Guild Wars 2

Player.8373:

I want to be abe to see Echovald Forest again :/

I miss it too man… I miss it too…

Anet elluded to achievements, in nature of what is required to achieve them, being sort of dungeon like in an interview a few months back. I lost all hope for new meaningful content then.

We had this kind of thing in GW1 with alliance battles from Factions. Fort Aspenwood was HUGELY popular pitting the Luxons against the Kurzicks and rewarding players with points in their faction that they could use to buy faction themed armor and weapons with.

If your faction did particularly well in the alliance battles, the battle lines would move revealing enemy outposts that could now be claimed by guilds who hold allegiance with your faction.

Sadly, I think I remember reading from one of the PvP dev that they don’t want to do anything like this because they don’t want to split the player base up.

Aivirth.7123:

so basically…..you copied aion’s dredgion

Was exactly my thought.

I wanted to add a few more points that matter to me here…

Cinematics: Lots of them in FFXIV, they look good, but hardly any of them are voice acted. And, you can never tell which ones will be. It creates this 1990’s feeling when playing the game that just takes away from the experience in a large way. With so many things done right in FFXIV, how they skimped on this is just depressing.

Expression: So, GuildWars 2 has a few emotes, with some notable ones missing from GW1 (/flute /drum /guitar /paper /rock /scissors /roll etc etc)

Final Fantasy XIV owns it in this department. When I first started the game, a buddy and I spent the first hour and a half goofing around with what must of been at least 50 emotes. There are body wide expressions and even facial expressions!

You can /sit in a chair at a table (hell you can sit on boxes, crates and all sorts of kitten!) with other characters and when you type something into the /say channel your characters lips move!

You can /smile /scowl /frown and so much more! There are so many emotes there is a dedicated UI element with them all listed, and I am not joking, there is atleast 50 emotes. This is great for role-players and people who want to just have a little fun in game with friends and immerse themselves in the world that much more.

Dungeons: There are way more dungeons in FFXIV than in GW2 (that includes the multiple paths from GW2 dungeons). There are major bosses with various levels of difficulty you can select before entering. Dungeons in FFXIV are more fun to play in IMO than all the base dungeons in GW2. The new living world bosses that have ben getting released though, are fantastic and I applaud net for their improvements. It just sucks we can’t expect these improvements on existing dungeons.

LFG Tool: FFXIV’s is a legitimate LFG tool, GW2’s is….better than nothing.

Leveling: There are a variety of ways to level in GW2, between exploration, hearts, crafting, and events. I will say FFXIV offer’s what appears to be more ways to level, but ultimately it’s all the same stuff repackaged with a different name.

FATE’s are a joke, they try to be dynamic events in the weakest way possible. They are literally big number mobs that spawn in a location with little to no context. I like how in GW2, everything has context and there is a story behind it.

For example:
GW2 Dynamic Events – An NPC is walking down a path in a small down, and suddenly centaur begin to attack. The NPC runs out of said town down the path just outside of the town and starts yelling at nearby players to help, informing them of the plight of their town. Players can join the event and are automatically scalled to it’s difficulty.

FFXIV Fates – Several mobs spawn out of nowhere, and a paragraph is shown at the right side of the screen attempting to create some context, but ultimately is a kill ten rats with a weak reason why at the end. Players who join and are to high have to click a button to be scaled to the event, any participation before this is not counted.

I’ll stop there lol.

If I had to choose between the two and not play both, I would choose GW2, BUT ONLY because of the lack of voice acting. It’s that important to me. If FFXIV had this nailed down, I’d go FFXIV over GW2 easily.

Interesting to see what you wrote about the differences in your opinion on GW2 and FFXIV. I also have played both for a significant amount of time, I figured I’d offer my opinion on each point you brought up.

UI – The UI is certainly more cluttered. I didn’t mind it though when I was playing FFXIV. If you want a real uncluttered UI you should check out the Elder Scrolls Online. I love it.

Combat – I love GuildWars 2 combat system feels mechanic wise, with that said, I love how Final Fantasy XIV’s combat looks. It’s just so beautiful. Everything you do in that game feels epic because it looks epic. Square Enix always bring it in the graphical department and FFXIV is no different.

