Guild Wars 2

I think we can get tied up in the semantics of what is and isn’t an expansion, but the only thing that is important is that the game remain fun and interesting.

Instead of a traditional expansion, I would really like to see the following (or something fairly close – this may be overambitious/hopeful):

Every Two Weeks:

- Two to six dynamic events
- One to two champions
- At least one new living story instance
- New achievements as appropriate
- New minis/skins etc in the gem store
- Bug fixes and minor balance tweaks

Every 1-2 Months:

- Three to six new traits and utility skills
- One new dungeon path or fractal
- One new jumping puzzle or open world mini-dungeon
- Three to four new guild missions
- Three to four new armor and weapon skins

Every 3-6 months:

- One festival (as appropriate, but there should be at least one every three months)
- One new world boss
- One to two new maps/regions
- One new Spvp map
- One new permanent minigame/activity
- Heavy balance pass over all professions

Every 12 months:

- One new weapon for each profession
- One new WvW map or other major addition
- One new spvp mode

Every 24 months:

- One new profession/class (Monk, Dervish, etc)
- One new race (Tengu, Kodan, etc)

One time additions:

- Guild housing
- Personal housing
- SAB as a permanent game addition
- Cosmetic only mount system (I know this is a point of contention, but I think it would be a fun addition)
- Custom minigame arena (just like the spvp custom arena, but for minigames)

Things I never want to see:

- Level cap increase
- Instanced raids with set group numbers (10,25, 40 man raids)

The addition of the Twilight Assault dungeon path was the best thing they did in S1 for me (I really enjoy that dungeon), but there were a lot of updates I really enjoyed – The marionette, the temporary dungeons (aetherblade and molten facility), the Tower of Nightmares, Secrets of Southsun, etc.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Blaeys.3102:

Pure speed clears would be skewed to favor certain professions. At the same time, dps should still be an issue.

How about this -

Twilight Assault (Aetherpath) runs – with the winning team being determined by how far a teams gets into the path without anyone in the party going into a downed state. If teams clear with no one going down, then the team that clears the fastest wins (that way both survivability and damage are part of the equation).

I like the idea. I’m just wondering why TA aether? Why not Arah or a level 50 fractal or something similar?

Level 50 fractal would limit participation based on AR – and they would have to do something about the randomness factor. As for Arah, there is considerably less need for teamwork than Aetherpath (which is why we see so many solo videos) and much of the content – including some bosses – can be too easily skipped. The strategy would become who can run past stuff the best instead of who can handle the fights the best.

Pure speed clears would be skewed to favor certain professions. At the same time, dps should still be an issue.

How about this -

Twilight Assault (Aetherpath) runs – with the winning team being determined by how far a teams gets into the path without anyone in the party going into a downed state. If teams clear with no one going down, then the team that clears the fastest wins (that way both survivability and damage are part of the equation).

Here is what I would like to see (just my opinion) on strengths (S), weaknesses (W) and kryptonite (K):

Warrior
S: Control; Passive damage resistance; best CCs in the game
W: Less Mobility (they shouldn’t be able to dodge as often as others due to heavy armor – mitigation should be accomplished through blocks and parries) and Healing (healing signet passive is still too powerful)
K: fewer dodges/ less mobility means they either use a shield (or sword for parry) or need to rely on other party members to help keep them alive in most sustained fights

Mesmer
S: CCs; Misdirection through stealth and clones; Punish opponents with confusion/torment/boon removal/reflects/interrupts; best “punisher” in the game
W: almost no passive damage resistance; weak long ranged attack
K: very squishy if caught without clones or stealth

Engineer:
S: Versatility; Point control (even in PVE), buffing/supporting party members; Best damage buffer (apply might, fury, quickness, etc) in the game
W: Long cooldowns on turrets and ground AOE buffs means moving costs the party boons
K: Lack of mobility

Necromancer:
S: Life Drains; Minions; Fear; best condition removals (party wide) in the game
W: Less damage mitigation other than dodge (no blocks or evades – relies on healing/dodges/DS to survive)
K: Long cooldowns on very powerful abilities

Thief:
S: Stealth; Dodges; Best evader (through dodges) in the game
W: Very Squishy; no real party buffs (thieves should be selfish)
K: Can be easily one shot if caught in the open with no dodges/evades

Elementalist
S: Versatility (attunements); Support (boons/heals); best non-damaging condition (chills, blinds, vulnerability, weakness, cripple, etc) applier in the game
W: Squishy in damage attunements (fire and air)
K: Very easily killed if not in earth or water attunement (gameplay should be based around attunements)

