Guild Wars 2

The game completely fails to tell you about them or how they work. Even the NPE doesn’t touch on them from what I’ve seen.

They tried to make using them part of the dailies, at one point. It turned out to be horribly bugged and they had to scrap the idea.

I think one problem is that some people would buy it, and then wonder why it’s so hard to level up their crafting skill.

If it existed, I admit I’d be interested in it for chef. I just think it will cause more problems for them than it solves for us.

Clerigo.9475:

Just a quick note on this: all mmorpgs, or rpg online i have played, including gw1, that had or have a related “henchman” design, suffer from deterioting pve grouping content and loss of community social activity.

I wonder if there’s a good way to counter that? ::ponders:: I’ll have to think on that, see if I can’t find a way around that problem without scrapping the idea.

I’ll second the “Don’t start with a Mesmer” advice. They’re one of the hardest classes to work with, and they’re pretty awful until you get well up there in traits. They may be awesome once you have them fully developed, but until then you’d be better off starting with something simpler.

I would strongly suggest just starting an entirely new character. They’ve revamped the lower levels to make them teach the game better. While not all of us agree on if they succeeded or not, it’s worth it to run through them as a refresher. It may help you to get past whatever problems you had.

Easy classes for PvE are warrior and ranger. Ranger is actually good for just about everything but dungeons, but I feel I should warn you that the pet provides a pretty big margin for error. Lots of people that focus on rangers are “sloppy” when it comes to more demanding content, such as dungeons or bosses that can quickly kill the pets.

Other than that, I’d say to just make someone new and jump in. What have you got to lose, after all? You’ve already paid for it.

[Edit] As for EXP in PvP? You won’t get it there, but you now pick a “Reward Track” that you earn your way along as you play (wining moves you faster, but you still advance even if you keep losing). You will get an occasional tome from these rewards that will give +1 level to the character that uses it.

X T D.6458:

that is sad couldnt they have just added the spoon to her items?

I think the measuring spoon was already there, actually.

Bellizare.5816:

Possibly they don’t want the trials scared off by all the NPE complaining that you hear in the starter zones.

Pffft. As if people won’t be waiting in the starting areas to warn them of it anyway.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

All of these would be amazing. Why not be able to go into dungeons or fractals with 2 people and 3 henchmen and have it designed to scale accordingly, or even solo with henchman and make each versions rewards unique. Too much content geared too specifically and it’s a waste. That said final request large new areas to explore and real reasons to explore them.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Just wanted to comment on this…

Living Story Missions aren’t like dungeons (group-play required) but those missions can be played in groups of 5 as well as alone.

Imho this scaling would feel great for regular dungeons as well. Don’t have 5 guys? Just go in there with your friend and experience it as well. Other games did this with dungeons (I remember LotRO) and had a lot of success with these modes.

I would love to see future dungeons be like that: really challenging for 5 players but also viable for small teams / solo players (for all the players who don’t like team content – quite a few). I know some people are soloing dungeons too, but this is hardly what I’m talking about since it takes a while to complete a dungeon without skipping most content.

I agree with both of these, with two “small” additions.

Henchmen: Anyone can get the default ones, but more interesting ones have to be earned and/or customized. Imagine if you could get a default class/skills for them, then customize the look. Normal costuming items and costs would apply, adding to gameplay.

Grouping: To encourage grouping, add a rare chance of something (Dungeon Tokens, maybe) dropping from each opponent. The chance is unaffected by MF, but it goes up the more real players are in the team. Ending rewards may be slightly nerfed to even things out.

I think part of what worked well with the attack on LA was that there were things that both large groups and small groups/solo players could do. A group could be charging in to attack while you were getting a few NPC survivors up and on their feet to get out, maybe clearing a path as you went. It was also fairly easy to get to, which was good because it upleveled people to 80 if they weren’t already, making it a great place to gain Exp. There were also lots of different threats, and there was enough to do that you could easily wind up doing different events from one run to the next, and being thrown into different fights.

Dry Top has the benefit of more things that can be found there and only there, though RNG plays a bit too much of a factor in that. I do like the idea of a currency for the zone, though (mind you, LA somewhat had this as well). It seems to have a fairly wide range of events, but they’re almost all group events. I think the fact that you’re cut off from all access to some rewards if certain thresholds of performance aren’t cleared is a problem as well. You should always be able to progress, even if it’s slowly.

