Guild Wars 2

krojack.4920:

I’ve got more play time and enjoyment from the $10 game Terraria. Still playing it to this day.

I’m not. Know why? No updates.

Can I have your stuff?

Orr is supposed to be hard, right?

Melchior.2135:

Reikou.7068:

As someone who plays the game mostly for PvP I find many posts like these rather odd.

Being a PvP player, especially to stay competitive, requires you to be good. To learn all the little tips and tricks and exploits and edges that you can use to one-up your opponent; hence, get better at the game. This is why hardcore PvP-ers will always be better at any skill related aspect of any game than PvE players, and it is blatantly obvious, especially when I wander into PvE to level alts/what not. It just leaves me to wonder why people even bother playing the game if they don’t care to get better at it? Are people really content with just being “under par” at something they do?

I play for exploration, story, and concept. If I’m good enough to get to the next stunning vista, or complete the mission and see the next part of the story, or earn the piece of gear that fits the look I want, that’s all I need.

I tend to approach accumulating skill with the game in kind of a backwards way – most players are constantly looking for the combination of skills, traits and equipment that produces the best effect, and training themselves to perform well with those setups. I tend to pick whatever fits the idea in my head, become disappointed with how it actually performs, but keep plugging away until I fully own my weird little niche. I become the Grand Kung-Fu Master of my crappy builds, and sometimes dazzle people with the performance I can squeeze out of them, but it’s backhanded compliments at best – “Wow, what was amazing… for an Air and Earth traited Scepter/Dagger Elementalist. You should switch to Staff or Dagger/Dagger, dump all your points into Water and Arcane, change out all the utility skills you actually enjoy and use the following Trait selections. Then you’d be REALLY good!”

Sometimes, that kind of persistence gets rewarded. The Devs tend to notice if someone achieves that level of expertise and still underperforms. If you’re the Reikou from City of Heroes, you’ll recall me as @Eisenzahn, and my years of dedication to Lunaticia, my Elec/Elec Brute, before the huge list of bugs with those powers got resolved and she became an Incarnate Trial Dominating powerhouse. Usually though, I stay locked away from “high performance” by my choices… able to get the job done in PvE, but in PvP unable to meaningfully contribute to a battlefield full of people who are totally optimized.

Sure, I could make an alt with a PvP Build and learn to play it. But it wouldn’t be MY character. Playing a build someone else optimized is like logging into someone else’s saved game. And trying to optimize the build myself is futile, because I just don’t CARE which powers are most effective, if they don’t also look cool and fit my concept. The best I can hope for is to some day luck into a build that fits my style and vision for the character, and also just happens to be PvP capable. Until then, I keep my distance.

I am right there with you. I played all the “off” builds no one else will touch. I was an EM Enchantress in DAoC, kitten

I only notice bleeds when I’m using a shortbow on my ranger. Could you switch to another weapon type? I tend to use longbows when in a group with other bleed classes.

PVP is a zero-sum game. Someone wins, and someone loses. Sometimes it’ll be you, on either end.

I do admit to being afraid of trying PVP because a lot of people use it as an excuse to lord over others. WvW, where I get crushed by a zerg, isn’t much fun to me. What was unexpectedly fun was the sPVP events in the Halloween event! Gear is irrelevant. You got new skills to use to chuck pumpkins and whatnot, instead of your normal farming weapon. I even got MVP on one of those matches once.

I would say, find a friend, and go with them. What seems daunting by yourself is made much easier with a team of like-minded folks!

I agree. This is the best MMO I’ve played in years, and the only one that doesn’t make me feel dirty for enjoying it. I don’t feel like I’m being strung along for a monthly sub. I can log in, get my dailies done, and log out feeling like I’ve done something, made progress, and can still have a life.

It’s not perfect. Nothing and no one is. I don’t mind the people saying, “I see what you’re going for here, but have you thought about this?” I do mind the people saying “OMG ANET YOU SUCK YOU LIED TO MEEEEE”.

They check their logs to see what the user who’s been reported is saying. ie, if they’re just chatting with friends, nothing to see there. Spamming gold? Banninated.

Report them all.

I went into a WvW zone in my 30s with my ranger, and got creamed by the zerg. Haven’t been back since, though I loved the sPVP events during Halloween.

If they told us all about their anti-farming algorithms, bots would use that to further their farming. Take a break, farm somewhere else, play an alt. Get out, see the world they made for us.

