Guild Wars 2

While I agree that the communication was bad this time around, I like the idea of a dynamic and changing world. That’s why I’m playing an MMO, not a single-player RPG.

I have missed out on some of the past content and will in the future. Someone in another thread mentioned an idea of having a “historian” character where new players could re-live that old content in some kind of synopsis form just for fun without big rewards, and I like that. That way you can still get the story in an active way without just reading about it – they could use that content, but it would just be a “flashback”. This seems like a lot of work, though. Ideas ?

When I played WoW, there were achievements and items that I knew I’d never be able to get and that was okay. They even gave out stuff exclusively for conventions and things like that and with IRL trading cards. I never did any of those things, but I like the idea. The fireworks hat was just a silly hat that you got for showing up.

I love collecting things, but I know that I can’t get them ALL. I’ve come to terms with that. I missed out on Halloween and Wintersday – but I’m excited for them to come back in some form next year even if it’s not the same. Maybe I won’t get the same items someone would have in 2012, but I’ll get the 2013 ones ! I think that’s really cool and it makes me want to play more.

My main is only level 45 right now (I’ve been playing since Beta Weekend, but combination of school and having one of each Profession that I jump between), so I know I’m going to miss out on lv 80 content until I catch up. I’m kind of sad about that, but I’m not worried. If they keep putting out more content then it will be there in future when I’m ready.

I’m not sure what the right thing to do is because of the communication issues. I’d like to know more about what happened. Can they spawn the overflows to sync with the day/night cycle in the future ? In this case I think that a “make up” weekend might be in order – BUT that would be futile if it was plagued with the same issues. Say they’re just not able to fix those issues then the problems would be there all over again and people would just get frustrated and angry twice.

I think the two items say different things – the dragon helm is for people who were on for a specific event, the wings are for people who participated a great deal in the event over-all, regardless of day.

I think it’s fine to have both kinds of rewards, and it’s fine to not get one or both because you have real life obligations. It’s not about “deserving” anything – nobody “deserved” it they just got it as a gift if they showed up. I don’t see what’s wrong about saying, “my family/work/tiger was more important for those days than a video game helmet” and just not having it.

Icealen.3802:

And you just now realized that purposely chasing achievements is silly? Wow.

I always have to laugh at people who purposely set out to do achievements.

My feeling is they’re more designed to go off during random game play, like to make you say “wow, I didn’t know they had an achievement for that” when one does go off.

I don’t think they’re designed as a “checklist” you need to look at beforehand so you make sure you complete all of them. You’re just making the game into grindy nonsense by doing that. You should be playing for fun, not doing things just because you think they need to be done to fill some achievement requirement.

Don’t do that to yourself.

I agree and disagree. I like achievement hunting and for a limited-time event like this I want to know what is available so I can plan what I’m going to do.

I spread all the “grindy” ones out over days and paced myself and it’s worked out great and I’m enjoying it. I think it’s FUN, so that’s why I’m doing it.

If a person doesn’t think it’s fun, they shouldn’t do it. I’m probably not going to make it to 300 Holo kills and while it’s kind of annoying to have a bar that’s going to be stuck partially full, it’s not really a big deal. If I wanted to do it, I would. But I have my

I don’t pay attention to achievements like “100 drake kills” or whatever – that’s the kind that I agree with you on – you just go, “o, huh !” when it shows up.

I do think they could have made some changes that would have worked better, but it would be a really big change – and it’s something I hope the game matures into because I understand this game is still quite new and doesn’t have the years behind it that WoW does. It would be nice to see skins or trinkets as things to spend Zaitaffy on at different tiers so that everyone could feel they “participated” and got something cool even if not all could get the “best”, top-tier reward – it would reward everyone and still have special rewards for those that really, really got into it. I would be nice if the achievements were a little more dynamic and paced so that players didn’t have to do the pacing themselves – like saying “light 15 fireworks a day” and giving a smaller reward each time that is accomplished. They could still have a “light 150” achievement (which you could do in one day if you really wanted to), but the daily reward would provide pacing and encouragement.

