Guild Wars 2

Djinn.9245:

Onlysaneman.9612:

What I do care about is A-net setting a precedent of allowing raids to affect the rest of the game beyond basic balance tweaks. You must understand how, for those of us who don’t raid, that might be a bit concerning.

This, and Anet gating character progress behind other game modes in general.

It may be a concern but it’s already happening everywhere in the game since day 1. It’s already an established precedent.

Furthermore, this is not a gating of character progress … your progress is in no way gated by this. It’s disingenuous to refer to an additional reward from an activity as a barrier to how your character progresses. Nobody is your fool here.

emkelly.2371:

Obtena.7952:

I love when people fail the Test of Faith.

Sure, everyone should just let you have the point when you have traps down. I love how you think it’s crappy play to try to contest a point when the entire point of spvp is objective capturing and defending. so you have test of faith on the ground and yout hink you can just call people crappy for walking into it. we don’t have a fragging choice. you can block all ranged attacks with your shield and a bow that is on par with the ranger’s. ranged take downs are out of the question so that leaves melee. and you stand in your traps so we HAVE to go through them. your traps cover the whole point (or close enough to it) so we have to be in them to cap the point. it’s easy to tell people the just suck at the game when you are wrecking face with a cheesy build that has an answer for everything.

Clearly, your faith is lacking.

There is no point to the thread then … it goes without saying that if you don’t do an activity, you don’t get the reward … I mean, how entitled do you want to be here? There is no “it shouldn’t be locked behind raiding”. There is no law or morality what Anet can and can’t do here. There is not a reason for this ADDITIONAL reward of spirit shards to not be locked behind raiding, other than the fact that people don’t want to raid but want spirit shards. Not being interested in a mode of play doesn’t qualify you to deserve rewards as a result of that mode. How obtuse is that kind of thinking?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Obtena.7952:

AliamRationem.5172:

Obtena.7952:

You don’t seem to understand the difference between implementing something different and reverting back to something that was something already done.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

According to you. To others, iterative developmental improvements in response to changing needs are the sign of a healthy application.

Except we aren’t talking about iterative developmental improvement here because going back to giving shards without unlocking masteries is simply going back to the way it was prior to the change. There is no improvement here; they spent resources to get exactly zero …

so yes, there is no strawman; the idea they go back to what they did before is rather ridiculous and DOES have a very strong business element to it because business don’t take lightly to wasting their resources. Furthermore, defending that change as an iterative developmental improvement is disingenuous.

I may have missed where anyone asked that we go back to the way it was prior to the change. Why would anyone ask for no reward from post-cap experience after a reward system was put in place?

There WAS rewards for capping experience … spirit shards. That’s what the whole thread is talking about. Am I in the twilight zone here or something?

Once Spirit Shards were created, there has never been a way to acquire them through XP bars. When the old Skill Points were removed (and split into Spirit Shards and Hero Points), we received nothing for completely filling out XP bars. We received no rewards whatsoever for 6-8 months, until HoT launched and Masteries became a thing.

I’m glad someone recalled this history because it illustrates the fundamental problem with this thread. For a period we didn’t get anything for XP bars … yet where was everyone then? I can tell you, they didn’t care because no one really expects to get something for XP once they level.

So what’s the problem here? The current situation is an improvement over getting nothing like it was for the 6 months … Oh, let me tell you in case we have forgotten … the problem isn’t that people don’t get a reward for XP (otherwise it would have been chaos around here for those 6 months). The problem is that people wanting additional spirit shards but without having to do the necessary activities to get it.

I love when people fail the Test of Faith.

And then those people should frankly ‘excuse’ themselves from the conversation, because for them, there isn’t any change in how shards are earned; for them, it’s always been necessary to unlock masteries to earn shards with XP.

AliamRationem.5172:

Obtena.7952:

You don’t seem to understand the difference between implementing something different and reverting back to something that was something already done.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

According to you. To others, iterative developmental improvements in response to changing needs are the sign of a healthy application.

