Guild Wars 2

Agreed: give us back the vendor. And lower the price of those frostbitten implements. They’re more expensive than just buying them from a merchant now.

Sandpit.3467:

Maybe you wanted to play a ranger instead of a monk

This.

MAN they screwed rangers (from a PvE perspective). Druid isn’t just a problem. It’s a huge detriment to what should be a killer profession. The skills are useless and the traits are worse; they’re actually harmful.

On the other hand, reapers look really good.

I will admit that my original post was exaggerated. However, I still think it’s unfair to talk about “only 4 maps”.

It’s not equal to 20 maps. Maybe 10 is more accurate. But, even then, many of the non-HoT maps did have layers, and especially so the level-80 maps (SW has 2 complete layers, and Dry Top has like 1 1/2 or so).

Also (and this didn’t hit me until I read all your posts), there are only 4 level 80 maps in non-HoT Tyria. I’ll bet the devs noticed that as they were designing HoT.

The problem with that theory is that there are also 5 zones slightly below 80th level (Frostgorge, Fireheart Rise, and the volcano, plus the other two zones in Orr).

So, all in all, I stand by may main thrust that it’s not fair to make an argument that there are “only” 4 maps. But, you guys have pointed out that it’s not a complete no-brainer, either (as my post kind of implied).

Thanks!

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Sorry, but most of us aren’t buying that it’s three maps or more because of elevation. That’s like saying the Empire State Building is 103 buildings because it has that many floors, a basement, and an observatory.

I disagree with your post.

Also I must point out that the Empire State Building was built for precisely that reason: they could fit the number of people of 100 pieces of real estate into one piece of real estate. That’s a major reason for why ALL skyscrapers are built.

Harper.4173:

If you got blindsided you got blindsided because you’re not an informed consumer and didn’t research the product you were planning to buy before buying it. That’s nobody’s fault but your own.

Blindsided? I think not. In fact, I started a few very strident threads before HoT, as my concerns were that if ANet thought LS2 was the road to the future (i.e. make everything extremely difficult), then I wasn’t going to continue with the game by buying HoT.

But, they fooled me. They made changes that implied they had heard the (very loud) message on the forums and backed off some of the most onerous garbage in LS2.

They fooled me into buying HoT, and I’ve regretted it nearly every day since release. But, I DID do my research.

Kerin.9125:

Fact is, had GW2 been like HOT then it’s likely it wouldn’t have survived because what games like GW2 pre-HOT and many others show is that the majority of players of MMOs these days don’t want to ‘work at it’ and many, like me, frankly aren’t skillful enough to do the kind of content the minority now spewing “git gud” manage.

Well-said!

Harper.4173:

Also – nothing was taken away form anyone – the game that these people enjoyed for over 2 years is still there – none of it has been touched, changed or made harder. The entire core GW2 experience is still there for people to enjoy at their “casual” pace and skill level.

This is false. Dungeons were nerfed and gold generation actions Tyria-wide were reduced. And Spirit Shards are no longer earned (they made earning XP useless after masteries are complete). By making XP worthless, they are essentially telling us that side activities are now useless (like doing events, rezzing people and NPCs, etc.)

On the flip side, Fractals is greatly improved. But, that’s also a change.

Let me preface this by saying I hate HoT. Not a fan-boy.

But, to those who are complaining that there are “only 4 maps”, please reconsider:

• HoT maps have many levels that are mostly populated.
• HoT maps are much larger than the maps in the rest of Tyria.
• HoT maps require a great deal of effort to fully map.
• HoT maps are all level 80. Thus, no need for newbie maps.

I don’t think it’s fair to say “only 4 maps” as if that means there isn’t much map-type content (i.e. by comparing to the 28 maps in the rest of the world). It’s closer to 20 maps worth of material.

Now back to complaining about HoT …

It’s kind of expected, if you think about it. ANet chose to cater to the hard-core elitist crowd, and they were already the quickest on the draw with insults. They’ve been emboldened because ANet’s moves have validated that they are important.

Previously, we would just treat them as we would any other bully: ignore them (both figuratively and literally) until they go away. But, with HoT, that’s no longer possible. The action is intense and only barely able to be played solo. Long-term progress is nearly impossible as a solo or casually.

ANet’s actions brought out the worst in the elitists. The problem is that they now actually believe they are entitled to their hostility against casual players. Just read the forums for an hour and you’ll see it all over the place. Any time you see the words “learn to play” or “L2P”, it’s a cinch you’ve uncovered one of them. Or, “it’s not that hard. I did it …”.

