Guild Wars 2

In the recent looking forward blog, they said they want to focus development in 2016 on expanding the base features of the game – something I agree completely with. I am concerned, however, about what they consider to be base features and how they define expanding.

With that in mind, I wanted to outline what I would like to see – short term, mid term and long term, as it relates to base game features such as open world, guild features and character creation – specifically focused on things they did not mention in that blog.

Open World

• Short Term: Add mechanics to all world bosses (Fire Elemental, Jungle Worm, Hydra Queen, etc) – bringing them on par, difficulty wise, with current Karka Queen

• Short Term: At least one or two new (interesting) dynamic events in each major region

• Mid Term: Beef up the dragon lieutenants to match Tequatl in terms of complexity/difficulty.

• Mid Term: New explorable maps along the lines of Dry Top or Silverwastes in size.

• Long Term: New World Bosses and major dynamic event chains

• Long Term: New adventures (including in core Tyria) – possibly including SAB and the bar brawl/archery contests advertised pre-launch

Guild Features

• Short Term: Allow guilds to trigger all world bosses using the guild consumable (which currently only works on Teq, TT and Karka Queen)

• Short Term: Add world bosses (once they are triggerable by guilds) and more difficult dynamic events to the list of current PVE guild mission possibilities (eg, guild challenge is to kill Shatterer)

• Mid Term: New guild missions in core Tyria (possibly a guild race/rush transforming us into hawks – using the gliding mechanics)

• Mid Term: Add in new guild hall features related to the guild portal (helping guilds do more together in different zones)

• Long Term: New highly detailed guild missions in the new zones

Other

• Basic stuff, such as new pvp maps, fractals, collection achievements and guild missions added on a regular (2-3 months) basis

• New guild professions on a semi aggressive schedule (6-8 months)

• 10 person content for more casual groups (now that you have the squad capability). This could be the same content as the current raids or it could be something completely new. It just seems wasteful not to do more with this.

• Adapt interesting dungeons fights into new fractals (eg, a short Arah based fractal including Lupicus as the intermediary fight and a random selection of the final fights as the finale)

• Adapt S1 living story (Breachmaker, Marionette, Tower of Nightmares, Ancient Karka) into new fractals or 10 player content for guilds (possibly new guild missions)

Again, just a few thoughts. My biggest worry is that this game will take the same path as WoW and all its clones (specifically the focus on raiding), when GW2 is so much more – and can continue being so much more with even minimal effort. I like the idea of building on base game features, as long as we know what those base game features are.

Anyone else see core game areas they would like to see expanded upon?

Its been more than 2 years since we’ve had new guild missions. Its been a year since new fractals. One new dungeon in three years. It will (most likely) be more than 5 months before the next open world map. One new pvp map in years. And Im sure Im forgetting something.

Those are the things they need to be focused on – not raiding, which, by their own admission is designed for a smaller percentage of the game population.

I know I will probably catch hell for saying it from some of the more vocal members on the forums, but raiding, while it can be part of the mix, cannot take precedence over any of these things. As soon as it does, the game is no longer GW2.

I love this game, but I do find this blog very disappointing because of what isn’t coming (but was expected).

Most significantly, the only real meat we see being added in the next few months are a festival, an upgrade to an existing world boss, a new collection achievement (the brewmaster thing) and a new raid wing (even though we just got a raid wing). It is starting to feel a lot like the direction every other MMO takes with the raiding focus, to the detriment of everything else.

Guild Missions. Open World Maps and Dynamic Events. Living Story. Fractals. WvW. – these are the base systems that made the game so successful and fun for people in the months following launch – and not a single one is seeing anything new any time soon.

These are the areas they need to be expanding first, not things only a tiny percentage even care about (and, by their own admission, are developed for a tiny percentage of players).

I know some of these things (but not all) were mentioned in this post, but all with the qualifier *soon – taking a back seat to things most of the community cares much less about.

It feel like the game is starting to take a direction away from its base and more toward the cookie cutter raid-focused model used in other games. It is sad and not something I look forward to. I don’t want this game to fail or turn away from the base direction in pursuit of something new and shiny. I have too many friends and too many good memories here.

