Guild Wars 2

Castielq.2837:

Moyayuki.3619:

I read a tiny blurb about Cantha and Elona when I was reading up on the wiki on how your sister Deborah’s appearance changes with “Fall of Falcon Company”, and it made me so upset that those countries are not in GW2. Honestly! Elona especially interests me, as I’ve been wanting to see a true desert zone in GW2. I never played GW1, since in those days I was playing WoW. (By the way, is GW1 the same as GW2, where you buy it and then never have to pay monthly subscriptions to play?)

Yes, GW1 is buy to play. No monthly subscriptions. Even if we are far from Cantha. I would love to see Elona, maybe we are heading toward Crystal Desert with Living Story Season 3 and eventually with an expension come to Elona. That would be amazing. Anything connected to GW1 is just amazing !

That’s what I would wish, but a lot of people are theorizing that we may be going to Far Shiverpeaks for LWS3, bleck.

I read a tiny blurb about Cantha and Elona when I was reading up on the wiki on how your sister Deborah’s appearance changes with “Fall of Falcon Company”, and it made me so upset that those countries are not in GW2. Honestly! Elona especially interests me, as I’ve been wanting to see a true desert zone in GW2. I never played GW1, since in those days I was playing WoW. (By the way, is GW1 the same as GW2, where you buy it and then never have to pay monthly subscriptions to play?)

I recently created a new Elementalist (Human) and got her to level 21 over the weekend. I already have a level 80 Asura Ele as well. However, especially when leveling up, I notice that I struggle with picking weapons, or, shall I say, I feel that I am forced to use certain weapons and elements. And now I wonder if anyone else feels the same, or would have any advice.

Here’s the situation: I am a PvE’r and tend to work on Personal Story, map completion, armor crafting, and a dungeon when I hit the level requirement as I am leveling up, pre-80. With this new toon, I feel like focusing primarily on Air attunement, but of course I will be switching to other elements as is necessary. I currently have equipped Dagger/Dagger, as it does the most damage, particularly with Air. But before that, I was using Scepter/Dagger since there are certain skills I enjoy on Scepter (lots of blinding choices, and can be ranged in comparison to main hand dagger). Sadly, Scepter does far less damage compared to Dagger. Which then makes me feel as if, if I want to do good damage, I must use Dagger and never touch Scepter again. Which, to me, seems unfair. Why can’t Scepter be a viable weapon choice for PvE? Even build advice sites and blogs tend to discourage Scepter use, and instead tout Dagger and Staff. And even then, Staff really pigeon-holes me into using only Fire attunement for pure damage, as the others feel practically worthless.

So that’s my issue with Ele, as much as I overall love the class. I feel that I must use Dagger/Dagger or Staff, and even then, only use Fire to prevent dragging out fights. Therefore, my question is this: Is there any way to make Scepter a viable weapon for PvE Ele? I noticed that Ele’s specs do not improve specific weapons like other classes do, which is also unfortunate. Is there really no way to improve the Scepter beyond always making sure that I have the right power-increasing specs and a good Scepter equipped? It’s made me very frustrated, and feeling like I cannot “play how I want”, otherwise I’ll die easily. =(

Whenever I see that one of the PvE Dailies is “Heart of Maguuma Miner”, I inwardly groan. Because out of all of the gathering nodes (foraging and lumber), mining is the least common in the Heart of Thorns maps, and I find myself jumping from WP to WP until I finally find enough ore to complete the Daily. Whereas with the other two, I can finish much quicker and without traveling far or getting myself into unnecessary danger.

Has anyone else noticed or struggled with this?

Just read the two blogs, and it was pretty fun/cute to read. I still need to continue the HoT story (only recently entered AB).

Khisanth.2948:

Moyayuki.3619:

I’ve had issues with mobs interfering with story quests, too. For example, the quest in Verdant Brink where you have to use the horn to call out the hidden frog scouts, one of those markers led me to an area with a lot of mushroom enemies that kept hitting me hard.

There are only two areas with mushrooms during that part. The first part has a decent amount of space to maneuver. The second part in the cave can be avoided just by approaching from the other direction(Bongo’s camp).

Yeah, I was able to do the cave just fine, only had to kill a Smokescale.

