Guild Wars 2

I have been experiencing the above issues and random back screens upon hitting launch since some point around Halloween…. the game ran perfectly until then.
Crashes too desktop seem to happen most frequently when I step through a portal.
It’s becoming exceedingly irritating.

This is awesome, thanks Anet!

I have been hoping to show a friend GW2 for some time but he is unsure whether his system can run it, so this is the perfect opportunity.

I just have a similar concern as a poster above. I play on Tarnished Coast, which is often difficult to get into, will server capacity be increased so we can actually play together?

Uhm…
You can complete all of your dailies in less than an hour just by picking a zone or two to run around in. And if you are dying a lot in the process, no offence but you are doing something wrong. Maybe try doing your dailies in a low level zone if you are having that much trouble; while you are down-levelled, you do keep all of your gear, abilities and traits, so it’s pretty easy if you want to rush through them with little risk of dying.
Completing the dailies is not arduous, and the rewards are a very generous compensation for relatively little effort. While I think the game does need some changes and tweaks, this is not an area where it requires them.

LOTRO allows any class to put any armour into their cosmetic wardrobe, and it works just fine. I’m not really sure why it should be an issue if it’s purely cosmetic.

That being said, I mostly used cosmetic pieces within my armour range while playing LOTRO. Just every so often I would mix heavy armour with medium, or medium with light.

@the OP, I tend to concur, a lot of the light armour pieces look trashy (not to mention highly impractical for a girl fighting out in the field). You might want to try looking for a set of Shadow Garb armour, it’s not pirate wear, but it is quite nice and doesn’t make you look as though you charge by the hour.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_armor

I suppose it depends on your definition of fun, as well your real life priorities and schedule.
Personally, I have no intention of grinding for items that have the same precisely stats as crafted exotics. I mean..really… all that time and gold… just for some shiny pixels?!? No thank you; I’d rather embark on a productive project in Real Life.
Not to mention, I don’t even like glowing gear.

I feel the same way about cultural armour. I can craft exotic armour for a fraction of the price, and I can actually select stats that enhance my build. In terms of appearance, I can craft sets I like the look of (or mix and match, even) and apply them to the exotic stuff.

But, that’s me. I typically prefer story-driven single player RPGs (such as the Witcher series); Guild Wars Two is probably the first MMO I genuinely enjoy because it alleviates much of the grind. One person’s idea of fun, can be the next person’s definition of Hell; these things will always be extremely subjective.

The first character I levelled to 80 was a Norn ranger, and I really dislike her voice, especially in contrast to my female Sylvari’s cultured, subtle and well-acted tones.

The Norn female is flat and emotionless, which I found especially bad during a scene when she should have demonstrated some feeling. It’s odd as well because Claudia Christian voiced Aela the Huntress in Skyrim, and there she did a much better job, at least in my opinion anyway.

I’ve been debating whether or not to create this topic for some time because I don’t want to cause offence…
I finally decided to though..

Is it just me, or do all of the player characters, no matter the race, sound …well… developmentally challenged when using the “wave” command?
At the very least, I’ve noticed this with female characters, I’m not sure if the males are as bad.

That voice and utterance coming from a character that is presumably preparing to kill dragons.. is… cringe-worthy.

Started for me since sometime around Halloween:

If you have a game account for the original Guild Wars, can you play it?

Do not have a GW1 account

Where are you playing Guild Wars 2 from?
Canada, British Columbia

At what time and in which time zone do you play Guild Wars 2?

Sporadically during different times of the day at Pacific Standard Time.

Ditto here on both the black screens and being disconnected. It has been quite random all over the map but seems especially bad when I use a portal or a waypoint.

Starting to get a tad irritating. Though it is not just me, I was concerned it was something on my end.

Would you be able to post a screen shot? That would help people to better determine the problem. Off the cuff, without visual details, I’d say it sounds like you’re experiencing artefacts which generally happens when there is a problem with your video card. It could be overheating, or it may be aging.. or any number of issues.

