Guild Wars 2

New events exist in the area, BTW…. hang around the demolished town.

ilr.9675:

Sytherek.7689:

If the class is so crappy (it’ not), why do I see so many rangers in PvE?

Uhh… are you familiar with what a “Farming Bot” is?

Yes.

When we killed Tequatl tonight, I was in a 5-Ranger PUG with real humans. Not unusual, either.

Yes, you can play Ranger face roll-easy, just like warrior. Some of us don’t. I run a very pet-focused (as I did in GW1) build; essentially, I’m playing a symbiotic build, heavy on WS and BM. Loads of fun for me, challenging, not easy, even in PvE.

I’m not saying Rangers don’t have problems, especially in PvP.

I am saying this patch did a few nice things, for which I’m grateful.

My biggest gripe is the ANet people were real vocal about engaging with the community, and then they clammed up after their big Monday meeting. Lots of noisy promises, no action. Bad move, ANet.

You might look at this guide:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/61054-xsels-guide-to-the-shortbow/

Good luck.

Frostfang.5109:

I want to say THANK U A-net! No, I’m not being ironic. I Think the increase of HP in pets is very useful and well balanced! Now they don’t die as easily any more but they are not OP either:) Not even in dungeons ( I tried it out today).

The targeting system works great! And so does the ground tergeting as well. The Dodge-roll peritection is a nice feat for those who want to trait that (could be on Beastmaster though).

All I wish for the future now is a few more pets. My greates wish is a griffon!

I, too, am pleased. I’m still playing around with targeting, but I think it’s improved. And my lizard, Fluffy, appreciates the extra hitpoints.

If the class is so crappy (it’ not), why do I see so many rangers in PvE?

ATMAvatar.5749:

What I would like most are forge recipes to convert between ore, shards, and dust. I don’t care how terrible the conversion rate is.

Alternatively, I wouldn’t mind breaking down T7 materials into T6 materials.

^^ This.

I’m lousy at jumping puzzles, so my only way to get shards is farming them 2-3 at a time from world chests. Painful!

Meanwhile, I have 30 bloodstone bricks.

KOPPER.1458:

“Shame on you all, tons of rangers are quitting the game becouse of your blindness.
Next Update October 15th will be last train for many rangers like me.
If you fail…simply consider ranger class died out”

You realize by now these decisions are set in stone right? So the class is either dead or it isn’t by now. While some changes are coming I hardly think you are going to get enough to make you really happy with them. Just a gut feeling.

Hyperbole.

Yes, the ranger could be improved.

I do not think it is unplayable in PvE. It’s not just me; I see hordes of rangers in-game, and ANet’s own stats show that the ranger is popular.

Dramatic, bellicose, demanding, exaggerated posts are not effective, and generally drive developers (I am one, other games) from forums.

In PvP, rangers have problems. Fine. Say something constructive, and don’t break my PvE cheese for your PvP cheese.

I haven’t said much in this thread, but I have been reading it. And there is something that needs to be brought up, I think. BTW, this is a PvE-focused post. For a variety of reasons, I don’t PvP much.

Not everyone is massively unhappy, and ANet needs to be concerned with hundreds of thousands or millions of players who aren’t on these forums. And some of those folk, probably a lot of them, are content and even happy with their current status.

I do have gripes, most of which other people have articulated.

But I’m also quite happy with my ranger. Really. I find her enjoyable to play, and have few problems with her pet. I run an atypical 0/30/0/10/30 build, wear all exotics + a few ascended items, and use LB or GS most of the time. I play as a symbiot with my frost drake and enjoy most PvE, from Tequatl to dredge farming (hate the moles). Generally, I play all areas of PvE except dungeons (too hard to find a beginner group, even with LFG) and jumping puzzles (I’m a klutz).

I should also point out that I’m partially paralyzed (left hand is still wonky, but getting better) after an accident in January. I wish temporary content was persistent, but it’s not a major issue.

