Guild Wars 2

Dungeons were not intended for everyone. They were designed for coordinated teams with thought-out builds. As it is, the dungeons are not, apparently, as hard as some of those groups would prefer. This leads me to think that dungeon difficulty was tempered a bit to allow greater accessibility. The best solution for this dichotomy in my opinion would be for two modes, a “normal mode” easier than the current state of the dungeons, and a “hard mode” harder than the current state.

Orion.7264:

Here’s an answer you may not expect:

Necromancers. All things being equal, at level 80, they are objectively the most durable class in the game. The Guardian runs a close second, but the Necro’s ability to survive brutal onslaught is unparalleled. On top of that (here I can only speak for building Power/Crit and running wells) they hit like a semi-truck full of yellow-cake uranium. Leveling starts off a little fragile as with all clothies, but once you hit 10, you can do whatever you want.

Yeah, I’d have to say my necro is about as hard to take down as my warrior. I’m also using a wells build with D/D, 30,0,10,30,0. I really wish there was an elite well, though.

There was a “perceived” tendency in GW1 for dye to drop more in the lower level zones. I know a friend did the Legendary Defender of Ascalon title in pre-Searing, and I created characters on 3 occasions to ferry dyes to his post-searing characters. That was a lot of dye.

In GW2, I’ve seen a lot of dye drops since launch, and the frequency seems to be down for me. I tend to get more in lower level zones… maybe it’s tinfoil hat time?

I just did the Grenth Event in cursed shore for the first time tonight. It was a lot more fun than I can remember having in any treadmill subscription MMO. The big events are out there. People are not doing them because they are not rewarding, but when the developer puts in a new dungeon with rewards, people complain about grind…

le sigh

As to the game dying, HoD, where I did the event tonight, has been “dead” for over a month. There was even a thread about it not too long ago. Seems like there are plenty of people around, though.

Why did you buy the game? Stay in touch with that and don’t let what people type in forums influence your experience. You may have heard the expression, “Don’t believe everything you hear on TV.” That goes triple for what you read on the internet.

I never played FF, or Everquest. While your experience of GW2 may have lacked an epic feel that you got in FF, for me it lacked things like getting to 33/50 in Tabula Rasa and being unable to progress because they decided medics should not be able to kill battle mechs, or my choices to progress in AoC being to either sit in Aztlan’s Approach for hours looking for groups that rarely materialized, or running the same villa missions in Tarantia over and over and over… Compared to those leveling experiences, GW2’s seems fluid, dynamic, fun, and consisting of positive rather than negative memories.

That said, no game is going to float everyone’s boat.

I’m less that a week from having my fourth 80 (mesmer at 71). The 3 I have all have exotics except for one earring on one of them. I still want Superior Rune sets for 2 of them also. I farm, I play alts, I run around doing dailies.

I am waiting on Ascended to see if/when/how they implement making those pieces available in more places (and at what cost). If I decide not to get Ascended, then I’ll live with Exotic as long as I can still play what I want to play. I have tailor, weaponsmith, armorsmith and jeweler at 400.

I feel that as long as I am not in a hurry, I can count on getting all 8 characters to 80 and geared in exotics/runes eventually. It does take some effort to gain gold, though, even if you craft your own, as ectos are not cheap.

Worst idea I’ve heard in a while. Let’s take yet another “feature” of the stereotypical MMO and put it into the game billed as the anti-MMO MMO.

The game is not dead, so FotM can hardly have killed it. There are a million stories in the big city. For every one that relates to FotM there may very well be many that do not relate to it. Just one: my former guild had 60 active players in early October; it has 3 now. The ones who left did so before FotM was introduced. FotM did not entice any of those players back to the game.

About two hours ago I did a group event in Fireheart Rise with a friend and two strangers. I was on a mesmer. At one point, there were 3 vets facing us. I dropped Time Warp on all of us, and when its duration expired we faced no vets. No one but my friend commented, but I know it made a difference.

