Guild Wars 2

Solori.6025:

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns expansion(includes Guild Wars 2 core game)

the key word is includes.
it means that when you go to the page, you buy HoT and they are supposed to give you GW2 core also, because it is sold with HoT.

Regardless of whether you own gw2 or not, by the definition of the word includes, all customers who preorder are supposed to get gw2core and HoT.

That is what include means.

Except that no, as Solori here precisely said, you do not. If you’re a veteran player, the other core game you’re supposed to get vanishes into thin air. If we got another key to give to a friend, even if it merged with our current account to give something of value (the extra character slot would have been nice, as the new account means five), it would be fine.

This way, when you have a purchase where it’s much, much more profitable for a player to make a completely new account than to upgrade their existing one, it’s a sign there’s something wrong with the system.

All of you who say “HoT is the new version of the game, you’re buying just the upgrade” Imagine this was done with gaming consoles and you had to buy a new PlayStation every single time a new game came out. Except you’d be forced to buy exactly the same thing you already own, that’s still running. And you wouldn’t even have the benefit of having a backup machine, because as soon as you bought the console, it would mysteriously disappear and you’d only get the game. Others, who have not supported the console manufacturer for the past three years, would be pretty much rewarded for not supporting them.

See the problem? It just sends the wrong message. “Don’t play this game, just buy it as a bundle when all the expansions come out.”

Seeing as the topic got buried under 50+ duplicit threads about GW business practices, could I hope for an answer before it gets lost forever?

And you demand them to do exactly what? Teleport the whole staff that’s there away from E3 (where it has its own obligations), use a summoning stone to bind them to chairs in one room and reach an executive decision? Even if you did that immediately, it DOES take time for a bunch of people to agree on something, doubly so if it’s this tricky. Even if they decided three days ago to edit what they are doing, editing policies that are tied to gathering money is a tricky thing (just for the legal issues alone) and requires moving on tips of your fiscal toes.

Would it really help had miss Gray popped up and said “We’re trying to work it out”? without being able to say “work it out how?” Normally, I would say yes, but with the current amount of vitriol in here, no. All it would do would be to sharpen pitchforks for some, call others for snidy insults and have the rest to start speculating, which always leads to unreasonable expectations.

Hey, let’s not be vindictive, could we? Mistakes happen, as do bad or unfortunate decisions. The only way to find out about them, sans precognition and time machines, is when they blow in your face. So let’s try not go all “hindsight’s 20/20” and give them at least one week. Week’s a fair offer, no? Not that long time for you and extremely short time PR-and-corporate-marketing-wise.

Channel.9402:

Oo? What’s the price for the base game now? Can i buy the base game only? If i can’t then the price for base game is included in the 50usd HoT.

Actually, that is inaccurate, you still can buy the base game, just not directly from ANet. But third party retailers still have more than just a fistful of codes.

Still, yes, the deal leaves a horrible aftertaste. Local retail lists the expansion separately, so we can presume it will be available post release, but this reeks of fandom baiting – people most interested in pre-purchase are the ones that have been loyal to this game for quite some time. Pre-purchase only comes with the core game inseparably tied into it, which veterans do not need. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I get the goodwill gesture towards new guys, and I welcome it, but I don’t think I deserve to be sold the short stick for equal amount of money just for the horrible crime of sticking with Tyria for three years. :/

Actually… yes. Individual takes a few hours to sum up their possibilities and reply in a meaningful manner. Company has to summon half their decision making staff to actually have something for PR people to rely to others. Everything else would lead to a clusterkitten of mess later on.

Editing marketing strategy is no small feat. Anet is not a company of three people, but three hundred.

To clarify the point for at least part of the complainers… or rather, to clarify my point, as the others have their own keyboards to use (and by christ have they been overusing them lately): I’m completely fine with the 50€s for the expansion, both due to the content offered, inflation and lack of monthly fees. It’s the standard of gaming prices and well… if some don’t think it’s worth it, it’s their right to.

What, however, IS the issue, is the double standard.

For example, I could feel like quite the ninny now, as I spent past weeks talking my friends into joining me in Tyria, saying “Look, the game’s not that expensive now and we have this great expansion coming, I tried it out and it looks mighty sweet.” Now I get pointy looks and quotes along the lines of “Mate, had we waited for a week, we’d have saved 20€s!” (which is quite a handy sum in where I live).

It’s always wrong when a company treats part of its customer base as second rate citizens (doubly so if said customer base is the part that’s been giving them money for the past something-short-of three years). New players get the game and a free gift. Yay! Old players get the game and… nothing, possibly except the sour feeling of being shilled. In the language of marketing, that’s basically like saying “Shiv you, player, we already have YOUR money, we need your friends who still have theirs in their wallets.” Which to some can feel downright insulting, to me it at least feels rather inappropriate and… well, too EA-ish for this developer.

Had the veterans got something, albeit tiny, it would soften the blow. I’m not saying we’re entitled to better treatment than new players, but I do claim we should be treated equally. Game + Gift (quite valuable one, too) doesn’t equal Game + whateverelseyouwantyougreedynitwit.

Given the recent news about lack of collector’s edition for Heart of Thorns, I have a question to ask:

Since the download new music button was recently disabled on your SoundCloud, I sort of expected there to be a chance to get the new (and awesome, kudos to Maclaine Diemer & co.!) soundtrack made for the Maguuma as well as the expansion available with the collector’s edition of the pack. But as there isn’t any, I’d like to know whether there will be a legal way to get the new sound tracks, as it’s definitely something humworthy to work with tugged snuggly on my MP3 player.

Thanks and once more, tip of the hat for the music department, it’s been outdoing itself ever since the second season of LW started.

