Guild Wars 2

NikeEU.7690:

I’m pretty sure it DOESNT solve the problem in other games. From my understanding from other games (DNT is a multi-game guild) most of the intro/easy mode raiders don’t matriculate up to harder difficulties.

True, but then that’s not the primary problem those difficulty modes are trying to solve (Rednik is indeed mistaken about that). What they are trying to accomplish is getting a larger part of the community involved, and thus decrease the feeling of exclusion in said community. And this they achieve relatively well.

NikeEU.7690:

It just creates two separate communities.

No. There are already two separate communities, and this separation has been created by the very existence of raids. Easier mode is there to make that split less damaging for the game.

NikeEU.7690:

Blaeys.3102:

There is no way a single version of the map is going to meet the gaming desires of all sides of this equation. Thus the need for tiered difficulty or some kind of scaling system (as a really bad example – give better rewards to 8 player groups that beat the content and lesser/almost no rewards for 12 player groups that beat it).

What would you say to low skill players for whom even the easiest reasonable difficulty represents too high of a challenge?

Ah, that entirely depends on what we would consider to be the easiest reasonable challenge. Personally, i really doubt that people unable to do even low tier fractals would be interested in raids. They might still be interested in legendary armor, which is why it should have an alternate acquisition method.

TexZero.7910:

I’ll just leave it at this… If the number of people who complained about “LFG requirements” all banded together and started their own no-rep, no-req groups instead of coming to the forums the problem would likely be solved faster than any technical work anet could do to attempt to appease you.

I already have my “no req” group, and yet it doesn’t change anything. The problem is still here, and won’t magically disappear just because you don’t want to acknowledge its existence.

Obtena.7952:

let me ask you a question … how much T5 leather did you get? what did you do with that?

Last time i checked, upgrading t5 to t6 was a loss compared to just selling it and buying t6 directly.

mikelwis.4736:

You can’t barely go get dinner for two for that amount anymore

I could easily feed myself for half a month for this, you know. That price doesn’t mean the same thing all over the world.

Yeah, they shouldn’t be daily, and that’s not what they said they would be when they announced the change. Should be once per event.
I guess it’s a bug and need to be reported.

Of course, if this decision will result in a spike in toxic activity, well, Anet has been known to do some drastic changes to the game to avoid that. So, people that think seeing others’ stats gives them a right to trash talk, should beware.

Miellyn.6847:

Crystal Reid.2481:

Our goal is not to make content easier, but rather add an additional layer of difficulty onto the challenge motes where it makes sense.

There you go.

And? You said the devs stated that they are against two-modal setup. Which they clearly aren’t.

And if we do know now that two modes can exist, we can safely move the discussion from debating that point to arguing about what level each of those modes should be at (and whether harder mode should be repeatably rewarding – which, at the moment, it isn’t).

Miellyn.6847:

Blaeys.3102:

Miellyn.6847:

You still dance around the question how it should work without massivly increasing the devolopment cycle for raids or slowing down other content.

I can point to a feature that pretty much disproves the myth that adding this would significantly increase development time – challenge motes.

If it is possible to add challenge motes to every encounter in the new wing and still get the content out on schedule, then the idea of a story mote (or mode) should be possible as well.

They only add 1 or 2 mechanics. No damage, health, mechanic, enrage timer scaling. And there is a dev post in the Bastion of Penitent thread that says, that challenge motes are not intended to act like easy/hard mode.

Hmmm…

Crystal Reid.2481:

Our goal is not to make content easier, but rather add an additional layer of difficulty onto the challenge motes where it makes sense.

Seems like a hard mode to me.

Carighan.6758:

But that means the farm does what they wanted it to do: It’ll tank the price. Perfect.

It won’t. People are still doing it only because they haven’t realized yet that it’s not really worth it. T5 leather (which is what you get mostly from this) was never a problem, and t6 won’t be impacted at all.

Miellyn.6847:

The thing that actually changed in the last 8 years is the mindset of players, that they have to see everything.

No, the thing that have changed is for the majority of players to realize that they, too, have a voice and don’t have to keep silent while the “real players” are talking.

And if you think nobody complained about elite dungeons in GW1, you haven’t been paying attention. Why do you think environmental effects in DoA normal mode got disabled, for example?

