Guild Wars 2

Soulwatcher.2604:

You want some credits? Blizzard is a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR company and they cant get rid of the bots. Assuming Anet is going to wipe them out with a program is foolish.

And again – where did I say ANet would wipe them out with just a program?

By the way – that was kind of my point… that you close one door on botting, and another opens. That it’s not some easy, simple task to be rid of botters.

Though according to you, it sounds like all they have to do is hire people to hang out in game and ban them… thus the reason I asked for your professional credentials that demonstrate you have enacted such a system in other games and successfully eliminated the botting that way. After all, if it is your contention that this is all ANet has to do, you must be speaking from experience… yes?

Renegadeimp.8439:

Although certain classes have a very extreme advantage in the race, as they have inherent skills that give them run speed.

Yup, I was just thinking that as an elementalist, I have a constant 33% speed buff running the entire time I’m attuned to air, and it’s endlessly regenerating. LOL

@Soulwatcher – just out of curiosity, where did I say that they’d be able to stop the bots with just a program?

Also, please do share with us your name, professional title and a list of credits for the games in which you have successfully instituted a “bot banning team”. I’m sure your extensive experience in effectively getting rid of bot programs is something we’d all be fascinated with.

GranoblasticMan.2514:

Off-topic, but I never understood the dev-apologists with no programming experience who always assume “If it’s not being done, it’s because it’s REALLY SUPER HARD to do!”

No, banning an individual bot, or a group, one-by-one, is very easy.

So is picking up the individual drug dealers on the corner.

That doesn’t always mean it’s the best course of action… and can in fact hinder a larger operation severely.

Again – if just sending a GM out to observe & ban would help their efforts, don’t you think they’d be doing exactly that?

Btw – not everyone who disagrees with you is a “dev-apologist with no programming experience.” Some of us are just capable of seeing a much larger picture and understanding that things don’t always look the same when viewed from the dev seat as they do when viewed from the player seat.

Here’s the thing that frustrates me about the “Stop the bots!!!” posts, and comments like Swag made just above me…

First, ANet has posted here on the forums repeatedly that they are working on the issue. This makes my mind boggle a bit when I see someone make a comment like Swag did… “they need to at least give the impression that they give a kitten about their players and the game economy.”

My thought when someone says something like that is always the same – “seriously? Do you think they’re just sitting there laughing at us and singing ‘go bot go!’ or something?”

I mean…really? Are you under the impression that ANet is just ignoring the issue for poops and giggles? That they’re leaving the bots in-game for their amusement? That they just want to torture us? Are you a conspiracy theorist who is convinced that the multitude of “we’re working on this” posts are just made for laughs?

If there was a SIMPLE solution to the issue, do you not think it would have been implemented at launch? This isn’t ANet’s first rodeo… you can’t really believe that they had no clue bots would show up – so why do you think they haven’t just wiped them out if it’s so simple to do?

Why?

Because. It’s. Not.

Anyone who has ever played an MMO for any length of time knows what a bot is… because every MMO ever created has been plagued with them. If there’s profit to be made, there are bots. It’s inevitable. Now given the sheer brilliance of so many developers who manage to create complex interactive systems that amaze and impress us… doesn’t it strike you that if ridding a game of bots was an easy undertaking… they’d have done it? Bots hurt them and their bottom line a thousand times more than they hurt us, the players… it is in a company’s best interest to eliminate bots. So if they haven’t wiped them out, there’s a reason – and the reason is, because it’s not as simple as you think it is.

The OP is 100% correct that companies end up forced into a course of action that really only punishes legitimate players… because no matter what they do, some savvy bot designer is going to find a way around it. Botters are motivated by greed, and MMO botting is highly lucrative. It’s much like the government trying to combat organize crime or drug cartels – if there was an easy solution, wouldn’t they have implemented it decades ago?

While a mass banning may be very satisfying emotionally for the players, it’s not always in the best interest of the company to take such a step. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is feed the botters more rope to hang themselves with. Let them show you how they’re exploiting your game… let them show you your weaknesses. Then quietly shore up your defenses before dropping a nuke on them.

It’s actually a little insane to assume a developer like ANet is going to simply ignore the problem or do nothing about it. “We’re working on the issue” is the only answer they SHOULD be giving any of us. And frustrating as it may be, it’s really the only answer we’re entitled to.

- When someone passes you on the highway and you think to yourself, “Ha ha! You ran from Skrittttttttt!”

- If you’ve begun saying “Foo!” out loud.

I want a Quaggan plushie… I’ll hug it & squeeze it & call it George!
We desperately need a Quaggan mini, too… I have the Corrupted, but never take it out because it makes me sad. Foo!

