Guild Wars 2

The Reddit thread has many examples of the bad clipping in a prominent thread.

Terrible clipping on the female version for humans and norn. Very large clipping bug, very ugly.

Cheeky Wizard.7496:

Why should we pay for something we have already bought. Unless this becomes fairer, players will vote with their money and not bother either with this expansion or any other in the future !

Simples.

How about…

If you already have the game, buy the expansion for $50 and get a free character slot worth $10.

If you’re a new player, buy the expansion for $50, and get the base original game worth $10 at current prices.

I see nothing unfair or misleading (now that they’ve added the character slot for vets), and have upgraded all three in-house account with the $50 option quite happily while buying kitten for a new member of the family.

All this change did was make boss fights more tedious and boring. They take longer, and that really (in spite of limited crit zones) is it. YAWN.

But it’s better than yesterdays boring quick kills.

Wait… boss battles were boring before, they’re boring now… let’s hope ANet introduces randomized bosses with tactics.

May I say that this is an excellent discussion, far better than threads on many tech sites. I’m even learning a bit, and I’ve been coding since the 1970s.

Carry on!

Kityn.8247:

Extremely horrible pricing model. Paying for something that you already own. I don’t care that GW2 core game comes ‘free’ with HoT. You are basically throwing away an entire account. Current GW2 owners should get something when they purchase HoT other than a throw away account. I would be happy if 2000 Gems came with it.

You do realize that the “free” account is a virtual item, and nothing real is being “thrown away”?

Just pre-ordered. My initial hesitation was eliminated by ANet’s honorable actions these last couple of weeks.

I bought the lowest-priced option. The more expensive editions had nothing I wanted. No, the expansion slot was not a factor other than showing ANet’s good intentions.

Your mileage may vary.

I made good money converting 32bit to 64bit as a professional. It can be hard or easy depending on the original code.

GW2 is built on the GW1 codebase, which is a decade old. I suspect the task is very non trivial. There is no huge economic benefit to such an expensive task.

Would 64bit and Dx12 be good? Yup. Will it happen? No.

Maybe ANet should try a Kick start fund to pay for the conversion?

SkiTz.4590:

lol @ ppl claiming about PvE damage needing a nerf…

As if PvE was some sort of tactical and advanced system in GW2 that they need to balance…they are not going to balance around PvE..I know he claimed World bosses are too easy… but umm…. they have been EASY for YEARS now.
My 3 year old can go to shatterer or fire ele,etc and spam autoattack…
Only thing that changed was how fast the bosses die, which by all means, is great. Less time spent doing world bosses the better…

Any upcoming changes will be based around PvP… the meta is completely broken right now with this patch in sPvP/WvW..you got ppl just straight up getting FLATTENED with full tanky gear and stats even

Yup. Tried doing some sPvP amnd WvW last night with my necro on my PvP account, as loved it until I got bored slaughtering at will.

PvP needs a definite adjustment. Maybe limit the stack size in PvP only? Say 50 stacks instead of 1500? That would be stronger than the older 25 limit, but far less than the 1500 boss-gusher.

Levetty.1279:

JonPeters.5630:

Let’s be clear, this version of condition stacking and condi builds being viable in all games modes is a large part of our goal. We just want to make sure we don’t create imbalances that actually make the game less fun. Don’t expect huge balance swings, but rather our balance goal has always been to make more small adjustments.

Don’t expect huge balance swings except for the fact after a few hours of live you just killed Condi mesmers and stuck us stright back into power shatter only.

We don’t trust you.

Speak for yourself, not “we.”

I’m excited by ANet’s recent patch, expected such a big patch to be a bit wonky, and assume they’ll adjust.

As Jon says, there is no way a test server or testing could anticipate everything. They’re essentially using the entire player base as a test platform, the only way they CAN iron out the wrinkles.

And please don’t pull out WoW as an example of how test servers are a panacea. Blizzard’s test realms are largely populated by people who want to preview new stuff. I know people on test servers who DON’T report imbalances because they hope to exploit them when the patch goes live.

I love the condi changes, and am happy to see what adjustments ANet makes. Fo too long, condi builds were a joke in PvE, and now that they’re viable, please adjust PvP in a way that doesn’t handicap PvE.

As a former MMO developer, I strongly, strongly urge ANet to reconsider their “PvE must be like PvP so people can do both w/o confusion” mantra. It is HURTING Guild Wars. The two modes of gameplay are NOT similar in goals, tactics, or circumstances.

