Showing Posts For Warzog.6315:
On Friday, August 24th 2012, at 9:00 P.M. P.S.T. Anet brought the servers online 3 hours before the 3-day headstart weekend began.
At around 9:03 P.M. P.S.T., I started creating 5 characters, and finished by 10:30 P.M. Most of those were created to reserve my names from Guild Wars 1, and to obtain the one word names I valued.
Of those, one still exists as created on that date, and at that time. On August 24th, 2013, the character was shown as only being 364 days old. The character didn’t get her birthday present until the 25th of August. (I assumed that they simply didn’t count that 3 hour jumpstart.)
From Friday, August 24th 2012 through the headstart weekend, and well past, the Trading Post was up, down, or down for maintenance, almost all of the time.
On Wednesday August 29th 2012, I was able to purchase an extra character slot. That character still exists today. Upon checking for her birthday present on the 29th of August, she got none, and her age shows as 364 days.
As to how I know the creation dates?
My signature has a link to my user page on the GW2 wiki, where I post the date, along with all pertinent data, whenever I create a character, as well as why I rerolled a name, changed the race, or profession, etc.
(I even include data on the GW1 character that the name came from.)
I know quite a few players who arn’t actively playing GW2 anymore because they are waiting for “more content”; this short term content tends to fly under the radar and when they finally DO return, they see no new content, shrug and go back to playing something else while they wait.
I’m in this category. To me, much of Guild Wars 2 is short term content which of course, produces short term interest. Which, is why I don’t enjoy PvP or WvW, same map(s), same goal(s), ad infinitum.
Take a look at EVE. In null sec, it is entirely owned and run by the player base. What a player does actually matters. It has an impact. Alliances form and fall. Corporations do the same. When ANet does get around to the next expansion, and opens up new land masses, these land masses should simply be unsettled. Occupied with nothing but beasts, monsters, and the like. Allow the Guilds of Guild Wars claim the various territories, build up settlements, build walls around those settlements. Let them form alliances and go to war with each other. Let the expansion live up to the name of this game.
THAT wouldn’t be an expansion, that would be a total conversion to pure PvP play. Guild Wars 2 already has to much PvP in the forms of WvW and sPvP. If they had the Guild Wars 1’s GvG (guild versus guild), that would be better than the extensive PvP play that the game has now.
Of course, to my way of thinking, PvP in an mmorpg should be minimal at best, only there to settle disagreements, not as the sole reason for the mmorpg to exist. I love DDO’s PvP rooms in the back of taverns and bars. To me, that’s how PvP should be done in an mmorpg, especially in a fantasy mmorpg. Of course, GW1’s GvG wasn’t to bad either.
Guild Wars 1 had expansions every 6 months, or so for the first couple of years, before they decided to make Guild Wars 2.
With all of that content, there is always something to do, even today, years later.
In Guild Wars 2, you can complete everything in a month or so.
Adding content that takes a few minutes to do part of, then have to wait weeks, or months to be able to do the next part, or the next part, is paramount to not adding anything at all.
I think that they should include the Guild Wars 1 practice of “Hard Mode” for every zone. THAT would address much of the hardcore player’s needs. Especially, with 80 levels of zones.
I believe that there are a huge number of missed opportunities in Guild Wars 2:
1). The personal story.
-a). Except for the level 1-10 quests, all of the personal story quests are identical, no matter what race or profession is chosen.
-b). The home instance is so under used, it really shouldn’t even be called home.
-c). Events from the various story branches should carry forward, offering more game/role playing. I.E.
—1). A Charr’s warband should be able to ask for the player’s assistance from time to time.
—2). The various orders could have special tasks for the player.
—3). The minor races should change their attitudes when encountered later.
—4). Past events should play a larger role as the player advances.
2). Cartography
-a). Map completion should only require uncovering the map, discovering waypoints, and points of interest
-b). Home instances should only be available to the player’s home, not to all of them.
-c). Hearts, Vistas, and Skill challenges should be there, but completely optional, which would give players a reason to come back to that zone later.
-d). There should be different map completion achievements for PvE and PvP/WvW, not combined into one.
3). Leveling
-a). Leveling should be limited to PvE and personal story quests.
—1). Other forms of leveling removes the need to ever explore, or to do the personal story. Especially, since there is no real reward in doing them once at level 80.
-b). Leveling by crafting seems to be very pointless.
—1). Crafting should be tied to the character’s level, I.E. one can only craft up to their current level, and the items crafted should be worth the effort (read: useful to the character.)
—2). Crafting should be a desired ability, not a means to level up. Once max’ed, why bother doing anything else in the game?
-c). PvP and WvW already level one up to level 80, so why allow it to level the PvE side too?
—1). Sure, you would need to make all skills available in PvP/WvW, but that would help players decide which way to go on their PvE side of gameplay.
-d). It would be nice if armor and weapons leveled with you. Having to constantly buy new armor and weapons is the main reason that players opt for leveling by crafting and doing PvP/WvW, where they can keep their original armor until they get to level 80. PvE types can’t do that as every five levels or so they see a big hit to the damage that they receive, or do. (Unless, that hit could be reduced to every ten to twenty levels.)
—1). It would also be nice if the armor and weapon vendors sold gear that was actually useable at it’s stated level. Most of them, above level 10, is so underpowered it’s not worth the effort to buy, other than to transmute good gear into the look you want.