Yeah, seems they have exactly this (made 2 different difficulty levels, due to motes) on this wing. So, it can be done. And we now have a rough estimate of how much time is needed.

Kraljevo.2801:

Zenith.7301:

Try Astralaria and NEEDING THE TEMPLE OF DWAYNA EVENT TO FAIL. Like, you need the DE chain where you kill the priestess, not the one where you defend it.

And yet nobody will let the event fail because they want the temple to stay accessible. Took 2 days and countless map swapping to get that done.

Wait, that’s still a thing? Didn’t they fix this kitten a while ago?

I was sure they did fix it at some point too.

I sincerely doubt that ecto will achieve the pre-Hot price heights. Even with the ABML gone, there’s still a lot more rares to be had than before (for example, remember that tarir is a really rewarding meta even without the multiloot exploit). There are also other limiters on legendary crafting now (Mystic Coins have been mentioned already).

So, no reason to panic. If anything, the change will allow people to spread out to other farms, which will help decrease price of other items, not only ecto.

Lalainnia.3598:

I’m not following, so the boss isn’t fun because it requires primarily condition damage while paying attention to what you’re actually doing?

I think that they mean that the problem lies not with difficulty or mechanics in general, which are relatively easy (as i understand), but with the fact that it necessitates complete regearing for many players. Not everyone has a condi character, and up until that point there was a spot for both types of damage.

TL/DR;
People are saying, that the mechanics should make the fight interesting, not merely make the class/build meta for the encounter even more narrower than it already was before.

(might be mistaken with my interpretation, of course, but that is what i read from the complains so far)

Indeed, just checked. They do work fast.

Seems pretty clear now. Good that they made the ruling. Even if i personally am not a fan of damage meters, keeping it in gray area wasn’t good for the game.

Though, as i understand, the dps meter used most by the community will need to be changed (and some of the functions disabled) to be fully legit.

Sheltron.2190:

LFR destroyed wow, we don´t need it in gw2!

Yeah, that poor, destroyed WoW, there’s like noone playing it nowadays…

Sykper.6583:

Crystal Reid.2481:

In the past year and a half, the overall skill level of the Guild Wars raiding community has risen at a staggering pace. Naturally, content will seem easier now as players continue to refine their theorycrafting and personal skill.

Our goal is not to make content easier, but rather add an additional layer of difficulty onto the challenge motes where it makes sense.

Just a question Crystal, I know you answered this on Reddit concerning how the Challenge Motes in this iteration were improving on mechanics or introducing new ones to the fold. But was there a real reason why there couldn’t have been a repeatable reward, even something small like a few extra gold, tied to a weekly clear with a challenge mote?

It seems like a waste that, although you did apply some unique one-time only rewards and titles to the achievements, that those victorious in the hard-modes won’t have any reason other than self-gratification for things like speed-running to repeat those hard modes again.

If it’s a tech-issue, I believe I could understand. But it almost feels like a waste to introduce new things that won’t have a repeated lifespan in this regard.

Ironically, i actually very much agree with this. If there are, in essence, two different difficulty modes, then each of them should be rewarding enough to allow for repeatable experience.

Randulf.7614:

Ashantara.8731:

Randulf.7614:

Can’t say I am a fan of this idea.

Neither am I, as it is impossible to solo-farm (unless you manage to run through in a hurry, but even then you are bound to die eventually, and the nearest waypoint is on the opposite side of the map).

In their defence it is meant to be group farmed.

It’s just too badly done. Solo, it’s almost impossible to farm effectively, but in group it becomes laughably easy. There’s no real middle ground here.
“Challenging content” it is not. Merely a gate against solo players.

Sykper.6583:

Except that non-raiders who care about the story wouldn’t have cared for the introduction of the White Mantle Sect in Forsaken Thicket. LS3E1 made sure to drill into everyone’s heads that they were a non-factor, and whatever influence they had could be covered by Bennett.

It’s funny, because i got the exact opposite message from it. And infodumps by proxy made me feel even more sidelined.

LouWolfskin.3492:

I have no idea what the supposed problem is, in the last month alone i did this fight 4 to 5 times, some of it solo, some of it with friends and even the one time both of my partners died and i had to finish alone it worked without a problem.

