Guild Wars 2

ninetales.5208:

I think many people won’t give negative opinions in a public map chat, including myself, because the people that like it are more vocal and likely to troll you for it. A forum is a place where people can write longer explanations as to why they dislike an aspect of the game and can actually discuss it at length.

Good point. I honestly have never once expressed an opinion about changes to the game (positive or negative) in map chat. Besides the fact that people will probably troll you, I don’t really feel it’s the place to do it. Map chat is for coordinating stuff and finding people to play with, imo.

Another thing, I think, is that it’s a lot harder to pick up sarcasm in map chat, because usually you are going to get shorter or interrupted comments. “I LOVE the new MegaServer!” could be completely sarcastic or completely genuine. Hard to know without context, and probably most people are going to assume the writer aligns with his/her personal viewpoint. Often I’ve logged into the middle of the conversation where I am curious what the beginning was but you only see what transpires after you log in. In the forums, you can see the histories of people’s posts, and folks can take the time to explain themselves.

Also, if the forums can seem skewed due to multiple posts by the same person, this is true by x1,000 for map chat. That same guy who loves or hates something might express the same opinion on many different maps on many different names with his 15 characters. Lots of comments, but only one person actually making them.

Finally, presumably you will get more comments in map chat from people playing, which potentially would mean the folks who are happier with the changes. People who are happily playing AND people who are frustrated come to the forums, so from that perspective you get a better mix of written communication here. I know I personally am not logging in as much, so you’re not going to see me comment on anything in game!

Therefore I don’t think map chat is really a good indication of how the community feels. Besides the ideas expressed in the forums, only ArenaNet can really tell if players have been logging in less or more, or view the discussions in guild chat, party chat, and whispers where people talk about stuff to their friends. That’s the real indicator.

eisberg.2379:

They already said in the various feedback threads for this last patch they read the feedback and are checking into them and taking them into consideration. That is all they need to say.

Well actually this is an interesting point, and perhaps a slightly different issue.

If I’m unhappy about the Megaserver, I’m checking the Megaserver threads for dev responses to our questions.

So, I’m looking at 1) Feedback/Questions: MegaServer, 2) Game Updates: Guild World Events, Megaservers, WvW, 3) Megaservers and RP to see if there has been any indication that concerns about the servers are being heard.

Then, in case I missed something, I’m looking at: Dev Tracker

Last, I’ll check….. News (Here I see….article about Gem Store, article about Tournament of Legends, article about Gem Store.)

Where else should the community look to get assurance that what they’ve pointed out since April 15th has been read? Maybe I’m not looking in the right place. I see comments in the dev tracker saying “there already is a thread on this, so post there” but nothing in the official threads since the patch has dropped acknowledging that there has been a large amount of feedback on particular topics. People posting in the wrong place get more of a confirmation that their voice is being heard than people who try to post in the right place.

OP: Very nice way to approach things. I agree with most of your points but also the way you have presented them. I was thinking about making a post like this myself.

One thing I hadn’t yet realized — underwater PvP was removed?!? I’d put that in the CON category. While it could be admittedly annoying, I would also feel stupidly pleased with myself when I did well.

BUT the bigger issue with this is…… It directly conflicts with the reason for a lot of the other changes in the game, which is a more consistent experience across game modes. My dailies are all smooshed together, and now my look is the same in PvP and PvE (to the detriment of PvP players, as pointed out)….but now there only is underwater fighting in PvE? Makes me seriously question the reasons for any of the decisions being made. I would much preferred to have seen it improved. Especially since it is one of GW2’s claims to fame.

TheDaiBish.9735:

If they did say ‘we are aware of the issues and are looking into it’, do you honestly believe that people would stop posting / whining about the same thing on a daily basis?

No, not the people who regularly whine/complain about everything. :P

But for people who have come out of the woodwork to try and give constructive feedback, or all the lurkers who are reading this but not bothering to add duplicate thoughts that have already been expressed, it would be a nice gesture.

As far as the “on vacation” thing goes…. I have a small issue with this being a valid reason for silence. I manage a 30+ person team, and honestly in management you are never truly “on vacation.” Of course certain types of employees (union, hourly, government, etc.) have rules about when you can work, and sometimes you legitimately are not allowed to perform work activities, but ArenaNet must have a few staff available for emergencies. What if there was an issue with authentication and no one could log in? Would it really not be fixed for a week because everyone was “on vacation?” If it were my company, and I had a ton of people being very vocal about a major update while a major competitor recently launched an offering (ESO), I would get someone to respond. Of course, if it were my company I wouldn’t let my whole team go on vacation right after a major update around a holiday weekend, but that’s just me.

What I think, though is that “everyone” isn’t on vacation. Look at the Dev Tracker…. there are some responses being made. Just no one is talking about the big questions. It bums me out that it seems like ANet employees are being made to work overtime on gem refunds for town clothes skins. Everyone is losing in that scenario. ANet is losing money (both in future gem sales and wasted employee time), customers are losing functionality, and the community is losing faith in responsiveness to big issues. I bet the staff working on those would rather be addressing the other questions, too, and working on game improvements instead of dealing with a mountain of refund tickets. I absolutely applaud and thank them for their efforts…it’s the higher level decision-making here that I question.

I think even a “we really appreciate your feedback on this, keep it coming, this was a big change for GW2” type of response in the busy topics, so that the community can feel like their comments are being read, would be nice. Is the community “entitled” to get one? No, of course not. Is it an easy way to show you care and gain goodwill with some of your client base? In my opinion, yes. I absolutely can see how the extremely negative, volatile complaining might make some staff feel like people are not appreciative of the update, but there are people out there asking nicely and being encouraging too.

Seras.5702:

Yaki.9563:

I hate it. Events were always hard to find now they are even harder with them getting done instantly because there are players every 20 feet.

Seriously? In my experience, I never had a hard time finding events, but rather finding people to help me with group events or just someone else to play along with.

Out of curiosity…which servers are the two of you from? I bet they are different…

And this, I think, is one of the primary issues with the MegaServer. All of the feedback about server population is not only subjective, but it depends on when you play (time of day) and preference (do you want lots of people around or do you like things peaceful). The Megaserver was meant to solve one point of view only: “When I play it’s deserted and I don’t like it.”

As a result, it has disrupted as many things as it has solved.

—-new thought—-

Question, though: When queuing for sPvP, was one’s server previously respected? For the first time in my memory, I was called “$#@* ranger” for trying to help capture a point. Could admittedly absolutely be coincidence, but this was a new experience for me. I’m wondering if it is another byproduct of all the communities being mixed together or just a random happenstance.

There are a lot of good points being made here. I think the truth is somewhere between two extremes, honestly.

I personally dislike when criticisms cross over into personally insulting the devs. I cringe a little when I see topics that say “disgusting changes” and whatnot. I feel a little bad criticizing something I know someone has worked on and put effort into, even if it truly frustrates me, and I’m well aware of the politics involved behind any company. Sometimes decisions are made to “cut your losses” for circumstances beyond your control. Therefore personally I always try to give ideas, constructive criticism, and reasons.

That being said, I don’t think it’s right, either, to judge people who have strong opinions about the game just because they have strong opinions about the game. Yes, it’s a game. Yes, it’s a hobby. But how is it any different than being a sports fan? People need things to care about, and just because they care about changes to a game they are playing, doesn’t mean they don’t also have “serious, meaningful” things to care about. As others have said, ArenaNet should be glad to see people care about their game. The biggest problem is when people actually stop bothering to give feedback.