Would love to see other Crystal Desert denizens lurking around the website Think of all the fun we could have planning some Halloween hijinks!

There are plenty of human beings in GW2 support… but it is the middle of the night coming off of a weekend, and you’re posting what seems to be a complaint that a human being did not jump at the chance to personally hold your hand via email and tell you that they will put aside any other concerns to immediately address YOUR issue and make sure YOU can get in the game.

I don’t know of any customer service that does that unless you are a billionaire with concierge service through American Express.

Yes, clearly there’s a glitch keeping you from playing… all a customer support person can do for you is report your issue to the developers. It’s late Sunday night in Seattle, Washington where those developers are… I’m quite certain that most of them are at home, tucked into their beds, sleeping. It’s the weekend, and just as you and I expect to enjoy our days off, I would think – and hope – that they’ve been enjoying theirs.

Now – if this was a wide-spread issue affecting thousands, I’m sure that whole team would skip their weekend and rush into the office to fix it… but since we don’t see thousands of posts of people complaining about the same problem, it can wait until normal business hours.

It’s disappointing you can’t get into the game right now, and I’m sure it’s frustrating – but I think any reasonable person can understand that solving an issue like this can take a bit of time. ESPECIALLY on a weekend.

Be. Patient.

As to why there are thousands of tickets ahead of you in the queue, most of them have nothing to do with the game not being “in good shape.” You’ve got people whose accounts are compromised because they’re stupid and use the same email address/password everywhere on the internet… you’ve got people who can’t find a merchant and go writing to support about it… you’ve got people who think they are smarter than the developers and flood support with their demands for changes to the game… you’ve got people who forget their passwords… you’ve got people who have been banned and are demanding someone unban them… you’ve got people who actually have a computer issue but think the game is to blame… all of them flooding support with useless tickets, all of which need to be answered in the order received.

And that’s all before you even begin to touch on the people who are contacting support for legitimate reasons.

If you don’t think the customer support is “doing much,” then you clearly know very little about what it’s like to offer customer support.

I’m going to bet your mailbox is full. The mailbox currently has a cap of 10 emails. You need to delete the emails in your mailbox so the pending ones can be delivered.

It’s an automated response. It is sent based on keywords it found in your initial ticket. It is a COMPUTER GENERATED response.

Things break. It happens sometimes. Then people fix them. Sometimes it takes a little bit for a broken something to be fixed. I’m sure these are concepts you are familiar with – they’re a regular part of life.

Be. Patient. These are complex bits of software… it can take a while to track down what’s causing the issue so it can be resolved.

Yes…and?

You got an automated response that says in the first line, in big letters, that if you require further response beyond the information given by the autoresponder, you need to reply to the message to update it.

So click reply, say, “my issue has not been addressed,” and then wait for a human being to review your ticket sometime in the next 24-72 hours.

It’s been one day since you filed a ticket… on a weekend. And there are thousands of tickets ahead of you in the queue. Have some patience.

Don’t file multiple tickets – worst thing you can do, it only delays a response. If you need to offer more information, just update your existing ticket.

One thing you’ll want to check is to make sure your account was not compromised. People assume that the scum that take over compromised accounts & use them for gold selling/botting will always change the email address and/or password on an account.

Many don’t bother – especially if they just want to use the account for spamming their RMT services. They know they’ll likely get at least a few hours use out of the account before it’s banned, so they skip the extra step of altering the login info – a step that has a high chance of getting them caught before they can make any use of the hijacked account.

So just because you can still log into your account does NOT mean it hasn’t been accessed by some scum-sucking-low-life. At the top of this page, click on “My Account” and then on “Security.” Look to see if there are any unfamiliar IP addresses/locations in your history. And if for some reason you have not verified your email address, you’ll want to do that so that if anyone does attempt to log into your account in the future from a different location, you’ll be notified.

If your account was compromised and used to bot/spam, they’ll reverse the ban after you contact them.

Good luck to all of you.

Try clearing out your Tmp files.

“Play your way…”

That’s the billing.

Not, “play the way other people think you should play…” – and that should include the ability to play alone without anyone else’s knowledge if you so choose. I play with my husband, my two closest friends and my (adult) kids. Fortunately, all of them are used to my own “quirk” of sometimes just wanting to go off by myself and not be disturbed. I can tell them this and, maybe because they’re all adults, they understand.

But not everyone does. They either don’t understand – or don’t respect – that chances are if you’ve set yourself to be “invisible,” it’s because you want to be left alone for a while. They see your location changing on their friend list or on the guild roster and send an IM – and for some completely unknown reason, instead of the system telling them the user is not online – it goes through. What’s up with that?

