Guild Wars 2

IamDuddits.1692:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Provost.6210:

The spider queen’s AOE poison needs to be nerfed. Reduced 25% in size and damage. If two areas overlap over my position I don’t even have a chance to get out before I’m down. It’s stupid. I have excellent dodging abilities and a good head for placement — which is more than sufficient for other battles in this and other dungeons — but it doesn’t seem to mean anything in this fight. When player skill doesn’t matter, why bother?

I disagree. The damage is fine, the pattern is fine. What needs adjustment is the duration. The prior pattern should fade away as the next one is being spit, not linger so you have two sets.

Exactly. The other problem is that generally the poison has enough time to drop you from full and prevent allies from reviving without dropping themselves. Maybe if the duration was 75% what it currently is? Also, I think if you all stack melee on her she doesn’t use the AoEs. I’ve solo’d her a few times and she never used it once I got up close and personal.

Some could argue that the spiderlings need some changes, but I think with proper focus and some projectile reflection/absorption, they are more than doable. They are only a problem if you ignore them.

As a side note, I’m pretty sure you can side step the projectiles from the spiderlings and avoid the hit.

75% might do it, I haven’t actually timed the thing, just observed that it is up for a long time in comparison with most other AoE. It would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Yeah, teams with the right skills for the little spiders will do better than thos elacking the skills (or the skill to use them). I’ve also sidestepped the spit poison at sufficient range. The problem I’ve had with that is that there are so many of them, if you have the aggro of enough of them, there’s nowhere to sidestep. At that point a dodge or two, condition remove and hope your team is using the time you’ve bought them to advantage.

Provost.6210:

The spider queen’s AOE poison needs to be nerfed. Reduced 25% in size and damage. If two areas overlap over my position I don’t even have a chance to get out before I’m down. It’s stupid. I have excellent dodging abilities and a good head for placement — which is more than sufficient for other battles in this and other dungeons — but it doesn’t seem to mean anything in this fight. When player skill doesn’t matter, why bother?

I disagree. The damage is fine, the pattern is fine. What needs adjustment is the duration. The prior pattern should fade away as the next one is being spit, not linger so you have two sets.

IamDuddits.1692:

AC was run because it was easy to farm, just like CoF Path 1. The popularity of a dungeon is based on how farmable it is more so than the enjoyment it gives, sadly.

This was inevitable. It’s one of the major issues facing any MMO; how do you keep people playing past the point where the shiny newness has worn off and all that’s left is repetition? While there are people who repeat content because it’s fun, repeating harder content for fun is only going to appeal to certain players. The rest will gravitate towards the best return on time for what they want.

Piogre.2164:

Indigo, I question whether acquisition of siege from the jp makes camping it a legitimate tactic- the bottleneck in siege production is, in my experience, supply- not blueprints

And even if the puzzle were changes to only give non-wve items, and the puzzle were changed so enemies didn’t drop loot inside the puzzle, there would still be campers- this is because these people don’t do it to gain an upper hand- they do it to be kittens.

You may be right about the logistics of siege. That does not mean people cannot think it’s a valid tactic. While I know I’m being foolish, I’d prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, absent any evidence to the contrary.

The OP is essentially asking for the creation of a PvE zone in a PvP map. That just doesn’t seem right to me when there is a PvP solution to the problem. Unwillingness to make the effort to utilize that solution does not seem like a legitimate reason to change the puzzle.

ANet wanted players watching the action on screen, not their UI. While I wouldn’t care if they added a feature I didn’t want as long as it was optional, I’d prefer they worked on things I do want instead. So … /not signed.

GW2 profession design involves philosophy about each class. In those philosophies, versatility, mobility, damage, etc. are all viewed as trade-offs. The problem is that the current meta-think about PvE is that damage trumps everything else. Unfortunately, the game does not present enough challenges that high damage alone cannot overcome.

OP is often brought up in relation to PvP, where warriors are not viewed as being a top tier class. Warrior’s two highest damage skills (Hundred Blades and Kill Shot) root the warrior while they do damage, and are easy to avoid and/or interrupt.

In MMO’s where I’ve seen items labeled “unique,” the item also becomes soul bound on pick up. Also, if you happen to encounter a second one after gaining the first, you cannot even pick it up. Someone who played such a game would assume that if they could buy it, they could equip it.

