Guild Wars 2

At least with the multi-guild system you might keep some players. . .technically.

Aye.8392:

Ameepa.6793:

Coarse sand is much more trouble than Flax. Flax gathers up almost automatically while playing in thenew areas , but for coarse sand you actually have to spend hours after hours in Dry Top or Silverwaste farming it and it is needed in crazy amounts too. Thousands and thousands of sands.

This is off topic, but might still be a help to people… Last night I spent just over 3,750 bandit crests on sandy gear at the Silverwastes trader. I got 6 rares, one exotic, and a ton of greens, but in addition I got almost 6 full stacks of silky sand to sift through. This is where you get your coarse sand.

That is really good to know. I will pass this on to my guild and take advantage of it myself.

Aye.8392:

But in the old system the progression took time, playing together for influence, and doing guild missions for merits. In this system progression costs first and foremost wealth in the form of both gold and materials and completely ignores us playing the game with our guildies which is really what guilds are about.

Influence was a great commodity and I think we should still be able to earn it and use it to buy the other things that are needed in the hall. Having a trader that would take influence and put items into the treasury without them ever touching the player’s hands might work. But there needs to be something that can be done to allow us to progress while playing the game with our guildmates.

The thing I have the most problem with is the guilt that I’m seeing when people decide to keep their wealth instead of donating it to the guild. It makes having a guild a burden instead of a joy.

Yes. I don’t care if it’s actually influence, but rewards for guild parties was a really cool aspect of the early guilds and should be brought back. Influence has already been worked into the current upgrade path (can buy favor or aetherium). Extra guild commendations could work, as well, and then utilizing the Guild Trader (an NPC who allows you to trade a Commendation for a Loot Bag) and include Upgrade specific loot bags.

I also am disappointed with the guild mission changes (to reset, at least). My guild used to have Saturday / Sunday weekly guild missions. We would gather a huge group and have tons of fun. With how the changes went, we can no longer wait until the weekend; we need the favor first thing, or we can’t buy upgrades and waste aetherium. Since most people can’t commit the time on weekdays for guild missions, this large community aspect has fallen apart. So, currently, I am attempting to plan upgrades to use the aetherium with a lower cost to favor so I can build up a reserve so that one week we can delay missions until the weekend, and then use the previous week’s favor for the upcoming week’s upgrades. I hope it works.

The other big issue I have run into is getting info out. Most people don’t spend their time reviewing the mats necessary for the upgrades, and the Message of the day is useless. I’m trying to find a way to get the info out so people can see what we’ll need a week or so in advance, so they can hold onto it for the guild or, if they have some free time, go farm some for the guild. The treasury (now that I have the Tavern, Mine, Workshop, PvP Arena, Warroom, and Market) is overloaded with mat requests, but I’d love a way to highlight specific materials that we need first, or some in game method (say, a calendar) that would allow me to put in the info without swamping the MotD.

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while; had some personal things come up. The Wiki has started catching up to the new info and most of this info is now available on it, so that may be a better place to check. If you have any questions, still feel free to msg me in game and I’ll do what I can to answer.

Wanze.8410:

In general, i agree, the amount of mats needed to level scribe and craft useful stuff for the guilds, seems a little out of whack.

The only reason I could come up with for Anets decision to slow down progress in leveling scribe (via needed upgrades/vendors and mats reqs) is that they were afraid it would create to much demand for items needed in the higher tiers to early after launch and would therefore be too much of a competition for materials for the guild hall upgrades, which mostly need t5 and t6 mats and ascended crafting.

They gated demand for some new and old materials behind various gates, that require personal, account or guild specific progression checks, so new markets could build up a decent amount of supply before their demand sets in or old markets arent disrupted too heavily immediately.

2 good examples are pigment for the scribes, brown has the highest value already because its used in the first ink sets available for scribes and the gem stones that are needed to craft the new gear stats. Most of the recipes for the new insignias and inscriptions require you to unlock special vendors and earn map specific currency, which many players didnt have right after launch.
So those mats could build up a decent supply before actual demand for them sets in.

