Guild Wars 2

Comment and Rebuttal

1. I agree that easy/hard mode would be a good thing. Both those who think dungeons are too easy and those who think they’re too hard should be catered to. Why? Dungeons make up a great deal of the what’s-there-to-do-at-endgame content. Giving more people more to do is never a bad thing in MMO’s.

That said, “blaming” Robert for the difficulty of dungeons is unfair. Programmers do not make fundamental design decisions alone. If management did not concur with dungeon direction, the dungeons would be different. Colin Johanson has said that he considers explorables “hard mode” and story “easy mode.” The problem with that is that explorables were designed to be repeatable, endgame content. Story mode was not. Once you’ve seen the story the game provides no incentives to return. So, there’s an “easy mode” that few are going to bother repeating.

2. I’ve put in ~1300 hours and also have 5 80’s. With the exception of a few jewelry pieces, they are all in exotics. I also am in the process of putting together a second armor set for my necro (soldier’s). I don’t know what the difference is between you and me, but I find it’s easier to get BiS gear in GW2 than in any other game I’ve played. And second builds? Getting a DPS set for my priest in WoW took months. In fact, getting the healing set took months, and by the time I had it all it was time for an upgrade.

3. There was a need for large-group content in GW2. Everything else in the game was doable in groups of 5 or less. I have no problem with that. However, the PR release prior to guild missions created unrealistic expectations, and this is not the first time they’ve put their feet in their virtual mouth. It also looks like this issue will be fixed soon.

Aeonblade.8709:

Subscription fees insure quality in the ever changing landscape of crappy B2P and F2P games, try playing a sub game for a few months then going back to a F2P model and you’ll understand why F2P is destroying the MMO industry. At least Guild Wars set the bar at $60 before they give it all up so to speak, the buy to play model is far superior in my eyes than a free to play, possibly even as good as a sub base.

That is very much a matter of opinion. I have never played a sub game where I thought I was getting my money’s worth. The closest was Rift. I will agree that most F2P games are a waste of bandwidth. Freemium games can be even worse. ToR’s model is heavily geared towards making the free experience unfriendly, coupled with not-so-subtle hints like, “You could have another quick slot if you subbed.”

GW’s B2P model worked just fine for me. Heck, if I played WoW I was also going to pay for expansions. Why pay a monthly fee for what imo was an inferior game. Yes, I know a lot of people like WoW. Well, a lot of people like Justin Bieber. I’m just not one of them, in either case.

Halanna.3927:

You know, I don’t bother with trying to label myself as a “good” player, an “awesome” player or a “bad” player.

— snipped for brevity —

Me? I’ll just be logging in and doing what I find fun and avoiding those things I don’t find fun. And not doing the things I can’t do, because for whatever reasons, I just can’t do them.

Does that make me a bad player? Fine.

I AM A BAD PLAYER AND PROUD OF IT.

There.

I can’t say whether the behavior you described makes you “bad” in someone else’s eyes. From my point of view, it makes you someone who knows what they like to do and what they don’t, and that’s far more important than pixel skillz.

chore [chawr, chohr]; noun

1. a small or odd job; routine task.
2. the everyday work around a house or farm.
3. a hard or unpleasant task

Daily Achievements fall under definition 1. They’re “small,” sometimes odd, less of a routine now than at launch, but still routine in many ways as the list is only so big. Not under definition 2; while some can be done around in-game farms, most cannot. Definition 3: there’s the rub. They aren’t hard, but one might consider them unpleasant. I don’t, but I’m not you.

Normally, people will choose not to do things they consider unpleasant. If you find them unpleasant but keep doing them anyway, it’s obvious you want the outcome but not the process. This leaves you with choices:

• Do them because you want the reward and kitten about it.
• Stop doing them, and wait to see if the rewards become available through some other type of play; then kitten about that.
• Do them or not, and stop kittening.

People expecting a mostly static dungeon experience such as can be found in most other MMO’s are setting themselves up for disappointment. GW2 replaced character roles with dodge rolls. Positioning, movement and dodge are important. It’s also important to note that ANet wanted a game where people watch what is on the screen, not their UI. This is even more important in difficult content. If you are not watching to see what is killing you, you will not learn to avoid it.

Midnight Ice is very similar to Abyss and costs about half as much. Black dye is also about the same price as Midnight Ice. There are also a number of dark dyes with some color to them. Most use the “midnight” prefix, so you can look for them on the TP using the search word midnight, then preview them to see how the color reacts with the material of your armor. Be aware that most colors react differently depending on what you put them on. Midnight Violet looks almost black on some pieces, but looks like a medium purple on others. Thus, it’s best to make sure the color works for you on the armor pieces you plan to wear.

