Guild Wars 2

I haven’t thought much about what we might get, or even what I’d like.

More than likely we’ll get another Birthday Booster, I’m perfectly happy with that (love these things)

We’ll probably get another experience scroll, although I think I would simply prefer 20 tomes of knowledge instead. Then we could use them with a bit more flexibility, and people that only have lvl 80s would still be able to use them for shards.

So that leaves 2 (possibly 3) open spots for stuff we could get.

A black lion ticket would be nice. Or maybe a dozen keys to use. Highly unlikely, but it’d be nice.

I’m not even going to suggest a mini, since I don’t need 17 copies of one mini.

Not sure what else I’d like honestly.

Yes, there is no release date. They have stated that they won’t have one until after we get through some more betas. They really want to get stuff to a point where we can beta it, give them feedback, and then iterate on that feedback. What they did recently with the revenant beta weekend and subsequent changes is a very good example of what they are trying to do. (And I look forward to seeing more of it)

Hmmmm…. and hmmmm again….

Definitely going to have to watch the stream now, even if it means telling my boss to shove it. XD

CureForLiving.5360:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

thelightfantastic.3061:

I really hope this style of content gets put in the older zones too.

Unlikely.

Not impossible, but highly unlikely

Well Anet has stated that they prefer to spent time and effort on new content and not updating old content.

Which is why I said it’s unlikely.

I have to laugh. The OP assumes that if we had a subscription fee, the things in the gemstore wouldn’t be in the gemstore.

Sorry, but that’s not how companies work. Going you’re route, OP, we’d end up with more of a WoW model. Subscription fee, additional purchase costs for expansions, and a cash shop.

No thanks.

Morfedel.4165:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Around 6 minutes is when he states that they never said that they didn’t want tanks and healers.

Which is funny, when one of their many mantras was getting away from the holy trinity. Although I suppose they might argue that they meant that any one class filled just one role, but instead could fill several.

Well given what they have said in the past and what they continue to say, I think that was what they were going for. They are just really bad at communicating it.

Ashen.2907:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Colin stated quite plainly, not even 2 weeks ago now (POI E25), that it wasn’t that they “never” wanted tanks or healers in the game. They didn’t necessarily want “no holy trinity.”

And yet Colin did say that they did want, “no holy trinity.”

Throwing the holy trinity out the window.
(The Holy trinity) as a core game mechanic is tired.
We can do something better than (the holy trinity).
Lets not do (the holy trinity).
we have a combat system that doesn’t need (the holy trinity) and works better without it.

Colin Johanson:

“I think one of the core ones for me is taking the holy trinity [of MMO character classes] – you have your front line, you have your healer and you have your ranged character, basically – and just throwing it out the window.
We’re basically saying, listen, this as a core game mechanic is tired, we can do something better, we can do something more interesting than this. Let’s not do it, let’s try to do something else. And that’s what we’ve spent many years now perfecting and working on, and getting to the point that we feel we have a combat system that doesn’t need it and, we feel, works better without it."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-04-14-guild-wars-2-how-to-make-mmos-better-interview

Throwing the holy trinity out the window.
(The Holy trinity) as a core game mechanic is tired.
We can do something better than (the holy trinity).
Lets not do (the holy trinity).
we have a combat system that doesn’t need (the holy trinity) and works better without it.

Yeah I remember reading that once upon a time too. Yes, he said they were throwing it out the window, but again, that’s still not “we never want holy trinity in our game.” Different things. Yes, they even went so far as to rebrand the “roles” as dps, support, and control to help break us out of the traditional holy trinity mind set. It blew up in their face. Unfortunately, I don’t think they are always the best at fully communicating what they are going for. I think he would have been better off had he said that they were tossing the base set up for the trinity out the window, the tying of roles to specific class types. As opposed to simply saying what he did.

They have always said that its not that they don’t want defined roles, its that they don’t want one’s class to be what defines the role. Taking that into context with the rebranding of role names, their previous statements about trinity, etc. yeah, I see how we came to the conclusions that we did.

Glenstorm.4059:

Regarding the warhorn for us, I really hope they give us reworks to Scepter. If /W is to become a viable alternative to Staff or D/D, especially if warhorn is ranged, Scepter absolutely needs to become less clunky to use. Not to mention that warhorn is already competing with /F and /D, which are very strong weapons.

I can agree with that thought line. Scepter is probably my least favorite weapon for ele.

I wonder what kind of skills we’ll see on the warhorn. It might be nice to see skills like maelstrom, snow storm (not previously ele specific), or savannah heat come back into the game. Granted, they would have to do something pretty amazing with them to make this offhand desirable over focus and dagger.

Me likey the art. I do I do.

