Guild Wars 2

41 y/o. GW2 is hands down my favorite game on the market right now.

Played WoW for years and loved it, but it felt like, in order to keep up with my friends, I had to make the game a huge part of my life. I have a busy life outside of gaming and love that GW2 doesn’t place that same requirement (grind to stay caught up) on players.

I am loving this game (and playing more than I probably should).

It would be a dramatic change, but I honestly feel it would make the game more fun for more people.

Make WvW participation for the match based on your guild (or your individual character if you so choose) rather than your server. Your guild would be randomly placed in a map set at the beginning of the match (or when the first member enters PvP that week) rather than into one based on your server. That would then be your battleground (set of 4 maps) for the week.

This would eliminate/balance elements like night capping or crazy imbalances in population and make it easier to eliminate queues for WvW. It would also “future proof” WvW on servers where populations may eventually diminish too much.

I know it is a radical suggestion and is counter to the concept of “server pride” but I think it would be a better solution and create a strong global community of players rather than divide them based solely on server selection (which was a random choice for most players).

Just a thought. I do realize there would be some negative reaction to this. Not even sure if the technology exists in the system to make something like this work.

I think more is needed at this point. Without some kind of greater incentive for WvWers to play on underdog servers – prior to closing free transfers – then closing transfers will only make a frustrating issue much worse.

There really needs to be a better spread of WvW players. Unfortunately, that will require free transfers – otherwise we would just see the servers winning because of numbers now continue to dominate long term – which would be devastating for WvW.

So – free transfers need to stay for now, but more is needed to encourage a better spread of WvW players across weaker servers.

The problem isnt really with queue times. Those are direly needed as they are the only incentive for population spread right now. Improving or offering alternatives to queues on overpopulated servers would only make the situation worse right now.

What is desperately needed is significantly better reasons/incentive (other than no queues) for WvW focused people to play on underpopulated or “losing” servers.

19. The champion kings of Orr. All that dust in the zone and not a drop of Visine to be found.

People who have been on HoD since before TA know that there is a great and helpful – albeit small – community here.

We may not have the numbers any longer for WvW, but I really wish people would stop putting down the people who have chosen to remain on the server. There is still an amazing – and thriving – community here.

The element that gave the server a bad name – specifically the bandwagonners – are all gone. They are not what Henge is about anymore.

As far as not trying in WvW – there are still people trying, but without the numbers and 24/7 support of the other 2 servers, we probably belong in a lower bracket (where we will probably be pretty decent – there is still alot of heart here).

Long term, the exodus of players from HoD will be good for the server. We will be left with a smaller base, for sure, but it will be the friendlier players with a better sense of commitment/drive who stay.

It’s easy to show strength and teamwork when you are winning. The true test is how you act and react when you are losing. Do you throw up your hands and give up, or do you weather through the hard times and rebuild. Those that are staying are definitely in the latter category (and there are plenty who are staying).

We will go down in the tiers in the next few weeks – mainly because we simply wont have the numbers/ 24/7 support needed to compete, but that will not be a bad thing. The matches in the top tier haven’t been fun for a while (because of the constant bandwagonning and complaining).

Those of us that have been on HoD since the beginning (many, like myself, since the first beta event in May) look forward to what WvW will become on HoD.

I know it is painful, but it is evident that the queue is working as intended.

Currently, there are no other real incentives to transfer from a winning to a losing server other than the queue.

If there were some mechanic that better encouraged population spreading, then i would understand them doing something about queue times. As it stands, however, working to reduce queue times on packed servers would only serve to make bandwagoning and lopsided battles more prevalent. It would be counterproductive.

They need to begin charging gems for transfers to winning servers while keeping transfers free to servers with losing records. It wont completely fix the issue (which is driven by human nature more than anything in game), but it would help.

To your personal quandry, the solution is obvious – encourage your guild to move a server where queue times are shorter.

The biggest problem is that they only have to spam the same ability over and over.

At the same time, there is some depth to the way they are played (literally), so maybe its working as intended.

Mog.1589:

OP depends. Yes it is awesome when there is a smaller group and not some huge zerg. However at the sametime it sucks donkey balls when you go to do an event and cannot complete it AT ALL because there are two few players. The latter seems to be happening a lot more in some zones.

