Guild Wars 2

mulch.2586:

Kerithlan.1659:

mulch.2586:

Kerithlan.1659:

I suppose I’m a casual player, although I am able to commit upwards of 6 hours of play some days. I don’t get swept up in the constant call to arms for dungeons or pvp — there’s more to the game than that and kitten it I’m going to find it.

Oy, that’s not casual at all — you could do the entire month’s worth of dungeons in one play session, plus a couple fractals.

I think it’s fine if you don’t want to wvw and/or dungeon. Myself, I don’t anticipate getting many of the jumping puzzle achievements. But neither do I feel entitled to get credit for them if I don’t do them.

Note that I did say some days, not all the time. Note that I did not say (or even imply) that I am entitled to rewards I don’t obtain. Quite the opposite, if I recall.

Not to be cranky and contrary (I seem to be stuck in a rut right now, sorry).

On the days that I can commit that much time it goes mostly to exploring with guild mates. We make a conscious effort to move on from something if we can’t get it at least going within 20 minutes. For things like mini dungeons and jumping puzzles that sometimes means 2-3 hours getting it done, or it means an hour of putzing around and ultimately achieving nothing beyond a social meetup. We’re not super committed to anything beyond the social.

Right, I got that. I thought I was agreeing with you about not feeling entitled.

IME w/ GW2 (and most other games) — go out and have fun, usually you get rewarded for it. Whereas if you go out and try to get rewarded, you don’t always have fun.

My apologies then.

Pradton.8576:

Why do you feel the need to classify yourself as a casual?

If you are a casual (since you already labeled yourself as one), does missing the monthly reward really affect you? I don’t think it should.

As I explained in my post, it doesn’t affect me. So at least for me it’s not a concern.

mulch.2586:

Kerithlan.1659:

I suppose I’m a casual player, although I am able to commit upwards of 6 hours of play some days. I don’t get swept up in the constant call to arms for dungeons or pvp — there’s more to the game than that and kitten it I’m going to find it.

Oy, that’s not casual at all — you could do the entire month’s worth of dungeons in one play session, plus a couple fractals.

I think it’s fine if you don’t want to wvw and/or dungeon. Myself, I don’t anticipate getting many of the jumping puzzle achievements. But neither do I feel entitled to get credit for them if I don’t do them.

Note that I did say some days, not all the time. Note that I did not say (or even imply) that I am entitled to rewards I don’t obtain. Quite the opposite, if I recall.

Not to be cranky and contrary (I seem to be stuck in a rut right now, sorry).

On the days that I can commit that much time it goes mostly to exploring with guild mates. We make a conscious effort to move on from something if we can’t get it at least going within 20 minutes. For things like mini dungeons and jumping puzzles that sometimes means 2-3 hours getting it done, or it means an hour of putzing around and ultimately achieving nothing beyond a social meetup. We’re not super committed to anything beyond the social.

Chris.7653:

Kerithlan.1659:

Chris.7653:

Kerithlan.1659:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I refer people. They opt not to play because:
- One is/was playing League and was trying to get his ELO over into Silver bracket.
- One plays WoW and has a job as an artist for commission. They do not have the time.
- Another holds a grudge over some game about comic book heroes . . . I dunno, never heard of it.
- Fourth person I could refer who I talk to regularly prefers playing Minecraft.
- Finally, the last person I would refer from the people I know currently, has a pretty bad reaction time and thus would find the game far more frustrating.

Specifically though, would you refer them based off of your experiences with the Lost Shores event this weekend? That’s what the survey was asking. My answer to that question is no.

No offense but he answered your question and you kept digging for a “No” which shows you are only out for one thing…

Yes they screwed up pretty bad in some areas, but it wasn’t all bad…you don’t condemn a product because of a few flub ups, that is just immature.

If everything was going amazing, and everyone was happy I bet posts like these wouldn’t exist….long story short if you don’t like it and wouldn’t refer friends to it, then I suggest just taking a break and keeping up on the patch notes until you feel it is a good time to come back and check it out.

I personally think with it being a non subscription based game that myself and a lot of people have gotten more than $60 of content + more content pushes than a lot of MMOs in their first months.

No offense but no, he didn’t answer my question. I wasn’t asking a question. ArenaNet was. I was posting a reply to their question, in response to their survey, as requested by their survey.

The response he originally gave to the topic did not answer ArenaNet’s question, as copy/pasted directly to the first line of the opening post. I pointed that out, and so he replied accordingly. I don’t care what his response was, I care that he replied with a contextually-appropriate response to a survey question.

You fished out a situation that wasn’t there just to bash people for disagreeing with you. That shows you’re only out for one thing…

You also did not read the topic as a sizable portion of the response has been along the lines of, “No, I would not refer people based off of this weekend because it was executed poorly. However, I would refer people based off of the game’s other merits.”

Nice try.

It’s finny when someone makes a negative post and someone disagrees with them automatically they are the bad guy…

Listen man like I said before…if you aren’t having fun there really isn’t a point in playing since the point of a game is to have fun.