Absolutely cannot wait until Thursday and Friday now, as ele is my main.

I’m not going to get my panties in a bunch about getting warhorn over sword. Neither really got me overly excited, but we’ll see what they have for us.

As a side thought…I wonder if any class is getting a main hand weapon.

Mes – offhand
Necro – two hand
Ele – offhand

Ranger – confirmed two hand
Engineer – confirmed two hand

Guardian – two hand

Leaves us with: warrior, thief, and revenant.

Thief we’ve had hints at rifle or staff – two hand
Revenant we have datamining for shield – offhand
Not a clue on warrior. Some speculate dagger, but again I think that would end up an offhand, not a main hand.

Colin stated quite plainly, not even 2 weeks ago now (POI E25), that it wasn’t that they “never” wanted tanks or healers in the game. They didn’t necessarily want “no holy trinity.” It was more they didn’t want us locked into the mentality that x class = y role. Which many of us (myself included) misunderstood when they originally talked about their set up.

Playing a tank or playing a more support/heal type role is very doable in the game, it’s just not desirable because it isn’t a necessity with the current mob AI. It’s why zerk and dps are king. Colin also states that there really isn’t any challenging content in PvE that really requires the use of these additional play types; however, that is something HoT is supposed to fix.

Feel free to watch the POI episode if you haven’t: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI9PQjWoPV4

Around 4 minutes, Colin starts talking about revenant, and how additional play types like tank and healing are going to be important components for whatever this new “challenging content” is. Around 6 minutes is when he states that they never said that they didn’t want tanks and healers.

I have much <3 for the devs for this.

thelightfantastic.3061:

I really hope this style of content gets put in the older zones too.

Unlikely.

Not impossible, but highly unlikely

The stream itself starts at Noon pacific (3pm eastern), so a couple of hours out yet. As to when specifically within the stream they will discuss is…that wasn’t stated.

Edit: My guess is it will probably be the first topic of discussion, followed by the WvW stuff since that’s the order in which the blog talks about it.

I’m reserving judgement on adventures, at least for the time being. This doesn’t necessarily “feel” like it’s going to be something I enjoy, but I’m sure there will be those that do and I won’t begrudge them something they find fun. I don’t mind mini-games after all. Still, I’ll give at least a few of them a try to see how they are and make a decision from there.

dekou.6012:

Cyninja.2954:

You and I remember GW1 very differently.

You are generalizing in an almost criminal way. Yes, Dervish was severly overpowered when they were released with Nightfall. Right until the point where anet gutted the class for years to come shortly after.

There was almost no gvg meta of significant length where warrior was not being used. Especially in front line target calling, knockdown provider and single damage dealer warrior was near mandatory.

I played extensive amounts of time on a Dervish AFTER they had nerfed the class (and years later buffed up again). Most of the points you counted down were moot by then.

I think it’s pretty telling ANet had to overhaul the Dervish. It was overshadowed by Warrior so badly the only time it was used in optimized play was for gimmicky builds. Even after the overhaul, I remember loving Dervish opponents in PvE, because I was primarily a Mesmer player and could usually disable them almost too easily.

To be fair, Sin, Rit and Para all had the same issues as Derv when first released if I recall. I remember a very similar complaint to the OPs, only about Sin when Factions came out. Sin was the “developer favorite” at that time.

But, they were all a bit OP to start, then they got hit hard with nerf hammers and only later actually got any decent balancing (for some of them).

On occasion, yes I swap it in. My husband tends to use it more often than I do.

Randulf.7614:

Vayne.8563:

Bubi.7942:

I thought challenging content was already out: defeating white knights on the forum.

You’d need a better weapon, more health and at least 2 elite specializations. Keep trying though. lol

Don’t worry Vayne, remember..white “knights” get exclusive access to mounts

Gah another mount reference.

Kill it! Kill it with fire!

brently.7946:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Since I have an excel document for character tracking (it’s huge, you don’t even want to know what all is in it), I opted to use /age to get the exact date I made each character (now() – #days old) and recorded their birth date in the excel.

I have gone one step further since that point, and stuck each character’s birthday into my google “birthday” calendar (yes, I have google cal dedicated to birthdays – family, pets, friends, and now game characters lol). And that does message me.

This is a perfect example of why having in game notifications would be good. Players shouldn’t have to go through all this trouble lol. A Google calendar?! Really? That’s dedication.

Lol, well it’s not like I didn’t have the Google Cal already. It existed for family, friend, and pet birthdays already. I just added my characters to it. Cause I’m awful with dates (I forgot my own 5 year wedding anniversary this year, how sad is that?)

