Guild Wars 2

I really like my female Norn ranger – first character I created. And she’s not particularly muscular.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

I have tons of screenshots, but i’ll just add one for now, too tired lol. This is a shot from Dry Top in the Oasis.

I really like this shot. Please show us more of yours.

Aguri.2896:

Here are some of my favorite screenshots that I’ve taken. I really like the detail that goes into the landscapes of GW2 and it’s sky. I spent a long time never looking at the sky, but now I do and it’s amazing. Sorry they’re all different sizes, I play in a window and sometimes I snag the edges while playing.

Aguri I agree about GW2’s landscapes and sky. I like all your picture but I really like your second picture – the moon and the clouds, the barren trees, the pumpkin, the lanterns and the little pet traveling down the road. Very atmospheric and perfect for this time of year. Also like that you got a picture of your Asura falling. Great shot.

zenleto.6179:

Lazuli.2098:

I was on picture taking spree today while completing various zones on several of my characters:

Love the second one, and the last two are very nice also. That second one looks like the complete opposite of the landscape I posted on page one.

Thanks. Glad you liked them. I had to go back and check out your landscape. They may be completely different but equally beautiful. There’s something peaceful and quite about the landscapes in the snow covered Shiverpeak zones. Did you take your screenshot in Lornar’s Pass during the time that LA was being invaded? I miss those balloon ride shortcuts between the 3 camps.

I don’t take many pictures in the Ascalon areas but today the sky was so blue and the afternoon sun glowed golden pink through the haze from the Branded areas in Blazeridge Stepps.

DaveyC.4398:

…
I think the point I am trying to make with this post is that most people who are moaning about the changes are not new to MMOs or GW2 and should think about what it would be like to start this game with no understanding of the mechanics or MMOs in general.
…

I am one of those players “moaning about the changes”. I was completely new to MMOs when I started playing GW2 2 years ago. Loved it from the beginning – not so much now.

I was on a picture taking spree today while completing various zones on several of my characters:

Liewec.2896:

expect to see every single female character using the super sexy Raiment of the Lich ;-3

I hope not. The boots are ridiculous.

What was done to GW2 with the new trait system, new NPE and nerfed starting areas would be analogous to a car company changing the design of the finely tuned engine of a sports car to try to get more people to buy the model. Because not everyone who test drove it bought it and some reasons given were because it was too hard to drive. Instead of maybe redesigning the console displays or making a policy that all potential customers would have a salesperson/instructor accompany them on a test drive they started mucking with the way the car ran and handled.

The new version of the car no longer displayed RPMs on the console until the odometer had reached 5000 miles because it would be too confusing for those who had never seen one before. (Of course suddenly having RPMs show up on the console at 5000 miles seems to be more confusing to me.) Until 2000 miles on the odometer no manual gears above 3rd could be used and reverse couldn’t be used until 1000 miles. A governor was employed to keep speed down below 40 miles per hour until 7000 miles. On top of all that they disabled 2 of the spark plugs so not all cylinders where being used and then tried to get their mechanics to get the timing right.

You don’t even have to drive the new version of the car to realize that it would not be as much fun as driving the old version. It doesn’t make sense to expect even new customers, who had never experienced the joy of driving the old version of the car, to like driving the new version.

The tricky part of the Black Citadel is mainly the many-leveled central core. The mini map is divided into only two or three levels so it’s hard to tell where some of those POIs, etc are and how to access them since they don’t actually fall in those levels shown.

When getting the POIs, WPs, etc in that area of the Black Citadel I use the same technique that I use in solving a maze – always go right (or left, but only one direction depending if you want to move clockwise or counter-clockwise through the area) and explore every nook and cranny along the edges.

Exeon.4358:

So basically the changes made to improve gameplay on a casual level are hated by the regulars and casual players alike

By some (most?) but not all.

ipan.4356:

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So once you hit level 80 and are fully outfitted in exotics, go back to Queensdale and kill bandits in the bandithaunt caverns.

Tell me how challenging it is.

A lot less now that they have nerfed all mobs in starter areas. I have been going back and completing all starter areas on my characters (all 80s) and it is not as much fun as it used to be.

