Guild Wars 2

Serophous.9085:

None of that, “here’s a patch, skins are now gone. Forgot to tell you all!”

To be fair, there was a notice or two posted before they did it.

Donari.5237:

The removal was thanks to the vendor running out of tabs, most believe. Hopefully they will return in a vendor revamp (I intend to pay attention to the PAX announcements to see if things like that are addressed).

Some of us don’t really buy that excuse, when they could have replaced each tab with a “double click to choose your reward” box for each set. Maybe they’re planning to do that in the future, but for now creating scarcity is the only reason that makes sense.

I’m beginning to wonder if some (or all) of the people behind the underwater combat systems simply don’t work there any more, and didn’t leave very good documentation behind.

This happened with the CoH group base system, and it resulted in several obvious and much wanted improvements never being made, because the attempts to do so resulted in massive bugs that nobody could fix.

darkace.8925:

Bandit.8279:

Plenty of new content has been released for a 2 year old MMO.

I would hardly consider:
– three new PVE zones whose combined size is about that of Brisban Wildlands
– one new universal skill and one new class-specific skill per class
– zero new classes
– zero new playable races
– zero new weapon options for existing classes
– zero new dungeons (one, if we count Fractals)
– and an episodic campaign so thin it can be completed in a day
to be “plenty of new content” for an MMO that’s more than two years old, but that’s just me.

You forgot Skyhammer and Edge of the Mists. They’re not PvE, but they are content.

…sorta.

I think part of this is due to the fact that all races move at the same speed. So you have little asura running like all get-out, because of their small legs, and long-legged norn going at a fairly casual pace. Having the camera far from the ground also adds to the feeling of going slowly.

There’s only so much they can do about this, I’m afraid.

Last night in the Heart of the Mists, I noticed the person standing next to the gate you emerge from when you teleport to the area. Speaking to them got me sent to the “training” area.

There, they had practical lessons on reviving downed players, finishing off downed players, and capturing points. I realized that all areas of the game use at least two of these mechanics, but there’s no good lesson on them until you find the one in the HotM.

I think a series of training areas like this would be great. No new maps needed, make them instances and reuse existing maps, and put 2-4 lessons in each one. Make sure the players know about these areas, then let them decide if they want to get sent to them or not.

First: Yes, the title of the thread is poo, but I couldn’t figure out how to put the entire question into the title. Sorry. Now, on with the post.

I’m sure we’re all aware that many people (not saying all or most, just “many”) would like a new class to try. Part of the problem with that is that ANet covered most of the bases already with the existing 8 classes. Efforts to think up a new class will often run into the problem of copying an area covered by an existing class.

But is that really a problem that we care about?

If ANet came out with a class that was very similar to one of the existing classes in play, or felt more like a mix of two of them, would that actually be a bad thing if the style of the class is still different? If they came out with a class that (for example) was basically a warrior with a magic and spirits theme, would anyone want it or would it be rejected?

I realize that the price you would have to pay for such a thing may matter and influence your decision, but on the basic level, do we care or would we rather have the new class to play with?

I’d kind of like to hear people’s opinions on this.

I think the last time this item was really discussed was back when they added the wardrobe to the game. Before then, a lot of the sigils and runes could be extracted by using transmutation stone/crystals to combine things, then salvage it out of the result with a Black Lion Salvage Kit.

As I recall, it was noted that with the gold to gem conversion rate (which I hear has gotten worse), it was cheaper to just buy a new one of whatever off of the trading post than to buy an extractor.

But yes, a lot of the finer details of how it works need to be clearly stated before you buy it.

BrotherBelial.3094:

I never saw the point in weapon she’s in GW1. I nor anyone I knew dyed there weapons in GW 1. So that might be why they left it out of GW2.

When it was added in CoH, it was used a LOT. It helped to make some pretty cool looks, too. Can you imagine a black Bifrost?

