Guild Wars 2

I am not seeing much of a differences when it comes to testing it on golems. The off hand with a sword can change things up a bit, but for the sword and the greatsword themselves, they seem on par with each other, with just different attack and play styles to fit different battles.

When it comes to melee, it seemed the greatsword had some better advantages with a block and an auto evade, though the sword did have some nice controlled evades. I did enjoy using both weapons, but there are times I did find myself leaning toward the greatsword more. An off-hand with a sword though did make a difference when it came to numbers and utility. So I am thinking there lies the advantage the sword has over the great sword, is the off-hand weapons you can use with it.

I have to agree a lot with the assessment of shadowpass made. The dagger main hand is really lacking and I find it ironic that it feels more useful out of beast mode then in. If I remember correctly, one of the dagger abilities worked better with the pet out then in beast mode (the number two ability applies poison by you and your pet, then just in beast mode where it applies just by you?). Though maybe not a popular weapon, felt that sword gave me better chances at surviving in a melee situation then the dagger did, yet still kept the pressure on the target I was attacking. Not saying these two weapons should be the same, but at least comparable to each other. Maybe I need more time with the dagger to see it shine, but it was initial impressions after messing with it for a few hours.

I did like the variety of new abilities the ranger can have with soul beast and I can see some interesting techniques coming out of popping in and out of beast mode to fit different fighting situations. Including underwater, which I had a surprising amount of fun with in beast mode.

Stances for me were a hit or miss. It felt like they either were not working correctly (like not giving boons like it should) or under powered. The idea behind it I thought could work, maybe it just needs more adjusting to make it play smoother. It did feel a bit awkward to use at times, as if the cool downs were a bit too long for the effects i was getting out of them. That or the stances did not last long enough to be all that useful.

The elite stance did not feel that great to me and it seemed like I got more with using the shout elite instead when I was fighting in combat. This one out of all the stances i felt needed more of a rework.

There is one trait I thought was interesting to use, that if the character takes a lethal blow while in beast mode, instead of getting downed, the character and pet separate instead. It can be a saving grace but when this happens, the health is so low afterwards, that the character will get downed right after anyways. I have mixed feelings on the trait. It has saved me before while I was testing some things, but it was difficulty to recover from at times as well. Not saying it is a bad trait, just one that makes me wonder what determines the amount of health you get after you and your pet separate. Is the same amount before the lethal blow or is it something else that determines it? I should have tested this some, but with so much to try out, I did not get around to it.

Either way, it was fun and interesting to be able to try out of these new abilities of the soulbeast. I hope they work on it some more before release or even after as well, as i see the potential for some engaging game play with it.

P.S. The aura did not bother me at all and I liked it. But I also was playing a big tall norn, so maybe it needed scaled down on other races? I hope the aura does not get changed too much if it gets changed at all.

Ashen.2907:

I completely understand your sentiment, but it is very likely that the data supports ANet’s apparent belief that time restricted availability actually increases revenue. Not everyone loses.

I have to disagree on that, everyone does loses. It is a bad anti-consumer tactic that in the long run, creates ill will and resentment on the consumer side. Just like those crappy gambling boxes aka Black Lion Chests. Sometimes it works in the short run, but to savvy consumers, they take their time and money someplace else. I know I did. I like the game, but there is a limit and the gemstore, the way it is run, is where the buck stops for me.

I have to agree too, this current event was really well done. Glad I kept that broken sword all this time. It is a good continuation of the far too short and incomplete story started heart of thorns.

Anela.3867:

I love this glider! Like others have said, I wish black dye would work.

The shadow dyes seem to come close to this. I also really this glider. I have no love for the gemstore and the way it is run, but for me, it was worth spending the gold for it. Unlike some here, I have not had the issue others are having with others with it taking up screen space. Perhaps need to scroll back more to see more or screen size too small? Not sure, might be one of those things I will have to test out myself to see what the issue is.

At the very least, the easy fix of… .shorting the distance of emotes. Its at a crazy distance for some reason. It just needs to be the distance as text chat. It is way too far as it is now.

A much needed change, thank you Developers, Coders, etc. for this one.

Update: Seems the issue was with my processor, not the game itself as I previously thought. Or at least as far as I can tell.

This has become especially frustrating with the new Ember Bay updating coming around the corner. Hate to give up on the game, but for me its been already a week of this with no solution in sight and so far, support has been of no help.

AMD Phenom II x6 1075T Processor (3.0 Ghz)
8 GB ram
Win 7 64-bit
XFX Radeon HD 6870 (PCI-e 2.1, 1GB)

I do not know what is going on, but been hovering around 5-10 FPS for days now, making the game unplayable. The driver is the latest for it, but unfortunately, AMD considers it a legacy card now and no longer making new drivers for it. I have gone on to the using the suggest crimson beta drivers for the card, but the results have been the same.

