Guild Wars 2

Menadena.7482:

It is not Marjory’s sword though?

Right, it’s Belinda’s Greatsword.

Lockon.5312:

So basically its money grab all over again…

Gemstore skins work like any other skin in the game: one free use; future uses require a transmutation charge. As noted above, charges aren’t hard to come by.

tl;dr not a bug, not a “money grab” (or at least, no more so than the rest of the wardrobe)

CrassBippy.4619:

why…. do… you have… the same… classes….. multiple… times ugh. How is that fun? 3 necromancers for no reason? they could all be 1. My brain hurts just trying to understand the logic behind this

• Some people like to role play, which means fitting the prof|race|etc to the character, not to the player — easy to end up with 12 guardians (well, not for me — just for some hardcore RPers).
• Some people like to level up and end up with lots of toons. Since there are (currently) only eight profs, overlap can’t be avoided.
• Some people like to have multiples for farming purposes, e.g. I know some people who had 3 guardians just for farming Orr, so that they spent as little time as possible under the effects of DR.
• Some like to have multiples for different roles. For example, one for dungeon running and one for farming. I use some L80s parked near my favorite chain events and/or world bosses.
• Going forward, I imagine some people will like to have to have doubles, so they can run the elite spec and swap to core specs, without having to re-gear.

tl;dr one player’s “fun” is another player’s “illogic” — try not to worry so much about what other people enjoy.

Sylum.1806:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Even if “the rest of [your] internet access is fine,” it still could be an ISP or backbone problem, just one that shows up for GW2 and none of the other sites people you know happen to use.

Make it easy on ANet to do troubleshoot:

• Create a support ticket and provide them with tracert data (they’ll walk you through how to do this if you don’t already know).
• If possible, confirm that your ISP does not deliberately throttle certain content. (Comcast in the US has been known to do this and, let’s say, make misleading statements about the practice.)

Thanks, can you explain “tracert” data? And the lag happened at once to players across different ISPs and different countries. They all just happened to be in the South-east asian region. That several ISPs can simultaneously coordinate throttling of specific content seems rather unlikely.

• Using tracert
• For your target IP, using gw2status.de, pick any of the Auth-Server Europa (unless part of NA, in which case, choose from “Nordamerika”. (Better still, try to find out which one you are connected to, via network connections control panel).
• Include that information in your support ticket.

Roundabout.1752:

Useful site isitdownrightnow.com.

That won’t help unless you know the IPs or names of all the servers you might connect to for playing GW2.

PopeUrban.2578:

runeblade.7514:

How about instead, if players get stronger when stacked. So do mobs.

Each mob brings their own boons to share and/or their own CC. If they stack with one of mob, they use it.

A enemy Ascalon Monk can give boons to every mob. A warrior can give block effects to everyone. A Necromancer can drop a well of darkness.

I really like this idea. Seems logical, counterable, and if it’s confined to instances it wouldn’t break open world zergfest content.

More synergies between/among mobs would be good. (The mordremoth do this a bit, as did some of the foes in Guild Wars Beyond — for example, Mordrem Menders heal other mordrem, making them really annoying if not killed early.)

You can get Abyss, but not Celestial.

• Abyss can drop from the LA Rebuild and LA Survivor’s Kits. So you could choose it or one of the more expensive colors from one of the other kits.
• Celestial doesn’t drop from any of the kits accessible via the Celebratory kit. (Which is coincidentally why it’s now the most expensive color from the original set of dyes.)

The Celebratory kit offers choices from most of the limited edition dye kits (with the Shadow kit being the sole exception) or any of the Zephyrite swatches (currently limited to blues, greens, reds, and yellows — purples, oranges, browns, and “greys” don’t have a swatch).

Per dom.2748 and BrettM.9062, I kitten ed on this. (I’m striking it out rather than deleting it, for others who might have this question.)

ANet uses multiple servers. According to gw2status.de, nearly all of them are up at the moment.

Internet issues are often more complicated these days than simply checking if your ISP or the destination ISP/server is up.

edit: link fix

RoseofGilead.8907:

Go buy the tier 1 chest. That is almost always the missing one because most people get that skin by completing the level 20 personal story; unlocking it that way doesn’t count towards the achievement.

