Guild Wars 2

While I am happy with this change, I do miss the use of fake attacks to lure enemies in the wrong direction. But I would rather have more need for scouts than have the option to feign attacks.

As to the idea that there is less risk in taking towers now, I disagree. Once player’s mindsets change and they start to spread out across the map more, it could very well increase the risk. And in turn increase the frequency in which players are in contact with each other. But players need to get out of the old mindset first, and that might take a while.

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

This picture should sum up why I agree

So true. Those moments are always heartbreaking, especially when you know it was most likely your only exotic drop for months.

As far as I can tell we have had no such clarification from Anet themselves, so as far as I am concerned, any details not given by Anet are pure speculation and wishful thinking.

The quote on the HoT website reads:

Your guild has roamed the world together. Now, it’s time to claim a piece of it. Work with fellow guild members to claim and grow your own guild hall in the heart of Maguuma.

I have bolded the parts that may have caused the author of that article to think that Guild Halls will be open world entities, but really the above statement could just as easily mean an instanced Guild Hall with a Maguuma theme.

Until Anet does a deep dive on Guild Halls all we can do is speculate at this point.

Anet are the kings (and queens) of the April Fools events in game, in my opinion.

I cannot wait to check this out, it looks hilarious. And a big kudos for Anet making fun of a bug in the game! Their humour is one of the things I like the most about them. They know how to have a good laugh, and most importantly they know how to laugh at themselves, a lesson I feel some people need to learn.

+1 million to Anet.

BunjiKugashira.9754:

And let’s be realistic here. A complete playthrough of HoT will probably take about 10 or 20 hours. After that? Play it with the next alt. Oh wait… There is nothing to do no matter what alt I choose.

This is the kind of mentality that developers should NOT be catering too, because no matter how much content they give them, it will never be enough. Plus, they will hardly notice it because all they will be focused on is the progression. The moment the level cap it reached, or max gear is aquired, or all achievement points gained, they will be complaining unless more progression is added. They cannot see the content for the progression and will never be satisfied.

There is nothing stopping you creating an alt to do the story again. That will always remain character bound. But progression systems like levels and masteries really don’t need to be. As to there being nothing to do, I can only suggest the content Anet has provided us just isn’t to your tastes. I am often able to find something to do that doesn’t revolve around progression.

In the beginning it was Anet’s intention to make elite skills game changers. But over time, and for various reasons, they toned them down. I still remember a couple of the elites being very powerful and they definitely fit in the game changer catagory.

I remember a lot of complaints from the playerbase about various elites being too strong, and I suspect that was the main reason for the change in direction.

I am ok with elites being slightly more powerful utility skills, but I do wish they would revisit some of the cooldowns, because some of them really aren’t warranted. Some skills were nerfed but the cooldowns remained long. That really is my only issue with some elites.

I personally do not want super powerful game changing skills, because then it just comes down to who has their elite off cooldown and player skill goes out the window. All they need to do is balance some of the cooldowns to be more appropriate to how powerful the skill is.

serenke.4806:

The topic is about waypoints, not exploration. Running from LA to Orr takes what… 15 minutes?

Allow me to describe my situation:

- I have 8 characters, one of each profession.
- I am not always in the mood to play each profession.
- I play thief mostly but sometimes I want to jump on an alt to enjoy a different playstyle.
- I play to have fun, not to do a job. I have a real world full time job for that.
- I do not enjoy running around getting all the waypoints for each character, its very boring.
- If I create a new character, it will only be to experience a different profession, not because I want to explore or complete zones or do a different personal story.
- Because I work full time my gaming time is limited.
- If I create a new character I want to be able to join my friends straight away, wherever they may be, without having to spend 15 minutes walking from LA to Orr first.

Me unlocking waypoints will not effect your game. It will not make me more powerful than you. If you want to explore and get them normally you can. Why do you want to control my game?

Ashen.2907:

Would people buy more skins if they were free to transmute but prices all went up by 20% or so?

The answer for me would still be no.

This would depend on the skin, but if a skin was on sale with two versions: one that required charges to change and one that didn’t, I would definitely pay a lot more for the skin I could change without cost.

I’m not really for or against Sub-Classes, so long as I can make viable and versatile builds that suit my playstyle and I’m able to mold my character to a theme of my preference, I’ll be happy.

At the end of the day though, a Sub-Class system is not much different from the trait system, and if you add a sub-class system as well as the trait system it will only really add extra flavour. I also feel that if you add sub-classes you run the risk of making the game more complicated for new players and players with a more casual playstyle. Unless you removed the traits system in the process. (which I’m not keen on)

Personally I think the current system is robust enough as it is and only needs fine tuning of skills and traits. But hey, if Anet can make a Sub-Class system that is simple to use and get to grips with, allows you to create versatile builds for all Sub-Classes and doesn’t through balancing into chaos I’m all for it.

Hi all, I’m a bit late to the discussion but thought I’d add my top 3 horizontal progression ideas I’d like to see:

1. More weapons, skills & traits for each profession – This will most likely happen anyway, but it is something I would like to see done better. The new healing skills for example were great, but I would like to see a more interesting ways (in terms of progression) of acquiring them. I guess part of the problem is that a lot of players just want to get the skills as soon as possible. But really, so long as each new skill doesn’t take too long to acquire, it would be more fun to have to progress through some quest chain or hunt down a certain champion and learn the skill from them, etc.

As for new weapons for each profession, maybe you should have to learn how to use them from a master trainer NPC first, who asks you to perform a series of tasks in order to learn their use. I remember Anet talking about having special challenges that players could complete to unlock certain traits, that were unique to your profession. For example, a warrior would have to win a drinking game or bar brawl, an Elementalist would have to find and read a secret tome of knowledge. This system was unfortunately not added, but it could be implemented for new weapons.

2. Special channeled ally only skills – These special utility skills would be unlocked through some kind of event completion progression, so could be unlocked for PvE and WvW players in equal measure. Due to being channeled you would not be able to use other skills while casting it and they would also not offer any benefit to your character, but they would help your allies out a lot. For example, a guardian skill that has a long (5-10 seconds) channel time that provides protection to all allies in range while it is channeling. Or a smoke screen that the engineer can generate (channel) to keep only his allies stealthed (would be an awesome skill to trick enemies into an ambush). You could even have PvE and WvW specific ally skills, such as a skill that doubles supply efficiency for a very short period.

