Guild Wars 2

AMA = Ask Me Anything

As for my questions:

-Why the sudden 180 on the original vision of Guild Wars 2?
-When are we going to see new town clothing? (Not costumes, but actual clothing. Like the ones the NPCs wear)
-Are lotteries going to be a constant thing?
-Will we be able to dye weapons in the future?
-Will their be more tiers after Ascended and why?
-Will we need multiple Ascended sets for each type of Infusion in the future, or will a swappable method be released?
-What do you have to say to the players who think you pulled a “bait and switch” and have lied/deceived them by going a complete opposite direction of your original vision (the main selling point of Guild Wars 2)?

Yawg.1294:

However there’s one thing you can do with karma gear – MYSTIC FORGE them!

I completely forgot about that. As I level, I pick up some Karma gear to fill needed slots here and there. I end up destroying tons of gear along the way, and completely spaced using the Mystic Forge (probably cause I hate the concept of it in the first place).

But since the item is going to be destroyed anyways, might as well use the Mystic Forge for them. Thanks.

I think I remember a ways back they said they were going to allow further customization in your Personal Instance, as well as Guild Housing. But no idea when those features would be implemented.

Would be nice to have our own Personal House in our Personal Instance. Rift has a new feature with Personal Housing now which is really neat.

As well as Skyrim’s Hearthfire has the ability to build your own house. I think that would be an awesome feature to add to Guild Wars 2. Make an open space in your Personal Instance where you can construct your house. Have you collect materials to build it so it is something for people to work on over time and customize it how they want. (now we just need marriage and adoption…. jk).

They already stated they would be doing this in a future patch. So just a little wait before it is introduced.

Galphar.3901:

And you can get the extra influence by using the Guild +20% influence in dungeons. Only cost 200 influence to make and if it’s a full guild run you’ll more than make that up.

It actually costs 16,700 Influence, not just 200. You need to purchase Rank 1, Rank 2, Rank 3, and Rank 4 Politics to be able to purchase the 20% Dungeon Influence buff.

Horizontal Progression is advancing through the game at the same capacity/strength throughout all the content (more or less).

For instance, GW1 is a Horizontal Progression game. You get max weapons and armor easily and early. Then you just play through the content in the game without worrying about getting new gear and having to grind out a new tier every year or so. All content is geared towards the gear you got in the beginning, with nothing stronger to make you feel left behind if you are not grinding the newest dungeon for the newest tier.

You progress through the game with the same strength from since you started, just experience new content. Hopefully that is an understandable explanation.

The reason some find this better, is cause it allows you freedom to play when you want and how you want.

In Vertical Progression, you are constantly chasing that carrot to get the next strongest gear. But you never ever reach the end. New gear is always added and it is a never ending cycle. And if you just hit max level and go PvP, you will always get destroyed by someone more geared than you. And you can’t experience new content unless you grind old content to get gear so you can survive to get the new gear.

With Horizontal Progression, you never have to do that. You will always be equal, no matter what new content comes out. You don’t feel forced to have to grind a new set of gear to be up to par with everyone else. You don’t feel forced to play 24/7 to be competitive cause your gear is outdated. Your gear will always be the best anyone can get, and you will always be able to participate in any new content cause gear will never be stronger. So you will never have that feeling of being left behind or not up to par.

You don’t seem to realize that the ones who complained for traditional endgame, are different people from the ones that are complaining now.

The ones who wanted this “treadmill” added, are the ones saying thank you. While the ones who didn’t want this and wanted GW2 to remain true to itself, are the ones complaining.

And currently yes, the new items are just rings and a back slot. But they already stated they are planning on adding the rest of the Ascended gear in future content. This way people can be completely decked out in full Ascended gear.

mcarswell.3768:

how do things that are wrong get marked as an answer?

http://www.gw2db.com/items/71363-yakkingtons-ring

Because he is saying there currently isn’t an EXOTIC version of that ring, so no reason to upgrade the exotic armor to ascended as they are two different things.

And this post is 8 days old. It was before the November 15th patch when that ring didn’t even exist yet.

robinsiebler.3801:

It won’t happen. They would have to assign the task of policing all of the avatars to someone, for the reasons I listed above.

