Guild Wars 2

Why do people think you need to travel anywhere instantly?
Games with long travel times aren’t immediately “tedious and annoying”. Look at EVE. No fast travel at all unless you make use of clones (which can get expensive and are very limited in quantity).

Yet, because you can do anything you absolutely have to do from anywhere (make contracts, fight stuff, etc), only being able to quickly reach a handful of systems wasn’t a problem. It meant that when you met people, they were actually travelers or neighbors. Not just zounds of people randomly doing content.

Yes, waypoints can be a good thing (especially with dungeon content in specific zones).
Yes, this game is not EVE, and even dropping to 1 waypoint per zone would be overkill.

However, I do agree that this game has too many of them. They’re everywhere. If you have the money to spend, you can even do all your dailies with almost zero running.

Look at WvW. Waypoints matter. There just aren’t that many of them. Now, imagine if each WvW map had 18 waypoints intead of 6-7 (1 home wp for each shard, 3 keeps, and EB has the castle). You would start to attack a tower, and 90 seconds later the entire enemy would zerg you.

I would say drop about 1/3 to 50% of the waypoints. Use waypoints in key travel locations. IE, every zone change should have a waypoint (one side, or the other, not both like it is now). Every instance should have one right outside. Every zone should have one near its center. And then any quadrant of the map that doesn’t have one near its center (from filling the other criteria) should get 1. This would be a maximum of 3 (map connections / 2) + 1 (center) + 4 (quadrants) +1 (instance) = 9 waypoints. Then add another 2-3 waypoints to any zone that has waypoints that are often contested. Done.

So, its been 6 weeks since pre-launch (nearly as long since retail release), and Arenanet has been doing an excellent job on several fronts.
However, I’m still sorely disappointed in the lack of many simple features.
I’m hoping this post might get a developer reply, but would love anyone who knows an answer to speak up as well (or just bump it because you want to know too).
So first, the thanks for the features we DO have:

• New upcoming arenas and paid tourneys for sPvP.
• Cool guild upgrades
• Excellent game viability at level 80
• Nearly bug/hack free WvW that doesn’t absolutely require max level.

So what about all the other features, many of which are simple and/or common to other online games?
Are they ‘on the radar’? Do they have someone working on them? Are the a “will not be added to GW2” item?
Features I’m talking about:

• Officer chat
• Trade or LFG channel (to lower /map chat saturation)
• Custom creation of chat channels
• Ability to change color of chat channels (very helpful for anyone who is color blind)
• Last-login information for guild members (or at least a guild leader)
• slash whois command (so you can figure out what class that guy who just whispered you is)
• Differentiation between ability to invite members and promote them (rank privilege)
• Right clicking on players in guild/chat/etc while in WvW
• Member notes (guild feature)
• Cash on Delivery
• Improved in-game information for condition damage (not just the little mouse-over with your total)
• Information presented in-game for handling the minimap and waypoints

There are even more simple features out there I’m sure, but those are the ones I’ve specifically noted.
Anyone (especially Anet staff) have any word at all on these? I had thought that they’d be put off in lieu of bug fixes at the start, but still seeing none of them show up is starting to worry me.

Bump, Oct 1.
We are specifically looking for players who fit any of the following criteria:

1) Level 10+ Mesmers and Necromancers
2) Level 40+ Rangers, Elementalists, and Engineers
3) Level 70+ Warriors, Guardians and Thieves.
or
4) Anyone who just purchased the game since Sept 25 (new players) and is leveling quickly.
5) Any group of 5 or more players who are looking to join a guild together (level irrelevant).

In other games where a shield is an optional item for characters (this includes WoW, Rift, WAR, and more), the shield will often account for 25-50% of your total armor (+33-100% of your armor w/out a shield).
In GW2, it ups my armor from 2443 to 2568. Big woop.

