You take a walk downtown in real life. Lots of people around you. You could pass a straight couple arguing about what to eat for dinner tonight. A couple of kids windowshopping at a toystore. At one point you pass 2 people talking to each other, and from the little snippet of conversation you overhear you understand that one of them is transgender. You continue your walk. None of these people have backstories that you know of, but you know that they have backstories. Do you have to know every detail for it to be legitimate?
Introducing a transgender/LGBT/racial character because he/she is transgender/LGBT/racial, that is pandering. Marjory came into the game on her own. Her sexuality only surfaced later on, when she met Kasmeer. The same goes for Kasmeer. She wasn’t introduced as a lesbian character. She just turned out to be lesbian when she met Marjory and fell in love. That is how you incorporate such topics into a game. By not making a big deal out of it but just presenting it as the most normal thing there is. Because that’s what it is: normal.
I am gay myself. I don’t need special attention. I don’t want to be put on a pedestal or in the spotlight because I am gay. I don’t even think about the fact that I’m gay, like most straight people probably wouldn’t think about being straight. I assume they don’t but can’t know for sure since I’m not straight.
From my point of view ANet doesn’t pander to any single minority. Those minorities just happen to be in the game because they’ve created a world full of diversity. Sya is done perfectly. She’s there, she tells a bit about her history and how she came to the decision to be who she really feels she is. Marjory and Kasmeer fell in love. They didn’t make a big deal out of it. It just happened (you know, like falling in love in real life). You can draw many analogies to real life with what’s presented to us in this game. Two simple examples: religious fanaticism (White Mantle), race wars (Charr/Humans) and the prejudice that comes with it. I don’t hear anyone complain that this resembles real life too much. How can it not? It’s a story created by people with real lives, who live in the real world. Would it be better if they purposefully stayed away from anything that might even remotely resemble something from real life? That’s impossible. There is cultural diversity in this game, various sexual orientations, gender fluidity, religion, political agendas, etc., etc., etc. There’s nothing PC about it. It’s just the world they created. As time goes by and real life societies start accepting more and more diversity, it’s easier to incorporate that into a pastime commodity like a computer game without backlash from the community. Take, for instance, the friendship between Rox and Braham, two people from different races. How do you think people would respond to that 80 years ago? These days it’s nothing special but it didn’t always used to be this way. The point is, there will always be a degree of real life reflection in any story created from the minds of humans, and it will always be possible to draw analogies with real life as well. I noticed Sya a long time ago and heard her conversation, thought to myself “That’s cool” and went on with my business. It is only an issue in the minds of some people because they make an issue out of it. And if you actually are part of a minority and chastised because of it, or lack all the rights “normal” people have, coming across something like this in a game, a book, a movie or whatever, can really lift your spirits. And that, to me, is a wonderful thing.
Thank you, excellent post.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I think that the people arguing that the instance is perfectly fine are suffering from a case of “I saw the answer instantly and therefore it must be obvious to everyone” syndrome. Different people understand situations differently, so what is obvious to one person may not be obvious to another. Telling the people who aren’t getting it that the situation is perfectly obvious isn’t helpful. If enough people aren’t getting it, then it’s not a problem with THEM.
I read what the NPC’s said in regards on how to do it.
I assume you mean the part where Marjory says:
Marjory Delaqua: These bloodstones can draw off the magic if we can catch the shield in the flux.
Marjory Delaqua: The unstable bloodstone chunks drain whatever energy gets nearby.
Since (unless it’s missing from the full transcript on the wiki) there are no other instructions mentioned at any point.
I don’t see how that would clear up any of the misconceptions mentioned in this topic. Ok, yes, we know we need to use the unstable bloodstone chunk to “catch the shield in the flux”. But if (like many people in this topic) you’re under the impression that the golems shields were removed because they were standing close to the bloodstone shard or close to you when you used Counter Magic, or when the bloodstone shard was destroyed it will seem perfectly logical that you need to do the same thing again here. Until it doesn’t work.
(Alternatively if I’m completely wrong here and there are instructions missing from the Wiki I’d appreciate it if you could point me to the relevant dialogue so I can add it.)