Low level scribing involves alot of common t1 mats, copper, raw leather, jute and green wood.

Prices for those mats have risen significantly since launch. If the scribe profession wouldnt have its progression so heavily gated, we would see the same demand for t2-6 common mats, which we see for t1 now.
That would directly impact other parts of the game, especially ascended crafting.

Even if Anet would lower the mat requirements for scrbing, I wouldnt be so sure that it will make demand for those mats go down. If you only need a 10th of the mats, probably 10 more players than usual would start scribing.

While this seems like a logical conclusion, and if this was the purpose, that’s cool. But wouldn’t it be nice if they let us know?

Nabrok.9023:

Is there even a reasonable way to get to 50 without decorations? We don’t have the vendor yet, and everything in the list is grey or green except the decoration upgrades (I’m at 47).

Also, I can’t see how to make schematics … I guess I’m just not high enough to make them yet … when is the first one?

The amount of sand is ridiculous. I feel like I have to go play in Dry Top, when I’d much rather be doing other stuff. It doesn’t make any sense why they would require so much of a material that basically just comes from one zone.

At the very least they could increase the drop rate … instead of 1 whenever you don’t get anything else, make it drop 1-3 and have it drop on every opening in addition to the regular drop (geode, crest, etc).

Schematics (as far as I’ve found) have to be unlocked by the Guild before you can craft them.

To get to 50, I believe I discovered how to make a Writ of X (Malice, Power, and one other) which can be combined (3 of them) with a book and some other stuff, to create a Thesis of X, which is a consumable similar to banquets. I would not advise; it is obscenely expensive. (4 scribing kits, 1 for each writ, plus one for the thesis, ton of coarse sand, plus who knows what else). I got to about level 65 doing this, then unlocked the basic Deco vendor and got to 125 off of decorations and the lvl 75 refinement unlocks. Gave up at 125 when I found that Resonating Fragments didn’t exist yet.

If they continue to keep the absurd mat cost for this, I think they should make it guild wide. Exp you gain levels up the Guild’s Scribing Master, letting all guild member share this level. Either way, I’d suggest abandoning Scribe for the meantime. The benefits are really low and the cost is really high and, of course, it’s broken.

I wish they’d bring back bonuses from guilds partying together. Whether it’s bonus favor, mats whatever; something to entice guildies to work together.

I also think that the upgrade descriptions should be more specific. I know this information is becoming more available as people unlock stuff and share it with the public. But as the upgrades are both time and material expensive, not knowing what you’re getting out of the upgrade is a pain in the rear.

laokoko.7403:

Look on the bright side. Guild hall is kind of useless anyway. It’s just a cool thing, but don’t have much use.

Since now all guild upgrades go through the guild hall, including EXP buffs, Karma buffs, Magic find buffs, Banners, WvW claiming, WvW schematics, Guild Missions, etc, Guild Halls do have a fair amount of use. Necessary? definitely not. But to maintain the pre-expac guild functions, you do need to upgrade your Guild Hall.

Vespertilionidae.5018:

Time gated guild based missions that add to the progress of certain upgrades and unlocks, in ways other than just favor would also help slow the process down while still allowing guilds to earn a feeling of accomplishment and progression with team effort.

As an example: Your guild just captured a guild hall and the tavern npc appears, rather than asking for empty kegs and glass mugs just to pitch a tent he mentions rumors of a hidden stash of fine whiskey and other spirits somewhere in the hall itself. Wouldn’t it be a fine way to celebrate your victory by finding this cache for him?
Agreeing to find him these items would trigger a guild mission and completing it will create a minimal tavern, just enough to attract the mining npc and give the guild who just captured their own guild hall a small reward and ‘jump start’ on the long process of fixing everything up.

I would love this. You, sir (or ma’am) deserve a medal. I don’t have any medals though, so I just gave you a +1.