This message was brought to you by a Kitten with a Keyboard

They don’t have to do any policing of avatars at all if it allows you to select one of your own characters to use as your avatar (like Warcraft does on their forums).

If it was random uploaded pictures, then yes it would be an issue. But you seem to be missing the point entirely of what the OP is asking for.

pdg.8462:

I think every piece of clothing should have the show/hide checkbox. That’s what Rift does and it works very well.

This 100%.

I don’t see the harm in letting us have all armor have check boxes to show/hide. Like you said, Rift does this already and it works just fine.

Probably belongs in the suggestion forum, but I’ll add my ideas as well.

What I would like to see:
-Wintergreen, Gingerbread, and Candy Cane weapon skins from GW1
-Costumes of course
-Mini Pets (Snowman, Grinch, Elf, etc)
-Repeatable Events (none of this one-time stuff that singles out your players)
-Reasonable Rewards (skins, not exotics/ascended/precursors/legendaries)
-Great Snowball Fight of the Gods (PvP Arena)
-Presents with random goodies (tonics, fruitcakes, eggnog, types of consumables)
-Rewards for completing different phases (none of this like Lost Shores was where you did phase 1 and 2 and didn’t get squat unless you did phase 3)

What I don’t want to see:
-One time events (these just single out your playerbase)
-Lottery Chests (no no no. RNG for holiday stuff is just wrong)
-High-end gear rewards (It’s supposed to be a holiday. Rewards should be just for fun)
-New recipes with outrageous material costs (again, it should be fun not work)
-Gem store restricted items (I mean stuff that you can’t do in the event unless you buy from the gem store)

A Holiday Event is supposed to be about fun and enjoyment. It is a time to get away from the traditional grinding and regular game play, and do something relaxing and different and just have a good time.

Another question I wish they would of let us elaborate on was:

Did you participate in the one-time-only event, the final battle against the Ancient Karka? (November 18th, 12:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. CET)

Yes or No

They should of had a place to put a reason. It’s hard to just leave that as a yes or no question when many people were disconnected during the event and didn’t get credit, along with all those that couldn’t even log in to do the event due to errors.

More of a thought, but also a realization.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game.

This got me thinking about something.

With the idea of new Infusions being released in the future, are we going to expect new monster mechanics? Like for instance, we currently have Agony. The current Infusions provide protection against Agony. So in future content, are we going to have a new monster ability (like Agony) with new Infusions to defend against it?

Now this is where I started getting this disheartened realization.

In order to use our current Infusions, we have to farm the new Ascended gear. They said over time they will release more and more Ascended gear, meaning eventually we will have a full set of Ascended gear. Then we will socket that gear with Infusions to protect us against Agony.

So if a new monster ability comes out with new Infusions, does this mean we are going to have to farm a whole new set of Ascended gear just to use the new Infusions? Sure we can just replace our old Infusions with the new ones, but what if you want to run FotM again? You’ll have to farm those Infusions again and replace your new ones. Then do the same again vice versa if you want to do the newer dungeon with different Infusions.

So we are going to have to have multiple sets of gear now with different Infusions for different dungeons, just so we can survive all the different types of new monster abilities added.

Anyone else come to this realization or am I just looking too far into it? Thoughts?

Basically, everything that could go wrong, went wrong. From my experience:

We have only a few hours to do each event. During that time, they were riddled with bugs, lag, dc’s, and about anything else you could think of. Making most of the event impossible.

For the first event, I couldn’t even play it. It was non-stop bugs, making it unplayable (not to mention the lag). By the time the fixes were applied, I had a few minutes to get everything done before the next phase started. Which obviously wasn’t going to happen. I started on it, and as soon as I went to drop off the soggy bag, phase 2 started. Also take into account there was no reward for doing any of this.

For the second phase, it was just a mess. Resetting mobs, lag, invulnerable mobs, bugged events/mobs/npcs, etc. Couldn’t even get it done at all. And again, no reward for doing any of this.

Third phase arrives. Again bugs, lag, dc’s, etc. But there is an actual reward at the end this time. So after hours of dealing with all of this, you get dc’d at the end and get no reward. Pointless.

Honestly, it was just a disaster overall. Was already having second thoughts about this game after hearing about this patch, and after this event, it pretty much made up my mind.

