Guild Wars 2

Tiny Doom.4380:

Giving control of processes like marking and upgrading to NPCs and autonomic systems reduces the involvement and participation of players.

The auto upgrades change (with yaks required) was the best change to wvw ever. I do not miss the days of spending all gold on upgrading something only for it to be rolled over when no one came to defend it.
edit: and the removal of supply costs on upgrades. That was just nasty, especially when pugs would steal supply during an attempt at upgrading.

No thanks. The last thing this game needs is more cheesy stealth spammers

I vote for someone to create the guild “Defeated by [ANet]” so the OP can finally feel happy his server is no longer being victimised by employees of the company playing the game they work on.

Or we can keep making these posts and drive out the last of the devs from WvW so problems like ghost thieves, server stacking and targeting the weakest server being the best action go unnoticed completely.

To clarify, I’m not white knighting ANet I just think the OP is being petty.

I just want them to turn Divinities Reach into an Urban battlefield with different sections that can be captured and sieged. Fight in the streets, lots of chokes and sneaky areas.

expandas.7051:

Cons:

• An influx of players could lead to increased abuse and harassment towards players attempting to complete the jumping puzzle.

Isn’t that the entire point of obs?

Pretty sure that isn’t a “Con” ;-)

I suggest Arenanet implement a tumbleweed minipet for WvW players.

I think it would be ironic, apt and hilarious.

Soeki.9643:

I’m not sure how many people here played Elder Scrolls Online and even had the pleasure to do trials (raids) there. In the beginning just like here they were hard content for organized groups. Only a few did them. Then later on they redesigned the system. Trials had a normal and veteran mode (+ hardmode on either for extra challenge). Normal mode opened the trials up for pugs, and they were totally doable. Those who wanted to lore got it. Loot was decent too, the only difference was that you could get jewelry on a higher tier level than on normal mode (think like exotic for normal, ascended for veteran but tbh the difference was truly minimal). People can get the same sets, and those who want the challenge can do veteran mode. It truly worked well.

As for GW2, I believe this is a direction they could take. It is the best of both worlds, it caters to the casual and the veteran/hardcore raiders as well. I believe getting legendary armor should be faster on “veteran” mode, but having it available on “normal” mode too would please most players (I assume).

looks like the 3 or 4 primary people in this thread talked around/past you, but i think your comment was valuable and worth the effort.

After thinking it over, the OP might be talking about daily events in the starter maps. If he is, I agree. The starter maps daily events should not be on the list for high level players. They should have their own daily events in the higher level maps as they kill mobs too fast in the starter maps, know the spawn points so they can camp them and have the waypoints so they can swarm to events ahead of the low level players.

I think some people (including myself) might be envious of YB’s situation… Server is locked, no link means that you are in no danger of getting bandwagoned, no obnoxious guilds coming in and queueing up your EBG for 12 hours or more a day. And with everyone from T1 looking for a new buggy to ride, you all may just sail right through this and stay comfortably in the tier that a lot of people consider a good place to be, without the frustration of getting locked into the DBL PvDing all night. Just saying…

It’s keeping YB in tiers where there is no risk of a t1 roll while t1 is completely messed up. I’m fine with this.

AliamRationem.5172:

Simply making the vague observation that combat is “chaotic” is not a reason to make this change. Why should we do it?

Taking a stab at the source of the phenomenon, I’m thinking most people who ask for “less chaotic” combat come from those trinity games as:

• tanks who feel the need to control the battlefield (and be a fantastic diva); a loose add drives them nuts
• healers who hate getting hit or doing damage at all, ever
• dps not used to getting hit and want a tank to front for them

I’ve had friends that mention all of the above as why they don’t take so well to GW2. I generally try to be self-sufficient in MMOs, since I solo a lot, so the breakaway from trinity has been a huge boon for my play experience in GW2.

JTGuevara.9018:

Second, stuns, interrupts, pulls, etc tend to be have a single target, so more enemies get away from you and attack your allies. The real crowd-control is taunt, although it’s limited. Taunts have the double effect of not only disabling your enemies but more importantly attracting them towards you and away from your allies.

I simply can’t agree with this.

You are talking about CC as if it were done from a single, static point, and as if the CC user doesn’t have a brain inside his/her skull. In this game, positioning is essential, and a good CC user knows that.

