Guild Wars 2

Something that has bothered me of late is the sounds which are played while swimming in bodies of water.

Swimming on the surface is silent, yet swimming underwater causes the game to play the noise of somebody swimming ON the surface … surely there is something wrong there?

Anyway, just wanted to raise that point and to ask if the native volume of the swimming sound effect be reconsidered as to me (and this is my opinion only) it seems louder than it would be in reality.

I’ve just tried to collect on one of the skritt stashes in the new region and despite two separate attempts to get this particular stash, the skritt called to sort through it turned up and failed to hand me the materials from the stash. Although there may be mitigating factors. In the first instance I was under attack from small karka’s at the time but did not leave the immediate vicinity of the skritt, and after the attack the skritt just stood there, immobile on top of the pile of rocks at that location (see image) and did nothing, and when I tried it again, no skritt appeared at all and yet two of the ‘contracts’ were consumed, yet I received nothing. You can easily check this by accessing my account. I’ve circled the location on the image.

I’m sure this has been reported already, but Rangers cannot put the pet away – however, it can be changed. Since most recent update.

Well, to add to the original post; my original idea was simply to be able to examine avatars, places and the like without risk of being attacked while examining something! Perhaps I or another person wants to take screen captures of something and well, to try and do so would be hard if all they ever saw of that character was the character bearing down on them in a state of furious vengeance!

Therefore I never planned too have or use weapons, effects, etc. Its purely a camera mode, so you would could see your toon as you do normally, be able to enter first and third person modes, be able to switch on and off the GUI (as we can do at the moment) so you can take screen shots without overlays but above all else it would be purely for the purposes of exploring, taking screen shots – in effect its a tool for that. And yes, good ideas above!

Unlock specifically for any person who has world completion or who without world completion purchases (more money for you, ArenaNET!!) the GHOSTLOOK tool, which might be an ability to allow you to have an “out of body experience” and travel as you wish across the landscape, but with provisions.

Those being that they have to be in the region being examined in order to use it and that they have to remain where they are to use it, and on switching out of it, snap back into their physical body once more. Whether a person goes ahead and explores and fights on the spot, or simply examines ahead of them without fighting sooner or later they will go to those places, so nothing is really being lost – they’re just seeing it without having to fight through it that first time (in ‘’ghost mode’’)

That no POI, Vista, WP or interaction be permitted whatsoever so the person using said mode still has to gain that experience the old-fashioned way. Anyway, if this ability was implemented I would happily spend my days with my lvl80 world completed toon taking in screen shots of the rich world of Tyria for my and others appreciation (and I use a third-party tool for this, Beepa Fraps).

I’ve been experiencing a lot of dropped data of late with Guild Wars 2, yet my connection is stable, ping is good, upload/download is good and my computer is running just the game and nothing else, the hardware is fine (it runs other online games with no issue, no slowdown, no animation issues), and yet I’m seeing a lot of characters and items not appearing on demand, of weapons not working, and of events not playing as they should and extremely choppy animation with GW2. This morning however, I gave chase to the Skritt Burglar and well, the attached image says it all. Despite being locked onto that character and less than ten feet behind it, the game claimed that it was beyond the range of my weapons and then suddenly the character was two hundred feet away in the next section over – without any noticeable way of getting there!

Well, Myrden.2456 – good point, and I had not considered that (guess I ‘blanketed it’ under no XP) and FrizzFreston.5290, imagine for the moment that you do not have a lvl80 toon, have the most basic equipment and want to explore! Pretty much that’s why I suggested it – if the enemy cannot see you, they cannot attack you. But as I initially indicated, this mode is purely for observation, so the user can switch off the GUI and take pics, and look around. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

The idea came to me last year while flicking through the original Guild Wars 2 bound volume detailing the world at the time of its initial release. This big book, white covered, has lots of images in it of various beasties and such, and well, most of them are not large enough to really do the texture mapping justice.

We all know Tyria to be a unbelievably rich world, full of detail; some of it amazingly well conceived, and as such I’m sure that from time to time, you like me have stopped for nothing more simple than to take in the landscape; listen too and watch events and why not, for the content of this living breathing world is well worth exploring.

And as such there are times when I would like to get up close to a Warg or a Orrian and have a really good look at them; or to stand in the midst of a war zone and just take in the sheer majesty of it all without worrying about my virtual skin or being attached for doing so.

To this end, I would like to propose an option for Guild Wars 2, that of making the avatar invisible to all enemies – in effect making them unable to see or perceive you, allowing the observer to go about the business of examination of Tyria’s environment without risk to themselves. And while in said mode to have a free hand as to where the game camera can be aimed, so it can be steered in any direction to see everything within a given range. The only limit being a non-clip lock-out so you cannot pass through walls with the camera but can go over things – this is, after all, exploration..

I for one would enjoy that, for it would allow me to visit places which are just too dangerous to go.

