Guild Wars 2

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

I’d like to clarify a few points.

The Competitive Team is responsible for all more-advanced content in the game. This includes: PvP, WvW, and profession skill balance/game balance in general. This is a pretty big group of areas of responsibility, as you can see. The team’s resources are spoken for in areas that will have impact on the most amount of players, or on changes that are less of impact to them, resource-wise (smaller projects/changes). As such, we have no immediate plans to revamp dungeons due to this resource constraint. That’s not to say that the team will never have time, in the future, to do large projects like the TA Aetherpath or similar with other dungeons. As Mike O’Brien said in his recent post, if we ever permanently stop working on a particular area of the game, we will tell you all.

Your feedback from this sub-forum has been reaching the team. As you recall, CC Danicia was active here in the past and delivered that feedback to developers. We will continue monitoring your feedback here and responding as we can.

Something that would help is if you could gather a thread for each dungeon (perhaps you’ve all already created one per dungeon?), and list out the major changes that you feel the dungeons would need to make them better, in concise bullet points. That way it’s easier for us to provide them to the development team.

What are we working on right now? Feature Pack 2 (in ~two more weeks), Season 2 of the Living World (coming back this fall), the WvW Fall Tournament, and the World Tournament Series PvP global tournament are just some of the things we are currently working on that we can tell you about right now.

Here is the million dollar question -

In Living Story Season One, we saw 3 new (unique) dungeons – Aetherblade, Molten Facility and TA Aetherpath. The resources, at that time, existed to make these dungeons.

Will there be dungeons associated with Living Story Season Two? If not, WHY NOT?

They have had the resources to do this in the past. We definitely want this. Why is this not a priority in Living Story Season Two?

We want Dungeons. You have made dungeons as part of living story. It seems ridiculous that we arent getting dungeons as part of season 2.

Dungeons are a big deal to a large number of players. As it stands, it really feels like Anet has little plan to develop anything for this subgroup of players.

Leaving the community with the impression that we will not see a new one (which they have done through the recent gamescom interview and past statements about the state of a dungeon team) for a really long time is disheartening and not good for the health of the game.

The open world PVE is looking really good right now, but there are many players who primarily play for the smaller group content.

They said Aetherpath took alot of effort. My question would be, compared to Drytop, was it more or less intensive to design? If they alternated every 3-4 living story episodes to focus on different types of players, they game, going forward, would look awesome.

eg -

Episodes 1-4: story instances, new open world map (drytop)
Episodes 5-8: story instances, new dungeon (one path added with each episodes, beginning with story then 3 explorable)
Episodes 9-12: story instances, new open world map
Episodes 13-16: story instances, new content for guilds (extensive additions to missions)
Episodes 17-20: story instances, new open world map, huge world boss to end season
Post Season: 2-3 new fractals based on story steps

Limiting living story to just story instances and open world will make for some great open world content, but it will significantly ignore and allienate an important subgroup.

Something else to consider – You may want to visit Malchor’s Leap, do the “Defeat the Inquest Ornithologist” event and buy several stacks of the Experimental Rifle. It will give you access to jump shot (and isnt tied to a particular class), which will allow you to make some jumps you probably couldn’t otherwise.

You may need to grab one or more others to help complete the event (it takes a few), but if you advertise in map chat, it shouldnt be a problem.

The portal gun is another consumable to consider, but i forget where that is acquired.

I think this is the response we needed from ArenaNet (and the only one they could give without making “promises” or speculations about the future) – specifically the comments that nothing is really off the table regarding future content and that the CDIs are coming back.

While there are topics I am focused on and really want to see sooner rather than later (new guild missions and dungeons), I am still happy with the current game and will continue to have fun while anxiously awaiting news.

Personally, I wouldnt mind if they took all champion bags out of the game and replaced them with “event bags” that dropped whenever we completed (successfully) a dynamic event (and scaled in value based on the difficulty of the dynamic event).

This would create a real incentive to successfully complete all events. They could potentially add the same incentive they do for rare creatures and XP – bags gradually become more valuable for events that havent been attempted in a long time.

The biggest issue with WvW is, and pretty much always has been, HUGE population disparities between servers.

Not sure what they can do, but until that issue is addressed in a meaningful way, the WvW experience is unlikely to improve.

