Guild Wars 2

Lobo Dela Noche.5127:

I see no redeeming qualities about this change that could not be done better with out the awful changes that were made.

Well, being able to reset the traits and simplifying the trait points (every 5 into 1) were the positive aspects of the change. I also don’t disagree entirely with the trait unlock system…mainly how it was executed (and it was executed rather poorly, with buying the traits being usually the better option).

I will say that while the change wasn’t entirely bad, the cons tend to outweigh the pros until you’ve gotten all the traits you want.

Well…Tactics Adept traits.

Empowered (Increased damage per boon(s) upon you)

- Kill the Krait Witch of Nonmoa Lake in Timberline Falls. A Lv60 boss for a Lv36 trait. On top of that, this one is not soloable to my knowledge, thanks to the veterans she summons, all the AoE on the small space to fight her on, and the fact that the veterans can knock you off the platform up there.

Just buying it if I want it, again.

Inspiring Banners (Increases banner bonus range, and reduces banner utility cooldowns)

- Kill Gargantula, the spider broodmother in Harathi Hinterlands. This one’s soloable..if you’re either overleveled or specced for DPS and nothing else…maybe.

While this one is near level appropriate (Lv37) it’s annoying because of Gargantula’s one gimmick: At 75%, 50%, and 25% HP, she will summon spider hatchlings, heal herself to full, and be invulnerable until they all die, which means you have to do enough damage to kill her 2 and a half times over for it to finally stick.

Oh, did I forget to mention you have around 11 minutes to kill her when she spawns? That’s pretty much the only “hard” part of the fight, killing her before time runs out (and not hard in a good way, just the annoying way).

So, this is rare one where even though at the right level, it’s still tedious to do… -_-

Stronger Bowstrings (Increased longbow range)

- 100% completion for Harathi Hinterlands. Meh.

Desperate Power (Increased damage under 25% health)

- Find the grand chest in Provernic Crypt in Gendarran Fields. This one’s nice, just go through a crypt, figure out how to open the door, get the chest and the trait. And it’s doable before the trait becomes available to you, so all good here. Too bad it never lasts…

Lung Capacity (Reduced recharge on shouts)

- Capture Tytone Perch in Edge of the Mists. Ah, there we go with the annoying WvW objectives again. For a Lv36 trait, no less. -_-

Leg Specialist (Immobilize enemies you cripple)

- Complete the Lv55 Personal Story quest “A Light n the Darkness”, for a Lv36 trait. Sigh.

KStudios.2850:

Nilkemia.8507:

Now that I’ve thought about it, this trait unlock system is incredibly unfair to those that prefer WvW over the rest of the game. I don’t even like that mode, and I still see that they’re getting it worse than PvE’ers are. They’ve gotta buy most of the traits they want anyway. Giving them their own options for acquiring these traits would at least even things out.

You’re darn right it is! Keep your kitten dirty PvE to yourselves! KThnxBai!

o.O ..Not sure if serious..

Defense Master Traits. (Lv60)

Merciless Hammer (Hammer damage increased against disabled foes, hammer skill cooldowns reduced)

Complete “The Battle of Fort Trinity”, a Lv70 Personal Story quest, for a Lv60 trait. (facepalm) Why would I wait 10 levels after the tier’s unlocking to get it? Again, another “Just buy it” trait.

Cleansing Ire (Gain adrenaline when hit, remove a conditions for each adrenaline bar spent)

- Kill the Vidius Flame Tribune (A Lv62 champion in Fireheart Rise). This one’s tough because of all the mobs around him, but possibly soloable with some line of sighting.

Last Stand (Activate Balanced Stance when disabled)

- Complete Sorrow’s Embrace in Story Mode. Strangely enough, Ascalonian Catacombs is not used for a trait unlock. Odd. Granted, none of the dungeons should, but of course, it happened anyway.

Sundering Mace (Mace damage increased against weakened foes, mace skill cooldown reduced)

- Befriend the dredge camp in the Eternal Battlegrounds. Ugh.

And now Grandmaster Traits, since my rambling on the master traits was short enough!

Spiked Armor (Gain retaliation when struck by a critical hit)

- Defeat the Risen Priest of Melandru, another world boss in Orr. I’ll just buy it if I want it. Although, it’s not that good.

Defy Pain (Activate Endure Pain when struck below 25% health)

- Find the locked door at the end of the forgotten stream. It’s simple…if you already know where to go, since they word it ambiguously.

Rousing Resilience (Gain toughness when breaking out of a stun)

- Defeat the Karka Queen, the world boss of Southsun Cove. This boss requires 4 unsoloable camps to be secured to even show up, is on a timer show she won’t just show up from the camps being secured whenever, and while rather simple aside from the annoying “throw eggs at her to reduce her armor” gimmick, is always flanked by whatever mobs are around, sine they’re always around in Southsun.

No thanks, I’ll just buy that one if I want it. Not worth bothering with Southsun Cove.

Defense Adept traits now.

Cull the Weak (Increased damage to weakened foes)

- Find and defeat the Giant Blood Ooze (a champion in Bloodtide Coast that I couldn’t reach, even though I’ve seen the event for it). I can’t say how tough it is, since I couldn’t even get to it up to this point. Judgement pending.