Ranger
S: Pets; Traps; Best terrain control (through pets and traps) in the game
W: Little damage mitigation other than evades; damage suffers significantly if pet is allowed to die (but it should require enemy focusing the pet down – not just spamming AOEs)
K: Heavily reliant on pet for buffs/damage

Guardian
S: Support; Best “protector” (aegis, regeneration, protection, swiftness, vigor, walls, etc) in the game
W: Heavy armor means fewer dodges – survival is heavily dependent upon spells; Damage should be heavily dependent upon boons
K: Very easy to kill when protection buffs are on cooldown; low damage if boons have been removed

At, and prior to, launch, three “core” roles were identified – damage, control and support.

Unfortunately (in PVE, at least), the only role that really matters – in the current game – on every fight, is damage. Every other role has become secondary – falling WAY behind the need to just pour dps (and, due to the stacking mechanic, primarily direct burst dps, not conditions) into an enemy.

It’s nice that an ele in Magi armor can drop a water field, but that water field contributes far less to the success of the fight than, for instance, the zerker warrior using hundred blades and simply timing dodges. A well timed interrupt may help, but not as much as, again, simply doing more damage (especially considering the clunkiness of the defiant mechanic).

So, before we can really delve into roles, strengths, weaknesses and kryptonite, we need to know if future game/encounter design will recognize the need for roles other than pure damage.

Without first having that discussion, professions where the strength is “direct” or “burst” damage will have a HUGE advantage over those who’s strength is healing or ccs (or even condition damage).

So, the discussion really needs to be – What can be done to bring the roles of control and support back into the game in a meaningful – and fun – way? In terms of balance, I think that is the single most important question we need to see answered.

(to add – I am not advocating role specialization like that found in trinity games. I like that everyone can fill every role to a degree – and that some are better than others. However, I think the scales are currently skewed way to far toward the damage role and need to be adjusted in some way)

My guild uses our sPvP custom map every week for in guild tournaments and some minigames we have created/stolen from others. It is something we really enjoy.

And every week, we talk about how much fun it would be if we could do the same thing with minigames (Keg Brawl, Crab Toss, Sanctum Sprint, etc).

So, my request/suggestion/whatever you want to call it for Anet is simple – sell us a custom minigame arena that works exactly like the custom sPvP arena. Let the owner set the minigame and an optional password – allowing people to host minigame sessions with their friends. Let people use gems to add time to it, exactly like we do with the sPvP custom maps.

This is something I would definitely pay gems for. I know this has probably been suggested before, but it’s something I know would be of interest to a lot of people.

Great post.

I agree with the devs that the emphasis should be on S2 right now, but I really like the ideas you’ve put forth for season 1 and do hope it eventually makes it back into the game.

Zylonite.5913:

Honestly what did you guys really expect?

I am sorry to tell you, but the end of your free ride in the land of Tyria is finally here.

How so?

I think the simplest way to ask the question alot of people have (which I would love to see someone ask during the Dev live stream later today), would be:

“How do you plan to make future events like Escape from LA or Tower of Nightmares, which require large numbers of player, replayable with the new Story Journal system?”

Naevius.3185:

I still would like to know whether this change means that LS 2 will have no massive group events like the Marionette fight, or Escape from LA. I don’t see how that kind of event would ever be re-playable at will.

Is it possible that there might be different versions of episodes (e.g. ‘live’ vs ‘re-playable’ ?)

I could see multiple ways they could pull this off.

The one I would like to see is simply have people who trigger that story step moved to an instance of the map where that event is active – and allow people to “join friend in” the zone. That would allow people to form groups naturally – or use the group finder or their guild/friends list to build groups.

The second – which would only really work for world boss events like the marionette, would be to make them triggerable, similar to how guilds can trigger Tequatl/Triple Threat/Karka Queen now. There would have to be some kind of parameters set
though, to keep people from triggering all the time.

A third, which would also only really work with world bosses, would be to just activate them and add them to the world boss rotation (with Shatterer, Fire Elemental, etc). This is not an ideal solution either, as it would be impossible to include events like escape from LA.

The last, and least desirable (imo), would be to simply scale the events down to where they could be done with 5 or less people.

So, I think they could do it. Like many, I look forward to the new system, but really hope they have a system in place that includes making the large-scale events replayable at will for mid-sized to large (organized or unorganized) groups of players.

