Guild Wars 2

i just logged in today after a year and was ready to play again only to find out now i have to spend another $50 for the new content. no thank you. i thought the business model of this game was no expansions cause content updates were part of your initial purchase. i definitely won’t be buying this for $50. i’m not even going to install this game again.

Trust me, i didnt “misunderstand” the game. I get it. I give credit to the developers for trying to do something different. But for me, there isnt enough here to keep me interested. If i could at the very least earn better pvp gear i would not have posted cause i would be trying to smash people and earn better gear. But when i learned im basically fighting for skins that was the tipping point for me.

I did not try another class. I really wanted to be a guardian and play defensively. My style is im not gonna burst you down but i will wear you out and finish you off when you have nothing left. And that play style just isnt available. All classes are focused around burst.

I did think about playing a necromancer. That class would be alot easier for me to accept cause its meant to be a DPS class and there is no trying to play defensively. Its very clear what your role is. But like i said with the pvp rewards being skins i just dont care enough to try another class.

My first post was deleted, then the thread was deleted, then the thread was re-posted with a different title, they deleted a bunch of my posts, and a bunch of posts from others who also felt somebody was “over” moderating.

zenleto.6179:

I would have thought that someone who can obsess for 10 hours on a forum goodbye thread could have lasted more than three weeks in a game.

LOL – i paid for this game so im gonna post in the forum if i feel like it. At least i will get some kind of enjoyment for my money.

I personally dont believe how romans used shields had any influence on how shields work in game. I doubt they had any thought past how do we make this a DPS item. I think they are just so focused on DPS they dont know what defense is.

I dont think they should imitate wow. I hear rift is so close to imitating wow its not funny. That doesnt appeal to me. But that doesnt mean they have to throw away the whole book. Im cool with tanks and healers not being required to progress. But the fact that they force people to play a DPS class and go out of their way to prevent people from playing a pure defensive or supportive character is absurd.

A shield is a defensive item but in GW2 its considered a weapon. LOL – thats funny to me. They have zerker spec on the brain and they dont understand defense. They try to include defense elements in the game but they fail miserably cause the way they design the game its more effective to burst down your target than defend.

You dont know what i want. I was never a big raider. I would do them once or twice just to experience it. I mainly did PVP. Im not going back to wow. And i dont want a game like wow. I played enough wow. What i want is variety deep customization and strategy. And you wont find that in GW2. All you gotta do is DPS.

I dont care if people dont agree with me. Its not a popularity contest. Im not running for president. I just wanted to say what i think, hear what others think, and maybe, just maybe, my opinions and the opinions of others will help improve the game. Even though as of right now i lost interest, the best thing about this game is no monthly fee, so if they make changes that i like i can come back at any time. I am very sad to realize as much as i want the guardian to be my class, its not. So maybe i will try the necromancer one day when im bored to death and have nothing better to do.

I dont claim to know everything about the game, but, i am very quick to learn these games, and i have spent many MANY hours reading on the wiki and in the forums. I know enough to know its not what i thought or hoped for. Thats not a bad thing, its just not what i enjoy.

Yes, thank you.

Lack of role choice and play style is my biggest disappointment. And let me be clear, i am not complaining. Im sure to most who enjoy the game it seems like im complaining. Im not. Im just expressing my disappointments. I could understand im just bitter and talking smack if all i did was say negative things. But thats not what i did. I started off with a list of things i enjoy. Thats my way of being fair and not just being negative. For the first 2 weeks i had fun. After i fully understood the game i lost interest. And that sucks cause i was VERY excited to leave wow and find a new game to play.

And since some of you dont like my list i will be specific and tell you my next biggest disappointment – PVP. I could happily PVP from 10-90 in wow. But after i realized i cant earn better gear and i was investing time and effort for skins that completely killed it for me.

These two things is what made me realize i wont continue to enjoy this game.

My criticism is not that its not like wow. But wow is the giant in this area and they are competing against it so there will be comparisons. WoW did not create defensive or healing characters. But they did embrace variety. GW2 completely threw away the idea of defensive and healing class. They threw away the variety. All classes must DPS. And you may like that, but i dont, and i dont think the majority do either.