Missile Deflection (Reflect projectiles while blocking)

- 100% completion for the Fields of Ruin. Well, close to level appropriate. Still kinda tedious for just a trait.

Vigorous Return (Health/Endurance increased when you rally)

- Defeat Victurus the Shattered and his minions. A Lv58 champion in Iron Marches, for a Lv36 trait. Sigh. (Though, he’s not tough, from what I recall..)

Sure Footed (Increases stance durations)

- Capture Stonegaze Spire in Edge of the Mists. Sigh. Why not just make a WvW option for acquiring each of the traits as well? I mean, It’d make better sense than just throwing 5 or 6 requirements into WvW for no good reason, while the majority of them are PvE based anyway.

Now that I’ve thought about it, this trait unlock system is incredibly unfair to those that prefer WvW over the rest of the game. I don’t even like that mode, and I still see that they’re getting it worse than PvE’ers are. They’ve gotta buy most of the traits they want anyway. Giving them their own options for acquiring these traits would at least even things out for them.

Dogged March (Incoming cripple, chill, and immobilize durations are reduced, and you gain regeneration when affected by these conditions)

- Complete the story mission “The Battle of Claw Island”. A Lv50 quest for a Lv36 trait. Another “I’ll just buy it if I want it” trait.

Shield Master (Gain toughness while wielding a shield, and shield skill cooldowns are reduced)

- Defeat Fleshgrazer, an annoyingly gimmicky veteran giant skelk inside an annoyingly gimmicky mini-dungeon in Dredgehaunt Cliffs. I fought him once, and even with others helping, it was annoying with all the mobs around him and his “I’m invulnerable in the dark” ability. Once again, just buying the trait if I want it.

Well, all of those left much to be desired. Maybe next post will be better…

Grandmaster Arms Traits, yay! They’re only usable at Lv80, so level appropriateness is no longer an issue. Unfortunately, if you hate Orr, you’re out of luck, as all the unlocks are there! (Except one in Southsun Cove…yay. :/)

Last Chance (Gain quickness when hitting a foe below 50% health)

- Find the grand chest near Scholar Fryxx. I actually haven’t tried to find this one, so I’m not sure how bad it is (though, it’s in the Straits of Devastation, so there’s bound to be some catch to it).

Furious (Critical hits give bonus adrenaline)

- Complete Crucible of Eternity’s story mode. I run story mode to unlock explorable mode, not for a trait unlock, but whatever… :/

Dual Wield Agility (Increased attack speed when wielding an off-hand sword/axe/mace)

- Defeat the Risen Priest of Grenth. A.k.a. clear the Grenth temple meta-event! More unsoloable bosses/objectives…At least, thanks to the megaserver, getting the temple goes smoothly most of the time when it’s not already done…I think you can also get the trait from the defense event, but I’m not sure. Sigh…

Guess how many temples are used as trait unlocks?

Master Arms Traits!

Forceful Greatsword (Critical hits with greatswords/spears grant might, and their skill cooldowns are reduced)

- Complete the Personal Story mission “Forging the Pact” (Lv62)

Well, it’s level appropriate at least..somewhat. Yeah, I don’t care for the Personal Story being used for trait unlocks. It was entertaining the first 2 or 3 times around, but I’m not up for it again for a trait unlock. Buying that one if I want it.

Opportunist (Gain fury upon immobilizing a target)

- Defeat the fire shaman and his minions….specifically, Champion Drakin Cinderspire in Iron Marches. While it’s exactly level appropriate (Lv60), this champion in question is a four-stage boss which can kill you in a few hits, (at least from the last time I tried fighting him) and is frustratingly long, even by champion standards. No thanks.

Blademaster (Higher critical hit chance with a sword)

- Find the grand chest in the Windy Cave (Lornar’s Pass). Amazingly, this one’s doable way before the unlock level, and is rather straightforward. Even with the veteran mobs around, this one’s doable solo with some effort.

Unsuspecting Foe (Increased critical chance against stunned foes)

- Befriend the hylek camp in the Eternal Battlegrounds. I think I’ve already made it clear why it hate WvW trait unlocks.

Well, I’m a tad bored right now, so time for Arms! (The second Warrior trait line)

I’ll start with Adept, then Master and Grandmaster like before. Keep in mind that these requirements are also lined up almost exactly for the other profession trait lines (a few are moved around in certain lines for other professions, but the tiers seem to stay the same).

Anyway…

Furious Reaction (Gain fury and vigor upon taking 10% or more damage in one hit)

- Defeat Captain Jayne (a former champion, now elite pirate in Gendarran Fields).
I like this one. It’s doable a ways before the trait becomes available so you can go for it early or wait until you finished the Lv25-35 map.

Also, it’s nice and straightforward: find this guy and kill him. The only downside is waiting for him to respawn if he’s killed earlier, but other than that, nice.

Rending Strikes (Critical hits have a chance to inflict vulnerability)

- Kill Sharky the Destroyer in Harathi Hinterlands. While I haven’t fought this guy, he’s not hard to find, and is Lv39, not too far off from adept unlocks like others tend to be.

So, this one seems good. Again, just go kill this thing.

Crack Shot (Rifle/Harpoon Gun shots pierce, their skills’ cooldown is reduced)

- 100% map completion for Lornar’s Pass. Well…at least it’s level appropriateish. I still feel map completion is not good for putting trait unlocks behind though.

