Guild Wars 2

I think the problem though goes beyond just Gear. I think that there are obviously pros and cons to getting new gear, I personally like setting myself the target of getting new gear and achieving it. But also consider Runescape, getting gear isn’t really that huge a part of that game, there are so many other things to do – and nearly everything rewards you with something MEANINGFUL. Something worthwhile getting. Quests that give you new items, unlockable shortcuts, new ways to train skills, mini-games, there is just so much more on offer, so much more to do and get.

I think that is just the problem. Gw2 just seems a bit shallow in terms of content compared to it. In RS I am constantly doing something, aiming for something, and I enjoy that. I feel like whenever I log into Gw2 I just stand outside a bank and it seems loads of other people do that too.

I just don’t think Anet have got it right yet. I like the Living Story idea but I just don’t think they’ve got the balance right with content, it’s just not clicking for me.

It’s really hard to describe. It’s like, yeah, get your legendary weapon by all means, but what is there to do with it once you’ve got it? Once you’ve got the Legendary weapon, the only content available is the same content you farmed the get the Legendary in the first place.

I can never figure out what to do in this game?

Played it from launch, spent ages trying all the new classes and races, fell in love with the world like all of you did, took me freaking ages to get a character to 80 because I kept deleting them because I’d convince myself I preferred that race or that class lol.

Anyways, I finally did settle on a Sylvari Thief and got him to 80. From there, I proceeded to get full exotic armour for some reason I decided on full condition exotics because I wanted to be different and I saw some guy with a cowboy-lookin’ Thief messing people up in WvW with Pistol/Dagger.

Anyways, so it only took two or three days to get decked out in gear after I hit 80 because of all the gold I’d saved. I farmed Southsun Cove for two days with some friends I’d met and by the end of two weeks I had full Exotics and three pieces of the t3 Cultural armour I wanted. Two weeks that took me at around 4-5 hours in the evening. I didn’t play any longer than that because I went to work everyday and just played in the evenings.

After that, I lost interest.

Yes, I like chasing after gear, so what? It’s fun and I like setting targets and reaching them.

Anyways, I’ve been out of the game for months now, although I always kept checking out the updates, I never really logged in for anything.

Honestly, I’ve just logged in after what 6,7,8 months, and the game is completely the same as when I left it. I think this is because of all the temporary content they release. The only difference is some of the traits/abilities.

I just can’t get past the feeling that this game has absolutely no depth to it at all, maybe because this game makes me feel directionless. I know some people probably play the game for this very reason, but me? Not so much.

I need a set of big goals to aim towards and this game isn’t giving me this, maybe aim for a legendary? But honestly, I feel like I’d never forgive myself for putting so much time into something so ultimately meaningless, it doesn’t improve my character in any way.

So I did see they announced they are releasing new content every two weeks and I got excited, I thought finally, new kitten to do. Instead there is just another event to do that will end soon, I am just not feeling it.

I think I’d prefer their content to be more like Runescape’s, my fave MMO and yeah laugh at that, whatever. They release two-three pieces of normally quite-meaningful and permanent content a month, every week bar one. And when you’re not satisfying your thirst for new stuff there is literally thousands of content to keep you busy in the meantime, that you can do in any order you want.

I log into GW2 and I just don’t know what to do. Aim for Ascended back pack? Sorry but it’s not making me lick my lips with excitement, it’s not making me say, I want that, I am going to go get it. Plus it would ruin my Thief’s outfit, I’d just hide it.

WHAT IS THERE TO FREAKING DO IN THIS GAME?

I can’t get into WvW, honestly, Zerging with a Thief is not my idea of fun, shooting my pathetikittentle shortbow at big wooden doors. I try roaming like that Cowboy dude, and I think that video was sooooo edited because I see so little action, and when you die it’s like, kitten, got to run all the way back now….nah.

Could do the same dungeons over and over the same ones from launch, for what? It sounds like only 1 dungeon is worth doing profit-wise and what would I even spend money on?

THERE IS NOTHING NEW I WANT.

I think I am fully expecting a reply saying ‘sorry bro, this game just isn’t for you’, which sucks, because I want this game to be for me

What I want is for somebody to say, do this, this, this, this, this and then do this and I will be like finally, some purpose and direction, thank you kindly sir/ma’am.

TL;DR read the thread or bugger off.

Well thank you for the mostly polite replies, as I know my thread might have rubbed some of you up the wrong way.

Some of you have raised some interesting points that I don’t have time to reply to individually.

First I would just like to re-address my primary want – for the skins earnt in sPvP to be unique, and for the skins to be able to apply these skins in overworld PvP.

One of the things I get that ANet is trying to achieve, is to get players to participate in ALL parts of the game, through making all parts of the game accessible from the moment you create a new character, pretty much.

Thus I find it illogical that rewards earnt in different parts of the game are totally segregated.

Look, this is the way I see it: A big issue in MMO’s is identity.

Identity is a word with massive connotations, so let’s have a quick look at how it applies to MMO’s.

Basically, every player tries very hard to find his/her identity within a game, and they do this through many ways.

For example, my guild knows that I am a Rogue. Always have been, always will be. Every game we play, I’m the Rogue/Assassin/Thief even Ranger. A friend of mine is a healer. She just likes to heal. Another friend of mine will ALWAYS be a sword/shield warrior.

We use our classes to define ourselves. We also use armour.

Our main game has been RIFT for a long time. What I like about that game is that, like most other games, the community is split between the PvP’ers and the PvE’ers and there’s nothing wrong with that. Both sets of people have amazing sets of armour they can aim towards, and can show off anywhere when they have been achieved.

Thus, in the home cities and in social areas, people know ‘Romeo looks like a pretty serious PvP’er’ and ‘Wrath must be a big raider, look at how cool and rare his armour is’.

Shallow? Maybe. Natural? Definitely. People have ALWAYS wanted to differentiate themselves, throughout history.

Making new, unique skins for PvP, that people can wear to show off anywhere to let people know they are the business, would go a long way, for me, in dealing with this.

Some other areas I want to quickly address: I can definitely see the appeal of max armour being easy to obtain so that everybody is on the same gear level. It comes with it’s pros and cons, sure, but I can definitely see the pros. The con is that I didn’t feel like I achieved anything at all when I completed my set.

Shallow is a word somebody used, I I think this is somewhat fitting. The game is rich in lore and characters but the actual gameplay does seem a bit shallow.

I will use Runescape, another game I have played for a long time as an example. The sheer amount of content in that game is incredible. Minigames, skills, combat, bossing, PvP’ing, questing, it’s truly incredible.

I know many people advocate playing for fun, not for a carrot on a stick, but it’s something I disagree with. Setting yourself a long term goal and setting out to achieve it, IS FUN, for me anyways.

The journey to a max skill, or a new set of armour is fun, and then the achievement of reaching it is the icing on the cake.

I’d argue that carrots on a stick, goals and shiny rewards SUPPLEMENT fun gameplay, not become the primary source for playing (although it always will for some players).

Without this, I get the feeling of being directionless.

Just my two cents.

And I would like to add that this game, Tera and TSW are the most beautiful MMO worlds I have ever seen.

I really do love GW2’s graphics, art style and slick animations.

Also the community is very nice

I hope nobody is offended by my post, this is my genuine feedback.

Thanks and enjoy your day x

Well after being away from GW2 for a few months, decided to update the game, jump back in and see how everything has progressed, such are the benefits of a b2p game.

Here’s my review.

Logged into Lion’s Arch, which is where I last logged in. Still quite populated, which I was happy about. I had a look around to see if anybody was wearing some cool new armour skins I’d not seen before.

