Guild Wars 2

amrothx.4136:

Hi,

I just read this on http://massively.joystiq.com.

The patch will introduce ascended items. Ascended armors are “slightly more powerful than exotics” and can, in some cases, hold slots for infusions. Infusions will allow you to increase your character’s power.

I hate the idea of – more powerful than exotics – thats not the Guid Wars philosophy. Please don’t make it like WoW:(:(

It’s still guild wars philosophy.
Players really shouldn’t worry because it’s not gear treadmill.
It’s very different from traditional mmo. (my explanation below)

In traditional mmo, you must grind for new tier equipments to experience new and higher content X. That is called “gear treadmill” where you you must grind endlessly if you want to catch up to new content. In this game, no matter which tier you’re wearing, you’re still able to experience every world content and dungeons this game has to offer. I don’t think casual players should worry about it. The game still live up to it’s promises no matter if they unlock ascended.

Shifu.4321:

Surely ArenaNet has people intelligent and creative enough to give people something to strive for that ISN’T gear treadmill?

It’s not gear threadmill. Gear threadmill system is where players have to grind for new gears “to explore new/higher contents”. This game already allows you to explore all 100% of the contents and future X/Y/Z content with the (white to exotic) armors. Ascended is really another option just like whether people choose to wear a fine, masterwork, rare or exotic gear to dungeon. All tiers can do dungeon raids well.

People shouldn’t worry about this.
The game still live up to it’s promises.

Read this:

- Definition of Gear threadmill -
“Gear threadmill is when players have to grind for better gears to explore new content X/Y/Z.”

The game still live up to it’s promises of no gear threadmill even with the better stats ascended armors. It’s because either with white or exotic equipments, you’re still able to explore all the content the game has to offer. You don’t have to gear grind to survive and play all new content X/Y/Z. All contents are available for you already.

I’m all up for this ascended gear. The game needs to have goals like this for dedicated players to have reasons to log in and feel like doing X/Y/Z today. I hold my comments for awhile until I see how it really works. If it’s some sort of progression, I’m sure many players will accept this as well. The real mmorpg’ers will feel happy about this. The game shouldn’t pacify those very casual who “wants to be equal with those who made efforts” because it’ll make dedicated players feel punished.

The ones who’re against this shouldn’t worry too much. Seriously, you can still stick with exotic and it’s an option to go ascended. The game promises that you’ll be able to hit and survive the strongest bosses with exotic. Gear threadmill is a system which “you must have gear X to survive content X”. Having ascended gears will not promote that gear threadmill system. You will still able to explore all the content the game has to offer with your exotic gears. The game still live up to it’s promises.

This is a multi-player game. There must be reward that put a line between people who’re dedicated and people who’re very casual. If everything is catered to the very casual, the dedicated ones will leave. So casual players really shouldn’t complain on something like this. They can already explore all raids, dungeons, pvp and reach end-game. They already have 100% content being available to them. They should be fair towards dedicated players and give them reasons to play this game too. This is why I welcome this update.

I don’t think grinding is that bad. It’s better to have a game that allows you to grind for rewards than a game that punishes you for grinding. End-gamers camp for DE in straits of devastation and ended up sleepy while waiting for each interval. Many players rather grind by continously killing mobs (traditional) without staring at the screen 2/3 of the time for event to spawn (gw2).

Remember that mmorpg is a reflection of reality. Human nature is part of it. After people achieve a goal, they will have another goal. An endless cycle. Therefore, grinding is inevitable. There will always be grind. People find satisfactory happiness from efforts.

They will add more level 80 maps in future.
I heard something like that coming 15th Nov so no worries.
I’m sure there’ll be more in future updates and expansions.

Personally, the reason why I avoided Diablo 3 is for the same reason.
I don’t favor grinding in dull and run-down places.

I’ve no problem with the design. I love the design as a whole.
The environment psychologically made me feel down if I play in it too much.

Knote.2904:

And if you actually played a thief you’d understand they do need changes.

Personally I’m hoping for some fixes for necro, anything really.

And something about this broken tagging system, broken condition system, and hopefully a reason to go back to older zones so they don’t become completely obsolete. Along with many events.

If you actually played thief in “PVE”, you’d understand they need buffs , not nerfs.
———————

My expectations this November 16th:

- Revamp of end-game content. Orr is a terrible place. It’s not difficult, but it’s a very annoying place. Please learn from previously-made MMOs. They should know that players tend to avoid maps with monsters who keep knock-backing and cast conditions onto them. Orr is the only place for level 80s and it’s the worse place to be at. End-game is suppose to be fun, not punishing.

- Make grinding fun instead of a drag and camping events. Let’s face the fact you need to farm gold in order to get better-looking gears in endgame. Grinding is inevitable and you can never remove it. The best place to grind for gold is camping for Dynamic Events in Straits of Devastation. You have to camp for them. Camping = Bad. I rather continously grind mobs than camp for the events to spawn. At least in previous MMOs, you actively grind the mobs. In gw2, you have to wait for the DE to spawn and it just makes you sleepy while waiting for the intervals. It doesn’t makes you feel like playing. A good mmo must make players login and game and feel “like doing X/Y/Z today”.