That dialogue was more than enough. If players missed it then they can always use a little critical thinking
Wow
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
If you considered how splitting the expansion would have affected the game, you would have seen the problems associated with it.
You know as well as I do that splitting the expansion in the manner you describe would have STILL resulted in players complaining they couldn’t do three of the maps. Furthermore, also resulted in some number of players who were looking forward to the challenge, disappointed with the other two. As I already said, you can’t cater to specific players with limited resources and time, as a business.
If they had to split the expansion, it wouldn’t have been as good for players like me.
No offence, but I honestly don’t see this as a problem.
Well, if you understood that Anet is trying to run a business and not a charity, you would. It’s not about if it can be done, it’s about how it would be done. That’s much more work to split the expansion and they have finite resources … are you going to pay more for an expansion that satisfies the desires of more players? Wait longer? People seem to ignore the most significant business issues when these discussions arise.
No, it’s definitely a problem.
I’m not sure what Anet being a business has to do with the idea. I’ve played MMOs that have introduced both low level and high level content in an expansion.
It has everything to do with it; resources are finite and other MMOs aren’t GW2 either. Just because one game dev decides to introduce both doesn’t mean that Anet had that pool of resources to do so as well. It’s just one of many factors they have to consider when deciding how to move forward with any bit of content, including expansions. It’s purely a business decision. A great example of this is their decision to halt Legendary weapon development.
It also doesn’t mean they didn’t have the resources. You write as though you know these things for certain and anyone else is illogical for not agreeing with you. The fact is that other MMOs also have limited resources and yet sometimes introduce “split” expansions.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
If they had to split the expansion, it wouldn’t have been as good for players like me.
No offence, but I honestly don’t see this as a problem.
Well, if you understood that Anet is trying to run a business and not a charity, you would. It’s not about if it can be done, it’s about how it would be done. That’s much more work to split the expansion and they have finite resources … are you going to pay more for an expansion that satisfies the desires of more players? Wait longer? People seem to ignore the most significant business issues when these discussions arise.
No, it’s definitely a problem.
I’m not sure what Anet being a business has to do with the idea. I’ve played MMOs that have introduced both low level and high level content in an expansion.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I think that the people arguing that the instance is perfectly fine are suffering from a case of “I saw the answer instantly and therefore it must be obvious to everyone” syndrome. Different people understand situations differently, so what is obvious to one person may not be obvious to another. Telling the people who aren’t getting it that the situation is perfectly obvious isn’t helpful. If enough people aren’t getting it, then it’s not a problem with THEM.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Looking at the Wiki, it says that “The other tabs consist of two currency containers and three other items of the lists which change every day.” out of a long list of items. So your list appears to be a random list where the 2 “currency containers” both happen to be Obsidian today.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Our characters live in a world where they can glide through the branches of trees, swim like Olympic champions in heavy armor, fight monsters in caverns beside large pools brimming with lava, bounce across floating chunks of earth via mushrooms, and drink potions that turn them into plants, animals, ruminants, ghosts, pieces of furniture, and Grawl snowmen, among other things.
Tell me again why cross-species breeding is impossible?
Even a fantasy world needs to be true to its laid out lore and the world’s internal logic.
If you’re going to toss aside the world’s logic and lore then all you have left is a chaotic mess where anything can happen for any reason or no reason.
The OP’s suggestion is opposed by the lore of the world. He suggests something that the game has already said can’t happen and he has not suggested a way for it to happen that fits into this world. He also has not laid out a compelling reason why having cross-species NPCs would improve the game according to the cost of putting
them in and the nonsense it would make of the lore.
I disagree.
How many impossible things in this game were not supported by the game world’s
‘logic and lore’ before/until they were put in the game and instantly became part of the game world’s ‘logic and lore’? Why do those things get a pass, but this one doesn’t? Simply because it hasn’t happened… yet?
Why is that centaurs evolving into their current illogical and dreadfully inefficient forms makes more sense in terms of logic and lore than them being the result of cross-breeding — helped, as I have already suggested, by magic (or asura science)
If a charr and an asura fell in love, and one of them drank a potion to become the other’s species, and they made sweet love down by the fire, what might happen later, given the magically-infused circumstances
Suppose our cross-species lovers both drank potions that turned them into, oh, I don’t know, let’s say cows. And someone came along and danced for them, and in so doing got them all hot and bothered so that nature took it’s course. In that magically-reconstituted state, what might happen should sperm and egg meet?
