It’s actually not all perception and personal choice. It is rather a matter of game design. If the LS was told through an evolving world where content was largely permanent, and the achievements not time-gated, would their be a logical reason for LS fatigue. I doubt it. Everything wrong with the LS to date is simply bad game design choices made manifest.
Honest question, why is it that it’s okay that some people can’t live with cosmetic only progression, but it’s not okay that some people can’t live with gear progression?
Maybe ANet figures that the progression demographic will follow through on their threats to quit and the no progression demographic won’t. After all, they can go to other games that feature gear progression. Where can we go?
Progression demographic has games that do progression much bettrer than GW2. Old and few on horizon. And they certanly wont be satisfied with ascended.
There is a major conflict between players who want gear progression and those who don’t. Ascended is what you get when you try to cater to both.
Exactly. It will satisfy neither. Thats the funny part.
It is funny and I’ve also made this point from the beginning. Any VP will create a gear grind and those favoring horizontal progression will not be happy. OTOH, if you look at all the arguments for VP, and you even see it in this thread, the recurring theme is that what we have seen so far is totally insignificant. I always find the argument from insignificance humorous. I mean, if the best you can say about something is that it is insignificant what does that say about it? But, it’s sorta true and the hard core VP grinder is not going to be satisfied grinding their kitten off for insignificant gains in power. Good insight here.
The Ranger profession is one of the red-haired stepchildren of GW2. I played a hunter as my main in WoW and thought the Ranger would be a natural, but poor pet AI and low overall damage changed my mind. It is a completely viable profession for solo play in PvE so if that is your only concern, go for it. But, I would not recommend it.
Is Guardian better than Ranger? Absolutely, yes. It’s funny as I wouldn’t make a statement like that about classes in just about any other game I’ve played, but can make it here in GW2. But, Guardian is primarily melee and ranger is primarily conceived of as ranged (though it can melee). If Guardian appeals to you then go Guardian as it is a universally good class across the game.
This would be one of those impossible to answer questions. To date, Anet has not released the kind of data the would truly answer the question. We’re left to our various capacities of speculation.
One thing I’ve noticed is a growing, open trash-talking of Anet in map chat. It’s significant in that I’ve played other MMO’s for years and have not witnessed the level of ill will towards a developer that I have here, in-game. And, I’m on one of the more mature, even-handed servers. This can’t bode well for the game long-term in terms of people actively playing the game.
How is failing a lot something this game needs? I don’t get it at all.
Its the, “possibility,” of failure that is likely being referred to as needed, not the failure itself. Success means little if there was no significant possibility of failure.
Apparently you missed the evolution of the Temple of Grenth fight. This was probably the beginning of Anet’s attempt at catering to the mythical hardcore player in GW2. I say mythical because, while they exist on the forums they are nowhere to be found in-game. But back to Grenth. They introduced the possibility of failure in what I’ve discovered is the Anet-way. It is currently nearly assured failure on my server so that it fails 99% of the time. Again, humans are not built to endure continuous failure. And, scaling content for mythical players is wrong-headed. Open world PvE should be scaled for the player you find there, i.e., a broad diversity of players. All the major MMO’s understand this except GW2 at the moment. Tiered difficulty belongs in instances. Crushing challenge really has no place in open world PvE in an MMO.
The very last thing that this game needs at this time is ascended gear and another tier of mats. Therefore, it was destined to occur.
My prediction is that they will make the world events giant failure fests as they have done elsewhere in the game where they have tried to make the game more “interesting”. To Anet challenge is simply instagibs from the particle blur. This will largely empty the world events just as it has Orr and we can then focus on whatever temporary LS content they have cooked up. The greater living world will become more and more lifeless and localized temporary content will be standing room only. I’m looking at you SAB. Have fun guys.
A big complaint from quite a few people that we’ve seen over and over on these forums is that events can’t fail. Literally impossible once numbers reach a certain point. Just zerg it with numbers.
What anet has done is created an event where yeah, numbers matter to an extent, but the event can still fail if the numbers aren’t coordinated.
I think it’s great.
Watch what happens. I’ve been watching since march/april and what will happen is that people will begin abandoning the events as they have events in the Cursed Shore. It’s just one more part of the game that will become a ghost town. We can’t really afford more ghost towns at this point—it really needs to turn around. Humans are not built for continuous failure; it’s not what we are about. However, it is what Anet is about and the results are already coming in.