- Make dungeon more rewarding. You only get tokens after finishing a dungeon give a bitter taste. In skyrim, every dungeons give you a piece of unique equipment or item. You get rewarded for everything you do. There must be constant rewards and randomness in dungeons. Don’t make them more challenging, it’s a bad shortcut that will turn off players. It’ll gain negative results if it was nerfed to be more challenging. Please make it do-able yet fun/surprising.

- Create more alternative ways to earn a legendary equipment. Do not make it easy. Make it reachable and not having to spend $1000 to get one.

Characters balancing: -Important-
- Do not nerf down characters you perceived as over-powered just because of pvp complainers. Instead, buff the classes you perceived as under-powered. In any MMO, no players like their favourite main being nerfed down which affect their playstyle and efforts in picking up skills for their combos. Especially this game is action-based.

- Buff thieves in PVE. I hardly play thief in PVE these days because it’s the most weakest class in PVE. Thieves kills mobs like snail. Thieves has low life. Thieves ended up stealthing in Orr 95% of the time because they can’t kill 3 monsters at the same time with all the constant knockbacks and snare. It’s the most undodgable place, which is why it’s the worst place for thieves.

- If they nerf down any classes, people are going to rage unlike other mmos. In other MMO, players raged if their main class was nerfed but it’s temporary because they have stats progression to distract them to think negatively. They can simply wear better gears to “think and feel” the nerf won’t affect them that much. It’s psychology.

However in GW2, there’s no such medicine. Players will feel further into negative emotions that will take away their motivations. In this game where there’s no individual progression, it will impact more than any traditional mmo. This is why they mustn’t nerf classes so inconsiderately. It will not be like other mmo where the negative emotions are temporary. Please pick up knowledge of psychology and human nature in mmo. It’ll communicate with the players. (Advice: Human nature in mmo, is just like in reality. You must know how to play around it.)

- The best solution:
Make a different set between PVE and PVP like what many people had suggested.
PVE should be left alone from any nerfs.

Agree with this. If they nerf guardians, they’re so going to be run down in dungeons and PVE. They did that for retaliation and it affects guardian’s greatsword symbol capabilities in PVE. We heal half time less. We control mobs half time less. We dps half time less. We retaliated from mobs half time less. It affects alot of PVE combos. Guardian became twice weaker in PVE and dungeon. All because they nerf the greatsword’s symbol because those non-guardian pvp’ers complaint about “retaliation” in pvp.

If they’re going to nerf down guardian in this upcoming 5 pages patch, many guardians (esp we have it as our main in PVE) are going to rage and be very disappointed.

They can buff up those weaker classes. But don’t nerf down those whom players complaint against. This is a none stats progression mmo. People will feel twice the negative emotions if they realise their characters became less powerful. Unlike other mmo with stats progressions, the feelings can easily be overcome by achieving better armors. It’s a sort of “distraction” from the bad nerfs. GW2 players is vulnerable to that.

I very much agree with this. I had warriors with full signet (viewable on the top left) and they often die upon contact. We might as well have 4 people in the party if the 5th slot is filled with a signet warrior. It’s best for them to change traits and have 2 sets of armors. One for DEs and PVE, the other for dungeons.

I have the same line of thoughts with Sebyos. I agree with the points he shared.
I love my time from Lv1 to 80. After bringing few characters to 80 and completes the map, the next goal is skin progression. That end-game seriously needs to improve.

I never like Orr. This is the first game I experienced who punishes players that grind in endgame. You literally have to camp for dynamic events to farm gold. Read that. Camp for dynamic events. Camping = Punishment. In any mmo, you only camp for bosses. Now you have to camp just to grind for more gold from normal mobs. Those dynamic events are the only places where you can get gold by grinding in PVE. Don’t say that GW2 is not meant for you to grind. They say that GW2 has no grinding… but let’s face it. If you want new skins like those from mystic forge and legendary (skin progression), you still have to grind for money in the best way as possible that saves time. Players by nature, rather grind for something that takes shorter than a longer time. They also by nature, rather do the same thing repeatedly to get “constant salary” instead of going all complicated + sidetracks which makes your reward goes further away.

1. I get very sleepy waiting for the dynamic event to spawn. We do nothing 2/3 of the time except staring blankly at the screen. (I rather continously kill mobs like in traditional mmo.) It’s a pretty bad mechanic but that’s the only end-game content left to grind for the best “time=gold” farming. That place is the 2 towns in Cursed Shore and Plinx. That’s where 90% end-gamers go to farm gold for their legendary and mystics. (You have to compete with players because the ones that do more dmg gets better loots.) The only thing that let players feel, “I feel like doing X/Y/Z today” when you log in.

2. Dungeons are totally unrewarding. It’s good for those one-time experience. You experience it once or twice. This is because they’re ridiculously lengthy. If it’s shorter, it’s worth to repeat. Dungeons are like “lure one and kill” repeat-process because each mob feels like a champion. It doesn’t have the “epic-feel” to it because it’s just a normal monster with whole load more HP and offense.

In endgame PVE, people wants the feeling of crushing mobs continously. In the first point above, you take a long pause camping for the dynamic events. That mechanic is worse than a traditional mmo where you continously kills monsters to farm gold in endgame. You didn’t have to camp in order to wait for normal mobs to spawn and start farming golds in those previous mmos. In the second point, you take many sidetracks before reaching the real raid boss. It’s lengthy and dragging, which isn’t worth the effort if you want to farm gold.

