Guild Wars 2

I must say, I never disliked Kormir. She had leadership, sacrifice, etc. Maybe a bit flat at times, but overall, not that bad a character. Rurik and Adelbern irritated me at times, though the storyline itself has recognised that Adelbern was a bit bonkers.

“You are no longer my Prince, and you are no longer my son!!” <— cool line.

The cutscenes and dialogue in Factions was far worse than Nightfall. Remember the voices of the Fortune Teller, Danika zu Heltzer, even Shiro himself? Painful at times. Nightfall voice-acting was fine; often good.

Now back onto topic: Trahearne did irritate me, but I think it was his voice more than his role in the story (which I’m mostly fine with). His voice problem is a problem shared by many Sylvari: they sound infuriatingly mock-naive, slightly nasal, like they’re doing a spoken-word recitation of an old Beatles song.

I played GW for six years. Straight, no breaks or anything.

I loved it, and I love GW2— it feels like a logical next step to me (I know a lot don’t agree). It feels properly epic sometimes on a scale that GW1 rarely managed. WvW is incredible, and the closest thing GW1 had to that was Alliance Battles. You could see what they were trying to do, but they were limited by the technology. Now they’ve made something truly brilliant.

Sometimes I do miss the personal instanced gameplay of GW1, but most of the time, I’m incredibly happy with GW2.

One thing I’m undecided on is whether the skill system is an improvement or not. GW1 felt like it had a skill system of greater depth and variety sometimes.

Well, it depends on whether you consider skipping/ speed running to be exploits at all. A lot of people don’t.

I run dungeons without skipping big chunks most of the time, but do occasionally take part in speed runs when it’s a path I’ve already done before. The entire playerbase shouldn’t be punished because some people do nothing but skip.

((On a side-note, perma-aggro is a really bad idea. It would fix a problem, but introduce a worse one. Sometimes mobs just need to be outrun)).

How melodramatic. I’ve taken a break from dungeoning recently, decided to tour the explorable areas, and found them very much alive (on my server at least).

People are far too ready to become doomsayers.

Think of real-world extremist political groups, such as far-Right ones.

They may be shunned and hated for their beliefs and the violence the groups often use, but membership isn’t illegal (for most). It would be entirely likely to find groups of them in capital cities, with the authorities wary and distrustful.

There’s also a Whispers base in Mount Maelstrom, though that one’s got a waypoint inside, so arguably not so hidden.

Still not straightforward to reach.

Both Tengu and Largos seem to have been set up as a future playable race by the explicit mention of separate ‘factions’- the Tengu have the North, South, East and West houses, and the Largos have the ‘Tethyos Houses’. Much of the pre-release information on our current playable races focused on their factions, if you remember.

As for what I’d like… I’ll go with Dredge, Elonian Undead, and… possibly Djinn? Just imagine that. The design would have to be heavily modified to allow for armour etc, but it would be incredible.

I’d be down with that. I’d love to see a refocusing on the Orders we’ve chosen.

Hows about we see how things go before assuming the very worst, guys?

No? Okay, don’t mind me.

The Great Zehtuka, surely!?

I can see the benefits, but the costs of such a system outweigh them. Some dungeons (Arah, CoE) would die, and others would be constantly run (AC or other easier ones). It would imbalance it badly. In the end, it would damage ‘variety playing’ more than it would help.

I daresay some vestige of the Am Fah or Jade Brotherhood may have survived the Ministry of Purity’s purges and the efforts of Emperor Usoku.

They may have turned to “entryism”, the method of joining an opposed organisation to influence it from within… or perhaps they’re merely hidden, barely surviving.

If the Am Fah survive, it must be in a drastically different form, though. I can’t imagine them existing as they did in Factions, without the plague that they worshipped, and without the authorities as useless and bureaucratic as they used to be. The Jade Brotherhood, on the other hand, always had delusions of sophistication, and may well have turned into a criminal guild with a veneer of respectability. Think of The Penguin from DC comics.

The same happened to me, but to be honest, it was perfectly manageable and actually quite fun to do ’em all. Manic, but fun.

I think this is a good idea, though I’d maybe say a higher token price for a lodestone. Don’t want to devalue anything too quickly. 180 maybe.

Near total lack of racial biases? Have you met the Separatists, or the Charr rebels, or the Flame Legion, or the Dredge government, or just been to Ebonhawke? Ebonhawke provides prime examples. Doesn’t ring true at all.

