Guild Wars 2

Donari.5237:

How do you move it, by the way? I like having it at the top so I don’t have to scroll down to get at the salvage tools, but I thought I’d test and I couldn’t drag the slots. I didn’t look to the left where the bag tabs are, is that where you do it?

I think you can just drag it. However, first you need to go into the general game options, and click one of the new check boxes that allows you to move the slot.

I am now happy that there is the option to a) move the slot to the top or bottom and b) merge it together with the rest of the bag slots like it originally was. Wasn’t aware of these options until I read it in the forums yesterday.

The emptiness that the visual change made is a bit disorienting, after being used to seeing all the top rows filled with a slot. I get it, it’s leaving extra space so that people who want to spend the crazy amount of gems/gold/$ on shared slots can fill them up, but until that happens, it feels…unbalanced.

I still struggle with certain aspects of HoT maps (finally got into running around Auric Basin), but I can say that it is possible to explore the map and get from one end to the next solo. Groups are only necessary for, as is in the name, group events (meta, Champs, HoT Hero Points, etc.). For surviving HoT in general, even the non-Vet mobs, it just depends on your build and so forth – have not only a damage-increasing spec, but also one that may help with health, or other survivability stats. Also have to learn when and where to pick or battles or avoid them entirely. If such a HoT noob like myself, who was voicing my struggles in these forums only a week ago, can find a way to survive general HoT, then you can, too! Still a struggle, though, I will never lie about that.

That would be a good idea, for sure! It also would be helpful for people who, for any reason, need to leave their computers while in the middle of a mission. Every other game I know of has checkpoints, so why not MMOs? The story missions are also instanced, so it’s not like it’s impossible to implement.

Here’s my build at the moment for level 80 Scrapper (although my heal skill is the Scrapper one; it wasn’t an option on the website) – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdEQJAqanUIC1ahtbBWXBsehl7iCMBfwAge1j9ZX8g+hQE-e Also wearing Carrion armor to help boost survivability and more condi damage.

Since I use P/P primarily on my Scrapper (with the occassional Flamethrower use here-and-there), I’ve been using Carrion stat armor, due to all the condis that pop up, especially with certain choices in the Firearms spec. I’ve been doing relatively well but, then again, I am primarily a PvE’r. So, in my experience, a condi build for Engi works fine. Granted, I do get downed in HoT if I am not careful. I’d probably go for full Zerker if I ever plan on using Hammer often. But a condi build is best for pistol use, IMO.

One thing that annoys be about the “Zerker meta” is that I feel like, if I do go full-Zerker on certain classes, that I will then be unable to use certain weapons. Here’s an example:

Beserker would work great for a Scrapper, since the hammer is very pure damage-based, IMO. It even would work for a rifle. However, if I want to run pistol/pistol or flamethrower, then Condition Damage would be a useful stat to have, especially with some of the selections in the Firearms spec. P/P may not be able to be used to its full potential if I just go Power/Prec/Ferocity.

Yes, I know, I can do whatever I want to, but some people are rather choosy about what their teammates are doing, unfortunately. I have been using Carrion stat armor for P/P, hoping that the Vitality helps with survivability, and the Condi helps boost the pistol’s secondary effects.

Hesacon.8735:

Moyayuki.3619:

Hesacon.8735:

People die in real life all the time regardless of position in society, why would a story be subject to different rules? George Patton died in a car accident and he was kind of the Destiny’s Edge of WWII.

But this isn’t real life, this is a video game. I expect fictional stories to handle certain things differently. Main characters with quite the life behind them shouldn’t die pathetically, in my opinion. Sure, characters can react to death the same way people in real life would, but I’d rather see an iconic character of a story die in a way that is fitting for them.

Excuse me for thinking an excursion deep into hostile enemy territory where the big bad enemy destroyed the fleet without flinching might be wrought with peril.

Zone wrought with peril =/= make a main character die lamely. I wasn’t attacking your previous comment. Just saying how in fictional stories things are handled differently than real life, though it doesn’t mean that many real-life issues, emotions, etc. can’t still exist. That’s all I was saying.

Djinn.9245:

penelopehannibal.8947:

I actually think the defend events should be more rewarding (And perhaps harder too to compensate) than the capture ones. What kind of hero says “Oh, you need defending? You’re on your own, mate. I’ll wait until your dead so I can get better loot!”?

