Guild Wars 2

I’m unable to just state one single “fear”.

1. Even more powercreep / bad balancing
2. Even more gating and grind (to artificially stretch out tiny content..)
3. Even less cosmetic items, coming with the purchased product (The added skins are very few. My mix’n’match heart almost died in agony because of HoT..)
4. Even shorter and more rushed story (Pay a writer with the basic understanding of character development already, please!)
5. Even greater focus on lackluster e-sport & raids a.k.a. stuff only a very little minority of players is interested in anyways.

Greetings!

1. That’s maybe a nice idea for everyone not playing in HD, and/or wanting a small inventory window, and/or simply prefer the “big HuD” option, and/or don’t want to merge their bags (I dunno why, but okay).

2. It would be awesome if those slots would automatically equip tools. I like this “quality of life” idea pretty much.

But till that may or may not happen:

I don’t know if you already do this, but every of my characters has usual tools equipped all the time. This way i only have to do 3 double clicks on my permanent tools in my inventory to switch them with the usual tools pretty fast (And switch them back the same way). If you don’t do this yet i can really recommend to do it. No more drag’n’drop time wasting.

//VC

One of the reasons GW2 isn’t very popular e-sports wise is still bad balancing. Even my friends playing high ranked sPvP can’t take this game serious.
For me, competetive modes in this game where always kind of a joke.

It was never ever a strengh of ANet to balance their game properly since GW2s launch. Elite Specs just made it worse.

One of the main reasons for this is the still missing split of PvE and PvP balancing.

Just don’t play competetive if you like build diversity, really tactics based combat, or a game without any p2w.

Since Elite Specs hit this game, it has become “Spam Wars 2 – Jack of (almost) all trades, still having burst potential.”

Just look at the Elite Spec tank meta established in WvW by some guilds. Just pathetic how bad this game`s mechanics got.

Edit: btw. the Dragon Hunter’s chain is still bugged. It pulled and clipped/glitched me into obstacles several times, making me stuck into objects completely. Or it pulled me while dodge rolling (Wich is not that fair to be honest..). Maybe this thing should have properly LoS-mechanics aswell, but it stays even through walls.

DoctorDing.5890:

Adventures should be a side show for those that want to do them. It’s fine for them to have high scores, league tables, achievements and titles but they should not have mastery points behind them and they should not be part of the dailies imo.

My thoughts exactly.

TheLargeUnit.2793:

Eurantien.4632:

Unless you’re attempting to compete in Pro Leagues then you don’t need Heart of Thorns to win. There are a lot of core builds that can be successful all the way up into legendary. When they aren’t successful is when fighting teams using VOIP that know whatever your weakness is.

of course you dont need it, but at an equal skill level the person with the better (HoT) build is gonna win 9 times out of 10

That’s my experience aswell, having HoT and every elite spec except for chronomancer for now (for WvW that is, of course).

Ghazan.9213:

Or you could just stop being a cheap bum, get a job and pay the $50 like every other normal person.

facepalm

If you want to know why i’m reacting this way:
Scroll up and look up what i’ve written to Chase.2798.
Same old, same old.

Chase.2798:

That is reasonable…whats really becoming annoying is the QQ threads about this game being pay2 win…which it obviously is not if you have ever played an actual p2w game…what should i tell him…there has been no signs to show elite specs will be even with regular ones…hmmm maybe thats why they are called elite?

e·lite
??l?t,??l?t/
noun
1.
a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.
“the elite of Britain’s armed forces”
synonyms: best, pick, cream, crème de la crème, flower, nonpareil, elect; More

Go play wow with no expansions and tell me how you compare to people with all of them, or any mmo. At least in this game they let you play still, some games would close the non hot servers. And btw there is still people making it to legendary without the elites…why not support anet if you want better balancing? Give them the resources they need to keep the game going and a balance team in place, rather then QQing about something that isnt going to change they are already working on the next elite specs for the next expansion…and again if you need help knowing what elite means i know someone who teaches 3rd grade english

Sorry but it’s not only called “Elites”. It’s Elite Specializations, what gives it a whole new context. So it’s pretty much the creme de la creme in a certain craft, or aspect of the class. That doesn’t have to mean to be superior over all.

Apart from the fact, that a-net has told us, that your “elite” theory wouldn’t be the case.

And yes other MMOs have exaggerated the power creep by far. But It’s not another MMOs forum here, isn’t lt? Just look at GW2s old manifesto. It’s just a shame what’s happening if you still remember it.

Edit: Over 3 years and a bunch of money should have enabled them to fix the balancing pretty much. Chances for fixing the balancing and giving more build diversity by spending more money aren’t very high. There are core flaws. For example: Not splitting up PvEs and PvPs balancing, what hinders this game heavily on having more build diversity.