As for regional quarrels between the Sylvari and the Asura, it wouldn’t make sense to me. The Sylvari are a small population, and the Asura aren’t likely to care about macho region-politics rather than science. They recognise that the strength of their society isn’t based on its size.

The game is not dying.

People on the forums just absolutely love to complain and exaggerate. Go to any forum, for any relatively-new game, and you’ll see the same. Forumites do not represent the average player (myself included).

Why would a retcon be needed?

ANet have a lot of background here, it makes sense that we don’t understand everything yet. There’s a great deal of mystery in the game, and it’s not a mistake.

I’d say drop the health of one or two bosses, perhaps, but the majority are fine, I believe. Bosses like Alpha, the Destroyer, ones people often bring up.

Others are over the top, including the first Dredge Foreman on SE Path 2, and the CM bosses. Often it’s bosses that don’t mix up the gameplay mechanics, and offer nothing new. But again, I say, most are fine, including the Fractals ones (possible exception being the Archdiviner).

Extra paths has been mentioned elsewhere— let me just say, I love the approach that’s been taken with multiple dungeon paths in this game. Problems aside, it’s great design, and people DO play more than one path, whatever the complaints are. The title saw to that.

The Bags of Wondrous Goods were a great addition, but I share the feeling that the tokens are a little stingy. As it is, the dungeon sets take a number of runs divisible by 60 to obtain— which makes sense, since tokens initially came only in 60s (DR notwithstanding). However, this means that someone would have to obtain 20 bags of wondrous goods just to stop them from having to run the dungeon once.

That’s a bit silly.

I think somewhere between 5 and 10 is reasonable… maybe even make it a bit random, within parameters. Other people have been suggesting more than 10, but I think that’s going too far, and would end up with people farming early bosses and leaving end-rewards for good. Jeez, you just can’t give MMO players any room to cut corners :/

I think peoples complaints over Arah Path 4 are well-founded (Simin acts as a brick wall, it’d be alright if she didn’t come in a path that already takes 3-4 hours routinely). I think peoples complaints over Alpha in CoE are less well founded— he requires alertness, awareness and skill, he shouldn’t be toned down. This is a boss fight all about movement. Boss fights I thought incredibly fun and innovative were ones like Baelfire in CoF— makes you change gameplay style unexpectedly, impressive visuals etc.

In fact, all dungeons deserve props for incredible visuals— even CM, which is my least favourite gameplay-wise. Visually stunning.

OOOOOONE final personal point, mister Hrouda— I’ve been collecting for my SE exotic (medium) since I had access to SE, very early in the game. I played it whenever grouping for it is possible, incl path 1 and 2. Now that it’s finished, I notice that the texture on the helmet… it looks like it’s been done in MS paint. Even the non-exotic version of the helmet is properly formed (but without the glow, ofc).

It’s a a real disappointment to me, after putting in a lot of effort in a dungeon very few people play. I don’t know whether this is the kind of thing you’re interested in, but maybe it’s only a quick fix, I don’t know, especially since the non-exotic is fine. Take a look, it’s a serious downgrade in quality from most armours, and it’s exotic-grade.

Ooh, let’s see now, best to worst…

CoE: The environment is fantastic, and there’s variety in the enemies, which is really important for the fun factor. The holograms of Kudu in Story Mode make the whole thing super-atmospheric, and tbh, Alpha isn’t as bad as everyone says.
CoF: The armour may be over-used (so many have it), but the dungeon is fun, both modes. Some incredibly fun bosses and effigies to fight. Not keen on the spinning-axe-charr-boss-of-death, he’s over the top.
SE: The dungeon I run the most. It’s better than people give it credit for (obvious problems notwithstanding).
Arah: Story Mode is breathtaking, IMO. It would be higher if not for the crushing length and difficulty of Path 4, the first explorable path I tried in Arah. Soured my experience a bit.
HotW: Beautiful environment.
TA: Variety between the paths in TA is key. The area with the vines, though, is pretty horrible. My screen fills with red circles.
AC: Easiest dungeon, still fun, still worth running. Gives GW1 nerds like me a blast from the past to fight the maddened spirits of people we remember from pre.
CM: The only dungeon I really do not enjoy. Mountains of HP on every doorman or dog doesn’t equal challenge. Indoor environments of the estate should be given their dues, though, they’re brilliantly crafted… but I won’t be going back in CM for them alone.