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Most likely there will be little reward beyond reward to guilds who coordinate large numbers of players similar to WoW raids. This is simply another step in the Wowification of the GW franchise. For the common player the world events likely will become failure fests similar to everywhere (cf orr and cursed shore) they have attempted to make the game more interesting. This will likely empty the world events as it has Orr, et al. Players, for awhile, will gravitate to temporary content (e.g., SAB) as the open world becomes more and more lifeless. The long term prognosis is not good from my perspective.
As has been mentioned, the only real point of Ascended gear is that it represents a power level point on an ascending (no pun intended) power curve. In November of last year they added vertical progression to the game apparently to give complainers something to do in the end game. Ascended is simply the initial implementation of vertical progression. And, as has been mentioned, it was a sad, sad day for those who came to GW2 to escape the gear grind.
MF really can’t be considered a true treadmill. They have taken the high road and removed it from gear. This was the right thing to do as MF fails hard in any game with the possibility of group play. Diablo 3 moved to a similar process (paragon levels) for transitioning away from MF on gear.
No, the true treadmill(s) remains vertical progression and the gear grind that began in November of last year. VP is currently driving the reward system in GW2. All you need to do to understand this is to consider the laurels place in the game. If you have any doubts, just visit a laurel merchant and take a look at what they are selling. VP drives the game and it’s all about treadmills, but it’s not around MF.
My prediction is that they will make the world events giant failure fests as they have done elsewhere in the game where they have tried to make the game more “interesting”. To Anet challenge is simply instagibs from the particle blur. This will largely empty the world events just as it has Orr and we can then focus on whatever temporary LS content they have cooked up. The greater living world will become more and more lifeless and localized temporary content will be standing room only. I’m looking at you SAB. Have fun guys.
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Forcing crafting is not what is wrong with the picture. The wrong is instituting the non-optional gear grind that is vertical progression. Regardless of how close they locate the treadmill to your playstyle, the ride is still a non-optional grind. But, since managing VP is difficult, distributing the grind does pose its challenges. Given that A-drops probably won’t be happening for the average player, then yes, a crafting only treadmill might be analogous to the original location of VP in one dungeon (fotm). Perhaps we should have access to other treadmills as well.
I’m under the impression that they aren’t going beyond ascended, can someone show where they’ve stated otherwise? Not “they made ascended therefore…” As far as raw stats are concerned, this game is still largely skill based. Rares can beat exotics.
People are just being overly dramatic, welcome to the forums. They are just extrapolating based on non existent information and hyperbole.
Generally, it is done by former guild wars 1 players that tend to idealize guild wars 1 as the perfect game with no grind (which makes this game look like a kitten in terms of grinding).
Sure I’d be happy to give you the quote that they are going beyond Ascended and this in from Chris W in the AMA back in November:
“we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.”
Ascended is not really the issue at all; it is simply the state of gear at one power level at one point in time. The key to understanding this discussion is to understand that what they actually added to the game was vertical progression (reread the quote here), not so much ascended gear. Vertical progression simply does not progress by stopping. The only possible way for it to stop with Ascended gear is if they announce the removal of vertical progression from the game and they haven’t done that to date. That’s why you see all these threads. VP is a blight on gaming and needs to be removed as an instance of very bad judgment on Anet’s part.
Music is a decided strength in GW2 (along with art). I love it and it will never disappear from my settings.
Sadly, yes, it’s too late. And, it’s maddening for those who love this game. GW2 could have been great had it continued as a new kind of MMO in this regard.
Well, exotics are not exactly pointless, but rather just a point on an ever ascending (no pun intended) power curve. I have Foefire’s Essence as well as I think it is the perfect Guardian’s sword. It is very sad that a weapon like that is made obsolete as an end game goal. Vertical progression is a blight on every game in which it exists. It is no different here. It’s ironic as I left WoW for GW2, in part, to escape the gear grind.
serious question.
What content are you unable to accomplish without this as yet unavailable weapon?
I keep hearing all this whining about gating you off from max level gear but what exactly are you going to be able to do with it that you arnt able to do now? Kill Lupi in 12 seconds instead of 15? Its just another thing for casuals to get in a huff about
It really has nothing to do about huffs or casuals for that matter. The problem is vertical progression. And, everything you need to know about VP can be found in the words that make up the concept: Vertical, the power level of the game increases; Progression, it continually increases over time.