What I think BOTH of them lacked is even more flexible encounters. Doing X then Y causes event A, but doing Y then X causes encounter B instead. And not all of it should be obvious triggers, either. That way, you can’t know how everything is going to play out even if you jump in with a good team. Things will change, and it would be a lot easier for the devs to add in a new surprise every now and then to catch players off guard.

Honestly, I think this is one of the more promising “end game” options for GW2. It has something for everyone (unless your computer has problems with populated zones, sadly). Making things for just one aspect of the player base means you’ve neglected the other players to make it, and eventually you have to cut back on the less popular areas.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Here’s the challenge, and we’ll see if it’s possible and reasonable: Share your opinion about how to improve the end game in (roughly) 100 words or less.

We need challenges suited for both large groups and solo players, that shift and change depending upon both player actions and hidden variables so they don’t play out the same every time. Both types should be able to work towards better rewards, with even small gains always possible. It should be open to more than just “endgame” level 80s. The attack on LA was a good step towards this.

MithranArkanere.8957:

Some recipes were moved to other renown heart NPCs.

Others were moved to after-event vendor NPCs.

There’s some I could not find again. They may have been lost forever.

It’s not just this zone, either.

I can’t find the Wooden Sword recipe that used to be sold in Wayfarer.

IF we were to get prestige classes, I think I’d rather see them focus on augmenting a specific facet of the class.

Engineer, for example, could have prestige classes that turn turrets into mobile pets more like a necromancer’s minions, or one that adds elixir effects to explosions.

Elementalist could have one that turns their weapon conjuration skills into kits, rather than having them restricted by timers and charges. Another could add in a “grace period” when you change elemental attunement, during which you can change back to your previous one, allowing you to (for example) change from earth to fire, throw out a spell, then jump back to earth.

Rangers could have one that allows both pets to be out at the same time, and one where calling out the pet has YOU playing as the pet (weapon skills replaced with animal skills, other skills remain) running around without the ranger. (And yes, I realize that there’s no way that this one would be strong enough to be balanced, but it would fun and people would play with it anyway.)

Kasima.8143:

Palador.2170:

Huh.

You know, if they made a bundle with the right moves on it, such as a toy, you could have everyone playing this.

Yeah, I could easily see a costume brawl weapon or two for this. One for the players, one for the goal keepers, maybe. Then you can just let the players find where they want to play, set up their own team sizes, and what not.

In fact, give the goalie toys a “create ball” power that summons a white quaggan with black spots that takes no damage but has no KB resist and despawns after 5 minutes or when they make a new one.

The issue though is with the arena. The arena we had was impractical because of the the corners in which the ball got stuck fairly often and the 2 open sides. We would need an arena that is either completely round, rectangle or octagon shaped.

That’s part of the good thing about making it costume brawl toys. You can set up the game pretty much anywhere you can get the people together for it. I’m sure fans of the idea will quickly compile a list of good arenas/locations for it.

Huh.

You know, if they made a bundle with the right moves on it, such as a toy, you could have everyone playing this.

Yeah, I could easily see a costume brawl weapon or two for this. One for the players, one for the goal keepers, maybe. Then you can just let the players find where they want to play, set up their own team sizes, and what not.

In fact, give the goalie toys a “create ball” power that summons a white quaggan with black spots that takes no damage but has no KB resist and despawns after 5 minutes or when they make a new one.

The invasion of LA was fun. It was big, and it was awesome. It seemed to be pretty popular, too. Sadly, it ended.

Later came Dry Top, which seems to be attempting to recreate some of the same feeling. It also seems to be much less popular (yes, that’s personal observation), despite having some neat stuff to it.

I’d like to hear what people have to say about both events, both the good points and the bad points. I’d also like to hear ideas for a new take on such an event zone. Maybe we can give Arena Net the feedback and ideas they need to improve on the concept and make an outstanding third try at the concept.

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418:

Bugabuga.9721:

While we’re on Quality of Life topic, can we get confirmation that nuking guild bank access from wvw registrars was purposeful and not a bug?

This has been commented on already by the devs. It was intentional.