I really hope they buffs the classes instead of nerfing it down.
If they found it “imbalance”, then buff those low-tier classes.
Not nerf down higher tier classes.

Especially when some people complaint about thieves in pvp, they took a short cut of nerfing them down and affected their PVE capabilities. Same goes for guardian. Last time, they nerfed their GS symbol because of retaliation due to some pvp’ers complaints. Now Guardians GS are 1/3 weaker because of double cast time to cast symbols in PVE. That nerf made less survivability for guardians.

They can nerf pvp all they want but please don’t make those classes harder in PVE.
No one likes it if their main are nerfed down in this game where you can never stat progress.

If they nerf them down so badly, even the lost shore won’t be able to distract them away from the rage and complaints. Players are gonna rage badly.

That’s worrying.

I think they should implant those words verification pop-ups in-game for suspected botters. If the GM thinks the player is botting, the GM can give a 2-3 minutes timed verification pop-up to the player. If the player did not input the words verification within time limit, he’ll be confirmed as not being with the screen and botting.

Make the pop-up looks big and noticable (1/3 of the screen). The letters/numbers are easily seen too. Also, make the character invulnerable to attacks during that time so legit players can input the texts without worrying about being killed by mobs. It helps alot in differentiating legit players and botters.

Nox Aeterna.2965:

Naoko.7096:

People who’re against it either never read, or just revealed themselves that they get griefed easily if people get equipments that’re higher tier than theirs.

Yes, this is a MMO. It requires millions dollars every month or years just to maintain the servers. The ones that help fund them are usually those dedicated players. If the game doesn’t appeals to dedicated players, they will leave the game sooner or later. So no matter if they have RNG in monthly events, the ones who actually spend in RNG are no longer in the game. To prevent that, they must start awarding the dedicated players. Something that set apart between dedicated players and very casual players.

Ofc we do , if the game is about looks , it is about looks , getting a legendary should never give any kind of advantage and end of story.

Also , what made you think the hardcore farmers are the ones who keep this game going money wise?
Heh , ofc it is not , first because they are the minority , so even if they do spend some money , that wont really amount to much.
Second , why would people who farm and are sick rich , spend more money on gems? They can buy gems with gold , and they usually got tons and tons of gold.

Casuals , the people who dont have tons of gold to get all event items from ingame game to begin with , those are the ones who buy gems for the most part.

So having multiple choices in stats gives you an advantage over other players? No. They would still be the same level as typical exotics.

Those “must be just for looks excuses”.. well, even with multiple choices, it would still be just for looks. It’s no different than having a Valkyrie, Berserker, Knight, Cleric and Rampager exotic. It will not have any advantage over other exotic players.

Imo, hardcore players are the ones who’re willing to spend RNG for legendary and those seasonal BLC. In any mmo, the spenders are the ones who want to outshine from the rest, therefore resort to paying stuffs in the game. Casuals are people who doesn’t want to stand out and wants the game to spoonfeed them.

Jack of Tears.9458:

@Naoko; That’s how you play an’ see the game, again yer making these huge statements what are supposed to include everyone … an’ they don’. I develop a personality for my character; I treat her like what she is, an explorer an’ adventurer in Tyria. But, see, she isn’ an adventurer because the game pushed me inta the world killin’ monsters … I’ve met bartender PCs, Soldier PCs, Guards, Entertainers, Nobles, and more. People what wouldn’, an’ don’ call themselves adventurers … but Terra took the title because that’s how she sees herself, as an explorer an’ adventurer tackling the world an’ writin’ about her experiences – with a little embroiderin’ – along the way.

An’ I have grown attached to her; when I play the game I do it as if I were her; I make decisions like she would, I pick me path the way she would, an’ I gripe ta myself the way she would. I’mma actor (roleplayer) an’ she’s the role (character) I play while in the game world. An’ you’ll meet allota RPers what do the same thing. The Growin’ and Progressin’ ya talk about happens In Character, I don’ need numbers ta tell me how she’s changin’ as a “person”.

You’re right in describing it. You are not wrong, but your description of “roleplaying” is touching another different element/point from what I shared.

My point: Role-playing is when you be someone who you are not. You role-play as someone whom you can never be. Therefore, player skills are secondary. It’s because it’s not about you as the player, but the avatar you own that progresses in that virtual world. You’re the actor in a movie but you don’t need actual eye reflexes to dodge an incoming arrow. In fact, the actor doesn’t need to have any reflex skills to act in dodging an arrow.

RPGs are like in storybooks and movies but you roleplay the character and make own story. Character progresses, they evolve, they become stronger. Not refering to the lore, but the individual progression. That’s what RPGs since the 90s are.

GW2 lacks the “rpg” nature. Yes, we indeed role-play as the avatar during story to defeat Zhaitan but after that? A good mmorpg makes stories between players, not between us and the npc. If it’s between us and the npc, it would be a single player game.

It makes a good themepark mmo. All the rides are given to you. We choose the rides we want to ride. After we experiences all the rides, we get bored and have to wait for them to add more rides (expansions). The themepark has some special event from time to time, which is good. GW2 makes a very good mmo on that part but not as mmo-rpg.

