Guild Wars 2

Playing the new maps is pretty much impossible right now it seams, they appear to be empty.

Been in the first map for over an hour, seen a total of 2 players, and no one in map chat.

No one doing events. Cant do some of the challenges. Its not even easy to navigate the map.

Either the mega servers are still screwed or people are just avoiding the new content to farm XP elsewhere…..

ANET:

Our goal was always to have elite specializations as a part of character progression, but it’s clear that a segment of our players was so excited about the elite specialization system and abilities that they really wanted to experience most of the expansion with them unlocked.

Firstly, why would you not think people would want to play was the new specs in the new content? after you hyped them to hell?

Why did you think that people would want to grind them out in the same specs they’ve played since the game launched? Do you even remember the bits of that manifesto vid that talks about no grind, and no barriers?

Secondly, yes players were excited about elite specs. Then you shoved a kittening cliff in their way to play them, you not only caused disappointment, you virtually kicked your players in the nuts with this….why you ever thought this woudl be a good idea I dont know. it was such a predictable reaction for anyone who has any sense. I worry about the level of group think and institutionalization that seams to have crept in if this was not immediately obvious to you.

I cant help but think that the weird number of “toilet paper” drops from mobs is the devs unconscious way of saying the game is going down the pan….

Earl Dumarest.3901:

Today’s WvW daily is Master of Ruins. I haven’t been able to find any Ruins to Master.

yeah, this is just sloppy on Anets part, does not speak well to their quality control checks.

MUDse.7623:

u could prob glide into alot of towers/keeps

Then make the NPC archers one shot people off gliders and add in anti-air flak cannons as siege weapons to do the same for players.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Hey folks,

Lots of passionate feedback and discussion in here on either side, and a friendly reminder that constructive feedback helps us make better games (please do keep it constructive!) We don’t always get every detail perfect the first time, but I like to think one of our strengths is we’re always open to and listening to feedback from our community and making good decisions based on that feedback.

Ultimately, we’re thrilled with the parts of HoT everyone is enjoying. Your passion is awesome, and it’s part of why we all love creating this game. In particular, in game we’ve seen a really positive reaction to the game from folks who are busy playing, which has been really cool to see.

While we never like to rush and make snap decisions, in particular with a game that’s basically been out less than three days; I think there are some fair points in here for us to discuss. Much like other feedback about HoT, we’ll be discussing this as well!

Thanks again!

You need to change this, and you need to change it soon, an announcement needs to come out in the next few days clearly stating exactly what and when you are making sweeping changes to how elite specs are obtained and progressed.

/Sniffle.

Every dev at Anet should be forced to sit down and watch that, then honestly say if they think the game meets those aspirations, if it even gets close…

portedGoblin.7413:

Do you get all new skills in wow when there is a new expansion? No, you level and at 91 you get a new skill, 92 another etc. This is the same, except no stupid inflation of dmg numbers, no old content being invalidated. It is BRIALLIANT, once you stop and think about it.

I@m not playing wow. I’m playing GW2, and for a reason, it was supposed to be different, not worse.

Swagger.1459:

Devs will drastically lower the required hero points for elite specs and make hero points account bound.

Champions guarding some hero points will be dropped down to elite so they can be soloed.

Zone event credit will be easier to achieve, and events and will be tuned down a lot.

Required mastery track xp will get lowered and have many unlock perks condensed.

The devs will design it so you can earned xp for any mastery track in any portion of the game.

Rewards will be greatly increased in an attempt to keep the zones populated.

Anyone else get the same impressions from today?

I hope so. I really do. Because I’m already losing interest in this grindy crap.

Genavelle.9516:

why would you do a TLDR for a one-sentence post

He’s been in the new borderlands…after a while the emptiness gets to you…..

As a map, its great, varied and interesting.

AS a game experience, its pants. Was there for 2hours earlier, saw 1 enemy player roaming, and the biggest fight was 5 of us, against 5 of them……wow.

It descended into people roaming the map, calling out in /m to other lonely souls wandering the wasteland, occasionally you glimpsed other players in the distance, but its hard to be sure, delirium may have been setting in at that point….

1/10.

The fact I am feeling compelled to do stuff just to access what I want to have (elite specs) is ruining what would probably otherwise be enjoyable content.

