Guild Wars 2

I actually found the blogpost a bit encouraging for those of us dealing with this issue. Roy says that they created custom cameras to create the sense of motion they desired for each mount. I agree that the majority of players who do not suffer from motion sickness ought to be able to enjoy the full scope of what the developers have labored to create. For those of us who experience this problem, I have hope that a simple option to disable those aforementioned custom cameras will be like disabling camera shake and the drunken waver.

I don’t think that a publicity platform like how ANET uses their front page blog is the best or even appropriate place to bring up motion sickness and we shouldn’t read into their silence on that platform regarding this issue as intent to ignore it. Right here on the forums are really the place for the developers respond to our concerns, or perhaps on a guild chat interview if they have one on mounts.

Gahzirra.8639:

Mordremoth the DPS Sponge!! I just tried to do this and failed and I hated the fight so much I haven’t gone back.

It wasn’t that it was so hard but that it’s so long and stupid mechanics. I had him almost beat, almost always full health, when I went into the 3rd glide stage and was hit with a rock and downed into the damage field…DEAD.

So I hit retry thinking it would simply be continued like others….nope start from begin for another 30+min, no thanks.

Had this happen twice the same night and gave up and haven’t been back.

I don’t know if Ben will be back later, but here are a couple more ideas I was able to cook up both as single purchase and smaller purchase/comsumable options.

1. Home instance tier 4 chest (someone’s idea but I want to second it!!!)
2. A banner (like a guild MF banner) that can only be placed/used in the mistlock observatory that gives a modest increase of drop chance when opening fractal boxes. (or some other limitation mechanic so it is only usable for that party)
3. Currency exchange gizmo much like the Heart of thorns one that exchanges fractal relics for Festival Tokens no longer available to use at the Festival vendor in LA.
4. Some mechanic/vendor option to blend 1 Mist Offensive Potion, 1 Mist Defensive Potion, 1 Mist Mobility Potion into a single Mist Omnipotion for 5 fractal relics.
5. Stat selectable/reset accessories (comparable to the bloodstone trinkets), would prefer the option for HoT & PoF stats available but would like this even if only core stat options were available without HoT/PoF.
6. I second the option for a 25 slot bag, which should be appropriately expensive
7. fractal logging axe/pick/sickle comparable to the unbound magic & frostbitten ones already available elsewhere that rewards very minor amounts of a currency (Karma?)
8. Enrichments for ascended amulets with unique auras,
9. An enrichment that gives a minor increase to fractal relic awards 10%? (much like the guild map bonus)

Despond.2174:

There’s no problem, just have new set of HPs that are scaled to the requirement of the new elite spec. It keeps the maps alive, and once you do 1 route on a character it’s a cinch to do it on the rest.

As of now, you hit level 80 with core, you get all core skills. You go to HOT that has +10hp points, do like 2-5 hours, get your hot elite skill leveled. POF, same deal, let’s say it’s 450, maybe hps give +15, or whatever, you do 1/2-2/3 of those gets your POF elite.

Simple, easy and fair. If you don’t buy HOT, then you don’t need hot HPs for hot elite, same with pof. Whatever you do you have the same access relative to what you have bought. That’s why they stressed if you don’t need anything in hot to play POF, but really if you even plan to play this game for any decent time, HOT is so cheap anyway, but you still don’t need it at all for POF.

Go back and read my first post on reasons why this exact thing only penalizes both veterans and new players. This solution is not the “fair”, it intentionally marginalizes the work of veterans in favor of an artificial “equality” that in no way benefits new players and only penalizes those who have a longer history with the game.

Rong.5470:

Well, personally I want it locked behind as many content as possible, also I’d like to see different type of hero points (like maybe call them purple hero points) so you can’t use normal hero points but move your lazy kitten fill maps and grab every single one hero point you spot on the map.
Why?
Because it is agains logic and any possible lore to make you unlock unknown content without even participating in it, it is stupid!!!
If you don’t want to unlock content but enjoy elite spec – go play pvp!!!
I can’t understand WvW players, you need some eq there anyways so you have to farm just like regular PvE guys so what is the problem?

While there are several faulty assumptions here, I will only address a couple.

First, it is inaccurate to assume that only WvW players want to unlock elite specializations early. I know many primarily PvE players that are in the process of storing up hero points in anticipation of being able to use them in PoF. HP Trains are going almost non-stop in the HoT maps with many others doing this same thing. Indeed since very active WvW players have another option to use to unlock HPs without ever doing an HP train, (I make my own assumption here) at least some significant portion of those HP trains are other PvE players.

Secondly, at least the PvE players I know personally do not desire to unlock elite specs without playing the new content, but rather to appreciate the new environment content while simultaneously taking advantage of and exploring the full scope of the new elite specializations. This is the essence of @Zoltar’s argument as well.

Different players have different ways of enjoying the game. For those who desire a lore driven play style that limiting the rate of unlocking, fine, don’t unlock elite specs until you feel you have sufficiently explored the PoF content. However, epithets notwithstanding, ANET is not and should not be limited to the scope of your vision for PoF. They have to take into consideration how to appeal to a much more diverse group of players than simply yourself.

