Guild Wars 2

You should probably report this as a bug. There were other issues with clones being distinguishable from the real mesmer that they’ve fixed, so I’m guessing this is unintentional.

I stumbled into this area last night and hung around for about 2 hours. (I’ve never met a mysterious portal I wasn’t willing to go through). At first it was just myself and another player and neither of us had any clue what was going on – we got to the hardest jumping part and both fell and died. Luckily, another player had shown up and revived us. I stuck around to help the second player through (and make sure someone was around to revive him if he tripped) and had a blast.

By the way, I LOVE DIVING GOGGLES!

Here’s a link to my commemorative screenshot:
http://67.205.124.70/g/6/eb001dbc-37e0-4602-aa61-ae4e91a6c829.jpg

I’ve taken so many screenshots of GW2 I’ve started keeping an album of my favorites
http://www.mejuba.com/albums/Pandemoniac/133090

I honestly find the lower level areas really easy as a down-scaled 80, and regularly solo group events. At level 32 though, you probably don’t have enough of your traits filled out or have the additional stats from the higher level gear/runes. You might be able to do it eventually, but I would avoid trying to solo champions until you’re higher level. You won’t be able to stand still and let them hit you with their big attacks though, no matter how good your gear is…

Fernling.1729:

I am seriously lost and hoping someone might be able to help. This isn’t a hate thread, so please don’t make it as such.
I just can’t get myself to log in anymore. I am still around in hopes that something happens and I can start enjoying the game. I haven’t had this kind of issue with even some of the previous “fail” mmos. I can still to this day casually log into Eve, WoW, DCUO, Runescape, Rift, GW1 and even play through the Mass Effect series again, which I have beaten about 10 times now. For some reason I just can’t get myself to log into GW2. It feels like I such a chore to do anything in the game. I guess I don’t know what’s going on with it, but maybe the game is not for me?

You’re not in the mood for the type of play GW2 offers. It’s a game, it shouldn’t feel like work. This is why I’ve dumped subscription games all together – I don’t like feeling obligated to log in. I keep a lot of different types of games in the stable – some days it’s MMO, some days it’s turned based strategy, some days it’s a ridiculous casual game that requires absolutely no brain power (I play that one a lot in the 4th quarter because of what’s going on at work).

There’s lots of good stuff out right now, and there are lots of good older games you might have missed that are really inexpensive. Mix it up a little bit – changing the type of game you play is good exercise for different parts of your brain. Or, turn off the computer and start a project. I have those days where I want to play something but nothing in the game library appeals to me. On those days, I feel better if I make something or clean out a closet or accomplish something concrete. If I’m lucky the mood lasts several days so I get a lot done

In addition to what other folks have said…

• Talk to NPCs that have names other than “Citizen” etc. They some times give clues to hidden content, sometimes they start events, and they usually tell you what’s going on in the area.

• If an NPC runs up and asks for help, go ahead and say “Sure!”. It just puts a distant event on your map, and you’re not obligated to participate in it if you don’t want to.

• If there is a harvest node where you’re standing on your map, but you don’t see it, it’s above or below you – go look for it. Often they lead you into hidden areas.

• If you’re having trouble finding a point of interest in the main cities, many of them are inside instances that you have to got through a door or gate to get to.

Some useful resources:

• The official wiki (also, you can type /wiki in game)
• guildhead.com I use it mostly for the item/recipe database
• gw2cartographers.com - interactive map (there are some spoilers on there if you want to find the jumping puzzles and chests yourself, so you might want to toggle the icons off using the explore menu at the top of the page)

Just a couple of additional suggestions:

Kill more of the non-hostile mobs, especially the ones in out of the way spots. It helps with your daily kill variety, and if they’ve been in the world for a while, you get bonus XP.

Always keep a food buff on for the +10 xp per kill – it’s really cheap on the trading post and it adds up.

If you haven’t been harvesting every node you see you’re missing out on a lot of XP. Crafting also gets you XP.

