Guild Wars 2

I’d like to first start off by saying how fun and polished this game really is. The leveling experience was a fantastic breath of fresh air and many of the fundamental core designs of the game are very strong (such as the combat system, leveling system, zone designs, classes, etc). I’m a strong pvp’er in mmo’s, more open world than anything. That’s endgame in MMO’s for me. I played DAoC, Warhammer, and Aion which all had focuses on open world pvp (DAoC was the only one to truly do it right at least for a while). GW2 has beautiful, sandboxy zones for open world, but for some reason I have no desire to log in to play endgame. Here’s why (in no particular order of importance):

1. After you hit 80, there’s literally no other benchmark to achieve. ALL other pvp mmo’s have a ranking system for pvp (funny enough sPvP in this game does too but not WvW). DAoC had realm ranks, WAR had renown ranks, and Aion had Abyss Points as well. Now I’m NOT saying implement something like DAoC where your RR vastly affected your effectiveness in PvP. Some of the stuff RR’s gave you was utterly ridiculous and imbalanced. However, there needs to be something to work for. Again they’ve already done a rank system for sPvP (although it doesn’t mean much), so why can’t they do it for WvW which arguably needs it more? There needs to be a carrot that doesn’t imbalance the game.

P.S. Like in Aion, I think death should make you lose some points of whatever rank they would put in. Penalties for death are good. They make pvp much more exciting.

2. Open world pvp in this game is INCREDIBLY impersonal. What I mean by that is you cannot see the names of opposing players. This, imo, is a huge oversight. Part of what makes war in these games so much fun is developing competitive relationships with players from the other sides. We call them grudges. Any hardcore pvp’er knows there’s nothing sweeter than beating a player they’ve built a rivalry with.

Now I understand how the switching servers kind of puts a wedge in this, but still. Rivalries do not take long to build and servers frequently get matched up with each other more than once. This is one of the things that makes pvp so much fun in other games with arguably inferior pvp mechanics (like WAR). It’s sad that something this small really holds back a lot of the more amazing aspects of WvW in this game.

3. Loot. Nothing is more anti-climactic than wiping a group of enemies and seeing that one corpse sparkling with shiny lootz, only to walk over and get a gray “chipped tooth” 90% of the time or something so inconsequential. I know the point isn’t to get loot in pvp, but cmon. That’s weaksauce.

4. Badges. The badge system has soooooo much potential that’s being wasted right now. Other than needing 500 for legendary items, you can only use them on one set of gear: invader (at least in my understanding). There’s a ton you can do with this. Very underwhelming.

This was longer than I meant it to be, but for me it’s kind of a tragedy to not be having fun in a game that is so well-made. Open World PvP is what will make an MMO last for a long time in today’s WOW’ified MMO market. Arenanet needs to make it the best and most fun system out there and they, unlike other games, have the foundation to do so.

Peace. (Please keep comments constructive, thanks)

wads.5730:

your tears are so sweet

If you’re going to troll, at least try and be good at it.

If you have someone stupidly place the arrow cart right next to the release to the beasts chain then that might work. But lol that doesn’t work when the arrow carts are up the stairs at the end of that particular puzzle. No mesmer portal can reach that far to pull the people camping up those stairs. It might get a few if there were a few ballistas there trying to insta-gib anyone who got close to the end of the puzzle (which happens a lot) but not against arrow carts and their massive range being placed UP the steps out of range of anything people trying to get up can reach with their abilities. You CANNOT reach those.

I have to disagree with you immensely gkaare. There is no way to fight back against enemy arrow carts that are positioned in a place where it is impossible for people below to hit. They also hit through the dang walls as well. I was in the corridor leading to the dark room all the way up the steps before it zigzags and was still getting hit by arrow carts. Besides that, it is impossible to hit the arrow carts that are up top.

Look I’m all for the people above having an advantage. But siege weapons give waaaaay too much of an advantage in there because when you get hit, it slows you down making the jumping puzzle almost impossible to complete. And if you can’t hit them back…? If you try to put up an arrow cart down there they’ll just destroy it before you get the chance.