It’s worth noting, however, that they did not give us the option to log in as offline in GW1 until the last year, year and a half or so. Before then, much like GW2, you logged in and THEN set yourself to offline. I honestly don’t understand why our options in that regard seem to have regressed between the two games.

I’m not ok with the fact that any random idiot in the game or from this forum can decide to add me to their friend list and, even if I’m set to invisible, can tell that I’m online because my location changes in their friend list… even though I haven’t added them to mine. I don’t need that information about strangers (and if you’re not mutually on each other’s list, you ARE strangers), and they don’t need it about me.

My activities are none of your (generic “your”) business unless I choose to make them so.

Ok, first of all – this is not a “PvP-oriented game.” That’s the voice of people who exclusively play PvP and apparently are clueless to the fact that there is an entire giagnormous world out there with many times the content and design consideration of the comparably extremely small amount of PvP-oriented content. ANet has said very clearly that this is neither a PvP-oriented nor a PvE-oriented game. It’s meant to be PvX and was designed to favor both styles of play as equally important and development-focus-worthy.

Now, with that said… for the OP…
I hate PvP. Thirty+ years as a gamer, and I have gone to great lengths to never have anything to do with any shape or form of PvP. I. Hate. PvP.

So you can imagine that I was less-than-thrilled to find a PvP-esque component attached to the monthlies. I thought, “well, I guess I won’t be getting those…”

I can’t really say what prompted me to poke my nose into WvW. First time was during beta – I wanted to check out a jumping puzzle I was seeing videos of. Never did see another person the entire time I was there, actually.

Second time was shortly after launch, when I went to look at the armor/weaponsmiths there. I just wanted to see what they had compared to what I’d encountered so far. Saw many people in the little lobby/town area, but all were from the same “team,” so no fighting or anything.

Third time was a few days later… I realized that map has vistas and stuff, so I wanted to look deeper. In the course of poking my nose around, I ran into a small group of people who had “Such-And-Such-Server Invaders” above their head in red. They killed me dead in about half a second.

Fourth time, after reading a little on the wiki, I poked my nose in again. This time I got hooked up with a huge zerg of friendlies who were having “fun storming the castle…” I ran around with them and threw bolts of fire at a few keep doors… and in the process, realized that I was also helping kill a few people…and I suddenly had 7 WvW kills on my monthly.

Fifth time I went in with the intention of figuring out how to kill those invaders… only my server was losing HUGE, so instead, we died a lot. A LOT. EVERYONE. Lots of dying. We’d take over a little camp and suddenly the other side would overrun us. But in the process, I learned that you can build stuff like arrow carts and ballistas… and you can man them… and when you do, you can shoot stuff out over the keep walls and KILL INVADERS.

That little foray (about two hours… and we were getting slaughtered LOL) brought my count up to 39.

We’ve a new match up now, and our server will be on top like it usually is… so I’ll be ducking in for my last 11 today or tomorrow. And I’ll probably stick around for a few hours because…much to my surprise… it’s actually really fun.

Just stay with the group, and look for opportunities to man a siege weapon of some kind. If you see something that says supply, see if you can click on it and gather some – it’ll tell you if you’re carrying any already. When you see that a siege weapon is being built, click on it to give it your supplies to aid in getting it built – and then man it.

Truly, it’s a lot more fun that I ever expected… and I’ve found many very helpful people there who were more than willing to answer my noob questions. After all, it’s to their advantage to help you be a better player in WvW.

So I’m “that guy (gal, actually)” I’ve seen jokingly referenced in a few different threads… the one who plays PvE, who prays their way through a dungeon with her hubby/best friends who won’t yell at her when she dies a lot, who runs screaming from her own shadow, and who is NEVER going to be the type to have multiple armor/weapon sets & builds for different types of playing. I’m also the one who panics when she gets overwhelmed and loses focus of her carefully constructed plan for skills/attunement swapping and begins button mashing whatever skill is off cool down.

Yup, that’s me… and I should tell you that the name of my small guild is Omnes Moriemur – the loose translation of which is, “We’re all gonna die.” Let the mockery begin! LOL

I’ve just hit level 80 and I’m trying to choose gear. Let me explain that I’m a long way from doing any more dungeons… and I’ll never be the type who tries to “farm” them. No, my “thing” is that I’m systematically working my way through every single area, getting 100% completion and generally just being a nuisance to every foe I can find in each zone. I’m up to the 50’ish zones. Yay me!

But I’m starting to get my butt kicked again when I solo, and now that I’m level 80 I want a decent set of armor… but I’ve spent the last few hours staring at the various types (Berserker, Knight, etc.) and I really can’t settle on what to get.

Which weapons/attunements do I use, you might ask? All of ’em. I DO like switching attunements – fun! And I sort of randomly switch out my weapons depending on what my ill-educated self thinks might work better than whatever I was using that was making me die a lot. LOL Mostly scepter/dagger though, I think.

