Guild Wars 2

Chorel.1720:

Writetyper.1985:

Chorel.1720:

Finally starting to turn into a game that it should have been at launch.

But this doesn’t actually fix any of the core problems with the game… it’s just… skirting around the big issues. I hate to use the term "polished kitten because it’s potentially too strong, but holy kitten this game is a big pile of greatness washed over with a bucket of wasted potential and letting us preview things isn’t going to help that any time soon.

Starting to.. still have TONS to do to make it better. I’ve personally given up on them fixing the big issues. It seems they’d rather nerf than fix.

I think chipping away at the mountain of issues is still a step in the right direction. Even one fix is still one tick off the huge list.

By the way, what are the big issues you’re pointing at? I’d just like you to name them. By asking this, I am in no shape or form saying the game is perfect, far from it. I have my own gripes with the game, but I’d just like to know what you think is still wrong with the game.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Not snuck in at all. They’ve advertised this addition on Facebook and Twitter (and maybe the forums as well?)

You’re not really paying attention to what you read, and sadly this goes for a lot of people that posted here as well.

First, if you’ll look over here:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/february-2013/
I pointed out that the preview feature has recently been added to the February update list, as it wasn’t there when the page was first added. I said nothing about it not being mentioned before.

Next people rushed into the game to see whether it’s there or not… Again, my post was referring to the February update features list.

So please guys, please pay attention to what you read before you comment.

Did anyone look at the February content as of late? Did anyone notice this perchance:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/february-2013/

Preview Items in the Trading Post

Try before you buy! You’ll have the ability to preview items in the Trading Post before you buy them. Simply right-click an item icon and select “Preview” to see the item equipped on your character. Check out how a weapon looks by itself, how it looks when sheathed, and how it looks when wielded by your character.

They must have snuck it in there while we weren’t looking.

Edit: Added the link for clarity.

kiba.2768:

Toxyn.9608:

kiba.2768:

Toxyn.9608:

4 Power, sure, is pointless compared to 20% Magic Find. However 5 Agony Resistance trumps 20% Magic Find.

you’re assuming that everyone plays fractals?

The OP specifically mentions MF use in dungeons. FotM is a dungeon that requires AR.

fractals are 1 of 9 dungeons last i checked

Yeah, I’ve run into some hardcore dungeon runners, and they don’t set foot near fractals.

Hawkian.6580:

I think the Largos are pretty awesome so I shall put the tally at 2-1 against.

I agree, they’re a good addition to Tyria. The only “problem” I’d say is that they’re not really fleshed out yet. The whole mystery behind them also make them feel a bit bare bones. When ANet goes a bit more into them, then they’ll really start to shine.

Emerge.9640:

Stopped reading once guild missions was announced PvE only. I’m out if the March patch doesn’t deliver.

Well, Colin said guild missions are PvE exclusive when it launches, but he also said that it will branch out to other areas of the game. PvE is an ‘easy’ platform to launch it for, and when it goes over to WvW, then it’s going to be great. Just be patient.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Avatar.1923:

what kind of “reward” do you want?

Chest rewards that would make me happy include greens, yellows, golds, rare crafting items, T6 crafting items, BLSK, boosters (non-glory), mini-pets, food, cosmetics, weapon skins, and anything I can sell on the TP for more than 3g.

More greens – Yes.
More yellows – Hell Yes!
More golds – Rather not.
You mentioned selling items from more than 3g, but giving exotics more readily away will only lower their worth that much more.

But I agree, it would be great if ANet placed more emphasis on making chest attractive. I’m all forT6 mats, BL keys, boosts, skins, cosmetic items, unique consumables, and minis. Why not add dyes in there as well. I think it would be great if minis were introduced into the world through chests.
I’m also not saying these should be throw around like crazy, but it would be nice if every chest had at least one of these items.

Maybe these rewards should also be introduced as drops, albeit at a modest rate.

Vorch.2985:

If all I got was a last online notification, I’d be happy.

If I got a guild calendar as well, I’d be elated. Even if it was only a week or 2 week calendar.

Really, both of these need to be implemented to help keep everyone up-to-date.

