Guild Wars 2

Orpheal, your ideas are always entertaining and you always do have some good ideas, but there are some things I want to say….

so far, it seems too much like Ritualist (urns….really?!?). There’s no reason for it. The Revenant is not meant to be the Ritualist’s replacement, even if they share a lot of similarities.

Also this :::

Dimensional Rift (Temporal is so unfitting here too, makes you think as if the Class would create Time Distortions and the only Profession, that should be able to do that would be the Chronomancer, but a rift between dimensions is something different)

The thing is, when your ripping kitten in the fabric of reality like this skill does, you affect all of Space-Time around it. And since Temporal refers to Time in Science, and Physical, Material being in Philosophy and Religion…Temporal actually sounds appropriate, and kind of cooler than a word as boring as Dimension.

Exeon.4358:

I think many don’t get the meaning of pay to win, basically a game is pay to win if game developers give any unfair advantage to players that are willing to spend money on the game, generally things that cannot be obtained otherwise or nearly impossible to obtain otherwise.

Bank slots and bag slots pay to win? if you really think so you have never ever experienced a real pay to win game, or worse, a game that wasn’t pay to win, but became one over time.

Your definition of Pay-To-Win is a little bit, narrow minded.

Time advantage. This has been discussed, and now we’re at the point where posters are repeating themselves instead of offering any reason why a time advantage isn’t pay-to-win (which I described in this game as pay-to-equality with veteran players, and pay-to-advantage over new players). I have yet to say that’s a bad thing, (slightly unfair maybe, bad…not really). Question is, why is everyone so wound up over me calling it a form of pay-to-win?

Draknar.5748:

Chrispy.5641:

Draknar.5748:

So it does beg the question, is that “pay to win” if you are just accelerating progress. You mentioned it was a form of “pay to win” but that sounds like more of an opinion than anything else. To me, “pay to win” means someone who pays money has a distinct advantage over someone who does not pay money when in the context of the content in which they are competing.

If its my opinion, then its my opinion. Who cares if its different from yours or the next dozen people? Why does anyone question any opinion if they are opinions and not fact?

Nobody cares about your opinion or mine. You stated something as though it were fact. I clarified that it sounded more like an opinion, I then gave my opinion, so now we move on.

People don’t usually question opinions (other than “why is that your opinion”—which is a valid question); they typically offer their own, usually opposing opinion, and then an explanation as to why that is their opinion.

You just have to be clear that what you are stating is opinion, otherwise people take it as though you are stating fact, in which case you could definitely be questioned.

If it sounds like an opinion, then it probably is, besides the fact that nothing anyone says about this game should ever be interpreted as fact unless it comes from the mouth/red post of an Anet dev. (or you have a reliable source like the wiki)

Draknar.5748:

So it does beg the question, is that “pay to win” if you are just accelerating progress. You mentioned it was a form of “pay to win” but that sounds like more of an opinion than anything else. To me, “pay to win” means someone who pays money has a distinct advantage over someone who does not pay money when in the context of the content in which they are competing.

If its my opinion, then its my opinion. Who cares if its different from yours or the next dozen people? Why does anyone question any opinion if they are opinions and not fact?

gaspara.4079:

…snip…

I would have to say the economy of GW2 is considerably more complex than that, and that while the costs of gems has increased significantly, there isn’t a significantly equal increase in gold per hour. The reason for that is that many items have a set vendor value, regardless of the value players put on it, and you can still make more gold on many items just selling them to vendors than salvage/throwing on the trading post. Its more complex than that even, since there are a lot of items that have risen and fallen in price over the years completely free of this so called inflation (Lodestones for example)

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641

There should be a Person A, a Person B, and a person C in your example.

Person C was an early adopter to the car, and was able to get away with it for 500 dollars and it took him a month to scrape together 500 dollars. 6 months later….Person A and B were late, and had to pay 1000 dollars for it. Well, Person B had a way to secure extra funding. He used some other form of currency and through exchange rates, was able to buy the car immediately. Poor Person A, not only has to pay 1000 dollars for the car, but has to work twice as long as person C to get it, meaning, person B is equal with person C, and have a two month advantage over person A.

Well, Person A is driving the white car and wants to enter the free for all races. Well, Person B and Person C have a couple dozen wins under their belt, and were able to upgrade to the Green, Yellow, and Purple cars, which, while not much better than person A’s white car, is still better, and the tiniest fraction of handling ability or horsepower matter in a race.

Person B and Person C wouldn’t be disqualified for driving an illegal car, because the person who sold them these ‘illegal’ cars is the same person who sold them the white car and is the same person who is running the races.

Draknar.5748

Think of it like a race where everyone has the same car. The car costs $1000. Person A scrimped and saved and bought the $1000 car, cleaned out his account. Person B was given $5000 from his uncle to buy the car, but only needed $1000, so has $4000 left over in his account. Now they race, the exact same car. Explain how person B has an advantage in this race.

Can you read the bold part there bud? Our whole argument have been food and nurishment not gear in anyway that you want to stear it into, there is only white quality.
And as i said before those few stat numbers u get from food and/or nurishment womt make you win.

(cleaned up your quotes a little so the tags were right)
Ah, but you failed to quote the most relevant part of my post in respect to that reply ::

And even if the race were to have equal cars and be determined by skill and skill alone, Person C has the biggest advantage being a veteran, but person B has an advantage over person A because person A only recently got the car, while Person B had it for awhile.

I made the much longer wall of text because I tried to tie in several things already discussed, but, walls of text are what they are….

Linken.6345:

Still back to your argument that 160 bag slots win over 80 bag slots how? when you can pop into wvw and sell from anywere in the world or insta sell on trading post.’
If you dont straight up salvage it all.
What items are so valuable that you have to keep them in your inventory at all?

Using the most basic example are level 80 blues and greens. Weapons or Armor, it doesn’t matter. Of course you salvage the light armor for the silk, which is worth more than the item, especially on the uncommon chance you get multiple silk scraps. For the rest of the items, salvaging does not give you the same value as if you just sold the item to a vendor. Wood, Mithril, and especially Leather isn’t worth as much. The small chance of rare materials does not offset the money gained if you just sold everything (except the light armor)

Since everything matters, even the smallest amounts of gold….yeah, I’m not going to salvage that unless I run out of space and have to (which is less profitable than running to a vendor to sell it all)

Ashen.2907:

Actually you described it as pay to win twice before your first use of the phrase pay for equality and all three came after others commented that it was t pay to win. Nice try at backpedalling though.