How they can have gone back so much on the original design ethos of GW2 still amazes me.

agreed.

Feels like Anet giving us a collecking kick in the balls, hyping up elite specialisations, then locking them behind a massive grind.

The absolutely worst decision they could have made on this matter.

Did they learn nothing from the trait lock debacle they did last year…..

Locking the elite specialisations behind a quite stupid amount of HPs is absolutely stupid.

The elite specialisations were a major selling point of the expansion, and hyped to hell by Anet. To have people come in and want to try them, and see they are locked behind an absurdly large grind for such a feature, is just going to put people off.

You have endgame grind in masteries (which are double gated as it is) and you dont need it with core class features such as elites which change how you can play a class.

I cant think of a way that Anet could have destroyed enthusiasm for the expansion more than this absurd decision.

EverythingXen.1835:

.

Keep. Them. Out.
(so much for inclusive raiding)

Yeah.
I have to ask did any of the devs actually see that manifesto video?

This seams to go totally against what GW2 was supposed to be.

VERY disappointed in this.

I play GW2 as its different from other games, the hassle of organised group content is not there, and there is a focus on open world content.

Raids in my opinion are a mistake, and are sacrificing the direction GW2 was supposed to go….

As more and more time is spend on instanced content, my interest wanes.

Yes, its really kittening annoying.

Please put in an option to “dont ask me again”.

Gotchaz.7865:

This class is so slow running it’s painful

so are other classes, deal with it.

Anet dont seam to want to make everyone have a fast move option. So unless everyone gets one, I’m fine wiht rev not having one. At least its someone else I can catch…..

Basaltface.2786:

Gray.9041:

Cameirus.8407:

Leah.4318:

Really happy to hear that people are liking the new PC tone. Thanks for the comments, folks!

just dont do a WOW on us please.

Being the lord high general/commander/whatever is boring as hell. Some of us like being just adventurers, its odd to have 1000 supreme commanders all over the place….

it’s less the rank and more the respect. we do most of the work, and sit there sighing at the computer when NPCs make obviously stupid choices. there are times when the player is clearly doing more work, making better decisions, and getting better results, and it feels like the NPCs ignore that.

I’d happily be a junior officer in the pact as long as my comrades realised my value to it.

dont worry you are the boss of 5 rookies who clearly value you as bodyguard for their wacky adventures and only pretend you are the boss to make you feel better… -sigh- can i trade them in for a coupon for a free coke with extra ice cubes and some more decision power please?

yeah, I really hate the scooby gang thing that Anet have going on how. I want to brutally murder the lot of them.,

Leah.4318:

Really happy to hear that people are liking the new PC tone. Thanks for the comments, folks!

just dont do a WOW on us please.

Being the lord high general/commander/whatever is boring as hell. Some of us like being just adventurers, its odd to have 1000 supreme commanders all over the place….

Gaile Gray.6029:

I was wondering: Are they designed to be rather like a jumping puzzle? Meaning: If you don’t hit the right spot you will fall and you may die. Or do you think this is a systemic issue that should be adjusted through design?

I’m a major jump/miss/die JP-er, so I had to ask.

using mushrooms should be 100% safe the way they work at present.

The alternative would be to use them as catapults flinging you in a direction you face, maybe at a speed/angle determined by how long you channel the activate…but they are not set up like that, they take you to specific placed, but half the time miss and half the time kill you.

Its annoying.

Hot Boy.7138:

Sylvari is a plant race, but they are also supposed to resemble humans.

I would like to see more human-like faces and less carved-wood style faces.

Also, Sylvari should have the option to dye the Iris and the area around the iris independently when customizing eyes.

Also, when using the Total makeover kit, the exclusive colors should be accessible for Sylvari to use as a skin tone and a glow color.

Here is an official gw2 artwork of a Sylvari. Notice the human-like face. It’s not the carved-wood style that is aesthetically less pleasing. Also, the color of her iris is bright and undiluted by dark tints. Also, please give more details to the texture of the lips like in this picture.
(Btw, this Syvlari cannot be recreated in-game, the face and hair don’t exist for players to use.)

yeah no chance of that.

They sylvari originally looked more human, and were totlly redone to move away from that. Quite rightly in my opinion, we dont need a race of green elves thanks.

Bow – fine, could do with more dmg on 3, and mobile cast on 2.

