Guild Wars 2

Sorry, I’ve been playing since release, but I never PvP… what’s the “PVP locker”? Come to think of it, I do think they disappeared out of my inventory when I deposited my collectibles – are you saying they’re in the PvP area, and not in the bank/collections somewhere?

Thanks in advance for the assistance!

So far I’ve received two of the daily reward chests for my banked A-Net Points. Both contained several PvP armor pieces – the problem is, they’re a mix (medium/light/heavy) and are all SOULBOUND (not even account bound), so I can’t do anything with them – can’t give them to alts that use that armor type… can’t put them in the Mystic Forge… can’t even salvage them for a paltry amount of mats.

What am I missing? Is the only thing I can do with them trash them?

+1 on the Zenith skins – lovely work!

I use P/P over SB at 80 in PvE, probably because I leveled with them and SB just feels… slow? Weaker? Something… by comparison. Sometimes I try going over to SB (because people say it’s so awesome) and always go back. Must be all the bang-bang-bang-bang smoke and thunder. =) Honestly in PvE and especially Dungeons, spamming #5 for the blind when I get low on health feels like I’m helping my team in a different way (damage mitigation), and #2 seems to do quite a bit of damage (I’m traited mainly for Power and Conditions since my main weapons are D/D).

I leveled PvE to 80 mainly with Dagger/Dagger and Pistol/Pistol. D/D for most fights and P/P for Vets/bosses/any time you get hoardiaked and need to kite.

Caltrops and Signet of Malice are a good combo in PvE – every tick from the caltrops procs the healing ability of the signet, but you have to wait to use the ability until you have multiple enemies around you (more ticks = more healing). Spam Dagger #3 (death blossom) for a dodge/avoid (you’ll need to get good avoiding damage as a thief because we’re relatively squishy) as well as apply massive bleeds.

Pistol/Pistiol for bigger enemies – learn to circle-strafe and dodge when big hits are incoming (dodging is key to survival – remember, we’re not warriors in heavy armor).

My fave SKILLS while leveling were Signet of Malice (works well with D/D as mentioned), Signet of Shadows (get it as soon as you can, seriously – +25% run speed always helps + on-demand target blind), and for the Elite Thieves’ Guild (pop it when you know a Vet fight/big fight is coming up for much-needed agro help and extra damage). The last skill can be whatever you like but I recommend something that Blinds (attacks miss you for a second or two) like Blinding Powder or (especially) Smoke Screen – drop it right as your feet when a group of baddies is pounding on your face and you’re out of dodges (dodging = life, remember, but even the best of us sometimes run out of endurance) and attacks miss for a second. PRO TIP: This works really well when mobs are standing in the caltrops patch since the damage ticks keep passively healing you all the while as they whiff their own attacks – love it!

And don’t forget to Steal every time you can! Get used to using the ability – it’ll save you, and can be Traited for interesting things like damage/apply poison, etc. Also remember that you don’t have to use the stolen skill right away – you can totally hold onto it until it recharges, saving that extra blind/bleed/whatever for the moment you really, really need it!

As for Trait numbers, “X/X/X/X/X” refers to the number of points in the 5 Trait lines, beginning with the first, Deadly Arts. Honestly, it’s pretty easy to level to 80 with whatever Traits look good art the time and then specialize at 80 when you know how you like to play. Me, for example, I seldom if ever use Stealth since I dislike the mechanic, so I’m traited mainly for lots and lots of Conditions, Power, etc.

The only TRAITS I really think are “must haves” when leveling (the post-80 end game is the time for specialization) are:

• Trickery 10 pts (#III, Uncatchable, which drops a mini caltrop patch every time you dodge – slows mobs making kiting with P/P viable for even very tough Vets plus more procs for Signet of Malice which always helps) and
• Acrobatics 15pts (Feline Grace – lets you dodge 3 times in a row instead of only 2, meaning more avoidance and more dropped caltrops.

I’d get both of these ASAP and worry about the rest as you level.

Have fun out there!

I just hit 80 a few days ago and loaded up on a set of named (Vatlaaw’s) armor, which I slotted full with Undead runes. Vaatlaw’s gives Precision+Toughness+Condition Damage (I’m specced for conditions w/ D/D mainly) and the Undead runes give Toughness/Condition Dmg. Trinkets are (so far) mainly Precision+Toughness+Condition or Toughness+Vitality+Condition Dmg (I’m also traited to use Toughness to add additional damage).

