Guild Wars 2

Seems like a logical fallacy here, where the premise was designed to be proven wrong and could never be proven right. OP didn’t “confirm” anything other than thieves are not invincible. Forgive the direct response to sarcasm, but it seems like this is supposed to deserve a pat on the back or something. It’s quite insipid, actually.

At issue is the liberal access and excessive use of stealth by thieves. Rightfully criticized, I feel, when the “annoy” thieves (as I will go forward calling them) simply do appear as invincible because a good one is nearly impossible to catch and down.

Ordinarily annoying, but left behind in your keep with a dead mesmer waiting for the rez, you need to camp the bloody corpse. Meanwhile 5+ people play ring around the keep with the trolling thief; it does become more than a mosquito, it’s a mosquito that could raise a player who will drop a 40+ zerg inside your fortified walls (dig that e-sport, right?).

It’s not an OP build, it’s just something that should not forking exist because it’s ridiculous. The high speed, mobility and extensive use of stealth in and out of combat is too much.

Stealth is fine as a mechanic, thieves just give it a terrible and dirty reputation. I don’t blame players for making use of viable builds and tactics, it’s Anet that needs to start making thieves more like thieves. I feel the entire archetype is betrayed by how it’s played, be it glassy burst assassin or vampire creature.

In tradition I create one of every profession and kit them out with “elite” gear. After more than a year of play I’ve neither leveled every profession nor put all of my chars in full exotics.

So the magic eight-ball says “outlook not so good”. I’m quite pleased with this result, and for the new armor being unappealing. I would be in serious trouble if I actually wanted a lot of skins (and if the ones I do want weren’t so astronomically expensive).

Healix.5819:

If you do not wish to buy it, the next source of quartz will be within the next 6 months when the Zephyr Sanctum makes a return.

You say that like people have a problem with, or don’t acknowledge the act of buying quartz as a viable option. Everyone knows it is; not everyone can nor should sustain 4.25g per recipe just on quartz alone.

None of this was a problem when there was a supply; that has since been completely ransacked. And I love how people say there was “fair warning”; neither has everyone been around long enough to get that message nor does everyone have a quartz node in their home instance.

It’s ok to admit when a process is poorly designed, and in this case it totally is. The frustration, as much as can be spent on the issues that arose, extends to those whom, for whatever reason, don’t see a problem.

At the very least, whatever intention there was to limit production of Celestial items should be lifted and quartz made more accessible. For starters, every player should have the opportunity to put a quartz node in their home even outside this silly living story sequence. It’s completely unfair to people who either missed it or didn’t arrive in GW2 until after the opportunity passed. We’re not talking about some uber-exclusive reward here, like a skin. Item nomenclature doesn’t deserve this ridiculous supply and time-gated choke, at least not anymore.

Majuub.6215:

If there is anything to complain about ascended crafting, it would be how much it discourages alts :/

I believe if there’s anything to complain about ascended crafting, it would be how much it discourages ascended crafting.

Personally, I avoided it until stacks of unrefined, account-bound material became a storage problem. Just finished bumping one discipline to 450 to simply store these new materials for the future, and I’ve seen enough destruction of my own wealth.

I came to play and have fun, not annihilate everything I’ve accumulated and jump on champ trains to get more to pour down this pink-name drain.

I’d like to see thieves’ class mechanic expanded and improved. Stealing has always seemed to me like a simple gimmick that could and should be so much more. Make thieves more like thieves. Steal more skills, scavenge for local items to gain an advantage, give new ways to move in combat and keep opponents one step behind quick hands.

The disappearing act is a nice parlor trick and should be trimmed down to that level to make room for a truly deep and versatile class mechanic.

Maethril.9586:

Honestly I don’t really see thieves to be problem as they are atm, even with stealth and bursts. Especially in WvW and PvP.
Personally I’m not exactly good player, average at best, since I often do stupid mistakes and stuff. Still I find them okay, as long as I’m not fixated to actually kill them.

“They’re ok as long as I don’t actually try to kill them”. Did I just read that?

Maethril.9586:

Of course thieves are annoying to play against, but seriously Warriors, Guardians, Necromancers don’t really have any problems with Thiefs as long as they have at least decent gear, especially in WvW where most has Soldier, Cleric, Sentinel gears, thus having at least high toughness, but usually HP too and honestly if you fail to thief with those characters you fail as player.

Um, armor and health don’t win fights, especially as a necro. You need to bring the opponent’s red bar down first and you’re not doing that with just any build that can take hits. I don’t even play a thief but this is absurd.