I never said I had a right to get to the top. If there’s six people camping up there and 2 of us then of course not. But if there’s 6 of them and 10 of us and we can’t even hit them while they are hitting us with 4+ arrow carts….Enough said.

Edit: Not to mention ballista’s positioned so right when get to the end you’re immediately hit by 1-2 ballistas for 7k a piece.

I’ve been on both sides. Sitting there shooting arrow carts where you can’t be reached is incredibly boring (I never actually do it I just stand there and after 5 min go do something else) and trying to get up the jump puzzle while you have insane ranged arrow carts hitting/putting bleeds on you makes it impossible. It’s just not fun. Get rid of them. Both ways they’re flat-out frustrating to have in the jumping puzzle and they add nothing but over-griefing (this coming from a ganker by heart)

So logged out last night after farmin ore and there’s no orichalcum back up but I’m wondering if they changed all the node locations again…Was running through frostgorge and there was an ancient sapling in a different location than I remember it being in yesterday.

Edit: Ok wow so I just was running through frostgorge and came across a rich mithril and only got 6 ore from it? Ninja-nerf much? The rich ori in the puzzle also got nerfed or is bugged out too.

Also I found an ori ore! in frostgorge Great right? Nope. It had changed location from its previous spot before the maintenance AND said I had already mined it? It’s time to address this. This is a serious issue going on for several days now hence the amount of views on this thread. Being silent about this is a surefire way to turn people off.

Jade Quarry here. Yup same here. Been almost 14 hours and all the nodes I farmed last night are still not up. I guess this brings to light another issue. Farming orichalcum is really the only consistent way to make money in this game. That needs to change somehow.

Anyways…hoping that this gets fixed soon I just spent 10 of my 25g on armor for an upcoming alt and now I have no way to make money……….

Nevarato.3178:

Sern.6054:

Maybe I’m misunderstanding the topic but aren’t you already able to preview armor before buying through right clicking on the piece and then clicking “preview?” I’ve done this myself to see how karma items look but I don’t recall if I tried it on armor or if it was just on weapons.

I know you can preview weapons but I suppose I haven’t tried armor. If you can preview weapons but not armor, that’s just weird..

They mean previewing on the Trading Post (TP), which is currently unavailable. But it is in the works. (or so i’m told)

Do you have a quote on that?

Oozo.7856:

Some of you people are total clowns. You have things that are unarguably over the top and yet you defend the indefensible.

It’s not the abilities that are over the top it’s the fact that assassin abilities (which are built around burst) scale incredibly well with burst gear. Those thiefs that don’t run glass cannon wouldn’t be able to kill anything if the abilities didn’t do what they did. The real kicker here is crit damage % not having a cap currently. I think it should be around 70-80% + crit damage but that’s just me. I’m havin fun running 108 at the moment though lol.

-Alphaone

Ohhh you betcha CnD can crit for 6.5k. I do it regularly on squishy targets. 30 points in CS line and +10% crit damage food and full exotic lvl 78 berserker gear with lvl 80 exotic ruby/beryl jewelry = crazy crit damage. I think I’m running +108% crit damage at the moment? Somethin like that. Add to the fact I have 10 points trickery for the “steal gives you fury buff” and I’m also runnin around 70% chance to crit. I personally think crit damage % needs a cap somewhere, but that’s just me. However I’m gonna have fun with it while I can.

However your set up is interesting. Are you really running 24k hp??? I’m like at around 13k with an orb or 2. What’s your crit chance and damage at?

I agree 100% that there needs to be some form of realm ranks. However the over-the-top crazy powerful abilities you got in DAoC are a big no no. Here’s an idea a friend and I came up with:

Make Realm Ranks actual achievements (since they already have this system set up it works perfectly). To start, create 5 tiers of these achievements. Each tier gives you ONE trait point for a total of 5 trait points. It’s powerful and will help pvp’ers round out their builds, but it doesn’t break the competitive balance like some of the originally crazy OP DAoC realm abilities (forced zepher anyone?)

