For me, the best thing about GW2 is the deterministic approach to equpment. I can work towards BIS gear via dungeon tokens, laurels, karma, or crafting. Not that this is always easy, but I prefer it to RNG based loot drops. Other real positives are the exploring, the music, the different races, the way the trading post is implemented, no open world PvP, and no subscription (although I would buy any expansions if they are released).
First we had “The starting areas are deserted, make it worth our time to go there”, and we got level appropriate drops in starter areas. Then came “Killing bosses is not worth the effort, all I get is greens”, and we got 1 guaranteed rare per chest. Also in the mix are “When is guesting going to happen?” and the rumor (or fact, I don’t really know) that the Behemoth can drop a precursor. Put them all together and stir and you get “Queensdale overflow”. I believe the term for this is unintended consequences.
If you travel a lot to hit all the boss events for the loot, just consider the travel as a cost of doing business. Thats how I look at it. If someone can’t make enough off the event to cover the travel cost, don’t go. Even if I go to a temple run in Orr for fun, I still get more than enough loot to cover the travel costs. Perhaps you have a different reason for the travel though.
Character names are important to me too. When I started playing I decide to play Asura and looked at the Asura naming conventions. The names needed to be short and contain a double letter pair. Take a guess where my handle came from. My character names are “Alloy Prime”, “Alloy Deux”, “Alloy The Third”, and “Alloy Four”. They are all Asura. I want to try Sylvari next so I will need to do some thinking.
Since GW2 is not a subscription game, the concept of an inactive account is problematic. As long as a player does not delete their characters, they should get to keep the names.
To set the context for the story, I was playing my turret build Asura engineer. He is dressed in pirate gear dyed purple except for the white feather on the hat. My total kill count in WvWvW to date is 12, most of them from firing siege weapons into groups of enemys.
On my first excursion into the borderlands in WvWvW I was wandering around getting POIs and vistas. And of course getting killed by everything in sight, though actually a lot of them were stealthed. Realizing this wasn’t too much fun I decided to get one last POI, die, and WP back to LA. There is a supply camp to the south of the keep on the west edge of the map (in case you know the area). We held the keep and the enemy had the tower and supply camp. There were several of us outside the supply camp and a look at the camp showed a sea of red titles, lots of enemys in there.
Since it was time to die anyway I decide to get the POI and go back to PvE. I ran for the POI dropping turrets as I ran. I made it to the POI and got killed immediately, this much I expected. I now decided to count how many enemys were in the camp and at least provide some intel to my side. I start to look around and discover that everyone had followed me into the camp. After a bit, someone rezzes me and I move to the center of the camp and recast my turrets. The battle continued for a few minutes and we drove off the invaders. After it was over another player came up and bowed. I felt very much the inadvertent hero.
Some of the top level 80 activities are running dungeons, zerging boss events that now guarantee a rare drop, and FotM. The big thing since the last patch has been the boss events. This morning the Fire Elemental in Metrica and the boss at the Maw went down in maybe a minute each. The more challenging boss battles are the temples in Orr, with Cursed Shore being a very popular map. Aside from dungeons, Grenth and Lyssa are two of the most difficult PvE events. As mentioned above, gw2lfg is one way to find dungeon and FotM runs. Hanging out on the map containing a dungeon entrance will also pick up some PUG requests and seems less impersonal to me. The amount of traffic depends on how popular the dungeon is. For example, Plains of Ashford is the place to be if you want to PUG Ascalonian Catacombs. An active guild can also be helpful for dungeons.
This is a way of rewarding customer loyality and there is nothing wrong with it. Some other games have it. Retail outlets send discount coupons to previous customers in the real world. Airlines have frequent flyer programs. I never played GW1 but from the comments on this forum it seems to have been a very good game. Since I can unlock the items retroactively, I may get a copy and play it. Not just to get the items, but because I enjoy gaming.
As has been mentioned, the rapid pace of the Lost Shores event caused much forum discussion. So the Living Story is proceeding very slowly, well many vocal posters asked for it. Possibly not quite this slowly however. Several comments have been made as to the lack of information available about what is happening in the refugee homelands. I relate this to the night Katrina came ashore in New Orleans. Communications down and it’s getting dark. Category 4 or 5 hurricane hitting a city below sea level. Go to bed and wait to see what happened overnight. No one outside the area really knows anything, and those inside only know what is happening to them. It’s a role playing game, use your imagination, think of it as a real disaster where information is lacking.
