Guild Wars 2

Galen Grey.4709:

Azreell.1568:

Just to clarify and go one step further then the poster I quoted above.

Everything is NOT optional in this game.

Ascended is REQUIRED if you choose to do fractals above a certain point.

So all those saying GW2 is that different from all other mmorpgs – Quite frankly it’s not.

You have exactly the same ideals in here as you do in all other games. The difference being the rewards are far inferior here for the time you invest.

Also, This game’s biggest problem is it took far to much effort in trying to be so different from everything else and forgot to that some systems/ideals available in other games are actually good.

Yes and No.

Gw2 tries to provide a package that is aimed both to people who want vertical progression and those who do not want it. Fractals is the specific content aimed at those who want vertical progression. Yet the game still doesnt put it out of reach of those players who dont want vertical progression cause well obviously you can do every fractal without a single piece of ascended gear. In other games this is not always the case. Case in point are gear scores.

Thats not all but gw2 differs on a lot of things to your typical MMO. Mob tagging before Gw2 very few if any really rewarded both players killing the same mob without being in a party. No MMO that I am aware of left 2 players tap the same resource within seconds of each other. I’ve been in MMOs where we literally had queues as in straight line long queues to kill bosses in turn. Or camping near dungeons waiting for a tank or a healer and hoping they’d join our group rather then one of the others waiting for the same thing. So yes Gw2 is different in several aspects to a lot of MMOs out there. Of course with everything else it shares similarities too.

Rewards are “inferior” just because it is actually different then other MMOs. Why are reward valuable in other MMOs? because they’re better then what you already have but that means that every single new content raises the bar. Hence if I played an MMO for 10 years someone who can compete with me will require a few years of playing to reach me. In Gw2 in 1 single week a new player can reach a level that can measure up well with a 2 year player. In your traditional MMO they’d be no were close.

Just to clarify – You can not do every single factal without a piece of ascended gear. The highest level of fractal is 50. Generally speaking due to the instability list the most commonly done fractal is 49. Level 49 requires 55 Agony resist. Level 50 requires 70.
Both would require ascended gear unless you have more money then most players in this game and have the ability to craft some pretty hefty infusions.

The interesting part about your post is the equality issue. This is where we differ greatly in our mentality. Why do you think it’s proper for a player who played 10 yrs to be on par with a player who played for 2 weeks and was able to catch up in literally less then a day? If that was the case then what incentive would any player have for every continually playing GW2? Human nature generally desires if you work harder you should reap rewards greater then someone who works less. That is a reasonable assumption and part of the issue with GW2 also.

The point being though other games have systems to allow player’s to catch up gear wise but not in such a ridiculously short time as GW2.

But, quite frankly – I have always had an issue with the fact that I can take 4 hrs to craft a character from 1-80 and he is just as powerful as a character I have played for over a year and have 100’s if not more hrs invested in.

“Idle mind is the devils playground” An interesting quote which would explain a lot of the current forum activity and tone.

People are simply bored of GW2 and it’s systems and are desiring for it to improve to renew interest.

Eventually if things don’t change the forum activity will subside again and that will be due to more player’s leaving.

Quiet forums are never a good thing though.

Far to much to list.

But, After the announced stat nerfs to Zerker and Celes and me having both set’s crafted in ascended – I stopped spending all together in the gem shop.

I spent a ton of time and rl money to craft two sets. When the change goes live my favorite set – Celes will no longer be what I originally purchased and quite frankly I have yet to see a valid response from the devs on what they are doing about it beyond the stereo-typical “we are looking into it.”.

I understand it’s Anet’s game and they can change it how they see fit. But when said changes effect what I purchase directly and I don’t feel I have been compensated for such changes – I simply won’t support them any more.

Galen Grey.4709:

I think this whole issue stems from people seeing things a bit too black and white personally.

When I look at Gw2 I personally see a themepark game that has to be played like a sandbox game. Thing is Gw2 unlike traditional themeparks puts the option of how to play entirely to the player and I think a lot of players struggle with this.

Gw2 is not like Gw1 sure but it didnt simply throw the core elements of Gw1 in the bin, it adopted them in a manner that makes them optional. Unfortunately seems to me that in some cases players are not able to recognize them if presented in another form.

Example level cap. sure Gw2 doesnt the small level cap that Gw1 has but going with prophecies I dont think the time to level cap differs much between the two games. In both it will take a week or so to reach max level. Compared to traditional MMOs some of which at high level 1 week will not even be enough to level up a single time.