But yes, having the date listed with the character on the character select screen would be nice. Maybe they could slot it into the other general information that pops up on the left side when you click on one.

If you don’t care about the betas or the title, and you don’t care about the slot then waiting to buy it after it comes out (and you can watch streams and read reviews if you desire) is probably a good option for you.

IndigoSundown.5419:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Have we taken into the consideration the person that earns points both ways? They earn some in pve, then they earn some in wvw (yes you accounted for the system adjusting for what they already have), and then earn some more in pve, and then go back to earn more in wvw. Another edge case, most likely, but one to take into consideration as there are such cross-mode players out there ( like me ).

Those who play both modes would have to make the same choice as everyone else — which point-gaining option to select. Currently, one can get, I believe, 13 Hero Points in WvW, with the remaining non-leveling points only in PvE. Since those points are “extras” under the current system, they would remain extra under a new system. At that point, both-mode players would be no worse off than under the current system. They’d be able to get 13 extra points in WvW and would need to get the rest of their HP in one mode, exactly as is the case now. They’d also have the potential benefit of choosing which method they thought would be to their best advantage.

Hmm, all or “nothing” one way or the other, with some minor scenario specific compensations based on existing data. Not saying it’s a bad idea, but how loudly do you want people to scream about now being “allowed” to play their way? Cause you know they would.

ScribeTheMad.7614:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

ScribeTheMad.7614:

Two names?
I know plenty of people with 8 characters, which makes for 9 names per person.
It’s a nightmare trying to remember which names go with which account (person)

I had one guild mate that only had 6 character slots, which you would think would make it easy to remember all her names. Sadly, she only had 1 character that she actually “kept.” The other 5, as soon as they hit 80, she’d delete and reroll so she could level again…. And she never used the same name twice.

Ouch, I’d have stopped even looking at character names entirely and just gone by account name at that point.

I couldn’t even pronounce her account name. It was in old Gaelic. However, like I said previously, because I had her nicknamed in my friend’s list, I never had to worry about it. No matter what character she was on, she only ever showed up as the nickname I assigned her. (It also helped that the nicknames assigned were what everyone called those people in chat anyway)

IndigoSundown.5419:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I am also not apposed to WvW having their own means of acquiring Hero Points, and your suggestion has merit. However, considering how your system works, taking the bolded into consideration, how would it work in reverse? IE the WvW player purchases HP via this rank track, but now decides they need to do map completion for whatever reason. Do hero challenges award nothing for doing them? Are they presented as “already done”? (Which, that could pose it’s own issues). Do they get the standard hero point for doing them, thus making the cap pointless?

Should the modes be split apart and hero points acquired in pve only work in pve and points acquired in wvw only work in wvw?

There doesn’t feel like there is an elegant way to deal with this potential flaw.

Without knowing the programming side of it, it’s hard to know what would work best. Spitballing, however …

Goal: Preserve the integrity of both the HP cap and the requirements of Map Comp.

System: If HP via WvW ranks is chosen, Hero Challenges in PvE maps would still work and count/be required for map comp, but whatever command is used to cause them to “add one to total HP count” would be disabled.

Negatives: Hero Challenges in PvE would be slightly less rewarding. However, if a WvW-only player suddenly decides to do map completion, her/his goal is map completion. S/he still gets map comp rewards and the gifts. S/he would not be doing map comp to get HP, having already made the decision to get them via WvW and therefore should not be complaining (note: should not and will not are not the same). Conversely, a PvE-only player who suddenly decides to WvW would still have many reward tracks to pump his WvW rank points into, producing little to no negative impact.

Another potential flaw would be the edge-cases who decide on one way and then later (while partway done) change their preferred playstyle (they suddenly decide they no longer want to WvW or PvE). While I’m not sure that their complaint would be any more valid than that of players who changed their minds and wanted to do Map Comp, I can see them being harder to dismiss. After all, changing the current system would be about accommodation, so they’d feel justified in wanting an accommodation for their change of mind.

Yet another flaw: even if Anet were to decide to accommodate players who have no interest in leaving WvW to venture into PvE, by the time they could/would get around to it, many of these players would have already bitten the bullet, just as many in both groups ventured into an undesired mode to get Map comp done back when WvW points were required. Fwiw, though, catering to PvE only players by removing the WvW Map Comp req gives the WvW-only players a stronger case. They’re now being asked to go into PvE for both Map Comp and HP.

Have we taken into the consideration the person that earns points both ways? They earn some in pve, then they earn some in wvw (yes you accounted for the system adjusting for what they already have), and then earn some more in pve, and then go back to earn more in wvw. Another edge case, most likely, but one to take into consideration as there are such cross-mode players out there ( like me ).