I agree.

Definitely! That logic… x_x

PopeUrban.2578:

Boogiepop Void.6473:

Just going to note here that having to use the elite to survive (which is the majority, though not all, of what is being said here) is not a good thing. Some people want to have some choice in how they play and build. Not saying there can’t be optimal vs suboptimal, but optimal vs dead is not good design.

That is a massive flaw in HoT as a whole. They introduced the elite spec system, which is a long term design to create build diversity by making it easier for them to balance adding new skills, traits and weapons. They then only added one elite spec so there are actually less choices since elite specs need to be superior to base specs (since you can stack them with any base spec) and thus the whole design is balanced around players using one of exactly one option.

I blame revnant. Should have put the time and effort that went in to designing the class with the least build diversity in to actually increasing build diversity for the existing ones.

On the topic of Elite specs and builds (I do agree with your comments), I feel restricted just by the fact that we have the specialization system, and can only pick three to have equipped in our build. So my Elite spec takes up space where another useful one (for different reasons) could have gone, but the Elite gives other benefits I can’t easily let go of. The 3-specs for a build makes me have to make tough decisions: sacrifice survival for damage? Heal more, or run faster? Etc. Quite frustrating to say the least.

Really hate the patches for crafting… I have never made a single patch because I never have enough mats to make enough; instead I am forced to buy them off the TP. No idea why they added it in in the first place, it just makes crafting, something that should be doable by everyone, more annoying.

Update: Finished the current HoT Mastery I was working on (Updraft gliding) by trying out the Adventure that was yesterday’s Daily. I found that one to be pretty easy, got to Gold. Bugs in the Branches, though…eesh, I can’t imagine how to get over 10 bugs! I also just so happened to be in the right spot to do some nighttime camp defense/retake events. Now that I have updraft gliding, hopefully I can get to some Mastery and Hero Points and Vistas in Verdant Brink for more XP (want to do as much of that map as I can before I go on to the next one).

I have one more question related to Masteries: If I take my other 80s into Maguuma Wastes for the LV S2 story, would the XP from that go towards Core Tyria Masteries?

Behellagh.1468:

And of course on map complete you get a fabulous prize … well you’ll get something, even a chance for a Black Lion key.

Best win I ever got was a key, which then rewarded me with a Total Makeover Kit from a BLC. :o

Only festival I ever look forward to anymore is Halloween, since there’s so much to do. The rest have felt rather restrictive. A new, one-time festival that all players can enjoy would be great to see in the meantime.

I am struggling because I have found that each Mastery XP bar fills at an agonizingly slow pace, even with things like Celebration Booster being active on my toon. Even when I try out a world boss or an event chain for a Daily, the XP I earn barely puts a notch into it. Therefore, I am wondering what things I could do to fill it up faster (this is in regards to both HoT and core Tyria Masteries). I am only Mastery level 5, and I do still have the rest of the Living World story in HoT to continue (recently finished the Verdant Brink part).

Note: I don’t have the time, especially on week days to do lots of dungeons, I haven’t explored the next 3-4 HoT maps, so I can’t yet engage in events there, and I really loathe PvP and WvW. Guess I am wondering how far up in Mastery level the HoT story would take me, if I was to do just that (though then there are story-important Masteries that are locked until I can get the XP for them).

Thanks!

Vayne.8563:

So first you complained about difficulty, then grind, and now map complexity. I think I’m sensing a pattern here. lol

And don’t give me this age stuff. I have a guild full of people who are older. One guy is in his 70s. A few people in their 60s and I’m 54. My wife is my age and she can get easily anywhere in any of the zones. It’s not an age thing.

I think it’s a phobic thing. People scare themselves and make it harder than it is. Of all the maps, only TD is confusing in any real sense of the word, and once you have wallows unlocked it’s not hard at all.

Between Teku Nuhoch and The Confluence waypoint, you can get almost anywhere in the zone. Maybe a couple of hard places to get, but it’s on you. Easy enough to figure it out if you want to.

What about players who really do have memory issues…? Just because you know gamers who are older, doesn’t mean all are that way. Also, some players do just have trouble navigating such layered zones, and are not “scaring” themselves out of it. Lots of variety of gamers exist in GW2, so we all have our own personal strengths and weaknesses.

Rauderi.8706:

DoctorDing.5890:

A 2D mini map is not ideal for a 3D world.

