Guild Wars 2

I would first reset the game trajectory to the pre-11/15 manifesto trajectory. I would do a mea culpa, admit we had made a mistake in adding vertical progression and state a clear commitment to horizontal progression in the future.

Next, I would announce a cancellation of monthly events until the core bug and balance issues were worked out of the game. Once that was complete I would return to a slightly longer (than monthly) development cycle for new content that included an early PTR to be able to capture player feedback in time to actually make changes to incorporate it before release.

Meanwhile I would designate a team that would look at armor and weapon skins to give players cool stuff to play for.

I would de-emphasize ‘economy’ over player reward. And, I would do this in terms of the intrinsic reward of loot—i.e., not so much in terms of it’s ‘sale’ value, but rather its intrinsic worth to a player. The economy needs to be considered, but it should not be central, simply a mechanism for players to trade useful items that they can’t use. To this end I would look hard at a different monetization scheme, one where player reward didn’t cut into the bottom line.

That’s probably enough to get the ball rolling. Overtime, I would incorporate useful player feedback but would develop and evolve the game along the lines of its DNA from a strong core design philosophy as stated in an expanded manifesto rather than with my whetted finger in the wind. It would not be evolved by mob rule.

Anet needs to rethink daily and monthly rewards under the ‘play it your way’ credo. Right now you can’t play it your way and get both rewards, well, unless you are playing it their way—oh, happy coincidence! In a game reward should come from active play of the game not play according to any prescriptive formula.

Vol.5241:

Helenorz.2547:

well, I’m pretty sure I’m not crazy….. I’ve seen the chests (that are for me, that I can loot, since I know you can see other people’s chests), and when I loot them I dont get uncommon and above, I’ve gotten common and below.

for instance, I’ve gotten a common hood from the chest and a white pistol, and I was really confused. I even confirmed it with a guildie/friend who said he has gotten common and below from the chest.

I agree, it’s bugged. I still get yellows from corpses, and I still get junk in chests.

Same. The net effect is that the chest doesn’t mean anything. I don’t feel any better seeing a chest rather than a corpse and I believe the chest was instituted to psychologically indicate reward for play, the missing game element.

roostapro.9827:

Its hard to tell…

I am getting less bags than usual…

But i got 2 rare maces within 7 minutes….so now i dunno ;-; (139% MF)

I’m getting far more bags than previously and more mats in general. And, less rares. Glad to hear someone still sees rares. I’d actually like to see an exotic once in a while other than the very rare linked exotic I see in chat now. Adding reward to the game always goes a long way to creating a ‘sense’ of reward.

VBMeireles.4951:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

The unicorn Bow is probably the second most popular legendary in terms of looks, right behind Twilight. They seem to know what the majority of players want in terms of flying unicorns.

Well, you’re right on that.

I myself saw the quaggan backpack for the first time and thought: “whatever”. The patch hits in, I open the store, I look at the thing, it looks back at me, I hit “buy” and now it’s on my back. My Asura Cultural T3 used to be Oxblood and Coccoa. Now it’s Blue Sky and White Gold: http://imgur.com/QL9GRZ4

I want them to make it bigger on Asura too. :P

Unfortunately, I still hate rainbows and flying unicorns, though, specially when they’re supposed to be bow projectiles and I like some degree of immersion. I really hope my opinion changes in the future. I know the world won’t change because of me. :P

Ah, she is cute as a button. And, where you are going in this post tells me you will be ready for unicorns in under two weeks. Meet you on the other side of the rainbow.

Have I mentioned I hate the new dailies. Everyday there is now anger at some point in my gameplay. Maybe they are combating apathy or boredom through anger generation.

That said, as mentioned ranged attackers that telegraph the ability are easiest. Even with lag you will be able to get their timing down with a little practice. I use the tar elementals and risen spiders (shoot web) around the pent/shelt farm area in Orr. It is still tedious as hell especially when you dodge correctly and don’t get an ‘evade’. And, if you are like me, you will be ready throw something at a wall before you are done even without lag. Best wishes with your dailies.