So basically – I just want to do some decent damage and survive long enough for other stuff to die instead. And I want things like Ettins & Dredge to be near-instakilling me.

I’ve gotten surprisingly good at dodging – and I promise you that when I first heard about dodging in GW2, I was pretty sure I’d never be able to do it. Unfortunately, I can’t circle strafe to save my life so… I end up pounded on once I run out of dodge. LOL

Oh, and I’m old… I’ve got three adult kids…so, teaching this old lady dog new tricks is possibly a losing proposition, though I DID finally figure out that combos can be awesome!

So which specs should I focus on? Is there really no such thing as a “this will let the generally ultra casual/build illiterate player methodically work their way through the content” build?

I’m not 100% sure if this is a bug or not, but it deals with:
Glyph of Lesser Elementals
Glyph of Elementals

Glyph of Lesser seems to work as intended – I cast it, it’s locked for 60 seconds while the elemental is alive for 60 seconds and it cools down in 60 seconds.

But then, the other one – I cast it, it’s locked for 96 seconds while the elemental is alive for only 60 seconds and it cools down in 96 seconds.

Is the lock and the cool down supposed to be the same like that? I thought the lock lasted equal to the duration, not the cool down – am I mistaken?

Also, Elite Glyph does not give the associated boon like Lesser does.

So a few things… that “dagger/dagger facerolls mobs” thing? That’s going to end for you, very soon.

That “low-level mesmer can barely stay alive” thing? That’s going to end for your friend, very soon.

In a not-so-great amount of time, even downleveled, she’s going to be the one helping you to survive.

I play with my husband, my best friend and another really close friend… our levels are always different. We’re only now (three of us, anyway) becoming evenly matched… though my best friend is still something like level 40 because he can’t play as often as the rest of us.

We frequently accompany one another through lower levels… even though I’m currently level 76, they end up accompanying me because rather than rushing for the level 80 zones, I’ve been systematically working my way through every zone “in order” based on level. So I did all the starter zones, then all the 15-25’s, etc. I’m currently doing Timberline Falls. And then we’re also doing stuff with my best friend, working on getting him leveled up.

If one of us has done the heart already, it’s not a big deal… there’s always killing to be done as part of the RH or right nearby. The group presence usually makes it easier for the one going for the heart – and they tend to get it quicker because we’re helping to kill things.

Also, keep in mind that your XP is being downleveled as well… it’s taken me 200+ hours to get a single toon to level 76 because the content I’m playing gives much lower rewards.

My husband plays less than I do, but he’s level 73 – he does higher areas, so he’s leveled faster. My other bestie is level 80 and has been for about a week… she has spent a lot of time following me around, but has also done high level content which made her hit 80 first.

It all balances out in the end – and the important thing is, we’re able to play together as we want.

Sorry, Colton – I just don’t see any ambiguity in the statement, “there are no mounts in GW2.”

If you choose to hear a “yet” tacked onto that, so be it – but arguing that a completely non-verbalized “yet” is somehow more valid or more likely is not a position I care to debate against.

I’m going to go with what they’ve actually said – “there are no mounts in GW2,” instead of what someone wants to hear.

Bassario.3465:

Airala.8629:

Bassario.3465:

I dispute this decision, and believe it is the biggest problem. I’m on the verge of putting it down until mounts come out at this stage.

Then you won’t be picking it up again I guess… because the developers have made their feelings abundantly clear on this subject – no mounts.

If that’s so game-breaking for you, then feel free to stop playing. No one should play any game they’re not enjoying, and if you require mounts for your enjoyment, then you’re probably going to be happier in a game that provides them.

This isn’t one of those games, and ANet has said it’s not going to be.

I’m enjoying it so much I want to play it through again, that is the problem at hand. The game needs re-playability to survive in the long run, do you honestly believe people wanna re-explore the whole world a second time on foot? I honestly find it impossible to believe they would do this to themselves. Can u find me a post where mods have said with 100% certainty that they wanna do this to themselves and us? That would be most useful, I was unable to find this, instead found a ton of players who said the mounts will come in due time, but the average poster is reliable as ever…

http://www.guildmag.com/community-interview-with-colin-johanson

The only form of “mounts” in the game will be as part of gameplay… sort of like being turned into a pig or mountain cat for an RH. Otherwise, Colin Johanson – who I’d say is about as authoritative about the future of GW2 as it gets – says the game won’t have them.