But I’m sure like anything else the lazy and the unimaginative would consider using such an option to get advantage, so I further propose that when said option is active, the character cannot gain any experience potential whatsoever. This way it becomes a tool for curiosity, not exploitation.

Activation can be accomplished via command-line input, perhaps /explore and the same again to toggle switch on/off. Logging, out or changing avatars will automatically change status to off. Other players can of course see the person who is using this option, but NPCs, friendly/unfriendly cannot and the person using said option is denied the ability to collect resources or use weapons but will be granted flight capability.

Exactly, Kate Soulguard.7132 – thank you! And as for screen capturing, reporting, have done this until I’m blue in the face and may I say that the people at ArenaNET have been very nice about it, but have said that there is very little they can do about it and frankly I understand this and agree with them. You cannot stop these people, and sending them out a letter saying “cease and desist” is a complete waste of time, so the best course of action would be, as I’ve suggested to cut-out the whole mess by simply blocking their dialogue, character, fx and audio. Basically, its the Guild Wars 2 version of the bugblatter beast of traal – you cannot see it, it cannot see you. Problem solved! One last thing, as before, when I read replies which say “man up” and “get over yourself” and “you must be easily frightened” I am forced to conclude that said replies are from abusers who know that if my concerns were taken seriously their ‘fun’ would be at an end and there would be no point in trolling or intimidating other players.

One additional note, it was suggested that they will ‘’move on’’ if ignored. An interesting theory. I was engaged in some RP this week and one troll stood INSIDE my avatar for more than forty minutes jumping up and down on the spot. When I moved, they moved and continued jumping. NEVER underestimate the stupidity of an abuser.

APPENDUM and its now almost a year after the original posting and I’m still experiencing the sort of abuse mentioned here. You can also add to that the usual trolls jumping around in front of me while I’m trying to enjoy a role-playing session, setting of explosions, targeting me with flash and portal effects. Basically anything which entertains their tiny little minds. So with that in mind, ARENANET, CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION TOWARDS BLOCKING THE IMAGE OF ABUSERS, AS WELL AS THEIR EFFECTS/SOUND EFFECTS once blocked, so I and people like me who just want to enjoy Guild Wars 2 can block these idiots and see them VANISH, and all of the tools they are using to abuse me and others vanish right along with them!

Before anyone says it cannot be done, oh yes, it can! I’m a programmer and know something about structured programming. I also successfully implemented this when using a game called Second Life, so it is entirely possible within a structured environment to change the attributes so that they will not be rendered locally. That means that everyone else will see these people, but once I have blocked them, I will not. It is a simple and elegant solution to the abusing problem.

That said, I also suggest an amendment to the existing reporting system to include INTIMIDATION for the sake of intimidation. Most of these idiots get their fun at the expense of others by actively acting to emotionally intimidate them and I in the worse case situations where having been blocked from sending me dialogue, I still have these people IN MY FACE, bouncing up and down, inside my avatar, setting off effects and in many cases the only way to STOP SUCH ABUSE is simply to leave, or to log out completely. I play Guild Wars 2 so I can relax, so to have this happen to me – at the moment about six times a day on average – can be very irritating – and its made all the worse by the fact that they know I cannot report them for intimidating behavior.

Just encountered a similar issue near the Vale WP in Queensdale. It’s not a driver issue. I stopped and asked four different persons, and they all saw the same thing. I’ll assume that they have Nvidia cards, but all of our cards, all with different drivers seeing it? Unlikely, so its a game glitch.

Yep, the caves immediately adjacent to the Vale Waypoint in western Queensdale are glowing – both inside and out and with such ferocity that they can be seen clean across the valley in Claypool.

I’m a ‘casual’ player. In as far as achieving level 80 I tend to spend a lot of my time helping newbies learn the world, the lore, the way of things. This extends from Levels 1-15 all the way up to the eighties. I often ‘casually’ fight in such situations with other players as not everyone who is an Eighty has actually earned it and lack experience. Not dissin’ boosters, but I’m old-skool and believe that in order to KNOW Tyria, you have to have fought on every square inch of it. I certainly have.

Exactly, but you, me, a percentage of people know this. What about the newbies? What about those people who are (for one reason or another) not savvy enough to know these things? Anyway, that’s my two-cents worth.

More a sort of ‘there is an event happening’ warning. I cannot recall exactly how many times I’ve seen a treasure chest icon appear in a region and have headed for it only to find the event has come and gone! This idea basically would (on demand) show the event listing, the time they are due to start – not necessary a five minute warning – so a player can attend them. Certainly beats word of mouth or noticing a build-up of other players assembling for an event.

The ‘croaker’ would be an audible warning. You program it like this. At the beginning of a session, you click on and highlight events you want to track, then when they are due to start, the croaker goes off – like a beeper – you can either attend or ignore. A event can be selected or deselected up too and during the event taking place. Or if a player has a fondness for a specific event, say bandit hammering, you can be informed of the event so you can attend it every time it comes around. In the last couple of days I’ve lost count of the number of times one player or other has asked me where a boss event is taking place. So this essentially is an ‘option’ allowing for a more committed level of world involvement.

