Guild Wars 2

Rasimir.6239:

STIHL.2489:

In the end, a hard meter to pass helps everyone involved. if gives people looking into getting into raids a direction and a demand to meet to allow them to judge if they are serious enough to want to do this, and it ensures that to the people doing raids that the people looking to join them at the very least, put in the work to be ready for this.

I do not see any downside to putting in that fixed requirement, in fact it would help everyone in the long run. If you feel there is a downside, I am willing to hear it, but, it would need to a logical rational downside, not simply that you do not like it.

This is a game. Entertainment. I don’t want to work in a game. I don’t want to be serious about a game. I want to play a game and be entertained.

This is the game where you spend your time having fun, not preparing to have fun. ANet has said so time and time again. And it works for the vast majority of players of this game. Excluding players for whatever reason isn’t on the agenda and doesn’t mesh with the direction of this game at all.

For reference: I’ve participated in several raid boss kills (and I mean participated, not being carried) on different classes. I’ve had my Ad Infinitum since shortly after it was released. I’m certainly able to play raids and t4 fractals, even though I seldom do it (due to rl restrictions).

I still don’t see the point in excluding people from content by enforcing hard gates that require them to prepare in totally different kinds of content to even be able to try raids, and allow access only to people with a specific mindset.

Your objection seems to be nothing more then an emotional objection done for the sake of it, with no real in game activity on your part to show any reason for your objection, since you already partake in doing T4 fractals, which are very gated content, and by your own admission it does not impeded your ability to play the game for fun, you own gaming activity denounces decries your objection to this idea.

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Henry.5713:

And this, my friends, is why we can not have nice things.

I agree 100%, this game was really nice, till they put in something as out of place as raids into it.

“Nice” is subjective, which makes your whole statement more or less irrelevant. There are players who stay in the game because of raids. I bet they’d use different adjectives.

That was my entire point, that “nice” is entirely subjective. Good to see it did not go to waste. And no doubt that players quit over raids being put in, which again.. makes everything subjective, just because you like it, does not mean it was a net positive for the game or the games community.

Quitting over raids being put in the game is outright stupid. The game gets new content. You don’t like it? Then don’t play it. Simple. I don’t like pvp and I don’t play it. Do you see me quitting because the game features it? No, I stick to the content I like.

Quitting because raids don’t get put in would be considered equally as stupid.

But that is because everything is subjective, what you might think is stupid another may feel is valid.

No, it won’t. Quitting because you’ve exhausted content and have nothing more to do in the game is normal. Quitting because new content got added and you can’t possibly play a game featuring a content you don’t like – that is stupid.

Quitting because the new content is not accessible to you and thus you are stonewalled in your progression in the game, is a fully legitimate and very common reason most people stop playing a game.

Quitting because you can do all the content is a totally stupid reason to quit ,as for exhausting the content, to coin a phrase from a WoW dev “it great to hear how there is nothing to do from people who have only completed 25% of the expansions objectives”

Validity is all about perspective.

So I should quit because PvP is inaccessible to me and thus the rest of the content in the game (which is orders of magnitude more) is somehow irrelevant? Sorry, I don’t see it. It is still a stupid reason.

PvP is very accessible to you, in fact you can even have your very own arena. Care to try again?

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Astralporing.1957:

Yes, the toxic behaviour existed in dungeons too, but it could be easily ignored, because it was not supported by game mechanics.

Honestly I can’t remember a single mechanic that requires people to be “toxic” to beat it.

And yet.. so many of them chose that route, Wonder why that is?

I have to agree, being on a fail map sucks for everyone involved, which might be why they are moving away from that design.

ButterPeanut.9746:

Astralporing.1957:

thrag.9740:

Yh, idgaf how wow does raids. This is a different game, not a wow clone, if you want wow go play wow.

Just as people that wanted raids should have looked for games with raids instead of wanting them to be brought to gw2?

Just as people that want scaleable raid difficulty should have looked for games with scaleable raid difficulty instead of wanting them to be brought to gw2?

No one is really looking for scaleable raid difficulty in GW2, the few that bring this really want Raids to have never happened to this game, but since they were served with this ginormous pile of steaming kitten, they are now are simply trying to make the best of it.. which is vastly different then actually wanting to do a Raid of any style or difficulty at all.

It’s something they will settle for, but they never wanted to have to deal with this kitten to start with.

Sylent.3165:

In most games if you go melee you usually get some form of reward for doing so such as higher defense or higher armor and defenses that truly shine in melee.

In gw2 now many fights can not do melee due to massive aoes around bosses and champs, they are severely hurt with draining endurance much faster, they do less damage because they are more involved in dodging things right in their faces, and worst of all any condition ranged build is going to be doing more damage then you while they survive better as they can see things coming at them easier.

I enjoy melee in games but anymore I feel like going melee is so useless on so many classes. I’m not saying buff all melee weapons but maybe things like while holding melee weapons your endurance charges faster and you have x amount of chance to block attacks or something.

I know it sounds like I’m complaining which I’m trying not to do but any time I go melee I just feel I do so much better in every single way which I don’t think is right

I agree with you on the point that the disparity of defensive stats for melee in this game, vs having the same defense and being able to fully range a target.

Bunker Builds, as it were are simply not a viable option in PvE for GW2, they tend to be a more noticeable and viable in PvP, but even then.. not as much as other games.

But as others pointed out, this game also does not lock you into Melee with any class, every class has a ranged option to them that is viable, abet, often enough there is a higher DPS for melee, which makes all the melee classes in GW2 assault style melee as opposed to bunker style melee.

Abakk.9176:

STIHL.2489:

Vayne.8563:

Everyone wins except for people who want to run raids casually which might be as many or more people as want to run them seriously.

My guild has done the escort. Some weeks we can’t field 10 interested people but we’ve beat it four times. We’d not even be able to try it if you set the bar too high.

This entire concept is elitist and the reason I was against raids in the first place. Only the ones who want to pay to price up front should be able to attempt content? Sorry but no.

Raids were never meant for the casual player, or to be run casually. The were intended to be GW2 hard content, and should be treated as such.

If that means your guild that can’t even gather up 10 people to show serious interest do not raid, then that is what it means.