Alright, alright, I get the goodwill gesture of trying to attract new playerbase, but let’s face it, it came to bite you hard in the bottom.

But it’s not like it’s that hard to fix. Really, just add that character slot to standard, and/or give old players some gems on the side. Or at least make the core game a separate code, christ, so veterans have the feeling they actually bought SOMETHING. Either to make a separate account for different server play, or to give it to a friend (that way, you get a new player = you win some) or whatever.

Just use the round thing on top of your neck, sheesh. You made an awesome game in the first place, don’t ruin it by shiving those loyal to you in the eye. If we played this long, there’s a solid chance we’ll just keep playing. And dishing out gems to pay for more.

Levelling as learning your class and fun? It very much used to be. Now, with nonsensical level locking and the horrible thing the trait system has become (not talking about the division by 5 of the points, just the way it unlocks via extortion, pretty much = “do this horribly boring thing a sixth time over OR dish out gold, your choice, player”) it not only teaches you next to nothing, it punishes you for being anything under at least level 60, but ideally 80.

After levelling my newest charr (and using, for the first time in six characters, several dozens tomes of knowledge just to get it over with the painful thing, which is a bit jarring, after previously complaining about tomes being useless since levelling was fun), first after the implementation of NPE level system, I can sincerely say that unless the reclass is available, I’m not interested in getting a revenant.

Disclaimer: Take note I’m under no circumstance saying everybody feels it like that, or that my word carries more weight than yours. I’m merely adding my own 0.02$ of experience.

Mini has, and even females and calves do carry a gene that says “ANTLERS” in them, despite having none. There is, however, no moose with horns x)

“The stubbornness of the moose in mini form! This miniature will follow you anywhere, even when you lock horns with your enemies! "

Deer ANet,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but… moose have antlers x)

Okay, most of you completely miss several points here.

Yes, you can make another character. Yes, it’s not a problem. But some of us are into roleplays and continuity. We don’t want just a character who looks the same, we want them to BE the same. To keep on ticking when you go for that old /age tag in chat.

“Why should this be available when you can just…” Why should you be able to change your appearance and gender? Just make another character! And intalevel it! Ohwait, we have the Black Lion appearance change tools.

I can say this has nothing to do with laziness for me. I already have multiple characters, I enjoy levelling in the game, my roster has a blank slate so I can from time to time start a “gaming” toon, just for fun to level it up again and delete it, I don’t need it to instalevel anything (by the way, that sort of cuts off one of the previous arguments “we wan’t everyone to start the same – level 1” when you yourself admit that old players can use a cheaty scroll to get to 80 in two minutes).

The reason I asked is simple – the revenant class was INTRODUCED in a class change, not by a new character. And I know, I know, being NPC special snowflake and having priviledges… but still.

And once more – class has nothing to do with storyline, it doesn’t interfere with it. Yes, race cannot be changed, origin cannot be changed, order cannot be changed (changes anyway due to bugs, tee hee), but class plays absolutely no role in personal story, just like your appearance or gender, it’s merely technical. So I ask again, why not? (besides the rather oxymoron-ish “don’t be lazy, use a cheatyscroll to instalevel”)

Well, to counterbalance a bit:

“It wasn’t possible in GW1”
It also wasn’t possible to play Charr in GW1. This isn’t GW1.

“It cannot be done because of personal storylines”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in which personal storyline does it ever rely on your class choice? You have your background, your sires, your drunken escapades, your lifelong dreams and asuran colleges, but class, as far as I remember, never factors into personal story.

“How could they reclass into different armor”
Easily, it wouldn’t be the first time the game would strip you down to your undies without your approval. Adjusting the armor set with it would be welcome and in my opinion not impossible, but not mandatory.

“Previous statements of ‘There will be nots’”
Let me kindly remind you one of said previous statements was “There will not be an expansion.”

But yes, I’m fully aware of this being semi-complicated to implement, and it may be selfish of me that I don’t want to sacrifice an existing character to create the very same from scratch with the very same name and appearance and having to replay their personal story all over again when it could be solved by a convenience item. Consider it a voice that expresses a wish rather than a question then.

I apologize if the question has been asked and answered alrady, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Since HoT introduces a new playable class, I’d like to know whether it would be possible (for example through a TP item that could be included for those with the expansion once for free) to change class to existing character.

I mean, I do hear the response “Just make a new slot.” But be it for roleplay purposes, or just not wanting to let go of a character with design/story completion/name you like and give it a new paintjob instead, I imagine there being quite a few people who’d find this option interesting and useful.

Rytlock, the tease he is, seems to have done so with little problem, so could the player as well?

Eeeeeeeh… not sure which armors are you using, but both my charr ranger and charr elementalist (males) have worn armor that looks distinctively skirt-like most of their lives, due to being… either a very closed coat or a robe-like thing.

Both my charr guardian and warrior (females) on the other hand are distinctively skirt-less and chest-undistinctive, since most heavy armors actually LOOK like heavy armor.

If you want to call it “fashion”, feel free to call charr and asura “unfashionable”. But for the love of Tyria, please, don’t count the fact that human and norn females for some reason decided to mostly shop for their armors in skimp shops as the epitome of gender equality, because it’s. not. Especially considering both charr and asura rely on completely different sexual characteristics than showing of your cleavage and wearing a skirt.

Also not sure what the weird “chest area shaping” comments are supposed to be, since at least charr are flat as a board. Not sure about asura, since I don’t play as one anymore and I don’t walk around staring at people’s chests all the time. A) it would be awkward, b) I’m a charr, chests are not really all that interesting to me and C) our primus said crouching this hard is bad for my back.