I am unlikely to play a sub-required game again. If GW2 had one at launch, I would not have bought the game. I want to buy a game, not rent it. Granted that Blizzard has made a mint on the sub model. However, I’ve seen no arguments that convinced me that the sub model was better for the consumer.

Creeper.9360:

the temples always seem to be contested, if you are looking for group content then why don’t people do them?

I’d guess some players think it’s too much effort for the reward. I don’t get the “big business” thinking gamers apply to playing. It seems like RoI is more important than fun. Taking 45 minutes to do Shatterer (40 sitting alt-tabbed + 5 to kill it) seems more attractive than taking 45 to do Dwayna from start – finish. I’ll confess that on occasion the time involved (when I have to be somewhere else soon) makes me not respond to those asking for help at them. But then, I don’t do all the dragon events all the time either.

That said, the temples do seem to be getting done more frequently (at least on my server).

Lambent.6375:

I guess it’s worth mentioning that people die all the time at Claw of Jormag. Whenever I needed to get a Rez daily I got it at that event.

It’s the cold DoT. People don’t pay attention to their health, or are looking to maximize their DPS time and are hoping that people will stop dps-ing to rez them. The other ways around it are to ball up and hope the AoE heals are enough, or to run back out of combat every 20-30 seconds. Also, while the dragon’s presence is producing the DoT, there is no sense that it actually did anything. If the DoT procced on its breath, and players could dodge to avoid it, it would be a more interesting mechanic. Instead, it’s just area denial (that doesn’t work across the board).

Calae.1738:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Calae.1738:

Being bad at something doesn’t mean you’ll never be good at it. Go ask how hard professional “anything” has to practice in order to get good.

There’s a big difference between people who don’t want to get better versus people who want to get better.

People who don’t want to get better use the game in the same way they use a radio or a television. It’s a relaxing non stressful environment that they can do while eating and socializing at the same time. Like going to a bar or a restaurant. All you have to do is show up, talk, drink, eat and breathe.

People who want to get better have a desire to learn new skills, develop new strategies and master elegant techniques. Like hockey players, football players, basketball players, tennis players ect…

Using pro athletes as a comparison is not a good one. I’m sure there are people who don’t want to get better. I am also sure that there are people who want to get better, but are not able to spend the time needed to do so. Professional athletes make money playing a sport. How many gamers make money by gaming? You’d be better served referring to amateur sport players competing in city leagues, who actually have limited time, than to pros whose life is about their sport.

I’m not a pro athlete.

I play hockey and tennis in the summer with friends for no money. I play because I love to learn new skills and perfect my techniques. In short; I love to learn.

I don’t turn on a video game for it to tickle me.

I didn’t say you were.

I didn’t say you don’t.

I have no opinion about why anyone else turns on a video game. That’s their business.

You made an analogy. Your analogy compared game-players to pro athletes; not amateur athletes who practice to improve within the confines of their physical capability and time. All I said was that a comparison to amateurs would have been more apt. I was not disagreeing with your point, only the means by which you made it.

I don’t know why the meta bosses are so static. Maybe it’s some issue with the engine, or the programming. It’s almost like the large meta bosses are not a single avatar, but rather several “glued” together. Instead of what we usually see from bosses – 1, 2 or maybe 3 dangerous moves, the meta bosses just proc indirect FX like Jormag’s cold dot, Teqatl’s poison pools or Shadow Behemoth’s AoE claw smack. This sort of “difficulty” seems cheap.

The Jormag event is annoying. Advance on Jormag — fear, run back — advance on Jormag — fear, run back — advance on Jormag — ice spikes, pushed back — sit waiting for ice spikes to end — advance on Jormag — get there and start dpsing ice wall — have to turn and run back due to a DoT you can do little about — get health back, etc.

The Champion Abomination in Cursed Shore is big, highly mobile, can leave a path of downed players in its wake, and takes a large group some time to finish off. Frankly, this fight is more interesting to me because the mechanics are something I can do something about, not crap that is just there to prolong the fight.

Businesses have the right to set prices however they please. Consumers have the right to not pay the price if it is too high. If no one pays, maybe the business decides to lower the price, maybe they don’t. Complaining about prices, however, will not get anyone anywhere.

