My guild is called Fated. We’ve been around since 2003, and we’ve played a lot of MMO. And we generally built a good reputation.
Guild Wars 1 and 2 forced us to reduce this to [Fate] for our tag. And we hate it. It’s dreadful. There’s half a dozen – if not more – guilds using Fate or a variation thereof. Members of MY guild have actually been blamed for things people in one of the OTHER [Fate] guilds did. No one apparently takes the trouble to select the offending toon and check the full guild name.
I’m pretty certain we’re not the only guild having this issue.
If there is any way whatsoever, I’d really like it if we could just display our guild names UNDER our character names, and do away with the current 4 character restriction in favor of something a bit more generous.
I’ve worked in IT since 1994, I know what a good password is (and why it’s a BAD idea to use e-mail adresses for user names incidentally… giving away half the information required to hack an account pretty much for free).
My password is already strong. Changing it isn’t going to make it MORE secure. It’s a friggin long string of random characters already. So I consider the mandatory change to be a big pain in the behind.
On the other hand, 2 guildmates were confirmed as hacked. A third might be (toon seen on line, but not responding to guildmates). So I guess it may be better if we bear with it.
Also… dear male players: chosing words referring to the female anatomy for passwords.. or car brands, or alcohol brands… is not smart. They’re ALL in the top 100 of most used (and most hacked) passwords. =p
Some players have stated that they want to see player homies in Guild wars two in the future. But in a massive multiplayer game, wouldn’t player homes just segregate the player base? If everyone was spending their game time inside their own homes, then you would not be able to go out into the world or even a major city and see a myriad of players around you going about. To me this presence of other players is pretty important to make me feel like I am immersed in a lively world. That is why a lot of people want to transfer off of underpopulated servers and onto more populated ones in every MMO. But player housing Butch’s cause people to become hermits and destroy the social aspect of this game.
Even Guild Halls to a certain extent would cause this player segregation. I would rather have gills spend their time inside their cities for everyone to see because that would let me know that my server is alive and teeming with people and it’s fun to hear the chatter as I’m doing my own business. But if a group of players segregates themselves into their own little Guildhall and spends all their time socializing with in that instance, then the city is would feel very empty. And now players have two places to socialize in the cities or in their Guild Halls or player homes and all this further aggravates the issue of not having enough players exploring about in the open world.
Player homes can make sense in a game like sky rim, a single player game, but in a massively multiplayer game, player homes and even Guild Halls are detrimental to the social life overall.
The first MMO game I ever played was Star Wars Galaxies in 2003. Players could build homes. Guilds could build guild halls. Groups of players could build cities. Most often cities were guild based, with a guild hall being very much the central point of the city. Some cities were rebel, some cities were imperial, some were open. They gave us a base of operations (we had transportation too), a source of guild pride, a location for our vendors (we had player owned vendors, which we combined into actual malls) and a home. Interior decoration was huge. People would go visit other cities and homes for PVP (not an option here, sadly, to shop, to get buffs and to see what people had done to their places. It made that world truly come alive. Many of us still think with bittersweet fondness of the cities we left behind.
I played that game for 2.5 years. I’ve never played a game since with a stronger sense of community, and I dare say that it was the most social game I ever played. Our community is still unbroken. My guild and many other original Bloodfin (our server) guilds are still around, and we still tend to flock to the same servers when new MMO come out. We’re still in contact after all those years. How many other games can say the same?
So I dare say that if implemented right, player housing and player cities can make a community stronger and A LOT more social, not weaker.
I’ve been playing since launch, and I’ve completed exactly ONE monthly. The PVP requirements was never an issue in itself for me personally – I like PVP, especially WvW. Others in my guild, however, completely refuse. It’s not a thing they enjoy, and they won’t do it for love or money.
The dungeons (and here I include fractals) … well, I absolutely do not enjoy them. For me, doing them is like having a root canal. Long, drawn-out and painful. Won’t do them, period. And there’s many more in my guild who think that way. A lot of us prefer to run solo in PVE, or to group with husband/wife or other relatives in 2-3 man teams.
Some people say ‘no one is making you do anything’. Yeah, well, thing is, some people would actually like to get those mystic coins, some karma and the random rewards. And it’s really annoying if there’s only ONE type of daily/monthly that enables you to get them, and it involves doing something you hate.
The announced diversification (pick x achievements out of y) is a good step. I’m just worried badly by some of the types of achievement I see. There’s yet more stuff there that some people just hate doing. I hope the list to pick from will be long, and the number of picks small, so people can choose whatever they like doing best.