So far, so good, but I wonder if there’s something out there that’s better… It’s definitely OK in Cursed Shores; we’ll see how it does in dungeons though (haven’t done many of them nor Fractals since reaching 80 and getting my Grandmaster’s training manual).

I don’t need a whole new Asian-themed continent: I just want to be able to make a character that looks like this:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Kodan_05_concept_art.jpg

GW2 is an MMO and in my experience a bit of knee-jerk QQ is par for the course in these games, however, I will say that my very first Lvl80 was my Asuran Ranger, a character I abandoned when my Mez got to about lvl 45 and started feeling much more “epic” in PvE (I don’t PvP and almost never WvW). Let me say that again in case ANet is listening: my Mex simply felt more epic. More fun to play… more powerful… much, MUCH more useful in Dungeon runs (kitten pet kept dying every 30 seconds…)

Now since then some of the pets have been health buffed (TYVM, ANet) and I’ve also discovered the wonderful ability to perma-fury my pets via weapon swapping and I’m starting to love my Ranger again – now I even play him, even! I hope that a major damage nerf doesn’t happen, because if it does, I’m sure my Ranger will start to feel squishy and underpowered again which would be a shame. Even with the current damage level, I still often feel like a second-class citizen in dungeon runs, almost like I should apologize for how many times I die (or my pet dies, dumping all that built-up Fury and making me start over).

You know… I went back to GW1 just to check, and I NEVER got a SINGLE CHARACTER out of the city. Not one. All I remember were endless, confusing walled-in maps with no freaking clue about how to proceed, boring character classes (sorry, but they never gelled with me) and sub-par creature design. Maybe it got better when you actually got out of the fugly, brown, boring city, but I wouldn’t know. I recall the initial island (where, you know, there was actual scenery) being impressive and lovely, though…

So yeah… Can’t say I’ll weep any tears for the lack of Cantha if that’s how it shakes out, sorry.

Dulfy’s has all the spawn locations – just run between them holding down the “Ctrl” key – that will make all thew labels appear on-screen, making it much easier to locate the items. They’re labeled things like “Dirt-Covered Object” and “Snow-covered Object” in yellow on-screen. I’m not a fan of hide-and-seek-type fetch quests, God knows, but when I finally just sat down and did it (with Dulfy’s map in-hand) it only took about 20 minutes to find all the objects. You don’t get completion until you deliver the missing objects to the refugees in LA.

So after playing my Mesmer for a while I’m noticing that my Lvl80 Ranger just feels… weak. Whether it’s dealing with groups of adds in Cursed Shore or running Dungeons or Fractals (I seldom WvW and never PvP), I feel like I faceplant a lot compared to my Mez…

Up till now my current strategy was to run SB/LB running with Moas (for their conditions and general tankiness) or sometimes Wolves (for their F2 skills and occasional knockdown). Skillswise, I used things like Muddy Terrain/Radiation Field (Asura racial skill) to debuff my targets + Golems for the times when I need a bit more hitting power (dealing with Vets, etc.). Armor is Pirates (for the extra Magic Find) and Traited mainly BM+ Conditions. This combo served me well while leveling up in the lower PvE areas, but now that I’m “all grown up” I’m wanting to hit harder, plus the reticle skills like Muddy Terrain (even with fast cast) are a bit difficult to launch with 100% effectiveness since I’m kiting/dodging/running so much.

After reading some threads I came up with a more direct-damage-oriented build, but it still feels like I’m missing something.
Here’s the link (with proposed gear and everything): http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzom0M9cmvGhMMVNhcxx9MaMmqzmaz8khG707khs7070M7kNs70V7ofD70z7owY70M

This is a Signet build that uses 30 Markman (for the Signet of the Beastmaster trait and faster signet recharge), 30 Skirmish (so my pets hit harder and my shortbow skills recharge faster), and 10 Beastmastery (for increased pet skill speed). Armor uses Superior Runes of the Fighter for Power/Toughness. Weapons I’m thinking are SB/GS. Sigils are Battle for the GS (so I get Might when I need it – when I get rushed by an angry mob) and Agony for the SB (to stack as much Bleed as I can even though I’m traited more for Power/direct damage than conditions). I ditched Longbow because things rush me so much (took GS instead) but will probably keep a LB in my pack for Cursed Shore event farming or any time a good Barrage would come in handy against big groups of minion-level mobs… Pets would be Birds or Cats (for max damage).

