Guild Wars 2

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-September-9-2014/first#post4405145

Some of the changes do not show up in the patchnotes. Such as changes to the Personal story and new hearts/moved hearts/changed hearts in the starter zones.

Everflame.1305:

Wow okay. First, thanks for making me aware of all this. Second…kitten this. I have never been too upset with the changes Anet has made to this game I truly enjoy, but this blows my mind. Why why why? Anet why you you do something so absolutely ridiculous. Are you actively trying to ruin your own game? If a bunch of people complained about Trahearne, so what? You had created a unique and interesting story. Sure somethings didn’t work out as well as you had hoped, but that’s how we learn. As it stands the story is a mess. Please correct this, and salvage some self respect and pride for the product you initially created. We can be the “hero” in the stories yet to come.

We still don’t know if it was fully intentional (especially the removal of the “greatest fear” part). All we know is that Chris Whiteside acknowledged that a great deal of people are upset about it and he’s looking into it on “Monday or maybe later”. That being said, I’m confident we will get an offical statement concerning the weird PS-changes.

Sokia.3710:

Dayra.7405:

Isn’t that a skill point challenge?

Are skillpoint challenges now disabled at level 7?

You have to be a higher level to activate Skill Challenge. It makes them more challenging.

The irony in this sentence feels so good

It doesn’t matter if people like or dislike the “fear” part of the story. What matters is that the removal of the fear part and shuffling around parts 7 & 8 did not improve the story. It made it worse by introducing dozens of inconsistencies. That alone is reason enough to revert it to its former state.

No one can deny that the guy who caused these changes did a sloppy, lazy job without even doublechecking if he’s messing up the timeline, creating dialogues that refer to events that don’t even exist anymore and fighting beside people that haven’t been introduced yet.

If Arenanet really wants to condense the story or make it “flow” better then revert it to the original step ASAP and try again, but this time do it a bit more professionally, thank you.

daimasei.4091:

I always used (and still use) the TP in WvW anyways. After all, you’ll find everything there (bank included) way faster than running to this guy or the nearest city and for me, a lone TP merchant is useless.

But it’s more immersive.

Why is everyone so obsessed about leveling anway? If a game puts its whole focus on leveling it’s a sure sign that it’s struggling providing alternative activities.

The original GW2 experience was designed in a way that no matter what you do, you get experience. Leveling became an afterthought. It’s like the developers whispering in your ear: “Don’t worry about leveling, we’re taking care of that”. Now, they’re shifting their focus back on leveling. As if your fun depends on it.

After every level-up since the new feature pack I hear Colin’s Voice in my head saying: ‘You leveled up. You leveled up again. Hey! You leveled up again’. That’s great.

Anyway, I don’t think leveling needs more polish (especially not the kind of polish it just got through the feature pack). I think they need to turn their focus away from leveling and add more permanent end game content.

xerties.7389:

Malistaire.5287:

Sorry but the new player experience is awful. I hate being gated on abilities and part of the leveling fun was being involved in the story every few levels. Now I’m grinding to get to the next wall of content. It’s just terrible and boring.

are you actually a new player?

How do you notice gated abilities and the story changes?

He’s not claiming that he’s a new player. Sounds to me like a vetaran upset about not being able to escape the NPE.

You’re not missing something. It’s just to give that particular journal-entry some flavour.

When everything is special, nothing is special.

ipan.4356:

Fernling.1729:

ipan.4356:

Anet’s biggest problem is they’re wasting time on this stuff instead of putting out new content.

Even the most fanboy players have acknowledged that there has to be something huge going on in the background because of how small the updates are. The amount of content produced just doesn’t match with the amount of people working on the game. It’s only logical to assume something is being worked on. Most seem to think it’s an expansion pack, I can only hope.

I hope so, because if it’s not, then it’s done.

I’m giving Anet until x-mas to release an expansion – then I’m moving on without looking back.

I don’t play nearly as much right now, but with no x-pac (or equivalent level of content) by christmas, there will be plenty other options to choose from.

Star Citizen just released v0.9

It’s highly unlikely that Arenanet releases an expansion before Living World Season 2 is finished, which won’t be finished until the end of year.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

anzenketh.3759:

Why are you so intent on proving to me that it is not a bug and is intentional? Again the statement from Jeff stated nothing in regards to removing anything story related from the game.

Because everything points to it being intentional, and if so then ArenaNet needs to know that it was a bad move.

