Guild Wars 2

This game seems to have artificial scarcity down to a science. It’s one thing to make items seasonal if tied to an event, but there’s a point with other items where the desire just begins to fade when players plead for a return and see nothing. The bunny ears were begged for and yet a no show at Easter. Players are trying to throw money at the game, but it doesn’t seem like Anet wants it.

Yep, ranger pets are bugged.

Stormcrow.7513:

I doubt they will put DX11 or 12 into the game.
The reason that you get drops in FPS when there is no water around is because the entire world has a giant ocean underneath it. If you have ever fallen below the map you will see the world ocean beneath Tyria. The game uses Umbra occlusion() and either the devs cant figure out how to stop reflections that are not seen from being rendered or the occlusion engine isnt working to spec. I have tested it myself as well and noticed it is well op.
In summary I doubt we will get any DX updates to the engine and I doubt we will ever see an optimized Umbra occlusion engine. I just turn my reflections to off.

Hmmm, this might be why in Fractals my frame rate suddenly shoots up by about 30fps and stays there. I’d asked in multiple threads and never got an answer as to the reason behind that.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/DirectX-12-make-it-happen-pls/

There’s a huge thread on the DX 11/12 thing already if anyone wishes to read through it. The unstable frame rates definitely are noticeable and not a point of enjoyment.

Sounds like an issue on your end somewhere. I assumed by laggy you mean that at times it’ll spin the wheel for about five seconds before coming up.

We’re going off on a tangent about fighting mobs, but honestly there’s no reason to fight them, especially with newer players. AC for instance, newer players get tagged constantly by the newt popping through the floor, raising their evade to the point that it takes forever to kill them. There’s no incentive in taking the time to kill the mobs. No reward, more time inside

There’s no permadeath, and there are minimal penalties for being downed. There’s nothing wrong with playing by learning. I learned the dungeons that I know by playing, often with other players who were new or with vets who explained certain elements. This luckily is not one of those games where an extensive library of how to play is need to get through the content. With the exception of a few dungeon paths and higher level fractals most of the content can be learned through experience.

As to how others are treated, this game has one of the best overall communities I’ve seen.

Critical Lag.9075:

However I usually jump to 40-60% map and stay afk doing something else until breach. The in-between events are utter non-rewarding garbage for me that are not worth the time.

I`d love to see better rewards from events, it would actually give me a reason to do them.

Pretty lame way to play, and no worse than the players who make sure they’re in the area for VW, get a tag, then go afk. Why even play the game if you’re not going to participate? You could work an extra hour at work here and there, convert the real world money to gems, and just stay away. It would save you the hassle of finding a map and paying attention to breach. If everyone else took that route breaches would literally never happen.

That said, you’re probably watching tv or whatever at the same time, so it’s no big thing to mooch while you do so in terms of taking away from whatever else you’re doing. Regardless, it seems kind of a waste to even spend the time in game if it’s spent that way.

What needs to happen is that 80 needs to be more than just a gold grind. Meaningful missions and events at 80 would be much better then realizing that there’s not much to do and sucking it up to grind gold for more cosmetic gear. Dungeon trains, mat trains, and Fractals are it if you don’t WvW or PvP. Luckily I’ve picked up some other games to mix things up but as others have mentioned elsewhere, it’s sad that 95% of Tyria becomes irrelevant once you hit 80. It feels like this is where the game should have been maybe 6 months to a year in, not three years in. Without the dynamic events of LWS1 and with S2 broken for some of those who are doing it specifically for the gear, the game isn’t in the optimum state for players at 80.

The Legendary quests and map rewards that are upcoming are definitely a positive step, but at 80 the world currently doesn’t feel very much alive.

I’m saying that my frame rate is much more stable on those two titles, which it is. Yes, I have an AMD that is lessening what my max frame rate can reach. That said, when running around in game, I do not see drops. I stay at a consistent 35 fps or so without issue in most situations. In GW2, I can simply rotate my camera in certain areas and go from 50-60 down to 15 or so depending on the area.