Traps – Fine, could do with ranged placement (too awkward with bow currently), and heal would be better triggering on enemy or wounded ally.

Virtues – pants. F1 is just kittene all over. F2 could be ok but range is worthless, needs ot be at least doubles, preferably trippled. F3 is ok, only one worth the time, the other 2 are just downgrades.

I’m really not encountering energy problems.

Yeah I don’t have 100% uptime on stuff, but them I never expected to. I’m pretty sure that you are not supposed to.

The problem I have wiht gliding, is grinding out the first point is annoying given the map design.

It should be given as part of the starting story. and used in the story at the start. Then you get all excited about it right off the bat. instead you get to limp round a frustrating map with deadly mobs, and your first experience of hte map is frustration.

I’m not impressed with the day night cycle, althouth its hard to actually give meaningful feedback as the shear number of bugged events means its hard to be objective about it.

But, I think its in principle poor design. Its an exercise in frustration, large groups required to work together to progress events on a timer, you can do large amounts of it and just miss out, whihc is just building up excitment, then destroying it…not through some epic defeat at the hands of a boss, but because a timer has ticked down…..thats just lame.

Also, apart from arbitrary timer, the day night cycle means nothing, you can just play and never worry about day/night, unless you are fighting the timer. It has a very underwhelming impact .

eduardo.1436:

you want your hobosack back?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Universal_Multitool_Pack

or if you want a kitten verson

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zephyr_Rucksack_Skin

there everybody is happy.

I liked that it changed with kits. I look at my characters back most of the time, so it was very visible, and much better than small changes they put in to “compensate”…

Personal preference of course, and if they were to make the change, why throw away all of it, a compromise is pretty easy to come to.

I dont see why it could not have been an option, if no back pack displaying, use kits. if you have a back pack displaying, that stays…..solution for everyone.

Golgathoth.3967:

This is a fantastic change in my view. I took a break for nine months, and when I came back I felt something was different about my engie but I couldn’t tell what.

Honestly, I’m very pleasantly shocked that they finally acted on all the hobo sack complaints. My Sylvari no longer has to deal with those shameful things being a part of his kits build. None of them matched my TA based style remotely.

I can understand wanting the option to keep them, though. That would be the only way to please everyone (though I’d wager they pleased the majority.)

I came back and my character is not my character anymore.

Depths.4051:

its a good thing they changed it, its nice not feeling like a homeless person carrying all your valuables in a ratty backpack. I’m sorry your character looked penniless so it could match the backpacks, but most of us didn’t, and didn’t like them owo.
The change is much appreciated.

I liked it, it made me feel like an engineer, with my kits and my gear. I thought it looked good.

Really not happy Anet caved to the qq. and did not leave an option to keep it if you wanted.

Been gone a while, came back, and my engineers backpack does not change when I swap kits anymore?

Why not? I loved that. Was a nice cosmetic change when you swapped kits?

Did anet change it because of the whining? Is there an option to change it back so they change?

We can argue definitions all day, it does not matter.
My opinion (and thats all anyone can give) is that after playing MMOs for over a decade, GW2 is the most grindy game I’ve yet to play. Thats just how it feels. did not used to feel like this, not back in beta…..but post launch, with multiple currencies, skins being RNG attained, the trait rework, the legendary system, the disappointmetn of the events system, and now with masteries on the horizon…….its just all grind to me.

Your milage may differ, but thats my impressions.

Sounds awful.

Does not look like they are actually fixing the trait system (ie reverting the changes they made in their entirety), in fact it looks like they are making it worse with mastery adding a second level of crap at level 80.

Ah well, I enjoyed GW2 for a while, guess good things cant last. Shame, I really was excited by that manifesto video, and they did look to be delivering….then post launch it all went away, step by step the vision was eroded, and what we are left with is a grindy boring makework game. So much potential lost due to lack of ambition and lack of courage to follow through with their early convictions.

The fact that this system, which even a cursory glance at shows the fundamental flaws with, got into the at all, is pretty appalling.

For it not to be addressed 9months later does not speak well of Anet.

I accept things dont always works as expected, and mistakes get made (though this is fundamentally flawed right from conception), but I expect responsive attitudes from devs and to put their hands up and go “ok, did not work, reverting it asap, sorry”, in which case I usually think better of them for doing it.