There is something HUGE missing from this post -

What about guild missions?

You talk about updating successful parts of the game. Guild missions are wildly popular with many people I know (and definitely within my very active very large guild – and definitely more than raids).

They haven’t been touched in years. Any chance we will see new guild missions anytime soon?

Guild Races (or Rushes) are still a bit of a mess. No one knows what to do when you get there and another guild has triggered and has a few minutes remaining in their rush. If anyone is on a different map instance (even if they dont activate the rush), the mission bugs for everyone and if the previous guild’s mission ends, people in our guild are kicked out of rush form.

It is confusing. It is frustrating. It is not fun.

It needs to be fixed.

Guild missions have been bugged or broken in some way since the launch of the expansion (the trek location in Gendarren Fields is also still inaccessible – and has been for almost 2 years now).

Disclaimer – all of this is my sole opinion:

I think the biggest issue in the past 12 months has been a scattered vision of what the game is supposed to be – resulting from the developers trying to please every kind of MMO player and, as a result, drifting away from the base vision that made this game so much fun at launch.

This game isn’t about e-sports. It isn’t about high end difficult content. It isnt even about acquiring the best gear possible.

This game is about giving us something fun to do in large (20/30/50 plus) people groups. Up until GW2, no other MMO really did that in a sustainable way. Even those that tried ended up drifting toward the low hanging fruit as end game – focused pvp and raids.

GW2 needs to get back to the vision and basic concepts that made the original game launch so great. Focus on open world activities, living story, huge boss fights like Tequatl/Shatterer/Mordremoth (the best part of the expansion imo), world vs world, guild missions etc – in other words, the activities that do not pull the community into smaller 5 or 10 man groups and away from each other.

So, yes Anet, give us new fractals, pvp maps and the (very occasional) raid – but get the development focus back where it belongs – on the thing that set you apart from WoW or Tera or ESO or any of those other games – back on the open world, events, guild stuff, celebrations and other fun things that bring the community together in large groups to enjoy content.

Again, just my personal opinion.

Im actually more interested in the direction they take the game updates prior to the expansion. HOT introduced a lot of seemingly flexible systems that should make it easier for them to add content such as living story chapters, new fractals, new guild missions, new open world maps, new elite specializations, new adventures (minigames), new pvp maps, new legendary rewards, new masteries, etc.

While I loved the expansion, it was the potential of these new systems that really sold it for me more than the content we actually received. They need to live up to that potential before coming out with a new expansion.

What I would like to see with expansions is pretty straightforward – give us an expansion when a major shift in the story maeks sense, eg, one that involves a new zone (4-6 maps in a place like the Crystal Desert or to the north), new elder dragon (or other antagonist), etc.

Addendum – one thing I would like to see is significantly greater control regarding which overflow map you and friends end up on. The current system is extremely clunky, resulting in fragmented (or underpopulated) maps and, much worse, guild members/friends forced to play on different map versions. Its time to scrap the automatic placement and put control over map placement into the players’ hands. This would probably have to be part of an expansion because I suspect it would require a HUGE overhaul of the system.

RoyHarmon.5398:

Blaeys.3102:

Guild missions have been broken – in one way or another – since the expansion (this past week was the FIRST week we were able to do them all without experiencing a bug – and that apparently has already changed) – yet the Gorseval bug with raids (which affects far fewer people) gets fixed within 2 days. This should be considered unacceptable by the GW2 community.

Missions are a part of the game many of us care about – and honestly enjoy – and would like to see expanded upon well into the future.

While were at it, can we finally (after 2 + years) get some new guild missions.

To be fair, we did get a lot of new guild missions when the expansion launched. All of the PvP and WvW missions, in fact.

We haven’t gotten any new additions to the old missions (bounties, etc.), but we did get new mission types. And that was pretty cool.

Now, if only we could get them all to work properly…

To be realistic, all we received was a reskinned way and minor reward boost for doing existing wvw and pvp content – what amounts to an interface change more or less. We have not seen a new guild mission (actually new) in two years – and we need to keep bringing it up whenever and however we can. This cannot be a game mode they let slip into mediocrity as raids (or whatever) take over.

