Guild Wars 2

Xylith.4873:

Blanger.3162:

Iason Evan.3806:

It’s the holidays, friend! The teams need a break to spend time with loved ones just like all of us. It’s good for people who are so passionate about their work (I have seen many a dev post here on the weekends when most of us are off work) to step back and get sometime away so they can be constructively critical about the work they do. Sometimes we need time to refresh and get away. Sometimes it’s good for players to take a break as well to get some perspective about the fact that it’s just a game and we shouldn’t take it so seriously as to lose sight that people need a holiday every so often.

^^^^^^^^^ This!

They deserve a break and it’s nice for the players not to feel rushed to do the current content (Wintersday) at a time when a lot of us will be spending time away from the game enjoying the Christmas season, family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

Time away from the game? Dunno about you, but this will be my time WITH the game. I barely get chance while working and seeing friends and family normally.

LOL… I was generalizing, I too hope to spend more time in game during the holidays also.

Iason Evan.3806:

It’s the holidays, friend! The teams need a break to spend time with loved ones just like all of us. It’s good for people who are so passionate about their work (I have seen many a dev post here on the weekends when most of us are off work) to step back and get sometime away so they can be constructively critical about the work they do. Sometimes we need time to refresh and get away. Sometimes it’s good for players to take a break as well to get some perspective about the fact that it’s just a game and we shouldn’t take it so seriously as to lose sight that people need a holiday every so often.

^^^^^^^^^ This!

They deserve a break and it’s nice for the players not to feel rushed to do the current content (Wintersday) at a time when a lot of us will be spending time away from the game enjoying the Christmas season, family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

I have 8 Lv80’s and I play them all on a weekly rotation, makes the game interesting since I’m always learning from each profession new ways to kill and stay alive. I do have a Warrior as my main and a Guardian as my 2nd, all the others are fun to play but I’m really partial to my Asura DD Thief he kicks some serious kitten for a little guy.

I like Orr, always have, yeah it’s a dead zone in more ways than one and the loot isn’t what it should be, it’s a great place to test your build against the high level risen, if you can survive in Orr the rest of PvE zones are a breeze with the exception of that karka filled island…lol. Most of my toons are outfitted in temple exotics that for the most part were acquired after running the event in the given temple to get to the karma vendor, it was great fun and for me one of the most rewarding areas of the game. (as far as a challenge)

I still make a few runs a week through Orr gathering mats and doing events as they pop if the players are there or asking for help, I never see folks doing the champ trains anymore I guess Queensdale is too easy and Orr requires more effort even though the rewards should be better in Orr, it’s not a ghost town on our server (TC) but not the number of players I use to see just a few months ago.

I would like to see it updated/or changed to have better scaling of the loot/rewards and give people a incentive to go to the zone and participate in the events.

If your talking ascended weapons and armor, I’ll probably equip some trinkets on my main and maybe a secondary toon but full blown full ascended trinkets, weapons and armor I’d say none. I think I’d be better suited to sell crafting materials to the folks who want to craft ascended gear which should be a really good source of gold.

May not be a fair comparison but the unlimited harvesting tools was kinda’ similar, first they were soulbound on use, then Anet listened and changed them to accountbound, anyone want to venture a guess if the change was a profitable one for Anet?

Personally I’m more likely to buy a item that can be moved within the same account from toon to toon than a soulbound on use item.

They ruined it for me when they introduced the Mad King outfit that was Town Clothes, I guess I understand not wanting a lot of players running around with flaming pumpkins on their heads but just how cool would that have been!

It still boils down to luck, it’s RNG with a small multiplier to increase your already very slim chance, then consider the loss in gold, silver & copper from salvaging for luck and the luck system has a negative return after a certain point IMHO.

1. Fix the lag that seems to be getting worse
2. Living story updates moved to a 4 week timetable
3. Increase trait points to 80 or 100 to add build diversity

Immensus.9732:

…thats hasnt finished the “my personal story” because is boring, even thought i got 3 lvl 80 characters?