Man, it’s so obvious. The player character hides under the firebowl you summon the airstrike with. What else were you thinking? :[

Less snarky remark: Let’s chalk it up to the rool of cool, shall we? x)

Both new bosses (LS and world) are well-designed, in this person’s humble experience (I’m purposefully not saying fun, because even though I enjoyed both immensely, I realize some people may have different tastes). Both are reasonably easy to figure out and of meddling difficulty to master.

The Shadow actually forces you to play. Not just stand around, piddle it from distance (or grind spinny attack up close, depending on class). You’re depraved of NPC helpers to save your hide, you need to be literally quick on your feet (which is where the “not fun!” for some players comes into play) and the boss punishes you for not adapting fast enough without unnecessarilly stunlocking your sorry tail (staring hard at you, “more than one terragryph”) or making your downed state a horrible case of “not happening” with homing attacks (hello, clockheart). It actually forced me to suddenly go “Oi!”, start paying attention and use all the skills I had at my disposal. And that’s exactly what a finalle boss should do, at least in my book.

Note of a possible bug: Might be worth checking if the NPC dialogue spawns correctly. Braham offering me shielding happened correctly, as far as I can tell, but Rox only announced her spitfire moves twice over the whole fight and definitely not the first few times she threw the torch at me. Ensuring that happens the very first time she does that may help some of those having trouble figuring the boss out (even though instructions on the cog are clear, no argument there).

After quite a long time of lukewarm comebacks, I’m genuinely happy about this new patch.

I do hope the soundtrack appears on Soundcloud again, both the music for the golden chamber and the fight with the Shadow (which, if my ear is correct, appeared all the way back in Dragon’s reach, but I can’t find it on Soundcloud) deserve a tip of the hat and being played more often than just in the instance.

Gaile (or anyone reading the forums, really), please, give my most honest praise to whoever is responsible for the final animatic of this update (the thing with January 24 at the end, no further details for spoilers, as this is an unmarked thread). I’ve had a sort of a gripe with the new animation style (as I enjoeyed the “cardboard cutout theatre” you’ve decided to abandon quite some time ago), but this (and the similarily impressive and stylized Fractal trailer about a year ago) goes right into my library favorites. Thank you for that and I hope we see more of this style in the future.

I do believe the OP is not referring to difficulty of content, but rather the quite ugly mudhole Viathan Lake’s become since the Nightmare Tower appeared in there.

I’d support that notion as well. I tend to steer clear of Kessex Hills (even on achievement days, such as today), because if I wanted to stare at ruins and mud and browns nobody has obviously been in any darn effort to do anything about for the whole year, I’d either visit Straits of Devastation, or go play a coffee-filter game.

Viathan Lake was the pretty sight of the rolling Kessex hills greenery. But between Fort Salma (wrecked), centaur holdings (brown and muddy and generally not a scenery porn material), destroyer cavern and the undead-infested swampy grove, there’s not much for the pleasant views department in Kessex anymore. Only the very east of the map offers some solace and you have to go through another brownish swamp to get to it.

Dondarrion.2748:

(…)
And your PC’s reaction to Jory afterwards is expected, after all you’re reliving the memory as Caithe, and she’s in the tent with Nekhi and can’t see that Faolain actually aggros the centaurs first (even if you put your camera angle so you could see, or you understand the actual sequence of events, you need to “think” as if you were Caithe). So she only hears the scream and the centaurs have turned on them; remembering the Sylvari don’t have much interaction with other races yet and wary as such, she’ll defend Faolain over letting her die plus make sure they bring Wynne back.

However, the story’s problem isn’t that the right arguments aren’t there. The story’s problem is that you need to have a certain level of investment/knowledge for it to work as intended. Constructing a story isn’t the same as constructing a Lego castle. Even if you have all the right bricks and put them in the right order so your king’s bedroom isn’t in the stockades, your king (i.e. the character/s/ we’re supposed to be rooting for) may end up flogged.

I’m going to cite an example our old professor used in Creative writing classes: Think a James Bond movie or novel. You open to a heated action scene, where your hero jumps off a burning plane, fights of a hundred bad guys on a frozen lake, gets on a snowmobile, gets chased through a forest, picks up a beautiful girl on the way, jumps across a deadly chasm, braves a vicious attack of a polar bear, skins it and him and the girl of the week have a picknic on its rug. James Bond CAN pull it off, because we possess a degree of knowledge and respect for the character that allows the writer to get away with it, or on occassions, even mandatorily having to include it to meet such expectations.

But imagine you’re a starting writer and your Johnny McNoname does the same. People will call you out on it, call your plot stupid and pretentious, because they lack the crucial knowledge/investment in the character. Works the same way if you imagine someone living under the proverbial rock and show him the James Bond movies without any prior knowledge or investment in the character – you’ll have a cavalcade of confused question markers hovering above their head to explain.

So yes, the story behind Seeds of Truth has all the logical things. But to make us something more than a spectator, to have us take part in such things, you have to make us invested in the protagonist first. That’s why moments like these are easiest to do with games that have a characterized protagonist and stable cast.

Here, Sylvari players who enjoy the plant-people lore have a distinct advantage. But if you play as another race with minimum investment (either haven’t played as other races or simply do not care), you only met Caithe during a very few instances. And in those, she’s a bit of a fifth wheel – where you have a conflict of Logan/Rytlock and Zojja/Eir that helps flesh out who and what those characters are, Caithe is the hapless kindergarten teacher that is trying to pacify shrieking mob by quietly asking it to calm down without any authority whatsoever. And now, we’re asked to play as this hapless kindergarten teacher during her extremely stupid and brash decision (justified as it may have been for her, the player at that point DOES know better) and actively take part in it. THAT is where the problem lies, not in us having to decrease a fictional number on a couple of nicely animated polygon clusters to zero.