I will say that I am one of the folks who does not post often when I’m happy. I’m sure ANet knows when I’m playing and when I am buying gems. No need to post in here to say that I’m having a good time. I only have limited time after all. I was happily playing throughout all the living story content, while others were complaining. I was happily playing when more dailies were added, when sPvP dailies were added, etc. If I wasn’t on here giving constructive feedback, it is because I liked the game and the changes that were introduced.

I WOULD like to see some honest dev responses, though. I think it’s totally fine for a company to say “we’ve changed direction” or “oops, we thought you would like this change – we will look into it.” You don’t have to promise anything specific, but acknowledging that people are unhappy with some of the changes would really be appreciated at this point. I have been coming on the forums every day hoping to see that some of the major concerns (or even the minor, easy ones! ) would be addressed and I’m starting to give up hope.

I mean really — How hard would it be for someone to acknowledge officially whether the personality feature was removed on purpose? Or whether a wardrobe/bank NPC is planned to be added to the sPvP area? These are easy wins to show you are listening!!!

I really really like this game. I am incredibly grateful for all of the work that has been done since launch. But I am sincerely worried that the silence towards any serious posts about this patch (communities being split, world permanence, major play styles and schedules being destroyed, etc.) aren’t even being met with a “we are still balancing things, try a little bit longer and tell us what you think” type of comment. Please tell us you care about what we think, even if you can’t address all of our concerns. :/

VoiceOfUnreason.5976:

The megaservers effectively killed any desire I had to even look at PVE. I would say maybe I’ll keep doing WvW, but that’s gotten pretty dull for me. Chances are I’ll just log on for scheduled guild RP (since any other RP is out the window now) until we collectively decide to leave for another game.

I think you have most closely expressed how I feel. sPvP is (currently) ruined, which I loved, and the megaservers have ruined PvE. I was just starting to get into WvW but if the other modes are a bore that won’t hold me. I don’t RP but my friends and I are talking ESO. Not because it’s any better, but because, if GW2 stops delivering on what we enjoyed, we might as well experience other games for variety.

Fix megaserver. Fix dailies. Fix world boss schedules. And fix townclothes (not because I bought them, but because it’s another “controlling” change.) Otherwise…I’ll be spending my time (and $$$) elsewhere.

@ OP: GW2 just had a major feature patch applied, which has seriously changed a lot of core mechanics, so I’m not sure anyone in the community can appropriately answer for the post-patch GW2. BUT speaking for pre-April 15th:

I think most of the forum posts are just typical MMO stuff. I have an 80 in every profession except Engineer, which I am still leveling. My main is an Elementalist, which is a class that I’ve felt has needed improvements for a very long time but I still thoroughly enjoy. My sPvP main, a ranger, feels nerfed since the patch but we will see how things develop. Before April 15th, my personal opinion is that ele, ranger, and necro could use some improvements to be more competitive (although if you really know the classes well you can still kick major…you know) while thieves, guardians, warriors, and mesmers (especially in PvP) were quite solid. Again, I’m not qualified to comment on Engi.

Time will tell whether the current complaints about professions, after a patch balance, are justified in any way, but up until recently I think you could find lots of fans for each profession, and lots of naysayers, and the truth was somewhere in between.

SkylightMoon.1980:

This is one thing ive asked myself recently and honestly Anet seems to cater to casuals a lot more. I mean, one big reason is because the people who come to the forums to complain about being forced or something being hard are only the ones heard, so Anet perhaps thinks they are the majority of the community.

IDK. I’m sure I’m what you would consider a “casual” player. And I’m pretty unhappy with this patch. I play twice a week (Sat. and Sun. mornings) and I don’t even have a Legendary despite having played this game since Beta. I USED to be “hardcore” : in other MMOs I raided, played multiple nights a week, etc., etc., and as such I enjoy difficult content. GW2, up until recently, was amazing for me, as I was able to enjoy most content without grinding for gear, but could find lots of areas in the game where I could challenge myself. If I had 20 minutes to play I could find something fun. If I had four hours to play I could also find things to do. I did the Aetherblade Dungeon many times before it was removed and never beat it, but I loved it just because it was challenging.

But now? Bosses are on a schedule. Most I will never see because I’m not in a big guild and I have a fixed play schedule. World permanence is gone. Town clothes have become tonics. Dailies have been limited and dumbed down. If I’m a casual, who is willing to buy gems for cosmetic items, and I’m unhappy….who IS happy?

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

I’ll have to re-adopt a playstyle I was glad I could get rid off: doing the daily as a chore on multiple characters, instead of doing it while actually playing the game.

I really liked the change a while back and am severely disappointed in the removal of that change.

This x 1,000. or 1,000,000,000,000.

mosselyn.5081:

Until now, I thought the daily system in this game was one of the best I’ve seen because it was very flexible.

/agreed.

MrRuin.9740:

Its funny how the majority of those complaining are PvE purists when WvW and PvP players lost far more of their dailies (PvP players lost…what? 4 of 6 dailies specific to PvP?)

Count me in as someone who is specifically unhappy about the loss of sPvP-specific dailies. Sometimes I was in the mood for PvE, and sometimes PvP. Now I have to move around no matter what I feel like doing. SOOO short-sighted to try and use DAILIES (something folks do every DAY) to entice players to try something new. There had to be a better way to do that.

notebene.3190:

For me, the extra dailies were a way to maybe ‘catch up’ in total AP points to folks that get AP points in other ways.

What concerns me more now is my choices are limited.

+1 on both points. I’m in both camps. When I had extra time, I’d do “extra” dailies. And more choice is ALWAYS good.

Wonderly.1324:

As someone who used to stress over doing every single daily in every single category every single day, this, along with the 10,000k-AP-from-dalies cap, is a very welcome stress-relieving change. For everyone else… Yes, play-as-you-want is one of Anet’s core promises with GW2, but they also have a vision to unify all game modes. It’s hard to compromise between the two, and I think having to do one or two new thing that you don’t normally do isn’t too time consuming or unreasonable. I think Anet also wants to challenge players to step out and try new things, especially when they work so hard to improve every game mode. Give it a shot, who knows, maybe you’ll discover you enjoy pvp, or pve, or wvw. And if you don’t, it’s not like the game is ruined just because you need to occasionally do one or two little thing if you really want a laural for that particular day.

I’d really like to hear from a Dev specifically on this viewpoint. But here is my take on this:

I am sympathetic to completionists, as in days past I considered myself to be one. BUT:

a) Many/most of us have tried all the modes. Some of us like them all, but enjoyed the flexibility the old achievement system provided. Some truly do not enjoy the other mode, and no amount of dailies is going to change their mind.

b) I just really doubt that the people who did ALL of the available dailies were in the majority vs. folks that just did some. If ANet can show me metrics to contradict this, I will wholeheartedly support this change. I feel your pain, I do, but to me it is a lot like the account wallet when it launched. I was one of the folks who liked to let my alts “earn” their own keep. Mixing all the money together meant I could no longer easily do this. BUT I could see that for the majority of players, this was a great convenience, and I think the change was ultimately for the better for the community. In THIS case, if the change was truly done to ease the burden of completionists, I believe it was done to accommodate the minority which makes no business sense at all. If it was done in an attempt to “force” people into alternate modes, it is misguided, as people will gravitate towards what they enjoy and simply will resent the game for its limitations.

Seems like a change needs to be done to the Leaderboards, if this at all was a factor in the decision, to allow all the rest of us who just played for fun to continue doing so.

And no, maybe the game isn’t “ruined.” But if this change lowers in any way the fun factor for the MAJORITY of players in this game, it is not the right way to go.

I don’t like that this patch has caused me to become so negative. I post in the hopes that I will be listened to and the spirit of the game I love will be restored.

I do not like this change at all. Before judging just by reading, I tried it tonight. I was in the mood to sPvP today. Could I do my daily just in that area? Nope.