Logic and lore. If we have learned nothing else in the past four years, we should have learned that logic and lore in Tyria were made to be broken.
In other words, you’re saying let anything happen because the game needs no logic and no lore.
That’s one way to think of it, but neither you nor the OP has established why the Devs taking the time and money it would cost to add these NPCs and rewriting the lore benefits the game. Time and money that they could be spending on making playable content rather than pointless changes.
In other words, you’re saying we shouldn’t have asura, norn, or sylvari in the game, because the existing ‘logic and lore’ of the source material (the original Guild Wars
game) had to be rewritten to make room for them, wasting dev-ine time and energy.
/facepalm
I have argued that crossbreeds could exist, and have offered various ways and means by which they might come into being. What I haven’t done is suggest that they should exist. I’d ask where you came up with that, but we already know, don’t we.
Furthermore, if Tyrians were meant to fly, they’d have wings! So there. :-P
You know what, we already know all that. We already know that this is a fantasy game and that the Devs could wave a magic wand and add potions that allow conception or ret con the lore at a whim.
That part is obvious to everyone and really didn’t need an explanation.
The objection is that it’s not in the lore. That it’s not wanted for the Devs to act in a deus ex machina manner to bring about such lore altering changes. And that it’s not wanted for them to waste dev time and money to make such a pointless change.
That is, after all, the point and question of the thread. Whether we want it, not whether a dev could wave a magic wand and make it possible.
People were saying it was impossible.
CLEARLY we meant “impossible from a breeding standpoint”. Not sure why anyone would have to argue “magic” against that. I mean, this is a virtual world not a real one…its not like people thought that someone would have to literally try to breed interracial beings or anything.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Is there anything that can stop the spawn of the super-fast golem collectors or do the spawn because of the number of people?
You need the “taunts” to keep them running towards you (and you lick up the energy token again before they reach you – drop and repeat) instead of the ones they could bring back. One person doing the “taunt” job can keep a dozen of them busy (and not collecting) if he has good positioning and reflexes.
I also had someone tell me that its important to kill the golemancers. I’m not sure if that slows down the golem production?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
The practice of having mob density / difficulty to be so high as to almost require fighting through rather than running through for the majority of players.
Methods that encourage players to fight the mobs have been in the game since day 1. Game design strategies to make player/mob encounters more certain are not limited to HoT. I don’t think Fen stops anything either … there are mobs everywhere and they do something new; trying to knock you off your glider. That’s not pulling back from making mob/player encounters, that’s moving forward.
And again, while you continue to refer to your opinion
I refer to my opinion because I am not an Anet employee.
, downscaling is a method to make mobs less easy to ignore. You refer to downscaling as a way Anet discourages powerleveling? That makes no sense … How many percent increase can you get in XP with boosts? How many Experience scrolls and Tomes does Anet hand out on a daily basis? Want a level 40 character? Just open a birthday gift … Ever kill a yellow mob that gave 5x it’s bonus in regular damage because it hasn’t been killed in a long time? No, I’m pretty sure the message here is that powerleveling is not discouraged in the least. It’s actually encouraged as well. Anet wants players to get to level 80 because form a business perspective, players that get endgame faster are better consumers.
I don’t know that an endgame player is a better consumer – I don’t have access to those metrix.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
So the WvW Proof of Heroics will unlock a random HoT HP that is not already unlocked?
Yes.
Can you pick the zone?
No.
Generally I take a fresh 80 and do about 12 “low hanging fruit” HP I know of in HoT (the ones that would annoy me to unlock randomly because they’re so easy…), then burn the rest down with Proofs of Heroics.
If you’re really diligent about central Tyria HPs its really, really fast to pick off the last 50-80 points with a combination of tactics.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Anet is trying to balance the game to appeal to as many players as possible. This is a mistake, IMO, as tweaking the game has made it less satisfying to many people. Players who prefer a more relaxing game experience (I don’t say “casual” as that means different things to different people) don’t appreciate all the attention to PvP, WvW, Raids, etc. Attempts to coerce them into playing those modes so the modes are more populated makes the more relaxed players unhappy.