But… some of the weapons in GW2 are just recolored versions of easier to obtain weapons. Given that, I don’t think we’ll see weapon dyes in this game.

Roguefire.8174:

Behellagh.1468:

It’s a gain because the vast majority of players didn’t do all dailies daily or all monthlies monthly. If you are one of the minority, sorry, no AP soup for you.

Its a gain if you did less than 6 of the dailies each day. I usually did them 8-10 of them each day along with many other players. Not sure how you can say what minority and majority… don’t call it a gain, do some simple math.

If you did enough that the change in systems is a loss in points for you, then odds are good that it’s a gain in time saved for you. I think that was the plan, anyway. You would either get a better chance at more points, or you’d need to spend less time getting points.

Maybe we should track who gets what incorrect items? If it’s a clue to future changes, great! If not, it may help them in tracking down the bug.

lordkrall.7241:

Palador.2170:

It’s safe to assume that this also means that we’ll not hear or get anything major from them until after this announcement.

As of now, that’s a … 24 day wait.

Yeah, except the next part of the Living Story (which might or might not be the finale, and might or might also resolve quite a few questions).

At best it’s the finale of the season, but there’s no way we’ll be fighting Mord yet. I doubt we’ll even get to deal with that huge “flower” we saw when scouting with Caithe.

Given that, I’m sure they plan to have some of our current questions carry over to make us (hopefully) look forward to the next part of the story. I’m betting on catching up to Caithe and finding out why she did what she did, and the egg being put someplace safe, but not seeing it hatch yet.

It’s safe to assume that this also means that we’ll not hear or get anything major from them until after this announcement.

As of now, that’s a … 24 day wait.

DragonWhimsy.6489:

Guys, you’re not seeing the big picture here. They’re not sending the president of the company, along with Colin Johanson, and renting the main theater for the morning for the usual stuff. This is going to be something different.

Whatever this ends up being, it’s what the majority of ANet has been working on for more than two years most likely. Or at least a significant portion of it. At the very least it’s going to define our GW2 experience for 2015.

Whether it blows us away or is a huge disappointment, it’s going to be huge one way or another.

Perhaps they’ve decided that they can’t do with GW2 what they wanted to do, so they’re going to announce a new, non-GW game with their new take on advancing MMOs in it.

Take a break.

You can’t make yourself like a game when you’re tired of it. If you try, that leads to burnout and you wind up one day hating the game. That is NOT a good feeling, trust me.

Log in to get the LS updates when they’re released, but otherwise take a break. If you want to log in to chat with some friends, fine. Do that. But don’t make yourself actually play the game. Just wait for the day when you feel like playing again.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Engineers getting Longbow, though… that I doubt.

Oh, I don’t know. I can see them putting explosives on the arrows, or maybe other odd payloads. Maybe even an Oil Slick Arrow or Healing Arrow.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Can we at least wait and see before airing negative, and sarcastic, comments?

…. no?

Sorry, but so long as their policy of not talking about the future of the game is still in place, they CAN’T say anything big. Pretending they’re going to is just a farce, and everyone knows it.

It doesn’t matter if they’re secretly cracking genetics problems and planning to clone charr buddies for all their players, they can’t talk about it due to their policy. All they can give is, at best, vague hints of anything more than a week or two out. We can either laugh about it, or get upset about it. Personally, I’d rather laugh.

I think they’ll say vague things about the future that don’t really promise anything. Maybe show some concept art, but not say what it is or when it will appear, if ever.

And then mutter a disclaimer at the end.

Rangelost.4857:

Oh, and did I mention Farmer Eda? I’m sorry, I think I need to mention Farmer Eda. I’m going to mention Farmer Eda.

Alright, so Farmer Eda. We’re all familiar with that one. There used to be this task in Queensdale where you’d collect apples in an orchard, and after you helped her, she’d offer you some apple pie, and you could even purchase her own home recipe.

And somehow, apples being baked into a pie must have been too confusing for new players because they were removed. That’s right, apple pies were removed from the apple pie merchant.