I got the OmgDragonHat, but I’m going to miss out on the Aetherblades content. I’ve supported them with gem purchases, too.

But I’m not mad.

It’s just life and the nature of an MMO and I actually like it this way. If I wanted to play a game where you could just go back and do any content whenever and get all the exact same rewards as everyone else I would play a single-player RPG. I like the living world and if I miss it I’m not going to cry about it because that’s life and what makes it dynamic. I didn’t pay for gems with a rider that I would get “one of everything from now until forever” – I paid for them and I got the stuff I used them for, end of story – it doesn’t entitle me to anything more.

If I didn’t like this game or the idea of a dynamic and changing MMO in general I would stop giving them money and play another kind of game. I didn’t think WoW was worth $15/mo so I canceled it and no longer play – I never went to the forums and complained about what a “bad game” it was because it is what it is and it’s not going to radically change to please me. I don’t like most FPS games and that’s okay – not everyone has to like the same kind of game, I feel like so many people are playing games that make them so angry and upset when they could just play something else or use their money for something else.

There are things I think Dragon Bash could have done better, yes. But when I have expressed that, I’ve expressed what I think and what I think could have been different – not have a temper tantrum because it wasn’t exactly what I would have done.

Make sure your gear is appropriate to your actual level – if you are level 30 and your gear is still level 19 you’re going to scale badly from what I can tell and that could be a big part of the problems (especially since at low levels you’re usually just taking whatever drops – not constantly keeping up with your level). I’d also suggest thinking about what stats you have on your armour – at this point you might want to have more Vitality and such than raw Power.

I did this on my level 42 Engineer and be it luck or whatever, I never had too many of the NPCs die – at least, the fire was off me 90% of the time. I mostly used the Grenade Kit + Turrets so that I could do AOE damage to the clusters while the NPCs provided a buffer.

raptor.1064:

AcidicVision.5498:

So monocle being a rare item drop from the end of a dungeon differs from any other MMO ever that had random item drops at end of a dungeon hooooooow exactly?

because they will delete the dungeon like a week after it comes out or whatever

I pretty much know that I won’t be able to do the dungeon for sure because I have no lv80 characters yet and don’t think I could make myself grind to get to it that fast.

So…. o well for me. That’s life. You don’t always get everything or even a shot at everything. So what ? Having a limited time dungeon and drop makes it more coveted for those who CAN get it and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

I think it will be less of an issue as the game matures and these kind of things happen all the time so that while a person might have missed out on one particular shiny, there’s a new shiny to be had in the future.

There’s crap in WoW that sells for literally hundreds of dollars on eBay (which is against the TOS, but it happens) because it was a limited-time item or you had to go to an IRL event to get one. I don’t think it’s a problem for an MMO to do something like that. It didn’t make me feel cheated, it just meant I wasn’t around then or capable of getting it when it was around – so what ?

Not everyone can get everything. If someone wants it THAT BAD, they can try the Trading Post or spend IRL money to get enough gold to do so. Some people might be like, “omg greed !” but that kind of transaction would otherwise just happen on eBay or elsewhere. I think letting it happen within the community is a better solution than to ban it and fail – this way people get what they want and do what they’d be doing anyway and ANet benefits too and has it in a controlled environment with records of the transaction. Like, last I heard the random drop holographic wings are going for about $10 real money. That’s really not bad at all compared to the prices of everything else in the gem store – it seems like the economy is in a pretty decent place.

I am having fun. thumbs up

Did you get credit for it in the Achievements panel ?

I got a “Keg of Liquid Karma” and a “Bag of Coins”.

I just did this on my level 42 Engineer first try, I’m so pleased !

One thing I can think of is to make sure your weapons and armor are appropriate for YOUR level. Like, if you’re level 26, make sure you have things that require level 25 equipped. I’m pretty sure that this is important when it comes to the game adjusting your level – but correct me if I’m wrong (I know it is when you are down-leveled, so I would guess it’s the same idea here).

Also, consider your build – are you “glass cannon” or what ? You might consider building to be more durable if that’s an issue things like Vitality and Toughness. You’re probably just picking up whatever upgrades you get, but you might choose those things over raw power for now if you can.