If you aren’t why not take a break instead of getting so worked up on the forums? Then come back once everything is flushed out a little?

This kind of thread is rather silly since it’s based on a survey everyone got so this isn’t giving them more feedback. There are about 1110000000 other posts explaining why the lost shores failed, we didn’t need one based off the survey people already got.

You obviously have no idea what I even wrote in the opening post, or that there was a survey that went out, or what its context was (edit: or that it specifically asked people to post additional feedback on the forum). You are posting as though you have only read the title of the topic and saw the word “no” stuck in a short post after skipping my survey response. You subsequently have formulated a stance for me in your mind that I don’t have, but as you have no idea what my stance actually is there’s no point in arguing with you.

I’m just going to pretend that instead of posting whatever this hot mess of incorrect you’ve slathered up and slung my way you actually posted a very well-written and sincere apology for your unwarranted passive-aggressive stance toward me (which has oddly become motherly now) and accept it graciously. Then I’m going to move on.

Hint: I am in fact having fun. Tons of it, in fact. I’m not jaded or disillusioned with the game. You would understand that if you weren’t so quick to tl;dr things. Stop posting things at me now, thanks.

I suppose I’m a casual player, although I am able to commit upwards of 6 hours of play some days. I don’t get swept up in the constant call to arms for dungeons or pvp — there’s more to the game than that and kitten it I’m going to find it.

My problem with the current monthly is partly disinterest and partly game mechanics.

For some reason I don’t get tagged for killing people in WvW even though I directly contribute to sieges and skirmishes. I’ve watched myself land the killing blow on a target and still not get a monthly progress point, and as a result I’m struggling along at 15 for the month so far.

Unfortunately I don’t care enough about the rewards (as I’m not using the Mystic Forge or building a legendary) to do anything about it, and if I do need karma I make enough from the dailies. It’s this same apathy and disinterest that has prevented me from going into Fractals (and I honestly doubt that I will do so this month).

All in all, it’s been a pretty meh month for this casual.

Chris.7653:

Kerithlan.1659:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I refer people. They opt not to play because:
- One is/was playing League and was trying to get his ELO over into Silver bracket.
- One plays WoW and has a job as an artist for commission. They do not have the time.
- Another holds a grudge over some game about comic book heroes . . . I dunno, never heard of it.
- Fourth person I could refer who I talk to regularly prefers playing Minecraft.
- Finally, the last person I would refer from the people I know currently, has a pretty bad reaction time and thus would find the game far more frustrating.

Specifically though, would you refer them based off of your experiences with the Lost Shores event this weekend? That’s what the survey was asking. My answer to that question is no.

No offense but he answered your question and you kept digging for a “No” which shows you are only out for one thing…

Yes they screwed up pretty bad in some areas, but it wasn’t all bad…you don’t condemn a product because of a few flub ups, that is just immature.

If everything was going amazing, and everyone was happy I bet posts like these wouldn’t exist….long story short if you don’t like it and wouldn’t refer friends to it, then I suggest just taking a break and keeping up on the patch notes until you feel it is a good time to come back and check it out.

I personally think with it being a non subscription based game that myself and a lot of people have gotten more than $60 of content + more content pushes than a lot of MMOs in their first months.

No offense but no, he didn’t answer my question. I wasn’t asking a question. ArenaNet was. I was posting a reply to their question, in response to their survey, as requested by their survey.

The response he originally gave to the topic did not answer ArenaNet’s question, as copy/pasted directly to the first line of the opening post. I pointed that out, and so he replied accordingly. I don’t care what his response was, I care that he replied with a contextually-appropriate response to a survey question.

You fished out a situation that wasn’t there just to bash people for disagreeing with you. That shows you’re only out for one thing…

You also did not read the topic as a sizable portion of the response has been along the lines of, “No, I would not refer people based off of this weekend because it was executed poorly. However, I would refer people based off of the game’s other merits.”

Nice try.

Where was the option for:

- I dabble with WvW and sPvP, but hold no attachment or sentiment toward either.
- I enjoy PvE content, but find dungeons become monotonous over time.
- I find the most joy in roleplaying, character customization, and world exploration.

It wasn’t there, because unfortunately I’m not a majority.

Edit:
To make it painfully clear: I don’t rely on killing things to feel accomplished in games. Shocker, right?

It could just be that someone has a good sense of humor in the development studio. It could be satirical. Or it could be coincidental. Or it could be the result of many hours of work trying to design a theme for the Consortium.

Under New Management could be nothing more than a playful jab/corporate pun, as the Consortium are the twisted men in suits taking over the karka’s home. Everything else can be just as easily shrugged off as fitting the theme of a borderline-criminal corporation.

Vakirauta.6397:

Never used, never will

Pretty much exactly this. I’ll only ever use it if I get around to making a legendary weapon. That seems unlikely at this point.

Natural.7013:

That 11000 post thread with the same GW1 fanboys posting the same circular rage reply is not indicative of any majority. All the rage over dungeons that are kitten fun and gear that is easily attainable Welcome to MMOs and not your GW1 lobby game.