Cool, I’m all about map completion at the moment and Wayfarer Foothills sounds like the place to pick up next. Kill two birds with one stone.

It’s easy to focus on the negatives with the patch but thanks should go to Anet for Orr. The changes contribute to making Orr a more playable and more rewarding level 80 zone. Yeah, densely packed mobs packing endless major CC was not an enjoyable gaming experience. Thanks!

Pretty much my take on the new dailies. The old ones were in the background and you tended to complete them simply playing the game your way. Maybe a little clean-up around kill variety at the end of the session, but never an issue. I would call reward for gameplay, your gameplay, the ideal for a daily achievement. Why they would move from the ideal is beyond me.

NO to raising the level cap. And NO to vertical progression. It is a cheap fix to the problem of progression and it costs more in the long-term. Besides, I came from WoW to escape the grind. They did give me a wonderful almost three months of relief.

Myd Lyfe Crysis.7423:

As gamers, we can be an insufferable lot. It seems as though no matter what any may deliver there will be those crying that it didn’t offer X,Y, or Z. And each individual whiner thinks that their concept of what the game should, or could, be is the only correct iteration.

Speaking frankly, if one’s preconception, misconception, misunderstanding, or undelivered candy coated dreams have caused so much ire in one’s life as to warrant your constant tirades and crying rants then that person should reexamine their life, and priorites in life. Because one must have an empty, shallow existence to feel the entirety of weltschmerz simply because of a game.

You do cancer is devastating people everywhere? But yes. THIS game is what deserves your righteous indignation.

“What’s wrong to want to get what we paid for!?” This is a strawman. Whether game dev. said this, or that, or what you assumed to be forthcoming because of any statement is irrelevant. It isn’t as if you paid for a ferrari, and received a dog-sled. With a sick dog. That had mange. The sniping gripes, again, show that if one’s world was in so much upheaval over these miniscule details it is time for some introspection.

“But you spent time refuting this, YOUR life is empty.” While I admire the ‘tu quoque’ it’s hardly an apt comparison and simply shows that the congnitive dissonance has reverted one’s brain to petty, adolescent slings.

“But because X,Y, or Z isn’t in the game I DO feel empty. I’ve lost my job. My wife has run out on me. I just need it to conform to MY vision so the world will know peace and love!” Stop lying. You never were married.

“But GW2 just isn’t what I wanted and it never will be!” Fine. That happens. I’d like my money back from “Ted” but, oh well. It happens. Sometimes we buy stuff that we think we’ll like, but it just isn’t our cup of tea. But what do adults do? Oh, right, we accept the fact that we just ate $50 and move on. Yes. We move on because continuing to waste time on something that has already taken our cash, that we just can’t fall in love with isn’t worth MORE time invested.

But, if one’s life is so empty that it isn’t a waste to beat a dead horse, well — looks like we’ve come full circle.

A lesson in an extended ad hominem. Though the thread is rife with ideas, do you notice how this ignores the ideas and issues raised and goes right “to the man”. Yes, it’s a game. People care about the games they play. They want to see them improve.This is a gaming forum where people discuss the games. What is out of place in the discussion is a post that doesn’t engage with ideas being discussed. If you have something to contribute do so, but the ad hominem is just a blustery way to say that you have nothing more to say. And, it’s best to simply not say that.

Randulf.7614:

So the quote proves no forced grind. It says they put in grind for amazing skins, but not for best gear. There is no grind for best gear as you get the mats/karma/coin just by playing

You do get the distinction between mandatory and non-mandatory grinds and that’s good. A grind for cosmetic skins is non-mandatory. You will be in no way disadvantaged in terms of play by not doing the grind. A mandatory grind is one that you need to do to keep up with stat inflation. This is the kind of grind WoW has. If you don’t keep up with the increasing power level of the game, eventually you will be unable to play. Mandatory.