Except we aren’t talking about iterative developmental improvement here because going back to giving shards without unlocking masteries is simply going back to the way it was prior to the change. There is no improvement here; they spent resources to get exactly zero …

so yes, there is no strawman; the idea they go back to what they did before is rather ridiculous and DOES have a very strong business element to it because business don’t take lightly to wasting their resources. Furthermore, defending that change as an iterative developmental improvement is disingenuous.

I may have missed where anyone asked that we go back to the way it was prior to the change. Why would anyone ask for no reward from post-cap experience after a reward system was put in place?

There WAS rewards for capping experience … spirit shards. That’s what the whole thread is talking about. Am I in the twilight zone here or something?

You don’t seem to understand the difference between implementing something different and reverting back to something that was something already done.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

According to you. To others, iterative developmental improvements in response to changing needs are the sign of a healthy application.

Except we aren’t talking about iterative developmental improvement here because going back to giving shards without unlocking masteries is simply going back to the way it was prior to the change. There is no improvement here; they spent resources to get exactly zero …

so yes, there is no strawman; the idea they go back to what they did before is rather ridiculous and DOES have a very strong business element to it because business don’t take lightly to wasting their resources. Furthermore, defending that change as an iterative developmental improvement is disingenuous.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Obtena.7952:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Obtena.7952:

this would require Anet to actually undo something that they decided was a better approach than the old way in the first place.* Seems rather stupid to make such a suggestion to me.

I’m sure you can see the irony in the bolded sentence.

Not really, but if you want to spell it out, go ahead. It’s generally bad practice to reverse your developments, especially if their isn’t anything wrong with their implementation.

Before the current wheel-style skill unlock system in our Hero panel, there was a skill tree system. Anet must have decided that was a good approach at the time since they implemented it yet they later decided to change it for something they consider an even better approach. You might say they reversed their development.

No one would call that a reversal … we haven’t gone back to that original tree system. #examplefails.

AliamRationem.5172:

Obtena.7952:

Not really, but if you want to spell it out, go ahead. It’s generally bad practice to reverse your developments, especially if their isn’t anything wrong with their implementation.

That’s not true. WoW does it. GW2 does it. It’s not even uncommon.

Not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m saying it’s not a good practice.

Guardians are the best class … it just needs bad players to make them that way.

Not really, but if you want to spell it out, go ahead. It’s generally bad practice to reverse your developments, especially if their isn’t anything wrong with their implementation.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

If you want a traditional “raid or get lost” MMO, go play one. This game was supposed to be the exact opposite of that.

It still is … there is nothing that requires you to raid … not even spirit shards.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Obtena.7952:

if someone is going to suggest something need to change , it better be a really good reason to do so. Reasons like “I want it, but can’t be bothered to do what’s necessary” don’t cut it here.

Why do you keep touting this straw man?

Because it’s not … it’s in fact a VERY real factor when you have finite resources to do things with. It’s the same reason I believe they dropped developing more Legendary weapons … it’s not worth the return on the investment to do so when those resources can be put to better use to bring content to more people. This isn’t any different. If people want spirit shards from XP and NOT having to do raids, this would require Anet to actually undo something that they decided was a better approach than the old way in the first place. Seems rather stupid to make such a suggestion to me.

While CD’s and Energy requirements are more restriction than other classes, classifying it as punishment is excessive. Frankly, I think the mechanic is unnecessarily complicated, but there is no need to get rid of it. If that’s an honest option, might as well discard the whole class, because it’s built around that whole concept. It makes no sense to do so.

What I find odd is that Glint stands out on it’s energy use because it’s constant, while the other legends are more ‘per use’. If the other legends were more like Glint, I can totally see why this double use of CD’s and energy is a thing for the class.

As normal, just another one of those things that makes the class feel unfinished … these contrasts. Unfortunately, even with this contrasts, Revs fair very well in the game so it’s unlikely to get any major changes other than a tweak here or there. Changing any of these aspects would simply clean things up a little; nothing is actually broken here.

Tyger.1637:

Obtena.7952:

Tyger.1637:

Obtena.7952:

why should there be a reward for people with XP who haven’t completed their masteries?

Because it slowly unravels the tapestry they’re trying to create.