Another example is gear. In Gw1 gearing up was pretty quick. Gearing up to BiS wasnt quite as quick but it didnt matter cause really you didnt need to get the best runes for each and every build to succeed in fact I am pretty sure few even bothered. In Gw2 the same is still true only its not runes but the gear tier itself. Again BiS is entirely optional here as well just like not having the best runes in gw1 would not stop you from doing any content the same is true here. Before they removed MF I used to run around doing all sort of content in Rares with MF. While I did have an exotic set for WvW and Dungeons I didnt have any ascended piece up until about 2 months ago and didnt get them because they were necessary but because a few guildies needed 1 more for lvl 12 fractal. Compare that with traditional MMOs where sub par gear means certain death in PvP or locked out of certain content like raids and not just because other players will refuse to have you but also because in some games dungeons have gear scores you need to hit in order to enter.

gw1 forced you to give up certain notions of traditional MMOs while traditional MMOs force you in a strict vertical progression game style. Gw2 leaves it up to you.

Leaving it up to you(the playerbase) has not worked very well thus far for GW2.

Just saying…….

Shiren.9532:

Thobek.1730:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

It’s funny because the gear grind here is worse than it is in WoW.

You’re wrong.

Unlike WoW where you NEED to grind the gear to complete the next tier of content, in GW2 you don’t.

There is gear to get only if you like the look of it. Some of it gives you a very minor boost in stats but doesn’t allow you to see or play any content someone with only rares can experience.

To people who make the choice to play the game, it doesn’t matter whether it’s optional or not. They’ve chosen to partake. Their experience after that is graded on the same level as someone who has to grind to keep up.

I don’t understand why “it’s optional” is the go to defence for grind. Everything in the game is optional – the level cap, playing with other people, WvW, traits and skills (there was a person who used only a warhorn and damage on dodge roll to level to 80 and complete the personal story). Playing the game is optional. Just because something is optional does not mean how it is implemented won’t matter to the players who opt in. To those players, the amount of grind, the kind of grind, the difficulty of grind – all those things are going to matter. If they opt out, why not opt out of the game completely? “It’s optional” is a silly defence to a common criticism.

Just to clarify and go one step further then the poster I quoted above.

Everything is NOT optional in this game.

Ascended is REQUIRED if you choose to do fractals above a certain point.

So all those saying GW2 is that different from all other mmorpgs – Quite frankly it’s not.

You have exactly the same ideals in here as you do in all other games. The difference being the rewards are far inferior here for the time you invest.

Also, This game’s biggest problem is it took far to much effort in trying to be so different from everything else and forgot to that some systems/ideals available in other games are actually good.

morrolan.9608:

Thobek.1730:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

It’s funny because the gear grind here is worse than it is in WoW.

You’re wrong.

Unlike WoW where you NEED to grind the gear to complete the next tier of content, in GW2 you don’t.

No he isn’t wrong, there has been a lot of feedback in other threads that current WoW is less grindy than GW2.

Wow is far less grindy. In terms of completing a tier of content. You do realize I could complete probably an entire tier or two of content in less time then crafting 1 ascended set.

The largest difference being in Wow’s reward system – I felt like I accomplished something in gw2 I don’t. Ascended gear’s +2 more stats here and there makes me feel as though I have wasted time. In wow – the reward is much more noticeable.

In it’s current form Wow is the most casual game on the market. You don’t spend weeks upon weeks grinding bags, grinding world events , grinding ls, grinding materials and champs to hope to get something worthwhile. I mean look at the guy who opened 80+ teq bags and received absolutely nothing for his time investment.

Now in Wow – You invest that much time you are guaranteed to receive adequate improvements to your character. You will not get everything in 1 day like but the pace at which you improve makes you feel as though you are progressing.

There is a reason so many players still play that game after 10 yrs and no other current mmorpg can come close to what they have in terms of population or profit.

calavel.6249:

Because of target dropping. This is a problem with thieves, but thieves don’t spam clones on top of target dropping. Combined with the fact that PU gives almost as many stealth benefits as a stealth traited thief, the mesmer can slip in and out of stealth too easily and there is no reason for him to break stealth because that counteracts PU. I don’t think a single trait should offer huge rewards for spending as much of your game time in stealth as possible. It’s boring and it’s pointless.

While you may not like it and I understand the reasoning.

It’s a duel spec. Nothing more nothing less.

In saying that I expect it to be difficult to fight 1v1.

I just don’t understand the logic of those complaining.

Compare it to the warrior for example: Heavy Armor class, Top Tier in Dmg, One of the fastest classes in game, Some of the best passive healing(healing sig), amazing in wvw, spvp and pve.

That is the definition of broken since it can accomplish many of those things at once.

