Guild Wars 2

Now that we are on “Mount Week”, I’m hoping the devs will be able to comment on this in some way. I mean, I don’t expect things to be magically solved, but it would be nice it they at least mention they have heard the complaint.

All of them look cool, though I am most excited for the Holosmith, Mirage, and Soulbeast. I’ve never really found Mesmer or Ranger play styles that clicked with me, so I’m looking forward to more options, especially a ‘petless’ Ranger option. And Holosmith just seems like such a cool idea I can’t wait to try it Deadeye looks cool, but Daredevil is almost perfect for how I play Thief, so I am less interested.

Cosigned – I’d really like to have more pants options on light female. Gem store options if nothing else – at least it’d be something.

I liked most of what I saw.

Unidentified equipment should be broken out by rarity. Or exotic and above should drop separately. Identifying should be cheaper or even free.

Mounts are cool, but some people are getting sick from them – some option to adjust/toggle for those people is really important.

martin.1653:

Hence why I said it might be they just need some time to adjust. Minority will never be able to adjust, it’s unfortunate truth, no matter how much riding would get changed.

I hope you do realise that changing mechanics of the riding at this point will cause uproar from the vast majority of people that enjoyed mounts in demo but didn’t make a comment on it.
Camera adjustments – sure, mechanics and animation adjustments – sure, if you wanna open the can of worms.

martin, some types of motion sickness can be addressed by exposure. Some definitely cannot and may relate to medical issues. While one can say “it seems weird that this does cause X, but that does not”, that doesn’t affect their experiences. It is certainly possible that nothing can be done for everyone, but why not see what can be done?

And I think there is a misunderstanding of scale. While I like the animations and all, those animations are not integral to the experience of using mounts. The animations are cosmetic – cool, but not central to the functionality of mounts in the game. The fact that so many other mount systems in other MMOs seem not to cause as many issues would seem to support that fact.

If the animations/camera mechanics were changed, we would still be able to ride mounts, jump across chasms with the raptor, run races, etc. We (the non-motion sick) would loose very little. Those people who are affected, however, are impacted greatly by this. These people can’t use the raptor (and possibly other mounts) at all. A trivial ‘loss’ for us would mean a great improvement in PoF for them.

I get there are cost-benefit decisions to be made for Anet. The motion sick people are not the majority and all. But why assume that the people for whom the animations matter that much are the majority? Maybe the majority is people who don’t really care all that much about this one thing. So why is it that horrible that we give up a tiny thing so that this small group of people can enjoy the game as well?

I am someone who doesn’t get sick from the mounts, but someone in my family (who has already posted on this thread) does. We play GW2 as a family, so if one person gets violently ill from the mounts, that lowers the chance that I’ll be buying the 4 – 5 copies of PoF for myself and my family.

I do think the mount animations are pretty cool (I especially like the skid stop on the raptor). So, if there is a way to toggle off the problematic things so that people who get sick can play too, I’m all over that idea.

However, if the mounts were changed, it would not affect my game very much – it would certainly be far from a dealbreaker on PoF, and after a week or so, I’d likely forget it was even an issue. For people who do get sick, however, changing the mounts is a huge issue and may mean the difference between playing the game or not.

Even if it didn’t affect a family member, I would not have a problem with losing a trivial cosmetic thing so that hundreds of others could enjoy the game as well.

It’s pronounced ‘gall-uhm’ and ‘wiv-urn’ now because that is how it is pronounced by people now.

And while I am at it:

• decimate does not mean ‘to destroy to one tenth’ (not anymore)
• there is nothing incorrect with split infinitives
• you can use ‘literally’ as an intensive rather than as precisely ‘literally’
• dialects like African American Vernacular English (so-called ‘ebonics’) are not a sign of inferior education but rather a fully capable language system in and of itself
• there is nothing special about the oxford comma – it’s a stylistic choice and nothing more.

Language is very different than the rules you learned in English class.

A key ring in addition to your wallet might be a good idea…

Please remember that to max out the elite spec, it requires both a lvl 80 and every hero point in core, which is almost map completion. That not a small effort. And then you have to do 4 hero challenges in HoT, very few of which that can be solo’d. Many of the ones that can be solo’d require a mastery to get to. And you have to get that on every character you want to use an elite on.