I hate the changed dailies. The original ones weren’t a hassle, something everyone could complete in their own time and at their own pace. Now we’re dealing with things you HAVE to group for. I hate grouping, outside of PVP. I generally quit games that tell me grouping is the only way to go. I want to be in charge of my own time, and I detest standing around waiting for others.
I’m also really upset about finding ‘achievements’ which some of us are physically unable to do (twitch elements are rather hard on the physically handicapped). And I just don’t see the point in making people do things they absolutely loathe.
Can we please just get the old dailies back?
Which dailies do you have to group for? If you are talking about combo killer, that one is gone, Arenanet took it out of rotation.
Even combo killer didn’t require a group. I got mine putting up Feedback bubbles or Null Fields around the foe and letting someone else get the killing blow through the field. Worked like a charm.
Uhm… so basically you used a two person team, yes? Which means that formal group or no, you did not do it solo.
I didn’t know it has been removed for not working correctly when I posted. But that does not take away the fact that they DID intend to have this for an achievement, and that while some classes may be able to solo this, others cannot. And that many do not even know what a combo is, let alone how to use it. Which makes the whole thing ill-conceived from the start.
I’d like dailies to be non-specific and completed by doing whatever it is you do normally. So if you like doing DE’s you get points for doing events. If you gather a lot, you get points for that. Then once you reach a certain amount of points in 3-4 different areas you complete your daily.
Here are two examples to demonstrate what I mean:
Player 1 – Likes combat and kills lots of different mobs, he gathers materials as he goes from event to event. After a couple of hours he racks up enough points in events, kills, kill types and gathering to get his daily.
Player 2 – Likes exploring and doing jumping puzzles, he also likes crafting and when doing events takes on a more supportive role. After a couple of hours he gets enough points by discovering a few jumping puzzles, reviving allies, applying buffs and crafting that he gets his daily.
Neither player is forced to do things they might not like and both players can do their dailies while they play the game how they normally play it.
I am all for variety in dailies, but do not feel people should be encouraged to do things they might not like. Players will find ways to enjoy games in their own way. Encouraging players to do other things may introduce them to other aspects of the game they were not aware of, and they may enjoy them, but the majority of players will be moved out of their comfort zone and they will not enjoy it. Another problem with this kind of system is people will find quick easy ways to do them (dodging the same easy mob until you complete the dodger achievement, for example), which often doesn’t achieve what it is supposed to (encourage people to dodge more in combat), as they will revert back to their normal playstyle once the achievement has been completed. If achievements were gained by simply doing what we liked, we could just get on with enjoying the game naturally (getting rewarded for it in the process) and not have that enjoyment interrupted by things we don’t want to do (but feel we have to because we don’t want to miss out on the reward).
Another thing I am not that keen on with the new system is the UI change. I like the format, but am not keen that it is always on your screen. Because the old system needed you to open a panel and change a tab to see it, I often completed my daily without realising it until the chest appeared, and this was always a nice surprise. With the new system being on view all the time, I almost feel obliged to complete it before anything else, which takes the fun out of it a little for me and removes the surprise rewards element. I want to do things because I enjoy them, not because I have to do them (to get a reward).
I am looking forward to the selective achievements system they talked about, as I am not that keen on the current (new) system. But I would much rather have a system that rewards us for playing the game our way. Playing the game our way is a key aspect of GW2, that Anet keeps bringing to our attention (which for the most part it lives up to, for me at least), but they keep add incentives to play the game their way and this disappoints me a little sometimes.
IMO, they should remove the new UI achievement tracker and allow players to complete their daily by playing the game normally (our way).
On a more positive note, it is nice to see them adding new ways to gain achievements, and I like some of the new additions. It just needs to be more flexible and selective. Roll on the next update to this system.
This. Never, ever force players to do things YOU think are fun, it only makes them stop wanting to play.
Thanks for this solid write-up, Rin.
I hate the changed dailies. The original ones weren’t a hassle, something everyone could complete in their own time and at their own pace. Now we’re dealing with things you HAVE to group for. I hate grouping, outside of PVP. I generally quit games that tell me grouping is the only way to go. I want to be in charge of my own time, and I detest standing around waiting for others.
I’m also really upset about finding ‘achievements’ which some of us are physically unable to do (twitch elements are rather hard on the physically handicapped). And I just don’t see the point in making people do things they absolutely loathe.