I play PvE. I play sPvP. I was even just starting to get into WvW. I do not need dumbed down dailies to encourage force me into it.

Please bring back “Play the Way You Want.” Please bring back the choices. In the past, sometimes I completed my daily with PvE, sometimes with sPvP. Sometimes I did both to get more achievement points towards my chest rewards. Depended on my mood and the character I felt like playing. Less choices = less fun = BAD.

I am frustrated. I’m sure devs put a lot of effort into this patch. I want to appreciate it. But all the things that I never complained about, because I was off enjoying the game for actual YEARS, have been changed. Did you ever once see me post on the forums complaining about the variety of choices I was given in my dailies? Nope, because I was in the game, enjoying myself.

But because I was off happily playing the game, while others were complaining, now I’m not having fun anymore. I really hate this. Maybe some choices were made to try and gain more players. I get that — an MMO is not an MMO if you are the only one playing it — but alienating all your happy customers to gain new ones is a wash, and wasted effort.

OK, need to give constructive feedback….. Sorry but it has to be….bring back the old system. It was great. It was one of the many reasons I told all my friends to check out GW2.

VoiceOfUnreason.5976:

Are you sure this isn’t just straight up overflow?

That’s what I was thinking.

When I logged in, I got a message saying I was being placed in overflow. Gendarran Fields. Doesn’t that mean the megaserver isn’t everywhere yet, because we won’t get overflow messages after megaserver?

I figured it was just more people logging in than normal to check out the patch.

1. As others have said, please add wielded weapon view in wardrobe.

2. This —-->

Curo.2483:

I have lots of skins saved up (super skins, dragon wings, slickpack, etc) and was excited that they could all be added to the wardrobe to free up bank space. Unfortunately, doing so causes me to lose the ability to apply that skin without a transmutation charge. So are you guys saying I have to choose between inventory space and transmutation charges now? I think it would make sense that any “skin” item should offer one transmutation charge when added to the wardrobe.

Please confirm. I have saved a bunch of skins and I am not sure if I should apply or store in vault. If I save them for one free apply, won’t they still go to the vault?

3. The PvP locker is gone in the sPvP lobby, but no bank has been added so we can view the vault (that I can find). Can this be added?

4. Why can’t I look like I did in sPvP before the patch? I primarily did sPvP with my ranger, and was lucky enough to get the Peacemaker’s Short Bow as a drop. Now my shortbow is a sad looking “Rampager’s Soft Wood Short Bow of Corruption” and I need to use 1 transmutation charge to get it back? Does not seem right. I get that we received one for every sPvP rank we received, but that is not a fair trade. It seems like we should get one transmutation charge for every sPvP piece we were wearing. If I change my look, fine. But I didn’t change one piece of armor for every sPvP rank….

5. Why is the outfit slot “checked” by default when there is nothing in the slot?

OP – good question. I always paid some attention to my character’s alignment as well, based on answers I gave to questions, and was hoping to see this incorporated into the game in a more significant fashion (such as varying reactions to you by NPCs), rather than being removed.

I hope this was overlooked and not eliminated…

yelena arnica monta.2541:

Wow i beta tested this game ‘cause I was curious to the open world. Now I find myself not being able to do any of the world bosses, or spontaneously drop in on a huge event. I can’t schedule gaming. I play whenever I can and my family lets me and I am sure there are more players like me Who have kids and can’t live by ANet’s schedule. I think Anet threw out their own business modell and all of the things they lured the beta testers with… WE ALL PROMOTED THE GAME BECAUSE WE THOUGHT THIS WAS FANTASTIC NEW WAY TO PLAY…. and now with these changes I am not so sure…

I don’t even HAVE kids and I can’t follow the schedule. :P I work a lot.

With this update, and the megaserver system especially, I also feel ANet is abandoning what made GW2 great to begin with. I’m concerned not only for the game I know and love, but for the MMO industry in general, if it is indeed true that most are going to a system like this.

I want world permanence. I want a living world. It’s why I play MMOs, and it’s why I’ve stuck with GW2 all these years. GW2, until now, has taken the open world to the best place we’ve seen so far as MMO gamers (or at least of the games I’ve tried), and now we’re taking a huge step backwards.

There has got to be a way to improve on the people-based perspective being done by the megaserver without removing the concept of a home server, a world where my actions have impact and permanence, and a world where the success or failure of dynamic events has lasting effects. But, if we can’t have both, I’d rather see a system that builds on the dynamic events, since it makes GW2 unique as you’ve said, than one that automatically puts me in a map that is always populated.

Been playing since beta, and my first character was an elementalist. While ArenaNet has also made things easier in the zones, I do feel like I had the most difficulty in Orr on my ele. Gear made a difference, build made a difference, but even then I died a LOT in Orr.

I LOVE the elementalist, I really do, but I will say I had to learn the class extremely well before I could survive in Orr.

multiplicity.4385:

…my friend and I had to be smart about it. I used the necro to draw the attention of the enemies while she stealthed on her engineer, then went in and got the skill challenge. We did die once or twice and had to run back, but then she drew the attention of the enemies with her crate and turrets, and I got the skill challenge after she threw stealth on me.

We had to use a variety of tactics to get some of the skill challenges, such as the one guarded by the Champion worshipper, and the one with the Champion risen knight.

Tactic was everything when going for stuff with just the two of us.

Ironically, what you just described above is what I love most about GW2. Pairing up two classes to use creative tactics to see if we can beat challenging content meant for more people. I’m afraid the megaserver is going to ruin this and that I’m never going to be able to find an unpopulated area to challenge myself. I really don’t want to see people in every area of the map, all the time. Sometimes I truly like exploring on my own.

Armored Scale

Yay crafting!

sPvP – the whole concept of trying builds, and everyone entering on a level playing field is pretty awesome. Actually, the various ways to play in general is also great. Activities, WvW, PvE, and sPvP are unique and allow me to enjoy GW2 no matter what mood I am in.

I do not RP. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why RPer’s wouldn’t be catered to or even favored by a game that thrives off of gem sales for cosmetic effects, additional character slots, etc.

And I’m noticing a disturbing trend with the direction of some of these changes, like the megaserver system, boss schedule, and the town clothes into tonics deal. The more freedom we have as a community, the more options, and the more flexibility we have to make the game community fun and creative and suit more play-styles, the better. I really prefer the “play the way you want” philosophy as opposed to the “play the way we think you should play” direction.

A lot of this April 15th update seems like really good ideas being released prematurely because there was pressure to get SOMETHING out as opposed to taking the time to implement everything properly. I have no doubt that all the devs are working really hard, and excited about the concepts they are introducing, and I WANT to be excited. Either we are being pushed towards a more streamlined, limited playstyle (sad), devs were rushed to take the easy way out (outfit tonics, etc) – especially because this update seems slow compared to the regular LS updates, or the groundwork is being laid for some cool stuff that will be built on top of the new base, but we aren’t being given a peek of what that might be.

If it’s 1, I won’t be around much longer, I fear. If it’s 2, let me say that I’m more than happy to wait for the additional development to get complete solutions. If it’s 3, I’d love to get some confirmation that this is the case, and that cool new things are being planned for RPer’s, people in small guilds, people who play off hours, people who love feeling like they are impacting the virtual world, etc.

In any case, I’d like to say that I love GW2, so PLEASE listen to your satisfied customers and don’t change it beyond recognition. There’s a reason this is the most vocal I’ve ever been on the forums. Up until now, I was playing the game instead of writing about it.

SirMoogie.9263:

phys.7689:

world permanence is gone, this is why they had to kill the boss interactions in ORR, which is kind of sad, because although they didnt use it much, that type of trigger would have been an interesting design tool going forward.