“I’m going to shuffle aside community outcry as nonevent, stroke my kitten, hop on the elitism bandwagon and then make a baseless statement to try to belittle the game that made this one possible. Arrogantly.”

Did I summarize your post adequately, or did I miss something?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I refer people. They opt not to play because:
- One is/was playing League and was trying to get his ELO over into Silver bracket.
- One plays WoW and has a job as an artist for commission. They do not have the time.
- Another holds a grudge over some game about comic book heroes . . . I dunno, never heard of it.
- Fourth person I could refer who I talk to regularly prefers playing Minecraft.
- Finally, the last person I would refer from the people I know currently, has a pretty bad reaction time and thus would find the game far more frustrating.

Specifically though, would you refer them based off of your experiences with the Lost Shores event this weekend? That’s what the survey was asking. My answer to that question is no.

Would you refer a friend to play Guild Wars 2 in the future based on this weekend event?

To keep it short: no. I liked the overall story but the event was horribly executed. The story’s only hiccup is the disconnect between these two thoughts:
1. “We, the Consortium, just violated the natural habitat of the karka and caused them to ransack Lion’s Arch.”
2. “We, the Lionguard, want you to go massacre the karka into near-extinction because you are heroes, and the karka are definitely in the wrong here.”

Anyway, an extension.

No, I would not refer a friend to play Guild Wars 2 based off of this weekend’s event. However, I would refer friends to play Guild Wars 2 based off of existing game content, and have done exactly that in the past.

I’m one of those players who finds immense enjoyment in discovering secrets and finding adventures within games’ worlds. I try very hard to avoid looking up the answers to puzzles and try to find and experience everything on my own. The members of my guild aren’t necessarily of the same opinion and do often look answers up while playing. However they have conceded that it is vastly more enjoyable when a group of us sit down as friends to tackle a problem and find a solution.

For example, I just happened to stumble across the Hidden Garden jumping puzzle by pure coincidence while adventuring. My guild had never heard of it before and hadn’t been there yet, and so they dropped everything they were doing to join me and find out what it was I had discovered. We then spent the next four hours exploring the area and helping everyone get through it. Just like that, drop of a hat.

It may seem like a simple or mundane thing to do solo or if you’ve looked up the answers, but when we sat down to view it fresh each minor discovery made was a huge accomplishment. We went from, “What in hell is this place?” to “This was one of the most enjoyable experiences we’ve had as a guild thus far.” I am very certain that this is what any developer would describe as working as intended, and I mean it sincerely when I say that I want whoever designed this puzzle to be beaming with pride if they happen across this post.

This is the sort of stuff that games are meant to be about. Games are supposed to bring friends together and allow them to build memories and stories together. In a way, we are all a little bit norn. We want to boast about how we were there that one time when Jim fell through the floor into that ancient temple, or reminisce about the time Susan found that magical artifact in the jungle. We want our enjoyment and our joy to be shared by others, and we want to encourage them to share those experiences first-hand in the future.

Guild Wars 2 is rich with this type of content and potential. Grabbing a friend and stumbling into an adventure is as old as old school gaming gets. You don’t need to rely on gimmicks or artificially create those moments for us. You just need to provide us with the ability to create those moments for ourselves. The formula is already there, and it’s already in motion. Players are already enjoying the fruits of your world designers’ labors. You just need to embrace it a little bit more wholly and allow it to truly flourish in such a way as to connect with each variety of player.

A one-time-only event in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. I’ll only ever discover the Hidden Garden for the first time once, for example. However, I’ll always carry that memory with me and my guild will always remember it as one of the finest times we’ve had as people and as friends while playing this game. This kind of one-time-only event experience might be unique to us, or it might not, but ultimately it’s an experience that neither isolates us from other players nor interferes with how they wish to experience the game.

The Lost Shores event attempted to force this sort of thing on the players. Forcing it doesn’t work. If it’s not organic, don’t do it. Personally? I find Southsun Cove to be a boring map. It’s frustrating to travel alone in while simultaneously trying to discover its secrets… which I suppose is acceptable, seeing as it had very few secrets to share in the first place. Unlike the Hidden Garden jumping puzzle, I am sorry to say that whoever designed Southsun Cove should feel as though they could have done a better job.

My advice is to take a step back and embrace what you already have going for you in the future. Everything we do as players is a one-time-only event. You don’t need to create them for us — you just need to provide us with the opportunities we need to set out and make them on our own.

So to recap: No, I would not refer a friend to play Guild Wars 2 in the future based on this weekend’s event. I would refer a friend to play Guild Wars 2 based off of the pure joy I’ve had exploring your vast world. I just wish that respawn rates weren’t so absurd in higher level zones so that I’d have a better chance to actually explore them.

Aleaf.8174:

Kerithlan.1659:

PopeUrban.2578:

People never felt they had a need for legendaries to do the current content despite the statistical advantage, but suddenly, people feel they have a need to acquire ascended gear for purposes other than the only place were you actually do need the gear.

Forgive me if I’m being ignorant or bothersome, but which statistical advantage are you speaking of, dear friend?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nightmare_Longbow
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kudzu

I might not be the most well-informed player, but I am relatively certain that these items are statistically identical.

