Guild Wars 2

I think a major question should be asked before this change takes place:
Exactly how event scaling works.

The GW2 Wiki page:

Events scale both up and down according to the number of players who are currently participating. Events can scale in a number of ways:

Enemy stats can be increased
Enemies can gain new abilities
New enemy types may appear, including veterans or even champion versions
Enemy count can be increased
Objective requirements may increase

Most events scale for up to 10 players.Group events and large scale events such as the finale for meta events will scale much higher. For example, The Shatterer scales up to 100 players. Events can detect that players have not performed any actions relating to the event within a period of time and will scale down the event accordingly.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

Keysha.2815:

Add to this.
1. They must do it on a non-dev account.
2. They cannot ask their co-workers to fix bugged events, they have to do the bug report system, just like the rest of us.
3. They have to remain ‘unknown’ so they get just as much help as an average player for group events/dungeons. This INCLUDES not being in a guild to start, and not letting anyone know who they are, so they deal with the same stuff we all do.
4. They have to play exclusively to unlock traits, and get all of the traits unlocked.

Be fair, devs, do it like we do. Completely. Challenge issued!

The problem with this challenge is that it’s actually missing the biggest problem with traits. If they were account bound, the unlocking wouldn’t be that bad.

This challenge has a definite goal, and each unlocked trait represents meaningful progress towards that goal.

The traits system, however, requires you to unlock the traits for every alt. There is no “completion” of the task, just one more tick in an (effectively) infinite list of ticks.

Moreover, the other big problem with the system is that it discourages experimentation and unlocking, both during levelling and at 80. Being “challenged” to complete the task, just once, eliminates the feeling of demotivation and disinterest that the system generates in regular play.

It’s like if someone dares you to stick a needle into your hand. You have incentive to do it. It might not even be that bad. You might even get satisfaction when its done, especially if you’re proving to someone you can. But that doesn’t make it a fun, rewarding, or painless experience that you’d want to do multiple times while playing a game.

I think Keysha was adding a list of considerations to add to this post:

“I still beg the devs to try out this trait change for themselves.
They all need to do this with the stipulations that:

1. They can’t buy the traits
2. They must unlock all of the traits per character
3. They must use all five character slots and finish out each one on a different profession ."

I thought adding Keysha’s list to the prior one did cover the issue of unlocking all traits on all 5 characters (4 alts) that we had by default.

So here I fixed the challenge to include both lists:
Dev Trait Challenge

1. They can’t buy the traits
2. They must unlock all of the traits per character
3. They must use all five character slots and finish out each one on a different profession ."
4. They must do it on a non-dev account.
5. They cannot ask their co-workers to fix bugged events, they have to do the bug report system, just like the rest of us.
6. They have to remain ‘unknown’ so they get just as much help as an average player for group events/dungeons. This INCLUDES not being in a guild to start, and not letting anyone know who they are, so they deal with the same stuff we all do.
7. They have to play exclusively to unlock traits, and get all of the traits unlocked.

Gregori.5807:

^^I like it enough to have added it to my signature and will attempt to post more to get it seen.

Awesome idea, the more exposure the better. If they accept the challenge then at least they can say with certainty that they know their customer’s concerns and frustrations since they’ve “Been there, Done that”

As Illysharia said earlier; it’s easier to form an opinion based upon personal experience.
For them to go through the entire process myself and Keysha suggested would definitely give them a lot of personal experience to draw from.

We can hope at least.

Keysha.2815:

Infernia.9847:

I still beg the devs to try out this trait change for themselves.
They all need to do this with the stipulations that:

1. They can’t buy the traits
2. They must unlock all of the traits per character
3. They must use all five character slots and finish out each one on a different profession.

Then look at the metrics they have at their disposal:

• Are the majority of players unlocking or buying specific traits? If the majority is buying then go there and figure out why, then change it.
• What is the average number of traits per character unlocked/bought after the patch? Do these numbers support the build diversity and experimentation the trait change was supposed to bring about?
• Sales numbers for new character slots past the 5 free we received. Are the numbers stagnant, falling, or rising? Plot that graph pre-patch and post-patch.

There are plenty of other suggestions in this thread that are amazing. I tried a slightly different approach this time and implore the devs to do it themselves. If the fix is only being discussed at this point they will have plenty of time to achieve the goal of the suggestion before any action is decided on.