Why detail all that? Because, in general, I’m HAPPY with GW.

Doesn’t mean I don’t have gripes.

But it’s a pretty kitten ed nice game, and as someone who has been a pro game dev, I appreciate the challenges ANET faces.

The game is a complex system. It will never be balanced, though balance can be improved.

I’d like to see bigger, permanent changes to the world, driven by player actions. I want to feel as if my characters have an affect on their world, and not just thru silly elections. We’ve killed Zhaitan — do something interesting with Orr.

Add a few new zones, and NOT ones like Southsun.

Change old zones, to reflect the spirit of the manifesto.

Make the “Living World” live.

I totally agree with the original poster.

Have I beaten Tequatl? Yes.

Will I do him again? No, not under the current circumstances. Waiting hours in an overflow that doesn’t care to even try and win is not my idea of fun.

And the loot is pitiful when compared to the effort.

Still broken. Cards work at other places, just not ANet, the ONLY place I’ve ever had CC/Debit trouble.

I’ve tried 3 different Visa and Mastercards — and I can’t buy any gems. Is the store still down? According to the notice, maintenance should have been over hours ago.

Q: Can the dungeons (including fractals) be re-designed to SCALE, like explorable areas, such that I can solo or play with 2-3 friends/family? Otherwise, I won’t be doing dungeons, and will abandon the game if dungeons are the only way to progress.

Q: What is you solution to LFG spam in Lion’s Arch, and the disinterest in helping new players even START the Fractal dungeon?

Q: Is Ascended the last tier of gear, or have you broken you initial promises by deciding to add a perpetual gear grind to GW2?

Q: Are you ever going to “fix” rangers, or are you just going to keep buffing Warriors?

With most games, I go through two phases. Note: I don’t expect anyone else to play games like I do, though I will say my wife plays in much the same fashion, if a bit more causally.

The first phase is one of exhilaration and intense play, exploring every nook and cranny, digging into the depths of game play. Depending on the game, this can last from a week to several months. With Guild Wars 2, it ran about six weeks.

After the game is thoroughly explored, one of two things will happen: I abandon the game, or I play is more reasonably and with less intensity. The best games are those that become a pleasant diversion, where I play them simply for fun, where logging in is a “it’s been a long day and I need to kill something” or “I need a mini vacation.” I often write in my head (I am a published author) while playing such games, and listen to music. Very therapeutic, very stimulating.

Guild Wars 1 was (and is) a pleasant diversion. When I want to relax, I hop on my ranger and take my Dune lizard on a solo run thru places like Haiju Lagoon. I’m not looking for fancy loot or social interaction; I’m in-game to relax. I still play GW1 this way, once a week or so, for old times sake. GW1 is now a very casual game for me. Note that I have a 31/50 HoM, and several world exploration and other titles. I was quite serious about GW1, and still hold it as my favorite game of all time, with seven years under my belt.

As for Guild Wars 2…

I vastly prefer my GW2 ranger over the one in GW1. Unlike many others, I don’t find my ranger weak in PvE; she can solo all areas of the world, including Lost Shores and Orr, dressed in full Exotics, including a very nice ring from the final Karka event. I am very fond of my lizards, particularly the new reef drake. Much like GW1, I spend much of my time wandering the maps, sometimes dropping into WvWvW, always finding something new even with the 100% exploration title. Some areas I like more than others; Mount Maelstrom and Frostgorge Sound are among my favorites, while Orr in any flavor is not a favored haunt. I redo low-level areas often, enjoying the events, saving a Tyrian here and there, getting a nice drop every once and a while.

I’m working on a Mesmer Alt, and a Warrior who is the image and embodiment of me in the game. Those are likely to be my only alts of significance, and they’re level 30 and 6 at the moment, with little chance of rapid progression any time soon. I’m usually a one-character man, and I’m happy with my Ranger. Yes, the Ranger needs improvements… which leads to my final topic.