*Edited for spelling

Ahlen.7591:

Honestly it’ll hurt only new players if they make it require hero points. I don’t do repeatable HP’s or anything special and I have 350+ just sitting around that I’ve accumulated over time. So unless they’re a NEW kind of HP the only people that will be dissuaded from playing are new players.

I disagree with the logic here. Lets think about this.

1. Should ANET go with the option proposed here of either PoF specific hero points, comparable to HoT specific Mastery points, that would be the only currency usable for elite specs, BOTH new players and vets will be forced through the exact same amount of content to unlock and use the elite specs.

2. If ANET follows the pattern established with HoT, Core hero points as well as HoT hero points can be spent to unlock the PoF elite spec, so veterans will be able to unlock some or all of an elite spec based on existing efforts done ahead of time. New players will still have to go through the same amount of PoF content to unlock elite specializations as they would with option #1.

3. With either option 1 or option 2, the new player plays through the same amount of content in order to unlock the elite specialization, therefore neither option penalizes the new player for being new. However, option 1 DOES penalize veteran players by invalidating their work over the past 2 years developing their characters.

4. Furthermore, option 1 penalizes the new player as well. Should the new player have chosen to purchase both HoT and PoF, they are limited to only playing in PoF to advance PoF elite specializations AND only playing in HoT to advance HoT specializations when option 2 would permit time spent in PoF to also ultimately provide partial advancement for HoT elite specializations yet unfinished (because they are after all, a new player). With an anticipated reduction of population on HoT maps, it is entirely possible that some HPs may become much more difficult to attain.

5. Finally, for those who want the pure and unadulterated experience of unlocking the elite specialization solely through PoF play there are still two options: first create a new character (new slots came with 2 of the packages, or were just on sale), or secondly simply choose to only spent hero points earned in PoF and simply do not use any possessed prior to going into PoF.

*Edited for clarification

I don’t know if this is the same keyboard issue or something else, but Sunday suddenly I was unable to type in chat/inventory search/crafting search but still able to use the keyboard for movement and skills. This has happened twice on two different computers running the new client.

Also, I too have noticed more stability in the last week or so. Not perfect, but at least better than it was. Hopefully stable enough to still Raid once we are cut off from the 32bit client for good.

Has anybody tried the client in Dragon Stand and been able to survive past the final fight without crashing?

ANet announced that they will be disabling the 32bit client with the release of PoF. It seems to be related to the increased system requirements. I may be wrong, but I think that the beta weekend has temporarily invoked those new system requirements so that the 64bit client is the only one that works right now.

I think the issue might be the slight delay between sending a movement command (whether via keyboard or mouse) and then that brief hesitation before the mount moves accordingly. I am sure that this is intentional to give the mount a more “realistic” feel, but keeps giving me the sense of a migraine hangover. It is the mismatch between what we are expecting and what actually happens. It does not matter that it is a video game.

For all those who say “not a problem for me” that is fantastic for you and I hope you appreciate that lack of problem, but those kinds of responses are unproductive and unhelpful here. Just because you do not experience problems does not logically mean that therefore others do not/should not.

I ask that you please do not do this yet. The new 64bit client would be wonderful . . . If it were stable. However it crashes so frequently that it currently makes playing any high level content (fractals, raids, dragon stand, etc.) impossible. Please hold off on limiting access to download the (stable) 32 bit client until the new client is at least at a comparable level of stability.

Electro.4173:

Highly doubtful they’ll retroactively go back to stuff like the Blood Ruby or other LS3 items and add new stat combos to them. The biggest reason for that would be that would be allowing players without PoF to get those stat combos, which diminishes the value of the expansion. “Detecting” whether the player has the expansion or not and offering different stat combos based on that seems overly complicated. They’ll do it for Legendaries because they kind of have to to justify the work required for those items, but normal Ascended stuff isn’t that big a deal.

What the WILL probably do, however, is introduce new rewards in LS4 (if they aren’t already in the expansion itself) that work similarly and have the new stat combos. Since LS4 will, I assume, follow suit and require PoF the same way LS3 required HoT, that wouldn’t be stepping on the toes of the expansion and giving players those combos who haven’t bought the expansion.

You have laid that out very logically. However I don’t like your logic and I don’t want you to be right, but pretty much because it sounds exactly like what I am afraid they will do. Worse for my inventory, I bet any stat changing Jewelry they introduce in LS4 will not have HoT stats meaning that I may have to maintain 2 sets of Jewelry.

I will dispute your “ascended is not a big deal” statement however. I would guess that you have not farmed an insane amount of blood rubies trying to outfit a whole bunch of alts with stat adjusting Jewelry! :-D

EDITED for clarification:
Watching WP’s preview of the new content there are some new stat combos.

For those who own HoT/LS3 (hopefully obviously) and purchase PoF, once the expansion is released, will the new stat combos be available to select when resetting Blood Ruby Jewelry & Back items selecting stats or using the stat reset mechanic?

With previous releases of the LS3 maps there have been nodes for purchase (50G +10k UBM) for the home instance, that generates the map currency (blood rubies, Winterberries etc.), but there does not seem to be an option that I have found anywhere to buy Orrin Pearls nodes.

