Guild Wars 2

They have their different teams.. live teams, support teams, bug teams, balance, wvw, spvp, new pve areas, old pve areas, holiday themes, updates, etc… but never shall they meet. So many people working on a game you would think they would shift them around to the priority areas… nope. shortsighted

Pyrial.2917:

TwoBit.5903:

Good to hear a staff response for this.

This ship is going down fast like Trion/Rift…Expecting staff cuts soon. How soon? I can’t tell you as I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

That’s a pretty serious thing to say and it doesn’t make a whole lotta logical sense. They’ll likely be seeing staff cuts/transfers if they either give up on sPvP or when development of sPvP is in a healthy and stable state. Right now, the game has far too much potential for them to give up on it.

The pvp playerbase is dwindling down to near nothing. With no revenue coming in from that section do you think any company is going to continue to throw good money after bad?

Esports done properly really does bring in lots of media attention, new players and usually truck loads of money, so in terms of the long term, yes it is worth the investment but it is a significant investment at the start.

There are a lot of other issues to them gaining players and making money though.
The a large box price for those that just want a lobby experience is too much, either lower the cost of the spvp portion on it’s own(5-10) or make it free, you could still have the option to buy the whole experience later on for a reduction in cost. They should be focusing on gaining a population and they are competing with many multiplayer games that are free or incredibly cheap.

Also scrap town clothes – looks are still important but most of everything in the game and cash shop is useless. The change to viewing players in matches was a good change but this needs more

still writing about incoherent and inconsequential things related to gw2, mmo’s and gaming.

Recently wrote a top 5 wish list for GW2 which included

• 5 – more character appearance options

• 4 – WvW map improvements

• 3 – A real cash shop

• 2 – An SPvP matchmaking system

• 1 – Improvements to the servers mainframes and client coding..ie culling and rendering

Too the 3 roaming thieves on JQ borderlands.. nice fights but remember I will avenge my fallen dolyak comrades.. someday, somehow, when your least expecting it

Ipea.2974:

All the talk of SoS hacking into towers and keeps, well it needs to stop after what happened today…..

Its a great fun fight all over this week but here it is being made bad by a guild from JQ

it certainly looks bad, but there is something weird going on with that keep. Was attacking it once and my flesh golem ported straight through the gate as well as 2 other peoples pets and started attacking things. I’ve also heard reports of people being ported inside but have never witnessed that.

Not saying the person doing exploit but there are other explanations

Genev.2450:

Any type of character progression could only be fluff otherwise the people who don’t like WvW will feel forced to do WvW, and there will be an increasingly big gap between new players and vets.

Dungeon/fractal unlocks – no thanks, it’s already annoying that there are chains in pve zones to open dungeons instead of them jsut being open.

I’m all for loot, fluff ranks and skins though.

I’m not one for vertical progression either but ascended gear is already here it seems. I think the dungeon could work well enough if it only offered gear on line with others but maybe of a different stat combination or skin.. or maybe even badges and siege

In their recent blog of future plans Anet put down Progression as a big part of the development for WvW and I was wondering what everyone thinks would make some good progression types and rewards.

Gear

• Attainable options – better badge drop rate and more gear options
• Gear grind – ascended gear and vertical progression
• Interesting Skins

Character Advancement

• Ranks – Daoc style of buff system,could be a skill wheel, tech tree specialisation, or new trait line.
• Titles
• WvW only skills

Server

• leaderboards – for individual and guild achievements
• Dungeon/ fractal unlocks
• T6 farming – Just because the drop rate of T6 mats is pretty darn kitten and they are used extensively and in large amounts for a lot of the cool looking skins. You could add more hard to get skins, even holiday ones that use copious amounts of T6 materials and people won’t want to beat your head in with a rusty spoon.

I elaborated a bit more on these points on the blog but there is a character limit here and I didn’t want to spam too much.
So what would you guys and gals like and not like to see, and what are some other options

Sunspots.9861:

Is this real life?

Is this just fantasy…..

Some very interesting use of terrain in SoS borderlands tonight by a certain guild with a tag DE wink, wink.. would appreciate any sea of Sorrows players who witness this as well to please report if you can. Lets clean up these matches where and how we can.

nerva.7940:

just spent about an hour gaming with 9 other people. we discussed builds, countered each other, got to know one another a little. was great fun. i highly recommend 5v5 servers! less kitten, and you learn tons playing on a smaller scale.

yeh, love them. Only found out about them 2 weeks ago and haven’t been back to the 8v8. Popped in on one that was just a 1v1 spot.. everyone having duels discussing the fights and working out counters, really worth while

What I would like to see is rewards scaled based on the number of players on each side, a few defending against a large force should get more. And a zerg running around gets very minimal for captured points. It still allows zerging as a strategy but its less rewarded.