ANet breaks promises and fails to fix the core game, all while producing buggy, inconsistent “expansions” like The Lost Shores. Note that I did get loot from the big karka; be that as it may, the event was poorly designed (no direction, poor server performance) and buggy as a swamp (I live in Florida; I know swamps).

What makes me particularly angry: when promised Ranger improvements don’t show up when promised; we were explicitly promised changes and upgrades in mid-November. Meanwhile, Warriors get BUFFED, a ridiculous decision on ANet’s part. Beyond that, there were broken events for WEEKS, and serious problems with everything from balance to drops, for which ANet was both obtuse and slow in reacting. Sometimes, the game pisses me off so much; I throw up my hands and stop playing for days at a time.

I strongly dislike the implementation of Ascended gear. I was very happy with having max gear, only to have a new gear treadmill thrown in my face. Grinding should be MY CHOICE, not a carrot-on-stick way of forcing people to play in ways they don;t want to. Ascended gear almost made me quit, and it did stop me form buying gems with Real World Money. I will buy nothing in the store until this situation is openly, honestly, and directly addressed. And I was spending 20-50 dollars per month there, in support of the game.

Here’s how to fix Ascended gear for me: Allow me to craft it, and give me a REASONABLE way to upgrade my current Exotics directly to Ascended quality.

In spite of my frustrations, I do keep coming back. I have the flu this weekend, so I’m doing a bit of gaming, and my choice is Guild Wars 2. I’m staying away from the Fractal dungeon; trying to find a starting level 1 group is a pain, and while I’m willing to (and enjoy) playing with others, I have no interest in spamming “LFG” in Lion’s Arch. The dungeon looks like fun; design it to scale like the rest of the game, and I’ll be much happier when soloing or playing it with 2-3 others. I have two daughters and a wife who play; we’d love to four-man fractals, but can’t because it doesn’t scale.

Yes, I’m still playing, but I’m much less enthused than I once was. Make the Fractal dungeon (and other dungeons for that matter) scale, give us crafting and other alternative methods of getting ascended gear, and my mood will improve. Improve my mood, and I spend more in the cash shop.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Hi All,

Thanks for your feedback we really appreciate it. I would like to take the opportunity to answer your questions in an AMA on Reddit on Monday 26th (12pm PST- More details to follow) to talk about recent updates to the game and our philosophy for Guild Wars 2 moving forward.

Please keep in mind that there we are about to begin the Thanksgiving holiday in the US and are out of the office (and likely in game) until Monday. Happy Holidays everyone!

Chris

I’ll be there.

Thank you, sincerely, for trying to open up and listen. I will be asked about group-size scaling: Letting dungeons scale like explorables, such that I can play solo or with a couple friends/family.

Also, I’ll be asking if ANet plans on a continuous gear grind, or if they are finally settled, and will be giving us parallel ways of getting Ascended armor. In particular, will we be able to craft it? If so, I would be much happier.

Thanks you, again, for being open to the community. We wouldn’t be cranky if we didn’t love the game.

Twomix.5384:

If I may suggest, how about a solo mode for the storyline dungeon ? Often I play during odd hours due to work and often it’s impossible to find anyone to do the dungeons with. I love the storyline and I’m a lore junkie and would love it if I can experience the storyline.

Yes! Scale the dungeons, particularly fractals, so that we can solo it. I, too, have a schedule that makes it difficult to find groups; I’m on-call at times, meaning that I may have to get out of game quickly — and a solo mode would let me do that without hurting other people.

Also, I sometimes play with family — say, my wife, or my two gamer-daughters. It would be great if I could jump into fractals with a daughter at 2AM…

Please, ANet: Scale the dungeons, just like you scale the rest of Tyria. That would eliminate almost all of my complaints about gear progression.

I’m still playing, casually, much like I played Guild Wars 1 for years — wandering with my lizard, enjoying the scenery, not stressing much. It costs me nothing to do so, and I see no reason to throw away the fun just because ANet has been… annoying.

