Guild Wars 2

I have only one question about the future of WvW:
When will you nerf Thief?
Thanks in advance for your reply.

Traps sounds fun…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

WXP for more diverse activities sounds fun…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

JP entry outside from EB sounds right…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

What does address the blobbing/zerging issues in WvW? :
- Reward-split
- No (or higher) Cap on AoE

Does this adress the whining about getting nuked in WvW? :
No, but its not exclusive or even related to player AoE.
Backstabbing Thieves, Arrowcarts, might-stacking…

ONLY capping amount of max incoming effects possible to effect a player at any given time…
…will reduce discussions on getting nuked/power(de)buffed to fast by whatever source.

Getting attacked by a 100swords is one thing…
…but getting hit by 100 swords in a splitsecond at the same time…is unbelievable ;P

It’s a shame to see these ‘No Stealth’ mechanics being relegated to traps and arrowcarts.

To me we need more of a class mechanic to provide a ‘hard counter’; like giving Engineers and Rangers an ability that lets them see stealthed opponents. Engineers could have a technological devive (X-Ray goggles?) where Rangers would have their keen senses and pets to track opponents.

Caliban.3176:

Replace what fights? Most of the fights are gone already. I don’t see how anything they add that allows players to battle eachother besides the things implemented already, could help. It’s hard enough already getting players to fight you. We need people to start relying on their weapon skills and utilities not some extra gimmicks or some overpowered siege engines.

I get where you’re coming from.

For me, I have no problem finding good, exciting fights – plenty of weapon skills/utilities, and the occasional mixing in of some appropriate siege. I anticipate traps adding to that mix and providing more entertainment.

But I run in a group of anywhere between 5 and 20 people. I suspect that for larger groups good fights simply don’t exist – in the higher tiers it’s killed by skill lag/blob gravity, in the lower tiers there’s just no opposition.

This is in no way a criticism of any kind, just given that your complaints (which I’m sure are valid, I don’t mean ‘complaints’ in a mocking way there) don’t line up with my experience I can only assume it’s to do with the different things we ourselves do in WvW. If it is indeed true then I’m very sympathetic to your situation and I hope anet are doing things (reduce skill lag, add GvG, whatever else) that will improve it.

On that note I believe they’ve said that their culling guys are working on skill lag as the next priority so there is still hope!

This is warfare. Seems to me they are giving us more tools closer to warfare. You have traps. You have siege. you have crap that hurts.

Last night I had a ton of fun. We had BG going after Bay with a huge zerg. We did great defense with AC while small havoc group was taking out their trebs. in between we got into small man skirmishes. We had to keep taking the supply camps in order to fund the Siege they were breaking of ours.

When I thought of WvWvW this is what I thought of. AC cars suck – but you learn to deal with them. Do other stuff.

To me its fun. I look forward to traps. Put traps around your keep that suck supply. So when they run up to spike your door with 4 Rams. You can’t really do it in 30 seconds and its slows the assault.

just saying sounds like a lot of fun!

AidanTaylor.3872:

Hey folks,

It seems we inadvertently outed (some of) our plans for WvW with the above linked page. While we are looking to extend World XP changes for WvW in a later content patch, it still needs some tweaking and therefore isn’t ready to be introduced in this one.

We can however officially let you know we are moving the jumping puzzle for EB into it’s own map, as this has been a much requested feature for our beloved siege fairing community.

Excellent that the jumping puzzle will be removed from EB! It is really not fun to fight with just 10 guys vs enemy of 30 and not even having the outmanned buff when 20 of your players are in JP.

I am not sure if the traps are gonna work or not. Depends what will be their cost, area and duration. I guess they are one shot, fires once, which would mean they wouldn’t be used that often.

