Guild Wars 2

Tigaseye.2047:

OP, just try to ignore all this negativity and the trollish assumptions and manufactured allegations against you.

Hopefully, someone from Anet will have read this thread and will have taken on board what you have said and what you meant by it.

Hopefully, they will realise (as some of us have) that you are being perfectly reasonable in your request and will just, at some point, add a couple more options to the daily list, to ensure people have a little more choice, without having to do parts of the game they find particularly unpleasant, or stressful, for whatever reason.

After all, this is supposed to be a fairly casual, online game; not an unpleasant, inflexible job.

Maybe they should just put in a “Dispense Daily Reward” button.

No dailies required. Gives the same reward, but puts a 24hr symbol of a crying baby over your head until the daily reset…

I think it’s fair to say that there are some people who like hard mode. There are plenty who come out and say “make X more challenging.” Fair enough that, they know what they like and are entitled to express that. But there are also people who do not enjoy hard mode, and they are not your lessers, they are no less deserving of getting what they enjoy out of the game, and we all need to keep that in mind.

With that in mind, we have the constant discussions over adding difficult content to the game, and the best ways of doing that. I think that it’s important when difficult content is added, that effort is taken to make it as optional as possible. It should definitely be there for those that want it, but those who do not enjoy that sort of play should be able to avoid it completely, and not feel punished by the game for not enjoying that sort of thing. They should not be blocked out from fun experiences and cool rewards, they should not have a slower advancement path, just because they do not want to participate in difficult content, or are incapable of doing so.

In its ideal form, every type of content should have both “easier” modes, and “hard modes” available. I’m not talking “turn on auto-run and auto attack and you’ll be fine” easy, I just mean that it doesn’t require absolute coordination and precision to survive the encounters, content similar to the basic content the game launched with. The more challenging modes can go crazy with one-hit kills that must be avoided, elaborate death traps, that sort of thing, but these should be avoidable by those who choose to avoid them.

The most important factor is that there should not be a reward gap between the two varieties of play. Just because a player is not interested or capable of hard mode does not mean that he is less deserving of a cool looking skin or useful piece of gear. Hard mode content can have a leaderboard, or titles, so people can show off that they have completed it, but should not have anything that is inherently cool that cannot be earned elsewhere, nothing that would be cool whether it denoted the achievement or not. The basic test is, “if anyone got this item for free in the mail, might you still want it?” If so, then it should not be locked behind hard mode content.

If hard mode content always takes more time to complete than the normal mode, even once you have it on farm, then it can provide a quantity of loot sufficient to make it no less rewarding than the easier mode per minute, but anything you can earn from that mode should be earnable in both. for example if a hard mode dungeon takes 500% longer than a normal mode one, even once people have mastered it, then it could offer 50% more loot drops, so that it balances out, but there should never be a super special armor type that you can only earn from that mode, or that technically drops in both but has a decent chance of dropping in hard mode while only a Precursor-level chance fo dropping in normal.

You should be running the hard mode because you enjoy the challenge, not because the game bribes you into it, and if for a second you begin to think “well if it only offered the same rewards as normal then I wouldn’t do it,” then you should be playing normal mode, and maybe they shouldn’t even bother with a hard mode if enough people think that way.

If you want more challenging content because you enjoy a challenge, then I hope ANet lives up to your expectations. If you want harder content because you want access to rewards that most players can’t have, then that’s just being a selfish jerk, and I very much hope that ANet does not indulge you in that.

your statement is completely non-speculative and your reaction in no way ridiculously over the top. Carry on. Make sure to delete every of your Sylvari. I heard otherwise they will be locked undeletable in hostile mode as long as the Mordry arc continues. Better be safe than sorry.

Daroon.1736:

Can anyone make a reasonable argument that a $15 fee would not encourage many more of the huge number of inactive players, who purchased the game at launch to try the game again?

