Guild Wars 2

Simply delete your Guild Wars 2 folders and any shortcuts. Also delete the folders Documents\Guild Wars 2, %appdata%\Guild Wars 2, and any gw2cache folders under %temp%.

Alternatively, Gw2.exe -32 -uninstall

Add an option so low priority interactables can’t be interacted with unless specifically targeted, such as boxes of fun, banners and dead players.

In adventures, disable unrelated interactables to prevent them from blocking progress, such as people dying on top of pickups.

For the UI rewards/chests/hearts above the minimap, add the ability to take all of them (right click > take all), immediately take them (double click) or add them to auto loot.

Character model limit/quality seems to cull enemies and possibly orange AoE circles. I’d rather see all enemies and NPCs over players, so if possible, separate the options.

The previous 50% off sale was the week prior to S03E01, while this one is the week prior to S03E03. ArenaNet rarely does sales themselves, so you should assume that this is the last one of the year. Assuming the trend of sales being linked to the episodes, the next sale would be ~4 months away with S03E05. After that, I wouldn’t count on seeing any more sales, as the next expansion would likely be less than a year away, where they’ll have to again offer refunds due to their 1 box model.

For Black Friday, they’ll likely be doing a gem store sale as they’ve done in the past.

It’s the Windows 10 Game Bar / Xbox app. You can disable it through the Xbox app or modify the registry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR]
"AppCaptureEnabled"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore]
"GameDVR_Enabled"=dword:00000000

Tyria can already be more difficult than HoT. The problem is, leveling in GW2 is so casual that you’re almost always unknowingly playing on easy mode. If you’re additionally using consumables and always obtaining the best gear, you’re simply asking for it. Enemies should always be +1 level above you; +5 being more like the pre-nerf difficulty. Easier professions like ranger and necro should go for +10.

Donari.5237:

What is the source for this information?

http://massivelyop.com/2016/11/15/guild-wars-2s-next-episode-a-crack-in-the-ice-drops-november-21/

In full maps, it doesn’t matter. Tag the jade, then go do the ending of hablion. Those that complain probably don’t know, or have had bad experiences from smaller maps.

In not full maps, most people are accustomed to playing in zergs, so you need as many people as possible to counter the poor quality. If only 10 low damage players show up, you’re pretty much screwed, whereas all it really takes is 3 zerkers. When you split the map, you almost guarantee the jades failing, whereas Hablion can be delayed.

They probably wouldn’t make the elemental a daily simply because it occurs too often. The goal is to keep you playing after all. The unbound guardian takes too long in comparison, though it wouldn’t be a problem if it was on a fixed timer. If they were going to change it, it’d likely be hab, the jades, or the guardian all in one like EB.

Crinn.7864:

Kinda like how one of the Charr npcs at one of the outposts in the Brand is wearing a Gem Store outfit.

They look out of place imo, but it’s intended. They’re the Sentinels - it’s their outfit.

ArenaNet probably forgot about the option to rotate the minimap. It should be an easy enough fix for them to either rotate the icons or simply “paint” the arrows on the map.

Vayne.8563:

Do you have evidence that most people want to raid?

I doubt most people want to “raid” but most people would probably like to play through the content. The problem with group content is that most people play MMOs like they would single player games, as in they simply want to login and play for fun. Finding groups is simply not that, nor is being told what to do, how to play, etc. After LFD opened up dungeons, WoW offered LFR (casual raids you queue in to) as the solution to raids, which was able to tap into the majority of endgame players. So, does the majority want to raid? Who knows, but the majority is willing to if it’s casual.

FloyydBergur.3795:

Whats the -sharearchive switch do?

Normally, GW2 has exclusive access to Gw2.dat, preventing it from being touched by anything else. Using that switch stops that, but at the cost of GW2 becoming read-only, preventing GW2 from patching and saving any changes to your local settings. Likewise, using -image to update prevents your local settings from changing, which I’m guessing is the reason I don’t see the SMS reminder until I run the game normally.

The problem with jumping puzzles is that they’re too easy to bot (teleport), so making them rewarding is always going to be a risk unless they start giving them actual puzzle elements. For everything else, they could simply make them adventures on top of their current implementation, leaving them as is for the casuals while giving them a small extra reward for legit players.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Why should we get any loot for completing something as simple as a JP?

You shouldn’t, in the same way you shouldn’t get loot when you practically AFK in a zerg, but unfortunately, teNanerA.

Personal loot / the contribution system. Sure, it’s great if you’re a casual player, but it heavily rewards zerging and leechers while further punishing playing while undermanned. If something is scaled for X amount, the loot should reflect that regardless of the number of participants. The system is simply backwards, where the more people you bring, the easier it gets and the more rewards you receive.

