Guild Wars 2

You’ll be able to play the game as normal. You will get access to the new core specs starting next week. You will also be able to play the new WvW map and the new Stronghold mode. You can also be invited to a guildhall.

With them giving the base game for free to new players they can exclusively develop S3 for HoT. This means that unless you have HoT you won’t get S3 for free. nor will you be able to purchase it from the gemstore.

Crylos.2169:

Now! Because we don’t know enough about HoT and its value, saying 50 dollars is too much or just right (or maybe too little, for some people?) is meaningless. For some people, all it matters is how many hours they get from a game. If that’s how they want to do it, that’s fine for them. But I’d rather have replayable and fun maps (as ANet said the new maps would be designed to achieve) then 40 hours of dredging through solo leveling and fetch quests.

I disagree. EAnet is offering the expac for sale. We therefore have no alternative but to judge that offering by the information they have made available. This is not all there is to know about the expansion, but it’s all the buyer has to go on. It is therefore more than fair to judge it on what has been made available to the customer.

Crylos.2169:

This all leads to my final point: Players should not even complain about (pre) purchasing HoT until every major feature is sufficiently fleshed out. Most of this backlash is coming from ignorance rather than anything else but they also need to look at the overall value and not just the numbers. Even if all the new areas HoT will introduce make up a total of 33% of the base game world, that does not mean the content will not be valuable. GW1’s Fissure of Woe and Underworld were the same two elite areas of the game for 9 or 10 years and they were always interesting. Sure, interest waned and spiked as time went by, and that interest also came from the different builds that could be used, but those two areas are proof that map quantity isn’t that important. If ANet release enough info over the next few weeks (and maybe months), I’d bet most of the people complaning now would change their minds (assuming what ANet shows is indeed valuable). If all HoT has to show is bland while asking for 50 dollars, THEN people should complain.

It is not up to you to decide what people should value in an expac. Different customers have different needs/wants from it. A WvWer/PvPer might think twice if all they’re getting is a few elite specialisations. They might not be interested in the PvE side, and they’re therefore paying for a map they’ll have access to anyway (New BL/Stronghold respectively)

A lot of people are also upset about the offerings right now. You are manipulated to go for the most expensive option because it’s the only one that arguably offers value for money. The base option does not include the character slot required to make a Revenant, a key part of the expac for many, and the top tier offering gives a $25 bonus over the middle tier, making the $100 preorder the only valid option for a discerning customer.

If the outrage is rooted in ignorance as you say, it’s ignorance of EAnet’s making for asking us to shell out on limited information.

https://youtu.be/aUtMGS3ezLI Here’s Wooden Potato’s take.

I wouldn’t expect Bog Otter/Aurora Peachy/MMoinks/Mattvisual to cover it; they’re getting kickbacks if you order through their links, after all.

Hope to be proven wrong.

We’re not getting any extra as veteran players because they already have our business and to experience any future LS you’ll need HoT. Seems like a save bet that you’ll end up buying it since as a veteran you have a lot invested in your account.

The insult comes when they don’t even include a character slot to enjoy part of the expac content you just paid for.

Blackworm.2167:

Pretty Pixie.8603:

Drayos.8759:

1) Why do they owe u a Character slot for free? What have u done they makes u so Deserving?..

Your argument makes no sense. I’m a customer. It’s a financial transaction. If I feel I’m being hit up twice for the same product, I’ll think twice.

Just as a heads-up, the person you’re refuting is already rather… out-of touch with reality, as he has proven in another thread. He doesn’t actually understand the argument, yet attempts to argue it anyway, like many others here do.

Thank you for the heads up. I’ll consider that.

Drayos.8759:

1) Why do they owe u a Character slot for free? What have u done they makes u so Deserving?..

Your argument makes no sense. I’m a customer. It’s a financial transaction. If I feel I’m being hit up twice for the same product, I’ll think twice.

Drayos.8759:

U paid $50 3 years ago, People Give More then that to MMos in 2 days of Play these days…. Rift charge u that much just to use the 2 extra Souls ur class would have, What u paid for In this day and age is the Equilivant of not EVEN a classes Worth of the Dollar.

Other games have no impact on how I spend my money here. I make my decision on what’s being offered here, because this is the game I play. I play this game because it’s fun and it offered value for money.

