Guild Wars 2

Ok now THIS is the transparency I always wanted from the devs, thank you so much for your clarification Bobby!! It’s really nice to see why there is no such thing in the game yet and what the problems are to create it. You also clearly mentioned your priorities (specifically told us the project which is in progress), it makes MUCH more sense now.

“Would I like us to provide in-game books so interested players can immerse themselves in the history of Tyria and the important characters of each release? Hell, yes! I’ve been asking for them for years.”

Thank you!! So we can’t expect it soon but you clearly want to make it happen. I wish you good luck so that you can realise this in the future.

well npcs in the area could sell keys for karma. Would be nice to have something to spend your karma on.

BobbyStein.2315:

The original plan was to have in-game books somewhat like the ones made available in the GW1 Bonus Mission Pack content. We wrote nearly 100 of them but were unable to implement them due to the book tech getting cut from development in the months leading up to GW2’s release. We may revisit the idea one day.

Hm what could be the reason to cut that book tech? Were there mission attached to it?

Danikat.8537:

to force them to buy keys and lockpicks (either as a gold sink or to force them to exchange gems for gold), that the RNG is terrible and that they’re forced to grind for the titles (lucky/unlucky).

who said that the keys should be tradeable?? Maybe it would be better to have no keys at all… finding the chests will be enough since those can’t be found with guides, once there are enough possible spawnpoints and only a small number are there at a time.

I agree, there should be more of the big jp-chests in the world, but only spawn randomly (like 3 per map from a pool of 10). This way people would be rewarded for exploring the open world instead of waypointing from champ to champ etc. There could also be zone-specific keys which drop from enemies of that zone rarely. Reason: so that you spend time in that zone doing stuff instead of farming a chest and then leaving.

I’m kind of neutral on this topic, I really would like to hear from Anet the reason why they believe that a stat bonus is good for the borderlands. On the other hand I understand how GvG teams CAN hurt a matchup by doing their thing and prevent others in the queue who want their server to win the battle a place on the map.

Is this bloodlust boon beneficial to smaller more organized teams / is it zerg-breaking, or do servers with more people always have the advantage?

BobbyStein.2315:

The scenes in outside of Ketto’s lab go into some of these details, but I agree that having additional, optional items that add more depth to the story is always a good thing. We sometimes include this type of content in our LW releases (Southsun had journals) and other times we rely on dialog.

Thanks for this reply Bobby! I really like the journals on Southsun and Ebonhawke but I’d suggest to unlock these writings in some kind of UI (like a list of entries) once found. The reason why I think this would be important is because those entries would have a certain order which makes the whole story easier to look at than small fractals of info spread around in the world. Unlockables like this will also be highly motivating to complete… people will want to get rid of all those question marks in a list in order to get more lore entries. Furthermore those optional bits will make it interesting again to explore the world (in case these are rare random spawns in some specific offroad locations).

the one thing I’ve learned: people don’t get longterm goals. They DON’T GET IT. “Ascended weapon? asap!! I want mine in 2 weeks, because it’s doable in 2 weeks. It is of course a grind.”

pah what’s wrong with people nowadays? Personally I play the game as before and accumulate the mats for an ascended weapon. When I got one… great. If I haven’t got one in a month. Why should I care?

Daelin.6782:

I don’t know if this has been suggested in the past, but I was wondering if it would be possible to animate the short stories that are posted, and have them play in-game as ‘artsy’ cutscenes when you begin the LS content?

…which would take a lot of ressources. They have few and just a copy and paste to one item which bears that text and drops from mobs would be enough for me (and probably a few others). They could slowly expand these items in the future too. (creating a bookshelf in your home instance, adding more books,…)

BobbyStein.2315:

You also have to keep in mind that we’re pacing the Living World stories such that you may not understand the full picture inside a given release. For example, Scarlet made her first appearance in August but she was hinted at in prior months. Her story has not resolved at this time, therefore we haven’t divulged some significant details about her origins or motivations. It’s understandable why some people would be upset or impatient by not getting these details all at once, but rest assured that we’re not conveniently forgetting about these tidbits—we’re just saving them for later.

hmm… well we still don’t know much about Canach and his living story chapter is pretty much over, no?

