I like how I can always be doing something different and still feel like I’m reaching my goals. I don’t have to farm the same event, dungeon, world boss, or whatever over and over again. I can casually do some map completions and still obtain loot and materials I can use and sell, or if I feel like doing something more “hardcore” I can do a fractal or dungeon run, or if I feel more competitive I can do some WvW and still feel like I’m “working” towards something. I guess in a nutshell, the game offers a decent amound of variety in terms of ways to achieve one’s goals in the game rather than shoe-horning you into one activity. Sure grinding/farming may be more efficient but you’re never really forced into doing so. If you’re like me, you can take it nice and easy and still feel a sense of accomplishment.
GW1 had so many different beautiful skill effects that, yet, were subtle that every battle felt like a work of art. GW2, on the other hand, seems to repeat the same effects over and over again with not as much care and attention to detail and some are way too excessive (hence the common criticism of not being able to see a kitten thing during many fights). This isn’t to say there aren’t some awesome effects here and there, mind you, but sometimes less is more in terms of flashyness.
Hehe I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw it and wondered whether I should point it out or not so thanks for that. But yeah, it definitely seems like the artists are getting extremely lazy with the artwork IMO. I mean, abstract is fine and all but I expect more from the Anet art team.
As if the DE’s pathetic squabbling wasn’t already bad enough, now they’re casually doing it while LA burns to the ground all around them. I went into this quest with one of my alts today expecting that maybe it’d take place pre-invasion, but no. Really can’t believe this was overlooked (or, even worse, simply ignored) but I can’t say I’m suprised anymore.
I mean, get over it already. I couldn’t understand how anyone could support this greedy, self-centred kitten. Kiel may be somewhat inept but I’d rather have her ineptitude over Kiel’s whiny attitude any day.
Note: By the way the third word in the title was meant to be a four-letter acronym implying that he should keep his mouth shut.
Umm well for me I play my alts to spice things up a bit since playing the same profession over and over gets boring. Also I might complete a map on another characters that I’ve done on my main just for kittens and giggles.
Some very nicely designed weapons indeed. Not 100% keen on the heart theme but the attention to detail makes up for it. Whoever designed these and the Ascended weapon set deserves a kudos from me.
Gonna try and keep my cynicism to a minimum here and in order to do that I’ll have to write about what I hope to see rather than what I expect to see.
Hopes:
-New zones to explore that aren’t pointless like SSC has become
-New non-gemstore armor sets that showcase the art team’s potential
-New non-gemstore weapon sets
-New skills, and perhaps even a system akin to the rune system in Diablo 3 where we can fine-tune individual skills (yes this one’s a real longshot but one can hope)
-Heavy duty balancing to current skills
-New goals for WvW rather than zerg this zerg that
-An adjustment to the current DE system to make them more worth players’ time
-Maybe some new permanent dungeons, though I would totally accept further balancing of the current ones in lieu of new ones
When I first heard about the new weapon set I honestly expected some really tacky stuff (ya know, with the whole heart theme and whatnot) but they are actually quite nice and elegant in their design. Shame they’re stuck behind lame RNG chests and will undoubtedly go for an insanely high amount on the TP like the other BLC weapons.
Still wish we could dye weapons though but at least the color combination, IMO, works.
I’m just gonna agree with those who say that incorporating luck into something like this is just lame and it’s not like anyone would be “forced” into crafting a precursor. If they just wanna hope until one drops then that option would still be there. Crafting, – regardless of how much grind there will probably be – is infinitely better than relying on chance.
We just got ascended armor so don’t expect any other armor to be released in about a year. Unless it’s gem store armor of course, but that doesn’t seem really tied to Fractal stuff in any way.
Not sure if this has been suggested but I would like to see some more face paint/makeup options released in the store which we can customize. Particularly some Rococo inspired makeup for my Mesmer I’d jump on that kitten.
Also, and I’m pretty sure this has been mentioned, some new unique casting/skill use animations. I miss the fanciful casting animations that the Mesmer had from GW1 and even some animations akin to the Ritualist would be nice.