Yes, sometimes it works okay. Sometimes however it doesn’t. For one, instares Garm on Migraine is really annoying.

Sykper.6583:

They could have tossed the entire raid, our first glimpse of the White Mantle would have been Episode 1 where we could have gotten a briefing just before going to the Fen.

Yes, as far as introduction to the story goes, that would have been a more equal approach.

Sykper.6583:

Having the Lazarus ‘unknown condition’ occur at the end of Forsaken Thicket was a very clever and important plot point to ensuring the raiders and non-raiders were on the same page about Lazarus’s condition until he showed up in Living Story alive.

Not quite. Non-raiders had no reason to even expect that anything with Lazarus was going on at all. Raiders on the other hand were thrown a lot of hints pointing to the LS story.
That’s not “being on the same page”.

I’d rather see most of the soulbound items become accountbound instead.

Sky.7610:

Your missing the point. You become rich by enriching others.

No, actually, you don’t. You become richer from the work of others. And you don’t make them richer, because no matter how those 99% of players work, in the end the remaining 1% will still keep getting richer at a faster rate, only increasing the wealth spread. In the end, all that money either gets destroyed, or ends up with you, so no, you do not help anyone besides yourself.

Sky.7610:

no, I’m saying if you are upset about inflation and things being too expensive (which you have a right to be), you need to attack the root of the problem rather than the hand that is trying to fix it.

The root of the problem, for many things, is that those things are expensive because prices on them are not set by average players, but by those top 1%.

Sky.7610:

for example, you would be stating to ANet as a possible solution that you as a player would like to see less intervention on the part of ANet by scaling back liquid gold as a reward in the free market and let the market correct itself via the invisible hand.

The “invisible hand of the market” that i so often feel pilfering gold from my pockets?

Sky.7610:

Printing money in masses might seem like a good idea in the short-term but you are the one to get hurt by it in the end.

Existence of a small number of people that control 90% of the game’s wealth hurts me far, far more.

cranos.5913:

Astralporing.1957:

I wouldn’t say Fractals are a side comment. As they took dungeons’ place in the game, they are something meant for most of the players to do (though, of course, not necessarily at higher fractal difficulties).

Isn’t that quite irrelevant? Both dungeons and fractals didn’t receive any real updates for 3 years before HoT. Sounds a lot like side-content to me.

I did mention that one too, indirectly, when i was talking about development in waves and bursts, and how the current development rate for fractals is unlikely to hold on for long.

Miellyn.6847:

Astralporing.1957:

Miellyn.6847:

Blaeys.3102:

It would only remove skill if it were the only option. By offering multiple tiers – through the idea of motes (which they have said they are open to using in raids) – it doesn’t remove anything at all. It just extends a new experience to more players.

And it extends the development cycle for raids. They already have one of the longest of any content right now.

On contrary, they have one of the shortest development cycles of any side content in this game (which, due to their exclusivity, they are). And it’s even shorter than development cycles for some of the main game modes (like WvW).

What is side content? What is main content? But if we consider Story and open world the main focus of PvE, the only other ‘side content’ would be fractals, which also get regular updates every LS update now. Last raid update was 8 months ago.

I wouldn’t say Fractals are a side comment. As they took dungeons’ place in the game, they are something meant for most of the players to do (though, of course, not necessarily at higher fractal difficulties). Raids on the other hand are not meant for everyone. Quite the opposite. As such, you can’t really expect Anet to put the same development importance on them, as they do for LS, for example.

(unless of course the initial assumption is wrong and they are meant to be far more of a mainstream content – in which case Anet really would need to work on their accessibility to the majority of players)

TL/DR; if you want them to stay as exclusive as they are now, you should be content with them being a sideshow only (and thus developed more slowly). If you want them to be something more important to the game (and thus developed at faster pace), you should expect changes to difficulty and general accessibility.

(also, Anet does things in waves and bursts. Don’t expect for Fractal development rate to hold on for long – as soon as they will end those that are in the current pipeline, we’ll likely have a cooldown period again. Which may also last a year or longer. Raids they seem to do in waves containing one full raid. They were coming at an extremely fast rate during Forgotten Thicket development, for example)

LouWolfskin.3492:

Astralporing.1957:

Besides, they have likely learned a lesson, and thus will probably include some goodies (like, again, a new character slot) to owners of the previous paid versions. This will likely satisfy veterans enough.

