Guild Wars 2

Harper.4173:

This game is exactly this :

A brand new game engine – and mechanic wise that has been painted with GW1 Lore, names, stories and so on. In some ways it is in some ways it isn’t. No point in arguing about it.

There is a point to it. It won’t change anything of course, but it is an important question to ask.

ZilentNight.5089:

Just to put it out there, I think its not really a “true” successor.
But also need to point out that your 3rd option isnt exactly a Neutral choice.
only 2 of your options say “yes” and the other 3 are basically “no”.
So your vote is not going to net you accurate results unless u were hoping for a vast majority of players to vote one way.

You’re right, it is worded a little skewed on that third choice. I’ll correct it.

Vayne.8563:

Chuo.4238:

Isn’t it kind of obvious, at least to the GW fans, that something changed at ArenaNet between the publication of the Manifesto in 2010 and release of GW2 in 2012?

It’s not the same company at all. I think they’re trying to weasel word as much as possible so nobody can technically ‘prove’ that the Manifesto and the game don’t match. But weasel words or no, Guild Wars 2 is NOT in the spirit of that manifesto.

Something has changed at ArenaNet, and not for the better if you’re a gamer and a fan.

Sorry but I disagree. I think Guild Wars 2 is very much in the spirit of the manifesto. The only thing that has changed is that Anet learned that a huge percentage of players won’t play for just cosmetics. Aside from that, Guild Wars 2 is pretty much what it was supposed to be.

Oh Vayne, come on man. You have to at least try to be critical at some point in your gaming experience. GW2 may have been what it was supposed to be…by the devs point of view, but from a lot of players’ points of view it wasn’t. There’s a substantial disconnect there that you have to be blind not to see. It’s only in the degree of disconnect that’s up for debate nowadays.

And it’s not our fault we didn’t “get it” either. It’s their job to convey future meaning and content through pre-release advertising, and to do so in a way that doesn’t leave you guessing. It’s on them to deliver it cleanly, not on us to interpret it correctly. You have to see that.

250 years of retcon.

mesme.5028:

Obsidian.1328:

mesme.5028:

How do we know if any who do the poll actually played gw1?
anyway to verify it?
does our gw2 name appear on our gw1 account that we can show a link too or something?
if not then the poll cant be viable as non gw1 can vote.

No, there’s no way to verify it. I’m just throwing it out there with all it’s flaws intact.

I’m still open to suggestions though. :P

You are right, i just logged into gw1 to see and its still the original gw1 account name, not this gw2 name.

On a side note when i logged in my character was in jq, guess what, baby p nut is still dancing there lol

lulz, what class and gender?

Vayne.8563:

I think standard heroic fantasy has been done to death. Frankly I wish there weren’t even dragons in this game.

LOL

For once, I totally agree with you Vayne. =D

mesme.5028:

How do we know if any who do the poll actually played gw1?
anyway to verify it?
does our gw2 name appear on our gw1 account that we can show a link too or something?
if not then the poll cant be viable as non gw1 can vote.

No, there’s no way to verify it. I’m just throwing it out there with all it’s flaws intact.

I’m still open to suggestions though. :P

Tachenon.5270:

Obsidian.1328:

The question is: In your opinion, is GW2 a legitimate and spiritual successor to the original game?

I’ll just answer here. In my opinion, GW2 is a pretty darned good game but perhaps the title should have been Guild Wars Lite instead of Guild Wars 2. It’s Lin Carter’s Callisto to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom. It’s August Derleth keeping Lovecraft’s ‘mythos’ alive while simultaneously trying to homogenize away the elements that made the original concepts so great. It’s one of the hundreds of Conan stories not penned by Robert E. Howard. It’s Frankenstein, should Disney ever make a cartoon version of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of horror.

TL;DR: no.

Are you female?

Viking Jorun.5413:

The forum consists of two types of people: Negative Nancy’s and Fanboys, according to the majority of the forumites. You’re getting a very limited point of view only polling forum-goers, whereas I’m sure the majority of people in the game right now have a different overall perspective.

Very true, I can’t think of a better way though. I’m open to suggestions.

Meh…perhaps. How else would you go about it then silvermember?