Chase.2798:

If you havent bought hot and are still complaining you have no one to blame but yourself…its been 5 months, its 50 bucks thats 10 a month, ÷ that by 4 its 2.50$ a week

Nice math. But bad balancing / power creep isn’t self-inflicted by the player by not buying HoT. Buying HoT will show a-net that this direction is okay. Some ppl do things out of principle. For example: Not buying Hot, because of its power creep.

I know what you want to do. Going against all those, who say, that they have not the money for HoT. But maybe its true? Do you know where they live and in what conditions? Life can be hard to some ppl. And apart from that, games don’t have a main role in ppls life sometimes. Money can be invested in more essential things.
And you shall not and can not judge the financial situation of other ppl. Even if it’s just 2,50 a week. It’s up to them, not to you.

Try to give some reasonable input to the topic please.

Or can we all imagine that your post means: I’m okay with powercreep! – Buy and win, or continue whining! ..maybe in a rather indirectly sort of way!?

These sledgehammer posts are becoming old. Please stop it already!

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I wish you guys would stop arguing about what “pay to win” means and instead talk about whatever it is that you think is wrong with the game. Arguments about language aren’t likely to be resolved here — even scholars disagree with the meaning of words|phrases that are new or evolving.

---

Isn’t the issue that some people thing — with good reason — that those without elite specs are at a disadvantage in PvP? Is there anyone who disagrees with that? Assuming you agree that elite specs are “superior”, is that okay for competitive PvP?

Apparently ANet thinks it’s okay, because they have had two opportunities to rebalance vanilla specs vs elites and the relative power remains the same. I remember them saying that elites weren’t supposed to be superior, that “elite” was just a a jargon term, but their actions seem to indicate otherwise.

Disclaimer: I own HoT and I don’t play much PvP, so I’m not sure that my opinion means much in terms of how the community feels or the long-term health of the game mode.

tl;dr stop arguing about the words and focus on the concern: are elites too powerful relative to base specs and, if so, how big a problem is that for the game mode?

Word!

Oh and i’ve stopped.

Thx for your words of reason.

brannigan.9831:

No it doesn’t bother me I’ve payed about $100 dollars for three years plus of gaming counting the original box plus expansion. I’ve had my problems with A-net but the cost of the experience is not one of them. You numbnuts that think you are entitled to free games or $40.00 or $50.00 buys you unlimited content forever I don’t get one bit because these games cost a lot to develop and maintain. Although apparently there is enough of you that some 75 year old commie clown almost got the nomination for president of a major political party.

That is not the point. It’s not about getting stuff for free. At least i’m okay with the idea of elite specs for money. New possibilities. New builds. Just yes!
Also. Everyone has another idea about the amount of content that should come with a 50$ pricetag. Not seeing enough value doesn`t mean you are too stingy or poor to support the developer.

It’s more about this game’s balancing / power creep. That’s what this thread should be about.
But this is becoming the home of a smartypants convention right now.

Just read OCs post again, please.

Edit: I won`t answer OOT comments anymore. Because if this continues, this thread is about to get nowhere. And that means it’s pretty much getting closed by a-net.

Have a nice one!

Vayne.8563:

I walked down the street and saw three phone booths. The middle one had a sign that said out of order. And I was wondering if it belonged before the first one or after the last one.

What words mean literally isn’t how English or any language works. Words have definitions for reasons. The reason for pay to win was to let people tell the difference between legit and illegit games.

Saying it literally means this in English means nothing. There are many many phrases in English that mean something very different from what they mean when literally interpreted.

And you don’t get to make up definitions just because you think it’s what the words mean.

If every single MMO is pay to win then the term itself becomes meaningless and you’ve corrupted the original definition. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that.

And there is still more than one “definition” to p2w. Urban Dictonary for example votes one of many definitions for one single topic. Definitions, plural.

You will get the least error if you take it literally and go from there, because pay-to-win and out of order compare like apples and dogs. And if anything is just a senseless speech for you that needs interpretation..
Man, words.. in any language, seem to mean nothing at all for you.

So. I accept your opinion. Whatever it is. Because you never have written down your very own interepretation, nor the source of your definition (which is still one of many..). And it is an interpretation, because p2w and it’s definition isn’t written in stone. Main thing about your posts is “i’m against what you are saying”. Okay. I get that already.

Still a senseless conversation.

I played the MMO shooter “Global Agenda” for about 2 years. The Expac there did nothing at all to destroy the game’s near perfect balancing. They even gave one of the classes a soft overhaul to make things even better. And i loved the game`s developers for it.

I`ve played Rappelz for almost 3 years. Almost the same. The big expacs gave new dungeons and fluff (cosmetics), higher max. lvls and stuff. But the balancing was kept intact. And this thing is even free to play + an asia grinder.