When you play CC, you don’t just push or launch a foe whenever the skill come out of CD, without looking around, and without looking at what the people around you are trying to accomplish. You must know when to interrupt, and where to move the enemy.

Usually playing good CC means to keep the mobs thogheter and helpless inside the damage areas the rest of your team create. Launching mobs against walls, interrupting movement skills, going outside the fight zone to catch stranded mobs, pulling or pushing ranged enemies into the melee zone… all of these are part of good CC use. You have to move around, position yourself correctly, and you have to think about your teammates all the time.

On some few encounters, you need to clear. You use fear or pushes to keep an area free of mobs. Maybe you are helping someone to revive an ally, or letting them complete some “f” action stuff, or simply saving them from important damage. Sometimes you clear the enemy form getting something from adds. This requires positioning too, and knowing when, how and why are you using CC.

And then there are the breakbars. Which are te easier ones, really, because you don’t need to think so much about them, or position yourself so precisely. Here the more relevant thing is the timing, knowing when not to use the CCs, and when to put it all…

Playing CC is hard, rewarding, and FUN AS HELL.

My point is you can’t reduce CC to just control a specific target in only a single way. You cant pretend “taunt” rules everything just because during a few seconds, it mimics the extremely simple aggro mechanics from other games.

Really, that equals to not understand some of the best things the game has to offer, or worst, equals to despise it. Please don’t.

Respect, CC players.

Unfortunately, I don’t agree. It’s a matter of design and what’s being done with it, not the presence or absence of tanks.

Tanking makes for particularly boring / same-feeling fights. Maybe sometimes the dps have to dodge a little more, or they multiple tanks in raids have to juggle aggro, etc, but having been a ranged-dps in WoW, my fights looked almost exactly the same. It was stale. Static. Pressing the same four attacks as they popped up in my rotation, almost never threatened or taking damage unless the tank flopped, the healer flopped, or the mechanics overwhelmed the fight. My contribution overall was pretty meaningless.

Where ANet seems to be stumbling is designing for this game. World bosses and champs routinely deny the Control role and punish anyone they become the sole focus on in melee. Yes, there’s a breakbar, but it reduces control to “which class stuns the best,” because the CC-dots don’t do enough to break Defiance before the bar disappears in clutch situations. Bosses should be taking some effects and shunting the rest to Defiance. Healers should be focused on aiding groups because of cleaves, not power-healing some poor sod who drew boss attention because he needs a bit of extra Nomad gear to survive.

Monolithic bosses just don’t work properly when there is no tank. Even in trinity MMOs, bosses will often summon adds that have to be managed by a(n off) tank. In GW2, that sort of strategy can easily become part of a Control role, and DPS can divert quickly to burn it down. It’s actually a smooth integration of roles that requires more versatility than a trinity-oriented MMO. But, we still primarily over-damaging monoliths that can’t be controlled. Cripple and Weakness become the fodder for the occasional trait proc and that’s about it.

VaLee.5102:

Now, I don’t know anymore, it just feels like all those things are just there in the background, with GW2 now focusing on raids, and the community shifted massively with this change. That old content is still there ofc, but it’s just that, old content, that…it’s there.

Where is this focus on Raids?
They released more Fractals since LS3 started than during any other time in the history of the game (aside from their release), they also heavily tweaked one fractal so it doesn’t even play like the old one, and tweaked other fractals to make them more fun and engaging.

They introduced more maps with LS3 than at any other point in the game’s history.

They released 2 pvp maps and changed another one, we’ve had 2 pvp seasons (one is underway).

They released multiple new legendary weapons, way more than the zero amount of legendary weapons we got between release and heart of thorns.

Overall in the time frame of LS3 they released more permanent content in the game than at any other point in its history, on nearly all game modes (WvW got a redesign of the Desert Borderlands and that’s it)

So I ask again, where is this “focus on Raids”?

The issue is the lack of “raid difficulty” solo content. I can’t even practice, without needing 9 other people. The content is either easy, like open world. Where at most, enemy AI have some kind of gimmicky trick (like the snipers or pocket raptors), once you understand the gimmick then the content is easy. Essentially, enemies in open world are one-trick ponies, figure out the trick and you win. Or its more challenging content, which without exception are all designed for a group (Dungeons, Fractals, and Raids). With HOT specs, you can kill bosses in decent time solo in Dungeons. In Fractals, its a pain to solo as T4 bosses are massive damage sponges. And raids, its just ridiculous.

