Guild Wars 2

So let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly…
(obviously: correct me if I’ve misunderstood)

The Lost Shores kicks off on Nov 16 (a Friday) with a one-time-only-miss-it-and-you-are-out-of-luck event…

… and that’s launching at 9pm CET (UK time) which is 12pm PST / 3pm EST
… meaning that the event will be occurring when the vast majority of gainfully employed North Americans will still be at work!?

Is that correct???

Forgive me, but which part of that isn’t a kick in the pants (whether accidental or otherwise) to your entire North American user base?

A split rollout plan that launches on the 25 NA servers at 6pm PST / 9pm EST (6 hours after the EU server launch) would allow the NA users to enjoy the content. I don’t think anyone in NA (especially paying customers with jobs) will care that the EU servers got access to the content a few hours earlier.

I understand that a single deployment time is logistically simpler, but… last I checked, there are 52 servers which are identified by as being either specifically North American or specifically European servers.

I think it’s a reasonable expectation that deployments take place on each continent at times the users can be reasonably expected to be home.

It might take more work and forethought to do a split rollout, but I really believe you’re taking a risk here of alienating your NA user base by taking the easy road.

Something to seriously think about between now and Friday.

memories part 1
initially confusing, but eventually got the hang of it. loved it.

memories part 2
at level 25-29, impossible to complete without being escorted. I expect things like that in an MMO, so it’s not a complaint; just a fact. Thankfully, “I get by with a little help from my friends” (song’s in your head now, isn’t it!?)

Dungeon
Average dungeon run with a silly twist (dancing a jig while your friends are getting ganked). We all liked it, but some were tempted to grind it out for loot and eventually got bored of it. I did a few runs, got a “Mad King’s Crown”, but didn’t feel compelled to grind it out. I’m sure that future world events will offer comparable loot, so who cares. I had fun.

Black Lion Chests
having just bought the game a week prior to the event, I chose not to participate. None of the rewards ‘matter’ so I don’t feel deprived. In future events, I’d probably dump a couple of bucks into a lottery. Win or lose, it’d be my way of supporting continued development efforts. my friend had no expectations of getting anything from the chests but really wanted the grinning shield. He set himself a budget and stuck to it, didn’t win, and doesn’t care ’cause he enjoyed the content and, like me has no issues with financially supporting a actually free (non-pay-to-win) game.

Clock Tower
not sure how I feel about having charr and norn block my view, but it is what it is. doable, challenging, love it.

Lion’s Arch Bar Fight
couldn’t get the hang of it during the event; but that could be just my own problem. I’m new to the game, so jumping right into a major event while still learning about game mechanics was a little like drinking water from a fire hose. Still, I did give it a try and found it fun(ny), even though I sucked at it.

Loot bag opening, Pumpkin Carving
frivolous, effortless way to get another achievement and reward. completionists will be annoyed with ’grindy’ness of it, but I don’t have OCD, so couldn’t care less; and their not really all that difficult to grind out if so inclined. Even casual players could easily complete these ‘grindy’ parts without even trying.

Act 4
Act 4 felt like the orchestra all got up and took a pee break in the middle of playing ‘flight of the bumblebee’. After the fever-pitched crescendo of Act 3, I was hoping for something more. not sure what, exactly, but it did feel anticlimactic.

Hurricane Sandy extension
Classy. I wasn’t affected, but that just shows that they care; especially considering they have a new update coming out in two weeks. Good on you ArenaNet.

nothing to add other than… I agree 100% /w the OP.

what is the diorama contest?
/me = relatively new player

Fact: Forums (for any game, not just GW2) are full of squeaky wheels complaining things can’t be done while others are in the game actually doing it. This can sometimes lead to the game publisher getting a skewed view of the opinion of their customer base.

In my opinion, the creator of the clock tower has nothing to apologize for.

I haven’t (yet) succeeded with the clock tower, but after only about 15 tries, I’ve made it to roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up. I relish the challenge and look forward to others like it.

It’s completely doable and not completing it does not break your game, diminish your ability to excel in the game, or make you any less of a human being.

With respect, if you’re not personally up to the challenge and effort required, don’t ruin it for the rest of us that enjoy it by squealing so much about optional content. Go do something else that is less challenging that’s also offered in the game.

Edit: perhaps the only change I’d suggest… give norn and charr their own instance so the rest of us can see where the heck we’re going. ;-) lol … other than that, great job.

I haven’t (yet) succeeded with the clock tower, but after only about 15 tries, I’ve made it to roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up.

In my opinion, the creator of the clock tower has nothing to apologize for.

It’s completely doable and not completing it does not break your game, diminish your ability to excel in the game, or make you any less of a human being. If you’re not up to the challenge and effort required, don’t ruin it for the rest of us that enjoy it. Go do something else that is less challenging that’s also offered in the game.

/bump
still looking for a guild that directly addresses the concerns and needs expressed in the OP.

A friend, his wife, and I are looking for a guild on the Tarnished Coast.
None I’ve found so far seem to fit the bill.

Role-playing: light to maybe medium
Casual: we have lives. we play when we want/can and don’t want to be expected to show up unless we’ve signed up for it.
PvX: We love exploring, dungeons, WvWvW, and light RP. We just like to switch it up.
Family-friendly: we’re dirty too. we get it. but we have our speakers on or our kids in guild-chat. your guild must have a system that tries to keep adult speak among adults without flat-out excluding kids (idea: separate member class for minors. if you notice one come online, tone it down).
Minors allowed: ie. not 18+ only. some of us have kids we like to bring on board. we’d also like them to meet some online guild-mates their own age.
Non-DICKtatorial: we believe that a guild should not be ruled by an entitled elite clique but by a dedicated group of mature, mentally and emotionally balanced leaders that seek to facilitate maximum enjoyment of all (including themselves) in a fair and equitable manner.