Failing an event should never be the preferable outcome.

Kudos to Anet for addressing this.

I would like to see them add a new chat channel to the list -

“server chat.”

Even if it were limited to people on your server currently on the same map you are, it would go a long way toward keeping server communities intact following megaserver.

A couple of others I wouldnt mind seeing:

- “roleplaying chat”
- “guild officer chat”
- “LS spoiler chat” (a room to talk about living story after completing it)

There is still one glaring omission, unless they’ve changed the way damage is displayed.

I still dont see condition damage on this list. Currently, the log only shows direct damage. I would love to see a log of condition damage ticks.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Blaeys.3102:

Not sure where that comment came from – it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

The gem store is fine – it does exactly what they promised and doesnt infringe on the fun of actual game in any real way (I think the gem store/revenue stream they developed is one of the best in the industry and shouldnt be altered in any way). It has never been an issue.

That said, let’s not let this thread get derailed like that – let’s stay on topic and keep it productive and focused. We are looking for rational and realistic feedback from Anet about some aspects of the game that they havent touched (or even commented about) in 6-8 months, at least. We are just looking for reassurances and a general sense of what we can expect in the future.

I posted before it was finished ^^ What I mean is that most things people want to see might end up in the gem store (like GW1 missions that needed money to be unlocked). I do agree that the gem store is interesting in the sense it generates some more money for them to work (after all, we all work for money). What I don’t like is that everything released will somehow be related to the gem store: “Want keys for your BL chest to get a BL ticket to buy skins? Either spend at least 2,5h or buy some gems! Want new armors? buy some gems! Want minipets? Jennah is free, otherwise, buy some gems!”

Everything comes from gems, we don’t even have the opportunity to unlock them without grinding… ANet stated they are working on various stuff, to please the community (“it will be like GW1 but better”), and all they ask for is more money.

I’m scared that everything will be reduced to gems (something like LS3 will require gems to unlock each episode maybe)…

They really need to focus on what the community wants and not what they think it needs.

Another example of the kind of rumors and irrational assumptions about the future that they need to squash.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Blaeys.3102:

They desperately need to squash or confirm some rumors (no focus at all on dungeons, SAB canned or put on indefinite hold, etc) and give us some kind of tacit reassurance that they haven’t forgotten certain aspects of the game (new guild missions, new pvp maps, new objectives – like the old orbs – in wvw, precursor crafting, new dungeons) and whether or not we might see any of those things in 2014 (or even 2015).

“Be assured: your beloved gem store will still be filled with everything that should be unlockable in-game!”

Not sure where that comment came from – it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

The gem store is fine – it does exactly what they promised and doesnt infringe on the fun of actual game in any real way (I think the gem store/revenue stream they developed is one of the best in the industry and shouldnt be altered in any way). It has never been an issue.

That said, let’s not let this thread get derailed like that – let’s stay on topic and keep it productive and focused. We are looking for rational and realistic feedback from Anet about some aspects of the game that they havent touched (or even commented about) in 6-8 months, at least. We are just looking for reassurances and a general sense of what we can expect in the future.

Fully agree. The silence the past few months is leaving people wondering about the direction they plan to take the game – and when people do that, they always assume the worst.

Even worse, the weekly twitch streams have been reduced to highly focused discussions about very innocuous topics (the past week’s lore and pvp tournaments) and offer nothing substantially important to many players.

They desperately need to squash or confirm some rumors (no focus at all on dungeons, SAB canned or put on indefinite hold, etc) and give us some kind of tacit reassurance that they haven’t forgotten certain aspects of the game (new guild missions, new pvp maps, new objectives – like the old orbs – in wvw, precursor crafting, new dungeons) and whether or not we might see any of those things in 2014 (or even 2015).

The biggest worry that many people have is that personnel shifts at the company have created a lack of real focus – that the game is being run on autopilot outside of the living story instances and new open world maps. I doubt that is the case, but it would be nice to get someone from Anet alleviating some of the more irrational fears (like those I mention above).

Number of threads (or even responses or pages on the forums) doesn’t really mean anything. We just keep seeing the same half dozen people create and keep these threads alive.