With that said, I love how there is so much more character progression skill wise in FFXIV. The system in place that lets you learn abilities from other classes is very reminiscent of GW1, and this alone is a HUGE plus for me. I HATE the lack of skills in GW2, and can’t stand the fact that some professions have only two elites. It doesn’t allow for any variety in builds, at all when compared to FFXIV.

Crafting – I’m sorry you feel that way about FFXIV’s crafting system. I for one found it to be incredibly deep. When you are crafting something, you feel like each item you make was really tailored by you with all the options you have during the process of crafting it. In GuildWars 2, you buy a recipe, get the mats, hit “Craft”. Kinda boring IMO.

Also, Final Fantasy XIV has fishing

Traveling – It is really hard to go back to traveling the old fashioned way after being spoiled by Waypoints in GW2. They are just everywhere, but in FFXIV like you said there is only one per map, this is clearly to remove redundancy with having mounts too. Also, on a note about the shards not having names. I am pretty sure the last time I played (about two months ago) they fixed that, they now include in parenthesis the name of the actual zone, IIRC.

Ultimately, I did not mind FFXIV’s travel system, like I said above, Square Enix brings it in the graphics department, and it’s always nice to take in the environments while traveling. They have an amazing day/night cycle. Those sunsets, OMG.

Mini’s – I laughed when I saw you list this, I never considered mini’s to be something people considered when playing an MMO. I guess I was wrong.

Professions – Each game has their own style in terms of what they bring in terms of classes/professions to the game. HOWEVER, FFXIV has something that is dear to me that that GW2 apparently will never have: Healers. I miss healing in GW1, and when they announced no monk in GW2, it broke my heart.

Style: GW1 and FFXIV have WAY more interesting styles of armors and weapons than GW2 in it’s current state could ever dream of. That coupled with the fact that I have to pay to get my hair re-done on my toons in GW2 is a serious turn off. It is a step up from GW1 in the fact that I can trade gold for gems to buy what I need, but still in FFXIV it costs in game gold. So, I agree with mostly what you have said here.

I use to read and play. Now I only log on for about an hour every two weeks and read most of the time. I do play ESO now though

Monk. I miss playing a prot monk in GW1

Gaile Gray.6029:

I can’t take a request from this thread.

I guess this thread is on the naughty list?

Fernling.1729:

An expansion does so much for mmos. Like for WoW, I was pretty bored with it for a very long while now. Mostly from the last expansion. Here we have WoD release and I am seriously in love all over again. That is also to do with the expansion being one of, if not, the best expansion they have ever released.

It’s brought WoW subscribers already up to over 10 million. We’re talking about over 3 million subscribers returned to the game because of a very well done expansion. Imagine the sales christmas will bring in. 3 million subscriber increase on the same day the expansion released(november 13). China wasn’t even released until the 18th, so the numbers should go much higher than that.

I’ll keep checking GW2 forums out until I either get bored of WoW or until GW2 steps up their game and produces enough content to last more than a couple hours a month.

Not advertising. It’s already been established that gw2 players don’t really want what WoW offers. I’m just saying an expansion release does wonders for a game. I fully think anet would benefit from doing the same.

If you’re expecting something decent being added to the game, watch this for a very sobering revelation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpR6LhBhW4

I’ll give you a hint, The Living Story is all this game is apparently going to be getting in the future. Oh, and Achievements are considered end game now apparently too. That’s what arenanet meant when they said “the whole game is end game”.

CMM.6712:

TimTimTimma.6395:

CMM.6712:

Syosha.5917:

CMM.6712:

That is exactly what the gem store is for. You better believe that some spend a lot more than $15 a month too. What is with the sense of urgency in the forums lately? Do you guys expect an expansion for holiday release?

No, but maybe news of an expansion on the horizon would be great.

I agree I would like that as well, but I don’t understand all the hostility and complain/gripe threads and trying to force people’s hand. You must do this or I will quit playing and the like. If I were a dev I would reply with I don’t want you to play my game anyways if that is how you are going to treat me.

Just to clarify, I never once suggested in the original post “I will quit if X”. If you re-read it, I clearly explain I love this game. I just, feel my (as I am sure many others feel) interest in it wavering and anet doing really nothing about it. It is almost like anet no loner is interested in keeping me around, even though I supported GW1 from the start and continued to do so with every release they had.