Back onto the topic, my guild does missions every Monday night. I’m holding out some hope that we will at least be able to interact with bounty targets by then (2 months of bugged missions is way too long). Has anyone else done missions today or this past weekend that can shed some light on the current situation?

To me, casual may be the wrong word.

When GW2 came out, I saw it as the working man’s (or woman’s) MMO – as an alternative to the raiding focused time sinks on the market at the time. It was a place where I could focus on having fun with friends without worrying about their skill level or how much time they spend playing the game. I started and built a very successful 400+ person guild around this concept.

Im not saying that has changed. My guild has had a lot of fun playing together in the new zones. However, I do see some trends and developmental direction that concerns me.

Specifically, I mean the following:

1. The lack of support for guild missions. No new guild missions in 2+ years, alongside the huge number of bugs we’ve seen since HOT means that missions have become a chore rather than a fun group activity.

2. The inflexibility of raids. I know this is a controversial topic, but the reality is they could have introduced raids that retained the current difficulty while still offering access to the less focused players (specifically, replace the enrage with a tiered reward systems). Note that I am moving through the raid personally just fine, so this isnt about personal bitterness – I just think the current raid setup could have been thought out much better.

3. The exclusive nature of legendary armor. Legendary armor should be EXTREMELY hard to acquire, but it should be possible for those playing every game mode, inlcuding PVP and WvW.

I know people will disagree with some of this. I am simply illustrating the elements of the game that are moving it away from the friendly, community focus it has had for the past few years. It is now in the hands of the developers. If they continue down this path to directly then I can confidently say they will lose large numbers of their players to other more community focused competitors emerging in the coming years.

Early on, people came to GW2 looking for something different – and we found it. If it goes away or is supplanted by something we dont find fun, we will go looking for it elsewhere.

Guild missions have been broken – in one way or another – since the expansion (this past week was the FIRST week we were able to do them all without experiencing a bug – and that apparently has already changed) – yet the Gorseval bug with raids (which affects far fewer people) gets fixed within 2 days. This should be considered unacceptable by the GW2 community.

Missions are a part of the game many of us care about – and honestly enjoy – and would like to see expanded upon well into the future.

While were at it, can we finally (after 2 + years) get some new guild missions.

If it can’t be fixed to be an actual group activity (or they simply dont want to dedicate more resources to fixing it), I would rather they scrap it next year and give us something new we can do in a party.

I think most people only do it now for the achievements, which should never be the primary motivator for players – it just isn’t fun without the ability to go in with friends.

Boon stripping helps a lot in these fractals. Mesmers, revenants and necros are particularly good at it.

Also – if youre running a mesmer and not using arcane thievery in many of these levels, you’re missing one of the greatest pleasures of fractal life

Lady Elyssa.2469:

It is sad to see Mesmer being penalised so harshly on Echo of Memory, especially considering this is a skill from an Elite Specialisation and that their other block skills, namely:

Illusionary Counter is 2secs
Illusionary Reposte is 2.25 seconds.

Engineer
Static Shield 1.25s
Shock Shield 2s

Guardian
Shelter – 2s

Revenant
Warding Rift 2s
Duelist’s Preparation 2s
Crystal Hibernation 3s

Warrior
Shield Stance 3s

Lady Elyssa.2469:

It is sad to see Mesmer being penalised so harshly on Echo of Memory, especially considering this is a skill from an Elite Specialisation and that their other block skills, namely:

Illusionary Counter is 2secs
Illusionary Reposte is 2.25 seconds.

Engineer
Static Shield 1.25s
Shock Shield 2s

Guardian
Shelter – 2s

Revenant
Warding Rift 2s
Duelist’s Preparation 2s
Crystal Hibernation 3s

Warrior
Shield Stance 3s

Keep in mind that, used properly, the block is much longer than 2.25 seconds (due to the instance refresh, signet of the ether and continuum split).

The mesmer nerf needs to happen for PvP reasons. It is a shame that it will impact PVE as well – where Echo of Memory is providing some fun gameplay options for the mesmer.

The guild portal really feels like a great idea that they didn’t take far enough. Instead of being tied to guild missions, it would be awesome if it offered access to one waypoint in each zone on the map – and even more awesome if it prioritized keeping guildees together.