Not everyone feels an expansion is needed – many of us believe the exact opposite.

Regardless – a simple search and there would be no need for the duplicate posts (and duplicate posts of those duplicate posts).

I read that interview as well and it made absolutely no sense to me.

SAB should be a permanent part of the game – even if they dont update it for a long time (they should update it though – alot of people loved it). I view it as more of a minigame than part of the narrative content.

If the issue is the reward, simply remove the weapons. Most people want it back simply because it’s something fun to do.

I like where the game is going, but agree that, if what we saw in the last 4 episodes is all they plan to do, then it isn’t enough.

However, unlike alot of the naysayers, I dont believe that they will be limiting themselves to just what we’ve seen in the past few updates.

They obviously put alot of work into two main aspects in the first 4 episodes of season two – those two things being the story instances and a new zone, Drytop.

If over the next 4 episodes, they put the same level of effort into story steps and a new dungeon (with 1 story and 3 explorablepaths) and/or guild missions, then I would be very happy. Then another new zone in the next 4 episodes – then maybe some new fractals in the next 4 – etc, etc.

I think players see them focusing on two aspects and think that is all we have to hope for. I have higher hopes than that. I do not believe they would focus only on story and open world to the full exclusion of 5 player content and world bosses. If they focus efforts, but do not limit themselves to just open world alongside the instanced story steps, then we have alot ot look forward to.

As far as expansions, I still believe they can offer what would normally be in an expansion as part of the ongoing bi-weekly update system they are putting in place. Again, they just cant focus only on open world and story instances (which I dont believe they will).

As for the feature patch, keep in mind that we have only see glimpses of the “competitive” features – there are still the PVE and loot features they havent unveiled.

But. again – to make it crystal clear to anyone from Anet reading – I agree partially with the OP – limiting living story to the instanced storylines and new zones is not a healthy path. Dont forget the dungeon runners and guilds (who DESPERATELY want new guild missions) looking for new content as well.

No offense, but these threads never end well.

ArenaNet will (justifiably) never tell.

About half the players will tell you high numbers.

The other half will tell you very few.

In the end, it will just be the “game is dying” and “game is just fine” groups arguing with one another one more time.

No real point (again, no offense to the OP intended).

Hi there. Nice to meet you.

The way you as a player experience the game will not change – nor will the way you look for enemy players WHO WANT TO SEE HOW YOU LOOK. However, if (for competitive reasons), they would rather see your character as standardized target (again for competitive reasons), they can.

To repeat the most important part – The way you experience the game will not change.

So, the basic argument against is that you want enemy players to be forced to see your character, even if they dont want to.

This is proof people will complain about pretty much everything.

anzenketh.3759:

Galandil.9641:

Chase.8415:

The only potential issue I see here is that it is a full model replacement, which means they will be using generic armor. If you want to show your armor to anyone in PvP, you might as well roll human otherwise no one except your teammates can see it.

They said that armor models will be replaced too, by standard-per-class models.

I missed that in my read. You are right. I can see this as a problem I be it a small one but one does exist. It would be nice if they did not replace the armor at least. I don’t see why they have to standardize the armor.

They have to standardize the armor because some racial armor wont translate to human models.

Also, in response to OP – keep in mind this only affects your enemy team – your team still looks the same (to you) – and it is fully optional. Not really seeing any issue here. Seems like a win-win kind of change (and, IT IS OPTIONAL and only from your perspective – why should we care if people who want to see us as human during pvp matchs can do so OPTIONALLY).

I do a lot of fractals (and had the pristine fractal relics for this already), but I actually think the OP has a valid argument – not because of the back piece, but rather because of the dust consuming pet that accompanies the back piece.

Anet should pay attention to this and give people who dont care about fractals a secondary method for making this piece – or, at least, for acquiring the pet.

We see the gloom and doom threads way too often, imo – and they are usually posted with a secondary objective (eg, Anet better give me exactly what I want or I’ll predict the failure of the game over and over).

Reality check:

1. The game isnt going anywhere. MMOs can survive (and even flourish) with miniscule numbers. So, the idea that the game will die (defined as losing developer support or disappearing altogether) anytime soon is a ridiculous premise.

2. All you have to do is log in a few times a day to see that there are enough players (and then some) to enjoy every piece of content currently in the game.