Find it kind of odd that guardian wasn’t even brought up…

Since yesterday my FPS dropped to 5-10 where I was not having the issue the day before. Not sure what the cause of it is as no other game I currently have suffers the same issue. I tried both 64 and 32 client, still the same issue. Does not seem to be anything to do with ping as far as I can tell.

Also… how just being able to buy hair styles we want and use them when we want? Instead of this kit annoyance. It would fit into this hair character slot idea. Work it like gliders. Be able to use the dyes we have collected on the hair accessories?

Things like this is why BLC are such kitten to this game. People do not seem to realize why buying keys is such a bad thing or why those gambling boxes are bad for the player.

Permanent Hairstyle Contract. For Gems and not behind gambling boxes BS.

mauried.5608:

Most people who play MMOs, play them for the entertainment value.
They dont play them because they run on a particular OS.
The cost benefit ratio for a Linux Client simply isnt there.
Blizzard would have made a Linux client for WOW years ago if it was,
People grossly underestimate the effort and expertise needed to port a complex game to another OS, and then be able to provide ongoing support for it.

Its why anyone plays games, for entertainment. But people won’t play a game if they do not have the system for it, PC vs console games for example. And blizzard does indeed have an unreleased linux client, made years ago.

People are not grossly underestimating the effort and expertise it takes. They are underestimating having a linux client and the value of it.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Ameepa.6793:

TheMagickDoll.7594:

Also fixing the range of /em being seen would be nice as well, as it way too large. Putting it as the same range as text I think would fix that and not sure why it has not been done all this time.

This should be done immediately and there is no reason why the range should be as long as it is now. I’m tired of seeing these endless roleplay emote floods while being in totally different part of DR. I have way more roleplayers on my block list than people blocked for real reasons because of this.

You do know if emotes bother you so much, you can turn them off? Me thinks you’re just you block roleplayers just because you don’t like roleplayers. Well, hmmf!

Just illustrates the problem of the emotes being seen too far away, for everyone, no matter what their gaming preferences my be.

I just have one computer that runs win7 at this point, the rest run some flavor of debian-based or ubuntu-based distro. To me, the writing has been on the wall for a while now. The direction that MS is going is not the road I want to take. I am not alone in this either. Majority of people I have played with have stuck to win7 or are linux users to begin with. The options to game on the debian (or other linux flavors) platform has been expanding as well. Its very an untapped market with a very dedicated user base.

Personally, I would love to have a native client, however unrealistic or realistic it may seem to people. Because no game will ever make me want to use win10.

More animated emotes and sitting in chairs would go a long way. So many social places in game filled with chairs we as players cannot use. Its getting annoying.

Also fixing the range of /em being seen would be nice as well, as it way too large. Putting it as the same range as text I think would fix that and not sure why it has not been done all this time.

SarahWitter.2317:

After all, by buying chests, you’re supporting the creation of the content that everyone plays.

I will gladly support a game I enjoy, but I will never support the gambling boxes that are black lion chests. If you sold these weapons as weapon set skin packs, I would be gladly spend some money on it. But I will never buy keys. This whole buying a key for a “chance to get something you want” is a farce and is not something I will put money on.

Either sell the items straight out or put it in game, but I have had enough of this gambling business. Its not fun, majority of people that I have talked to hate it or believe it is some sort of “necessary evil” (which is total BS). From what I have seen, it is the most disliked thing about this game. If not for someone else, it is for me.

I have supported the game in other ways, but it has never been through buying keys and it never will.

What I find a bit off putting, is the skin bought has only one time use, not unlimited uses. Then you have to buy or earn charges in game to use it again. That I find that to be an issue, where in other games I buy it and I can use that appearance as many times as I want.

It does seem pretty bizarre. I have wanted to look back party chat too and find it erased off the chat log. It is annoying.

or at least to be able sit in a chair.

Maybe ability pins, like GW1 had. Concept Art Books. Mouse pads with concept artwork on it. From what I have seen, there are some fanatic pieces of art in of themselves.

Sariel V.7024:

They are apparently back today, and on sale.

Here’s hoping y’all see this.

Yep, the irony is not lost on me, considering I was just complaining this morning about this. I still think it is anti-consumer practice and not all happy about it.

I find it a stupid thing to do. There is obvious still buyers for these outfits/armor skins, to remove them is shooting themselves in the foot. I am in the same boat myself and removing them is now costing them sales they would have had otherwise. The Gemstore has become an annoyance and frustrating – not an experience you want potential buyers to go through.