The reason why I made a comparison of gw2 to console games isn’t because of solo issue. It’s because the game mechanic very much like it. Jumping puzzles are just like those action-games. Attaining extra clothes are just like unlocking costumes in those fighting-base games or spiderman. Legendary equipment are very much like trying to get a platinum trophy in ps3 for 100% completion in everything.

GW2 is pretty good as a mmo but not as a mmorpg.

Role-playing games are not your tomb raider or ninja gaiden games. Ever since I was small, I avoided those kind of games are for the same reason. I personally don’t find them fun at all. Everyone appreciate fun in different ways. RPgamers appreciate fun in rpgs for reasons. Player-based gamers appreciate fun in those jumping games for reasons.

RPGs and those player-skill based games are two totally different genres.
We can see that gw2 tries to put Lara Croft into the open world mmo.

Mmorpg: You treat your character as your avatar. Your avatar is like your “pokemon”. You evolve it. You progress it. The things you can’t do but only your avatar can do. That is role playing. You compare with other players on how much time you dedicated to your avatar. You grow attached and love towards your avatar through time. You see the open world using the eyes of your avatar.

Guild wars 2: You treat your character as an extension of yourself. Your character is like your arcade street fighter character. You cannot grow it. You cannot progress it. It’s all player skills. You can’t grow attachment towards it through time. You feel happy about your player skill achievement that hardly people going to appreciate unless you brag about it. You see the open world as you.

There’s seriously lack of rpg elements in GW2. If people approach this game with the mentality of playing mmorpg, they’re going to get very disappointed. The only way to appreciate this game is to play this game like how you play your ninja gaiden, tomb raider or other single-player console games in that genre.

There will be housings promised from the interview. However, the interview mentioned that they’re not working at it at the moment. So I guess not anytime soon.(Which is really sad for me. None of the previous mmo I played have any housing system.)

Yeah, I hope the housings are very interactive and customisable. I hope it’s not those where you buy the house, upgrade it (skyrim) and that’s it, we forgot about it the next week/month. I wish the house where we can spend hours everyday just on housing. (E.g. Hunt for rare materials and craft exclusive furnitures to show off.) If it’s those addictive types, it’ll be very nice. There’re certain progressions. A good alternative to appeal to dedicated players end-game experience.

Echo.7634:

Naoko.
GW2 is based around player skill. The gear “grind” has a difinitive end to it as opposed to a never ending one.
Sounds like this is not the game for you.
There are plenty of other MMO’s out there that have gear grinds to them (WoW, Rift, LotRO, etc) Sounds like one of those would have more appeal for you.

PS. I am not exactly sure you understand what socialism is. But thank you for sharing your political views.

Eh? I don’t think you actually read Blake’s idea. O_o
He didn’t suggest any gear-stats grinding elements in his idea.

You should read his post fully.
Don’t only read a couple of his sentences and assume,
“Oh~ he must be suggesting gear grinding”.

Imo, Blake’s idea is pretty balanced. Dedicated players made thousands times more efforts to gain a legendary. It’s pretty weird to get a legendary that’s worth like an exotic. His idea of legendary seems very balanced. It’s makes legendary be more attractive to be able to change to 5 different exotic stats. In the end, it’s still as strong as exotics.

Even though I won’t be getting legendary anytime these months or years, I will still strongly support his idea because it’s creative and very feasible.
————
People who’re against it either never read, or just revealed themselves that they get griefed easily if people get equipments that’re higher tier than theirs.

Yes, this is a MMO. It requires millions dollars every month or years just to maintain the servers. The ones that help fund them are usually those dedicated players. If the game doesn’t appeals to dedicated players, they will leave the game sooner or later. So no matter if they have RNG in monthly events, the ones who actually spend in RNG are no longer in the game. To prevent that, they must start awarding the dedicated players. Something that set apart between dedicated players and very casual players.

I don’t understand for those who’re against it. I understand if they don’t want gear progression/grind. But if they’re even against something insignificant to them like Blake’s suggestion? Hmm.. something’s wrong here.

It really shows. It revealed that the ones who’re against his idea are examples of people who wants to be “equal level” with players who made efforts and dedicated more time. They grief easily if people achieve higher than them due to dedications. Socialism at it’s work. That’s why gw2 is like a hut for them in the world of mmorpgs. =/

It’s a really good idea. This makes legendary equipment more attractive.
The current legendary feels like another skin.

You should post this in suggestion area too. It’s quite a good suggestion.

Dee Jay.2460:

#Balance
-A Nerf to Thief Burst builds. Probably by nerfing Mug.
-A Nerf to Guardian Bunker builds.
-Various profession changes.
-Buffs to Rangers.

Don’t be ridiculous with nerfing thief and guardian.
They’re not imbalanced at all.

If they ever nerf them further, many people include me, are going to rage very badly. Have you even tried playing them in PVE at all? Thief are very weak in PVE. Guardian has very low HP. Bunker build isn’t “bunker” at all. You just don’t know the strategy to counter their retaliations/aegis. Retaliation and aegis are vital for guardians to survive in PVE and dungeons. Without them, they’re not “guardians”.

I guess your main is a ranger, which is why you want a buff to your own class.

