Guild Wars 2

Future looking bright. Don shades.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Yes, there is. You can customize your soundtrack with music of your choice. =)

Even just combat music.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Customized_soundtrack

So how do you guys feel about games that have “veteran rewards” that give bonuses and such for the number of months subscribed or time played? I bet that really stings.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Otherwise you will get horrible point inflation and completely exclude new players from the game.

It’s not going to exclude me from the game. I will get there eventually. There is no inflation, it is what it is.

I only started playing in March. I have maybe 1900 points.

I do not understand this mentality of “need to catch up” or making it fair. AP are gathered over time, it takes time to gather them. I should not be able to ever catch someone who has been playing since release. That’s ridiculous. We’re not talking about levels or gear, we’re talking about points for just.. doing stuff. It’s not a competition of any kind. Check your attitude.

I’ll clarify in light of some of the responses.

A new player logs into the game and begins their Personal Story. As they begin to wander around the zones and do hearts between their PS segments, they interact with other players.

They will quickly find out that Zhaitan has been defeated, there has been a celebration in Lion’s Arch, etc. Lo and behold, as they progress through their PS, they find out they are moving against the dragons, joining an Order, and…. going to fight Zhaitan, who has already been defeated.

There is no acknowledgement or information given to the player that their PS takes place firmly in the past of the current world. It is now outside the canonical timeline of the narrative. Is this how it’s going to remain? Is it going to be updated?

tl;dr – new events & PS: sense, it makes none

Has there been any mention of what will happen to the Personal Story post-Dragon Bash? The time disconnect between what is happening to the player and what has already happened in the world is getting wider, with no indication to a player via text, dialog, or anything else that they are “playing in the past” so to speak. Just curious, really.

Aeri.5738:

I am Aeri, and I am a true Ranger.

Good luck with your easy way out.

Thanks for the giggle. I admire your pride in the current class of the current MMO that you are currently playing.

hyjaxxx.1584:

guys…give it a chance..sit down and do some theory crafting! you can come up with some super exciting stuff! Dont give up !

They know what state the class is in, they’ve been talking about it in SotG for long enough. They have a long-range view. Good for them. I’m not going to wait for it to come to fruition without knowing whether or not they have a roadmap. On the one hand, they admit the class is in a poor place, and on the other they make pretty sweeping negative changes without a peep. Trust level negative.

Movin’ on. Still a good game. No personal hate here, just irritation and mild frustration.

Not quitting the game. But I am rerolling. Changes like this sans explanation and no community interaction about it are irritating.

Who owns the BLTC? Who owns the Consortium?

Are you sure?

They are not legit.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/A-Note-about-Phishing-Emails-1

Tarnished Coast, talked to Billy who pointed me at the cave. When I arrived at the cave, the children had the event icons over their heads but were still gathered around the fire and had no dialog options.

Correction: The children were around the fire and their dialog options were at the various places in the cave where they usually stand.

DaMunky.6302:

Why not make a hidden back entrance, and plop down an NPC just inside who explains what RPing is and what the uninstanced area is used for?

There’s a door off the beaten path that is currently barred, to the side down the ramp. It’s far enough away from the personal story entrance that it should suffice. They just have to prop it open a little. Easy &… well, seems easy and simple. We shall see what their solution is.

The PS entrance is obviously the first time human characters are guided into the green star to start the instance, so it makes sense they’d want to protect that.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

We’re listening. That area was never intended to be accessible, but we’re looking at other changes we can make that won’t confuse players trying to visit their home instance or continue their story, and won’t get in the way of RPers. I don’t have an ETA for when a change will go in, though, sorry!

Much appreciated, thank you.

Kichwas.7152:

And now thakittens closed maybe rper will start using some of the many spots in dr and other cities that are there for them – like the refugee district in bc above rin, or the inn in a boat way up in the air above la, or various lab spots in rata sum… and others.

The spots with constant NPC chatter, instanced for only five people, or heavy thru traffic? They are all used, every day, but there’s a reason folks congregated in Salma. Lack of chatter, no interupptions, lots of empty space & buildings. There is no area open that is currently like it and as useful.

I suggest making your post, point, and showing your support without the use of “/signed”. They close all petition threads pretty quick.

Zurkian.1276:

LowestTruth.2635:

No, bugs are anything that does not function as intended, negative or positive. This was obviously a bug, as confirmed by an ANet rep five months ago and just now fixed. Also obviously because you can’t get into the place without gyrations. Accept it, move to “now what can we do about it?” phase.