3. The only metric that counts to most players is one that only they can measure – how much they enjoy the game day to day.

So, it comes down to the individual. Sure, the game may have died for some, but for some of us, it is as strong as its ever been.

As a secondary note, there is one metric I can measurely personally – how active my guild is. I can say assuredly that my guild is more active today than it was at this time last year, by a large margin. While that isnt the end all be all of metrics, it says alot for me.

Same issue – and at this point, I am EXTREMELY confused about how to proceed with upgrading the back piece.

Agree with OP. Very well done episode. Interesting character development and story progressions – and the fights were really fun.

Im cautiously optimistic. Based on the names, my clueless guessing and the rampant rumor mill, there may be some pretty major things coming.

I just hope that, somewhere in it all, there are some new guild missions.

Realistically, I would like to see the following in a feature pack:

1. New guild missions (major update – we really need this)
2. New PvP mode/maps
3. New Dungeon
4. Implementation of new trait/utility skill acquisition
5. Separation of traits and attributes (this has been hinted at as the possible next step after the trait changes they made last feature patch)
6. New things to do in WvW
7. Interface changes making it easier to navigate between megaserver instances

I would truly love to see them make the living story steps replayable (with some kind of reward) and truly scaled to be challenging to 5 party groups, but I dont think that is on the table.

I think it’s too early to be alarmist, but my biggest concern is the lack of variety weve seen this season. The only two aspects of the game they have touched are open world and storyline instances.

Dungeons, guild missions, fractals, minigames, pve, etc – its been too long on some of these things.

By this point in season one, we had Southsun, a new pvp map (Spirit Watch), the introduction of guild missions (and subsequent new guild bounty targets) and the Molten Facility – in addition to the story activities (which were the equivalent of the instanced stories we have now). What we have now seems lackluster in comparison.

Putting all the living story steps in one basket (the instanced storylines) means fun storylines, but there needs to be a lot more variety at this point.

Again, it’s too early to be alarmist, but I think its worth the discussion now rather than later.

They never said the living world was all they had planned for the future – in fact, theyve said pretty much the opposite of that.

I do agree things feel a little slow right now and that the last few updates havent had alot of staying power, but I also remember feeling that way about the first few episodes of Season 1 – up until the Molten Facilities came in. After that, things seemed to kick into gear.

Hopefully, they are taking the same approach in season 2 – building up gradually with bigger things to come as they do.

Hopefully, we will see some other aspects of the pve game expanded soon – most notably, guild missions and dungeons. They both really need some developer lovin’ right now.

Purposefully failing events (even things like Arah gate) doesnt make sense anymore. People only do it because they dont stop to think about how things have changed in the past few months.

There are enough events in a zone like Cursed Shores to ensure something is always active – unless you purposefully let one fail (then you have potential dead time while that event fails). It makes more sense – even for farmers – to do them as they come up and stop worrying with letting them fail.

Personally, however, I try to never let anything fail regardless. I dont like letting the bad guys win anything.

There are always plenty of servers with room – usually only one or two list as full.

I know it’s not ideal from a personal point of view, but it wouldnt be good for the game if they let everyone pile onto the same 2-3 servers.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

They aren’t going to tell us about anything they are working on until its basically ready to implemented.

Why?

Go browse some of the old threads screaming about how we’ve been “lied” to, “mislead,” or how anet doesn’t “keep their promises.”

They don’t talk to us, because we players make it not safe to do so.

100% this

Vayne.8563:

I’d love different guild missions. We do them twice a week, and we’ve done most of them too many times. I’d also like to see more guild puzzles.

I’d also like to see something along the line of longer, scavenger hunt type things. People have mentioned before stuff like pact missions. I avoid order missions because Anet would have to make 3 for each update.

Pact Missions could be really simple and play off of the existing dynamic events (keeping in line with the theme of not reinventing the wheel). It could be a useful tool in getting people out into the world for some of the less played and more obscure dynamic events (kinda like they tried to do with the crown chain in the last living story – only a little more believable since they would be routine missions and not tied to something as epic as the crown shards).

Every week, 3-4 missions (dynamic events) are listed at a pact NPC in Ft Trinity (or anywhere really). Reward could be as simple as a champion bag for each listed DE completed.