Simon.3794:

It is hated beacause

1st : it is a faceroll build, no skill required
2nd : too many stealth spamming
3rd : does not contribute much in a 5v5 (ofc it will help if you are really good or enemy team is really bad), most people just ignore it as a whole.
4th : no reason to fight with them in a 1v1
5th : conditions

1)Spirit Ranger, Warriors, Necros, – All have specs that could be considered skilless And are also all complained about on the forums.

2)To much stealth spamming is like complaining a class uses it’s skills to much? The spec/class is based on that much like the thief.

3)EXACTLY MY POINT – the spec is built for 1v1’s and solo roaming. It’s terrible in group settings so it gives up all viability in all other aspects of the game to be good at one particular area. That is the definition of balance brah.

4)Correct – You don’t have to fight them 1v1 and you can easily escape them. Once again that screams balanced to me.

5)Conditions – This is about the only point you have any valid concerns over.

Dahkeus.8243:

baseking.7926:

Just no no no no NO

^ This!

Wow already wasted a ton of resources on this. Feel free to play with minis over there…

or, you know, start up your old gameboy and play Pokemon.

Actually, I’m all for giving more things for players to do other then farming mats or farming champion bags.

Handin.4032:

King Amadaeus.8619:

Handin.4032:

Fuzzion.2504:

Even mesmers are now worried that PU mesmers are giving the class a bad name.

Im sure they are on the chopping board for nerfs.

I fully agree with this. I’ve been playing mesmer as my main since the game came out, and since they changed PU to its current form, I noticed one main thing: So many new mesmers suddenly started blindly using 20/20/30 just for PU. I’ve had to explain so many times why a phantasm build doesn’t work well with 20/20/30, and have had that mesmer say stuff like “but how do you live without PU!” PU is mostly used as a crutch, and they all tend to use the SAME 3 utilities (at least they use blink/decoy+MI). It makes it very easy to predict, and they tend to not delve deeper into knowing the class. The reason, imo, that it is starting to give the profession a bad name is because there are plenty of mesmers who say stuff like “But we NEED PU to survive!” Which is entirely not true.

In the end, I don’t dislike the trait itself, however the fact it is fairly unbalanced makes newer mesmers just blindly use one trait set and then claim they need it to survive and depend entirely on using PU to be competitive. It makes mesmer seem like a shallow class. However, there are still many great mesmers (some who use PU, some who don’t) despite this who endure the nerfs mesmer takes and adapt.

Well if we start throwing out nerfs everytime noobs say noobish things, then warrior and thief are absolutely kittenED.

Sadly for mesmers when the forums go ablaze, we see nerfs incoming, i.e: glamour fields (now effectively useless…), portal nerf (which really didn’t change anything they were complaining about), condi death (I can admit this needed a nerf). PU will definitely be next, which personally I’m fine it..it will let people use the crutch build less, even if PU was put to how it was originally.

My problem with nerfs like these are this:

You take all the originality out of the game by doing things like this.

Should we all just roll warriors and stand toe to toe swinging hammers are each other until we die? That is the tone I keep hearing on these forums.

PU mesmer is a 1v1 or roaming build. That’s it – funny thing is it is not unkillable like most are saying.. It was a neat build that offered a totally different play style then any other build in game.

If I wanted to play Rock’em Sock’em robots in PvP id just go play an FPS.

The PU mesmer is hated because GW2 has to many wanna be 1v1 players who desire to be heroes.

The PU specs offer absolutely nothing in terms of SPvP group play, WvW group play or in any PvE environment.

So what does the PU mesmer do then that offends so many people? It duels and roams very well. That’s all it does and all it can do. The spec is not broken at all. Quite frankly it’s about as balanced as you can possibly get

The spec gives up all other aspects of game play to 1v1 or roam.

That above statement is the perfect example of balance.

If the PU mesmer was also amazing at group play in terms of both pve, spvp and wvw then yes I would agree the spec would be far to powerful.

There are far more broken classes in this game that can do almost as well 1v1 as the PU mesmer but also are incredibly strong in group play and pve.

People have to get it through their heads that no game will ever be balanced for 1v1 play – and one class will always be a dominant one in that area.

Carighan.6758:

Nikkinella.8254:

Are you kidding? What it’s SUPPOSED to be is irrelevant. We aren’t mind readers.

You know, if the average player really didn’t grasp the intent behind Celestial on first glance, that just might explain why people are so angry about this change.

On the other hand, it’s a real letdown in regards to people’s intelligence. I mean, how can anyone not have noticed that the +critdamage was comparatively too high for the intent of the gear (or not notice the intent)?!

The assumed intent for the higher crit damage was to make the set viable in the current game play model in which DPS at the end of the day is all that matters but the set gives the illusion that said player can do a bit more then dps when wanted.