Just a basic question to try and figure out where the player base stands on this issue. The question is not cut and dry, so interpret it as you wish. The question is: In your opinion, is GW2 a legitimate and spiritual successor to the original game?

The link is here:
GW1 & 2 Poll

I’ll try to post results periodically…unless, of course, no one votes on it lol.

Most recently posted results:

Yes, absolutely……………………….7%
For the most part, yes……………….7%
Some ways yes, some ways no……20%
For the most part, no………………17%
Absolutely not………………………49%

Total votes: 41

Edit: I redid the poll because the third choice seemed skewed toward “no” slightly. Thank you ZilentNight for pointing that out, and sorry to those of you who already voted.

Raine.1394:

The game’s have a core DNA and as they evolve their success is measured around keeping things that worked, losing things that didn’t, taking advantage of technical advances, and trying out new things that seem compatible with the DNA. When new releases within a franchise seem like a different game altogether that indicates a failure to manage a franchise over time.

Umm…that’s what a lot of us are saying actually. That they didn’t keep a lot of things that people liked about GW1. That it does seem like a different game altogether. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good things about this game, but a legitimate and spiritual successor to Guild Wars it is not.

In fact, I’ll start a poll on that very thing to see how everyone feels about it…

…and here it is: GW1&2 Poll

Antara

The “MM” part stands for “Massively Multiplayer.” Massively is an adjective here describing multiplayer, it’s not a stand-alone word. GW1 is multiplayer, but it’s certainly not massive about it because 95% of it is instanced and limited to 8 players. That, in conjunction with the “persistent” aspect of MMO’s, is what, I think, people are arguing about.

Yes, there’s 5% of the game that you can call “massive”(the towns). But that’s a lot like saying my Camry is a sports car because it has a spoiler on the back. If you look at the game as a whole and are being forced to pin it as either CoRPG or MMORPG, the former is a way better fit for it…even though it has a few elements of the latter.

On topic though, I agree with most of what you say about the OP’s post. :P

The single best thing from the patch is that now we have a reliable blast finisher, and not one reliant on kitten y pet A.I. But…

I’m not very fond of it being in the warhorn, simply because I’ve pretty much decided on GS/LB as my final weapon choices. Warhorn is great for zergs, but for small-man and roaming the GS outshines all. And the only way I could keep both the GS and the Warhorn is if I don’t use a bow at all…which would be a big let-down for power-build rangers(current LB patch notes notwithstanding).

Personally, I would rather they made Maul the blast finisher and just extend the recharge to 10 seconds(currently 6) to make up for it. 35 seconds(28 secs traited) on the warhorn is a long time to wait…especially when I see all those guardians next to me letting loose a hammer blast every 4 seconds…QQ.

I was about to add how I like the axe’s effects, but simply hate the animations(I mean…who the hell runs around chucking axes at everything?!?…it’s silly), but then I realized the root of the problem for all of these weapon qq’s on the forums: we can’t choose our weapon skills.

As long as that remains a rule, ANet will be furiously patching and repatching weapon skill mechanics for an eternity trying to satisfy everyone in the player-base. Why they thought such a massive player population and diverse gaming demographic would accept it is beyond me. It probably has a lot to do with the deletion of the trinity in the end, but at any rate it’s becoming clearer and clearer how much that affects the game.

^

Riiiiight…and Ultima Online 2 never existed either.

anzenketh.3759:

What I am concerned about is the possibility of recon that may be happening.

You do realize that there are a lot of things about GW2 that have been retcon’d right?

I actually think they should be the only leaderboard. It’s obvious they are the most meaningful indicator of skill in the game.

Also, remove all PvP rankings immediately, they don’t mean anything anyway…and who the heck cares about two real players or teams going head to head? Pfft…as if that happened in RL.

I just want to say I like the challenge W3 presents to us now. Fighting tooth and nail for every inch of real estate is much more enjoyable and fun than a steamroll any day. I haven’t had so much fun dying to BG mobs(and some DB as well) in a long time. We’re actually honored you guys try to demoralize us day in and day out. XD

So keep up the 24/7 pressure, keep flippin our keeps(ha!), and keep rackin up dem points. There are few things us Rallians like more than fighting from a corner!

