Guild Wars 2

Yeah, those areas can be a real pain to solo. Duoing with someone is a fun challenge if you’re up for it though. Took my buddy and I a half hour to find the right scaffolding inside there for the vista, and I cussed out my monitor when a knockback sent me flying off the top level. I view them as fun small-group areas, but yeah…goin solo it can be rough.

One thing I would like to see more of, and that would help solo players navigate zones better, are patrol routes. I know ANet has them programmed in, I see moa’s and such roaming around on them a lot. For instance, thin out the existing static mob density in certain areas, and add several roaming mobs that follow preset routes(or random routes for a bigger challenge). It might take a few updates to find the right mix of the two, but I don’t see why it can’t be done. Allow the non-uber-geared solo player an opportunity to out-think or out-maneuver dense area’s and he will thank you for it ANet.

Jrunyon.3012:

The idea having once a day transfers and then locking people out of wvw for Id assume a week is ridiculous and I guarantee Anet does not want that. Are we playing a different game here? Has Anet ever shown that they want to lock people out of content? At least with once a week you can wvw for the week and then switch and then can jump right back in.

Well…that’s basically what guesting is. The difference being allowing PvE transfers anytime(through guesting), and whole server transfers(hence WvW transfer) only through a fee instead of a week. ANet typically takes a hard line on any opportunities for griefing or exploiting, so technically the server transfer fee would be just that…locking you out of content.(if you define content as the same map on a different server) But they also usually keep their promises: The guesting feature, which has been alluded to many times already is the solution. Until that happens this discussion will go on endlessly…

And it is a fact that friends can be spread out among many servers belonging to different guilds. We all don’t just hang out with each other, and we all may have our own loyalties to different guilds. Myself I have friends across 5 servers, but we won’t ever see each other because we are all in our own guilds with other friends as well. This idea that a small group of friends are the only people each of them will hang out with or know is silly. It’s an interconnected web that multiplies in number the farther out you go out from yourself.

Guild Halls are a “possible” addition now? I thought it was a sure thing. :’(

There is a chance, albeit a small one, that the other 2 servers may grant you a few hours of free exploring. Of course, some of that involves taking keeps and castles which may be out of the question.

Perhaps you could try to work something out with your WvW opponents that could grant you a small window for this. It would have to be well-coordinated, and the other servers would have to be really nice…just depends on the server I guess. :/

Oh I didn’t like him either…for all the reasons you stated. “Sympathy” was probably not the right word to use, I was referring to Pyre in relation to the civil war and not his personality. And yes I generalized with the race. My ultimate point was not that all Charr are alike in their evil ways, but that they are all alike their savagery. The GW1 Charr wouldn’t have had artisans, merchants, farmers, etc. Maybe I don’t give them enough credit, but I always saw them as a grawl’s bigger brother.

@Zaxares “I do agree that it’s weird how the Charr have advanced so much while other races have more or less remained constant, however.”

^This. Yeah, that’s what I found odd too. It would be different if every race had advanced some. It didn’t have to be at the same pace, of course, but the others are more or less static. The Humans, Norn, and Asura all have bigger, more grandiose cities…but they are essential the same culturally and technologically as they were in GW1. The Sylvari are new and a non-factor. I suppose you could argue that it was because the Charr chose to shake off the shackles of religion that allowed them to advance so fast, but it still doesn’t add up. Like I said, a few degrees off from grawl.

It’s true Abaddon was the real power behind the Charr invasion(and other events). But it would be disingenuous to compare the Charr to ordinary Germans in WWII.

Germany got royally shafted by the Allied powers at the Treaty of Versailles after WWI, and technically they didn’t even start the Great War. They got stripped of their military, their colonies, and their self-respect. Then the depression hit. They were at rock bottom. And along comes this charismatic young Austrian who promises to give you back your dignity and then some. So they give him a shot, but they didn’t know he was a genocidal lunatic at the time.