Prior to anyone actually making an legendary and what we drew from Beta, Legendaries were under the idea they had a minor stat increase in their stats (similar to what ascendant gear has to exotics atm).

I was in the Beta and was never under any such impressions. I understood ArenaNet’s attitude toward gear from my years of experience with Guild Wars 1. Could you either elaborate as to who “we” were, or link to an article by a developer describing legendary items prior to their emergence in-game stating that they would have better stats?

Just a friendly head’s up, they sent out an opinion survey email. You might have slightly more voice if you check that out.

The skill point used to be down by the docks but was moved for the weekend event. They needed the dock space for the karka swarms. My guess is either they decided that the new place is better or they forgot about it. In other words, it’s likely more innocent than you’re lending weight.

PopeUrban.2578:

People never felt they had a need for legendaries to do the current content despite the statistical advantage, but suddenly, people feel they have a need to acquire ascended gear for purposes other than the only place were you actually do need the gear.

Forgive me if I’m being ignorant or bothersome, but which statistical advantage are you speaking of, dear friend?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nightmare_Longbow
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kudzu

I might not be the most well-informed player, but I am relatively certain that these items are statistically identical.

carson yuen.6739:

Gibbel.5734:

Think that after the rage thread they gonna make ascend gear easier to get just like excotics

“Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time, and be made available through all sorts of content around the world including existing content. "

Also think this is the NEW MAX gear cap ever.. atleast i hope so…. you would think after al the rage they learned there lesson.. I am guesing this is the only way to try and salavage it without making the Hamsters rage.

that wouldn’t help… the core problem isn’t that ascend gears is hard to get… it is that the ascends gears would make people’s effort on collecting their exotic set useless… They would have to abandon the things they work so hard for 3 months because the gears is mandatory in Fotm level 10 +

Believe me or not, A LOT of people came to gw2 because they don’t need to feel that their efforts in collecting the highest tier would be wasted when a new patch comes…and this is exactly what this patch did.

unless Infusion slot would be add to the current exotic gears, and that ascends gears would have hte same stat as extoics…. people will continue to complain and quit…

hell… if i want to abandon my gears every couple months in an mmo… I would do it in wow.

They could have avoided this problem entirely if instead of making ascended armor the way they did, they just made it an item upgrade system.

I don’t think anyone would be upset if the concept of ascended gear was: take exotic gear -> spend some effort to put an infusion slot on it -> infuse your existing armor.

“OH NOES but how will we handle having both infusions and runes/sigils/gems/etc on the same item?” Why, concerned internet user, who cares! Just clearly mark the item to say “unused infusion slot” and “unused upgrade slot” and people will figure it out.

That is ALMOST what they have done with the current system. Just put those bonus stats on the infusions. It’s the same result, everyone wins, previous work isn’t invalidated, people don’t need to start from scratch, and so on. It’s so numbingly basic that I almost wish I lived in Seattle so I could sit in on their meetings and see what the kitten they do with their time.

Obviously they will not be adding new gear every three months. It will be every four months, starting from here on out.

Once in March to line up with spring break, once in July to line up with the summer, once in November to match up with the start of the winter holiday block. They’re marketing to predominantly males 14-26 living in Europe and North America. Those dates line up with school breaks — that’s why the weekend was chosen for the karka event.

Honestly the thing that I miss most is farming.

I know that sounds as though I’m some farm junkie who needs to be constantly making money to feel vindicated or whatever. I assure you that I’m not. I find farming to be boring and a grind. I think that it’s not worth my time.

However, what I do like is the option to farm when I need to. In Guild Wars 1 if I was hurting for cash I knew that I’d be able to head out somewhere and gather up some mats or find some items to sell to others. It was my safety net that let me know that, no matter how bad it got, I’d always at least have something to fall back on that was reliable and could help me out, even if I hated it.

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have that safety net, and it doesn’t feel good. If I fall on hard times, I’m going to be stuck in that rut for at least a week while I crawl out of it. I don’t like that.

Additionally, there were little tricks that accompanied farming that applied to my everyday adventuring. Once such tricks were learned and utilized, it allowed me to become a more self-sufficient player. There aren’t any little tricks in GW2 like there were in GW1.

For example, in GW1 an identification kit cost 100 coins. Each use of the kit was worth 4 coins. I knew that as long as any item I identified would vendor for 5 or more coins, I’d be making a profit and thus would, over an extended period of time, be more effective as a character. In addition, identifying white/trash items would increase their value; if I increased the value of the item by 5 or more, I’d be making raw profit.

Without similar tricks and safety nets in GW2, I simply don’t have money as often as I need to have it. I’m not talking about things such as buying vanity items or extra armor sets. I’m talking about things such as traveling, repairing my armor, and leveling up my crafting skills. I’m talking about keeping my gear up to date while I level, so that I can minimize the amount of time I spend dead or using waypoints.

I miss farming.

