Guild Wars 2

I appreciate the post and your efforts, Chris, and having played since the first Beta weekend, I will say that at least for me, there have been vast improvements in the game and I can see that many of these improvements are actually based on player input.

I do not post much in the forums anymore, because, to be honest, the atmosphere of these forums is stifling. In fact, of all the things I would like to see improved it is just this—the overwhelming feeling that one must look over their shoulder continuously or face the wrath of the powers that be. The feeling that everything I do is being watched and monitored for wrongdoing—-or to control the way I do things—-so that every aspect of gameplay is under strict control by someone other than myself.

Much of the time I run into annoyinkitteniments (why that word was censored, I do not know, but strangely ironic and apropos that it was. for those wondering it was synonymous with “hindrance”. ) to smooth gameplay that are controls put in place to deter bad behavior, but that indiscriminately punish everyone for the sins of a few. The overuse of the “soul bound” and “account bound” items—which does nothing to encourage altruistic and kind behavior in the community and instead encourages an atmosphere of greed and selfishness. The annoying “red error message” if you are selling too fast at the BLT, so that your game slows to a crawl while you attempt to clean out your inventory. Not everyone is trying to cheat or game the system, yet everyone is treated like a cheat and scalawag.

There is also this feeling that the developers find the players to be beneath them—-peons—-that must be tolerated while they —-develop “their” game-—and I am not sure how true collaboration happens if there is not an equal partnership.

I would encourage Arenanet to require their employees to play the game. To go into the game NOT on the server they are used to, and NOT with their usual buddies, but choose a player at random, introduce themselves AS Arenanet employees, and tell them they would like to party with that person and play the game with them as they usually play, and get their ideas and thoughts. It would be an eye opener.

Give the players something free every month. Something FUN and not soulbound. Have a weekend of double dye drops, or exotic drops, or something just for the fun of it, without even considering for a moment the effect on the economy or that it might promote bad behavior. Imagine for a moment we are all great people and just play to have fun. Games should be fun.

Also give the players a way to truly make their mark in the world. Give us a graffiti marker with our name on it as a gift, a lot like the “Box of Fun”—-make a placeable that we can set out in world that would stay a short time and say: I was here. When someone strikes the killing blow on a world boss, let his personal flag fly in that spot til it respawns. I would encourage you all to make the player feel like heroes, and an truly integral part of the game. Something along these lines that says the History of this world is TRULY our history.

Again, I appreciate your thoughts and time, Chris. I hope you appreciate mine.

First: I am not going to read through this very lengthy thread to see if my concerns are already voiced before I set them into the thread for myself.

Secondly, let me say that the idea of Guild Events is very exciting to me, and I welcome it.

That having been said, and seeing Developers speak about “long term” commitments etc. as the reason for Level 5 (in whatever Tier, the one given was War, which of course set off a fire storm…)

I would have loved to have seen this done as an entire Tier based system, that is to say, at every Tier have something available so that smaller and less SUPER-UBER-BIG-AND-BEEFY Guilds could have some involvement, and spiffy stuff to do. Less elitist, more inclusive of all types of guilds and all level of current achievement in their own guild progress.

Say at level 1 in Architecture you get: The tiny jumping puzzle of Doom
At Level 5 Architecture you get: The big honkin’ awful, but completely worth it puzzle of Doom.

My thoughts anyway.

I just killed 57 mobs without a single drop.

I have come to the conclusion that Arenanet does not wish me to play the game.

So I logged off.

I do not enjoy killing things for killing sake. It would be nice to get a drop now and again,

“Diminishing returns” means “diminishing gameplay” and also “diminishing players in the game” and “diminishing people you recommend the game to”.

Make it like GW1, Title on mouse over only.

So essentially a good analogy would be:

You are doing a great job at work. So good that in January we are going to give you a 5% cut in pay.

Next year, another cut. Next year, another cut. Eventually you will work for free.

As I investigated I became more and more convinced that it had to do with damage done, or some kind of “kill credit” fubar.

