Guild Wars 2

I would also add dueling to heart of the mists. Though the location I have in mind is the middle. At the intersection of all the perimeter features of the mists you can make a giant circle for dueling. Hell, you can even keep that lone dodge practice dummy for giggles. No need to even change the landscape. The radius for starting a duel could be invisible.

I’m not sure about dueling in the rest of the world. I personally would not have an issue with it but I think Arenanet might have one. At the very least I see them keeping it out of major cities and not interfering with vendors.

I am not a big time dueler but this game needs any and all features to encourage more players to PvP. The number of people playing sPvP is quite small.

Almost forgot. When using Cloak and dagger (CnD) you do not have to hit the opponent you are engaged with if other targets are around. In PvP this means you can CnD off of a mesmer’s illusions or hunter’s pets. Just be aware of the creatures/NPCs around you.

kamandi.4798:

What I want to know is…

1. What is the basic burst rotation? Blossom-backstab(3x)-heartseeker?

I play as a condition thief so others can give you a better answer. That said burst is strong enough that you should not need condition attacks unless you are fighting veterans or champions.

2. Best ways to use stealth—from what I see my HEAL gives the best stealth—WTF?

If you want to devote yourself to stealth there are a number of methods:
1) Hide in Shadows heal
2) Blinding Powder
3) Shadow Refuge
4) Dagger #5 (CnD)
5) Combo leaps through smoke screens: Pistol #5 Black Powder —> Dagger #2 Heartseeker, or Smoke Screen --> Dagger #2 Hearseeker.
6) Trait: Last Refuge – Stealth at 25% health.
7) Trait: Descent of Shadows – Release blinding powder when you take falling damage.
8) Trait: Instinctual Response – Release blinding powder if you lose 10% health in one strike.
9) Trait: Hidden Thief – Gain stealth when you steal.

There are tricks you can do to help line up the Dagger #5 CnD: Scorpion Wire —> CnD, or CnD --> Steal. Steal can be used while another skill is in action. You can also immobalize, stun, knockdown, or cripple.

The trait Infusion of Shadow returns 2 initiative when you use a skill that stealths you. It is very effect for using more CnD.

3. What is the best trait tree STARTING OUT?

I would recommend starting with increasing damage and then slowly mixing in some nice defensive traits.

Please post what you would have liked to have known when you first rolled a Thief!

I recommend keeping one of your weapon sets capable of area of effect damage (AoE). This is strictly for cases when you find yourself overwhelmed with more enemies. The shortbow is awesome at this as you can combo the poison field with Clusterbomb. Dagger/Dagger #3 Deathblossom works, as does Pistol/Pistol #3 Pistol Whip. Later on you can grab the elite skill Daggerstorm, or Thieves Guild. Worst case you can always stealth and run away.

When I used to play WvW more with my guild my call-outs were like:
- 5 people.
- 10 people.
- 15 or so.
- Invisible army!

In GW2 my guild is dead. Culling is just one negative aspect that has turned them away.

Why is Spikeroot Fruit allowed in WvW? An enemy thief and me got into a 1 vs 1 fight in the eternal battleground jumping puzzle. The problem is once he hit me with Spikeroot fruit I was chain knocked down (stunned) till I died.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spikeroot_Fruit

Spikeroot Fruits are found growing on short trees in the Caledon Forest. They have an extremely hard outer shell, making it usable as ad hoc weapons when the need arises.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Throw_Spikeroot_Fruit

Throw the spikeroot fruit and knock down a foe

Range.png Range: 900

Here is a screenshot of my combat log.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8339/spikerootfruid.jpg

Dieing is part of PvP. I get it, but being chain stunned? How is that acceptable? I have a limited supply of stun-breakers on long cooldowns. There is no way to compete against this.

Thief. People get angry when killed by a thief. Being killed by a thief shooting rainbows is even worse. Taste the rage.

They need to offer choices for the monthly. I have done everything in this game except for PvE dungeons. If they let people choose between doing dungeons, WvW activities, or something else then I would be ok with the monthly achievement.

As a PvP player I need to be on equal terms with my opponents. I am already behind the gear curve and need to catch up. So yes, this month I am forced to do dungeons.

I have been thinking about the sPvP issue this past week. The following is roughly what I would try and see how it works out:

1) Choose to join 8v8 or 5v5. You no longer pick the server.