Ioflux.4369:

Ethics.4519:

swiftpaw.6397:

Teleniel.1809:

all I can say is WOW you guys run a harsh group.

lets see….

magic find gear… do you ask for all gear ping before a dungeon? I mean… that’s elitest right there, can’t deny it. I’m not going to say I wouldn’t rather nobody ran it, and that it’s not selfish, but hey if we can clear the content than fine.

.

Unfortunately after many many many many hours of my time wasted by magic finders I am forced to gear check to avoid incident. This is not something I wish to do, but history has not been kind to my parties.

Stats =/= skill

MF = person performing less than what they could be regardless of their skill being higher than the rest of the party.

Yes. In dungeons there is a certain level of performance that increases the likelihood of success, and another level of performance that ensures speed. It’s important to note that there are players for whom it’s OK for others to give less than they could, and players for whom it isn’t. Now, if there was some way to insure that all players who think one way could group with each other, and vice versa, we’d have it made.

The WP could be inside the protective dome and thus would be contested when the event is NOT up, uncontested during the event. The run-back from Meddler’s to the Grenth Event when you die is a pain.

Calae.1738:

Being bad at something doesn’t mean you’ll never be good at it. Go ask how hard professional “anything” has to practice in order to get good.

There’s a big difference between people who don’t want to get better versus people who want to get better.

People who don’t want to get better use the game in the same way they use a radio or a television. It’s a relaxing non stressful environment that they can do while eating and socializing at the same time. Like going to a bar or a restaurant. All you have to do is show up, talk, drink, eat and breathe.

People who want to get better have a desire to learn new skills, develop new strategies and master elegant techniques. Like hockey players, football players, basketball players, tennis players ect…

Using pro athletes as a comparison is not a good one. I’m sure there are people who don’t want to get better. I am also sure that there are people who want to get better, but are not able to spend the time needed to do so. Professional athletes make money playing a sport. How many gamers make money by gaming? You’d be better served referring to amateur sport players competing in city leagues, who actually have limited time, than to pros whose life is about their sport.

I’ll confess that I did enjoy my rit, even the spirit spam solo farm. I also liked rit healing, and nuking. My favorite was using a Spirit’s Strength build with a bow or melee weapon — in those few areas where there was not any enchantment removal. I even used it in AB a few times. The class was flat out fun. I’d love to see a GW2 version, except for the spirit part, as GW2 and pets of any sort don’t mix all that well.

Healix.5819:

The flaw with the shared system is that I can exploit you. For example, if you’re doing an event or killing something, I just have to wait and watch and come by when you’re almost done and start attacking it to get the exact same level of rewards that you do but without any of the effort. For wave of mobs events, you just have to kill 1 group and walk off to get gold. For boss events, you just have to do about 1% damage. You are rewarded for abusing others.

You’re only exploiting or abusing them if they mind.

Vayne.8563:

IndigoSundown.5419:

I applaud the OP for deciding not to do something he doesn’t want to. I also do what I want, when I want. This means when I do play, I enjoy it. Sometimes that means farming, which is something I enjoy in moderate doses.

It’s too bad the karma reward system is under-utilized. The game throws karma at people all the time, for practically everything they do. I thought going in that karma was going to play a bigger role in getting, as the OP calls them, cool things. That said, I think more cool things will be added to the game going forward. Fortunately for me, I plan to be around for the long haul, taking my time.

Well you do need a boatload of karma for legendaries.

True… however those who are not going for legendaries are likely to end up with a boatload of Karma if there’s nothing to spend it on. I see they’ve added back pieces and some exotic trinkets to temple vendors, so there’s hope for more stuff down the pipe.

thisolderhead.5127:

Kadub.8743:

Seriously? Even stupid mice have figured out effort = reward.

True true, but over simplified in this case because there is actually one case in which it is possible to put in more time / actions / whatever in blocks within the a cycle (between resets) than another player does spread out across cycles and gain less rewards from the specific mechanic.

Of course to try to make that argument work you have to somehow ignore the simple fact that longer blocks of gameplay allow for different activities which are rewarded in different mechanics… mind you those activities tend to require greater engagement with other players…

I wonder if the OP and the others who share their point of view are big on the party play.

Had you read the OP, you would have noticed it was not about his getting or not getting the daily reward, it was about not wanting others to get rewards that increased their supply of coin. This was due to his conclusion that it devalued his pile of virtual cash. The thread has been hijacked since then. However, lumping the OP in with others who’ve posted lately might not be accurate.

I applaud the OP for deciding not to do something he doesn’t want to. I also do what I want, when I want. This means when I do play, I enjoy it. Sometimes that means farming, which is something I enjoy in moderate doses.