Yeah Phase 1 was just buggy as crazy. Never got a chance to do any of it yesterday or this morning as it was still bugged for me.

Then I finally get a chance to do it, and Phase 2 starts up. So I ended up getting the soggy bag and that’s it. Can’t do the rest now cause of Phase 2.

Rather sucks that we have less than 24 hours to do each phase, yet it was bugged pretty much the entire time to where we couldn’t complete it, and then when it finally worked, they started Phase 2.

Was typing this in the main thread, but got locked as soon as I clicked reply. So here goes.

Can’t finish Phase 1 anymore after Phase 2 has begun.

Had the soggy bag and went to talk to Kiel, but Phase 2 started mid conversation. So I had to wait. Now when I try to talk to her, she doesn’t finish her dialogue. The dialogue box closes after you ask her who you should talk to. So nothing there and I still have a soggy bag.

As well, Kiel doesn’t return back to her spot or have a star on her head anymore. So it took some searching to finally find her, only to find out her dialogue cuts off after you ask her who to talk to.

So went to talk to Bligg, and he has nothing either. Just the usual information he always gives. Nothing new. Guessing he is supposed to give me the map fragment but since I can’t turn in the soggy bag, that is not happening.

So basically I can’t finish Phase 1 anymore now that Phase 2 started. Didn’t try any of this earlier cause everything was bugged, so figured I’d try it after work, and seems I won’t be able to do it now.

Martrim.1078:

unless i see an official statement from Anet here i will not be clicking your link, sorry

Nothing wrong with the link. It’s a trusted site.

They have done a giveaway in the past as well and it turned out quite well.

roostapro.9827:

the stuff that said all that spyder has been…you guessed it Ninja-deleted..
Testing the patience of a customer is never a good sign, either give an estimated time or don’t give a time at all.

Sammael Darksbane.4572:

Because the places I’ve seen it, the article is either not available anymore (the Anet post talking about it that was on the front page) or the Lost Shores page, which has been changed to no longer say anything about when the actual patch is hitting.

Ah I see. Well then….. that is interesting. Thanks guys.

Zidane.6078:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

The moderator might of been misinformed.

Like I said in the other thread, I have seen nothing that states that the Lost Shores patch is today. The only thing that is coming today is the friend invite thing.

Lost Shores doesn’t start till November 16th at 12PM PST.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/november-2012/

Everything that I’ve seen up to this point said the event started on the 16th the but the acutall patch with all the other stuff that is being added besided the event stuff was today, the 5 pages of skill updates, the legendary changes etc.

Where does it say this though? Everyone keeps saying that it is on the 15th and they read that Anet said it is on the 15th, yet no one has a link to this information.

The moderator might of been misinformed.

Like I said in the other thread, I have seen nothing that states that the Lost Shores patch is today. The only thing that is coming today is the friend invite thing.

Lost Shores doesn’t start till November 16th at 12PM PST.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/november-2012/

Yeroc.7516:

Noon in the pacific, to be quite specific.

Thanks folks, I’m here all day.

http://imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/oh_you.jpg?w=720

On topic, where did it say this patch was being launched at Noon today? I must of missed that. And if so, it should of been launched about an hour ago.

Edit: I know about this: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/free-trial-event-november-15-18

But I never saw anything saying Lost Shores was starting on the 15th as well.

Onshidesigns.1069:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

I don’t see why as you can apply a skin over and over again as many times as you want with Transmutation Stones.

If you buy a skin and put it on your Exotics, they get yourself Ascended gear, you can just transfer the skin with a Transmutation Stone.

It’s the same thing people do now when they wear their skins at lower levels. They just keep using Transmutation Stones to keep transferring the skin from gear to gear.

The Ascended gear may be too rare and look too good to just put anther look on it.

So…. then you choose the new look if you like it. If you don’t, then keep your current skin. I don’t see the issue here sorry.

If people like the store skins, they will buy them. Just like they are doing now. No amount of different gears will change that. It is all personal preference.

It is only 10AM where they are at. Please stop spamming the forums with these threads.

Have patience and wait. It will come when it comes.

I don’t see why as you can apply a skin over and over again as many times as you want with Transmutation Stones.