And as other folks suggested – get your map completion for all the main cities: Rata Sum, Divinity’s Reach, Hoelbrak, The Black Citadel, and Lion’s Arch. You can get to them all from gates in Lion’s Arch.

The Claypool vista is one of the hardest vistas, so don’t get too discouraged.

I practice by jumping up on everything that looks accessible and make my own vistas. It’s easier to practice with less pressure and when a missed jump doesn’t set you back so far. A couple things that helped me:

• some jumps you want to move forward and then jump and other jumps you want to jump then move forward.
• turn off double tap to dodge
• there is usually an invisible platform that extends beyond the edges of what’s visible – it makes some jumps easier, but it also causes you to get hung up on roof overhangs and such.
• if you’re missing one jump over and over, try it from a different spot/angle. Those beams are the hardest for me, and I’ve found them easier jumping at an angle instead of straight across.

Well I found them on gw2db.com and it indicates that they are bind on acquire, so they could be something only available from a karma vendor. They’re level 19, if the DB is accurate, and they look human to me, so you might try checking in Kessex Hills?

GADefence.5634:

Pande, you can right click on the gathering tool in your hero menu (H) and it’ll show you a list with the names of everyone tool you can equip. It makes sorting a lot faster.

Thanks for the tip! It seems like I learn something new about the GW2 interface every week.

Ruined fibers and such sell for money to the vendor, and you still get XP for harvesting the node. Why shouldn’t I be able to use up old tools if I don’t care what I get from the node?

What I’d like to see is distinct icons for the different tiers of tools so I can figure out which ones I want to equip without having to mouse over them all. It’s not that big a deal now that I’m 80. The few extra silver is worth not having to manage which tools I’ve got equipped, it’s just annoying while I’m leveling.

I want the Quaggan ghost too – they always charm me out of my candy corn.

I think if the +1 and ignore poster features actually worked, they would be enough. I think down-voting isn’t useful unless you have a crowd-moderated site like slashdot. I would prefer to not see posts by the folks that can’t stop beating the dead horse, and by the folks that can’t stop complaining about the dead horses getting beaten, but I don’t think that should affect the visibility of those posts for everyone.

Sometimes I don’t have anything to add to the discussion other than, “I like this idea”, and I’m not going to clog up the forums with a “me too” post, so I find the concept of a +1 useful. I wish it worked more similarly to the D3 forums, where when I’m logged in I can see “this post is highly rated” instead of just that I have rated it.

Gray.9650:

too bad that mail doesn’t work.

<forums@arena.net.>:
64.25.42.38does_not_like_recipient./Remote_host_said:_501_5.5.2_RCPT_TO_syntax_error/Giving_up_on_64.25.42.38./_

You should drop the period after .net and try using the actual e-mail address. It works fine.

Regardless, I’m not telling you anything. I’m just pointing out the rules that are already in place.

ASB.4295:

I think this whole thread is just another excuse for people to moan about things they want to have in the game and hate about the game, regardless of what the developer actually has in mind for its future.

It’s just data, with a pretty good explanation of how it was acquired and analyzed and no particular agenda or spin put on it. The survey was of folks’ opinions, not a scientific analysis of how the game should be designed.

If folks stick to discussing the data instead of dragging all their baggage in from other threads, it could be an interesting discussion. Unfortunately, your post has probably just precipitated the type of discussion you’re complaining about. Disparaging other folks’ opinions is a sure fire way to get them to defend their opinion and criticize yours.

I think this is an interesting idea.

The vendor would let the folks that play a lot but on different characters afford the higher end items by pooling karma. I don’t know if the fee for creating the jug should be gold or karma or a bit of both.

I’m pretty satisfied with the jugs from the dailies, but this is the one game I don’t play a lot of alts. I can’t think how letting folks pool their Karma across characters would impact me, other than there’s no way of telling whether that Mesmer played all those hours to afford that fancy armor, or if they got to 80 by crafting and their Warrior friend donated all his karma to them. I don’t really care about that though.