Not only can’t the enemy see my Asura, I can’t either. Suprizingly this can be a problem for us short folks from time to time. But if I could name my Asura “.” and remove the health bar from the display that would be interesting. I could lie in ambush inside plants and then KAPOW. One shotted by an Asura thief and you never saw it coming. Really with all the AOE in WvWvW battles can anyone even see the enemy most of the time?
Check the threads on the technical support forum. I was running Windows XP 32 bit client and crashing every 1 to 2 hours. The error log said out of memory errors. I checked the tech support forum and found there were problems with the 32 bit client running out of memory. I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit and haven’t had a crash since. I tried Windows 8 first but didn’t like then new user interface.
Like I was supposed to take a planet where Asura gates and catapults co-existed seriously.
Thanks to this topic I will soon be about 125 gold poorer, as soon as I have it that is. But I will be stylish. I looked at the T3 Asuran male armor and decided it is a must have. It seems to be the armor equivalent of legendary weapons and is much cheaper. Plastic surgery isn’t cheap either. Then I can buy my commander icon…
I am a digital hoarder, and altaholic. Wheew, that felt good. The first step is always admitting you have a problem. I could either seek help for these two conditions (which I blame on whatever is convenient at the moment) or you could sell me some more bank slots. Please? I made a 1 person guild just for the extra bank slots, but I cannot put account bound or soul bound items in it. And mule characters are just awkward.
The new dailies are fine with me. There is usually only one of the 5 that I need to do anything special to achieve, and so far it hasn’t been anything difficult. Many players like to be rewarded for their efforts, and if you don’t want/need the karma or laurel then just don’t do them. It isn’t like you lose 10 percent of your gold if you don’t. This is a video game, you do tasks either because you enjoy doing them or enjoy the rewards you get for doing them. In the end, it is only a recreational activity.
I heard a rumor that the biggest secrets of all are always hidden in the Citadels of your 2 enemys in WvWvW. I have tried on several occasions to find them, but am always killed first. On a less flippant note, I found a new (to me) secret boss in Metrica Province 2 days ago. I am sure many people know of this boss, and many do not, so no spoilers from me.
For me this has been one of the most entertaining games I ever owned. There are many kill more powerful enemy, get better loot (if the RNG is with you), level up, games available. I really like the way GW2 allows me to get BIS gear without ever depending on RNG. Even though they can be difficult at times, I would rather run dungeons or clear the temples in Orr than depend on luck.
Lots of people are running the boss events for the guaranteed rare. Personally I hang out in Orr doing Pentitent tunnel, Grenth, and sometimes Balthazar. My favorite dungeon is Ascalonian Catacombs because I like the gear you can buy with the tokens. Also, since the last patch the path 2 ghost buster stuff is fun. I also run dungeons with guild members and friends. I spend a little time each day in Metrica (Asura starter area) and while it isn’t like the Maw event, there are always some people playing new characters. Easy to tell because they don’t have the down arrow by their level. Possibly you may be on a WvWvW slanted server, and most of your server population is there. You need to keep in mind that a large part of the player base has played the starter level content and better rewards won’t bring them back. This is because you can also get the same rewards on maps you haven’t tried yet, or on the maps you prefer.
As long as the unique boss equipment is also available by crafting, karma vendors, and WvWvW tokens, I don’t have a problem with it. Otherwise some group is going to feel left out.
I would say this is a direct result of the guaranteed rare per chest. Now look at the previous forum posts by people requesting “rewards” for doing events. ANet is stuck between a rock and a hard place on this and several other issues. Whatever they do is “wrong” to some subset of the playerbase.
Seems to me that the OP is using the metagame concepts from previous MMOs for GW2. Basically, pounding square pegs in round holes. This can be extremely frustrating. For example, the gold econmy in GW2 is only one of several means to obtain BIS equipment. Karma, WvWvW badges, and dungeon tokens are alternatives, and can buy equipment that is not available in the gold economy. Reducing the differences for AC and CoF dungeon tokens to how much gold or ectos they are worth ignores the fact that the AC tokens can buy PVT (power/vitality/toughness) equipment while CoF tokens cannot. PVT equipment can also be purchased with WvWvW badges, but cannot not be purchased for gold.
Technically there are 3 source of latency, server processing time on the Anet servers, processing time on your computer, and latency in your internet connection. Connection latency differs from max data transfer rate, it is one of the reasons online movie players use a buffer.
I sure didn’t notice a change for the worse. Got called to 2 dragons, 2 Orr temple runs, and several local events while killing invaders and looking for the 2 living story relics. People were very helpful in locating the relics, and those poor invaders never had a chance. Even with the crowds I killed about 80 of them. And yes, there will be a few rude people on map chat, just like the few dozen trolls on the forums. Just ignore them and don’t let a few bad experiences ruin your fun.