With this new leveling process if you ever expect to get 100% map completion, do all starter areas as soon as possible else it will be boring. It used to be you could go back and fill in starter areas later or play in starter areas with low level friends but I wouldn’t recommend it now.

I have leveled all 8 professions to 80. I’ve noticed the ones that I enjoy playing the most are the ones I’ve experimented the most with their traits. Some professions I hardly bothered with their traits, or at least not fully researching coordinating their traits with their skills, with their weapons, etc. I wonder if this new trait/leveling process will foster a whole crop of players with underdeveloped characters.

Beldin.5498:

Labjax.2465:

The trait changes weren’t part of the NPE

I think they made the trait gain even more a pita with the NPE …
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Agreed. No more alts for me. “Just say no” to new character slots.

Mesmer is the most fun for me (I have 3). I enjoyed leveling them although my last one not so much since she was leveled after the April trait change even though her traits were grandfathered in. With the changes since April a mesmer would be a lot less fun to level.

Next I like elementalist. Then ranger. I have a special fondness for my ranger since she was my first character created. My fourth favorite is guardian. Then comes engineer, then warrior. Then necromanacer and last is thief. Even though all are at level 80 some I haven’t really explored their full potential mainly because their style just didn’t appeal to me.

Hamfast.8719:

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I guess I was hoping for more of a PvE use, or something that actually helped on Jumping Puzzles maybe.

Blink was very handy for the JP in Cubular Fells. Could be used to get past the spikes but also to get past one of the teleporting sparks to avoid the more difficult jumping section.

Also useful in Loreclaw JP when the rocks fall down on the stairs.

Really any JP with traps.

Some pictures from DryTop:

rhapsody.3615:

…
Anyhow, in conclusion and keeping in mind “for someone who is not super skilled, or has great reaction’s or ping/latency – my ping/latency to GW2 server’s is not great, and I have bad eye-to-hand coordination and bad reflexes.” – I think necro would be your best option.

I agree, even though my favorite profession is mesmer with elementalist as runner up.

Odokuro.5049:

…in my many years of gaming, one thing holds true, people are never happy unless they have something to complain about…

I never complained about the old version of GW2, in fact I used to praise it here and in other forums. But after the April trait change and now this NPE thing I am not happy with the state of the game.

Conncept.7638:

Lazuli.2098:

Zolan Lasarus, necromancer:

Was this meant to look like a tiny Radagast? He just needs a beard.

Not really. I had to look up to see what a Radagast was. : ) Recently I realized I could go to a BL armorer to get an exchange for the missing town clothes. I got this hat and a pair of devil’s horns. I decided to try the hat on this character. I think he looks like a gnome.

Zolan Lasarus, necromancer:

To help you decide:

ranger – medium armor, medium HP
thief – medium armor, low HP
mesmer – light armor, medium HP

weapons:

ranger – 2-handed: LongB, ShortB, GreatS
MainHand: axe, sword
OffHand: axe, dagger, torch, warhorn
Underwater: harpoon gun, spear
Total – 11

thief – 2 handed: ShortBow
MainHand: dagger, pistol, sword
OddHand: dagger, pistol
Underwater: harpoon gun, spear
Total – 8

mesmer – 2 handed: GreatSword, Staff
MainHand: scepter, sword
OffHand: focus, pistol, sword, torch
Underwater: spear, trident
total – 10

Special abilities:

ranger – pets
mesmer – shatter of illusions
thief – steal

Combo fields

Ranger can create 6 different kinds of fields but mainly works with fire, poison and water.
Thief can create 4 different kinds of fields but mainly works with poison and smoke.
Mesmer can create 2 different kinds of fields but mainly works with ethereal.

Good luck deciding which fits you best.

Vayne.8563:

…
As far as I know, no one in my guild liked the trait changes, though.

Edit: You know, I think that it’s more than that. My guild is casual and I think most players are casual. And most casual people don’t post on forums. So my casual guild, which mostly doesn’t post on forums like the changes.
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These two statements contradict each other.