What I saw I wasn’t pleased with as it seems everybody and their aunty is wearing what looks like a Quaggan plush backpack or something.

One of the things that made me leave GW2 in the first place was how unbearably goofy it was, I see this hasn’t changed. Nothing says intimidating like a 8 foot tall vicious Norn, with a Quaggan backpack.

Being PvP orientated, which was the main reason I came to this supposed ‘saviour of PvP’ MMO.

sPvP first. I actually enjoyed this, I enjoyed the new beautiful warfronts, the PvP was fast and action packed. I did notice and MASSIVE decrease in players in the Mists and in warfronts. Like seriously there was only 1 game going, 15/16 people out of the entire list. Another criticism I have, is hard to describe. It’s like, the PvP community here doesn’t have any…soul. Nobody was speaking in the Mists at all. No banter between opposite factions, because there are none. No duels, no practising. Just silence. In warfronts, silence. I thought maybe the lower pop would bring together a close knit PvP community like that of RIFT, but it’s not happened from what I can see.

Also, I dislike the fact that any cosmetic rewards I get from sPvP can only be seen in the Mists. This is just something I don’t get, why the segregation. Why can’t I show people I am kitten at PvP in the main overworld? There should be unique skins only obtainable through PvP that I can show off anytime, anywhere. PvP cultural armour, etc. This would make it more enticing for me.

WvW was a complete fail for me. Probably one of the most boring gaming experiences of my life. I ran around Eternal Battlegrounds looking for other roamers, didn’t see a single soul for like 30 minutes before I just gave up. So I thought, well just join the crowd and see what’s up. Found a group and proceeded to shoot my shortbow at a massive wood door for around 20 minutes with the group – nobody talking – whilst other servers shot at us from a castle. My shortbow has rubbish range, and the only way I could hit the gate was to walk into the massive red circles. Errr.

Overall, my WvW experience was one of the worst in my entire gaming career.

Dungeons. I met up with a couple of old guildies and did a few dungeon runs. I did enjoy the fractals.

You know what, I’m just gonna say it.

I don’t like not having a trinity. The fights felt chaotic to me and I didn’t feel like I had a sense of responsibility like I have in other MMO’s, especially when I am healing/tanking. It’s just not for me.

And honestly, is there still a cap on how many conditions/bleeds a boss can have on him?

Overall, I just felt exactly like I did before I quit. A bit directionless. Now, I’ve played sandboxes and know there is good directionless, and bad. This is bad.

I like having goals and aims in MMO’s and I just felt like there was none in this game.

I got full set of Exotic armour within a week of hitting 80, it felt so underwhelming. I didn’t even grind for it, just had the money for it through levelling up.

Before I quit, I did grind out 100g for my cultural t3. It was frustrating with the DR back then and probably would still be now.

I’m not going to spend ages sPvP’ing for skins I can only wear on a small island and within WF’s.

My overall review for GW2 months later is

‘Meh’.

Saying 1100 hours in a little over 2 months when you have actually played 1050 hours in 3 months is the difference between playing 11 hours and day and playing 17 hours a day, every day.

Not only are you lying about your figures on the very first line of your thread, it also discredits your post – the very first response is about how long you’ve been playing for.

In any case, I stopped playing Gw2 a long time ago just popping in to see the patch notes and read more fail.

More weapon skills in chests, yay. More nerfs, yay. Just thought I’d respond to your thread, it will help your cause if you tighten your lexis up.

Good luck in future endeavors, maybe I’ll catch you in ESO but for now I’m back to the amazingness that is EoC Runescape

Only 1400 hours in 2 months and you’ve played for 1100 of them? Way to start off your thread with a load of BS.

Toxica.6749:

Though I agree with the sentiment of what you are posting, that one should not begrudge those who were smart enough to shop for a good deal on the game… your tone is a disgrace. You come off as lecturing your peers and have the cheek to tell other people to get over themselves.

Let me assure you, the people this thread is aimed at, are in no way shape or form, my “peers”.

RoChan.1926:

While I don’t disagree with the inherent message you’re trying to promote… there are two things wrong with your anology.

1: Some stores actually do accept to do a refund/bundle sale if purchased the previous day. Because they don’t want to have to deal with #2

2: Refunds are at full purchase price with your ticket. Some can refund the item in full and re-buy it at the sale price without the manager or anyone else being able to say anything about it.

Thanks for the reply, friend.

Whilst I wouldn’t go as far as saying your points make my analogy outright ‘wrong’, I’ll definitely acknowledge them with a response!

1. Indeed this is the case. But as I alluded to in the OP, the general points people are making is that they have ‘supported’ the game, some since launch, and this for some reason or another makes them feel entitled to promo items. The people out there who bought the game 1 day early are understandably a bit miffed, especially seeing as, as far as I know, Anet didn’t really advertise the fact they were on the verge of doing a promo deal. If they did advertise it, I wonder how successful it was, because I didn’t hear about it. So yeah, the people who literally bought this game yesterday are cool, but they are an extreme minority. This thread is dedicated to the self-entitled so-called ‘supporters’ of Gw2.

2. Refund conditions are highly subjective with regards to country and even store/company policy. The store I work at, JB Hi-Fi in Australia, has very specific refund conditions which include time-frame windows and conditions such as the product being defective etc. Gw2 does not fit into this category. These people that are crying out paid for what was advertised, end of story really.

Except it’s not, the fact that Anet offers free content updates that literally cost thousands of dollars and hours to develop, really adds insult to injury and makes these people appear utterly pathetic, in my (shared, it seems) opinion.

Thanks!

Sharkinu.8096:

Romeo.4378:

The next day, or the next week, whatever, you walk past the same shop and see that they are now doing a 20% off sale, and/or that the Xbox is now being sold with an extra game(which is not available at all for current xbox users unless they buy a new box and they can play it only on the new box) as part of a special package.

Fixed it for you. See the difference and why people are complaining?

I can see the difference indeed. Let me therefore alter the analogy to make it more appropriate.

The best example I can think of, off the top of my head is limited edition hardware skins. For example, my Razer Naga mouse has a completely different design and glows a different colour to the standard Razer Naga model, because I bought it whilst it was a limited edition sale.

Somebody who had bought the standard Razer Naga mouse, is not suddenly entitled to the premium edition Razer Naga for free, because they initially supported the company by buying the standard model some months before.

Cheers.

rtommaso.3120:

evasionmoon.1345:

Only game purchase no monthly fee and they still want more its SAD indeed.

Kids always want what the other kid have more, that’s how child mind works:P

Aint videogames for children or people with child minds?

No.

You walk into a shop, and buy something, for the purpose of this thread let’s say you buy an Xbox.

The next day, or the next week, whatever, you walk past the same shop and see that they are now doing a 20% off sale, and/or that the Xbox is now being sold with an extra game as part of a special package.

Pray tell, what would happen if you walked into said shop and said something along the lines of

“Ohai, I bought an Xbox here yesterday/last week and I see you are now selling the same Xbox for 20% and with an extra game – any chance you can give me 20% back and give me the game?”

Let me tell you what would happen.

The manager or other member of staff would politely apologise and say that, because you bought the item before the sale, you were not entitled to 20% of your money back and the free game. Then, after you’d left the store, they’d go out back and say to their store colleagues “Guys, you would not believe what this idiot customer just…”.

Then they’d all laugh at you.

Understanding that this is how sales work in the real world, I cannot FOR THE LIFE OF ME, understand why so many of you are crying that you are not getting a wizard hat.