Nerfing open-world PvE and having many achievements in open-world PvE makes the more challenge-oriented players unhappy. Also having the more “hard-mode” content be easy enough for moderate players to enjoy.
In my opinion, Anet should have stuck with being a casual game and been very successful in that field. I’m sure those who enjoy the game but think it’s too easy have the opposite POV.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Norns and humans do not share a common ancestor. Norns come from Kodans and humans aren’t even native to Tyria but are from another planet. Therefore they are completely different species and always have been different species.
This. Since Humans are aliens on Tyria, they could not possibly produce offspring with any Tyrian species. You could speculate that Norn and some of the other human-like species (giants, Jotan, etc.) might have a common ancestor, but I couldn’t see why that kind of relationship would happen. And I couldn’t see a relationship among the more “animal-like” species either. And I don’t see what value it would have to the stories other than base gossip-y stuff.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
If you’re character is level 20 and running through a level 1 area, it’s downscaled so those mobs aren’t as easy to ignore. There are also waypoints. Also, pocket raptors. etc …
What do these things have in common? They are design features Anet has included so you can’t just run through mobs and not fight them. So yes, I have my opinions, you have yours but the fact you can’t just run through mobs you don’t want to fight isn’t a problem and not just my opinion because it’s how the game was intentionally designed.
If this was a consistent and purposeful decision, why start this practice only with HoT and then stop it with Bloodstone Fen? No, I believe that the design of HoT is the issue.
And it is MY opinion that downscaling is designed more to avoid powerleveling.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
A little off topic but I think that’s the point … you shouldn’t be able to just run your way through maps and avoid mobs. I mean, there is a reason Anet put them there in the first place. In fact in Fen, i think it’s worse because in HoT, you can kill those mobs. in Fen, killing those mobs doesn’t really ‘clear your path’ so to speak. Some of the non-avoidance methods in Fen can’t even be avoided … like random death bubbles, etc..
It is your opinion that we shouldn’t be able to ignore mobs at all. If my character is level 20, it shouldn’t have to fight it’s way through every mob in a level 1 area. And so on up the level range and gear / experience range.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Just tried another dozen and a half times, to no avail. at this point im giving up. the darn thing takes so long that i get tired of trying to kill and stay alive at the same time, get frustrated, die, start over again, with frustration alrdy in place. doesnt pay to try anymore. does story really need to be like this? lol
I agree, I have given up on some of the Living Story fights in the past also because I just can’t seem to get past them. I wouldn’t have even done it as many times as you have.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
You can also get HP through WvW play. Every time you level up in WvW you get a chest with proof of heroics in it, Turn them in 10 at a time to unlock a random Heart of Thorns hero point. Proofs are a shared currency so you can earn them on any character (like a fully kitted Ascended-everything death machine) and spend them to advance any other character (like a freshly mintes no-Asecnded-at-all cannon fodder.).
I usually get 8-10 proofs per level in WvW. It is a LOT less annoying to me than wandering around most of the HoT maps going “crud, I can’t even get to that one… or that one… or that one…”
So the WvW Proof of Heroics will unlock a random HoT HP that is not already unlocked? Can you pick the zone?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I think it’s amusing that generally, Fen is found to be more acceptable than HoT is, though the mob difficulty is comparable, as is the vertical map layout. Could that be just due to the event density and ease to get around?
Despite the similarities to HoT, I have to say I enjoy Fen more and hope that whatever the future of GW2, it’s more like Fen than it is HoT … and certainly hope the future is not anything like Core Tyria.
