Guild Wars 2

I don’t want ascended armor, I just want new exotic skins, or skins in general.

Insignya.8625:

I didn’t really have anyone on the other end to reply to before Morrigan and marnick’s comment. Quoting Vayne is like stabbing yourself in the chest for no reason, I did it once and got infracted so not gonna bother.

Right, because you’re all reasonable, and I’m a blind fan boy without a brain cell in my head.

I don’t agree with you, because I play games differently than you do. Other people do too.

Your lack of openness in considering the people who don’t play like you do is very evident in your choice of words. You attempt to appear reasonable, but you’re not actually being reasonable.

As far as niche goes, I’ve enjoyed GW1 as a niche game, and many people enjoy EVE, even though it’s a niche game at best. 250k players is enough to make for a healthy MMO. I couldn’t be more happy if GW2 became a successful niche game.

That’s a big thread and I don’t have the time to read it all right now, so for now I’ll just address this very specific and interesting matter

“Without transparency you’re leaving people with the most logical suggestion- that the revenue from your game is supporting the development of Wildstar.”

This just in, I hate Dontain.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Vayne.8563:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Vayne.8563:

Erasculio.2914:

Vayne.8563:

For example, I think most people who like instances in most MMOs would probably have enjoyed Fissure of Woe, The Underworld, Domain of Anguish, The Deep, Urgoz’s Warren and Slaver’s Exile.

They wouldn’t.

The goal of “instances in most MMOs” (aka raids) is to get more powerful gear. None of your examples provides more powerful gear. Ergo, raiders would have hated them.

In fact, adding raids to Guild Wars 2 without giving them more powerful gear would only make raiders complain about how they wouldn’t be properly rewarded for their “work”.

Although I’m sure ArenaNet knows about this. I will be surprised if the GW2 “raids” aren’t when we will see the introduction of Ascended weapons and armors.

I’d be pretty surprised if Anet didn’t have ways outside of raids to get ascended weapons and armor.

Wait, why would you be surprised?

They have always gated Ascended gear. So why would this be any different if they add it to raids only?

When Ascended gear first came out, you could only get rings and a backpack. Rings were only Fractals and Backpack was only Mystic Forge (Rings are now available via Laurels as well). Then amulets came, and they were only Laurels. Then Trinkets came, and they are only Guild Missions and Laurels.

Ascended gear has always been gated. This would be no different.

After the initial Fractals only release, which Anet admitted was a mistake, they gave people ways to get ascended gear that pretty much EVERYONE could get. Yes, you can only get Amulets from dailies, but getting 30 dailies is not the same thing is raiding.

You’re comparing time gating with skill gating. No one can raid solo and I don’t think Anet will abandon their solo player base, which is larger than most people think.

Except you still can’t get Ascended gear solo.

The Backpack can only be obtained via doing Fractals for the Vial and Gift. You can’t craft it without doing Fractals. So you can’t get that solo.

Gating is still gating whether it is skill based or time based. And if they do introduce Ascended gear in their new raid feature, I don’t expect them to release the gear any other way. Unless they add yet another currency vendor, which in turn would just upset the players cause we have too many currencies as it is.

Gating is not gating whether it’s skill or time based. That is to say, it makes a huge difference to a casual player base.

A casual player base can deal with time gating far more easily than it can deal with skill gating.

The way Guild Wars 2 is set up now, if you want an ascended amulet, pretty much anyone can get one. You make claim that the only way to get an ascended back piece is the Fractals, but that’s only partially true, since I got an exotic back piece from the Living Story, just by doing a few of the achievements. Anet gave people another way to get an ascended back piece. I’m sure a lot of people are thrilled you can hide back pieces lol.

Anet isn’t going to make something really desirable that gives better stats that is also a skin that’s only available to a small percentage of the population.

Rings are different. You cant’ see them. Earrings you can’t see.

But when they come out with new armor and weapons that have higher stats, if they’re only available from raids, the casual population of this game will scream. And Anet can’t afford that.

Because it’s targeting casuals, not hard core.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Is there a MMO where there’s DECENT endgame? I haven’t seen any.

try Gw2 … I hear that game has a pretty decent end-game for folks that approach games as a form of entertainment, and not work. They also say it’s a pretty good game for folks that love to compete with others on a level playing field without stat advantages.

But if you don’t like GW2, or it’s approach …

try, World of Warcraft. Despite the fashionable trend to bash WoW, ignore that, it’s a time tested oldie but goldie. WoW has plenty of classes and builds, does not require a high end comp, and has tons of endgame raiding based on the traditional vertical progression model.

Tolmos.8395:

I see this constantly and I can’t help but wonder, every time… “what does this mean?”

It means that some players have been so well deceived by developers of pay to play MMOs that they truly believe all the flaws in those games – the grindy based time sinks such as raids, mounts and etc – are actually a required part of any MMORPG game.

For many of us endgame is enjoying the game in the manner which we like. Whether that be fighting in WvW, doing PVP, roleplaying with guildies, dungeon crawling for new skins, grinding mats for a legendary, doing some DEs, leveling an alt, taking part in the living story, trying out new builds ….. ect, and on and on.