100% agreed to stomp in DS, which is hardly a “buff” when there are only so many necros willing to go 30 in SR for a few seconds of stability. Anyone arguing against having the LF pool to stomp clearly doesn’t understand the problem.

And to that end, necro is arguably the easy/safest to stomp in the game. And I thought ranger frustrations were bad.

So Anet makes a really bad move by launching a WvW season with no overflow map, naturally queues disrupt and even discourage many unlucky players, yet people snipe at OP for daring to be on BG and complaining or think it’s his/her fault for not paying their way out of the queue problem…

…that Anet should’ve alleviated (and knew well was a significant issue before the season).

Of course OP has options, but they make the point that everyone else agreed on a long time ago: queues suck and can really discourage playing. Attacking OP for their own circumstances and for not spending money to make their game playable is pretty disgusting.

Mindx.9610:

Consume Conditions, Unholy Feast, Tainted Shackles, Spectral Wall are all good potential sources of stability.

Consume Conditions – Consume more than 5 conditions and gain 3 second stability
Unholy Feast – Amount of targets hit = Seconds of stability
Tainted Shackles – Amount of people immobilized (Not teathered!) = seconds of stability
Spectral wall – Run through 1 second stability

Some good ideas. If we’re denied mobility in combat, then more stability seems fair, in and out of DS.

Here’s how I see it: if we’re a sustain/disrupt archetype, then why does it feel so stressed into making significant trait, utility and skill sacrifices?

We should also have one of the most powerful downed states in the game; in pvp we’re seen as an easy stake. The devs need constructive criticism so I’ll make that my focus:
Fear: Change functionality to – Coalesce: Amalgamate into soul form, weakening nearby foes and granting mobility. When it ends the necromancer returns to their body, fearing nearby foes.

Fetid Ground: Add stacks of immobilize. Change to smoke field.

Season 1: an overall failure? Well, I can’t say it’s been a success, or even a great experience, so I have to toss a yes vote.

Personally, the biggest reason I feel S1 deserves an “F” is that the red carpet was rolled out before the stage was ready. Queues were already a significant issue. A big season launch without an overflow map in place was an incredibly bad decision and resulted in damaged and frequently non-existent experiences for thousands of players.

It’s probably speculation over celestial ascended armor, not precursors.

Still, even if you have access to a node, aside from getting lucky to mine a charged quartz your choices are between waiting a week to make just one or paying 85s. That’s a supplier’s dream come true for those who have no interest in crafting.

The lack of ability to adequately acquire this material is simply unacceptable.

PvE:

1) Guilds (Guild Halls? More upgrades coming?)
2) Town Clothing
3) Karma (Vastly under-utilized currency linked with too few rewards)

I like to play different roles. In GW2, I can generally do that with one character. Some professions will perform better than others at a given role.

It seems OP suffers from an identity crisis. Who am I? This is not necessarily idealism speaking (wanting a role), I believe it’s the product of being so conditioned with having a dedicated, unique role patch sewn to a player’s sleeves when they play an RPG.

I enjoy roles and a sense of uniqueness, in terms of what I bring to a battle. However, that doesn’t mean I want to play my character in a box, without access to other “roles”.

GW2 relaxed roles, but they still exist. You’re probably not going to tank with a thief. You’re not going to make a ranger healer. Don’t expect a necro to throw down a fire field.

What we have is a system where every profession brings threads of contribution in different ways. There’s plenty of good argument to improve professions and make them feel more unique and exciting, but to return to a system that pinches professions into niche roles would destroy the freedom of being able to play what you like and not feel restricted to certain play styles.

There’s always someone or a small group with this “it’s too easy” feedback. Some felt SAB Tribulation was too easy (possible troll). They were also around last year when the forums blew up over the original Clocktower. I distinctly recall someone who recorded a “blind run”, blocking their camera view with their inventory panel, which was a cheap shot at anyone saying it was too difficult.

Correctly, that video proved the point that a blob of inconsistent and distracting characters bobbing around on your screen played havoc with the player’s ability to orient and learn the puzzle. I’ll add that the game was a mere two months old at this point, so there was a combination of players who are now seasoned JP experts that were still inexperienced, as well as a massive amount of very new players to the game.

The bottom line is this: there’s no universal difficulty in anything. If enough people really want a “tribulation mode” for Clocktower, then by all means pester Anet to whip up something truly evil. Don’t lobby for everyone to have a more difficult time because you don’t feel challenged.

