Guild Wars 2

As long as they keep up the pace they have set in early 2013 and we keep getting things like the AR and F&F dungeons and Southsun meta events, I’m very happy with how they are doing the living story/temporary content – and will be even happier if some of these encounters, bosses, etc. return as fractals, guild bounties, new dungeon paths, etc.

In an ideal world, everything would be permanent (obviously). Keeping those things going indefinitely, however, requires resources (obviously). I like that the developers seem to be focusing their resources on keeping fresh content rolling into the game instead – even if it means that fresh content is temporary.

Add my voice to those saying “really well done” on this.

Really like the direction that dungeon design seems to be taking.

You can also block/reflect/interupt/evade the pull, blind/fear/knockback/any other cc the golem, or use line of sight to stop the pull.

It’s easy to see who the golem is focusing on and when they are getting ready to pull.

New dungeon is awesome.

My group wiped several times as well, but we eventually got it – and actually celebrated that victory. It was great experiencing a fight that we didnt faceroll the first time through.

It felt like a real challenge and it was fun. I really hope to see alot more content like this moving forward.

Really depends on your playstyle and the situation.

In PVE, I would vote for either stability or vigor as the most useful boon and either poison, chilled or blind as the best condition.

Dungeon walkthrough looks like insane fun.

Can’t wait now.

We have no idea what’s in this patch yet. All that people have seen so far are unconfirmed “leaks” that may not even be real – and, even if they are, are probably very incomplete.

I understand the uncontrollable desire (especially on gaming forums) to complain and overreact, but at least wait until we know what is coming first for once.

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

Halloween.
Wintersday.
Super Adventure Box.
Dragon Bash.
Southsun Cove.
Fractals of the Mists.
Living Story.
2 PvP maps.
New events.
New voice acting.
New soundtracks.
Updating reward systems.
Guild Missions.

Yep. Seems like they only have 5 people working on the game.

Edit: I’ll just add more stuff as people point out stuff I have forgotten.

A few to add (all permanent additions):

- Costume Brawl
- New mini-dungeons (Vexa’s Lab, Foresaken Halls)
- Overhaul to AC explorable
- New world bosses (Hydra Queen, Queen Karka)
- Moa racing

Definitely agree with every word. And the more they do it, the more refined and polished the content will be.

People will still complain though. It is what the forums are for.

Gibson.4036:

Oh, and I still find it odd that ANet likes to release info to fansites/gaming media before putting anything on the official forum.

It’s not odd at all – it’s actually a common practice across all businesses (not just video games). It’s about maintaining strong relationships with those media. Give them the chance to get the news out ahead of time (which is their primary function/value to their readers, advertisers, etc) and they are more likely to pick up the phone when you call.

Also – a forum really shouldn’t be a news feed. It is a place for more in depth discussion. That is usually best done after the news has been disseminated.

Generally, people visit the forums to complain, to troll or to find update information from a developer.

Anything else is a rarity – especially in “general discussion” sections.

Not that the complaints aren’t a good thing – as long as they are level headed, thought out and supported through key points they can foster crucial conversations.

The problems occur when you have the same 6-10 people posting sarcastic quips and useless diatribes against the game (or other players or developers) over and over. These kind of posts and responses clutter up EVERY game forum in existence and only serve to make meaningful discussions few and far between.

There should be one post about RNG, one post about fight mechanics, one post about farming, etc, etc. We as players need to condition ourselves to limit our feedback to the initial posts and strop trying to make sure we are “heard” in every single one of them.

Mkalafut.1273:

Blaeys.3102:

Easy answer to the original question -

- Fractal Weapons

- Guild Mission Vendor Weapons

- Technically, you could also add the Halloween (chainsaw, etc), Wintersday (slingshot, etc) and SAB weapon skins to the list, since they aren’t account bound and can be bought from the trading post now (and are still available there).

You obviously didn’t read the OP or posts made after. I mentioned SAB, fractal, and guild weapons as exceptions to my post.