Despite these traps I think 4 —> 3 s. revert to revealaed was a bad decision. So many thieves in WvWvW, getting just crazy and as it has been previously discussed in these forums (no need to repeat that in detail): having high burst profession who can stay invisible half of fight and teleport is NOT going to lure in new players to WvWvW. No new player likes to be insta gibbed by an invisible enemy and nowadays I see a lot of people with upleveled characters. I have even had level 2 guardian in my team and his armor was like paper. Please don’t turn this into “learn 2 play” discussion. Any successful game needs a large healthy player base and the design decisions should support that.

The introduction of WXP brought in new players to WvWvW, but many of them already are being bored or find it imbalanced, so I hope the new changes are going to make things more interesting for all of us. I have been spreading the good words in WvWvW and many people are indeed positive now “wow, finally changes to WvWvW”.

Great that you keep us informed!!

I’m okay with the anti-stealth trap, but only for a few choke points, like at the west and east gate entrances at north camp (BL), at the hole that has been opened at a keep or tower, and those very few points where it would be handy to have. Otherwise, the anti-stealth trap is useless…which makes me wish they could have just given it as a trait to Rangers so we could be anti-thief units.

People play for different reasons.

Some won’t do anything that doesn’t increase their stats, others couldn’t care less about stats as long as they’re having fun.
There is nothing wrong with playing the game in a specific way as long as your way of playing the game doesn’t effect other people negatively.

And there will NEVER be enough content, in any game, to occupy everyone. People take in content at different rates.

Also, when people say that they have run out of content it doesn’t nessecarily mean they’ve done everything. Sometimes it simply means that they have run out of things they want to do, but still have a lot of things they haven’t done because that content doesn’t appeal to them.

Me for example, I have zero interest in crafting in GWII and I have only tryed World vs. World a few times since launch. Even though those are huge parts of this game it is not something that will keep me playing, because they don’t interest me.

And yes, ArenaNet has done something wonderful. I don’t feel obligated to play the game, in fact I could leave for a year and by the time I came back there would be even more content for me to experience. THAT’S how you make people want to play a game.

Ok, so I spend quite a bit of time on these forums. Generally, I spend a lot of time on gaming forums for whichever game I happen to be playing at any given time.

Personally, I’ve played video games since the first Doom back in the 90s. I was about 7 at the time. I own a Playstation 2, a Playstation 3 and a Gameboy Advance SP. I also obviously play games on my PC.

On these forums, like every other forums, certain topics tend to repeat once a while. I don’t mind most of them, but the one thing that bugs me is people who seem to run out of things to do. These are the people I am talking about when I say “modern gamer”. People who play the game to get the top gear, to get the achievements of their choosing. These people did not exist some years ago, but now they’re all over the place, hence referring to them as “modern gamers”.

Those people seem to play the game for something else. It’s not the game that they’re playing. It seems to me that they’re more collectors of “prestige” than people trying to relax.

To me, ANet looks to have done something rather clever. Their model of no subscriptions and no real requirement for “grinding” makes the game very casual. It makes it a relaxing experience. Something you do because it’s fun, not because you’re still paying for the game for the next 12 months or because your friends are all playing and you’ll be left out if you don’t play with them. To me, it looks like ANet has tried and, to an extent, succeeded at bringing the game back to the roots. Back from the money-centric crap that we’ve seen with subscription fees and f2p games.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Some fun ideas in here, we’re also actively discussing ways on how we’d best like to alleviate having to make players choose between having better stats, or using magic find. It’s not a choice that’s great for game play and there isn’t really anything that fun about it, even more so when group composition is taken into account. Ideally we’d also like to keep the ability to slowly build your magic find over time, but doing this at the cost of using better stats isn’t the right way to do that.

No ETA on any changes here, just want to point out we agree there is an issue here that goes against what we want Gw2 to be, and is something we want to address.

Here’s an idea. Remove MF from the game and increase drop rates a bit. There, done. Everyone now has a small MF increase and nobody has to sacrifice anything to get it.

IronPlushy.4256:

How do you 100% Diessa Plateau. With the catapult event bugged the entire time I’m wondering how any 100% this area.