First time :::
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Bag-bank-space-should-cost-gold-not-gems/4799597

Where I said a “form of pay-to-win”. Paying to gain equality with the veteran players while leaving the rest of the new players in the dust is a form of pay to win.

Second time:::
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Bag-bank-space-should-cost-gold-not-gems/4799636

Where immediately following “Pay To win” I said “Technically, Pay to Equality”. So, even then, I didn’t specifically call it Pay To Win, and every time I mentioned it after, well, its just easier to say Pay to Win, instead of Pay to Equality, or Pay to Advantage, or Pay to slightly larger time advantage than the other guy.

See, I can pedal Backwards, Forward, and through time too, and do it better. I’ll use my trademark phrase for this thread. Try again.

Linken.6345:

…snip…

Your problem is assuming there is only a person A and a person B actually.

There should be a Person A, a Person B, and a person C in your example.

Person C was an early adopter to the car, and was able to get away with it for 500 dollars and it took him a month to scrape together 500 dollars. 6 months later….Person A and B were late, and had to pay 1000 dollars for it. Well, Person B had a way to secure extra funding. He used some other form of currency and through exchange rates, was able to buy the car immediately. Poor Person A, not only has to pay 1000 dollars for the car, but has to work twice as long as person C to get it, meaning, person B is equal with person C, and have a two month advantage over person A.

Well, Person A is driving the white car and wants to enter the free for all races. Well, Person B and Person C have a couple dozen wins under their belt, and were able to upgrade to the Green, Yellow, and Purple cars, which, while not much better than person A’s white car, is still better, and the tiniest fraction of handling ability or horsepower matter in a race.

Person B and Person C wouldn’t be disqualified for driving an illegal car, because the person who sold them these ‘illegal’ cars is the same person who sold them the white car and is the same person who is running the races.

And even if the race were to have equal cars and be determined by skill and skill alone, Person C has the biggest advantage being a veteran, but person B has an advantage over person A because person A only recently got the car, while Person B had it for awhile.

Pay to Equality with Person C, and Pay to Advantage over rookie Person A (still pay to win of a sort.)

tigirius.9014:

Kentaine.4692:

Knighthonor.4061:

Ojyh.9842:

Why would the Druid transform into animals ? Druids in GW are more about plants and nature spirits.
It might be possible but Druid doesnt always mean transformation. Don’t take WoW as a standard for everything.

I disagree. Druids are based on Real Life Druid culture, and Druid culture deals with both Animals and Spirits of nature…

And real-life druids did not change into plants, animals, or spirits. They were ordinary human beings bound by the same natural laws as everything else has been since the dawn of our universe. I’m not understanding what your counter argument is supposed to prove in order to get shape shifting druids into GW2.

Druids are going to be rangers who can use staff skills, and/or a few different utility skills, and possibly a different elite skill (which could be a shape shift, I suppose, but you’d only get to change into one other thing every 180-240 seconds for 30-60 seconds). They’ll play just like any of the other profession already in game.

Technically that’s true however they did have that as part of their lore in which they did become part of that world by transforming themselves, it’s all over that lore as well as other nature based lore where we read of legends of men who became the animals who were their patron guides.

I don’t think it should be made to be part of the combat structure but I do think they should make it a part of a new set of travel options considering that we’re supposed to be getting these specializations by our experiences in the jungle. It would make sense that way.

Shape Shifting into an Eagle when gliding instead of having to use the ugly looking wings/glider/thingy would be cool. Still seems more Norn-like though and not really related to GW2 Rangers at all.

Draknar.5748:

Chrispy.5641:

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. Try again. Seriously, this is hilarious. Keep giving reasons that aren’t actually reasons, or tackle to issue head on!

Think of it like a race where everyone has the same car. The car costs $1000. Person A scrimped and saved and bought the $1000 car, cleaned out his account. Person B was given $5000 from his uncle to buy the car, but only needed $1000, so has $4000 left over in his account. Now they race, the exact same car. Explain how person B has an advantage in this race.

You can’t.

By your logic person B “wins” simply because he has more money. When in reality they both have the exact same performance and cross the finish line at the same time, which is the specific measure of winning in the context we are discussing. Having more money is irrelevant in this particular race between two identical cars.

Food in WvW is easy enough to supply yourself, especially if you play competitive WvW. Just because someone can buy gems to also supply themselves with food, doesn’t give them any additional advantage if the people they are competing against also have the same exact food. Does that make sense? Boy I hope this makes sense to you.

Keeping with the race example, the only advantage anyone would have in this race would be person B over, let’s say, person C who is standing on the sidelines not even competing. By your logic, person B wins because he has a car and person C does not. Technically that would be true because person C does in fact not have a car and if he wanted to compete in the race, would lose since he would be running on foot, but now I have strayed from the context of competitive WvW, thus negating the argument.

Person A scamped up and saved his money to buy car A. It probably took a few months. Person B has car A immediately, but the problem with your example, is assuming that person B is buying that crappy 1000 dollar car A. They got five thousand dollars and will surely buy the more expensive car B, which is faster, has better handling, etc, meaning they will win more often in encounters than person A driving crappy car A.

By the time Person A bought crappy car A, person B would have had the same amount of time practicing racing anyways, and with a better car, meaning Person B has the advantage. Therefore, Person B will win in a majority of the races.

Draknar.5748:

I can tell that you will hold onto your P2W perspective until the bitter end. But all your argument really boils down to is that someone who buys gems to convert to gold, will have some kind of advantage over someone somewhere at sometime, thus it is P2W. When in reality, all the gold in the game won’t give you an advantage in actual competitive WvW, competitive PvP, or competitive PvE (if there was such a thing).