For others endgame is: Racing to cap level as fast as possible, figuring out which dungeon is the easiest and repeating that dungeon a hundred times till you have enough gold to buy 10 legendaries, raiding high level dungeons for gear that has better stats than what the majority of the player base has, going to WvW with some friends to gank people 4 on 1, fighting lots of 1v1s and losing despite claims to being “pro” players, screaming on the forums for Anet to add even more stat based gear so that their stat advantage can become larger and larger to help mask their lack of skill. And last but not least, starting a dungeon run with 3 guildies and then kicking some poor slob that is not one their buddies from their 5 man group right before the reward chest – then laughing their 16 year old butts off about it.

So as you can see, End-game can differ quite a bit from person to person.

I dislike any kind of endgame where the gameplay changes from what I was enjoying getting there :p

Just passed 1000 hours too, still haven’t completed the story or map yet, much to do much to do

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.

I see this constantly and I can’t help but wonder, every time… “what does this mean?”

I come from games like Ultima Online, Shadowbane, EVE and Darkfall, where “endgame” means you hit max level (or at least a level at which everything you want your character to be able to do, he can do) and then just run around doing whatever you want. Endgame, to me, means “I don’t have to worry about stats or levels anymore- now I just run around making my own fun!”.

I did play EQ for 1 or 2 years, WoW for about 5 years, and Rift for about 1.5 … their endgames involved gear grinding via raids. Is this what folks want, when they say “no endgame”?

I’m honestly curious. The /age on my account is close to 1,000 hours since headstart (very, very few of those are afk). My main character, my engineer, has 500 of those hours. I still have not done anywhere near all the stuff I want to on that character. So, I’m confused when folks say “there is nothing to do. There is no endgame”.

So what does it mean? When you say those words, what are you wanting to see in this game?

I agree. GW2 has it’s flaws (like every game), but this is the only MMO that I was happy to pay for. I have never enjoyed an MMO as much as this one. Long live GW2

Nah, some people want the game to fail because they don’t like the game and they’d like to be proven right (that their mindset is correct).

I think this is a very complicated topic. Every mmo by its nature is designed to be played indefinite. its impossible for any developer to produce more content than its consumed because it takes them weeks of work to create a single Dynamic event which takes us a few minutes to complete not to mention some people will skip it altogether. Bottom line at some point stuff has to be repeated.

Now what Gw2 does differently here in line with the “we do not want you to grind” vision is it gives tools to the players by which they can avoid grinding. But ultimately it depends on them. And this is not all great because players have to pay a price to avoid grinding in most cases and thats sacrificing efficiency which some players find very hard to do.

But let me be a bit more specific. Every MMO has to have its players repeat stuff while it is developing new content, its unavoidable. In Your typical MMO that means raids. Players are made to play the same raid over and over again to get a specific tier until they’re moved to a new tier and the cycle repeats. Content in guild wars 2 is designed in such a way so that as much as possible players are free to choose whatever they want to play and still progress towards their long term goal. If today I feel like playing in queensdale I can still make progress towards my legendary. How? Unidentified Dyes counts towards the gift of color. Money towards recipes. Karma towards a whole bunch of stuff. Exploration towards the gift of exploration etc.. etc..

Even if we take ascended gear. Sure it takes a lot of effort to get it but once again I can play whatever content I feel like doing and chances are it can get me closer to ascended gear. If I go to play in Queensdale doing dynamic events there is a good chance I can get my daily done or at least get it to a point where it takes me just a few minutes to finish it off. If I feel like doing WvW I can earn badges do the daily there and use that to earn my ascended gear. If I want to play group content there are guild missions. If I feel like dungeons there is FotM etc…

But like i said there is a price attached to this. If I grind my daily I will get it done in 30 minutes. If I just play whatever I feel like playing it will take hours. Is that a problem though? The other thing Gw2 does to lessen grind is make stuff optional so if it takes me 3 months to get a piece of ascended armor instead of a single month I dont really loose anything.

What I am trying to say is anet cant do miracles (at least I believe they cant) they cant avoid having people repeat content, what they can do and is exactly what they’re always trying to do is give people the choice on what content they wish to repeat rather then force people to repeat a specific thing over and over again. Unfortunately its also impossible to avoid having stuff that’s more efficient than other stuff. So if for example I want dragon coffers I could spend all day farming some dungeon speed run and use the money to buy a ton of coffers. It will feel extremely grindy after a week of that no doubt. But that would be the result of my personal choice. In truth I could have done many many different activities and still earned coffers. The game can give me the tools to avoid grinding but cant force me to make use of them.

I honestly believe if the game is grindy or not depends in most cases on how people choose to play it.

@Galtrix

I have a question for you? Do you have a tally of the number of people who specifically AVOID those games because of gear grind?

Let’s say there are 20 million people playing MMOs today. Maybe a bit more, maybe less. There are over 200 million gamers according to some estimates.

That means only 10% of the gaming population (again more or less) actually play MMOs. Ever ask yourself why?

Maybe if MMOs didn’t have gear grind, MORE people would be playing them.