Curuglas

Dude…it’s not a competition. I thought we went over this already…

Tolmos.8395:

Obsidian.1328:

To all who think the Achievement Points are a competition…

Grow up.

It’s ridiculous that 1% of the player population has to call fowl on such a meaningless, yes meaningless, awards system. Good grief people, how in the world do you make a competition out of insanely random participation activities. I know a few of you think that leaderboard matters in some wacky, irrational way. But it doesn’t.

We can’t tell you how to play the game? Ok, then you can’t tell everyone else they’re a bunch of cheating free-loaders for being given pointless points by a game company. Ya’ll need to do one simple thing…

Get it out of your heads that this thing matters…at all.

It’s absolutely meaningless as any form of competition. Period. And if you think otherwise you are suffering from, as Han Solo once said, delusions of grandeur.

Seriously…get over yourselves.

This entire post can be summed up to:

“I missed the patch a couple weeks back that added in game item and account based rewards for achievement points”.

=D

LOL

Nice try, but I could care less. If I could give my points away I would. :P

To all who think the Achievement Points are a competition…

Grow up.

It’s ridiculous that 1% of the player population has to call fowl on such a meaningless, yes meaningless, awards system. Good grief people, how in the world do you make a competition out of insanely random participation activities. I know a few of you think that leaderboard matters in some wacky, irrational way. But it doesn’t.

We can’t tell you how to play the game? Ok, then you can’t tell everyone else they’re a bunch of cheating free-loaders for being given pointless points by a game company. Ya’ll need to do one simple thing…

Get it out of your heads that this thing matters…at all.

It’s absolutely meaningless as any form of competition. Period. And if you think otherwise you are suffering from, as Han Solo once said, delusions of grandeur.

Seriously…get over yourselves.

VOLKON.1290:

Devata.6589:

VOLKON.1290:

So many words, so I’ll be brief.

Screw expansions.

Here’s the skinny. We know that there are now four teams working on Living Story content in four month cycles. That in itself is a lot. We also know that there are other teams working on the big, juicy stuff as well, things that take longer to refine and deliver. Things worthy of expansions. You all need to realize we’re getting the best of all worlds here… a constant influx of new content to do in between the big releases of major content. Look at games that rely on expansions. They toss you an expansion, you burn through it in a month and wait four or six months recycling the same old stuff waiting for the next release.

We’re getting a constant flow of new things to do while the “big” stuff is being developed. That works for me.

No you don’t get best of 2 worlds you get worse of 2 worlds. You get a F2P game that you payed for to play. To me thats the worse of to worlds.

I know what you mean.. whats the problem, a nice story leading up to content thats the same as an expansion. Sounds good I agree and they might indeed deliver the same amount of content. Thats not the issue here.

The problem for me (there are some other reasons for other people) is that you also have to think about the business behind it. I signed up for a B2P game because I do not like F2P game because of there focus on cash-shops (like the temporary content, but I will not go further into that now). So now Anet does not work with expansions they are focusing on the gem-store for income.

Thats my problem with it.

It’s not the idea of content overtime that leads to the same amount as a expansion would do. that by itself (forgetting the business behind it) would be fine. But there is a business behind it so we can’t forget about that.

Why is that a problem? There’s nothing at all in the cash shop that’s required to move through this game whatsoever. Nothing you can buy that makes you better, more powerful, etc. Just fluff. Yes, some pretty nice fluff, but fluff none-the-less.

I recall a predecessor MMO that I played once… I paid for the game then paid every month to play the game I paid for all the while waiting for the opportunity to pay for an expansion in order to get more content, and then when I did I didn’t get the full expansion, just releases every few months… months which I continued to pay extra for to play the part of the expansion that was released that I paid for to expand the content of the game that I paid for.

You want me to believe you’d rather have that scenario than to simply pay for the game and get access to all the content available (which is constantly being added on to) while being given the option to choose from a myriad of fluff items to buy only if you wish?

Really?

Actually yes.

