Guild Wars 2

AlexanderFaust.4518:

Notice the combat?.. how it’s NOT just circles on the ground?

I’m not a huge fan of Wildstar’s telegraph system, to be honest. I think it simplifies combat too much and removes the challenge in learning and reacting to the moves of your opponents through trial and error (one of the few things TERA did right with its BAMs).

..or was I just really unlucky, twice?

After stocking up on potatoes the past few weeks I decided to craft some brown dyes (cooking profession). Since it takes 100 nutmeg per vial now since the nerf, I only had 250 units in storage, thus enough to create only two vials of unidentified brown dye.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/8067251557_cfd9a2e59e.jpg

After removing the remaining 50 nutmeg from storage to my bag, I revealed both dyes and they turned out to both be “Far Mountain Dye”.

I thought that was bit unlucky (as there are so many variations of brown available). So, I switched characters to one that I have spare karma on (who is parked next to the nutmeg vendor), purchased another 250 nutmeg, and deposited it. I switched back to my cook and, now that I had 250+50 nutmeg to work with, proceeded to create 3 more unidentified brown dyes.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8035/8067248598_0dbbff8417.jpg

Once revealed, all three of them ended up being “Khaki Dye”.

Now, I’ve made quite a few brown dyes in the prior weeks and have never had that happen before. However, since the patch it seems like every time I create a set of dyes, upon inspecting them they all turn out to be the same color. Or maybe I just got unlucky, twice. Seemed odd enough to ask about, though.

I’d like to do more tests, but potatoes take a while to stock up and I don’t really feel like wasting anymore of them if a dye/crafting bug was recently introduced.

Searingarrow.4637:

It would be fine if each weapon had 5 more abilities and they were interesting, unique abilities

That or they could go back to the guild wars 1 set up.

The same setup that had you pick 8 skills which you would then be stuck with for the duration of your entire adventure on a particular PvE map?

No thanks.

I’d rather have access to the entire 5 x weapon choices + healing skills + utility skills + elite skills + trait modifiers selection we have now, which can literally be changed between every fight.

The old way may have gave us more freedom to create combinations of our choosing (good or bad), but you were stuck with that combination the moment you left a player hub – which could literally mean the same 8 skills on your bar for an entire play session. I think you guys may be wearing rose colored glasses on this one.

Raising the level cap is really not necessary in this game. To steal an example from GW1, they could introduce Cantha with its own range of zones, dungeons, and personal storyline that takes you from level 1 to 80, and every player (regardless of their level) would be able to enjoy the new adventure in its entirety thanks to the scaling mechanics.

You don’t have to tack on 5 or 10 character “levels” to do this (as GW1 showed). There are other ways to allow character progression.

I just wanted to update this thread with the correct answer. Also, spoiler warnings from here forward.

My friends and I all had level 39 characters who had not received any sort of in-game email or quest directing us to the first dungeon available at level 30, Ascalon Catacombs. However, our storyline missions were only progressed to around level 20.

Once we reached the level 30/31 (depends on your choice of Order) personal storyline mission where you choose an order, AND witness the failed reunion of Destiny’s Edge at Lion’s Arch, AND then meet with your order leader, you receive an in-game mail from your Herald which informs you about events that are taking place between Eir and Rytlock at Ascalon Catacombs, with a button in the email to show you the location of the dungeon on the map.

Our characters were level 39 at this point (which is above the level 30 requirement for Ascalon Catacombs), but it makes sense that the email is withheld until your personal storyline proceeds to the level 30/31 range because at the failed reunion of Destiny’s Edge in Lion’s Arch (which you witness) Eir has an idea regarding how to patch things up between Rytlock and Logan. This is what sends her to Ascalon Catacombs, and this is why you’re not informed of her trip there until this particular point.

So, long story short, you will not receive an official invitation to the level 30 Ascalon Catacombs dungeon until you’ve progressed your storyline past the level 30/31 mission where you witness the Destiny’s Edge reunion and finish introducing yourself to the leader of your chosen order. Whether character level also restricts the receipt of this particular email at all, I’m not sure. But I do know for certain that you do not receive it until your storyline has progressed beyond a certain point.

GreenZap.1352:

I agree with the force to make use of skills like GW1+expansion have. The problem in GW2 is that weapon skills are defined by the weapons u are weilding with no choice of changing and play around with them.

I believe the reasoning behind that was that it is easier to balance that way. That said, keep in mind that in GW2 you can at least switch weapons out whenever you get out of combat, where as in GW1 you were stuck with whatever loadout you chose for your entire visit to a map.

Well, in the case of “For Great Justice” you and the people around you get a +20% crit chance for 8 seconds and three stacks of might, which boosts your power and condition damage for 25 seconds. I’m not quite sure how you would show that (and other shouts) off in a video other than having a Warrior yelling his battlecry and everyone around him suddenly kicking butt. Obviously it’s a handy skill in the right situation; just because it isn’t flashy enough for a video doesn’t make that not so.