Thanks for putting this together – it was very interesting. I imagine getting rid of the self selection issue was a LOT of work.

The only thing I really noticed missing from the survey was WvW and PvP. The folks that are doing that for end game might be a more difficult population to sample because they tend to get cranky if you hang out in the PvP areas and don’t help out with the war effort

Kyma Grey.9410:

Like with anything – else pretty much, to get better you need :
Practise and more Practise.

Exactly this. I consider myself semi-hardcore. I don’t get too uptight about games, but I’m pretty serious about being solidly above average

Some things I recommend in general:

• Stick to one profession/character and really learn about all the things you can do with it.
• Focus on one thing you want to improve. If you want to be a great team player in dungeons, practice running dungeons.
• Challenge yourself – go see if you can solo that champion. You can’t get better unless you push yourself a bit. PvP is also a great way to flex your skills.
• Have a plan for your character, so you know what you’re looking for in skills/traits/gear. Answer two questions for yourself – How am I going to survive? and How am I going to do damage? Then ask yourself how you can fit helping allies into your plan.

Some things specifically for GW2:

• Learn about Combos
• Go to the Heart of the Mists lobby using the PvP button on your toolbar, build your character according to your plan, and use the practice areas to see how it works and get used to your skills. It’s a great way to try out a skill without blowing skill points on it.

It’s not a Halloween event only change.

Update Notes October 22-2012

ACHIEVEMENTS
In response to several letters from the Tyrian Explorers Society, we have made the following changes to recognized achievements:

• Added karma rewards to daily and monthly achievements.

I think it’s very cool that they made it an account bound reward instead of just giving the karma to whichever character you’re on when you complete the daily.

I believe you have to unlock the Hall of Monuments before you will see those three points, and you have to be level 10 to do that.

These links might help:
http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/faq/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claiming-your-hall-of-monuments-rewards/

They’ve made a Platinum Edition available that gets you the game and the Eye of the North expansion that you need for the Hall of Monuments. The Guild Wars wiki has a page for HoM reward points that can help you figure out the easiest/most fun path to the number of points you want.

You can get a point for any pet statue if you level up an animal companion to 20. I got most of my points by dedicating the miniatures I got for birthday presents, but there are ways to get a miniature as an in-game reward.

While I’m really pleased that I haven’t received a gold spam mail in a couple of weeks, I agree that the current limits are too severe considering that mail is the only way we have to give items to other players.

Here’s some snippets from the Code of Conduct you might have missed.

Forum moderators have full discretion to address any behavior that they feel is inappropriate. Your membership and participation in these forums is a privilege and not a right. ArenaNet reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to these forums and/or to the game itself at any time for reasons that include, but are not necessarily limited to, your failure to abide by this Code of Conduct.

All forum content is permitted or removed at the discretion of ArenaNet.

We welcome your suggestions and feedback on how to make this a better place for players with customer support concerns. Please send an email to forums@arena.net, and we will be pleased to review it. Due to the volume of mail we receive, we cannot answer every email, but we read everything.

(emphasis mine)

You don’t post

http://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/rules:

Do not post about locked, deleted, or otherwise moderated threads or posts. Moderation happens for a reason. A staff member or moderator may lock a thread before posting in order to promptly curtail continued comments. If you have yet to see a comment by a staff member on a locked thread, please wait for the comment to appear and do not post a new thread on the subject. If you have questions regarding forum moderation, send an email to forums@arena.net.

Capn Evan.4586:

Pandemoniac.4739:

Just out of curiosity, how do you play a game if someone managed to get the name you wanted before you did? Do you just give up? What happens when ANet releases the reserved names and someone else snags it before you do?

They…can’t? They’re…reserved?

