Guild Wars 2

If it is then that’s kind of a neat tease. There are a lot of areas off shore that should be visible throughout the game but because of how it works it just usually looks like endless ocean (like, seriously, from Southsun Cove we should be able to see land all around us not a vast ocean). Anyway, I may have to check it out for myself.

I still play but the time I do spend playing is mostly on the non LS stuff because LS stuff stuff tends to be a bit shallow. I’m not really fond of this episodic content. The PS has essentially fallen to the wayside in favor of stories that aren’t really interrelated. I haven’t spent a dime on the game since purchasing it because there’s nothing worth spending on. All that’s buyable is silly stuff I’m not interested in. What I’d spend money on is real meaty content, not ugly armor skins or lottery boxes for a chance to win a weapon.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, the LS doesn’t really influence my playtime that much as I’m mostly just screwing around leveling different characters and occasionaly doing dungeons/fractals. When a new LS chapter starts I usually check it out but I don’t really focus on it that much afterwards.

This is the unfortunate consequence of having many explorable zones and servers. It spreads the population far too thin. I have the same experiences while leveling new characters and it gets to the point where seeing other players is like finding other survivors after an apocalypse.

This is something I would expect from an Elite, permanent dungeon in terms of difficulty. Subjecting many average players in order to experience the full story arc was just bad design.

I feel the exact same way. Might not even bother with the rest of the event.

Edit: Did it with Guildies and after two + hours and over a dozen wipes I finally beat it. All guildies were new to it too and they weren’t impressed. Though I can’t say I’m suprised.

Stooperdale.3560:

“There needs to be content that appeals to both casuals and hardcores. How hard is that to understand!”

You seem to want all content to appeal to casuals whether or not it appeals to hardcores, but that’s not going to work. This dungeon isn’t hardcore by the way. I’d define hardcore as something for people who put intensive time/effort/organization into the game. This dungeon isn’t restricted to hardcore. A good player with limited time can complete this dungeon.

1. Why is it not possible to have all content appeal to casuals and hardcore players? Is it just that you don’t want it to so that a big group of players are purposely excluded or is there some other reason you’re not sharing? Difficulty levels have been present in games since the beginning for a reason. All content is bascially the same but there’s a different level of difficulty which appeals to everyone. Why can’t it work GW2?
2. A good player can only complete this dungeon if the rest of the players in the party are “good” as well. You’re only as strong as your weakest link and unfortunately there are many who just can’t muster the skills to handle the very though aspcts of AR.

I have no qualms with this or future dungeons being difficult but I would very much prefer there to be two modes for every dungeon. I personally could care less about the reward in the Aetherblade Retreat and I really just want to complete it for story’s sake, yet it’s so incredibly frustrating trying to find a group who has the skills to beat it. It frustrates me to no end that I won’t be able to witness how this story arc ends because I cannot finish the dungeon due to difficulty and lack of time.

There needs to be content that appeals to both casuals and hardcores. How hard is that to understand! Give those who like really difficult content a higher difficulty level so they have theirs and us more casual players lighter content that we can experience for fun and for the story.

Edit: I just wanted to add that this “alarming trend” of which you speak is something I have noticed as well. Am I to expect that all future story dungeons are going to have such a steep learning curve? If so, I would rather just drop the frustration and spend my time elsewhere, which is a thought that makes me not so happy because of my investment (timewise) in the series.

In a way I find this information a little odd because I don’t have any plans in the near future to spend money on the Gem Store. Currently the only investment I’ve made is the initial 60$ for the game and the only other money I would spend is on expansions, so does that mean I may never have to pay anything ever again? If so, then that’s cool with me and I’ll leave it to others to pay for my new content. Not like there’s been (or probably ever will be) in the Gem Store that has remotely pushed me to spend any more money.

Fine dungeon, horrible boss mechanics. What a disappointment.

OP and some of you took the words right out of my mouth. The dungeon was just fine until Mai’s fight. Seems like ANet is going to continue down the path of stupid and poorly thought out boss mechanics from here on out as they haven’t learned from the other dungeons. Shame too because now I won’t be able to see how this story arc ends (I play largely for story – well at least the Living Story). Story Mode dungeon bosses should not be this difficult/tedious. And before anyone comments on my abilities, I was one of two in the group who managed to never die on any of the cannon rounds (we attempted it four times) yet I can’t exactly blame the other three since the long duration makes it become difficult to keep focus and dodge properly.

Anyway I’m ranting so TL;DR: This dungeon boss speaks to Anet’s lack of capability to create fun and engaging boss fights.

I agree with everyone who is disappointed with gem shop armors. I would like to be able to earn them in game somehow (yes I know you could just convert gold to gems but the conversion rate has gotten a little too high if you ask me). Also, and this is my biggest issue with the new armors, they are kind of ugly.