The most common ‘argument’, if you can even call it that, is that, we are here and have supported this game, thus, we should get the wizard hat, not some guy who buys the game in the sale.

When you really think about this, this line of thought is absolutely absurd and completely defeats the purpose of the sales pitch.

The whole point of this ‘promo’ is that it entices people who were maybe on the fence about buying the game, to actually buy it. It makes these people think

“Well, I was thinking about getting the game, might aswell buy it now seeing as I can get a limited edition unique hat.”

Let me tell you something, if Anet were to pitch the sale saying

“Buy the game now and get this free Wizard Hat that everybody in the game also has”, it would not be successful at all.

I can only conclude that this train of thought is a product of this obscene self-entitlement generation that currently plagues the Earth.

To think, for a second, that you are entitled to this Wizard Hat on the grounds that you have played this game for however many weeks… Anet doesn’t owe you anything.

You paid them the 60 bucks and they gave you the game you paid 60 bucks for, along with free content that costs thousands of dollars to develop.

It’s like you buying the Wii U on the day of release for full price and then get butt hurt when 3 month down the line they are selling them at reduced prices and with game bundles. You are not entitled to the cheaper Wii U and the free games, just because you bought it and have supported the console since launch.

TL;DR

Use some god kitten common sense. And get over yourselves.

I find the above names pretty difficult to pronounce and feel my scores would vary wildly depending how I say them and how the owner wants them to be pronounced. I’ll rate them on how they look in text however with an umbrella score of 7.5/10. They all look very pretty, although some of them look more elven/sylvari than human.

Introducing my female elementalist, Vittoria Secret, or just Vi to her street rat friends.

Vittoria grew up on the streets of Divinity’s Reach and has always done what is necessary to survive.

She is notorious for charming her way out of tricky situations. She has stolen, blackmailed, and dabbled in prostitution growing up, in order to survive in the dark underbelly of the Humans last city. But, far from feeling sorry for herself, she holds her head up high, such is her inner strength. Despite her immoral past, she is rather proud of surviving where others could not.

Despite being a seductress and stopping at no lengths in order to survive, Vittoria, at heart, is compassionate, caring and will help her allies if she can. Although this reveals another facet of her personality – you are either with her, or against her.

In her late teens, she started to develop the ability to manipulate the elements. Because she never had a education, she is a completely self-taught sorceress.

Needless to say, upon mastering her gifts, her stature in the underworld grew and grew.

Despite her aforementioned lack of education, Vittoria has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, that, whilst living in the streets, manifested itself in the form of secrets and information with which she could use to manipulate those around her.

For this reason, she almost accepted an invitation to the Durmand Priory, who promised her knowledge. It was to the Order of Whispers, however, that her allegiances finally fell.

She has since forged a reputation in the order for being sneakier than a Thief. She could be your waitress, she could be your escort for the night, she could be your cleaner…a master of disguise, she will find out what she needs to know about you, or what you know about somebody else.

Despite, however, her rather illusive character, one should not underestimate the raw power of her elemental magic – for she is not afraid to use brute strength when it is required.

:)

Caim Dragonguard – It’s a very cool name. I really like the name Caim and its alternative spellings (Kaim) because it reminds me of Lost Odyssey, which was a fantastic RPG. That said, I’m going to have to take some points away for lack of originality. Don’t get me wrong, I commend the way you’ve taken a character from another game and tried to make it work in this one, but for me, it means your character isn’t 100% your creation.
Final Score: 7/10

As for my human, I’ve recently created a Female Human called Victoria Hawthorne.

A member of the Divinity’s Reach nobility, she has always used her wealth and influence to help those less fortunate than her.

After her sister was lost whilst fighting for The Seraph, she thrust herself into combat training, realising that more soldiers were needed to defend Kryta’s inhabitants.

Although she was a very capable solider, specialising in Sword and Shield combat, she was never anything more than that.

What set Victoria Hawthorne apart was her furious drive to help people. One night a Charr warband fighting for The Vigil turned up at the gates of Divinity’s Reach, their numbers diminished after they were ambushed.

Such is the history between Humans and Charr that nobody would help them, except for Victoria Hawthorne. It was then that she realised that her desire to help and heal extended beyond Kryta. She needed to save the whole of Tyria and everything living inhabitant of it.

She prayed to the once mortal God, Kormir, for the power she needed to help protect and heal, and Kormir did bless her with Blue Magic, and she became a Guardian.

Rate away!

I get this man. I recently got married and have taken on her two kids, I work too.

I feel it’s important for a man to have his priorities straight and you definitely fall into that category, as, I hope, do I.

Whilst I can’t say I agree with every decision Anet has made since launch, I want them to know I do appreciate the game they have created, for it is exactly the kind of game I am able to play at this stage in my life.

Take it easy, guys.

Paradox.5498:

Anhae.2167:

Sounds great… finally

One concern I still have… is there a delay of these packs coming on to the european servers? I cannot find any at the shop. Thanks

They were available on the European servers last night, guess they still are. They’re in the category Services.

Note to ppl who wanna re-customize their Sylvari: glow colour or intensity can’t be modified with these packs.

This is absolutely false information. I have a Sylvari Thief, and having bought the body pack, can confirm that you CAN change your glow colour, intensity, pattern, pattern colour, everything. It’s basically identical to the initial character creation.

And yes, THANK YOU. As a Sylvari, I didn’t realise when I first started the game all those months ago how restrictive my glow could be, fashion wise. Wanna wear green armour? Looks rubbish with my red glow.

I am happy with my Sylvari now, good job Anet x

I honestly think the t3 heavy looks amazing, much better than your mix and match. Just my opinion. I am currently saving for t3 medium. It’s taking me forever :’(

Well it’s no secret that the last few days has seen the GW2 community divided on many issues. Topic words include ‘Manifesto’, ‘Philosophy’, ‘Grind’, ‘Gear Treadmill’, ‘Vertical/Horizontal Progression’ and so and so forth.

Well the AMA on Reddit has finished and for those that have read it, it is again likely to divide opinion.

For me, however, it comes down to this:

Are you going to give Anet a second chance?

Again, it’s no secret that for many of us, gaming is very important to our lives. Whilst I cannot say I fall into this category these days, I certainly used to, and because of this I understand that for those of you playing for 8+ hours a day, Anet’s recent ‘betrayal of the manifesto’, has been taken very personally.

For those of you under that category, you are understandably asking questions such as ‘Why should I trust anything Anet says again? The answers on the AMA say ’we are working on this’, ‘we are aware of that’ but they have completely ignored everything they have said in the past, they could do it again.’

Are the answers in the AMA enough for you? Can you bring yourself to believe what they say again?

I can.

My own personal stance is that I have not heavily invested in the hate train. I cannot say that I have enjoyed the game as much as pre-patch. I think the population is heavily fractured, between those stuck at low level fractals, and those too scared to jump off the fractal treadmill for fear of being left behind. I immediately disliked how difficult it is to get Ascended items but am also pleased to find out that they are going to add more ways in which to obtain them. I disliked the patch but didn’t get caught up in the uproar. I personally think a lot of your reactions over the past few days have been embarassing and undignified. A lot of your responses, though, have been thoughtful, philosophical, well-organised.

Personally, I acknowledged that Chris both too responsibility for this fallout, and apologised for it.

I am also ready to give them a second chance, and so is my wife and so here we will stay.

So yeah, I am not saying those of you leaving are wrong or right, just showing my own personal stance on the matter.

I am going to stay and give them a second chance.

I’d like to hear your own stances and plans now.

Thanks.

Any advice regarding traits and utilities?