Gab Superstar.4059:

So you joined a bunch of groups who instantly kicked you? Unless you were joining SC teams I find that extremely hard to believe. I ran CoF on my level 77 thief a few days ago and no one minded at all.

There’s enough people running that different people are going to have different experiences. All it takes is a couple of kicks for people to assume that the problem is widespread. Just as speed runners have no patience for inefficiency, people in general have little tolerance for frustration. Add in that some groups don’t post their requirements, and that some players don’t read the posts, and voila.

Gab Superstar.4059:

Removing the holy trinity unfortunately limits challenge in PvE to how good you are at pressing your dodge button.

Thankfully I no longer play PvE to any great extent.

PvE in any game is never going to be all that challenging to high-end players. If you take as a given that the content has to be mathematically doable, then all that is involved is memorizing what to do when to complete. It may be challenging during the learning, but once it is rote it can become boring. This is why players looking for hard should PvP, since players are less predictable than AI.

There’s a little more to PvE success in GW2 than dodge button (sometimes, block or reflection > dodge), but … yeah. I never felt that trinity mechanics made for hard PvE either, although raids by virtue of larger numbers provided more opportunity for one member to screw up and cause a wipe.

ANet insisted on tying achievements that were otherwise completable in PvE to WvW. If the only people doing these JP’s were those who embraced the PvP aspects of the zone, then there would be fewer complaints or suggestions about them.

To the OP: players from the other server are doing what the zone was created for, PvPing. The JP rewards badges of honor, which allows the purchase of siege. So, denying the enemy the opportunity to gain easy badges is a legitimate tactic.

Click on the WvW tab on your UI in the upper left. Your server’s status will be displayed as well as those of the 2 servers your world is competing with.

Shiren.9532:

(1) Change the code so that bosses in explorable mode no longer drop bags unless you’ve personally done story mode. Players can still do content with their friends and enter the instance without SM but people who want to farm is and get the maximum reward will be incentivised to do SM.

(2) I’d also love to see the loot of SM changed. Given bosses drops of exotic named versions of existing skins. Things like the tier one and two karma weapons, the centaur weapons etc. Make them thematic to the dungeon. Give them decent drop rates but make them account or soulbound. Maybe that might be enough of an incentive to encourage people to farm them (especially in a game where extras can be dumped into the Mystic Forge solving another problem giving people another way to farm precursors).

I don’t hate idea 1, but it would only mean one run to unlock, and I think the story dungeons need reasons for repeated play.

I like idea 2, or some variation of it.

Meaning no disrespect to any specific individual(s), even if there was a detailed, unambiguous explanation of what unique meant in the game, some people would not read it. A sell-back within x time (30 minutes sounds OK to me) would protect those people from themselves.

GW2 needs both a harder and an easier mode dungeon experience. The divide between the two “camps” is too great for one dungeon difficulty to serve. Also, the existing “normal” mode (story) offers no rewards worth bothering with.

Milennin.4825:

Stooperdale.3560:

It is probably the COF1 farmers who drive the price of legendaries so high, out of the price range of players who don’t farm COF1 with speed runs.

That’s right.
People complain about precursors being too expensive, but then they proceed making the situation only worse by pumping huge amounts of money into the game by speedclearing the same dungeon over again.
Well, as soon as ArenaNet nerfs this amount of income, you’ll see the prices of precursors dropping. Assuming speedrunners don’t find the next thing that makes as much as CoF did.

There will always be a “fastest farm,” it just may not be as fast as CoF1 is now.

The death swarms in TA and the laser grid in CoE are harder mechanics than the rolling boulders.

Avenge.1478:

Rachel.1249:

What’s the use of having other classes!

Because this game is not Citadel of Flame Wars, its Guild Wars.

CoF p1 farmers, contrary to popular belief, are not the majority of players in this game.

But after the revamp of AC, the number of dungeon paths that are farmable has dwindled. Unfortunately, revamping CoF1 to make it “more interesting” is not going to prevent people from finding a new “best farm,” nor will it make people more accepting of all classes — regardless of the dungeon path. Dungeon design could do that but only in combination with class designs that provide more ways for under-valued classes to be useful.

