Guild Wars 2

Sorry love, I disagree with moving it. At first I was frustrated then I saw the viewpoints of those who love WWW but hate the PvE aspect. If they have to suffer with exploration, we should have to suffer with WWW.

Tit for Tat.

I pretty much just play whatever I fancy at the time I log in.

Sometimes its just running around with the zerg in Edge of the Mists.
Sometimes its running around with the zerg in Eternal Battlegrounds.
Sometimes its playing a couple of unranked games and shaking my head at human stupidity. Sometimes its just a casual farming run for wood and ore.
Sometimes its doing some story pieces on my assorted characters.
Sometimes its helping a guildie get some hero points.
Sometimes its helping someone else with a story component.
Sometimes its working on an achievement I want.
Sometimes its clearing some maps on my current ‘map completion’ character.
Sometimes its putting some time into the current legendary grind I’m on.
Sometimes its looking for a dye or two that my collection is still missing.
Sometimes its standing in front of the wardrobe for an hour designing an outfit for a new char.

For example – last night, I finished Flashpoint and then I went and did about half of Frostfang’s 3rd collection gathering. And then I had real life stuff to do. shrug

It sort of sounds like you just need people to play with, OP. Either that or you need a break. Not quite sure which.

DoctorDing.5890:

Forget legendaries, aim for a full set of ascended. It needs gold and a few time-gated materials but it is not too bad from a grind viewpoint, especially if you are patient.

I don’t think it’s as good goal, from a casual PoV. The set of ascended only offers stat boost and doesn’t give you any direction. It’s all just grind. Legendary collections sometimes show you events and places you can easily miss and generally tend to lead you through different aspects of the game – map completion, events, fractals, even some WvW. It’s a much better way to get familiar with the game and discover activities you enjoy doing IMO.

Exploring, for me, is about learning my way around a map. Finding a particular point of interest for the first time isn’t my goal. The accomplishment is in mastering a challenging map like Tangled Depths. Video guides don’t spoil that for me. It takes more than watching a video and finding a point of interest one time to master these complex, layered maps.

It’s funny how perspectives can be different. When I log in, I always feel like there’s way too much to do that I could never possibly ever do and I get overwhelmed.

vesica tempestas.1563:

If a skin is easy to get it does not feel epic and rewarding.

If a skin is hard to get, it doesn’t feel any more epic. It’s just harder to get. I guess that there are some people that dress not according to aestethic reasons, but to showcase their more rare gear, but in the end, instead of prestigious, they just usually look bad.

Don’t think of specializations as weapons, think of them as whole new classes. Instead of a dark knight class they added a greatsword to the dark mage instead. Not exactly the same but it’s a similar idea.

I really liked it too But I also really like tangled depths. There’s much more of an element of exploration when the map isn’t just ‘go to all these items on a map without any real thought’. Those kinds of maps are still fine, but I’ve always liked the initial exploration steps of the more involved HoT maps.

Also, there’s been around 30+ ‘super duper braindead simple’ to explore maps already and 4 ‘complex’ maps (maaaaybe 5 if you thought bloodstone fen was difficult too). That’s not a huge percentage!

Variety is good (but also means some things wont suit everyone – that’s fine), and I hope arenanet continues to provide variety in their maps in the future!

As long as you keep thinking in terms of “farming”, it will never be fast, comfortable or efficient enough.

Hevoskuuri.3891:

“Ascended is absolutely not hard to get these days.”

It’s not insanely hard, but definitely not easy either.

Let me say it this way – it’s not easy to get it fast. Or rather, it’s not cheap, since you can power-level your crafting profession and craft the items.

But if you’re not in a hurry – and after all, why would you be? – it’s fairly easy. You can start of with trinkets, which are trivial to get from the new maps. Again, if you’re in a hurry it would feel like a lot of grind and quite a chore, but if you take it easy you don’t need to do anything more than dailies on your maps of choice. Not even that on Bitterfrost, though I can’t imagine a reason not to jump some trees for the unbound magic and tag an event for the daily torch in the ice.

Once you get the trinkets you can proceed with fractals, and while they certainly have much lower drop rate now, they still do drop ascended. Plus, you can buy ascended from vendor at a somewhat lower price. Or, if you don’t like fractals, there are other means across all game modes. Once again, as long as you’re not rushing it, it doesn’t feel hard or expensive.

