Guild Wars 2

I actually liked it back when we got a new set of gem store armour skins every 3 months or so. Waiting for them to put them in game? We’ll be lucky to get two a year.

Rest assured it’s not likely to happen any time soon, but we can always dream.

As the game ages I expect to see a few more ‘bypass’ type options added though.

Algreg.3629:

DDO and LOTR have point & click movement??? The only thing I am aware of is clicking some NPC or other interactive environment and your character moves there.

That’s a part of it for sure.

But, full disclosure…I am getting a bit ‘long in the tooth’ and probably confusing my memories of different games. Neverwinter definitely has a point and click component though.

Algreg.3629:

Most MMOs? That certainly is not true for the MMORPG segment, what major games are played by point and click?

Off the top of my head….Neverwinter, Age of Conan, DDO and LotRO. There is WASD movement, but also an option for simple point and clicking as well.

Most fun overall is Mesmer. I like ‘em so much that I made two. Fun to play, cool attack animations, lots of utility and decent damage overall. a ’jack of all trades, master of none’ kind of class imo.

Most boring is Engineer. Overly complex, and none of the kits or weapons seem to pack much of a punch outside of PvP.

It took a while for me to get used to the WASD controls as well, I expected point-and-click movement as with most MMOs.

Wasn’t difficult to master (as you will find) but it can be a pain for melee characters, gotta manually position yourself in front your targets rather than simply clicking for auto attack.

Clunkiness depends a lot on your class and race. Norn and Charr seem to move like they’ve got lead in the shoes, and the classes that don’t get +25% movement speed passive suffer a bit as well.

It’s a nice diversion, but there’s too much tedium for me.

Manually changing gear and traits is cumbersome. Attacking structures gets old fast and zerg fights bork my FPS so hard. Some can be fun, at times, but I prefer smaller scale combat where individual skill matters more than who got the most people to show up.

There’s not enough real progression either. Ranking up can be rewarding, but it pales in comparison to PvE and PvP.

It’s been a couple of years for some of us, there are a lot of things to do but we’ve already done them. Most of the new stuff goes straight to the gem store or TP, hence the grinding.

BuungBuung.2168:

I need a new pvp mode !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean…. REAL PLAYER VS PLAYER

Courtyard isn’t good enough!

Agree…?

Definitely agree. Conquest is nice, at times.. but it would be great to have a separate queue and equal number of maps for Deathmatch.

This post isn’t saying ‘Down with the Gem Store!’, it is asking for some balance.

Overemphasis on this aspect of the game is driving the cost of conversion too high and basically just boring the kitten out of everyone, because there’s little to do besides grind gold.

There’s no real incentive for ordinary players to queue in ranked. It offers the same progression but with fewer maps and worse attitudes.

No, thank you.

There’s a few small ways to ‘troll’ people in-game that aren’t too offensive.

There’s been a couple jokers dropping the aviator’s memory box on anything lots of people need to use – The bank or TP, bandit chests in SW etc. Probably a good laugh for them, caused a bit of raging though. Mesmers sometimes do something similar with the portal.

Of course, even those minor inconveniences can drive some players up a wall.

Lol yeah. Everyday it could have like one single item at vendor price for a few minutes. You’d have to check often and hope to show up at the right time.

Ralanost.8913:

It an intrinsic part of the game design that you want to shortcut and undermine for personal convenience. If they allowed this, it would be the beginning of a very slippery slope. So yes, it does affect us. It’s not hard and it’s not time consuming. You aren’t required to have every wp unlocked at 80. Just run to the zones you feel you need before you need them. It’s simple and fairly fast and painless.

They already allow insta-80 with tomes of knowledge, gems→ gold for buying what can take months of farming. If you consider personal convenience to be a slippery slope then I have bad news for you; we’re already at the bottom of the ravine. Lol.

serenke.4806:

Question is, if you do not level (because you use tomes), do not explore (because of unlock wp items), etc… then why do you make new characters in the first place? To stand in LA (or other waypoints that you unlocked using this imaginary item)?

It’s really none of your business what other players do with their time.

There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to play this game, our only obligation is to adhere to the ToS. On top of that, this change doesn’t affect anyone else. It won’t cause inflation, a rise in player toxicity or otherwise break the game. You won’t even be able to tell how individual players got their waypoints unlocked.

