I do think that they need to work to make the existing raids more accessible though, with easy mode versions where anyone can jump in and learn the mechanics without wading through hours of pointless failure first.
Failure is the point of raids in the first place. There are two sides to it, though.
- If the encounter is not hard enough that there is a real chance to fail, then it cannot be considered hard content. Thus, there is a point to failure. Unless the encounter is unforgiving, it cannot be considered a raid.
- Chance for failure has a short shelf life. Once a player can beat an encounter consistently, then the brain chemistry changes that occur when facing a hard challenge diminish to the point where the rush is lower, or even gone. At that point, repeating raids is about: doing the hardest content available, and earning the reward(s), which require a lot of repetition. Once this point is reached, failure is no longer welcomed because it increases the tedium inherent in doing content you’ve done many times.
Number 2 is why we inevitably see complaints like the OP’s. It’s also why we also inevitably see players complain that raids are not hard.
Number 1 is the real issue, though. The problem for players like the OP is that players who come late to the party are going to have a hard time getting in the door.
in regard to the words being misspelled. they’re not, he’s just used the wrong words. the words are spelt correctly, but are used incorrectly. its semantics, i know.
Incorrect words are a matter of an error in usage, not semantics. Semantics is concerned with meaning. The meaning is not at issue. We know what he meant. He just used the wrong words.
If you look at market value, 4K gems cost $50. PoF costs $30. There’s your $80. You got the fluff for free.
You don’t want to look at it like that? You thought the $25 difference between basic and deluxe meant the fluff ought to be worth $25? I suppose to some they will be. I’m sorry you don’t think so. I don’t either.
I looked at the weapon skins on Dulfy. they remind me a wee bit of Reclaimed Weapon Skins from HoT in that they are simple designs with little detail. It seems to me as if ANet has decided to make simpler designs with little detail serve the purpose of in-game sets or add-on fluff, while the Black Lion skins show a lot more work, and are either really well done or ornate to the point of being ludicrous.
I find some of the arguments here against adventures rather fallacious.
Adventures gated MPs
Actually, they did at HoT launch. In order to max Masteries, which is an almost universal goal, one had to do at least some of the adventures. Since, with the addition of more points, that gating has disappeared.
Adventures forced players into doing what they don’t like
Again, the same could be argued for pretty much every other area of the game.
Sure, and there are complaints about “forcing” in virtually every area of the game.
Progression, whether vertical or horizontal, is an almost universal goal. Adventures are not universal content. If a player wants to pursue the universal goal, he was in fact forced to pursue adventures. These complaints about Mastery points stem from the transition from a system wherein a universal goal (progression) came via a universal currency (XP) to one in which the universal goal (progression) came via a universal currency (XP) PLUS a decidedly non-universal currency (MP’s).
In the end is just another way of playing the game that doesn’t subtract anything from it.
Except for subtracting your build and your concept for the character, which can be a big issue for those who play mmoRPG’s for the RPG aspect.
How to Purchase/Upgrade to Heart of Thorns?
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: IndigoSundown.5419
If you are wanting to buy it from the guildwars2.com website simply click “Shop” (ignore the drop down choices) in the top right corner of the page and it will take you to a page where you can then pick either HoT or PoF.
Thank you for this. It’s pretty annoying that if you select ‘Buy Guild Wars 2’ from the drop down menu instead of just clicking on shop, it looks like you cannot purchase HoT on its own and have to buy both xpacs.
There’s likely a reason for this.
Picture this scenario. Someone wants to buy HoT and PoF. If both pop up at the same time, some are going to click on HoT because it’s available now, spend $30, then will need to spend another $30 either immediately or at some later point for PoF. At some point they’ll find out that they could have gotten both for $50 rather than spending $60.
Those people are going to feel cheated, which is going to generate an upset greater than annoyance at having to ask how to get HoT as a standalone. As soon as money enters the picture, people tend to get really upset. Some are going to levy accusations that ANet deliberately cheated them using deceptive practices.
