Guild Wars 2

Can you suggest how you would indicate a reduction of condi duration on yourself as an expertise variable?

I mean, how can one complain but not make a sensible suggestion on how to do it differently. :P

A timer site? Seriously Vayne, at least use TacO. :P
(At least, so you dont have to open a site, I generally have everything off except for the day night timer)

I must say though, it’s very immersion breaking to go out of the game, look up a timer to do certain events. Yeah it is the way to do it successfully , but its definitely not an ideal or elegant experience in my opinion. Its not seamless or fluid.

But my personal opinion aside, I dont really understand how people cant find anything, unless they are not using the tools available to them.

Spurnshadow.3678:

FrizzFreston.5290:

I don’t really mind the range nerf…. And I main guard.
It might be because I always saw the weapon as a support weapon. Which it now may do even better… though Im unsure how much it matters in comparison to other professions.

I wouldnt mind it getting a more physical looking staff swipe animation for it though. Never lliked wave of wrath.

I don’t think you main guard. The staff isn’t a support weapon. Mace / shield or focus is. The staff is the only midrange damage weapon. The auto attack is the only real damage the weapon does. The orb is meh, and reserved for healing anyway. The symbol does poor aoe damage. That leaves the auto attack. For 5 years this has been the case and has never been an issue. It’s designed to be 600 range because it hits 5 enemies. That means that on average, you are doing the same damage as the auto attack on the GS or hammer which only hits 3. But with 300 range, one will now, probably not hit 5 targets, so the damage is much less. The difference between 300 and 180 is pretty neglegable, especially considering all the movement in the game.

With the staff, we sacrifice having higher burst damage for the other abilities, but if relegated to 300 range, it’s probably better to go with a true melee weapon which will do more dps. And if we want to do some support, a one hand melee with a shield or focus.

And to all you people complaining about a loot stick, I get just as much using a staff on my necro, or a tempest, or thief with a shortbow, etc. If you’re gonna farm stuff, there are some builds and classes that are better at it. Don’t be angry that you aren’t getting as much stuff on a pistol thief, or whatever.

The staff is now totally useless.

You lost me at staff is not a support weapon.
/facepalm.

Staff 2 heals, staff 3 symbol does swiftness and heals if traited. Staff 4 pulses might and healed at the end (and now heals more) staff 5 does no damage and holds enemies back. How is it not a support weapon. the weapon as a whole screams support.

Only the auto attack is offensive oriented. I know the majority of open world players just spam 1, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that guard staff is in the players mind only about spamming 1.

Focus support? Yeah the skill 4 bounces and blind removes a condition with some regeneration. but skill 5 is entirely self protective Its more of a tanking offhand. Shield is more of a support offhand.

That said, I said that I don’t mind the change only because there are better options for damage, which I use when I want to do damage. I wouldnt use staff for its damage ever and I never have in 5 years.

I don’t really mind the range nerf…. And I main guard.
It might be because I always saw the weapon as a support weapon. Which it now may do even better… though Im unsure how much it matters in comparison to other professions.

I wouldnt mind it getting a more physical looking staff swipe animation for it though. Never lliked wave of wrath.

It’s not any armor you can wear in GW1 though. So Im not sure about it being actual Paragon armor. Especially as Paragons do not have any helmets. (But Crests, similar to what elementalists have )

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Sunspear_m_armored.jpg

The weaponset isn’t that bad at all, the shield and sword are pretty nice, the torch is fairly unique. Not too flashy perhaps, but I don’t like that anyway.

The outfit is a very poor choice though. It’s based off of the concept art As well as the generic looking Sunspear NPCs.

And I don’t understand why not of some rather than some of the actual paragon armor.
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Paragon_armor
Which is much better tailored to player characters.

The reason the outfit is so, well bad, is because it’s generic sunspear NPC armor.

Feanor.2358:

FrizzFreston.5290:

Faaris.8013:

I don’t see why I should put so much effort, time and gold into getting just another trenchcoat for my Thief. It’s not an incentive for me to do raids. People do this for the looks and prestige, not for utility. I’m not crafting HOPE because I can change its stats, I will never do this, I craft it because it looks cool.

Medium legendary armor simply doesn’t look cool.

People definitely craft legendaries for the utility. The same reason people buy shared inventory slots. Some utility items are just as expensive as legendaries. Why would anyone put money or effort towards those if people just want looks and prestige?

Just because you wouldn’t doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t.

I’m sure there are people like that. I’m also sure they are a very small minority. The legendaries are ridiculously expensive and they’ll never be a cost-effective way of changing your gear. Most of the people craft legendaries because that’s the long-term endgame goal this game has, and because they are shiny. The added QoL is just a small bonus.