I used a lot of AOE – I would let the NPCs surround the attackers and I’d send grenades into the middle of them and place turrets. When an attacker was more isolated, I used crowd-control abilities and ones that put more distance between me and the attacker.

If I can, maybe I’ll try this on my lv 13 Guardian just to see if it’s possible and how much of a difference level and lv of gear makes.

While I don’t think it should be necessary to release them – I do think they need to have better communication about future plans. I know they have some surprises in store, but a little bit to set some people at ease about if things are recurring even on a yearly basis would help a lot of people who are freaking out right now.

I thought this was pretty obvious. The Coffers are like a lottery ticket – thus, I didn’t buy any because I don’t do that kind of stuff because I don’t feel very lucky, I guess.

However, I’ve made other gem purchases – in concrete things, slots, appearance changes, want that quaggan backpack don’t judge. These things are “what you see is what you get”. The Coffers were a lottery ticket, if people mistook them for something else I don’t really know what to say.

If anything, I think ANet needs to work on communication. Players knowing they’ll have a chance next year would probably make half the complaints go away. Some things could be changed, structurally. There could be more things to spend the Zaitaffy on that would provide a more modest reward for players who weren’t extremely lucky – something where you could log on, gain the currency and then see what you could afford at the end – so that everyone could have a little “something” even if not everyone got the biggest, shiniest something.

If someone is really spending all their IRL money down to the last penny on the BL Coffers, yes, they need an intervention and to be cut off – but people can get like that about almost anything. Why take these things away from people who aren’t addicted and can enjoy it responsibly ?

My grandpa buys a lottery ticket every week, but he’s not doing it out of desperation or going broke doing it. If he was going into a casino and took all his retirements savings thinking he could game the machines into ending up with his money making money – that would be a problem. I know people who go to casinos for a vacation – heck, my dad went to Vegas for one of his milestone birthdays and I don’t know that he’s been inside a casino more than a handful of times, otherwise.

And with the lottery example – just like that supports schools, people buying the Coffers are supporting a game they apparently really, really like. And some people are okay with that even if they don’t get the big payout.

This stuff does hit people hard, I don’t want to make light of it – but I don’t know how ANet could know who those people are without being alerted by someone near them (and maybe there needs to be a system for that, not just in this game, too). How can they know if it’s someone who blew their emergency savings or someone who can drop $1000 on an MMO event and barely notice the difference in their bank account ?

I don’t think the Moa racing is an issue unless someone is buying gold to keep playing (which I doubt). It’s clearly a betting game and a gold sink and I don’t see anything wrong with that, even Pokemon had a silly “gambling” side-game. Anyone who is using a video game to then map-out their choices about real life does need help. :/

I did about 50 today in about 15 minutes.

Everyone worked together pretty well (on Tarnished Coast, so yeah, we’re always busy even at 5am) – I waited for people and people waited for me. That way we ALL got credit for ALL of the holograms instead of fighting for them.

15 minutes a day for like, 6 days really isn’t that bad since there’s a month to do it.

I haven’t done PvP at all in this game, but I’m enjoying the Dragon Ball. I already have 10 games played and 5 wins so I think I should actually be able to get the 20 wins achievement !

I like it just fine this way.

The levels act as “gate-keeping” to provide solo area/story flow and progression. Nothing more and nothing less.

I like the down-levelling – it got really tiresome in WoW to not be able to progress through areas without out-levelling them. It wasn’t fun. Maybe it is for other people – but that’s why there are different games.

Yeah, the security of any number of your accounts has been breached. I’d change your passwords ASAP instead of just trying to ignore it.

Even if you don’t want to play GW2 ever again this should be a wake-up call for you. I am glad I started using KeePass because after I did some account I’d forgotten to add to it and change the password to was compromised and they were able to get into some of my other “forgotten” accounts. Thankfully those accounts were unimportant – but what if I hadn’t made the change and it HAD been something like a bank account or Paypal, etc ? Even if the passwords aren’t the same there are ways of data-mining your way through a person’s accounts, so why take the risk ? Yeah, you might only be compromised to stupid thieves who are trying to gold farm on your account – but what if they were smarter ?