Can we please just get the old dailies back?
A grind is when you have to endlessly repeat the same action in order to achieve a goal, especially if this action is boring.
Levelling in GW2 is not a grind. Or at least, it does not have to be. I generally just run around, discover stuff, do hearts and events, mine etc. The levelling just happens. Please note this style of play has a distinct drawback though: it nets you only very little gold compared to those who run dungeons, which means you are faced with a cash grind if you need anything that costs gold, like rare crafting mats. Generally that means gathering materials that are in demand… which definitely is less than thrilling.
Getting crafted exotics with the desired stats (from materials you yourself gather) can be very grindy, depending on what stats you want. Anything based on Ancient bones is easy enough, but the other fine crafting mats take many ours of repetitively killing the same mobs (or gathering endless passiflora) in order to get these VERY rare drops.
I’d like to place the footnote here that I levelled my main in greens, and found I had REAL issues in Orr. I’ve not had these issues since I got exotics, so I dare say exotics can be considered almost a prerequisite for high level gameplay. Thus making some gear grind unavoidable.
And I would definitely call getting Ascended gear a grind. Either you endlessly run fractals, or you get laurels, which will pretty much take forever. And for those who say ’it’s only a little difference in stats’… uhm, well, a lot of PVPers kinda think those little differences add up to make a rather big difference.
Please note: I actually got an AION toon to max level and max PVP gear in the months after launch, before they changed things (a bit). I DO know what a grind is. I know there are worse grinds than GW2 (do I ever) but GW2 definitely IS getting grindier.
2. Karma gear -to get one set of karma get you need at least 240k karma. Yeah for the above avg. causal – to hardcore this is possible but for us casuals this is NOT possible in a reasonable amount of time.
Karma from Daily – 4500
Karma from a Month’s Worth of Dailies – 135000Karma from Monthly – 45000
Total Karma from a Month’s Daily and Monthly alone, with no boosters or events – 180000
That leaves you to get 60000 Karma from events throughout the month.
If you do 5 events a day for a month (assuming 378 karma per event), that gives you 56700 karma a month.
Use a Karma booster from the Laurel vendor, and you’ll have your Karma gear within a month.
For a casual player, I’d consider that a reasonable amount of time.
People always make things sound so easy… not just the one I quoted, but others in this thread as well.
Even dailies can be a problem for casual players. Casual means having limited play time. I have quite a few guildmates who have a family, and only get to play one hour a day max. Finishing the daily – either PVP or PVE – can already be a stretch.
Monthlies? Uhm… yeah, right. So you are assuming everyone PVP’s? Because WvW kills definitely are a part of even the PVE monthly.
And then there’s dungeons. I for one hate PVE dungeons, and I’m not the only one. I find them unfun to do (yes, this is a personal opinion), and I WILL NOT do things I do not enjoy.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with things taking time to get. But don’t go pretending it’s all easy-peasy. My main objection here is that there is a lot of stuff now that you can only get by repeating the same actions over and over again, whether it is by running fractals or by running dailies. And just TRY getting enough passion flowers and karka shells for healing gear. In my book this constitutes a grind. And it’s not a grind for cosmetics, it’s a grind for stats. Which IS in direct contradiction to the devs’ stated intent before launch.
I find the direction the game is moving in disappointing. It started with the dyes being character bound in stead of the promised account bound, and it’s not getting better.
With all due respect, Moderator, you closed my thread, but I do feel I have to point out keybinds vs doubletapping was never the issue (I know the keybind). Tensing up because you have to anticipate the right moment to dodge, and then having to react fast, is.
Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI is a condition many old-time keyboard workers suffer from. We worked too many hours in a row without breaks, and did not have ergonomic office environments. Ergonomic office environments and special ’you’re over the time limit, go take a break’ programs were developed to prevent the condition from occurring.
Thanks to the person who pointed out that with multiple arrow attacks dodge will always work.
And I still find this a bad addition to the daily achievement list. Pushing people into using a specific game mechanic is never a good idea.
So I have RSI. It’s a condition that causes you pain if you make too many repeat movements or if you tense up or strain yourself too much during gameplay. Which means I can never, ever play FPS games, unless I want to be in constant pain.
This game has a dodge ability. I’ve been ignoring it. It means tensing up and reacting fast at the moment dodge is required. I cannot do that. I refuse to inflict pain on myself, and I deliberately chose professions where dodge is not really a factor, like my main, the RANGED ranger.