Edit: and by extension, I miss finding loot. If I killed a group of 10 foes in GW1, I’d know that I’d get a few coins at the very least. In GW2 I tend to not get loot as often as I need it. That hurts a lot after fighting a tough veteran and finding it has empty pockets.

I constantly blast my cash down to about 0-10c. Within an hour I’m back up to 30s at least. Money is seriously the easiest thing to come by in this game.

Can you afford the money it takes to warp to Queensdale etc? No? Then go to World vs World and exit back to Lion’s Arch for free. Exit north of town into the Gendarran Fields, and kill the wasps/grubs/pirates in the fields directly north of LA. They drop cash, item bags, fangs, venom sacs, weapons, armors, etc. If you don’t know how to sell these mats on the trading post then you don’t know how to play Guild Wars 2.

There is never an excuse to complain about money, especially when full armor repairs (all 7 pieces broken, meaning you’ve died 14+ times) cost less than 50s, and when you can earn 50s within 90 mins of more or less walking around Lion’s Arch.

I understand that 30-50s an hour isn’t “supa leet” like some people want but the fact of the matter is that it’s free transport paired with free money, all for the low low cost of killing mobs in 2-4 hits.

My issue with playing charr is that the armor looks so horrible on them. That is literally it.

I don’t care about looking pretty as much as I do about what I wear. It’s not the race that does it for me, it’s the assortment of tanned animal skins, processed metals, rocks and plant fibers that does it for me. Unfortunately charr look awkward in stretched out human armors.

I liked the story a lot, but I didn’t like the execution. Frankly the reinforcement waves took way too long (and honestly constituted at least a quarter of the event on their own), and the adult karka constantly steamrolling entire groups of players wasn’t fun either, especially when the nearest waypoint was a good 3-5 minute hike through hostile territory away.

It could have been reworked to some degree, but it wasn’t, and that’s fine. It could have been better/more enjoyable, but it wasn’t, and I can live with that. What I can’t live with is the lack of appropriate server hardware to handle the massive groups of players paired with the gimmicky mechanics. It’s either one or the other. Watching 50 players die because they can’t see the poison they’re standing in or because they can’t see the champions rolling toward them is inexcusable.

Niteip.8301:

Kerithlan.1659:

A holiday event is a one-time event as well, it’s just spread out over the course of several days. I really see no reason to chop that down to a single pocket of 6 hours when you have the capability to make it last for a reasonable length.

Unless you want to argue that the Mad King event wasn’t a one time event for whatever insane reason you can come up with. Sure it’s a holiday that’s repeated each year, but the event content itself is always unique and never to be seen again. I’m sure the only thing that will carry over from that is fighting the Mad King in some capacity.

You know that is a good point could have some kind of instanced that was repeatable true and I would bet they will have stuff like that at times. But I still feel there should be one time events. I even feel there should be one time surprise events. I remember hearing of stuff in EQ1 were the Guides would put on a event at a random time it was great even though I couldn’t do them all was cool to hear the stories. I did happen to catch one Guide event on EQ2 and it was fun and exciting.

I don’t think you understand. My post was in disagreement with your opening post. I think that one time events like this Ancient Karka battle are terrible for the long-term health of the game. Week-long holiday events, however, are not.

This is something that I’m glad ArenaNet has experimented with and (hopefully) learned from. I’m also glad that they’re doing it early enough to allow themselves some breathing room for future events, and so that they can feel out what the players want before we get too deep into things.

I believe that this event would have gone over much better if they had treated this similarly to the Mad King fight event. If they had simply dedicated all of Sunday to this event and put it on repeat (as in, have it last for 2 hours, 1 hour down time, repeat — 8 times during the day) and made it so that anyone could loot the end treasure box, but limit it so that the good rewards were only available the first time it’s looted and subsequent loots would give like, a few karka shells and passion fruit or something, then everyone would have had a fair shot to do it regardless of time zone.

The Mad King allowed you to fight him repeatedly, but his loot wasn’t as good in subsequent runs as it was the first time he was looted. To me, that’s the correct way to go about it, not this weird 2001 “one time only!” nonsense. Allow people who want to spend 12 hours on the event to spend 12 hours on the event, but only give them the exotic items once. SOLVED.

You’re forgetting that thieves can kite almost indefinitely against PvE bosses. Makes for great avoidance tanks.

Bump for this because the wiki had no info I could find.

A holiday event is a one-time event as well, it’s just spread out over the course of several days. I really see no reason to chop that down to a single pocket of 6 hours when you have the capability to make it last for a reasonable length.

Unless you want to argue that the Mad King event wasn’t a one time event for whatever insane reason you can come up with. Sure it’s a holiday that’s repeated each year, but the event content itself is always unique and never to be seen again. I’m sure the only thing that will carry over from that is fighting the Mad King in some capacity.

Dustfinger.9510:

Kerithlan.1659:

You can figure out direction by using the stars. Two sticks in the ground at night is more or less the same thing as a compass, assuming you have clear view of a clear sky.

Right, it can be done but it isn’t always done because there are other reliable ways.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t taught or looked at. The Boy Scouts still teach this as one of their survival techniques, for example. Sorry that you’re stuck in a US Military rut though.