I just wish that all the HoT story stuff was instanced, because otherwise you have to worry about the enemies around you, or the events/meta events going on, too.

I’ve had issues with mobs interfering with story quests, too. For example, the quest in Verdant Brink where you have to use the horn to call out the hidden frog scouts, one of those markers led me to an area with a lot of mushroom enemies that kept hitting me hard.

I understand. For me, my motivation to play a toon dwindles the closer to level 40 I get. Hence why I then keep creating new toons or work on lower-level ones!

PyrateSilly.4710:

Moyayuki.3619:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Accordingly to the Massively article, and Dulfy’s notes on it, no you don’t need to have completely the HoT story to be able to play LS3 (You do need to own HoT though). However, it will start where HoT’s storyline left off, and I should expect that it will reference parts of it as though the character had.

Yeah, I suppose I should have clarified, I had been wondering if I would need to complete HoT’s story in order to understand the beginning of LWS3.

I have not finished LS2 nor have I finished HoT story ….. but I still play and have fun pretty much every day. Honestly I just don’t care all that much about the story to try to understand all the little particulars. I just have fun playing in both core and HoT.

Ditto, I end up playing whatever I enjoy playing in the game. But I realize that plenty of gear, as well as Mastery Points, are locked behind the HoT story, so it’s kind of forcing me to play it. I struggle so much to get my Mastery XP up, I guess the story is the easiest way to do it. I may not like it, but it is what it is.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

If you don’t care about the story, why would you have to ‘grind’ through the HoT story before Living World Season 3? If you are only doing the story instances for the rewards and XP, then it doesn’t really matter what order in which you do them.

Good luck.

Maybe “grind” wasn’t the right word – I was suggesting that I will have to sit myself down and try to finish the HoT story before LWS3 launches.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Accordingly to the Massively article, and Dulfy’s notes on it, no you don’t need to have completely the HoT story to be able to play LS3 (You do need to own HoT though). However, it will start where HoT’s storyline left off, and I should expect that it will reference parts of it as though the character had.

Yeah, I suppose I should have clarified, I had been wondering if I would need to complete HoT’s story in order to understand the beginning of LWS3.

Rauderi.8706:

Khisanth.2948:

Rauderi.8706:

Khisanth.2948:

On the one hand the original had more flexibility.

On the other hand the original had some very trashy traits. Great for showing off a big number of permutations possible but in practice it was a much smaller number.

This.

The one thing the older trait system had was being able to dip into more than 3 trait lines. Useful in some edge cases, but we’re better off with fewer, more potent traits.

There is still stuff like Powerful Synergy. I still haven’t found any compelling reason for using it.

True, true. There’s still a lot of “why bother” traits. That’s not a flaw in the system itself, but in the details.

The current trait system is great. It’s quick, easy to understand, and provides reasonable flexibility without tacking on a legion of useless permutations.

We need intra- and inter-profession balance at this stage. We need to whip those traits that aren’t being used to make them better and more compelling.

For me, personally, “why bother” traits are the mandatory ones that try to shoehorn me into a role with my class that I’m not interested in (stealth for Thief, shroud form for Necro). But, they are lodged in specs that have the most benefits, relatively speaking, for how I’m playing that toon, so I have no choice. Instead of us getting to choose what we wanted in the original trait system, now we have less freedom because there will always be the traits that some people don’t even care about or use.

OriOri.8724:

@Moyayuki Several things

1 – “most video games don’t tend to have many “true” forests in them, for whatever reason.” – Its not “for whatever reason”. Its because these “true forests” you are talking about, with closely packed trees everywhere, are impossible to navigate in a videogame setting. How can you even fight something without AOEs if it steps 3 inches to its left and is behind a tree, again. Its also impossible to move through. And just an FYI, forests with closely packed trees aren’t true forests. Young forests are the ones with close packed trees. True, old growth forests are populated with massive trees and not much in between them, and because of their size they are pretty well spaced usually.

2 – SW and DT don’t feel like deserts. That’s fine, they aren’t a desert environment anyway.

3 – Maps aren’t open ended enough for you. Ummm have you even been in a Kryta, Maguuma Jungle, or Orr map? Just because they aren’t desert themed doesn’t change the fact that these are vast open ended maps with lots of fairly randomly placed POI in them to discover. This was your chief point when comparing WoW maps with GW2 maps.