I’m generally good about using the map layers and height indicators. That’s.. passable. A solid B (maybe B-).

What actually gets to me more than anything, which is made particularly painful in Tangled Depths beyond anywhere else, is the map is blobby and featureless with regard to the actual terrain.

I could be following a supposed path on the map only to find it’s blocked by a wall. So what does that obvious, brown, winding stripe on my map for? I have no indication, and the map is actively deceiving me. What it comes down to for me is that it’s not Tangled Depths itself that overly bothers me, but the map itself is a poor guide for navigation.

Let that sink in. The map. A thing used for navigation. Is bad for navigation.

The map is a huge part of it, yes. Even in Verdant Brink I have issues navigating since the mini- and full map (M key) don’t show how complex it really is. Sure, you get the “Underground”, “Surface”, and top layer options in the main map, but that doesn’t show the different levels just on the surface. If it could be more refined, make the layering more obvious, it would be a huge help for navigation.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

I haven’t read all the posts above, but most of them and you’re not taking into account that these bosses appear in low lvl zones and many players participating may not be lvl 80, geared as well as u, or hardened by HoT. For those players that are on lvl, this battle would be extremely hard and they probably get 1 shot by any of these champs if hit, let alone the executioner. Give a bit of thought eh?

There are lot of new players in this game, first timers and ur all talking about as if everyone is max lvl and has experienced the end game content and so forth. Imo for those lvl zones and ppl trying to fight these bosses on lvl. they’re way op for them.

That’s a good point. Some of the bandits were in Brisban Wildlands, yes? That’s a 15-25 level zone, so that’s a huge disparity. Guess they just chose the zones based on where it would make sense for these bandits to be hanging out in, regardless of the zone’s level.

Hesacon.8735:

People die in real life all the time regardless of position in society, why would a story be subject to different rules? George Patton died in a car accident and he was kind of the Destiny’s Edge of WWII.

But this isn’t real life, this is a video game. I expect fictional stories to handle certain things differently. Main characters with quite the life behind them shouldn’t die pathetically, in my opinion. Sure, characters can react to death the same way people in real life would, but I’d rather see an iconic character of a story die in a way that is fitting for them.

Andy Warhol.6250:

If the charr are based off of cats (I’m assuming this, mind you) then one should realize that cats as a whole display little sexual dimorphism when compared, to say, humans. Cat mammary glands do not nearly show as much on the exterior as human mammary glands. As for the assurans, it’s anyone’s guess.

Doesn’t mean that female Char and Asura can’t have armor that’s slightly different from the male armor. When I play my female Char, I get so bored with the armor choices. Just a tiny redesign would be nice, doesn’t have to be anything sexualized. A lot of the armor worn by women of the other races get their own style, why not Char and Asura, too? It seems a bit unfair.

Razor.9872:

Moyayuki.3619:

OriOri.8724:

Moyayuki.3619:

Vayne.8563:

Anet never promised there would be no grind. They did say there would be no grind for BIS gear. Obviously even that’s questionable with ascended weapons which were meant to be a longer term goal but you absolutely don’t need a legendary weapon. It’s an optional feature.

It’s something put into the game to give people who want to grind, something to work towards. Some people like and need that.

No required grind is very different than no grind. No grind for BIS gear is very different from no grind.

Even ascended, you don’t need them to play the game, except for the highest level fractals.

May I ask what cool, special weapons/armors are available out there that us non-grinders are able to obtain? It just feels like all of the cool stuff is meant for the few who have the time and money to do it.

While some of them can be a bit of a grind to get the materials, its nothing like the grind for legendaries, and in most cases is far easier (if not slightly more expensive) than grinding the materials for ascended gear too. But all of the unique exotics that were released into the game before ascended gear would be an option. Personally I think these are some of the coolest skins in the game. I love legendaries, but I see them everywhere and I don’t see nearly as many of these unique exotics being towed around.

How is ascended gear acquired? I know that there were some special armor skins from the Karma vendors in one of the Orr maps, but that’s the extent of my knowledge, since I haven’t come across any others. I usually just play Personal Story/map completion on my many alts, so I tend to be out of the loop about some things.

There are actually quite a few different ways to acquire ascended gear (mostly dependent on what type of gear it is [armor/weapons/accessories]).