And now you add dodging as a requirement for dailies. Seriously, whose idea was this? And it would seem that currently you have not implemented the ‘skip this achievement and do another’ option yet either.
Honestly, dailies were fine as they were. Anyone could do them. Monthlies… I had issues there (I hate dungeons, which includes fractals, and WILL NOT do them, even if you pay me for it) but at least I had the dailies to earn some mystic coins. Well, till now that is. I’m almost scared to find out what achievements come next.
Uhm, there are currently only 5 achievements in the list. So if you cannot do one, you’re not going to get the daily done.
Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.
I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.
‘Merrit based’ has problems too, though. Based on PVP badges? Just participating and earning badges doesn’t make you a good leader. Based on votes? What’s to stop people from just having the entire guild and/or alliance vote for them? I can assure you that this will not be an improvement. Also, some of the best PVP leaders I’ve known were from really small guilds, where they were not even the guild leader.
It may have its problems too, but it is certainly better than buying it with gold or gems.
It’s not really all THAT much better though. You would still get people who ‘buy’ the icon, either by manipulating the vote or by manipulating the achievements. I’ve met people in other games who’d gotten their PVP rank through PL services… just saying.
I mentioned Warhammer previously because the PVP game was similar in some points, but it worked without any commander icons. Those who led warbands made a reputation purely by their actions, and it was interesting to see. Some leaders were very successful, but were constantly calling everyone names, so if there was an alternative, people outside their guilds tended to avoid joining their warbands alltogether. Others were known as armchair quarterbacks, with pretty much the same results. And yet others were so successful AND charismatic they actually had to appoint lieutenants to lead secondary warbands, and people would be /friending them and sending them tells as soon as they got on line, begging them to come take over. And this is how it tends to work in pretty much all games that have massive world PVP.
Basically, I’m saying DITCH the kitteny icons, give everyone their gold back and be done with it. Enable everyone to make squads, and let the players themselves determine who they want to follow. It worked in other games, so why not here?
Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.
I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.+5000 this. Getting a commander icon should be merit based o the view of the people you play with. Not loot sold from dungeon crawls and market manipulation. I know a number of folks I listen to over some “commanders”.
‘Merrit based’ has problems too, though. Based on PVP badges? Just participating and earning badges doesn’t make you a good leader. Based on votes? What’s to stop people from just having the entire guild and/or alliance vote for them? I can assure you that this will not be an improvement. Also, some of the best PVP leaders I’ve known were from really small guilds, where they were not even the guild leader.
Sure there are some decent ones, but also many poor or undeserving ones.. that’s why being able to purchase your Com Tag is a bad idea by ANET.
I would much rather have a ranking system based on players voting on each others performances after events or WvWvW battles / PvP zones.
When a player reaches a certain amount of votes they gain a rank up the command chain and then when they reach a ceertain level they are offered the tag by way of achievement.
Not as easy as it sounds to implement i guess, especailly in WvWvW where the players are zoning in/out all the time but I am sure there is some bright sparks out in the ether that could cobble something together.
I don’t think this will work either. So what happens if there is a server which lacks interest in PVP, and where you simply cannot get enough votes to meet the criteria?
Offering the rank for just being in PVP a lot doesn’t work either. Some people PVP all the time, and still don’t know what to do and/or how to lead.
Pretty much all the games I ever played were PVP games, and me and my guild are mostly world PVPers. And from the trends I’ve seen, I think I can make some observations:
- By far most people are not interested in leading. Really leading is work and requires quite a time investment.
- There are a lot of wannabe leaders out there, in every game. They shout a lot, tend to troll in the global channel about how bad other leaders are, or even try to countermand orders from people actually trying to lead. In this game, sadly, they can also buy an icon.
- Real leaders tend to stand out by ability. Those who PVP regularly, find out fast who actually knows what they’re doing
I actually think the whole personalised commander icon thing was one of the most horrible idea ever to be implemented in any game. I would have vastly preferred an ability to form ’warbands’* like in Warhammer (24 people groups or so), with internal communication that cannot be disrupted by the trolls I mentioned above. This also makes it a lot easier to send out coordinated parties to different targets. But no icons please, not even for warband leaders… it makes it WAY too easy on spies, for one.
Edit: Please note, I’m not talking about a squad (that only a commander can make) but about a group that ANYONE can start. I honestly think 50 is a bit much, it strains flexibility. And making it so that only people who spend 100 gold can make a larger grouping is just absurd.
