Guild Wars 2

SHTSKATE dot com.9310:

Removing the stunbreak from Elixir R for Engineers is pretty awful in my opinion. Stunbreakers are a must have for dungeons, CoF and AC in particular which are the most popular dungeons anyways. What the hell good is a toolbelt stunbreaker attached to a turret? If the turret is active the stunbreaker is AWOL because it’s replaced by detonate turret, meaning you have to have a useless filler skill on your bar just to have access to the stunbreak.

Elixir S and Elixir U are both just as dangerous as they are helpful. Now that you can’t perform any actions while shrunken popping Elixir S when you have a condition at low health can actually kill you cause there’s literally no way to cleanse conditions while you’re basically incapacitated for 3 seconds (before the Elixir S nerf you could at least use the medkit for healing/condition removal). Elixir U can give you frenzy which increases the damage you take by 25%, the last thing you want to happen when you’re trying to survive a knockdown by stunbreaking.

So they took the most effective stunbreaker Engineers had and replaced it with one that essentially removes a utility skill from your bar. I’d love to hear how this is more balanced or somehow an improvement?

The Rocket Boot changes would have been nice if the stunbreak had been maintained, I always thought it would be better as a forward moving skill rather than a retreat, but without the stunbreak it goes back to being less than useful outside of a world map travel skill.

I would gladly give up the stunbreak from Utility Goggles to have it returned to either Rocket Boots or Elixir R. At least it makes sense to have a stunbreaker attached to those skills which are more suited for survivablity than an offensive skill like Utility Goggles..

My Necromancer build is better for the most part, but Engineer was my favorite class, certainly won’t be anymore. I have over 1500 hours on my Engineer alone so I think my opinion on the class carries some weight.

I wholly agree. Been playing my engi last two weeks or so. Perhaps biggest disappointment was that not a whole lot changed (cf. the necro buffs). The stun break shuffle though was a major disappointment. Now I have less utility. How’s that for a prof that shouldn’t be seeing nerfs in a balance patch. Ranger is permanently on the shelf right now.

wolfie.7296:

i’d rather they focused on giving classes fun abilities rather than nerfing them. line of warding and portal nerfs, good example.

Max Schaefer of Diablo fame said it best: fun always trumps balance.

killcannon.2576:

Senryi.4897:

killcannon.2576:

I disagree with the blanket nerf to pet damage for Rangers.

I still dislike that there is not enough separation between PvP balance and PvE balance.

I dislike that the idea of balance is to nerf to the lowest rung on the pole rather than picking a baseline of a working build and bringing the rest of the builds up to par.

In the blog post that talks about the balance changes, Jonathan Sharp articulates why boosting all the other classes would be a bad idea. I recommend reading through it: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-skill-and-trait-changes/

Pass. Typical dev doubletalk because it’s too hard. Been seeing that excuse for over ten years….and that approach didn’t work then, and doesn’t work now. They remind me of Sisyphus.

I’m not saying buff the already stable builds, I’m saying bring up the other builds to be on par with the stable ones. In other words, LOGIC.

Have to agree with killcannon on this one. You can even consider the issue on an intra-class basis. Generally, build diversity is the goal but all too often a successful build is broken (nerfed) to move people to other build options. I would much prefer that other build options be buffed to actually make different builds viable. I’m not talking about raising the power level of a class, simply promoting real build diversity.

Similarly, when you look at balance across classes it is better to recognize, and celebrate, success. And, rather than removing success, it is far better to analyze the factors that create success and then work to make all classes equally successful. It’s not usually an issue of raw power but rather interesting build synergies and the like. What I’m suggesting would not raise the power level of the game. It would simply establish success as the goal for all classes and work to create it across all classes.

I have to agree with the OP on the negative effects of adding vertical progression to the game. And many thanks for the proper English spelling.

As convenience items, they are great and I too am looking forward to the axe. They are also profitable for Anet. As convenience and profit should never end in the game, I vote for making all the unlimited use items permanent in the BLTC.

I noticed that the cog was not very appealing when previewing on a male character. I would prefer the cog in #1 above (female) for both sexes. I actually don’t like heavy or light much. They nailed medium and my engineer is eternally grateful.