And I’ll tell you why. The current model forces ANet, however much they would rather not, to cater to the “fluff” crowd. Not only do cash-shop items become ridiculously immersion-breaking in this game, but the story and setting of GW2 becomes skewed toward this “fluff” crowd and solid content suffers. Without a sub, they have to make the game appealing to that demographic that uses real cash to purchase gem-shop items. This is why the game is so whimsical and theme-parky. All those casual thirty-somethings with money to burn are not only driving the game-economy, but also driving content.

2 years ago I would have agreed with you Vayne, but seeing how much of an influence the cash-shop can have on non-sub game content…I hate it. That’s great if you would rather have free, watered-down content than fork over 20 bucks a month, but I would rather pay for the good stuff. And if you think this stuff we have now is “good” well I can’t argue personal taste I guess, it’s beyond me though.

They could get away with it in GW1 because of the quick expansion releases along with the fact that it wasn’t a monster of a game to produce and run. And it wasn’t a true MMO I guess, but that’s another topic. At any rate, seeing how GW2 turned out I bet you would be surprised at how many GW1 players would now concede the option of actually paying a small sub if it meant content would improve.

I could be wrong but I doubt it.

*note: I’m not saying a pure sub is the way to go(a hybrid model would probably do it these days), only that if something involving a sub would deliver better content, I’d be for it.

Curuglas.1847:

Obsidian.1328:

She meant the time and effort required to get it…not the point value of it.

Yes, exactly the point – maybe the time and effort should be reevaluated and the points put into perspective? How much time did you have to play GW2 to get the Points in HoM? I’d guess 0 hourss, so it should be around 0 points worth in GW2. If you have to put in 1000 hours in GW1, well give them 1000 points in GW1 and let them wear their titles in GW2, too…

Obsidian.1328:

Almost no one cares about the points.

If no one would care, then no one would care about HoM being worth 0 points, too. But what is obvious in this thread, there are some extremely greedy GW1 players, who do care about those points, else there would be no issue at all.

I have not seen (or maybe missed?) anyone wanting to deny GW1 players some rewards for their dedication in GW1 (titles, skins, etc.) – just those HoM points are clearly a controversy and to resolve this they should simply be replaced by another kind of reward…

Dude…you can have all 6,300 of my points if ANet would let me give them away.

If some greedy GW1 vet is being a selfish kitten about it, why do you care? Let them be that way and you do your own thing, you don’t need some bogus points to legitimize your game experience.

Curuglas.1847:

CharrGirl.7896:

And try getting 50 points – I can guarantee you that it’s almost like making a legendary if not harder.

And a legendary is worth 5 points, getting 5 legendaries is 25 points, against 500 for HoM…

She meant the time and effort required to get it…not the point value of it.

Almost no one cares about the points.

Shakki.3219:

There was nothing said about :
extra Achievement Points which affects first a leaderboard of another game.

Also i bet alot of more people would of done that if they knew about that before.

That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. 99% of the player pop doesn’t give a hoot for this. Because a) it doesn’t matter and b) it’s not a competition. GW1 players did it for the skins and pets (and a few for the titles).

What kind of person makes a competition out of arbitrary points given out for walking from point A to point B…or listening to an npc talk?

The fact that it’s on a “leaderboard” is a farce in and of itself. And I think the players that actually care about it do so simply because it happens to be up there, and not because it’s any indication of merit or skill…because it isn’t.

We might as well all count the change in our couches and form a “leaderboard” out of that. It would be just as trivial.

/facepalm

TheLazyOne.8509:

It’s very obvious that gameplay dictated the story, not the tale they wanted to tell.

^ This

You have no idea how true that is…

SinerAthin.2374:

Bandit.6384:

I rolled toons of every race, but I had a real problem with the Charr just for storyline reasons. I mean, they’re evil, or rather the Legions are. I was frankly disturbed and a little sickened by the fascist hell of the Legions,

Actually, this is one of the reasons why I like the Charr.

Too many times, in too many stories, I see characters needlessly be made to be politically correct even if it doesn’t fit the story or is completely out of time.
In order to create a “realistic”, living, breathing & unique race that can seem somewhat credible, you to go out of the safety box and use your imagination.

Everybody can come up with a fantasy race, but few can give said race a soul.