Toughness and HP look good, and this has significantly more direct-damage numbers than my current build… my question is: how can this be better?

What EnRohbi said re: moving – do it. All the time. Kiting is your FRIEND. Also with the Shatters, it really starts to come into its own after Lvl 40 or so, when your traits start to stack up properly. Until then practice the fundamentals of kiting and dodging – kiting will actually spare you from a great deal of damage since many mobs pause to swing at you and if you’re constantly circle-strafing they’ll miss over and over. When you get swarmed a well-timed dodge will get you some distance – pop a clone and most of the time the mob will pause to attack IT instead of you. If you get in the habit of dodging, when you get Deceptive Evasion (dodging = a clone pops out), it feels like easy mode, since you no longer need a button press to make a fresh, distracting clone! Add in Illusionary Persona (Illusions XI, I believe) and you, in effect, become a fourth clone when Shattering which means more damage, especially when you have all 3 clones already deployed…

Agree on RMB… A good practice excercise is to find a big, open space with something in it (like, say, a wagon, a tree, or some other obvious landmark about as big as a character), and then, while holding your “A” or "D key (in other words, while moving sideways), use the mouse with RMB held down to keep the object centered in your screen. When done correctly, you will “circle strafe” the target to the left or right, never looking away or stopping moving.

When you can get the motion down smoothly, focus on performing the circle strafe while also keeping your cursor centered in the middle of your display – that way, if you need to fast-cast a AOE effect on a specific place you won’t have to stop moving and/or waste valuable time re-positioning the cursor. It sounds hard, but after a few hours’ practice it will start to feel automatic, and your speed will go way, way up since you won’t have to perform contortions to keyboard-turn.

BONUS: if you put Dodge on your mouse button in preferences you can Dodge seamlessly at any point without having to interrupt the circle-strafe (or any movement, really) by double-tapping the movement key or fumbling for whatever keyboard key you have bound. I noticed that my dodging became much, much faster after I bound middle mouse button to that action… Just something you might want to try, since you’ll be learning a new set-up anyway.

As a Mesmer I can say without hesitation that I love dungeon runs in the presence of a good Necro – the condition removal is, as they say, “to die for”. That said, I also love running my Mez – in group events I think I bring a healthy amount of damage + some interesting crowd control and other fun effects, along with (depending on my traits and weapons) some pretty useful conditions of my own. Nothing that a Necro can’t do better, true, but I always feel like I’m contributing.

Agree with Pahldus on Lazy Kai and “anything+focus” (I use sword) for the haste buff.

Also agree that leveling is a lot easier after 40 – Mez’s really start to feel powerful beginning at that level. It’s useful to not be so hard-hitting at lower level though, as it trains you on the fundamentals of kiting and dodging, two skills that you will make frequent use of even at high level (particularly in dungeons, WvW, and in Orr, both to mitigate damage and to possibly, depending on how you’re traited, to spawn your army of clones).

Last, don’t be afraid to try the weapons combos not detailed by Kai, specifically pistol, scepter, and torch – all have different kinds of abilities that call for varied play style. Most Mesmers (myself included) like Greatsword, both for its damage when traited as well as its powerful array of AOE and crowd control effects – me, I just think it LOOKS bad kitten Staff is definitely a good secondary if you are in dungeons or someplace where fighting is more important than the travel speed-buff.

Good luck and have fun!

Sword/Sword is a valid Mesmer combo, yes. Buy any two swords, even the cheapie ones from a vendor, and see! Remember, too, that if you like the look of an item but decide the stats aren’t quite what you’re looking for, you can always use a transmutation stone to combine the look of an item with the stats of a second…

Agree this item has a very misleading description… usually Gem Store items are reasonably fair and well-priced but this one… not so much. Dissapointing.

Articluna.4509:

Anyway, don’t be offended. I personally just find your propostion silly. ^^ Someone who just wants your gold, however, will find it extremely interesting.