Fought this boss for the first time recently. Didn’t do so well.

It wasn’t the boss’ fault. His HP is fine. People just look for something else to blame when something offers a different playstyle.

If I would change anything, I’d increase the attack window, as Phys suggested, but the boss isn’t that bad.

Ran this path for the first time yesterday.

Spent hours in there. Got as far as the Priestess of Dwayna and no further.

I would love to see either a decrease in regen time, or a tweak to mechanics… the dungeon is long enough as it is.

People are all playing Fractals because it’s less than two weeks old and contains a lot of new content & loot. It’s really new. People need to realise that the immediate effect of a content addition won’t be the same as it’s long-term impact.

What people are NOT doing is forsaking all non-Fractal content because of some mythical gear treadmill. I promise you, hardly anyone making groups will care one bit about the distinction between Exotic and Ascended. Hell, right now, the majority of group-formers don’t even mind a reasonable level-difference.

It’ll calm down. People will spread back out, and alts will probably be created with greater frequency. What we’re looking at is the immediate impact of a major content update, not a long-term trend.

The skill trainer in the ruined Eye of the North mentioned that the skills she once taught pale in comparison to the power the heroes now possess in GW2…

… seems like a kind of in-lore “power creep”. The magic we hold now dwarfs what we had back then, lore-wise.

I may be wrong. After all, our Human Gods had not abandoned us 250 years ago. sniff

The way I see it, Zhaitan is not actually willing every body on the mainland to Rise— they Rise chaotically, as a result of his taint, as I think creatures in the Brand become Branded without much rhyme or reason (though stay for long, and you haven’t much hope).

In Orr, however, Zhaitan’s will is far stronger. He has corpses shipped to Orr to create large numbers at once, and to marshal an ‘organised’ army.

So I assumed the following: further away from Zhaitan’s will, the dead rise more chaotically, as a result of his taint. The bodies he has shipped to Orr for the ritual are his conscious effort to marshal an army, large numbers at a time.

I tried to get that one from Path 1, but no luck, and none of the other paths even come close.

Could an engie like me do it with Jump Shot, Wethospu?

I managed to run CoE story today (for the first time) without much hassle, almost entirely thanks to this groupfinding website.

Good luck to ya.

Hey!

This is the exotic armour I wanted the second I saw it. It has a very distinct look from anything else in-game: it’s brilliantly designed.

I gathered my tokens for weeks and weeks (in a dungeon that very few people play, I might add!), and finally got it…

… then noticed that the mouthpiece looks like it’s been done in MS paint. The pauldrons have an obvious clipping issue, with the metallic ring around your character’s neck clearly not connecting with the character’s body.

On the RARE headpiece, the mouthpiece is well-sculpted: take a look. With the exotic, with the extra effects added, the quality seriously decreases. This may not be important to some, but it’s important to me, and I put a lot of time into it. I hope others feel the same way.

This is only a minor suggestion, but, I hope, it would only take a minor amount of effort to implement on ANet’s part. If I can just bring it to someone’s attention… who knows? Maybe it would only take an hour or two to perfect it. I don’t know.

Thank you!

(If anyone else has armours or gear they’d like to see fixed up, post them too?)

Is there anyone working on the looks/ clipping of existing armours?

It’s a very small issue, and most armours are fine. The Medium SE exotic that I got has a poor texture on the mouth of the helm (which is pretty prominent), and a very noticeable clipping issue with the Pauldrons.

It just devalues something that takes a player like me a lot of effort to get. If it’s relatively easy to fix I’d really appreciate it.

So my actual question is just: “Is there anyone working on the looks/ clipping of existing armours & gear”?

Salacious.7358:

as I recall, from school – mountains don’t change.

They left Elder Dragons outta your curriculum?! Kittening censorship in education has gone too far!

The dragons may not have seen certain individual races before, no, but they had plenty of practise corrupting organic lifeforms. Biologically, I’ll bet that humans, Norns & Charr are a lot more similar to Jotun, Dwarves & Mursaat than they are to Sylvari.

The only race I have seen anything in-lore about is the Heket, who were described as “prolific and belligerent” in the Nightfall manuscripts. The Tyrian Hylek are far from belligerent, but they may well be prolific. There certainly used to be a lot fewer of them 250 years ago (a few hostile, isolated tribes in the Tarnished Coast).