And with it one of the major selling points that brought me to the game (the other being a connection to the lore from GW1).

Somewhere along the line MMOs went from offering interesting open worlds to explore and forge communities that help the world grow to offering “theme park” content that tells you what you should be doing and when.

Yep, worlds to explore are one of the biggest attractions for me in MMOs. I enjoyed Rift with its invasions and felt that GW2 has created an even more persistent, realistic world for me. When GW2 introduced invasions (which I guess have sadly been removed with the defeat of Scarlet) I was so very very psyched. I’m guessing it’s way too late, but I know that the devs do read the forums and I’m really hoping ArenaNet reconsiders and does NOT completely change philosophies for GW2.

And the irony here is: since I quit WoW, I’ve tended to hop from MMO to MMO just to try them. I don’t take them too seriously. I tried ESO beta, and for the first time in a while I decided to stick with GW2 and skip ESO because I liked GW2 better. Even in the same PARTY, you would pick up a quest, like blow a whistle for a dog, and your party member would not see the dog that was summoned, that you could see. It was a nightmare to adjust until you ended up in the same place where you could see your friends. I got a lot of that “I’m standing right on top of you, where are you” issue.

And shortly after I made that decision, GW2 announces that it is going to a system similar to ESO’s taking away one of the main things I love about GW2. I had visions of GW2 expanding on the invasions, the realism of the world, the impact I as a hero would have……

GW2 shies away from instanced raid content in favor of “more realistic” open world content and instead ends up completely decimating the concept of having a living world at all? What good is open world content if it doesn’t impact the world in any way? I keep coming back to this thread with the hopes to get some of my fears addressed, but instead I just keep getting sadder and sadder.

anzenketh.3759:

village idiot.1436:

The heart of the dynamic events system is being ripped out.

There are still plenty of dynamic events in the game. I would not necessarily call the world bosses the core of dynamic events.

But the way I understand it, it’s not just the major events that will be impacted by this. The point of dynamic events was to make the world seem living. To make you feel like you had an impact in the game. If you failed an event, waypoints would be contested, NPCs would stay dead until you revived them, and so on.

Currently, unless I’m in overflow, I can swap to an alt, or pop to a city and back, to find the world the way I left it. On the megaserver, if I switch maps I might be placed on a different map when I return based on how many players are present from my home world, who I commonly play with, how full the map is, etc. So a node that I was going to go and gather might have disappeared. I might swap to an alt to bring a different toon only to find the event I want to help with never started. I might even be able to “event hunt” by popping back and forth between maps when I’m not in a party, each time being evaluated by the system: “You will simply arrive in a map and be assigned to the version of that map that makes the most sense for you.”

All of the criteria for map placement seems to be centered around population and people you know or have played with. Nothing is being mentioned about experiencing a map that most aligns with how you left it. If I’m in a party, sure, I’ll probably go back to where I was, but what if I’m just cruising around on my own?

So from that standpoint I do feel like the heart of the dynamic events system has been ripped out. Everything is being changed to focus on having specific people the system thinks I want around, rather than the state of the world. The outcome of an event will have even less impact than it already does. It will only be meaningful to the current map I am in for as long as it exists. And that map, and its state, will disappear if there aren’t enough people to sustain the version of the map. The version might exist for a long time, or it might exist only for a few hours during a peak time. And if I leave, I might not find my way back.

I skimmed through the topic, and I have a point that I think hasn’t been raised yet – dueling would increase the realism of the game, because, in a way, we already have it, but for some reason only with NPCs.

There are hearts where you have to successfully block the attack of an NPC, or can challenge NPCs in town to a fight. There are skill challenges like this, too.

I understand that the difference here is that other folks in the world can join in on your “NPC duel” but honestly the concept behind the events/stories is really in the same spirit as dueling would be. “I want to learn how to fight better,” “show me what you’ve got,” “help train the troops,” etc. Why can we challenge NPCs, who then become friendly as soon as the fight is over, but not each other? That’s just a silly inconsistency, in my opinion.

I am a fan of having real dueling in the open world, because it would add action, activity, and randomness to the world the same as the costume brawls do. I am fine if there are some limitations put in place (you can only issue so many challenges per hour to non-friended, non-partied, or non-guilded people, dueling is banned in certain areas, etc.).

I also think it would be fun if certain NPCs would challenge you to a duel (where other players couldn’t intervene). Those challenges could be automatically declined same as player challenges if there was an option to turn them off, or there could be a separate option to turn off NPC duels. ArenaNet could have a lot of fun with this, though – maybe some NPCs only challenge you if you are 80, or if you aren’t 80, or if you are a Charr, or if you have met before, or if they just finished an event that failed, or if you aren’t in a party, or if you happen to equip some type of item they find offensive (like an eye patch), etc. You could unlock different dialogues if you win a duel with the NPCs.

I also feel like griefing over duels is more a reflection of the game’s community than the dueling feature, and that anyone who would cause that type of issue is someone you are likely to add to your block list, anyway.

Lastly, duels are, IMO, for spontaneous fun, and there shouldn’t be any achievements or formality surrounding them, besides maybe “participate in X duels” or something like that.

Conncept.7638:

We’re not talking about condition duration/boon duration only, just those two stats, at all, in any way, being added to armor. Condition Damage/condition duration/boon duration would be a good example, or condition damage/condition duration/ toughness, boon duration/healing/power. Heck ANY combination of stats that includes condition duration and/or boon duration really! Options are non-existant for this build type.

I second this. I think condition dmg / condition duration / boon duration could be very interesting.

I also agree with the folks saying let’s make healing power actually useful.

With an ele as my main, I am big into support and combos. I’ve also had this really random idea about a stat (or trait) that exploits combo fields somehow, such as increasing the length of time they will be available to be combined with a finisher, or allowing more than one finisher to be combined with a combo field.

Obligatory disclaimers:

• I have never purchased town clothes, since they weren’t wearable in combat and I found the switching tiresome
• Overall, I am happy and excited about the new wardrobe system and think it is a step in the right direction

While I have yet to purchase town clothes, I can say that the idea of using town clothes in combat makes all of the novelty items much more appealing to me. I would have gone out and bought many of them immediately had I not read about how most of them are being turned into tonics or outfits. I feel the pain of everyone who has purchased town clothes. I also think that, for a game that has emphasized a character’s unique look over gear from the beginning, the decision to limit the mix and match option seems extremely short-sighted, from a profit standpoint. I have also felt, all along, that the gem store model of GW2 is perfectly suited for cosmetic changes. Not only am I willing to pay for them personally, but I think keeping gem store purchases luxury, nice-to-have items vs. “pay-to-win” items are the perfect way to have a successful micro-transaction game. I am willing to buy items to support GW2 as long as the items make sense. I want GW2 to make money — I like this game, and it is to the community’s benefit that it is successful.

So I have some suggestions.