Another time on an Ele in a group event, I noticed the players I was with were taking lots of damage. I switched to water, dodge rolled, then hit Cleansing Wave, backed up and used Cone of Cold. Four area heals in 4-5 seconds. Those whose health bars I could see went up, on the others, I could see lots of green numbers. We beat the event.

I judge my contribution by the results. Sometimes that’s all you’ve got.

Unless I’ve missed it, the only comment about weapon switching was the one about Eles and Engies paying more because they don’t weapon switch. However, that does not mean they don’t have multiple weapons top switch to in their inventory. How fair is the system if you compare a Hammer/GS Guard with a P/P and D/D Thief? Now it’s two weapons versus 4.

GuzziHero.2467:

My brain hurts I am too thick for combos.

I nuked it and made a Mesmer. I really do appreciate all the advice, but for a casual player like myself, I think the challenge is a little too much for my skritt brain.

I need to go lie down to recover

Good luck with that mesmer. I find that I enjoy my Ele more, but the ele does seem more fragile. I also find that mesmer has a reasonably steep learning curve. Of the three cloth classes, necro is imo by far the easiest to level and play.

Berelious.3290:

Is there anything you won’t complain about?

Given enough time people will complain about anything. I think ANet deserves kudos for making this effort, even if it was not perfect. As for the complaints… well, those who had a bad experience at the event due to technical issues, or missed it due to timing, have a legitimate issue, but complaining about who got what sounds like something I used to hear from the kids I taught in grammar school.

As to “not helping downed players,” I have rarely seen a downed player who was not either in the boss’s cleave zone, or in a nasty red circle. Helping such players makes it likely there will be two downed, which is not beneficial to the team. If this is happening to you when there is no risk to the reviver, that is poor team play, to be expected in a PuG.

Fortuna.7259:

IndigoSundown.5419:

cimon.5798:

has any of you whatsoever played a grindfest game at all. from the above statements i dont seem to think any one of you has. to call this game a grindfest where it literly takes a day to gear out a lvl 80 toon full exotics is like calling aa grilled cheese sandwich gourmet cooking. quit complaining about stupid stuff like this and get out there and fight in wvw so you can complain about that insted :P

While everyone is going to have a different threshold with regard to grind, this claim can be examined with hard numbers. Let’s assume that the person looking to “exotic-up” in is buying a set, because they have a build they want to enhance. Let’s also assume they want Carrion, currently one of the cheapest options. At current prices for 6 armor, 5 trinkets, and weapons, that would be ~40 gold. Add in desirable runes and sigils, and the price is over 50. Making 50 gold in a day? How do you do that, exactly? Or is “day” also subjective?

Measuring gold earned per “day” is a telltale sign of grind. This “day” must be VERY long and monotonous.

Leaving out the word day, I don’t consider measuring gains to be a sign of grind. When I farm, I do so by doing what I want to do for as long as it holds my interest, then I stop. I do measure the amount of gold obtained versus time spent. Why? I’m curious, and I enjoy efficiency.

My goal with the post I quoted was to point out an unsupported claim, like one sees so often on internet forums. This one even came with the obligatory analogy, for kitten’s sake.

cimon.5798:

has any of you whatsoever played a grindfest game at all. from the above statements i dont seem to think any one of you has. to call this game a grindfest where it literly takes a day to gear out a lvl 80 toon full exotics is like calling aa grilled cheese sandwich gourmet cooking. quit complaining about stupid stuff like this and get out there and fight in wvw so you can complain about that insted :P

While everyone is going to have a different threshold with regard to grind, this claim can be examined with hard numbers. Let’s assume that the person looking to “exotic-up” in is buying a set, because they have a build they want to enhance. Let’s also assume they want Carrion, currently one of the cheapest options. At current prices for 6 armor, 5 trinkets, and weapons, that would be ~40 gold. Add in desirable runes and sigils, and the price is over 50. Making 50 gold in a day? How do you do that, exactly? Or is “day” also subjective?