I saw that in another post today the I’ll quit thing. You know what you are really preaching to the choir in a way because I have been playing as long if not longer in the GW world, and in some ways I feel the same as you do. The overall point I am trying to make is “Why all the negativity?” I mean that in a general sense to be clear.

As someone who was a GW1 veteran and invested in this gaming world for a long time, I would think that others like me would be excited the way the game is headed from a lore point of view. If you don’t like the LS and achievements that is not really Anet’s fault. Peace.

Many people agree the LS is great! Aside from some of the curious writing…. I love lore and story, I really enjoy the living story. The Living Story just doesn’t cover enough content wise. I think if people enjoy achievements thats awesome go for it, but I certainly don’t feel like achievement hunting should be end game.

Syosha.5917:

TimTimTimma.6395:

uberkingkong.8041:

Funny, I see you mentioned people stacking in a corner because AI is dumb. The thing is, when games first came out people didn’t know what to expect. But after time, games just become too easy, especially against AI.

Stacking in a corner is just common strategy in every game, have make sure all the attacks land, deal as much dps as possible, etc.

Think of games like a job, the more you do your job the better you are, the more you play games the better you are or the ‘play’ will be because of influence by those that have been doing it forever.

You got these people that played fps, to DoD, to starcraft, to diablo 2, to raiding in WoW, to GW, to LoL, to GW2. That’s a pretty good history of gaming, gaming shouldn’t be too challenging for you even what the developers consider or make it challenging because fact is you been doing this for a long time, nothing really impressive and you seen it all already.

I see what you are saying, and it is true. But you know this isn’t a case of people just getting so good they are able to fly through stuff. We’ve seen anet release some AWESOME boss battles, especially lately. This has me really excited at the prospect of future dungeon releases. It’s the original 12 or so dungeons the game launched with that are plain and simply broken.

What ever happened to the project that involved redesigning all the dungeons? Ascalon got an update, and we were told the rest would follow suit, and that never happened. All we got was a path in Twilight Arbor that nobody really runs anymore. Where are the results for all these changes they announced so long ago?

We aren’t getting new dungeons, or an overhaul of existing dungeons; Arenanet no longer has a dedicated dungeon team.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpR6LhBhW4#t=256 (a few months ago, if I remember correctly)

They seem so determined to do the easiest stuff ONLY. The guy actually said “yeah, were trying to stay away from big changes and stuff”. He even mentioned achievements as something they like doing and compared it along side with something difficult in a dungeon!

I immediately regret watching that video….

CMM.6712:

Syosha.5917:

CMM.6712:

That is exactly what the gem store is for. You better believe that some spend a lot more than $15 a month too. What is with the sense of urgency in the forums lately? Do you guys expect an expansion for holiday release?

No, but maybe news of an expansion on the horizon would be great.

I agree I would like that as well, but I don’t understand all the hostility and complain/gripe threads and trying to force people’s hand. You must do this or I will quit playing and the like. If I were a dev I would reply with I don’t want you to play my game anyways if that is how you are going to treat me.

Just to clarify, I never once suggested in the original post “I will quit if X”. If you re-read it, I clearly explain I love this game. I just, feel my (as I am sure many others feel) interest in it wavering and anet doing really nothing about it. It is almost like anet no loner is interested in keeping me around, even though I supported GW1 from the start and continued to do so with every release they had.

uberkingkong.8041:

Funny, I see you mentioned people stacking in a corner because AI is dumb. The thing is, when games first came out people didn’t know what to expect. But after time, games just become too easy, especially against AI.

Stacking in a corner is just common strategy in every game, have make sure all the attacks land, deal as much dps as possible, etc.

Think of games like a job, the more you do your job the better you are, the more you play games the better you are or the ‘play’ will be because of influence by those that have been doing it forever.

You got these people that played fps, to DoD, to starcraft, to diablo 2, to raiding in WoW, to GW, to LoL, to GW2. That’s a pretty good history of gaming, gaming shouldn’t be too challenging for you even what the developers consider or make it challenging because fact is you been doing this for a long time, nothing really impressive and you seen it all already.

I see what you are saying, and it is true. But you know this isn’t a case of people just getting so good they are able to fly through stuff. We’ve seen anet release some AWESOME boss battles, especially lately. This has me really excited at the prospect of future dungeon releases. It’s the original 12 or so dungeons the game launched with that are plain and simply broken.