Celestial had specific uses for certain classes and specs. The set was never viewed as an issue by the player base or development team.

As stated by the devs in this thread – The set due to it’s design and itemization is getting effected far worse then the set in question which is zerker.

Your response is very arrogant and you have no facts to back up any of your conjecture.

The bottom line is a set is indirectly getting nerfed to the point of being broken while the set in questions is receiving less of a nerf.

No matter how you view that – It is a problematic and needs a viable solution one way or another. Especially since some people have spent RL money in the gem shop to craft ascended versions of this gear.

I was thinking it was just me but whenever I have minions out lately it seems that stand there and wait for longer periods of time again before doing anything.

sighs.

bigmonto.4215:

juno.1840:

GW2 is not F2P. I see this tossed around and it’s not accurate. GW2 is B2P.

However they seem to be using the gem shop to make expansions F2P. So in some regards it is both models. I would have preferred a pure B2P as was GW1, including purchasable expansions.

I am not suggesting ascended stat-switch to be free. It should cost a a few gold worth of mats per piece. Anet can even add Mystic Forge Stone as part of the mats, which requires us to use gems. The cost adds up for the entire set, but it is not nearly as debilitating as if you were to craft the entire ascended set. And for those that switch build often, it is still worth it to craft 2 or more ascended sets.

A solution which I think has some merit would be make Ascended have the ability to switch sets BUT make it have a 1 week cool down. Also , You must have the recipe for the stat you want to switch to.

This change would accomplish a few things:

1)Legendary would still be top tier but this would give Ascended some worth which it lacks at the moment beyond fractals.

2)Game Balance Changes: Due to the gem shop and the time it takes via gating to craft this armor people invest a substantial amount of time and or money to make Ascended. This then becomes problematic for the development team to make changes to the game without upsetting players who used RL money and substantial time to craft said sets. This would solve that problem and build confidence in Anet which generally would yield them more gem shop sales.

3)Making the game a bit more fun instead of just grinding non stop for another set. Let’s face it – I despise DR in this game. It’s a dated concept and should be removed all together. Especially in a game this grindy. But, This change would make the mat grind bearable as you are crafting something that has long term use.

This change I think would move the game in a very good direction.

bigmonto.4215:

Azreell.1568:

The primary problem you have is that many people myself included used the gem shop along with a ton of in game time to craft ascended celestial sets.

As the dev above has stated celestial is getting nerfed the hardest in a attempt to change the Zerker meta. That is unacceptable in my opinion.

My only suggestion would be to allow for those with ascended sets to have the ability for a one time reroll to another stat set.

You as a company have the freedom to change whatever you want. I understand that. But, I also have the freedom to no longer purchase gems if I begin to feel uncomfortable and start having to worry what I bought today might not be what I end up with tomorrow.

Agreed 100%

The problem is though if the build meta changed, you got the same problem. For example, I spend money to get conditional gear for my condition dam build. Then Anet nerf the build so I no longer want to play it. I am screwed again.

This was not a problem with exotic gears as they are easy to obtain. Ascended gear requires too much grind. The really solution is to have a inexpensive way for us to reroll Ascended stats via Mystic forge.

I agree there needs to be a way to switch ascended stats at this current stage in the game.

Due to the Gem shop and the ability(or necessity by design) to purchase items required to craft this gear any changes by Anet especially drastic ones such as this zerk nerf will cause people to be upset.

These upset people are the ones who would normally spend rl money in the gem shop.

I myself upon hearing the indirect nerf of celestial due to the coming changes stopped spending anything in the Gem Shop until I see how Anet handles this As I don’t feel comfortable with the current position Anet has taken.

This is one of the pitfalls of F2P gem shop games.

Atherakhia.4086:

gesho.9468:

3k dps on autoattack, that’s all i have to say. its all yours folks. from all the way of mid range 600 units, no positional, it’s a party time.

except it’s 2k dps on an auto attack that’s only up a fraction of the fight… compared to the 2k+ auto attacks most other classes have 100% of the fight?

Your name reminds me of someone I knew a long time ago heh.

On a side note – The OP is obviously either a troll or just a terribly bad player who trying to talk sense to would be an exercise in futility.

Draknar.5748:

TankinJankins.3276:

exotic gear that you have to grind for hours for tiny stat boosts, and a completely broken dungeon system

Hours is accurate. Roughly 1hr to outfit every character you have in full exotics. Boy what a grind.

For a new player its far more then 1hr and it offers a decent upgrade from blues or greens.

Beyond that is when the grind kicks in and you receive little to no reward for said grind.