The problem with mob difficulty in AB and TD is that its much harder to get away from them. If you’re simply trying to get somewhere without stopping to fight every single thing in your path, you can easily get stopped by all the mobs with their cc effects. But in Bloodstone Fen, once you have continuous gliding you can simply jump off a ledge / on a mushroom in 90% of locations and go where you want to go. It’s almost like running on the ground in Core Tyria. Of course near the crater you have the stupid rock throwers, but I just avoid that area unless I need to do an event there.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
This has been requested before and I completely agree. I would also like some storage for “keepsakes”. Items you receive from the Living Story and other content that remind you of the story so you don’t want to destroy them.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I love the HoT maps, but I’d love them more if I could just log in and play them any time. I recognize that they aren’t “dead”, but that isn’t my issue. I just want to play and the hard event timers combined with the LFG and megaserver systems create a scenario in which your only option for doing so is to show up at the correct time and use LFG.
That’s the biggest failing of HoT, in my opinion. Well, that and adventures. But at least those are somewhat optional. Unfortunately, this issue is simply a side-effect of the design. I wish there were a way around it, but they’ll probably just have to avoid this event setup in the future.
Heartily agree.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I can’t stand jumping puzzles – they are the thing I hate the most in this game because so many things are gated by them. If I wasn’t missing out on a lot of things because of them, I wouldn’t care about them at all and would go about my gaming very happy.
Some players talk about practice – I play games for leisure, not to work at them as though I was back at school or at my job. I don’t have anything against skills getting better as you play – my jumping has improved over the years of playing this game just from getting to Vistas and stuff. But JP can be so difficult for me that it would require many hours of practice for me to complete even one that is slightly harder than most people call “easy”.
A lot of people talk about getting someone to port you, but I feel bad asking guildies to go out of their way to do this. I shouldn’t have to feel like a beggar to play a game.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
The game can change – look at World Completion. If you want to play WvW to get the Gift, that is your decision. Some of us can request change since it is clear that change happens.
That shouldn’t have ever changed as you see now players think that game should be tailored to their individual desires. Have you even considered the repercussions of such changes? Some servers depend on the influx of hunters of legendarys to make pushes.
I’m not certain, but it sounds like you’re saying that some WvW servers depend on “non-WvW” players to pad their numbers. If WvW isn’t popular enough to sustain itself without other players being pushed to play that mode, that is too bad. But that is not the way to make WvW more successful.
You misconstrued “play your way” into the entire game should change to my preference when it was only really ment that you didn’t have to be forced to play a specific role in parties.
I’m certain though that if they were to remove the heavy pve requirement for wvw/spvp players that you would be so equally accepting to changing the game for individual needs. strange
You are incorrect, I have already suggested that any content currently gated behind multiple game modes should be changed to allow completion in any mode a player desires, including multiple modes. This could be accomplished by each mode awarding some kind of token that can be used to complete the content. This way people won’t feel like they must play modes they don’t enjoy in order to complete content they wish.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I don’t use outfits because I like to customize my character. I doubt I would use them unless you could choose exactly what piece or pieces were visible and they allowed the rest of your armor to show through.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is an excess of 31 Heart of Maguuma mastery points beyond what you need to max all masteries. With each adventure having two mastery points, and there being 15 adventures, this comes out to 30 mastery points total from adventures. You do not have to do adventures to max out your masteries. Of course this means you would then be extremely limited in what else you can do to get them.
So “if you don’t like Adventures, you can still max out Masteries by doing every other game mode in GW2”. Nice choice of play.
Yes, it is a “nice choice” — the word “mastery” suggests that it’s something requiring doing more than the minimum, especially since you can play the entire game without maxing most of the mastery lines. If folks want to restrict themselves to only one game mode, they should expect some limits on the rewards.
Masteries are not “rewards”, they are character progression. Imagine if Anet gated character Skills and Specializations behind having to do mini-games, JP, etc.?
It is also possible to play the game without unlocking your Elite Specialization – should that be gated behind having to do Adventures?
Masteries are not gated by adventures. You can skip every adventure and still max out every mastery line although that means you’ll then have to get every other MP except for one. It’s all about choices. If you choose to write off an entire category because you don’t like it then you’re limiting yourself rather than the game doing it.
Masteries were designed with the intention that players would do an assortment of achievements to obtain mastery points which were then used to unlock masteries once a mastery line was trained by earning enough experience points. This was communicated well in advance of the HoT release and we saw the basic in the beta tests. Although for the betas, only the communes were available due to the durations of each beta.
