I absolutely despise the jumping puzzles. I have do idea why they’re in an MMO to begin with, let an important part of the game. The only zone I’ve ever completed is queensdale and I probably spent an hour trying to do the various “vistas”. I had to send a friend my login info to get past the priory story quest where you needed to do a jump puzzle while the wind blows and knocks you off.
Account sharing is illegal, in case you didn’t know already. As for the jumping puzzles themselves? They’re fun. If people don’t like them tough luck – they don’t have to do them. Plenty of people do like them, however!
It’s ridiculous. I appreciate that Arena Net are working on a resolution to the problems, though we could definitely use some sort of active in-game patrol by a temporary team of GM’s investigating reported hotspots. The priority should be getting them out of the game itself to minimise damages to the economy.
They’re a lot of fun. I particularly enjoy the ones that have traps, since that adds an extra level of depth! My favourite puzzle if the large one in the eternal battlegrounds due to the threat of traps and PvP skirmishes.
I don’t understand why this was ‘fixed’ when pretty much every form of AoE in this game ignores the elusive ‘line of sight’ and hits stuff through walls, doors and gates in WvW and certain other places.
A knee-jerk reaction to the misguided whining from glass cannons being ripped apart by the berserker, perhaps? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Is anyone really surprised after the revelation that Arena Net want to focus on making the PvP aspect of their game into an E-Sport? One of the consequences of not having the promised PvE/PvP split for abilities is going to be sweeping and erratic changes on a patch to patch basis.
I just hope that the Six do return at some point in the immediate future. They’re a huge part of what makes humanity in this setting so intriguing, so it’s a shame they’ve been written out of the current story. I really don’t want to see humanity given the role of the eternal victim just because certain members of the lore team seem to favour the charr and dislike humans existing in a fantasy setting.
It’s a little underwhelming, to be honest – the Six should play a much larger role than they currently do, though Arena Net seem intent on giving the non-human races countless perks whilst denying humans the stuff that makes them intriguing.
Aside from adding an NPC devoted to the god you chose to your home instance, I haven’t found anything else to show for it.
What I don’t understand is why Anet withheld alot of the human faces. There are at least 5-6 male human faces on NPCs that we didnt get.
Why?
I have no idea. But Anets art team seems to get a raging kitten for using celebrity male faces as options rather than using the faces they designed themselves.
Yeah, it’s a little disappointing. I do hope we see more character customisation options made available in the future for all of the playable races. Hopefully Arena Net are working on it, considering it was one of the major points of discussion during the beta period. Some official confirmation would be lovely!
The thing that bugs me the most is that countless nameless NPC’s die over the course of the personal story and yet our characters are forced to be upset over the demise of people who, more often than not, they’ve only encountered on a handful of missions or even just met moments before.
With that said, I do think some of the deaths were beautifully done. A mission death involving the Krait in the latter portion of the personal story is a prime example of a death done well. It was unexpected and very tragic and showed the true horrors of war and bittersweet victories.
All of this would have been avoided if they’d gone with what they originally claimed, namely that we would be able to defect from one order and join another instead. For whatever reason this was scrapped, though you’d think as a compromise they’d work on reimbursing the affected players or explaining in a no-nonsense manner why they can’t.
I’d love to see more variety, it’s a real shame that the greatsword was given so much attention – though that’s not surprising considering the abundance of warriors/guardians and the mentality of ‘lol gr8sowrd is so cool xD’ that tends to plague most MMO’s these days.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the next couple of patches go. I’m hoping we’ll see some massive bug fixes that may include stuff like this. If not? Then once the more glaring issues subside we can continue pointing out this kind of thing!
Granted, I may have overlooked something but I’ve yet to see any references to Lady Althea, which strikes me as strange considering her father – Duke Barradin – shows up early on in the Plains of Ashford.
Then again, perhaps she – and the other horrors of the Searing – were deliberately ignored due to putting a spanner in the works of the lore teams desperate attempts to make everyone feel sorry for their pet race?
I’ve already grown weary of a certain other MMO due to people using questionable programs to play the auction house for them, if this ends up becoming a problem in GW2 as well and goes unaddressed? Well, all I’ll say is I’ll be departing.
It’s a terrible idea. WvW is a hybrid of PvE, PvP and siege based combat. Why punish those who enjoy it in the quest to get rid of bots? In fact, I’m certain that if such a change was ever made people would leave in droves due to being negatively affected by the crusade against bots.
I suspect it may be a bug. Ebonhawke is free of music as well, which is rather strange – there’s plenty of tracks that could be suited to both locations, I believe.
To be honest, I get the impression that a lot of stuff was left unfinished or was pieced together from a variety of scrapped plot-lines that were initially meant to get more attention than they actually did outside of the personal story.
Arena Net have already admitted that they find the charr personal story to be the strongest and it shows. There’s some good stuff in the human personal story but it tends to be mismatched and not elaborated upon enough.