I do from time to time feel guilty, yes. But more so when I accidently flatten or kill small harmless animals in the pursuit of the real nasties. I make a point of never attacking rabbits, ferrets, etc. Deer, bears, et al its open season. But critters, never!

My main is a CHARR so this is a little weird, I’ll readily admit.

Here’s an idea. I role-play in game, and one of the ideas that I’ve come up with for comedy relief is the concept of a ‘croaker’ (beeper). Basically my dialogue goes:

Uuuuuh? That your croaker or mine?

/me pulls out a small frog holding a message scroll

I love my croaker! It keeps me in touch!

So, how about this. What if we can subscribe to a audible warning that sounds (the croaker) if an event is occurring nearby and due to start within the next five minutes – so the person receiving said notification has time to get there? On selection, the ‘croaker’ will display a list of events (group mainly) in the region, and on selection of a specific event listing will provide a link to the nearest uncontested waypoint so the player can get there quickly. Additionally the player is directed via arrow or marker to the location they wish to reach. Anyway, a ‘beeper’ for Guild Wars 2. I could certainly use it.

I have the Heart of Thorns extension and am a long and very experienced player of Guild Wars 2. I’ve got map completion too, so now we’re established that I’ve got a pretty good handle on things I would like to propose a modification or fix for an issue which is bugging me (and others).

It relates to the key which is bound to the jump control which is fine if you want to jump, but when you have the HoT expansion also causes your character to fly and that is where the problems arose, for we were (as you know) recently given flight in the non-jungle maps and I’m loving it, but … it’s causing me merry hell when I attempt to navigate jumping puzzles now as the wings often deploy and make me miss my intended landing spot! Would it be possible, ArenaNET to please create an option within the controls so that we have the JUMP key and a key binding (of our own choosing) for deploying the glider as this would at least solve this most distressing issue!

I was playing Guild Wars 2 and happened to switch via the Windows Key to my desktop so I could access email, when the monitor began flashing rapidly between the GW2 environment and the Windows 7 environment and despite my attempting to use the mouse to close the game, I found myself locked out. After twenty seconds of frantic attempts, including ALT+CTRL+DEL to regain control over my computers environment I was no closer to solving this issue, so was forced ultimately to do a hard reset of the machine, wherein it re-started and I had a normal Windows 7 (64-bit all patches and updates in place) environment once more.

This is not the first time day that I have been forced to re-start the machine while playing GW2, and the last instance also caused the machine to become unresponsive but in that instance, was able to get ALT=CTRL+DEL to work, yet it shows GW2 was off, yet the game was clearly still running in the background.

Well, Just a flesh wound.3589 its simple, the proposed blocking enhancements are simply not implemented for PvP or WvW and if players who have visually blocked other players prior to entering either mode they can expect them to be visible otherwise it would just cause chaos. And as for it not being practical from a programming point of view – garbage!

If you knew anything at all about procedural programming you would know that such things are designed to be modified on demand for whatever task is required. The same idea was implemented in an earlier interactive world (Second Life) with no issue whatsoever. That world did not come crashing down nor did the code freeze. The servers did not power down nor did anyone lose their accounts.

The point is the programmers at ArenaNET are very talented individuals and as such have already augmented and adapted the existing code millions of times over to tweak it and to get it doing what it is supposed to be doing. So from a programming perspective it is entirely possible and workable.

I also feel it necessary to remind you that when I speak of abuse of the tools and actions we have access to in Guild Wars 2 I am mentioning instances predominately of players who for whatever reason amuses them choose to abuse others and as soon as you block one of them another pops it’s head up and pretty much does something new to you so it becomes necessary to literally block as required a line of would-be troublemakers as and when the instances take place, and I accept that. I would just like the nature of that blocking to be enhanced.

Most of the time (as I’ve suggested above – must pay attention) I see no point in reporting them as it wastes my time and the time of ArenaNET employees who have better things to be doing than reading abusive comments or checking for actions deemed illegal – but they do and I respect them for it. And they often act to deal with such troublemakers. Recently one such player had their account seized their avatar stripped of all of it’s illegally obtained enhancements and it was ‘’executed.’’

In my case I get a lot of attention before I character role-play and it seems some people see that as an opportunity to abuse me – which is why I, and other role-players, tend to experience a much higher percentage of such instances than the average player.

Those players who spend all their time in PvP and WvW don’t really have time to role-play as they are too busy hitting each other and aside from the occasional grunt, I’m sure that the idea of dialogue is the least of their worries. Besides I could argue that they have a completely different mindset to the players who want to immerse themselves in the TRUE Tyria – the maps of the planetary surface (and the mists).