Out of all things in GW2, the gemstore is the biggest sore spot in the game and the constant mishandling there of. The more buying options the better, not less. If the pricing wasn’t worse enough, now we don’t know if something will be there or not to buy? These are digital items, there is no excuse for this. Barely any items in the first place and now they are removing items like this?

I cannot help but feel it inspired these in gw2: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dragonhunter's_Gauntlet

I miss being able to color my powers. I could do it in city of heroes (which still had a lot of far better game systems then current MMOs, still bitter about what happened, but that is another story), warframe, etc. The fact we have spend charges to change armor looks still annoys me.

I cannot figure it out either. If it was a slot for a shared bag, maybe, but just one slot? 700 gems? You are out of your mind. I really thought it was one shared bag slot, not.. just one slot. That would be worth the gems. Though, I guess, thanks for the one free slot?

Behellagh.1468:

But it may be good for the bottom line if it brings in new players who buy the game.

You may not like how college athletic divisions are organized around football if you are a basketball fan but the money college football generates but in the end it funds the rest of a college’s sport programs.

Translation, if it’s good for the bottom line, it’s good for the game.

Having worked at a college, sports tend to be the black hole money pits which is never good for the rest of the college programs, with over paid coaches and under paid teachers. it has never been good for the bottom line.

But I do appreciate Mike being straight forward and open to the community that still play this game, which I am sure is a thankless job. I still worried about the future of the game being under NCsoft but I have my fingers crossed. (Do not want to see a repeat of City of Heroes/Villains blunder on NCsoft part again.)

I agree completelym it is way over price for the value you get out of it.

No Idea. I wish people didn’t so we can have this whole lockbox crap go away. Its a horrible system for the player. Just sell the weapon skins as packs for something, not this nickel and dime the wallets . . . on a “chance” to get to get one skin. The Gem Store prices are completely out of wack in term of values. 400 gems for one extra bag slot on one character only? Needed charges to change your armor looks? Things like that are very player unfriendly for a game.

I also cannot progress my personal story. Same problem as a lot of other people, I cannot speak to Scout Acan. I even have the green star over his head, but he just continues to ignore me. But at least he places some great music. Makes me want to get that instrument.

Instances that scale according to the number of people isn’t a new thing. City of Heroes had this down pat, with different scaling options to raise the difficulty. Guild Wars 2 has even done it themselves with Tower of Nightmares with mini-dungeons that scaled according to the party size of 1-5. It would be really be nice to see more of this, especially in a game like this one.

Why are people even defending this? 1000 gems it outrageous, no matter how good some people consider the outfit. It does not matter if it is a “wedding dress.” This is not even remotely acceptable of a price tag and kitten right I am voting with my wallet and not buying it. Worse enough we have gambling boxes for skins that should just weapon skins bought as a set, but 1000 gems for an outfit? Who ever is charge of the gem store is way out of their minds on this one.

It is stuff like this that makes rethink about quitting the game all together.

This has been bothering me for a while. Made posts about it before, but glad to see others commenting on it still about the lack of emotes. On top of that, would be nice if we could actually sit in chairs too. Let us interact with the world more.

24 hour? Even if “preview,” it is an unhanded marketing tactic that is unfriendly to our community and unfriendly to us as a consumer. Weapons behind RNG boxes and now this? PLEASE STOP THIS NON-SENSE!

Hero Fantasy is a good system you can use if you really want to get detailed or what I have done in my current gw2 table top game – Mutants & Masterminds game system. I just set the power level down a bit and it works great. Recreating a mesmer was probably the hardest part at first, but was completely possible.

One thing that people might be forgetting, quaggan are shapechangers. They do have a battle form for those who embraced their more-violent side, which might mean the quaggan could have had a darker side to their history; maybe a time when they were not as peaceful as they are now. Perhaps they can just make gills for themselves whenver they need it.

Come to think of it, Krait supposively have a form of shape shifting as well. And Kodans might just be norn who lost the ability to shapeshift back, Maybe norn did travel from the seas before settling into the mountains. Notice a lot of shapeshifting races seem to involve the sea. Random theories of course, but fun to ponder.

The first is a picture hanging from a wall in GW1. The second is an image of the twisted marionette in GW2. Not saying this might truly mean anything lore wise, but resemblance is uncanny between these two images and I thought it would be fun for all of us to speculate on.

Maybe this drawing made way back in guild wars 1 inspired the creation of the twisted marionette or perhaps, there is story going farther back then some demented sylvari . . .

