I have a strange feeling that they are just getting ready to make the game F2P.
Quite possibly. Give levels 1-10 as a free taster and then put the personal story chapters and extra levels into the gemstore. The only problem is that nobody will want to continue playing after seeing levels 1-10 with no skills!
I wasn’t going to create another alt because of the trait system. Guess this is just worse still.
This looks like a big problem for very few people. It’s no different to how story instances work. It’s no different to how instancing works in other MMOs. I guess people will just have to take it on the chin (or pay people to stand around at the entrance for them with a cut from the profit of selling the instance later).
Players want to play GW2. We don’t want to unlock every bit of GW2 before we can play. We are not impressed by jingles and dancing icons when we unlock things that should never ever have been locked. So please don’t lock any more bits of the game down pointlessly just so it can be unlocked. Just my feedback.
A player.
Where the kitten is Hob-o-tron?!
Kiel has the Heal-o-Tron in service to the Lionguard so he’s probably up on her airship (that we see less often than the Heal-o-tron).
I don’t really care how insulting this is. Doesn’t this just really break weapon sets until the all the skills are unlocked? It might be alright for warriors to bash things with auto-attack but thieves need skills 4 and 5 to make their weapon sets work!
One of the better design features of the game was that the weapon sets worked from level 1, without utilities , without traits. Now they don’t work.
My advice would be to play the game game to level 80, finish the story dungeons, and only then return to the forums. A lot of people seem to want to pick optimum builds and optimum tactics from the web and then complain that the game is too easy and boring.
“Can we please do something about this cowardly play style? It’s very frustrating when more than half of the people who pick a fight with you run away as soon as they start losing, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Any player that has the capability to leave combat before death will do so if the player is smart. That’s true regardless of class. People will complain most about the class that has the best capability to leave combat, whichever class it is and how much skill is needed. So should players be able to disengage from combat at all? Yes, provided all classes have the capability to pursue with the right skills.
There was a festival in the interlude between season 1 and 2 with the return of Queen’s Pavilion and Labyrinthine Cliffs. The characters at the festival gave a recap of season 1 and there was also an introduction for some of the Zephyrite characters (Aerin, Master of Peace) seen in season 2.
Saying “this body” is more than a physical flesh-and-blood body of a creature, but can include to mean a group, or an appearance. That case is, quite clearly to me, the latter – appearance.
It seems a strange argument that a ‘manifestation’ cannot be physical but a ‘body’ can be incorporeal. The wordplay gets us nowhere.
And even then, even if there was a retcon to make the avatar physical – which seems to be the case, unfortunately – then there is still no reason why the wardens would rush to the avatar to mend it, when it is explicitly stated on many levels that the sylvari – and by the Avatar’s explanation of her role, anyone in general – can hear the Pale Tree without the avatar as a disembodied voice (such as we see via Dream and Nightmare where the avatar doesn’t event exist yet)..
I see no problem with the avatar being a physical manifestation of the Pale Tree, a spirit of the Pale Tree, and a living being with personal identity, all at the same time. When it comes to spirituality there are no hard and fast rules. Similarly we don’t know what the Pale Tree loses if the avatar dies. Without an avatar the Pale Tree may be unable to give cryptic visions to strangers, for example.
I don’t think there is any contradiction in the A Light in the Darkness dialogue. We could be speaking to the physical manifestation of the avatar and she tells us she will be in the dream only in spirit. I don’t see any problem with the Pale Tree having both a physical manifestation in Tyria and spirit manifestations within the dream at the same time. The Shadow of the Dragon might be able to do the same.
Underwater combat is only fit for skirmishes. It is not fit for dungeons, would bosses, WvW battles, and so on. Essentially combat system work was designed for 2D and fails in 3D. The designers will probably continue to add some skirmish content underwater and not add anything more serious.
There are some inconsistencies here but I suspect there will be some explanation that does not break the lore. The magical workings of the the Pale Tree are largely unknown.
My guess would be that the Pale Tree grew the avatar as a manifestation of itself in the same way the sylvari are grown. The avatar seems to have a shared mind with the Pale Tree but we don’t know if the avatar also developed her own character. We don’t know whether another manifestation can be grown, whether there could already be other avatars that we don’t know about, or whether other Sylvari could become an avatar. We don’t know what the effect on the Pale Tree would be if the avatar physically died. From the reaction of the characters I’d assume that the avatar can die and if the Pale Tree manifests itself again then it will be a new avatar with a new life.
