Nope, because I know updates aren’t frequent and don’t expect one to appear every day or so. We’ve just had our update for three months, so I wouldn’t be surprised about a news post being something non-update-related for a few months.
As you say, it was very rushed. Anet realised that the Living Story was not keeping players content and threw out an expansion with raids as quickly as they could.
While new features can be added at a later date, the story will always remain. Even if it got revamped, we’ve already played through it in its current state. Just as the original story’s final boss felt rushed, the entire thing does with HoT. Two maps are missing, massive plot holes, unused plot points (Marjory, racism against sylvari after the first story mission and a couple of events), completely removed parts of the plot Nightmare Court, anyone?). Stuff was cut, they had a schedule so tight it choked them, etc, etc – it was rushed, we know it.
Still, the fact it turned out as good as it did, knowing all of that, is quite impressive. I don’t know what they can do with Season 3 to redeem the story issues, as what’s done is done… but I hope that they somehow make it work.
I’d have to ask, what sort of discussion and reasoning was involved with certain enemies? Some regular mobs have break bars way too high for most players to break solo; while others can completely nullify certain builds (for example, the frogs evading all ranged attacks – what if your melee weapon has a ranged attack in the combo?). So many of them seem like cool ideas, but when you’re constantly under attack by a wide variety of enemies… it’s not viable to have counters to some of them.
On a side note, while it’s nice that you’re answering questions, this really isn’t the topic people want right now (even in a non-witch hunt sense, there’s some genuine curiosity in other aspects of the game).
Believe it or not many people complain that too many of the storylines focus on NPC’s romantic relationships.
Especially Caithe and Faolain, (which ties into the dungeon story modes and the personal story), Marjory and Kasmeer (both of whom are in your team for Season 2 of the living story and the Heart of Thorns story) and Logan and Queen Jennah, which seems a bit more one-sided but still affects the story at various points.
I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this type of complaint. I’ve seen complaints that Marjory and Kasmeer were some badly and the dialogue getting in the way of progression, but not romance as a whole. If anything, Caithe and Faolin’s relationship was the plot in its respective place, not a bad thing at all.
While it’s nice to see something positive for a change (most happy players are just in the game, enjoying it, after all), Guild Wars 2 isn’t exactly free of long standing issues requiring fixes or connection problems. I stay here because I enjoy the game; but oddly enough, this is the game I see more problem with when I make comparisons.
Still, it’s luck of the draw depending on what you want to do, when you want to do it and where you are. This game isn’t free of issues, but it’s still a pretty good game.
From what I’ve seen from certain youtubers, fansite owners and top clans – they do. Unfortunately, it’s all closed off so us regular folk don’t get in.
As for balance, test servers won’t help that. We found plenty in the HoT beta and pointed it out… they just didn’t take notice of any of it, probably due to the expansion being rushed through because people were fed up of living story. I’d love to see some better balance, so I know where I actually stand with my gear, but I don’t see it happening. =/
Just give me one for 1,000,000,000 xp that rewards Tequatl’s Hoard at the end and I’m happy. :P
But seriously, something would be nice. Perhaps one at the end of each mastery line that’s repeatable?
Pact – Writ of Experience / Tome of Knowledge
Legendary – Obsidian Shards
Fractal – Fractal Encryption Key
Gliding – ???
Itzel – Airship Parts
Exalted – Aurillium
Nuhoch – Ley Line Crystals
Spirit Vale – Magnetite (small amount, affected by cap, or is that too much?)
In any situation where this would be useful, it would be broken – if there’s somewhere where you’re likely to die a lot without a way to repair and keep progress… then that would be part of the challenge. I just don’t see this one ever happening.
Because some guilds still, in 2016, demand 100% rep. If you want to be a part of such a misinformed guild… then that’s why.
She screamed that to me too, especially having a giant statue of herself.
Envoy Armor 1: No will accept you in raids?
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Chameleon Dude.1564
And this is why I hate raids with a passion. People can’t get their foot in the door and others (understandably) want to get it done quickly and efficiently.
I honestly couldn’t care less about some reward chest at the end, but not being able to experience content because I have a full time job and can’t dedicate so many hours to one long run, messing around with a larger than usual group… yeah… no. Scale it down and let me at it solo or with a small group, it’d be done no problem. It’s just the group size and the mentality large group content encourages that are the obstacles.