I think we’ve all been in this situation and can relate.

On the one hand, I find it frustrating, but on the other, I am glad to see it. It gives guilds something to do together.

If I find one of these events when I am soloing, I usually make a mental note of it and bring guildees back with me to tackle it. Lately, my guild has been forming small groups to do this alot. It is really fun taking organized groups in and finding the fights actually challenging.

Here’s hoping you recover from your injuries soon, DoS.

As to the review (which you are in a unique place to make – probably even more so than the professional sites given the time you’ve played), I think it is a fair assessment -both positive and negative.

I particularly agree with your statements about Orr/Cursed Shore. I found that, once you get away from the mindset that “end game” has to be accompanied by a “level 80” tag, then the world really opens up and becomes fun. I find I spend much more time in zones like Gendarran Fields/Fireheart Rise/Bloodtide Coast, get close to the same Karma I would in Orr and have a much more fun (e.g. less grindy) experience.

And, yes, 600 hours in that time frame is hardcore, but not far-fetched for someone in your situation.

Again, get well soon.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Like others, Ive started spending less time at 80 in Cursed Shore and more in the lower level zones.

This past week, a group of 4 guild members (myself included) spent hours in Fireheart Rise, Bloodtide Coast and Mount Maelstrom. We never once lacked for an event and they were definitely challenging. Excepting some of the temple fights, fights like the Pirate in Bloodtide or the boss/defend against effigies chain in southern Fireheart are just as epic as anything in Orr. As far as rewards, Karma gains were close to the rate in Cursed Shore and level appropriate drops were common. The only thing we didnt have access to were the harvestable nodes. We’ve even had fun in the entry level zones, but anything short of a champion there is not challenging in any way for 80s (which is understandable).

As people realize that “end game” isn’t just Cursed Shore/Orr and start to spread more, they will see that there is a lot of fun to be had at level 80 in the actualy PVE map world. It just takes breaking old habits of focusing only on the zone that has a specific number in it.

I always report the individual dynamic events that seem stuck (waves at jofast’s camp not coming, etc) or outright broken as I see them, but, after 3 weeks of seeing the same thing happen thought it was worth reporting here. While events seem okay after the weekly reset and fine through the week, invariably they are all stuck or broken again come Saturday morning.

Until a more permanent fix is found, they need to (if they can) do whatever they do during the weekday reset on late Friday as well to make sure those events are available on the weekends. Big portions of the population (those who play primarily on the weekends) are stuck with what must seem like perpetually broken events.

That said, love the game and definitely understand some fixes take longer than others.

I have found the members and leaders of TA to be respectful, fun to play with and overall friendly people. There is no doubt the 24/7 coverage had a significant impact on win ratings, but the natural leadership exhibited by the alliance was a major factor as well.

I sincerely hope some of those wonderful people are staying on HoD even as others transfer off.

I dont see this move as a way for them to avoid future defeats (e.g. quit while ahead simply to maintain a winning record). Instead, I see this as yet another classy move – a voluntary action by a major force to make the game more fun for everyone. Having one overwhelming dominate server isnt good for the game. Having seen the way the way the different guilds in the alliance approach the game, Im sure that was the driving force behind the dissolution of TA.

I wish them the best and look forward to continuing to play alongside those who stay on HOD and against those who transfer.

Again, very classy move. It would have been easy to stay intact and, probably, continue to dominate due to a number of factors. Other large alliances should look to this move as inspiration. Think about the health of the game long term and what makes the game fun.

Singular, large alliances, while a great idea from a domination point of view, may not be the best thing when it comes to keeping the game healthy and fun.

I love this game and I agree with the OP.

On my level 80, I currently spend a lot of time in lower level zones, simply because I find them fun. My three biggest issues are:

1. I am hurting myself drop wise by doing so. I hate that spammers and bots in Orr are gearing up more efficiently than I am.

2. The difficulty isn’t quite dialed in right. Downleveling still feels way too powerful in lower zones. It needs to be more of a challenge.