Or you could read the thread before the white knights showed up and see that, no, I don’t actually have a P2W perspective at all. I specifically made the comparison that this entire system is “Pay to equality”, not necessarily pay to win, where the newer players are specifically at a disadvantage compared to veteran, who enjoyed buying inventory space at a vastly cheaper (in-game) rate 2.5 years ago compared to now, even if the real world rate was the same. It originally costed hundreds of silver to max. out your inventory space instead of hundreds of gold. Instead of taking a few weeks to max. everything out, it now takes several months.

The new player buying everything to be equal with the veterans will then have an advantage over the other relatively new players who don’t buy anything, which is mostly what this whole argument has been about, not necessarily about paying to win over everyone, but the ones who aren’t yet at the level on the plateau with everyone. And it definitely hasn’t been about paying some money, and getting a magical “YOU WIN!” graphic thrown in their face (Which is apparently what it takes for anyone to technically win anything today and can’t be extended to include advantages in a game where no one can actually win because there is no technical end)

Unfortunately, White knights being white knights, and being blind when they defend a game, lost sight of that. Its okay, I decided to run with the argument anyways to see where it goes, and so far, I have not been disappointed by the mostly hilarious responses. Keep going, please!

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. You apparently have no idea how to not take words literally in a world where words are never taken literally anyways. Try again.

You think food/nurishment make you win in WvW man you must be in a pretty low tier WvW server

Stats matter in WvW. Unless it somehow doesn’t, come challenge me in White gear while I eat you alive in Ascended gear with food/nourishment. I wait for your response.

we´r talking 100s against 100s here you not having nurishment or food wont affect that much, its not some 1v1 dueling arena. (spvp is for dueling and its that way -> and there you cant use either food/nurishment fyi )
Its how well your servers commanders organise agains the other 2 servers commanders really.
Edit
As you like saying Try again.

Yeah, a whole zerg with white armor against a whole team with Exotic/ascended armor and food, who, because of their gear, have 75% more armor and stats(from gear) than the other team does. I’d like to see that and watch the white team prove that superior tactics will help them win. Should be hilarious.

Stats matter in WvW. So, yeah, you said it yourself. Try again.

I dont know when this fight about food/nursihment not being needed in WvW turned into white vs ascended gear tbh maybe you should read what the argument was about a second time. Try again

Food gives you stats. You said food isn’t going to help you win, therefore, you said stats don’t matter. Lets take it a step further if that’s what you really think. Maybe you should read the argument a second time.

….
….
It goes without saying.

Yes food/nurishment give you so little stat boost that it aint going to help you win, I never said you should be pratikly naked against fully geared players.
Stop putting words in my mouth man and read what was said again.
And what items are worth more to vendor trash then you gain from salvaging, Im quite curious.

Therefore stats don’t matter to you. if any amount of stats give you an advantage (exotic gear over white gear) then any amount of stats gives you an advantage, no matter the source. It doesn’t matter how small the stat boost is.

Like in the comparison to Destiny I made earlier. Milliseconds matter and so does the tiniest advantage you get when getting gold. In this game, the tiniest amount of stats matter too, especially when two equally skilled players are trying to kill each other. An advantage is an advantage. Its funny that you think they don’t.

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. You apparently have no idea how to not take words literally in a world where words are never taken literally anyways. Try again.

You think food/nurishment make you win in WvW man you must be in a pretty low tier WvW server

Stats matter in WvW. Unless it somehow doesn’t, come challenge me in White gear while I eat you alive in Ascended gear with food/nourishment. I wait for your response.

we´r talking 100s against 100s here you not having nurishment or food wont affect that much, its not some 1v1 dueling arena. (spvp is for dueling and its that way -> and there you cant use either food/nurishment fyi )
Its how well your servers commanders organise agains the other 2 servers commanders really.
Edit
As you like saying Try again.

Yeah, a whole zerg with white armor against a whole team with Exotic/ascended armor and food, who, because of their gear, have 75% more armor and stats(from gear) than the other team does. I’d like to see that and watch the white team prove that superior tactics will help them win. Should be hilarious.

Stats matter in WvW. So, yeah, you said it yourself. Try again.

I dont know when this fight about food/nursihment not being needed in WvW turned into white vs ascended gear tbh maybe you should read what the argument was about a second time. Try again

Food gives you stats. You said food isn’t going to help you win, therefore, you said stats don’t matter. Lets take it a step further if that’s what you really think. Maybe you should read the argument a second time.

….
….
It goes without saying.

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. You apparently have no idea how to not take words literally in a world where words are never taken literally anyways. Try again.

You think food/nurishment make you win in WvW man you must be in a pretty low tier WvW server

Stats matter in WvW. Unless it somehow doesn’t, come challenge me in White gear while I eat you alive in Ascended gear with food/nourishment. I wait for your response.

we´r talking 100s against 100s here you not having nurishment or food wont affect that much, its not some 1v1 dueling arena. (spvp is for dueling and its that way -> and there you cant use either food/nurishment fyi )
Its how well your servers commanders organise agains the other 2 servers commanders really.
Edit
As you like saying Try again.

Yeah, a whole zerg with white armor against a whole team with Exotic/ascended armor and food, who, because of their gear, have 75% more armor and stats(from gear) than the other team does. I’d like to see that and watch the white team prove that superior tactics will help them win. Should be hilarious.

Stats matter in WvW. So, yeah, you said it yourself. Try again.

Crossaber.8934:

Chrispy.5641:

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. Try again. Seriously, this is hilarious. Keep giving reasons that aren’t actually reasons, or tackle to issue head on!

If the loot is more valuable than salvage, then you are more than enough to convert your gold from loot into gem, problem solved. It is working as intended.

I never said it wasn’t working as intended. Try again.

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. You apparently have no idea how to not take words literally in a world where words are never taken literally anyways. Try again.

You think food/nurishment make you win in WvW man you must be in a pretty low tier WvW server

Stats matter in WvW. Unless it somehow doesn’t, come challenge me in White gear while I eat you alive in Ascended gear with food/nourishment. I wait for your response.

Crossaber.8934:

mystic salvage kit is your friend. We gain hundred of mystic stone for free. If your loot is filled faster than your mystic salvage kit usage, that means you are gathering a lot of loot and probably have enough gold to buy enough mystic stone for more mystic kit.

does nothing for the fact that salvaging many items gives you less value than the item itself, meaning there is still an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again.