As for the people who want more skills, I’ve had my fill of that from countless years of WoW, Rift, SWToR (overkill!), etc.. I didn’t come to GW2 looking for that setup all over again. In fact, I always liked that the original Guild Wars gave you access to a lot of abilities but forced you to create an effective loadout with just a few of them.

Suraknar.1593:

The problem is that this system is not Flexible, if you are using the rifle, you are shoo boxed in to a single role, and then get in to a situation where the rifle’s abilities are not useful at all or even play against you and your done.

Isn’t that what your alternate weapon slot is for?

Really, this is how most weapon choices work, isn’t it? When I have a staff out on my guardian, there’s only so much I can do with it. Same with when I have my longbow out on my Ranger, or my shortbow. Or my daggers with my thief. Every one of my weapons are designed around a fairly specific role. And beyond the alternate weapon slot there’s always the option to switch weapon loadouts between fights.

Plague.5329:

@Edge
I could easily come up with other ideas that are just single target only. That’s not the point. The point is that the skills we have in-game are just “point at something, do damage to it + condition,” whereas it could do the same thing in a more interesting way, which is what they advertised the game, in development, as being.

If you’re satisfied enough with this lack of imagination to describe the weapon as “favoring support tactics,” then more power to you. But certainly you can understand why some of us can easily ridicule such skills as being lazy and boring to use over time. Whether you agree for your own experience isn’t relevant; just that it can be understood why this is a problem for others.

Please feel free to come up with some. I’m not sure what more you would want with a rifle designed to be a single target support/control weapon. You have a DoT (bleed), a snare, a direct damage attack, a sunder, and a knockback. Every button does something different AND incredibly useful for the role the rifle is designed to play. What more do you want to cram in there?

Sure, you can ask for an attack that bleeds the opponent, in addition to applying a snare effect, while also knocking the target back and applying a sunder all at the same time – and there are attacks that do combinations like that – but the rifle isn’t meant to be one of them. And, frankly, I wouldn’t want it to be. Abilities that cram too many combinations together for player.. I just find them to be boring to use, and you tend to use them often rather than being situational. I would rather get creative with the combinations myself. It’s what helps me look competent compared to that fellow who is just spamming random buttons.

I really appreciate that ANet is looking into the problem. There are several other MMOs that have this same issue (TERA, FFXI, for example) and the developers there pretty much rely on the players upgrading the computers they run their clients on, and little to nothing is done beyond that. At least you guys are actively working on this on your end.

GaileGray.9587:

Now, we are aware that there are a couple of other bugs related to story steps.

1. The first involves a split in parties paths upon selection of one’s Order. I’ll update a separate thread about that and you’ll be happy to know that this one has been repro’d and a fix tentatively developed. Upon successful testing, it will be rolled to live.

Would appreciate more information on this and how to best avoid running into problems.

I suspect there is something else at work there, or that you’re bumping into some sort of bug. I’m almost always in a party of 2 – 3 players and have never been dragged into combat when one of them have (or visa versa that I’ve noticed).

Plague.5329:

^ I think his point is that your own expectations for the skills are way too low. The rifle skillbar is one of the worst in the game, as all of the skills (aside from #5) are just damage + a condition, or just damage. They have no active use utility, just passive utility in the form of some generic condition application. The issue here isn’t him not utilizing their utility, but you not realizing how little they really have.

[edit]: And no one is saying the rifle is a bad weapon. It compensates for its terrible utility by just having a lot of damage.

I disagree. Your suggestions above try to add AoE abilities to the rifle in an attempt to make it (what you feel) is more interesting. I simply recognize the rifle (for Warriors) for what it is.. a great single target ranged weapon that favors control and support tactics. If I want AoE attacks I’ll pull out the Warrior’s bow.

For a weapon with abilities that you’re not giving a whole lot of credit to in terms of being useful, it’s very possible to tear something apart quickly when used properly compared to when it’s used improperly.

Searingarrow.4637:

It’s bad enough you only have access to 15 abilities at a time but when those 15 abilities are uninteresting, recycled abilities you’ll see in any other MMO it gets really boring really quick. The abilities don’t even attempt to be interesting. We’ll take the warrior’s rifle for example:

• Aimed Shot – Small damage and cripples… yay?
• Volley – Pretty much a channeled auto attack that shoots faster… Also in just about every MMO
• Brutal shot – Slightly more damage than an auto attack and makes the target take 5% more damage. Boring standard MMO ability.
• Rifle butt – Knocks back.

You only get 5 abilities on a weapon. This kit is completely uninteresting. Things like cripples and vulnerability should be tied to other interesting abilities. They shouldn’t be abilities all on their own.