Now Arenanet doesn’t have to make these achievements easy. However, I wouldn’t make them JUST “killing x amount of world invaders”. Make tier 1 “10 keeps taken”, “25 towers taken” “50 camps taken” “200 world invaders killed” “1 pvp jump puzzle completed”, etc etc etc. After you finish that “achievement” you are awarded 1 trait point and over your name you become (I’ll use my server as an example): Jade Quarry ____ Invader (insert a title in the blank).

Make these achievements scale drastically but obviously not impossible. I think this would give people good reason to pvp (extra trait points are nice but not balance-breaking) and you’d also have that title to go along with it.

Hey guys I’m playing around with a bunch of sigils since you can change them out freely in sPvP and I had a quick question. If I’m dual wielding will using the same sigils say “30% chance on critical to gain might for 10 seconds” will that give me two separate 30% chances to gain might on a crit? Or do they overwrite each other? Thanks!

-tjeb: I meant average. 2 hours is the max end of the spectrum for “casual” (again this is my personal opinion". If you’re playing 3-4 hours a week of course you aren’t going to level up very fast but if you did that in other mmo’s like say aion…lol you’d never reach max level. MMO’s are a time sink. That’s just what they are and are designed around. Guild Wars 2 is actually one of the better games to cater to casual gamers because the the time it takes to level is the same throughout all levels there’s no “level 30-40 takes 4 days of play and then level 40-50 takes 2-3 weeks” like other grindier MMO’s. That and you have Spvp too.

-DJ Penguin and Navaris: I understand what you’re saying and I agree, but you can’t just let in “those” types of underleveled players and not the other ones. Fact is a lvl 80 geared scrub is still better than a lvl 40 scrub just like a skilled level 40 will still be inferior to a skilled lvl 80. Skill plays a big part, it’s true, but in the spirit of competitive World vs. World you want to choose from your highest level/geared base to win. Letting in lower levels simply puts one side at a disadvantage and doesn’t let a server put out for the most part there best (again there are exception but for every skilled 40 that goes in there’s probably a scrub 40 as well that stands no chance). The day I lose to a lvl 40 in a completely fair 1v1 setting in WvW is the day I need to go take a pvp class or something. It shouldn’t happen.
It’s also just not fair to “theoretically” have a level 5 be in a WvW match with a lvl 80 stuck in a queue. The 80 leveled up, geared up, and now can’t play the content while a level 5, simply because he queued early, can? Nobody really wins there. Not the lowbie because he’s already at a disadvantage, not the 80 who put in the time and can’t play, and not the server the lowbie is playing for.

You say that was a pillar of the design to be able to play WvW from 1-80 and I get that, but I simply disagree with that thinking. However I’m always big supporter of compromise. I think there should be level tiers to WvW. It’s a fair solution for everybody.

In other mmo’s you are able to see what a piece of armor looks like before you buy it so you know just exactly what you’re character will look like. I have like 30 transmofigry (spelling?) stones and I currently don’t like the look of the max level armor I have, but I’m not about to buy up the entire TP worth of armor to find pieces whose look I like…This is a pretty basic feature.

Hmmm I idk how I missed that one. Thanks. Could a mod lock this thread plz?

1.5-2 hours a day is what I consider casual. It takes about 15-20 minutes of nonstop public questing/gathering to get one level in this game. Hardcore is 5+ hours a day. Anywhere in between is just… “dedicated” hahaha. But I mean you just said you got 30 levels in 3 days. What other MMO could you do this in? Leveling in this game is NOT hard. And that’s not even including crafting. Go look up a crafting guide and get jewelry/cooking to 375 and there’s like 15+ levels right there.