LOL 8 Lv80’s none has finished their PS, my main is close to the end being in the high 70’s in the PS progression, probably will finish it on this toon but the others, doubtful unless Anet attaches some sort of reward for completion to make it worth the effort.

Blackety.8047:

My highest level is 60 and yet I’ve never participated in WvW or any dungeon. Ever. I don’t even know where to begin or how to prepare myself for either. But I feel like I am missing out on two huge things the game offers. What are some suggestions for someone like me who has put all of their time just doing regular PvE stuff?

Lol, after a year playing the game 2600+ hrs and 5600+AP I’ve only even set foot in a dungeon one time, WvW maybe a half dozen times, I do belong to a guild and do events with them but never seem to have the time to make any dungeon runs with them, I don’t want to pug in a dungeon I have no experience in, but hope to do some fratical runs with guildies since the new update. BTW I have 8 toons all level 80’s all decked out with full exotics.

Join a active guild that has interests that fit your needs, nothing makes the game more enjoyable than having a like minded group to play alongside with or to ask for support from, a good group like that will not only keep you interested but also hold your hand learning new content like dungeons that you’ve never experienced.

Lazarus.3970:

My guess/hope is that they are secretly working on a new standalone game like Factions and Nightfall were, and will surprise everyone by covering it up with the living story crap.

This ^^^^^^^^^

It only make sense that some point a expansion will come out, and I do believe they would keep it a secret till right before launch, but I also believe the LS content will continue even with an expansion. The game is just a year old which is nothing in MMO years and since LS content might open up different areas of the map it’s a toss up if it would be a temporary teaser or permanent, in my mind the only way to truly open a new area of the map is with a expansion. If that is what happens continual LS updates & timed expansions it would be a game changer in the history of MMOs would it not?

IndigoSundown.5419:

Increasing the level cap would have to add more power to the game. The only other reason to increase the level cap would be to create a gating mechanism for new content, a “your level number must be X to play this content.” Other features normally associated with a max level increase (story, zones, etc.) can be added without increasing the max level.

Adding levels without increasing base stats, adding more trait points and introducing more powerful gear would be not be accepted by many players who would hate the idea of “having to level-up” without getting anything out of it other than access to a new area. The forums already have people who want to level to 80 as fast as possible.

I have to agree when you put it in those terms, in the rush to have new levels or content or even traits there has to be some sort of trade off or there isn’t really a point….it would be just another grind to level up to the next plateau, kinda’ like the LS content where after a few days of doing it you have achieved the rewards and nothing is left to do, at least with LS you know in a week or so you’ll have another slice to digest wither you like the taste or not.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Lol just pointing out 70 isn’t an odd number. Lol

LOL….not odd as in odd or even, just odd as in too low a number IMHO

Zepher.7803:

I’d like to see 80 trait points start the trait points right out of the gate instead of waiting until level 10

Agreed but why stop at 80? 90 or 100 would add much more build diversity which everyone would enjoy, 70 is just a weird number for trait points, it seems unbalanced since it’s a odd number. lol

If they raise the cap and the progression is based on the same skill points that got us to level 80 most of our mains have accumulated enough skill points to become instant level 90s (providing you’ve been playing your main for a few months since reaching 80), I know my main has over 100 skill points and accumulates more every time I play it, most of us used a few for the antitoxin heal but still have tons banked.

And YES new zones hopefully level 80+ zones would be just what the game needs.

HiddenNick.7206:

So I’m pretty disappointed with pretty much ALL rewards. Each and every reward in this is game is something that I don’t need!

Examples:
Skins – I don’t like 90% of those and my character is already looking the way I wanted it to.
Titles – who cares? You can’t even show them in the game…
Gold – why should I care? The only things you can buy with it are skins.

To each his own…..

Your examples are really personal preferences I’d guess, some of the skins I find appealing but others I’ll admit I have no interest in. The titles are shown above you toon at least I see them, maybe I’m doing something wrong? And Gold, have you ever been to the TP? I might be wrong but skins are just one item category that gold will buy, everything from weapons, armors, boosters, minis, crafting materials are all available on the TP for purchase with gold.