Or how about Eric Flannum as a source?
http://www.guildmag.com/pcgameplay-gw2-interview

And just to mention – as an elementalist, I can maintain a near-constant 33% speed boost simply by spec’ing appropriately in my traits (20 into air w/Quick Glyphs & Inscription) and using my glyph for health. I have a constant regenerating (and stacking) 33% swiftness boon. My husband says that trying to swim behind me is like following a motorboat in a rowboat… I have to admit, my short little asuran legs kicking in the water DO kick up a little wake that is somewhat similar. LOL

In a heartbeat… and probably up to $50’ish. I really want a mini of one that isn’t corrupted, and I’d love a stuffed animal to match it!

Bassario.3465:

I dispute this decision, and believe it is the biggest problem. I’m on the verge of putting it down until mounts come out at this stage.

Then you won’t be picking it up again I guess… because the developers have made their feelings abundantly clear on this subject – no mounts.

If that’s so game-breaking for you, then feel free to stop playing. No one should play any game they’re not enjoying, and if you require mounts for your enjoyment, then you’re probably going to be happier in a game that provides them.

This isn’t one of those games, and ANet has said it’s not going to be.

Paultimate – if it was such a simple matter to patrol the zones as you describe… do you not think ANet would have done that already?

I mean, seriously… your suggestion is like telling a schizophrenic to just ignore the voices in their head. You don’t think they would if they could? Are you under the impression that ANet is just sitting back and letting the botters do their thing for poops & giggles?

“Yup, let’s just let those botters run… drive the real players crazy… we can all yuk it up when they blow a gasket over our not doing anything about it! It’ll be fun to let our reputation as a developer be tarnished!”

Mind boggling. Seriously.

That’s the most fun I’ve had reading survey results in my entire life. LOL

Sincerely,
A very happy level 75 elementalist

More likely the fact that it’s late night/early morning in the US, and so the European divisions of ANet and/or NCSoft are manning the forums – and not all of those individuals are going to natively speak English.

Seems kind of silly to cover the overhead of keeping their Seattle offices up & running at night for a skeleton crew of community managers when you’ve got plenty of them on the other side of the pond who can handle the decreased overnight load.

I don’t doubt that on the forums of other languages, we’ve got native English speakers trying to use their second languages to help people on those forums during their “middle of the night.”

Clem.2963:

Still no trading post preview.

My god…

Because that was so much infinitely more important than silly things like stalled dynamic events, broken skill quests and major exploits, right?

I took this in LA on the 16th:

http://i.imgur.com/jqlyV.jpg

I wonder if it has to do with being closer to sunrise/sunset and which direction the camera is facing? Yours looks to me like I’d expect to see around sunset, maybe…? Did you happen to notice where the moon was in its rotation at the time?

Tayledras.1604:

I don’t doubt there are some bugged skill points floating around still, however I have to point out in some cases like what you describe the NPC can be beneath you in an underground or underwater cave (Sparkfly Fen has one such case that comes to mind). You might consider exploring around or asking in map chat if the location is not as straightforward as it would seem.

This is definitively NOT the case with most of them. The one in southern Bloodtide Coast, he’s supposed to spawn on the beach – his chat is there, he is not. But that is where he spawns…on the beach, not under it.

The one at the Brandview Waypoint in Blazeridge Steppes – I did that one yesterday. Went there with my husband so he could do it, the NPC is gone.

We’re encountering increasing numbers of SPCs, DEs and RHs that are bugged – stalled out or NPCs non-existent. It’s getting to the point where it’s hit or miss if you can complete anything, let alone get 100% map completion in any zone.

I really wish ANet would at least give us some idea when these SP challenges & stalled events will likely be working again… I’m reporting them left and right, and it’s clear from posts here that others are as well – and have been for days – but there just doesn’t seem to be any official acknowledgement that multiple areas are impossible to complete due to these issues.

I’d love to see an official “something” that tells us what causes this and what sort of time-frame we’re looking at for fixes for it.

I’m on Crystal Desert and running into the same thing.

The spirits are up in trees (as noted in the screenshot in the post above). The event for rescuing the cubs has no boss, nothing to fight. The RH for gathering devourer eggs/feeding queen is stuck, the queen is dead. The event for gathering the eggs is also stuck. The event for training devourers is stuck – no training kits dropping.

I have yet to find a single RH or DE in Iron Marches that is actually working. I’ve been using the in-game function to report these, but it would be nice to know if this is a wide-spread problem or specific to certain servers.

I’ve been trying very hard to not skip ahead at all, working through every zone by “tiered” levels (all 1-15 zones, all 15-30’ish zones, all 30-40’ish zones, etc.) but now I am finding that I either need to jump ahead to the next tier or run out of things to do because I can’t complete an area due to bugged RHs.

In Brisbane Wilds, inside the Skritt city in the center, there are crafting stations but no Master Crafters. No crafting icons show up on the map, either – but the crafting stations are definitely there and definitely functional.