I’m going to challenge that; so IIRC, you saying that if you don’t get something for your XP once you ‘top level’, the game offers nothing to you that makes it interesting enough to play at level 80 to unravel its tapestry? Well, I can only think that’s a very exceptional player that views XP in this manner; there are ALL kinds of reasons to continuing unraveling that tapestry at level 80, other than gaining XP. In fact, I think gaining XP is such an inconsequential reward in this game, it hardly goes noticed when you get it, even while leveling. It’s basically thrown at you. I click a bloodstone stalagtite and get some 5 figures XP gain or something ridiculous like that … it’s participation rewards … it seems silly to insist we get some tangible reward for the continuous flood of XP obtained from doing anything in this game.

MAYBE if XP was not so freely given away, there would be a sensible reward item to attach to it.

Well done for clipping everything after my quote, strawmanning and making exactly the point I was making. I said I played my 80s less in Tyria, not stopped altogether:

I read what you posted. Just because you were clipped doesn’t mean I didn’t consider it. If we agree, it didn’t seem like it to me. XP at this point in the game is simply a way to throttle leveling. It’s nothing more than a participation reward and I don’t feel it would be reasonable to attach material rewards to it.

misterman.1530:

Five pages, and not one Dev response. This speaks volumes, no?

For me, might Raid if given a group that isn’t so elitist and stuck up. Maybe my guild will set aside a day to Raid. Other than that, nope.

However, I could not care less than I do with regards to Spirit Shards.

This speaks volumes about what? The fact that devs aren’t paid to surf the forums and respond to every single question posed to them about the smallest issues?

Justine.6351:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Obtena.7952:

You might not realize it, but it’s possible that timegating these mats makes the items derived from them more affordable on the TP.

Only Ley-Line Infused Tools, Grow Lamps and Sheets of Charged Ambrite are available on the TP, the rest are account bound. How is restricting the tools and charged ambrite to 1 per day per account and Grow Lamps to one per 10 days per account going to reduce their cost on the TP? Can you explain that please? I cannot see how reducing the supply could bring prices down.

If the gating is dropped and no extra quartz source put in, the trading post will probably run dry or atleast to the point that quartz is the price of ecto or worse.

Yes, thank you. That’s what I was thinking as well. Gating evens out the supply … potentially anyways (I have no proof of that)

You might not realize it, but it’s possible that timegating these mats makes the items derived from them more affordable on the TP.

Oh I don’t disagree with that … Anet do want people to experience Raiding; in fact I think it’s key to future endgame content strategy. Expansions and LS are too ‘spiky’ to keep people ingame with the frequency they need to have constant revenues. If they attach rewards to raids that aren’t limited in usefulness to just raids, more people will try them out. They might not stick to it, but I bet some will like them and do it. That’s a smart move IMO.

AliamRationem.5172:

By the way, I’ve repeatedly agreed that this is not an issue of right or wrong. Why does it need to be the way I suggest? It doesn’t. Neither does it need to remain as it is. The point seems irrelevant, so I’m not sure why you keep bringing it up. It does nothing to strengthen your argument or detract from my position.

Actually, it is relevant because behind all this is a company that has finite resources they allocate for work … so if someone is going to suggest something need to change , it better be a really good reason to do so. Reasons like “I want it, but can’t be bothered to do what’s necessary” don’t cut it here.

Tyger.1637:

Obtena.7952:

why should there be a reward for people with XP who haven’t completed their masteries?

Because it slowly unravels the tapestry they’re trying to create.

I’m going to challenge that; so IIRC, you saying that if you don’t get something for your XP once you ‘top level’, the game offers nothing to you that makes it interesting enough to play at level 80 to unravel its tapestry? Well, I can only think that’s a very exceptional player that views XP in this manner; there are ALL kinds of reasons to continuing unraveling that tapestry at level 80, other than gaining XP. In fact, I think gaining XP is such an inconsequential reward in this game, it hardly goes noticed when you get it, even while leveling. It’s basically thrown at you. I click a bloodstone stalagtite and get some 5 figures XP gain or something ridiculous like that … it’s participation rewards … it seems silly to insist we get some tangible reward for the continuous flood of XP obtained from doing anything in this game.