Further, a lot of them are going to ask for refunds, which are a no-win for ANet. If they don’t give them, they’ve likely lost that customer. If they do, it costs them customer service time and they will be doing credit card refunds.
I strongly suspect that the above played a part in the decision.
You make some good points here, but I contend that the segmentation approach (PVE area 1 is for Type A players while PVE area 2 is for Type B players) isn’t a sustainable model for the game. It create have and have not mentalities (talking in terms of experience, not rewards) and encourages elitism (not calling anyone elitist) – and, just as importantly, it waters down game populations for particular areas.
Let’s look at fractals as a good example. I lead a guild of about 200 active members. Of those members, about 10-12 love the T4 fractals and run them every day. But, at the same time, I see dozens of members in T1 and T2 fractals every week just because they want to do something other than open world. It’s something else they can enjoy with their friends. The tiered model works – while still giving players some very real challenges to overcome and unique rewards to earn. Simply put, they do it because it is fun for them.
Raids are the only part of the game the more casual players feel like they are locked out of (whether they are or not is moot – it is the perception that matters). And, raids are something they would (I believe based on what I see in my guild) enjoy if they could at a more casual pace.
I don’t want to take anything away from anyone. I don’t really care about the reward issue. I think the idea of prestige or entitlement in a video game is silly. I want people to just enjoy themselves playing a fun game. My goal in speaking out on the forums is – and has always been – advocating for something I think my guildees and friends would find enjoyable and fun. That is all there is to it.
All MMO’s offer segmented PvE content. If a given MMO does not offer content for various groups, they tend to lose the groups they ignore. Keeping a diverse game population together just will not happen.
Fractals may seem like an ideal solution. In some ways it is like tiered raids in WoW, at least insofar as offering different difficulty scales. However, there are plenty of people who play GW2 open world and story exclusively. Some of them do not do fractals at all because even the single digit iterations are more than they can handle. I was in a guild at one point which had such people in it. Believe me, we tried.
Speaking of trying, has your guild tried doing any of the easier raid bosses? I know it’s been mentioned that ANet’s approach to tiered raids has been tiered difficulty across different bosses. I’m sure that even if the easier ones are not already mentioned in this or other threads, that someone who knows would be glad to tell you which ones to look at. If you think some of your guild members would enjoy raids at a more casual pace, why not — as leader — try to set that up? It might take some effort on your part to be the one who knows what to do, but other than your time, what is holding you back? Perceptions can change if someone challenges them.
Unfortunately, a lot of things that sound neat are precluded by design decisions made when the game was in the planning stages. Ostensibly, the barriers to this idea include dyes not behaving the same way on different materials and the need to do 200% more clipping checks on each piece of armor. There’s also the profession recognition argument in WvW, but I don’t get that one as one can wear outfits there.
I’d love to see it. I have seen no discussion by ANet that indicates this could happen. I don’t think it’s likely.
But professions don’t have different character models maybe other than the off ability. I just don’t see the necessity to keep it as it is today.
When asking why a game developer does not do X, the first question to ask is always, “Will it cost more than the benefit will buy in good will?”
The second is “Is this going to anger enough people that the cost in good will will outweigh the benefit in good will?”
The same could be said of the power of every elite spec we have details on.
Scourge Barrier and Shroud interaction looks busted
Weaver’s nonsense 20% condi duration and damage + 40 more skills
Thief’s 150% killshot damage from 2k range
Firebrands entire overloaded kitBut hey we’re approaching blizzard levels here where in, if everything is OP then nothing really is.
Except of course, the core stuff. Playing a core spec build feels a lot like playing a character in GW without a secondary profession, only more so. It can be done, but
chances are you are going to be underwhelming in comparison.
In competitive play, the core-only choices offer too few counters to what the Elite Specs offer. It looks (so far, at least) like that situation is not going to improve with the new Elites. Honestly, that’s about what I expected.