Deep Cuts (Bleeds you apply last longer)

- Defeat Ulgoth the Modniir (and his minions). That’s the world boss of Harathi Hinterlands, (Lv43) for a Lv36 trait. Not soloable, not level appropriate. Not good.

Furious Speed (Gain swiftness on critical hits)

- Clear Twilight Arbor’s story mode. Like map completion, I feel dungeons shouldn’t be involved with trait unlocks.

Deep Strike (Gain precision for each unused signet equipped)

- Find the splendid chest in Earth’s Gap in Kessex Hills. Nice and simple. If only most of them were like that…

KStudios.2850:

RedDevil.6280:

lol logged in gw2 while back to see whats new and saw the traits
and quit gw2
later peeps >,>

I trying so hard not to…

I logged in today on my fourth day of absence from the game, took a deep breath, sucked it up… and went after just one trait… Just one… I went to befriend the Hylek in EBG. Should be simple, right? Five deaths and 1 hour 20 mins later, I FINALLY got it done because people kept killing me and recapping them and nobody would help me.

In case I’ve not kicked this horse into being dead enough…

I hate this…

I HATE IT! HATE IT! HATE IT!

Yep. I tried that too a few times with no success on an alt. Always ended with a roaming enemy group coming over and killing me. This sums up why WvW should not be a place for any trait requirements.

And now for Strength Grandmaster traits, only available at Lv80 instead of Lv60!…who thought that was a good idea? Also, they cost 10 SP and 1.5 gold (except for the special grandmaster traits, which are double that).

Berserker’s Might (Gain adrenaline in combat)

- Defeat the Risen Priest of Balthazar, the end boss of the Balthazar event chain. Meaning you need a coordinated group running at least one of the invasions, and know which enemies to focus on during the escort to the temple so the NPCs don’t die outright through the trip. While it does require some know-how, it is not solo-able by any means. Also, due to the megaservers, the temples are usually cleared as soon as they get contested again, meaning that you have to be there when a zerg is running the temple, or you’ll miss the chance for the trait. Thankfully, as long as you can get there and the group is competent, you’ll get the trait just fine…but it’s just another sign of how these requirement weren’t really thought out.

It’s like they said “Lets just put the unlock for either things most will do anyway for other reasons, or never do at all except for this reason we’re making!”

Due to the 10 SP cost, pick your grandmasters wisely.

Berserker’s Power (Increased damage based on adrenaline level)

- Find Death’s Anthem. (That ship at the southernmost part of the Cursed Shore)

Wow…that’s surprisingly easy for a trait unlock (being Lv80 notwithstanding). I mean, just go to the POI on the ship? Wow…why can’t most of them be like that?

Burst Precision (Increased critical chance for burst skills)

- Defeat the Risen High Wizard and secure the Promenade of the Gods/Gates of Arah.

Another world boss. Thankfully, you can get this one on the defense event as well (provided the Wizard shows up for that), but still, my misgivings with world bosses being trait unlocks remain. This one costs 3 gold and 20 SP as well, so you’d better save up if you’re gonna buy it!

..Sigh. I might cover the rest of the trait lines (for Warrior, anyway), but I think I’ve made my point. Most of the trait unlocks fall into one of the following:

- 100% a map, which is too tedious to do for just a trait unlock, especially considering that in the process of doing so, you’ll usually get enough coin/SP to just buy the trait anyway.

- Complete a Personal Story step, which is often higher leveled then the level for the trait itself. I didn’t show any of those, but basically it’s another “Just buy these, it’s much faster!” option.

- Find a chest in a mini-dungeon or other obscure spot. Sometimes these are okay, sometimes they’re not.

- Finding a certain POI/location. These ones are actually okay. Of course, they get used the least in the trait unlock system.

- Clear a dungeon’s story mode. Ironically, the one dungeon whose story mode does not count for a trait unlock is the first one, Ascalonian Catacombs. I’ve already said why this is a bad type of unlock.

- Kill some obscure boss that never gets fought for any other reason, usually a champion.

- Kill world bosses, meaning you’ll need a zerg for it anyway. Annoying.

- Complete/capture some objective in WvW/EotM. Not a place for uplevels to even begin with.

They really could’ve done better with the trait unlocks, since most of the time, it’s better to just find a champion farming train and get the coin/skill points you need that way. And I’ve got nothing against champion farming trains (to each their own), but when that’s the only really good way to do this(besides hoarding gold/SP beforehand), something’s not right.

Feel free to try farming up 250 Giant Eyes for an Immobulus, and see if that “sense of accomplishment” is still worth it.

..Snarkiness aside…

The sense of accomplishment is ultimately determined by the person in question, not by the rarest item they can make or what temporary reward they were around for. While I’ll admit that being able to sell Legendary weapons kinda takes the “legendary” out of them, that is still the player’s decision to do that or not, and denying them that choice is even worse. And temporary content/rewards should be able to return, so newer players can have a try at it as well.

Nayaru.4716:

Forgot to say, just got my first newbie to 80 under this system, had all the traits I needed already except some from 80 zones that I hadn’t walked to yet, without buying, mostly without help, most importantly without much hassle at all.