MAYBE if XP was not so freely given away, there would be a sensible reward item to attach to it.

It’s sad when people can’t break away from this mentality of ‘farming’ … and Anet even tries to help break the habit.

I guess if farming is your thing, this would be a good reference but it’s not really necessary.

Ayrilana.1396:

How is not maxing out your raid masteries preventing progression when you likely have no plans to do raids in the first place? I can understand complaining about not having access to spirit shards via leveling but not about progression being blocked.

It doesn’t, but it sure sounds good ay?

Vote to keep, just because there was a reason to put it there in the first place, even if we don’t agree with it or know what it is or how it affects the game.

The option to attain those categories of build is not related to comparisons to other classes though; how does that even make sense? Just do a thought experiment: “Guardians need good condition damage because … Necros have it” I mean, that kind of thinking lacks any sort of logic. The fact that necros have good condi damage is indicative of the fact that if you want to play that way, you have the option to do so, not that every class should be at the same level of condi performance that necros are.

It’s not even clear that what you say should be an option to attain various categories of builds is part of Anet’s class design approach because Anet is NOT preaching the philosophy that any class fills any role; This would, in fact, promote the idea that encounters are designed around a holy trinity approach when clearly they are not. In otherwords, it would promote the idea that roles actually exist for classes to fill, which is something Anet was clear to players they wanted to avoid in this game from the beginning.

This BTW even excludes raids because even though there is healer/tank roles, Anet doesn’t promote the idea that every class can play any of those roles.

I mean, again, if you are right and each class should have that option, then it’s clear that Anet simply can’t do it; it’s been 4 years and there are way to many inbalanced class comparisons to make anyone think they are anywhere near balanced if this is indeed their approach. They either can’t or don’t do balance that way. Therefore, class comparisons likely have little impact to their approach to balancing things.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Obtena.7952:

why should there be a reward for people with XP who haven’t completed their masteries?

What about people who have? I’ve completed the central and HoT masteries but I only get rewarded in central maps because I haven’t complete the raid masteries.

What about em? You want extra shards, you need to unlock the raid thing. I don’t think you can exclude them just because they can be categorized differently than the ones you have completed. That’s a pretty cherry picked argument that I can’t understand.

You don’t get to say “oh, I did these things, that’s good enough for the reward I see I want”. I mean, what is that? When has that ever been a reasonable argument to change something, ESPECIALLY if Anet has already implemented that reward in a way that accommodates EVERYONE. /shakeshead

Djinn.9245:

Except that people who have capped Masteries get BOTH… O.o

Yup … they are rewarded with those extra shards for doing what needs to be done to get them, in addition to all the random shards everyone gets. I guess that whole concept is lost on some people here; it’s rather odd considering the whole MMO genre is based on activity completion = rewards. It should be very familiar to you. You want your XP to worth spirit shards? You know what you need to do …

AliamRationem.5172:

As the thread title indicates, this is an issue for some because now a reward that really should be available to all (continued rewards from experience gain) is instead locked behind the mastery system (and raids) when it really has nothing to do with that system at all. It was an odd and arbitrary choice that could easily have gone the other way.

For me, that’s where the debate begins, not ends … why should there be a reward for people with XP who haven’t completed their masteries? I still don’t see this as a ‘right/wrong’ thing … I don’t get the point of rewarding people with tangibles from repeated completing XP bars in the first place … it’s just another participation reward; even the fat kid that walks the race gets them. THAT’S garbage game design.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Also,the fact that Anet had previously designed much of the game’s rewards to be broadly available sinks your point that developers cannot make greater accommodations than they’re making currently.

Yet, Anet DID accommodate EVERY player with this change … people in this thread make it sound like Anet hung non-raiding players out to dry, when in fact, Anet ensured everyone would still get spirit shards through random mob drops.

Pretty simple question:

What profession and build would you advise to a completely raiding noobie? Am I also understanding correctly you can choose the raid as well? If so, what raid would you advise?