The wiki mentions that skins unlocked through the PS won’t count; it doesn’t include Rose’s helpful tip that it’s the torso/chest piece.

Even if “the rest of [your] internet access is fine,” it still could be an ISP or backbone problem, just one that shows up for GW2 and none of the other sites people you know happen to use.

Make it easy on ANet to troubleshoot:

• Create a support ticket and provide them with tracert data (they’ll walk you through how to do this if you don’t already know).
• If possible, confirm that your ISP does not deliberately throttle certain content. (Comcast in the US has been known to do this and, let’s say, make misleading statements about the practice.)

Skythe.2915:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Is there any chance that you might already have used the clay pot? Or could have sold it? (You can check your TP history, using the API-validated sites or in-game.)

I definitely didnt auction it away, and for the other possibilites see the initial post. None of those is technically possible afaik.

---

Support now send me a new pot since they were able to “verify the acquisition of the Clay Pot”.

I asked them if they knew what had happened and they told me the item got “discarded” somehow.
Quote:

To clarify an item discarded can be the following reasons: salvaged, deleted, sold to a vendor. Pretty much getting rid of the item.

Since Clay Pots cant be salvaged or sold to a vendor, only plain evil destruction remains. I’m pretty possitive I didnt right-click my only clay pot, choose “Destroy” and confirm that action by accident. I’m not on drugs. So I guess it was a bug, or the pot got lost in one of the recent disconnects. We’ll never know.

Well, I’m glad you got a replacement regardless of the reasons. (Although had it happened to me, I would have preferred the opposite: finding out what happened to the pot, since that is easy-enough to replace. Then again, that’s my particular compulsion — to understand why stuff happens.)

The forum technology prevents a lot of useful changes. ANet would have to contract out to a new third party for a new forum. (Of course, I’d like that for a variety of reasons; I just don’t see it happening soon, since it’s a significant expense and requires ANet personnel to be reassigned from their current tasks.)

Jaxom.7310:

so, my small guild ~5 is trying to figure out what we can do in HoT together. They mentioned fractals will be revamped. so maybe that.

i kno we can’t do guild hall, thats for ~15+ guilds

can’t do raids, thats 10 members

most are carebears, so pvp and wvw is out.

is all we have to look for is adventures (dynamic events?) and 1 time story events?

The entire game is suitable for “small groups.” There is hardly any content in the game that is designed for large groups.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

But with all these additions, GW2 starts to feel way less unique, and that’s the part that sort of irks me.

I’m not sure why you feel that way. Things in GW2 might be parallel to that in other game. However nearly all of them have the ANet stamp of design. Raids exist because there is a certain type of player who wants extraordinarily-challenging, group content — there are only so many ways to deliver that. There’s no point in reinventing a wheel, especially if you can decide to make it out of sustainable, premium materials, instead of cheap, non-renewables.

In other words, don’t get too caught up in superficial similarities. Focus on the gameplay. (Of course, you might still find that GW2 is becoming more like WoW.)

BrokenGlass.9356:

First, before I propose anything, I have to sat, I just don’t like stacking.

I think there’s no problem to resolve, when the first paragraph begins with “I just don’t like…” instead of “here’s why it’s bad for the game and the community.” Lots of people “don’t like” that rangers can’t perma-stow pets or that mesmer damage requires illusions. However, that’s how the game was designed and balanced, so it’s beholden on those proposing a change to discuss why it hurts the game.

As has been mentioned numerous times, there always will be some sort of optimal strategy. Right now, that happens to be stacking. And the reasons for that are varied (foe AI, range for buffs and especially combos, …), so any response to adjusting it will also have to be varied. “Cramped” or “claustrophobia” as defined by the OP is a mechanic to punish those using the optimal strategy; it doesn’t address the various reasons that stacking is beneficial.

tl;dr first establish that there’s an issue for the game, not for any particular individual. Then make sure that the adjustment accounts for the root causes, rather than addresses the symptoms.

edit: context

SkiTz.4590:

Tier 1 servers and BAGgate are probably going to be full and remain full throughout the coming days….Theres little to no chance your friend will make it in to BAGgate..