However Gating the raid would have helped your guild see who was serious from the start, if you were a tight knit small guild, you could help each other get ready, have it be a bonding experience, and maybe even get more of your members to take the raid seriously.

Otherwise this reads like a “I don’t like that”.. which I already said, I don’t care if it’s simply about your feelings.

Sounds to me like a handfull of elitists want a very expensive playground that only they can enter.

If you insist on going at it with a highly trained group of special commando’s you should organise that for yourself. Shouldn’t be too hard for a tight knit group of specialists to seperate themselves from the common folks…. right?

The very notion of wanting to fence off a part of the game for one group at the cost of another group is so anti-MMO, it’s just…. brrrr.

WHAT? This game is full of gates already.

What MMO’s have you played that don’t have gates? Name it!

From needing AR to do Fractals, all the way down to even the personal story has level gates, this was further expounded upon with the HoT Story having mastery gates, this game is full of gates, just like pretty much every single MMO out there.

Expecting the raid to have some kind of gate, makes sense to the way this very game is set up.

Vayne.8563:

STIHL.2489:

Vayne.8563:

Everyone wins except for people who want to run raids casually which might be as many or more people as want to run them seriously.

My guild has done the escort. Some weeks we can’t field 10 interested people but we’ve beat it four times. We’d not even be able to try it if you set the bar too high.

This entire concept is elitist and the reason I was against raids in the first place. Only the ones who want to pay to price up front should be able to attempt content? Sorry but no.

Raids were never meant for the casual player, or to be run casually. The were intended to be GW2 hard content, and should be treated as such. While I think raids were a bad Idea to start with, that not an excuse to forgo putting them in correctly and in a way that is best for the community as a whole.

If that means your guild that can’t even gather up 10 people to show serious interest do not raid, then that is what it means.

Raids were never supposed to be a casual affair in this game, but the lack of a gate makes people think they are.. which is exactly where everything went wrong.

To that end, Gating the raid would have helped your guild see who was serious from the start, if you were a tight knit small guild, you could help each other get ready, have it be a bonding experience, and maybe even get more of your members to take the raid seriously.

Otherwise this reads like a “I don’t like that”.. which I already said, I don’t care if it’s simply about your feelings.

Raids were added to a causal game as part of the expansion. No matter how they were intended, they were given to an audience that is largely casual. Saying all those people should be ignored in favor of a small percentage of people who want what you want is probably bad for business.

I do agree raids didn’t belong in the game in the first place, but that ship has obviously sailed. Giving the casual community more reason to be annoyed by them, ie to feel excluded, is just bad for business in my opinion.

nahh, it just removes the illusion that Raids can be treated like a T1 fractals or Dungeons, which is an illusion that for the betterment of the game as a whole, is best shattered.

Vayne.8563:

Everyone wins except for people who want to run raids casually which might be as many or more people as want to run them seriously.

My guild has done the escort. Some weeks we can’t field 10 interested people but we’ve beat it four times. We’d not even be able to try it if you set the bar too high.

This entire concept is elitist and the reason I was against raids in the first place. Only the ones who want to pay to price up front should be able to attempt content? Sorry but no.

Raids were never meant for the casual player, or to be run casually. The were intended to be GW2 hard content, and should be treated as such. While I think raids were a bad Idea to start with, that not an excuse to forgo putting them in correctly and in a way that is best for the community as a whole.

If that means your guild that can’t even gather up 10 people to show serious interest do not raid, then that is what it means.

Raids were never supposed to be a casual affair in this game, but the lack of a gate makes people think they are.. which is exactly where everything went wrong.

To that end, Gating the raid would have helped your guild see who was serious from the start, if you were a tight knit small guild, you could help each other get ready, have it be a bonding experience, and maybe even get more of your members to take the raid seriously.

Otherwise this reads like a “I don’t like that”.. which I already said, I don’t care if it’s simply about your feelings.

vesica tempestas.1563:

STIHL.2489:

zoomborg.9462:

As with every thread in this forum the answer is and always will be ez mode raids! Here called it first. The answer to all our problems!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, raids should have been gated, either by some gear requirement like AR provides for high level fractals, nor maybe, needing to have done a level 100 fractal before you could enter a raid.. in any case, not gating the raid by some means gave the illusion that anyone should be able to do them, and that is where everything went wrong with them.

since a fraction of the player base plays or cares about raids i hardly think more gates or elitist attitudes is the answer to the lack of participation. There is a reason why WOW turned to more inclusive balance levels as well as tightly tuned.

What I am about to say may be against what you currently believe, but hear me out on this.

By gating the raid content with a hard fixed gate, a mechanical gate, this would ensure that anyone even remotely looking into getting involved with raids would need to be serious about their game play and game progression. This helps both groups, because it makes it so that the people who do raids or want to do raids, know that the hard fixed mechanical requirement means that pool they are picking from is only going to be occupied by other people that are equally invested into the game, or at least serious about doing raids. This helps eliminate the elitist attitude that many endure because it ensures that everyone walking into even trying to do a raid, is a serious player. It removes all problems of someone looking to “dabble” or “see what they are all about” or playing some “fancy fun” build.

By putting in a mechanically set high bar to even walk into a Raid would establish that everyone involved would have a predetermined seriousness about raiding that we currently do not have. That serious intent, hat drive to work towards being ready to even enter a raid would eliminate all the people who basically are not even remotely close to being ready to raid and yet try anyway, which forces the player base to put in their own requirements and demands, and thus we have that “elitist” attitude problem.

While it is very elitist to be just dump hate and scorn upon anyone you feel is ‘below’ you, it’s not elitist to want everyone who enters the encounter to be up to par.

Case in point, I’ll use fractals, it would be snotty and elitist to say ‘No rangers’ in a fractal run, and I’d agree with that, even more so if it was like a T2 run, however, it is not elitist to expect everyone who joins a T4 fractal to have the AR to be there. And getting that AR requires looking into how to get it, and getting the gear and items to make it happen.