Vayne.8563:

Blaeys.3102:

Vayne.8563:

An end game that would work for me, is to make a really hard mode story version, using the stories they have already in the journal but ramping it up and providing titles or cosmetic stuff for people that can get through it. Sort of like a tribulation mode in SAB but for the Living Story. Make it so failure is the default state and you really have to figure out how to spec perfectly to succeed.

I would definitely support this idea. There would need to be some kind of ongoing reward system in place for the story instances (both the regular and the hardcore) to make it viable. This wouldn’t have to be much – something as simple as champ loot bags would be enough for many.

One thing I think would be cool (and fit well in the game) would be to implement Season Armor/Weapon Sets – unlocked with tokens from repeating living story steps (gated daily just like dungeons – small number of tokens for completing on regular mode and about twice that many for completing on). Basically introduce 1-2 armor/weapon pieces with each episode until full sets are out.

The big advantage is they already have the assets. They can make stuff harder, without making all new content.

There’s probably not enough hard core players to dedicate an entire new instance to that they won’t run so much anyway….like the new path of TA. A lot of work and very few people run it.

This allows them to produce lots of difficult content relatively quickly.

Instant end game…just add water.

Now the conversation is heading in a productive direction.

As you say, the good thing about this kind of system is that it would play off of what is already in the game – rather than reinventing the wheel.

While I disagree about TAssault (I love that place – even have the mini from the meta – and would love to see 1 path in each dungeon mirror its difficulty), I really like your idea of shorter more challenging instances.

So, with that in mind, how could they take other existing elements and add to them in ways that would add more challenge or content to end game – without compromising or pulling resources away from the game we have now.

Let’s see what people can come up with. Below is mine.

GUILD MISSIONS

The one idea I had would be for guild missions. Simply add a “Guild Bounty Level 4” that, instead of involving more bosses, gives us two targets but significantly scales them up for larger groups (eg, Devious Teesa starts scaling with 30+ people in mind when you trigger a T4). They could do the same with a “Guild Challenge, Level 2” (eg, save our supplies now includes some champion level Flame Legion Effigies shambling toward the barrels).

I think world bosses are covered with things like Tequatl and Evolved Worm, but what other game elements could use this treatment? Could they add to jumping puzzles or minigames in some way? What about open world zones?

Vayne.8563:

An end game that would work for me, is to make a really hard mode story version, using the stories they have already in the journal but ramping it up and providing titles or cosmetic stuff for people that can get through it. Sort of like a tribulation mode in SAB but for the Living Story. Make it so failure is the default state and you really have to figure out how to spec perfectly to succeed.

I would definitely support this idea. There would need to be some kind of ongoing reward system in place for the story instances (both the regular and the hardcore) to make it viable. This wouldn’t have to be much – something as simple as champ loot bags would be enough for many.

One thing I think would be cool (and fit well in the game) would be to implement Season Armor/Weapon Sets – unlocked with tokens from repeating living story steps (gated daily just like dungeons – small number of tokens for completing on regular mode and about twice that many for completing on). Basically introduce 1-2 armor/weapon pieces with each episode until full sets are out.

Vayne.8563:

I think that the conversation about how social this game is is directly linked to the topic in the OP.

The end game ties into everything else. It’s part of the over all game design. The more competitive the end game, the more attractive this game becomes to players who don’t fit in with the over all vision the company had for the game. They wanted a welcoming, friendly cooperative PvE.

The more difficult the content, the more people will insist on bringing X profession and Y build. This was the sorts of problems that were endemic to Guild War 1. It wasn’t just groups you wanted. It was an imbagon Paragon. An r8 ursan. A 600 monk. An iway or whatever was the flavor of the month to run the Underworld or VS farming.

This game is made to play any profession you want and for most of the game you can. I still don’t think I’d like to try Duncan Black in Slaver’s Exile in Guild Wars 1 without the swap skill.

The end game sets the pace and tone of the game. Any end game in this game would have to be added very very carefully.

Valid points.

So the question becomes, what end game elements can they incorporate without compromising that original premise of keeping things friendly?