For accessories, you get them from story achievements, fractals (do fractal dailies for pristine fractal relics), laurel venders (in a way, cheaper in WvW), PvP chests, WvW chests, and raids to name a few.

For amor/weapons, the mainstay of obtaining them is through crafting. However, not only are they timegated, they are quite expensive (so just stick with exotic gear and slowly get one piece of ascended gear at a time [longterm goals!]). But one can also obtain them from some achievements, fractal drops, PvP chests, WvW chests, raids, Tequatl, Triple Trouble, and collections to name what I remember.

Thanks for the information!

DrLuigi.3764:

If you’ve seen a group of 50 wipe on any of these that group should seriously uninstall…and I never say that.

There was about 12-15 of us last night take down the legendary. We had the occasional person wipe but nowhere near a wipe. This was 12-15 random people….wiping with 50, I don’t even…

That’s unfair to say. Just because a group of people died to a boss, they should never play GW2 again? I don’t see it affecting your successful fights against the bosses…

OriOri.8724:

Moyayuki.3619:

Vayne.8563:

Anet never promised there would be no grind. They did say there would be no grind for BIS gear. Obviously even that’s questionable with ascended weapons which were meant to be a longer term goal but you absolutely don’t need a legendary weapon. It’s an optional feature.

It’s something put into the game to give people who want to grind, something to work towards. Some people like and need that.

No required grind is very different than no grind. No grind for BIS gear is very different from no grind.

Even ascended, you don’t need them to play the game, except for the highest level fractals.

May I ask what cool, special weapons/armors are available out there that us non-grinders are able to obtain? It just feels like all of the cool stuff is meant for the few who have the time and money to do it.

While some of them can be a bit of a grind to get the materials, its nothing like the grind for legendaries, and in most cases is far easier (if not slightly more expensive) than grinding the materials for ascended gear too. But all of the unique exotics that were released into the game before ascended gear would be an option. Personally I think these are some of the coolest skins in the game. I love legendaries, but I see them everywhere and I don’t see nearly as many of these unique exotics being towed around.

How is ascended gear acquired? I know that there were some special armor skins from the Karma vendors in one of the Orr maps, but that’s the extent of my knowledge, since I haven’t come across any others. I usually just play Personal Story/map completion on my many alts, so I tend to be out of the loop about some things.

LouWolfskin.3492:

Moyayuki.3619:

The OP was not insinuating that “casual” players of GW2 are “I want to be a loner and have everything be one-hit easy-mode”, like you just did. And I find that insulting. Sure, I play solo unless I run a dungeon, but do I, someone who does consider myself a “casual” player, want the game to “not get harder than Tetris at lowest setting”? Where the hell did you even get that claim? Just admit that there are tons of different types of players out there, and many could be considered one or more types of “casual” (it’s not a term set in stone, just like “hard-core” or “elite” isn’t, either).

By extension, everyone will react differently to HoT. Some will have no issue regardless of class. Others will struggle. Is someone struggling with HoT hurting your personal game time? So then why bother if someone struggles with it? I do have to admit, some navigation in the HoT maps is really counter-intuitive, with the mini-map not helping matters. And there are enemies (Itzel frogs, mushrooms) that seem incredibly “cheap” at times. There are frustrating aspects of HoT. And that’s my personal opinion.

I’ll admit my fault as a human being because after a while all these: Arena Net is so mean to us casuals and HoT is bad for the game threads just bleed together for me.

And… to my defense: I asked if those were defining points of the casual.

I want to understand this as it gets thrown around so often and in such a density that i just don’t know what exactly casual is supposed to mean here.

But.. i am sorry for insulting you or others with my maybe rudely chosen words.
I can hope nothing more than that you will accept my apology.

It’s all right. That’s the nature of the internet: We often read text differently than we’d hear it. And a big thing about forums is we often hear complaints from a few specific groups, which then make others think they are the majority, when they really are not. I honestly haven’t heard of anyone who called themselves “casual” asking for some of the things you mentioned in your previous post, so that’s why I was pretty confused about where it was coming from.

Ellie.5913:

Spring festival.. that sounds nice, even lord of the rings has tons of festivals like that, why cant gw2?

I do miss the festivals, though the last one that happened in GW2 was that Year of the Ram one, right? I didn’t even participate in it. Halloween is always my favorite because there is a bigger variety of things to do. Even carving pumpkins while you are already doing other things in other maps adds a bit of fun to it. I wonder what the next one will be, and when? Those always have something for every kind of player.