I’m really sick of people demanding to nerf thieves and guardians because they don’t know how to play their own class in pvp. They don’t care about players who have their main as guardian or thief.

penatbater.4710:

Naoko.7096:

Based on personal experience. E.g. If players keep having difficult times with the same class repeatedly, they will start to avoid that class in the party. “Once bitten, twice shy” – It’s human nature. I won’t dive in nor debate about how good the individual classes are because I’ve not personally played those classes. But based on many players experiences, rangers and necros aren’t good in dungeons for the above reason I shared. I personally witness more wipe and longer dungeons with them. It’s quite normal for them to feel that way because they don’t want to spend 2-3 hours in dungeon when they can finish it in 40 minutes. Worse, doing a fruitless 2-3 hours dungeon and everyone gave up. It’s really not the classes fault. It’s the structure of the dungeon. The structure is very different from PVE and typical mmo boss raids. It’s makes players feel “choosy”.

I disagree. The fact that there are ALOT of rangers and necros who do good in dungeons, as well as testimonies fro numerous people about their good experiences with those class negates your concept that the dungeons are structurally flawed against rangers and necros. It’s all in your head (and bad experiences, bad luck) I’m afraid.

Also, all I got from your post is that rangers and necros are bad because they pull bad. Which is weird. And a terrible argument (if you still consider them structurally bad). If pulling is becoming a big deal for you, might I suggest you pull instead? I can pull mobs on my 900-range small-aoe pistol (eng). In fact, I know a ranger who pulls better than me (due to longbow range).

You’re thinking of “luring mobs” in a different manner.
It’s not they “pull bad”, they “aggro mobs” badly. It’s not like what you think in PVE.

Let’s take TA dungeon path Forward + Up as an example. In the last section of the dungeon, players have to do range to the boss without aggro’ing the spiders. Each spiders are equavalent to a veteran/champion risen. There’re unlimited of them spawning around the stationary Nightmare Tree boss. If the army of spiders aggro to you too much, they will wipe out your party. The way point back is 2-3 minutes. If everyone is pushed back too far to survive, the boss will reset to full HP.

I have my experience of necro summons lure all those spiders into the party. The other scenario of ranger pet run to the boss and got killed by the spiders within 5-10 seconds but made those spiders aggro to us next.

In many dungeons paths, the structure is the same. It’s not the boss which is threatening but the surrounding mobs. The only way to survive is not to aggro the other mobs but focus on the boss. Once the boss is killed, other mobs will disappear.

I feel that dungeon tokens are best to be sellable in TP and not account bound.

Some players don’t like the appearance for the dungeon armor and we did the dungeons for experience or helping friends. Some players like me also have gotten our satisfactory appearance and doesn’t want to purchase other dungeon armors. Players can only wear one armor for each part of the body anyway. I suggest dungeon tokens to be sellable in TP since there’s no use for the excess tokens.

This helps both active-hardcore and casual players.
Active hardcore will have reasons to do dungeons again. Casual players who doesn’t have the opportunity to spend more than 1-2 hours per day, but really want certain armor appearance can purchase the tokens on TP. In most mmo, they do that for raid equipments. Those who have the gold but can’t afford the time, purchase it via TP. Those who have time but doesn’t want to use the equipments have reasons to do raids to earn money for other needs. It’s good for both kind of players.

penatbater.4710:

Naoko.7096:

The reason why rangers and necromancers are bad for dungeon is because of the dungeon’s structure. Every monster feels like a champion. From my experience in daily dungeons, we target one monster one by one. Players lure out one monster and separate it from the rest. All kills one. The tactic became “Lure & target one, kite the rest”.

Ranger and necromancer aggros group of monsters frequently which makes the whole party wiped out. Based on my experience, whenever we have a ranger or necromancer, we always ended up wipe out. It’s not the players classes fault but the designer made it such a way that every monster is “challenging”. So they made each monster like a champion. Imagine 5 champions sitting in a room. Rangers and necro will lure all 5 monsters to attack the party which causes a party wipe.

er… why? Then ask someone else to lure then. Like thief pistol, warrior rifle, eng pistol/rifle, guardian scepter, etc. This is a rubbish argument. Necros provide very good group support esp when spec’d for healing/support. Rangers also give good damage. Seriously, how is one able to tell if another party member is not giving “optimum damage”? and another note, how sure are you it’s the ranger that’s doing weak dmg and not you? Have you even bothered to ask if the necro/ranger was dmg spec’d or support or etc? Such condescension should really be left at home.

Based on personal experience. E.g. If players keep having difficult times with the same class repeatedly, they will start to avoid that class in the party. “Once bitten, twice shy” – It’s human nature. I won’t dive in nor debate about how good the individual classes are because I’ve not personally played those classes. But based on many players experiences, rangers and necros aren’t good in dungeons for the above reason I shared. I personally witness more wipe and longer dungeons with them. It’s quite normal for them to feel that way because they don’t want to spend 2-3 hours in dungeon when they can finish it in 40 minutes. Worse, doing a fruitless 2-3 hours dungeon and everyone gave up. It’s really not the classes fault. It’s the structure of the dungeon. The structure is very different from PVE and typical mmo boss raids. It’s makes players feel “choosy”.