No, I am not happy with ANet’s recent decisions. The Lost Shores was buggy (although I did get loot for the big Karka event), the organization poor, the decision to add gear grind a slap in the face…

…but it’s a GAME. So I play the parts I enjoy, until ANet takes those things away from me.

I’m giving up on PC gaming, except for casual stuff.

Gw2 was my last hope — and it has seriously disappointed me. Buffing warrior longbow but failing to deliver PRoMISED ranger buffs? Broken events? The massive failures in Lost Shores?

No, PC gaming is pretty dead, except for shooters. GW2 was my last hope for a fun MMO, and it has become more chore than fun.

So I will spend my time on photography, writing, and various projects. GW2 is the last disappointment.

Current legendaries will be automatically updated in terms of stats. No needing to grind out a new weapon to get enhanced stats.

I’m asking if they’ll also upgrade other weapons as well, especially those that cost as much or more than legendaries.

ANet states that they’ll be upgrading the current legendary weapons to match Ascended weapon stats.

So what happens to other weapons created in the Mystic Forge, many of which have material requirements equal to or higher than legendaries? Will they be upgraded as well?

Ditton.3149:

The problem is the exotics are easily had, everybody has said it…“its easy to get exotics in 1-2 days of getting 80”, so there was nothing to work for once you got to 80. Exotics SHOULD have been the starter set for 80’s and the ascended the next step…alas it was not.

“Everybody?”

“work for?”

I don’t play games to “work”. I play them to have fun. Nor am I (and many others in this thread) among those who complain about “nothing to do.” Simply playing the game is quite entertaining for MANY of us.

I don’t need “progression” to enjoy a game.

That said, I have nothing against providing progression for people who want it; but don’t force the rest of us into a gear treadmill (or be locked out of content).

A violated promise is never something to be taken lightly. ANet promised no gear grind or gear gateways (see many citations in this thread, quoting ANet employees saying exactly that in official posts.)

They broke that promise by adding gear grind and gear gateways to the “end game”.

Thus the anger, frustration, and feeling of being lied to. Many of us came to GW2 specifically BECAUSE of those now-broken promises.

Elesare.5604:

The post by Shaenari in this thread put it quite well I thought:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/133sxu/linsey_murdock_unveils_new_high_end_ascended_gear/

I strongly urge ANet to read the linked article above. Excellent analysis therein.

Dungin.2983:

Sytherek.7689:

Mr. Whiteside…

Your message does little to allay my concerns about upcoming changes in GW2.

As the game stands now, I have no interest in grinding for a legendary. I dislike most of the skins pertinent to my character, and given my commitments in Real Life, I see no point in the grind. And that’s a GOOD THING — other people can grind, if it makes them happy. But their desire to grind in NOW WAY makes their character “better” than mine, as it stands now.

You’ve wrecked that with the new gear.

My main character has a set of equipment she likes; I play the game for pure enjoyment at this point, and am pleased that I don’t need to grind gear as I did in WoW. I like my Mystic Longbow.

You have just undone my happiness. Now, if I want to do the latest content, I must get a legendary (the bows are just plain ugly or stupid, BTW), because you’ll be making legendaries/ascendeds BETTER than exotics. I’ll need to replace my current weapons and armor with new ones if I expect anyone to bring me along on new content.

Even worse, you’ve gated access to ascended items via multiplayer content. I play at odd hours and when I have a few minutes, or with family. I’m not anti-social, but I don’t like having my character’s viability locked to multiplayer content. It’s no different than forcing PvP players to do PvE for something necessary in WvW — a terrible idea that ruins one of the foundations of GW2, in that I should be able to play how I want.

I do nor want gear progression. You have JUST added gear progression. Why should I trust you to not inflate stats further in future content, and REQUIRE those stats to play new content?

The problem is:

Many people that play the game 3-5 times per week for more than a few hours of time are ready for something new (hence why I’m not in the game and find the forums more entertaining.)