ANet in all likelihood looked at various price points when making their decision and chose what they think would be best for the company and thus the game. They have access to data we do not have. Why should anyone here have to prove anything? The burden of proof is on you, not us. So go ahead, provide something other than your opinion to show that ANet would generate more revenue with your plan. Be sure to include indirect costs, like the lost good will of all account holders who don’t want HoT and of those who would find denying access after selling GW2 on a B2P model to be a scummy move which would make them decide to never do business with ANet again.

My rating: 0/10: blatant attempt by someone who wants to spend as little as possible.

I finally have had some free time to sit down with Guild Wars 2 in what seems like ages. I returned to find Lion’s Arch looking really remarkable and pre-orders up for the taking. Initially I felt a little hesitant after seeing the price, but having played since release I feel I would struggle to find a complaint from it ~ especially after purchasing.

I bought the basic pre-order, not realizing it would grant me access to not only the beta, but a free character slot! I really appreciate that. It was all that I would want and far beyond what I expected.

I bought the collector’s edition when Guild Wars 2 launched, having always bought the collector’s editions for the previous games. This isn’t the family game of Guild Wars 1. There is not that abundance of unique skills nor classes of Guild wars 1, but you come even in armor. In groups, I would want more, but all of that is what is is. What I believe matters really is to see Guild Wars 2 as itself. In this it has generally stayed true to what Guild Wars 2 was since release. This is a profound success from any company in this industry of MMOs. Most MMOs have failed in one way or another from breaking that unspoken contract with players that, “This is our product” only to change it so radically afterwards no one who began with the company, supporting it and its products through all those years, would feel they could continue to do so.

You have never restricted armor to raiders, nor made armor the end-all-be-all grind at the end of the game. The game is the game, not any one section of it. No one player is sold out for all the others.

From day one of Guild Wars 2 until now, I’ve generally felt a kind of quiet confidence that when I log in, what I’ve known about the game before is still true now. Jumping puzzles remain a powerful and memorable experience, as well as fractals (where so many friends and guildies spend their time). The world changes with each season of Living Story and sometimes it is powerfully memorable, as when Scarlet (wonderful character) and her Aetherblades air raids began all the way through to the climax at LA.

You said in the beginning you were modeling this game on Dark Age of Camelot, and today playing the Revenant with a staff (Friar) for the first time I can generally say you have – despite all complaints (and there have been many) – succeeded in being that game for this era.

Thank you.

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Skeletor.9360:

<stuff>

I feel bad for the devs.

Even when people are happy with a change here they’re bitter as kitten.

This is why community managers exist. Provide a layer of filtration between the developers and the people they’re developing for so that the unfiltered hate doesn’t rob them of all desire to fix broken stuff for the ungrateful snots who populate forums.

Skeletor.9360:

Used to be that when I clicked on another characters gear in the bank I would get “belongs to another character”. So now it actually tells me who’s it belongs to now. Good job.

Almost 3 years to change

sprintf(msg, “Item belongs to another character.”);

to

sprintf(msg, “Item belongs to %s”, item.characterOwberName);

Keep up the good work!

I’m looking forward to having a 2nd improvement to the game.

I feel bad for the devs.

Even when people are happy with a change here they’re bitter as kitten.

Palador.2170:

And before you (or anyone else) claims that it IS a part of HoT, I would remind you that even non-HoT players will be on that map when it goes live. ANet may want us to think of it as HoT content, but it’s really not. It’s a long overdue WvW improvement (we hope) that they’re just releasing in tandem with HoT.

Simply the fact that ArenaNets announcement trailer for HoT at PAX listed it as part of HoT does make it part of HoT. Or do you have a source that this map would be coming our way without HoT, does not rely on any tech developed specifically for HoT etc. It may be free content, but it is content that as far as we know exists because of HoT, ergo it is part of HoT. The fact that it trickles through to the base game is happy accident, caused by their desire not to fragment the player base and likely some technical limitations.

Besides nothing is saying that they won’t incentivize HoT purchase through it, see the recent metamorphosis or Stronghold heroes into mist Champions for example. All the above points also apply to Stronghold btw.