Perhaps some people should just see buying traits as the primary route and exploring/whatever as the alternative acquisition.

Also Nilkemia, I did all read that and I kind of see where you’re coming from. But in particular I feel like those places with traits that are over-expected-level are just sub-goals to work towards as your leveling. If you get to lv30 and you’ve got all those traits, the goal is to get to level 60. If you get to lv30 and want a trait from a lv42 area, you can start making your way in that direction and maybe even become level appropriate upon arrival.

Also, ‘tedious, annoying, ridiculous and frustrating’ are all on the same end of the scale, the range isn’t especially vast there. :P

It still doesn’t change the fact that it’s an awful change from the original method of acquiring traits, and a deliberate gold/skill point sink, which is pointless since newer players get hit the hardest by this system, while those around before the change don’t get it as badly since they already have coin/skill point scrolls to compensate for this.

And, on my scale: Annoying < Tedious < Ridiculous <Frustrating. Not much of a difference between the latter two, but it’s there.

Answer to the topic: Good for you. However, no more of this. We already have cheap one hit kill gimmicks in some of the dungeons as is. We don’t need any more.

Right…where was I? Oh, Master Strength traits.

Axe Mastery (Gain ferocity when wielding a main hand axe)

- Defeat the Terror-Seven Krewe Leader. A level 68 champion Inquest who you don’t really “kill” (she just runs off and sics another champion on you), who hangs out underwater in Mount Malestrom. I haven’t fought this one in a long while, so I’m uncertain how tough she is, but this is a Lv68 boss for a Lv60 trait. Once again, not really level appropriate. Buying the trait is faster, even with master trait guides costing 5 SP and 50 silver.

Slashing Power (Greatsword/Spear damage increased)

- Find the splendid chest in Rebel’s Seclusion (an obscure area in Fireheart Rise) I had to look this one up too, as I never ran across this, even with map completion. This kind of requirement I’m okay-ish with, as long as it’s not so obscure that you’d never find it without looking it up, and the puzzle and enemies within aren’t frustrating…which means this one’s kinda out of that safe spot, as the wiki shows all the enemies in there being Lv69/70, as well as there being a champion involved. For a Lv60 trait. Once again, just buying it is quicker and less of a pain.

Physical Training (Reduces recharge of physical utilities and increases their damage)

- Complete the Citadel of Flame dungeon’s story mode. Yet another requirement type I don’t enjoy.

Dungeons are long and frustrating to solo, if not impossible, depending on what gimmicks the dungeon has. In addition to that, putting it in story mode is also a waste, as most only do Story Mode to unlock Explorable Mode for their character(s), and then never again. It also doesn’t help that the rewards for Story Mode often aren’t worth the time invested, compared to Explorable Mode anyway.

And this is a Lv70 dungeon for a Lv60 trait! Not level appropriate.

Once again, buying it is better, unless you like dungeons or have a good group to get you through quickly. Even so, dungeons being hard/impossible to solo is the final nail in the coffin for this type of requirement. No, just no.

Distracting Strikes (Apply confusion on interrupting a foe)

- Befriend the ogre camp so they will join you as allies…in the Eternal Battlegrounds.

Once again. It’s a Lv80 area for a Lv60 trait. Even with upscaling, you won’t stand a chance if an actual 80 (or a group of them) come by while you’re slowly building up the progress bar for befriending any of the three camps in WvW. Oh, did I mention that this requirement has 3 versions, one for each camp? What fun. Pretty much unless the camp you’re after is near your side of the map, trying to do it yourself ends up with roamer groups noticing and just ganging up on you.

Not worth going through all that fuss. Buying it is quicker and less troublesome.

See the problem here? Buying the trait is always the quicker and better option in the long run if you really want traits, as the requirements range from tedious to annoying to flat out frustrating to do, and few of them involve actual skill on the player’s behalf, or being related to the trait that they’re for. Just annoying tasks designed to waste time better spent in a champ train to farm the coin/skill point scrolls needed. Sigh…

I already pointed out what I considered the good and bad in the new system, but didn’t elaborate on why I considered the trait unlocks poorly executed (because the post would’ve gotten too big). Well, using the Warrior traits as examples, I’ll explain why now. The trait requirements are mostly (if not all) the same across all professions, though they might be mixed in between different trait lines.

Strength Adept Traits

Powerful Banners (Banners do damage when summoned)

- Kill Kol Skullsmasher. I never encountered this one, so I had to look him up. He’s a champion giant in a Lv42 group event in Harathi Hinterlands where you help some Shining Blade member kill him.

Now…my opinion on putting trait unlocks behind champions is this: If they’re soloable with a reasonable amount of skill at the time that you could get the trait, then they’re good. If they’re frustrating/tedious due to annoying gimmicks or just too much HP, then they’re not okay.

While I’ve never fought this guy, and thus can’t judge if he’s a reasonable challenge or not, the fact that you’re required to be level 42 to even stand a chance at facing him for a level 36 trait is already a bad sign to me. And considering adept trait guides cost only 2 skill points and 10 silver apiece from the trainer, that would be much faster and more efficient than hunting this guy down.

Dual Wielding (More damage when wielding an off hand sword/axe/mace)

- Earn 100% map completion for Blazeridge Steppes.