When you’re invested in your hero and the story, the desired moral conflict will ensue. When there’s a not exactly small chance you haven’t actually MET the character before, the whole plot trips over a cat and lands in the fireplace.

… there goes my resolve to reply shortly. Ahwell.

Alright, to add my two cents…

After mulling it over in my head, I ended up on the “dislike” barricade of this particular story as well.

As for mindless slaughter – I’m a jaded old bone, I’ve steered the likes of Captain Walker, so the centaur village is definitely not the ickiest feeling I ended up having over a game. However, that itself doesn’t say “oh, other games did that, it’s completely fine for us to do it too”. Also, in this player’s humble opinion, to successfully pull this card off, you need your audience invested FIRST. You need to have them attached to the character they’re supposed to be following, so they’re reluctant to leave, or not to help.

All things considered, my worry is thus: There is a portion of the fanbase that already actively hates the Sylvari. I don’t count among them, I played as a Sylvari mesmer for quite a few levels, but I don’t count as a fan, either. So far, it’d been mostly “Meh” for me. Same goes for the Sylvari member of DE – I couldn’t be bothered to activelly dislike or hate her, I just didn’t care; were it in Edge of Destiny, racial personal stories or otherwise, I found her illegible and untrustworthy. But with Seeds of Truth, I’ve been quite violently shoved the dislike-slash-hate way.

And players who already feel annoyed by the Sylvari status of being a Mary Sue race end up being embittered and annoyed. “Man, they’re making me play for a character I hate. Man, now they’re making me do things I don’t want to do!”

What, I imagine, was supposed to result in better understanding of the “other side” (I did restrain myself from saying villain, because what do I know) ended up with many not just not understanding it, but actively refusing to do so. Which, I’m afraid, is a bit of a fail.

Kudos for the stealth sections though, those were interesting. Story around them… not so much.

So you get to run and enjoy the world for once instead of porting around like Nightcrawler on speed. Oh the humanity.

I do believe some will be added in later patches, with us taking a bit of Mordy’s breathing space. Right now, the way it is makes perfect sense story-wise. We just established a base in Silverwastes. Discovering that “oh hey, Asura were here last night setting up portystones before we let the first fighting force in” would be weird, cheap and rather stupid.

First of all, let me congratulate the narrative of the new patch. The map (huuuuge), the story, all feels great. But I also noticed quite a few new musical tracks. Will they be made available anywhere? I found them quite beautiful, especially the mystical tune of the last story instance (please, do not spoil, fellow players).

Nope, smeared all the same. Now I even got ported to the start AFTER others already left for next round.

Have you checked your collectibles? Corn cob is a depositable material.

Happened to me six times in a row a few minutes ago. It’s not lag, no other jumps are affected. I also made the jump with another player, we flew the same angle, lenght and time and difference is, she disappeared inside, while I got smeared against invisible wall. Playing on my charr, she later said it happened on her Norn, too, and as soon as she switched to human, she makes the jump just fine.

Vayne.8563:

Things have always been gated, even in Guild Wars 2. Your skills have always been gated. you didn’t unlock your first slot skill to level 5, your second till level ten and your third to level 20. If you believed it was wrong to gate, it should have been wrong last week too.

Okay, just… stop. Stop right there. Stop melding together apples and refuse, you completely missed the argument there.

Yes, skills have always been gated. But I’m talking about things I believe that SHOULD NOT be gated under ANY circumstance, and that’s the very basic functions that NEVER were restricted before = basic pet functions are one of those functions. Please, learn to see the difference.

Vayne.8563:

Elite skills were at level 30 before, now they’re at 40 but Anet tells us they unlock at about the same number of hours played.

I could live with that, in case that’s true. I’m not that strongly objected to that notion.

Vayne.8563:

Is this new method slightly more inconvenient. Sure it is. But if Anet is right and this helps keep people just starting out and from free demo weekends, it’s probably worth it. Having more people in the game benefits everyone.

Thank you for proving my point. What is the point of upgrading something to make it more inconvenient for both OLD and NEW players alike? Do you honestly believe new players will go through the map and tell themselves “Oh, this game makes me slightly inconvenient, that’s the right game to play then! Carry on!”? If so, you live in some very strange circumstances, mate.

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think these inconveniences are so bad. They don’t significantly change the game for me. Experienced players often have level 20 scrolls anyway. PvPers have tomes galore.

“It doesn’t change the game for me, so it doesn’t change the game for anyone.” Right. Good idea.
And even better idea: Experienced players, just skip the first 20 levels…. you know, when you change content in a way that people want to skip it with a cheaty scroll, you juuuust maybe might be doing something wrong. Just saying.

Vayne.8563:

You can still level in EoTM. You can still PvP from level 2.

Newsflash: Not everyone in this game wants to play any kind of PvP (which EoTM IS). And even if they do, wow. The amazing fast levelling you get from the virtually NO experience until you’re high enough level!

Vayne.8563:

There is gating, but there has always been gating.

“So no problem if we make it significantly worse.” Okay, this debate is not going anywhere. It’s like debating a masochist whether stabbing yourself feels good.

Vayne.8563:

Okay so ranger pet skills F1 and F3 unlock at level 5, Screenshot attached. This is the sort of thing I mean. If you can’t live for 5 levels in the current climate without calling your pet back….I don’t know what to say. And you know if you die, it’s not the biggest deal in the world either, because there’s no armor repair and waypoints are dirt cheap at that level.

Okay, good to know. In which case, I partially concur. The question remains, however, why the topic that’s aiming to clear the misconceptions about the new patch creates new ones by having very, very inacurrate information.

And still, from what I know, pet swap unlocked at 24. Lovely. Why.