What ever happened to the project that involved redesigning all the dungeons? Ascalon got an update, and we were told the rest would follow suit, and that never happened. All we got was a path in Twilight Arbor that nobody really runs anymore. Where are the results for all these changes they announced so long ago?

CMM.6712:

That is exactly what the gem store is for. You better believe that some spend a lot more than $15 a month too. What is with the sense of urgency in the forums lately? Do you guys expect an expansion for holiday release?

No, that is the problem. There is no indication that any large drop of meaningful content is coming for those of us who have accomplished what we set out to do in the base game and are bored waiting for more stuff to keep us entertained.

And yes, I know there are people who spend way more than $15/mo in the gem store (lord knows I have spent many times more than that at times). I was merely suggesting something of a volunteer type subscription to help with cash flow for Anet in the event that perhaps that is the culprit for why we are not getting a major content drop.

If they called it the “help further fund the next expansion pack subscription”, I am sure plenty of people would jump on that at this point. Give those of us who subscribe alpha/beta testing privileges along with a closed forum where we could maybe collaborate with the developers on certain things. I think it would be neat!

The updates certainly sound like something that will help PvP out. I tried really hard to get into PvP when the new reward tracks were introduced a while back, but I am a solo arena kind of guy, and the queues….oh man, how long I had to wait for matches. I eventually gave up on pvp. I miss RA back in GW1, that kitten was a blast and you rarely waited more than 30 seconds for a match. Ahh, the good ole days..

Sebastian.4610:

premium membership of any type= no. I buy gems and invest in this game because it doesn’t have that kitten.

So, you’re saying, if I was willing to pay $15/mo and nothing changed for you (you didn’t have to pay $15/mo), other than more meaningful content was made available to you because me and maybe a few others were willing to invest $15/mo, you would not be down for that? I’m a little confused, but I respect your opinion.

BilboBaggins.5620:

I’d love to see mounts added to the game even if they were only the 25% speed boost we can already attain. It adds a lot to the rp aspect of the game.

Just imagine how cool it could have been if net actually ran with the mourdrem tendril plot and had like 50% of all waypoints destroyed in the game. Mounts would suddenly be something more people would be willing to discuss. I’ve never been a pro mount person myself, I’m rather indifferent to it. However, with the state of the game being what it is, destroying 50% of the waypoints and adding mounts would of added awesome new experiences to the game.

Ah, to think of what could have been had anet actually did something with the Living Story that actually changed the world and not just a zone.

Kurrilino.2706:

Countess Aire.9410:

It doesn’t need an expansion. The content and achievements keep the game fresh and moving forward. Why is expansion the battle cry? This game has changed and evolved since its pre-release beta days. The game is evolving and changing. I am still logging in to run around and work towards gaining achievements. Doesn’t need expansion yet. Still more area to explore.

---

lol not sure if serious.

So the rolplaying people who don’t give a dang about archievement get exactly what from the game ?

I am not at work.. i don’t have to archive something. I want entertainment and
not working toward a target.

people like you are A-Nets wet dream.
No expectations and low maintenance

This. Achievements are the cheapest way to increase replay value without actually adding anything of actual value. I play for entertainment, not for a gold star that I got for killing 50 bandits or some text in a part of the UI I never access for salvaging 250 pieces of kitten.

On another note, I keep hearing people say “omg these updates are adding countless hours of content!” If your an achievement chaser, maybe it is. For me? This last update added 1.75 hours of content.

I know what is going to happen.

I want to start out by saying I LOVE THIS GAME. I loved the first game too (over 5k hours played).

It is because I love this game, that I want more. Yes, the living story is nice, and the quality of life features that have been introduced are also great. What I would love more than anything is an expansion though. It doesn’t even have to be Factions at this point (although I am ashamed to admit how much money I’d be willing to pay for that…)

I would LOVE more content, and I will even ignore the lack of plot involved with it being added if I have too! Just add a patch note or something that says “Some random guy from somewhere we’ve never been just showed up and he’s heading back home to soon, he could use an escort, you in?” And I would be all over that!