Yeah I am not gonna dispute baseless claims as to whether how many people transmute their legendary gear and use their legendaries for the utility. They could indeed be a very small minority. Though they could be fairly large as well. I have no proof to either. I only know that there are people who do so, proven by the pinged legendary armors that are transmuted.

Other than that, most convenience items aren’t cost effective. Some people are crazy about changing their stats and builds regularly. In the end it’s just a bunch of saved inventory slots I suppose. Which is no different again, than some of the convenience items.

Faaris.8013:

I don’t see why I should put so much effort, time and gold into getting just another trenchcoat for my Thief. It’s not an incentive for me to do raids. People do this for the looks and prestige, not for utility. I’m not crafting HOPE because I can change its stats, I will never do this, I craft it because it looks cool.

Medium legendary armor simply doesn’t look cool.

People definitely craft legendaries for the utility. The same reason people buy shared inventory slots. Some utility items are just as expensive as legendaries. Why would anyone put money or effort towards those if people just want looks and prestige?

Just because you wouldn’t doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

How are you determining that they are “out of this world”? Although m-coins represent a huge fraction of the cost of legendary weapons, the market price of tradeable legendaries is actually lower now than when people started commenting on the price of m-coins.

Another way of looking at this is that the cost of m-coins used to be absurdly low and prices are slowly reaching their “fair market” value.

ANet gives away 20 m-coins every 28 days to everyone logging on. In addition, they give us 2g/day for an extra few minutes of effort, more than enough to pay for an extra 28/not-quite-a-month. That’s enough for a gen 1 legendary every 5 months or a gen 2 every 9, without dipping into financial reserves.

Further, the high price is great for new players (who have no need of such shinies), allowing them to jump start their gold acquisition by selling to those of us who want to make more shinies than 20-free-coins/month allows us.

In short, it’s a matter of perspective whether coins are currently over- or under-priced.

All of which is entirely subjective. Just as the OP.

I mean, yeah they were absurdly low, relatively speaking. And what is a “fair market price anyway”.

I would never even tell new players to sell their mystic coins, nor saying that it’s great for them especially if they are looking to play this game for a longer time. I would tell them to at least get 250 and then check whether they want more than one legendary. And then maybe then say if they’re not interested in legendaries, then you can sell them. But yeah they don’t need them right away, but that doesn’t mean they should be impatient by selling them now while rebuying them later. Plus considering the acquisition was said to be higher than the consumption, I wouldnt be surprised if people held onto their coins until they make the decision to give up on one of these ultimate gear goals. And from my own perspective, it just seems folly to even begin selling the mystic coins I have, especially because I don’t like haggling and trading my obtained loot away just to buy later. Thus I would never advise new players to sell coins.

As for the 20 coins every 28 days for everyone logging in is also only true is everyone logs in every single day of those 28 days. So the actual amount is much lower than 20 times everyone in mystic coins for those 28 days.

Not to forget that tradable legendaries can be made entirely without even having a single mystic coin in hand. So their price is alot less influenced by mystic coin prices than the second generation ones which need 250 mystic coins flat.

But yeah, since I basically ignore most things on the trading post anyway I don’t really care either way what the price is on the trading post.

Well I don’t really know about the partner program, but Dulfy is hosting a collection of guides, showing walkthroughs and the like. I can understand that content shown in press releases that allows partner program participators to got in there and report their findings, would get almost instant guides on Dulfy.

Not that it isn’t happening already, but I can understand that they don’t want walkthroughs for content that isn’t even out the door or just got launched straight away spoiled with a dulfy guide made with information from a press release.

I mean, I have nothing really against Dulfy, but I do cringe when questions ingame get answered with “just go to wiki/dulfy and follow the walkthrough”. It’s everyone own choice of course, but implications are there.

I think we as Pact commander have done much worse things than domesticating animals to ride. Which is even debatable how that is slavery to begin with.

Ofcourse ignoring already domesticated animals currently in the game, like cows, chickens, bunnies, dolyaks, and the like.

ArenaNet always had the completely freedom to add anything in the game, they didn’t choose it because other games have it, and they didn’t not choose it because other games have it. They always seem to have wanted to create their own unique game in their own way.

They always said that nothing is of the table. That means that mounts were always on the table. So were raids, and other such things that could remotely be related to WoW.

Mounts are Riding animals, so any animal you are riding is a mount.

Also, we know there’s Mount skills for gw2 mounts, so that also “changes your build”. So I think they are very similar to Junundu and siege devourers in that regard. Not to mention siege golems, mechanical devourers, golem suits, other transforms. That also all change your skillbar significantly.