Anet deviating from their manifesto and turning everything into grinding fest is the reason many of my friends are “taking a break” from the game (and so am I).
I also wished I could finish the new Raid with my friends as well, but like me they have jobs and never expected the raids to be about knowing everything by heart instead of being a good player.
Are you me?
Seriously though, this is exactly how I feel about the content right now. Without insane RNG, full-time grinding or playing some of the worst-designed raids I’ve seen (in a game that wasn’t supposed to be about raids -.-) – I can’t make even the slightest bit of progress towards any goal. This, combined with the horrible connection I’ve had to the game recently (everything else runs fine, including demanding online games), is really sapping my will to play. I want to play this game, I want to have fun… but non-existent drops, insane gold-gates and content that rewards copying a build instead of good play… this is the opposite of GW2.
But hey, we got raids now, so the 90% of the playerbase who are raiders are happy. ^^
“This rose has thorns, and here they are!”
Hello, experienced and skilled gamer here. Just wanted to let everyone know that not everyone wants to herd cats or has that much time to invest in a single sitting, real life and all that. A friendly reminder that while raids are surely more difficult than existing content in this game, the difficulty isn’t the only issue here – accessibility is also a large factor.
I’ve been in the top bracket of raiders in some of the games I’ve played over the years, even debatably the best healer on my server in one of them – I know how to raid. I can safely say that the hardest part of raiding in any of these games, especially in ones with multiple difficulty levels (to get to those higher levels), was getting into a bloody group! The communities were so up their own kittens that they wouldn’t accept newcomers, isolated themselves from the main community, etc. And why wouldn’t they? Raids are designed to be best with a tried and tested, reliable group of highly skilled players who know they can work together. Raids, by design, make it difficult for people to enter if they’re not in with a raiding clan/guild/whatever.
Then there’s time. Being able to put X hours aside in one sitting. For an organised group, getting everyone together at said time. I’m sure that’s not an issue for a lot of people here who have lifestyles that can be built around their gaming schedule. Not everyone can, again effectively locking these people out of the content.
Am I asking for raids to be nerfed? No.
Am I asking for your raid loot for free and no effort on my part, because I can’t reliably dedicate X hours to one sitting every week? No.
Am I asking for people who tag mobs in an event chain zerg to become rich and get the nicest things the game has to offer? No.
I’m asking for a chance, for those of us who can’t participate in the current system, for either:
a) Some kind of rework that allows raids to scale or be broken down into sub-wings or something
or
b) Allow us to obtain comparable rewards via another means of challenging content
It’s all well and good to say that we might get PvP legendary armour or something in the future, but let’s face it – SAB will probably return before that happens. Hell, completing tribulation mode was probably more of a feat than raids – but it could be done in smaller chunks at a time and didn’t require nine other players.
/rant
tl;dr, being unable to invest a large amount of time, be part of a raid-focused group or have luck herding cats in PUGs doesn’t mean a person has no skill.
In Guild Wars 1, tournaments were frequent and high ranked PvP results were actually reported in chat – and nobody minded. The game’s competitive scene was ahead of its time and people could ignore the occasional message, spectate in game (not just on twitch) or just keep an eye on the chat and occasionally cheer when a team with a funny name won a match. It was perfect.
Fast-forward to Guild Wars 2. Every loading screen. An immovable piece of clutter in the top right of the screen. It’s not the end of the world, but what’s it for? A game that, despite a lot of effort, just isn’t suitable to be an “e-sport”. PvP is boring to watch, it’s decided by invisible traits and large cluster-kittens of special effects. The game modes aren’t exactly the most interesting to watch either. Stronghold was a good attempt, but I still wouldn’t want to watch people playing it.
When the prize pool reaches $10m and is funded by the playerbase out of sheer anticipation of the event, then I’ll happily accept this stuff clogging up my screen. Until then, please stop begging for my attention – I don’t care if some people I’ve never heard of are playing PvP.
These things should be in the wardrobe or in a seperate cosmetics effect slot. It’s been brought up before, but it’s a small thing and always gets ignored. Hey ho…
Why do people look at crafting like some kind of demon or something? Just gather the materials (as is done in the example anyway) and get to it. A few clicks here and there aren’t going to kill anyone.