If you buy a skin and put it on your Exotics, they get yourself Ascended gear, you can just transfer the skin with a Transmutation Stone.

It’s the same thing people do now when they wear their skins at lower levels. They just keep using Transmutation Stones to keep transferring the skin from gear to gear.

Namu.5712:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Cyric.7485:

Sarcasm aside, my point is that the increase in stats isn’t nearly as tremendous as everyone seems to think. Yes, it’s a better item stat-wise. No, it doesn’t make Exotics obsolete… not by a long shot.

It makes Exotics obsolete because of the new Infusion slot, not just the stats.

It was quoted by Anet saying, “After a certain point, our new Ascended items and Infusions become crucial tools for survival.”. Proving that Ascended items will be mandatory over Exotics (since Exotics don’t have an Infusion slot).

Which in turn, will make Exotics obsolete if you wish to participate in any future content.

Your taking that out of context, they are talking about progressive dungeons. You can still do the new content with exotic gear.

I could be wrong though because the writers that posted this stuff left much open to speculation and fear.

Like I said before, it wasn’t taken out of context. They blatantly said that in order to progress further, you will need Ascended items and Infusions to survive.

So while you can do the first few parts of the dungeon in Exotics, you won’t be able to last for the rest of it. You’ll need to upgrade to stand a chance.

Look at it this way. If you didn’t need them at all to survive the dungeon, then why would they of made them in the first place? If you didn’t need the items at all to progress, then why aren’t they just skins? Why instead do they have higher stats and a new infusion slot? They wouldn’t go through the trouble of making this new gear if you didn’t need it and it was useless.

Cyric.7485:

Thanks for the link, I hadn’t seen that particular blog, much appreciated. As I said though, that quote is directly related to FotM and the Agony condition, nowhere in that blog does it mention you’ll need Ascended gear for future content. That being said, it wouldn’t surprise me if resistance to Agony was needed for future content but it hasn’t been mentioned by ANet yet so any attempt to spread that around just looks like fear mongering to me.

In the other blog post, it mentions how they will be using Ascended gear and the Infusions for future content.

This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

(I actually just posted this a few posts up already. And no, that is not taken out of context.)

Cyric.7485:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

It makes Exotics obsolete because of the new Infusion slot, not just the stats.

It was quoted by Anet saying, “After a certain point, our new Ascended items and Infusions become crucial tools for survival.”. Proving that Ascended items will be mandatory over Exotics (since Exotics don’t have an Infusion slot).

Which in turn, will make Exotics obsolete if you wish to participate in any future content.

I’m going to assume that one liner quote is taken out of context and as thus, proves nothing without it’s surrounding paragraph. I also have the feeling that quote is talking about FotM and the new Agony condition. Feel free to correct me with a link or something, I admit I haven’t been losing my mind and blowing things out of proportion much, kinda just read the blog and went about my daily life.

Also, your signature is so ironic it hurts.

Wasn’t taken out of context. Just a summary of what the entire thing was about. Here ya go. And I don’t see at all how my signature is ironic, sorry.

To make Fractals of the Mist even more challenging, every time you re-visit the hub, the dungeon scales up in difficulty. That’s right, a scaling dungeon! The dungeon will remember your progress, and will poll the party’s levels when you enter, scaling the dungeon to the highest common attained level. It’s a true challenge, but as you hit higher and higher scales, the dungeon will get more and more rewarding. You’ll have to have some serious skills and solid tactics to make it through these Fractals. After a certain point, our new Ascended items and Infusions become crucial tools for survival. To learn more about this new type of high-level gear, check out this post from designer Linsey Murdock.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/leah-rivera-on-the-new-fractals-of-the-mist-dungeon/

AW Lore.5682:

@spyderArachnid
they will be crucial tools ot survive, yes that is true, but you are forgetting where, INSIDE the fractals DUNGEON, this new dungeon is going to be what, 1% of what the current game is?
also its a dungeon, there will be people who will be bound to love this dungeon, and people that will loathe the dungeon, because they loath dungeons in general and dont even go into the normal ones, but as far as normal pve progression is concerned, exotic items are still just as good as they have been

You seem to be forgetting that this is going to be a permanent thing going forward with the game. If you want to experience any of the new content that is coming in the future, you are going to need these items.