The primary problem you have is that many people myself included used the gem shop along with a ton of in game time to craft ascended celestial sets.

As the dev above has stated celestial is getting nerfed the hardest in a attempt to change the Zerker meta. That is unacceptable in my opinion.

My only suggestion would be to allow for those with ascended sets to have the ability for a one time reroll to another stat set.

You as a company have the freedom to change whatever you want. I understand that. But, I also have the freedom to no longer purchase gems if I begin to feel uncomfortable and start having to worry what I bought today might not be what I end up with tomorrow.

Arikyali.5804:

This isn’t a game that you’re supposed to grind to.

If PvE and PvP don’t suit you, have you tried WvW?

Every mechanic released since launch and every content patch released since launch says other wise.

Justin.7163:

Azreell.1568:

You folks want an expansion?

That’s like putting a band-aid over a gaping wound.

This game has a lot of core issues that need to be addressed before they think of releasing anything new.

I would like to see them solve their current problems in game before adding new one to the mix.

They’ve had a year and half already to fix whatever core issues the game still has. At this point I think I’d prefer that band-aid over nothing.

If you review my post history – I’m quite harsh and many of my posts concerning this game. The reason being I had such high hopes ( and to a small extent) still do for what this game possibly can become.

But, You are correct. After a year of waiting for it to evolve – it would be silly for me to think this game will be anything beyond what it is today.

The sad part is – its imply becoming more and more a game just to pass time until something better comes out.

I myself was never a fan in any game of 1 shot mechanics.

It’ s a lazy and poor design ideal that limits the player base as a whole.

DPS is the ONLY thing that matters in this game period.

Until at which time they get away from 1 shot mechanics and or make support builds/healing viable noting will change.

Also, Add into the fact the reducing the overall player bases dps by nerfing zerker sets will simply making zerker required instead of desired.

If content takes longer to kill and the game continues to based only on DPS – what do they think will happen? Players will end up being less inclined to invite anyone BUT zerkers since content is already taking longer to kill then before.

In short they are making zerker required by this change.

You folks want an expansion?

That’s like putting a band-aid over a gaping wound.

This game has a lot of core issues that need to be addressed before they think of releasing anything new.

I would like to see them solve their current problems in game before adding new one to the mix.

Something to add – I would love for pet skins to be available. That is something I think know that would interest a lot of rangers.

The problem was never the grind.

The problem is the reward.

In it’s current state – Ascended gear is not worth the time investment or cost.

The reason this post is even being made is due to the above statement.

As it stands right now – It is my opinion that ascended armor in it’s current implementation is not worth the time investment or cost.

Currently the ONLY reason obtain this type of armor is for fractals. The looks themselves on most of it are questionable as well. But overall the entire idea of this armor has been lackluster and somewhat ill received by the overall player base.

We will use weapons for an example:

By design – Ascended pieces are one tier down from Legendary. The only difference being the ability to change stats on a legendary out of combat. Beyond that that are identical in terms of stat values.

What I propose to make Ascended more desirable and worth the time investment / cost is a time gated ability to change the stats on ascended armor and weapons.

Legendary is out of combat.

Ascended should have a 3 day cool down.

Also, You will need to have purchased the prefixes receipes for the desired stats you want to change to. So to go from a Zerker Chest piece to say a Knights – you would have to have the recipes required as if you were going to make it from scratch.

What this does is still keeps legendary top tier – but also gives worth to the ascended pieces.

Ascended gear at the moment lacks any type of rewarding feeling to making and using it. Also situations like this incoming change to crit damage would be solved by making the gear have the ability to adapt.

This overall would have a very good impact in my opinion.

SirDrygan.1823:

It’s not that the rng is bad, it’s how they set the rng that is bad. You see, they can’t just increased the drop rate as this will cause more players to get the drops. And in the first place they want people to stay on in the game. If the players already gotten everything obtainable, they will move on to other games. The rng at least makes people want to grind for a very rare item that may drop in a decade or so(exaggerating). However, setting this is a double edge sword as some might get frustrated and leave either way.

You have a better chance at hitting the lottery irl – then getting a weapon you want to drop with the correct prefix in fractals.

As I said many times before- The time investment/risk vs the reward in this game is broken.

The problem with GW2 is this:

It is now one of the most grindy popular games on the market atm.

That in itself wouldn’t be a problem but the gear you grind for is not rewarding enough to warrant the grind.

Beyond fractals – The +1 stat here and +2 stats there is horrible. Also, add into that fact the gear looks terrible and you have lackluster rewards for all that farming.

The main issue with GW2 is Anet is hovering between two different sides of game models. They need to pick one because as it stands we are not getting the best of both worlds we are getting the least.