Coming from console games to GW2 as the first MMO I’ve ever played when I see those other titles it spurs some interest, but the real threat to my playing GW2 is still console titles, when Fallout 4 comes out I’ll be gone till I finish it, A new version of Skyrim, I’ll be gone again, it’s been a year since I’ve touched my PS3 or Xbox I’m not itching for console time but the right game will make stop playing GW2 at least for the amount of time it takes me to play those titles. As far as other on-line titles not so much, I’m so far happy with GW2 and still I have lots of things to do in-game to keep me coming back.

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Another example: Over the weekend I tried a slightly different test.

Set Up: The event timer shows for the Slay the Shatterer Event ‘Preparations have begun’

Result: A mass influx of people from all parts of Tyria to the Lowland Burns Waypoint and … they wait.

Meanwhile: 2 simultaneous events pop up:

• Escort the Sentinel squad to the Vigil camp in Lowland Burns
• Collect siege weapon pieces for Crusader Blackhorn

I have to admit it was months of killing The Shatter before I realized that the pre-events had to be completed before he would arrive, and just stood around with all the other people, I noticed in map chat someone asking if anyone was doing the pre’s one day and started paying closer attention, now if I’m there I normally ask if anyone is doing them and if they need any help.

I think most of the folks standing around are just as clueless as I was, and I would agree if you do the pre-events your rewards should be substantially better than the folks who just stand around like bumps on a log, maybe a guaranteed exotic drop.

Oh great! not only do low level characters on noobs have to worry about champs, mobs with killer aoe, they have to worry about another player calling them out in open PVE that would go over like a kitten in a punch bowl.

I’d have to say none of the above also, I play for fun to get away from the day to day BS. I like the social aspect of the game whether it be guild functions or just open play with random people, sometimes I like to just farm because it’s mindless and requires little concentration. I am a goal orientated person so I do like working towards objectives and acquire things, to me there is always something to do or work towards in GW2.

Behellagh.1468:

Blanger.3162:

Olba.5376:

Blanger.3162:

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money. What I’m saying is they only convert and bank, they do not buy anything with the gold.

Snip

If you are saying here that real life money brings gold into the game, then you are incorrect.

When someone, let’s say me, buys gems with real money and sells them on the TP, no gold is generated. The gold I get is 100% from other players who are buying gems with ingame gold, no new gold is created. This gold is directly transferred from their bank to mine. Zero gold is generated and zero inflation occurs.

But what about the people who use RL money to buy gems then convert those gem to gold on the TP? Doesn’t that add a new amount of gold to the system?

No, that would be gold from the gold-to-gem side of things.

K….but someone is going to have to explain the difference to me please.

The exchange was started with a lot of gems and little gold. The ratio between the two meant gems weren’t worth a lot of gold.

As we buy gems with gold, the gold we use is deposited in the exchange and not destroyed (except for 15% sink). So gold in the exchange increases, gems in the exchange decrease so now gems are worth more gold.

Now if you sell gems to the exchange, you are being paid in gold that players used to by gems. And when you are paid another 15% is taken by the sink which is why the two exchange rates are separated by the amount they are. Amount of gold in the exchange goes down, amount of gems goes up and gems are worth less gold.

So using the exchange, gems are neither created or destroyed by the game beyond what was created to initialize it over a year ago (I have a caveat for that assumption that has to do with new accounts).

Thank you…that makes sense.

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money. What I’m saying is they only convert and bank, they do not buy anything with the gold.

Snip

If you are saying here that real life money brings gold into the game, then you are incorrect.

When someone, let’s say me, buys gems with real money and sells them on the TP, no gold is generated. The gold I get is 100% from other players who are buying gems with ingame gold, no new gold is created. This gold is directly transferred from their bank to mine. Zero gold is generated and zero inflation occurs.

But what about the people who use RL money to buy gems then convert those gem to gold on the TP? Doesn’t that add a new amount of gold to the system?

There is only one way to convert gems bought with real money to ingame money, and that’s to sell those gems to other players on the trading post.