Unfortunately, based on comments they’ve made about how long some things have taken to rework or fix, I’m guessing their code is neither very modular nor very clean.

ScribeTheMad.7614:

Two names?
I know plenty of people with 8 characters, which makes for 9 names per person.
It’s a nightmare trying to remember which names go with which account (person)

I had one guild mate that only had 6 character slots, which you would think would make it easy to remember all her names. Sadly, she only had 1 character that she actually “kept.” The other 5, as soon as they hit 80, she’d delete and reroll so she could level again…. And she never used the same name twice.

Since I have an excel document for character tracking (it’s huge, you don’t even want to know what all is in it), I opted to use /age to get the exact date I made each character (now() – #days old) and recorded their birth date in the excel.

I have gone one step further since that point, and stuck each character’s birthday into my google “birthday” calendar (yes, I have google cal dedicated to birthdays – family, pets, friends, and now game characters lol). And that does message me.

Most of my guild mates are on my friend’s list so that I can assign nicknames to them, then the nickname shows up on my guild list instead. That’s one work around.

It would be nice if we could assign nicknames via the guild panel without having to put someone on our friend’s list.

Sounds to me like there is a “I come from a previous MMO” issue here…

“I have better/heavier armor, I expect to win”
“I am a specific race/class, I expect to be better at ‘x’ or have more ‘y’”

Hydra Namooth.5301:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Hydra Namooth.5301:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

We are not getting any new playable races in HoT. We have known this for some time now.

I figured, but it would be cool. Hopefully some time in the future they add more.

They haven’t come out directly and said “yes we definitely will in the future” however assorted interviews with Colin give us a solid foundation on which to base such speculation. It has been stated that they looked at it for HoT, but decided that adding the Revenant would offer “more” than just a new race would. So, maybe with the next expansion.

Personally. I have always put forth that they could add new races that fit with the dragon story being told. The Kodan when we face Jormag. The Largos when we take on Bubbles. Not sure where we would slot Tengu in necessarily, but oddly I always think of tying them to Cantha somehow (although I’m well aware that only some Tribes come from there). It would help slide their story components in that way as well.

Edit: All that said, the “race” most associated with this expansion is most definitely the Sylvari.

And the Hylek of/c

lol, I was looking at it from “playable race” perspective. But yes, Hylek too. I can’t wait to check the new ones out!

IndigoSundown.5419:

While I’m not opposed to players obtaining Hero Points without having to PvE, I think there are flaws in the OP’s suggested method.

• The system is designed to have a cap on the total points available. Allowing purchase increases the total points available, essentially making the cap meaningless.
• Gold is already used for far to many things in GW2. Creating even more reasons to farm seems redundant and ill-considered.
• Rapid Gold acquisition requires far more commitment to farm than it would take to run around and click on Challenges. I can get a whole zone’s worth of points far faster than I accumulate 7 gold, for instance. This creates a discrepancy in the amount of effort to earn a single point.
• PvP only players might be getting access to Elite Specs without having to unlock. All core specs and skills are available to a new character immediately in the sPvP lobby. If ANet will depart from this stance for the Elite Specs, I haven’t heard it yet. That means that the issue only impacts WvW-only or PvP-WvW-only players.
• Farming gold is done far more easily in PvE (or in EotM which might as well be PvE). This means that you’d be designing a work-around for wanting to play WvW-only that could channel players into PvE anyway.

How would I do it so that WvW players could obtain their HP in WvW?

1. Implement a new WvW rank track for Hero Points that caps at the same number of points available via challenges. Update this number as Challenges are added to the game.
2. Adjust the number of Wvw Rank points needed so that the amount of time spent actively pursuing the total points is roughly the same. This would take some skull work and testing. Use an intern.
3. Create a one-time choice option for Hero Points over the 398 obtained for being L80. Players choose to obtain them via Hero Challenges or via WvW ranks.
4. If they choose Challenges, they do the limited Challenges.
5. If they choose WvW ranks, they get theirs by playing WvW.
6. If they already have some from PvE, the system subtracts that number (which is already in a data base) from the total available via ranks. That number becomes their new baseline.

That’s a notional system that undoubtedly has its own flaws, the largest of which would likely be resources to create and implement.

I am also not apposed to WvW having their own means of acquiring Hero Points, and your suggestion has merit. However, considering how your system works, taking the bolded into consideration, how would it work in reverse? IE the WvW player purchases HP via this rank track, but now decides they need to do map completion for whatever reason. Do hero challenges award nothing for doing them? Are they presented as “already done”? (Which, that could pose it’s own issues). Do they get the standard hero point for doing them, thus making the cap pointless?

Should the modes be split apart and hero points acquired in pve only work in pve and points acquired in wvw only work in wvw?