We’ll say 30 minutes a level. At 1.5 hours a day. That’s 3 levels a day. 3 weeks is 21 days. That’s 63 levels. All those mats you got gathering? Go do jewelry/cooking to at least 375 and boom you’re 80. Now obviously some days one won’t play at all and others you might get 5-6 hours. Still.

Richard.8207:

Umm, you can’t queue from Lion’s Arch since it’s an overflow server. And level 1 players can get to Lion’s Arch by going into the mists and using the portal.

There’s already an official thread for complaining about queues though, so why not just add your thoughts to that thread?

Oops forgot about that. But most new players won’t know to do that. And where’s that thread? I didn’t see it.

1 question, 1 comment.

1. Does last refuge (health drop below 25% hp forces a blinding powder) and instinctual response (another BP if you take more than 20% hp in an attack) work even if you have stealth immunity from coming out of a stealth? As a thief you don’t want too many stealths because of that.

2. Hidden thief trait (steal stealth’s you) is useless if you have a ranged weapon in your mainhand. You steal, stealth, then whatever that weapon’s number 1 ability immediately fires off…but that’s only for ranged. Melee weapons dont do it…it’s weird.

Worst thing about World PvP is the fact that if you log in during the night or a weekend, you can literally sit in a queue for the entire night and never get in. Of course the servers can only handle so many players in a zone which is understandable. But still people want to play. WvW (if they fix a few currently broken mechanics of it) is what will keep this game alive for years to come. I have a few suggestions about the queues.

1. PLEASE let me see where I’m at in the queue. If I’m queuing for the eternal battlegrounds and I’m player one thousand…I’ll never get in. I’d like to know that so I can either go do something else in PvE or go play structured, or I can go see which of the borderlands has the least amount of people in the queue so I can join that one.

2. Make sure the queues are fair. My friend queued for EB last night and never got in. Five minutes after he queued I queued up and 20 minutes later I got in…? Uh. No. That’s bad.

3. Make it so you cannot queue anywhere in the world. Force us to go to lion’s arch to queue up. This would eliminate people under level 25ish taking up queue spots unless they ran all the way through the zones to get the waypoint (let’s be honest guys, people that low level have no place being in WvW with fully decked out level 80’s. It’s not fair to them, the 80’s they are facing, and the other people on their server who are trying to get in and actually win).
Edit: Sorry but I forgot and someone pointed out anyone can go to lion’s arch through the mists. But my point remains the same.
I’d prefer anyone under level 60-70 not being allowed in WvW but that’s my personal opinion. I think there should be lower level WvW zones for lowbies to be in because they just get roflstomped in pvp anyways. This is not part of the formal suggestions I’m putting forward but I think it would be better for the health of the game longterm if lowbies could not join. (my best preference is only 80’s can be in but I understand the arguments against that since these zones are the only current open world pvp zones available)
This would also make it slightly more difficult to queue (it’s a simple teleport to lion’s arch) so hopefully it would reduce the queue a little bit.

4. Possibly let us queue for all 3 at once? I’m not 100% sold on this one myself put I’ll put it in here for discussion’s sake.

I love this game and I love it’s WvW despite some structural flaws. What I don’t love is not getting to play it when I log in and literally sitting in a queue all night long with NO idea where my position in the queue is. I understand the servers can only handle so much and there will be queues, but in a game as popular as this WvW Arenanet has to find solutions to let people actually play their content. If this goes on for several months people who have jobs or other activities that force them to come home during primetime hours which force them to sit in a 5 hour queue will quit and this part of the game will slowly die.

I say this respectfully, but you really need to level up. WvW is the best of the best and that includes gear/level. If you look at the father of 3 way realm vs realm gaming (Dark Age of Camelot), you rarely saw a lower level trying to seriously pvp in open world. You actually have more of an advantage in this game because you are boosted up to level 80.