1 and 2 – Considering PvP, WvWvW, and PvE, there is no single class that is overpowered or underpowered. Different classes excel or have trouble in different scenarios. That said, warrior is easiest for PvE and thief/mesmer/ele seem to rule WvWvW.
3 – PvE, except for ascended gear I don’t see a problem with the current PvE content. I prefer PvE to PvP and WvWvW so I would like more open world PvE content.
4 – 7, the economy isn’t perfect but it is acceptable.
5 – 1, the current bugs and glitches are not a real problem considering the age and magnitude of the software involved. The worst problem I encountered so far was the 32 bit client out of memory crash, but it was time for me to upgrade from XP anyway. Windows 7 64 bit has been flawless so far.
6 – None, I play PvE almost exclusively and accept that PvP isn’t for me. I may play more WvWvW in the future but it depends on finding a group/guild that employs tactics and strategy rather than the Zerg. However this is not an issue with the game, it is a characteristic of the players and I would not presume to dictate how people enjoy playing.
7 – 8, except for the occasional dungeon quitter and elitist most of the people I run into are good people. The worst aspect of this community are the forum trolls.
Having ascended gear only available from FotM was a problem. It required anyone wanting BIS gear to play FotM, and many players want that gear in a video game. The previous BIS gear, level 80 exotics, was available from crafting, dungeon tokens, karma vendors in Orr, WvWvW tokens, and if all else failed you could farm and buy it from the BLTP. None of the methods of obtaining level 80 exotics were trivial, but you could at least choose the one that you preferred. Ascended gear only from FotM breaks that pattern. One of the main reasons I enjoy GW2 is that I don’t need to repeatedly kill the same boss and wait to be favored by the great god RNG.
If they actually have the items, and these items were not available via FotM, then it was an expliot. Could be your friend was mistaken also. Past actions on the karma and snowflake exploits may predict future events.
Via “reductio ad absurdum” (see Wikipedia) we could have the daily requirements reduced to logging in for 10 minutes and completing one dynamic event. However the second may be asking too much from someone who enjoyed crafting or someone who was playing trading post tycoon. To me the rewards for the daily, a mystic coin, a jug of karma, some bonus experience, and a laurel are worth the gameplay activities required to obtain them.
First, thanks for the info, I didn’t know these kits existed so I will have to try them. Second, if all that was done was add a cool down, doesn’t the kit still work to get you past a bad situation? Or is the kit active time like 10 seconds and you need to spam them? Overall permanent stealth from consumables doesn’t sound like an intended game mechanic and I agree with correcting the issue.
I have a 1 person guild that I created because I wanted more bank space. I also belong to a 500 person guild that I represent when playing. The mechanics of creating a guild are simple, it took me maybe an hour reading the wiki and experimenting with the guild representatives in Rata Sum. Cost was like 1 silver to create the guild. Running and building a guild is a different issue altogether. If you don’t have the personality for it, it may resemble herding cats.
I pay for expansions on the non subscription games I enjoy. Having enjoyed GW2 immensely for the past several months I would gladly pay for an expansion (in real life money).
Although you can have a block all duel requests option, the problem with map chat harrassment is the bigger issue. Unfortunately there are some players in every MMO with open world PvP who abuse this and seem to enjoy intimidating others.
Yes, please make the mesmers clones look like the one in the art. It is a fantastic idea that would gain wide acceptance in WvWvW, at least among players who play against mesmers.
With 1 character 240 bank slots plus a 50 slot guild bank are a lot. With 4 characters it is becoming cramped. What about someone who wants to play alts? With 10 characters you would have 24 slots per character in regular bank. What is the max character slots, 16? The only people that I can see who could use extra bank slots to hurt the game economy would be the TP manipultors. But, they can already purchase multiple 250 slot guild banks, because they have the money to buy influence. Perhaps giving players the option to purchase 1 or 2 more bank tabs for each character slot over the standard 5 would help. I bought 5 extra character slots when they were on sale and that got me thinking about bank space.
OP, I very much agree. For some of us GW2 is really fun. For me, one of the nicest features is how the loot system is not mainly RNG based. Except for legendary and maybe a couple of ascended items, all the best gear in the game is available via deterministic although sometimes challenging methods. I much prefer playing (can’t call it “working” since I find it enjoyable) towards a goal to being at the mercy of the great god RNG. The high priest of Grenth is easier to beat than RNG.
