It took me a couple of years to do world map completion. My secret…I never obsessed about it. I did mapping when I felt like it…and did other things when I did not. At some point along way I notice…“Hey…I am 97% complete.” After that, I paid more attention and scheduled my mapping so that I could finish up. What made it really work for me is that I was never in a hurry.
My own experience.
I really enjoyed the personal story. I would have preferred a final mission that I could solo (since I soloed the rest)…but I ended up doing the dungeon with a 5-player group and had a good time. I have continued doing the PS with my alts that I bring up.
Guess it boils down to personal preference.
Although I think you probably know this already (and I am not trying to be snide)…the attire skins are divided into armor sets (such as the Zodiac set you cited) and outfits…which are “all or nothing”…as you pointed out.
The armor sets do have the flexibility you desire…but outfits have the advantage of not requiring a transmute charge. It may be that most players have plenty of charges so that advantage may not apply to them. I have a new, second account, though, and have very few charges…so some of the outfits work well for me.
Just a matter of taste and preference, I guess.
Crafted Kudzu
Precursor dropped in the MS…I used four dungeon token longbows
Been playing since first beta weekend…got precursor about two months ago…just finished crafting a week or so ago
Farmed gold to get most of my T6 mats
Had boatloads of karma and skill points to get other mats
Basically, I never was in a hurry…just took things as they came…and one day I had it
An enthusiastic two thumbs up…
First, let me say that what follows is merely the approach and attitude that I have taken. It works for me but I do not suggest that it would work for anyone else or that anyone would be better off if they did it my way. Only that I have faced this issue and this is how I have dealt with it.
I too have a problem with alts. My account has twelve characters now, all level 80. My wife, who no longer plays regularly, has graciously allowed me to play her account, which has six characters, all level 80. In addition, during the recent sale, I purchased two additional accounts. So, yeah…I know about the alt thing.
So, ascended gear and alts. On the one hand, it is account bound, as others have pointed out and I can move it around (within accounts at any rate) as I choose. On the other hand, as the OP mentioned, this seems a pain the neck and, although I admit it should not be a big deal, I rarely, if ever, get around to moving the gear around. So, what have I done.
First …and most important…I really haven’t worried much about it. I made a strategic decision when ascended gear was announced that I was not going to jump on that treadmill with any degree of seriousness. My crafters, all at 400 at the time, continued to craft as the mood struck and materials were available. I saved my ascended mats as I got them and began to refine them when I could. I prioritized getting my weaponsmith to 500 first and, when he was there, he crafted the weapons that he could…and just continued to collect and refine mats. I began to do my daily time-gated duty but, again, I really did not and do not worry much about it.
All of my level 80 characters are outfitted in various combination of exotic and ascended gear. I use guild commendations for the accessories…and I typically have plenty of those. I use laurels for rings and amulets and I never have enough of those…so I default to exotic in those cases. I craft weapons as I can…outfitting my most active characters first. All others carry exotics. All of my other crafters (except armor smith) have since progressed to 500 and, as I am able and priority allowing, they craft ascended as well. I focus first and foremost on playing the game and I find that my gear…mostly exotic with some ascended, does me quite nicely.
I have, at various times, gotten the bug to get all of my characters “ascended outfitted” but it didn’t take a lot to convince me that this would be a formula for frustration. I could take the position that Arenanet should change the system to allow me to fully equip ascended in a more timely manner. On balance, though, I find that this is just not something that I am willing to worry about. My exotic gear does not seem to have adversely affected my enjoyment of the game and when I do get a new piece of ascended gear crafted, it is kind of like getting a visit from Santa Claus.
Again, this is not meant to minimize anyone else’s frustrations or positions or in any way suggest that others should “do it my way.” The topic was out there and this is simply my approach.
I purchased six copies of an insignia recipe…so I could make six different pieces of armor.
Good suggestions above! Also…take your time. There is no rush. While not everyone will agree with me, there is something exciting, fun, and even challenging in every zone at every level. I still find enjoyment leveling and mapping (after 12 characters leveled to 80). There is a lot to enjoy in this game…take advantage of it.