They need a real contribution system, like a hidden experience bar that tallies up actions. Separate the loot from enemies and base it entirely on contribution, where drops are based on the average of what was killed. You shouldn’t receive loot for just tagging, but rather for meeting a certain contribution threshold. If you’re in a group of 10 for example, assuming all equally contributing, it should take around 8 average enemies to receive anything. Likewise, bosses would have the idea, but loot should scale from 50 to 200% of the norm depending on your contribution.

Danikat.8537:

I wouldn’t even attempt to work out the exchange rate between the two currencies.

It’s based on USD, so gems are simple 800 for $10. For exchange rates, simply use google to search: £8.50 to $

They’re not going to change it because the average user has an unsecure email and by not having a secured account, they’re a vulnerability that could potentially cost them money. For advanced users with properly secured emails however, email authentication is actually the most secure option. A simple offline authenticator is actually more secure, because it’s best to cut out the middleman, but it’s compromised because of support.

If you want to manually update the game with patches, you can try creating two shortcuts. Remembering your password may be a requirement.

To play the game: Gw2.exe -sharearchive -autologin
To update: Gw2.exe -image

That’s basically what I did (multiclient app), and I don’t see the message as long as I don’t run the game normally. Note that -sharearchive makes the game read-only, so you can’t change some settings.

Alternatively, you can skip the launcher entirely using the command:

Gw2.exe -email "x@y.com" -password "pass" -nopatchui

… but your password will be visible to anyone that looks.

Open world dueling was something they wanted to do back in beta (but so was increasing the level cap prior to HoT), but in the end we got costume brawl, custom arenas and guild arenas. At this point, you can assume it’ll never happen.

Inspections are already possible by requesting the player’s API key. ArenaNet believes in a casual friendly environment, so open inspections will simply never happen.

They wouldn’t sell existing items like that, but if they did, they would have an equivalent price to the current market value, which would likely be fixed at 80-100g considering carnival weapons. 100g is currently (from) ~566 gems ($7.08), so a full set of 16 would likely be around 9000 gems ($112.5).

If they were to sell new sets however, they’ve sold individual skins for 600 gems ($7.5), so a set of 16 would be at most 9600 ($120). As a bundle however, they’d probably drop it down to 8500-9000 ($112.5).

duster.7013:

Like, the difficulty of traversing heart of thorns content should be the difficulty of level 1-25 zones

It once was, back during the original beta. Much like the snipers in HoT’s beta, if you failed to dodge special attacks, such as an ettin’s ground smash or a moa’s flurry of pecks, you were dead. GW2 was intended to be difficult, but it was obviously going to be bad for business, so it was all nerfed with the intention of increasing the difficulty over time. The low level zones were later further nerfed for the new player experience. The problem is, most MMO players aren’t gamers and play very casually, which is why solo content is almost always a joke in MMOs. Furthermore, those coming from traditional MMOs have been trained in the art of facetanking, whereas GW2 was designed mobile and reactionary action combat.

If you want to play the game at the “normal” difficulty, you’ll basically need to play in +5~10 level areas from 1~20, then scale it down to +2~5 by 80. Some professions are far easier than others however, so adjust accordingly. Necro for example was the easiest I’ve ever played with all the life leech and natural protection, so I went +10~15 and only wearing whatever zerker gear the personal story gave. Damage scales by level difference, so you’ll deal increasingly less and take more from higher levels. The opposite is usually the case however, since you’re generally downscaled and a higher level when playing normally.

Randulf.7614:

Does using the Guild Hall work?

You can also enter PvP, but those options are adding another loading screen. Adding a button wouldn’t change much, since relogging only takes about 1 second.

Display the minimum scale on events. Instead of [Group Event] for example, do something like [3+ Group]. When players initially do events in active maps with larger groups, they believe that’s the way. It’s a problem I’ve seen from the very start, where small groups either won’t try or are very hesitant.

Show all (or certain) events on the map, which was an API feature prior to megaservers. It’d be nice to known when a daily event is up or to keep track of the split meta chains in HoT.

Adding on to the combination of the above, display the number of nearby players on the event’s map icon. It would help to let people know where others are, especially with split defense events like night VB and should help with the “no commanders? dead map” attitude.

Improve event scaling to not factor players who aren’t participating. At the very least, stop factoring players who haven’t picked up or turned in anything for collection events, or just tone it down so I’m not having to turn in 10x the amount compared to soloing it.

Salvage all – split the “and lower” options. I carry around basic items, causing the current implementation to be useless. Changing it to a checkbox format would be best, or just a simple masterwork and fine option.

Unopened rifts are marked on the map as a nearby event – you can’t see them if your content guide is pointing somewhere else, like the personal story. They’re still out there, and in other maps, but opening them requires a stabilizer and they only remain for a few minutes.