Either way, hope this gives all something entertaining to talk about.

The cloth issue is definitely an annoying one.

In my opinion the mechanics of the game helped a lot to make it a better community. No fighting over harvesting nodes, no loot drama, and no monster tagging. All positive points.

Its almost as good as City of Heroes. Though that game came out years before and did community stuff a great deal better. That game had an awesome community behind it (and that community is still fighting the good fight to get their game or some game like it back to life!). Yes, even better then this one (no disrespect to GW2 community or A-Net, I still play and like it in this game as well). It had all those positive points and more.

I think A-Net is on the right track in mechanics that help build a better community, but I know they have the talents to make it so much more and I hope to see more of it in the future.

Something I really wanted to see…

We have all these tables and chairs in the game, yet… after two years, still not able to use them. Some might consider it minor, but back in the mind.. there is a chair, why I cannot sit in it? We have all these taverns to hang out in yet we cannot really fully enjoy it because simple thing as not being able to sit on a chair. It bothers me, bothers me a lot.

Emotes: Here is an area where the game is sorely lacking. Even guild wars 1 had more emotes then Guild Wars 2 and even it barely had any emotes to begin with. Having more emotes to express ourselves through our characters would benefit all players.

These are qualities of life I really want to seem come with the expansion. Having chairs we can sit in while we feast or chat in the Guild Halls? Bring friends our friends to our home instance to sit and chat for a short while before or after our last adventure together? These things could bring a lot to the game, yet not necessarily so complicated.

How about another dance book? Maybe a mastery dedicated to learning emotes (aka, learning expressions from another culture perhaps)? There are a lot of possibilities here that could bring a lot to the game and bring more life to the characters and the world around them.

4,200 hours
nothing, not even from Karka event.

played since beta

I dislike raiding in general and the culture around it. I can take a pass on that. What I do miss though, is having 8 party groups like we have in guild wars 1 and city of heroes. Or having instances where the dungeon scales in difficulty in according to the party size of 1-8. Or being able to sit in chairs. I would love to be able to do all of that again.

Really, the only solution to this, is for people to stop buying the kitten keys already. It sends a better message then using message boards. I am sick of this gambling crap too. I would buy the skins if they just sold them straight out, but this non-sense has to stop. “Just buy them off the trading post” is a band-aid excuse to a serious problem to the game. I do not know if has to do with the “Nexon” influence or not, but its not acceptable practice.

Its not only the the mini but the new mining nodes as well. I am never buying into the RNG crap chests, so its potential revenue lost yet again for a-net. These gambling chests are a plague for MMOs. Buying for a chance? No thanks. Either I buying it directly or nothing. Its a lost for both me and A-Net.

And saying “just buy them off the Trading Post” is a poor excuse for a system that bad for the customer that only aims to exploit the buyer.

Behellagh.1468:

In the days of City of Heroes they added a “streak breaker” to their RNG hit code that guaranteed a hit after X number of misses, based on the hit percentage chance.

If your to hit was over 90%, it allowed only one miss in a row, the next attack is guaranteed to hit. Over 80 but under 90, 2 misses, etc. It still allowed “lucky” people to exist but significantly helped players on an unlucky streak.

Now here you would track loot roll percentages. As for implementation, it could be as simple as number of “misses” needed for a guarantee drop at a specific quality or a more complex statistical analysis that would trigger if the player’s count falls below say 10% of a standard distribution. Depends how much you want to “mess up” the aggregate drop percentage.

Example. A player for his level and luck he has a 5% chance for a rare. The streak breaker would kick in after 19 misses. Or you could, using the stats method make the trigger after 44 or log(0.10)/log(0.95) where 0.1 is the lower 10% distribution threshold and 0.95 is 100% minus the 5% chance to get a rare.

So a 1% chance would have either a 99 miss threshold or a 229 miss threshold.

Of course upon getting a drop or triggering the streak breaker code would reset the miss count.

Just some thoughts.

Such a great game, so much other MMORPGs need to learn from it. I still feel virtually homeless without it.

Becka Williams.4978:

I still think a reward track is the best idea. The programming’s already in the game, it doesn’t require tokens, or thousands of new things for the server to keep track of. Of course, we leave RNG as an option, but you can work towards stuff, as well. I bet this would be very popular. I don’t care if people laze out on earning, or work their kitten off to get it. Everyone gets their own fun from the game.

The reward track idea does seem to be a good one. Has a good way of visually seeing a form of progression toward something.

While I thought the event was fun that lead to its destruction, I do find myself wandering around the ruins, missing what was there. I am curious what they are going to do with the place. But it is nice to see the man race cities come back to life again.