The entire investment industry would no doubt disagree as to the “silliness” of this idea… Using someone else’s money to make learned and intelligent investments for a profit, which is then split between the parties is how investment banking WORKS. That said, I’d be careful with this for several reasons:

1. I have no idea how the terms and Conditions apply to this scenario… I’d have to take a look. Very likely, if ANet saw large gold transactions going back and forth between accounts, they’d suspect you of being a cog in a gold farming operation AT MINIMUM, so be ready with your defense (quoting whatever passages from the Ts&Cs you think make what you’re doing acceptable) ready at-hand for the inevitable email from ANet security announcing your account lockout. And…

2. Just as in the real world, there are no doubt plenty of people that will CLAIM to be
“investment wizards” and who will promise you ridiculous returns, but most of these people are either 1) scammers or 2) fooling themselves. In banking, there’s licenses and Federal regulations that control the industry, and which protect the consumer from fraud, but no such controls exist in virtual economies (at least as far as I’ve ever heard of), so be VERY careful who you use as your “financial adviser”. Bottom line is if you get scammed out of all your hard-earned gold I seriously doubt ANet will do anything to reimburse you…

Good luck though!

agauos.8794:

Buying the pick to support Anet.

+1… I like the convenience of never having to remember to get lower-level picks when doing dailies in low-level zones, and the lava effect is cool. Plus it keeps the game going. ANet – please add more of these sorts of things; perma-sickles, axes, and salvage kits are definitely a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned, if they run in the same price range.

I’d recommend trying out all the weapons and their combos first, then after you know the ones that seem to have the best “play feel” search in here for terms like “Sword/Pistol Levelling Build” or “Greatsword PvE” (or whatever weapons you seem to be gravitating towards), and read those threads. I find that almost ANY build will work in PvE, provided you Trait them properly and upgrade your weapons to play to the strengths of your Trait lines, but before you choose that you really should start with weapons you won’t end up hating using mid-way through the levelling process…

To echo what other people said: it depends on how you play and, more importantly, how you WANT to play.

My Mez is only 16 so far, but I don’t feel nearly as squishy as I expected I would. My Warrior can stand toe-to-toe against lots of threats, it’s true (thanks to his heavy armor), but when I do run up against something over-the-line, I tend to go down FAST and HARD. Compare that to my Mez, where I expect that I’ll have to keep moving, watch my clones and know when to Shatter and when to Dodge and all that… I dunno, maybe I get “lazy” with my Warrior, but I for some reason actually FEEL STRONGER (at the lower levels anyway) than my equal-level Warrior. But I don’t mind working harder with the Mez; maybe that’s the difference (?)

Plus, like Sky said, I also know that when I get my Elites and my more powerful Utilities, I’ll also be able to do other things for parties, groups, raids, and WvW, from dropping Portals to applying mass buff effects. Coming from levelling a Ranger, and all the fun control and combo field things I can do with that class, that’s very appealing.

Check the Traits; that will determine it. I’ve seen builds that utilize both. Some traits utilize the extra crits for things like extra Dodge (which keeps you alive longer so long as you’re observant and remeber to actually dodge away), while others just pump the conditions based on certain events/criteria. Depends on where (PvP, PvE, WvW) and how you play, mainly…

So, I gotta say… it’s CRAZY playing Sword/Sword at the lower levels. You pop clones all over the place… they seem available pretty quick after the Shatter… and having 4 copies of myself running around, all midriff-bare an’ all, is just fun to watch.

I know with my Ranger, though, I really started getting hit HARD in the low-20s, so much so that the range from my bow was a real God-send. I’m wondering if there are any Mesmer players out there who leveled their Mez primarily using S/S, how you did it, what techniques you found useful (or essential) in the “slump” period between the low-20s till your Elite opens up?

Don’t get me wrong – GS is fun, too (more fun than I expected, really, given how much tearing-of-hair and rending-of-garments has been going on since the Great Black iZerker Nerf of Late 2012), but there’s just… something… so absolutely nuts about S/S that I’m wondering how other people fared.

Been trying to log in for over an hour. Can get to forums, but when I try logging into the client I get the “Can’t reach login server” error. Same location as before; nothing’s changed.

OK, thanks – I was wondering if it referred to the skill (I would have expected something different since they’re PHANSTASMAL, not “illusionary” in the skill name), or a build, or what. Makes sense now – thanks a million!

Wait… WHAT? Youtube or it didn’t happen…

First of all, let me say… wow. What a great, no-nonsense and clear reply from JonPeters. Stuff like this is what we DREAM of over on the Ranger forums, let me tell ya.