Seconded. These two features are prime in keeping a guild running efficiently.
A calendar will help a lot when we’re planning our weekly events. And the showing the last online date will help our officers keep the guild clean, as we now have a bi-monthly call out to see who is still playing, and it feels so unnecessary.

Meglobob.8620:

All the tasks in the dailies are easy…I just don’t understand comprehend how anyone can complain about the aquatic (my personal favourite, I NEVER die underwater, its easier than land combat) or dodge (have done it in less then 10secs loads of times), the longest to do is probably the gather really…

Also with the visiting laurel vendor its Anets way of making sure everyone knows about them and where they are, probably only in this months daily…

I avoid the water because the fights feel like they take extra long with my guardian. Plus, the normal kills I get while I accomplish the other tasks, so going under water just feels awkward, for me.
I really don’t mind dodge, I usually just get it from a gathering of enemies, or a few turrets. But having it with the healer one at the same time just feels a bit like busy work.
Gather I don’t despise, I kinda like it, it goes fast.
I mentioned Laurel, because I usually log off in LA, so it’s always the first one I get on a Thursdays.

All in all, I like it, and it’ll only get better the 26th.

Firegoth.6427:

Vol.5241:

Unfortunately there will be several smaller, casual guilds who will complain that the larger scale content is too difficult. Just wait!

They got no room for any complains.

A small guild is just as good as a party of 5 people doing an event.
Anet’s goal is to increase guild sizes and create notoriety in the server, rather than people sticking to the small guilds. And so – increasing in size.

Not to mention, you can join multiple guilds. Why not join a larger guild and do events with them from time to time.

My biggest gripe is having specific dailies set to each day of the week. It got me into a habit of which days I prefer over which and some being better than others.
Ugh, Monday and Saturdays… aquatic kills
Thursday laurel vendor freebee
Tuesday and Sunday dodger and healer :/
Wednesday and Saturday veteran kills ’-_-
You get the idea…

So I can’t wait to have them set for each day of the month!

The only thing I can possibly see is some form of arcane heavy fighter. He can be ranged and melee, or somewhere in the middle. What sets him apart would be some sort of augmented fighting style. Where his skills are focused on spells that enhances his prowess. Now it could be tricky, because this profession needs to balance skills to adapt his fighting style. In other words, use your skills wrong, or not at the right time, and you’ll be open and exposed.

Maybe this can be the GW2 version of the dervish…

Pssh, some Sylvari just don’t feel the love.

Slowburn.5319:

How dissapointing… instead of raids we’re getting more mindless, super easy, open world zergs?

Yeah, big bosses with one shotters is by far the largest open world failure in the game. Alright, I may be exaggerating a bit, but it’s still underwhelming in that you can’t loose, you just stick to the crowd, and res or be ressed.

I know this allows for the majority to experience epic battles at their leisure, but it also leaves the world without a next level challenge. Perhaps have one or two entities in the world that really requires individuals to be tested to their utmost.

Why not have a boss that mix things up a little. Perhaps a boss that has the battlefield changing the whole time, where your positioning needs to constantly change. Where certain members need to be designated to certain tasks, like some need to stand on exact spots, or need to do operate consoles, maybe the boss can change and players need to acquire a buff to damage him, or he designates targets and these players need to perform an action or take constant damage.

Bosses, and I mean all bosses, should have deeper mechanics, since the fights take so long, it’ll draw a person away from the monotony. And there should be a point where you can loose, which is something that the heavy zerg fights lack. A constant barrage of attrition eventually gets old.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

http://youtu.be/jVL4st0blGU

A nice video about depth vs complexity in games.

I love his videos, and this was a particularly good one.

I feel GW2 has the basis for complexity, but hasn’t yet reached the depth that the system can potentially reach. Let me give two examples of how I think that can promote some depth.

1. Elaborate on weapon skills. Many people have asked for this, and ANet has been oddly quiet about it, so either they’re busy with it behind the scenes, or just disagree to such a degree that they just don’t bother to mention it.

Basically, having a few options when it comes to your weapon skills would do combat variety a lot of good. In fact, I feel this is more important than adding more utilities. Even by merely adding in the ability to tweak the weapon skills we have to some extent would be great, but being able to swap out your existing weapon skills for new skills would give you a lot more options.