3. Roleplaying or interactive town clothes skills – These would be usable only in town clothes and would provide you extra options for roleplaying as well as unique emotes. I’m not a big role player myself, but it is fun once in a while to act in character and it would be good to have more options available, especially interactive emotes. Emotes that would allow other players to join in on the actions would add a lot of fun to the game. And much like normal skills, these could be tied to some kind of leveling progression. Maybe you could start with one skill and every time a player interacts with you, you gain role play experience points. The weapon skills you gain could be based on your character’s personality and background choices (making these choices have more impact) as well as extra utility skills you could learn from npc’s or unlock with role play points. Also, so as not to effect costume brawl, adding items that provide costume brawl skills would override your roleplay skills.

There are a lot of great ideas already in this thread and I would include more than the 3 if I could, such as more skins and upgradeable gear. But I feel the 3 above would ultimately provide more options to players and add more fun into the game.

OMG! Thanks OP, if you hadn’t have made that post I would have carried on oblivious to the fact Anet is a business trying to make money. How dare they! I thought they made the game purely for the love of it. I didn’t realise they were trying to find ways to make more money. It’s almost as if they are trying to keep themselves in business so they can continue producing stuff for the game or something. What are they playing at?!

Ok, sarcasm out the way, let me try to put this as simply as I can for you.

The new conditions and boon will not make the new profession and specializations more powerful than the base professions. They will merely have some new options. For all we know these new options could come at the price of losing some base options. For example, the necro specialization may gain taunt but lose fear.

We simply don’t know enough information yet to go jumping to wild conclusions. The base professions will be just as capable as the new specs. They will just offer different build and tool options.

Taunt is not much different to fear, just the other way around. Resistance is already a mechanic used by Warriors, but is now a boon. And it could very well end up that the Warrior’s existing condition immunity will be changed to the new boon. Slow is the reverse of quickness, and quickness is getting a buff, which will effect all base profs.

These new condis and boon are not more powerful than existing ones, they just offer different tactics and ways to play your profession. So lets all try to relax a little shall we? Take a deep breath and try to be a little more patient. We will only know how these things will effect the game once we start using them. Theory crafting is one thing, but theory crafting on limited information is a waste of time.

I would love to see some kind of assault map like in the old days of Team Fortress 1, where one team defended points and the other team had to capture those points in sequence. Kind of like the current conquest system, but with a more tug of war kind of play.

Part of the enjoyment of those games was the map design I’m sure, but the game type itself was also a good one because it worked so well on all available maps. You could even add PvE mobs and side events/mechanics to make things more interesting.

Another thing I think that is missing from the current conquest games is the feeling of a defined goal. While we do have a goal in conquest (to reach 500 points) it seems such an arbetrary one. The battle cry “Charge!!! We must get 500 points at all costs!!” doesn’t quite sound as exciting as something like “Charge!!! We must take their base at all costs!!”. If each map had a more defined goal (take the enemy base for example) I really feel players would enjoy sPvP a little more.

Of course, there are those that just like to compete against other players, regardless of the game type, and none of these suggestions will effect them, as they will still have the ability to fight other players, but there are a lot of players that want more meaning to their actions, and getting 500 points just doesn’t do it for them (myself included). I enjoy the odd sPvP for the combat and challenge, but it gets boring very quickly because the goal is so arbetrary and not exciting at all.

So I really feel we need other game modes that have more defined or at least more exciting goals to them and an assault game mode would offer that in my opinion.

Sorry, I missed the survey. I guess I am the only one who likes this change? Oh well, always glad to be a bit different.

Saying an expansion is small based on what is NOT in it is folly. Focusing on negative space may be a useful tool for artists, but it is not going to help you determine the size of an expansion. There are a lot of things that are not in it, but that doesn’t mean the expansion is small.

People have been conditioned to think that map size (X & Y) and the number of new professions/classes and new levels, it what determines the size of an expansion. But that is how old MMO’s used to do it for years. Anet are trying something new. While they are still going with the traditional business model of an expansion, they are trying to take a different approach to the content.

Yes, we may only get 3 zones, but each zone is (judging by the datamined map) approximately 1.5 times the size of a large core zone. And each zone will be filled with lots of events and adventures and mastery exploration. The size of the map is not important, it is how much activity there is to do in those 3 zones that is the only thing we need to worry about. And that is something we simply do not have enough information on yet to give us an accurate judgement on the expansion’s size.

If the content in HoT keeps you entertained for a year or 2, or at least until the next big batch of content is released, would you still say the expansion is small? Just because the map dimensions are smaller? Or because we only have 1 new profession?

But to go over your negative points:

A new race only adds flavour.
The number of maps is irrelevant if the content within them is enough to keep us entertained for a good while.
Every new profession mechanic cannot be judged on only one example, some professions may be substantially different. Plus we do not yet know if the druids pets have anything different about them, they may still have pets but the pet’s skills may be drastically different. Or the druid may have access to certain pets the base ranger does not.
How do you know there is no underwater combat? Have you seen all the zones? Do you have a link from Anet stating there is no underwater combat? And even if there is no underwater content, this does not reduce the size of the maps or the amount of content.
New starter zones are merely tutorial areas, and therefore not that important if they are missing.
There may only be one new PvP map to start with but I am sure they will add more. The main thing is that we have a new mode to try out. It may not be much, but it is a start. I do agree more maps would be better, but this does not mean the entire expansion is small.
Have you a list of all the ledgendaries we will get? And when you say incomplete, compared to what?
No new dungeons, but we may get open world alternatives. And for all we know the personal story instances may double as mini dungeons when doing them with a full party. This might be a fantasy, but there is nothing to say otherwise. I can use negative space too.
No new weapons, but each profession gets to use an existing one they couldn’t before. All a new weapon is is new skills, and we will be getting that.
Not sure what you mean by having empty space for flying over and how this makes the expansion small. Or how the caves not being a full zone makes the zones small. These points do not make any sense.

You might think it is small because it doesn’t have the specific things you want to see. But you cannot say it is small when you haven’t seen everything it has to offer. All you can say is it doesn’t have some of the things you want it to have.

I am ok with both, but I do think some of the weapon cooldowns need to be reduced. Staff 5 for example, seems a bit long considering there is an energy cost as well. In my mind the energy cost is there to allow for shorter cooldowns. To have a cost and a long cooldown feels excessive to me.

