Guild Wars 2

Coulter.2315:

Iason Evan.3806:

The best solution is this:

• Allow players a way to turn skill point scrolls into Hero Points

• Players that don’t want to do this don’t have to and therefore can take part in this new progression system

• Players that don’t want to have to go earn stuff they have already earned can use their skill points for hero points

This would allow everyone to play the game how they want to play it.

The new system is not optional xD Its the foundation of the whole specialisation progression.

And that is precisely why there are players that don’t agree with it. There are tons of us that want the progression to be as open-ended as possible. That’s the heart of this game to me. I used to be able to ask:

“How do I want to earn progress today out of the myriad options I have for earning progress in this awesome game?”
“PvP?” “WvW?” “Event Chains?” “Hearts?” “Dungeons?” “Personal Story?” “Living World Content?”

Where are the options with the new system? Where’s the Guild Wars Twosy-ness in this progression? It’s being replaced by Mastery System gating and Hero Point gating. It’s watering down creativity in the traits. See that boss over there? You don’t have enough mastery points to kill it yet. Better go grind out some mastery points so you can actually do the thing you want to do.

You know what I say to that noise?

No thanks.

The best solution is this:

• Allow players a way to turn skill point scrolls into Hero Points

• Players that don’t want to do this don’t have to and therefore can take part in this new progression system

• Players that don’t want to have to go earn stuff they have already earned can use their skill points for hero points

This would allow everyone to play the game how they want to play it.

It should have happened sooner and it also should have happened in like 4-5 stages. Now I just want it finished and never destroyed or worked on again. I want all map work to be in wholly new maps from now on.

Remember during the announcement for HoT at PAX South when Mike and Colin came out on stage? Remember the wild screams of joy from the audience when he said there wasn’t a level cap increase? What if he had said, “Oh, and if you have lots of alts you are gonna have to go out and earn some progression again. Those skill point scrolls we gave you that you like because you can do stuff on one character and earn progression for another character? You can’t use those on your Revenant.”

He wouldn’t have gotten many cheers for that.

Skill splits……………This change would be great for PvE. For PvP and WvW? This is awful.

Right after the HoT announcement, I went out and grinded a bunch of skill point scrolls to go along with the metric ton of leveling tomes. I got more than enough so that I would have a level 80 Revenant with all of the skills unlocked. All of that has been completely done away with. Sure, I can use the tomes and that part is great.

All ArenaNet would need to do for WvW or PvE players to honor time already put into character progression is allow us a way to convert skill points to hero points. That’s it. The issue is they don’t want us to level like we used to be able to level. Before, I could earn tomes and scrolls in PvE whilst playing say, my Mesmer. Then I could use said items on a new Thief if I wanted to. All that bathwater is being thrown out with the baby. We don’t get to progress like we want to anymore and it’s a shame. The poor communication on the subject is a shame as well. All they had to say with the announcement to HoT was that the system was changing. “Don’t run out and try to level like you have been leveling for months. We are changing the system.” That simple announcement would have saved me hours of progression.

If ArenaNet wanted to do right by the veteran community that has spent countless hours earning progression via earning skill point scrolls and myriad other forms of progression they would give us a way to convert skill point scrolls to hero points.

The thing is, I don’t have faith this system will be any better than the Trait system debacle. And why should I? They want to limit progression and arbitrarily gate content. It’s disheartening to see a game I adore go the way of cookie cutter MMO mechanics in the form of playing how they want me to play as opposed to how this game was when it came out and allowing me to play the way I want.

I’ve said my piece on the issue and I also don’t appreciate the rude comments I have had in here(sincere thanks to people that added to the conversation though that weren’t rude)and it is really lame that this thread has had zero dev response.

You are taking away tons of progression and only allowing me to turn it into a currency for the Mystic Forge? What happened to options? Please reconsider allowing us to turn our hard work(aka I already earned the skill points and I should get to spend them on unlocking skills when the x-pac comes out)and aren’t even allowing us to apply it to our account’s progression. It’s backwards design.