I get what TC meant by individual gain a sense of accomplishment by solo’ing a raid boss. That was because in those mmos, there’re “gear progressions” that make geared players feel imba and accomplished solo killing a boss that requires groupwork. The “accomplishment” is being able to acquire and enhance an equipment that’re 5-10x more powerful than average players for you to solo a boss.

Solo’ing dungeon is just not applicable with gw2 structure. Remember that this game has no rewards for dedicating more time to your avatars. The game has the mentality “bragging about yourself for putting more time = griefing others”. Therefore, the system made casuals and hardcore players as equal as possible. It doesn’t have that kind of mmorpg progressions and growth. No matter how much effort you put to your characters, you’ll be the same as any players around you. The rewards are just for you to look different from other players which I don’t know how many will appreciate.

This is why gw2 dungeons better not be made solo’able.
If GW2 make dungeon solo’able, players no longer need a reason to group up. Also, no one would feel special to own a unique “dungeon equipment” from the efforts of being under peer pressured in dungeons if it’s soloable.

The reason why rangers and necromancers are bad for dungeon is because of the dungeon’s structure. Every monster feels like a champion. From my experience in daily dungeons, we target one monster one by one. Players lure out one monster and separate it from the rest. All kills one. The tactic became “Lure & target one, kite the rest”.

Ranger and necromancer aggros group of monsters frequently which makes the whole party wiped out. Based on my experience, whenever we have a ranger or necromancer, we always ended up wipe out. It’s not the players classes fault but the designer made it such a way that every monster is “challenging”. So they made each monster like a champion. Imagine 5 champions sitting in a room. Rangers and necro will lure all 5 monsters to attack the party which causes a party wipe.

Many players will wish that the dungeons should be tweaked.
Every dungeons should get it’s difficulty level should go down to CoF and AC level.

All dungeons should make the players end within 30-40minutes. I experienced dungeons which can last up to 1~4 hours per run even with a couple of experience players in the party. It’s annoying and a waste of effort. This is the reason why players rather play CoF and AC. It’s not because they are easy. It’s because they’re doable with their set amount of time and effort. Time = Rewards. Draggy dungeons that last for 1~4 hours aren’t fun at all. You even had to repeat several times for 1 piece of armor.

I just hope the devs don’t make a shortcut solution to increase difficulty of CoF and AC just because many players prefer to play these 2 dungeons and ignored the rest. Instead, I wish that nerf down the difficulty and time spent for other dungeons to suit it’s rewards.

Very well said. It’s good to hear the perceptions from a casual player.
To let you know, the game punishes many hardcore/active players as well. If you read around, you can see feedbacks by them too. I gave mine too. The game punishes instead of rewarding them because of the structure and weak end-game too.

The game is still new. It can be improve as they have potential.
I’m anticipating 15th November to see what improvements they’ve made.

I agree with the guild problems in GW2.

There’s no sense of belonging to a singular guild. Guild chat feels like a facebook friendlist. That was until I joined a guild that we must represent it 99% of the time. Full loyalty to one guild. When I joined that guild, everything felt better. (That guild is also strong in wvwvw.) People knows each other names and you see some recognisable ones each day. The bond grows when you’re loyal to one guild. 50 friends from the same guild you know is better than 5000 strangers from different guilds you don’t know.

You’re not alone. There’re many threads like this created by other players.
I agree with the over excessive conditions which even the healing skills can’t catch up.

Somehow, both of it doesn’t appeals to me. (The effects and lightsaber-waves.)
The only reason why those two appeals to me is because it’s hard to achieve.
My personal rating will give them:
Twilight – 6.5/10
Sunrise – 7/10

Great chainsaw appeals me by many folds than the 2 legendary GS. It’s a mini-legendary as many people said. They’ll be rarer than the legendary GS in months or years to come because they can never be crafted unlike the legendaries.

They will get tired and leave.

I personally never tried in jumping puzzles because I was never fond of those type of games (tomb raider, ninja gaiden etc). PvP should emphasize on player skills with their character vs character. Therefore, it’s meaningless for players to prevent others in jumping puzzles. You see them drop and die, then that’s all about it. No suspense and fun about it. I do agree that those jumping puzzles shouldn’t be allowed to grief others in a one-sided manner. They might as well allow gear progression if they allow one-sided grievers. There’s no skills required.

It’s an irritating bug.
I had it twice today even though I sheathed my weapons and no enemies around.
I had it few times in this week.

I share why it “griefed” me.
I experienced this once in CoF dungeon while escorting that asura guy through the floor of flames. He died and didn’t spawn. Everyone had to waypoint back. This bug occured and I couldn’t teleport back. One partymate make so much noises and accused me on how I’m making “excuses lies and trolling around”. He said it doesn’t make sense. It’s pretty irritating being accused when it’s the game’s bug problem. Someone else suggested for me to die and it was the only way to teleport back to the wp.

Please fix this.

I personally find those branded creatures much fun than any risen maps.
They are dodgeable at least.

I dislike their interruptions, cripplings, extremely long homing range and all those conditions by the risens. Healing condition skills have cooldown too.

It’s fun for the 1st day but starts to get very annoying after the characters felt like papers (esp medium and light armors).

We can’t rely on zergs because on some days, they just disappeared. On another day, they just focused on couple areas and ignored the areas you want to reach.