I think the big problem with the golem event is, that they deal too much damage to players and there is no limit to how many can be built. If their damage was reduced and there was a hard limit on the total number of golems allowed in play at any one time, this event would not be as frustrating to some. Of course, there will always be those who do not like change of any kind.

The male necro dance always made me lol.

An alternative would be to simply add more dance commands: /dance1, /dance2, etc.

I like the idea of having a different default dance based on your personality though. +1

Tuluum.9638:

…Fighting them just isnt fun, whereas I enjoy the fights against every other class…

I agree with many of your points, Tuluum, but I particularly agree with the above comment. This kind of sums up what I feel is the big issue with stealth. Every other profession is fun to fight against, even the other big hitters like the Warrior, but the thief just isn’t.

I hope Anet can fix/balance it right eventually, as I do enjoy the Thief in every other respect.

I have 2 favourites:

Tybalt – He was such a cool cat and I would love to see more characters like this in the game, to get attached to like I did with Tybalt.

I also like the message Golem in Metrica Province. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name, but I followed that little fella through his entire journey and had a good chuckle at every stop.

More NPC’s like this please Anet Especially the discoverable ones like the message golem.

Steal is good as it is and if used correctly can really help you in a fight. And when traited, well, it is an uber skill. My steal does the following:

Every 21.5 seconds I can:
– Shadow step to my target
– Stealth for 3 seconds
– Gain regen from stealthing
– Remove a condition from stealthing
– Poison the target for 11 seconds
– Give myself and my allies Vigor, Fury, Might and Swiftness for 10 seconds
– Steal 2 boons from my target
– Deal approx 2k damage
– Heal nearly 2k health
– Gain a random (often useful) skill
– Daze my target for 1 second
– Can be used while stunned (so can daze the stunner to prevent them from doing the post stun rotation)

So while steal on it’s own it only ok, it can be made into a build defining skill. I also feel that initiative is a class mechanic worth noting. While our skills are balance around it and technically should be no more powerful that other professions, it does give us more flexibility and mistake recovery than other professions.

Personally, without traits, I feel steal is a better mechanic that the warrior’s burst skill. Of course the warrior compensates for this with a wide variety of weapons.

Personally, I feel steal and initiative are enough.

Guilds and the content surrounding them is an evolving thing, just like any other aspect of a game. There will be trends and developers will always try to put their own spin on things. And as some in the article said, we also change as we grow and have experiences. So to me, a guild is not a solid fixed thing, never to change. it is a fluid living thing that can change drasticaly over the years and between games. That said, they are a great place to meet new people and make friends, and that to me is the main purpose of a guild. Anything else the developers give them is a bonus in my opinion.

Regarding guilds in GW2, I think for the most part they have a good system. There is certainly room for improvement and I agree with others that the merits system and guild missions seem very anti small guilds at the moment. Personally I would love Anet to take another look at guild missions. That in my experience is the biggest hurdle for small guilds. The first one you unlock is bountry, which for small guilds can be a real challenge to complete and earn merits from.

If they changed the order in which you unlocked GM’s, for example if you unlocked rush before bounty, I think this would help the smaller guilds to accumulate the merits they need to unlock other missions, without having to drastically change the way missions work. It just seems that they make the hardest challenge to complete, for small guilds, the first to unlock without merits. And that didn’t make much sense to me.

I also think that there needs to be more for larger guilds to do. Guild missions are fun, but they are extremely easy when you have a large guild, and do not present much of a challenge. I think we need more things like guild run world bosses and more challenging large group content for guilds to initiate. Hopefully we will get some of these things in HoT.

Here is a different perspective for you. Every player has their own likes and dislikes. You will either be happy with how things are in GW2 or you won’t. Anet can never please everyone. The very best they can do is continue the balancing act to try to please as many players as possible so as to increase and maintain profits.

I have my dislikes about the game, and I voice them from time to time, but I also have a lot of admoration for the devs and I do like (no love) various aspects of the game. And it is because of this love for parts of the game that makes it hard to stomach the negatives. But like I say, my negatives will be someone elses positives, and that’s an easy thing to forget most of the time.

WvW requires the effort of everyone, not individuals, not just commanders, not just small groups or guilds. Everyone. It requires communication and teamwork. It requires coordination and tactics.

I like this change.

White swords were like a light bulb to a giant mindless moth. But now people need to think. Now people need to use scouts and plan their attacks and communicate more with each other.

I hope the white swords never return.

Edit: In response to the issue of worlds suffering due low population. Maybe the outnumbered buff can be altered so that you can only see the white swords when the outnumbered buff is active on you.

I would prefer a melee weapon (preferrably OH sword/greatsword), but if it is rifle at least it should give us 1200+ range options. So long as we can still use the base profession weapon sets, which I imagine will be the case for the most part, I will be ok with rifle. I am predominantly an melee fighter, but providing I can have a melee weapon on the other set I’ll be happy.

A well written and fun read, Snow. +1

I personally still love the thief, and love the daredevil even more, so my cheese only sandwich still tastes amazing to me. But I do see why most thief players are unhappy.

I have a different way of looking at the professions, and have a different analogy. Instead of each prof being a different type of meal, they are all (apart from thief) a different type of pizza. A pizza is an ideal meal to share among your friends. When they are hungry, you can pull off a slice and help them out. What does the thief get? A very tasty calzone. Sure it tastes just as good as a pizza, but it is not very good for sharing.

The thief (and daredevil) has great capabilities, but what they severally lack, compared to ALL other professions, is group support options. Sure, they can stealth allies, but that is very situational. They can share venoms, but they sacrifice too much to achieve that. All other profs can give boons with only slight changes to their builds, the thief has to dramatically reduce other areas if they hope to compete, and that to me is the only real issue with the thief.

They deal great damage, are great at avoiding damage if played right, and have good control options. But they have very restricted and crippling support options, and I really hope that one day Anet will give us that normal pizza option, so we can give slices to our friends and help them out a bit more.

Extreme.8350:

But Tera online can

Ermm.. No, it can’t. Not for me at least.

Let me ask you a few questions.

Did you play the original Guild Wars? Yes, almost from launch.
Do you think the amount of content delivered through Living world is enough to keep players busy? I can’t speak for anyone else, but it has been enough to keep me busy. And when I finished each episode I carried on with the core game again.

