Guild Wars 2

starlinvf.1358:

However… theres a much bigger concern. Dropping too many hints in a short story arc gives away the plot. So you either have to trust the audience to have cursory knowledge of a subject, or spend time building knowledge to have pay off later. Since Livia is a reference to GW1, and ties to several major story arcs in Tyrian lore, they’d have to spend a whole chapter to cover it all… and in the process make it obvious that its leading up to a big “reveal”. The reveal of Balthazar was hinted throughout the earlier chapters…. but they were so subtle and easily dismissed, most people weren’t even aware a connection existed. All we knew for sure was Lazarus was lying to us about his intentions.

I think the issue is that it was a poor choice of plot because of the point you mention. They couldn’t give more details about Livia without giving away the plot. However, without giving more details those who hadn’t played GW1 were left with a story that was confusing and/or lacking in impact.

Ubi.4136:

I get that HoT, and the lead up to it, was Sylvari focused.
I get that PoF, and the lead up to it, is Human focused.

But, forcing the PC to join a secret Human order (with all that it entails) is ridiculous.

This! I don’t have any issues with humans getting extra flavor dialogue, but the main story should make sense for all races.

Overall it looks good to me.

+ The $30 price is perfect
+ Lots of big maps
+ Lots of story content
+ Weaver looks good so far
+ Mounts (except for Springer)

- Weaver could have a cooler name ;p
- Would like player housing or an upgraded home instance. Maybe next expansion…
- Some story worries from the last LW release that might carry into the expansion:

1. I haven’t played gw1, and I hope the story still makes sense and has impact
2. I am not keen on the pc being in the shining blade and working for Anise; hopefully there is an option to get out of that oath.

Here are my thoughts:

• I really disliked the forced Shining Blade oath. I wish we had a choice in that. The pc didn’t get much out of it while having to commit quite a lot. My character is sylvari, and the oath seemed like it should be for a human pc only.
• Just personal taste, but I am not fond of Anise
• I didn’t play gw1 and so could have used a bit more background for the ending

Here is my feedback:

Map:

• The map is beautiful
• I liked the nature theme
• It was a bit confusing to navigate at first, which could be helped if it had a few more waypoints
• Could have used a world boss or map meta event to provide something to do during the long time between chapters

Story:

• I liked seeing the personality system options in a few of the dialogues
• Would like to be able to select how the pc responds to people and events (agree/disagree, like/dislike, etc.)
• Would like to see a few choices to make, even if it is for smaller things

Electro.4173:

The last 5 maps prior to LS3 were all meta-event oriented, and so naturally a lot of those “small dose” players started to feel left out. Sure, they could always go and play older maps, but everyone wants to enjoy new things and not just repeat the old stuff. The fact that the devs are making some maps that move in the opposite direction for a change is a good thing.

I’m sure its not a permanent change to all new maps going forward. Especially when it comes to the next expansion, I’d be shocked if they didn’t go back to HoT’s method of incorporating the maps into the overall story, because its a pretty cool approach to storytelling. But they can’t JUST do that.

The problem is they have been doing JUST the heart maps for a while now rather than alternating different types. If they had done some heart maps and some meta maps, I probably wouldn’t have posted. It has been over a year since there was a new meta map, so people that like the meta maps have the same problem that you had when they were just releasing meta maps. To me the hearts are boring, especially doing them more than once.

I would like maps with some new open world large group events (like SW, AB, or marionette).

My main issues with the game are

• Lack of interactivity in the story
• Lack of new content
• Don’t like the mastery point progression system

It is very annoying that they are releasing legendary armor for raids only at first.

Here are some things I would like:

• Add all currencies and keys to wallet
• Option to open all loot bags at once
• Option to turn off ctrl + click autolinking
• Option to mute Salvage-o-Matic sounds (while still hearing other sounds)
• Make chests, etc., so they can’t have vendors or other items put on top of them
• Add basic repeatable reward tracks for pve so that experience is not lost/there is no empty experience bar
• More customization for home instance

Here are some things I would like:

• Items for home instance
• Auras
• Armor (instead of outfits)
• Race- or class-themed items

I agree that there should be some dialogue choices for the pc, including being able to pick how the pc reacts to other characters at key points.

Liked:

• Having a new map with each release
• Pacing of the story content
• Aurene

Disliked:

• Not having any dialogue options or story choices
• I miss the big map events for repeatable content
• Getting experience that I couldn’t use as a reward

SirMoogie.9263:

My feelings exactly. I like to play games for their narratives and when I encounter inconsistency in that narrative experience it irks the hell out of me. My main is a Charr male and after the big eventbloodstone explosion opening the new zone happens he has become all of these things, despite never completing a raid wing:

1) An expert on magical thingsblood stones despite rarely encountering them in the narrative . Only mention I recall is in Arah.
2) More than passing familiarity with the big badWhite Mantle
3) Seemingly chummy with Squad Leader Bennett, an NPC I’ve never encountered before.

