Guild Wars 2

MarkoNS.3261:

i am trying to make a guild that has a strong community of active players that will be invested in our guild,

You can’t force people to be active, you can’t force them to be invested in their guild, and you can’t “make” a strong community by requiring participation. That’s how telecom companies try to retain customers: they force us to sign long-term contracts and penalize us when our situation changes and we need to update our plan.

Instead,

• Figure out what sort of guild you want
• Carefully add people who want that
• Start doing things which build that sort of guild.

If you want to be a guild that helps newbies, then look for people who are already helping newbies. Best source: /map chat; see who is already mentoring.

If you want to be a speed-clearing team, then find folks who are already speed clearing. Best source: LFG tool. You can even “audition” people each time you run a dungeon with only 4 of your guildies.

Regardless of how you start, it’s really, really difficult to maintain a good guild. You need to be on the look out constantly for new blood and ensure that you have plenty of co-leaders or assistants to help keep things organized and running seamless (so the members have no idea what a pain it is).

PS don’t require representation unless that’s fundamental to your guild’s goals; there are only a few situations where that will be true, notably for specialized WvW guilds and even then, mostly during WvW raids.

Representing was only important when it was necessary for Influence and chat. Neither of those are true anymore.

Does a <insert your favorite sports team> fan stop being a fan of that team simply because they aren’t wearing a hat with that team’s logo? Does the member of a union stop being a member unless they walk around carrying a sign announcing their membership to everyone they meet?

The only reason people represent a guild is because the guild has a social environment that makes them want to represent the guild.
As a guild leader, it’s your responsibility to cultivate that environment through rules and limitations that create a space where people want to gather.
For example, if your main chat is a free-for-all that is often toxic, political (but I repeat myself), or polarizing, odds are you are going to wind up with people who rep other guilds unless they feel like getting into an online **** size contest.
Creating limits (such as a “no politics” rule), and then enforcing them, helps create a place where people can gather and not feel like it’s going to be an argument every time.
I’m sure there are guilds who will claim that they allow their members to talk about politics and everybody is just one big happy family. That’s fine. There are always exceptions. There are people who get precursors for drops too.

Bottom line, if people aren’t repping your guild, there’s a reason for it, and it’s up to the leader(s) to fix it, not the members. Requiring representation is a turn off for many.

Also, if your guild is thriving, and you see people who are constantly not repping. Boot them kindly. Kick them from the guild, send them a mail saying something to the effect of “Just doing maintenance of guild membership to trim people who don’t ever rep. Nothing personal, we’ve sent you an invite in case you want to be part of the guild still.” and let it go from there. If they really want to be part of your guild, they’ll accept the invite.

Whenever I see these complain about MC threads, I just think back to GW1 and how it was so much harder. When you do MC in gw2, good size chunks unlock for you, in GW1, you had to run up to the border of the map and run into the wall to get all the pixels you can get for the MC title. And that is all you got is a title, so be glad they didn’t make it so much harder than it could be. (or even more unrewarding)

Saudi.5320:

it should be deldrimor instead whatever metal. 5 deldrimor filligrees or whatever.

If we ever get the ability to craft ascended jewelry, it will almost certainly require the Xunlai electrum ingot, as gold and silver are basically worthless right now. I’m surprised they don’t feature more prominently in scribing, to be honest.

Sariel V.7024:

4. Who’d ever make even one ascended trinket?

raises hand

Sariel V.7024:

4. Who’d ever make even one ascended trinket?

If there were stats I could get crafting them that I couldn’t get from the laurel vendor….

…then me.

~EW

Ehh, okay. Not to disagree with you, but you’re about 8 months late with that nor does this specifically have to do anything with small guilds, but okay.

But I mostly agree. I still think that all these supposedly “new” boosts and “new” features aren’t really new features and should (have) be(en) accessible for non-HoT owners.