Are you pleased with the amount of content available right now?Yes
Have you been playing since launch?Yes
What do you actually do when you play the game? Dailies, then a mix of world bosses, dungeon runs, fractals, silverwatses & dry top events, sometimes events in other areas, sPvP, WvW roaming or running with a zerg.
How many times have you repeated content? I wasn’t counting, but I expect a lot.
How many times can you repeat content before it becomes dull to you? Back to back, not for long. Over a period of years, mixing up the content based on my mood, 3 years so far.
Are you truly happy? Truly truly happy? No, but I have yet to find a game that provides that feeling. Overall, I am very VERY happy with GW2, but that doesn’t mean its perfect.

Not entirely sure what all that was in aid of.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Even trying to compare the living world releases of Guild Wars 2 to the amount of Content Anet gave us in Gw1 is insulting. I wasn’t trying to compare LW to anything.

I am not pleased with the amount of content available in Guild Wars 2. Then play something else
I have been playing since launch. I’ve been playing since beta.
I have absolutely nothing left to do in the game. Again, play something else.
I have repeated every single piece of content so many times its painful. You must have a LOT of time on your hands.
…and I can grind/repeat content for a looooooooong time before it gets boring. If it feels like grinding, you’re doing it wrong.
…and in case you couldn’t tell… I’m not happy. I’ve heard there are other MMO’s you can play, maybe check google?

“You can’t please everyone” an old saying, but nowhere in history has it ever been an excuse to give up trying. And nowhere in history does it say that the phrase “You can’t please everyone” means giving up. The fact is, you simply CANNOT please everyone. No dev in the history of gaming has never, and never will, please every player.
I’m actually pretty easy to please. I’m happy for you, but you’re not everyone are you?

I would just like fun, repeatable, worthwhile content to experience. So would I, I guess I struck lucky with GW2 huh?

Guild Wars 1 had it right. Not completely.
Guild Wars 2 screwed it up. Not completely
We have no endgame. (challenging and repeatable content that award loot based on skill and challenge) Materialistic much? I play for the activities, not the loot.
Over 90% of a player’s wealth comes out of the bottom of a slot machine called RNG. Exaggerate much?
Most of the content we get are chores/busy work or gem store items. In your opinion.

…stuff about hardcore players…

The hardcore players kept Gw1 alive. The self inflated ego of the hardcore player is a sight to behold.

Gw2 is already doomed to die if you don’t give the hardcore players a reason to stay interested. How many hardcore players do you know who buy gems with real money? I am going to guess not many.

Honestly, if the game is that painful for you, find something else. But the fact is, I thoroughly enjoy it and have enjoyed it since beta. But like I said, you cannot please everyone.

I have already voiced this elsewhere but I will add it here too, as this really needs to be permanent.

When we started getting details about GW2 we were given the impression that there would be many fun mini games to take part in, for when you fancied a break from the usual stuff. All we got was Kegbrawl. Not that I dislike kegbrawl, I was just expecting more games, such as the shooting range and polymock, etc. Now we have been given SAB, and it’s amazing. The best content added so far. And it’s not staying?! Why on earth not? Why would you spend time and effort on something as FUN as this only to stop people from playing it after a month?

Please Anet, listen to the plees of your players, keep SAB as a permanent feature.

Donari.5237:

I’m concerned about a long windup needing large groups of foes for full effect. I don’t see it as a bad thing, just not my general play style. I know that any slower skills I have are just about completely useless when I have others around me because the enemies die before my shot even lands (I’m staring at you, Thief Shortbow 2). And I seem to face one or two mobs far more often than groups of five or more when I’m fighting on my own. So this spec may not meet my personal needs. Which is why it’s good there are so many professions and spec versions thereof! Because some people are going to revel in this.

Tomorrow’s live stream will help a lot, if it’s run like the DH ReadyUp was. That one made DH look far more viable for how I play than the blog/video had.

This is not me saying I think the Reaper is lame, bad, or in any way uncool. I’m just unsure it will fit into how I play. I still have a necromancer with 100 skill challenges done just in case!

So long as you can keep moving while you ‘windup’ your attacks, I don’t think it will be a problem for me. Once you get used to the timing, slow attacks are not a problem if you can keep moving while casting, much like the guardian hammer 4 skill.

Of course, like you say, it will come down to each player’s preferred playstyle.

I feel sorry for Trahearne. If I remember rightly he accepted leadership of the Pact reluctantly. He has been put in this position because of his skills and knowledge of understanding and defeating Zaitan. As much as the personal story felt more like Trahearne’s story than mine, I do not blame him as a character for that. I blame Anet for that.

I personally like Trahearne. If he does turn to the dark side, I hope we get the chance to save him.

Caithe kept her secret from most people, and I expect Trahearne was as much in the dark as we were. I think the Pale Tree kept the secret from the rest of the Sylvari in an attempt to protect them. If everyone found out this information the Sylvari would have been in great danger ages ago, as they are now.

I hope Trahearne has survived and continues to help the Pact through this. I think he, and other key Sylvari, will be key in bringing the race back into the trust of the other races. Caithe on the other hand, due to keeping a secret that could have stopped the Pact from going into a trap, may not be so easily forgiven. Especially by her own people.

There is a lot to be discovered yet. It may well be that all Sylvari get corrupted at some point. If the Pale tree falls (attempts have already been made) the rest of the Sylvari race will lose that protection. That said, I do not believe the Pale Tree is the only one of her kind. But this is going off topic slightly.

Back on topic, I do not believe Trahearne, at present, is corrupt. Whether he stays that way we won’t know that yet.

Thanks Arenanet. Thanks for such an awesome combat system. Thanks for Dynamic Events. Thanks for WvW. Thanks for a rich and beautiful world. Thanks for the humour and the stories. Thanks for the commitment to add new content. Thanks for the fun gameplay.

Thanks for Guild Wars 2.

+1 x infinity.

munkiman.3068:

The focus should always be improving the game, get people interested in playing the content and having fun.

I agree with this completely, but this will not be done with rewards. Core game play is not improved by better rewards or reward systems. Therefore, the dailies and login rewards don’t even factor into it. The type of dailies they use is irrelevant to how fun the core game is.

As I see it, the login system is designed with 2 functions in mind: 1) To encourage frequent logins, and 2) To time gate certain rewards. Therefore it doesn’t need to be part of the core game experience.