I don’t know if there’s any way to truly increase the FOV beyond what’s already offered… but I do know that it might help to keep a bright light on in the room you’re sitting in. I end up feeling motion sick and nauseous if I try to play the game in a room that is not well-lit. Not sure if that would also help you at all, but it was worth mentioning…

There was also a suggestion in this post on Guru dealing specifically with FOV issues that might be of interest to you:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/59951-camera-control-issues-summed-up-for-you-reading-enjoyment/

There’s a small red arena (which looks, not surprisingly, like the ArenaNet logo) in Lion’s Arch on the beach near the PvP/WvW gates which has a couple of minis “hanging out” in it. There’s been speculation that at some point we may be able to use our minis for some sort of mini-game/battle thing… but nothing concrete about that yet.

Try right clicking on the dagger and selecting “equip in off-hand”.

I wonder if perhaps there are daggers that can only be used in the main hand? I haven’t seen any, but I guess that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

According to the wiki, the necro can wield a dagger in either hand:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_necromancer_skills

Revanite.9327:

anyone know how to find the serial number on email for those who purchased the digital copy?

Search your old emails for an email from noreply@guildwars2.com and look at ones dated around the time you made your purchase.

I’m reposting this from Guru in the event that perhaps it will help someone affected by this issue. I have not had to try this myself, but several people have reported this solved the problem for them.

So a lovely gent I was trying to help reach support the other day has messaged me to tell me that he’s finally able to get into the game… he found a suggestion from another user that he tried, and it worked for him.

I’m not sure if this will work for you, but it can’t hurt to try!

Create a new shortcut to the GW2.exe file (right click, create shortcut or send to desktop – which also creates a shortcut). Right click on the new shortcut and select Properties. In the Target field, add /clientport 80 to the end of the target. So it will look something like this when you’re done: “C:\Guild Wars 2\GW2.exe” /clientport 80

If you’d like, you can just copy everything after the Guild Wars 2\ part – you want to make sure the /clientport 80 is actually OUTSIDE the parenthesis (" ").

Click Apply & Ok.

Now once again right click on the shortcut and select “Run as Administrator.”

He was able to get right in for the first time finally.

This may not work for everyone, and I believe you will need to make sure your Firewall is disabled… but it won’t hurt your system or anything, so it’s at least worth a try. Please do let us know if it does/does not work for you!

It seems to… I know that my ability to outrun my husband (a norn ranger) has been increasing steadily as we’ve played. And of course I notice a definite increase in my speed if I use a speed booster I’ve gotten from one of the chests or if I use one of my ele skills that increases my swiftness.

I generally leave myself attuned to air when I’m running around and I wear the air signet…I believe I have five trait points (possibly more, I’d have to check) in air as well – and I am definitely running faster than foes/other players unless they use a specific skill to increase their speeds. It can actually be a little annoying if I’m trying to stay with a party. LOL

I’m posting on behalf of a user on GWGuru2 who is unable to log into the website here and post for themselves.

This is the info they provided regarding their tickets:

120902-003419 original ticket lodged 1st september 2012
120904-000270 was lodged on the 3rd september 2012

They are a Hotmail user who has not received the authentication emails, though they have received automated support responses and other GW2-related emails from you at that same email address. It’s only the authentication emails they are not receiving. They have whitelisted noreply@guildwars2.com and followed the instructions for updating their ticket as provided for in the original post in this thread.

Their thread on Guru can be found here:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/61791-no-access-to-account-for-last-week/

kilopy.2173:

What you said is patently false.

If you want to use daggers as an elementalist, you are forced into melee range. And, I have 10 points into Earth spec, and still get one shot. I refuse to use a certain attunement because that is the only viable way to make an elementalist not outclassed by every other class in the game. That is not balanced.

Being in melee range isn’t a bad thing… have you seen how quickly the whip (1 under air) takes down most foes? You hit the group with Updraft, first…blowing them away, evading, and interrupting their lead attacks with one button. You tag Ride the Lightning to bring you rapidly back into melee range, dealing a nice package of damage when you intercept them. Hit yourself with Shocking Aura to stun your enemies as they recover from the first two and renew their attack. Nail them with Lightning Touch to induce weakness and then beat them to death with your Whip.

But if you have not spec’d into Power and Toughness… you probably are going to get one-shotted. Again – this isn’t like the ele class in other games. It’s not designed for you to stand at a distance and blow stuff up while someone else heals you and someone else tanks the mob to keep them off your back.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a GOOD player or a HARDCORE player and I cower in fear at the idea of PvP… but I reject the idea that I lack the damage and durability of other classes in PvE – not when it’s clear that I’m taking down the mobs I encounter… not when I’m able to solo veterans that are beating the hell out of everyone else.