Conner.4702:

When you knowingly allow people to use the manifesto in a way that you know already not to be true = lying to me. They should have educated their intend from the start and they didn’t. Instead we got this debacle and I don’t think it will get any better judging from the AMA.
People like to throw around look they are listening. Well actions speak louder and I’ve yet to see any action on any of the concerns what so ever.

My take is that Ascended Gear was not in the picture pre-launch. It was added in panic mode when people were not logging in due to boredom and whining about nothing to do. I think they anticipated some negative reaction, but not the amount they got, and are now back-pedaling.

An issue that has been completely overlooked in the whole HP vs. VP thing is another clear statement, “When it’s ready.” Face it, it wasn’t. For “the whole game is endgame” to have worked, down-scaling needed to be more severe, and rewards needed to be there for going into lower level areas. Neither was the case. If they had been, perhaps the kitten-storm over nothing to do might have been smaller.

Both issues suggest to me that there was pressure to publish sooner rather than later from NCSoft. Truth to tell, how many games over the last few years have launched when not ready (at least in fans’ minds), and you can look and see financial issues for the parent company?

Slowing progression through the use of RNG is nothing new in MMO’s. They used the token thing in the other dungeons and people sped through them in record time. They could have made Fractals a 10 boss dungeon and locked it for a week once you’d done it once. Maybe you’ve forgotten that other games slow progression down with that mechanic and RNG.

My definition of in-game grind is doing something that I find uninteresting or boring, but I’m doing it because I want something, whether that be experience, loot, achievements or what-have-you, and that getting to that goal takes longer than I can stand doing the activity. For instance, killing mobs for a particular drop (like killing antelopes in WoW to get three horns, and despite each of them having two, I never get one as a drop). In GW2 that can be farming in Orr, going for the nodes but getting tired of being the ball in a game of Risen Ping-Pong, or killing 250 Young Karka and getting 1 Powerful Blood.

You can’t get anymore subjective than that. >.>

nofo.8469:

IndigoSundown.5419:

nofo.8469:

Take WoW for a PvE example, it’s less of a grind than this but it still feels highly rewarding.

That is a very subjective statement. For me, WoW was a horrible grind. Getting a WoW purple was just “gearing up so you can continue to gear up.” When I left WoW, I swore I would never get into that gear up infinite loop again. To me, that is as pointless as it gets.

GW2, on the other hand, does not match up to GW1 in terms of rewards. The drop rates in general in GW1 were better, the desirable rare drops were heck of rare, but you could get gold by doing many different things. Farming in GW2 is not yet as fun or as lucrative as it was in GW1. Maybe that will change.

True it is rather subjective. I’m talking about the post exotic gear grind in gw2, getting up to exotic was rewarding and not much of a grind at all.

Post-exo GW2 grind isn’t rewarding in the slightest and doesn’t hold a candle to their competition in the gear treadmill MMO sub-genre.

I see. I think it’s too soon to talk about the post-Exotic grind. I’m waiting to see how/if they follow through on statements made about putting the Ascended gear into other portions of the game, and looking at the current mechanics with regard to grind.

Hopefully, the devs are taking a hard look at their game and trying to restore its luster. The open world is still gorgeous, the art is fantastic, a ton of work went into the DE’s, the zones and many other things in the game. The game is flat out fun to play. Hopefully, they will get back in touch with their vision for the entire game being fun, and fix the issues that make that not so for many of their customers. I don’t know what happened to their priorities, but I would like them to read their own pre-launch blogs, recapture their intent for “the whole game is endgame” and in the spirit of Jean Luc, “Make it so.”

nofo.8469:

Take WoW for a PvE example, it’s less of a grind than this but it still feels highly rewarding.

That is a very subjective statement. For me, WoW was a horrible grind. Getting a WoW purple was just “gearing up so you can continue to gear up.” When I left WoW, I swore I would never get into that gear up infinite loop again. To me, that is as pointless as it gets.