As I said in a previous post, I for one would rather they spent their resources on improving the core game, rather than waste them on improving the dailies system. But all the while we (the players) keep complaining about dailies they will continue to waste those resources. So lets just leave the system how it is, be happy with it, and let Anet focus on more important things.

Though the new trick may help things a little, I do not feel it will be enough. We need substantial chances to how WvW works, from how easy or hard a tower is to take (and how long it takes) to what other beneficial activities can we do outside camps and towers. Make supply chains more vital, so people want to defend them. Give players something to do while they defend towers and reward them adequately for it. PvE has a decent selection of activities to participate in, PvP and WvW does not, and they (I thought) were supposed to be treated equally.

I am sorry for my long rant, and I do not blame anyone for not reading it all, but I had such high hopes for GW2 and it is a game that has a heap load of potential. It just saddens me to see it going to waste mostly in the name of profit. I understand Anet is a business and that profits are the bottom line, but I cannot help feel there are more player friendly ways to gain it, without it limiting how great your game can be.

Maybe my vision of what GW2 was going to be went beyond the hype. Maybe I was asking for too much. I hope Anet can repair their game and bring it up to the heights we all hoped it would reach, but a part of me feels this will never happen.

Is GW2 a game for players? Yes, it’s pay once play forever (theoretically). It’s fast paced reaction combat nicely blended with tab targeting build focused combat (though work needs to be done on the build diversity part). We no longer need to wait for healers or tanks! Hurrah!!! They have been slowly improving things as we requested (wardrobe, wallet, dyes, etc). So yes, I think the game has been built to some extent with players in mind. It would have failed within the first year if it hadn’t of been a little player focused.

That said though, it is also a game for the developers, and for the publishers. It is a game for the developers because they are trying new things. The living story is Anet’s way of creating a living breathing world. It’s not working yet in terms of player satisfaction and it is obviously a serious profit mechanism more than a happy player mechanism, but they are trying at least, which is more than some MMO developers are doing. And it is definitely a game for the publisher, because otherwise we would not have such an overwhelming and often suffocating amount of RNG and gemstore focus.

With all the above said, I will still continue to play GW2 for some time to come, but I just wanted to voice my opinions in the hopes it would make a difference and help the devs to see how some of us feel about the game they created. But then maybe I’m just an unrealistic dreamer who wants the ultimate game made by a developer that doesn’t care about profit one little bit.

I can keep dreaming can’t I?

Galen Grey.4709:

…snip…

Very well said, I agree completely. Also, regarding the paying for things you don’t need, with a sub model you are essentially paying for skins and other cosmetics that you may not like. At least with Anet’s gemstore model you can pick and choose what skins you want to pay for. A far superior and fairer models for the players IMO.

I like the sounds of Resistance. A boon that can be striped and that temporarily renders conditions useless without removing them. Much better than an immunity that prevents further applications. At least with Resistance you can continue stacking your condis on them.

UnderdogSMO.9428:

got to pay the Bills some how

Who are these Bills? Are they some kind of dept collector for game developers? And how much does Anet owe them?

Bad times.

I am not sure how easy you will find the glider, but I do not think the mushrooms will be a problem. From the beta experience they seem to aim you where you need to go anyway, and seem to be designed to help you bypass much of the jumping.

As you progress and unlock more tiers for each mastery they should get easier to use as well. I do not know if that will be enough for you, shava, but hopefully it will not be as bad as you fear. You have my sympathies on this subject, as I have a friend who hates jumping as much as you do. Personally I am good at jumping puzzles, but my friend is not, and I can often hear him getting more and more annoyed when trying to get certain vistas, and many times it has ended with him giving up out of shear frustration. So I know where you are coming from.

Jumping Puzzles are easily avoided, but it does seem like the game is requiring the use of jumping more and more these days. I didn’t have a problem navigating Dry Top, but I can see how it would annoy those who find jumping more challenging. I hope that any content in HoT, that is reachable only by gliding or jumping, can be easily ignored without too much of a problem. I think it is fine to have extra loot and achievements at the end of a gliding puzzle, but do not think it fair if you need to be skilled in gliding/jumping in order to get to the next zone or waypoint.

If that fails, like Hannelore said, I am sure there will be plenty of mesmers porting people about during the early days of HoT’s release.

Raebfle.5914:

I personally don’t see a problem with it.

I’ve played games where the level cap gets raised, and as such it raises the bar for toons (or chars, whatever you call them). It introduces more content, skills, gear, and exciting bits and pieces, including (potentially), new lore to be discovered which would create more character development and plot development for things we dPCTYTWN3on’t understand/know yet!

Not to mention, you can easily level 1-80 now in a ridiculous time frame, so the only issue that I see here is people being lazy about levelling what, 5 more levels (which you could possibly do in a day or two if you’re hardcore enough), and having to go back to dungeons to get new gear.
It still gives us things to do and things to look forward to

It’s exciting and I am all for it!!

The thing is, they could add all those things (which I hope they do) without upping the level cap at all. It’s just an unnecessary addition that many of us do not want.

If they added all that extra stuff to do, without a level increase, would you be annoyed? You really don’t need to add levels in order to add extra content. If it’s to add challenge, just make the content harder for the current level. If it’s to add progression, we already have infusions and there are more interesting ways to add it than increasing numbers.

Upping the level cap is not a casual friendly mechanic and I’m sure there are better ways to keep hardcore players happy without it negatively effecting other players.

At the end of the day, if they up the cap, I’ll level up and carry on. It’s not a massive problem. I just feel it is unnecessary and that there are better, more interesting, ways to add extra content.

A couple of points I’d like to add to this topic:

1) Not every player finds the thief easy to play. I see plenty who struggle to survive and do well in PvP, WvW and PvE. Your experience does not constitute every player, nor does it show the average player capability with the thief. Only Anet will have that statistic.

2) Playing a thief against a skilled player is NOT easy. The fact you claim Heartseeker is an i-win button makes me believe you haven’t played the theif long enough, or vs skilled enough players, to be able to make an experienced judgement on how easy/OP the thief is. Heartseeker is a very powerful skill, used at the right time, but it is far from an i-win button. I see plenty of thieves using it way too early and end up taking a dirt nap as a result.

In the hands of a skilled player, thief can be a very potent profession, but the same can easily be said of other professions. The thief can also be quite powerful in the hands of an average player, but again, so too can other professions if it suits their playstyle.