1. More light armor leggings for females that do not include skirts
2. More medium chests that are not long-coats
3. Pets getting a buff to offset their inability to dodge
4. Replace the 5 point Death Magic Reanimator trait with anything else; even nothing would be preferable
5. A slider option to reduce or eliminate particle effects from skills; it would be nice to actually see some of the boss models instead of just seeing the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
6. Rewards that would give an incentive to do story mode dungeons
7. Eliminate Magic Find and buff loot table drop rates — no more drop tax
8. Better scaling for Frozen Maw, Jungle Worm and Shadow Behemoth
9. Fewer knocks and pulls

Unhygienix.2834:

Hey everyone. Let me start this by saying in most games I have ever played I am drawn to the necromancer/warlock archetypes (death and decay/a horde of minons/whilting down my opponent over time to deliver that death blow). Saying that, I just bought this game (and know very little about it other than what forums have said) and have interest in making a necromancer.

However, reading the forums I see that necromancers are in a really bad place right now. My main interests are about 80% PvE – Dungeons, Fractals, Soloing / 20% WvWvW. I know MMOs are a buff nerf roller-coaster but I have also read necromancers where kind of in the same position in GW1 with medium to low damage.

Would my quality of life just be better if I made a mesmer like everyone else in this game?

Necromancer can be a fun class to play. Mine tends away from minions (whose AI is terrible; the melee minions will sometimes not attack at all, sometimes will Leroy onto something you had no interest in going near — and of course if they are “in combat,” so are you) and from conditions, because I find them unsatisfying. I am using a variation of the necro bunker build and the character is hard to kill while still taking mobs down with reasonable speed. Conditions are viable in dungeons and Wv3, but not if there are more than 1-2 characters using them.

I find mesmer to be very squishy and tedious to solo early on (the first 30-40 levels, say) whereas necro I soloed from the start with ease. However, once I got the hang of mesmer and enough trait points I was able to solo the class effectively — and you apparently already know mesmers are viewed as more effective in dungeons and in Wv3.

Quality of life? It really depends. If you plan to dungeon and Wv3 solely with a guild who build around each others’ characters, the class may not matter. If you are going to PuG, then mesmer is going to be more widely accepted.

One thing you might want to be aware of about the Norn, play-wise. They cover ground as quickly as other races, but because they have longer legs, their run “looks” slow. The only work-around I’ve found for this is to have my Norn be a class that can have a permanent speed boost (Ranger, Necro, Thief or Ele). With the boost, it “looks” like I’m running at a normal speed.

This may not bother you, but it sure bothers me. I deleted a level 72 Norn Guardian because of it. As with all opinions, ommv.

Ursan.7846:

It’s actually a really interesting statement, the whole “GW2 has limited skills” argument.

I don’t see it as a case. Take for examples Warriors. They have 4 2-hand weapons, 3 main-hand weapons, and 5 off-hand weapons. That is a total of 19 possible weapon combinations that you can hold. (4 + 3*5). With weapon swapping, that is a total of 342 possible weapon combinations you can have (19 * 18).

So there’s really no lack of choices. What’s the problem? When’s the last time you’ve seen a S/S Warrior? Or a Mace/Warhorn Warrior? Heck just a non-GS Warrior really.

The problem isn’t lack of variety, the problem is the lack of viability. Most of the possible Warrior weapon combos just fail at things required in the meta-game of PvP currently (Bunkering/Bursting/Roaming). Which hamstrings the variability and limits Warriors to a few specific builds.

People say how GW2’s skillbar limits options. I don’t see it like that at all. Each classes (save Engi/Eles perhaps, but that’s a whole different discussion). Have quite a wide pool of pre-set skill combos to choose from. The problem lies in the fact that all this variability is USELESS when only a few of them is truly useful.

Then there is the flipside argument of course, whether these builds are truly useless, or just because players just haven’t given them a fair chance? The evolving meta is the crux of the argument when people resist big sweeping balance changes.

EDIT: oh, that’s 342 combinations with just weapon skills. When you add in the healing (3), utility (20) and elite (3) skills, you get a TON more combinations of skills. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation yields a total of 21,053,520 possible skill permutations. That is variability folks, most of it useless. And this isn’t even talking about traits.

See the bold, above. ANet has developed a philosophy for each class, which defines in their minds what that class should — and shouldn’t — be able to do. The problem with that is twofold.

Their philosophy for some classes means that that class is not going to be in the top tier damage-wise. However, there is a widely-held perception that damage is more important than anything else. Whether this is actually the case or not, as long as this perception exists, lower damage classes and builds will be perceived as inferior. A class being viewed as inferior means perceived imbalance.

