Guild Wars 2

It’s rather odd that exactly 0% of the Living Story content has featured underwater gameplay after it was touted as such a big feature prior to release.

The greatswords for me. Partly because they’re so common, but mostly because when critically examined, well they’re just NASTY.

Firstly, they’re too wide to be taken seriously.

Then there’s the hideously over-sized and overly ornate hilts and guards. They look like something you’d find in Liberace’s mansion. They’re gaudy and tasteless.

And the effects in combat are over-the-top and could do with being reduced. Don’t get me wrong, I love the central conceit of the blade being a window into a day or night sky, and the idea that it “paints” as it’s swung, but as they’re currently implemented, they’re just over the top.

I think they’re made to appeal to the lowest common denominator though; large, shiny and expensive.

Not all professions are created equal when it comes to getting access to a full set of weapons.

What follows is a breakdown.
The first number is types of weapon a profession can use.
The second number is the number of weapon combinations available to that profession.
The third number is how many weapon types can be dual-wielded, necessitating 2 of one type of weapon (for example, an Elementalist’s Dagger/Dagger).

Elementalist 4/5/1

Engineer 3/3/1

Guardian 9/12/0

Mesmer 6/10/1

Necromancer 6/10/1

Ranger 8/11/1

Thief 6/7/2

Warrior 9/19/3

So the easiest and cheapest profession to fully equip is the Engineer, while a fully equipped Warrior would be a ridiculously daunting prospect.

And this is before even considering the different stat combinations.
If you wanted a full set of weapons of every stat combination, you’re looking at 23 complete sets.
For an Engineer, that would be 92 weapons.
For a Warrior, that would be 276 weapons, more than you can fit in your inventory if you have maxed out bag space.
Or “just” 12 Legendaries (remember, you would need 2 each of axe, mace and sword).

Ascended weapons make a mockery of build flexibility, and this is why.

I have a Sword/Torch Ranger with shortbow secondary, and I find it greatly suited to condition gear.
To that end, she has all CD/pow/v gear, or “Carrion”.
I think she may be better off with some Rabid gear (CD/pre/t) mixed in there, but overall, taking advantage of Sword/Torch’s natural propensity to dish out conditions seems to be a good idea.

To clarify: I can get a lot of damage-over-time conditions applied very quickly to one or more targets with this build and re-apply them easily, so making sure these conditions do the most damage possible only seems sensible.

aspirine.6852:

Mungrul.9358:

Easily attainable max-stat gear.
And my Divine Aura. So gutted I didn’t get anything anywhere near as cool in my GW2 CE.

Wut? It’s too easy in both, and in gw1 it was stupidly easy.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion man.

Seriously, there are no rights or wrongs here.

I prefer games where I don’t have to grind for gear and can just got on with playing and getting better.

You prefer games where max- stat gear is the reward and you therefore think it should be difficult to acquire.

They’re both valid opinions.

Easily attainable max-stat gear.
And my Divine Aura. So gutted I didn’t get anything anywhere near as cool in my GW2 CE.

Simply allowing us to turn of nametags would help massively in situations like the posted screenshot.
They’re such an eyesore.

ColinJohanson.2394:

You won’t see legendary armor any time soon, you will see Ascended Armor in 2013 for sure though, yes.

It’s probably a good thing I can’t swear here, as I really want to throw the most obnoxious expletives at Colin right now.

I’m guessing that differs from country to country. Students in the UK are typically just above the poverty line.

CrossedHorse.4261:

While we’re on the issue of speed, do some professions just run faster than others anyway by default? My elementalist (without any swiftness) seems to run a whole lot faster than my warrior, for instance, despite the fact they’re both human, and both run faster than my engi seems to. I’m fully aware I could be biasing the way I’m viewing them by what I already know about their potential, but it’s just something I wondered.

It’s probably to do with what race and size they are.

For example, a maximum sized Norn runs at the same speed as a minimum sized Asura.
But because the animations are slower, the Norn feels slower than the Asura. The Asura’s little legs will be going like the clappers and they’ll take between 4-5 strides for every one of the Norn’s.

