Guild Wars 2

My tinfoil hat hypothesis, with no backing for it what so ever, is that the 2g is also acting as a preemptive padding for eventual new gold sinks that’ll be added with either LW3 (less likely) and/or Expac2 (more likely). If this is the case, then the 2g is also working as intended.

~EW

Urosh Uchiha.9732:

And even if they cared so much about multiloot I believe they could fix it rather fast. Two very simple solutions. Make it impossible to join a finished map, just like Dragons Stand or just make the chests account bound to have a cooldown of like 1 hour or something so that you can loot them again the next time the meta comes. I’m sure something similar can already be found somewhere in the game and used here.

That might be easier said than done. Even if similar code were used elsewhere it might not be simple to ‘copy/paste’ it on to AB maps/chests. The game hosts millions of lines of code, all interacting with each other in a myriad of complex and subtle ways.

On top of that if the Tarir multi-mapping was honestly unforeseen by ANet, there’s also likely a large amount of ‘bureaucratic red tape’ on the business side to decide what their stance will be on it and taking the time to investigate all the possible ways to fix it… While we refer to ANet in such a way as it seems like one entity, there are a ton of people who have to come together in consensus for such decisions.

Even though there are a lot of people working for ANet, they also have a laundry list of bugs and exploits they have to triage in importance, as well as consider the allocation of workforce to enact any changes.

Most likely they’re monitoring the effects and are considering (or even working on) solutions if they think it’s an issue. If it were super-important and devastating to the economy, of course it be given a higher priority. Since we haven’t seen such changes, we can’t assume they approve of it or just plain don’t care… we can assume either that it isn’t as important as a lot of players think it is, or that it’s more complicated than a lot of us think it is.

The Q3 patch is a likely place when a fix/change will be implemented IF there’s going to be one…. but it still could come earlier, later, or never. We just don’t know.

~EW

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… the /gokart from AC2. It’s best when used with /follow (another that’d need to be added) because then you have a train of people sitting in a driving position ‘go karting’ around the countryside. It’s a glorious thing to behold, and I’d take getting that over any other emote.

Though, I admit it might make the Charr look like they need to visit a vet.

~EW

Danikat.8537:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Is that a llama?? In what looks like Ascalon?

It is. It’s a miniature llama, photobombing my screenshot.

He does that.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever felt there was a good reason to bother with minis.

Thank you.

~EW

MMOs using mechanics to encourage addictive behavior and consistent play is nothing new.

Though, I’m glad you’ve realized it exists. Such awareness is very important, I think.

Now that you see it, the next choice ahead of you is whether you’ll let seeing this interfere with the legitimate fun you can have. If you can spot it, then you can set it aside and better evaluate a game on the merits of the game play, theme, story, graphics, and whatnot else you care about.

This kind of stuff is going to be in most games you play, MMO or otherwise. You have no control over it being there, but you do have control over how you’ll react and respond… uninstalling is a legitimate response… so is focusing on the stuff you love, despite the existence of the other stuff.

Good luck to you and your future gaming.

~EW

scerevisiae.1972:

Yep, no matter what they say, this is a pay2win game, by design.

It is a fundamental shortcoming of the B2P model that companies will always create new ways to force you to spend more money while not really improving the stuff you’ve already paid for.

Yep, no matter how often they claim that it is, this is still not a PtW game.

quoting myself from a previous PtW thread because I don’t want to retype it: "In GW2 there is no correlation between the amount of money you spend in micro transactions (RL cash -> gems -> stuff) and the advantage you have in the game over others. That is what PtW is, and that is not GW2.

HoT is an expansion. It is a one-time purchase that gives you more options in your profession; there is no ever-increasing amount of money to spend for an ever-increasing advantage. "

scerevisiae.1972:

It is also why things like class balance & fixing bugs are very low priority in GW2 – they don’t bring in new income.

You are likely now confusing Perfect Imbalance with PtW. Perfect Imbalance means that the devs purposely give a slight mathematical edge to some type of play style, whether it be a weapon, skill, trait line, whatever. This process informs the meta. They make ‘balance’ changes every so often that in part intentionally change the Perfect Imbalance to something new… again, changing the meta. Yes it adds power creep, but it also keeps strategies and builds constantly (even if slowly) evolving and responding to the new ‘balance… PI keeps people playing, because builds and play style must adapt to new balance. And, yes it’d be a bad business decision for the PI to not favor the new expansion, because there will always be people who want to be playing what seems mathematically optimal, even if it’s only temporarily optimal until other players adapt in response…

There are plenty of posts and threads about people succeeding in all modes w/o using the elite professions. Many people come up with vanilla builds that respond to popular HoT builds. A person doesn’t need HoT to succeed, no matter if they’ve convinced themselves that it’s so.

(tl;dr: PI favoring HoT isn’t the same as PtW.)

What so many people seem to think and want as ‘balance’ is a concept that shouldn’t and won’t exist in this type of game. Players would lose interest and quit playing for good.

~EW

Boldor Aran.8543:

That would explain my difficulty…
I unlocked the headbutt trait for warrior, how do I equip it, it’s not showing on elite skills despite unlocking it.

