Guild Wars 2

I like that each class can build for different purposes. I like that a warrior can be built for support. It’s what makes Guild Wars 2 different from the hundreds of other MMO’s out there that already, and continue to, offer the style of gameplay you’re asking for.

I don’t want content that needs us to focus builds about the trinity. GW2 moved away from that playstyle from day one, and it needs to stay well away from it. You have plenty of options available to you if that’s what you want. We don’t have that many options available that offer the freedom of playstyles (on one character) that GW2 offers.

So, I say no to this. As much as I would like to see the monk as a playable profession, I would not want it to be any more focused on healing than the Guardian can be, and i would want it to have the same flexibility that the other professions have.

Sly.9518:

You will won’t be able to equip two Elite Specs, hence why they are called “Elite” Specs, just like why Elite Skills can only have one, it’s the reason why Elite Specs can only be slotted in the Third Specialization slot and nowhere else.

I know, that’s why I said it is unlikely to happen.

I’m looking forward to a new ranged option, though I am worried what type of weapon it will be. If it is a sniper type weapon it will be great to have a long ranged option, but at the same time I will be disappointed if it is another single target weapon like PP. For me personally, I would like another multi target ranged weapon. SB is good functionally, but I personally do not enjoy its playstyle as much as PP. PP is more fun to use, but lacks the utility of the SB. It would be great to have a ranged weapon that is somewhere in between. Decent multi target capabilities at long range with good utility.

We already have a sniper type rifle on Warrior and a shotgun type rifle on Engineer, so I am not sure what the Thief’s rifle could be. Maybe some kind of rapid fire assault rifle? But then will it just end up too similar in playstyle to PP?

Maybe, if it is a rapid fire assault rifle, it could focus more on multi target attacks rather than single target like PP. It could be a spray and prey weapon, firing bursts to hit 3 or more targets in a cone. But then, if the leaked info is true, and it is called deadeye, a more accurate sniper type rifle would fit that name better.

The other thing is, I really love the playstyle of the daredevil staff, so unless the rifle elite spec has a really fun playstyle, it will probably just end up as an occasional thing I jump on when I fancy something different. What would be great, is if (after we have a few elite specs released) I could equip two elite specs at a time. Then I could have a daredevil staff for close combat and deadeye rifle for ranged. That would be pretty awesome, but unlikely to happen. Balancing that would be very difficult.

To be honest, there just isn’t enough information available yet for me to make any kind of decision or give any real feeling on it. I’m looking forward to seeing what it will be like though. I think I am just looking forward to having more options to try out and build around more than anything

In the beginning it was Anet’s intention to make elite skills game changers. But over time, and for various reasons, they toned them down. I still remember a couple of the elites being very powerful and they definitely fit in the game changer catagory.

I remember a lot of complaints from the playerbase about various elites being too strong, and I suspect that was the main reason for the change in direction.

I am ok with elites being slightly more powerful utility skills, but I do wish they would revisit some of the cooldowns, because some of them really aren’t warranted. Some skills were nerfed but the cooldowns remained long. That really is my only issue with some elites.

I personally do not want super powerful game changing skills, because then it just comes down to who has their elite off cooldown and player skill goes out the window. All they need to do is balance some of the cooldowns to be more appropriate to how powerful the skill is.

This will not happen, I am pretty sure of that. Maybe we will get fist weapons on an elite spec for a few existing professions, but I doubt very much if we will get a whole new profession dedicated to martial arts. Especially when the Daredevil is already design along those lines.

Daredevil is very much a Tyrian martial artist, they have staff vaulting, acrobatic leaps, dodge rolling, palm strikes, sweeping kicks, etc.. I would be very surprised if Anet added another profession focused on martial arts and I would even be surprised if they added another elite specialization focused on martial arts.

I’d enjoy fist weapons too, but I just do not think it will happen. At least not as a stand alone profession. I suspect the next few expansions will bring with them new elite specs and existing (currently unusable) weapons to existing professions. And technically they could keep doing that for at least another 5 expansions, possibly 6, after which the Warrior will be able to use all weapons and they will have to create a new one to be able to give them something new.

All that said, who really knows for sure. Only Anet will know what they have planned. They may well bring back the monk profession one day, but in the form of a martial artist style monk rather than the healer of GW1 days. And maybe then you will get your fist weapons. But in all honesty, I cannot see it happening.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

The economy always impacts players and it’s not at all trivial to balance it.

The game is designed partly so that we get enough ‘stuff’ so we can sell off what we don’t need and use the funds to pay for stuff we want.

I agree it will not be trivial to balance the economy, but I never said it would. But it would be possible, depending on how much the loot system changes. At the end of the day the weapons and items you get are converted to curency in some way, so providing the replacement loot system keeps that currency gain balanced the same the economy shouldn’t be impacted that much. It is all about how the currency gets into our hands, not how much currency we get.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

One of the reasons is that there’s no gear grind in GW2. Today’s top gear (rarity) is going to be tomorrow’s, too. So there’s no constant source of new shinies, outside of new skins. And there’s no way to generate as many new skins as it would take to keep us feeling that we are getting good drops often enough.

In other words, two of GW2’s best features (lack of gear treadmill and its global economy) lead to one of its biggest downsides (diminishing psychological returns on loot)…

I agree with this, they are good features of the game, but I disagree that it cannot be designed to be more psychologically appealing. Other games have managed it quite well, and with much smaller dev teams might I add. Diablo 3 being my go to example here, but other games I play also do a better job at giving you that feeling of joy at getting a good reward, without it damaging the economy. (I’m not saying Blizzard is a small team, but some dev teams for games I play are). It is all about balancing expectation with progression of rewards. Making sure players don’t get too much but giving them enough to be incentivized to carry on playing. Currently I am getting far less reward for the time I’m investing in the game.

This may not be a problem for someone who spends a lot of hours in the game. To them they may well get some decent loot in each game session. But for players like me, who can only spend a couple of hours at a time, the time between good drops is extended, and that is a problem.

Also, as others have aluded to, the good rewards do not need to be lucrative. If they were, and time restricted players suddenly started getting more of them, then that would indeed upset the economic balance. But if the rewards were not of great monetary value but had decent aesthetic or usable value, then it would still be a worthwhile reward. Rewards do not always need to be focused around financial gain, sometimes a new toy or new look is enough to keep players happy.

Behellagh.1468:

The problem is partially psychological…

Yes, very much so. It is a very psychological problem. Some may not think that is important, but it is very important. Your enjoyment of a game is all about how you psychologically percieve the game, and whether you psychologically enjoy it. If something impacts your psychological opinion negatively, you will not want to play it. So I agree completely here and I think it is worth paying close attention to. Devs of any game should be very mindful of how their game is perceived and understood on a psychological level. It is why I have emphasised the word feeling a few times, because it is all about how we feel about the loot that we’re getting.

Balthazzarr.1349:

ah the loot system… hey I get more ascended drops on my alt account with very low magic find (around 70 I think), than I do on my main account with over 220 magic find… and I even play my main more, obviously. I really don’t understand how this ‘drop’ system is determined… and definitely think that the magic find percentage is smoke and mirrors and doesn’t give you any real chance of anything better than the new players. From what I’ve seen we all get equal chance of garbage AND good stuff… but mostly garbage.

