Guild Wars 2

I have no idea how more than half the posts in a thread about Reflect mechanics devolved into a warrior discussion, but whatever.

ANet should make this mechanic consistent; reflect should work on any attack that is a projectile, period. No weird exceptions they keep stealth adding every patch, or an enemy that shoots a rock that can be reflected and another that can’t (consistency please), or be affected by stupid artificial limits (like AoEs) some have proposed.

However, it should be balanced of course (Lupi, pre-patch Jungle Wurm, etc.). Why not add an HP bar to reflect skills? Make the wall/dome/whatever scale from a stat (eg. vitality) and have it shatter once its HP is depleted. Similarly, skills like Mirror and Dagger Storm can also have a reflect amount threshold.

Getting rid of creative skill usage and promoting DPS checks once again, seems about right with their design philosophy.

tolunart.2095:

There is such a variety of hair and beard styles that if they didn’t remove them when wearing a helmet there would be even worse clipping issues than there are now. It’s not the ideal solution but they were probably working under deadline and rather than deal with each individual issue every time they design a new helm, they avoid the problem by removing the hair altogether.

Sure, a lot of people don’t like it, but they wouldn’t like the clipping problems either, so you are going to be disappointed either way. Don’t expect this to change any time soon, they make more money from releasing new armor skins than from fixing the old ones.

Well, at least the hairstyles that don’t clip get an option to use it. Right now, NO ONE is using the hats since everyone becomes bald.

frifox.5283:

Traited warden reflects golem’s attacks for quite substantial DPS. It would be quite unwise to keep wardens untraited for the golem

I haven’t done the exact math, since I rarely do dungeons with a full organized group. I’ve done traited and untraited, and it boils down to:

Traited
- Reflect Ultra Beam (purple laser) for ~11k-ish (?) every 10 (?) seconds.
- Someone has to take down the protection turret
- iDisenchanter uses up a clone slot and a mantra utility slot
- Retaliation sometimes causes me to go under Scholar runes’ 90% hp bonus

Untraited
- No boons reach him at all
- No time wasted on protection turret
- All 3 offensive phantasms (2x iWarden + iSwordsman); iSwordsman on Phantasmal Haste does about the same damage in the long run than a warden reflect every 10s… maybe more?

Please correct me if I missed something, but I just feel like untraited build (phantasmal haste, mantra 4%, clone slot, etc.) does more DPS. :x

maxinion.8396:

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Phantasmal Disenchanter can provide excellent boon-strip and party condition cleanse. This can be useful on bosses like the turret-golem in CoE (where sometimes I even summon two Disenchanters by using Signet of Ether).

You can use untraited iWarden instead of iDisenchanter for this fight to maximize DPS, as uiWarden destroys the turrets’ boon-beams. 2x uiWarden (Ether Signet + Phantasmal Haste) should be good enough and autoatks can strip the occasional boon that slips through. I always tell PUGs to not worry about the protection turret and just maximize DPS with the golem.

Adding more professions or having skill variety akin to GW1? Oh please, after almost two years, they can’t even fix the bugs we have right now, or test patches before introducing even new bugs. As a mesmer main, I stopped counting the times I’ve died due to iWardens doing nothing, getting stuck in terrain, etc.

The main problem with GW2 is not the game itself, but ANet’s lack of direction. A year ago they dangled a bunch of carrots (“take a look” at expansions, precursor crafting, profession bugs, feedback from LS1, etc.). Right now, not even the carrots are available, because they’re not even sure or haven’t decided where to take the game yet.

To the apologists, for every person that posts about quitting and gives a list of valid criticism, there are probably 100x out there that feel the same, but don’t post. Unless you can carry ANet and pay their bills by yourself, you should care about people quitting, especially those who still come back to provide feedback.

…and another hotfix where it still goes unfixed… ANet’s silence on this “minor” issue, whether it is intended or a bug, is worrisome.

I really don’t like the change where transmuted items are now called by its base item rather than the skin. Transmutation should mean that only the base item’s stats remain, while it takes the skin’s appearance and name.