Look it’s this simple, some people, perhaps a small percentage of gamers – I don’t know —- but some players would like to play a 100% skill-based horizontal progression mmo. One that once you reach max level and attain max gear through your learning process (leveling) then leaves you with a 100% equal footing (stat wise) with others that have done the same. And these players would like this for every aspect of the game (PvE, WvW, PvP …). And this, precisely this, was what GW2 was marketed as for years.

So please, PLEASE allow me this one small corner of the MMO market for my gaming style. And in exchange, I promise, I will never-ever foot-stomp and whine in the WoW or Lotro forums for them to re-invent the game to suit my play style, and at the expense of the people that play those games precisely because they have vertical stat-based progression.

docMed.7692:

Tolmos.8395:

lordkrall.7241:

If they were only cosmetic that wouldn’t really be an issue.

If I liked and wanted that cosmetic then I would want it to be attainable in a way that wasn’t completely unenjoyable for me.

So, I reiterate- it will only be a problem for me if the items are only available via raiding. As long as they are available anywhere else as well, I can’t see there being any issue.

So now you’re entitled to every single cosmetic through every means in the game? There has to be incentive for players to do content, which is through cosmetics and titles; just like they separate out cosmetics in fractals/dungeons/guild missions/etc. There are already a ton of zones that offer exclusive cosmetics.

The only entitlement involved is the entitlement of raiders who feel they DESERVE some item or another. Having multiple paths to get an item type would deal with this issue and open up the items to more than just a single group of players in the game.

Sometimes you have to be willing to share your toys.

As for incentive to do the raids? How about making them fun, and not just sticking a carrot at the end of the raid so that people will suffer through it for the sake of getting said carrot. That mentality within MMOs that no unique reward = no reason to do something is why MMO content is going downhill. Single players games don’t suffer from this issue- you do content because it’s fun, not because you are desperately grinding for some item or another.

lordkrall.7241:

If they were only cosmetic that wouldn’t really be an issue.

If I liked and wanted that cosmetic then I would want it to be attainable in a way that wasn’t completely unenjoyable for me.

So, I reiterate- it will only be a problem for me if the items are only available via raiding. As long as they are available anywhere else as well, I can’t see there being any issue.

The only reason this news would upset me is if Anet decides to give non-raiders the middle finger and add items that are only attainable via raids. That would change the dynamic of this game too far into a direction that I simply want nothing to do with anymore (I used to be a hardcore raider, years ago…).

As long as I’m pidgeonholed into raiding in order to attain certain items, like we originally were to get ascended gear when FotM came out, I’m really happy that they are adding this in for those who like to. The more playstyles they add to the game, the happier the overall population will be.

I’m always taking screenshots of peoples armor because I’m creepy like that. I really wish I could figure out what things are named, sometimes.

Aetherblade weapons should drop from the kitten aetherblade pirates.

I wonder if anyone realises that the living story is them playing with different ideas once they have a good idea of what players like and don’t like they set it aside in the MOAR stuff category.

This is what they mean by working on the core of the game.

Also development takes a lot of time. Give them time to work on stuff.

I also think it would be interesting if data was gathered on WvW population vs those that complain that the world is empty. Same with PvP population vs those that complain the world is empty.

Hi, Fiontar. I saw your post in the other thread as well and I do agree with you to some degree that many female armors in this game seem to go out of the way to show as little skin as possible. I’m not sure I agree with your bib issue, though. You’ve said repeatedly that the new light and medium skins have ‘de-feminizing bibs’ that you can’t get past. I don’t think these tops fit into the same mold as those other armor sets that work extra hard to hide skin. This armor has a very specific aesthetic and in my opinion, it’s been achieved well. I guess my question is, when you say that you don’t like these de-feminizing bibs, are you really just saying that you want to see some cleavage?

Kojiden.8405:

LumAnth.5124:

I know for a fact that Mesmers and Rangers got the worst nerfs of all

Mesmers and rangers are super kitten ed off right now. Who knows if they’re going to go through with it, but people are talking about leaving Guild Wars 2 over this.

People talk about leaving GW2 with every patch/update. They could change the color of a tree in the middle of nowhere on some map and people would start talking about leaving GW2.

ROTFL…

“Why do they keep making town clothes, put some armor in the shop!”
“Don’t put the good stuff in RNG boxes, people would rather buy them directly!”
…

“Why is this armor in the shop! I should be able to get it just by playing!”
“I’m not going to pay money for this!”

So when they go back to putting the cool stuff in RNG boxes, you’ll know why…

I use /say a lot but then again I do a fair amount of RP. I have a funny story from the other day.

I used one of those charged potions that turned me into a fire elemental and was just cruising around Queensdale. I saw what appeared to be a new player in the starter heart farm. She (female toon) seemed a little disoriented and I flew up. I thought she was new because she ran from me at first and then walked around looking at me, walked up and walked back a few times like she was trying to figure out how to engage me.

Then I got an idea because of the farm and /say “Please help me I’m on fire.” She looked around a bit and got a bucket of water and then poured it in my direction. I popped out of the elemental and into normal appearance. I thanked her and then sent her a silver and a 5 slot bag in the mail with a nice message telling her how she had saved my life.