They could also add in collections with upgrade directed rewards; collect 15 different types of booze around the world; get some Empty Kegs or Glass Mugs. Find 5 likely mining locations in the guild hall, get some silverwaste shovels. Lead 5 PvP wins as a Guild Team Leader, earn some extra Potions of PvP Reward. Collect 1000 flax; earn some Linseed Oil. They did something similar to this; the Linseed reward from the story achievement, which helped to drop the flax / linseed price which helped a lot of guilds get started. Honestly, upgrading my guild hall is the most interesting part of the game for me at this time (I love the new maps, skills etc, but i’m really excited about the guild halls), and I would love to have new and fun ways to sink my time into it, rather than just spreadsheeting for upgrade paths and farming for mats and money to sink into it.

Until a re-balancing or a market shift allowing Guild Hall upgrades to be more accessible, I would suggest doing what I and my 2 allied guilds have. My guild is larger and has had an easier time upgrading, so we opened up to our allies; they can come in and use our facilities, come along on missions, etc while they work on their own guild halls. Occasionally, we trade materials (I needed PvP Reward potions, they needed Silverwastes shovels). It’s not a perfect solution, but it is something at least.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. . . bored at work.

I have a level 125 scribe with a recipe that uses the Embroidered Silk. The recipe (Festival Tent) is a level 50 recipe, and the Bolt of Embroidered Silk lists itself as a level 50 ingredient.

The magnifying glass doesn’t pop up.
Checked my 500 tailor, didn’t show up there
Checked auction house, tons of buy orders, no sell orders.

In a similar note; for the Festival Pavilions there is a Bolt of Embroidered Silk. Has anybody found this yet?

Anybody know where to find / how to make this? It’s used in Scribing, listed as a lvl 50 scribing mat.

Market Restoration does NOT include a Trading Post. Does not actually add anything to the hall.

The waypoints appear to bug out if you ever have multiple copies of your Guild Hall open. The problem appears to then persist even if the extra map closes.

Also, last night I purchased the Mining Rate upgrade for my mine. This has increased our mining rate from 1 per minute to 1 per 50 seconds. This works out to:
20 hours 50 minutes per 1500
13 hours 53 minutes per 1000
6 hours 56 minutes per 500

I have completed both GH; hallows with a 16 man group and then later with a 6 man group, the Lost Precipice with a 9 man group.

We also found that dropping from 10 to 9 members reduced maw spawns from 2 to one.

Issues I’ve seen people have:

Staggering. You go in staggered, you die one by one. Make sure your group arrives in about the same time. Also, it helps if everyone can glide and make use of the movement mechanics, otherwise groups get spread out.

Defiance. You absolutely need CC’s to break the defiance bars on the Vine Tenders. Otherwise you’ll spend the 3 minutes killing the ‘tenders and not even hit the maw.
Building off of the last: kill both vinetenders first, or you can’t kill the maw.

If you’ve got any q’s about claiming or upgrading, lemme know. I struggled through the past coupla days and would love to offer any help I can.

I think they said you lose them. BUT. . . you can pick them up and put them back in storage, which might preserve them

Workshop unlocks a bank in the form of the scribing station. Source: i got it.

Should also note; the mining boost 1,000 Aetherium for 10 minute increase is also bugged.

GG on WvW.

And yeah, I thought someone would like the news on the bank. I am hoping the Marketplace will include a Black Lion Merchant; I should be able to confirm this midday (EST) tomorrow. I will also be providing info on the Mining Rate upgrade first thing tomorrow.

WARNING: This is currently bugged. It will eat your Influence with no aetherium return. No word from Anet on refunds as of yet.

Hey guys,

I’ve noticed an astounding lack of information in regards to Guild Halls. We have plenty of general statements but few details. I will be posting any tidbits I learn or discover in regards to the Guild Hall Claiming / Upgrading processes, and would love for other people to post anything you’ve learned, or any questions you have;

First; Claiming.
Dulfy has a pretty good guide on this topic, and I only really have one thing to add. Apparently, the scaling threshold from 1 to 2 maw spawns occurs going from 9 to 10 players. This means the best chance for small guilds is to form a 9 person group.

Upgrades!
Current bug! Currently, the Aetherium Mine Booster (100 influence for a minute of increased production) does not work. It will eat your influence and, as of now, we have no confirmed reports of refunds from Anet.