Definitely add all three unlimited use tools as permanent items in the BLTC. I understand that they arose from a specific event, however, they really should be immortalized in the store. They are basically convenience items for players and profit for Anet. Convenience and profit should really not be temporary in the game.

Not sure given the absence of confirmation in the notes. Since it makes absolutely no sense to put it there, conceptually, there is a strong chance that this is intended. We’ll have to wait and see. The stun break shuffle is certainly a dance without grace.

Sad about Elixir R. I have a lot to complain about with the patch, but on the engineer, this one is symbolic. The stun break shuffle, and engis aren’t the only ones affected, was wholly done without an awareness around synergy and and grace in development. Elixir R, for me, is symbolic of everything wrong with the patch.

It’s been a thing since launch. And, conceptually, it’s been tried in other games without success. The problem is that when you manage damage by stacks on a boss, consider adding 10 more condition necros or 10 more zerker warriors to a fight. With the warriors you get an expected increase in damage; with the necros you get an inconsequential increase in damage.

DoT damage is exactly the same as direct damage (it depletes a health pool); it’s simply delivered differently. Rather than being front loaded, it’s delivered over time. This creates all kinds of trade-offs and makes for a very interesting, for some players, playstyle.

The answer, of course, is simple. DoT damage is simply damage/tick times a number of ticks—i.e., damage done by player. There are factors of adjustment like armor penetration, but, bottom line, it’s simply damage done by player. Lose the stacks, move the damage to damage by player, problem solved. Btw, this will continue to be a problem for all condition builds in the game until it’s fixed in the same manner other games have fixed it.

Necros are most certainly not OP, but have seen a significant amount of positive changes that indicate a developer with their lights on. Sadly, this can’t be said for the necros tier buds, the ranger and engineer.

I’ve never seen a good 30/30 condition build actually. Most generally are 0/30.

I haven’t done any thinking on the necro post 6/25 but will be interested to see the theorycrafting.

You have to at least have a minimum understanding of what was going through Anet’s mind around this to discuss it. As Blaine said above, this is not about stability, it’s about the stun break shuffle. And, It’s not about necros or rangers or any other profession. It was executed poorly, without synergy or grace, across all professions as far as I can tell.

Absolutely, they can co-exist. In fact, the game can be much better for it. Appealing to a broader (read casual) base of players brings in money, which in turn funds development. Hardcore players add a large fund of knowledge to a game which in turn benefits casual players, those who want to improve their play but don’t have the time or inclination to theorycraft builds or gameplay.

I think the key to success is in understanding where to satisfy both constituencies. Open world PvE should not be faceroll easy, but should welcome casual players. Hardcore players should find their desired level of challenge in instances where individual skill is required and coordinated teamwork (verbal) is assumed. The needs of both groups can be met and both groups can benefit from the others presence.

My warrior will be sitting out this patch. The problem is they have nuked the possibility of achieving an effective build rather than giving us build diversity. And, the changes to the axe are just sad.

It was good to see a slight buff to the LB as it needed to be buffed. Sadly, the balancing doesn’t leave the ranger, well, balanced in the game. I think there was some rational, forward movement with the necro, but not with the ranger or engineer.

I have all the profs at 80. My necro is happy with the patch and my guardian is ok with it. Sadly, all the other profs didn’t fare as well. Warrior’s always traded survivability for damage and now I think the guardian may be a better profession overall in PvE—perhaps we have a new king. Maybe Anet wanted to break up the GW2 trinity and reduce the standard dungeon group to four guardians and a mesmer. In the face of a patch like this one is left wondering as far as understanding intent. Just not enough rational detail to infer rational intent.

Sad about the ranger nerf/buff as it won’t move the class forward at all. I really don’t know what they were attempting with the engineer, but the break stun shuffle leaves him with less utility before even considering damage issues.

I don’t think this patch competes favorably for worst patch ever, but it is disappointing. I would think that they would at least try, in a balance patch, to meaningfully address engineer and ranger in the same manner as they did the necro. Oh well.