And, VP can be described by an integer series: 1,2,3,4,5,…n where each number represents a new tier of ever more powerful gear. Upon inspection we can see that participating (grinding) in the process is mandatory, not optional. It makes no difference whatsoever whether the difference between 1 & 2 is material. Vertical progression does not progress by stopping. It is self evident that eventually you will not be able to play the game if you are not grinding it out on the assigned treadmills.
And what about the treadmills? Ever wonder why they call it a gear treadmill? Here’s why: everyone is at power X and new gear with more power drops, let’s call it power level Y. Everyone jumps on the treadmill. When they get off everyone’s at power level Y. Meanwhile, the environment has attained power level Y as well. Before and after the treadmill ride there is no relative difference between player and player (if they rode the treadmill and they really had no choice) or player and environment. In reality they have gone nowhere; they’ve just been exercised on a non-optional treadmill.
That’s all well and good for hamsters, but players in 2013 are realizing more and more that the emperor of treadmills has no clothes. We want more from our gaming than a mandatory treadmill ride. Vertical progression is an old answer to the question of making an engaging MMO. We’re ready for a new kind of MMO.
“We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that. No one finds it fun. " -Smiles
I love being right.
Remember back when Guild Wars wasn’t synonymous with World of Warcraft.
Time to guess the next gear tier set for 2014? $200.00 on Transcended.
Will you trolls ever learn to read statements all the way through rather than taking things out of context? Colin was talking about combat and leveling when he mentioned grinding. You don’t, in fact, grind to get to the fun stuff. Ascended gear isn’t fun. It’s a purposeful tier to bridge the gap between the necessity of ascended and legendary gear.
It is you that doesn’t understand context, at least in this case. I believe you are referring to the manifesto and it’s clear that the statements on grinding follow the section on combat. Look at the written manifesto. The grinding comments have absolutely nothing to do with combat and everything to do with how the game was going to play out as a new kind of MMO. Anyone who has MMO’d in the last 10 years understands perfectly well what Colin was referring to when he talked about grinding. Yes, context is important, but not generally; you actually have to have the right context.
o grow up u had 1 year whit exotic only what do you like to play this game 10 years whit the gear from day 1 that u made ? no progres at all in gear ? shallow thing for mmo dont u think
the devs explicitly said no gear progression. the prequel had none.
Gear increases in effectiveness not only based on level but based on rarity.
Normal —> Fine --> Masterwork —> Rare --> Exotic
That’s called progression. Don’t believe me? Consult the wiki: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rarity#Quality
Every single game with a level progression system and a rarity rank has gear progression.
Yes, and 1-80 is vertical progression, no doubt about it. The key to understanding this is to consider a game like GW1 where there was no vertical progression post max level gear at max level. This, combined with skill-based horizontal progression, is the alternative to vertical progression. Every game in or near the genre needs a mechanism for character progression. Vertical is an old idea with a lot of extra baggage. A lot of us understand issues like this in game design and we are ready for a new kind of MMO.
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Upon inspection we can see that the participation in the process is mandatory, not optional.
snip
Seriously, you are more afraid of the potential that they will add more tiers than you are of ascended items as a concept. Frankly, these fears are unfounded. They have stated (post release, when this debate first started) that they have no intention of adding a new item tier in the foreseeable future.
snip
From the AMA from Chris Whiteside:
“we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.”
“That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve
However we have no intention of adding a new Rarity of Gear such as Ascended. Instead and as we evolve the game existing Rarity’s will evolve over time
Through infusions and existing Tiers there will be the opportunity to increase stats or abilities on a low power curve through multiple types of gameplay in GW2.
The opportunity to enhance existing tiers of loot will not be through a regular cadence of monthly updates instead it is more likely to come from expansions or very big drops of content.”
See my description of VP above. It doesn’t progress by stopping. If it did it wouldn’t be vertical progression and that is what they introduced, by their own words, last November.
o grow up u had 1 year whit exotic only what do you like to play this game 10 years whit the gear from day 1 that u made ? no progres at all in gear ? shallow thing for mmo dont u think
Its fascinating whom ANet caters to.
I’m guessing they cater to MMO players. Sorry GW1 players, no gearing up in the first 3 months of the game then doing pointless fluff content for the next 10 years.