You simply go off and do other things until it gets fixed. Before the last patch a skill point challenge was bugged in Wayfarer Foothills. Stuff breaks, it gets fixed, return to do that task/vista when it is.

Honestly the lack of patience players have astounds me at times.

I’d like to see a section in the forums for server conversations; a place where server communities can plan map runs for new players, (Orr anyone?), organize RP events, rally players for WvW, or find out what zone the most people are in just to have players to run around with in PvE.

For example, being in a small guild, it’s impossible for us to clear the temples on Orr. It would be nice to have a place we can go to be able to put a shout out to the other players on the server, requesting assistance and/or planning a day where a large number of players on the server would go to Orr and sweep it clean. It would make it easier for new players to complete those zones for map completion as well.

Just a thought, perhaps there is already a site or section for this, please let me know if so.

So late last night I log in and decide I’ll go visit Shadow Behemoth since I haven’t been there for awhile.

I jump into Queensdale and start gathering and getting some kills on my way over to the swamp and this low level unguilded player runs up next to me and stops. So I stop too but he doesn’t say anything.

I start running again and he runs along me again and stops again. This time I stop and say Hi. He says hi and I ask if he needs help with anything. He smiles and says he’s doing good so far.

I see the Champ Oakheart is up so I party with him and say, “Oakheart -let’s go.” He runs after me and as we top the hill there’s the oakheart with a handful of people, maybe 6 or 7 players battling him. The new player says wow.

I figure if he is wow’d by old Mr Oakheart he really needs to see Mr Shadow B.

So I tell him there’s a big event that happens near but we need to make sure the monastery is clear before it will start. I start running over, swinging by waypoints along the way so he gets them and people start chatting about Brenda being on the move in map chat. I tell him Brenda is tied to the monastery event.

We get there just as Brenda walks up and there’s about 20 players. Waves of centuars roll in, we kill them and then the portal events start. I figure to skip those and just tell him let’s go to the swamp now!

So we’re running through the swamp and just as we round the corner we see a good hundred players and Shadow Behemoth blows out of the ground. New player says WOW.

Made me smile. Can’t wait til he sees the dragons.

Ground-targeted skills will automaticly cast at your selected target’s location. If you don’t have a target it lets you select normally.

EvilUeki.7354:

None of you guys misses the holy trinity ? Dunno y but after playing for 4 months of GW2 I started missing the holy trinity. In GW2 everyone reli is just dps n there r no tanks ,,,,even if u wanna go tank, the mobs/boss hitting u switches target randomly which I found quite annoying……n i think PvP n PvE are too seperate which sumtimes makes me lose the incentive to do well in PvE…..

However I do agree that GW2’s fluidity is probrably the best among all MMOs and its jumping mechanism is reli fun.

Just stating my view, no offence

If I never saw the holy trinity again, it would be too soon. In fact, if no game ever from now till the end of eterniity included it, I couldn’t be happier. I will NEVER play another trinity game, ever.

I went and tried to get back into Lotro, just to see some of the new content. I couldn’t even make it an hour. I don’t know why I played it in the first place.

Guild Wars 2 has made it hard for me to go back to other MMOs.

So I’ve been playing TERA: Online lately since it went F2P (I did buy the game before GW2 launched, so I got founder bonuses lol), and due to my annoyances with Eles being OP in sPvP and my laptop not being able to handle WvW lately :P

But after getting fed up with the MASSIVE RNG in TERA and the incredibly biased and irritatingly childish TERA community I came back to GW2 and that action reaffirmed my original decision in the past to stick to GW2.

I mean it’s easy to forget the original awe most of use must have felt when originally starting GW2 back in betas, but try going back to a game like TERA (or WoW, or Aion, or SWtoR, etc) then jumping back onto GW2. Makes it look and feel even better once again lol

Just wanted to share my thoughts with the GW2 community

This is what ArenaNet Game Director Colin Johanson has to say about the matter:

ColinJohanson.2394:

Some fun ideas in here, we’re also actively discussing ways on how we’d best like to alleviate having to make players choose between having better stats, or using magic find. It’s not a choice that’s great for game play and there isn’t really anything that fun about it, even more so when group composition is taken into account.