2. More profession diversity. I know, it can easily be pointed out just how much the professions already differ from one another, but what I mean here is to go a bit further. As it stands now, professions share most of the boons and conditions. While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, it does homogenize them to some degree.

What I think might work here is to introduce effects that set the professions further apart, and I think GW1 is a good place to look for ideas. For instance, each profession might have access to something that none of the others have available to them. To give examples: Warrior – Deep wounds, Elementalist – Double Cast, Thief – Cracked Armor, Necromancer – Disease.

Just to show, each profession will have something unique that only they can have access to, and will make partying with them more interesting. The guardian already has aegis, which is an example of how that sets the guardian apart from the rest.

3. Expand on combos. Make them more prominent, and have the weapon skills throw more zones, perhaps.

At the moment, if you talk to specific refugees at Hoelbrak and Black Citadel, they’ll mention that the dredge might be behind the problems at Wayfearer Foothills, and the flame legion behind Diessa Plateau.
Also, there are events that popup where you need to kill elementals and plug up geysers.

At least the event has been progressing over the last few weeks, albeit at an immense crawl. I’m guessing things will heat up on the 26th.

We are almost halfway into February, the update is under two weeks away, and then it’s March. It may seem far off, but there’s always time to look ahead. With the WvW changes being moved next month, the March update looks to be huge.

So with that in mind, it’s always fun to place some expectation in the matter, and voice what you’d like to see. Here are some of the things I’m looking forward/hoping most to seeing in the update:

• Dungeon upgrades. Not only the bosses, but I hope all the paths will be streamlined a bit, making it more fun and engaging. I also hope to see some additional paths added to all dungeons.

• World additions. Hopefully the world bosses will be a bit more fun to tackle, and be a bit more rewarding. I’d also like more DEs added to all areas, making the world feel more alive with a variety of activity. And I hope more DEs will have a bit more impact, changing things as events happen.

• Loot drops. Overall I’d like to see drops be a bit more enticing. Not only that, but I really hope March will finally address the drop bug that’s been plaguing some of us.

• New activities. I doubt we’ll be seeing polymock soon, but here’s hoping that Bar Brawl and some other activities will finally be added into the game.

• Late game Ascended items. We’ll definitely be seeing more ascended gear coming into the game. I hope there will be a system where level 80s can get ascended items out in the world through trade-ins. Sort of how collectors worked in GW1, here you can either sell or keep items that you can eventually trade in for ascended items and ascended collectors.

• Home instance additions. This is also maybe not as close as I reckon, but ways to change and improve your home instance would be great. I’d also like a feature where you can visit a friend’s instance without needing him/her to piggyback you along.

That’s about it. Will add more if I think of them. What would you like to see added in March?

How exactly did this break? O_o
Talk about random…

Navi.7142:

Just have a look what Jason wrote.

If you’re not receiving loot from a champ/vet, it’s most likely because you’re not getting kill credit. We’re currently working on some improvements to this so that it will be easier to get rewards when you kill a creature.

Thank you for bringing this up!

(https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/poss-loot-drop-fix-check-your-clocks/first)
The champ/ vet issue is not working as intended.
:-)

Kill credit my rump. I solo’d 5 vets for the achievement yesterday, one dropped mats, one dropped grey trash, and the other three dropped nothing. Me and another player also killed a champ today, he joined in about halfway, and I received nothing from that.

How exactly did kill credit suddenly factor into this? Unless, the game bugs out and the code somehow doesn’t allow loot to drop because you get wrongly flagged. If this is the case then Jason should have been clearer on the matter. Because his post can be interpreted in different ways.

Fact of the matter is, ANet should fess up to this debacle. They keep pointing at the matter and respond with a shrug. Meanwhile, this thread gets littered daily with posts from people who’re obviously effected by this issue.

Not getting credit for playing the game feels downright rubbish.

Substance E.4852:

Oh really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VNc7kHADtUw

There is a huge difference in real life, medieval weaponry and silly, solid-steel surfboard style video game swords.