Also why not WvW dailies and monthlies now…we have sPvP ones.things like number of blueprints and supply used, points taken and defended, dolyaks guarded… And it would reward badges and silver, or instead of money A chest with random items inside with chances at rares and exotics .

An analysis of the current main issues facing SPvP right now and areas that need improving to make it a much more enjoyable and accessible system as well as closer to being Esport material.

http://healingthemasses.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/an-iceberg-of-issues/

Fook.3914:

nobody will alt + f4 if arenanet remove repair bills in wvw

not sure if serious……

i don’t believe the repair costs are the main issue, 15-20 silver for dieing numerous times really isn’t that much when you add in how much you make in that amount of time.
As you can see from the post above, the repair cost statement was more a copout, denying the kill or a bag is the main reason, and then it comes down to unfun reasons like group focus, thief burst and such. It’s all a BS excuse anyway really. Your in an open PvP environment, expect to die, and expect many of these deaths to come from unfair circumstances

candlecan.9827:

Other things to notice:
be careful about trying to burst a necro while in their death shroud. They could be specced into retaliation and you could kill yourself if not carefull.

necros alien doo doo looking summon is squishy and should be killed early if given the chance. (same could be said about ranger pets)

Shhhhhh. please go back to your previous progrm, Necros are so totally underpowered it’s those HS, HB thta are OP… << >>

All that I can really add is if a Necro is particularly focussing just you and your getting a few conditions then stay away from your team mates, Epidemic Incoming

Oh andd if you see that shodow Refuge pop up then aoe the hell out of it as they usually stay inside for a few seconds

The funny thing though is that I think this is a rather balanced burst option as you leave yourself completely vulnerable and everything needs to go right to pull it off. The damage is a little excessive compared to health though.

I seem to be seeing it more and more lately and I just don’t understand it. It’s quicker to get back into the action by respawning and the repair costs are pretty minimal. Like some else said, if you log out your character should remain for a certain time.

@uder “Progression is not better stats, that’s not what we want. We would be happy though if you come up with new title/ ranks in wvw and new cosmetic items.”

+1 internets cookie to you.
that’s a very important distinction to make here as I think very few people want statistical better gear when they say progression. There are many avenues to take, just no artificial grinds pls as the only end up segregating a community

or at least once a fortnight would be ok considering that the matches are for one week, or maybe have it cost a very minimal amount of gems as well

Nice work Anet and thank you for listening to the community.

I hope when everything gets sorted out that an orb type mechanic does come in, not with those stat bonuses but just something extra… maybe like more badges earned or some such thing, It just adds that little extra something to strive for on the borderlands.

I think one of the main reasons the exchange rate is so bad is because Anet actively takes a percentage on each transaction.. the 15% both ways tends to inflate the issue

the lack of options with the transmutation system was definitely a conscious choice by Anet to bring about more gem purchases but they neglected the simple fact that most people won’t buy costumes they can’t wear when they want.

I would have bought some already if it was a normal wardrobe system.. rather sill imo

yeh i agree that the whole gambling aspect they are pushing on people is rather despicable to see, yeh yeh it is that persons choice but in the end it is a rather devious use of conditioning. Someone in my guild has already spent over 150$, yep real world dollars on buying black lion keys and playing the mystic forge… and I’m sure they are not alone, if thats the case then they are making more than enough from the black lion trader to justify making these quality of life items free or much much cheaper/aggregated

The transmutation system is another problem i have as it is a convulated way of doing it, when considering there are far easier and better systems out there this seems like just another way of ensuring a few purchases when you want a certain item to maintain or change a look. multiple gear sets means multiple transmutation stones.

The issue is they don’t have to give you value, due to the box prive you pretty much have a certain investment in the product and while playing there are some parts that compel you to purchase, convenience, necessity, gambling.. The early play was designed to influence these types of purchases and over time that fades… it would be better for them now to earn good will and maybe provide a leaner approach to the cash shop then money grab at the start and turn people away.

the funny thing is that the transmutation system creates their biggest problem for making money in the long term in a more ethical way as their costumes are considered town clothes. Considering that the game pretty much revolves around combat where these are meaningless means its pretty hard to justify the purchase of any sort of customisation.