It’s too bad the karma reward system is under-utilized. The game throws karma at people all the time, for practically everything they do. I thought going in that karma was going to play a bigger role in getting, as the OP calls them, cool things. That said, I think more cool things will be added to the game going forward. Fortunately for me, I plan to be around for the long haul, taking my time.

Leo G.4501:

this is about you overestimating healing shout warriors and their 1.2k heal that somehow heals for 4k reliably and not 2/3 being on 60 second cooldowns.

Fwiw, my warrior has 15 points in Defense, gaining +150 Healing Power. Shouts, when I use them, heal for ~1300. Given that kind of scaling, it is unreasonable to assume that even a full investment in HP would get a shout much above 2k, if they even get there at all. Perhaps he meant 4k from using 3 shouts @ ~1333 each?

As far as shouts go, only Fear Me has a long CD (80), with On My Mark at 30, FGJ and Shake It Off at 25; trait reduction can take that to 64, 24, 20 and 20. There was a time when shouts were considered good, but isn’t the meta thinking on warrior support leaning more toward Banners than shouts?

BlackhawkSOM.6401:

It was actually pretty fun honestly

maybe I’m too caught up on being “rewarded” for my time

You are. It’s a common theme on these forums. DE rewards are pretty standard. Expecting more because you solo one flies in the face of past experience, so it was an unrealistic expectation to begin with. Also, ANet built a game under the vision that people would do things for fun. If you can let go the idea of return on investment, that opportunity is still there. DE’s “replaced” standard quests from other MMO’s. How much fun does the standard traditional MMO quest provide? There’s a lot of variety, but for me, less than a DE — though ommv.

It’s probably been about 6 weeks or so.

Scumbag Mawile.6384:

Regular krait something-or-others (they’re the females) bring my downscaled GC exotics thief to <50% in the first tick of their barely-visible flashing-off circle.

Vets bring my full-bunker exotics guardian to <50% in the first tick and one-shot my thief.

I’d complain about their fellow krait immobilizing you right when the AoE lands, but then again I only survive long enough for it to matter when playing a full bunker, which gets downed if I can’t dodge out fast enough.

I like krait and they really should be annoying (the constant immobs/pulls accomplish that very well), but honestly, they’d still be a real challenge if that AoE damage was halved. As it is, taking on a back of them is dependent on your luck of not getting immob + AoEed and playing survivalist besides.

Yeah, I will agree that the new krait AoE damage is overtuned. This is not the case with Vet Risen Nobles. With them the AoE damage seemed about right. The annoyance with them is event waves that consist of all of one type of Risen (Wren, for example). Multiple Vet Nobles in a wave can mean it’s character ping-pong time.

digiowl.9620:

Aridia.3042:

LOL got 1 shotted for 15k last night by a Krait on Sparkfly. What exactly is the AOE suppose to look like btw? I didn’t see it.

A red circle on the ground. Sadly the shallow water pools around the swampy areas obscure them. Never mind that the circle and the attack seems to come at the same time, meaning they are virtually impossible to dodge. This especially when the attacker is covered in particle effects or perhaps “signaling” the attack with a tail twitch.

There is a serious flaw with “watch the game, not the UI” when each enemy has so different an anatomy and attack animations. By this i mean that the only way to learn how to react is to fight the same enemy ad nauseam until you can dodge their attacks on rote.

With the varied fauna of this game, that means focusing you efforts on a single area, or even subsection of said area unless you happen to be one of the lucky few with photographic memory…

There’s some truth to this. The only times I’ve dodged the new Krait AoE I was on the move when they noticed me. If I wait to pick up a tell, it’s too late. If I wait to see he circle it’s too late. If there’s more than two of them and they all focus on me, it’s too late.

The same is true for the new Vet/Champion Risen Noble teleport/pull/symbol move. The Champion seems to spam it about every 12-15 seconds. On top of that, it can pull more than one victim, which is fine for a champion — but it can make for an “interesting” fight to see 4 of the 7 people fighting it downed at once.

Luciusbrimstone.7925:

Some other things I wanted to respond to, mostly classes:

Ranged attacks: It’s a pet peeve. It’s been said a few times in the thread and I agree, melee 100% of the time isn’t ideal. There are plenty of cases where you just don’t want to get into melee range.

My concern within that category is more of a generalization: I see these builds and associate them with a lot of bad experiences. There’s a minor thing about less synergy with ranged attacks (as opposed to everyone clustering around the mob to support each other) but that’s certainly debatable/definitely not 100% true.