I may be wrong but I seem to recall that at least one of the previous episodes also did not have a node immediately available at release but was added a little after the fact.

Am I just not seeing the node for sale? If it is not available can one of the developers comment on why not?

I like this idea a lot, but does anyone have thoughts on how this idea might be improved upon to compensate for those gamers with color blindness? Anet has made a few accommodations lately, and if they were to go with this idea It might be a way to continue making things easier for gamers with visual impairment.

Perhaps mouse over the commander name in chat flashes the tag in mini map, much like mouse over HP/WP/PoI in the upper left of the map makes undiscovered ones flash?

Vavume.8065:

I really, really hope this means we will be able to play as Risen in the xpac, Ive been wanting this for years now, it’s exciting to think it could be a possibility.

I wouldn’t suggest getting to excited about that. My own opinion is that it is highly unlikely. I think they are teasing playing alongside NPC risen allies, not a PC. Woodenpotatoes has laid out some really good speculative arguments why a new playable race is probably NOT in the works, many of which would still apply to Risen/Undead/Mordrem.

As others have mentioned already, this was a huge topic 2 years ago, not so much now. Here is a link to anet’s policy which they announced one their website so that everyone out understand it clearly. The final couple paragraphs ar especially relevant.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/pre-purchase-community-address/

There is another aspect that hasn’t been mentioned yet either and that is crafting. I have finally maxed the various crafting professions but while I was still working on them that was a Thursday night or Friday task to take advantage of the bonus that we no longer get. That bonus impacts the cost of craft leveling in resources, which in turn means that this change is an added burden on newer players who haven’t maxed those professions yet.

Add to that the game wide reduction in harvested materials that has been thoroughly covered in discussion already and I expect that this will have a nontrivial impact on the overall cost to crafting and resource purchases on the TP. Perhaps there was not only a game mode balance consideration but also some economic reasoning that went into this change. However I can’t personally work through the math well enough to guess how much.

Personally this will have the greatest impact on making legendaries since I prefer to harvest as much of the mats as I can rather than buy in the TP.

Veirilli.3975:

It’s now [CMD]+R/Click. The text is wrong.

Thanks, I will give that a try,

Also, I don’t know if you have made build changes but my base FPS seem to be a bit higher (yay!) but the client is crashing MUCH more frequently, to the point that I can’t really play if I intend to be doing anything where I can’t afford to reset every couple of minutes. I allow the game to send in the crash reports but have gone back to using the wrapper client for doing anything important, unlike when this client was released when I was using it for everything.

Anybody else having problems with autocast? I tried to change it from #1, and am used to using [CTRL] + R/Click to set it> That works fine in the wrapper client but does not in the new client. I cannot tell if the issue is the [CTRL] or secondary click which is turned on in system preferences. I have confirmed that [CTRL] isn’t tied to anything in mission control.

Like others that have commented here, doing a side by side comparison with the same resolution and settings shows a significant frame rate loss with the new client for now. The new client performs at just a bit better than half what the 32bit client does, however I have seen those numbers dip down to the teens which does make the game headache producing and a bit difficult to play.

Definitely excited about the new client and hoping that the performance will see an improvement in time.

Ziffel.1703:

Just wanted to post my two cents. I’ve downloaded an run the 64bit native client and I love it. Its not caused any issues or headaches. I can’t wait to get it loaded on my machine at home.

One issue I have is that unlike the wrapped version, it no longer has the ability to be minimised. Which causes a little problem when using it in the workplace lol. If you could re-enable that function it would be great.

You can treat it like a space and swipe left/right to push it off your screen while it is running

the new 64bit client is for users to try. It still has issues that they are trying to mass test and resolve, so it is up to you if you want to try it. That 64bit client is a native Mac app, and should allow higher graphics settings and a more stable playing environment over all once it is a bit more polished. Also, you can have both downloaded and installed side by side.

Jon Olson.8439:

Moira Shalaar.5620:

ok, I guess the issue isn’t with [FN] keys as a whole, but only F11 specifically. I tried toggling the Mac settings for the keyboard [FN] key but that does not change F11 not working at all. I do not have that key bound to anything else either.

F11 among several others are system level keybinds by default. We chose to not override this behavior.

Depending on the key and ones hardware fn and/or alt/option may need to be held to bypass the system level setting.

Alternately one can switch the system level setting in System Preferences in the Keyboard panel. Look for something to the effect of “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” However this will generally still require alt/option for some keys unless you also turn off the system level Shortcuts.

Sorry, I apparently was not clear in my post. F11 does not do anything, regardless of whether I have that setting toggled or not, regardless of whether or not I press [FN] while using F11/Vol Down. The only way for me to access the options panel is through the GUI. Conversely, F12/Vol Up functions exactly as expected to log off, using the [FN] Key with the box “Use all F1, F2 keys as standard function keys” unchecked, and without the [FN] key when the box is. Sorry for not communicating clearly enough.

Falseprophet.1502:

I do see that we’re missing a Windowed Full Screen mode, which I think contributes to the issue of not being able to use F1-F4 if they’re bound to other actions outside of GW2 (at least how this is how it worked for me with the 32-bit client).

