Showing Posts For Jahroots.6791:

BUFF open word enemies!

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

‘Old World’ mobs are mostly lame, and appropriately easy to kill. Because they’re lame.

I expect a mob’s difficulty to be on par with it’s basic enemy type and appearance, and it’s bad enough that all of core maps until Orr are mostly full of the same insipid sort of trash you expect to find only in starter zones, buffing them just upgrades a mild bother into an actual annoyance.

I would definitely not mind seeing more steam creatures, demons and other humanoids around though.

Scarlet makes GW2 better

in Lore

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Maybe I’m popping a bubble herr but maybe Scarlett was so good because you never got to farm it. Nor dud people have enough time to find mechanics to exploit

Actually, we farmed the kitten out of champion bags during Scarlet’s invasions. Nobody even bothered completing the events, we just zerged like crazy and ensured that as many champs as possible would spawn. Lots of complaints on the forum about that too. It’s why Anet designed subsequent events so that the mobs generally drop nothing at all, and the reward is for completion only.

Those were good times though.

Scarlet as a character and plot device, was abysmal. Annoying, uninteresting and arguably OP.

Would you be open to Biracial NPCs?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

That….actually sounds like a pretty cool idea. Breed some of the ugly out of the Charr and wackiness out of asura.

I’m Imagining some pointy eared, horned and tailed beings.

:thumbsup: from me.

Attachments:

why did you remove hearts

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Can anyone explain why we can’t have both?

It seems odd to replace content instead of just adding more.

I suspect that Anet’s research team determined that they weren’t necessary and would offer a poor return for the effort that it would take to create ‘em. They’ve gone the way of the dungeon, it seems.

Let's discuss bloodstone fen

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

It’s a nice enough map to glide around in, and hop from event to event. My only complaint is that beyond dailies, the blood rubies are locked behind dreadful zergs. I prefer smaller scale events with a handful of other people where I can actually see what’s going on.

Fighting Unbound Guardian on a full map is like watching a ten-minute power point of Jackson Pollock paintings.

Fractals are not raids. Please stop.

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

I think that’s what is/was unhealthy for the game. Having what you call the top tier content be facerolled by pug groups for so long made people think they should be able to get top tier rewards, well, that’s not top tier content. Fractals are a scaling difficulty system, it should work that way. The lowest tier should be something a fresh 80 can push through even if it’s hard. The top should have experienced players failing if they make mistakes. Bloom does this, most of the other fractals don’t.

I’ve always had a problem with this approach to game design. A high chance of failure doesn’t inspire most players to improve, it just makes ‘em go do something else, because there’s relatively little value in it. Also, top tier rewards should not be exclusive to those with the greatest skill, but to dedicated players as well.

We had a real sweet spot in the early days (around the time LFG was added), where legit challenge was the exception rather than the rule. The majority of dungeons and fractals created the opportunity for players to master them, while still generally being accessible to all. It’s kind of odd that the addition of raids firmly cemented the meta build approach that people were constantly rallying against in the forums, yet there are relatively few topics opposing it these days. Makes one wonder whether people have embraced this, or simply lost interest in this type of content (or even the entire game)

I really wish Anet would have promoted PvP rather than instanced PvE as the go-to content for those who are actively seeking a challenge and willing to dedicate time and resources to honing their skills. It’s much better suited for this, and the dynamic and unpredictable nature of conquest matches are a more true gauge of player ability.

GW2 should have been human only.

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

I’d have been happy with human only as well, with greater emphasis placed on the varying human cultures – Kryta, Elona and yes…Cantha. Would’ve been pretty amazing.

Or at least stick to the non-human races that could use similar frames (Human, Norn and Sylvari). I’d definitely play a Norn male if they were just taller humans with better hairstyles and tattoos.

Suggestions for Reviving Dungeons

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

All the necros in Tyria couldn’t revive dungeons, there’s too little incentive to run them now. There are far better sources of exp, gold and mats out there.