While it does not eliminate people spouting off elitist drudgery upon this forum about ‘noobs’ in T4 fractals, the reality is that it is so painfully rare it’s laughable to read it, in fact I can’t remember a single time I had to deal with a under-geared individual in a T3 fractal, thanks to that AR hard requirement, while I have had to kick people for not meeting it, I don’t view that as elitist, the game set that hard requirement, I don’t feel bad about expecting everyone in my group to meet it. In fact this has led to me teaching people about how to get AR and be ready or next time.

Thus the hard AR Requirement helps new players or players looking to get int Fractals by giving them a direction to work in to be ready, it motivates them to look up what they need to do, and often enough, because it requires research and expensive/time consuming gear upgrades, they will also look into making the best build possible for doing fractals (there are always exceptions, but.. thankfully they are the exceptions., not the rule), as well as maybe look into what Fractals are about.

But without that gear requirement, I suddenly become the ‘bad guy’ for kicking someone who had no place even being in a T4 fractal to start with.

Thus, that hard Requirement helps everyone. It gives the person looking to get into higher level fractals something to work towards, assuming they even want to do so, they may decide that it is too much work, and just stick with T1 fractals, much respect for that. On top of that, it saves that player who is not really ready for the content nor has the seriousness about putting in the work to do it from dealing with any of the elitist attitudes that are prevalent in the higher level fractal areas.

Everyone wins.

Without the hard mechanical requirement it’s too easy for people to want to get involved in raids without any serious intent, without knowledge, proper build, without a clue, and what happens to people that walk into content clueless.. that’s right, they often get hazed.

A Firmly Set minimum to even enter a raid would stop the majority of players from walking into them woefully unprepared, with some illusion that they should be able to do them.

In the end, a hard meter to pass helps everyone involved. if gives people looking into getting into raids a direction and a demand to meet to allow them to judge if they are serious enough to want to do this, and it ensures that to the people doing raids that the people looking to join them at the very least, put in the work to be ready for this.

I do not see any downside to putting in that fixed requirement, in fact it would help everyone in the long run. If you feel there is a downside, I am willing to hear it, but, it would need to a logical rational downside, not simply that you do not like it.

ButterPeanut.9746:

Raiding alone wasn’t going to pull me to WoW, nor was not having raiding in gw2 pulling me away.

So what did GW2 actually gain by putting in raids, if you were going to remain with the game regardless of their existence or not?

Baseleader.4128:

STIHL.2489:

If not for some desire to make this game mimic the raid culture of WoW, why would anyone want a raid put into a game that never had them to start with?

This might just be some crazy outside of the box thinking on my part, but maybe it’s because they’re really really fun?

So.. you would be fine if they made an easy mode raid that gave the same rewards, since they are really really fun, that should be the reward in and of itself.

Lets see how fast you can back-peddle and justify the more challenge should mean more reward, which.. you know, would invalidate the whole point that people do raids because they are “really really” fun.

ButterPeanut.9746:

STIHL.2489:

thrag.9740:

Yh, idgaf how wow does raids. This is a different game, not a wow clone, if you want wow go play wow.

This post perfectly encapsulates why raids never should have been put into the game to start.

Nice blanket statement that is not true at all for so many people.

Its as if there are other reasons people do/don’t play WoW other than raids and reasons why people do/don’t play gw2 other than raids…oh wait thats exactly what the reality is.

If not for some desire to make this game mimic the raid culture of WoW, why would anyone want a raid put into a game that never had them to start with?

thrag.9740:

Yh, idgaf how wow does raids. This is a different game, not a wow clone, if you want wow go play wow.

This post perfectly encapsulates why raids never should have been put into the game to start.

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Henry.5713:

And this, my friends, is why we can not have nice things.

I agree 100%, this game was really nice, till they put in something as out of place as raids into it.

“Nice” is subjective, which makes your whole statement more or less irrelevant. There are players who stay in the game because of raids. I bet they’d use different adjectives.

That was my entire point, that “nice” is entirely subjective. Good to see it did not go to waste. And no doubt that players quit over raids being put in, which again.. makes everything subjective, just because you like it, does not mean it was a net positive for the game or the games community.

Quitting over raids being put in the game is outright stupid. The game gets new content. You don’t like it? Then don’t play it. Simple. I don’t like pvp and I don’t play it. Do you see me quitting because the game features it? No, I stick to the content I like.

Quitting because raids don’t get put in would be considered equally as stupid.

But that is because everything is subjective, what you might think is stupid another may feel is valid.

No, it won’t. Quitting because you’ve exhausted content and have nothing more to do in the game is normal. Quitting because new content got added and you can’t possibly play a game featuring a content you don’t like – that is stupid.

Quitting because the new content is not accessible to you and thus you are stonewalled in your progression in the game, is a fully legitimate and very common reason most people stop playing a game.

Quitting because you can do all the content is a totally stupid reason to quit ,as for exhausting the content, to coin a phrase from a WoW dev “it great to hear how there is nothing to do from people who have only completed 25% of the expansions objectives”

Validity is all about perspective.

Hyrai.8720:

imo female armors may be “over sexualized” but that’s still a huuuge difference to sexist/sexism in general
maybe swap those terms in this thread?

Well that is the key point to what makes them sexist, the male armors are not equally sexualized, so, the request here is to add in sexy/sexualized male armors, perhaps, with matching modest styles for the ladies.

zoomborg.9462:

As with every thread in this forum the answer is and always will be ez mode raids! Here called it first. The answer to all our problems!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, raids should have been gated, either by some gear requirement like AR provides for high level fractals, nor maybe, needing to have done a level 100 fractal before you could enter a raid.. in any case, not gating the raid by some means gave the illusion that anyone should be able to do them, and that is where everything went wrong with them.

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Henry.5713:

And this, my friends, is why we can not have nice things.

I agree 100%, this game was really nice, till they put in something as out of place as raids into it.

“Nice” is subjective, which makes your whole statement more or less irrelevant. There are players who stay in the game because of raids. I bet they’d use different adjectives.

That was my entire point, that “nice” is entirely subjective. Good to see it did not go to waste. And no doubt that players quit over raids being put in, which again.. makes everything subjective, just because you like it, does not mean it was a net positive for the game or the games community.

Quitting over raids being put in the game is outright stupid. The game gets new content. You don’t like it? Then don’t play it. Simple. I don’t like pvp and I don’t play it. Do you see me quitting because the game features it? No, I stick to the content I like.