Also, while every class has many utility skills, some utility options are more highly valued than all of the others. Why, because of the way the “challenges” within GW2 are designed. Can’t speed run without swiftness, condition removal and possibly stability. Some bosses are much better with reflection. PvP without a stun-break? You’re asking to be burst-killed while incapable of response. As a result, many of the skill options are either never used, or only used occasionally. How often do people not have stun break and condition removal on their bar? So, some classes are better because they offer more of the utility options than other classes.

Yes, there are a lot of options but the perception is that there are not that many options that matter. That’s the viability issue.

Jemmi.6058:

IndigoSundown.5419:

So, after 6 pages of arguing and complaining, I believe I’ve seen two actual suggestions:

1. Change the daily requirements to a weekly that can be completed in one longer session
2. Eliminate laurels from dailies

The first is guaranteed to not please everyone. Some people are happy to see players spread out to different zones. Players who like the focus provided by having daily objectives.

The second suggestion might mean putting laurel acquisition into a different type of content. Since we don’t know what that would be, it’s hard to judge the reactions to it — but I’m betting someone, maybe many someones, are going to be angry. The other option would be to eliminate laurels altogether. This would result in FotM being once again the only way to gain Ascended Rings and large guild missions as the only means to gain earrings. Amulets would have to be put into some other form of content. Again, you’re going to have some portion of the player-base cheesed off.

I’m still waiting for a good suggestion.

You forget..

3. Leave it as it is.

That is my personal preference, but let’s see if we can find out other suggestions.

4. Remove dailies and attach laurels to regular achievement points. You gain them for every xth tier completed (such as 5th tier?)

5. Have dailies roll over if they are not completed by the time of reset

6. Have all possible dailies available every day, rather than 9 random ones

7. Have different tiers of dailies Gain silver for completing 1 daily, gain the exp bonus for 3 dailies, gain laurel for completing 5 dailies, gain a 2nd laurel for completing all 9 (or whatever)

8. Allow for a daily type to be repeated, i.e. you can do daily gatherer 5x for daily reward

I’ll take what’s behind option #3 for 2 laurels… I’d also take option 6.

TooBz.3065:

9. Make dalies more fun. This is subjective, but personally, I think a single substantial task that takes some effort (i.e. complete a specific jumping puzzle, kill a champion, kill a dragon, defend a tower (keep, whatever) in WvW) is better than completing five tedious ones.

While I’m a fan of fun, imagine the outcry when a particular daily focused on WvW, or dungeons, or whatever player x is not inclined to do. The player base cannot even come to a consensus that dailies are OK with options, eliminating the options will make for more complaints than we have now — unless daily rewards are neutered to a point that no one cares about them at all.

Halcyon.7352:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Not hard, but tedious. My Necro normally takes 5 full cycles of dagger auto-attack to take out a heavy-armor L80 Risen Brute. A Molten Disaggregator, it takes 9-10 full cycles. I would have thought they had learned about more mob health !/= more interesting.

I’m reminded of Lost Shores. “So what if we gave mobs TWO HEALTH BARS?!”

I think the Karka were a reaction by ANet to comments that the Risen were annoying but not hard — so they made mobs that were even more annoying but which hit harder.

Mobs who build scaffolding in caves, with narrow walkways and no railings, with multiple mobs capable of knocks when there’s no room to dodge — who cannot be knocked off themselves… what’s to hate there?

So, after 6 pages of arguing and complaining, I believe I’ve seen two actual suggestions:

1. Change the daily requirements to a weekly that can be completed in one longer session
2. Eliminate laurels from dailies

The first is guaranteed to not please everyone. Some people are happy to see players spread out to different zones. Players who like the focus provided by having daily objectives.

The second suggestion might mean putting laurel acquisition into a different type of content. Since we don’t know what that would be, it’s hard to judge the reactions to it — but I’m betting someone, maybe many someones, are going to be angry. The other option would be to eliminate laurels altogether. This would result in FotM being once again the only way to gain Ascended Rings and large guild missions as the only means to gain earrings. Amulets would have to be put into some other form of content. Again, you’re going to have some portion of the player-base cheesed off.

I’m still waiting for a good suggestion.