The Charr, on the other hand, had always hated humans, ever since they moved into their territory and pushed them out of Ascalon country. But the Charr typically hated everything back then. They were born to kill and be killed. I would agree that without Abaddon’s help they would not have ever had the power to invade all of Tyria, or even only Ascalon. But that’s not to say they didn’t want to. They had been at constant war with Ascalon for as long as anyone can remember. That the Shaman’s found a way to get around Ascalon’s engineering might doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible. They wanted humans dead more than anything, the Titan’s just gave them the means to do so.

Pyre was the first, and maybe only, sympathetic Charr we meet in GW1. He provides our first good glimpse into Charr society and the beginnings of their civil war. But none of that really matters to me because by this time the writer’s had already decided on making the Charr a playable race in GW2. So they had to include a Charr example for the storyline, just like they did with Jora(Norn) and Vekk(Asura). Again, the Sylvari weren’t born yet. Eye of the North was a lot more GW2 than GW1 when it comes to lore.

Sorry for the rant, it’s stupid to get worked up about a game. It just really bugs me. I would have been happy if they relegated the Charr to “colorful npc” status like they do in GW2 with the Skritt and Quaggan. Or even made them elite “Branded” minions under Kralkatorik’s control. Besides, the Tengu deserved the opening act more than the Charr did.

Everytime I think about it I think of George Lucas in his film room cutting and taping film clips together in a desperate attempt to make all of his story-line threads meet up. Yeah, just like that South Park episode. XD

Didn’t work so well for him…most people saw through the artificially-connected lore.

My problem with the Charr is thus: they are fake.

They are at best the forced construct of an unfolding lore that deparately needed to have them be the good guys now. The whole spirit of GW2 is this not-so-subtle moral tale on how we all need to get along and forget our past grudges. Why? Because the dragons are the bad guys now. The Charr used to be be the quintessential bad guys: brutish, ugly, feral…basically beasts who knew how to fight in formation. They were the primary enemy in GW1 Prophesies before the expansions came out.

Comparing the Foefire to the Searing is like comparing a housefire to an earthqauke. The Foefire, while tragic, only affected one city. Given the extreme hatred between these two races it doesn’t seem so surprising really. The Searing on the other hand, affected every single culture in Tyria. And in a very bad way. It opened the door for invasion of both Kryta and Orr by the Charr.

The Krytans had to turn to abject slavery under the White Mantle and the Mursaat to be saved annihilation by the Charr. It took years of civil war and death to oust the Mantle out, and the strife bled into Magumma and the Shiverpeaks as well. The land was in shambles after that, and they were the lucky ones.

When the Charr came marching on Orr after the Searing, the humans turned to the Vizier in desperation. Secretly he had been biding his time for such an opportunity and promptly used the Scepter of Orr in the Cataclysm to sink the entire continent to the bottom of the sea. Hey, at least he killed the Charr too. :/

And we don’t need to talk about Ascalon. So…one event made mad ghosts out of a city. The other changed the entire face of Tyria forever…in an ugly way. Two kingdoms dead and gone and one on the ropes. All because of, directly or indirectly, the Charr and the Searing.

It’s not a fair comparison.

Yet, even with all of that, my biggest gripe with the Charr is that they were conjured out of thin air. I’ll explain.

The Charr of GW1 were, as I mentioned, beastly and cruel. The only advanced social structures they could boast were a rudimentary caste system and some effective mass military tactics. Other than that they weren’t too far off the DNA path from the grawl.

The Charr of GW2 are rediculously different. They have these modern, steel-girded cities, advanced weapons of war, a finely-tuned army and social structure. They are marvels of modern engineering for goodness sake; 4-story tall motorcycles? What the heck is that? They went from communicating with grunts and rudimentary speech wearing loincloths in GW1 to being the champions of technology in GW2.

All in the span of 250 years…

That is some crazy-fast evolution. Meanwhile the Asura (the obvious engineer choice) are over there twiddling their thumbs making yet another Golem based on the original model. And now everyone is supposed to be all friendly and nice because the dragons are around. /facepalm

So, to me anyway, the Charr are the superficial construct of a storyline that desperately needed to make them be the good guys now. Hate to say it, because I really like a lot of the writing that went into both games, but it’s bad writing.

You might as well line up every human in Kryta and have Rytlock walk along them, slapping each one in the face and laughing gleefully as he carries Rurik’s stolen sword with him.