That has been my observation at least. In addition to my helping out new players I also spend time in level 80+ areas but there is little to do there other than test your mettle, to band with other like-minded individuals and to collect; and PvP/WvW simply does not appeal to me and does not suit my choice of game play.

I even speculate at times that when certain types of abuse takes place it is because the abusers both bored and see other people, not just NPC’s as targets of opportunity who won’t fight back. Well, that thinking is a fallacy and it is not acceptable. Ultimately you have two realistic choices here; change society (or the online society) so that violence of this sort is completely unacceptable and the punishment for such is so horrible that only the dumbest would dare to abuse another, or implement blocking enhancements to provide protection to players who feel as if they are being abused for whatever reason they feel the need to give.

AMENDMENT: I’ve just recalled that those persons leaping into the Mystic Forge in Lion’s Arch now take on the appearance of energy beings. Their avatar is replaced with it in fact. It does not take much of a stretch of the imagination to blank out an avatar then, as you simply choose to tell your local client software not to render them or if rendering is required to render them with all colors set to transparent in that instance. In the case of the Forge, I see my avatar as an energy being – as do others, and I see theirs as energy as well (if they are in the Forge).

I’m actually a fan of the score, but have to ask – much music has been added since the initial release of the score on disc, so are there plans for more releases – does anyone know? (and in addition to the score for GW2 I also listen to the score for the movie, ‘’The Keep’’ as its dark enough to keep it interesting)

I’ve never met you Khristophoros.7194 – in fact I’ve never encountered you before today so you have by way of subjective reasoning never met me, encountered me or interacted me. In other words, your commentary is a finger-wagging work of fiction and a poorly written one at that. One more thing, as I simply cannot resist, are you an authority on roleplaying characters? By what standard do you measure your alleged abilities? But then that has always been the way of the critic, they act to deface others work yet are incapable of producing anything which can rival or better it.

As we used to say back in the Old Country, you’re full of hot air.

And my original question still remains, WHY are so many of the negative or derisive commentators here so unwilling to entertain the possibility of visually blocking the bullies? Could it be perhaps that it would stop your “fun” at other peoples expense?

It would be nice to have a WP next to the Black Lion, because at the moment I exit the nearest (two actually) and spend about forty seconds (which could be better spent) bounding around the landscape to get it to. There is, however, one right next to the bank. I remind players (and newbies) that crafting stations also permit bank account access.

You think you have problems with baldness? At least two of my Charr lose their horns when helmets and certain other items are placed on the head. I appreciate that this is a game mechanic and rendering issue, but if a Charr has some tremendously large and ornate horns surely they count as major body parts and well … vanishing as they do makes the character change significantly.

Besides, and as one of my characters is fond of mentioning, “I’ve always been suspicious of warriors who wear helmets … for it suggests that they’re worried about having their heads caved in.” (and yes, that’s intended as observational comedy).

Well, there is my two bronze worth on the subject – why not add an embedded option so that the third-mouse key (scroller) allows you to re-size the avatar to fit in the window? And yes, I too have noticed the skin tones on the boxed avatars is over-illuminated one moment, darker the next. I’m sure it’s simple enough to fix and that those fine programmers at ArenaNET are busy working on it as I type this out.

I’ve been reading the replies and the results have been interesting. First of all, much like the act of “Chinese Whispers” the meaning of “somebody DELIBERATELY moving to stand in the same spot as another person, and to move as another person does, and worse still to DELIBERATELY act to shadow another avatar” (general meaning of my original comment amended so there are no ‘misunderstandings’ or ‘clever’ re-interpretations) has been altered in the course of discussion to mean “if somebody is standing in the same place as me or near me it’s griefing, right?”

No, it’s not the same.
One is accidental or coincidental; the other is an act of INTENDED harassment and it is this issue of INTENT which is at the core of the whole situation being discussed here.

First of all, its gratifying to see that I’m not alone in feeling that this is a major problem, but the way I read a percentage of the replies so far, the ones who think my post is a joke or cannot believe I’m serious seem to be completely without any empathy or compassion whatsoever for other people’s concerns or for the issues mentioned; or perhaps, and let’s just throw this into the mix for a moment. Unable for whatever reason to appreciate that actions that they may deliberately partake of on a whim for their own amusement are irritating, annoying and even offensive to other people; the griefer continues in this manner because they are without empathy for others and in many instances, when challenged voice the opinion that they just don’t care.

If this is the case, what am I and others to make of the comments like “you have just painted a target” on whatever part of my anatomy they wish to choose? If I honestly felt for a moment that you would because of my posting deliberately seek me out and grief me I would be quite worried for it would prove without a doubt that there is a percentage of the ‘community’ who has some unsettling tendencies which allowed them to contemplate such things and consider them acceptable.

This suggestion (the reactions to the original posting) has been very revealing, especially in regards to the negative commentary. The ones who have left commentary to the effect that the griefers are the loudest when such things are mentioned are here also, but their number is far outweighed by the negative replies – and in many of those replies original sources are liberally re-quoted with speculative observation (incorporating fictional races at one point!) employed or more often than not, open disbelief, ridicule or worse.