Kingteranas.1376:

MAD CAT.9321:

Just have us start personal story all over again, problem solved.

Just reset all your dungeon completions.. If your personal story never happened then you never defeated Zhaitan in Arah – why not just take away dungeon master while you’re at it. You’re funny

Or they could just let you do the personal story for the race you just changed too and leave everything else the same.

People are making more out of this then is necessary.

Content like Teq, Marionette and Wurm should have been guild based instead of this debacle we have now.

Cliff note version of this post:

“It’s my way or no way at all”.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

If you increase the difficulty or boss mechanics of the dungeons the casuals will not touch it. Look at Marionette/tequatl/wurm, possible to be beaten, but the casual/carebear community could not handle it and they gave up.

The mentality of the easy goer casual or pve carebear is this. " If I want something and the content is too hard, I will just go and champ train until I farmed enough gold to buy it off the TP".

I truly do not think you understand the meaning of casual. I suggest you research that word a bit more before adding into any statement you make.

Casual simply means a player whose time investment is not substantial. It is no indication of skill level by any means.

Also, there is not a single difficult encounter(in terms of mechanics) in this game including Marionette, Teq or the Wurm. All of those fights at best have raid mechanics that would be considered entry level in most other games.

What we currently have in GW2 is VERY VERY VERY poor content design. The only difficulty in any of the above mentioned encounters is getting 60-100 people who have never met to try and work together. That by definition is a human resource management sim – not difficult content.

We will use Wow for example – love them or hate them they at least got it right in terms of designing content for large groups of pug players.

The only way Anet could ever design challenging content in terms of mechanics that would be enjoyable to play is if they started instancing them and making them guild only. But, the player base apparently is against that so we are stuck with the half baked attempts at content we have now.

It’s my opinion Anet tries to hard to sway from the norm and ends up doing more harm then good.

Judge Banks.9018:

It’s not like any of you are capable of speaking with your wallets anyways.

Anet is betting on most won’t.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Azreell.1568:

TChalla.7146:

Shasha.2548:

No, its convenience : you dont have to worry about that.

That is your opinion, which is where the “Pay to Win” definition is flawed. It is too open to opinion.

I will go one step beyond the P2W argument.

With their current gem store practices they are loosing faith with their consumers and thus over the course of the game will cost them sales.

First the Berserker nerf which many people bought gems to convert to gold to make their ascended sets it now being changed. Good or bad – they still are no longer getting what they thought they purchased.

Now we are moving to mining nodes. Why bother buying infinite ones if you have no clue how much better or worse they may change them in the future.

Obviously – With this current change people who already spent money feel taken advantage.

I myself think I’m taking a long break spending anything with Anet for awhile as my trust in them is not exactly high atm due to the above reasons.

So either Anet is making customer relations mistakes one after another that will affect them in the long term

or

could it be that they don’t anticipate a long term, that they themselves have given up on the game and are making as many cash grabs as possible before everything goes poof?

2013 Q3 box sales and Gem store sales were down 25% according to many financial reports which all of you can easily look up.

That could explain a lot.

Travis the Terrible.4739:

There is a reason why it’s not out yet. They’re still testing changes to the gear. Stop complaining and if you’re gonna complain go complain elsewhere.

ANet has other crap to do then delete these threads and merge them all day. Like actually making content that isn’t total crap (looking at you scarlet and everything you’ve ruined)

So when the forums were quiet what was their excuse?

TChalla.7146:

Shakkara.2641:

They ruined the tools I paid for previously, so I hate the new ones.

Unless they give the old tools a bonus of some kind as well.

They did not ruin the ones you bought. You’re spreading a falsehood with this statement. The functionality of what you bought did not change at all.

You are only viewing one side.

While the functionality of the item indeed did not change – The worth of the item in many players minds who purchased it prior did.

That’s a very dangerous mind set to have for a game that survives soley on the gem shop.

TChalla.7146:

Shasha.2548:

No, its convenience : you dont have to worry about that.

That is your opinion, which is where the “Pay to Win” definition is flawed. It is too open to opinion.

I will go one step beyond the P2W argument.

With their current gem store practices they are loosing faith with their consumers and thus over the course of the game will cost them sales.

First the Berserker nerf which many people bought gems to convert to gold to make their ascended sets it now being changed. Good or bad – they still are no longer getting what they thought they purchased.

Now we are moving to mining nodes. Why bother buying infinite ones if you have no clue how much better or worse they may change them in the future.

Obviously – With this current change people who already spent money feel taken advantage.

I myself think I’m taking a long break spending anything with Anet for awhile as my trust in them is not exactly high atm due to the above reasons.