The Great Destroyer was under Primordius’s control while the dragon slumbered, though. The corrupted Svanir was in the same boat. I don’t believe that has any bearing.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In GW1, we helped undead eat hekets, who are cousins to hylek. So why not feast on hylek too!

Also, Lutinz, you mean sapient. They’re very much sentient, but so are cattle.

That was me you meant to direct the correction at — yes, you’re right and thank you for pointing it out.

A friend of mine disconnected literally seconds before the final cutscene happened, please don’t come up with a half-baked system where he receives a lesser reward due to his disconnect. He was there for the entirety of the event for approx. 2 hours 15 minutes. He deserves the same loot that I and everyone else got.

I could be wrong, but I thought that a few of them just hung around in Fort Marriner.

Yumiko Ishida.3769:

I just lag up and instantly die to WTF? damage from the lv 84 mobs. I’m lv 80 ele with rare lv 80 armor and master lv 80 accessories.

I look at the combat tab and it says 2600 5000 1600 in damage numbers… I have only close to 13k hp on my ele. She is built into power, precision, and toughness…

Not to be a smart kitten but I play GW2 on a toaster, more or less. I always have lag and I always have a frame rate below 20. I am capable of playing through Southsun Cove (including population lag) fine. My frame rate there is probably 1-3 fps. Suck it up. I’m tired of the lag complaints, it really is not as bad as people are making it out to be.

That aside: which weapons are you using? Staff and focus both have projectile reflects in earth attunement. The young karkas have a spit attack thing that they open combat with, and it hits like a truck. That’s the damage that you’re seeing. If you can interrupt, block or reflect that damage, the rest of the fight goes by very easily.

Just be sure to avoid fighting more than one at once (and try to retreat if you do). I started a topic in this forum where others have posted more tips/advice for handling them — hopefully you’ll have an easier time once you can figure out a way to avoid the spit projectiles.

This post probably comes across as sarcastic/sassy/elitist — it’s not my intent and I’m sorry if it does.

Dustfinger.9510:

Ramethzero.3785:

Any kind of navigation would be terribly problematic without astronomy. I vote yes, they do. It would be pretty much relevant to any kind of long distance travel.

Would they get all gluey eyed over it? Likely not.

Ehhh. The land nav they teach in the U.S. military doesn’t use astronomy. Knowing north south east and west while using landmarks is more intuitive to land nav. Astronomy really shines when there are no land marks. Like on the water.

You can figure out direction by using the stars. Two sticks in the ground at night is more or less the same thing as a compass, assuming you have clear view of a clear sky.

I am more interested in learning if they’re sentient/self-aware or not, because if they are we’re essentially talking about consuming a minor race. Would you eat quaggan, or hylek?

The event leading up to the island opening up was another raid near the Clawrl Island Portage Waypoint. In this event, players coated their weapons with a special solvent which pretty much caused their weapons to carve the karka like butter. If you go to the new map and check out the landing camps, you’ll find solvent guns and stuff which contain the special Lionguard Solvent used during the event.

My guess is that it’s just assumed that your weapons are coated with this solvent already/while in karka land.

Polantaris.9513:

I was never saying I was having an issue. At all. I’m fine, I’ve been playing and enjoying the new area since the start. I was pointing out some issues in the mechanics.

I hate that EVERYONE instantly assumes that a complaint means that you suck and have issues with whatever you’re complaining about. You can’t just simply have a genuine complaint and think that the way something is set up is dumb.

To top it off, every time it’s about mechanics, people go “It was this way in GW1, anyone who played GW1 should be familiar with this.” Uhm, no. There was no respawning in GW1. You always had safe ground you could retreat to. In this new area the respawn is so bad that that’s going to make your life 10x worse. This area has no such thing as safe zones. If you clear out a mob, by the time you need to retreat from the next one, that first has respawned. To make things worse, the Veteran Kakras have such a gigantic view range that they see you at least twice the distance from regular monsters, but there’s monsters at the normal frequency as well. That’s another thing that didn’t happen in GW1. Don’t try to pull the “GW1 did this” bullkitten on me, it doesn’t work. The game is not an exact clone of GW1 in mechanics, stop trying to act like it is.

Calm yourself buddy, no need to flame. I never accused you of anything or implied that you were bad or that I was awesome.

Each post you’ve made in this topic, you’ve stated that there’s a problem because you believe they deal an absurd amount of damage that the majority of professions are unable to handle. All we’ve done is post counters to that and show that with proper mitigation and planning, the damage is not only manageable but sometimes works in your favor.

In Guild Wars 1 sure there were no respawns, but when you had a map with tightly packed mobs you still had to be careful about how you were pulling, you still had to choose your fights in advance, you still had to take terrain into account, and you still had to know for certain where your “outs” were if something went wrong.

The same exact skills apply to this game and to this situation. Hyper respawns can be problematic, but it’s not as though every single square inch of the map is covered in Karka waiting to explode out of the mists and into your torso. There is a whole lot of open space if you know where to find it, and subsequently there is a whole lot of predominantly safe areas for you to retreat to if there is trouble. I’m not talking about towns either (although they do count).