This honestly sounds like you just wanted to complain so you picked the first thing that came to mind

I was not complaining for complaining’s sake – I clearly stated how I’ve played MMOs before that had zones that really “spoke” to me, but that I play GW2 because it’s really the most fun MMO to play. I also said “for whatever reason” because, not being a techy person, I can’t attest to the reasons that thicker forests tend not to be be made in video games.

When I say “true” forests, I’m just referring to how a lot of forests in the real world have a bit more density than what’s shown in GW2. No where did I suggest that the trees should be so close that no one can move.

They are the closest to a “desert” zone in the game, which makes really want to see a more desert setting someday. I was using some maps from WoW as examples of what I find interesting.

Where did I say that the maps weren’t “open ended”? I did mention the desert maps in WoW feeling more like deserts due to their open nature, but that’s the only instance of mentioning such a phrase. (“Open-ended”, specifically, sounds to me like a region that isn’t blocked by loading zones, which is not what I was talking about).

Aidan Savage.2078:

What you need to remember is that the zone maps are condensed in scale compared to what it would be in “reality.” If you expand the maps to a realistic size, going from say, DR to LA would take days or weeks to get there, not 20 minutes or so.

I wasn’t suggesting they make the environments “to scale”, just that there be more variety of environments (like a sandy desert or a dense forest).

PopeUrban.2578:

You haven’t seen a “true desert” yet because there are not desert zones currently in the game.

The Magumma Wastes areas (Silverwastes and Dry Top) aren’t a desert as much as they are a large mesa formation in the middle of the jungle. They have a very similar took to how this area of the world was presented in the first game.

Do a google search for “GW1 Ventari’s Refuge” and “GW1 Crystal Desert” for reference.

That said, I think the post-release maps have done a great job to attempting to differentiate themselves, though the release era maps can feel a little samey at times. Especially the shiverpeaks maps. Kryta used to have this issue, which was, as I recall, one of the main reasons they did the whole nightmare tower in kessex in the first place, so they could revamp Kessex so it felt less like Queensdale.

Perhaps in the future we’ll see these sort of changes hit some of the other release era maps that are overly similar.

Although, the last thing I want to see happen is another Kessex fiasco where there’s destruction everywhere ugly-ing up the place. I’m really getting tired of the fact that ANet hasn’t made a lore decision to finally clean it up.

Sure, the new maps do differentiate themselves from core Tyria…but it’s not my cup of tea. Annoying, powerful mobs clogging up the roads, a perpetual jumping puzzle everywhere you go, things being locked behind meta events, etc. Even then, I don’t think there’s enough GOOD variety in GW2’s environments. The only variety I’ve seen is the annoying kind, IMO.

flog.3485:

Moyayuki.3619:

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

Well… I wouldn’t call silverwastes a desert. Wait till you get to play in Crystall desert instead or play GW1 and visit crystal desert to see a preview of it there. Silverwastes is not the ordinary desert, it is like comparing grandconyon with Sahara desert.

Sadly, I am not the type of player to play WvW/PvP. I’d rather there be a true desert for PVE that can be explored and have quests in. I just mentioned SW because it and DT have the most “desertish” feeling out of the PVE maps, which is a bit sad IMO.

Why do you bring up pvp/wvw ? He was referring maps from Guild wars campaign located in the desert.

Because the other suggestion was Crystal Desert, which I hear is PvP or WvW, correct? (Also, I don’t own GW1 and can only focus on one MMO at once.)

ekarat.1085:

I’m a bit surprised that someone would call the Silverwastes “linear.”

Maybe that wasn’t the right word to use, exactly. What I mean is that whenever I go into SW, I don’t feel an urge to explore. I feel like I am taking these set paths that will either lead me onward or to a dead-end, but it doesn’t feel like a natural environment, feels way too artificial (as in, it is obvious that it’s a map in a video game). That’s why I like the desert maps in WoW, since they feel like actual deserts, wide open with points of interest scattered about. SW and DT both feel like a struggle to just get to the next location (and also, DT and HoT maps just feel like one big JP, which is also not what I would be expecting from new maps initially).