Quitting because raids don’t get put in would be considered equally as stupid.

But that is because everything is subjective, what you might think is stupid another may feel is valid.

The Greyhawk.9107:

STIHL.2489:

Leo G.4501:

Bad example. Imagine you and a group of buddies from work decide to go out for a drink. The guys may wear something like this:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/95/09/f2/9509f2c0441bd9e1c6f259e020b3e1a1--casual-outfits-hombre-mens-casual-outfits-summer.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a9/d3/5e/a9d35e9e223fdbad66aa0af95fc2c7b1--dope-fashion-fashion-men.jpg

While your female friends may wear something similar to the above OR:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c4/be/00/c4be007e0317bf1023a36d0efe0de76a.jpg
http://i.pinger.pl/pgr111/58c2dd410001203e4c85392f/zara1.jpg

And that is what is happening in GW2 (what happens in other MMOs is a different story), female characters are given skimpy gear along side modest gear and male characters are partially excluded from skimpy gear.

No.. what is going on in GW2 is this..

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Masquerade_armor_human_male_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Masquerade_armor_human_female_front.jpg

See.. the problem that everyone is talking about?

Of the same token, we also have some stuff like this:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/4/4e/Nightmare_Court_armor_%28light%29_human_female_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/8/8f/Nightmare_Court_armor_%28light%29_human_male_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/b/b4/Feathered_armor_human_female_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/ce/Feathered_armor_human_male_front.jpg

as well as many examples where, as far as exposed skin goes, there is little to no difference between male and females:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/b/b2/Ornate_Guild_armor_%28light%29_human_male_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/cd/Ornate_Guild_armor_%28light%29_human_female_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/e/ef/Inquest_armor_%28medium%29_human_male_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/4/45/Inquest_armor_%28medium%29_human_female_front.jpg

See we have moved off the topic.. so again

Minor Reminder: This is a topic asking for the addition of Skimpy Male Armors to go along with the Skimpy Female armor..

This is not asking to remove any of the existing Skimpy Female armor.

Just because there is some semblance of fairness for some of the armors, this does not change the original point, that the OP wants male equals to the Female masquerade armor, and, they should be put in.

Leo G.4501:

Bad example. Imagine you and a group of buddies from work decide to go out for a drink. The guys may wear something like this:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/95/09/f2/9509f2c0441bd9e1c6f259e020b3e1a1--casual-outfits-hombre-mens-casual-outfits-summer.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a9/d3/5e/a9d35e9e223fdbad66aa0af95fc2c7b1--dope-fashion-fashion-men.jpg

While your female friends may wear something similar to the above OR:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c4/be/00/c4be007e0317bf1023a36d0efe0de76a.jpg
http://i.pinger.pl/pgr111/58c2dd410001203e4c85392f/zara1.jpg

And that is what is happening in GW2 (what happens in other MMOs is a different story), female characters are given skimpy gear along side modest gear and male characters are partially excluded from skimpy gear.

No.. what is going on in GW2 is this..

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Masquerade_armor_human_male_front.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Masquerade_armor_human_female_front.jpg

See.. the problem that everyone is talking about?

Feanor.2358:

STIHL.2489:

Henry.5713:

And this, my friends, is why we can not have nice things.

I agree 100%, this game was really nice, till they put in something as out of place as raids into it.

“Nice” is subjective, which makes your whole statement more or less irrelevant. There are players who stay in the game because of raids. I bet they’d use different adjectives.

That was my entire point, that “nice” is entirely subjective. Good to see it did not go to waste. And no doubt that players quit over raids being put in, which again.. makes everything subjective, just because you like it, does not mean it was a net positive for the game or the games community.

Leo G.4501:

STIHL.2489:

Leo G.4501:

STIHL.2489:

Xbon.9086:

STIHL.2489:

Minor Reminder: This is a topic asking for the addition of Skimpy Male Armors to go along with the Skimpy Female armor..

This is not asking to remove any of the existing Skimpy Female armor.

it’s still silly and unnecessary, women typically wear skimpy clothes out in public, but you never see a dude with his shirt off at the store for example.

yah know.. there are signs on most store doors that say “No shirt no Service” for a reason.

But that aside, where I live, I see a lot of guys wearing “muscle” shirts, spandex shorts, sometimes wearing nothing but sneakers and speedos™ while out power walking.

So honestly I have no idea what you are talking about.

What about in casual settings like going out to eat with friends, going to a movie or concert, going out for a drink with your work friends, going to school, going to work or even formal settings like work meetings, recitals, formal banquets, ect?

It’s still about the same. I don’t get where people think that women dress like tramps all the time and men are modest. It just ain’t what I see.

It’s not about dressing like tramps (i never said that) it’s about the amount of covering and the variety of options. So you’re saying that, for example, in a formal work setting with a professional dress policy, men and women have the same amount of options?

But that is exactly what this discussion is about. Imagine if you worked in an Office were Men wore full length Slacks and a button up long sleeve shirt, Shirt, and Women were expected to wear biker chaps, a thong and a Bodice.

That is what is happening in most MMO’s. women are given skimpy, sexually revealing outfits and men are modestly covered.

All anyone is asking for is to give the guys the Chaps, thong and muscle shirt, while the women wear their chaps, thong and bodice, and I don’t think that is being unreasonable.

Henry.5713:

And this, my friends, is why we can not have nice things.

I agree 100%, this game was really nice, till they put in something as out of place as raids into it.

Leo G.4501:

STIHL.2489:

Xbon.9086:

STIHL.2489:

Minor Reminder: This is a topic asking for the addition of Skimpy Male Armors to go along with the Skimpy Female armor..

This is not asking to remove any of the existing Skimpy Female armor.

it’s still silly and unnecessary, women typically wear skimpy clothes out in public, but you never see a dude with his shirt off at the store for example.

yah know.. there are signs on most store doors that say “No shirt no Service” for a reason.

But that aside, where I live, I see a lot of guys wearing “muscle” shirts, spandex shorts, sometimes wearing nothing but sneakers and speedos™ while out power walking.

So honestly I have no idea what you are talking about.

What about in casual settings like going out to eat with friends, going to a movie or concert, going out for a drink with your work friends, going to school, going to work or even formal settings like work meetings, recitals, formal banquets, ect?