Add to this.
1. They must do it on a non-dev account.
2. They cannot ask their co-workers to fix bugged events, they have to do the bug report system, just like the rest of us.
3. They have to remain ‘unknown’ so they get just as much help as an average player for group events/dungeons. This INCLUDES not being in a guild to start, and not letting anyone know who they are, so they deal with the same stuff we all do.
4. They have to play exclusively to unlock traits, and get all of the traits unlocked.

Be fair, devs, do it like we do. Completely. Challenge issued!

I really like the additions you posted. I hadn’t considered the preferential treatment an Anet symbol would provide them.
How I would LOVE for them to say: “Challenge accepted!”

So, if you devs are reading this thread, please consider it.

When my ten year old stubs a toe and I look at the poor digit: no blood, no bruise, just an ow moment.
I say: “Shake it Off” same intonation too.

Child says: “Aw Mom you sounded just like your game”

At least I got a smile and no more hopping and jumping and wailing about said toe falling off.

Biggest wish list items:

• Add all new map currencies to the existing wallet
• Add a few of the old mats (pristine fractal relic, copper, silver, gold doubloons, etc.) to the bank collections.
• Implement some kind of fix for trait acquisition
• Add back in “My Greatest Fear” plot line by extending story lvl80
• Add a buy # to merchants UI for large purchases
• Add use all option to UI for items like luck or scrolls or any such mass consumable item.
• Re-examine/Fix old bugs and DE bugs that have been in existence since launch.

EDIT: forgot one: Move the ‘Stand down’ button further away from ‘Represent’ on guild panel.

I personally loved the story prior to the reorganization. I never experienced all the arcs and have halted personal story progression on all the characters that have yet to reach “My Greatest Fear”. Of nine characters that would be 6 of them that have halted story progression.
I don’t play this game for the lore and story but they are both very important to me. Plot holes are memorable and of the 3 characters I’ve gotten to “Victory or Death” there have been a few small holes that give a kind of ‘hiccup’ to the immersion experienced while following the story.
This reorganization of the story is more than a ‘hiccup’ to immersion. I dare say it’s like being ‘vomited’ out of the immersion.
Thank you to all of the players that have done all the footwork figuring out where the eligibility line was for continuing with the lost plot line.

I still beg the devs to try out this trait change for themselves.
They all need to do this with the stipulations that:

1. They can’t buy the traits
2. They must unlock all of the traits per character
3. They must use all five character slots and finish out each one on a different profession.

Then look at the metrics they have at their disposal:

• Are the majority of players unlocking or buying specific traits? If the majority is buying then go there and figure out why, then change it.
• What is the average number of traits per character unlocked/bought after the patch? Do these numbers support the build diversity and experimentation the trait change was supposed to bring about?
• Sales numbers for new character slots past the 5 free we received. Are the numbers stagnant, falling, or rising? Plot that graph pre-patch and post-patch.

There are plenty of other suggestions in this thread that are amazing. I tried a slightly different approach this time and implore the devs to do it themselves. If the fix is only being discussed at this point they will have plenty of time to achieve the goal of the suggestion before any action is decided on.

I have 1 since beta. I don’t think I’ll ever get a stack.
Maybe Anet could consider making them have a slim chance to drop from actual giants, and psuedo-giants in Orr (since they don’t count for giant slayer).
It wouldn’t be a huge increase in supply but at least it would turn this slow drip of giant eyes into a trickle.

• The beta finale event. Still the biggest wow.
• My first vista
• My first world boss
• My first time in a mini dungeon in Disseau with 4 people who’d never been: fun, wiped a lot figuring out how to do it and all of us had a blast.
• Claw of Jormag fight for the first time was so wow and so long a fight with a maxed map.
• Completing Cursed shore map solo (-1 skill point with a champion) before they reduced mob density and constant pulls.
• First time in Cliffside fractal, sweating, heart racing, vertigo because I am afraid of heights. Guildies laughing at me so hard because the fear was actually happening in a game. Me: It’s only pixels you won’t die in a video game.
• My first and last exotic drop worth 10g – Deathwish – dropping at a temple event.

I agree too. We’re starting to get crowded with the two new zone’s currencies. If it continues at this pace we’ll soon be out of space to store them all. Any currency added to the game should be added to the wallet pre-patch.

johnnymiller.5968:

Crovax.7854:

johnnymiller.5968:

Crovax.7854:

Well guys, I just played from around 5-9pm and had a close look at taxis and maps themselves.