Interestingly, the actions of many casual players have indirectly contributed to this phenomenon. Many casuals have left the game, leaving fewer people willing to challenge this perceived “right” to be obnoxious. Thus, like the schoolyard bullies who shrink from real confrontation, they are emboldened by the drop in the number of people willing to challenge them.

But, I can’t really fault the casuals for leaving. Intentional or not, the game is moving to marginalize casual players, and that’s a 180 from what it used to be. It’s just not the same game any more. By definition, the casuals have other things they can be doing. GW2 is just pushing them to explore other options for their entertainment.

Can it be fixed? Only by a radical shift back to the games roots. Sadly, two things argue mightily that that will not happen:

First, fewer casuals means fewer people asking for changes back to the good old days.

Second, ANet doesn’t seem to be listening even a little bit.

I’m trying to stick it out. But, I’m having a more difficult time every day coming back to the game, and as time is passing, I’m spending less and less time playing than I used to. And I used to be one of the game’s and ANet’s biggest supporters.

You really need to learn a little about economics, and especially for games with fluid economies, like this one. Inflation only occurs in currencies, not materials. Everything in the game is tied to gold and other currencies. Materials can be thought of as a pseudo-currency, but it’s very limited (available slots in inventory/bank).

You also have a serious misunderstanding of the purpose of gold being tradable for gems. It’s not just for ANet to earn money. The real purpose is to keep inflation and deflation in check. It’s akin to being on the gold standard in real-life economics. The gold standard would eliminate all inflation and deflation, but at the cost of making economic boom and bust cycles much more painful to endure. The same is true in game economies.

The story content is hard to comment on, because it’s time-gated. You can’t progress until you grind through XP. Elite specializations are no better than regular specs, and in at least one case, far worse (ranger/druid). Masteries are cool, but the time it takes to get them is very grindy in actual HoT areas. In the rest of Tyria, they’re like perks that take a long time to earn, but there’s no downside to masteries in Tyria like those in HoT (grindiness, mainly).

I would definitely not buy it again if I had to do it over. The grind is just awful compared to what the game used to be, and the upsides are few and far between.

Aomine.5012:

It’s not THAT HARD to figure out how economy will go when you:

1. Make a rare thing that consume LOTS of materials only able to be crafted.

2. Ask for tremendous amount of materials people usually would not have stacked up that much even with 3 yrs of playing.

3, Make sure there’re like 30 more things that compete the same tremendous amount of materials.

4. Refuse to increase the supply of the said materials.

Doesn’t take a professional to figure out the effect to the economy..
Pretty common sense thing.

Maybe this is Anet’s evil plan all along, to drive people into transfering gems to gold with this insane inflation.

Hope this decision backfire them so they can start caring their customers for once.

You should listen to the video. They’re doing exactly what they need to do: take money out of the economy to avoid inflation.

8) Add Mastery Points to the mapping title display for HoT areas. They don’t need to become part of the actual title. It would just be so we can find them all by hovering over the user interface item for them.

That set of numbers doesn’t look like an error message. It looks like an IP address. If so, then your PC has been hacked by someone in Asia.

You need to learn more about MMO economics. Listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W39TtF14i8I

They can allow neither inflation nor deflation over time. It’s a very difficult task. The video is a very good summary of economics; I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the link/list. I’ve started a discussion on the Wiki to see if we can add it somewhere.

OK, thanks. I’ll check on that the next time I’m in.

Tigaseye.2047:

Do you really want to raid in this game, with people like Harper, anyway?

Nope. Well, yes, if s/he isn’t being hardcore at the time.

Harper.4173:

Pretty much – Anet made hard content for hardcore players when they made raids. All these complaints are coming from people that haven’t realized they’re not the intended demographic for this content.

You may be right, but do you really believe that they also intended to keep non-hardcore people out?

Harper.4173:

Was zerker needed to clear dungeons? No – yet it was still enforced.

I think my idea would work for dungeons, too. But, I’m not sure there’s enough people doing them to make it matter any more.

Harper.4173:

but other people are just as allowed to avoid you and not play with you if they don’t want to.

It’s kind of amusing that you can’t see the irony in this. ANet built GW2 on the philosophy of “play how you want to play”. But, your statement screams “you can’t play your way, because you must play my way.”

But, regardless, why is my idea wrong? Wouldn’t setting up a separate raiding lobby that requires certain gear completely solve the problem? The elitists get their sandbox, and the casuals get theirs.