If you find the thief easy, so far, than I am happy for you. But not everyone does. Different professions will suit different player better than others. What you find easy others will find hard, and visa versa. Your experience does not mean the profession is easy or OP, only that it is easy/OP for you.

Heimlich.3065:

My objection is that they’re raising the time to acquire max-stat gear by a fair bit. Exotic-stats require 1-2 hours of playtime per-slot to get. That time cost makes it reasonable to keep a few sets of max-stat equipment for multiple characters and/or multiple play types (glass cannon vs. survival vs. support).

From what they’ve released, they apparently intend Ascended-tier junk (the new max-stat gear) to take much longer. Probably closer to 10-20 hours per piece. That’s more time than I want to put into max-stat gear.

That does not respect my time as a player.

I understand and agree with that, Heimlich. But the impression I got from the AMA was that they intend to make it so that Ascended gear will be easier to get than it currently is. I could be wrong of course, but if it becomes a real problem I’m sure they will adjust things.

Hi,

Before I start, this thread is not a complaint thread or anything like that. It is merely a thread to discuss how you feel about the control methods used in GW2 and whether you feel they can be improved.

Before I start let me just say that, I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 since BWE1 and have not had an issue with the controls at all. But then, I use a gaming mouse with a hundred and one buttons on the side, and due to this using all my skills is a walk in the park. However, I recently introduced a friend of mine to the game and was quite taken aback at how unwieldy he found the game. When I stepped back and actually looked at the situation, I was surprised by how right he was. Let me explain.

My friend does not come from an MMO background. He plays games like diablo, starcraft and the occasional FPS game. In all the games we play together, the only thing you need to be able to play the game is a mouse with 2 buttons on it (and 4 keys for movement, in the case of the FPS games). Even in FPS games you can swap between weapons at a scroll of the mousewheel.

The first thing he said to me was “How do I look around?”. The moment he said it I realised how strange it was that we need to press a mouse button just to look around, when really, in all non-MMO third person & first person games, the looking around part should be done simply by moving the mouse. No pressing of buttons, it just happens. Again, this is not a complaint and I am not suggesting that GW2 is doing things the wrong way. I have used the MMO method for years and I am ok with it. But for my friend it was very alien, and I can see his point that it seems an unnecessary step to have to make.

The next thing he asked me was why can he not attack with the mouse buttons? Having played Oblivion and Skyrim I can see why he would ask this, but I did agree with him that this would make it feel a lot more action oriented and would flow a lot better. Especially for players who are coming from a non-MMO background.

I guess what I am creating this thread for is to find out what other players think about this. This is primarily aimed at players who have not played MMO’s before (as this was a demographic that Anet was aiming to try and entice into the game), but I see no harm in MMO veterans sharing their opinions also. So, do you feel the control systems are the best they can be in GW2? Do you find them unwieldy like my friend? How would you like to see them improved?

Personally, I have got used to them now, so I do not need them changed, but in the spirit of making the game more user friendly for everyone, I would like to see some improvements to the control system. The main change I would like to see is to have the option to have mouse look permanently on, so no mouse buttons needed. Another option I’d like to see, if the first option was implemented, would be the ability to remap the mouse buttons. So you could, for example, remap mouse 1 to your auto attack and mouse 2 to jump or dodge. I feel these changes would go a long way to help non-MMO players settle down into the game and would at the same time give a more FPS feel to the combat.

Both of the above suggestions would be options of course, and not forced on you in any way. So if you preferred the current system then you should be able to continue using it. Anyway, what are your thoughts? And, if possible, please keep the discussion constructive and polite, so that the devs have an easier time reading it. Thanks.

First, the trailer is a cinematic showing NPCs, not player characters. And it was most likely created by the art team. The art team on numberous occasions have created images of things we never got in game. That’s not to say it is right, but it is a fact.

Second, a trailer is not a menu. It is a teaser of things to come. It is not a list of features or items we can expect to see in the expansion.

Third, just because we are not getting a new weapon in HoT, doesn’t mean we will not get a new weapon in the near future. For all we know, we may well get a new weapon in a LS episode further down the road.

I do agree that showing something we wont get in a trailer for HoT is a bit off, but we have not had any trailers for HoT yet. Technically, we have only had a trailer looking at parts of the future story. A lot of what we saw may well be in HoT, but some of it could just as easily be added in future LS episodes. And as far as I am aware, none of the HoT specific videos have shown weapons we will not get in the expansion.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

So . . . we’re paying fifty dollars or more for guild halls, vanity items, and other nonsense? Even you don’t believe that. Can we please get some information about the actual content instead? You know, the stuff that we will be spending the majority of our time on?

You might call it other nonsense, but to me it is a lot more than that. Here is a list of some of the things we know we are getting:

1) A new WvW borderlands map and some accompanying mechanic changed and new siege equipment. This could very well change the face of WvW and make it much better. But we will not know that until we try it.
2) A new PvP game mode with Stronghold (which I have tried and feel I will enjoy just as much as conquest).
3) New ways to explore PvE zones via the mastery system. Currently we know about gliding and mushrooms. We also know that lore masteries will grant us ways to explore the map and conquest challenges that block our path.
4) New ways to create legendaries via the mastery system, which will also bring with it new legendaries.
5) Guild Halls that will provide a variety of interesting options and activities, as well as some really nice QoL changes. This has the potential to offer a lot of content to consume and repeat. Also: Customizable guild arenas!!!! That feature alone I would pay $50 for.
6) A new profession: the Revenant. The revenant will feel different to play and will bring with it many skills and playstyles with which to enjoy the different game modes.
7) Elite specializations for each profession, bringing further build options and a new weapon to each profession. This will change the meta big time and drastically refresh the combat system.
8) Large three tiered zones, providing dense activities withing a large vertical playground. While we do not know how many maps we will be getting, we know they will be slightly larger than a normal map, with each having 3 vertical tiers. This will effectively make each map more than 3 times the size of a normal map. Not only that, but each map will have its own overall themed dynamic event cycle and many repeatable adventures.
9) A continuation of the Guild Wars 2 story, which may well culminate in the defeat of Mordremoth. How big this story will be, we will not know until we play it. Anet is not going to give any spoilers in this regard. But judging by all the little lore tidbits they have been dropping here and there, it seems like they have gone into some pretty hefty depth on this.
10) New mini games. While we do not know what these are, or how many there will be, we do know they are adding new ones.