It’s still about the same. I don’t get where people think that women dress like tramps all the time and men are modest. It just ain’t what I see.

Xbon.9086:

STIHL.2489:

Minor Reminder: This is a topic asking for the addition of Skimpy Male Armors to go along with the Skimpy Female armor..

This is not asking to remove any of the existing Skimpy Female armor.

it’s still silly and unnecessary, women typically wear skimpy clothes out in public, but you never see a dude with his shirt off at the store for example.

yah know.. there are signs on most store doors that say “No shirt no Service” for a reason.

But that aside, where I live, I see a lot of guys wearing “muscle” shirts, spandex shorts, sometimes wearing nothing but sneakers and speedos™ while out power walking.

So honestly I have no idea what you are talking about.

ButterPeanut.9746:

STIHL.2489:

ButterPeanut.9746:

Substatic.6958:

Changing health and damage values would be that resource intensive?

How does changing health and damage account for the people who don’t raid because they don’t want to find 9 other people?

Dropping the health of a Boss Mob allows for a single player to do enough damage to kill them in the allocated time frame.

How does changing damage and health account for attacks that don’t do damage, but instead kill you instantly?

It doesn’t, as such there would still need to be skill involved to win.

How does changing health and damage account for loot balance?

Since all loot is allocated to single players, there is no more loot given if 6 people do the raid, no less should be given if 1 person does it. So loot would remain unchanged.

How does changing damage and health account for mechanics that require specific number of people to complete a mechanic?

what mechanic is this?

It has never been a simple change of reducing boss health and damage, and it never will be.

Sure it could.

I think you are misunderstanding what my first post was about. It is not about making equal difficulty raids that require less people. It is about making raids that are significantly easier than the current implementation.

I see what you are talking about now.

There have been numerous posts about how easy mode would need to remove the 1 shot mechanics like sabetha’s flamewall. If that were pursued, it is not a simple “reduce boss health” fix.

“Since all loot is allocated to single players, there is no more loot given if 6 people do the raid, no less should be given if 1 person does it. So loot would remain unchanged.”
- This isn’t an argument about equal difficulty low mans, its an argument about easier difficulty raids that may or may not have a lower number of people as the maximum. If an easier mode with 5 people is implemented, it is very obvious that looting needs to be adjusted versus the current 10man difficulty. In addition, do you allow players to get loot from both forms in the same week. These are the kind of questions that take time/resources that are not “drop boss health/damage”.

VG green circles require 4 people. KC green circles require 6 people. Sloth mushrooms require 4 people (unless you kill before you get to #4, which is obviously not the case for “easy mode”). Xera platforms require 3 people minimum. Deimos mechanics require at least 2 people to tank and kite hands. Sabetha bombs require at least 2 people. These are some examples of the mechanics that have hard requirements on the number of players in the group. Simply lowering the damage/health of KC will never allow a group of 5 players to beat the boss. There must be more changes to account for that…aka more dev time/resources.

Meh, to be honest, this seems to all boil down to making a “easy enough to get the raid done to unlock collections mode”

And to be honest, cutting the main Boss’es life in half, (maybe by 60%..) and reducing the actual damage by say 40%, should be enough to provide that.. have it be a one time mode like the story mode of dungeons, where doing it again would not net any progressive rewards.

As for all the other mechanics.. meh.. leave them in, they are not dependent on build, dps, so make em dance.

Minor Reminder: This is a topic asking for the addition of Skimpy Male Armors to go along with the Skimpy Female armor..

This is not asking to remove any of the existing Skimpy Female armor.

The Greyhawk.9107:

STIHL.2489:

The Greyhawk.9107:

I’ve a question for those of you that are saying that the game is sexist for having some ‘skimpy’ armors for females: what do you say to female players, regardless of their own real life proclivity, that want there to be these types of armors for their female characters? Over the years I’ve asked of the many female gamers I’ve met, particularly in both gw1 and gw2, whether they’d life for ‘skimpy’ armors to be done away with completely. And almost without exception the answer has been an emphatic Kitten No (with only one exception that comes to mind of an older gamer that would only make Asura). I mean, if its something women also want, is it still sexist?

I’ll field this one. IMHO, it’s not sexist to offer skimpy/revealing/sexy armor for women, what is sexist, is that there is not ALSO, skimpy/revealing/sexy armor for the men.

But just so we’re clear, independent of the state of male armor, female armor that shows skin isn’t sexist to you?

Sexism is about being unfair.

Case in point, Conan ran around in a loin cloth displaying beefcake everywhere he want, Red Sonja wore a Chain-mail Bikini giving cheesecake… so they both dished out the cake pretty good.

That is not Sexism.. Even if they were both being sexualized.

Sexism is where Red Sonja is still forced to wear the Bikini and Conan is given a three layer leather armor that covers him completely.

Equally so, if Conan was still forced to run around in his Loin Cloth and Sonja was given a full suit of double layer chainmail, that too would be sexist.

Being sexual, or looking sexy, has nothing to do with Sexism.

Or such is my feels on the matter.. I am sure someone will say I am wrong.

ButterPeanut.9746:

Substatic.6958:

Changing health and damage values would be that resource intensive?

How does changing health and damage account for the people who don’t raid because they don’t want to find 9 other people?

Dropping the health of a Boss Mob allows for a single player to do enough damage to kill them in the allocated time frame.

How does changing damage and health account for attacks that don’t do damage, but instead kill you instantly?

It doesn’t, as such there would still need to be skill involved to win.

How does changing health and damage account for loot balance?

Since all loot is allocated to single players, there is no more loot given if 6 people do the raid, no less should be given if 1 person does it. So loot would remain unchanged.

How does changing damage and health account for mechanics that require specific number of people to complete a mechanic?

what mechanic is this?

It has never been a simple change of reducing boss health and damage, and it never will be.

Sure it could.

Twyn.7320:

Map Meta Events

The best Map Meta in the game, IMO, is The Silverwastes. It’s a huge battle against a massive threat, and everything is thrown into it, and it thematically fits the tone of Heart of Thorns. However, it also serves a greater purpose, as it feels like a self-contained story without the instances. We’re pulled away from being a Commander, and we’re just another person fighting with others against an enemy that keeps coming.