It’s a great snip because it’s completely ridiculous to think any group of game devs could develop any game so that every game aspect is entertaining to every player. I don’t see how that’s not obvious to people. Again, if this is something that is easily done, then why doesn’t the industry have games where every single person is entertained all the time everywhere in it? It’s a red herring. People are making comparisons to things that don’t exist.

I mean, what is exactly wrong with my response? You refer to choice of game options to get rewards … well guess what … this is EXACTLY that case. You can get spirit shards with XP bar unlocking from raids or just from playing and they drop randomly … or both. That didn’t happen before. So what am I missing here?

Again, I think the people complaining about this are not aware or simply ignoring these various options that they get shards, just to make it seem like the changes are really bad when in fact, they are exactly inline with what you were talking about; giving people options to get rewards.

AliamRationem.5172:

Obtena.7952:

So the complaint is that your XP bar doesn’t move … and that not getting shards from XP just happens to be a insignificant side effect of that? You don’t think we are that naive do you? Is that yellow line so offensive? Please.

Let’s be honest here … it has nothing to do with XP bars not moving or whatever and Anet has no ‘policy’ of promoting modes of play because you don’t need to raid to get spirit shards … people just want shards with XP and don’t like that they have to unlock with raids to do that now. Don’t pretend this discussion is about ANYTHING other than this. It’s simply obtuse to insist Anet is forcing players to do something they don’t even need to do to get a specific reward.

I know you aren’t replying to me, but I just wanted to point out that for some of us the issue is that, ideally experience should always provide some benefit to a character. Or else why even have it?

That’s not an issue though … the XP you gain after 80 is used for mastery progression; it still has a purpose, even if the bar doesn’t reward spirit shards. There is a problem with the starting assumption that you should get something for your gained experience, even once you hit 80, done masteries, etc…. that’s not necessarily true. It’s not really relevant if it’s right or wrong. There is no morality attached to rewards beyond leveling with XP.

The whole problem with this thread is that it poses the context of obtaining shards in a completely disingenuous manner. Unlocking raids and gaining shards through XP gain is the ADDITIONAL way Anet introduced to obtain them, not the only way. The people complaining in this thread have completely ignored the fact you get them randomly from just killing stuff now and make it sound like they will never get another shard as long as they don’t unlock through raids. That’s just ignorant.

Sounds nice, but I get why thematically, traits like this are linked to weapons. I think the timings of the trait are fine, the damage is good; It’s not super awesome trait, but it’s not trashy either. After all, how much chill do you think is reasonable to apply to a target anyways?

So the complaint of the thread is that XP bars don’t move … and that not getting shards from XP just happens to be a insignificant side effect of that? Is that yellow line so offensive? Please.

Let’s be honest here … this thread isn’t about a static yellow line and Anet isn’t applying any ‘policy’ of promoting modes of play here because you don’t need to raid to get spirit shards … people just want shards with XP and don’t like that they have to unlock with raids to do that now. Don’t pretend this discussion is about ANYTHING other than this. It’s simply obtuse to insist Anet is forcing players to do something they don’t even need to do to get a specific reward.

Honestly, the new way is better and actually pretty transparent … you get shards about as often as you did when they were level 80 XP bar rewards. They are also rewards for other parts of the game too now. This ‘locked out from shards’ idea is just nonsense … everyone still gets shards, even if you don’t have raid unlock.

Djinn.9245:

What this all comes down to is Anet attempting to force players into game modes whether the players want it or not. I think its sad, really.

No, they aren’t. You don’t need to raid to obtain spirit shards. Get your facts straight.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Obtena.7952:

That being said, you are being very disingenuous here… you are NOT locked out of PVE progression by this particular issue. You still obtain spirit shards through other means. Also, you make it sound like it’s unreasonable that Anet design the game to make it required to do what THEY want you to do to obtain rewards when in fact … that’s the only way Anet could possibly design the game.

Such bull gravy. There are a lot of ways to design games and the reward systems within them.

This is not bull gravy … the idea that a game dev could develop a game so that every aspect is entertaining to every person is not possible. If it’s bull gravy, then ask yourself why don’t we have games like that?