When a company is wholly owned by another company it’s not really not helpful to pit them against each other. Does NCSoft benefit from Anet’s success? Of course. They wouldn’t have bought them if they didn’t expect to benefit from it. Do you really think that Anet received no support from it’s relationship to NCSoft over the years of GW2’s development? Of course they did. That’s one of the reasons you would sell the company in the first place—to realize the benefits of deeper pockets. Is it perfect? No, it’s human, and there are many unfortunate consequences. But, it basically works and it really shouldn’t be the cause of so much angst on the net or forums. Would you rather that Bobby was running the show?

I have to agree with Vayne on TC. I just did a mad dash from Ebonhawke up through fireheart rise on one of my newer characters today and I ran into other players throughout. Not huge numbers everywhere, but the world felt populated and I didn’t feel alone. And, this mirrors my general experience on TC—it’s why I moved there.

Active, populated servers make a huge difference in quality of life. If you are experiencing low pop syndrome, try guesting on TC and check it out yourself.

It’s desirable, and essential obviously, that skins be available in-game and they are. It’s also nice to make various sets of skins available through the gemstore. This has been requested on the forums over and over. Players get nice skins and Anet makes a little money. Sounds like winning all around to me.

I agree with Vayne (this happens all too often for my comfort these days) on your postscripts. And, also would disagree with your dire tone in places. I really don’t think that Anet is completely detached from reality. They certainly could use some better reality-testing skills but I wouldn’t go so far as to dismiss them entirely.

On your points, I have broad agreement with them all. Anet started with a strong DNA in the form of their manifesto and I believe we’ve seen some mutations since 11/15 of last year. I still think that GW2 is one of the best games I’ve played and I believe that Anet wants to succeed in producing a great game. Considered at launch, I would say that it’s the best MMO that I have ever played. The challenge has come in in managing the game over time. I wish them success and believe it’s possible for them to succeed.

Blaeys.3102:

Really depends on your playstyle and the situation.

In PVE, I would vote for either stability or vigor as the most useful boon and either poison, chilled or blind as the best condition.

Bingo. What is best is what you need in a given situation. I love bleeds on my conditionmancer, but if a mob has 25 stacks it’s not doing much for me. The boon that I’ve thought most about is simply aegis on my guardian—so many benefits. You can run through Orr an largely avoid annoying CC. They are all good and all have their purpose in the game.

I haven’t been to Orr because of the nerfs to reward for playing the game, so haven’t noticed the reversal of the nerfs. I’ll definitely check it out.

Burnfall.9573:

price

15-20+ zerg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2W4CoZEeI0

I won’t roll a thief

I Believe in fair play.

I Don’t Cheat

than

why is the thief the only class who can?

Ok, I watched the video and don’t understand your point about the thief. What I saw was a fragile class, often on the verge of death, doing mediocre damage with a shortbow.

The OP thief most people talk about is the roamer/duelist. Before the reveal nerf this was always a glass cannon d/d thief, a walking opener, that without cooldowns up was usually going to be noted for their great acumen in the ways of exiting battle. Occasionally, a skilled thief would hang around and be annoying…on cooldown. Thieves have their niche but are certainly not a favored profession, especially in general PvE.

And, according to the leaked patch notes (if legit), warriors shouldn’t be secure in any presumed favored class. I do agree with the OP on the lack of meaningful combat roles being an overall problem. Meaningful roles are the first thing humans address in any group activity be it a scavenger hunt or brain surgery. We shouldn’t expect games to be any different.

I have all the professions at 80 so the usual nerf them, buff me mechanic doesn’t apply. I have played my ranger and engi the least for all the usually described reasons. Necro, because of the way condi dmg is managed (by stacks on mob rather than damage by player) will never be completely ok in all situations (primarily PvE) until that is fixed at a minimum, but I don’t have a problem playing necro generally in the game, and was glad to see some needed buffs there.

Ranger needed LB attention and got a little—this will not be enough to move it from the bottom tier of professions. Engi changes I just don’t understand (especially the stun break shuffle) and more than ever I believe Anet doesn’t understand it either. They really need to develop an internal advocacy group made up of people who actually play the profession that is used to balance the balance group. So many changes (like the recent thief PvE reveal nerf which was subsequently reverted) suggest that no one there actually plays the professions in question.