NOTE: The idea of setting up a lobby has been put forth in another thread. This idea would create two lobbies instead of just one.

Harper.4173:

but other people are just as allowed to avoid you and not play with you if they don’t want to.

It’s kind of amusing that you can’t see the irony in this. ANet built GW2 on the philosophy of “play how you want to play”. But, your statement screams “you can’t play your way, because you must play my way.”

But, regardless, why is my idea wrong? Wouldn’t setting up a separate raiding lobby that requires certain gear completely solve the problem? The elitists get their sandbox, and the casuals get theirs.

NOTE: The idea of setting up a lobby has been put forth in another thread. This idea would create two lobbies instead of just one.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Such nonsense.

I ping for no man.

I might ping for a woman, but she doesn’t play GW.

Andraus.3874:

This is hard content. If you don’t like it then play something else. There’s plenty to do with ignoring raids. These fights are tough. If you have half the group running stats like vit and toughness you are not going to win. It’s just not going to happen so hence the gear checks.

People that put time and effort into getting ascended for raids feel that they want to play with people that also put the time into getting ascended. Sure it’s not super necessary outside of trinkets and weapons. But people put a lot of work into getting ascended and they can choose to party up with others that did too for raids. Overall raid DPS is slightly increased if the whole raid has ascended and you can’t blame people who put the work into getting full ascended for wanting that.

If you don’t want to play that way it’s fine you can make your own raid group. Granted you probably will get a lot of people who are also rejected from raids for running the wrong builds and stats making it impossible to win but that’s just my opinion.

So the solution is quite simple to this. Just make your own group if you have a problem finding one. Just realize it’s going to be very hard to win and most likely impossible. You can blame this on Andt if you want but there are a lot of people that were wanting challenging content. Of course there are people that want casual content too and gw2 has plenty of that so you can always choose to play that content too.

So…. You can play your way. Make your own group. Don’t force people to play your way (no gear ping, no meta or whatever).

Go back and re-read the whole post.

That doesn’t make any sense to me. Please explain.

Is there a list of which masteries are needed to get past a gate in the HoT storyline?

Rasimir.6239:

What level masteries are you on? With just two points (basic gliding and mushroom jumping) you can already explore the vast majority of the new maps just fine, the rest really is just bonus and niche use.

I’ve got those two, but I’m currently mastery-gated in AB. Get your facts straight before posting.

Odin of Ark.4860:

Regular masteries can be lvled anywhere in central tyria. And its not hard to level maguuma masteries at all. Dragons stand is pretty great for XP.

Did you read his post? He CAN’T GET THERE because he’s been gated out. For crying out loud, read before you post something so stupid.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Anet has basically turned their backs on their main customer base. So the question is, will this “new” version of GW2 get enough “serious” players to replace all the casuals who quit?

Unlikely.

I agree 100%.

Glass Hand.7306:

Raids though – I know that ArenaNet is trying to expand the market for the game. I’m not sure this is going to work. It may end up creating two incompatible groups of players in the game causing the community to become less friendly.

You are correct, as can be seen by a couple of posts above.

I’m of the same opinion, but even more so. I believe that asking to display armor should be an auto-ban. It is a personal affront to me for someone to question my ability to play like this: in a way that assumes the worst.

I possess gear that would qualify, but I’ll never play with such a team. Unfortunately the system allows them to ask. So, the bottom line is that I’ll probably never raid.

ANet, you want to fix this? It seems unlikely, but if you do, it’s simple: create an instanced entry lobby for geared-up people only. Then ban anybody for asking elsewhere.

This isn’t the first thread on this subject, but I agree 100%.

Personally, I think they should reset participation with the daily reset. People are used to switching gears around the daily reset, so it would fit.

Regardless, if you really have extra empyreal fragments (etc.), make sets of bricks, empyreal stars, and dragonite ingots. Empyreal fragments, and dragonite ore are only useful for one thing that’s not a one-off: refine them to make vision and lesser vision crystals, which are used for ascended armor and weapon creation.

Bloodstone dust/bricks has a few more uses, mostly one-offs.

If the stones become available via the gem store again, don’t buy them just to make mystic salvage kits. They’re orders of magnitude more expensive than just buying master kits. See http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Salvage_Kit

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Daddicus.6128:

I tried to get into Arah solo, but I don’t see how. Is there a trick to it? (I want to see what one of the other posters meant by “exactly like Arah”.)

Thanks!

Arah explorable solo is possible besides path 1 (and maybe path 4 for some classes?). Of course it’s much more difficult and requires a lot of knowledge on your end, but it’s certainly doable. Path 2 is the one most people solo.