It seems as if the attack on the chamber left the avatar wounded but we don’t know if these are physical wounds or a reflection of Mordremoth’s attack on her roots (or whatever). The menders seemed very vague about how they could cure the avatar or the Pale Tree. No characters were to talking about new defenses for the tree either.
Players may be co-operating so well on your runs you don’t even notice. Players might be quietly using combo fields. Players might be quietly managing defiant. Players might be using shared tactics (they usually use the current PUG tested tactics). Players might be quietly sharing boons, using blinds, putting up missile defense, or sharing condition cures.
Dungeons can be a bit too simple and pure dps will often prevail. As soon as you get into fractals the players do need to co-operate but they still generally get on with things. If something needs to get done then someone will do it, the others see that and don’t interfere. After 40 fractal runs there isn’t much more that needs to be said.
(edited by Stooperdale.3560)
Almost all the thief skills, apart from steal, have a ninja feel to them. Poison, smoke, blind, movement. You shouldn’t have a problem feeling like a ninja-assassin.
Dungeons need a different style of play to open world. You really can’t practice for dungeons in the open world. Instead, I would advise testing out all sorts of skills in the open world so that you know your options for dungeons instead of just following a meta guide.
It’s highly likely to happen, since it is a revenue stream, and as such it is likely to be a priority for the developers. The size of technical task is likely to delay its release though. Almost none of the living story involving Southsun will fit the new format so that would require almost total rework.
I tried it on the target dummies in LA, before they were wiped out by Scarlet, and you do shoot out projectiles all through the duration. The directions looked random enough not to worry about them.
If you’re not seeing the daggers that could just be a graphical issue.
An ‘empty hand’ as an offhand weapon would be my ideal thief improvement. It would look far more elegant and deft than most other weapon suggestions. You would need some way to create stats and sigil for that ‘empty hand’ though.
They can’t have single day events again. Either too many people log on and break the servers or people miss it and complain they missed content.
The tower of nightmares seems to fit your expectations though. A one time story area with new events in the region afterwards.
But you’re still doing it all backwards, starting from the maximum effect from traits and and then working backwards to get what the venoms should look like. This will always fail as it leaves venoms weak in every other situation.
The venom utilities themselves need to work first as balanced utilities on their own merit. Venom traits then need balancing against other traits. It’s not complicated when you look at it like that.
Don’t start crafting ascended until you have enough money to throw at it. It isn’t done on a budget. Get other stuff done first and then wait until you have a big pile of disposable money that can buy those 250 stacks, one after another.
If you’re having trouble in fractals and dungeons then stay in exotics and don’t go beyond fractal 30 until you’re finding it easier. Skill should take you through the higher fractals, theoretically, and the ascended gear should just be there for the AR.
As for fractals… things are worse. The problem is it is now very easy to get 45 AR so pugs are full of people going straight from 12 to 38 (god kitten lvl 38…). Some fractals are definitely worse than others though. snowblind, the fire one, and mai are the worst and i’ve had many many parties completely fall apart doing these.
It’s amazing how many people are doing a lvl 38 fractal and have not a kitten clue how to fight mai trin. The shaman boss is a real kitten without any reflects or squishy classes that die the second the eles spawn and the amount of knockdowns in snowblind is just out of control.
I’d agree with all that. Even at 49 people just don’t know how to dodge/strafe the arrows from the fire shaman and that’s as basic as you can get.
“And I also maintain that the bow is intended just as much as a fast-paced weapon as it is for a strategic one. Hence skill #3 for kiting. #2, #4 and #5 do not work effectively for fast-paced kiting because you have to pause to aim.”
Pistol/dagger is the set for kiting. There’s no point complaining that shortbow is not fit for purpose when there is another weapon set that does fit that purpose already.
In general it doesn’t matter if an end game zone has good or bad loot, it only matters if it is the best. Best for dragonite, best for gold, best for crafting, but it has to be best for something. The game cannot support many end game zones as the players will always go to the one they see as the best and the others will be empty.