Djinn.9245:

I am talking about ATTITUDE, not fantasy, etc. If you are saying that adults in Tyria all think it is fine to accept a young disabled person into a group that regularly faces horrific situations and mass death, I have to say that I don’t see it.

Could it be that a small, young, physically disabled and female character does not fit into your stereotype of a “hero”? All your talk and comparisons about the hirarchy of NATO and the physical requirements for elite Seal teams implies you habor a narrow “strong man” ideal. Then, of course, Taimi will never be “believable” to you. I, for one, appreciate that Tyria is more diverse than that and has more to offer than physical force to win a battle (like magic and engineering, as others have pointed out).

Djinn.9245:

Why don’t we have someone from the top ranks of Asura culture who has already proven themself?

Because unlike in the real world, where this great concept of hirarchy (“top ranks”) has somehow blessed us with with a billionaire with the interlectual capacity of a slice of toast and a relaxed relationship with the truth as “leader of the free world”, maybe in ANets fantasy world we as PCs are more prudent and value actual merit and loyality over social standing.

One thing the OP has done with their idea is to get people who would otherwise disagree about what day of the week it is to agree on something.

My guild consists of around five everyday-ish active people and a few twice-a-month fractal runners and from my experience so far I can tell you that everything is possible, but takes a lot more time and effort. Surely, large guilds are in an advantage here. And don’t get me started about the prices for upgrades and decorations, but it is possible. We claimed our hall with six people. There are around three of us mostly contributing for upgrades and decorations. And yet we’re growing and making our hall prettier every day. Personally, I’m more proud of our guild hall because we had to make bigger sacrifices than those large guilds.

I’m surprised they haven’t made Super Adventure Cloud minis. I’d buy both the Tribulation cloud and the Infantile cloud if they were available.

In approximately 5 hours.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-March-28-2017/first

9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC -7)

Most Tyrians subscribe to the Mesmer Collective’s “Va-Poo-Rize” service, where all bodily functions are handled via miniature portals.

With the re-release of SAB this year I thought I’d come on here and post about why I love SAB so much. I don’t see the same enthusiasm in friends or guildies that I have for it, so I did some self-reflection and found out why.

I’m not good at PvP. I’m not good at WvW. I’m only decent in PvE. I’m no good at optimising my builds and my gameplay for different encounters or bosses or whatever. I’m an accuracy freak. I’m good at jumping puzzles. I’m not usually one to brag, but I’m kitten great at them. This time of year is MY time of year. This is the time of year that I am actually rewarded for being good at something so niche that not many people even think about it, except when Empyreal Fragments are needed.

I understand that for a lot of people it’s a bit of a nostalgia trip. I wasn’t well-off growing up, and didn’t even get my first computer til I was 12, and it was a very low-end one. Consoles – to me – were for the insanely rich. I can totally understand and respect the nostalgia that people have because of SAB, but that’s not why I love it.

When SAB came out in 2013 I was having a hard time at home and it was a distraction. I had almost lost interest in the game entirely when it came out, so it kept me here. The graphics were something I’d never seen before, the music was amazing and I loved the typical “save the princess” storyline, and all the tropes that came with it.

Come last year’s re-release I was in tears because I was so happy. It had been 3 years since I felt like there was something I wanted to do in the game besides grind for skins. SAB is actual content I want to play for the content itself, not just for the reward it gives me. I don’t feel that in any other area of the game.

When I heard about tribulation mode I was a little skeptical of how I would cope, but with a lot of practice I was doing it with ease. I love the difficulty in trib, and I love that I can overcome it. Yes there are still parts where having 250 ping average blocks progress (I’m looking at you, trampoline area in w2z2), but I’ve made it through and was able to unlock all King Toad and Storm Wizard skins completely solo.

This is why I love SAB, especially tribulation mode. It gives me a chance to really refine my accuracy in jumping puzzles, while creating an entirely new environment to experience it in. Only in SAB do I enjoy the journey towards the reward. It’s also the only content that actually rewards me at what I’m good at.

So thank you, devs, so so much for bringing SAB back and making it a yearly festival. This means the absolute world to me.

Share your reasons below why you love SAB!

Redfeather.6401:

Deeper PvE Loot System

The idea being that people would consider using a drop instead of liquidating it into gold.
A sceptre that gives +5% crit chance to earth skills.
An axe that decreases well cooldowns by X seconds.
Boots that increase movement speed.

To balance each positive mod, they could be paired with a negative mod. It gives something, and taketh something away.
Minus X from life.
Decreased movement speed.
+X% damage taken from poison.