Seera.5916:

I’m a horrible jumping puzzle players. While I have completed this jumping puzzle without the usage of a mesmer portal, it took me way longer than 15 seconds to do it the first time and I still can’t do it that long.

Because a few of the jumps are difficult ones for those of us who are jumping impaired.

Yeah, it probably took me longer too when I did it for the first time. Once you get to know where to go, it becomes much quicker. Also, some of the jumps might feel hard to you because you don’t have swiftness. Some classes have easier access to it than others, but generally you will have much easier time doing JPs with some kind of movement speed boost. Make sure to try it out and I think you’ll do just fine.
Also, +1 to everyone who at least tries to complete the JP and only uses portal as last resort. I’m sure after a bit of trying you’ll master it and make yourself feel proud.

You’re not the boss of me now

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Yes.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

No.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Maybe.

I don’t know…

Can you repeat the question?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Yes.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

No.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Maybe.

I just printed that out and threw a dart at the paper, to see which answer I was going to give.

Unfortunately, my dart went wide, hit the table lamp, knocked it over, causing the cat to jump up in fright, hitting the glass vase that really was too close to the edge of that table, causing it to fall and shatter. One of the shards hit the aroma-therapy candle I had going to mellow out the dog, who hasn’t been sleeping well, splashing hot wax on the paper (remember: the one I was aiming the dart towards) and now I can’t read it at all.

tl;dr I dunno

Its probably been stated before but there are some people who have disabilities and cannot complete the Jumping Puzzles. Maybe they don’t have disabilities but still have trouble.

With World Boss Dailies and Gathering its very easy. Bosses only require usually a certain amount of people to show up.

Whats great about the JPs is that it evens itself out: Harder content, but an option to take the easy way. Dailies were never hard content. Though they can be a bit tedious. JPs are harder than the usual dailies, but having a mesmer port allows players another option.

What really solidifies the argument is that the other dailies were never really hard either.

One thing that kinda irks me is that some people are bypassing some of the best content in the game by using the mesmer portals. But that’s THEIR decision.

Dashingsteel.3410:

It is possible that players are looking for ports because they hate jumping puzzles. With that being said, I would urge Anet to drop jps from the daily rotation. Please go back to the at launch policy on jps where they are there for those who like to do them but aren’t required gameplay.

What? No! If you don’t want to do the JP daily then don’t do it. There are enough options to skip it.

You only get a main reward once just like most stuff in GW2.

^

That’s so true. When I first started the game even the easiest JP was too hard for me. There was a vista that took me over 30 minutes to do. Something like Weydant’s revenge was literally impossible. Now I breeze through that one in a few minutes.

I’m happy to give people a port. I remember how I struggled to do them and how long it took me to get to be at even my mediocre level of jumping. Just because I help someone do a daily doesn’t mean they won’t slowly improve over time till they don’t need help anymore.

Wisdom.6028:

One thing is I don’t like however is lazy players looking for an easy out by only asking for ports and not making any effort at all.

Please don’t assume that because someone needs help with something in the game it makes them lazy. When I first started, it would take me hours to get through a JP even with a friend there helping me find the way. Demongrub pits was awful for me jumping from a lower pillar to a higher pillar. The Weydant’s Revenge dark part of the puzzle literally took me almost two hours. I was so bad at them, I had friends that would watch me fall over and over and laugh about it, which was very unfriendly. Now, I can do almost any JP in under 10 minutes, which for me is a huge deal and something I feel very proud about, but I’ve also been playing for almost 4 years now. I’m happy to be able to go to those JPs that I literally cried over and finding that my fingers work better and I know how to make those jumps.

So yes, if a Mesmer drops a portal to a JP, I will probably take it. Does it mean I’m lazy? That I can’t do the puzzle? That I’ve never done the puzzle? That tomorrow I won’t go back and do it without a Mesmer portal?

This is a lovely game and helping someone in a positive way shouldn’t be disallowed, even if someone thinks that it is just about being lazy.