A tall order for most guilds. Which is why I’ve entertained the idea of starting my own.
Got the structure all planned out, constitution, code of conduct, and processes to handle all that I’ve mentioned, I just don’t have the time, personally, to get one off the ground.

I’m hoping I’m not alone and that somebody /else/ with the time has started such a guild on Tarnished Coast.

let’s ban all Norn and Charr from the puzzle!
/kidding

Why punish players who have a life, in favor of those that don’t?
It’s exactly why I get bored and don’t play typical grindy MMOs.

I agree. I haven’t solved it yet, but could do without the larger races clouding up my view; however, I found it useful following up some experienced Asurans. They were my pathfinders. It’s a 60/40 split in my mind.

Of course WvWvW and other dungeons will suffer, temporarily.
This is an event!!! It’s a couple of days where people have attention deficit disorders doing silly, possibly fruitless things, because it’s new, and possibly fun to them.
I’m sure that, come November 6th, people will look back to dungeon runs, leveling, exploring, and WvWvW…ing.

Hmm… If WvWvW = (Wv)^3, can we just call it Wv3ing “weeveethreeing” ?
.. One of those days.

GW != WoW. Not everyone wants to get ganked by lvl-capped l33ts, so I’m forced to disagree with what I believe you’re suggesting: open-world mandatory PvP.

GW != WoW. Crafting: not sure what you mean by ‘almighty’. If you want complex systems and player inter-dependencies, I agree for realism’s sake; but if I shouldn’t be prevented from being able to make useful, sought-after, and occasionally unique items because I choose to have more of a real life than some addicts (er… I mean ‘hard-core enthusiasts’).

GW != WoW. Grouping: event-induced attention deficit disorder are part of the appeals of this game to many. I hated sitting in 21st hall (LotRo) popping LFG or LFM forever and coming up empty. Here, stuff just happens. It’s a design choice. I do hope to see a good number of large raids down the road, though, but this open-event style is perfect for my play style and time commitment.

As for the other items (role playing, player interaction), I definitely agree with them as great suggestions for improvement, feature enhancements, or really just your personal preferences. Although, it’s too bad that you view them as deal breakers for a game that’s only 2 months out of the gate. At least they have cosmetic clothing (which, last, I checked, SWToR is laughably lacking). lol

@krojack Off topic, but as an aside: Huttball was frawesome! SWToR is, imo, a great MMOrpG that almost was. Great story lines, amazing vistas, great raids, open PvP option. But it’s more of an MMOG (missing the RP or weak at best); not to mention my personal hot-button for any successor to SWG: open multi-player space-flight instead of the single-player tunnel-shooter joke. GW2’s combat system is what SWToR’s hyped-up combat system should have been.

until then, let’s keep beating the crap out of each other for kitten and giggles.

@skullmount /shrug if @Melonamen reply doesn’t help, try going removing all your equipment and clothing (in game only please), start by equipping the book, and build up. My thoughts are that it’s possible that another piece of equipment might be interfering with the display of the book on your back. Process of elimination, basically.

gl hf

Piggy-back suggestion: for the friends list, having a user-editable ‘note’ field for each friend/follower/block would be handy.

I second this. It could prevent some frustration and allow players to make informed choices before potentially wasting hard-earned resources.

For example: A friend just used a ton of karma to buy the Mad King cook recipes, only to find out that they all require a ‘candy corn glaze’; meaning their useless after the event (unless he spends time of the next week mining raw candy corn nodes to stock up). Other than that, we’re loving the event.

Suggestion: On-mouse or right-click menu option to show a recipes ingredients list and/or the final product (including stats, if any) would be perfect!

I couldn’t think of a name for my Sylvari ranger on the fly, so I borrowed from Tolkien lore and went with “Quenyari” (and was a little surprised it was still available on Tarnished Coast).

I’m a level 11 Sylvari ranger. I haven’t noticed any haunted doors in my starter area (Caledon Forest). To find these famed portals, do I have to head to (for example) Queensdale?

my understanding is that they’re supposed to be made of plant cells and fibers arranged in ways that mimic humanoid organs and limbs. Plants lack a way to generate and release tension on their own, which is why they can’t move, but if they could, just imagine how much energy they could store in their limbs (like when you pull back on a large branch and release it).

really!? did we just go there?

they’re trees. Meaning ‘plantae’ more than ‘animalia’. How many plants do you know that procreate by inserting tab A into slot B? Not too many. I’m sure they have some method of pollination that they find quite pleasurable. Probably something that you, being an animal wouldn’t comprehend much less enjoy.

Which begs the question… why do the female Sylvari have breasts?
Well, that one’s easy! … Because teenage boys need something to gawk at when playing as this race.

Next question!

if that odd witch costume glitch resolved itself after a few seconds, that ghostly look would actually be kinda cool! … my 2 cents; not that it helps solve the problem.

/sarcasm_on

I payed $60 for this game. That’s a lot of money!
AreaNet should be able to continue to develop content for me for the next 10 years (that’s $6 per year) based on my initial purchase! How DARE you coerce me to contribute to ongoing development by offering fun and frivolous items for purchase or via an opt-in lottery system; items that have no actual bearing on the actual gameplay, don’t make me l33t, but are meant to enhance the experience, should I choose to participate. What’s more, those that choose to pay in and contribute, even if they do win, still don’t end up having any PvP or PvE advantage over the rest of us!? How unscrupulous and devious of you, AreaNet!

/sarcasm_off

Get real people!

Done at around 690MB

40% at 422MB. 72% at 500MB. doesn’t scale. It must base the % on # of files left (not file size). /shrug