@ Tallis

would like to now your tips for farming that much gold in that little time, i have spent hours there and i never make that much (always have food buffs up).

it’s still rather annoying though and for the large group of players still at the lower levels gaining that much gold is beyond them for a long time thus the cash shop dilemma remains. Anet wouldn’t need that extra cash this brings in after all I’m sure there making enough from black lion keys… it seems more like a publisher stipulation than anything else, something to appease shareholders rather than players

I fully support Anets business model but there are a few points that I am a little unhappy about regarding items i would consider as quality of life. I really don’t think an expense should be that strongly attached to basic necessities that make the game more enjoyable. Of course this isn’t an issue to the hardcore as they can usual grind out the gold needed but for those whom enjoy playing for fun and may have time constraints then it is an endless frustration.

My main issue right now is charging quite a high amount for bag and bank space. What you get at the beginning is considerably limited considering a couple of things. Decent sized bags cost an exhorbitant amount of gold, and you get a plethora of items, tokens, gear, costumes, and crafting items that take up space, and then there is the issue of the huge drop pool of useless items mobs have (any need for trophies… really). There is so much vying for valuable space that it never ceases to frustrate, it is everyday irritation that Anet appears to be capitalizing on.

The funny thing is that when you look at the cost of upgrading an account to the price of buying gems it is actually cheaper to buy an entirely new box/ download.. and amusingly I have payed more than i would have for a sub based game that gives me much of what i need relatively easily (awesome TSW inventory).. I am sorry but that is just wrong. I am not saying give people things for free (although at least 1 free bank space would be appreciated) but there should at least be some sort of package deal so as to lower the cost.

Also charging for these sort of things is really quite unnecessary in the end as if players enjoy and are invested they will purchase non essential things in droves.. just look at LoL and how much they make just off character skins, the market is there. All I’m saying is please stop with provoking people to purchase out of frustration and just encourage.

Oh and while i’m at it make dyes account bound again for the love of all that is good or holy… or if your that desperate for cash charge for the privilege.

The Necromancers epidemic might be very helpfull in this situation as the cap on that is much greater than 5.

some good ideas here and personally i would like it to involve everything to do with WvW so making it about achievements is a good idea… gold is good as part of that or maybe even badges.

One thing I would like changed though is a sort of rating tool (+ and -) that way you can easily see at a glance who the good commanders are and who to avoid. Cap out the amount of commanders per map.. maybe something like 3-4 and have only the highest rating commander tags showing up. Hell even have an offline commenting system for commanders

Necrotic Grasp

On further reflection of the projectiles speed we realised all other weapons are attacking much to fast. We have thus changed attacks on all other weapons to projectiles and slowed down their speed by 300% making them much more avoidable

The bad effects your seeing now are more an effect of unlimited server jumping, when server populations balance out you will see servers going up and down around comparable servers which will create a more varied style of play.

For instance HoD is in a terrible situation right now due to their large alliance splitting and settling on other servers leaving it a lot less competitive but once they settle lower in the ladder they will have more comparable battles that will go up and down.

I know you might have a little nemesis in IoJ now.
Very sneeky to have guilds pop into the match just to have a go at us..

This is coming from someone from the Isle of Jantears

At the start of the week I wished we could just stay in this tier for good and have thoroughly enjoyable PvP and competition round the clock with interesting forum drama but then I came to my senses. Not that I care about other servers having a right to challenge the top teams, no I’m more self centered then that, its because I don’t think I could handle it. When its a close match it is just so compelling, I want, no need to be in that battleground as much as possible.. I want to win but I also want us to be as competitive as possible, to show the opposition how good we are. It leaves no time for other pursuits or PvE goals, no time for fooling around on low level alts, or even just idle exploration time. It is a playstyle that just isn’t conducive to the long term and would burn you out from the pressure. I think this was probably one of the reasons HoD eventually split apart as the pressure to stay on top would have been immense and with the break those guilds now have a fresh start.

It is because of this why I don’t think we should be striving for completely balanced match ups. The way it is with servers climbing and falling on the competitive ladder is just the way it should be as it gives a far more varied style of play.

• You have the fast and non stop action of the balanced match requiring dedication, strategy, and cooperation to win. The compulsion to log on is unbelievable during these times and it requires a lot of energy to keep it up but the rewards are magnificent. Brilliant large scale battles, keep defense and assault, constant small group skirmishes around the map and along the supply lines, and a battlefield that is constantly evolving with the frontlines being ever changing… Emergent gameplay at its finest.