I read – but when you start saying “except A, except B, except C …” It kinda invalidates the whole point. Any time someone pokes holes in your logic all you have to say is “except for all those XYZs.”

Awesome content so far.

Having a lot of fun with today’s events.

Easy answer to the original question -

- Fractal Weapons

- Guild Mission Vendor Weapons

- Technically, you could also add the Halloween (chainsaw, etc), Wintersday (slingshot, etc) and SAB weapon skins to the list, since they aren’t account bound and can be bought from the trading post now (and are still available there).

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Stupid game using boring mechanics like hitting buttons on the keyboard. I will only consider it content if I have to hit buttons on something else!!!

Try this. Instead of just mindlessly zerging to every WP and then complaining about how fast and boring it is, run between them and do the events in the area. I did about 50 different events, many of which I had never seen before while running around and finding them. It broke it up, made it more exciting and was fun.

This actually makes it a better experience.

The thing about the effigies is – they are getting people out doing dynamic events in these areas. After the 6-7 effigy, I stopped porting and started running. Now, I find myself stopping to do events with larger and larger groups.

The same small group of players can complain here all they like – the proof is in the game. People are out doing dynamic events in these areas, and enjoying them. I say, well done.

If the effigies were a requirement, I would see an issue with “forcing” content on people. Since they definitely arent (even for those wanting the wings), there is no issue. If you don’t want to do this kind of thing – simple – don’t do this kind of thing.

1. My guild. I love the people I play along side.

2. PVE end game, including the living story content and guild missions.

3. The sheer fun of the game. I find it a great way to blow off steam after work. Lvl 80, full exotics and ascended gear – and I still find myself out doing dynamic event chains in all areas simply because I enjoy them.

4. Holiday events and mini-games.

5. Structured PvP

I think the approach that Mr. Johanson outlines sounds like the right one to take. We need zones that are higher difficulty (specifically with complex DEs, temples and plenty of champion level mobs), and the reason people aren’t going is solely related to reward levels. Addressing those two issues will make me very happy.

I dont want Orr to become nothing but an event farm where people can afk through waves and collect heavy moldy bags – I want it to be a highly challenging experience that rewards both groups and individuals in meaningful – and unique – ways. Maybe drop a couple of Giganticus Lupicuses (Lupici?) wandering around the zone as well.

Grenth is a step in the right direction in relation to difficulty (not perfect, but going the right direction) – I would love to see all of Cursed Shore become that challenging (without the griefable mechanics related to Keeper Jonez, of course).

The idea of unique rewards from temples and a better reward system from champion mobs will be just the thing to get people back in the zone, but it does need to be a sustainable and adaptable system. I dont envy the developers on the challenge that presents.

The timing issue is turning into a bit of a mess.

We have people sitting around in Lion’s Arch for an hour or more waiting for the fireworks because they are unsure of when the next dawn is coming – and overflow servers are making the situation even worse.

It’s taking something that should be interesting to watch and turning it into a chore that is causing alot of headaches. At this point, ArenaNet should just come out and say they are giving everyone who logs in this weekend the reward box – and then people can just enjoy the fireworks in peace.

A simple timer counting down to the next firework show would go a long way to fix the first issue (not sure what could be done about overflows).

I dont think this is really a big issue. As others have said, give it time.

Also, the Karka Queen event is something a guild or group of friends could easily tackle on its on. It’s there if a group wants to take it on for the reward.

titanlectro.5029:

Completely agreed, this design allows kill stealing. I hate WoW for a reason.

Kill stealing – that is the phrase I was trying to think of. Yes – it describes what is happening with these things perfectly – and has no place in GW2.

The Wintersday boxes werent as big a deal because it took a while (and a little thought) to kill those enemies, giving people time to get there. These holographic emitters are just plain frustrating, easy to the point of being ridiculous and a griefer’s paradise.

I really hope a developer reads at least one of the many posts about this and does something. Everything else in Dragon Bash feels so solid – it’s a shame this one little element (tied to an achievement) is creating a vitriolic environment.

This is getting very frustrating.