3. The zones could be more populated. Alot of events simply are not fun in tiny groups or solo. I believe this is a result of the efficiency of item acquisition in Orr as well.

I definitely approve of this post. A little tweaking on the non-80 zones will vastly improve the game at level 80 (and make the whole game “end game”).

Regarding the crafting mats, I think an easy answer would be to make it just a little easier to transmute lower level mats into higher level ones.

The past week of fighting in the borderlands during this match up has been one of the most fun experiences Ive had in the game. Its obvious that no server has given up. The matches have been intense and the pressure from all sides has been constant.

I’ve been on HoD since the very first beta weekend, so Ive seen both sides of wvw (always losing and always winning). The conclusion I came to is, if you focus on the current tally (how many points are held) and worry less about the overall score, it can be fun, engaging and rewarding in both situations. Instead of worrying about getting 10000 points before Friday, focus on capturing more keeps and towers than the enemy while you are on.

The people playing this past week on all servers obviously bring that attitude. It has been great to see and fun to be a (small) part of.

I noticed a dip in speed around that same time when I was leveling.

As Esham said, crafting would be an easy way to boost your leveling speed.

You may want to spend a night or two in pure “explorer” mode as well. Hunt down all of the points of interests and vistas in the zone.

Also, remember you can backtrack without a significant penalty to XP earned. Did you skip any hearts or areas with major dynamic events while leveling thus far? Go back and explore in those areas some more. I found this to be pretty fun – finding an area I enjoyed and putting extra effort in that particular zone.

The difference between this game and others comes down to how you set goals. In a lot of MMOs, the game establishes clear cut goals at end game – usually related to some ongoing cycle (what people refer to as the treadmill) of getting better and better gear.

What Ive found in GW2 is that there are no clear cut goals established by the game at end game. Instead, it is up to the player to define what they want from the game. For my first level 80, I set a few short term goals, including map completion, mastering all of the story mode dungeons, getting full exotic gear, etc – and longer term goals, including mastering (not just finishing) each and every explorable mode dungeon, getting three specific cultural weapons with Karma, working on a specific dungeon armor set and, eventually, creating a legendary weapon for myself.

As I finish these, I find myself setting additional goals – related to both PVE and PVP – such as helping guild mates get the dungeon set they want, dominating the jumping puzzles, etc.

On top of these things, I will often log on and decide I want to just have fun tackling dynamic events in a certain zone for a few hours. There is no real goal associated (except maybe earning Karma/skillpoints from post-80 leveling), but it is engaging and fun nonetheless.

There are merits to clearly defined end game path, such as those found in other games. There are also merits to a more open-ended system in which the player defines goals. It comes down to personal preference and what you expect from the game.

A few days ago, Henge of Denravi took a substantial lead, one that quickittenurned into a statistical inevitable victory. Even people on the server realized this was due primarily to “night capping.”

Then a lot of people (mostly on these forums) said it would kill WvW, hurt the experience, cause people to quit trying, etc.

But then, something very different happened. The battlefields all stayed full – very full. Queue times didn’t go down substantially. Stormbluff and Eredon Terrace continued to push hard and, at many times, maintained the highest number of capture points (often by a huge margin).

This continued (and is ongoing as I write this) despite HoD having a literally insurmountable lead.

The people looking for an engaging experience in WvW continued to find it in WvW. The fighting was no less intense, no less massive and no less fun.

Yes, if you only look at the (mostly meaningless) final score, you may say “WvW failed.” But if you instead go into WvW and see that people are still having a lot of fun, still strategizing and still fighting with all their heart, then you really cannot make that statement. It is a huge success DESPITE these issues, and I don’t really see that changing anytime soon.

They stated from the beginning that WvW would be more casual than structured PvP – a place where you could hop in and hop out at will to have fun pvping. Based on the participation numbers even in the face of literally insurmountable leads, that is obviously working as intended.

Ive been level 80 for a while and I agree with every word of this post.

There was a time (70s, 80s through the late 90s) when video games kept you playing because they were fun. People didnt need contrived mechanics like gear treadmills to keep you in the game. MMO’s, mostly to keep subscriptions coming in, changed that model considerable. We all (myself included) got caught up in that neverending cycle to the point where it became the norm and what we expect from an MMO. At some point, we forgot we were supposed to have fun and began looking at the games as choirs – something we had to do to validate our self worth.