This problem isn’t just for the warriors rifle. Its practically for every weapon in the game. I feel like that’s why this games combat feels so stale. Theres not really any original ideas, just a bunch of sub par, one purpose recycled abilities from every other MMO.

I’m really surprised that you chose the Warrior’s Rifle for your example, as I have a ridiculous number of kills with it and have always found the ability selection to be pretty well done on this particular weapon. If you just try to fire off those buttons in some random order your killing speed will be horrible compared to someone who is being more tactical with their choices.

The first button is a stacking bleed, which should be applied quickly (and returned to often) so you can get the full impact from it. The second, a cripple, which is particularly handy when attacking melee opponents, although has its uses against some ranged opponents as well if they have a shorter attack than you. The third is the volley, which works exceptionally well if used after the fourth attack, a shot that applies several stacks of vulnerability. The fifth attack, a knockback, is handy as an interrupt and pushing away melee opponents that have gotten to close to you (which you can then follow up with another cripple and continue kiting).

Honestly, I love the Warrior’s rifle weapon. Every ability does something important. I would dislike it if they were all just five different ways of dealing damage on differing timers. And if you’re trying to use it that way, you’re doing it wrong.

Mistbooster.1803:

-IF you are in a party in the same map as a party member, if said party member enters combat, even if it is in the opposite side of the map, you enter combat too, this here makes no sense as it slows you down alot, especially annoying if you happen to be gunning for a chest at the end of one of the jumping puzzles

I’m really not sure what gave you this impression but as far as I can tell it’s simply not accurate. I play in a party every day and I never have this problem.

In fact, just last night my friends and I were running across the map together as a pack to get to a specific location while trying not to enter combat (to avoid slowing down). Unfortunately for me, I accidentally got too close to a mob and dragged into combat, which instantly decreased my movement to the slower combat speeds. Despite being right next to me when I entered combat, the rest of my group continued at full speed and quickly pulled away, while I rapidly fell behind until I got out of combat.

I mean, we even laugh at each other over voice whenever this happens (as we’re racing to an instance point), and it happens quite a bit, so I’m not just talking out of my hat here. I have never seen the entire party get dragged into combat speeds whenever one person gets into combat.

I gave up on crafting altogether (first time I’ve ever not crafted in any MMO) solely because of the fine crafting materials. I was spending the majority of my gaming time farming these drops. You can pick either reason: too many of them are needed, or they aren’t dropping enough.

If I need 60+ (example) bone fragments to craft a set of gear and I’m recovering one every 10 kills.. that’s 600 mobs I have to farm through for a set of equipment I’ll wear for five levels before repeating the process. I’m sorry, but I think that’s just ridiculous.

Doubly so because in the process of farming ~600 mobs I get enough equipment drops that I have an adequate set of gear to use without ever visiting a crafting station.

Jaxichael.2590:

The Shatterer, as others have stated, is not an elder dragon – AND on top of that, one of the first REAL threat bosses you see in the game. It makes sense that it would be doable. If you’ve fought the Claw of Jormag yet, you’ll see how interactive boss fights can be.

Hogwash.

Honestly, I’m more than a little tired of the tutorial-style excuse. We had this tutorial back at level 1, with a “epic” bosses that can die in under 10 seconds. Then I ran into another “epic” boss at level 15. Same problem. Rinse repeat. The Shatterer is a level 40 encounter. These “epic” bosses (from the tutorial onward) are just way too easy to put down and the working solution with all of them seems to be pump out damage, damage, and more damage, and top it off with a touch of damage.

I just did this mission last night and there are still three veteran abominations at the end, so I don’t think that adjustment mentioned above went through.

The difficulty of the abominations is going to vary depending on how quickly you can kill them. If you don’t finish them off fast they start to build up that fury buff over time and then they get downright unforgiving. Their speed and damage later on compared to early in the fight is just scary.

My biggest complaint with the missions is the NPC allies. As soon as you revive one he runs off to fight the nearest risen mob and dies. I just can’t revive them fast enough. And if you try killing all the risen mobs first and then attempt to revive all the allies, you can’t because the abominations show up (leaving you with a worse version of the same problem)

My Order of Whispers contact (human) bugged out and wouldn’t move from the front gate as well.

tolunart.2095:

Edge.4180:

Yes, although I’ve paid way more than $60 and (at this point) the game would have been cheaper with a standard subscription fee.

I’m not suggesting I prefer that, I’m just explaining that with that kind of money I have an expectation for things (like dynamic events, which are the meat of the PvE game) to be working, and the problems don’t just get a free pass with me because GW2 is advertised as being free to play.

Love the game. Want the problems fixed faster, though, before they make me not love the game.