If you read the first line of my opening post you’ll see this thread is about how the trait changes effected the leveling process, removing the fun. The 9/9 NPE changes didn’t help it at all. It doesn’t matter if the leveling process is faster or slower if it isn’t fun. If enough players who used to buy character slots and inventory slots and boosters and BLTP keys for those characters with real money no longer find the leveling process fun then Anet will be loosing revenue.

This post was mainly discussing which veteran players are more likely to spend real money in the gem store and which players are most unhappy with the changes over the last 6 months. Since I think they are mostly the same group I think Anet has made a mistake.

Did Anet shoot themselves in the foot with the changes they made to traits and the rest of the leveling process?

There are 2 types of veteran players at polar opposites to each other. The first type does not enjoy leveling, finds it a grind, can’t wait to get to level 80 so they can compete in difficult challenges and enjoy farming for gold and rewards. Second type enjoys leveling, the whole process was fun. When they get to level 80 on a character they want to start a new one so they can do it all over again. They find farming for gold and rewards a grind. Most of us are probably somewhere between these 2 extremes.

The first type are not likely to have as many alts as the second type and when they buy character slots and other things from the gem store they usually have enough in-game gold. The second type is more likely to buy gems with real money since they don’t farm for gold as much. And since they buy a lot of character slots they spend a lot of real money on enhancements for their characters and to convert into gold for crafting.

The first type is more likely to not be bothered by the new trait and leveling experience since supposedly it goes by faster. The second type finds the new changes have ruined the fun and enjoyment of leveling so no point in buying any more slots. These changes have alienated the veterans who used to funnel real money into the game.

Will the new players cover the lost revenue?

zenleto.6179:

I’ll choose Kellgis for this.

He smells like clean mountain air, rocks, earth, and pine trees….after a wash. Before that he’ll absolutely reek from running around in his heavy armour all day.
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LoL. Well at least his armor is well aerated. It would be easy for him to bend down, grab two hands full of snow and scrub his armpits. Maybe bending down would not be that great an idea. What’s he wearing under his kilt?

Sarabande.8260:

…
describe for me in great detail what your character would smell like? It is best if you can take the time to accompany your answer with a screenshot of your character.
…

Aurora Wildborn is a ranger of the Shiverpeaks who as an agent of the Order of Whispers moves through the forest as inconspicuously as possible. She is most often accompanied by one of her cats. Her smell is a blend of sweat, wood smoke and the scent of the local flora. Which note predominates depends on the requirements of the current situation and how long it’s been since her last soak in a tub or a hot springs. Aurora likes to submerge herself in a warm bath at least once a week but that is not always possible when she’s on one of her missions. Then a “sponge bath” using water steeped in conifer needles or other predominant leaves of the area will suffice. It even helps her scent blend in.

Oops, forgot the picture.

Also there is a cap on how many AP you can get from dailies and from monthlies, although these caps are quite high.

If you want more AP you can also get them from completing other achievements such as jumping puzzles, personal story steps, living story achievements, etc.

Both swords look good but I’d go with the one on the right – the bottom embellishment of the sword mimics the gold trim on the bottom of the tunic (not sure if that is part of the coat or the pants).

Thanks all. I mistakenly thought that the level 500 craftsman had to be the one to use the Mystic Forge. But since the advanced blades ruby backpack was already soulbound to my mesmer I was trying to un-soulbind it.

But instead I just transferred the other ingredients to my mesmer and she used the forge:

I have a ranger with level 500 leather worker who has
250 blade shards
1 vision crystal
1 gift of blades

and a mesmer with soulbound advanced spinal blades of ruby.

Is the only way I’m going to be able to upgrade the advanced spinal blades is to use the upgrade extractor on them first? Will that un-soulbind them so that my ranger can get them in her inventory?

Malkavian.4516:

…but either way, it’s not too bad of a change. I can’t say I like it however, but it’s harmless.
…

But is it harmless? Once you bow your head and accept restrictions to previous freedoms you are more likely to do the same the next restriction that comes along. And so on, until you have lost all choice. And this in a game who’s mantra was “play the game the way you want”.

What happened to get the game we so loved into this situation? Here is my speculation.