As someone who crafted half a server’s end-game weaponry on another MMO, I’m glad that this isn’t possible on GW2. Why should some people (who “enjoy” crafting or something, it doesn’t work like that) put in the work, just for others to piggyback off of it. If crafting is so bad, why are you so happy to make someone else do it for you? If it’s not so bad, then stop slacking and get past level 100 tailor.
Everyone should put in the same effort and investment to get the same end reward, not just pushing the workload onto other people.
The expansion was rushed. There is more to come, but Mordremoth is dead. People can come up with convincing ideas on how things will continue, but unless there is really solid evidence (i.e. Braham, Eir and the Dragonhunter elite spec); then they’re as good as a bad fanfic.
LFG is a taxi tool.
I use it all the time for offering help to new players and find it great.
But yeah…overall it’s a taxi tool for the next farm.
It’s a pretty bad taxi tool. With the joining limits, two full maps / fake advertisements / general idiocy locks you out. Get another one after that and you’ve missed the event.
Response to my ticket with EE:
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to know that you are experiencing connectivity issue while
playing online game.Thank you for notifying us of the issue and all the efforts you have
taken to resolve this issue. We strive to provide you with the best
possible service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your
expectations it’s important for us to know.Currently some of our customers are facing an issue with Guild Wars 2
game. Your complaint regarding the poor service has been escalated to
the Higher Level Managers, they are working on this issue. It should be
resolved at the earliest.We hope that you will give us another chance to serve you.
If you require any further help, please feel free to contact us.
Well at least they acknowledge the issue and are still looking into it!
Just came here to post that I’d received a very similar reply from them and that they’ll keep in contact with me about it. Not much point since the general gist of it was the same as this.
Seeing as I previously told them that my cat was stuck in the toaster and they told me to open the ports to fix it, I’ve found their customer service quite… lacking. I was also given the option of a £60 engineer visit to perform the basic tests that I’ve already done myself, but seeing that the reply this time was otherwise sensible, I decided I wouldn’t tell them what they could do with their £60 call out cost.
Personally, my Windows 10 upgrade is working fine with GW2, so it can’t be purely that. I’m not the techiest person, but I guess some other specs might help the more knowledgeable users here.
It’s okay guys, problem solved! The person I was speaking to from EE says that if I open some ports, my games console will be able to buffer! We’re all saved! /sarcasm
When/if this ever gets fixed, can this thread be kept open as a general “EE hate” thread? XD
Well, it’s just kicked in even earlier today. Between this and work, I won’t be able to play for the next month or so if it keeps up. I can’t wait for everyone to get so far ahead of me and probably be locked out of raids because I won’t be able to play and learn them when they’re new.
The activity timer could use some tweaking, I agree. I’ve lost credit for a lot of escort missions because of droughts of enemies tied to the event, or said enemies just being instantly nuked.
I got cut off just before 7pm tonight, but oddly enough I had some uptime after that. I’m back to 0 ping and nothing happening now though.
From what I can see, and from contacting them myself, I can see they just don’t care and they’ll continue to fob us off. Got to love how companies can operate nowadays.
Agreed with everything apart from the particle effects. Subtle glows, maybe, but particle effects would be a little far for my tastes… or computer to handle. XD
I know this is a Gw2 forum, but has anyone else noticed any issues on other programs? I noticed Skype isn’t working too well any more either and the issues coincide with the issues related to Guild Wars
Possibly. I’m putting Skype down to someone just ignoring me though. I can dream that it’s this same problem, but I doubt it.
This really will be an issue. When ascended weapons were added, we also had SAB. Plenty of people ignored SAB to get the new shiny. Not all, but plenty did. That was for weapon stats, this is a new expansion. A lot of people will get a lot less out of Hallowe’en than they’d like…
Oh well, that’s how Anet’s decided to do it.
Yes, only Guild Wars, EE, Midlands. Exactly as OP described.
- Longbow is almost perfect. I wouldn’t have minded some healing a la Ice Bow, but it’s been perfectly clear that Dragonhunter basically has to sacrifice support. Kind of a shame really, since longbow would’ve been an ideal long range support weapon.
- The name still sucks. Everything that has to be said on this matter has been said, I know it won’t change, but that’s how I feel on the matter. It’s a very specialised theme and it just doesn’t fit a lot of characters.