OP I share similar feelings. I don’t hate GW2 and I think it’s a pretty good game but a lot of what I loved about the first game was more or less abandoned for the sake of making GW2 appeal to a wider audience and gaining the “true MMO” title. The skill system was, IMO, leagues better and unlike anything I had ever experienced. Each profession was so unique and different from one another, unlike the more homogenized feel the GW 2 professions have. For example I enjoy my new Mesmer but nothing beat playing with crippling hexes and mindkittening your enemy with flashy spells.

I’m learning to try and except GW2 for what it is but I fear that it’s going to have limited staying power for me which is a little sad since I played #1 for five years.

Why do you ask? Because many Group DE’s have pretty much become an impossible obstacle as there are so many that go undone simply because no one is around to do them. It’s sad too because many group DE’s can be quite epic but without other players around I just end up thinking to myself “kitten , might as well walk the other way” whenever I come across one or one happens to materialize around me.

And before anyone asks, yes I have tried relaying group DE’s to other players via map chat but I very seldom ever get any interest.

I feel the same way. The battle with Canach seemed to imply that there was going to be more to the story but nothing really happened. I’m feeling like this event was just poorly thought out filler in order to keep up with the promise of monthly content updates.

Not “feeling” these armors at all. Did they fire all their armor designers from the first game or what?

Also my fear has finally happened: new armor being released on the gem store. Since we may not be getting an EP in a while according to recent reports any hope for armors availabe to access by playing the game is shot for now. I just dont want to spend money for weapons/armors unless they’re attached to “gameplay” content if that makes any sense (like the BMP from GW1).

Anyway I feel like I’m being a bit of a Negative Nancy so I’ll just say good luck to those who pursue these when they arrive

Zenith.7301:

Justin.7163:

So I’m guessing we shall expect threads like these to pop up every month now since it is quite obvious that Anet has found a clever, if somewhat morally wrong, way to sap suckers out of there money with this ticket system.

Are you stupid? I’m asking because it’s quite clear my thread is about regular dragon coffers, not the ones bought on the gem store.

Way to get so offended and resorting to insults. What are you, 12? Besides, I posted this response in another thread that was merged into this one. So I believe the title of “stupid” belongs to you.

So I’m guessing we shall expect threads like these to pop up every month now since it is quite obvious that Anet has found a clever, if somewhat morally wrong, way to sap suckers out of there money with this ticket system.

Not sure why the function wasn’t carried over from GW1. I just assume the devs got lazy and didn’t want to bother trying to implement it. Still, I maintain the hope that the ability to dye weapons will come at some point.

They actually look really nice. Unfortunately they don’t suit any of my characters themeatically so I have no reason to pursue them. Also paying for weapons in a video game goes against my principles so that cements my decision (unless they’re part of extra buyable content like the BMP from GW1). Good luck to those who seek them though as they are, again, quite pretty.

I agree. These events need more cinematics and the like in order to better present the story to us instead of hoping that we happent to stumble upon the information as we randomly jaunt about.

Oh How I miss Fort Aspenwood. Anet should get on it and reintroduce similar formats like it in GW2 so I can have another PVP addiction. Good times, good times!

I could not imagine doing any of the missions without that guide. It can already be difficult enough tracking down the bounties even when knowing their patrol path and, like as has been mentioned, the guild trek hints are way too obscure for the average player and I imagine even seasoned ones.

I would love to do some surveys and give my feeling of certain aspects of the game! I think it would be a great way to gain some input from the playerbase. Maybe even entice players with a small reward, like a few gems or something.

My awesome Sylvari Necromancer. Currently she’s wearing T2 Sylvari armor, and though it looks nice, I am slowly saving up for T3.

Anyway I think she looks perfect for a necromancer and I love how she turned out.

There’s a sucker born every minute and Anet knows this. I’m not one to agree that what they are doing with these boxes is reasonable but you can’t put ALL the blame on them since, as has already been said, there are players with obsessive tendencies who spend hundreds of dollars for the chance to get an exclusive item in a video game. Frankly, the weapons aren’t THAT great that I would spend any money for them (or any store weapon for that matter).

Add me to this list. It’s not just the new content that is problematic but now even in places like Fractals my FPS is getting pretty low. Just seems like it keeps getting worse and is really hindering my enjoyment of the game.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the new content. I don’t feel exactly the same way and haven’t really bothered playing since the day the update was released, mostly because there’s too much lag and frame rate issues for me and the enemies are a little too difficult. I will probably still check in from time to time and play for an hour or so over the event and maybe find some enjoyment in it.