Drayos.8759:

U assume that u are owed something, without even Understand Enconomy how can u Judge Weather somethings WORTH the money before u even know the WORTH of the Dollar, by your opinon U dont beleive

Be so kind to quote where I said I was owed anything.

Drayos.8759:

£34 ($50) is not Worth 3 WvW Maps, Incredibly Detailed and Multi-Purposeful Guild Halls a New Class 8 New Specializations, New PvE content, New Story Line, Instant Access to All Betas

It is my understanding that we’re getting 1 new borderland, which will also be available to people that do not purchase HoT. Same for Stronghold (feel free to correct me if you have a quote showing differently)

Drayos.8759:

SO how come you beleive this

While People in Rift Fork out £40 so they may access all corners of their class?…. Why do they beleive that is WORTH THEIR MONEY, but u think something 500x More then that is not?…

Everquest 2 Charge £34 for thje Expansions Same price as Guild Wars 2 even though their newest expansion is over a Year old, They also charge £40 to unlock the two new Classes.. and can charge as much as £40 for ONE race unlock.

Still Community agrees its WORTH the money.

Btw these games also require the sub to have full access to those games.

This is a common logical fallacy, appeal to majority. What other people think in other games has no bearing on my financial decision making here.

Drayos.8759:

The issue is… Its OBVIOUS to Both Arena Net and EVERYONE ELSE by the Marketted prices of Expansions In THIS DAY AND AGE and how much these expansions Include in them that £34 is a CHEAP price to put on a Expansion.

WoW Cataclysm – P2P game so SHOULD be cheaper then anything GW2 Sell.

5 Levels 2 Races 4 Lands 2 Raids 0 Classes 0 Speccs – £34.99

How does a Expansion that SMALL with barely NOTHING to do it Cost the same price as GW2 on its Inital Release? i mean do you not SEE the problems here.. Where u compare what else u could have bought in the same price range?… That is offered Vastly More for the same price as things that had Nothing in comparison?

As I stated elsewhere, I would have considered the $50 on the information available right now if they hadn’t pulled the in my eyes sneaky ’we’re not including a character slot for the revenant though, so if you want to experience all the content, you can buy another slot’ deal.

I might still purchase HoT as I get a better understanding of what it includes. $50+$10 (Aus$80) seems steep right now, especially for someone mostly interested in PvP/WvW.

Vayne.8563:

Pretty Pixie.8603:

What EAnet owes us is non shady business practices. They charge $50 and then do not include a character slot so you can’t actually experience all of the content if you do not have one available to cynically wring another $10 buck out of you. They price it at $50 because of a captive audience; everyone that wants future content is required to have HoT, with the possible exceptions of content like halloween etc. never mind that you’re expected to drop the money with limited knowledge of what’s included.

Anyone dropping $50 is doing that with the information they have now. And I for one don’t consider what has been revealed so far worth $50.

Captive Audience? Really? Is this your first MMO?

If you play WoW, you can’t do the new content if you don’t pay the subscription AND buy the expansion. If you play something like Lotro or DDO, you have to buy each area and some professions. Those games take greed to a new level. Games are either pay to win, which which case they can afford to give you content for free, since you’re forced to pay anyway if you want to progress, or they lock parts of the game behind a paywall, or they charge you a monthly fee.

That’s the real world in MMO. Want to play FFXIV, be prepared to pay a monthly fee AND pay for an expansion. Want to play SWToR, sure you can, for free as long as you don’t want to do anything. It’s more like pay to walk. Most people who play it have the “optional” subscription. ESO had a sub fee milking people for an entire year, so if they come out with something now and it’s free, well, so what? Most players of that game paid over $150 to get there.

This isn’t some huge ridiculous cash grab. This is the realities of the industry and Anet is one of the lesser offenders.

As I said elsewhere, other games have no bearing on how I spend my money here. I consider the current pricing shady, with the double dipping for a character slot which excludes you from content you just purchased.

I would probably drop the $50 even though with the information available the xpac looks light to me. If I then see that players are being hit up for another $10 just to experience part of the content they just paid for, I’ll think twice.

Good for you that you’re happy with the way they went about it. I prefer to be a bit more discerning with my money.

if you could kindly stay away from the infantile ad hominems, that be swell.