Did they say why? Something to do with the “mega guilds” for the megaserver, perhaps?

Lambent.6375:

“You don’t think I could., wait, that wouldn’t be right would it?”

+1 to anyone who knows what in game convo this came from, and what it was about, lol.

Oh, I recall that conversation. And yes, it’s just a bit absolutely WRONG for him to be thinking that.

I don’t remember who or where in the game it’s said, but someone mentions that the krait sometimes cripple/break the legs of prisoners they take underwater, to make it harder for them to escape before they’re sacrificed. The comment is then made that it must be nightmarish for the centaurs that they capture.

Vayne.8563:

Clearly Anet will soon have more regular free weekends, or a refer a friend thing and they want people to stay with the game. They tested this and this is what works.

Latest patch notes:

Bug Fix:

• Configured free trial accounts to block access to World vs. World maps (Eternal Battlegrounds, Borderlands maps, and Obsidian Sanctum). Free trial players may still enter the Edge of the Mists.

Looks like you were right on this one. They wouldn’t patch that and just that if it wasn’t about to become very important very soon.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Maybe it’s humans taking trophies like in the past when they would take charr hides, or centaur manes, or gargoyle skulls . . .

I would really, REALLY hope not.

These are sentient creatures, and while we may be at war with them, there should be limits on how nasty we will be. Honestly, we’ve seen that they can even be potential allies (Dry Top, the (missing?) historian centaur in LA).

As bad as it is to think that humans might be doing that, what about the sylvari? I simply can’t imagine any grove sylvari cutting off a centaur’s hooves as trophies.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bellizare.5816:

The Six alone know what the “Unidentified Object” actually is.

No, Kormir knows but she’s not telling.

. . . but if I had to hazard a guess I’d have to say it’s [Redacted] leftover from [Redacted] and hopefully we can all forget about it lest the [Redacted] happen again.

Kormir: “No matter how much I look at it, I can’t tell what it is.”

Player: “You’re a kitten, Kormir.”

Heh. As to the hooves, it may be that we’re not taking them from the centaurs directly. It’s possible that they collect them from their fallen as a keepsake or luck charm, or a way to carry their spirits with them into battle. Creepy? Perhaps, but I can see them doing it.

Vayne.8563:

Palador.2170:

Vayne.8563:

Focusing on those details make people more unsatisfied than they need to be.

You may be right there. I think I can agree to disagree on the details, and get back to running around in PvP and making my team lose because I suck.

(Sorry to all I team with, but I want that CoF armor and I can’t buy dungeon tokens with laurels, so you’re stuck with me.)

I hate to ask but why not just run CoF?

I don’t like doing team stuff.

I don’t much care for PvP either, but the matches are short and I can take it in small bites at least. And even if I suck in PvP, if anyone’s killing me then they’re not killing someone else on my team, right?

Vayne.8563:

Focusing on those details make people more unsatisfied than they need to be.

You may be right there. I think I can agree to disagree on the details, and get back to running around in PvP and making my team lose because I suck.

(Sorry to all I team with, but I want that CoF armor and I can’t buy dungeon tokens with laurels, so you’re stuck with me.)

Vayne.8563:

Okay, so the end game begins at level 10, or an hour into the game.

First of all, thank you. If I can get even you to agree with it, then I’m pretty sure that means I’ve won at least my original point. We may not agree on when the end game starts, but we do agree it’s not at level 1.

Vayne.8563:

It’s not teaching people the wrong idea about the game, because it’s past so quickly. It’s doing what should have been done in the first place.

And you know, if we started with this, no one would have said a word. It would have been fine. There’d have been no complaints.

Just like everyone says level gating is bad, but skills and weapon swap were already level gated and no one complained.

Of course there were complaints, you know that. There’s always someone complaining. The question is, how many of those complaints had merit?

Look at Elementalists, for example. They used to start with fire and water elements unlocked. In other words, they had weapon swapping (ele style) at level 1. Looked at like that, it raises the question of why everyone else had to wait until level 7. Part of the reason for the outcry now is because ANet’s answer to that question was to push it back further for ALL classes, including Elementalist, the opposite direction from what most players would have considered an ease of play improvement.