Scepter Guardian: I’m not saying it’s useless; I believe it’s the 3 that’s the aoe? That move is great for large, smaller groups of mobs and I can see it as a reasonable offhand. I can also totally understand why you would use ranged over a melee alternative: a large amount of players stick to range, so the benefits of guardian melee weapons aren’t nearly as useful. In that case, yeah no, scepter is a sound choice as it’s the most powerful ranged guardian has. Hammer is incredible but you really have to spec for it, and then the group has to be clustered for it to have use. All of that said, I still get a twinge and go hm when I see a scepter guardian because, despite it being their high damage ranged weapon, the guardian’s I’ve seen using it don’t do much if any damage. Just an association I’ve made.

Thief: The problem, as some others have said, is that it offers very little in the categories of team play. That’s not the player’s fault, sure. Hell, the stuff it offers isn’t even that useful. Shadow refuge is a great team skill at times though, as is stealth (dredge fractal). But like scepter guardians I just have this… image of players on thief not contributing a large amount to the group.

Engineer: Yeah no, when I play my engineer I run a grenade/vulnerability build. I tried flamethrower one and didn’t like it as much. It seemed like less damage despite being specced towards it, and then the lack of vulnerability just bleh. I didn’t like it but I definitely see flamethrower as a viable option.

—Commander tags: I had not considered the commander chat. It really is something I always forget. I can respect that.

Why I singled out timewarp: Don’t get me wrong, I think all of the mesmer elites are very useful. That’s just the one I see the most mishaps with. And as I said earlier, I try to clear those up when I can.

I respect your right to these opinions, some of which I share. However, your post about etiquette would have been better served by sticking to things people do that are impolite or rude. It might have been better to keep, “There are more efficient ways to play and less efficient ways” to another topic. It seems like your approach to people whose play does not suit you is to not do further runs with them. Better to have left it at that than to add personal preferences to a post about manners.

I love how this thread has spiraled away from its original intent, to troll the playerbase with claims of “gold” inflation from dailies. The thread has of course been hijacked by people who hate the daily system because of laurels, which add no cash to the economy. Did anyone who has brought up laurels read the thread?

Silentsins.3726:

Honestly? A guaranteed 12 rares a day is still an enormous number. I don’t see how anyone could deride this change as a bad thing, or argue that abusing the Maw’s short timer on the current system is a good thing.

Yes, it is an enormous number. However, we will see people claiming that it is indeed a bad change. I’m not one of them, but the claims are there and will continue. This change was necessary. Anyone who didn’t realize it was “too good” was deluding himself.

@ all those claiming there is now no reason to have alts…

How about for fun? You know, fun? The reason for most games?

Game: activity engaged in for diversion or amusement.

LyzeUH.1398:

I really don’t like this:

“Ranged attacks, Scepter Guardians, Pistol Thieves, Rangers, Rifle Warriors, Thieves”

Considering how I myself use Scepter on my guardian, and occasionally use p/p on my thief…and the fact that I actually main a thief…I don’t like what you’re saying…

I see no reason why people can’t play ranged…there is a reason why ranged weapons exist in this game…Some people enjoy the playstyle, others may not be experienced enough with the content to go in melee, you simply just can’t expect everyone to be experienced enough/want to melee.

This sort of attitude has appeared in the dungeon community in every MMO I’ve played. MMO class balance meta always produces “best” options for efficiency. Those who desire efficiency in their runs will view any major deviation from the best options as something not preferred.

The discrepancy between melee and ranged damage in GW2 is noticeable without a damage meter. This is “supposed” to be balanced by melee needing to spend more time dodging and backing out of melee because of high mob melee damage. This balancing act works pretty well in the open world. However, at least some of the GW2 dungeon boss mechanics require RDPS to dodge and reposition almost as much as melee. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that melee is just, well, better if the player has the twitch reflexes and knowledge of attack tells to get the dodges off properly.

Thing is, the OP’s rules of etiquette are primarily aimed at players who pug dungeons. Guild or friend groups tend to work out their own rules of etiquette, and are likely to be more forgiving of someone who prefers ranged for whatever reason. This is why I do not pug.

Sure, a preference issue like the use of a ranged weapon is something that is not in and of itself rude, but will be viewed as undesirable because of the desire for efficiency. You don’t have to like that attitude but it does exist and is not going to go away.

