Guild Wars 2

Plenty of us have been asking for it for years and other games have it. I have bios written up in a word document but it would be great to have them online where everyone could see them.

I would argue for more than 256. That is less than two tweets. I typically write up a good size paragraph with everything from their backstory to what music they like.

Nobody is saying. There was a datamine but it was of more HP than exist in the game. I am hoping for getting a full unlock automatically (which would fit with precedent for our other traits and skills) or the 85 pts a trait line and an average skill line would cost.

Right now I have 3 or 4 characters in the 70s. My plan is to have all of them within a few points of 85 by launch. Well, except for my revenant. Being able to refund points I have already spent would be really helpful.

It does present a problem with elite specializations. Before we were given exactly enough points to unlock everything, fine. Now they presumably want more for the elite specs?

Translation: grinding HP. I wish we could unlearn some stuff we do not need.

Astralporing.1957:

There are two ways for a masswipe on teq landing. First is to fail a battery defense – the tidal wave will kill everyone within range. Second is a result of not clearing tendrils – if they are left alone, and do a coordinated poison aoe on the zerg, there’s going to be a lot of dead bodies.

And you can fail battery defence easily, if you aren’t paying attention or mess up badly. Most common causes are not stomping grubs at north, or multiple overspawned champs (or single champ grub) from east turrets going straight for laser before the zerg has a chance to arrive.

Of course, all of those can be avoided if you have even semicompetent commanders (or at least a core of experienced players that have seen these things happen). The problem is, that nowadays there are lot of players that have never seen a failed teq, are unaware of the many ways things can go wrong, and thus cannot prepare against those.

Thanks, yes, it was the tidal wave when Teq landed. Everyone in the water was suddenly dead.

The champ grubs are definitely bad news but people do not believe me, even ones that sound like they know what they are doing. I typically see an entire party killed in seconds when one shows up. The last time I managed to stay alive only by being VERY fast on my feet. The rest of my party probably died, I did not have the time to look at their health bars.

I agree people have never seen a Teq fail which is why I am actually happy when we suddenly get a kittene. It serves as a reminder to people that it is more than a daily farm.

Azrael.4960:

In comparison, there is an alliance of guilds on the EU that banded together to not only do organised runs but also provide training to new players and commanders who wanted to learn the ropes. By the time I left the EU, at which point I’d done well over a hundred Tequatl runs as a commander, I could command in any megaserver with commanders I’d never met before and each of us would know exactly what to do at whichever post we would lead. I feel that this built a great sense of camaraderie among the EU commanders. If a battery or the laser was short, a quick word from one of the commanders would see reinforcements with minimal fuss.

In comparison, the NA runs that I played ended up with map chats filled with screed of recriminations whenever something went wrong. I’ve since stopped doing the event.

That sounds nice. The only times I have not tagged up there was right at the beginning when learning the ropes and once when an organized guild said it was interfering with their planning. I am used to running in, seeing we have no defenses started yet, then tagging up, starting a defense party (usually s hills since they are the most critical), and spending up to an hour organizing an event that is under 15 minutes.

Who would be the audience? Gamers who find setting up games to be too difficult? Spammers?

If you want a generic character just arrow through the screens without selecting any options. As to registering, many web sites want you to register and ask for an email address, you can always use a throwaway gmail account too.

shalywen.9548:

I always liked this item, and I think it would be awesome to see a simple “hood only” version of it.
It would be perfect for rangers/thieves, imo.

That was my thought as well. I would have bought it if it could have been used year round as a hood is perfect for some professions.

It is great to see it in the gem store. It just would be even better if there was a version without the face. It would still be usable for Halloween if the rest of your costume went with it.

Yes, Teq seems to be what people make it. A few days ago I was on a 65 that I was leveling. All defenses full, all turrets with someone at them. Suddenly someone in my party (s boat) got jittery because the zerg had not filled out yet. I agreed they were a little low so far but we were doing great with this much time left. Of course, once they left others followed rather than be in a party that was under 5. Needless to say I was NOT happy.