4). Dungeons
-a). As they are supposed to be (other than the fractals dungeon) optional parts of the personal story, why not make them doable by players, instead of by groups.
-b). Make the dungeons less complicated. Many require several things to be done at the same time, and many pickup groups have no clue what those are. If dungeons were soloable, things would be much more enjoyable.
5). End Game
-a). What end game?
-b). For most mmorpg types, PvP and WvW aren’t end game content
-c). The only recourse, once one reaches level 80, and completes the story is to roll new races and professions. Unfortunately, except for skills, the content and gameplay are to similar to make that a viable option.
-d). Once level 80 is reached, and the personal story is done, why not have a player’s race, home instance, order, and assisted lower races ask for help?
I had high hopes for Guild Wars 2. I’ve followed it’s developement for years, played since the beta weekends, have eight characters, played every race, every profession, and I’m utterly bored after just seven months of play. (I played Guild Wars 1 for five years and was never bored. Unfortunately, Guild Wars 1 is slowly dying too.)
I’ll check back, from time to time, to see if there are any improvements, but I’m not holding my breath, the PvP/WvW side of things seem to be getting the most attention in Guild Wars 2.
Personally, I doubt that Guild Wars 2 can really be fixed, but an expansion might be. Quite a bit like Fractions and Eye of the North were huge improvements over the Prophecy release of Guild Wars 1. (Don’t even get me started on Nightfall.)
(edited by Warzog.6315)
It would be nice to for a Ranger to stow their pets UNTIL they are in combat.
If we fall during a jumping puzzle, or vista, they pop up, and it can be difficult to see where you’re going with them around, forcing you to repeatedly stow them so that you can proceed.
Traveling around can also be a problem, as they tend to be ahead, and off to the left, which can oft times agro enemies that could otherwise be avoided.
That, in turn, causes further problems when you enter or exit instances, map to new areas, etcetera, requiring you to constantly stow them every few minutes.
Personally, I’d love to see pets only activated in two ways, you activate them, or you enter combat; either by initiating combat, or by being attacked.
Would be nice if we could turn off gear we can’t use in the trading post and vendors.
Don’t know how many times I’ve bought stuff I can’t use by accidentally clicking the wrong thing next to what I wanted.
I’m not counting level differances, as I do enjoy purchasing gear early, especially when it’s cheaper (during off hours.)
It would be nice if we could “Park” our characters in our home instance.
That is…
To Just leave them there when we log out, or while playing another character.
A Laurel Agent, Karma Vendors, a Banker, a Trading post, and Crafting Stations/Masters would also be nice.
In Guild Wars 1, I created a Guild, built it up, and used it as a “Home Instance” where I kept my characters.
The home instance in Guild Wars 2 would be nice if it worked that way as well.
In Guild Wars 1 we had the Fort Aspenwood, the Jade Quarry, the Mists, the Temple of Balthazar, and the Battle Isles. All of which spread the PvP population out enough so that there was little if any lag, and absolutely no disturbance of PvE play.
In Guild Wars 2 we have Lion’s Arch, the WvW maps, and the PvP (Mists?) isles.
There is so much going on in the PvE town of Lion’s Arch that it makes traveling very slow and tedious going through Lion’s Arch, or expensive, if one avoids Lion’s Arch using the waypoints.
Without removing access to fractals, WvW, or PvP from Lion’s Arch, the only way around it, IMHO would first be to give Fractals it’s own server, if it doesn’t already have one.
Basically, What I’m asking for is, could you isolate Lion’s Arch to remove the constant delays of the overflow maps which seemingly are caused by the non-PvE players constantly clogging the system?
Guild Wars 1’s Temple of Balthazar/Battle Isles was a great system, and it made gameplay much easier, and fun. The PvP’ers had their little world, and didn’t infringe on the PvE world.
Combining PvE and PvP into the one already busy Guild Wars 2 location of Lion’s Arch is annoying. And… If, as I suspect, when expansions come out, that will increase the amount of traffic in Lion’s Arch to unbearable limits.
There seems to be an excessive emphasis on Dungeons, PvP and WvW in Guild Wars 2.
In Guild Wars 1, we had some Dungeons, PvP and GvG, but the emphasis was on the PvE portion of the mmoRPG part of the game.
And the dungeons in Guild Wars 1 were part of the storyline, and it’s exploration.
In Guild Wars 2, the Dungeons are PvE versions of the PvP and WvW style of gameplay.
I had to leave the Maguuma server because almost all PvE maps were devoid of players, everyone is doing Fractals or PvP or WvW.
I’ve tried several servers, and guested on a few, but most servers are going like Maguuma.
Lion’s Arch, with it’s Fractals, PvP, and WvW access, is the only map with an overflow.
PvE is slowly dying in Guild Wars 2.
Wasn’t PvE what made Guild Wars 1 a success? And… Made Guild Wars 2 even possible?
Please… Save PvE for those of us who love it.
I know the issue you are talking about
You mention that it comes from going for vistas, that is because most vistas are high in the game. What is happening is that in order to break combat you have to be a certain distance from the enemy that engaged you into combat. The problem is that vertical distance does not count.