Perhaps I am missing something, but I do not feel that I miss a single thing by using a waypoint. At some point in time, with every single character, I have to run to that waypoint and experience everything along the way. If I choose to do so, and I often do, I can run within areas and not use waypoints (I am cheap).
There are times, though…and not infrequently, when I want/need to go to a particular place for a particular thing. The example I have used before is buying eggplant. I need to go to a particular spot in Sparkfly Fen and typically I am doing my cooking in Hoelbrak. I do not want to run across the world…or even across half of the Sparkfly Fen map just to buy some eggplants. Now, the counter argument would be that it would force me to think more carefully about my purchase habits…and maybe buy 20-30 bags rather than one or two bags at a time.
That aside, though, waypoints do facilitate getting things done in a more efficient way, especially considering that for every waypoint, I have already made the run on foot. As an aside…I personally would be fine with mounts (preferably flying mounts) in place of waypoints but, absent that, I would prefer no changes at all to the existing system.
Am 60+ years old without the lightning fast reflexes that a lot of younger and more skilled players have. Like others posting above, I run a ranger build using longbow and greatsword…with generally good results (considering I run mostly with guild mates and friends). I have also done pretty well in dungeons with my guardian using greatsword, scepter/focus, and staff depending on the situation.
What I find helps most, though, is when the group is flexible, understanding, and not tied to the speed run approach.
While I am a huge fan of the game and I was pretty happy with what I saw in the presentation, I share some concern about the travel. I too absolutely hate the process of getting around in Dry Top. No problem until now since I just avoid the place other than the small bit I needed to do to get the LS done. My only concern…and I am hoping that it is a groundless one…is that all travel in the expansion areas will be similar to this – not necessarily identical but this kind of “gimmicky” getting around. Once in a while is not bad…but constantly having to use these kinds of “special skills” just to get from point A to point B is not something I enjoy…although I do understand that a lot of players do.
So, at this point, I am just kind of watching and waiting. Hopefully, it will all be balanced pretty well so we all have a good time.
Have to admit…it was a great time. Thanks Arenanet
I am so glad to learn that I am not the only one that has been secretly “scratching my head” about guild halls. I am not opposed to them in any way…I just never understood the purpose. I don’t “hang out” in the game and can chat from anywhere.
But, with some explanation of the potential utility, I can see the point. If they have access to banks, merchants, crafting stations, perhaps portals to capital cities…this all seems very useful. As for the other, more social purposes, I am sure others like it and view it as important but that aspect has no appeal for me.
To keep some of us you may need more content
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Elothar.4382
I am fundamentally different that the OP since I thrive on replaying and enjoying content. It is just something that really works for me. This being the case, I do understand that we (the OP and I) are coming from very different preferences and expectations.
That said, my experience with MMOs in general (and I have played a number of them) is that there have always been those players that are skilled and dedicated enough to chew through content quickly and do not enjoy replaying. This means that, at least as I have seen it, MMOs generally do not seem capable of generating new content fast enough to meet the desires and expectations of these players. I actively read the forums on all games I play and this complaint by the OP seems a common thread on every single forum by what appears to be like-minded individuals.
Sadly, I do not have a solution or suggestion. I recognize that this expansion as described (and possibly even as it will be implemented) may not meet your needs or expectations. Hopefully you will get some enjoyment and perhaps, now that Arenanet has committed to one expansion, that will reassure players that future expansions are possible.
I had the same problem when I started crafting ascended since I don’t run dungeons. There is a JP over in NW Harathi Hinterlands (the pirate ship) that has a chest that gives between 6 and 9 fragments. I was running six of my characters per day through that…it only takes a few minutes for each.
This has happened to me before. It turned out it was a security flag that somehow got set…or something like that. Did a ticket…very fast response and all fixed. Good luck.
Yup…I liked this one. Nice job.