How long ago did you delete it ? They hold the name for an account for 24 hours.

It’s definitely the GPU – it is only slightly better than the integrated graphics.

If you make sure you have a high enough wattage PSU you can simply swap out the GPU and get much, much better performance.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do given that GPU. There is just no way that graphics card is going to be able to kick it up to 50fps. Unfortunately, it makes perfect sense, since the GPU is very low-range.

If you bought this system pre-built and only just got it, you might consider returning it if you paid a lot – you could build a system that will run GW2 50-60fps outside of WvWvW for about $500USD.

Sorry to be a downer, man.

When I played WoW people would complain about the same thing although, like you say, WoW has a filter – they were told that the filter is not a license for bad behaviour.

So not sure why you say WoW doesn’t punish people for language when they do and their forums are full of people whining about it, amongst other things.

Anet is just on things faster whereas WoW is a much larger game that doesn’t always get around to things and needs some serious help in that department. Random chat in Lion’s Arch might not be sparkling wit but at least it’s not Stormwind chat.

basketcase.3894:

He could save a bit on the GPU and get a better CPU to improve performance in crowded GW2 events, but to get good performance even with a $200+ CPU requires overclocking.

Would do this, personally. Especially since it would be easier to upgrade in the future instead of the likelihood of having to get a new motherboard, too.

While it’s an interesting idea that’s been done in other games, I don’t think GW2 would benefit from it.

In an RPG-MMO, you want players to be invested in their characters so that they invest more time and money while playing. I think it would detract from player engagement if they were forced to play as a sex they didn’t care for in order to get a good build.

Games like LoL allow you to go back and forth between a ton of characters without having to invest much more than time learning how to play them. Even in D&D I expect characters to die and not come back and to re-roll and all that. In an MMO you’re sticking to a character and working with it and building it up even more so than a single-player RPG because not only is there character what you’re investing time it, it’s now an avatar that represents you to others.

Plus, I feel the game would have to be a whole lot “deeper” and more realistic to make it work. The GW2 combat system just isn’t the kind that it would make sense to make that kind of distinction. It’s great when maybe having that extra +1 intelligence means you get an extra spell, but GW2 isn’t like that. If it had a more D&D-like system, maybe – but that brings about even more problems and I think GW2 does what it’s doing now well and it’s enjoyable. I like the combat as-is and play other games for different experiences.

Computer cases are important – if you don’t have enough room for cable management it can lead to overheating. Not to mention the air flow and cooling in the case in general. Unless you already have a high-quality case for a custom build I wouldn’t skimp on that. And once you have one it will serve you well into the future.

I built a mid-range desktop to play this game and play it on the highest settings with 50-60fps (I’m sure WvWvW would make me turn them down, but I haven’t tried that yet).

It cost me about $500. I don’t really think that is a high price compared to the cost of ones that are “high end”.

I couldn’t find much information on the APU in that machine, but what I did dig up leads me to think that GW2 would be really lackluster on it.

I bought GW2 when I still had a laptop only and built my desktop with playing it in mind. My laptop had a GPU that was, I think, between the Intel 3000 and 4000 (it was an AMD something but I’ve forgotten exacts). I got 15-20 fps pm absolute lowest settings when not doing anything and the graphics looked incredibly muddy.

If that was the only machine I had, I would have just kept playing WoW. : P

My desktop has an i5-3450 and HD 6870 and it plays GW2 on highest settings at 50-60fps so I’m pretty happy with that. I don’t really care about numbers – but the game definitely looks great. Comparing this to what my laptop could do, I was really missing out.

I’m not sure what you mean – I can direct my camera and movement just like in WoW – if I use the second mouse button while moving it will turn me and do so very quickly and I can use only the mouse to move if I want to and use both mouse buttons to move/stop and direct movement.

Sinifair.1026:

Immersion is when you forget you’re playing a game, which I haven’t experienced yet in GW2, and I have had that experience with other games, such as GW1, WoW, Elder Scrolls, Neverwinter Nights, Gothic.