So interesting to see people actually rally against this, especially when appealing to pedantic arguments of what an exploit is or isn’t. It doesn’t actually matter. It’s driven completely by jealousy and it’s sad because all these ectos coming to market (or not being purchased by these multimappers) are keeping prices reasonable. Such short-sighted, selfish individual thinking in this thread.

Djinn.9245:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Ayrilana.1396:

If you remove the remaining 12 MP you can get from raids, that leaves 19 MP available. If you remove the 15 MP that you get from obtaining gold in the adventures, that’s now 4 MP available.

And even I can get silver in adventures (and my loathing for — and lack of skill in — adventures is well documented in these forums).

I think its great that you can get Silver in Adventures, but my question is why you would do an activity that you loath in a game that is supposed to be for entertainment?

Many people say that “there are plenty of MP”. Not for me. I play a game ONLY for entertainment, not to work. I have a job and chores around the house for working. Apparently Anet believes that you should be required to do what THEY want you to do while being entertained or be locked out of PvE character progression.

If you play the game for entertainment, then don’t do things that don’t entertain you. Of course, don’t pretend that everything you want is going to be obtained through entertaining activities for you either, nor should Anet bend over backwards to do that for you. That’s an insurmountable task; to make sure no one ‘works’ and everything is obtainable to everyone through entertaining methods.

That being said, you are being very disingenuous here… you are NOT locked out of PVE progression by this particular issue. You still obtain spirit shards through other means. Also, you make it sound like it’s unreasonable that Anet design the game to make it required to do what THEY want you to do to obtain rewards when in fact … that’s the only way Anet could possibly design the game.

This is NOT create your own adventure here. You are not entitled to rewards you aren’t willing to complete the tasks for and YES, Anet determines what those tasks are. If that’s a problem for you, you should rethink your decision to play MMO’s or any game, computer or not, for that matter. I’ve yet to play a game where the players decide what they are willing to do to get rewards, and that includes non-computer games as well. The fact is that it seems you just don’t like rules in games that don’t appeal to your sense of ‘entertainment’. Best get over it; that’s how games work.

Rise isn’t for minions in a MM build, it’s for tanking so having it for soloing champs make alot of sense. In a MM build doing openworld content, I can’t see the appeal of Rise over Sommon Bone Minions … it’s not like you need the toughness and damage reduction for most of what you encounter in open world.

I would recommend that if you encounter a champ you want to solo in open world, it’s easy enough to swap one for the other, but I wouldn’t run Rise as part of a permanent setup for Openworld roaming around.

Tobias.8632:

Red Rover.9810:

Tobias.8632:

The best minion build you can get for PvE is the viper horrors build. Jagged Horrors are minions with decaying health that come from two places, a grandmaster death magic trait, and your 4th skill in lich form.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Reaper_-_Viper_Horror

Viper horror is great, but for solo PvE and map exploration (what the OP is looking for) it lacks speed unless you run with the speed signet on your bar, or switch one of your trait lines to Blood Magic. Power MM reaper is much easier and cheaper to run in solo open world PvE. But if you want to do high level fractals or raiding, that’s a different story.

Yeah, so you just switch either CPC or epi for locust sig depending on the mobs in the area, that’s no reason to switch to an inferior stat set that will set you back if you later decide to try raiding

Let’s remember to pay attention to the request of the OP … not to argue about what the best MM build is.

While Vipers is pretty great for large HP mobs and Rise has it’s place, it’s not the best for leveling or open world content; you’re killing lots trash remember. Extended duration conditions are a waste on trash and Rise is pretty pathetic on trash as well; most of the encounters in open world are trash.

OP, I’m using a Condi MM build here. I swap between Vipers and Sinisters; Vipers for non-Core content to get the most condi damage upfront as possible, Sinisters for everything else, where mbos have more HP and you benefit more from longer duration conditions.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRBLRhG2IDN0Ujd1gbNwejjghaOD7w6GTgAICknQKUCA-ThTAQBU4ACcNlBBUfgYUilOzTR7JAaEwgSwZoBRanAgXs/ohQBHIAAcQAio6PMRphAgaA-e

Djinn.9245:

Astralporing.1957:

Obtena.7952:

The confusing part is where you relate your experience to the casual player. I simply don’t think your experience is indicative of the kind that someone looking to buy gems ingame with gold would have.