I did it with a guildie. We struggled on that last part the first go-around. Once we got the mechanics down, we nailed it pretty quickly.
I have to say that all of the encounters in this release were a bit more intuitive than the last one. I enjoyed this one much more.
Precursors in the gem store = Pay to win. Period. There really is no other way to look at it. Crafting a legendary is the end game, but now you put it behind a pay wall. A move like this would be a terible, terrible, terrible, most horrible and Grenth blasted idea ever.
No.
How’s this pay to win? PvP stats are equalised and legendaries don’t offer much of a stat difference tonother gear.
I could understand you saying it’s pay to win if gear stats were a massive factor in pvp, or if legendary gear offered insane stat boosts, but they don’t
Of course it’s not. But as I said earlier, the legendaries are about the skins. And for many the aqusition of skins is “winning” the game. If you make these skins (precursors into legendaries) buyable through the gem store, then for many the game becomes “pay to win”. With the stats being maxed with ascended, stats don’t really matter, as it’s only a ~5% difference between exotic and ascended. It’s the ascended skins that make them more desirable, rather then the stats.
So the skins is what I was referring to when I said “pay to win”.
I think I get the gist of the point here. Although I don’t have any “skin” in this argument one way or the other (sorry for the pun)…a couple of points seem relevant.
First, I can already use real money to buy a precursor. All I have to do is buy gems and convert to gold and purchase it on the TP. While there may well be philosophical implications beyond my understanding, practically speaking…at least for the purchaser, it is largely transparent…buy from the gem store or buy from the TP with gold obtained through the gem store (exchange). So, if having the precursor in the gem store is “pay to win” then…it is already pay to win…just with an extra step involved.
The second point, though, would give me pause about putting them in the gem store. In all likelihood, this would impact the prices of precursors on the TP and would affect both buyers and sellers. I am neither a buyer nor seller of precursors so it does not much matter to me one way or the other. But…all things considered, I would probably go with not having them in the gems store…not because of “pay to win” issues but rather the potential to impact the game economy.
Just my nickel’s worth.
I am an “older” player as well and have played a number of other MMOs so will respond to two points that struck me.
First, as others have mentioned, the leveling process is not such in GW2 that it “requires” grouping. As recently as this past year, I found that the leveling process in other MMOs (specifically WoW and Rift) do not require any grouping either. Can’t speak to MMOs other than those two. Also, I found, at least in WoW, that grouping up was not at all social. I tended to “get an invite”…after which absolutely no communication was exchanged…not even “niceties” and as for dungeon groups (using the LFG system), I could have just as easily been with four NPCs for all the social interaction that went on. Years ago…five to six years to be more precise…it seems like groups were more social. Now, it’s just as well that the content doesn’t require grouping because it does not seem inherently fun unless I am running with friends.
The gathering. I have to truly disagree with the OP here. My experience in other MMOs where there is competition for these resources is that it brings out the absolute worst in people. Now…a disclaimer…there are those that play these games for the inherent sense of competition and conflict and, in those cases, I can understand why screwing someone out of a resource node would be really, really cool. Not my cup of noodles, though. I find it much more rewarding to stop and help another player clear trash around a rich node…knowing that we can both benefit from it.
But…we all have our preferences and there is nothing inherently better about mine than the OP’s.
Really good comments so far.
My own experience is that I tend to struggle more on jumping puzzles with my Norn a bit more than on other races. In fairness, though, that could be simply a camera issue or even just my perception given that the Norn, at least for me, feel a little “clumsier.”
I feel everyone is too locked into “right-click and select duel on someone”. Why not have it implemented like /rank or through an item-like thing? For example write “/duel” and your character will plant a dueling flag which other players can walk up to and interact with to initiate the duel.
That way you CAN’T spam duels on people who doesn’t want it, no need to even add an ignoring option. It would work like a guild booster banner, I can see no problems with this other than “blocking” interactive things, but that problem already exists and I only see it as a slight annoyance (tab ftw).