Hey all,

Just doing some questing on my Ranger alt and I’d like some help with traits/stats/pets.

I use Longbow / Axe+Warhorn predominantly.

What are the best traits to aim towards whilst levelling? I am really inexperienced with the Ranger. Do I just stack into the Power trait line? Or are there more useful/important things to aim for first?

Also, what pets do you find are the best for questing? I think it’s pretty obvious that I should carry at least 1 Bear for tanking? What are your opinions for my second pet? A dog? Drake? Bird? Cat?

As for stats, I was thinking Power and Toughness.

Would love to hear from you Ranger gurus.

And please, no posts about how bad and broken Ranger is and for me to roll a Rifle Warrior. If I wanted to roll a Rifle Warrior, I would have rolled one. Ranger interests me a lot more, and to be honest, after spending 300 hours on my Thief, I will appreciate a challenge.

Thanks all!

EDIT:

Just for some extra information, I am not interested in a pure condition build. I have full exotic condition gear on my Thief and run a D/D DB + Caltrops build. I am looking for a change of pace, although I can see for instance that traps are heavily condition based. I would be willing to incorporate conditions into my Ranger but don’t want my entire build to be based around them.

Cheers!

Imagine this conversation in real life:

‘Hey, I’ve explored every country and continent on Earth’ says Guy 1

‘Err, you haven’t explored the North or South Poles…’ says Guy 2

‘Yeah but I hate the snow and cold, so it shouldn’t count as a continent’ says Guy 1

What you are actually complaining about is that you have to do something you don’t like, in order to get something you want. You for some reason feel like you are entitled to the achievement, without actually doing the achievement, because you don’t want to do it.

Well let me break the bad news to you kid, just because you don’t like PvP, doesn’t mean the battleground are suddenly not part of Tyria, in the same way that The North Pole doesn’t suddenly vanish from the face of the Earth because it’s too cold for you to explore.

If you want 100% map completion, you’re going to have to, you know, explore 100% of the map.

I know my post sounds snarky but it’s really that simple. I find your thread and attitude pathetic, it’s just my honest opinion.

Take care

I guess the only thing I can think of for Norn is that they are the most individually powerful race in Tyria, are egotistical and independant, but are also like the humans a defeated race.

They are obviously based off of Vikings and the like but are the LEAST colonial/invading race. But that is not so much as breaking a fantasy stereotype as a real-life one.

It recently dawned on me that nearly every playable race in Tyria CONTRADICTS, in some way shape or form, a stereotype or archetype commonly seen in other games/books/films of the same genre.

In many cases, Anet has taken a well known race and completely turned around all codes, conventions and tropes associated with that particular race in other mediums.

I’ll show you some examples.

Sylvari:
Sylvari are quite obviously Anet’s take on Elves. Yes, I know Sylvari are not elves, but they share enough conventions with elves that indicate that elves are quite obviously the inspiration behind the Sylvari, such as their closeness to nature and their long pointy ears in many cases.
So, whilst Sylvari share a lot of similarities with elves, they also completely contradict other tropes commonly seen in elves.
For me, the glaring example of this is their age.
Elves and Dwarves are almost always the eldest race in most fantasy settings. Elves are more often than not depicted as aloof, ancient, wise and yet in Gw2, Sylvari are at the oldest, 25 years of age. They are mischievous, naive, curious.

See?

There are so many other examples:

Humans:
Humans are almost always depicted as the colonials of the fantasy world, with big empires and all that. This was true in GW’s history books, but in Gw2, the game of genre-defying contradictions, humans are a defeated race. They are technologically inferior and only have 1 kingsdom left.

Asura:
The whole short-stature-big-ego thing has been done loads of times before. But normally, in fantasy settings, it is always magic vs. science. It’s either-or. Magic and science are opposites. Magic is mystical and unexplainable, science is factual. And yet, in Gw2, Asura are magical scientists. This for me is an awesome new take on the genre

Charr:
Beast races are normally primitive, unorganised and closest to nature. Beast classes normally live in packs/solo, but the Charr are the most unified race in Tyria, their entire race is literally part of one large army. They are extremely technologically advanced compared to the humans and sylvari, highly intelligent as opposed to the whole ‘knowledge vs instinct’ thing in the fantasy genre, and far from being superstitious, they have completely rid themselves of any gods and/or religion.
Charr are probably the most ‘backward’ race of any game I’ve ever seen, lol. They are awesome!

Norn:
I can’t think of anything for Norn! Tell me your ideas!

Please, try and keep this thread on-topic if you choose to reply. I know we have had a rough patch but I want to get the forums back to a place of discussion, not incessant, self-entitled whining and crying.

I’d simply love to hear your thoughts regarding Tyria’s races.

Cheers!

Amidst the kittentorm surrounding the latest patch, I’d like to get people talking again about facets of the game that are actually interesting to read.

This thread’s topic is simple:

I’d really love to hear your character’s names and backstories. If you guys wanted, you could even rate the person’s characters above you.

Well, I’ll start :’)

Fhlex – Asura, Male, Warrior

Fhlex was a member of the College of Dynamics where he had dedicated his life to overcoming the challenges that accompany the inevitable physical inadequacies of his race’s short stature.

Spurred on after suffering humiliation at the hands of a drunken Norn in his youth, Fhlex soon became Rata Sum’s leading expert in his field.

After being inspired by the raw strength of Zojja’s golems, Fhlex initially attempted to overcome his physical weakness by creating a suit of armour that would drastically improve his strength, durability, and mobility, a feat in which he succeeded. Fhlex’s suit of armour is powered by the Eternal Alchemy itself, and uses a set of complex magic-powered Hydraulic contraptions in his arms and legs, that allow him to wield Great Swords and Hammers with incredible strength and dexterity. Indeed, the velocity in which he swings his hammer whilst in his suit cracks the Earth in ways far more impressive than any Elementalist can. Fhlex’s suit also boasts revolutionary anti-gravity devices which allow him to jump and ‘hang’ in mid-air whilst attacking, improving his fighting style by allowing him to incorporate a level of acrobatics previously unheard on in Asuran Martial Arts.

In short, Fhlex’s suit was a massively impressive success. In fact, the suit is so complex and revolutionary that to this day, Fhlex still possesses the only suit of its kind, for Fhlex is the only Asura with the level of genius to understand the blueprints, much to the Inquest’s dismay after a successful attempt at stealing his research.

But alas, Fhlex’s hunger for physical superiority over Tyria’s other races was yet to be satiated. Yes, he had created a suit of armour that would allow him to crush even a Norn’s skull, but what about when he took the suit off?

No, his success was unacceptable, and so he shifted his focus to the science of elixers. He experimented with rapid-growth enhancement formulas, amongst other things far complicated and dangerous than you and I could ever hope to comprehend. But Fhlex knew what he wanted: strength, powered by the Eternal Alchemy and totally improportionate to his physical body.

Test subjects were strictly forbidden by The Council, however, and so one night, desperate and alone, he drank his own elixer with both wonderful and terrible results.

Fhlex’s dreams had come true, for he was granted power beyond belief, even going so far as to breaking a Norn’s arm during an arm-wrestle. But with his new power came a grave side-effects, the most dangerous of which was a bloodlust that could never be sated.

Now, Fhlex had spent his whole life consumed and obsessed with the pursuit of power, but he was not an evil Asura.

After his side-effects had been officially diagnosed, he gathered his armour and left Rata Sum behind, to join The Vigil, where he could kill The Risen every day, putting his amazing strength and battle knowledge to good use, whilst feeding his bloodlust on enemies that always came back for more, no matter how many times he killed them.