Yes, those ALL are changes I CAN and most likely will get used to. Problem is, I don’t want to. Human beings are very adaptible creatures. They “got used to” many things, many of them much more unpleasant than a game patch. And there’s a great many unpleasant things (not only for me, but for many players, it seems) in this patch I mentioned in posts above that you haven’t adressed and which I know are accurate and find them to be almost euqally stupid as the pet mechanic you’ve proven to be inacurrately reported. (Also, kudos for neatly sidestepping the rest of my arguments or ignoring them completely, tells me all I need to know.)

Not to mention, as I said. Having part of your equipment uncontrollable until ANY level (yes, level 5 takes a short while, but it still IS time) is just plain BAD. I hope I cleared up that confusion for you.

Vayne.8563:

Sorry but you’re wrong. I unlocked those pet skills to control your pet way earlier than level 22. I saw this claim when my ranger was level 18 and the skill to call your pet back was already unlocked. I’m going to go play a ranger right now, to level 5 to verify, but I’m almost postive those skills unlock at level 5. They certainly don’t unlock at level 23, because I had them before that on my new ranger.

In which case, I’ll readilly admit I’m wrong about set gate; I’m taking my facts from the official topic “Misconceptions (…)”, which clearly states that F3 skill unlocks at 22 and F4 at 24. No asterisk or note “For this class only”.

Problem is, I still believe ANY kind of gating this function is plain wrong. What is the tutorial instance for now? You can literally run through it, not attack anything, stand in front of the final boss and go for a coffee break. It doesn’t teach you how to fight, how to stay alive, how to control your basic functions (because yes, I’m positive F key IS locked in those instances completely, so a beginning ranger has their pet run around with no control). I’m sorry, but that very notion I find wrong.

Vayne.8563:

See this is the kind of post I find most objectionable. Demanding an explanation from a company that’s already explained. Ridiculing them because you don’t agree or understand something.

Feel free to object, that’s what the forums are for. But to clarify my intent:
I’m not demanding an explanation. I’m asking if the one who came up with the idea and believes is good could come up here and enlighten us stupid and not understanding and explain why the idea is good. If I believe in something, it’s natural I believe it’s worth defending. That person should believe it too. If they don’t, well… that does explain a lot.

And no, the system wasn’t explained. Notice that the level gates are absent from the pre-patch teasers. Only rewards with each level. Only thing that’s mentioned to be gated is the personal story, and that’s a vague mention at best. I wonder why that is.

Vayne.8563:

Take the ranger pet controls. The main controls unlock at level 5. Level 5!, it’s like 20 minutes into the game.

Okay, let me enlighten your horrible lapse of judgement in here. You unlock skill F1 at level 5. That is. NOT. Main controls. That’s only being able to tell your pet to attack a certain target. Which it does automatically anyway. You unlock “main” controls – the ability to call your pet back – at level 22. Until then, the pet is uncontrollable. That’s a very fine notion, teaching the early rangers the pet is a completely uncontrollable appendix they don’t have to care about.

It’s the one thing I find inexcusable and undefendable. The game is locking basic skills, which when unavailable, actually hamper and actively damage your play.

Vayne.8563:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there’s no room for this kind of post on the forums.

I activelly suggest you go ahead and look up the definition of a “forum”. It’s the beautiful thing about forums. There’s room for EVERYONE’s post on it. Even a post you disagree with.

Vayne.8563:

If you have a problem with the patch, it’s possible to state it without insulting staff members who worked kitten an update, just because you don’t like a tiny percent of the upgrade (and the NPE really is a small percent of the update).

I do have a problem of the update. I also consider myself a levelheaded individual. I never said the rest of the update isn’t genuinely good, if you think I did, you’re mistaking me for someone else. I like the levelling rewards, I even like the new Trading Post.

But I firmly believe the level gates and changes made to early play are activelly damaging the experience for new AND old players alike. The system is just botched and implemented in all the wrong places. The fact that tutorial area now doesn’t require any actual tutorials (you can’t die and NPCs do ALL the fighting for you). The fact that on one hand, the starting areas are now insultingly easy but at the same time, downed state has been gated (and not just downed state “at level 5, 20 minutes into the game”, but also the skills in it are gated for later).

And let me clarify here: I never insulted ANet staff, I never intend to. I only called this very idea stupid, which I still claim it is. I do and will call out people I respect on stupid decisions, because humans are prone to error. All of them. Even you, I, the ANet staff. So please, get your reading skills straight before you start calling me out on something I didn’t do.

Sokia.3710:

There is new content. Every time you level up, a new text box pops up that tells you that you’ve unlocked a bunch of content that used to not be locked.

Sad part is, there was a dedicated person doing all the work needed for that mess of a leveling system. A person that could have been working on some actual new content instead. And only gods know if that was just one person…

MikaHR.1978:

Changer the Elder.2948:

Djinn.9245:

Yep, they nerfed the wonderful heart where you turn into a fern hound in Caledon. I loved that heart!

SERIOUSLY?! This update is getting more stupid by the minute. No pet control until you have driver’s license, removing renown hearts that were actual FUN to do because new delicate babies might die of the awesomeness overdose or something…

Could someone on the forum staff please parade the individual who thought all these changes were a good idea to present and defend WHY they were a good idea in their twisted little personal universe?

Because they observed you playing/collecting feedback for past 2 years and this is result.

I know, i know, its everyone elses falut but yours and all that.

In which case, their methods are rather flawed. First of all, these kinds of changes are incompatible with just watching the players play their game with no feedback (but in a fridge brilliance way, it would explain why the update’s so bad).