Garenthal.1480:

I wonder if people realise that they wouldn’t have to contend with crowd control if they didn’t run through groups of enemies in the first place? It’s not rocket science and it’s the price people need to be prepared to pay for trying to rush through content.

Not really about rushing through content. Players having difficulty reaching a destination to take part in the dynamic events. If players take time killing a risen one by one, the dynamic event probably ended. Most dynamic events are left untouched for weeks because it’s impossible without a zerg. Running around isn’t fun which discourages players to spread out. Zergs only choose 2-3 locations for the dynamic events to occur each time and ignored the rest.

I have to agree that Orr is like a map where you don’t kill monsters, but run pass them. I get annoyed with undodgeable homing range attacks, multiple conditions, immobilising and interruptions. The only way to survive is to go with a zerg with 10-20 players or just run through it (they can still chase you with your speed). The zergs don’t go where you want to go. The gameplay structure of Orr isn’t good. Take a look at Lyssa Temple. It’s been inaccessible for weeks because no one wants to farm there.

I hope the new maps aren’t as irritating as Orr.

Imo, having dungeon as monthly achievement is good. Especially with 15th November, many players are going to try out the new dungeon. The whole lot will move to the new dungeon. It’ll make other dungeons feel “empty”. Those who wants to do the last story would have trouble too. This monthly achievement gives encouragements to players to try out dungeons at this period of time. Imo, it’s a wise move.

You don’t have to complete the monthly achievement. I never even touched it because I don’t like the elements of WvWvW. We’re not going to miss something permanently for not completing it. It’s really alright to miss it if you dislike the dungeon being part of this month achievement.

I agree that the “commander” status has lost it’s meaning. It does give a certain accomplishment to players who spend 100g to stand out in game. In any mmorpgs, something that hardcore players want is to stand out from the rest.

100g is not a simple task to accomplish. I still feel those who acquire the commander status have made efforts to earn it and deserved to be admired. Although I also feel that it shouldn’t be titled as “commander” but other titles that are related to wealth or heroic status. What the game should had done since the beginning is to make commander title earned only by WvWvW means. Something like popularity polls or votes by WvWvW guild players. Similar to elections.

I’m anticipating this event too. They did a great job on halloween. (There’s still much improvements such as the fun factor in RNG BLC and the timing for oceanic players. It’s their first try so they’ll improve. I’ll give an overall personal rating of 8/10.)

The event sounds like there’s going to be alot of underwater. I feel neutral towards underwater because of bad experiences and high difficulty. Let’s hope they can make underwater experience more fun.

Jazneo.8213:

They could made a moa mount http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/8/81/2010_July_Moa_render.jpg/180px-2010_July_Moa_render.jpg

I’m dreaming to ride on a Moa one day.

I was alittle disappointed when I bought another 500 gems to forge a mini chainsaw skeleton. I bought the set mainly for the mini ghost. After I bought the set, I started to grow fond of the mini skeleton. Mainly it’s because the original skeleton is detailed and have a decent size to be seen on maps. It made me decided to purchase another set of 3 to forge the chainsaw version of the skeleton.

To my surprise, the chainsaw version is half the size of the original skeleton. >_< It made me feel the original one was nicer and regretted buying another set to forge a chainsaw one. It’s really weird to have the original better than the rarer exclusive one. The chainsaw version is too small for it to be noticable in maps. I can’t appreciate it well and my friends didn’t even know I had that mini with me on the same map.

Is it possible for the programmer to scale up the size of the chainsaw mini to the same as the original skeleton mini? The original size was pretty decent. I will appreciate it alot. Thanks..

Every mmorpg should have a solid end-game.
Imo, this game succeeded well as a MMO but not mmorpg.

GW2 is like having an action-game character in MMO setting.
Everything is player skills and there’s no growth in your character.

If I were to give a personal rating,
GW2 as a mmo: 9/10
GW2 as a mmorpg: 3.5/10

The reason why I prefer RPG than any other games ever since I was a child are for the same reason. I avoid console games like Tomb Raider, Ninja Gaiden and any games of those genres. We can see GW2’s nature is very unlike rpg. The elements of jumping quests, non-progression characters, 100% player skills and cosmetic-based rewards.

In regards to GW2’s “end-game”, some people said it starts at “level 1” but it’s obvious the game really ends after Zhaitan. It felt like I finished a console game. Console rpgs can do that. But, MMOrpgs shouldn’t let players feel like they finished a console game.

WvWvW being an end-game is meaningless. Level 1 character can join WvWvW and have equal stand with anyone who reached level cap. There’s no goal nor actual benefits, glory and rewards. We only add points to the server’s name and it gets reset the following week. Your enemies are all in red/blue/green and nothing to feel special or glorified personally. That’s all about it.

Cosmetic-based gears as rewards are quite weak for end-game. It’s because every MMORPG has those as secondary rewards. Therefore, players who have tasted it as secondary will feel very reluctant to chase after cosmetic gears.

Gw2 cosmetic gear end-game:
You bought a branded handbag, watch that costs thousands of dollars. You feel proud bringing it to shopping centres with your friends. It’s because it signifies that you work hard and save that amount to buy that branded bag. It makes you feel that if you wear something where many people can’t buy, you stand higher than other humans. You think others will admire and respect you for wearing branded stuffs.
- If you perceived this way in reality, then this end-game will appeals to you.