Now whether you, or even most players perceive the Desert Borderlands as part of HoT is a whole different angle on this, however, anything included in the announcement trailers for HoT can factually be said to be part of it because it can be considered content enabled (probably both in terms of tech and costs) by HoT.

Not a thread of great import, but I started a new character when the patch hit, and I thought I’d share my experiences of levelling her to date (Asuran Ranger, currently level 41; no great reason on the choice of race/profession other than that I didn’t have that combination yet).

Within the confines of the new system, they’re (cautiously) positive. In fact, in one way, I think it’s possibly even a little too easy.

I’ve levelled my character this far via PvE and sPvP: map completions, PvE events,Tomes of Knowledge from doing my dailies in sPvP. I’ve been running her PS as episodes became available.

My biggest concern, before I started, was that I’d be struggling to decide where to spend precious Hero Points in order to get the Skills and Traits that I wanted (the more so because the Utility and Elite Skills I planned to spec were all in different Skill lines).

I made a point of picking up every map HP in Metrica Province, completed the map, then moved on to a couple more of the starting zones and got the HP from those as well. I don’t think it was actually essential.

One thing I hadn’t appreciated was that I would start with a few “racial” skills available, at no cost. They weren’t exactly mind-bending, but they weren’t to be sniffed at either, and they at least gave me something to work with. So I sat on my hard-earned HPs for a while as my utility skill slots started unlocking. I finally splashed out when I had 28HP or so, buying Signet of the Wild (2nd skill on the Signet line), which brought me Signet of the Hunt as well. Equipped both (SoH as useful to have).

Now we get to the bit which I think is almost too easy/good. Because by the time I unlocked my first Specialization at level 21, I still had 50HP+ in hand – enough to buy my full chosen Specialization, bar the last two GM traits. And the new system takes what I’d term a “horizontal” approach to traits compared to the “vertical” one of the old system. There’s no restriction on Traits according to character level. Within the Specializations you can have active, you can spec any Trait that you’ve already bought, up to and including GM. So – Bam! Level 20, no Traits. Level 21, a full Specialization. That is one BIG change. In lower-level zones, at least, suddenly I’m one-shotting half the stuff (hmm; that’s fun in its own way – but maybe not ideal). OK – as it happened, the Grandmaster trait I actually wanted was the first I couldn’t immediately afford, so the supply of HP did briefly constrain me a little; but it didn’t take much running around before I had the points to buy it And character progression is jerky now – nothing much for ages, then huge jumps forward at each of levels 21, 45 and 71. (Would I take the same approach again in future? Almost certainly. It seems to me that having a full Specialization will outweigh having precisely the right bar skills, in PvE at least, 99 times out of 100.)

And that was pretty much the end of any real HP bottle-neck – if there ever was one. Initially I carried on eking out my HPs with a view to buying my full next Specialization when it unlocks at level 45, but I had the points for that levels ago, and have already bought all the Traits I plan on using then. I’ve also bought and equipped my chosen Elite Skill, an alternate Healing Skill, and one of my two remaining, planned Utility Skills. I’m currently 8HP short of buying that last one – but that’s only because it’s deep in yet another Skill line; a penalty of my chosen build. When my second Specialization unlocks at level 45, I’ll be as fully specced on my planned Traits and Skills as the game permits. And when the third one unlocks at level 71, unless I radically change my plans it’s absolutely certain that I’ll be able to fill out that part of my build there and then.

I’d have to say that, if I hadn’t had a build in mind from the start, it would have been quite easy to spread HP far and wide with nothing greatly coherent to show for it initially; I had a build I was aiming at, and that most definitely helped.

But I can’t help feeling that there’s a diminishing returns effect on random spend anyway. With enough points to buy everything with points over by 80, it’s hard to imagine I wouldn’t be able to find something fairly usable at mid-to-higher levels, whatever I’d done.