To me, it definitely feels like my character has done something he hasn’t and missed other things entirely.

I agree with this last sentence and especially #3 about Bennett. I don’t think there was enough time spent on his introduction in LW for characters who didn’t do the raid (or, if he is only supposed to be a very minor character, why include him at all in LW for those who didn’t do the raid). The white mantle cutscene info would have been better incorporated into the main LW story rather than having it as one random option to watch from him (in LW). The way it was done felt more like a recap of things the player had missed rather than the PC learning about the info or NPC through the story of the LW, which is what I would have liked.

Here are my thoughts:

Likes:

• Salvage all is great!
• Very happy to get new story instances and new map
• Plot was interesting
• Canach

Dislikes:

• Dialogue system — It is very passive. You just watch your character talk and never get an option to select dialogue except for asking very general questions. I would like more input into what the pc says and also to be able to select a reaction/opinion on topics discussed as well as perhaps make a few choices.
• Raid story in Living World — I didn’t do the raids and found the information from the raids in LW confusing. I would prefer these stories be separate, so that you only have to do LW to understand the story of LW.

Glenstorm.4059:

7) BETTER ELITES. Our profession is still the poster child for having terrible elites. Rebound is only good for on-demand aura. FGS is only good for mobility. Tornado is horrible. None of them are game-changers like Moa or Rampage.

This! Maybe we can get two or more new ones with the next expansion because we need them most.

Also for PvE I would like to see that ranger knockback skill removed or not work if the target is in an aoe. That would be a big ele QoL improvement.

Yes, I agree that Canach should join the new group!

I am happy with this decision as I would really like some more LW and story content.

Emtiarbi.3281:

If they had the Living Story done, they would have released it already. Lets hope they can finish it as soon as possible, the waiting its killing a lot of people (including me!).

I am sure they would have. I was just hoping for it sooner! ;p

FlamingFoxx.1305:
Alternating content types is exactly what they are doing. They do have to allow that things may not necessarily be done when they had first expected though. You also have no idea how large the next LW content is going to be, how many people are working on it, and what kind of content they’re implementing. It may just be that they needed a bit more time to spend on it because it’s bigger than past releases or for some other reason.

They have different teams working on each thing (and the raid team is quite small).

Well, we used to get new LW updates about once every 2 weeks, and now we get it what, once a year? That is a pretty big change. Maybe once every 2 weeks is too difficult to maintain, but I was hoping for at least quarterly LW updates.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

It’s not just a business decision…
They’re trying to create content that appeals to different players. The Living World appeals to you, while Raids appeal to another set of players. It’s the same reason we have PvE content, PvP content, and WvW content. Not all players are the same. Just because they’re preparing one type of content for the next release doesn’t meant they’re neglecting other parts of the game. Likewise just because raids aren’t content you personally want doesn’t mean that it’s a business decision.

The bottom line is they are working on the next living world season and we have an approximate release window. It’s better for them to wait a little while so that as many people as possible can finish HoT and be up to date on the story.

The issue is that it is just too long to wait for new living world content. It would have been better if they had alternated the release of different types of content so that different types of players would all have something new to do.

Agreed. Minigames should be optional side content and not required for basic progression.

Does that mean no Living World for the spring update?

My feedback:

Positive:

• Gliding in Central Tyria is great!
• New Shatterer is fun.

Negative:

• Didn’t include Living World or other similar new content.

Here are a few things I would like:

General

• More armor, and, if possible, more cultural armor
• More elite skills for eles!
• Being able to make small personalization upgrades to home instance
• Fewer adventures
• More maps
• No mastery points for basic progression (xp is enough ;p)
• Being able to save and swap builds/armor

Story

• Longer story
• More choices and to see the results of the choices within the story, even if they are small
• More tone and dialogue options such as having the option for the pc to agree/disagree or be happy or angry with what someone says

Please fix Friend of the Owl Spirit so that you don’t have to fail events to get it. A quick fix would be to just give it to the karma merchant Lahri.

Retsuko.2035:

If only overloads could be used not on the character itself but as a ground targeted aoe you could place on 1200 or 900 range, perhaps at the cost of losing break stun from it. That would make tempest/overloads viable with staff and usable in WvW.

This! Please make overloads ground targeted. Thanks!

Raqanar.3648:

No, I was just wondering about how they are measuring what is worth 54€ and what’s not. I can’t. That’s way too abstract. I couldn’t say what the core game was delivering what was worth more than the AddOn is delivering now. There are meaningful and much needed (!) additions to every aspect of the game. What more can you expect from an expansion for a game? I agree with you if you dislike some of the new features. But if you like all of them and just saying “It isn’t enough” I don’t understand you. You can’t deliver content in an expansion in the way you delivered in a game which were developed for about 5 years. And the price is standard in the industry right now for expansion packs.

I am measuring it by what I get in other games for that cost. Most full games are $60 (some are less), and they are charging $50 for the GW2 expansion, which seems like a lot for only an expansion. I may still get it after it comes out if it looks good and has a lot of content, but that, along with not being excited about the tempest, is why I haven’t gotten it yet.