As I see we still have people who don’t understand vertical progression, I’ll play.
Everything you need to know about VP can be found in the words that make up the concept: Vertical, the power level of the game increases; Progression, it continually increases over time.
And, VP can be described by an integer series: 1,2,3,4,5,…n where each number represents a new tier of ever more powerful gear. Upon inspection we can see that the participation in the process is mandatory, not optional. It makes no difference whether the difference between 1 & 2 is material. Vertical progression does not progress by stopping. It is self evident that eventually you will not be able to play the game if you are not grinding it out on the treadmill.
Ever wonder why they call it a gear treadmill? Here’s why: everyones at power X and new gear with more power drops, let’s call it power level Y. Everyone jumps on the treadmill. When they get off everyone’s at power level Y. Meanwhile, the environment has attained power level Y as well. Before and after the treadmill ride there is no relative difference between player and player (if they rode the treadmill and they really had no choice) or player and environment. In reality they have gone nowhere; they’ve just been exercised on a non-optional treadmill.
That’s all well and good for hamsters, but players in 2013 are realizing more and more that the emperor of treadmills has no clothes. We want more from our gaming than a mandatory treadmill ride. Vertical progression is an old answer to the question of making an engaging MMO. We’re ready for a new kind of MMO.
Question is what happens when this self procliamed “MMO players” get their ascended set.
ANet caved in not even 3 months after release. How long will it take to cave in after ascended. My prediction: they already plan for next tier.
In the AMA after the introduction of ascended gear, Anet said that they were introducing, not so much ascended gear, but rather vertical progression. They don’t need to cave any further in order to further increase the power level of the game. As I said above, vertical progression does not progress by stopping. Only a reversal of the policy of VP will prevent further increases.
It’s interesting to read Colin’s blog post on the future in 2013. In it he says they don’t want us grinding out gear and will give us ability progression (an aspect of horizontal progression-yay!) instead. But they nowhere disavowed VP and are going ahead with ascended gear. This kind of disjunction between what is said and what is practiced, makes it impossible to interpret where they are on any given issue. At any rate they will need to stop VP formally if they intend to stop VP.
Vayne, the answer, of course, is to develop the game according to it’s DNA, not based upon each wave of reaction to any given element introduced. Just as people don’t fare well in life as people pleasers, neither do companies. If the DNA is right, the people will come. Customer feedback is very helpful and should be sought and considered, but it should not drive the evolution of the game.
I actually think that a lot of the bad elements that have been introduced since launch are due to the short-term thinking that accompanies receiving feedback with wringing hands. Oh no, they’re not all happy! Focus on the DNA (manifesto-level ideas). Listen to and evaluate all feedback. Take it for what it’s worth. (This is where reality testing comes in and it helps to have the experience of years of development.) Make corrections in course where necessary. If they deviate from the DNA, explain why they are being made honestly. Everything will be OK if your vision of the game is sound and I think the original vision was sound. I’d love to be a developer at a company with a compelling vision that was principled in evolving its product.
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I agree about how impressive it is to have the content updates every 2 weeks.
Is any other software developer doing this? Errrm no.
Also, when you look at them, they are pretty big, each update.
So it is IMPRESSIVE, even through each individual player may not like parts of it.
What do you find impressive about it? No other software developers are doing this for a reason. It is impossible to produce quality concepts and quality code with a 2 week dev cycle. I’m a software developer and I thought the previous one month cycle was crazy. No matter how they organize their teams to emulate a longer cycle, the meta is that they have a 2 week cycle. Everything produced to date is the fruit of short-term thinking to get something out the door. It will continue on this way until they extend their development cycle. Impressed? No, I would say that I am shocked that any developer group would consider a 2 week dev cycle even viable.
Are they really doing it in only two weeks though? Could they not have these 2-week content updates already done, and working on the next one/play testing them?
The meta is a 2 week cycle. They have organized teams to emulate a longer cycle for each team. My point is that if you look across development you really have a two week cycle that you are planning around. And, yes, unit testing I’m sure will occur as teams develop, but testing overall, for release, will be on a two week cycle.
They have crafted this rapid delivery as a value proposition. My experience tells me that this will devalue the product. And, my experience with the product to date confirms my negative expectations.
I agree about how impressive it is to have the content updates every 2 weeks.
Is any other software developer doing this? Errrm no.