I am a support build. It is a sad day for those of us who are support. It is always…always about power and just muscling your way through. Forget finesse, forget tactics, forget all that.

Hooray for glass cannons. You win. Game over.

Does this mean Hello is also not allowed? What about Hellenistic? How about words that contain hell within them but not at the beginning?

Bombshell?
kittenleshells? Oh my, to think even a sea mollusk might offend!
[edit: The word above is in an old and very familiar Nursery Rhyme!)

You may have to walk on eggshells around here, or you will get a cyber shellacking that is my opinion in a nutshell.

(And my guess is it is the account name and not the Hell name that got someone’s undies in a wad)

Please please allow us to put the extra queen jennah birthday present mini’s in the forge for a chance on another mini.

Whoooosh. The sound of another monthly passing the open world players by……

Asurans have all the extra cash, since they own all the waypoints and charge an arm and a leg all year to use them from every player. Where do you think all that money is going?

WvW needs “red cross” or a “neutral” emblem on people who are just mapping. While you are in red cross mode, if you are attacked the side attacking gains a penalty. However, either side that helps a red cross person get to their destination gets a bonus.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just wanted to give a quick update on this topic. We’ve completed verifying every update from the november release, and there were zero changes to anything what so ever that would have negatively affected loot in any way/shape/form. We can officially confirm this as an X-files level conspiracy at this point.

We’re in the midst of evaluating every loot table in the game and running massive random roll evaluations table by table, as well as evaluating every system game wide that causes a player to qualify for items to determine if any issues exist in those systems from launch.

Will update again when we have another round of concrete information.

Thank you for looking into it.

I am in Frostgorge Sound. Just loving all the clumps of fur and hooves. Its a nice change from the porous bones. A 79 Vet I solo’d even gave me an Egg! woo hoo yahooie

First the disclaimer. I have played Dungeons and Dragons tabletop since 1978. I was in college at the time, and needed something to reduce the stress of finals. The game, in 1978 was only 4 years old, and in my neck of the woods, was relatively new and unknown. After many many years of playing, and DMing many campaigns, I was thrilled when a little game called Neverwinter Nights came out and I could try my hand at building a module, and carrying on a campaign of my own making in “3D”. I ended up creating one of the most popular modules in the game: Adventures in Cormyr: Immersea.

So, this brings us to my topic. I have told many people in game how disappointed I was that Legendaries were not, in fact Legendary at all, unless you count the legendary grind it takes to make one. I then tell them about being “Legendary” in my module in NWN.

I had legends, and legendary weapons in my module, they were one of a kind. So were the players. Legendaries had LEGENDS associated with them—-Stories, Lore….and one had to find the pieces while unlocking the legend of the item, then find out how to forge them together. Once they did this, they were also legendary. (not by the item alone but because it took some campaigning to not only find the pieces, but to figure out what they were, what they went to, and how exactly, what specifics it took to put them together.) So in the end, I would then ask for a snapshot (a computer file snapshot) of their character and I would place a “stoneskin” texture on them, and an animation to make them stand perfectly still, and then place them as a statue in my module, along with a book of their deeds that had made them legendary.

This is exactly how I would have done legendaries in Guild Wars 2. I would have made them truly legendary, and the player as well.

Look at the history of the real world, and think of the many legendary people there are. Go to any town square and there is a local legend. I believe that if legendaries had been one of a kind with a story attached, and the player the new legend, then you would have a truly “living world.”

Giving a player the opportunity to not only change history in my module in NWN, but to mark it forever by his gameplay was one of the reasons my module was so popular.

I have crocheted entire blankets while attempting to clean my inventory via the black lion.

Minos.5168:

Nalora.7964:

In other words: “You don’t play the game right, and should quit.”

And, if this were ArenaNet’s motto… They’d be out of business by now.

They need to focus on making the game more accessible for casual players… As that was GW1’s bread-and-butter.

Having a F2P version of WoW is just asking for trouble (as it makes GW2 the same as every other F2P MMO out there).