I’m not trying to claim that the other games are perfect, so apologies if it seemed that way, I’m just saying that I experience a lot more inconsistency in game here than I do in the other two titles in the majority of situations.

TERA and Vindictus.

The amount of gold per hour in this game compared to what can be earned in many others is not that high aside from flipping items for profit. In the last game I played before this, dailies in different areas could provide players with the equivalent of about 80g/hour. This game may let you make a decent amount of money, but it doesn’t come that quickly. Most casual players aren’t going to see much in the way of gold in any short term period.

The majority of players that I’ve talked to who have a lot of gold have either earned it slowly over time via multiple accounts, farming, etc, or through flipping items, usually working prices as needed to make this happen. A new player at 80 without a decent amount of free time isn’t going to see even gold to unlock another inventory bag slot within a week of hitting 80, let alone playing with enough coin to buy many skins, etc.

Just comparing casual to casual here. For players with a lot more time, there are a few sub-based and B2P or F2P MMOs where a much higher equivalent amount of currency can be earned in the same time. That’s exactly one aspect of why people jokingly call this Grind Wars 2, because there is no significant means of earning gold aside from repetitive activity, and repetitive activity with a low payout at that.

The guy going off about helms when the thread is specifically dealing with the inability to fully dye hair accessories. Separate issue, for which many threads already exist.

Opening quickly still does not salvage all items for you, it still doesn’t load all those runes and sigils into the mystic toilet, or clear them out of your inventory. I understand that you have to do it less often and it becomes more efficient as you open up extra bag space, but inventory management is not a fun mini-game no matter how long you can put it off, so why not reduce the tedium as much as possible? It’s beyond annoying as a newer player having to stop between certain dungeon runs to clear everything out, and I don’t know of any long-time players who actually find it enjoyable.

I just downloaded two F2P titles that are similar in graphics quality to GW2. One I can’t compare directly because everything at low level is instanced, but in both, including during open-world content in the other, I get consistent frame rates. No drops, no stuttering, etc. There is definitely room for more optimization with this title.

This just in: we have a hijacking in progress

Aren’t those areas controlled by the ever-looming dragons? I’d assume they will be revealed over time.

Something in between would be nice. I definitely like the hero panel redesign. I like the interactivity of LFG, noting that solo rewards have been claimed, etc. I do think the website needs to come back more towards what we currently have. It’s a little too busy. Overall, a good suite of ideas.

I just want to see more questing at 80. Real, involved, enjoyable questing. As of now the majority of lower-level areas are of use only for map completion or farming. There’s nothing truly investing your player in most of Tyria once you hit 80.

It’s not like it will make any significant difference in botting in the game. However, it will decrease the overall load during all gaming for everyone and remove an annoyance. I wouldn’t even be such an issue if dropped loot were always easy to spot, but depending on the lighting, the effects going out, and the number of players and npcs in the area it’s just not easy to spot drops at all times.

It seems like no games are going for a middle ground. It’s certainly to make content and game play that offers something for all player types, which has more-or-less been done here, and to add rewards that make the harder content worthwhile. I hate items that can only be achieved via the luck of RNG on top of already having to complete harder content, meaning now matter how long you play you might never see them. Further, it sucks to play difficult content and see nothing for it. The system can certainly be improved.

Yeah, I think a dungeon, fractal, event chain, etc, gets me a lot more involved than cutting down 3-4 trees or picking a few plants. I just couldn’t come up with any reason for dungeons not to be included. JPs I sort of understand because you could just park a toon, but it’s not like gathering exactly takes much effort either, so they should be included as well.

I just wonder how many things of worth all players have left on the ground because they were actively playing the game and forgot to spam loot the entire 10 minutes of an event or during a huge WvW battle, etc.

I’ll definitely say that the game needs some more robust customization options. They aren’t horrid by any means, but there’s a ways to go. More hairstyles with more texture options certainly wouldn’t be amiss.