For me it is mostly because of the price. It seems expensive for an expansion/the amount of content we get. The story sounds good, and I am waiting to see how much new story content we get.

Also, I play ele, and the tempest does not look very good, so that is a major drawback. I am not sure if they will improve tempest before release or not.

I agree.

I agree and would also include the fire overload as well as air.

Xillllix.3485:

The truth sometimes comes out with a few words:
I was speaking to a players asking advice about how to play elementalist the other day, in our conversation at one point he said: “My main is a warrior, but I wanted to try a ranged class”.

There it is, the elementalist is a ranged class with some already existing good melee options. It will still remain associated with the Staff as it’s main weapon for most people, because it is how the majority envision a mage with elemental powers.

The main problem with Warhorn lies before all the technical problems people mentioned: [ lack of stability, overloads not worth using, camping attunements counter-intuitive and against arcane traits, shouts overlapping aura share trait, bad elite that doesnt fit the theme, etc. ]

It starts with the concept of making a melee range weapon that has no AoE storm and calling it tempest. I can pretty much guarantee you that what the vast majority of elementalists want is so more ranged variety (we already have 3 melee weapon and only 1 ranged). Basically a new set of staff skills would have been more interesting for all gameplay modes: different aoe control, new storms that are the equivalent of meteor shower, new types of cc and boons, perhaps make condi-staff viable, and elite that does something. Perhaps this could have been accomplished with new traits that extended the range and functionality of the scepter, if the warhorn is equipped.

In my opinion there seems to be something lost between the concept arts for the tempest and the end result, which doesn’t have much range and lack the epicness of large storms. With a name like Tempest almost everyone expected the largest AoE skills in the game.

I agree with this. I would like it if they would make tempest work well with staff. Maybe add ground targeting and more dps for the overloads as well as a storm-themed elite.

1. Elementalist
2. Ranger
3. Engineer

Karl McLain.5604:

Profession Changes

Elementalist:
Our changes for the elementalist focus on increasing sustain while maintaining the delicate balance between damage and durability. We achieved this by adding more defensive effects to a few main-hand weapon sets.

• Signet of Restoration: Removed the split on this skill so that the signet passive heal amount will be increased in PvP to match the current PvE amount.
• Armor of Earth: Reduced recharge from 90 seconds to 75 seconds.
• Water Trident: Added 3 seconds of regeneration to up to 5 allies in the radius.
• Burning Speed: This ability now evades attacks.
• Frozen Burst: This ability is now a blast finisher.

Please consider adding additional profession changes that can benefit all weapon sets when adding durability/defensive effects since ele cannot weapon swap.

My female Sylvari with one of the original faces has had this same eye bug for the last several months. This seems to be a widespread Sylvari bug. It looks really bad, so hopefully they fix it soon! Also, send a bug report if you haven’t already.

Randulf.7614:

Out of curiosity..were there any topics still to be discussed from the original vote? I’ve lost track a little.

I think the third topic from the original vote was class balance/improvements or something similar. Someone else maybe can confirm if I am remembering correctly?

I also have this bug on my female sylvari. It looks really bad. Hopefully they fix it soon!

BobbyStein.2315:

Or would you like future LW releases to cover other topics? Share your thoughts, but please keep it constructive. Thanks.

Right now it seems that for pve content the LW alternates between minigames/jumping puzzles, dungeons, holidays, and open world content releases. There is story content as well but it is often very short. In addition to these types of LW updates I would like longer story-focused updates every few months (or whatever time frame makes sense) added to the rotation of types of content that are the main focus of a particular LW release. Perhaps use the Personal Story system and have new updates to it via LW when it is time for a new story-focused LW release.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Hi All,

Here is the next evolution of the original Vertical Progression proposal based on a summary of our discussions:

Regarding Ascended Gear we would like to see more ways to earn it and in terms of drop rates, a higher percentage chance of acquiring them through this method.

A review of current RNG metrics.

The ability to change gear stats (Note there is still a lot of discussion about whether people want this or not)

The ability to build up to Ascended Gear through drops rather than just relying on RNG.

Ascended Gear mats dropping more equally across the game, for example WvW.

No more new Gear tiers that make the existing tiers obsolete.

Additional ways to earn Ascended Gear at accelerated for Alts.

Note this is the formulation of a proposal for discussion. Once the proposal is finalized it will be discussed internally. However there will be no promise of actions or schedule.

Chris

The ability to change gear stats would be great!

I agree. Please change back, add a toggle, or something similar. Currently, the color regal on T3 light armor glows a shade of green that does not look good to me with the blue. The white glow it had previously looked great. Thanks!

1) Story-based content
2) Class balance and class improvements (particularly for staff ele)
3) Player housing

This has happened to me. I think it is a bug with the instigator event’s chest. Do you get it when you open/walk through the chest?