2) Joining as a group will be allowed though we will need to find ways to encourage teams to go to tournaments.

3) Servers continue to rotate maps and the same groups of players continue to fight each other.

4) When one or more players leave the server, and after a match ends, it then rotates to the next map. The match does not start and players are free to treat the server has deathmatch (no point control) until the server becomes full. Then the match starts.

5) If two or more servers become half full or less then they will be auto-merged and follow the same rules as outlined above. This will only occur before and after matches. It will not occur while a game is in progress.

My logic for the above rules are so if people love the players they fighting and working with then the fight continues. It just repeatedly cycles through maps. Better matchmaking would be a tremendous help in keeping the same groups of players fighting each other on different maps.

The EB JP is one of the funnest things to do in this game. I would not make anymore changes to the inside of the JP. In my opinion the removal of siege deployment has increased the quality of the PvP in the JP. The challenge of fighting your way to the end is a blast.

I am not even talking about camping. Some individual players will choose to not fight but I have seen plenty engage at first site. In the past I let others go unmolested and after they grabbed the chest they jumped back down to try and kill me. Be nice to the other servers at your own risk.

When the thief stealth rezzes you know exactly where he is. Worst case scenario you repeatedly hit your #1 attack key. AoE works great for hurting the thief. I have a guildie warrior that hits the thief with hundred blades. Rapid fire attacks do a great job of deterring a thief from rezzing the target and you have a good chance of bringing down the thief as well. As others mentioned you can knock/pull them out.

If you stand there doing nothing while he rezzes the guy then you were outplayed.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats#Karma

I would love this. More feedback and better ways for friends and guilds to play together is much needed in PvP. Though I think they need to be more robust than just adding a timer. They could add a number of features that would be very helpful for PvP.

I am not sure what you are suggesting. The WvW jumping puzzles are designed for combat. Also, as someone from Seas of Sorrows and has been in the EB JP in many different tiers the tier 1 servers are ruthless in the puzzles. Especially EB. All sides camp it when they gain control of it.

Again though, what is your suggestion?

With the recent January patch I wanted to take another look at this idea. By now almost everyone in my guild has stopped playing GW2. They focus on PvP. I talked with a couple of them this week and their #1 issue is not being able to play with friends. How you might ask?

WvW Queue

There is no feedback for the WvW queue. No feedback for any of the four maps. You can’t even queue as a group and get in at the same time. Someone comes home from work and wants to get in to play with everyone else and they sit and wait in queue for an hour with nothing to do. They could go do sPvP any of their characters but they can’t. They can only do it on their main.

WvW queue feedback and the ability to do more while in game is needed.

sPvP

This is not part of my original post but it relates to the issue of not being able to play together. sPvP is not conducive to team/guild play. My guildies tried free tPvP but it happened much too slow. They hated all of the waiting between tournaments when all they want is to just jump and play some matches together.

I heard this past weekend had a lot of tournaments going on. Mostly due to tournaments being 1 vs 1 but that is not permanent.

In Closing

More in game feedback about waits, and queues is needed. Making it easier to PvP with your friends is needed. Quicker starts to team tPvP is needed to keep people interested.

As things stand my guild is currently not interested in the upcoming February update. They like the additions that are being added but here is a quote from a guildie, “They aren’t fixing the core issues.”

Feedback from other players would be much appreciated.

The only aspect of this game I do not play is PvE dungeons. I have not stepped into a single one. I do everything else: WvW, sPvP, open world content, jumping puzzles, and crafting. I also need to be on equal terms with my opponents in WvW. This dungeon requirement for the daily is forcing me to do something I have never done since the launch of the game.

What they need to do is give you a choice. Do one of the following:
- PvE dungeons completed.
- WvW requirement.
- Kill event dragons (or something similar).

Mix the above requirements with other monthly requirements and we are good.

And for PvE players complaining about not completing monthlies do to WvW requirements. I have completed less monthlies then you because I do not do dungeons. What is your point? Neither of us should be forced.

While I understand your pain the fault lies with your friends. They chose a server you were not on and gave you no opportunity to switch to be with them.

My solution is to simply not play the RNG game. It is like a casino. If you get short term wins then stop. Take your profit and run. In the long run you will lose. I do stuff that is fun and non-RNG based. Any excess stuff I am willing to convert to something useful I can then throw in the mystic forge. Screw legendaries.

Thank you for your effort. Sorry you lost so much gold/time/effort.

