Guild Wars 2

I think the main problem here is that these event mails aren’t triggering as “read”, or seem to be under the impression that they holding an attachment. Usually, once these mails are read, they do not count against the #/10 limit. However, since the Dragon Bash mails started this has not been the case.

I’m not sure what ANet changed on their end in regard to these letters, but please go back to doing it the other way.

Waveke.8724:

We just tried the dungeon and main problem with me is that when i use elite (daggerstorm) or death blossom everything i hit say’s invulnerable… so 75% of my attacks is blocked or they become invulnerable. don’t think this is ment to be ^^ anyone else ?

It is meant to be. If you look at the instructions on the right side of your screen and the description under the mob portraits, it becomes very clear that the rotating walls buff the golems and cause them to temporarily gain a shield making them immune to damage. You can not simply avoid the walls while attacking the golems, you have to keep the golems moving so they’re not coming into contact with the walls as well.

Astralporing.1957:

Riss.1536:

LordByron.8369:

Because HP are there for a reason ONESHOTS makes them useless
Thoughness is there for a reason again ONESHOTS makes them useless

Weird, I have never been oneshoot in this dungeon. Wrong build ?

Depends on a class. My guardian bunker gets oneshot-killed if pulled in front of the big laser wall. Combination of relatively low hps compared to other classes, and toughness doing nothing in this case.
(yes, stability and dodging help a bit, but not being pulled every 5 seconds would help more)

My guardian never ran into this problem despite being yanked into the larger laser walls a number of times. I don’t understand how you are getting “oneshot-killed”.

Eli The Yahoo.9782:

Thank you all for your replies.
I do know to run in circles and jump on the boxes, the problem starts when the golems pull me or knock me over or the laser is created where im standing.

All im saying it shouldn’t be 1 hit and you are dead.
you quickly loose the fun.

regarding the group, we were 2 gurdians, 2 rangers and a mage i think – there’s no reason a dungeon should be too hard for a group like this.

And it isn’t. I completed the dungeon with a very similar group, 2 guardians, 1 ranger, and 2 elementalists. Most of the group wasn’t even max level and had to be scaled up. This particular boss battle is only difficult when people are doing it incorrectly.

Honestly, the most dangerous thing in that room is yourself if you happen to not notice the stacks of confusion debuff on you.

Shanna.4762:

I think south sun has been very anti-climactic all around…because I don’t believe they’re doing any more with it any time this year.

I’m ok with that. I’m honestly tired of all the focus that’s been placed on Southsun. I was barely interested in it the first time around and the repeated attempts to draw me back there make me frustrated, because I can’t help but think of the time and effort that could have been spent elsewhere in locations that I actually want to see fleshed out (like the Crystal Desert or Maguuma Wastes; even the Northern Shiverpeaks would do.).

This request is basically saying “I expect the gameworld to evolve based on my personal progression, and the heck with everyone else”, and without embracing phasing technology or selective instancing that’s just not going to happen in an MMO. This isn’t a single-player game that evolves based on your actions. You can have a small impact on specific areas (e.g. saving a farm, failing to save a farm), but even then your influence is temporary until its time to entertain the next player.

DeathMetal.8264:

I’m not sure why Anet removes that capability, and I can only assume that it is because of development time and cost.

I would just assume that Anet found out that, “Hey, why are we letting other players to join in a particular instance when all they do is talk to the Commanders? Doesn’t make sense.”

During development of game and initial release, letting others join just about all story mode must have been ok due to the size of team working on it. However, when you have a smaller team and working on a deadline, you sometimes have to revisit the “existing” features and check if it make sense to continually adapt them or improve upon it.

In this case, it is definitely an improvement to make instances solo. It saves development time, saves money (time is money), and meets the deadline.

I would like to see more of this actually. Solo where it make sense (all current single-player instance), and group-ability where it make sense (SSC Null instance). Making one and/or the other just because some players “want/need” the option is not good, coz every players have different want/needs, the option must make sense. While it seems “noble/kind/whatever” to give all kinds of options, with limited time and resource, sometimes it just can’t happen.

You’re making way too many assumptions here without offering any reasoning. “Saves development time, saves money, and meets the deadline” – you have absolutely no proof of that. In fact, your entire argument is hinging on the idea that continuing to create scalable content is a laborious and costly process.

In fact, to get some ideas we can look at the development kit of other games that are available. For example, Cryptic Studios has its Foundry toolset that allows gamers to create missions for other players in both their Star Trek Online and Neverwinter MMOs. All details, such as mob placement, are handled by the player author. However, the game automatically scales the amount and types of mobs populating these player-created maps based on the number of players that populate the party when said map is played. No extra work is required on the part of the author – it’s something that is handled by the game itself.

Clearly a similar technology exists here. As you play in events across Tyria, there isn’t a developer adding and removing mobs, raising or lowering NPC levels, and swapping out normal adversaries, veterans and champions on the fly. It’s being handled by the game, likely based on a set of universal parameters, adjusted for level, that apply for the entire game world which can be tweaked and customized for finer balance when necessary.

Look, we’re talking about some pretty simple fights here: a solitary Canach, and two minor Aetherblade attacks sporting a handful of mobs. Meanwhile, the “Flame and Frost” update had us battling through completely scalable 1-5 player mini-dungeons alongside Braham and Rox. And the excuse of “costly scalability” goes completely out the window when we start talking about allowing parties to remain intact whenever players enter a non-combat instance to observe a cutscene or simply communicate with an NPC (something that was also permitted in “Flame and Frost”, by the way).

You’re suggesting that ArenaNet, after 6 years of development, has just now come to their senses and concluded that it “just doesn’t make sense” to allow groups to visit these instances together. I think that’s nonsense. And – by the way – I disagree, as I think it makes perfect sense for a group of friends to visit an investigator’s office or bonfire ceremony together and then all appear at said locations together, rather than spinning around after passing through a simple tavern doorway and wondering where their friends suddenly vanished to.

There is NO reason to create more solo-specific content. You already have the option of taking on these missions by yourself, alone, if you wish. They’re not adding features by denying groups the ability to play these missions together, they’re removing them. That is never a popular move. They’re not making more people happy with this decision – again, you already have the ability to do these missions alone; you’re not gaining anything with this change, so why would you be “more happy?”. But they are making people less happy with it.