Dawdler.8521:

Except that you dont win. Its pay for looks and pay for conveniance.

Anyone in a stock ugly looking mismatched stock exotic set can still own your 4000 gold worth of skinned veteran ascended player in PvE, WvW and especially PvP. Even if you look at the worst case scenario which is food, it barely even cost anything, skill and build is more important in any given scenario.

If you call the above pay to win you have no idea what pay to win even means.

In a game where technically no one wins (which is all MMO’s), winning is being a higher level, having more gold, or looking cooler than everyone else. If I can pay for a way to get more gold (which gives me more frequent access to food/nourishments which will help you win in WvW), I’m paying to win. Try again. Seriously, this is hilarious. Keep giving reasons that aren’t actually reasons, or tackle to issue head on!

Linken.6345:

Chrispy.5641:

Behellagh.1468:

So. Stop at nearest NPC vendor. Sell Junk. Salvage all unwanted salvagable items. Send mats to collection. If you don’t want to salvage the sell those unwanted items on the TP, no need to even visit a TP location. Now it’s only a problem if you want to keep all those items, for some reason. Other than ascended mats which are account bound, what do you need to keep for a rainy day? Skins go into the wardrobe now. Maybe BLSKs and a handful of GS items you get from the login rewards. I ran over a year with the original 30 bank slots and none of my characters have added bag slots.

I guess I’m doing something wrong.

No, you’re doing it exactly right. Your problem is the assumption that if the advantage is small enough, it no longer exists, and also failing to admit that. That is also the problem of the guy who replied to you.

Man, you guys would have fun playing Destiny, where all the weapons’ kill times are balanced to within milliseconds of each other, well, except for the part where those milliseconds count. Same as in this game when it comes to making lots of gold and making lots of gold fast.

I never said it was a bad thing, so stop replying to me assuming that I’m being negative just because I called it pay-to-win. Try again, or don’t reply to me. Either way, whatever. you have yet to prove yourself right in any way.

Ashen.2907:

1) Some pretty wild assumptions in your numbers.

2) The best looking skins cost no money to get. in fact they cannot be purchased with either gems or gold.

1. If it takes 10 minutes of hard event running to fill your inventory, it will take twice as long to fill an inventory twice that size. The actual length of time it takes to fully fill your inventory is irrelevant (so is the gold amount) and its sad that that’s what your clinging to. Even if it took 3 days to fill my inventory, the numbers show that the person with a larger inventory will still have a small advantage. No wild assumption there. Try again.

2. The best looking skins to YOU cost no money to get. For me, last I checked, a Mjolnir costs a hell of a lot to get. Try again.

It does not since it take afew seconds for you to salvage and be on your merry way, also there is heart vendors litteraly everywere except afew high level zones.

Salvaging does not bring the same value on all items, and often, salvaging gives you items worth less than just selling them to a vendor. Since I’m talking about gold, not items, there is a disadvantage there to having a smaller inventory if you have to go sell your items more often.

High level zones are where you make the most gold, so, no vendor every 50 feet.

Even if the time it took to salvage and sell items was less than 30 seconds, there would still be an advantage to having a larger inventory. Try again if you want.

Behellagh.1468:

So. Stop at nearest NPC vendor. Sell Junk. Salvage all unwanted salvagable items. Send mats to collection. If you don’t want to salvage the sell those unwanted items on the TP, no need to even visit a TP location. Now it’s only a problem if you want to keep all those items, for some reason. Other than ascended mats which are account bound, what do you need to keep for a rainy day? Skins go into the wardrobe now. Maybe BLSKs and a handful of GS items you get from the login rewards. I ran over a year with the original 30 bank slots and none of my characters have added bag slots.

I guess I’m doing something wrong.

No, you’re doing it exactly right. Your problem is the assumption that if the advantage is small enough, it no longer exists, and also failing to admit that. That is also the problem of the guy who replied to you.

Man, you guys would have fun playing Destiny, where all the weapons’ kill times are balanced to within milliseconds of each other, well, except for the part where those milliseconds count. Same as in this game when it comes to making lots of gold and making lots of gold fast.

I never said it was a bad thing, so stop replying to me assuming that I’m being negative just because I called it pay-to-win. Try again, or don’t reply to me. Either way, whatever. you have yet to prove yourself right in any way.

Ashen.2907:

1) Some pretty wild assumptions in your numbers.

2) The best looking skins cost no money to get. in fact they cannot be purchased with either gems or gold.

1. If it takes 10 minutes of hard event running to fill your inventory, it will take twice as long to fill an inventory twice that size. The actual length of time it takes to fully fill your inventory is irrelevant (so is the gold amount) and its sad that that’s what your clinging to. Even if it took 3 days to fill my inventory, the numbers show that the person with a larger inventory will still have a small advantage. No wild assumption there. Try again.

2. The best looking skins to YOU cost no money to get. For me, last I checked, a Mjolnir costs a hell of a lot to get. Try again.

A person with 80 inventory slots can fill all that up in about 10 minutes of killing things. (probably has 20 or so slots taken already by gear and items)

A veteran player who already had 160 inventory slots (and got them cheaper back in the day) can fill all of that up in about 20 minutes. (probably has a lot filled with gear and other items)

Lets say it takes 5 minutes to go to the vendor and sell everything and travel back. And lets say you get 50 silver from selling all of that. One cycle of the player with 80 slots is 15 minutes. One cycle of the player with 160 slots is 25 minutes.

15 minutes for 50 silver. 25 minutes for 1 gold.

After an hour. New player with 80 slots has 2 gold. Veteran player has 2 gold from 2 runs, and already halfway through another run with 50 more silver.

That’s 2 gold to 2.5 gold. Veteran player gets 25% more gold per hour than the new player (or new player has 20% less, however you look at it).

Since this while game is all about looking cooler than everyone else, and looking cooler than everyone else requires the most expensive skins…veteran Player wins, and the newer player can have the same advantage by either grinding for hundreds of hours, or just buying his way in.

Therefore…Pay to win, or I guess technically its pay to equality.