For some of us, it doesn’t appeals us effectively. It’s because we see all bags and watches are the same. They have the same function and quality. I would rather buy a $50 bag than $5000 “branded” bag. Sometimes, I see those $50 bag looks nicer than any branded bags. I rather wear something I personally like than a branded bag which doesn’t appeals me at all. Prices doesn’t matter. Therefore, I see everyone who wore those overly expensive stuffs the same as anyone else in the street.
- If you perceived this way in reality, then this end-game will never appeals to you.

This is why I tried to emphasize that cosmetic gears makes a very weak end-game.
There should be more than just chasing cosmectic gears. It does not have to be gear stats progression. If they removed gear stats progression, they should fill that hole with something with equavalent value. There few which people can think of that has some actual progression to your characters.

I agree that more efforts can be done in designing other smaller weapons.
It’s one reason why I don’t feel like farming for a cosmetic dagger for my thief.
(The halloween dagger looks too simple and not practical-looking for actual combat.)

Mounts are great. I don’t understand why few players dislike mounts. Mounts are just like cosmetic gears in guild wars 2. It’s just like collectables and be proud to own a rare “mount”. We farm and make efforts for better looking stuffs.

All I could think of is that those few anti-mount players are afraid of competiting for “better/exclusive” mounts. They don’t like the idea of other players being more “special” than them. Seriously, if you’re feeling that way, why play a mmo?

They already throw “gear stat progressions” out of the window especially for the minority of you who’re fearful of competition. That’s enough. If everything is equal, players won’t feel special among each other. There won’t be anything to play for because everyone wants to be equal with people who make efforts. Cosmetic gears doesn’t make a good end-game. There should be more. Like mounts and housings. Something that can grow/progress, compete, compare and feel special about it. The game must appeal to both casual and very active players. Players who give more time spend in-game must be given some rewards.

I don’t understand why the few players doesn’t want mount.
Is it because you’re afraid of competiting with other players for exclusive/better mounts?

I understand that in any mmo, mounts are like gw2’s “gear cosmetic progressions”, you have to compete and play harder to look better in this mmo. They already removed the ways to compete for “gear stats”. So why can’t gw2 have mount progression? If gw2 only have one mean for players to compete (gear cosmetic progression), this game will feel empty in the future. There are so little means for hardcore players to feel “special” in PVE. This game must appeal to both casual and hardcore players. It should not be one-sided or else 50% players will leave the game in the long run.

I heard some forumers said the chances are between 0.5 ~ 2%.
Imo, gambling for in-game items are okay but they must make it fun instead of punishing. Something that makes players feel they still feel fun even though they didn’t achieve the top prizes. I gave my suggestion on how to do that in one of the pinned topics here.

Yes, the BLC skins will be limited for this year.
They won’t be craftable nor released again in any means next year.

They are promised as ‘exclusive items’ which means only limited are given. Every mmo exclusives items are meant to be one time. Gw1 have different sets of yearly seasonal too. They will never break the promises of exclusives or else it wouldn’t be fair towards players who gotten it during year 201X halloween. Seasonal exclusive items are meant to be kept special. It’s a cosmetic-based mmo, which is more reason to keep some skins special.

I suggest players to buy it in TP during this period if they really want the skins. The prices of those skins will inflate gradually through months to the point where it become almost extinct. Players who have one of the extinct skin will feel very special. It’s the same as feeling very special of owning a limited edition branded handbag/watch that are no longer being manufactured. That’s the purpose of exclusives.

I think I have it. I didn’t get it from the bags though.
I got a key while doing story for my sub characters and got it from BLC.
I didn’t know what it meant by replenishing. Does it means I can use it unlimitedly?

Halloween event will be here again next year but don’t know whether it’ll be the same. Same goes for the cash shop items like Mad King and Witch Outfit. It will definitely be related to Mad King because he’s the main character for guild wars halloween. The exclusive equipments from BLC will never reappear again though. “Exclusive” means limited collector edition. Next year will be different set but how it’ll be obtain may be different or the same (hopefully they improve the “rng + real money = fun” instead of the current BLC system).

As for the BLC ones, they’re ‘exclusives’ so they will not be able to show up again next year. Exclusive items are meant to be released once. Like in gw1 and any other mmos, exclusive seasonable equipments will be released one-time. It’s to keep them special and exclusive. Next year halloween will probably be a different set of halloween skins.

I’m not sure about the townclothes in gemstore though.

Actually, there are already many mystic forge equipments that looks better than the legendary. Despite it not being the best looking, many players will still stop to look at players who have the legendary weapons. The legendary skins are only achievable by extremely few people with the huge requirements.

I find the halloween shield to be very cool and awesome too. Imo, it’s the best shield skin in the game. It’s the only truely black shield in GW2 too. They made a good job on the shield. Besides the shield, I like the great chainsaw too. Other halloween skins doesn’t seems to stand out. Seasonal exclusive equipments are bound to be close to extinction. Each of them can even be rarer than legendary weapons in 1-2 years time. Thus, they should make all future seasonal equipments to have certain glow or animation.