So why am I talking about this? Well, have you even read the dialogue? Here, let me quote every word from the conversation.

• Farmer Eda:
  Like my orchard? The apples we harvest here make for delicious pies. My husband used to harvest the apples, before he passed away.
• Player:
  Pie? I like pie. Can I have one?
• Farmer Eda:
  Of course! You’ve been a great help around here. You’re more than welcome to a slice or two.
• Player:
  Yum. Pie!

And what does she sell?

A MEASURING SPOON.

THAT is IT.

This is December 2014. The change was introduced in September 2014. For 3 months now, players have been deceitfully promised apple pie, which of course they never got.

Can you imagine the confusion on the poor new players’ faces? Freshly starting adventurers, still dreaming to one day become great heroes, now haunted by a void in the pit their stomach, a void which will never truly be filled by the rewarding taste of a well-deserved apple pie…

Actually… she gives you a pie. In the face.

Ask about pie, and when the vendor window opens up, you may hear a ‘splat’ sound effect. That’s her hitting you in the face with a pie, you just don’t see it because it’s covered by the vendor window.

There’s your reward for helping her out. Enjoy.

HykCraft.4610:

I would expect it when the Living Story returns in mid-January.

You don’t really expect them to go two more weeks without offering new things in the gemstore, do you?

Conaywea.5062:

buying the precursor with gold , that was made only in game isnt something “lame” , and why do you care how someone got his legendary?

I’m not saying I care or feel that way, I’m saying that some of the people going after the legendaries feel that way.

See the post above yours for an example.

Not yet.

I want the current season to end, then I want an expansion. Leave the current storyline behind on a real cliffhanger, and then move the fight to the great Crystal dragon and the Crystal Desert. HUGE story where we take the fight to the dragon and bring it down, then two new seasons of LS (Seasons 3 and 4) where Palawa Joko starts to make his presence felt as we start to venture into Elona. Season 4 would, again, end in a cliffhanger.

Then repeat this pattern throughout the world, killing off dragons but leaving huge, unresolved plot lines that are NEVER resolved, even when the game finally ends.

There will be no Guild Wars 3.

::laughs evilly::

((Okay, but seriously, I want some of both.))

I’ll echo what others have said, there’s no way to make someone ‘like’ a game. Trying to make it happen is going to go badly.

However, it might be worth asking what games they do like, and what races/classes they’ve tried so far. It could be that there’s a combo they would like, they’ve just not tried it yet. If we knew more, we might be able to suggest something.

Ascimator.6735:

I don’t see why people want the most “special” items in the game to be trivially obtainable. Legendaries are already common enough.

Ah, but they’re not asking for them to be trivially obtainable. They’re asking for them to be PREDICTABLY EARNABLE. There’s a huge difference between the two.

And yes, you can save up and buy it off of the TP. But buying the main part of your legendary (or even the whole legendary) with cash feels… lame. Shallow. About as epic as making toast. People want to EARN it. And no, having a chance to luck into it doesn’t count as earning, it counts as being lucky.

niea.7504:

How can you kill that which has no life?

Are you saying I’m immortal?

Sightseeing Tour: View a vista in each of the starting cities.
(Good for getting new players to check out the other cities and the asura gates.)

Thanks for the feedback, everyone, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the idea would cause more problems than it’s worth. Let’s toss this one on the reject pile.

ERP should be done in private instances. Even with party chat, it’s far too easy for someone to forget just one time, and put it into an emote or slip up and put it in map or local.

Not so much in GW2, but back in CoH I saw some… epic mistells. There’s nothing like seeing someone you know blurt out a very graphic line across zone chat in the busiest zone in the game, and then their status suddenly goes to “Offline”.

But complaining about where sand gets (when you’re on a beach where the game automatically strips you down to ‘naked’ to fake swimsuits) or talking about wanting to kiss? Sounds like it might be heavy flirting and other mature themes, but not ERP.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

You wouldn’t see it anyway, so you are suggesting players pay for something that they will never see themselves use.