BG is a tier 1 server. This week, Yak’s Bend of T2 was randomly assigned to a T1 match-up and BG assigned to T2. This has been a possibility for several weeks now; this is just the first time it happened. Tiers are assigned by ANet on the basis of rank and only the top three are in T1. Currently all T1 servers have a “rating” of 2100 or more; YB has 2079 and FA/SoS have ~1850.

Alternatively, one could argue that YB is T1.5, since its rating is closer to the three technically T1 servers than to the technically T2 worlds. Either way, BG is still a T1 world and will be more likely to be fighting TC & JQ again next week than YB is. (At least for now.)

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Spinal bladers is ARMOR!

Spinal blades are backpacks. They share characteristics with armor and with trinkets (although they do not share much with weapons, as the OP implied):

• Armor-qualities: breakable, can be reskinned.
• Trinket-qualities: appears in trinket slot, uses similar upgrades (doubloons|gemstones, not runes).

Are you saying that you believe that the original design was that the skritt and the centaurs were supposed to randomly, sometimes attack two different camps?

I think there are other possibilities:

• There was no specific design. It’s an accident of camp locations, geography, and NPC AI/pathing.
• The specific design was for both groups to attack the same camp.

Trilogy includes the three “campaigns” which are stand-alone games: Prophecies (i.e. Vanilla GW), Factions, and Nightfall. You can get any one of those and play to completion.

GotY includes Prophecies only (so you can play it all the way through) and some starter items, including the igneous summoning stone — that last one is worth a few bucks alone for the convenience during level up (it is a free summons that you can use until max level).

Eye of the North is the only expansion (in the sense of requiring a base game). You can only play it if you own Proph, Fact, or NF. It is also the bit you need to link your accounts, as it provides access to the Hall of Monuments and the relevant GW2 rewards.

If money isn’t an object, I’d get Trilogy + “Platinum” (if steam offers it — it’s Proph + GotY + EotN). That gets you everything, plus some convenience items.

If you only want to link accounts and get some HoM rewards, I’d find a package with any one of the stand-alones + HotN. Factions is considered to be the shortest campaign, Prophecies the longest with extra skins suitable for the HoM, and Nightfall includes extra heroes, which help when you can’t find others to team with.

PS you can find more information about the various GW products on the GW1 wiki, e.g.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars:_Game_of_the_Year_Edition

nehezbegar.1065:

Check movies from Gamescom 2010 and 2011, there used to be over 600 hearts

The game didn’t exist in 2010 or 2011, so no, there didn’t “use to be over 600 hearts”.

Nelzaki.3062:

Just curious, “Will the oceanic region ever get their own oceanic server or will we always have to use the US servers?”

It’s extremely unlikely.

• Servers are specific to regions, which are tied to specific data centers → ANet would have to contract with a local company to house the data center and hire local staff (for emergencies, if not for managing updates and security).
• Megaservers are region-wide only, so WvW would require a minimum of 3 servers. Further, that would be it for PvE and PvP, too, limiting the number of players in the local community.
• Latency would obviously drop considerably for people local to the data center. However, where would ANet put it? Oceanic|Asia|Pac includes a lot of countries that are spread out. Korea & Japan would be better off than currently with a Sydney data center, but would it be enough to make the expense worthwhile?
• Finally, would GW2 get many more players to sign up than it does now? I’m guessing not very many.

tl;dr the costs likely outweigh the benefits substantially — and it might introduce more issues than it solves for the Oceanic community.

I don’t really see the issue. There are tons of things that are craftable by only 3/8 of the disciplines, including sigils & runes. Not every craft can refine every kind of basic mat. And nearly anyone who does enough crafting to manage any ascended gear ends up ranking at least one armor prof.

Maybe ANet should have made room for the weapon disciplines to also make a component suitable for forging the ascended spinal blades. However, for whatever reasons they did not. And that information has been readily available on Dulfy, the wiki, and plenty of other websites.

tl;dr I’m not sure why the OP thought there was the possibility of crafting these without r500 in leather, tailor, or armorsmith. I think what’s “not cool” is accusing ANet of dropping the ball.

It’s unclear how many ways there will be to get hero points. We know it’s limited in core, but then again, we don’t need more than we automatically get through leveling.