Ah, yes, youtube, where the existence of ghosts, demons and other paranormal occurrences have been proven as fact…

Not to question the creator of that buster sword, but I highly doubt he is in any shape or form a remarkable craftsman. By my estimation he didn’t use the right materials. I’ve seen a share of documentaries on modern day blacksmithing, and there’s a few things I’ve learned:
1. A great deal of the methods used in those days have been lost in time. Back then, they were a lot more capable than the blacksmiths we have today.
2. When crafted the right way, the weapons will be light. That video just shows how shoddy the worksmanship is. Even a claymore weighed just a few kilograms, and they were weighed according to grip and blade, or else it would become unwieldy and throw the wielder off balance. Not sure if your video took that into consideration.
3. In medieval days knights trained for extensive hours to not only swing blades for hours, but also run around in plate. They grew up to wield those weapons with uncanny precision, which is something a person can’t replicate.

On a side note. We are talking about Tyria here, a fantasy realm, where people are born into magic and where the world functions according to laws that our realm can’t compare to. Is it really all that unthinkable that the races there are born with some form of natural magical infusion that allows them to function at superhuman levels?

Sora.3597:

Doooont buy the gear boxes unless you have a rare fetish

I’ve wondered, can’t these be salvaged for ectos? That would be 5 laurels for a potential 5 ectos.

My Guardian. Sadly I don’t have screens of my ele or engi.

On a side note, I’m curious to know how many total objectives there will be. A strong, healthy list will at least give us players more options and make the progression a lot smoother.

I’ve also wondered if we will need to complete 4, as it was before the January update, or 5, as it is now. At first I wasn’t too thrilled that the list was extended by an extra objective, but I’ve come to realize that it’s not all that bad. Although I would prefer it to return to the previous amount, I still wouldn’t mind it if it resumed to be 5. At least we’ll be able to choose which ones we’d like to complete.

It will still be all of the Feb changes they envision, only without the WvW content. That said, March was already going to be huge, but now it’ll have the WvW stuff also, so March is going to be MASSIVE.

I wonder if we’ll still have our dailies be determined on what day of the week it is. This system wasn’t bad, but I’m hoping ANet will change this around. Since you can choose now, I’d prefer it if they threw like 30 activities into a random generator, and we’ll see every day what pops out.

If they’d rather go for a predetermined structure, then they can maybe set up a list of seven or eight days, and then randomly generate which set we’ll use for that day, which will of course be set up in a way to never chose the previous day’s set again.

If they don’t want random at all, can there at least be lists of nine to ten daily tasks set up. And one will follow the other, meaning it will go from one to nine and then start at one again. At least that way the days will differ and keep things fresh, so at least you won’t think to yourself, “Ugh, tomorrow is Friday, which means kill variety again. :/”

What do you guys think?

Bartas.4908:

Oh c’mon. since next patch we can choose what part of daily we can do. TBH daily never took me more than 35 mins to finish and I was not even trying, well, maybe kill variety.

Same here, I don’t know how people struggle so much with these dailies. That said, everyday I have a different spot for doing the dailies, but it’s so easy.

I’m glad the variety kills had been lowered by 2. I can’t say how many times I sat on 14/15 previously, while running around, wondering what type I haven’t killed yet. XD

Seriously though, I’m so excited to see what they come up with for the choose your daily system.

I just can’t wait to see how ascended items gets introduced to other parts of the game.

If I can make one suggestion though. When ascended gear reaches normal dungeons, can we perhaps have a universal token system. So instead of each dungeon getting a piece of gear and letting us grind out one dungeon, rather have one vendor with a lot of ascended gear and let us exchange the other dungeon’s tokens for the ascended token.

That way we can play whichever dungeon we like. Or perhaps add an upgrade system, where we just upgrade our existing dungeon gear to ascended. Something like that.

A lot of people seem to think that if they don’t do dailies, then they ‘lose’ laurels. People shouldn’t see it in that light.

If you do ten dailies a month, then you have ten laurels. Yes, you will have less than someone who did it everyday, but in the end you didn’t lose any laurels. You were just rewarded for your participation. Is it really so wrong for another player to have more than you? I wouldn’t say so, because you still get out of the game as much as you put in.

That counts for other aspects of the game as well. If you don’t do dungeons daily in the game, then you will have less tokens than someone who does. If you don’t WvW daily, then you’ll have less badges than someone who does. There’s no need to feel limited because of your limited time. Instead feel rewarded for the amount of time you do put in.

I know people often overstate this, but it’s the truth.