Hey, ArenaNet: The communication on this front with these types of concerns is disgruntling. How’s this going to affect us? There is a precedent set with the previous trait system as well and it didn’t go so well. I hope you can see why this gives players pause and cause for concern. Whether or not you do see that it gives us pause is also irrelevant. It should be communicated so that we can take proper steps on how we as players want to proceed with our characters that we have already earned progression on.

Solori.6025:

Iason Evan.3806:

Solori.6025:

Iason Evan.3806:

I see in the blog post that, and I quote from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/updating-your-wallet/ , “Any scrolls of knowledge that you have in your possession will automatically be converted to spirit shards, and any source that used to award scrolls of knowledge will now grant spirit shards.”

When I was still playing I had spent many, many hours farming skill point scrolls specifically for my Revenant. Is all that time spent getting skill points for my Revenant wasted time? If so, I am pretty ticked. If not, then no harm no foul. I put time into getting those.

They annouced the skill point change maybe a month or two ago.

SO yes, skill point scrolls wont be a thing, hero points are the future.

As far as you being ticked..

Read the blogs next time?
I dunno what to tell you besides that really :I

Like I said, I quit playing. Wasn’t paying too much attention. I farmed those months ago. They should have said that skill points would not be viable to use for the Rev back then to prevent this kind of thing. I was putting time into acquiring these preemptively. When vets have little to nothing new to do at the current time they spend time doing things prior to changes. I put my time into getting my Revenant where I wanted it to be and it’s really disappointing that my time isn’t being honored.

LOL if only the world worked that way.
It’s not fair that you spent time for something that changes.
It’s almost like things change and they never ask your permission.

I mean, people should honor the time you spent, doing everything.

I drove to work this morning, I should be compensated for taking the time out of my life to make it to a place of business that wouldn’t function without me.
I demand that A-net write new legislation to make employers pay employees mileage for the trips they make to and from work.

Apples and oranges comparisons. ArenaNet used to be very good about progression coming in many forms. Skill point scrolls were put in the game so that you could earn them on one character and then use them on your whole account. It’s not like I am asking for something that was never a thing. I am asking to be able to use these on a new character(Rev.)just like I always have.

Thanks for your rude tone and dismissive comments though. They are adding a ton to the discussion.

While I appreciate everyone’s opinion on the subject(I also appreciate some people’s attitudes more than others)the main draw for me with this game was having multiple ways to do things. I could level with exploration. Or with dungeons. Or with open world events. Or other ways. Taking away the ability to play the game how I want is really limiting. I spent a really good chunk of time doing this. I think my opinion is valid that this chunk of time I spent doing what I did to earn skill point scrolls shouldn’t be brushed aside.

We should be able to choose if we want to keep the skill point scrolls we earned previously instead of them automatically being converted. I don’t think having options like that is too much to ask for.

Solori.6025:

Iason Evan.3806:

I see in the blog post that, and I quote from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/updating-your-wallet/ , “Any scrolls of knowledge that you have in your possession will automatically be converted to spirit shards, and any source that used to award scrolls of knowledge will now grant spirit shards.”

When I was still playing I had spent many, many hours farming skill point scrolls specifically for my Revenant. Is all that time spent getting skill points for my Revenant wasted time? If so, I am pretty ticked. If not, then no harm no foul. I put time into getting those.

They annouced the skill point change maybe a month or two ago.

SO yes, skill point scrolls wont be a thing, hero points are the future.

As far as you being ticked..

Read the blogs next time?
I dunno what to tell you besides that really :I

Like I said, I quit playing. Wasn’t paying too much attention. I farmed those months ago. They should have said that skill points would not be viable to use for the Rev back then to prevent this kind of thing. I was putting time into acquiring these preemptively. When vets have little to nothing new to do at the current time they spend time doing things prior to changes. I put my time into getting my Revenant where I wanted it to be and it’s really disappointing that my time isn’t being honored.

I see in the blog post that, and I quote from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/updating-your-wallet/ , “Any scrolls of knowledge that you have in your possession will automatically be converted to spirit shards, and any source that used to award scrolls of knowledge will now grant spirit shards.”

