Guild Wars 2

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Gern.2978:

Masteries are literally the definition of horizontal progression. You do things in the world to level them, and they give you different benefits.

Well except they aren’t horizontal they are vertical. You can’t complete the maps without them.

But yes, as of now the only announced progression is the new rep grinds.

Just because you need them to complete maps, it doesn’t make them vertical progression (although I will concede that some of the Masteries are vertical progression.

Horizontal progression is the opening up of options (gliding and mushroom jumping), whereas vertical progression is an increase in power (reduced condition damage and increased damage Masteries).

1. Trait points are earned by levelling. You get 1 point every 6 levels starting from level 30, and then 2 points every six levels from level 66. In total, you’ll have 14 trait points – they’ve simply condensed the points down. Adept level unlocks at level 30, Master level at 60 and Grandmaster at 80.

2. You earn new traits by doing certain tasks or purchasing books with skill points and gold.

We knew this would be the case when they had the week where they were releasing the blog posts on guild halls.

Not to mention a guild is a group of people by definition anyway.

CoRtex.2157:

can’t actually believe people think there are skills in this game lol :P it’s faceroll, you don’t even have to know what you are doing in a dungeon and you can still complete it easly. OR… OR.. maybe… people confuse skill (like in how good you are) with skills (in like abilities of your class), hmmmmm, wow, mind blown,, i had to dig so deep in to my brain to figure out how n00bs think, it’s like, they are living outside ‘the box’. Mind blown… really..

So what you’re saying is that you’ve never died, you don’t use exploits in dungeons, and that every dungeon run you did you did first time?

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

So that’s why the game is still so broken

Now imagine what it would be like if they spent all day on the forums answering questions instead of working on the game…

I personally haven’t got anything against Raids. GW done larger group content well (better than WoW, imho), by making it a massive area in itself, with a quest chain to tell the story, which you got to get through it before you fight the final boss, as opposed to the linear approach most raids are constructed as nowadays, where you really, really can’t get lost.

However, rather than instanced raids, I’d much prefer them to add and improve the Meta-events (i.e. Dragons) into large scale raids in the world, where teamwork is essential, otherwise you will fail. Maybe hidden bosses / rare spawns that are down in caverns and such.

Link to Blogpost

Weapon – Longbow
Skills – Traps

Profession Mechanic Changes

• Virtue of Justice > Spear of Justice – Throws a spear, piercing foes and tethering them while you remain in range. Applies continuous Burning.

• Virtue of Resolve > Wings of Resolve – Leap to an area healing nearby allies. Can be traited to also deal damage.

• Virtue of Courage > Shield of Courage – Creates a shield in front of you blocking all attacks from the front.

These mechanic changes retain their passive effects and functionality with current traits, such as Justice is Blind.

Weapon Skills

Bow has a focus of firing single, large projectiles.

• Symbol of Energy – Fires an arrow into an area granting Vigor to allies.
• Deflecting Shot – Destroys projectiles in its path.

From the video I’d wager a guess that they’re getting a Ring of Warding on the bow as well, and a blinding shot.

Traps

• Heal Trap – Heals for a small amount when placed. Heals for a large amount, as well as applying Blind when triggered.

Conditions

Dragonhunters will gain access to bleeding and cripple through traits.

ALL OF MY YES!!!!!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Providing that they put the time and effort, as well as taking away what they can about what they’re doing well and not so well with the current LS content.

That is all.

Eli The Yahoo.9782:

@TheDaiBish.9735
1. I agree with what you are saying – stopping the living world and focusing on an expansion pack should solve this, even if i’d have to pay for it.
2. as said to saalle – this post isn’t about what archeage has – it’s about what gw2 is lacking and should improve, no marketing involved.

1. I disagree. If they stopped the living world, at this present time we probably wouldn’t see an expansion for at the very least another year. During that time, the game would have very little in the way of content and features added (as they’d be saved for the expansion) and the game would get even more stale.

As stated before, I believe their best course of action at this time is to continue with the LS as long as it provides an expansions-worth of content and features within a similar time period. Of course, this is up for debate, since everyone has different ideas as to what constitues as ‘expansions-worth’.

However, say they added the whole of Maguuma, a dungeon or two, a whole story, Precursor Crafting and a bunch of new skills for every class in the next, say, 6 months. Surely that would be better than delivering little to no content whatsoever for the next year?