The only benefit to maxing all of your masteries is if you want to craft any of the four new legendary weapons. Outside of that, there’s no need to. Many of the masteries have very little use or actual value. For example, you can skip the last two masteries resulting in a net surplus of 17 mastery points. Masteries are a type of progression but not a mandatory one like leveling.
Leveling isn’t mandatory either.
Actually, it is if you want to experience any content outside of the starter maps.
And Masteries are mandatory if you want to see certain content.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is an excess of 31 Heart of Maguuma mastery points beyond what you need to max all masteries. With each adventure having two mastery points, and there being 15 adventures, this comes out to 30 mastery points total from adventures. You do not have to do adventures to max out your masteries. Of course this means you would then be extremely limited in what else you can do to get them.
So “if you don’t like Adventures, you can still max out Masteries by doing every other game mode in GW2”. Nice choice of play.
Yes, it is a “nice choice” — the word “mastery” suggests that it’s something requiring doing more than the minimum, especially since you can play the entire game without maxing most of the mastery lines. If folks want to restrict themselves to only one game mode, they should expect some limits on the rewards.
Masteries are not “rewards”, they are character progression. Imagine if Anet gated character Skills and Specializations behind having to do mini-games, JP, etc.?
It is also possible to play the game without unlocking your Elite Specialization – should that be gated behind having to do Adventures?
Masteries are not gated by adventures. You can skip every adventure and still max out every mastery line although that means you’ll then have to get every other MP except for one. It’s all about choices. If you choose to write off an entire category because you don’t like it then you’re limiting yourself rather than the game doing it.
Masteries were designed with the intention that players would do an assortment of achievements to obtain mastery points which were then used to unlock masteries once a mastery line was trained by earning enough experience points. This was communicated well in advance of the HoT release and we saw the basic in the beta tests. Although for the betas, only the communes were available due to the durations of each beta.
The only benefit to maxing all of your masteries is if you want to craft any of the four new legendary weapons. Outside of that, there’s no need to. Many of the masteries have very little use or actual value. For example, you can skip the last two masteries resulting in a net surplus of 17 mastery points. Masteries are a type of progression but not a mandatory one like leveling.
Leveling isn’t mandatory either.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
I think the biggest problem with the Ley Energy Research events is that they are too complicated for open-world events that you’re supposed to just run up and play. I was talking to a Commander that organizes the events and learned much more about them than I was able to by just participating.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is an excess of 31 Heart of Maguuma mastery points beyond what you need to max all masteries. With each adventure having two mastery points, and there being 15 adventures, this comes out to 30 mastery points total from adventures. You do not have to do adventures to max out your masteries. Of course this means you would then be extremely limited in what else you can do to get them.
So “if you don’t like Adventures, you can still max out Masteries by doing every other game mode in GW2”. Nice choice of play.
Yes, it is a “nice choice” — the word “mastery” suggests that it’s something requiring doing more than the minimum, especially since you can play the entire game without maxing most of the mastery lines. If folks want to restrict themselves to only one game mode, they should expect some limits on the rewards.
Masteries are not “rewards”, they are character progression. Imagine if Anet gated character Skills and Specializations behind having to do mini-games, JP, etc.?
It is also possible to play the game without unlocking your Elite Specialization – should that be gated behind having to do Adventures?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
With the new Mastery system, it isn’t true that you can simply play as you like without consequence to your character. However to stay on-topic, it is true that if you don’t like WvW you can simply go without a Legendary weapon. I am simply questioning the strategy of locking the flashiest item that is probably desired by the most players behind a niche game mode that not everyone wants to play.
Well when the game was set up, the game mode wasn’t niche and everyone did want to play it.
. it just hasn’t kept up somehow. There isn’t a way to prove your last statement, is it the flashiest item, is it desired by the most players, does nobody want to play it? Given that legendaries sell quite well on the TP whereas there are none of that chak egg sac thing that guy was ranting about yesterday.. and given how many invisible shoe threads get made.. I’d say there were flashier things.
I don’t disagree with you, I don’t want to wvw to get my next legendary but I will because that’s how you get the gift of battle for them. It isn’t a stress-inducing nightmare of a game mode (that would be SAB to me), just a bit boring. If you really want a legendary, just do enough a night until you get the gift and then don’t do any more. I’d support putting the vendor back and having a track.