I was being sarcastic. I have been told so many times in these forums that I must be doing something wrong, or that I am not playing the game right.

I did fine for 7+ years in Guild Wars 1. My HOM is 42/50. (I only stopped working on it because as a history buff and avid reader in RL I liked my title of “I have many leather bound books”.)

But apparently I do not play Guild Wars 2 right, and should quit. It is a pretty standard answer (said in many ways, and with many words, but in essence the same) on these forums to everything that ails you.

Mystic Forge is not only a fail, but it, and things like it, are actually illegal in 32 of the 50 States of the United States.

You don’t. If you are casual, you are also going to be poor and plain looking. If you want all that pixelated stuff in Guild Wars, be prepared to grind, grind grind your way to it.

I figured it out. I went up and talked to him (he does not give the alt a communicator) but it does unlock the achievement on the person who has the “stuff”. One has a communicator, one has the stuff, but both can get in the dungeon. Very silly, however to have the things soulbound. Should be account bound.

First, I want to say that I really enjoy the little icon art on our items. It is a small thing, but I really enjoy looking at them. I suppose it is a general love of miniatures, but I would love to know who the artist(s) is/are who do these. I have also noticed some new icons on older stuff, and I just find that nifty as well.

I would also like to commend the artist and the physics of the blowing prairie grass and overall look of Deidre’s Hidden garden in Maelstrom’s. Living in the plains as I do, one of my favorite things to see in RL is prairie grass blowing in the wind. (it also makes a special rustling sound that is almost as comforting to a country girl like me as a train whistle at night in the distance…)

The grass on the hills in Deidre’s Hidden Garden took my breath away. Just beautiful and so well done!

I happened to have two tray recipes that were popular with people in wvw: Trays of Mango Pies, and Feasts of Super Veggie Pizza. I made those, then I celebrated in LA first by dropping feasts to celebrate my first ever MONTHLY reward since I began playing.

Then last night a call went out for help in WvW. (which I like to do, but is too intense for my laid back wandering soul playstyle) so I went and set out trays of mango pie and pizza at our spawn in place.

Just for fun and frolic.

Thank you Arenanet for switching the monthly so I could get at least one this year.

Please bring back trapper’s expertise with ground targeting.

Bunny slippers (I have asked for a year now), a bathrobe and a cup of coffee.

Could expand on this idea and have a Guild Wars 2 Pajama Party. Put a set of jammies, a bathrobe, and bunny slippers in the BLT as a costume. To go with: Bed Hair, pink curler helm, have cheetoes, potato chips, soft drinks fall from mobs all weekend.

But I would settle for bunny slippers and a bathrobe to hang out in some obscure place as some adventurer goes by…

(Coffee could have a swiftness and jumping boost)

The Living Story died.

I too am disappointed that yet another thing in the game will go into my “Incomplete forever” column.

Back to doing my daily and putzing around….

Dear Arenanet,

You have given me the best Wintersday gift you could give, and it is not even one you may have known you were giving me.

I believe in you again.

Wintersday is only 2 days old and it reminds me of those great Wintersday of Guild Wars 1, and yet has so much more. I am having a blast. I am keeping a list of things that have knocked my socks off and stuff I find just super spiffy. So far it is all running smooth for me, and I am pleased as punch.

I love the little “flying saucers” dropping magic snow. The effect is amazing looking.
I love that we can gift exchange and get what we want. I love the joke of the old socks, (even though for years I asked for socks for Christmas, and got them) sweaters and hats.
I love the look of the new Black Lion tool icons.
The first Toymaster Tixx dungeon was nifty and well balanced. Hard, but not so hard that I felt you were trying to torture me.
I love the tiny ventarri (though they can be brutal). And the extra stuff they drop.
I love the balance of quiet solo activities and group play.
I love the sound the little mini snowman makes.
The art of all the decorations is just amazing.