Some level gating is good, I’ll grant you. But it’s something to be used sparingly. It makes gaining levels the goal, when that’s really something that should fade into the background of the rest of the game.

Vayne.8563:

See, I’m not sure what the huge rush is here. Pets were removed from the starting area, pre level 10. Skill points unlock I think at 13 now.

It takes an hour to get to level 10 now. An hour. Is this really what we’re complaining about? That in the first hour of play on a new character, you can’t tame animals that will take you ten minutes to go back and tame later? Because by level 10 you need a selection of 87 pets?

Every skill point you can’t acquire, you can get immediately at level 13, if you really want to, which is fine, because it’s around the time you really need to start spending skill points.

You want to have them up front? Build up a stash? What’s the difference if you have them at level 8 where you can’t use them, or you take ten minutes to get them at level 13?

Is it more convenient. Yeah, a bit. Good thing waypoints at that level are cheap as dirt.

For a first time player it won’t matter. For an experienced player it shouldn’t be that much of an inconvenience.

My point is that the game you have at low levels is NOTHING like the game you have when you’re at “endgame”. So, no, endgame does NOT start at level 1. Endgame now starts at level 30 or so, at best. The NPE changes (and I count the trait changes as part of that) actually go against ANet’s idea of having the whole game be endgame.

Can I deal with it? Yes. Do I want to? Not really. Do I think it’s teaching new players the wrong idea about this game? Very much so, yes. Your answer to part of this is to rush to level 10. Just stop and think about what you’re saying there. This is what the NPE is teaching people, to rush for levels to make the game more fun. That’s horrible.

tigirius.9014:

The same concept can help the pet/summons situation for the classes that are the weakest in pets but do have them and often need them in order for those classes to be considered a diverse class in PVE.

Here’s what I’m proposing:

~ Add the ability to summon special pets for those classes who use pets when they max out in a line specifically for pets.
~ Engineer: Tank Turrets – mobile turrets that use various ranged damage types (can’t imagine using a net turret but if that works okay)
~ Necromancer: Imps, undead Skale, Flesh Reavers.
~ Elementalist: Greater elementals.

While I like the basic idea, I think something like this would be better saved for a sub-class idea. Such ideas were tossed around in the old horizontal progression CDI, but sadly all we got out of that was the current trait system (which is NOT what we asked for, nor in the spirit of what was asked for).

Conski Deshan.2057:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Update. Still dealing with the same issue from Friday. Guild Missions and proposal will be tomorrow, Tuesday.

Meanwhile if anyone hasn’t don’t their top three then get to it(-:

Chris

Enough time for me to trim down the 100 page guild hall proposal in that case :P.

I strongly suggest abusing the spoiler code to compress long parts down, and leave only the important highlights visible at first glance. In a thread that’s sure to be full of VERY long, multi-part posts, being a well organized and quick read is going to be a good way to stand out.

Galen Grey.4709:

Palador.2170:

Galen Grey.4709:

well strictly speaking Arenanet’s message was never there i no endgame rather, end game starts at level 1.

I think the NPE safely puts that line to rest.

I dont really like the new changes at least on paper, have yet to try them but I still dont see how NPE means endgame doesnt start at level 1!

I mean what is it you will be doing now between level 1 – 15 that you will not be doing at level 80? its still dynamic events, exploring etc.. NPE didnt change anything … well correction, it did simplify some events no more feeding cows… but not to a degree that it changed gameplay. it just slowed down skill acquisition thats not changing how a game plays.

Really? That’s really how you see it?

So, you don’t see builds as part of endgame, then? Waiting until level 11 to start on that wasn’t so bad, but now you can’t even LOOK at the traits screen until you’re level 30. Are you telling me that you don’t see traits as an important part of the endgame?

There’s this class I like. Rangers. I have a few of them. You know what I spend a lot of my time on them doing? Keeping an eye out for any pets I may come across that I’ve not gotten with them yet. Guess what they removed from the low level areas. Yep, new pets. I guess Rangers having the right pets isn’t part of their endgame?

New players can’t even face skill challenges and start building up (very useful) skill points until.. level 12, right? I kind of thought end game called for skills, and maybe even some of the things you need skill points to buy or unlock.