Before I was one of those people who would buy an Expanision in a heartbeat but I’m starting to second guess myself. There still remain plenty of issues with the base game that seem to consitently go unnoticed in favor of content that feels kind of shallow. Sure I would love to explore new lands but first they need to do more bug fixing, balancing, and optimization for the game before I would consider it.

That and the game doens’t really have the “magic” that GW1 had that made me fall in love with it and play over 2000 hours over five years or so. I’m not sure if GW2 has that same retaining power for me even with expansions. Guess it’s a wait and see thing for me.

I have the same issues. I shoudl be able to run the game fine but even at lower graphical settings I still get low frame rates and a lot of stuttering. Especially when there’s a lot of skills and action going on (which is a lot of the time and don’t even ask my about big events like dragons as it’s basically a slideshow and sucks any fun out of those events) and it’s gotten to the point where I’m starting to lose hope and wonder if I should bother. The last “optimization” in the recent update did squat to help anything and might have made it worse and it’s been like nine months since the game has come out and it still runs like crap.

Zanshin.5379:

If you have a 0.1% chance to loot an exo, a 200% boost still only makes a 0.2% chance.

And I thought I was bad at math. If the boost is +100% (.1 × 2 since adding a hundred percent value to something doubles it) then it would be .2% and a 200% boost would result in a .3% boost if the base value were .1%. Though it still is small I just wanted to point out some of the flawed logic in some posts here.

Didn’t you know? You’re expected to thoroughly read the entire online wiki before playing the game or else you’ll miss out on a ton of important information because the developers couldn’t be kitten to put it in the game. This is a fact.

People can make threats all they want about leaving the game due to this stuff but the fact of the matter is is that there are scores of players who actually spend hundreds of dollars for that small chance of getting a unique weapon (like the example a few posts above) and because of this it will continue to happen. In the mean time I will just sit and laugh at those who throw all this money at a game for these weapons.

Ruruuiye.8912:

Just burn down the spiders with AOE. Their numbers are finite.

Someone should fix the wiki if this be true.

It’s pretty awful. There’s nothing clever about overwhelming players with a ludicrous amount of dredge, all of whom are immune to blind. It has some okay tactical bits like the first room with the switch and the final boss but other than that it’s terrible regardless of the “loot.”

Hehe I embrace the pink and flashy stuff of the Mesmer. I even have Nightmare Armor dyed various hues of purple and I get a lot of comments on it for my Mesmer looking flamboyant and even a little feminine (he’s male by the way). I think it suits the Mesmer. Save the toughguy stuff for Warriors or perhaps thieves.

I once used it and it teleported me into a pool of lava. Yeah real helpful.

I honestly hope they don’t wait too long to release an expansion pack as this living story stuff isn’t really meaty enough in the long term. I’m aching to explore new land masses and see new armors and stuff and only EP’s bring things like those.

Yeah this boss is pretty dumb and is one of the reasons why I try to avoid F/U path at all costs. Basically the fight consists of standing as far away from the Nightmare Tree as possible and spamming skill 1 auto-attack with long ranged weapons. It’s boring and stupid. Try using other skills and you’ll either wipe your party or risk getting berated/kicked.

Underwater combat is quite the mixed bag. On one hand it offers a change from the land-based combat that exists in the majority of the game and it can be fun to explore underwater areas, but on the other hand underwater mode can be difficult and clunky when it comes to combat (at least for me) and many skills are taken away. I know I read somewhere that Guild Wars 2’s development time was extended mostly due to them having to perfect underwater combat and exploration but still it not flawless. I don’t see them scrapping underwater combat entirely but there surely needs to be some improvements made to it to make it more enticing to players since most people I play with don’t really like it that much. I’m partial to it.

Like others have said, Legendary weapons were most likely meant to take many months for 90% of the player population to achieve but there’s always going to be that 10% who get these things within a short period of time for different reasons: They play for an unhealthy amount of time, they farm high value areas endlessly to make the required gold, they discovered exploits and take advantage of them, or they’re just really lucky when it comes to drops. These are just some possible examples that I can think of. Most people, like myself, may never get a Legendary or it may take a long time because we are more casual people who aren’t into farming or stuff like that, and that’s okay.

I think in some ways these “super-dedicated hardcore players” affect the mindset of other players because of how they achieved their items and therefore others feel like they are falling behind or that getting Legendary stuff is easier than it actually is. Don’t feel like you must follow the path of these players and get your Legendary or other fancy items right away because ultimately you will probably just set yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

The dungeon was okay, but it wasn’t anything to phone home about. After the first half-hour I kept wondering when the dungeon was going to end. It started off strongly with the weapons testing room but then it just became repetitive fighting the same enemies over and over again.