Unfortunately, a lot of things that sound neat are precluded by design decisions made when the game was in the planning stages. Ostensibly, the barriers to this idea include dyes not behaving the same way on different materials and the need to do 200% more clipping checks on each piece of armor. There’s also the profession recognition argument in WvW, but I don’t get that one as one can wear outfits there.
I’d love to see it. I have seen no discussion by ANet that indicates this could happen. I don’t think it’s likely.
So I guess we can go back to asking for anything now, and just ignore the naysayers.
How is this different? People have been ignoring people they disagree with since long before the internet.
There will always be resistance to “things that look like WoW”, because Guildwar’s popularity has always been driven by how its managed to differentiate itself in meaningful ways. The saying goes…. You can’t be[at?] WoW by being WoW.
This.
The thing is, neither raids, nor tanks and healers in limited content made a substantial impact elsewhere in PvE. People opposed to such things had been assuming they would. Similarly, some opposed to mounts were concerned about how they would affect build composition by removing opportunity costs and affect game performance. I guess we now get to see if ANet will be able to implement mounts in such a was as to avoid those pitfalls. I’m especially concerned about game performance.
As to what’s next, it should be consensual dueling in PvE maps, with a need to opt-in in Options to make it available. [braces for flame barrage]
PoF alone is sold at a lower price point than HoT was. The PoF plus HoT bundle costs $50, the same as HoT standard was sold at release. So if you look at it that way you are getting PoF + HoT at the same price as most people paid for HoT alone 2 years ago. They could have sold PoF for $50 and included HoT for those that don’t have it (and dealt with all the complaints of “veterans” feeling ripped off because they “are paying twice for something they already have”, see old threads in HoT forum) or gone with the current model.
The beauty of this is that all of the references I’ve seen by players on these boards prior to the PoF reveal (mine among them) assumed that the business model would be, “Buy the current XPac at its full price and get all prior XPacs for free.” However, the actual wording used was, “At a single purchase price.” While the wording could apply to buy X and get Y free, it can also apply to the PoF/HoT bundle price. What’s useful to know is that going forward, the bundle should include all prior XPac’s, which will of course not be an issue for some time.
That was some good lawyerspeak. My hat’s off.
Like you, I prefer the current approach.
Not everything is going to appeal to every player. I don’t see it inherently wrong to require players to experience a little bit of everything that an expansion has to offer when progressing their character/account. As long as there are enough choices where someone doesn’t have to reasonably do a lot of what they don’t enjoy, there shouldn’t be any issues.
The condition wherein one has to do as little as possible to progress is inherently better than one in which no choices are available. That said, progression in MMO’s usually involves doing things that are typically found in MMO’s. This can include open world quests, dungeons, and sundry other things that involve playing the character, build included. Minigames involving different skill bars that have zero connection to the character the player chose to build is not something that usually gates MMO progression.
ANet may think it benefits them to “force” players to try fringe content. There will certainly be cases where it does. However, ANet has repeatedly demonstrated they either do not care about or do not understand the psychology of people. As a result of such gating, there will always be cases where “forcing” such play by gating near-universally desirable progression systems behind fringe content is going to anger and cause resentment in some players.
It would be better, psychologically speaking, to entice people to try such things via intrinsic rewards. That way, the probability of resentment is much less. Those who like such content can still do it. It will still be rewarding. This is a win-win. The ANet way, at least as it was at launch HoT, will always be a win-lose.
I’m not sure if the OP is saying that his opponent stealths and he is downed or if he stealths and is downed. Both can happen. The latter generally happens only due to AoE.
I remember back shortly after launch the devs said they thought there might be too much AoE in the game. There was a lot of pushback from players, and they pretty much abandoned the idea. There are times I wonder if the game would be better without so much AoE. It would certainly be different.
Raids address the needs of a particular audience well – and that may have been the audience they were originally targeted to at first. But, with the inclusion of interesting storylines (Saul most notably) and unique mechanics and bosses, they moved from just being challenging into something that would have more mass appeal across the PVE population in the game.