I agree that, if you look at it from that perspective (which I do – it is what made me start playing GW2 in the first place), I would rather they expend their energy/resources toward developing more of what they have already produced rather than trying to bring in new elements like raids or more contentious content.

So, for me, endgame is a combination of living story, open world fun (I LOVE dry top), dungeons/fractals, guild missions, world bosses, wvw and pvp (and minigames).

The issue becomes stagnation. While repeating old content can be fun, it cannot carry the game alone. It is new content (even if it is the same categories of content Ive listed above) that keeps us logging in.

So far this season, we’ve seen some really good new living story and open world fun. As the season progresses and we see more of the other types added (missions, dungeons, bosses, pvp and wvw), there will be more reason for different types of players to log in.

That, to me, is what engame is about – a reason to log in and play.

The one exception I make to this is character progression. Im still very anxious to see the new trait/skill system they mentioned a few months ago implemented more aggressively into the game. If I could poke one hole in endgame, it would be a lack of character progression (not talking about stat grind – talking about the trait/skill system the devs unveiled a while back).

It is becoming increasingly impossible to have a real conversation about the original topic because of the bickering back and forth (about things that have nothing to do with the topic). Two to three people disagreeing with each other are drowning everyone else out and strangling any chance this conversation has of going anywhere.

If people can’t get back on topic – in a constructive way – I vote that a moderator just close this thread.

Like many others, I really love the game as it is. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I think we just need more to do within the current game components/systems.

Open world and story seem pretty solid right now. There are three things I really want to see added at this point:

1. New Guild Missions (probably the number one thing we need right now imo)
2. New Dungeons/Fractals (this is the longest we’ve gone without new 5 man content)
2. The trait/skill point progression system they talked about several months ago

This is, of course, just PVE. PvP and WvW need love too, but in different ways.

It really feels like they have improved the algorithms for keeping friends/guildees together a lot since implementation. Im seeing more and more people I know on maps.

I still say we need a better way to switch maps in those instances when we do get separated though. Having to party up 5 at a time is a HUGE pain, especially during guild missions. We should be able to click on people on our friends list and join them on their map.

Additionally, I think they need to implement a “server” chat channel – that let’s people in a region who are from the same server talk to one another, even if they are on separate shards. It would solve the “fracturing of community” issue.

The achievement I am most proud of in GW2 is my mini Clockheart. In terms of 5-man content, I feel that Twilight Assault was just about perfect – from the difficulty level to the achievements associated. The two things I want more than anything right now are more dungeons like Twilight Assault (one path at that level in every dungeon would make me ecstatic) and more guild missions (we REALLY need new guild missions).

Contemporary Heroes (http://contemporaryheroes.shivtr.com) is once again actively recruiting new members.

While e are currently working to up our presence in WvW on Henge of Denravi, we accept PVE/PVP members from any server in North America.

We want to grow from our already substantial bases (300 total; 150+ active members) into a multi server guild dedicated to just enjoying the game for what it is – and leaving the rat race out of it.

Contact me in game at Blaeys.3102 if the following sounds like something you would like to be a part of.

For us, this is a game – a place to play and have fun with friends, old and new. As a guild we arent trying to set any speed records or prove anything to the community.
We just want to cut up and have fun in a virtual world. Our mantra is very simple – “NO DRAMA.”

Guild Activities:

Most of the week, we leave the schedule open for individual and small group play (with ad hoc large group activities such as Living Story and Orrian Temple runs thrown in – we do like to run living story content in larger guild groups when people are interested).

At the same time, we have three events that are scheduled every week (none of which are mandatory for members to attend):

• Guild Mission Night (Monday nights at 8:30 eastern). We do all guild missions, and at least one major world event (usually Karka Queen) every week. They usually take about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Attendance has been holding steady at between 30 and 40 participants each mission. We do not take ourselves very seriously during these missions, so be prepared for singing in teamspeak, stories about exploding armadillos, etc. We will do additional missions throughout the week if enough people miss Monday and express interest.

• Guild sPvP Tournament Night (alternating between Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 p.m. eastern). Format is open, but we usually do a 3-5 team 3v3 deathmatch mini tournament on our custom pvp map – followed by something just for fun (Zombie Mode, VIP Hunt, AsuraBall). We dont take this event very seriously either – its mainly about hunting down and killing each other mercilessly over and over.