Edit: I was indeed fully specced on my skills and first two Specializations when the second Specialization became available at 45. I actually completed all purchases for my full intended spec by level 51. So from that point onwards it’s all about such flexibility and choice as I feel the need for.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

The OP’s point is quite valid. Any veteran player that buys and links HoT to his old account should get something.

It’s simple matter of fairness. New players get core game + HoT rolled into one for price of x-pac alone. Old players who do not choose to make new account (taking up server space and other resources), but instead link HoT to their old account, should get something too. Like that extra character slot.

Still at least A-net moved a bit torwards us veterans (and it’s own interest along the way). For me personally now it’s more of an “50$ is ten bucks too much for me”, rather then “I won’t support this sleeze”.

You mean playing the game for as long as you did, got you nothing? You mean you weren’t around to unlock every episode of the Living Story Season 2 for free. Maybe you played none of season 1.

You get something. You get to play the game which you bought. Since we now know that all the prior games will be included in each expansion, I suggest you wait 10 years till the last expansion, but it and get all the expansions free, except for that last one.

The rest of us will be here, playing the game and having a good time.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

What is it you do with your low-level characters that need skill/traits that won’t be given in the changeover (they announced they would try to keep your existing build as close as possible) that gives no XP whatsoever?

This is what I’ve been wondering, too. Literally the only things I can think of that give no experience is opening champ bags on a specific level (to get crafting resources/equipment for salvaging appropriate to that level range) and sPvP. Everything else you do in this game will give you experience in one way or another. You don’t need skills for opening bags, and you will have all skills/traits available in sPvP anyway.

Is there something I’m missing?

Thank You!
For the work you have put into the HoT expansion! I am anxious to see where our story winds up with Caithe having “taken” Glint’s Egg. I look forward to the beta’s and hope to explore more of Verdant Brinks and possibly other maps. I have a suspicion about Rytlock’s path on his journey to retrieve Sohothin, and am curious if I am 1) right and or 2) we will be taken on that journey also?

Thank You!
For Guild Halls! I have been eagerly awaiting news of Guild Halls and thus far I am very pleased with what I have seen and read about them. I cannot wait to start building our new structures with our unlocked guild The ability to decorate Guild Halls and the way it appears to be implemented is sweet! I can’t wait to craft more decorations and explore designs of our Guild Hall.

Thank You!
For the new Revenant profession. “Ha, that’s a fair price, I’ll take two my good friend!” ~Home instance citizen. I will make 2 as I bought a spare char slot in case one was not included with the expansion. It was a joy to play in the closed beta test and I will enjoy them after launch.

Thank You!
For The Revenant Finisher, Guild Hall decoration, Title, Mini Revenant Rytlock, and Glider Skin for use now and in the future.

Thank You!
For the Mastery System and seeing the players side of things and allowing us to craft precursors for both existing and new legendary weapons. Even though it is only 1 it is better than none. I can’t wait to level up in the system and earn my glider, jumping powers, and Itzel features.

Thank You!
For Specializations. I think the new design for traits is awesome and I really enjoy we do not have to buy them or scour the world to gather them. It, to me, seemed only natural that we gain them through leveling.

Thank You!
For considering small guild in the new guild hall system. I hope it will allow small or low representation / inactive player base guilds to achieve as much as the large guilds. I hope the new system has more of our members swapping back to our guild to help out and that we may help out other similar sized guilds.

Thank You!
For rebuilding LA and helping us see our efforts pay off to help return LA and Tyria to it’s spectacular glory.

Thank You!
For a wonderful two plus years of a magnificent ride through the world of Tyria, from our first characters and steps in Queensdale, Wayferers Foothils, Plains of Ashford, Metrica Province, or Caledon Forest through Orr, SouthSun Cove, Dry Top, Silverwastes and beyond. Can’t wait to see the future of Guild Wars 2!!!

I am sure HoT will have its challenges for us to enjoy, cry, and laugh through. I am glad it is getting closer to release.