Zylonite.5913:

The issue is much deeper than the cost of the contents but nobody sees it. The promise of free contents are now false and this MMO is now moved from a complete buy to play model to pay to play. It doesn’t matter if it is the past contents or whatever….

The point here is that how far will ANet go and will we ever see a gem price on future living story or other contents? Is this a sign that GW2 model of buy to play has failed abd are they just testing the community on how far we will tolerate.

That said, I understated a game studio costs money to run and the devs need to pay thier bills. But has the direction of the game brought this on itself? Did they push us to kitten the bi-weekly gem stories that everyone finally got turned off by it? And now the gem store is nothing more than a show room of stuff with no buyers….

Nothing from the system weve had since the game launched is being taken away. We will still be getting free content every two weeks – just like we did in S1. Everything they are talking about is an addition to the game system.

So, if someone wanted to play the game exactly the way they have for the past 2 years, they can – no problem. The idea that the game is going p2p is just ridiculous.

This is an extremely positive announcement. There is no money grab here. If there were, then they would just make everyone pay gems to access old content – not just those who miss it.

They want people to log in at least every few weeks because they want people to see the new stuff and remain excited about the game.

The TINY price for not doing so (only if you want to see what you missed – even that is optional) is only about encouraging people to log in every couple of weeks. Business wise, it makes a lot lot of sense (and most people understand why they are doing it).

somsom.5201:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

somsom.5201:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

somsom.5201:

Each season is ~$60…

Each season is free. If you miss previous seasons, and wish to access it, it doesn’t cost money. Just exchange Gold for Gems, and you get it for zero (0) dollars.

You’re welcome.

Free? hardly.

How does a new player get $60 worth of gold? That’s what I thought. Don’t be facetious.

The new player can play the game, earn Gold normally, and go back and enjoy content they missed. Again, it costs zero (0) dollars.

I’m glad I’m able to help you understand this concept.

Go look up the conversion costs of gold to gems. Yea, a new player can EASILY get 400g to get ONE season…lol. Keep on trolling bro.

A. A new player has plenty of other things to do before having to “worry” about buying old season content.

B. You have no way of knowing how they will handle this at the end of a season. A “season pass” or bundle packages are very likely.

C. Even without bundling, they dont have to buy all steps at the same time. They can unlock them one at a time as they get the gems (using either gold, real money or a combination of the two).

This is a very positive thing – and of course people new to the game should have to pay for content above and beyond what was included when the game launched. Almost every game out there does this in the form of expansions or DLC packs (I think GW2’s way is much better than either of those as it offers the content “for free” to dedicated players).

Mattargul.9235:

Sounds interesting. The fee is also a good idea, IMO. Active people can just log in and get the story for free. People returning after an absence – like me – can still catch up for some small cost.

I do wonder how they will handle the large fights, like the end of season 1? Will you fight the 3 marionettes by yourself? If they did some scaling and fiddling with mechanics that could be a cool fight!

I think how they handle large scale zone events – like the marionette or scarlett invasion – is the one biggest question about this new system now.

Love the idea and think it will make alot of people (including me) really happy, but am curious about how this will work.

Will we be able to replay everything – including large scale fights (which many of us love) – or will this system be limited in any way. Either way Im happy for the change – just curious.

BobbyStein.2315:

Malchior.5042:

skullmount.1758:

Hmm, so if LS is going to be using the green star like the PS, what happens to those of us who haven’t completed the PS? Do we just select that in the story panel and it basically hides the PS one/step?

Going from what Colin described, that seems to be the case.

Colin Johanson

To go along with this change, we’re modifying the story Journal in your character’s Hero Panel so it will track all of your character’s story steps. From that panel, characters who are level 80 will be able to select between playing their personal story and the Living World story. For the Living World story, you’ll be able to select which unlocked episode you’d like to play. Characters under level 80 will be able to see the available episodes, but will not be able to play them until they reach level 80. Think of the Living World story as the constantly expanding continuation of your character’s storyline once they reach level 80.

Once you hit level 80 you can switch between your Personal Story and your unlocked episodes of Season 2.

The question I have is, will be able to replay all content from a living story step or just select instanced small group story stuff?

Most notably, if a large world event like the Scarlett invasion or marionette is part of a story step, will those events be replayable alongside the other stuff or are there technical/gameplay issues making that unrealistic?

I see value in the system regardless, but am very curious/interested about this one aspect.

Vol.7601:

Yeah all the high quality content from previous living stories were all large scale. In fact, all releases were pretty much large scale…I can’t envision how that works with these journals.