Second of all, how on earth would you, from watching players complete a map, deduce they like one renown heart over the next? Would you make some complex algorithm that would count the amount of bounces we make divide by steps we take and multiply by the time we spent idly ogling the scenery? If so, how can the mechanism know when we stand idly watching the scenery mesmerised by it, and when we stand idly because we got bored and went for a cigarette break, or when we stand idly because our cat suddenly caught fire and real life needs our attention more than a videogame?

Third of all, the update has not only a bad idea, but also is very badly implemented. In a game where each class plays differently and requires different skillset, attitude and game style, having a SET GATE same for ALL classes is just inexcusably stupid oversight. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I remember correctly, warrior only has one F-bound thing, and that’s the adrenaline attack on the F1 key, so locking out the F bar only robs the warrior of one single (albeit strong) attack and it gets unlocked quite early on anyway, because it’s the F1 function. Compare that to the experience of a starting ranger, who’s pet is a kitten loose cannon you cannot control in any way, because you cannot call it off (F3), call it to specific target (F1) or swap it for another (F4) until you’re big enough to do grown up stuff like that, which robs you of 20-40% of your damage output, not to mention it actively DAMAGES YOUR PLAY.

As a side note, I distictly remember the preview saying rangers get a lot of love in this patch. Don’t make me laugh that loud, it’s 1 AM here, neighbors will complain.

Elementalists have a similar problem.

Seriously, if you want to tell me that ANet used divination powers and deduced that no players until level ten use the no. 5 skill on their weapon or that elementalists only discover they can go rocky on level 24, they have been watching some very badly written bots, and not actual players.

Djinn.9245:

Yep, they nerfed the wonderful heart where you turn into a fern hound in Caledon. I loved that heart!

SERIOUSLY?! This update is getting more stupid by the minute. No pet control until you have driver’s license, removing renown hearts that were actual FUN to do because new delicate babies might die of the awesomeness overdose or something…

Could someone on the forum staff please parade the individual who thought all these changes were a good idea to present and defend WHY they were a good idea in their twisted little personal universe?

“Profession skill F4 (Unlocked at level 24)”

… do you seriously mean to tell me I cannot swap my pet or attune to earth attunement before level 24? If that’s true, it’s excessively stupid O.o

As a person with 5 level 80 characters and no intention to create any more until we get more races (which is likely never, but hey, I can keep dreaming), this change would fly right past my head and I wouldn’t have to care about it.

Problem is… I really like Guild Wars 2. And I like to bring my friends to it, because as it happens, they like similar things as I do. And they always ask me: How is this game different from the MMO I’m playing right now?

Up to this day, one of the key points I mentioned was the absolute freedom. Up to the patch, the Guild Wars were very liberal in a way I (and many more, it seems) loved. “Create a character and from then on, it’s YOUR way,” said the game proudly and I adored it for that possibility. Pick a race, gender, class, mess up a face you can look at… and then do whatever you like. As a charr, I could level up in Wayfarer foothills or Metrica Province and the game was fine with it. I could delve into personal story as soon as possible or never touch it at all. I could take my time, meticulously explore everything, or breeze my way to level 80 and backtrack to see what I missed. I told them how the game gives you a second chance instead of just killing you, so you can always get up and fight.

And that all was erased with this clusterkitten of levelling content. I’m fine with other aspects of the patch, most of them improve the gameplay experience. But whoever thought “Oy! Let’s levelgate the content!” is a great idea deserves to have their foot stepped on by a Norn guardian in full armor.

— Who needs freedom of choice? Let’s point players to the next objective with an obnoxious arrow that can’t be turned off! No matter if they actually have level for that content! No matter if they actually completed all the maps in the game! They’re blind and stupid, they need to be SHOWN where the fun is!
— Let’s put downed state behind a level cap! Let’s teach those noobs that death is quick and unforgiving! Just kill them!
— But hey, we can’t kill them that quickly, so remove all content requiring any skill from up to level 15 areas.
— Teach rangers they don’t need their pets in the tutorial by locking their F skills out! Teach elementalists that attunements are overrated by locking their F skills out! Teach necromancers deathshroud is for ninnies, teach Guardians that signets are pretty little icons that aren’t to be touched!
— Elite skills are too easy to use when you gain them on level 30 and have 90-180s cooldown on them! Push them back to 40! Especially guardians would be too overpowered in underwater combat with them! Possibly. Probably. If they had any skill for that. Well… useful skill anyways.
— Letting people use multiple weapons and choosign their best build is SO dangerous early in the game! Only people with high enough level can understand the mystique behind the greatsword hilt bash! Level gate that!
— The story is horrible. Let’s gate it ten levels forward! If we’re lucky, people will forget it exists. They learned to ignore that green pointer star, anyways.
— No gathering must be available to low level players! It’s children safety! Have you seen how sharp those sickles are? We don’t have enough healing spells for all the severed limbs that caused!

… and many, many more problems this “upgrade” caused.

Seriously, ANet. I love your game, I tend to defend you. But I have one question here for you: What. The. kitten. Were you thinking?!

Yes! Ascended items are way too much boring grind! Give them away instead for free just for loging in every month! Or just for loging in every time! And the coin collecting! Or collecting in general! Why do we need 50 parts for the Shatterer event, let it slide with 30+, that’s more than enough! Why do we need to find ALL the coins for ALL the achievements? Give us all the achivements just for 3/4 of the coins! Why do we have to dodge ALL the blasts to get achievement? So what if I blow up a few times, everyone does!

… know what? Hell no. You want your shiny loot and gear? Work for it. You want your achievement for coin collecting? Work for it. You don’t think it’s worth it? Well, what’s the problem?

The game’s giving you tools. You can use them, you don’t have to. Some people enjoy the scavenger hunt and it’s designed with them in mind. You don’t want to hunt for items? Don’t. Just scrap the dust or keep it for possible future use. But for crying out loud, could you people stop counting on others to give you free stuff and nerf everything that you trip over? How about you just learn to step over it instead?