Is it known if these skins are the only ones planned, and for how long will they be available, including at the current cost of 1 BL ticket?

I stumbled across my first whole BL ticket since the game was released and don’t want to spend it prematurely, nor would I want to wake up one day and find out I need 4 more tickets to get a skin…

Considering the sacrifices of using a form, we could start by extending the durations to at least 180 seconds. If it’s for fun and cosmetic use, 210 seconds of waiting for another use makes no sense. Not only do profession skills work better but they recharge far more quickly.

For the record, asura elites are better. Any summon is a net gain on the battlefield. The power suit is comparable to an animal form but can be used by an ally and has double the duration of animal forms.

I’m more than happy to extend this distaste to human transformations. I defy a new player to even read and understand the skills, let alone find 15-20 seconds of a form enough time to enjoy them. These skills are just not fun.

I don’t think the game desperately needs more skills. Playing a norn ranger, it’s obvious that we need quality over quantity.

Yes, this includes racial skills. I understand the risks of empowering some races over others, but that’s already been the reality. Overall, every player is saddled with “cute” skills that cannot be taken seriously and have no business being on the bar other than faffing about.

Re-visiting racial skills will give new build options and would make use of the existing skills that have been suppressed.

Josh, it certainly seems you and the team were trying to resurrect classic platformer difficulty with lots of annoyances, traps, brutal knock-back related deaths and frustration of items, limited lives and continues. If this was the goal, then you have succeeded. But let’s bring one thing to the surface:

This is not an 8-bit game. This is an MMO. Additionally, SAB is not some mini-game like Crab Toss; you guys have made this part of the Living Story, which is, in effect, the actual game you are building upon every two weeks.

I believe there is something to be said about making LS content fair for any kind of player. Indeed, Infantile, Normal and Tribulation modes make SAB accessible to everyone, but having been a gamer for roughly 25 years, I can state with confidence that you and your team’s idea of “normal” difficulty doesn’t align with the general gaming population. In essence, Tribulation mode was where to put the difficulty; not normal mode.

Your response has been to point to how the many challenges are there to test us. I’m simply stating that, while normal mode is do-able (and will become easier with practice), the problem is that it’s difficulty lies in attrition; it’s not one thing, it’s a lot of little things which add up and cause extreme frustration.

Here were my observations:
-World 2 requires items whereas World 1 treated them as optional
-Water flowers need an [Interact] key
-Waterspouts randomly hit me when I tried to jump to them, and the waterfall to jump through toward the end of the waterspout section in W2, Z1 knocked me out once, leading me to think it was the wrong way
-Sometimes, I randomly took a hit from nothing while jumping
-Sword Assassins are telegraphed easily, but get hits too easily on you
-Traps (normal mode) should be a bit easier to spot, or an item should highlight them for a brief time
-From watching videos and playing, it can seem like hidden paths actually end up easier than the visible path, such as the log waterfall. Finding the cave at the bottom leads up to a chest with 50 baubles and the checkpoint below.
-Smoky the Bear’s fire AoE is big, can’t be dodged through and even hit me before the fire ring appears

There’s simply too much “attrition” to list; a lot of them are easily explained away. However, you add them up, multiply and factor in the length of the levels, limited lives, forcing the use of continue coins and realize that the levels are 10x harder than the boss fights and you have a recipe for way more hassle than a normal mode difficulty should be.

I doubt many people even bothered to read, but if you take more consideration of making a game fun and leaving the painstaking difficulty for those who want to truly brave it (hello, Tribulation mode), that would be awesome. Personally I do not know anyone who has even tried TM, and on behalf of my group that’s pretty unreasonable.

Thanks for all the work, team, but I don’t feel like this was tested by “normal” players. I’m reminded of hearing that 10 of you found Guild Missions (bounty) do-able. Well, I would certainly love just one of you in my SAB instance :P

-More responsiveness and less clunky behavior in pet, especially [F2]
-Save all inactive pet names
-New interface: Pet health (include numbers), active boons, conditions and show the pet skill bar, with real-time monitoring activation and cool-downs
-There is a trait to detect fall damage, even triggering an effect. While stowed, a pet should not reactivate

Can’t think of anything else at the moment that isn’t a balance issue

I don’t see what was wrong with advanced notice or, you know, any indication in the recent update with the wallet that boosts to karma were going to be “reevaluated” or whatever jargon they wanted to throw in to make people sit up and take notice.