Doesn’t seem like that good of an idea unless you really like the idea of mass griffon abductions.

Actually, I kind of do like that idea.

And yes, not being able to see it used on yourself is the downside of the idea, but I’m wondering if people would buy it (for a reasonable price) anyway just for the style of it.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the mount threads, and the arguments for and against them. One of the common arguments against them is that we have Waypoints, we don’t need mounts. And this is true, in my opinion.

However, the recent addition of customization for mail carriers got me to thinking about it again. Mounts do bring an extra level of character customization to the table, so what if we added that to the way you appear/disappear for waypoints instead?

Instead of just disappearing when you waypoint away, imagine if a large griffon swooped down and grabbed your character, then flew off. And appearing at the waypoint could be the same, the griffon could drop you off on the ground. Maybe you appear and disappear in a burst of flame, or shadows reach up from the ground to pull you in and push you back up.

I know it would play loose with the lore a little bit to do it like this, but how waypoints work is a bit vague anyway. (Seriously, how do you teleport to one from the middle of nowhere?) I think the main problem is that, outside of the customization screen, you’d never see yourself creating the effects. Still, I think the idea might be worth considering.

Thoughts?

oxtred.7658:

Palador.2170:

Wait, a turret Engineer can hold off an entire team? What the Smurf am I doing wrong with mine?

pun intended?

Nope, honest question. Am I to take it that mines are part of the answer?

Wait, a turret Engineer can hold off an entire team? What the Smurf am I doing wrong with mine?

Hamfast.8719:

That’s no castle… that’s a space station!

Jokes aside, it could very well be.

The 6 Gods did bring humans from another world. For all we know, that thing is an artifact from that event, possibly the very thing they brought them in (if they needed to have something to bring them in).

It could be far older than we think.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Why are still ignoring this fact?

Desperation, I think.

Yeah, he’s dead.

But he’s the Elder Dragon of undeath. Did we destroy him, or just make him stronger?

I do expect him to return in some way, shape, or form. And, eventually, to revive Scarlet. Odd how both died and didn’t leave a body, right?

Vayne.8563:

If they are working on a new profession, even if they don’t tell us that, it will come at some point.

Unless it becomes yet another of the half-finished things they scrap before we ever see it.

I would also suggest using a translator. Think of a word you like, throw it through a few translations and see how it looks in other languages. It might give you ideas.

I know there’s even Draconic and Klingon translators out there if you search for them, so I’m sure there’s more than that for odd stuff.

I’m not sure if I want “modern” looking pistols, but I would love one that’s all shiny metal and some glowing neon/magitech details. Chrome or shiny black metal, I’ll take either.

Basically, take the Pact handgun (pictured earlier), remove some of the extra junk, and chrome that puppy. Maybe a second one with shiny black metal and red/purple glow as well. Then again, I’d like to see a weapon set like that for ALL the weapons. Solid, practical, shiny, glowy, and deadly.

I’ve liked the new dailies so far. I was going to say it was a good change.

But today? Today was a failure of the new system. 2 of the 4 for PvE being Fractals was bad.

I’ve never done Fractals before, but I recalled that I needed an item from there for Mawdry (sp?), which I intend to make. So, today was the day to try. Didn’t like it, won’t go back.

Lillith.5724:

I’m sure this has been addressed, but I’ve been doing my dailies for over a week and I doesn’t seem to be adding to my monthly achiev?
Anyone help? How many dailies for the monthly?
Thanks in advance.

With the change to dailies, they no longer count for monthly. This is the last month where there will be a monthly at all, so I guess they didn’t feel like adding in enough code to make the new stuff work with the old stuff.

You’ll have to get your 4th monthly from something else. Sorry.

Llama.7820:

Thank you! So far most of the replies have been extremely helpful! Yours included!!