But why a new character slot? We can be pretty sure that there will be no new classes but only e-specs and they have said time and time again that they don’t want to include new races because it’s too much work an, apparently, doesn’t add enough game wise.

Several reasons.
1. it’s a “goodie” most commonly associated with expansion (due to gw1 history). Veterans will most likely either expect it, or at least not be surprised with it.
2. It’s something aimed primarily at veterans (new players are far less likely to need additional character slots)
3. It is just good enough that most players will accept it, but not so good that it would cause loud protests from those that won’t get it. (let’s face it, Anet is unlikely to offer something really valuable there)
4. and while there won’t be any new classes, there will be new elite specs. At least some people will make separate chars for them (unless, of course, they will be so OP that using core/current elites for anything will not be an option, which is a worry worthy of a separate thread)

Flawlessness.2061:

As it has been stated by several people, they don’t seem to see a problem with condi damage being a bit over bearing, lets refer to a burn guard as a example this spec can tic for 4+k damage. I’m all for the damage staying the same but if you are able to melt a player in 2-4 seconds that is the issue I am speaking about.

Power builds can melt you in 4 seconds too if you won’t use damage mitigation. And you forgot to mention, that while those burns will kill you that fast, applying them takes time as well.

Flawlessness.2061:

PvE is not where balance is needed in my opinion. I am not sure of the amount of players who choose PvE over WvW or PvP. However if the damage over time was adjusted it would minimally affect the PvE players and bring more stability to PvP and WvW play.

Majority of players play PvE. And the change you speak of would be a massive nerf to condi damage there (which is already inferior to power). Viper reapers, for example, still sore after the last changes, would likely disappear completely.

Besides, as mentioned, there are runesets and consumables that used together can reduce condition duration by 45%. And yet, people do not use them. What do you thing it means?

Besides, they have likely learned a lesson, and thus will probably include some goodies (like, again, a new character slot) to owners of the previous paid versions. This will likely satisfy veterans enough.

Miellyn.6847:

Blaeys.3102:

It would only remove skill if it were the only option. By offering multiple tiers – through the idea of motes (which they have said they are open to using in raids) – it doesn’t remove anything at all. It just extends a new experience to more players.

And it extends the development cycle for raids. They already have one of the longest of any content right now.

On contrary, they have one of the shortest development cycles of any side content in this game (which, due to their exclusivity, they are). And it’s even shorter than development cycles for some of the main game modes (like WvW).

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Can’t have challenging underwater combat until we have, you know, actual underwater combat. I like the idea I even like some of how ANet set it up. However, it’s plagued by problems, including that most profs lose a lot of skills below water. Revenant’s underwater capability seems to be only 50% complete.

Given that ANet already has its hands full with balancing PvE lite, fractal, & raid combat, not to mention PvP and WvW, it seems unlikely that they can tackle another mode (underwater) let alone two (underwater + raids).

The only way they might be able to do it is through expansion (at this moment we cannot really expect any major changes to the game outside of expansions). Of course, an underwater-based expansion is not very likely to happen anytime soon.

OriOri.8724:

Yes, you paid for HoT. You did not have to pay for LWS3, you did not have to pay for the new fractals, or the new current events, or the new maps that LWS3 brought with it.

LS3 and new maps it brought cannot be accessed without HoT.

Jus so you know, because you probably don’t remember it – the original launcher, while artistically better, was a massive cpu hog. Worse than full zerg 3-way in Stonemist.

Seeing as the OP said that “When you upgrade to HoT you’re straight up forced to never be able to do any of the original Tyria dailes ever again”, i doubt it was just a problem with not being clear enough.

OriOri.8724:

Astralporing.1957:

Remember, that the karma reward is only for doing a fractal below your personal level. This, for obvious reasons, cannot happen at fractal level 100

Why though? Why does it only reward you with karma for doing fractals below your fractal level?

That’s an old feature, from time when you got the old “3 random fractals + boss fractal” setup. If you were doing fractals on lower level than your personal, your normal rewards were capped to that fractal level. Instead, you got karma (at amount based on the difference between your personal and finished fractal level).
It was supposedly to offer something for those that grouped with newer players and helped them do the easier levels.