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

Well… I wouldn’t call silverwastes a desert. Wait till you get to play in Crystall desert instead or play GW1 and visit crystal desert to see a preview of it there. Silverwastes is not the ordinary desert, it is like comparing grandconyon with Sahara desert.

Sadly, I am not the type of player to play WvW/PvP. I’d rather there be a true desert for PVE that can be explored and have quests in. I just mentioned SW because it and DT have the most “desertish” feeling out of the PVE maps, which is a bit sad IMO.

I promised myself I would keep my “GW2 vs WoW” thoughts to myself while in these forums, but the more I play GW2, the more I miss some of the environments in WoW (though I must mention that after all the changes made to WoW since Wrath of the Lich King, I definitely prefer GW2 overall. I also no longer have the time for subscription-based video games).

Anyway, to get straight to the point: I feel that WoW had and still has a much greater variety of environments in its world compared to GW2. Each map in GW2 that’s within a given region doesn’t change too much from the map before, it simply gets more complicated and more “intense” (ex: Shiverpeaks maps, from lowest level map to highest). The variety isn’t complex enough.

When Dry Top and Silverwastes were introduced in Living World, before I stepped into them, I felt excited at the prospect of finally seeing a desert in GW2, since the desert clearly marked on the world map isn’t accessible in PVE. Much to my dismay, both new maps didn’t feel very “desert-y” to me. They were mostly rocky and felt very linear. Compare that to WoW maps such as Tanaris and Silithus. Some may consider them monotnous, but I enjoyed them because they really felt like true deserts.

Why can’t GW2 have true deserts? Or true deciduous forests, with tightly-packed trees? (Granted, most video games don’t tend to have many “true” forests in them, for whatever reason.) Or how about environment types that haven’t been seen in the game yet? I just feel so…bored…with GW2’s maps, even though I enjoy playing the game. It gets quite depressing, and DT, SW, and HoT maps just are not what I was expecting.

NOTE: I realize that Elder Scrolls Online has environments more like what I’m referring to but, again, I find GW2 to be the easiest game to hop in and play, so I therefore spend most of my online gaming time in GW2.

I have a level 80 Scrapper, and seriously keep wishing that I could do P/P and Hammer swap. Instead I just stick with P/P and use Flamethrower kit. Which works fine, but there’s no way I would sacrifice my P/P permanently for Hammer. Hammer just does’t work as good as my pistols, damage-wise, but I would at least like to be able to swap to it mid-battle when it’s relevant.

One thing I also don’t understand about the Engi is that, with all the focus on firearms, why do the Warriors and Thieves get better firearm skills? I seriously think that the rapid fire pistol skill of Thief and the rifle skills of Warrior would be perfect for Engi. Instead, it feels like those classes have more proficiency in those weapons than an Engi, of all classes, is.

Just my opinion, of course.

Well then, I guess I’ll have to try to find the time to grind through HoT before the 26th. Not a fan of the new characters or the maps or the story so far, but, eh, I just want to get the rewards and experience. Haven’t liked the Living World story since the beginning.

Since I don’t have a lot of time to play, tend to mess around with my lower-level toons, and dislike the HoT zones, I have not yet finished the HoT story. In fact, the furthest I got was after Eir's death and you enter Auric Basin. I sincerely hope that LWS3 is a separate story from HoT. However, if it is not, then I guess I’ll be locked out of it until I beat HoT. I don’t even raid or do many of the events, so I’m out of the loop when it comes to understanding what’s been going on in GW2. Something about ley line energy and bandits.

I’ll appreciate any insight you guys can give me, even if it’s just speculation!

I find the Shiverpeaks to be one of my least-favorite zones, even though I love playing Norn. It’s just so cold and white and rocky. I really wish we could finally go to the Crystal Desert, or the land where the bird people (completely blanking out on their name!) live. And if we ever go to the desert, I do NOT want it to be like Dry Top and SW. Those were awful for me and not what I was wanting as a new type of zone. Also would love to see a forest that actually feels like a forest, not just a few stray trees here-and-there (too many video games suffer from this, even Elder Scrolls games).

We also only get one piece of music for underwater, which gets old pretty fast.