So, getting 250 points (beyond the points you use to max out all of your core specializations, which you have to do first) is not a walk in the park, nor is it something that “just happens” as a part of other game play. It is an effort! So I don’t think it cheapens it at all. Rather, it’s now a great reward for someone who has put in a lot of work on a character. And then if they want to use it on other characters, they have to do all of that work again.

Please remember that to max out the elite spec, it requires both a lvl 80 and every hero point in core, which is almost map completion. That not a small effort. And then you have to do 4 hero challenges in HoT, very few of which that can be solo’d. Many of the ones that can be solo’d require a mastery to get to. And you have to get that on every character you want to use an elite on.

So, getting 250 points (beyond the points you use to max out all of your core specializations, which you have to do first) is not a walk in the park, nor is it something that “just happens” as a part of other game play. It is an effort! So I don’t think it cheapens it at all. Rather, it’s now a great reward for someone who has put in a lot of work on a character. And then if they want to use it on other characters, they have to do all of that work again.

This even assumes that the elite specializations are really huge improvements in terms of gameplay. I tend to agree with those that say they seem to provide different play styles as opposed to better ones.

I don’t think there are any that I am dead set against using so far. I’m ambiguous about the Herald, the Dragonhunter, and the ‘zerker mostly because they don’t fit how I tend to play, but that’s about it.

I’m a semi-casual player who doesn’t dance between attunements too quickly, so the cooldown on overloading doesn’t bother me much. But I do feel like they need something a little more. Being able to dodge would be good.

Even better would be a passive ability to overload skills so they are like signets. That would make staying in the attunement much more attractive.

My few impressions (as a semi-casual PvE player) who mains a thief.

The focus on dodging is perfect for me, as my playstyle is based around dodges (Caltrops + DD dodges are a lot of fun )

I’ll put in another voice behind the need for a different way to switch between dodges. The F3 – F5 option sounds good, or something like choosing a pet for rangers. I don’t need it in combat, but I often want one dodge when roaming, and a different dodge in big fights, etc. Having to stop, open my traits, and change them is a pain. Also having the vanilla dodge as an option would be good.

I like how staff feels overall, but it does seem a little slow to me. I’d like to see it a little faster or a little more damage.

Distracting Daggers does not stay available long enough to be useful, in my opinion. I echo the suggestion that it work like a mantra.

I like the idea of fist flurry/palm strike, but it just didn’t feel very useful to me when i played with it.

Impacting strike doesn’t feel useful in PvE to me. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad skill, because it sounds like it’d be kitten in PvP or WvW.

I’m really excited by the Daredevil. We’ll see how it plays of course, but the spec seems like it was designed specifically for me My thief playstyle is based around dodging and Caltrops, so the focus on evasion and the new dodge variations are right in my wheelhouse. Plus, I think staff is an awesome weapon in general.

So yeah, looking forward to trying it.

I, my wife, and my son witnessed the Searing together. We defeated Scarlet together. And together we’ll face Mordremoth. Protecting Tyria is a family tradition.

I like a lot of things about GW2 – it’s right in the sweet spot for me in many ways.

• Pay once and play as much as you like
• The lore and that it is not Standard Fantasy Lore #234235
• The sense of humor (the Asura make me happy in so many ways)
• The many different ways of playing the game. I don’t play PvP and rarely WvW, but I appreciate that they are there. But in PvE alone, I like the diversity of activity: jumping puzzles, combat, exploration, story, big group stuff like the Silverwastes, etc etc etc.
• The collaborative nature and the way that the game mechanics themselves encourage it
• A healthy gender diversity in NPCs
• The fact that there are little bits of story everywhere. Sometimes I just hang around different areas to listen to the dialog of the NPCs.
• I really liked the Living Story, esp. Season 1. Having a new thing to see every 2 – 4 weeks was awesome, even if it was just a little thing.
• Super Adventure Box is awesome.
• The fact that (once you ignore the meta-obsessed people) you can use many different play styles and still be reasonably effective.
• How dungeons have a story mode and then several exploreable modes
• The variety of achievements available, especially the collection style achievements
• The combat system. It feels dynamic, but not a system that requires high-twitch uber hand eye coordination to be viable
• The holiday events are pretty fun, even the PvP activities. I especially like that not all of the activities are combat-based (the holiday bells, Sanctum Sprint)
• Kasmeer and Marjory (a lot of people seem to dislike them, but I always liked them)
• How the various races feel like actually different cultures (though I wished they’d diversify the subcultures in the races)
• The Cattle-pult
• Air Dagger 1 on the Elementalist – I love the animations and the effects
• How easy it is to separate the look of your armor from the stats it provides
• The art style and theme, esp. Rata Sum and the Crucible of Eternity (what can I say, I like glow-y float-y stuff)
• Hobo-Tron and my Replica Hobo-Tron backpack