Cheers all

P.S. just a reminded if you decide to reply to this thread, please, nobody wants to hear you cry about how you think the game sucks, cry elsewhere. I just want to hear the stories behind your brilliant characters

NOT ‘I had a toon calld hot4urmom he was a massive norn thieflol but we got nerfed so im a warriour now’.

If you read the notes, you’d see that in the patch they nerfed every build APART from Backstab.

It’s like the only build we have left.

Deal with it or take your whining somewhere else.

Try to keep the thread going, it’s going to de-rail if you don’t stick to the simple formula, just rate the name above you and then post your own, cause now I’m in a position where I don’t have a name to rate :P

Anyways, I created a new Charr today, female warrior, she’s called

Venus Irontail

Waddup, guys.

So now I’ve played my Sylvari Thief for over 200 hours now and feel it’s time to make a dedicated alt. I mean, I’ve created loads of alts but never got any class over level 25 other than my 80 Thief.

I want a second character that I can take to 80, and I’m thinking it will be a warrior.

Character creation means a lot to me though and I’m stuck choosing a race, although it will definitely be either a Charr or Asura.

I feel like an Asuran Warrior would be more unique but I can’t get over their small size or the fact that are obviously more attuned to magic and science, than melee combat.

I enjoy the personal story line and want my Warrior to feel like a real hero. For this, I initially chose Norn, because in terms of lore, Norn possess super-human strength, like Hulk.

In fact, I read that in the past during a war, the Humans and Charr etc sent thousands upon thousands of soldiers into battle…the Norn sent 9, and that was sufficient, lol.

There are also stories of single Norns decimating entire Charr warbands after they entered Norn lands.

How can an Asuran warrior beat that, when lore-wise, Norn make Charrs look weaker than a kitten.

The thing is, I don’t like Norn, at all.

So help me think of ways in which I can make an Asuran Warrior…WORK.

I mean, for inspiration I went to the obvious place…Yoda!! What a boss he was… my Asura could be the same!

Asura are obviously physically weaker than Charr and Norn, that’s why they create these golems, but I need ways that my Asura could gain physical strength.

My wife suggested that maybe my Asura created a magic elixer in his labratory that gave him magical strength, disproportionate to his physical body, like the Norn and an unquenchable bloodlust that has forced him to leave his labs and science behind and join The Vigil.

Another idea I had was that maybe he invented some magic-crystal powered hydrolic arm and leg harness…things, that increase the velocity of his sword swings and increases the weight he can hold etc. I feel this could work too whilst wearing the heavy cultural armour, as it kinda glows and looks techy. Or maybe his armour could just be like the Iron Man’s.

Anyways, would love to hear from any Asurans out there!

Cheers!

Glad to see this thread is still going strong.

Some fantastic ideas, guys, and my favourite ideas so far from you all is definitely the Gorilla idea – would it be tanky or straight up damage?

Obviously there was always going going to be a few immature people trying to de-rail this thread with snarky remarks like ‘pets that work’, amongst others.

Just ignore these people and try to stay on topic, please.

Also, fair play to those of you suggesting that future pets need to actually reside in Tyria in the first place. I totally agree, but also think any idea can be written into the lore books if cool enough.

Finally, we have lots of big cats available, would you like to use a Lion/Tiger over leopards etc?

Thanks all! And here’s to hoping rangers get some nice updates today!!!!!!!

EDIT: It just struck me, and this is weird, that there hasn’t been a Tiger-themed Pokemon yet, lol. I mean, what the hell is up with that?

I have an excellent tip for you regarding the Eternal Battleground vistas, that require you to jump from plank to plank in a circle.

Whilst in the plank, edge yourself to the edge of the plank. Then turn your character to face the wall, where the next plank is jutting out of the wall, and jump as far as you can. It’s impossible to over-extend your jump because the wall stops you. Then, walk to the edge of the next plank, and then jump back inwards to the wall again, like a zig-zag fashion.

Btw, the hysterical nature of your thread comes across as being a little pathetic, and I don’t mean that as an insult. But honestly, is this your attitude in real life too? I can’t do it, so this is unfair. Life isn’t fair, and nobody is equal. These are lessons you should have learnt in your ‘old age’.

My best advice is to keep practising until you can do it. It took me over an hour in Eternal Battlegrounds with that vista until it ‘clicked’ with me and I had the idea of using the wall as a buffer.

Grow a pair of balls!

Thanks for the fantastic responses. I really think Guardian will be the class for her. She got a Sylvari Necromancer up to level 65 with relatively few problems and although Necro has some fantastic survivability it doesn’t seem as…sturdy…as a Guardian.

Well, the last few weeks I’ve got her completely using the mouse for movement instead of using the direction keys, but she still clicks on her spells and doesn’t move in combat, she got a long way to go. I got a 12 button razer naga mouse but she says she can’t use it because her nails are too long -.o go figure.

Anyways, thanks for the brilliant replies guys, it’s good to have some direction and I’ve instructed her on where to put her traits.

She is finding the Greatsword to be a great weapon luckily. I was thinking about giving her a scepter for her second wep so she can shoot bosses from afar but she also likes mace and shield so idk.

As for utilities, I wanted to just stick her with signets because they are easier, the one that reduces damage passive seems good for her too, but she wanted a spirit sword because ’it’s so pretty’ and it does help with some damage so I allowed it haha.

Eventually I think I’ll stick her with Sanctuary and that Intervention heal because seriously, she just gets so demoralised when she dies, the more heals she has the better as far as I am concerned.

Again, thanks for the advice with traits as that was where we were most stuck!

If anybody else has anything to add that’d be great, I want to learn as much about the class as possible.

I get the way you feel man, totally understand it.

Like, personally, I am sick at PvP, I love it – but that’s the competitive streak in me talking.

I totally understand what you are saying and believe it’s down to a lack of confidence.

This is basically an over-spill from the way people feel about themselves in real life too. A lot of people are scared to do PvE group-related content because they are scared to make mistakes and let down their teamates, or make mistakes and be scared of feeling embarrassed. My wife is like this.

I think what you need my friend is a shift in attitude and perception. It’s logical to say you’ll die lots at PvP, because you are a noob at it. But instead of saying ‘so there’s no point in trying’, see every death as an opportunity to learn. What class killed you? What abilities/spells did they use? How could you counter that next time? It’s a trial and error process my friend, nobody but me is born godly.

I will also say that if you muster up the courage to give it a shot and stick through the initial learning curve, GW2 is a great environment to do this in. This is because the sPvP scene is extremely anonymous. Gw2 has a huge PvP population do you are not really going to be noticed if you suck for the meantime. This is completely different from lesser-populated games I’ve played in the past like RIFT where the population is small and personal, you are often fighting the same people over and over and it’s easy to make a reputation for yourself as either being sick and becoming feared, or being known as being rubbish cannon fodder. So yeah, you don’t get that in Gw2, nobody really knows each other, making this the perfect environment for you to grow some balls and give it a shot!

Good luck my friend

EDIT:

I am on Sea of Sorrows server, hit me up ‘Romeoh’ or Romeo.4378, I can teach you how to fight people in PvP in a nice and friendly environment.

I liked Trahearne’s concept, a gentle scholar whose destiny throws him a massive curve ball, forcing him to become the one thing he never thought he could be.

I didn’t mind being his partner, as a Sylvari myself, I respected Trahearne for being a firstborn of my kind and felt he was much more deserving of being the pact’s leader.

I kinda saw myself as his right hand, the commander with a reputation for killing stuff lol. Obviously, I have far more prowess in battle but Trahearne I always saw as a strategist behind it all.