This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

So basically if you don’t upgrade to Ascended gear and don’t start getting those infusions, you are going to be locked out of any new content coming in the future. So sure, you can stick to your exotics and enjoy the base game and all the content it provides. You just won’t ever be able to do any of the new content that comes over the years unless you upgrade.

Cyric.7485:

Sarcasm aside, my point is that the increase in stats isn’t nearly as tremendous as everyone seems to think. Yes, it’s a better item stat-wise. No, it doesn’t make Exotics obsolete… not by a long shot.

It makes Exotics obsolete because of the new Infusion slot, not just the stats.

It was quoted by Anet saying, “After a certain point, our new Ascended items and Infusions become crucial tools for survival.”. Proving that Ascended items will be mandatory over Exotics (since Exotics don’t have an Infusion slot).

Which in turn, will make Exotics obsolete if you wish to participate in any future content.

Just for your information: https://d2vn94glaxzkz3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ascended-EN.png

That is from: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

It clearly shows the gear has better stats.

Jezath.7395:

The gap between exotic and legendary aquisition is by no means imaginary. I for one dident miss all the posts about legendarys and the RNG system.

Xipher we already have gated content in this game from release. You cannot aquire legendarys until you have explored 100% of the map including wvwvw areas even if your a pve player. You cannot do explore mode on a dungeon until you have done the story mode. Alot of players wont let you in there explore group unless you have done explore mode at least once before or in the case of arah also have decent gear like exotics.. Ok the last one isent really gated content but you catch my drift for sure.

Except Legendaries had the same stats as Exotics so there was no need to have a Legendary to be better/stronger. Thus it was an optional grind.

And you can do explorable mode before story mode. Just get into any group that is doing explorable mode and let them enter first. I did it before on my Engineer who has never done CM story but has done explorable already.

Gabi.5264:

Looks to me like you have problems with just playing the game mate, noone is forcing you to play

Gabi.5264:

Stop making these kind of posts and play for Christ’s sake, I’m pretty sure you and everyone else will enjoy new content.

Don’t be a hypocrite.

Gabi.5264:

It’s true.
We don’t care, only whiners do.

I am perfectly sure the game designers will evolve the game as they see fit, not as you whiny people want it.

That’s irony at its best.

It was “whiny” people who whined to Anet for vertical progression cause they didn’t like the fact there was “no endgame”. They wanted a copy paste MMO like all the others and a carrot to chase. So they whined and Anet gave into them.

At OP, sorry to hear you’re leaving. It is rather sad that Anet kept deleting your post when it wasn’t breaking any rules. You had a well thought out post and very informative. Good luck in your future endeavors.

Didn’t even know anything until you mentioned a tweet about it.

Good thing we have an official website that keeps us up to date about all the news going on with GW2 and don’t have to resort to random websites to learn this information.

Remember this? http://www.arena.net/blog/follow-guildwars2-com-for-latest-gw2-news-and-info

Whatever happened to that?

The bank.

Located in any major city (and a few small outposts). You’ll see it on your map in any city as a bag icon.

Edit: As well, there is a regular tab for stuff and a collections tab for all your crafting materials. So your materials won’t fill up your regular bank slots.

And in your backpack, in the upper right corner, is a small gear icon. Click that and select deposit all collectables. That will send all your crafting mats to the bank automatically no matter where you are at. This will help with keeping your bags clear.

Melchior.2135:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Now that I think more about this, I would like to see something that isn’t already in the game. Something new that most MMOs don’t ever use.

Kindred.

I think Kindred would be an awesome addition. Just picture their leveling areas and towns. It would be almost Kurzick-like (for those that remember in GW1). Plus the gothic styles for Cultural Armors and it would give GW2 that dark side that it doesn’t have. It would be something different and add new flavor in my opinion.

By “Kindred”… do you mean World of Darkness style Vampires?

Yeah just like in Masquerade: Bloodlines and such. Vampire Clans with a bit of class, but still embrace the fact that they are vampires and relish in it.

I don’t mean my little pony sparkle time vampires who are emo and cry about being a vampire.

Now that I think more about this, I would like to see something that isn’t already in the game. Something new that most MMOs don’t ever use.

Kindred.