Through all the criers there are some who still enjoy and look forward to each and every day of Guild Wars 2! See you in game

Jaymee.1560:

Now I am reading that someone F*ed and bought the expansions?

What is wrong with you guys?

It is a choice. You either buy it or you don’t, simple as that.

It’s been two days now and I have seen people wanting to boycott, down right refuse this expansion due to price and lack of character slots and lack of information as exactly what we are entirely getting when we buy this?

This is getting annoying now. Either you buy it or you don’t.

To me, this went from justified surprise, then anger, then ranting then rioting to seeming boycotting to now giving out “warnings”?

Guys, come on… calm down. Please.

I never seen people rage over 10 dollars in my life or 800 gems. Any long term player can easily get 800 gems in game without spending a dime.

Funny thing was the hype for the new profession was not that great, then all of sudden everyone and their mother wants to play one now after the pre-order was put online.

Shayne Hawke.9160:

One group is seriously kittened that newbies are getting a great deal

Here’s what’s going on with this: the standard expansion pre-purchase package is valued by ANet at $50. How much of that bundle is valued as the expansion and how much of it is valued as the base game?

If the whole price is valued as the expansion, veterans should be mad as hell that the game they’ve been playing is valued by ANet at $0, that the studio considers the effort put into the game over the past >2 years worthy of dropping the entire initial box price of $50 (or $60?).

If any substantial amount of the price is for the base game, veterans are upset that they have to waste money to pay for another copy of the game which they just… destroy. Or they could make a whole new account with it, if they wanted to deny themselves access to all of the time and money they put into their first account and jump through all of the timegate hoops that ANet jammed into everything all over again.

Does a pricing quarrel justify going apekitten on ANet? No it does not.

It absolutely does. Stop treating people at ANet like they aren’t fully functioning adults. If they make the choice to work for a business where they completely give away any ability to manage their game and how they sell it, they deserve every bit the consequences of their actions. Perhaps if they’re so upset about getting called out on their lack of control, they should look for a career move that allows them the freedom to not make awful decisions like this pre-purchase setup.

It’s not about valuing the game at $0. As a veteran player, how greedy do you have to be? My god.. Why wouldn’t you want new players in the game you are a “Veteran” in? Almost every game on the market includes the base game with expansion buys. Going to the store and buying an expansion and game separately is a thing of the past. More importantly, why do you think you are entitled to anything more then an expansion? Because you have played for FREE for the last three years doesn’t mean you should get something more because they are selling you another product! Craziness and just silliness! You’re gift as a Veteran is ANet is making the game 0 and is taking a CUT from THEIR money…so that new players will be able to come play with us. It’s called incentive, google it. Refunding players who bought the game recently, oh yeah what thieves! Woof! Before I move on, ask yourself this – if one of your friends who doesn’t play GW2 wanted to. Would you be happier they have to spend 50 on the game then 50 on the expansion? Would that make you feel less cheated as a “Veteran” Listen to yourself.

Pricing Quarrel!?

This doesn’t mean all these people should go crazy on the forums, making videos, starting threads after threads on how much they deserve this or that. If I go to a Chevy dealer, because that is my brand of choice and I see an expansion grille guard for my truck. If I don’t like the price or think I should get more then a grille because I’ve been driving this truck for three years. Should I start a protest? Flip out? Make videos? The problem is, the only functioning adults are Anet. They made a product, buy it if you like it and you think its worth it. If you don’t, then move on and quit stomping your feet because you think you deserve more. Your a customer and a valued one at that. Why do I say that? Because you haven’t been asked to pay a cent for the last three years, and also being able to farm gems in game buy converting gold to gems. Very rare to have a in game store that allows you to absolutely get everything for free. Support the game or don’t. Anet doesn’t deserve the storm of tears that is being blown their way.

wuzzup with yo pc yo ? checkz thatz yo’s pee-cee is in orderz yo,its likes,peoples cant helpz yo kitten if you no give any info yo.Its like,fokitten yo i be lagging like mad,fix my lag yo…things dun work like that in the hood homeboy,yo…unknuwimsayin,aint nobody got time fo that.