What’s the difference between them being reserved and someone else taking them? You’re not guaranteed to get a reserved name when it’s no longer reserved, so you won’t play if someone else gets it first?

Just out of curiosity, how do you play a game if someone managed to get the name you wanted before you did? Do you just give up? What happens when ANet releases the reserved names and someone else snags it before you do?

I’ve been level 80 for a while now and I still haven’t finished the final stages of the story. Most of what’s been driving me through the different areas is collecting cooking ingredients. I look up where I can get something I’m missing, then I go do my scorched earth map completion for that area. I’m trying to get all of the recipe discoveries, which is not the most efficient way to level up, but I’m having fun doing it.

The only time I wished I had done my personal story first was when I did my first story mode dungeon. I didn’t realize that the dungeons were a direct extension of the story. I could have figured it out if I had thought about it, I was just used to dungeons being isolated little mini-plots. It wasn’t a big deal, it just could have been a little bit cooler if I knew what had happened earlier.

There have been more than 2 million sales of GW2, and that email address is one of the few publicized ones. Based on my experience, they’re getting everything from technical support requests to dissertations on how they should have designed the game cross-mailed to every available address. I even had to handle folks trying to get support from us for completely unrelated products. Just because you don’t abuse support email addresses, don’t assume no-one else does.

If you’ve never had an experience where someone who had no idea what you do had unrealistic expectations that they thought were perfectly reasonable, I envy you.

I’m guessing that you’ve never been in a situation where hundreds of folks email you every day, sometimes multiple times.

Just because you don’t get a personal response doesn’t mean that nothing was done. If nothing else, at least there is documentation that there was an error if another infraction gets put on your account.

I think with the amount of traffic on the forums, special situations like yours could get overlooked, especially if someone in the community was helping out and flagged it. I would definitely drop an email to ANet and let them know. If another mistake is made, you wouldn’t want to have to sort it out while on a posting suspension.

Having written and supported a third party API for a piece of retail software, I’d have to say no. I’d rather see ANet’s resources going toward other things that only folks with access to the code base can do.

I have used add-ons for other games – quest helpers, raid frames, and auction stuff, none of which I need in GW2. There’s nothing so annoying in the UI that I can’t wait for ANet to fix it. And yeah, I understand a lot of folks aren’t as patient as I am, but I’d rather wait for it to be done right than find out an add-on project I’ve come to depend on has been abandoned and doesn’t work with the latest patch. And I’m sure ANet doesn’t want to have to deal with people complaining that the patch broke some third party add-on.

The one thing that had the possibility of making me want an add-on, ANet addressed by making the TP data available through a web connection so that sites like GW2Spidy could gather what folks want to know instead of each player having to stand there in game and run an add-on that scans all the prices.

GrimShade.8091:

If I run by because I see no one around fighting it, then the next guy does too, then no one is ever around to group up and fight a Champ.

Why run by it? If no-one shows up, and you don’t want to take the time, the leash isn’t that long, so you can always bail. If someone does end up killing it later, you still get rewarded for trying.

I actually like the events with less people around and think the challenge level is about right.

I never hesitate to jump in a group event even when I’m solo unless it’s underwater – then, I hesitate and do it anyhow. Usually when folks realize that someone is doing the event, they jump in. If they don’t, I’ve been able to finish them solo, although I’m sure that some folks will consider it a waste of time for the amount of reward you get. I just do it because I find it fun.

Three out of five times in the past two days someone else has shown up, we take out the champ, and have a great time doing it. I really enjoy doing a champ with two people. I have to use every bit of everything I can do and I get to see how other folks play their professions under extreme conditions. It’s a lot easier for me to react to what the other player is doing if there’s only two of us – when too many other players are around, I just react to what the boss is doing, and react to downed players. Not as interesting.

Obsidian.1328:

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

I’m the same way. I’ve taken it a step further and I’m trying to find the hidden areas without looking them up. Most of the time, the only reward that I keep is the screenshot I never really go back and do them over unless I’m helping someone.