I think Kindred would be an awesome addition. Just picture their leveling areas and towns. It would be almost Kurzick-like (for those that remember in GW1). Plus the gothic styles for Cultural Armors and it would give GW2 that dark side that it doesn’t have. It would be something different and add new flavor in my opinion.

Personally I feel your definition of a casual player is wrong.

Casual doesn’t mean they don’t have time to play. Or that they are hardcore but can’t make the commitment. Casual players are the ones who just play with a relaxed mindset.

They have time, or they don’t have time. It doesn’t generalize who they are. Casuals are the ones who take their time, they don’t rush, they aren’t trying to be the best of the best, they are just trying to enjoy the game at their own pace. They play casually. They don’t care about being rank 1 in PvP, or being top ranking guild, or being the best geared for dungeons/raids. They are the ones who are content with what they have and are happy regardless. They play the game cause they are having fun, not cause they are trying to be hardcore but don’t have the time to commit to it.

But that also doesn’t mean a casual player is bad either. They could be better than most hardcore players. They just don’t care to get involved like that. They are playing for the journey and having a good time.

So yeah, I think this is it for me.

If I wanted a gear treadmill, I would play WoW or Rift or any other MMO for that matter. They all have gear treadmills and gear requirements to do dungeons/raids.

I play GW2 cause it was different and didn’t have that. It was like GW1. Get max level gear and the rest was a cosmetic grind and everything else added after that was cosmetic only. Everyone was equal and there was no mandatory grind. You could log out for a long time and log back in, knowing that you were still on par and didn’t have a ton of content to grind through just to catch up to everyone else. This is what was promised in the manifesto and why people bought the game cause it was what was advertised to us.

Now it seems Anet did a 180 and is now going the traditional MMO direction. We have a new tier and now infusions. So mandatory gear that we are going to need from now on with different infusions for each future dungeon so we can do them. So now I’m going to need to either constantly switch out my infusions (if I don’t break my gear salvaging them off), or farm a set for each infusion that comes out so I can be on par with all the new content and be able to survive in future dungeons.

And I already don’t like the Mystic Forge as it is, and now these things are made there. And with our luck, it is going to be some insane amount of mats or expensive mats to make it. And to even think worse, watch it end up being a cash shop item as well, thus becoming pay to win style. But that’s all speculation (the cash shop thought).

And how is this going to affect PvP now? Right now, all PvP gear is equal to exotics. What is going to happen with full Ascended geared players go into PvP? Are they going to be downscaled to exotic level, or are PvP players going to be upscaled to Ascended level? Or is nothing going to happen and players are stuck going against Ascended geared people?

You’ve introduced a gear gap (whether large or small) and made a gear treadmill. Which goes completely against your golden rule and your design philosophy. Guess people wanted what was already in every other MMO, to come to GW2 and make it no longer unique. Next you’ll be telling me that you have introduced the holy trinity because people complained enough for it.

Sorry but I really wish you would of stuck to being Guild Wars 2, instead of following the flock of traditional MMOs.

Well first off, this game isn’t about leveling fast to max level. It’s about the journey there. So take your time, there is no rush. There is nothing locked away at max level for you to rush to. You can experience everything right away without having to rush to 80.

As for leveling, make sure you are doing everything. GW2 is designed as an explorable type game more than a quest hub after quest hub game. Clear your maps, do events (as dynamic events are your main source of experience), do Renown Hearts, work on crafting (if you want to, not required), do some PvP (if you want to), etc.

There is no traditional questing system like other MMOs. The game is designed for you to relax and go explore. So just enjoy the journey.

First thing you need to do is get out of the WoW Mindset. GW2 is entirely different and the traditional MMO mindset won’t help you here.

No race has an advantage over another. They are just for looks/lore. Every race can be every profession (class).

There is no healers/tanks/dps. Everyone can heal, support, and dps. There is no target healing like in WoW, so don’t expect to be a healer only. You play all roles at once, not just one.

Once you get out of the WoW Mindset, you can enjoy GW2 for what it is. A different game.

souldonkey.9534:

Leiloni.7951:

souldonkey.9534:

Key quote here is “multiple fan sites”. Arenanet’s site just says that the items are “artifacts of great power”. That is not the same as “they are more powerful than your current gear”.