Here is the problem: ‘just grow a thicker skin’ means that the trolls don’t have to be held responsible for their actions. It says ’it’s okay for people to be jerks, but it is not okay for people to be upset about others being targeted by jerks’.

How is that okay?

I know some person tossing words at you in a MMO chat isn’t very high on the great scale of life’s dangers or injustices. I know life has a lot bigger problems out there. And everyone has to deal with a lot of unnecessary stuff and learn to handle it.

But that doesn’t abdicate the troll from responsibility. Nor does the troll need other people to jump in and protect them (unwittingly or not) by making it the target’s problem and not the troll’s.

And yes yes it is a game. But it’s not. Because these are people. You aren’t interacting with bots. And words from people are not suddenly less powerful because they are typed rather than spoken. And it is horribly naive to think that people who are upset by these things (whether just a little annoyed or horribly offended) are somehow ‘deficient’ people. Every person is affected by by how others treat them, and every person is vulnerable to that. Yes, even you.

It’s a tough, cruel world. And we all need to learn how to deal with that. But why help that cruelty along by pinning the problem onto the target rather than the perpetrator. Why attack the person angry at the troll, rather than the troll itself?

Why are you on the troll’s side?

I think with a good amount of focus, underwater combat could be a lot of fun.

I think the OP makes a lot of good points – I’ll just agree with that post instead of rewriting large parts of it

Char slot? What if I want to play a Sylvari?
…
Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Basic thoughts, mostly echoing what others have said here:

• Vigor in general seems underpowered, and I miss the old Feline Grace a lot.
• Ricochet – please bring it back. PLEASE. It was the most fun of all the traits, especially for P/P which I play exclusively on my thief.

Ricochet was one of my favorite things about dual pistols! I loved it and have had it on my thief since I discovered it. I like dual pistols anyway because firing away with a gun in each hand is inherently cool. But Ricochet made it truly awesome and fun to play.

If there is anything I would ask of Anet, it is to bring Ricochet back!

Rich Fuel.7253:

expension costs 50$ im playing since 1st day until today, 50$ for almost 3 years.
best deal ever.
i dont need anything extra on the 100$ one. but im supporting those kittens and i love every single aspect of HOT.
thank you Anet for making staff

This. This so much.

If a new resort gets put up in Hawaii, do you complain that all the people who go to it get the rest of Hawaii for free?

People forget that they aren’t buying a product – they are buying a service and an experience. When I spent $60 three years ago, I also bought 3 years of unlimited server time.

If you were to value that server time at the cost of a typical MMO’s monthly subscription, I’ve gotten $540 dollars worth of access to the game, opportunity to play with other people in the game, and all of the content updates that happened in that time. And I will continue to compile that value in the basic game from now until they stop offering the service.

That’s $540 worth of value that someone buying the game with HoT will never get. They can’t play the Lost Shores event. They can’t attack the Marionette. They can’t raid the Tower of Nightmares. They can’t vote for Ellen Kiel. They can’t fight for Lion’s Arch. They can’t help take down Scarlett. They can’t play Super Adventure Box.

Sure, a lot of that content might come back. Or it might not. And even if it does come back, it will something different. And they wont’ have my experiences.

Best thing about GW2?
I spent $10+ to watch Avengers 2 last month and enjoyed myself for 2 or 2.5 hours.

I bought GW2 1,010 days ago for $60. I’ve enjoyed myself for 2,278 hours. For the 6 times the cost of a movie, I’ve enjoyed myself for over 189 times the amount of time.

I call that a good deal.

Race is really a cosmetic decision. There are some race skills, but they are minor. What really matters is the profession and what weapons you choose to use in that profession. You’ll get some very different play styles.