There doesn’t feel like there is an elegant way to deal with this potential flaw.

MattyP.6954:

If it’s just going to be window dressing, I’d rather them put that effort into actual content.

Based on comments made by Colin when he was discussing by they went with a new class over a new race, window dressing is exactly what new races are going to be. That’s essentially all they want them to be.

Hydra Namooth.5301:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

We are not getting any new playable races in HoT. We have known this for some time now.

I figured, but it would be cool. Hopefully some time in the future they add more.

They haven’t come out directly and said “yes we definitely will in the future” however assorted interviews with Colin give us a solid foundation on which to base such speculation. It has been stated that they looked at it for HoT, but decided that adding the Revenant would offer “more” than just a new race would. So, maybe with the next expansion.

Personally. I have always put forth that they could add new races that fit with the dragon story being told. The Kodan when we face Jormag. The Largos when we take on Bubbles. Not sure where we would slot Tengu in necessarily, but oddly I always think of tying them to Cantha somehow (although I’m well aware that only some Tribes come from there). It would help slide their story components in that way as well.

Edit: All that said, the “race” most associated with this expansion is most definitely the Sylvari.

DrDivine.5378:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Its not the first time we didn’t get something in the gemstore right after it was datamined. Look at how long it took them to get the exalted (i think that’s the one that looks similar to Anise’s attire) into the store after that_shaman found it.

Perhaps I have become too accustomed to Dulfy finding things early by about a week most of the time, such as the dragon and lion mask that came out the following tuesday after datamined.. I was really looking forward to getting the skin today, Dulfy did make a reply saying in the comments that it was on july 14th but I guess nobody knows for sure?

Only Anet knows for certain, and they sure aren’t going to tell us.

But yes, there are have been lots of things datamined previously that took more than a few weeks before appearing in the gemstore, or even not appearing at all. Those two scenarios are less frequent now than they used to be, but still occur on occasion.

Edit: And of course, there is always the possibility that it was intended to come out today and something glitched too. Isn’t technology fun?

We are not getting any new playable races in HoT. We have known this for some time now.

Its not the first time we didn’t get something in the gemstore right after it was datamined. Look at how long it took them to get the exalted (i think that’s the one that looks similar to Anise’s attire) into the store after that_shaman found it.

CureForLiving.5360:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Additionally an update to the gemstore doesn’t necessarily require a download.

Depends if the assets are in the game client or not. In the case of the butterfly wings (since you can link it in-game) yeah a download wouldn’t be necessary.

Right, which was where I was going with it, given the topic was about the wings.

Given how the cadence has usually worked, it’s likely they load 2-3 weeks of gemstore items in during each patch as needed.

If they allow you to simply buy hero points, you’re going to run into part of the same issue we had before the system change – ie, they will have little to no value because they are too easily obtained.

As it stands they essentially gutted the system with removing the necessity of hero challenges for the core specs and skills.

Additionally an update to the gemstore doesn’t necessarily require a download.

happy dance

We’re supposed to be testing the existing functionalities of the Rev in the base game. Those functionalities are “tanky” (Jarlis), “condi” (Mallyx), and “heally support” (Ventari). We do not have the dps line as yet, so yeah… your dmg output is going to suck this time around.

Yes, these types of “roles” do not necessarily fair well in the current pve environment because (let’s face it) the current mob ai is…well, sucky. Doesn’t mean its not ‘doable’ for testing, just not ideal imo.

OP I really don’t see a valid complaint here. I play ranger quite a bit myself (in fact, I have 3 of them – human, charr, and sylvari) and I have 0 issues with reflect. Have I killed myself because I wasn’t paying attention and mashed 2 on a longbow? Sure. Taught me to pay attention to wtf I was doing and what other people were using.

I feel having some type of ranger trait that allows reflected projectiles to be destroyed would be an issue in itself. Many people simply wouldn’t use it, so it would be a waste of a trait. It also offers the user an opportunity to play lazily with little consequence for their choice of actions.

I suppose I could live with them adding a ‘reflected’ word pop up although that would just add to clutter on the screen in my opinion.

smh

Reflect is fine.

You cite Wall on Guard as an issue. Here’s a thought, move your kitten . You really aren’t supposed to just stand there and pew pew. WoR and Feedback are both easy enough to maneuver around if you pay attention.

As for mesmer great sword. Skill 1 (Spacial surge) is a “beam”, not a projectile. Confusing Images, skill 3 on scepter, is similar. Skill 2 (Mirror blade) is a projectile; however, it does specifically call out that the skill in unblockable in it’s skill tips (always been this way). So…not bugs.