On 11/15 Anet introduced vertical progression into the game. This is the game element that produces a mandatory grind. Previous to that it was about cosmetic differences only and non-mandatory. Usually you will see people attempting to defend Anet by minimizing the significance of the initial pieces of gear. Consider the words making up the concept. Vertical: the power level increases. Progression: it periodically increases over time. You can see by the definition that there will come a time that you will be forced to grind to maintain your characters power level with the increasing power level of the game. It is mandatory in order to be on par with other players and to keep up with the power level of the environment.

So, it is good to understand the difference between mandatory and non-mandatory grinds. It is also helpful to understand the significance of the elements of game design. Vertical progression is an element you introduce to create a mandatory gear grind. It’s not my idea, it’s inherent in the very definition of the concept. It’s a choice developers make. Ultimately, you can either like or dislike the mandatory gear grind we have had introduced on 11/15. But, it’s not an option to say it doesn’t exist.

Nibiru.1423:

Again Anet have fixed 90% of the exploits in fractals, don’t get me wrong I’m not against them fixing the exploits.

But yet to see a single bug fix, did two daily runs today and the usual bugs are still there, plus a new bug that causes people to repeatedly died over and over and can’t be rezzed, or respawn after being killed in volcano.

Why no bug fixes?

Stabilizing and balancing the game are priorities competing with monthly events for developer resources. Monthly events are winning.

That’s pretty sad, nice screenshot. I had to let an NPC I was supposed to be protecting die over and over to get the achievement. Probably not how the DE was intended to be played. I may have felt guilty about it if I wasn’t suffused with anger at Anet for ruining the dailies.

Personal attacks usually occur when people run out of intellectual gas. It’s a sign of weakness in a line of argumentation. I find it’s best to focus on ideas rather than personalities. And, the forums here, because of active moderation, are still better than most out there.

Scaling previously worked well and I gave credit to Anet for nailing it. However, it appears they have improved it worse is many respects. I encountered a version of it after the patch on my level 80 warrior doing map completion in Brisban. I almost died to a pack of level 20+ mobs. I have no problem in Orr taking down 5 mobs, why all of a sudden do I have a near-death experience in a level 20+ area.

Very sad to see them improve scaling in the same way they improved dailies…worse.

There is a general trend in gaming to remove complexity in terms of build customization. WoW is much simpler than it was pre-cata, D3 looks more like GW2 than it does D2. I’m sure they want to save themselves the hassle of balance and want to make games more accessible to more people through implementing “training wheels”. The problem, of course, is that the training wheels aren’t removable; you are never allowed to grow up in today’s game. The richness in character customization is gone and many people miss it. Perhaps there is a happy medium somewhere that solves balance and accessibility and still allows for depth of customization.

Racial advantages/disadvantages as you are describing them, hit-box size, run speed, are a bad idea. In these respects the races should be identical and they are. There are distinct advantages now. Character navigation with an Asura is much easier than, say, a norn. My norn warrior often prefers to fall to his death rather than do something my asura can laugh at. But being better at everything is, perhaps, just a asura thing.

Vertical progression is the bane of the altoholic. I know, I have 7 level 80 characters and 11 character slots. I actually bought GW2 with the understanding that it would be safe for an altoholic but they apparently caved to those crying for a gear grind. There is simply no way to carry multiple 80’s through vertical progression. In WoW I had 6 at max level but in MoP just leveled one to 90 as I had burned out on the treadmill. Too bad we had to have one in GW2, it could have been a great, truly unique MMO.

At least they are now consistent with the monthly achievements which never adhered to the play it your way philosophy. Kind of sad though, dailies were something I enjoyed and felt a sense of reward around, but sadly, no longer.