LightningLockey.5938:

I’m starting to get lost in some of this unique GW-termonology. What does “kite” and “kitten” mean?

It also sounds like the elementalist is the worse class to play. What makes matters worse for me is the main reason I came here was because of the elementalist class.

Guess I’m just bad at picking MMO’s and I’m really stuck with this one for the next few months until I can move.

Kiting basically means keeping foes at a distance while doing damage and usually luring them where you want them.

I’ve noticed that some people use kiting when what they really mean is circle strafing (circling around the foe while dealing damage).

I disagree that the elementalist is the worst class to play… I think the elementalist requires a lot of strategizing and that it takes time to become familiar with the skill bars and how they work together. You’ve not only got multiple weapons & weapon combos (Staff, Wand/Focus, Wand/Dagger, Dagger/Focus, Dagger/Dagger), but within each of those you have four different attunements. Plus your heal, plus your 3 utility skills, plus your elite.

People seem to spec into the Vitality line a lot… but that’s really not where you need your boosts. Power is damage, Toughness is durability – spec’ing into those turns you into a nuclear bomb with tanking power.

But you HAVE to actually learn the skill bars. You can’t just button mash the elementalist like you can in most other games. It simply doesn’t function that way.

And I say this as someone who has always chosen an elemental/sorceress/wizard/caster role in every MMO and RPG I’ve played… I say this as someone who is a queen of button-mashing… I say this as someone who could have never verbalized WHY a skill bar works well beyond “it blows stuff up fast.”

The ele in GW2 doesn’t perform the way it does in other games… it’s not just a bomb you detonate and watch the foes fall while someone else is responsible for keeping you alive.

My suggestion would be to get the trait thing sorted out (again, have you purchased and used your Trait book? You have to double-click it after you acquire it) and then go back to the 1-15 starter zones. Start playing around with the various weapon combinations, and examine your skill bar starting with the 5th skill and going left to the 1st skill. Look at how it often seems that the 5th skill is your lead attack – the one you should START your attack chain with… and how the skills in 4, 3, 2 & 1 support it.

Then start practicing on lower-level mobs. Load up dagger/dagger attuned to earth. Go find a group of charr or something…run around and aggro a few of them into a group. Hold down your 5 key until it detonates…then follow with 4, 3, 2… and finish off stragglers with 1.

Watch them fall and collect your loot.

LightningLockey.5938:

I forgot to mention that I’m unable to use traits, I’ve already submitted a bug report so waiting on them.

Possibly a stupid question, but have you bought your trait book from the elementalist trainer? You can’t assign traits until you buy the adept book.

Some things that have helped me in playing an ele…

I primarily run dagger/dagger. I’ve focused on increasing my Power and my Toughness over Precision and Vitality. I’ve had to learn to sort of “test out” the various attunements on different foes – they have different weaknesses to different attunements than we’ve come to expect in most RPGs. For example, “MMO logic” tells us that an ice-based foe is probably weakened by fire… in GW2, that’s not necessarily true. But I can usually take them down very quickly with air – my electrified whip thing beats them into the ground. LOL

There’s also a lot of synergy in the elementalist bars… in air, leading with your 5 skill deals damage and knocks you and your foe away from each other. Your 4 skill rushes you back into melee range with another heap of damage (not to mention the foe is disoriented or stunned in this combo). Following up with a 3 & 2, and finishing them off with a couple of 1’s and you’re done – ready for the next nasty.

Earth is similarly arranged… and the AoE of the 5 skill is just sweet.

It’s not like other games… I’m going to go down if I just mash my 1 skill. I’ve had to really pay attention to my bars and to what they do. But I’m becoming a lot more effective in the process.

Rand Silk.2738:

Careful, you lose your minis.

…unless you keep your minis in an Invisible Bag, in which case they are ignored by the “deposit all collectibles” function.

I’ve been finding myself able to give a surprising amount of support as an elementalist, particularly in the Water attunement line (lots of healing options there). This is in addition to being able to lay down things like a ring of fire for other players to use to increase their own damage… or being able to pull out an ice or fire bow, or an air (electricity) hammer which not only gives me a new set of skills but tosses a second one on the ground for other players to pick up & use.

I like being able to seamlessly switch between dealing some hefty DPS (earth dagger/dagger is awesome!) and dealing a nice healing rain to a LARGE area.

I’ve never gone in much for any sort of support role in gaming… I usually like just blowing everything up with a fire-based build… but wow, the flexibility in the elementalist builds has just opened up whole new worlds to me.

Zoul.1087:

Looking to make it easier if at all possible for her to play. I am fine with a keyboard and mouse myself.