Forgot to mention – is anyone else having insanely high ping?

ok, I guess the issue isn’t with [FN] keys as a whole, but only F11 specifically. I tried toggling the Mac settings for the keyboard [FN] key but that does not change F11 not working at all. I do not have that key bound to anything else either.

My pings are averaging about 41 right now.

Thank you all so very much! I have been waiting ages for this and am so excited! Oh this looks beautiful! I will try it out in Dragon Stand soon, which has been my nemesis in game since the HoT release. I almost always crash at the final fight and then cannot get back into the map. If this fixed that it will be a HUGE QoL for me!

Just logged in to try the new client and the first thing I noticed is that the full screen gamma slider does not do anything. I tried on all three setting presets to see if that might make a difference but it does not. I confirmed that this also does not work on a second mac, so it is more likely a client issue rather than machine specific.

Also noticed that the F Keys don’t seem to work (i.e. F11 for opening and closing options)

Here are my particular stats:
OSX 10.11.6 iMac 27in Retina 5K (Late 2015); 4Ghz i7; 24GB RAM; Radeon R9 M395X w/4096MB VRAM

OSX 10.11.6 MBP 15in Retina (Late 2013); 2.3 GHz i7; 16GB RAM; NVIDIA GForce GT 750M 2048NB VRAM

(Edited for OS version)

Rare Crafting Materials
Bloodstone Shard
Elonian Wine
Brick of Clay
- I agree with above arguments on why these items can be removed from your list without having a significant impact on players

Chad Eggs
Eldritch Scroll
Mystic Forge Stone
- I disagree with others above and do think these ought to stay on

Unid Fossilized Insect
- I cannot comment on these because I never get them, ever. However I think the question introduced earlier is a better one to ask than should they stay or go: what use should this item have once the collection is complete for those who have a better drop rate than I do?

Ascended Materials
+1 Agony Infusion
Anthology of Heroes
Augur’s Stones
Lesser Vision Crystal
Vision Crystal
Mystic Runestone
- Please keep all these on the list!

Gemstones and Jewels
Amalgamated Gemstones
Copper Doubloon
Gold Doubloon
Platinum Doubloon
Silver Doubloon
- I second the request to add crests here since they are functionally the same as some of the gems.

Scribing Materials (new)
- THANK YOU! I just finished Scribe 400 and am really looking forward to this!
that said, I do agree with the many requests above that the lumber & ore cores belong on the scribing list.

LinseyMurdock.4165:

“I’ll hear you out, but know I will be a hard sell. If anything, I am looking for cuts to this list, not adds.”

Even if we do not get any of the proposed additions/subtractions that have been presented in this thread what you are doing here is a HUGE quality of life improvement! Thank you!

Fivona.5061:

It is no matter how hard you defend your toxic kind, Anet will cleanse you too.

Really? I haven’t seen ANY toxic comments by Ill-conceived Was Na. In fact all he has done in this thread is try to prompt someone posting into framing a more logical argument, supporting their thesis “engi farming is killing the map in Lake Doric” with reasoned points. I realize that rhetoric is a nearly lost art but that is still no call for invective against another player.

Lindsey Murdoch talked about this recently on reddit. At least 500 chef is a matter of finding/funding dev time.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/699uqp/serioussuggestionchef_500_with_a_twist_of_lemon/dh730rl?context=1000

Something that hasn’t been specifically discussed yet but I think bears mentioning is that in bloodstone fen you can purchase the only amulet/ring/back piece that have changeable stats. That alone to me makes the map worth replaying for months to come simply for the flexibility that provides in changing builds without a whole lot of fuss.

What remains to be seen is whether those trinkets will also have access to any new stats from the upcoming xpac or if they will be limited to Core/HoT only.

What about conceptually merging the functionality of the copper or silver fed salvage-o-matic and the infinite harvesting tools? Sell in the gem store a set of infinite salvage tools that generate unbound magic at the same rate as the existing ones, but charge karma for each swing, much like the salvage kits charge per use. Anet could charge a convenience premium of twice the karma per swing than the existing tools and I am pretty sure folks would still go for it. This model could also work for other map currencies that they might add in later.

This is a very real and very frustrating problem. I experience it most times I am in DS, which is why i almost never play that map any more.

While the root cause may be related to the client, I still think there ought to be other adjustments that ANET could make that would cause the issue to be much less frustrating:
1. reserve a spot on a map so that if someone disconnects they have a short period of time to return to the same map instance. This ought to bypass the map locking mechanic.
2. record & retain map participation client side and enable a return to the same level of participation after a DC.
3. find some way to give event credit/rewards to those who DC just prior to the completion/termination of an event. I admit I don’t have any ideas how this could be done though.

screen shot of no timer

There are some serious bugs in VG. We had several repeated issues last night:
1. No timer (see attached photo)
2. Green Circles still striking even with 4+ people within the circle (no photo documentation)
3. Attunement no resetting after wipe (see attached photo)

There were other things that seemed really off too but so many things going wrong simultaneously made it hard to pinpoint everything.

Ok, glad I found this because I could not figure out what was going on. Definitely happening here too.

So this past tuesday, 12/20, @ 8:50 p.m. c.s.t. my raid team was in the first phase of VG by the blue obelisk when the Vale Guardian simply walked off the platform, the platform wall went away and we ended up following him out until it simply disappeared and reset in the center again.