But thank you most for giving me back my belief that Guild Wars and Arenanet are some awesome game developers. I always say to people: Guild Wars is my game. It is the only one I really want to play. You have given my game back to me.

I have my own guild it is the same one I had in Guild Wars 1.

We have 9 members, most do not log on often. This is okay with me, since I know them all and know they are busy with real life. I do not mind either if they join and represent other guilds.

I play by myself, and to be honest there is not much that I am good at in the game, so I prefer to stay by myself, since I do not need to be told the many reasons why I should quit the game by people in the game.

There is a lot I will never do in the game, in contrast to Guild Wars 1 where there was little I did not do.

Nothing. Ever. I have played since Beta Weekend 1.

Yesterday I played for 3 hours. I got a drop about every 50 kills. Usually it was junk. I got 1 green during those hours. My magic find is 176%. Most of what I got was grey “junk” to sell to the merchant for copper.

I have been on permanent diminishing returns for 3 years.

This is the first monthly I will have an opportunity to get.

For months I have not had one that was something I could do.

So, I have been “sucking it up” for a while now.

How about I throw out the second most used response in these forums:

“Dude, its a challenge!”

For me? I say a big THANK YOU to Arenanet for giving ME my FIRST monthly.

Your last statement says it all: “The game is meant to be fun.”

But, sadly it is not. It is work. It is grinding, excruciating work. Crafting is a joke. It has no merit, nothing you craft is worth anything. “Farm Events”? Repetitive grinding is not “fun” in my book. Perhaps I am just not the right kind of gamer for Guild Wars.

Most of my friends who began the game with me in BWE1 have already left. Most “well brained” people do not enjoy tedium. I am only still around because my last spark of hope for Guild Wars has not yet been completely snuffed out by their idiotic decisions.

I would have looked for Gwen’s garden! Very neat tho. Nice glitch. er feature.

I would like a game in which I feel my time is well spent, and I am having fun. I would like it NOT to feel like work. I would like to feel I have a chance of eventually having all of my characters in gear that would keep them alive in the highest areas, and in the best of worlds, looking as I would desire them to look.

I would like a game in which I feel the developers are working with me and not against me. I would like a game where I am not punished for the actions of a few. I would like a game where I felt at least competent playing it—-not guaranteed to win, but not feeling like a failure every time I play.

I would like a game that is not frustrating, tedious or boring. I do not believe that those three words should ever be used to describe a game, which in its essence is supposed to be for entertainment—-fast, fun, and exciting.

I would like a game where I am awarded not merely for smashing through things by brute force, but by coming up with innovative ways to use my skills to accomplish tasks.

This is the same thing that has been happening to me. It is not my end. It is theirs.

DreamOfACure.4382:

“The game is not about the loot” argument is a silly misconception by people who are trying too hard to enjoy the game in a different way.

Loot is a fundamental part of the MMO concept, for it to be lacking would be like having an incomplete game.

It always bothers me when I see players make that argument.

You should be playing for loot, but not obsess over it. Many players are already comfortable playing that way, if they run a streak of bad luck, they can still enjoy other parts of the game to compensate.

To be quite honest, I had rarely looked at my loot except to note I got some on occasion, or when something nifty happened. But months went by, and the only time I ever saw anything but a blue or VERY RARELY a green text fly by was when someone else would put in map chat a [LOOK AT MY GREAT LOOT] Then, finally 3 weeks ago, a gasp YELLOW TEXT flew by and by golly by wow, it belonged to ME!

It was this that made me aware of how truly awful my drops are comparatively. In GW1 I was constantly giving stuff away, just having fun, I never sold anything…why should I? I was always full of GREAT loot. It was fun! Heck, once a month or so I had to do a PURGE of my storage just so I could have room for more stuff.

But in GW2, even if I had great loot I could not drop it for a buddy or give it to him, because of (what I believe) is the overuse of account/soulbound on items, and who would anyway given the eye popping costs of everything? I guess all those “lucky” people who have THOUSANDS of gold already.