The dungeoneer chest was a nice attempt, but lacks the ‘urgency’ of a daily challenge. Ideally, there should have been a nice bundle of specific dungeons to run a path or two in each day similar to those for fractals.

Questions about PUGing

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

t4 fractal… we cheese our way 4 MM & 1 druid(me) .. shut eyes.. pew pew .. hardcore! :P
nothing to winge or QQ after…

Condi meta OP! I’ve joined one posted by the same person a couple times (me on druid, they run reapers) and it’s always gone wonderfully. Come to think of it, I really should have added ’em..

As for the OP’s questions:

1) Is it acceptable to just leave a PUG midway? I’m always hesitant to do this because I feel like I’m selfish in doing so. However, after 20 minutes on a single fractal I sort of feel like I just have to.
Honestly if you’re not enjoying the run and it seems futile, or is taking longer than you’re comfortable with – leave. Lots of people do it. If it’s a silent group, there’s no shame in dropping out without a word. If they’ve been friendly or had a bit of banter going on I’ll at least try to leave on a positive note, something like ‘This is a bit too much for me, good luck guys’. Honestly even good players can have off days, and you never know if you’ll run into them again.

2) Should I give constructive criticism? I’m not a very social person. I’m afraid of confronting people and feel like if I pick at flaws I’d start an argument.
If you feel like the group would benefit from your tips, don’t hesitate to share them. Try to do it as diplomatically as possible, and use a little humour if you can. That tends to put people more at ease than direct instructions. Their response (or lack thereof) often lets you know whether it’s worth sticking around or not.

3) Should I carry pugs through high end fractals when it’s clear majority of the party is getting carried?
For me, this is a matter of time vs reward. If I’d save time by dropping and looking for a more skilled and experienced group, that’s what I’ll do. If they’re all getting downed when the encounter is about 80% completed but I can solo in a reasonable time span I’ll just finish up for them. It does feel pretty good to ‘save the day’, at times.

4) Do I expect too much from randoms in T4 fractals? Correct equipment, Knowledge of encounters, knowledge of class?
Anything beyond adequate AR and a rudimentary knowledge of the encounter is expecting too much. There’s lots of people who are basically just winging it with any old build or testing out an alt they’ve recently geared up.

Raids aren't working better than dungeons

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Ah, raids. The most divisive content in the entire game.

Dungeons aren’t likely to make a comeback. The dev team considers raids an absolute success, and the intended audience absolutely loves ’em.

What is it about raids that you find less fun?

Which profession should I pick?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

You can take any class into dungeons, so few people run them that they are happy to take anyone who’s at least level 80.

Chrono is probably the most demanding class to play in a raid, many encounters will require you to tank and you’ll need a level of familiarity with the encounter to get this done. I recommend starting out with a basic DPS/Condi role, but check out the other ‘best classes to raid with’ topics in this forum to get an idea of what will be expected.

Auric Basin Loot "Exploit" [merged]

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

AB multi-mapping doesn’t provide an unfair advantage over other players, it’s one of the most participative and ‘socialist’ uses of the squad function. Is it also an exploit to invite people into your home instance if you’ve got a bunch of nodes they cannot afford?

Some commanders can be excessively strict, but it is somewhat necessary for the greater good and overall this does far more good for the community (efficiently run farms allow more people to participate, multi-mapping encourages people to complete the AB map events) than harm.

I’d argue that it helps the economy by generating a steady supply of a number of essential mats as well. This isn’t a ‘gold out of thin air’ kind of deal like dungeons and fractals.

LF fashion advice

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

I would dye the leggings either red or blue and get another contrasting colour for the trim. Maybe try the Arah (Grasping Dead) boots.

Since you have a Fused weapon Balthazar’s back piece could work (PvP reward track). The Vigil themed pack you get halfway through the HoT story could fit nicely as well.

The new Swamp [Merged]

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

The old Swamp was waaaaaaaay too boring.