When I was still playing I had spent many, many hours farming skill point scrolls specifically for my Revenant. Is all that time spent getting skill points for my Revenant wasted time? If so, I am pretty ticked. If not, then no harm no foul. I put time into getting those.

A good question. How is this going to work?

It’d be nice to get a light, medium, and heavy armor set that we could earn for doing in game stuff every once in a while. I am not in any way against the gem shop stuff. Some of it I love and purchase. 2 times a year would be great. I don’t think asking for 2 sets of armor per year that we can earn in game is asking too much. We got the last few pieces early this year to finish off the 2 SW sets and then, nada y pues y pues nada.

Not getting stuff to play the game for doesn’t make me want to open up my wallet. The best way to get me to open my wallet is release content and store stuff to go along with said content. You guys are dropping the ball big time.

Donari.5237:

I don’t see this outfit being IC for any of my alts except the one who constantly gets jobs that make him dress strangely.

I can’t say as I understand what you are saying.

If Guardian can be Ranger without pet, Ranger can be Ranger without pet too.

Ranger pets have the same issue. AoE kills them though and they’ve never addressed things like the Mai Trin fractal fight where there are zero enemies to kill but the whole floor is on fire. Instant death for pets and they never even accounted for it in their design. After the gaffe was brought to their attention they still ignored it.

So instead of giving Rangers the ability to permanently stow the pet, they give Guardian a longbow and traps and call it a day.

it has taken them so long to do anything about this. at this point i don’t even want to come back even if they do ever address it. they may have done things here and there about matchmaking since the game came out, but it sure doesn’t feel or look like it.

Skill splits………………………….

MattyP.6954:

Iason Evan.3806:

In response to Part 1 section 1: Racial differences may be cool but the bigger issue is that it breaks being able to roll a character exactly like you want. Want a tankier character? Have to roll a Norn for their “beefy” inherent racial stats. A thief or Mesmer? Have to do Sylvari for their “natural camo” abilities. You should be able to roll any race/profession combo you want.

ArenaNet’s system for this is way better because you don’t have everyone on the same race/prof combos. I get wanting it to be that way, but then the same argument can be made. Why not just have only 1 race and you can roll any profession you want and not be at a disadvantage because you wanted a Charr Thief but weren’t getting that 5% racial stealth bonus that Sylvari got and now no dungeon PUG will take you?

No thanks

I’m actually mixed on this. I can see completely your sentiment on forcing certain professions to take certain races in order to be viable, but I’ve always wished that, for purely lore reasons, your decision of what race to play was more important.

Just as a random example: The Charr supposedly distrust all spellcasters, and part of there beef with the Flame Legion surrounds their use of magic, but they’re perfectly cool with a Charr necromancer heading up a warband, representing a legion to outside groups, and palling around with the Tribunes of the various legions. It doesn’t make sense in the context of the world they created, but it’s a situation where gameplay and story came into conflict, and story won.

Using WoW as an example (which I am actually loathe to do, b/c GW2 is so superior, IMHO), the various races have bonuses and are restricted from playing certain classes, but the bonuses didn’t prevent people from playing all available classes on any of the particular races (in that you can see Orc Warlocks, Warriors, Rogues, etc in end game raids). I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to implement something similar in GW2, but whether it’s worth sacrificing a small amount of gameplay utility for a small amount of additional story cohesion considering is definitely an open question.

The other reason being that armor sets for certain races have had very mixed results. If the same attention to detail were given to Charr armor sets as human sets it would be a tad different. Being coerced into rolling a certain profession because of inherent stats would end up putting a damper on some people’s time with the races they were pointed towards with certain professions.

I overall find it refreshing in this game to not have cookie cutter bonuses to races. I want the race I want with the profession I want on equal ground with all the other race/prof combos. Full stop.

In response to Part 1 section 1: Racial differences may be cool but the bigger issue is that it breaks being able to roll a character exactly like you want. Want a tankier character? Have to roll a Norn for their “beefy” inherent racial stats. A thief or Mesmer? Have to do Sylvari for their “natural camo” abilities. You should be able to roll any race/profession combo you want.