• Guild WvW Night (Organized guild runs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. eastern, Thursdays starting at 9 p.m. eastern and Fridays at reset. We also have small groups running most other nights of the week) – because of the game structure, this is the only event that is restricted to people on Henge of Denravi.

Addtionally, it is very easy to find people for 5 party groups for dungeons, spvp, fractals, etc at almost any time of the day in the guild. We have a fairly active playerbase that enjoys doing things together. If you express interest in a particular activity, we do our best to make sure you get the chance to do that activity. This sometimes means rotating people in and out of dungeon/fractal groups. It is important to us that no one gets left behind. People who commit to the guild will find the guild committed to them.

General Guild Information:

We have a channel on the HoD Teamspeak, a 100+ member Ventrilo and an active Web site () – as well as a fully stocked and researched guild bank.

• Guild boosters – we run +gold per kill, + karma and +magic find 24/7, with other boosters running based on need (e.g. crafting critical success when new crafting levels come out, reduced waypoint costs during living story intros, etc when needed).

• Our members include people from all walks of life and of all ages (which is why we keep things in chat family friendly). Ages (that I know of) range from 17 to 62 – and we have more than one family that plays together in the guild (something we are very proud of and encourage).

• Repping the guild is encouraged, but not required. Guild rank (and bank access) is tiered based on how often you wish to rep, but all members are invited to all guild activities.

If you are interested in joining, whisper me (Blaeys.3102) or any other member in game. You will not see us spamming chat looking for new members. We prefer to recruit in ways that allow us to better communicate who we are and what people get from the guild when they join.

Godzzila.3752:

Amere.9607:

Godzzila.3752:

I hope I made it easier to understand why doing solo lvl50 fotm is not endgame :P

but then, what is an endgame? do we need solid snake and boxes for end game? or u know there’s like tons of free mmorpgs outhere, where’s good endgame? in wow?

i think, before asking for endgame, you really need to understand what endgame is

I won’t change games because by far Guild Wars 2 has the best MMO Engine out there. And multiple endgames defenitions where already presented in this same topic mine being: Challenging and with Progression

(btw everytime I say this someone ends up crying somewhere in the world because I am asking for raids, I am not, and I won’t bother reading any other posts that implies so.)

“Progression” is a loaded word and could use clarification.

If you are talking about anything that makes a character more powerful stat-wise a month from now than it is today, then no thanks. Part of the allure of this game is the lack of an ongoing gear/stat treadmill.

If, however, you mean the trait and utilities progression system Anet outlined a few months back, Im fully on board. I loved the idea when they first announced it and I still love it now.

I’ll happily participate.

I have two questions I would most like to see answered:

1. There have been rumors about the disbanding of your dungeon team? How are dungeons being designed now (and by which teams) and can we expect to see any introduced as part of living story, season 2?

2. Are you currently working on new guild missions or guild mission types? Will they be part of the living story or are they considered features (thus coming with feature releases)?

Unfortunately, this is a player created problem. ArenaNet cannot say anything without everyone interpreting it as a “promise” and then lambasting them if they have to change course for any reason.

What I would most like to see from ArenaNet is some kind of general communication about short term plans for the different aspects of the game.

From a purely selfish POV, I would like to hear anything they can tell us (knowing that they are not making “promises”) related to ongoing plans for guild missions, dungeons, new traits/utilities, spvp and WvW, none of which have gotten a lot of airtime lately. Will those aspects get the same attention we are currently seeing for open world and living story instances in the foreseeable future?

These may seem like small issues, but I know alot of people play the game specifically because of those areas and are probably starting to feel like nothing is being done (when it most probably is).

The “endgame” conundrum in this game really comes down to point of view. What would be interesting endgame for one player would not for many others.

In terms of PVE, every new living story season should offer something for everyone to do for the foreseeable future, specifically -

- New Open World PVE Maps
- New Dungeons
- New Guild Missions
- New Storylines
- New World Bosses
- New Jumping Puzzles
- New Crafting

Beyond that, as I said in an earlier post, they really need to aggressively implement the new trait/utility skill character progression they talked about in blogs earlier this year.