Overall, it’s a good day to be a guardian. I don’t know how badly warrior PvE success is nerfed but we may need to crown a new overall PvE king. Long live the king!

Farming, under my definition, is an activity performed by every player who pursues goals in a game. Do you desire a legendary weapon? There is really no way to achieve this goal without farming the mats, gold, etc. I’m sure Vayne would prefer that we achieve game goals simply through playing the game, but farming, for me, is simply playing the game. It’s fun, satisfying, and in most games rewarding. I really don’t understand the angst and vitriol around farming. The question of whether one should be rewarded for farming, to me, is the same as the question of whether one should be rewarded for playing the game. And, the answer is yes.

On RNG, I have no problem with it as a concept or element within a loot system. It has been an element in every MMO or RPG-like game I’ve played. The key to success here is how the loot system is tuned. A loot system is generally a rules-based system that uses RNG to spread an expected level of reward across a player base. I’ve played games where I felt rewarded for play and I’ve played games that were an absolute loot wasteland. From recent statements, I’d say Anet is aware that they need to work on reward. As far as the RNG boxes go, I don’t like them at all and I don’t buy them (or keys). I would like to see other ways (like playing the game) where desirable skins etc. could be acquired.

Major changes to builds are always a risky undertaking. Of particular concern was the statement:

“With these changes in mind, we are going to be making a few builds a little harder to achieve due to their extreme effectiveness. Some traits will go up in tier while increasing in potency to promote build variation.”

“extreme effectiveness” is a term used by those about to employ the nerfbat to indicate what we would call “successful” builds. I read this to mean that certain successful builds will no longer be obtainable. I don’t know what this means, but I hope I don’t have to change professions because of it.

Torment simply should not have been added to the game at this time. We are already at a level of complexity where balance is problematic. It is not particularly helpful to add another moving part to the mix. Don’t make the system more complex and then assume that you will have fewer problems balancing it.

That said, it’s probably better to wait, with the customary level of trepidation, to see what it all means.

Humans do not create ex nihilo, we create after ourselves. Hence, models from our life experience are often helpful. If I wanted to create a “living” world I would immediately consider our own world and those aspects that make it “living”. A key feature is its persistence. MMO’s took this concept directly from our own experience of living in a living world. A living, evolving world always remains after evolving. Though there is constant change, there is the perception of general permanence (I said perception—don’t mean to challenge our Buddhist friends here) when we consider our day-to-day experience.

This is the problem with temporary content—it doesn’t contribute to our experience of a living, evolving world. And, sometimes, as with the SAB, it positively detracts from it by emptying the world. A world needs living players to feel “living”.

I don’t include here the celebration of seasons. I’m talking more generally about how I would evolve the game. I wouldn’t do it through temporary content, but rather content that remains and becomes part of our living history. This also would allow people coming in new to explore and experience all the lore and history of our shared experience. I really don’t like the focus on temporary content.

That’s odd. I play on TC and am currently working through low-mid level zones for map completion and there are other players everywhere I go—literally. I actually spent a couple months in the old days trying to get to TC to avoid empty zones and I haven’t been disappointed.

As stated above Charr’s aren’t the only ones with armor problems and clipping, but the tail and head too often present a problem for the charr. When I got my charr engi to 80 I was pleased with the Vatlaaw armor which seemed natural around the tail. I never show a helm as it simply wouldn’t be appropriate to obscure a perfect profile.

On the plus side, I think the Charr medium and heavy T3 is some of the best looking armor in the game, but yeah, more attention around armor is warranted and especially so with the Charr.

What you described in the OP is not hatred for talent, but rather hatred for people with poor social skills. Your rhetorical announcing that you are a good player is simply an instance of poor social skills which will be met, obviously, with an outpouring of vitriol. I don’t support this response as we should show compassion to the disadvantaged among us, I’m simply stating the likely consequences of a given behavior.