Rennoko.5731:

IndigoSundown.5419:

While I disagree with most of the OP’s analysis, the 5 point Death Magic trait Reanimator is arguably the worst non-choice trait in the game.

Oh I wouldn’t say that.

I think I actually like it better than the 25 point trait in spite. Because at 25% HP what I really needs is 1 stack of might per hit until I die, considering most strong professions can drop me in 1-2 hits at that point.

It is just irritating that its a targettable mob that gets me in trouble with AOEs in PVE, and it doesn’t move/respond quite fast enough to be useful as fodder in PVP. Would be better if the thing was invuln and just lasted for X amount of time, so it worked like a passive mini dot.

Two things: 25 point traits are more easily avoided; having a 5 point trait that you don’t want means your choice is take the little kitten or ignore the entire trait line; a useless buff (if you find that’s the case for you) is better in my book than a no-choice trait that makes me into something I prefer not to play (minion necro), and which by its existence can sabotage what I am trying to do; at least the buff has no negative effects on play. I also would prefer a mini-DoT, but why must it be attached to a pet?

Sky.7610:

Orion the Cursed.1206:

Sky.7610:

Orion the Cursed.1206:

How does going online to complain that a computer game should be changed to accomodate you qualify as being mature? You claim logic but use exaggeration instead of facts. No wonder you are left behind.

Grow up

This is a wild guess but maybe its because things never change if no one ever complaints.

I suppose those who speak up against discrimination and slavery must be immature for *gasp * complaining *gasp * about X?

Also, capturing the concept of a logical theory then focus on it to better understand it, is clearly irrational and childish.

Your logic made me so hot, I think I grew a foot already! ~_^

Says the person complaining that slaves should be cheaper because you want to own more slaves but refuse to pay more. You are just trolling at this point. Go wallow in your filth

“government print money then give it as a bonus” = ignorance

Wut? How can you be so cruel to me Orion? I thought we were friends! </3 ;(

Gold coins are my slaves, and I want them to be more useful. Therefore you got it the other way around! I want my slave to be more expensive!

ps: ignorant means ignoring something. We learn something everyday

When I saw the OP, I wondered if we were being trolled. On seeing this post, I know we are.

To understand the current state of GW2, one has to look at the “history” of the game.

1. Game launches
2. People complain about many things
3. ANet attempts to address complaints about many things
4. People complain about some of the features put in to address complaints
5. ANet attempts to fix the features that were put in to address complaints
6. People complain about the fixes

Did I miss anything?

While I disagree with most of the OP’s analysis, the 5 point Death Magic trait Reanimator is arguably the worst non-choice trait in the game.

Shiren.9532:

Dude stop perpetuating the myth that pet’s are half of the ranger’s DPS, they are not. The amount of unfounded (and mostly untrue) criticism of the class that’s taking place in this thread makes me regret ever posting here.

Your analysis on P. 1 was spot on imo, and probably should have been /thread.

Unfortunately, it was probably too long for some people.

Knighthonor.4061:

Well I saw a thread about who the game isnt for.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/This-game-isn-t-for-you

well I have to ask, who is the game for than?

I see threads were people say others are playing the game wrong. I remember seeing this a lot early on after release.

Well whats playing the game right?

The thread you linked is by someone who had some assumptions about the game that were never true, and who is disappointed with some other aspects of the game. The first rule of internet forums should be: don’t put too much stock in other peoples’ opinions, especially those who bought the game without doing any research. The second rule should be: unless someone is offering the results of crunching numbers or reporting a bug, their post is 99% likely to be opinion; and usually it’s better to form your own than rely on those of others.

Sky.7610:

I’m being punished because that free money, mystic coin, and karma you got from the daily makes my gold less valuable due to inflation, therefore I am being punished.

You say that the introduction of gold into the economy punishes you because of “inflation.” Thus, you think that however much gold you gain doing whatever you do in game entitles you to a certain amount of buying power. This is simply and categorically not true except with regard to fixed price items (like cultural armor). Buying the game entitles you to play (when the servers are open), not to enjoy the benefits of a stable economy.

Also, a lot of activities introduce gold into the economy. If people were not doing dailies, they’d be doing something else. Whatever these things were, they might well be more lucrative than dailies, since a lot of things one can do in game are.

1) I’d ask who they were and what they had done to ANet.

2) I’d say leave CoF P1 as is. Why? Leave an option for dungeon farming and dungeon monthlies for people who don’t want to learn other, presumably more involved paths. That way there might be fewer requests to nerf other dungeons.