(edited by Broom.2561)
I have over 250 basic transmutation stones and 50 fine ones. I don’t use them, ever, but I just keep getting more. And I really wonder why. I suppose some people actually want and use them, but personally, I couldn’t care less. Just let me sell the things, or make some mystic forge recipe with them (that actually produces something USEFUL).
I’m totally not interested in making the minis… still wondering what to do with the free cogs I got.
How in the world does giving them an OPTION to solo possibly ruin your gaming experience so much to inspire such contempt and sarcasm?
That’d be basic human nature. Most people when given the choice between looking for a group or running the dungeon solo will opt for soloing. Which in turn reduces the amount of player available for a party. Take it to the extreme. Let’s say at any given time there are 5 people who want to run dungeon A. Right now, those 5 people will come together and do it. With dungeon scaling, at least 1 of them(from my experience with MMOs who had that feature, it’d be more like 3-4 of them) would rather do it solo than bother looking for group. As a result there are 4 people sitting somewhere shouting “lf1m dungeon A”. Until another one decides to run it solo, cause it’d be faster. And them another one. Until there are 5 people soloing dungeon A and nobody is running it in a party. And that’d be how the option to solo affects those who’d rather go with a party.
While that is true, if dungeons were to scale to the number of players it would easily solve that problem. Maybe even increase the cap to 10 players and give better and more rewards for larger number of players to encourage group play. But there will always be an option to solo if desired. Give people the freedom to play however they want.
Not just that… the guy himself uses the word ‘bother’ about finding a group. And that’s exactly it, isn’t it. People think it’s a bother, and generally don’t like doing it. So why force them?
And to the people who say ‘why bother playing an MMO if you don’t like grouping’… seriously, MMO are not about grouping, they’re about having a world that is shared, and where you can often work toward a common goals of some kind. Which may or may not involve grouping. Some people just like to stand around and chat… VERY social. Others adore to play the market and outwit others who do so. Again, social. Yet others delight in downing the hardest mobs in the game solo, for bragging rights (again, a social thing). Many are compulsive puzzle solvers and explorers, who love showing others their tricks (just check out youtube). And again, it’s social.
tl;dr: choice is all. what you like in a game may not be what others like. Forcing others to do what YOU like, however, (and that goes for ANY gaming preference), usually ends up in pretty empty servers.
Personal preference? I simply don’t like dungeons. The ONLY dungeons I ever liked, were the Tier 1 and Tier 2 raid dungeons in Age of Conan. Which is probably an acquired taste. I just don’t think NPCs and their scripted responses are generally all that interesting.
I never liked doing stuff in groups, outside of PVP. Endless waits for bio breaks, crying babies, answering the door, having to bring kids to school… ugh. And I REALLY hate LFG, on those occasions where grouping cannot be avoided. Standing around for 2 hours to find people to group with to finish your PERSONAL story arc… what fun. Or entering an instance with a group, and having someone leave halfway with an ‘oh, I didn’t realise it was going to take that long’.
I know City of Heroes is dead now… but they had a brilliant instancing system, that automatically adapted the difficulty and number of mobs to the number of people who entered the ‘dungeon’. Want to do it solo? Not a problem. Want to go in with a max size group? Totally fine. Want to do it hardmode? You could agree to set the mob level, number of bosses etc etc to max.
So knowing it CAN be done, why don’t more games do this? It saves SO much frustration.
They will continue to change throughout the week as Tixx produces the different toys. There’s also a random chance to see a toy (or skritt) from an earlier day. I’m sorry that these are currently too difficult, have you tried tackling them with an extra person or two?
Many players do not have the time OR the inclination to group. I think research amongst Western players actually showed MOST prefer to be able to run solo.
Also, the reward from the mystery presents is such that most people will NOT be willing to cross half the map to tackle presents. Which means that even if you DO want to group, this will be problematic for players in off peak times and/or on impopular maps.
And I’m fairly convinced most players don’t LIKE ultra hard mode PVE events in what should be a festive holiday thing, that invites the casuals in and is enjoyable for all player levels and all levels of gear. You might want to keep that in mind for future events. At the moment, these presents are just big repair bills waiting to happen, coupled with massive frustration.
I loathe ‘hard PVE’ in open world environments, I’ve been a guild leader since 2004, and I’ve seen it happen time and time and time again. Our casuals, those with physical handicaps, those who aren’t that much into PVE to start with, they simply stop participating and often just quit the game entirely. This is a special event. Special events should be inclusive, should be something EVERYONE can enjoy, not just the best geared and the most hardcore. If people want to prove how macho they are, they can go run dungeons in hardmode.