You forgot the major problem with condition builds in the game and it’s the way that Anet manages conditions by stacks on a mob rather than damage by player. This is why in any grouping one condition player, say a necro, can maintain max bleed stacks on a mob. If you added 10 more necros you really wouldn’t be adding much to the damage output of the group. For comparison, consider adding 10 zerker warriors and you will see why warriors are sought out for group play and condition builds are not, by and large.

The problem is simple. Condition builds are really about damage over time, i.e. a base amount of damage per tick of time for a certain number of ticks. That’s the concept that should be in play. It is exactly the same as direct damage, but it is delivered over time rather than front-loaded. The sustained damage of a direct damage build or condition build should be comparable in any significant fight. Sure, a warrior is going to deal a lot more damage in a 2 second fight, but I’m talking about sustained damage in a significant fight. This is part of the trade-off with direct and DoT.

Direct damage is properly accounted for in the game, but DoT is not. The major fix to condition builds is to move it from stacks on a mob to damage by player, i.e., damage/tick X number of ticks. Simple. There is no problem with condition builds stacking to infinity because there is only damage by player and, again, it should be comparable to a direct damage build in a sustained fight. With this change the major problem with condition builds will be solved. There are a number of ancillary problems like environmental objects etc., but condition builds will continue to be a problem until the major problem is fixed.

Anet has a gambling problem. Threads like this are the intervention.

Yes, the smallest race always has an advantage in PvP (which here includes WvW—I really wished they had understood that WvW is PvP so it doesn’t need endless qualification). It has nothing to do with hitbox as they are all the same size. There are two main factors: 1) we naturally, as humans, discriminate by size in assessing threat and this should be obvious; and 2) the characteristic animations are hard to detect in a very small opponent, especially at a distance. This is why my WvW rifle warrior is an Asura.

Edit: I should say that I don’t see this as a problem that needs to be fixed; it is simply a fact of PvP life in any game that has it. It’s a very slight edge, not a gamechanger.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Based on responses I’m not sure some of you read my post past the first paragraph….I’m agreeing with you, thus the:

“The one thing that’s really missing is the rewards to help make playing in these locations more even exciting and rewarding than they are now.”

And no, we’re not putting in a new currency, we have plenty of those

Colin, it was precisely your attempts to improve Orr that emptied it, remember? Reward is only one dimension of concern. Orr, after the Jan update and before Feb, used to be a fun place to group up with others, get to know people, and enjoy the game. People don’t enjoy failure fests and the MMO is not about crushing challenge.

Do a post-mortem. Ask what emptied Orr and why players are complaining (the answers are actually all here in this thread). Ask why no one goes to Southsun now after the event. The answers to these questions, and their remedy, will go a long way to making GW2 a fun, rewarding game to play.

I used to love Orr. There were a lot of people playing and people grouped up. This allowed you to get to know other players and was a lot of fun socially. I actually partied with a GM of a guild so many times and had so much fun that I ended up joining the guild. And, it was rewarding in terms of karma and coin. You could actually advance your characters through karma and coin by playing there. But, this is no longer true.

Very sorry to hear Colin’s take on Orr in terms of increased difficulty as that is the attempt that ruined Orr and it all started in Feb. What have we seen as the fruit of Anet’s desire to get people back to Orr? The addition of champs and vets has decreased reward. They offer no reward themselves and cut down on the number of mobs present which was always the source of reward. Difficulty, or challenge as a reward in itself? I’m sorry but 30k hits out of the blur, outrageous AoE, continuous major CC are not challenging, they represent anti-challenge, i.e., they are features that do not reward skillful play.

From the content of Colin’s post above I can tell you that they are not planning to bring back Orr and consequently the players won’t return. So, both the social and financial reward are now simply gone and it’s quite sad.

Dailies and monthlies exist, at least in any game I’ve played in or near the genre. They are actually in the best state they have been, imo, since release. In the old days you had to do fractals and/or WvW to get the monthly reward and it is significant. In the old days you had a fixed list; today you can choose the one’s that best fit your playstyle.

I agree that daily rewards should accrue from daily play, naturally, according to your playstyle. But, that said, I’m not going to complain about where Anet has taken it. The dailies/monthlies, for me, are there, but there in the background. I have no complaints about the way they have managed this aspect of the game.