What exactly SCARES the negative commentators so much that they feel the need to act as they do? WHAT could possibly cause such strong emotional reactions? Such passionate responses over something, which if people behaved themselves would never ever, affect them or their ‘enjoyment’ of Guild Wars 2. Maybe it’s just me, but they do seem threatened by such ideas.

One quick appendum (Seera.5916 and at least one other poster) you’re absolutely right, it would not be workable in PvP or WvW so elements of it simply are not implemented. A little common sense should always be considered when dealing with the environment. In this case, I should have added this appendum when I posted my original commentary – I suspect the best you could expect in there would be to silence them, but obviously not make them vanish.

Of course it is entirely possible that I see a lot more ‘deviant’ behavior because having reached level eighty a while back (I begin in 2012) and not having an active interest in WvW or PvP I now spend a lot of my time running around the low-level regions casually instructing and helping out newbies and established players who need an extra hand doing things, or simply advising them on how Guild Wars 2 works and how best (given their needs) to get ahead in the game so they can gain the maximum possible enjoyment out of it.

Under those circumstances, and especially in the low-level areas I’m sure you will meet jack-in-the-boxes and toons with shiny new toys to play with who are not entirely sensitive to others needs or careful how they use them and strangely enough I know this and accept it. I’m sure those of you who have traveled will know that you seldom meet griefers outside of the primary cities and starting areas because players who are that deep into Tyria are generally well established and going about their business with no time for such foolishness.

We-ell, its a tough one, isn’kitten What it comes down to ultimately is what you feel comfortable with, which is pretty much the best way of putting it. Some folks are not easily intimidated, and some are.

I mean, I have a neighbor whose fourteen-year-old daughter plays GW2 and she is very sheltered. About two weeks ago she was verbally abused in world by some players and it has left her withdrawn and emotionally damaged. I see things like that and ask myself what can be done to assure her that if she starts playing again the same people will not be able to abuse her since they know her (character) name and according to my neighbor at least told her they would target her the next time she came in.

What sort of slime wrapped in human skin does that to another human being? Let alone a child; not that they seemed to know or care.

Excellent point, CETheLucid.3964 and if you read the opening commenting it will become clear that my beef is with those who deliberately target, not with accidental ‘misfires’ or when fun and games at any large meeting place get out of hand.

I’m immune to that sort of situation. You and persons in that situation have nothing to worry about – but if a person was doing it deliberately, when they would essentially be creating the situation which led to their own demise. Of course, being “blocked” in that fashion they would only become aware of it the moment their target vanished from sight.

IF on the other hand they were not targeting anyone, they would probably not notice that a person had vanished at all … much as you might ignore or not notice a random person teleporting away to go about their business. Same outcome more or less; different mechanic being employed.

Well, Beepa Fraps has been pretty good so far. It creates video evidence on demand showing that deliberate actions are being taken which go a tad beyond somebody having a spot of fun! We’ve all experienced abuse and some of us deal with it by ignoring it while others find it intimidating. It is for the gentler game player that much of this causes offense. So yes, can prove it.

Excellent point, Randulf.7614 but let’s take this to it’s illogical conclusion. If for example they continue on to another person, etc. sooner or later they will grow tired of being the only toon standing there. The psychological message is important (assuming they are smart enough to understand it). Abuse and people vanish and that means there is nobody around to bully. It also creates a situation wherein, if their actions warrant reporting then ArenaNET will receive a flood of reports about that individual (irrespective of avatar) and will notice that they are actively engaged in abuse of other people which comes back to the point of my opening comment.

Most of my humor is observational and role-played so it’s relevant to the situation as it stands. That or I discuss my skritt-jerky recipe. I also try where possible to put the humor into the way I present my characters. For example, one of my characters is a Norn,the son of Gizor Shiftygaze the horse thief, and Gudrin Dredgesplitter the husband-beater! Cousin to Dridke Horseshragger, and descendant of Lentel Frothmouth the unhinged! And with a pedigree like that you just know he is likely to find chewing his way through a wall so much easier than actually climbing over it.

I find your comment highly amusing, Groonz.7825 — Exactly ‘where’ did I say that I felt that somebody was really trying to kill me? Really, you must go back and actually read my comment rather than speculating on my observations with silly replies. I’m not going to waste my time defending my comment and ultimately it was aimed at the community for how the community reacts to it is a true indicator of how such actions are perceived.

For some (the minority I’m happy to report) such instances are not considered griefing (and I’m discussing the deliberately TARGETED intimidation, not the incidental or accidental kind) and wherein the majority of the community who have some degree of self-respect and who do not find it amusing to deliberately abuse others to get their kicks, find such actions abusive and have in the past commented to me that something has to be done about the abusers.

But then of course I’m sure the abusers would howl the loudest about it because this proposal if implemented would effectively act to take away their “fun” now would it not?