Maybe that is part of the problem. If the blues and greens are included in the MF table then it would not change your chances of getting exotics and ascended, ergo a pointless buff. Exotics and ascended items need to gain much more benefit from the MF buff than blues and greens, otherwise what is the point in having it?

Rococo.8347:

…snip….

Exactly, thank you. The salvage all function is useful, but you don’t just salvage everything. You have to open loot bags, sell rares on the BLTP and then you have to find a merchant/mystic forge to get rid of the unnecessary amounts of green sigils and runes no one wants.

I’m glad I am not alone on this. The loot system just feels frustrating and unrewarding and like you say, MF feels pointless at this stage. I certainly haven’t felt any benefit from it.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Maybe your MF is super low, or the kinds of events you prefer don’t offer many Champion-tier chests, etc.

For two hours of play, I usually end up with several Rares, and maybe 1-2 in 5 times an Exotic. I usually throw the Rares (unless they are super valuable) in the Forge, where, about 20-25% of the time I get an Exotic.

Now, often, the Exotics aren’t worth a whole lot, but it is nice to see them. Ascended Armor/Weapon drops are only about 1 every 3 to 6 months. Which seems ok, as Trinkets are so easy to acquire in other ways.

I think my MF usually sits at around 250%, but I haven’t checked recently, so it might be a bit higher now. I know it’s not maxed, but it should make some kind of difference at least. As to events, I have been running the big meta events in Bloodstone Fen and previous to that I often did the big events in the HoT maps. I cannot remember the last time an exotic dropped for me. But maybe my account has been cursed with bad luck, I don’t know. But what I do know is that GW2 is the worse game for poor rewards (from my experience). I don’t suffer from this much poor luck in any other MMO I have played, and in some of those games there is no magic find buff mechanic.

As to ascended items, I think they are just a complete mess anyway. Trinkets are in abundance but weapons and armour your better off crafting, from my (unlucky) experience at least. It doesn’t feel very well balanced and seeing as they are the top tier gear, and grinding should (according to Anet’s original philosophy) be only for cosmetic improvements, I really feel ascended weapons and armour should be a lot easier to acquire. They are trying to improve it a little, with the ability to change the stats on ascended gear, but it is somewhat cumbersome in my opinion and not enough to make it feel better.

I am sorry if I am coming across as a spoilt brat who want’s everything now. That is not my intent at all. I’m totally ok with having to work for things, I just want the loot I get to feel a bit more rewarding a bit more frequently, with less time spent separating the wheat from the chaff. The salvage all is a useful work around, but I think the loot balancing needs to be looked at. But maybe I am alone on this front.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Since most of the loot has little worth to you, and the time to process it seems too long, you might consider the ‘Salvage All’ option, and then the ‘Deposit All’ option. That should clear up some space and save some time.

The problems with frequent Exotic and Ascended drops is that the items then become common (see all the posts of yore about Ascended Rings dropping so frequently in Fractals), and thus, worth little to players. For the most part, an item can not be common and rare.

I must admit I had forgotten about the salvage all option, so that helps one part of the problem. But I still feel the good rewards rate needs to be adjusted. As I said to Malediktus, I do not want good rewards to be common or frequent, I just want them to drop enough to make the rewards system feel a bit more rewarding, which I currently do not think it is.

It obviously needs to be a good balance, I am 100% behind that notion. But currently I feel GW2 is not balanced well in this regard.

Edit: In regards to the salvage all option, while that is useful I cannot help feel it is a solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place. It’s like they had a problem and instead of fixing the problem they gave us a way to deal with it. It just feels odd to me.

Malediktus.3740:

If you improve the quality then quality becomes standard and feels worthless again. Scarcity creates value.
If you reduce quantity you need to make sure not everyone gets loot. If you improve quality you have the risk of making quality feel standard and it soon feels worthless again.

Of course, I realise that. Enjoyable loot is a balancing act. As I said above, I don’t want exotic drops every 5 minutes, but it would be nice if each play session it felt a little bit more rewarding than it currently does. And by rewarding I don’t mean getting a super useful ascended piece every time I play. It could be an exotic with stats I will never use, because it is all about that FEELING of it being rewards. Of course, if I got tons of exotics, useless or not, then that too would not be enjoyable either, as you rightly say. But GW2 is not balanced very well currently, and in my opinion, doesn’t FEEL rewarding at all. It’s all about the feeling.

Like I say, I can play the game for a long time and get no rewarding feeling at all, and that is what I would like changed (balanced). It doesn’t have to be every event, or every meta event. But if I put 2 hours in I should feel like I got some feeling of joyment from the drops I get.

Then there is the issue of the quantity being too great. I understand that rare (enjoyable) drops need to be outnumbered by the not so good rewards, I am fine with that. Diablo 3 does that very same thing. But the ratio is just too much on the crap side and your inventory fills way too quickly with the stuff. If I play for only an hour 30% of my time could potentially be taken up by processing worthless loot, and that is not fun in my book.

Malediktus.3740:

I think the loot is very good considering each mob can be looted by upto 50 people.

My problem is not how the loot is acquired, it’s the quantity and quality of it. I think having 50 people loot the same mob and get equal loot is great and one of the best features of GW2, but it is spoilt by the amount of worthless feeling drops you can get.

Continued…

What I would like from a loot system is something like what Diablo 3 achieved. That feeling of occasional joy when you get an actual reward of worth. I could play a couple hours of Diablo 3 and get a handful of legendaries or set items. And even if I cannot make use of them (which I probably won’t be able to) it is still a good feeling because you might be able to give it to another character, or you might be able to transmute it into something useful. And even if you cannot make use of it at all, it is still a joy to get because it has the POTENTIAL to be useful. When I get blues and greens in GW2 I know, without checking the stats, that it will be worthless to me. But if I got more frequent exotics or the occasional ascended piece, even if it wasn’t the stats I wanted, it would still give me that moment of joy when I get it, because there is the potential for it to be useful.

I know Diablo 3 and GW2 are very different games, and I know that loot drops can affect the economy, but I do not think the games economy should impact on player enjoyment, and besides the economy can always be balanced around this change. I think that feeling of surprise and joy, at getting worthwhile loot, is very important in games like this. But for me that feeling just doesn’t exist at all in GW2. All I get is a bombardment of worthless rubbish that I have to frequently spend time processing to get any kind of worth out of it.

My wish for GW2’s loot system is for it to be based on quality over quantity, for rewards (the processing of) to not impact the flow of gameplay too much and for each game session to give you at least one item that gives you that feeling of being rewarded. I don’t know if this kind of thing is something that is currently ‘on the table’ at Anet (i’ve not really followed the forums that much these days), and I am sure it would take some time and effort to fix it, but I really think the excessive and worthless loot we currently get needs to be looked at. Sometimes less is more.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. I rant because I care. I would love the game to improve more and I just wanted to voice my opinion on one of the bigger niggles that vex me about GW2. Feel free to voice your own opinions on this topic. I would be interested to know what others think about GW2’s current loot system and what you think needs changing, if anything.