Essence Snow.3194:

Idk bout ya’ll (<—the way we spell it from where I’m from)

Where I’m from, you’ve got the apostrophe in the wrong spot It’s an abbreviation for you all, y’all.

It would be really interesting to see a reprise of John Smith’s earlier analysis now that there are more folks in the game. In a response to a thread in the Black Lion forum, John has said that they’re looking into issues, but that they’re being careful to not make sweeping changes that have undesirable side-effects.

The only issue I see with a gap between the haves and have-nots is if there is no way for the have-nots to improve their lot because the haves are shutting them out. I don’t see any evidence that’s what’s happening. If you started the game today, do you have a chance to be able to make enough money to afford salvage packs, gathering tools, decent gear and such so that you can gather items of value? Yes. Will it take you more time to make money than someone who already has a bunch of money in the bank because they bought into the market when gem prices were different? Yes.

You don’t need a full set of exotics to do the highest level content or most profitable content. There’s really not a lot of barriers to entry into the market, you just have to bootstrap.

[Edit]

Regardless, the armor in the game is completely for looks, and we have choices between skimpy or not, so I’m not going to make any comment on folks’ preferences. I will say however the game is rated Teen, and ANet probably made some adjustments to keep it that way.

[Edited by CC: Off-Topic link, quoting a removed post]

Give this sticky a quick once over:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/first#post20871

And don’t be afraid to explore. If the NPC has a name, chat with them. If you see something interesting from afar, take a closer look.

And if you see a resource node on your map where you’re standing, but can’t find it, it’s above you or under you and looking for it could lead you some place neat. I’m convinced that ANet put those nodes there on purpose to lead you to places… I found the hidden jumping puzzle in Sparkfly Fen that way.

Banewrath.5107:

But do yourselves a favor and restrict access to the leader and a few trusted officers who can hand out anything that is requested.

That’s generally the best policy in the current system – if you have an open guild bank, don’t put anything in there you would get really upset over losing. It’s a pain to have to wait for an officer to be around, but it reduces your risk considerably. Just cross your fingers and hope none of the officers have account problems

After re-reading, I realized maybe I should have said more clearly that any time you have a accounts with more privileges than others, those accounts should have additional security. A pin or additional password when exercising those extra privileges is the simplest way… requiring a mobile authenticator is another.

Tarkaroshe.8370:

Pandemoniac.4739:

Someone else suggested a vault PIN a while back, which seems easier on folks than mobile authentication. Just don’t put the PIN in the MOTD

I like the idea of being able to set the number of items a particular rank can remove from the vault per day.

Problem is that a hacker could in theory just ask for the PIN again in guild chat, and a guildie could give it to them, not knowing that they aren’t actually the real account holder.

The way we handle our TS server password is that you must go to the private area of the forums to find it. We never ever give it out in chat. Now if you have a member that’s silly enough to use the same credentials for everything, and the exploiter goes and finds the guild web site just to break into your vault, well what can be done?

You can also use a number combination that you can infer from something else you already know or look up, so all you have to remember is the question. For example, the month and day of some well known figure’s birthday.

Any security can be overcome, it just depends on whether the reward is worth the effort and time.

Someone else suggested a vault PIN a while back, which seems easier on folks than mobile authentication. Just don’t put the PIN in the MOTD

I like the idea of being able to set the number of items a particular rank can remove from the vault per day.

• Alt-click to set a personal way point so when I get distracted, I can remember which way I meant to go
• Being able to toggle the exploration icons on and off on the map to find that last POI (I completely overlooked that little eye in the bottom left corner for the longest time)
• Shift-drag draws on the mini-map
• Being able to reduce your inventory UI by hiding the bag separations
• Being able to search in your inventory
• Some events have voice overs calling out where the next wave is coming from
• Being able to buy more of a crafting ingredient on the TP by right clicking
  …

Really I could go on and on, ANet’s attention to detail is really amazing.