So yeah, I liked Trahearne but my biggest issue with him was his voice acting, it’s shoddy and disconnected at best. I honestly don’t know what Anet was thinking, approving such BLATANTLY awful work for such a main character. Have a look at The Secret World’s voice acting and you’ll really be able to see how amateur Trahearne’s voice acting is. I know the OP has no problem with it, but maybe you would if you had a point of comparison.

So yeah, loved Trahearne’s character concept, but felt it was spoiled by that god awful monotone.

Hey all,

I am writing this on behalf of my wife, who recently just picked up a Guardian. and I was hoping somebody could give some advice on how she should build whilst leveling up?

The first thing you should know about her is that survivability is the most important thing for her, she HATES dying it frustrates her lol, so the build should be kinda tanky.

The second thing you should know is that she’s not exactly a pro player, her movement leaves a lot to be desired lmao, so this cuts out classes like Elementalist etc that require lots of dodges and strafing.

Basically, she needs a build that can literally just facetank stuff, high survivability and low mobility. Damage is less important to her but it would be nice if she could kill stuff faster than a snail’s pace.

What weapons, traits and utilities would you recommend to achieve this? My main is a Thief and I admit my knowledge on Guard is really limited. I have got her starting out with sword and shield.

Thanks in advance to anybody who can help!

8 – Griever is sufficiently guttural and brutal, similar to words such as cleaver, reaver. Stormlion I really like.

My Charr is a female elementalist called Kara Stormhex.

Hey, I main a Sylvari and don’t really know anything about Charr.

That said, I’m looking to create an elementalist alt, and I really like the look of female Charrs.

So my question to you is, does elementalist ‘fit in’ with Charr as a race?

When in character creation one of the options is that your father was a sorcerer and thus treated with suspicion and distain but on the other hand, one of your war band is said to be an elementalist and is described as brave and loyal etc.

So my question to you is, what is Charr’s general attitude towards magic? And if it’s negative, what are some ways that I can explain my Charr’s tendency to use magic over guns?

I don’t know if I’ve explained this well, this is for like, roleplaying purposes.

Lutinz.6915:

I doubt risen have to breathe. However the obvious reason to sink the boneships is that A) it slows the movement of risen since the ships can carry risen around quickly and it stops the ships throwing giant rotten fish full of disease and risen at us.

I’m sure he knows the tactical advantages of sinking their bone ships, but, I think what he’s getting at is why are we SINKING a ship that can sail underwater, lol.

Also, hearing what the eye saw, that’s funny haha. That didn’t ‘click’ with me at the time.

The patch today corrected the drop rate :‘(:’(

Dee Jay.2460:

For Dungeons you really want to have a ranged option at all times. The Shortbow is good but so is Pistol/Dagger or Pistol/Pistol.

In fact, if you’re running a condition build then Dagger/Dagger + Pistol/Dagger might be your best choice since both evolve around Condition Damage.

Carrion gear is the most obvious choice since Condition Damage, Power and Vitality will all prove useful to you. I’d like to add that a little Toughness isn’t too shabby either. Not worth stacking but even a little gives quite a substantial damage reduction. However the 300 Toughness you get from the Shadow Arts tree might suffice.

But…and this is quite a big deal in PvE…what really limits Condition Builds in PvE is the Bleed stack limit. One Bleed Necro in your group could seriously kitten your DPS on Boss fights.

One dedicated Bleed build will often occupy close to 15 Bleed stacks by itself. Other group members may be adding Bleeds of their own meaning you’ll reach the 25 Bleed cap very quickly. It shouldn’t really impair your progress but it will limit your performance.

Thanks for the great response. D/D + P/D/Shortbow seems like the perfect combination for me then as I also use these sets exclusively in PvP!

I am going to buy the Carrion set Maybe I should find some accessories that have a bit of Toughness on them.

The bleed limit is indeed extremely annoying and I can’t for the life of figure out why they’ve implemented that, I have faith it will be raised in the future though.

Anyways, I’m not one of those DPS nerds (anymore!) I don’t mind if my damage is being reduced because somebody is running a condition build too, as long as the boss dies in the end.

Thanks again!!

EDIT:

Thx for the WvW advice, I will be heading in there as soon as I sort my gear/builds out.

Glog.4275:

If you got your own resources to craft exotics then yeah ofcourse it’ll be cheaper for you, if not probably wont be. I tried crafting my first own exotic chest and it ended up costing me quite alot of gold as to the 3g 50s price it was set to at the time. Only had about half of the mats i needed, so yeah i wont be doing that again. xD

As to your thief build question, just look around there is alot of different builds. I personally like my S/P for both PvE and PvP, i run with 5/15/10/20/20 and stack Vit, Pre,Pow and Crit Dmg on my gear and trinkets. Blind/Daze in dungeons, keeps your party alive.

Someone will probably come along and tell you im doing it all wrong and you should only focus on maxing one or the other. I say to that /sigh. Go with what you feel utilize your play style the most!.

P.s iv yet to die in a dungeon. Dont forget to evade!.

Thanks for the response mate. I just really dislike the feel of S/P the fact it roots you and the swords look so big, doesn’t feel very Thiefy to me lol, I prefer to be flipping about all over the place, although the blind is real nice.

Yeah I probably won’t be crafting any time soon. I am just a little bit confused as to what stats to have on my Gear, I’ve always used Carrion armour but might need to put more Vit/Toughness on for dungeons or something.

I just don’t want to make a mistake as 11g is quite a lot to me.

D/D works well in dungeons? I know Death Blossom has an evade as it’s my primary skill but I had heard so many people saying Thief gets killed in 1 hit in dungeons and that we need to use shortbows to keep safe. Thanks for the advice!

Hey all, so yeah I just hit level 80 and I guess the way I play this game is going to change.

For all my levelling, I’ve relied extremely heavily on D/D conditions, using caltrops and my traits allowing for fantastic initiative regen via stealth and healing. I love my build and have tried many others, Backstab, Pistolwhip, you name it, but I don’t like them. I especially don’t like Pistolwhip.

Anyways, when I first started this game, I never thought I’d be into PvE, as I have always been so PvP orientated.

Thing is, now that I am level 80, I want to explore different areas of the game. I’ve done lots of questing and sPvP but I’ve not done a single dungeon, or taken a step into WvW yet, but now I’d like to.

So I was thinking stick with my normal Carrion armour that I’ve used so far right? Cause I’d like to make my condition build work in WvW and if it doesn’t, I’ve seen those amazing WvW vids with P/D by Wild Bill and that build relies heavily on conditions too.

But then I am like, well, what about dungeons? Like I said, I’ve not done a single dungeon before – are there any condition-based builds that work well in dungeons? I figured in dungeons our primary wep is short bow and our number 2 ability does stack bleeds and I can set the poison field down too?

Idk, I need armour that can work for both dungeons and WvW and farming =/

Can anybody help?

EDIT: Is buying exotics off the TP even the best way to get my exotic set? I can get a full Carrion exotic set for 80 for like 11gold, or should I be getting my exotic set through crafting/karma? I hate crafting xD

Asum.4960:

Alistair Cardozo.2560:

Btw its subject not “subjekt”.

Sorry for making typos in my second language at 9 am without sleep after a night full of WvW

No, ‘subjekt’ is not a typo, it’s a wrong attempt to spell ‘subject’. A typo is when you accidently press a wrong key that mis-spells a word, like this: subjecy.

Furthermore, I doubt very much you are ‘sorry’, so why write it?

Yup, I can be an obnoxious jerk too. Fun, isn’t it?