Idea: Create a developer “Like” button near the “+1” for posts and responses.

I only thought of it due to people complaining about lack of feedback and the fact that like systems can help encourage discussion. Developers are busy and can’t spend a lot of time looking or responding on the forums. A developer like system would not be in-depth feedback but it would show they are listening. It might even encourage better discussions.

Or maybe it’s a lame idea, ha!

With the January patch out I wanted to take a moment to point something out. These are a couple quotes in a new thread complaining about the update. Click the link to read the whole statement.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/What-is-wrong-with-this-patch/first

coldfire.3628:

Fractals

3- I farmed the fractals for months to acquire the best stuff ingame, or it was said so. Fractals is not a easy farm, it requires time, patience, and at least a few skills. Now, someone could acquire the same stuff just dodging and crafting wood planks. Ok, it needs one month to buy a ring, but a fractal ring needs a lot of time too. The argument saying ‘you could loot 4 rings a day in fractals’ is a wrong one, because being able to open 4 dailies a day requires a few hundreds of grind hours beforehand… I worked hard to be able to open 3 chests a day, and they still require 4/5h a day at best…

4- Could you please explain what is now the point of the fractals ? I couldn’t find one anymore, except maybe the (ugly) fractals skins…

So, in order to gear myself the best I can, before patch I was forced to play the fractals everyday, and after patch, Fractals are worthless and I’m FORCED to do the dailies without a miss to complete my stuff.
Something is terribly wrong here.

Fortunately there are a number of people disagreeing with him about fractals needing superior gear. In fact I barely saw anyone agree with him on those two points. Which is a good sign, but him complaining is exactly why those who do not raid are concerned. It is going to take time and dedication to change attitudes like this.

Wretchedscar.4796:

This ‘limited resources’ argument is silly. It’s an invented excuse with no actual backing in proof or reality. This game has teams working on different things all the time. One for WvW, One for sPvP, One for Dungeons etc. The Idea that having raids would somehow sap these things is silly. Likely they would expand staff and build a team for balancing that. Employee numbers are not some fixed finite thing that could never be changed.

It is actually a legitimate concern. You are assuming Arenanet is willing to hire a new developer group to create raids. They may not consider it a good investment of their money. None of us know if Arenanet is willing to increase how much they spend. They would need to be convinced that the money investment is worth it.

For everyone else talking about just wanting more of a challenge. I totally get it. As a PvPer I love challenges. When I get knocked on my kitten I get back up and try again. Years ago, when I did do raids, I did enjoy the challenges. I do not enjoy them for various other reason but I would still enjoy the initial challenge of working with others to solve a problem. I just wanted to say I do understand you. I just keep trying to point out serious issues that should not be overlooked or dismissed.

Direksone.3867:

Haha indeed, but there still needs to be a reward, so new skins and stuff, I think, are a good one as there aren’t a whole lot in game yet (the cultural ones are brilliant though). In that perspective I can understand the Ascended gear issue, but ANet said that there are going to be more ways to get it, wasn’t that happening with this patch?

January patch sets them up for the February patch. February is when the fix should be coming. Though we will not know how everything works out till it is released. They have only given hints as to how it will work.

Fifth-ly: Some of these arguments seem as if the ones arguing think that the content will somehow be mandatory. Like all aspects of this game it should be voluntary, and no one here I suggesting otherwise.

If implemented poorly, like fractals/ascended gear, then yes, it will be mandatory. Honestly, I’m surprised you sound so offended by people not wanting it. A lot of people do not like, nor want, ascended gear. A lot of people do not like that ascended gear was only for fractals. A lot do not like that it is taking so long to get ascended gear for WvW. They are being neglected.

Pushing out anything like a raid now, or in the near future, would have them be very skeptical of what Arenanet is doing. These people simply would not trust Arenanet to do it the way you propose.

Sixhly: Fractals/Ascended Gear. Another Strawman, as ANeT has stated again and again that Ascended gear will be released for /all/ aspects of play. They wanted to release it with fractals but there was a hiccup.