I agree with a lot of what you’ve said, Olithia – both in this thread and others. Unfortunately, some Arena Net employees have all but outright announced their disdain for the human race and seem to thrust a disproportionate amount of time and effort into developing the newer races at the cost of watering down almost everything that made the human race in this setting interesting to begin with.
One of their biggest strengths is that they’re diverse and adapt even in dire situations – yet none of this is shown to a satisfactory extent.
But sylvari are immune to all corruption – it isn’t just that they can’t become risen.
Truth be told, we don’t even know if sylvari have souls, I believe. I don’t think we see a single case where a sylvari ghost has appeared.
They’re not immune to all corruption, though. There’s even a Sylvari who is encountered in Orr who goes mad as a result of torment at the hands of the Risen, or more specifically an Eye of Zhaitan. They may avoid the physical side of corruption, but as we’ve seen from the Nightmare Court they’re certainly not immune to being corrupted through torture.
I’d like to see some ‘legendary’ equipment obtained through immensely difficult quest chains. As it stands, there’s little incentive for me to get the current legendary weapons since…well, grinding materials and gambling with the mystic forge doesn’t interest me nearly as much as a weapon with a focus on story behind it.
What do the Skritt, Ogres, Quaggan, Hylek, and other minor races contribute though? I’ve sometimes seen Ogres helping the assault on Arah but never else.
More than humans, at least! Or so it seems. I went into Orr expecting to see some major lore revelations for the human race and the Six, only to leave bitterly disappointed. I’ll admit there’s a few interesting scraps here and there, but most races (aside from the charr, who seem to get special treatment) are usually watered down so they fit into multi-racial organisations instead of pursuing aspects related purely to their racial identity.
I agree. At a glance, the game world is beautiful and visually impressive. Yet there’s a real lack of meat. Back in the original game, rich lore was easy to find. Yet in GW2 it seems overshadowed or ignored. Take Ascalon and Orr for example – it makes sense for humanity to be doing more to preserve and reclaim both and yet instead of at least seeing some major lore for humans in both zones we just the new pet races soaking up almost everything.
What happened to the richly detailed variety we saw in the original game? Each human culture had a distinct style, little of which has translated to the second game. I’d even go as far as to say that the new races exist as stereotypes and little else – must every norn be a drunkard? Why isn’t the shape-shifting and spiritual aspect no longer as big a focus as it was in the original game? It’s frustrating for those of us who came for the sake of lore and role-play.
First of all, I’m quite a stubborn player. I love the mesmer profession but there’s a very specific niche that I want to embrace. I want to go with a build that makes excellent use of sword/sword for melee combat and greatsword for ranged combat. I’m not looking to be the strongest mesmer around, though I do want to be able to dish out some decent damage in both PvE and PvP whilst having a bit of utility and of course survivability.
Even the most intimate of lovers and the best of friends need some time apart. It’s healthy for that to occur. So I too find it very frustrating that I cannot just log on and do my own thing when I’m not in the mood to be social or just feel like having a bit of time to myself away from the responsibilities of guilds.
Arena Net seem to have underestimated the amount of players who have an interest in a solid story. A shame, really. The lore is pretty rich but large portions are ignored or brushed aside.
I’m in a similar predicament. At first, I put it down to me being indecisive…yet after trying out every profession I just can’t seem to find my niche in this game.
It’s funny, really – I’m one of the first to avoid playing a human in a MMO if I can help it, though they have the most diverse and intriguing lore as far as I’m concerned. It may not be reflected very well in the game itself, but it’s there if you dig beneath the surface.
I hope the lore team take more care to present ever race in a fair and consistent manner and don’t let bias or favouritism steer dictate the future lore. I’m fine with humanity being in a poor position…but I’m not fine with them getting only a few scraps of lore or perks to make up for it.
Why are they so meek and bested at every turn by the younger races? It makes sense in some respects, but at almost every front? It’s a little silly. An excellent example is Orr – there was so much potential there for a human scholar to be involved as a major character, considering that much of the relevant information is likely to be locked away in dusty human tomes. Instead we got Trahearne.
A little integrity and courtesy to your customers goes a long way. I’ve not seen any evidence of either so far.
Well said. I’ll admit to buying into the hype surrounding this game. I enjoy it in some respects, but the lack of innovation in regards to communication is pretty irritating. I’m not trying to come across as entitled, but it’d help a lot of Arena Net were honest and acknowledged that they need to work on some of the broken aspects of the game.
What happened to the in-depth information we got during the beta period? Was that just fancy marketing hype as well?
Well, that’s certainly a shame. A little strange too, considering how it seems he has ruled out working for Arena Net in the future altogether. That does raise a few questions.
Crit bleed spec warriors are monsters. I’m waiting for them to get hit with the nerf bat. In PvP I saw one warrior using the 100 blades and kill 9 players instantly me included (even though I was on the opposing team it was impressive).