I bought the basic edition for myself and another for my wife. Beyond that I haven’t spent a dime on the game and we’re both enjoying it. We play the same game you do – you didn’t have to spend more than the basic game costs, you chose to spend the money. You don’t have that choice with a sub-based game.

For example I spent the same amount to buy SWTOR last December and another $60 on a 3 month sub. When my sub ran out I couldn’t play any more, $120 for a piece of software that I cannot access without paying more money. Now I guess it’s free to play but you are restricted from doing things that subbed players can do.

With this game, until the day they shut the servers off I will be able to log in and play anytime I want, and I only spent $60 on it. Any purchases beyond that are optional, and does not entitle you to anything beyond the (virtual) items you are buying.

Please re-read your statement, and then re-read my statement, and then explain how your comment applies to my comment in any way, shape, or form.

There are a several events involving that entire pirate area (Proven Shore), but they usually seem to be broken and no longer trigger within hours of a server reset.

Tallenn.9218:

Pretty much this.

I won’t come right out and say you’re lying when you say, “I’ve been playing normally and hitting diminishing returns”. I’m just asking you to PROVE IT. Post a video (without parts cut out) showing “normal” game play with DR being triggered. I would really, REALLY like to see that.

I have not seen these diminishing returns in MY “normal” gameplay, so I’m really curious what’s different about YOUR normal gameplay that causes it to trigger.

I really think, in this case, visuals are the best way to make a point on this particular topic. If someone can start showing videos of diminishing returns wrecking their gameplay in a short amount of time despite normal play, I’m pretty sure the community would be like “WTH, Arenanet?”. And I’m pretty sure that sentiment would even be shared by people on the development team.

However, if people are doing something squirrely and running into DR, be prepared to get a response along the lines of “game is not intended to be played that way”.

Yes, although I’ve paid way more than $60 and (at this point) the game would have been cheaper with a standard subscription fee.

I’m not suggesting I prefer that, I’m just explaining that with that kind of money I have an expectation for things (like dynamic events, which are the meat of the PvE game) to be working, and the problems don’t just get a free pass with me because GW2 is advertised as being free to play.

Love the game. Want the problems fixed faster, though, before they make me not love the game.

If you want to set your trap on auto and your pet to active, and sit back and watch for hours, you certainly can. There’s nothing wrong with that. No player can tell you which skills you are and aren’t allowed to use while playing

Just be ready to respond to any tells (especially the ones coming from any CSR investigating a complaint) to prove that you are actively sitting there at your keyboard. But if you’re planning on setting that up and going AFK, you’re probably going to get in trouble. Your gaming is supposed to be attended.

CC Eva.6742:

Hi everyone.

I just changed the thread title for something more descriptive and less “kitten”.

I wish the community team had different forum tags than the developers.

I don’t mean anything disrespectful by this, and hope you understand where I’m coming from with that statement. It’s just that so often I see the Arenanet tag on a thread and go in thinking the topic is being addressed by an official statement that will clear up any questions. But, it just seems like a majority of the time the Arenanet post ends up being a moderation notification instead.

As a player you get excited for the snippet of game information you’re about to receive, only to end up reading about a thread title change or a warning for everyone to play nice. I have the same frustration with the dev tracker and wish it had more filters, because it’s difficult to find the informative posts amongst the much more abundant moderation activity.

Moakist.5268:

There are pleanty of examples on these boards, as well as lengthy videos..

I don’t suppose you can add some links? I keep searching Youtube and I simply can not find any. I put “diminishing returns” in my GW2 search and nothing relevant comes back. You would think that would be included in the video title/tags.

On the Tarnished Coast server, I spent about a week (and 10 levels) adventuring in Gendarran Fields and I can count the number of separate events I witnessed popping up on three fingers. Then the patch came (along with a server reset) and when I logged back in after the reset I couldn’t turn without running into an event, the majority of which I had never seen before.

Less than a day later, they’re all gone again (stuck, broken, not triggering, etc).

I’ve read the developer post regarding the beta environment versus the live environment and the potential problems that can crop up when events run over and over again.. but we’re talking about everything breaking in less than a day, and those beta weekends were running for longer than that.

This has to be fixed. I know that’s a no-brainer statement and everyone on the dev team is aware of this but, events are the meat of this game. Without them the PvE player is down to single-NPC quest hubs and random mob grinding to level. And a month after launch the problem with broken events is still here. Why doesn’t this seem to be getting the priority attention it deserves? And by that, I mean the “we can’t launch the game until this problem is licked” kind of attention, where it’s resolved in days instead of months.

I’m a big GW2 supporter and I really want this game to succeed, but having a zone full of broken events just looks sooo bad and isn’t helping with players impression of this game.

So.. no video then. Too easy to assume event-speed-tagging at fault here without one.