Given what you said in your first post, about her already having trouble with the controls, I tend to think a gameboard or controller could potentially make things worse… you’re not only having to acclimate to a new configuration, but you also have to remember what is bound where without the normal visual cues of a standard keyboard. Things like “I” for “Inventory” is pretty standard across most games… easy to remember, not to mention you can rebind via F11 to keys that are more intuitive to her. For example, I played GW1 for a long time… so in GW2 I bound my Friend list to the familiar “N” key.

With a gameboard though, the keys are simply numbered… that can take more time to get used to… and time matters when you need to quickly heal yourself, for example.

I also like that with my G110, I can pretty much leave my hand hovering over the left side of my keyboard… and I can use the G1-12 keys for less “dire” keybinds or as blindly-reachable hail marys. LOL My G3, G9, G4 and G10, which form a little “square” grouping of keys, are where my attunements are programmed (I play an elementalist – and as I mentioned, I rebound my 5 weapons skills to F1-F5). My G8 is a second location for my heal skill – an easy pinky movement away if I’m fighting and need a quick fix to my health.

One other thought…

You can completely alter the bindings in-game via the F11 options screen. When you consider that something like a gameboard is usually just 4 rows of keys anyway, you really could just do a complete remapping of a standard keyboard via the F11 interface. Group things more conveniently for her in whatever combination is comfortable on a standard keyboard. That’s really not any different than what you’d be doing on a gameboard – the only big difference is there’s no joystick. Personally, I found it very difficult to minutely control my toon with the joystick, but that just may be a lack of coordination on my part. The end result was the same however – I ended up never using the thumbstick for movement in-game.

I’ve tried a couple of different variations throughout the beta…now, post-launch, I’ve finally settled on what’s most comfortable to me.

I use a Logitech M570 Trackball mouse – this makes me able to control all of my movement & my camera via my mouse.

I have a Logitech G13 gameboard that I used through most of the betas… and as much as I really liked it, particularly the relative compactness of it (and the ability to rapidly switch between multiple profiles for the same game)… I really didn’t like the fact that I still had to switch back and forth between it and my regular keyboard if, for example, I wanted to type something in chat.

So my most recent purchase has been a Logitech G110 keyboard (yes, I DO like Logitech…whyever do you ask? LOL), and this has been a real win for me. It gives me 12 programmable G-keys conveniently located on the left side of the keyboard, along with the ability to have multiple G-key profiles if I need them. I did some fairly creative remapping of the keybinds in-game (F11), which are more convenient for my hand/finger spread. I found that for me, it was more comfortable to put my 5 weapon skills on the F1-F5 keys, with my heal bound to an easily reachable G-key and my elective skills bound 1-4. This simply works better for me and for how my mind works.

But my point is, I like having the flexibility of the 12 G-keys right there beside a normal keyboard and my mouse. I’m able to much more comfortably control the game without putting a huge strain on my hands and wrists and without a lot of inconvenient switching back and forth between a gameboard and a keyboard.

One thing I will say about the G110 – the keys squeak. Especially the space bar. This is slowly decreasing with use, but it’s a good thing my husband told me to not be a doofus, because I swear I was getting ready to try spraying a little WD-40 under my space bar. LMAO

I also like the fact that I don’t have to completely memorize which key is bound to which keybind like I had to with my gameboard. As nice as it was to have all those keys to map – suddenly not remembering where I bound dodge in the midst of a battle (look, I’m a middle-aged woman here… remembering what I had for breakfast is a challenge :p ) is a real pain.

I also love that the G110 has a switch that disables the Windows key – I just leave it off by default, but it’s just a nice extra little feature on top of the media controls, the built-in USB jack and the built-in headphone/mic jack.

Oh, and of course I like the pretty glowy purple keys!

Scrab.3182:

You do realize that people with this issue can’t even log in to their account on the site right?

Some have been able to, some have not… I don’t think there’s any reason to get snippy with someone who is just trying to help.

If any of your friends have a GW1 account associated with their GW2 account, and an associated NCSoft master account, they might try logging into their NCSoft master account on the NCSoft website and changing the email address for their GW1 account to something other than hotmail. This would automatically change their GW2 login email address as well.

We’ve been helping players with this same issue on Guru for several days… some have been able to get into the game by changing email addresses, some have not. Some can log into their accounts via the website, some cannot. Knowing how backed up support is in trying to get to all of these tickets, I’m just sharing the same information that has worked for some other players.

There is a known issue with Hotmail/MSN/Live email addresses not receiving the emails. Their best bet is to log into their account here on the website and change to another email address with another provider like Gmail.

It’s also a good idea to make sure that noreply@guildwars2.com is added to your safe sender’s list with your email provider.