The new swamp is waaaaaaay too hard (and arguably, just as boring)

It’s really not too hard to figure out the mechanics and phases, but it’s just…no fun at all. I think most of the people who are having difficulty lose morale due to the overall dullness, and this negatively impacts on their performance. Most people enjoy DPS races more than survival and defence focused encounters.

did they lower asce box drop rate from t4?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Hard to say, sometimes they make stealth changes but I think it’s just RNG at play. 20 days seems a bit longer than usual (most people get at least one chest every week or two) but this is not unheard of.

Nature of Interesting Mechanics

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

I agree with the core points you put forward, barring two exceptions. Interesting mechanics don’t necessarily need to be threatening, but they must have consequences. For example, Cliffside’s seal-breaking mechanic and the Archdiviner’s teleporting AoE aren’t immediate threats to the player, but failing to perform the correct actions will extend the length of the fight. The boss in the Underground Facility is a good example of this as well. One player’s got to kite him into the ‘splash zone’ while another has to time the use of the console to pour the molten metal on.

Also, I suppose this is a matter of play style but I don’t feel like a mechanic has to be difficult to be fun. I would argue that these mechanics are for the most part, actually fairly easy to master, and still remain interesting. To me, interesting mechanics require the player to perform specific actions under a set of conditions, occasionally adapting as needed (e.g. using class specific skills and accommodating other party members’ needs) while allowing them to feel a sense of power and mastery – that your character’s contribution is critical to the group’s success.

Fractals are not raids. Please stop.

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

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Jahroots.6791

Literally one of the easiest fights in game still, you just can’t LoS spam 1 and win/ or stack in corner spam 1 like swamp was previously, also they redesigned T4 swamp to be difficulty between T3 fractals and raids. You don’t need voice comms for it either.

The only tweak is the phase where he is invuln and mobs spawn could be shorter since that just artificially prolongs the encounter

Oh, come on. This is blatantly false. It’s the currently the hardest fractal and more frustrating than at least two raid encounters.

You’re kind of right about the mechanics. They are definitely do-able, but the fight is too far out of most people’s comfort zone.

Updated fractals are horrible

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

So you want a game that you press anything and bam you won. Because if the game have anything that can kill you, or you need some kind of strategy then it become work???
I think you should be playing facebook games instead then. Because any PC/Console game that have any kind of depth make the player think.

There’s an enormous gap between ‘Press 1 and win’ and ‘Spend hours failing repeatedly before you win’. All of the posters expressing dissatisfaction with difficult content are looking for a balance, somewhere in the middle. Literally no one in the history of forums has ever said ‘I want to roll my face across my keyboard and win’.

Fractals are not raids. Please stop.

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Well current swamp for example is exactly it, the mechanics are pretty simple, “Go to green area, hit bloomhunger, repeat, get the wisp and go to the tree with markers, thats it” And anyone paying attention can do it easy.
And another thing you can’t have engaging mechanics if they are ignorable, this is a fact.

This has not been my experience. You left out the part where he pounces on people and basically insta-downs ’em and you spend ten minutes trying to revive people over and over, as well as the swarm of spirit creatures and periods of invulnerability.

Fractals on high levels should be hard as kitten. The game is TOO EASY and i doesn’t matter if you’re bad so it’s difficult to you – endgame isn’t for bad players, it’s for the best. so yes please keep bloom and others bosses hard on tier 4

I disagree with this. Endgame is for everyone at level 80. It’s important to keep the content interesting and engaging, but there’s a point where the difficulty level brings out the worst in others and takes the fun out of playing.

All in all I’m comfortable with T4 as is, just hoping that Swampland is the exception rather than the new direction of fractals.

There is literally nothing wrong with having to learn new mechanics or be challenged in a game, there is a reason Anet is implementing mechanics that don’t force stacking and AA most casuals and the majority were complaining about it especially with Mossman in fractals, and other content like dungeons. When the majority of “challenging” instanced content had the same strategy, i.e. Stack as tight as possible and AA to win something is wrong. You just want Braindead gameplay and to be rewarded for it.