When I see that I am at a vista or other point and this is the problem I log to character screen and log back in. It puts you out of combat. While this does not fix the problem it does get around it.
I hadn’t considered distance as part of the equation. Thanks for the insight.
F12 -> Character Select – > Re-enter -> View Vista
Yeah, we discovered that back during the beta weekends.
I usually just log out to char select screen and quickly log back in, takes only a couple of seconds and fixes the bug.
It doesn’t fix the bug, it’s a workaround. I was hoping that we can get the bug permanently fixed so we don’t need the workaround.
Besides, there are times, when there may still be an enemy who has a ranged attack, but you only have melee, or otherwise can’t attack back due to terrain. We need a permanent fix to the problem. Not a workaround.
Obviously, none of you has encountered the problem, or, you simply kill everything as you go along.
There are times, especially during jumping puzzle vistas, whereby you reach a point, where there’s nothing to kill nearby, and oft times, you were hit by something that could easily hit you with a ranged or AoE attack, but that you can’t easily attack from where you are, without starting all over.
As to waiting, I have had times where I waited over half an hour, and never left combat mode until I rebooted the game.
Currently, all of my characters experience this problem at least once a day, some of my thieves encounter it three or more times a day.
During the beta weekends, and during the first few weeks after release, it was a much bigger problem, but since then, they removed a good majority of the bad guys that used to surround most vistas. That helped alot, but the problem remains for those of us who don’t kill everything on the planet.
All to often, especially when heading to vistas, some odd creature will get you into combat mode, and unless you stop to kill it, you will enter combat mode, and be stuck there, with no auto heal, unable to view the vista, unable to transport to a waypoint, or to do almost anything else. And if it took you a long time to get to the vista, or if it’s one of those jumping puzzle vistas, you have to wait, sometimes until you reboot the game.
The Thief’s many stealth skills can also trigger this phenomenon. Whereby you get hit, enter stealth to remove aggro, and you’ll be stuck in combat mode, complete with reduced health, until you reboot.
You can heal yourself to 100% health, sheath your weapons, but you’re still stuck in combat mode.
I have noticed that when one kills a target it takes a few seconds to exit combat mode, which makes me believe that there is a timer involved. The fact that getting hit causes entrance into combat, including hits taken from falls, which also seem to have a timer to exit it, perhaps removing the requirement to kill whatever hit you could be removed entirely.
Since the ground is already “dead,” and killing a target also results in a dead target, it seems clear that that is the cause of being unable to exit combat mode.
If the requirement to actually kill something is removed, and perhaps the timer increased by a second or two, if you are still getting hit, or you are still hitting, combat mode would continue, but would be more easily removed if you were simply running through an area when you got hit.
Have you considered the option of not doing the daily?
Well… Unless, as has happened today, I get a daily while going through my normal routine, I don’t waste my time trying to get a daily. And monthly’s… I’ll never get one.
Which, goes back to my deep hatred of grinding…
I suppose, that’s also why I don’t craft, feels like grinding to me, when I can be out doing other things in the game.
And… PvP, WvW, and Dungeons feel the same way… I’d rather be out exploring, doing quests, etcetera.
Stopping to grind away at any one thing, especially when your end reward can sometimes require hours, days, weeks, or even months to obtain, it’s far to much grinding to me.
Of course, simply playing the game day in and day out could technically be called grinding, I find it to be a relaxing and enjoyable passtime.
Laurels, you get numerous items with those, 1 laurel per pve daily, and 10 laurels for pve monthly.
And I hardly call reviving 10 npcs a grind, or 10 crafted items. Most people are used to gathering nodes on a regular basis, so you must have mats. USE THEM, gets you exp and levels up crafting if you havn’t already. Grind killing things underwater? Its 25, not the 50 or so from that other daily. I don’t think you understand the definition of grind… hardly call various small tasks that change daily and add up to 15 minutes a day tops a “grind”
To me, grinding means: “to repeatedly work at doing something that you would not ordinarily do.”
Reviving 10 npc’s ordinarily wouldn’t be a grind, if you normally revive every downed person or npc that you encounter. If you only revive them because it’s a requirement of the daily-that’s grinding.
If you enjoy killing things underwater, it’s not a grind. If, your underwater skills are terrible, and you avoid underwater combat as much as possible, it’s a grind if you do it only because it’s a requirement of the daily.
If you don’t enjoy crafting, and aren’t even trained to craft, doing so because it’s a requirement of the daily-it’s a grind.
If you only gather nodes for extra money, and only certain items, because the prices aren’t worth doing so, it’s a grind if you only do it because it’s a requirement of the daily.
Like the op I liked the old dailies.
They weren’t a grind, I got them while exploring each map, and they’d just pop up as being done.
Now…
You have to grind crafting…
Grind healing people…
Grind looking for Veterans to slay…
Grind killing things under water…
Just grind and grind and grind…
And, if the old dailies were boring it’s probably due to just grinding dailies instead of playing the game.
Of course, the rewards for dailies are kinda useless… I have half a stack of those useless Karma jugs. There’s just not that much worth buying with karma…
GW’s 2 is a fantastic game that is fairly well balanced and challenging at times…. Yes it has some things to be improved apon but nothing close to what you are hinting at….. It sounds more like you are trolling….. Just play the game….. If you are stuck or having problems try wiki’ing it or ask people
Not even close to trolling, just getting annoyed with each update.