You obstinate, curmudgeonly are such a curious breed.

Well, it’s a trade off. For just the bare minimum of important WPs manual unlocking is simple. However, for guild bounties and challenges and so on you need to have most of the map unlocked.

This is a good idea that creates an additional use for the gift of exploration (many of us have no interested in crafting legendary weapons at all). It still requires the player to explore the entire map at least once, while simultaneously making the task more accessible for subsequent alts. People who like old school exploration can opt out of it as well. Everyone wins.

I like this idea.

Make it a mystic forge recipe. Toss a gift of exploration, twisted watchwork portal and some other rubbish into it for a level 80 consumable that unlocks all of the ‘vanilla’ WPs.

Then remove WPs from the map completion %.

Fractals need all the love they can get, to be honest.

Hell, even with the extra incentive I can’t drag myself into ’em most days.

A OK.8276:

The size of the MH Swords always make me laugh.

Yeah, we’re definitely lacking in options for short swords. Could do with a few sized closer to the ones from the Mystic set.

Crystallize.8603:

People need to stop taking this “play how you want” philosophy to heart.
It’s the same as the “no grind philosophy”

Okay, you can play how you want but only within the limitations of the game itself.

If you want a game that truly lets you play however you want then you’re expecting FAR TOO MUCH and being UNREALISTIC.

This request is completely within the limitations of the game itself.

All characters on an account share a bank, wardrobe and achievements. A three day old mesmer can benefit from things you’ve unlocked or gained through a warrior back at launch, even Legendary skins.

Adding WPs to the list just takes things a small step further.

I don’t understand these counter-arguments to the OP.

Do you guys feel like it diminishes your achievements? Like it is going to give players some sort of advantage?

Nothing wrong with people wanting some of the stuff the game has to offer, but not everything.

Ralanost.8913:

They have nothing to do with one another.

It’s possible to straight up buy virtually everything worth having. ‘Get up and work for it’ is more applicable things like Legendary weapons than access to waypoints.

Therefore I see no reason why the option to account unlock waypoints shouldn’t be added. If the old fashioned way is as simple as many suggest, then there’s even less of a reason to deny players a small convenience. They’d just have to be removed from the map completion %.

TooBz.3065:

Stopped reading at the bolded part. I’m sick to death of people using “entitled” as if it were a dirty word. If people want my money then I’m entitled to tell them what I’d like in exchange for it. I’m entitled to make suggestions. Entitled is not a dirty word.

In this case, I’m entitled to say “hey I’d pay to unlock the waypoints on my other characters now that I have map complete” just like other people are entitled to say just like you are entitled to say something like “hey, I hate the idea of unlocking waypoints on my other characters because I enjoy boredom”

Note: I’m not even in any particular camp on this one. I just don’t see how allowing it affects people who don’t want it.

Furthermore, ‘entitlement’ can’t be thrown around as a dirty word in a game built around a gold-selling cash shop, imo.

Rin.1046:

Its all about choice at the end of the day. We all play games to be entertained and the more people a developer can entertain the more profit they will make. So it makes economic sense to make a game that appeals to as many players as possible.

Agree completely. This game is for entertainment on our end, and profit on the dev side. Claims of laziness and entitlement and whatnot are irrelevant, as there is no inherent value in any of this.

Personally, I see no reason not to offer account unlocked waypoints and have them removed from map completion. There’s very little to draw players into the open world as it is, this could be a nice incentive.

It’s technically not a nerf if they’re increasing the rate of getting upgrades, lol.

I’m with you on the frustration with 16c sigils and crap filling up my inventory though. Would be nice to have a ‘Recycle bin’ of sorts to deposit the crap to – Junk items, luck essences – anything stackable that’s not used in crafting.

Levelling isn’t hard, but it can be boring.

Doing it the traditional way out in the open world does become tedious after a while. Thankfully we’ve got Tomes of Knowledge now.

Yikes. There’s quite a few good design ideas in Tera but almost all of them are taken to ridiculous extremes. They could work here but they’d need to tone down the ‘sexy’ factor by at least a half. We don’t come to Tyria for that, kitten. GW2 has some amazing aesthetics that simply aren’t used often enough. There’s still some sweet cultural outfits that only NPCs get, for example.

One thing Tera does get right is that characters don’t go bald when they put a hat on.

