Guild Wars 2

The only thing that could be considered pay to win is the elite specs in sPvP and buying HoT but even that is more of a balancing issue than pay to win. Pretty much every game will have that at some point.

As for everything else …

It might have pay for consolation prize.
Maybe pay to be equal.
Pay to catch up?

phys.7689:

mtpelion.4562:

If your definition of “pay to win” includes anything beyond “can pay real money for a stat advantage over others, thus giving those who pay the ability to win regardless of their skill level”, then your definition is a personal one based on an opinion and cannot be used in a rational discussion.

It is important that clearly defined phrases remain clearly defined. Attempting to misappropriate an unpleasant label that means one thing onto something else so that you can misapply the unpleasantness to the new thing is intellectually dishonest.

problem is that is not what most definitions say. many include being able to buy top teir gear, regardless of weather its possible to earn in game. it is not, and has never been clearly defined in the way that you claim.

one of the most basic p2w methods has been to allow people to buy power others have to spend time grinding to achieve.

Except gear in GW2 also doesn’t matter as much as in other games. At the beginning of HoT I played it with a warrior in masterwork gear as well as one in full ascended. The difficulty wasn’t even noticeably different. Compare this to another game I play(but you can’t buy anything with real money there) where the baseline damage for endgame is around 30k DPS without going too tanky or glass while the top end gear can get your to near immortality(there are still combinations of things that can wreck you if you aren’t paying enough attention) while dishing out over 1 million DPS

AliamRationem.5172:

Based on your criteria, I recommend warrior. They’re popular in group PvE for their ability to stack and share might, among other things. They are also among the stronger solo open world classes, in my opinion. And because they can greatly reduce weapon swap cooldown, they also meet your criteria for being less bound by cooldowns. They also tend to deal more damage than any of the pet classes, if I’m not mistaken (I haven’t tried ranger yet myself).

Swapping from PS warrior from group stuff to a more solo oriented build is also less annoying than something like swapping between condi reaper and power reaper.

Randulf.7614:

Hmm looks like Divinity’s Reach, which doesn’t narrow it down much

Looks more like the Priory

?
Every piece except the coat can be bought from the vendor.

The coat can drop from the canopy bosses and as a reward from the meta, it doesn’t require t4 VB.

The vigil/priory/whisper backpack does require an actual t4 VB though.

meh … too late to change now anyway so why does it matter at all?

skullmount.1758:

Well in addition to the OPs suggestions, it would be nice if the scaling of the event was better too. Even with it being only a couple people it still takes forever to finish that event (if you can before the day timer runs out).

because even with just two people the game starts spawning lv84 mobs …

The point of the map is the key which is part of a collection. Make sure you add the key to the collection before you do anything else with it since you can’t get another(except maybe contacting support).

The charged ambrite can be bought but that is tacking on another 2g to an already hefty price tag.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

For what it’s worth, I disagree with the OP’s premise that the usefulness of a weapon is predicated on some combination of meta builds and profession availability. That might be a measure for popularity… but not usefulness.

~EW

For the times when it would actually be necessary to use a ranged weapon warrior’s rifle has 20% fewer skills. That makes it less useful. In some circumstances it might have 40% fewer.

HollowDean.5134:

lol, first time I’m hearing this! :o
Are they on all HoT maps?

Yes. They are spread all over the 4 maps. Their locations are static. Dulfy has a map of them if you want. Some can be a bit tricky. One requires you to kill some elementals to make wall disappear.

You will be told that you are blocked.

HollowDean.5134:

Khisanth.2948:

HollowDean.5134:

I counted. I need 50 Hot mp and 9 Tyria!

Then there are plenty you can skip.

20 from strong boxes
22 from communes
7 from out of the shadows
16 from HoT story/achievements excluding the ones that require all achievements

Strong boxes? What are those?

They are basically chests that are sitting around in the world. You can open each of them once per day per character and get a bit of loot. The first time each one is opened on an account it also gives a mastery point. If you hold control key their label are all “….” Strongbox. They are supposed to be the storage chests from the various crashed airships that were in the pact fleet.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Khisanth.2948:

You need to max out the provisions master WXP ability line for those to show up.

No, it’s bugged. (I just checked: of insignia/inscriptions, all of them are available except the one the OP searched for).

Looks fine to me.

You need to max out the provisions master WXP ability line for those to show up.

They also drop from fractals but at a very low rate.

Randulf.7614:

I rarely get the kits from dailies as well and i cant say they were ever easily available either. Some ppl get lots, others less. Plus usage will vary.

you have a confliction in you op though. You say one kit is too expensive, yet would pay any gem amount for an infinite one.
An infinite one would also prob cost thousands of gems…isnt it just easier to buy as and when you need? I dont really get why consumables are a horrible waste if its an item you want..

or just use master kits. There aren’t all that many things that are worth using a BLSK on and even for the ones that are you won’t be getting that often unless you buy them from the TP.

Yet another event required for a collection that requires another event to fail.

HollowDean.5134:

I counted. I need 50 Hot mp and 9 Tyria!

Then there are plenty you can skip.

20 from strong boxes
22 from communes
7 from out of the shadows
16 from HoT story/achievements excluding the ones that require all achievements

The location to trigger a PoI can be extremely unintuitive. In this case the icon is also hidden under the hero challenge so it is hard to tell if it is actually the one you are missing.

Skynet.7201:

It’s getting pretty ridiculous. Straight out to the error report at least 5-6x per day. Four times the other day from PvP matches. :/

An error report would mean a crash occurred. That is not related to this topic.

Healix.5819:

If they did add one, it would be an extremely low drop rate from black lion chests like the other endless gem store consumables. It’d likely be valued at over 5000g, and salvaging would quickly lose its profits.

It would require a fairly hefty per use cost to not break salvaging. It would only take one person to break things otherwise.

Ardid.7203:

SS afect only movement, right?

Only forward movement.

HollowDean.5134:

Just a quick question. I order to have all masteries done, I need to do all the achievements in HoT and LS story? I still have 4 or 5 masteries to complete, but I’m all out of points. I’m currently on 100 mp and honestly I really don’t feel like doing all achievements!
For some reason they’re just too boring to do for me.

Most but not all. 121 out of 152 is required to max out every HoT mastery.

The trap might need to be triggered for it to work.

Roam.5208:

3. Does the carapace armor box rewarded in the Silverwastes PVP reward track give pants?
.

No but then yes. It used to only give the glove but the June 14 patch change it to allow choosing any piece.

You need a lv500 armorsmith, tailor or leatherworker which is also what the wiki indicates. The in game popup shows that it is usable by a huntsman not that it can be crafted by one.

It’s been there for a long time. The rings are part of the heart. The are supposed to have a pack of wolves inside but sometimes … often times it is buggy so you get floating rings without a wolf pack as well.

I went afk standing on Patriarch’s platform one or two “day cycles ago”. Came back and still connected and then continued with the fight that happens to be at the same spot as I left it 2.5 hours ago.

Caps? There are enough ugly hats …

Thief can be a bit squishy especially against conditions but with D/P you have Black Powder(#5) which is an aoe blind. Doesn’t work against champions and legendaries but great for everything else.

There are several options. Ideally for that you would use a range weapon but you can also …

1) stand in place and kill them with retaliation
2) hammer 3 is an immobilize and 5 can be used to used to lock something inside the circle
3) scepter 3 is also an immobilize and scepter is a ranged weapon anywan
4) greatsword 5 can be used to pull them to you
5) sword 2 can be used to teleport you to a target
6) Judge’s Intervention is a utility skill that gives you another teleport to target
7) Bane Signet will apply a 3s knockdown, Hammer of Wisdom’s command skill will also apply a 3s knockdown
8) dragonhunter can use a longbow and the F1 is another pull

Have you tried a Dagger/Pistol thief? Shadow Shot is awesome.

That is a problem specific to that one instance … everywhere else it only shows up after you have completed the instance.

I heard Dear Esther is a great walking simulator …

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Khisanth.2948:

DoomKnightMax.6592:

Khisanth.2948:

learn to play skillfully rather than frantically smashing your keys?

Yes, because a 1 second delay on a skill which is only avalible in stealth implies skillful game play in a meta where blocks, invulnerability, aegis, blind, passives and Dodge spam is at its peak. Do you feel stupid now?

Anyone can push buttons. A skillful person pushes the right buttons at the right time while other people just try to smash all their keys as fast as possible.

Because people getting passive procs of Aegis and protection and with Aoe blinds flying around is so skillful.

They could get rid of those too.

On the other hand the only random proc I see on http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aegis is from Prismatic Understanding. The rest are either from using skills that provide aegis or known after first encounter(depending on skill of the attacker).

Material value + 10g is around the same as using a buy order for the gift. You might want to put one of those up while waiting.

Most of the outpost events do not require much people. 1 or 2 is fine. Getting gold isn’t really necessary but a few are so easy that there is no reason not to get them(drone race, salvage pit, beetle feast and others but difficulty of those are a bit more debatable).

Make sure you have at least one complete run through of the HoT story since there is a big chunk of points from there. The new map and story also adds a couple of points while the new mastery only requires 1 point.

DoomKnightMax.6592:

Khisanth.2948:

learn to play skillfully rather than frantically smashing your keys?

Yes, because a 1 second delay on a skill which is only avalible in stealth implies skillful game play in a meta where blocks, invulnerability, aegis, blind, passives and Dodge spam is at its peak. Do you feel stupid now?

Anyone can push buttons. A skillful person pushes the right buttons at the right time while other people just try to smash all their keys as fast as possible.

Behellagh.1468:

When you see threads where players lament about how easy world bosses are, about only needing to auto attack, how face roll the content is, how event scaling is only about making bosses bigger bags of HPs, how some wish for more content like the marionette battle, it’s easy too see why the devs thought more mechanic oriented encounters, more intelligent critter AI. The issue is they went from 1st gear to 6th in one shift.

If only they stuck with their original idea for event scaling.

Their failure to do so is one of my biggest disappointments.

Gotejjeken.1267:

This is what happens when they use old mats in new gear. There is a reason leveling gives you almost a full exotic set…they know they broke crafting for normal people.

It’s about ascended now, whether any of us like it or not.

It’s more like “this is what happens when you destroy existing supplies(by changing section:square ratio from 2:1 to 3:1) while reducing new sources(from salvaging) and also increasing demand(adding them as requirement for patches/insignias)”.

learn to play skillfully rather than frantically smashing your keys?

If you sell the materials for 15 ingots it will require another 11g to buy 15 ingots which is 5.5 days of dailies.

Standen.3479:

To a lesser extent, the mushroom collecting event in the Nuhoch quest chain has the same issue but at least they drop multiple items each time. With 40+ people, the amount you need is ridiculous.

Sartharina pointed out the problem quite well. The scaling in both the enemies and the number of parts needed compounds so quickly that it gets ridiculous with a full squad. Anet should limit the scaling to one or the other rather than scaling both.

The problem with the mushroom event can also be lessen to an extent by pulling mobs closer to the NPC before killing.

Retaining their immunity but losing their weakness was one of the most annoying thing about destroyers …

That sort of immunity would not work out very well either. Introducing mobs that are simply immune to certain builds is just a bad idea. Mordrem husks are close to falling into that category but at least they are not entirely immune to physical damage. Just look at objects vs condi build to see how crappily that works out.

Tekoneiric.6817:

I’ve tried to get many people I know into the game but haven’t had any takers. Many don’t want to because it’s not on a console. I think ANet complicating things in the game isn’t helping. People usually want a simple distraction from real life not something that is more like work. The complicated crafting and open world meta events requiring LFG isn’t helping. The game doesn’t even allow single players to claim a homestead to mod and build in.

GW2 is complicated? O_o

kurfu.5623:

Revenue dipped significantly below what it was pre-HoT… that’s not good. Looks like HoT actually did drive away a large portion of players.

Looks more like the April patch didn’t deliver the fix people were looking for.

It could be the lack of content post HoT but there was a lack of content pre HoT as well and that did better.

Morte de Angelis.7986:

The kitten considering HoT and the people who had bought the Core game didn’t help.

Pay for Expac, but we’re adding the game free of charge with no discount for people who already bought it! – I know that put me off until I found HoT for really cheap on a keysite and bought it there. I hope they DON’T do that for the next Xpac. Cause you’ll just kitten even MORE people off. I won’t come back a second time if your gona play the same tricks.

The pricing did suck but on the other hand
http://www.dlgamer.us/download-guild_wars_2_heart_of_thorns-pc_games-p-29808.html has it for 25% off extremely often.

Manuhell.2759:

Can’t say i’m particularly surprised. Devs focused their attention for months unto raids, but they’re essentially niche content. And the maps from the expansion being an handful didn’t help either. Sure, they’ve got replayable events, but even those can get boring after a month or two. Many people likely found themselves without something fun to do and just stopped playing, or did that after getting shunned in raid (be it due to their class or something else). And people that don’t play also don’t pay.

I believe the excuse for that is “but there is still the core game!!!!”

Sure, they could try to churn some expansion in a relatively short time, but given what happened with the last one (especially due to the missing legendaries) i doubt that many people will trust them again.

That could be interesting but I am expecting to be disappointed.

Malediktus.9250:

But what could they sell in shop to make more money without going straight up pay to win? I would like to see armor sets over outfits again, but Anet insists they are too much work

There is Path of Exile’s “release very expensive cosmetics” route but I am not sure that could work for GW2. PoE’s supporter packs also get people to essentially re-buy the game for $60+ every 3-4 months which is also pretty impressive.

Daishi.6027:

5. The toxicity. I realize it doesn’t need to be super care-bear. But in a team based game, the players act similar to those in fighting game scenes, lacking the professionalism in public view like most PC E-sports including but not limited to Starcraft as an example. As for new players it doesn’t help, with the mentality of “if you die, you’re bad regardless of context.” as opposed to other games where losing to your counter is considered expected. This is also not helped due to the lack of 1v1 balance, and apex predators who can survive 2-3v1.

Is that really a huge issue? LoL seems to be doing pretty well despite it’s reputation for toxicity.

There are PvP custom arenas for normalized gear and guild arenas for PvE gear already …

Seera.5916:

PvE is purely cooperative in this game. Nothing will likely ever be added that is not cooperative.

Unless the devs forget an important detail while copy and pasting … https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4xj40e/legendary_unbound_gaurdian_the_troll_potential_is/

They really need some better event creation tools. Why are we still running into this kind of scaling problems so long after release?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

(I was hoping that extra XP would generate something else instead.)

That would only result in more complaints given the current situation …

BlaqueFyre.5678:

The accessories are still locked to raids by back, Ammy and ring are in Bloodstone

Ring is still in a slightly awkward situation because they are unique so you can’t use two of the same. You can get around that if you are okay with sacrificing one of the infusion slots.

Fluffball.8307:

I destroyed several expensive sigils before I realized you had to select an empty slot. It’s not good UI, although I see why they did it.

More recently it seems to have gotten smart enough to default to the empty one. At least it did for the infusion slots when I had to redo my ring infusions.

Whichever you like best.