While I’m wholly opposed to it in real life, things like corruption, racism, dangerous ideologies, religious fanatics and other crazy stuff like that, it can really add color to a fantasy race.
Even humans are not perfect :P

See…what you said is exactly why I can’t get into the Charr. The GW2 version simply doesn’t fit with the old story. And if you think otherwise in the game, you’re being politically incorrect for doing so.

I would say the GW1 cultures had real soul…the races we have in this game don’t even come close. Just because they have an original look doesn’t mean the have an original spirit. They are so ridiculously cliche’d and hackneyed I don’t know how anyone takes them seriously…ANet just tried to cover up that stereotype with clever writing and glitzy-cute visuals.

I agree that those ideas you mentioned are worth inclusion in a good story, they provide much needed internal conflict. I just think it’s so poorly implemented here that it’s easily disregarded. I mean, I finished one race’s storyline, and couldn’t make myself finish any other race’s story…or even repeat the one race I did do.

That’s never happened to me in a an game genre like this…

Valento.9852:

Funny thing is that I have friends who were planning to buy GW1 to get the titles, but then ANet put 500pts. so that you are left behind if you don’t have it, we’re just not buying the game anymore. For some the strategy failed.

I just can’t understand this.

Left behind? Left behind from what?

Good god, this thread is still here over the weekend??

Some scientist should make a study on human nature with this…assign random point values to random tasks and keep a public point tally for everyone to see.

The amount of insane competition produced from such meaningless numbers is itself insane.

Seriously peeps, there’s more substance to a 3rd-grade 4-square game than this.

Leablo.2651:

Obsidian.1328:

Leablo.2651:

Thobek.1730:

things that evoke emotions. Trade agreements and employment contracts do not.

Oh my.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests

In my best Seth Meyers voice…

Really dude? Really? You think emotional involvement in a video-game equates to the stark pains and passions of real-life? Really?

end rant

Oh my.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

Oh noes!

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cop-out

Letting others win so they can have a shiny trophy too is bad for character development.

Yes it’s just a game, but the win gained solely on your own perseverance is infinitely more rewarding.

This topic reminds me of that one kid in 4th grade who had the most Lego’s and made sure everyone else knew it.

*rolleyes

7 pages so far Ascii …well done.

The troll is strong in this one.

Tachenon.5270:

Zedd.8239:

The dredge mining suits actually have dredge inside controlling them…

Yes. And sometimes the player character has the opportunity to take one for a spin. Doesn’t matter who is inside controlling them. Once they start walking it’s like they are auditioning for a skit on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It’s just silly.

^ that

The boss intro at the end of the F&F dungeon reminded me of the Ginyu Force doing yet another ridiculous pose session. It’s impossible to take any of the story seriously(or emotionally engaging) because of the sheer volume of silly antics and grade school humor.

Leablo.2651:

Thobek.1730:

things that evoke emotions. Trade agreements and employment contracts do not.

Oh my.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests

In my best Seth Meyers voice…

Really dude? Really? You think emotional involvement in a video-game equates to the stark pains and passions of real-life? Really?

end rant

It’s high fantasy…and ergo an escape from the mundane crap of the real world. We want to feel a certain amount of vicarious elation and drama through our avatars, whether it be in PvE or PvP. I mean…what’s next, tax code reform in Divinity’s Reach?

:/

Mystic.5934:

Isolated. can you play GW1 from GW2? can you play GW2 from GW1? How are they connected at all? sure: similar theme / setting / characters / style / company that made it, but you can’t do anything in GW2 that affects your experience in GW1. visa versa used to be the case.
This is the final nail in the achievements-are-meaningless coffin. Trouble is, achievements now give rewards, which raises this from an ignorable bug in the game to an issue.

I have a friend who I would compete with for achievement point earning. It’s no longer a competition when someone gets handed the victory on a HoM-engraved silver platter.

Dude…it was never a competition. If a few people thought it was they need a reality check.

You guys need to stop whining about things that don’t matter. Achievement Points are trivial at best and meaningless at worst. Seriously, an Entropy competition would make more sense.

Tell ya’ll what, if ANet would let me, I’ll give away 500 points to everyone that complains until I run out. Deal?

Ruith.5861:

If so many Achievement Points are to be linked to GW1 then so should PvP ranking.