As an example, I buy gems with real money and sell them to you, who are buying gems with gold.
First I buy the gems with real money, ANet gets my money and it goes in their pocket. They give me gems in exchange. I then turn around and sell the gems to you in exchange for your gold. No gold is generated. The money goes directly to ANet and the gold is transferred from your account to mine.

Stupid stupid stupid….all this time I thought ANet controlled the gem sales and that when you sold your gems for gold it was a transaction between you and ANet..not you and another player

Thank you Sir, I get a much clearer picture now.

locoman.1974:

Blanger.3162:

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money. What I’m saying is they only convert and bank, they do not buy anything with the gold.

Snip

If you are saying here that real life money brings gold into the game, then you are incorrect.

When someone, let’s say me, buys gems with real money and sells them on the TP, no gold is generated. The gold I get is 100% from other players who are buying gems with ingame gold, no new gold is created. This gold is directly transferred from their bank to mine. Zero gold is generated and zero inflation occurs.

But what about the people who use RL money to buy gems then convert those gem to gold on the TP? Doesn’t that add a new amount of gold to the system?

Actually, it removes gold out of the system.

There’s roughly a 30% tax on gold to gems exchange. Assuming someone buys 100 gems and then sells them for 7g (rounding up the number), the fact that he can do that means that someone purchased 100 gems for 10g, so 3g were removed from the system as a gold sink.

And that gold sink (30% tax) is where the gold comes from that folks who buy gems with RL money get when they convert their gems to gold?

Olba.5376:

Blanger.3162:

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money. What I’m saying is they only convert and bank, they do not buy anything with the gold.

Snip

If you are saying here that real life money brings gold into the game, then you are incorrect.

When someone, let’s say me, buys gems with real money and sells them on the TP, no gold is generated. The gold I get is 100% from other players who are buying gems with ingame gold, no new gold is created. This gold is directly transferred from their bank to mine. Zero gold is generated and zero inflation occurs.

But what about the people who use RL money to buy gems then convert those gem to gold on the TP? Doesn’t that add a new amount of gold to the system?

No, that would be gold from the gold-to-gem side of things.

K….but someone is going to have to explain the difference to me please.

Astral Projections.7320:

Blanger.3162:

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money. What I’m saying is they only convert and bank, they do not buy anything with the gold.

Snip

If you are saying here that real life money brings gold into the game, then you are incorrect.

When someone, let’s say me, buys gems with real money and sells them on the TP, no gold is generated. The gold I get is 100% from other players who are buying gems with ingame gold, no new gold is created. This gold is directly transferred from their bank to mine. Zero gold is generated and zero inflation occurs.

But what about the people who use RL money to buy gems then convert those gem to gold on the TP? Doesn’t that add a new amount of gold to the system?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You’re forgetting one key thing here: Human nature.

We live in a world where we want everything here and now. People who want their Legendary weapons right away will not want to wait to farm their own mats. Due to this, there will always be people in need of mats from other players.

On a similar note, if you were to take away the ability to short cut the process via the TP, expect rage from the community like you’ve never seen on the forums before.

Not really read my follow’up above your post…..

BTW I agree with everything you are saying…

In a lot of way farmers are providing a necessary service to the community by doing the grunt work of gathering material, as in real life the rich just by the materials and don’t have to worry about ever getting their hands dirty, the poor, well they have to either become farmers or ask for assistance in paying for the things they are too lazy to go out and get, lots of RL parallels in this topic if you think about it.

Arikyali.5804:

When you think about money coming into the economy, it’s mostly from money that came out of ‘thin air’. Not money that came from trades. This mean coin bags, event rewards, mob drops, npc junk, etc. You can’t make much money based on that. Most of the money a player can make, comes from trade (black lion).

As for people who are stockpiling all that gold….there is yet another gold sink. There’s plenty of nice cosmetic items in the gemstore.

I kinda’ have to disagree to a point there is a substantial amount of RL money that is brought into the game everyday through people buying gems with RL money, but the rest I do agree most other monies people make is from trades on the TP, but it is money that is already in the system for the most part and travels from buyer to seller.