(that’s the reasoning behind, but from a purely mechanical point of view, it’s because the karma gain is based on level difference, and with level difference of 0 you get (value) x 0 karma)

Remember, that the karma reward is only for doing a fractal below your personal level. This, for obvious reasons, cannot happen at fractal level 100

Tatwi.3562:

LouWolfskin.3492:

Where do you get the impression that you are supposed to log in for the cash shop?

Advertising 101 (I used to work in print ad sales).

LouWolfskin.3492:

If you don’t want to log in, don’t log in, the reward “track” keeps on going and just moves on when you log in next, no harm done.

There are 365 days in the year. If I log in every day of the year, then in that year I will get 365 rewards. If I don’t log in every day, then I will get less than 365 rewards.

Sure. The people that play the game more will generally receive more rewards than those that play less. Unless you’d want to normalize that too?
I’m afraid that Anet’s not going to reward anyone for not playing. They are definitely not going to reward anyone for not even bothering to log in.

Alec B.8905:

I think loyal and combat medic were the first, loyal was first birthday and combat medic was revives in wvw/pvp/maybe pve.

Combat medic is a core skill and was in game at launch, and Loyal was, as you said, birthday title, introduced a year after launch, long after the abovementioned titles.

The first two titles introduced after launch should be Emmisary of the Mad King and Master Carver (both from the first halloween event, shortly after launch). Next ones should be Flame and frost (Avenger of the disposessed, Refugee Volunter), southsun (Southsun Stalwart and 2 Crab Toss titles, possibly some fractal ones i can’t remember offhand), and finally Wintersday (apprentice Toymaker, possibly some others)
Might have missed some, but the two Halloween ones are definitely the first ones.

Alchymista.8192:

Mr Greggles.5908:

Alchymista is right on this one guys. I’ve experienced the same bug when trying to solo the last boss of P1, and it happened a couple more times when I invited a few more people in after getting sick of the resetting. Even when pulled correctly, she seems to de-agro for no reason at any stage of the fight. It isn’t rare, it happens randomly during a prolonged fight with her.

I wouldn’t say it’s anything to be concerned about, since a full group shouldn’t run into this problem very often, but when you’re doing it with less people, the bug is quite apparent.

Try soloing it yourself, if you don’t believe me.

FINALLY SOMEONE
Thank you.

You haven’t even bothered to read Nokaru’s explanation, did you?
It’s not a bug. It’s you misunderstanding how leash mechanics work.

Bruno.3812:

Astralporing.1957:

Bruno.3812:

Menadena.7482:

So the question basically comes down to if a HOT cycle REPLACES what is in the GW2 cycle or ADDS to it? Simple solution. Look at the days a HOT zone does not come up to see if they are in sync or not. Admittedly I have not looked closely (except on mystic forge days, which is the same on both accounts) but my two accounts (HOT and non-HOT) are on the same screen at the same time at reset and when I notice a difference it has always been because it was a HOT zone daily.

Wouldn’t it have to replace unless they added another daily option for those that have HOT? Since they didn’t add another daily option then obviously it’s going to replace a core daily.

There’s a massive difference between replacing a daily on a given day or removing core dailies in general.

Say, you have a bag with a lot of white marbles inside. Every day you pick a marble from the bag, look at it, and throw it back inside. Now, someone went and thrown a lot of black marbles inside that bag. On some days from now on, when you pick a marble, you will end with a black one instead of white. Does that mean, that the black marbles replaced the white ones?

For some reason some people in this thread seem to claim that it does.

Depends how you define replace. If both have 4 PvE options and on a particular day non HoT owners have 4 core dailies and HoT owners have 3 core and one HoT then you can argue it replaces the core daily as it takes the place of a core daily they would have otherwise gotten.

OP was very clear on the definition.

Tatwi.3562:

For some strange reason, it appears that ArenaNet chose to disable the dailies that take place in the orignal Tyria zones as part of the Heart of Thorns expansion. When you upgrade to HoT you’re straight up forced to never be able to do any of the original Tyria dailes ever again, even on low level characters that can’t even access HoT. You will always find HoT dailies in their place.

Seriously, i don’t know why it’s still being debated.