The fact that other players have thousands of gold is mind boggling to me. It was only this fact that made me begin to look at my own loot and ask myself —-why am I still broke? I NEVER spend money. I rarely if ever WP anyplace. To me spending 5 silver is enough to make me cringe. I run away rather than incur an armor repair bill. I actually love the idea of WvW, and the times I have been there have been fun up to the time I had to pay for my armor repairs. So I gave that up. Same with Dungeons, I don’t get drops or money enough to pay for my repairs, so why bother?

Everyday I have to give myself an attitude check and tell myself, just enjoy the game, forget about: Ever having cultural armor. Ever having exotics on your alts. Ever being able to hold your own in Orr. Ever doing dungeons. Ever doing WvW. Ever getting anything other than porous bones by the stackful. I have to just pretend there is no loot. And the game is less fun because of this. Because many areas of the game are just not do-able for someone who cannot pay the repair costs, and who would like to save up to have at least one character look the way you envision them to look. And in the end…really…it is that “my character is unique” —-that drives most of us for the loot.

That Elite Skills are not better than regular skills, they are, in fact worse, and useless for the most part. GW1 had wonderful elites that had low cooldown times, and were something you really wanted on your bar.

The overuse of CC by developers on their mobs.

That most mobs are just uber high armor and HP and do not have any nuance to them.

Auto slow when you are hit, and yet mobs are not slowed when hit.

Dungeons that have no nuance or puzzle to them but are merely high level uber mobs in great number thrown at you for long periods of time.

Waypoints and Armor repairs that nickle and dime you to death, and prevent you from easily and joyfully “gathering your party before venturing forth”.

Lore that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Anything that feels frustrating, tedious, or boring. I believe games should never have any of these three words associated with it.

The overuse of “soulbound” and “accountbound”.

Being punished for the sins of others.

I have never had a good drop rate since Beta. I do not grind, I do not farm and I usually have to kill between 20 to 50 things to get a “piece of junk” to sell to the merchant. I think they developers have my account marked for “Holy crud we hope she quits soon.”

I can only come to the conclusion that there are accounts they cannot ban, but wish they would go away.

I would like to have bunny slippers.

And a robe, and a cup of coffee.

But mostly….bunny slippers.

I love a good story.
I love a good ponder.
I love a mystery.
I love a book I can pick up, read a bit, then go on my way, musing.

I am enjoying Flame and Frost. Thank you Guild Wars 2 writers.

First Beta Weekend when the servers came online and I heard the log in music for the first time.

The Beta Weekend “end” event with the giant Rabbit and rabid raccoons.

Finding various Guild Wars 1 places and how they changed over time.

I would not want to see yet another “punish everyone for the sins of a few” fix to a problem caused by gold sellers/spammers. Messaging is necessary for community, and especially if you have a friend coming in game, or are genuinely new and need help. City of Heroes implemented a new account messaging restriction with disastrous results on the community.

For me there is something viscerally enjoyable when one of them messages me and I can immediately report them. Sort of like swatting a fly that has been flying around the room for a while.

Bam! Got you, you little $%^&#

Remember when there were snakes crawling on the ground? Why did they take out the snakes?

Kill 5 Mobs with Randomly Found Objects.

Eat 5 Pieces of Food.

Drink 5 Alcoholic Beverages.

Read 5 Books in World.

Run Away from 10 Skritt.

Die once.

Freeze 10 innocent animals.

Fall to your Death.

What have you done at least once that you will never see in a daily rotation?

I hate Orr with a passion. So I feel your frustration. I hated DOA (Domain of Anguish) in Guild Wars 1 too, but would be cajoled into going with my buddies all the time, all the while gritting my teeth and wondering what kind of warped mind it took to create such a horrible place.

I would have loved if there was some kind of dream sequence that showed Orr as it was before the destruction, so I could at least have a mental image of what it looked like at its peak of beauty.