- Heavy Light is still an awful idea. For the past three years, players have complained about longbow rangers misusing their knockback and messing up fights… so we get a trait that does this as soon as it comes off cooldown with no control whatsoever? Please make it unlock an instant-cast F4 skill with the same cooldown that simply applies a knockback to our next attack. Let us choose when to use it, so we don’t knock enemies out of AoE fields or away from our melee users!
- Traps in general are a flawed concept. I’m not a PvPer, but I can understand how they will be almost completely useless there. As for PvE, I’d never touch them.
- Following on from the last point, I don’t want to use traps, so the traits punish me heavily for this. A lot of the other elite specialisations have traits that synergise with the core profession and allow them to get something out of other weapons, utilities and such. When I look at the Dragonhunter traits, I feel as though I’m being told “You, you have to use this exact set up, whether you like it or not!”. I’d like to be able to use my shouts and not feel punished by an awful line up of traits that do absolutely nothing for my build.
That’s just me though. I’ve always wanted to use a longbow on my Guardian, and now I can. However, I get a name and an icon that completely breaks everything my character is about; I have to sacrifice a traitline I really enjoy for a bunch of stuff that only suits one or two builds and I’m given a bunch of utilities and mechanics I have no interest in whatsoever – while other elite specialisations get some pretty neat stuff.
To summarise: love the bow, still dislike everything else – the name, concept, utilities, traits and synergy. I’m happy to take the bow, but I feel that it’s been wasted and will always be tied to an awful elite specialisation.
Raids excludes players, and it's ok.
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Chameleon Dude.1564
Difficulty? Fine. Forced static raid groups/guilds or having to herd cats with randoms? No thanks. It’s great that lots of people enjoy the environment that comes with raiding groups, but I can’t stand it. It’s not something I’m going to put up with, and I doubt any success with randoms because of the lack of co-ordination. So as a skilled player who can handle difficult content, but who plays with more casual friends, I’m left out.
But that’s okay, people in their tight-knit raiding groups get their shinies and a ton of development time.
I know who I am. If I’m holding alt, I’m usually trying to find something. This isn’t helpful. :s
Dragonhunter would need to heal on every damaging skill it uses, be it bow or trap, to even begin to compete with the Druid. Druid is too strong for a backline support and will get nerfed, but I doubt Dragonhunters will come out on top. They’re really the final nail in the coffin after Herald and Scrapper being far more durable and supporty, while nearly anything will out dps a Dragonhunter.
All that leaves is crowd control. For a specialisation with a longbow and traps, I’d have thought we’d be good in that respect. Nope. Traps don’t fit the class, at all.
I will be speccing Dragonhunter. I need the longbow – it’s what I’ve wanted since my first beta weekend (of the game, not the expansion)! However, I’ve had to sacrifice an entire traitline while testing this. I enjoy support guardian (I know, feel free to shoot me) and the longbow itself gives me a solid backline weapon with some decent crowd control and projectile destruction; I’m happy with this part. However, I get a bunch of traps I’ll never touch and I lose a whole line of traits that synergise perfectly with the rest of the core profession… for a bunch of stuff I’d rather not have slotted!
The minors? Unlocking the new stuff feels wasted. Virtue of Resolve becomes weaker. Traps are useless. Blocking an attack buffs justice? It’d be a nice choice, but forced… it doesn’t work. Bonus damage, range… traps are melee and most guardian weapons are melee… dead weight. The adept traits are all pretty bad: stun, damage and an immobilise. Master traits offer a bit more, but when compared to other professions… they don’t hold a candle. As for the grandmasters… Heavy Light is still a huge issue. If slotted, the player can’t choose when the knockback happens. We’ve all played this game, we’ve all had that longbow Ranger use a knockback when it’s not needed. Please give us some control over this.
Anywho, Dragonhunter just doesn’t compare to any of the other elite specialisations (apart from Tempest, but it doesn’t compare to a vanilla Elementalist). It lacks synergy with the core profession and the Guardian will offer less than other professions in every single role.
/rant
P.S. Dragonhunter is still a bad name. I know it won’t be changed, but we have Guardians running around with a silly name, with unwanted skills, unable to do what the name suggests with the skillset they’ve just been given!
Spec are you most excited for? (Strawpoll)
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Chameleon Dude.1564
I’m surprised Berserker is so low. I feel that if the poll asked us to put them in rank order, it would move further up. It’s not the most exciting thing, but it’s a solid trait line that actually has synergy with the class as a whole… which is more than Tempest and Dragonhunter can say.