Well a different version of the game was released in China and now they want to make both versions of the game the same so they only have to maintain one code base. If that is the case why did they make a different version for the Chinese to begin with?

I gather that they weren’t retaining these new players so they did some polling to find out why. I would guess it was because the new players didn’t know what they were supposed to do.

This could be because of
1. players new to MMOs
2. players used to different kinds of MMOs
3. people used to more direction and restrictions from authority figures and not used to “do it your way”

I think a real tutorial could have been made to actually teach and explain the basics of the game, could also be used to dispel some false expectations of players from other MMOs and could give some ideas for how to proceed and what some of the goals could be. Adding such a tutorial could have been beneficial to new players here on EU and NA servers too.

If they had added a tutorial, enhanced some of the game interfaces such as collections, wardrobes, free trait re-trait, BLTP, etc but left the actual game play (EDIT: including leveling, traits, starter worlds, etc) the way it was then they wouldn’t now be trying to force a more restrictive play style geared to another culture down the throats of players who were used to the freedoms of the previous game.

One of my mesmers has a superior sigil of speed on one of her weapons. It gives 20 seconds of swiftness (33% increase in speed) for each kill. Stacks in duration so after a big fight she’s got speed for a long time. If she’s running through some area and needs speed I have her kill some random creature. A huntsman can make the sigils of speed.

A very informative thread. Thanks

cheshirefox.7026:

i’m knut whitebear and i approve this message

:)

zenleto.6179:

It’s my favourite map. Even all my non-Norn do that map first.

I haven’t got many screenies in my current folder. Bjarni’s new area, before and after. Those poor snowpeople were looking for the way to Mt Maelstrom. I wonder if they ever got there in one piece…

Love your pictures.

I like the Shiverpeaks a lot too, especially Wayfarer’s Foothills. And even though the Grove is beautiful and Divinity’s Reach too, there’s just something special about Holbrak.

I was trying to keep my guy out of the pictures to get just scenery by using /sleep but it was more difficult than with my Charr. So I decided to try this potion in my inventory thinking he may be turned into a small creature that wouldn’t intrude into the pictures. He turned into a bird that was right in the middle of the frame. Flying was kind of fun though so I tried to reach the vista but when that didn’t work I though I would fly into the Jotan camp to get the POI hoping they wouldn’t notice this bird. They noticed.

I decided to take my necromancer, Zolan Lazarus, on an adventure in Wayfarers’ Foothills since he hadn’t been there before.

If the profession trainers in the starter areas serve no real function then they should be removed. As is they cause confusion.

The problem is we can no longer play the game we paid for – fundamental parts of it have been changed beyond recognition. Bug fixes and enhancements are fine but the whole process of leveling and developing a character have been mangled and needlessly hampered. The story has been chopped up, starting areas are boring and many parts of it have been neutered. And all of this for more new player retention based on some metrics. (I’d like to know who was polled.)

Can Anet, or whoever, really think that players who were used to a certain amount of freedom in choosing how to play would be happy with such restrictive changes that also drained all the fun out of leveling and developing a character? Because the game for a new character seems so much more boring will these changes really result in retention of new players? A simple tutorial would have helped more I think and would not have ruined the existing game and alienated their established customers.

This poll: an example of metrics.

Loved it. Thanks for sharing.

Let me start off by saying that mesmer is my favorite profession and thief is one of my least favorite. I have 3 mesmers and 1 of each of the others, all at level 80. Even though my thief is at level 80 I really don’t understand how to play it that well. I only learned enough to get by, never really investing much time in exploring its intricacies. I might like it better if I did.

With the mesmer I just seemed to have fun from the beginning. Even though I learned the skills for all the weapons (and mesmer as well as guardian can use the most different weapons after the warrior) I favored different ones at different times. Although all professions can use ranged weapons as well as melee most are not that good in ranged. I like using both with a mesmer.

Mesmers also have some fun skills and interesting traits. And here is were the problem is. Leveling a mesmer now will be much more difficult since traits and skills are pushed back to higher levels.

No one but you can decide which one will appeal to you more.

