Guild Wars 2

I like my Sylvari engineer(the only salad character Ive got), though Ive always got to be careful not to set myself on fire when Im playing.

Thats actually a really interesting driver review to read too, and it covers the 3 main games Im playing at the moment.

Is any part of the event going on right now timed? Because I cant find any sort of timeline for it but it sounds like its going to get replaced with more/different events down the line.

Masterpyro.4310:

I was under the impression we were supposed to pick and chose like 4 of 6 dailies that we wanted to do. I second this, I’ve already got all the crafts to 400, i have no reason to craft.

Now you do!

Gstringbass.2506:

Guys its always been file number that determines the % completed not total size.

Yeh I know (and Ive thought it was really stupid to do it that way since GW1) but still, its looking kind of big. They must have preloaded a lot of the upcoming event assets in this patch or something.

1% and 225mb… Huh, wasnt expecting a large patch :/

Itll be great once theres a lfg or for anyone using gw2lfg. Youll be able to organize say… an Orr event group and you can grab people from any server.

Ill be using it once the servers are back up right away to play with friends on another server – I dont dig WvW and I like my server while some of my friends wanted to go to a competitive WvW server. Guesting allowed us to do that, though I probably would have been fine transferring if Guesting wasnt an option.

Sylosi.6503:

There is a buff in the general section:

Profession Skills
General

• Gadgets placed by players (such as turrets) will now apply boons and conditions based on those players’ stats. Those conditions and boons will not be reduced to level-1 values when the triggering gadget is destroyed.

Yeh this is kind of a big change for turrets. Cant wait to do some testing.

“Roles are horribly underexplained and unclear”

True, there are roles and the game never explains them to you. You have to dig into the class forums to discover them when the game should at least give you some basics.

“In short, the whole thing would almost have worked better with a trinity setup”

Oh god no, go back to WoW. Not even Secret Worlds system or GW1 would have worked with GW2 combat. GW2 is meant to be played completely differently, and the class system reflects that. If you had tanks and backline healers, you would ruin the game. There is tanking, and there is healing, but not the same old boring kittene most MMOs use.

“Dynamic events don’t work in their role as quest replacements”

Thats because theyre not meant to be quest replacements. But I completely agree that there needs to be more players per zone. Just merge ALL the servers together, done.

“Quests are one of those things that have gone from being a brilliant new idea to an oversued idea that’s indicative of lazy design.”

Much like copy/pasting daily-quest hubs and labeling them as “content” right? I dont think theres an issue with either standard quests or DEs, its on the developer to make either of them interesting. If the DE isnt interesting, then it wouldnt be any more interesting using any other system.

“Area flow is problematic”

Thats true, seeing as how there isnt really supposed to be an area progression. The only reason there are even character levels is just to feed out content to the player so theyre not overwhelmed.

“Your personal story, in theory, helps direct you to your next destination, but in practice it jumps all over the place, and it’s far easier to just ignore your personal story, for reasons that I’ll address a couple of points down. It also will lead you to only a handful of places on the map, leaving you to just decide on wandering one way or the other until you get somewhere too high-level.”

ohmagaud, letting players choose for themselves while still pointing them in a direction! Please. This is one of my favorite parts of GW2, but Im also kind of an Elder Scrolls fan. I think the exploration is done perfectly.

“Crafting is a freaking mess”

I agree with that. Especially if youre coming from other MMOs – youll just assume you need to use the pre-given recipes, and completely miss the Discovery process. My biggest issue with it is the material costs. You cant level without farming for hours or spending all your money on the TP. I dont mind not being able to make the good stuff without a high cost, but you should be able to level up to make the good stuff without tons of extra investment.

“The story is weak”

Matter of opinion, but most of its pretty weak. I really liked the Priory stuff, but before and after that its lackluster.

Anyway I could cherry-pick things all day to respond, but Ive done enough patting myself on the back for now.

I always play healers, WoW/WAR/TOR/LotR. PvP, PvE, raiding or soloing. I tend to play tanks a lot too.