GW2, on the other hand, does not match up to GW1 in terms of rewards. The drop rates in general in GW1 were better, the desirable rare drops were heck of rare, but you could get gold by doing many different things. Farming in GW2 is not yet as fun or as lucrative as it was in GW1. Maybe that will change.

Raehvyn.4530:

IndigoSundown.5419:

I hated Orr. After seeing the dev’s answer to Orr hate (Southsun), I like Orr.

Supply link mate?

No link, just inference. Yes, I’m speculating on an internet forum, shocking, isn’t it?

What were some of the complaints about Orr? It’s too drab and gloomy! and Southsun is bright and sun-shiny. Too much can’t get-there-from-here in Orr! and Southsun has very little in the way of channeling by comparison. The Risen are too tightly packed! and mob density in Southsun is less. The Risen are annoying, not challenging! and the mobs in Southsun have less CC and some hit considerably harder. There are too many knocks and pulls in Orr! and few knocks, and no pulls, just very brief cripples and immobilizes in Southsun.

It may have nothing to do with a reaction to complaints about Orr, but there are some differences between the two zones that correspond to recurring complaints about Orr.

I hated Orr. After seeing the dev’s answer to Orr hate (Southsun), I like Orr.

In a game where there are no tank, healer and dps classes, why were variations in base health put in, exactly?

STRanger.5120:

IndigoSundown.5419:

One thing I saw recently surprised the heck out of me. I was checking stats without armor for info to respond to another thread. My 80 ele’s base power (no traits, no gear at all) was 916. I then checked my 80 Necro in the same fashion. With no gear, the Necro was at power 1306. Traits were 30 points, for plus 300 Power. Assuming the trait is adding just 300, that would make power = 1006, 90 higher than the Ele’s.

Has anyone else noticed this, and does else anyone think it’s odd?

What about this? http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Deadly_Strength

Or you had only 30 points in power line and nothing else?

Had just 10 points in Toughness, with just the 5 pointer :p, Reanimator, and Greater Marks. None of the traits chosen say they boost power.

I did find the issue, though. I retrained, and all stats defaulted to 916. When I retrained the power trait, it went to 1216 w/out gear, as I would expect, not the 1306 I saw when just doffing gear. There is an error in the tooltip. Thanks, off to bugrep.

GW2’s shortness or lack thereof is a very subjective thing. One girl in our guild had 100% at 101 hours of play time, and bailed shortly after. It took me 142 hours just to get my first 80. I’ve now played ~900 hours, and my main is only at 75% completion. There is way more for me to do in GW2. As aGW1 vet I am used to doing tons of stuff while at max level. The game is not too short for me. What other video game could I have bought and enjoyed for ~900 hours without additional (i.e., sub) costs?

For all those who say that getting the Wv3 kills is easy, please transfer to Henge of Denravi. You can then enjoy skirting the edge of the invulnerable zone, while 3-6 on your side try to get kills on the 10-30 opponents. I’ve had teeth pulled that was more enjoyable than getting 50 kills that way.

Seriously, though, the Wv3 thing being easier is very much a function of what server you are on, and what servers you are facing. HoD was easy in month 1 when we had the Titan Alliance and out-numbered the other servers. Now, not so much.

As to FotM: two months with it included is a done deal. Hopefully the achievement will focus on something else in January. I didn’t get the monthly for the first time last month, not likely to this. As others have said, let’s focus on things that people are not going to be doing anyway. 5 Temple clears, anyone?

Zenyatoo.4059:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Servanin.5021:

10805 base HP: Guardian, Thief, Elementalist
15082 base HP: Mesmer, Engineer, Ranger
18372 base HP: Warrior, Necromancer

Theres no different in armor between classes of the same armor-type, and even between them it isn’t that significant. IIRC, the difference between full exotic light and exotic heavy at 80 is somewhere around 294 toughness.

One thing I saw recently surprised the heck out of me. I was checking stats without armor for info to respond to another thread. My 80 ele’s base power (no traits, no gear at all) was 916. I then checked my 80 Necro in the same fashion. With no gear, the Necro was at power 1306. Traits were 30 points, for plus 300 Power. Assuming the trait is adding just 300, that would make power = 1006, 90 higher than the Ele’s.