Improvements

I’m not sure how some of these things can be changed now, as many are deeply integrated into the game’s systems. But here are the changes I think would greatly improve the game for me:

Play Your Way Mechanics In All The Right Places – One of the biggest blunders Anet have continuously performed, in my opinion, is how they have implemented the ‘Play Your Way’mechanics in all the wrong places. For example, they made HoT with maps that stopped you progressing through them but allowed you to unlock that progression by doing whatever you wanted (aka, learning a language by fighting mobs). But what they should have done is allow you to freely progress through the map, but create special locked off areas and hidden content which require you to do/discover specific things in order to acquire the items needed to access them. Then you have a multitude of waypoints to make it easier to get about, but they lock off zones behind levels and gear tiers. Overall, it feels like they hold your hand when you don’t want them to and let you free when you want their to be a focus and reason to do something.

I am not sure how they can fix this in the current game, but I feel that future content should allow players to get to the content they want to play quickly, and not lock it off behind an ‘unlock it your way’ system. And when it comes to unlocking special areas I think most players would be perfectly ok with doing a specific task to unlock something, so long as they can use whatever build they prefer to complete it. To me, playing your way is not about what activities you can do to unlock something, it is about how you go about tackling those specific activities. I hope that makes sense.

No More Levels or Gear Tiers – I know this change will likely never happen, but I feel there are some very good benefits to having no levels or gear tiers. For one thing you will be free to explore the world in your own way, chosing your own direction. You want to go straight to Orr? Sure, why not, you should be free to explore wherever you want whenever you want, with no arbitrary restrictions in your way. This change won’t affect the story because that is directed by story markers and such, and you have to go to certain locations to do each part. If anything, a level-less system would improve how players experienced the story because there would be no risk of the player being under/over leveled for each story step.

Another big benefit of no levels/gear tiers, is how new and veteran players can join up with each other straight away without feeling like they are too weak or too strong. PvE content is supposed to be a cooperative experience after all, so why force players to be at different capabilities? Just imagine it, you’re a veteran player who has just convinced a friend to start playing the game. Currently you have to wait while they level and gear their character before they can join you in the cool high level stuff. But, if there were no levels/gear tiers your friend could follow you to the content straight away and start enjoying it with you from day one. And I do not believe for an instant that this kind of freedom would confuse people or prevent them from doing the story or other content. They would still need to explore the world and the story can be designed to direct you and pace itself accordingly.

No Exploration Hand Holding – In my opinion exploration should be something you want to do, not a task the game gives you to do. So my suggestion to fix this would be to hide poi’s, vista, skill points, waypoints, etc. on the map, until you activate them. So for example, you reveal a new area and uncover some of the shroud, but no icons appear on the map until you activate them (view a vista, get close enough to complete a poi, etc.). By showing them on the map you take away that sense of discovery, and that is the main reason why most people expore in the first place. And if you really need something there, to give new players some kind of direction, may show only one or two waypoints situated at important locations, such as at cities and outposts. Make exploration fun again by allowing us to discover things ourselves.

Fewer Waypoints and No Armour Repairs – As mentioned above I think there are far too many waypoints in GW2, and removing many of them would achieve two things. Firstly, it will psychologically make the zones feel a little bigger. Secondly, it will slightly increase the penalty of dying, which is not a bad thing. With a slight increase in the death penalty (more time to get back to where you was) the armour repair system would not really be needed in the open world. Hell, it’s not really needed now. I persoanlly feel that removing the repair system, at least in the open world and WvW areas, would be a QoL improvement appreciated by many. To me, armour damage is not a discourement against defeat, it is merely an annoyance and only really has any function in dungeons and other instanced content. So at the very least the armour repair system should only be in effect in this kind of content, and removed from open world PvE and WvW.

More Solo And Small Group (Repeatable) Content We have dungeons for 5 man groups and now raids for 10 man groups, but there is not much in the way of repeatable content for smaller groups and solo players. You have open world events, sure, but this is not on-demand content like dungeons, fractals and raids are. And before anyone says it, yes I know it is an MMORPG, but that is such an old and invalid arguement these days I really shouldn’t have to defend this point. However,I know many have an issue with the notion of solo content in an MMO, so I will briefly explain my view on this subject.

MMO, as I am sure many of you know, stands for Massively Multiplayer Online. But what it does not mean is Massively Cooprerative Online, which is what I believe a lot of people think it means. What Massively Multiplayer means, in my opinion, is that the game can house many players in the world at the same time. There is no globally accepted or official rule that states an MMO must be designed around group content only. This is a rule that was made up by certain player groups. What kind of content an MMO should have can only be decided by the developers, never by the players. So if an Anet dev tells me GW2 is designed for group play only I will accept that and move on. But I do not believe GW2 is solely designed around group content.

I also feel the following is worth considering: According to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (a personality type testing system), introverts make up about 50% of the population, and as introverts are more likely to enjoy solo or small group play with friends, than large group/social content, it would make sense for a business based on Massively Multiplayer games to at least cater, in some small part, to the introvert players of the world. A developer would be missing out on a massive chunk of revenue by only catering to players interested in socializing and large group content.

Conclusion

Overall I feel GW2 is a good game, with some fantastic elements to it. But ultimately I feel it can be frustrating at times and not as enjoyable to play as I thought it would be. The enjoyment I get from it’s various activities does not last long, and I think part of that is because the developers have focused so much on progression systems and rewards that the gameplay mechanics and activities have suffered as a result. I feel GW2 has missed out on so much potential, based on how it was described in the manifesto and other communications pre-launch. The general feeling I get from GW2 is that is it a themepark with various rides that, while are fun in places, are not good enough to keep you in game for long. After all, you wouldn’t stay in a real world theme park for more than a few days without feeling a little burnt out or bored would you?

To me, the MMORPG genre has always been about creating new worlds. Worlds you want to disappear in with your customized avatar. MMORPG’s have never been a quick fix gameplay kind of thing, such as FPS games. They offer you a wide variety of activities to take part in, a massive play area to explore and a long story to enjoy. The strange thing is, GW2 has all these things, but it has done them in such a way as to make me feel empty afterwards. The discovery from exploration was partly taken away from me and the massive play areas made small by all the waypoints. Story wise it was ok, but it didn’t feel as epic or as interesting as it’s predecessor. When I first started playing GW2 I thought the combat would be enough to keep me playing for a long while, and it has for the most part. But combat alone is not enough after a while, and now the game is feeling like it is lacking something. It doesn’t keep me invested for long enough and doesn’t offer enough of the content I enjoy to keep me playing for long.

For my quick fix gameplay, and fast paced craziness, I play Warframe, and recently I have been getting my exploration and large world progression fix from Black Desert Online. Between these two games I have all the stuff I enjoy in MMO games and as a result I have been playing GW2 less and less, and mainly only logging in to get my daily login rewards then logging off again. I haven’t given up on GW2 completely, as I did use to enjoy WvW and PvP ocassionally, and still jump into that part of the game when the mood takes me. But the frequency of my proper gameplay visits in GW2 has dwindled dramatically. Maybe if they can get WvW into the state I expected it to be I will return. Or if they add more game types in sPvP. But on the PvE side of things I think there are too many changes required for it to appeal to me for any length of time. But who knows, maybe a future expansion will bring with it the kind of content I will enjoy.

Like I say, GW2 is not a bad game, it is great in many respects. And I have not stopped playing it completely, so this is not an ‘I quit’ post. But I do hope that Anet can push GW2 back towards the vision of the game they gave us before launched. Anyway, thank you for reading this far and I hope it has been of some use to someone. And if my opinions are not shared by anyone else, then that is fine. I just wanted to express how I feel about the game at the moment. GW2 is a great game, better than most in fact, I just feel it could be so much better.