Dry Top is quite well designed however and there are plenty of reasons to go back for keys, dailies, achievements, and story. There’s nothing to stop guilds from organizing weekly runs in Dry Top in the same way as guild missions.
Venomous Aura and the other traits are the problem. The first step to fixing venoms is to make every utility balanced without trait support. That should be the primary goal of any venom fix. Only once that is done should the traits be readjusted and toned down.
Basilisk venom also needs a big fix for PvE considering it is our only underwater elite. It’s not worth using on anything without defiant and it doesn’t work on anything with defiant.
If you’re having undue problems with ground targeting then reassign your keys or try different controls. Please don’t try to break the weapon for everyone.
I always do PUG runs. They’re generally ok and the EU language thing isn’t even a problem. The worst groups are actually the ones with three people in a guild, not English speakers, running with unique (poor) tactics. If you try to tell them what’s going wrong you get kicked. I tend to avoid the zerk/speed clears, not because I’m slow but because the people are impatient and kick for stupid reasons, like not knowing this week’s exploit.
Even though I used to like Arah and have a full armor set I stay clear of there now. I want to learn stuff through play rather than from the web but I can’t imagine Arah PUGs ever being kind to me while I learn to melee Lupi.
Fractals are fine but players are less confident so some people must have bad PUG runs. If you can get groups with the people doing dailies the quality is much better than with the people who are leveling up. High level fractals with good players are much easier than mid levels with poor players.
This is thorny topic for MMOs. Essentially you want two things to happen :
- friends can play the same content together whatever their timeline
- each player sees the world as it stands in their personal timeline
Generally you can’t do both at the same time unless the world is static and never changes (or loops, as in the GW2 event chains). Players accept this can’t be done and enjoy the game anyway. It doesn’t need any story explanation as it is easier to forget than to explain. If two players are grouped together and do two instances in Concordia, one for personal story and one for living story, then the open world Concordia is always going to be a mismatch for one of the instances. It can’t really be helped.
The next generation of MMOs will probably try to be smarter but GW2 just needs to make sure the instances look right and the game is generally consistent.
That is used as a loading screen for Snowdon drifts. During the Norn personal story you have Eir as your mentor and some chapters involve the Kodan, so this art is appropriate for that.
Pistol/Dagger is the learner set as you can keep a safe distance while shooting. Start with that. Pistol/Pistol doesn’t have the same defense but it has higher damage so learn that next. You’ll find that pistol/pistol just converts your initiative into damage and when your initiative is low there is nothing left to do with the weapon set.
(edited by Stooperdale.3560)
I’d guess that was the art for the Norn raven form.
The way that players build up rewards over an hour’s play is good as well, although it it can only work in an end game zone with enough players. It gives a bit more purpose to game play than with other world events that you just have to hit at the right time.
Canach (how’d you get Cronk out of that?). His conversation with Anise definitely don’t give a “they’re Mordrem” kind of vibe. Anise, the head of the Shining Blade, is likely placing Canach into Fort Trinity to ensure humanity’s best interests are being kept.
Sort of. I wouldn’t be surprised if Anise is doing something that is outside the remit of the Shining Blade.
around next year, with games like everquest next, black desert and skyforge i see little to no reason to keep playing this game
Didn’t people used to say the same thing about ESO and Wildstar?
Lack of tactics. That’s what makes story mode harder. Groups can generally get story mode bosses down on a second attempt as players work things out as they go along.
If you take a group into an explorable dungeon without any tactics they probably just won’t finish it. The dungeons are a degree harder. People forget this since they skip past mobs, dance round traps, ambush any ambushers, fight in specific corners, and so on.
The baseline for scaling is the same as it always was. A level 80 character in masterwork gear should have same the difficulty when scaled down as when they were genuinely at that level in the corresponding gear. You don’t don’t want level 80s going off to fight Zaitan in masterwork but needing rares for tough mobs in Queensdale.
I’m glad these achievements are in the game, something to do, but am I the only person who just doesn’t find these achievements much fun? My problems with them would be
- You tend to have to repeat things again and again. Do it once to unlock achievements. Do it without setting off traps for one achievement. Do it with setting off traps for another achievement.
- Many achievements don’t change things enough to make it interesting. It really is just doing the same again for an achievement.
- Failures can be rather spurious. On Swift Wings at Concordia was particularly bad as it would fail without you knowing who, where, how, what, why. Solving your own problems is good but being forced to use a walk through is bad.