ArenaNet’s system for this is way better because you don’t have everyone on the same race/prof combos. I get wanting it to be that way, but then the same argument can be made. Why not just have only 1 race and you can roll any profession you want and not be at a disadvantage because you wanted a Charr Thief but weren’t getting that 5% racial stealth bonus that Sylvari got and now no dungeon PUG will take you?

No thanks

Total slip of the tongue and watching Grouch’s expression, he didn’t catch the slip at all. This summer makes sense anyways since original launch was Aug. 28th. In the past they have released other titles that were on the same dates as prior releases.

People make mistakes. We all knew the game was coming soon anyways. This isn’t that big of a deal unless you thought the game was coming out next year. In which case, don’t ever become a professional prognosticator.

I loved how cold the statement, “…how we monetize the players” came out though. Marketing dude just sees us a $ signs.

The only thing I gathered from that image is that there are people on these forums that will get overly emotional once the actual reveal happens and it’s not what they wanted it to be.

I think mechanics like this work better in short bursts, but not as map-wide implementations that act as a mechanic for a whole zone.

I love the darkness in that JP in the mists. It’s awesome. Would I want a map to function similarly like that every time it was night? No thanks.

To further compound that, it seems you will need more than one set of gear as well at all times. What I mean by this is that if one legend isn’t complimented by a set of armor but these other two legends are it will lead to people only running two legends that go with their gear or they will have to carry multiple sets of armor. Because we can’t switch armor during combat and now with stats all being tied to armor it’s going to be a frustration.

I can see myself saying, “Man I really like this one legend, but it doesn’t go with the others. I guess I won’t run it because it would need it’s own set of armor and I would only be able to run it exclusively.”

I sincerely hope there are builds we can use that don’t use a legend as an Elite skill. They really should have an Elite or two that doesn’t use a legend so that if there is a legend or two that don’t go with another legend it won’t matter because you can take one of those elites that isn’t a legend. My two cents.

I haven’t read most of this so where does it stand? Mostly for or against the name? I don’t think it goes with the profession at all. It should be changed to something that invokes thoughts of the base class in a more focused way. Dragon hunter in no way evokes thoughts of what a Guardian stands for or does.

lordkrall.7241:

Beta Weekend Event != closed beta.

I feel like you are selling short what some of us are saying. Would Johnny have done 12 hours of SW farming for a key had he known it was only a few 2-hour blocks on a day he couldn’t participate? I only want to express that they could have communicated a bit better what exactly this whole thing entailed.

If we are helping ArenaNet out immensely with the data they collect from these events, the least they can do is let us know if trying to RNG one of these things fits in with our schedule.

ArenaNet has set precedent before by offering long betas. I don’t think it’s the fault of the player base for assuming that spending what could amount to many hours trying to get one of these things to drop could and should result in many hours of being able to test the new beta.

All ArenaNet had to do was tell everyone how much time players would get in HoT to test the beta for. Players could then decide if it was worth their time or even if they would be able to be on at the time given for the beta.

ArenaNet could and should have communicated this better. Putting players down in this thread for “whining” or plain old complaining is selling those players short. ArenaNet did a shoddy job of explaining exactly what was occurring. I for one am immensely glad that I have no desire to play in any of the beta content. I want to see the game fresh when it comes out. I am burnt out on the content we were supposed to play ad nauseam to get a chance to help ArenaNet out with their game. I would have been livid had I spent hours in a zone I am tired of playing and failed to get a portal, or gotten one and realized I would be at work that entire time.

lordkrall.7241:

Or maybe people should stop thinking about betas as preview events and accept that they are actual tests and as such doing short burst is logical and makes sense?

It’s actually fair for people to want this. These test times are very specific. People should know if they want to try for one of these to see if it jibes with their real life schedules. Also, with such limited time frames, it’s very possible a lot of people spent more time in game trying to get one of these than they actually will get to spend in the beta itself.