I’d love to see a youtube video of someone playing the game “normally” and still hitting diminishing returns. Whenever there’s a thread like this, it’s natural to wonder what exactly the person making the complaint is doing “wrong” or what actions they’re taking that are triggering DR.

My point being, showing a video of someone playing normally/reasonably and then having their gameplay wrecked by diminishing returns 20 minutes into it would definitely gain some support for the supposed problem fairly easily.

Otherwise, without some sort of visual proof you’re probably going to leave people feeling unsympathetic because they’re picturing you gaming the system in some ridiculous manner (and getting bitten back by it).

Just a suggestion.

I think it’s really just about dramatic presentation, and to differentiate itself from normal combat. Almost like you’re entering a mini-game.

Mars Hill.1542:

1. Heart Quests
To be honest, the essence—the bones, the framework, etc.—of a dynamic quest, is the same thing as a traditional quest, only it’s presented differently. Both Hearts and quests are similar in that they have the expected “Kill X amount of Y” or “Collect X amount of Y” or “Escort Z”. None of this is new.

What is new, is how it is presented. I no longer have to go to a person, hear the context, and then accept the quest. In fact, I don’t even have to speak to a person. I just “happen” along by, but it is still presented to me on my screen.

In some ways, this is worse, because not only is it the same as a quest, but context, meaning, and story, have been undermined if not completely stripped away. That is not an improvement, it’s a downgrade.

I’m focusing on this point because I feel you’re really off on this one.

Reknown tasks (heart quests) are so open ended it’s amazing, but you only get out of them what you put in. If you feel like they’re a step backwards from normal questing.. that’s a failure on your end, not the design, but how you are choosing to utilize the design.

There is nothing preventing you from seeking out context. You, as the player, are perfectly capable of seeing the location of the heart vendor and speaking with him at any point prior to completing his task and getting details on what this particular area is all about. There is often an amazing amount of detail in their conversation trees if you’re willing to take the time to do this.

I think this approach to questing is of the most realistic type I’ve ever seen. You approach an area (example, farm) and can see that that the crops need watering, the cattle need feeding, the fence needs repairing, the farmhands need motivating, and the bandits are terrorizing the workers in the fields. It makes perfect sense to me that you can dispatch a few of those bandits on your way in and the owner of the farm is at least a little bit thankful for your assistance by the time you talk to him.

From there, you can converse with the owner and get the full scoop on the area and help out in any number of different ways. But one of the coolest parts here (and what makes the most sense) is that your heroism is being appreciated before you’ve even introduce yourself.

What doesn’t make sense (and is a step backwards) is they style of quests we’re used to from games like WoW, where you can kill off a few dozen ogres and then speak with someone with a “!” above their head and they hit you up with a mission to thin out the ogre ranks by killing 10 of them. Nothing you did on your way in to the NPC counts.

I really feel that players who don’t speak to the heart task NPC prior to maxing his contribution bar are really doing themselves a disservice and missing out a big part of the game and its lore. You can get so much more depth regarding a region and the NPCs that populate it by taking the time to speak with these NPCs and keeping yourself informed. HOWEVER.. as strange as it seems to me some players just don’t like playing that way, and are all too happy to skirt through an area without ever speaking with any of the NPCs. But these are the same types of players that didn’t even bother to read the quest text in games like WoW.

Point is, it’s a choice, and how you choose to play is up to you. If you’re not liking how heart tasks play out compared to standard MMO questing, it might be because you’re one of those people that won’t go the extra mile in a game unless the game forces you to. But if bothers you that much.. that’s something you have to change, not the game.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

The problem is that in a contained story map we know that only one cutscene is going to play at a time, but in the explorable world any number could be triggered at the same time. (The extreme example being 5 players on 5 different steps in a group that trigger 5 cutscenes at similar times.)

I really don’t think you’re giving players enough credit with that type of concern, and robbing them of a shared experience in the process.

In the example you’re making, I would think the only cutscene everyone in this hypothetical party of five would be seeing is the one that was played first. If someone chooses to skip the cutscene with the little option at the bottom and then immediately begins their own cutscene.. then it only plays for them, or them and anyone else who chose to skip and doesn’t happen to be watching one at the moment.

Really, how many people are turning in personal storyline missions while grouped without the intention of sharing them with the people they’re grouped with in the first place? These aren’t standard quests, they’re personal missions that most people will not invite complete strangers along for. I think it stands to reason that people along for the adventure are looking for the complete cinema experience package.

I think the solution could be even more elegant by performing a range check. Are the following party members standing within X meters of the quest NPC who is about to trigger a cutscene? If so, then let them see it, because clearly they’re standing there waiting to view something. Or, just pop up a dialogue box asking them if they want to participate in the first place.