My translation of this post is as follows:

I would like the gear that I have to be the best of the best 1 year from now, so I can log on 3-5 hours per week and run the latest content. I’d like to take breaks for months at a time in a ‘persistent and changing world’ and be able to be on equal ground with all when I return on my whim.

While this is a nice idea it sounds a lot like a single player game. The people that are here the most will dictate the content. I am not saying I am an elite gamer by any stretch, the legendaries are way out of my league. You can’t develop content for people that pop in in a fairweather fashion to play.

As it was all this game had was an altoholic appeal (aka SW:TOR — we know how that worked out..) I hate alts. I don’t want to level my character to 80 to start another. In fact, I did start another, and didn’t even make it to level 10. Why?! Because zones are dead there is nothing to do at endgame except for jumping puzzles with greens that await and pats on the back in the form of achievements.

This isn’t Guild wars 1, in fact, Guild wars 1 was a glorified lobby game (aka single player — yes a game where you could form your own entire groups and never interact with a soul.) So sure, in GW1 you could come back months later and it would be like nothing changed. I bet I could log in now and fire up a group and my armor wouldn’t matter. I also would be playing completely alone. This is not to say GW1 wasn’t an amazing game, but it was not an MMO …BY definition.

I fire up an alt in GW2 and I am playing absolutely alone.

This patch doesn’t fix that, but it gets people playing together again, and in a new shiny area.

You’re quite wrong in your “interpretations.”

To begin with, I’m quite social in-game. Chatting in Guild Chat, helping people with various things; often, I play with family.

Nor am I super-casual. My “/age” is 411 hours on my main, 466 hours total across all characters. That much time should not be considered trivial or super-casual.

As you can see from those numbers, I, too, am a one-character kinda guy. Alts don’t interest me (much).

I was promised no gear progression after 80; many people have quoted ANet’s people saying exactly that. Many people have also done the math, and show that the ascended gear is definitely “better” (stat-wise) than current exotics. Thus gear progression has been added.

Now, if ANet were to commit, promise, that Ascendeds are the final tier of gear, and if they make Ascendeds available thru normal PvE and crafting and WvW, then I’ll have less to complain about.

Mr. Whiteside…

Your message does little to allay my concerns about upcoming changes in GW2.

As the game stands now, I have no interest in grinding for a legendary. I dislike most of the skins pertinent to my character, and given my commitments in Real Life, I see no point in the grind. And that’s a GOOD THING — other people can grind, if it makes them happy. But their desire to grind in NOW WAY makes their character “better” than mine, as it stands now.

You’ve wrecked that with the new gear.

My main character has a set of equipment she likes; I play the game for pure enjoyment at this point, and am pleased that I don’t need to grind gear as I did in WoW. I like my Mystic Longbow.

You have just undone my happiness. Now, if I want to do the latest content, I must get a legendary (the bows are just plain ugly or stupid, BTW), because you’ll be making legendaries/ascendeds BETTER than exotics. I’ll need to replace my current weapons and armor with new ones if I expect anyone to bring me along on new content.

Even worse, you’ve gated access to ascended items via multiplayer content. I play at odd hours and when I have a few minutes, or with family. I’m not anti-social, but I don’t like having my character’s viability locked to multiplayer content. It’s no different than forcing PvP players to do PvE for something necessary in WvW — a terrible idea that ruins one of the foundations of GW2, in that I should be able to play how I want.

I do nor want gear progression. You have JUST added gear progression. Why should I trust you to not inflate stats further in future content, and REQUIRE those stats to play new content?

Count me in the group that is unhappy with the new Ascended level of gear grind.

The Ascended gear is ENTIRELY contrary to ANet’s stated game design manifesto. It is better than current Exotics, and it will be required in any competitive group situation. That, in an of itself, violates the major reason I was a Guild Wars fan and vocal promoter.