LA! You know, like when we did Pavilion 2.0 a year ago and donated gold to hobo-tron for the rebuilding of LA and it’s now been under construction longer than it hasn’t for the lifespan of the game? Now, it’s in a secondary phase of rebuilding and it will be fixed in a few months.

Maybe.

Even though they already said it was being rebuilt a year ago in Pavilion 2.0. Now, it’s got new buildings in the process of being built and those will be there for a few months. Then it will be fully rebuilt after that.

ArenaNet: Instead of doing map work on maps that already exist: Can we please get new maps with stuff to do in them? Thanks.

Having to repeat progression or re-earn it is dumb. Unless they can figure out a way to dole this stuff out to people that WvW exclusively they shouldn’t go through with it like this. Full stop.

This is where the glaring design flaw in the game comes to light. They want everyone to be able to play together so they want the bulk of the content to take place in the open world. It’s great on paper, but most of the events go down exactly as the OP states.

How exactly can the design team make content that stays interesting over the course of the game’s lifespan?

Dungeons have done the same thing. You get used to them and they become trivial exercises in fastest clear possible.

I think procedurally generating dungeon maps could be a viable way to keep it interesting. Same goes for open world boss events or having events get harder each time they are successfully completed.

The easiest way to bypass this would be to release content in the same cadence as it was released in GW1. There was a lot of really good permanent content in those 3 games and 1 x-pac.

All content going forward needs to be permanent. So much really good temporary content from season 1 and 2(and holidays) is just gone and it’s a shame.

PvP isn’t going to get better. Not only are pugs still going to queue with premades, now you will have to vote between Conquest or the new mode, “Stronghold”. That’s right, you could end up on a pug, playing a format you don’t want to play in a map you don’t like against a premade. Add to that the fact that people that haven’t bought the x-pac could be on your team without access to the elite specs which so far to me look just a tad better than their regular spec cousins. I could be way off on that in the end with the elite specs, but it’s a moot point. All that other stuff can and will happen from time to time. Wanna queue up for some Conquest before work? Not before getting 3 straight stronghold matches due to it being the new hotness and more people than not wanting to play it.

I really wish we were voting on names that had pictures to accompany the choices. Like, assets were present in the pics to give an idea of the aesthetic. This is like when people post mods for Skyrim or Oblivion but offer no pics to see what you are downloading. I am sure the town you created outside Whiterun is awesome, but I’d like to see the architecture choices. “Aerodrome” screams Aetherblade or Zephyrite to me which I don’t think flows with LA at all. If I am wrong, well at least you can see where my confusion could be justified. If nothing has been decided on yet, then maybe wait until assets are in place to go with the naming conventions so we can see what we are voting on.

I love the idea with voting. It’s great you are giving us agency, but as it stands now it’s like being on that old game show with Monte Hall where we are given mystery choices behind door 1, 2, or 3.

Little known fact: “Grandmaster Faster” was my rap name in the 80’s.

Hopefully it just keeps working in favor of ArenaNet’s bottom line and not in favor of the players getting enjoyment form the loot they get.

It’s either that or they can take over a year to address this. The RNG in this game is a debacle.

I think both sides of this argument are valid. A lot of the content added has been removed. I don’t think the scope of this x-pac will be all that great in terms of content either. There is a substantial amount of content being added that you get to play without paying for the x-pac. I can’t wait to hear people chalk up the new WvW borderlands map and new pvp mode as being “x-pac content”.

I adore this game, but there hasn’t been a ton of permanent content released over the course of 3 years. Lots of features. Lots of temporary content. Very few maps. Very little story when you look at how little has been added in 3 years. I think iteration has been emphasized a tad too much with this game and it meanders in and out of different types of content too much and doesn’t really know what it wants to be or do.

The initial release of this game though is an amazing piece of work. It’s astounding really. I think the content that was released afterwards has been sparse and wildly varying in terms of breadth and quality though. For every great piece of temporary content they have released there are arguably equal amounts of poorly done content too.