I would think it would show anyone who used the box with the aviator cap and their arms out, but only the film grain effect for the users themselves. Kind of boring if it doesn’t transform those who interact with it the same way as other toys do.

It definitely would be helpful to add an npc, maybe one tied to dailies—if they can expand them beyond four—that gives a player a better heads up on combos. I didn’t pick up on them until I rolled my guardian and went to the professions>guardian part of the site. I haven’t been playing quite two months, but I felt like and idiot for missing out on linking combos up to this point. The NPE unfortunately seems more geared to treated new players like they’re slow in the head rather than making them better players. Little things like a note about the bear soaking up damage, the stalker stacking vulnerability, etc, for rangers, allowing weapon swapping from level 2 and restoring the need to use weapons to gain their abilities would be some other great roll-backs/revisions.

Unfortunately, many MMOs are creating these issues for themselves. SWTOR has built in a window-licker factory called Kuat Drive Yards that can be played from level 15-60, scales for all levels, requires no specialization in gear, spec, or ability use to get through, and provides the highest time/xp output in the game. Players hit end game with zero idea of how to use their class and it shows.

There are events on the daily roster, World Bosses, Fractals, Vista Viewing, Gathering, and there are PvP dailies. Heck, even using the Mystic Forge gives 33% daily completion here and there. Why are dungeons not included with this? I know that they have rewards of their own already in the form of loot and gold, but some kind of bonus, plus the AP for daily completion would be nice. Players are supposed to be able to play their way, so I’m unsure why this isn’t a part of furthering that philosophy.

I wondered the same thing. Even ectos and dark matter would be something, but there should be the chance to get worthwhile returns when you get a drop that’s utterly useless to any character or build that you run.

People are already divided over the time that’s being put into developing outfits rather than mixable armor sets. I don’t foresee many being pleased at seeing high cost items being developed just for the sake of exclusivity.

Gibson.4036:

As to your zone idea, it reminds me of the early days of Rift. I love the idea, but a lot of players in that game complained because when the evil forces took over, they couldn’t go about questing like usual. It seemed like a ridiculous critique to me… how much better to have a dynamic world that didn’t always have the same quests available. But Trion responded and heavily nerfed invasions.

IMO, one of the standout things about this game is the DE system. It had the potential to be grown into something amazing. Complexity could have been added so that the DE system becomes a back and forth between AI forces spinning of an ever changing, dynamic world, into which the players come and decide how they are going to effect the balance of power.

Imagine if the DE chains we have could interfere with each other and the system was fleshed out into DE networks pushing and pulling each other across zones. Then your dragon invasions could be a dynamic force working through an area and threatening all that is good.

We’ve seen that in Dry Top to an extent, and much more so in Silverwastes, that players can deal with going into an area that is always heavy with the enemy. I think the incursion event system would work well in new areas that are revealed as the game continues to progress as more about the conflict with each dragon becomes present. Areas that have been cut off by the dragons, possibly areas that have managed to shield themselves from both the dragons and everyone else to avoid the battle as best they can. Places that will add new interest but that won’t affect low level questing or the majority of already revealed lands in Tyria.

It definitely can be done in a way that makes upcoming content a lot more dynamic and emphatic of a Living World.

You’ll likely be a lot better off once you disable auto-targeting. This will also help you avoid targeting everything in open world, including moas, deer, etc, as you’re running around and using abilities to move faster. If you turn of auto-targeting you can still use tab to select nearest target.

The changing map rewards and new Legendary quests are a step in the right direction. More quests for rewards that will still be meaningful at 80 are a definite positive. To be honest, it’s not that the game is lacking content, it’s just that not all of it will pull all of us in. Some of the Renown Hearts are just unexciting, but some are highly memorable, and some of the random encounters that will fill them are as well.