Perhaps you aren’t aware of this (which is difficult to believe), but there already are at least a couple (that I know of, and probably more) early-level personal storyline cutscenes triggered by NPCs out in the explorable zones that everyone in the party can watch together when triggered (even if they’re of a different race and don’t have the quest). Since you’re saying this would be a bad thing, I have to assume the cutscenes that do this are bugged and the behavior is unintentional. However, it is a very welcome bug that (at least) my party has always been pleasantly surprised to run into. And despite the concerns of potential chaos, we all simply watched these cutscenes happily and then continued on playing.

An example is the Norn mission starting series “A Weapon of Legend” (the entire series, not just that one mission.. all the way through to “Twilight of the Wolf”). During these quests there are several times when you have to speak to NPCs located in public zones (Hoelbrak, Wayfarer Foothills) – and not instance copy of theses zones but the actual world other players are occupying – and, despite being in explorable zones, speaking with the NPC will trigger cutscenes for the entire party. You probably see those as bugged, but if you ask me, all of them should work that way.

Hah. Yes.. actually 3 of the races (Norn, Charr, and Humans) have viable paths to 80. Really, it’s only the Asura and Sylvari that end up sharing with the rest of the races. I suspect time ran out before their region could be fleshed out more.

Swag.4923:

Running through Gendarran Fields for an hour or two each night, I typically see 10-16 bots, including 4 that I’ve been reporting constantly for three weeks now. It’s a pretty even mix between bots that teleport around, bots that run set paths, and the occasional 1-spam macroer.

I have to wonder how many times someone like you has erroneously reported someone like me. Sometimes I’d farm for crafting materials (a lot of times, actually.. it can take quite a while) and after a while of doing that solo you can get tired of putting forth your A-game performance for nothing, and instead just go through the motions while farming.. cycling through a particular path and spamming the 1 key with one hand while reading a book with the other. Sure, I’m at my keyboard, actively controlling my character, with one eye on the screen.. but your last two descriptions easily fit me at times, and I am clearly not botting.

The problem is too many people expect Arenanet to invest all this time into hunting down bots, but the players themselves are often only willing to spend two seconds (if that) deciding if they’re looking at a bot or a player before tossing another questionable report onto an already enormous pile. In my opinion, that kind of reckless behavior isn’t helping the game either. It certainly isn’t helping the speed at which real support issues are being addressed.

Fatal OEfx.5910:

So I made my way into a level 50-60 zone last night, and my experience was the complete opposite of my original post. I seemingly just steamroll through most if not all opponents.

This cements my theory that some mobs are simply not scaled appropriately. It makes zero sense that I can take on 8-10 level 80 mobs and not lose near half my health, but get decimated/killed by two level 75 fire grubs (all the while using very strategic fighting, not just standing still).

You should try going back to those level 75 fire grubs and take note of where you were standing at the time and make sure you were actually scaled around their level. The scaling regions have borders and it is completely possible (for example) to be standing in a region that caps you out level 5 but allows you to aggro level 10 enemies across the scaling border. Now, if you’re level 80 and move across that border towards them, you’ll become level 11. But if they come across the border to you, you’re still 5 and they’re still 10, and it gets painful quickly.

I’m wondering if that’s an example of what happened to you. Most zones have a general progression flow but every now and then you can come across some shortcut path that connects two areas within a zone that are vastly different levels and it’s easy to get into trouble there.

That said, those worms breath fire, don’t they? Burning conditions tends to hurt a lot, and if you take a face-full of it they can drop your health quickly no matter what. I’ve watched players stand on the receiving end of multiple fire breathers and drop dead in seconds. I’m not sure if that’s what happened to you, just offering a possible explanation.

You’re talking about letters like this (taken from the wiki):

“Your Herald

An Invitation to Caudecus’s Manor

Hail, mighty hero!

I hope that you are well! The neighborhood is buzzing with excitement about you! I’ve had word that there will be a party celebrating the charr/human peace negotiations in Queensdale. The reception will be at the Manor of Lord Caudecus, overlooking the shire of Beetletun, and will be attended by diplomats from all the major races. Captain Logan Thackeray is concerned for the safety of Queen Jennah, will be attending, and will need support. A hero of your merit should attend the soiree and offer what help you can.

—Thanks, Your Herald

PS – We understand that Zojja will be attending as well as part of the asura delegation, but we don’t know why. She is always a wild card, so be cautious."

I haven’t received anything like that except for one letter from the “Herald” at level 25, titled “An Introduction”, and it went like this:

“Greetings,

We have not met, but I have long been a follower of your exploits. I am a collector of tales of great daring and heroism, and your name has come up increasingly in the stories that have been reported to me. I’ve spoken with your mentor, and the suggestion was made that I contact you and add your stories to my collection.

Your mentor was a member of an adventuring group known as Destiny’s Edge. They were legendary heroes, but went their separate ways about five years ago, for reasons I have yet to discover – none have chosen to share that story with me. If you discover the nature of their separation, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you for your help in this, and I will get in contact with you in the future, and hope to keep you in touch with the whereabouts of your mentor and other members of Destiny’s Edge.

