Guild Wars 2

Me and my girlfriend are at the final mission and are having a smorgasbord of problems completing the mission due to various game mechanic breaking bugs.

1: During the Mordremoth section, the uplifts did not consistently lift us into the air. This happens on a regular basis and makes the fight horribly frustrating.

2: During the Mordremoth section, during the rift section near the end of the fight with the smothering shadows, the reality rift disappeared and we were unable to destroy the break bar (due to lack of cc).

3: During the Mordremoth section, supporting/enemy NPC’s became invisible but still sustained damage. One of us could view them (from the “dead” cage) but the other in the arena, could not.

This has become enough of a disturbance that my girlfriend has become completely disinterested in finishing the story and unexcited for season 3 of LW.

Personally I would like to have a few awesome, but practical legendary back pieces. For instance, scarf or syandana (see warframe for examples) with an animated fire pattern or perhaps made of fire, but has cloth physics.

Playing this mode for the time I have, the game should not come down to “points” this game mode should be extended 20/25 mins or have a stalemate mechanic ( ex. lords run towards mid). It should have a early, mid, and late game to make it more interesting. Expand strategic diversity as the game progresses. Currently, this is the heroes, but having more than one added objective would be nice. In my opinion, the guards should be invulnerable to everything but archers. We already have a short game mode, some variation would really make this mode feel fresh.

Playing this mode, I have to agree with the opinion, the game should not come down to “points” this game mode should be extended. It should have a early, mid, and late game to make it more interesting. In my opinion, the guards should be invulnerable to everything but archers. We already have a short game mode, some variation would really make this mode feel fresh.

Charr | Male | Warrior

This is probably an character model/placement issue, but 2h weapons and back pieces literally float on the charr’s back. This is true of all back pieces I’ve checked and 2h weapons. Additionally I changed chestpieces to make sure this wasn’t a armor issue, items on the back were still floating.

Gw2 is one step away from going back to the GW1 system (except with a persistent world)

I would like to see them go 1 step further and add districts, throw out the RNG of getting with the people you want, make pve organization possible across servers. Having a higher CHANCE of being with the people you want is great, but it should be a certainty.

Good change overall, looking forward to hearing about their changes to world boss spawn.

I personally don’t mind the changes (I have 5 scrolls of knowledge(insta 20) and 15 skill tomes for my tengu ranger), for new players it does seem like a grind though. Between level 1-30 the only progression is low end gear (meh) and weapon/utility skills. I guess this an attempt to slowly ease new players into their professions introducing fewer mechanics at a time. Personally in my leveling experiences, past level 40 I found the levels pretty redundant(except for exploration which can grow boring on the 3rd-4th alt). Maybe a habit being a gw1 player, I find lots of levels unneeded. I enjoy this new trait acquiring system, maybe we’ll see a system to unlock additional weapon skills.

For discussions sake, does anyone have any alternative solutions to acquiring trait points, or would you prefer they simply revert the new leveling system for traits?

Personally, I would like to see a communication tool similar to LoL’s radial ping menu.
Includes:
Retreat, Caution, On my way, Simple ping, Defend (on click at specific objective), Attack (on click at specific objective)

Each ping has an associated sound and color to differentiate them.

It’s pretty simple, quick and quite effective at communicating intentions/orders. I like the addition of being able to place different pings on the map and on the immediate screen. I can’t speak for other mobas but I know they have similar systems.

Concerns:

Obviously, gw2 is not an isometric view so there may need to be some adaptation. Thinking about it, a ping could work like a ground targeted ability where the player can maneuver and place a ping, whether this is view-able through terrain(maybe semi-transparent?) by other allied players might need some testing. Pings also appear on the mini-map with a unique identification.

Pings are not completely “new player friendly” while a ping is easy to understand for experienced players, they may be unclear to newer players. (I find this a little unavoidable. tutorials help, not a big concern. I think the learning curve on this will be fairly minimal.)

Limits must be in place to avoid people spamming, 5-10 should be sufficient within a 10-20 second cycle.

Implementation:

Like LoL, player holds a button to bring up a radial menu, from there, they can maneuver the mouse to select the ping they would like to use on mouse-click release. To do a general ping, they can simply click the key quickly and release. I know within LoL there are also hotkeys that can be bound to these. Pings would last 2-5 seconds unless it is appropriate to make them longer/shorter.

