Guild Wars 2

Lux Dominatoris.3941:

(GW1) was and still is as of today very easy after the introduction of heroes, PvE only elites and title skills/buffs along with consumables.

True, but I was able to enjoy much more of GW1’s content due to things like heroes. For example: by the time I joined finding a pug to capture an elite was near impossible.

Lux Dominatoris.3941:

I would like to suggest that you are just jealous of people being better at a certain part of the content. Chances are a person who does not likes raids is at the moment not liking fractals/dungeons. Why would you NEED the new armor? For open world? It makes an galactic difference I am sure. For the QoL stat change? For where, again Open World? Since the only place that QoL would be useful is the content you do not play.

I disagree, I am not jealous of your ability to learn and play boss encounters, I just don’t find them fun. For the most part I’m not too bothered that there are so many rewards associated with dungeons and fractals that can only be obtained by completing them. Sure I’d like some, but I’m put off by the need to replay multiple times content I don’t enjoy.

Would I like to be able to get Legendary armor? Sure, it’d be really cool. Am I bothered by Legendary Armor being rewards for Raids? No, not particularly, I get it, it gives people a target to aim for. I guess I’ll just live without.

Please understand though that if some of the best looking (obviously IMO, and yet to be seen) Armor skins in the game are restricted to Raids (as with Dungeons), that I will be a little disappointed. I’m pretty sure everyone, regardless of content they play, like to make their characters look cool.

Also, you’re right – I don’t need the stat change of Legendary items, but it’s nice to have. Same as anyone who raids, it’s nice but not essential.

Lux Dominatoris.3941:

No more entitlement, more exclusivity. Let the only barrier that a casual player should met in this exclusivity, be its own stubbornness and refusal (on various reasons), and not because the game does not permit or if it does, it takes galactic effort.

Except there are very real barriers to Dungeons and Raids specifically, which make it hard to engage with – the time required to sit and play through them in one sitting. For those able to set aside whole evenings and weekends to group content, this is not an issue. For some players, trying to find a 2 hour slot to play continuously may be very hard. It certainly is for me.

You can keep your exclusive items for Raids and Dungeons, but please, drop the exclusive attitude.

Build templates or wardrobe would be really helpful. Would be amazing to be able to switch build and/or armor/weapons quickly between different content.

I know it’s a popular request, and a feature I really miss from GW1 where I could create builds for different enemy types. Hopefully the team at ArenaNet are working on it.

I’m happy for you.

I’m a casual myself, and don’t see any appeal to dungeons, fractals, or raids, so I just hope there will be ways for me to obtain the new shinies like the Legendary Weapons and Armor without having to pug, it’s a nightmare for my main Ranger.

Personally I’m hoping that the guard outfit is given to any new player who buys the game.

I think exclusivity just breeds elitism. People need to learn to share their toys. So what if everyone else has the outfit? If you like it, use it, if not, carry on as you were.

It’s a nice little gift from ArenaNet; I just hope everyone gets to enjoy it if they want to.

Anything outside of GW2 changed? Have you upgraded to Windows 10? It could just as easily be an issue outside of GW2 that is impacting performance.

I am having similar issues with cut-scene audio particularly where the audio for any dialog line that references the player character (e.g initiate, commander, etc) will not play.

All other audio lines play fine.

Found a bug in Temple of the Forgotten God story step that seems to be blocking my progress through the story.

After clearing the first room in the Cathedral of Hidden Depths, the wiki states I should be able to interact with the Abaddon Shrine to spawn a Devoted of the Deeps. However, Sayeh al’Rajihd seems to be stuck in combat mode, as her dialogue still states ‘Time to fight, Commander.’

Interacting with the statue only brings up a description from Sayeh.

I’d check if you have any software that’s recording game video in the background. I had FPS issues until uninstalling the AMD Evolved client that was recording the last 30 seconds of gameplay all the time. Windows 10 can do this natively, so I wonder if it was conflicting.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, looks like it might just be easier for me to gift gems.

Shame really, as it should be possible for the BLTC to give a warning if a skin item is already unlocked on the recipient’s account.

I would if I were confident refunds would be given.

Guess I’ll just have to try and see what happens.

Looking for a bit of advice.