Oh…I didn’t make a Charr character if anyone was wondering.

I dig the camouflage part, at one point it was supposed to be available to rangers anyway. And it fits the profession very well.

@Durzlla Well…it’s new to the classical “ranger.” The GW1-type ranger was both not very well known to the global mmo audience, and was generally skilled toward the Marks/Exp build which you already mentioned. The other builds (Beast Master, Spirit Master, Touch Ranger, etc) were all there, just not very popular. Why? My guess is they required more panache and patience. The Barrage/Splinter build was rediculously overused…but it was highly effective. Personally I used a barrage/needling/I Am the Strongest(Norn Shout) build with a few pet skills thrown in.

The classic ranger was part thief, warrior, druid, with a dash of mage. He was a master of the bow, and a lot of times could dual wield sword and dagger. He could hide/move in shadows, set deadly traps, was a novice healer, and knew a few handy spells. The animal companions, or pets, while very present, were more of a side note.

The archer, on the other hand, was all bow.

I’m not saying GW2 has the wrong idea, I actually like what they’ve done with rangers. I just think many people get the wrong idea because of the name. Just like guardians are not pure tanks, but more like battle-mages; Rangers in gw2 are more like beast-masters…who can also use a bow and sword.

DoomBunny.2903:

I never really saw the issue with the old Longbow’s damage, even with the bugged Eagle Eye.

Using a LB as a Ranger always struck me as similar to playing an AD carry in LoL/DotA/whatever. You hit VERY hard from long range, but if you’re cornered or caught out of position, you’ve maybe 1 or 2 escape skills, but they can only buy time for teammates to save you. Alone, a LB Ranger gets melted. In groups, he’s a dangerous DPS machine.

That’s just how the LB was set up. If you let Mr. Ranger McLongbow chill at 1500 range and pewpew while you smash your face into the bunker Guardian, then the Ranger should be punishing. It’s a tradeoff. At max range, a LB Ranger should do more damage than other comparable DPS builds. If caught inside his preferred range, he’s going to hit like a wet noodle.

That provides a tangible benefit for staying at range. Right now, their is no “range bonus” You NEED to stay at max range just to keep up with other specs, who do not have a range requirement.

I like this commentary. If you could pick one thing that screams Ranger would it be a bear or a longbow? LB hands down.

The class has always been known as ranged dpsers. I mean it’s right there in the name!! :P Making Rangers dangerous from long distance and vulnerable up close has always been their schtick. My vote just on LB: 20% projectile-speed increase and damage increase, and a 10% rate-of-fire increase.

To be honest, I think ANet simply wanted to try a fresh outlook on Rangers. They did give them pretty decent melee skills, more than typical rangers or archers have normally been used to. And the ever-present pets were obviously supposed to close the gap in damage output (in GW1 the pets were always optional, and only a few Rangers out there ran pet builds regularly). It’s a combination of having decent melee, perma-pets, and utility skills(spirits etc.) that probably caused the ranged nerf to the ranger.

It is rather odd though…rangers who are bad at range. :P

Nope, it all goes with you.

<——Hey, look at our names!!!

I saw a post somewhere before launch about trying some kind of pvp point system to spend on attribute points. If the point max was infinite, this would be a deal-breaker. But if you kep the max spendable points to, say, 10% of the base that might work. I dunno.

It always seemed to me the problem wasn’t really that someone else had an advantage over you, it was that the advantage was way over-powered. There’s a difference between being able to 1-hit and be unkillable 1v1, and hitting a little harder and being just a little tougher to kill.

Finding a system everyone would agree on is probably beyond the scope of human cooperation and reason though. :/

Not to mention the outright unbalacing this incurs…something ANet is explicitly against.

@Spike Firebrand I know it sucks when pvp issues affect pve-ers. It is a legitimate problem though. Just like some like you spend most of your time in pve, some of them spend most of their time in pvp.

Non-pvp guesting + server transfer fees would solve all this. Just waiting on it…

I like the name thing. I mean, I hate not knowing who kills me. I would say I hate not knowing who I kill too but that doesn’t happen much. QQ

@bcbully I wasn’t being snarky. And I don’t know what you mean by “strawman.” You complained about buying an mmo that didn’t have gear-progression and I simply stated that wasn’t part of this game.