I have generally not been in favor of dueling but I do see merit when suggestions like this are brought up. These kinds of suggestions, at least for me, tend to promote a healthier, more constructive dialogue that could ultimately produce some good results. While I am not suggesting that this is “the solution,” I do think that the post represents the kind of discussion that could possibly result in common ground and being able to move this forward.
I have been at this since the first beta weekend. What keeps me engaged is never letting myself get locked into doing only one thing. I work temple events in Orr, I clear maps, I bring up alts, I run dungeons, I do boss trains, I gather, I craft, etc. Slowing making ascended weapons and armor as I get the mats. Just finishing my first legendary (1 more TA run). So, for me, it is the variety and the knowledge that I can log in and do the things I want to do without fear of “falling behind.”
For me, not much change. Before, I typically integrated the dailies into my regular play, whatever I happened to be doing on that day. Now, with the new system, I do have to allocate some time specifically to do them…but it rarely takes more than 20-30 minutes. I typically play about 2 hours per night…or thereabouts.
I, for one, wish the Arenanet employees a wonderful holiday (vacation and all) and look forward to another year of GW2.
It took me a couple of months…but I kept at it. I am not a WvW’er so I watched the maps. When my color had a section, I jumped in and got everything there. I also spent some time, while in WvW, just studying the maps so that, when the map situation changed, I would be ready to go.
It took a while but eventually I got it. On the other hand, I did not have any pressing need to do it quickly so waiting was not much of an issue for me.
I had not considered the tip that CMM gave…great idea, though. I wish that I had thought of it at the time I was clearing.
They did a CDI on guild issues earlier in the year. I have not heard any firm plans coming out of that but perhaps some of these issues might be addressed when they do implement some of the suggestions (assuming they do).
Absolutely nothing, until traits are fixed.
You can get the gold to unlock all the traits by running a couple of dungeons.
While I see your point (I think), I think it would take more than a couple of dungeons…unless my math is off (or I am not understanding your point).
I guess that I just do not agree with the OP. My own opinion (and it only just my opinion) is that the NPE is okay (and yes, I am a veteran player with multiple 80s that leveled a couple of new toons with the new system). For me, it did not make a huge difference in play experience. I am not really sure what the “generic” issue is. I don’t find anything really generic about the game…either before or after NPE was introduced.
I am finishing up my first legendary right now…mainly because I got a freak pre-cursor drop (longbow) that I was not expecting. In general, though, I have to say that I prefer the ascended weapons. They look much better (for my tastes) and it seems much easier and straightforward to plan for the crafting rather than counting on a pre-cursor to show up.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but…
In general, I will not pay for anything RNG. I don’t mind paying for things but I tend not to gamble. I tend not to pay for anything consumable. Examples…BL keys, dye kits, etc.
I enthusiastically pay for things that have good in-game utility, are account-bound, and are durable (perpetual gathering tools, bag slot expansion, bank slot expansion, armor skins and outfits, etc.
As for the class color changes…yeah…that sounds kinda cool as long as it was a definite change rather than a “chance to change.”
Hmmm….says “scam” to me. First, look at the URL to log into. Don’t think that is an Arenanet site. Second…see the alert at the bottom…sent by another player. Finally…I have never seen Arenanet send a notice that sends you to a website to claim something. Everything is done through the BLTP.
I may be wrong…but this is how I see it.
A new character? Reverting or reworking the trait system.
This preferably a revert to the way they were unlocked. ArenaNet reworking them would probably just make the system even worse considering their track record…
Sorry…yes, that is actually what I meant. Thanks.
Appreciate the note. Thanks.
The Good: Wardrobe, dyes, TP, Megaservers, account-bound ascended gear
The Bad: Traits
The Ugly: Can’t think of anything ugly right off the top of my head.
A new character? Reverting or reworking the trait system.
Conceptually, the system seems okay. The main problem I see (other than the preference issues that different players have) is that the event achievements in starter zones really seem to have an adverse impact on lower level players. There are hordes of players descending on any event in the zone (at least during the first few hours after reset) and the higher level players are pretty much blowing things away before the lower level players can even get shots off.