Furthermore, along with the above, we can safely assume the following will also be added:

1) New weapon and armour skins to collect. We know that each elite spec will provide some new skills as you progress through them.
2) New achievements to aquire, in all game modes.
3) There will likely be new jumping puzzles, and possibly gliding and mushroom puzzles.
4) I expect there to be a lot of extra side events and adventures to take part in.
5) There will likely be new PvP reward tracks relating to HoT.
6) With the new borderland and new mechanics and siege equipment, there will likely be new WXP progression paths.

But that is not all. HoT is not just a bundle with some content in it. It is designed to be a platform with which Anet can add new content to the game. It is the building block of Anet’s vision of the future of GW2. With the above, we will likely see the following future (both free and charged) content:

1) New masteries, and possibly new maps to progress through with them.
2) New elite specializations for each profession.
3) We will likely get new maps for Stronghold, which may provide new mechanics much like the conquest maps do.
3) We will likely get new functional and decorative items to acquire for our guild halls.
4) With the introduction of precursor crafting, we may well see more legendaries added.
5) I fully expect the living story model to continue in between expansions.
6) We will likely see more adventures added to various maps, including core GW2 maps.
7) New glider skins, and maybe even see access to glider use in core GW2 zones.

Now if all of this doesn’t sound like it is worth $50 to you, then do not spend your money. And if you are expecting intricate details of every nook and cranny of the expansion, then you are living with false hope, because that is never going to happen.

For me, it looks like it is more than worth the price tag and I was happy to hand over my cash. I am not trying to convince you either way here, I just wanted to highlight some of the things we know and some of the things we can safely assume. And I wanted people to see it is a bit more than just some other nonsense.

It’s funny you bring this up now, I was just about to post a similar question. I am not so worried about having the days or nights longer, what I would like to see is more noticable nights. At the moment the nights, while obviously different to days do not feel very dark. I would love to see nightime get really dark at its peak, maybe dependant on the area and season.

Some things I would love to see added to GW2 to increase the immersion:

- Darker nights, based on season and region.
- Varying degrees of random weather effects, also based on season and region.
- Different creatures at night compared to the day. And also creatures that come out in certain weather, such as the dust mites in dry top.

I really enjoyed the sandstorm effect in Dry Top and would love to see that kind of immersion added to all areas of the game. Tyria looks great and has some nice aesthetic touches, but things like weather and atmospheric effects would go a long way to improve immersion in my opinion.

Additionally, I think weather effects, and dark nights, could have very interesting tactical play in WvW. Can you imagine taking a keep when an enemy zerg rushes in under the cover of a blizzard? I know the new borderlands have some interesting environmental effects, but I would love to see some random weather thrown in too.

I do not believe making a game hot joinable is the thing that makes new players play PvP games. How fun it is to play when your in the game is far more important. How easy it is to join a match is only a small part of a game mode’s success.

I agree that having a game easy to jump in and out of is a good thing to aim for though, and I do not see why any of the options already stated in this thread cannot be made hot joinable. That is merely a connection method, not a game play mechanic.

As to the other criteria mentioned, I feel that these are somewhat limiting. 5v5 is ok for quick skirmishes. Yes, that works well for eSports and tournament and competitive play, but I do not feel that all PvP game modes should live up to this formula. I will add to this later. However, I do feel that short siege/assault mode games could easily fit the 5v5 and 15 minute criterias, as well as the hot join and castable criterias mentioned. I also think a MOBA style game could be created to fit the 5v5 and 15 minute limts.

Assault Mode:

- The defending team has all capture points and a base. They can teleport to each capture waypoint that is not contested.
– The attacking players start with a base and can also teleport to uncontested captured points.
– The match has a 15 minute time limit for the attacking team to take the enemy base.
– The route to the defender’s base can be split into two or more (or less) paths, with two or more (or less) capture point options. Forcing teams to split and fight with different combinations.
– Side mechanics, much like Conquest maps, can be added to create unique twists to each map. For example, a summoning event could start and the winning team could summon a storm to block the enemy team from teleporting to captured points, slowing their progress a little.

Siege Mode:

- The defending team has a base, complete with defenses. They spawn at the far rear of the base on a timed respawn so attacking players have time to take the base while their defeated opponents wait to spawn.
– The attacking players have siege equipment which needs to be built first, then moved into position to attack the gate/walls. The siege equipment must be protected from any defending players who try to leave their base to slow the attackers.
– Each base can be attacked from two or more positions, encouraging teams to split.
– Special buffs could be applied to each team depending on their location. For example, the attackers could get a buff while outside the defenders base and visa versa with the defenders getting a buff while inside the base. So defenders have a choice to fight easy on the walls once the siege is up or fight harder to slow/stop them outside. While the attackers have an easier time sieging the walls but must put in more effort once inside for the final push.
– Events inside and out could trigger, based on unique map mechanics. For example, Siege supplies could drop somewhere in a neutral zone (no buffs for either team) and the winning team gains a powerful siege device to use to attack/defend.

Now, as mentioned above I do not feel that all game modes should have to stick to tight criterias such as 5v5 or 15 minute match times. I agree that there needs to be more tournament/competitive viable game types added, but I also feel there needs to be some more casual formats added. Not everyone wants to take part in a tournament or be at the top of their PvP game. Many casual PvP players simply want to jump into a fun game and have some light competetive content to play.

Game modes like large scale assault/siege would benefit much more from having the option of more players on each team and longer timers. While we have large scale combat in WvW, it is not in a controlled environment and therefore not on demand. On demand being the key factor here. By adding larger game modes into sPvP, you will increase the number of casual PvP players in the mists who could then go on to do other activities and maybe even take part in tournaments.

I really feel that you need to add both highly competitive and tournament friendly modes AND more casual modes. Only adding modes that fit tight critiria will only serve to limit what types of player play sPvP in GW2.

If ascended gear was as easy to get as exotics currently are, I would have no problem at all with them adding weapons and armour.

I’m not sure I would like them to be aquired with laurels, unless they altered the costs (including the existing trinkets), because it would just take too long to gear up one character. And for those of us, like me, who have 2 or 3 main characters, it would take a ridiculous amount of time to gear them all up to max stats. And don’t be fooled, a fully ascended character would have quite a stat advantage compared to a fully exoticed character. The difference would be enough to help a player win against an equal skilled, or even a slighter better skilled, opponent. The trinkets alone are already enough to provide a slight, yet noticable, advantage.