@omerk If you stop playing a game because someone else got something easier than you did, you might need to do some self-reflection. You don’t need to have rare stuff to feel better about yourself. :/

@bcbully “Too bad none of these are mmorpgs…. That’s the problem people thought they were buying an mmorpg…”

For the love of god I don’t know where you people come from.

Vertical gear-progression is not inherent to mmorpg’s

It’s not. It’s not. It’s not.

It’s optional.

@Cod Eye — Well that is one massive generalization if I’ve ever seen one. I would like guesting implemented, and I have no intention of farming or exploiting. It’s a pretty solid fact that player’s friends can be widely distributed over several servers.

Perhaps you should define what you think “decent” is then. AsheRayne simply inferred you were talking about population levels because, well, that’s all you gave us to work with. Be more specific on what you’re looking for.

And btw, it’s a tad rediculous to label every single US server as bad. What on earth do you base this on?

@souldonkey <—-what he said

There are two different genre’s: mmo vs co-op rpg(with arena-style pvp).

Hmm, to me having titles for every little accomplishment diminishes the point of titles in the first place. Aren’t they supposed to be for finishing something that took a good amount of time and effort to get??

Hi all,

I was perusing the guild list and noticed there were a few Charr-centric guilds around. Does anyone know of any Ascalonian-themed guilds in existence? Obviously RP would be pretty central to the gameplay for this, but I haven’t found anything yet that screams “Ascalonian” in nature. I’d be willing to devote at least one of my alts to such a guild, and also have a lot of ideas on how to make it work. I’m currently in Rall fyi.

Thanks in advance to any replies!

Obsi

Anyone else get the feeling when reading these posts that they are playing an old text-MUD??

*reads options…picks page 11…summons dire wolf and breathes fire on me!

“Game Over” *Nooooooooooooooo

“Restart from Beginning?” *Shoulda chose page 9!

Does this only affect you if you have a costume on?

Akiko.2364:

55… so old I have a copy of Chainmail, the game gary gygax out out before D&D!

Been playing computer and conole games since Pong…..

Gary Gygax!!! Unearthed Arcana was the coolest D&D book evah! And the cover art was fantastic!

I was going to post something…but I had no clever video short to include and I felt inadequate. QQ

I’m sure they will bring them out eventually, patience amigo.

Although I didn’t really enjoy these in gw1, I realize a lot did. Seemed wierd to me, like you wanted to make sure everyone knows your rank in town so you stand there spamming a golden spear. “Look over here, look at me, I’m good at pvp!!”

@steelwind

Wait, yer saying you think peeps should be able to build houses out in the pve zones? Oh my…methinks that might create a world of pain for the devs. What is the average server population anyway? And how many zones, 20? (Orr would be off limits most likely).

So take the average server population, divide by the number of legitimate zones, that would give you the number of player “houses” potentially in each zone. assuming an equal distribution as well as 100% participation

Can’t find this anywhere, so feel free to hammer me on my forum nubbyness.

In the future…perhaps next year sometime( cue “In the Year Two Thousaaaaaand” from Conan O’Brien ) I thought introducing a handful of new weapons(and therefore skills) to the mix would add some variety which a lot seem to be wanting.

I was thinking enough for 2 new skillsets for each class. (1 for Ele’s and Engi’s — they have their own unique skill-pools methinks)

I don’t know if this is a good idea, but it seemed like an fairly easy coding solution for this game.

Thoughts?

Erm…I assumed housing would be relegated to the home instance area. Is this false?

Well, because it’s rehashing the same two opposing viewpoints over and over and over again ad nauseum. I agree it’s been somewhat civil…but 8 pages on this?? I like the forums too, but this feels like beating a dead horse.

Although, on reflection, it’s not my place to say that. So I apologize.no sarcasm

Kruunch.3714:

Shukran.4851:

gw1 was a coorpg
gw2 is a mmorpg
they are 2 different games
maybe the game would be different if they called gw2 : World Of Tyria (in and around :P ).