Feel alot like shared mining nodes from other MMOs – something I was hoping we were done with for good.

I understand them wanting to make some of them easier than the christmas dolls (which I personally loved) – but they could have at least let the ones in higher level zones keep a decent difficulty level.

I understand making them easier, but I think they overdid it. They pose no challenge to anyone and they die so fast that people can’t do them due to people killing them in less than 2 seconds (literally).

And having them not tied to individuals reminds me of racing for mining nodes against other players in other MMOs. Horrible design.

Trying to do them is very frustrating as they are.

Anyone who has done guild challenges and guild puzzles can see how a form of raiding would not only be viable – but extremely fun – in this game.

I would like to see “raiding” take the form of a sixth guild mission type and look something like Vexa’s Lab or the Font of Rhand (instanced but accessible when the mission is triggered), only with much more complex fights.

And – like everyone else has said – the rewards need to be there, but still accessible through other activities in the game.

The issue seems to be much rarer than in other games.

To answer the question – the hard truth is it crosses the line as soon as anyone takes it personally. Since you have no idea who is sitting behind those other keyboards, it’s impossible to know exactly where that line is.

Even though it doesnt really bother me, personally, if someone wont shut up with the insults or goes too far, I report them. In order to be competitive, PvP needs to feel open to anyone – even those who may be more sensitive to this kind of criticism. The whiny critics who wont shut up about “you guys suck”, “why did you go there?”, etc only turn people off of PvP, which isnt good for any of us.

Anything that pushes them out of this aspect of the game isnt good for the competitive nature of the game.

It’s also worth noting – most of the time, the people kittening in map chat or putting people down are usually the ones at the bottom of the charts when the match is over – Im guessing from spending too much time worrying about other people and not enough about themselves.

As has been stated a few times in this thread – the real problem with WvW is the disparity between servers, specifically populations and 24 hour coverage. The matchup the OP cites (HOD, BP, DR) remained pretty even (and alot of fun – with all three servers leading at one point or another) for a few hours Friday night, but BP and DR just didnt have the consistent population to keep it up.

Every server has strong players – as it is, however, it just comes down to a game of numbers.

That is where the change needs to come – either scoring provisions that take coverage into account or balancing mechanics that help lower pop servers – or server merges or ongoing free transfers to the bottom three servers.

Instead of a dps meter – which would just become fodder for behavior we do not want in GW2 – I would rather see improvements/toggles to the combat log.

As with almost all posts, both sides have valid points (but, as usual, rely on sarcasm or overbloated examples to try and get their point across).

Reality is, we have no idea how the money from GW2 store sales is spent. However, I think it is unreasonable (and extremist) to believe none of that money is making it back into GW2. At the same time, it is unreasonable to believe that none of it is being spent on operational or infrastructure projects (or even other company projects). Anyone who thought otherwise simply doesn’t understand how businesses work.

Keep in mind that it was probably money from other projects that made GW2 possible in the first place.

People tend to oversimplify these things in attempts to prove the exact points they are trying to make, when the truth is things are never that simple. I’m sure much of the money is making it back into GW2, but much is probably being spent on many other things (just as revenue from those other games is being spent to make GW2 better – its called diversifying your portfolio and it can be a good thing).

To the OP’s original point, I think the developers are still trying to find their cadence and balance with game updates. The best thing the community can do is continue to make level-headed posts (I know these are rare) about the direction we would like to see the game take.

I, like many, still enjoy the game alot, but would like to see more challenging content – specifically, I want them to revamp the dungeons to include content that rewards working together (AC was a baby step in this direction) and communicating more – and to add more types of, and polish to, guild missions (which were a huge step in the right direction).

I think it would be a good change if, during guild bounty training missions, we could pick the boss we are going to hunt for.

This would allow smaller guilds to tackle the easier to find bosses like Trilla Midwell or Poobadoo solely for the influence, and, at the same time, allow all guilds a way to practice fights they may be struggling with (like 2-Mult or Half Baked Komali).

My favorite thing about the game -

The fact that everything above 5 man content has no set participation requirement.