I can envision a way – and really hope Im right (still to early to tell). Simply, everyone that is “replaying” a particular story step is filtered to the same map.

So, take the Marionette for example (I know it wont be in because its S1 but as an example) -

You decide you want to replay marionette (or play it for the first time). You go to Lornar’s Pass and hit the button in your story panel. You are then shifted to a server with everyone else wishing to do that content. If there aren’t enough people, you either turn to your guild, go to LA and advertise in map chat or use the group finder tool to fill out enough people to do the event.

Combined with the megaserver system, this system is (potentially) tailor made for large group encounters – which I agree are among the best releases from S1.

Of course, its just speculation at this point, but this early, everything is speculation.

This is an elegant solution that I think could possibly constitute one of the biggest changes to the game yet.

Like Vol above, I do wonder about the bigger world encounters (like the marionette and scarlett invasion events in LA) and hope they continue to add as many of those as possible. I would hate to see that aspect of the game hurt in any way.

I think this new system also fits well with the megaserver. Ideally, they can simply filter all of the players replaying a particular story step into the same version of the map (I know Im making an assumption here, but it just feels like the way they are going). This could even give guilds/large groups looking for “raid” experiences with things like the Marionette a way to do so.

And I really love the idea of giving new players a way to experience old content, even if they just bought the game. Hopefully, they can add most, if not all, of Season One to the system at some point.

The Omnomnivore title rules. Everyone knows that.

I have no issues with people defending temples – Im one of them if Im in the zone. I refuse to fail any event on purpose in a video game. Why play if you’re not playing to win.

That said, I think they could do two things to make the defense events more rewarding/fun -

First, up the reward – something as simple as adding the daily chest found in the capture events.

Second, make successful defense events progressively tougher until they fail – scaling in number of mobs/champions/etkittenil it is practically impossible to succeed even with huge numbers (lore wise, this would make sense as the enemies get more and more desperate to take the temple back).

The megaserver system seems to be improving somewhat as people get used to it, but there are still glaring issues with groups/guild being kept together – especially during guild missions where timers are an issue.

- We desperately need a better way to join friends in other maps. Having to use the 5-man party system to taxi people to servers is clunky and takes away from the fun of the game. Let us right click on friends and guildees to do the same.

- There are still major issues when two guilds end up at the same mission – especially for rushes. No one is sure what to do, if they are going to get credit, when we should trigger, etc. We should want to run into other guilds during missions – currently, there is a collective sigh because we realize it will make our guild missions run longer as we wait for the previous guild to finish their rush or puzzle.

If they can get those two things fixed, I will be happy to call the megaserver system a huge success.

I don’t see the downside here. if you want to organize a run, organize a run. Start by getting people you know – from your friend’s list or guild (guilds are there to facilitate organization) – then go to the lfg and start taxiing people in.

If you want to be a leader, start with organizing people. That may require joining (or starting) an organized guild – or simply pulling people from your friends list.

I know when my guild does this, we take time to go to the lfg tool and bring people onto the map if we need them. It just makes sense.

I love the direction the game is taking. It encourages community involvement and helps us form tighter knit groups among those who enjoy this type of content. Its still okay to be a “lone ranger” style player, but you have accept that it will be harder for those type of players to get into groups – because priority will be given to those people we already know want to work as a team (guildees, friends lists, etc).

As far as people charging gold to taxi (which I havent seen in game yet) – we need to fight against this kind of behavior. Ignore these kind of requests and they will eventually go away.

As always, there is a group that hates it and a group that loves it. That is usually a sign of good design.

Personally, I have no issue with a few high value items having a ridiculously low drop rate (and Im one that has not gotten it as a drop). As long as its not overdone with too many items or includes something that provides an unfair advantage if acquired, I think it adds a little something to strive for .

And HUGE LOL at the people blaming the gem store. This has nothing to do with the gem store or forcing people to buy gems. People need to stop watching so many X Files reruns.

They never said they were doing away with Living Story.

And, for the record, there are plenty of us who do like the model they are using – and have made that known (maybe not quite as loudly as the complainer brigade on the forums, though).

It wasnt perfect in season one (but then, it was season ONE). I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Using/watching the LFG tool for the blitz fixes pretty much every issue with finding coordinated groups with very little effort.

As Taygus said above (and in another thread) – people are using the lfg tool to find and taxi people to an organized map.

I tried it – it works.

Most of the time, if people stop complaining for 20 seconds and look for a solution, they will find one (and the rest of us dont have to hear as much childish complaining ).

Taygus.4571:

well I’ve started using the lfg tool to get into an organised map, . . .