Has anyone else noticed this, and does else anyone think it’s odd?

double check you dont have a trait on your necro that’s giving you additional power.
Same for any food buffs you may have had on you

I hadn’t thought of traits, but when I did check, no +power from traits, and I know I had no food buffs.

Servanin.5021:

10805 base HP: Guardian, Thief, Elementalist
15082 base HP: Mesmer, Engineer, Ranger
18372 base HP: Warrior, Necromancer

Theres no different in armor between classes of the same armor-type, and even between them it isn’t that significant. IIRC, the difference between full exotic light and exotic heavy at 80 is somewhere around 294 toughness.

One thing I saw recently surprised the heck out of me. I was checking stats without armor for info to respond to another thread. My 80 ele’s base power (no traits, no gear at all) was 916. I then checked my 80 Necro in the same fashion. With no gear, the Necro was at power 1306. Traits were 30 points, for plus 300 Power. Assuming the trait is adding just 300, that would make power = 1006, 90 higher than the Ele’s.

Has anyone else noticed this, and does else anyone think it’s odd?

Sleepy.2647:

I actually have explorer MF gear, probably not 50% dps loss but 30%+ without a doubt compared to berseker gear.

mulch.2586:

I dream of a Tyria where people recognize that about 20% of their stats come from gear.

These two posters cannot both be correct. Which one is, or are neither?

Edit: OK, back from fact-finding. The damage stats are weapon damage, power, precision and critical percentage.

On a level 80 Necro with no gear at all, but 30 points into the Power trait, the power stat was 1306. With gear added, 2241. Not 20%, then. An 80 elementalist, gearless and no points in the power trait, 916, with gear 1645. Not 20% there, either.

The Precision stat is the same on Berserker and Explorer gear. That’s a wash. The weapon damage is the same, so that’s a wash.

The Power difference between 80 Berserker Exotic and 80 Explorer Exotic is 91 from 6 armor pieces, 52 from 2 weapons, and 96 from 5 trinkets. The total is 239 points, or around 10 percent for the above necro, ~14.5% for the Ele.

The biggest difference is seen in the critical percentage stat., with Berserker providing 10% from two daggers, 11% from trinkets, and 16% from gear, for a total increase of 37%. Assume a generous 66.67% crit chance and a flat distribution on crit procs. That means the Berserker will do .67 * 37% or ~25% more damage. If crit chance is 50% (more doable, for more people), then the increase is about 18.5% more damage.

But wait, the Berserker’s base damage is going to be somewhat higher, due to the 239 points of difference in the power stat. I’m not going to crunch the damage numbers, but assuming the 2/3’s crit chance, 30% does not seem impossible.

2nd edit: How could I forget runes! The above Necro’s power stat includes 155 Power from Superior Runes of the Citadel. Want to bet people don’t have Runes of the Traveler or Pirate in their MF gear? Didn’t think so.

GW2 is not becoming less solo-friendly. Everything that could be done solo at launch can still be done solo. There are aspects of GW2 that always required a group. Those aspects still exist, and another one was added in November.

Also, as the game gets older (ha, 3.25 months) the population tends to congregate in certain areas. This may create the illusion that there are less things that can be done solo. What’s really happening, though, is that they were never doable solo. Players who participated in group events (temple clears, for example) may have “felt” they were soloing because there was no “LFG” going on, but they were not in fact, soloing.

Achievements went from requiring one group/solo activity, Wv3, to Wv3 plus dungeons in November, to Wv3 plus FotM plus ? ? in December. This particular feature is being slanted more towards group play in comparison to what it was at launch.

Zombie.2310:

3. Ask in the overflow of LA that you are in
4. Change overflow/or go to real LA and ask again

Laughing out loud while rolling on the floor. Overflow? Haven’t seen one since the day the karka invaded LA. You seem to think everyone is on a populous server. If there was an option to go to the overflow server from my server, that would be nice, but I can’t seem to find that option. The problem you responded to is made worse for people on low-pop servers, who rarely get into an overflow.