Yes, reflects can trivilize certain pve battles. That is not a reason to remove the mechanic though. It is however an incentive for the devs to 1) look at the strength of reflects and 2) look at their mob AI and make it better.

Given that the data for the original betas prior to launch was wiped, wouldn’t it just be logical to guess that Anet would follow the same model? They cited several reasons then for not keeping beta progression data, I would assume those reasons have not changed.

Personally, I liked LS1. I really enjoyed a lot of the content. Yes, it started out very slowly. Painfully slow, but it got better as it progressed, and it sure as hell went out with a bang. I think everyone I’ve talked to enjoyed the LA content and the Scarlet battles.

Additionally, I like LS2. I didn’t mind the temporary nature of LS1 and I think I was mildly let down that LS2 was made completely permanent. I understand the “why” behind it, and I accept it so I’m not throwing a fit about it. Still, I do enjoy the replayability of it and the story progression for each character when I choose to tackle it.

Now all that said, why did it take 3 years for an expansion?

Obviously LS was part of that. They told us repeatedly that they weren’t sure which delivery method they were necessarily going to use. They went forward with the LS, basically just trial and error. We see Anet do a lot of this honestly.

Beyond that, the other big time eater was the China release. We know that Anet spent a substantial amount of time overhauling the game to make it “China compatible.”

The time taken for those two things adds up.

As for the price of the game. shrug It’s on par with other expansion prices – between $40 and $60. Personally, I figured it would be $50 (and you can go look through my post history if you like. I’ve been saying it’d be right around that price range for months), and that’s what I set aside for it.

Arlee.7038:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Ah, see, I never bother naming my pets because names don’t stick and I swap them around relatively often depending on what I’m doing. I really hope they fix that issue sometime in the near future.

That has been fixed. Tested it out before I shelved my Ranger. Sofa King Todded stayed on my jungle cat after changing it out, shutting down the app, then opening it back up, then switching back to the jungle cat.

O.o I did this on this past Sunday and the name was not kept on my pet. I mean it would be awesome if it did actually work but I’ve never actually seen it work.

It hasn’t worked for me either. (Granted it’s been a few weeks since I last tried) which was why I mentioned it.

Hmmmmm……

It took 24 hours for my order to process before I got my keys (probably because of how much I spent). However, yes, after I entered the keys on my accounts, everything was delivered instantly.

Uhm…I run a mix of cele (chest and legs) and zerk (everything else) on my ele, and don’t have any particular issue since the change. Of course, I didn’t choose my trait trees based on the stats they offered me, but rather the traits I wanted and that hasn’t changed either. Yes, I’ve noted that have a couple thousand less health, but like I said, it really hasn’t made a noticeable difference in my play.

Granted, some type of customization option for the stats may have been nice, but I think Anet was just trying to keep things simple for their users (and themselves). That type of customization can be hell when trying to balance the game.

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

OP, you need to understand that the game is balanced around pvp. Always has been, always will be.

PvErs have never liked it, but those of us that were around in GW1 know and understand that this is how Anet works. Yes, GW2 was (supposedly) designed as primarily a pve game; however, pvp has always been the scene in which Anet has catered to. Nothing wrong with that necessarily. As such, yes, they are going to take feedback from their top tier pvp players into heavy consideration when they do balancing. Those people eat, breathe, and sleep the classes they play. As such, they should actually offer some valuable input from a balance perspective.

Yes, Anet has said that they try to look at how a change will impact all game modes before implementing it; however, until they willing start splitting skills and balancing the modes individually, expect PvE balance to always take a back seat.

Balance should be separated between pvp pve and wvw and we know they can do this BECAUSE THEY DID THIS IN GW1

Why is this game a step backwards I have no idea.

They didn’t split skills originally in GW1. Yes, as more skills started coming into the game, near the end they started to do some splitting, but for the vast majority of the skills they were not split. And they explained then, and now, why they don’t want to split skills, it complicates balancing and creates a greater work to load to do so (which, from a development point of view, I can understand that). It’s not really a matter of “can.”

Yes it is. And this is exactly a step back in development. What’s more they are already noticing (again, wow) they can’t balance this game for one mode and make it work in another. They already changed confusion to work different in pvp and pve. I hope we will finally see common sense in balancing and balance stats will be split different between pvp wvw and pve

I’m going to point it out again – the vast majority of skills in GW1 were not split. And I will point out that we have had some skills split in GW2 (and reverted). So I will rephrase – It’s not a matter of “can they do it.” We know they can.

Its not exactly a step back in development, because they are about on par with what they did in GW1. They only split a skill if they feel that absolutely have to and have no other option. Even then, if they can reasonable re-merge the skill after additional iterations, they will.