Why warrior and guardian? let’s see. Maybe it’s that ranger, necromancer and engineer all have design flaws?

1. Necro: powermancer ranged glass cannon necros can do acceptable damage, and help the team by stacking vulnerability on targets; it also applies protection on a reasonably long cd; warrior banner buffs in general apply to the whole team and are much longer in duration; condition necro is weaker than powermancer; condition damage in general suffers from a design decision meaning that the more people who are using it, the less each individual is contributing. Also, a power necro will kill a single target faster than a condition one in most cases. However, power necro lacks AoE.
2. Ranger: a portion of a ranger’s dps comes from its pet, which does not dodge and does not position itself advantageously the way players will in dungeon play; as a consequence it dies. Rangers also don’t have as many support options as some classes so they provide less dps and less support.
3. Engineer: ANet decided that engineers would pay for their versatility by not having a top-flight damage build. However, that versatility does not allow them to bring anything really unique to the table.

If you’re finding it too easy, find challenge in the open world while leveling by:

• Fighting mobs several levels higher than you
• Pulling multiple mobs at the same time
• Fighting multiple veterans or a champion
• Tackling group events without backup
• Level in Wv3
• Level in Dungeons (if you can get a group to take you)

I’m sure others could list other options. There are areas in the game where you can find more challenging things to do, but you have to look for them. Having every mob or mob group perfectly balanced to give a challenge that’s enough for all play-styles and all classes is not going to happen. It’s a good thing that there is a variety in challenge.

critickitten.1498:

Heijincks.9267:

If ascended was big enough of a debacle, they would have removed it.

They didn’t. I suppose they’re referring to it as a debacle in the relative sense. As far as grinding ascended is concerned, the “grind” isn’t traditional grind. It’s merely time “gated”, but there’s a huge distinction between that and grind itself.

This is wrong.

There are a lot of companies that make mistakes in their games all the time and choose not to correct them because they figure that, in the long run, they’ll get away with it anyways.

-snip-

Correct. Also, a lot (?) of people have run fractals (and now done dailies and guild missions) to “work” toward acquiring Ascended. If the introduction of the gear caused people to leave, how many more would leave if their rewards for play taken away?

Akhellan.4180:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Was this a group event? If so, the mob difficulty may have been intended. Also, what efforts did you make to avoid the attack or mitigate it? How often did the Vet use this particular attack? Was there a tell for the heavy hitting attack?

A friend of mine said earlier this week, “One of the things I like about GW2 is that if I play smart and well, I can come through a fight taking no damage.” With that kind of option built into the game’s combat mechanics, harder hitting creatures — especially for events — make sense. I won’t say this particular mob is balanced properly or not without knowing more than I know now.

These mobs are unfortunately not appearing only in group events… They are appearing in the open world when I’m all by my lonesome and away from any event, they are even appearing in storyline missions and making them hellish experiences: swarm summoning veteran Risen Acolytes and certain Krait come to mind.

As I’ve said before, my concern is that these changes are being painted with a broad brush all over the place and may just be an initial “experimental” deployment of such changes. I never have posted in a game forum until recently because of these changes. I could not remain silent any longer.

The new mobs (Veteran Risen and some of the krait) can be a bit of a problem in sufficient numbers, such as in some events and story missions. I doubt that the story missions were retro-tested to see the effects of the experiment. I’d bug report them if I thought they were too much, or if I though that scaling was broken. I bug-repped the appearance of 4 Veteran Risen Nobles, 2 Vet Acolytes and 2 Vet Abominations at the Song of Lyss as a scaling issue — we had 8 or 9 players. In 2 subsequent runs after one of the recent small patches, the up-scaling was reduced.

The announcement stated that the Risen and Krait have been adjusted in the current experiment. Ergo, there is no evidence this Chaos Creature has been touched recently. While I understand your concerns, it is an experiment, and quite possibly has nothing to do with this thread.

Foosnark.1784:

Celtic Lady.3729:

I do think of Mesmers as a feminine-style profession, I guess. The butterflies and all the purple feels girly to me. I know guys that won’t touch the profession because it feels too “girly” to them. Personally, I enjoy it, but then I’m a girl. lol

I don’t know why people buy into stereotypes so much, especially where it comes to gender.

Purple is Samuel L. Jackson’s favorite color. Do people think he’s particularly feminine?

Purple? Time to get my eyes looked at, because the FX look pink to me.

Was this a group event? If so, the mob difficulty may have been intended. Also, what efforts did you make to avoid the attack or mitigate it? How often did the Vet use this particular attack? Was there a tell for the heavy hitting attack?