I thought they might only put FotM in November’s since it was new. No such luck.

Not a big deal for me. I’m at the point where monthlies are a dead deal anyway. Until I decide to transfer, I’m on Henge of Denravi, and meeting the Wv3 requirement was meh the first month when the server roflstomped everyone, and was even worse after the main Wv3 alliance went elsewhere and all battles were 5 v 50.

Imo monthlies should not promote the same things month after month. Spread the requirements around. Promote different aspects of the game.

I don’t need DR, drops are meager without it.

Young Karka are fine with the right class. Reef Riders (not young ones) are boring bags of lots of health. Drakes are fine 1 on 1 if you max range them. Vet Karka really did not need the second life to be challenging. Oh, and the exploding hatchlings? Yeah, that’s a survival trait. ;p

And the drops? Maybe it’s because RNG hates me, but I get better drops almost anywhere else.

Southsun cove did one thing for me. It gave me a renewed appreciation for Orr.

Some events already scale down. Some, the scaling only goes down so far. Still, those events are fine as is. I actually enjoy soloing events that involve lot of mobs. There is a certain pleasure in using pulls to isolate mob groups into bite-sized bits. There is satisfaction in pulling an event off against the odds. The only events I have trouble with are the ones involving some champions, or events where the goal is to have NPC’s accomplish something, and the enemy spawn rate is too high for my ability to down them. Having some events require multiple people is a good idea. I’d rather they kept such events as is and worked on providing more incentives to do them, rather than simplifying them.

Bluestone.7106:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Ah, but that is not the issue. The issue is that people who want to make gold are watching as avenues to do so get closed, one after the other. What is wrong with asking for more ways to earn gold while having fun? Asking worked for the “nothing to do” folks. Exotic is kind of a red herring here anyway. I mentioned those costs only because someone else did and was under-estimating the costs.

I suppose asking for more ways to earn money is okay. But I stand by my opinion that most income avenues are fine as they are. And there is not a lack of current ways to make money, just perhaps a lack of ways that hold interest to a subset of the community.

That was my point. People want to make gold by playing the way they want, not being funneled into a few avenues which are much more rewarding. Since this is a game, some people don’t want to look at it as a job. Others get their fun from looking at the game as a job. Adding more ways for the former group to make gold seems like a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for gold for nothing. I do think the massive world the devs built would be more widely used if ways to get “stuff” were more widespread. Every time I see people speed run a dungeon, or speed run to nodes, I wonder why so much effort was put into the dungeons and the open world.

Bluestone.7106:

Sola.7250:

Funny, how free to play games always end up costing you more!

I never pay a cent to free-to-play games.

I will buy GW2 gems.

If GW2 went free-to-play I would not buy GW2 gems.

It is a principle I have – I do not respect free-to-play games as their track record is to make their game almost unplayable without cash-shop purchases despite their claims otherwise. I do not get this pressure from GW2, I am playing very comfortably without purchasing gems and as a result I will buy gems to support the games continued development (even though I don’t need the gems).

This is my experience and approach as well. Just look at the F2P and Freemium games. They are nickel and diming players on everything from experience gained, resource limits, chat limits to quick slots. If GW2 allowed people in without the box price, the developer would be forced to do similar things. There is nothing in the GW2 store that is essential to the enjoyment of GW2. This is not the case in games where the game’s only source of income is the freemium sub or offering basic functions piecemeal in the store.

Bluestone.7106:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Some people like having the best gear regardless of how much difference it makes or doesn’t make. Running dungeons may not appeal to everyone. GW2 was supposed to be about playing the aspects of the game that appeal to you. Rewards are not a function of time spent, they are very much of function of what you choose to do, and those options are getting smaller.