Second, I’d like to re-iterate that this issue right here is EXACTLY why a pre-release Test Server is a really, really, REALLY good idea. Like Dixa above, I’ve played in MMOs and other online games for years, and I can say without reservation or the merest hesitation that games that utilized some form of pre-release Test Server were always, 100% of the time much more “fun” to play than those without. Why? Because the community in an MMO will always have players like the ones posting in here that are VERY committed to their class and wo are VERY observant and VERY sensitive to changes (unintended or otherwise). As a result, placing tweaks and changes on the Test Server ahead of time:

• Allows the devs a “safe” space where the only people playing are, by definition, more advanced and aware of changes than the general population
• As a result, unintended consequences are FAR more easily caught than when they are finally released to Production
• So can be more easily “tweaked” and immediately re-tested by the community, leading to faster iteration
• Which leads to a 2-fold reduction in player frustration: once because the highly-vocal types like the folks who are posting in here have a way to directly affect the game and its changes as well as secondly: because by definition what finally lands on Production is almost guaranteed to be “working as intended” due to direct user feedback, thereby not inflicting bad mechanics on the less-aware/more casual base.

All that said, WAY TO GO devs for the great feedback! Mesmers, you should feel privileged that you were here to see it.

I’ve probably read 40 different threads so far in preparation of building a Mez, and keep seeing the term “iZerker” – what’s it refer to, please? Thanks in advance…

Thast’s what I thought, but I could have sworn I saw someone with this helmet on a Thief… Maybe I was mistaken.

http://www.gw2armor.com/asura/male/cof/light/front.jpg

Traps are kinda buggy right now still, but I bet they’ll rock HARD when they’re fixed.

I love conditions with my Ranger – nothing like stacking tons and tons of bleed and poison using Quickening Zephyr + the right combo fields + basic positioning.

Pro tip: Asurans have great racial skills that seem (to me) perfectly suited for Ranger. Radiation Field puts up a REALLY long-lasting poison combo field that also affects things standing in the AOE, there’s a great on-demand distract/debuff, and the golem-based Elite skills are not only cool to look at but are great for extra DPS and to pull away accidental aggro.

Definitely try a few other classes. My mains in GW1 were a Necro and an Elememtalist, both of which played VERY different in GW2. By comparison, I HATED Rangers in GW1, but when I started playing with them in GW2 I liked them much, much more, and leveled one to 80. If you try several and nothing’s “clicking” I’m not sure what to recommend, sorry.

I suspect someone’s gonna recommend ALL classes eventually. Even Warrior is (I hear) good as a “ranged” class with longbow and rifle, when properly specced. That’s always gonna be the trick…

I love my Ranger in PvE and especially dungeons. Once you’re traited properly to make max use of whatever play style you prefer (conditions, crits, whatever), you do pretty respectable damage, and there are also tons of useful utility skills that do things like root, debuff, cripple, and which make long-lasting combo fields. Pets, despite what you may have heard, are plenty useful in dungeons as well. I prefer spiders and devourers in dungeons because they attack at range, not in melee, and their specials are poisons/debuffs. Give them a try…

I could swear that I’ve seen people waiting to get into dungeons with skins from one type of armor applied to another. For example, I could swear that I saw a Thief the other night wearing a CoF dungeon-armor helmet, which must have been a medium piece, but it had the HEAVY (not medium) armor skin applied to it. Is this even possible, if you use the proper-leveled Transmute stone? If so, do you just purchase gear with whatever look you’re wanting (even if you can’t actually equip it) and then use Transmute to combine that look with the stats form the item you can actually wear?

Just checking… Thanks!

It’s useful, definitely, but not terribly SEXY. Heck, half the time I can’t even tell I used the stolen item without looking at the mob’s condition monitor. Something more obvious when the stolen item is successfully used would be nice…

Can ANYONE help me get the Sell screen or the mouse-over stat compare tools to work in the BLTP? They were working a few days ago, then earlier in the week I noticed a few issues, all of which refuse to go away…

1. I cannot purchase any items. Even though I have over 3gold in my character’s account, the money area at the bottom of the TP just displays a gem icon and “…”, like the TP can’t read how much cash I have.

2. The mouse-over tooltip for items for sale comparing that item with what’s currently equipped does not work (doesn’t even pop up). ALso like its not reading my character’s stats.

3. The “Buy” button is grayed out. I can only assume this is because the TP thinks O have zero money.

4. The “Sell Your Stuff” screen is totally blank. This has happened to me on occasion, but never for more than a few hours at a time, and never with symptoms 1-3.

I’ve tried re-starting the client – no good.

I’ve tried running GW2.exe as an Administrator – no good.

I’ve tried restarting the PC – no good.

I’ve located the GW2cache in Appdata and deleted the cache folder, which should have cleared it – no good.