It was plainly important to store karma before the wallet because you could not make a choice of what you needed ahead of time. That said, there was every opportunity by Anet to introduce the wallet and talk about karma boosting — they chose not to, and now have pulled the rug out from underneath people who hadn’t committed to using their rewards.

That is unacceptable.

If it was about Orrian Boxes, then rework that item. If that is the case, every single player in the game that had unspent karma consumables and was intending to make fair use of their other earned rewards (boosters, banner, food, infusion, etc.) has been unjustifiably affected by this “fix”.

Just to put things in perspective, look how long it took to get some change on dungeon rewards while people pillaged CoF path 1 with speed clears. Yet karma, no where near as bad as gold farming, gets slammed without warning.

This lack of communicating with your players on what is and is not ok, and what you give and take away from us has not made sense to me. I did miss out on some karma, but I hardly use it; my rewards are not a big deal.

This is entirely a matter of principle: we earned every single one of those consumables and you provided a number of ways to improve them. Taking that away without warning was surprising and flat-out wrong.

Good use of skills, yes, but spirits are unjustifiably flawed.

A well-coordinated, capable team with good placement by the ranger will a successful use make. Is that common (or even possible for some bosses, let alone mobs)? Nope. Everything has to go right and it’s still a 35% proc rate. That doesn’t include SoN (elite) which only heals nearby allies, and that means dropping in the line of fire, or roughly 5 seconds of life for the spirit.

They can be viable, but require very favorable conditions and, as you displayed, bunker positions. I’d refute that they “can’t” be used, but it’s undeniably harsh and imbalanced relative to other profession utility.

Still want some Arah garb but not doing that any time soon, and she doesn’t seem to mind.

I may not have been a big fan of Factions, but Cantha was an undeniably gorgeous world, rich in culture, art, lore and brought wholeness to Guild Wars.

If the current implementation of the tengu is all we can currently expect from the Canthan world, add my vote for some winds of change. Cantha was Guild Wars before millions of people knew Guild Wars. It’s a mistake for it to be left in our imaginations.

I don’t entirely agree with the “I should be able to get the same rewards by doing something different” but as a PvE-player I did feel a little let down that one of the more interesting and rewarding activities is PvP.

When I heard “Crab Toss” I thought of novelty (think carnival games). You know, actually throwing crabs and scoring points for whatever objective, winning tickets to redeem prizes. That could have been Crab Toss, and what is Crab Toss could have been called “Crab Grab”.

Absolutely not. The pet already means that the ranger is balanced around it always being up (which in reality is laughable). Basically any improvements of this type mean that the ranger needs to be balanced accordingly, and that just can’t happen with how underwhelming weapons and utility already are.

We need smarter pets, better management and more accessibility, meaning more of a guarantee that we can keep calling new pets in when others go down. If we’re going to be balanced around a pet, we should have access to entire families in combat to make sure we have a working mechanic at all times.

Who expected Guild Wars 2 to give a place for guilds to be together? I mean, just because it was one of the most important and iconic features of the last game and the name is th…wah — oh em gee KILLER WHALE QUAGGAN?!

Go back to the gem store, players, your ArenaNet is in control. Have some new town clothing. Here, look at these shiny things. Go back to the gem store, players. Remember: “when it’s ready”.

Joking aside, we’re in month nine here, and guilds aren’t getting any cooler. Player housing, now that is ambitious and would be understandable. I don’t see what the hold-up is here. I could see the reasoning that they shouldn’t be implemented half-way, but it would be 50% better than the 0% we’ve had so far.

-3 guild halls modeled after each Order’s headquarters.
-6 modeled after the towns
-Additional themes from minor races, groups and regions of the world

They’re instances with gobs of useful things to unlock and will inject a lot of renewed interest, guild community and the overall experience. If this isn’t a top priority, it should be, and if it is, could we at least get an update and hear some feedback as to why these are still on the waiting list? Realize how many people have played and already moved on, having never seen something that by most should have been in the game at launch…

100% necessary. Pets got some love in the last update, but management is still a major issue.

It existed in GW1, where (eventually) even minions had a simple UI. It’s yet another basic feature from the past that is mysteriously and conspicuously absent.

I think what some people are dissociating is grind as a necessary means for progress and the reality of needing gobs of items to produce a result.

While you don’t technically need to grind to get a legendary (there are multiple ways to acquire the items) the formula is familiar: in order to earn X, produce amounts of items A, D, F, G.