To apply a defend/attack, party members/commanders can press the general ping button on an ally(defend) objective or an enemy(attack) objective, this can be used in almost all game modes as long as objectives are pathed or given the ability to be targetable. I know these would be helpful as commander/party features. In spvp, objectives would include shrines, neutral npcs, keep lord, catapult (secondary objectives) and of course capture points.
In WvW objectives could include keeps, camps, towers, neutral npc camps. If further detail was needed, certain gates or walls could be included (such as outer wall, inner walls), but i think making it more general would be sufficient. PvE implementation can be used on large events which include multiple parts such as defend objectives, gather objectives, attack/destroy objectives(this includes bosses).

ColinJohanson.2394:

“The event idea is an interesting one, but it doesn’t feel like a “grand journey” so to speak. Do you feel like if we asked you to do 90 different events in a month, and that allowed your ranger to say become a Druid, you’d feel like that was a cool system?"

If these were all fairly unique and were thematically tied to what I was earning (becoming a druid), then I believe this would be fun. Like others, I created my own version of this system in my “Ideas” post, the trait/weapon idea could use some balance/revision, but the progression system to acquire the traits/skills/masteries is a pretty solid idea.

My Progression Idea
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Horizontal/page/48

Hearing this discussion about sub-classes formed a few ideas in my head. I’ll admit I haven’t read all the pages of this thread and my idea may accidentally mimic a few other ideas but here we go:

Part 1 – The Problem

I loved Guild Wars 1 secondary professions, they gave me the tools to really change the way my profession played. Rt – Spirit Weapon build, Ele – Shadow step spike, the list goes on and on. However, Guild Wars 2, in my opinion does not lend itself well to cross class. Most of the professions already contain cross-profession characteristics such as the overlap of weapons and their specific rolls for a profession. I think this is where the true cross over meets and can be expanded. A guild Wars 2 build is further diversified by the traits/runes/sigil/utility choices. I think sub-classes could be achieved by diversifying the roll of a weapon through the trait trees. As of right now, Weapons signify a one sided mentality that leaves them devoid of the skill complexity we enjoyed in Guild Wars 1. Thief short bow – condition dmg/mobility, Guardian greatsword – Aoe dmg/melee.

Part 2 – Changes

My idea revolves around the diversification of weapon rolls. I think each trait line should have 2-3 traits that change based on the weapons chosen and these actively change the skills and their effects. By choosing these traits a person can actively change the way their weapon operates and build towards different rolls. In some ways this is already possible on the ele due to their attunement switchs making variety a larger pool. The way I like to think of this is being able to tailor skills on a weapon to meet the needs of a build rather than having have pre-determined rolls based on the weapons 5 skills. Just as an example of the concept, we’ll use the Thief’s Shortbow

If we go down the critical strikes trait line 10 there is a trait that makes it possible to change the auto attack of the shortbow from a bounce to a penetrating shot that goes through multiple targets in a line. If we also go down the Shadow Arts line there is a trait that changes the functionality of the choking gas skill to apply a smoke field rather than a poison field and causes blind. Yet another trait line, could replace cluster bomb with a concussion arrow that explodes with adjacent knock down to a target. Further more another trait farther down the Shadow arts changes the disabling shot from an evasion/cripple to a toxic tipped arrow that inflicts torment.

Suddenly the short-bow is no longer an AoE condition damage/mobility weapon but a control weapon. Further options would be available with several weapon skill swaps or changes available per trait line. Whether these would take up a trait choice or be selectable between choices I’ll leave up to debate :p

Having options like this would alleviate the dependency on weapons to fulfill specific roles and provide some room for overlap (more than one control weapon, giving preference on a profession).

Part 3 – Acquisition

This is a Progression thread and I think these traits could make a great way to further progression and revisit some of the places that were important to players during their personal story.

Guild Wars 1 used quests (sometimes) to acquire skills. In a similar vein Guild Wars 2 would implement the masters of each profession. These masters would be available at each of the headquarters of each Order. The master after induction into their Order would be willing to teach new techniques to our characters (the traits). Acquisition of the traits would follow a set of quest like tasks, each involved with the trait being taught. For example our Thief’s Shortbow replacement for Choking gas, an Aoe shadow field, would involve hunting down an Ash Elemental boss from the peak of Mount Maelstrom and returning its core ( could be instanced or not to avoid griefing). This special boss would involve blinding aoe fields. This would follow the same footsteps the master took in their inspiration to invent their new techniques. Additionally the master would display how to use the trait after the quest is completed. After all the techniques had been acquired on the grand quest of mastery, the player would have to defeat the master whom uses all the techniques taught. Afterwards the player would receive a reward to signify the mastery of their techniques (I suggest a pre-cursor of the profession, but another memento more closely related to the master or the order might be more appropriate. Maybe an Elite Skill + Title :p A-net great chance to introduce some awesome NPC’s with character involved as the masters of each profession. )

It appears that the recipe for Shadow of Grenth is tradable while the Light of Dwayna recipe is account bound, is this a bug?