Also, does this happen with just GW2, or does it occur with any similar games ? I ask before I’ve been experiencing the black screen bug since sometime around the Halloween events, and it doesn’t occur with other games. So, there is also a chance that there’s something up from Anet’s end of things.

Finally, which video card are you running?

@Kain Francois,
I never actually played GW1; when it was released I was suffering from MMO burnout. I just looked up the heroes in that game, though, I’m pretty sure the idea would fit into what I mean.

I’d been thinking of games like Dragon Age Origins, or for those who remember it, Baldur’s Gate Two, as a model. But really, any group-based game would illustrate the concept.

I have not yet continued very far in my human character’s story, but based on what I have seen, my sense is that Logan is actually quite complex beneath the surface.

which NPCs would make up your group? For the sake of precedent, your party can have up to six members, including your player character.

Mine would be:
Tybalt
Dinky
Gixx
Sayeh al’Rajihd

I would choose the above based on their personalities, but this would not be a bad mix of skills either.

So, for fun and speculation, others?

p.s This thread is intended to be fun rather than argumentative

My Elementalist is just shy of 60 and I’ve been working on a build based on condition damage. Granted, I don’t do WvW or SPvP, but I love it! All of those bleeds and burns add up to some very nasty damage, especially when using AoEs.

When I hit 60 my traits will be 20 apiece in Fire and Earth, and 10 in Water. I’m wearing Carrion gear with 4 Major Adventurer Runes, and a couple of Major Necromancer Runes. For slots I’m using: Signets of Restoration, Water, and Earth, along with Cleansing Fire and Glyph of Elementals.
All totalled I’m focusing on Conditions, Vitality, Toughness and a dose of Power; this gives me a nice balance of survivability and deadliness. Seriously, so far it has been great, my dagger-wielding Elementalist is a lot fun to play, and she is very effective at what she does.

Now, of course, this being the Internet and an MMO forum, there will be all kinds of people keen to point out the flaws in my build.. But, this works extremely well for me, and that is what counts.

I am running the game on mostly High settings very smoothly, with the following setup:
Windows XP Pro
Core2Duo CPU E6850@3.00 GHz
2 GB ram
GeForce GTX 550 TI

As you can tell, excepting my updated card, this is an older system. Yet, even with my low memory GW2 usually runs as smooth as butter at High Settings (except Textures which are at Medium).

Now, I do think there are two things helping me out, in addition to my card:
*Windows XP uses less system resources than Windows 7 (at one point I tried 7 and went back to XP because my performance in Skyrim choked as a result)
*I have an old 17 inch LCD that I run in a native resolution of 1280 by 1024

I just wanted to throw this out there though, to demonstrate that you don’t need a state of the art, fully modern setup to successfully run the game at decent graphic levels.

Thanks for the replies all.

I should have probably clarified slightly more in my original post. No matter what game I play, I tend to suffer from chronic altititis, hence why it has taken me this long to reach 80 on a single character. In my roster I already have:
ranger
elementalist
thief
warrior
engineer

I enjoy them all, and I definitely concur with those who suggested the thief or warrior. While I would like to get three slots instead of one, it would be an extravagance right now. I bought a 2000 point gem card at Best Buy yesterday, which I’m spending on maximum bank space and an extra slot. Presumably, if I get 6 characters to 80, with some luck and planning I’ll have enough gold to buy gems for extra slots ingame.

To my original topic, though, the first profession I actually rolled was a Mesmer. I quickly decided, however, that it was not the class with which I wanted to learn the game. Now that I have a good feel for GW’s mechanics, I’m interested in giving the Mesmer a second chance.