I would sure love to hear from a developer on this, because it’s obvious there’s going to be no shortage of fan-generated excuses attempting to justify this recent change in design philosophy.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

I’m not saying the cut scene is boring to watch, as personally, I love cut scenes. What I meant is that it’s boring to just stand there while your friend scans five suspects; what are you supposed to do? Id much rather scan them myself, to actually take part in the instance, and so would my friends. And really, what does it matter if you watch the cut seen alone or with friends? You can’t do anything with your friends while the scene is playing, so their presence makes no difference, all you can do is watch… and that’s the same regardless of whether you’re alone or in a group.

Why does it matter what people choose to do during a “scan five suspects” event, so long as they have the option of doing it together or doing it alone?

Speaking for my friends and myself – I would have scanned a suspect and everyone would have noted the response in the dialogue box that pops up. Then a friend would have scanned a second suspect and everyone would have noted the response. Then another friend would have scanned a third suspect and everyone would have noted the response. That’s how we operate. We’re less interested in who pushes the “scan” button and more interested in watching the story unfold together.

And how is this any different from the multitude of times we’ve been tasked with entering an instance to speak to an NPC and then abruptly leave during a personal storyline mission? Why do we have the option of inviting our friends into our “home” instance at any moment when there’s absolutely zero scripted activity awaiting us there? An action component has never been a prerequisite for sharing instances in this game.

None of that should even be necessary to consider. What it boils down to is this: If you’re tasked with scanning 5 suspects and you want to tackle that task alone, you should have the option of doing so. And (hurray!), you do. You always have, and no one is suggesting you shouldn’t.

But if a group of players is tasked with scanning 5 suspects and my friends and I are happy to do it together (regardless of how bored you think we might be), then we should have the option of doing so. We don’t, suddenly. For 80 levels of this game and a ridiculous number of characters we did, but recently with these living story missions that functionality seems to have been misplaced. And it’s really annoying to people who log into Guild Wars 2 to experience the latest content together. I simply can not understand why anyone would be opposed to this concern.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

Edge.4180:

As for the excuses (and that’s what they are) about this content not making sense for a 2-5 players.. baloney. We could easily apply that same flawed logic to any number of missions during the personal storyline. And yet.. surprise, we can do that content in a group if we choose to. How do you explain that?

By your applied logic, some of the personal story chapters -such as when you fight in Divinities Reach to prove a noble is guilty of high treason- should be single player instances, since technically only you and a ‘second’ of your choosing are permitted to join in the duel. Yet the game allows you to play with your friends, even letting them participate in combat. This is illogical… but since they do allot it here, you feel it should be the implemented with this instance as well.

That is exactly correct. There are many, many examples throughout the personal storyline that allow multiple players to attend missions that are clearly designed around the concept of the player being alone. That is definitely one of them. And yet, friends are allowed to join in on that “trial by combat” if you choose to play it that way. It’s a choice and it hurts no one.

In fact, there’s a personal storyline mission that puts the instance owner in an arena pit to fight against a number of NPC challengers. Other players in the party can not enter the arena. But what they can do is cheer from the stands, and their ability bar is replaced with different targeted buffs that they can use to assist their friend within the arena.

It’s clear that when ArenaNet wants to make it work, they can. Insisting they can’t is nonsense; if anything it’s just an example of them cutting corners.

Mia Lunarfang.5826:

However, there’s a big difference. In the high treason instance you fight, your friends can actually help, they’re actually involved and can do something, whereas in this instance all you do is scan a couple bodies and watch a couple cut scenes…. which means your friends would be able to do nothing but stare on like idiots. I don’t know about you, but that’s BORING!

And that’s fine. If it’s boring to you then you can go into those instances alone. But at least the option to go into those instances with friends should be there for those who want it. There were instances during Flame and Frost where all we could do is watch a cutscene between Braham / Rox and Rytlock / Eir. Boring as well? Likely, for some people. However, for my friends and I it was just enough that we were in there watching the cutscene together, and then talking to the NPCs together. We just like doing things together. The option of doing something together will always be more enjoyable for us than the alternative of playing these games alone.

I don’t think I’m asking for the world here. I’m asking ArenaNet to continue with its already established tradition of allowing groups to experience instanced content together, no matter how grand or trivial. Forcing players to go solo helps nobody, nor should it be a decision that is pleasing anyone. Outside of 5-man dungeons, people who like to play solo have always had the option of playing this instanced content alone if they choose. It did not need to be forced on everyone. Anyone who is excited about this change of direction or defending it.. I can’t help but think that it’s a case of misery wanting company. Player-X finds themselves frequently palying alone (and maybe not by choice) and thus wants to stick it to everyone else who is not playing alone. Or something.

PolarisNova.3867:

Because multiple dungeons with different paths, wvw, spvp, guild missions and dynamic events aren’t enough to play with your friends?

I guess some people need their hands held by others for every little thing.

You couldn’t be more wrong in your assumptions. This isn’t about wanting help, it’s about wanting to play with friends whenever we log on to play the game. And we specifically logged on to play this round of living world content together. Why wouldn’t we want to be able to do 100% of our gaming with friends and/or a significant other when we specifically picked this MMO up with the intention of playing it together?

If I wanted to play a good game alone, I’d play a good single player game. There are plenty of them out there, and they all easily give a far better single player experience than an MMO ever could.

That said, I recognize that people like to play MMOs alone, and so I believe the option should exist. Whatever is fun for you. But that way of playing shouldn’t ever be forced on players who don’t want to run solo, because that’s not fun for them.

I respect the desire to have an option to fly solo in an MMO, but you solo-fans need to understand this is a two-way street. It’s not “your way” versus “my way”. It’s whatever is fun for either of us, especially when the game has the technology to provide that range of experiences.

Why anyone would be against that is beyond me.

lordkrall.7241:

I would say it has to do with stuff making sense.

We are “hired” as investigators more or less, and they want to keep things quiet.
Having me running around with 4 other people would make the risk for it spreading much higher than if I did it discreetly on my own.