All my SAB/Tribulation weapons are now called Crappy Greatsword X instead of their correct names, since there are no base weapons for these skins.

My Rubicon (Lyssa) light armor set got its name changed to Aurora (Melandru), or if transmuted, it simply shows the base armor’s name instead of the skin.

In the wardrobe, I noticed that every single piece of Orr temple karma armor now fall under 3 categories:

- Light: Aurora (Melandru)
- Medium: Rubicon (Lyssa)
- Heavy: Armageddon (Balthazar)

Before this patch, the armor’s name corresponded to which temple you bought it from. Now there are no Mortal (Grenth) or Arcon (Dwayna) sets.

As someone who semi-RPs and align the human character’s divine affiliation, this obviously affects me greatly. Please change it back!

Please revert this. Part of the reason for transmutation is to get the skin’s cool name as well!

My SAB/Tribulation skins will never have their names since there are no base weapons, only skins.

Otokomae.9356:

Well, I got flamed a bit earlier for saying that the Gem Store was GW2’s endgame, but as someone who played GW1 before I even knew that there would be a GW2 coming out, I think the big problem that GW2-only players are missing is that when this game came out, most Guild Wars players assumed that we’d be playing “Guild Wars 2”, which was what we bought. However, starting in late 2012 the game was changed to “Guild Wars: Maplestory Edition” which is what has everyone here so mad. IF you came over to GW2 from Maplestory, then yeah, you’re probably wondering what all the complaining is about. If you’re scratching your head wondering what the connection between the 2 is, take 5 minutes to skim over this:

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Meleagar/112012/24237_NCSoft-Sold-Arenanet-and-GW2-Out-For-Nexon-Investment

If you bought this game several months or a year after it was released, & were not eagerly awaiting it all through Beta (or even earlier!), then here is a look at what we THOUGHT we were getting when we paid $60 for our copy of GW2, BEFORE Nexon, makers of Maplestory, took control:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35BPhT-KI1E

or for those who prefer to read about it:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto/

So, the incredible disparity between EVERYTHING that was said for 2 years+ leading up to the release of this game, and the actual game as it is today, is what has people so upset, especially those coming to it from Guild Wars. At release, even, it was still pretty good; it wasn’t until late 2012 that the gear-treadmill was really started up in earnest, and to date it has never truly slowed down, which is the OPPOSITE of everything we were promised when we bought the game.

The addition of Tormented Weapons, which were hard-earned weapons with a very specific lore to them in the first game, to the gem shop (and ONLY the Gem Shop), coinciding with the final chapter of the Living Story being a farmtastic open-world area with a Meta-achievement that most of us were able to sleepwalk through (& giving us basically junk we could’ve gotten ANYWHERE else in the game as a reward!) as the final climax of the much-hyped “Living Story” just kind of brought things to a head for most Guild Wars players who moved over to GW2.

Couldn’t have worded it better. GW1 isn’t GW2, but we expected a sequel that stayed true to its roots, not a Nexon game. The last skill-gated reward I remember was Fractals, you can’t simply buy a Fractal Capacitor with cash or mindlessly following a blob 24/7 in Queensdale. Adding high prestige and lore-heavy GW1 rewards to a RNG cash box is a low blow, it just shows they’re lazy for quick cash.

People here are saying “ANet needs to make money!” I don’t see how screwing around with your loyal fanbase on a constant basis is a good strategy. Then again, I guess that’s why I’m not their monetization lead. Regardless of how you don’t get why we’re voicing our complains, GW1 players are the ones shafted right now, 1 or 2 years later it may be you. Their philosophy has changed, they don’t care anymore about maintaining a loyal fanbase as long as their shareholders are happy.

Alright, as someone who has 50/50 in HoM, let me state my thoughts.

TChalla.7146:

Argument #1: What possibly logic could you have for expecting these new skins to be available to you simply because you played both games? Were the rewards of linking accounts not good enough originally, and if not, why did you bother?