No, not looking for ‘braindead’ gameplay at all and explicitly stated that yes, you should have to figure out how to beat something. What I take issue with is the amount of time and effort required. Also, while I’m not against stacking or cheesing if it’s the most effective tactic for, I am in favour of active play. The best fractal bosses, imo, are Archdiviner and the Dredge Powersuit.

My view here is that gaming should be enjoyable, first and foremost. I think that if content drives most players into a rage and/or forces them to be particularly selective about how they run it, then it is poorly designed.

Fractals are not raids. Please stop.

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

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Jahroots.6791

But why is it important for players to improve ? I’m legitimately curious.

What I’ve experienced with challenging content is that very, very few people actually enjoy difficulty. They like the idea of it. They want to feel like they’ve done something amazing and earned bragging rights. But the end goal is almost always effortless completion.

So what’s the value of the interim bit where you struggle for hours, deal with frustration and rage quitters until eventually you figure it out and then can beat it easily? (as long as the rest of the team has gone through the same bullkitten and is semi-competent)

I’d rather just skip all that and have content with engaging mechanics that are simple enough to explain on the spot, and anyone in level appropriate gear who’s actually paying attention can get done. (This is my view on all instanced PvE)

Updated fractals are horrible

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Train seriously / work hard / learn / put what you learn in practice / repeat if failure …. WHAT ?? In a game? I have enough of this in my RL job. I want to PLAY a game. Not to WORK in a game.
This is REAL fun – to PAY a company to let you to WORK HARD. And in the end to feel ashamed because you cannot keep the pace required for the completion of the “project” (Bloomhunger in this case).

Quoted. For. Truth. Take ALL the upvotes.

If that is still too difficult for you play T1-3 and practice there. That’s the way to go. T4-fractals were never ever meant to be as easy as they were the last months. They were literally a bonanza especially to acquire ascended chest and definitely not intended! And yeah, they rest easy since veteran players keep doing them daily.

Ehh, it doesn’t really matter what they intended so much as what actually takes place. The most fun and rewarding activities are almost never intended, from Plinx right down to the AB multi-map farm. Unlike these, the T4 fractal rewards weren’t the result of any kind of exploiting (apart from the old Mossman fight) – the content just had a nice balance of reward and effort. I think we’ve gotten so used to trash that when something actually provides good loot it feels like too much for some people.

Also, regardless of intent, if content is at one level of difficulty for almost a year players then develop reasonable expectations that it will more or less remain that way. And for what it’s worth fractals have not changed that drastically, there’s still the same balance of difficulty. Just that Swamp is the new ‘no go’ and Cliffside is completely puggable.

New playable race - good or bad idea?

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Jahroots.6791

It’s not going to happen. Anet is barely able to produce armour for the existing races (let alone re-fit all of the current sets and outfits for a new character mesh).

Any new race(s) added would have to be identical to one currently playable to be even remotely viable, and from what I’ve seen of the other humanoids in the GW2 universe this just isn’t the case.

Hope for future hard level content...

in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Sounds like the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia to me.

See this right here?

I liked the fact that a party wiped in UW was a real threat that could equate your entire team having wasted a lot of minutes/hours.

Yeah, this was fine when you’re a kid with all the time in the world. Now? Not so much. Gaming has mostly evolved past this because the average gamer is an adult and recreational time is precious. That’s my number one issue with the hardest PvE content available – raiding – countless hours spent learning a fight so that we can farm it easily…eventually.

There’s still members of the community who seek out challenges and embrace this kind of difficulty, but of course try their very best to power through the content as quickly as possible.

I’d definitely welcome more moderately challenging content, but I value an engaging and interesting encounter more so than one that is just difficult for its own sake.

Updated fractals are horrible

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

For what it’s worth, they’ve only failed on one of those three criteria – more fun – and some people absolutely love the parts you find tedious and boring. Not me, but I’ve seen quite a few posts praising the new swampland fractal. It’s just way too much going on and too long for me, but highly skilled players seem to require more stimulation than the rest of us. /shrugs. It’s hilarious that Clffside is now fast and smooth, while Swamp is a clusterkitten though.