As for the excuses (and that’s what they are) about this content not making sense for a 2-5 players.. baloney. We could easily apply that same flawed logic to any number of missions during the personal storyline. And yet.. surprise, we can do that content in a group if we choose to. How do you explain that?

I’ll tell you what doesn’t make any sense.. a group of characters that have done everything together since level 1 suddenly finding themselves thrust into a solo instance where they can no longer see and interact with one another, but somehow are completing the same string of events (e.g. Canach’s instance, the recent Aetherblade attack on Lion’s Arch, or even simply visiting the investigator’s office together).

I feel ArenaNet is doing an extreme knee-jerk reaction here in response to the complaints regarding these Living Story events ending in 5-man dungeons. And I’m right there with anyone voicing that complaint. But it was never my intention to see mandatory-solo content suddenly showing up in the game. I just wanted scaling content that could accommodate anywhere from 1 to 5 players. You know.. supporting all styles of play instead of just one or the other.

All these pro-single player arguments go out the window the moment we acknowledge that the entire “personal storyline” that took our characters from level 1-80 was playable with anywhere from 1 to 5 players because this game was designed around the idea of scaling content difficulty based on the number of players present.

There is ZERO valid reason for these single player instances. If they could make this work for 80 levels of personal storyline content, they can continue the trend with these missions. Play alone if you wish, but the option to play with friends should be there as well.

I don’t mind if content can be soloed. Likewise, I don’t mind if content can be done in a group. What I do mind is when I lose the option to do either one.

Your game was designed around the concept of dynamically scaling content based on the number of players present. Whether it’s a general open-world event or a personal storyline mission, the ability to support a full party or a party of one has always been there. And so, I’m confused as to why you would ever choose to break groups of friends apart when they’re trying to play this game together. First in Southsun, and now again in Dragonbash. I really can’t imagine a greater offense for an MMO.

When you created the Canach instance (the single-player one) back in Southsun, and the investigation storyline in Dragonbash, I suspect you were thinking of the complaints you received for ending Flame & Frost with a 5-man dungeon. I know after enjoying all the events leading up to that dungeon with just myself and a friend, I was certainly disappointed with suddenly having to bring a PUG into the last stage of that adventure.

But when many of us voiced concerns about being forced into a group, I’m pretty sure we weren’t implying we wanted to be forced into playing alone. We just wanted more of those “personal story” instances that scale in difficulty depending on whether you entered them alone, or with a full group (like our first adventure with Rox and Braham, or our entire personal storyline).

I’m not suggesting the Last Stand at Southsun or Dragonbash solo instances were difficult. They were not. What I am saying is that nothing kills an evening a gaming like logging into an MMO to play this event with a friend, and then suddenly the game won’t allow us to play together because someone out there decided we should really be enjoying this content alone.

To make this clear: Ability to enjoy content solo = good. Ability to enjoy content in a group = good. Losing the ability to do either = not good. You have the ability to dynamically scale difficulty based on the number of players present and thus support anything from solo play to full groups and all the iterations in between, so can you please make use of it going forward? Stop introducing events that can only be done solo, or only be done in a group.

Canakun.8031:

Edge.4180:

School of thought #1: “I truly believe with every fiber of my being that everyone in the game is paying attention to my avatar whenever I’m around, and spending time + energy processing how cool my equipment looks. How can they not, for I am the center of the universe and the specialists of snowflakes.”

That’s a lot of judgement for one italicized paragraph.

And yet, disturbingly accurate!

dbgamer.3407:

Part of any MMO is personal achievement, whether you work with a group to attain specific pieces or not depends on the game and the player, but I don’t think you can say “it’s an MMO, so it’s SUPPOSED to be 100% groups” it just means there are other players in the game with you as well.

Can you please point out where I ever said an MMO should require grouping 100% of the time? Because I don’t see it, and I know I didn’t say it, but you seem to think I did.

dbgamer.3407:

I think by your very logic all of the players who like to quest solo could complain about the fact that there is a 5-person explorable dungeon to complete. Just sayin.

And you can. Have at it. I certainly voiced my disappointment when Flame and Frost concluded in a 5-man dungeon.

Also.. what you said:

Having you do one single “dungeon” by yourself that takes 10 minutes to complete is not worthy of a thread complaining that ANET is “Forcing us to go solo”.

First, why are you bothering to debate in a thread that you (apparently) feel isn’t worthy of existing?

Second (and I said this same thing earlier in the thread).. the developers seem to like to test the waters with new ideas, and I would prefer this particular idea get nipped in the bud now rather than show up again later on a grander scale. Preventing friends from playing together is a bad idea. I would rather have this discussion now when it’s on a smaller scale than a larger disaster. That is why the title of the thread is “Please, don’t ever force us to go solo again.”, “again” being one of the key words there.

Ayrilana.1396:

Edge.4180:

Your question:

Ayrilana.1396:

People can’t group up to beat Canach? I swear that I’ve seen requests and even saw a video of someone doing it in a group.

So why are people complaining? Did people actually try to do it as a group before complaining there wasn’t an option?

The answer to your question, which was posted well prior to you attempting to score a point against the thread:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

That was possible for a short period of time (maybe an hour?); the instance became accessible to players by accident before the patch went live.

No. His post is about people having access to the instance before the patch was live. If you watched the video then you would see it was recorded after the patch went live.

No. It was recorded on the same day as the patch, (a patch which did not go live until mid-day). However, the instance was incorrectly allowing people to enter before that, and during that time it was allowing (in error) more than one player to enter (like you see in that video). Did you not notice the time stamp in the video you keep suggesting I didn’t watch?

Rather than make this kind of post where you suggest people are jumping to conclusions, you should actually try to enter Canach’s instance with a group first and then observe that everyone in the party gets split into individual instances. It might have spared us this entertaining back-and-forth.

CrazyDuck.4610:

See guys, if everyone had the skin it wouldn’t have that rarity to it. What would be the point if everyone had the same skin? It’s much more rewarding having a rare item than an item everyone has.

You have to understand, there are at least two schools of thought here. From your comment, I tend to believe you’re in the first, where as I am in the second.