I don’t think there is any need for drastic changes here. The mobs are a tad weak and don’t last long enough for some players to tag them. I’m always hesitant to ask for buffs to mobs, fearing that they will overdo it and we’ll get epic boss-level fights, but here it’s warranted. Just buff the mobs a tad. You’ll still need to get there before the fight is over (it’s like a mini-DE afterall) but it will remove the pain associated with seeing the fight start and not being able to tag a mob before it’s over.

Valanga.5942:

I totally agree with Vayne… Never tought i’d seen that day, lol.

I’m surprised myself and agree that this is the honest, straightforward way of dealing with an otherwise bad element of the game.

The use of RNG can work well within a loot system. Compare Diablo or the more recent arpg, TL2, where the experience, overall, is positive. When I consider RNG in GW2, I just think that Anet has a gambling problem and we are the co-dependents suffering from it.

Culling is a major problem in the game and has been for me since January when they attempted to fix culling. Prior to that, for me, it was episodic, annoying when it happened, but not a basic problem in open world PvE. The more they addressed culling (primarily in WvW), the worse it got. It’s now a pervasive problem on every level and ruins immersion even when you are not dying to it.

That said, I don’t think it’s the major problem with the Temple fights. Why? I’ve been in a fight with 3 champs and countless vets and been hit for 30k. Due to the particle blur there was effective culling in that any useful info from animations was obscured. And, even if you do manage to see a stray animation, are they targeting me? I can’t afford to dodge every attack as many mobs spam attacks.

No, the major problem is not culling. It’s not about difficulty either. Difficulty or challenge describes a scenario where skill is required in order to succeed. Situations where there are multiple champs up spamming highly damaging abilities, 30k hits from the particle blur, and continuous major CC are not challenging. They call for no skill and the only lesson they teach is that your error was entering combat on this one. The major problem is the design of the encounter and I think a lot of it comes from the desire to make the encounter challenging. Personally, as one who has played every major MMO, I think they are confused on the genre. MMO’s address a wide, diverse player base and generally the open world is not designed to create failure > 90% of the time. The idea that everything’s fine when events continuously fail betrays a misunderstanding on the developers part, not the players. Scaling difficulty is usually addressed in instanced encounters and this allows everyone to enjoy the content of the open world and for everyone to find their level of incompetence in dungeons.

The major problem won’t be fixed until Anet changes their design vision. And, given how entrenched it appears, I wouldn’t be looking for interesting, appropriately challenging encounters anytime soon.

danbuter.2314:

•Globs of Ectoplasm can now be salvaged into Piles of Crystalline Dust. This change should help Globs of Ectoplasm maintain a strong value in the economy and lower the cost of Crystalline Dust.
•Master Tuning Crystals, Master Maintenance Oil, and Superior Sharpening Stone recipes now take more Piles of Crystalline Dust to craft. This change is to help these consumables maintain a high value with the new influx of dust.

This makes no sense. Here! Have more glittering dust! Oh yeah, all prices have gone up so you are in the exact same boat you were before!

Anet giveth and Anet taketh away. It has been this way since the beginning.

Aeonblade.8709:

Raine.1394:

Due to the nature of RNG, you will never be able to answer this question through anecdotal testimony. Luckily Anet has given us the answer:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Magic-Find-Chests/first#post597487

MF affects only loot dropped by mobs; it does not affect chest drops.

Which would all be fine and well if we could believe a word that came out of their mouth. The fact they have been proven wrong time and time again about their own game is going to make the rest of us leery however.

As this is a feature that contributes to less reward in the game, I feel they are likely giving us the straight story here.

Due to the nature of RNG, you will never be able to answer this question through anecdotal testimony. Luckily Anet has given us the answer:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Magic-Find-Chests/first#post597487

MF affects only loot dropped by mobs; it does not affect chest drops.