Well, of course. Casuals are more likely to buy gems with cash instead of gold, because they are less likely to have enough gold to casually (heh) spend it on gems.

Just so you know how big the difference can be from what you might expect, i’ll tell you a story:
At one time, Anet introduced possibly the first set of big farm events. At the same time we’ve got the first instance of Queen’s Pavillon (deadeye farm + monster farm below) as well as the mapwide massive farm fest that was the Scarlet Invasion. People were earning tons of gold daily on this. And then we’ve been told what was the median gold income for the whole 2 weeks among the active players.
It was 2 gold.

I think that many “power gamers” find it almost impossible to understand people who don’t play the way they do.

It’s not a matter of being confused here. You’re experience goes without saying … if you don’t play, you don’t make much gold. If that’s your game, the ability to purchase gems and buy content with RL money is a more realistic option for you than using gold to buy gems.

Really, it’s about what is worth more to a player and that’s why Anet has smartly made gems available with BOTH money and gold. Your anecdote seems to give the message that if a person is ‘casual’, they won’t have gold to buy stuff. That’s extremely misleading and in fact, untrue. how much gold a person has is about how they spend their time ingame, not how much time they spend ingame.

The confusing part is where you relate your experience to the casual player. I simply don’t think your experience is indicative of the kind that someone looking to buy gems ingame with gold would have.

Pregnantman.8259:

Obtena.7952:

I continually see this idea that everything needs to be driven to equality to be balanced, and I hate it.

I am not necessarily saying they have to be equal. It is difference in roles and strengths that bring out competition and need for organization. I am only saying that all of our symbols deserve the chance to have their nuances, their weaknesses and strengths. Previously, this was handled by associating each symbol with a boon and managing its cast time and uptime. With the new symbols and longbow symbol we now have another variable. Longbow symbol provides Burning (condition ‘burst’ damage), Scepter symbol provides Smite effect (physical damage over time) and Sword symbol provides teleport (movement) – in addition to their existing boons, uptime and cast time – or in other words, doing what other symbols do. I think it makes sense that rest of our symbols have some additional niche to go along with them like the latest 3 symbols, and the cast times and uptimes of symbols retuned.

We can use Symbol of Blades for its movement and Fury to put pressure, but wouldn’t it be nice to use Symbol of Faith for a burst heal and Regeneration if things didn’t go as we liked? We can use Symbol of Punishment to punish opponents rezzing a downed enemy from range, but what if we could also use Symbol of Swiftness for a small knockback to help a stomp instead?

I still don’t see how what you are proposing isn’t a drive to equality … you find old symbols lacking a particular aspect the new ones have and proposing that gap be filled.

Rezzet.3614:

Zelulose.8695:

So there is a rock paper scissors to warrior resistance and you want it fixed? Corrupt boon and boon steal condition builds are the only way to kill a good warrior right now. Good warriors out heal power builds and outlast conditions. We need necro’s as they are. If you wan’t to win vs one grab a D/D perma evade condi thief. Everytime they transfer conditions you will just remove them every time you dodge and they will melt trying to miss their transfers. There is your counter spec if you can’t deal with them. I’m not going to tell you to learn to play I will simply tell you their weakness. Any build that is condition and causes them to miss transfers is gg for necro.

well how about you just use one of your other 6 boon corrupts instead
broken vs broken doesnt = balance

Neither does remove tools you think are broken. Scepter is actually a pretty weak weapon; it does horrible damage, applies a minimum of conditions spread out over time that are also rather weak. What we have here is a learn to play issue.

If you have only made 350G in 4 years of play even with selling things, you’re definitely not representative of the amount of money people can make by playing casually. Therefore, it’s not so unreasonable for even a casual player to purchase content with in game gold.

I think your experience is exceptional and not indicative of the average. It’s more than reasonable to purchase LS2 with ingame gold … the only reason you don’t have any is that you don’t attempt to sell anything. That would not be normal behavior for someone actively trying to accumulate the gold to purchase LS2.