It sounds like I would like the EU one more. I always join a def party, tag up, and start organizing the defense. Which is why I did not like the new squad UI not letting you have a tag on while being in a party. It is hard enough to fill the parties but once people find out they would be losing that ability (even though usually I am the only one to do so for some odd reason) they will have one less reason to join a party. Not to mention that, as it sunds like you know, tags are a GREAT organizational tool when you get questions from people like ‘where is north hills’.

Usually I prefer maps that do not know what they are doing and want the information to do so. I have only been on an organized map a couple times and, even though it was not my preference, it was a refreshing change.

So it sounds like Teq did not change it was solely because one of the defense stages failed, thanks. I have never seen a defense fail before so did not think they were connected.

BTW, it caused real life issues because they did this. I was ‘I will get the laundry in 3 minutes’ and was there much longer than I planned (then had to explain there is no ‘pause’ key). Having Teq not be easy once in awhile is a good thing though, it can be used to tell people why they need to pay attention to the mechanics and not just afk then zerg. I wish more of the bosses did that.

Another beta? Seriously?

At this late stage not much will change between now and release, they are just putting on the final coats of paint. BWE3 was not as much a beta but a preview. Sure, they may take some feedback and do minor tweeks but they do not have room in the schedule for another BWE, especially one that would be useful for them.

Right now they are collating the data they got and say that will be next week. Also say they have crack coders and can be ready with the changes ready for a BWE after next week. Which puts that ending at at (looks at calendar) less than a week before release.

Nope, BWE4 is not going to happen.

Sizer.3987:

Was it a map you joined <5 mins before the fight started? Those are the only ones ive seen recently that come close to losing a defense phase (usually north because ppl dont stomp the grub holes)

Seems mostly just bad luck. If it keeps happening only advice i can give is try to get there earlier, but i dont think anything in the fight has changed recently.

No, I was there about half an hour early. I usually get there 45 mins to an hour early … much earlier and I would start bumping into the previous teq!

Thanks, this will provide a great war story from vets to the people that think they can just sit back and let the rewards roll in.

Last night the Teq at reset started out being the same routine as normal. Towards the end though it got interesting.

We actually FAILED a defense phase. I do not think I have ever seen that happen before (unless it did and I did not notice).

During the last burn Teq landed and killed EVERYONE standing in front of her. Cue some shocked looks as everyone swam back in a huge pack. Also running past some mobs that should not be spawning.

That final phase took a LONG time after everyone got back. Then, since we lost a defense phase, we were down one chest after all that.

I wonder if this was a fluke or what? If not it means people may not laugh at the idea of organizing defenses and making sure the turrets are ready. Although it is annoying they are doing this now when the new squad UI will not allow people tagged up (and giving advice from vets) to be in a party.

Thanks, unfortunately the first one ends before I get home and the other is close to when I log out for the evening. I believe you are concentrating on the under 45 areas too, right? I assume people will still be doing these rushes after to get the HPs for new alts? Which leads back to it would be handy to know how many so people can map out how to get that #.

Echoing that the list of users should be the same as parties (headshots for IDing people, boons, health, etc). Does everyone in the squad see the list or just the commander as they need it too.

Basically, if this is going to be a replacement for parties remove the party system and allow squads with no commander. Also that people n the squad can tag up without being the squad commander. Otherwise you will have all sorts of problems with people needing to be in a party (like if one was formed before they arrived) but needing a tag for things too.

For example, I like getting to Teq early but do not want to have to be there an hour+ early every day just so I can form a squad and tell EVERYONE that as they arrive before they want to tag up themselves. Getting people to do defense is hard enough without the resistance that they will have to tag down to join a party. Yes, there are reasons for people to tag up for a short time too without being commanders … like pointing out where the buffs are.

The best option has also been suggested. Let people show a tag (in a party or not) without forming a squad.

I wish we knew too as my 80s (8 at this point) do not have a lot of HPs saved up since they bought all the skills and traits not knowing there would be more we would need to buy. The datamining of 250 is clearly out there, especially since it also said that included HPs to get the skins (when has THAT ever happened).