In PvE, there is more of a focus on DPS over support oriented builds. However, there are lots of different ways to play that, depending on what you like.

I see the conceptual leap in this class: Guardians are all about protecting the people, and the Dragons are the biggest threat. So, guardians who specialize in hunting down the dragons and their minions.

As for the mechanics, I think people are forgetting that the new abilities don’t have to all point toward one build. Having longbow as an option doesn’t mean they only use longbow. A gap closer and traps could be really useful to a sword/shield dragonhunter, for example.

Zenith.7301:

Everyone is too goodie two shoes except for Marjory, because Marjory is boss except for all the gooey eyed love talk with Kasmeer. They’re adults they should be romantic like adults actually are.

Have you actually been around romantic adults?? It gets so sickeningly sweet bystanders need insulin shots to survive.

I’m actually fond of Kasmeer and Marjory. Everyone is talking about how it seems like a badly written romance. It didn’t seem to me like it was meant to be a ‘romance’ per se – to me is just seems like a very normal relationship. It’s sweet, and I appreciate that. It’s not really drama as much as it is color, which is fine. (The Caithe/Faolin relationship, now that is more like a ‘romance’ – it’s drama). I do miss Jory’s more ‘noir’ vibe from when she was introduced, however.

I like…

• the pay model – I pay once for as many hours as I want. If I don’t want to play for a while, I haven’t lost anything. (At the same time, I’m willing to drop some money on gems from time to time because I want to support Anet for making a game I enjoy so much, but at a pace that works for my life and finances.)
• the combat system is dynamic enough that it always seems like a fun activity to me. Yet isn’t not a system that penalizes me too much for not being a high-twitch gamer.
• that there are lots of little bits of setting all over the place that you can stumble on – interesting characters and fragments of conversation, interesting bits of terrain and architecture, little bits of lore, etc. I like that Anet put in time on things like the messenger golem that runs around Metrica Provence and the newlyweds in the Ascalonian settlement.
• that I can easily move from soloing to group play to mass combat when I want – that there are options for all those types of play available.
• that GW2 has some novel approaches to genre tropes. The Charr and the Norn are both interesting yet distinct approaches to the ‘warrior race’ trope, for example.
• the diversity of the setting. I like that, for example, technology is not the bailiwick of just one race, but that the different races have different approaches to it. I like that while the races have definite characters to them, that they are not monolithic. I like that some cities are definitely one culture while others are mixed cultures.
• that you are as likely to see a female soldier among the NPCs as a male one. I like that some characters are gay and it’s not a big thing – it just is.
• that Anet is willing to destroy Lion’s Arch and not just hand wave it back.
• the fact that Anet is continuing to try different ways of telling story. Not all of them hit the mark, but they are continuing to try out different things.
• the ratio of effort to reward – it just seems to hit a sweet spot for me that keeps me interested.
• the fact that people will just work together adhoc, and that the systems (dynamic events, personally instanced elements like resource nodes, the lack of kill stealing, rewards for rezzing downed people, etc) all encourage that.
• the Asura. They amuse me to no end.
• the flexibility of playstyles – I can try out different playstyles on my characters back and forth as I like, and there seem to be numerous different options for playstyle (I think that the forum communities are overly obsessed with the ‘meta’ and the optimization of builds – it seems to me that they are missing out on a lot by being so narrowly focused)
• that it’s pretty. There are some really cool visuals.
• the things for sale in the gem store are really 100% optional.

All of those keep me coming back.

Has the meta always been this bland?

I don’t know. I’ve paid no attention to it. I’ve been too busy enjoying the game for the last several years to notice.

The Mastery system has the ability to learn the Itzel language – I wonder how that will work? Will you just get told “You don’t understand what they say” dialog boxes? Will tbe language show up as nonsense unless you have the right Mastery levels? Is there any attempt at a constructed language, a la Dothraki in Game of Thrones?

I am not expecting an actual conlang, though that would be awesome. If Anet doesn’t have a conlang, maybe I will make one. I’ve done professional conlang creation, and I am working on an Asuran conlang anyway

Honestly, I’d be interested, but as I tend to play and write more ‘indie’ games, I have a very different perspective on game design…

I wander off for a week and things happen…. yeesh…

I would be very leery of just porting GW2 MMO mechanics over to an equivalent set of table top mechanics. MMO mechanics and decisions are very different than tabletop ones (for example, what mechanic in GW2 MMO would reflect Jory’s invetigations? Taimi’s inventions? The interpersonal conflict between Rytlock and Logan?).