I think this is a case of “you can’t please everyone”. I came to GW2 from WoW and I wouldn’t go back even if WoW was free. To me, WoW was an RPG without the RP – it’s story was throw-away and it always felt like the thinnest excuses to get me to kill 15 more Whatsits.

With GW2 I feel like they’re at least trying and the game mechanics are vastly more enjoyable to me – although I miss the “collecting” aspect of pets and mounts – but I can play Pokemon for that.

I’ve read a lot of books, but I don’t really play video games for the same story experience. I’m sure it’s possible for a video game to do it, but I don’t see one being able to have the impact on me that, say, Dune did. I’m not really sure an MMO could support that in terms of being able to make money, unfortunately.

1. Keep new card, replace mobo and CPU.

2. Return card, replace mobo and CPU.

Depends on your budget.

The card you have now is fine. If you go with #2, you should get 50-60fps on highest settings in GW2 – assuming you get a decent new CPU.

Like someone else said, make sure it’s in the right PCIe slot.

But, for the cost of the 7970 you could buy a new mobo + cpu and even throw in a CPU cooler and overclock. And probably still have money for a new case. And you’d see a LOT more improvement.

I’d start building a desktop before bothering with an external GPU for a laptop.

It can be done, I’d really research it to see if it makes sense for you. You need an ExpressCard slot, anyway. Personally, I think the money on the external GPU chassis is better spent saving for a desktop.

I tried laptop docking setups before, but I always found it incredibly awkward – you’re either stuck with the laptop’s tiny monitor or you’ve got it off to the side and the keyboard is in the way, making using it as an extra screen kind of annoying. I ended up just closing the screen and using it as a very flat, underpowered and overheating desktop.

I’d rather just synch data. These days it’s pretty easy. I’m actually thinking of paring my laptop down to a tablet – a tablet would cover all I use my laptop for while being lighter and smaller.

SSDs are still rather small and not something you want as your primary storage. It’d be impractical to have one tethered to your laptop – to see full benefit from an SSD, you need your Windows OS to be on the SSD. So your choice is to tether or replace what you have now – sacrificing storage for speed, or tether it via a USB 3.0 (2.0 is limited to 60Mb/s, no point, you’d be going slower) port.

I’ve had trouble booting from USB 3.0 in the past – you might have to update drivers or even update your BIOS. If the latter, that’s potentially a huge pain in your butt with the chance of killing the BIOS chip. If you are not very tech savvy, it’s definitely something you don’t want to do since a small mistake can mean you’ll have wrecked the computer until you can get a replacement chip and likely pay someone to fix things.

You’ll likely still need your old HDD in an external enclosure, too, if you replace the internal one. It’s a good idea to have an external to backup data, regardless of HDD or SDD – but this one would be something you’d probably need just in the course of everyday computing. I’m using 180Gb on my new desktop already, and I haven’t transferred the bulk of my data files !

Ultimately, if you keep tethering stuff, you’re making a laptoptopus. I think it makes more sense to invest in a desktop chassis and add as you can to it.

Knote.2904:

Ceallach.8740:

A lot of people are saying “human nature”, but I think culture has a huge impact on this. American culture in particular puts a large importance on individual achievement – and it makes sense that what a culture values is what it will seek even during “play time”.

Psychologically, the reward system of “bigger numbers” for doing something a certain amount of times feeds into this. You see this examined a lot with why games like Farmville got so popular.

This isn’t hating on America or bigger numbers (we could spend a lot of time examining how the Japanese value achievement and comparing and contrasting, for example). :P In the end, different people’s cultures and environments and families and what all create individual people – and they value things differently. That’s why we have different leisure activities – so that many different people can find something they enjoy.

Well it’s not like WoW is only successful in America.

Indeed, and that’s why I mentioned “in particular” and said it would be a very big task to tackle each culture individually and… the whole last paragraph, really.

A lot of people are saying “human nature”, but I think culture has a huge impact on this. American culture in particular puts a large importance on individual achievement – and it makes sense that what a culture values is what it will seek even during “play time”.