With regards to the OP – I don’t really care about people’s excuses for complaining about us. The sooner you accept that the Thief/Rogue archetype will be witch hunted and hated in every MMO that has and ever will exist, and subsequently be nerfed in every game, the better.

At this stage I just shrug, and find a different build to make people complain about.

Sniderbl.5916:

Romeo.4378:

deltryxz.7960:

You’re in Orr, Zhaitan’s home, do you think he is just gonna let you run around and do what you want without making it annoying for you?

If you’d read my thread properly you’d see that I understand the concept behind Orr and the design decisions they made but feel that in reality, it’s execution is a detriment to the rest of the game.

Your snarky logical answer can be applied to any part of the game so far whether you are in a bandit’s hideout or dredge tunnels – so why are there Heart quests there and not here?

Like I said, I can understand WHY they have made Orr like it is, but in so doing this, I believe they have deviated away from many of the philosophies that have made the game so fun up until now.

Just because Orr is Zhaitan’s home doesn’t mean the game has to cease being fun and start being annoying.

I have fun in Orr. Fun is relative to the person. I do what I want in GW2. When I miss the intense action of large group PvE (like I had with WoW raids) I go to Orr. Otherwise I go elsewhere. You are not required to complete the map.

Just because Orr isn’t fun for you doesn’t mean that it isn’t for others.

Make a few friends and it should be easy for you to find groups for these zones if you just want to clear them and never touch them again because the difficulty turns you off.

Honestly, I don’t need to be told this. This thread is feedback personal to myself and my wife, PERSONAL. I understand the concept of fun being subjective.

This thread is feedback for Anet to consider, detailing the reasons why MY WIFE AND I didn’t find Orr fun.

I don’t need snarky comments like ‘You are not required to complete the map’.

You are mistaking this thread as a whiny rant ‘Orr is too hard for me wah wah.’ In fact, this is a feedback thread that my wife and I have discussed and I have taken the time to write, with detailed points on each part of Orr I happened to disagree with.

Honestly, I’ve tried to write my feedback concisely and I’d appreciate responses that actually provoke discussion, not telling me something I’ve already acknowledged in the OP.

Don’t just say ‘Fun is subjective. I find Orr fun’. If any of my points are contradictory to your own beliefs, write and explain why, don’t disrespect me with the same kitten, contrived rubbish you are saying to every whiny thread.

I want to know WHY you find being CC’s constantly fun. I want to know WHY you find not having the time to soak in and enjoy the location because you are running for your life, fun. I want to know WHY you find not having enough people to do events that aren’t possible to do solo like previous zones, fun.

Finally I’d like to add, again, that I am aware of the lore behind Orr, but find the lore restrictive and detrimental to the gameplay in its execution.

Some good responses!

I’ll try and respond to you guys individually

Konosh: I know fun is subjective! I even put this “Just to remind you, this is strictly my personal feedback. I don’t presume to talk on behalf of the masses or anybody apart from me and my wife.” at the end of my thread to stop responses like this!

Sollith: I disagree with the first point of your response (obviously, I made a thread about it xD ) My builds and a lot of classes require you to be quite mobile whilst fighting various mobs, and it is too easy to lose control of the fight but accidently tagging mobs with huge aggro ranges whilst kiting etc. Also, it is impossible, or ridiculously difficult (probably impossible), to run past a mob or more in Orr without being hindered, chilled, feared or dragged back. If you can do it or know somebody who can run through Orr without being CC’d a copious amount I’d like to see a vid, if possible, because no offense, I don’t believe you also it’s interesting some of the words you use in your reply like ‘work through it’, it kind of cements my own beliefs, that Orr is more work, than fun. I agree with the second half of your response, thanks for taking the time to reply!

Quelris: Thanks for the support, although I am sad you are disliking it like me.

Alexander Dragonfang: The home of an “ancient more-than-a-god dragon of the undead that have an almost infinite source of corpses to raise their army and he raised the entire place from the deeps of the sea where it was for like 300 years” doesn’t have to be, in your own words, ‘nice’ to look at haha. But a location of such immensity should be awe-inspiring and unfortunately I was too busy running for my life to soak it all in.

Lori: Thank you for a brilliant, well-written response and I agree with everything you wrote. I do believe it is an issue.

Ditton: Thanks for the reponse. I haven’t gone to Malchor’s Leap yet, and tbh, I am kind of dreading it.

Knote: Thanks for replying. 1) You are indeed entitled to your opinion. Myself, I found them to be refreshing, and we used them as ‘markers’ whilst exploring a map, that is, we went to a Heart, did it, whilst getting any PoI/Vista/SP near it. I thought they added a great structure to a map.

2)In the particular zone I just completed, I didn’t do a single event because there was nobody there to do them with. The whole zone literally consisted of me running for my life for two hours going from POI to SP, and that’s it. Also, people looking for ‘zergs’ in Map Chat demonstrated to me the shift in philosophy of their design from the rest of the game to Orr; I could solo events in previous events, I didn’t need, or want, a zerg to do well.

3)‘Occasional CC’ – Lol, are you serious? I am at a loss with this comment. Also, there is a thin line between encouraging groups, and forcing people into groups. Whilst old school MMOs where cool, times have unfortunately changed. The gaming audience is a lot more self-centred these days, with their own progression in the forefront of their minds. These days, there are a lot of people that like to do things solo or with their wife and I believe they/we should have the ability to do that. Thanks for the response!!

deltryxz.7960:

You’re in Orr, Zhaitan’s home, do you think he is just gonna let you run around and do what you want without making it annoying for you?

If you’d read my thread properly you’d see that I understand the concept behind Orr and the design decisions they made but feel that in reality, it’s execution is a detriment to the rest of the game.

Your snarky logical answer can be applied to any part of the game so far whether you are in a bandit’s hideout or dredge tunnels – so why are there Heart quests there and not here?

Like I said, I can understand WHY they have made Orr like it is, but in so doing this, I believe they have deviated away from many of the philosophies that have made the game so fun up until now.

Just because Orr is Zhaitan’s home doesn’t mean the game has to cease being fun and start being annoying.

Just completed my first Orr zone and thought I’d provide my personal feedback.

The levelling experience in Gw2 is the best I have ever encountered, until now. My highest character is level 76 w/ 200 hours played and I have been playing since launch. This is because I really take my time with levelling, experience the beautiful zones to their fullest. It normally takes me between 2-3 days to finish a zone 100% and I feel satisfied at the end and excited to move onto the next. I finished Straits 100% in around 2 hours and I just feel…meh.

There are a few reasons for this.

1) No heart quests. Personally, I found Heart quests to be refreshing and have enjoyed doing them in other zones. The cynics out there say that they are just normal quests from other MMOs dressed up nicely and disguised but hey, maybe I am shallow – I enjoyed them. I was a little miffed when I opened my map and found there was no Hearts to be done, they are a good way to explore the zone to it’s fullest.

2) I currently have over 600 screenshots of this game because I love to kick back and spend time to admire the world you have created. It was a struggle running from A to B with every mob being able to CC me, let alone kick back and look at the view. I felt like I had to run through the whole zone or die.

3) I feel like you’ve changed from your previous philosophy with regards to making things fun for the sake of fun, and easier too. Things like waypoints, right-click deposit for collectibles and separate bank space for crafting mats, the actual crafting UI are just some examples of little ways you have made this game run smoother for your players compared to other games. But you’ve lost this in Orr. Nearly every waypoint in Orr is constantly contested which made me wonder why I was opening them in the first place. One of my fave things about Gw2 is that I can rez anybody. I love rezzing people and helping them and ALWAYS go out of my way to travel the map using waypoints to quickly revive somebody if they are down. Somebody asked in map chat earlier if anybody could revive him in Triumph’s Plaza and I wanted to, but every waypoint was contested, I was on the other side of the map and the struggle to get to him from the copious amount of mobs would probably mean it would take 5+ mins to reach him and I could die in the process.