It is different. But different doesnt mean better. And different doesnt always win the race. Most of the time different fails. My OP doesnt say i think its bad. I said its average. In other words, its OK. Meaning not bad or good. I didnt say i shouldn’t have bought it either. I said i dont regret buying it. So dont twist my words around.

I did do Tequatl. Blow up wall and DPS. It was cool, even when you lost it was cool seeing him jump around and go back in the sea, but it didnt require a whole lot of strategy. Core mechanic was DPS as fast as you can. As usual.

I will agree, my list would have been more meaningful with an explanation. However, i think people who have played this game understand what im saying without further explanation. What im saying is pretty self explanatory. No need to write a mini novel. Other players can add to my OP and discuss things in detail as much as they like.

I will give credit to developers for trying to break the mold. It takes guts to go against the flow. I can appreciate the effort. But the execution did not live up to the dream. DPS class is fun. But when everybody is a DPS and the fundamental principal of the game is kill fast with little to no strategy it lacks a certain element of variety and depth.

I rolled a guardian cause i wanted to play defensively. And i dont need a lecture about a guardians defensive capabilities. I understand how the class works. I just feel it lacks the substance of a true defensive character. To me it feels more like a DPS class with a splash of defensive abilities. In wow paladins have 3 specs. They are all very tailored to a specific function. But for me the guardian is only a DPS class. There is no breaking away from it. Even though it has defensive elements the focus of the class is DPS. And thats not what i wanted to play. I feel like im being forced to play my character the way the developers want me to play instead of the way i want to play.

I provided a list of things i enjoyed. Who are you to say what can or can not be meaningful conversation?

Ya i am quieting but i still paid for the game and i do have the right to post in the forum.

I can deal with tank and healer not being required for group play. But the fact that all classes are DPS and you cant even play a defensive or healing class is lame. Even if there where tanks and healers, not being able to earn better PVP gear is my biggest gripe. Putting in time for skins is not exciting.

Boons only last a few seconds. It felt silly to spec for something that last a few seconds with long cooldown when i can spec for permanent stat boosts. You can refund trait points. But you can not refund skills you purchased.

I played a guardian. Got him up to 70. I dont really care enough to get him to 80. It was fun for 3 weeks. I tried PVP today for an hour. I didnt like it. Thats strange cause i prefer pvp.

What i like…….
free to play after game purchase
PVE dynamic / group events
shared bank storage
teleportation
can sell on auction house from anywhere
items on auction house dont expire
different skills with weapon swap
karma gear
exp for almost everything you do
vista point panoramic view
questing isnt revolutionary, but its enough to feel different
can earn all skills
multiple choices for traits
can easily swap traits
champion spawns

What i didnt like…….
level scaling
PVE / PVP gear is locked to PVE / PVP
PVP gear is free
cant earn better PVP gear
rewards for PVP are skins
cant use certain abilities in PVP
all classes are DPS
all classes can heal
no tank or healing class / spec
shields dont passively block melee attacks
shields overall seem useless
healing power scales poorly
cant salvage karma gear
not many dungeons
not much group play outside pvp
melee skills werent fun or exciting
boon duration is usually less than 5 seconds
guardian feels more like an offensive class than defensive
the game is so focused on DPS there is little room for defense builds
cant refund skills
cant receive items from auction house as easily as you can sell them
can reach max level in 2 weeks
little strategy required just DPS everything
karma gear cost goes from 500-1000 a piece to 40,000-50,000 a piece at 80

I would rate this game a C. Its average. Nothing really special. Not enough to keep me playing. I dont regret buying it. But if i knew what i know now, i would not buy it.

In GW2 shields dont block attacks.

That is the dumbest game decision i have ever seen in a MMO.

Nope, he said he suspects my SSD. He was WAY off. After that he kept trying to say if its not my SSD something else in my system is faulty. Wrong again. Its not faulty hardware. It’s a in game issue.

A game the hardware and the drivers all work together. Everything must be in tune. You cant just have graphic features without making sure they function properly with the hardware and the software.

All the nvidia users having issues have faulty hardware or driver problems huh? Ya, sure. You keep telling yourself that. I think its GW2 sloppy design.

For the record, i set my CPU to default settings for testing purposes. The camera still lags. So i just ruled that idea out.