I’m planning to gift the upcoming wedding outfit to a couple of friends, but was wondering if the store will tell me if my friends already have unlocked the outfit?

If not it’d be a waste if my friends have already bought it by the time I gift it.

WvW Tournament
SAB
Dragon Bash
Pavillion

Any of these would be fun to do for a few weeks over the summer.

Literally anything is good at this point to distract from the waiting game.

Jaken.6801:

I would be fine if they just re-released the Artbooks.

Please this, a re-print would be amazing. I’ve been trying to get hold of one for a long time!

Thanks for the tips, have gone with a Sword/Focus + GS combo with Speed sigils for the swiftness, I find it keeps me engaged as I run around the maps, picking off odd mobs along the way to maintain swiftness. Currently using mischief for the other sigil, which gives extra blind, but might swap these out for something else.

Also went with the snowfall runes for fall damage reduction, so much fun being able to jump almost anywhere

Still working on traits + skills,.

Hi Guys,
I’m putting together a build to take my Guardian through world completion and Jumping Puzzles. Wanted to get some of your thoughts and opinions. There’s probably some decisions I’ve made that will seem strange or odd, so l’ll try and explain.

The build at the moment:

Armor: Beserker w/ Snowfall runes (falling damage reduction)
Weapons: Beserker – Sword/Torch + Mace/Focus w/ Speed + Stamina sigils
Trinkets: Beserker

Traits:
Zeal: 2 – III – Protectors Impact (fall damage)
Radiance: 6 – VI -Blind Exposure, X – Powerful Blades, XI – Right-Hand Strength
Valor: 4 – II – Defender’s Flame, VII Mace of Justice
Honor: 2 – II – Superior Aria
Virtues: 0

Skills:
Signet of Resolve
Retreat
Purging Flames
Stand Your Ground
Renewed Focus

Explanation:
I wanted to craft a build that was reasonably cheap, provided some fun active mob engages for heart completion, and provided good mobility.
I like the speed of the sword/mace compared to the slower 2H weapons, so have tried to build around that. Fall damage reduction is to assist with JP’s and again for fun running around the world. Speed/Stamina sigils are to provide mobility both in and after combat.
I’ve tried to pick traits/skills that play around use of Burning, Aegis and Condi Cleanse, as to me they reflect the core of the Guardian concept, and will be using the map completion time to practice using Aegis/Blind/Retaliation more strategically.

Bearing I mind this in no way a Meta build, are there ways I could improve the synergy/fun of the build in terms of mobility, clearing mobs, and survive-ability through active defense?

still wishing they’d add a Herioc Edition upgrade to the Gem store for those of us who bought a plain boxed copy before they changed to heroic.

^ Would love to see this sort of setup for S1. S2 worked well for me as I like to take time running through story content and talk to npc’s, which I felt in S1 wasn’t as easy to do.

I do think that all Story content should really have the date shown as an intro to help keep the timeline clear though. I know it’s in the journal, but I’m guessing not everyone reads that.

I think at this point it would be interesting to hear what John’s thoughts are on the discussion so far, and whether we’re hitting the right balance between discussing conceptual ideas and potential implementations of those ideas.

Syzygy.5031:

Meanwhile half the players are crazy running from event to event tagging 2 mobs at each to get maxiumum returns and the other half are zerging.

T6 maps are a little more organised about it, but that doesn’t make the components any more fun.

I honestly don’t understand why people like this when so many complained about things like pavilion and clockwork chaos. Personally I far preferred both of those.

Thats interesting, I’ve never actually been in a T6 map, think the best group I was part of once got T5, (I’m not part of a large guild and have limited, sporadic playtime available) so haven’t seen people event tagging myself.

Pavillion had a similar problem in that except for organised Gold runs (which again, I could never find my way into), everyone just opted for making sure to get kill credit for every boss rather than splitting up into groups.

Makes me wonder if a better reward structure for Dry top would be to gain a bigger bonus chest for each level of Zephyrite favour obtained (if you participated in the events) rather than per event?

Random Wax Orc.7695:

These events actually have to happen, and not for just for a rare few players. Players who spend thousands of hours playing GW2 and have never had anything fantastic happen are the real product of the RNG system. There is also a point, one which I have long passed, where if something fantastic happens, it will not be enough to make up for all the past events. There is no way the unlucky masses will get a fantastic event that will make them as or more fortunate than the few who have already repeatedly found fortune.