In addition…

The new Ascended gear will gateway entry to the new dungeon, with groups spamming for “need 1 more, must have XX infusion”.

ANet, you’re pandering to the WoW crowd, and that’s not why I left WoW to come play GW2.

I’m not one to complain a lot; I’ve defended ANet in the Ranger forums, and I felt they did a great job with Halloween. We have four copies in this house; NONE of us is thrilled with your new gear grind.

A new WoW-like gear grind and gateway? I am very disappointed, and likely to stop playing if this is the future of the game.

I completely agreed with the OP and most of those who follow. Not much more to say, other than to lend another voice to the chorus.

Orr is not difficult; it is mind-numbingly boring, frustrating, and limited in depth and scope. Bad, bad design, particularly in light of other so many other areas that were so much better.

It is as if ANet designed Orr for bots, and not for real human players. I avoid it like the plague, even if it means missing out on end-game resources.

Give me Frostgorge Sound any day over Cursed Shore.

For me: Nope, not worth it. Not interested. The skins aren’t that cool (in my opinion), and it’s too much grind for something purely cosmetic (again, IMO).

Jnaathra.6549:

The short answer to the original question is.. They can’t stop it completely. They can get rid of the obvious things like most bots and spammers. However, as long as these 3rd party sellers are making money and beating Anet price wise, people are going to buy from them. -shrug-

ANet can, however, start perma-banning those who buy gold. As long as the buyers face no risk, they will continue to buy gold on the black market.

Shadowfist.2708:

Ignore this as you will, but someone else has already pointed this out and I don’t feel that people paid enough attention to his comments: You will forever, and ever, have gold buying running rampant, so long as you have RIDICULOUSLY priced items, such as the legendary prerequisites, costing 300+ gold. This is the core issue with your economy.

Wrong.

The price of legendary prereqs is high BECAUSE people buy gold. If no one were buying mass quantities of (illegal) cheap gold, the price of legendaries would drop precipitously.

The sellers are just as guilty as the gold-buyers. The sellers wouldn’t raise their prices so high if no one was buying gold (outside of ANet’s system, that is).

I also disagree on the drop rates. None of the super-rare items are required to be successful at PLAYING — they only exist for ego. And while I like bling as much as the next person, not having a legendary won’t hurt my feelings one little bit.

ANet is not at fault for anything other than assuming people would behave themselves.

I’m in complete agreement.

I often don’t run with a title — but it seems like there are dozens of titles in PvP, but a stingy few in PvE. Why can’t I be “Dredge Slayer” or “Master Huntsman”?

If ANet wants to differentiate titles, have different colors for different “levels” of title. “Been There, Done That” could be in Gold, while “Grawl Slayer” would be in white.

Drunken Mad King.8193:

Basically in gambling (which is what this black lion chest is all about) You are required to give percentages. They didn’t do this so everyone assumed that they would have a decent rate of drop. You can see by several people (including myself) that this was not true.

If they are creating gambling events. They need to abide by gambling rules.

Anyone who spent $20-$100 dollars (as some have in this thread) on virtual keys for a chance at virtual skins — folks, you have no room to kitten. Good grief…

On the other hand, ANet should be concerned that some whiner will invoke gambling laws. Considering that people are spending real world money on keys, and that the chance of success is tiny and unspecified… it’s the law, and disappointed people will invoke it.

My advice to ANet: STATE THE ODDS. That won’t keep stupid people from blowing money on lottery tickets for a virtual chainsaw-sword, but it will protect ANet’s legal rump.

Thanks for the update. Sounds really, really good.

I bought five keys on lark with in-game gold→gems→keys, and got nothing useful. Such is life, yawn, no big deal.

I wouldn’t mind the chance of holiday chest drops being stupidly low, if ANet put some quality control into releasing their software. Too many simple, silly bugs that could have been caught with a public test realm of a solid QA process.