Unlikely. The time for those achieves ran out in the previous season. They were supposed to be removed and an additional way of obtaining the backpack made, but instead Anet decided to just tweak them a little and let them stay. As such, it’s likely that they will stay at least until the end of this league year (so, 3 seasons more), possibly indefinitely.

Bruno.3812:

Menadena.7482:

So the question basically comes down to if a HOT cycle REPLACES what is in the GW2 cycle or ADDS to it? Simple solution. Look at the days a HOT zone does not come up to see if they are in sync or not. Admittedly I have not looked closely (except on mystic forge days, which is the same on both accounts) but my two accounts (HOT and non-HOT) are on the same screen at the same time at reset and when I notice a difference it has always been because it was a HOT zone daily.

Wouldn’t it have to replace unless they added another daily option for those that have HOT? Since they didn’t add another daily option then obviously it’s going to replace a core daily.

There’s a massive difference between replacing a daily on a given day or removing core dailies in general.

Say, you have a bag with a lot of white marbles inside. Every day you pick a marble from the bag, look at it, and throw it back inside. Now, someone went and thrown a lot of black marbles inside that bag. On some days from now on, when you pick a marble, you will end with a black one instead of white. Does that mean, that the black marbles replaced the white ones?

For some reason some people in this thread seem to claim that it does.

Supreme.3164:

You talk about GW1 elitism as a bad thing…it had its disadvantages but the main benefit was filtering of true pvpers from the rest.

And it did filter them… right out into oblivion.

They wouldn’t have that option, though, as the matchmaker would usually not be able to pair them with anyone. Remember, that for this to work there would have to be not only enough people that chose the same language option in queue at the same moment, but also enough people that chose the same language and are within close MMR range.

Besides, considering how low those numbers would be, it would be too easy to game the system by changing your language settings and queuing at the same time, thus getting a full team in a game mode that allows only solos and duos.

The point isn’t that you killed someone in WvW. That is expected behaviour, after all. It’s the fact that you decided to gloat about it on forums in thread about reasons why people don’t like WvW/PvP.
Personally, i didn’t see anything in this scene to be proud of enough to share with others. That you did, tells me something about you.

And honestly, it underscored really nicely what other people were talking about in this thread.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Yes, the ones available are adequate. It’s the ability to get exactly the mix of professions that you want that the mercenaries offer. I had a mercenary team of necros/ritualists to do death magic, minions, ritualist healing that allowed me to roll right over most content. A profession combination that’s impossible with only in game heroes.

You won’t have ritualist mercenaries with only prophecies and EotN. You might have a single ritualist hero, but without access to factions’ (and nightfall’s) rit skills she would be severely underused.

If you have additional money to invest, it’s better to start with Nightfall and Factions for the heroes and skills (and lore, and additional HoM points opportunities), instead of going straight for Mercenaries.
The standard player+3necro/2mes/2rit setup will afk-steamroll 99% of the normal difficulty content anyway.

Crinn.7864:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Let’s face it. Elite specs are not going to be nerfed too much, because that reduces their appeal, which could (will) diminish sales..

I see this idea everywhere, and it’s wrong.

There is no data or evendience that links power with sales. Class balance and power is the concern of existing customers not potential customers.

Nobody says “Hey that expac has a cool trailer, I wonder what the balance is like.” Flashy trailers and content are what sell copies. If GW2’s F2P is engaging enough players will buy into the expac regardless of elites, simply to access the content. If they aren’t interested in the content then they probably won’t buy regardless of what elites are like.

Unless you’re a PvP player. In which case, you need to buy HoT merely to be on the same playing field as your competitors.

maddoctor.2738:

Earth is supposed to be the condition and toughness trait line but there is no competitive condition damage build for Eles. They could make it so Earth and Fire are the go-to trait lines for an Ele condition damage build. That’s the kind of buff I’m talking about.

Then the condi build would use Fire, Earth, and Tempest traitlines.

maddoctor.2738:

If they can’t buff Earth because it will still use Tempest as the third spec, then the only way Eles will ever get a valid condition specialization would be in a future elite spec. Why do we have to wait for another elite spec to get a valid condition damage build for Eles?

We don’t, but we were not talking about buffing up unused traits and traitlines (which, by the way, i fully agree with). We were talking about how elite specs are or aren’t OP compared to core. And in this discussion, buffing the core traitlines for specific roles will not change much.