I quite dislike zerging and I, personally, think it’s one of the game’s biggest drawbacks. There’s nothing really fun about being a tiny, insignificant player in such events and mix that with lag, FPS issues, an oversaturation of graphical effects, and mindlessspamming of skills and most of the fun is stripped from it. And this also applies to much of WvW which is why I don’t play it as much as I’d like to.
Wealth in this game is kind of meaningless since you really don’t know if it was generated by playing the game legitimately or through other means (such as buying gold with real money). Ultimately, try not to get too concerned over others being far richer than yourself in a video game because in the end it’s going to mean nothing, especially once the game goes offline or you stop playing it. Best advice is to just enjoy the game and play it normally and you will, no doubt, gain gold. Sure you might not get super rich but at least you can say you enjoyed yourself (hopefully :P).
PS. And before anyone gets clever and accuses me of being jealous or what not, know that I gained the most expensive set of armors in GW1 as well as one of the most expensive weapons/gloves, so I kind of know what it’s like to be “rich” in a video game, but my point is that I don’t even play the game anymore so in the end it didn’t really matter that much. What’s important is that it took me forever to get that much gold but I enjoyed it by just playing the game normally and having a good time and concerning oneself with wealth in a video game is just not really worth it.
I feel like ascended armor would have been a great opportunity to revitalize Dynamic Events, perhaps by having them give unique material for it that you can’t get by farming the same events over and over again. It’s a shame because doing DE’s with random people is one of the more fun and interested aspects of the game which continualy get neglected for some strange reason.
I’m personally looking forward to the implementation of Ascended Armor. I don’t really care much for the whole stat increase issue, I just want something new to work towards without having to go for a Legendary Weapon. It may just spark my interest back in the game, I’ll have to wait and see.
I have mixed feelings about new zones. While, obviously, I enjoy new content, there’s also the problem of spreading the player population around too much, or in creating new zones that only drive the abandonment of old zones. It’s not a very attractive use of resources to develop new permanent zones frequently if they’re going to empty each other.
As with most things, it’s a balancing act, but it’s something to keep in mind when you wonder why new content isn’t always permanent, and why old content sometimes gets cycled out.
Teehee! Most of the zones in the game are always desolate anyway so adding more won’t really matter. I think the reason for holding back more zones because they don’t want to divide the player base further is a really poor argument since they don’t even give players a reason to go to many of the zones after leveling anyway.
^ Pretty much this. These boxy mountains aren’t great for immersion but are essential due to the way in which the zones work. I wouldn’t look too deeply into it if I were you.
Double post due to missing edit edit button: I don’t mean to sound snarky or anything this is mostly from experience. Whether you like it or not the use of clones is the primary role of the Mesmer and there’s not much in terms of avoiding them. Learn to love them if you want to use a Mesmer. Personally I prefer shattering my clones but there are some useful phantasm builds you can learn.
I;ve played since the game came out yet I haven’t spent a cent in the store because I don’t really care for “fluff” or armor that can be purchased with no effort in game. However, I may buy a few gems at some point for some conveniece items but I haven’t been playing much lately so still on the fence about that.
It’s gotten to the point where I’d almost be willing to pay a subscription fee for actual meaty content instead of the LS yawnfest especiallys since Anet isn’t even considering expansions at this point. And I’m very much against subscription fees and would only consider it in extreme cases.
I don’t think that’s a Mesmer but instead another class who is suffering from the confusion condition, hence the butterflies and purple aura around his head. Sorry to disappoint.
EDIT: kitten someone beat me to it while I was writing :P
So I’ve done every path in every other dungeon except for Arah (and two paths of CM but that’s just because I don’t really have any interest in it right now) and I would like to give it a try soon. The things is, is that I’m kind of nervous I guess because my newbyness. I’m wondering which path(s) would be the best for a first attempt and what to keep in mind whilst doing them. I’d prefer to not have to look up guides or videos simply for spoiler reasons (unless I ABSOLUTELY have to). I’m thinking I’d stick to one path for a while and get a good feel for things before moving to the others.
It’s just too bad much of the beauty goes to waste as most players just stick to dungeons or very specific zones. I try to soak it all in as much as I can and sometimes just wander the maps for the heck of it.