I just hope that at least some of the upcoming fractals are more like the former. This game is time consuming enough as is.

raids are annoying

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

You cannot have difficult group content without drama though, unfortunately. I’ve seen this time and time again in PvE, PvP and even WvW.

It does not matter how straightforward the mechanics are, what builds and classes are optimal – as long as there is a significant chance of failure people will (a) seek out the best players to group with and/or (b) become insufferable kittens when things go wrong.

The bottom line though, is that no matter what route you take (I recommend finding a good guild) raiding will require you to put in a lot more effort than anything else in the rest of the game. It can be pretty annoying, but the target audience for this type of content need this in order to enjoy it.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Jahroots.6791

None of the arguments against this apart from ‘possible waste of developer time and resources’ are particularly sound.

Fractals are undeniable proof that you can have multiple levels of difficulty in instanced content that do not affect each other at all.

Of course, we’re not likely to see scaled difficulty in raids. They’ve made a few concessions by offering relatively easy encounters (Bandit Trio and Escort), and this is reasonable enough, but that’s about it.

Why are Norns spoilt?

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Jahroots.6791

I don’t think people set out to create characters that look like everyone else, humanoid females just look better than most others and people tend to have very similar taste in fashion.

The different races are kind of cool in theory, but it’s turned out to be more of a hindrance than anything else. Having so many distinct character models to work on is why we can’t have nice things.

Also, Long hairstyles can be pretty restrictive if clipping bothers you at all.

Excess HoT mastery points for LS3

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Jahroots.6791

people dont seem to understand that there are other reasons for disliking all these mastery pts, that just because people with many hope that the casuals will never catch up.
it’s like in any singleplayer game, people want to get a reward when doing something hard, and be encouraged to get better. By adding more Anet is just encouraging people to stay bad. at least I like to play well in any aspect of the game, and to get a reward for doing so.

Most people in PvE are playing for fun and have little to no interest in improving their skill, especially when ‘getting good’ requires sticking to a narrowly defined path, and completing objectives they don’t enjoy.

The new Swamp [Merged]

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

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Jahroots.6791

Fractals went from something fun with an underappreciated reward to a braindead gold farm. It’s not that I want it for ‘true’ players, whatever the hell that is, it’s that I want them to be what they used to be, an actual step up in difficulty. The welcome to fractals thing was more a joke, but it rings true in that fractals back then were still worth it, I have 5-6 sets of ascended thanks to that, quite a bit of gold saved. What they weren’t though was a gold farm, and that is something I’m very much ok with. I think the rewards are great right now, enough pocket change to sustain me (easily) and a chance at being able to make secondary builds or set up even more alts!

The bloomhunger fight will get quicker as people learn what to do, in fact I wouldn’t put it that far off from Mai trin in length, and when you compare the whole fractal to say cliffside it’s pretty close as well. What makes Bloom long is people dying and holding him off while you res 3 people between phases.

It’s give and take with these balance changes, eh. Always going to be a sub group of the player base that gets left out in the cold. There seem to be more attempts to keep the hardcore crowd satisfied than anything else, and I find it unfortunate.

Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of the ‘braindead gold farm’ phase though. Hop in, git ‘er done, hop out and go do something else. ’Easy’ content has a few undeniable merits – no belligerence, passive aggressive whining or raqe quitters – something I saw plenty of while pugging the new fractals last night.

Over time I suppose people will learn and adapt, or maybe just not bother playing as much. Attempts to shake things up and keep players on their toes are good in theory, but there’s got to be limits. I don’t like that the newer instanced content keeps taking me out of my comfort zone, as this defeats the entire point of gaming.

Must be a sign that I’m gettin’ too old for this kitten.

The new Swamp [Merged]

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

People finding Swamp too difficult now just prove that it was really needed ( so after a while people will be pugging raids a lot easier ) , because it still way easier than raids, and if you cant complete T4 swamp you shouldnt be trying raids.
And for people that says that fractal shouldnt be that hard. You remember that there is T1/T2/T3 swamp right? So there you go your easy content for 5 man. All T4 should be on the level of Chaos and Swamp.