It’s the small things in life that count. People get so easily caught up in their responsibilities and what they see as the bigger picture that the tiny joys often slip us by. I’m glad you’ve found something that can give you a reason to smile, especially this game.

Hope it everything gets better for you and much praise to ANet for giving us such an incredible journey.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Everything about it is brand new. I mean… everything. So it’s going to take a while. Give it a couple months.

This news is both heartening and saddening at the same time. At the one end I’m glad you guys are taking your time, and really making sure the content is the best it can possibly be. On the other end I’m rather curious to see what crazy stuff you guys will come up with next. As long as every new piece of content get’s better and pushes the limits beyond the horizon.

Keep up the good work.

Josh Foreman.8250:

The one I’m working on is so epic it will have a mixture of pretty much everything we’ve ever done in JPs and a whole lot more. But it will also have a Baby mode for people who just want to cruise through it.

Arg! Enough with the suspense. Will we be seeing your JP in February or March? It sounds better and better the more you talk about it.

Josh Foreman.8250:

This next one I’m doing is so massive that I’m getting to do a bit of everything in it, so it’s been a super fun experience.

Really excited to see it! One question though, will it be in the Feb or March update? As a follow up, if it is in the Feb update, can you perhaps give us the number of JPs that we will see in Feb? Thanks

TheDaiBish.9735:

Azjenco.9425:

TheDaiBish.9735:

Also, there’s DE’s going on to do with the story. Did you not know this?

Are you referring to the sign repairs/lighting fires/healing refugees, or actual DEs that happened after this started?

Actual DE’s.

• A storm happens and fissures come out of the grounds, as well as tornadoes and Unstable Elementals spawn.
• Avoid the Tornadoes otherwise you get knocked down.
• Kills the Elementals for boulders / ice blocks to seal the fissures.

Nice, I actually found one of these! It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. Can’t wait to see what other things come next, or what threat is behind all of this.

Somehow I doubt it. Ten months feel like too short a time to see an expansion. From what we’ve heard they’re in the thick of getting the existing content up to scratch, and until then, I doubt ANet will buckle down to get the expansion out. I’m sure they’ll probably want to include a lot of the designs they’re still attempting to perfect now into the expansion.

The ‘treadmill’ is pretty much limited to fractals, as most people have pointed out, which is completely optional. If you needed to do fractals to get agony for world encounters, then I’d understand your issue.

But as of now, to progress in FotM you need to do fractals, and that sort of makes sense.

Vayne.8563:

Crisu.9378:

At very least they need to add more content so there is something to do.

I know a lot of people who have stuff to do. I mean a lot. The 20-30 regulars in my guild are all finding stuff to do.

The problem is that some people know how to make their own fun and some people need to be spoonfed stuff. It might be a generational thing, I don’t know.

There are always people who are bored no matter how much they have to do, and there are always people who know how to entertain themselves.

No MMO can ever launch with enough content for the former. For those who know how to entertain themselves, this game is a fantastic playground.

Yes, some people enjoy a well crafted experience that pulls them in, while loving the nuanced engagements that come with enjoying a creative designer’s ideas.

Meanwhile, there are some simpleminded people who you can throw a ball of yarn at and they’ll be rolling on the ground for hours, as their lack of expectations and insight keep them perfectly content, no matter how mediocre the subject.

As you can see, your insult can be turned both ways, so there’s no point to be rude. The aim of this thread was to explore the pace of this event and that small changes would do it well, and thanks to Plunder for his response, it was actually the most helpful.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Also, there’s DE’s going on to do with the story. Did you not know this?

Are you referring to the sign repairs/lighting fires/healing refugees, or actual DEs that happened after this started?

Vayne.8563:

We didn’t take the fight back to the charr after the Searing…it took two years. There’s two years between the Searing and the rest of the game.

And the pacing is only off because people are considering this a book. They’re putting too much into it. It’s a side event in a world full of events. There’s a few freak storms in one area, and they displace some refuges. Are we really comparing this to the Searing?

People are leaving homesteads because of flood and fire. We’re heroes. We’re helping them. But then there are still other areas of the world that need our attention a lot more than these guys. Until a threat is actually unveiled, by the people who figure out this sort of stuff (give you a hint, it’s not us), then we’re just on standby.