Palador.2170:

You know, I actually ENJOY taking my mesmer to the end of a puzzle and helping people get through it. Daily JPs just give me more chances to do that.

Don’t take my ability to help people away, it’s the best part of playing a mesmer for me.

It is the very reason I created a Mesmer in the first place. To help people with difficult jumps (puzzles or not). Given, the character has grown into a lot more than that now, and is my primary WvW character, but the primary purpose hasn’t changed. OP and many others want this to be removed from the game.

You know, I actually ENJOY taking my mesmer to the end of a puzzle and helping people get through it. Daily JPs just give me more chances to do that.

Don’t take my ability to help people away, it’s the best part of playing a mesmer for me.

I have only gotten better at JPs after 2 years of regular play in the game. I LOVE being able to help folks port to the end of a JP – it has made me a better player. I love this game for being helpful and inclusive. JP’s don’t offer some amazing reward… but it encourages being helpful and friendly. What do you care if a den of “care-bears” camp out at a JP = you are welcome to work for it if that’s what you want to do.

I’ve seen (many times) Mesmers advertising they are available to portal at X in map chat. Providing a portal is players helping other players. Such behavior is something ANet seems inclined to promote rather than prohibit.I’m pretty sure that Anet will not bar the use of portals at JP.

I’m also pretty sure that using a portal for the daily JP is not “exploiting” to get the daily reward (cue champagne cork popping sound to celebrate this truly remarkable achievement). If it’s OK to have daily PvP servers with players trading wins, I see no issues with using a portal to get a JP.

If dailies were truly meant to be hard, they’d require something more than the minimal amount of effort they take.

Tigh.4216:

Omg this thread. This is the thread I’ve been wanting to make for quite awhile now, but I always chickened out because I knew there would be a lot of people getting angry over it. So thank you, Wisdom, for having the courage I didn’t.

That said, I’ve thought about this topic quite a bit, and decided that removing mesmers’ ability to use portals in JPs isn’t the answer, even if it is just for the daily. The main reason is because I imagine this would take a bit of time to implement. I don’t know enough about programming to say for sure, but I imagine it would take time to make every single JP in the game a portal-free zone. I believe a much better solution would be to just remove JPs from the daily rotation completely.

So all this time you’ve wanted to control how other people spend their time but you lacked the courage to say so? That’s …both conceited and cowardly in one. Well, whatever floats your boat I guess. Not angry with you – just don’t admire your personal philosophy.

But that’s beside the point. Your ‘much better solution’ is no solution at all for the problem you and Wisdom have with the game. Your problem is that mesmer portals allow jps to be bypassed. Removing jps from the daily rotation won’t change that.

The best solution for your problem is to realise that you don’t have a problem. It doesn’t hurt you in any way if other people port. It doesn’t cheapen your personal experience. Use a port or don’t. It’s your choice. Just as other people have theirs.

Sir Mad.1092:

I am suggesting getting a reward without putting any effort is killing the game.

Then I expect you don’t do the daily vista/forager/miner/lumberer? Cause that would be kind of hypocritical, don’t ya think?

Sir Mad.1092:

If you had read my first in this topic, you wouldn’t have had to type all this, you know…

1) people aren’t going to scroll to previous posts when they respond to one.
2) a JP puzzle daily that someone gets a port to is hardly something that will kill the game because all rewards have now been easily done. It’s a false equivalence.
3) you do know that the game can add more rewards, and does add more on a regular basis.

Sir Mad.1092:

I am suggesting getting a reward without putting any effort is killing the game.

If you only want easy dailies like the gathering ones, ask for that instead of asking people to play the game for you so you don’t have to do it yourself (“any mesmer @ JP?”). I don’t give a kitten about the dailies. But I do mind Anet’s been destroying some content (JPs) while trying to promote it through dailies (cf my post above).