I wonder if there was any decision against releasing longer writings ingame because of the needed ressources for translation, voiceovers etc. Almost every text ingame (related to lore or events) is kept short in those dialogue boxes.

Is it that reading is considered as bad now and that most gamers skip those “pages” of text, so those “nerds” should go to the internet instead? The excuse that a good shortstory needs pictures to be strong leaves me baffled. As a teacher I would really support (longer) writings in the game to reach a much bigger audience of players. If only one out of hundred players would find the love for books by playing a videogame, this would already be a huge win.

I understand that ressources are spare though. This means that depth of the game gets lost because of the Living Story format, which makes me a bit sad.

I didn’t read the posts, just my opinion on time gating:

It’s a good decision, so that the cleft between poor players and rich ones isn’t that visible. Everyone has a chance to get the item in a fair time with dedication. Not with pure gold which everyone could buy via gems.

Thanks Anet for time gating

Zeldain.5710:

So you enjoy making a checklist then doing your chores to get your allowance each week in your video games? Not me.

The act of surprising the player is a key tenet in good game design. Currency lacks every single ounce of that.

why not having both? A random chance and token for people who have bad enough luck and don’t get it at the mathematical droprate. I mean: droprate at the dragon-tickets was (I think) so that you need 1000-2000 coffers to get one. Some guys didn’t get one after opening 6000 coffers. If those guys would have gotten 1500 token and this would have been the price for the ticket – it would have been much userfriendly.

Xae Isareth.1364:

Also, I hope theres a sever wide announcement when it shows up on any sever as well. It needs a ton of people to take down and it everyone uses a tracker.

well the options to form tequatl battalions (e.g. the finger killing group) shows up in the lfg-UI. I guess it shows only up when he is going to arrive soon, can’t confirm it though.

EDIT: man I have to be blind, those are player created. Still usefull when players post groups for dragon encounters when those are up

hollowcrown.4872:

I also think a lot of plot threads should be delved into more.

Stuff in the personal story and dungeons like the White Mantle, Cadeceus, research on Dragons, Baelfire etc. just seemed to get brought up a lot of time and then abandoned. I want more godkitten it!

I wonder if “Destiny’s Edge looking for more – Rytlock went missing” is one new thing to do in the open world, or just a joke.

http://i.imgur.com/UyJAXw0.jpg

It would be nice if sidestories would show up to learn to know more of our beloved characters.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Instead they were busy adding pretty things to their gem store.

meh go away troll statement -.-

We got tons of quality of life updates, among those the removal of culling in WvW and now also in PvE. We got the wallet, we got an achievement overhaul including new rewards for this. We got, we got, we got. Having this lfg-tool on the priority list behind these updates only makes sense. There is no seperate team which only worked on the lfg-tool for a whole year.

wait a minute… aren’t dragon encounters already a part of the new ascended crafting system? I guess you can gather mats for the generic ascended weapons only, but not the specific Tequatl ascended weapon though.

And if too few get it the event dies as not enough show up to complete it. So which is more important a few feeling special or the event remaining populated? I think the latter.

I agree. With a constant flow of tokens people will rather try it again and again than with a random chance nobody knows… precursor chance?! – I’ll give up already.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

All I can say is: it’s about time….it’s taken them over a year to develop something this crucial to an MMO, even though the community developed an out-of-game lfg system with a few weeks…pretty pathetic that this wasn’t a higher priority to them if you ask me…

they could have included a standard lfg tool (which was already on a website, so no need for that) or they bring a tool with great interesting new features like the one we saw in the preview.

Good thing takes time. I’m sure I’ll use this one a lot. Standard ones on the other hand… not so much.

it’s all about the RNG versus guaranteed rewards again. In the Living Story updates Anet learned that it’s a good choice if people with little luck can get the reward through hard work also. Why not implement this here too? Instead of fortune scraps people now get Sunless Tokens with new rewards worth working towards to.