OMG. Thanks so much for this.

The simplest possible solution – and it works like a charm.

Once again proof that, if people stop complaining for 2 minutes and look for a way to make it work, they will usually find one.

Blitz just got alot more fun. Thanks again.

The reality of the virtual world we live in is that is extremely easy for someone tenacious to obtain your email address by simply knowing your character name. If you’ve ever registered on a fan site or let someone in the game know your real name, where you live, etc. for instance.

From there, if you refuse to use more advanced security measures like 2-step authentication, you are a fairly easy target. And, if they use keylogger software/hacks, they are going to see your new email information every time you try to recreate it on your computer. At that point, they might as well have hacked your fingers – and none of it had anything to do with Anet.

I learned this myself the hard way a couple of weeks ago. For what it’s worth, Anet was awesome about it – three days to get my account back with almost all of my stuff (lost my first and only precursor because it was still waiting to be picked up on the TP) – and I was happy with that – because I knew it was my fault, not theirs, that I was hacked.

We are basically at war with these hackers, and when you are at war, you dont do things half way. Protect yourselves in every way possible. Use commercially known and accepted antivirus software (and manually scan your computer often), set up 2-step authentication on your email account (then immediately change your email password), use a mobile authenticator, dont repeat passwords between programs/websites/etc, create elaborate and strong nonsense based passwords (and store your passwords somewhere other than on the computer you are using for the game), and dont share personal information with people you dont really know.

I learned to do these things the hard way.

The “zerg” does not have to be a core aspect of the game.

We need more events like this one to temper and change mindsets. Once players get accustomed to a better way, they will have more fun and be ready for new content when it first comes out.

We saw this with Marionette – it took a few days for the players to acclimate – and were starting to see it in the Blitz, evidenced by the growing number of groups (including some I would still categorize as mostly unorganized) that are getting silver and gold.

Events dont have to require extreme coordination, but mindless blob fights simply are not fun. I like that they are moving content like this away from that mindset.

I may be wrong, but I believe it is primarily from the sound we get when someone passes the finish line during a guild rush which would makes sense in Dredgehaunt and Harathi.

eekzie.5640:

Blaeys.3102:

Because they want us to play as a community. The same is true in Boss Blitz.

Neither take a huge amount of coordination, but groups that completely ignore each other will not do as well as groups that tacitly recognize it is a group event.

I like this design direction. The solo – to hell with everyone else – players will eventually fall off and the people looking for this kind of thing will have a game we really enjoy. It isnt for everyone, but I like what theyre doing.

No, the people who don’t want to organise it every single time because nobody else is putting in any effort will fall off. Which will leave it to: organised guilds/groups or simply failing the event.

There’s so much wrong with relying on your guild that I’ve simply stopped enjoying this type of content all together (mostly time/schedule/planning related).

There is no real organization to the Dolyak event. You just need enough people interested in doing it. That in no way requires a guild.

I like the direction they are taking the game.

The event doesnt take a huge amount of coordination – just teamwork minded players. As the week goes on, those are the players we will see staying in the Blitz and it will be easier to get gold. There is content for players who want to mindlessly farm, but this isnt (and shouldnt be) it. Events like this should be about community coordination. And it doesnt even require real coordination. Its more about tacit coordination where players understand it’s a group event and not a bunch of random individuals doing their own thing.

If anything, I only see two things they need to consider.

Scaling could use some number tweaking. People are already yelling at people when groups go above a certain size. The event should fail if every player dogpiles one or two bosses, but those bosses shouldnt take 20 minutes to kill if numbers scale above an arbitrary threshold. Its not a big thing, but something they should consider tweaking for events in the future.

The second is they should consider some kind of ultra rare unique reward skin drop from events like this (or maybe something a little different – like the two week passes to the Queen’s Terrace). This one Im iffy about, though. Im not an “in it for loot” player – Im more about the experience, but a unique reward (even if its an ultra rare drop) would add some flavor – and a little anticipation to the event.

Because they want us to play as a community. The same is true in Boss Blitz.

Neither take a huge amount of coordination, but groups that completely ignore each other will not do as well as groups that tacitly recognize it is a group event.

I like this design direction. The solo – to hell with everyone else – players will eventually fall off and the people looking for this kind of thing will have a game we really enjoy. It isnt for everyone, but I like what theyre doing.

While I love megaservers and what they mean for the future of the game, the biggest issue, imo, continues to be the difficulty associated with keeping guilds together when moving between maps. It simply isnt happening.