Dulfy also covers the initial upgrades (Tavern, Mine, Mine Capacity, and Workshop) fairly well, but left out some details.

XP / Karma Boosters; purchasing one or both of these will spawn a Barkeep who provides potions corresponding to the bonuses you have unlocked. These potions provide 24 hours of the buff, do not stack, and are infinitely available.

Mining Capacity: This lets you hold 1500 Aetherium at a time. Necessary for most upgrades

Workshop: This provides access to the Scribing profession, Resonance, and schematic processing. The scribing profession introduces a Scribing trainer / merchant, as well as crafting bench (And bank! THANK YOU). One note on scribing; at this moment it is hugely expensive as there isn’t a whole lot to craft, and the things you can craft require new and expensive materials. To open up more designs for this, you must purchase or craft schematics. Banner schematics are available from the tavern, for instance. In the Market there is a Decorator Merchant that will allow you to purchase basic decorations which the scribe can craft up. I just purchased the Workshop and will continue to update as I learn more.

The workshop also opens up the ability to build the Market, PVP arena, and WvW Warroom. I have not yet crafted these, but they provide bonuses to PvE, PvP, and WvW respectively. This includes extra missions.

Final little tidbit: Flax Seed and Linseed oil:
Anet released the easiest method for Linseed Oil which is the Conservation of Resources achievement during the Torn from the Sky mission. This provides 10 Linseed Oil and is very easy.

They also mentioned that there are Flax Seed farms available, but did not specify locations. The first, and easiest, is in Verdant Brink just north of the [Jaka Itzel Waypoint]. If you run due north and jump off the ledge and fall to the bottom there are 4-6 Flax nodes (totaling ~25 flax per character). Gliding is necessary to survive the fall.

There is a second one is harder to get to; it is up in the Great Tree in Tangled Depths. It is also infested with Wyverns. I will update if I find a reliable path up here.

Hi Luzt,

Just a heads up; when you build the workshop (3rd building) you get a crafting station w/ Banker. It is a bit annoying as it requires, at minimum, 32 hours of Ore Production to purchase the workshop. Hit me up here or in game if you have any Q’s
Denna

Similar problem. Luckily for me it was only 4k and I am still waiting on a reply.

Donari; how many people are you doing it with? The number of spawns scales based on the number of people. The best small group I have seen is 9 people, as 10 will double the maw spawns.

I am commenting for reference.

Guys; you can spend it per 100. Once you unlock the mine you can purchase 1 aetherium ore per 100.

Please please please. I have 9 personal bank tabs.

tonyajc.2618:

Who knew the Jungle was filled with so much Salt water?!

I wish I could give you +100

Turethir.7281:

Red Mistress Denna.9804:

Either way Turethir, well thought out response, thank you for posting these ideas and I hope Anet reads your post.

Thank you (and also a big thanks to Preserver who quoted my post also) – and thank you for your insights, too! I like the idea of a ‘challenge mode’ for Hero Points. Shame there’s no Build Switcher yet, as it would be a lot easier to switch to tankier gear/specs quickly to take on these challenges, if soloing champs is something you like to do!

I really really really want a Build Switcher / saver.

Also; It has come to my attention that there is supposedly a WvW method for unlocking Hero Points. Some recipe for combining WvW rewards gives you a potion that, when consumed, completes one hero point in the new maps. This is not confirmed, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Turethir.7281:

I was ganged up on in my guild for expressing negative opinions in GC yesterday, which is a shame, as I was always very positive about this game. Luckily there seem to be lots of kindred spirits here so I’ll freely express my opinions.

In my mind (and as many have said) fixing the three things below will make a massive difference.

1) Drastically reduce the number of hero points needed to unlock elites. While I am not especially bothered about my elite spec I know how much others were looking forward to them. It was only in a post literally a day or two before the expansion that it was explicitly stated that these would be ‘unlocked’ – not helped by the beta weekends making them instantly available. This gave a lot of people the wrong impression and I can understand their frustrations. I would reduce this to around 60 points or so.