I have played a lot of games that have botting issues, Fuz, and I can assure you they do NOT help the economy. They mass dump enormous loads of resources on the market, for one, making it impossible for legitimate harvesters to make money. I’ve also seen them engage in crafting, and sell popular end products below cost (healing potions in Aion, for instance), making it again impossible for legitimate crafters to make money.
The worst thing about bots, however, is that very, very often these days, they are hacked account. I saw it happen to a friend only days ago. Suddenly, his main was on another server and not replying to guild chat or tells. When the account was restored, he was in a karka farm location. His ranged weapons were gone and his bank was cleaned out. From previous experiences in other games, I can tell you without the slightest doubt they were sold to generate the gold a lot of people apparently think it’s so harmless to buy.
One time, I was in ventrilo with friends. Some of them were doing an instance. Suddenly, 3 of them went off line and their toons vanished from the instance AND APPEARED OUTSIDE. While the owners were cursing in vent, unable to log back in, guildies followed the toons around and SAW them being stripped. THAT is what you sponsor if you allow botting.
I have to wonder what the devs are thinking… seriously. Even when in a group (which I absolutely HATE, I prefer running around the map solo), I get completely ganked by those Toy Ventari. Solo… just ugh. What is supposed to be fun about big bags of hitpoints you just can’t kill? How about keeping it PLAYFUL, and having mobs you can actually kill without dying (as in armor repairs… again) most of the time? And I’m running around in rares or better, don’t even want to THINK how the experience is going to be for a new player in blues or greens.
Home World: Sea of Sorrows
Guild Name: Fated [Fate]
Guild Website: fated.europefreeforum.com
In-Game Contact: Broom.2561
Focus: WvW, but all playstyles allowed
Quick Notes: we’re an international, multi-game guild, dating back to 2003. We mostly play in US times.
OP… seriously, stop assuming stupid kitten like ‘oh, people must be playing on bad computers or with bad connections’. I have a 4-core machine with 12 GB RAM that runs with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits (so yes, all of my RAM can actually be used), I have a good video card with 1 GB memory of its own. My drivers are up-to-date, my system is tuned to perfection and my internet connection is GOOD. And I lagged so badly, I had over 30 seconds ability lag. Better yet, chat pretty much broke as well.
I might add that I work in IT for a living… I know how to tune a computer, I know how to set my firewalls, and I know how to test my internet connection. BAD LAG IS BAD.
I got to complete the first event (kitteny 1.85 silver reward). Went on to the second event (drive the ancient karka back to nesting grounds), suffered increasingly horrible lag and eventually crashed to character select. Immediately logged back in, only to be put in an overflow server where the FIRST event hadn’t even started yet due to lack of players. At that point, it was 22:40 (CET) and I just gave up in massive frustration. Fun was NOT had.
Developers, PLEASE implement some code to let people who crash rejoin their original instance. Other games have this, why don’t you?
One of the selling points of this game for my (multi-game) guild was that there would be no gear-of-the-month grind. It was a VERY important selling point for us. We’re for the most part open world PVPers, but we’re at this inconvenient age where we have spouses, kids, PhD studies, jobs etc. We don’t want to spend weeks upon weeks grinding 24/7 doing something (especially something we don’t like doing, like endless dungeons) just so we can be competitive in the thing we like doing best. And we are REALLY REALLY tired of games where the guys who live on line or exploit the hell out of the game end up with the uber sword of onshotting players, of games where a monkey equipped in the best available gear just has to roll its face over the keyboard to win, while skill means zilch.
So er yeah, Arenanet, what exactly do you think you’re doing here? Going back on your promise of account wide dyes was bad enough… adding a gear grind is infinitely worse.
I managed to get out of the mission by walking into the cross-hatched red area that’s outside of the mission map, which teleported me out. I restarted the instance, and got through this time without the NPCs going off on their own. Not sure why they bugged out the first time around, but the bug is apparently erratic in nature.
I’ve rescued both groups of researchers. I talked to Researcher Kekt, as instructed. The next instruction was to lead everyone out through the Southern exit. The second I talked to Kekt, however, all NPC teammates teleported outside of the cave, to the entrance of the cave system. I went to their location, but the only one who will follow me, is Krewe Leader Dobbs. The rest just stands there. I cleared my way to the Southern Exit, but it’s blocked by roots. I find myself unable to complete the mission.
(edited by Moderator)