EDIT: Actually, maybe only two, now that I think about it. One is creepy-ish, the other not. But, still…

Out of curiosity, is the HoT story required to do and to understand LWS3? Or are they two different stories?

I am so grateful for the Mesmers that stuck around to help me and others! Thanks to them, and after a half hour or more of trying, I finally got the dive! I’m happy that there are people in community who have the patience and generosity to do things like this. =)

What I don’t like about the huge change to builds (now with the specialization system) is that I feel extremely limited to what I can do. For example, so many specs for Necro have mandatory “skills” that benefit Shroud, when I honestly have no reason to ever use it (I’m not a fan of it, either). And how Thieves’ specs have a lot of stealth-improving “skills”, but I don’t care for being the stereotypical thief with stealth, either. I liked back when the individual build lines would increase specific stats and empower specific weapons, but not shoehorn us so much into picking only three specs that don’t give many benefits. Sure, they do give benefits, it’s just they feel way too specific. So I have to choose the ones that have the most benefits I care about, but even then it’s not enough. Customization has been limited more and more with each change to the build system, and I’m sick of it.

Musashi.1735:

i hope Lion’s Arch gets a complete make over again.
i really dislike the current one.

Agreed! Sadly, I don’t see it happening…

I always end up talking to a random NPC when I’m trying to access the bank there, it’s ridiculous. Although, yes, we can avoid them per Khisanth’s suggestion, but unfortunately, the banker that usually has the random Norn next to her is the closest to the Mystic Forge, so people are more likely to go to that one.

I also wish that those services could all be more centralized in LA. What was so wrong with the original city layout? If I don’t plan on using the Forge, I tend to travel to DR by default because the bank and trading post/auction house are so close to each other, as are the crafting places. Way less running around compared to LA and some other cities.

I can see what you are talking about. Sure, hovering over a skill and showing what the skill does is important, but it is rather large. And with the UI scale, with the skill bar, we only get, what, two options, I believe? I wish it could have more cutomization, too, like WoW does. I can’t even resize my Hero page/the BLTC. I have to make sure I am not doing anything important or in the way of enemies when I pull that kind of stuff up.

Yesterday, when SS was needed for PvE Dailies, was the first time I had ever tried it. And it took me probably a half hour to just get Bronze. The first time in my attempt that I did get to the chest, I had inadvertantly skipped the gates, so even though I got to the end, it didn’t count for the Adventure (got the AP for the JP, though). I watched videos but the first thing I noticed in nearly all of them is that the distance skill 3 could be targeted was further than how it was when I was playing, meaning there was a distance nerf made since HoT’s release.

Anyway, I also didn’t like SS, OP, you’re not alone. I’m amazed I got Bronze at all, as for most of the time I only got eight of the eleven gates before time ran out. It felt just as frustrating as the Clock Tower during Halloween.

ProtoGunner.4953:

Moyayuki.3619:

PopeUrban.2578:

ProtoGunner.4953:

It’s the ‘Game of Thrones Effect’ how I call it. Since killing off key characters is dramatic and I noticed in many shows that after GoT had this much success, many shows do it. It’s ‘in’. Also, GW2 got criticized by a lot of players to be too childish/Disney-like, harmless events and no one dies you love (well unless you loved Tybalt…).

The difference is that when they do it in those popular television properties those sudden deaths have context and meaning. They’re not just random offing of characters. They usually serve as the end of an important plot arc, a logical conclusion of a long held grudge, or a way to establish a relationship and grow other characters.

Eir’s death serves only as a character development lever for braham, but the WAY in which she died was so inappropriate in context and execution that it fell flat. It was obvious that she died because the plot needed her to, not because there was any compelling story arc that led to her death.

A sudden character death can be effective when done correctly. Since you mention Game of Thrones, all of the sudden deaths in that series served as critical plot points. I don’t want to spoil the show for anyone, but if you look back on those deaths they all make sense and are usually big payoffs for the overall narrative structure.

Eir’s death did not mark the end of any plot arc, or the beginning of any other plot arc. It was not a narrative payoff. It was just sort of tossed in in the middle of an existing arc in an effort to help develop an underdeveloped character, and in the end that character, Braham, was not significantly effected enough by it for it to have any gravity at all anyway.