One of my favorites was basically an evil witch in the woods kidnapping little Charr children. I stumbled across the event while it was active, played the hero along with the rest of the players in the area, and got something memorable out of it. It advanced me towards my Gift of Exploration without me feeling like I was grinding for it. I was just playing the game and having fun. Little things like taking a catapult to a Vista, scaring cows, hearing a ghostly voice invite you inside of a cave opening ominously shaped like a skull; there is a lot of content here that I’ve never seen hinted at in other games, and that is amazing.

When the elements of a living world are done right, this game shines heavily, and makes the progression feel worthwhile. I don’t feel like I’m on a slog for gold or trinkets, I’m just having fun. I hope that more quests like this arrive in the future.

I’d also like to point out this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lwd/Dancing-With-Dragons-Improving-Iconic-Foes

While it specifically deals with the bigger picture of the game in terms of the ever-present force that looms over Tyria, it very much presents something that players in other MMOs will rarely see in terms of depth of presentation if it were delivered at the level Anet is capable of. It will, like LS 2, have to mostly occur in the as yet unlocked areas of Tyria, and perhaps beyond, and the permanence of some changes will have to be considered—perhaps being able to code so that certain NPCs no longer appear by default in instanced areas depending on how the story goes—but I’d love to see this scope of a Living World implemented.

Well seemingly there are multiple accounts involved, so a fairly decent number of players colluding together isn’t out of the question, but it still doesn’t seem sound. I can’t imagine it going any better than it did last time, but we shall see.

I makes me realize, we need even MOAR things =D

It’s not exactly a terrifying scream, for one, and secondly, I don’t recall ever having seen an enemy yell, “Retreat!” at a foe, nor do I foresee any foe taking that as an order for him to do so before it is too late.

But that won’t increase demand for chests. They drop so often they only way you’re low is farming like crazy for the most part. I don’t forsee this being a worthwhile investment.

Torenn.2598:

I tried the Naga Hex recently. I loved having the 6 buttons on the side, but my pinky finger would cramp like crazy after extended use. The bump on that side of the mouse killed it for me. A lot of people seem to swear by it, though.

I love my hex. Larger hands and it’s great despite not being an oversize mouse. I use the hex keys for my Utilities and elites, with the top button behind the pad for weapon swapping.

I just don’t have any need for one of the 20 key mice offered. It would just add to the clutter and make me press things by accident.

I don’t want to go into all the details and relive the nightmare. Let me say this: when you say that a path is easy, it’s your favorite, and you clear it all the time, yet you can barely explain the mechanics of a single fight, use almost none of your utilities to help the group, and aid in bringing a dungeon run to an hour and a half when it should be 45 mins at the worst, and in general don’t understand the concept of a team, you’re bad.

Trying to bite the bullet and do dungeons around level has been a slog. I don’t think I’ll try it outside of guild again too often.

You can level to 80 in this game waaaaaaaaaaaay faster than you’ll hit 60 in SWTOR. 55-60 is a joke, and so is 1-10 on there, but even on a double XP weekend over there it is a grind to pull out those mid levels. SWTOR is better than WoW in some ways with leveling, and a far cry better than some others, but it is in no way lacking compared to this one.

Hitting 80 is quick. If you’re doing your dungeons as they open up or some point not far after and doing the Explorable paths on top of whatever else you’re doing, you have almost a level thrown at you every run. KDY is the only flash point in SWTOR that comes close to that, and that’s only the first time with the daily. Reaching 80 just isn’t difficult here at all.

Belinda’s Greatsword is missing. Nice gallery overall. Quickest way to look at all the weapons that I’ve seen.

Sizer.5632:

Id be all for it. Once youre more than like, 16 years old, you realize that $15 a month for something you can easily play for 20+ hours a week is nothing compared to other things you can spend your money on.

But since like, half the playerbase is 16 (or acts like they are), it wouldnt work, so i dont think it will ever happen.