At level 80, I find myself running dynamic events in level 35 zones – not because of a need to advance (im in all exotics), but because I find it fun to do so. The fact that I still get good karma rewards and random level appropriate drops is icing on the cake.

Of course, I also love the level 80 stuff – Orr, explorable dungeons, pvp. The difference is, I can do those things because I find them fun – not because I feel I have to – and that makes all the difference.

Looking at the current keeps, towers and other points held (especially compared to what they looked like this morning), it is obvious that neither SBI nor ET have given up. Both are still pushing hard in WvW and fielding strong teams when they can.

More than anything, that is positive testament to the future of WvW. As long as the fights stay engaging and people stay interested, then it is a success.

Yes I will.

To those worried – the game has only been out a month and ArenaNet has a great track record listening to fans and coming up with innovative fixes when issues exist.

Also – Halloween is one month away. I definitely want to see what they have planned for that.

Level 80 Sylvari Mesmer – still having a blast with no plans to slow down anytime soon.

Playing every aspect of the game – with explorable mode dungeons (with my guild) being my current activity of choice.

Tradewind.6913:

Post was meant to be whimsical, not necessarily threatening. It just mirrors what happens with the Henge WvW scores as there is a strong Oceanic contingent on our server.

sorry about that. I’ll edit my previous post to be less reactionary.

Tradewind.6913:

Sounds like someone plays on Eredon Terrace.

I’m on Henge of Denravi and have been since the very first beta weekend (so Ive seen both sides of coin – both low pop/struggling and high pop/domination). The suggestion (which, again, was just a suggestion) was made based on the issues Ive seen others bring up across forums. My only thought is keeping WvW enticing for everyone long term.

Kal, I definitely understand your points. They do make sense. I think the bigger issue I had in mind was the deviation between daytime, U.S. prime time and Oceanic prime time scores. It is definitely causing some people to become disheartened, which is unfortunate. It’s a tough issue to address. It may work itself out, but I thought the suggestion was worth bringing up.

This is only a suggestion.

What would happen if we did away with the accumulated score in WvW and only showed the score based on what each team holds at the 15 minute intervals (and, of course, based realm perks solely on that score).

I know it would take a little something away from the metagame of WvW, but I think it would be for the better. I think it would solve a few problems:

1. It would keep competition going late into the week. As it stands, you risk “losing” servers becoming disheartened and just giving up. If the only score that mattered was the one at that moment, it wouldn’t be an issue.

2. It would invalidate concerns about Oceanic guilds playing on certain servers. The only score that would matter would be the score you have at any given 15 minute interval. The late night guilds would be playing to afford themselves perks as would teams at any other given time.

Basically, the competitive component would revolve around holding the most points at any given time – rather than worrying about how far ahead/behind you are when compared to other servers. The competition would still be there, but the idea of 24/7 coverage (vs peaks and valleys in participation) wouldn’t be as big a factor.

Again, its just a suggestion. I’m sure there are downsides I’m not considering.

HoD is not winning the match they are currently in.

Instead of complaining on the forums, maybe head in and fight to keep SBI on top (or retake second for ET). It is still very possible for Henge to lose this week – and even still possible for them to come in third.

The important thing is that the matches stay exciting and engaging. There have been some epic battles across EB and all of the borderlands in this match this week. When I go in and my side is losing, I don’t throw up my hands and say “oh well.” I look at the tick score when I start and commit myself to making it higher before I’m done.

Play the match in front of you, stop obsessing about the overall score and, not only will it be a more fun experience, you may even make a real difference.

The one thing we know for sure that doesn’t make a difference is complaining on the forums when there is fighting to be done.

Thanks to the pirate outfits on the trading post, alot of pirate/water themed events in the game and a completely random request to do the pig transformation heart in Kessex Hills (not pirate, but still), my guild did our own Pirate Day celebration on the 14th -

As for ideas about future events, my only request would be for the developers to think of new and fun ways to kill us all miserably – random dragon attacks, dredge burrowing into a corner of Hoelbrak, hunting for Flame Legion spies in the BC, etc. For Holidays – I watched the Mad King videos from GW1 and they look like a lot of fun, so play off that theme and have the mad king appear in random areas and barter (riddles) for player’s lives (kind of a deal with the devil theme).