The storyline itself was removed. That’s a pretty kitten massive bug! If it was a bug, you can bet their kitten they would have given a confirmation of such and an ETA on when it’ll show up. They always do for the major bugs. Without exception.

The fact that they haven’t shows that it isn’t a bug. That it is “working as intended.”

I agree. It starts to get really scary when a gaming company makes such arbitrary and illogical moves out of nowhere. I really hope Chris is coming back with some news since he’s the only one who acknowledged that people are complaining about the PS-changes.

Thia.4891:

I’d like to see if new characters/players can get that dialogue.

Who volunteers to powerlevel a char up to that point and tell us tomorrow morning? That person would get a +1 from me.

Malkavian.4516:

I thought you guys might want to take a look at the screenshot I posted here. In case it doesn’t work. Check my recent post on http://malkavianrpg.tumblr.com/ as I uploaded the screenshot (because it seems this site is having trouble uploading images today) indicating that you still have that choice between your greatest fears.

If that is true and not some excellently done photoshop then my faith in arenanet is partially restored.

Parts 7 & 8 of the personal story still a mess though.

Hit esc. Go to general options. “Content guide”.

anzenketh.3759:

Duke Darkwood.4237:

anzenketh.3759:

Duke Darkwood.4237:

- And I seriously have no idea what the thought process about gating map exploration is. As someone who loves to explore with new alts, I find the story unlock system feasible, but it appears as if you are actively disincentivising exploration!

3.) Disable the compass. This was put in there for people who are not used to exploration inside of a game to give them a little guidance to explore.

That’s not what I meant. I meant “you can’t use vistas until this level” or “you can’t do diving spots until that level”. I could almost understand for skill points, if its lkevel gate equalled the unlock of Utility 1 – except that some very easy ones are placed in areas that scale 3-5, AND these can be used on unlocked-out-of-the-gate Healing skills.

Making you wait to explore, when exploring is what you’re meant to do to GET levels, is not conducive to making people want to explore.

Misinformation. You can do Vista’s before X level. Diving Spots…… I suspect that is a bug however it is unlocked before level 11. Skill Points I don’t like the fact they are behind a level gate but understand why they could be.

That’s correct. They even made the vistas and POI’s visible again. Just like before the patch.

DreamyAbaddon.3265:

Why did they remove the Golem Chess minigame in Metric proviance?
This better be a bug…
This kitten is broken…

Bundles were deemed too confusing for new players. The chess minigame is considered a bundle. Therefore it was removed.

Welcome to the year 2014, where game developers have to protect their customers from confusing thoughts. Afterall these thoughts could rouse feelings of severe discomfort. Would you like a stress ball with your copy of GW2?

fourhim.3584:

Haven’t been able to play much since the update.

Are things like Fire Elemental, Great Wurm, and Shadow Behemoth still in the starting zones, or did they have to take those away?

I read somewhere that there are no more dynamic events in the 1-15 zones anymore, but that doesn’t sound right.

Thanks.

There are still dynamic events in the 1-15 zones.

Kain Francois.4328:

To be fair, Golem Chess is kinda annoying as a heart.

I do think it’s a cool minigame, but it really shouldn’t be the first heart.

Now it’s gone forever. Better the first heart than no heart.

Personally I think if you never played GW 2 before you should definitely give it a try. There’s a lot to explore especially for first-timers and the amount of content you get for the price you pay is amazing.

If you already reached the “alt-phase” where a good chunk of your playtime is spent in exploring different classes and races then it’s still worth it …just not as good as it was before (in my opinion).

Even though the latest feature pack was horrendous it did by no means break the game as a whole but it serves as a reminder in which direction the game is going. For those of us who have already played other MMO’s before GW2 it’s kind of scary to watch how a familiar pattern slowly creeps back that drove us from the other games in the first place. That is: a systematic dumbing down of the game to increase “accessability” to a broader audience. Games that try to cater to everyone are not as good as games that try to appeal to a specific type of player.

Gimli.9461:

I dread to go and see what changes were done to other zones (I hope not too many)

They added an additional heart quest in caledon forest at the POI of Rime’s Garden (Village of Astorea basically). You have to kill grubs and feed moas with apples. Unfortunately they copy &pasta some appletrees from Queensdale which look really out of place in the otherwise alien landscape of Caledon Forest.

In the Plains of Ashford they added two new hearts. One is placed at the cow ranch right next to the ramp that leads up to the Black citadel and involves killing spiders, killing wurms and putting hay into the troughs.
The second one is where the skill challenge takes place (where the skritt have their hideyhole in the wall). Involves killing skritt and firing cannons.