If a moba in gw2 was going to happen, I’d like a jungle similar to LoL, neutral npcs with buffs. I like the dynamic of having someone roam and causing plays on lanes. This would be great for thiefs, eles, mesmers. I love this idea though, I think a moba in gw2 could be really fun. Instead of going ap or ad, characters can go condi/power.

JonPeters.5630:

Give me a list of what else you think might be considered a passive benefit of these attunements, and I am happy to discuss the merits of this stuff working with this trait. However, posts that say things like “this isn’t everything” are just not constructive.

How about making these lingering auras instead? This could give great synergy with the aura spreading trait (unstackable if another attunement swap happens, changes the aura) this might require a bump to a 15 or 25 point passive, but it would be so cool and create a great defensive option for eles. Get some eles off of cantrips. Really fits the asthetic too, protecting ourselves and punishing our enemies with the elements. This could give you the chance to take some of the auras off weapon skills in the future and leave them to combo fields. Large overhaul I know, but we want intersting play here right?

Side note, but are there some changes coming to conjure skills, a lot of the skills on those weapons are not very useful IMO (or dmg is just too low). I think WoodenPotatoes sums up the problem in his conjure weapons video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLcJv3un7m8

I personally think heart quests are very monotonous. After completing a heart quest once, there were very few I felt compelled to return to with an alt. For me they almost felt necessary in my leveling progression, I couldn’t explore the world the way I wanted at my own pace because I had to complete these tasks to level up(Of course dynamic events helped in the leveling, but depending solely on events would take a while longer). Reaching Orr for me was, personally, more enjoyable, I was no longer held by the hand and I had the freedom to seek out my own destinations. Of course, at this point I was nearly lvl 80 anyhow but the feeling was rather liberating.

Hearts wouldn’t feel so tiresome, if they didn’t feel so necessary. I know crafting is a viable option but that requires a bit of time, gold, and lots of resources. In my opinion I think the problems with hearts stem more from the leveling curve, it takes too long to level. In gw1 I could get to level 20 in 3 days if I power leveled myself or 1-2 weeks if I took my time than the game was mine to explore. The point of the 1-20 was to learn your profession. In gw2, by the time I reach lvl 40 I feel like I’m grinding for levels. I know my class for the most part and I want to start putting my newly learned profession to the test, working on what matters, fun, challenging content and building powerful, attractive gear. Past level 30 I don’t feel like I’m ‘progressing’ as a character, I’ve achieved the ability to wield all my skills, weapons, and can slot some traits.

I know when A-net released the game they said the leveling was more about the ‘journey’ than the ‘destination’, however the journey gets boring the 3rd or 4th time through. I’ve rolled several alts and I get funneled eventually into the same zones through the personal story. Realistically there are 2 leveling paths (map wise) through gw2. Go south through the shiverpeaks/gendarran fields, into the tarnished coast and eventually to Orr, or they go north along the brand into Fireheart Rise and eventually Frostgorge Sound.

I’ve seen some progress in A-net realizing the leveling progress is too long in the introduction of daily/monthlies, and experience scrolls instantly leveling a character to lvl 20. But in reality I don’t mind leveling to 20. This is the interesting part of the story where my personal choices and the different races have separate paths. Additionally unless I am rolling the same profession twice, this is when I am learning my profession and getting a feeling for the skills. They need to work out the time between 40-80 when the paths funnel into the same zones players have already experienced in their first or second play through.

Whether they add new zones to level through, apply a whole new campaign, expand the living story, increase experience gain, they have lots of options to fill this gap. I don’t think leveling is their primary concern at the moment, but some improvements can be made assuredly.

Maybe there is a place for some of the necrotic minions to add to this support theme.
Looking through the minions descriptions and traits I didn’t notice anything that seemed to have a large team support element. Perhaps some healing/protection elements could be included…

ex. trait for bone minions – on putrid explosion, aoe heal/regen
trait/skill description of flesh wurm – apply protection to nearby allies around the point of initial cast and area teleported to.
trait Vampiric Master – siphoned health from minions heals all party members within earshot
trait/skill description of Rigor Mortis(bone fiend) – on cast create a well of blood at the planted location.
trait/skill description of Charge(flesh golem) – allies within earshot gain swiftness and fury

These are just some ideas I came up with off the top of my head in 5 mins, but the point is team support could possibly be an option with a minion build, not just straight dmg, condition application, and cc.