Warning: wall of text about one player’s personal opinion.

I am somewhat disappointed with how information was presented this week. The subjects discussed and the particular information isn’t my issue (though I do have some concerns over some of the WvW changes) but rather how and when said information was presented. Now this is just the opinion of one person who has played off-and-on since beta and it may very well be that I am alone in my disappointment — after all the particular information may be along the lines of what a considerable portion of the population want — but this topic is more or less an open letter to Anet so let’s get started.

Semantics in Gaming Media

My first issue is with the phrase ‘extra cool’. This phrase was used at the end of PoI last week to tease us about the following week’s information. My problem is that it means different things to different people. For some, this week’s info is dead on that ‘extra cool’ description but is not for me. If we consider the Elite Specializations as ‘cool’ I am expecting something more interesting than the next elite specialization.

Now, if any of you popped into my other topic this week, you’ll know that I postulated a rather outlandish thought — one that was quite unrealistic by any measure but an example of what I thought ‘extra cool’ could mean. For those who did not pop in, I thought perhaps they were announcing the date of the specializations patch for Vanilla with updated numbers for trait tooltips. There was no information to corroborate this, I was wrong, that is not my issue. My issue is that ‘extra cool’ should be so for EVERY player. Every player would be happy with that info, or about guildhalls, or about how they will handle difficult content in HoT, or any number of other things that have not been announced and will impact EVERY player. There are players who do not touch WvW and for them this week is a total let down. For the record I DO dabble in WvW, though I wouldn’t consider it a main focus of mine, and I found some of the changes interesting, others disheartening.

I realize that as livestream hosts covering a game that is in development they have to say things to keep people interested but please be careful with how things are worded! This leads me to my second issue:

Closed Door Development

I get that you are still making the game, I get that plans change… But what is the use of keeping us in suspense? There is no logical reason that I can think of to not disclose next week’s topic at the end of each friday’s livestream. I say this because everyone who is interested in GW2 will be watching/listening/reading about that info next week anyway! If we are straight-up told what to expect one week from now, there can be no complaints due to vaguely worded comments (as above), and you can still keep whatever internal schedule you have.

Furthermore, the suspense of being in the dark every week is stressful! We are all fans of the franchise and fans of this game, but it is physically impossible to be excited for 6 months straight, so why try to keep the same level of tension? My understanding is we are still a couple months at the least from launch (which is a completely arbitrary guess based on exceedingly limited information and more than one assumption) so I don’t understand the theatrics. After a certain number of dramatic reveals players will become numb and their interest will fade to an average level. I understand company policy, but we fans are going to be buying the xpac anyway :/

Double presenting information

We were told last friday that the information THIS week would need a full livestream to present. Ok. Sounds good, we’re getting a highlight on some new feature, great. However, the contents of this week’s Ready Up were already presented on thursday in the blog. There were perhaps 2 clarifications, but the exceedingly large majority of the information was contained in the blog post, verbatim. Even to the bullet points.

I know a livestream is a different medium, but it would be nice to get either new, more specific information or details, or perhaps a case study on a particular reason for a particular change. Personally, I felt my time was wasted watching this week’s Ready-Up. There was no new information and while I am somewhat intrigued by the idea of the theorycrafting duels (I do love me some theorycrafting), I can think of several other things I’d prefer to see in terms of GW2 news.

Breaking News:

Rare photo of Darksyze revealed.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

All players die at age 52? Dear God, I must be a zombie!

I haven’t waited 3 years for an expansion; as far as I know, the game wasn’t even released that long ago. Besides, I was perfectly happy with LSS1. S2 was below par; I do hope HoT fares better.