The WoW example was already posted. (Depends on the Expansion i suppose. Was just around when the first one hit.)

Thing is.. I’m disappointed about a-net. Because instead of balancing their game, they just threw things over. Destroying the meta could have been awesome. But building a new one behind a paywall isn`t.

Pay-to-win is a definition in itself. Just because microtransactions are the norm and influenced some of p2ws definitions doesn’t mean that these definitions can’t be added to, or change over time (It’s always happening..).

Just because there was never an expac called p2w could still mean that maybe almost every expac is p2w content, looking at the competetive area of those games.

If you have to pay to stay competetive. If you have to pay real money for a cheap power creep you have to pay to win. Literally.

I know the industry. Maybe better than i want it to know. But the argument about “what is pay to win” is pretty much a waste of time and ressources when the main issue stays unspoken.

That`s why i’ve closed the argument.

I hope this has to be my last answer to that topic.

Peace.

Cyninja.2954:

Ah selective analysis approachs. Sure, if you just ommit part of the situation and just focus on half of the argument you can make just about anything work.

Fact is, the elite specialisations ARE part of an expansion. If they had been added as pure cash grabs, sure you might have had a point. Which brings us full circle to what I was saying about MMO expansions in general. Every other game on the market the playerbase accepts expansions for what they are. Only here do people feel so entitled that they imediately screem nonsense.

It’s not about entitlement. It’s about balancing a game properly. I’ve played MMOs before. I’ve bought expacs before. And i did never, ever liked power creeps. They are a cheap way to make you buy the x-pac. They have brought me to stop playing games very often in the past. And i’m sure i’m not the only one hating power creeps.

New possibilities and builds are fine. Power creeps behind paywalls aren`t. At least for me they aren`t. Maybe you like them. I don’t really care much.

Everything they did was to make the missing build diversity worse. Pay and rule with elite spec meta or lose.

Cyninja.2954:

ViperClaw.1590:

Cyninja.2954:

ViperClaw.1590:

An Expansion as a whole isn’t pay to win. – Correct.

An Expansion that comes with a big power creep is, in fact, pay to win, because of this very aspect. Because if you don’t buy, you lose pretty often (in competetive modes that is).

It isn’t that hard to get. Especially if you look at the content additions to sPvP and WvW in total.

Edit: I’m totally fine with paying for Expasions. IF i’m okay with its content-prize value.
You do like to generalize, don`t you?

Read up on what pay-to-win is. Better yet, go play some actual pay-to-win MMOs on the market. Then come back and appologise for the nonsense you were writing.

Thank you. But i know the definition of p2w. And Because it’s worse somewhere else is no excuse at all.

That’s like saying Hey, sorry you have lost yourt leg. But just imagine you would have lost both. Now just look up the definition of being handicaped and you will apologize for calling yourself handicaped now!

So. I’m standing to my opinion. Calling your statement nonsense. Aaaand we have pretty much a standoff situation. Funny isn’t lt?

Considering pay-to-win refers to required real cash purchases to stay competative on a recurring basis with no ingame way of circumventing them, I doubt you actually understand what pay-to-win is.

GW2 as most commonly agreed upon is pay-to-skip content or pay-for-convegnience.

So sure, we are at a standoff just like 2 people are at a standoff about what 2+2 is. My answer would be 4, yours is 5.

That’s not even getting into the entire concept of expansions. Now if we got started on that and compared every other MMO on the market and their approach to expansions compared to HoT…

Real money – check

to stay competetive – check

Just because you can’t buy single elite specs for real money but in a bundle with an expac doesn’t make it any better.

Argument closed. This becomes ridiculous.

Cyninja.2954:

ViperClaw.1590:

An Expansion as a whole isn’t pay to win. – Correct.

An Expansion that comes with a big power creep is, in fact, pay to win, because of this very aspect. Because if you don’t buy, you lose pretty often (in competetive modes that is).

It isn’t that hard to get. Especially if you look at the content additions to sPvP and WvW in total.

Edit: I’m totally fine with paying for Expasions. IF i’m okay with its content-prize value.
You do like to generalize, don`t you?

Read up on what pay-to-win is. Better yet, go play some actual pay-to-win MMOs on the market. Then come back and appologise for the nonsense you were writing.

Thank you. But i know the definition of p2w. And Because it’s worse somewhere else is no excuse at all.

That’s like saying: Hey, sorry you have lost your leg. But just imagine you would have lost both. Now just look up the definition of being handicaped and you will apologize for calling yourself handicaped now!

So. I’m standing to my opinion. Calling your statement nonsense. Aaaand we have pretty much a standoff situation. Funny isn’t lt?

An Expansion as a whole isn’t pay to win. – Correct.

An Expansion that comes with a big power creep is, in fact, pay to win, because of this very aspect. Because if you don’t buy, you lose pretty often (in competetive modes that is).