I don’t want them to be available for free for us either. But, please note that these skins were highly prestigious from one of the hardest endgame dungeons. Due to their prestige and importance in lore, why not polish them up better, tie them up to the lore, and make us all work for them in-game (maybe give a very slight advantage for those who played GW1). Ever since Fractals, horizontal progression has become “who has the most disposable cash” rather than “who has earned it in-game.”

TChalla.7146:

Argument #2: Oh no… ANet wants to make money!! Call the police!! And… as I said, gold to gems. No money down and nothing per month. Go play how you want, get gold, exchange gold for gems, buy the skins and be done with it.

I am completely amazed at how entitled some people get. Truly amazed.

When people get angry, that is because they genuinely feel cheated, they don’t go of the way to find reasons. I’m not in agreement with the entitled sort who wishes these to be handed out for free just because they have 50/50 HoM, but there is a distinct difference between “Don’t like, don’t care, don’t buy.” and “Don’t like, quit the game because I feel cheated.” Putting one of the skins with highest prestige in the RNG cash shop, no matter how you look at it, is a cheap move.

The economics department probably figured the latter is a minority and they can still get good profits by catering to people like you right now. However, by following this model, a year later you’re the one who feels wronged for a similar reason and they lose another customer.

Seriously, this again? I thought they had learned from the Flamekissed uproar for recycling content and putting it in the cash shop, but I guess they really enjoy kittening off a minority and turning people away from the game for a quick cash grab.

“But the company needs to make money!”
- Yes, they do, but I wished they found a way to do it without creating controversy left and right. Compared to f2p games, GW2 already has an entry fee. However, it’s already getting close to Nexon levels of microtransactions, with all these BL Chests (reskinned Gacha) non-sense as of late.

“This isn’t GW1, veterans have no rights to complain!”
- Then stop recycling GW1 content into GW2. No one will complain if they make new content and put it into the cash shop, but rehashing stuff for lazy money grab WILL alienate the ones who supported ANet since GW1.

“You can get this from the TP if you don’t like pulling out your credit card!”
- And this is one of my biggest issues with GW2. Ever since Fractals, there hasn’t been endgame stuff where you actually EARN horizontal progression by doing something challenging, aka based on skill, not on mindless farming or working outside the game for it. Horizontal progression should mean the guy with the shiniest armor has earned it in-game, not the one with the highest paying job outside the game or the one running around 24/7 in Frostgorge.

“People asked for these skins!”
- Introduce them in a way that makes everyone happy. I don’t know, maybe revamp Domain of Anguish for GW2 so you can earn them through tokens? I don’t have other ideas, but at the very least don’t make it seem like the company is desperate for money. Putting recycled stuff up on the cash shop (and not for cheap!) loses my confidence in the developers’ ability to come up with new ideas. What happens when all the good old skins are exhausted?

I definitely commend on the guys developing the living story and all the new content we’ve been getting since the game started. Great job! But the ones monetizing the cash shop need to do a better job… never go full Nexon please.

Original T3 user here (got the set a few weeks ago nonetheless).

I’m trying to stay optimist here. Based on ANet’s silence, I hope it means they are discussing the issue internally and come up with the best way to fix this mess.

I give them one week to come up with something. I will be quitting this game altogether if they still keep their silence or gives us a pitiful solution. Not bluffing here, I have already asked which of my friends are still playing, so I’ll give them all my tradeable stuff (was ~5% away from my first legendary) and deleting all my characters so I have no incentive to come back.

I was considering buying infinite gathering tools and Kasmeer’s Staff today, guess they have lost another customer. It’s not only this mess that made me seriously consider quitting, but the fact that I have been steadily losing confidence in ANet’s ability to guide this game to success, based on their recent track record (hordes of gemstore only stuff, but Cantha/Elona not even considered for planning yet?). This fiasco just dumped my confidence left to the trashcan.

Got the Cultural T3 a few weeks ago, was about to buy Kasmeer’s Staff and gathering tools… nope, not touching the cash shop anymore.

Moreover, I expect to quit the game if I’m not satisfied Anet’s response to this fiasco within a week or so. It has been quite clear what the company’s directions are since a while ago, but this move just pushed me to the edge.