That’s why I said: A point for every bot that gets infracted after a report. If it’s not a bot, you get nothing.

Right now it’s just tiring and frustrating, having to spend time following around a pack of identical rangers with juvenile brown bears.

Bad Element.4613:

/inb4 ciannait is banned for abusing report feature =D

They say they want us to report every instance of botting we see. I do so. Every time I go to a specific cave, there’s a pack of five identical guardians / warriors running a circuit. I report them every day when I go to that cave for the chest.

My dye droprate has gone up. I love it.

fractal.7039:

I just want them to fix the crash issue with the authenticators

My crashing has decreased dramatically, if not gone away entirely. My only disconnect yesterday was a household internet hiccup.

There needs to be an achievement for bot reporting. I do it at least 10-15 times a day, often ones that I’ve previously reported.

It doesn’t have to tell me whether an account got infracted / banned for it specifically, but something like one “successful” bot report that led to an infraction gives one AP.

Yeah… I bought the digital collector’s edition, found a (small) guild, used my Tome of Influence… And then the GM disbanded the guild and re-formed it because she didn’t like the name. sigh

Stuff like that stinks!

I have some feedback on account security, after seeing the numerous hacks and account takeovers here, and seeing my husband’s account get an attempted login from Japan.

1) GW2 password requirements are lax. I had to dumb down my fairly secure password to match the password requirements. If anything, it should be the other way around. Complex, secure passwords with a minimum character length should be encouraged, not unsupported.
2) Using an email address as a login is clearly causing security issues. Many users seem to be using the same password for their email service as they do for GW2, making it a breeze for account hackers. The authentication login emails are pointless if hackers have access to those as well. If email addresses continue to be the required login username, there needs to be a user reminder to use completely different passwords for their email login. Ideally the email address login requirement would give way to using our GW2 account ID (ie, ciannait.1945) to obfuscate the email address of the user if email continues to be used for approving new authentication attempts.
3) Mobile authenticator. At the moment, users are being actively discouraged from using the authenticator, due to bugginess and frequent disconnects. This makes me incredibly nervous.
4) Stored credit card info. With the ease of gaining access to accounts, given the above points, I believe credit cards should not be able to be stored for BLTP access. I’ve seen enough reports of unauthorized account access and then unauthorized gem purchases that I refuse to store my CC info (even with an authenticator) until I feel Arenanet steps up to do more to protect users’ info.

Go go Google translate.

AshleySegovia.3948:

Hey guys if you’re getting error code 7:1000:7006:836:101 specifically then as a temporary workaround, as other players have noticed, I would unlink your mobile authenticator from your account until this gets worked out.

We appreciate your patience with this issue.

After looking at everyone in the Account Support forum who’s had their account hacked, after my husband getting login attempts from Japan, you want me to remove the only thing keeping my account secure because you can’t keep me from frequently disconnecting?

I am Mckayla levels of unimpressed. :|

Murbella.7543:

Love the new feature, just a small suggestion for usability: please move the focus to the input box where you enter the code when you start the game.

Thanks!

+1

I would REALLY LOVE to not get disconnected five times a night for protecting my account with a mobile authenticator.

“Thus I started using the name Ghani Rhea in games, including GW1.”
“Please tell me which of the enumerated name prohibitions “Ghanima Rhea” is violating?”

Your name clearly isn’t “Ghanima Rhea,” it’s “Ghani Rhea” because you thought it’d be cute to “give a dot character” the name of an STD. Really?

All modern LCD displays have a refresh rate of 60Hz. Buying a “better monitor” won’t help.

There was a patch note in the recent fixes about fixing disconnects for users with mobile authenticators. Great, thought I: I disconnected four times in a couple of hours last night.

I was logged in for 15-20 minutes tonight, and disconnected. Again.

I’d love to be able to stay logged in for long enough to enjoy some content.

I tried a charr, but I can’t quite get into it – and Black Citadel tanks my framerate.

Vlaxitov.5693:

ciannait.1945:

Really? I can spend maybe a couple of hours a night unwinding with a game I find fun, and you twist that into “but you said you don’t want another job”? That seems silly to me.

You already forget how you began your exchange with me? Let me remind you.

ciannait.1945:

I work for a living. I have one job already – I don’t need another one.

I didn’t twist anything you said because it was exactly what you said.