The game can change – look at World Completion. If you want to play WvW to get the Gift, that is your decision. Some of us can request change since it is clear that change happens.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is an excess of 31 Heart of Maguuma mastery points beyond what you need to max all masteries. With each adventure having two mastery points, and there being 15 adventures, this comes out to 30 mastery points total from adventures. You do not have to do adventures to max out your masteries. Of course this means you would then be extremely limited in what else you can do to get them.
So “if you don’t like Adventures, you can still max out Masteries by doing every other game mode in GW2”. Nice choice of play.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Did you present this as false because you know for a fact that all (I’ll even take most) raiding groups in GW2 will group with raid noobs? Or is this just your opinion based on your limited experience?
Sure, there are engineered parties of 10 people that only raid with each other, but yes, there are raid groups that aren’t like that. In fact it had to be because every person that raids was a noob at some point. That’s not based on data, that’s just a logical conclusion.
Yes, every GW2 raider once had never played a GW2 raid. However it is my opinion that most raid groups are formed of guildies. I believe that its very rare for a PUG to become a regular raiding group. And since a raid group is normally a “full” group, why would they leave out one member in favor of a non-raider? And how would a non-raider find such a group willing to replace one of their regular members with a new raider?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
You can play how you like. You just can’t get the wvw stuff unless you do some wvw. Nobody is making you play wvw.
But wait you say.. legendaries require wvw components! So play without a legendary then…
I think the problem here is that in your instance:
I love wvw (not really but we’re pretending)
You are “forced” to do wvw.
You believe I will be mad you are forced to play alongside me.
You are wrong. If you are my enemy I enjoy killing you, if you are my ally I enjoy the assist capturing keeps.
Maybe you’ll even realise that wvw with a group is actually quite good fun!
Or you can just be mad at the game, I don’t really care. I just got on with it, got what I needed and am back enjoying PvE with my legendary.
I wouldn’t be mad if it was changed so you didn’t need a wvw component. I’m not going to sit around waiting for that change however.. ymmv.
With the new Mastery system, it isn’t true that you can simply play as you like without consequence to your character. However to stay on-topic, it is true that if you don’t like WvW you can simply go without a Legendary weapon. I am simply questioning the strategy of locking the flashiest item that is probably desired by the most players behind a niche game mode that not everyone wants to play.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
If you have to know how to look for people, that means that they are hard to find…
Isn’t one of your complaints that the maps are too complex? So it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that there are 20 people on a complex map that you can’t see.
Even in Core Tyria you can’t see an entire zone from one position. I’m talking about not seeing anyone as I go about playing. Its very rare that I don’t just run into people in any Core Tyria map.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is still plenty of people playing hot maps, you just need to use the LFG tool
“Need to use the LFG tool” and “plenty of people playing HoT maps” are mutually exclusive. If there were ACTUALLY plenty of people, you wouldn’t need to use LFG.
Thats not really the case. LFG is a tool that lets you find people to do specific content. Every player goes to a certain map to do specific content
If I go to HoT maps, I often don’t see another character while doing things around the map. In AB, probably the most popular HoT map, I don’t even see people doing Pre-Meta events if I simply zone into the instance without looking for a map doing the meta. That is not “plenty of people”. If you have to know how to look for people, that means that they are hard to find…
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
i bought GW2 HOT last week. then i deleted my character (started to play from a new character)
i haven’t seen more than 2 or 3 players ..
im playing on worlds of surmia
I completely understand – when I go back to the HoT jungle maps, I often see no evidence of other players. If I run around the map for a while I might eventually see one here and there. Of course I don’t tend to run solo around any map but VB since the others are just too much of a pain to solo (for me).
The big exception is if you can find a map that is being prepped for the meta. Usually this involves looking in the LFG tool. And since people are prepping for the meta, they usually don’t do anything else that you might want to do in that map.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
What does “active gameplay” mean? I am active when I play in open world PvE…
You also get passive rewards, which were even more common before. Many PvErs have tons of badges of honor, from Achievement reward chests — those are passive rewards, since they didn’t require active WvW participation.