Attacking me for pointing out that inflexibility and a refusal to play to the encounter are what’s causing problems isn’t constructive. Neither is attacking me for correctly pointing out that ArenaNet has not deviated from their established tropes and modus operandi between games. I’m not pretending as though playing GW1 somehow makes you awesome at life — I’m stating the fact that ArenaNet enjoys having players put forethought into their battles.

If you want to take absolutely the wrong message away from my posts it’s cool with me. If you weren’t having trouble with the zone, you wouldn’t have posted about how broken/op the karka are, when (as myself and others have explained) they really aren’t. They’re a different style of enemy that you have the capability to adapt to within your arsenal.

Fildydarie.1496:

If I thought that rares and exotics were avluable loot, I’d have to agree that the loot is pretty bad. But crafting material drops in great abundance here—I’ve almsot gotten enough blood for another set of berserker’s armor after 3 hours of killing.

And for the people not making use of the crafting mats that are dropping and who don’t plan to, you can break even on your repair bills (or profit if you aren’t dying) by selling the mats on the Black Lion.

There’s also an abundance of easily gathered metals (including Orichalcum spawns) on the map, which is nice.

Polantaris.9513:

TerryLong.9561:

Elely has one in the FOCUS. (I use a scepter/Focus, on a Earth condition based build.

Ah I forgot about eles, but meanwhile they’re forced to use Focus when they have no ability to switch weapons in a fight, which kind of cripples you if you don’t like/use Focus.

But yes, it’s there. 3/8 classes aren’t completely screwed on the first Young Kakra they see.

By extension of that, what if you aggro another one right after? Or they respawn? Or any of a hundred things happen during the cooldown? Eat 8-9,000 damage, which in some classes is half or more of their HP? How is that remotely balanced?

Also, learn to dodge. I’m not trying to come across as an ?sshole, I’m just saying that it’s a helpful tactic in this particular fight.

Yes, you can dodge…but there’s also a ton of other things that need dodging. And once again, what about extra mobs? What if you just spent your stamina dodging other attacks, or the tons of other things that Kakra can do that do way too much damage?

If you’re fighting them back-to-back that’s when you pop your elite skill, or run away and reset. It’s hard to do with the pumped up respawn rates in some areas, but try to plan your fights in advance and know the safe areas ahead of time. Again, this is just a part of the Guild Wars games — anyone that played GW1 will be familiar with this type of play.

If you’re getting way overwhelmed, adopt the buddy system. You don’t necessarily need a zerg or a full party. I’ve completed most of the zone with one friend of mine, watching each others’ backs. He plays a warrior; when I wasn’t playing with him, I was playing with a necromancer, and we also did just fine. If you really cannot handle it, bring a friend. Two people can take on most of the zone together if they play well and avoid the adults.

Polantaris.9513:

Kerithlan.1659:

People have been complaining that they hit too hard with their spit attack. It might just be because I’m a guardian and have easy access to projectile reflect attacks, but I have no trouble with them at all. (I’m not a bunker build, I’m in junk gear with 11k hp and 2.2k armor.)

They usually open the fight with their ranged spit attack thing (which is what eats your health), so as soon as you see them charge that up (takes about 0.5 to 1 seconds) hit any sort of shield or reflect ability. You’ll take very little/no damage, and if you can reflect projectiles you’ll damage them instead.

After that attack is gone they won’t use it again for another 15-20 seconds, by which time they’ll probably be dead. They deal very manageable damage once that’s out of the way.

I personally thought that a lot more people would be doing that than there apparently are. When I hear stories about engineers and warriors eating pavement four seconds into karka fights it makes me worried. If anyone else has any tips (regardless of how common sense they might be) then please post them here so that others have an easier time.

Yeah outside of Mesmer and Guardian, I don’t think anyone else has access to an instant reflection ability like that, let alone one at all. Other classes shouldn’t get shredded just because one or two, or even potentially three, can protect against it while the rest have to eat the damage (Which is a ton, it takes like 8k away from me).

Just a couple for each profession (there’s more, such as stuns, blinds, and other interrupts)
Warrior
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shield_Stance
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Endure_Pain

Guardian
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zealot%27s_Defense
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wall_of_Reflection

Engineer
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnetic_Shield_
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gear_Shield

Ranger
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Whirling_Defense
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Serpent%27s_Strike

Thief
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blinding_Powder
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dagger_Storm

Elementalist
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnetic_Aura
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnetic_Wave

Mesmer
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Warden
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Feedback

The only one that actually has no option for this strategy is Necromancer. Everyone else can at least — with minimal effort — block, reflect, stun, interrupt, etc the young karkas. Some do it more easily than others (such as elementalist and guardian), but almost all of them have at least some option.

You don’t have to eat the damage if you change your setup according to the encounter you’re facing. That’s how the Guild Wars games work. You can’t just use the same 8 skills for everything. (Edit: wrong game, same 10 skills)

People have been complaining that they hit too hard with their spit attack. It might just be because I’m a guardian and have easy access to projectile reflect attacks, but I have no trouble with them at all. (I’m not a bunker build, I’m in junk gear with 11k hp and 2.2k armor.)