The same content you can do in a 50 person group you can do in a 13 person group. I hated having to have exactly 24 or exactly 9 other friends (and no more or no less) to tackle content.

(also – there are TONS of threads about dps meters already out there – we should let this thread be about the single thing we love most in the game)

Coolness factor – definitely Brekkabek. A boss that throws bears – how can you beat that

Difficulty/mechanics – 2-Mult

Most fun to hunt for – Big Mayana

When he comes back, he gets to experience the living story that is happening now – just like he gets to experience the things in his real life that are happening now.

I equate it to an amusement park with a great concert series. Yes, there are plenty of permanent things to do, but there are also these great concerts going on – and while I may miss one band because I couldn’t make it one weekend, I know I can catch the next great band playing the weekend I can get there.

And the best part – there is no admission fee to the park or the concerts once Ive bought my (inexpensive) lifetime ticket.

Reloading.3260:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

We certainly wouldn’t have put in chests that appear after events which cycle every 8 to 10 minutes.

On farming in general, there’s a sweet spot that combines good loot with fun, engaging content. I think Southsun had that going for it, especially before certain aspects of the content were isolated as optimal.

The only thing Southsun had going for it was the skelk/shark farming with the 200%mf and instigator farming. Sorry to say but neither were fun engaging content. It was simply more profitable than most other pitiful activities bar cof farms.

You think we’re running back and forth between two areas, clicking a target and pressing 1 because we enjoyed it?

No penitent, no fish oil, no union, no temples, done cof1 till my eyes bleed, and now no more instigator. At the moment its just akitten gw2 till the world boss pops.

Have you seen the huge number of mobs that spawn in the camp events – and how often the camp events recycle? Just move from camp to camp and do the world boss when it comes up. I know the mobs are a little more challenging than the pushover skelk, but they are rewarding (especially with the MF buff).

Also, farming in Curse Shore, Frostgorge (dredge caves in the south), etc, is still very much alive. You just have to be smart about it and not stay in the same 5X5 square area for an hour.

Like the dev said earlier, there has to be a balance between acceptable farming and overkill (as well as pure bug fixes and fixing silliness like the union waypoint debacle).

The community is a little too eager to jump at every single tiny change like it is something that broke the game.

This looks amazing.

I can’t wait.

Yes, there are several good ones.

I use this -

http://us.gw2stuff.com

It is not dependent on players to update (uses data directly from the game) so it isn’t subject to trolls.

In my opinion, this is the single best feature they could add to the game right now for guilds of all sizes.

A calendar is very important for organized groups. Please consider this.

Please let players talk to an NPC and start the event chain in Cursed Shores “Get Warmaster Chan to Shank Anchorage before the troops’ morale breaks.” (Start of the event chain taking the gates of Arah).

Currently, the chain starts automatically and all the NPCs die right outside Meddler’s Summit with morale around 20 percent. By the time groups of players come by, there isnt enough morale left to get them to Shank Anchorage.

Letting us start the event chain would offer the same challenge without putting us way behind from the beginning.

As it is, we have to stand around with a decent sized group waiting for the event to start.

I love the new AC. Can’t wait til the rest of the explorable dungeon paths get the same once over from the developers.

Spirits on HoD are they highest I’ve seen them in weeks. Yes, we have little chance of beating SF, but people seem to be having a lot of fun trying.

Starting to see the HoD I remember again because of this matchup.

option 2.

WvW is fun again.

Welcome to the game

1. Yes they do have to live on the same world, but you can guest to other servers easily and for free.

2. There isnt alot of info. As far as I know, the only server with a semi-defined definition is Tarnished Coast, which is the unofficial RP server. Keep in mind that, except for WvW, it really doesnt matter because of guesting. Starter and low level zones on every server Ive guested to seem vibrant as do the lvl 80 zones where current objectives (living story right now) are based.