I mean, what I can tell, you’re simply saying that through regular play, you’ve accumulated 350G … I think that’s really good actually. I can only imagine what you would have if you sell the mats you have collected in the period of time you have played.

Pro tip: even if there wasn’t a new currency, you would have to farm something to get the loot..

DoctorDing.5890:

The point of this thread is very valid. Players who have absolutely no interest in raids or raiding and who have absolutely no use for a raid mastery are being “encouraged” to do them just so they can have a use for excess XP again. It’s like asking a jazz-hating metal-head to buy a Robbie Coltrane album just to earn a Metallica bonus track.

The jazzers are saying “Hey, you might like it”, “Broaden your mind”, “You don’t know if you don’t try it” but the metal-head is thinking “But all I want is the bonus track”.

If this were an isolated incident, I would agree, but it’s not. Anet ‘encourages’ people that prefer all kinds of different content into other areas they are not necessarily interested in participating. Therefore, it’s not an exception that people who don’t like something are being encouraged to do that something to get a reward … it’s the standard.

The most offensive part here is that Anet has provided players multiple ways to get the reward in question … so the complaints about being ‘locked out’ are disingenuous in the first place. It’s really about someone seeing another person getting something they think they should have too, even though they aren’t willing to do the same to get it. Just no.

I continually see this idea that everything needs to be driven to equality to be balanced, and I hate it. That’s what FPS are for. We have classes with skills; they are different (i.e., not equal). Not equal stuff is necessary in an MMO, otherwise you just get things different in name only. Personally, I don’t think that sword and scepter symbols are so good they need to have some tweaks. I don’t think the old symbols are so bad they need tweaks either, with exception of staff, which was always a stupid concept.

On to spirit weapons …

Eponet.4829:

Obtena.7952:

What Staff Daredevil does for DPS does not determine if Condi Mesmer builds would break if they were buffed.

Because whether something is broken or not is determined by how it compares to the other options.

Except you haven’t done that … you have only compared it to ONE option you cherrypicked. You can’t even say with confidence what comparators Anet would use to balance between classes in the first place, but somehow make arguments BASED on the ones you assume they would (I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion this is even how Anet makes balance changes). Such arguments based on between-class comparisons are frivolous; they appeal to people because they are easy … but the aren’t sensible.

Frankly, I’m pretty certain that’s not what Anet does anyways, based on the sheer volume of ‘unbalanced, between-class’ comparisons anyone can cite for any class, as well as the absurdity that it’s even possible to take 9 classes and make them unique, fit their concept AND perform at similar levels across three different game modes .. but that’s already been covered.

I think it’s pretty self evident. It’s been 4 years now and still lots of unbalanced between-class comparisons … so there are 2 conclusions you can arrive at:

1. Anet is terrible at balancing by using between class comparisons

OR

2. That’s not how they balance in the first place

Either way, making arguments for balance between classes by comparing them isn’t actually going to get you anywhere because of the conclusions above.

What Staff Daredevil does for DPS does not determine if Condi Mesmer builds would break if they were buffed.

I guess people have written of using Minions to do PVE when they struggle? I had no problem doing anything with this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRBLRhG2IDN0Ujd1gbNwejjghaOD7w6GTgAICknQKUCA-ThTAQBU4ACcNlBBUfgYUilOzTR7JAaEwgSwZoBRanAgXs/ohQBHIAAcQAio6PMRphAgaA-e

Is Social Engineering a clever way to say “charmed”? I’m just not familiar with such a term.

They mad because someone has something good to say about Revenant.

Salt Rule #1: Saying bad things at every chance about a profession will get devs attention faster and make them fix stuff.

Djinn.9245:

Obtena.7952:

What I said still stands … the complaint is that you have to do something to get the reward … complaining something changed is just stupid … things change in games all the time.

What we’re talking about is XP. Of course we don’t want to do nothing to get XP. I personally would like to be able to receive XP whether I cap Masteries or not. I shouldn’t need to cap Masteries just to get XP for doing anything else in the game.

Um, I know you are talking about XP. I don’t see what that would change about what I said here. It’s irrelevant if you get XP if you don’t get something for it.