As crafting goes, no talent, skill or brainpower is needed beyond this point. If you possess the required items (and have thrown enough items down the pipe before it, “leveling” the discipline), you qualify to infinitely dispense goods with no added effort.

This isn’t new, innovative or remotely interesting. Crafting in GW2 is (to many of us) a long and boring journey to stockpile items, and that’s really what makes something feel like a grind.

In small doses it’s not as noticeable, but that’s where Legendaries enter, and really should’ve never hinged on using a system best for leveling characters that produces massive amounts of junk.

Octavius, I understand where you are coming from and sympathize with what you’ve experienced. The only thing legendary about those items is the associated cost, but perhaps an even greater price is on the soul of the game.

However, while I have an anti-grind, anti-farm philosophy, there are cases where nerfs are necessary. A lot of people backlash against any nerf, perhaps believing that the best policy is to bring other parts up to a new level than strip something down. But if that were true, every dungeon could be speed-run.

There’s no need to explain what’s wrong with CoF Path 1. Elsewhere, dungeons have low traffic. Overall, paths being ignored in favor of quick rewards is the norm. The state of dungeons is melancholy; as far as this domain goes, there’s reason for action.

But really, the evidence is on your side. Legendaries: A cosmetic pursuit? That goes without saying. What it really is: a stain on the game.

uknortherner.2670:

I wouldn’t. You seem to believe that because you have a problem with the TP, that everybody else does. Some may, but many do not, including me. Hell, I remember the GW1 days when players were screaming for an auction house because of all the scamming going on!

If there was an auction house, then people would have a choice in that case.

GW1 trade had its limitations (e.g. needing items to function as high-value currency), but let’s not forget that entire towns (district 1) had to be used as trade post spamming grounds. There was no system, no rules or tools to follow the market. Power-trading killed just as savvy marketing (and manipulation) does now.

The differences are that items have exploded in GW2. From crafting materials (which were mostly low-value in GW1), components, item tiers, level requirements, mystic forge and, of course, micro-transaction currency that can be had to anyone making gold hand-over-fist.

I don’t want to go back to GW1’s terrible trade system, and while I don’t think BLTP needs to be abolished it’s rife with issues and open to exploitation. While it’s not directly harmful to anyone, it can often be unfavorable to people who choose to play Guild Wars while others play Market Wars.

Lane.3410:

I know the goal is to get people to spend RL $ on gems, but I feel at some point even the occasional gem store purchase for gold is going to become out of reach for the average player.

It depends on how you define “average” player, but we’re generally at this point already. It’s honestly not out of reach, just insanely hard to justify with a gold:gems ratio of 3:100.

Not many will pop off 18g for a bank slot. I sucked it up at 10 and feel fortunate. That’s a lot of cash, even for a serious player, and downright unheard of for casuals.

Most of us are past the tolerance threshold. We’re looking for sales and weighing RL money, which is exactly what will earn real company profits. That’s a generally good thing…

…but what isn’t right is the simultaneously lucrative gold farming going unanswered. I’m all for fresh, awesome additions to the TP, but it’s getting awfully convenient to allow things like CoF to continue with ever-increasing gem demand. Of course people have a lot of in-game spending to do, but it would be naive to think that gold isn’t sucking up gems.

Was a fun ending, ridiculous OP final boss(es). Not saying it was too hard, but… well, yeah, I am, but mostly it’s way outside of the general flow of Living Story. That was pretty crazy difficult for everyone to be able to complete.

Here’s a little newsflash: not everyone does dungeons— this instance is why!

I endorse this house, invertebrate community and/or pants-less corner of gaming-like people

Seriously though, it’s funnerific! I’m baking the cake

(Ueys: there will be no cake. —or will there?)

-All spirits become ground targeted.
-Activated spirits enter the world uprooted and will follow the ranger.
-Activated spirit slot becomes ‘Take Root’, a ground target commanding the spirit to move to a location and root themselves. Rooted spirits are invulnerable.
-Take root becomes respective spirit skill. Discharging drawn power from the land (using the skill) uproots.
-Spirit skill becomes Take Root, requiring 10 seconds for the spirit to recover before it can root again.

Trait update: Spirits Unbound reduces recharge on spirit skills.

Dojo.1867:

I recently tried [LB] out and it is a lot more fun and actually more interactive/challenging to use than SB. The damage is generated in bigger chunks making it more vulnerable and also worse vs aegis/other blocks. Making mistakes is much less forgiving like using Point Blank Shot vs a stability target or using Rapid Fire a moment too late before the thief stealths making it unable to track and hit him with it. For shortbow the only really challening skills seems to be 5 and some clutch 3 dodges and even those feel spammy the way they are usually used.

