Guild Wars 2

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Here is the official information on linking accounts. If you have difficulties, you can contact the CS Team for assistance.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/28147506-Guild-Wars-Accounts-Their-Effect-on-Guild-Wars-2

Thank you for the information! There’s some useful information at that page, though the information about linking your accounts is outdated. Now you link your accounts via an option at the bottom of the Game Content section of the My Account page. I’ve documented this process here if anyone has further questions: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=238445792#352781

Thanks again!

I filed a support ticket requesting more information on how accounts are supposed to be linked now, assuming a GW2 account was created first. I can’t imagine that “file a support ticket” is the correct option for everyone who wants to try out the original game. Does anybody have any other official info?

I submitted this bug via email since this thread hasn’t received any official response in months and was told that I’d have better luck in the forum. I see what you did there, ANet…

Anyway, looking at the code for the page you can get an idea of what’s happening. The points/rewards section is relying on a “monitor” resource which simply isn’t serving any data.

Compare:
http://hom.guildwars2.com/html/en/main
http://hom.guildwars2.com/html/en/monitor

Since monitor isn’t 404’ing, it looks like the file was just blanked. If the web team has the ability to revert that single file it should help to clear up this issue, since all of the actual content (reward names and descriptions) should be served from inline scripts.

I think that mechanic is in place primarily to prevent certain items from being swapped, like racial armor or gear from a character’s chosen order (Priory, Vigil, Whispers) and it just ended up being over-used as a lazy solution. I definitely think they need to tone down the truly soulbound stuff (you still couldn’t equip Asura armor on a Charr), or at least offer a distinct advantage to soulbound items like in GW1 as mentioned.

I know that personally I find myself unwilling to use a lot of one-time drops (like the Shatterer Wings in the most recent event) due to this restriction. The one-time use limit is garbage enough, but wouldn’t be nearly as bad if the item I ended up with was at least account bound. Honestly though, GW2 just needs a good ol’ Festival Hat Keeper if they’re going to roll that way.

Given that traditional groups are optional for all other content in GW2, it doesn’t seem to fit that dungeons require a full human group. If the design goal with this game is to let people play how they want to and be relatively “solo-able,” there should at least be some option for solo players and small groups to enjoy this otherwise isolated content. Adding “henchmen” seemed like the most logical choice since the AI (however imperfect) is technically in place already, the characters already exist, and the mechanics of an NPC party is already known in the Guild Wars universe. I don’t think this will deter people from playing in groups (especially if the reward percentages are scaled down with party size), but will instead make people more comfortable joining random PUGs once they’ve gotten their exploration and cutscene fixes out of the way and feel confident in their ability to run that dungeon effectively.

The closest in-game analogy outside of dungeons is personal story missions where you’re already escorting one or several NPCs. It really isn’t that far of a stretch to imagine these types of AI-controlled allies being available in dungeons as well, fighting alongside you like a normal party. In fact, the NPC friends you make along the way in your personal story (eg. Demmi Beetlestone, Almorra Soulkeeper, etc.) could even be the henchmen, further integrating dungeon play with your personal story. Completing certain story events could even effectively “unlock” these types of additional allies for dungeon use. Lots of potential!

Forgive me if this has been brought up before, but I’m just curious if there has been any consideration for adding NPCs as heroes/henchmen for incomplete dungeon groups. Given that the Destiny’s Edge NPCs are already able to at least accompany normal groups, it doesn’t seem like too far of a stretch that more could be added in place of absent player characters. Instead of just Logan Thackeray, a party of three human players might also be joined by Caithe & Eir. Or if soloing, add in Rytlock & Zojja as well. If adding unique dialogue is an issue, I’d gladly take mute henchmen or the silent ghost of Kilroy Stonekin instead!

I’ve had difficulty in PUGs exploring dungeons at my own pace; I won’t inconvenience a group just so I can enjoy the scenery, but I do miss spending hours in the catacombs of GW1 trying to find all the hidden details and artwork. The two main deterrents that I can see to adding allied NPCs are farming abuse and discouraging group play, but so long as the NPCs aren’t overpowered and the rest of the game is already enormously social I don’t see those points as realistic problems. I’d even be fine with limited rewards for smaller or even solo groups if that’s really a big concern. Beyond that, if adding NPCs is too much trouble, just scale the difficulty and rewards to the party size.

Not only would this benefit small groups and solo players, it would help to bridge the gap when a player in an otherwise full group is kicked or disconnected and an allied NPC appears to take their place. Full groups still receive the same rewards and loot as they always have, retaining an incentive to stick with a normal full party, but now smaller groups can at least participate with their own unique agendas.

Even if you personally enjoy the dungeon system as-is, please don’t discount that there is at least a portion of the player-base that has been turned-off from dungeons due to having to form a full group. Of course you can probably solo most of the dungeons already no problem, but for the rest of us feeling excluded, all I really want to know is if it’s been considered so that even more people can enjoy the full breadth of content GW2 has on offer.

Great comments!