BillFreist.1527:

Good news, we’ve figured out the bug! We will have this fix pushed into the next build (not the build we just ran as I’m typing this) whenever that ends up being. I don’t want to leave you guys hanging, but I can’t promise any dates/times either.

But it will be soon my young grasshoppers, soon.

-Bill

Edit: And when I say the “bug”, I mean the instance entry not being present.

I appreciate the update.

HOWEVER, as a professional, thirty-year veteran of the software industry, including game development, I am HIGHLY disappointed that ANet continues to push out broken code. I don’t expect perfection; I do expect basic testing. I don’t mind bugs; I do mind sloppiness in the name of saving a buck.

Yeah, you’ll say “it’s just a game” — and that’s a lame excuse for a lack of diligence. Don’t make the product if you aren’t willing to put in better effort on QA. This bug is just plain sloppy, and it hurts trust in the rest of the product.

Sorry, Bill, your description is wrong. I do not get any “enter” dialog, and I’m standing outside the door to Caer Aval, as are other people. I finished the main questline some weeks ago, and have the toke in my backpack.

Other people are standing here, equally frustrated.

I’ve also wall-crawled all around Caer Aval, no success.

I’m on Tarnished Coast.

Pets are not useless. They work in PvE (except against one-shotting bosses) and they work in PvP, if you manage them properly.

I do have some problems with my pets. I usually run drakes (personal preference/ role playing), and their F2 skill usually misses. Nor do they use their tail whip, unlike their wild cousins. And the pathing AI is sometimes really stupid.

But, most of the time, my drakes hold aggro, and do fair damage. I have no trouble killing stuff, and can take down many people 1v1 in PvP.

I do run a longbow, and try to stay at distance. Even in Orr, 4 out of 5 times, my drake holds onto the enemy’s attention. If the mob charges me, I knock it back, where the pet often grabs its attention again.

I suspect my success may be due to the longer range of my longbow. I don’t think shortbow puts me far enough away from the target to keep out of aggro range.

In WvW, I use both long and short bows, depending on circumstances.

While I think rangers need work, I think many complainers are just too lazy to think for themselves. When someone says “I can only use a short bow” or “pets suck”, it’s group-think talking, not reality.

Of course, I expect to get replies accusing me of lying, or being a noob, or whatever. Which is fine. Such respondents can let their blood pressure rise and complain; me? I’m having fun and success with my ranger.

Suggestion: Create an explorable version of the WvW maps that can be used by PvE players to finish their “Been There, Done That” title, without the unreasonable blockage brought about by unbalanced WvW PvP.

I’m exceptionally annoyed that my ability to get a PvE title/achievement (world exploration) is tied to highly unbalanced WvW. For weeks, the server-hoppers have made it impossible for me to get the last 2-3 percent of the “Been There, Done That” title. Repair bills from being ganked are simply ridiculous.

That said, I’m not anti-PvP; in fact, I enjoy it at times. But world exploration should not be used to bludgeon PvE players into PvP, just to satisfy ANet’s dictatorial delusions; Anet advertises this as a game where we can “play my way” — and right now, that promise is false.

Excellent post, OP. I’m in complete agreement.

I prefer longbow, but I’m heavily spec’d to make it work in PvE; I don’t PvP much due to the horrible state of WvW atm.

Longbow has excellent utility, and need a small upgrade in damage to be competitive with other classes.

I would like a better melee option. Greatsword has good skills, but they lack damage (again, the story of the Ranger).

I’ll continue to play my ranger as my main, but I’d sure be happier if ANet made some minor tweaks.

lolnotacat.9814:

This is generally the case after you hit level 60 or so. The AI changes tactics and almost always ignores your pet from that point on.

I’ve seen no changes in my pets’ ability to tank (at level 80). I’m running mostly drakes of various kinds, but they hold and can take enemy aggro fairly reliably.

How you trait is based on your style of play. Experiment. Even after level 60, you can get trait point resets relatively cheaply from the same NPC that sold your the books. A couple of silver, and you can try another build.