If you click on my signature, I have all of my characters listed, their stats, and their gear.
If you check the histories of each racial page, you’ll discover that I rotate through them, as I have ALL but my primary, and my Charr, clear a single map before moving on.
Prior to the last month or so, my Mesmer was one of my most powerful characters, now, she’s the weakest. Over three months ago my primary character, a Thief, could kick butt all over the map, but now, my Thieves all have a hard time.
If you play six characters in a single map, with four different professions, and three different sets of racial skills, you can’t help but notice how much each is affected by every update.
Not to mention the fact that if you’ve already played those same areas since the beta weekends, and your primary went through them over three months ago, and the skills are so nerfed that it’s much more difficult than then, what else can it be?
I, what, suddenly don’t know how to play the same builds I’ve used since the betas?
All of a sudden, I’m using the wrong golds?
I forgot how to use the same weapons and skills I’ve been using for months?
Sorry if this is beginning to sound like a rant, perhaps it is.
I keep reading threads in this forum of PvP’ers complaining about this or that, only to have their complaints turn into nerfs, and PvE keeps getting the short end of the stick.
I don’t do PvP, or WvW, and I only did the required PvP in the Faction’s campaign of GW1.
I’ve played GW1 since 2008 without PvP, and it was fun.
I’ld like GW2 to be just as much fun as GW1 was.
I have to repeat, I truely believe that having seperate PvE & PvP versions of the skills is the only way to balance both PvE and PvP.
(edited by Warzog.6315)
I’ve been playing GW2 since the BWE’s, and skills keep getting nerfed in order to “balance” PvP and WvW play.
Why?
The majority of the game, the maps, and the dungeons are PvE, not PvP or WvW.
How about some PvE Love?
Balance PvE, stop worrying about PvP and WvW. It’s an mmoRPG not an mmoPvP.
Since the game’s release, I’ve seen my characters getting weaker and weaker.
Well… except for the Guardian, who seems to keep getting stronger.
(Never could take a Champion on solo before this last release. ;p )
I’ve talked to dozens of players who’ve left GW2 because PvE play is awful, and just keeps getting worse. A few of them said they’ve been coming back once a month to see if there have been any decent changes, only to leave again.
I’ve been told it took six months to a year for GW1 to get things balanced out, several of us are hoping, and waiting to see how long it takes GW2.
I realize there’s a stigma to having PvE and PvP versions of skills, like we had in GW1, but I see no other option.
Please!
Give us PvE versions of our skills so that we don’t have to switch all of our characters into Guardians, and play PvE using those dreadful PvP skills.
I disagree.
The reason?
For a Guardian, and probably a Warrior, both of whom haven’t been nuked, I mean nerfed, to death trying to balance PvP & WvW play, have never had much of a challenge in PvE. The professions which have been nerfed to death had such a hard time in PvE, that the new changes make it even harder for them.
I’ve played my Guardian, Mesmer, and Thieves since the changes, and my Guardian can still take on a Champion, and his mobs, while the others can barely handle one or two normal monsters at a time. (fewer than before)
I am seriously hoping that Anet returns to the GW1 feature of skills working differently in PvP/WvW and PvE.
As is, The PvP’ers are complaining about the Thief tearing them apart, and now the Thief is almost the weakest PvE profession. The Venom skills and Signets are almost our only underwater skills, and the PvP’ers got them nerfed so bad that they’re useless in PvE, and probably in PvP too.
And yet, the Guardian, who can already take out champion mobs solo in PvE, keeps getting stronger thanks to the PvP’ers.
This weekend, I took my Guardian, Ranger, a Thief, and my Mesmer through the same zone, which had a particularly difficult skill challenge. The Guardian, solo, did it in 15 seconds, or less. The Ranger, with it’s pet, and a Norn Wurm, took around 25 seconds. The Thief, with a seed pod, binding roots, and the Thief’s guild, took a little over a minute to complete it. The Mesmer, with a golem, and 5 clone skills took almost 5 minutes.
Balancing the game is important, but balancing it only for PvP/WvW, when those are what, a dozen or so zones, but not for PvE which has almost 3 dozen zones (dozens more if dungeons are included,) is a bit odd.
I guess it was a good thing that Anet released GW2 “when it was ready.” ROTFLMAO!!!
I have noticed in several of the sub-forums an anoying trend.
In the various racial and professional sub-forums, several arguments have arisen due to the differences in gameplay between the various PvP, WvW, and PvE play styles.
Many individuals will ask for suggestions, or thoughts, on certain aspects of racial or professional gameplay, based on their play style, only to be attacked by players of a different style.
I can think of several examples, but the one that glares in my mind is an individual who seems to prowl the forums disagreeing with PvE players of the Ranger profession, apparantly based solely on his WvW and PvP experiences.
While I respect the opinions of my fellow players, and forum members, those of us with different play styles would appreciate getting assistance, or opinions, from those who enjoy our style of play. Being told that a proposed build won’t work, based solely on a different play style, is especially detrimental to new players to the game.
I realize that it could pose a problem, but, could I suggest that there be seperate racial and professional sub-forums under a PvP and PvE main forum?
(A seperate “Players Helping Players” forum couldn’t hurt either.)