I guess GW2 mounts is something between a speedboost and a utility transformation. Mechanically speaking anyway. I pretty much feel like any complaint is more because it uses the word mount. And other games have mounts, thus GW2 is less unique. Regardless of how mounts in gw2 are different from other games’ mounts

Yeah, I would never say that it’s not a proof of experience. I just don’t see it as something that needs to be made just to differentiate between LIs easier.

A completionist title to have all the armors is and achievement that you can show of first and foremost. But to say you’d need titles at different stages of LI as some sort of additional level system, seems to go way beyond what that achievement should entail.

Some people use character inventory as storage space. (Mules)
Some people redo the personal story and living story for additional rewards (level 10 story, once a week ; level 30 ; level 70 or something like that give a black lion key) and fun.
Some people use a new character for different builds of the same profession, like condition based warrior and power based warrior.

That would mean ArenaNet decided it’s not a raid proof experience title at all. I said it before, I really don’t think that such raid experience checks need to be actively endorsed by ArenaNet in the first place. If someone wants all these specific requirements, that is really more on the player, and player regulated, rather than giving more tools to differentiate between different pick up groups as a must have thing that is really needed. (It’s not at all)

ArenaNet has been about working together, regardless of eachothers differences,

In fact, getting more players in the game mode, something that encourages helping people that aren’t as good is a multitude more important than something that is somehow meant to differentiate between various degrees of experienced players.

At least that’s my opinion I guess. I wouldn’t find it hugely bad if they decided this is a raid title. Though I would vouch for changing the achievement name into Legendary Raid Armorer, then. If not putting it somewhere else.

EDIT: I suppose it’s not progressing the achievement. As indicated in the WvW forum. Though I still stand by what I said here.

Japan tried to keep out gunpowdered weapons at one point. Now look where we are.

Horses became horse carriages and ultimately cars and while there are a few areas in each city that don’t allow cars, alot of the rest of a city does. There’s alot of reasons why mounts could be a thing within the cities.

I don’t think it’s unrealistic that people bring the new craze towards their homelands to show of what they have found. In fact, it would be immersion breaking if there were rules straigh away, even though the societies haven’t really interacted with eachother.

Fenom.9457:

people make for prestige, very few do it for utility. If it’s not prestigious, there’s no point. Give it new (or raid ones) legendary only skins

GW1 players changed their build so often that it became Build Wars. There will be alot of people who would make this for the utility to change their build.

It’s a bit sad that it probably will be behind alot of grinding and time consuming, which makes me wonder about the actual enjoyment of going all legendary, but still. I still rather have a system where changing the stats on my gear is alot easier.

In my opinion, they already gave in to the clutter and immersion breaking stuff when they gotten into winged backitems/gliders. Because everyone wants to be a fake tengu/ fake angel.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

FrizzFreston.5290:

It is a bit of a side quest to read all the information though. If you merely play through the story, and just leave the story instance after you would quite easily miss all the Livia bits.

That’s how it is for all the lore though.

Want the vast majority of lore on Zhaitan? You have to dig for it. On Mordremoth? Gotta dig. On Caudecus? Gotta dig. On E? Or Lazarus? Or Balthazar? Gotta dig, dig, dig.

That’s how lore has been set up for the entire GW franchise, since the days of Prophecies. The main story has probably only a third of the full lore on the main events happening or the main characters.

Yeah, I generally do look it up myself too. It’s more of a “I can understand it gets confusing at times if you don’t dig.” rather than “Oh no, they should do it completely different.” But, it is hard to communicate in game when something is common knowledge when the player themselves don’t have that knowledge. Especially in the main storyline.

FrizzFreston.5290:

To be fair, I thought the same when my character was talking like he knew Livia. I was fairly surprised, and I actually know the whole Livia thing.

To be fair, only asura and human characters react in knowing who Livia is, and just like the PC knowing the White Mantle in Episode 1, it’s presented from knowing due to history class, which would have happened pre-personal story.

(This does seem weird for sylvari who mention hearing about stories, though, given the PS begins with their awakening.)

So they explained how they knew who Livia was. Charr, sylvari, and I believe norn don’t react in a “I know who Livia is” but rather a “so your name isn’t Kerida, but Livia” manner.

Yeah, I suppose it can be explained that way. Considering Livia was a pretty prominent person in the shining blade, and afaik the current kingdom of Kryta is build upon the shining blade and the seraph (shortly said). Though for those who don’t know Livia this would be fairly strange regardless. I wasn’t thinking, of course my character knows Livia! And More like, Oh so my character knows Livia? Okay.

To be fair, I thought the same when my character was talking like he knew Livia. I was fairly surprised, and I actually know the whole Livia thing.