2. It’s entirely possible to discuss what you think GW2 is lacking without comparing it to other games. In all honesty, can you not see how saying ‘GW2 doesn’t have this, but AA does’ would be considered as advertising, despite your intentions?

Scatah.1483:

How is The Holy Trinity the best way to make a game enjoyable? I’m pretty sure engaging, immersive gameplay is the best way to make a game enjoyable.

The trinity ads more THINKING to the game and thinking is whats missing from GW2 thats why its the best way to make it enjoyable ucz it ads thinking AND u feel a part of something and that i u were not there they wont be able to do it. That is what i was trying to say. The gameplay is NOT the most important thing in a MMO

I can’t say I agree the Trinity adds more thinking. I played a Healer and Tank in raiding for a good few years, and I can’t say I had to actively ‘think’. At the same time, you can have thinking, and teamwork, without the rigid roles.

As for ‘gameplay not being the most important’, I can’t say I agree with that, since it’s the gameplay (mechanics and content) that brings the players together for a common cause.

Sure, GW2 hasn’t got the mechanics of the flexible roles and the fluidity of being able to swap roles in battle completely down yet, but since most MMO’s before have stuck with the rigid role system, it’s a work in progress.

Blissified.8369:

In soviet russia shield holds you

Also Sorry the translator isn’t working 100 percent, we don’t understand what your asking.

I think:

1) He was under the impression that all classes can Tank, Heal and DPS.

2) He likes to play a healer to save others, and a tank to take hits like a boss, but there’s no way he can do that, despite what ANet ‘said’.

3) Engineer was most productive healer, but even then he couldn’t heal to full. Distance is a problem with Guardian heals.

4) He wants to know why the shield doesn’t have a block chance, and why the block stance works when hit from behind. To OP: Aside from Crit Chance, stats aren’t RNG based

5) He wants to know why characters can’t forsake DPS for control. _To OP: Warrior with Hammer + Greatsword, Throw Bola (and Shrapnal Mine if you’re a Charr) with the Leg Specialist trait is a pretty strong control build).

6) He wants to know why the forts in WvW are made out of leftover boxes from Xmas presents.

7) He thinks the developers should compromise and bring healers and tanks in, so that the game doesn’t die.

So you want to get rid of the torch event…because you can’t do it?

Homonavn.6348:

They just killed necro… We had ONE escape option. We have no movement skills like blink, ride the lightning or anything, BUT we could jump of high cliffs t osurvive. Not anymore. They ruined everything. GG Anet

So basically, if you weren’t near a cliff, you’d be in trouble?

I’m pretty sure if the standalone skins (Wintersday) were more profitable than the RNG chests (Halloween / Fused), they’d go for the standalone skins.

I think we’ll definitely see the the craftable precursors (since that was one of the things that got pushed back).

Possibly some polish to the TP as well, here’s to hoping.

Much like we have Cultural Armour that can be bought, what about Profession specific armour and weapons that can be crafted and have effects?

For example:

My ideas probably suck, but the main question is do you think it’s be a good idea to implement these for max-level crafters (not soul or account bound, making them trade-able), and to give some visual distinction between professions.

Of course, the main issue of this would be the people who complain how x professions armour and weapon effects looks cooler than theirs.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

I’ve mentioned defiance before. The best solution I’ve heard to the problem is to have defiance automatically remove itself over time. Like, if you get 5 stacks of defiance, then every 2 seconds a stack is removed. Stacks can also be removed by CC.

I’d say increase the decay time, but defiance doesn’t trigger if you interrupt a big attack.

Dracocyborg.5049:

so you’re telling me to accept they get a free game for which i paid 60 euros. yeah… really makes sense. that’s a lot of money, guys

Welcome to practically every game ever, where the value at launch is greater than the value a few years down the line.

Ascii Red.4029:

Its hypocritical to say levels and gear are not being increased so this means content is not being invalidated and at the same time introduce an entirely new system of progression.

Lightbringer was a single skill, masteries are much much more.

It’s really not.

Level 80 is still the maximum level.
Ascended / Legendary is still the top tier.

These Masteries are progression tied to a specific area of content. If you level up gliding, you don’t suddenly invalidate Fractals, and if you level up the Fractal mastery, you don’t suddenly invalidate dungeons.