Anybody else seen this?

We appreciate all the time and effort that clearly went into making this video. Lots of fun!

McKenna Berdrow.2759:

Also, the result of this theoretical world linking is that all worlds are now above our goal population cap, and probably have moderate to heavy queues.

Moderate to heavy queue = me not entering WvW ever. I am a light WvW player, mixing my time between PvE & WvW, but when there is a queue I don’t/won’t bother. I won’t say that I speak for all other casual WvW players, but I would expect that I am not alone in that.

Also, if you (ANET) create a situation in which there is a perpetual queue for WvW, you had better rethink the PvE only daily options, because some days 2/3 daily options are garbage, and if you make WvW dailies difficult to access you will alienate a possibly significant portion of us who split between modes for dailies.

McKenna Berdrow.2759:

Having outlined some of the thinking behind this proposal, we’d like your feedback on these three topics.
1. How do you feel about this proposal?
2. What, if anything, would you change about this current proposal?
3. Would you be interested in transferring to a new free world?

Anything that makes queues for WvW worse than they already are is BAD, plain and simple. Casuals won’t want to wait, and dedicated WvW players will have longer wait times stuck in PvE as a much less desirable (to them) game mode

I would look at anything that might change the numbers to keep them below population caps to keep queues down.

I would be open to possibly transferring to a new world, however my biggest concern is that as a gaming family with multiple accounts, we would end up with half the family moved and the other half unable if the world became full, with no option for those who moved to revert back. It is more important to me for our family accounts to remain together on the same server than pretty much any incentive you might offer to move. The same concern would be for guilds. Is there a way to link multiple accounts or guild members so that a family or guild might make the migration together without the concern that half would be unable to make the move? Somewhat like the megamap population assignment is supposed to work?

I think most or all of these have been mentioned already but here are the things I could think of:
Mill basins
copper/silver/gold/platinum doubloons
Blood Rubies
Petrified Wood
Tenebrous/Shimmering crystals
Amalgamated gemstones
Philosopher Stones
Mystic Crystals
Bottle Of Elonian Wine
Chak Eggs
Reclaimed Metal Plates
Arid/Ascalon Lumber cores
Legendary insights
Unidentified Dye

With the coming of Halloween, once again I have been seeing the topic of diminishing returns (DR) come up as players try and kitten whether they are experiencing DR or just bad RNG luck. I would like to suggest a map specific Diminishing Returns debut indicator that would allow us as players to recognize when we are dealing with DR so that we can move on to other things and return once we no longer are under the curse of DR.

I envision it being something like this:
1. At a minimum have a per character UI flag, visible while on any map in which that character is experiencing DR. It could be something like the icons used in WvW for Outnumbered or perhaps a yellow rim around the screen like the red rim when taking damage.

2. If possible, it would be nice if that DR were also somehow –
a. indicated on a zone, visible from the main map and/or
b. a txt flag when mapping on the zone splash screen in which a character still has DR for that zone.

3. This debut indicator could either change colors or show stack numbers to indicate the intensity of the diminishing returns. That color/number should also decrease as we as players perform other in game activities/spend necessary time to remove DR.

Pros:
Legitimate players (the vast majority of GW2 folks) would be able to quickly identify when we need to find something else to do in order to get the most out of our playing experience

Would eliminate player uncertainty about DR vs. RNG.

Cons:
Might create situations in which players could deduce current policy enforced for DR, if that is something ANET prefers to remain secret so it is not taken advantage of by bots.

The word hoarder has been thrown around a lot as a pejorative. There are different reasons to hold on to things. Some may do so for the purpose of investment, buying low and selling as prices rise, but others like myself simply save for later use. Overall I prefer low usage of the TP. Not no usage, but I would rather gather and salvage the vast majority of the supplies I need for any given goal. That means that I end up with a lot of other stuff I don’t need at the moment, but end up using later. Recently my wife & I just craft leveled 2 professions from 0-500 and one from 40-400 mostly using materials from our banks that have been slowly building over the past 4 years. Now we are starting in crafting on our other accounts.

I almost never buy ectos, and I almost never sell them either. I imagine that by behavior I fall squarely into what some here seem to be calling a hoarder, yet I fail to see how my mostly self-supplied play style has any significant impact on the economy.

I do find it interesting that John Smith’s post comes shortly after a post I have been following regarding the price of ectos, and can’t help but wonder if he is in essence commenting on the substance of that thread.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Ecto-s-at-an-all-time-low

Kaldo.7960:

I think it’s ok to try stuff like linking to see, if it has a positive effect on the problems that should be solved.

But you have to be able to admit if it doesn’t and try to figure out other possible solution instead of sticking to that idea and make it even worse.

What does a linking that changes every 4 weeks solve?

Tbh: I don’t know

It doesn’t solve the problem of the insane bandwaggoningmovement that started with the linking in a quantity that provides a new dimension to the bandwaggoning that has been always there, but lately it seems to be stronger than ever.