I agree with OP. Dailies were a working feature of the game and the new one’s debuted broken. The following daily, after combo killer, required me ultimately to allow NPC’s that I was protecting to die over and over just to complete the daily—talk about a break in immersion. I don’t feel any compulsion to do them around ascended gear, but they were a consistent reward in karma for playing the game and it was a positive game experience. I no longer relate to dailies positively. They just represent another element of bad design intruding itself into my gaming experience.

I don’t think Anet fully realized the can of worms they were opening when they added vertical progression to the game. It’s generally defended on the basis of its being insignificant. But, why would you add an insignificant element to a game? Actually, the grinders are beginning to notice that the difference is not worth the effort of their grinding and I’ve noticed threads on this.

It’s easy for me as I will not be getting any ascended gear. I didn’t buy GW2 for a gear grind and won’t be grinding out the tiers—so, no ascended gear for me. I do realize there will come a point where I can no longer play the game due to the ever increasing power level of the game. At that point I will simply quit playing. It is sad as I enjoy playing GW2. I’m actually waiting for a game like the one described in the manifesto. It will be glorious and I’m sure well worth the wait.

Mackdose.6504:

Raine.1394:

Mackdose.6504:

DocHolliday.5921:

The problem is that the false advertising is not resonating with players.

I’d like to point out that the game as advertised has not changed. The “no grind” line people like to refer to so often did not mean “no grind for the best in slot gear.”

That is an expectation that carried over from GW1.

What they actually said when you take the rest of the manifesto/design goals in context is that there’s no grind to see all of the game’s content. You are never punished by the game for having non-bis gear. This is an important and irrefutable fact.

This particular point is what made me interested in GW2 as my replacement MMO over WoW, LotRO and Age of Conan.

I have never played an MMO that punished you for having non-BiS gear. In WoW you can see all the content in greens. GW2 is not distinctive at all for the not penalizing you for not having BiS items. The only gating that occurs is in dungeons post level cap. And, we have that same gating in FotM. You are not going to waltz into FotM lvl 30 without showing your agony card at the door. The gating in GW2 is by gear just as in WoW.

You could not raid in greens, raids in WoW were the definition of PvE content. You absolutely could not see all content in greens. QED.

You can’t say “they both have post-level cap gating” when in GW2 I can see literally all content (difficulty != content) before the gate becomes a factor, where in WoW to even step foot in specific instances, you had to reach a specific level of gear.

Any experienced gamer would see the difference.

You really can’t read the manifesto plainly and come away with the distinctions you are making; the distinctions must first be made up. The language of the manifesto is clear to any experienced gamer.

I contend that your interpretation of the design manifesto is off-base, because in my opinion the game has kept the manifesto intact.

I’m not forced to grind anything to participate and be relevant; ergo any vertical progression is optional. I don’t care that I’m not stat-capped because the cap doesn’t matter.

I can’t spell this out any simpler for you.

WoW has the same definition of PvE content as GW2. In WoW the open world is content that you quest through. There are dungeons accessible as you level and dungeons accessible at max level in your questing greens and blues. Raiding simply followed the process of gearing up throughout the game. It’s called vertical progression and it’s what is present in WoW and now what they have confirmed we have in GW2. In FotM we see the gated content beginning with the fractal levels. Just sit in LA and watch map chat to see the gating in action.

I see you are unfamiliar with vertical progression. It can be represented by an integer series:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5…n,

where the integers represent new tiers of gear with a corresponding increase in power level. While the difference between tier 1 and 2 may be small, by definition there will be a point at which you can no longer play the game in your tier 1 gear. This is simply what vertical progression is and does.

WoW has vertical progression and post 11/15 GW2 has vertical progression.

I can’t spell this out any simpler for you.

May the island now rest in peace.

Svenn.5209:

Knox.3748:

And u just log in to get that reward ? Or u log in to play with ur friends and during that u get the daily done? Seriously, am i reading all of this QQ?

Many, many people log in just to get the daily done so they don’t fall behind that day. Sometimes I don’t have much time to play and I don’t log in to play with friends that day, I just log in to do the daily since it’s just a time limited reward and I can’t catch up on it later.