Please find an alternate way to obtain the “Moorwatch Tower Vista,” the cattlepult seldom works and has to be the most glitchy thing in the game. Back during the BWE’s it didn’t work, and it’s still not working. Turn it into a jumping puzzle, or a series of stairs inside or out, or remove it from the zone completely. We’ve had people hanging around all day trying to keep tabs on it, but it’s never been active once in the seven hours I’ve been in the zone.
Edit:
If nothing else, How about giving “Mad Mardine” a dialog option to “demonstrate” it, thereby giving players a way to get the vista without waiting around for it to trigger. As an event/vista, it’s terrible as is.
(edited by Warzog.6315)
I’m on Maguuma, and have played on Kaineng.
Kaineng is far mor active in PvE than Maguuma, which is almost desolate.
Both are active in Fractals, WvW, and PvP, but Maguuma’s dungeon crawlers have faded.
I would be interested in knowing where each server’s priority’s lie.
I.E.: PvE is important to me, and WvW / PvP are not.
Maguuma:
Low PvE activity. (PvE picks up a bit on weekends.)
High Fractals, Dungeon, and WvW activity. (Not sure about PvP activity.)
Very low prices for selling items on Trading Post.
Kaineng:
Very well rounded community.
PvE areas are all active.
Fractals, Dungeons, WvW and PvP very active.
Tarnished Coast:
PvE areas all active.
Good prices for selling items on Trading Post.
Only server I’ve done a personal story with someone else (been playing since betas)
(edited by Warzog.6315)
Except for PvE-Maguuma
For all-Kaineng
You haven’t mentioned WHICH server you’re on.
I’m on Maguuma, and PvE activity has dipped since September.
Most activity is now in Fractals, WvW, and some dungeons. (Dungeons have dipped too.)
I’m on the USA Maguuma server. Most folks seem to be in dungeons, PvP or WvW.
I tried the USA Kaineng server, and the seemed to have a lot more people doing PvE than Maguuma does.
I.E. Kaineng’s starter areas are much more active than Maguuma’s almost barren ones.
I am personally looking for a more active PvE server, so, since the deadline for free transfers is the 28th, any input would be nice.
(I don’t do WvW or PvP, so those stats don’t interest me.)
After reading many, but far from all of the above, I am dismayed to discover that the PvP’ers are wanting to nerf the Thief from PvE play, if not from PvP play as well.
They already nerfed the Thief’s only underwater Elite, as well as most of the underwater skills (all of the venoms) out of usefulness.
I can understand the need to make PvP balanced, but they’ve nerfed so much, only the guardian and warrior are easy to play in PvE.
And… Instead of your character creation selections affecting which skills you get based on say for Human’s based on the god that blessed you, or the Norn based on the spirit you had a vision of, the PvP’ers got them to give us access to all of them, and that’s changed PvE forever. (Removed a good part of the rpg element from the game.)
And what about the profession mechanic? The Thief has Steal. (Should be called Suicide, ‘cause you’re gonna die if you use it in the middle of a mob.) Only the Ranger’s profession mechanic, the pet is as bad. (It lasts just long enough to aggro a mob to swarm you to death, and you can’t get rid of the stupid thing! At least, during the BWE’s you could let it die, and then get on with your life.)
I’ve recently noticed that even though my Guardian and Ranger’s first Greatsword skills state that you’re striking or slashing a foe, they’re actually attacking every foe within the weapon’s range, including those behind my characters, in a single stroke.
My Mesmer’s Greatsword does as it’s skills state.
Not sure if the Warrior has the same problem, as I don’t have a Warrior.
The fact that the target behind me takes less damage than those to the sides, or my main target, makes we wonder if this is an intentional effect of the weapon that’s not stated in the skills’ description.
If it is intentional… I’d love to see other professions’ weapons have it too.
It just dawned on me as to why the Guardian and Warrior do so well and the other professions less so.
All of their attacks, with the Greatsword, are AoE attacks.
Any enemy within the radius of their Greatword gets hit with every swipe.
(I’ve seen enemies behind my Guardian taking damage.)
Except for true AoE skills, no other weapon does AoE damage.
Perhaps the suggestion should have been:
Balance all edged weapons to strike anyone within range?
or…
Balance the Greatsword to only hit one target, or only the targets in front?
“I.E.: The Thief, with Thieve’s Guild and another summon such as Call Wurm, cannot do, or sustain, the damage output of a Guardian, Ranger, or a Warrior.”
You’re kidding, right? Rangers outdamaging thieves? That is an impossibility.
Try a Ranger with an Arctodus Bear pet wielding a Greatsword. The only profession to out do them in damage, in my experience, are the Guardian and Warrior.
As to the Thief, it’s my favorite profession, I have five of them, one in each race, I love their playstyle, but watching others, or playing other professions, emphasizes the imbalance between the professions.
To Goorman / Jonathan Sharp:
I can understand the reasoning, but the disparity is very annoying to endure or see when one exclusively plays PvE on a daily basis.
I was recently reminded of how different GW1 and GW2 are, as far as professions go…
Disregarding the dual class system of GW1, and the gimmic builds, all of the classes and their weapons were pretty much balanced against each other. That is, they all could do about the same damage. The differences were in how they did that damage, and how much damage the armor classes could take.