I agree with you on this, but I don’t think that it’s wrong by itself. Even if a fraction of rewards we obtained by playing were based on RNG, there would still be the lucky & unlucky, the winners and losers. So to me the issue is very much the current system where the most highly demanded items cannot be obtained in any other fashion than luck.

Being lucky is a fun bonus to a reward structure, but shouldn’t be the sole keeper of desirable rewards. In my opinion, this would negate much of player frustration with the current system, if rewards were obtainable by other means.

Case in point is the repeated calls for Precursor crafting – players simply want a method to obtain a desirable reward that will still cost them significantly, but is predictable.

I don’t share the same desire for precursors, but I do think they are the driver for most of the vocal frustration with RNG at present.

The pets in Trick or Treat bags are a good example too:
Zuzu is available from ToT, or for Cobs, but Gwynefyrdd seems to be only available via ToT bags. I wonder why the decision was made to do that rather than add him to the merchant for say 100-200 Cobs – still much harder to obtain, and costly, but alleviates the concerns of those who desperately want one but worry they may never be able to get it.

Just want to add my appreciation to this thread – a fun read and great to see the excitement shared between players and John.

China’s Halloween patch must be quite different then!

The value in ascended isn’t really the stats for me, but the fact that it’s account bound, so I can switch between characters without having to acquire a whole new set of armor, trinkets and weapons.

Duncanmix.5238:

Sensitive word somehow reminded me of Tengu race. They are all protective and having guards on gates all the times. Like someone already mentioned it could be that tengu spoon.
Another interesting possibility, there is tengu skill point near caledon forest bay. So even though it don’t drop scroll of knowledge it does give skill points. I might be way off here, but could it be scroll of knowledge.

Think you might be onto something here, or at least, I hope so -anything to do with the Tengu is good.

Zaxares.5419:

For me, I only ever intend on crafting ONE Ascended gear set, so my aim is to make it as generically useful as possible. This means I’m crafting a mixed armor set of various different stats, although I’ll be using Berserker for the chest piece and Sentinel for the leggings, so it leans a bit more towards offense. I’m still keeping several other armor sets for niche builds like conditions or healing, but I’ll just be using Exotic for those.

This is the kind of approach I was looking at taking, though I did wonder about whether Celestial would suit me. Think I’ll need to sit down and work out what stats to mix ‘n’ match.

Khisanth.2948:

Tokens are nice in the short term but after a while you just run out of things to do with them. Look at dungeon tokens. After a while all they are good for is for you to buy the rare/exotic gear and salvage them.

This is true – but people still do the dungeons for the Gold and/or chance at a Rare drop. Which makes me think that those players must be getting frustrated with both the RNG system AND the token system – so to me the issue is with the token system, not the RNG, as the token system is not serving its purpose well at rewarding the player.

Would it help if tokens could also be used to buy Account Bound versions of the dungeon exclusive drops? Or would that kill the thrill of the RNG when you do get a rare/exclusive drop?

munkiman.3068:

Regardless, farming will always be a thing in most games, it’s not going to magically go away. Whether you call it tokens, junk, gold, materials, etc.

True, farming will always occur, and min-max crowds will always try and find optimal pathways to rewards, but I think there are steps that can be taken in the system design that can encourage or discourage farming in terms of singular content farms.

My preference is to encourage playing, where possible, so trying to equalise rewards across content so that players are free to take part in varied content whilst working toward personal goals.

Some great posts here, I’m drawing on ideas mentioned by Zaxares on SAB rewards, and Wanze on reward tracks.

I think I would look at the issue of RNG and player reward from a different perspective. RNG is a tool to serve a purpose, so the question is, how do we want to reward players, and does RNG accomplish those goals, or is another tool more suitable?

So what do we want to reward players for? My list would be

• Participation/Success
• Determination/Perseverance
• Luck

RNG as a tool serves Luck rewards very well, i think that much is pretty obvious, but it doesn’t do well at rewarding the others.

Take Dungeons as an example, on completing a dungeon, Tokens, Gold, and RNG Loot are all awarded for completing the dungeon. Tokens are a great way to motivate replaying content, and Gold satisfies a good instant reward for success, whether or not the player gets lucky with the Loot.