You will never make on game that works for both modes, just as most attempts to make a pickup-sportscar have failed. Sure, some people like their El Camino or Brat, but the vast majority of people who need to haul stuff buy a real pickup. If I’m playing PvP, I’m thinking very different, and want different things, than when I’m playing PvE.

You’ll lose more sales by making people’s favored game mode unpleasant, and gain by making all modes optimal if slightly unique.

BTW, GW2 is the only MMO I play. I don’t play the games I used to work on. Yes, I’m saying GW2 is better than the products I was part of.

Very happy.

Even tho I’ve expressed concerns about the amount of content, your honorable actions this last week lead me to buy the expansion next payday.

You have renewed my faith. Thank you.

Spartacus.9743:

This is the real problem that most of ppl are trying to understand…
I’m gonna buy HoT, wich includes with other new contents a brand new class, and if i don’t sacrifice a char/ buy a slot with gems (other 10 bucks)/ spend in game money for new character slot, i can’t play the new class I’ve paid for…

What’s the logic in all this?
I mean, I have 8 char slot, 1 for each class, and they are part of the core game (5 slot base + 3 char slot bought), why do I have to buy an xpac that doesn’t give me the chance to play this new char without spending other resources?
I don’t have troubles buying in game a new slot, and i don’t have troubles on buy this expansion (wich i will buy surely), my/our greatest concern is why I/we have to spend other resources for playing what I/we’ve bought, that’s all

Most casual players haven’t even used the four character slots given by the base game.
Really.
Not everyone, or most, are altaholics.

Not everyone (me included) wants to create a revenant.
People like my wife will delete an underplayed character to create a revenant.

ANet should give veterans 800 or 1600 gems (with any edition) as a “thank you” for veterans, letting us decide what we want. Everyone is different.

Morfedel.4165:

Naekuh.7925:

RIP Warrior….

You went from the strongest class @ launch.. to absolutely USELESS…

Not only they nerfing everything on it, they are also nerfing the mobility on GS.
So in what way is the warrior getting any love?

OMG seriously, let’s quit with the hyperbole. None of the classes are or will be useless.

And no, they didn’t nerf everything, on warrior or any other class. Some things on warrior DID get buffs. rolls eyes

Your wisdom, alas, will be ignored by the masses.

I don’t see any of my mains — ranger, Mesmer, Necromancer — being ruined.

In fact, the changes look very positive to me.

Ralanost.8913:

It simply sounds like you don’t like the game. That’s fine. But I don’t think any of your points are a fault in the game. It’s your perceptual bias. Your opinion. I suggest finding a game that suits you better.

This.

Silicato.4603:

ColinJohanson.2394:

I will add we want our open world content experience to be more challenging as well just in general. Though the AI was better in our CBT experience – we think we still have a lot of work to do to get our creatures and encounters even at the start of Verdant Brink up to where we want them to be. Our game has great combat, our creatures and encounters should challenge and require you to use that combat system.

Ok, but just please remember that your player base is mainly casual and we want and like cooperative/solo easy and happy play.
Im sure you in Anet knows it (proof of that is all the nerfing in the last 3 years in difficulty, dailies and logging rewards… etc)

I feel someone has to say something about it cause forums are the playground for people who want changes, who doesnt like the game too much.
But what about the ones who actually like it just as it is?

I understand that you guys want to make it a little harder so people who demands that (a challenging game) come back to the game, but don’t go too far on that direction or you’ll may loose everyone (cause you know, haters are gonna hate, and lovers can hate too)
Just saying.

I personally dont like games where you need hours and days to finish one piece of content or where you need to improve your skills and try/fail, try/fail and try/fail.
I work, i have a life, a family and i don’t have too much time to spend on “challenging content” in a game.
But it is actually beyond that, it is not that i just cant play that way, it is that i dont want to XD. Some people just like easy game play. And im sure you anet has figures and numbers and you know what kind of players do you have and what they actually like.

If HoT is going to follow that “challenging” path (even if is not challenging enough, wich i suspect) I may reconsider buying it. The good thing about buying and paying for an expansion is that the ball is in the consumer roof at this point. We can decide what kind of game we want to buy or not so, if you want to give us difficult content… it is good to know

Before, I didnt actually expect HoT to be challenging or difficult, I took all this words just as a marketing strategy to bring more people into the game. The more the marrier, and i agree.