I’m thinking maybe, based on all of your replies, that I will perhaps roll a Mesmer, and then, if that doesn’t pan out, I’ll give the Necro a shot. If neither of those engage me, then I’ll take a look at the Guardian. As I said, I tend to dislike deleting characters, but in this case, if my first choice doesn’t suit me, it’s what I’ll have to do.
I’ll see, I’m still open to ideas, since I don’t actually need to rush into creating yet another alt.

I’m thinking of picking up an additional character slot and filling it with a class I have not yet tried. There is no rush though, I still have plenty to do with my existing characters.
I have not tried: Mesmer, Guardian, and Necromancer so I’m trying to decide between them, and I’m hoping for some balanced thoughts on each. I did check the profession forums but that wasn’t very helpful because they all seemed focused on expressing unhappiness.

Typically, I tend to lean more toward DPS-heavy casting, ranged and stealth classes, while eschewing tank characters. So far I have a ranger at 80, and I’m currently working on levelling my Elementalist; I think the latter is my favourite so far, just because of the greater complexity.
However, I’m open to suggestions, and it wouldn’t hurt me to try something totally different. Indeed, I am somewhat tempted by the guardian for precisely that reason.

And yes, I know I could just try each out to somewhere between 10 and 20 for an idea, but I tend to dislike deleting characters, so I’d rather stick with whatever profession I create.

So… thoughts?

Umbra.5180:

Would be nice to have a bind point or a free type of home town/base port, around once an hour cooldown.

We actually do have something like that, and it can be used as often as needed. Open up your PvP tab and go to the Mists. From there you can go through the Asura portal to Lion’s Arch. This costs nothing.

Of course, you can’t use this when you are dead, but it still helps transport costs considerably when you want to return to home base.

The title effectively says it all….
Would it be possible to give us just a wee bit more warning in situations like this? For the most part I have been crafting or something similar when it has happened, so I have not been direly affected, but I suspect I’d be mighty irritated were I in the middle of a dungeon or some such…..

Pretty please?

I really have to wonder with a lot of the people agitating for open world PvP if they were bullied in the schoolyard as children and are seeking anonymous revenge, or if they were the bullies and have yet to let go of old habits.

There are two forms of PvP in this game already, and as such I actually have nothing against them. However, players who are not interested in PvP should not need to worry about being harassed when they have no wish to participate. I recognise that the OP is requesting a single PvP server, but as has already been illustrated that would not be viable, so ultimately we are looking at the question as it might impact the entire game.
There are already titles out there that offer Open World PvP, go and play them and stop trying to turn any game that doesn’t meet your wishes into a clone of whatever virtual universe you have left. Please!

Oh, and I concur with those who have already said it, since when does a single player constitute an entire player base? I’ve heard of narcissism, but really, that is pushing it.

If you do housing Anet, please, for the love of all that is sacred, do not make it like LOTRO’s.
The houses there look attractive enough, but object placement is by hooks* only which means that house interiors and exteriors all look extremely similar to one another. Please allow us customisation and the ability to let our creativity flow a bit.

• To anyone unfamiliar with the context of “hook,” what I mean is that LOTRO houses only allow for a very narrow range of item types to be placed in pre-designated areas of the dwelling….. very BORING.

Actually, I really like the medium armour, especially on my female characters. It manages to be stylish, classy and sexy all at once…. and STILL look protective.

That being said, however, I do think that having more styles to chose from for all three types of armour would not hurt. The reality is that any player base will have vastly different preferences. Personally, I dislike armours that show huge amounts of skin, not because I am prude (quite the opposite, in fact), but rather, I want my melee characters to be wearing something that appears to offer at least some resistance against nasty, pointy things. However, other players prefer to live on the edge and expose their vulnerabilities, and that’s fine too. Or maybe they just don’t like leather trench coats.
The point is, though, diversity is a good thing, especially in an MMO. Otherwise it ends up looking as though everybody has hit the sale racks in one of Tyria’s chain stores.

“Just learn 2 from each alts, why is that so hard? You have 5 character slots, and 4 characters can learn all 8 without having to change and pay 40 silver fee ever. Please stop complaining such trivial things. There are many other bigger problems and bugs in this game that should be solved.”