AliamRationem.5172:

Moyayuki.3619:

Zodiark.4985:

Hex.8341:

Ok, I guess there’s too many posts now that no one bothers read any replies so just ignore this thread. I know I’m not going to repeat myself over and over again when you can’t be bothered to read.

I do map completion on every class. People been complaing about thief forever.

The reality is if mob is easy, just pistol whip them. If mob is hard just stealth through them. Hero point and big events don’t really matter because you can’t solo them anyway. And weather you hit hit for low damage or high don’t matter anyway because you get credit either way.

Here’s the issue with your suggestion: Even if someone is playing a Thief, maybe they don’t prefer the pistol nor stealth. I for one find the pistol in any combination to be clunky and I’ve never used it. I also tend to dislike using stealth, as I am really bored with that thief cliche. I use the weapons and skills that I like, and would rather not be told “no, you must have these specific weapon combos and these specific skills in order to simply survive this map”. That then defeats the purpose of the “play how you want” mantra of GW2. And this is me speaking as a pure PvE’r, no experience in PvP or WvW at all (no interest in them).

Except that isn’t true. Having access to only a melee weapon set is an unnecessary handicap, but it isn’t impossible. You’ll likely die to things that a more versatile playstyle can roll over without issue. That’s all.

Nobody is saying you must use a specific weapon set. I’ve done well on my daredevil with d/p, p/p, and staff. I know most thieves prefer to run shortbow, and s/p is about as similar to d/p as a weapon set can get, so I’m sure that works, too. I’ve even heard of d/d condi builds doing well in open world HoT. So I think everything works.

Traits are the same way. I personally find it difficult to give up daredevil, but I could certainly adjust my other trait lines. I typically run DD/CS/DA, but DD/Tr/DA is good, too. And I know some thieves that run open world using DD with acro.

So do it your way. Like everyone else, you will probably have to make some adjustments you wouldn’t have had to make outside of HoT. So what? That doesn’t mean you’re locked into a specific build.

I think when my Thief does eventually hit 80, I may use Staff and Shortbow. Hopefully it will be viable for HoT. Don’t know much about Daredevil Staff, but it sure is an interesting idea for my toon. Using D/D for PvE so far, though, since it works well enough for exploration and Personal Story stuff.

Vayne.8563:

Anet never promised there would be no grind. They did say there would be no grind for BIS gear. Obviously even that’s questionable with ascended weapons which were meant to be a longer term goal but you absolutely don’t need a legendary weapon. It’s an optional feature.

It’s something put into the game to give people who want to grind, something to work towards. Some people like and need that.

No required grind is very different than no grind. No grind for BIS gear is very different from no grind.

Even ascended, you don’t need them to play the game, except for the highest level fractals.

May I ask what cool, special weapons/armors are available out there that us non-grinders are able to obtain? It just feels like all of the cool stuff is meant for the few who have the time and money to do it.

Serophous.9085:

PopeUrban.2578:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Heck, Rytlock dropped down a wormhole to who knows what (not us: we still haven’t found out where he went off to) and lived to talk about it (and introduce a new prof, conveniently in time for the expansion).

Since when did he start talking about it?

He’s gone out of his way to NOT tak about it, probably because he has some super-secret LS3 related bombshell to drop that we’ll all be completely unsurprised by when it eventually hits our screens because of Anet’s ham-handed attempts at foreshadowing and clues.

Rytlock does that all the time, and I think Anet thinks its funny or something.

“Hey Rytlock, how did you come by that flaming sword?” – Rox
“Now’s not the time for that” – Rytlock

“Wow sir! How did you come by those new abilities?” – Rox
“I’ll tell you some other time.” – Rytlock

Lets face it, Rox is basically the lore community wanting to know more and asking those questions, and anet just giving us a rope around for now >.>. Its getting annoying.

That made me chuckle. =)

Boogiepop Void.6473:

AliamRationem.5172:

Boogiepop Void.6473:

My problem in HOT is the unavoidable attacks. For example when you engage onto a smokescale, it goes untargetable and teles to you, taking off half your health. Nothing you can do, be you melee or ranged, to avoid this. The Ogotl are similar in that they can go invis and hit you for large chunks of health while still invis and thus you can’t really avoid it. Your only hope against them is blocks or reflects, which makes it required to have at least one of those slotted in HOT maps even if they aren’t normally a part of your rotation.