Yes, they are seeing that certain things that work in pvp don’t necessarily work in pve. Personally, I don’t like the confusion change, I think it waters it down and reduces its strategic play. I would have much preferred to see an improvement to pve foes instead, making that condition more useful. As it stands, it’s still subpar because a portion of the damage requires your slow kitten foe to use a skill and given the current state of pve it’s probably going to die before it really has a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see them have a balance team for pve and another for pvp and split the skills accordingly; however, I am also realistic enough to understand that that is not going to happen.

So, as I said before. It’s not a matter of “can.”

It’s great we can share opinions on these forums, I think it’s great you have your own opinion, I’m not angry at you because you don’t agree with me. I’m still correct, but it’s good to have diversity in our community. Have a good day sir.

Its interesting that you have zero arguments to refute my points, and opt instead for a very thinly veiled “I’m right and you’re wrong” response.

“I’m still correct” just lol

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

OP, you need to understand that the game is balanced around pvp. Always has been, always will be.

PvErs have never liked it, but those of us that were around in GW1 know and understand that this is how Anet works. Yes, GW2 was (supposedly) designed as primarily a pve game; however, pvp has always been the scene in which Anet has catered to. Nothing wrong with that necessarily. As such, yes, they are going to take feedback from their top tier pvp players into heavy consideration when they do balancing. Those people eat, breathe, and sleep the classes they play. As such, they should actually offer some valuable input from a balance perspective.

Yes, Anet has said that they try to look at how a change will impact all game modes before implementing it; however, until they willing start splitting skills and balancing the modes individually, expect PvE balance to always take a back seat.

Balance should be separated between pvp pve and wvw and we know they can do this BECAUSE THEY DID THIS IN GW1

Why is this game a step backwards I have no idea.

They didn’t split skills originally in GW1. Yes, as more skills started coming into the game, near the end they started to do some splitting, but for the vast majority of the skills they were not split. And they explained then, and now, why they don’t want to split skills, it complicates balancing and creates a greater work to load to do so (which, from a development point of view, I can understand that). It’s not really a matter of “can.”

Yes it is. And this is exactly a step back in development. What’s more they are already noticing (again, wow) they can’t balance this game for one mode and make it work in another. They already changed confusion to work different in pvp and pve. I hope we will finally see common sense in balancing and balance stats will be split different between pvp wvw and pve

I’m going to point it out again – the vast majority of skills in GW1 were not split. And I will point out that we have had some skills split in GW2 (and reverted). So I will rephrase – It’s not a matter of “can they do it.” We know they can.

Its not exactly a step back in development, because they are about on par with what they did in GW1. They only split a skill if they feel that absolutely have to and have no other option. Even then, if they can reasonable re-merge the skill after additional iterations, they will.

Yes, they are seeing that certain things that work in pvp don’t necessarily work in pve. Personally, I don’t like the confusion change, I think it waters it down and reduces its strategic play. I would have much preferred to see an improvement to pve foes instead, making that condition more useful. As it stands, it’s still subpar because a portion of the damage requires your slow kitten foe to use a skill and given the current state of pve it’s probably going to die before it really has a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see them have a balance team for pve and another for pvp and split the skills accordingly; however, I am also realistic enough to understand that that is not going to happen.

So, as I said before. It’s not a matter of “can.”

Danikat.8537:

I agree it’s not a big deal, but it does bother me because I frequently make new characters, they’re often rangers and naming the pet was just part of my ‘new character’ routine, along with collecting the ring and golem banker from the mail and dying my armour. Every time I see ‘Juvenile whatever’ I think I’ve forgotten, go to change it and can’t.

Ah, see, I never bother naming my pets because names don’t stick and I swap them around relatively often depending on what I’m doing. I really hope they fix that issue sometime in the near future.

Danikat.8537:

Also I’m a bit paranoid after playing a ranger since launch. It’s gotten better now but some people used to be extremely anti-rangers, and uncontrolled pets in particular, so even in areas where it doesn’t matter I don’t like leaving my pet to just chase after whatever enemies attacked me 1st because I feel like I’m making all rangers look bad, and allowing myself to slip into bad habits. (Similar to how I feel like I need to say it wasn’t me and I don’t even have a longbow equipped every time I see someone use knockback inappropriately.)

Valid point. I guess I’ve just gotten to the point where I just don’t give a rat’s kitten what people think anymore. It’s sad that its gotten to that point, but if people would stop just making assumptions about others, things would go so much smoother. But alas…people suck.

Danikat.8537:

There’s a completely separate cap on new accounts which is gradually lifted over time.