There’s also an annoying animation glitch for Asuras, where the run animation is slower while wielding shortbows. So it feels like whenever your Thief or Ranger swap from one weapon to Shortbow, they slow down. They’re actually running at exactly the same speed as before, it just feels slower.

Guardians also get “Leap of Faith” as the number 3 attack on their greatsword, which further increases their mobility. Untraited, you can use this to leap forward every 15 seconds. Traited with Two-Handed Mastery, every 13.

Reihert.1509:

Dont bother Mungrul.

I’ll give you the answer:

Cultural Charr armor and, to some extense, CoF.

That plastic trash bag Cacti posted is the winner of bad helmets.

Not even that; as I said earlier in the thread, the cultural light tier 3 leggings don’t cater to Charr tails. The tail clips through the skirt.

But mainly, I want to get solid figures written down here to shame ArenaNet into action.

Here’s an additional point for your consideration that I’ve made before:

I think we can safely assume that the vast majority of “Content Locusts” are those with lots of free time on their hands.
It may be stereotyping, but a lot of these people are going to either be students or unemployed.
While being rich in game because they have more time to play than anyone else, they will NOT be rich in real life.
They will have very little disposable income.

THEY WILL NOT BUY GEMS WITH CASH.

These people that tear through content and that ArenaNet feels the need to pander to through the addition of Ascended gear and time-gated “progression” aren’t giving them any money.

ArenaNet are catering to the whims of those who are least able to pay them.

That doesn’t strike me as a sound business strategy.

I think I might go through all the helmets and leggings tonight and determine exactly what the ratio is between pieces that do take Charr anatomy into account and those that don’t.

I listed Dusk on the TP after getting incredibly lucky with a daily “Mystic Forge” achievement.
Then when the TP bot kicked in listing another 10 at exactly the same price a mine, I removed the listing, forgetting that I needed another 30 gold to list it again.

I eventually scraped the gold together to list it again, but I felt a right muppet.

And what was interesting was that I purposefully watched the trading post when I relisted it, and sure enough, within seconds of posting the lowest price, something had posted an additional 10 at the same price. That it was exactly 10 both times I listed it tipped me off that someone’s using a bot to play the TP.

Watch or read Fight Club.
Either is good, although even the author has admitted that the movie has a better ending.

Still, it would be nice to get an honest breakdown.
I don’t understand this reluctance to disclose more in-depth figures.

ThiBash.5634:

That doesn’t sound like a great man, but rather a bitter and cynnical one.

I’m taking it you don’t know what that’s from then?

And really, it says it perfectly.
GWAMM unnecessarily takes up a lot of screen real-estate with a lot of white text, therefore it’s ugly (not beautiful).
And there are thousands of players out there displaying it, therefore it’s common (not unique).

Don’t you people know? There are only ever two states on the Internet!
Good and Bad.
There are no states in between!

I’ve beaten Dark Souls & Demon’s Souls.
My Demon’s Souls character is on a fourth NG+.

I haven’t beaten Liadri.

And yet apparently, if I criticise the design of this fight at all, it’s because I’m a bad gamer and I’m acting “entitled”.

First off, those saying it just comes down to pattern recognition are lying.
It also depends very heavily on build, gear and even profession. I now know I am going to beat her as I’ve realised a bombkit engineer will make the fight almost ridiculously simple.

Secondly, I really need to quote Inigo Montoya at those who throw the word “Entitled” around in such a carefree manner:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

The Internet and marketing has corrupted the meaning of the word. What they REALLY mean to say is “Spoiled”.

The Internet corruption has resulted in it being entirely associated with negative connotations, when in fact, the word has lots of positive associations, particularly when used to describe something a customer has purchased.
If you pay for your Internet connection, you are entitled to receive the Internet. This is not a bad thing.

The continued corruption of the word over the course of time can lead to abuse of the customer, where if they believe that entitlement in general is a bad thing, they will let companies ride roughshod over them.

Don’t use “Entitled”.
Use “Spoiled”.
Of course, if you then read your sentence back to yourself and realise it’s somewhat confrontational to use the word “Spoiled”, well maybe it’ll make you pause and consider how much empathy you are or are not showing.