Result: Literally (yes I know what that word means and I stand by it) no taxis to organized SW maps for most of the time – funnily enough I saw 2 taxis to Dry Top over the course of those 4 hours. LFG entries consisted of around 90% ‘lfg taxi for -insert legendary-’
Primetime EU and there were probabaly 1-2 map tops that did the defense with more than 0-1 commander. 1 Taxi I took had 1 commander, another had 2 but after the following breach it fell apart and people just left -> 0 commanders again. Despite desperately trying to get on a decent map, everytime I ended on a promising one, it only had no more than 2 commanders and 2/3 forts.
The breach event usually ended with 1 or 2 defeated bosses.

Well, I really dislike the hate people throw at ANet but the map seems as good as dead, at least on the EU side.

Not just on the EU side.

Hm that’s good to hear. I really would’ve liked to play it a bit more but as it is now, it’s just not fun with only a handful of people. The thing with SW is that the less people there are, the less profitable and more importantly the less fun it gets.

Agreed & for the ones of us still trying to finish the achievements it sucks.

I tried for three hours to finish 2 achievements. I really didn’t care if I got both or just one. Unfortunately one of them is a rare spawn and the other is Silver/Gold.
There was a small population in the map and it just became tedious fail after fail.

I constantly checked to see if there was a group listing for an organized map.
I’ll come back when the next part of LS is released in hopes of finding a map interested in completing the achievements.
I could see a large guild charging people to run the map for the achievements. I didn’t believe it before, but now, I’m not so sure.

How did they not see this coming when they programmed a disparity between locations? I mean the wisest thing to do would be to make sure each location provided the same rewards and make the chest spawns dependent upon successful defense or completion of repairs.
Or maybe I’m just thinking far too much. I shall go and play like a good NPE player and drool a bit as I watch the pretty colors. /sarcasm
I will find a way to collect my own mats in this game. I will find a use for my weapons and with my own sweat and pixelated blood, I will persevere.

Edit: Oh and I hope you do find a good route that will both benefit the farmers and the successful completion of events.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Ayrilana.1396:

People still did them and made gold. It’ just that people have recently gravitated to broken farms that gave out twice the awards.

The only thing really ‘broken’ is that the majority of chests are at Amber. If they put more chests at the other locations people would spread out more. That’s essentially the biggest gripe I’m seeing here, is that in farming maps, everyone clusters at Amber instead of spreading across the map to defend all 4 points (and the escorts).

Nerfing the rewards into oblivion so no one gives a rats kitten about the map is not the way to fix it. Especially considering mobs don’t really drop loot (read: rarely, not never), and champs not at all. The chests balance that factor.

+1

2nd the motion to: spread out the chest rewards to be equal at each location and the problem is solved.

EDIT: I was sleeping at the keyboard.

I’m not a big mini collector. I decided early on not to get sucked into it as I tend to feel like I have to have them all. I try to go for the minis I like and this ghost dog/wolf was one of them. I haven’t bought or farmed nearly the amount the others here have but after 3k bags I have: 3 pillowcases & 1 endless Halloween tonic. I guess that’s not a bad haul considering some have had worse luck with more bags.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind this being both an account bound mini and an extremely rare drop. I don’t see the maize balm making up for the amount of ToT bags needed for even a remote chance at getting the mini.
Maybe they’ll consider making it trade-able or releasing it next year for purchase with cobs.

Good luck Guzzi. I am saddened when old-timers leave. (Age in game not RL). I hope you find a game that sparks the wonder again.
And maybe someday you’ll find yourself back here again. Either way never stop finding the “fun”.

mtpelion.4562:

Sephas.8793:

mtpelion.4562:

All light armor is going to be worth more since cloth is harder to farm than ore or logs (which have dedicated nodes for harvesting all over the maps).

You mean ore and leather? I don’t wear much wooden armor, but that’s just me.

You have to turn the logs into paper first!

I was thinking about weapons. But yeah, leather. Good old worthless mountains of leather.

Shhhh don’t call it worthless or next thing you know we’ll have another silk upon us. Or would that be silky leather? Pleather?
Either way it’s still cheaper to make ascended leather armor, let’s keep it that way.