I’m a little curious, what are some of the other minion changes in the works?

@Neilos – Right, they would certainly have to expand the map and world of course, as of yet it has indeed been mostly self contained, but I can see how it could be applied to expansionary content, almost episodic. Such as every couple of weeks with an Elona campaign release a new zone including missions, events, etc… were added as the story moved through towards the objective. Like the way we moved through GW1 campaigns through zones and missions. However this would be time gated due to a release schedule. I can see how it would be cool to episodically follow a main storyline like nightfall through missions every 2 weeks. One release we follow the story arch of the invasion of Kourna, next the recovery of Koss, the treaty and saving of centaurs, asking for the aid of Vabbi, etc… This could be followed by several sub storylines and growing characters like a normal campaign. I’m sorry if I’m not quite explaining it clearly, but that’s my vein of thinking.

I’d like a poll on this, but in my opinion I would prefer to have an expansion, however, like another post I had written, I can see how a living story release could be viable. Similar to the GW1 winds of change/war in kryta storylines but the quality and cohesion of those releases would have to be vamped up greatly in comparison to the current living world updates.

You are:
[ ] Married
[ x] Have Girlfriend
[ x] Employed
[ ] Have Pets
[ ] Have Children
[x ] Are an Adult
[ ] Have a Life
[ ] Have no Manual Dexterity
You Think Living World is too:
[ ] Hard
[ ] Time Consuming
[ x] Temporary
[ ] Full of Jumping Puzzles
You are Currently Threatening to:
[ ] Quit
[ ] Uninstall
[ ] Kick Colins’ Dog
[ ] Tell the Internet That You are Upset

I think we definitely need some permanency here. I know A-net said they want to increase the amount of permanent content, but right now I’m not feeling it. If I could add a suggestion for them, if they are going to continue 2 week content, like other posters said, add more cohesion and a sense of the world changing. If this is the replacement for a full length campaign, than piece meal me a campaign, expand the map every couple of weeks, with personal story/missions that are directly related to an eventual full campaign and a climactic boss like Abbadon. To add an example we’ll use the GW1 Winds of Change updates. While these had quite a bit of time between releases due to the small development team, the releases had a solid story arch that was cohesive, included difficult missions (Norm, and Hard mode), rewards (weapons, heroes etc…), and some permanent content to the game on top of what was already there.
Move GW2’s time frame forward, I still feel like Zhaitan is a threat with risen around. Give the players an option like in Winds of Change, move forward through time or backward to previous time periods. In this example it would be Orr, I want to see Orr “healing” and rebuilding, the debilitated corruption leaving replaced by new content fresh building, factions setting up on the island, maybe Trahearne leading an effort to rebuild with players helping make decisions in the building of a new city of Orr. Separate servers for “old” Orr and “rebuilding” Orr.

I think it will be really awesome with consistent updates. However, like my post before, I would like a large continuous story with depth eventually.

“Still two weeks is a bad timeline for fixing any problem that may stop people from completing game play.”

I don’t think that will be a problem because they don’t actually develop and test the content in 2 weeks. The official post says that they take rotations so there are 4 teams cycling through dev releases. They get ~6 weeks for development, testing etc…

Remember, this blog post seems to convey that they are aiming at more permanent content.

“We’ll introduce new maps and regions permanently to the world, but with a storyline that drives their creation and discovery to make them feel natural and seamless rather than suddenly tacked on. Though there will be a broader narrative that carries across many of the releases, players will find the themes and story of each release will be relatively self-contained. Players who miss a release or new players who arrive won’t feel lost in the story and can just dive right in and join in the fun.”

While there may be some temporary content available such as a skin, there should also be a slew of permanent items left for players. This in a sense means, you can get to it when you get to it. Temporary content is nice for some of the more seasoned players. It gives a short term goal they can strive for while following the living story.

My concern with a “2 week” agenda is that they are pulling members away from developing an expansion. I hear rumors in-game about NCsoft not funding an expansion than they change their mind and they will. I don’t know the details of it but at some point I would like to see a fleshed out full expansion release returning to some of the former continents from gw.

There are massive threats and mysteries left in the gw world. Palawa Joko, Cantha, Elona, the Forgotten, human gods, it would be a shame for this lore potential go unexplained.