It fits with the personal story. We never figured out anything. Some guy knows that the attack on Lion’s Arch is imminent and then we go into action. Some guy says this tome is missing and we have to find the team sent out to find it,. and we go into action. Some guys are missing, or some fort is taken, and we go into action.

There are some storms. Some people are displaced. After defeating Zhaitan, I think I’ll probably wait for someone to check it out who’s a bit more qualified. lol

Technically, we didn’t take the fight back to the charr at all, we were there fighting the whole time. Post-searing the game only picks up two years later, but there’s been a constant resistance in Ascalon since the searing happened. We’ve been fighting back in a constant struggle during all that time.

No, this isn’t comparable to the Searing, but we’d the stupid if we weren’t weary that this could be a precursor for something far greater. This is happening near enough to Hoelbrak and Black Citadel that it could spill onto their doorsteps, in this world of constant threat, I’m certain there will be steps to investigate this event without so much as a second-guess.

As you said, this is a world of heroes, which doesn’t mean all heroes are off in one location. Tyria most probably work in a sensible manner, where some heroes focus on Orr, while others clear out dungeons to save a few people, and so on. Does that mean no heroes will take enough interest in this to get to the bottom of these events? Heck no, just as a few are still aiding the refugees, others will meet with knowledgeable individuals to lend a capable hand.

This fits in with the criteria of the world, personal story included. We’re constantly helping out and investigating threats, even as we’re part of one of the three orders. Saying we should stand back as more qualified individuals investigate is nonsensical, as we have on many occasions aided very capable beings in doing their jobs, and a capable being would be stupid to turn away a useful hand. Even suggesting that we are not qualified for the job is ridiculous, after all the events we’ve encountered and the many threats we have subdued, how exactly are we not qualified or capable individuals?

Vayne.8563:

Right so it’s magical in nature. After the Searing, what happened? People recovered and regrouped for months. After the Cataclysm, what happened. Nothing, because everyone was dead. After the Foefire what happened. Nothing because no one could get back into Ascalon.

You’re right, this isn’t Earth, it’s Tyria, but storms are still storms. Are we saying here that freak weather patterns or volcanic activity can’t happen in Tyria, cause I’m thinking that there’s been at least one volcano explosion I can think of.

The truth is, this is the disaster part, and some people, the most qualified, will check it out. Weather scholars from the priory is my guess.

If this is vast and magic in nature, I’m still not sure running in with my sword is the smartest move.

Well, I’m not saying charge in all hellbent, for all we know Jormag is just beyond the horizon. What am saying is, we are tasked with the duty to defend the realms. After the Searing, didn’t we battle still battle the Flame Legion, even as we were pushed back. Even so, some staid behind to continue the fight.

Like you said, after the Cataclysm there was nothing left to salvage, so this isn’t the exact same circumstances. Even after the Foefire, the charr battled the ghosts for their land. If that was the case then, they’ll certainly do something about taking back their homes now.

Look, I’m not trying to bash the story here, in fact, I like that it started modest, I just feel the pacing is a bit off. And I don’t mean jump on our high horses and charge into the heart of a hurricane. I can say for certain there are individuals investigating this to see whether or not it was magical in nature, and being a hero I’d like to take part in that in anyway possible. Like we’ve both said, progression, it needs to happen. The next logical step is investigation, and I’m sure we can be off some help with that.

Vayne.8563:

We know why the refuges are fleeing. Freak weather patterns. Weird conditions. Lighting and fire storms. That’s what we know. They told us that. Not Anet, but characters in the game have told us about these weird storms.

Ever been in a disaster area in real life? Floods? Fires? After it’d done, there’s a period of cleanup, but that’s really about it…

True, that might be the way natural disasters happen on Earth, but this is Tyria. Their greatest disasters to date were magical in nature.
The Searing – Charr Flame Legion
The Cataclysm – Vizier Khilbron
Nightfall – Abaddon
Even the latest disasters are all attributed to the Elder Dragons.

If this was Earth, I’d agree with you. However, due to this happening to the inhabitants of Tyria, who have suffered generations worth of disasters at the hands of powerful beings that have reshaped the world, I’m going to disagree with you. We are heroes, and we’d surely be pressed to battle whatever being might be behind such large scale disasters.