Do the same thing you did to get the three other level 80s in your signature?

Yes it’s unfortunate that we can’t use macros for convenience because of the exploiters. Maybe make a suggestion that shift or control clicking when you have a salvage kit active salvages the entire stack?

Kaine.3501:

How do you post a video on the guild wars 2 forums?

and please dont reply with something like “use embed” and that’s all you have to say….or use [youtube] [/youtube]….i get all that. Im just having a hard time. Can someone show me a step by step example so I can do it for my own video. My video is a GW 2 video at http://youtu.be/yj9ZgV_Nli0 and I wanted to put the actual video in my WvW post. Not just the link.

You just need to click on “Share” button, open the options from the link under the URL, then check “Long Link”. You don’t have to put any tags around the link, the forum software will embed it.

Nope, not allowed. From the rules of conduct:

You may not use any third-party program (such as a “bot”) in order to automate gameplay functions, including playing, chatting, interacting, or gathering gold or items within Guild Wars 2. You may not assist, relay, or store gold or items for other players who are using these processes.

Also, you might want to add your voice to this thread in the suggestions forum.

Personally, I prefer unofficial RP servers. I don’t role play myself, but I do enjoy the RPer community. If my guild wasn’t on a different server I’d have switched to Tarnished Coast in a heartbeat.

Very cute – and rated teen for folks who are wondering…

There are also random named NPCs in the world that give you conversation options that can boost your alignment. I know of one on the Hoelbrak upper balcony. They don’t always give you all three choices, but there’s usually a neutral way to back out of the conversation.

The combat definitely takes some getting used to, regardless of your class. I think the hardest thing to learn is the visual cues and what you should do in response to them. You have to keep a close eye on what you’re fighting, and not just its health. You don’t have to dodge to avoid an attack if you’re paying attention – you can step out of the way of projectiles if you move after they’re released, and you can step behind melee attacks to avoid them (little harder to side step them as they seem to have a bigger hit area than projectiles).

You need more than damage skills on your bar – everyone should have a stun breaker and an interrupt in my opinion. You should be able to recognize when someone drops a water field so you can shoot projectiles through it and get that added regeneration from the combo effect.

When I’m fighting regular mobs in this game, I very rarely use more than a couple of my skills, where in other MMOs I used most of my skills every fight. You have to know the side-effects of your skills so you can apply them at the right moments, where in other MMOs I just needed to remember where I was in my rotation.

I found this is the one game that has put a serious damper on my alt-itis I’m too old to be able to keep track of the differences among them, so I tend to play one profession for really long stretches. I think time and practice will help.

Some tips

• Always keep a food buff on – I like pies that give you health regen, because they help you get out of the downed state.
• Fight in areas where you’re down-leveled until you start getting the hang of your profession. The lower level mobs have fewer abilities that do nasty things to you.
• Make sure your weapons are all current to your level. I found early on that getting my DPS up had a huge impact on my ability to survive.

And one more thing – never ever stand still. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Raf.1078:

I don’t agree, however, that any/all players should have the ability to breeze through a dungeon while everyone else is fighting their kittens off…just because of some sort un-defineable rule about group make-up and mgmt.

I agree it should cut both ways – folks that sponge off of good dungeon teams should be just as “reportable”. If there was a pick-up on my team that was AFK a lot or what-have-you, and we told them if they didn’t get their act together, we were going to kick them and they persisted in their bad behavior, I wouldn’t hesitate to kick them. I’d also screenshot that conversation though.

Raf.1078:

Hmmm….didn’t know that. So, hypothetically, you pick up a player? Nobody knows him/her..but into the dungeon, you find they are dragging the group down. What now? Keep playing with someone who isn’t listening or trying?

Just because they report you for kicking them doesn’t mean ANet will automatically punish you. I think it doesn’t take an hour to figure out that a particular player isn’t a good fit for your group. If you act in good faith, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.