I just wonder. What is determined a Shining blade secret and what is not and how is that determined?

I mean, you will die speaking shining blade secrets. But how would you know what is a shining blade secret and what is not.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Eloc Freidon.5692

there is nothing about Livia. Absolutely no context for her at all at least not beyond a single line of dialogue hidden in the game not meant for players who are here to enjoy the story.

In the shining blade instance, after the oath, you can explore the house and find a bunch of interactive objects which describe the history of the Shining Blade, including the third Master Exemplar Livia.

These interactive objects are part of the achievement Student of Bartholos.

There’s also this point of interest in Arah which is featured in the final PS step. Granted this doesn’t tell us much about her, but it could peak players’ interest into doing a little research to find out just who is so important to have an airship named after them like Riannoc, Kalla, and Knut did.

So sorry OP, but you’re wrong. Information about Livia is there, and players are directed to it.

There is more on Livia before her reveal, than there was about Mordremoth (who got a single line confirming six Elder Dragons, and a name via a skill of an explorable dungeon).

And this, of course, excludes not only GW1, but the novels Sea of Sorrows and Ghosts of Ascalon the former having Livia as a major character, the later making mention of her.

It is a bit of a side quest to read all the information though. If you merely play through the story, and just leave the story instance after you would quite easily miss all the Livia bits.

But yeah, it’s not that they don’t mention her at all no.

Personally I think it’s perfectly fine for our characters to not know everyone they meet though, even if they are supposedly important characters 250 years ago. As long as that does get played out as such. I think it’s nearly annoying that our character literally knows everything all the time.

I’m pretty sure that the shining blade should have all died right then and there as my party member could hear all the conversation and secrets going on, while not being able to take part in taking the oath at the same time as me.

This Oath thing is very badly executed.

Arnox.5128:

So some have jokingly suggested that perhaps mounts could be forgone entirely that we should have characters themselves making huge jumps and traveling fast and etc.

But then I began to think about that. Why the hell not actually? Why can’t we allow an option to have people enter into a special “Travel Mode” in place of a mount if you so desired. You wouldn’t have a mount but (assuming you had the required mount masteries unlocked) you would have the exact same speed and abilities as someone who is riding a mount. The only difference between the Travel Mode and actual mounts would just be cosmetic.

I personally think it would be pretty awesome to see a few of people’s characters booking it across the desert at high speeds, teleporting, and doing sweet jumps. The more I think about this, the more I really want this now. And one of the cool things is that ANet could implement this super easily since all the animation work for jumps/teleports/etc. are already there of course.

This would give the option to keep things centered on people’s actual characters and allow for even more choice in how people want to play the game at minimal cost and maintenance to ANet.

I must say that considering the ideas they have with certain gliders and harvesting tools that having “mount” skins that follow the trend of super powered player characters isn’t that of a far off idea.

Though not as a standard must have thing.. imo.

I suppose it depends on perspective. You can both observe the same thing but see it differently because youre looking at it from a different side.

Vayne.8563:

No, I’m sorry, I have to disagree with your assessment.

I don’t think you understand it anyway. So yeah it’s pointless to continue to discuss it.

Vayne.8563:

Oh I get it. Then you’re saying that after the game was out for three years, they were innovative again two years ago, during which time they’re making another expansion which may or may not have innovation in it.

Of course, they’ve had several things between the expansions which some may consider innovative as well. No company is going to be innovative every two weeks, because every time you come up with something, you’ve got to take the time to develop it would could take months or even years. So if the last expansion was innovative, and we’re getting another expansion two years later and it’s innovative, or if there’s innovative stuff in it, then the game remains innovative.

Even then, I believe there’s innovative stuff even in some of the fights between the expansions or some of the fractals.

So yes, I don’t agree Anet is not innovating, even now.

I never said they aren’t innovating at all, I said (or meant to say) that the concept of the game is about innovating is more of a natural thing rather than something special that was barely mentioned in the manifesto. At least lately.

They have been more conservative and holding back much of the innovation, rather than releasing it, if you believe Mike O’s words recently anyway. They aren’t doing big overhauls anymore like they did before HoT. Innovation is taking a step back for innovation when it is much more logical to innovate.

Exactly why i would say the whole argument that a game is in concept about innovation is not true anymore. Which game doesn’t bring out updates which innovates their own design? What is making Guild Wars 2 special is their original concept, not that they said that they want to bring new experiences. I can’t see many game developers saying. Oh yeah, we will be adding “more of the same”. GW2 is all about innovation? Ehh not that much at the moment. And I’m fairly glad it isn’t.

It used to be that they changed things alot more, recently they have began settling on a certain structure and been building on that, rather than reiterating on that structure.