We know that ANet is treating elite specs as “horizontal progression”, i.e. leveling over instead of up. Thus, we shouldn’t expect that most of us can instantly max an elite spec. On the other hand, ANet is aware that plenty of people have five Level 80s and tons of eight or more; it’s hard to imagine they us to complete most of map completion.

Or at least, that’s my hope — that they learned from how unpleasant it was for us to repeat identical challenges on every toon to unlock traits for the nearly 2 years prior to specialization.

In any case, it’s too soon to cry “foul” — we just don’t have the details.

Just to clarify:

• Outfits are unlock once, use as often as you like (toggle on|off or swap with other outfits). Disadvantage: only 4 dye channels, no mix & match of parts.
• Armor skins are unlock once, pay one transmute charge per change. That goes for each piece of armor (so full set costs 6 charges). Advantage 2-4 dye channels per piece and you can mix & match.

waterlemon.6574:

I see, thanks for doing the research Illconceived.

No problem. Sorry it wasn’t the answer any of us would hope for

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

I dont’ know why the forum won’t let me upvote your post, Illconceived, so I’ll just write here that I really like your idea with displaying browsing items differently from unlocked items (perhaps display them in gray). Good one!

Thanks!

(I only thought of it because of your original suggestion — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally bought a previously-unlocked item and would love an easier way to prevent that.)

Grumwulf.9602:

…the more I think about it the more complicated it seems.

Yeah, that’s why I’m never quick to criticize ANet when they try something and it fails (I am, however, perfectly prepared to give them a hard time about some of the seemingly-easy stuff that borks). Balancing profs, encounters, challenges, and rewards — there are no simple answers.

Still, I’m glad you offered up the idea, because maybe ANet can (or already has) thought of how to implement the principle: offer incentives that encourage bringing newbies, while still leaving the best rewards to those who master the challenges.

pdavis.8031:

So, offering to provide a service to allow someone to gain something without effort and asking for recompense, is appropriate. Helping someone to achieve something they they are unable/struggling to do themselves and asking for money is inappropriate.

That seems like a reasonable rule of thumb. (Although I don’t see that there’s any way to “enforce” such a policy — buyer (and seller) beware.)

Menadena.7482:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Menadena.7482:

There is no reason at all why a system could not exist that would solve both sides of the issue.

You haven’t suggested what such a system would look like: how do you prevent free reign by botters/spammers, without putting serious chat restrictions on Free Accounts?

Actually, I gave a couple of suggestions, I am not sure if I listed them here or in another thread though.

One is a separate channel. Not /map, but some new one. Other new users could use it. Existing users who wanted to help could use it. Everyone else could just not use it.

Another one is to implement a forum that they could use. This would not do for immediate things obviously (look behind you!) but it would allow people to give a thought-out response.

A separate channel is equally open to abuse. If it doesn’t include veterans, then it still offers incentives to spammers, which then defeats the purpose of a /help channel.

I agree that a forum for PfF accounts would be helpful. However, it doesn’t address the issues raised by the OP. (Worse, I’m pretty sure the existing forum technology doesn’t support it.)

Behellagh.1468:

Why pick on yellow creatures?

I try not to Axe that question.

cupcakesandcatnomz.3924:

Back in the day there used to be over 600 heart quests, now it’s half, don’t expect any new ones :’)

According to the wiki

The number of hearts shown on map varied during beta:

: Beta Weekend Event 1 — 232 renown hearts
: Beta Weekend Event 2 — 265 renown hearts
: Beta Weekend Event 3 — 300 renown hearts
: August 2nd stress test — 301 renown hearts
: August 9th stress test — 302 renown hearts
: August 15th stress test — 301 renown hearts

Currently, map completion requires finishing 303 hearts.

bladezero.9470:

…anything, at all, ever.

I feel crafting in Guild Wars 2 is nothing but a chore and a massive time sink/grind wall barring actually interesting content (combat in end game).

If you can give me some measure of assurance that I will be able to better loot ascended level gear, I will buy Heart of Thorns.

I don’t see any reason why you have to get ascended gear. The game is still balanced around Exotics.