We need to be able to right click to join on the same server with people in our guild/friends list – not just with those we are partied with.

They also need to do something about what happens when 2 guilds end up on the same map to do the same challenge, rush or puzzle at the same time. It is a confusing situation and, in its current state, makes guild missions much less fun.

papryk.6273:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Cloudwalkernz.1328:

In the defense of the OP, he(or she) is only pointing out the facts.

However, what happened in the parent company (NcSoft) does not mean Anet is not performing well. First of all the a/c is consolidated and did not show how Anet is doing separately.

Further more according to this Asian financial article http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/05/123_157346.html, the lower than expected profit is largely due to poor result from the Lineage series.

Given NcSoft has a strong line-up for the second half of the year (Wildstar, Sword & Soul, etc), the revenue should pick up for the final quarter of the year.

Yes, but what is the point of the thread? Why even bother to bring this up at all? What conclusions are we expected to garner from this information?

Pointless thread is pointless, moving on.

Nope…it’s just an informative thread. If it’s pointless to you then don’t read and move on. Some can be interested reading ncsoft revenues.

It would have been informative (kinda), except for the post title you chose – and lack of any real informed description.

Now its just another sky is falling thread that is obviously intended solely to incite irrational hyperbole about something a lot of people really don’t understand to begin with.

I have enjoyed the living story so far and only see it getting better as the developers get better ideas of what players (in game – not on the forums) enjoy.

Simple – for every match you leave prematurely (or DC out of) – or go AFK in – you have to actively (no DCs, leaves or AFKs) play at least one full match without getting personal rewards or progression of any kind.

So, if you leave a match, you have to actively play your next match to the end before you can play a match for rewards/progression. If you leave that match, you have to actively play your next two matches to the end, etc, etc, etc.

zenleto.6179:

Never seen this in game, only on the forums.

This.

I almost never see the kind of elitism cited by the OP actually in the game.

I know it will get flamed a little by the lone ranger types out there, but the best way to avoid this garbage (and probably why I never see it) is to find a friendly guild. This game really shines when you find a group of people who like to play the game the same way you do and tackle content with them most of the time.

Love the Queen’s Gauntlet and cannot wait to get back in.

Only concern I have is, with the megaserver, I think they need to reconsider how we queue for the fights. With more people in the same instances, the lines to fight Liadri are likely to be huge.

I’m hoping this is something they’ve considered.

Yea, this is really troubling and confusing. Ive been dealing with an account compromise (and now suspension for something the hacker must have done) for the past two days.

I got notifications about logins from other geographies, but I also saw multiple logins from TX , US (64.25.32.69) – and I wasnt sure if hitting disconnect on those would cause delays or issues with your team fixing my issues. This was mainly because a reverse look up shows that location number as belonging to an NC interactive location.

To everyone yelling for a major overhaul or to do away with the megaserver – at this point, we all know that is not going to happen. It is here, and while there are issues, there are a ton of people who think it has improved the game.

Bottom line – it isn’t going anywhere.

So let’s focus on areas where we see potential improvements and growth (and “scrap the megaserver/rollback to old system” and “let me play singleplayer” are neither of those).

I think there are a few small areas where things could be significantly improved, as follows -

1. Making it easier for players to play alongside guildmates and friends. My suggestion here was to extend the “join player in … map” to includ more than friends list. This would make it easier to taxi to instances my friends are in,. know there may be other ideas out there as well (alot have suggested the shard system from GW1, for instance).

2. Issues with concurrent guild missions. When more than one guild is doing a bounty, challenge, puzzle or rush, there are currently bugs and issues making it very difficult to have fun and/or get the reward from the event. These have always been there, but are much more evident now that we are all on the same map. Not sure how to fix this, but a fix is needed.

3. Temples and events never fail anymore. Temples are in a perpetual state of success (which is a good thing) due to the there always being people around to do them (another really good thing). The problems are people want to do the capture events and the temple defenses get to be boring. I would like to see some kind of progressive difficulty wave associated with these defense events – each time the defense event procs, it is more difficult (more adds, stronger bosses, etc) and more rewarding (more champs, higher chance at ascended/precursors) than the last. This would make the defense events more enjoyable, offer a sense of accomplishment (“we defended the gates of Arah 6 times before failing”) and, eventually, cause the event to fail and reset. It also makes alot of sense from a lore perspective.