This. Exactly.

Unlike other MMOs I have played, GW2 puts no impediments on parking an alt in a crafting zone and letting them create items until they drop from exhaustion. Those 5 character slots allow you to easily cover all of the available crafts; I really don’t see the problem here. In fact, the inventory/crafting system positively encourages alt crafting!

There are definitely irritating gold sinks in this game, but the the fee to switch crafts is so easily worked around that it’s hardly relevant.

I actually like the animal forms, I use all except the raven. In particular, I’ve found the wolf form to be handy, and it has gotten me out of a tight spot on more than a few occasions.
However, I don’t WvW, nor did I play GW1, and no doubt that does…er.. shape.. my experience.

My female Norn ranger is at the shortest height possible, has the smallest build, dark hair, deeply tanned skin.. and sports a red bandanna. She looks like a gypsy (or maybe a pirate) and she likes to joke that she was born “the runt of her litter.” :p
I figure that if Anet gave us such a wide range of options, then such extreme variations do exist within the Norn race.
And I don’t regret my decision for a moment, she’s one classy-looking ranger who never has trouble with caves and the like.

@ Katz,
I was running around Caledon Forest, Metrica, Brisban Wilds and Sparkfly Fen. I’m sorry I can’t narrow it down more than that, I didn’t make a note of any nearby landmarks. Though come to think of it, I probably should have.

Last night I decided to pick up some skill points, and for the Hell of it I decided to focus on the warmer regions of the map to see if I could grab some vanilla at the same time. I ran around said regions for around two hours, and my attention was focused far more on checking for skill point icons than it was on resource nodes. I ended up with about 15 vanilla beans without even trying; I’m sure I even missed some, since they weren’t my priority.

Considering that vanilla is derived from the vanilla orchid in real life, it makes sense, that it would only be found in the tropical regions of Tyria.
Now, I don’t know if the spawn rate has been increased, or if I was just lucky. I wanted to throw my experience out there though.

I do tend to think, though, that the loot tables need some rebalancing. I have enough cinnamon, butter, walnuts and chocolate to keep a baked goods addict going for several years into the future; however, items such as vanilla, oranges, coriander and cloves are far more scarce.

The changes in cooking have went from one extreme to the other, and that is fine if you want to make crafting more difficult to level on the whole. But, if you are going to start doing that, then you also need to take a hard look at Jewellery, which is ridiculously easy and requires far fewer mats than the other crafts. I have managed to get my jeweller to 300 without actually trying, and I’ve spent nothing in the process.

Look, I don’t want to be insulting, but allowing a character to learn a recipe for an entire account would be a bit like Bubba Joe obtaining a doctorate in Physics, and consequently providing his entire family with all the rights and privileges that came with the degree.
Also, if you read the description of those things, it very clearly states that said recipe is soulbound.

There are plenty of financial gains to be had elsewhere in the game, in my honest opinion. I find the personal stories to be a reward for themselves. I typically dislike MMOs because they lack any real narrative or ability to engage the player into any kind of a story. I have found the personal stories so far to be very well done, overall. I can actually think of some single player RPG developers out there (Bethesda cough) that could learn something from ANet. Are they as good as of the the old Black Isle Studios games (BG2, Fallout 1&2, Planescape: Torment), or perhaps the Witcher series? No, I don’t think so. But, they are still very good, and an unexpected gem in the MMO genre.

I would not be surprised if this has already been covered, but the Search engine does not want to work for me, so apologies in advance if this is the case:

Same here. I was trying to sell an item on the TP and suddenly the TP screen froze and I think I lost the item, it vanished (not listed on the TP, not in my bags). However, once I got out of the TP screen I seemed to be fine.
Then, I went to switch to another character, I received a server connect error, and I couldn’t log back in.

Tarnished Coast: West Coast of Canada