You might like this, then. Some world bosses are on a timer, and there’s a place that tracks them and shows which one is next and the closest waypoint.
http://dulfy.net/2014/04/23/event-timer/

It took me a while to find it. New computer, none of my links got saved.

Llama.7820:

also, how often do public events spawn? And are there a lot of players in them? :o

Depends on the zone, the event, and perhaps even other events nearby. An example would be the Orr events to take over a temple. If you do that, then soon you get an event to defend that temple. If you fail to take it over, or fail to defend it, then soon the event to take it over will start again.

Adrift.8596:

Thank you for answer i found the original post… the only question remains…

IN 3 MONTHS NO FIX IN SCRIPT?

I think the story was changed for the China release to make it “sell better” over there. Why it was needed I do not know, but I’d bet on some cultural issue that they bypassed with this change. And, I’m sure that as they made the Chinese version, they edited and adjusted as they went, so it all makes sense over there.

The problem is that when they brought some of that over here with an update, the story change came with it. I don’t think they have the resources to the story to adjust for it any more, so they can’t fix it and they can’t revert it (it would break the China/every 10 levels version).

Ever see a dog get so scared and confused that it just stops and pees on the carpet? Well, I think that’s pretty much how the devs feel every time they’ve tried to confront this problem, so now they just pretend it’s not there and hope someone in programming can figure out a way to fix it for them.

GW2 is currently torn between people that want to make it stand out on its own, and people that want to turn it into another WoW clone. But enough about the internal conflicts at ANet…

Servers are not really a thing now, unless you’re in WvW. Go to the Wiki and look up “Megaservers” to find out how it works. Short version, though, is that people get dumped into the same maps from all servers, so you’ll rarely find one empty.

There’s been changes to the way you change the looks of armor, using the “wardrobe” now. Town clothes are gone, replaced with the single piece “Outfits”, and some crappy tonics. The Outfits, at least, you can use in battle and hide the head/hat of by hiding your normal hat/helm.

Current Living Story can be replayed. If you want to see it, you can find someone that has it and see if they’ll take you through the missions. If you want the rewards from it, though, you need to pay for it (200 gems per chapter). That may or may not be worth it, it’s a matter of opinion.

Leveling up has been changed some. Biggest changes are the lower levels (but they pass quickly), rewards on level-up (sometimes, depends on your new level), and how you gain traits (any characters made before that change will have all old traits accessible, thankfully).

Personal story now comes in lumps every 10 levels, and some of the later missions were removed to make the story more acceptable in China. Sadly, the plot hole ridden mess that made has yet to be fixed.

Let’s see… anything else? Oh, yeah! They destroyed Lion’s Arch. Again. Seriously, if this was an anime, that city would be Tokyo.

Some people like the changes, some hate them, and some don’t care. The game is still going, though, so welcome back. Fasten your seat belt, and if you have to hurl, aim for the Mystic Toilet.

I’ve seen GW2 fanwork before, on other sites. I think it’s just that putting it up on here feels like you’re putting it somewhere nobody will ever look.

Schwarzseher.9873:

Because Anet has done everything to destroy the community until now.
No RP thanks to the Megaservers, no new contents which would boost the imagination and fantasy of the fanarts writers, the constant loss of dedicated vets and many more reasons.

This too.

Some starting advice once you’re out of the tutorial:

Go to your home city, and look around. Find a merchant that sells salvage kits and harvesting tools. Get one set each of the copper harvesting tools and a Basic Salvage Kit. Equip those tools on the character, keep the kit in your inventory. You also may want to pick up a few 4 slot bags to fill in your bag slots. Yes, the game will eventually give you some of all of these, but you can really put them to good use before then, so getting them early helps.

Second, look for the gate to Lion’s Arch within your starting town. When you pass through it, you’ll arrive in an area with the gates to all other starting cities. You don’t really need this right now, but you’ll want to know about it later.

Third, open your inventory and look for the little gear symbol at the top right. That’s a menu with some good functions to it. You’ll be using it a lot, especially “Deposit All Materials” and “Compact”. Materials are used in crafting, though you can sell them if you want.