King Noob IV.3560:

norn women are way hotter than human women

Qft.

Well, for starters we’re not exactly ‘lucky’. MMOs need as many players as they can get. If GW2 was less friendly to the ‘time rich, cash strapped’ crowd it’d probably just bleed players over time, go completely F2P and the remaining players would have a much worse experience. It is a good thing that this game was designed in such a way as to cater to a large audience, but I don’t think the current situation is idea.

I think the issue at hand is one of consistency. As the game ages it has become significantly harder to buy gems with gold, and I think that is the problem.

Yeah, the ratio depends on the exchanges. Whenever they release anything cool in the gem store prices shoot way up. And I still remember back when it was a much more accessible 3 gold → 100 gems. New players are pretty much hosed if they want to get all of their rewards in game.

Personally, I think it shouldn’t have been allowed to go any higher than 10g → 100 gems.

I think this would be a pretty neat feature actually. It would definitely throw a spoke in the wheels of both PvP ragers and gold sellers. At very least we need a fix for that annoying whisper/block combo.

There’s been a few kittenbags in PvP who had a go at me, but I also get a few of positive whispers from people who dig my characters’ looks and want to know what skins I’m using.

Storm Shadow cosplay, with a bit of a twist.

uhohhotdog.3598:

You’re supposed to play the game to have fun not to farm. Play the game normally and you get crap you can sell for what you want and you can have fun doing it rather than endless boring grind that farming is.

That statement could not be further from the truth. Firstly, ‘fun’ is subjective. Some people are here for challenging game play, some want to RP etc etc.

Most players ultimately want their characters to look good. After you’ve explored the map and had a go at the different game modes that’s really all that’s left. Cosmetics cost quite a bit of coin, and you won’t earn nearly enough without spending real money, playing the TP or playing very specific types of content.

Sweet, merciful Dwayna. Love those designs.

It’s too bad we didn’t get more quality stuff like this instead of kitteny robes, trenchcoats and scale armour that no one wears after they’ve out levelled them.

Bloodstealer.5978:

I think he is.. you on the other hand seem to be wanting something similar to .. easywin.

Every MMO I have ever played has the same method of gathering… resource nodes, reward loot, champion bags or trash mob kill loot and all are based on a similar RNG concept.
Farm places are nothing more than spots on a map where certain mobs etc are located that have a chance to drop something you need.. yes a chance. The loot tables get altered a little based on the level of the map/mob etc…. GW2 is no different.

Fundamentally, you’re correct. The reality however, is that most materials cannot be farmed reliably. At least, not at a rate that most people would consider reasonable.

It’s intentional design to be sure, but it sucks for the average player.

For the playable races, they’ve probably been developed that way so players can relate to and actually want to play them.

Ultimately, GW2 is pretty vanilla, as far as MMOs go. They’ve added their own spin to the most recognisable fantasy tropes (Sylvari are basically Elves, Asura = Gnomes, etc) but haven’t strayed far from the genre’s basic rules.

As a general rule melee > ranged for dungeons. Sword Ranger ranger is not terribly fun to play due to the horrible jumping around, but it’s superior to the longbow due to boon sharing, dps etc.

Longbow Rangers are kind of a running joke around here, as a stereotype of the typical bad player. However, for most pugs it’s easy enough to play what you’re comfortable with, and doesn’t matter terribly unless you’re drawing enemies out of a stack or letting your pet run wild.

Exactly. It is game design that makes us play this way. There have been lots of very well thought out and interesting suggestions put forward to address these issues but the bottom line is simple: No matter what build and tactics are required, you can be sure that someone will find a ‘best practice’ model and teach it to others, thus creating a new meta. And it will always be speed based.

Perhaps not the prettiest, but this is my ‘girly’ character.

Tigaseye.2047:

-snip-

That’s an interesting story, actually. I wonder if their attitudes are representative of the general WoW player base, didn’t play that game long enough to get a feel for it. What I did gather was that WoW’s scope is infinitely larger and it’s designed with a completely different set of mechanics and reward system.

I would argue that GW2, on the other hand, is not only much smaller in scale but actually pushes players to try to earn as much gold as they can in the least possible time. There are very few items of worth in the loot tables, and RNG is heavily stacked against the player. Pretty much everything worth having needs to be bought, and this leads to a lot of the undesirable behaviours we’ve seen in game (intentionally failing events to farm, speeding through dungeons, exploits etc).