On larger servers, some events will be in the “win” state much of the time, but there is an up side and a down side to that – the down sides being you may have to wait til the event recycles to do it and, when you do, the zerg will make it less fun. I prefer being on a smaller server where my guild can, if we want, find a temple event to clear if we feel like having some fun (with guesting there if individual players are looking for a more zerg like experience).

3. Because of guesting, the only real disadvantages/advantages to being on a specific type of server are in WvW. The pros are you will see more WvW action 24/7 on higher population servers where they have more people playing at all times. The cons are you may experience queues for WvW more often. Additionally, if you want to feel like part of a team in WvW, you would want a smaller server (which are just as much fun in WvW, even though you may win fewer battles) where you would be one of 20 instead of one of 200.

Hope this helps.

I would love to see a sixth type of guild mission based around the minidungeon (Vexa’s Lab/Font of Rhand) model they have in place now – an instanced path (that anyone on the guild mission could enter) that looks more like a traditional dungeon (or raid) and where the primary goal is to kill a boss with complex mechanics. They could even give the guild mission leader the option of whether or not to allow people from outside the guild to participate (the quaggan guild challenge has a mechanic like this now).

There is only one thing that I absolutely DO NOT want in the game – raids that requre exactly X (10, 25, 40, etc) number of people to run. This means often having to leave people out, which I believe is the single biggest flaw with raiding in other games (and why I will never raid in that kind of setting again).

To me, it feels like we are in the middle of an enjoyable experiment – one in which the developers are trying to find the right balance between top notch content and the time it takes to develop/release that content.

That they are willing to take chances and tweak how (and how fast) they develop content bodes well (at least in my eyes) for the game’s future. You don’t build something unique by doing things the same every time. And, taking chances sometimes means missing the mark.

Personally, I am enjoying the content they released this week, even though I do understand some of the counter arguments.

As far as the disconnect between development and marketing, I definitely agree that is something they should look into fixing. The patch notes and pre-publicity ended up causing a fair bit of confusion and angst among players.

I think this is exactly what ArenaNet did (successfully, imo) with the Instigator (which includes a nice chest reward) and crazed wave events in Southsun. Those events are easily farmable and don’t seem to suffer unecessarily from DR – especially when you throw in the escort chain that connects the two areas they take place and the packs of skelk/karka/wind riders (and passiflora nodes) across the island.

I think the design (which I believe was specifically developed – at least partially – with farmers in mind) bodes well for people who enjoy farming in these games.

I think there are two questions people ask themselves that may have significance -

1. What do I need to do to be able to tackle the next higher level of content? This is what most other MMOs force players to keep asking themselves. In GW2, there is a very easily attainable (through a wide range of currencies and activites) exotic stat plateau (that deviates slightly with ascended gear), invalidating the need to even worry about this.

2. What do I need to do to be able to look the way I want to look? This is what progression is actually about in GW2. If this is something you care about, then you look for the path of least resistance to get there.

There are two points of conflicts that people keep bringing up.

First the definition of “must do.” Since stat are extremely easy to max out, “must do” refers to the ability to cosmetically change your character to match what you want it to look like. No part of the game is walled off from you (as it would be in most other MMOs). You simply are asked to work hard (in some cases) to look better.

Which brings up the second point of conflict – how resistive should content be? How hard should you be asked to work to achieve the cosmetic appearance you really want. This is a point of opinion, but in mine, if you truly want to look unique, then it should be a harder process – and not something you can attain in a few days doing repetitive content.

TLDR – Since you can reach a stat level adequate for every activity in the game really easily, nothing in the game is required or mandatory in order to play every aspect of the game. The debate is about cosmetic changes to your character, which should take some effort.

Love sPvP, but if I could add three things, they would be -

1. Cosmetic or Karma based rewards that are usable/equippable outside the Mists
2. Improved matchmaking
3. Penalties for leaving a match early or extended periods of inactivity away from capture points/map objectives

I think you are confused, DigitalKirin. As of the April patch, he doesn’t stack might anymore. He applies vulnerability to targets instead.

There does seem to be something very wrong with the fight though. My understanding is we are supposed to remove defiant and then knock him out of the area that applies his fire shield (while avoiding his other abilities).