Like most dungeons it wasn’t really rewarding especially for the time put in. I was hoping that Anet would learn from other dungeon bosses but again the final duo were damage sponges. Together they took probably 15 minutes to beat so unless you’re specced for full damage it drags on. I did like the overall tactics of the bosses and the dodge requirements and the positioning, but they need their health bars reduced.

Overall I’d give the dungeon a “fair” rating. It wasn’t as great as some people make it out to be but it wasn’t the worst piece of crap either.

Not sure if this thread is gonna go anywhere, but I wouldn’t mind if the team all just took a month or two fully devoted to bug fixing/balancing and took a break on the content stuff. Don’t see that happening though.

So you saw the word “raid” in the description “prepare for an underground raid against the molten alliance” and automatically assume it’s a “raid” in the traditional MMO sense? Prepare to be disappointed.

I like armor that tends to be flambuoyant, well at least for light/caster armors. Hence why I was immediately attracted to Nightmare armor and outfitted my Mesmer with it. Don’t really pay much attention to medium armor so I can’t really say too much about that.

In terms of Heavy armor I like designs that aren’t simplistic and boring, you know like typical Medieval armor designs that make you look like a tin can. The more detaile and exotic/fantasy looking it is, the better.

I also like a nice balance of revealing and non-revealing stuff, mostly if the revealing stuff is tasteful though and not trashy (male and female-wise). It seems that a lot of the female armor counterparts have random bits and pieces missing for the sake of showing skin, which is kind of silly. I agree with the people who say that, if it’s reavealing for one gender then it should be for the other and vice versa. The best example that comes to mind ATM is T3 Heavy norn armor where the male is covered head to toe yet the female is wearing a thong with bits of metal covering her body. It reeks of sexism (I actually like the look of T3 Heavy female norn armor but I’m just making an example of it).

Considering how a lot of people reacted to the introduction of Ascended gear I’m not suprised Anet has not said much and has been slow to introduce more.

I’m just going to say that Fort Aspenwood was by far my favorite PVP format in Guild Wars 1. For those who are not aware, the concept of it was that it was a 8v8 format where 8 players supported the Luxon side and 8 supported the Kurzick side. The goal of the Kurzicks was to protect the fort against Luxon invaders while repairing gates by running amber from mines and speeding up the building of a weapon that would wipe out the Luxon side. Meanwhile, the Luxons’ role was to invade the fort with the help of siege turtles and wipe out the Kurzick architect, Gunther, who oversaw the development of the weapon. (If you want a more in depth look on the format I encourage you to check out the wiki).

What I loved so much about FA was the combination of PVE and PVP aspects. It wasn’t just about capturing a spot and earning points or simply wiping out the other team before they could you. As well, it was small scale in that there were in total eighteen players with NPC’s to help you out to guard the fort and attack it. Not only that, but it was incredibly casual-friendly where you could play an array of different roles and experiement with different builds without being confined to the “meta.” Now, I know asepcts of FA were placed into WvW with the idea of defending forts and capturing important areas but the whole thing feels a little – to use the term – “zergy” and can be overwhelming due to its scope and not to mention laggy if you don’t have a super computer. My point is is that, currently, the only options a player has for PV kitten PVP (which is extremely competitive and not casual-friendly) and WvW, which is fine and all but has its issues.

What I’m trying to get as is that I very much hope in the future that we get PVP formats like Fort Aspenwood that are smaller scale, casual-friendly, yet still rewarding in some way. Thoughts?

Edit: I’m not really sure why the word “kitten” showed up where it did as I was referring to the PVP format called structured PVP

Red SuperGiant.8653:

How about this. Make all the story mode dungeons completely soloable. Another words scale the story dungeon difficulty with the amount of players in the party rather than 5 automatically. This would solve a few problems -

• people will have no excuse not to do story
• you can watch the story cutscenes without annoying other players.
  *Make the story dungeons like the actual personal story.

Just keep the story loot the way it is now (garbage). Now this may cause some other problems like particular story mechanics that need all 5 people but I’m sure there’s a workaround for that

They should have done this in the first place. I doubt they’re ever going to come up with a balanced motivator for players to repeat story mode dungeons. In lieu of other players Anet could simply give the player more allies and buff the Destiny Edge members who accompany you. There, easily solved!

I don’t recall there being unique armor sets for special events in GW1. The only time new armor was introduced was when a paid campaign was released, unless you consider Obsidian armor which was unique to the Fissure of Woe and was, I believe, introduced shortly after Prophecies was released.

The thing about skipping is that sometimes it can be more exhilerating and fun than actually fighting the mob you’re skipping. I know this is the case in Twilight Arbor and in some ways Honor of the Waves. Other dungeons I haven’t really tried but I imaging it can be similiar.

Leo Paul.1659:

I want the fan focus and whips too..

I would love to have a main-hand or off-hand fan like that one Memser concept art! That would be wicked.