Need: a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary

/thread

There are currently three reasons to run story mode:

• Fun, if they provide that for you
• To be able to be the one to set an explorable instance
• To see the story

Of those, only one leads to repetition (fun). If you find story to be fun, you are also likely to find explorables fun, and they offer rewards. I’m guessing most people would prefer explorable.

I realize that the design team didn’t want to put tokens into story mode, out of the concern that dungeon runners would farm the tokens too easily. However, story modes need something to entice people to repeat them. What they are now is a “normal mode” dungeon that most people have no interest in doing.

Shiren.9532:

Originally ArenaNet intended to create a fun game where fun was the only motivation you needed to play it. Now they are pushing the “Daily” agenda with grind progression and calendar gating to keep their numbers as high as possible and artificially extend content, not through playability and enjoyment, but through grind and daily limitations.

Yeah, that was the original, expressed intent. However, at some point the metrics became alarming because a large number of players raced through everything, got what there was to get, stopped logging in and loudly demanded more. So, yeah, ANet’s focus changed because a portion of their customer base asked for it.

Many game developers try to please as many of their players as possible. Maybe they shouldn’t have tried to do so, but that is business. In general, businesses that don’t listen to their customers don’t thrive.

I think it’s a pity that many people define fun in MMO’s as acquisition and that still more feel that the speed at which they acquire is all-important. I guess it’s just old-fashioned to think that fun is what’s important in a game.

Daily healer is still in the rotation. It came up last week and seems to with about the same frequency as daily dodger. At least on my server, people still revive others, but I do see a tendency not to if:

1. Reviving would mean the reviver is likely to go down (the body is in a Champion’s cleave zone or in AoE)
2. The character is defeated rather than just downed. Given that revive speed is much slower in combat, it means spending a long time doing so. In that case, it is usually better for the defeated to waypoint and run back.
3. The down/defeat happens in a meta-event where people are trying to get credit in the all-too-brief window of the boss’s health bar.

1 and 2, above, have always been issues. 3 is relatively new.

If your experience is happening in other circumstances than the above … well it isn’t on my server, at least not while I’m around.

Not hard, but tedious. My Necro normally takes 5 full cycles of dagger auto-attack to take out a heavy-armor L80 Risen Brute. A Molten Disaggregator, it takes 9-10 full cycles. I would have thought they had learned about more mob health !/= more interesting.

bonyeh.8735:

Now I have been enjoying this game, from the second I started playing and I still am. I am however left with a reason for why I spend hours farming for gear getting my character ready.. which brings me to the main question..

what am I getting ready for?

Now before people start getting worked up about a cry out for end game content, or a WoW concept of doing things… I am merely curious

What do you want to do? GW2 provides many options, almost all of which can be accomplished with easy-to-obtain gear. If you have a desire to get the best stats, then once you have those stats all of those things-to-do are still there.

When reading posts about “need,” just substitute “want” for need, just as a discerning reader inserts “in my opinion” into 99% of forum posts, whether the poster put those words in or not. There’s no reason to get exercised about people using inexact terminology on the internet. Doing so is only going to increase your blood pressure, and it isn’t going to change how people post, anyway.

If what you are suggesting is that ground targeting of grenades be swapped out for how grenades work underwater, then 2 thumbs up. As it is, the option for fast ground targeting (i.e., the attack becomes a point blank attack) is both lame and imo unprofessional.

This is actually a pretty good idea. Throw in some scaling and it would be even better.

We have leveling because people in general like to have their characters progress. That basic feeling of gratification drives a lot of people, and is why games that require long periods of dedicated play to gain one level are pretty much passe (well, in the West, anyway).

We have down-leveling for a lot of reasons, some of which have been stated by other posters. Almost dying (but not doing so) seems like a victory to me. You want to just stomp them with no effort? Well, that is basically what my down-level experience is. On my level 13 guardian wearing L10 gear, down-scaled to level 9, I am 2-3 shotting level 9 mobs. Guardians, are a strong class, but my recent experience with a new necro was the same (and no, I was without minions).

The problem with the Engineer class, is, as the OP says, in the philosophy behind the class. ANet bought into a damage-must-be-low-because-of-versatility philosophy in a game where damage trumps everything else. In other words, they brought a spanner to a gunfight.

The only Risen that is over-tuned imo is the Veteran Noble. The symbol + pull should have a longer CD, the aura of flies that does damage plus applies conditions lasts too long and does a bit too much damage. Otherwise, I find the new Risen to be both more challenging and more interesting.