I just checked, and there’s still people out there doing them (NA).

An unexpected shutdown is generally caused by a critical system failure. For example, overheating, an unstable CPU, buggy drivers or failing hardware. Try running stress tests on the CPU, memory and disk.

You can try looking in the event viewer to see if anything was recorded. To see any potential future BSODs, disable automatic restart on system failure under system properties>advanced>startup and recovery.

Although it’s a simple task, you may also be doing something you’re not supposed to when closing the mutex. Using Process Explorer from Microsoft for example, you simply search for the handle “AN-Mutex-Window-Guild Wars 2” and close it. Just to rule it out, be simple and do only that (don’t rename the windows).

NPCs that don’t have a fixed appearance have their appearance randomly generated when the map is initialized. They probably don’t consider them important, or are just lazy, so they leave the appearance blank when adding NPCs, which causes them to be random. It seems odd that they wouldn’t just randomly generate a fixed appearance when they first add the NPC however. In cases where an appearance seems to be fixed but is sometimes random, I’d guess it’s a problem with multiple copies of an NPC existing in the backend, such as different story instances or stages, where not all have been setup properly.

They broke stuff that was linked to the state of temples back when they implemented megaservers. It was fixed a little over a month ago.

Slowpokeking.8720:

it was also too long and boring.

The problem with solo content is that it has to balanced around someone. The entire instance takes about 10 minutes as a zerker and can range from deadly to trivial depending on profession.

Does this count? Decapitated grub:

acapela.8215:

and since it can’t be done with just a few people

It can be done with 3-5 people, but in DPS races like this with smaller numbers, people need to be doing competent DPS. The problem is, most people don’t, and since scaling is balanced to become easier with more, people just zerg and think that’s the way. If everyone learned to jump off the little hills and weave the glider barrage into their rotation, it’d be much easier. Not only is it very high damage, it can also nearly solo break the bar.

They could easily make it a daily however, but it’d be hablion or the guardian, or one of the jades.

If they were going to, they probably would have done so with HoT. They could have had a new hat for every expansion with the different logos.

Danikat.8537:

It was only available during the headstart weekend and was supposed to be a way to prove you were there right at the beginning of the game.

Was available for a few weeks.

If you’re saying that both together forced the game into windowed fullscreen, that wasn’t intentional. -perf used to display performance information, but was removed back in the original beta. -windowed works for forcing windowed mode.

20 empyreal fragments, 5 bags, 1 consumable

morrolan.9608:

If DR is not cool then why is it in the game at all let along being so punishing.

DR is intended to be a safety net and something you’re not intended to encounter through normal play. For example, that exploit where enemies respawned instantly, DR was the only thing stopping prolonged abuse.

The map feels so slow with the doors taking forever to spawn. You can of course work around this by keeping track of and hopping to several maps.

Nerf the doors that spawn waves by changing their scaling to spawn elites instead of like 4x the amount of regular enemies, then make the doors spawn twice as fast. Alternatively, throw in a meta to close all the doors, which would spawn the old boss in middle, which killing would reset or greatly reduce the cooldown on the doors.

Traced.3495:

Last year it was 1, 1-2, 2-3, making the end result 9, 10, or 11 for each run if changing instance after every completed run.

In 2012, it was 1, ~5, ~7, ~10, and by the time you looted the chest, you were just in time for the next run, or if you wanted a new instance, you could talk to the NPC to immediately join a new one. I used to run it for like an hour back then, which rewarded more bags than the lab. Nowadays, just zerg doors and hop maps.

kdaddy.5431:

Literally go into the JP and get 5 bags

Back in 2012, the clock tower gave like 8x the rewards. A random 10-20 from the chest, another 15 from the chests up the path every other run, and you could run it back to back without having to wait. In 2013, it was heavily nerfed because candy corn was too common and probably because of botters teleporting to the end. Unfortunately, those nerfs made it not worth doing, as zerging the lab gave more rewards in a single AoE.

maddoctor.2738:

The Lich doesn’t summon many adds (if any?) and doesn’t give them boons. Used to apply regeneration, protection and retaliation on all the adds.

The adds are summoned on every player that doesn’t evade when the ground goes black. The boons are applied a second or two after they spawn, but if you have heavy AoE, you can kill them prior to that. Personally, the lich feels the same, just with much less health. Although people feared it in the past, it was really never a problem. It was just that the casual zergs would get wrecked when they spawned 20+ skeletons with retaliation all over the place, whereas stacked groups would AoE them down without an issue. There are solo videos from years past if someone wants to really compare them.

kdaddy.5431:

I can kill both of them on my necro.

If you wanted a challenge, you probably shouldn’t be playing a necro. All the bosses have always been soloable though and the dungeon is essentially a solo instance, since like all festival dungeons, it’s balanced for casual low levels.