1. Roll with the proposed changes for now, with a promise to implement the following changes in the future.
2. All town clothes outfits and tonics will be slowly added as armor skins. Prioritize by purchase sales – most purchased outfits should be converted first. Anyone who previously purchased these outfits will get these skins free of charge, and they can keep any endless tonics received in the April patch. Many people, myself included, will happily pay for these sets of skins if they can be used in combat, so there is still a large profit to be had here. I don’t even care if you pull all town clothes from the gem store before you announce this; at least it will be more fair to folks that have already purchased the items.
3. Implement outfit templates. These templates can be customized with armor skins and dyes, and they can be applied at no charge, like the outfit idea, “covering” your armor without changing your stats. Outfit templates can be edited at any time with any known skins and dyes, since the biggest use case for these will be switching often between looks. People will buy them, so don’t penalize them for wanting to adjust one dye shade or the boots, etc.
4. Charge a high amount of gems for each outfit template. Enough so that it costs significantly more than using transmutation charges to apply skins. This way, people who used town clothes for role playing will not have to transmute back and forth or use up inventory, but can still mix and match and dye. More profits here as people like me will buy them since they can now be used in combat. To maximize profits, make them soul-bound vs. account bound.
5. All current players will receive one free outfit template, as “compensation” for the loss of town clothes, and to allow us to use the “free” skins we might have been saving like dragon wings, etc.
6. Anyone who has purchased at least one full set of town clothes will receive one additional free outfit template.
7. For folks who have purchased lots and lots of town clothes, grant an additional outfit template for, say, each three outfits purchased or something like that. Do enough analysis on sales for this to be fair compensation.
8. Going forward, ALL styles in the gem store will be armor skins that can be transmuted or added to an outfit template.
9. Allow transmutation charges to be acquired through game play, but, besides historical rewards, outfit templates will be via gem purchase only.

There we go. A way for ArenaNet to still profit from cosmetic looks while allowing folks who have invested in the game to keep what they paid for. More flexible, while giving the community a choice to apply different outfits vs. running with one outfit by transmuting.

Personally, the best outfit system I’ve experienced is the one in DCUO. However I know that freely applying any discovered skin at any time wouldn’t work with GW2’s business model, and I’m OK with that. I’m willing to pay extra for convenient, cosmetic benefits in order to continue to get “free” content updates.

Simple question: The Zenith, Hellfire, and Radiant Skins we have acquired through achievement chests – will we still be able to apply them whenever and however we want, as we can now, after the patch? Or will they become normal skins that require transmutation charges?

Feel free to merge into Wardrobe Feedback/Questions thread if appropriate.

I’m glad dyes are being made account-bound. Been hoping for this since Beta.

I vote for re-thinking the world drops of unidentified dyes, though. I still, to this day, get very excited when I get one. Just for the fun of opening it, seeing what’s inside, and hoping to get one I don’t have yet. If I do have it, I offer it up to guildies. Adds a little to the magic of the game.

Maybe unidentified dyes could become salvageable? Break down into mats that chefs can use to craft dyes? That might help with the possible economy issue.

Chameleon Dude.1564:

• A sizeable number of weapon/armour sets that aren’t just a couple of pieces, in the gem store or gated behind strange requirements. GW1 has a ton of stuff – use it!
• Make condition damage worth using.
• Make healing power worth using.
• Actually balance the classes.
• Give smaller guilds a purpose.
• Work on some behind the scenes stuff to make large scale events not lag the hell out of those of us without superior computers/internet connections.
• Add some permanent new content.
• Continue the story. And by story, I mean story – not cutscenes prioritising lesbian kissing over the villain’s master plan.

Yea, I’d also opine that it’s not fair to say the feature pack is missing what’s really needed, as I can’t speak for everyone and their priorities. Chameleon Dude has a lot of good points for things that would really be exciting to see. I’ve kept the things I would be really psyched about, and to add to the list:

• New playable races/professions (I <3 alts)
• Regarding balance, would specifically like to see improvements for Ele & Ranger
• New maps/areas
• Fix the Ranger Pet Name Issue (I’ve heard that will never happen…but I’ve heard dyes would never be account bound, either!)
• Make crafting more profitable/give more reasons to craft
• Improve searching/categorization on the Trading Post
• Templates for traits and dyes (I’ve wanted this for so long already. I honestly don’t see how the wardrobe, dye, and trait changes were implemented without including this!)
• Way to keep minipets from disappearing every zone change
• More sPvP maps
• More content great for duos/small groups
• Pretty much everything in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/125-Features-We-Need-in-Feature-Patch

The more I read through people’s reactions, the more I feel like the Megaserver System is being implemented to fix something that isn’t broken.

Additionally, it feels like the idea DID come from player feedback…a long time ago. Feedback from early players frustrated with overflows, frustrated with not being able to complete world events, etc.

But since then, the community has adapted. Event timers, guilds focused on large boss events, guesting, and more, has caused us to work within the game and the community has evolved into something that has been fun for a lot of players. It must be, right(?), or TTS wouldn’t even exist.

Now a new system is coming in, and it’s going to create a lot of change. Change can be good, but in many cases this system is going to be greatly disruptive to how folks play GW2. And, what, exactly, is this system going to bring that outweighs the negative (or perceived negative) impact? The ability to see more players on less populated maps? The ability to set your clock for certain bosses? Neither of those things really appeal to me, but I, and anyone who plays GW2 the way I do, might be impacted. I:

- am in a tiny guild
- value being able to easily play with a few close friends without having to constantly right-click and say “join friend in map”
- value a consistent, realistic world where switching to an alt would reveal a map the same as the one I just left
- desire dynamic events to impact the world I’m in
- have limited play time
- generally only play during specific hours
- play during non-peak times
- enjoy quiet times on my server and use them to uniquely challenge myself
- have a fair amount of “server pride”
- enjoy unplanned, spontaneous events
- enjoy map chat collaboration

This new system doesn’t “fix” anything in GW2 for me, and seems like it will reduce some of the things I enjoy about it.

Based on what I’ve read, this system also seems like it might be frustrating for very large guilds, guilds spread across many servers, people who like to know where they will end up, people who enjoyed farming nodes, people who enjoyed farming the world bosses, and more.

So…in all seriousness…what benefit will I see from this system? What is this bringing to the community as a whole that justifies ending all the cool community creations that have sprung up over the past few years to collaborate and play the way we like?

Necromancer…the profession I ended up enjoying way more than I expected!

Do not like.

This is based on current information, of course, and as some have mentioned there is a chance, if the changes are still implemented despite objections, that it ends up being OK. But there were a LOT of good points mentioned in this thread. I’m not going to rehash them all, but the thing that really, really has me concerned is that I think this will greatly reduce the living feel of the world:

- I like that there are quiet times on my server. It makes things more realistic to me that there is not always a steady flurry of activity in every area. It feels peaceful and real to me. I use that time to test new builds against content that’s difficult to beat with one or two players. I don’t want to be in a heavily populated map all the time. If there are a few servers where it is ALWAYS dead, just merge them already.
- The way point thing is just silly. It jars you out of the realism for the game as you will always be aware that you are looking at a MAP, not that you are in a world.
- I would like to see dynamic events have more impact in my world, not less. If I participate in an event, and it fails, I don’t want to pop over to a city, grab something from my bank, and then pop back to a different map where it doesn’t look like the event failed. From what I can tell, that definitely could happen here, unless I am interpreting something incorrectly.
- Honestly I didn’t love the “every other hour” stuff from the last few Living Story updates. It felt too regimented to me. I play Saturday and Sunday mornings and it used to be that I could stumble upon different events, or seek them out if I used the timers. To say, “OK I can do this again at 11 AM” just felt off to me. I’m not happy that we are getting more of that. Takes a little mystery out of the game. Waiting around for events, dancing and doing costume brawls, was part of the fun. I thought the point of the world bosses, the randomness, etc., was to make them feel epic. I’ve been playing with Beta and I haven’t killed a large amount of the world bosses. To me that’s OK.

Also, I remember in Beta how annoying it was when my friend and I couldn’t see each other until the overflow system was changed so we’d go to the same one. It seems like this will increase the amount of times I will have to right-click to join my friend in a map, especially during peak times right after patches, and that will drive me crazy. It hasn’t been an issue for me lately – either my group is in the map main, or my group ends up in overflow and we each remove ourselves from the queue. Simple.