4. Mat farming and champ farming. Both of these took a blow with the megaserver (probably on purpose for economic reasons), but regardless, they are something people enjoyed. Champs, particularly, need to be beefed up/scale better in all zones – with a slight buff to rewards to match. Take the troll out of AC explorable and drop him in place of the troll in Queensdale, as an example.

These are the four areas I would change related to the megaserver. None are necessarily gamebreaking (I actually love the megaserver), but I think its worth having the conversation shift to things we can actually influence rather than just a bunch of hate (from the same tiny group of people) directed at the game.

munkiman.3068:

Blaeys.3102:

During my guild missions on Monday night, we did two bounty bosses, a puzzle, a challenge and a rush, followed by a guild trigger of Karka Queen. We had approximately 36 attendees.

Over the course of those missions, we moved to new zones six times. All six times, the guild was split apart during the move – across at least two zone versions each time (possibly more – we didnt stop to check).

Our only solution was to break one person out of each group, have them group on the guild leader, taxi, leave the guild leaders party, regroup with their party and then taxi the remaining members to the map.

That is a frustrating process that isnt fun – especially when we know for a fact the map we were porting to had room for all 36 attendees.

We desperately need a way to see when we arent on the same map version as our friends and guildees, and we definitely need to be able to right click on guildees or friends and move to a new map version without having to party with them first.

It seems like a minor change, but it would make all the difference in the world for guilds doing missions or guild events of any kind.

One of the biggest problems with this is they’d need to figure out how to get you to the closest waypoint and charge you the fee. Otherwise people would just use it as a way to fast travel all the time. I’d still like to know why they decided to do this in the first place when aside from the low population in certain maps, all the other issues and problems were vacant in the old system. It feels like day one all over again, only worse.

I think your confusing this with another issue.

I’m talking about the same system they have now for “join friend in …” when you are in a party, just extending it to anyone in your guild or on your friend’s list. You still have to be in the same zone – you are just transferred to the version your friend/guildee is in (again, exactly like you can now in parties, just extended to be useful for larger groups.

The current system is very clunky, doesnt keep friends/guildees together and needs a fix. Extending the “join friend in …” functionality seems like the most simple one they could implement.

During my guild missions on Monday night, we did two bounty bosses, a puzzle, a challenge and a rush, followed by a guild trigger of Karka Queen. We had approximately 36 attendees.

Over the course of those missions, we moved to new zones six times. All six times, the guild was split apart during the move – across at least two zone versions each time (possibly more – we didnt stop to check).

Our only solution was to break one person out of each group, have them group on the guild leader, taxi, leave the guild leaders party, regroup with their party and then taxi the remaining members to the map.

That is a frustrating process that isnt fun – especially when we know for a fact the map we were porting to had room for all 36 attendees.

We desperately need a way to see when we arent on the same map version as our friends and guildees, and we definitely need to be able to right click on guildees or friends and move to a new map version without having to party with them first.

It seems like a minor change, but it would make all the difference in the world for guilds doing missions or guild events of any kind.

I love the megaservers, but there is one HUGE problem, that is iterated over and over in this – and the other – threads on this topic (but buried in between a dozen other conversations).

Guilds and friends are not being kept together.
Guilds and friends are not being kept together.
Guilds and friends are not being kept together.

That part of the megaserver system they touted in the blogs is not working or simply doesnt take other factors into account. We are not being paired with guildees and friends enough.

To address it, the players need more control over which map version we play on – there is no other viable answer.

At the simplest level, we need two things:

1. A way to tell when we are not on the same map instance as our guildmates/friends

2. (AND MOST IMPORTANTLY) We need to be able to right click friends or guildmates and “join friend in … Map” without having to be in the same party they are in.

The second one is vital, especially for things like guild missions (specifically Bounties, where time is already an important factor).

Im not saying this is the perfect solution, but it is the one that best fits with the current megaserver architecture and plan.

I also hate that this important conversation is being buried in all of the other issues people have with the megaserver. It needs to be addressed – and really soon. Guild missions and guild/player run activities are suffering horribly because of this right now.

This is exactly why I tried to start a new thread about the guild/large group issues instead of commenting in an existing one.

It is impossible to have a conversation about problems that rational players have with the game because the same 3-4 people hijack the larger threads with the “sky is falling” claims.

Yes, there may be some instances where parties are split up, but based on what my guild has seen, those are extremely rare – and, for the most part, understandable.

On the other hand, there is a real issue with guilds and large groups of friends unable to play together easily.

I think there are easy fixes (or at least simple – dont know much about programming so cant say easy confidently) for the issue and would like to discuss those rather than getting caught up in all of the game hate, which really isnt appropriate on the forums and does nothing positive for the players or the developers.