Through this I will remain,

Your Herald"

Yeah, I haven’t received any further emails from the Herald since level 25, and that email obviously doesn’t point you towards Ascalon Catacombs. It seems more like a “prepare to get more emails from me (regarding dungeons)” type email. But, as I said, they never came. And, despite being more than high enough level to do these dungeons (as I mentioned earlier) my personal storyline mission is only ~20 and I suspect that’s why.

I still have the above email in my mailbox. I don’t delete mail from NPCs (although they do self-delete over time). However, that’s obviously the first email from the Herald and I still have that one sitting in my box, so that’s not the case here.

You mentioned that you didn’t touch your storyline mission until you were level 70, but still received the emails, so I don’t know what the deal is there. I’ll be catching my story missions up to my level over the next few days and will keep an eye on my email box to see if an invitation to Ascalon Catacombs pops in after a specific step.

There’s so much irony in that picture it’s driving me crazy. :P

:)

I think the understandable question here is “why is this change suddenly necessary?” as it’s been working differently for weeks now. There’s nothing unreasonable about questioning a change that comes out of the blue. I think it’s more unreasonable to oppose the question being asked.

Trust me, if they have the time they’ll provide an answer. If they don’t, they won’t. Forum users don’t need to run interference for them.

Acewings.6872:

What’s the problem with taking a higher level char into a lower level area and dominating exactly? It’s not like you’d be able to grief people out of events or quests as all they would have to do is hit said monsters for like 1 damage to get credit…

The downleveling systems needs to be completely removed or capped at like 20 levels. As it stands right now, going into a low level area means low level drops. If the loot doesn’t scale to my top level, why should my top level scale down to like level 7 loot???

If Anet was truely concerned about making zones active, they would try to carrot as many people as possible instead of beating them with the stick.

Also, I totally agree with you OP, the downleveling system is completely unfair.

As a higher level player you can earn XP, karma, money, and loot appropriate for your true level in a lower level zone because it’s still (supposed to be) challenging for you. If it wasn’t, there would be no risk balancing out the rewards.

There are a number of advantages to this feature. If you enjoyed leveling to 80 because the adventure and events were challenging and fun.. guess what, you can go anywhere in the world and they’ll still be challenging. You don’t have to live in level 80 zones exclusively.

You can go back and play with lower level friends without ruining their experience. And by experience, I mean you can join them without completely destroying the challenge of every encounter.

You say if you weren’t scaled you wouldn’t be griefing people at events, but that’s exactly what you’d be doing. When an event happens I want it to be challenging, not a snoozefest I can faceroll through. If you were walking around one-shotting groups of mobs with every swing you’d be completely wrecking the difficulty of the encounter for me.

It’s a good mechanic to have in place. It allows higher level players to play in lower level zones without creating problems. If anything, the scaling needs to be more severe because as is it’s still possible for higher level characters to trivialize lower level events.

Clem.2963:

Are you transmuting armour every hour or something?

Yes, actually. This is not as time consuming as you think. I can go to the HoM vendor and stock up on 20 of each (example) medium armor piece for my Ranger. They stack, so bag space isn’t a problem. When I loot an upgrade I can try it on and if I dislike the look, pop open my bag and transmute it on the spot. It was so effortless that I’d sometimes do it mid-escort event without missing a beat.

Like the original poster, I don’t understand the reasoning behind the change. If it was to stop some sort of malicious bug, that’s fine, but as is it just seems like change in the name of making a process more annoying.

I couldn’t disagree more with the original posters observation of feeling underpowered when down-leveled. If anything, we are far, far too powerful when scaled down to lower levels, despite the scaling. It’s nowhere near severe enough. I even started a thread about that opinion a few weeks back:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Character-level-scaling-how-well-is-it-working/first#post87654

Is there any chance you can improve the (what often seems like) nearly-zone-wide shouts NPCs make regarding events?

Basically, NPCs will often blurt out a line of dialogue or an announcement that can be heard for a great distance across the zone. This is usually the case for group-encounter type events, and/or champion style mobs, etc. The problem is, rarely does it sound like the NPC is shouting across a great distance or broadcasting from far away, instead it literally sounds like the NPC is standing next to you, pretending to shout at a normal volume level. It’s almost like you took the voice recording from the voice actor at the mic and just put it straight into the game without making any attempts to modify it for believability at all.

Isn’t there something you can do to make these more authentic? Perhaps adding some mild echoing or something just to get across the point that an NPC is shouting something from a great distance? Otherwise, I keep looking over my virtual shoulder to see who is having a conversation with me only to be confused when no one is there. More often than not it just comes across like the audio bugged out and I’m hearing a line of random dialogue that isn’t actually supposed to be playing for me (and I know that does happen, but that’s not the case here).