80 Mesmer

9/10

(-1 because of the DE bugs)

Today has been the worst to date in terms of broken dynamic events. Literally, the last seven dynamic events ive come across are stalled and bugged. It seems like there are more bugged events than there are events that are working.

I am willing to be patient (I love this game), but this is something that really needs to be looked into pretty fast. Dynamic Events are the biggest part of the PVE game for most people. They really should be a priority.

Obviously, I have reported every single broken event – to the point where I am spending way too much of my game time looking at the bug report screen.

Dungeons are about more than just dodging, strafing and running around. Depending on the fight, many different factors come into play -

- Party placement. Where you are standing and how you move in relation to the rest of your group can make a huge difference.

- Controlled burst damage. Knowing when to bring the pain to deal with adds or keep the bosses attention off of something else is critical.

- Dealing with condition damage. Coordinating with your team to remove poison, fire, bleeds and confusion. There are several combo fields that, if you understand how to use them, are great for this.

- Prioritizing targets. Kill the biggest threat to your livelihood (or the healer) first.

- Divide and conquer. You can grab and hold aggo if you know what youre doing. use this to keep a boss or group of mobs busy while the rest of the group deals with the rest. Being that distraction is my favorite role in a group.

- Alot of other little things, such as knowing when to use stability (or apply it to the group), when to use evasive techniques (in addition than dodge), knowing when/how to intercept damage when a teammate is about to die, etc.

Best advice is to learn the fights and learn how your group works together. It is a very rich and deep system. The problem is people wipe a few times, give up and decide the best strategy is to “waypoint zerg.” Spend some time working with your group on different strategies and you will find them much more fun and engaging.

Sorrow’s Embrace has been my favorite so far.

After that, it would be a toss up between Acalonian Catacombs and Twilight Arbor.

I’m finding them very engaging and challenging. There is also some solid repeatability as our groups try to tackle them with fewer deaths and smoother fights each time we go in.

I will add that my experiences in the dungeons have been primarily with guild groups who work well together, use ventrilo and have the patience to understand that just because we die horribly a few times doesn’t mean the fight is broken – it means we need to adjust our strategy. We haven’t found a fight yet that we cannot get through (in the proper way) with this approach.

Blaeys is a derivation of Bleys, who was the sorcerer that taught magic to Merlin in Arthurian legend.

First and biggest mistake – dont vendor those items. A quick right-click to the trading post and you will earn substantially more from other players for certain mats.

It feels like you purposefully chose the least efficient method of farming to try and prove a point that really isnt valid. The reality is, especially at level 80 when you are dealing with rarer drops, you can make decent coin. I “farmed” the wolves and skelk in Icegorge for about an hour a few days ago for large (and the occasional vicious) fangs. I made about 8-10 times more from the trading post than I would have from the vendor (primarily because of the vicious fangs). Farming is a valid way to make coin, especially when interspersed with DE rewards and chest drops from large events like the Claw of Jormag.

Like Monsoon said, though, there is no real need to do this to remain competitive in the game. It is a real personal choice for once.

Wearing dungeon gear should be an indicator that you have done something of note.

Getting it should not be easy.

It should not be fast.

When it is either of those things, they need to change it like they have.

Likewise, if a specific aspect of the game rewards tedium or easy(ier) activities with too much gold, then that has the potential to devastate the economic balance when taken alongside players who choose not to do that activities. Once again, that warrants change.

As I said earlier, I applaud the decisions Anet made. It is an indicator that they are committed to all players and keeping the game in check for everyone, not just a very vocal minority.

fellyn.5083:

Blaeys.3102:

Best change yet. Thank you for this.

Grinding dungeons isn’t fun for most of us and seeing people walk away with full dungeon sets with little actual effort – or even worse, being turned down from groups because I didnt want to speed run the dungeon over and over – was a little disheartening.