So, how do the abilities it provides compare with a focus or torch for being tanky (yourself)?
Shield of Judgement provides 6 seconds of protection, and does damage on a 30 second cooldown. Oh, an only 5 ally maximum.
Shield of Absorption provides a knockback plus 4 seconds of projectile absorption on a 40 second cooldown.
Using a torch is obviously offensive, as you can burn enemies near you (and burn it for a long range attack), and have a ‘fire breathing’ style attack.
But a focus provides you with a cone heal/blind (far better at mitigating damage than a 6s protection buff). 4 bounce limit, but all 4 bounces will be meaningful (unless there are less targets than that). The focus also provides the best block skill: Shield of Wrath blocks the next 3 attacks, and when it is exhausted, it explodes (and is a finisher, which means with your own combo fields, you can easily set up an Area Retaliation boon, or with longer cd’s off your couple Fire Fields, 3 stacks of Might to the area).

Now, the shield’s knockback does have uses, and so does the cone of protection/damage. However, these abilities feel like they should be on an offhand that is more focused on support then damage mitigation (ie, the focus), while the focus’ abilities feel more proper on the shield. Of course, if you did that, then nobody would use the focus, because not only are they thematically wrong on the shield, they also suck.

In fact, the only reason I ever have for using a shield is the extra knockback available. A focus lets me support my team better (a heal and condition removal is better than 6s protection), as well as do better damage (2 abilities with damage, not 1), and defend myself better (the availabile blind and 3-block shield).

So, my thoughts on the dungeon changes:

In concept, they are good. Encourage people to do multiple paths, yada yada.
But there are problems:

1) 3 core reasons to do exploration runs. First, to get the clears (unaffected by any of these changes). Second, to farm xp/silver. Third, to farm for tokens. Token farming will be slower, but otherwise unchanged. If you have one route down to a 20 minute clear, there’s no reason to use alternate paths in that dungeon, and you get different tokens in other dungeons. So adjusting xp/silver/token drops at all will not change anything. For the second purpose, farming xp/silver, the changes do matter. However, look at it from seperate perspectives of xp and silver. For xp, this is a purely good change. People shouldn’t be doing a grind to level, they should be exploring, doing whatever events show up, and having fun. But for silver, this is bad. Again, in concept it is good, but it creates ripples. The first ripple stems from the fact that dungeon routes are not all created equal. Some dungeon routes are significantly longer or have much more obnoxious bosses. So feeling forced to alternate routes feels like shooting yourself in the foot. And you could go do other dungeons, except that running between them takes forever, and traveling between them (as a level 80) takes 3 silver each time you change dungeons. And on top of that, if you don’t change, you quickly reach the point where reward from the zone may not even be covering repair costs for a couple unlucky deaths.
1a) Why the changes to tokens were not listed in the patch notes I don’t understand. Its not something that should be a hidden feature at all (like, for example, a rate of diminishing returns on killing the same mob type).

2) You are putting in a ‘negative’ system, when you should instead be making the system ‘positive’. Human pyschology. You have a system of diminishing returns. What if, instead, you nerfed the base numbers, but whenever you completed a dungeon, you got a buff that increased your drops in other dungeons? Or maybe EndBoss PathA drops a unique (so you can only ever have 1 on your account) potion that gives +150% magic find against EndBoss PathB. You can clear path A as often as you want, and you’ll never get more than 1 potion. Or you can do A, get a potion for B, do B with bonus MF on the boss, and get a potion for C. Then go do C and get a potion for A. But if you don’t want to, you don’t feel penalized.

3) They needed to be communicated FAR better to the players. Remember, each and every one of us shelled out $60 to play your game. Many without having played in the stress tests. And many of us have spent real money in your cash shop supporting your game. You owe it to your player base. But not just that. Companies that connect with their players on the forums create an atmosphere where players WANT to spend money on the game.