What will be increasing are the problems, that come with linking, Every 4 weeks communities have to deal with a second or even third community, that stays for 4 weeks and is leaving then again, either followed by a new link or none at all. That scatters communities and is an organisational effort for the hosting server. Servercommunities need to have the chance to grow on their own and have a healthy enviorenment. Bandwaggoning is a permanent danger to destroy healthy communitycores and destroys the feeling to be part of something that is worth staying with instead of transfering around all the time.

So I would be interested in what Anet thinks does improve with a 4 week rhythm. And it better be another interest than having their transferincoming doubled.

This right here. I am also on a small population server. We are already being passed around like unwanted foster children. 2 months is hardly enough time to really settle in to a community before being uprooted and shuffled off again. How will increasing that churn make this better? This proposed shift to a one month rotation is going to hit the smaller server communities a lot harder than the big ones that we are being fostered to.

The map is great. I enjoy the ley-lines and LOVE the thermal propulsion. I am disappointed that we cannot use our bloodstone fen gliding skills, and disappointed that there does not seem to be an option (that I have found at least) for buying a petrified log node for the home instance, I like the gathering tools bought with karma, but really am frustrated that the new accessories/backpack do not appear to be able to change stats, which I am basing that on the lack of an available option comparable to the one in Bloodstone Fen (since I have not saved up enough logs yet to buy my first one) and the write ups on the wiki. That inability seems a significant oversight and really counter to the great flexibility that the bloodstone trinkets/back items allow.

The hungry Hal achievement is annoying, and I am dreading the jumping puzzle, but cannot comment more than that since I haven’t tried it. I thought Taimi’s game was a nice change and have overall enjoyed the story line a lot more than previous ones, at least as far as I have made it so far.

Having said that, I LOVE the new map, and am enjoying it greatly despite those detractors. Most of those detractors seem to me to be things that could be changed in a minor update, rather than issues with the overall release.

EDIT: oops, sorry more than 50 words!

@op You may need to consider the difference between elitism and experience.

Elitism does exist in the raiding community, just as it does in any aspect of the game, but just because there are party/squad requirements doesn’t mean that those requirements are in place because of elitism.

Illconceived Was Na makes a very good point in his previous post. I will illustrate with a brief story. My raid team came into raid highly experienced in GW2 “challenging group content” with Arah/Aether, Fractals, etc. We ignored meta, and came in with the attitude that each was responsible for fulfilling their roles and could choose the best build/gear to do so. After weeks of failing VG we had a long talk and as a group agreed to pony up the cash and outfit the entire team in berzerker/viper gear (as appropriate) and try it that way. The very next run we shaved 30 seconds off our previous best attempt, and we defeated VG shortly after that. The gear builds really are there for a reason, from the experience of those who have learned the content.

Secondly, raiding, more than any other content in GW2 is about teamwork. My raid team is a relaxed group, we train folks that have never run raids and enjoy doing so. But if you were to come in the raid with us wearing even 50 toughness our team will almost certainly fail because of the mechanics of aggro. We would politely ask you to please change your gear, and if you are unwilling then you simply cannot run with our team. No snobbery, no elitism. These are really great, really nice people I have the fortune to work with. But the fact is that your gear will literally, truly, make the raid unable to be completed. That isn’t even talking about roles and the need for some people to chill/cripple for maximum duration while others need to CC break bars, specific Players range while others melee, etc.

So you tell me: should we have you on our team if your unwillingness to adjust means that our team will almost certainly fail?

I suggest finding a guild/team that is willing to train, ask lots of questions not only on what builds they suggest but WHY they suggest those builds. Watch stuff on YT, read posts on forums from folks that raid a lot. Learn from their experience and willingness to share rather than becoming offended at required meta builds.

Blipp.5206:

I have never had a single crash on dragon stand myself, nor have I ever heard a big outcry, about such an issue existing.
What client are you using? Do you still use the 32bit client? If so, I would advice to download the 64bit for which you can find the link when you go into ‘My Account’. Before using it I had a crash here and there (Still can’t remember to have ever crashed on DS), but ever since downloading it I haven’t had a single one.

If you have the 64bit client and the game keeps crashing repeatedly for you, perhaps it would be best to fill up a ticket to support, describing the issue you have in detail. That way it will yell much more attention from Anet, then posting about it here in General Discussion.

Good luck!

PS. Also I believe you should -really- change the head title of your topic.

You are most fortunate. If you are unfamiliar with this as an issue, let me raise your awareness (from these forums):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Dragon-s-Stand-Client-crash-or-disconnect

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Fix-Dragon-s-Stand-This-is-unacceptable

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Crashed-with-Dragon-s-Stand-nearly-Completed

And lest you think that this issue has been resolved here is something from reddit quite recently:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4yvua1/dragons_stand_lockout/

I use the Mac client. Yes, it is 32 bit. No, I am not going to spend $120 (that isn’t in my entertainment budget) to install windows as a dual boot. Yes, I know they are working on a native client. No, it will not be done soon.

I have heard each of those pointless arguments/suggestions but those all focus on the wrong problem. I think it is wonderful that the 64bit client fixed crashes for the 99% of GW2 gamers that play on windows. That STILL does not address the fact that ANET has not created any sort of failsafe for when crashes DO happen to permit players who have disconnected for whatever reason, whether crash or network failure, to reconnect to the map they were on, and receive the rewards for which they had been working. Dragon Stand is egregious because the game design DELIBERATELY locks players out, by design. I know this is to prevent leeching but it also punishes players who experience a crash and cannot reconnect.