I’m sure there are more changes in the other starting zones.

And even if it is confusing for a new player. Just skip it! what’s the big deal? It’s not like game over when you can’t figure out how to attack under water or use a friggin bundle. Just come back later when you’re less “confused”.
Never have I experienced such a drastic dumbing down of a game that was just fine.

10/10. Would choose this over feature pack.

Darkchief.5468:

In addition, it would be nice to be able to get rid of the compass if you don’t want it.

You can already do that. Hit ecs. Go to general options. Go to “content guide”.

Press esc. go to general options→content guide

DaemonDexter.9407:

The more I see “veterans” act like entitled elitist post over and over again about how anet doesn’t care about them; I just think, Okay? Stop playing. Go play another non monthly subscription based MMO. The end game is PvP or WvW. You complain about the game yet say “veterans have made this game what it is today.” So you complain about the current state of the game and also take credit for it. Make up your mind.

It’s easy to say stuff like that if you don’t care about a game. Be more open-minded and accept the fact that some people are more passionate about GW2 than other people. Your “shrug-whatever”-attitude doesn’t impress me!

The new heart quest in caledon forest is right outside the grove, in the village of Astorea. They just copy pasta some apple trees from Queensdale into the waterpools of the Rime’s Garden POI. Looks weird and out of place in the alien landscape of caledon.

Constantine.7812:

Kestrelle.8165:

Putting all these “important” features into the game must have taken thousands of hours – good thing that no one wanted guild capes, or a new profession or an expansion or dungeon paths or precusor scavenger hunt…

I cant understand this move either. They are wasting so much time on such a useless changes. Things just went from bad to worse. After two years, i think i can safely say, they wont focus on important things for sure. So much time wasted on this crap omg.

Exactly. And after the feedback regarding living story season 2 and the Dry Top map have been so suprisingly positive, why not do more of that? But no, let’s take a 3 month break and “fix” things that aren’t broken. Arenanets resource management is really messed up. And that’s putting it mildly.

Draknar.5748:

winterchillz.2564:

I still haven’t tried out the new leveling system but the hundreds of posts about it plus the videos I’ve been watching create an image of something very tedious in my head.

This is the exact problem with the forums. Most of the ones screaming about how terrible these changes are have not actually played the changes themselves. They just read what other people are posting (who also have not played the changes) and then regurgitate it. I have a feeling Anet knows this. It’s probably one of the reasons they don’t put too much stock in what people say in the forums.

And what about those who have played with those changes, don’t like it and come to the forums and complain? It’s not like those people don’t exist hmm?

Lishtenbird.2814:

You’re doing the same thing you’re accusing other people of – assuming.

exactly

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Read the complete sentence…. Didnt want to put spoilers, im refering to Apatia and Tonn deaths.

Then explain to me why china wants to censor dead people you’re attached to opposed to dead people who you’re not attached to.

You can spoiler all you want. Those storylines are gone afterall.

Lucius.2140:

Straylight.7529:

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Probably is because that content wasnt good for the China version. Just take in consideration that the Great Fear story line involve dead people you are directly responsable and probably atached, remember the fate of some norn.

And yeah, they shipped us the Chinesse version…

The great fear storyline involved dead people? yeah, it did….so does the whole continent of orr which is literally crawling with dead people. But they didn’t cut out that part did they? If they can keep orr in the china-version with all its zombies and dead people, I’m sure there is no reason to cut out the “fear”-part.

Vitus Dance.4509:

ElZillcho.1549:

but I had to put this out there.

…ignoring the multitude of threads already posted on the subject.
I don’t know why Anet don’t put out a customer satisfaction survey after every patch?
It’d instantly erase all of the ‘samey samey’ threads in one hit.

But you dont’t want to erase the “samey samey” threads, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see the kittenstom this last patch created. Please do not try to play down the negativity this feature patch created.

Sometimes things are really ironic. On one hand the forum population is not being taken seriously because it’s the “minority”…and now for once, people storm the forums to express their negativity about the patch (and rightly so!) and you want to erase those posts?

do I smell damage control?

to you OP I say: thanks for expressing your opinion, that’s exactly what the forums are for. And you are being heard. At least by us players.

The removal of the “fear” storyline and the unnecessary mixing up of chapter 7 & 8 of the personal story with all its inconsistencies just makes me want to shake my head.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking?

Do you mean the update from 40 minutes ago?
it’s here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-September-9-2014/first#post4392664

scroll down to bottom.