A friend of mine said earlier this week, “One of the things I like about GW2 is that if I play smart and well, I can come through a fight taking no damage.” With that kind of option built into the game’s combat mechanics, harder hitting creatures — especially for events — make sense. I won’t say this particular mob is balanced properly or not without knowing more than I know now.

Astralporing.1957:

Calling the locust “dedicated”, while most of the really dedicated players that bought in the game philosophy, that helped advertise the game and make it a success are left out on the sidelines is a slap in the face from the Anet team.

ANet used the word “dedicated” to refer to players who put a lot of “work” into the game. I’ve played a lot. I don’t have a full dungeon set. I haven’t crunched numbers to determine what the absolute best combinations of weapons and utilities are for many situations. I haven’t taken the time to analyze dungeons to determine the best way to do them. There are players who have done all of these things and more. These players spearheaded the rush to the point where they had nothing to do.

You’re using the word dedicated with regard to fandom. People who followed the development of the game, who waited up to five years for it, who — as you say — bought into the expressed vision of the game.

Both definitions are valid. The wording you are referring to was pure PR Speak. I was shocked at the wording at the time, but I’ve let it go. Expecting a corporation to not use PR Speak in this day and age is an exercise in futility.

With what type(s) of group do you want to play?

• Guild group (casual)
• Guild group (pro/speed runs)
• PuG (casual)
• PuG (pro/speed runs)

If guild casual group, then maybe you should ask them what would be best for their . If PuG, pro groups will want a mesmer to do damage, so dps gear (berserker). I’m not going to start the CnD stinks v. it doesn’t argument, but the perception is that direct damage is better. If you choose a CnD build w/ staff/scepter then either Rampager’s (for more crit chance) or Carrion for more life. If casual, expect harder runs sometimes in which P/V/T gear (best source for 5 of 6 pieces is Orr temple karma vendors, if you have the Karma, or AC) will keep you up longer. Or do as suggested above and get both.

Clark Skinner.4902:

Enemy health down to 10%
Invulnerable
Invulnerable
Invulnerable
Out of range
Enemy health up to 100%
Player thinks “Fine, I’ll just continue on”.
Nope. Enemy comes back to make you kill it again.
“Argh fine”
Invulnerable.
Alt-F4.

Y’know, I do a lot of UW combat and your post made me realize I have not seen this phenomenon in a month or more.

Fuinir.7489:

If the developers did not want gear progression, then why was it that Ascended was added in the first place? It does not set straight with me to read that developers did not want gear progression, yet they add Ascended, making it a requirement to do Fractals, and another piece of gear to get to have the advantage over somebody in WvW.

I respect your opinion that GW2 should not cater towards the hardcore crowd, but I do not think you’re right. They already tilted towards giving the hardcore crowd a carrot to chase with Ascended, but there really should be something other to pursue than just a prettier look. It’s nice after a while, but even after I geared my main to what I wanted, I really lost the incentive to do so for any future characters.

ANet is trying to walk a tight-rope between those that want progression and those that don’t. That is why we are not seeing large stat increases in Ascended gear. It is to keep the difference small. This is also why we are seeing the gear available in multiple ways. Whether it is a good idea for a company to try to cater to as many demographics as possible is debatable. However, most game developers seem to do so.

What I expect going forward is more powerful infusions. The current infusions are blue, which is the 2nd of 6 tiers in gear. I don’t know if this is going to please gear progressionists or not, but I expect — as with everything — it will please some and not others. Regardless, whatever comes this will not make it into the game quickly. We all have our pet wishes, we’ve all had to wait.

Cheers.

Apparently, the AoE adjustment is also coming. Since AoE is a potential counter to stealth, the nature of those adjustments will also matter.

The new krait mechanics are fine when facing individuals. That said, the new mechanics are too much if you are facing groups with several of the same type of mob. The same holds true for Veteran Risen Squires with their teleport/pull/symbol combo on short CD.

In story missions the enemy group’s size is scaled up because you have NPC helpers. The helpers of course wear tissue paper armor, have little health, do negligible damage, and most importantly don’t dodge out of AoE. I wonder if they tested the new mechanics in story missions.

MF is best in places where you can tag lots of mobs, since the increased chance for valuable drops can trigger more often. To really maximize it, get the minor benefits for being in a group and for killing mobs over your level (which means Orr events that scale up readily). It is for this reason that the Plinx chain was so popular and why shelter/penitent/Jofast’s is probably the best spot now.