Honestly, I just wouldn’t do it again anytime soon based off of my experience with SWTOR. I held onto my sub there with the expectation that the game was headed in a better direction with more of the story-based content to see a return. That’s what they hinted at, yet it was never delivered. The devs are aloof and unresponsive, the engine is horrid and can never be optimized with the current staff, and every element of the game aside from the cash shop is lacking, though it has issues with the gear because of the engine.

Perhaps I would sub again if I felt that the game I’m subscribing to was constantly delivering on that dollar value. I’m looking forward to seeing what HoT brings in terms of giving more opportunities to enjoy the game without resource and gold grind being the major time killers. A game would have to amaze me pretty thoroughly to subscribe at this point though.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

still prefer signet of might AND banner of strength….., unless I need to run dual banners…

My biggest hate:
Ppl joining a dungeon,
and demanding: you are ps,yes? I run PS np
and demanding: you run 2 banner, yes? Okay dual banner np
you run to 1st boss guards pop nothing, ele pops nothing, I drop 2 banners head in SoR, FGJ, mace 4, axe 2, gs2,and notice guard on scepter, ele max range staff, ranger on LB, necro max range DS#1….. Okay fail…
After kill: ppl get chest and run on leaving you with 2 banners…..

I’m still pretty new to the game, but in 95% of the runs that I do, no one else picks up my banners. After the first drop we have whichever I grab and that’s about it until they’re off of cooldown again.

I’d like to ask, are there good threads to look in as far as group synergy or is it just something to be learned as you play? Just rolled my guardian, love it, learning to use the symbols for additional blinds, etc, but every third post is about guardians overlaying Ele’s fire. Loving my guardian, noting that there are warriors galore every time I do a dungeon, so I’m planning on running him a lot more often once he hits 80.

Excellent ideas. Definitely like the way this is presented. I think an additional element of interest playing off of what was mentioned is imperfect campaigns. There should be fights that are “won” simply by minimizing the losses. There are parts of the world not yet revealed, and something that I see pulling players in is coming to know characters, villages, perhaps even cities that we haven’t interacted with and facing the possibility of losing them to the dragons. I’m not sure how wholly feasible this is because of the history of Tyria, but perhaps a group who have shielded themselves both from the dragons and from the notice of others via arcane means having to reach out for help because their protection is failing. Facing real loss but doing so in an area that isn’t already known to players will be visceral, but not as divisive as the fall of LA.

Also, seeing conflict between the Elder Dragons themselves would be a great plot element. As already mentioned, the servants of the dragons would be able to act as the sources for why this is playing out, but it’s hard to imagine that as powerful as these beings are that they all agreed to live contently with one another in perfect harmony. Surely there have been power plays or animosities at work in their time existing together. Does the chaos lead to weaknesses to be exploited? Does it lead to one dragon aiding Tyria against the others? Does it lead to in-fighting between dragons spilling over into areas that were thought safe?

Lastly, the map only goes so far. There is certainly opportunity for new groups to be introduced from beyond our scope of vision, as well as having groups like the Kodan interact in new ways to move the plot forward. There are a lot of living elements that can be brought into play to change the face of the game and make it even more immersive without alienating the player base. I suppose the big question is do player want to see this?

There does need to be more to do at end game, which will partially be addressed with HoT in terms of Legendary Quests and getting T6 mats as map rewards, meaning that all content will be of worth and grinding out hearts to get map completion will be rewarding beyond Gifts of Exploration.

What I would love to see is the Season 1 LS events as Fractals, but as single-instance Fractals so that they can be played through in order or played as single events as often as groups like. This would give players like myself who never got to experience Season 1 the chance to do so, give players who did the chance to relive it, and give something additional to do at 80.

Is there any real point to them other than achievements? I don’t find them particularly enjoyable, especially if I’m on my Norn, and I’ve yet to get anything better than a few blues. Just doesn’t seem worth the frustration if you don’t get entertainment out of the puzzles themselves.