Ayrilana.1396:

I’ve seen a full squad on the map. You’re just on a near empty map.

A full 50 squad? That would certainly feel more like previous years. If that many can fit, then half the map must be reserved for taxis. More precisely, in maybe 10 maps so far, the numbers I actually see following the commander seems to cap out at 15, maybe 20 tops if I assume there’s AFK people up top, and those numbers remain stable for the hour I stick around.

With it now rewarding mastery XP, there’s also less low levels. Low damage guardian staff spammers were/are also a popular option for their ease of AoE, and I guess low damage so others could tag, because clearly a high damage staff elementalist is superior.

I’ve yet to see more than ~10 people in there this year, so I’m guessing the population cap was lowered, which means lower scaling and making it easier to carry. I remember like 20+ people, where 5-10 would lay there dead on the viscount after ignoring the mechanic (example).

Chiccotot.7296:

Nowadays, the viscount can be soloed.

It was always soloable and it was never a challenge to do so. I remember soloing it faster than the average zerg of dead and low dps, so I would usually head there early to get it down to half by the time they showed up.

Unless I’ve been lucky with dead maps, the population cap seems to have been halved. Less people on the lich means less of the deadly retaliation adds. Personally, it seemed the same, just with less health. People being spread out and spawning retaliation everywhere was the only the problem in the past. When people stacked and mowed down the adds as they spawned, before they could gain retaliation, it was easy.

It’s no surprise that they’d nerf them however. They could take a while with a zerg of low levels and 1 button spammers.

What they need to fix is scaling. The doors are great example, where by zerging them, you can easily get 10x the loot with no risk. Scaled events shouldn’t spawn additional enemies or higher ranks (champions), at least not any that drop loot. DR is simply normalizing the end rewards, where zerging just reaches them much faster.

If they changed the karka’s armor mechanic to a break bar, it’d likely be far worse. They’d essentially have double their armored health and a very high, but slow to replenish break bar that would permanently increase damage.

For BF, they could have blown open access from VB. For EB, they could allow you to use the console in TD to access the gate. Alternatively, they could also do something like the original ship to Southsun by having an airship master in LA that will travel to all these places. As for the story, it’s considered to play out live regardless of if you participate.

If they were going to fix AB, they probably would have done so months ago. Wait until they start balancing around the new price. Legendary armor will probably require a few thousand ectos. They need to fix the actual problems involved, which have been around since day 1: rewarding leechers and instance hopping to farm the same things over and over.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Policy-on-the-LFG-Tool/4768699

Archranis.2375:

I would think that accepting volunteered tips is fine, but to sell a spot in a group seems to be a way to make money in the game without playing the game.

You can sell whatever you want as long as it’s all within the game.

It has nothing to do with HoT. Many of the post-launch (2012) recipes are like that; celestial, sinister, zealot for example. They were designed to keep you playing.

Najten.2418:

And from my experience no matter how many people join the map after it’s been set to close.

It’s because it’s not about that map, the map that has to filled is the one it wants you to join.

Considering the problem is player made and the only way you’re really going to encounter it is if you don’t use the automated system as intended, it’s rather unlikely that they’d bother changing it.

They probably seem like they have a lot of health, but against one of the higher damage builds, they don’t. There are a few gimmick enemies however, some of which you’re meant to avoid, like the patched abomination, and others with mechanics to cause increased damage.

Ectos were going to go down regardless since HoT made them far more common. When they changed map contribution rewards to event rewards, I was seeing rares everywhere, easily doubling the amount I normally obtained.

As a simple fix for map hopping, put a cooldown on joining maps, like 10 minutes, though it should be more like 1 hour to prevent node hopping.

Rename Gw2Setup.exe to Gw2.exe, place it wherever you’d like to install the game, such as C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\Gw2.exe, then right click Gw2.exe and run it as an administrator.

Laptop? There’s a problem with some dual-GPU laptops where it has trouble selecting the proper, dedicated GPU. It became more of a problem when GW2 forced the 64-bit client, since some switching software is based on filenames. There’s another problem which causes it to blink during loading, which can be resolved by disabling v-sync and using windowed or fullscreen windowed. Upgraded to Windows 10 on a laptop? Laptops are specialized, so there’s a good chance of bad drivers.

If you get random black screens, where GW2 is actually black and you can alt-tab back to Windows, there’s a problem with some routers where a certain packet gets blocked, which causes GW2 to go black.

If the screen actually turns off, your graphics drivers are crashing.

Assuming you’ve been switched to the 64-bit client, you can go back to 32-bit by using the option: Gw2.exe -32

It’s the sharing feature of GeForce Experience (stream/record/shadowplay)

Access the sharing/shadowplay settings (GFE3: alt+z) -> overlays -> status indicators -> off