• Then you have those weeks of being completely dominated where the casual masses leave in droves but which makes it a perfect playground for the more serious. Without the pressure your free to try new strategies, the bad and good, practice group mechanics, and just generally fap around with guerrilla warfare type play. Weeks like this usually occur when you move up a tier but because if this it is a great learning experience. You learn better strategies when facing a superior force and you get to watch and learn from the strategies and tactics performed by these higher servers. I know just in this single foray into tier 1 we have improved our playstyle immensely.

• Lastly there are those weeks of dominating the others where the casual masses turn out in droves, it is a far more relaxed environment and perfect for the new initiates to wet their feet in open world and slowly learn how to pvp…being in a zerg is very forgiving for them. These weeks also give the more rabid pvpers a much needed week off, and as much as we kick and squeal about the terrible zergy pvp it provides some time to relax and refuel.

I think the system in place will do well over the coming months especially after the server populations settle down and guesting is enacted so people can’t bunny hop around to the better servers in WvW. The match ups are never going to be always balanced, that is an impossible and idiotic though as each and every server has different strengths and weaknesses but this is a great thing as we can rise and fall accordingly to get the most variable gameplay over our long term play. I want those great matches, and crave that action but even I admit that I should have a break now and then or just a time without the pressure. Being below on the ladder or on the top also gives us something to strive for and when server pride becomes more prevalent this will be a far more important thing that will drive groups and whole servers.

Quote from Kyiv
[spoiler]I think the main problem right now is motivation. There is no reason whatsoever to win or lose by a few thousand. The match ups next week will remain the same and the score won’t be that different to affect things much.

Why spend time and resources trying to win, what does a server get for winning really at the top?

I think there should be a built in incentive for people to care enough to win besides bragging rights. But that is more of a suggestion for things than anything else.[/spoiler]

Keep your rewards out of WvW thank you very much, an intrinsic motivation is far better to have and a better way of sustaining long term play. Personally i think that anet should stop censoring our WvW match threads, lets create some animosity and fire and maybe some long term enemies… the best reason for pvp is to rub someones smug face in defeat.
Also having any sort of reward to the winner would make the bandwagon effect ten times as bad as it is now

If you want to be an a hole then just farm the jumping puzzles with a bit of siege and a couple friends

other then that just make sure to get a few hits on people that are downed, life transfer in ds is a good skill as it aoe targets people around you.. axe has a skill that hits people around you hard enough to get credit as well

first time in Tier 1 with IoJ and I have seen it a lot lately.. it’s even getting predictable in a sense but hard to counter because of the rendering issue. Props to them though for being so well coordinated to achieve the tactic but I don’t think I will ever use it as it just feel to much like abusing a mechanic in a way it isn’t meant to be used.. ie exploiting.

When they fix the rendering though I’ll have no issue with it

Every single class is viable in WvW so pick what you enjoy playing.. Each class has there own particularly feel and if your not enjoying a class then it isn’t for you

Class breakdown
Engi
*Great support character through elixers, lots of buffs for the team
*good damage capabilities through a lot of means, condition/power.. whatever really

• Has a lot of versatility in builds, and as others have said are useful in many of the different roles in WvW

This engi video says hello too.. absolutely amazing player
http://youtu.be/O9IdpgUJCvs

Necro

• lots of aoe available
• a great pusher class, damage and buffs aren’t the only way to support your group.. built well you are an amazing damage soaker with DS
  *condtion spreading can be unbelievable powerful when able to pull of.. while you can do it by yourself with a bit of focus conditions on one target and you can obliterate groups.

I play a necro in WvW and don’t listen to the haters.. whatever you want to do you can find a place in WvW. While i think maybe dagger main hand is out (too little damage for being up close and personal) i think any other combo of weapons is workable. I personal like Axe, the damage is a bit low but you can have a very ready supply of retaliation available.
Bone minions have a place too if used appropriately (don’t let enemies rally of them)… well of blood BOOM BOOM instant area of affect retaliation. There’s sneeky ways to use flesh wurm too

Play a little of both of them in some hot join… you can mess around with traits and such to get a feel for it

@eisenhart we also had a nekkid zerg running around the borderlands last night too… We outmanned CD so we thought that may even it out a little or at the least be amusing.