It’s not revolutionary, but it’s something GW2 lacks compared to other games.

One of my favorite parts of GW2 is that it doesn’t have this system. Games with this system almost always devolve into grinding forever to get those equips with the one mod that is best (because there will always be one that is the best), which sucks the fun out of the rest of the game. I think this would be a bad change to implement into GW2

Is it even possible to objectively answer OP’s question? No, of course not. So I’ll just add my own opinion to the mix.

Imho, no, GW2 hasn’t lost its identity. It has changed, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and yeah, it has changed a lot…and not that much too. But yeah, as many have already asked, what is GW2 identity to begin with?

I’ve played MMORPGs for about 20 years, like many others. I’ve tried quite a few titles, begun with Wow, just before BC, and played it until mid MoP, but I’ve also tried many MMOs in the meantime. LOTRO, Rift, Aion, GW2 of course, DDO, WildStar, and TSW more recently,…

Among all those games, my best experience, by far, was LOTRO’s first expac, Mines of Moria. I’ve always loved LOTRO, it has such a unique ambiance, the combat is very complex and a little archaïc, even static, but it felt right and faithful to the books, and Mines of Moria introduced some awesome maps, and a true feeling of achievement.
But in the end, like almost all those MMOs, GW2 included, it could not keep my attention.

And yet, I’m here, playing GW2 still, when there are many other MMOs released and dying, as the public’s interest comes and goes, again and again… Why?

When I think about it, there are some reasons that piked my interest when I first tried GW2 (I have not played GW1, and probably never will, since I don’t think I’ll have the time/motivation to invest in such a large scale game anymore) :

- one of the big plus, which still holds quite true, was a very friendly economical model. Not only the “pay once, play forever” deal, a little broken with the introduction of paid expac, but more the “cosmetic and utility only in the Shop”, and, MOST importantly “you can buy Gems with Gold”. This feature is so rare, even nowadays, that I feel it’s important to remember that, if you invest time into GW2, you can buy anything in the Gemstore. Anything. And that is awesome.

- a PVE where other players are welcome, and not a threat or a nuisance. Still holds true, safe some fringe occasions. Individual loot, individual gathering nodes, dynamic scaling, hell YES. No more competitiveness into the cooperative part of the game, thank you!

- but the main reason, the one that makes me feel welcome in GW2 : non-obsolescence of content. Which strangely was only partially true at the beginning of the game, even if it was part of the intent. No increase of level cap, no endless gear increase, no progress resets. Of course, the season 1 of Living Story was a complete disaster for me, since I was testing and playing multiple MMOs at the time. But for the rest, it was always easy to come back after a break, even if said break lasted a year!

And I feel it’s GW2 current main strength, GW2 current identity, which was only partial at the beginning, but has been more and more defined as the game was changed :
whatever you do in GW2, whatever activity you invest time in, you won’t loose progress. Yeah, some new activities were added : fractals, living story season 2 and 3, and more recently raids and masteries. But they do not take away from the core game. When your character is full exo, you’re good to go for 95% of the content. In full ascended, it’s 100%. Unlocked a new skin? A new fractal level? Good, it’s forever. Getting bored of GW2? Take a break, go play other games. If you decide to come back, you won’t have to catch-up (or so little that it doesn’t bother me).

People will complain about “lack of content”, about “content drought”. I’ve played MMOs with lots of content added. Take a break, and you’re out. GW2 current pace of content release, with living story season 3 maps feels right. Not too few, not too many. And that is why I’ll keep coming back.

Amaimon.7823:

I mean, I would like to say “don’t like it, don’t do it”
but the problem with this is that it requires dev attention that’s withdrawn from raiding, LS or other content. And it adds weapons that break immersion worse than a set of huge wings. And lets not forget the miniatures with their cringy 8-bit sounds.. Sorry, but this ‘festival’ does actually do harm

That’s the perfect definition of “different opinions”, what you dislike is what like the most, imho they could get rid of everything else but DON’T TOUCH MY SAB!

Suggested recipes

Ghostly Effect Tonic
Double Click to add a Ghostly Effect for 30 minutes. Your skills remains unchanged, although this does not work in PvP (b/c: reasons). Account Bound

Mystic Forge Recipe:

• Strawberry Ghost x250
• Strawberry Ghost x250
• Strawberry Ghost x250
• Anthology of Heroes x1

Strawberry Ghost +9 Agony Infusion of Healing
Double-click to apply to an unused infusion slot.