- I don’t mind waiting while the NPCs talk but I’m sure other people do.
- It would be more interesting to do them on alt characters … without having to go through all the story with your alt character as well just to unlock the opportunity to do it. Stop locking so much content away – it’s becoming a bad design habit!
Also I’ve found
- Misleading gameplay. When saving the fort at Concordia you are trying to keep people alive but going in to help them only spawns more monsters. In No Tricks the NPCs tell you the inquest will always return, it looks like they always return, but you just have to stubbornly kill them for ages (solo). In On Swift Wings you can search an area once and then survivors appear there later from nowhere.
- Mechanics can glitch. For example you run over to save some people from monsters and use your big skills only to find the monsters are invulnerable while some talking is going on.
“If this trait triggers, there is good chance that it was already being evaded anyway, considering there are so many evades on Ranger melee weapons:”
It still reduces your incoming damage from missiles by 20% compared to not having the trait.
The should put in a barter vendor who takes any fractal skin plus some pristine relics in exchange for the skin of your choice.
" I was saying that if it was, then people could see the benefits of the changes first hand. As it would make sense that everyone and their Mother would be rolling a new toon to try and level it, thus forcing you into seeing the new features in action."
I’ve just leveled up a new character over the last few weeks and it will be last unless the trait system is fixed. More and more capability seems to be getting pointlessly locked away just so players have to jump through hoops to unlock it. That’s not fun.
“What I would like to propose, if it hasn’t been already, is the ability to hire NPC bots to allow one to solo instances. I’d even be happy to pay real world money for them.”
The first problem is that the AI isn’t good enough. Did you know that your allies stand idle in aoe damage even when all enemies are dead? You only have to look at what happens to Destiny’s Edge in the story dungeons to see what is going to happen to other NPC allies. You could say that the allies AI should be better, well of course, but that isn’t trivial. Enemy AI needs work as first priority as that will improve the game for everyone all the time.
The second problem is that as soon as you can run these dungeons solo, everyone does run them solo. There is a catch-22 where people run it solo because nobody is forming a group, and nobody forms a group because everyone is running it solo. People don’t seem to believe it will happen but it does. It has happened in every MMO I’ve seen this system in place.
I was always confused about the Temple of Lyssa holding the Ossuary, when I’d have expected it to be near the temple of Grenth. It seems to make more sense to put your dead relatives into the care of the God of Death. So is there any reason for this?
Nobody should need a more detailed explanation of exploiting. As as you’re asking a question about how much or how often or how long then you probably know that what you’re doing is not entirely within the code of conduct.
I think you might be able to get rare and exotic items that way in future but the ascended back pieces in the LS are already the easy alternative to fractal back pieces, which are not trivial to acquire. In fact this back piece is the top reward (only reward?) from half a season of living story so on that basis too it was always likely to require a lot of effort.
Ascended crafting is a big time sink and money sink and if you are not prepared to invest heavily then don’t bother. You really want to be able to go to the trading post, buy 250 of something, probably 250 of everything, and get on with things. If you’re always starting and stopping to collect materials or return to the TP then you’ll find all your time slipping away in micromanagement.
If ascended armor looked really good there would be little or no use for all the cosmetic alternatives the game provides. Yes that would be a bad thing.
Yes it needs adjusting now. I think it got a lot worse when the trait changes were made and mobs were toned down since the on-level players would be weaker. Ascended gear won’t have helped either.
The intrinsic problem is that a new level 80 character with masterwork gear and no real build should be able to function in a low level zone, no worse than they were on-level with masterwork gear and no real build. Fully geared characters with high dps builds, matching traits, ascended gear, are way ahead of the level 80 in masterwork.
Yes exactly, what about the Soundless, what about the Nightmare Court? A massive omission from the story so far is someone (our character) asking an expert (the Pale Tree) about the Soundless and the Nightmare Court and Mordremoth. We can only speculate.
This sort of change should only be made if it helps the players. Locking the personal story until level 10 seems to do nothing to help the players at all.
Would putting the personal story into chunks help with
- putting the personal story into the same format as LS2
- selling chunks of personal story in the gem store
- free access until level 10 with PvP and personal story unlocked after (after payment)