Novomundum.8325:

I had high hopes for the pet. I came in fully expecting I’ll play a awesome sniper with a trustworthy company by my side. But AIs simply don’t work. It just don’t. Not because it’s bad but because AIs can’t read minds.

YES. So you need maximum control. Giving one button to where two (three?) were previously employed gives you one more thing to AI to decide instead of you. Contradictions, contradictions!

Ahem, not really. Case scenario:

I want to recall my pet while I keep battling gravelings. I shoot the veteran, recall pet with F3 so it comes back and starts killing off whatever is nibbling at my shoes. OR I can use F1 to simply recall it to another veteran that just emerged. How would the game know whether I want to recall it to my side to nibble on the gravelings or retarget it on the other veteran? What if I’m spunky enough to take both of them? Or what if I want to switch to a greatsword to mop with the gravelings and simply retarget the pet to the veterans WITHOUT calling it off? All but one ways I can think of with the one button instead of two reliable ones make the scenario a hot mess.

Unlike CPR, current system is Clean, Pretty, Reliable. Not saying it couldn’t be cleaner, prettier and reliablier (yes, I did that on purpose), but mapping two different functions you want to use under two different circumstances (or even three or four, depends on how creative can you get with them) to one button which would have to guess which of the circumstances are you using it on only makes it a game design failure.

Novomundum.8325:

Changer the Elder.2948:

If you don’t want to use a pet and dislike it as strong as your post implies, I suggest you play a warrior. Or any other class that suits you better. Because pet (and its proper handling, which is what the F1 and F3 keys are made for) is a mechanic that’s as crucial to the ranger as elemental atunements are to elementalists or gear packs for the engineer. Without a pet, you’re just undereuqipped thief. Or warrior with severe lack of armor. So it might be better to play those to avoid the hassle. So if ANet really stripped that away… well, no reason to keep the class around when there are way better ones to suit those needs, right?

I’m actually kind of hurt at this part, everything you said above makes sense and are worth considering. But I should tell you that I play all professions and have made all of them level 80. In most games I play, I like sneaky classes/professions with either a sniper feel or a dual sword wielding kitten. So naturally the ranger is my fave pick right after the thief. But when I started playing the ranger, the pet just made everything so awful. I feel like a way more awesome sniper as a warrior and the warrior isn’t exactly the sneaky type that I like so much.

Then keep your pet passive if you don’t use that, easy as that, but you’re robbing yourself of 20% of your damage, if not more. If you just need a character in medium armor to keep you happy (warriors have some solid designs for sneaky approach, too – my warrior’s a lean-built Ash legion scout, after all), play a thief instead, they use a short bow or dual blades as well.

Rangers are excellent snipers due to their pets. Sending in your pet and sniping from 1500 range is what no other class can do, because pets are exactly there to agro damage and mop whatever would otherwise counter your sniping by coming to bite your face off.

I’m not saying “You obviously suck at this, go play something you suck less at”, not at all. All I’m saying is, if having a pet (core mechanic of the class) and having to rely on it doesn’t suit you and you dislike it (which your post says), go play something you don’t dislike from its core existence alone. It’s like complaining you hate candy for lunch but going shopping to candy store, anyway.

But how would the game tell if you want just to toggle to passive altogether, or if you want to just recall it from ONE target? Also, what if I want to simply recall it to my target but NOT attack the target I’m currently attacking (which doesn’t necessarily have to be the one the pet is at).

It’s a lot of useless hassle that would only make the ranger harder to play. It’s not just “one more button press”, I’d live with that, silly as that would have been, but in a hassle of players, it’s tough to keep track of your pet even if you KNOW what you ordered it to do. I can’t imagine the mess if the ranger only had a vague idea what the pet is supposed to be doing (“Did that second tap register? Is it now passive? Is it now active? Is it now attacking/passive, so will it return to me when it’s done with that one target?”). Rangers are now considered by many to be the toughest class not just because that pet micromanagement (which is necessary for good play), but because their jack-of-all-trades build, which can easily turn them into master of none. Adding more confusion to the pile will render them too obfuscating to play for many.

Right now, the button system is easy, reliable and you know what you pressed. Since the recall button started working some half a year ago, most fights that required me to creatively swap to stop damaging my allies are now a breeze.

And it’s not like the pets need that extra button you’re so eager to free up. What for? Second attack is useless, swapping is already mapped, stowing is useless in and of itself and doesn’t need to be mapped and the only useful feature (active/passive) would be merged into the F1 skill. So why render the button useless? Do people have some sort of a scorn against their F3 keys or something?

By the way, commands “Attack my target” “Return” and “Set to passive/active” don’t have a cooldown now, either.

Syrpharon.7491:

If something happens to her, at least let us keep her head in our home area

What? Ew! James, return that husk head to dr. Bryson this instant!

Pets are not a headache to use when you learn how to use them right. Now what good are the keys for:

F1: Attack a certain target. Sometimes, I want the pet attack something else than I’m aiming for. If there’s five mobs, and I want the pet to take care of the veteran while I rez my partner, that’s what you want to use F1 for. General “be agressive now” leaves the pet uncontrollable and is a step in a horrible direction.

F2: Special attack. You probably know how to use that.

F3: Return to me. Different from passive (now that it actually WORKS, which admittedly, it didn’t for a long time.) Very useful for just calling off your pet from a certain mob (not calling it onto a different one), but leaving it active, so it can attack again. Useful when you just want to leave it something particular alone, or call it off from battle (which you do need to do on occassion).

