balance lies.
- Achievements that cannot be accomplished within a single day, given adequate time and drive. The latest of this type is Tree-Hugger Hugger.

We need to…reverse the polarity!

Hmm. I never really thought to question ANet on transmutation charges. Considering that they make the game free month-to-month, I’m more than happy to make concessions like these. I came in with the understanding that cosmetic changes (and to an extent, some ease-of-life things) would cost money.

The way ANet has structured things, I have:
1. Chosen to purchase some outfits. While leveling, if I care about appearance, I use these.
2. Chosen not to experiment with character appearance until I have max-level exotic gear. This saves on A LOT of charges. Once exotics are earned/bought, gear changes shouldn’t happen TOO often.
3. Experimented with gear and dyes as a whole before spending any charges. Such experimentation is free. I don’t spend the first charge until I know what I want for the whole set.
4. Chosen not to change my character TOO often. I’ll experiment every once in a while if I’m using a character a lot…but generally choose to work toward a specific appearance and stick with it.
5. Spent a fair amount of gold in the game on dyes. Dyes have infinite uses. If I do feel like a change, I’ll usually experiment with colors first.
6. Purchased a number of Black Lion chest keys. Normally for chances at weapon skin tickets (or other really nice stuff). In the process, I incidentally get some number of extra charges.
7. Actively attempted to complete map areas as I play the game. I’ll often get more charges (or rarely, a Black Lion chest key) for free.
8. …always had a tendency to make a lot of characters. This setup kind of encourages it…so I lean into it. More characters means more chances at map completion freebies, to find a new character look (rather than changing an existing character), a new way of playing a class, etc. This both slows down my consumption of transmutation charges and increases my rate of gaining them. It’s also lead me to make the occasional character slot purchase.

I don’t know. I guess I’m just not inclined to complain. None of this affects gameplay. There are many opportunities to enjoy the feature for free (I’ve never intentionally purchased charges and have 70+ at the moment). I might be inclined to agree and be annoyed about the limitation…if the game had monthly fees, didn’t offer all these free updates, didn’t offer an in-game way to earn these charges, etc. On the balance, I feel that I’m getting plenty from ANet and this is a completely fair system. I just adjust my gaming and purchasing habits to accommodate. =/

Josa.5067:

I just kind of got the masteries while I was maxing the elite specs of my alts.

Man. When I see comments like that so soon after the game’s release, I wonder how much others are playing…or whether I’m just THAT inefficient. Anyway, it is good to remember that the masteries are account-wide. I’m now working on leveling some of my alts and it does help leveling the masteries feel like less of a chore…though you can only do the same events over and over so many times without it getting boring.

Hopefully in time, more people will get into the later zones, making some of the later events POSSIBLE (providing more variety). Right now, only the first zone is proving reliable for decent fast-moving event completion. SOMETIMES the second zone, depending on time of day.

insanemaniac.2456:

completing maps is bugged for toons with central tyria map completion

Aw, man. Here I thought trying to get map completion before the expansion would be a GOOD thing. Good to know then. Thanks insanemaniac! At least I can stop hunting odd Mastery Point spots that I may have missed. Turns out that I’d missed several in Verdant Brink.