One post I liked suggested around 80. That is how much it costs for a trait line and the average for a line of skills. I only have 2 of my characters anywhere near that as of last night so will spend much of my time until HOT grinding the others.

As I mentioned above though there is precedent for getting them for free too. I hope that will happen but my fallback is the 85 … no way will I be able to grind every HP in the game (and then some) before HOT releases. This is supported because post-release 80s will know exactly how many HPs from level rewards to keep in reserve while we did not have that information.

I too wish we had a solid answer. I would LOVE to know when I can stop doing the same exact grind on every character and get back to playing the game.

I know it seems like there are two types of people. Those of us with no space problems (it is usual for me to have 70 open slots for drops and unpacking, that is WITH carrying every conceivable weapon) and those packed to the gills.

Snoring: if you are having space issues maybe you can post what you are carrying so we could offer specific suggestions? It also helps a great deal to expand your bank and/or have a personal guild bank as many things can just be left there until a need is coming up then just hit up that bank when you can. Investing in bank tabs rather than bag expansions is preferable since all characters have access to the banked items and you do not have to buy slots AND bags.

Back to the old UI! Yay!

The non-ability of commanders to be in a party (or even have multiple commanders in a party) was super-annoying. Please say not letting us do that was a belated april fool’s joke?

Yay! I was able to join a party this evening while tagged up.

It was REALLY frustrating yesterday when the only way I could be in a party was to disband my squad. It looks like they fixed that as I was tagged up and just invited to a party

Aedelric.1287:

Ahh memories.

If they are going to do anything then I would much rather see them change the character select screen for the HoT release. Much in the same way they changed things back in the GW1 days.

Yes, I would LOVE to be able to see more than a few characters without having to scroll around. I get that they want to make it usable for small screens but it is already cramped on laptops anyway. Most people have large screens now so take advantage of that real estate while leaving it usable for small screens via dynamic formatting or such.

Do you mean the gem store? I will look tonight.

Xyrus.6037:

I like the idea of optional finishers on certain enemies in PvE, but it would be way too much if it were not optional or if you had to use it on every enemy.

Some players may not play PVP or don’t really like PVP play.

Exactly. I bought a particular finisher because I liked it, even though I do not pvp and do wvw only rarely. I enjoy seeing what other people have bought as well.

I think some other people are missing part of my suggestion: it would not be something required. This could either be an option when they get below some health threshold (where they will die in the next second anyway) or immediately after they have been killed. I also would have no problem if they only applied to some monsters, say, variants of the 5 races.

It would certainly make PVE interesting if you suddenly had random finishers being fired off at times!

Are any skins available beyond using black lion tickets for those of us that never fell for the scam of buying keys?

Be realistic. We are less than 3 weeks to ship. At this point you are not making major changes to a product but putting the final touches on it. Say they had it next weekend … less than 2 weeks by the end of it. Then give them some time to analyze the data and collate feedback, at least another few days, by the time they are ready to make changes they will have what, a week?

Umm, I still do not see the problem with having them in PVE as an OPTIONAL, not REQUIRED, way of doing the coup de gras on something or right after they die? When something’s health gets below a certain threshold either keep killing it like you are doing or you can use a finisher.

No, I will not go into another game mode just so I can see a finisher. If you are calling the finisher a skin for PVP then I just have one thing to say. Leave our armor/weapon skins to PVE, you can use generic armor, right? How do you like it when the shoe is on the other foot?

Can subgroups of squads be used as taxis to a map? Also, does this mean parties will be gone entirely so we only have to deal with one thing? People are too used to forming parties, at least in PVE, so two organizing methods presents some real pains when you are trying to organize an event.

This also presents a problem on things like Teq. I often ask parties trying to attract people to have someone tag up to attract people plus I can say things like ‘will 3 people please party with the group at the red tag?’. Plus people often give directions that way (food at the yellow tag). Not everyone uses it in WVW or for vanity purposes.

edit: One possible solution is the groups form squads, not parties, but that will only be an option if parties go away as the first person there will start the party. Also there is the question of how well they will work as taxis, especially when someone needs to spam joins to get on the map.