Passivity: Even passive-set pets can attack. They won’t seek fight themselves and won’t actively protect you, but can be ordered to attack, in which case, they will attack ONE target and come back. Which is a crucial skill in certain dungeons (some Fractals) and world bosses. Evolved Jungle Wurm is crucial with pet set on passive to avoid Husks, but you need to quickly order it around with F1 and F3 to send it to veteran wurms to help you fight.

The only truly obsolete and useless thing is the unmappable “Stow pet” option. It comes back automatically when you take damage, so the only use is on jumping puzzles, where fall damage counts as well. But there’s no “free” button slot to place it, anyway.

All in all, what you’re suggesting isn’t improving the pet, it’s turning it into a loose canon, which is frankly what most rangers have the pet to be and that’s why lots of players kick rangers out of dungeons without asking.

If you don’t want to use a pet and dislike it as strong as your post implies, I suggest you play a warrior. Or any other class that suits you better. Because pet (and its proper handling, which is what the F1 and F3 keys are made for) is a mechanic that’s as crucial to the ranger as elemental atunements are to elementalists or gear packs for the engineer. Without a pet, you’re just undereuqipped thief. Or warrior with severe lack of armor. So it might be better to play those to avoid the hassle. So if ANet really stripped that away… well, no reason to keep the class around when there are way better ones to suit those needs, right?

Lodius.5392:

Here is a screenshot of all the WPs across the maps that are not working / blinking / contested, etc.

http://i.imgur.com/RC34Noy.jpg

Think about it… The story line mentioned the place where “ley lines” intersect was considered very important. Notice the epicenter (if you will) is located between Lions Arch and Kessex hills empty zone.

I think this is where the end of this living story will take us…

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! … your thoughts?

“empty zone between Lion’s Arch and Kessex hills” is where the Dominion of winds (aka Tengu home area) is located, so I very much doubt the LS will take us there (would be bloody awesome to be wrong, though).

And yes, so far, the map seems accurate, from the in-game talks, 4 dead waypoints are what people know of so far. Yes, I ask random strangers, I’m weird like that. Whether that is the final number… who knows?

I wonder, has anyone mapped the waypoints that were destroyed inbetween the updates? In my travels, I found three so far – besides the “first to go” in Mirkrise, *Concordia*’s now in ruins, too (understandably), and of all places, Fort Mariner in Lion’s Arch is in pieces as well. Does anyone here know any others?

Obsidian.1328:

Changer the Elder.2948:

Taken verbatim from the very first thing a newborn charr player hears in the game:

“I am a charr. In this world of constant battle, I am the deadliest weapon of all. I respect no authority but the clenched fist of my Legion. With engines of destruction, we have killed our gods. We reclaimed our homeland of Ascalon, and we planted victory banners on the graves of our enemies.”

I’m just going to leave that here for the “what do charr call their home” debate.

You’re quoting a line from the GW2 wiki which contradicts GW1? Are you new here?

I’m quoting the game titled Guild Wars 2. The living story is running in Guild Wars 2. Even if there is a contradiction or retcon taking place (which I do not see), the relevant information is more likely to be found in Guild Wars 2 rather than the first installment. Multiple charr in game call the patch they live in Ascalon, there are multiple occassions of charr battling ghosts yelling things like “Ascalon is our land!”. It’s not the question whether that’s how it technically should be or whether it’s good or bad, right or wrong, it’s the statement of what it is in the game itself.

Also, I kindly suggest you embraced the notion that having an opinion different to yours doesn’t necessarily mean I’m new or any other excuse you might fling my way, I merely see the story from a different perspective than you do.

Edit: Source of my quote is here, by the way – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcBCbNOPjC8
Also contains the quote “Centuries ago, humans stole Ascalon”, not “humans stole our patch of land, named it Ascalon and we decided it’s a cool enough name to keep it, but can’t call ourselves that because it has cooties”.

Taken verbatim from the very first thing a newborn charr player hears in the game:

“I am a charr. In this world of constant battle, I am the deadliest weapon of all. I respect no authority but the clenched fist of my Legion. With engines of destruction, we have killed our gods. We reclaimed our homeland of Ascalon, and we planted victory banners on the graves of our enemies.”

I’m just going to leave that here for the “what do charr call their home” debate.

So, does Rytlock consider himself an Ascalonian? I bet he does. Is he the most prominent charr character in Ascalon and the game? I bet Steve Blum’s voice he is. Will that count as curse-break-worthy? I don’t know and want to find out next Tuesday.

Obsidian.1328:

Astralporing.1957:

Obsidian.1328:

Ascalon is a (former)human nation, not an area of land.

It is both, actually – a human nation, and the name of the land it lies on. Case in point? Ebonhawke, at the moment the curse was cast, was a part of the Ascalonian kingdom, but not a part of lands of Ascalon (and that’s why it got spared by the curse – it was the land that got affected, not the kingdom).

Not true, actually. It’s name only refers to the land controlled by Ascalon. Think ancient Rome — that could mean only Italy or most of Europe depending on which century you’re talking about. For instance, right now, being “in Ascalon” means you’d have to be only in Ebonhawke or the land immediately around it. You don’t see people referring to Metrica Province as Riverside Province, do you? The name implies the nation.

And yet, you hear charr proclaim stuff like “Ascalon is ours” or “Ascalon is our land”. Charr born and raised in Black Citadel and neighboring areas consider themselves coming from Ascalon, because the land inherited the name of the kingdom. It doesn’t always happen (as is the case of Rome), but it still happens (as is the case of America). Settlers came, named it something, name was catchy enough to stick. Now it’s used by everyone born in there. It’s not showing “Brown Patch Of Land Formerly Known As Kingdom of Ascalon” on the map, it’s showing as “Ascalon”, despite the kingdom of said name being long ruined and nonexistent.