• Fractals (up to a certain level) can be easily done with only-ascended trinkets and those can’t be crafted.
• Other content does not require Ascended — player skill (and understanding of game mechanics) matters much, much more.
• The only exception I see for HoT is Raids and we just don’t know enough to know whether it will matter at all, just a little (similar to FotM), or a lot. (Obviously, some Raid groups will insist on Ascended; I don’t plan to raid with those groups though, if I can help it.)

nekretaal.6485’s advice is good. (I was looking for nits to pick and I can’t find any. )

GW1 HoM is also a good choice, especially if you are looking for a change from same-old GW2 stuff. (Disclaimer: I loved GW1 and now I can’t play it any longer — I’ve been spoiled by GW2.)

The downside is you have to buy one campaign (Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall) and the expansion (Eye of the North) and invest a fair bit of time. Also, you’re not going to get all 500 points between now and 23 October. 300 points is doable, if you have friends/guildies donate materials (esp minis) to the cause.

I think the money is a worthwhile investment — many people love the game and play it still. Just remember: it’s a 10-year old co-play game, with none of the bells & whistles (or massively multiplayer features) of GW2.

Sariel V.7024:

That’s insidious.

Moral of the story: leave the hub before you start opening those pvp rewards!

Yup. Ideally, after tackling the Vinewrath in the Silverwastes, so you get the local bonuses.

People like to go after yellows because: people are much less likely to kill yellows than reds, making them more likely to generate massive XP bonuses due to longevity. And of course, technically, they can’t be farmed, since the entire point is go after ones that haven’t been killed recently.

However, if you find the right spots on a map, you can cycle between locations, getting bonus XP each time because enough time has passed before you return.

Everyone has their preferred way of leveling. Some love to use hearts, some map completion, come events, some EotM, some PvP. I try to let each person find their own comfort zone and become as efficient at their method of choice as they can.

It’s random. Your mileage will vary.

Menadena.7482:

There is no reason at all why a system could not exist that would solve both sides of the issue.

You haven’t suggested what such a system would look like: how do you prevent free reign by botters/spammers, without putting serious chat restrictions on Free Accounts?

The only opinion that matters in such cases in ANet’s. If someone thinks you are misusing the LFG took, they should /report you and move on; there’s no value in discussing it (let alone debating it), since the end result will be the same.

IMO, the policy is unclear: ANet has stated it’s only to be used for forming groups, and yet:

1. ANet has stated that forming groups to sell the end of a dungeon path is OK.
2. ANet has stated that forming groups to sell access to a home path or a JP is not OK.

I have trouble understanding why (1) is ok, but (2) is not.

However, I think it’s unlikely that anyone who violates the policy once is going to get permanently kicked from the game — it’s more likely that they’ll get warned (and at worst, be suspended for a few days).

Let’s try not to get hung up on the terminology. “Play for Free” and “Free to Play” are marketing terms that companies can use any way that they choose. “Trial version” is another phrase that can mean just about anything, often depending on whether you are a game producer, a developer, or a player.

waterlemon.6574:

I would think it would use your MF stat since they said pvp boxes are effected by MF

The two mechanics have nothing to do with each other.

• As documented on the wiki , "[a]ll items give zero attribute, rune, sigil, or infusion bonuses in PvP. "
• Your MF is applied to some PvP containers (those that mimic dropped PvE loot).

The second mechanic doesn’t change the first — PvP stats simply ignore your trinkets, including your amulet equipped with MF.

Skythe.2915:

That’s an awesome tip! Thanks a lot!

The API does indeed say there’s no item called ‘clay’ or ‘clay pot’ on any character or the bank. Really weird. It finds other items correctly.

I’ll post what support said if it seems relevant to other people.

Is there any chance that you might already have used the clay pot? Or could have sold it? (You can check your TP history, using the API-validated sites or in-game.)

Regardless, that sounds annoying.

Keep us posted and good luck.

Prophet.6257:

I’m wanting to farm some creatures with Yellow Names around Tyria. Anyone know of a map I could use or just some locations that have an excessive amount of them?

As soon as we tell you, others will start farming them too and it won’t be very efficient. Generally, the best places are corners of the world without popular events. Fields of Ruins, Harathi, Kessex, etc all have areas without world bosses or g-mish and, at least on days when they aren’t part of daily events, have tons of neutrals.