My question is: Why aren’t other Map Meta Events this well-designed?

I’ll answer this one. The long and short answer is time.

Now I don’t mean Anet’s time, I mean a players time. Not every player has an Hour or so to invest into a single map event, sometimes players want to log in, get something done and log out.

Long drawn out Meta’s are not productive to that player base, being able to log in, check their world boss timer, see a Jormag is up, run off and do that.. and… get logged out in about 30 min.. and feel like they did something important and had a lot of fast fun, is what keeps them coming back tomorrow, and maybe.. when their weekend rolls around they can play for a few hours and go farm Silverwastes.

As such, long drawn out Meta’s are not enticing to that group, so, it stands to reason that Anet will want to make maps that play well into various kinds of players, some with the time to play long drawn out Metas, some without.

In the end, if you love long drawn out Meta’s you can always enjoy HoT an SW, and the like, that content is not going away, so it will be there for you to enjoy.

The Greyhawk.9107:

I’ve a question for those of you that are saying that the game is sexist for having some ‘skimpy’ armors for females: what do you say to female players, regardless of their own real life proclivity, that want there to be these types of armors for their female characters? Over the years I’ve asked of the many female gamers I’ve met, particularly in both gw1 and gw2, whether they’d life for ‘skimpy’ armors to be done away with completely. And almost without exception the answer has been an emphatic Kitten No (with only one exception that comes to mind of an older gamer that would only make Asura). I mean, if its something women also want, is it still sexist?

I’ll field this one. IMHO, it’s not sexist to offer skimpy/revealing/sexy armor for women, what is sexist, is that there is not ALSO, skimpy/revealing/sexy armor for the men.

PainbowBrite.3785:

At least there’s butt capes AMIRITE?

Dat Buttcape!

Kiroshima.8497:

It is possible to make players fight, you just need an incentive: and it’s called a cash out system.

A CHEAP EXAMPLE:

1.) Every player killed grants a stacking buff that is consumed on the next tower or keep capture. Every 1000 ranks on the target gives an additional stack, representing their increased experience (and thus they should be more difficult to kill).

2.) When you flip a tower, you get a heavy loot bag for every 10 stacks of said buff. If you flip a keep, you get a heavy loot bag for every 8 stacks. So if you have 100 stacks (from 100 kills), you would get 10 heavy loot bags when you flip a tier 0 tower. (As an example).

3.) Every tier of the structure flipped reduces the stack requirement by 1. So if you flip a tier 3 keep and have 100 stacks, you would get 20 heavy loot bags (100 / 5 instead of 100 / 8 ).

4.) Defense gets the same, although the base reward requirement is doubled (20 for towers, 16 for keeps, and a reduction of 1 per tier), with a minimum of 1 heavy loot bag (you defend a tower and kill 1 person, you may not have the required stacks but you get 1 loot bag for sure).

5.) Camps do not use stacks, but when flipped they will grant you 5 stacks. Successful defense events in camps also grant 5 stacks. Defend your camp, then flip something to cash out! Escorting yaks grants 10 stacks.

tl;dr:
Kill dudes and hold camps, get rewards on next objective flip. This creates an interesting flow.

I would, however, also like to see 5 camps feeding into each keep, and nerfing yak supply accordingly (to try to split up the action and add more directions from which to siege).

The main problem with this is, that unless I feel 100% positive that I can win the encounter, I still have zero motive to engage.

Truth is, what needs to be done is balance the classes so people feel that the fights are fare, once that is done, players will want to fight because fighting becomes fun.

As long as the classes remain as unbalanced as they are you can toss all the rewards you want at players, they won’t touch it, unless they are into building whatever is the fotm cheese build.

Necrossis.6318:

So I played only a little into heart of thorns, But Path of Fire looks pretty sweet and I would like to come back. With experience that you currently have would it be logical to come back and not really play through Heart of THorns and go straight to Path of fire? Thanks for any input.

Like you, I did not enjoy HoT at all, and came back for the beta Weekend, and From what I seen PoF does not look like it needs HoT to be played, and enjoyed.

It also does not look or feel anything like HoT, which, if you did not like HoT, then maybe PoF might be more your flavor, however, I have not bought PoF yet, because, well, HoT was such a let down to me that I stopped playing GW2 because of it, and while the sampling I saw was more my liking, it was also a small sampling, as such I am going to take a wait and see approach to this X-pac.

Hello fellow large scale MOBA player. I also enjoy large scale MOAB style battle maps, where there roughly 10 – 30 players per team, per battle, average around 20, most of the time.

I see what you are saying, and I agree to a point, but truth be told, the PvP in GW2 is so horrabadly unbalanced the game mode is really not salvageable as a game mode in and of itself. Now I am not trying to dis anyone that loves WvW, but, I have had more fair fights against people using Aim bots in other games then I have had in GW2 against a fotm Cheese build. so it’s not the players. its the game.

Now I wish there was some way to make WvW more balanced and engaging, because I love me some good fast and brutal pvp battles, but at this point, I go to other games for them.

However, they can’t balance the classes, it’s just not possible to make a class designed for PvE, and also for PvP.

The only real way they will be able to fix WvW, is from the ground up and make, perhaps, WvW/PvP Specific Classes, and then balance things from there, once they have those balanced, players will go looking to engage in fights and battles because they will feel more like earnest fights and battles as opposed the cheese and abusing OPed game mechanics, that is feels like right now.

While I agree with you base idea that something needs to be done, but until they make the encounters balanced, nothing they will do will make players want to encounter each other.

well in GW2, you have choices.

You can:

• Pointlessly Grind Legendary Weapons.
• Pointlessly Grind Raids.
• Pointlessly Grind Fractals.
• Pointlessly Grind PvP Rewards.
• Pointlessly Grind WvW Rewards.
• Pointlessly Grind Legendary Back Items.
• Pointlessly Grind legendary Armor.
• Screw around and not make any real in game progress.

cranos.5913:

STIHL.2489:

cranos.5913:

Whether or not raiders will buy PoF will depend on if you actually need it for the next raid.

Of course you will, and that that is all they need to do to guarantee the sale.