School of thought #1: “I truly believe with every fiber of my being that everyone in the game is paying attention to my avatar whenever I’m around, and spending time + energy processing how cool my equipment looks. How can they not, for I am the center of the universe and the specialists of snowflakes.”

School of thought #2: “The only time I pay attention to the avatar of another player is when it happens to be blocking the view of my own avatar, the pride and joy of my focus – which I can no longer see because someone else has annoyingly parked their stupid pixels in front of my camera. Begone, eyesore.”

See, the people in group #2 generally don’t give a flying fig about how rare your equipment is. What they want is options, and lots of them. In fact, the more rare an item is, the less of an option it is, and the more everyone starts to look the same. Thus, rarer = less options, common = more options.

Now, I’m fine with things taking an effort to get so that players feel like they’re achieving something and being rewarded. But rare through RNG is not the kind of “achievement” I’m looking for. You score a 01 on a random hidden loot table roll while I score a 73, which nets you a rare item and me diddly squat. What’s special about that?

I want to farm items knowing that if I put X amount of effort in, there is a guaranteed reward awaiting me at the end. That’s an achievement.

Your question:

Ayrilana.1396:

People can’t group up to beat Canach? I swear that I’ve seen requests and even saw a video of someone doing it in a group.

So why are people complaining? Did people actually try to do it as a group before complaining there wasn’t an option?

The answer to your question, which was posted well prior to you attempting to score a point against the thread:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

That was possible for a short period of time (maybe an hour?); the instance became accessible to players by accident before the patch went live.

Invictus.1503:

Although I’m not a fan of either of the “dungeon” missions this time around (loved MF from last story arc though), I like the concept. Solo to complete the storyline, but team for the explorable piece.

Overall, I don’t like the actual content, but that is personal preference. I do like their approach though.

Except the solo restriction was unnecessary. ANet’s approach is no different than the route taken in Flame and Frost: outdoor content combined with a personal instanced adventure with Braham and/or Rox, and concluding with a 5-man dungeon.

We have the same thing in Last Stand: outdoor content combined with a personal instanced adventure with Canach, and concluding with a 5-man dungeon.

The only difference between those two layouts is the personal instanced adventures in Flame and Frost could be completed with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 players. Where as the personal instanced adventure with Canach can only be completed with 1 player.

Sure, solo players were fine in either example, but duos, trios, quartets and full parties got screwed on the latter. So, how is losing options a step forward?

dbgamer.3407:

You want to be able to do 100% of your gaming with someone else?

Yes. I find that to be such a peculiar question. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to do 100% of your gaming with friends and/or a significant other when you specifically picked this MMO up with the intention of playing it together?

If I wanted to play a good game alone, I’d play a good single player game. There are plenty of them out there, and they all easily give a far better single player experience than an MMO ever could.

That said, I recognize that people like to play MMOs alone, and so I believe the option should exist. Whatever is fun for you. But that way of playing shouldn’t ever be forced on players who don’t want to run solo, because that’s not fun for them.

I respect the desire to have an option to fly solo in an MMO, but you solo-fans need to understand this is a two-way street. It’s not “your way” versus “my way”. It’s whatever is fun for either of us, especially when the game has the technology to provide that range of experiences.

Why anyone would be against that is beyond me.

Iruwen.3164:

No matter what they do, somebody will find a reason to complain. I’m slowly getting used to it.

I’m not sure what’s to “get used to” here. Are you finding it odd that people would complain about not being able to play with their friends in an MMO? That’s surprising you?

Really?

Maximillian Greil.1965:

It’s a skin, you don’t need it.

If you want it, start farming/buying. If it’s not worth the trouble than don’t do it. It is not detrimental to your gameplay NOT to have the skin.

I fail to see how this is hurting the playerbase in any way what-so-ever. They’re not giving ascended gear, they’re not giving anything that makes you a better player or gives better stats… it’s just a skin, you don’t need it. You don’t magicly get more awesome because you have a scelerite weapon.

I really wish people would stop saying things like this. If you remove transmutations and skins from the game there’s not a whole lot in the way of carrots dangling at the end.

Getting the stats you want is fairly easy. Getting the look that makes you happy represents a fair bit of content in this game. Suggestions that players get too caught up in the visuals of their equipment makes me wonder if you even play this game, because I’m really not sure where else you expect them to be shifting their focus on once other more easily obtainable goals have been reached.

Now, I’m not suggesting gaining desired skins should be easy, but I am tired of seeing them locked behind some sort of extreme-RNG based mechanic.

I’m not even going to try for one of these new skins. If the drop rate or odds of scoring a ticket were reasonable, I’d be participating in this particular bit of content right now. That’s why they spent time, effort, and money creating it, is it not?

But they’re not, so I’m not even going to bother wasting my time or money on it. There is a point at which content becomes wasted because RNG mechanics makes obtaining it undesirable. In the end, by going this route ANET loses out on my money (they could have just sold it to me like the Flame and Frost skins I happily purchased, because I will never gamble on their chests or boxes), and I don’t even feel the slightest urge to go farming for super rare crates in the hopes of scoring a super rare ticket.

Liavain Axon.1972:

Looks like you are outnumbered.
When the F&F thing was going there was a mountain of posts complaining about a group instance at the end. They give us a pure solo instance (to satisfy the loners) and so few people have complained.

Methinks more people are outraged by group missions than solo. :/

I don’t know if “outnumbered” is the right way of looking at this.

There were “solo” missions in the Fire and Frost campaign. The first time you mission with Rox and Braham individually, those are personal story instances.

The important difference is that while they could be played through alone, they could also be played through in a group. And the content within scaled in difficulty based on the number of players on the map. As far as I’ve seen, this is true of any personal story instance.

The complaint in Fire and Frost wasn’t that finale allowed more than one player into the final instance, it was that it required a party when people wanted the option of soloing it. There’s an important difference between the two. The mission with Canach is the first time I’ve ever seen a GW2 adventure block me from inviting friends along. And, hopefully, it will be the last.

There is no “outnumbered” here, because only a grade-A peanuthead would ever suggest that people should be forced to play alone in an MMO. Play alone if you wish, but allow others to play alongside their friends if that is their wish. Who is going to be the jerk raising an objection to that?