I have to say I am confused at linking Razah with Revenants. I do however share your desire to see Razah in GW2 since he is one of a handful of beings that could actually still be around. ArenaNet has hadnled the inclusion of characters that could be around quite poorly. Yeah, you wanna make a game that stands on its own, but to me the greater lore of the franchise is more important. Characters like Razah help to tie things together.

I wouldn’t hold my breath though. The story in this series unfolds way too slowly for my tastes. We are 3 years into the game and we still haven’t seen any actual Livia yet. Like confirmed Livia talkin to my character, “Hey! I’m Livia!” type stuff. She is way more important to the overall story and we’ve seen nothing. Razah may never show up and it would be a shame.

Phoenix.1370:

Arnath.2319:

Meanwhile Dragon Hunters get a glove.

Not gloves. Glove. A single glove on one hand.

Yet another reason why Dragon Hunters suck.

SighDuck…

Not seen the glove you speak of, but assuming I am correct chances are it will be a brace/armguard, and by your mockery of it, I assume you have never done archery irl, more often than not a brace is only used on 1 arm/wrist when used with a bow.

Some people use 2, but I use 1, it depends on the person. I quite like the idea, would suit both my guardian and my ranger.

Make sure when you do your archery that you always have a pet nearby too. You can’t do the archeries without a pet.

The look of the Reaper and the animations of the skills are all top notch and fit with the base profession. The issue I have with it is that in PvP, they are gonna get hammered. IDK about WvW because I don’t play WvW, but everything is molasses with them and that just doesn’t work in this game for PvP.

Dragon Hunter doesn’t fit as a name with the base profession, but I think that spec will have a definite place in the game as far as the combat goes.

Chronomancer seems the best all the way around. It fits with its base profession and will be totally viable.

Juba.8406:

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Warrior – they’ll probs get some elementalist skills. A minion of some form would be the first and most obvious possibility for the warrior, since he’s the only profession that has absolutely no minions of any kind.

deleting my warrior if that happens.

as opposed to just never using them? reaction is a tad over the top.

They were gonna go with the name, “Dark Emo Death Blade Wielder” but got gun shy after the DH naming debacle.

This really fits with the them of the profession. I like it a lot.

Does this mean we will see a profession or two have anti-shouts like “Well of Silence” or “Ulcerous Lungs” in GW1?
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Well_of_Silence
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ulcerous_Lungs
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cacophony

Even when the expansion comes out it will be novel only for a few weeks. It’s all jungle all the time. Sure, you get little variations to the scenery, but there is no tundra, no ocean, no volcano, no desert, etc. I am glad they say there will be a ton to do. I really am. With how long this expansion is taking to make though, how tired of the jungle will I be until the next x-pac though.

Part of the allure of an x-pac is getting a ton of new areas to explore replete with different climates to mix it up. Neither of these is happening.

They will get tough love. It’s the only love they deserve.

Dragon Slayer.

I am concerned about the new utilities. They are awesome, but signets are not. Signets need to be fixed for Guardian. You are paring build options down and leaving useless skills in the mix. For PvP this is a real concern. People that don’t buy the x-pac are still possible team mates. If you don’t buff utilities for base classes, I want a separate queue from people that don’t buy the x-pac. I literally don’t want them on my team.

You guys are walking a really dangerous line with these Elite Specs. The new skills are way better than the old stuff and it’s going to create a real division in the playerbase especially since the new PvP maps don’t require purchase of HoT.

While I don’t like the name at all(but appreciate Jon taking the time to explain)I am more concerned with the fact that Signets for Guardian are still really bad and they have added a whole new line of utilities that are far superior in every way to signets. Please bring viable builds to the mix and make all utilities viable.

August 28th, 2015. Preorders get 3 day head start and it will coincide with an Anniversary event that will see Lion’s Arch rebuilt and a sale on the base game.

This is the first MMO where I honestly have enjoyed playing all the professions. Usually there is a class or two in an MMO that you don’t really care for. Not so for me with this game. Most of the time I don’t even identify with having a main.

That being said, Elementalist is by far the most versatile profession in the game. It’s not even a contest.