There is no real fence sitting for people who are serious about raids, and Anet knows this, which is fair, because those guaranteed future X-pac sales are about the only really good reason to put raids into a game like GW2 to start with.

shrug So I assume, as I alluded to in my post, but thanks for stating the obvious.

You made it seem like there would be a question on if Raiders would be buying the expansion, just trying to clear up that there won’t be.

I also play Sylvari, and yah, it feels like such a waste to have those really awesome glows and pattern options and such limited armor for the guys to show it off. While I understand some races wanting to bundle up, and cover all, I would have expected the Sylvari Cultural Armor to least address this with being very open to show off their skin, colors, patterns and designs.

cranos.5913:

Whether or not raiders will buy PoF will depend on if you actually need it for the next raid.

Of course you will, and that that is all they need to do to guarantee the sale.

There is no real fence sitting for people who are serious about raids, and Anet knows this, which is fair, because those guaranteed future X-pac sales are about the only really good reason to put raids into a game like GW2 to start with.

Underwater Exploration is Cool
Underwater Combat is also Cool.
Sexy Swimsuit Skins are Very Cool!
Better looking Rebreather skins also Very Cool!

I’m for it!

zealex.9410:

STIHL.2489:

FrizzFreston.5290:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

“There will be raids in the future” post on their forum is not enough information to sell me an expansion.

I doubt anything that is not in the expansion yet will sell the expansion that well.

Anet knows that putting any future raids behind the next expansion will ensure everyone that wants to raid will buy the expansion. So they don’t need to market it, or even try to sell it in any way, it’s a guaranteed sale, as such any claim to not buy the expansion by anyone that wants to stay involved with Raids, is a hollow bluff.

I wont buy the expac just for the features that they are selling me rn. I would only buy for raids. Where are the raids that will make me buy it?

Anet is promised sales to all the Raiders.

For various reasons, IE: if the elite spec becomes meta (and there is a very good chance they will), then all the raiders will buy the X-pac to stay competitive.

Not to mention that any future raids will require the X-pac, as such, not buying the expansion is not option for anyone serious about raiding.

So at this point, it is not a question of IF raiders will buy the Expansion, but when and how much they will end up paying for it.

FrizzFreston.5290:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

“There will be raids in the future” post on their forum is not enough information to sell me an expansion.

I doubt anything that is not in the expansion yet will sell the expansion that well.

Anet knows that putting any future raids behind the next expansion will ensure everyone that wants to raid will buy the expansion. So they don’t need to market it, or even try to sell it in any way, it’s a guaranteed sale, as such any claim to not buy the expansion by anyone that wants to stay involved with Raids, is a hollow bluff.

maddoctor.2738:

STIHL.2489:

I think it’s mainly because they don’t have to. I am going to bet everyone that raids already knows that PoF will have raids just from that one forum post from a Dev that said “it will have raids”

I don’t think every player of this game reads forums. Which I mentioned in my OP.

No question about that, but I am sure that by simply mentioning on these forums that there will be raids in PoF, got mentioned on all the raid guild forums, reddit, as well talked about over TS or whatever other voice chat program is used during raid runs, to which very quickly anyone even remotely involved in raids would be kept in the loop.

As such, Anet does not need to devote money or time into telling them, when they will gladly tell each other, and even do so cross platform.

I think we ought to just leave well enough alone at this point, I mean, Raids might be this lovely little festering sore on what is mainly a pretty good community driven game, (for the most part), But really, what’s really the worst that can happen if we let things go the way they are currently going?

To use an analogy, Maybe letting the ship sail is the best course of action at this point.

Seriously, what’s really the worst that can happen?

I think it’s mainly because they don’t have to. I am going to bet everyone that raids already knows that PoF will have raids just from that one forum post from a Dev that said “it will have raids”

FrizzFreston.5290:

They already create all the content currently for “free”. :P

This I am well aware of, and that is also a large part of the problem. See if they make the content for ’free" they need to see how it will affect their income, which becomes this convoluted game of guess work of who to appease to get the most money in gem sales/expansion sales.

However, If they sold the content directly in small batches, they would be able to see exactly what sells, and provide more of it to their players, to that effect, everyone willing to invest into the game gets a return for it.

Isn’t that what we all want, for our investment into the game to be recognized, rewarded and returned?

Serenity.6135:

You want MMO devs to create content and rewards to cater exclusively to a small group of people? Um no…

I have no idea how “small” these groups would be.. but, since the developers already make various content for “small groups” I don’t understand your objection.

Ok hear me out.

We all know that Expansions are these Huge Content Packs, offering several zones, instanced based content, and a slew of other features, and they make great additions to the game, in fact, They do a great job of attracting players back to the game, So.. bonus!

But, as a returning player, I noticed that I would need to buy the current LS if I wanted to play it.

Which made me wonder, why not make small content packs like Living Story, and sell them individually.

Since this game is mainly a horizontal level experience at 80th, with content being more about Story and Aesthetics as opposed to actual power, it leads itself well to selling content packs as they would not give players an actual power advantage over anyone else who did not buy the content.

Case in point.

Selling Living Story. Those that bought it Don’t have an unfair advantage over those that Didn’t.

Thus the Content is Purely Optional and it’s purchase is based on if a player might enjoy doing that kind of content, which would remove it from being any kind of Pay to win scheme.

This could be applied to many things.

• Selling legendary Journeys . (Not the weapon.. the JOURNEY, players would still need to complete the Journey to get the weapon)
• Selling Dungeons. These could be newly designed dungeons, done in a manner that is easy for Anet to develop and build as opposed to being more like the Original Dungeons. but, Selling 5 man instanced based content that offers a Story Mode, and repeatable ‘Explorer Paths’ (maybe entirely separate dungeons) that are all part of a theme, and offer their own tokens that can be used to purchase special weapon/armor skins.
• Selling Raid Content. I suppose 3 wings per pack, with their own rewards linked to them.
• Selling PvP Arena Mods. Why not, Buy a Custom design for a Personal Arena, Anyone else can enter it, but, make it so that a player could buy their own Custom Layout for a PvP match.
• Selling WvW Expansion Packs: I would suggest this as Alternate EoTM
  Maps, like an Access Pass, were you can chose which you want to join into, and run with people that also bought the same WvW Expansion Maps.
• Selling Fractals. This would be what it sounds like. Make a whole new Series of Fractals , say, 10 fractals total, and sell them as an Alternate Package. ergo a Desperate Door in the Mistlock Observatory, that allows you enter these “Alternate” Fractals.
• Selling Commander tag Designs. IE: a Pug face, for the WvW commanders that refer to themselves as’ Pugmanders’, Maybe a series of World Bosses, like a dragon, golem,Thorny Vine, Crossed swords, etc, for players that use their Commander tag to do world bosses a lot.
• WvW Armor Skins: More like a Permanent Vendor Access Pass.
• WvW Weapon Skins: Again, a Vendor Access Pass.