And I do tons of healing and group support on my Engineer. You cant sit back and /afk spam keys to play like you do as a healer in “traditional” MMOs, but Ive never played a game with a more active support role than GW2.

I kite, I CC, I put out healing, I remove conditions, and I do all that while I target assist to help burn down targets. Dont like that? Not really the game for you then, which is fine. Not everyone needs to enjoy the same things, and not every game needs to cater to all people(nor should they!).

I wouldnt like LotRO to have GW2 combat, it would ruin the experience. Just like how it would ruin GW2 gameplay to have fixed class roles, where instead theyre more like fixed playstyles.

Server pop is how many are currently online, so if the server you want is “Full” then try again at like 3am. Or 8am. Or noon.

Fozee.1083:

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

Populations are down, this is obvious wherever you go.

No, populations are spread out in both location and playtime. This isn’t launch anymore.

Exactly. People are there, and we’re in all levels of zones and instances. To add to that the game world is really huge, lower levels and LA will always be more crowded but there are tons of other places for people to be.

Galen Grey.4709:

hydeaut.1758:

HiddenNick.7206:

Gehenna.3625:

Aside from whether you like it or not, it does introduce content gating.

What exact content is ascended gear gating right now?

Difficulty level is content to you?!

If you can´t play FotM with your friends/guildmates/most other players because they are lvl 20+ and want to progress while you have no ascended gear – what else is that than gated content?

honestly the problem there is an egoistic guild / friends ! Both a guild / friends should be helping out each other! In my guild quite often people join a dungeon not because they need it but because someone else needs it !

Some people in your guild cant run higher level FotM with you? Well then bloody help them get there!

Thats what players should be like, but the majority are not and those are the people ANet wants to please. And theyve stated that quite frequently too, so the whole Ascended thing isnt really a surprise. Im beginning to realize the vocal people on the issue were the ones who created it in the first place(myself included!), there was no broken promise other than the ones that the community fabricated for themselves.

But that really changes nothing for me, Ill continue to play for fun and just run level 1 FotM because theyre really fun dungeons. Ill still do DEs in Orr because theyre fun, Ill still run story modes with friends and guild because its fun, and Ill still pop into WvW to get my kitten kicked – because its still fun.

Well if you wait you can pull > pushback for some control, which is actually nice as a downer combo… if you last long enough to use it.

Im a PvE player, and I dont want Ascended items in my dungeons either.

Gamers are lazy, and nobody likes being forced into a grind. Put two and two together and you get people who will take every opportunity to skip/exploit as much as they possibly can.

Its why 90% of the players during Lost Shores opted to use the Skipping Stones exploit rather than do the puzzle for the fun of it.

BTW, just to note, youll likely get an infraction and this thread will be deleted because you detailed how an exploit worked(at least thats my understanding of how the moderators work here).

Blops2 + AC3 + BW2 = less time playing GW2. Plus I know a few of my friends just snagged Torchlight 2 on a Steam sale(poor wallets!), so theres a few more gone for a while.

Going to be a couple weeks at least before I consider getting back into GW2, especially with the new Dresden book on Tuesday… However I will ALWAYS have time to troll contribute to the forums.

HeeHee.5208:

Do these ratings mean anything?

Nope. Even with a bag of salt, theyre about as meaningless as metacritic user scores.

You wont have collected enough of the rare materials(Vial of Blood and such) by leveling to craft your way to 400, so youll end up having to spend a few gold buying mats unless you want to farm it.

But I have no idea what the costs of just buying a set is right now, so I cant help you there. Theres also karma vendor exotics in Orr. I also havnt been 80 for long so I dont know what this Draconic Armor is, but this may help: http://dulfy.net/2012/10/03/gw2-endgame-gearing-guide/

Aaron Stone.5918:

Hey guys, I haven’t played for about a month now (but played constantly through beta’s, headstart etc.)

I’ve been reading up that this games state is in bad shape right now (based on player feedback). Is it really true that people are just grinding for gear now? I loved this game for people being out in the world, and traveling around doing things. Not grinding for gear.