What a stupid concept…

Except one thing… PvP ranking actually matters!!

Honestly, what is with this weird attachment to Achievement Points? They don’t mean anything. Nothing.

I mean, we might as well start a new “/age” leaderboard so we know who is the best at playing GW2 the most…

I’ll start: I’m at 2,871 total hours. Hopefully ANet won’t absolutely destroy my chance at #1 glory by handing out bonus hours to…umm…idk…gemstore buyers or something.

/facepalm

billykwong.3742:

RoRo.8270:

Wait people take leader boards seriously?

Well if Arena.net decides that you need to play a different game in order to be competitive on the leaderboard, then nobody should take it seriously anymore. You shouldn’t have to feel like you have to go back to GW1 to stay on the GW2 leaderboard. You can’t get those achievements by playing GW2, so it shouldn’t have that big of an effect on the GW2 leaderboards. That’s been my point all along, and I’m not saying GW1 vets shouldn’t be rewarded – they already have been rewarded enough with skins and titles.

Wth am I missing here lol! It’s not a leaderboard bud..it’s just some thing that tallies stuff you do in the game.

Draygen.7348:

I find it rather amusing that people so vigorously defend getting increased points while saying “points are pointless.”

They are pointless.

I could care less if they somehow got erased from my account. All I thought was “neato” about HoM was the skins…you know, stuff you can actually look at.

Serendipity.8326:

Nobody is even close to getting all possible GW2 achievements (pvp and wvw), so that’s what I meant by losing time.

Obsidian.1328:

Why is no one tackling the elephant in the room?

Who cares about Achievement Points!?!

Seriously, this is the absolute first time I’ve heard of anyone competing for these things. They are as much a “leaderboard” as WWF is actual “wrestling.” They are trivial earnings at most, and just plain insignificant at the least.

Indeed, for you they aren’t. Plenty of other people care. Some people spend pretty much all their time in spvp to rank up as quickly as possible. Not everyone has the same goals as you.

Let me get this straight…so people spend their time in sPvP, a mode that already has it’s own legitimate and apt stats(W/L, Kill%, etc), to gain points in an all-inclusive participation system that has no determinant reward? /facepalm

The Achievement Point System is not a leaderboard, despite some chart keeping track of them. It is the virtual equivalent of “gold stars” you get in first grade when you never miss a class. If someone really wants to be “that guy” that holds up an attendance award as if it’s something players actually cared about, knock yerself out. But don’t /rage because my kindergarten just happened to be in the same building. :/

Why is no one tackling the elephant in the room?

Who cares about Achievement Points!?!

Seriously, this is the absolute first time I’ve heard of anyone competing for these things. They are as much a “leaderboard” as WWF is actual “wrestling.” They are trivial earnings at most, and just plain insignificant at the least.

Serendipity.8326:

That comparison makes no sense. Nobody is saying that you shouldn’t get rewarded for it. Just not achievement points.

Why?

Wait a sec, you think the Achievement Points are a competition? Well that’s a new one, I didn’t know players did that. :/

Who cares? Achievement points are a dime a dozen. Some players have over 10k and the game hasn’t even hit the 1-year mark.

The more time passes, the less an issue this will be…not that it should be one now.

Unfortunately no.

jgrzar.3468:

Engineer all day and twice on Sundays!

Some Engineer points of interest:

• We’ve only EVER HAD 900 range (not using kits). We didn’t have 1200 range that got nerfed to 900 but left us with a main hand weapon that could do 1200 (ala Longbow).
  An argument could be made for Grenades that has 1200 range, but your DPS will be next to 0 at that >1000 units with grenades.
  Also, we’re able to trait for 1200 range on Rifles… using up a trait that everyone else got a pass on with their built-in main hand range.
• Turrets (1/5th of our skills) are utterly useless for anything other than long range pot-shots at enemies. Add to this their ridiculous cool-down and bug that makes them ignore enemies and shoot into empty space and they are more than worthless.
• Elixirs (1/5th of our skills) are RANDOM! If, during a fight, you quaff an elixir you can expect EITHER protection OR regeneration, OR swiftness… One of our Elites is an Elixir, that if drunk, will EITHER turn you into the Hulk OR turn you into a tornado…
• Gadgets (1/5th of our skills) are so incoherent that no build can be made around them.
• Weapon Kits (we have 3) REPLACES your main hand and off hand weapons with a weapon that until recently didn’t proc weapon sigils. Toolkit (1/3) turns the Engineer (an adventurer class) into a melee class… Flamethrower turns us into a mid-range class (~400 range)… Elixir Gun takes away 70% of our damage in a game where less damage earns you silver or bronze rewards in events even though you healed/supported your kitten off.
• Our kits (or hobosack) are worn on our backs and thus hide any other back item. Our kits also replaces our main/off hand weapons which means our Legendary weapons are visible only in towns or in builds that uses NO kits.