When you first log into a new account you’re not able to send or receive gold or items. As you play the restriction is gradually eased off, you’ll be able to send small amounts then larger ones later on, but no one knows exactly what affects it (it’s thought to be some combination of time played, the highest level character on your account and achievement points but Anet won’t say so gold sellers can’t find a way around it).

This annoyed a lot of people who bought second accounts with the intention of mailing themselves gold and items to get set up and/or mailing the login rewards to their main account.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Account#Limitations

Alright, granted if you purchase a second account to do some of the things you’ve mentioned, it would be mildly annoying. However, most of the limitations are reasonable. New accounts can receive, they just can’t send right away (not that its hard to get to lvl 6) for example.

Danikat.8537:

Similarly when you first join a guild you can’t access the guild bank, even if you have permission to do so. You have to wait (I think it’s 5 days) before you can deposit or retrieve items.

This has been in the game since launch, or very shortly after. Its 3 days, and again, its a valid restriction to have in the game (and it’s not uncommon, other games I’ve played have it too). There have been several complaints from people who invited people into their guilds, gave them vault access (like idiots), and then after 3 days ended up having their vaults cleaned out, and those new players just up and leave the guild. Its sad that we “need” such things in the game to protect us from ourselves, but apparently we do since a sizable chunk of people seem to lack the intelligence to manage on their own.

Danikat.8537:

There might also be a time-gate on joining or creating guilds, but I’m not sure about that one.

Maybe on creating, though I don’t think so. There isn’t one on joining, though perhaps there should be. Might curb some of the guild hopping, but I doubt it.

Danikat.8537:

Early on you’re locked out of some things, for example rangers can’t control their pet at all (or even name them) until they get to level 5. And you now can’t get new healing skills until you unlock your first utility slot, you used to be able to get them earlier using skill points from challenges.

I’d noticed the pet commands, though it didn’t really change anything from a low level perspective. It’s all pretty walk in the park-ish in starter zones. Those all unlocked relatively quickly given how fast you do level from 1 to 15 now, as well. And with the recent system changes, several things unlock sooner now as well. No, they haven’t gone back to launch unlock levels, but personally I think most of it is a relatively comfortable place. Like weapon swapping – was 7 at launch, was 15 with NPE (which I felt was a bit high), is 10 now. 10 feels comfortable, and can be achieved in 15-20 minutes.

I hadn’t noticed the heal skill. I’ll have to check that out when I roll my next alt (need a charr, light armor), and see if that is still the case.

Danikat.8537:

But I think a lot of the complaints about the NPE come from people who bought second (3rd, 4th etc.) accounts. A lot of things are locked completely until you get your first character to the level where they’re introduced, for example the wardrobe and minis, and the WvW and PvP menu icons are hidden (but you can still get there using the asura gates).

See, the people complaining, specifically cited that the NPE is a chore with time gating and locks for vets, which from my experience, there really isn’t much in the line of either. Yes, for vets with “new accounts” its probably mildly annoying, but it’s still not as horrid as they make it out to be. Many of the locks can be overcome in a very short amount of time, if not gone around entirely (as you already pointed out). If there were absolutely no way around it and it took hours of grinding to achieve just one level, then yes, I could see the complaint.

Danikat.8537:

There’s also time gates put in to make it harder for gold sellers to use new accounts, like a cap on how much gold you can send/receive or using guild banks.

The 500g a week cap was not part of the NPE. It came much later. Just like the previous trait system was not part of the NPE, it came before. People need to stop simply lumping things together like this.

Danikat.8537:

None of that applies to levelling alts on an existing account however.

Then they need to specify.

krzygum.4028:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

OP, you need to understand that the game is balanced around pvp. Always has been, always will be.

PvErs have never liked it, but those of us that were around in GW1 know and understand that this is how Anet works. Yes, GW2 was (supposedly) designed as primarily a pve game; however, pvp has always been the scene in which Anet has catered to. Nothing wrong with that necessarily. As such, yes, they are going to take feedback from their top tier pvp players into heavy consideration when they do balancing. Those people eat, breathe, and sleep the classes they play. As such, they should actually offer some valuable input from a balance perspective.

Yes, Anet has said that they try to look at how a change will impact all game modes before implementing it; however, until they willing start splitting skills and balancing the modes individually, expect PvE balance to always take a back seat.

Balance should be separated between pvp pve and wvw and we know they can do this BECAUSE THEY DID THIS IN GW1

Why is this game a step backwards I have no idea.

They didn’t split skills originally in GW1. Yes, as more skills started coming into the game, near the end they started to do some splitting, but for the vast majority of the skills they were not split. And they explained then, and now, why they don’t want to split skills, it complicates balancing and creates a greater work to load to do so (which, from a development point of view, I can understand that). It’s not really a matter of “can.”