In all fairness, I’ve just read the opening comment and come straight to the bottom but if you have spent all your life in the city and have not traveled this is the price you end up paying for not exploring. A major part of the game mechanic is exploring. I mean, leveling up in the city and that’s it? Where is the fun in that? You have to get out there and SEE the real Tyria … or sadly, and ultimately it will be a case of wanting it all but seemingly being unable or unwilling to work for it.

I’m big on law and order and well, point taken but ultimately it comes down my believing absolutely in the 11th Commandment which is, “Thou shalt not get away with it.”

How about one of mine, the character is a big Norn named Liulfr Walmart with a face only a mother could love. His catch phrase is, “You WHAT?!” and his means of identifying himself is, “I am Liulfr Walmart, son of Gizor Shiftygaze the horse thief, and Gudrin Dredgesplitter the husband-beater! Cousin to Dridke Horseshragger, and descendant of Lentel Frothmouth the unhinged!”

I’m tired of reporting griefers, spammers and other offenders to ArenaNET and with respect feel that you’re probably tired of it too so would like to propose a method in which the act of blocking another player can be implemented in order to make its usage more effective. At the moment I can be abused, attacked or assaulted when (1) another player thinks it’s amusing to use harsh, abusive or other commentary on me or which is directed at me; (2) Another player chooses to implement character-driven visual effects either at my avatar or in the immediate, targeted area of my avatar for the purposes of intimidation and/or too cause deliberate work-load on my graphics card thus interfering with my game play enjoyment, or (3) when another player chooses, deliberately to act to intimidate by occupying an area in my immediate vicinity or within the same space that my avatar is occupying and who may or may not move when I move to continue that intimidation.

Make no mistake, intimidation is a serious issue and can cause emotional damage, which is why I would like to have it taken seriously. At the moment when I am abused these are the primary methods wherein the act takes place and may well take the form of one or more (or all) of the above. To this end, I propose that in order to slim down the workload for ArenaNET that we be given re-imagined tools for dealing with these situations in world. At the moment, when such instances take place we can click on the offenders dialogue or their avatar and choose to report them and block them – both are valid, but blocking only acts to silence the dialogue from their avatar and does not prevent the other issues mentioned above. So I propose that when such instances occur, that the act of BLOCKING implement the following:

(a) That the offender’s avatar is silenced from the POV of the person activating the block.

(b) That the offenders avatar, items attached to that avatar, their name, titles and any sound and particle effects that they may be employing are also nullified (vanish).

© That the person who blocked them is made similarly invisible (as described above) as well so that they cannot be the focus of continued abuse by the offender.

I honestly ask this – is this so hard to implement? If you do as I’ve suggested here and when an avatar is blocked they cease to be an irritation and can no longer be directly targeted for abuse by the offender. If blocking takes place accidentally it is a simple matter of going to the blocked screen and reversing that block to make them appear once more. With a system like this in place, I will no longer need to worry about running into a potentially psychotic adolescent abuser while attempting to enjoy Guild Wars 2.

Shortly after the new Lion’s Arch was put in place I was abused by three or four griefers who decided to abuse me with dialogue which was frankly the sort of thing which in real life I would consider grounds for the cops, and what options did I have to deal with it? Well, blocking them made little difference as they simply chased me around the city, hounding me which I felt was very intimidating and teleporting (which seemed like a good idea at the time) made little difference for this mob was doing that too. I was forced eventually to leave, so they ‘won’ and that really irritated me. I knew there was nothing that could be done about it, until today when one of the same abusers who was involved in the above instance abused me again, personally today in Divinity’s Reach and this time when I was in company who found their actions both childish and unnecessary.

Because I had already blocked them I could not ’’hear’’ what they were saying but I certainly noticed their charging back and forth, attempting to cut me up. How can you not call that targeted intimidation? So, with that in mind I decided it was time to say something and with any luck be heard because I log into Guild Wars 2 to relax, to unwind and most of all to meet friends and adventure and certainly do not want to have to worry about being abused like this.

My main character is a Charr (Arcos Shiningpaw, the self-proclaimed ‘Charr Diplomatic Corpse (sic) to Lion’s Arch’ – it’s a sort of RPG joke) and in character holds some very strong and somewhat unsavory opinions about Skritt and Asurans in that order … and yes, although we ought not to see any racism (or should that be species-ism?) in Tyria it is an expected quantity that certain Humans and Charr have an on-going distrust of each other despite the treaties as this is recent history for these two species.

Some non-Asura for example also feel very uncomfortable about the Asura and some people do not know how to take the Sylvari because they are so new, especially when they have a duality and spawned horrors of The Nightmare (to say nothing of Scarlet).

I mean, you never see anyone going around with a big silly grin on their face and saying, ‘’I like Dredge!’’ (If they did, they would be in the local guardhouse quicker than you can say Gnashblade Who?) And as a Charr, I’ve encountered anti-Charr sentiment from humans in Ebonhawke, but that’s to be expected.