I don’t mind challenge content purely for the challenge. For example, in Fallout 4 Survival I would try to beat the game, fists only, no armor, rush the Nuka DLC at lvl 3. Sometimes I would make mistakes that would cause me to lose up 3 hrs of progress, I would learn from it and get better. I can’t even start the learning progress for raids, because I need other people to even start learning. I am mentioning this, as a common excuse from raiders is that most people “do not want to put in the time” or “gear properly”. The biggest issue, at least for me is accessibility. I want content that relies only my abilities and dedication. With that kind of content, there is no toxicity as there is no one to scapegoat or blame (only yourself). No chance of getting carried either. Its like a academic test, you know your stuff or you don’t. If you don’t pass, come back again.

Waiting for the inevitable “But it’s a MMO, you are suppose to be playing it with other people”.

I’m also detest placing my evening’s enjoyment in the hands of 4 or 9 other players. However that is significantly mitigated when it’s friends rather than random strangers.

There are a lot comments talking about raids and there difficulty and accessibility. I would like to throw my hat in the ring, and state that the difficulty of raids, at least for me is because it’s “group content”. I’ve beaten every boss in Dark Souls 3 at Soul Level 1, as well as every boss in Bloodborne with the “Waste of Skin” Origin. Some examples of some tough bosses I’ve beaten would be Laurence (11 hours of dying), Pthumerian Descendant (9 hours of dying), Loran Darkbeast (16 hours of dying).

The problem with GW2 raids, is that you need 9 other people. You need to arrange your schedule around those other people, rely on the skill and experience levels of those people, and deal with any group drama that might unfold. On the other hand, a game like Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3, you rely only on your own ability, every mistake you make is your own, and you can try anytime you want without compromising your schedule, and you take ownership for every success and failure. I personally would like to raid, but cannot because I forced to rely on other people, I cannot have a “fair challenge” without relying on others. I don’t want to spend 90 minutes slowing plinking away at a bosses health, because the boss is designed around the dps of 10 people.

I believe that “fair and challenging” content should be based purely on personal skill as well as easily accessible. For example, in Bloodborne you can beat every boss in the game without leveling, without any armor, without help from others, without weapons, relying nothing on dodging and positioning. In other words, only a deep and fundamental understanding of the games core mechanics will be enough. You cannot memorize some guild’s raid formula to win, only through true understanding of boss and class mechanics can you win. Obviously, GW2 is a lot more restricted in terms of gear, level, builds. That being said, the challenging content should not be gated around needing other people. I don’t play challenging games to improve my social skills, I play challenging content to improve my technical ability in the game and GW2 sorely lacks actual challenging solo content.

I’ve read posts of players like myself, who enjoy challenging content to improve and to push limits. But that content shouldn’t be gated by the need for other people, challenging content should test the skill of the individual and designed around a single player. I am getting sick of soloing “meat shield” bosses with massive health pools designed around 5-10 people.

The solution is to make future challenging content, designed for one player. There would be no toxicity, because there is only one person to blame for mistakes (you). The content would be more accessible, as anyone can join. You would be able to try the new challenging content at your own terms, at your own pace, and you take ownership for your own success or failure.

Just my two cents.

Apply the WvW rule. It would be chaotic fun.

Please, the one Dev working partial time on WvW already has more work that what he can do… don’t ask for things that we all know that will not end well. Ty.

We’ve been asking that question since the beginning of the game, you won’t get an answer for it. Best guestimates could put it around 75-100 per side.

T1 is pointless Blackgate is doing there usual 24/7 blob Maguuma is tanking just to get out of T1 and TC is left dealing with 24/7 blob literately no server can deal with black gate everyone and there mom who wana win all the time is stacked there and a net has done nothing about it. Can seriously be all of wvw vs bg and bg probably can hold everyone off. So I personally have written BG off as even a server in wvw it’s cheese. also feel the need to add no insult to anyone on bg as all people did not join the server because it is the win but with bg being able to literately take on all wvw itself just shows how wvw is broken. wvw need to be rebuild..make it into a pvp browser select if you want a big army fight pick the server matchup with alot of people if you wana havok or small fights for people that lag you can specifically go to it. Im tired of PVD if your winning all the time or not being able to get out of your spawn if your being crushed.