IS THERE HOPE!? lol

Theres an AMA on Reddit on Monday, so ask again after that :p

Xandax.1753:

The thing is – people said the same for TOR, Warhammer, Rift, LotR:O or … <insert any struggling MMO here>.
So based on past games, forum “atmosphere” is not something to sit idle by.

I would not call LotRO a struggling MMO, and what happened with TOR was all Biowares fault not really the community. The forums are a vocal minority, but I agree that doesnt mean they should be ignored.

I have “faith” that ANet isnt completely clueless, and that they might fix their mistakes. But Ive certainly lost the respect I had for them because they always stuck to their guns.

Columba.9730:

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

Some people lacked the ability to find things to do at 80. there was plenty of progression. It didn’t require mindless dungeon grinding. I think that’s much sadder – that people wanted the hamster wheel.

Well if your hamster grows up with a wheel in its cage, and then after a few years you take it away from him… hell have no idea what to do with himself. So hes going to “want” his wheel back, but only because he doesnt know a life without one.

Of course hamsters lack the mental ability to realize that there IS no cage, and that they can walk over to another room that still has its hamster wheel. But hey human beings are smarter than that right? So perhaps I chose the wrong analogy…

Sea of Sorrows and Tarnished Coast(unofficial RP server) are almost always full from what Ive seen, but I have no idea on how the WvW is on either server.

People would still want to be doing FotM right now even if there was no Ascended gear, it always happens in any MMO when new content is added – people want to do the new stuff.

Theres nothing in the DD worth the $20 difference. Heck, I wouldnt buy the upgrade even if it only cost me ~$5 lol.

If I had to guess, Id say the same time they put costs on server transfers.

Edit: *is when we get Guesting.

WeWantWaffles.2873:

That is incredibly closed-minded, because why should we be forced to rely on one mechanic constantly? That’s boring!

You are not forced to use clones, youre more than free to play another class to use a different mechanic. Not trying to be snide(not not trying either), but if you dont like the way Mesmers play then dont play one.

azurrei.5691:

Hawks.5736:

RNG was old 20 years ago, now its ancient. But thats why there are other, more surer ways of obtaining gear in GW2.

Not the ascended ring he/she is after…pure RNG.

Ascended gear isnt finished being implemented, so Im trying to ignore its existence until it is as currently I see no point in farming Fractals 100 times just so I can… farm Fractals some more.

TWMagimay.9057:

TsukasaHiiragi.9730:

You missed the jumping puzzles? There are the only decent thing in the zone? lol

2 jumping puzzles, 1 laughably easy and the other frustrating to no end, all 3 chests gave me “what did i just waste my time for?!”-rewards. Skipping stones can also be rather frustrating for those who aren’t good at fast jumping, the other one can be exploited with jump skills.

Aside from that…yeah…that map blows. I went from rounding up 4-5 enemies to waiting on projectile reflect shield to come off cd before attacking a young karka. 75 more karka to go for monthly and then I’m out of there for good…

Well for one thing, if youre not enjoying the jumping puzzles then.

But otherwise iirc one of the recent blog posts mentioned something about developing the zone more and adding new DEs.

Wasselin.1235:

Bodycult.4516:

Dang…. feel kinda bad to do zone 1-15 with a lvl 80 >.<

Then complain about down-scaling not working correctly. I thought that the point of down leveling the player was supposed to be so that low level content was always challenging?

At level 80 doing level 15 content, youll still be far more powerful than an actual level 15 character would be. The scaling still works though – youll be soloing things you may not have been able to before, but you can still get your kitten handed to you by champs or overpulling.

RNG was old 20 years ago, now its ancient. But thats why there are other, more surer ways of obtaining gear in GW2.

But as to precursors specifically, theres been posts that theyre already considering/working on another way to get them.

Yeah, you totally werent trying to look up her dress intentionally.

Very nice post, I wish I could express my thoughts half so elegantly. The only part I would ‘disagree’ with is this:

“GW1 showed that such an MMOG could be viable.” -In my mind GW1 was a success, not merely “viable”. Viable has become a bit of a dirty term when it comes to MMOs, but I know what you meant by it.