Contrast that with Traherne’s death. Traherne’s death had meaning, it was a logic end to a plot arc, and it served a purpose. It was belivable that he died, it was impactful for the world around him, and it was a death fitting of both the charactar and the story. The same goes for your order mentor, Scarlet Briar, several major release villains, and a host of other GW2 characters that have died.

Stein and company CAN do better. They HAVE done better. In this case they simply dropped the ball, likely due to an accelarated development schedule or limited resources to turn the writing in to playable reality.

+1
You mention a lot of good points. I may not have seen all the GoT seasons, but I have read the books and even I can admit that all deaths did have purpose, context, and meaning, even the grisly ones.

Guess I will have to continue the HoT Living Story to see for myself if Braham changes at all. I haven’t really paid any attention to these new characters so far because they really don’t intrigue me in any way…

Absolutely agree. They tried hard in GW2. It’s typical game story telling imo: mostly not so good. If you want good story, play ‘The Last of Us’ or ‘Mass Effect’ (1+2).

Not so interested in actually playing TLoU, but I am pretty far into the story of ME2, just need to beat it. And on the topic of meaningful video game character deaths: Halo 4, IMO. Halo 5 then spits on it, ugh.

Anyway, back on topic, I do still feel that Eir’s death was for shock value, especially now that I’ve had more time to think on it. I will see if my opinion changes when I continue the story (need to start the AB part).

PopeUrban.2578:

ProtoGunner.4953:

It’s the ‘Game of Thrones Effect’ how I call it. Since killing off key characters is dramatic and I noticed in many shows that after GoT had this much success, many shows do it. It’s ‘in’. Also, GW2 got criticized by a lot of players to be too childish/Disney-like, harmless events and no one dies you love (well unless you loved Tybalt…).

The difference is that when they do it in those popular television properties those sudden deaths have context and meaning. They’re not just random offing of characters. They usually serve as the end of an important plot arc, a logical conclusion of a long held grudge, or a way to establish a relationship and grow other characters.

Eir’s death serves only as a character development lever for braham, but the WAY in which she died was so inappropriate in context and execution that it fell flat. It was obvious that she died because the plot needed her to, not because there was any compelling story arc that led to her death.

A sudden character death can be effective when done correctly. Since you mention Game of Thrones, all of the sudden deaths in that series served as critical plot points. I don’t want to spoil the show for anyone, but if you look back on those deaths they all make sense and are usually big payoffs for the overall narrative structure.

Eir’s death did not mark the end of any plot arc, or the beginning of any other plot arc. It was not a narrative payoff. It was just sort of tossed in in the middle of an existing arc in an effort to help develop an underdeveloped character, and in the end that character, Braham, was not significantly effected enough by it for it to have any gravity at all anyway.

Contrast that with Traherne’s death. Traherne’s death had meaning, it was a logic end to a plot arc, and it served a purpose. It was belivable that he died, it was impactful for the world around him, and it was a death fitting of both the charactar and the story. The same goes for your order mentor, Scarlet Briar, several major release villains, and a host of other GW2 characters that have died.

Stein and company CAN do better. They HAVE done better. In this case they simply dropped the ball, likely due to an accelarated development schedule or limited resources to turn the writing in to playable reality.

+1
You mention a lot of good points. I may not have seen all the GoT seasons, but I have read the books and even I can admit that all deaths did have purpose, context, and meaning, even the grisly ones.

Guess I will have to continue the HoT Living Story to see for myself if Braham changes at all. I haven’t really paid any attention to these new characters so far because they really don’t intrigue me in any way…

That would be fun, but maybe it should limit your use of weapons so you don’t go around assassinating any enemy you please. :P I think, if it cloaked your character well enough, you could use it to take your own screenshots of deadly enemies and places.

Randulf.7614:

It exists as a map for those of us who do like intricate, explorable maps. Yeah it’s tough to navigate, but to me the only real drawback is that it needs more on it. It feels dangerous, it feels like an adventure and some of the masteries involve some cool spelunking through cave systems, but it still needs more events and content in it. Too much emphasis was put on the meta.

I still get lost, but I like having a map I can fight against. It also became a lot easier when I got my Nuhoch Wallows mastery done.