Yes, no amount of fiddling by the developer is going to equalize returns on time spent across the entire game. However, they could come a lot closer to balancing returns than they are now. They seem to be moving towards funneling players into fewer and fewer avenues. Maybe they are moving towards eliminating anything being lucrative, then rewards will be more balanced.

People who choose the more expensive ways to acquire gear aren’t in a position to complain about money then really. If they choose to spend 25-50+ gold on an exotic set from the trading post then that is their choice and they should not complain afterwards at their lack of funds when that gold could be in their bank going towards whatever else they want to spend money on if they chose to acquire their exotic gear another way. They don’t like dungeons perhaps so they can buy it sure but they chose the expensive option willingly.

Ah, but that is not the issue. The issue is that people who want to make gold are watching as avenues to do so get closed, one after the other. What is wrong with asking for more ways to earn gold while having fun? Asking worked for the “nothing to do” folks. Exotic is kind of a red herring here anyway. I mentioned those costs only because someone else did and was under-estimating the costs.

Bluestone.7106:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Yes, it’s possible to make gold in GW2, but unless you are on the leading edge of each new farm, you will be behind the curve. Just playing the game indeed provides you with enough to repair, respec now and then, and waypoint. It does not provide enough to equip in short order in the current market. Yes, there are people who are swimming in gold, and there are a lot who aren’t.

People need to stop trying to keep up with everyone else then (the curve). Gear is not as important in GW2 as it is in other MMOs. Out-gearing your enemy is a concept from other MMOs that only has a small bearing on gameplay in GW2.

Also, if someone is struggling with gold in GW2 then they shouldn’t be wasting money on buying exotic armor from the TP. There are cheaper ways to get exotic armor such as running dungeons.

I get it, you’re happy with the status quo. Seems like some folks aren’t.

Some people like having the best gear regardless of how much difference it makes or doesn’t make. Running dungeons may not appeal to everyone. GW2 was supposed to be about playing the aspects of the game that appeal to you. Rewards are not a function of time spent, they are very much of function of what you choose to do, and those options are getting smaller.

Yes, no amount of fiddling by the developer is going to equalize returns on time spent across the entire game. However, they could come a lot closer to balancing returns than they are now. They seem to be moving towards funneling players into fewer and fewer avenues. Maybe they are moving towards eliminating anything being lucrative, then rewards will be more balanced.

Sky.7610:

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Do you have any data to back up this assumption? Fact is, neither you nor I know how much (or little) people who aren’t willing to shell out the buy price might be willing to spend in the gem store. Basing business decisions on assumptions is rarely a good idea.

Thunderbrew.7034:

I really do feel bad for new players to this game. My exotic set costs 10 gold a month ago, now thats probably up to 25 gold with NO easier ways to make money. In other words, the costs have gone up massively, but the means to make the money have seen nothing but nerfs.

Based on current ask prices, a light armor Berserker set consisting of 6 armor, 5 trinkets and two weapons (staff and trident) would cost not quite 52g. If you’re willing to settle for less-desired prefixes, then you can gear up for less.

This is not only higher than it was last month, it is up since last week. For my Ele, who got to 80 last week, I indeed spent ~25g, buying 2 zerker pieces, 2 knight’s and 2 cleric’s, plus a dagger and a staff. I only have 2 exotic trinkets, that I made myself. Also, my trident is a 77 rare that I got as a drop.

Oh, and the prices mentioned I quoted above are just armor, and do not include a superior rune set, which could add substantially to costs.

Yes, it’s possible to make gold in GW2, but unless you are on the leading edge of each new farm, you will be behind the curve. Just playing the game indeed provides you with enough to repair, respec now and then, and waypoint. It does not provide enough to equip in short order in the current market. Yes, there are people who are swimming in gold, and there are a lot who aren’t.

Merthax.5172:

Ouch, not what I had in mind at all. This wasn’t a suggestion for the game or anything, I’m just curious how VP affects player behavior. If there is a maximum tier that is easily obtained, but with open-ended enchantments, would this satisfy both types of players (HP & VP), satisfy no one, or somewhere in between?