Other games have no bearing on how I spend my money in this game, and I have dropped quite a bit on gems. That’s because I felt that was value for money.

Charging $50 for HoT means I need to make a decision with information of what the expac contains that I currently have. It looks a bit light to me. I would probably pay it, but then they do not include a character slot, giving me the distinct impression that’s it a cynical attempt of hitting their customers for another $10.

Considering that means you can’t fully experience the content that you just paid for (and thought pricey to begin with) I will hold off on purchasing and see how this develops.

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Reading, but not neccessarily listening. There was at least one popular thread asking about character slots to be included. It appears it was willfully ignored.

What EAnet owes us is non shady business practices. They charge $50 and then do not include a character slot so you can’t actually experience all of the content if you do not have one available to cynically wring another $10 buck out of you. They price it at $50 because of a captive audience; everyone that wants future content is required to have HoT, with the possible exceptions of content like halloween etc. never mind that you’re expected to drop the money with limited knowledge of what’s included.

Anyone dropping $50 is doing that with the information they have now. And I for one don’t consider what has been revealed so far worth $50.

Everyone wants value for money, and not be taken for a mug by a company that introduces a new class, but denies acess to it.

130 aus$ is a bit much to just drop on an expansion for me, regardless of it’s added value. It’ll be 130 aus$ I won’t have that week to make ends meet.

No, the price is a fixed $50,- as stated by RB in the Anet twitter feed. If you already have an account you pay the full price for the expansion.

wiki

Twilight Arbor armor is a dungeon armor set purchased from Valiant Saeraquel using Deadly Blooms, a token obtained while completing Twilight Arbor explorable mode. A full set costs 1,380 Deadly Blooms. There is a set for each weight in 3 different prefixes: Rabid, Magi’s, and Rampager’s. All pieces are exotic and have a level requirement of 80. This armor glows, and dye channels blend into one another, so dying this armor can give unexpected results.

Thought the bolded part was relevant to you.

There’s also:

Collections to complete;
Getting involved in WvW and supporting your server;
Collecting skins to fill out your wardrobe;
Join a Guild to do guild missions with, or other guild events;
Dungeons;
Prepare for HoT by making sure all your characters have at least 65 Skillpoints from mapcompletion;

That’s about it, I think.

Thank you Frankie! Just recruited Keti, who came back to the game after a year and a half of inactivity. I’ll be fun teaching him all the new stuff!

There’s more than four, and not all guards! Nice group of people!

Chaba.5410:

atheria.2837:

Chaba.5410:

Email exploits@arenanet.com

Also use the in-game /report feature and select ‘botting’.

In game reports do nothing – we did this for weeks and not one castle nor anet employee did a thing until it was posted here and to youtube.

In game reporting is a joke – a bad, nasty, mean, joke.

We are supposed to use the forums – according to many emails I have – and now you and others change the rules that WE are being told to utilize?

Wrong answer.

Absolutely I gave the right answer. I took video myself of this guy, used the /report function on him, reported him for botting. Sent my video into exploits@arena.net the next day. I also mentioned it on this forum. A few hours later he was banned.

What you do not realize is that using /report gives ArenaNet the best data attached to the report in order for them to go look in log files to find the evidence of the hacking. Just posting on this forum does not give them that data.

If you want to see results, you have to be thorough and need to utilize all avenues, not say “oh this one is a joke so I’m not going to use it”.

Exactly. it’s easy to moan that ‘Anet won’t do anything’ but if you don’t put in the effort yourself, there’s little they can do. We got some new cops on the block that take an active interest, like Mr Cleary and Proheals. If you want them to be able to do their job and ban (or publicly execute, thanks Mr Cleary) the offenders, then the WORST thing you could do is publicly undermine them.

You base your conclusion on personal experience. It can therefore only be applied to yourself. As a heavy alter myself (23 80s) I’ve levelled many characters differently. After a while though the levelling experience gets stale. It is then nice to have other options to get to 80.

for me it makes no difference to how much I like my character by how I levelled them. My favorite one has less than 30% map completion and has been levelled in a combination of tomes and EotM.

Keep in mind that there are more gamemodes. I like to WvW a lot, and an undergeared, underlevelled character is severely hamstrung in WvW.

I think a fair few people want to see LA repaired already. I would also say there’s been enough stages as it is.