Open world rewards are a little different – Karma (a token system), Gold, and Loot are rewards, but the weighting is more toward Karma than Gold. WvW is different again, trading some RNG Loot for WvW tokens

This is where another philosophy question comes in – if we’re trying to encourage players to play a diverse mix of content, how do we balance rewards across different aspects of the game?

• Option 1 is to allow tokens to be exchanged from one type to another, so players can choose which rewards they want to work toward and sacrifice one set of tokens to get closer to their goal.

• Option 2 would be to open up loot tables so that rare RNG drops from content can be worked towards with Tokens from that content.

This is partly why I think Tokens are not valued at the moment, and also the main source of player frustration – because players can’t work towards what they want, they are stuck with hoping the RNG Gods smile on them.

To make this work, it might be necessary to make all items obtained with tokens account bound on acquire to avoid a big disruption to the TP, and also ensure that the determination to earn tokens has a value, as trading Gold for a reward should still be something that needs to be worked towards.

• Option 3 could be global reward tracks, like Achievement Points. I enjoy working toward the next reward and having to make a choice of the skins available as Rewards. I agree with Wanze’s comment though that repeatable reward tracks like those in sPvP might not work so well in other game areas, as they have the potential to encourage farming particular areas, which goes against the philosophy outlined above.

I’ve not addressed precursors because I think the frustration with those is not because RNG is bad, but because it is currently the only system that allows players to obtain them (and therefore trade). If the aim of legendary weapons is to reward determination and participation, then account bound versions could be added as high-cost karma rewards (as an example)

tl:dr
I think the dissatisfaction with RNG isn’t stemming from RNG being the wrong system, but that there are RNG-based rewards that are not obtainable through other means, which makes players dependent on RNG and Luck. Removing the dependency by opening up token-based reward tables to cover RNG Loot solves this problem

GW2 has lots of reward structures, it’s just that some of them don’t play nice together, so players can end up feeling stuck/dissatisfied/unrewarded because they content they enjoy doesn’t allow then to work toward the reward they would like.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Another VIP request revealed.

This looks is amazing!

Thanks for this thread RoyalPredator, some great ideas here to take inspiration from.

Now to start getting myself some nice dyes…

jackaljag.8637:

I think for most game modes and most professions the consensus is zerk trinkets and then tanky armor if the tankishness is needed, so you could also consider having a second set of zerk trinks and spare yourself switching it around between your characters.

Thanks, seems like it might be a good option for me, especially since I’m using Exotic armor at the moment, which is relatively easy to change. Not having to switch items around all the time would be good too.

I’ll just have to decide whether or not I care about getting ascended armor. If i were to make a set, would it work to go Berserker Armor and tanky trinkets for WvW? Then the armor could be used for both PvE and WvW.

I’m aware I can get them through Guild commendations, but a rarely able to log on during the time my Guilds do them.

I’m wondering primarily about whether people think a particular Stat set of trinkets is worth investing in.

If you like the look of the Karma Armor, might as well get it, it’ll unlock the skins for you to use on other characters, or on an Ascended set if you do get that later on.

So thanks to the WvW Tournament reward tokens, I’ve just been able to pick up the accessories to finish my set of Beserker trinkets.

I still have some tokens left though, and have quite a few laurels. I was wondering what people’s opinions are on if there’s a good stat to start collecting a second set of trinkets.

I currently play a Ranger and a Guardian, both with Berserker (PvE) and Soldier (WvW) armor sets, (though thinking of moving to Knights’ for WvW) & Beserker weapons

I was wondering about Knight’s, Captain’s, or maybe Celestial in case I roll an Ele later on.

Any suggestions?

Is there a reason why these armor sets are Rare rather than Exotic?

Given the cost of the Cultural T3 armor, I expected it to be Exotic gear, the Order armor maybe not, but it’s still confusing given that they are only available at level 80.

I’ve waited to buy the Vigil armor , but now find its worse than my crafted Draconic set which is disappointing, as I’m just paying for unlocking the skins, not even a copy of the skin I can apply to something else.

It would have made more sense if the order armor was Level 60 anyway in terms of story

I like the removal of specific requirements from the achievements – I’m just getting in to WvW, but its nice to know I can join and contribute to the current objective and be rewarded for it.