And you continue to deliberately misinterpret. Daily requirement to log in to progress, required amount of timesink (NOT just playing or questing) in order to progress, hours spent sitting on my kitten in order to get the 40 people to raid a dungeon in order to have a miniscule chance of being able to see content – that’s a job. So far, this is a fun HOBBY.

There’s a difference. Please continue to be obtuse, though. I’m done with you.

Vlaxitov.5693:

I just think its ironic that you specifically said “I’m not looking for another job.”

Really? I can spend maybe a couple of hours a night unwinding with a game I find fun, and you twist that into “but you said you don’t want another job”? That seems silly to me.

Vlaxitov.5693:

Dare I say something along the lines of what AO did with shadowlands and alien invasion. Those expansions actually expanded the game. WoW’s “expansions” are actually revisions imho.

I never played AO, so this means nothing to me.

Vlaxitov.5693:

You just admitted to spending as much time playing this game as a part time job.

I didn’t say I didn’t want to spend time playing. I don’t want to feel like a certain time-sink is required in order for progression. Gated dailies are required for progress in WoW, for example, and is one reason I canceled my account.

Vlaxitov.5693:

You’re preaching to the choir about WoW. I don’t want an ever moving treadmill where my previous efforts are made irrelevant with expansions either. I want the character progression without a time limit aka time till the next expansion to contend with.

What would you like to see in the expansion, then? I’m curious.

Vlaxitov.5693:

ciannait.1945:

Vlaxitov.5693:

People need to read up how many hours average mmo players play mmos before they proceed to argue from assumptions.

“Casual” mmo players are unicorns.

Good to know I have a horn in the middle of my head, then.

For all any of us know, you could be an 10 hour a day player.

This could be one of three mmos you play.

I have to prove my casual-ness to you? I get home from work. I log on between 6.30pm and 7pm. I play until 8.30 or 9pm. My highest-level is 28, I think. My crafting is all sub-50.

I used to play WoW, vanilla and TBC. I did weekend-long grinds of MC and BWL (and Naxx before I realized that I don’t hate myself THAT much). I never, ever want to go back to that again.

I can log in to GW2, get my dailies done, do some crafting, do a story quest, log off, and feel like I’ve gotten something done. Your implication is that I am not a player worth courting. I disagree wholeheartedly.

Vlaxitov.5693:

People need to read up how many hours average mmo players play mmos before they proceed to argue from assumptions.

“Casual” mmo players are unicorns.

Good to know I have a horn in the middle of my head, then.

Vlaxitov.5693:

ciannait.1945:

I work for a living. I have one job already – I don’t need another one.

I also work for a living and thats beside the point. You’re really arguing that all other people should forever be doomed to be entertained under your personal limitations. That their entertainment needs to be “fair” for you.

You’re arguing the same thing. You want everyone in the game to have to “work” the same amount you do. If it’s not fair for me to say, it’s not fair for you either.

Vlaxitov.5693:

I’m starting to understand what the OP means by too much equality. This game is a “casual” wet dream. I’ve seen threads of “casuals” celebrating their “equality.” In otherwords, the fact that they get rewarded the same no matter what they do or don’t do.

I would say that isn’t sustainable only we don’t rent this game by the month. Even at that, I’m finding my drive to play this game much less than my desire was to play even diablo 2 for this specific reason.

MMOs are not sustainable without deep meaningful character progression even if that offends people who don’t have the time, desire, or ability to progress their characters. Socialist one size fits all gaming philosophy has been leading the industry to ruin for a few years now.

I work for a living. I have one job already – I don’t need another one.

Milennin.4825:

Usually on of my side characters, but often parts of it on my main character as well. I don’t have a set daily routine, and sometimes I don’t even manage to finish my daily, because I get busy doing other stuff (like dungeons).

I absolutely love that the dailies are account-wide, not character-specific. Get bored of my ranger? Switch to my mesmer. Sweet!

mulch.2586:

Autoscaling is a nice feature.

I’m in a guild that does a lot of low-level stuff. I notice for those events I don’t want to come on either of my mains, even tho there is the auto-down-level, cuz it’s not materially rewarding, and there’s the costs of round-trip travel. Even the harvesting tools, somehow soft wood wears out my axe just as fast as ancient. That part of it is a drag.

Switch out your axe for an iron axe instead of an ancient. It’s one gather = one axe, I believe.