It’s been two years, and I would like new dungeons, THAT WORK. I don’t want dungeons where every group wants you to stack in the corner because the AI is too dumb to kill you when you do that. I don’t want dungeons that you can exploit your way through effectively killing the experience and making it more of a hassle than fun. I don’t want dungeons that are full of bosses that are an exercise in patience because their HP is kittened high to compensate for the lack of true challenge they pose with their mechanics.

I just want dungeons that work and are fun.

It’s been two years, and I would like another class to play. I won’t even ask for another race, just another class. A new class to experience existing and new content with.

It’s been two years, and I would like more skills to play on my existing characters! Fun new ways to experience the characters I already have invested so much time in. I would LOVE more utilities, and elites; but I will settle for simply getting access to weapons that already exist in the game, but give my characters new abilities and ways to experience combat with them.

If it is a financial issue, offer a premium membership for $15 for those willing to pay! I have NEVER enjoyed a subscription based MMO, but I will absolutely subscribe to a premium membership if it will help you guys hire more people to get the content so many of us are asking for out faster.

It’s been two years, and I would love to feel how I felt about this game when it first came out again… But it really feels like ArenaNet doesn’t care about me or any one who feels how I do. It feels like they are marching to their own drum, doubling down on their strategy and taking the stance of “You don’t like it? Go somewhere else.”

My faith in ArenaNet use to be so strong, and I was one of the biggest supporters and apologists for the longest time. It makes me wish they simply kept releasing expansions for GW1 and never announced GW2.

bump

15characters

Greetings,

You don’t know me yet, but hopefully within a few minutes you’ll know me well enough to want to get to know me even better by replying to this thread, sending me a message on these forums, or even messaging me in game!

Firstly, my name is Tim, I am a GW1 Vet and I’ve been playing MMO’s for … a long time. I’ve never gotten into RP before, but there was something about Guild Wars 2 that really had me intrigued. I was genuinely curious what RP really was. I had an image in my head of what it was, but it was based entirely on hearsay. I decided it was time for me to see for myself what it was and this is what ultimately motivated me to guest on Tarnished Coast before server transfer fee’s were introduced.

I won’t go into great lengths as to what my trip to Tarnished Coast entailed here (it is quite a story!), however if you are interested I did make a post on GW2RP five months ago here:

http://www.guildwars2roleplayers.com/forum/m/2737230/viewthread/5784797-intrigued-by-rp-during-my-tarnished-coast-visit

During this time, if you would of told me four to five months down the road I was going to…

…work on developing my first character complete with strengths and weaknesses;

[Character Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dMe7msw8MduKI4QOufF-6XIACmOtQ1XzuULdpVocX8M/edit?usp=sharing ]

…write a short story about a significant event that took place in my characters history;
…further develop my character by actually RPing;
…make new friends while RPing and go on to RP with those same people for the next SEVEN HOURS (with more multi-hour sessions later);

…I would have said “No way, I’m just not that into it.”

Now, fast forward five months later and I’ve some how made the leap from “I am not interested in developing a character bio, story, etc” to all of the above being true!

So, here I am now looking for a guild whose focus is on RP and to help you help me, I have a few items that need to be taken into consideration.

1.) I want a guild with little to no representation requirements. This is a game first and foremost for me, not a job. I am currently a member of a GREAT (Non-RP) PvE focused guild (Shout out to The Nights Watch [FaDe]!) and I WILL be representing them, most likely a majority of the time. If I have to worry about who I am representing when it becomes a chore and I have enough of those already!

2.) While it is not required, I would prefer the guild I join to be an Asura focused guild. My character is an Asura and RPing with them is a blast! Again, this isn’t required, just preferred.

3.) I’ve heard of “hardcore” RP and vice versa, but to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what that means. So, I have no idea of my needs in this department. Just let me know what your expectations are for me as I am here now for you.

4.) I would really like the guild I join to host RP events, I’ve never gotten to participate in anything like this and would love to have the opportunity!

And I think that is it! If you would like to ask me anything please feel free to respond in this post, send me a PM here, or send me an in-game mail/whisper and I will do my very best to answer any and all of your questions!

Hi,

My name is Tim, you don’t know me but we’re going to take little journey and soon you will know all about me. I am originally a Guild Wars 1 player who has invested nearly 5,000 hours into that game since it launched. I purchased every expansion ArenaNet made available and by a wide margin my favorite was Factions. I use to run with a very close group of online friends and we did everything together.