And ofcourse, the game remains unique (not innovating), but it hasn’t really been changing all that much, if not adding things to the game that have been proven before to be popular.. like raids and mounts and some smaller gadgets that don’t impact the game in a big way. People claiming that Guild Wars 2 is becoming more run of the mill, forget ofcourse that this is a system build on GW2 foundation. Not on original MMO foundation. So GW2 will never be a traditional MMO even with parts that are also in other MMOs.

Meanma.5623:

That’s a lot of salt about mounts. An awful lot.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Salt_Flats

Guild upgrades are most likely in the form of decorations, maybe some new upgrades? But yeah, considering they dont have a set guild dev team, you really never hear anything about any guild upgrades.

You can’t interact with NPCs while mounted.
At least that’s what I thought I saw in the WP stream.

Unless intentionally doing so, if not auto dismounting after x minutes of afk I really don’t think we will see alot of afk mounted people around NPCs.

Basically like you only see gliders when you are actively gliding.

AliamRationem.5172:

Ayrilana.1396:

I found the LS3 story to be just fine. It may help to play it again in a single playthrough as you’re likely forgetting things which are keeping it together.

I think Anet is going towards elite specs as being the core of a build similar to how elite skills were in GW1.

I’d have to say the story really wasn’t fine. In my opinion, it was going well until the last two episodes. At that point, it became completely incoherent. By the final episode I literally had to go to the forums to even discover who the major players were and why I should care.

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Silly me thinking Lazarus was simply Balthazar’s disguise, used to manipulate the white mantle and throw us off the trail while he grabbed for power. Then I find the final boss of the story is…the real Lazarus? What happened to Balthazar? Who the heck is Livia and why am I swearing oaths to the Shining Blade to help her? Apparently, I needed to play GW1 to understand this plot twist…yet somehow that was a good way to finish the season?

In any event, I don’t see how they could possibly do worse than these last couple of episodes of LS3. So I expect the PoF storyline to be an improvement and I’m looking forward to it.

I will definitely be purchasing the expansion…and sooner than I expected it! Awesome! The mounts look promising. The elite specs look like they will definitely introduce a very different feel to each class. All in all, I can’t wait! It’s time for another expansion!

Surely, most of the reasons are explained in the game itself. Balthazar has been part of the human storyline since the beginning. Humans revere the gods, so it’s just as shocking as the sylvari being dragon minions. Though I did also feel that this felt more of a side story rather than something that was mainstream. Basically adding another storyline on top of our storyline just to make it more complex. A story that is completely from GW1, or is partially locked behind raid content to understand a bit more of.

But yeah, it’s not really bad story writing, it’s just so that the previous game still has alot of impact on this game. Which is great for people who played both games. Less so for those who only played gw2.

The game will have mounts. Hiding them is akin to sticking your head in the sand. Plus they are needed supposedly for hard to reach places, if not just as needed as gliding is in certain cases. Possibly like gliding over desolation sulfur with the mantaray thing or jumping large chasms with the raptor. Or up with the bunnykangaroo.

Of course, there’s always the option of not buying the expansion, I suppose. But if you want to do the story, and immerse yourself in it you basically have no choice but to accept the mounts if they are as needed as previous masteries.

Regardless of whether you’re for or against or in between about mounts.

It would be more immersion ruining by turning mounts off, than by accepting them to be a part of the gameworld after expansion launch.

Arenanet added them to the gameworld, thus they are part of the game world.

Vayne.8563:

FrizzFreston.5290:

Vayne.8563:

FrizzFreston.5290:

Vayne.8563:

You’re taking the literal definition of what was said out of context. Within the context of MMOs, the personal story was personalized.

First of all, why are you explaining explicit details of a tongue in the cheek comment?
Second of all, I know what was said, and I’m not taking anything out of context more than you’re taking the innovation part of the manifesto out of context.
That was the whole point. The Manifesto is outdated on pretty much all the parts.
Third of all, the reason that people say ArenaNet lied is because personalized storyline doesn’t exist anymore. I never claimed anything otherwise. “Was” being the obvious key word here.

The concept of this game isn’t innovation as a standard concept at all anyway.

The concept of the game is innovative, not because of how any individual aspect of it has been created but by how all the aspects together combine to form what is the game.

Shakespeare created only a few words. The rest of them all existed. How he put them together is why he’s remembered today.

Which is something completely different than the original argument.

Either way, what obviously I meant was that Gw2 hasn’t overhauled anything since the launch of HoT that one can complain now about too much innovation. (Or claim that that is what the game is about)

I don’t know. Launching an expansion that neither raises the level cap or introduces a new tier of gear is pretty innovative in the MMO space. The design of the HoT zones are innovative as well. Never said anything like them in an MMO.