[Flame wall: Initiated!]

Magic find is a bad stat. This is not news to many, and many others refuse to accept it. I’m here to draw the line and briefly explain some of the reasons why it is bad.

Where is it good?
I will admit, Magic Find is actually good and I recommend to use it in some situations. I will list these situations below:

• Large scale events, such as many Cursed Shore events. This is due to them being “mass tag” events.

And thus ends that list.

Why is it bad for solo play?
Simple – You’re giving up offensive potential for an increased drop rate on certain items. So why is this bad in solo play?

Also simple – less kills per hour - Less kills per hour = less loot per hour. Counter-productive isn’t it?

While it wastes time in solo play, it only wastes your own time, which you are, of course, entitled to.

Why is it bad in group play?
This is the real issue with Magic Find and a sole reason it should not be in the game…

The person using Magic Find gear contributes the least, but get’s the best reward.

Why does this make sense? A huge design flaw.

You are giving up offensive potential and wasting time. You are not only wasting your time, you are also wasting your groups. Wasting other players’ time is selfish & rude. So ArenaNet promote selfish play.

What can be done about it in group play?
I’m bordering into suggestions here, but I’ll list a few methods to prevent selfish use of this stat:

• Allow the other player’s to be aware when someone in their group is using Magic Find gear, through a visual such as a boon listing how much Magic Find they currently have.
  — While a lot of player’s are against “elitism” in gear checking, as I stated earlier the person using Magic Find gear contributes the least, but get’s the best reward. Nobody wants to be a losing end of that, so those players deserve to know when someone is wasting their time for a selfish gain.

• Make the entire party benefit from someone’s Magic Find in the dungeon.
  — For example, there are two people in the dungeon using Magic Find, one with 36%, the other with 110%. I propose that everybody has an effective 110% Magic Find in that dungeon. This could actually make Magic Find a GOOD stat for people who are not seeking speedy dungeon, but remaining fair as the whole group is penalized speed wise, but everybody benefits in terms of loot quality.
  — The worry for me here is it could lead people to feel like they need to use Magic Find so the whole group can benefit from it. This would mean you could easily get 3 Magic Find users in a group – one with 55%, one with 100%, and the other with 150%. You’d have 2 players gimping themselves for nobody’s benefit.
  — A few other players suggested the combined MF of the group to be shared instead, which is an equally – if not more – viable fix.
  ——-

TLDR; Magic Find is bad – don’t use it.

Rusha.4725:

I’m a thief and I hate the implementation of stealth in this game. You’re so bound to it. The balance problem won’t get a solution until they completly remove or change it radically.

I played lots of games and this is the most lazy stealth mechanic I’ve ever seen in a big title. I kill people before they realise what’s going on and same goes for enemy thives.
If I want to run away from a fight, I leave whenever I want and again vice versa for enemy thieves.

Lets compare mechanics to other games.
-I dont need to be behind enemey to be able to go stealth
-nobody can see me even if I’m dancing infront of thier nose
-stealth skills works from every angle, going behind just gives some bonus for some.
-no speed, regen, defence etc loss while in stealth

At least put a transparent vision of the stealthed thief when they are in close range and infront of enemy. (sadly like WoW)

Going stealth should have advantages and disadvantages at the same time. It must be a tactical move. Right now it punishes nothing. So logicaly its much better to go stealth whenever avalible. Thats how I used to play my thief. 2 stealth utility, 1 stealth from healing and a dagger in off hand. Cheesy…

Also look how the game works with it:
-Use stealth to blind enemy
-Use stealth to regen initative
-Use stealth to remove conditions
-Use stealth to regen health
-Use stealth to immobilize enemy
-Use stealth to apply bleed stacks
-Use stealth to interrupt
-Use stealth to %100 crit
-etc etc

The game screams that go stealth as much as possible yet they put a reveal debuff to fix the issue!!! Nonsense imho.