For me, map completion is something I do for two particular reasons: First, I like seeing the map filled in, and secondly, for the transmutation charges, potential Black Lion keys, gear/materials. Adding a trait unlock behind it does not motivate me anymore to fill a map than I already would’ve been before. And, in the process of doing so, I’d gain skill points through leveling and the skill challenges, so buying a trait is much faster than trying to complete a map if I really want that trait. And while map completion is something I like to do from time to time, it gets tedious if you stick to it too long without doing something else, and thus using map completion for trait unlocks is not preferred by me.

Even notwithstanding that bias, the requirement is to complete a Lv40-50 map for a Lv36 trait. Not really worth it to do all that.

Short Temper (Gain might and adrenaline when blocked)

- Defeat Rhendak the Crazed. Once again, I had to look this one up. He’s a champion Flame Legionnaire within a mini-dungeon near the Font of Rhand Waypoint (which requires completion of a meta event chain elsewhere to gain access). I got lost in the mini-dungeon, and thus never got to him. From what I’ve read though, he’s scaled at Lv28 while you’re stuck at Lv26, and can kill players in a matter of hits. While I can’t say if he’s really that tough, having to go through the entire mini-dungeon again if you lose to him doesn’t seem fun at all.

On the upside, this is one of the few trait unlocks that’s doable before the unlock level for the trait. Still, just buying this one is probably less of a hassle.

Great Fortitude (7% of Power is added to Vitality)

- 100% map completion for Gendarran Fields. This one’s…meh. It is level appropriate at least (Lv25-35, meaning you’ll probably be at Lv36+ by the time you fill it), but once again, in the process of doing so you’ll get more than enough to just buy the trait instead. I guess it depends on how quickly you want the trait, but I still feel map completion is a bad unlock requirement.

Restorative Strength (Using a heal skill removes conditions)

- Capture Inferno’s Needle in Edge of the Mists. This requirement’s bad for 2 major reasons: First, Edge of the Mists is a Lv80 area (while you get upscaled to Lv80, you won’t stand a chance against an actual Lv80). In addition to this, Inferno’s Needle is a special objective requiring siege and numbers to break through the gates and to defeat the champions within (which are stronger than regular champions and sometimes have gimmicks to them to make them more problematic).

So, this is not level appropriate, nor is it soloable. Bad requirement for a Lv36 trait. Buying this is pretty much a must unless you enjoy waiting for a zerg on your side to go there.

Death from Above (Take less damage from falling, cause a shockwave whenever you take falling damage)

- Complete the Obsidian Sanctum jumping puzzle.

While I don’t mind jumping puzzles as unlock requirements…much, I’m inclined to disagree with this one. It’s in WvW again (meaning Lv80s), and this jumping puzzle is particularly long and annoying, with one or two spots where jerks can keep you stuck/kill you if they feel so inclined. Luckily, not many stick around in there from what I’ve seen, but there’s always the possibility for it, which is bad for those just looking to get through the puzzle.

This one’s still doable, but buying it is the safe and sure option.

The pros of the new system:

- Being able to refund traits outside of combat anywhere is a great improvement over having to run/waypoint back to the trainer every time you changed weapon/armor sets to make sure your build was all in order.

- Simplifying/condensing the points to 1 for every 5 previously is also easier on the eyes and simpler to understand compared to the 5 points per trait from before.

The cons of the new system:

- The level requirements being bumped up feels unnecessary and makes leveling less fun. Originally, adept traits could be unlocked at Lv11 (though you couldn’t use them until Lv15, when you got enough for a minor trait), master traits were unlocked at Lv40, and grandmaster traits at Lv60. Now you can’t even see the trait panel until Lv30. Master traits are now locked until Lv60, and grandmaster traits until Lv80, thus making leveling feel like a tedious rush to 80 to finally max out your potential.

In addition to that, you get a trait point only every six levels, until Lv66, when you get 2 every six levels after. This just feels awkward to me. It would’ve been better if they put the unlock level for traits at Lv15, then give you a trait point every 5 levels, keeping similar enough to the old system while still changing it slightly for the better.

Also, putting the level requirements back as they were (Adept at Lv15, Master at Lv40, Grandmaster at Lv60) would be better in my opinion. Having the traits be blocked until those higher levels just keeps newer players from learning about them that well and limits characters constantly until they’re at 80 (which is quite annoying for those making alts, by the way).

The other con of this system:

- The trait unlock requirements. Unlike before, were you could just buy the trait manuals for the tiers and you were set to go, you now either have to do certain tasks in certain parts of the world, or spend silver/gold and skill points to buy individual trait manuals for them.

On paper, the searching around the map for the trait unlocks was a good idea. However, it was badly done, with most of the unlock requirements ranging from tedious to ridiculous. the individual trait manuals are also a huge gold sink compared to the trait manuals in the previous system (43 gold for all the traits for a character, compared to 3 gold and 11 silver for the tier manuals previously), as well as taking skill points (586 if you intend to buy all the traits, along with all the skills/utilities), meaning you have to be picky and know ahead of time what particular skills/utilities/traits you want ahead of time, discouraging experimentation for newer players.

While I don’t completely disagree with the trait unlock system, it needs do be better done than it has been for me to see it in a positive light.