Right now there are multiple game modes, and multiple content types. Each serves different demographics, and only players who find a place in multiple demographics cross over into different content. You’re saying that different content that serves different types of players is only OK if it is not interesting to you, specifically.
That’s a slippery slope argument. There are a lot of players. Many of them will find different things interesting. If the game needs to cater to you specifically, why does it not need to cater to all those other people? Why are you, and however many or few others who want easy tier raids more important than anyone else?
The facts are that ANet has limited resources. Every demographic wants more from ANet. They cannot accommodate everyone’s desires. Why should they give you what you want and not me, raiders, PvPers, WvWers and however many other players?
The only possible rationale you can offer is the one you and a few others frequently make, the appeal to representing a “majority” that you have not proven. I could as easily contend that the majority of non-raiders don’t give a kitten about raids at all.
I could say that while they may not be happy that raids are in the game, they would certainly prefer that no more resources be allocated to raid development at the expense of stuff they like.
If adventures are going to be in PoF, I hope that neither Mastery Points nor collections are associated with them. I don’t think general PvE goals should be gated by mini-games. Putting rewards in adventures is fine, but people should be enticed to play them because they find them fun, not forced to play them if they want to get what passes for progression in GW2.
I’d rate them: Personal Story = Season 2.
Season 1 is unavailable anyway, so you can only find an NPC somewhere who will relate what happened. I cannot really rate HoT or Season 3 as the game has been regularly DCing me near the very end of story steps. If I did rate them, I’d put them in the cellar, but a lot of that is frustration at doing the same step over, and over and over and still not getting to move on.
Look im not here to enlighten you, sorry….it can be done and imo it should. It will boost core game gameplay
How? The things to do will be the same. No event crosses into another map, and making events that would would not be trivial.
, and give free players more incentive to buy when they see how impressive Anet can make gameplay experience
How is a bigger map impressive? No player is going to experience it during play except when they open their map. Seeing a bigger map is not impressive.
….plus many other factors that I wont explain.
In other words, you’ve got nothing.
You’re not there yet. Try, “I don’t want outfits.”
Not strong enough, that implies that liking Outfits is a coequal choice, like something that a reasonable person might decide. It needs to make the point that this is not a rational option.
You need to do some research into what reasonable and rational mean.
How does this suggestion improve player experience? The only thing I can see would be fewer zone portals, but frankly those are only something I experience when exploring for that character’s first time.
I can see where it would not be an improvement, though.
- Maps that take three times as long to explore.
- Fewer maps would mean less map completion rewards.
- Way Point removal could be problematic unless the only ones removed would be those perpetually contested anyway. Added time to get where one is going for little to no benefit may not be a huge deal, but it matters more to me than bigger zones.
- Absent a rise in map cap, it might mean fewer people spread out across more area.
Thieves being able to down people at 1200 or 1500 range without needing to give up stealth or mobility.
Wat. The thief elite spec is the opposite of mobile.
You’ve seen it in its entirety? You’ve seen that they have to give up mobility other than when shooting their big whammy? Thanks, I was unaware that such info was out there.
You’ve seen it in its entirety? You’ve seen that they don’t have to give up mobility other than that almost all the complained about mobility currently comes from Daredevil, a spec that they cannot use at the same time? Thanks, I was unaware that such lack of understanding was out there.
Thieves had top tier mobility long before daredevil. This is a thread about expectations, and apparently mine are different than yours. Guess we’ll see who is right.
Thieves being able to down people at 1200 or 1500 range without needing to give up stealth or mobility.
Wat. The thief elite spec is the opposite of mobile.
You’ve seen it in its entirety? You’ve seen that they have to give up mobility other than when shooting their big whammy? Thanks, I was unaware that such info was out there.
I’ve seen similar amounts of reveal for all 9 Elites. What have you seen?
But my point is, why change the name of Boon Duration, which is a title that means “the duration of boons,” to Concentration, a title that means “think real hard about the mess you’ve made of this with your poor life choices, think real hard,” when instead, it was well within their grasp to rename “Concentration” to “Boon Duration,” and had a title for the stat that actually describes the function the stat plays within their game world?