After all, a few title tracks in GW were like this:

• Lightbringer (damage reduction and damage increase to Abaddon and his servants. Also improved 2 skills)
• Sunspear Rank (improved 11 skills)
• Allegiance rank (improved 10 skills)
• Asura rank (max energy increase in Asuran territory. Also improved 12 skills)
• Deldrimor rank (damage and health gain against Destroyers. Also improved 14 skills)
• Ebon Vanguard rank (armour, adrenaline and energy gain against Charr. Also improved 12 skills)
• Norn rank (max health increase in Norn territory. Also improved 12 skills).

What I would say, however, is that Anet are wrong in saying they don’t have an attunement process if Masteries tie heavily into raids and being able to complete them.

ColinJohanson.2394:

We’re holding the leaderboard for now to see if we can’t decide on a better way to help differentiate people on it who are all at the same tier, other than just the first who got there specifically. Once we have decided that, we’ll need to code, test, and vet it and then update the leaderboards to reflect the new tracking.

Time taken to complete individual Fractals?

Insignya.8625:

I don’t give two dimes about stats – I did Fractals because they were challenging content with an obvious goal – gather enough AR to reach the last one.

I’m only going to quote this, because it seems rather contradictory (unless you were thinking in terms of the regular Power, Precision ect stats, then I apologise).

On the one hand you said you don’t care about stats, and yet in the same sentence you said you enjoyed Fractals because it was challenging and had a goal, which was to gather enough Agony Resistance – which is by all definition a stat.

On praising and whining

I wholeheartedly agree with the ‘whining doesn’t help’, but I don’t fully agree on the ‘praising doesn’t help’.

You can praise a piece of content, and do it constructively by highlighting what it is about it that you enjoy. Praising in this way allows the devs to know what they’ve done really well, and so they can emulate what it was about that particular content that was good.

Where I agree that praising can harm is when people unequivocally praise everything, or praise something without saying why it is good. It’s kind of like when games adopt mechanics from other games – they just adopt it as is, and reskin it to fit their game as opposed to looking into why people enjoy it.

Rewards

I agree and disagree.

I agree that, in a sense, clear rewards can provide most people with a goal, but disagree that they are crucial.

The focus should be engaging, intrinsically satisfying game-play (you’d do it for the sake of doing it), with extrinsic motivators (the rewards) being the icing on the cake. More so, you’d probably be able to get away with reasonable RNG on loot drops if the actual content was satisfying.

As for rewards, in a cosmetic based game, how do you define ‘best’? My favourite armour skins for my Necro is a level 25 armour set from Karma recipes.

Now, if you were to say ‘exclusive’ and ‘prestigious’, I’d agree. If the content had an armour or weapon skin(s), a title, crafting materials, recipes, maybe even a unique skill name and animation you can toggle on and off (I.E instead of Final Thrust, you’d have Adelburn’s Rage, which wreaths the strike in Foefire, and does the burning animation if it kills the foe).

The Living Story and Unrelated Features

First, I’d point out it’s kind of a fallacy to state that the LS means that Anet isn’t getting revenue, since the content has to be developed and such.

Secondly, just because the current LS has had temp content, it doesn’t mean that all of it will, and Colin has said there will be more permanent content on the horizon. Also, better to get all the failing out now, rather than have it in a key story point (can you imagine if Jormag was introduced now with the LS being rough around the edges?).

However, I do agree with the features thing. These should be developed alongside the LS. A good example would be the new Achievement rewards (which I know wasn’t around when this was posted). Personally, there are a lot of mechanics and systems they could take from GW1 and adapt to GW2, such as:

• Nic’s Daily Scavanger Hunt (add unique, soulbound items to each loot table, for example, a fire gland from certain types of Drakes, and maybe a randomised list of x items, as opposed to everyone getting the same thing as to not cause people to farm the same mobs. Amaranth could play this role.)
• Guild Halls (and ships, airships, secret volcano bases ect) and GvG
• Books (may get people to redo Story Modes)
• Bounties (from GW Beyond. Make them randomly occurring Meta events that don’t have a specific spawn point in the area)
• The Scrying Pool (to re-allow people to do temp content, although the Fractals will probably act as a more randomised version of this)

Tolmos.8395:

TheDaiBish.9735:

I’d wager it means, for most people who say it:

• Little to no level cap exclusive content
• No continual stat progression after level cap.

What would those things consist of, though? Raids? Gear grinds? Or something entirely different?