Rin

Hi all,

I have been playing GW2 since the 3 day headstart and have about 2.5k hours in the game. I have commented on various things on the forums and reddit in the past, and I have a vague memory of doing a feedback thread a few years ago, but I wanted to do an overall feedback post about how I currently feel about GW2. So, as I am a bit bored and have some spare time at work, I thought I would put something together. Some of this may be too late or too much work required to change now, but I thought I would include it anyway. Please also keep in mind that this is feedback from MY perspective. I do not believe I speak for others and if I come across that way I apologize, but that is not my intent. It is purely my take on GW2 and how it makes me feel.

So, where to begin? Well, first I will start with what I like and will then detail what I dislike and how I think things can be improved. I will not talk about story or graphics much, as that is not my main focus when playing games. For me it is about ease of use and gameplay. Story and graphics are of course important, but they are secondary in my mind, and to be honest GW2 does a good job with the graphics and an ok job with the story, so not much to say in that regard really. Also, I will not give my feedback on everything the game offers, and will mainly focus on the things that are most important to me. So without further ado, here is my current feedback on GW2:

The Great

Combat – Anet created a combat system in GW2 that was a very good mix of tab targeting and aiming action combat, which has improved even more since launch. It is fast paced and the animations (for the most part) are very fluid. And on top of that you can move your character around while using most abilities, and that aspect of it alone put GW2’s combat above all others, and still does today to some extent. I also like that they added things like stun breaks and condition cleanses, which is surprisingly lacking from some games. And the fact that they have managed to create a different playstyle for each profession is quite impressive, even if some of them are unbalanced at times it is still an achievement that each profession feels different to the next. The combat in GW2 is the biggest plus for me, and the main thing that has kept me playing for so long.

Accessibility – The next best thing about GW2 is how accessible things are in the game. For example, being able to jump into PvP, from anywhere in the world, and being bumpered up to max level and gear, is one of the best moves Anet has made. And while I think they didn’t do as good a job with WvW, I still appreciate how easy it is to jump into a borderland from anywhere. Then there are things like waypoints (more on this later) and account bound bank space, which makes the game much more approachable and makes your gaming experience so much easier. You can jump straight to the fun.

Non-Competitive PvE – I know some players like their worlds to have a mix of PvE and PvP in the same environment, and to be honest I like that sometimes too. But I also appreciate how Anet separated PvE and PvP in their game, and on top of that they made the PvE areas as non-competitive as possible. From individual nodes to mob xp sharing, you do not fear other players in the world, and in fact in many cases you appreciate them being there. It was a paradigm shift that I was waiting to happen for a long time, and I think Anet did a good job in this regard. They have faultered from time to time here, but they are usually quick to correct these mistakes. I have played a few games since GW2 launched and thought to myself how much better GW2 is for having non-competitive PvE content.

Character Customization – While GW2 may lack in the character face and body customization department, they truely excel in the gear customization department. It is not perfect by any means, but with being able to change the appearance of your gear, while keeping the stats, and unlocking dyes which you can use forever, and not forgetting outfits, I feel GW2 has a very flexible customization system. It’s no City of Heroes or Champions Online, but it is better than most. Other developers are starting to implement more customization into their games now, but none of them yet have created one that is as free from restrictions and user friendly as GW2’s. Being able to change your look out in the world without needing an NPC, and being free to change your armour colour as and when you choose, are great features to have.

The Not So Great

Breadcrumbs – One of my biggest bugbears in GW2 is all the breadcrumbs put in front of you, such as PoI’s, Vistas, etc.. To me, exploration should be something you do because you want to do it, not because the map, or some other guide or title or achievement, says you should do it. The more tickboxes and reward incentives they give you for exploration the less I enjoy it, because the focus is no longer on exploring and much of the sense of discovery is taken away from you. When I first started playing GW2 I enjoyed the story and enjoyed exploring each new zone, but after a while I found myself focusing so much on completing each maps checklist that I was no longer paying attention to the world around me. By the time I got to Orr I was no longer going off path to check stuff out and was mainly going from point A to point B (poi to vista) in as straight a line as possible. GW1 was much better in this regard, until they added the cartographer title. To indicate this, when that title was added to the game I had already explores 96% of the world, and I had done that because I wanted to do it for the fun of it and there was nothing on the map distracting me from it along the way.

Too Easy To Travel – I know I said above that waypoints are great, due to how they make the game more accessible, I also have an issue with them. When you look at the map GW2 is actually a very large world. But it quickly feels very small and I think one of the main reasons why that is is due to the over abundance of waypoints. I feel that far too many were added to each map and moving to the exact spot you want to get to takes hardly any time at all. In my opinion, GW1 had a good balance by forcing you to start from outposts. You didn’t have too far to go from an outpost, but you couldn’t spawn a few seconds run away from where you wanted to go either (unless you wanted to go to the outpost of course). It made each map feel large, even though they were probably smaller in physical dimensions to GW2’s maps. The over use of waypoints, in my opinion, has made each map feel very small (after you have explored the map once of course).

Not So Dynamic Events – When GW2 was first talked about, the devs indicated that the dynamic events system would create be these map changing events that happened with/without player actions, and that they would make the world feel alive. Unfortunately, however, for me that illusion was broken very early and very quicly. Most of them felt too scripted and the dynamic part of them was merely a simple scaling system that increased the number of mobs or the health of the bosses. While many events are interesting, with some fun gameplay mechanics, they did not feel that dynamic and they certainly didn’t make the world feel alive. And with some of them repeating so frequently (centaur events are one example) that feeling of a living breathing world vanished completely and the dynamic events system felt more like rides/attractions at a themepark than organic living world events.

Too Much Focus On Numbers – I have always thought of Anet as innovators and inventors when it came to game design, so it made me a little sad when they used old and tired systems in GW2. While there were levels in GW1, there were so few (20) and they were gained so quickly you could’ve easily classed it to be a level-less game. I suppose it was a level-lite game really, and I really liked that. It didn’t keep your focus on levels for too long and allowed you to put it back onto the gameplay quite quickly. I understand that rule systems are needed, but the more of them you visibly put infront of the player the less they will focus on the actual gameplay and the fun.

GW2 was created with 80 levels, and while it doesn’t take too long to achieve max level, it does take part of your focus off the game itself, and that is a bad thing in my opinion. And they keep adding more numerical systems into the game, such as the new mastery system and rank reward tracks. And then you have gear tiers to climb, adding yet another distraction from the actual gameplay. Levels, and other number based systems, are so old and tired now that the genre is screaming out for a change. I was hoping Anet would be the ones to break this mold, but it doesn’t look like they are willing to take that step. Now with HoT the arbitrary number systems have ruined content for me yet again. For example, I can learn how to speak a new language by fighting mobs, to gain numbers to add to an xp bar. It just doesn’t feel right to me.