^ Which is a form of pay-to-win. Having to go sell loot less often gives an advantage, and newer players have to pay physical cash to do it.

Getting more bag slots and bank tabs used to cost hundreds of silver back in the day instead of hundreds of gold. I’m all for it costing gold instead of gems.

Kentaine.4692:

Knighthonor.4061:

Ojyh.9842:

Why would the Druid transform into animals ? Druids in GW are more about plants and nature spirits.
It might be possible but Druid doesnt always mean transformation. Don’t take WoW as a standard for everything.

I disagree. Druids are based on Real Life Druid culture, and Druid culture deals with both Animals and Spirits of nature…

And real-life druids did not change into plants, animals, or spirits. They were ordinary human beings bound by the same natural laws as everything else has been since the dawn of our universe. I’m not understanding what your counter argument is supposed to prove in order to get shape shifting druids into GW2.

Druids are going to be rangers who can use staff skills, and/or a few different utility skills, and possibly a different elite skill (which could be a shape shift, I suppose, but you’d only get to change into one other thing every 180-240 seconds for 30-60 seconds). They’ll play just like any of the other profession already in game.

Druids are not based on real life druid culture. Real life Druid Culture isn’t anymore in tune with nature than are priests, wizards, sorcerers, shamans, witches, magi, clerics, pastors, or any other religious leader out there. (ancient Culture, not the new age religion that isn’t anymore based on ancient druid culture than DnD is.)

The whole “Druids = Nature” did not exist until Dungeons and Dragons was around, and even then, it took a couple of editions for Druids to be fully nature themed. Xenon is right about the ‘Kleenex effect’ here, since before DnD, druids were considered to be priests, keyword there being priests and nothing more. While there were stories of them being able to command the elements, that’s the same as rumors of priests way over in Japan and the Americas also being able to control the elements and being able to tell the future by looking at birds and bark patterns.

As for the shape shifting, I don’t think there’s going to be any of that. I see three possible things (based on what we see Druids do in other fantasy settings)….Elemental forces of Nature…Plants….Animals. I don’t see the Elemental forces of Nature aspect getting much use since that will totally step on the Elementalist (Though Rangers already have many skills that make use of each of the four elements in a different way than the Elementalist, already making Rangers way more of a Druid than most people want to admit).

I’m expecting plant or animal based skills, or even more nature spirits that act a little different than what we have now. I think the Staff skills are going to be almost entirely plant based, not just all vines. Instead of getting an all new class mechanic, we will instead get new pets that fundamentally act differently from what we have now.

I don’t think we’ll see shape shifting, because what we see in the game for shape shifting (mostly racial elites) is kind of underpowered, and it becomes necessary to have a humanoid shape to cut down on work making the skill, so all the existing animations and skills flow as fluidly as using a weapon in the game (otherwise, you get not so great shape shifting skills like Avatar of Melandru that requires you to stand in place for every skill you use, which is as bad as our AI pets are.)

I’ve read this before!!!
nota bad idea, but…..Seriously needs to be updated to 2015 GW2.

loseridoit.2756:

meowzibub.7451:

lol destiny is so bad….no one even plays that game anymore..

ugh just don’t kill my favorite characters and i’ll be ok >:O #kasjoryforlife

destiny is an average game. I do not see how it is that bad.

I think people already been warn that console limits really limits what game designers can do.

Even star citizen is having performance problems. I hope this crossfire rendering be there on release

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/2v5ocy/low_level_apis_such_as_amds_mantle_may_finally/

Its called optimization. While you would think that a console limits a game developers ability to make a great looking game, its actually the opposite, because the designers only have to optimize one type of system (or two, or four depending on multi console releases and cross generation releases)

Compare this to the PC where you have several different major graphics card manufactures with dozens of different cards, dozens of cpu manufacturers, and half a dozen operating systems.

When PC game makers can make a game that looks as good as The Last of Us, and do it on 6 year old hardware (at the time), then I’ll be impressed. As it stands, PC games aren’t any better, even MMO’s can run on a console and still look good.

……..

But yeah, good luck new Bungie employee, maybe Destiny will actually have a story now!

Astral Projections.7320:

JustTrogdor.7892:

Well I see the WvW forum has welcomed their specialist. Kind of a rude response if you ask me.

I went over there and read the responses. I would say, he got burniated.

The “welcome” he got was one of the reasons I suggested that they not have a title and that ANet not post their Display names. Imo, the forum specialist would do just as good a job working incognito (since their job is to collect and forward ideas and post responsibly) and wouldn’t have the ire of angry posters focused on them for simply existing.

the low post count and the fact that the posts read exactly the same as an Anet dev isn’t helping to ease the worry over there.

Mo Mo.1947:

Am I missing something? Has the OP actually experienced the new gliding system first-hand?

How is OP qualified to have an opinion on something they haven’t actually tried out?

Everyone on the Internet is a certified Armchair Expert on everything that ever existed and will ever exist on all earths that exist simultaneously in the multiverse. He’s just channeling his future other earth self that already played the beta. Just 3 earths away, my counterpart Michelle played Triforge’s League Wars 2 : Brain of Brambles beta last week. She wasn’t much of a fan of the gliding mechanic, but Gelatin Grape assured everyone that they purposely limited the gliding mechanic to prevent access to unfinished areas. So, there’s hope that it won’t totally suck!

Also, OP does have some very real concerns because in the old days of MMO’s (and still in some MMO’s today), there were O2 meters when underwater, limiting your time, which wasn’t fun. If its anything like that, its not going to be much fun either. Those concerns are valid, even if OP hasn’t played a beta, or seen any gameplay yet.

I’ve never tried mountain climbing, but, its totally valid for me to say that having to carry an oxygen tank while climbing to the top of Everest isn’t going to be any fun. Same thing here.

KryTiKaL.3125:

Chrispy.5641:

(if GW2 lasts that long)

These statements all severely bug me.

If an MMORPG has lasted for at least over two years it’s likely going to have many more years ahead. Everquest 1 is still pumping out expansions. The only times we see MMORPGs actually killed off, or just closed down, is when the company actually believes it’s development to be -that- stagnant or, in the case of Warhammer Age of Reckoning, the game shuts down due to dev incompetence.