You need to select the trait line Berserker on the bottom line of your trait lines. Once Berserker is selected, you can use Headbutt, torches, and go all kinds of berserk.

~EW

DoctorDing.5890:

I’ve said this before. It’s PVE. It’s not competitive. There is no winning post. Who gives a stuff what other players get up to? It just doesn’t matter.

For me this (exhaustively long) thread has functioned for the purpose of asking, “is this idea other players have something I want to take part in?” It’s about understanding why players are doing something, then deciding if it’s worth doing the same.

Whether it’s good or bad to do is honestly up to ANet to decide… it’s their game, and their opinion on it which ultimately determines if this is an exploit needing to be stopped, or something that was unintended, clever, and still within the confines of how they think their game should be played.

The discussion is still helpful and informative, regardless if there can be no winning post by a player.

~EW

After trying it a handful of times to understand what it’s all about (see my earlier posts discussing it if you feel like), I decided that I don’t want to take part in it.

The reason being is that I feel that part of it does break the spirit of the game. Specifically that if a map doesn’t succeed, those in the squad need only to jump to a map that did. I personally feel that if a map doesn’t succeed, then you shouldn’t get the opportunity to loot.

I do think that the map-hopping in general is a grey area in this aspect, but hopping when you didn’t succeed is not grey (at least to me). Being a part of a multi-map squad means being a part of promoting getting rewards despite failure.

That’s why I choose not to do it now that I understand the process. Ymmv.

~EW

Konviction.6819:

so if I use the bersker armor with soldier accessories what weapons would be a wise choice? atm im using a GS + axe/axe I like its flow and I can really chain combos and skills together fast and well.

If you mean what weapon stats to use, then stay with berserkers unless you’re having difficulty surviving. If you mean weapon choices, then if the combo you’re currently using works well for you, then use it. Gs and axe are the strongest pow weapons. Mix in some mace and/or shield if you decide you need some player-CC.

Konviction.6819:

is there any gs + axe/axe builds out there?

Atm on this page there’s a thread discussing axe/axe. You’ll find some interesting advice and criticisms in it. There are multiple WvW roaming vids/builds on each page here, too. W/o looking at all of them it would not surprise me if at least a couple of them utilize a/a.

Konviction.6819:

and what would be a nice rune for the berserker armor? atm im using rune of the traveler in them, should I change thos?

If you bought your berserker gear using Karma, do not put any expensive runes in it because you won’t get them back. If you instead bought your gear off the TP… then there’s a fair number that can be useful. Emkelly’s Warrior 101 thread lists the runes worth considering in a power build.

I do think that mobility is vital, so if you’re not using the Warrior’s Sprint trait, then a rune that gives movement speed is a good idea… just not Traveler’s unless you can’t afford better. The bonus to all stats isn’t that useful (unless you’re utilizing other Celestial gear), and the con duration bonus is even less useful to a pow build. But why you wouldn’t be using Warrior’s Sprint I don’t know… Discipline traits are so incredibly useful.

I know I’ve said it many times before, but the Warrior 101 thread is incredibly good, and worth heeding.

~EW

I’m sorry to say, but you look like a victim of RNG.

I spent much of this last holiday weekend in Silverwastes, and was able to get ~500 empyreal fragments (I know this because EF’s are one of the things I’m striving to get a lot of right now, so I’m paying very close attention to what I collect). Also, normally during an AB octovine loot-spree (no multi-map) I often come away with 20-30 empyreal fragments.

If you don’t have the Ley-Energy Matter Converter, then get involved in the Dragon’s Stand meta and try to get your hands on it. The 50 empyreal fragments for 25 map currency comes up frequently enough that it can definitely help supplement your acquisition of them. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ley-Energy_Matter_Converter

~EW

VB only awards crowbars for events during the day. AB awards exalted keys for all events. For that reason I think AB is the better choice.

You can always compromise and do VB during the day, and when it becomes night head to AB. I suppose it depends on what map and events you prefer doing.

~EW

Berserker’s armor/weapons + Soldier’s trinkets is a pretty solid set together to start out with. Imo stick with that, and slowly substitute out a piece at a time with Knights (or Captain’s).

The reason I suggest this comes down to stat spread. With berserkers/soldiers you’ve got a pretty solid combo, but your stats are spread across 5 attributes. This means you don’t really excel in any one area. For any build crafting I’ve found it vital to stick to 3 or 4 stats and try not to spread beyond them unless you really know you need to…. there are always exceptions, of course.

For a power-based tanky build incorporating your already purchased soldier’s equipment…. well…. I think mixing it with some Cleric’s would be the better choice (though I’m sure many here will argue with me). Warriors don’t really have much in the way of burst heals… we’re all about regen… so the healing power would help AH and the healing signet do what they do best… then I’d add the Rune of the Dolyak or Rune of the Scrapper. Again, many people here might argue with that and have great reasons why…so take my suggestion with that grain of salt. Your damage will of course suffer (no prec or fer), but you’ll still be able to put pressure on your opponents while taking hits. For this kind of build it might be better to use hammer and mace/shield as your weapons… keep your opponents locked down (stripping any stability) and their attention on you while your allies provide the DPS.