When they talked about HoT I thought ‘Cool, it will be like Zelda/Metroid’, but it feels as far from those games as it can be. In Zelda you either discovered new toys or gained them as a reward for performing a certain task for someone. In HoT you gain new toys by doing anything, which results in there being nothing to link your actions with the newly acquired toy. It just feels odd and arbitrary to me. And then you have the issue of reward tracks and other numerical reward systems in PvP and WvW. By adding in rewards tracks they may have made the more materialistic among us happier, but the problem is it added something that players cared more about than the gameplay itself. Players now leave matches, leech or intentionally disrupt games, just because it effects their reward potential. I know some players probably wouldn’t play PvP if there was no reward, but I feel the games themselves, and the quality of player participation, would be a lot better if there were no rewards, at least in PvP.

…Continued on next post…

McKenna Berdrow.2759:

Hello everyone,

Many of you have been inquiring as to why we made the decision to remove the crafting stations in WvW. We made this decision because we have been seeing an increase in queue times with world linking. Upon observation we found there have been players taking up space in the maps who are only crafting and not participating with their teams. However, we’ve been listening to your feedback today and we wanted to let you know that we will be adding a banker to each team starting area in EB, Alpine and Desert. Thank you for the continued feedback!

Now that you have removed crafting stations to stop players doing stuff that isn’t helping their team win (a good idea), how about you remove things like the jumping puzzles, vistas, poi’s & skill points too? All these things are taking players away from helping their teams, so should be removed as well in my opinion.

Are we having a PICNIC?

Sir Vincent III.1286:

…sacrifice fun for balance.

I hope you will eventually see the folly in that statement.

Jekkt.6045:

best way to balance wvw is, add the pvp gear/runes/sigils system.

remove food buffs.

I’m glad to see someone else can see the light. Unfortunately, I believe we are in the minority with this view.

It would make small groups fights ten times more balanced and fun, and large group fights would need to put a little more effort into winning, which isn’t a bad thing. Massive zergs will still be able to steamroll smaller groups and roamers would have a much more entertaining time fighting equal skilled players.

I know WvW is supposed to be this unfair unbalanced warfare kind of deal, but seriously, what is more important here? A realistic war experience or balanced (and more fun) large scale combat? Also, if WvW is really supposed to be balanced, why does each world get an identical map? Why does each world follow the same rules and have access to the same siege gear? They want it to be unfair, but add in balanced world mechanics.

Anet needs to make a decision. Is it a game to enjoy (my preferred option) or a simulator to experience war in?

Using the PvP gearing system would make WvW combat a lot more fun, I am certain of it. Not only that, but if new players could quickly jump into WvW on equal footing to everyone else (just like in PvP) I bet your bottom dollar more people would play WvW. I understand that kind of change would probably require a lot of effort on Anet’s part, but I do believe it would be worth while. The only players it would negatively impact are those unskilled few who enjoy beating on weaker opponents with their top tier gear and buffs.

I am not bothered whether we get a target of target feature or not, but it would be a useful feature on ocassion. Here is how I see this feature, and many other features of a similar nature:

I am not in this environment, my character is. I cannot, with any degree of accuracy, see what/who my opponent is looking at with their eyes. I cannot read their face or their body language, because animations in this game do not allow for this level of awareness. Therefore, any feature that gives me a way to make up for these missing abilities to read my opponent are a good thing. The balance comes from not providing an overpowered ability that I would not have if I was actually there myself in a real world setting.

I know it is a game, and at the end of the day it is in a vitual fantasy world. But so long as the feature is not OP, which I do not think a ‘target of target’ is, I do not see it being an issue if they included it. Of course, if Anet decide the payoff is not worth the effort of implementing it, then that is perfectly fine by me. It’s not a big deal that GW2 doesn’t have this feature, but it would be a nice to have, even if it was disabled in PvP.

The ability to convert gold to gems is the reason the price is so high. Seems obvious to me.

Gaile Gray.6029:

• Objectives upgrades will no longer be automatic based on time. They will upgrade based on dolyaks that reach them. Smaller groups can now prevent an objective from upgrading by preventing dolyaks from reaching that objective.

I like this change, as it adds more importance to defending dolyaks.

• Supply cost for all catapults are being reduced by ten supply. The layout of the Desert Borderlands map has increased the number of catapults required to take some objectives. We agree with your feedback that also increasing the cost of catapults pushed the balance too far towards defense so we are tuning that more towards offense.

Not sure I agree with this change. In my opinion defense should be easier. For one thing u have a defensive structure that is supposed to make it easier for a small group to hold a position vs a larger group, but tbat currently is not the case. So in my opinion offensive shouldn’t get any more help.

• Points per kill will be turned on and kept on. This is to more directly recognize the contribution that fighting other players adds to the success of the world.

I’m glad this is not turned off. WvW is about players fighting players, not players fighting empty structures. The more incentive to get players fighting each other the better.

Maybe there could be some kind of mechanic the increases points gained when players are fighting inside a structure. This would incentivise players to defend more.

• The number of players who can rally off a single kill has been reduced from five to one. Players will also no longer be able to revive defeated players while in combat. You still will be able to revive downed players while in combat. Both of these changes are designed to help fights resolve and to give smaller, more skilled groups a better chance against larger groups.

I reeeeally like this change. Best change of the lot in my opinion. I would also really like to see this change implemented in PvE too.

The gem store now only seems to get outfits, while the game gets armour sets. Outfits are faster to produce and therefore are a more logical choice to use as ‘items that can generate money’. Whether players here like it or not, Anet will want to ensure there are no major clipping issues between armour pieces. Armour sets need to fit, as much as Anet feels is acceptable, with every other existing armour set, or at the very least they need to fit with the various groups of armour sets that share similar shapes and styles. So armour sets will always take longer to produce than outfits, which only have to worry about fitting with itself and each race, so it makes sense that the gem store gets skins more frequently than the game gets armour sets.

Welcome to the human race.

Toxicity in any game has nothing to do with the game itself, it is just the nature of some to be toxic when they don’t get their own way. Mix that mentality with the anonymity provided by the internet and it is always going to be a recipe for toxic behaviour. This is not GW2’s fault.

That said, there are certain conditions where these kinds of people thrive, and therefore you will find some games, or some areas of a game, will have more of these kinds of people than others. For example, PvP tends to have more toxic players than PvE, due to the competitive and adreneline filled nature of it. But wherever there is a challenge that can be completed faster, by playing a specific way, there will always be the impatient, arrogant and emotionally immature few that scream and shout and try to spoil everyone else’s game for their own gains. Not all players are like this of course, but the toxic players are often the loudest and most visible among us. I guess they think it makes them look big and important, kind of like how animals puff themselves up or colour themselves brightly to warn others that they are dangerous, when in reality they are the complete opposite.

At the end of the day, if someone is being abusive to you, report them. It is not worth getting yourself stressed over, and they certainly do not deserve your time.

You paid for an expansion and got new maps, new elite specs, new weapons and armour, a new game mode for PvP, a new borderlands, guild hall stuff, etc, etc, etc.. You paid for content and in my opinion the content given was worth the price tag.

Now they add more stuff in the gem store, because you know, its a business and they need to make money to: pay wages, pay for equipment and server upkeep, pay for building and general business running costs, pay for marketing costs, pay for future development costs, and err… oh yeah, make a profit. None of the items added to the gem store give you an advantage and therefore none of the gem store items are required. They are cosmetic or QoL improvements, nothing more.