Puh .. at least i have a little over 1 year left then

Ehm .. yeah .. i also was a big fan of LS1 .. and didn’t needed an expansion at that time
because there was always enough to do.
Sadly after the end of LS1 for me there was not really that much to do since personally
i had much more fun to repeat the content of LS1 while it lasts than to repeat any
of those LS2 instances.

serenke.4806:

Can you people make up your minds please?
For 2 years straight – no matter what anet did – it was always: “we want an expansion, the game needs an expansion. no monthly, bi-weekly updates, we need expansions”.

Now that they are working on an expansion you want the bi-weeklies back?

I have never had a problem with the bi-weekly system, i log in every day anyhow but this post is hilarious (or sad) if you remember all the calls for an expansion.

And the fun will really begin when 1-2 weeks after release of the expansion all those
people that have burned through the content cry again for new content and then
have to waiter anoter 1-2 year for the next expansion.

Btw.: for me i was totally happy with LS1 .. and would have been happy if they
had continued that concept.

You always get 50 silky sand from the vinewrath. One silky sand is also an item you can get from any bonus chest in the silverwastes. There is no mystery, here.

This is the thread for us crazy people who don’t think “Dragonhunter” is such a bad name. In fact, I personally like the name. I hear people call it “childish” as if a 12-year-old thought of it. And in the same breath those people suggest things like…

Guardian Angel
Archangel

Angels are associated with the christian and muslim god, and are supposed to be divine, immortal, and incredibly powerful beyond mortal means… Not exactly GW2 flavor.

Zealot

What is this, Starcraft? MY LIFE FOR HIRE
….no….

Janissary

What is this, Age of Empires?

Sentinel
Celestial

Naming things after gear now? Why…

Centurion

Cylons? Frakk that.

Vanguard
Justiciar

What is this, Mass effect2?

Legionnaire

There are already legionnaires in GW2, and they are exclusively related to the Charr military structure.

Monk

There was already once a class with this name in GW1, and it was almost purely supportive and designed for healing. Anet clearly wanted to give the guardian an aggressive ranged option for combat. Monks were never about range or pure DPS.

Savior
Sanctifier
Saint

Too religious… Christian in particular… Sorry but not all of us are Christian, and Anet has always been careful not to put any specific references to real world ideologies.

Diviner

Do you even know what divining is? What does that have to do with combat, particularly aggressive offense with a bow and mobility?

I just want to say that my personal take on the Dragonhunter name is that Anet took the established theme of the guardian as the “master of defense” and applied the adage “the best defense is a good offense.” In kungkittenis it said that the hand which strikes also blocks. Mordremoth presents a clear and present danger to the world, and Tyrians must adapt to the threat to survive. The Dragonhunter is a specialization which was born specifically to tackle the dragon threat. That’s the lore side of it anyway.

On to the practical side of the name. Anet clearly wanted to make a ranged attack spec for the guardian, should they want it. Something a little less defensive, and with the ability to tag mobs at range like everyone else. Guardian core spec has plenty of melee already. When coming up with a name for anything, that name must convey a sense of what that thing is supposed to be and do. You don’t name Game of Thrones “Fluffy Bunny Fuffles.” There is a purpose to a name beyond sounding cool on its own. It needs to convey the context of the item it describes.

TheFool.4589:

Zanshin.5379:

5 is not a big enough sample. 50 isn’t a big enough sample. Even 100 isn’t a big enough sample.

Re-read the post.its a start. 10>50>100>10000 right now 10 is manageable

Let’s assume that the sample size of 10 overwhelmingly shows that RNG is behaving like it should. Would you stop and accept the results as credible or would you expand the sample size?

How about the same question but instead you had gotten results that overwhelmingly showed that RNG was behaving incorrectly amongst the sample size of 10?

kittening seriously WHO CARES

Why are we even having a discussion about trust? Why do you need to trust a company developing a game?? Do you ask the same questions about all your entertainment? Do you feel like you need to trust television studios? Do you have an issue with how much information they release about their products, or the amount of communication they have with their fans? NO! You don’t even THINK about that when you’re watching TV, so please can anybody tell me, how is this different?!