In GW2, the Guardian is the damage master, followed by the warrior, and fizzling out in the other professions.
Combined with the more melee oriented play of GW2, it’s even more unbalanced.
Sure, each profession plays differently, and each has it’s own feel, strengths and weakness’.
It just that it gets so annoying to try 3+ times to get a skill point solo, or even with help, only to see a guardian or a warrior come by and solo it in a fraction of the time it took you to.
I.E.: There is a skill point in Ascalon City where you fight your way up several sets of stairs, into a room full of Captain ghosts, with healer ghosts healing all the time, then up a final set to face a veteran before you can commune with the skill challenge. And the ghosts respawn so fast that you can barely kill two or three before the first one respawns.
My Guardian’s solo’d it.
I’ve never done it in any other profession without 2+ others helping. That’s not balanced in any way, shape, or form.
If one can solo it, all should be able to, or none should be able to.
(That’s the definition of balance.)
Background:
I have eight characters: a Guardian, a Mesmer, several Thieves, and a Ranger.
I have tried every profession, to level 30+, both during the beta weekends, and since the game has released.
I have explored every zone, and completed the game at least once.
I only do PvE.
Personal Observations:
The various professions I’ve played, I’ve noted a huge differance in damage dealing, and abilities amongst the professions.
There are several skill challenges, and boss’ which can easily be solo’d by Guardians, Rangers, and Warriors, which prove impossible for many other professions.
The game appears to be centered around melee combat, as most ranged weapons are nign on to useless against some of the aforementioned groups.
And while some compensation can be seen in the number of possible summoned helpers vs professions that have no summons, the disparity of damage dealt is far from being balanced.
I.E.: The Thief, with Thieve’s Guild and another summon such as Call Wurm, cannot do, or sustain, the damage output of a Guardian, Ranger, or a Warrior.
Not to mention the fact that they cannot handle the damage they receive vs that of a Guardian, or a Warrior.
And, when a Guardian, or a Warrior, can take on a skill challenge with the boss and 2-4 helpers, solo, but a thief with 3 summons can’t, it’s obvious the professions are far from being balanced.
The Suggestion(s):
1). Balance the damage of professions, and their summons, if used, so that they are more equal.
2). Balance the damage, and speed, of melee and ranged weapons to be more equal. (Ranged weapons are currently so slow, they cannot compete vs melee weapons.)
3). Aesthetically, and practically speaking, all weapon combos should be more balanced. (Forcing the use of one weapon combo over a person’s preferred one, is far from balanced.)
4). Increase the effectiveness of armor and weapon vendor gear. Currently, one can barely do much of their personal story at level with them.
In GW1, using the abreviations WTB, or WTS, automatically posted your message in the Trading chat channel.
LFG, LFM, LF1-4M, could automatically post your message in the LFG chat in the same way.
As to getting people to use it, if it’s automatic, they’d have no choice.
The Trading channel in GW1 used a different color text, as do the map, local, and party chats in GW2. I’m sure that a color would be chosen for an LFG chat.
Once initiated, most folks would notice the text color being different from map chat, and this would bring the option to shut it off to their attention.
As to spamming, I think that there’s an automatic detector in place. I got banned from chatting about five minutes after forgetting how to divide stacks, and trying several things. (It’s Alt + left click btw)
I agree about the dungeons. Of course, I don’t like the dungeons for that reason, and the fact that they aren’t soloable. WvW, and requiring it for map completion, are a couple of my pet peaves, you have to zerg to do WvW, and that sux most of the time.
Map chat, especially zones with dungeons, and in Lion’s Arch, is swamped with LFG and LFM messages.
It could be set up similar to GW1’s trade chat, and those not interested could turn it off.
While I’m on the subject, it seems funny to me that they got rid of the “Holy Trinity” of mmo’s to get rid of the long waits for groups, but made dungeons for parties only, instead of soloable, and ended up with the same long waits, and constant messaging for “more,” or “groups,” or specific professions as before.
Fair warning:
This subject has been beat to death several times. Each time, the moderators merge the new threads with the old one.
I chose to use the name Abizea for it’s sounding much like the name of the Albizia trees and shrubs which I’ve encounter in various forms in my travels around the world.
I chose to use Abizea instead of Albizia because the Albizia are an invasive and much hated plant in many places.
Dispite it’s habits, I think that the Albizia are quite attractive plants.
As is my Sylvari Thief, Abizea.
I love the female Voice actor’s portrayal. I have a Thief in all five races, and during the “Down the Hatch” personal story quest, the Sylvari is the only one that actually sounds “Sloshed!” So very cool!
My pesonnal opinion is that “Soulbinding” should be limited to the starter equipment each character gets upon character creation.
And while it’s annoying, “Account Bound” items, in my opinion, should be limited to items purchased with gems.
The fact that items obtained from the “personal story” quests are usually several levels lower than the character, because those quests are impossible to complete when done at, or below their noted level, it’s my opinion that they should not be bound at all.
Of course, the fact that there are several items awarded which can’t be purchased on the trading post seems to indicate that the intention is that they should actually be valuable?
So, why not make them account bound instead of soulbound?
Cultural items are another class which, in my opinion, should be account bound. While it may be cool looking at first, some become annoying to look at, on a particular character, but would look great on another.