I log on one day and I play 16 hours. The next day I don’t log on. Another player logs on 2 days in a row for 2 hours each time. He gets double the progress I get towards an Ascended amulet. Why is this good?

As Knox said, what is good is thinking the same way as the developers. If you are not playing their way you are doing it wrong apparently. That said, if I were a developer or, say, a dictator of a banana republic I would certainly want more people who thought my way. It would make my life a lot easier.

I do feel a PTR would be helpful. There is most definitely a disconnect between developers and community and a method of providing meaningful feedback before features are implemented would save us all a lot of heartache. That said, with their monthly events I don’t believe a PTR would fit time-wise in the development cycle. Heck, they don’t even have time to test patches prior to release what to speak of a broad PTR.

I also agree on the daily/monthly. They are not consonant with the stated play it your way philosophy. They represent too significant a reward to blow them off with the “you can skip them” refrain. The monthly should be attainable by people who don’t play WvW or crawl through dungeons. It seems pretty straightforward to me and I’m surprised at Anet and defenders who have difficulty with this.

Nothing at all. In fact, I positively dislike everything I have experienced in the patch. I wish rollback was an option, but sadly no one has mentioned it as an option.

Mackdose.6504:

DocHolliday.5921:

The problem is that the false advertising is not resonating with players.

I’d like to point out that the game as advertised has not changed. The “no grind” line people like to refer to so often did not mean “no grind for the best in slot gear.”

That is an expectation that carried over from GW1.

What they actually said when you take the rest of the manifesto/design goals in context is that there’s no grind to see all of the game’s content. You are never punished by the game for having non-bis gear. This is an important and irrefutable fact.

This particular point is what made me interested in GW2 as my replacement MMO over WoW, LotRO and Age of Conan.

I have never played an MMO that punished you for having non-BiS gear. In WoW you can see all the content in greens. GW2 is not distinctive at all for the not penalizing you for not having BiS items. The only gating that occurs is in dungeons post level cap. And, we have that same gating in FotM. You are not going to waltz into FotM lvl 30 without showing your agony card at the door. The gating in GW2 is by gear just as in WoW.

Your close parsing of Anet advertizing reminds me of Clinton’s refrain “I did not have sex with that woman”. It turned out his definition of sex was a little different than that held by the rest of us. You really can’t read the manifesto plainly and come away with the distinctions you are making; the distinctions must first be made up. The language of the manifesto is clear to any experienced gamer. And, it’s why 11/15 caused an uproar in the community. We understood the manifesto and all pre-release comments on the way GW2 was to be unique among MMO’s in being without a gear grind treadmill.

SonicTHI.3217:

Vorch.2985:

I give ANet a pass on ascended gear because it was supposed to be in the game at launch and they did not have time to add it.

Should they add a next tier, I will not be as forgiving.

Something completely counter intuitive to 5 years of development, against their core philosophy of no grind for max stat gear and that being available trough many means in the game, held secret from the public… then without warning released in only one place with only one way of obtaining it.
And you believe this stuff?

Laurels are just damage control.

Also just by pointing out that “there wont be a new tier above ascended this year” they ve made it very clear in what direction this game is going.

The only reason for laurels is damage control around the decision to locate the gear grind in a single dungeon. We certainly didn’t need another currency. And, Vorch, in the AMA they made it clear that what they were adding was not a new and final tier of gear, they were adding vertical progression. Vertical progression “progresses” by periodically raising the power level of the game. It doesn’t “progress” by stopping at tier 2 of an infinite series. Those who understand the concept can be unforgiving now; there’s really no reason to wait.

Such is life in the grinding lane. It’s best not to look for logical coherence; Just jump on the treadmill most conveniently located near you and grind. It’s the path Anet has chosen. I, personally, will not acquire an ascended ring either through grinding laurels or grinding dungeons. It’s basically the same reason that, while I spent hundreds of dollars in the gem store pre-11/15, I haven’t spent a penny there since 11/15. It’s a principle issue for me.