Just to clarify, I’m one of those players against the idea of something like mounts in this game, but the suggestion to add them, even though I feel dirty saying it, is to simply fill a void where players are opting to hop waypoints instead of walking from one area to another. Lower-level areas, especially large ones like Lornar’s pass, are so sparsely populated with players that we need to get more people running through there. Maybe if you were on a mount and you saw someone in trouble you’d be more inclined to help. Maybe it would add some excitement in WvW. Maybe it would encourage people to explore beyond their standard map completion. Maybe not. I’m not personally a fan of the idea, but it’s a means to an end where I see there is a void in the game.

I also want to mention that it is never my intention that a solo player should be penalized. Scaling loot tables for groups is trying to make the system more similar to the way loot works in the original game; a full group of human players is going to get more drops than the same size party with a single player and heroes/henchmen, but they are still getting good drops — just not as many. We don’t want to ever penalize solo players, and we can do that while still rewarding people for working together.

I’m surprised to see people disagreeing with completed trading post orders being mailed to a player…not only does this solve an enormous crafting nuisance, but typically when a player buys something it’s because they want it, so why force you to wait until you return to the trading post before you can use it? If there’s a problem I’m not aware of, perhaps just add this as an option when purchasing.

For auto-arranging your inventory, have you tried using different types of bags?
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bag#Function_and_features

That generally keeps things in order well enough that I don’t have to constantly micromanage it.

1. Skill casting should never be interruptible by moving.
2. The crafting level for a given profession learned on one character can be learned by another on the same account for a fee. Players electing to craft on a second character will have the option to start that profession from scratch, or pay to unlock the level & any other recipes already known on that account.
3. All merchants in a zone should carry appropriate gathering tools and salvage kits.
4. Karma is account-wide.
5. The inscription/insignia of armor/weapons can be replaced with another of the same grade and level (eg. a green-rarity level 10 sword with a +3 power inscription could be changed to use a +3 precision inscription). This grants players more freedom to experiment with different gear builds, or to “re-spec” found/rewarded gear. Inscriptions/insignias become possible results of salvaging applicable gear.

I call this a list of “dirty” suggestions because they aren’t all going to be popular, or in-line with the game’s original visions, but most will need to be addressed by some factor if the game wants to enjoy the same longevity as its predecessor. My proposed solutions are obviously not the only ones to each problem listed, but certainly somewhere to start.

1. Equalize same-level gear. White gear has the same base stats as gold gear at the same level, but higher-graded gear can be upgraded with modifiers (as in GW1 with inscriptions & other weapon modifiers). The skin and rarity of a weapon should warrant its acquisition; not its stats.
2. Keep a fixed, permanent, level cap. Players absent for any duration of time should not be penalized. High-end level discrepancies will only segregate players further.
3. Each class can equip all weapon types, though at a disadvantage for weapons not intended for your class (eg. warriors with bows, elementalists with hammers).
4. Additional weapon skills can be purchased with skill points to replace any of the “basic” skills initially unlocked for that weapon. These skills can then be slotted in/out like other slot skills, though they are specific to a given weapon.
5. Ground-targeting is never the default method for using a skill. Targeting either defaults to the area around the caster or the area near the targeted enemy, depending on the skill. Players can choose to hold an additional key to use ground-targeting, or to leave it on all the time by default.
6. When crafting a known recipe all lesser components are crafted automatically/invisibly (i.e. the two weapon/armor parts & any inscription/insignia do not need to be crafted first).
7. Master crafters still gain minimal experience for crafting.
8. Map travel is free.
9. The armor damage system is replaced with a death penalty system. Players can pay for any accrued death penalty to be removed, or simply wait for it to wear off. Death penalty is gradually removed by killing monsters or completing dynamic events.
10. The magic find system is totally removed. Instead, the drop rates scale with the number of people in the immediate area, or the length of time a group has been together. If there are thirty people participating in an event they will get better drops than if there were ten people, or, the longer one group (even a small one) stays together, the better their drops will be. The former creates an incentive for people to be drawn together; the latter encourages them to stay together.
11. Dungeons scale in difficulty & rewards based on party size. A full party receives the best rewards and faces the dungeon at full difficulty. A two-person group, on the other hand, faces substantially reduced difficulty and gets lesser rewards, but is still able to enjoy the content. At the end of a dungeon, each player is rewarded with one dungeon token for each party member (from 5 tokens for a full party to 1 token for solo players), or otherwise scaled to their party size. This should still keep people from being able to farm the content without barring smaller groups from participating in it.
12. Certain towns/villages/waypoints are clearly indicated as “safe zones,” which can never become contested or have hostile NPCs. Each “safe” town should have access to personal storage.
13. Traits can be freely adjusted when in any town or “safe zone.”
14. Dyes can be exported (not copied) to other characters on the same account.
15. Purchased items and completed orders on the trading post are mailed to the player. Players still need to visit the trading post to pick up profits from sold items.
16. “Town clothes” are added as costume slots which can be worn over other armor.
17. Add “mounts” to encourage people to walk from one place to another instead of simply hopping waypoints.
18. The “order” a character chooses to represent should provide some benefit to them beyond varied story steps. Players should be able to purchase special order-specific skills and participate in order-related activities (events, quests, etc.) beyond their standard story. Players should unlock a title for each tier of their order they are promoted to.
19. All personal story quests should be repeatable, and “bonus” objectives should be added for each quest. Each bonus objective earns a one-time reward.
20. The boon/condition system needs to be overhauled. They need to be able to stack in effectiveness without sacrificing their duration. Players also need the ability to quickly identify boons & conditions in effect, which could be achieved easily by giving each icon a unique color on an enemy/ally health bar.