EDIT: On topic, as others have said with essences of luck the price has risen and if the armor can be salvaged into silk it will be higher; especially if the piece can be salvaged into multiple silks such as the chest armor.

John Smith.4610:

It’s because when I level up in real life, that happens.
(my shockwave is larger in real life though)

Did anyone else envision a John Smith at a party, yelling “level up”, then suddenly the roomful of people are knocked back by a huge gas cloud of doom?

Maybe I was the only one. It made me smile though so thanks for that John.

I remember the event from BW1. When I started playing head-start I kept hoping it would start up until I was told it was a one time event. I really loved it.

Couldn’t you guys just convert a portion of the candy corn to cobs and put a notation in? That way you aren’t running out of room while opening those large amounts of bags,
@Mystic, you did buy some of those ToT bags right? If not please share your secret to farming that many in a night.

More, please. I loved the treasure hunt style to this.
It reminded me of the hunt for the staff (sorry forgot the name) that eluded everyone for so long until it was finally said it had been a bugged drop.
Thanks John.

This Halloween has had all the thrill drained away with one foreboding change. A bitter taste of what is to come in the future.
I don’t see a single plausible reason that this can’t be fixed by giving players an option to use the new system or the old system with the trend graph, via a ‘gear’ or link in the UI. At the very least compromise on your blocks into much smaller increments. Player’s options, choices, and experimentation are all part of the freedom that was this game.
The NPE for alt characters, the traits change, and now the conversions all diminish that sense of freedom that existed in this game.
Eventually even the most oblivious of players will feel the constraints.

So I checked on every alt and found: Devil horns, witches hat, and wizard hat. I still can’t find the bunny ears or the GW2 cap. I think they are officially gone.

So I do hope they bring the bunny ears back as mine are lost to a wardrobe malfunction.

Curtis Johnson.8456:

We’re looking into returning the Charr’s missing tail in an upcoming patch. (probably after halloween) – appologies for putting you off balance meantime.

This made me smile. I was thinking this the whole time I read the thread…
But, But cats need their tails for balance. All the Charrs trying to move around with their tail bunched up in the outfit. Painful and disorienting.
Thx for the reply. I loved what they did with the mad king charr tail and sort of had to do a double take on the missing tail in this outfit.

The characters were wearing them at the time. I did go get the tonics and they each got three. Time to go alt hopping to make sure they really are gone. Only nine to go through. Thx for the tips and I have my fingers crossed.

EDIT: I checked with a few of them and found the horns only so far. When I finish I’ll report back. The horns did indeed turn into a skin. I hope I can find the cap and ears.

I still can’t find my bunny ears, my GW2 cap, or little red horns. When they became tonics I think I lost them and didn’t know how to find them. Maybe they’re still there somewhere but since I wore town clothes so rarely I didn’t think it was worth getting worked up over.
I hope others can get the bunny ears and enjoy them as I did.

please & signed

Dejara.7064:

Jeknar.6184:

The only players i do have some sympathy are the ones that for some reason couldn’t participate for an entire week and have no chance of receiving the title reward.

That would be me (sorta). I actually got 3 of the 5 achievements for week 1 before the clock ran out.

This would be me too. Not crying over it but I was a little confused in the panel when it shows four completions but counts only the three. It was my fault for not being able to attend earlier in the week to finish that first week’s achievement. Maybe next time.

At least you got some exotics. I made the mistake of taking a lvl39 Mesmer to EotM just to hit 40 quickly. I don’t go there often, instead I like to go to WvW with my lvl80 characters. But I thought hey everyone else says this is a quick way to gain some levels and my mesmer is taking forever.
My level up chest was dismal, my own fault I know. I forgot to check how close I was to leveling up in WvW and gained lvl40 plus the WvW lvl up chest at the same time. /facepalm

I like the token idea and it has been suggested many times in the past. Something to work towards is a a good thing as long as it doesn’t become yet another obscure currency. We already need some consolidation of currency or better uses for existing currency.

I am confused and this is not sarcasm. If we have the ability to farm gold -> convert to gems -> buy the watchwork pick; how is that pay to win?
If there was no conversion and only a direct real world currency price then I would say there was an argument, even if only a slight one. However with the ability to convert currency there is nothing in the gemstore that can’t be bought by playing the game.
PS – I am not trying to open the can of worms of how much the conversion rate does/doesn’t support conversion.
PSS – I did buy one the second time it was offered in the gemstore so I could make my backpiece faster and watch those little gear minions at work.
PSSS – I do support other permanent gathering items getting an upgrade. Ex: The fused pick mining with a rare chance of gaining azurite.