It’s funny (in a bad way) because when NPCs in my immediate vicinity are talking about something important I can barely hear them. Every one of them a low-talker.. it’s like they’re a mile away. But NPCs who are literally miles away I can hear speaking clearly like they’re standing right next to me.

I love the amount of audio in the game but I really dislike the way it’s been implemented in many ways. There are many examples, but if you’re looking for a specific one, the Champion of the Sun meta-event in Caledon Forest is a good place to start.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Update:

The 10/1 build should reset players who skipped forward back to the “Choose your order” step (which varies by race), though it’s a code-side change so I don’t know any details beyond that.

While I understand that the 10/1 update will be resetting players who skipped forward, is this also fixing the core problem that causes players to skip parts of their storyline in the first place? I have been holding off on doing my personal story missions because of this issue and would like to know when it’s safe to start questing again.

Honestly, I wouldn’t want much more than a handful of people at any event. I feel like most are overcrowded as is. It’s difficult to feel heroic in a zerg, and the scaling doesn’t seem to really handle large crowds very well. Almost all the difficulty is lost when too many people are present.

Raging Bull.5048:

Respawn rates are something that needs to be prolonged drastically under water, as well as on land.

I think players that have to farm crafting resources from underwater mobs would hate a change like this. I know I would have back when I needed tons of scales.

Fix other problems first. The invulnerability issue slows things down, which in turn can make the respawn rate an issue if you’re spending too much time on a single mob.

I have also seen many players blame the respawn rates incorrectly when fighting a mob that has the ability to summon other mobs. They kill (for example) a barracuda and immediately another one appears – they think they’re looking at a respawn when in reality the first barracuda simply summoned another one a moment before it died. This can happen repeatedly leaving the player to come to the incorrect conclusion that the barracuda has an instant respawn rate.

Dark Saviour.9410:

For me personally, it’s not a matter of skilled vs. not, but the fact that I utterly hate the weapons I’m given as a Ranger. I don’t enjoy melee in the first place, so spear is out, and the Harpoon gun is an exceptionally-weak bleed-heavy weapon that only has one skill that I’d consider particularly good (Feeding Frenzy).

Underwater is the only time I genuinely feel like my pets are an asset, simply because I’m so crippled.

I’d argue that your statement proves it’s a matter of skilled versus not. I wouldn’t necessarily word it that way.. I’d prefer to say an understanding and familiarity with the tools you have underwater, and a willingness to use them.

As a ranger I can simply annihilate normal mobs in a handful of seconds and rarely take any hits, even on harder fights that go on for an extended period. The tools are there, but if people are just randomly mashing buttons they shouldn’t expect miracles. Performing well underwater does require at least a little attention. I can kill a pack of mobs in seconds or I can make the same fight last ten times as long and be infinitely more painful just by being sloppy.

Many people do the latter all the time and then chalk it up to underwater combat being horrible.

I have a lot of fun with underwater combat, to the point where I would easily say it’s my favorite implementation out of every MMO that has underwater combat. I don’t think it’s boring, nor is it any more difficult/simple than the rest of the game.

My only problem with underwater combat are mobs that go invulnerable for no apparent reason, and mobs that are inside/beneath the terrain. But those are bugs, not design issues.

Cribbage.2056:

I suspect digital sales have got to the point where they substantially outweigh box sales. That’s the world we live in.

While it’s definitely up from last year, digital distribution only accounts for roughly half of all game sales (currently).

That said, the argument could be made that many people who are hardcore WoW fans who have stuck with the game for many, many years, are likely to buy a boxed copy of the expansion (rather than digital) because they own a box copy of the previous expansions, and to them it represents a physical collection.

Here’s an example. Three of my characters are ~40 and none of them have ever received an email instructing them to go to the Ascalon Catacombs (and, no, my email box is never full). None of them, however, have their personal story above 20 (mainly because I’ve been waiting for them to fix a nasty bug involving groups and personal storylines, but that’s completely unrelated except to explain why my personal stories are lagging behind).

Maybe the fact that you’ve gotten your personal story to ~30 is part of the requirement. Maybe you just have to reach the part where you’ve completed your racial personal storylines and are now on the shared storylines involving Destiny’s Edge (which would make sense since the dungeons involve the members of Destiny’s Edge), which is something that happens ~30.

True, Sheen, but even if Blizzard is given the benefit of the doubt and we suggest that digital purchases account for half of their sales, it’s still not even half of the number of units that the Cataclysm expansion sold.

Perhaps a combination of personal story progression + character level as Zenyatoo suggested above then. Because I’ve never received an email at the appropriate levels, but then again my personal story quests are usually lagging behind my actual level by 5-10 levels.