If others wish to chime in here, please do…. I’m not as versed in WvW as I am in PvE.

~EW

Konviction.6819:

atm my warrior is in all soldier exotic including accessories, the armor has warrior runes and the accessories are using exquisite beryl jewls, the weapons are also soldier with force and accuracy sigils.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3XjMdQZI2FCWhAnIG6BKtNC/0wCgPICwaoHyBA-T5ABwAAeIAT3fIwVAAA

What im wanting to do is maybe find something that use a GS + Hammer thats pure soild offensive and has knockdowns and uses stomp, I would kinda like to avoid glass canon but if its necessary ill do it, If you feel this is a bad idea fill free to say so and tell me why and maybe tell me what might be a better route to go? thanks in advance

Your link is for PvP, though everything else you’ve typed in your thread so far says WvW, so i’m gunna go with that. On the build editor you can toggle between PvP, PvE, and WvW in the top right hand corner (just in case you missed it).

Instead of Soldier’s gear, have you considered using some Knight’s pieces (or Captain’s)? You’ll still get the toughness protection against burst damage while still having viable damage with the pow+prec. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Item_nomenclature

Imo Beryl doesn’t do you much good with your current build as the ferocity is wasted w/o a better crit chance. Emerald might serve you better.

If you can get your crit chance high enough, it then becomes worth it to go after sigils that proc on crit… generosity, blood, fire (for adrenaline proc), strength.

However, if you keep your crit chance on the lower end, then take advantage of your 5 sec weapon swap with on-swap sigils… I know hydromancy is one of the more popular ones in WvW, and would be great for you if you’re using only melee weapons.

Konviction.6819:

Also I still dont have zerker tree unlocked yet I need to find a train or something to do it kinda quickly, I just dont know how to go about doing that as well unfortunately.

Since you want to focus on WvW so heavily, have you looked into Proofs of Heroics? http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Proof_of_Heroics You can use them to unlock HPs while staying in WvW by buyng Notarized Scrolls of Heroics, and Notarized Scrolls of Maguma Heroics.

Otherwise, yeah a train can work. I’ve mostly seen them on the weekend, but what you do is open up your LFG menu, go to Open World, and then to Central Tyria – Squads. If there’s one available in central tyria it’ll be listed.. then all you do is join and go find ‘em. It’ll be even faster if you instead go to the menus for Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, and Tangled Depths and look for the HP groups there since you’ll get 10 HPs per hero challenge (and you’ll need the group’s help for many of them).

If you can’t find a HP group to join and still wanna grab the HoT hero challenges, then there are plenty of guides by Dulfy on youtube that can help you out… I prefer Dulfy over other guides because Dulfy doesn’t use cheats, so you don’t wind up wasting your time if something’s been patched.

I hope some of that was helpful.

~EW

The combination of the 2g plus the WvW reward tracks has me joining the zerg for a few minutes a few times a week.

…but other than that I don’t think it has changed my frequency of completing all 3. I’ve other means to get gold just as fast as I can get ‘em with the dailies, so if the dailies aren’t interesting enough I still don’t do ’em… at least not all 3 to get the 2g. My price for doing something uninteresting/unfun during my free time is higher than that.

~EW

Ummm…. keep a second cheap mouse plugged in and docked, and grab it when you need to click a lot? o.O

The mouse is a piece of equipment meant to be used… so just use it. If the mouse buttons wear out so easily, then it wasn’t worth the price you paid for it, nor is it worth keeping pristine.

~EW

I was in your predicament a few months ago. I mained a Guard since I started, and as much as I enjoyed him I was never completely satisfied. I have a couple alts that I enjoy, but ultimately can’t hold my attention for very long.

So, what I did was try professions that were conceptually very different that what I was used to playing in most games. What else did I have to lose? I found out that I disliked ele and enj – too much twitch-play and skill options for me.

Then I tried the Warrior… and fell in absolute love. I normally don’t like the warrior’s style of play, but for some reason I can’t get enough of it. It’s straight-forward yet brings enough complexity and variation to hold my attention (without being overwhelming). I dismissed Warrior for 3ish years, and I honestly regret it. Warrior is now my main.

So, that’s my suggestion to you…. try professions you may have out-of-hand already dismissed. And, for those professions you’ve found flaws with, give some thought as to how you can get rid of those flaws through builds, weapon choices, and/or skill choices. Each profession has so much variation that many issues can be overcome.

Good luck, and I hope you find your perfect main.

~EW

emkelly.2371:

there’s another option which is also extremely fun.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQRAsf8HWqCs3R7qN2q0Did5AkFXDIAA-ThhAQB2UJ4fOJAwY/BA8EAgo6PgU5X8gAArqsqCA-e

Basically the same build as before, except replacing bow with sword offhand Axe. What you do is burst through your berserker, then when not in berserk hit torch5>swap>axe5. you’ll build tons of adrenaline and of course you’ll also be throwing burning bolts, and also you’ll be procing burning from your fire field. By the end of axe 5 you should be ready to go berserk again.

Finally if you want to be even crazier, you can just drop the torch entirely and replace it for axe, use bow and sword/axe. When you drop your scorched earth, axe5 through it.