Avinz.2456:

I’ll admit when my fiancee and I found out that canach was a solo mission we where upset but it didn’t effect us long instead we both started it at the same time and raced to see who would finish first. It really only took about five mins so I don’t think it was that detrimental to our quality GW2 time together.

The developers seem to like to test the waters with new ideas, and I would prefer this particular idea get nipped in the bud now rather than show up again later on a grander scale. Preventing friends from playing together is a bad idea.

I don’t mind if content can be soloed. Likewise, I don’t mind if content can be done in a group. What I do mind is when I lose the option to do either one.

Your game was designed around the concept of dynamically scaling content based on the number of players present. Whether it’s a general open-world event or a personal storyline mission, the ability to support a full party or a party of one has always been there. And so, I’m confused as to why you would ever choose to break groups of friends apart when they’re trying to play this game together. I really can’t imagine a greater offense for an MMO.

When you created the Canach instance (the single-player one), I suspect you were thinking of the complaints you received for ending Flame & Frost with a 5-man dungeon. I know after enjoying all the events leading up to it with just myself and a friend, I was certainly disappointed with suddenly having to bring a PUG into the last stage of that adventure. And when many of us voiced concerns about being forced into a group, I’m pretty sure we weren’t implying we wanted to be forced into playing alone. We just wanted more of those “personal story” instances that scale in difficulty depending on whether you entered them alone, or with a full group (like our first adventure with Rox and Braham).

I’m not suggesting the Canach solo instance was difficult. It was not. What I am saying is that nothing kills an evening a gaming like logging into an MMO to play this event with a friend, and then suddenly the game won’t allow us to play together because someone out there decided we should really be enjoying this content alone.

To make this clear: Ability to enjoy content solo = good. Ability to enjoy content in a group = good. Losing the ability to do either = not good. You have the ability to dynamically scale difficulty based on the number of players present and thus support anything from solo play to full groups and all the iterations in between, so can you please make use of it?

Vayne.8563:

Yep you were wrong to think that.

There are many possible problems with culling fixes that aren’t immediately apparently. Imagine, for example, world events where you can’t find the chest because there are too many bodies in front of it. Simple example, but entirely possible.

Er.. you say that as if chests aren’t already invisible for long periods at the conclusion of a popular outdoor boss event. They’re just as susceptible to the current culling issues as everything else. Many times I just aim for the cluster of players I can see and look for the prompt to loot, long before the chest ever bothers to render in.

I don’t see it getting any worse than it already is (no pun intended).

Skady.5916:

Don’t join speed run groups?

There are many groups going on http://gw2lfg.com/

I’ve used that site often for other dungeons, but even groups that don’t advertise as speed groups generally expect everyone to skip content and cutscenes.

Holy heck, ease up on the 45 character title restrictions already, Anet.

I haven’t had a chance to run the Molten Weapon Facility yet, but given that I participated in all of the other F&F content I’d like to see how this story wraps up before it vanishes completely. I very much wish it hadn’t ended in a 5-man dungeon, that way my friend and I could take our time and enjoy the story and content like we had been doing up to this point, but that didn’t happen.

Unfortunately, from what I’ve gathered about this dungeon there seems to be a few drops and resources players are farming, which usually equates to racing through the instance as quickly as possible.

Having said that.. are there cutscenes during this adventure? If so, are pugs giving players time to view them, or are people getting kicked for not skipping? I’m just trying to get a feel for the expectations from pugs at this point in the event.

The same goes for the content itself.. are pugs still doing the whole dungeon, or are players insisting their group take “creative shortcuts” past whole sections of the instance? I really just want to see the whole thing and watch the cutscenes, but if other players are going to rage over the pace then maybe it’s not even worth hopping on to check it out.

Pawstruck.9708:

Did you seriously play the game for 5 levels and then come here to make a thread about not liking it?

What do you expect from us, sympathy? It’s an objectively good game that has received plenty of awards and lots of people like it. If you can’t see it, fine. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Just go elsewhere, and stop whining.

You seriously need to consider not responding in threads like these if you can’t add something constructive. If you’re not fond of the topic you have the option of not allowing it to chew up a second more of your time, so why launch into a rant?

I can completely understand where the original poster is coming from on some of his concerns, and do not at all find it odd that he’s come in here posting after only five levels. It’s clear he wants to like the game, otherwise he would have just said “this stinks” and uninstalled it.

I love GW2 but had a similar negative reaction the first time I played it back in the beta. I chose a thief character and for the first 4 or 5 levels my combat consisted of just spamming 1 to stab monsters to death with my dagger. The cooldowns on my other abilities seemed to long to be useful, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be trying to dodge every single melee attack coming at me, it was just a mess.

It was around the time I got my offhand weapon, a pistol, (at around level 5) where things started to click. I started to piece together interesting combos by chaining strings of abilities together that made the fights much more entertaining and fun to observe. It completely changed the combat for me. Had I not stumbled across that simple pistol to pair with my dagger, I’m not sure I would have saw the potential fun in time as I was about to just give up on that character out of boredom.

The funny thing is, understanding that I can now start off with any new character/class and have a blast from the moment I step foot in the tutorial because I “get it”. I keep seeing posts in these threads that say the starting zones aren’t fun and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The starting zones are some of the best content in the game. They’re definitely where the most polish has gone. That is not to say the other zones aren’t fun too.. they are. It’s just the pacing and mood changes and you’re having a different kind of fun.

My advice, stay with it a few more levels, try and really look at those abilities on your bar and actually think about the different ways they can each be used, and I think that will help a lot. But if you get all the way through one of the starting zones and aren’t a fan of the game, I doubt anything awaits you outside that zone that will change your mind.

By the way, I recommend starting with a human. All the races are great, but unless you at least like the lore of the game it’s unlikely you’re going to enjoy them starting out. I find people tend to enjoy stories and adventures they can relate to on some level. But the Great Alchemy and The Dream? What is that? They’re actually interesting once you have the desire to learn about them, but that’s probably not going to happen until you’re in love with the game. To appreciate the Norn you have to understand what the Norn are all about and why they are the way they are, otherwise they just come across as loud, drunk thugs. Start with a human in Queensdale; understanding human emotions and situations is easy.

kosmo.2437:

Why do u have the right to render my character and I don’t have the right to carry my title with me. I will not let u QQ this out to the devs.