Psychologically, the reward system of “bigger numbers” for doing something a certain amount of times feeds into this. You see this examined a lot with why games like Farmville got so popular.

This isn’t hating on America or bigger numbers (we could spend a lot of time examining how the Japanese value achievement and comparing and contrasting, for example). :P In the end, different people’s cultures and environments and families and what all create individual people – and they value things differently. That’s why we have different leisure activities – so that many different people can find something they enjoy.

^ When it comes to “playing with others”, I feel I do a lot more in GW2 than I did in WoW.

In WoW I didn’t really talk to anyone but maybe one in a while in guild chat. The zones were deserted. I was that guy who would clear a zone before moving on – and I cared about exploring them all. Thus, when I stopped playing WoW, I had been pretty much the only human being in Zangarmarsh for several days in a row. What a lovely map, made totally obsolete – I like down-leveling because although you have an advantage, it doesn’t feel like a total waste of time /grind to go back to lower-level areas.

In WoW dungeons, the “social interaction” amounted to people arguing and me generally not saying anything. It was fun – but for me it was fun in spite of the other people.

In WoW, there’s absolutely no reason to group with other people while levelling. And if you do see someone else on the map ? Better stay away because if you try to “help”, you’re just going to end up kill-stealing.

In GW2, I like just randomly helping people, knowing I can’t “kill steal”. I don’t officially group with people, usually, but plenty of times there will be a group of us going around and doing lots of objectives together.

I’m sure there are games that do “multiplayer” better, but for me this is a huge step-up from what I was previously playing in that regard. There’s stuff I miss from WoW, but I hope GW2 can add similar things as it becomes a more mature game (stuff like fishing, pet collecting – it adds a lot of value to a game to be able to have “dumb non-progressive stuff” to do).

I think I’ve been saying this before GW2 was even officially released – GW2 is more like Skyrim than WoW.

This is going to make GW2 appeal to a different crowd than a “standard MMO” – and that’s okay. The “MMO players” need to realise that this game not appealing necessarily to them is not a fault, it’s a good game for a different market.

This isn’t to bash the standard MMO model. It’s just saying it’s different.

GW2 is for people who wanted to play Skyrim or whatever single-player RPG with friends. “Wow, wouldn’t it be cool if we could all be playing Skyrim at the same time ?” On an ironic note, it seems GW2 has accomplished that to a greater degree than the Elder Scrolls MMO is aiming to, but I won’t write that game off until there are more details.

If this isn’t a troll thread and the machine is still new, I would try to return it. $2200USD for that is a major rip off unless it includes the price of other hardware/office furniture and you could have gotten something that could run the game at over 60fps on highest settings even in big fights for that money.

The “$300” I said wasn’t to make fun of you, it’s just that I thought you were considering buying this machine – and I wouldn’t have paid more than $300 for it. If it was a sale machine, sure, it could have been worth your time to upgrade the parts !

The i5 is a good processor and as it stands is doing the brunt of the work. I really, really hope you did not pay $2200 for this machine. I am not trying to be mean to you, that is just such a big rip-off, if true, that it would be unethical beyond how computer manufacturers usually rip people off.

OP, if you are not a troll, people here can help you upgrade your GPU and probably PSU to greatly improve your gaming performance. No one is trying to be mean to you, just help you – at first we wanted to save you from buying a bad system. If you can’t return it, we can at least help you pair the i5 with a GPU that will really let you get great performance.

What do you plan on playing this this ?

GW2 is having huge issues with nVidia right now. People with that card and even better are getting absolutely awful fps and not all can be attributed to user error – so it’s not a safe bet if you want to play this game on great settings right away. Hopefully they get it fixed…

The HD 7870 would be fine, too, about the same performance. Same for 7950.

Also, remember to get a good PSU. If you’re investing so much in parts, you don’t want to lose them to a crappy PSU. Prepare to pay at least $60, $90 would be a safer bet and get you more features.

And remember to get an aftermarket CPU cooler if you’re overclocking. If you won’t be overclocking, you don’t need the -k suffix processor.