I use banners when playing with others and then signets for solo play since banners seem kind of wasted when using them just for yourself. I don’t ever play “all” signets since that’s kind of boring.
This is how I’ve spent most of my time in-game since launch. 10 characters (that have survived), 2,417 hours over the past 432 days and there are still entire zones I’ve not even set foot in yet. I want to experience the world and take in all the areas have to offer before feeling the need to move into a new one, not just race through it from one prize/champ to another. 85% of waypoints should not even exist as they only encourage whipping around the world as fast as possible instead of passing through it from one destination to another and actually experiencing the world they spent so many years creating for us.
The plethora of waypoints is definitely a farcry from the first game where none of the zones had WP’s and you had to actually walk from one end of the zone to the other if you needed to for what ever reason. I mean, yes, there were outposts which you could zone to but some zones weren’t connected to any. The excess use of WP’s does kind of make take away a lot of the need to travel on foot (for better or for worse).
“No. Because the loading screens between zones kills it. May was well just TP.”
This is one of the reasons why I dislike the loading screens between zones as it makes each zone feel disconnected from the rest of the world. It’d be neat if you could view parts of Kryta (for example) from a high peak in the Shiverpeaks.
So one thing on my Guild Wars 2 bucket list is to do a world-wide trek starting from one end of the map and walking to the other. Among my favorite aspects of the game is the huge, varied world and all the different landscapes and places to explore but I find that, because of the need to jump from WP to WP for convience purposes and the filtering of players into dungeons and certain zones for the PS, I don’t really get to appreciate the world as much. As well, I feel that making the journey on foot would make the zones – and the world – fell more interconnected. Transitioning from jungle to forest to snow-capped mountains to wartorn plains to waterlogged Orr would make the world feel more “whole.”
So I’m just curious about what other players think about this. Would you ever like to do something similar to this? Have you ever done it? Feel free to discuss other apsects as well about the topic.
My biggest issue with Gem Store armor is that there’s absolutely no satisfaction in obtaining them other than the fact you pulled out your wallet and typed in some information. There’s no sense of adventure or accomplishment or that you reached a new land filled with new, exotic armors unique to it that could be earned by doing certain tasks or collecting items. This is why I’ll never buy Gem Store Armors and I really hope this isn’t how they plan to introduce armors throughout the game’s lifttime.
I understand completely. I know I’m performing blasphemy here by comparing Gw1 and 2 but GW 1 had some of the greatest attention to detail when it came to these problems. 90% of the skills all had their own unique animations and sound effects, every region had its own unique background music (seriously why am I hearing the Kryta theme in Orr? Orr is miserable and depressing and so the music should reflect that). Also, each profession had their unique animations when it came to performing actions and skills. Its the repetitiveness and lack of care and attention to those details in this game that can become boring.
Hey so I think it’d be nice if we could see our characters’ personal fractal levels without having to go to the gate in Lions’ Arch as I’d sometimes like to get into a fractals but I often forget what my current char’s level is so I have to zone all the way to Lion’s Arch and to the gate to confirm. Maybe display it in the hero panel or something.
Also, if there is actually a way and I’m just rambling for nothing please let me know :P
I have only read the original post so far but NO I can’t see through all the clutter! In fact, the excess clutter is one of my biggest pet peeves in this game. It has the effect of making playing melee unviable since it’s near impossible to see what you’re doing when there’s too many effects.
That glossy effect is due to having shaders on high. In some cases it gives texture more detail and gives a more realistic lighting effect. Sometimes, though, the lighting can be somewhat excessive and unrealistic making some armors kind of yucky (eg Many sylvari cultural armors – leaves shouldn’t be that shiny/glossy looking)
I’d make the Mesmer more like its GW 1 counterpart and less of an illusion pet-spammer class. Bring back hexes in a limited fashion (call them “delusions” or something, I don’t care) and make us more of a punisher class dealing with the manipulation of the our enemies’ minds again.
I’m not sure if anyone has noticed this but this functionality doesn’t work when you click the skill with the mouse. If I click on the ground-targeted skill and try to move it somewhere the red circle just gets stuck on my character. Apparently it only works when using the numbered keys. I’ve tested this on two characters and it always happens and kind of ruins this great new feature for me as I prefer using the mouse for my utility skills as the numbered buttons are a little farther for my keyboard hand to reach.