Redenaz.8631:

I wonder if Cragstead (Shiverpeaks) and Dry Top (Maguuma) count for the “Explorer” achievements. I wouldn’t expect them to, but it’s possible, and it’s possible you cleared out their surrounding areas before they were added to the game.

Good luck!

Cragstead in Wayfarers Foothills counts toward Shiverpeak. Dry Top does not count toward Maguuma (at least I don’t think so since I got that achievement before Dry Top existed).

It was brainlessly easy to win, so no real challenge. It was an easy heart in Metrica Province – easy to find and easy to do. Not sure why they removed it since it seems more in line with the dumbing down of the starter areas that occurred with this patch.

Andred.1087:

You people will never listen. I don’t know why Vayne keeps coming into these threads trying to tell you why you’re (clearly) wrong and upset about nothing, but I have to commend him for not getting absolutely furious.

I know. I can’t understand why people want to think for themselves.

Since I will not be starting any more alts (one of my former favorites things to do) I have several plans. I’d like to hear what others have planned. Maybe I can get some good ideas.

My plans:

Level all my grandfathered characters to level 80 – done

Just finished this earlier this week.

100% all starter areas on all characters before they get ruined any worse – in the process

Most of my characters have 100% of the starter areas, only a few need to be filled in.

get all my characters’ story level up so they can travel to Fort Trinity via the orders’ Asura gates – in the process

Less than half my characters have their story level past 30, and some less. But I want to experience the story before it gets more ruined.

Get map completion for a couple of my characters that already have 100% of WvW

Then it’s back to exploring Dry Top, trying dungeons and fractals for the first time, etc

Since I learned about using /sleep to take panoramic pictures I want to explore to find high spots around Tyria to take some screen shots.

Continue crafting elonian leather to upgrade advanced spinal blades backpacks.

Needless
Patch
Excrement (and in case that gets censored – Experiment)

Vayne.8563:

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Now, there are a few things where the bar was moved like weapon swap and elite skill, but Anet tells us that the time it takes to get those things through actual play has remained the same. I don’t find, considering how fast the leveling goes, that I’m unlocking things any slower.
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Then there is no benefit in putting them behind a leveling gate but only a detriment – some people rebel against new restrictions when formerly they were free.

Furyan.9578:

In the aftermath of the September patch I just want to post this.

http://youtu.be/FU1JUwPqzQY

…

Seeing that video reminds me about what I love about GW2 and still have – the art and visuals, the combat system, the music – but also about what is lost – the freedom for new characters to explore and play the game the way they want, at their own pace, to try different builds. Since I have not and will not create a new character under this restrictive system the negative aspects of the changes over the last 6 months do not effect me personally (at least not much). But I feel sad for the game as a whole.

Ayane Hajinmon.9165:

That’s really cool. Look like Jora from GW1. An older version of her maybe? She wearing her original armor but I never seen her wearing helm tho.

It looks similar to the helm that my Norn ranger sometimes wears:

When I took my new level 80 engineer to get 100% of Caledon Forest mobs melted like butter to her bombs and other weapons (thanks to the April nerfing of low level mobs). Too bad if there were any low level characters trying to get XP from killing mobs where she was. On the positive side she didn’t stay long in any area.

There are reasons to have smaller characters.

My male Norn guardian is the smallest I could make him. I mistakenly thought that it would make jumping puzzles easier. He seems like a midget when around other Norn.

My female Norn ranger is medium height. Don’t know exactly how many ticks since she is my oldest character (just had her 2nd birthday yesterday). She seems to fit in fine around other Norn although some of the male characters seem like giants.

I made my female Charr engineer as small as possible too and it also doesn’t seem to help with tight situations like jumping puzzles either.

I made my Asura female mesmer as small as possible, with taupe colors that blend in, with a very short name (K Ki). If I were to play pvp or wvw again I would use her hoping that it would be harder to tell her from her clones and harder to see what skill she was going to use.

I like Varg’s look except I think the hood color is too dark so that it stands out in comparison to the rest of his armor.

I have two Norn – my vigil guardian, Jan Elkjar, and my ranger of the order of whispers, Aurora Wildborn. She is dressed to blend in with most backgrounds whether it is cities or hostile terrain.