I’m guessing this is pre-made ? Unless this is like, $300, I would not buy it. The GPU is a re-brand of the 5450/6450.

You’ll want to replace the graphics card – it’s pretty much below the minimum requirements of GW2. I would guess… I dunno, maybe 10fps on low. Maybe the CPU can make up for it, but I doubt it would be really playable – I’ve seen people with decent CPUs that have had GPUs around this level – and the unplayable 5-15fps is what they’ve said, so that’s what I’d expect.

http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=1064&graphics=Radeon%20HD%207350%201GB%20DDR3

If this is pre made and it’s REALLY CHEAP, sure – go for it. But be prepared to spend $150 for a new graphic card. Also, you’ll have to check the PSU – if it’s not say, at least 500W, you’ll need to get a new one – another $60+.

And at that point, you might as well build it yourself since replacing the PSU is your majority of the “connecting wires” that people are hesitant to do themselves when building a computer (but it’s not that hard, don’t worry).

Either it’s an in-game bug for a certain location or your CPU is the problem. I have an HD 6870 and an i5-3450 and get ~50-60 on highest settings.

Are you sure you’re not running out of RAM ?

… yeeeahhh. I mean, I’m not trying to hate on WoW – but that is a game that you can do all the “questing” content by yourself. And that’s okay – that’s how they’ve tuned the game and some people might like it. Lots of people like to solo, and that’s okay – but “the grass is always greener” – people complain that WoW needs more challenges and more group content. One game is not going to please everyone.

While playing GW2, I have noticed plenty of “group” content – some that even if it is possible to solo, is still conductive to group play and very difficult to do alone. Lots of people stop to help each other in the world because there’s no penalty.

I think it’s just about what playstyle you want. My favourite part of WoW would be seeing one of those higher-level quest elites you’re supposed to “weaken” with some item and taking it on as-is. I liked playing druid and having the tools to do that.

My favourite dungeons in WoW were ones where we’d get pushed out of our defined “roles”. DPSing as a healer, healing as DPS – I liked the versatility and adjusting to a given chaotic situation when the group wasn’t going “as planned”.

Looking at my preferred playstyle, it’s easy to see why GW2 appeals to me.

I’ve found this game far more social than WoW (the only other MMO I’ve played).

Here, I can randomly help people and people can randomly help me.

I remember in WoW feeling bad for playing alongside another player ungrouped. I felt like I was stealing kills and didn’t know if they were getting their goals accomplished – because just because we’d killed the same boss didn’t mean they’d gotten credit for it, too. :/

I’ve played with so many random people in GW2 so far. I can start a skill challenge and if it’s too difficult for me alone, someone else usually comes over and helps. If I see a new event pop up that someone else triggered, I try to go over and help.

I’ve been in a lot of “unofficial” groups. Often we’ll form a “group” when following the same chain DE or completing the same objectives – instead of going to different bandit camps alone, we all went to the same ones together.

I do miss the pet and mount collecting from WoW… and the fishing (don’t look at me like that), but in GW2 I feel like I’m actually playing the game with other people instead of being the only person in the zone.

If you’re looking for talk, I agree that finding a good guild would be a great idea.

Upgrade mobo and CPU and you’ll have great performance.

However, there have been issues with GW2 and the nVidia cards – I don’t know if they’re resolved yet or if there are any reliable fixes. The 560 should get about what I’m getting – ~50-60fps in world with all settings highest. However, I’ve heard that people are not getting expected performance with the nVidia cards in particular.

If you’ve never upgraded your PSU, make sure to check that out, too.

No reason not to go for the 6870 – you can get it for the same price or less if you get lucky – and it’s a more powerful card.

And yes, your CPU will matter. I have a 6870 with an i5-3450 and it get ~60fps on all highest except reflections in normal play.

^ I’ve used a WIFI network for … over 4 years now. I’ve never had problems like that, other than when the ISP is having serious issues, such as after a storm damages physical infrastructure (in which case the wired connections aren’t going to work, either).

@OP, I had issues with my router and had to reset it to factory default and then set up the wireless protection options again.