My next attempt will try to avoid events, which can be difficult in populated lvl80 maps. I did participate in two of them and possibly skewed the results on the Ranger. Would you like us to include the junk items as they are in your SS?
I don’t mind including everything that drops in a screen-shot but would like to be consistent with what you are asking for.
Also I wanted to ask which is more important, the 30minute time allotted or the 24 items? I know that in order to get that many items without an event, it will take me longer than 30 minutes to achieve.

So here is the 1st Ranger lvl80 Norn, 110% magic find, Frostgorge sound, about 45 minutes. No food buffs or guild banners etc. I did not include: junk items, crafting mats, salvage materials, champ boxes, etc.

I’d love to get on a light armor class to contribute but all I have is a level 80 necro.
If you want I can get on: 2 lvl80 rangers, 1 lvl80 warrior, 1 lvl80 guardian.

The other characters are all under lvl40 (ele, mesmer, thief). It’s taking far too long to level them up in the ‘old’ way so there’s that. If you want though I can take any of them out for a spin.

I wish we still got the PvP chests when getting the achievement point chests. I miss opening those and looking at all the awesome skins. I didn’t even care that I couldn’t use them outside of PvP. /sigh
I hope Anet adds in the missing armor sets into PvE one day. I really wish they would make regional collections as well. Even throw in a barber/hair stylist shop that charged some in-game currency for each region. Okay that was reaching. But if they were to make certain event chains have a chance to drop relevant skins imagine how popular that could be.

Here are the best I could come up with without doing real homework:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Guild-Name-changed-without-Notice

And then this part of the TOS:
“For issues related to display, guild, or pet names, the Support Team will change the name or will designate the appropriate action to be taken on the part of the player to amend the unacceptable name.

This policy may not cover all inappropriate or disallowed names. ArenaNet reserves the right to reject any name it concludes, in its sole and absolute discretion, is indecent, obscene, offensive, or that otherwise violates our naming policy or the Guild Wars 2 User Agreement. ArenaNet reserves the right to examine names on a case-by-case basis and take whatever action we deem necessary in our sole and absolute discretion. We reserve the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Guild Wars 2 Naming Policy at any time. "

I really think that they have issues changing a Guild’s name at this juncture as compared to before. I didn’t have time to search out other examples but I have read on the forums about Guild Name changes occurring.
Um is it okay to post part of the TOS? I sure hope so.

Pizer.5160:

To infernia.9847:

This was also their response to my ticket:

The development team recognizes that players would like to see a feature added to the game that allows a guild to be renamed instead of disbanded. That option may become available in the future, but at the present time we must disband the guild to remove the unacceptable name and/or tag.

So, nothing. I also requested a list of all the folks in the guild pre-disband and a transfer of influence/guild upgrades to our new one, but this request cannot be fulfilled, as expected.

I am sorry this happened and that they didn’t have an acceptable resolution. I know I have read/heard of Anet allowing the guild to change their name in the past. I agree with Vayne in that I believe the changes to guilds no longer being server-bound has caused issues with renaming.
All that said…. WHO finds the name Brain Fart[FART] offensive? I mean seriously what has society come to when the word FART is taboo. If there is a guild named BURP watch out you’re next! /jk
I get it, some names have double meaning, stand for something truly offensive etc. But this name is so innocent of any of this and as it was said, you’ve been around for a long time and there were no warnings when there was a system in place where you could rename the guild.
I wish all members of the guild the best on rebuilding if that is possible.

Agreeing with a lot of people here about allowing others to get items they may have missed by ‘not being here at a particular time’. The Mawdrey item is an example of good design, agreeing with Danikat on that too.
The ghastly grinning shield is an awesome skin and many people made their GW2 fortunes off of selling them. That skin is not an example of exclusivity or prestige unless you find that being loaded with gold is both exclusive and prestigious. ( Not talking RL here. Money does buy both there. )
If it can be bought off of the TP then it’s only exclusive/prestigious to those with enough gold/CC credit, and is not indicative of how long the player has been in the game nor whether they were present during the event.
I see mini Liadri and think at the very least that player was persistent and at the best they had awesome skills. That required being at the event and accomplishing ‘something’. Fight for that kind of item if you must but not these BLTP traded ones.