If you turned off mobile authentication for your GW2 account at any time (as you may have done when you decided not to use it originally), you will need to delete the GW2 account from your Authenticator app, re-enable it here https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security and then use the new code to add the account back to your app.

When you have enabled the authenticator for your GW2 account you should be prompted to enter the code it generates each time you login (you should NOT be able to login without it). And of course, even when using an authenticator, you should never use the same base password for more than one site or service. Good luck!

You can use multiple accounts in the authenticator app, you don’t need to pick one over another… screenshot

Great post, but unfortunately it runs a lot deeper than the starter armor. I was really disappointed to see the high-end options really further the “battle lingerie” theme across both light & medium female armor. Here is a prime example of the Tier 3 medium racial armor.

Glad to know I’m not the only one eye-rolling over these dated designs. I agree that can certainly be an option, but by all means don’t make it the default.

The first time I played this mission I did it with a few friends. it was our first time, and we had a decent experience. The second time I did it solo and noticed that the party of NPCs accompanying me wasn’t really pulling their weight. I’d even turn around once in awhile to see some of the Vigil Crusaders randomly cheering in the middle of a battle.

The third time it was just tedious. I noticed that no friendly NPC could capture one of the three control points, even if there were no enemies standing in the circle (it was just red as if an enemy were in it).

When the fight with Blightghast, the Plaguebringer began, I hung back and cleared the courtyard area to free up the NPCs there so they could join the fray, only to see the enemies respawn and the NPCs go nowhere. Whatever. I went to join the main fight and noticed that beyond the three charrs firing mortars, everyone was just standing there. They’d get feared, then run back to their original point and just stand there. Occasionally when Risen or those plague mouths would spawn they’d engage half-heartedly, but otherwise they contributed nothing. So I joined them and did nothing for the entire fight and we won on account of the NPC-propelled mortars. Awesome.

“Watch out! It’s dropped poison! Stay away from it!”
“Watch out for the Plaguebringer’s poison breath.”
“Stay out of its reach! It’s calling for the dead to rise!”
“There are grubs falling from its wings. Don’t let them surround you!”

YOU THINK? Players are already annoyed with Trahearne at this point, I don’t know why his dialogue is set to repeat endlessly throughout the entire thing whether you interact with him or not. It is really disappointing to think about all three orders coming together just to see them stand around on a battleground doing nothing.

I’d love to see this mission tweaked so that the NPCs are better engaged with the task at hand, otherwise I may just as well be fighting alone. I know this is a recurring issue with many missions, but in my opinion this is one of the worst.

See attached screenshot. Anytime my character goes underwater, the skin on certain parts of her armor is replaced with a different texture both under and after leaving the water. This effect is also visible to other players and can only be corrected by unequipping/reequipping the applicable piece of armor (in this case: chestpiece, boots) after entering the water.

One of the things I like most about that system is how efficiently it handles ideas the community doesn’t like. Rather than 50 posts criticizing somebody’s idea, bumping the topic and burying better suggestions, bad ideas are simply downvoted and moved to the end of the list. There is a place for comments and discussion, it just doesn’t interfere with the broader viewing order as on a forum. Further, suggestions could even be divided into categories like PvP, Crafting, Skills, etc.

For the developers, there is a Moderator API that could be used to create a custom interface and control duplicate postings, as well as automatically reject suggestions using certain keywords. Yes, a Google account is required to vote or add new suggestions (though they can be submitted anonymously) but I don’t see how this is much different than relying on Facebook as happened during the betas.

The way Google Moderator works (the example I’m using) suggestions are rated by the number of up-votes, and top-rated suggestions are easily identifiable. It doesn’t rely on players constantly having to “bump” a thread in order to show it is relevant.

Regina’s stickied post on this forum cautions this is a temporary place to aggregate suggestions until a better solution is found. Well, here’s your better solution: Google Moderator or a similar service.

Players post a suggestion, other players vote it up or down. This quickly promotes suggestions wanted most by the community and helps GW2 developers prioritize their efforts.

For the sake of example only I have set up an example at http://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=1fc5de

Feel free to try it out.

What makes matters worse is a relatively unmoderated forum where there are countless threads lamenting about the same bugged area, whether it is a skill point or a stuck quest or anything else. There’s got to be way too much coming in for the staff to efficiently sift through. The forums are a great place for discussion, but they’ve got to find something more efficient for bug reporting as the forums and in-game bug reporting system just aren’t cutting it.