So while I am not against adding extra ascended gear, I am very wary about how it will be implemented and how easy/difficult/slow it will be to aquire.

While not everyone has enjoyed all the stuff added since launch, you cannot say Anet has sat on their hands for 3 years. They have worked on, and added, quite a lot over the last few years.

Anet’s initial plan was to frequently add content to create a living world experience, and avoid the standard expansion model used by most MMO’s. They added LS.S1 and LS.S2, as well as a few feature patches and other stuff. We’ve had new skills, new stories, new maps, new features, new items and many more.

None of the things they added over the years have been packaged up into an expansion, so to those who maybe haven’t looked into it, or to those who are new to the game, it may appear that Anet has done nothing for 3 years, when in fact they have done a lot. Some might argue it wasn’t enjoyable, but that doesn’t change the fact that they have added a lot of stuff to the game.

Moving forward I suspect Anet will adopt a mix of both models. Continued LS content and feature packs, alongside the occasional expansion pack. And for that reason I do not think we have any reason to complain. If you do not like that content added, then that is a different topic all together, but you cannot claim Anet has not given us anything since launch.

fellyn.5083:

I would like them more if weapons could be dyed. I don’t care for their default tan/gold color at all.

This. I would be more inclined to buy them, and match them with my dyed Balthazar armour, if we could dye the weapons as well. Just looks odd having Balthazar armour and Balthazar weapons in different colours, and I do not want to dye my armour the same as the weapons.

Hopefully dyable weapons will be added to the game at some point, and maybe by adding the Balthazar weapons it will highlight the need for it even more.

The meta is a funny thing. There will always be a meta, because no matter how hard a developer tries to balance out skills. if they offer a large selection of options (which they need to do in an MMO) there will always be a common selection of these options that most people find stronger than other options.

The meta does not mean the game is imbalanced. It merely highlights what is commonly considered optimal for most players. That does not mean that other, non-meta, builds are not viable if put in the hands of the right players.

I personally do not use the meta, and always try to find builds that suit my playstyle best, and I do not do too badly. Any failings I have in PvP I feel are more down to my own skill than the builds I am using. This doesn’t mean I think the meta is broken or bad, it just means I’d rather tailor my own builds to my own playstyle, than use meta builds and try to change my playstyle to make them work.

What works for most people (the meta) will not always work for everyone. And most importantly, it is possible that someone can create their own non-meta build and easily defeat those using the meta. Because no matter how good meta builds are in this game, player skill can determine the outcome.

Of course, there is also the ability to create bad builds, and in these situations player skill may not be enough to help. And it is partially because of bad builds that I believe Anet is making these changes. If it shakes up/changes the meta at the same time, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some people do get stuck in the meta, and are not happy that their builds may change, but these changes do not mean we will be left with only bad options. If anything we are getting a few buffs here and there. And while some may be losing build flexibility, they will still be able to create effective builds, and I am 100% certain a new meta will form for them to slot back into. You are not forced to follow it, however, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise does not fully understand how this game works.

The more I read some of the posts in this thread the more I think people have forgotten what the sole purpose of a game is. A game is entertainment. Much like films, books and TV. They are designed to give you a good time. To take your mind of the daily grind and forget the worries of your life for a few hours.

Now, for the most part, GW2 does just that. It has excellent combat, fun events, dungeons, fractals and lot of other fun activities to do. I even really enjoyed exploring the world and doing all the jumping puzzles, mini dungeons and other fun little things here and there. I enjoyed getting map completed and finishing each zone.

And had I only had the choice of one profession I would be completely content with the progression systems. But once you have done it all once, some of those things are no longer entertaining. So instead of entertaining you, they bore you and they become a chore. They fail at being a game and become work.

This isn’t the case for everyone of course. Some people like to do all the progression on all their characters, and they have a lot of fun doing it. And that is great. I would not want that to be taken away from those players.

But again I come back to choices. I really cannot emphasize this enough. An MMO is designed to keep a lot of players entertained. If they only catered to certain types of player, they are limiting their sales, so the best thing any developer can do is give lots of options.

Anet said before GW2 launched, and many times since, that they believe players should be able to play their way. It’s a great philosophy to design by, and I wish more companies would adopt this mentality. But the trouble is, Anet has, inadvertantly or otherwise, added elements to their game that go against that ideal.

I cannot freely change professions if I want. I cannot unlock stuff at a pace I want. I cannot skip stuff I don’t enjoy anymore. In PvE, and WvW, you cannot do things your way. You have to do them Anet’s way, and that goes against what they said. Not only that, but for some players it forces them to do thing they do not find entertaining, which is the main reason they are playing the game in the first place.

Some might say ‘Well, go play a different game if you don’t like it’, and to those people I say ‘You are not listening’. I really like a lot of what the game offers. No other MMO, so far, is as much fun as GW2. But that doesn’t mean it does everything right, and that doesn’t mean they cannot/should not offer more options.

Unlocking waypoints affects no one but the person unlocking them. If it means losing XP I’m completely fine with that, but I do not see why we should be locked out of getting future rewards, just because we want to skip content we don’t like. If I spend real money to unlock waypoints, I should not be punished for it. I will have supported the developers, not hindered other players.

Some of you do not want this option, and that is fine, but I see no reason why you would want to stop others having it when it doesn’t do anything to you. It’s like saying you cannot use tomes of knowledge because I want to level normally. It’s selfish and pointless.

Ralanost.8913:

Trust me, I resent how much in game can be purchase with gold, and in turn real life money. I really wish more things had to be earned in the game and it was less about opening your wallet or gaming the trading post. I play games to have fun. Focusing on making money isn’t fun and doesn’t help with the escapism aspect of gaming.

Based on this comment I have to ask you the following questions:

1a. Do you get things with real money or via the TP?
1b. If yes, do you feel you can ONLY get things by spending real money or via the TP?
2. Do you feel you cannot have fun in this game without spending real money?
3a. If other people buy their way through the game, does this stop you having fun?
3b. If yes, why?
4a. What is more important to you: the loot reward or the fun of gameplay?
4b. If loot, why do you feel earning it with time spent in game is more valid than someone spending real (often hard earned) money to get it?