I’ll admit it – I’m a casual player. I’m an old-school MMO player who still has the skills for most tricky encounters but my play time is limited. I don’t have a Legendary. I loved almost every Living Story update and I enjoyed playing through the regular content that was added. Check out my post history. There aren’t many. I don’t sit on the forums and complain. Overall I have truly enjoyed GW2 and have had a blast leveling my characters. But a LOT of things in the April 15th patch seem to be changing what I know and love about GW2 unnecessarily. The idea of the Megaserver System does not feel right to me. I don’t want to end up on a random map when I go somewhere. I want to be in my world, Sea of Sorrows. When it’s quiet I want it to be quiet and during peak times it should look busy. If I switch from my main to an alt, the map should look the same to my alt as my main (event statuses, waypoint statuses, etc) unless a significant amount of time has passed. Instead this sounds like I’m going to be logging into a place that feels like a randomly generated map as if I am playing some type of co-op game.

Apologies for the negativity. I feel bad because I know a lot of work has likely gone into the update, and I appreciate that. Some of the changes, like the wardrobe system, seem really great. This just doesn’t seem like a good direction to me.

BeardRex.6739:

Where were all you people who don’t want horizontal progression in sPvP when everyone else was asking for it?

Playing sPvP. :P

I don’t have a strong opinion (yet) but I’m cautiously concerned. The red flag for me is the core change in mechanics. I really enjoyed sPvP the way it was. I almost never read the sPvP forums or posted in them because it has always lived up to my expectations! My biggest beef with it has always been not being able to queue as a duo, and not being able to easily stay on the same team doing multiple matches after joining a friend in sPvP. I understand why it is the way it is, but I play often in a duo, and being able to do this would be something I’d really like.

Besides that, sPvP has been a great alternative way to play when I haven’t been in the mood for PvE. I like trying different builds, I liked the addition of getting coin as a reward, I often do my dailies in sPvP, and I thought it was nice when the latest LS bags were added to tournament wins. Being able to get different looks, and gaining ranks for new finishers, was reward enough for me, besides the fact that it was fun.

I only started reading the sPvP topics when the removal of glory was announced, because I don’t want sPvP to change too much. Obviously if no one plays it, it’s not fun anymore, so if it’s really “dying” I understand that changes need to be done to make it more attractive to people. But being a fan of sPvP I don’t really want what makes it unique to be changed drastically.

Personally, I think that the unlocks in sPvP seem a little odd. I would think that special cosmetic effects, special armor skins, special dyes, more maps, maybe even sPvP legendary weapons with unique looks, might be a better way to introduce horizontal progression to this area of GW2. I like the idea of some crossover – getting gold, maybe a skin closet, maybe a reward that’s hard to get where your sPvP look can be used in PvE, more titles and achievements…but it doesn’t need to work exactly the way it does in PvE.

I’ll reserve ultimate judgment until I get in and try it, but the idea of trait unlocks does seem to conflict with the original spirit of sPvP.

I would like to add to this…anyone know if there are any good Mystic Forge recipes that use the glory boosters? I had been hanging onto my boosters because one holiday “any booster” was an ingredient in a Mystic Forge recipe so I was thinking there might be more.

I agree. I actually found myself distracted today following Heal-o-Tron and his discussions with the other NPCs. This is a great part of the game.

Question about this: from what I understand of WvW, isn’t there more of a danger of ruining the spirit of WvW by “forcing” uninterested players to participate than there is in PvE?

What I mean by this is, if WvW players hate regular PvE content, but slowly trudge through it to get their Legendary, it isn’t ruining the PvE experience of other players. Those folks can blaze through vistas and hearts and other PvE activities needed for completion without being held back by the WvW folks who perhaps are grudgingly completing the content.

But, in WvW, there is a limit to folks who can enter the map, you have to queue, servers are competing against each other, etc. Seems to me that the balance will be upset if the areas get filled up with “regular” PvE’ers that are doing it just to get their rank, but have no interest in learning the ins and outs of WvW. Won’t that negatively impact the epic battles and strategy of WvW for those who do enjoy it?

I don’t play WvW, and I doubt I’ll ever have a Legendary, so this is really more a question posed out of curiosity. Maybe the “fairness” of having more requirements for a Legendary in WvW actually messes too much with the experience of why most people actually participate?

Seems to me that adding badges to the chests was a way for folks to get their Legendaries via a slower path, without interfering with the experience for the people who actually cared about WvW, while real completionists could get their Legendary faster by actively participating in all aspects of the game, including WvW. Now that might be disrupted by folks joining just to get to rank 30.

WvW straddles the line between PvE and PvP. I think a better solution would be to have Legendaries be crafted by a certain number of Gifts, but require at least one less than all of them so folks aren’t forced to do something they truly aren’t interested in. Have a PvE one, a PvP one, a WvW one, a crafting one, and a “collect lots of stuff one,” but require only 3/5 or 4/5 to make the Legendary.

Even better, have an alternate version where you could create a Legendary with 5 “lesser” gifts, which all have slightly less requirements to create, but reward folks who explore all areas of the game but don’t master every one.

I know sometimes those continue after the next release comes out, and we’ll see two LS dailies in our daily choices.

I’ve been enjoying this update, but my work schedule dictates that I generally only get to play Sat. & Sun. morning for a few hours. The “2 hours in between fights” concept in this one has made this a tough meta achievement to get, since I’ve only been able to catch the Marionette fight a few times. Would be nice to know if I can relax and finish it next weekend with dailies by trying to fight the wurm or something.

Personally, as someone who likes crafting, the Metabolic Primer irks me. I’ve always enjoyed the crafting professions that allowed you to make small sales on a regular basis, as a steady stream of income, due to providing consumables like food and potions.

But now, instead of selling 12 food items to someone, I’ll sell one, but instead BLTC makes a sale for 150 gems just so folks can avoid refreshing their food as often? Am I understanding this properly? If so, seems like a smack in the face to Chefs. Instead should introduce higher quality food recipes or made the primer be a recipe that Chefs could purchase and then craft and sell.

Is there anything in the gem store that specifically reduces the need for a crafted product like that? At least the ore nodes are raw materials. Next closest thing I guess is dye packs, I suppose, but even then with the different color themes and RNG they don’t seem to as directly compete with what Chefs have to offer.

I don’t like it. At all. Sell convenience. Sell minis. Sell cosmetic looks. Sell account upgrades. Sell storage (which, btw, complements but doesn’t erase the need for crafted bags). I don’t mind the gem store and I shop in it fairly regularly to support a game I like. But don’t sell in the gem store something that replaces the need for crafted items!

Very disappointed with the decision to offer this.

(PS. With Daily Gathering and whatnot I don’t see food prices raising to the point were one food item will average 12X more than it does now. Mats will still be gathered, and plentiful, which means if this gem store item is used demand will go down but supply will stay the same. Am I figuring that out right?)

I ran this train for the first time the other day. It was fun. Guess what made me decide to try it?

OK I won’t keep you in suspense.

I noticed while leveling an alt in Queensdale how collaborative everyone in map chat was being to those who wanted to participate in the train. Every five minutes (maybe even every two minutes) a newcomer to the map would ask about the location of the train, and someone would answer, to which the response would immediately be “thanks!” The helpfulness of train participants made me interested enough to try it.

I also saw lots of community fun as train participants waited for the boar champ to spawn – folks jumping around, dancing, having a few costume brawls, etc.

It is unfortunate if a rude individual yells at someone for killing a champ out of order, but I haven’t seen that, and any logical individual would know that you just jump to the next one and wait a minute longer. I don’t think that type of behavior is indicative of either the train or the community.

Rather, I think the train shows how creative our community can be. It highlights the (positive) difference between playing an MMO vs. a single player game. I doubt that train participants are, at any given time, high enough to truly detract from other activities in the world. But the train does give another option to players in the game. It also showed, to me at least, how welcoming and helpful the GW2 players still can be.