UnderdogSMO.9428:

Raine.1394:

That’s enough. I can’t get anyone to die in order to revive them. I give up. Been looking for a corpse for several hours, no ones cooperating. It’s now 2 days without completing dailies. I don’t think I missed more than one or two since launch and now I can’t complete one. Thank you Anet. Beautiful work.

Realy! Plenty in orr

Was playing in Orr, thanks. Running Pent/shelt, as usual, for a couple hours to no avail. Bad design is bad design. I did learn that NPC’s count so I began letting NPC’s die instead of protecting them—again, bad design, but it did let me complete the daily. This is a fail patch pure and simple. And, it should have been obvious that it was fail. Just another fail on top of the fail.

Drops are awful post patch. This was Anet’s opportunity to turn it around. A missed opportunity.

Lutinz.6915:

As a rule I find forum threads in every MMO Ive played are full of negitivity directly after a patch comes out. Ive seen very few patches in any game where the first few days after the patch releases, the forums arent full of people unhappy with one thing or another.

Overall Ive really liked this patch and Im eager for the Living Story thing starting tomorrow. This patch was more than I expected since they said it was going to be a relatively small patch. This patch has actually made me pretty excited for the next few months.

Edit: Raine, I think youve had some bad luck. Ive had alot of 75+ blues and greens drop for me and one rare and Ive been in Wayfarer Foothills (1-15 zone).

You’ve have trash drop and you’re happy. If so, great, this is an excellent patch. Nothing but praises are due it.

Lady Vireo.5189:

Nappychappy.7046:

Weird, some how culling is magically fixed for you?

You must have a super computer /rolleyes

No, it’s not “fixed” because I have never had a significant problem with it, before or after the patch. That is, I have never noticed it that much, which must mean it hasn’t happened to me enough to be game-breaking for me. Since I don’t feel that I have personal experience with the issue, I can’t really weigh in on Raine’s experience with it or say whether it’s better/worse for players who are having trouble with it. That’s why I said I really can’t comment.

I wasn’t being sarcastic. :P

Edit: Sorry OP, I will get back on topic now. I just want to add the improved loot scaling is another thing that rocks about this patch. I do think that will help with the “empty zone” syndrome.

Yes, the brittle bones and shattered lockpicks are sure to get players out into the older content. I, in fact, was impressed. That, and it is harder to acquire them now—GG Anet!

Lady Vireo.5189:

Raine, have you tried reviving dead NPCs? They also count for the new daily, so if no players die around you, you can run around some heart events or DEs that frequently have dead NPCs. If you still have trouble finding ten dead NPCs to revive, keep in mind the daily will change again tomorrow. That’s what I find so nice about the new system. If you don’t like something, you’re not stuck with it, you can expect it to switch out and maybe be better the next day.

Sorry to hear you are having culling issues. I haven’t had any problems with that so I really can’t comment.

Thanks for this suggestion, as I didn’t realize NPC’s counted. I am now letting NPC’s die so that I can revive them. Not great as a concept, but efficient in getting the cheeve. I really do appreciate your helpful tone though, very nice to encounter in-game or in-forum. Dailies are a problem regardless. They weren’t but now they are. Fixing something working is tempting, but the risk is actually higher than if they were to fix something broken. It is most certainly a horrible patch as the forum threads reveal. I actually have lost the hope I had previously. Maybe time to look for a new game.

Probably 11/15 still stands as the worst misstep in GW2 history because of the introduction of vertical progression. I would have to place 1/28 as number 2 in the worst misstep category. I can no longer do dailies (my major source of karma) as killing combo didn’t work yesterday and no one has been kind enough to die around me today. Culling is horrendously worse after the patch and loot is the same trash as it has been since the beginning. This patch was an opportunity missed, but consistent with the history of GW2.