So… I’m out of ideas. Nothing I do for ANY of my characters gets the $$#@! TP running, and I’m really, really getting frustrated. I vendor most of my stuff, but I’m amassing golds and some other items I KNOW I can sell on the TP, and I also can’t purchase anything at all. I’ve created in-game bug reports for this, but if course “they can’t reply to every bug ticket” (which isn’t very helpful, guys…)

Can an admin (or someone reading this thread) please give me something to try that I haven’t yet? because I’m not buying gems or doing ANYTHING that puts a dollar into Arena-Net’s pocket until I can move around the stuff I’m getting as drops.

OK so I found the GW2 cache folder, which I deleted (I actually renamed it using “OLD_” at the beginning of the folder name just in case I needed something from inside it. Then I ALSO cleared my saved user ID and password for the client login screen and loged back in. Logging in and launching the BLTP re-created the cache folder, but I’m STILL dead in the water – still can’t buy anything (no cash displays at the bottom of the trading window), mouse-over stats still don’t work, and I still can’t sell.

Now what??

(PS – thanks, Khisanth, for the assistance…)

Janson Smalling.1850:

Sometimes, when problems arise with the Black Lion Trading Company window, the best option is to try logging out, clearing your cache, and restarting the client. The window does use a browser cache, so problems can sometimes arise.

And don’t hesitate to post your issues here on the forums so that we (and everyone else) can help you out!

So, I Googled “clear cache Guild Wars 2” and found references to deleting the file and associated log for “awesomium_process.exe” – problem is, I don’t have that file on my PC. Is there a better way to clear the BLTC cache so I can get the dratted thing working again?

Arc.9708:

It happens to me quite frequently as well. In order to temporarily resolve this problem, restart your client. This usually occurs due to bad internet connection.

Restarting doesn’t help me most of the time – it’s still blank on the Sell tab and the Buy tab mouseover stats window is gone. AGAIN. This is like the 5th or 6th time this week that it’s hapened. Grrrrrrr….

Karizee.8076:

Try logging out of the game completely and then running it as administrator after you clear your cache.

That worked for me when I had the same thing happen once.

What “cache”? We’re not playing in a browser window…

SECONDED!!! I’d love this.

Yes, I second this – it’d be good to know, I agree.

Likely – the writers have scattered references to other stuff all over the game. The wiki is usually pretty good about giving examples.

I use spiders in big dynamic events and in dungeons. They’re great for those huge, hard-hitting mobs that get locked down by Warriors and Guardians – when they stop to pummel the heavy armor-wearer, my pet can keep up my DPS and even set up short combo fields, all from range . Compare that to almost ALL my melee pets, which I usually park beside me in Passive (particularly in dungeons) just so I can access their F2 abilities when they’re off cool-down. If I don’t, my poor pet spends half the fight limping around with an empty health bar, completely useless.

My main problems with ANY sort of refund situation are:

1. Literally 2 minutes after they do one, people will actively be trying to figure out how to scam the system. This will actually lead to DECREASED satisfaction from validly-scammed players, because they will be expecting a refund and will start QQing when the staff gets overwhelmed with trying to figure out the scammers from the victims. Which will lead to:

2. Scammers will become the majority of people claiming a “refund” or “roll back”, since hey, why not? They already figured out SOME kind of setup that made them look like a victim without actually losing anything (besides maybe a bit of time), so why not play the lottery?

3. Simultaneously, valid players will take even LESS care of their accounts because, again, why not? If they get hacked, the feeling will be “oh, well, hey, I’ll just petition for a roll-back, so I’m probably not out anything”.

4. This will result in only two outcomes: valid refunds will take forever, since valid issues will be buried beneath hordes of “lottary ticket” BS fraud claims and will, likely, result in the program being canceled ANYWAY, further deepening the satisfaction “death spiral”.

So… yeah… just pick a stronger password already and stop trying to go blind on shady farm animal pr0n sites, already (or if you must, use a crappy dedicated laptop for that type of browsing). It works for ME. =P

voxmmo.3859:

If a game maker really expects that all of their customer base is going to be that knowledgeable and diligent about keeping their systems clean they wouldn’t be in business very long. You need to be a little more realistic. Your average Joe gamer just isn’t going to go through all that just to log on for a couple of hours a night. Sure, maybe they SHOULD, but in the real world people have other concerns, sorry. Therefore, unless a developer is just making games for IT pros and security consultants to enjoy, they should really have a rollback feature implemented at launch. Blizzard has it. They have millions of subs – 95% of which I would imagine don’t follow your above steps just so they can log on for a couple of hours. And yes, lots of them get hacked. It’s part of playing an online game. ArenaNet has chosen to turn a blind eye to that.