Difference is raids reward you for that difficulty, Swamp as it stands now provides next to no real rewards.

Also tone down the tryhard please? I know you’re the best and everyone else needs to “git gud” and you’re voting Trump but until everything is tuned to be like the T4 swamp it’s a little unreasonable to have this single lone boss fight be about 5x harder than any other encounter in any fractal without at least providing appropriate rewards.

Welcome to Fractals, where your reward isn’t “worth it”. That’s how they were for a LONG time, then sometime while I was gone HoT made them a quick and easy daily farm. I very much welcome this change even if it means less reward for the effort.

So, basically you want fractals to suck again so that only the ‘true’ players can enjoy them? Okay.

Dropping a tier or two down isn’t an option for most of us who’ve been pugging for the last 8 or 9 months. We’ve already established certain expectations from this content (daily fractals, at their core, are little more than a gamble for ascended chest drops) and fundamentally some of the changes feel like an indirect reward nerf: greater effort for the same reward.

In the past when Anet significantly buffed content there was also an increased incentive to play it at the higher difficulty. The loot tables need to be revised, or at least have the fractal lab vendors offer new items.

Chaos Fractal - Well done!

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Jahroots.6791

Chaos is alright. Visually it is absolutely amazing, but kind of bland to actually play through. It kind of lacks an identity and distinctiveness. Feels like a fractal ‘scramble’.

I enjoyed the old swamp. It was ‘the easy fractal’ and everyone was happy to see it in the dailies. Now Mossman’s fight is so short that it’s almost pointless (dude doesn’t even have the decency to invite us back to his hut anymore, lel) and Bloomhunger is just unpleasant. The mechanics are interesting, at least.

The new Swamp [Merged]

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Jahroots.6791

Between Chaos boss and Bloomhunger there is just too much going on at once, it’s a clusterkitten. There’s enough of that in raids.

It’s mostly that I feel like I’m working harder for the same loot though. If you gon’ buff the difficulty, up the rewards as well.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Jahroots.6791

Casuals asked for raid nerf, got fractal buffs.

GG Anet.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Jahroots.6791

The devs are looking into difficulty settings and it’s going to be ok peeps.

You seem to have gotten your wish. Go play the new map and play loot pinata with “Definitely Not Vale Guardian”. You can even get “Definitely not Raid Rewards”.

This is the best thing the devs could have done. Now can we lock topic ?

Lmao. I was thinking the same thing when I did the event chain.

Give us armor skins instead of outfits!

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Jahroots.6791

ANet is just never going to be able to release enough skins to satisfy us all, especially if they dropped all outfits and weapons and backs and gliders and just worked on armor. There’s a better chance of offering something for nearly everyone if they do some of the quicker skins and some of the slower ones.

Anet released more than enough armour sets between launch and the first few gem store releases to satisfy everyone, had they all been quality skins.

The problem is that the game was designed with cosmetic progression in mind, and they intentionally released a slew of visually similar, low quality and unappealing designs – presumably to entice players to spend money on better looking skins.

I do wonder if it’s at all feasible to have a ‘visual update’ to some of the older skins, similar to what Riot does to champions in League from time to time. The overall design of most of the armours is solid, but they would definitely benefit from higher quality textures and more intricate and creative design touches.

Hairstyle Suggestions we Do want!

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Jahroots.6791

Still holding out hope for dreadlocks for human females.

Outfits/Armor you want.

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Jahroots.6791

Almost certainly an outfit, but it ‘s so well put together that I don’t even mind.

Guessing this will be released with the next episode. Just hoping it’s sold on it’s own and not in a 2k gem bundle. It’d also be pretty cool if there was an outfit for each member of Dragon’s Watch. So far we’ve already got Canach in Verdant Executor.

[Suggestions] Gemstore Items

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Jahroots.6791

Is RNG punishing enough?