Loot before and after looks pretty much the same to me. This game has gone the way of D3 in regard to loot and it may have to do with the way both are monetized. They may be unable to make it a rewarding game.

Edit: If it weren’t for porous bones, I wouldn’t have no bones at all.

I nearly died in Brisban Wildlands doing map completion on my level 80 in full exotics after the patch. Before and after were night and day. Blew my mind as I don’t have difficulty in Orr. But the brittle bones and shattered lockpicks more than made up for it. Yes, thank you Anet. Beautiful work. You actually destroyed an element, scaling, that I gave you credit for nailing.

I do get an occasional dodge to register and am almost complete. However, no one is being considerate and dying for me. Making the daily dependent on people dying around you is the height of stupidity. It looks like, for the first time since launch, I’m going to miss two dailies in a row. Thank you Anet, you’ve broken something that worked beautifully and taken a major source of reward away from me.

Mkalafut.1273:

Kids are gonna cry when they get their candy taken from them.

And apparently when more free candy is given to them.

Long story short nothing is ever good enough and people will always find ways to complain about something.

I agree with Mkalafut. There is never a reason to complain about anything. Adults don’t ever complain and if they do it’s because someone has taken their candy, err, something they value, away from them.

That’s enough. I can’t get anyone to die in order to revive them. I give up. Been looking for a corpse for several hours, no ones cooperating. It’s now 2 days without completing dailies. I don’t think I missed more than one or two since launch and now I can’t complete one. Thank you Anet. Beautiful work.

Just a horrible idea to have dailies dependent on other people’s behavior. I’m running pent/shelt for the revives because I figured, no problem, the chickens. So I’ve been here a couple hours and have 3/10. Unbelievable, horrible grind. Dailies weren’t broken. I suppose they looked like low hanging fruit for “improvement”. They’ve now ruined the one part of the game that worked dependably.

Just doing some pent/shelt farming post patch and notice that the culling is far worse than I’ve seen it here in recent memory. Clearly any improvements are limited to WvW or some limited aspect of the game. Odd, that it would get worse with improvements though.

TempestMoon.5403:

People are always afraid of change. No matter how popular a game is or how well something is done the player base always QQs when changes happen.

Couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t have a problem with change—at all. It’s the direction that matters, i.e., is it a positive change or a negative change. When you see uproar like this it isn’t because they’ve implemented change, it’s what they have implemented that causes the uproar.

I like the thread title. Pretty much what I think. I did like the sound of dailies with, perhaps, zone specific content to incentivize visiting other areas; but, they haven’t included any of that so far. Dailies were one thing you could count on working…until today.

octopus.9618:

If only there was a test server.

I’m a big proponent of a PTR. That said, it wouldn’t work with monthly events which we’ve had since launch—just not enough time in the development cycle. My preference would be to put the events on the back burner while they stabilize and balance the game. Then, when they are ready, bring out events (and new content generally), but not monthly, and in conjunction with a PTR.

They wanted to make Orr easier and I guess it’s easiest if there is no reason to even try—problem solved.

If you think harder about it, people with multiple 80’s (I have 7) are kittened by vertical progression. Laurels are just a mechanism of exclusion for the altoholic, vertical progression is the reason we will not be able to play this game over time.

They are new to making grindy games. Give them time and they’ll eventually get it down like WoW, where, if you are lucky, you can have a trinket in a night and the whole grind, fully-geared, PvP and PvE, can be measured in terms of what a piece or two in GW2 takes.

I do feel for you. I have 7 level 80’s and don’t intend on taking them on a treadmill ride. I’ll simply play at exotic levels until I no longer am able to.

Yep, this was their opportunity to engage the community around a better vision than the one we’ve been saddled with since 11/15. Sadly, they didn’t pull it off. The dailies that can’t be completed, the harder scaling for brittle bones and shattered lockpicks (i.e., better rewards) were the first two things that greeted me. Other folks math around the grind involved in getting Ascended gear from laurels just added more disappointment.