Video games are entertainment media. You invest exactly as much as you want into them, until they no longer satisfy you, then you move on to something else. What commitment do you have to this game that you need to feel trust for the developers? You’re free to use your leisure time anywhere you want and re-appropriate it at will. There is no logic in this.

Lord Deus.7092:

wow you guys calm down

jokes are jokes and should not be taken seriously. sure it might have been really tasteless but tis still just a joke and it cant hurt nobody

What about the poor person who was molested as a child and has memory triggers with this kind of this.
What’s worse is that they are trying to defend their name, it’s sick.

One less whiner to listen to.

I really don’t understand the people who are literally (in their actual descriptions) crying about not getting an invite to the stress test. It’s two 2-hour events. It’s like having your feelings hurt because your lottery numbers weren’t chosen for a $10 prize. This is nothing personal. (I also was not selected, by the way.) Seriously, if not getting chosen for a single stress test is causing actual depression, you might want to take a step back and get some perspective. I get that it’s disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world. And it’s certainly not a slap in the face.

This is a “thank you for your awesome game” post.

There are a lot of great things about GW2, but what I want to touch on with this quick post is how much I’ve gotten out of this game relative to the money I spent on it.

Most new games cost between $40 and $60, US. From most of those games, I’m lucky to get a 60 hour playthrough. I’m even luckier if, even after that long playthrough, I’m still eager to jump right back in and do it again. Even in the best-case scenarios, I’m still typically exhausted after several playthroughs.

Take some of those more rewarding games. I have played games like Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas obsessively, logging several hundred hours in each game across countless playthroughs, and by the end I had done literally everything I could think of. The high point (or low point?) was when I did a playthrough on Master difficulty using no magic and nothing but shield bash to do damage; everything else had lost both its fun and its challenge. Other played-to-death games include Ocarina of Time (10-15 hours per playthrough) and the Pokemon series (20-30 hours per playthrough).

I would say I definitely got my money’s worth for all of those games. Even for less optimal games, such as those where I pay $60 dollars for a 30-hour playthrough with little replayability, I usually feel it was worth it so long as I enjoyed myself.

And this brings me to GW2.

I payed $60 for the game and have currently logged about 1400 hours over the last year-and-a-half. I have seven level 80 characters and two more well on their way. I have map completion with one, some WvW experience, and lots of PvP experience. I’ve done plenty of dungeons, some fractals, and for newer characters a decent amount of trait hunting. The story is decent, the lore is superb, and the experience has been very enjoyable regardless of whether I’ve played by myself or with friends.

What’s even better, there’s still so much I’ve hardly tried yet. I have yet to get Dungeon Master. I have yet to make a Charr character. I have very little experience with fractals or WvW. And of course there are still plenty of jumping puzzles to complete and Living Story achievements to tackle.

And the game is expanding. I payed $60 for the base game. Since then, I have been provided with two Living Story seasons, a couple of new maps, and plenty of improvements and balance fixes. Things that most games would never receive (or would have locked behind a payed DLC wall) I’ve been getting for free, simply for logging on. This game is not pay to win. It’s play to win, or rather (and even better) play for fun.

Boiling it down, I’ve payed about $1 for every 23 hours of enjoyment I’ve gotten from this game, and the ratio is constantly increasing.

I am super hyped for HoT. New class, new zones, and new mechanics all sound good, but in addition there will be plenty of incentive to continue with or revisit all my other characters for specializations and mastery. Not to mention the sheer number of things I have yet to do just with the base game.

I love GW2, and I will continue playing for a good while yet. I would happily drop $60 for this expansion.

I would also like to express my disappointment to the members of the GW2 community, particularly many of those frequenting the forums, who do little besides complain about the game and bash Anet over their own severe entitlement issues. Price-to-reward, I believe we’ve all gotten much more than we initially expected and hoped for when we first purchased the game.

And to those who still complain excessively about issues such as “muh free content” after logging 1000+ hours… Grow up.

Thank you Anet, and I look forward to a bright future.