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Jahroots.6791

RNG is still quite formidable where it matters. All of the good skins, and ascended weapons and armour require either a fair bit of coin, luck or grinding. In some instances, all three.

I also disagree about scarcity and long term goals being good during content droughts. That’d be more likely to increase the frustration people are already experiencing. I’d rather be able to get a bunch of stuff done while waiting for new content, than be stuck on that one thing for ages.

New Fractal teaser vid on Twitter

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

It’s not that we see stuff return, it’s that the stuff we see in the trailer is all the annoying puzzle kitten of others mashed together. Looking at this trailer I can already imagine the same kind of “fun” we have in aetherblade and thaumanova.

Puzzle kitten

LOL ok that gave me a chuckle. :P

Dem kitties tho. That one in the middle. He’s seen some things, man.

New Fractal teaser vid on Twitter

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

There’s so many neat and interesting enemies that get no love. Hoping we get some more of the historically themed fractals in the future featuring Largos, the Branded, the Steam creatures and Fleshreavers etc.

New Fractal teaser vid on Twitter

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Bleh. I’m not too psyched about this. Looks like Thaumanova 2.0, and appears to incorporate a mish mash of existing fractal content and a bunch of the mechanics I find the least fun (jumping, electrified floors, disappearing platforms).

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Let me answer your question with a realistic scenario as it relates to GW2.

How often do you do story dungeons on a weekly basis ?
How often do you do fractals, not t4 or the daily suggested ?

The answer in short is yes, it does cause that to occur. Once you’ve run the easy mode once you very seldom if ever go back to it which causes it to become dead content.

It’s only dead to me since I am an experienced player. There are always people running story dungeons and low tier fractals, though.

I don’t repeat content for challenge, I repeat it for rewards. The difficulty does not really matter. Most players are like this as well. If easy mode raids were designed to be as unrewarding as story dungeons, then yes, they would be pointless. No one would run them. If the reward scale was in line with T2 fractals or so, then many people would happily play (and remain at) that level.

And none of that would affect serious raiding at all.

Case in point: I do the T4 dailies every day. I don’t spare a thought for the other levels. I I don’t run them, I don’t even check their listings. This would be you too, if they introduced lower difficulty raids.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

No but GW2 being a themepark MMO is entirely relevant. In order to attract people who otherwise wouldn’t be interested, they have to change some elements of what you perceive as traditional gameplay. That means challenge and rewards had to be harder, and unique respectively. Any change to that structure whatsoever, threatens not only the integrity of design, but the intention of having such content to begin with.

Do you think that if there were easier raids, with lower shard rewards and few/none of the unique drops, people would suddenly stop enjoying standard raids? If the community is that fickle I do not think they deserve this content at all.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Why do these people need raids? Wouldn’t a new living story chapter or fractal also sate your desire for easier content?

Ideally, raids should stay hard. I am actually in agreement with you guys because the challenge really does add to the value of that content. Fractals and dungeons would provided instanced PvE for those of intermediate skill and casual players.

However, the latter two content types have been neglected in favour of raids (The single upcoming fractal is completely inadequate. It has been two years since the last set.) Until such a time as Anet can produce new content for all of the PvE group instances, people will clamour for a scaled-down version of raids.

Living story doesn’t factor in at all because an entire season is only about 10 – 20 hours total playtime, including achievement hunting. After that there is absolutely no reason to replay an episode. Raids, fractals and dungeons are relevant for much, much longer.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Yes, I do understand you perfectly.

Except your argument against easy mode is invalid. People are selling raids. Starts at around 100g per boss. 300g for the titles. No participation required. You can ‘beat’ a raid by opening up your wallet.

It really just sounds like you like that raids are a bit exclusive.