Human necromancer so the reaper can use the Grenth elite for chill spam.
Less is more. People might be willing to gamble more if the keys are cheaper. I say:
- Drop keys to 25 gems each, 5 for 100 gems.
- Remove anything that can be bought for gold from a vendor (boost powders, guild discoveries, etc).
- Put similar items together on the same roll. If it comes up, let us choose what we want; i.e. RNG says you get a mini-pet, let us choose between the egg, a SAB mini, one of the birds or whatever else is available. I don’t want duplicates of account-bound mini-pets, nor do I want a pile of consumables that I have a stack of – let me pick a different one.
- Sort out gem store prices in general and make things more tempting. Even during the anniversary sale, I didn’t touch those discounted merchant expresses. Anyone who did needs to learn the value of money (or their time if they converted gold to gems).
- Add more fun items to the chests! Are they the super rare items that everyone wants?No. Will they sit on a giant pile of boosters or be deleted because they’re account-bound unlocks the player already has? No. They’ll be used! Give players a few of them at a time and don’t let all three rolls of a chest be fun items… but put them in there! What should they be? Get creative!
I’d rather just see the current five home instances un-instanced and made part of the open world… then give us some real player homes. Complete customisation, stick the nodes in there and sell a ton of extra cosmetic kitten on the gem store to make it worth Anet’s effort.
Why yes, I’d love to have quaggan guards at the door.
Might I recommend farming simulator?
But seriously, champ bags don’t need a buff. We shouldn’t have to run around in a circle for loot in the first place.
Like the many threads about the trinity, the response is and always will be: this game was designed to not have traditional quests. There is a lot of lore and it could be brought into the spotlight, but for this game, quests aren’t the way to do it.
Show rarity or not, a different icon would be nice. Not everyone likes an inventory full of block yellow, green and blue squares.
But I need to know where my character is on the screen! /sarcasm
Yeah, this change needs to go.
The stupid orange messages about PvP tournaments and such… I’d pay for those to be hidden!
No limited availability, time consuming farm-fests which require a few days in a row dedicated for zerging around tagging events for limited time loot.
- Need to last longer than a few days / a weekend
- Shouldn’t be farming reliant
- Shouldn’t require constantly playing the game to participate
- Rewards for actually contributing
- No extra rewards for not contributing or being selfish
- Aside from holiday events, rewards should stay acquirable in game after the event ends
- It should actually be fun!
A common enough suggestion, but so far, no official response. I think Anet have too many people buying multiples of these items for alts and want bag space filled up with stuff to warrant adding this much needed quality of life feature. Got to love being penalised for playing on alts though.
Legendary quaggan backpack please – it could become a real quaggan! Or maybe legendary Koss on Koss… ¬.¬
But yeah, more options are always good. Nothing will make me touch high-end fractals or play SPvP; and we all know how kitten WvW turns when rewards are offered (the seasons completely kill it for me, sorry) – so a regular PvE alternative would be appreciated. Then again, why stop at one? The more skins the merrier, right?
Small Guilds earning Favor/GH in HoT
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Chameleon Dude.1564
Bounty can be done solo, although duo is much easier
thats funny considering that last time when my guild attempted bounty TRAINING with a squad of 3 we failed miserably….
other thing being that it was more than a half year ago……
[where those bosses nerfed or sth?]
Depends on the boss. Poobadoo will go down easily to a good player or two, while Half-Baked Komali was buffed with the burning changes and will melt a small group who won’t have enough condition removal to deal with it. Being in a small guild of friends where we’re lucky to have a full party online at any one time, this kind of stuff worries me. My guildies play for fun, not to grind content that was designed for more people.
I’d say less invasions = more fun. These invasion style events just encourage running around and tagging tons of events for loot. It was the same with the Season 1 stuff as it is now. It’s a massive time investment in a narrow timespan, horrible design. The content itself isn’t even fun after the first run either, if that.
So we’ve got a choice between massive grind for loot, or a dead event because no fun or loot. I’d rather not have these things happen in the first place. =/
Why would anyone want to watch a stranger play an MMORPG? Yeah, those numbers mean nothing, sorry.
This, so much this. I hate reddit, twitter and the like with a passion. Use them to reach a wider audience? Sure, go for it! But please use your own kitten website Anet! The front page could even have a twitter feed or something on it, so long as the information’s actually here…