I tried this over the weekend (different stats, though), and I gotta say emkelly is right… torch5 + axe5 is a TON of fun.

~EW

Serophous.9085:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Here’s a post Mike O’Brien made a while ago on the subject of ANet communication: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Communicating-with-you/first

I prefer silence and delivery over hype and disappointment. It’s a responsible business decision in an industry that has systemic problems with delivering promises.

Enjoy the game currently in front of you, and enjoy the surprises when things change/update. Carpe Diem.

~EW

That policy was tried before after initial launch. It didn’t fair very well either.

I still prefer it over the hype -> delay -> disappointment in delay -> cancellation -> rage over cancellation -> hype cycle that often takes of the place of the hype -> delivery -> celebration and rage -> hype cycle that is supposed to happen with software hype.

(If I made a drinking game out of typing the word hype, I probably wouldn’t have made it through this post, lol)

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

As that post is 2 years old (and talks about CDIs [Chris Whiteside was still here]), I’m not sure how relevant it still is. Probably should use one of Mike’s more recent posts since he took over as Game Director, where he talks about releases and communicating about them.

Good luck.

Yup, there are more recent posts… but that was the first thing that came up in my google search, and it was recent enough for me. If others want to take the time to find the other more recent posts, more power to ’em. That one was still by Mike, and it is the same philosophy he stated when he took over as Game Director.

~EW

Emtiarbi.3281:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Enjoy the game currently in front of you, and enjoy the surprises when things change/update. Carpe Diem.

~EW

That is exactly what is killing my guild atm, I guess ppl just want to know where the game is going and what to look forward to (even a glimpse).

i hope the Summer update brings something new to do

I’m sorry to hear that your guild is suffering.

I personally feel that it’s a bad idea to log into a game on the hopes of what’s coming in the future… When I’ve done it in the past, I wound up miserable and resenting the game: a sure-fire way for me to quit forever.

Instead I take frequent breaks. It’s honestly a main reason why even though I started playing shortly after launch, I have as much AP(etc) as people who’ve only been playing for a year or less. The nice thing about GW2 is that because there’s no subscription, you can pick it up and put it down as you need.

Unfortunately that does create problems for guilds to have any type of static player base. A solution can be to make the guild’s focus be teaching and playing with new players – it can breathe new life into what might feel like a stale game.

Anyways, good luck to you and your guild. I hope Q3 (whenever it winds up launching) helps revitalize your guild.

~EW

What I do is:

whites/greens/blues: basic salvage kit

yellows: mystic salvage kit (except swords, greatswords, staves, and hammers which I throw into the mystic toilet once I have 4 of one kind)

exotics: black lion salvage kit (after checking TP prices)

~EW

Here’s a post Mike O’Brien made a while ago on the subject of ANet communication: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Communicating-with-you/first

I prefer silence and delivery over hype and disappointment. It’s a responsible business decision in an industry that has systemic problems with delivering promises.

Enjoy the game currently in front of you, and enjoy the surprises when things change/update. Carpe Diem.

~EW

You need to slot the Dragonhunter trait line. It can only be slotted in the bottom of the three trait lines.

Once Dragonhunter is one of your traits, you’ll be able to equip the bow.

~EW

@snaplemouton: ANet is purposely trying to inflate the economy right now. I was hoping you’d catch on to that. And, they’re succeeding. To what ends, I don’t know, but I doubt it’s to phase out the gold created by vendor trash. It’s as important have a source of gold creation as it is to have a gold sink, and to suggest removing something vital to gold creation w/o thinking of the economic influence is not looking at the bigger picture. It’s likely not as simple as turn off valve 1, and turn up valve 2 (even though EC simplified it to that extent, oh well). Those are the points I’ve been trying to make.

@nsleep: It’s a shame you didn’t bother reading what I said around that link, when I admitted that it wasn’t about this topic specifically, but had some pertinent concepts important to understand. But, thanks for taking the time to watch it… EC is one of those series very important to gaming and the gaming communities.

~EW

@Snaplemouton: here’s a vid about MMO economies done by Extra Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W39TtF14i8I

It mostly focuses on inflation and managing inflation, but there’s also a lot of other useful info about MMO economics that you seem to not yet understand. It’s good information to have regardless if the video isn’t completely on the same topic as this thread.

~EW

Something implemented like the Morrowind Mark/Recall spells would be more universally useful; not just for the limited purpose of crafting.

A way to mystically ‘mark’ a single spot in Tyria (like where you’re currently adventuring), then you can ‘recall’ (i.e. teleport) to that specific spot any time (such as after you finished crafting in Rata Sum). The mark could stay until a new mark is created to replace it.

There’d probably need to be some necessary limitations/restrictions, of course…. but I think it could work w/o being game-breaking.

~EW

edit: P.S. OP, would you consider changing your thread title to hint at what your thread is actually about? Atm it’s just click-bait.

penelopehannibal.8947:

9 Already exists Mobs do jump out of ‘nowhere’ and they are strategically places in their respective zones (i.e. Griffons are near nesting areas, bandits near bandit camps etc.).

Except the Quaggan never stay near the bbq sauce. It’s so inconsiderate of them. No one likes bbq that’s recently been in lakes.