I’d absolutely love to see Dhuum again. Long before Dhuum was introduced as a boss encounter, he was only mentioned in a few pieces of dialogue, first in the Chaos Planes and then in the Realm of Torment, in Nightfall. I remember arguing with someone that it was extremely unlikely we’d ever get to see him, and I’m so glad I was proven wrong, because he was a great addition, and would be again.

On a related side-note, I’d also love to see the return of other long-lived, near-unkillable characters from GW1, who we only temporarily put down: Zhu Hanuku or Urgoz, specifically. It’s stated that Zhu Hanuku is seasonally defeated and makes his return, and I believe the Factions guide stated that Urgoz is never truly defeated in-game (may have been a different source of information).

Malediktus.9250:

2-3 hours. Anything less is silly.
A sub 30 min instance (for people at the suggested level) isnt worth being called a dungeon.

Did you, by any chance, design the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time?

Would explain a lot.

Pochibella.8394:

They should make a /city chat so all city chats would be linked together. That way you wouldn’t have to just sit in Lion’s Arch.

…Yes. Yes! This is a pretty elegant solution!

@Moonrabbit: She already mentioned above that the research is IRB-approved. C’mon, let’s keep this thread on track.

Yumae.7256:

1) What is your age? Gender?

21, Male.

Yumae.7256:

2) How important is a game’s story to you? Why?

For me it’s the most important thing, even above gameplay (though gameplay has to be good too). Even in a game with a very simple story (think Shadow of the Colossus), if it’s beautifully executed, that’ll make a bigger impression on me than the gameplay.

With RPGs like GW1 & GW2, the depth of the background, lore & storyline is one of the main things I play for.

Yumae.7256:

3) Within a game’s story, are you more interested in individual characters, or in bigger events and groups?

Usually bigger events and groups. I find the story of a race or a renegade faction to be more interesting than the story of (for example) Logan or Caithe in GW2.

…The exception would be villains. I love individual villains. Dorian & Hablion, the Lich, Shiro, Kanaxai & Urgoz, Varesh & Kahyet, Abaddon, Dhuum, Burntsoul, and now Kudu, Faolain & Zhaitan… those are the characters that stick with me. It’s the villains that attract me in books, TV, film and games.

Yumae.7256:

4) In regards to your own character, do you identify with them? In other words, do you view your character as yourself? Or do you view your character as a separate entity which you created?

Separate entity. I imagine him with a personality, but it’s not my personality. It’s a more quiet one. :P

Yumae.7256:

5) Do you view your character’s progression as something you create/determine, or something the game itself creates/determines?

Both, I think. I can’t really describe what I mean here, I’m afraid.

Yumae.7256:

6) What do you view as your character’s ultimate goal? Is it different from the goal of defeating the final dungeon or raid boss?

My personal goals in-game are my character’s goals. To defeat Zhaitan & Jormag et al, and accumulate epic loot in the meantime.

Yumae.7256:

7) How effective do you find personal story in MMORPGs (usually done through personal instances/quests)? Do you find it disjointed from the rest of the game, or do you feel it fits well with the rest of the game?

Fits well. I don’t find it jarring or anything, and sometimes it’s really immersive (I’m thinking of Claw Island here).

Yumae.7256:

8) How do you view the idea that many other players are also playing through the same personal story?

I don’t really think about it, to be honest.

Yumae.7256:

9) How do you view your character’s personal story in relation to the larger stories in the game, or the lore of the game? Do you see a difference between individual story and group story in the game?

They meld together quite nicely, I think, though with an MMO, personal story & the story of the game don’t meld together as nicely as in a story-focused single-player game.

Good luck Yumae! I remember being interviewed about online gaming for a psychology test at university last year. Was fun.

Following up on what Zeefa has said, but focusing on the “lesser” races:

The Dredge use naming conventions from Russia, eastern Europe and the Baltic states, often with references to Soviet history, as most people are aware. The Baltic influence may be less obvious, but it’s there. Take Molradovich, a General from Sorrow’s Embrace; the “-Ich” suffix is a common sight in countries like Croatia or Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The Hylek, as has been said, use kinds of Aztec naming conventions.

The Largos, on the rare occasions you encounter one, seem to have Arabic-inspired names.

I think MOST dungeons should be under 45 minutes for a reasonable group. Anything up to that, I’m okay with.