Assuming you’re not just trolling, the only way a warrior could kill nine people at once with hundred blades is if everyone just stood there waiting to be killed. At best, a warrior can only lock down one, maybe two players at a time.
Well between Rytlock being the CE and DD special pet and the Charr plushy, I’d nominate him as the GW2 mascot, even though he’s not exactly small, cute and fluffy in-game.
A Quaggan would be a better choice. When a company decides to push a playable race as a mascot, it tends to lead to bitterness and favouritism. A prime example of that would be the Orcs and Humans of WoW who are often thrust into the spotlight at the expense of other playable races getting recognition and screen-time.
I suspect many hairstyles are deliberately being held back in order to be added again whenever a barber/character re-customisation option arrives. A shame, really…judging by the hype and marketing surrounding the game I was led to believe we’d be seeing new options every month considering this is heavily based around cosmetic improvements at the end game.
It does seem to be pretty heavy handed. As someone who has done a fair deal of moderation on busy websites, it’s safe to say that the typical rule of thumb is to never close a thread unless strictly necessary. If a few people derail a thread, you deal with those individuals and let the thread continue to address the original topic.
What we need is a lot more focus on communication and less focus on thread deletion/closing.
You know, I just went back to watch some of the marketing videos for this game and it’s a little troubling that the developers were kicking up such a huge fuss about players being able to build and play their character based on their preferred style.
I don’t particularly find relying on one or two abilities particularly fun myself, but if people want to play that way, then why shouldn’t they be able to? A competent player will easily counter them by making full use of the tools they have at their disposal, after all.
I guess I’ll shelve my ranger for now and go play a different game until the next patch arrives. I’m not willing to invest in any profession at the moment due to the lack of communication surrounding ‘balancing’ and ‘bug fixes’ that cause far more harm than good.
I’m very confused. If spamming one ability is considered bad, why are warriors still unscathed, considering many invest a lot of their time relying on the same ability over and over and over again?
The weapons themselves aren’t worth nearly as much as they’re being auctioned for. A lot of the problem surrounds the simple fact that many players are putting up weapons that are highly sought after at ridiculous prices that almost no-one is going to be able to afford at this point in time or even in the immediate future.
Nicely put. I feel the same way and there’s a lot of game mechanics and marketing that unfortunately reek of a MMO rushing to be mainstream instead of a niche title. GW2 is an excellent MMO, though it could and should be so much more.
GW1 was a niche title, though it spawned a very devoted following. GW2 needs to be able to do the same. For the record, by ‘devoted’ I don’t mean rabid fan-boys, but players who enjoy the game and offer feedback and criticism where required.
Considering how Arena Net have said they’re happy with where the warrior profession is at the moment, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I’d agree that people should play what they want to play, but at the end of the day I can’t blame anyone for re-rolling to the FOTM profession when stealthy nerfs and erratic bug fixes leave many professions under-performing.
WvWvW paints a very different picture. Warriors are in the minority. Its all Thieves, Mesmers, Elementalists, and Rangers.
True, though it’s very likely that people have more than one character at this point in time and reserve one for PvE and another for PvP/WvW.
I’ve seen a pretty hefty amount of warriors on my own server and to be honest, I can understand why. Erratic adjustments to other professions have left many under-performing in PvE whilst a warrior can quite easily perform exceptionally well at PvE even when in the hands of a beginner.
It doesn’t help that certain professions aren’t as advertised. Elementalists are a prime example, described as a DPS class whilst hitting much less than other professions and being shoved into a supportive role in most fights.
All they need is openness and acknowledging that it IS a bug and it IS being fixed, not saying BRB I’m gonna test it on live NOW and then nothing for 3-4 days..
Indeed. There’s countless legitimate concerns that need to be addressed so tensions and wariness can be alleviated.
I really think Arena Net should strip players of their Commander title if they’re caught abusing it or engaging in horrid behaviour. After all, their actions have a pretty negative impact upon the server as a whole.
It doesn’t matter how much content a game has if people are playing it for hours and hours on end. That’s just not healthy. No MMO is going to launch with an immense amount of content – learn to pace yourself better and you won’t run out of things to do anytime soon.
I’d say a large part of the issue is that Arena Net have repeatedly claimed to be happy with where the warrior profession is at the moment. Which is all well and good, though it does raise many questions about why other professions are adjusted the moment they become nearly as popular and/or successful.
I think it’d be for the best if Arena Net gave a very detailed explanation as to what exactly they want each profession to be like. It’d help alleviate a lot of the current concerns and stop people playing something they enjoy only to find it is changed in a patch.
I think there is way too few choice considering the investment. At the moment, I just am not sure I like the riffle looks, so it would seem I have no reason to grind for a legendary.
This sums up my thoughts as well. Some of the designs look brilliant whilst others are clearly appealing to a certain target audience. I’m not fond of the shortbow, yet with no alternative design there’s no point me bothering to get one at all.