Behellagh.1468:

Yeah, considering how advance (cough) the forum software it. It’s probably all or nothing.

Some days, I’m impressed that the forums still function at all.

Can we all agree that allowing botters unrestricted access to /say and /map would be bad for ANet and bad for the community? Can we also agree that it’s also better for new players if they can ask for help easily?

And can we agree that whatever system ANet develops is going to favor one of those principles at the expense of the other?

There really isn’t an easy way to prevent spamming in real time, especially if accounts are free. That means there’s an added burden on new players who have questions. Maybe that’s a worthwhile tradeoff, maybe it’s a short-sighted one.

However, unless anyone can think of a system that ANet will agree is better and cost effective, I don’t see the status quo changing.

AlliedKhajiit.2794:

Miss Lana Too.5794:

I don’t agree with this. It’s a celebration of your character’s birthday, not a yearly “thanks for buying this character slot”.

Realistically, your character’s birthday isn’t the same day you created it. Otherwise we’d start with little baby characters and all our starting tutorials would be in hospitals as we cry and have our umbilical cords cut off.

It’s a celebration of the anniversary of your character’s creation within the game’s mechanics. It’s not a celebration of the anniversary of your purchase.

There’s no fundamental philosophical reason why one is better than the other. However, it’s how ANet has decided to reward us.

Server consolidation doesn’t solve any of the underlying conditions which cause some servers to stay full and others to be less active. Far better for ANet to do things which promote stronger competition than to consolidate, especially since forcing servers together usually annoys more people than not.

Kreejaffa.3682:

I rolled 5 characters within an hour and a half the first night of early access, and they all have different birthdays for some reason. I tried submitting a ticket about it, but they wanted me to “stand as close as possible to where the bug occurred and submit a bug report”.

Considering they were all made the same night and now show different ages (the fun thing, last year, they all were exactly 1 day apart on birthdays, whereas this year there was a 2 day gap in two different characters birthdays), I had no idea where I was supposed to stand and make a bug report, so I gave up and accepted that there was a programming error and lived with it.

So OP, be thankful your problem is not as puzzling as mine.

Isn’t it possible that you re-rolled your characters after launch? I know that I did that and completely forgot about it for the first anniversary. And then, I forgot about it again last year. And then, even though for this year I had written down the birthdays…I forgot again.

I remember creating 5 on the first night. I just keep forgetting that I learned enough to want to restart most of them.

Anyhow, if they are only a few days apart, you still get all the rewards within the same week or two.

I don’t think the frequency has been reduced, although some events are gone.

That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing more low level events in general. Decreasing respawn time is the cheapest way to do that.

Menadena.7482:

People are getting complacent and letting the “Teq always succeeds, we do not need to organize” crowd speak for them. Tonight almost nobody could be cajoled to do a defense team so our team chose to defend turrets and only try fighting the champs if we were sure we would not get killed (which we almost did even trying to keep our distance with Krait pulling us in). This meant some of the champ fighting was taking place right behind the turrets.

I suppose our team could have tried to map hop. Let the people there see what bone walls look like. Maybe then they would have realized the only reason why they thought things were ‘easy’ is because we were 2 people doing the work of 5 (and at 2 we were the team with the most people).

Anet, can you PLEASE make Teq hard again?

I don’t understand what you are asking for. According to your own post, it’s only “easy” if people organize.

I think what you are asking for is something that’s harder to pull off for MMOs, which is that the challenges evolve as fast as the community does. Teq isn’t much changed since it’s overhaul — what changed (not counting condition stacking) is that people figured out how to PUG it. It’s not easier now — we just know the mechanics better.

The only way to change that is to change the mechanics. And that turns out to be the most time-consuming aspect of creating events: to set up the mechanics so that they are challenging and yet balanced. It’s not easy for any development team to pull that off over and over again on every event.

I’d like to see ANet try to do this more often. I just don’t think they can do it “often” enough for any of us.

SushiSamurai.6819:

Will I still be able to do events for moneymaking or will it be different when HoT comes out?

There’s no way to predict. Obviously, there will be different things and obviously tons of people will be in the new zones/biomes, doing raids, and GvG or whatever.