Lord Kuru.3685:

ItsaJello.4168:

Not sure if this has been posted before or not, but is friends list at all considered in the megaserver choosing? if it isn’t, could that be implemented in some way?

They can’t even get people from the same party into the same instance. Friend’s list? Forget it.

Actually, that is a bit of an exaggeration and doesnt really help. We need to make the argument without hyperbole or exaggeration – which way too often buries legitimate conversations on these forums.

It is more likely to resonate and produce change (rather than burying the issue under criticism for the sole sake of criticism).

The vast majority of the time, parties are kept together. The issue is with larger groups, most notably guilds trying to do missions or other things together, but friends as well.

Again, we direly need a way to get to the map our friends/guildees are on without having to drop/party/drop/party for taxis. It is very frustrating and time consuming – taking away from us having fun.

But again, let’s make the argument based on fact and try not to resort to exaggeration. That doesn’t help anyone.

ItsaJello.4168:

Not sure if this has been posted before or not, but is friends list at all considered in the megaserver choosing? if it isn’t, could that be implemented in some way?

In theory, it is supposed to be considered – along with guild lists. In practice, it is proving very hard for them to implement.

They need to make it MUCH easier for players to get to the same map instances as their friends and guildmates – specificaly

- Make it more evident when we are not on the same map version (color code, instance number, something)

- Extend the “Join friend in … map” to more than just party members. We should be able to right click on guildmates and friends and move without partying.

I think the intention of trying to make friends and guildmates naturally gravitate to the same instances was noble, but the current implementation fails to do that in many cases. They need to make it easier for us to take control of that choice – and they need to do it before people get too frustrated with the current implementation (for the sake of guild activities and guild missions).

I have yet to see a night when, as a mid sized guild, we go to the same map and are kept together. We find ourselves spread across multiple maps, even when there is obviously room for all of us on the same map.

Having to break parties, form up taxi parties and then break again to reform original parties is exhausting, not fun and really hurting things like guild missions, temple runs, zone mapping events, etc (all of the fun things we like to do as a guild).

I realize the technical limitations of keeping guilds together when they zone is probably daunting, but there has to be a better solution than using parties to taxi people into the same zone. Its especially troublesome with guild bounties, where we are already on timer.

At the very least, “right click to join in …” should not be limited to parties. If everyone could right click based on guild or friends lists, it would go a really long way toward fixing the problem and letting guild play together more reliably.

This really needs to be fixed ASAP. My guild is the main reason I play this game and not getting to play alongside them without jumping through hoops and aggravating steps is really demoralizing.

Tanith.5264:

Several of my guildies are wishing for the “district” system that we have in GW1, but I’m not sure if it’s feasible. It would be great if it was, because that’s the only downside I see to the advent of megaservers.

Agreed. Everything else about the megaserver is a huge home run as far as I’m concerned. The game really feels alive.

Again, simply extending the “right click to join in …” to friends and guildees, rather than limiting it to parties, would probably alleviate every concern I have about this. Having to party for this is making it a real hassle.

I have yet to see a night when, as a mid sized guild, we go to the same map and are kept together. We find ourselves spread across multiple maps, even when there is obviously room for all of us on the same map.

Having to break parties, form up taxi parties and then break again to reform original parties is exhausting, not fun and really hurting things like guild missions, temple runs, zone mapping events, etc (all of the fun things we like to do as a guild).

I realize the technical limitations of keeping guilds together when they zone is probably daunting, but there has to be a better solution than using parties to taxi people into the same zone. Its especially troublesome with guild bounties, where we are already on timer.

At the very least, “right click to join in …” should not be limited to parties. If everyone could right click based on guild or friends lists, it would go a really long way toward fixing the problem and letting guild play together more reliably.

This really needs to be fixed ASAP. My guild is the main reason I play this game and not getting to play alongside them without jumping through hoops and aggravating steps is really demoralizing.

titanlectro.5029:

Well dang, that blog post amounts to a pretty epic face slap.

Only if you don’t actually read it.

This -

“Our megaserver team will continue to monitor the performance of the technology on live and evaluate your feedback. We will continue to tweak and update the way the system works until it is providing even better megaservice!”

Is not a face slap.

That said, there are some things (most notably the ability to keep large guild groups together more reliably) that need to be implemented REALLY soon.

Let us right click anyone on our friends or guild list and “travel to XYZ zone” without having to be in 5-man parties. Shuffling parties in just takes way too much time and is really not fun.