I run 20/30/0/0/20 at the moment, with a longbow and power/precision/toughness armor. Your mileage may vary.

The game would be better served if the single Monthly achievement were broken into two achievements: Monthly PvE and Monthly PvP. And perhaps a meta achievement for doing both in the same month?

I think both PvE and PvP people would appreciate this change.

ANet’s silence on this issue is disquieting. The least they could do is say if this is a bug or an intentional nerf.

The SB nerf needs to be fixed. Just making a minor uptick in damage, and fixing QZ would solve the problem.

That said: I’m a mostly-PvE person, and use Longbow almost exclusively with a 20/30/0/0/20 build. I play a couple other classes, and don’t feel my ranger is at all kittened or useless. The Ranger is my main, I feel quite successful with it, having finished the personal story, reached 96% map (still doing the PvP areas), and having over 300 hours in the character.

The class needs some improvements/fixes. SB should be fixed. But Rangers are not irretrievably broken, either.

This household has four active players on Tarnished Coast, and we’re very happy. A nice community, people are helpful (often without being asked), not much bull-kitten.

I suspect this is due to TC being advertised (by the community) as an unofficial “RP” server. There’s no enforced RP, but no one gets their knickers in a knot is you do a bit of role-playing. I haven’t seen any cybering on the tramway… oh, right! Wrong game.

Yup, Tarnished Coast has a fine community. Couldn’t be happier there.

Zinebot.4250:

Sytherek.7689:

I’m standing here with people saw a necromancer (whose name I cannot, alas, repeat here) who laughed about bugging the skill point.

You should really name shame the player here so that they will get banned.

No, because ANet is more likely to ban me for shaming someone than they are to ban the culprit. My opinion of ANet has severely dropped over issues like this.

Back in the days of GW1, we actually got a Christmas card from Gaile. It was mangled, and she was nice enough to send a replacement, signed by the crew. Very nice of her.

So I try to cut them some slack.

But this lack of bug fixing is too slack… such a simple bug to fix, even if just temporarily. And certainly a priority, since it blocks progress for many people.

I’m there. Vallahnoka Draconis with Fluffy in tow. My lizard is upset, too

I’m a 30+ year veteran of software development, big systems for big corporations. I’ve even worked for game companies, including Ensemble and Interplay, back in the day.

What’s happening here is ridiculous and irresponsible. There isn’t any other way to look at it. ANet is being very unprofessional.

Sahfur.5612:

This sort of thing is done in secondlife to give them a moment of rest and reduce memory leaks and other problems. It could have helped alot of people get skill points and such. I have to say… restarting servers is usually pretty standard.
Supposedly, they fixed the skill point bugs though.

No, the skill point in Metrica is still bugged. Huge crowd of sad / angry people. Necro came in, DoT’d the frog to death, and left with sarcastic remarks before anyone else could tag the mob.

ANet should be embarrassed.

I’m pretty angry over this. Especially since I’m standing here with people saw a necromancer (whose name I cannot, alas, repeat here) who laughed about bugging the skill point.

We have DOZENS of players who can’t get map completion because of this bug.

I normally don;t rant at games; you won;t find any rants from me anywhere else. I’m a software developer myself; been one for thirty years.

And this sort of simple game-stopping bug should be a huge embarrassment to ANet.

We’re owed an explanation.

I realize this thread is a week old, but… ArenaNet did say that any NPC armor was also available to characters, and I’d LOVE to see Anise’s armor available in some fashion. I’m curious as to why they decided to make this armor unique to one NPC.

I’ve played both longbow and short; I prefer long, with high crit, in PvE. I don’t PvP much, so I can’t say much about that environment — but in PvE, at level 80 with exotic gear focused on crit, I can kill stuff faster with longbow than short bow.

I’ve used Ice drake (cold) and Salamander Drake (Fire) from low level to 80 and beyond, with 30 in BM. Haven’t found a combination I like better.