The VP group would complain about how unfair the system is, and that it is not possible to get the “best” in a time frame they think is OK. Look at the threads in the dungeon forums complaining that, “So-and-so got 6 Ascended Rings and I got a rock, it’s unfair!” This group is not process-oriented, they are results-oriented. You have proposed a never-ending process.

The but-you-promised group would view your idea as a breach of promise because it is still better gear. Part of the subset who don’t like VP but chose to continue to play might be OK with the idea, but only if implemented in such a way that they could progress in whatever part of the game suits their interests.

Sure, some would be satisfied, but trying to satisfy both groups is just not going to happen. At best, your idea would likely please a minority of both VP and HP minded folks. We might get to find out, if Ascended becomes more readily available in various aspects of game-play, depending on how that gets implemented.

As a warrior, make sure your heal is Healing Signet, it will give you passive regeneration. Equip a rifle or longbow in one slot and your melee choice in the other.

Below is a strategy if you are still having trouble with the escort part of the quest.

80 Necromancer; 199 hours, 103 deaths
80 Warrior; 323 hours, 270 deaths
80 Elementalist; 109 hours; 51 deaths

Looking at this, the numbers seemed skewed to me; I think it is because the warrior was being played at the sharp end of the learning curve in dungeons, whereas the Ele has not been in a dungeon at all.

1. When did you begin playing?
Head Start.
2. how many hours total do you have? (/age)
~900
3. What’s your most gold banked so far?
~73
4. Do you have a max level character (s)? (number if more than one)
3
5. List 1-3 areas / zones / events / tp; where you spend most of your time for income.
Cursed Shore, Malchor’s, Southsun Cove
6. Do you mainly use MF or not?
Not lately
7. Have you ever got an exotic weapon from a mob? If so, how many and total?
Never, regardless of having magic find or not
8. Have you ever got an exotic weapon from a chest? If so, how many and total?
Never
9. What’s the most number of rare weapons you have looted in one day or 8hrs time?
3 to 4
10. How many rare or exotic weapons do you “expect” to loot in one hour of time?
I have no expectations. RNG is RNG, and it hates me
11. How many lodestones have you looted total so far? (all types)
5 or 6
12. Do you craft? If so, do you have a 400 crafter? if so, how many?
Yes, yes, 4
13. Do you sell your looted crafting mats? (specify optional)
Sell some, keep some
14. Do you feel your return, (in terms of items, completion, income, etc) for your time, has been worth it?
It’s not a job
15. In ONE word, what needs improved most; from your perspective?
Ubiquity (for those who need explanation, making all in-game pursuits rewarding and worth doing)

Mizo.2947:

If it wasn’t for descaling I could just ignore/1-2 hit the mobs and watch and explore. Instead I have to kill the two chasing me spamming 8 skills before they are dead and in the mean time 5 others already joined the fabulous party

Gibson.4036:

If anything, downscaling needs to be increased a little.

On an alt character in the teens, I was on an escort quest where a downleveled player was one and two shotting attackers before I could get to them and even hit them once.

When I play characters in downleveled areas the mobs are laughably easy.

There is a serious disconnect here. Is the OP using decent equipment at or close to his actual level? My experience has been what Gibson is saying.

Jman.1390:

I recommend that when walking through an area 25 lvls below you the enemies don’t get aggro’d.

The mobs seem to have a smaller aggro radius to a high-level down-scaled than they do to characters at their level. I’ve used this knowledge many times to stealth in between spawns if I did not want to fight (as opposed to the level 80 zones where Veteran Karka and Risen Acolytes aggro from the neighboring county). If you are aggroing a lot of mobs while down-scaled, you are probably not making much of an effort to avoid them.

One thing that has not come up so far is why ANet made them Account Bound in the first place. Yes, I’m speculating, but the answer seems obvious to me. People were speed running through everything, then complaining about nothing to do, no new rewards to get. While the suggestion by the OP would be beneficial to players, it might not fit in with ANet’s possible desire to slow down progression some.