Your difficulties are due to misunderstanding the way the mechanics work.

The smokescale teleport attack doesn’t work the way you think it does. It is not instant damage, but a series of rapid hits that occur only at very close range. The proper response to anticipate the move and block/evade most of the damage. The moment the smokescale teleports to you, dodge away. It will teleport again. Dodge away. After a few seconds the assault will end.

The smokescale’s next move is to drop a red circle on the ground. Attacks will miss while the smokescale is inside the circle (Note: Attacks will also miss when the smokescale is just outside the circle, too!). The move is to get out of the circle and force the smokescale to follow.

Smokescales have very low health. Once you’ve countered their moves you can take them down almost instantly (in fact, if you have a move that reliably hits for 10K plus you can just 1-shot them right off the bat).

For the stealth frogs, until you have the mastery unlocked you can’t see them. However, you can observe what they do when they reveal themselves.

One attack is an arrow volley, which you’ve seen unstealthed frogs and mordrem snipers use. They remain stationary and slowly rotate toward their target. Once they lock on, they fire in that direction a moment later. If you continuously move, the arrows will either miss or you may take one or two hits on the edge of the cone if you happen to be fairly close by.

The other attack is the close range stun, followed by insta-jib. They have to get into melee range to hit you with this attack, but their movement speed is slower in stealth. Stay moving and they won’t be able to catch you.

Once they reveal themselves, the frogs are much like the smokescales. They have low health and you should be able to take them down quickly.

Many enemies in the jungle work this way. You need to understand the mechanics, the timing, the animations. Once you get that down these guys are fodder.

Smokescales fall into the general issue with HOT which is that yes, you can dodge a bit, but the number of dodges needed to actually negate the incoming damage/status effects is greater than even the daredevil has available. If the attacks are dodgeable but you need 5 dodges to actually avoid the attack cycle, then the attacks are effectively undodgeable and all you are doing is a bit of mitigation. Even throwing in extra dodges from weapons and skills, it’s too much. And that’s ignoring the tendency of some of the enemies to which this applies to come in packs or to be near enough to each other that you tend to accidentally aggro the next one while dodging the attacks of the first or to take so long to deal with one that the one you already killed respawns behind you and instantly aggros (looking at you again Ogotl).

I agree. I really wish that dodging could be tweaked, because only two dodges until stamina replenishes is completely unrealistic in a lot of situations, especially for classes that don’t have as many dodging skills as others. It makes me laugh a bit when people suggest “Hey, just dodge, noob”, when it boils down to the question of “Yeah, but how am I supposed to dodge that often?”.

RoseofGilead.8907:

Just to compare it to crafting The Legend (the other legendary staff precursor): It’d cost around 1k gold to craft The Legend, and the current highest buy order for it is around 1400 gold. And it looks like crafting The Raven Staff costs around 1100g, give or take a few. So, it’s not like this one is worse than the other more expensive legendaries.

That being said, I too get annoyed by the extreme amount of ascended mats required for that first tier of crafting.

Eesh, I could never imagine having that much gold on hand – I struggle just to get up to 300g (only have 260g right now). Does it mean I would have to farm in a map or game mode I loathe with a passion just to get something I’m interested in? Very counter-intuitive, and unrealistic too. It makes me depressed to see many things I will never have because I don’t have the time, gold, or skill to do so. It was an annoying struggle just to get Mawdrey, the only “special” crafted item I have.

Zodiark.4985:

Hex.8341:

Ok, I guess there’s too many posts now that no one bothers read any replies so just ignore this thread. I know I’m not going to repeat myself over and over again when you can’t be bothered to read.

I do map completion on every class. People been complaing about thief forever.

The reality is if mob is easy, just pistol whip them. If mob is hard just stealth through them. Hero point and big events don’t really matter because you can’t solo them anyway. And weather you hit hit for low damage or high don’t matter anyway because you get credit either way.

Here’s the issue with your suggestion: Even if someone is playing a Thief, maybe they don’t prefer the pistol nor stealth. I for one find the pistol in any combination to be clunky and I’ve never used it. I also tend to dislike using stealth, as I am really bored with that thief cliche. I use the weapons and skills that I like, and would rather not be told “no, you must have these specific weapon combos and these specific skills in order to simply survive this map”. That then defeats the purpose of the “play how you want” mantra of GW2. And this is me speaking as a pure PvE’r, no experience in PvP or WvW at all (no interest in them).