So coming back to the original point, it is understandable to find traders in the cities who will only trade to members of their own cultures. It would be curious to see an Asura wearing Charr cultural armor but it might be an insult to the Charr on a cultural level or perceived as such unless that Asuran had EARNED the right to wear it by acting with and in defense of Charr interests. Anyway, I’m sure you can see the cultural questions, which this raises.

I have not seen rubber-banding in … well, YEARS! I’m on a U.S. server despite living in Britain. It may be down to local network conditions so might I suggest and advise you check your connection data transfer rate and if that looks to be okay, have your machine checked, although this is very little in modern computers which can go wrong as they either work or don’t work.

I have from time to time wanted to take photographs of my own avatars and up until now this has meant positioning them close by a wall or other upright structure or object and carefully vectoring in the camera until the character is nicely represented. This is often an easy way (at the moment) to do as you wish, although I will admit that it seldom catches action poses as the character has to be at rest to do it.

From time to time I come across people in Guild Wars 2 who for one reason or another are, to put it politely, irritating in some manner. In my case I find people who act in a childish manner or openly abuse others to be ‘irritating’ (like name-calling, swearing or unsolicited abuse at somebody, or referring to somebody as a ‘noob’ for no good reason) and is just seeking to offend for the sake of it. Of course, provision has been made in Guild Wars 2 to take care of this issue, at least in the most basic sense.

When somebody offends me I just select him or her or their dialogue and block them but sadly I can still SEE them and certain agitators take advantage of this state of affairs to continue to abuse or taunt because they know they can be seen. In a couple of instances, despite my muting them, certain miscreants have thought it hilarious to fire off effects at me, like explosions (which on some laptop computers causes massive slow-down in frame rendering and they know and exploit it) or to jump up and down in front of me, inside my avatar or around me like some demented jack-in-the-box.

Now, yes, I’ll agree that’s harmless enough but it is also a form of psychological abuse and I do not care for it at all. So, ArenaNET how about you adding to the BLOCK function so that the person who has blocked another does not see any dialogue from them, any noises they may be producing or their avatar so that if some … miscreant is acting out, we can be blissfully unaware of it. When I am forced to block somebody, that’s it – I want him or her gone with not a trace to be seen.

So perhaps the answer is to bring about a change in the follower list. I mean, let’s analyze it. A ’’follower’’ attaches himself or herself to you for some reason. Perhaps they feel that you know something; perhaps they like your style of doing things. Perhaps like so many of us they don’t know what they are doing and think that perhaps by going with you they can learn. I know that I often offer people the gift of free KNOWLEDGE and say that they are welcome to contact me if they want help, or if they want to know something but on the understanding that I may not be free to assist them in person or to come sort out something they are having an issue with.

I’m free most of the time to converse, even answer those questions, but you’re right; so many ‘followers’ add you and then that’s it – off they go and you’re casually forgotten.

It can make a person feel used, even neglected but then I suspect that is a symptom of the late 20th Century, early 21st with so many people knowing other people who they have never met in real life.

This is why I added that bit at the end of my original commentary about adding a notification for the last time you spoke with them … it might read Feb 28 2015 2.32.19 showing both the date and the amount of time you had a channel open between you. If of course you open and close channels, that information could be updated. Anyway, I’m making it sound complicated when in fact it is a very simple thing to add.

I used too, yes, but then there are people who add me for some reason – and that’s good. I must have made an impression on them! I’ve been playing since 2012 and I have about forty people who regularly communicate and fight alongside me, yet I also have many many more who I’ve yet to hear from but the list is kept so they have the option of looking me up if they wish too. It’s a tricky situation really as many of those people are vague memories at best (and this is not helped by skull trauma which means my memory is not exactly brilliant, but my long-time friends know this and allow for it).

A channel opened to me today from a person on my friends list, and this person asked that age-old question, ‘’Excuse me, but why are you on my friends list?’’ It soon transpired that they had no idea who I was and why I had been added so I explained a few things about myself and they responded with yet more confusion. Sadly, they felt uncomfortable with not knowing who I was or where they had met me and under which circumstances so I proposed removing myself from their list and offered them the chance to re-add if at some future date they felt the need.

This brings me to an important addition to Guild Wars 2 and I feel it should be implemented. At the moment the friend’s list is rather basic so I propose we add columns to mention DATE ADDED and LOCATION MET (including server). This should at least give the players a chance to know a little more before they decide to just write somebody off. In addition it may prove to be beneficial to add a DATE showing the last time/date you actually conversed with them.

Now I appreciate that all of this information cannot possibly fit onto the bar, so perhaps it can be displayed as a pop-up window which remains in view for as long as the mouse is hovered over their name and vanishes when you move that mouse away. Finally, if that person is known to the other under another avatar, perhaps we can add a short listing of the players avatar names so that one or more of these will trigger some memory and help to eliminate player-friendship dropping.