Rizzy.8293:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Rizzy.8293:

Milennin.4825:

“Experienced” doesn’t say much, though…
Experienced in what? The dungeon? That specific path? General Pve? Playing their profession?

Even so, a lot of people like to think they’re better than they are (including myself at times, lol).

Experienced in Gw2Lfg means Experienced in particular dungeon -.-
Lern2context.

If people are not experienced in dungeons in general (i.e., newcomers to both dungeons and gw2lfg.com), then they won’t know the context either.

laff sorry but if you cant contextualize that Experienced in gw2lfg means Experienced in dungeons you might want to check your IQ.

Now I’m not the kind of person to say a lot of people are below the average IQ point, so I dont see the point of making up excuses for other people when its a given.

Explanations are not excuses. Your given is not necessarily everyone’s. It’s also possible that some players don’t consider dungeons to be the serious business other players consider them to be. The subject of this thread is people not reading. That is almost certainly occurring. However, there may also be some people who don’t give a kitten.

Rizzy.8293:

Milennin.4825:

“Experienced” doesn’t say much, though…
Experienced in what? The dungeon? That specific path? General Pve? Playing their profession?

Even so, a lot of people like to think they’re better than they are (including myself at times, lol).

Experienced in Gw2Lfg means Experienced in particular dungeon -.-
Lern2context.

If people are not experienced in dungeons in general (i.e., newcomers to both dungeons and gw2lfg.com), then they won’t know the context either.

TSW did have amazing story, and regardless of the non-speaking player character, GW2 could have learned a great deal from TSW with regard to story. The combat was uninspiring. The resource builder – resource expender mechanic was very restrictive imo. The build mechanics were excessively complicated and tedious. Talk about grinding, you might need to grind a lot to get access to a skill deep in a tree that you have no other interest in. Also, Vayne’s comments about cookie cutter builds and build wars was well taken. When it came down to it, there were not that many good builds. Also, there was a lot of skill bloat, just as with GW1. GW2 may have a shallow skill system, but it does not have dozens of redundant skills that are almost the same, but which have to be purchased to get to the good ones.

There is no rested XP in GW2. That said, the game gives you xp for just about everything you do — harvesting, crafting, killing, exploring, hearts (sort of like quests), dynamic events, reviving players and npc’s, and so on.

Ease of leveling:

1. Warrior: high health pool, passive regeneration, good damage, limited mobility
2. Necromancer: high health pool, death shroud is an extra life bar, health siphon and minions to absorb damage if you want to roll that way; damage is not top tier but an be surprisingly good with the right spec, good mobility; minions are a bit twitchy — the melee ones will sometimes not attack, and sometimes will Leroy…
3. Guardian: low health pool but lots of damage mitigation, mediocre damage, limited mobility
4. Thief: low health pool, squishy as heck, high burst damage, and stealth, which can be very useful
5. Elementalist: low health pool, squishy as heck but can be built to be extremely resilient — just don’t expect to be tough early in leveling; high learning curve on this class because to maximize results, you must learn and use all of the elemental attunements
6. Ranger: easy soloing, pet + bow + melee of choice + traps and you can handle large groups, but also squishy unless specced for toughness/vitality, which will lower your medicore damage output considerably
7. Mesmer: high learning curve, and extremely squishy at low levels, once you get over the hump, the class puts out excellent damage, has lots of utility and can be vvery fun to play
8. Engineer: some people find it fun, but ANet has relegated this class to near or at the bottom of the heap with a design philosophy that says that engineers sacrifice damage for versatility, then build a class that — while versatile — brings nothing to the table that other classes cannot; while soloing, the lower damage can be hindering; you can work around it, but you have to go out of your way to get results that are almost as good as other classes get by just showing up

• Disclaimer: the above are the opinions of this poster, and may not be representative of every individuals experience

No MMO has ever:

• Produced enough content to satisfy those who play a lot
• Produced enough content hard enough for the really skilled
• Managed to keep player interest without mechanics like gear progression and daily quests
• Had at launch all the features that everyone wanted
• Produced stories that a large percentage of the players thought were “good” (heck, many MMO’s just have lore, and the only way players interact with the lore is by doing raids — this is hardly a story)

GW2 has a “serious” personal story, albeit with a happy ending. I cannot fault ANet for this, as I think a grim, gray ending would displease more people than it would please.