LouWolfskin.3492:

[snip]
Do you want to… i don’t know never have to play with others? Because that was something the game promised early on as well: Everyone is your party.

Do you want to never have to do more than to use your auto attack?

Before the whole HoT-discussion in these Forums i saw casual as easy to learn and understand.
As a game that you can get into without much work but that will reward you for getting that one step deeper.

But apparantly that’s not it.
Casual, from what i see in these posts, and even in the german forums, seems to be:
I don’t want to have to play with others, i don’t want any challenge what so ever, content should not get harder than Tetris on it’s lowest setting.

And i don’t believe that’s what casual means because before HoT a lot of people were asking for harder content, for that tiny bit of a challenge more.

And how exactly does HoT challenge you? It’s one or two counter skills here or there, maybe a bit of CC.
Actually… HoT asks for teamplay, and that it gets bashed for that means for me: Casual means egotistical.
Because the playerbase can’t be asked to see beyond the fence of their frontyard.

And you know what? I go solo into the HoT areas every now and then. I don’t see them as that challenging.
If i see a bigger event i ask people to join, they participate, everyone has (hopefully) fun.
That’s the essence of what GW2 promised at the start.

[snip]

The OP was not insinuating that “casual” players of GW2 are “I want to be a loner and have everything be one-hit easy-mode”, like you just did. And I find that insulting. Sure, I play solo unless I run a dungeon, but do I, someone who does consider myself a “casual” player, want the game to “not get harder than Tetris at lowest setting”? Where the hell did you even get that claim? Just admit that there are tons of different types of players out there, and many could be considered one or more types of “casual” (it’s not a term set in stone, just like “hard-core” or “elite” isn’t, either).

By extension, everyone will react differently to HoT. Some will have no issue regardless of class. Others will struggle. Is someone struggling with HoT hurting your personal game time? So then why bother if someone struggles with it? I do have to admit, some navigation in the HoT maps is really counter-intuitive, with the mini-map not helping matters. And there are enemies (Itzel frogs, mushrooms) that seem incredibly “cheap” at times. There are frustrating aspects of HoT. And that’s my personal opinion.

So far, it feels like the only way I’d be able to get the XP bars up on my Masteries (core Tyria and HoT) is by:

1.) Gobble up any XP-boosting items you can get your hands on.
2.) Proceed to replay dynamic events, dungeons, etc. over and over until you get your XP bars up, one Mastery at a time.

It seems counter-intuitive. Look at levels 1 through 80 – you can get there by doing your PS, LS, and world map completion; you don’t even need to redo dynamic events or dungeons multiple times to get to 80; you do what is the next logical step. But at some point, there’s going to be an XP drought, and you’ll need to replay events and dungeons yet again to get XP for Masteries. That’s the issue I am seeing, and it’s making me feel unmotivated to keep playing my HoT 80.

munki.6402:

Hex.8341:

Ok so the answer to “content is pretty badly designed for melee characters” is “Use ranged, faceroll with a group or abuse terrain so they can’t reach you at all”.

You people crack me up. Do you not realize that such “advice” only proves my point? I can switch to my shortbow and solo every enemy given enough time, however, I shouldn’t HAVE to. Why have melee in the game at all if that’s the only way to do things?

Anyway, I got my answer so I’ll just play my Necromancer instead and pick my nose while playing.

So edgy. I melee with my chrono/scrapper/Daredevil/Reaper and as others have concluded, this is an l2p issue. What’s wrong with using terrain/los’ing an enemy? What’s wrong with learning how to defeat an enemy? Are you seriously suggesting those are design flaws? Since you didn’t find the answer you wanted and decided to take your toys and go home, might I suggest you find a nice quiet tree in Queensdale to beat on?

Just let him be, okay? No need to go “L2P” and tell him to beat on a “quiet tree in Queensdale”. Such toxicity. Yes, I get it, the OP was frustrated. But maybe, just MAYBE, it’s not as easy for them to do the same things you do, even if they’ve had experience in this and other games. Not everyone is the same. Being a jerk is nothing to be proud of, just because you find it easy and he doesn’t. Grow up. Not like it is hurting how YOU play, right?