The game treats switching attunements (for Elementalist) and swapping to/from Kits (as an Engineer) as weapon swapping. Thus sigils that only activate on weapon swapping still work for them, unless you never switch attunements or never use kits.

Deathmond.7328:

Nilkemia.8507:

They’re exotic weapons that let you choose their stats and are account bound until you bind them to someone. On top of that, you get that skin and the devolved “Hero” skin for them when you buy one. What, did you want them to be ascended instead?

LOL. I want a SKIN – I don`t want to buy transmutation charge to get my reward!

So, let me try and recollect what you said: Instead of getting an entire exotic weapon and two skins, you want just one skin. I’m guessing you probably already have an ascended weapon, which is why you wouldn’t care about the exotic quality of the weapon you’re getting. Even so, that seems a bit silly to me.

Also, transmutation charges are even easier to get than the transmutation crystals back in the days before. Map completion, PvP reward tracks, make a new character and complete a city map (Grove or Rata Sum seem to be quickest if you know a good path, but that might just be me)… it really comes off as a bad reason to complain.

They’re exotic weapons that let you choose their stats and are account bound until you bind them to someone. On top of that, you get that skin and the devolved “Hero” skin for them when you buy one. What, did you want them to be ascended instead?

Yeah…makes more sense to see the mask given the icon for it. It looks better without that glow obscuring it like in the preview…still not good enough to grind for or buy however. :P

The rarely seen Tree Climbing Risen Abomination.

Sounds like a better option than flat-out removing them.

And more ghosts somehow defying gravity. Teach us players how to do that, you show-offs! (shakes fist)

And another. Apologies for the spam posting that may follow, but I’m finding these one at a time. And there’s no way to put sentences and the attachments between each other (as far as I know).

This Risen was so dead tired, he decided to take a long break before de-spawning.

“Uh…is it still alive?”

“What are you looking at?”

“You’re dead, shouldn’t you vanish like every other Risen?”

“Shouldn’t you stay dead instead of waypointing back all the time? Stupid shrub. Make like a tree and leave, or I’ll send you to Zhaitan!”

“Oh fine. >.>”

To make up for overflowing on my quota of negativity, I’m gonna post something positive/amusing for a change!

Anyways…

“Hah, the charr will never get me up here!”

If only the rest of them knew how to float 10 feet above the air…

This thread has a point. Combo Fields and finishers where something I only learned about after a bit of reading on the forums and/or seeing them in action from other players. I had to ask how to separate stacks of materials, because the game’s instructions don’t show how to do that (to my knowledge). Even emotes and other little gray messages where something I had to find out how to use from other players, which is important in a few spots throughout the game.

While this game is still good to me, one of the big problems is that it don’t really tell you about those little things, and quite some others.

Like those Mystic Forge recipes for exotic weapons, too. How did people find out about those to begin with/how to make them? I had to look up the wiki to find out about all that, there’s no one in-game to teach you about it. I wouldn’t have known about much of it otherwise.

Which gets annoying at times…having to look up most things.

Zaxares.5419:

I wonder if it might be a “leftover” Champ from a previous attempt when it got scaled way up by too many players being present.

From memory, that should have been a Veteran, or even a normal mob.

Decent hypothesis…although, that’s certainly a new one. I can’t recall any other events retaining scaled up champions from before.

Ashandar.2570:

Wow!! I barely dented him before fail – they really beefed that one up lol
I used to solo that event in the past, next time a map call might be in order :p

Yeah, only ways of dealing with that (in theory) would be either:

- Having a mini zerg CC it constantly,

- Have constant reflects/projectile absorption, then burst it down before it can kill Orl,

- Or hope it doesn’t target Orl first (unlikely)

In the last few attempts I’ve tried running the Oola lab escort, I found a nasty surprise.

Among the second group of Oola’s necro golems is a champion, which will deplete Researcher Orl’s HP in a matter of seconds. On top of that, when the event fails, it (and the other golems) explode as well. Instant down if you’re too close.

Anyone else run into this thing in there, or just me? Is that supposed to be there?

And that is why WvW will always be worse then PvE and even SPvP in some cases. It’s even worse due to one being forced to do it for map completion and certain traits if you can’t/don’t want to pay for them. Only worthwhile thing after that is the badges for exotics, and EoTM is far better for those.

No. So far, there is no good reason that’s been made that a greater death penalty would improve anything in the game. It’s not broken, no need to break it.

Those were the only things I wanted for certain from this event, and of course, they couldn’t be bothered to bring it back.

Just why? It would’ve made sense to bring them back. I wanted to get them for other characters so I could delete/remake the ones that had the learned recipes. With that gone, I have little to no interest in this Living Story event.

Better to stick with the 1 clover recipe. Less costly when RNG decides to let you down.

Removing all of that would take time and effort that could be better spent on new content, render an entire crafting discipline useless (and thus needing to be removed as well), and lessen the players’ ability to customize.

- Does it add to my experience? Yes. Not by a lot, but it does add to it.

- Does it make things too easy? No.

- Do I always use it? Not always. Sometimes I forget to get some for my in-use character, or just forget to apply it every now and then.

- Do I usually win 1 on 1 fights against those who don’t use it? I don’t know, since I mainly stick to PvE.