Talonblaze.3175:

Your refund will not be accepted. This I can almost guarantee. The ones that win aren’t the ones who buy first, but the ones who buy later it seems.

Anet should be very careful how they handle this situation.

The blow back of the precedent they are setting is making people very nervous about spending real life money in the gem shop these days.

Chrispy.5641:

TChalla.7146:

Ayrilana.1396:

Waffler.1257:

Before people start arguing whether the pick is pay to win or not, you should probably define what “win” means. If “winning” gw2 means getting to max level, having best gear, and having the rarest items, then gw2 is already pay to win. Enter credit card, buy tons of gems, convert to gold, and buy legendary, buy materials to craft to lvl 80 in a few hours, buy full exotic armor, buy ascended mats to make ascended armor, buy all the super rare expensive skins to make your character look cool. These are the things most people are trying to accomplish as they spend countless hours playing the game, and you can accomplish them all easily by simply spending money.

You’re missing a key part of the definition on how that phrase originated. It was based on players spending real money to get items that put them at a significant advantage over other players who had no access to those items without spending real money as well.

The word I bolded in your definition is subjective. I don’t find it a significant advantage.

Here’s the question though. Does it give them a single advantage at all, no matter how big or small it is?

People are discounting Zealot armor way to quickly.

As it stands it currently is the 3rd highest dps set in game with the added viability of giving up very little dps and gaining a ton of support ability for those classes that have it.

I speculate this set after the large changing coming will make an even bigger mark.

It’s itemized amazingly well and the gear itself for certain classes or roles will become the go to gear set.

Mark my words on this….

Vol.7601:

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

First off, yes there are less players since release. That happens in any MMO. All games have a huge rush in release and then it tapers down. The good thing, and I believe Colin/Mikez 100%, is that the playerbase is growing.

2nd, anyone with expertise in financials would recognize that just because earnings are down, doesn’t mean the company is doing bad.

NCSoft has several others games and their Q3 earnings were hit by such expenses such as the development of B & S, Wildstar and even the China release. There are also other extraordinary expenses (accounting term) such as a relocation of their offices.

Now on GW2 side, obviously they are making less money. As mentioned again, the boxed sales will always trend downward no matter what. Investors realize this, management realize this, the stock market realize this. What is not available in these reports and is probably only available internally, is the percentage of sales generated from boxed sales, gemstore items, and other materials (merchandise).

This is where you look beyond the numbers. Let’s say total sales have fallen by 30%. The average user will scream “THIS GAME IS FAILING OMFGZ”.

But the analysts and investors will ask, what is the TY vs LY figures for boxed sales and gemstore items? The figures could show that boxed sales have dropped 70% (which is expected), but gem store figures are up by 60%, which is pretty good.

Then you have thorough investors who will ask far more pertinent questions. How is the trend looking, week by week for the quarter? Is it going up? How exactly are people spending money? Is the average purchases per customer rising, or decreasing? Are sales up because more people are spending or because people are spending larger amounts? There are so many questions and metrics that you can analyze that give you a better picture. It’s part of my job, so I’m aware of it. But many times, the average users or even the media (aside from business media like financialpost or bloomberg) fail to understand finance.

Box sales and gem store sales are both down.

I would agree box store sales being down after the game is a year old would make sense as the market penetration already took it’s greatest hold during that initial year.

But, the gem store sales are what interest me the most. Since that is now what basically sustains gw2 or any f2p game at this point.

Since both sales brackets are down – one could argue the trend would be less players logging on which would directly impact the sales branch of the game.

But many times, the average users or even the media fail to understand finance.

On a side note LoL, Wow and SwTor are placed in the top 10 of in game revenue for 2013.

GW2 didn’t even make the list or come remotely close.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Vayne.8563:

I got into the main server today and hung out doing events in that server, while waiting for the event to start. I certainly didn’t stand there for an hour doing nothing. I farmed mats, I did some events, I explored a bit. I tried to climb up places I hadn’t been able to climb in the past.

Even just going around killing stuff is better than standing and waiting for an hour.

But how is that different from other MMO’s like Anet promised? I could do the exact same thing in WoW while waiting for a healer.

It’s not.

Quite frankly we were all just dumb enough to buy into the lie that it would be.

We have all the penalties of a Trinity without any of the benefits.

Vayne.8563:

Azreell.1568:

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

The reality is, you have zero actual evidence to support this. That’s the reality.

One group of people and one alone knows if business is better or worse.

I remember a huge downturn of people in November after release. There certainly seem to be, to me, more people now than then.