Because they made the change piecemeal. There already was a Boon Duration stat. Having two stats with identical names that operated differently would have been confusing. They were not ready at that time, didn’t intend to, or just didn’t think about normalizing Boon Duration. Now they are, but changing Concentration’s name to Boon Duration would cause upset and confusion (almost nothing they do doesn’t cause upset and confusion).
Would it be ideal? Maybe.
Does it matter? Why is having to remember that Concentration really means Boon Duration an issue when having to remember that Ferocity really means Critical Damage Percentage wasn’t?
Sure as long as you don’t mind long range sniping from the Deadeye. Highly mobile long range stealth class… sounds awful problematic in competitive play.
This. Long range sniping might be another matter if ANet spec developers were applying sufficient opportunity costs to the new specs, but the first set of Elite Specs did not do that, so I have little reason to think the new ones will, beyond the obvious “must give up Daredevil and its three dodge endurance bar.”
Last XPAc ANet tried adding a new map. A lot of people didn’t like it, so much so that that map is 2/3’s gone. They tried adding an event. Ruins went from squares without mobs to squares with mobs in them. People said that WvW shouldn’t be about such stuff, that it should be about players fighting players.
With that in mind, what should WvW “content” look like?
Thieves being able to down people at 1200 or 1500 range without needing to give up stealth or mobility.
Log into your non-HoT account. Choose a character and enter the game. No need to even go to WvW. Look at the Ranks and Abilities tab. See if Provisions Master is there. If it is, see if the 20 point autoloot option is there.
Maybe when you learn not to use exaggeration and hyperbole. Neither seems likely.
Fyi, “Nobody wants outfits.” is not a true statement. You can only speak for yourself.
“Nobody with taste?”
You’re not there yet. Try, “I don’t want outfits.”
Imo this is good timing, as metas are likely to be shaken up anyway once PoF and its Elite Specs drop.
If one asks why a business isn’t choosing to do something, the answer is always going to be money. In this case, a cost/benefit analysis has likely determined that doing so will cost them more than doing so will gain them.
When will they learn that nobody wants outfits.
Maybe when you learn not to use exaggeration and hyperbole. Neither seems likely.
Fyi, “Nobody wants outfits.” is not a true statement. You can only speak for yourself.
I think the break bar is fantastic. There are only a handful of encounters you have to think about it on (Bat Guano, Vinetooth Prime, Ignus and Aethus) but on most creatures it’s not that big a deal. Makes this a little faster, but doesn’t matter if you don’t care about it.
Every encounter doesn’t have to be kitten easy.
The bar and the ability to break it makes a great deal of sense on mobs which have mechanics that need to broken, or on million plus HP mobs meant to be group targets.
On vet or lower mobs which don’t, it can be kind of silly. Removing Jade Construct invulnerability? Great. Non-vet Bloodstone Elementals? The mob is easy to kill regardless, it’s otherwise easy to evade its attacks. Yet it has a way more robust bar than many vets or even Champs (unless zerg-scaled). What’s the point, other than to frustrate a player who sees the bar and tries to break it only to find their hard cc barely dents the bar which then regens to full faster than a mob that leashed regens HP?
If a normal mob with ~10K health is supposed to be immune to CC unless you have a lot of CC, just make it immune. If you’ve got enough players to break the BS Elementals bar it’s going to be dead before you can blink anyway.
While the outfit (for females) may not be ANet’s finest costume artwork, at least it has simple lines and is without bizarre and extraneous protuberances.
I find break bars to be a fine replacement for the Defiance mechanic on Champions and up. I think it’s over-used on veterans, and either silly or unnecessary on normal mobs. It wouldn’t bother me if the new armies’ mobs had bars only on Champs and up.
At least I could sort of understand the posters who complained about the bundling of core with HoT, even if I disagreed with their reasoning. The OP, though? I’m with Zoltar, but hoping this is troll bait. smh
- On Specs: How will we unlock them?