Rather, I’d step back before you start number crunching and decide what you are trying to actually capture in such a game. If you want to do Living Story style of campaigns, that’s going to have a very different system than one mostly based around fast-paced combat (learn to dodge noob!), or one around epic scale combat (say, role-playing the battle at the end of season 2). Or, if you are going to focus on interpersonal relationships (like the trials and tribulations of the iconics or biconics), that’s yet a different game.

The system (esp. if you are going to build one from the ground up) has to encourage and support a set of playstyles and design decisions. Otherwise, it’s just dice rolls and tables for their own sake.

So, I’m fighting the Vinewraith, last boss, on my warrior. I’m running around, hitting things with my hammer, using Bull’s Charge, etc. I hit Stomp, and suddenly I am below the ground. I can see the base of the Vinewraith, and I can look up and see the boss (and the other players) running around.

Interestingly enough, I could still target the boss (and get hit by it – I got downed real quick). The boss went down quick, concluding the event. I got the reward chests that pop up on the right of your screen. I had to WP out to Camp Resolve and run back to the Vinewraith. By the time I got there, the lootable boss chest was gone – only Lost Bandit Chests to be found.

So yeah, that was a thing. Bugged it in game. Attached screenshots for your general amusement…

cloudjsh.7814:

I love Cortex+.

And yes, I would seek to garner more influences from those types of tabletops rather than your standard “XP, level up focused, dress-up in magic items” type of games.

Cortex+Action, similar to the Firefly RPG, could really be a lot of fun. GW2 has a sort of archetypical, class-based feel to it, so a PbtA game might reflect it better: profession and race specific moves, for example.

I was thinking using Fate Core, as that is my favorite RPG engine nowadays. The rules from the Atomic Robo RPG would work very well, as would the rules from Jadepunk. Possibly, I might used Cortex+ or Powered by the Apocalypse, though (Dungeon World could work pretty well with a set of custom playbooks.)

So yeah, I have been putting a bit of consideration into this. However, I need to finish the RPG from my Kickstarter before I can tackle any more big projects.

I’m all cool with there being more rewards and such, but it really does feel like the rewards are generally useless – how many Toy Soldier tonics and Minor Runes of Snowfall do I really need? But just by getting my dailies, I go through piles of boxes just to get piles of things that I have nothing to do with besides sell for pennies on the TP, or even worse, just destroy because they aren’t useful and I can’t sell them (I can’t count the number of Giver’s inscriptions and insignias that I’ve had to sift through. )

Heck, I’ve still got 100+ Rotten Eggs from Halloween just sitting in my bank. And while I like the gameplay of Dry Top and Silverwastes (and I like the geodes and bandit shields), do I really need to get a non-stop stream of greens and blues?

The endless mouse-clicking is a pain, but I could stand a lot of it if there was something useful (or at least interesting) to come out of it. A lot of the loot is just dead-end stuff. Even achievements for some of these would give us something for it.

I preferred the more rare but more interesting stuff you could get from previous events, like the candy corn nodes, or the little Zephyr Sanctum diorama. I don’t mind working for stuff. And I know that people need lower level rewards – those are cool too. But my inventory feels like an episode of Hoarders lately.

Vayne, I… I think I love you…

Thank you so much for pointing this out. As a software developer (not Anet, mind you) I know how this is from the other side of things.

I had a long rant here, but I realized it wasn’t all that useful. I’ll just boil it down to this: While they are making the game for us, few people realize the amount of work that goes into making something this complex, how much work it is to actually actively engage with a user base, and how careful a company has to be with its communications.

The exact amount of communication needed is never an exact science. But there are many times where saying less is safer for a business, especially one with a very large user base. Every company communication is an added risk and a situation that could get out of control quickly (see any hashtag on twitter about anything a few people get up in arms about). Too much silence can be as damaging, of course, but often it is safer.

It’s frustrating to a lot of people who care about the game, but I think it’s a reality too many players never realize or forget very easily.