I dont know it all. Nobody does. That includes you and the other guy. But i do know enough to know when my hardware is faulty. Its not. And i proved that.

WoW is way older than GW2 and it uses DX11. They also have the option to run DX9 or DX11. So there really is no excuse good enough to be using DX9. Most people have modern hardware. Maybe not the best, but at least modern. DX9 is in no way modern. Its severely out dated. Anybody building a game with 11 year old technology is not up to date with modern technology.

If i knew this game was using DX9 i never would have bought it. You know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words? So does using 11 year old technology. That says enough to me to know the development team is lacking in more than just the graphic department.

More reading suggests the game is poorly optimized all around. Its CPU intensive instead of GPU intensive. Thats really backwards. People are also saying its DX9 – WTF? DX9 was released in 2002.

so BAD – blizzard wins.

WoW lives forever and arena-net goes bankrupt.

You ALWAYS get a better computer for a lower price if you build it yourself. Its not hard at all. Watch videos on youtube. You can build a rig in an hour.

After reading in technical support forum alot of people are having issue’s with nvidia cards. Low FPS and crashes. Lots of people are saying FPS dropped since christmas patch. This game is probably not optimized with nvidia drivers.

I sniffed out the problem.

I noticed when i used the window key to tab out and back in the game the camera ALWAYS lagged when rotated. My FPS would drop from 100 to single digits.

So, i played with every single setting in my nvidia control panel. Auto (let the 3D application decide) and manual (use the advanced 3D settings) starting from lowest quality to highest. Nothing i did in the nvidia control panel made a difference.

So, i started playing with the in game settings. Graphic audio and camera. I messed with every single setting one by one and i found the problem. When i turned shaders, not shadows, from high to low, like magic, the camera lag was gone. No more camera lag when playing. No more camera lag when i window key back in to game.

So, my SSD is not defective. My GPU is not defective. My computer is not the problem. The problem is GW2 shaders. Now that i have figured out the cause of the camera lag i have another problem. Even with all other settings on the highest, with shaders on low the game looks terrible.

So, i have 3 options……..

1) play a game that looks good with lag
2) play a game that looks bad without lag
3) dont play the game until the developers fix the problem

This sucks for so many reasons. Mainly cause i spent top dollar to play games without lag. And, i just started playing this game and was excited to find a new game i enjoy.

This is specifically a GW2 shader problem. Im assuming the game might not be well optimized with nvidia drivers.

GW2 forum staff, please, bring this to the attention of the developers. Its driving me crazy.

I understand how SSD’s work. If it was 3 years old and heavily used i would also suspect it. But like i said, its brand new. Both the SSD and OS support trim. Even if trim was not working the samsung magician has a performance optimization feature that basically does the same thing and cleans the cells. I use it often.

Ram is fine.

CPU is only at 4.0ghz. People have them running at 4.6ghz. Temps 40 idle 50 load. Seen others with 80 load.

PSU is also brand new. 1000w EVGA supernova. I do not have a meter to test it. And i know you mentioned this to be argumentative and appear to be educated. Most people do not have any kind of specialized equipment to test a PSU. And you know this.

780 Ti is also brand new. Not over clocked. Temps are great. Well below acceptable averages.

I tried to re-install driver. Just for the hell of it. The camera lag remains.

Did you even read the posts in the link? Quote – “infuriating camera lag” is the exact words from another player. There is nothing wrong with my hardware. If there wasn’t other people complaining about the exact same problem i would not be as confident.

I posted in the technical support forum to get technical support from staff.

Thanks for trying to help.

LOL – good one. That was a clever comment, but nothing more.

I appreciate your attempt to help. Seriously. But your so focused on my system your not considering its the game. And i know you will just turn around and say im so focused on the game im not considering its my system. So we are both going in circles and wasting time.

Im not some nub with great hardware who doesnt know computers. What your doing is like trying to tell a mechanic about his car. I have a strange relationship with my computer. I understand it. If there is even the slightest issue with my computer i will sniff it out and make it right even if it means buying new parts and building a whole new computer.