This would be amazing for guilds that do things together in open world.

Along with that, I’ll add a few ideas of my own for future guild hall upgrades:

New Arena Upgrade: Danger Room Trap Tier 1/2/3/4 – spawns waves of mobs (eventually a champ then a legendary) for the guild to fight in the arena. There would be no loot associated – this would just allow for PVE group training in the guild hall.

New NPC: Scribe Bank – Allowing for members to support guild scribes by donating materials (similar to the treasury NPC for hall upgrades)

Telling lower tier servers that “WvW would be fun if you were better at recruiting” isn’t the solution to the problems found in the current system.

Some people (specifically those that transferred to the top tier servers) may not like the idea of a system in which existing servers are paired together on colored megaserver teams (similar, but not identical, to EOTM), but it is probably the best solution for long term health and competition in World vs World. The current model only encourages erosion – players interested in wvw either migrating to the same 2-3 servers or simply leaving – neither of which is good for the game.

I would be a little happier if we knew that all of the crafting materials were actually in the game – and not an oversight.

Anyone seen Bags of Mortar (should be sold by master scribes but isnt) or Essence of Illumination (should drop in Hidden Garden JP, but after hours and hours of grinding, still to be seen)?

Agreed 100%. The heart and soul of this game is the casual player.

There is no other MMO that offers the same amazing open world experience (in both PVE and PVP through WvW) through which both small and large groups of players can do things together.

While there is a place in the game for things like competitive pvp and elite raids, they can never become the primary focus of the game.

New Open World Maps, Living Story, Guild Support (including guild missions and more guild hall functionality), WvW, Festivals – these are the things that built this game in the past few years. Once they forget about that in some half kitten attempt at bringing in new types of players, the game will turn into something that tries to please everyone yet really doesnt do it for anyone (as weve seen in other failed MMOs that tried the same thing).

Since the expansion came out, my guild has yet to have a week where we have been able to properly complete and receive credit for all of the guild missions on our list.

At first, it was the crippling bugs – in almost every mission type. Then, for some reason they have yet to tell us about (and probably never will), guild challenges were just turned off for two weeks (yet still appeared on the list taking up a slot). Now, Stronghold is the pvp mission even though that map is inaccessible.

To make matters worse, they seem to not care which ones we get each week. For the past two weeks, the pve mission have included three treks. Treks, while fun, can get old really fast (and the Raptor’s Perch location has been inaccessibly/bugged for more than a year and a half – meaning we have to cancel and wait out the timer if that one is on the list).

It really seems like they are spreading themselves too thin in regard to development and QA. Guild missions should be a cornerstone of the game – they should be engaging, constantly updated (EG, new missions on a regular basis) and, most of all, should actually work – and if they dont, fixing them should be a priority.

Still looking for Bags of Mortar.

This same topic is covered in at least three other threads (with the exact same people making the exact same comments).

The question is almost answered – just need to find out about Bags of Mortar.

This has been an active question for almost a month – longer if you count the other threads.

This single item is holding back guild decoration progress and hindering our ability to level scribes.

It seems like Anet would have at least let us know if the item is even in the game at this point. A lot of hours are being wasted looking for this stuff.

Regarding brown pigments, I found it much more economical to buy the potatoes and mushrooms needed to make brown dyes and then salvage them.

I do agree that scribing overall feels a little restrictive. Im level 287 and am cringing at the costs needed to get to level 300 +.

And, while were on the topic, where the hell are our bags of mortar. The tooltip still says they are sold by the master scribe, but they are nowhere to be seen in game. This blocks a lot of potential decoration recipes.

In many ways, raiding in GW2 is far less casual friendly than it is in other MMOs. In other games, players that didnt want to invest the hours into learning to master the difficult content at first could always look forward to the day when their gear made it much easier.

While I am glad there is no treadmill in GW2 (and am enjoying the current content ), this does mean that the content will most likely remain walled off from those players indefinitely – which is a shame, imo.