They usually open the fight with their ranged spit attack thing (which is what eats your health), so as soon as you see them charge that up (takes about 0.5 to 1 seconds) hit any sort of shield or reflect ability. You’ll take very little/no damage, and if you can reflect projectiles you’ll damage them instead.

After that attack is gone they won’t use it again for another 15-20 seconds, by which time they’ll probably be dead. They deal very manageable damage once that’s out of the way.

I personally thought that a lot more people would be doing that than there apparently are. When I hear stories about engineers and warriors eating pavement four seconds into karka fights it makes me worried. If anyone else has any tips (regardless of how common sense they might be) then please post them here so that others have an easier time.

They could always just do what they’ve done with JI and make MI break stun effects. Have it work the same but for allies rather than foes. At that point the healing wouldn’t matter so much as you could use it to break out of control effects. It’d be your “oh kitten” button with a small bonus heal.

Edit: upon further reading of the topic, disregard my post.

Re: “The norn sent 9”

This is the plot of Guild Wars: Eye of the North. You can see the entire story for yourself by either purchasing the game and playing through it (highly recommended, GW1 is a lot of fun) or by finding a “Let’s Play” youtube series.

The problem though is that the sylvari aren’t the only ones being corrupted. It’s clear that there are at the very least also nightmare spiders and nightmare fern hounds, and the three of those only share vaguely similar body structures with each other.

Proximity is certainly a factor, but I believe it’s the sylvari’s lack of life experience and thus weaker resolve (their only real goal as a species at this point is to protect the Pale Tree and learn about Tyria (world)) that is the big “x” here. There’s no evidence that sylvari need to be beaten as severely as other creatures need to be before submitting to the Nightmare, only that they must be. We see Nightmare Courtiers forcing spiders and fern hounds to tear each other apart before they succumb to the Nightmare, but Ysvelta was converted rapidly and without any indication that she was horrifically harmed.

I think that has less to do with them being plants and more to do with them being “life rookies”. When I say weak minded, I don’t mean “hnng powa overwhelming” like typical scifi baddies. I mean that their minds are literally weak and undeveloped as a race, as they currently lack the strong cultural and societal structures of the other races. Their civilization and society as a whole are still feeling themselves out. Perfect opportunity for some sort of mental influence to prey on them.

Eddie Van Grog.7095:

Couldn’t stop myself of coming here to post a big THANK YOU to ANet!
Just finished my first 3 fractals and they are AMAZING! Honestly… I am over the top! Me and the guildies were completely taken by surprise! The dungeons, the scenarios, the amazing mechanics in all the fractals! Uau… Really, where did you guys pull this of?

Congrats… I knew you would make me happy! I could never predict you would make me feel like a little kid opening a big present!!! I mean… during the last boss fight, the scenario, the music… I got goosebumps!!!!

IT IS THAT GOOD… THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Translated into an easily-digestible post, for ArenaNet’s ease-of-consumption:

Hoo! Eddie Van Grog likes you! OooOoOo!

IceBlink.4317:

Cheapest you can get Lionguard skins normally is for 9800 karma for tier1 skins, so using tokens can be good if you plan to use those skins and don’t feel like farming in Orr.

Do daily achievement for two days → that’s it, there’s no other step in this chain

9800 karma is nothing, if you have transmute stones then you’re set already.

The norn reference Jormag as a he, which is relatively concrete in my opinion. Each of the norn spirits has a specific gender (such as Bear and Owl being female, and Wolf and Fox being male), and as the Sons of Svanir worship Jormag as the most powerful spirit, I’m going with Jormag being — for certain — male. The other ones I’m considering unknown at this point in time. Zhaitan was constantly referred to as “it” (possibly because it was undead), so I use it for Zhaitan.

Augcliffe.1342:

Since the patch to “fix” the drop rate on the unidentified dyes days ago (week ago?), I have not seen a single one. I used to get at least 1 a day. Speaking with guildies, I have confirmed other people are not getting them either. Prices of them have more than doubled on TP. ANet seems to have overcompensated.

I’ve found at least six — in fact, I found one alongside some carrots I gathered not even two hours ago. Random Number Generation is your best friend.

This was brought up during the beta and never addressed.

lunaticat.4216:

Sylvary aren’t too sure whether they practice cannibalism if they eat a salad

Well this is a fundamentally stupid statement. Humans are made of meat. So are moa birds. If a human consumes a moa, is that human a cannibal as they are eating flesh?

I didn’t miss that, see my comments on the “Other Tree”. Thanks though! (Edit: upon review it seems I wasn’t clear enough on that/glossed over it, so thank you for the expanded explanation.)

We actually aren’t sure if the other dragons can corrupt the sylvari or not. We currently know that the sylvari believe that they cannot be corrupted and that the sylvari have not been turned into risen, icebrood or branded. However, as is stated/hinted at relatively often, we really don’t know enough about the sylvari yet to know for certain if they’re somehow immune. See my comparison to the quaggans.