There is a basic principle in life: things go wrong sometimes. I have heard it called murphy’s law and several other things less savory. It is a simple concept and one game designers must know. In fact ANY developer already understands that they have to account for when things go wrong, and build code in to handle failures. So why is it that there is no design for handling the failure when it comes to being disconnected from a map, particularly when they have intentionally built rewards around staying in a specific map/ip?

And finally: Robbery is the crime of stealing from a person in their presence by force. I, like so many before me, earned those rewards but was denied those rewards not by my choice. They were taken from me against my will. Dragon stand was both the location and by game design the culprit. I might be willing to adjust my title to Mega-Server still robs players. I will refrain form saying ANET still robs players. So if you are suggesting I change my title, how would you suggest I change it that will still convey the anger, the frustration and yes, the blame I have towards those who have failed in this significant aspect of game design?

Why is it that one year into heart of thorns, and still the dragon stand problem has yet to be fixed. You put 90 minutes into a map, the client (reliably) crashes while fighting mordremoth and then the map fills up and players who have been there from the start cannot get back in to finish them map and receive the stuff we have been working for?

This is hands down a failure on the part of ANET to fix this. This is a well known and long standing problem, but I have yet to hear a single comment from the development staff even acknowledging it.

thewaterguy.4796:

Look I get what you are saying, but I am NOT ok with splitting the community in this way, especially when LWS2 didn’t do that, if it was like this from the very beginning with Living World, then I wouldn’t be as upset about it, its changing the precedent that makes me angry,

Is it possible that you might be overstating this bit? It seems to me that the community was already “split” as you put it when HoT was introduced because some people have it and others don’t. That means a large part of the population plays in new zones and another large part does not. Does it matter to core Tyria only people whether are 4 or 6 new zones that they cannot access?

thewaterguy.4796:

Arena-net already said you needed HoT to access LWS3, which is fair, but when purchasing HoT many people (rightfully) presumed that they would get future updates alongside it, forcing them to purchase something because gasp you had a LIFE? How dare you not log in to get something you didn’t know existed! For your crimes, now you must purchase the LWS3 pack, only 19.99!

After Living World Season 1 there was a call by the community to have a way to replay previous living world content that they had missed. Making the living world content available after the fact addressed that request, but ANet charge a small amount for this service. Is this charging twice for the same content? I guess it would depend on your perspective. If you see buying HoT as guaranteeing your living world content, then yes, if you see it as allowing you to play the living world content as it is released, that is a nuanced difference. Charging a similar small amount as is currently set for LS2 would be following a precedent that has already been set. Additionally, if indeed it does go that way, there is a 2-3 month timeframe to log in once. Thus the only current players who would really experience this are those who take long breaks from the game.

It is in Anet’s self-interest to encourage players to play consistently. The world NEEDS people in order to really function. Underpopulation causes problems. I am sure we have all experienced issues on maps where the meta cannot be completed successfully because there aren’t enough players. The login and daily rewards are incentives towards that end. I see charging for access to missed past content as another small incentive to encourage players to log in regularly and play.

For those who buy HoT after the fact and then face the decision of whether or not to buy previous living world content . . . I think the fact that these can be purchased with gems as opposed to real world money means that they can earn the living world stories if they really want them.

It seems to me that the Bloodstone Fen event timers need a bit of tweaking. Pretty consistently the Jade Maw event chain conflicts with the Justicar event. People call for the two different events, and often cannot/will not coordinate to do one first and then the other (Justicar can “wait” but only if no one does the pre-event until after the Jade Maw is done). This leads to Jade events failing early in the chain because there aren’t enough people to pull it off. Having Justicar as part of the daily also contributes to the divided interest.

Would it be possible to stagger the Justicar event timing so that it does not happen until just after the Jade Maw event chain?

Ashen.2907:

Anet did, “enact those changes entirely one sided.” Unless you can provide an example of a non-dev enacting the changes. “What the community asked for,” means, “what a relatively few people asked for.” Anet made decisions, acted on them, and the results are a mixed bag.

Well, if you want to be literal ad absurdum, then certainly, you are correct, however if you take it in the context in which I wrote, you would recognize the fallacy of your statement. CDI is short for Collaborative Development Initiative, meaning that the developers were interacting with the community to understand what the community wanted from the game, so they could implement those changes. You might note that the CDI discussions happened mid development of HoT.

Take a look at Chris Whiteside’s initial post for Collaborative Development and their purpose as expressed there:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/cdi/Collaborative-Development

Perhaps we share different definitions of what constitutes community and “relatively few”. Is there a way to quantify “relatively few”? 5%? 15%? I don’t know. 20k+ posts is in my opinion a relatively significant number of posts. Is that a small number when compared to the total number of GW2 accounts? Yes. But speaking in absolute numbers, most folks, including many of my own friends, never even look at the forums which are used by a much smaller subsection. I would guess, but certainly have no way of measuring for accuracy, that the number of contributors & viewers on the CDI is probably a relatively median percentage of total ACTIVE forum users AT THAT TIME.