Also, when you look at them, they are pretty big, each update.
So it is IMPRESSIVE, even through each individual player may not like parts of it.
What do you find impressive about it? No other software developers are doing this for a reason. It is impossible to produce quality concepts and quality code with a 2 week dev cycle. I’m a software developer and I thought the previous one month cycle was crazy. No matter how they organize their teams to emulate a longer cycle, the meta is that they have a 2 week cycle. Everything produced to date is the fruit of short-term thinking to get something out the door. It is exactly what I would expect from a crazy short dev cycle. And, it will continue on this way until they extend their development cycle. Impressed? No, I would say that I am shocked that any developer group would consider a 2 week dev cycle even viable.
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The problem with vertical progression is not with the power differences of the initial pieces. The problem with VP is inherent in the words that make up the concept. The power level will increase (vertically) and continually increase (progression) over time. It doesn’t progress by stopping. And, because we are talking about the power level of the game, the treadmill ride is non-optional. If you want to play the game over time, you will ride the treadmill. That’s the real problem. And a slow grind only makes it worse. With a wow-like grind you can get it over with in a couple months and relax for the rest of the tier/expansion. With a slow grind, you will always be grinding out the next phase of the power creep.
Adding VP to GW2 is the worst decision Anet has made to date.
Unfortunately, the content of the interview does not live up to OP’s title. Nowhere is there a commitment to no expansions. I was excited that there might be a commitment to no expansions, but you won’t find one in this interview.
On my Guardian which is the main character I play I have:
Deaths: 54
Hours played: 400
Deaths per hour: 0.14
This would seem much less than many posting here. I have all the professions at 80 and others have not fared as well. I honestly don’t like to die and take pains to avoid it. That said, I think Anet is fine with death. Watching livestreams I’ve seen Anet people dying left and right and they don’t seem concerned at all. Perhaps that’s why they can consider one-shot instagibs from the particle blur to be a proper scale of difficulty or a fun element of gameplay.
Well this means one of two things i guess…
1. The employees got fed up with being forced to release sub-par bug ridden content and demanded a higher standard and were fired for it. (Bad)
or
2. The higher ups finally have realized the sub par bug ridden content every 2 week model isn’t working and they fired the people responsible for it and will switch to a more reasonable model (good)
We probably won’t see the results of these layoffs for another 2-3 months, but we will be able to tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing in a few months based on the quality of content coming out at that time.
Frankly, I don’t believe I could sum it up better myself. Colin’s blog post on the future says the right things, but I don’t have confidence I know where Anet is on any issue really.
I also thought the Living Story mention was ill-conceived. They may be back to their roots around the LS but it’s not what they delivered initially and continue to deliver. What we’ve had is a temporary Living World that’s come and gone in ~1 month increments. The LW we have seen is not an evolving world but a cataclysmic one the evolves in fits and starts and then disappears. Colin’s latest blog post seems to acknowledge the error here. He has promised to turn this around, to get back to their roots, but it was only after a long hammering by players. So, Mikes touting of the LS/LW just doesn’t sit right.
And, as long as Anet can say “We’re now updating Guild Wars 2 about five times as often as the typical MMO.” as a positive then they really don’t understand the problem. All the problems with the current state of GW2 can be chalked up to a development cycle that does not allow them to think through the evolution of a living world. The short term nature of their SDLC favors quick and dirty temporary fluff over deep story and a living, breathing world. As long as they see rapid delivery of content as a value proposition, I will, at least, know that they have not really had their moment of understanding. Until they understand their problem, players won’t receive the promise of a living world.
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Just logged in and didn’t see any special sales. And, yes, it was supposed to be 12:00AM PDT which we are well past.
My understanding from Colin’s blog post is that the story will become deeper over the course of the remainder of the year. This should include seeing more permanent content where our play shapes the future of the game. I believe that they just got religion around this concept so it may take awhile to get underway.
I love it how people simply playing the game can be considered “gross” exploiters. I’m on TC and the CS has been on life support since 4/30/2013. The champ zerg has brought a few players I suppose, but it is far from its former glory as a playing area. I think the only thing needed around the CS to fix it on TC (and all other servers) would be a return to the January update state. Carpetbaggers are not the problem with the CS, it’s Anet’s attempts at making play more interesting that has emptied the zone.