Just needed to get that out.

Correction :::

If the game lasts long enough and is successful enough to continue to put out full features expansions while innovating on its graphics and gameplay and not just linger for a decade and a half while pumping out halved-crap expansions every 6 months that don’t really add anything to the gameplay and does nothing to improve the graphics, but it gets done anyways because there’s about a hundred thousand fanboys who will pay any amount for any content at all, even if its really crappy content by comparison to all the modern MMO’s that look and play better.

Better? I added about three times more sarcasm than usual!

DiogoSilva.7089:

BrunoBRS is probably right. Endurance will be a content gating mechanism to determine how far you can go, and I take a guess that gliding will probably not last more than 3-5 seconds on average. Underwater content is totally different, as it involves long-term exploration and has actual combat in it.

Which is why I don’t care too much for the gliding, but I’m definitely looking forward to the deep sea dragon expansion (if GW2 lasts that long). Think of how awesome it would be if we spent entire maps underwater, even if there were arbitrary roadblocks like this expansion has. (and they spent the time to actually improve/expand underwater combat).

And I think that’s the reason Gliding endurance (and the ability to upgrade the endurance) even exists. Anet doesn’t want people going straight to the hardest endgame map, and passing all the easiest maps, so they set up roadblocks that must be overcome.

Since there’s no increase in the level cap…progression has to be slowed in some other way. No amount of innovation will ever stop that.

Rashy.4165:

Tachyon.5897:

How about a character creator like that of Black Desert Online?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TP4L1vHfpk

And I thought Aion’s character creation was amazing. That looks amazing!

Too bad it probably won’t be used in GW2.

The character creator is amazing, too bad they wasted all their resources on the character creator and not the gameplay.

Slaptjip.4895:

Running GW2 on absolutely max settings, only Vsync turned off.

Very smooth, PVE/Dungeons 100FPS.

100 FPS!!! For what possible reason does any human need a frame rate that high to play a video game? It does look super smooth, but pretty much nothing can maintain that frame rate, and that’s bad. If you are playing for several hours and notice drops in frame rate (lets say 100 to 60 frames a second), the visual difference would be the same as if a person were playing at only 30 frames a second, and experienced fps drops to 18 frames a second. So even then, you’re still experiencing noticeable lag.

Nabbis.8095:

Seems like IGN jumped the gun. didn’t find any other of the major sites doing a article yet.

Several things in the article were described as being exclusive/first for IGN. So that’s why they have an article published and other gaming sites do not.

Even though IGN’s video player sucks, you should play the video after the 3rd paragraph. I don’t think the music in that video could possibly get any more generic, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.

AEFA.9035:

List:

Natural Resistance: Halves the duration of conditions applied to the user.

Aspect of Oak: Reduces incoming critical damage received by half. 9 seconds. Interval 3 seconds.

Calamity Aura: Increases condition duration applied to enemies by 10%. 9 seconds. Interval 3 seconds. 600 radius.

Natural Purification: Gain 60 (0.4) health whenever a boon on you ends.

Nature’s Wrath: Increases damage by 1% per condition on you.

Natural Resistance – Way too strong, especially if we combine it with Melandru Runes and Lemongrass soup for virtual condition immunity (which can already be done by warriors thanks to a condition reducing trait of their own, and it is very broken). The max. that would make sense and not be hilariously overpowered is 20%, especially if it affects all conditions.

Aspect of Oak – Is this a group support trait? If so, it would make more sense (and not be hilariously overpowered) if Critical damage were reduced by 10%.

Calamity Aura – Actually, not a bad trait suggestion

Natural Purification – healing coefficient should be low….like 0.025-0.05 kind of low.

Nature’s Wrath – ….It already exists

A revenant is just someone who who went to the Mists (died for example), and came back with the ability to channel the power

Rytlock is the first Revenant being presented to us, but he is not the first Revenant. No one has confirmed that Rytlock is the first Revenant.

The way I see it, You’ll create a revenant at character creation, and you’ll go through the personal story just the same as every other profession. And yes, you’ll meet Rytlock and he’ll still be a warrior and you’ll be a revenant.

Renn.8241:

Sorry I thought we were talking about GW2

So, because this is GW2, hang gliding between mountain tops makes no scence, but hang gliding between trees do?

Lazaar.9123:

Chrispy.5641:

I don’t think there’s a reason to get two of any profession. One new healing skill, one new elite skill, and a set of new utility skills, plus a new weapon and some changes to class mechanic,….this isn’t anywhere close to “So different its a different profession”.

I think people are blowing these specializations up a little more than they actually are.

Some people are right about one thing…..GW2 is a balancing nightmare. If the specializations were really so different from existing professions, then Anet would have 18 professions to balance instead of 9, which would mean nothing would get done very often.

call me Sunny Optimistic if you want, but I look forward to using my staff with my pets, and using axes with the new utility skills, and I’m not worried in the slightest about being locked out of things for being a Druid.

In the interviews Colin has said that it will be much more than just changing some skills, there will be also trait changes and changes to the profession mechanics.

Okay, so, Skirmishing gets switched out for Shamanism or something, and you have the option to switch pets for whatever the new mechanic is, still doesn’t really count as a whole new profession.

The article that was linked isn’t actually wrong either. The part where they talk about piercing chainmail is true. a 5 year old can pierce chainmail at those short distances, even with broadhead arrows. And considering the shot distance the guy was shooting at, it would have been easy.

The part about the quivers is also spot on. If your arrows are on your back, the amount of steps it takes to set the arrow, draw and fire is only two steps/motions. If your arrows are sticking vertically off the ground or are in a quiver around your waist (like mine usually are), it takes 3 steps/motions to fire.

The part where they talk about arrows always moving right, no matter its position on the bow is definitely true. When I was at the range a few days ago practicing this technique, all of my arrows did go right, instead of being more center. Obviously you can compensate for this by aiming more to the left, which I had to do, otherwise I wouldn’t hit the target at all. The information is still not wrong, and is the reason why right handed archers shoot with the arrow resting on the left side of the bow.