- Do I craft or buy it? Craft it. Keep in mind, removing food and nourishment means removing all the plant nodes or re-purposing them for other materials. It’s really not as simple as it sounds.

- Do I offer it to others that don’t have it? Yes, mainly if I’m in a dungeon party and see them without the buff icons, I will ask in party chat if they want some from me, provided I have enough for the whole party.

So, I think it’s best to leave food and nourishment as is for now.

Fyrebrand.4859:

Fafnir.5124:

Death should be advoided….question is why.

Because when you die, you die. In the open world, you get sent back to a waypoint somewhere away from your goal. In dungeons, wiping in a tough encounter means having to start over again.
The “punishment” for failure is the lack of success, and the time it takes to retry. Why does there need to be more than that? This is a game, and relatively speaking, a pretty casual-friendly one. I think this is a good thing.

Fafnir.5124:

anything you do or accomplish is technically easy because no one ever counts the amount of deaths required.

What a weird thing to say. If you’re dying all the time, you will notice. Why do you need to count the number of deaths?

Fafnir.5124:

Everyone is also equivalently skilled cause there is no skill required to stay alive.

Nonsense. Let me tell you something, me and some guildies went into Arah P4 the other night. We wiped on every boss, several times. The whole run took us a whopping FIVE AND A HALF HOURS. Most of us had never done that path before, we were figuring it out as we went along, and each attempt we got a little better. Are we terrible? Maybe. Or maybe we didn’t have the practice and skill required to clear the dungeon in an expedient manner.
Meanwhile, there are people uploading videos of their effortless SOLO fight with Lupicus. So, how do we account for this discrepancy, if staying alive doesn’t require any skill?

Just because you have played the game so much that you know all the fights and can succeed without any problem, that doesn’t make the game easy. It means you are an experienced player. Good for you. How much longer do you think our run of Arah should have taken? 6 hours? 7 hours? 8 hours? Maybe the game should have just kicked us out of the dungeon and locked us out of Arah for a week. Boy, that sure would be a good game, huh? Very “challenging!” Yeah, challenging to enjoy.

Fafnir.5124:

It is so easy to level in GW2 I honestly think you should be reset to level 1

First of all, if you think it should be difficult to level a character, you have some very strange ideas about what kind of game you are playing. Leveling is about learning your profession, seeing the world, experiencing the story, getting acclimated to the mechanics, etc. It is not gruelling, hardcore time.
Second, I have to assume you are being some shade of facetious by saying we should be reset to level 1 if we — I assume — die at some point. That is insane. Have you even thought this through? There is a reason there is no “Hardcore Mode” where your character permanently dies or is reset if you die. People would never take any risks. Nobody would enter PvP or WvW. All characters would be as over-geared and over-leveled for their zones as possible. No one would try anything interesting or challenging, for fear of losing hours and hours of progress. This would not be “exciting,” this would be frustrating. People would not play this game if you couldn’t die. If you’re really serious about this point, you do not understand the most fundamental aspects of game design.

Fafnir.5124:

End game wise it only takes you like 2 weeks to make an 80.

It does not take the average person 2 weeks to make a level 80 character. Maybe that is possible for someone who has already been playing this game since launch, and who has entirely too much time and gold on their hands to buy/grind their way to max level. Those people are a vocal minority, but not ArenaNet’s prime demographic. Most people take a while to get through all the content. Most people are not top-notch, hardcore players with hundreds of gold. Most people die on occasion.

Be glad for yourself that you are such a skill and experienced player, that you hardly ever die. Find a way to profit from the fact that you know the battles and the content so well that you can succeed without any problem. But let’s not kid ourselves — a more severe punishment for death wouldn’t affect you, it would only frustrate and waste the time of other players who aren’t as skilled as you. So, what you’re asking for is to give other players a hard time for not being you.

…Plus 1. I’d give plus 10, but no option for that.

There’s already one. It’s called the Overgrown Grub. And no one fights that thing. Why should they? It’s minding it’s own business.

Pictured below. Happened to notice it a while back while I was in that area…I guess someone found a way over there and put one down, since it’s not there anymore..

Azhure.1857:

Nilkemia.8507:

How about….no. Death penalties? Seriously? Armor repair and waypointing back, along with enemies resetting isn’t bad enough?

Yes, some of us are serious. We’re not just pulling your leg.
*Armor repair? What repair? It’s free now. Also damaged armor has no effect on your character, whatsoever, only broken does. If I’m wrong in that please feel free to correct me.

True. I guess I’m the only one who gets a little annoyed at the yellow icon(s) when armor is damaged, and thus feels compelled to repair it right away so I don’t have to look at them. In fact, without the repair cost being there anymore, there really isn’t even a point to armor damage at all. I’m glad the cost is gone, but I just feel like it should’ve been removed completely in that case.

*Waypointing? Was a pain, cost wise, nearly 2 years ago when the cost was painful. Now its a joke.
*Enemies resetting? Well they don’t reset in a zerg situation (with the exception when it bugs out). If you’re talking about dungeon runs and you all got your kitten handed to you, well then you failed. Play smarter.

To be fair, the cost isn’t bad. I’m referring more to dungeons, some of which have paths where waypoints are often well apart from each other and where the bosses are sometimes. However, there are certain areas in PvE where that can get annoying (I’m looking at you, Temple of Grenth!), as well as WvW where waypoints are pretty much only at the spawn points and at certain structures (if they’re built first)

Though I do agree that DP wouldn’t be a good fit for PvP. However I think it could fit into PvE/WvW.