@OP: Penelopehannibal and RoseofGilead have hit the nail on the head… you’ve largely got what you were wishing. So, help a guy out with his wish and assist me in wrangling up some Quaggan.

~EW

Would an endless tonic for each race be an adequate compromise? Maybe if it let you keep your current outfit on while simultaneously presenting you as that different race (if that’s even possible)?

~EW

OriOri.8724:

@EW A couple gold per octovine event is a trivial amount compared to the 2 gold per player per day doing dailies. I doubt it impacts the economy at all.

I would be happy if we could mark them as junk somehow.

It’s not about comparing how much gold is created, it’s about considering the various sources which noticeably impact the game’s economy. The octovine was just an easy example of a single slice in time done by a couple/few hundred players. You could compare that specific slice of time to the one for the dailies. But trophies, minor sigils/runes, and other things vendored happen at a constant basis throughout the game day by ALL players (thousands). Where as the dailies are a one-and-done per player in a day (at a large spike of gold), and they’re not necessarily done by all players. Both means create a lot of new gold… dailies are just more in-your-face about it.

Vendoring doesn’t create a trivial amount of new gold, even when the amount is trivial to a specific player. Not in this MMO, and not in any other.

~EW

Emkelly’s Warrior 101 thread is really well done, and worth your time to check out.

There’s also a lot of threads here for WvW roaming builds for vanilla and HoT; as well as videos, commentary, and improvement suggestions… it’s worth taking some time to delve into those, too.

I think you’ve found the right sub-forum to get your info… so just keep digging a bit more.

~EW

I like the extra dribble of income from vendoring the trophies and minor runes.

Also, vendoring such things is very vital to the economy as it is a source of creating gold. People tend to think it’s not much, but it actually is… such as in the AB Octovine, I usually get enough trophies and minor runes to make 1 to 1.5 silver (sans any shiny baubles)… if the majority of the people are also selling and getting as much or more (like those doing multi-map), then that’s easily a gold or two being introduced into the economy every Octo event from minor runes and trophies alone… yeah, I get there’s a lot of assumptions in all of what I just said.

There’s always a merchant nearby in the HoT maps where metas are concerned. And those few times when there’s not, someone always summons one.

MMOs are not about making playing be as efficient and quick as possible; they are designed to keep you in the game and playing as long/often as possible. It’s something the player must adjust to, ‘cause the game isn’t going to adjust to the player. This includes taking the time to sell to vendors and/or manage your inventory.

~EW

Ulion.5476:

Also AB has been helping the supply of t5 cloth/leather mats as well as ectos.

I agree with this. I’ve been keeping an eye on my mats this last week when I run AB Octo (no multi-map).

Each run when grabbing only the great and grand exalted chests gets me about 20-25 of each of the t5 basic mats and usually 1-6 of each of the t6 (I use basic salvage kits on blues/greens, and mystic kits on yellows). The spread is usually very even between wood, leather, ore, and cloth. Of course, ymmv.

~EW

I agree with IndigoSundown… Rev for battlemage (if choosing between Rev and Guard), and Thief for monk (though I think you’ll really get the monk feeling once you get to Daredevil – which will be a large time investment).

~EW

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

If there were some sort of resource limit, wouldn’t I have hit it with the wood before the mithril?

You… think… ANet is… consistent? Oh that’s adorable !
I swear if I had a copper for every time I’ve typed “ANet Inconsistency™”, I’d be in the top 0.01% of wealth in this game.

*blushes

Yeah, that was silly of me LOL.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

The first character I saw the node SE (visually in the distance and on my mini-map), but decided to come back to it after I did a circle…. I went to the SW node, to the N node, then came back to SE and the node was gone.

So this disappearing node wasn’t within visual range? Just mini map range? That would be consistent with “resource ghosting”. (Or did you mean it looked “mined” when you finally arrived, as you describe below?)

I was part of the way to the SE node (grabbing a plant), so I could see on the screen and highlight the untapped node. That node was also on my mini-map. It was at the spot SE of the lumber area where there’s a gap between the south cliff at the bottom of the map and a small outcropping of rock/coral. Instead of going to the node, I decided it’d be the last node on my gathering loop… because I’m weird like that. So I cut over to the SW node which was in that rocky area on the cliff above the river. And, then I went to the N node that was just past the broken wall. Both locations took the SE node off my mini map (I keep it completely zoomed in)… When I came back for the SE node it was no longer on my mini-map when it should have been, and the node itself looked mined instead of what it did previously.

When I did the different circle on a different character I didn’t have that initial visual on the N node ; but it was on the mini-map. So when I went from SE to SW to N, N disappeared of the mini map when I was in range to have it on there, and when I got to it it appeared to have been mined.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Similar happened with the other 2 characters I logged in to harvest before heading to work…. I could harvest 2 of the 3 node spots in the immediate vicinity.

Just to be clear, are you defining “immediate vicinity” to be within range so you can see the name of the node (via alt-key or the UI option)? Or close enough for mini map icon?