Thanks for the info!

Actually, I was confused by someone’s earlier post. S/he was talking about the storyline mission being made solo, not the dungeon itself. S/he was proposing to create a “soloable for casual players” of the 8 dungeons. I just mixed them up.

Oh, I get it. I haven’t done that mission for quite a while, but I have done the dungeon a few times. I didn’t remember a solo mode, but if it’s part of the storyline, that makes sense.

Thanks!

I tried to get into Arah solo, but I don’t see how. Is there a trick to it? (I want to see what one of the other posters meant by “exactly like Arah”.)

Thanks!

Thanks guys. (Sorry, Pope, they won’t let me say two people had answers.)

Is there a chat command that will tell you how long you’ve been logged in or on the map you are on?

Once I’ve attained my elite specialization, is there any use to collecting more hero points? (Besides map completion.)

Boysenberry.1869:

Certain WvW achievements have always been easy to snag and continue to be easy. Mists Guard Killer is super easy; just kill 5 NPCs. Caravan just requires killing one Dolyak which is even easier now that more of them spawn. Monuments (formerly ruins) is also easy to find and capture solo. Big Spender is of course always the easiest.

Dailies cap at 3 so anything after that only rewards an underwhelming chest of stuff. For a PvE’er, doing the Daily Gatherer, Daily Vista, and one of the easy WvW dailies is a great quick combo to run.

Perfect! This is exactly the kind of info I am looking for. Thank you very much!

I’ll repeat, since many of you seem to have missed it:

Rewards should be EXACTLY the same! If 5 people go in, each receives some number of tokens. The total number of tokens is 5 times the base per-person number. Therefore, the base per-person loot pile does not need to change at all.

All that needs to change is the scaling. Which, after 3 years they should have a handle on by now.

Well, with the changes to fractals, they’re almost worth getting into, so the rings part would still work. I’m also going to dabble in WvW, but not seriously, so going there isn’t likely to help.

Changing stats after creation is something I never thought of before. But, costs a ton of money and spirit shards, another gated commodity. I’ll have to evaluate which costs more.

Thanks for the info!

Basically, I’m trying to figure out if I can game the system due to the lack of people, and pick up occasional WvW daily achievements.

I think you’re right that I would get smoked if I tried to do actual conquering, even if there’s only a handful of people around.

But, I think I’m going to try a few times and see what happens.

Oh, and my use of any siege stuff would be purely to get them out of my inventory. I could just delete them, but I’m a pack-rat.

Noticed a minor problem:

Normally, when you log into the game (before hitting PLAY), you get a screen with some articles on the left side and the PLAY button on the right. It works fine with the 32-bit client, but the messages piece hangs indefinitely with the 64-bit client. The rest of the 64-bit client seems normal (and faster).

I use shards every day to convert materials in the mystic forge. Plus, you need a bunch to craft vision crystals, which are required for ascended armor.

Agreed. For a limited time, though (like, a minute or maybe two).

I’ll have to pay attention. And a huge crippling of the game that didn’t come via HoT (although, it was almost certainly in preparation for what was coming).

Why? Why would they do something to cripple long-term playing?

My necro does everything BUT burns, and he can punch out serious damage. But, he could do more if there were runes (etc.) that focused on poison and bleeding as well as there are for burning. It does seem like burning outstrips all other conditions, if you can focus on burning.

I haven’t gotten far enough to talk intelligently about the others, so I’ll only comment on the first two:

Let’s make a list of things we’d like to see change in the HoT maps. I’ll start off a few:

- Stop resetting our map participation % when we leave a map, even for the shortest time. I just literally went to my guild hall for 20 seconds to withdraw some bloodstone dust to feed to Herta because I forgot to do it yesterday, in time before reset, and I came back to Tangled Depths with 0% participation. There goes 150%… all because I wanted to withdraw something from my bank. Wow.

- Have all HoT Meta’s happen every hour. This will encourage players to get familiar with them and be able to practice without having to wait so long.

Resetting percentage, I think, should be a daily reset, right along with the regular reset. It took me two hours to get to 200% (for the first time), and then the map emptied out enough that megaserver asked me to change maps. I did what they asked.

I haven’t been back there since. That just really sucked, even more than the other crap in HoT.

Not necessarily every hour. I like the Vinewrath timer in SW. It steadily progresses as you do events, but does not require specific ones like the HoT zones seem to. Then again, the Dry Top timer is exactly and hour, and that offers some predictability. Either one would work for me.