Oreoz.2573:

It’s kind of hard to explain but you have to look at it from a story perspective whilst at the same time removing yourself from the plot.

It’s been weeks and weeks on our end but within the story, the lore of the game, it might only have been a day or two. It’s kind of like in a movie where the protagonist gets out of a car and then the camera cuts to him getting out of the shower in his apartment. For us, it’s been one second. For them, in the story, it’s been 20 minutes.

Yeah, I see where you’re coming from. Still, I don’t completely agree.

To me it’s a matter of pacing. For instance, when you’re reading a book, the story needs to focus on pacing. Even if the events that span a hundred pages takes place over 30 minutes, it’s the story (the author’s) mission to keep you involved.

I know this is an MMO, but I approached this matter from a twofold perspective.
1. Character. I know you said a person needs to remove themselves from the plot, but that’s a bit difficult. To an extent, we drive our own characters’ plot. In game, to my character, I’ve helped these people, I acted as a guiding hand. But now my empathy has ran its coarse, and my character is kitten It’s time for my character to get to the bottom of this.

2. World. After a week the majority of active players would have experienced this event. Those who haven’t might not be interested, i.e. PvPers. Since we’ve all been exposed to this event, logically all our characters would be where my character is at now. And with a few thousand powerful individuals with the incentive to deal with a matter at the ready, I’m quite positive our characters would be in the process of taking matters into their own hands.

From that logical standpoint it just feels like the world has reached its natural point of progression. Two weeks to a month between changes feels clunky and a bit like the story is being lost in transition.

On a side note, it’s perfectly understandable that we have different expectations of how a story unfolds and how we enjoy it, and feel differently about how it’s told to us.

Oreoz.2573:

You have to think of it in less of a gameplay context and more of an actual story context.

They’re not in a rush because whatever displaced these people has already done so. The roads are littered with the dead who never made it to the cities. Right now we are in recovery mode, repairing signs to lead the refugees to the cities and light fires to help keep the encampments warm.

I was approaching it from a story perspective.

It’s been over a week where refugees have been flooding in. We’ve done our part to guide them in and give them a warm welcome, but now, we — the heroes — are standing back and continuing on with our own things.

Logically after a week we would be marshaling a response, attempting to find answers, and generally working to solve the problem. From a story perspective we have done our part to guide the people, it’s the cities’ jobs to grant them comfort now.

We are heroes, we should by now be gearing up to see what has threatened these people, not only to win their homes back, but also to make sure it doesn’t spread and threaten the rest of us.

This would obviously follow in a gameplay response, as in the Vigil preparing men to send out, the Priory gathering information, while the Whispers reconnoiter to investigate the issue, while we stand behind them to get to the bottom of this.

I like the idea of a humble start and moderate beginnings. Even as the story started off slow and modest, I’m sure it will pick up steam. Baby steps are fine, but an evolving and involved story is what makes it so compelling.

As of now:

• Refugees aren flooding into Black Citadel and Hoelbrak, causing the camps to grow in size over time.
• Geysers are springing up around Diessa and Wayfearer, as elementals attack whoever tries to plug them up.

Have you seen anything else yet? Anything else you’d like to share on the way the world and story is evolving.

The initial idea of this thread was to mainly point out that the Flame and Frost storyline might be going too slow. If you feel that way, feel free to point out how many days you feel should be a good pace to release the story steps.

Well, the WvW changes have been moved to March, so heck knows what we’ll be getting in Feb. Doubt it will be a lot. So if the dungeon changes, some world updates, and WvW will happen in March, then it’s going to be massive.

ColinJohanson.2394:

I wanted to quickly give an update on where we stand with upcoming releases for WvW to help give a sense of where we’re at, and set expectations for the coming months. We’re in the midst of finalizing our February release, which I know had been discussed as a potentially large month for WvW additions.

Okay, wait a second, I’m a bit confused . You’re finalizing the February patch. The Feb update was WvW centric, but all WvW content has been moved to March.
So what will we see in the Feb update then if the WvW stuff was moved?

Kid Taylor.5479:

That being said, I find the haters quite hypocritical that the exact same people are fine with sub-exotics and pirateish gear, which essentially are the same/weaker than magic find sets, and still hate on magic find because it is weaker. I say go the whole way for consistency’s sake.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less if my entire dungeon party runs with MF gear, I don’t even understand how people get annoyed about what someone else is doing. Dungeons aren’t all that difficult to begin with.