“And that’s the big problem, we don’t need other people in this mmo, you can stick your head in the sand and just ignore the rest and still get the same results.”

Not if the result you’re looking for is fun with others. There are things to do with others, it’s just that the game does not force you to do them. You have to want to, and you have to make some effort to get others involved. The only games that forced grouping were those with open world mobs so hard that a majority of classes couldn’t solo. Even in raid-included games, players are not forced to raid, they just have to if they want the best gear, and those things were/are harder to organize than a GW2 dungeon or a temple clear.

Sorry you missed out. I think that sort of thing falls under the rubric of, “Kitten happens.” I still prefer GW2’s hot fixes to other games’ hours long servers down, though.

killcannon.2576:

Looked up what an Arctodus (sp) was once. Still have no clue what a pinipal is supposed to be though. They seem to have put a number of extinct animals into the game. Most of the other things are dependant on life experience it seems though. Like the government of the Dredge, or the philosophy of different races.

Given the models, the name Pinipal is most likely a reference to Pinnipeds, fin-footed mammals (including walruses and seals).

Kisa.7052:

Okay, curiosity again…. Last night I think I heard “wells, wells, wells!” What skill is this?

I’m slowly getting to understand this stuff the more I run around with people.

Wells are necromancer skills. They provide combo fields which means that finishers such as blast finishers will produce additional effects through them.

On FC the Risen guard the approaches, but the dungeon is open to anyone who can get there. Just find someone who wants to do the story dungeon and who has the WP, then have them proc the instance. Or heck, find someone who has the WP and have them team with you long enough to get you into the instance, then walk out and grab the WP yourself, then you can proc the instance.

While I’m not sure the OP’s idea is the way to go, traits need an overhaul. Why are some trait lines consistent with regard to weapons and types of skills (i.e., the traits to buff weapon x are all in the same line) while other weapons and skill types are spread all over the class’s trait trees? This makes some trait lines inherently superior to others. Also, why are some minor traits useful and some terribad (5 points can get you regen at 90% health or a short-lived minion that is more trouble than it’s worth)?

The trait system seems like it was a work in progress whose progress was interrupted by launch.

Fiontar.4695:

My gripe isn’t that they are undo-able, but once again we are in a situation where dailies/monthlies are killing the world exploration mode of PvE. If I stick to the Living Story zones, which said zones are also usually the most efficient for completing dailies, I’m sure I’ll complete the audio logs portion.

However, for me the most amazing and compelling thing about this game is the massive, beautiful game world. Before dailies, I was playing GW2 more like I’d play Skyrim. Now, I find my guild, most of whom are long term MMO vets with limited game time, just want to stick to Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau to complete their dailies and I find little ground to argue against that strategy.

Did we really need monthlies to even further reinforce the idea that we are supposed to really only be playing the game in a pair of game zones?

I think it’s good that fractals and WvW are part of a list of monthlies to chose from, but IMO both dailies and monthlies need to offer paths to completion that can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time by just going where ever you want in the game world and doing the PvE content there.

The goal of these systems should be to reward players for regular game play, rather than rewarding them for spending their game time jumping through some very restrictive hoops.

Not that restrictive. I finished my monthly by doing Daily Completionist, which took me everywhere, Veterans, which I can find everywhere, events — again, everywhere, and JP’s, which are found — wait for it — everywhere.

I see nothing wrong with ANet putting in an option for periscopes for those people who are going to spend a lot of time doing living story stuff.

Scrotbag.9715:

I use a Black Lion salvaging kit (if I have any) or a master salvaging kit on rares in order to get the Ectoplasms. Granted, you run the risk of getting 0 but you also run the chance of getting 3… and, in my experience, they sell for more than the rare itself (about 25s-30s). You will also get sigils this way and they are worth 2s-6s a pop.

I’ll salvage with a BL Kit sometimes, but not Master’s. Back when the chance for rare materials was higher with a Master’s kit, it was an acceptable risk, now that it’s a 25% chance, I don’t like the odds.

The only things in GW2 I cannot do solo are dungeons, taking WvW fortresses and most of the Group events. Everything else, I can. Seems about right to me.

I’d guess that the other Elder Dragons will be featured in paid game expansions. Each expansion will feature a “new” map area opened up — far Shiverpeaks for Jormag,
Crystal Desert for Kralkatorrik, and under-Tyria for Primordus.