Celestina.2894:

Kythan Myr.4719:

Next it will be jumping puzzles.

Uuuh………they might be level gated also, gonna test after this teq map I’m in.

Colin just confirmed that Jumping Puzzles are available at any level. The notification simply pops up around lvl 21 to make you aware of their existence.

ColinJohanson.2394:

You can also go do jumping puzzles any time you want for example, the game just gives you a heads up they exist at level 21 if you haven’t found one by then, etc.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Wait-You-can-t-DODGE/first#post4392788

ShroomOneUp.6913:

Straylight.7529:

ShroomOneUp.6913:

actually the apita and greatest fear part is just summed up in three sentences. they are still in the journal jsut not fleshed out enough

I’m sorry but this is not true. I just logged into my main who did the “dishonored by allies” choice in the “fear” part and nothing is mentioned about that.

read the last sentences of forging the pact and battle of fort trinity. those are the fear missions.

I stand corrected.

There is indeed a sentence at the end of “Forging the Pact” that hints at the “fear” part (in my case: dishonored by allies)

It reads: The pact’s campaign plans are broad and complicated, so Trahearne asked me to make sure a key element of that campaign is ready for the rigors of war.

If this means the “fear” storyline is still ingame, I’d be extremely happy. Hope to see a definitive confirmation by some player who shares his feedback on the forums.

So happy to hear this is a bug and not an “intended feature”.

Mental Paradox.3845:

How I reply post? I use interwebs for first time.

Ask arenanet. I’m sure they’ll give you a tutorial.

Hechicera.9816:

I can confirm it is NOT gone. I had a character on the step to go back and rescue Apatia before the patch. They are still on that step, it exists.

Maybe because you were already in the middle of that part of the story? That could explain why it was still available for you.

It would be interesting to get feedback from a player who just reached the supposedly missing “fear” part after the feature pack was introduced. If that player gets sent straight to fort trinity after forging the pact in concordia, then that would prove that the fear part is definitely gone.

Yes, the speed in combat is reduced because you’re supposed to fight. Do you want to fight or do you want to run away? Are you a kitten or what? Don’t run, fight! Boris says so.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

Shouldn’t there be a warning in the patch notes: if you are doing this arc your progress will be wiped out

If you were on the storyline pre-patch, you’ll still be on it post-patch. (Thought it might not be visible until you reach L70, since it’s in Chapter 7.)

Could we also get an offical statement concerning

a) the removal of the “fear” storyline, and

b) the Tarantino-style rearrangement of chapters 7 & 8 of the personal story?

or are you not allowed to address these points? Will they get addressed eventually? I think I’m not the only one who’d be happy to get at least a glimpse into the thought process behind these baffling changes.

ShroomOneUp.6913:

actually the apita and greatest fear part is just summed up in three sentences. they are still in the journal jsut not fleshed out enough

I’m sorry but this is not true. I just logged into my main who did the “dishonored by allies” choice in the “fear” part and nothing is mentioned about that.

I completly agree

This is one of the changes in this feature patch that makes no sense no matter how you turn and twist it.

You removed the “fears” part for no reason at all and messed around with the timeline of the last two chapters like a Tarantino movie.

You can disable the compass. Hit esc. Go to the general options section and look for “content guide”.

The Spiral King.2483:

Mesket.5728:

Devildoc.6721:

I think it’ll drive away more players than it attracts. The fact that Arenanet is basing this decision on what works in China was a bad one.

the Chinese didn’t like it either and wanted to get the same version we had.

Really? That’s even funnier. But wait a second, if the Chinese didn’t like it, and we sure as hell hate it, who the kitten are all these players who Anet said were clamoring for this watered down kittenfest?

Clearly not the people on the forums because, you know…we’re only the minority. Must be all those players who never communicate with arenanet. Who else is left?

Jedisa.9513:

Maybe hopefully all of Maguuma will be open by the end of December, but somehow I’m doubting it.

I highly doubt that, since Maguuma consists of many more regions than just dry top. Considering the living story continues on November 4th and we explored only 50% of dry top before the mid-season break we’re currently in, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the other 50% of dry top will be opened up step by step in the second half of Season 2. After that? who knows… There’s no indicator that Arenanet suddenly puts their gears into overdrive and releases one map after the next. The pace we’re going right now is a good indicator how fast we’re going to proceed in the future.