There will always be horders of everything from mats, weapons, armor and gold, always someone who has played longer or has better luck with the RNG that will have more resources (ie gold) than other folks that just play the game and enjoy it, and as stated there are the players who’s sole purpose is to make gold in any way or fashion they can, it is what they enjoy….it is their “end game”

I have a better solution to farming, don’t by materials from the TP, if you need materials go out and spend the time acquiring all necessary mats you need to do whatever it is, that way the farmers can’t make money off the mats they farm, you’ll have the satisfaction of acquiring your own materials thus making the game a more rewarding experience….no changes to the monetary system needed.

Sirendor.1394:

There already is wayyyy too much money. I know people who have at least 10 legendaries and are still piling up their gold by the thousands.
The problem is; the gold is extremely unevenly distributed. I have for example only 7 gold at the moment.

So…… your asking for some sort of wealth redistribution?

How about a fee for getting rez’d….bet that would really go over, I can hear it now " No NO get away Don’t Rez me!"

Good points but necessary for a healthy game economy and for Anet to make money, btw you left out the most common gold sink which is traveling from and to WPs. I actually think they did a good job setting up the game economy, it works as it was intended.

^^^^^^ This is the only reason I want a precursor to drop, to sell it!

yksdoris.2194:

Well, greens cost almost 2x more, so that doesn’t seems to be the best way in a long run

Which is exactly why I stopped salvaging them once I reached 100% MF and went back to selling them on the TP, I’m very happy to sell everyone I get to the folks who need them….and btw the prices are still seem to be on the rise.

Astralporing.1957:

1) permanent
2) accountwide
3) yes

^^^^^^^ What Astral sez

I might add don’t get overly concern with maxing out MF, IMHO once you reach 100% the returns or ROI don’t add up to the lost revenue of selling or vending the stuff you don’t want.

2500+ hrs and over 5500ap best I’ve ever got was a exotic.

Just salvaged 4 rares last night with a BL salvage kit and got 6 ectos from the lot, I seem to average 0-3 on rares, not sure if I’ve ever salvaged a exotic.

While crafting all the trades to 400 I depleted most of my stacks of low level mats, and since MF isn’t that important to me right now I’m working to replenish my low level mats also slowly converting ascend raw materials to bricks , stars, etc. So I salvage blues, vend whites, and sell greens on the TP, all rares are salvaged with BL salvage kits, ectos are either banked or sold on the TP, same with sigils and runes if I don’t have a need they are vended or sold on the TP.

Exotics are either sold on the TP, equipped if needed or banked for future use, this maintains a reasonable cash flow and allows me to buy items off the TP to equip my toons instead of spending karma for temple armor. In almost a year of playing I might get a exotic drop once every 4- 6 weeks and it’s normally nothing I can use on any of my toons and gets sold.

I might also note that I’m trying to save more than one stack of low level mats just in case the ascended armor either drives the prices up or the armor looks good enough to warrant crafting a few pieces.

As (when) all the crafting trades are capped at 500 it’s going to take a lot of mats of every level to move each one to the grandmaster-craftsman level so crafting ascended gear is possible and who knows what new materials will be added?

Cosmetics are just like titles if you want them you either do the in-game stuff to earn them (or gold to buy) or spend RM on the item.

Case in point….

Last spring with about 50s sitting in my bank I decided I wanted to get the “Golden” title, so I started working toward acquiring 100g through farming, salvaging, and selling on the TP, once I reached 100g I was thrilled for about 30sec when I found out it’s 200g not the 100g I originally thought! lol, so off I go again working my kitten off to acquire another 100g, it was actually fun once I got into the routine.

In the process of gaining the 200g I found I was lacking in bank space for the things I really wanted to hold on to either for alts or to sell on the TP at a later date, so I decided to start a personal guild for the storage, little did I understand the amount of influence it took to have a stash, treasure trove, and deep cave, I spend 100 of my 200g buying drinks to gain influence and kept on my routine of farming, salvaging, and selling on the TP, didn’t take too long and I had plenty of storage and the ability to drop banners at events…pretty cool I thought.

I have found that I like the play-style, I run Orr, do Champs, do LS content, dailies, monthlies, meta events,…my point is I always have content to do, some fresh, some boring, but I’m playing the game the way I want to play and really finding it a lot of fun.