You may not believe it’s innovative, but that’s simply an opinion. I think, like core, there more innovation in HoT than meets the eye.

How does saying since the launch of HoT not include HoT? Maybe it’s a language thing, but I thought it would be obvious that mentioning the launch of HoT as a time point of the word since does mean that it would include HoT itself.

So yeah, Masteries are fairly innovative, I agree. Sorry if I worded it so you misunderstood.

Vayne.8563:

FrizzFreston.5290:

Vayne.8563:

You’re taking the literal definition of what was said out of context. Within the context of MMOs, the personal story was personalized.

First of all, why are you explaining explicit details of a tongue in the cheek comment?
Second of all, I know what was said, and I’m not taking anything out of context more than you’re taking the innovation part of the manifesto out of context.
That was the whole point. The Manifesto is outdated on pretty much all the parts.
Third of all, the reason that people say ArenaNet lied is because personalized storyline doesn’t exist anymore. I never claimed anything otherwise. “Was” being the obvious key word here.

The concept of this game isn’t innovation as a standard concept at all anyway.

The concept of the game is innovative, not because of how any individual aspect of it has been created but by how all the aspects together combine to form what is the game.

Shakespeare created only a few words. The rest of them all existed. How he put them together is why he’s remembered today.

Which is something completely different than the original argument.

Either way, what obviously I meant was that Gw2 hasn’t overhauled anything since the launch of HoT that one can complain now about too much innovation. (Or claim that that is what the game is about)

Vayne.8563:

You’re taking the literal definition of what was said out of context. Within the context of MMOs, the personal story was personalized.

First of all, why are you explaining explicit details of a tongue in the cheek comment?
Second of all, I know what was said, and I’m not taking anything out of context more than you’re taking the innovation part of the manifesto out of context.
That was the whole point. The Manifesto is outdated on pretty much all the parts.
Third of all, the reason that people say ArenaNet lied is because personalized storyline doesn’t exist anymore. I never claimed anything otherwise. “Was” being the obvious key word here.

The concept of this game isn’t innovation as a standard concept at all anyway.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Gee, I thought their original concept was to be innovative. I mean, that’s what they said even before the game launched. (It’s even in the Manifesto.)

They also said they would have a personalized storyline before the game launched. (Was also even in the manifesto) =P

Though saying that innovation is part of Guild Wars 2 now is pretty much a stretch. Just some new gadgets in a map, doesn’t feel all that innovative to me. They had lots of stuff like that in the game since launch, which then got removed from starter zones because they were confusing. (??? what) And now they just add them to the latest maps without even thinking whether it might get a bit too much for some people.

Shield offensive is similar of a suggestion as full melee rifle. Or Bow. It doesn’t make any sense.

A shield will always be a partially defensive weapon at most.

Plus all shields have a offensive component in GW2 regarless.

Or just make a new greatsword legendary…

I would say that doing the collection is more entertaining than farming the materials and therefore gathering the materials is feeling like more effort.

Just grind more. Thats what MMOs are all about. But yeah. Stat swapping is heavily intertwined with the ingame economy at this point. I don’t expect it to become any easier in the future.

Mel.3064:

FrizzFreston.5290:

There’s probably a reason why such long term goals and rewards are not rewarded with alot of AP.

In my initial post I did not include an AP suggestion because that is secondary to me, but if someone brings it up I will comment on it.

It is nowhere near as long term goal than some other silly stuff like 250k WvW kills or 10k wins in pvp.

750 LI / 13 = 58 weeks of weekly raid clearing, lets be generous, maybe 4 hours of raid on average in worst case. You are looking at 232 hours of raiding for 3 sets of legendary armor. Good guild or static groups probably need way less.

And generally harder achievements should give more AP, otherwise what is the point of the AP reward system? I can see some special achievements like killing an Anet dev rewarding 0 or close to nothing, but it is not the case here.

Its a pretty long term goal no matter how you look at it. And Anet gave them 15 AP for all the sets. (Pretty similar to ascended armor but alot less AP) I doubt I can get a full reason as to why harder achievements have less AP as I don’t quite know. But my guess is that they make it so the acquirement of all the AP isnt focussed on the big big goals and instead is more spread out with a good level of enticement to each of them. Exceptions may apply.

Like getting max stats and thus ascended armour is way more important of a goal than legendary armour.

Like defeating a raid boss once gives about the same as getting all the legendary armour because it’s more important to at least make it once than to do the same trick over and over.

At least that seems to me why some of these long term goals dont reward as much as you think they should. Though yeah there are some that reward quite a bit that dont follow that trend.