Maybe I am too romantic. When I need an attitude check from the ugliness of Orr, I go to the Shiverpeaks (usually Timberline, one of my favorite zones) or to Ebonhawke area—-my second favorite zone. In GW1 I always went and got on my “perma-pre” and just felt all new and fresh.

This annoys me to no end. This essentially gives mobs (but not me) a “magical first attack” called slow or cripple.

If I am slowed during combat the mobs should be slowed by my attacks as well.

They did say that weapons were first on the agenda, with Armor down the road a bit later in the year. I fully expect that Jeweler is the same as Armor, and will be implemented later.

Its the economy. Many companies are doing “realignments”.

I am wondering how much the original “lock out” of a great number of people during the first weeks of launch may have affected this issue.

I lost all of the “head start” when Arenanet was attacked by password hunting bots, and was locked out of my account for days. (Arenanet locked me out, I was never hacked, and support was so swamped my ticket took 11 days to be addressed)

I also had several bugs with various other “in game items” that I was supposed to receive. Many of my characters that I created on the first day had the “timed” bank golems and the timer began at character creation (they changed it later for the timer to start when the golem was actually first used) But because Arenanet locked me out of my account, most of my 1st day characters never got to use their “bank golems” because they had timed out by the time they got around to reinstating my account. the HOM stones were another issue…

After the launch bot attack issues, waiting around for a birthday gift seems kind of easy.

This is also happening to me a lot since the patch. Mostly on merchants for me. If I find another F key prompt close by then I can usually return and get the merchant’s tag to come up.

I actually would not mind if some of the “Greet” F key prompts go away. My character ain’t that friendly.

ElenaDragon.8401:

Devilcryforu.7328:

I take it as soon as you are spotted by a mob, you automatically enter combat mode? But you still run at the correct speed, it’s only when you get hit that you slow down somewhat.

I don’t think you’re actually in combat mode until you get hit. Then you slow down and don’t speed up again until enemies have stopped attacking for like 5 seconds. Taking falling damage is similar… you’re put into combat mode for a few seconds, move slower, and don’t regen health automatically.

I have screenshots of myself laying on the ground sleeping waiting for my combat mode to shut off. The longest I have remained in combat mode not even close to anything actually attacking me is greater than 10 minutes. These screenshots with bug reports have been sent in via in-game bug reports.

I vote we all get “Bullet Proof Beta Tester” achievement awards for staying calm and supplying data that may help to fix it.

It seems that I come to the forums and I find myself falling into the trap of harping on the negative. It is certainly easy to do, since this seems to be the place to come to rant and rave, by many, including myself, at times.

I have had a bad week in my all time favorite game. Connection issues, mostly. Death by lag is never easy to take. Give me a good old fashioned epic death where I go down fighting and not one pre-ordained by the gods of the ethernet, any day.

Since my connection issues are not allowing me to fight, I decided to revisit cities on a character that has not done much map completion, I leave such things to my “main”.

I have always loved the Art of Guild Wars. In Guild Wars 1 I was Legendary Cartographer, and those who achieved that title know that it required a lot of perseverance. But there was so much beauty there, that I did not mind. I enjoyed the trip.

And walking around today I am reminded again of the beauty of Guild Wars and what keeps me here. The attention to detail. The small things that give me joy.

I know that in Guild Wars 1, over 8 years I saw many expansions, updates and changes, and in the end, I still loved the game. Loved it enough to plunk down loads of cash for the Collector’s Edition of this one. Certainly there were things I grumbled about back then, and there are things I grumble about now. But in the end, I believe, I truly do, that the trip will be marvelous.

I have a folder where I keep old essays and poems that I have written over the years. On one small scrap of paper is a sentence: Cats are Always Haiku.

It is the small things that bring us joy.

Suddenflame.2601:

Dude you do realize Anet has said you dont have to do the monthly. Its your choice to do it or not no one is forcing you.

Also note your last point is what they are already doing if you actually read the forums posts made by them lol. Get up with the times before posting.

Yea, I figure in a year I might get one monthly award. Yippeeeee! I am ROLLIN’ in it.