One or two dungeons taking a lot longer are fine, though: the Underworld (Dhuum included) in GW1 took long over an hour usually (Not talking about speed-clears, which are something I never went in for), and that was great, if you put aside an evening for it.

But under 45 minutes is a good time for most.

I mostly agree with the others here. Loved Tybalt, but also didn’t think the Master of Whispers reveal was done very well.

This is much needed. Most important element of it would be it being cross-server.

I have a lot of trouble finding groups sometimes, particularly for underdone dungeons like SE.

Someone’s been playing Wind Waker/ Phantom Hourglass.

Nice suggestion, though, I agree. But make it optional after the first time, like Anastasia said.

ITT: conspiracy theorists who think investment = change in artistic direction or business model.

SHM.7628:

Balony! Many of the people who voice complaints cared deeply for the game. They anticipated it for years. They even pre-purchased it. What’s more these same players were ignored and constatly told to leave if they didn’t like it. Well, they did. Now the maps are empty.

If you see tons of complaints about the same thing then chances are they are not made up. Because you disagree with them you call them a minority. Then why are the servers empty? No, You are the minority They voted, they left. I for one heard them loud and clearly!

Furthermore, Anet did deviate from their manifesto. They had a player base from GW1 that was locked in too. They bought the game on good faith. The Devs betrayed them.

last but not least, they gave one game through the betas and the first 3 weeks, and trhen basically took that game back and replaced it with an inferior substitute. Yet some how you think those players are to blame?

You misunderstand me. I agree that the complainants care deeply about the game— that doesn’t undo the fact that through exaggeration and hyperbole, some of them are doing a disservice to the game and community.

On my server, at least, the maps are far from empty. I would also suggest that those who are most vocal and negative about things like the Lost Shores event etc are the least likely to quit the game. People don’t get overly-worked-up about games that they’re likely to just play for a short while and then drop.

As far as I can see, the Asura have the greatest capacity for theory and experimentation, while the Charr (and, to be honest, the Dredge) have the greatest capacity for practical, technological application. Both types of intelligence.

The Sylvari, it seems, have the most open minds, and possibly even the greatest capacity for learning. If that’s the kind of intelligence you value, the Sylvari could be said to be the smartest.

nehezbegar.1065:

“If You have not ascended, You can’t go with us”.

People keep saying this, and I just can’t see it ever happening. Ever. Perhaps a tiny minority of groups will act like this, but it will never be a common thing, I’ll bet you anything.

People are far too willing to assume the worst.

The OP is right, certainly. Any cursory glance at the amount of flaming, exaggerated negativity should tell you that.

BUT: Don’t imagine that these constantly-furious forumgoers represent the average GW2 player. They believe they do, but they don’t. The average GW2 player cares a lot less, plays the game for fun, and probably only occasionally comes to the forums, if at all. I guarantee you.

And this is why the madding crowd does such a disservice to the game and the community: they create a very convincing, but very innaccurate, image of the playerbase and it’s opinions.

The OP speaks the truth. Too much hate and exaggeration of the negatives, ignoring of the positives on this forum.

People would have a lot more fun if they didn’t waste their energy on this.

I agree on tokens, because as it is, getting a bag of wondrous goods doesn’t make any difference to the number of times I’ll have to run a dungeon. I’d need dozens of the bags to get me anything/ save me any time.

On Karma, though, I think the reward is appropriate, especially since dungeon runs tend to award about 1,800 on completion anyway. 400 is adequate.

Vorpal.4683:

This is, bar none, the worst encounter I have ever seen in a video game.

In that case, you have exclusively played brilliant games your entire life. Congratulations, that’s genuinely quite a feat.

Samfisher.7942:

Huh? The whole game had bugged DE’s at one point or another. Halloween had bugged events that couldn’t be completed. You’d think after almost 3 months since release and countless hour-long tests, BWE’s etc etc they’d figure out a way to unbreak their DE system.

So bugged DEs in the game in general are the reason to warn people not to play it?

That’s not what the OP suggests. Besides, the vast majority of DEs in the game proper work fine.

Samfisher.7942:

Just because you didn’t pay upfront for it doesn’t make it free.

You paid upfront for the game itself, for god’s sake. They promised content updates, they delivered, and they certainly didn’t have to give us anything this big, with a free dungeon and map.

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