To do nothign, for so long, on such an important issue……just destroys any faith I may have had in them.

Test.8734:

Cameirus.8407:

The kittenty “unlock” system still in the game for traits?

It will be lovely to see what happens when a small army of GW2 players tries the new profession… Only to be sucked punched by the trait unlock system.

I had enough of it before, I enjoy making new characters and this system sucked all teh fun out of that.

I wont bother even trying it until this kitten is removed.

The kittenty “unlock” system still in the game for traits? the expansion news has made me interested in the game again, but if that crap is still in it, I’m not even going to bother reinstalling it.

Look, how hard is this?

Keep the trait teirs, those are fine.

But change it to something like:
You get so many trait options to choose the traits you want, with more at each teir level. you accumulate trait unlock points from activities: a level 30 zones completion gives 1 point for instance, defeating a world boss gives 1 for instance..and so on. Players get to spend these points on what traits they like.

They get to play how they like, and natually obtain a steady increase in the amount of available traits they have access to as they level up (getting them all about level cap on average).

They they dont feel compelled to kitten about the map trying to do specific events that require groups of players and where the event is on a random CD that could take days before you see it (or longer).

This way, if you do a point unlock system, people can do what they want, be it solo pve, pvp, world events etc…

The current system was designed by an idiot who has clearly never played an MMO in their life. if they are an actual player…they have their head so far up their kitten they can see daylight.

I pretty much cant play my engineer because of it, just trying it aggravates my wrist which has mild carpal tunnel. Why Anet decided to keep it like this is beyond me, but then the amount of kitten decisions by Anet is a very long list..

Right, thats it, hit 30 on my new character, I’m out.

I really CBA to do this trait unlock system.
I’ve seen some kitten poor decisions by devs over the years, and obviously stupid systems put in place, but never have I seen a dev take a system that works and totally screw it over, then go silent on it, and leave it that way for months upon months despite overwhelmingly negative player feedback.

The fact this system got implemented at all is quite shocking, how professional devs could not spot what a kittening stupid idea it was, and the consequences of it destroys all faith I have for their abilities to take the game forward.

I’ll check back in 3months or so to see if anything has changed…but I doubt there will even be a response from the devs by then.

Oh well, I enjoyed the game once.

EdwinLi.1284:

So how is everyone with Mass Effect 3… I mean Chapter 3 of the LW S2 Story?

I’m still waiting for bugs to be fixed so I can finish helping each “Council member” deal with their issues with their race so they can help us with the War against the Reapers…. I mean Mordremoth. :p

lol…

Between the NPCs going on about how I defeated zhaitan (I have not done the personal Story!) and the cringefully bad voice acting, I’m not inspired to do much this time round I’m afraid.

Sebyos.4089:

Been asking it for more than a year now. The trait system was alright before and the only change needed to be great was the separation of traits and trait points.

The way it is now is very tedious and boring when leveling as there is no progression. You barely even get points to customize your character and by the time you get the traits, you are pretty much done developing your character trough skills which means you are left with little to do.

Worse than that, the trait was not very fun before, but Anet managed to take something positive and make it negative. The system went from 6/10 to -4/10 which is a huge change. Finding and unlocking the traits is now a task so dull and unpleasant it makes me doubt I made a good decision when coming back. I’m now leveling with some RL friends and I was enjoying the game until I released the trait system was butchered.

Fix it now.

I’m pretty much considering the game ends at 30 now. Been levelling a couple of alts, but once a character hits 30, I stop. When I run out of professions, which is soon, I dont see any point in continuing.

50 levels of grind, and work to unlock abilities to play my character as it should be played? F that.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

The game didn’t start out this way. I’ve been playing since BWE1 and I love this game, but it’s turning into a clock race, where everything is on a timer, including a friggin sand storm!

Sandstorm was something i was really looking forward to in LS2, but by turning it into a timed event, it’s taken a shine off it for me. A sandstorm should occur randomly, not at some predetermined time, as it is now and when it comes on, everyone mindlessly race to find those chests like there’s no tomorrow.

This goes for just about everything in the game, the timed aspect jumps, the timed bosses u have to kill within certain time, the timed events in general and it just goes on.
I can understand some things have to be timed but a sandstorm! Seriously, take the clock away!

pretty much.