- On Story: Will ANet ever fix the issue of players DCing during the dialogue at the end of the story step?
1) is just curiosity.
2) is a deal breaker. Content releases have been story plus zone with some collecting and a few repeating events. Also, story blocks access to new zones and I’m low on TTF. If story blocks access to PoF as it did with HoT, the new XPac may end up being inaccessible for me.
I strongly suspect ANet has lawyers on either staff or retainer who would advise them if their business practices could attract legal action.
As to why… I seem to remember that when I worked for a US-Based company that had international clients, those clients, largely governments, paid in dollars rather than their own currency so that the company did not have to pay a bank fee to convert the currency. If I, as a private citizen in the U.S., were to somehow get some euros, I would have to convert them to dollars to be able to spend the money in the U.S, and my bank would charge a fee for that.
I’m unsure what the current state of international finance is with regard to a U.S.-based company like ANet receiving foreign currency, but I would not be surprised if they were having to pay a fee. If that is the case, then they may be passing the cost on to the European consumer just as my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant passes on their financing costs by charging a fee for using a credit card.
Of course, the real reason may have nothing to do with my speculation, but I suspect that passing on costs of some sort is at least part of the reason.
I’m all for saying, “Thank you!” However, virtually every change that has been made to the game since launch was asked for by some part(s) of the player-base. Now, what made it into the game may not always be exactly what was asked for, but ANet has been listening all along.
At times, reading player complaints on forums, it seems that, “What have you done for us lately?” is the operating paradigm, with lately being since the last update.
Things I wonder about and would like answers to:
- Will the mounts be usable anywhere in the PvE game, or, as was gliding originally,- restricted to the new zones?
- The Forged look all fiery and Balth is the god of fire and war. Am I going to have to spec for lots of condi removal, thus limiting build options, at least when facing them?
- Will ANet finally fix the issue with story instances where I and/or my friends DC with regularity just before the story step completes? As it is, now, story is almost useless as a form of entertainment. Since the story is a major selling point, and if we need to do story steps to unlock areas, the expansion will offer little to no value.
- Will the new mob armies continue with the recent trend (since DT, really) of increasing amounts of PBAoE melee hate, especially with more than one close-in combat spec in the new Elites?
- How many and what type of collections will there be, and to do them, how much extra-curricular content (e.g. mini-games, JP’s) will need to be completed?
- What will it take to unlock the new Elite Specs?
- Now that there is a standalone XPac price as well as a Hot bundle option, will we finally see the end of the complaints about vets getting a raw deal?
Meh. So backpacks go on sale. Everything in the gem store has been on sale at one point or another.
I don’t know about anyone else, but the reason I don’t buy back items has nothing to do with inability to recolor. I’m not going to project my preferences onto anyone else, though. I’ll leave that to the OP.
I’ll grant that Veteran Corrupted Ice Elementals and Icebrood Wolves can hit harder than some other mobs, and they are often the ones patrolling in certain areas. I’ll grant that there are times when combat in BFF can be hectic. However, I’ve had very few experiences where 5 mobs aggroed at once, and never had 10 do so. I wonder what you are doing differently than I.
The map is playable. The mobs can certainly be dealt with if you choose to fight them. Players farm it constantly, hitting Winterberry nodes or Icebound Chests. Many do so while running through and completely ignoring the mobs. I question whether anything needs to be done.
I believe that Anet ruined the game by not sticking to its original concept but rather forcefully trying to be “innovative” all the time. It made the game chaotic in its mechanics and overloaded with childish stuff nobody needs, and the things that really matter (personalized content, higher replayability, good writing etc.) suffered under this constant pressure of being “innovative”.
Being innovative is the original concept.
Another grindfest expansion? Nice.
There are no MMO’s that are without time sinks. That’s the nature of the genre.
Back on topic, I too wish ANet well.