I posted a possible compromise in another thread that would allow for more raid exposure without invalidating the difficulty – simply implement the gold/silver/bronze reward system from other areas of the game into raids – in place of the enrage. Beat the boss within X minutes, you get gold; two minutes after, silver; and bronze after that. That way people are still rewarded for learning the mechanics and those putting in the top level effort are still recognized for their accomplishments.

Really feels like an argument of semantics more than anything.

Raids may seem casual to some, but, imo, they are far from inclusive – for both community-driven and logistical reasons.

There are roles that are absolutely required for any chance of success (shadows of the trinity) – and there is an EXTREMELY high chance, when a group of friends get together casually, that a few of them will have to be excluded from the group based solely on the divide by 10 math.

I’m not debating the good or bad of these points – just stating them as facts. And, for these reasons, I do not see raiding as a casual gaming activity.

It is funny – and very telling – how these threads quickly turn into insults levied at the two sides more than an actual discussion of the topic.

While they have a place, raids are not casual for two simple reasons -

1. you have to bring people based on their roles/gear/builds rather than who they are (eg friendly players) or their player skill.

2. There is a very high possibility that you will have to exclude friends or others based on the arbitrary requirements of raiding.

I’m not saying these are bad things – they are just the simple realities of raiding and mean that raiding (in its current form) will never be something intended for casual players.

Bruno.3812:

I don’t think they are going to make new guild missions. why should they? The old ones do what they are supposed to do. Not only will new ones take a lot of time to design when they are busy with PvP and from what I read an overhaul of WvW, but will quickly be as well known as the old ones.

As an example, they’ve haven’t redone the events in the old maps. We’ve seen them for the last 3 years.

No offense, but this is a bit silly.

You’re saying they shouldn’t add new guild missions because the one’s weve had for almost 3 years do the job? If that is the logic they use, then there is no point in adding anything – no pvp maps, no wvw upgrades/changes, no fractals, no raids, no open world maps, etc. The old content did what it was designed to do, right?

Of course they should add new content – and people still enjoy doing guild missions together. The fact that they havent been touched in nearly three years is a reason to give them some developer love – not a reason to continue to ignore them. For many (I would guess A LOT), they are just as important (more for people like me) as any other part of the game.

Yea, we had to muscle through Sotz tonight for the bounty. It and the frog in Mt Maelstrom are semi-broken because of the new break bar mechanic (which dont allow for knockbacks).

Still say these shouldnt hinder the discussion related to new guild missions – which we really should have after two years of the same ones over and over.

Neural.1824:

I’d prefer that they fix the current ones and get them all into a working state before tackling anything new, which seems to be what they are doing for once.
Tired of old broken content remaining old and broken becuase “new shiny and broken” came along.

I think they have 99 percent of the kinks worked out. Only bug I still see is that it’s still impossible to get to Raptor’s Perch in Gendarren Fields if you draw that one during the trek, but that has been broken for more than a year now, so I think it’s a lost cause at this point.

It’s time to start talking about new missions.

Guild missions have been stagnating for a really long time (read: years).

When they first came out, they provided an amazing way for guilds to come together and tackle fun content like puzzles, challenges, bounties, etc together. To a degree, they still do, but guilds that do them week after week have seen all of them DOZENS of times.

Then the expansion came, which we all thought would bring new missions. Instead, it brought three things -

1. a new interface/system for starting guild missions (an improvement imo),

2. WvW/PVP “guild missions” (just reskinned content force fit into the mission model imo) and

3. lots and lots of BUGS (to a system that had been working well for years).

The bugs seem to mostly be fixed (still have a trek location that is inaccessible), but the reality remains that guilds interested in pve missions are doing the same guild missions we were doing two years ago.

We have waited for two plus years – and seen an expansion come and go – with no NEW guild missions whatsoever.

The missions we have were old a year and a half ago. It is time for something new – and they need to update them much more regularly (almost as often as living story – and definitely more often than raids, imo). It really seems like the guild challenge system, bounties and guild rushes particularly would make for some great content in the new maps.

I understand disabling Stronghold, but why did you turn around and make killing a lord in Stronghold this week’s pvp guild mission?

Seems like lines of communication may be broken somewhere between developer teams.

Killing the lord in Stronghold is the pvp guild mission this week – means it needs to be reopened asap or they need to change the mission.