That doesn’t sound like fun, interaction or challenging play, those sound like significant drawbacks of the LB.

Skill 1: Requires extreme range. All an enemy has to do is rush you and this skill is bummed. Slow RoF means low crit-rate, something that SB can more than make up for with high precision, especially being able to make use of [on-crit] abilities and traits. Warrior solved this by firing two projectiles. Dual Shot originated as a ranger skill in Guild Wars, and it’s now a melee profession’s auto-attack. Just wow.

Skill 2: Enemy kite/dodge/reflect or as you say, badly time the skill or track a target by an obstacle and this skill is boned. It also has a long charge of five seconds to burn through. If you compare the activation periods with warrior, you will again see it avoids this with very fast skills.

Skill 3: Vulnerability. Whoopdee do. Some bigger numbers will appear until someone is smart enough to cleanse. In PvE, especially with other professions like necro and mesmer, this skill is debatable but, in the end, is a one-trick pony. Who cares about pet swiftness?

Skill 4: A useful skill no doubt, but hardly sufficient, especially in PvE where you get an extra second to catch your breath. This is the point where LB looks incoherent. Note that doesn’t mean ineffective, but it seems more like the designers just added what sounded useful rather than make something unique and interesting.

Skill 5: A proper AoE that’s easily disrupted or dodged. Poor damage, poor condition (cripple) and they don’t even count as projectiles. But the real kicker is the undeniably better conjured Frost Bow that can wipe burrows in AC, which starts to beg the question of why anyone not running a ranger should roll one.

Overall I’m supporting ranger as a good damage-dealer (single-target), but that’s hardly the conversation that needs to happen with ranger bows. Such a lack of satisfaction and mechanics; they’re boring and much of the energy and creativity of the bow has been siphoned out to fill other professions.

Might have noticed this problem if it wasn’t always closed on my server (SBI). I swear that event chain is borked; CoF almost always contested. Just the other day, ran with a group and did the pre ourselves, then ran a path, came out and was already locked again.

Just make every server like that.

Because he’s a nobody that hasn’t earned anything, yet is thrust into the spotlight where everyone rallies behind him, including the divided Orders, who treat the player with more hostility (as you make your choice of one, the others shun you).

There was a novel written on Destiny’s Edge and, as I understood it, that was the point of GW2: getting them back together. I was excited for this story, but it was shoehorned into the dungeon story arc while an unknown sylvari comes forth and is basically the chosen one to save Orr, and all personal stories pledge allegiance to his side.

While he’s a weak character, that is the real football to the head.

I’ve suggested it before and I’m sure others have: use the achievement system. Require several categories of existing achievements and roll out Legendary achievements as a prerequisite to accessing various world challenges and, ultimately, a solo ascension challenge that tests the player’s mastery in various ways.

All of course on top of the heaping mound of perfectly pointless resource gathering that too many accept as fun and confuse with “content”.

Jabberwock.9014:

Ele is even worse in pve outside of cursed shore farming. War, mes and to a limited degree thief/guard are gods of dungeon farming and the same classes are the best for fractals as well (especially guard and mes with reflects up the wazoo). Ele is arguably better than necro, ranger, and engi, but that’s not saying much.

My main is a ranger and ele my second, which is better by far. There’s a lot of viability in it. Plenty of damage, AoE, healing, support— but while I haven’t played other professions to a strong degree, it’s not about which class is better.

Just giving my impression and I’m far from pushing the limits of what it can do, and it’s been impressive. Note I’m not against buffing weaker classes, it would improve my toons (leveling a necro now)

I’m left to assume this is about PvP?

I don’t run competitive play and my traits are all over the place, but I’ve done fine even with what would be considered “bad” gear for many 80s. I don’t use cantrips, either, and rarely use arcane skills (and only 10 in the trait line). I can see replies with “PvE /faceroll”, but spare it, and here’s why:

I only make a clarification because I wish people would stop ranting over classes because [insert PvP viability issue]. This is a general profession forum, with no indication in the title and a vague reference in the OP about counters to suggest that this issue concerns competitive play. I’m not saying take it to PvP forum, but at least be specific because the ele is not nearly as bad-off as this thread would have people believe, overall.

My primary guild isn’t active and coordinated enough to get into this content, so I joined another for general enjoyment and was glad they were able to research and are organized enough to do it. It’s a medium-size group, we had maybe 20 people working on bounties.