PS. I know the thread title is not really descriptive enough but I couldn’t fit what I wanted without going beyond the 45 char limit.
^Yup. Maybe the OP should take a break from the game and give his fingers a rest. Maybe by that time they’ll have something else for him to rush through.
Best:
- Lost Shores: Though I didn’t actually log in during this update I do like how it added Fractals of the Mists as well as an entire new zone to explore that didnt disappear after the event ended.
- Flame and Frost: A bit slow at first but it was neat how it slowly unravelled bit by bit over a few months. The Molten Alliance Dungeon was actually well-made and fun.
- Ascended Weapons: I know this is a touchy subject for many players but I personally don’t mind the introduction of these as it gives something to work towards and they also look quite nice aesthetically. Just don’t overdo it with new tiers too soon after Ascended Stuff.
- All Quality of Life updates such as the wallet
- Bazaar: A new map to explore (if small and temporary) as well as a few fun achievements and puzzles
Worst:
- Sky Pirates: The update responsible for the introduction of the Aetherblades and, to some extent, Scarlet. I just don’t really care for the faction at all and the AR retreat dungeon was a nightmare to try and complete.
- Tequatl Update: Not much to it really and the increase in difficulty was a little too extreme.
- SAB: For the first time SAB was actually kind of neat and had that nostalgic value but the novelty wore off when its sequel arrived. Also too many issues that I personally experienced within it that stripped it of a lot of the fun.
- Mini Games: Pretty much every mini game thus far has fallen flat in my eyes. The few exceptions are the Lunatic Inquisition and Sanctum Sprint.
- Pavilion Update: Though it had some interesting aspects to it, it heavily encouraged zerg grinding within the Pavilion and the Gauntlet suffered from some cheap combat mechanics.
And it doesn’t just affect the GS#1 but also Scepter #3 as they share the same sound effect. Not sure about other sound effects as these are the only wonky ones I’ve noticed so far.
They should have made an Ascended version specifically for each race – sort of like an Ascended cultural armor- since we know that designing armors with a certain race in mind (in this case it would appear to be humans) just ends up with sets that just don’t look right on others. The armors wouldn’t need to be exclusive for each race. Just that they are designed with the respective race in mind.
I’d love a legendary but every day it seems like a longer goal due to prices rising and stuff like that. I have a bunch of the requirements like map completion but getting a precursor seems like a pipe dream as well as gathering all the materials/gold for the other stuff. Doesn’t mean I’ll never try but I don’t really see a legendary as a realistic goal anytime soon.
(I actually never expected to get Obsidian Armor in the first game due to it essentially being this game’s version of Legendary weapons but I eventually did, which is why I think a Legendary weapons could happen eventually).
I did this path tonight and never again will I touch it with a ten-foot pole. Even with a party member who knew what they were doing it still took the group around 3 hours to complete it so as far as I’m concerned this path will remain, for me, as one of those things you experience once and never touch again. Not that I’m bothered as I mostly only did it for the story aspect anyway.
As for difficulty. I honestly think ANet overestimates the skill level of the average player. The bosses/puzzles take a huge amount of coordination and skill to pull off effectively and you frequently get players who just quit because of it. I’m not sure if they’re just elitist or are frustrated with the skill level required as it’s hard to tell when they just up and leave without saying anything.
In the end did I like the path? Not as much as I hoped. The story aspect was fine but there needs to be some middle ground in regards to difficulty as it has become quite clear that there’s no way these sorts of dungeons are going to appeal to everyone. New content is only going to appeal to those who like hugely challenging content or simpler, more casual stuff and this dungeon is definintely for the former. Anyways I’m done ranting for now. It’s late and after doing this new path I need a sleep…zzz…
Edit from my last post (since for some reason the forum isn’t giving me the option to do so).
I can confirm that the sound effect for Confusing Images (Scepter #3) is also screwed up. Not suprising since, as I mentioned previously, they shared the same sound effect.
I’d jump on that kitten.