I hear you on this, I really do… But you also gotta keep in mind that security is always… ALWAYS… a trade-off between 3 elements: Protection (how hard it is to defeat or penetrate the controls’ technology), Convenience (how much you off-load effort to the user), and Privacy (how intrusive the controls are into the users lives). the best security is a living, breathing human being who is well-paid enough to be incorruptible and who personally recognizes every authorized user and who watches their every move. VERY Protective (incredibly hard to defeat), maximally convenient (the user has to do nothing), but incredibly intrusive, since a person tracks your every movement. Plus prohibitively expensive. Increased technology definitely carries a HUGE cost in dollars and cents (likely more than we’d pay as players for the convenice, a very large sub fee would be required at minimum), plus it may or may not be acceptable Privacy-wise (since your every movement would have to be tracked and analyzed by algorithms to see if your behavior was “normal” or not).

No… at some point, we all must accept the fact that we, as users, must bear the lion’s share of the responsibility for securing our own stuff. A-Net has created some good tools with the multi-factor login approval system, but it’s only the front layer – we must also educate ourselves and, more importantly INCONVENIENCE ourselves as much as we are willing to accept in order to “spread the workload” in a democratic and efficient fashion. If you’re a player who doesn’t want to be bothered, well, OK, but don’t be surprised when your account is cleaned out. If however you really don’t want to lose everything, then you’ll have to educate yourself on how to secure your machine and connection.

I’m sorry but arguments of “well people can’t be expected to just know this stuff” kinda fall flat when the ENTIRETY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE basically is a free Google search away via the most powerful piece of technology ever created by the mind of man – it’s simply a question of people not caring to open a new browser tab and looking. Anyone with enough firing brain cells to get GW2 loaded and to play a character past level 5 has MORE than enough reasoning capabilities to Google something like “how do I secure my PC against hackers?” and reading a few web sites, then following some basic How-tos.

If anyone wants to know more, feel free to message me – I’m always happy to help.

Look at any build/skill calculator and it’ll have the Norn Racial Elites listed.

Tyler.6182:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aether
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Azureflame
those are the bows i want.

Ooooh… purdy. Of course, I have an Asura, so MINE would be down-scaled to look like a friggin’ toy… (((grumble)))

Longbow #2 + Quickening Zephyr + Asuran Radiation Field (or any other combo field, really). PewPewPewPew!!!

Also just Shortbow #1 with the above as well – talk about feelin’ SPEEDY. There’s just something so fun about having all the skills come off cooldown at about the same time, dropping the Rad Feld and just… unloading and watching the conditions stack up.

voxmmo.3859:

Just because something is stated in a company’s ToS doesn’t make it a good policy. That is the issue here, not whether or not ArenaNet is capable of or willing to restore accounts. The question is, why shouldn’t they? The answer: because they really don’t care.

Let’s be fair – that’s ABSOLUTELY not true. if it were, they wouldn’t have bothered to build the email confirm feature, or publish multiple wiki, blog, and other posts dedicated to security. Online security folks take this issue VERY seriously, and think about ways to secure systems constantly, day and night.

But…

Let’s also be fair that the lion’s share of account breaches are caused simply because the user was too lazy, ill-informed, or uncaring to even bother securing their stuff. Without giving up an unacceptable amount of privacy and cost, A-Net MUST rely on everyone caring about about their accounts to basically secure them, hence my suggestions.

If you disagree ask yourself some basic questions?

1. Have you changed your game password this week? This month? Ever? (if not, I’d argue you don’t care at all about your account, or are unable to read a basic English sentence, given how many articles are wrutten every day about the insecurity of passwords)
2. Is that password the same as ANY other? (if so, expect that site to be compromised as well, since even a brain-dead gerbil can read your browser history log).
3. Is it the same as your Facebook PW? Your school account PW? Oh Jesus, where do I even start with this one?)
4. Have you EVER visited a pr0n, BitTorrent, “pirate”, or any other "free stuff type site? (Go to next…)
5. If so, do you run multiple different antivirus/malware products each and every day? (If not, your system is probably already dirtier than a public restroom floor in Times Square)