I’m fairly certain understanding why Anet decided to patch Salma, whether it was causing glitches in the game or not, comes before pleading with the devs to reevaluate their decision and give us RPers a compromise. Understand it or not, there is likely a much broader answer other than “because it is a bug” as this game has many, some much more game breaking than uninstanced Salma and Anet has neglected to fix those.

Well, that would be why I started this thread.

However, in the process of digging into the information we have available, I did note the thread from five months ago wherein the issue was raised and answered by an ANet rep. He confirmed it was a map bug, should not be accessibile, asked for and received a video… and lo, it was fixed today. That is the report & resolution process at work. So I’m pretty sure we know the why — it would be nice to confirm whether there were additional server issues at work, but we can hardly demand that. Hyperbole aside, the last question at hand is “whyever did ANet do this?” and more “ANet, look at how we’re using it. What can we do?”.

The why is pretty clear; admittedly, I come from software testing so the why is most definitely acceptable to me. Bug is a bug. We’re getting more into philosophy now.

Zurkian.1276:

LowestTruth.2635:

Zurkian.1276:

In other words, why fix what was not harming the game or hampering players in any way?

Because it was a bug that was reported. I’m not sure why this is so hard.

Except common sense would dictate bugs usually impact the game in some negative manner, uninstanced Salma (that we know of) did no such thing … not sure why that is so hard.

No, bugs are anything that does not function as intended, negative or positive. This was obviously a bug, as confirmed by an ANet rep five months ago and just now fixed. Also obviously because you can’t get into the place without gyrations. Accept it, move to “now what can we do about it?” phase.

Zurkian.1276:

In other words, why fix what was not harming the game or hampering players in any way?

Because it was a bug that was reported. I’m not sure why this is so hard.

HOWEVER

It would be nice if we could talk about it with ANet and come to a compromise, like Nkuvu’s excellent suggestion.

Ease up on the hyperbole.

/futile thread policing

lakdav.3694:

I will be perfectly honest, i am kitten ed off by this action. I am trying to see the reason behind it, but there is none whatsoever. On the other hand, i can give a few reasons why its a bad move.

There is a valid reason for it; the area was not meant to be accessible and can only be accessible via some convoluted methods. That’s pretty standard and common sensical for an MMO. All kinds of Bad Things happen when players are allowed into areas they shouldn’t be.

What we are asking for here is a clarification and an exception. A clarification to find out whether we, the players, will be breaking something and causing problems on the back-end if we use the area as we have been using it.

An exception if it is not causing any problems, because a community has flourished based on this area. It is an unintentional good thing, world-building, community encouraging, happiness causing. Shutting it down to bureacracy would be poorly received.

That said, their game and their time. We are not demanding an answer, only seeking one.

Mint Rain.6798:

It was said in a mumble meeting between guilds on TC, back when ShadowSin (AC) was doing guild-gathering-mumble meetings.

Thanks! Got a link, perchance?

Mint Rain.6798:

In fact, when someone from the arenanet team was confronted on the U. Salma, they stated it wasn’t much of a big deal to use, and that such a thing wasn’t being worried about.

Do you have a source for this?

The only mention of it by an official ANet person I could find was by Jason King, Live Response Embed, five months ago. He confirmed reaching it was a bug, got a video, and thanked the folks who reported it — and ignored the other responses in the thread about the roleplayers using it, a request to leave it alone, etc.

I’d prefer to keep the face-slapping, groin-kicking, and roleplayer oppression out of it for the time being, but it’s your 2c.

If it’s a game-breaking, server-error-causing issue (as it HAS been in the past), then reason would call for us to stay out.

If they are unaware of the widespread use of the area, perhaps they will rethink restricting the area. Even cracking one of the other doors? Optimistically thinking, of course.

If they are aware that people are using, it is not causing issues, and they are trying to shut it down because, then you may commence with having your face slapped, your groin kicked, your roleplay oppressed, and the great crusade of ANet against we beleagured knights of imagination.

Okay, I’ve had caffeine.

Senryi.4897:

I don’t think they intended it to be accessible.

I think that’s a given.

The question, which they do not particularly owe us an answer to, is whether they need folks to stay out and folks should stay out, or whether they are simply not aware of “all” the people using it for various constructive and entertaining purposes.