It seems like the bag of mortar is the only real bug left (it lists as being available from the master scribe, but he doesnt sell it).

It has been weeks (months) with no movement on it, despite constant reminders from the community.

We want our bags of mortar!

Regarding the wvw recipes, my guild hasn’t experienced this issue and we do have most unlocked (were lvl 36), but if recipes are missing for you, you should list which specific ones.

TBH, I care a lot less about improved rewards than I do about getting new fractal maps.

I am also loving Heart of Thorns. Tried all the specializations and find the Chronomancer and Scrapper to be my favorites.

What is your favorite event?
All of Dragonstand – every little bit of it.

Are there are other areas you are excited for?
The guild hall system is a huge home run.

What are you most looking forward to now?
Like many others, I’m looking forward to Living World Season 3. There is just a lot of potential now.
(second place would be new guild missions and fractal maps – wonderful new system in place; can’t wait to see what they do with it).

Step One: Do the quaggan escort event in Straits of Devastation with 20+ guildees

Step Two: Buy lots of baby quaggan tonics

Step Three: Build as many knockback turrets and fan traps as possible in your guild arena

Step Four: Transform and bounce

Congratulations, you have won the game.

Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw3oyuDWiNY

I like them and would love to see them add a whole lot more to the central Tyria area.

The description on the bag of mortar reads “Purchased from Master Scribes,” but the master scribe doesn’t sell bags of mortar.

Torolan.5816:

I really, really hope that Anet takes a nosedive with this strategy and gets more casual friendly again.

As much as I was looking forward to raiding at first, I recently find myself thinking the exact same thing. The heart of this game is open world and strong story/dungeons – alongside wvw and pvp. Anything that pulls resources from that has the potential to take the game in a direction many of us simply don’t want to go.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Blaeys.3102:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Blaeys.3102:

I still think there is a simple way to retain the challenge/prestige of the raid without closing it off to everyone else – simply remove the enrage timer and replace it with the gold/silver/bronze system used in dynamic events and adventures. For example, on VG, beating the boss in less than 8 minutes would reward gold, less than 10 would reward silver and anything past 10 would reward bronze.

Simple solution that would open the experience/content to more people without taking away from the challenge and prestige top end raiders are looking for.

In order for prestige to accrue, the rewards would have to be available only for gold medals, with maybe some lesser rewards (e.g., champ bags) for silver and bronze. Since most complaints about lack of access are really about not getting the rewards…

I – and many others – could really care less about the rewards. Let the gold provide significantly better than the lesser tiers. I just want a larger percentage of my guild to have the opportunity to experience the content.

There are a lot of benefits to a gold, silver, bronze system that extend beyond just the simple timer system. Imagine if gold were also tied to other objectives, such as not letting X number of adds get to the boss or other skill based fight components. It opens the developers up to base difficulty on more than just arbitrary timers.

And again, it has nothing to do with rewards.

Good for you! I’ll believe that about the population in general when I see it.

I can only speak for my guild.

The reality is it looks good in a press release when they can say “look at our ultra difficult content that only X% of the players can beat,” but the reality is they could easily include that same content and – through the reward system they already have in place in other parts of the game – make it more accessible to a greater section of players.

They choose not to for publicity reasons. It really is the only explanation.

And, again, so there are no misunderstandings, I have no issue with it being eye bleeding hard. I will still tackle (and beat) it. Im just saying that I would love to be able to experience it with some of my less serious in game friends. There is a way to do that without taking ANYTHING away from the more elite players’ experience.

People are saying the Embroidered Silk (and possibly tubs of glue) come from the lvl 4 guild trader at the guild market, but I cant confirm that.

The Bags of Mortar says purchasable from the merchant at the scribe station, but he doesn’t sell them.

Scribing seems to have some real problems.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Blaeys.3102:

I still think there is a simple way to retain the challenge/prestige of the raid without closing it off to everyone else – simply remove the enrage timer and replace it with the gold/silver/bronze system used in dynamic events and adventures. For example, on VG, beating the boss in less than 8 minutes would reward gold, less than 10 would reward silver and anything past 10 would reward bronze.