Personally, I try not to use waypoints unless I’m in a city. That’s more because I’m a cheapskate, though. However, I do try to use as few waypoints as possible to get around, and sometimes I’d run into events, or injured players, or possibly even resource nodes that I wanted to collect for whatever reason. So I, too, encourage people to try to walk places instead of just jumping to a waypoint, but unless you have poor willpower, still unlock them in case you get knocked out.

Hey everybody,

this one’s about my personal experience with a new way to play Guild Wars 2. Just like lots of you guys, I’m playing this game since release. I have three Level 80 characters and played lots of, lots of hours – although I’m far from hardcore. Nowadays my playtime is more like 4-5 hours a week, which is all I get beside my family.

Now, while within these almost 5 years of Guild Wars 2, I never managed to build up a connection to the game world. For me, there barely was an immersion. Much unlike the good old World of Warcraft, where I can still remember running around Mulgore Fields during sunset.

I thought about this and came to the conclusion that this is not the fault of the world itself. The maps are beautiful crafted, the sound (music & enviroment) is phenomenal. I think, it way my playstyle that was ruining the experience for me. When there was something to do (e.g. killing a world boss), I jumped to a waypoint, waited 5 minutes, did what I had to do and jumped to the next event. I barely took notice of this great game world, because I didn’t take my time to do so. I don’t know, how many hours I spent running around crossroads or mulgore in World of Warcraft, but I’m absolutely sure, that it was way more than in any other GW2-Map. I knew every rock within those maps.

This all changed with the Lake Doric-Map, which had only very few waypoints. One day, I decided to skip even these waypoints. I simply walked (or flew) my way across the map and took all those events I quests, I stumbled upon. I only used waypoints to resurrect. By taking much more time traversing the map, I realized, that I managed to get a feeling for the world again. For the eerie atmosphere of the melandru-shrine, the beauty of the peach tree and the creepiness of the lost woods. I loved, how the soundscape and the general mood changed, when I came to a new location. It was a blast.

Now, with the new Caladbold-Quest, I decided to visit the places and search for the shards without using ANY waypoints. Only asuran portals were allowed. I asked myself, if that experience could be repeated on any other map. And to my joy, that was the case.

By traversing the world of Tyria, I came across events, players and places, I’d never seen before. I revisited old maps and did some old events, found lots of new events and just had a blast of a time. Again, I way able to get a hang for those maps, just like in those glory days with World of Warcraft. And, by the way, traveling from Lions Arch to the hearts of maguuma really feels like reaching the end of the world. Suddenly you can relate to a Soldier, who asks you, If you’d found a way out the jungle. You are trapped within this deadly, tangled jungle and really have to watch your step. Even though traveling across the jungle was oftentimes frustrating, it really felt like an accomplishment, finding the shard within the tangled depth.

So, I think, I will never go back to using waypoints. The world is too vivid, too beautiful to skip everything with a click on a waypoint.

So, unless you have the “Been there, done that”-Achievement, I recommend, trying out this way experience Guild Wars 2. Even for those, who won’t have much time for the game. The content will wait for you. Chances are high, that you will simply have more fun. And that’s what games are about!

—
tl;dr:
Found out, that skipping waypoints and running across the world is much more enjoyable for me. Try it out!

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

Ashen.2907:

I prefer Triscuit.

Edit: D’oh. I thought it said “Saltines.”

Chicken in a Biscuits are the superior crackers. :V

I prefer biscuits in chicken, myself.

usnedward.9023:

So what do people really want ANET to do?

First: “Blah Blah Blah that is why I quit this game “X” months or years ago”. I ask then why troll the forums if you are no longer playing? What value do you have to add if you are not actually in game? I overlook these posts the minute I see them.

This is like “I’d pay money for”, “I’d pay 1000 gems for”, etc. It’s an effort to bargain with, or threaten, anet into doing what they want. Much of the time it’s the only thing they consider to offer, because it’s the only sort of thing that would motivate them to change something, I guess, and providing supporting reasons is hard.

usnedward.9023:

Second: There is PvE, PvP, WvW, Raid, Dungeon, Fractals and living season content. Not sure how many developers there are or their specialty but balancing is always a continual battle in every MMO I have ever played. Not all of the masses will ever be satisfied. EVER!