Are there any figures on gem sales at all?
That is, gems bought with cash?

I have lots of titles. I don’t display a single one.

Since they made them permanently visible, it has drastically affected screen clutter for the worse, and the worst offenders are the GWAMMs. It’s the longest title in the game, and there are a lot of them out there.
To quote the great Tyler Durden:
“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”.

I really wish they’d change it back to the old behaviour, where you had to actually hover your cursor over someone in order to see their title.

And that’s a bad thing for some of us old schoolers dcypher.
I preferred knowing that if I got beaten by someone, it was because they were a better player than me, not because they had access to tools that I didn’t.

Then again, I can’t stand the industry’s obsession with contemporary military FPS games.
Give me something with crazy speed and even crazier physics and I’m happy.

It’s been over 13 years and still nothing’s topped Quake 3 for Deathmatch or 1v1 as far as I’m concerned.

silvermember.8941:

I think this birthday is tied to your account not your birthday.

From the official website under the heading “New Rewards”

Birthday Gifts!

As characters created right at the launch of Guild Wars 2 hit their first birthdays, it’s time to introduce our first Birthday Gift! Characters that are one year old will receive a Mini Queen Jennah, a 24-hour Birthday Booster, and a Scroll of Experience.

Great, 8 mini Jennahs.

You should rename this thread “How much of a Skritt are YOU?”.

Myself, I’d probably play the same way I play now. I may even end up playing more dungeons, as I’m sure there would be more people interested in clearing them rather than just finding the quickest route through.

I’d definitely start complaining more about the lack of variety in PvP as it would become more appealing to me.

With all of this airing in public, I foresee a massive, heavy-handed event nerf incoming.
I hop ArenaNet act with some moderation rather than just implementing the quickest, dirtiest and easiest solution.
I would suggest making it so that you receive any and all champion bags from an event only on completion of said event. Have them pop up as reward chests.

I bought the Cat tonic and a few T6 mats and I am now up to 200 again.
I don’t want to do the Ascended thing as I completely resent it.
I may buy the minipets, but only when they improve the implementation of them. I hate having to stick them in an invisible bag and open my inventory whenever I want to display them.

I only have one character out of nine that wasn’t created on the very first day of early access.
Should be interesting.

Sadly, that gave me a good chuckle Cacti Eleven.
It really does look like a cat that got something stuck on its head and is none too pleased about it.

If you think Warrior’s boring, you’re not playing it right.

I’m guessing all those saying it’s boring are running greatsword on their warriors.
Me, I run a build that relies on quick weapon swapping to use a burst skill every 5 seconds, and I use hammer and longbow.
Not quite as quick at killing things as the standard cookie-cutter GS zerker build, but insanely fun. Massive amounts of might from comboing Earthshaker and Arcing Arrow into Combustive Shot, lots and LOTS of CC, and constant keyboard dancing as I squeeze skills in between the bursts. It’s as active as my Mesmer playstyle.

I think all professions have the potential to be boring or fun.
It all depends on how you build them, and quite a lot of the time whether you decide to fully incorporate the profession mechanics.

Using the above as an example, the GS Zerker Warrior takes no advantage of the profession mechanics. Ideally, you’ll never use a burst skill while zerking, as it’ll reduce your damage, and you’ll only ever switch weapon when you need to get out of melee range to recuperate. So really, you’re not doing much more than auto-attacking and following a set rotation.

My build however relies on all the Warrior’s core mechanics, and leverages them to their greatest degree. It generates adrenaline quickly in order to allow regular use of burst skills and I’m constantly swapping weapons thanks to reductions in weapon swap time, another core Warrior mechanic. It’s not as easy or efficient as playing Zerker, but it’s a boatload more fun.

Similarly, you can build a Phantasm Zerker Mesmer, and as soon as you’ve got them all out, it’s just a case of following a rotation.

But if you build around the idea that you’ll regularly be shattering illusions, you’ll quickly start using all of the different types of shatter and traiting to make them more effective. And again, it’s a more involved playstyle as you’re constantly looking to generate illusions. That’s before you take into consideration reflects, bouncing attacks, etc.
Myself (and a lot of Mesmers out there), I generate a lot of my illusions through dodging, and as I prefer the double-tap to dodge playstyle, again my fingers dance across the keyboard when I’m in the zone.