Don’t even go there. I can already choose to make you just an invisible body and a nameplate if it improves my performance in WvW. This is no different. Your right to obscure the game with your clutter ends where my right to see the game clearly begins.

This is the kind of thing Arenanet does wrong all the time that I find really frustrating. We’ve had titles since launch, but you could only see them in the target frame and that annoyed people who hoped their titles would be more visible. Fair enough.

So, now the titles display above the avatar’s head, but without adding a new UI option to allow viewers to toggle the titles off if they prefer to have less text clutter on their screen (you know, like the way it’s been since launch).

HOW do things like this not occur to the development team? I know they’re aware that players are not fond of having text all over the screen, and yet in one poorly thought out move they managed to find a way to literally double it. Note how text is never displayed in ANET screenshots and videos.. because the marketing team finds it ugly and distracting and they make sure it’s hidden. Guess what.. the players think so too!

I don’t want to turn off player names because they’re useful and I am willing to put up with the text clutter they add to the UI. But titles are not useful, and I don’t want them cluttering up my screen. Why is there no option to turn them off? You guys have got to start thinking these decisions through.

I think the entire Megadestroyer chain is an example of a decent world-boss event. Not stellar, but decent. All other events should be at least that well designed.

Despite the complaints, I’m not really sure how this change discourages people from playing their alts, unless the definition of “playing an alt” = “briefly logging onto spare characters in order to maximize rare drop rewards from 2 minute fights”. If so, then, yeah, this change is trying to discourage that. Guilty as charged.

Astralporing.1957:

IndigoSundown.5419:

This change was necessary. Anyone who didn’t realize it was “too good” was deluding himself.

It was “too good” only when compared with the rest of the game. The problem didn’t lie in the dragon chests having too good rewards. It was with everything else having bad ones.
Balance doesn’t mean nerfing everything down to the same level.
Anyone that thinks this change solved anything is deluding themselves.

No, it was too good to the point of being imbalanced. Anyone with a lick of sense could see that.

Between just the Shatterer, Tequatl, the Maw, and the Shadow Behemoth alone, there are more than 44,000 rare or better items being generated each day on the U.S. servers. And that’s just a handful of events with very generous calculations (for example, it only assumes there are 25 people at each of those event, and anyone who has been attending them recently knows there are far more than that present).

And that’s not even counting the other boss events that award a guaranteed rare.

Erasmus.1624:

Edge.4180:

This was a much needed change. I approve. Boss events had become too popular for all the wrong reasons.

The only reason people flocked to meta-events in the first place was because the meta chest loot is far better than any other chest loot in the game, including dungeon chest loot.

The only way I could see any possible fix is to upgrade dungeon chest loot to be closer to meta-chest loot, but instead, like always, ArenaNet goes with with the least popular idea.

Honestly, we don’t need (and I don’t want) 30, 40, 50+ people “flocking” to these events. They can be beaten with much, much fewer numbers, and with much less lag and other performance issues.

The world of Tyria will keep on spinning just fine. All the other events in the game do just fine without throwing rares at the players for 1 – 2 minutes of “work”. Maybe next time I happen to be by an event like The Maw, I’ll actually see the boss spawn before he dies.

Yeah, no market manipulation there for sure. The price was down to what.. 9 gold a few hours ago? Ahh, people..

This was a much needed change. I approve. Boss events had become too popular for all the wrong reasons.

Just going to leave this here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Upcoming-mega-boss-chest-change/first#post1656442

Never say never..!

Blude.6812:

Edge.4180:

Blude.6812:

Edge.4180:

Blude.6812:

Basically if you don’t like don’t do it, but nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer.

Actually, I do like doing world-boss events, but they’re being spoiled by the problems that have been detailed in this post, most of them occurring when too many players attend the event.

I’m curious where you’re “nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer” philosophy was when my enjoyment of these events was nerfed by introducing the recent loot changes – which in turn ruined my enjoyment by attracting more bodies to these events? Because I liked these events, pre-patch, a lot more than I like them now.

Sure, there were still problems before the loot change, but they’ve only been made worse by improving the loot on the proverbial lures.

Does your philosophy change depending on which way the benefits are blowing?

Not at all, did them before and do them now when I feel like it. I’ve moved on and do them when I choose too, but don’t chase them. However it’s obvious your philopsophy changes when it isn’t all about you and now you demand that the game should revert or ‘nerf’ because it no longer suits the way you liked to play. It was fine, as long as it was your way and there was no one else (or very few) in your fav event! Do something different. I am sure with a game of this size you can find something to do where others don’t wreck the experience for you.

Despite attempting to appear to, you completely avoided addressing my point, which I guess in a way is an answer in of itself.

To elaborate, you’re pointing at a potential solution I outlined and telling me “nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer”. At the same time, you’re fine that it was nerfed to appeal a different crowd, even at the cost of another crowd.

You seem to want to have it both ways.

The game changed, it wasn’t nerfed . Now you can’t accept the change, so it must be changed back to suit your individual interests and style of play. There are other aspects of this game/game play that have been changed that I don’t care for but the bottom line is it is what it is. Accept them, move on, play other areas that let you have the challenging experience you desire. Do some champs alone.

So you want an answer— yes, all boss events should drop loot, always.
If a large group of people show up amd interfer with your preferred syle of gameplay, I guess you can play or walk away from the event. After all having lots of people play an event in a, what do you call it?, oh yeah, an MMO, must be wrong.

Obviously it changed. It can obviously change again. I note you call the first change a “change”, but the idea of it changing again you consider a “nerf”. Regardless, it’s not likely to change without protest/feedback. So telling people to just deal with it or move on is pretty unhelpful.

The difference being, I posted a thread to protest the change, where as other people are threatening to quit the game if it changes again. I definitely feel like I’m sitting on the side that isn’t behaving like a drama queen.

What you said:

Trendy Ideology.1034:

And honestly if you can sell me on the difference between most of the human female starter gear and their town gear, I’m all ears. It’s all the same. It’s an effing dress. The pirate outfit shares elements with existing leather gear. They’re all just outfits.