This is absolutely true. And, I love grinding in an MMO; I believe the presence of grinds does nothing but enrich the game. The only distinction I make is between optional grinds and non-optional grinds. Some non-optional grinds are necessary in your typical MMO: 1-max level anyone? It’s just that post max level I would prefer that the game would shift away from non-optional grinds to more and more optional ones. An example of a non-optional grind would be any grind that increases your power level, so vertical progression would be an example of a non-optional grind. You simply must keep up with the power curve or you eventually won’t be able to play. But basically any grind that advances the core game would be by definition non-optional.
But the options around optional grinds are endless in a modern MMO. I would like to see evidence that this is a principle at Anet. The Anet that released GW2 was principle rich. In fact, this is what caused me to purchase and play GW2 since before it was released. Currently, principles, design principles, get short shrift at Anet. Perhaps with the addition of VandenBerghe to the team there will be a return to a thoughtful design philosophy.
I’m having trouble identifying a non-optional grind in GW2. For some, Ascended will be non-optional, but actually needing Ascended as opposed to wanting it involves choosing to do high level FotM or choosing to enter PuG raid groups with gear requirements (if that’s even still a thing).
I do think though that the game development philosophy has shifted from, “Focus more on creating lots of interesting things to do, with rewards as an afterthought.” to something more like, “Add a few interesting things to do, along with a new map currency and several optional things to buy with it.” Thing is, I don’t really expect that to change, because I think that a lot of MMO fans care more about the carrot than the journey.
I also think ANet will not add either a new profession or race, not just now, but going forward. I don’t care, either, as long as any Elite Specs offer new ways to play. As to the OP’s desire for Dervish, I’d be fine with a scythe weapon being added and made part of an Elite Spec that offered a similar “feel” to the Dervish Class from Nightfall.
I’d be happier with the practice if the game didn’t DC at the end of story instances far too many times. As it is, doing story is all too likely to generate frustration rather than fun, so I have to work up to it. Frankly, doing story has turned into a pain in the kitten. I never had such problems back in Personal Story, or even Season 2. It started with HoT and has continued in LS3. I had to do Prisoners of the Dragon 4 times before either myself or the instance owner didn’t DC, causing a complete loss of progress.
So, my desire to do story at all is fading, and for alts is a non-starter. Is the portal scroll a single purchase usable for all one’s characters, or a consumable? If the former, that would at least limit the number of story repeats to however many it might take to get one character to the zone. Before you mention Port to Friend, I have used some to get a character to BSF and BFF but prefer to keep the rest for other purposes.
Honestly, based on the expression that looks more like an Asura.
I’m pessimistic because I don’t expect ANet to succeed in pleasing me. That’s often been the case. If I maintain a pessimistic outlook, the surprises are for the most part
good ones.
Guardians have the most tools, as well as being tied for the lowest health pool in the game. Elementalist might also qualify for consideration, as they are also tied for low health pool and wear light armor to boot. They’ve got more buttons, so if you’re looking for complicated button pushing according to what’s going on in game, Ele is better than Guard even though Guards have a bit more choice of oh-heck tools.
It’s an interesting idea that removing the most onerous existing time sinks could be bad because they might be replaced by even uglier sinks. However, I don’t agree that ANet should worry about that.
The only way the industry (including ANet) will evolve from the current status quo is to break out of “well that’s the way everyone does it” mode. They will surely make some mistakes (Exhibit A: Living World Season 1, which was truly living — never the same month to month, but made some people feel as if they always had to be in game, always had to rush). Just as surely, they’ll invent some really great ideas along the way.
So, no, I don’t think ANet should stick to the original systems because we might hate them less; I think they should try to eliminate as much tedium as possible, attempting to replace it with content that we want to repeat, rather than feel forced to repeat.
The shrines in Siren’s are a good step in that direction (in my opinion).
So, I’m a pessimist. I’ve got reason. I liked the game a lot better at launch than I do now. Many more changes have left a sour taste than have brought delight. I still play, mostly because other MMO’s are either terrible, rent-only or worse. I don’t expect ANet not to innovate, or try things. I do express my opinion because it does matter to me. Sometimes, by happy accident, I even find others who think the same. I don’t expect that this time.