People are invested with time & energy. Always a bit of a harsh feelin’ when something you like gets taken away. I’m just curious as to what they’re thinking.

Agathorn.3582:

Honestly, this really does NOT work for low level players. I can freeload on events, but at my level upped to 80, i’m pretty much useless in there

What specifically are you having problems with? I was able to complete all the content for Southsun on a character around level 30.

I did all of the Flame & Frost content with a 19, including the dungeon.

What is it you’re struggling with?

It ends tomorrow with the patch.

I didn’t touch the Living Story until Saturday. I don’t have an 80. It took me three or four hours to do ALL the solo’able content, plus another four at two attempts at the facility. I got all the achievements.

I do not grok your complaint at all. There was a huge window of time and it was all doable on a level 19. Dude, c’mon.

You know what I’m talking about. Fess up!

Sebrent.3625:

Math is fun

Watchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?

Grats! Nice to see.

Well, when I go to the club, I like to just listen to the music and dance. I hate it when people come up and just start rubbing themselves all over you.

We’re number one! We’re number one!

What are we doing?

nethykins.7986:

To me…your situation felt like it was simply bad management.

Four companies, two contracts, about six, seven? different bosses, not to mention interfacing with dozens of QA co-horts from other banks and vendors. I’m quite comfortable in stating it was SOP across two industries.

15 years in software testing here; American Express, FedEx, WorldCom before they went kaput, and a private banking-software company that handled stuff for the Fed, Citibank, Wachovia, the list goes on.

In the last company, our customers depended on our software to process and balance checks & ATMs. If there was a software bug because of a new release and they missed their deadline, it cost them millions of dollars in interest.

I was the only tester for two of the programs. My test cycle was around three weeks. Depending on the number of bugs fixed, it could take me the entire cycle to just go over the intended fixes. Forget about regression testing or integration testing. I’d smoke test the software to make sure the process worked from beginning to end without any customer customization (of which there was a lot), then I’d hit the “tickets” that were addressed by the devs. When the launch date hit, we launched regardless of whether I’d finished the cycle or not. Very, very rarely would I be allowed the authority to stop a build or delay it. When I got REALLY frustrated, I’d refuse to call it “certified”… and it launched anyways.

All of this is to say that this was with software that would cost customers millions of dollars if it was broken. An MMO does not cost people millions of dollars if it’s broken. I was a professional software test engineer, and gaming companies tend to hire entry-level people to test (ANet may be different, I dunno, but when I applied to gaming companies as a professional making over 60k they giggled at me and hired college students). Different industry, different priorities.

I don’t see it changing anytime soon. As long as the game doesn’t crash, explode, wipe hard drives, or prevent people from playing, I consider it a decent test cycle. Especially if they can fix the stuff in a few hours. I never, ever expect a patch for any MMO to go live without at least one hotfix.

My two dollars of contribution.

Sleuth.7964:

Hoyvin.3241:

Sleuth.7964:

It’s absolutely necessary for a MMO to have it.

No, it’s not.

Ok, ok, let me word it differently. Its absolutely necessary for an MMO to have it if it wan’ts to be taken seriously. Because many people don’t take this game seriously for reasons such as this.

Bwahahaha.

Farzo.8410:

LowestTruth.2635:

sonicwhip.9052:

Well you can’t compare an mmo to food cooked by a chef.

Why not?

Because it’s like comparing a carrot to an airplane.

Insufficient answer. A chef creates a meal as an art to be savored, tasted, and finished. Over and done.

Why can’t they be content chefs creating a meal to be savored, tasted, and finished?

I do not see (yet) any reasonable explanation of why it’s different. I see an arbitrary statement because.

sonicwhip.9052:

Well you can’t compare an mmo to food cooked by a chef.

Why not?

I did this quest last night as a necromancer. I was.. taken aback at the vehemence with which the baddies expressed their dislike.

I ran around the carousel about a million times. Just around and around and around.

As an engy, I would switch to pistol/pistol and grenades. Glue gun when you need to heal + breather, run around the carousel like an idiot and drop grenades. That’ll do you.

Aaaaaaand didn’t realize the OP posted a week ago. Bad necro, bad.

Ruprect.7260:

I wonder if there will be queues to get on some servers this weekend then. This could really screw up WvW as well. There will be so many PuGs on this weekend. I forsee huge queues for WvW at all time this weekend.

“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "

“Crap!”

Tallis,

A good place to take a look is www.guildwars2guru.com and the forums there.