Great design imo

(To the sentence I bolded in up there) What about those of us who are still working on the HoT LS and will need to find our way around and through TD in order to continue the story? TD should have been made accessible to everyone, not just meant for people who like these types of challenges/can actually wrap their heads around it.

Yes, we definitely need more festivals, especially ones coinciding with the other races. Halloween/Mad King’s Day is the only one I now bother participating in since it’s the most interesting and varied. And why isn’t there a summer festival?

I just wish that it did not take forever to fill up your XP bar. Sure, I get it’s a continuation of post-80 “leveling”, and therefore each “level” would have more XP than the last but…seriously, you are forced to do meta events, or just events/dungeons in general to fill up your Mastery bars. That does not sound fun. Even to get from level 79-80 took less time for me. I think also the HoT maps really turn me off, so I therefore don’t engage in them, and therefore don’t get the XP. I don’t want to grind meta events over and over, due to the huge amount of XP there is needed for each “level”.

And, I get it, once you unlock Masteries on one toon, they are available for all toons and you don’t need to do them ever again. But just getting there is difficult for some people, including myself. I tend to spend more time on my under-level-80 toons than my 80s because 1-70 is more interesting and engaging for me.

I ran into that map just so I could try the adventure Daily a few days ago. And, boy oh boy did the mini-map and main map prove completely useless. Got into an enemy-infested underground path that did not follow the path that was clearly shown on the map. The map didn’t even fade out and show the real path I was actually on underground. If anything, the maps being tweaked to reflect the multiple layers in HoT zones would make exploring them a whole lot easier. The mini-map has zero issue showing multiple layers in the core Tyria maps! So…what happened?

I think another issue for exploring the HoT maps is the paths that are clogged with mobs. In AB, I once got chased for whole minutes by these rolling spiky lizards that shot rocks at me, and they kept chasing me even at the point where ANY other enemy in the ENTIRE game would give up. WTH?

Danikat.8537:

Anet have already said they are going to fix it in the next patch. If you choose not to believe them that’s up to you, but demanding they do what they’ve already said they will do isn’t likely to achieve anything extra.

In the meantime you can remove the effect by turning Shaders (Options > Graphics > Advanced Settings) to Low. That removes the glare. The terrain won’t look as pretty but you can always turn them back up when you leave the area.

I’ve tried that, and it doesn’t make the glow go away. I even set my graphics to the lowest setting possible and it’s still there, just not as bright (but still bright and distracting and…just odd).

In general, I don’t mind manually placing my AOE skills. However, there are some weapon skills that used to be where you attack your enemy, hit the skill button, and when it lands, it is AOE by default, but now are manual targeting, and that’s what I dislike. Honestly, Dragon’s Tooth for Ele Scepter? That AOE “retical” is so small as far as AOE goes that it is tedious to aim with. I preferred it when it was like any other attack. Don’t know why they changed it at all.

tripat.2301:

Yeah, maybe some points and a title would have been great. After doing all of them I feel like “Clearly Has Too Much Time” would have been a nice fit

I think that just needs to be an available title in general, for any achievement that takes a ridiculous amount of time, lol.

Danikat.8537:

Taegos.4132:

The problem I have with this is as someone who suffers from extreme sensitivity to bright lights I have to either avoid these areas, or turn down my tvs brightness or suffer migraines from the insane brightness. This can have a real life health impact and needs to be addressed.

If you turn the shaders down to low the brightness disappears. (Options > Graphics > then under Advanced Settings there’s one called Shaders with 3 options, Low, Medium or High.)

It’s not ideal because then the terrain looks ugly, but I assume it’s far better than a migraine. And you can turn it back up again once you leave that area.

I always have my Shaders set to “Low” by default, since I play on a laptop, and yet it is still showing up for me.

Taegos.4132:

Bbear.7830:

Sorry… I couldn’t come up with anything else on the subject, but it certainly seems to be a software issue outside the game engine files – otherwise more than 18 players would be reporting it on the forum (which is including me).

Only other suggestion I can offer is to run a spot poll among everyone you know ingame and report the numbers experiencing the bug on this merged thread, so Anet can get an idea just how many are affected.