Pizer.5160:

Hey, I was one of the leaders of said guild (it was called Brain Fart). It’s been around for almost as year and a half, with a bit less than 400 members and last night, out of the blue it suddenly just disappeared with no warning or any notice. I wrote a ticket to support asking what happened to our guild and the reply was:
We note that you have written to ask why your guild is missing. After reviewing the details, we determined that your guild was disbanded because the guild name and/or its acronym (“handle” or “tag”) was found to be in breach of the Guild Wars 2 Naming Policy.
This would’ve been completely fine, had it occurred in the first few weeks of the guild’s existence, but now after 1.5 years and 400ish members it leaves a bad taste. We lost all upgrades, 500k influence and everything in the guild bank, not to mention tracking down all the members to ’’reinvite’’ into our newly formed guild will be an almost impossible task.

This is to both leaders: Submit a support ticket asking if there was not a better way to resolve the naming violation. Is there anyway to allow the leaders to change the guild name, at this juncture, and still maintain upgrades etc.
I know the damage is done with the members but just maybe you can make a comeback if Anet is willing to work with you.
I have seen complaints of guild names in the past and the resolution was Anet giving them a set time to change the name of the guild before disbanding. At least that is what I recollect and without a supporting link, well take it for what it’s worth.
Support can be surprisingly helpful in certain situations and I would at least try and see if anyone there can help.

If you were a part of the guild and concerned about what really happened, I’d put in a support ticket just to ask. I ‘think’ a contributing member of the disbanded guild has a right to know if it was officially disbanded due to a naming violation, or not.
I don’t know if that would get the members anywhere but it’s worth a try.

I know this thread may seem daunting to catch up on but it’s worth the read. I and many others have been reading the posts since it started.
The entirety is filled with lists of broken/bugged events, traits inappropriate for levels, traits requiring groups or dungeons or WvW, etc.
There have even been individuals that did spreadsheets of the requirements both in gold/skillpont costs and levels/locations. Players did their ‘homework’ and cared enough to spend that kind of time on offering information and alternative solutions. Someone at Anet should do the same and recognize that most of the complaints have come from people that really care about this game, have spent their time offering solutions, and turned the other cheek when they were told ‘the thread is very large and unwieldy to read through’ (of course that was not a direct quote, sorry).
Anet has been very focused on the NPE lately. Therefore I would like to restate a few things that others have said.

• Re-playability: When a new player reaches 80 with their first character will they want to try out another profession? How willing is that person to go through all those unlocks again and will they find it even mildly fun or a chore?
• Diversification: Are the metrics showing what you hoped they would with this change? Are new players unlocking their traits, experimenting with builds, diversifying?
• Character Expansion Slots: Are you likely to sell more character expansion slots to the new players with this trait unlock system in place, “As Is”? Will the new player go through this with the five free slots and be willing to buy more slots to experiment even more?
• Problem Trait Unlocks: Are your metrics showing that players are more likely to spend gold/skillpoints on unlocking a specific trait or actually doing the activity required? If so that requirement may need tweaking.

Other than the re-playability and character slots, this took into account nothing for veteran players. The focus ‘seems’ to be on the NPE so with that in mind I thought I’d throw this out there.

PookieDaWombat.6209:

OK, I’ll play along. Again. (But to be honest, its getting a bit tedious. And that is about as kindly as I can put it.)

For Veterans with multiple Alts and who have already unlocked the traits (barring any GM ones still locked):
***All traits need to be unlocked on the account. Full stop. Do not pass Go. making vets run around the world and do events to unlock traits on alts is annoying at best.

For ALL Players:

Trait cost is abhorrent: Remove skill points as part of the cost completely and bring the prices down to half of their total cost as it is. it will still be a gold sink, but won’t be a character limiting one for new (mostly casual) players.

Trait Tasks: Remove all WvW/EoTM based requirements for obtaining Traits. Make all Traits that require more than 2 people change to events that at most require only 2 people. Anything that requires more than that is broken. Traits are things that are essential for CHARACTER development and should be earned by an individual’s effort and skill. it should never require a group to get the trait for one person. Make sure that Trait tasks are in LEVEL APPROPRIATE areas. Adept in 30-40, Master in 50-60, and GM in 70-80.