This makes more sense to me than being encouraged to camp caravans etc, as I’d rather people were doing what needed to be done for the success of the server rather than to line their own pockets.

I think there could be a way to reward those who commit more time to the tournament, either in making the achievements repeatable, or having tiers (e.g. 5 Events, 25 Events, 50 Events, 100 Events, etc) which rewarded players in a different way, like a bonus chest with look specific to the tournament.

That way there is still the encouraging of new/occaisional WvW players to contribute, but also a reward for dedicated WvW players to enjoy and keep them motivated even if their server falls behind.

What’s wrong with the dungeon armor sets?

+1, I would like to see the Gem Store upgrade discounted too.

OP’s suggestions, would work much better as weekly/monthly. I don’t mind having specific objectives, as long as I have the freedom to choose when to do them.

Hugh Norfolk.2798:

FeelsAlright.5860:

Lolololololol someone says gems and look who shows up.

This makes me sad if nothing else. I want to start a conversation between players and developer and instead I get bad mannered. I still love you though.

I do think this is harsh, but in fairness, it had been a month prior to your post since you had contributed to a conversation. You post was perfectly fine, but you jumped into an issue that has grown over a long period of time, which is that game change suggestion only seem to be listened to if they can be implemented as Gem Store transactions.

Hugh Norfolk.2798:

Ondriam.9862:

Agreed. I would even pay a one-time (or yearly, or whatever) fee in gems to have a pass to a restricted area with a bank and a TP. Just stop making me load 2-3 maps every time i have to do something.

Do you think this would cause any uproar in the community if we did a change like this, and if it did can you think of a better way to implement it?

Wild Throw.9437:

Why complain about having a bank in the mists? I would say MOST people can just press “B” click their home BL then run right around the corner to the armorsmithing station and bam…a bank. And it is free, so just give the PvP pop a bank as well. I know I would sure love one.

Someone already put up a good argument point for this statement, that WvW isn’t always accessible. Sometimes there is a queue which for players in a hurry will cause them to spend some silver to get to a place with a bank instead of going to WvW for free.

Okay, let’s start a conversation then. Hugh, what do you think about gating bank access behind a gem payment? Why are you worried about community uproar in this instance?

These are the questions i’m thinking about:

• Would implementing Mists bank access impact the game economy by altering WP usage for PvE players? (I already just use WvW to access merchants/bank, but not sure what proportion of players do, or would be likely to change)
• Does the current activity of switching maps serve our players well? e.g. what feeling does it generate?
• Does switching maps have an impact on server performance?
• How do ArenaNet decide between what is a ‘convenience item’ and what is a QoL or Core game change?
• Do the current bank access gem items serve this purpose already?

My thought is that the bank is a core game function, and while it is available to players by switching to PvE cities, many players do not appreciate or enjoy the time taken to switch. I think asking for gems to access this would divide the community, some would be happy to pay, whilst others would be dissatisfied that they are being asked to pay more for a service that other players can access readily with more convenience.

Adding bank access for all players to me seems the best route, as to me happy players make good customers, whereas dissatisfied players make for disgruntled customers. If people are enjoying the core game and see a gem store service/item they want , they are more likely to buy it.

Also, from a PvE perspective, i do feel guilty queueing for WvW just to use traders, as I’m denying someone a space who may genuinely be wanting to play WvW, which seems a bit harsh, but I still want to save my 3-4 silver!

Thanks for the info! I had forgotten that the Zephyrites may have stopped in Cantha before coming to the Festival.

There are clearly lots of areas that could be developed further as the world and story progress. I just hope these avenues are explored rather than remaining solely focused on the current areas of the world (and destroying them all, it seems sometimes).

The Blood Legion headquarters are supposedly east of the Blazeridge Mountains, but I suspect we’d know if they were heavily fighting Kralk.

I was under the impression though that Elona lay mostly south of the Brand through the Crystal Desert, rather than east.

I’d really like to see the story make use of the Chantry of Secrets and the ‘Threat Map’ that the order have there.