If you run with this idea just start with the number 18 as above and when you post add however many others you confirmed have the same problem, next poster does the same etc.

Breeze

EDIT: Inculpatus/Penelope – Would one or both of you co-ordinate this? I’m overseas all this month and can’t be online regularly enough to do it myself.

I have asked people on maps and have dozens report the same glaring issue, so yes its an in game engine issue. For every 1 forums poster reporting a bug their usually a dozen more experiencing it but never bother to visit the forums. Only 5% of the GW2 pop probably visits here. Please don’t try to diminish people who have gotten reports similar to this.

And in case you missed it, I have confirmed this with a Dev.

Yep, forum users tend to be only a small portion of the total number of people playing GW2 at any given time. I think most people either a) forget there is a forum or b) find it tedious to go to a forum to report something, when they could just make an in-game report.

Taegos.4132:

This isnt a hardware issue its clearly a game file being broken, it just seems like its a issue with their in game engine just slowly deteriorating and gets worse every time they patch the game.

Even I am starting to think that this is a game, not a driver issue. Because if it was a driver issue, wouldn’t it be affecting everything in the entire game? Instead, it’s only affecting very specific locations, which makes it just seem a bit too odd.

I’ve seen it at the troll cave/harpy nest in Queensdale and, yes, even in the daytime.

Whenever I am in VB, I do find a group and usually a tagged Mentor or Commander working on it. So, once I get the stealth mastery, I will know where to go. Usually best to go to the spawn points when a meta is going on, I think, since that’s when it’s the best chance for enough people to be there to kill time with the mushroom.

Okay, I am now looking at a list of each zone in the wiki, so now I can give the answers I would have given earlier.

Ascalon:

• Fields of Ruin – Always found it somewhat boring.

Kryta:

• Harathi Hinterlands – I usually never go into that map until I need to finish world completion. I just find it tedious and boring.

Maguuma Jungle:

• Brisban Wildlands – Annoying due to its layout, especially the bandit-heavy zones and the swamp.
• Mount Maelstrom – Again, tedious in areas.

Ruins of Orr:

• A little bit of each map, really, but I understand that’s the point. It was the end-game region before Wastes and Heart. But if I had to choose…
• Straits of Devastation – Always some important WPs being contested, so I’ve had to run around on foot for most of my runs through it.

Shiverpeak Mountains:

• Dredgehaunt Cliffs – Simply annoying, especially the Dredge-centric areas.
• Frostgorge Sound – Feels very sprawling.

And then, of course, all of Dry Top, Silverwastes, and every HoT map, because reasons.

Lightsbane.9012:

Rodzynald.5897:

Lightsbane.9012:

staves and spears are vastly different weapons.
i vote no.

Revenant and Daredevil use them in close combat. What difference would it make? Lightward staff looks like a polearm and I saw some players run with those skins, and it looked quite nice as they fought.
It’s just for the looks, we could use some more of those for sure.

EDIT:
I wouldn’t say that they are vastly different.
Both have a wooden shaft and something attached on the end of it. On one weapon it might be somthing ornamental/blunt and the second one has something sharp.
It’s just the tip that we are talking about C:

you are aware of the difference between a spear and a staff, yes? one doesn’t even swing a spear in nearly the same ways that they would swing a spear, i imagine anet knows this, as to why their continuously long delay of being in the game will be quite longer, mainly because of their difficult to build animations. I don’t know about you, but if spears are held the same way melee staff/hammer is held, i will be very disappointed.

I don’t think they are asking that underwater spears be used on land, and vica-verca. Sounds like they are simply wishing that we could change the skins (appearance) of our staffs into spear skins. It certainly would just look nice with certain characters.

Lahmia.2193:

I could finally make my thief into Oberyn Martell, equip Dragonfury, and then have him fight a Norn greatsword warrior.

Good luck with that… lol

HoT for sure. However, I’d say one map that I groan at every time I need to complete it has to be Brisban Wildlands. It’s easy to get into due to it’s level range, and as such becomes a common place for Humans, Asura, and Sylvari to go to. However, some parts of it are just a chore to get to, with all of the bandits lying between WPs. I dunno, I just have always been annoyed by that map. I know there are several which I’d consider “hard” beyond HoT, but my memory is failing me at this moment!