+1
Agreed on all points. Doing this would be palatable for a lot more players than the current system.

PookieDaWombat.6209:

While i agree that the skill point cost on top of the gold is both annoying and atrocious, I think in the grand scheme of things its more “manageable” as by the time a new player has gotten to level 80 and might be looking to round out traits on their first toon, they have probably already bought most if not all of their utilities/elites and are starting to build up surplus skill points. The problem, unfortunately, is that they probably have under 100 spare skill points to spare and can’t just unlock their remaining traits either forcing them to play a toon with non-complimentary traits/skills or buying a specific meta and hoping it doesn’t get nerfed before they can buy more traits. I just think that the gold cost would be more prohibitive since they are also probably wanting to buy or make exotic armor and weapons along with runes and sigils for this toon which would also eat up whatever gold they made up until this point.

I didn’t look at it from the point of reaching 80 but instead I was thinking about during the process of leveling to 80.
At the time a toon reaches 80 there will be some extra skill points and a lot less gold once they begin the process of outfitting them in exotics or crafting for ascended gear. It just seems the cost is excessive from what it was prior to the patch.
At the very least I hope Anet considers tweaking the requirements and/or making the process account bound. I would wager the hunt to unlock the traits after the first character is complete will not be as ‘fun’ the 2nd or 3rd time through.

Make them mini’s and make them Ranger pets.
There are so many beasts in Tyria that would make really awesome Ranger pets and of course mini’s if they aren’t mini’s already.
A cute and cuddly rockdog, or a fluffy owl griffon, even a big squishy fire belching grub would make a good Ranger pet.
/half sarcastic and half serious.

I would like to see if those that do enjoy the changes, retain that enjoyment after they are done with their first alt character, or their 2nd, 3rd, and so on.
Even if Anet tweaks all the disparities in the requirements, I am not so sure players will enjoy the experience when having to repeat this for every alt.

EDIT: Pookie I think you are right about the gold sink. However the skill point cost is even more of a deterrent. I would wager a new player has a harder time spending skill points on traits when utilities are immediate needs than worrying over upgrading armor/weapons as they level. -Assuming they are spending gold on those two things above most other items.

Yes the shield mastery is evil. I like the idea of using it for ambient killer daily.
“Bunny Basher” title for my shield mastery, please.
It really is that killing blow that makes it so difficult to get regular mobs to count towards it. At least it’s nothing like the Yak Slapper title requirements.
Maybe Anet will have some sympathy and allow some environmental weapons to count towards the shield mastery.

Kuldebar.1897:

To put it simply, what should have happened:

• The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)

• New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

That’s exactly what I thought was going to happen as well. And I stated so, I can’t even remember how many pages back in this thread.
There are a lot of great ideas in the thread but it’s size has become so large that it’s hard to dissect them out to even list them.
I still say the devs should be put in a room and made to create a new character and level it completely to 80 while unlocking all the traits. When they finish that one they have 4 more to go.
Then they can decide what they think about that experience is fun & potentially gives them more freedom to build a character. (Especially when they come across bugged events required to obtain a trait).

Has anyone found a new vendor for Apples? I could see some of the low level mats (non-Karma bought) rising in price as more people attempt to level cooking.

My audio is buggy as well, at least it is for enemies and NPC’s as well as the Copper fed Salvage – O- matic.
@pessimistic – well we already have legendary weapons that shoot unicorns and bubbles. My scepter is the least threatening sounding weapon in the world and I am waiting for a tennis racket skin to flesh it out completely.
Not so sure about skimpy armor since usually an Eastern influence would seem to make them skimpier not more modest. But maybe that’s just me being old and remembering some F2P MMO flavored outfits.

Tybalt must have known something and stocked up before, well anyway. Hopefully we’ll find apples at another NPC vendor.

Thanks @Tobias Trueflight & @Guhracie for the information. I did log on last night but forgot to check on the mesmer. It’s one of the few classes I neglected to lvl all the way to 80 and regret that now.
Even with the traits grandfathered prior to April that Mesmer is already a slog to level but I’m so close to 40 and was loving the elite.
I am certainly not excited to start anything with both traits and skill/weapon skill unlocks involved.