I was in Metrica tonight with one of my level 80s and I honestly did feel bad for some of the lower levels running around. Even if I just stuck with auto shoot to try and give others a chance, things came down in just a second or two. The kicker is that the level 80s cannot just go to a different zone; they are pigeon-holed into the one specific zone.
The simplest solution seems to me to extend the zone specific (Metrica Province) to the larger racial area (Magumma) and allow some “spreading out.”
In terms of preference (which different players will view differently, I am sure), I ended up skipping the achievements yesterday when two of the four PVE were fractals. My own preference would be not to have this kind of selection set…but, this is just my preference.
Thanks and a great one to you as well.
It does not matter at all which character you complete the map with. The gift is account bound…meaning that you put it in the bank and any of your characters(provided they are on the same account) can access it.
I cannot say in absolute confidence, but I do not think you can have characters on different realms. I think that your account (with all characters) is on a realm. X T D brings some good points. Patience will pay off. It took me many, many months to finish but I finally managed as the maps changed hands. If you are really in a hurry, then I would agree that perhaps transferring to a different server could work.
It has issues with skill balance, z-axis movement, perception of depth and others which make underwater content enjoyable only to an extent.
I am not a fan at all…for the reasons stated above. That said, I can live with what we have now but definitely would not want to see any more.
The login rewards are a set of scheduled rewards. Not 1 laurel and 1 coin per day. Details at
I just finished the current LS last evening. I did not particularly enjoy playing Caithe. In all honesty, most of my problem is that I am not a particularly fast learner. Starting a new profession, it takes me a while to get it all “figured out” and become somewhat effective. In the LS, we are thrown in to Caithe’s body with a full set of skills. I read through the tool tips but when I entered combat, I was still horribly ineffective and inefficient. So…it was kind of frustrating for me.
Add to that the fact that there was a lot of other, quirky stuff going on, it was even more frustrating. For example, trying to disable the shields, knock out NPCs, fight when I had to…all on the spur of the moment with no real background in those skills. I muddled through (many deaths) but eventually finished. Since it was kind of a one-time thing (I hope) it is not really a big deal for me. I am sure that others enjoyed it immensely, which is good. I might be a bit more pessimistic if I thought that this was going to be a regular model.
I am about as casual as it comes…and I am okay with the changes. The importance of dailies and monthlies for me was always tied to laurels anyway. The rest of it was okay but nothing to really write home about. The changes today make my life easier.
2 rangers
2 mesmers
2 necros
2 warriors
different builds and gear…and I kind of like the leveling process so it works for me.
I think that the thing that I noticed is that, lately, when people ask questions in map chat, they get pretty good answers. Lots of friendly banter on the WBT…banners…food…bonfires…etc.
Yeah…I agree…seems a bit more collegial all in all.
This is not meant at all to discount the OP opinions regarding GW1 and GW2. That said, I played GW1 for a bit….never really got to like it..and quit to play other games. I came to GW2 under the assumption that it was a completely separate…and different game. So far (having played since first beta weekend)…I have to say I like this a whole lot more than I did GW1. But, as is obvious, this is a subjective issue. I know lots of people prefer GW1 and some prefer GW2. Just my nickel’s worth.
I am familiar with this one, having leveled a bunch of characters. I had never had the least problem with it until the very last time I did it. My experience this last time was exactly as the OP described. The block/knockdown seemed to be active for an inordinately large portion of the time. The fight went on for what seemed like an extraordinarily long time. I finally finished…but I can’t say that it was fun or interesting. Just long.
This is a cinematic that our guild worked on. It is a bit lengthy (14 minutes).
First attempt at something like this.
I am PVE to the core…and have never yet completed a monthly achievement for JPs…and have never yet failed to get my monthlies done. Have to agree with most of the posters here. There is always plenty for PVE’rs in the buffet of monthly achieves.