The problem is we are able to remove defiant and knock him back or pull him easily enough, but the fire shield never goes away – and we are a smaller guild, so we dont have the dps to zerg through it.

We’re either not knocking him back far enough – which seems unlikely – or there is a bug stopping his flame shield from dropping.

Additionally, there is no way to tell where his circle is on the ground.

I really hope they fix him soon (or someone tells me what we are doing wrong ) – I love guild missions and we seem to draw Half Baked Komali every single week.

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

Icelin.8412:

People can keep pretending like we have many pve options out there but we don’t. Dungeons, Fractals, Map completions, Story and World boss every 2-3 hours. That’s it for pve. Not many people farm events and the ones that we do, Arena net tends to shut them down in some way or tamper with the loot.

I am starting to think they don’t want a Pve community. Pve content is suffering, but I honestly think they care more for WvW.

1. Dungeons.
2. Map compleation.
3. Personal Story.
4. Special Explorer challanges.
5. Jumping Puzzles.
6. Try to find all event’s.
7. Living Story (That is new atleast every two weeks)
8. Finding world stories.

There is surely much more that I can’t think off at the moment but a game is so much more than just grind, just try to enjoy the game instead of trying to get that kitt’n Legendary.
…

Definitely. Good post.

To add more -

9. Guild Missions
10. Mini-games
11. Mini-dungeons (Vexa’s Lab, Font of Rhand, etc)
12. Fractals
13. Costume Brawl
14. Holiday Events
15. Dynamic Events
16. Meta Event Chains
18. Leveling Alts
19. Dailies

There is a ton for PVE players – of almost all inclinations – to do.

And, while legendaries may be out of the reach of some casuals, there are many other really cool weapons you can make in the Forge that definitely are not – http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Forge/Other_Items

Just because you missed out on an event in the past is no reason to deprive yourself of experiencing events in the future. I didn’t get to go to the Superbowl this year but would definitely go if I could next year.

Nothing in the past content is required for experiencing future content. Yes, you can feel sorry you missed something, just like you would if you missed a great concert or event in real life – but that shouldn’t stop you from looking forward to the next great concert or event that you can go to.

What I would like to see is an ongoing incentive for guilds to spread to lower ranked servers. Make server transfers free or really cheap ongoing, but only to servers ranked at least 2 tiers below the server you are currently on.

It would encourage greater spread and add more diversity to the competition on an ongoing basis. People wanting to transfer to a server with a better winning record than the one they are on should have to pay more. obviously.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Blaeys.3102:

-snip-

So your answer is ‘if you aren’t big enough to do it yourself go join someone else.’ Gotcha. Because we’re small (4-8 people as you called out in another post) we shouldn’t have the right to do it on our own, even if we do unlock it. (Yes, any size guild can earn enough influence to unlock them, given time. I’m not arguing that) We should ‘have’ to go join someone bigger. How is that not ‘small guilds go home’ again?

Because I’m not really saying “join someone else.” I’m saying “partner with someone else.” There is a huge difference.

The reasons my guild decided to invite friends into our missions was two fold -

1. so we had enough people to do them

2. so the small guilds on our server (and even other servers if they wanted to guest over to us) can retain their small guild identities but still allow their members access to guild missions (and so we could retain our small guild identity as well).

If you have a tiny guild (4-8 people), you cannot expect to be able to just as easily tackle content as a guild of 25-100 without outside help. That is like saying a group of 5 people should be able to take Stonemist during peak hours as easily as a group of 50 without anyone else coming. It’s illogical.

The point of my example was to show that, if small guilds work together, they can still experience guild mission content without losing their identities. You just have to work with the system – for example, not be adamantly against dual repping during guild mission times.

If you have unlocked the missions on your own, then go out and invite people to join you for guild missions. Talk to the other small guilds and let them know you have access to bounties. It is exactly what my guild did and we, more than easily, found the friends we needed to do them. Not only does it help you advance your guild, it helps you make new friends on your server (and potentially others).