You know what you have at level 1? An auto attack, and a heal. TWO skills. Do you know what you don’t have? The ability to improve yourself in any way, save by clearing the instance. You can’t gain more skills, or better loot, or anything until you level. And they reinforced that by pushing everything else further away from level 1. This is the very opposite of “Endgame starts at level 1”. This is “Gaining levels is the most important thing you can do”. All the new unlocks and rewards on level-up just reinforce that.

I kind of feel bad for the new players that will rush up in levels, thinking that there’s some awesome unlock awaiting them at the end. I guess Grand Master traits and Living Story are going to have to make do.

Qualamala Lumpa.9832:

Will the phase concerning Guild Halls be in this thread? Or in another thread? And also, has that discussion started yet? :P

New thread with a new title, I’m sure.

And right now, it’s looking like it will start Monday.

chemiclord.3978:

dlonie.6547:

chemiclord.3978:

Ya know, I MIGHT buy that argument that Fractal of the Mists shards are too short if dungeon groups didn’t spend their time in dungeons skipping as much as they can to make the run as short as possible.

And we’re the ones who make sweeping generalizations O.o

Just my experience, man. I have yet to join a dungeon group that was willing to experience the full run. It’s ALWAYS been skip as much as we can, get the loot, and get out.

And I don’t mean that as hyperbole, either. EVERY run I’ve been on has been to get it over with as quickly as possible.

I’m glad you apparently have a different one, but by MY experience? Yeah, players DON’T want a long experience, and so it makes the criticism of Fractals fall pretty kitten hollow.

Last two dungeon runs I did, we had a ranger with us running Celestial gear, LB/SB, Wolf/Artic Wolf. He insisted on fighting our way through and not trying to skip anything, though he also said it was his first time running the story paths and he didn’t know the story or how to skip stuff.

Sure, it took a couple of hours to run story AC and CoF (each), but it was pretty fun. None of the other players in the party complained.

… or existed.

There are those of us that would love to run things slower and proper, to use less than ideal builds just because we consider them fun or fitting to our character ideas. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one left with an impression that we’re an unwanted burden on other players when we try that, though. And not everyone’s going to try doing it solo like I’ve started to do. Instead, they just quietly stay away. Maybe this is the first problem we need to address on such “end game”, making it something more welcoming to all players so there’s enough of us playing it to make it a good time investment for the devs to work on.

cheshirefox.7026:

my main is pretty bored at this point and i’m always looking for something non-legendary.. i have most of the perma items excluding silver o matic and portable mystic forge.. i quit on hairstylist kit when i realized it doesn’t offer eye color or tattoo change.. i’m not going to address the new “feature patch” but the collections they threw in are sub-standard.. either someone threw it together at the last minute, or they are clueless about mmorpg.. several of the drops in the treasure hunter collection are just in there to promote older lesser traveled content.. i’m not going to get into their market value and susceptibility to manipulation and the availability/drop rate but i assure you it’s total junk.. obviously i gave up on that and went back to craft a similar item, mawdrey 2.. farmed some drytop, which wasn’t too bad and then i got to the point where i needed pristine fractal relics -_- no surprise they’re time gated and it’ll take me 5 days.. now before i sound entitled, let me just point out that i’m not aiming for anything super special, it’s just standard things that are implemented between larger patches.. why does arena net have such compulsions against common sense development? if i wanted to ruin things, i’d just take all the good things gw2 has to offer and just lazily sandwich it right in with all the bad things about gw2.. i can’t even think of a good analogy of how messed up the game is right now, it simply defies logic.. i’m tired of the dog and pony show, i’m going to allow things like rift expansion garner my attention until something like draenor arrives.. and no i don’t even ‘like’ warcraft

I think you missed the point of this thread.

Galen Grey.4709:

well strictly speaking Arenanet’s message was never there i no endgame rather, end game starts at level 1.

I think the NPE safely puts that line to rest.

Go take care of your family, Chris.

If none of your co-workers step up to keep things going while you’re gone, we’ll just amuse ourselves by ganging up on Vayne until you get back.

Sariel V.7024:

Dueling is now possible, thanks to the new Pocket Pugilist Dimensional Generator in the Gem Store. It costs 200 gems, works only once, and both participants must buy and use one.