People are complaining because they cannot get the nice shiny thing in game, but Anet has given you the option to buy it with in game gold (something not many MMOs do). There are in game rewards for doing stuff in game, but they need to keep a revenue stream going so add more skins via the store. This is nothing new and Anet are not adding anything that is game breaking, unlike some games I know.

All it boils down to is you can’t get it for free, or for little effort, so you complain about it. And for those who want to earn it, there is nothing stopping you from doing that. You can do whatever you want to get the gold to convert to gems. You DO have the option to get the gem store items for free.

The BL chest gambling is not something I agree with, as I do not think it right to put real money gambling in any game (I guess because you can buy keys with in game gold they feel they can get away with it, but I still think it is not morally right to encourage it) and I was not happy about the sniper bundle not giving you the choice to buy the items seperately, but in general the gem store is ok in my opinion.

Aomine, please keep your gripes in the appropriate threads. People here are discussing the Wintersday JP and the prize at the end. No one here cares about your issue with the 10k drinks required for the Wintersday shoulders, there are already a few threads created on this topic.

Zioba.6182:

And what other things do we get for this event?

A new dress -> In the gemstore
A new gliderskin -> In the gemstore
A new mini -> In the gemstore
A new mini -> rare in the gifts ~4gold right now
A new mini -> that requires 3 of the rare minis ~12 gold right now
A new mini -> that requires 3 of the minis made of 3 rare minis ~36 gold right now
4 old minis back -> one obtainable for the meta, all obtainable via the gemstore
1 old mini back -> obtainable verry rare from the gifts ~58 gold right now
1 old mini back -> obtainable by combining 3 of the verry rare minis ~110 gold right now
A new shoulderskin ->with every drink now worth ~10s just the worth of the 10k drinks is 1k gold. plus 2500 candy cane worth ~ 6s each, ~150 gold in total

For me it just feels like wintersday is only for rich ppl or for ppl with a lot of luck. I already opened about 1k gifts and didn’t get a single skrit or snowman mini…
There is no problem with things you can work towards. I rly liked the mawdry stuff. That was fun, that was not just a mindless grind.

That’s more items than I was expecting actually. And many of them you can buy for some gold? And some of them not that much gold? Thats easier to get than I expected too.

With the exception of the shoulders, the other items do not seem that difficult to get, so I’m not sure what your point is. I do agree that getting items like Mawdrey are more fun, and I agree that more items should be implemented this way. But the point I am trying to make is that the shoulders are not the only item coming with Wintersday and there are other items that are relatively easy to get within the time period provided.

Aomine.5012:

Rin.1046:

Two? What is the second Wintersday item they added that is hard to get? I am only aware of Wintersday Presence.

Nightfury doesn’t ring the bell?

Even though flax seed is easier now, the endless Bat Brew still worth a tons.

Plus 7500 flax seed is still alot of grind-fest.

You need to go back and read my post. I said they are adding one new skin with the seasonal events. Nightfury was not added with Wintersday, it was added with Halloween. I think one hard to get skin per seasonal event it reasonable. But it seems clear to me now that all you want to do is blow this all out of proportion, in the hopes Anet will listen and reduce the cost of the shoulders, so I see no point in continuing to discuss this with you.

While I sympathize regarding your inability to do the JP, I have a friend that has the same issue as you and I wish I could help him, but at the end of the day it is just a skin, that you do not need to play the game effectively. It is a prestigious item that tells other players you tackled and mastered the Wintersday JP.

Two? What is the second Wintersday item they added that is hard to get? I am only aware of Wintersday Presence.

I think you are reading far too much into this. Just because they are adding ONE hard to get skin with the seasonal events is NOT a sign all future items will be like this. I think you are overreacting and jumping to conclusions. Also, it would be a very foolish move on Anet’s part if they made every cosmetic tem difficult to get. A large portion of their customer base are casual players, and they would be the first to go if Anet implemented such a tactic.

The fact is, there are and will be cosmetic items that are easy to acquire, and there also needs to be some items that are not so easy to acquire. Anet added Nightfury to appeal to those who like to have something to work towards, and the same is true for he Wintersday Presence. This is not a doomsday sign that all items will be impossible for casual players to get. You need to reel it in a bit I feel.

And if things do get to a state as you suggest (which I do not believe it ever will), then I too will join those in complaining about it. But I simply cannot see that happening, and it is far too early to make any kind of judgement in this regard in my opinion.

Aomine.5012:

If we stick to your logic, that every new cosmetic need to be gold-sink , and every event skins are gated behind 1000 gold, we’d never get anything. Period.

Stop using cosmetic as an excuse. This Wintersday day adds absolutely nothing other than this one new skin, and yet they don’t want to reward people with the new skin they make, but rather want sinking thousand of golds because it’d benefit their Gem sale. Can’t you still not see the trend of Anet’s current direction, and keep on blindly defending this?

You need to stop putting words in people’s mouths. I never said every item. There will be other skins that are not so grindy to get, but there needs to be SOME cosmetic items that are prestigious and difficult to get. You cannot expect to get everything easily.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Obsidian armor doesn’t fit here as these are seasonal items…

Yeah, I get your point here, but my point still stands. The item in question is only a cosmetic item, and while I agree it is harder to acquire than other seasonal items, it is only a skin. I was also pointing out that having grindy cosmetic items is nothing new to GW, even seasonal ones.

As much as I would love cosmetic items to be easier to acquire, as character customization is important to me, I accept and understand that cosmetic items are hard to acquire, because they are not required to play the game effectively.

Anet needs to add something to the game that players can work towards, and what better way than to add hard to acquire cosmetics? I would much rather they added things like that than add in ascended stat grind.

Aomine.5012

People are complaining that Anet move all the festival / event skins behind huge grindfest/ gold sink..

No, people are complaining that ONE skin is grindy to acquire. There will be other skins that are not so hard to get.

They could have done a combination of the two. Have a short story quest chain that unlocks the spec and introduces you to a few skills and the basic theme of the spec, then they could send you out into the world to master it through challenges (hero points) and general experience fighting as that spec.

Simply unlocking it via some arbitrary currency (hero points) didn’t feel very exciting to me. I felt no connection to learning this new spec. The same is true of learning new masteries. I can learn how to speak a new language by killing monsters with my staff! I’m all for allowing players to play their way, but there needs to be some connection to why you do things, otherwise it just becomes a meaningless themepark ride.

I know GW2 is very much a theme park simulator these days, but it could be so much more. GW1 had a good balance of themepark and immersion, while GW2 is lacking on the immersion side of things in my opinion. Take the way we used to unlock weapon skills for example. The original system in GW2 was to unlock each weapon skill, one by one, by defeated mobs. It was a good system and felt much more organic than the system we have now. It felt like you was learning how to use the weapon. Then they removed that system and replaced it with a generic ‘gain new skills at certain levels’ system, which didn’t feel fun at all. I have never understood that change, it really wasn’t difficult to understand.

GW2 has some great ideas, great combat and some great innovations to the genre, but it does seem to be moving towards a more themepark experience lately, which for many lacks soul.

Ok, I understand when people complain about grinding for max stats, or items that are required to have optimal performance, but cosmetics have ALWAYS been grindy in the Guild Wars games, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that in my opinion. It’s no different to obsidian armour in GW1, you did not need it to perform to the max as you could get the stats easily, it was purely a cosmetic choice.