I feel you on the lack of leveling builds/guides. I became frustrated with being told to “experiment” when I was trying to get decent direction and an idea of what to mess with. The choices can be overwhelming and headache-inducing. I do not think a lot of people remember being a total newbie and not having a clue. It’s reasonable to want to be at least a little optimal and not blindly thrash about as you “don’t die”.

To find a good direction to aspire to (I just started in March), I usually pick a profession+weapon and google. It usually gives me a pretty good idea where to go.

Of those three, Guardian with a greatsword would probably be the fastest to level to 45 solo. Necro is a close second. Thief is too squishy to be fast. This is all subjective.

Ruprect.7260:

Nooooooooooooooooo, free trials can go to any server? Why is there not just a trial server for all?

There would be no point to that, because guesting.

Drop a note on the guild forums and/or an in-game letter to the guildleader informing them that you are absent because.

Any normal, worthwhile guild will tell you good luck with the thing and we’ll see you when we’ll see you.

Sometimes you just have to acknowledge you can’t contribute and depart, hoping to come back later. Set expectations and explain.

tl;dr communicate well

Aeonblade.8709:

Just gonna pop in here and say Anet’s perfect game IS the one that makes them the most money. What individual players want is really irrelevant, they are a company and expecting them to act like a business has feelings for people is pretty silly for any company. A lot of companies try to act like it’s important but most of us know better.

Too cynical. If a group of gamers (like, say, the folks at Chucklefish) got together to form a company for the purpose of making an enjoyable game, the “perfect” game, for other gamers, yeah, I would expect that company to “have feelings for people”.

The problem here is that A-NET touted their manifesto and set expectations otherwise, then began making a string of questionable decisions like the RNG stuff to test the money market. Hey, no one’s perfect. But they did squander respect and integrity (in my eyes, and my eyes alone, and you & they don’t really care what an anonymous person on the ‘net thinks, I’m sure). I’m not quitting over it, so they have an opportunity to redeem themselves or get worse. Right now I hold them in the same regard as any other gaming company, out to make as much bucks as possible without worrying about ethics. Ethics being subjective.

So, yeah, a company can be great, profitable, and “have feelings for people”. It just takes a lot of balls to be uncompromising in that vision. They have compromised. I am genuinely quite interested to see whither they goest. They have multiple opportunities to “show they care” or just ignore stuff and learn internally from their mistakes. Corporate or personal? Do-no-wrong publisher or indie game?

whiran.1473:

Vayne.8563:

Kasama.8941:

I don’t farm nearly enough to make the price of this worth it. I can get 25 Orichalcum Mining Picks for 1 gold, that’s 2,500 uses. More then enough to last me a long time. Also, drawing more attention to yourself in WvW while you’re gathering a node, is a bad idea.

Unless you have a bunch of friends stealthed nearby and use it as a lure.

That’s the wrong way to look at it. Look at it this way: How LONG does it take you to resupply your picks? Do you ever run out of picks while mining? Do you have to go back to a vendor because you forgot to pick up picks? Even if you include pick buying as part of your routine in a town it still takes time to go to the vendor and buy the pick.

Buying the gem mining pick is just a matter of convenience and will save you TIME. How much is your time worth to you? How much gold do you make in the game per hour?

I find these thoughts interesting.

I bought it because lava. Efficiency honestly never crossed my mind, and I continue to be a little surprised at how it’s the basis of other folks’ decisions. Lots of unique insights into the way people think.

Nike.2631:

A: I think the gems:gold exchange spikes tell us more than enough about which items prompted more total spending.

That is the way I was inclining, but there are too many assumptions there for me not to ask.

I know we’re not going to get numbers or anything definitive, and I’m not asking for that. I am extremely curious in a non-threatening way about the spending trend for the keys vs the picks.

So my question is: Based on the small sample of spending pattern for the BLT keys/skins versus the Molten Pick so far, is there a significant difference in reaction? And if you’re feeling generous, which way?

You may now proceed to tell me “they will never answer that”.

You may be right,
I may be crazy,
but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for

I support GW2. Until I get bored, and then I will support something else.

Oldgrimm.8521:

but we can do overtime work and earn 32$/hour which equates to roughly 57 gold in this current exchange rate

This is going to be the new exchange rate when I ask for my next raise.

“Boss, I’ve been working my tush off for a few years with no raise. Can I get a bump to around 45/gold an hour?”