I like the token idea very much. Imho it should be not too easy to get enough tokens though. If the chance is 1%, you really should have to gather 100 tokens to get the ascended weapon imho. There should be other rewards which are cheaper though (like exotics for 20 tokens or tonics for 5 etc. Ascended weapons are quite expensive to craft, so this should also be reflected in the amount of tokens these cost.

it this thread about a troll or about the awesome lfg tool?

best things imho:

• you can merge groups easily. If you’re in a 3 man group, 2 man groups or smaller will be listed first
• your friends and guildies will be above all other players in the register
• in the screenshots it looks like you can make groups for all kind of content (like a group for the finger-killing group – east battery at the new revamped Tequatl encounter http://i.imgur.com/UyJAXw0.jpg )

AWESOME ANET!!

I think changing most of the already existing Legendaries is not a good idea. People who crafted it for weeks/months already knew what they would get (enough Youtube videos online)… some of them crafted it because it’s exactly the way they want their Legendary.

Now we have people who spent so much time to make a Legendary of a specific look to fit their characters look and suddenly they “update” the Legendary to have a different glow at night, have footsteps when some people don’t want to be that etc etc.

They should just give the alternative option to keep the old look, people who want a shinier weapontye should wait for the new Legendaries.

hollowcrown.4872:

This world should be dark and dangerous – humanity lives in 2 cities, the Norn have been driven South, the Charr are struggling against the Dragonbrand and Flame Legion and the Sylvari are having a civil war. The world doesn’t reflect the actual lore we are told which is a big shame I think.

I think this is a great suggestion, I didn’t think about it before but now that you mention it… hell yeah you’re right. Thanks for the contribution

PS: is there lore about Baelfire outside of the dungeon too? Haven’t done all of that zone yet. Hah, played since release and only have about 70% of the world fully explored yet.

I feel that GW2 really could use more storytelling in the world, but maybe I’m wrong and I just missed most of it. I play the game since release, but hmm… there must be some decent stories, no?

so
1.) post your favourite lore-event/moment. Events which tell a nice small story or even bigger epic stories. Or just npcs who tell you something awesome you still haven’t forgot.

2.) what’s your point of view about lore in GW2s world? What could be improved and what is awesome as it is?

SkylightMoon.1980:

When exactly did Anet say they wanted to do more instanced content? Cuz id really like that.

read it again, I said quite the opposite

Anet mentioned that they want to go back from instanced content and open up such things for all players. Recently seen in the Queens Arenas where players fought in non-instanced domes where other people could watch above a huge zergfest of the farming-community.

As for the new invasion-events: I don’t feel that these are a big step forward in the story-telling department. They feel more like a big zergfest. It’s nice that they are trying to break up zergs into smaller groups, but somehow players don’t see the point in splitting up since the bigger the zerg – the more champions spawn. Losing the event has no real consequences and is not much different from winning the game.

1. It’s really awesome that Anet listened to us players in giving us a permanent event which is here to stay.
2. it’s nice that it directs all players to specific non 80, non 1-25 lv. zones because those zones are rather empty otherwise
3. I feel a bit stressed that those events are on a timer, it’s more like: rush with zerg from A to B to C and ignoring the world around you.
4. I don’t like the visibility of events on the map. Why did they do this when clearly they stated that it isn’t good to have players see events happening far away. Travelling without the use of waypoints can lead to the experience that the event is over once you’re there.

I also miss quests from other games. Not the kill 10 boars quests but some with heavy storytelling. Some DEs already have nice chains which tell stories (like the dwarven artifact chain in Lornars Pass) but these are only limited to very little background lore, short dialogues and sometimes feel a bit unfinished. (what about the secret order of whispers message “31 254 13 56”)?

please more of storytelling-events

well I don’t know about how you see it, but dragon timers feel just like skipping lv.1-19 in a jump’n run straight to the boss level 20. A lot of API-generated stuff feels like cheating to me. Seeing how many events there are… wasn’t it supposed to be a secret, while adding new events over time in a stealthy manner?

I guess you guys have good intentions, but I don’t feel like communication between teams works properly since goals seem to vary a bit.

Colin already told us that the new crafting mats (needed for crafting a Legendary) will also be available through WvW. Also Devon before here:

“The mats will absolutely drop in WvW. In addition, generally speaking, we are putting a heavier emphasis on finding long-term solutions to redressing the reward imbalance between PvE and WvW. I can’t claim they will ever be 100% equal all the time, but we would like it to never be the case that you are choosing between playing WvW and getting good rewards. The two should be one in the same.”