The article is a bit too critical of Lars, as even with the fast shots and cuts, he is obviously a skilled archer, even though most of the shooting he demonstrated is somewhat….sloppy….for someone as skilled as him.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Also, try Hungarian recurve bows

I’ll actually have one in about three months.

Also, a Hungarian bow is actually the same length as the two bows I own (about 62 inches). Its draw weight is heavier (20 lbs heavier). It doesn’t have an arrow rest to hold the arrows off of my hand (the other two do), which might be more of a deciding factor than the actual length of the bow. I’ll find out in a few months.

Slayerdemise.8305:

LoL thanks and sorry for the confusion! :-)

No one actually got confused. Don’t listen to that guy. People refer to them, in and out of the game, as crafting professions all the time. Not many people actually care what the proper term is.

Also, Leatherworker is a must when starting out.

Its easier to level when your attacking at range and having your pet draw enemy aggro, so it’d be easier to go huntsman and use bows.

Before you hit max. level, you should look into Jeweler and Chef since everything crafted by both of these will affect Ranger in some way. Kind of expensive though.

I don’t think there’s a reason to get two of any profession. One new healing skill, one new elite skill, and a set of new utility skills, plus a new weapon and some changes to class mechanic,….this isn’t anywhere close to “So different its a different profession”.

I think people are blowing these specializations up a little more than they actually are.

Some people are right about one thing…..GW2 is a balancing nightmare. If the specializations were really so different from existing professions, then Anet would have 18 professions to balance instead of 9, which would mean nothing would get done very often.

call me Sunny Optimistic if you want, but I look forward to using my staff with my pets, and using axes with the new utility skills, and I’m not worried in the slightest about being locked out of things for being a Druid.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I have seen them and know well. I’m just telling them to not repeat that mistake of detaching trailers from ingame reality. If they take that advice there will be massive jaw dropping not at the trailer, but at the actual game when people find out the trailer wasn’t sugarcoating and it really is a case of “what you see is what you get”.

How is the trailer sugarcoating? You can one shot most enemies in the game with the right build anyways.

grayskull.2367:

This is a GW1 Druid http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Druid not the old toga wearing tree loving hippies in other rpgs your thinking of.

Quote: the Druids actually shed their physical bodies to become one with nature. The Druids now exist as spirits, appearing similar to Oakhearts.

Are you sure they weren’t toga wearing, tree loving hippies before they became one with nature?

Wow. The nitpicking here is worse than when people complained that a cat in Hunger Games was the wrong color.

You should probably watch some of the original GW2 trailers and skill videos. Enemies die in one hit there too. The purpose is only to show off the skill, not that it takes a million hits to kill something in the game.

Ranger – Druid. Staff
Necromancer – Executioner. Greatsword
Mesmer – Chronomancer. Mace/Shield
Elementalist – Summoner. Spear
Engineer – Machinist or Inventor. Hammer
Warrior – Vanguard or Paragon. Spear
Thief – Assassin. Rifle
Guardian – Zealot. Axe/Warhorn

Knighthonor.4061:

Well Druid is a real life religion, so it’s safe to assume that the fantasy version of them follow similar guidelines that the Real life religion is based on. So animal forms may happen. Since Druids take on the spiritual form of animals that they worship.

Neo-Druidism is a real life, modern religion that cropped up less than 300 years ago, based on romanticized views on what ancient druids were. Not all druids believe the same thing, and the belief system and religious practice can vary wildly from group to group like many other neo-pagan religion which is not something to talk about for here or now. The point is that while some do love that animal spirit thing, many others don’t.

Druids in actual history were one of the highest ranks of Celtic society, and their occupation actually varied, not all were priests. The priests practiced their religion in secret, kept no written record of what they did, and that were said to have superior knowledge of nature, and could tell the future by looking at natural patterns. Of course, Priests all over the world did this, and they were called many more things than just Druid.

Fantasy Druids (at least the nature aspect) is actually a very recent creation, but since almost all Fantasy druids are almost directly influenced from that same source (Dungeons and Dragons), Its kind of safe to speculate on what the Guild Wars 2 Druid has, based on the DnD version, especially since the Ranger already follows many aspects of the DnD Ranger and Druid. (its interesting to note that DnD copied (or was inspired by) GW2 Rangers using Greatswords for their newest edition and has rules for how a Ranger would use Two handed weapons. Seriously!)

Siphaed.9235:

Okay, try to bear with me for a moment.

When I think of Druid, I think of “nature healer”. From EQ to WoW to DAoC and many others, Druids have been a class of being a backup or primary healer beyond other magical abilities. When I think Ranger….well, first I think of Ranger Rick, then I think of someone who is a forest tracker, hunter, and so on.

From the video shown, a Ranger is using a Staff to cast what looks to be a vine root on an enemy creature in front of it. And the Ranger still has his loyal pet out attacking the same creature. Vines are an indication of a nature based CC.

The thing about Druids is that their power isn’t just plants and animals and healing magic. Its all encompassing as far as everything nature goes. They can command plants and have animal friends [pets and skills like entangle and healing spring], sure, but they can also control the elements and weather (which is probably why Rangers have skills from all 4 of the classical elements. Half of our utility skills are elemental themed, such as our spirits, lightning reflexes, muddy terrain, etc.)

Even though Rangers in GW2 are called Rangers, and most people think of them as hunters and trackers….well….the Druid is already there, and its been there with this profession since the very beginning with GW1.

I really don’t see any problems here with Druids. The other thing is that any profession can do anything, so its more than possible that we should be able to spec our Druid Rangers for Damage, Control, or Support.

I mean, seriously, the only thing that a Ranger doesn’t actually have already that is druid related is the shape-shifting into animal forms (which….go get a Norn if you really want that)[edit: Rangers in this game also don’t wear light armor, and they are just fine using metal weapons and armor] (also edit : and no, I’m not suggesting in any way that Rangers are going to get this stuff when the expansion comes. It seems more like they get more plant related stuff…an assumption made based entirely on one skill!)

LughLongArm.5460:

Thanx for answer. I thought it will be somthing like, when you press the F2 with druids, your pet will dissapear and will be replaced with temporary buff(for you and your group). The buff is connected to the pet used for activation.