If you chose not to participate that was certainly your option, but that also means that you implicitly chose to accept whatever came out of the CDI. If you did participate then you yourself are part of that “relatively few”.

Yes ANET made decisions and acted upon them, but those decisions were highly informed and influenced by requests from the community, whether a large percentage or small. That means that the community actively participated in some extent to the development of HoT. Which again returns to my point that it is unfair to wholly blame ANET for any perceived failures of HoT content.

I will concede from the beginning that I am a tad obsessive, so bear with me, I am going to try and address these comments line by line.

Then you haven’t been paying attention. Like, at all. Or worse, you have but you’ve deluded yourself into thinking what’s been very clear, very obvious to everyone for years isn’t actually so. If you had been paying attention, or if you’d been capable of being honest with yourself, these are some of the changes in direction you would have noticed:
– “everyone should have the best statistical gear by the time they hit level 80” -> ascended gear

Colin straight up acknowledged that they were changing from idea of having the best gear by lvl 80. He explained their logic in an interview post. I would be hard pressed to find it now but I certainly remember it. That goal is no longer the case with ascended gear

darkace.8925:

- “cosmetic skins are the end game” -> more and more weapon and outfit skins added to the cash shop

This game is still very much about cosmetics, and the fact that ANET has in the past and continues to add outfits and various skins in the gemstone does not detract from that. It is part of their business model and if the game is going to continue, they have to be able to make a profit off the gem store. However they continue to release A LOT of various skins available by playing and completing various content.

As for skins being end game, I will address that in the following comment.

darkace.8925:

- “we don’t make grindy games” -> masteries and gates in HOT
– “have fun now, not later” -> masteries and gates in HOT
– “we’re fine if you take breaks from our game” -> limited availability of LS season 1

The community was very vocal about needing additional endgame content & progression. The frequency that I see these kinds of comments makes me wonder if most people either don’t know about the CDI or have already forgotten about it. I would suggest you go reread them but there are collectively over 20k posts so a comprehensive read through is prohibitive at this point. But you might try skimming them to get a feel for what we as a community asked for. So much of the design in HoT progression (i.e. masteries and elite specs) is exactly what was discussed in those CDI regarding endgame progression. Some (like me) like it, others hate it but either way I think it is unfair to lay this entirely on ANET when they were very intentionally trying to provide what the community asked for, much in the way that it was requested.

darkace.8925:

- “the only criteria for our content is ‘is it fun?’” -> run around a zone in a giant zerg auto-attacking for stacks of bags of loot

If you don’t find it fun, don’t do it! Fun is an exceptionally difficult target because of such a diverse population of players. They do what they can with mechanics to keep game encounters diverse but collective gamer ingenuity supersedes that of developers simply because of the absolute numbers. I will make a generalization here and apologize if it offends. Overall Gamers are lazy, we prefer the easiest/most effective way to do things which is how metas evolve and game mechanics devolve, some gamer finds the easiest way to do something and it catches on. Hence Zerging.

However some of this is also learned from the community. In part this goes back to the LS1 and the map wide events that were popular. Part of developing HoT was providing more map wide events in hopes that they would be similarly enjoyed.

darkace.8925:

- “we want our players to work together in DEs” -> those of you who want Legendaries must compete with players who just want to complete DEs as intended

They have aid repeatedly that they DON’T want dynamic events to be the cause of discord and competition among players. The event complete vs. event fail conflict is an unintentional flaw in the design that they work to fix where it is brought up.

darkace.8925:

There are more examples, of course (many of them), but I suspect this has illustrated the point adequately enough.

Yes the game has changed over the past 4 years. Yes there are plenty of changes from the original implementation that you have not mentioned here. However I do think you have entirely neglected the role of the community on that process. That almost certainly will not appease those who hate the changes, but I think that ANET should not be on the receiving end of inflammatory rhetoric about changes as if they had enacted those changes entirely one sided.

As someone else mentioned previously, the game has to change over time. Whether one considers that a change in direction and vision of the game is subjective.

Zelanard.5806:

Agreed. in large squad that frame is hardly visible. I would give a few other suggestions though:

• Instead of a highlight frame: Make your own square copper instead of green.
• Highlight commanders with the tag colour.
• Give the commander a golden frame that glow when hovering the mouse over the squad window.
• Highlight Lieutenants with a Silver frame that glow when hovering the mouse over the squad window.
• Give Lieutenants a Lieutenant tag.
• Give the commander an option to mark subgroups with number tags that only those who are in the subgroup can see.

This would mean that

• If you’re the commander, you’ll have a copper square with a golden highlight glow.
• If you’re lieutenant you’ll have a copper square with a silver highlight glow.
• If you’re just a squad member, you’ll have a copper square with no high light glow.
• If you’re just a squad member, the lieutenants and commander is easy to locate.

This suggestion is fantastic. I have never seen any indication where I am in a squad and have never been able to find a commander. This is a problem when joining a squad from lfg in a different instance in order to change and join the squad. frequently if I am trying to get into a map to join the meta I am just as likely to click on someone else doing the same thing and end up in a entirely different empty map and still not on the map with the commander. It would be great if these kinds of highlighters would be visible to squad members in different maps too.