Certainly this game’s mechanics support a diverse group of players, but more importantly, the way this game’s community supports it. I have yet to encounter a single group that goes crazy because every player hasn’t YouTubed every fight before walking in there. VW can be a little chatty with randoms complaining about others messing up rather than simply explaining what they need to do differently, but for the most part helpfulness outweighs the Negative Nancies and Norberts.

This is probably greatly aided by the LFG tool allowing for descriptions that allow players to play with like-minded players, but in general this is just a really good community. Not exactly the MMO status quo. I came from SWTOR not too long ago, and outside of guilds it was very toxic in general to players who were new to the game or new to fights. Learning in-game was not encouraged in the least.

For some long-time players, and some newer ones, even the most difficult content is relatively easy, but it still seems that the majority of players old or new are a lot more open and accommodating as a community. Maybe in some cases it’s as simple as little things like ignore being account-wide, but it’s overall a very good environment for all player types.

Just my thoughts on it. I think the community and the relatively regular interaction between Devs and the players are what will keep this game relevant for some time to come. No game is perfect, but those involved with this one seem to do their best as a whole to put their best foot forward as a group.

Vine Wrath and the Cursed Shore/god battles seem to be the best content overall. Even with bigger groups they’re still a challenge, and because of how most of the fights work the mechanics are still necessary to clear often—VW champs—and there’s often not the boredom of sitting back and spamming a few attacks because the relative health pool is much, much better.

The god fights are not uncommon to end up with smaller sized groups, making it more challenging and enjoyable, but even in larger ones they aren’t cakewalks. Teq and VW seem to end up with decent numbers of new players often enough to make them more challenging as well. There’s also the fact that the Siege Carrier portions of VW still scale properly and dump additional champs during the Vine Wall phase if there are larger number of players, and there are much harsher penalties when people aren’t about their business setting up siege weapons, positioning for each wave, and properly using abilities, CCs, and staying awake. True, there are AFKs that abuse the rewards, but in general the Silverwastes scenarios can be quite involved and remain a challenge.

The only bad part in the end is that the rewards still lend themselves to RNG and the grind, but those series of fights are great as a whole.

Doubt I’ll change much between here and end game other than the chest most likely.

Marge.4035:

Teleoceras.1298:

This is my 3rd Guardian (and 15th character), Casca Griffithbane.

I see what you did there. She caught my eye, not just because of the name.

I maybe mentioned earlier, I have two guardians. Asura is my main, human was made to test stuff, but I made her too close to my GW1 paragon (thus the weird yellow eyes I wouldn’t normally pick) and ended up playing both a lot. I gave my best to make her look elonian, but I’m not satisfied how this face preset morphs. I can’t imagine changing it for another one, though.

As someone who doesn’t like mixed sets, I can’t wait to complete the carapace armour. It’s a current favourite. I tend to dye my sets every chance I got, this is gonna be so much fun.

I like both of your characters a lot, and I’m not big on Asura. Great choices.

Good vid. Very good team work.

cesmode.4257:

So while I get giddy about the 3 days that I took off from work for launch, being a little noob in the world, I then fast forward 1-2 years and think about what the game is now:

Champ trains
Everyone has a legendary
Crummy Living Story releases (my opinion)
Ascended Gear
All my friends stopped playing or moved off server

Theres no “wonder” left in the game.

What’s your issue with the Legendaries? That’s been one MMO staple that it isn’t bad that will be rectified with the new addition of the Legendary quests: all players having access to their own top tier, well-designed item. I don’t get why players think it’s more fun when MMOs emulate real life and only the special few get an item. I got a few of said items in my former MMO, and it didn’t exactly seem fun that some players would never get them no matter what they did.

With the new system there will still be a big chunk of time involved both in the quests and in gathering the mats even with the new map rewards. There will also be additional Legendaries available. I understand some of your other points, but I don’t see the number of players who have the best looking weapons in the game being detrimental to the community in any way, but I may have missed what you were hinting at.