Reading the forums can be a bit of a downer for me too… then I go and actually play the game and start having fun again.

Gilandred.9870:

The blog post just put up by Chris Whiteside said nothing about the controversy with ascended gear. He rather just confirmed they are continuing to work on progression. The die is cast.

But he did say theyll be doing a lot of Q&A’s soon. I think the first one is about PvP though.

Havnt they stated theyll add Ascended gear to other facets of the game? I would assume that includes crafting.

Yes, aside from Legendary weapons.

When someone in my dungeon group is under performing, I want to be able to give him advice other than “Get better gear”.

When I get my kitten handed to me in any form of PvP/WvW, it should be because I was outplayed – not outgeared.

Most people are perfectly happy grinding for gear simply because of the cosmetic value – and for those who arnt they can simply just play the parts of the game they find interesting.

I dont have any issue with the new condition/resistance though, I think thats a fine way of gating content for people who want it(since you do not have to run high level Fractals). The only problem in my mind is that it has a higher all around stat-value.

itchypalms.4023:

GO OUTSIDE

I would go outside… if there were some kind of app for my phone so I could play parts of GW2 while Im out there

Asura if you dont mind the way they look. As a snipery Warrior one big thing youve got is your kill shot, and its easy to see its animation. Its a lot harder to see at a distance on an Asura.

If PvP isnt a big deal for you, Id go with whatever looks cooler.

Missy.7356:

JonathanSharp.7094:

That’s what I’m trying to do. We can’t spend our ENTIRE days on the forums, but we try to make an effort to take a break from development as much as we can to address your questions/ideas/comments/concerns.

And the reality is, you guys go for stretches of time without seeing anything new from us (patch to patch)….so even though we’re making a ton of progress, we can’t show it until it’s ready. Which means there can be long gaps of communication if we’re not careful. But things are still happening, features are being added. We just can’t talk about them until they’re ready.

This im hoping is why they have not responded, once they are ready with whatever they are going to do next we will know…. I just hope thats its not too long.

@ OP a pretty well thought out post.

And perhaps they didnt get the reaction they were hoping for with the last patch, so they could be rethinking and collecting more feedback(survey!) before committing a response. Which is one reason Im happy to see more constructive threads like these.

Thats what I did early on as well, but lately(since 60+, 80 now) I started going for more Vit/Tuf gear.

Reason being was that no matter how much I was stacking offensive stats I didnt notice an appreciable difference while soloing, especially with condition damage(we dont stack conditions high enough or for long enough to matter on anything but bosses). But I did notice a difference when I started going for defensive stats, mainly not being nearly so squishy.

So if I were to level another Engineer I would probably focus on Vit/Tuf/Prec, but take what you can get.

Grenades are nice, but I stopped using them because of how spammy it is lol. If you hold down the right mouse to turn your character with the cursor near your character, and then strafe to the side with A or D, you can spam 1 to throw grenades wherever your mouse was pointing in relation to your character(while still holding down the mouse button). And if you tilt the camera up or down without letting go of the mouse button, you can adjust range.

I mention this since even kitten circle kiting a melee npc will avoid most of their hits, even without actually dodging. – But that depends on how youre used to kiting and your control setup, and it might not be the most effective way to use Grenade kit either.

Vakirauta.6397:

Loumy.7841:

If they only plan to communicate via narrow minded surveys – they’re not gonna accomplish anything meaningful.
Narrowminded in the sense, that this is about a lot more than an event.

And they are afraid to do it ingame.

Edit: If I took what you said out of context, ignore me :p

I wouldnt say “afraid”, Id say its smart, since if they were going to give any kind of official response it should be on the forums for everyone to see first hand(just look at the “2 devs 1 cup” thing). Its kind of pointless to give explanations in-game when only a handful of players will see it, and then the rest will only get out of context second-hand misquotes.