Yeah, the game started out along a horizontal progression path, but I really don’t understand your complaint about lack of stat progression. They moved from horizontal to vertical progression back in November. A legendary weapon will always have the highest stats in the game. As the power level increases so will the legendary. This is actually what is legendary about a legendary now. It’s grind insurance for the weapon slot.

darkace.8925:

Beligerent.1324:

I started playing GW2 because I thought the whole point of this game was not to force the player to grind like so many other MMOs do. And yet as soon as you get to endgame, the only endgame options that are really there is to grind.

• FOTM= Grind!

• You want that dungeon armor set? Grind the hell out of that dungeon until you end up venomously hating dungeons!

• Want that awesome weapon skin from the event?! Well first you have a 0.004% chance to get the crate, and then you have another 0.004% chance to get a weapon skin ticket in that crate. Basically, more grind!

ANet, you’ve created an endless cycle of grind for endgame, and you lied to everyone who bought your game. I love GW2 but it has in no way delivered on it’s promises.

Because everything you listed is a cosmetic upgrade, and because cosmetic upgrades aren’t required to play the game, you’re not being required to grind anything. The only thing you’ve got a legitimate complaint on is Fractals, but that was designed specifically for grinders. Complaining about grinding in Fractals is like going to a strip club to complain about nudity.

One correction here. They didn’t add Fractals for the grinders, they added vertical progression for everyone. Just visit a laurel vender to see the path of the power curve, in the initial pieces, for everyone. It truly would be great if we were talking about cosmetic upgrades, I mean, that’s what GW is all about, right? I would agree with you at launch, but with the addition of VP we all will be chasing ever increasing stats. That’s what vertical progression is. Vertical: the power level of the game increases; Progression: it continually and continuously increases over time. Again, they didn’t add a grind for grinders in FotM; they added a grind for everyone everywhere with vertical progression.

I am an altoholic with all the professions at 80. I had thought this was safe in GW2 as GW was not about grinding out higher power gear post max level gear at max level. Anyone going through the process of acquiring Ascended gear for multiple alts knows it’s crazy. Gearing characters really shouldn’t be measured in years—it’s just wrong.

The problem, of course, is vertical progression. At one point in WoW (Cataclysm) I had six characters at max level. When MoP shipped, I only leveled one of them. It is just too much work to maintain alts when the power level of the game is increasing. The same holds true when the power curve is low (I really don’t understand how they thought that would make any difference).

I honestly believe Anet didn’t think through all the issues that would arise out of VP. The alt issue is a relatively small (but real) problem among many.

darkace.8925:

Fishing.

The game could use a new form of time-sinking. Anything made to placate the bored so-called “hardcore” players will be devoured in a couple of days or weeks, and then they’ll be bored again. Fishing is the perfect time-sink for the casual players, and if properly implemented will provide a long-term enjoyable addition to the game.

+1 for fishing. Some people will love it. Some will hate it. This is no problem and to be expected. Tie it into recipes and put a giant sewer rat mini somewhere on a very rare spawn. (Only partially kidding here.) And, fishing poles. Don’t forget cool, must have skins for these. And, fishing derbies would be a great activity. This would be a good starting point for removing DR from the game—make it so you actually catch fish when you fish no matter how long you fish. Fishing would brighten every day played for me.

Daecollo.9578:

I play a condition necro… made completely useless because of this food. Wish I had the numbers to chop people down.

Nerfing this food will have little impact for a conditionmancer in WvW. I don’t play mine there because condition removal is pervasive. One try was enough for me.

It’s nice to think nerfing this food will make a big difference for condition builds but it won’t. Might as well forget about Epidemic as the conditions will be gone before you can hit the button.

Beldin.5498:

Vol.5241:

If you really want people to play in Cursed Shore…Anet needs to rollback all these farming nerfs and bring back shelt/pen + plinx.

Yeah .. but of course then people would complain again with using words like :
- faceroll
-brain-akitten
-rofl-stomp

and cry for :
-challenge
-hardmodes

feel free to complete the list

We could start a fund and offer to purchase them an on-line course in the MMO and it’s place in gaming genre. (The MMO is not about crushing challenge in open world PvE.) Or, if they’re not the studious type, and these people are never the studious type, we could offer to get them a copy of Dark Souls to play alongside GW2. What do you think? I’d be will to make a significant donation to the fund.