Yes, they screwed up and they need to work on re-building the trust we had with them. People are not going to blindly trust that this mistake won’t happen again. People want to see that the next time a new dungeon roles out with new ascended gear that the ascended gear is rolled out through other methods. All at the same time. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

Lastly: Please leave WoW and other games out of this. Those of us that want this content want to play GW2. We love their philosophy and manifesto as much as anyone else. For some people raiding was a bad experience, but ANeT’s angle on MMO’s has been game changing so far, I have complete faith that they could do this. DOnt think of them as ‘Raids’ Call it ‘Larger Harder/Morecomplex Dungeons’ Like regular dungeons, you dont have to play, but if you want CoF Armor you have to do CoF. It’s not better than your crafted armor, it just looks different.

Thank you for yer time.

This is the fundamental difference between you and me. You have “complete faith”. I do not. I thought there would not be a new tier of gear till maybe an expansion. Arenanet proved me wrong and a lot of people got upset that vertical gear progression was introduced. Arenanet proved my faith in them wrong again by having ascended gear only for the fractals dungeon. I no longer have blind faith in them. They need to first fix their mistake, secondly follow through on their word when a new dungeon is released, and then maybe some of us will be willing to trust them to do raids without it affecting other parts of the game.

Wretchedscar.4796:

First off, there is /nothing/ in that Manifesto that suggests that dungeon style PVE Content for 10+ players that does not reward hire stats or create a gate cannot be implemented.

They probably could implement raids. The whole point of the blog I posted is that they chose not to. Why? Because it is not part of GW2 leveling experience. Let me give you the link again in case you didn’t read it.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-endgame-reimagined/

Could they change their leveling experience? Yes. Could they create raids at the end regardless of the leveling experience? Yes, but it contradicts their statement about:

Sure, once your character reaches max level, we’ve created new and interesting ways to challenge you as a player, but we didn’t want to force you to master an entirely new subset of the game.

Second: The Dragons/Orr are not raids. There is no cap to how many people are there, they can and often are zerged down with simple numbers, not coordination or tactics. Saying that raid-esque content exists and then pointing to those is a false argument.

True, these are not raids. Though in the current GW2 game these events are the closest we get.

Thirdly: Please stop off of the cross. Please stop Strawmanning. (When you take someones argument and twist it and change what they actually said so that you can take it apart easier) The Idea that people want challenging structured pve content for groups larger than 5 does not mean they are crapping in your sandbox. They are suggesting making the sandbox bigger. They are asking for something that does not actually affect you if you do not wish to participate.

If raids are implemented poorly then, yes, they do affect me. The mistakes of adding the fractal dungeon and ascended gear only through fractals does in fact affect me. It affected enough of the population that they stopped doing events throughout Orr and completing other dungeons. Care would need to be taken to make sure other aspects of their game are not affected. I am currently behind the gear curve in WvW because they have been so slow about releasing ascended gear through other methods.

Fourth: As for Small Guilds and Raiding. Yes, sometimes the challenge of finding a larger group is harder for small groups. That’s simple math.

This has not been an issue for me and has not been something I have talked about. Just acknowledging the comment and that is it directed at others.

Thereon.3495:

First off im glad you asked a question as opposed to stating outright that people wouldnt be interested. I am one of 3 million people so im not going to sit here and say that the community would embrace raids without vertical progression, im just here to state my opinions and the more important fact that raids do not HAVE to have vertical progression. ANET can make their raids the way that they want to.

Secondly its a downer im afraid- having items in game that are solely acquirable in certain areas, but DO NOT give stat gains over regular gear, doesnt mean youre forced to do these areas. No one is forced to do dungeons for the dungeon armours so why would they be forced to raid for the raid armour? Just create some unique raid armour sets with the same old boring stats as we currently have on named exotics and thats it!

I personally would love an RNG based set but thats my own personal preference based on the fact I actually like RNG in games! But thats besides the point im trying to make.

If Arenanet tried something like that I would not quit the game over it. I would choose not to partake, or just try it out a few times. The thing is there are plenty of people who do want vertical gear progression. I have not seen many threads recently but there used to be a bunch about how cosmetic only gear was not enough. The introduction of ascended gear brought back players that do want vertical progression.

But Velkin brings up a very good point with the following statement:

Velkyn.5168:

Even if I never set foot in a raid in GW2, I am very sure that their very existence would already affect me and my gaming experience in a negative way.

The entire feel of the game can change based on new content. People used to be all over the events throughout Orr, Malchor’s Leap, and Straights of Devastation. People were running all kinds of dungeons. With the new tier of gear in Fractals of the Mists people changed how they played the game and funneled into the new dungeon. Now people complain about waypoints for dungeons being contested.