Most of us made the switch to Guild Wars 2, formed a guild and everything was awesome. However, slowly but surely one by one everyone just stopped logging on. It was really depressing because I had such high hopes that we could return to our former glory of tackling challenging content together and having a blast while doing it. I’ve remained active for the most part, taking a week or two off here and there (Flame and Frost was rolled out way to slow to keep my attention) and I do still enjoy the game, but I feel like I am missing out on so much because I do not have anyone I can regularly roll with.

I almost exclusively enjoy PvE content. I think I would enjoy WvW more if it wasn’t such a zerg fest and Player vs Door is not fun IMO. I really enjoyed every type of PvP in GW1 and I have played sPvP in GW2 and am undecided on how I feel about it. I have RP’d lightly, and found it to be fun, but I am not interested in writing a book about my characters back story.

Well, now you know about me. What’s the story behind you and your guild? Does your guild have a website? Does it have a You Tube channel? I’d love to see them! I’d also love to have a conversation with you about what your guild is about, where it’s been and where it is headed. If you are willing to have such a conversation and are willing to provide some additional details and answer some of my questions, please leave me a contact name for in-game and I hope to talk to you soon!

Sincerely,
Tim

Fox Soul.4809:

The game have an UI. Use it or left IMO.
A modified UI can give some advantage… Skills positions, colours, Bars positions… A user with the default UI play the whole game and the user with the modified UI play the same game with ( maybe) some advantage ( More free space in the screen for example).
Its true that the default UI can be better but if you play pvp with a modified UI you maybe can have more free space in the screen and see the player that with the default UI you cant see it.

Please, The read the word MAYBE before flame me.

P.S: I play a lot other games where addons are “must be” and sincerely, they are a game killer. For example: You need X addon/mod for be better in PVP bcoz with the addon/mod you have more data about ( put here anything like agro, rage, HP, mana, etc, etc..)

I had a hard time reading your post, but I think I got most of it.

What you say is true at the end, about mods. Like in WoW DPS monitors, and the like are killers and can really ruin a game.

However, I believe what the OP was saying is if we only had the opportunity to modify JUST the UI each player could enhance their own experience and put together a UI that reflects their values in terms of game play.

I understand players fear of pvpers gaining unfair advantages because of this. However, I believe the fear is unfounded. In Guild Wars 1, you were able to adjust your UI (built into the game) and customize graphics using textMOD and no one ever called foul. In fact as a Guild Wars 1 vet who has played over 5,000 hours and pvped A LOT (GvG, HoH/HA, TA).

I can honestly say there was never a moment I ever heard anyone say “Oh man dude, you have GOT to use this UI mod because it is just going to send your game above and beyond!” Let’s not forget GW1 was a “Competitive RPG”, titled that by Anet themselves. If there were going to be pvp imbalance issues relating to the UI, it would have happened there and it would have been a big issue. But it never was.

I understand the fear players have about players having an unfair advantage in pvp (being that you can customize the UI), but what I have learned from experience is that it is simply not as big an issue as people would think.

I also understand Anet’s desire to have a very minimal UI to really show case the game in their vision to players, and that is great! Have that as the default, make it look as good as you can! However, allow players to tinker with the UI a little like in GW1. I would love to be able to completely hide the mini map. In fact I would love to be able to hide everything BUT the skillbar to maximize immersion. (Yes, I know you can shift+h to hide all UI elements, but I would like to see the skill bar still)

It is my hope one day Anet will relax their restrictions on UI modding, and not allow their vision of how they want the game to be experienced, to get in the way of the individual player simply enjoying it.

This is what I would like to see:

LESS hp on mobs!

MORE mechanics on enemies!

PHASES on bosses! (If they are gonna have an enormous HP pool, at least change up the way it fights while we are taking forever to kill it.) I’d love to have a boss that has the difficulty ratcheted up as we bring it closer to death, makes finally killing it feel that much more epic

If all else fails, make all dungeons like the fractals! I LOVE THEM! <3

Just curious, maybe it’s just me, but since I patched today, whenever I launch Guild Wars 2, there is this, static sounding hum. All the audio sounds like it plays as normal (or at least I think), but there is now this static hum I hear when I launch the game and when I play. I never had this before, any ideas?