Hmm, good point. If they put in a Slayer achievement for HoT enemies, then it may help with encouraging people to kill them who would otherwise try to run past due to being too frustrating.

Wish I knew. I also think it’s ridiculous to force players to go ranged just to properly deal with the new mobs. Sure, every class does have a ranged option, but that doesn’t mean every player wants to use it exclusively.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Honestly? Bad writing and poor plotting. It was meant to create a dramatic effect and further character development for the new characters. In this case, especially Braham.

But never underestimate a smart reader or player who can see what’s really happening.

In other words, the plot required it, and that’s why it happened. Players recognized it for what it was: a stupid, throwaway decision solely based on circumstances and opinions outside the story itself.

Trahearne anyone?

All of Halo 5: Guardians is a good example of this.

I agree that the mini-map needs to be improved to show a greater disparity, visually, between elevations. The opacity/transparency is not stark enough to determine on mini-map where you are.

So far, Critical Strikes specialization, with the vulnerability and fury added on crits, seems to help make the SB do more damage, but I still find it pretty weak, especially after playing Ranger for so long. Does its damage get better with time, and with more specializations added to a build?

My Thief currently uses Shortbow (and D/D or S/D), and I was wondering if there were any builds that would make SB more viable. Its autoattack, for example, certainly does less than other bows used by other classes, in my opinion. I find myself using skills 1, 2, and 4 most of the time. Since my toon is only level 40 right now, I only have Critical Strikes chosen so far in my build. Also currently have equipped the sigils that increase power, precision, and movement speed (I am a PvE’r at heart and focus primarily on Personal Story/Living Story and world exploration. I do not play WvW or PvP.).

What do the rest of you think of Shortbow, and how do you make it stack up to other bows in the game?

You get a key from finishing level 10 (and I think 20?) Personal Story, but only if you finished a level 10 story a week or more before.

I know this isn’t related to GW2 (I haven’t seen many names that really gave a reaction), but in WoW I saw a Tauren (cow people) Warrior named….“Angus Khan”. That was the best MMORPG name I’ve ever seen in my life to this day…!

Frediosz.2718:

Moving from easy content to hardcore content is moving from one extreme to another. They’ve made a terrible mistake by not finding “the golden middle” between those. And its a bridge that they’ve crossed and burned behind them.

This topic shows what its only the tip of the iceberg – two different sides, one small and demanding hardcore stuff and second little bigger demanding stuff that is normal.
ANet simply lack resources to satisfy both simultaneously and focusing on one will result a kittenstorm from other + decrease of playerbase.

Well done.

Agreed, I definitely feel like there was a big jump between core Tyria and even Dry Top/Silverwastes. Then add HoT maps to the mix.

My new Thief (now level 20), Aloy The Huntress (yes, based off of the main character from the upcoming PS4 game, Horizon Zero Dawn) =)

Here is my level 80 Engineer/Scrapper, Markus Emmerich, with and without his helm.

Burtnik.5218:

Mike O Brien.4613:

Thanks for voting and commenting. We’ve read through everything you’ve posted here.

Among people who expressed a clear preference for one of the options, about 230 people prefer to make the change, versus about 40 who prefer to leave it as is. We’ll make the change.

We’re also going to work on cleaning up the Charr tail clipping. And then our focus has to be on shipping the full legendary set.

Thanks everyone!
Mo

The biggest offender for charr are helmets. Helmets should cover a neck, not just head while at same time removing hairs for no reason.. Good example how helmets should look like is is tier 3 cultural heavy. If you can desing different armor for both male&female humans i fail to understand why you cant desing a proper helmet for charr.

And this is why I always have my headgear hidden on every toon. It’s distracting when hair, ears, and/or horns disappear from every race I play, like they suddenly become bald (actually, there was a glitch for the longest time for me where any cutscene that had Seraph showed them without their helmets, and everyone, even the women, were bald. XD)

DeanBB.4268:

If we get chubby, I petition also for skinnier. Flat-chested females, scrawny male warriors, whatever. Give us more sliders.

But I fear armor models are the issue, making them look good on a wider range of body types.

And how about age? You can put gray hair on your toon, but they still look like a teenager.

I’ve seen only one female face that looks like an older woman – only on Human female. There really is a lack of choice.

There are some heavier builds for all races and genders, though maybe not nearly as pronounced as some people may wish.