Introducing raids would have to be done very carefully or you risk destroying what Arenanet has already said they want their endgame to be. Arenanet’s mistake with fractals is exactly what they are trying to fix with the patches in January and February.

As a PvP player you want to know what my biggest concern is? Playing PvP against PvE players who have a gear advantage over me in PvP. If Arenanet were to make the same mistakes with a raid as they have with the fractals dungeon then I would leave this game. I am all for equality. I am against being at a disadvantage in PvP because I choose to not partake in certain PvE aspects.

Direksone.3867:

A lot of 5 year old arguments made by the ‘anti raiding group’. “I don’t like raids, so I don’t want them implemented.” Embarrassing really. The people against it make no decent arguments at all. If those people don’t like it, why do they even care? They would not be in it anyway. Ridiculous.

Do you want to have a discussion or would you rather insult people?

Thereon.3495:

So what youre saying is that because you do not like dungeons they should release no new dungeon content? I dont like sPvP but I dont come onto the forums demanding that they spend less time developing that side of the game! As I said, brick wall.

Snip

My post was partially in response to your post. You asked about core philosophy so I gave you their blog post. You need to realize that you are not just arguing for or against what GW2 could do with raids. You are fighting against people’s perceptions and expectations of what they have been and are right now in other games.

My response to you was not a brick wall. I never said Arenanet should not design new dungeons. Five person dungeons are a core feature of the game and, while I choose not to do them, new ones should definitely be created.

Arenanet also made WvW and the open world core parts of their game. You can acquire exotic gear through many different methods. Though WvW is currently the most limited. This is why ascended gear should have been made available through other methods from the start. That is how the game was originally designed and they broke their own rules when the gear became only available from the new dungeon.

The forced aspect comes in with the way raids have always been done in the past. If you want to stay competitive you have to do it. If raids don’t give vertical gear progression would enough people be willing to do them? If the rewards are unique enough and can’t be obtained through other methods then it becomes forced.

Silentsins.3726:

Raiding could EASILY be part of the leveling process, if it were designed that way.

They could have done it and chose not to. You are asking them to re-design the core of their game.

Thereon.3495:

Its like arguing with a brick wall sometimes! How is introducing ‘gw2 style raids’ against the core philosophy? Hell even if it went against the philosophy but was good for the vast majority of players in the game id want to see it brought in! You dont even know what ‘GW2 style raids’ would involve yet youre saying they go against the philosophy!

When people talk about the core philosophy of end game they are referring to this blog post by Arenanet.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-endgame-reimagined/

Here are a couple quotes:

When we looked at the concept of “endgame” for Guild Wars 2, we designed it the same way. We didn’t want the endgame to be something you could only experience after a hundred hours of gameplay or after you reached some arbitrary number. We wanted it to be something that players got to experience every step along the way, spread out across the entire world of Tyria, so we’ve introduced game elements that you’d normally associate with “endgame” at every level and every possible opportunity.

Sure, once your character reaches max level, we’ve created new and interesting ways to challenge you as a player, but we didn’t want to force you to master an entirely new subset of the game.

Their philosophy is simple. What you do while leveling is endgame. Raids are not part of the leveling process and so they are not part of the game. It is a simple as that. Feel free to disagree but that is the argument.

My opinion is I would prefer raids not be added. I raided early on in WoW and now hate it. It is not enjoyable. I have not stepped into one PvE dungeon in GW2 and I have been playing since the first day of the game’s launch. I focus on WvW, the open world, and sPvP.

The fact that ascended gear has been available only to PvE dungeon players is a disgrace. Yes, they are remedying the problem but it should have never happened in the first place. I know a lot of people that have left the game since the introduction of ascended gear. My biggest complaint is that PvE players are currently getting a gear advantage in PvP (WvW). That is unacceptable. Others I know simply do not want there to be a gear grind at all.

I mention the ascended gear because if raids were to be introduced then players would want to be rewarded. Players already complain about their efforts not being rewarded with loot/better gear drops. In raids you would be adding more players together and asking them to divy the loot up themselves.

Simply put, in my opinion, anything added with raids would need to be made available elsewhere. The PvP’ers would want the same rewards added to WvW. Casuals would want the same rewards for karma and open world events. Are you willing to do raids even if those rewards are available elsewhere?