Good question…. I mean that it’s within (or just outside) of what my mini-map displays when my mini-map is zoomed in all the way. So when I was standing at the lumber spot itself, all 3 nodes were on my mini-map, but just at the very edges. Going to any one of them put the other 2 off what my mini-map is displaying to me.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

I’m wondering if it’s possible some of the nodes were somehow linked? So that harvesting one triggered the other to be registered as harvested?

I haven’t ever heard of that happening for harvest nodes, although it has happened in this game with a few ground chests (those are just a different type of ‘node’ of course). However, your experience is consistent with your theory.

I think, however, that the more likely explanation is DR, mostly because it explains the evidence and resource node DR has been previously documented (although not specifically in Orr).

Fair enough. If I had more coffee at the time, I might have had the presence of mind to at least take some screenshots… oh well.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

tl;dr this is one that I’d like to see ANet spend a little time investigating. Even if just to tell us that there is node DR for mithril and no, they aren’t going to tell us exactly how it works. (Or to confirm that you found a new type of bug.)

They might have…. Last night I was on 2 maps for that area that had different resource allocations than the one I was on yesterday morning. Usually the same resource map sticks around for about a day. Last night I was kinda hoping I’d land in the same map as I did in the morning just to get that screenshot opportunity. Granted, there could be many other explanations as to why the problem map was only around that morning… but a guy can hope.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I’ve never tried to figure out the limits because it’s just far too much, well, farming for my taste. I can manage a couple of toons hitting a couple of nodes and after that, I’m ready for a nap.

Hehe, that’s why I farm on the weekdays after work… it’s calming and winds me down for bed. The extra income is a nice perk, too.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

PS thanks for taking the time to describe in detail what you saw — that is helpful for troubleshooting

PPS if/when it happens again (and you have time), use the in-game /bug reporting tool — if there’s an actual ‘issue’, /bug will provide ANet with valuable data, including the map and be able to trace your steps to see if, indeed, there were 4 available nodes and you were only able to access 3 (or if there were only 3 to start with, even though you saw 4).

No worries. Thank you for taking the time to talk about it; it is appreciated. Should it happen again I’ll attempt to remember to screenshot document it… lack of coffee notwithstanding.

~EW

Unfortunately I don’t think any of that is the case, which is why I think it’s so weird.

It was mithril nodes, and I was keeping to around the wood farm spot… there’s usually only 3-6 ore nodes in the immediate vicinity from my experience.

Standing at the wood nodes, there was a mithril node SE, SW, and North.

The first character I saw the node SE (visually in the distance and on my mini-map), but decided to come back to it after I did a circle…. I went to the SW node, to the N node, then came back to SE and the node was gone.

So, when I logged in another character and appeared, the map was the same one as the one I had left… with a node to the SW, SE, and N. This time I went for the SE node, then the SW, and when I came back up to the N one, it was gone…. but the visual image that it had already been mined was sitting there. I walked up to it to try and mine it just in case it was just a visual fluke, but it wasn’t and I couldn’t mine.

Similar happened with the other 2 characters I logged in to harvest before heading to work…. I could harvest 2 of the 3 node spots in the immediate vicinity.

If there were some sort of resource limit, wouldn’t I have hit it with the wood before the mithril?

I’m wondering if it’s possible some of the nodes were somehow linked? So that harvesting one triggered the other to be registered as harvested?

~EW

While doing some harvesting around the Malchor’s Leap wood farm, I noticed with a few characters that if I were near an ore node, but moved away a ways without collecting it, when I came back the node was gone…. it became treated as though I had already harvested it when I hadn’t.

This occurred with all 4 characters I logged in this morning.

Thanx,

~EW

I was watching an old Extra Credits episode last night, and I thought that it’s probably very pertinent to this discussion (and many others I often see posted).

The episode is 100, titled Perfect Imbalance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e31OSVZF77w Now, it talks a lot about League of Legends and PvP, but again I think that there’s a lot that’s applicable to this PvE discussion.

Based on the info that the episode presents, it sounds like many people (OP included) feel that there’s no Cyclical Imbalance to PvE…. hence why the ‘zerker meta is always so dominant. I can’t help but think that it was part of the intention of HoT to jump start this process of cyclical imbalance… and there are many HoT posts to the effect of ‘HoT is hard to survive in ’zerker stats.’ Unfortunately those new stat possibilities are currently necessary to use solely in the HoT maps (and maybe WvW).

Is it possible then that new element(s) we’re seeing with these ley-line and bandit events (e.g. legendary bandit executioner) might be yet another possible jump start of Cyclical Imbalance being introduced…? This time, though, it’s in core Tyria where the ’zerker meta is dominant… but might part of the function of these PvE events be to eventually dethrone the ’zerker meta?

Just some food for thought and discussion I thought I’d share.

~EW

Djinn.9245:

RoseofGilead.8907:

Nash.2681:

Zerg events starting every 2 hours… have time to play when we want you to or gtfo…
GG, seems as if the guys @ Arena.Net have forgotten every lesson learned.
I hope that’s not what we can expect from LS3, the way LS2 was rolled out was perfect (instanced content available 24/7 to everyone as long as you managed to log in at least once within 2 weeks), but somehow I have a really bad feeling about it…

It happens every 2 hours. The events take 15-20 minutes. The events won’t disappear anytime soon, either; the older events from the past couple of months are all still there, too. It’s not as though Anet is only making the event a one-time thing; you have plenty of time to catch it.