But … they aren’t different games really.

The end game (and ultimate point) is still PvP. You just don’t have as much flexibility as in GW1 and have to invest in a larger time sink to get to it.

GW2 doesn’t have the sustainability to really be called a proper MMO.

Eh…they are different games. “Massively multiplayer(MO)” is a huge part of that. You simply can’t call yourself an MMO in an entirely instanced world. And being sustainable doesn’t make an MMO proper or whatever. It’s about the game mechanics, not how large the player base is, or how long it stays large. :/

At any rate, I did like having the skill choices in GW1. But running back to town everytime I wanted to change them was…well…rediculous.

For the love of god, someone close this thread.

Out of curiosity, why in the world did you spend so much time and gold on 1 tonic?

No idea yet…assuming it’s in a later Act.

As an alternative you can go to the real clock tower in Prague that this is modeled after.

They might not like you jumping all over their historic church though.

Gotcha, thanks Vithaar

Hmm, I opened one door in Queensdale and nothing happened. Door swung open…then it closed. Then it disappeared.

Is there something special I need to do?

Oh dear!

Sorry about that Sleaze :/

I would certainly agree that is the case with almost all MMO’s for sure. I would only make “time” be “time/money” for that to be even truer(more true? more truer? lol).

In any case, this game’s level progression is so minimal in time spent it doesn’t even register on my radar I guess.

Btw, I don’t necessarily think you have to have all progression or none at all. I tend to frown on absolute viewpoints. I just think progression can be defined in many ways, and not just for gear, stats, etc. — basically things which give you an artificial advantage in PvP.

I view PvP the same way I view RL sports: you all start with the same gear and rules. It’s your dedication to develop and progress within those two parameters that defines you as a champion.

And now I’m rambling…sorry.

Pilusilm

Gonna tell you a secret, ssshh: what you do at level 80 is the same thing you do at levels 1-79…

Ya…it’s wierd I know. There are only a few exceptions: dungeons & WvW. But it’s mostly true.

One either gets really happy or really angry when one realizes that. It’s a good litmus test for the gaming community I’ve found. :P

Sleaze

Oh you’re one of the “anti-levels” crowd.

I get it, I really do. The perfect game for me would have zero levels and all of your skills would be quantified by what you do in the world(i.e. spend a day killing rats, get some minor permanent bonus to ratkilling).

But dude… the game is already released!

You really expect ANet to do a massive coding overhaul for this giant, and very complex world? Right now, after 5 years in the making??

I respect your point but, it just ain’t gonna happen right now. Hate to say it, but your argument is moot.

Sleaze

I’ll explain it to you I suppose.

A lvl 80 vs lvl 20 is technically not fair…you’re right about that. But you’re not really taking into account the speed at which leveling occurs in this game. You can get to 80 anywhere from 1 week to 1 month, even in WvW. It’s really a non-factor considering you could use that time to learn the game mechanics.

Now I suppose if you want to be equalized from day 1 then ya…it’s unfair. Almost everyone, I would bet, doesn’t mind the small amount of time it takes to get to 80. Besides, comparing gw2 leveling speed to other games…it’s like 1/100th the amount of time here compared to those games.

Does it really burden you to spend a couple of weeks, or at most a month, to get to 80? Leveling is actually a little too fast imo, but I’m certainly not complaining.

Ghoest.3945:

Everyone likes to work for something and then enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Everyone wants a a reasonable opertunity to compete in PVP on an even field.

But the problem is that 40 year old guys with jobs and families playing an hour or 2 maybe 4 nights a week dont want to compete against 20 year old college students grinding out uber items 40 hours a week.

There is no workable answer.

TAHNK YOU!!! Holy crappola why couldn’t someone say this earlier.

There is no totally fair solution to put time-heavy players on an equal footing as time-light players unless you take out the “time” factor altogether…which is what GW2 did. Now the “time-heavy” players are understandably begruded that their more-time=more/better-gear does not exist here. I can see why they would be miffed, I would too if that’s what I was expecting and all I had known.