Still though. I think its good they added it. A title for each of them seems silly. Pinging LI requirements was never a thing that was by design and really doesnt need a title for every single legendary armour just because players feel the need to arbitrarilly seek the difference between a 150 li person and 450 one. I mean you could also communicate maturely when something is not going fluidly at that point. (Or any li point really)

maddoctor.2738:

FrizzFreston.5290:

In that case, my previously silly idea isnt that silly at all, and they will have stables where you pick up your mount.

How do you envision you will summon the mounts? With a magical whistle that makes them appear in front of you out of thin air? And how do you envision you will “dismount” from your mount? Will the mount become a pet and follow you around, or like most other mmorgps, it will magically disappear the same way it appeared?
If they follow the standard mmorpg patterns of appearing/disappearing out of thin air, then the same way can be used to make them disappear when you are in an area that doesn’t support them. Magically appear, magically disappear. No need for stables or anything of the like to store them.

Outside of the discussion?
I would love to see them walking beside me like ranger pets. (But even there where do ranger pets go when stowed or swapped out) But that most likely would only work in an ideal limitless world. Magically disappear and reappear is something that is usually used, yeah. I don’t see that much of a problem with it either.

I just used stables as a way to convey that they can only be used in a specific area. It has no effect on whether they can limit it, which they undoubtedly can. I just think that artificial limitations, because of the personal preference “we don’t like older areas with mounts”, are a bit weird. I rather have it to have a reason, like “cities don’t allow the usage of mounts”, or “this area is toxic for mount” It’s probably pure fluff-lore, and maybe not necessary. I similarly find it sort of strange that they limit gliding in some jumping puzzles, but not in others. All the while that portals are allowed in the puzzles that don’t allow gliding. On the other hand, I prefer to do my jumping puzzles with gliding disabled so I don’t open them accidentally.

I just like the game world to make sense, realistically. And then I don’t mean real life like, as real life doesn’t have magic, obviously. It has to make some sense, ideally speaking. So yeah, my initial reaction to mounts is or was, why now? Why weren’t there mounts before. Then a step further, wait why did other races have mounts and we didn’t. That is something I would love seeing explained in the expansion itself. It could also be that they don’t explain it. Which I personally would find rather disappointing. Albeit it not entirely game world breaking.

maddoctor.2738:

FrizzFreston.5290:

The ability to use those doesn’t disappear when you move zones. They are just not available in other zones.

And how do you know how these mounts are going to work? How do you know they won’t be summoned from something (like the machine devourers)? How do you know they won’t work like junundu wurms in GW1, summoning them at specific places to let you traverse a part of the map, then let them go? Do you have inside knowledge of how these are going to work, a magic ball or gone to the future?

I should note that I said that it could work, and how I see mounts. Not that it will be this way exactly. It being weird is merely my opinion. Which should be obvious. From what we have seen through leaks, and with previous masteries like gliding in mind, it doesn’t seem like they are like junundu wurms. But hey I can envision it would need to be limited to expansion zones. In that case, my previously silly idea isnt that silly at all, and they will have stables where you pick up your mount. Could be a thing I suppose. Though even then they could add those stables to other parts of the game.

How would you know what they can and cannot do?

A post about optimization:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3ajnso/bad_optimalization_in_gw2/csdnn3n/

Doubling the amount of characters on screen (everyone and their mounts) isn’t going to do wonders with optimization. Removing a backpack and/or using default character doesn’t detract from the game, but making a mount invisible? While someone is riding it? How would that character interact with others? Will he use his mounted animations on an invisible mount or something?

Yeah, they will need to look into such things or hopefully already have considering they said a few months after the last episode, especially with the expansion launch. It does not state that it is impossible however. If it was, I fear for the expansion itself. Not just the ability to use them on the old maps. Just limiting them to the expansion wouldnt make a difference if it causes the problems you say it does. Ofcourse, the new maps could be so barren that it is possible maybe? Though I dont think that its that simple. Either way, it doesnt state its impossible.

A fun fact is, mounts in some other games work exactly like that, you look like youre riding air. It is indeed weird.

But I’m done talking in circles. Either Anet can make it happen or cant make it happen, I dont know. And then they can decide whether they want to. Youre against, I’m more for than against.

maddoctor.2738:

FrizzFreston.5290:

Oakheart salves are in Guild Halls. And who knows in the new map. Plus they are a consumable buff. And the Mechanic Devourer is available in the Silverwastes after an event. Bet you forgot that one.

The point was you can’t take them outside the respective zone. Is it weird? No it’s not so why would it be weird to limit mounts only on specific zones?