There is a lot more that could be put out there, but, the idea here us not simply “lets just sell you the armor skin” or “lets sell you a lottery to maybe be able to get something” it should be ’“Lets sell you access to be able to earn the item”

That is what drives players, content to play with and something to work for.

Selling Small Scale Content packs, would give them exactly that.

It also gives players choices on what they want to invest in, in short it allows them to vote with their wallet in the purest form, what they buy, what they invest in, is what is gets further developed.

Also, these content packs would not be sold for gems, the would only be purchasable with real money, that way, when players chose to invest into buying this content, they invest into the game and directly affect its’ direction.

SkyShroud.2865:

STIHL.2489:

I think having a click option would make it easier for Guilds decide how they want to roll, as opposed to kicking or demoting people for being a part of another guild to try and force them to rep more.

Truth be told, I always had at least 2 guilds, one for WvW and one for PvE, and wile I did PvE things with my WvW guild, the guildleader of my PvE focused guild was on another sever so.. I never joined them.

if my PvE guild made it a 100% rep, I would have dropped them in a heartbeat and found another PvE guild. Nothing against them personally, but, they were great people, I was just not going to jump servers or any of that to be in a PvE guild.

my WvW guild fully understood that to get a larger take of players to PvE with that I joined a ‘Mege-Server’ guild, so they din’t have any issues with my doing fractals or dungeons or world bosses with a different tag. But when I logged into WvW. I repped my WvW guild. It was that simple or me.

I get what people are saying about a 100% guild, just saying that due to the way the game modes are setup, i’s not going to be easy to pull it off.

I am sorry but what you said don’t make sense. PvE is not server base so why is there a need for you to change server?

That is exactly why I had a WvW guild and a PvE guild.

thrag.9740:

STIHL.2489:

Thank you for that history lesson, but that reinforces my point, it does not shoot it down.

Allow me to explain, see by the time I joined (2 years after launch) Dungeons were accessible to the point that a scrub like me could post an “All welcome” for most Dungeons and Fractals, and still have a pretty good chance of success.

So in that regard, over time the elitism surrounding dungeons had obviously lessened, to the point that pretty much anyone with almost any build could have a shot to get some dungeons done, as the Chillax base of players started to move in and do them.

Whereas, Raids ,now 2 years after launch, the elitism cultivated by them has grown to the point that they feel justified to use of DPS meters.

So I stand by what I said, now, since you know your history, you should be able to see clearly that this is a negative trend down the path of toxic elitism.

The fact you could post, “all Welcome” and reliably clear was not at all indicative of elitism. You could post an exact replica of that lfg for raids, and it would fill. It just might not clear. This is not in anyway related to elitism, this is because raids are more challenging than dungeons by design.

Of course it is, Elitism is driven by Ego, purely put Elitism is a feeling that someone is better then other people. If 10 random filthy casuals could clear raids reliably, it would substantially dull the egotism and pride currently surrounding doing raids. This Egotism is what is fueling the Elitism. It’s that Simple, people that do raids feel they are superior to those that don’t.

Exactly how Dungeons used to be, and once the filthy casuals were able to PUG dungeons reliably, it curbed the elitism surrounding them.

You obviously have read the older posts, you can clearly see the cycle.

I think having a click option would make it easier for Guilds decide how they want to roll, as opposed to kicking or demoting people for being a part of another guild to try and force them to rep more.

Truth be told, I always had at least 2 guilds, one for WvW and one for PvE, and wile I did PvE things with my WvW guild, the guildleader of my PvE focused guild was on another sever so.. I never joined them.

if my PvE guild made it a 100% rep, I would have dropped them in a heartbeat and found another PvE guild. Nothing against them personally, but, they were great people, I was just not going to jump servers or any of that to be in a PvE guild.

my WvW guild fully understood that to get a larger take of players to PvE with that I joined a ‘Mege-Server’ guild, so they din’t have any issues with my doing fractals or dungeons or world bosses with a different tag. But when I logged into WvW. I repped my WvW guild. It was that simple or me.

I get what people are saying about a 100% guild, just saying that due to the way the game modes are setup, i’s not going to be easy to pull it off.

thrag.9740:

STIHL.2489:

nahh.. raids din’t create Elitism.. they may have fostered it, nurtured it, and gave it a place to grow exponentially to the point that people who do raids feel justified to use spyware on other players.. but they did not create it.

I think your determined to remain ignorant of the truth. Elitism was cultivated and grown plenty inside of dungeons.

If you want, go back to the old forum threads, people have always been excluding players who would slow them down….

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/You-re-not-level-80-kick
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Skipgeons-and-80s
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Thief-Ranger-in-dungeons-kick
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/I-think-this-game-s-population-became-offending

This ones really good example:
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/47323/thief_vs_guard.jpg

Thank you for that history lesson, but that reinforces my point, it does not shoot it down.

Allow me to explain, see by the time I joined (2 years after launch) Dungeons were accessible to the point that a scrub like me could post an “All welcome” for most Dungeons and Fractals, and still have a pretty good chance of success.

So in that regard, over time the elitism surrounding dungeons had obviously lessened, to the point that pretty much anyone with almost any build could have a shot to get some dungeons done, as the Chillax base of players started to move in and do them.

Whereas, Raids ,now 2 years after launch, the elitism cultivated by them has grown to the point that they feel justified to use of DPS meters.

So I stand by what I said, now, since you know your history, you should be able to see clearly that this is a negative trend down the path of toxic elitism.