I would suggest that challenging someone to a /duel carries with it some very distinctive animations, to make your intent clear. Maybe something like this.

Also, package with the PPDG a small selection of exclusive hairstyles for all races, to mark your character as someone that will want to challenge people to a one on one duel. Hairstyles can include such popular styles as the “9001” and the “Yu-Gi-Overload”.

Maybe this is why everyone seems to know and respect Tranhearne, but most of us never hear of him until he appears at Clawr Island? His personal story got edited and all of the adventures where he became a great scholar and hero of Tyria were skipped over.

LunarRXA.5062:

I’m all for more “Scavenger Hunt” type sidequests (similar to Mawdrey); I don’t think it needs to be “Legendary” though. Maybe a special account-bound exotic that you work on from normal —> fine --> masterwork —> rare -->exotic as you level up? (Similar to the new backpieces)?

I would be fine with that too, but I think taking it up to the flexable stats of a Legendary would be a better reward in the end.

Maybe flexible exotic stats? That would make it a bit better than a normal exotic and still worth getting, but not quite as powerful as ascended and legendary.

sazberryftw.3809:

My issue here is how is this a legendary tutorial when it’s nothing like making the “real” or"ccurrent" legendaries?

It’s a tutorial that ends with you earning a “plain” legendary. A weapon (or shield, or whatever) that’s legendary not because it’s flashy, but because it’s been used in every corner of the world and infused with rare substances in strange forges and places of power.

chemiclord.3978:

But now I take a deep breath, for I have now unlocked the new trait mechanic. I already know I’m going to hate it. The question is how much? We shall see!

Or those of us that have been trying it for ourselves can tell you. But really, where’s the fun in that? ::evil laugh::

Yes, I know. I know. Those three things don’t really go together normally. But hear me out, please.

Early in the game (level 5 or so), give the characters access to an “Odd Rusted <weapon>” or “Odd Cracked <weapon>”. It seems worthless, but the description suggests that it can be repaired. Thus begins a series of upgrades where, every 5 levels or so, you can go somewhere and get something or gain access to an area useful to upgrade the weapon so that it keeps up with the player.

The tutorial part comes in when you see where this leads you. It can be used to lead players to new zones fitting to their level range, as well as to challenges that make sure they’ve mastered the basic (and even advanced) concepts of the game. It can show new players around, without being too much of a burden to more experienced players. The reward for this will be the upgrading of the weapon to the next level.

The legendary part comes in at the end. When the weapon is finished it should be, stat-wise, a Legendary Weapon. The skin, however, shouldn’t be anything too fancy. If people want a fancy skin Legendary, they should chase those like anybody else. A sword/shield/bow/staff/ect with the flexible stats of a Legendary, however, would be a good reward for doing all the upgrades.

munkiman.3068:

While i think all feedback is good feedback, taking part since you just want your opinions heard, then lashing out about it is probably not a good road to take. If you don’t have any faith, it’s probably best to simply sit it out, for your own personal frustrations and everyone else involved. That’s my 2 cents.

Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep myself on topic and helpful when the GH CDI comes. There’s a reason I posted the question in the Communication thread, instead of waiting for the GH one.

And I do believe that Chris is whole-hartedly behind this. If it was a matter of trusting him, I never would have considered the question as needing to be asked. It’s his bosses I worry about. I understand how things go when deadlines approach or problems are encountered, and how easy it is to push something aside until “Later”, especially if there’s nothing holding you to getting it done. We’ve seen it happen before in this very game.

Anyway… I should drop the subject now, before this causes a thread derail. I’ll bow out now, and see you all in the next CDI!

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418:

Palador.2170:

Take a minute to think of what you’d call a person that refuses to commit to anything so they can never be held accountable for not doing things.

That’s a really poor attitude to take. Let’s say for example they DID decide to say, definitively, “we will make guild halls”. They work pretty steadily for it for half a year, hype it up, get a ton of feedback.

Then, they realize that there’s something in the code that’s hanging them up and won’t let them go any further. Some layover from the original Guild Wars (because the GW2 game is just using a heavily modified engine from GW1). Something is in the way, it can’t be fixed/adjusted without completely re-writing the game engine from scratch.