Without loot it would not be an MMO. I found out years ago that the MMO, for me, is the central genre around which I dabble in other gaming genre. I wouldn’t want to lose my center but would be interested in other games that asked the question what if there was no loot.
Top three:
1. Remove vertical progression entirely. A lot of us have burned out on it in other games. We’ve now tried it here and found that a slow grind isn’t any different than a fast grind (except in dancing, of course).
2. Fix economy and loot system so that play is rewarding and crafting is viable. Remove DR entirely as we play MMO/RPGS to experience intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. It makes absolutely no sense to consciously make your game unrewarding to play.
3. Replace two week development cycle with a three month cycle which focuses on a permanent evolution of the Living World. (Formally announce the abandonment of the expac approach to the MMO.) Moving to a team-based cycle that allows for longer development by each team is a good start in that it recognizes that a longer cycle is needed for quality content and code. Now go all the way and realize that you still have a two week release cycle. It is not needed as a value proposition. I want quality, permanent content and I will know Anet is serious about it when they move to a longer development cycle.
This is somewhat analogous to the question, what musical instrument, the guitar or piano, is hardest to play? Well, most people will say guitar as you’ll be playing something that sounds like music much sooner than on the piano. True as far as it goes, but I’ve noticed that to play any musical instrument (including a blade of grass) at the virtuoso level takes an equal amount of practice, gifting, commitment, whatever.
It’s similar here. To play a warrior at the highest level possible is not boring. You will constantly be on the edge of your seat. Most of these discussions devolve to the lowest common denominator and pronounce X profession boring. Calling any profession boring just shows that you are not approaching it in the manner required to make it art. So, why not make it art.
I think they actually nailed it with this kit. Personally I salvage basic salvageable stacks through blues with the basic kit, vendor greens, and use mystic on rares. If I were to salvage an exotic rather than sell it and it had a divinity rune or something I’d use the BLTC kit for it.
This kit will pay for itself over time, but only after several hundred thousands of uses. It doesn’t make sense to buy this based upon financial returns. What you are buying here is the convenience of not having to manage inventory (and space) for salvage kits. As such, and just like the unlimited use tools, the convenience is huge. I love this kit!
Mobs prioritize high thoughness builds.
No they don’t. People need to stop spreading this garbage. Almost every mob has different aggro priorities, and even then different skills on each of those mobs will prioritize different conditionals.
There’s a reason why no good teams run an Anchor anymore, let alone AH (in any dungeon).
Yes they do.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro
This isn’t in any way official but it gives a good overview of aggro and possibilities around aggro management. Different mobs do respond uniquely in terms of aggro but, overall, toughness/armor can be said to generally draw aggro. Jeez, you only really need game experience to know that.
And, yes, it is more common than not for good teams to run an anchor guardian. This is simply the way the dungeon meta has developed and nothing has occurred to change it.
Yes, Charr armor needs help. Though I’ve found armor that works for me (T3 heavy), I hope it arrives soon across all armors. The mention of Asura got me in terms of this thread. I previewed Braham’s heavy on my Asura warrior and the helm was so outrageously, ridiculously HUGE that it actually worked as a humorous fashion statement. That probably wasn’t the intent with the armor though.
Yes, Charr armor needs help. Though I’ve found armor that works for me (T3 heavy), I hope it arrives soon across all armors. The mention of Asura got me in terms of this thread. I previewed Braham’s heavy on my Asura warrior and the helm was so outrageously, ridiculously HUGE that it actually worked as a humorous fashion statement. That probably wasn’t the intent with the armor though.
On the topic at hand I agree with @Conncept above that skilled is not the opposite of entitled and so the OP fails out of the gate. On the one hand I agree with the OP that challenging content should be available in the game as long as it’s not gating significant content or reward. On the other hand I agree with @Mungrul and @Mad Queen Malafide that what we often see masquerading as difficult is simply assured death through any available random agency. The key to appropriately challenging content, as in Dark Souls, is that you are able to do a combat post-mortem and understand exactly why you died. This is also how you improve your game. Too often in GW2 your only actual mistake was to enter combat in the first place. I don’t know how many times I’ve died without the slightest idea of why and had to consult the combat log, often finding some random 20k hit from out of the particle blur. This is not challenging content for those who appreciate challenging content.