Bottom line is you can’t introduce time-dependant gear-progression in a game that caters to everyone from 15 to 50. It simply wouldn’t be fair for any PvP. The only way to make it fair to those who play a ton is too take out PvP entirely…and that isn’t an option at all.

Naoko.7096:

We can see there’re two types of people here. A group who knows the true essense of mmorpg. Another group who try to make mmorpg look like a single-player rpg or multi-player fps/pvp/player game.

If having some kind of gear-grind/time-reward mechanic is the essence of an mmorpg…then I’m the king of France!

Seriously, since when did dungeon-style raiding, gear-progression, etc. become the defining characteristic of this genre? Never that’s when. The genre has just been skewed that direction for so long people assume that’s the way it should be.

Mmorpg’s did exist before the turn of the century ya know. And a lot would argue they were the true mmo’s, not the other way around.

And for the record, an rpg is more a state of mind than anything. I reserved one of my characters for solely that reason: turned off the map markers, turned off all chat except local, paid no mind to any group events, and just roamed…fulfilling my storyline that I had drummed up myself(he’s sort of an Ascalonian nationalist—spends a lot of time in Ebonhawke trying to help the Separatists). :P I absolutely roleplayed whether you think I did or not.

Dvojce.2486:

Dvojce.2486:

So, why doesn’t AN/NC just take out the leveling system then? What is really gained from a level?

Quoting myself, since, I’ve been totally ignored.

In this game at least, levels exist for the following characteristics:
1) health pool increase
2) trait/skill point increase
3) gear-stat increases
4) various combat mechanics? (not sure of the specifics on this one)

It’s simply a system to gateway through character development at a steady pace. Think of getting to level 80 as a introduction to your toons’ abilities.

As far as why not change it…that question has been brought up it other posts already. Suffice to say it would be sorta(sarcasm) difficult to rewrite the game code for that at this point.

I may be a hillbilly from Missourah…

…but would someone explain to me why some players feel like they need to work hard in a game to feel satisfied??

I thought these games were supposed to be “play” and not “work.” Am I wrong?

Yeah, I didn’t know what to do either, wasted some corns using the scanner outside of town. I asked in town what to do and only got “OMG it’s so easy.” frown face

You can look on gw2wiki for help on some of the Halloween events…it’s not fully updated yet though.

Anyone found the clocktower puzzle yet?

Mijinion.7168:

it would be a big help in removing the “been there, done that” feeling
you get from puzzles/events

Hmmm, I get this concept better. Promoting returns to pre-explored areas is always an MMO issue it seems. Perhaps a good way to implement this is by trying out some of GW1’s daily’s. I would probaby opt for making them weekly but the concept is the same. For instance, make the weekly something like this:

- 1 puzzle
- 2 champion bosses
- 3 vista’s
- 4 Dynamic Events
- 5 convo’s with city citizens

*just have the particular things you do change every week.

Make the reward some minor achievement + a nice chest with at least one profession specific rare item in it.

Content replayability + better loot…2 birds with one stone.

I see all of your points I guess. There are certainly a lot of posts about the lack of good loot in this game. I don’t have an answer for that.

All I can tell you is that there are also a lot of players(call em casuals if you wish) who don’t play for the loot rewards. Maybe that’s wierd I dunno. I can spend 2 hours on a puzzle and not care if I get anything good in the chest. I just like playing I guess. /shrugs

I think it’s a valid, well-thought-out point to make. I would certainly try/buy such a game.

However…I don’t see how that could be applied to an already-released game. I would make this argument for games in the future, but how in the heck would you expect a dev team to make these kinds of drastic changes post-launch?? I like the ideas…but just don’t see how it’s relevant to this game at this time.

My suggestion is for ANet to begin to put into place the gem-fee for server transfers. It’s been about 2 months in, and I would assume that the servers have begun to settle.

Personally, I don’t WvW yet, although I know of a lot who do. There have been a large amount of complaints lately about large groups hopping servers for faster queue’s. Obviously, this exacerbates the problem for the server on the receiving end.

I know it is an eventuality, is there a plan for it in the near future?

Thank you in advance for anyone’s opinion.

Obsi

No Walking Yeah…unless you’re a mouse-targeting dinosaur like me. =(