SO now, it’s either dedicate a huge team to months and months and months of work, for relatively little payout, just to implement one feature that was promised. Of course, it would be ridiculous to take all of that time and development energy away from literally everything else just to implement guild halls. So, instead, the idea is scrapped.

What do you think the fallout from that would be? And don’t say something naive like, “The code can’t be THAT hard to change.” Programming is complicated. It’s layers on top of layers on top of layers. ESPECIALLY when you have a system like they’re using for GW2, where they essentially took one game that already existed and lumped new programming on top of it, programming that was never intended to work with that original game to begin with.

This is the reason why they can’t “dedicate” themselves with a public response. Because if something like this would come up, the community backlash would be catastrophic.

DreamyAbaddon.3265:

You said there’s many reason ArenaNet has this stance and for good reasons.
Can you give me some examples of what reasons, good reasons, those might be?

I think this should be a sufficient enough response to your question as well, Abaddon. :p

First of all, I’m not asking them to say “We will make Guild Halls”. What I’m asking for is “We will put serious effort into making Guild Halls, and not just throw them onto the back burner.”

Second of all, if they DO run into a problem, they should tell us. If they come to us and say “We’ve run into problem X”, then we can work out ideas on how to get the feel of what we wanted while working around problem X. Holding a CDI, and then quietly throwing it all away when they run into a problem is a horrible idea. If, in the end, the can’t do the project then they should at least come out and say it so they don’t have players left hanging.

Here’s something you seem to miss: Having a CDI on something like “Guild Halls” may not be a promise of Guild Halls, but it’s pretty effing close. People will expect something to come of it, if not then why would ANet have included this when THEY were the ones picking the topics for these CDIs? If they’re not willing to dedicate themselves to doing it, then they need to be honest about it NOW, before expectations are built up. This isn’t about demanding they give me things. This is about derailing false hope and misguided expectations.

Artemis Thuras.8795:

Palador.2170:

Gain influence from non-repping members at a reduced rate.
Improved guild chat.
Guild alliances.

agree with the first 2.
Alliances in the gw1 sense I dont think are needed if inf is earned for each guild and one can see guild chat from each.

I’ll admit, I see the three as somewhat overlapping if done correctly.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Correct thanks Shadow and all for helping Palador with his questions. Would love to see you take part Palador, everyone is welcome.

Chris

One question. And the answer is, apparently, “No”.

I’m not surprised. The fact is, ANet’s policy is that they don’t step up and say “We will support this idea/concept”. I’m pretty sure we all know that by now.

Will I still take part? Yes. Not because I have any faith in ANet (I don’t), but because I still want to see what other people think of my ideas. And yes, that includes the individual game devs at ANet. I’ll just do it with no expectations of results from ANet as a company.

The fact that the company refuses to step up and dedicate themselves to a project is rather pathetic, though. Take a minute to think of what you’d call a person that refuses to commit to anything so they can never be held accountable for not doing things.

Rauderi.8706:

Other question, would there be any legal issues with using the specifics of an idea from a CDI? I would think not, or the devs wouldn’t be taking a risk on it, but intellectual property is kind of a sticky issue.
I can imagine scenarios where “we like the idea but we can’t copy it directly” might cause seemingly half-hearted execution of an otherwise solid, detailed concept.

By posting the ideas in the thread, you’re pretty obviously giving them permission to use them. Note that they never ask for art or code, just general ideas.

The ideas are fine for them to use, as long as they don’t too closely copy another game. It’s things like art or program code that would give them real problems if they used it directly. The ideas they have to implement in their own way.

Before the CDI on Guild Halls begins, I think it’s only fair that someone asks the big question:

If we come up with what appears to be a solid idea for Guild Halls, will ANet actually carry through with it and put the work into making it and making it right?

There’s no point in wasting time throwing around ideas that will never see the light of day. This isn’t a question that can be answered with a “maybe” or “we’ll see”. This is a “Yes” or “No” question. If the answer is “Yes”, then fine. Full steam ahead. If it’s not, then we don’t need to waste our time on something that’s going to get buried under other projects and come out half-baked, if at all.

Gain influence from non-repping members at a reduced rate.
Improved guild chat.
Guild alliances.