I’d also argue that these behaviours aren’t actually killing the game – most players gleefully take part in them – but there does seem to be a very vocal group of players who cannot stand this.

I’d definitely support more variety among hairstyles, but believe somewhat firmly in gender locking for GW2. That sort of androgyny would better suit a more mature, grittier game world.

This sounds more like an ‘Account bag’ kind of issue to me, which I would support.

Eurhetemec.9052:

No. You appear to seriously misunderstand the meta.

I understand the meta perfectly. That post referred to LFG listings that identify ‘zerker meta’ that are often made by people who are actually running whatever they please. Just last week I joined a TA PUG and was asked to ping my gear by a flamethrower Engy and staff Necro. A lot of people approximate ‘zerker’ to mean many things. Some just include that hoping to get carried. It varies.

Eurhetemec.9052:

Ten people who like Zerker meta, though? No. Just people who don’t want Holy Trinity. They’re two different groups.

That’s exactly what I meant. Non-trinity parties. I think even people who don’t like the meta have accepted it, albeit grudgingly, because it works. Zerk gear/speed clears suit GW2’s design and reward structures perfectly, imo.

Transmutation charges to swap gear? No thanks.

Dawnbreaker.6215:

I think a valkyrie set would be very close in speed to a zerk set. I run in valkyrie/exuberance and I’m fine with dungeon clearing speeds. But you have to understand that a large % of the community is not willing to acknowledge that, hence the “zerk meta” LFG requirement instead of “nuker meta”.

So what? Everyone is free to make their own LFG listing.

‘Zerker meta’ has many, many degrees. As littlefinger noted, most people who put that on a listing just want like-minded players.

Either way, this will probably never be a trinity game. For every one of you ‘traditionalists’, there’s ten people who like the current set up.

Dawnbreaker.6215:

Ah the bad faith. With a bit of good faith you could’ve understood it. I think these things just prove how unwilling you are to listen to others…

Warriors, archers, clerics?
Infantry, artillery, field medics?
Swords, shields, medical supplies?
Marines, Air Force, hospitals?
Tank cannons, tank armor, engineers?

Did it ever occur to you that it’s simply a natural pattern? A need to attack, defend and survive? It’s not something you can really escape. Even in your beloved zerk meta: attacking, dodging, self-healing. By removing it from gear choices you’re just forcing everyone to have a trinity of his own rather than needing to depend on others. You’re just taking a step back from a system that works wonderfully.

This doesn’t make the game better. It just dumbs down the game and makes you rely on others much less, which in turn makes teamwork less important.

Well said. However, the problem with trinity is that two of the roles kind of suck. I distinctly recall most MMOs having an overwhelming number of players with DPS builds and only a handful of people who enjoy playing dedicated healers and tanks. The devs here seem to have recognized that and let everyone focus on the fun part (whacking things) while still contributing a bit of support (buffs and defense).

Your view on class mechanics is far too rigid. For example, there is absolutely no fundamental reason why a ranger can’t work without pets. Every player has a view on what would be ideal for various aspects of the game, and they are all valid. But as I said earlier, the degrees of ‘reasonableness’ vary.

Because we know balance is important from a development standpoint, but don’t really care. Some requests are reasonable, others not so much. We wanna do what we wanna do, human nature.

Vargamonth.2047:

I’m in no way anti-zerker either.
I strongly believe that, as an action based combat game, surviving through active defenses should be more rewarding than soaking up damage and sustaining through passive/rotationary means. A damage increase, thus faster completion times, looks like a fair reward to me.

The problem is that, if I look at passive defenses as some kind of risk-reward or difficulty slider, most encounters are too easily beatable while taking the theorically hardest approach.
On top of this, as you said, fights are usually so fast that a failure isn’t even that risky. You just respawn and try it again in matter of seconds.

This game simply isn’t rewarding enough to be challenging.

My point still stands. I’m talking about the inherent entertainment value of the dungeon content itself.

Very few players would run Arah if the gold reward was on par with the other dungeons. Beyond that, remember the ‘would you do dungeons if they removed the gold reward’ thread? Yeah. Dungeons are kind of fun and all, but ultimately it’s all about the social aspect and progression. You’d be surprised how much rewards can influence our enjoyment of game content.