2) Half the XP needed for each mastery. Although these are account-bound (which is good) I still feel they’re too grindy. I find myself looking at my XP bar a lot. I never did in the base game.

3) When people are not around hero points (often because they’re mastery gated or very hard to get to) stop with the unsoloable champions with time limits! Downscale them to veteran mobs so that soloers can have a chance. This will become even more obvious once fewer players are on the map and people are attempting to get hero points for their alts. Implementing point 1 would massively reduce this issue also!

ANet made a good move by getting rid of the story requirement to have Itzel 4 mastered.

Come on ANet – if you sort these three things out, the majority will be a lot happier.

Just my opinions on your opinions;

1) I like that it’s difficult unlock elite specs. But, I would like to see;
a) Remove the 60 point buy in. At least let people get started right off the bat.
b) Give us some other ways to do it. Map completion gets you about half way through, and is a pain in the kitten . Hero points can be really difficult for some people, and others hate the idea. One of the best parts of guild wars 2 has always, in my opinion, been that you have 3 or 4 paths to any end. You want to level up? Okay you can do that in PvP, Crafting, Events, Dungeons, WvW, Gathering, Map Completion. So why limit Elite Specs to Hero Points and Hero Points alone? Why not make an Elite Spec PvP track? Add some hero point rewards to some of the difficult WvW captures? Make a Boss Event drop a couple of points here and there? Add in an Elite Spec Mastery; let us earn rewards by just general questing.
c) In Summary; I don’t think having it be a challenge, or a ‘process’ to fully upgrade your elite spec is bad. I am glad for the challenge, but GW2 was designed to appeal to a large variety of player bases; having such a limited method of progression is going to alienate a lot of them.
Honorable Mention Replay-ability. So many people I know have multiple alts. The current method of unlocking elite specs is going to be a nightmare to do multiple times. I, personally, enjoyed the challenge of unlocking my Chrono. I loved it, but if I have to redo the same exact thing for each toon, with no possible chance of variation. . .I’m probably just not going to do it.

2) Yes. Please, Yes. Especially the first level mastery tracks. Higher level ones should be more challenging to get, but the opening tracks need to be more accessible.

3) For most of the hero points, I think having a champ is great. It’s a fun challenge. The time limit, however, is annoying. One of the things they implemented (intentionally or not) is the efficacy of a tankier build, at the cost of DPS. But then they put in high defense/hp champions with a 5 minute kill timer? In my opinion, the time limits should be removed or inversely scaled with participation.
As an afterthought; maybe include ‘challenge modes’ like they do for some achievements? Scale it off of participation so one or two people gets a vet, but if you want a good challenge with extra rewards you can select the challenge mode. Idk, just a thought.

Either way Turethir, well thought out response, thank you for posting these ideas and I hope Anet reads your post.

Hi Hyouma,

I just wanted to mention, on the topic of underpopulated maps; A lot of players are focusing on the Halloween event as it is limited time, and Anet reduced the availability of candycorn and Trick or Treat bags year round by reducing the effectiveness of the Maize Balm.

In regards to the Hero points being too challenging, I completed most of them with 1 or 2 friends. I struggle soloing them because I am a high defense build so I often lack the DPS to drop them in the 5 minute time limit. If you are really struggling this much, it may be worth re-evaluating your build and/or teaming up with a friend or two.

I also just want to ask; do you think challenging content is bad? I had pretty much quit because I was so bored; world bosses are a joke, most of the dungeons are easy stack and flak. The only challenges were trying to solo intended group events / dungeons, or high level fractals. I really don’t mean any offense by this; I am just genuinely curious.

Am I saying it’s perfect? No, Anet should keep evaluating and tweaking it. Maybe reduce the EXP needed for masteries, maybe add Hero Point rewards to some of the challenging events, or the storyline. I would definitely like to see more support for the masteries and elite specs in PvP Reward Tracks.

Of course, if this product is not what you think it should be, it is your right to request a refund, but my suggestion would be to give it time.

Best,
Denna