Out of curiousity, how do you justify this? I’m an avid jumping puzzler and just recently completed most of the last few remaining for my chieve (just waiting on a swap in WvW for the last colored puzzle) I feel completely fulfilled and enjoy myself thoroughly (except not so secret, that one is EVIL) but I can’t say, not even once, that people using a port to get the to the end of a JP puzzle has ever robbed me of anything. At all. Not one bit. So I’m curious as to how those wrecked wintersday ornaments and other random tat is going to destroy the game.

I love this game, being a recent convert and one of the things I love most about it is (most of) the community. We’re not arbitrarily forced to communicate, but we have unique opportunities to do so in wild and wonderful ways. Those mesmers that I see parked at a JP make me proud to be a member of the community, aside from the very occasional tip these mesmers gain nothing but I have never seen any of them complain. These same people stay there for hours to help people, how in any shape and form could that hurt this game?

This “debate” is a perfect example of the “you do you, i’ll do me” argument. This isn’t affecting you. Choose to take part or choose to do something else, THAT is play how you want at its finest. To those who take time out of their day to handle mesmer porting duties I salute you all. You mesmers are one of the first things I talk about when telling people how awesome this game is so keep it up. I truly hope Anet never does such a thing to harm the way JPs are handled, they have got many of my guildies who previously refused to do JPs into them, so much to the point some have even made mesmers themselves to do the same thing.

Sir Mad.1092:

How long do you think you would keep playing the game if you could get everything without any effort, just like JP achievements after crossing a portal? Only PvPers / WvWers would. And then again, for how long?

Are you suggesting that JP daily should be as hard as the harvest a few plants daily? (wp to a farm, harvest, boom. Done.) Or the mining daily? Or the cut down 3-4 trees daily? The buy something from WvW daily? Kill a veteran mob in WvW? How about the stand in a circle to claim it daily in WvW?

That might be asking a lot.

/s

Next set of requests to prevent ‘lazy players’ from ‘looking for an ’easy out’ and ‘not making any effort’:

• Prevent use of /say or /map to request invites to home instances. “It trivializes completion of harvesting dailies.”
• Prevent use of city vistas to complete Daily Vista. Prevent gliding to within 5,000 units of any vista.
• Daily Mystic Forger: prevent use of any mystic forge node other than the main one in Lion’s Arch. Disable mystic forge conduit on days when this is a daily. “If players can’t be bothered getting to LA, they shouldn’t get credit.”

[/parody]

I too love that they added the old JPs. It’s prompted me into actually doing them.

Sort of. Half the time, at least, I end up catching the mesmer ports, as people are kind enough to offer them. Asking if ports are coming is acceptable, but demanding portals is not. Either wait for the next bus, or learn to do the jumping puzzle.

The Mesmer portals are just another of many tools players can use.

• Many Mesmers use portals as a safety net in rough spots to avoid having to restart from scratch in the event of a fall. Nothing wrong with that.

• Almost every player uses some sort of speed boost to make a long jump now and then. Nothing wrong with that.

• I’ve seen sword warriors use Savage Leap to get across gaps too great for other Professions. Nothing wrong with that.

• Rifle Engineers can use “Jump Shot” to make great leaps. Nothing wrong with that.

• Anyone can acquire the “Experimental Teleportation Gun” or the “Experimental Rifle” and use it to their advantage in a Jumping Puzzle. Nothing wrong with that.

This is a community game. People are encouraged to help one another. If a successful jumper helps out some poor (or yes, lazy) jumpers, it probably makes everyone involved feel good.

Nothing wrong with that.

Wisdom.6028:

I dunno, i am a bit jaded with my point of view…like players expect ports for something they can just as easily do themselves. Or like players expect rez at world boss fights (OMG). Its just more I’m against the mindset of players that expect to be handed stuff rather than EARNING it.

This is sarcasm right? Because if not, you realize this is a game I hope? One people play in their spare time to get away from the whole “YOU WANT TO EAT??? EARN IT” real life thing.