I think as long as they drop from not only 1 source (capping towers via zergs) it’s a good solution. Every choice of playstyle should be rewarded. The scout should have the same chance as small groups capturing camps or big zergs capturing towers. I’d also like to see defending towers being rewarded. Most of the time players stay back as watchposts and have a very important function as this… but see no reward. Quite the opposite: they see no loot and have a quite boring time. I think that these volunteers should be thought of too.

out of the blue idea: give those defending players events inside and outside of the tower they’re defending + benefits for participating. Once a player is in proximity of a tower the structure is temporary upgraded with a npc spotter who spots every non-cloaked enemy player and calls this in mapchat. This opens up the possibility for players defending to accomplish smaller tasks around the tower (like collecting event-items in order to make the tower even stronger, train the npcs in combat and shieldstance to make them stronger and more enduring vs. huge zergs etc.). This way capturing towers with a zerg becomes more difficult / challenging.

When enemy attack the tower other events start happening too: once defenders are there all the npcs get upgraded with a few new skills (invulnerability, aoe, etc.) while inside the tower a enemy npc-champion spawns and can be fought by defenders. Once this battle is successful the tower gets a bonus like a breakout npc commander who storms out of the tower and attacks the attackers with powerfull anti-zerg skills.

Yes, it’s a lot of PvE in WvW, but it’s there to make the game more interesting and fun.

my solution: every profession has an increase of movement speed, the longer you are out of combat. (e.g. every 5sec +5% until 25% are reached). Speed up the process by spending stamina from the dodge-meter -> dodge while out of combat = +10% speed + dash animation which also works as an evade

offtopic question: why is someone with swiftness boon running slower when entering combat? Shouldn’t swiftness always have the same stat-bonus?

Player Character.9467:

Have you tried playing with the options instead of using presets?…

yes… still perfect-doll Ken. Alternatives are only the Clint Eastwood face and the Liam Neeson face imho. Better alternative: Norn. (Edit: oh, Liam Neeson face is a Norn option… nevermind)

kitten ourselves? I would kitten myself much more when replacing any of my valuable utility slots with a swiftness-only signet. Seriously… Mesmers have too good utility skills

I’d go with b), but I don’t like this idea…
Maybe as an utility stat for utility slots on ascended items
Or a tier 1 minor trait for all professions. And not one where the Mesmer has to have clones

I’d love options more like these faces:

not “ugly” faces, but a bigger variety of em

Personally I use the runes which give swiftness on heals (centaur?) with the mirror-heal (very short cooldown). In combination with Signet of Inspiration (which gives a random boon, swiftness appears quite often) most of the time I run with perma swiftness.

lore / book collectibles

Stefan Larimore.6872:

I’ll be active on the forums, answering your questions, and reading feedback and suggestions. So please keep participating and let us know what you think.

Hi and welcome Stefan! My question to you: how do you think APIs help improving gameplay? I’m really confused why Anet supports people creating maps which show ongoing events etc. when ingame there is intentionally no way to show these events. I can’t see how this improves the GW2 experience. Can you help me here?

• change berserker gear
• world bosses change – longer pre-event chains which give a buff for participation which makes it possible to hurt the boss; multiple pre events at the same time (anti-zerg like events like the invasions currently)
• tons of lore-collectibles
• background stories ingame
• tons of new events all over the world, a lot of hidden ones with non-generic rewards
• new skills via. veteran-hunting (finding a certain amount of veterans per zone [checklist] spawns a champion → signet of capture → new skill)

to ease your pain a bit: Anet has opened the chance to get most of the new weaponsets you’ve missed via Black Lion Tickets. The vendor is behind the trading post in Lions Arch. The weapons are by no means easy to get, since the rarity is about the same as before, but I see those rather than longterm goals in the same category as legendaries.

how to: you get BL-weapon scraps (or rarely whole tickets) from BL-chests. Tons of those will get you your weapon. If Anet had made them cheaper, everyone who paid a lot to get one in the first place would have been screwed.