2 hours is a long time. If your free time falls within those 2 hours (so between the events) you’re SOL.

Those who want something bad enough find a way. Those who don’t want something bad enough find excuses.

~EW

Calliope.8675:

Personally, I don’t have that option, so I really only notice people when they talk and I only turn up my graphics if a friend has run up and gone “ermagawd looket my shinies!” I have done so in the past, when I could play on a PC, but I rarely lingered.

I’m sorry you haven’t gotten to enjoy that experience of randomly meeting and chatting with someone new while playing.

Calliope.8675:

Another point to make, is that someone once posted that certain racial home cities were more convenient for crafting because of the locations of the stations in relation to the TP. They had it timed (in seconds) how long it took a player to reach the TP from the crafting stations with The Grove and Rata Sum having the best times and Hoelbrak having the worst. So you really won’t see an increased population across all of the cities just because they want to craft. The highest I ever see the Hoelbrak population is when there’s a Shiverpeaks gathering daily and people offer their home instances.

Yeah, an increase in some cities, but not necessarily all… So what? There’s still going to be an increase so why bother splitting hairs about where? Grove, RS, and LA are a fine enough spread if that’s all it winds up being.

Calliope.8675:

Players like convenience. We don’t like each other unless we like each other.

Players like a lot of things… and for some people playing MMOs it includes getting to know other players to see if you will like them. There’s plenty of convenience still in the game, and still plenty of convenience for crafting.

Calliope.8675:

And why should Anet control how we choose to “socialize.” This is an MMO, not a dictatorship. I do frequently answer questions when I pass through a town or on an open map. I’ve been here long enough I’m basically an in game Wiki for the game. We have plenty of opportunities already to socialize without the loss of the WvW stations.

No one said they’re controlling or choosing how you socialize… i said it’s promoting the opportunity/option as a side effect of the decision. Chill. Optimism can be something to practice now and then… I highly recommend it over paranoia and raging.

Calliope.8675:

On the flip side, what’s to say that some “random PvEer” steps into WvW for the first time because a guildie mentions the stations there are convenient and happen to see the map/team chatter thus piquing their curiosity and engaging them in WvW? So one could just as easily say that by removing the crafting stations Anet has also crippled their WvW community.

Since the crafting stations are gone, no guildie is going to say that…. so your scenario is moot. Also, no one would go to WvW without at least asking the general question of “what is WvW?” People stepping in there have some idea of what it’s about, even if it’s only a vague idea.

The decision promotes players to play WvW while in WvW… that’s undeniable. To think it’s going to cripple the WvW community because WvW players will be playing WvW is just delusional.

~EW

@MrPinks: I love your outlook… these forums need more of this kind of positivity.

Compared to my experience and memories of the 3 MMOs that died while I was actively playing, HoT hasn’t killed, maimed, wounded, or even bruised GW2. It’s still an awesome game, and HoT added many new great ideas… the fact that it feels different than core Tyria is a great thing.

~EW

Meadfreek.6789:

With mapchat, guildchat and /say people already socialize as much as they’re going to. Forcing people into a lagfest of a city does nothing to improve that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen players having a face-to-face conversation in a city, except for perhaps the small percentage of the playerbase that enjoys RP. And if A-net is doing this just to make the game look more populated, that’s just cheesy. I don’t think a new player is going to care if there’s a lot of people in their field of vision in a city. They care more about population out in the gameworld outside the cities.

Ymmv, but I’ve struck up multiple conversations with players that started with a single compliment from one of us on how the other’s character is outfitted…. conversations I wouldn’t have had, nor started, had I not been standing next to them.

It’s not about making the game look more populated… that’s a sad and cynical perspective… it’s about making sure people are going to WvW to play WvW now it’s becoming popular again. Simultaneously it’ll get more peeps together at the various towns because of crafting.

Many people might already socialize as much as they are going to for now, but it can’t increase or change if the opportunities aren’t there. New players might take more advantage of this opportunity than older players, but that doesn’t mean older players can’t/won’t.

~EW

Elric Of Melnibone.4781:

What about consumables? You should not have to leave your place in the WvW queue to buy more food.

Plan ahead.

Hesacon.8735:

They’ve done a bang up job at encouraging me to avoid towns like the plague because of the load times. Not a single one loads nearly at the rate of Wvw, sPvP, or the guild hall. I know it sounds hyperbolic, but it probably takes 5-10 times longer to load town maps.

Yeah, this would be subjective… because I rarely notice a difference between loading times… with rare occasions when loading screens do take longer… but those times have been towns, normal maps, and even my home instance; not one category specifically.

Hesacon.8735:

I already had to abandon the sPvP league because I was consistently getting 8+ minute queues at peak hours.

I don’t do PvP… but are you confusing queues with loading screens? It sounds like it.

Hesacon.8735:

They’ve gone through great pains to make GW2 non-grindy. Nothing is more grindy than staring at a loading screen.

To quote Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Grinding means to take part in repetitive tasks… It doesn’t mean being frustrated due to impatience.