Also, here is a list of reasons why people probably do not like raids. At least reasons I can think of:
- Loot – Not enough loot to go around and players have to divide it up. Players already complain about “grind” in GW2.
- Time Investment – Guilds/Players/Groups create set days and times to play these raids. It can quickly turn into a second job. Which in turn makes it feel more like a chore than fun.
- Repetitiveness – Some players get mind numbingly bored doing the same thing over and over.
- Vertical Progression – New raids typically introduce new levels of gear progression. Yes, GW2 could try and give different rewards but with their latest dungeon they introduced ascended gear. There is a segment of the population that would simply not trust Arenanet at this point. They would assume new vertical progression would be coming.

Maybe one day Arenanet will introduce their vision of what a raid could be. I personally hope not but who knows. If they were to do it they would need to do serious PR work with their player population. Convince them it won’t harm the game they love. I am not trying to be inflammatory or anything real negative. I just hope I gave a better picture of the problem.

sostronk.8167:

The only thing they cater for is the PvE crowd who want their badges the easy way.

There are also plenty of PvP players that just want to kill, have fun, and are very good. It is a very poor assumtion to say every player in the JP is bad at PvP.

Morrigan.2809:

here we are
Love playing with my husband

Why do you seem to be ready to shoot your husband in the back?

If the EB JP is ever moved to its own instance/server than I will put money down that it will be more popular that sPvP/tPvP.

You forgot about people who complain about the WvW jumping puzzles. Every time someone complains about them (for or against) everyone (all servers) take a drink.

LieutenantGoogle.7326:

This topic has been worn to death, revived poorly, then talked to death again.
Beating a dead horse as some would say.

Beating a dead horse is unfair. How is it supposed to fight back? Be brave, kill your character, and let’s see how well you fare against the dead horse. I’m not angry, just a little sad that true competition has died out among some players.

As a member of a guild that focuses mainly on PvP most of my guildies quickly lost interest in sPvP. Their number one complaint? Can’t play with friends.

They spent most of their time in WvW. Most of them have drifted away from GW2 with a handful messing around with World of Tanks. The upcoming updates sound nice but so far I am not convinced it is enough to draw PvPers, and my guildies, back to the game.

Ben K.6238:

If you have a thief or mesmer, you can stealth past the campers.

It depends on how dedicated and creative they are at camping the EB JP. If you make it past them at the beginning they can pull you down on the ledges to the first spike traps. If they have a group also camping the gate chamber then they know they can catch you if they chase you down. You are also likely to make a run for the second invisibility fountain. It can give them enough time for a thief/ranger to get ahead of you and lay down traps which will knock you out of stealth.

The most difficult time I ever had completing the JP was when I had to play hide and seek with a group from Jade Quarry:
- They were camping the beginning
- Chased me 1/3rd of the way through the puzzle before I lost them
- Set traps to catch me while in stealth
- Tried to pull me down from the top ledges in the dark room
- Had an engineer guard the third invisibility to prevent me from grabbing it. Which forced me to retreat, lose them, and try again.
- When they realized I snagged the invisibility they had two players sit there for me to return.

I was attacked, hunted, chased, and trapped at every layer of the puzzle. It was crazy difficult, very fun (heart pumping), and immensely rewarding. That said if i was not on my thief I would have never made it. I knew if I tried again with my mesmer or engineer that I would have to bring friends.

Your suggestion would make it harder to get to the chest. My server has controlled the EB JP and given free mesmer portals to the end of the JP.

I have watched others servers remove our control by taking control of the beginning of the JP. Their largest force kills anyone who enters. They want to discourage players from entering. At the same time a mesmer and a couple others go through the puzzle. Through stealth, pulls, and portal they make it to the top of the gate chamber. Then all those players that were camping the beginning of the JP get a free port up.

By using that tactic they cut off re-enforcements to those at the end of the JP. They take control through attrition and superior dedication. You are worried about a few people being camped. I have seen wars.

With some of the issues you have listed I am not sure what to tell you. sPvP is the way it is so that PvE players do not have gear advantages over PvP players. Which is currently an issue in WvW due to ascended gear.

I have also never seen them mention they are bringing in new formats for sPvP or increasing the size of players. That means at least two of your issues were intentional design decisions and they are unlikely to change.