Even with good information, players still have this idea that some specs are magically better than others. It’s like the constant requests for “DirectX 11” support: it’s not a matter of facts, it’s a matter of faith. They have a faith-based belief that there is always going to be a single true way to build a raid (or whatever) that works, and nothing else is acceptable.

usnedward.9023:

Third: From a business continuity standpoint it almost like people think ANET is trying to purposely fail the game. Oh how I lol at this. Just because YOU or I think something is OP or incorrectly balanced does not mean the next person sees it this way. Yes I have raised concerns in the forums on many topics and ANET ultimately relies on the community to further develop some aspects of the game.

Nah, this is just another side of the “bribe / threaten” effort to make anet obey. In this case it’s “clearly X is the way to not fail at MMO, and you didn’t do X even though I told you that you would fail, so if you keep not doing X then you will FAIL”

Anyway, at the end of the day, this is people trying really hard to express something they want in the only language they understand, and would respond to. Telling them better ways, it’s really not going to help, because that’s not the problem.

The problem is a belief that these are the only ways to get something to happen.

So what do people really want ANET to do?

First: “Blah Blah Blah that is why I quit this game “X” months or years ago”. I ask then why troll the forums if you are no longer playing? What value do you have to add if you are not actually in game? I overlook these posts the minute I see them.

Second: There is PvE, PvP, WvW, Raid, Dungeon, Fractals and living season content. Not sure how many developers there are or their specialty but balancing is always a continual battle in every MMO I have ever played. Not all of the masses will ever be satisfied. EVER!

Third: From a business continuity standpoint it almost like people think ANET is trying to purposely fail the game. Oh how I lol at this. Just because YOU or I think something is OP or incorrectly balanced does not mean the next person sees it this way. Yes I have raised concerns in the forums on many topics and ANET ultimately relies on the community to further develop some aspects of the game.

Fourth: How about some constructive feedback (which I applaud the many who do) instead of destructive incoherent-ness that does not help further your cause and want me so badly to mail you salt packets in-game which I would never do but so badly have wanted too :P

Fifth: I have interacted with CS on some account issues that were taken care in a timely manner and shocked at even recovering a destroyed ascended weapon. Exchanged a wrongly purchased accessory and a couple of other small issues. I have reported bugs that I would like to think my report got it fixed

In reality folks I have issues with some aspects of the game and have raised my concerns in as civilized as a manner I could.

With the exception of Raids I play every aspect of the game. Due to time constraints I do not raid. I do not care to have a legendary shiny. I do not care for fractals though I did for a while. I found new life away from PvE in PvP and WvW. I ignore saltiness in chat instead of inflaming it.

If you interact with people in an elitist tone I believe that gets you nowhere but ignored or in the least a quick look and close post. Last time I checked this is a game. It is virtual with the exception of the people behind the keyboard. Your life nor mine does not depend on it. If it is that bad it is time for a break. I work in an IT Just In Time delivery system to an automotive manufacturer…that is stress!. So I use GW2 as a stress relief while so many stress out for something not really real.

I would say I have invested about $300 to $400 in this game with GW2 Vanilla and Hot plus Gems. Not too bad for almost 5 years, so for me 56 months divided by 12 comes out to $4.60 a month or less. FAR less than I piad other MMos with monthly fees.

So I ask again what do you want ANET to do? Be your personal servant? Give you shiny things for free? Let’s be more civil and I bet you get better results though sometimes the results may not benefit your cause but the greater good of the game. The saltiness is killing my kidneys :P

The only thing a trinity is is just a forced, developer-side meta.

The chaos of combat in GW2 and focus on everything at once is what makes it so excellent, and what was a huge can-opener in how to make many builds viable.

Outside of raids, the existence of PvE metas were solely determined by players as a means of completing content efficiently. The lack of diverse encounters and changes to the dungeon scene were ultimately what culminated in so much toxicity and elitism. Forcing a trinity doesn’t do anything to resolve the issue.

Seeing as the lack of trinity is a fundamental pillar of what defines GW2, I’d prefer it not to change (it’s the sole reason I even gave this game any consideration at all, initially, and was a huge bonus to others), and I don’t think it’d be in ANet’s best interests to do such a thing.