Ah, so YOU define “active gameplay” as WvW. Since you are the only person I’ve seen with that definition, I’m not sure it is very valuable as a term. Since no one else is going to understand what you mean by it.
Most events allow you to gain the reward if you kill a few foes at the right time. In the Silverwastes, people have long complained that some folks earn the full rewards without contributing to the fight for more than the minimum amount of time. ANet has been experimenting with mechanics to make that harder to do, which is how we ended up with participation timers in HoT maps. (Some people welcomed them, at first, until we realized how clunky and extreme they were.)
Keeping in mind that I’m speculating about ANet’s motivation (since they haven’t actually said), their original intent for Legendary weapons seemed to be something that required some participation in more than just PvE. There’s pretty much no reason to remove all vendors for the Gift of Battle unless the idea was to make WvW participation a requirement.
So “Legendary weapons should require some kind of WvW participation because that’s the way Anet originally created them”? They also originally had World Completion include WvW…
Playing any mode isn’t “passive”. “Passive” = watching TV.
Playing isn’t passive, of course. But rewards can be obtained passively, or at least, with less active participation by the player. There are all sorts of examples, which were originally a strength of the game. Over time, people have tended to take advantage of some of the mechanics to let others do most of the work, while they gain all the rewards.
I think your use of the word “passive” is a bit extreme. As you say, any form of playing isn’t passive. And “tagging” isn’t limited to PvE.
You can nitpick the way I’ve phrased my question, if you want. It would be nice if you responded to the idea:
ANet has their own goals for how legendary weapons should be obtained.
The change to acquiring the Gift of Battle supports those goals.
For those who don’t like it the current mechanic, how would you design a system that gets ANet what they want, while making it less of a chore for non-WvWers?
The most effective way to get someone (ANet, in this case) to change their mind is to make sure you understand their point of view, and then try to address the things important to them.
Requiring different modes of play in order to accomplish things in game = not allowing players to play GW2 as they like. WvW and PvP are niche game modes in the MMO world. This is why Anet has to “force” players into those modes. But forcing players into those modes doesn’t sit well with the players who are forced. And frankly, as I have read elsewhere, I don’t know why people who actually like those game modes would want people playing who are only there because they are forced.
As for offering a different mechanic, they are professional game designers and I am not. Likely anything I suggested as a mechanic would be a source of much hilarity in their office. I’m not saying that players can’t make suggestions, but “I want real / sexy armor” is not a game mechanic.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Did you present this as false because you know for a fact that all (I’ll even take most) raiding groups in GW2 will group with raid noobs? Or is this just your opinion based on your limited experience?
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
There is still plenty of people playing hot maps, you just need to use the LFG tool
“Need to use the LFG tool” and “plenty of people playing HoT maps” are mutually exclusive. If there were ACTUALLY plenty of people, you wouldn’t need to use LFG.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
You only get alternate method for gift of battle if they implement an alternate method to get world completion in wvwvw.
GW2 is about Tyria and the stories of the people who LIVE in Tyria. The Mists are about dead people. It makes FAR more sense for the game to be centered in the land of the living and the events that are happening there. Fighting over the land of the dead or kitten amongst individuals should have nothing at all to do with being a LEGEND.
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
Here’s a “what if” for critics of the current system. What would seem a reasonable way, to you, for obtaining the GoB and still meet ANet’s interests? For the sake of argument, let’s suppose that ANet’s motivations are strictly about two things:
Legendary weapons should require some type of WvW participation.
GW2 started as a game in which you could choose how to play. Anet should stop gating content behind play modes and offer alternate means of receiving / accomplishing things for different modes of play.
As Legendaries are cosmetic items I’m thinking they should be given at least this to enjoy. Not everything in the game should be watered down to match player laziness and stupidity. They alreasy hosed traits, money, combat and gear.
Leave them their Legendaries. Leave them some dignity.
What does laziness or stupidity have to do with not wanting to participate in content that you don’t enjoy? We play games for enjoyment, no other reason AT ALL. Is it lazy or stupid to not like brocolli? That isn’t logical.
And what does dignity have to do with Legendaries? As you said, they are cosmetic items, not war medals…
it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol
