Guild Wars 2

Play them all. Best way to learn them.

My main is an ele, but I have at least 1 of every class currently. Eventually I’ll have 2 of everything (except maybe engineer, because I’m terrible at it), and in certain cases, I’ll have 3. For example, I currently have 3 rangers – human, sylvari, and charr.

Jacobbs.9468:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Interestingly enough, some people use deposit, but don’t use compact. So having them combined would kitten some people off. Not me, since I do typically hit one and then the other when I’m cleaning inventory (unless I’m sorting), but I have seen / do know people that don’t use both options intentionally.

They should be separate buttons, there’s room up there.

Wasn’t positive that was what you were going for. I suppose I’m fine with that, although I don’t really care about the extra click personally.

I wonder if they don’t add this function because if you tried to open, say, a stack of champ bags, there wouldn’t be enough room for everything. If you’re not standing at a merchant or such, and can’t clear space for the overflow, could this result in lost items? Potentially cause more issues than solves? Maybe they could program an algorithm that determines how much space you have and “knows” how many bags you can open, and only opens that many? How would bag rng factor in given that the system doesn’t “know” what the bag contains prior to opening it. Additionally, not just the rng of what the bag holds, but the rng of how many items, since the quantity of loot varies a tad from type to type.

I would think a ‘consume all’ action, such as for a stack of luck, would be “easier” since there’s less work for the system. However to do something like ’open all" for bags might be a bit of a nightmare.

Interestingly enough, some people use deposit, but don’t use compact. So having them combined would kitten some people off. Not me, since I do typically hit one and then the other when I’m cleaning inventory (unless I’m sorting), but I have seen / do know people that don’t use both options intentionally.

Coulter.2315:

Ayrilana.1396:

Ganathar.4956:

Coulter.2315:

Ganathar.4956:

GummiBear.2756:

and then everyone will hord up on tomes and instaunlock every single masteries a few minutes after HoT is released… That is beyond stupid

Anet could just make tomes continue to give you spirit shards at 80 instead of giving you levels. That way, there would be no abuse of tomes to unlock the reward tracks instantly.

Writ of experience still exists.

The system they chose was deliberate so people couldn’t cheese their way through the Mastery system immediately. Having the Mastery Exp dependent on the area it is earned allows them to not worry about people hoarding items to burn through requirements at the launch of each new expansion.

Its a goood system.

They could always disable the functionality of writs at max level. However, there may be people hoarding xp boosts. There is a decision to be made here for sure, but having xp being useless after a certain limit doesn’t seem to be the solution to me. It needs to be useful for something, even if it is not masteries.

I suggest that both if you try to use a writ of experience on a level 80 character today.

Ah forgot they changed them, regardless the new way Masteries interact with experience so they cannot be “pre-progressed” is by design and allowing you to save up experience to burn through them after a new expansion launch is a bad idea.

Agreed. Which is exactly why tomes and writs don’t work for progressing these bars. These were a big concern for a lot of people, here on the forums, I think they were discussed on reddit, and I know even WoodenPotatoes expressed a concern in a couple of his vids. I agree with Anet’s approach to this system, so people don’t just burn through the tracks at launch. The kittening that “we have nothing to do” will come soon enough, we don’t need to hurry it along.

Gah between family vacation last week and having to come back to work today, I miss all the fun stuff.

OK, trying really hard not to jump the gun here.

Normally when people say “I want player inspection” they are asking to see the specific stats people are wearing, what runes and sigils they have equipped, what color the gear is, how they have their skills laid out, their trait points spent. Etc Etc. In other words, they want an easy way to laugh and exclude people that don’t meet their stringent left field beliefs on how the game “must” be played. To this, I say No. Abso-kittening-lutely NO! (Get the impression I have strong feelings on this topic?) If people want to know what you’re running, they can ask and then you can share if you feel like it.

Now, what the OP asks for is simply a means of seeing what skin the player is displaying. I am ok with that. A simple means of seeing, ok this person is wearing the krytan top, prowler gloves, and illustrious breeches. Or they are wearing the Noble Count outfit. Something like that I’m perfectly ok with. Heck, for the gemstore stuff, they could even build in a little toggle that will take you to it in the store for purchase (if available) if they want. I’d be ok with that too.

I don’t think we’ll see this one come back anytime soon simply due to the changes that would need to be made to it in order for it to “fit” into the current story context. They don’t really have time for those alterations.

I really think they are feeling the crunch for HoT, especially now that they have “committed” to releasing it before the end of the year (taking this with a grain of salt, since well all know kitten happens when it comes to development).

They could throw the pavilion/gauntlet back at us for filler. That shouldn’t need any tweaking. Unless of course, they made alterations to it that we aren’t aware of and those would need rolling back. sigh To be a fly on the wall at Anet…..

sniffle

That shoulder piece…..

Glint, we miss you!

Daegony.3604:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to do WvW for badges.

EotM k-train. Not really any different than FGS champ train (depending on how cooperative the other 2 zergs feel like being)

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to do dungeons for tokens.

Pvp reward tracks

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to play the game to get gold for mats.

Well now we’re just being silly.

My point here is that there is usually at least an optional (even if not optimal) method for acquisition.

I don’t have an issue with fractals being the primary means of obtaining some of the components for the legendary gear coming into the game, but alternatives might be nice (and no, I’m not just talking buying it off the trading post) for those that aren’t into fractaling. Maybe just a fractal pvp track would be sufficient….

As I’ve said in several other posts, I think it would be good if the different modes had their own unique things to incentivize playing them (like fractals have fractal skins which you can’t trade). However, end game goals, like legendaries, should not be mode locked and depending on some of this set up, I would consider it to be bordering on that here.

But that’s just my 2c.

Having more options is nice but the argument of being forced doesn’t change. “I’m not a PvP’er so I don’t want to be forced to play a game mode I don’t want to get my tokens”. I’m not saying that it isn’t valid to have more ways to obatin certain things, but in all fairness, legendaries were that way upon launch. There were no secondary means such as reward tracks, EotM, etc.
I really don’t mind that they give us options for obtaining such things but the “forced” argument really bothers me. You are indeed required, but by no means forced.

Those people have a valid complaint though, at least I feel they do, even if their choice of wording may not be the best. True, no one is “forcing” them to do anything, at least not in an actual physical sense. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t feel that way regardless. And you’re right, those additional options weren’t there at launch, but those things were changed, and I think that was a smart path for Anet to take. They’ll have happier customers in the long run that way.

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to do WvW for badges.

EotM k-train. Not really any different than FGS champ train (depending on how cooperative the other 2 zergs feel like being)

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to do dungeons for tokens.

Pvp reward tracks

Daegony.3604:

You are “forced” to play the game to get gold for mats.

Well now we’re just being silly.

My point here is that there is usually at least an optional (even if not optimal) method for acquisition.

I don’t have an issue with fractals being the primary means of obtaining some of the components for the legendary gear coming into the game, but alternatives might be nice (and no, I’m not just talking buying it off the trading post) for those that aren’t into fractaling. Maybe just a fractal pvp track would be sufficient….

As I’ve said in several other posts, I think it would be good if the different modes had their own unique things to incentivize playing them (like fractals have fractal skins which you can’t trade). However, end game goals, like legendaries, should not be mode locked and depending on some of this set up, I would consider it to be bordering on that here.

But that’s just my 2c.

Spirited Was Eceni.3869:

The hero/henchmen AI wasn’t too good in GW1 as I remember it. If I took a melee char they’d do silly things and get themselves killed in no time. Caster hero’s were better as I could flag them away from the front line. I found the best option was to have two players with three hero’s each. That way it was possible to flag your hero’s individually.

Oh and the most annoying part for me? In a battle I’d be fighting hard and losing hp, did my healer heal me? No, my necro would cast Death Nova on me instead! Kitten!

Yes, the AI was stupid, but it was predictably stupid. The heroes were much better than the hench, at least from my experience.

I didn’t really use the melee heroes, there was no need. Even as a caster, I typically did any “tanking” (not that tanks were needed for 98% of the content) and my monkies kept everyone up.

Yes, “straight people” flaunt it too, but because it’s the “norm” we don’t make as big a deal out of it. But straight or otherwise, all new couples go through this “rose colored glasses” or “honeymoon” phase. Just went through this with two (now ex) guildies that decided they were going to “be a couple.” They’re straight. They did the the same lovey dovey cooing crap with each other. To the point where I actually couldn’t stand playing with them anymore, and gods forbid one play without the other if the other was online. You’d swear they were conjoined twins where it was physically impossible to separate them without killing one of them. I wanted to pull my hair out.

Sogradde.8016:

How do you have a guild without having ever played the game? Something is fishy here.

Multi-game guilds do this kind of thing. Not really all that unusual.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe for this game ANet should push out more ingame skins/minis in different areas that need to be farmed. I’m not sure how it should be done, as again the trading post is a factor, unless maybe they use a token system (geodes/bandit crests) and an NPC that sells the items. Of course, there is then the problem of keeping all these tokens in storage or having an ever expanding currency panel but maybe that’s how they can have farmable good drops.

Maybe. Could be a lot of things. I’m not certain how I feel about yet another token system. Maybe if it were something like the system for Armbraces, which the assorted gems had acceptable (and determinable) drop rates.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

@Lansfearshadowflame
Again, one big difference between the two games is the trading post. Without a trading post, then a game must have farmable good drops. With a world wide trading post, it gets more difficult. Farmable good drops quickly become only farmable drops as every person in the world who farms the item can put it up for sale, and the price drops so it’s no longer good.

I’d say WoW seems to do fine, but again you’re factoring in the gear treadmill there.

Yes, the trading post does factor in, but it is not the be all end all. Perhaps the issue isn’t so much frequency of a specific drop, but more the limited options on what is “good,” “desirable,” or otherwise “worth selling.”

Still, obviously Anet feels there is a bit of an issue with farmability of at least certain items (like charged lodestones) since they are bringing in the map specific bonus system with the expansion. (Which also serves the additional purposes of drawing people back to those maps)

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If Guild Wars 1 had a trading post, how long do you think your good drops, that you so fondly remember, would have been good there if you could have bought them for one or two plat? There would have been a ton of Totem axes and Mallyx bows for sale (for example) and they would be a dime a dozen.

Not a good example to use, especially if you spent any significant time in LA or Kamadan. There were a kitten ton of totem axes for sale (I know, I sold them) and they were dirt cheap. I couldn’t give the kitten things away anymore. Actually, I think I still have 3 or 4 sitting on someone somewhere lol.

As for Mallyx bows, there were plenty of armbraces for sale at any given time I was around, and yeah they moved pretty well. They got as low as like 100k and a couple ecto the last time I checked, which was a steal for those. Those only really became as desirable as they did because of HoM. Same with the destroyer weapons. There were a few skins that people “really liked” (like the torment shield), but for the most part they weren’t heavily sought after until later on.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Those things you were vendoring, I don’t remember them as worth all that much, but maybe my memory is faulty here. It’s been a few years now, unless you are talking about something other than unique green items?

No, mainly purples and golds. I usually got enough loot that I would drop whites and only hang onto colored items. Especially when I went out farming.

I wish I still had the screen cap of the Falls run on my necro. I went out after totem axes, and cleared the map for the hell of it. I gathered all of the assorted loot into piles and took a screen cap of what I kept vs what I left on the ground. Unfortunately that screenie, along with so much else, was lost when my hdd bit the dust a while back.

I didn’t really farm any other greens than totems. I never had much luck with them. I remember trying for Hahan’s Oath for days, because I wanted it for my Canthan monk. Oh the frustration….

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I’ve only played guild wars so not having other game experience, how do you make a game where everyone has good loot drops if the game isn’t a gear progression game and has an active trading post so that most things can be bought?

I don’t have all the answers Flesh. GW1 wasn’t gear progression, and yes it dropped a lot of trash, but it still had a decent number of “good” drops that you could at least vendor for a reasonable return. I made more then enough gold between just drops from “playing the game” and quests in gw1, but seem to be unable to do anything remotely similar here. Maybe hearts just need to have a bit more of a monetary reward added to them. Maybe they could add chests and lockpicks back into the game. Maybe they could give us an elite area that has something akin to shards and ecto from GW1 which people could farm semi-reliably for a semi-stable exchange.

Obviously I only have my husband’s, and my own experiences to work from, at least for first hand info. And I have what I have observed when playing with others, but that is taken out of the greater picture as I’m not with those people all the time. But kitten if it doesn’t feel like we’re cursed at times. Still, we’ve kind of moved away from the topic of farming for a specific item and ventured more into the general acquisition of gold as it relates back to “good drops.”

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If it drops frequently enough, it’s not good since you and everyone else has it and the price is low on the trading post. If it drops rarely, it’s a good drop but this returns to the problem where one never gets good drops as the good drops are few and far between.

Yes, if something drops often its value plummets, I get that. Still, given what we have seen (and what people often complain about), I sometimes wonder if their loot algorithm might not be a bit skewed. No I’m not talking about random seeds and all the conspiracy stuff. More of an elusive bug that doesn’t trigger every time, and as such is 1)hard to reproduce and 2)even harder to find.

I understand that RNG is a necessary evil in these types of games, but at times I think they’ve gone a tad overboard on it.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Most games, as I understand them, have good drops because of gear progression. By the time you gear up your main and all your alts, the next expansion requires it all over again. Without this, the only way I can see the game having “good drops” is to either have things account bound but modestly rare (so they can’t be sold) or to continuosly push out new skins that need to be crafted or farmed as a rare drop.

I don’t necessarily agree with your thought here. As I said, GW1 had (what I would consider, and other opinions will obviously vary) “good drops” and it wasn’t a gear progression game. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to them pushing out new skins for us cosmetic hunters. We’re well overdue for a new batch to chase through actual game play.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

So how would this game have good and frequent drops?

As I said, I don’t have all the answers. I haven’t sat and thought about it in too much depth, though maybe I should put my feet up and do so.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Prototypemind.4026:

The point was more that you can’t go out and directly farm what you need for many of the items in the game.

That is definitely a flaw with this game, and something I admit I miss from GW1. I farm ‘x’ and I get ‘y.’ Maybe not lots of it. Maybe it takes me ages to do it, but I could do it.

Granted, I didn’t think it was that big a deal with GW2 before, but I have come to feel otherwise. I think their heart was in the right place with the initial design, but I miss being able to really farm for a specific thing (not something I though I would ever say). Still, perhaps with the coming map bonus rewards, we might see a bit of an..easement…in that frustration.

Wouldn’t one of the major differences be the lack of an ingame trading post in Guild Wars 1? Without a trading post it was too inefficient to sell or buy your items by spamming WTS/WTT, which means the game must offer the items through targeted farming or no one could reasonably get them. With the addition of a trading post, that means farming can become more diffuse and people can play one part of the game while still getting what they need, by slow acquisition or selling what they don’t need and buying what they do.

One could argue that this very diffuseness makes the trading post more active and better. If you can get exactly what you need by farming directly, then you don’t need to buy it and the items that you put up for sell, will sell more slowly and at a lower price as other people don’t need them since they also will be getting what they want through farming.

That’s a valid argument, but that’s not the perspective I was looking at it from. Yes, you can play whatever you desire to play and still be able to acquire anything you may so desire, because gold is king. Nothing wrong with that, in the sense you’re approaching it from.

Well, except for the terrible loot drops and the fact that you never really get anything of value. Which is why when people ask “how do I make gold” people respond with speed clearing dungeons, playing the tp, etc. Want t6 mats? Spend laurels on heavy crafting bags or farm gold and buy them off the tp.

While it’s nice that those options are there, they shouldn’t necessarily be the “only viable option.” If people want to go farm ‘x’ to get ‘y’ then that option should be viable too, but its not presently. It sort of comes back to that “play how you want” thing…

Prototypemind.4026:

The point was more that you can’t go out and directly farm what you need for many of the items in the game.

That is definitely a flaw with this game, and something I admit I miss from GW1. I farm ‘x’ and I get ‘y.’ Maybe not lots of it. Maybe it takes me ages to do it, but I could do it.

Granted, I didn’t think it was that big a deal with GW2 before, but I have come to feel otherwise. I think their heart was in the right place with the initial design, but I miss being able to really farm for a specific thing (not something I though I would ever say). Still, perhaps with the coming map bonus rewards, we might see a bit of an..easement…in that frustration.

Personally I love the dragon’s size. Leave it as it is.

(Still laughing at the Mushu reference. That was cute)

I’m also in a similar mind set as Vayne.

I don’t dislike DE2. Yes, alternate story options exist, but I’m not the one writing the plot. To me, they aren’t any better or worse than Rurik, Togo, or Kormir from the first game. Trahearne and DE1 slot into that general role as well.

TrendMicro has no issues with it either. We don’t use this for GW2, but we have used it for other things. Honestly, I hate AVG. It used to be a decent virus protection, but it has gone to kitten over the past several years, especially if you’re using AVG Free. If you’re using a paid version of AVG, OP, I might recommend looking at using that money on a better option.

aspirine.5839:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I like how everyone automatically assumes they do no QA, or very little QA work on their patches.

People, kitten happens. Environments are not always 100% the same (even when they are supposed to be). The project I just came off of had 4 environments, including prod (dev, test, prod like (supposed to be an exact duplicate of prod down to the data), and prod). There were several releases where everything tested perfectly in test and prod like, then hit prod and went to kitten. And our QA’s had 100s of test scenarios, including regression. Gotta love development….

I’m in software development myself, so I gotta say this. Your team is pretty kitten

Lol, then I guess every team and every company I’ve worked for must be kitten, because this aint the first time I’ve seen these issues in the 8 or so years that I’ve been doing development.

Granted it probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near as bad if we had control over the servers, the tech being used or any real decisions in general, but we’re just contracted out. XD

I like how everyone automatically assumes they do no QA, or very little QA work on their patches.

People, kitten happens. Environments are not always 100% the same (even when they are supposed to be). The project I just came off of had 4 environments, including prod (dev, test, prod like (supposed to be an exact duplicate of prod down to the data), and prod). There were several releases where everything tested perfectly in test and prod like, then hit prod and went to kitten. And our QA’s had 100s of test scenarios, including regression. Gotta love development….

Just a flesh wound.3589:

rainbow.4695:

I have email authentication, is that the same think?

No, I don’t think so. This is something that gives you a code and you type that code in another place (the Guild Wars 2 log in screen for the Windows version).

Correct, it’s not the same.

Rainbow, go into “My Account” under ‘Services.’ Then go to the “Security” tab. On the left hand side, click on 2-Step Authentication and follow the instructions to set it up.

Just did this myself (had to download a couple of apps on my phone for it, but meh). Lets see if I can remote into my system at home and log in to check…

Edit: And there it is. Cool.

As long as information keeps coming, that’s all I care about.

I keep checking twitter on occasion, and I typically add them to my “backgrounds” folder. So I’ll try to toss is up here for you. I know someone probably will even if I don’t.

I’ve been around since the betas, and when I do have time to log in, I still have plenty to do. I’m lvling a sylvari ranger (my third ranger), an asura guardian, and I just rolled a charr ele. What can I say? I enjoy building them.

Unfortunately, life just keeps getting in the way and I only have a couple of hours to play on the weekends anymore.

Edit: I should probably add that I have a slot set aside for the first of the 3 revenants I have planned. I’m also attempting to get better at pvp, when my ping allows for it. And I still have yet to get the dungeon master title, which is on my “to do” list. Just the tip of the ice berg…

Aenesthesia.1697:

Basandra Skye.4031:

Part of the problem is that people took the manifesto, and other comments, out of context and read them as, and I’m going to paraphrase this, “the word of god from the mouth of god.” A very good example is just how much people improperly assumed things regarding a precursor “scavenger hunt” and basically would riot every time a patch came out with no info.

“Because, like Guild Wars before it, GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun(…)”

how is this possibly taking things out of context? it says what it says. You can argue that the context was anet trying to sell us the game, so they are hyping the product as much as possible, deviating from the real game as much as possible, but they still said what they said and they fed us so much BS before the game was launched, that their credibility is zero at this time.

I guess that the context you refer to is: “they are a company trying to sell the game so of course everything they say will be a lie”

No, that particular passage isn’t taken out of context, nor is it false.

However, there are other things taken out of context from the manifesto repeatedly, which where clarified. The line about killing a boss only to have it respawn 10 minutes later is one such line. It was clarified that Ree was talking about the personal story, not the open world; however, people still misuse it regarding respawns in the open world.

smh

Really? This kitten again?

Call me a “fanboi” or a “white knight” all you like, but guess what. The very simple fact of the matter is that if you don’t like the way Anet is designing thier game, then you are always free to go play something else. No one is forcing you to be here.

“But I paid…” yeah yeah. People pay for concert tickets, go, and the singer ends up being kitten live. People buy console games, start playing them, realize they aren’t as enjoyable as they thought they would be and get stuck with a game they’ll never play. People purchase tickets and attend a movie only to find that the best scenes where in the trailers. In some of these cases you might be able to get a refund; however, not in the majority of them. Life doesn’t come with refunds, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes we take a chance, make a gamble, and it doesn’t pay off. If you purchased GW2 and you don’t like it, well, you took a chance and it didn’t pan out. It’s not the end of the world.

I am not, in any way, telling people not to voice their opinions regarding what they like or don’t like. About what they might like to see changed or things they might like to see come into the game. That’s normal and healthy. It also helps Anet get a feel for what their players want; however, keep in mind that person A and person B might not necessarily desire the same things. So Anet has to make decisions regarding what the players want versus what they already have planned. We might not always agree with their decisions, the gods know that I sure as hell don’t, but it’s not our call to make in the end. We are not the ones in charge. We never were.

Edit: @Galen, very well said

In pve, I typically use glyphs, arcanes, and signets. At least for the open world. I may occasionally slot in a conjure or a cantrip as needed for a dungeon or a world boss, but I don’t use them as a standard in my “every day” play.

In pvp, pretty much cantrips all the way.

As for elites, I’m typically either running the glyph elite for it’s summon or a racial elite. Just depends on what I’m doing.

Silv.9207:

I’m the only one that think that Tempes will be good?
I’m the only one happy about the warhorn? (not the expected weapon but it will have very good AoE effects and visual effects)

No, you’re not the only one.

Personally, I’m not unhappy. I’m just reserving any sort of final judgement until I can actually try it.

I’m fine with Feel the Burn personally.

Eye of the Storm and Aftershock as shouts feel a little weird, but I guess it will depend on how the character says them and if anything else is said with them. I’m not sure what else they could have called them given what they do.

Flash Freeze, I’m iffy on. Simply “Freeze” might have been sufficient, but again it will depend on how its said and what else is said (if anything).

Azel.4786:

Kodiak.3281:

But stream in 3.5 hours! I can’t wait to be able to factually discuss the new Tempest skills/traits and this ridiculous, “Wait and see!” argument no longer can be used.

Wouldn’t get my hopes up. Next argument will be “numbers aren’t final! Let’s wait for the release before bashing on it! Trust ANET guys!”

I wouldn’t necessarily say “trust anet,” they are human after all and we all known how fail-able humans are. “To err is human”

Still, I would say take what you see with a grain of salt. There are a lot of factors we don’t know, of which the numbers are just one. We haven’t had a chance to play it in a beta to get a feel for it. We don’t know what to expect from HoT content, either typical open world or their ‘challenging group content.’ We have some pieces to the puzzle. Enough that we can tell what the picture is, but not enough to determine if it is totally fugly.

If they approach elite specializations similarly to how they approached the recent play testing of the revenant, we could see some interesting tweaks to them based on beta feedback. However, that remains to be seen.

By the lore set forth in the kitten game, groups as [small] as five people can be considered to be a guild. Otherwise the “famous adventuring guild” Destiny’s Edge is in fact not a guild, which kittens up their own lore. They should really keep that in mind when setting arbitrary number “requirements” for these types of things.

Edit: Stupid fracking filter.

Definitely recheck chantry.

Definitely recheck starter zones, with some of the recent changes I had to go pick up a few things on them to get them back to 100% as well.

After that, yup, just scroll over each map name and check to see if anything is missing in the completion pop up.

Hero points are points you spend in the “training” tab to unlock both skills and traits now. By the time you reach lvl 80, your character will have enough Hero points to unlock all skills and traits from the core game. (Essentially they replace half of the functionality that skill points used to serve.)

In the core game, we have 5 trait lines, which are now referred to as core specializations. You can equip a max of 3 at any one time. However, unlike the old trait system where you would not have enough to points to ‘max out’ 3 lines, we now can. You will get 1 adept, 1 master, and 1 grandmaster in all 3 lines that you take, the downside is that you are limited to the 3 traits available in the given tiers. You cannot use say, 3 adepts, any longer. However, many traits have been revamped – rebalanced, merged, moved, even removed and rolled into the class as a baseline feature.

I understand where you are coming from, OP. The world used to be a much, much different place. Even just 10 years ago…..

Congrats on your first home purchase. I’ve been in mine for just about 6 years now, and let me tell you, the maintenance can be a nightmare. I’m trying to replace carpeting, and siding, and doing a fresh layer of shingles on the roof (cause that’s due). Unfortunately, that all needs to go on hold, because my sweet girl (my dog) needs surgery. No good deed goes unpunished I guess.

On that note, given that I own a home in real life that I have to care for, I don’t particularly want one in game too. I wouldn’t mind additional functionality for our home instances which we could earn through assorted collections and quests, but I think an actual “house” might be a bit much. I have other things that I’d prefer to have them invest time into. Still, I’m not going to tell someone they shouldn’t want it, or shouldn’t like that type of play.

She’s holding a dagger, not a sword. I believe that is the mistforged dagger that you can get from wvw.

I main ele. I don’t see this elite as useless. Just situational, but that can be said for most elites.

Do I find it sort of mild? Yes

Will it require a modicum of communication within your team? Yes, but this is not a bad thing. Actually, we’ve been asking specifically for things that will incentivize us to work more as a team, instead of just spamming the auto attack.

Does this require voice coms? No. Even in my casual play, we ctrl+click timewarp and such before we use it (since we don’t use voice), so people in the group know it’s coming. Depending on the range of this elite, we should likely have enough time to pop it before the timewarp or a warbanner drops, and if we let the person using those skills know that we’re going to pop it, they can watch for the effect to pop up on their bar before they drop their skill.

NO!

NO!

Let me say it again… NO!

GW2 is not about stat climbing. They nearly did themselves in when they brought ascended into the game just months after it launched. Especially considering the game has always (and continues to be) marketed as cosmetic based. Those are your “end game” goals, not getting that next tier of gear.