I.E.: I have two Norn’s, a thin Thief, and a muscular Ranger, the cultural armor looks awful on the Ranger, but looks awesome on the Thief.
My Norn Ranger and Asura Mesmer both use a Greatsword. After a few transmutations, the cultural greatsword looked ridiculus on the Norn, but it looks great on the Asuran.
I can understand that part of the reason for soulbinding is to have a gold sink. However, for those of us who don’t grind crafting, dungeons, or other high sources of income, the binding of items, especially the soulbinding of items, is detrimental.
(I’ve never had more than 12 gold at a time in the 4 months that the game has been out.)
Barring the removal of soulbinding from the game, having a relatively cheap item to change soulbinding to account binding in the Gem Store would be a tremendous aid to us poor folks.
1) Some folks didn’t like the fact that player’s characters had their helmets removed, but the NPCs in the cutscenes didn’t, so they removed them. (I think Zojja should be an exception.)
2) Besides invisible items throughout Tyria, their are now trees, rocks, walls, and mountains that you can walk far enough into that you disappear.
3) Several Boss’, since Wintersday reached Lion’s Arch, have become virtually indestructable. Their regeneration rate is so high, it’s nigh on to impossible to kill one. Last night, with seven real players, three pets, two thieve’s guild, a fire elemental, and a dozen or more minions, it took us a half hour to kill a boss that my thief’s have solo’d dozens of times in under a couple of minutes. (Can’t recall where it was, but I’ve been encountering these boss’ everywhere.)
I would like to mute all sounds from that bell so I don’t have to hear others play it.
I don’t care if you paid gold or real money for it, I don’t want to hear you play it.
I wish to know where you complainers of said bell are going that you are subject to such vicious spamming. I have yet to experience this. Once in a while I find some playing with it but nothing so far where they just maliciously play it to annoy others.
Seems I’ve been hearing this almost everywhere I go. I had thought that it was simply a quaint little touch that was added for Wintersday. And just like the radio during the last month, I simply turn the sound down, or off. It wasn’t until I saw a Charr and an Asura player’s characters swinging their bells, that I found out it was a Wintersday item and not just some annoying effect. (I’m not into jumping puzzles or dungeons, so I had no idea.)
Stupid idea, but I’ve got to suggest it anyway…
How about a variable difficulty level setting?
I’ve seen hard-core players complain that a mob of 6-10 bad guys their level, or above, is to easy. While casual players, such as myself can find less powerful mobs to be very difficult.
As I’ve noticed that down-leveling is in the game, and up-leveling was in several special events, couldn’t that, or a similar version, be used to create a difficulty setting?
I.E.:
Easy setting would have the player a level above the current targets, or the area’s maximum level.
Normal setting would keep the status quo.
Difficult settings could have the player 1, 2, or more levels below the current targets, or the area’s maximum level.
Related rewards could also be adjusted to match the difficulty settings in a way that would be consistant with the Magic Find game function.
I.E.:
Easy mode would have no Magic Find.
Normal would have some
And, the difficult modes would increase it accordingly..
I’m not sure if it does it or not right now, but the games death penalty mode, which is acquired upon dying, could decrease the amount of Magic Find that the difficult modes would have. (It’s duration could also be increased with the difficulty level.)
This would disuade individuals from selecting higher difficulty modes, attacking one target in a mob souly to obtain a high-end item, and dying in the process, over and over again.
I have been playing Guild Wars 2 since the Beta Weekends (BWE).
During the BWE’s, there was a time when choosing a god, or a spirit vision, etcetera, limited you to ONLY learning the related racial skill.
Since the game’s gone live, we can now learn EVERY racial skill, and the related choice during character creation has been rendered useless.
I was thinking that perhaps, rather than tying skills to that choice, why not toss in a few quests that expand on that particular choice?
As an example: Humans/Norn could visit the shrine of their god/spirit, help the priest/shaman do various things, etcetera?
Since we all have a “Home Instance,” and we rarely, if ever, actually go there, perhaps some quests, either related to the aforementioned choice, or just filler quests on the way to the personal story finale, could direct the player home more often?
Such as, “Your Sister is ill come quick, need to find medicine?”, “So and so was murdered, catch their killer?”, “A surprise party! (for completing a part of your personal story, or your birthday?)”, etcetera.
Along those lines, IMHO, the “Home Instance” should be treated as the “Cultural Armor” is, that is, if you’re not of that race, you can’t enter.
(In real life, we allow family and friends in, but we never allow any “Tom, Dick, and Harry,” that wants it, free access to our homes.)
The only problem with that is that currently, the Asura, Norn, and Sylvari have only one point of interest (POI), while the others have five in their “Home Instance.”
Of course, as an opponent of PvP & WvW POI’s, Vistas, and Waypoints being included in PvE map completion, I see no reason why every “Home Instance” can’t be reduced to one POI, or no POI’s at all.
And while I’m rambling on about our “Home Instances,” how about some “real” effect to them?
In the Sylvari “Home Instance,” if you do the “White Stag” choice, it just stands there, no gratitude at all. If you do the “Green Knight” choice, the female you save is very abrupt with you. (A little grattitude would be nicer. The stag could prance up to you, come up to you as your dog would when you’ve been away a while, and you could pet it. The female could sit and chat with you, perhaps give you advice along your personal story?)