Let me tell you, it was very messy trying to coordinate for this. Assigning people just to find them simultaneously was very frustrating and time-consuming. Obviously we’re not the only guild out there, and what I quickly noticed is that we see each other as competition. If we weren’t ready (waiting on others to find their target) but other people come through and activate, it’s balls to us. The bounty dies and it’s off to find them again, throwing everyone else off.

I’m really not sure what to offer for solutions, but it has appeared to me the cost of admission is steep, frustration high and YMMV on success rate. It’s most definitely suited for large, well-organized guilds.

This was my first go at seeing what they are about and while they have good potential, it needs fixes in the areas of accessibility, scalability, time constraints and participation.

thisolderhead.5127:

I’m stilll a firm believer in the fact I am pro enough that I can evaluate the performance of my party in real time – but I can see most are not. I apologise for suggesting that a tool to look at the gear of a player was not required in this task.

You want to “straighten them out and give them advice” and to this end allow others “see what high-level players use to help them along”… riiiiiiiiiiigggghhhht.

Most don’t sit and evaluate the performance of others unless there’s a lot of death or faffing about. I personally focus on what I’m doing and react to things. If I know ahead of time I may need to react and/or protect a certain player, it makes my job easier.

But apparently some people think this is a soft spot to exploit discrimination, or that others with control issues are thirsting to impose onto others. I’ve taken a lot of traditional sides with GW2 but this about tops the list of most ridiculous protests over a game feature.

I, for one, would greatly appreciate bad seeds showing their elitism so I will be left to group with people that aren’t shallow, arrogant control freaks with cases of superiority complex.

I’m all for it; I’ve never experienced gear-checking or discrimination. When someone does that, a great sign emerges that says “DO NOT PLAY WITH ME!”.

Funny, because I’ve had my name (Orian) and myself criticized because the person thought it was intended to be either Orion (a constellation) or Orrian (as in Orr). Superficial people exist everywhere.

Actually it’s quite useful because you can get a much better sense of where your party is at and, with good players, people know what to anticipate. If I see a weaker player, I know I need to watch them and be on my game. If there’s special gear that tips off experience, it lends confidence to the group. If something is really off with gear, people can help straighten them out and give advice. A new player could see what high-level players use to help them along. There are many advantages that outweigh some inevitable negatives.

And don’t lie, all of that nice gear we’re hiding in our hero panels? You want to let others read it and weep!

Fortuna.7259:

Oh funny, and here I thought the quote would be:

“We presented another option so nobody could complain there was no other option. We made the alternative ridiculous so that everybody understands what option they are supposed to pick.”

Analyzed, that is basically what the quote says to me.

Most people are in guilds and would really love to work toward rewards together, so why didn’t they just skip the laurel vendor, leaving it to all other variety of shinies, and make the guild content more accessible? They realize that both ways are painful and people are personally choosing the lesser of two, right?

I agree with the OP to a certain extent about dailies and gear grind, but I’ve never felt I can’t trust the devs. I don’t think it’s about trust and personally haven’t felt they’ve miscommunicated (then again I don’t read every release and post, but wouldn’t take it as gospel).

While I have a lot of suggestions to improve things, I think it’s more a case of resources and priority than faith.

They’re doing cool stuff with the game, but I also feel strongly against things like vertical progression and grindy formulas. As an example, it takes many dungeon runs to earn one piece of exotic gear, which means the dungeon will need to be rinsed and repeated. Accurately, many are and with a quick and powerful team are just bulldozed. My friend took her first run down one path in a group that was on a speed run. It had to be so dizzying she didn’t have any time to enjoy it, let alone know what was happening. There wasn’t even time to explain it to her as we went. Not very engaging or thrilling, it was just a race to the finish with chest popping. Oh well, such is life in MMOs…

Wow, I suddenly don’t feel so bad about my small misfortunes. I’ve always lamented when I found I should have bought this earlier or sold that, but my first and hopefully only “wow, I could make a killing doing this, I’m gonna try!” came from when I was leveling a crafting profession. Investing a certain amount of gold crafting some items that were selling for way higher than the raw material cost.

Yep, people caught on to that pretty quick. Checked on what remains to be sold, and both are below material cost (a drop of about 50-75%) in just a few days. Dang market wars. Oh well, I learned.