Finally, harvest everything. Chop down every tree you can, mine every node of ore, pick every plant. They won’t appear on your mini-map at first, but they will eventually. Every harvest is worth EXP, and crafting is at least worth messing around with. On that note, anything you get that seems useless but says “Salvageable” on it, use the salvage kit on it to get the final item. Hides and destroyed garments are typical examples of this. You can salvage most unwanted gear in the same way, though some might be better off sold.

spoj.9672:

Do you really think they would introduce a new class or raids in a LS update? Because thats what you are saying. I know its possible. But its very unlikely.

Class, no.
Raids, no.
Raid (singular), yes.

I think the first raids will be in a feature update, and not really connect to the LS. They’ll be separate, and they’ll refine them a bit to get them to where they want them to be. THEN they’ll release the occasional one with the LS, and see how that goes.

Belenwyn.8674:

From my experience with other games I can tell that a trinity kills build diversity for classes in a very drastic way. There fore the idea of GW2 is much better: each class can fulfill each role.

That’s … not always the case, though. Usually, but not always.

In CoH we saw the classic trinity, but with each archetype also being able to stand on their own and solo. Some were better at it than others, naturally, but everyone could manage. Basically, everyone could do a bit of everything, and then they had the thing they were the best at.

What it resulted in was a game where the trinity worked, but going without it also worked. Sometimes, teams being completely unbalanced (in more ways than one) made for some actually awesome runs.

I think GW2 could afford to drift a little bit towards trinity roles and not get into trouble. They just need to be careful to not go too far, even in CoH we had ex-trinity players demanding “a healer” for the team before they would do anything, and no amount of arguing would change their minds.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Nothing that an expansion introduces can’t be introduced via Living Story. Nothing at all. The only difference between the content is the rate it gets introduced.

That’s not quite true.

Think of it like this: Updates are stone blocks. You have two guys to deliver the stone blocks from Pile A (development) to Pile B (live servers). The first one can lift 10 pounds, the second can lift 100.

Now, you need 100 pounds of updates/blocks moved. The 10 pound guy is the LS. He does it bit by bit over time, and he gets the job done. The 100 pound guy is an expansion. He does it all at once, but he’s likely slower in doing it. Still, it works out the same, right?

Well, no. It only works out the same if all the blocks are 10 pounds or less. If there’s a couple of 20 pound blocks, then one of the guys simply can’t deliver them like that. Maybe he can break them apart, but that’s not as good as having the blocks intact.

Look at the plot of the LS. See all those breaks and cliffhangers? That’s because there’s a bigger story there, but they’re delivering it in a way that can’t handle a big story. So, they have to break it up. You still get the same basic story, but there’s flaws and cracks in it now that wouldn’t have needed to be there if it came out in an expansion.

The best of both worlds would be LS AND expansions. The LS would be better off focused on truly “living world” style updates, small changes happening around the game world as fallout from other events. A good example would be growing distrust and prejudice towards sylvari due to Scarlet’s destruction of Lion’s Arch and awakening of the dragon, and how that starts to change the world. Maybe the gearing up of the Pact as they try to figure out what they’ll need to take on this new threat, and a Priory expedition to a long lost temple that may hold some key information. Important stuff, but small in the overall picture.

Then the big, epic stories could be saved for expansions. The fight against Mord. The exodus of the Tengu as their homeland is destroyed from below by destroyers, and our rallying to take the fight to them and keep them contained. The stuff that actually shakes the world, in other words. Huge stories told without the need to break them apart into little 3 or 4 step chunks to be delivered slowly.

Nury.3062:

No….just no…let’s all run around naked killing stuff…gloves….understandable….helm and shoudlers…udnerstandable…but the rest…must be there….

The human queen and several norn Wolfborn walk around with no shoes on, so there’s an in-game precedent for people doing just fine without shoes.