In conclusion:
Engineer is a jack-of-all-trades;master-of-none in every sense of the word.
It feels as if ANet can’t make up their minds as to our role. EVERY other class (including Ranger) can handle their discipline better than the Engineer. They DPS better, they support better, they “tank” better, they evade better. Engineers just barely get along at the moment.

BUT
Engineer is still the most fun class to play BECAUSE of our limitations. No two Engineers will use the same cookie-cutter build.

High condition-damage grenadiers destroy peeps in W3.

Rin.1046:

You are right that GW2 is another MMO and as such it would make sense to have similar controls. But as I pointed out briefly in my opening post, Anet wanted to draw in players who did not normally play this genre of games.

To quote Anet:
“If you don’t play MMO’s you’ll really want to play Guild Wars 2”.

With this in mind, I do not think it is unrealistic to ask for improvements, to make the game easier to play for these not-so-mmo players. Making a game appeal to a wide range of players is not limited to the content, the controls will play a vital role in granting access to that content.

Also, as I stated, I do not think it is an issue either. I merely feel some improvements could be made to make the game more accessible.

. . .

You totally left out the first part of that quote dude. He says right before that: “If you like MMO’s, you’ll like GW2.”

They wanted all kinds of players from every genre. It’s a massive melting-pot game.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Out of the classes I play, the Engineer is always the one that keeps getting hit the hardest. Sure, we get some buffs to skills that no one uses because frankly no one cares, but time and time again we end up getting hit with a nerf that strikes us at the heart of where we were powerful before. It happened twice in this most recent patch:

Elixir R, our best stun breaker, was nerfed into oblivion. It is now useless as anything but a delayed toolbelt rez.
Static Shield lost the ability to counterattack while defending and reduced its stun, making the shield nothing more than an ineffective stall tactic and yet another temporary block, which the engineer already has a few of.

And before that, we had Elixir S nerfed so we lost access to all of our utilities in that period of time. Before that, we lost in-game effectiveness from the proliferation of boon hate. Before that, we had our condition damage nerfed with a new change to incendiary powder that made it less effective. Before that, we had Kit Refinement nerfed into the ground, killing our most effective build at that time. Before that, our grenade direct damage was nerfed after the introduction of sigils on to our kits (finally). Note: these events may not necessarily be in order.

Playing as an engineer has been a continual up-hill battle. It is almost guaranteed that the strategies that you used are going to end up nerfed into the ground with every new patch, and along with that some skills are going to receive nigh meaningless buffs. The balancing strategy Arenanet has employed for engineers has basically been “Nerf the top tier engineer builds, buff useless stuff no one uses, let people figure out some new strategy for engineers that works, then nerf that, too”. Couple that with debilitating bugs that crop up in every patch, and we engineers end up dreading patch day each month. All because their design philosophy in the game is that Engineers shouldn’t do damage, even though damage is king in the game.

I can’t speak for Elemementalists and Rangers because I don’t play them. But I can speak for Engineers, and the fact that we have to stack 25 might in order to play at the effectiveness that other classes play at is a clear indicator of how messed up we are.

Ranger says: “You guys can stack might??”

And Living Story and Personal Story markers should be optional. It’s slightly annoying that if one doesn’t want to partake in either of those that you are forced to constantly be reminded of them.

Also what Stinvec said, why do the markers keep expanding every time you wp or zone out? If I had a copper for every time I manually collapsed those I’d have 100g.