My vote would be that ArenaNet should not kill the train, but, as Amon suggested, try to improve on the idea, if they do anything about it at all.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Why do people constantly wait to the last minute, or even this far into it. You had two weeks to do three of them. There shouldn’t be anyone who’s suddenly run out who actually intended to do it at all.

I think there are lots of reasons why this can happen, but I’ll give you two:

1. Some of us (like me) probably didn’t bother to do the math and even realize there were dailies mixed in. I, as others have mentioned, do PvP dailies half the time and never noticed until I hit 14/16 on Sunday. I do wish this had been highlighted on the Jubilee page because I could have easily done them sooner.

2. Some folks (like a friend of mine) were on vacation. These weeks in August are prime vacation time, and folks who travel on their vacations might not be able to play, and might only have had a few days to work through the content thus far.

As an aside, I’m glad I found this thread. I logged in yesterday, even though it was a work night, just to try and do the daily because I want to finish, and saw that there wasn’t one. It did have me wondering…

OP: very good post. I do believe Devs are trying to listen to our opinions, so I’m going to add my two cents as well. I feel most strongly about points #4 and #5, which I feel are related.

To give some background for my viewpoint: I am probably what most folks would consider a casual player, although as an ex-WoW raider I applaud tough content and don’t want or expect everything to be easily accessible to me. I like things that take skill, and I accept that due to my demanding job, and therefore limited schedule, there may be things I never see or get in the game. (For example, I LOVED the Aetherblade Retreat dungeon even though I didn’t get to beat it before it was removed.) I’ve been playing since beta, have 7 characters (4 level 80s), and I generally play for a few hours every Saturday and Sunday morning. GW2 has become the perfect MMO for me because there is lots to do, even when I don’t have a lot of time (sPvP, mini-games, Living Story content, events in the open world).

But what I can’t stand is wasting what little time I have to play waiting to play. The Gauntlet makes no sense to me because it is single player content that requires a queue. Why?!? First, I have to wait to fight. Then, if I die, I have more time wasted before I can get back to really playing as the OP states in #4. Time sinks frustrate me so much more than gold sinks because, if I really wanted to, I could buy gems and exchange them for gold, but there is no way to buy time.

So my suggestion is that, for all content, more effort is spent to make sure that players are playing, instead of waiting.

I almost made this post when Sanctum Sprint was introduced, as it also drove me crazy. Waiting at the end for people to finish, and getting dumped in races at the end where you had to finish them, but they didn’t count, and you had MORE waiting to do before you could start a real race?? It took all the fun out of it for me. Seems like there had to be a better way to handle that game so there wasn’t so much waiting around. Now that I’m seeing another mechanic like that in the Gauntlet, I am taking the time to provide my obligatory wall of text asking AreaNet to please, please do something about this.

For the Gauntlet, my suggestion would be to make it fully instanced, and allow friends to right-click you and “Cheer in Gauntlet” just like you can join friends in sPvP. Also, have a generic spectator queue that allows you to watch Gantlet matches closer by dumping you into random ones to view mechanics (which would address OP’s #7 and #9 a bit). This will ensure that you will often have spectators in your domes. Have a few domes in the open world, that are queued first, so that you still get the experience of seeing people fighting in the dome in The Crown Pavilion, without the wait for players when things get busy.

Both of course!

I do like the mini-games. Rather fond of the Southsun Survival and I was pretty keen on Dragon Ball. I was sad when that one was removed.

But I want new zones and whatnot, too. I’m assuming it’s not an either/or situation, and that different teams are working deeper content. If that wasn’t the case, then yea, I’d trade mini-games for new explorable zones. Definitely we have enough mini-games for now, if they need to be put on hold for other types of content.

Mikau.6920:

That would be nice to refresh the game, but what I really wanted is alternative skills to current weapon set. Something like the utilities, where you could change the #1 for another #1 skill in the weapon and so on. If every class can equip every weapon, this would destroy the class uniqueness.

I was wondering if anyone else wanted this besides me!

When I heard “new skills” that is the first thing that crossed my mind. I want flexibility! I can’t tell you how often I like using a weapon except for, say, one ability. Being able to use a different weapon, with a different set of locked abilities, doesn’t seem nearly as exciting as the hope of being able to enhance my weapon and swap out skills.

It also seems better for creating new builds than more utility slot options, since there are only three to play with, and I already have a pool to choose from.

Not sure I really want all classes to be able to use all weapons. As others have said, seems like it will make them too alike. I like that some skins can only be used for certain classes. I wouldn’t mind as much new weapons that aren’t yet in the game, distributed logically.

I agree with the OP. I definitely would like to see the word “Achiever” removed from the titles.

I really like the titles that “work” with a character. For example, I quite enjoy displaying “Master Carver” on my thief, who dual-wields daggers. Having “Achiever” in the title makes them a little less mysterious and impactful.

Also, btw, I also think it’s nice when titles aren’t always obvious, and you have to look them up to figure out how to get them.

Hello! Thanks Paul for your answer! I’m sure it’s not easy and I appreciate ArenaNet trying to listen to our requests. GW2 is a great game!

One thing I will say is that I don’t agree with having all of the achievements disabled when playing with friends. I actually want to be able to work towards achievements with my friends. One recent example is the “Crowd Favorite” achievement. It bummed me out that I couldn’t join a Sanctum Sprint with my friend and be together in races as we worked towards our 25 race count.

I’d suggest that when you group with friends for the mini-games you can work towards most things, and only things that would encourage folks to completely play the game incorrectly would be disabled, or substituted with an alternate goal.

Some of us are achievement-hunters and like to do that with friends, too.

My two cents, anyway. Thanks again for listening!

Interesting question. The #1 thing that annoys me with WvW is…

The run back when you die. More way points, some type of “re-join battle” or “port to last location” with an increasing timer each death to keep from being abused…SOMETHING….would make a huge difference to me. Judge if you want, but the runs back are boring.

I do think it’s not quite fair for those that are saying folks who don’t like WvW can’t handle PvP. I love PvP. I played WoW, and I couldn’t imagine NOT being on a PvP server; it made the world seem so much more dynamic. I also was really into PvP in Rift. Skills, weapons, builds, and strategy are all so different in PvP. There is nothing that quite compares to playing against real people. I can’t tell you how much I wish we had dueling in GW2 to test builds and challenge friends.

But in WvW…it’s just a completely different animal. Besides my #1, here are other things that keep me from jumping in and playing WvW:

- Again, as in other things, I’d like to be able to queue as a group. I joined grouped with a friend the other day, and there was a difference of about 10 minutes between when the two of us were allowed in. Let us play PvE together until there are slots for both of us to join at the same time.

- WvW seems to me (as someone who hasn’t gotten into it very much yet) like a big money investment. Repair costs (as many have mentioned), and different specs and armor seem to be needed if you are serious. If you also play sPvP and PvE, like I do, that means more $$ for storage for all of that stuff, more time to accumulate the different armors, and more time to research effective builds and whatnot. Somehow it just seems easier to go play sPvP.

- Learning/Skill Curve and Community Attitude. As many have mentioned, especially as the community matures, it is harder to “ease in.” Folks become more and more impatient with you more quickly. I didn’t start right away in WvW, because I like PvE and did that content first, and some of the threads here alone are enough to discourage me from trying to expand into WvW.**

**(I should note that this is not specific to WvW or PvP players and may not be a solvable problem. I have played a LOT of MMOs. This seems to be the natural path of any MMO as a community “matures” – more and more experts who have played the game for a long time lose patience with new or casual players. I’ve been noticing threads about this regarding PvE in GW2 as well as PvP, and it is something I’ve seen over and over again…WoW, Rift, Aion, even DCUO.)