personal suggestion, if you absolutely want a specific weapon: prepare to work quite a while on it and don’t spend real money. Gold → gems over time will get you the thing. (or buy it on the TP)

most fav:
can’t decide between

• snowball fights
• modus sceleris event (one of the few new open world events I noticed besides the living story events)
• the addition of the map-pointer for achievements (giving a hint where to find JPs etc. as a decent alternative to the spot-on guides from dulfy.net)

least fav:
living story without really releasing any background story ingame but on external sources like the web-blog. Feels like stuff happening out of context all the time imho. Would it really be too much work to create an UI interface-thingy for it once and then copy&paste the blog-posts into the game (like Scarlet’s dictionary, dropped at defeat, collectible)?

Wolfheart.1938:

Wait, are you telling me that I have played this game for 1 year without knowing I can leave SPvP without using the portal to LA?

…

isn’t just relogging the character putting you back into the PvE-world?

if these had their own skills which all are less powerful than the real profession skills I’d love this. Imagine a herd of cows attacking a smaller zerg and totally wasting them.

It would pretty much affect game play a lot… not sure, but it sounds kind of interesting. WvW with night-raids having a surprise moment… O_O

It would be easy to give people the RNG element they wanted: make the Jenna Mini mystic forge-able.

I agree, this should be ingame.

Scarlet’s diary → drops when Scarlet get’s defeated in the Meta Event

later: book collectible tab
later: other books from older living story chapters drop as rare drops in the corresponding zones

Solkard.5136:

I meant as a transfer destination to make your home server.

oh I see :-/

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Jonathan, I think you guys are doing an awesome job. I hear people whining over the Ranger, but then I play some matches with my beloved Norn Ranger and it’s more fun than ever. I also love my Mesmer, started a 2nd Mesmer just because…

thanks and keep up the good work

ITT: Spirit Rangers

played that one, yeah. Then I tried trap-ranger which was also tons of fun. Now on WvW I go with crit-axe.

Solkard.5136:

Before anyone suggests TC, please be aware that it is listed as full 99.999999999% of the time. I got the game last month and spent 2 weeks trying to get on there before I gave up and went elsewhere.

what do you mean “trying to get on there”? I mean, if it’s full you’re on an overflow, I also doubt that every map is full… O_o

Jonathan, I think you guys are doing an awesome job. I hear people whining over the Ranger, but then I play some matches with my beloved Norn Ranger and it’s more fun than ever. I also love my Mesmer, started a 2nd Mesmer just because…

thanks and keep up the good work

Gnat.9405:

Everyone would flock to hardmode servers and regular servers would be empty. If they introduce Hard Mode it will likely be for instances similar to GW1

if this would happen, Anet should really rethink their difficulty standards. Result: a better game for everyone.

I wonder if the connection would suffer if I’m playing on an US server from the EU

Mejo.3198:

Good idea! I would like it. How about -3 levels down instead?
sure, why not… choice is made by the devs

Hmmm…although, ArenaNet themselves suggests that players who desire a more challenging game should do quests 2-3 levels above their own level. Defeating higher leveled mobs also have a higher chance to drop good loot. So in a way, it already exists in the game, but I know what you mean.
well not so easy if you already are 80. At that moment you can’t find 2-3 level higher events, even when downleveled it’s quite easy mostly.

I would rather have ArenaNet adding more veteran and silver elite mobs into the regular maps, for those who want tougher mobs and better drop. Would be great if the mobs have better AI aswell, like using block, dodge, interupt and different skills more often.
this would be nice too, I agree. I’d reduce champion-health when soloing though. Yeah, it’s supposed to be a group-challenge, but it’s too easy with 5 players and too lengthy when alone.

What I have most problem with, is the way which you can just rush into a group of mobs and start pressing random buttons without having to worry about dieing. Often it doesn’t require any active thinking while playing, and many mobs can be killed just by using auto-attack ONLY.
agreed

And if they remove some waypoints and make it so you can just teleport btw one waypoint to another, and teleport btw maps using ONLY larger waypoints, it would be better and would require the player to plan and prepare more before going out in the “world”.
absolutely wonderful idea love it

thanks, some good ideas here.