As for the feeling of wanting to play with friends I completely understand. GW2 is a very solo-able game. Take sPvP as an example. There are probably a number of reasons why the population is so low, but the number one complaint I heard from my guildies was they couldn’t do sPvP together. People want to play together. I imagine new players trying sPvP for the first time want to jump into a sPvP server with their friends. Slowly learn the ropes. But in reality they end up facing against each other instead of working together.

Arenanet really needs to work on incentivizing the casual player to play sPvP. Part of that, in my opinion, will need to include more group play.

For various reasons most of my guild has also drifted away from GW2. They briefly tried sPvP but did not like it, and they are focused PvPers. They spent most of their time in WvW working at a cohesive unit.

Seems like the devs post was broken into 1) short term goal, 2) mid-term goal, and 3) long term goal. Who knows what the time frames are but it’s good to see a plan is in place.

You ran from skritt!

I used to play a fire mage in WoW too. If you liked the aspect of being in close and doing burst damage then dagger/dagger elementalist might be for you. If you enjoyed the single target burst damage while standing at range then, no, elementalist is not for you.

The fire mage in WoW was a bit hectic but you had tools to do burst damage while in close and at range. The class also had great control abilities over their opponents. In GW2, the elementalist cannot weapon swap. If you go dagger/dagger then mid-fight you cannot switch to staff for range, and vice versa. The staff is also not a single target burst weapon.

Port to the mists and take the Asura portal to Lion’s Arch. Completely free. Which also means it is kind of stupid that it costs silver to port to Lion’s Arch.

Now, when you leave Lion’s Arch try to do stuff that will make up the cost of one waypoint. That should be easy.

You can save even more by jumping from Lion’s Arch to other major cities before you waypoint. If you need to go far east you can always go to Divinity’s Reach and take the Asura gate to Ebonhawke.

It is tedius. Hopefully, one day porting back to the major cities will be free. Anyone not wanting to go broke using waypoints should already be running through the mists.

At the beginning, stand to the side to see yourself and get ahead of the others. That has done wonders for me.

Congratulations, you have encouraged them to camp longer and more often.

I have completed the eternal battlegrounds puzzle a lot. Roughly 3-4 times per week. Every single time I let a couple people slightly ahead of me go unmolested they have always completed the puzzle and immediately turned around and attacked me.

Being nice is being foolish. Feel free to avoid others to get to the end quicker. After completion you can always backtrack. Never, and I mean never, trust them. They are close to the end and do not want to die. That is the only reason they are being nice. They will come back for you.

Solitary Shell.4618:

Title says it all:

1: The lost shore event was a complete failure and a botched work. Why ?
– The southsun cove map is not a real map (at least in my opinion) because you can’t explore it and feel satisfied when you reach 100% completion.

It my be unsatisfying to complete but it is a real map. This is not a fact.

Solitary Shell.4618:

- Karka items such as shells can’t go to your bank via the deposit collectibles button

Very annoying and would love to have them added to the bank.

Solitary Shell.4618:

- Karkas are not even considered as a type of enemy. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL ? You kill a karka and it doesnt add to your daily “kill variety”. This is horrible.

It should be fixed but I wouldn’t be so dramatic about this particular problem. At worst it seems more like a minor issue that will eventually be fixed.

Solitary Shell.4618:

- Some friends got a karka chest mailed event if they attempted the event and looted the “real” one.

I know nothing of this and have nothing to say.

Solitary Shell.4618:

2: When jumping, your hardware performance can reduce your jump length. For instance if I’m on the edge of a mountain and about to jump, and my FPS suddenly decreases then my jump will be shorter. It’s a proof of terrible coding and probably the same thing that allows bots to teleport across maps.

As someone who has done a lot of jumping puzzle my FPS only drops when there are large numbers of players near me.

Solitary Shell.4618:

3: Loot rates are stealth nerfed everyday.

Using the word everyday makes this statement untrue. Which is not a fact. You exaggerated. Some loot rate drops have been nerfed. Others were claimed to have been nerfed and proven otherwise. While I do not like they have done this exaggerating the problem will just cause furthering arguing.

Solitary Shell.4618:

4: Some classes are still bugged to hell and way overpowered/underpowered and nothing is made to fix them.

This is a very general and vague statement that cannot be a fact. You give no detail as to which classes you are talking about, which abilities, and why. If you give more detail then there is a chance what you say could be a fact, but class balance, at times, can be very subjective.

