Guild Wars 2

I rarely post, but wanted to say how disappointed I am that the trait was outright removed rather than folded into the conjurer trait (like it was when core specializations were first revealed). As stated by previous posters, this practically eliminates a build that is fun in WvW and SPvP. Granted, I will play around with other utilities and builds to see if I can get an approximation to what was lost, but I’d rather not be forced into cantrips (which is where many of the changes seem to go). Cantrips have their place. They are practically required as a staff ele in SPvP and when running in skill groups and to some degree zergs (granted one could go full zerk with AoE utilities if they play smart or have a big enough zerg). I hope that this is an error with the slide, and that ANet will allow for us to retain this trait. I play with multiple classes in SPvP, but I have to say that the full signet build with fire embrace was one of my favorite playstyles of all the professions.

I will never be in the top 10. Improbable I will make it into the top 100. Doubtful I’ll even make it into the 500 range. I contented myself with being around 750 because it got me on the front page of my server and the top of my guild. Currently, I am about to drop off the top 1000.

Why do I bother with the leader boards? Why do I care? I never did with the achievement points in games like WoW or through the Xbox. I wholly realize that in the grand scheme of things, achievements don’t matter beyond access to mostly cosmetic perks.

GW2 is the first game in a while that has interested me enough to dive into as many experiences as possible, from temporary content to PVE and PVP or WvW. I enjoy the game as a whole and my score is (to me) indicative of that enjoyment and the effort I put into this great world Anet has crafted. These points may not show my actual skill, but they do emphasize my willingness to play this game. Thus, that makes the AP metric important to me and why having this change is disheartening.

GW1 players certainly spent a vast amount of time to earn those feats that allowed them to max the HoM. I do not want to detract from their work, effort or loyalty because without such, we might not have GW2. However, on my end, I do not want to play GW1 in order to catch up, nor should I have to. Don’t get me wrong. I love checking out GW wiki and reading lore articles or comparing a past skill to how it is implemented in the present game. However, GW1 is a different gaming experience and not one I signed on for when I purchased GW2.

I don’t typically post. Not my thing. However, this issue disturbed me enough that I wanted to share my opinion. I am competitive with achievements in the limited way that I can. I don’t know 9K+ AP players, so I compare my gaming to those around me. Having that effort wiped in a day is frustrating.

On the opposite end, taking away those 500 AP points is not the way to go and would just create a whole new conflict between these two polarized sides. It’s been mentioned before, but would a compromise be considered: Separate out the HoM points from the official leader boards.

At the least, could a dev officially post in regards to this issue so that it can be laid to rest one way or the other?

Thanks for the tip. I paused on my story quests as well and am looking forward to finally finishing the Krytan explorer achievement. 171/175!!!

Kalea.9167:

I solved my dilemma. Thanks to everyone who added information along the way.

Four “areas” come along with the story quest completing the Claw Island portion of the story quest. So if you for some reason paused in your story quest (like I did) for favor of exploring and other game activities (the hazard of an open ended game), you can end up with exactly four areas missing and since the game is new enough and documentation not great, … well.

I had been plodding along in my story quest and almost gotten there in amidst with jumping puzzles, when I stumbled upon some game forum somewhere that someone had the same “problem” I did — 171/175. They noted they got 4 out of story, turned out I was only 4-5 steps from my goal by then.