As a more casual player who still has an interest in the dungeon challenges, I applaud this change. Talking to my guild in chat this morning – they universally agree.

Yeah. 30+ hours and around 100 runs to get a full set. If that is little effort to you I wonder what you consider a big effort? A medium effort?

By little effort, I meant cherry picking the absolutely easiest path and speed running it over and over while others who mix it up and actually tackle the different paths (and usually put in much more effort) watch as the speed runners walk away with full sets in less than a week – with considerably less effort.

They are not taking away the ability to run concurrently for a set – they are just making it harder to run the EXACT SAME PATH 500 times in a row just because it is the easiest.

If you really want that set from CoF, you can still focus solely on that set – you just have to mix it up a little. Dont just requeue for the same path over and over and over (and over).

It makes actually earning the gear more meaningful in my opinion.

Best change yet. Thank you for this.

Grinding dungeons isn’t fun for most of us and seeing people walk away with full dungeon sets with little actual effort – or even worse, being turned down from groups because I didnt want to speed run the dungeon over and over – was a little disheartening.

As a more casual player who still has an interest in the dungeon challenges, I applaud this change. Talking to my guild in chat this morning – they universally agree.

This issue comes up a lot, and I truly believe it is simply a matter of reeducating ourselves to a new method of combat. People see MMO and immediately believe certain things have to be true. Most of this is subconscious and requires some discipline to push past. Timely use of mechanics make it a very strategic experience.

On my Mesmer, using a combination of cripples (focus skill), blocks (sword and scepter skills) reflections (feedback), stuns (sword offhand, mantra and shatters), and, of course, dodge, I’ve been able to keep even boss level mobs occupied indefinitely while teammates mop up adds or deal with other mechanics. It feels unique to the profession, it is effective and it is fun.

I think every profession has ways to provide unique value to the group – with that role changing significantly based on weapon choice, talents and stats. It just takes more thought than the traditional “trinity” model.

At the same time, groups can still “zerg” some (not all) encounters, but they should expect alot of deaths and repair bills. This fits the description from a developer early on of “easy to learn, hard to master.” Everyone gets to play – but those who master their professions get to play without the repair bills and deaths in dungeons.

Done properly, the role of the group is to make order of the chaos described by the OP. Understanding your profession and their skills, that is not only possible, it is challenging and fun.

Ideally, there should be continual diminishing returns on the dungeon awards you can earn from a single boss in a day (eg, 4 for first kill, 2 for second, 1 for third, 0 for any after that). It would encourage people to tackle the entire dungeon versus grinding and make it easier for players playing for fun to find groups.

Bugs aside (since we all – Anet included, Im sure, agree on that), Orr isnt an area that is intended to be tackled alone. If your server is having a hard time holding points, group up with 4-5 guild mates (or total strangers) and make an organized push. It is a lot of fun.

Turukano.3106:

There’s plenty of servers without queues.

Stop QQing/queuing and start transferring!

Here is your answer, right here.

Upping queues while some servers arent experiencing queues would be a bad move. It is in everyone’s best interest for them to focus on spreading the WvW population out more – rather than giving strong population servers and even greater advantage.

As long as there are servers with no queues, the problem is easily solvable by the players affected. If WvW is something you care about, find a server where you can get in reliably and build a strong team to lead to domination.

The big issue is there are blind spots to his left and right where players can just range spam attacks – only stopping to kill crystals. Spawn some adds in those areas – or better yet, have crystals target areas where large groups of players are grouped, and it would make the fight more challenging.

As it is, it is a visually stunning event, but you have to go out of your way to take damage if you take advantage of the aforementioned “blind spots.”

The sheer visual awesomeness of the Claw of Jormag encounter. The fight itself is fun, but I stop for a second every time I see the spectacle that is that fight (not going into more detail to avoid spoilers for those who havent been there yet).

Sword/Sword + Greatsword. Talent for Power, Toughness and Precision. Makes for a fun build focused on blocks, controlling the enemy and damage mitigation.

I will switch to Scepter/Focus in place of the Greatsword if I know the target is immune to knockbacks (for the #2 on the scepter and the defensive abilities on the focus).

Makes for a nice “tanky” (survival+control) style of play.