So the key to making any profession interesting is to really look at their core profession mechanics and try utilising them as best you can. Don’t just rely on 1-5 and your utility skills. Really leverage those F key skills and build around mechanics that define the class rather than going for pure damage.

Pure damage is more efficient, sure.

But let me put it this way:
Efficiency is considered a virtue amongst accountants. When did you ever meet a fun accountant?

This has been a long-time complaint of mine as well.

I was particularly aghast to discover that Tier 3 Cultural Light commits the sin of having the tail clip through the skirt rather than having a hole for it.
That’s just ridiculously sloppy design.
What should be one of the most prestige armour sets for your character, and it ignores a vital part of their anatomy.

For my female Charr Mesmer, Triplicat, I’ve settled on the trousers from Caudecus’ Manor, as they are one of the best pieces with provision for Charr tails.

I also think it’s incredibly lazy of the team that there aren’t separate male and female armour sets for Charr.

And on top of all that, while she looks graceful and catlike when her weapons are stowed, as soon as she draws them, she waddles like she’s soiled herself. All feline grace goes out the window.
The waddle’s fine on hulking great male Charr, and looks intimidating, but it looks embarrassingly bad on female Charr.

Oh, and don’t get me started on trenchcoats and my male Charr Engineer, Mr. Tiddles.

I could see that happening if they didn’t give players incentives to do these activities.
But one only has to look at the lessons ArenaNet learned with Jade Quarry in the first game to realise that if the incentives were good enough, people would populate these areas.

I know you played GW1 Vayne, so you’ll remember when Jade Quarry was the red-headed step-child of the game, holding back map completion because there were never enough players queuing to get into the map.
ArenaNet revised the rewards you got for playing there and implemented decent anti-leeching code, and it quickly became a favourite PvP pastime for lots of players.

So with the right incentives, players would potentially gravitate to all of these areas.

I’m an advocate of temporary content to an extent.
I think it’s a very brave creative decision to make something that will exist for a short period of time, then never be played again.

However, I also can’t ignore the simple fact that if said temporary content were permanent, we’d have a LOT more things to distract us right now.

Here’s a list; I’m not including Halloween or Wintersday stuff as those will repeat annually.

Candidate Trials – Single & multi player instance (Cutthroat Politics)
Aspect Arena – Multi player minigame (Cutthroat Politics)
Crab Toss – Multi player minigame (Secret of Southsun)
Dragon Ball – Multi player minigame (Dragon Bash)
Labyrinthine Cliffs – Explorable zone (Bazaar of the Four Winds)
Super Adventure Box – Single & multi player platform game (Super Adventure Box)
Molten Facility – Dungeon (Flame & Frost: Retribution)
Canach’s Lair – Single & Multi player Instance (Last Stand at Southsun)
Aetherblade Retreat – Dungeon
Crown Pavilion – Explorable Zone / Co-op Event Area (Queen’s Jubilee)
Queen’s Gambit – Single player activity (Queen’s Jubilee)

That’s a LOT of stuff we’re not likely to see again or that will get hidden inside Fractals.

Sure, there’s hints that SAB will make a comeback at some point, but nothing concrete.
I’m guessing Bazaar of the Four Winds, Dragon Bash and Queen’s Jubilee may also become annual things, but ArenaNet haven’t mentioned this intention anywhere.

But still, if things keep going like this, that’s a lot of things players could be doing that are being left by the wayside.

And that’s where my support for temporary content starts to wane.
How do you guys feel about this?

Ah sorry, I misread. Carry on.

Doesn’t work like that Klawlyt, and yours is just another variation of the old “You don’t HAVE to do it” argument.
These types of games are very deviously designed to get you hooked so that you keep on playing and keep on giving them your money.
They rely on taking advantage of Pavlovian reactions, and resisting those are very difficult. I’d argue that this design is exploitative, and needs to be fixed at a developer level.

When it comes down to it, how much fun is there to be had outside of these activities if all the developer is doing is pouring resources into more of these activities?