Tachenon.5270:

Query: is there anything about the NPE changes that might serve to make GW2 more console-friendly? I’ve not played any console games since the Sega Genesis, so I don’t know what they’re like now. But the thread ‘Guild Wars on PC and Console’ got me wondering…

Not really, no.

In the end, it’s the controls that are one of the big hang-ups between a console version and a PC version. A delayed need for all the buttons doesn’t change the fact that you still need them all in the end.

Plus, the idea of ANet trying to deal with all the hoops they’d have to jump through to push out LS updates for a console version is laughable, at best. I think we’d be looking at the end of the LS, which they won’t do.

I’ve made a couple characters now, and run them up through the end of the first personal story arc. (1 each of human, norn, and charr so far.) The more I see of the changes to the starting zones, the more I absolutely HATE them.

The starting zones have lost a lot of the convenience that they used to have for starting players (and adjusting level gating for vets won’t change that), and they’ve lost a lot of the FEEL that they used to have. Earning the right to buy potions that turn you into a white wolf? Gone. Buying the recipe to make wooden swords that look like a cheap kid’s toy? Gone. Lucky rabbits’ feet (in multiple colors) that don’t actually do anything? Gone (and that was a nice joke, too). The people with the watermelon patch actually SELLING watermelon? Gone. Apparently, the idea of “eating food is good for you” is considered a bit too advanced for people just starting the game.

I have a friend that played GW2 at one point, but became a serious market flipper and burned himself out quickly because of it. When I told him of the changes made to the GW2 starting levels and zones, his response was, and I quote:

Ren: Sounds like they’re going the “lowest common denominator” route, like WoW did.

Anyone remember that Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin brings in a single snowflake for show and tell? THAT is what this reminds me of.

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418:

I mean, it literally took 30 seconds to fill out, if that, and I got maybe one or two during every six hour play session. That’s really not that often at all, and even trimming it down so it only pops up once a day would still give a ton of feedback for ANet to use.

They could also make an option (defaulting to “On”, please) for if you even see them or not. That way, people that don’t like them can turn them off and not have to deal with them.

A second idea, in case my first one wasn’t ruin-y enough.

• Children can be killed, and count for the Ambient Creature daily.
• Rangers can now get a Chicken pet. 95% of the time, it’s a normal chicken. 5% of the time, it’s an Ebonhawke chicken.
• Various ranger pets now do the “butt scoot” animation when returning after being killed.
• New Living Story! Scarlet returns as an army of mass produced clones of herself. Only by getting Logan and Rytlock to admit their feelings can you defeat her with the power of true love! (Hidden Trahearne/mirror ending also available.)
• The Biconics start talking about RL items that the player might be willing to buy. Living Story also unlocks a mini Pizza Hut delivery person that you can right click to call up an online menu to place orders for delivery.
• Keep traits as they are. Add no more new traits or skills.
• Add in legendary rank junk items.

I would give the players some choices to make as they play, and let them feel the full weight of their actions.

The human storyline, for example, has you killing off bandits. I’d have it so, later, there’s more orphans in the home instance because you killed their parents (the bandits). Or as a charr taking on the Flame Legion, you accidentally kill an Ash Legion spy that was working in the Flame Legion, and their warband now blames you for charging in before they could warn him to get out. Take down the Nightmare Court as a sylvari? Your violent actions cause a few more sylvari to decide that the Court is right after all, and they fall into Nightmare.

I’d also have some serious “grey vs grey” choices. Kill a dangerous separatist, or let them go in exchange for an antidote to save a friend? Get the survivors out of Clawr Island, or let them die as you run back and try to save your mentor? Get the charr to invent duct tape to tape Trahearne’s mouth shut, or get the asura to find a way to extract helium to make him talk funny? Shoot a rabid Garm, or let him bite Eir and hope that you can somehow cure both of them?

By the time I was done, the game would lose its T rating, and therefore likely crash.

As much as I wanted to play a Tengu, I have go agree with zeromius. This game has problems, and they’re getting worse, not better. Taking the time to make a new race would be a huge mistake right now.

Given ANet’s track record, that means I expect to see tengu by the end of the year.

A new race, at the very least, will come with:

• New racial skills
• New areas
• New story (even if it’s only up to level 30)
• New enemies
• New looks (even if only for that race)