We met War Machine too and showed them the powah of nekkid

Thanks for the tip, i was thinking it was a driver issue or something

as one of the posters says.. just because they are in the keep does not imply a hack.. they also have that shortbow port skill and might have been creative with it to get in

We of IoJ find the use of any hacks completely unacceptable and as until recently have had very little presence of them. Anyway report the issue to IsleofJanthir.net … that’s our main forum, Unreal Aussies have a presence there and I’m sure want the issue rectified. Did you get their I.D when reported, if so pls give it to the UA leadership, they’re a good bunch

You shall not pass

Then maybe the guards upgrade could increase the dolyaks health as well Ms negative Nancy.

Personally I agree that some upgrades should be more meaningful or at least cost less considering how ineffectual they are. Not costing gold would be a good start.

As of a couple hours ago it was
SBI – 139,493 (380), IoJ – 78,281 (160), BG – 70,971 (+155)

The major draw of GW2 was the fact that it is a contested 3 way battle…. yes it is definitely more chaotic but i found that amazing, it is a great combat environment

Fungalfoot.7213:

I’d like to see a dedicated ranged weapon for power/crit builds. A rifle would be swell. The staff just isn’t cutting it.

Axe for better or worse is our ranged power weapon, it just needs an offhand that actually does damage

brickforlife.1364:

BaconSoda.3976:

The difference is that Mesmers put a portal at their feet while Necrotic Traversal can be used at range. If it were to simply teleport the Necromancer casting it, then one could skip huge parts of jumping puzzles (think the one in Mount Maelstrom for instance).

Not a big deal, really, but it’s probably better to actually complete the content and, you know, feel good about completing a challenge.

Thanks for the tip. However I see many people exploiting guardian to do exactly the same thing. Guardian gs4 can pretty much leap over any hard jump without any effort.

I see engi’s doing this as well with the rifle

the only thing i like right now is in the Capricorn map where i get to spam the blind from plague form to cap the point.. no damage taken from sharks

Axe is a viable alternative for a condition build as long as you have a bleed on crit rune although staff is hard to pass up

When I run axe it will typically be scepter/dagger axe/focus.. When initiating combat you start with the axe which gives you about 5 stacks of bleed strait away (life force on crit is nice too), you can also start with a nice dose of retaliation, regeneration and boon removal.

Shukran.4851:

@flappy
- thief hide
- necro put mark of “fear” under himself
-a ???
-a profit
—
-b thief steal
-b thief goes feared
-b necro spam 15 stack of bleeding on him
-b necro DS and fear
-b thief die
—
a good necro can die only if he is distracted by something else.

This pretty much… I also like to chuck a well of darkness under myself.
Retaliation on death shroud is great for the spin to win skills too

Just fyi as well

If your wanting to contact an enemy player while in game right click their portrait and click the report link. It gives you there I.D name and from there it is as easy as typing it into whisper.
it’s not as quick and easy as /say but it is one way to do it

I can confirm the hacking incident as well as I was there in the keep when it went down, they were using this to obviously get into the keep much faster then running around and through the water gate … I’m not sure if that was the reason the servers went down though as Anets methods of catching hackers, botters etc is really quite sub par right now so they probably didn’t even notice.

The reason you took the garrison was because of the server reset but in the end I severely doubt we could of held that point for much longer, what with holes in the inner and outer everywhere and being assaulted by 2 large zergs from each side.

Was some great fighting and I hope we can have some amazing three way action again (sounds dirty lol), although I urge you please watch your fellow blackgate players to ensure unfair methods are not being used as this was not the only hacking incident I’ve witnessed from your players .Others include teleporting, speed hacks and stealth mechanics abuse (more so then the skills account for, variety of skills being used from stealth without breaking it over a considerable length of time). Just watch out a little please and I will do the same on my side.

I always forget to fraps but will be in the future, without names being shown though it is a little harder to catch these people as you have to get to the report function in the middle of combat.

See you on the battlefield

Another things i have been thinking over is to remove the gold sinks at least for those completely outnumbered or maybe drastically behind. if your losing badly you should at least get free gear repairs.. i would also like to have upgrades and such in camps/towers/keeps to be a lot cheaper and maybe even completed faster to at least give people a hand at creating and maintaining a dependable position.

I also think the rewards for completing events ie. capturing defending should be scaled based on the amount of attackers and defenders.. and maybe even present on the map. It is rather silly that a zerg of 30+ can crush a few players defending acamp and then getting full gold rewards for it.

It still won’t be a fair fight.. nothing can really fix being entirely outnumbered but lets at least take a few of the negatives away from the people losing

Title says it all in a way, hacking is quite prevalent in wvw right now and anyone but the blind can see this but there seems no function to actually report or at least to raise your suspicions regarding people playing unfairly.

Add the tab at least