>Devastated
>basic repairs
>removal of Breachmaker’s parts
>reconstruction

I’m not saying that a more gradual approach would be easier on the suspension of disbelief, but I also think that that would be unrealistic when the company’s trying to finish an expansion at the same time.

We welcome Mally and Squirrel back!

For me, Edge of the Mists is a beautiful map. Several biomes, floating landmasses, tall towers, several levels… can’t be beat for looks.

It’s possible there won’t be a Ready Up, what with E3 taking up their attention.

I think he’s asking if there will be any gear tier increases.

Anet has stated repeatedly that ascended is the end of the line as far as gear goes. That means that once you’ve achieved that, you’ll be set for the future.

I have 23 toons, many levelled with tomes/scrolls. Recently I took the time to make sure to unlock 65 skill challenges, as 465 was the number listed neccessary to unlock all core specs. That’s 400 (level 80) All the Orr ones, and a quick run through some low level areas. doesn’t take too long.

Razor.9872:

Worse still…it’s very likely racial skills will be going away

Based on what? please state your source?

They drop from CoE, and can be farmed in Malchor’s Leap around the temple of Dwayna when the WP is not contested (held by the Pact).

Note that cores can be upgraded to lodestones in the Mystic Forge.

Only in as far that any unrevealed Legends have access to said utility types. If a legend would have shouts, it would apply to that specific legend, not to Jalis, for instance.

No different that trooper runes on an elementalist or engie. No shouts, no benefit from shout runes.

You’ll need to build to compensate for the low health pool (lowest in the game on guard) but with a bit of vitality and a good boon uptime a guardian is one of the most, if not the most survivable character in game.

Are you kiting? Kiting mitigates a fair bit of damage by just staying out of the boss’ front arch. Melee damage generally does more damage than range because of the added danger of having to be in melee range.

It seems to be that the travel difficulties etc are by design. You get thrown in the deep end, not adapted to your environment. As you level your masteries you become better able to move around until you master the Jungle.

I would be wary of judging a whole expac by a 2 hour beta, but if you already made up your mind, there’s always the game you paid for.

Atros.9607:

Can you link me the article that says we are getting these core changes for free? Not to be sarcastic, I am genuinely curious.

Mate, if you are going to write posts like this, it would be a good idea to at least be up to date with the available information out there. All of this has been posted on this very site, in the HoT blogs. This is from the Ready Up Core Specializations summary.

The new system will come to the live game before the launch of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™, allowing players to experience the changes to core specializations and stockpile Hero Points for their elite specializations. While elite specializations will be available to everyone who purchases the expansion, the upcoming core specialization changes will affect the base game.
Most skill and trait unlocks will cost five Hero Points. While the numbers should not be considered final or absolute, Jon estimated that it will require roughly 465 Hero Points to unlock every trait and skill available to a character. The process of leveling to 80 will award about 400 Hero Points, so players will only need to complete a fraction of the available hero challenges to have enough points to unlock everything. The system is designed to give players access to skills and traits much faster than in the current system, with the number of Hero Points gained from leveling set to increase at higher levels. Excess Hero Points beyond the number required for unlocks will be converted into a currency, which will be stored in the account-wide wallet. More information on the currency will come at a later date, so keep an eye out!

It’s changing traits to core specs. Yes they will be free, otherwise the core game would be unplayable. You already paid for them, and you unlock them as you level.

Easiest way to get trasmutation charges in game is map completion (particularly the main cities) and PvP. Just do the PvP dailies and you should have plenty.

there’s also:
-Collections;
-Achievements to hunt;
-Carapace and Luminescent skins to add to your wardrobe;
-Edge of the Mists WvW map to explore (generally more of a karma train);
-New Silverwastes and Dry Top maps;
-PvP reward tracks;
-A wardrobe to fill.

Hope that gives you some things to do.

I don’t think you missed much but the stronghold beta, which isn’t currently accessible. Anet’s focus has been firmly on the Expac.

There are a couple of exciting blogposts about specialisations and elite specialisations you might want to catch up on, though.

Which Beta are you refering to? Regardless, your best bet is to contact customer support ingame. It’s unlikely that customer support checks these forums.

Traits will be overhauled again soon™, before HoT hits. don’t waste your time/gold on buying traits.