I’ve done world exploration (on 3 characters), I’ve got one of every profession at 80 (2 mesmers), I’ve done the Legendary thing, I’ve seen all the variations of the Personal Story I care to see, I’ve killed gods know how many world bosses, I’ve done all the dungeon spelunking and fractal frequenting I care to do.
The only thing left that offers any interesting variety these days is WvW, and I can only play a certain amount of that before getting bored with the lack of permanent goals and staid tactics thanks to poorly implemented large group mechanics.

Instead of creating interesting content that stays around and has depth without being an achievement or reward, ArenaNet are constantly appealing to the reptilian side of our natures that pushes buttons for treats.

Tell me one new thing that’s been added to the game since release that is deep and challenging rather than a fleeting distraction designed to promote endless repetition.

I keep playing because after 2,000+ hours, it’s hard to break the habit, but recent developments are getting better at making me realise I need something a bit more intellectually stimulating than GW2 can offer.

Dailies would be better if you just got the reward for playing a certain amount of time with no other qualifiers.
Although to be honest, the longer I play, the more I think that the whole concepts of dailies, timegating and achievements do irrevocable damage to the game and turn it more into a chore than a fun pastime.
I really am not playing the way I want to play any more. I’m playing to tick boxes, not have fun.

I’m struggling to see how this was a nerf.

I think the real profitability will come from grabbing limited run recipes while they’re available.
In the end, if only a select percentage of the user-base can make a particular item, they’ll be able to charge a premium.

For example, while the ingredients may seem prohibitively expensive at the moment, not everyone in the game can make the Molten Berserker Endless Tonic.
While there are still recipes available on the BLTC, the tonic makes less money on sale than it costs to make (significantly so; whoever’s selling these so cheap is a mug), but eventually it should be a seller’s market.

While you say crafting is out of the question, you may want to consider using Jewellery and Chef.
They’re the cheapest to level to 400. As of this post, taking both to 400 fast would cost you about 12g. That’s not each, that’s both.
If you do it at “Normal” speed, it would cost about 8g for both.
Artificing’s also pretty cheap at about 6g50s fast, 5g50s normal.

Use the guides over at gw2crafts.net
They take advantage of the APIs to keep costs as low as they can possibly be by referencing TP prices.

Why is everyone bigging up Cobalt?
It’s just a reskinned Ebonblade, and worse looking as far as I’m concerned.

Mungrul.9358:

Riffing on lin’s suggestion, perhaps Magic Find should be removed from armours and added as a title benefit?
Same for Gold Find?

Huh, another suggestion I made that’s now been implemented. Go me!

This whole week has tempered my enthusiasm for the game.
The little things have all added up to an overwhelming feeling of malaise.

First, the realisation that they’re holding the rapier back still and that it’ll be RNG if it ever arrives.

Secondly, the step back from the Dragon Coffers to the execrable Black Lion Chest extortathon again, made worse with scraps being uncommon loot as opposed to being guaranteed with every chest opened.

Third, the poor quality of Cutthroat Politics compared to other weeks, with an over-reliance on PvP or dungeon activities and a shoddy, hastily implemented Horde mode. Plus, a pointless election I really couldn’t give a kitten about.

And finally, an overwhelming fatigue in general thanks to not being allowed to just play.
No, now I feel I have to do my dailies / monthlies.
I have to combine my crystals.
I have to mine the node in my personal home instance.
I have to grind out Ascended gear in order to stay at a competitive level.
I have to pursue boring and inane activities I don’t like in order to get enough achievement points to get to the next rung of the ladder.

I’m beginning to feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

Well sod it.

The Steam Sale’s just come and gone, and I’ve got a lot of more interesting games to play that do more than just the bare minimum to keep my interest. They don’t treat me like a walking wallet and I can play them how and when I want.
If I get bored playing them, I can put them down for a day / week / month / year and not have to worry about being behind the curve when I decide to try them again.

It’s going to take a strong act of willpower, as ArenaNet have been learning tricks of addiction from other, more execrable companies. They really have become pushers.

If there is ever proof discovered linking addiction and videogames, MMOs that practise such exploitative behaviour are in a massive amount of trouble.