Oh, how could I forget about gems pre-Halloween? I thought 5g for 600 was a little much. All of my gamer facepalm…

I can only definitely say tengu as I don’t quite like their implementation in GW2 (they were much better in GW1). I don’t like the voice acting, either, so there’s a lot to improve. It’s also a galore of lore just waiting to be tapped into, and they are very customizable and familiar to the series like charr.

Skritt and quaggan would be fun but they’re so perfect as minor races; no changes. Kodan are also fantastic but I feel they’d displace the norn, who would be seen as weaker imitations of real bears; less intelligent too. Yes, it’s my norn pride. We need to be the biggest and baddest (with a long transformation phase please!).

I’d consider dredge if they weren’t utterly hideous, but I’ll throw a vote to hylek assuming strong aesthetic design enhances.

Shonie.5297:

There is no grind at all, you don’t need to even do dailies.
3 monthlies will get you an ascended amulet.
FoTM will get you the ascended rings.
Guild missions will get you ascended earrings.
Is this the grind people are complaining about?
Seems pretty non-grindy to me.
Do most people even know what MMO grind is? I feel they don’t.
To play a game like FFXI if you want to experience grind, then come back and see if you think GW2 is a grind.

You’re speaking as if people are new to MMOs or have neither experienced grind nor a game free of it (like Guild Wars, where many of us spent our years). Personally, I’ve gone through a fair amount of grind and there is a litmus test:

Do I need to do things I do not want to do in order to earn this reward, and do I need to do it repeatedly?

If you answer yes, it’s a grind. You are not having fun and enduring repetition for something.

But let’s be clear about such high laurel prices being nonsense: why implement something that should be rewarding on its own (daily/monthly), target it for everyone, then link it up to rewards with costs that clearly aren’t for everyone?

Can it just be said already? Not everyone likes dailies. They are bland, in your face to-do lists that are now tied to rewards that really improve your character. Of course you don’t have to get them, but isn’t that like putting out a plate of expensive gourmet cookies and saying to someone “you don’t have to eat these, they’re optional”?

HannaDeFreitas.4236:

That’s the only major flaw Anet has for me, the fact they dumb everything down when people cry about it.

So, you might try this last option.
One week or two of complaint threads should exhaust them and have them and you all easy mission access and even make challenges easier.
That’s what always happened in GW1 and is happening in GW2, but can you give me one week to try the properly difficult stuff before it’s made babyproof? Pretty please.

I hoped we didn’t bring this mentality of berating anyone who dares criticize as a bunch of whiny babies that want everything served with milk and cookies. This impossibly inane reaction assumes that everything should be a chore, a bore and that because we don’t pay a sub, we’re not entitled to anything.

No one is asking for things to be made easier. Dailies are not difficult. Doing hundreds of them doesn’t prove anything, it’s just tedious and boring. Where did I say it was too difficult, and how do you equate “properly difficult” with running dailies 365 days a year?

Forget it, we’re just drifting right back into the good old days, aren’t we? We can’t have sensible things and no one is allowed to be unhappy. Let’s just all smile, everything is cherry. We love this game and these updates are perfect.

Sigh.

Vayne.8563:

I’d hate this, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m doing everything in the game with rare and exotic gear. I don’t need ascended to do anything. If it takes a long time, how does it actually change the game for me.

See, in other games, you NEED to have X to complete Y. If you don’t have certain gear levels in Rift, you’re not allowed to queue for specific dungeons. Here, I don’t have that problem.

I did five dungeon runs yesterday with my guild and farmed Orr. I didn’t need ascended gear for any of it.

It’s really a mentality thing. I don’t need the stuff, so I don’t care when I get the stuff. Completely different from other games.

Maybe some of you should leave the old mentality behind.

I’ve not brought this mentality to GW2. I am bringing the mentality of GW to GW2, and that was not about stats. Light armor was base 60. Medium base 70. Heavy base 80. Weapons topped out with the same base damage, there weren’t six freaking tiers of rarity or with level requirements.

You had two upgrades from there: a prefix and a suffix. That was it. Come up with a build and a skill bar, you’re in business. Have fun.

This here is insipid stat-chasing. It’s boring and depressing. The devs have brought antiquated mentality, not Guild Wars players. We were doing just fine at level 20 chasing skills, showing off cosmetic shinies and playing content.

Like rare and exotic trinkets, these laurels price casuals right out of the game. Very few of us will ever have ascended sets on one character, and we can forget about gearing alts like this.

Thanks for showing us some more nice things the majority will never have, now at the cost of being weaker than people who grind.