So much for a living dynamic world, its all timer based and boss rotations now a days.

The whole, on a schedule thing even relates to weapon sets, as those are limited time (dont try to mention weapon ticket scraps unless you want a slap! :P)…

Game is more grindy than any other I can think of. And thats totally not what it was supposed to be.

Do daily, get annoyed at new trait system log out…..

I dont know if Anet listen or not.

But they give a very good impression of not giving a kitten.

Lifestealer.4910:

The ratio of fat, blunt and oversized weapons is way out of hand when compared to the slim and elegant weapons. Take sword for instance, the only elegant sword are infinite light and fractal sword, both of which are insanely hard to get. I know somebody will suggest low level weapons but those weapons have other issues like being too generic.

I’d like some simpler weapons skins, not multi-part, floaty, glowy, impractical weapons….

Why cant we get a more fuctional look?

Twigifire.8379:

900 comments, almost 7000 views. XD Maybe Anet will do it as a congrats at the 1000 posts or 10000 views mark?

I dont want them to do it, I like the packs.

this really needs to go in, esp now boss events are not linked to chains (and how lame is that) and are just on timers and a rotation (living world? lol, scheduled events…..how far this game has fallen).

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

I definitely agree that in-game world boss availability messaging is something that should be implemented and it’s something we would like to do.

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about map completion is the abundance of things to do in any order I wish. Events could sort of have this nature if we showed them map-wide. But even telling players about events that are across a single map can be tricky business depending on the nature of that event. A number of events can be completed well within the time that it would take to travel to it from even the nearest waypoint. Yet a good argument for showing them anyway would be a map such as Dry Top or the Crown Pavilion, wherein you might care about the state of the events even if you don’t plan on participating in them.

Do you think that showing all of these events makes the map feel cluttered? Would it make finding the information you care about more difficult?

lol! I remember when this was asked for in beta, and Anet was adamant it was an awful idea. Turns out players made their own timers so Anet belatedly follow.

World boss events should be shown, as should any event tied to a trait aquisition, any group event also.

Minor events should not generally be shown all the time, maybe an option to show on map if you want to.

TheFamster.7806:

I still don’t understand why the change was made in first place. Instead of exploring for traits, its more like buy gems then convert them to gold to unlock them for better and faster experience. I stopped making new alts because of the gold+skill pts+ amount of time, and when new people come in, I feel like I have to tell them to buy gems first rather than play the game. I don’t see any joy of exploring when I have to complete the same map 3 times in a row to get a trait that I can’t even properly utilize until I’m level 80 with full exotic gears. I’m starting to think developers are just trolling us and telling us to get a job and then buy gold rather than farming for them

I’ve recently come back to the game, and its killed my desire to level a character past 36.(where you’d need to go start hunting trait skills).

I’ve tried getting one of the end traits on my guardian, 3 days and I’ve not seen the event I need…..

This is possibly the worst system I’ve ever seen in an MMO. Its grindy, annoying, boring, and builds resentment.

or, you know, no.

I hardly ever have to pop a heal, and when I do, I like it to be big. I have so many blocks and ways of avoiding dmg, shelter is just not needed most of the time, and I prefer the passive condition removal of the signet.

OF course I’m not saying my way is best, but it works for me. then again, I’m not trying to come off as an arrogant kitten like the op does either.

I’ll run shelter when I think it necessary, but signet is my go to heal.

Ashen.2907:

I think it is completely reasonable for a developer who has spent millions of dollars producing a game to encourage players to experience as much of that expensive content as possible

No its not.

Its Bliz and dailies all over again.

Its a dev going “we made this content you should play it”, “you are not playing it by choice, we will make you”.

Its petulant on their part and its a total misunderstanding of the issue…that if people are not playing content by choice, its not good enough. All they are doing is forcing people to do things they dont want to, building resentment, and pushing people away from the game.

“the customer is always right” is massively misused in most circumstances, however in this one, its spot on. The customer (players) are always right in what content is best, its the ones they are playing. If the devs want players to play their content, they need to make it of a quality that people want to play, not use a stick to beat them into it.

Because the devs spent time and effort making it is absolutely the worst reason to force people into content.

Edit – just saw your expanded post, so this is not all that relevant to your position,, but leaving it here as its still valid to the discussion.