But it doesn’t matter what it seems to me, because that’s pretty much as anecdotal as what you’re saying. I could be wrong. You could be wrong.

No one really knows but Anet.

Google is an amazing invention.

It’s not very difficult to check my above statement for truth.

Anyone can look up Ncsofts financial records for q3.

I suggest before posting again you do just that.

Casmurro.9046:

. But you need to understand that this is not WoW, you can’t play GW2 with a WoW mentality.

You mean we aren’t suppose to have fun?

Love it or hate it blizzard tends to give players what they want thus why the game is so popular.

I have yet to see Anet follow that model – We are playing the game the devs want us to play not the game we want to play.

The point that this is even being brought up means there is currently a large problem with this game.

The end game is the Gem shop.

Beyond that – not much else.

The reality is – GW2 does indeed have less players since you left.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid to admit that.

The lack of any real content being released and a LS which has the player base split that some “like” it and some “hate” it. It’s not really any wonder.

Add into the fact after a 6 week break from any patches and all we receive are 2 poorly designed bosses and some reskins and yes – people will continue to leave.

The reason I am being so harsh on GW2 is because I do like this game, but they are drowning as shown by NCsofts q3 profit reports due to very poor development decisions.

Many people are giving the until the next “large update” patch which is suppose to be in april. If they once again screw that one up – I don’t think there will be much hope in store for gw2.

You people jealous much ?

Just wow….

Either way gratz to TTS.

The only way poorly designed content like this will stop being developed is if we was a player base stop doing it – period.

Beyond that – enjoy the ride of this lack luster content.

Sad part is this content is total trash.

The mechanics are actually quite simple.

The ONLY difficulty is trying to organize a zerg of people you have never met before to do the few mechanics that need to be done. I don’t know about anyone else but I didnt buy GW2 to play a human resource management sim.

I have lost all faith in Anet designing anything worthwhile in this game.

Neither encounter is difficult.

Quite the opposite actually.

The mechanics are as straight forward as you can get.

BUT:

The problem is Anet keeps designing content where the entire “difficulty” curve is trying to organize 60+ pugs or people you have never met.

Last I checked I did not buy a Human Resource Simulator. I bought a mmorpg. I have absolutely no desire to try and get 60+ pugs to work together to beat content which gives me little to no reward minus achievement points.

Content like this should be guild / instance based. It’s annoying and quite frankly becoming painfully obvious Anet hasn’t a clue on how to design viable PvE encounters.

The more content like this they release lately the less interest I have in this game.

Aurust.8961:

Zenith.7301:

Even at 60% capped crit damage, which is what it always should have been, Zerker will still be better than condition damage.

Please, there’s a reason everybody runs zerker, and it’s not for the “slight” difference between it and the alternatives.

Next on the chopping block should be warrior PvE and guardian sustain, especially guardian reflection uptimes. Blind should have diminishing returns, or guardians should have less access to it.

Warrior banners/FGJ duration also need a nerf comparing their utility to other classes’ utility.

Buff necromancer dagger and axe, and make necro dagger hit 3 targets, or make weapons restricted to single targets do more damage than weapons that cleave (warrior axe vs. thief and necro dagger).

Buff the terrible elementalist scepter and dagger autoattacks, especially water attunement autoattacks. Your only source of competitive damage shouldn’t be lightning hammer or fire attunement staff.

Buff ranger greatsword, buff ranger pet trait with 30% crit dmg bonus to 60% so rangers can gain same crit dmg bonus to all their damage contributions as all the other classes instead of having 30-50% of their damage only have 30% crit dmg bonus.

Give pets/minions 70-80% aoe damage reduction so they’re actually useful in dungeons and WvW in particular. Make ranger melee pets cleave with their autoattacks, and remove the huge 45 sec cd death cooldown and replace it with a 15-20 sec cd death cd.

Give weapons like guardian mace/warrior mace and shield more use.

Outright buff ranger mainhand/offhand axes. Make whirling defense usable while moving.

P.S. I’m just happy cheesy D/P thieves with 110% crit dmg bonus are history. No more 8-9k backstabs with permastealth might stacking cheesiness.

PVE content is so easy it doesnt matter what you bring…

Actually it’s that exact comment that has caused the zerker problem.

It’s so mindless that the only thing that matters is how fast you can kill it.

Gear was never the issue – Zerker gear was just the fastest way possible to kill things since you didn’t need anything but dps.

Nerfing zerker won’t change that fact. The only thing that will ever change it are either introduce the trinity (not gonna happen) or redesign content to require some type of strategy , or challenge not just direct dps(not gonna happen as shown by their nerfing zerker).

So basically in closing either you like what they are doing or it’s time to move on.