I still don’t see the point of adding one. It’ll just annoy players who are good and try not to die, but end up in that situation from time to time, turn off newer players who aren’t quite skilled yet, and make WvW even worse than it already is.

Depending on the type of penalty, outnumbered forces in WvW may leave if they keep dying over and over.

And, once again…Adding a death penalty with bosses that have instant kill/down gimmicks will not make anything more fun. So…yeah. No death penalty please. I hate dying already, no need to make me hate it more.

Answer to the opening post: No. No, no, no, no, no.

I know, scaling and all….but seriously? Veteran hatchlings already crossed the line, but this is ridiculous. How is an undead hatchling a champion right out of the undead egg? That makes no sense…this shouldn’t exist.

P.S. It didn’t even drop a loot box…or anything, for that matter! Unacceptabllllleeee!

How about….no. Death penalties? Seriously? Armor repair and waypointing back, along with enemies resetting isn’t bad enough?

I already don’t like dying and try not to. But there are times where you simply cannot prevent it, like in SPvP or WvW….which is why I tend to stick away from those.

Speaking of that, would these death penalties carry over into that too? Those modes are already bad enough as it is…

So no. No no no no no. Death penalties will either be annoying or infuriating. And with instant down/kill gimmicks associated with certain bosses (Kudu and Liadri coming to mind, though not the only ones, I’m sure), adding death penalties would just rub more salt into the wound. No thanks.

Sarrs.4831:

So basically, jumping puzzles and personal story, and that’s about it- But even they could be considered ‘chores’ because some of the longer jumping puzzles are really annoying and you need to slog through Trahearne saying THIS WON’T END WELL.

I don’t think your criteria is reasonable.

Not quite. They could be bound to skill challenges, certain chests that aren’t in jumping puzzles but still require exploration to reach, champions that aren’t just annoying HP bars, but take some skill to beat. Not many of those, I know. :/

Your mention of the Personal Story unlocks is a good point however.

Two new criteria then:

- Leave it to the shorter puzzles, not ridiculously long ones.

- No unlocks stuck in the Personal Story. That’s just annoying.

In any case, what would your criteria be then?

Don’t bother with WvW or PvP unless you want badges or reward track loot. Not worth it otherwise.

My criteria?

- Level appropriate (since the change, they seem to have tried to do that at least)
- Requires some skill/know how/exploration/something related to whatever trait you’re trying to get.
- Doesn’t feel like a chore. (Map completion, I’m looking at you.)
- Is soloable. That means no dungeons, no Fractals, and no WvW.

Also, none of the champions I mentioned in my last post were “regular champions” They all either have extra mobs around them, or some annoying gimmick to make the fight longer/more annoying.

In the end, it’s easier to just farm up some skill points/silver for the traits instead of performing most of these menial to tedious tasks.

Answer: No, we don’t need more achievements for a near-dead meta event in a near-dead instance.

I’ll pass. Have fun though. I imagine PvP would be just a nightmare as well…or does that not count?

Zaxares.5419:

I think the outrage was more about the fact that you could buy what was effectively T3 armor (or an even cooler model, depending on your opinion) for gems at a much cheaper amount than the 100+ gold you’d normally need to spend.

In addition to that, the other two armors were reskins of the exotic medium WvW armor (which didn’t look good even with the flaming touch) and a basic karma armor (which also didn’t look good even with the flaming touch). If they had made them all T3 cultural armors, the outrage may not have been so bad…except towards the two races whom didn’t have their armor used.

In ddition to the Human T3 being flamekissed, they could’ve taken two other cultural sets people liked and made them flamed up versions (like the Norn T3 heavy, the Human T3 medium or Norn T3 medium, or even the Asuran T3 heavy.) Part of me would love the idea of being able to mix and match cultural gear from different races together, seeing as the flamekissed armor’s original form showed they can clearly do it (as well as the things this thread points out) But no. :/

I agree with this thread. While I don’t mind the skirts and longcoats being around, its annoying when nearly all of our potions are along those two. I want pants and shirts/vests!

The only female pants with no skirt are the Profane pants…which don’t match well with much else besides the set itself, and barely count as pants. Beyond that, it’s either the Embroidered Pants (which have a rear skirt of sorts) or the Ascalonian Light Pants (which also have a mini skirt around the top of them on the female version…which doesn’t make sense.)

The only non-longcoat options for medium armor can be counted on one hand as well:

- Studded Coat/Vest
-Marksman’s Coat
-Duelist/Sneakthief Coat (unless you’re male or asura, in which case it’s a half-longcoat)
- Krytan Jerkin (same as the Sneakthief Coat)

Even heavy armor options suffer from this. Only two no-skirt options.

- Heavy Plate Leggings (Lionguard leggings)
- Aetherblade Heavy Leggings

I recall some sets of rune/sigil recipes that did not return…

999 gold, 99 silver, and 99 copper for this skin as of this post…

Personally, I don’t think any back skin is amazing enough to justify such a price. And this is just for the recipe too. :/

Ouch..makes me all the more glad I don’t bother with it.