BTW, here is my clever response to your last post. It seems i am not the only person having issue with guild wars 2 camera.

https://www.google.com/search?q=guild+wars+2+camera+lag&oq=guild+wars+2+camera+lag&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i60l3j0l2.4505j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

I dont need to look at my system cause i already know its rock solid.

Dont you think if my SSD was faulty i would have signs of that in my system? Dont you think its strange out of all the things a computer can do and all the other games i play the only issue is with GW2 camera rotation? I also find it interesting turning off “camera shake” and lowering camera rotation speed significantly reduced the camera lag. This does suggest the issue is in game.

Also, i have crystal disk and coretemp. Everything on my end is fine. I know you feel its my hardware but you are mistaken. Ive spent many hours playing with my system to achieve maximum performance and reliability. The game has never crashed. No other areas of the game has issue or lags even the slightest. The only issue is camera rotation.

I agree, out of all the classes guardian is most defensive. But it doesnt feel like a whole hearted attempt to be a defensive class. More like half kitten attempt at a DPS class with a touch of defensive abilites. For example, shields are classified as weapons. Anybody with half a brain can look at that and know arenanet is racist against defense and infatuated with damage. The popup shows shields have a damage rating. So im assuming the shield gets calculated to my damage rating. I know im not the only one who thinks this is messed up. Its a shield. Its meant to be a defensive item. Not a weapon. Does the shield even block attacks? Not sure yet. Probably not. Would not be surprised if the only block was with aegis or if weapons in general have a block chance.

Also, the shields moves itself are very under powered compared to other “weapons”. Shield of judgement damage is a joke. The buff is only 3 seconds. The cooldown is 30 seconds. Shield of absorption heal is also a joke. It only absorbs projectiles. You cant move or perform other abilities when active. You have a better chance of surviving bursting down your target than trying to heal or block projectiles. Its sad.

Meanwhile, the torch is amazing. Its an instant cast aoe burn with 10 second cool down. You can even cast in while knocked down or performing other actions. I want to use the shield so bad but its such a kitten poor option compared to the torch.

I dont feel like arenanet knows what a “guardian” really is or should be. The lore and substance of a guardian doesnt really fit with their idea of everybody is a DPS class. The class feels like a alternative warrior than a true guardian.

Its not the SSD. There is no lag in my system or any other game. Just GW2 camera rotation. Everything else is lightning fast. My system boots from off to desktop in 5 seconds. I have the samsung SSD magician program. Everything is optimized for performance. Latest firmware. Drive reports healthy. I have enough experience with computers to know when a drive is failing.

The camera issue seems to be random. It dosnt do it every time but it does it often. There does not seem to be a specific cause for the studder. It does it when getting 100 FPS in areas with no action going on. I turn the camera and it lags. After the lag i will whip the camera around violently in the same spot and it wont lag. It just comes and goes.

I lowered rotation speed to the lowest and disabled “camera shake” in the options and noticed a significant decrease in the lag. I went longer than ever without camera lag. I got excited and thought that was it but unfortunately it still pops up. I dont know what the issue is but i can confidently tell you its something specifically to do with GW2 camera cause there is absolutely no lag in any other area of the game.

Its brand new. Best SSD on the market. Only been used for a week. Im getting 800mb read and writes. Its not the SSD or my hardware. Its something with the game.

This makes me sad. I loved being a tank in wow. Everybody being DPS makes me like this game a little less. It also makes me like my guardian less. I dont think the guardian is a good fit for this game. They portray them as “guardians” but they werent designed to be defensive or protect others. They are meant to be a DPS.

^^^ bump up to top ^^^

I wanted to do a durable last man standing build. But so many people are saying the developers want everybody to spec for damage and healing power scales terribly. Seems kinda boring if everybody is a DPS spec. If i wanted to melee DPS i would play a warrior.

Almost every time i turn the camera i get this terrible studder before the camera focuses forward. Its not my computer. I get stable 60-100 FPS. My specs are below. What is causing this lag? Its REALLY annoying.