4) The mobs themselves aren’t difficult. Frustrating with their CC, yes, but not difficult. It is their density that makes the zone a challenge and I think this was rather cheap. I’m not saying make the zone easier, it’s just, no matter how good my wife, for example, gets (she is not the best of players :P ), she is still gonna die to 7 mobs. It is the wrong type of difficulty. The mob density and aggro range intimidates her to her an extent.

5) As said before, I completed the zone 100% in under 2 hours this is because I just ran from A-B as best as I could doing skill points etc. I didn’t participate in any events because their was never anybody around to do them. In previous zones, I have been able to solo a lot of events but not here. The map chat was full of people asking ‘where is the zerg’ and other people saying ‘there aren’t enough people’. I have two problems with this. A) I don’t know why you changed from your previous zones and made it so that Orr events could only be successfully enjoyed as a zerg and the execution of this poor philosophy has by all means failed when there aren’t enough people to do the events designed for multiple people.

6) A lot of people have voiced their discontent of three whole zones full of the exact same type of mob and I will add my voice to this. It’s boring and is not easy to look at although I ran past everything and didn’t stay and fight anything for fear of pulling too many mobs.

To conclude, I basically feel that you’ve gone from ‘they will love this and this will make it easier for everybody!’ to ’let’s make orr as frustrating as possible by making every WP contested so they have to run everywhere, then make every mob CC to make this a total chore, then add way more mobs than necessary to really stick it to them!’ there is a line between a challenge and being a chore and I feel you crossed it.

Just to remind you, this is strictly my personal feedback. I don’t presume to talk on behalf of the masses or anybody apart from me and my wife.

If you have differing opinions, I am eager to hear and discuss them in an adult manner.

Finally, again sorry that it is a wall of text but I hope you can appreciate that I have tried to put my feedback in a concise and well-written manner.

Romeo

Attached in a screeny of the poor guy in map chat asking to be rezzed

As long as they don’t nerf our condition builds I won’t be too unhappy. I think out condition builds are very balanced atm.

My argument with regards to backstab echoes a lot of other people’s. Yes the burst is nice but after the burst, the Thief becomes useless until his cooldowns are back up, the stars align, and he takes down another single target. The backstab build Thief is more of a detriment to a team in the long run but the unlucky person who got crit for 8k has too mant tears in his eyes to see that.

Finally, I guess I am just resigned to the Thief getting nerfed in pretty much every patch. It is no different in other games, RIFT, WoW, Tera, the Rogue archetype is constantly cried about and ultimately crushed into the ground and this game won’t be any different.

Luckily, like I said, I don’t use the backstab/heartseeker builds anyway, I much prefer our condition style gameplay so the previous nerfs haven’t effected me too badly.

I don’t trust Anet at all as a developer to get this right, because quite frankly, they’ve got nothing right since they released the game with regards to class balance, from nerfing rangers to sweeping necro bugs under the carpet, to buffing warriors, to nerfing thieves lol, to ignoring elementalists.

That is my opinion, if it’s not the same as your opinion, I don’t care

I wouldn’t be surprised if Backstab is next, after that is Thieves Guild and Dagger Storm, so that will be all three ultimates nerfed. Then, people will be start using conditions and people will cry that they can’t hit a thief when he uses Death Blossom so that will be after. Then people will cry that thieves are using Scorpion Wire to drag enemies into caltrops. “Anet, I made the decision to not walk in caltrops, I should NOT be forced by a thief to walk in them when I had enough sense to run out of them in the first place. Thieves disgust me”.

Then it will be, “you know, you could just nerf caltrops, I mean, they can stack 8 bleeds so fast!”

Then we will lose the ability to stealth whilst stomping. Would you believe I’ve already seen two threads about this in our forum and one of them was made by a Guardian lmao!

The thing is, I am being deadly serious when I write this. All these things, I have seen people complain about. I sound like a typical ‘doom-sayer’, whatever, I’d bet 10 dollars that this will come to pass in some shape or form.

“Norn on the Cob”

Absolutely brilliant xD

Is there a way to get in when the gates are closed? The only things I need to complete the map are in there. I Googled it but it only shows vids of warriors abusing their gap closer to get in. I am a Thief. I should be better at breaking into places than warriors xD

Anyways if anybody got any advice, I’d appreciate it. I’m trying not to be frustrated, if an event is the only way to get in then fair enough. But there’s no doubt this is breaking my game immersion.

I exclusively use condition based builds.

D/D.

Caltrops, Death Blossom x3, steal, Death Blossom, stealth /enemy

I use d/d conditions exclusively in sPvP and PvE and have enjoyed much more success, averaging 250-325 points a game.

I stack 15-25 bleeds AoE in seconds and then leave the fight to my team mates who will always win with such weakened enemies. Meanwhile I am running off to the uncontested flag or Champion, thus, getting the points for my contributions towards the kills, and the flag captures.

I have three means of stealth ankittenraited to recover initiative on both stealthing and healing. This make 1v1s easy, and escaping easy too. Three means of stealth + evade on death blossom is fantastic survivability.

My traits are centered around maxing condition damage – duration isn’t as important is sPvP as they can be cleansed, and maxing initiative regen for more death blossoms. I feel particularly awesome when I stack 20 bleeds on somebody and then stealth away, watching them bleed.

I imagine my thief to be the master of slow death, severing arteries and pressure points with feline grace and dexterity before slipping into the shadows to watch the victim limp around before bleeding to death.

All you thieves out there that are kitten face tanking can do 1!

EDIT: will post my traits tomorrow, am in bed on phone atm. Night all.

I would love giant snakes and a fox pet.

Skip to 02:01 in this vid and then tell me you don’t want a massive snake snapping at kitten.

Massive cobra would be cool.

As for foxes, I just like em

What pets do you guys want?

Does such a build exist?

I have gone literally from level 1-60 using a d/d condition build, revolving around initiative regen to stack as many bleeds as possible with Death Blossom in conjunction with Caltrops and Dagger Storm. The AoE of my spec is freaking awesome and I am having no issues with it at all. I love it!

I even use D/D condition build in PvP and regularly notch over 300 points at the end of a game.

Anyways, whilst I love my daggers I am looking for a little change and was maybe thinking P/P? Thing is, I just spent like 7.1 gold on level 60 cultural armour (looks SICK!) and the armour has brilliant condition stats on it for my level, so I don’t want to transmute it with armour for Power.

So my question to you, my fellow thieves is this:

Are there any cool P/P condition builds for PvE? By PvE I mean general exploration, hearts etc etc, not into dungeons.

Cheers!

I find your very healthy approach to gaming, and life in general it seems, to be out of step with MMO forums. If you wish to remain here with the rest of us, I believe you should re-think this approach and rage at the game designers for not locking you into an addiction cycle.

Haha! I love it man

Just want to say thanks again for the great responses, your opinions and own style of gaming I find very interesting. Fair play to you guys who have racked up so many hours already, I miss the days when I could do that but am enjoying my new laid-back style of playing too!

And just to clarify, y’all have your own opinions on the game, and some of you are obviously discontented with some aspects but just for the record, I think this is a great game and I enjoy it immensely. Playing for an hour at a time is not a case of me disliking the game and not wanting to play it for longer than that.

Cheers