• +5 Healing Power
• +9 Agony Resistance

Mystic Forge Recipe:

• Ghostly Effect Tonic x10
• +9 Agony Infusion x3
• Anthology of Heroes
• 25 Elaborate Totems

I thought the NCSoft people said Gem Store sales were steady, and only box sales were down these last few quarters. If so, I guess that would negate some of the theories.

To me, over the past nearly-5 years, many things have changed. This just seems like a bash-Raids thread. I consider Raids to be equivalent to WvW or PvP; something I don’t/did’nt initially find interesting, but would consider/did try out eventually. In other words, just another Game Mode I can take or leave.

I also don’t believe a player can’t be loyal to a game/franchise if they haven’t been playing since/near launch. No more than playing at/near launch would automatically make one a loyal player.

But, of course, each have their own opinion; one no more valid than the other.

Good luck.

VaLee.5102:

TLDR; What makes GW2 different than any other generic MMO right now?

How would you convince a WoW player for example to come and play GW2 today? Because I can’t think of anything else but “well it’s like WoW, but different…it has asuras instead of gnomes, and you don’t need 100 addons to be able to get into a raid…yet”

I never played WoW, never cared for WoW.
I came from Korean grind fests, Japanese Lobby games, and a long line of failed/canned western Superhero and Horror MMOs. With those games everything came to a crashing halt at end game. You NEEDED a guild, which inevitably lead to scheduling raid dates, having to deal with other peoples personal drama and so on. You wound up spending all your time and effort to get prepared for the hope that one day your lucky number was drawn and you would get a piece of loot that was going to be obsolete when the next update came. If you missed your chance you did it all again to the point of tedium. Months and even years of my time were dedicated to a ton of drama and stress, all in efforts to keep my characters up to date. I just wanted to play the darn game, but those games became my job away from my job.

GW2 is a different beast. It offers me the experience of going off on my own to explore without needing a party to go with me. I always enjoy meeting new people just by showing up to a monster icon or event icon, not having to sit in a town and shout for 3 hours to get a party to do something. I can obtain all of my gear fairly easily and while there is some (small by my definition) grind I don’t have the dread that my gear will be out of date in a few months. For as much as people complain about Elite grinding, for me its a cake walk. I sit down for a few hours here and there and am able to knock out a 10th to a quarter of a wheel. That is super casual for me.

If I get bored of one game mode I can play another, there is always something to do. There has been no other game that has given me what I have been looking for in regars to PvP. I enjoy WvW as well, but understand a bit where the old timers are coming from that it needs some work or new content. PvE LFG is no where annoying as other games I have played. I haven’t once been unable to complete a dungeon because it was abandoned by players (or devs.) GW2 has delivered what it advertised for me, I pay one time and can play hours of content hassle free. I can play Fashion Wars without having to jump through a crap ton of hoops. I can log in, set a goal, get that goal done and log for the night and not feel like everyone is leaving me behind.

Sure I have run into a handful of elitist jerks, but they are in every game. I can honestly say in GW2 I have never had to PUT UP WITH and STOMACH those elitist jerks, I have never NEEDED them to complete any content, and that feels good.

That’s my not-so-elevator pitch. I came into this game with very low expectations, and pleasantly had them all exceeded.

Can you please add a reliable and clearly visible way to get into the air, like a ledge or a bouncing mushroom? It’s really frustrating to die because you couldn’t find the invisible magic spot of gliding on a flat and visually really busy platform.

I personally craft, regardless of the TP price. Then I can take my time and just gather things as I play and its a mild feeling of achievement for me.

Could I get more if I just farmed the stuff and sold it and then bought the pre? Sure.
Do I care? Not really.
Why? Because it’s not why I play.

shrug

Orpheal.8263:

it this silly boring nutshell could get broken open just through some good and meaningful quality of life improvements, good lord, then this would be such a great step forward for this game!!

You forgot the Auto Play mastery. Just build a golem that plays the game for us. We can then login once a year to see how we’re doing.

There are already several types of sorting bags …

As for “good” loot the closest a game will ever come to that is to create the illusion by having a gear treadmill and keep churning out seemingly better loot. That is just lying to yourself to make you feel better. I want no part of that kind of system.

One of these days someone will make one of these posts where they say, “I am unhappy with…” instead of, “many people are unhappy with…” and, “I hate…” instead of, “everyone hates…”

….But not today apparently.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more hair style options.