That would be fine if the game was not sorely lacking in new content. Let’s imagine that HoT was launched with one complete dungeon and three regular fractals plus a boss, with promises of new ones being added every few months or so (as they have done with raids) – in this scenario no one would have a cause for complaint because there would be content suited for all skill levels. However, we got hard mode only. This is inadequate, and of course people are going to take issue with it.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

i am happy, because its a game.
even though, i would do many things different, for example i would try to focus on giving the players content they can re-play for years, that does not get boring with the time (like underworld or doa in guildwars 1). raids come quite close to that.

but that does not give me a free-ticket to grant and shout on everything they do and that they should re-build the content other people like to content me and my friends like, because they create the game not only for me.
they create it for many players, so they create much different content.

but you act like “i dont like that part of the content, change it, i paid for this game!”
thats just unbelievable egoistic… not only you paid for it
raids were created for the part of the community that likes hard+challenging content
living story is for those that like story
open world content is for those that like exploring

maybe my reasoning is weak and lazy as you say
your reasoning is just egoistic…
while i see that other players do not like raids, you can’t see that other players maybe do not like what you like…

its a game that got many different aspects, why should everything be the same casual-stuff?
it can be versatile, so everyone gets a piece of the pizza.
the one likes spinach, the other one tuna. why would you order a complete spinach pizza?

however, have a nice day

I think you misunderstand the point of this topic. People are not suggesting that raids should be nerfed completely, they are asking for a separate and distinct version of the current raids that is more accessible. The current raid difficulty would remain, unchanged, for those who prefer it. They do not want to take your pizza away from you, they want a second one made with different toppings. This is not a selfish request.

Also, don’t think of the state of the game as being inherently ‘good’ or ‘right’. An MMO should be dynamic and fluid, adapted to the players’ needs. If enough people voice a concern (and we are all entitled to do this) Anet is likely to take notice and at least consider ways of addressing it. Quite a few changes have been made as a result of player feedback, and the game would likely have suffered overall if people simply kept quiet and hoped for things to change.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

and thats cool, i did nowhere say you have to like it. but as i wrote, if you dont like it, dont play it^^
no one forces you to play raids.
if you dont want to play raids, you wont get the price for it.
if i dont want to spend many many hours into some collection, i wont get the price for it either.

That’s just, weak and lazy reasoning.

‘You don’t have to play GW2. No one forces you to play it.’ – Automatic dismissal for every issue anyone can raise with this game, ever.

Consider for a moment that because you are happy and content with the state of things does not mean that there is no room for improvement.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

Raids in this game are a joke, they’re cleared 1-3 days after they come out compared to the months it takes other games.\

And you want them easier?

Let’s be honest here, what people are concealing is their dislike for a need to organize 10 people into a group to manage a raid kill, so they want a raid format where coordination is utterly unnecessary to get a loot pinata.

You have to consider we all have varying thresholds for ‘difficult’. Some people still struggle with T3 fractals. Some will never clear Arah. Others still will clear a raid wing on the first day without getting downed even once.

The entire point of tiered difficulty allows for more people to clear the raids at a level they personally find challenging.

Of course, this is extremely unlikely. At best we’re going to see a continuation of the current trend – encounters varying from the quick and simple to more complex and gruelling.

Different Raid Difficulty Would Satisfy Most

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

How about you start focussing on the actual issue instead of beating around the bush. The problem with raids isn’t the mechanics or boss difficulty, all of that can be learned over time. The problem starts when trying to find 9 like-minded players that are able to play at the same time and having the same learning skills so people don’t fall behind others.

I agree that this is probably the largest obstacle for most players. But only because the difficulty and mechanics ‘force’ players to be very selective in who they take along with ’em.

Which kind of leads to another funny observation I’ve made. People just love to talk about how the masses are lazy and want mindless, ‘faceroll’-easy content, yet most raiders are fundamentally no different. In the 30-odd raids I’ve run, there’s always a couple guys who will bail if there’s a wipe or two. Very few people are looking for a legitimate challenge. The only major difference between the average casual and hardcore player is in how much effort each needs to feel like they’re putting in to get a sense of accomplishment. The end goal is always the same though – smooth and seamless completion.

Mind you, I don’t take issue with this. My time is precious too. I just find it a bit disingenuous.