Good to see you guys back! MF is a solid, active group of people, definately worth a look.

Time for the weekend bump.

Sekhmet.6153:

People stop acting like kids?

Okay, now I have a problem. And its not just you, but I wanted to quote this to highlight my point.

I really wish gamers would start acting like consumers and voting and speaking with their wallet instead of acting like junkies looking to score their next fix and taking what they’re given because we should “just be grateful we get it at all”. While in this case Anet doesn’t have to release any information, fans of GW2 don’t have to find that to be a good way of doing business. Anet doesn’t need to show us anything about HoT, and fans don’t need to give them praise or say they’re doing a good job.

While the issue with WvW stuff and LA being released this week instead of specs isn’t that big of a deal, I can understand if people are frustrated because this has been a running theme from Anet since the official reveal of HoT months ago. If you decide to tell fans you will be releasing information and will tell them about stuff as the weeks pass by, they’re going to expect some of it and so far the information hasn’t quite matched up to what many people expected. That doesn’t make them kids for thinking that.

Companies need criticism otherwise they will never really know what people want at all. I’m growing tired of so many people feeling they need to defend a company at all costs from any criticism they read as if their fragile egos will break and they’ll stop production. Everyone at Anet is getting paid. Getting paid to work on a video game at that. Our money is the only praise they really need. Add on to us being fans and telling them they do a good job at times is a bonus. But they also need to know when they are alienating a part of a fan base, or going back on their word about something, or making a mistake etc.

This mindset that we should all just be grateful for whatever we get is why gamers are rarely going to be given the best product someone could give us because they aren’t held to that standard anymore. If you buy a car and it dies on you under 100,000 miles, many people will hold that company accountable by either complaining, not buying the same one again or avoiding the company altogether. If a game isn’t quite what you expected, you shouldn’t necessarily feel the need to just shrug it off and throw more money at them to fix the problem.

Your argument falls down when you use it to defend hyperbole and non-factual claims. If you have legitimate constructive criticism, by all means, make a post with useful feedback.

The OP decided to complain because he didn’t think the announcement was cool enough.

That’s hardly constructive criticism.

Yes it is. There’s no real gear threadmill, and even the expac won’t add a new level of gear, or max level. It’s fairly easy to level up, and you can do just fine in most content with exotics. And those are easy to get.

You only really want full ascended if you go for high level fractals, and I’ve got 6k hours clocked up without touching them. What you did miss out on is the story. Even so, you can still purchase Season Two from the gemstore.

SPvP will earn you tokens on top of the 3 weapon/1 armour skin(s), so it seems the best option for your specific goal.

Pay me back by linking your vid! I’m not in the beta.

Bessy’s back, and Luc’s on his way back too! Woo!

Bessy’s back, and we welcome Ray!

If you contact me in game i’ll help you out. Will be busy this weekend though.

I recruit and teach for my guild, so I have some experience. No, I’m not looking to rope you in.

…yet.

Try OBS. It’s free, open source, and extremely easy to set up and use. It also has Youtube vids explaining how to set it up.

https://obsproject.com

Unless you are big on WvW you can go with any guild that tickles your fancy. You can have a look at the LFG subforum for a guild.

Alternatively, I’d be happy to show you the ropes. You can add me in game by adding my handle to the left.

Still open for a few more!

I farmed keys like crazy while the tormented and Chaos skins were just one ticket. already paying off; Tormented axe is up to 300g already.

darbok.3752:

I’ve been window shopping for a F2P model, I was reading about a few competitors to GW2, and the player basic is totally abysmal about those games. It seems the player base to GW2 either likes the game more or is more forgiving.

I saw someone mention the zones are deserted, which says to me there is a low server pop issue. The other thing that worries me is when one reaches max level there’s not much to do that is actually fun. Maybe I’m just reading peoples posts too cynically.

The starterzones have plenty of players, both old and new. I still see plenty of new unguilded players running around. Older player have a reason to go back too to do dailes.

Also, the game works with a megaserver system. That means that it closes overflows once they get low on population, and shunts those players to other overflows. This basically guarantees that there’s always a decent population on a map.

I think you might be refering to WvW, where some servers have more PvE players, which affects the WvW (open world pvp in a separate series of maps) population there. PvE wise there’s plenty people everywhere.