In the Human’s “Home Instance,” there’s more people and merchants as you progress, but you feel like you’ve just entered another town, not home.
I’ve seen little of the other “Home Instances,” other than when I completed the maps of their cities.
Over all, their is no real reason to actually call them “Home Instances.” You don’t feel like you belong there. There’s no real reason to ever go there.
Perhaps, if we could map there, and back to where ever we were previously, as we could with our guild halls in GW1, combined with say, crafting stations, a bank, or a trading post there, it would feel more like a home? (And… We could use them as such.)
Crafting stations could be limited to those that one is currently trained for. If crafting stations were included, the bank could be eliminated.
Strange, did they only send the survey to folks who completed it?
I played all weekend, and missed every event because I didn’t realize that one-time didn’t mean one weekend only, but noon pst only.
I have seven characters, and I bounce between them as the mood strikes.
Except for Lion’s Arch, which always has an overflow map, every zone I go to the population is extremely low.
I’ve had several times where I’ve asked for help in map chat, only to get the message, “No One Hears You.”
Three official posts from Arenanet that directly conflict with how this event turned out.
http://www.arena.net/blog/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success
Biggest culprit of breaking the fun rule here is the final event with its disgusting amount of filler (reinforcement phases on the ancient karka being the worst of the lot). But a great deal of the issues raised with the event could be considered to take the fun out of it.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/Night-Capping-and-YOU/first
We feel that everyone should have the ability to contribute no matter what time of the day it is. How we’ve came to this conclusion is that no player’s time is more valuable than another. Everyone has different off peak hours for whatever reason. Players should not be punished or unable to experience and view the same content as everyone else because they play at a different time. They too are paying customers.
Or will people argue that this applies only to WvW? Is everyone’s time equally valuable except if you’re doing a one-time weekend event?
http://www.arena.net/blog/when-its-ready
With more time and effort, the event could have been something more persistent, less buggy, more rewarding and satisfying.
I guess I’ve played Guild Wars 1 far to long. I’ve gotten used to “one time” event meaning something along the lines of the Guild Wars 1 “Farewell to Gaile” event, which ran all day, all weekend, on every server.
Of course, the reports that parts of “The Lost Shore” event were bugged, and being worked on, had me thinking that the phases could be done anytime.
Stupid me, I never thought in my wildest dreams that “one time” would mean ONLY once in an mmo, like the bug fixes and updates are done.
I take that back, bug fixes and updates can be downloaded whenever you get around to playing again, they’re not limited to downloading them at one specific time ONLY.
I want gaile gray back, regina doesnt care at all.
Thanks
The comunity of Guild Wars 2 hopes you guys will give these 2 mistakes in 2 events a thought and fix this before Christmas.
I agree.
(edited by Warzog.6315)
On sunday? During football (in usa)?
I don’t recall seeing any letters saying at noon PST only!
(I was at work on fri & sat @ noon pst)
I don’t recall letters saying it was a once-only event!
(When it was announced as a “One Time” event, I thought is was going to be like GW1’s “Fairwell to Gaile” event, which repeated all day.)
I thought this was Guild Wars 2! (You know, better than Guild Wars 1?)
I might note that during half-time, I checked to see if the event was live, I figured there’d be another big download and was trying to save time. I logged in only to hear people complaining that they couldn’t open the chest, or was there a chest, or where was the chest? I also heard complaints about folks getting disconnected and losing out on the rewards.
All of which led me to believe it was at the very least bugged, and would be fixed later, as was everything else during this weekend event.
In my personal opinion, rather than doing another one of these events, how about fixing GW2, like:
Getting armor names between Karma Vendors, the PvP Locker, Personal Story Rewards, Drops, and the Trading Post to match the same items? (Duelist, Marksman, and Leather armors come to mind, amongst others.)
Or… Removing WvW maps from world map completion. Guild Wars 1 didn’t require anything but PvE for map completion. (Give folks who have completed the WvW maps their own special title and leave us PvE’ers out of it.)
As to the new content, not a fan of dungeons, but it was different. The new map is one big jumping puzzle as far as I’m concerned. (I hate jumping puzzles, and will probably never go back there.)
(edited by Warzog.6315)
During several missions, “Eye of the Sun” and the “Victory or Death” story of the “Arah” dungeon, to name a few, there is a requirement to man a turret.
If you get hit by an enemy or an AOE attack, your skills return to those assigned to the weapons you have equiped, but you are still “at” the controls of the turret.
The green “Leave” marker is still onscreen, but pressing “F” or clicking on it with the mouse does nothing, you’re stuck at the turret.
During “Arah” my character couldn’t use any skills at all, and ended up dying, after several attempts at using the turrets during the various battles.
During “Eye of the Sun” another character was able to use her weapon skills to fight off her attackers. (The accompaning NPC’s simply stood there the whole time.)
After surviving the onslaught, I still couldn’t leave the turret. I tried every skill, swapped weapons, and as I was a Thief, when I used my Dagger skill, “Heartseeker,” I jump toward the boss, reconnected with turret and finished the quest.
It’s happened in other quests too, I simply can’t recall which ones.
It always occurs after taking damage. (Never noticed how much damage as I was concentrating on targeting the turret.)