I’d be happy to be proven wrong though!:)

Windsagio.1340:

Trying to figure out why all these ‘veteran players’ with ‘8 level 80s’ are so kittened off over the new onboarding process, but I can only come up with 2 real theories (not mutually exclusive);

1) kittened off key farmers raising a ruckus.

2) Gamer moral panic over the outrage du jour (last month it was SAB).

It really makes no sense to be so very very mad over something that effects you so very very little.

Maybe you have to dig a little bit deeper and apply a bit more thought to the subject if you want to figure it out.

Personally, I’m annoyed about these changes not for the silly reasons you listed, but because they go against the spirit of the game.

Let me quote you one of the developers: Colin Johanson: In most games, you go out, and you have really fun tasks, occasionally, that you get to do, and the rest of the game is this boring grind to get to the fun stuff. ‘I swung a sword. I swung a sword again. Hey! I swung it again.’ That’s great. (source:http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/ArenaNet's_MMO_Manifesto_trailer)

With this feature patch they turned the general feeling of the game exactly in that one direction they wanted to avoid. And the only reason they give us is because new players were confused?

I just can’t imagine the developers doing that. Going against their own principles and turning a game that was about “do what you want, how you want” into a boring chore where everything is timegated and restricted. This must be some marketing monkey from NCsoft meddling with us.

Rath.6248:

Straylight.7529:

Rath.6248:

Jade Arkadian.9280:

Yes it does when you make a new character and find out that almost every single aspect of the game is locked (Even dyes and the wardrobe are locked..). Everyone who comes from other mmos says “Oh, just 10 skills? Its that all? Im used to play with almost 32 skill”

Just, what were they thinking?!! Most of people DONT like it. Just have a look all of thoses messages complaining about feature patch. Not enough? Well extend that to reddit comunity, fan websites,social media etc…

The forum and reddit community are but a tiny fraction of the playerbase. Do not try to speak for the massive majority who don’t even give a single kitten about the forums or reddit.

EVERY forum and reddit is a fraction of the playerbase. You want to ignore them because they are a fraction? Who should arenanet listen to if not the people on the forums or reddit? No one? Do you see how your logic just fell apart?

I never said that Anet shouldn’t take their opinions into account. Again speaking for someone else. What I said was that you as a forum user cannot say “Just, what were they thinking?!! Most of people DONT like it. Just have a look all of thoses messages complaining about feature patch.” because the forum and reddit is not MOST of the playerbase. See where your logic falls apart?

You’ll never ever get most of the playerbase to voice their opinion. (even in presidential elections not everyone is voting). So what do you do? You take the opinions of a smaller playerbase like reddit or the offical forums because that’s all you have. The only other option is ignoring them. That’s not good.

Now about that logic thing again..hmm

I’m glad you’re happy but be careful. Don’t make it a habit. Or you will find that for every subsequent game you play in the future, you’ll need more and more handholding.

I think it’s called conditioning. Just, you know….the bad kind of conditioning where you not learn stuff on your own anymore, opposed to the good sort of conditioning where you learn to figure stuff out on your own.

Rath.6248:

Jade Arkadian.9280:

Yes it does when you make a new character and find out that almost every single aspect of the game is locked (Even dyes and the wardrobe are locked..). Everyone who comes from other mmos says “Oh, just 10 skills? Its that all? Im used to play with almost 32 skill”

Just, what were they thinking?!! Most of people DONT like it. Just have a look all of thoses messages complaining about feature patch. Not enough? Well extend that to reddit comunity, fan websites,social media etc…

The forum and reddit community are but a tiny fraction of the playerbase. Do not try to speak for the massive majority who don’t even give a single kitten about the forums or reddit.

EVERY forum and reddit is a fraction of the playerbase. You want to ignore them because they are a fraction? Who should arenanet listen to if not the people on the forums or reddit? No one? Do you see how your logic just fell apart?

Ragion.2831:

Wow the veteran community is dumb, someone ask me why. Its like this in evvery MMORPG forums, people with no common sense complaining.

Why dont some of you screaming ‘burn the witch’ ask somoene who hasnt played the game before what the think about the new system, that is who Anet did the changes for. Some clown said something about Anet being in a bad financial state which is why they “dumbed down” the leveling system. This is the sort of people complaining.

Guess what? All the veterans in GW2 have been playing the game before. Everyone has been playing the game before. And we did just fine. Took a couple of hours of learning and that’s it. Seriously, what is wrong with you? I can’t imagine that people are so dumb they need this extreme sort of handholding. It’s not rocket science.

Arenanet should stop catering to the lowest common denominator which is apparently Cletus from the Simpsons.