Because they are not magical vines. Nor machines tied to specific events. The ability to use those doesn’t disappear when you move zones. They are just not available in other zones. Just as in guild halls you take a sample. With mounts I see it like ranger pets.. its more of a companion, which comes along with you where ever you go.

Those are no arguments, those are physical limitations. If ArenaNet can make it happen then there’s no argument against it.

Only they cannot be solved and ArenaNet cannot make it happen. Mounts are not legendary weapons or legendary armor, they tend to be large things, that both cover more parts of the screen and are more taxing. Also, removing a mini-pet or using a default player model doesn’t change what the character is doing. Removing their mount does. There is a huge difference here

Also, you find it weird that someone on a mount won’t be able to use it outside the new zones, but you are asking for a zone around npcs that mounts cannot be used on? Seriously now?

How would you know what they can and cannot do? Youre just saying that without any basis for such other than stating it as a fact and hope ArenaNet actually cant do it. I wont disagree that IF they actually cant do it that then they shouldn’t do it. But if they can do it without severly impacting the games stability across the board then i dont see why not.

And yes culling exists. I have ran through areas where i see no players or even basic enemy models because there are so many. Not to mention when you dont see all the spell effects but just their circles. It is also weird, yes. But then being able to walk through other people is also weird. It is practical however. Anet is the one deciding what is needed and what isnt gamebreaking.

Feanor.2358:

Anecdotal evidence. 100% of the pugs I’ve been in failed Arah. I’ve done it with guildies, wouldn’t try it ever with pugs again.

I rarely fail with PuGs. You must be doing something wrong.

maddoctor.2738:

FrizzFreston.5290:

If you add mounts and can only use them in the expansion only then you would also need to add borderpatrol stations that take your mounts while you’re traveling in the lands that forbid the usage of “mounts”. xD

You cannot use Oakheart Salve’s outside Draconis Mons. You can’t take the Mechanic Devourer outside of Edge of the Mists either. Not allowing Mounts outside the expansion is easy, make them disappear when you go out of the zone, problem solved.

Oakheart salves are in Guild Halls. And who knows in the new map. Plus they are a consumable buff. And the Mechanic Devourer is available in the Silverwastes after an event. Bet you forgot that one.

But seriously, ofcourse it’s possible for them to limit it. I made no comment about it. I just said that I would find it weird. Thematically speaking.

Seriously, there’s no argument against not adding them to other maps. Other than pure personal preference.

So increasing lag isn’t an argument? Decreasing game performance is not an argument?
Reducing visibility of npcs (even further) isn’t an argument? I’m sorry but just because you call it “pure personal preference” doesn’t mean it actual is. There are more than enough reasons not to add mounts to the game, at least in old-world zones.

Those are no arguments, those are physical limitations. If ArenaNet can make it happen then there’s no argument against it.

You only see for and against, I only see problems that can be solved.

Reduced visibility of NPCs a huge problem? Make an area around them where mounts cant be used. Or hide players all together, you know, this system where they cull entire players.

Lag or game performance (same argument really) Can be solved by hiding mounts of other players like what happens with minipets. Not to mention that this makes me wonder about the expansion itself. Or other additions that are also taxing (animated legendary armour, flashy back items, toys, instruments, gliders) I’m fairly sure that if they can fix it for new maps, which will most likely be loaded more than any old maps at expansion launch, with more new technologies and animations they can use.

If you add mounts and can only use them in the expansion only then you would also need to add borderpatrol stations that take your mounts while you’re traveling in the lands that forbid the usage of “mounts”. xD

Seriously, there’s no argument against not adding them to other maps. Other than pure personal preference.

Plus even with gliding, they found a way to disable gliding where they didn’t want it. They can do the same with mounts or any other future additions. So there are options there that would be in place if it were to break the game. They thought of it last time, so why wouldn’t they think of it now.

I’m not entirely sold on the whole mount thing, and to me it’s just as a generic addition to the game as raids were way back when. It’s just that one thing that alot of other MMOs have too. So fine alright I guess. I mean, if anything I really liked about mounts was riding on mounts with more than one person, in ArcheAge. I just loved to ride with my girlfriend and being driven around, or otherwise. Plus you nurtured them yourself. So there was this bonding moment.

Mounts can be really great, imo. If taken seriously anyway. So if they add them, and don’t add them to the rest of the world, while they did so with gliders, I would find that very strange. Personally always found it strange the stone summit had mounts, but humans never came to the idea. Not to mention Hylek and mordrem in HoT.

All the lesser races are doing it, why cant we. xD

I wouldn’t mind the idea of making a legendary dish of awesome that lasts 24 hours or something xD

and ofcourse: Pick your own effects!