My lvl 80 Necromancer is Eco Necrologist Rin
Necromancy is the ‘greenest’ of all the mystic sciences – it’s all about recycling.

I am with the OP. I like the new set of things to do every two weeks or so. I know a break is a good idea.. but yeah I miss it.

I know it is a form of heresy on these forums not to rail against Anet as all that is wrong in the MMO universe, but I enjoyed most of the Living Story. Because of it I played GW2 more, not less. I really liked the Marionette, though I do get why some people were unhappy with the group based rewards. I was in a lot of failing marionettes, but it was still very fun.

My top three points for LS season 2 would be:
1) More interesting items to get for the meta achievements – the Candy Corn node is interesting, a pack of 50 or 100 grab bags is not.
2) Don’t stick with one type of update – alternate between big group events, 5 person events, personal stuff, etc. The later chapters seem more focused on big group actions and while I like those, I’d like more personalized stuff as well.
3) Bring in more of the existing world – it would have been cool to see the Pact get involved in Lion’s Arch, etc.

I’m enjoying the update. I loved the cinematic, and the craziness of Lion’s Arch is terrific.

Since you asked for lots of voices, here’s mine (lalala!).

For my experience, the core of the game (as I understand it) has been low on the grind. I was able to get to 100% Map completion, finished personal story, experienced a lot of the DEs (though not all), did some crafting, played the holiday events, did a few dungeons, did a little WvW, payed attention to the scenery, etc. I also played several alts to various levels (and continue to).

Once I decided I wanted to wanted to do some OCD completionist stuff (max out every crafting discipline, start working toward a legendary or a few of the rare crafted items, get a bunch of the more miscellaneous achievements), that is where I encountered a hardcore grind. For me, the grind as been almost entirely around trying to get gold and/or materials for crafting. I went into those tasks knowing fully that there was a lot of grind, though the sheer amount of it does surprise me at times.

It has always seemed to me that every MMO I’ve ever seen has a vocal minority who are adamant that the developers are not listening, that their pet peeve is the flaw that will bring the game tumbling down, that (insert X change here) has ruined everything, that something a dev has said is a horrible lie, etc etc etc. My main take away from that has been that there is no pleasing some people, and that there are more differing perspectives than anyone can address.

• I love the Asura. Just across the board.
• The majority of the ‘atmosphere’ dialog is great, especially in the Asura, Char and Norn areas.
• Deposit Collectibles – massive win right there
• Preview for armor and dyes.
• The option of transformation stones and the fact that you can get them reliably in game
• The trait that gives a thief caltrops when dodging. For some reason, this amuses me to no end.
• vistas. I really like that there is something that shows off the scenery

I enjoy GW2 a lot. But I do miss certain things:

• Heroes
• Missions that felt like elaborate strategy puzzles to complete, yet didn’t require 5 players (my wife and I played most of GW1 together, just the two of us)
• Nicholas and Yakkington
• Auto-follow
• Elona
• Sunspears – one of my favorite game organizations ever. The Vigil/Priory/Order of Whispers don’t compare
• Unique green drops from bosses (stats were un-important to me – was just fun to get them)
• Dervishes (just the idea of spinning warriors with scythes were cool)
• Free map travel

While I don’t necessarily agree with the OP’s rationale, I think the suggestions themselves are pretty awesome. I’d be all for them. Though instead of replacing the daily, it might be cool to have a daily ‘scavenger hunt’ to complete.

The character of Trahearne never bothered me that much, but I think that’s because I played a Sylvari first, so I had a general feel for him by the time any of my characters made it to the later story missions. I had the basic context of Trahearne. But I agree, anyone who hadn’t come that way would be blindsided by his inclusion.

There are several things throughout the personal stories that hint that Trahearne has been an adventurer for a while and built up a lot of goodwill and respect. The heads of the Orders treat him like he’s already a well-known hero, he has this Largos who owes him, etc. Yet we as players never really see anything about that. If there was some time put into showing him in that light, that would go a long way. Even just side dialog as you go through missions (“Hey is that Trahearne?” “Yeah, he saved my whole village once from a bunch of Grawl – he convinced them that this bone minion he summoned was their new god.” etc) would have gone a long way. I get this feeling that Trahearne has this really interesting history, but we’ve never seen it.