We get it, you don’t like the legendary skins, and that alone isn’t enough for you to want to chase them. A lot of people don’t, and yes that is a bit of a problem considering what legendaries were intended to be – the long term, end game cosmetic grind. Thankfully more are coming with HoT, and you can’t just buy them on the TP. Hopefully they have lots of nice skins that will appeal to a lot of people and will give them that carrot to chase, which they so desire.

But please, for the love of all six gods, NO. MORE. POWER. CREEP. We have/had issues with that because of ascended. We’re going to have issues with it because of the new specs and their required balancing. Let’s not add to the pile.

Yes, that is her hand above her head, as she channels lightning. Her pinky, ring, and middle fingers line up, and her index finger comes slightly further back, and then as you come down below the lightning strike, you have her thumb. This is not an unusual pose, nor are her fingers “abnormally long.” The twist to her wrist would be mighty uncomfortable though, at least it is for me.

OP, as I stated in the other thread, Anet will not do it.

Yes, we may see some type of internal struggle via some extra dialog for a Sylvari player character, but Anet will never actually let the player character turn evil.

Yes, if they did allow it, it could open up some limited open world pvp options, but it wouldn’t be what open world pvp advocates are actually looking for. As such, they still wouldn’t be happy, which would produce just that much more whining. All the more reason for Anet to not bother in the first place.

arenta.2953:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Yeah….she says that, but they’d never actually do it. I’m sure they’ll do additional conversations, and maybe even some mildly dark internal struggle, but they’d never actually let the player character turn (and remain) evil.

(Feel free to make me eat those words Anet, I dare you )

if they make us eat those words
i gonna be so happy xD

that would be such a sweet taste. all of a sudden sylvari characters can have the choice to play the story against the forces of Tyria

I’d be perfectly ok with eating my words. But it’s extremely unlikely that they would let a character go full out evil, as I said.

arenta.2953:

and maybe when mordremoth dies, you return to normal

That’d be a cheap way out. Would rank right up there with WoW’s DK’s “change of heart” for “easy button.”

If they go the route of letting player characters become evil, they should have some additional story / quests / events to cleanse those characters to return them to our side. Including letting us kick their tails, and tada…open world pvp (with limited scope).

Yeah….she says that, but they’d never actually do it. I’m sure they’ll do additional conversations, and maybe even some mildly dark internal struggle, but they’d never actually let the player character turn (and remain) evil.

(Feel free to make me eat those words Anet, I dare you )

I don’t see how the latter contradicts the former, honestly. Nor do I feel there is any broken promise here.

The principles remain largely intact, this is true by what we’re seeing. This also meets the requirement of the first statement by changing the basis of how we play an ele. Now we are rewarded by staying in a given attunement for a specific period of time, in order to overcharge that attunement, instead of swapping all the time. Using that overcharge then locks us out of that attunement if we swap out of it, for 15-20 seconds ,or we can choose to not swap so as not to be locked out. We’re going to have more emphasis on timing and decision making, instead of just following a standard rotation where we’re basically swapping as attunements recharge.

Beyond that, they never said that those fundamental changes would make for drastic differences in how we play.

Ayrilana.1396:

You may get a 2H weapon with the next elite specialization.

Melee staff

Since they seem intent on sticking us in the front line.

Why do people choose to do anything?

Either because they enjoy doing it, or because they have to in order to achieve ‘x’. That’s all these types of questions boil down to.

Why do you play pve?
Because I enjoy it. I find it relaxing

Why don’t you play guardian?
Because I don’t enjoy it

Why don’t you pvp?
Because, generally speaking, I don’t enjoy it . Though, I do dabble on occasion

Why don’t you wvw?
Because I don’t enjoy it. I find it frustrating and boring.

Why do you work every day?
Because I have to pay my kitten bills.

See what I mean?