(thanks to Diovid.9506 for finding this)

Quote from this site (who I seriously never heard of before…) :::
http://www.shacknews.com/article/87848/guild-wars-2-director-discusses-heart-of-thorns-revenants-guild-halls-and-more

Johanson: Specializations is a new system that allows you to take each of the professions we have in the game and grow them almost into a new sub-profession or secondary profession. An example of this is, a Ranger can become a Druid. Once a Ranger becomes a Druid, they have the ability to use the powers of the jungle and that gives them new skills, new traits, they can use a new weapon that a Ranger could never use before, and they get new profession mechanics that fundamentally change the way a Ranger plays when they become a Druid. Each of the professions will be getting one of these Specializations and this also is a framework that we’ll use to grow the professions in the future. This will be the way we add more skills, traits, and abilities to the game moving forward. That’s how we’re growing our existing professions.

If its as fundamental as he’s saying, it could be an entirely new and different mechanic from what Rangers have now, and they have it only when they are druids (which means, no pets mechanic), but the problem with that was we saw the druid in the trailer with his pet, meaning that didn’t actually change. That or the new mechanic really is optional and can be switched out at any time, or its not related to our pets or our F1-F4 skills and is something different.

I’m not entirely sure how that would work if it removes pets, since pets are literally half of our profession when you count our survival, utility, and damage, and the half of our traits that only work with pets.

LughLongArm.5460:

@Chrispy.5641
WoW man, this is amzing, the way you detailed the specializations system more than a year ago. The thing i don’t understand with your desighn, if the specializations system is just an “achievement-title” for unlocking new skills/traits/weapon(dynamic aspect of the game), how will they handle changes for the mechanic(static aspect of the game)? Will we be able to change our mechanic system the way we change pets(change, not swap ) or will there be a tradeoff(old mechanic for rangers, new mechanic for druids, this option will also be folloewd with additional tradeoffs for the subclass, like staff for a bow, new for heal for heal as one, new ulty for rampage as one etc…).

No idea honestly. There’s a dozen rumors everywhere saying every possible thing.

In order for the Staff to be equal with other weapons, it will need at least 3 traits, we’ll need at least 3 traits for the new utility skills as well, so it would make sense for there to be a new trait line that replaces an old one when you pick the specialization, or there will just be new Adept and Master traits added instead (Staff and all relevant Druid traits would fit just fine in Wilderness Survival and Nature Magic)

For Mechanics, the problem with figuring this out without knowing is that each class has different mechanics that work in different ways. Warriors have burst skills tied to weapons, Elementalists have attunments, Mesmers and Guardians have the same set of F1-F4 skills, Engineers have a Toolbelt tied to their skills, and Necromancers have their F1 Death shroud thing. Rangers are the only class that can switch out their class mechanic independent of weapons and skills, and we have a dedicated menu for doing it. Its all different….

I don’t know if Anet is doing something as simple as letting us press K, then switch out swappable pets for permanent spirits or aspects, or if we’re getting an entirely new mechanic that we switch out for our old one, which requires yet another menu, and way more work. We’ll find out in a few weeks.

The trailer looks better than the game does right now. Did Anet do some engine improvements and just forgot to say anything(that or its too boring for PAX)?

Sirendor.1394:

What we get now:
- 1 new pvp mode
- 1 new class, with at least 80 skills, if its designed the same as all the other professions (this included all the animations that have to go with said skills). This isn’t including the Revenant’s profession specialization.
- 1 new Area with anywhere from 3 to 6 zones. (conservative estimate)
- 0 new race
- 1 new wvw map
- 1 new game mode (GvG), complete with half a dozen maps for this game mode.
- obtainable non rng precursors (basically a fix for something that is broken)
- confirmed new legendaries
- specialization trees – Which includes at a minimum 1 new weapon, which makes 5 weapon skills for each profession (45 total)[plus 1 new burst skill for warrior], and we know about 4 other new skills (healing/utility/elite: 36 total)[not including skill chains]. This is addition to new profession mechanics, which are usually f1-f4 skills (number could vary). To be safe, that’s 82 new skills, which is a huge amount for any MMO, including all the animations that have to go with said skills.
- New Weapon/Armor skins – At least 5 new armor sets for each weight (90 skins total), at least 5 new weapon skins for each weapon (95 new skins), as well as a new legendary weapon of each type (19 more), making for 204 new skins, and I’m being very conservative here with that estimate.
- New travel mechanics – Hey, at least GW2 makes good use of the Z axis, unlike almost every other MMO.

What a normal expansion gives:
- 2 or more new classes (actually, usually only one, unless the class system isn’t very complex, like AA or FFXIV)
- a complete continent of new zones (Actually, a few areas with a few zones, usually never anywhere near as large as the original map)
- 1 or more new races (usually one, unless its an MMO with two sides, then its two. Usually, MMO’s with cosmetic races [like this one] don’t bother adding a race with every expansion because it doesn’t affect gameplay, at all)
- 5+ new dungeons (usually less than five, more are added later for free as the expansion gets older)
- several new pvp/rvr maps (between 2-5)
- several new game modes (usually only one)
- several raids (usually one, with others being added later for free as the expansion gets older)
- a huge amount of new skins accessible through game
- a huge amount of new skills (normally less than 100, including the new class skills)

Conclusion:
What conclusion can I possibly draw from the lack of information so far?!?

TLDR: Heart of Thorns looks like the exact size that most expansions should be.

Fixed it for you.

You guys are thinking inside a pretty small box right now when it comes to this whole specialization thing.

Anet removed the pets in the starter zones for some reason. Something to do with the New Player Experience, and that having too many pet options would be confusing for new players, and having so many pets at such a low level is so complicated that many of the new players might leave the game if it wasn’t simplified.

No sarcasm intended. True story, because….metrics and computer data and numbers, that’s why!

You need to get past level 15 and go into higher level zones in order to find pets now. There might be a few in lower level zones still but I don’t know where they are.

If only there was an archer version of Skallagrim to give his normally spot on, but often hilariously inaccurate commentary.

Beetles

Raptors

An entire school or blood thirsty Piranhas that counts as one pet, because, why not?