There’s some great suggestions in a reddit thread

Tulki and Theoclymenus’s suggestions stand out, which i’ll summarise:

• Make players able to select a specific trait unlock challenge and have a trait marker appear on the map until deselected or acquired. (like the personal waypoint marker, but use the trait logo)
• Instead of trait challenges unlocking a specific trait, allow them to grant a ‘trait tome’ or similar item that allows the player to choose a trait from the appropriate tier to unlock

I really like the second suggestion by Theoclymenus, it would achieve the goal of encouraging mixed play and world exploration, whilst also allowing more build personalisation while leveling.

I seriously don’t know how people manage to fit so much in to their play time, usually I just have to choose one of the following:

• complete the dailies
• do a couple of minor world bosses
• try and find a dungeon group
• complete a personal story / living world step
• level my crafting

If i’m lucky the dailies come whilst doing one of the others. Usually not all 5 though.

As much as I’m enjoying the Living World updates, I’ve been thinking more about what the other parts of the world are up to. We know Elona is supposedly busy fighting Palawa Joko, but what’s going on everywhere else?

• Are the Largos helping the Canthans fend off the Deep Sea Dragon’s minions?
• Are there any more Kodan still up north fighting Jormag?
• Is Kralkatorrik being distracted by fighting another group?

It seems there is a vast world to explore, that presumably is all going to be affected by the Elder Dragons, but at the moment it seems that only the continent of Tyria even care about them.

Whether its is using the Living World updates or an Expansion, I would like to see more of what is going on elsewhere in the world. (Anet could use both formats together and use the living world to build up to a release of an expansion with a second personal story campaign.)

Ayrilana.1396:

The bank access although it’s only for two weeks.

Oh ok, I thought this was just a one off, but I see now from the wiki that you get one for each new character.

Presumably it just helps speed up dumping things to the bank before re-rolling?

Brother Grimm.5176:

Not sure what version of the game you have, but the upgrade to the Hero’s edition makes key runs a cake walk…..(if you are interested in investing time to earn BL keys….I would never suggest actually buying them).

Could you explain how the upgrade edition helps? I’ve considered buying the deluxe upgrade, but didn’t see anything particularly useful in it.

Zackie.8923:

just go eotm till 80, i took like 30 hours which is around 3 days of play

Thanks, I just choked on my tea. 10 hours a day! i’m lucky if I can spare 2 hours a day.

There are likely less emotes in GW2 as each one has to work for 5 races, compared to GW1 where all emotes where all PCs were human.

Rauderi.8706:

tofumon.5924:

Vayne.8563:

Bottom line is you can level to 80 with minimal traits and still do just fine.

Except it’s boring as hell. Point of leveling up is to get cool stuff like skills/traits and you got that feeling with the old trait system starting from level 11. Now you don’t even start getting traits until 30 and you have to level up 6 times before another trait point comes your way. Feels way too slow.

I mentioned it before, and other people recognize it, too. Between 20 and 60, half the game, progression feels dead. Sure, you get elite skills and a single trait point at 30, but they’re meaningless in most cases. A minor trait and a long-cooldown, short effect ability? Pft. And then it’s nothing but a long weight. By 30, you have all the utility skills you actually want, so each level after 30 just feels painful.

Not that I’m a big proponent of the 1-point-every-level thing (that is so old-school WoW), but as it is, after the 20-30 stretch, this is what we have to look forward to:

Trait point (which may not even have an actual trait) every 6 levels.
Gear upgrade (catch as catch can) every 5 to 10 levels.
A dungeon unlock every 10 levels.
. . .And that’s about it.

And to top it off, I hit 48 last night in my ranger experiment. I didn’t have a Power trait opened, but that’s where I’m headed with the build. It was really …disappointing. The thing I was supposed to get anticipation out of was completely useless. And I’m still not done with Lornar’s Pass, which is what my friend needs for his trait.

It made me actually sit down and think “Is this game even fun anymore?”

I’m in the same boat. To me the new trait system just completely dominates the way I have to level. Want trait III in line 1? Oh, you better plan on leveling in Gendarren then. Before I create a character I pretty much can plan out every single part of the leveling process now in order to at least get a few useful traits on the way to 80. It takes the fun out of leveling

Compared to my previous character where it felt like a more significant choice where I would explore zones at my leisure and jump between zones when I felt like it. Not to mention that I could spend a couple levels trying out a different build, then switch again whenever I felt like it.