- It may be that I don’t know what I’m doing, but it seems like there isn’t much to do in between the epic battles that feels rewarding or worthwhile. I like the epic battles. But I like being busy while I play, too. I don’t PvE because I can “control” the situation, as some have said. I go out of my way to see how I can push my limits in PvE, such trying to solo things that are difficult. It’s more that if I want to be occupied while I play, I know in PvE that there will will always be NPCs to fight and events to participate in. With WvW, I have to queue up, and when I finally get in, run to an area where something is going on. Too often it just doesn’t seem worth the effort. However if there were more things I could jump into quickly in WvW, I would probably end up spending a lot of time there, as I would start with the small activities but get sucked into the epic battles when they happen.

TLDR: I love PvP, and have played it in many MMOs, but the impression I get is that WvW is too much of an investment, both time and money wise, to get involved with. Whenever I have tried it seems like I have to waste too much time trying to find something to do, or running back after dying to the place where I know there is something fun to do.

+1 Yes please!

I don’t have a lot of time to play, and when I play I want to play with my friends. It’s SO disappointing to log on, excited to try the new content, the one morning a week we coordinate playing, only to find that the new content doesn’t allow us to join as a group. (*ahem Sanctum Sprint *ahem) 25 races, all on my lonesome.

I like the LFG idea for all activities – both dungeons and mini-games.

Hi Scala!

While certainly there are much bigger things to worry about than liking a game, I play games as a break from real life, and I like GW2 enough to answer your topic with some ideas.

I have found that, even with recreational activities, it does take an investment of time to enjoy anything but the simplest things to their fullest. Guild Wars 2 was, actually, like that a little for me, although I love it now. You need to scratch the surface a little to find some of its cool features. I would echo others’ sentiments to level a character to 35 or so before giving up on it, if in general you like video games. Here are a few things that made the game really fun for me as I learned about it:

- Learning to Dodge Properly
This is not common in an MMO, and makes the fighting dynamics in this game much more interesting. If you are struggling with surviving in some situations, try practicing your dodges.

-Combos
It was a while before I truly understood how these worked, although I’d see the heart notifications pop up once in a while. It made the elementalist much, much more fun to play once I learned how the combo fields worked.

-Playing with Others
I have a friend that I level with. We enjoy experimenting with different classes. Often different duos have different strengths, and running through the same area with a ranger/necro is a vastly different experience than clearing content with a mesmer/guardian or dual thieves.

-Different weapons can dramatically change how you play
Weapon swapping is unlocked at level 7. If you haven’t leveled a class that far, you are missing a big part of the game mechanics. Trying different weapons, unlocking their skills, and then learning which weapons you enjoy swapping between (which have good synergies for you) can be a lot of fun. But you have to get drops for every weapon type you use, and then remember to equip them and kill a few enemies to unlock their different abilities.

-Getting past the initial barrier of being poor with no bag space
I struggled right in the beginning of this game, because I had tiny bags and no money so I was constantly emptying my inventory and getting that annoying “out of space” message. Besides waypoints, though, you really don’t need to spend money on much else in the game. Once you get enough money to buy some big bags on the Trading Post, you can go a lot longer without having to empty your inventory. Also, I got into the habit of dumping junk at the heart-givers which was helpful. Remember they are vendors.

So, in short, I play this game as a fun distraction because I enjoy exploring a virtual world, and I enjoy a game with combat. The point to leveling is to become powerful enough to explore other areas of the game, and progress through your story. Along the way you can explore how different stats, builds, and weapons give your character a different feel. There are also other aspects to the game besides PVE, such as sPVP and WvW.

If none of what I’m describing sounds interesting or fun, then it could be that GW2 is not for you. While it is a different kind of MMO, it IS still an MMO, so that might be the issue. I’d recommend sticking with it a while longer, but only you can decide if learning the game a little better is worth your time and piques your interest.

Overall, I like what ArenaNet is trying to do with the dailies. Getting them done naturally while leveling out in the world, without having to be in a certain area, pick them up as a quest, etc., is nice.

That being said, I have to say that I liked playing the game a little bit better before I realized there was a daily. And now that it is highlighted even more in a specific way, I like it even less.

Try as I might to resist it, the daily DOES condition me to play in an unnatural way that means I’m not focusing on just playing. The biggest example I can give is the “different types of enemies” goal that was in the daily consistently for a long time. I now have this urge to kill every different type of enemy I see with this underlying feeling that I “have” to, even if my daily is done or it’s not even on the list for the day. And it’s not a “go get ’em” feeling, it is a “oh I’d better go do this” feeling. It’s altered the way I see Tyria in that I am analyzing as I run through it the different enemy types I see, instead of just drinking in the scenery.

So I see the point/issue with the fact that folks are altering what they normally do in the world to meet the daily, in ways that are somewhat immersion-breaking, and goals in the daily that don’t support teamwork definitely don’t seem to be the greatest idea.

However, the new daily that actually annoys me the most is the crafting one. I don’t craft on all my characters, and I don’t craft on a regular basis.. It doesn’t really seem in keeping what I felt was the spirit of the original daily idea in GW2, which is that if you were out in the world playing, the daily was usually achievable just by playing. It’s not fun to be playing an alt and have to switch to a main to do the crafting, and then of course the main gets the xp for completing the daily.

I haven’t found the dodge or rez dailies to alter anything I’ve been doing, though. I get those done pretty quickly when I play for just a little while. I like that ArenaNet is trying to switch things up with more variety, and it’s too bad that some folks have to be a pain and ruin it for others.

I’m going to go against the popular opinion here and say that it actually doesn’t bother me that veterans and champions don’t have better rewards.

I go after them just for the experience/fun of trying to kill them. Can I solo/duo one with this build, or this character pair, etc. I don’t expect better drops because it has never been like that in this game, so I always felt they were in there just for the challenge. In some ways it seems more realistic: the best fighter isn’t necessarily the richest, but you still might run across one that you need to beat to stay alive.

I wouldn’t want the rewards to be raised TOO high, because then they would be farmed and I like trying to solo them. Right now if I want the challenge, usually I am left alone to try.

I like the idea someone said of having achievements or special awards for killing a certain number of veterans or champions, instead of being rewarded directly by drops.

I really, really want to see this fixed. It honestly just takes the fun out of playing with the Ranger when pets don’t retain their names. At first it was exciting to go out into the world, discover pets, and name them. But to have to keep renaming them so they don’t say “Juvenile…” is SO frustrating. And what’s the point of having lots of different pets if you don’t try them out? But I don’t want to rename every time I change.

I also think it is doubly annoying because tamed pets of other rangers have the same default names as untamed pets. You see “Juvenile XYZ” and think “oh! I don’t have that yet” only to realize it is actually someone’s pet already.

I would be happy with a solution where pet names were saved locally on your computer (which could address the memory problem). I would be happy if you could have one pet name per type (spider, cat, etc.) or even just one or two permanent names per slot as other people have said. Storing each individual pet name would make me happiest, obviously, but anything that improves the current situation would be welcomed with cheers and thanks by me.

I have an elementalist, a thief, and a ranger that I’ve spent significant time on.

It drives me crazy that I don’t have weapon swap on the elementalist, because I have staff and d/d, and obviously staff is better for support. When running around in the world, if I want to switch to staff if I suddenly run into a party that needs support, I have to run so far that I de-aggro before I can manually change weapons and run back.

I understand that a regular weapon swap would make elementalists OP. But one with a LARGE cooldown, to use in situations when you truly do want to switch gameplay styles, would really be nice.

And then to be able to use the button out of combat would be nice also. When you play multiple toons you get used to being able to switch.