I think the basic structure is in place for all of these things – and I still have confidence we will see them. It is just a matter of ArenaNet getting a cadence down and better systems in place to quickly implement ALL of these things (not a minor undertaking).

Now that the bugs have been worked out and we can see how this was meant to run, I am liking the idea of open world incorporation more and more.

It cannot be the only element (we still need instances, dungeons and even things like minigames), but the heart of this game should always be open world. It is where it truly shines.

(that said, Im really itching for a new dungeon sooner rather than later. We got Molten Facility on episode 4 of S1, after all ).

Every week during missions, someone in my guild (often me ) brings this idea up and we talk about how awesome it would be.

I would even buy it with gems – the same way we did the spvp custom arena.

Please make this happen, Anet – we are dying to host a “Guild Olympics.”

(New minigames would be nice too – it’s been a while)

Here is my suggestion -

Anyone who enters a match after it has started – or leaves /switches teams once the match has started (other than through the automated balance system) should not be eligible for any rewards or achievement progression during that match. Anyone who leaves or switches teams should be further penalized to the point where they do not receive awards or achievement progression until they have successfully participated in a full match (and if they leave subsequent matches, it should compound – leave 2 matches, have to participate in 2 awardless matches – and so on).

True, some people who DC would be caught in this, but it is better than allowing people to work the system the way they do now.

ghtchill.7613:

The other scene seems to feature a group of 5 players. Possibly open world, or even dungeon type instance requiring a 5 man group?

A dungeon instance taking place in the Pale Tree would be pretty awesome.

Probably just a story step though since they scale 1-5.

It is time for another dungeon though (hint hint Anet).

Ben K.6238:

Not such necromancy it falls foul of the limit, so I figured I’d say it here since it’s relevant.

After Dry Top is no longer the ‘new area’, it’s going to be practically impossible to hit T5 without special circumstances. I’d suggest making it a guild challenge, or something similar with the weekly reward available to all players who participated in an event, in the guild or not, on hitting T5.

Thus it would be less likely to reach T5 than while it has been a new thing, but there’s still a reason to attempt it on a regular basis, and it would be organised by a guild so there’s a good chance of success.

The other thing that should be considered is the Sand Giant’s place here. Problem is, it’s competing with a load of more lucrative events for players. You can’t get the giant done alongside everything else. So it should probably be on a 3-4 hour timer – when it appears, the other boss events don’t, and the geode/sand reward for the giant should be set to make up the difference.

Im not particularly worried. It’s pretty easy to get a group going in Dry Top using the LFG tool. I don’t see that really changing with time. If people know someone is organizing, they are likely to go.

The one change I would make would be to improve LFG so it is accommodating for more than 5 person groups.

Sounds like you need better people to play this game with.

Yes, much of the pug community – and some others – feel they have some innate right to tell you how to play – but most players do not. The issue is those players are all in established guilds playing alongside people who feel they way they do.

My advice – find a guild that understands how freeform and friendly this game can be – while still being fun.

While Im happy with the current state of the game and am still enjoying myself after playing almost non stop since betas, I do agree that more could be done at end game to spice up the game and add longevity.

First, I like that endgame isnt about gear or rewards beyond cosmetics. I hope they never change that. With that in mind, I think end game comes down to two elements – gameplay and character progression.

The mechanics for both of these are already in place, but need to be improved. Keep in mind that this is related to PVE. I think PVP deserves the same level of attention, but should be treated separately.

For game play, I think the living story can fill this role, as long as they do not get fixated on any single element. In the span of every 2-3 months, we need something for every type of player – a new world boss, new zones, new jumping puzzles, new dynamic events, NEW DUNGEONS/FRACTALS, new crafting, new minigames and new storylines. For some of these areas, there should be three tiers of OPTIONAL achievements – for laid back, typical and hardcore players respectively. These achievements need to reflect the effort put into them and give players looking for a greater achievement something almost impossible to strive for (some of the achievements associated with the queen’s gauntlet were a step in the right direction).

For character progression, they desperately need to implement the system they proposed earlier this year in a very aggressive manner. EVERY new 2-week update should include at least one new trait and/or utility skill for players to unlock (ideally through several different methods). The more we play, the more versatile our character should become (being mindful that this is about versatility, not increased damage or value to a party).