Simple solution that would open the experience/content to more people without taking away from the challenge and prestige top end raiders are looking for.

In order for prestige to accrue, the rewards would have to be available only for gold medals, with maybe some lesser rewards (e.g., champ bags) for silver and bronze. Since most complaints about lack of access are really about not getting the rewards…

I – and many others – could really care less about the rewards. Let the gold provide significantly better than the lesser tiers. I just want a larger percentage of my guild to have the opportunity to experience the content.

There are a lot of benefits to a gold, silver, bronze system that extend beyond just the simple timer system. Imagine if gold were also tied to other objectives, such as not letting X number of adds get to the boss or other skill based fight components. It opens the developers up to base difficulty on more than just arbitrary timers.

And again, it has nothing to do with rewards.

How is this still not addressed?

Guild missions need A LOT of work – including giving us new ones (after two years) – so they definitely need to be put into working order.

This is pathetic.

I still think there is a simple way to retain the challenge/prestige of the raid without closing it off to everyone else – simply remove the enrage timer and replace it with the gold/silver/bronze system used in dynamic events and adventures. For example, on VG, beating the boss in less than 8 minutes would reward gold, less than 10 would reward silver and anything past 10 would reward bronze.

Simple solution that would open the experience/content to more people without taking away from the challenge and prestige top end raiders are looking for.

Guild missions still broken after three months.

Now the challenges wont even start. Instead, you get a “mission is closed” message.

This really needs some attention. Guilds cant progress without those missions.

It is still happening.

Almost three months since missions were in working order – its time to get them fixed.

They obviously added raids to entice new players to the game – to expand their total player base. That is a logical and commendable goal. Now, their challenge is to make sure that, in giving that group something to do, they do not forget about the core elements that have made GW2 successful for the past three years (amazing open world, living story, wvw, etc content).

As long as raids do not take one second of development time away from the core elements of the game and are treated as secondary content intended for a small subset of players – then I don’t see an issue. They have a place in the game, but should never be considered the primary mode (or even primary end game mode) of the game.

Since the expansion, some major aspect of guild missions has either been bugged or – as of last week – “closed” with no notice or explanation.

As a result, what used to be one of the most fun nights of the week for my guild has turned into a frustrating experience. Last night, 45+ people went to Scratch Sentry Defense – and then to Deep Trouble – only, in both cases to be told that the mission was closed. This was with no prior notice from Anet. Why even include guild challenges in this week’s missions if they are closed?

We were unable to accrue the guild favor, personal commendations, resonating slivers, etc that were associated with that mission, but more importantly, something we wanted to have fun doing together (and have done for 2+ years together) was mysteriously locked off.

This needs to be fixed.

And, then they need to GIVE US NEW GUILD MISSIONS. Again, we have been doing these same missions for years.

Forget about raiding and all the new stuff for a while and focus on fixing/enhancing something that is not only touted as a core element of guild advancement – but a source of great enjoyment (when it’s working) for many of us.

Again, this needs attention soon. Letting these issues persist sends a very clear (and very wrong) message to guilds that enjoy playing together.

It is time to fix guild missions. Since the expansion, the bugs – and now the UNANNOUNCED closure of guild challenges – have restricted guild growth, forced guilds into content they dont want to play and created a frustrating experience out of something that used to be fun.

I love this game and, for everything else, love the expansion. However, letting these issues persist as long as they have is destroying an important part of the game for many of us.

It is time for ANET to forget about raids and all the other new stuff for a bit and fix guild missions (and then, hopefully, give us some new ones for the first time in 2.5 years).

This happened to us for both of our guild challenges tonight – Scratch Sentry and Deep Trouble.

They fixed the other guild mission bugs but chose to just shut down others?

Even worse, there is NO WAY for my guild to earn the favor we need from those missions.

Anet needs to fix guild missions. It was sad – now it’s just pathetic.

Its not strictly a difficulty change, but I still think they should add 8 and 12 man versions of the raid content (alongside the 10 man we have now) to ease the actual forming and logistics of raiding. I would even be fine with different tiers offering lesser rewards.

I really hate having to leave people out when we have 11, 12 or 14 people show up.