What I said:

Edge.4180:

When they create these articles of town clothing, I’m sure they’re being designed with the understanding that (outside of costume brawl) players won’t be seen fighting in these clothes. For some pieces of town clothing that may not seem to make as much sense as it does for other more outlandish outfits, but if you make the exception for one then you’re making it for all.

I don’t mind the idea of players adventuring in some of the town clothes (like the pirate outfit). I think they actually look pretty cool and fitting for an adventurer. But, to try and stay immersed in the game while fighting besides people like the fellow pictured below.. I just don’t need that. Fun to laugh at, sure, but wouldn’t want him in my field of view while assaulting the gates of Arah, though.

Probably easier just to ask for a larger variety of cosmetic armor skins on the store. At least they’re more likely to be designed with semi-seriousness in mind.

Dasorine.1964:

Edge.4180:

I’m not sure if comparing a holiday mini-game to an open-world event is the right way to look at this. It would make more sense to look at other open-world events (the ones that are constantly being activated and completed), realize they are only offering karma, XP, and coin as a reward, and note that they keep on trucking just fine. The Pumping Station at Queensdale, for example, never seems to have a shortage of would-be heroes dropping in to save the day (even when it has no links to the Daily).

I compared them to holiday events because they are the occasional events with little to no rewards, other random events happen so often that they tend to get completed because people are passing by, the fact that the world boss events can take up to 4 hours to spawn in some cases means its unlikely to be effected the same way and mostly you have to actually WANT to do it to find it.

That makes absolutely no sense. An event like the Pumping Station is not successfully attracting attention just because it happens frequently. Whether it occurs once every 30 minutes or once every 2 hours, it will still attract players passing by the area wherever and whenever the event is being advertised by local cues. The only difference is how often, which is obviously limited by how often it triggers. The same goes for a meta event.

Trendy Ideology.1034:

Edge.4180:

Trendy Ideology.1034:

Edge.4180:

I have to admit, I’m not a fan of seeing people running around in a costume while adventuring. And the more silly the costumes get, the less I’ll like it. I just have this idea that heroes should like heroes and not clowns.

My apologies to any clowns reading this that are also heroes.

Anyway, if a change like this were to happen, I would appreciate having an option on my client to disable costume visuals from my perspective. I don’t care if you look like a clown, so long as I can’t see it.

I have nothing against clowns.

That’s like saying that I don’t like seeing females all bundled up, or all skimpy, so the the world should revolve around my preferences and stop anyone from offending my sensibilities or provide me with an option to see the world how I want.

Sorry you don’t like the idea, but, your preference of how you want to see other players should not supersede their right to appear how they want while playing.

What you’re essentially saying is that you should be in control of what I see, rather than me being in control of what I see, and I just don’t agree with that. It’s kind of why options like the profanity filter allow me to filter the comments of others no matter how much they might want to get their complete message across to me.

If you want to run around in town clothing while you fight, I’m cool with that. However, you should not be opposed to me choosing to not see characters around me fighting in town clothing.

Or would you rather I just drone on about how town clothing is supposed to be for non-combat use and designed with that intention, and stand by that?

Frankly I’d rather you support bad game design by insisting townclothes remain non-combat rather than allow you to assert some nonsensical doublestandard that it’s ok if I control what you see, as long as you like what you see, but when you don’t like what you see, you want the option to turn off what you’re seeing.

You have no control now over what you see other people wear, why should that change now? Not sure if you’re aware, but, you can wear townclothes out in the world, now, and if some random asura wants to grab an afro, some boxing gloves, and some shades, and run laps around you while you kill stuff, nothing is stopping him.

You don’t control what anyone else wears, now, or what you see them wear, now. So no, it shouldn’t change.

You’re trying to lump armor styles that were intentionally designed by an art team to look the way they do with town-clothing costume outfits designed with the understanding that they won’t be used in combat (other than costume brawl). So, yes, you having an issue with female characters being dressed a particular way.. that’s something you have to put up with if you want to play this game because that’s the design choice the artists made.

But, while misery may love company, don’t expect me to be in favor of players dressed as clowns fighting through my dungeon. Because that was something that was never intended, something that the designers have mentioned they’re against several times now. It’s simply something you’re requesting. And while I’m cool with backing the request as long as certain conditions are met, I’m not going to cheer for the idea unless I can flip an option that allows me to keep the artistic integrity of the game intact.

That’s the difference. You want to mess with the artistic integrity of the game and I want to be able to ignore you messing with it. Comparing that to your example of being subjected to female characters wearing particular sets of armor you’re not fond of.. that IS the artistic vision for the game whether you like it or not.

Way to go all control-freak on me and make a simple request overly complicated. :P

TheBlackLeech.9360:

…I really fail to see the logic behind the “no” answers.

But I guess everyone has their opinions on the matter.

You have to keep in mind that Arenanet is so intent on maintaining the integrity of their artistic vision that they’ve gone as far as refusing to provide players with a field of view slider primarily because they feel very strongly that the game looks its best at a specific FoV.

When they create these articles of town clothing, I’m sure they’re being designed with the understanding that (outside of costume brawl) players won’t be seen fighting in these clothes. For some pieces of town clothing that may not seem to make as much sense as it does for other more outlandish outfits, but if you make the exception for one then you’re making it for all.

Publicly shared player made videos and screenshots are often viewed as marketing materials, and perhaps ArenaNet just doesn’t want potential customers to see a youtube video of a group of characters wearing bunny hats while fighting a dragon. It’s not the image of their game they want to get across. If, as a developer, you’re shooting for the image of an “epic game” instead of a “silly game”, I can certainly understand that.

DeWolfe.2174:

The game was sold on the notion on no gear grinding. For those that do not like dungeons, gear or gold is very difficult to come by. Thus, they have chest in PvE. Perfectly good response to solve the “gating” issue.

A player farming a boss event over and over (and over) again for specific items is the poster child for grinding, though. If anything, the loot buff has created a grinding culture the game is supposed to be moving away from, not towards.