Before we used to be able to be in squads and parties at the same time. Now we can not … if I am tagged up I can not join a party and if I tag up in a party I leave it.

My question is is this intended? It breaks use cases like coordinating a boss fight while being in one of the parties for it.

From what I have seen you are not required to do the finisher? If not I would suggest they handle it that way: when they get below a minimum you can use a finisher or just kill them the normal way. Another option would be to let a finisher be used for a second after they are dead. It is fun seeing different finishers being used and nice to see my own ‘win the race’ sometimes.

Another variation would be to fire them off in PVE other than going to the hero panel.

I put large apps like GW2 on my HDD. Whenever you have something that large most of it is data anyway and will either be cached in an os folder (which is hopefully on an SSD if you have one) or in memory.

My SSD is no slouch (enterprise-class and 1/2 TB unformatted) but it is the most expensive on-disk real estate on my computer. Anything that can does not go on it unless it is really small.

TJgalon.5012:

Not sure on the chore, but I like the current system, where i only need to spend a few minutes more or less, get them done, and then return to playing the game.

In PVP or WVW maybe. In PVE they are a chore that is a ‘what is the point’. Sure they are easy, but my definition of fun is not waypointing around a map to get to 4 events before they are done, visiting the same old easy vistas everyone knows, or hunting around for resource nodes.

When you enter the game after the initial instance you are dropped in you are level 2, not 0. So a 20 level scroll really only gives you 18 levels, and those first levels go fast anyway.

I would LOVE to see a change where you could use it anytime and go up 20 levels. Not that it is not handy to skip any levels but if I had a choice I would do something like 60 to 80.

Currently we can use them in PVE on one type of toxic creature mainly in kessex hill and gendaran fields. I am sure there is some historical reason for this. Anyway, why not generally allow them in PVE, or at least let a few more types of common monsters have the ability to use them? If the logic is ‘well, they are humanoid’ what about bandits, separatists, the nightmare court, svanir, and so on?

Aguri.2896:

Fatbeheameth.3918:

please, Please, PLEASE!

No more! I am playing a Mesmer using the Signet of Inspiration and I’m having murderous impulses because she repeats the same line every 10 seconds.

So what you’re saying is…. your urge to kill is rising?

Forgive me.

“I could kill a centaur!”

ducks

Yumiko Ishida.3769:

There is always Silverwastes for obsidian. I never go back to that temple.

Same here. I paid a lot of karma to stock up on Obsidian in that temple on my first trip. Then I discovered the silverwastes and wound up with it coming out of my ears.

Shoe.5821:

servers don’t have specific maps anymore so its impossible to check

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-megaserver-system/

^ read this

Well, you can track it by IP.

It is frustrating though. You can not meet someone for an event on a specific server at a set time. You need to do all this juggling with forming a party and taxiing around.

I have had all my characters running around grabbing hero points. It would be nice to know when I can stop doing that and get back to my normal game though.

Haleydawn.3764:

I believe I salvaged a precurser in my first week of GW2

That hurt just to READ.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

If there is a rule, it’s probably more to cover their own backs (in legal-terms) rather than to be able to ban childrens’ accounts.

Exactly. In second life when they need ‘proof’ of your age to view all the content they have a system that is about one step above a web site asking if you are over 18. It is to view stuff that they deem ‘adult’, which they decide solely with an automatic keyword filter, so everyone signs up anyway to avoid its kitten ups. Even with the best test you can imagine there would still be kids playing. Making it more complex, the age of majority varies so you need to come up with some arbitrary number for everyone.

The best that you can do is to have a policy against it and maybe some minimal verification process. It is a move to cover themselves if some adult complains “will someone think of the children” to a lawmaker or a lawyer.

As was said, they were in the anniversary sale. All of the sales were for 24 hours only so following the relevant threads here or on dulfy were good ideas.