Now I have a system to acquire gold in game that works for me, I don’t do a lot of PS stuff I think my main’s PS is in the high 70’s I have a pretty good stack of both types of transmutation stones from leveling alts and a few BL chests I’ve opened, if I want a Legendary (I don’t) I feel I could acquire the gold in-game (yes it would take a long time) to buy a precursor everything else is obtainable by just taking your time and playing the game IMHO.

Last night after supper I was in Wayfarer doing my dailies when the Maw popped so I headed over to find there were 4 of us, we gave it a good try got the champ down to about 1/4 health before the timer ran out, it was kinda’ fun in a weird way, but was odd for the event to be such a ghost town at that time of the evening.

So got to spend a little time last night in the Tower of Nightmares and thought it was pretty cool new instance although I only made it to freeing the prisoners before I had to log out, what’s everybody think? discuss.

Vayne…. if by “end game” you mean the content that once completed you log off and uninstall the game then I’d like to know what that content is and would rate knowing it at a 10, but a far as actually doing the content and being finished with GW2, I’m coming up on 3k hrs played and 5500ap I still have lots to do and I’m not near ready to do that content so I’d rate actually doing the content at a 1.

As everyone is saying salvage everything you get, once I got MF to 70% I stopped salvaging masterwork items and went back to vending them on the TP but I continue to salvage fines and rares selling the ectos on the TP for $$$ and collecting the mats and luck from the fines. The reason I stopped at 70% is that while it’s still climbing by just salvaging fines and with misc buffs it’s easy to get over 100%, from there on out to 300% the ROI to me isn’t worth the sacrifice in salvaging everything but your mileage may be different.

Agreed, making your own based on lore is perfectly acceptable and legal, also a fine tribute to a game you love, and as you say flattering to NCsoft. It’ when you incorporate the GW2 logo or artwork that problems could arise, granted making shirts for your own personal use has a very low risk factor providing you have the means to do so or can find a printer to do low volume one or two off shirts at a reasonable price.

Put in the above context it’s perfectly legal it’s when you use the GW2 logo or Anet artwork modified or not that problems will start, then add selling them to others and you could be in for a lot of legal problems, it matters little what Anet sells their shirts for (should they decide to offer them), it’s also entirely possible that people selling on the internet are legally licensed by NCsoft to reproduce their IP, if not than it is a ticking clock as to when they will get a cease and desist order from a NCsoft lawyer at the very least or dragged into court to defend their actions.

Not trying to be critical just informative as this is a topic I’ve dealt with for many years both on the art design side and the printing/production side.

Having said all of that it would be a wonderful Christmas gift from NCsoft/Anet to send a tee shirt to all of their loyal players…I’ll take mine in XL please!

^^^^^^^^ Very bad advice, the GW2 logo and artwork are trademarks of Anet/NCsoft, no self respecting artist/printer would touch such a job without written consent from NCsoft giving rights to reproduce their intellectual property, and before you say just change it up a little and you’ll be ok, nope no amount of change to their artwork would make it legal to reproduce without their consent. Believe me they have lawyers who’s job it is to protect their IP.

Atlas….only thing missing was Rick Moranis’s voice, my imagination filled in for the lack of vocals.

Still makes me laugh, well played Sir!

^^^^^^^ This Atlas got it right lol

(just about sprayed my screen with my drink I laughed so hard!)

I do content sometimes I don’t like to get the achievement point (s) and find that sometimes it wasn’t as bad as I was told or originally thought it would be and actually turn out enjoying it. For instance the current Lunatic Inquisition first time I played it I was totally lost and thought it was a dumb idea, but after a few games I started to understand it better and now really enjoy the mini-game, probably will miss it when it’s gone…

A combination of both for me, but I like to knock them out right after server reset, I normally will run Wayfarer right after reset doing the wolfmaster, and the maw, gathering in between the two, kill everything in my path. Most of the time by then all are finished if not I’ll take a look and finish whatever is left to get 5 of them, then normally I’ll get 1 to 2 more just in normal play before the next reset.