~EW

Hesacon.8735:

Elric Of Melnibone.4781:

I think adding them to Guild Halls is the best solution. Quick load times and the same convenience without the risk of filling up a borderland with non WvW players.

This. If they’re removed from wvw it’s a giant hassle. I haven’t been to a town in months, especially Lion’s Arch and it’s 5 minute load time vs. 10 seconds in wvw.

Or add them to Heart of the Mists. Or something. Crafting in town is such a giant loadfest. Waiting 5 minutes to craft a single thing is obnoxious.

No, not “this.” Promoting people to congregate in towns (and even LA) is an obvious intention of this change just as much as stopping people going to WvW who aren’t participating in WvW.

Putting crafting stations in Guild Halls will largely kill the towns, and towns are where people should want to (and need to) congregate…. it promotes a healthier player base by encouraging players to socialize…. especially new players.

~EW

Warlord.9074:

Axe off hand is a newish player choice, or a bad choice.

Why?

Double-attack granting fury, a whirling multi-hit attack, and emkelly’s suggestion of comboing it with torch 5 sounds awesome.

If it’s because it doesn’t do the most damage evar, then that’s a silly reason. Chasing optimal damage is like chasing the jackolope.

So I’m honestly asking, why is it a bad choice?

~EW

Warrez.5376:

I’m working on building ascended weapons, just to be safe, I would like to get 100k karma to beable to purchase all the necessary components. my only problem is how do you guys get it? events give me like 300 per and this would take forever… is there any way to get karma quickly or even just ascended weapons (sword, shield, staff) quickly?

I take part in most events I come across, and I semi-regularly do meta and world boss events…. otherwise I ignore it and don’t spend it until I have to…. and when I have occasion to look over at it, it’s grown by a lot.

~EW

Wow… you honestly stumped me.

I think it’s been a long while since I played just to enjoy playing in an area. Played to enjoy LW or Personal Story, yes…. Played to experiment with builds, yes…. Played to farm crafting mats and TP mats, yes….

huh… food for thought… o.O

~EW

I showed up and stuck around for awhile everyone was gathering… it was very awesome. I also jumped a couple maps just to see the different turn-outs on each one… also very impressive.

…but then I left to play the game. However, I was there in spirit marching along.

~EW

maniamsmart.7981:

I’d love to see some other stats actually become more viable. I’d love to build a Guardian Healer and Tank, or a Warrior Tank with some damage, or any sort of combinations, but there just isn’t a place for that in the game (excluding raids of course).

Your wish is granted. Here is a useful PvE Warrior Tank build I’ve developed and used to great effect. It uses no berserker’s gear, uses all exotics, and has a very satisfying amount of (condi) damage.

PvE Warrior Tank Build

There is room to customize it to your own play style, but this is largely the version that works with my play style. The point is to keep 3 stacks of AH up at all times, and reduce even spike damage by so much you can easily heal up any damage you do wind up taking. You get 3 sources of condi damage: bleed, burn, torment. If you need to sub in a ranged weapon for sw/sw, then use the rifle… but only sub out if you have to (you’ll be exchanging torment and a block for gunflame, an evade, and quick adrenaline built at range).

With this build I have:
*Stood in 2 overlapping fields of Teq, and continued to smack him even when everyone else scattered like flies.
*Stood in the Wyvern Matriarch’s corruption field and continued to smack her even when everyone else scattered like flies (and kept her aggro).
*In the Uncategorized Fractal take 3 hits from the deadly stairs before getting knocked to the bottom instead of 1 like everyone else.
*Solo face-tanked champs, even a majority of the HoT champs.

The classic role of the tank is to soak damage so the DPS can do their thing. That is what this build does. The oft-spouted criticism about high level armor having diminishing returns is irrelevant to the tank… because you’re tanking things that have high levels of damage, for which one wants as much damage reduced as possible. This gives you the room to heal back up just from all the sources of healing you’re bringing to the table. Your damage is also substantial enough that while you’re soaking everything coming at you, you’re also not feeling like the rest of the group is carrying you.

It’s also said that higher armor tends to draw aggro… In this build I draw aggro like crazy. I take aggro away from peeps in all ‘zerker gear with relative ease….freeing them up to do their DPS thangy-thang. This is all of course anecdotal, so take what I’m saying with that grain of salt… or heck, try it out for yourself. With the exception the Exquisite Passion Flowers this gear is relatively inexpensive on the TP last I checked.

~EW

What we really need is the EQ2 mini-game that happens during extended crafting! O.O

/justkiddingreallyIdon’twantthis

~EW

Are the people who are complaining about getting into Exotics the same people who try to zoom to 80 as quickly as possible?

Yasi.9065:

You dont get dungeon armor without… at least one set of exotic berserker armor. Karma armor is extremely expensive for someone just starting out.

Having to do open pve without a good exotic armor set is painful to the extreme in 75+ maps.

Taking your time to explore the maps while you level will get you all the karma you need to purchase lvl 80 exotics from temple vendors before you ever step foot into Orr. For every character, including your first one…. then it’s just a matter of making a bee-line for the temple vendor, which shouldn’t be hard because by then you’ll be decked out in Rares… assuming you didn’t rush to much.

~EW