Heck looking at other MMO dev teams like Blizzard or Bioware(and Im not saying ANet should be like them!), theyre “official” responses are drafted and reviewed before being posted on the forums. And I can see why, because as soon as a developer says anything its taken as the rule of law and the community precedes to build shrines around it(one way or the other).

Especially for the Ascended issue I think they should take the time to give a well thought out and explanatory response, one thats bounced around internally before being posted.

Elementalists dont get to sling around pistols while wearing a duster and epic hats.

For solo PvE? Kite. Then kite some more. Then when youre done kiting, kite again. Using the rifle you should be able to prevent any melee npc from even getting near you, and if its ranged you just need to learn to dodge projectiles.

And use the Healing Turret. Drop it to heal, then pick it up right away so you effectively have a direct heal with a HoT every 15s. The Thumper Turret is also reallllly nice for soloing.

The other thing you could do is level a Mesmer to ~10 and itll make you appreciate how good Engineers have it at low levels :p

Id chill a little bit about getting responses, because:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/The-teams-that-work-on-PvP-WvW-Balance/first#post818357

I know, its about PvP, but apparently a lot of them are out of house right now. What it also tells me is that they are paying attention to the forums, so I would expect some more clarification on the Ascended gear design choices… perhaps in a week or two.

Edit: Since he seems to be in a talkative mood perhaps you could PM Jonathan Sharp, though personally I would first have a list of topics and replies about Ascended gear that are constructively put(like this one). – I dont know if its against the rules to PM a specific dev or not, or if you even can, so ymmv.

mulch.2586:

So far the only thing you need the new gear for is to do higher/deeper levels of FotM.

This +1, and personally by the time Ill “need” Ascended gear Ill be sick of running Fractles anyway.

Plus exotics are “easier” to get now, or at least other dungeons reward more gold/karma than they did. I dont need Ascended gear to run any content, and I dont need it to kick someones kitten in WvW or PvP even if they outgear me. So Ill wait and see what the future brings, because even looking ahead I dont see much changing.

“Guild Wars is not an MMO.”

-Ive never seen anyone argue this, within the context of this topic or otherwise(except for in this topic now, since its been brought up).

The difference, in my eyes, is that the Guardian has better group-wide abilities and the Warrior is mostly self sustaining.

I like my Engineer though for group support. Snares, control, condition removal, area healing, and you can be pretty “dodgy tanky” if you spec right.

No thanks, I like having all the interactions on one key. Half the reason I like GW2 so much is I can do MORE with LESS abilities and keybinds than in other MMOs, where I need to have 30+ keybinds just play at an acceptable level.

Turrets are clunky, thats just part of being an Engineer. If you dont like it dont use Healing Turret, or dont drop them right on top of downed players.

Group up. The contents designed that way, and all the events are for groups anyway. That said I just finished Orr on my Engineer without any issue soloing through about 80% of it, but I did join in for Shrine events and the Gates of Arah.

Ive ALWAYS played a healer in other MMOs, and I love that theres no “healer” role in GW2. I still play support oriented characters(Engineer main), but in GW2 the job to keep you alive is on yourself.

I have never before in any MMO seen players quickly get themselves out of AoEs and actively try to keep themselves alive in PUGs – this is the sort of thing that only ever happened in raiding guilds. Usually, if I were a healer, all I would be doing is standing there healing people while I watch them eat a bosses cleave and then be expected to compensate.

What making Healing Power more effective would do is create a “Healer” role, and that would just mean groups would demand always having a healer and content would have to be designed so that having a healer wouldnt trivialize it. Basically I think it would ruin the game.

I like being a support character, I do not and have never really enjoyed playing a role in which its my job to make up for other peoples mistakes.

On my Engineer I can cure conditions, have nice crowd control with snares and knockbacks, and get a lot of nifty HoTs to help people who do make mistakes. I still support others but I dont feel as if its my job to play nanny to a bunch of children.

Thats just me anyway. If the Trinity was “Tank, Damage, Support” I would probably enjoy the role more in other MMOs, but “Tank, Damage, Healing” is bloody boring. So I much prefer GW2 way of handling supportive abilities.