I use the default ground-targeting reticle for the very reason you state: most of the time in any largish fight I haven’t a clue where my cursor is and use the ground targeting reticle to find it. And, for a traps ranger or a grenades engi that adds up to a lot of additional clicking. And, regardless, I would still argue that cursor viability would be a positive design goal in combat.
I never fail to be amazed at the misunderstandings around farming. Farming, in an MMO/RPG is simply playing the game purposefully, i.e., with an objective in mind. I am farming mats in order to craft a set of gear, or farming karma in order to get a temple set for a fresh 80. These are all natural activities, not something foreign that someone brings to an MMO. And, farming is not a problem that needs to be wrestled with. Some people love it and farming is non-differentiated from their normal gameplay. Some people hate to farm and they tend to buy mats if they want to craft. But, the currency they would use to buy the mats was obtained by some farming-like activity, i.e., play with an objective in mind.
Playing purposefully or with an objective is not work. We often play sports in a way to play well and to improve our performance—it’s not work, it’s play. The same with games. Objectives, whether a legendary, or a hard to get skin, are a good and normal thing in gaming anywhere close to the MMO genre. No problem here really to address.
I agree with you.
But there’s a difference between casual farming and hard core farming. It’s one thing to go out doing one event looking for specific drops that you need or want to sell. It’s another to insist that everyone be involved in how you’re farming. No one has a right to tell anyone else how to play, much less curse at them for messing up their farm.
A couple of months back, I was in Malchor’s Leap, and I needed a couple of events for my daily. So I did the event with the giant risen chickens.
And some guy whispers me and says: “Good going, moron. Hope you’re happy with your 1 silver for doing the event. I was farming chickens.”
I said to him. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know. You should have said something.”
He never replied.
Farmers aren’t a problem. Idiots are a problem.
And, I have to agree with you. Organized “farming” a la what you mentioned, or failing events generally, or running an area in a particular champ order are a blight on gaming and give farming a bad name. I like your distinction; let’s agree to call them idiots and not farmers.
I think this is a great quality of life item in the store, similar to the unlimited use tools. For normal salvages through blue quality I use basic anyway so no problem there. It will take hundreds of thousands of salvages to make up your investment, but it’s really not about money; it’s about convenience and not having to manage inventory for these items. Once they get the tools back in the store I will be a very happy player.
Given my concern for screen clutter, and since the display of my titles is not optionally viewable by others, I choose to never to display a title. It seems like the responsible thing to do.
I’m very happy to see that Anet continues to take player conduct seriously. And, the in-game culture is the better for it. We really have no way to know the details of any given case and that is why processing this publicly serves no purpose. If you have a problem with the suspension take it up with Anet as they know why they suspended you.
I never fail to be amazed at the misunderstandings around farming. Farming, in an MMO/RPG is simply playing the game purposefully, i.e., with an objective in mind. I am farming mats in order to craft a set of gear, or farming karma in order to get a temple set for a fresh 80. These are all natural activities, not something foreign that someone brings to an MMO. And, farming is not a problem that needs to be wrestled with. Some people love it and farming is non-differentiated from their normal gameplay. Some people hate to farm and they tend to buy mats if they want to craft. But, the currency they would use to buy the mats was obtained by some farming-like activity, i.e., play with an objective in mind.
Playing purposefully or with an objective is not work. We often play sports in a way to play well and to improve our performance—it’s not work, it’s play. The same with games. Objectives, whether a legendary, or a hard to get skin, are a good and normal thing in gaming anywhere close to the MMO genre. No problem here really to address.
I would love to see the unlimited use harvesting tools as a permanent item in the store. Anet, please, take my money.
This item is completely worthless.
You can buy basic salvage kits for karma.
Did you all just forget that?
The thing to remember about all unlimited use items (cf. harvesting tools) is that the main thing they are providing is convenience. You are paying money so that you don’t need to manage inventory for those items. As one who has the harvesting tools on two characters and not on the others, I can tell you the level of convenience is huge.
So, the issue at hand is not how “economical” the purchase is, but rather what is the level of ease that it provides in playing the game; and, is that level of ease worth $10.
The only option that interests me is converting a soulbound item (including a legendary) to account bound for a fee. This would keep items out of the economy and would not affect gold directly. Obviously, it would have an impact in that you wouldn’t need to purchase the item for an alt, but the impact would be somewhat contained. This would be a huge quality of life measure for all altoholics I’m sure.