If I’m level 80 and I go and hit a level 47 (even boosted) I better sure as heck have a sizeable advantage on them. I put the time in to level and get geared (which truly is a joke to do in this game compared to others) It’s like a boy going into a fist-fight with a fully grown man. Go level, gear up, then come back on more even terms. A casual gamer can hit 80 in a few weeks (less if you know how to abuse crafting) and then go farm orichalcum ore to sell twice a day for about a week (to get all 12 nodes takes about 20-25 minutes) and you can buy solid, competitive gear.

Arenanet gave everyone the option of equal pvp through structured. But a lowbie should stand a very low chance to compete against a lvl 80. Just one of those “it is what it is” kind of things.

Zak.8274:

Look into making rare jewelry. I make so much money with this, just have to find the proper niche. I am actually going to make a guide to making money with crafting this weekend using jewelry as an example (it applies to every other craft too though).

Is the orange level 80 orichalcum jewelry not the rare you are talking about? They are currently going for about 3 gold on my server which sounds good, but when you take into account (let’s say for a ring), you need 30 orichalcum ore (90 silver), 5 globs of ectoplasm (1.05 gold), and 5 ruby orbs (75 silver) that’s a total of a total of 2.7 gold then you add in the TP tax………. :/ You’re not lookin at much. Most of the jewelry items I’ve reserached work that way. Maybe around 10-15 silver profit at the very most

Title says it all. As a jeweler/cook I’m looking at the high-end level 65-80 items and food I can craft. As I begin to look at the mats needed for some of these complicated items I’m noticing a trend. The benefit of being a jeweler/cook is almost…nonexistent.
On the TP (which btw has been down a lot kind of annoying) the total cost to make say an orichaclum ruby amulet is roughly 10-15 silver less than what it is on the TP. Add to the fact the TP taxes you 15% on every item you put on you’d be better off selling all the mats you’ve gathered and just buying it instead of going through the long, complicated hassle of leveling it up, understanding the complexities of the system (which are very cool btw I like it), and then using the mats you’ve farmed to make the items. Same goes for cooking I’ve noticed. So my question is what’s the point and are the other crafting professions in a similar boat?
This doesn’t even take into account trying to make a profit. I’ve gone through every single jeweling crystal you can make from around level 50-80 to then make into jewelry and when you add all the mats up together I’m usually operating at a loss or a very, very slim profit margin…add the TP tax and it’s very frustrating.

After using it enough I’ve just memorized what each icon does. In PvE and PvP certain mobs will only give you certain abilities. A Moa will, like 95% of the time, give you “handful of feathers” (a stealth), and an ettin will almost always give you a knockdown. In pvp a warrior will almost always give whirling axes while a ranger will give you some lame regen ability (hate stealing on rangers). After playing enough you just “know” what abilities you can possibly get when you steal and when you see the icon you just “know” what it does.

P.S. a great thing to do in WvW is to go find a mob who you know has a chance to give you a stealing ability you like and steal from it. 45 seconds later (if you haven’t used the ability) steal will be ready to go right after you used the ability you stole from the mob. (Like say the steal ability with the mace-looking icon that is a 4 second daze). If you use that on somebody then you can immediately steal again to get another ability. I love it…especially since I run with the “mug” trait which makes steal an initiative free, shadow-step attack that regularly crits for 2-2.5k. Steal = awesome.

Problem is Arenanet changed it…and then didn’t specify what changed to what. It seems like they’ve disappeared from the game or just gotten incredibly more rare. Stupid. If you’re going to change it at least let us know how/what you changed it too. If anyone has any other luck finding them consistently I’d appreciate it.

:( Nobody seems to know…

Ever since the state of the game change 2 days ago it seems like chili peppers and vanilla beans have fallen off the map. Besides being annoyed that cooking got nerfed before I could level it (was building up mats for a massive run…), I now can’t find 2 incredibly important mats. The State of the Game update said these ingredients have been taken off the karma merchants and put either in loot bags (only get butter and chocolate from those), gathering nodes (yet to get either from that) or from mob drops.

Has anyone gotten chili peppers/vanilla beans since the change? If so where in the world did you find them?? Thanks!