For most people, probably.

I’m still playing, and I’m still happy with the game. That’s not to say it’s perfect, and the game could do with progression after cap.

Instead of instanced raids, improve upon and add more large open world events, and instead of stat progression, maybe personal progression in the form or advancing in the world i.e. Racial rep, Order ranks, Area rep, skill advancement and modifications ect.

When I get to a computer, i’ll flesh these out more.

1) Paragraphs. It was incredibly hard to read the first bit.

2) I disagree with bringing Tanks and Dedicated Healers. Instead, more mechanics that focus on situational and positional awareness, and awareness of your team-mates in place of this (i.e. mechanics that promote both teamwork and self-sufficiency). Also, not sure where you got ‘mages’ from.

3) You don’t need raids for a story. Each dungeon has its own story. Each area has its own story. Major NPC’s have their own story. That proves that you don’t need Raids to tell a story.

4) Raids won’t necessarily give people a reason to log in either. More challenging open world events (i.e. teamwork mechanics, more than one aspect to them ect) would, IMO, be far, far better than raids. Also, as a side note, more tasks for people to give something to work towards (Order Missions, Area Rep, Nic the Traveler ect)

5) While raids could bring structure, I also feel that same structure would take away immersion. These dragons are a threat, and they’re cooped up in somewhere? Rather than flying around in the open world, able to attack settlements at any moment?

TL;DR – While I have nothing against Raids, you don’t need them to make a game challenging or immersive, or for them to tell a story. You also don’t need the Trinity for mechanics that encourage teamwork

You seem to be confusing ‘viable’ with ‘optimal’ and ‘build diversity’ with ‘gear diversity’.

Dungeons can be done with pretty much any group composition and with any build, meaning there is build diversity. It’s just people choose to do it the fastest way, thus limiting the diversity.

That’s not saying that more couldn’t be done though (Defiant and how higher level players scale down needs a rework, for example), but rather than introduce pre-defined roles that never change from dungeon to dungeon, the encounters themselves need to get the players to look at the tools they have and adapt to the encounter. This is where ‘depth’ comes into play.

For example, imagine for a minute you had a dungeon with 3 bosses:

• One was a duo boss where one builds up a buff when moving at normal speed (stacks faster with Swiftness) and one builds a buff when standing still, that applied permanent stat bonuses every second.
• One was a boss that did increased damage based on how many boons they had on them but took increased damage for every condition on them.
• The final fight would take place on a platform above some spike pit. If more than 3 players stood within a certain radius of each other for more than 3 seconds, the boss would dig, erupting from that spot, knocking players away from each other and destroying that part of the platform. Another move could be that a player gets a ‘bomb’ placed on them. X seconds later it deals % damage based on how many people it hits (100% for one person, down to 0% for all 5).

What skills (and possibly traits) you take in them cases would be different:

• You’d need to take CC which you’d use while kiting for the first two bosses.
• Boon stripping, boon corruption and skills that apply conditions would be useful on the second boss.
• Constant stacking and everyone melee wouldn’t be a viable strategy for the third, but awareness of where everyone is would still be necessary.

Orpheal.8263:

I wouldn’t call it “Break Bar”

I personally would call it the “Mentality System”, because when your mentality is “broken”, then you get into an “Apathy” State, which leaves you being weakened, like in the case with the Wyvern, where Player attacks will deal then triple times more damage, than normal.

Break Bar in my opinion just sounds stupid :/
But having a Mentality System I think would sound just alot better, than Break Bar…

I’d say Break Bar is apt since you’re breaking down their resistance to CC effects.

I can sort of understand why they’re being ambiguous about things, although some transparency would have been welcomed.

While I have nothing against Raids, I can see how it could hurt in some ways:

• If it’s extremely popular, it takes people out of the world, meaning those levelling might have trouble completing DE’s at later levels.

• If it isn’t popular, it diverts resources from them improving existing content.

Personally, I’d rather see them improve DE’s in later zones vastly to the point where co-ordination and teamwork are needed otherwise you fail. However, from an immersion standpoint, raids would make sense for the Elder Dragons since you can kill them and then forget about them (although, considering they are supposed to be the biggest threat to Tyria, you’d have thought they’d be flying around creating havoc).

Lorewise, it just doesn’t make sense, unless they included the option to create a character as the enemies (Nightmare Court, Inquest ect)