Well fansites was my word but it’s incorrect – they are actually industry news sites. They get their information from previews given by ArenaNet. The idea being to drum up interest in the new update. So yes, the information is reliable.

It’s still not from Anet’s mouths, so to speak. It’s worded how the writers of those articles choose to write it based on an interview they had. The official stance from Anet’s website says NOTHING about the items being more powerful. So no. It’s not reliable, nor is it a good argument for the Ascended Items being more powerful replacements for our current exotics.

Yes cause let’s forget that Anet linked these reviews on their twitter. I’m sure if Anet thought these were worded wrong or based off false information, they wouldn’t of had them on their twitter page. They were obviously approved, so it is likely to assume that the information is correct.

drifter.8453:

Well Gw1 was max 20 until eye of the North came out then it went to 30. I am almost possitive we had a 30 cap. But the thing is why even bother to make a new level cap anyways, we already get autoadjusted based on zone. We do not need any more grindy content then we all ready have.

GW1 was always level 20 cap. There was never an increase to 30.

Each “Campaign” they released was stand alone. Like a new game with 1-20 content. The only real expansion they released was Eye of the North, and even then the cap was still 20. It was just content geared to level 20.

TurtleofPower.5641:

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Say what you will, but with a new tier in, everyone is going to expect that you have your ascended weap or whatever when doing dungeons soon enough.

Just like everyone expects you to have a legendary now?

Lies. Lies. Lies.

Calm down and see the reality or get mad about nothing… that’s up to you.

except Legendaries are the same power and stats as Exotics. So there is no benefit to having a Legendary over an Exotic.

Unlike Ascended armor which will be better than Exotics/Legendaries. And Ascended armor even has an Infusion slot to make it even stronger than it already is. Making it much better than Exotics.

Arius.7031:

Oh guys drop the melodrama, seriously! I don’t like this much either, but come on. Why aren’t you crying about the disparity between exotics and rares? And rares and masterwork? There’s already a gear grind, it’s just not terribly long. And did anyone notice is said “slight” in regards to it boosting stats? Are you guys kidding me? This is completely ridiculous. Have any of you even heard of exotics? Why didn’t you quit when you had to start grinding for them?

Give ANet a chance, cool your jets, think rationally. ANet could mess things up, true, or this could be implemented so it’s not much different than exotics. But go ahead, pre quit before you even have a clue how it’s going to turn out. That sounds completely reasonable!

Except we knew exotics were the top tier before the game even released. Max armor was exotics. There was no patch that added exotics later, they were implemented since day 1. We knew that there was no gear treadmill, exotics were max and easy to obtain, and everything else would be a cosmetic grind after that. And that is exactly how it has been. Rares were never meant to be endgame gear. Exotics always were.

Now they are introducing a new tier which goes against everything they have said. New stronger gear with slots to make you even more powerful. Completely goes against what was advertised and goes against their own golden rules.

Errant Venture.9371:

How is it that you guys can read “slightly more powerful” and conclude that exotics are automatically obsolete and it’s the end of the world? O.o Have you noticed ANYTHING Anet’s done so far in GW1 or GW2? If they offer ANY sort of significant game advantage I can guarantee you they’ll take less than a week of casual gaming to obtain.

Stop judging Arenanet based on the standard set by other treadmill games when there’s no precedent for it and you have NO information on what Ascended gear will actually be.

The issue is, is it is a gear treadmill. Something that was promised would not be in this game. Everything was supposed to be a cosmetic grind. Getting max stats (exotics) was easy. There was no mandatory grind to gear up in this game.

Now they are introducing a new tier, which is better than exotics. And it will be an advantage as the gear is already stronger and we know it has an infusion slot as well to make you even more powerful. Already two things to make them more powerful than exotics.

So yes, exotics will become obsolete. Anytime better gear is introduced, the old gear becomes obsolete. Especially when that better gear has upgrade options to make it even better than the original. Thus, Anet introducing a gear treadmill now.

Rather disappointed to see this myself.

Thought GW2 was about the cosmetic grind and getting max stat gear was easy, it was just about cosmetics (like in GW1).

Now they are introducing yet another tier with stronger stats. Looks like all our gear we worked for is going to be useless now. Time to grind the next tier gear. Starting to feel like WoW gear progression now instead of a cosmetic grind.