Anet has always had the philosophy of making cosmetics hard/time consuming to get, this is nothing new. As others have said, if you do not want to do the grind don’t do it. You are only missing out on a skin.

Unfortunately, Anet have started making max stats harder/more time consuming to get, which IS a change of direction from their original philosophy. But claiming that grinding for cosmetics is a new direction is completely wrong.

Anatolian Turk.4057:

If Anet thinks implementing megaservers as the solution to fix the current wvw imbalance then we should expect to see a lot of problems in the near future.

We don’t know what Anet thinks yet, everything discussed here, related to the megaserver, is speculation.

As to the potential problems, yes, I suspect we will get a few bugs and issues to start with. That is to be expected. But we have problems now, and big problems at that, so something needs to be done. There is no guarantee the megaserver will be a good solution, but there is also no guarantee it will be a bad one either. It is just some peoples opinions that it may improve things.

Jayne.9251:

Well that’s the thing.

How many defenders do you know in EoTM?

The group of people you’ve worked with to defend a map to help your side win will be randomized each week with the megaserver. There will be no guarantee you get on the same maps together. Even alliances will leave some of those players out, especially if they don’t belong to a big guild.

How many guilds do you know of that are defense only? How many detach a few players to actively scout? Your mileage may vary, but in my experience it’s the solo players and small guilds that do this — not the big ones. The big ones want their guild together to raid properly.

And if you’re placed into a megaserver model, you may be a trusted defender and scout on your server, but mashed in with a bunch of people who don’t know you? They won’t respond to your call outs, particularly as alliances shift and change. If nobody responds to scout call outs, people will just stop doing it. It’s unrewarding as it is to not have your “team” respond.

Lose scouts and you wind up getting EoTM 2.0.

It’s that simple really.

Anyhow, per my OP, if the megaserver IS really what the bulk of players want, then there’s no harm making NA the mega and keeping EU as is. And then over time the more successful model will emerge. Nothing to lose.

I understand your concern, but I do not believe that is down to the megaserver, I truly believe that is down to the way the EotM map works, its mechanics and what winning a match represents. You don’t earn PPT in EotM and the benefit of winning is not that great tbh, so most people go there to ktrain and not much else. Keeping locations in the borderlands is more important, as it has the biggest impact towards your server winning. It is this that makes the borderlands better, not because there is no megaserver.

Give the players something more meaningful to fight for, and a more noticable way to win the war, and they will do what is needed to win. There is no such mechanic in EotM, and victory there feels meaningless so people don’t bother. You will of course always get the ktrainers, you get them in the BL’s, but I do not think it will be that big an issue.

Jayne.9251:

Rin.1046:

So lets stop with this idea that the megaserver will destroy communities, that is rubbish. The problem is not the megaserver. If it was large PvE guilds would not be able to function at all. And lets stop with this server pride rubbish too. All the server does is represent the side you fight for, which can just as easily be replaced by a faction/alliance. So that pride will still be there.

Do you do defense at all?

Not sure why this is relevant, but yes I defend. I don’t play WvW for the loot, I play to help my side win.

I agree with zinz, servers don’t make communities, people make communities. Whether Anet keeps the servers or implements a WvW megaserver, it doesn’t matters, so long as they provide a way for players to group up and play together. That is all that is important here.

Players are claiming that servers are the only way communities will stay together and that they somehow provide a level of server pride unattainable any other way, but there is absolutely no proof of this. So long as players can join together and fight together, and have something to fight for (server, faction, whatever), then it doesn’t matter how it is implemented.

The fact of the matter is, the majority of servers do not have large WvW communitites, so most of the good fights only occur on the higher tier servers. And those on the lower tiers who are interested in WvW will likely transfer to the higher servers. So it is clear that this large selection of servers to choose from is not working.

So lets stop with this idea that the megaserver will destroy communities, that is rubbish. The problem is not the megaserver. If it was large PvE guilds would not be able to function at all. And lets stop with this server pride rubbish too. All the server does is represent the side you fight for, which can just as easily be replaced by a faction/alliance. So that pride will still be there.

Providing the megaserver can be implemented properly, allowing groups to join forces efficiently, and providing the WvW mechanics can be adjusted to fit a multi-instanced BL set up, I see no issue with changing to a megaserver system. I and others have said many times, EotM is not bad because of the megaserver, it is bad because of the mechanics in place there. If they implemented the megaserver into the current WvW borderlands as they are now, they too would end up the same as EotM, because the mechanics in place there are not suited for a megaserver set up. So implementing a megaserver would need substantial changes to the WvW mechanics.

I don’t care if they keep the server set up or change to a megaserver. What I care about is player population balance, which is a big issue for most servers right now. I also care about how rewards are given out in WvW, not for me but for how it affects player behaviour. And I care about how games are fought and won in WvW.

Population is not the only issue with WvW, but it is one of the biggest issues right now. Whatever Anet has planned for WvW, I hope it is enough. Because in my opinion the changes required, to make it the game mode what it should be, will be more than just a few small tweaks here and there.

NPE Wars 2
PlayAnet’sWay Wars 2
Schedule Wars 2 – Hopelessly Out of Time
WaitToHaveFun Wars 2
Bundle Wars 2 (I’m not bitter, honest)

If you don’t like it, vote with your wallet. No company has ever, in the history of gaming, and no company will ever pay any attention what so ever to sarcastic QQ’ing. You’re wasting your time.

I have been in favour of a faction/alliance based (megaserver utilizing) system for a long time now. It seems obvious to me that it offers a very clear benefit over the current server based system.

People want to stick with the server based system because it offers server pride and a way to artificially stay at the top (via server transfers). However, a faction based system will not remove the pride aspect that people talk about, as that will shift to faction pride instead, and by removing the server system altogether and implementing a megaserver driven system, you remove the issue of players joining the strongest servers because player population will be handled by the megaserver. The megaserver will also improve population balance through the night and reduce/remove queue times by opening new map instances.

Population balance needs to be controlled, but at the moment the only control in place is a gem fee. Which has allowed the player base to abuse the system and unbalance server populations. By shifting population control to the megaserver, you can ensure every map you join will be fair (in terms of population) on all sides. Of course you may get the issue of players migrating all to one faction, but if the only benefit is an aesthetic one, players are very likely to balance out across all three factions (or however many they add). Personally, I think a three faction system would be ideal, because player choice would be very limited and population balance can be controlled better.

On top of that, by using the megaserver to control population balance, if one faction has more players than the others it can implement a temporary queue system when populations get really unbalanced. So for example, say The Order of Whispers have 1000 players tryng to enter WvW, but the Priory and Vigil both have only 500 each. The mega server could open enough map instances to ensure equal numbers on all sides, then put the remaining 500 in a queue system. Or alternatively, offer a temporary faction change when populations are too high on your faction. But to be honest, if you remove nationality, region, or any other real world aspect to the side select process, and make it a purely aesthetic one, I cannot see the sides getting that unbalanced.

The only major issue I can see from implementing this system, is how large guilds will be distributed, and how map mechanics such as upgrades and resources across several map instances will be handled.

This system will not cure all the ills of WvW, and it would require a substantial amount of work to implement right. But it would help with population balance, which in my opinion is a massive issue in the current server based system. In sPvP you might be able to tip the scales in your favour, by creating a premade group, but you have no choice over how many players are on each side. And the same should be true (to a certain extent) in WvW. Fix map populations and half the battle is won.