I don’t know much about networking, but it might be best to wait until someone can come and reset it. You could do this yourself with the little button on the machine – you would then be able to access it, put any password you want on it and on the network itself.

I don’t see how it’s punishing anyone.

Buying it outright means you don’t have to do any work or farm anything in-game to get it.

It’s a trade off, not a punishment.

GW2 doesn’t have a sub.

They can go play MoP until they get their raid completions and come back whenever GW2 releases new content – without having to pay a subscription.

I didn’t want to overclock, since it is the first machine I’ve built myself – so I went for :

i5-3450 ($150)
B75 ASRock mini ATX motherboard ($50)
HD 6870 ($120)
8Gb DDR3 1600 RAM ($40)
1Tb HDD ($45)
Antec 520W Neo Eco PSU ($50)
HAF 912 case ($50)
O, and a $7 USB WIFI adapter with antenna.
- I do have a DVD drive now, but opted out at first and installed Win7 from a flash drive.

I won’t lie, to get the cost down so low, I got lucky in some areas and I shopped around a lot. Well, not as much as I could have – I started maybe 2-3 weeks before GW2 launched and built the desktop during Headstart.

Going to Micro Center in person knocked at least $50 off the CPU. I hit some minor sales on Newegg that added up (-$10/20 here and there). Got some stuff on Amazon – I saw some GTX 560s (not se) for $125 through Amazon Warehouse Deals while I was looking, too (they’re currently not doing well with GW2, but hopefully that will be resolved).

Sales come and go, so if you’re on a budget being patient and waiting is key.

And being able to re-use the Win7 license shaved off $80. With GW2 going to Mac OSX, there might be hope for Linux (and some already have run it with Wine).

To be able to overclock, you’ll spend a bit more on an unlocked CPU and a capable motherboard and aftermarket cooler.

25fps – this is where we get disagreement over what’s “minimum”.

When I was part of the WoW community, many people stated how they were playing on 7-14fps (and WoW supports even older systems and I could get 60fps in Stormwind on high settings on the machine that gets 25 in a quiet area in GW2).

We all have different ideas of what “playable” is. I had 14fps on WoW once and it was like watching a slideshow. I don’t know how people do that, but they do.

You can do a budget build for about $500-600 that will get you a really solid machine. Just mentioning the option since I don’t know your budget.

I’m in college and didn’t have a huge budget – but $550 got me a machine that runs GW2 on highest settings (except reflections) at a steady 55-65fps.

I look forward to making computers a bigger hobby when I graduate (the experience of building was fun, would do again), but it’s good enough for me for now !

Be careful with ibuypower and their sister company “cyberpower”. They’re perfectly okay with throwing a crappy power supply in your machine – one that can’t handle the components and that will fail and fry your computer – leaving you with no computer and out that money you spent. They have the dubious “award” of “least reliable” desktop manufacturers.

I’d recommend asking a friend to help, or learning how to on your own. It’s not very hard – it’s LEGOs for grown-ups.

I just built my first computer – it was $550 (including monitor, but excluding Win7 as I was able to re-use), i5-3450, ASRock B75 motherboard, HD 6870, 8Gb DDR3 1600 RAM, 1Tb HDD, 520W Antec PSU, HAF 912 case.

Budget build, yep. But I happily get a steady 55-65fps on highest settings (except reflections) in GW2.

I’d looked up everything beforehand, but the booklet that came with the motherboard even included photographs of how to set it up! It will walk you right through it.

It’s intimidating, sure, but less complicated and less expensive than some of the luxury LEGO sets, even.

OPs name looks like a condensed “schadenfreude” to me. Just sayin’.

And as for if you’re missing out… I’d have to say “of course !” If you like stories and interesting characters, that is. If you don’t care about that element of the game, probably not so much.

What, you mean how will they ever compete with WoW’s year of Dragon Soul ?

They’ve mentioned future plans, but they have so much on their plates right now, they really need to get that taken care of first.

I’ve been able to keep my crafting up to level without having to go back and “farm”.

Make sure you’re using the discovery pane, you will level crafting a LOT faster that way. Wouldn’t want to be trying without it !