The best way citizen is to not hand over any gold to anyone under any circumstances. I’ve heard it all in my time. The classic being the old ‘’you want this, gimme gold and I’ll send to it’’ No, THEY DON’T. I’ve never been taken in as frankly I’m just not that stupid, but it’s understandable Just because you play by the rules and are honest, does not mean everyone else is too. Honor it seems is in short supply in some people. Another of my least favorite pastimes is people asking you for gold. Sometimes referred to as ‘gold begging’ all you need do is refuse. They typically abuse you for doing so, but hey, it’s just them being a loser so don’t pay it no mind anyhow. Basically if somebody offers you a service or wants gold in any way, either personally or via unsolicited mail, DO NOT fall prey to them. In fact, you may want to do as I do and tell them to get out there into the wild yonder and WORK for it!

Appreciate the replies. Well, in my defense (with apologies) the PTSD and a couple of other military related mental health issues mean I don’t always see the big picture. Only after I had a chance to think things through did I realize it was NOT essential. You take a lot for granted (I know, I do) and well, people such as myself, with my black and white approach to things is fine when you’re following orders but when it comes down to an environment in which dynamic events are taking place (and I’m on about the ‘paperwork’ not the actual VR world, I tend to miss things. This will not detract from my gameplay … and my sincere apologies for my earlier comments. I was quite upset at the time and well, can only offer that as an excuse. I’m just USED to coming in, seeing the daily listing churn over item by item and that little reward window popping open … it was like a treat for doing the chores. And now, well, it’s done and replaced with something new. I’ll just have to adapt, dagnabbit.

Thank you again for the confirmation. And yes, I’ve been very ill recently – beginning late November 2014 with psychiatric issues (ex-military, PTSD) I’ve been unable to play GW2 so missed a lot of the notifications and when I was playing I was busy in the Silverwastes, where business as usual kept me very busy. It is merely my personal choice, but I prefer to spend my days helping out newbies (educating them, fighting with them to beat enemies to assist in leveling) and in collecting which I then sell as I am not a crafter – I am that unlisted ‘profession’ of CRAFTING MATERIAL COLLECTOR; and that in itself is an excellent way of making cash. Anyway, if this is not a bug then it’s something I’ll just have to live with and thank you folks at ArenaNET. I’m sure it improves the game and I’ll just have to learn to adapt.

Thank you for responding and the advice. Actually, now that I’ve had time to review it (I seldom look at what I have to do, sorry – just accepting that mining, logging, plant collecting et al worked for me in the past) and do not do PvE, WvW etc.

Those things really do not appeal to me as a player, but I also eventually realized that I had to visit some region or other just to get those items – what’s going on here?

This detracts from my enjoyment of the game to be honest with you. I used to wander freely, as I wished, collecting as I wished and NOW it seems that I have to be ‘’ordered around’’ to do things just to get my daily? Surely this is forcing the player to do something against their will and in fact causing them unnecessary distress when despite no matter how hard they try, they simply cannot finish daily.

Makes the whole point of playing pretty pointless in my opinion. I was HAPPY with the way it was. I was CONTENT to do what I logged in to do and have done since 2012. Now, all of that said, is there any way that I can play Guild Wars 2 the way I want too? Y’know, give the player what they want and all that.

I’ve traveled far and wide in Tyria and have had an account since 2012. However, I have been away for four weeks due to serious health issues and when I get back something which I really used to look forward too simply isn’t the same anymore.

Am I now REQUIRED to go to Ascalon every day to mine and look at the same vistas over and over? This said, I’ve spent the morning in Ascalon (you guys can check that easily) and made some headway. So if I understand this right, if I choose to collect/fight in say Queensdale, Cursed Shore, Southsun Cove or the Silverwastes I can no longer get any daily completions? If so, this has just ruined my day. I used to look forward too doing things all over Tyria.

So one last question. What if a player does not want to do (or dislikes) PvE or WvW (I find WvW brutal to be honest with you)?

I’ve been doing things in and around Tyria for the last couple of days but for some reason my Daily Completion percentages remain at zero on all listings. Has this issue been noticed by anyone else or has something been changed or adjusted in regards to my own copy of the game to cause this. It may well be a bug, as despite putting in almost ten hours of play today, I have not earned a single daily reward.

I’m on the Magumma server and a couple of minutes ago happened to be battling in the wolf cave, close by ‘Crossing Waypoint’ Queensdale when for what seemed like 1/16th of a second I saw a Candy Corn node above the existing copper one which is located there. Just a FYI, but another player who was in there with me also reported sighting the candy corn node.

I can log into GW2 just fine, but the moment I try to access one of my toons which is in Diessa Plateau all I get is the loading screen and nothing else. It eventually timed out. Repeated attempts reached the same conclusion. My other toons, in other locations load just fine. (Code=7:11:3:191:101)