Solitary Shell.4618:

5: Over 9000 things are bugged like events in Orr and some bosses/mobs. Such as risen sharks one shooting you from 30 miles away underwater

9000? I find it odd that ends in a round number. Can you show 9000 bugged events/bosses? Your number is not exact. Which means it cannot be a fact. It sounds like you feel there are too many bugs and should talk about that. You should make Arenanet aware of the issues and talk about them in detail.

Solitary Shell.4618:

Discuss ?

What I see is a lot of personal opinion and not facts. Though some are facts. If you cut back on the exaggerating and talk more in detail then maybe this thread would be more constructive. As it is your post is mostly a rant and will turn most people off from having a discussion with you.

Are others interested in something like this or is it more of a luxury for a smaller group of players?

I am currently waiting in the queue for WvW. Yes, this post occurs when WvW resets for the week and we have new opponents. OK, to get to the point.

Idea: Allow players to queue for WvW on a character, switch to another character, and remain in queue for WvW.

Idea: Allow players to choose which character they want to queue with for WvW.

Idea: Allow players to select which character they want to play with when zoning into WvW.

All three ideas are the same basic idea, and I apologize if the idea has already been presented. I did a quick search but did not find a post. Basically, I want to get in WvW with my thief, but I am also leveling an engineer. It would be awesome to open up the things we can do in game while waiting for WvW PvP fun.

I know, there are probably technical difficulties in implementing it. I doubt it could be quickly or easily coded, but I believe it would be a great feature to add to the game.

I believe WvW needs more depth. I also love the mesmer portal, so lets create some more depth to the game!

Class: Thief
Skill: The Hole
Description: Creates a hole in an object that allow allies to walk through to the other side.

Class: Elementalist
Skill: Ride the Lightning
Description: The skill will be moved off of the dagger and to a skill slot. Will now allow all allies in a short radius to Ride the Lightning with you!

Class: Warrior
Skill: Me Smash
Description: Warriors are terrible at helping allies, so their new skill removes 10% health from a wall or door.

Class: Ranger
Skill: Sturdy Arrows
Description: Allows the ranging to shoot a stream of arrows into solid objects for 10 seconds. These arrows are strong enough to support the weight of allies for 30 seconds. The direction can be controlled.

Class: Engineer
Skill: Rapid Fire Cannon
Description: The new elite skill rapid fire cannon can not only damage doors and walls but launch up to 10 allies in rapid succession. Warning: Upon landing you will be wobbly for 10 seconds.

Class: Guardian
Skill: Slide
Description: Creates a slick slide that increases movement speed by 500% for 20 seconds. The direction can be controlled and you fall 300% slower. Allies can take the slide. No falling damage is received.

Class: Necromancer
Skill: Death Cloud
Description: You create a black cloud of smoke around a small area. Siege, NPCs, and players inside the death cloud will be teleported to your location. Teleported enemies will be poisoned while teleported allies will receiving leeching venoms.

Now is probably a good time to contact the guild leaders and alliance leaders on Dragonbrand. If you know they are having doubts and/or thinking of leaving I would suggest you get onto voip together, or another medium, and talk things over.

Do you have a method of reaching Coron or for someone to reach you?

P.S. I do play on Dragonbrand but am not part of Tsym. I may be able to pass a message.

RamzaBehoulve, that is good to hear. I would love it if each map was different. I would love to track down the source of that statement as well, but that is work for another day.

Original poster, I agree with most of what you say. The pay should be equivalent across the maps. The borderland maps are difficult in a different way than the eternal battlegrounds but all maps have their challenges.

As for your second point I agree the borderland maps encourage larger groupings of players, but I disagree that players are funneled into choke points. My perspective is that there are just fewer objectives in the borderlands. Control lines become static and groups become larger because of the lack of points to attack, but moving to those points is free and open. Groups can easily evade and circle around other groups. The problem is that with fewer points to attack that locations to defend become very predictable. You may not know what path your enemy is taking but you know where they will end up.

I guess you could argue that the towers and keeps are the choke points but I view it differently. Towers and keeps are targets to attack and the rest of the field is where choke points are created depending on terrain.

I hope new maps are coming for the borderlands. I also hope they will have more targets to attack. More targets equals less predictability which in turn helps with surprising your enemy. More surprises can be very fun for WvW.

Tip: Stand behind the lips on walls. Most walls have a lip that goes up to your knees. That will save you from being pulled down by a mesmer. If you’re on a wall or ledge with no lip and get pulled? Well, good luck!