The dailies are just, “kill 15 mobs, kill five types of mobs, do 5 DEs, gather 15 mats”. Not any quest handed out like in WoW (which is why I haaaated dailies in WoW).

What keeps me playing is all the ways in which this game is not WoW.

I’m still farming mats from starter zones for my crafters, so I tend to do them there. Right now I’m spending time in Metrica Province. Might go back to Queensdale tomorrow.

I’m not going to name names, but if grinding is what you want there’s plenty of games that will accommodate you.

Steamrolling would get boring. No one ever goes to the lowbie zones of WoW to take out candle-stealing kobolds.

What isn’t fun for you may be great for someone else. My point is, you are not the arbiter of fun.

The average lifecycle of a bug is this:
1) QA runs test cases (or, bugs are reported from the field)
2) QA repros the bugs to make sure they have something to take to a dev. Bugs that do not solidly repro are a waste of time for developers.
3) QA files the bug, with a priority. Show-stoppers (bugs that prevent a game or patch from shipping) are P0. P3 bugs are minor – cosmetic bugs (such as gear clipping). This does not mean that P3s are “easy fixes”, just that they don’t actually interfere with functionality.
4) Devs take the bug reports, and go through them. They repro the bug, and start looking in the code for where the bug occurs.
5) Devs edit the code, for the bug. They pray to the god of silicon that they don’t create any NEW bugs while fixing the old one.
6) Dev creates a test build, and verifies quickly that the problem seems to be fixed.
7) Dev hands the test build off to QA, who runs through their test case or repro scenario to verify the bug is fixed.
8) Code changes get migrated to the main code branch.
9) Changed code branch is packaged with other bug fixes and changes into a distributable package for customers.

I may be even missing or forgetting some steps, but that’s the basics of a bug lifecycle. A change which may appear as though it ought to be simple is often subject to the law of unintended consequences, or it’s buried in dependency hell, or it’s simply difficult to suss out.

So the next time you see a patch note that addresses one bug but not your pet peeve, remember that it’s a longer cycle than it appears at first glance.

Is WvW even viable for lowbies? My two highest characters are in their 20s.

Vlaxitov.5693:

I’ve seen video game apologetics going on for a few years now…

“Give them more time or pay them now, they will entertain you later I promise.”

I didn’t have to give warhammer online more than 24 hours to know I didn’t like the game. Age of conan took about two weeks to figure it out. STO took about 2 weeks to come to terms with how bad it was. SWToR took me 24 hours to understand that in more ways than not they copied WoW circa early TBC, about a month to not like it.

Its like saying “no no, just listen to this William Hung album twenty more times and I swear it will grow on you.” Come on guys, the title of this thread is a redundant question. It not only varies via the person, it varies via the game when coming down to how long you need to evaluate whether its for you or not or how long it takes to say to yourself “what am I doing?”

Then you always have someone who will bring up shortcomings such as class imbalances and or bugs in vanilla WoW as though those shortcomings represent some kind of gold standard in mmos. Nevermind how deep or satisfying whatever the game was to play at the time despite it’s imperfections. In otherwords, do bugs and class imbalances in X game justify how shallow or fundamentally flawed in whoever’s opinion Y game is? I think not.

These are some of the reasons why I look at most video game or more specifically mmo apologetics as being more of an argument about why this or that methadone is good enough rather than how entertaining it is on it’s own merits, effectively dooming the genre to permanent one size fits all mediocracy.

That’s your prerogative, but bugs don’t get fixed by magic.

I had totally forgotten about DAoC’s unitemized dungeons. I want those years of my life back, now.

Not all bugs are created equal. Some are quick, easy fixes. Some are near-impossible to repro. Show-stopping bugs are going to get more attention than the one you hit every day that annoys you, but doesn’t really slow you down.

Software dev the world around is the same.

The first GW was CPU-bound as I recall, as well. I’m still uncertain as to why in most of the world I get 60fps but I can’t make my way around the Black Citadel without slideshowing.

Right now I’m using the greatsword AOE for mob tagging. It works, but I don’t want to feel like a heel running up to a crowd of people at a DE and spamming my AOE instead of healing / curing conditions.

One of my higher levels is a guardian, very sad that heals don’t count in mob tagging.

Hacking and botting.

Been hoarding my Black Lion Chests since I heard there were going to be goodies in them!