Dasorine.1964:

they can nerf the world boss chests when they come up with a way to get a precursor that doesn’t hinge on a less than 1% drop rate and when they remove the need for hundreds of ectoplasms for a single piece of gear (300 for an upgraded ascended quiver for example)

But even then they won’t, because they WANT people to return to old content, even if it is just once a day per alt they have, because thats more time people are spent playing there game, and the more time people spend playing their game the greater the likely hood they’ll earn money from it (either gem store or people getting their friends in etc etc)

I don’t believe this is how they wanted people to return to old content. That was the job of the overhaul to the Daily Achievement system. I believe this was more about solving complaints regarding drop rates (as per Colin Johanson’s post on the topic).

So, if the goal is to get loot to the hands of the entitled masses, I strongly believe there are far better ways to go about it that don’t turn your should-be-epic open-world boss content into non-challenging loot pinatas jokes in the process.

Dasorine.1964:

Content that is “fun” but not rewarding in other ways will get neglected and ignored after the first few runs, how many times did people play the christmas mini-games after they got their title for example? I dare say the majority never looked at them again.

I’m not sure if comparing a holiday mini-game to an open-world event is the right way to look at this. It would make more sense to look at other open-world events (the ones that are constantly being activated and completed), realize they are only offering karma, XP, and coin as a reward, and note that they keep on trucking just fine. The Pumping Station at Queensdale, for example, never seems to have a shortage of would-be heroes dropping in to save the day (even when it has no links to the Daily).

Dasorine.1964:

People wan’t to keep advancing in games otherwise it just stagnates and they leave, getting loot is one way to advance without having to supply endless new content in a timely manner.

The flaw with that prediction (which is shared by several people in this thread) is this: Left as is, eventually these boss events will offer loot that is not needed nor wanted. If we’re to believe it represents the nail in the coffin for you (that’s a general “you”), will you leave the game when you no longer need loot from the Shatterer, Behemoth, Maw, etc? If so, it sounds like you’re hanging on by a thread already and not exactly the safest investment to be basing design decisions on.

There have been so many updates since the retail disc was released.. I’m not sure anyone can accurately estimate how big the patch to get your client current will be (short of hearing from someone in the same boat as you who just happened to finish in the last few days). We’ve had several gigs of downloads since then, but who knows how much of it is overlap with the file structure they’re using.

Blude.6812:

Edge.4180:

Blude.6812:

Basically if you don’t like don’t do it, but nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer.

Actually, I do like doing world-boss events, but they’re being spoiled by the problems that have been detailed in this post, most of them occurring when too many players attend the event.

I’m curious where you’re “nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer” philosophy was when my enjoyment of these events was nerfed by introducing the recent loot changes – which in turn ruined my enjoyment by attracting more bodies to these events? Because I liked these events, pre-patch, a lot more than I like them now.

Sure, there were still problems before the loot change, but they’ve only been made worse by improving the loot on the proverbial lures.

Does your philosophy change depending on which way the benefits are blowing?

Not at all, did them before and do them now when I feel like it. I’ve moved on and do them when I choose too, but don’t chase them. However it’s obvious your philopsophy changes when it isn’t all about you and now you demand that the game should revert or ‘nerf’ because it no longer suits the way you liked to play. It was fine, as long as it was your way and there was no one else (or very few) in your fav event! Do something different. I am sure with a game of this size you can find something to do where others don’t wreck the experience for you.

Despite attempting to appear to, you completely avoided addressing my point, which I guess in a way is an answer in of itself.

To elaborate, you’re pointing at a potential solution I outlined and telling me “nerfing it for the people that like it isn’t the answer”. At the same time, you’re fine that it was nerfed to appeal a different crowd, even at the cost of another crowd.

You seem to want to have it both ways.

Nottix.7864:

While they are at it, add gemmed name changes like the make over kits. I’m sure this will generate a lot of money. Not sure why this wasn’t an option months ago.

I believe name changes are on their way very “soon”.

My GW2 folder is about 15.3 GB, if that’s what you’re asking. Are you patching from an otherwise completed install, or starting from scratch?

The percentage is based on the number of files remaining, and has nothing to do with the size of the data. For example, if there are only two files and one of them is 500 GB, and the other is 1 MB, regardless of whichever one finishes first the patcher will tell you you’re 50% complete because you have one of the two files.

Trendy Ideology.1034:

Edge.4180:

I have to admit, I’m not a fan of seeing people running around in a costume while adventuring. And the more silly the costumes get, the less I’ll like it. I just have this idea that heroes should like heroes and not clowns.

My apologies to any clowns reading this that are also heroes.

Anyway, if a change like this were to happen, I would appreciate having an option on my client to disable costume visuals from my perspective. I don’t care if you look like a clown, so long as I can’t see it.

I have nothing against clowns.

That’s like saying that I don’t like seeing females all bundled up, or all skimpy, so the the world should revolve around my preferences and stop anyone from offending my sensibilities or provide me with an option to see the world how I want.

Sorry you don’t like the idea, but, your preference of how you want to see other players should not supersede their right to appear how they want while playing.

What you’re essentially saying is that you should be in control of what I see, rather than me being in control of what I see, and I just don’t agree with that. It’s kind of why options like the profanity filter allow me to filter the comments of others no matter how much they might want to get their complete message across to me.

If you want to run around in town clothing while you fight, I’m cool with that. However, you should not be opposed to me choosing to not see characters around me fighting in town clothing.

Or would you rather I just drone on about how town clothing is supposed to be for non-combat use and designed with that intention, and stand by that?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

It’s called a “Mystic Forge” and people hate it. :P

I’m not sure they’d be interested if the rares aren’t guaranteed.. well, not guaranteed unless you sacrifice 4 rares in the process.

locoman.1974:

That would take a LOT of gems.

As of last night, gem to gold ratio was about 1.5g for 100 gems. Let’s say the legendary is selling for 1500g (I remember seeing eternity at least once for over 2000g), that would mean 100,000 gems. Let’s say someone buys gems per bulk in packs of 4000 gems for $50, that would still come up to $1,250… quite a bit expensive for something that offers absolutely no advantages over much cheaper alternatives, I’d say… and that’s not taking into account that dumping 100,000 gems into the trading market is bound to lower the gem to gold ratio.

Sadly, that’s assuming gems are involved in the gold purchasing at all.