I look at the PvE content this way. The developers took years (for discussion, lets say 4 to 5) to create the existing content. The OP completed this content in 5 1/2 months. This means the OP can complete content at maybe 10 times the rate it is produced. Sorry to tell you OP, but you are doomed, they cannot create content fast enough for you. (Big smiley face here to show it is a friendly comment) What currently amuses me in GW2? For the past week I have made it a point to kill the high priest of Grenth at least once a day. I do it for the group comments like “we did it!” and “it’s not impossible after all” at the end.
There is a lot of speculation about what ascended armor will be. In the current reality, there is no ascended armor and there won’t be until maybe next year. Level 80 exotic armor is available for karma from the temple vendors in Orr, by crafting it yourself, from the BLTP, and for dungeon tokens at the vendors in LA. Not all stat combinations are available from all sources. If you want to put off getting armor until next year you can wait till the ascended armor becomes a reality. Until then I am running full exotics.
This is the only monthly I have ever completed, and in just a few days too. Therefore, for me this was the easiest monthly. I didn’t do the others because I haven’t yet ventured into WvWvW and I don’t think I will ever do PvP.
I had an interesting experience this morning. Logged in early and went to LA to do some crafting. Map chat was really quiet. I decided to go to Cursed Shore in Orr to run the Penitent Tunnel area for my monthly events and to get items to salvage. Got in a party almost immediately and there were lots of people there. It was so crowded that 2 of the party members left to find somewhere less crowded. I have run the Tunnel before and it was never this busy. There was also a group trying to open Grenth. My server is Dragonbrand.
The Sylvari and Charr starter areas have dungeons in them, the Asura (Metrica) does not. In areas with dungeons you get players doing map clears and DEs while waiting to form groups.
In Metrica Province the swamp in the center of the map always has downed Hylek. After you rez one it has a life expectancy of maybe 1 minute, so the supply is endless. As you might expect, the 400 pound (estimate) Hylek try to kill 2 pound dragonflys and are hopelessly overmatched. As an alternative there is always Grenth, where both you and your attack group can rez each other, if any of you survive long enough.
Open world PvP, or more precisely the lack thereof, is one of the reasons I play GW2 and not one of the other games that allows it. That is to say, no thank you on open world PvP.
Since the download is now complete, I will take my ele to the tunnel in Orr and throw everything I can at the risen hordes. Maybe that will work? At least I will get the grouping stuff, everyone does groups in the tunnel.
I hope the crafting mats are still dropped based on enemy level, otherwise it would suck for crafters…
Yea, that could be interesting. As soon as the patch downloads I am going to go kill some drakes in Metrica Province (Asura starter map) and see if they drop armored scales for my level 80. I see your point, it would result in a dramatic decrease of low level crafting materials.
If every activity that someone did not enjoy was removed from the daily or monthly achievement, we would have nothing left. Monthly achievements typically have WvWvW or PvP tasks which I do not enjoy, but I don’t demand they be removed. I have never gotten a single monthly chest because of this, and it doesn’t bother me one bit. If crafting doesn’t suit you, then pick a different task. Hopefully now I will be able to pick a subset of the monthly tasks and get my first monthly chest.
I don’t see any make or break point looming. GW2 is a non-subscription, casual friendly game where PvE can be played almost completely as a single player game. As long as this continues to be true, GW2 should have a market for expansions. About the worse I see is that some of the rapid content consuming, hardcore gamers may become bored and leave. Just my opinion.
I leveled one of my alts by just running the daily events with him every day. I could pick up about 1 level in 1/2 hour. He didn’t even leave Metrica Province (Asura starter area) because the auto leveling adjusts experience upwards as you level.
I can do this!
First person view would work for certain situations and certain classes. But, I would not want to be in first person playing a warrior in combat. 100 blades and Whirlwind would definitely produce nausea.
OP, many of the the waypoints in Orr are part of several complex DE (Dynamic Event) chains that lead to the temporary capture and control of the temples and Arah dungeon entrance. Most waypoints are normally contested and only become clear during certain parts of the DE chains. You will find a few waypoints on each Orr map that are never contested, these are the launch areas for the DE chains. As Horrorscope mentioned above, researching the Orr meta events may help. I never found that necessary so I can’t be more specific on where to look. Once I discovered the Rally Waypoint in Straits of Devastation and watched the reinforcement events run it all made sense.
The easier Legendary weapons are to obtain, the less legendary they are. Make them too easy to obtain and they will be about as legendary as pulling up to the gym in a mini-van.