Intel 4770K
EVGA 780 Ti
8gb DDR3 2400 CL9
500gb Samsung EVO SSD

Just started playing a few days ago. Rolled a guardian. Since this is my first character i mainly want to solo explore the world. (keep this in mind) Was thinking about focusing on vitality toughness and healing. I prefer mace and shield for passive healing and defense. Was getting ready to buy healing gems when i decided to read about guardians with healing power. Alot of people say healing power is terrible. I normally dont pay attention cause everybody has different opinions. But so many people are saying healing power is the worst stat cause the developers dont want healing specs. But some agree out of all the classes healing power is most useful on guardians. Alot of the threads i was reading are old so im kinda wondering what current guardians think about healing power. Should i focus on vitality or healing power?

Just started playing. Crafting in wow wasnt fun. It was a chore. A time sink. It required a ton of gold. And since your character levels faster than your crafting the stuff you crafted was useless and people only did it for max level buffs. What is crafting like in GW2? Can a new player with no gold keep his crafting level appropriate with character level? Im thinking chef and jeweler for buffs and accessories. If i start to level those two can i swap them for other professions and maintain the crafting level?

I’ve been reading in the class forums. Just finding out there are no tanks or healers. All classes can heal and DPS. No official tank specs. That kinda messes with my guardian play style. Im starting to think guardian is more of a group support class than a real tank. Thats fine and all but since im a new guy i have a feeling im going to solo more than group. I want to head out in the world by myself for a bit and explore. I know the guardian is tough and all but if the focus is group support not sure if guardian is what i want. Having a bunch of abilities that focus on group buffs when your going solo seems like a waste.

Lots of people say elementalist are in a bad spot right now due to lack of love from the developers. I normally dont pay no attention when people QQ about a class but there is so much elementalist disappointment its hard to ignore. The funny thing about it though is even though people arent happy with the state of the class they still love it. Heard tons of people say i have 5 classes but i keep coming back to elementalist for fast pace flashy instant aoe casts. I also hear its the hardest class to play due to low health and constantly switching weapons and elements. All that sounds intriguing.

I hear mesmirs can be deadly if played right. All the clones are good for confusing people and pulling aggro away from you. And then when your low on HP they blow you up. Sweet. Besides pets and drain life still not sure what necromancer is about. And surprisingly thief sounds a little tempting. Hear alot of QQ from thief victims about huge crits dead players in less than 5 seconds and constantly resetting fights with stealth. Sounds like fun. I played a rogue in wow. They are so annoying if your good and stun lock. I liked being that over powered backstabbing b@stard everybody hates. Only problem is they are mainly a PVP class and i want to solo for now. Maybe later for thief.

Man, this is gonna be another wow type game with so many choices no matter how much you read you will never know what class is for you until you play it. My first toon on wow was lock then hunter paladin rogue DK. I enjoyed them all but paladin tank pounding through solo dungeons refusing to die in BG and rogue PVP gank and vanish ended up being my favorite. Since this is free to play i have a feeling im probably gonna end up trying a bunch of classes before i figure out which i enjoy the most.

Just started playing. Trying to figure out what profession i want to play. I went with guardian. Paladin was my favorite class in wow. I like the tough last man standing type with healing and defense. But so far im not really having fun. I like the idea of the guardian but im struggling to enjoy the play style. Combat is kinda slow. Alot of abilities seem to be geared towards benefiting others. And i dont really like melee classes. Ranged is my preference. Its nice to sit back and throw abilities vs walking up to enemies and wacking them. With dodging i can see staying in range and having to chase people down being both annoying and difficult. Cast and dodge seems more efficient. So right now im kinda torn between what class i want to play. Thief and warrior aren’t for me. Engineer isnt my thing. Mesmer looks cool. Creating clones and blowing them up sounds fun. Never seen a class like it so it should be interesting to play. Necromancer is normally my favorite caster class. Dark arts and minions are always cool. Saw a video of a necromancer with 5 minions. Should be fun questing with a small army. Ranger pets are cool but bow and arrows are kinda plain and boring. Elementalist looks awesome. The abilities are really flashy and shiny. I like flashy and shiny. Throwing fire and commanding the elements sounds awesome. Lots of aoe. Summons elemental guardians. Saw a fire phoenix that looks tight. Elementalist and mesmer seem like my favorite play style. But necromancer is an old favorite. And i have a really hard time letting go of the guardian cause i like being the tough guy as much as i like shiny spells. Cant make up my mind here. What class do you guys enjoy playing the most?