Anet, please remember:
Those of us on the forums are your players with the most interest in seeing what you say. We want to talk to you. We want to hear what you are doing. We want to hear WHY things are changing. And we want to have the chance to debate issues and changes (even if only debating with each other).
If you set things up so that we can accomplish those desires, we will take that attitude back into the game with us, and share it around. Just think about a discussion in Lions Arch complaining about a boss, when someone pipes up “Yah, that dev said they’re looking at dungeon balance – specifically boss difficulty and clear times relative to each other.” Most of the people complaining will be more satisfied. Sure, the fixes might take a week, or a month. But if they hear that they’re being looked at, they can just decide to stop trying that dungeon, and wait to see if the devs agreed it was ‘too hard’.

Icehockeyplyr.4723: If you can hold off more than 10 people solo, then those players SUCKED.

The only siege weapon that is even a remote threat to a single player is the cannon, and there are never more than 2 of those at one area of the wall (and only that many by gates).

A single catapault would have defeated your defense.
Just 2 elementalists who knew how to nuke down your siege gear would have beaten you.
A pair of Guardians spamming AoE retal would have eaten up those arrow carts.

One player cannot defend against 10+ players.
Ten players cannot defend against 40 players.

Zerg happens.

In agreement here. On Tarnished Coast, all but one of the people with this purchased have no clue.

The problem isn’t that a dead person can relate how they died.

Its that I can die inside the keep walls on a attack that gets defeated, and stay dead.
Then, for the rest of eternity, I can tell my team what is happening on their walls, and in their courtyard, and the enemy can’t do a thing about it besides build so much siege on top of me that I can’t see any more (at which point they’ve wasted at least 3-4 gold on trebuchets).

Rannulf.9417:

A lot of imo justified criticism about the p.story and how anet went about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aEla26siA0&feature=g-all-u

Oh God, that hurt to listen to.
First 7 minutes were nothing but rambling and ‘justifying’ his opinions.

Coulda taken 30 seconds to get that point across.
Had to stop the video for 5 minutes and go do something interesting, and then never bothered finishing the other 28 minutes of video.

If he really wants to be taken seriously, he needs to learn to be To The Point. I mean, this wasn’t some “random rambling while playing the game”. It was a voice recording overlayed onto gameplay footage.

Re-design WvWvW to be WvWvWvWvW. 5 competing sides. Same general mechanics. New maps.
Far less likely to get alliances shutting a single faction completely out.

Home World: Tarnished Coast
Guild Name: Soldiers of Legend
Guild Website: http://www.soldiersoflegend.guildportal.com
In-Game Contact: Viro.1526
Focus: WvW, Secondary PvE
Quick Notes: TS3, 18+, no drama, no required events, great community

Who we are:
Soldiers of Legend is a primarily US guild with a focus on WvW organization. We do plenty of PvE content as well, but is not nearly as difficult to do well in as WvW.
We are a zero-tolerance guild in terms of drama, prejudice, and immaturity.
We consider ourselves a casual guild. Though we have many very dedicated players, we have no required attendence, guild dues, or anything else that punishes more casual players.
SOL is 90 players strong and growing, with a website (that is constantly being improved upon) and 50 player Teamspeak 3 server.
We are RP-friendly – nobody in the guild is going to give RPers a hard time. However, we are not an RP guild.

What we are looking for:
Players who are mature. That means 16 years old at the minimum, and behave like an adult.
Anyone interested in WvW. Generally you should be willing to join WvW for at least a few hours one day each week.
Able to work as a team, and be patient when things are slow (happens a lot in WvW).
No immature or overly silly names. To us, these are the same as walking in to your lawyers office dressed in a speedo. They create the first impression everyone sees of you, and is a strong indicator of behavior choices.
You must have (or be able to download) Teamspeak 3. Even if you don’t have a mic, being able to listen saves others from having to type out during complicated PvE boss fights and during WvW/sPvP.

http://www.soldiersoflegend.guildportal.com/
In-game contacts: Viro.1526, Sepiida.8620, timmyupc.1483

Like the sun rising across the horizon, we bring our light across the world, cleansing the darkness with our swords. We are the Soldiers of Legend [SOL].