I do agree about taste though. I bought them for my norn who is modeled after a Valkyrie. Her colors are blue and white (the Finnish flag) too so the white wings were ideal. They would look plain silly on any of my other characters.

paintpixie.7398:

You cannot be “sexually abused” in map chat. It’s physically impossible. You can possibly be sexually harassed. In which case, report them/block them and move on with your life.

That’s what adults do.

Don’t worry about my daughter. She’s not an overly sensitive crybaby like you are coming across to be here. She doesn’t need you to look out for her.

What the kitty? Blaming the victim much?

Yes, harassed is more appropriate than assaulted (assuming the OP’s first language is english) but that is the only thing I agree with you on. As to what adults do, adults do not harass people.

It would be a tie.

Tybalt: ’ What part of “secret society” wasn’t explained to you? Keep your voice down, Initiate, and pretend you’re buying an apple.’

Sya: ‘Scarlet destroyed so much in the blink of an eye. It reminded me how short life is and how we should spend every moment embracing who we are.’

Second place for pure cuteness is Snikk:
’I’m using my magic feet…go!’

Rashagar.8349:

If I had one request, it would be to have no Sylvari character ever attempt to pronounce the word Samhain. =P

Maybe we should ask the Pale Tree who this Samuel person is?

Randulf.7614:

I believe Lotro has one. Those MMO’s that do have one generally the VOIP is terrible and the generally accepted stance is that ts/mumble/vent etc all do a better job, so let ppl use those instead.

External VOIPs have been the way forward for enough PC games for many devs not to warrant investing time into integrating their own.

That is another problem too. With either voicing or text a lot of people choose voice who really should not, either because they do not speak clearly, their connection, or both. Then you have the oddities: like hearing the person with narcolepsy start to loudly snore in the middle of something. Even with ideal conditions, using TS or skype gives you a better signal as they are optimized for that task.

Solaxo.7409:

This is the 4th Week in a row that I am running a Community Event to get 70 Hero Points for the NA Region:

Reddit Thread on Event!

Event is Tonight 9/30 @ 9:30pm EST!

Come join the fun on alts if you already have enough Hero Points!

I need to do one of these but maybe we can figure out another way to do a bunch too? For example, I just did all (except one I had to look up today) of them in wayfarer last night with the character I am currently leveling and the others have most in that region. Maybe people who need a point (or most points in a region) post to a thread or via your mumble to arrange a good time?

I am hoping for the 85 pts to do a full skills/traits unlocks for the two lines (or even just giving them to us) as having 85 hero points done for each character by launch is not inconceivable.

Thaddeus.4891:

Everybody will have 213 points if they complete all Hero Challenges (exluding the Krait obelisk). We can guess that HoT will give at least 37 hero challenges in their maps.

You are assuming everyone has 100% world completion. I am sure I am not the only one who is not so obsessive as to feel a need to complete EVERYTHING in a zone. I would hazard a guess that many players do not have 100%. No, asking here does not count as anyone with a casual interest in the game most likely does not post to the forum.

Berelious.3290:

Other than the occasional FPS do any PC games even have VOIP? I’ve yet to hear of an MMO that has one.

The only one I know of is Second Life (well, technically not a game but will do for this). It was a disaster.

Integrating voice into any game is a disaster. You soon wind up fragmenting the community into those who use it and those who do not. Some of them are reasons beyond anyone’s control, like some of the people who type are Deaf. I am sure a lot are in the same boat as me and we hate how our voices sound over most electronic mediums.

For example, in second life they implemented it despite a lot of people warning about all of the things I said above. It did fracture the community. What is worse, official in-world meetings were ONLY done in voice after that and transcripts often took days to appear.

TS can be handy for some situations, yes, to hear instructions from people rather than them having to stop and use the keyboard. I would hate to see it be integrated though as it would soon be de facto required.

In addition you also have another factor to consider: the breaking of immersion. That may not matter to some players but to others it is a HUGE deal.

Since you can only do the elite at 80…..

Maybe it is just that I have been playing other races the past few months but it felt like moving through molasses.

Looks like I need to look through the zones with my different characters. Typically I do a few in each zone if I am around them then eventually move on to explore the next zone.