Vieux, you’re really not doing yourself, or your opinion, any favours by trying to belittle/mock peoples opinions. If you truly want a constructive discussion, you need to be constructive with people who disagree with you too.

As to the idea of concentual OW PvP, I myself am not against it, per say, but I do see the issues with it. Let me give an example of why it could cause an issue for some:

Lets say a group decides it would be fun to have a massive battle fought across a jumping puzzle. Do you think the PvE only players trying to do that JP would be happy with this? Hell no. And what if players are tryng to tackle a big meta event but the PvP players are fighting each other in the middle of it, just to troll.

While there are some merits to OW PvP, it does come at a price, and it is that price I believe Anet is trying to avoid by making WvW seperate. As to WvW being unsalvageable, I disagree. There is hope for the mode yet, it just needs Anet to make the right decisions and implement the right mechanics. The foundation is there, and can work.

Jim Hunter.6821:

How do you expect that to work? What happens when people bandwagon onto one alliance/faction? You’ll end up with that side getting extra maps that they fully control because there is no opposition.

People bandwagoning together all into one group already happens now, changing things to a faction based set up would not change that behaviour. However, if there was only 3 factions to choose I believe this would be less likely to happen. If everyone piled into one faction, they would effectively destroy the game mode by their own hand, and that would be an extremely stupid move on our part. Besides, it is very likely players would be distributed fairly evenly to start with, as there is nothing to base our choice on other than an aesthetic one, and Anet could always offer incentives to swap factions should things get out of balance. However it works, whether it be server based or faction based, players will always jump ship to make life easier for themselves. But with megaserver tech and an even balance at the start, player populations should remain balanced.

What happens when it’s the middle of the night and the population drops off? Do they start forcing people to leave instances so they can shut down the extras? What happens to the gold spent on guild upgrades for the structures on those instances?

As to maps shutting down, I suspect when a map gets empty players will naturally migrate to a more populated map. And obviously the way upgrades work would need to change. For example, a global resource system may need to be created, so any gold spent on upgrades goes into a global pot, which can be carried between map instances, with each map having a spend limit or something. Then should a map be closed, all spent resources for each faction would be returned to the global pool

I don’t know the details on how these systems can work, but I am sure with enough brain power put into it something could be developed. An alliance set up would obviously result in some systems changing, but I am sure it could work and would be better than the current set up we have, which is clearly not working.

Sometimes player choice is essential, but on occasion it is detrimental. And in my opinion, in WvW, the player’s ability to choose from a large number of servers has been to the detriment of the game mode. Players have server hopped, match fixed and tier jumped for a long time now, and the system clearly doesn’t work. Anet tried to make a game mode that should have been about large scale conflict, but turned it into a PvP tournament with leaderboards and tiers. It just doesn’t work for the type of game it should be.

I voted Factions / Alliance / Megaserver because of the following:

- Server pride becomes faction pride = no difference to how things work now.

- Megaserver tech has the potential to ensure populations are good at all times and reduces the queue times by opening new map instances when needed.

- Removes prejudice against real world nationalities and refocuses it against a made up group. ‘Lets beat those French scrum’ becomes ‘Lets beat those Order of Whispers scum’.

I personally see no valid reason to keep the server set up as we currently have it, when a faction and megaserver system could replace it just as well and would actually improve things in terms of population balance and queue times.

Rewards should be a bonus, not the goal. I think one of the big issues with adventures is the reward is the goal and the ‘adventure’ itself an obstact.

Swift.1930:

And all the things you said. Not quite as convinced about the tower defense thing, but could work. Would be more interested in a Dota-style game mode in PvP myself (really couldn’t care less about Stronghold, which is both slow and – somehow – short at the same time).

Yeah, the tower defense thing would be more of a coop PvE thing really. I feel the game really lacks in the medium length ‘on demand’ PvE content side of things. Keg Brawl and Crab Toss are ok, but they are PvP not PvE. SAB was the first big side game we had and it was brilliant. Not just because of the fun retro feel and the platforming elements, but because it had a decent amount of things to do and it was (most importantly) cooperative not competitive. A tower defense game, done right and lore friendly of course, would (in my opinion) be a great side game people could play when they fancied something different.

In regards to PvP games, I would also enjoy a dota style game, with stronger and more important minions, but I think Stronghold is Anet’s take on that so I am not sure we will see another offering in that style of game play. I quite like SH though so it is not as much of an issue for me. That said, I do think there needs to be more game modes in PvP. Having all these leagues and trying to make GW2 PvP more serious and pushing it into the eSports realm is all fine and dandy, but not every PvP player wants that and not every PvP player is happy with just two game modes. I would really like to see them add other modes just for… you know… for fun. It is a game after all, and a game designed for a large audience, so it would make sense to add variety.

Grind: (noun) Hard dull work.

To me GW2 is not a grindy game (in the literal sense of the word). You CAN get whatever you want doing whatever you want… eventually. However, that doesn’t mean GW2 is problem free in this regard.

The problem is not that you are forced to grind for the things you want. You’re not forced at all. The problem is that grinding behavior (repeating the same content over and over, rendering it dull) is encouraged in a big way, because very few activities reward well. And because there are very few avenues for earning the gold and/or mats you need to get the items you want, you are funneled into a grind mentality in order to speed up item aquisition. You’re not forced to, but you ARE encouraged to. And that is just as bad in my opinion.

If GW2 rewarded you equally for doing anything you like, people would not perceive any grind at all, because players would play the content they enjoy and at the same time be able to get the items they want in a timely fashion.

So I do not think they need to address the content as such, but they do need to address the reward systems in this game.

AlCojester.4316:

BFMV.3198:

I use action camera and it is kitten amazing. You are actually more responsive because you do not have to hold down a button to rotate, meaning it is one less thing to worry about.

Also the targeting is so good and it makes auto attacks even easier.

I’ve tried it, loved it at first but when my sword 2 kept “missing” and just animated in place because I wasn’t aiming at my target, kinda sucked for me. I feel like it restricts to the target you are facing whereas with click-holding, I’m able to have more awareness on the side and behind me. Please correct me if I’m wrong though, if any of the things I said can be managed through action cam because I do in fact want to use it since my right-click on my mouse is worn out.

I too had issues with sword 2 and steal missing occasionally, but I think that was due to my brain still trying to play the old non-action cam way. Now I have persisted and got used to it I hardly miss with either.

As to the added bonus of more visual awareness out of action cam mode, this is true. I think this could be remedied though, by changing the right click function in action cam mode to work like the left click in non-action cam mode, so you can hold right click to temporarily come out of action cam and look around. Then when you let go it reverts back to the reticle mode. That said, I do find the targeting via right click quite useful at times, so I would want some way to keep this functionality, though to be honest I rarely use left click to attack so it would be good if we could rebind the mouse buttons to have different action cam functions.

Anyway, this is going off topic somewhat. I think the change was intended to prevent steal firing and going on cooldown if your target is out of range, but the target requirement may have been an unforseen/unconsidered side effect or bug. I am glad they have removed the target requirement and found a way to prevent steal firing on out of range targets. Its a bad nerf changed to a good QoL buff.