I completely agree, as a thief since beta I would much rather just not have stealth and get a buff to our condition removal and survival in general. Stealth is WAY too emphasized right now. I want to be an assassin from GW1 and S/D is the closest thing I can get.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I’m confused. I really am. Must be I play differently or something, as I don’t have issues with my thief going ‘splat’ when I melee with her. I play 1 of 2 ways – I lead with pistol/pistol and roll into dagger/dagger when the foes get within range OR if its just a single foe, I shadowstep in and kick his kitten I don’t have the ‘splat’ issue.

As for rangers….again, not seeing the issue. My pet and I can roll through just about everything solo, with the exception of dungeons. I actually require people for those.

I don’t often WvW or sPvP, and when I do, it’s not generally on those professions, so I can’t speak to those aspects. However, for general PvE, they seem to work just fine.

Same. My thief rolls with sword / pistol & dagger / dagger, traited for a bit of toughness and I have no problems as long as I keep moving. And, I’m not even an especially good thief.

6 level 80’s that I mostly solo’d in pve except the ele & necro who I leveled in WvW.

Only classes I “have trouble” with are the warrior and my mesmer…both of with reside in level 40’s cause I think they are boring.

I think stealth should be like warriors frenzy. When player uses stealth they take 50% more incoming damage and once stealth is over get 10 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds that can’t be removed.

Make all incoming damage remove stealth. Problem solved.

Make Ranger’s Pets useful. They have the ability to ‘sniff’ out a stealthed player, if traited for it.

Tolmos.8395:

Total damage for the entire team? Sure. Total damage for yourself ONLY? Yes. Total damage for other individuals in your group? Oh hell no. It just invites a type of in game bullying that is neither welcome here nor needed here.

Completely agree here. I’d like a damage meter for myself sometimes just to see how traits and build decisions affect my overall damage output. It would help to know, given my current condition dmg and power, would trait A or B be better? I’d even be ok if existed exclusively in the Mists lobby and during boss encounters. Just a toggle in your UI options to display your personal damage output.

But allowing everyone to see your damage output, not just per player but for professions as a whole, can (and will) lead to exclusivity and unfair kicking. Not to mention that every player is responsible for healing & support. So someone with low dps might be that way because they’ve been buffing the group, resulting in bigger party-dps. But a dps-meter wouldn’t reflect that. I think most GW2 players came here specifically to avoid the WoW-esque recount ping gear crap. That’s my take.

The reason is so that people do not get pigeon-holed into playing a character how others feel is best and can play them how they want to. I don’t want someone telling “your build is bad noob, you should play this” and so I am all for not having dps meters.

a lot of DPS = good player isn’t true at all.

1.) You would have to take Berserker gear to get most dps. This would mean that you sacrifice defensive stats and people will have to defend you or pick you up if you go down. Yes, you can be a good player and avoid all that damage, but it can also mean that you have too much emphasis on keeping yourself alive than helping other players.

2.) Good players help other players during battle. Period.

3.) GW2s skill-system isn’t based on full-dps. Each Weapon has different skills with different purposes. Spamming 1 & 2 and therefore doing most damage doesn’t mean that you are a good player. Using 3, 4, 5 and 6-10 in the right situations makes you a good player.

so DPS-meters? Hell no!!

But how will you measure my well timed interrupt that saves the party a wipe?

Meters are bad – they make a game community horrible and toxic. I am a six year veteran of WoW and I can honestly say that the people who look at/spam meter readings are the most unpleasant and obnoxious jerks in that game, as they would be in this one.
If meters were allowed in this game, I would like to see a checkbox for pugs, so that people could choose not not group with any running such a thing.