I’m really not.
Whether PvE or PvP, you should have easy access to the tools necessary to play the game. ArenaNet make such sweeping, regular changes to the way a profession plays, you regularly have to consider completely changing your build, and in order to do so effectively, you need easy access to equipment.
If you can’t see that, there’s no helping you, and you’re as responsible for the current state of the game as all the other people who have somehow tricked themselves into mistaking stats for rewards.

Arkham Creed.7358:

None of you understand; they put this time gate in place because of the community’s “I want it right now!” attitude. The community has a nasty habit of grinding and farming everything to get it as fast a possible, and this has two very real negatives.

I’m afraid you’re the one who doesn’t understand.
Before all the people from other MMOs got to top level and realised there was only gameplay with very little of what they would term “progression”, GW2 had none of this stuff.
It was only when they all threw paddies and left because GW2 wasn’t exactly the same as their other MMOs, that ArenaNet panicked and started trying to woo them back by catering to their tastes almost exclusively.

And I hate people who try to label others as petulant children when making an argument. It weakens the strength of said argument and only causes to inflame the situation.

Tell me something.

I come from a traditional competitive gaming background where everyone is on equal footing as far as availability of tools is concerned.
ArenaNet are trying to sell GW2 as an “esport” to the competitive community, something I have very clear ideas about.
Why shouldn’t I be upset when the tools I require to play at a competitive level are restricted to those who simply have more time to play than I do?

The only things that should require any degree of timegating or grind are prestige aesthetics.
The tools to compete should be readily and easily available to everybody upon hitting maximum level. Otherwise, you create a very uneven playing field. The economy changes to reflect this, with Berserker’s ingredients being some of the most expensive.
People are afraid to experiment with other builds or even professions, as it requires too much time and money.

ArenaNet got sloppy in trying to woo back people who have twisted ideas about what makes a game and its players great.

What is stupefying is that they continue to make the same mistakes even now.

Yeah, I’d like this removed too. I have all the rewards and have gotten to the 40 point title, but I’m never going to go back and get the rest. So don’t taunt me with it.

This is just another example of ArenaNet’s idiotic political correctness and its inconsistency.
Next time you arrive back at LA from either WvW or the Mists, listen to the Charr off to your left talking about how his movements are going to be “completely kitten”.

Replace “kitten” above with another word for bad-buttocked.

Lots of misunderstanding and inability to read as this thread gets older.
One: I DIDN’T BUY THE KEYS. They were in my bank from story quest rewards.
Two: I assumed, somewhat naïvely, that from their wording, opening a chest guaranteed a scrap; I later edited my post to indicate I had realised my mistake.

Now you can jump on me for that, but the idiots posting needless attacks because they lose the ability to read as soon as they smell blood?

Get a life.

Another helpful hint for Weyandt’s Revenge dark room:
The Sylvari Tier 3 torch acts as a light source even when sheathed.

I think I forgot to charge a crystal yesterday, which puts me behind, and I don’t know if I can be bothered anymore, as I don’t want the Celestial stats anyway.

This time-gating is Really beginning to hack me off now. It’s not fun, there’s no interesting mechanic behind it and it seems to purely be just a cheap way to keep people logging in. If they don’t log in, they’ll miss out on STUFF!

Pull it together ArenaNet, you’re losing your touch incredibly quickly.

There’s some good stuff here, but unfortunately mixed in with stuff I don’t agree with, so I can’t +1 you. While you may think you’ve been considerate by bundling everything into one post, it may have worked better with a separate topic for each suggestion.

A quick note on Focus Frames and Target’s Target; one of ArenaNet’s stated goals when designing the game was to shift player focus away from red bars and buffs/debuffs and onto the world and the creatures inhabiting it. Now, they themselves have gradually slipped away from this focus over time, but I agree with them that this core idea is a good one. While watching statistical representations makes things more efficient, it removes the soul of the game.

You’re supposed to get a scrap from every chest you open.
I didn’t buy the keys anyhoo, had 3 from the personal story.

Edit: My mistake, just re-read the patch notes. They’re a “Common” chance drop.
Well sod that then. Could swear it didn’t say that before.