It isn’t that hard to get. Especially if you look at the content additions to sPvP and WvW in total.

Edit: I’m totally fine with paying for Expasions. IF i’m okay with its content-prize value.
You do like to generalize, don`t you?

Elite Spec power creep = p2w – Simple.

And 50 bucks is overpriced indeed. I was lucky getting HoT as a gift once.

Personally, i would never have bought HoT in the first place, because i’ve informed myself about its content (cough) beforehand.

I can understand OCs point of view completely.

Word.

Elite specs definately make GW2 p2w in it’s current state.

If you don`t play elite spec meta in sPvP and/or WvW, you are pretty much fighting against windmills.

Elite Specs are still OP as f§%$. So. The most gamebreaking thing is still in game. Still the unchanged power creep.

Nice job!

Maybe A-Net is smuggling them in game manually, to troll players and creating a giant gold-sink?

Either way. I’m not amused once more about this companies BS.

Bye bye, potential feet toggle.

Priorities may differ. And/Or people are finally fed up with DLC-BS.

Maybe some new regular skins as loot? Without grind? (We got one set of weapons you can get as loot, yay) Some new emotes? Maybe? No? Glider skins as reward? Oh, day one DLC it is then..

At this point, i’m not even disappointed anymore. It makes me smile like the Joker. (While i keep my money)

F11 -> Control Options -> Camera -> Toggle Action Camera

Bind a key to it – done!

flies away

From Maguuma with love. I was catching myself on criticising a lot lately as well. Then i remembered, that i really really like my guild and especially it’s members. And that i have met so many decent people from all over the world..

Also. I like HoT’s difficulty level. Let’s my celestial ele shine so bright. Mmmmmmh.

There are still very friendly and funny vibes around. Just look for the right people to be around with.

And about the criticism: A-Net has burnt their customers maybe a little too often. I dunno. Maybe many ppl hate, what they love. Borderline-style. But in the end.. If they are around, they seem to like GW2 enough i guess!?

Have a nice one!
VC

Same here.
With some tweaking of the stated issues, the action cam could become a real alternative.
I would really like to see that.

Thanks for pointing it out in such an appropriate way!

Best regards,
VC

Personally, i would also take all new skins into consideration. I’m talking about skins, that are no costumes, and are not part of the gem shop.

Do you remember, getting new skins as loot once? – It was glorious.

And still. Nothing announced so far. I’m having enough of gem shop costumes all the time. Let me have some new mix’n’match possibilities please (Maybe without something like the silverwastes grind aswell. And yes, i remember the GW1 system of getting skins).

As a vet player i’m feeling like i would fund the core game for all potentially new players to come. Especially at this price.

And i don’t even know what exactly i would buy here. After almost 3 years of shady PR work and strange decisions overall (NPE; Traits; Commander Tags; Balancing; LS; City Clothes Issue; Gold/Gems Issue; Increasing the RNG; Taking colors out of regular loot almost completely; Unresolved Bugs & Exploits; Selling of Halloween lottery tickets for 1st year skins via gem shop etc.), i’ve became very wary of NC-Soft/A-Net.

So.. no, thank you A-Net. I’m still not hyped yet. Tell me, what you want to sell as a whole (product), bring me some hard features first and i’ll tell you if i want to have it.. with my wallet that is.

I’m also supporting the 800 Gems compensation idea.

Only time will tell..

But i’m on the brink of leaving this game for almost 2 years now. If this keeps unresolved i may leave for good. My guild is just a shadow of it’s former self anyways.

Gaab.4257:

I agree. Leveling was much better before the so-called “new player experience” patch.

I couldn’t agree more.
I’m sooooo lucky that i had finished 7 out of 8 classes before that.

Astralporing.1957:

Excludee.3850:

Why don’t we just start with a better use for fractal relics?

Why don’t we start with less rng way of obtaining fractal weapons? Fractal boxes, tokens, something?

This.

2nd post

Here’s my Elementalist Kyoko Kino. I’ve got inspirated by ancient japanese shamanism. I really miss Cantha tho..

- Vigil’s Honor Circlet
- Vigil’s Honor Mantle
- Dry Bones Garb
- Primitive Handwraps
- Whisper’s Secret Leggings
- Nightmare Court Footwraps

Okay, let’s give it a shot. I’m running this one on my thief Dornenstich (“Thornsting”):

- Priory’s Historical Mask
- Nightmare Court Collar
- Strider’s Tunic
- Nightshade Gloves
- Strider’s Leggings
- Firstborn Boots

Have a nice one!

That’s why i’m doing videos sometimes and screenshots of all members names all the time. But since i do so, i was never kicked again. Inverted Murphy’s law!? Hey, that was called “luck” right? ~fingers crossed~