I think one thing people keep forgetting is, in GW1, it was pretty much the same.

In GW1, you could only change your build in outposts. Once you were out exploring or doing dungeons, you couldn’t switch your build out. You had to prepare and get the build you wanted before leaving the outpost and once you were out, you were stuck with it till you returned back to the outpost.

In GW2, it is pretty much the same. You can only change your build at a trainer (which is usually in a town/city). Once you are out in the world exploring or doing dungeons, you can’t change your build. So you have to prepare ahead of time and choose your build before you go out adventuring. Basically the same as it was in GW1.

The only real difference is you have to pay to do it in GW2. But you also had to pay for skills in GW1, and they are free in GW2. And GW1 had quick build templates to switch between, while GW2 requires you to manually change your build every time. Which isn’t too much of an issue if you just have some post-its laying around to keep track of your builds.

All in all, we pretty much have the same thing as GW1. I don’t see any reason to change it.

Depending on who I play that day, I bring my Canisters with me everywhere. Same with my Banker, Trader, and Rez Orbs. Then when I’m done for the day, I toss them back in the bank for whoever I decide to play next time.

They come in handy quite a bit. If I find myself dying a lot, I don’t bother with repairs till something breaks. Then I whip out the ol’ Repair Canister to save myself a lot of coin. If I’m in a major event or doing something far away, and I die, I pop a Rez Orb. Saves me from having to run all the way back and waste money rezzing at a waypoint.

Those little things might seem useless to some, but in the long run, they are extremely helpful.

Rorrin.4016:

for all of you not wanting a LFG tool, are you wanting to get rid of the Auction House too? prolly not, right. I mean do you want to go back to the days of EQ where you zoned into “Faymart” to buy or sell anything. I mean, by your logic AH’s are removing a huge social component of the game and making buying and selling things way too easy.

Give it up, i want the game to make some things easy for me, so i can spend my time doing things that are fun. I want to queue up and then go about my life in game doing the the things I want and then be notified if my group “criteria” has been met. And then I can decide to join or not at that time. Just because we have a little more robust LFG tool in GW2 won’t mean you can’t still go to LA and spam LFG in chat to your hearts content. Knock your socks off being social.

For me and my friends no LFG tool helped kill SWOTOR and TSW. I don’t want the same fate for GW2.

We don’t need a Dungeon Finder tool like WoW has. And Anet has already stated they are not going to implement one.

The only thing that they are working on, is improving the LFG tool we already have. If they make it like it was in GW1, then everything will be fine (see my post above for clarification).

A Dungeon Finder tool like WoW has is a terrible idea. It would not function at all like it does in WoW. People seem to forget one thing. Instantaneous queues. With no roles, there is no wait time for it.

In WoW, you were able to wander around and quest while waiting in queue. You know why? You were waiting for roles to be filled. 3 DPS waiting on a Healer or Tank to fill the slot. Could take anywhere from up to 10 minutes to an hour or more. So you had time to wander about and take care of things while you waited. It also ruined realm communities. No one formed groups anymore (outside of guilds) or went out in the world anymore. They sat in SW/Org and queued for dungeons.

In GW2, there is no roles. Meaning, queues would be instantaneous. There is no wander around and do things while you are waiting, cause there is nothing to wait for. Everyone can fill every role. So out of every single world, and all the players queuing up, you would never have to wait. So again, no one would form groups on their world anymore and everyone would just sit in town queuing up. The second you click that button, you would be in a group instantly, giving you no time to do other things while waiting, thus making everyone just sit around doing nothing while they queue for dungeons.

We don’t need that in GW2. What would be acceptable, is a similar system to what we had in GW1. It would be perfect, and would still do a great job on helping everyone find a group.

The only issue I see with this is clipping issues (which people have already mentioned). Try wearing a light cloth skirt with a medium leather jacket. They will clip tremendously through each other. There would be a bunch of complaints about clipping if this happened, and artists would have to rework pretty much all armors to make this a viable option so we don’t have tons of clipping and ugliness.

Otherwise, with clipping aside, I don’t really see the issue. Rift does this now. You can wear any armor, regardless of level or type, in your wardrobe over your armor. It would add more customization and that isn’t a bad thing.