What I’m bothered about is that MF on gear irks me from a design stand point. I’ll just repeat what I said previously:
- Right now to squeeze the most out of drops, as bad as they are, MF is almost a must. This shouldn’t be the case, MF should be an extra game mechanic, it shouldn’t even be an option to conflict with your build options.

Stats on gear should matter, it should be important what you choose, and a non-combat stat (the only non-combat stat) have no place being there. As I suggested earlier as well, MF would work a lot better with special mechanics, like:
Shrines around the world that grant limited MF/GF.
Achievement unlocks, which give you MF boost items that you can use a limited time, which will recharge on a cooldown, or gain charges as you complete more achievements?
Maybe even items you can buy tat works like that.
MF should be on boosts and consumables.

For me the issue ISN’T so much:
- MF is on gear to contest with stats. But stats don’t matter, so L2P, because you can pull your weight without relying on your stats.

Just saying that shows how broken the whole thing is…
If gear stats don’t matter, then that goes to show how badly designed combat is at the moment. There should be more to fights than dodging and hitting mountainous HP. But this is an issue for another thread.

For me the issue IS:
- MF is on gear to contest with stats that should matter. Your builds should mean something.
And right now to squeeze the most out of drops, as bad as they are, MF is almost a must. This shouldn’t be the case, MF should be an extra game mechanic, it shouldn’t even be an option to conflict with your build options.

Gear is supposed to support your build, as in critical builds, conditions, support, survivability, that’s the point of gear. Why then have a stat that’s completely counterintuitive to that process? If items are supposed to be about your fighting prowess and getting the most out of your character, why is there a stat that rewards you outside of combat and even hampers you by removing from the stat building process?

If the game’s drops weren’t so shoddy, then MF wouldn’t seem a requirement. MF should be relegated to consumables, guild boosts, boosters. Maybe we should have an extra slot called charms in your inventory that directly deals with XP, MF, GF sort of bonuses, so you can juggle their gains and worth amongst themselves.

Perhaps ANet should incorporate new mechanics, i.e. shrines around the world that grant limited MF/GF. How about special achievement unlocks, which give you MF boost items that you can use a limited time, which will recharge on a cooldown, or gain charges as you complete more achievements?

There are a lot smarter designs to make MF work for everyone, rather than chucking it onto gear.

WP rushing wouldn’t be a problem if the fights were crafted better. There needs to be interesting mechanics, fight change-ups and evolution within battles. As much as I’ve come to loath WoW and Blizzard, this was one area where they always impressed, again and again. This astonishes me, as ANet devs are so much more inventive and creative than Blizzard, so why are the dungeon fights so poorly designed.

Most battles involve dodging telegraphed, potential one-shot kills, while chiseling away at a mountain of hit points. And this is true all over the dungeons. Look at red circle, dodge, hit-hit-hit, look for red circle, dodge. It get’s old, pretty fast, and when you’re collecting a dungeon set, this just becomes sad.

I mean, the internal testing teams did these dungeons say a hundred times a week. How in the bright blue skies of Tyria didn’t at least one of them snap, and have the decency to go to the dungeon designers and say: “guys, this is not on, we need to talk, you need to change things up and make these fights interesting”. But no, they remained quiet, and for that I think they deserve a good old-fashioned hiding.

I’m going to buy those minis, they look nice, plus they’ll be useful when polymock comes around.
The harvesting tools have large stacks and uncover rare components, those I’ll take.
When I saw the gear boxes, the first thing I thought was ectos, so I like those.
A place to get dyes, at last, since the world drops have become stupidly rare.

The items I care less about though…
The obsidian shards seem useful to players who give a kitten about the legendaries.
The crafting bags seem a waste, to me.
The boosts are alright, though personally I’d only go for them when I feel I have laurels to spare them.
And the ascended items, meh, I guess I’d eventually get to them, but I’d rather spend my laurels on the more sought after items. Maybe I’ll do fractals, I don’t know, I’ll see.

I like most of the options there, it seems balanced. I’d like to see more items added though, and more ways to get laurels.