But after seeing that beta cycle, where day/night took 2 hours (2 hours of gameplay for just one event chain it is no casual at all, even when the events were easy. The chain events for SW and DT are already long enough in my opinion, so imagine 2 hours…)… and now reading this words from Colin… im starting to think that they actually have decided to make the game less casual and more challenging.

Of course im sure it will never be as challenging as people who likes challenging games demand, but it may be enough challeging (specially in “time terms”) for the casual playerbase.

Time will tell i guess.
Hopefully the game stay casual and people who enjoy GW2 can enjoy (and buy ) HoT.
If not, i just hope that you at least reach the standars of what challenging people demands, otherwise you may disappoint everyone.

Good perspective.

If ANet goes down the “only tough content” road, they will lose. History is replete with examples of MMOs chasing away the bulk of their paying customers by turning “fun relaxation” into “hard work.”

Scaling.

Want to make me happy, and those I play with?

Make your challenging content scale from 1-5 people.

I often have 1-2 friends / family online, and I don’t want / need to drag in strangers. I want to play with people I know, trust, and are often in the same room.

For that matter, scale fractals and existing dungeons too.

Let me play how I want with who I want.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Simply put: we haven’t announced it yet – when we’re ready to show everything about our plans for challenging content for HoT, we’ll announce it.

Though it isn’t the “challenging content” feature discussed in our announcement – I will add we want our open world content experience to be more challenging as well just in general. Though the AI was better in our CBT experience – we think we still have a lot of work to do to get our creatures and encounters even at the start of Verdant Brink up to where we want them to be. Our game has great combat, our creatures and encounters should challenge and require you to use that combat system.

More info “when it’s ready”.

If your idea of “challenging” is frenetic keyboard banging like Silverwastes, I’m not buying.

Really.

I’m sure lots of people love mindlessly pressing the “1” key while dodging like a hyperactive bug, but I find that very boring. Silverwastes was interesting for a couple weeks, and now it’s just farming. Nothing we do there progresses the story or our character.

So, my (and several others I know) willingness to pay more money is very much based on new content being challenging, meaningfully progressive, and more thinking, less button mashing.

DeceiverX.8361:

The code is done correctly, though. Actually, I’d argue GW2’s code base is probably one of the most optimized I’ve seen in recent games.

The problem is we’re seeing only partial utilization of hardware: only one cpu core can be utilized, and offloading the tasks to the gpu is just not feasible since most of the processing is logical and not just number crunching formulae.

Given the support for multiple cpu cores, almost all graphical issues pertaining to performance would cease.

I make a living building highly-optimized multicore code, and there aren’t very many of me.

Oh, it’s relatively easy to write multi-THREADED applications, but doing multi-CORE correctly is tricky and the expertise rare and pricey. To properly balance divergent independent-but-coordinated processes is complex, and VERY difficult to backport into large older codebases like GW. Really, to do multi-CORE well, you need to start from the core design stage.

Do I want to see 64-bit multi-CORE GW? You betcha!

Will it happen? Without an economic incentive, no.

mercury ranique.2170:

64 bits support only is important for programs that require more then 2 GB memory. As GW2 is far from reaching that treshhold, 64 bits support doesn’t add anything to the performance of the game.

Incorrect.

64-bit is about much more than memory capacity.

Although memory capacity is important in that regard; any computer that contains more than 3.5 GB of memory is severely kitten with only 32-bits, as the extra memory can only be used by 64-bits.

Currently, with my main character idling in Hoelbrak, GW2 is using 1.060 GB of main memory on a system with a 4GB dedicated video card and 16GB main memory, running 50fps. Even with system overhead, GW2 is in no danger of having memory problems. However, I can run browsers and other apps without running out of RAM.

However, memory is not the only advantage of 64-bit, especially if you do anything other than gaming. Just recently, Adobe stated that they support only 64-bit code going forward for all applications. Most 64-bit processors have advanced instruction sets and 64-bit math can be faster than 32-bit.

If you stick to just gaming on 32-bit, don’t waste money on more memory, and be sure to limit background processes.

Constant frenetic repetitive events bore me. I want exploration, choice, a chance to feel the world, not dash about constantly like a mad squirrel. Constant combat is boring.

Silverwastes was fun for about a month, at most, and only because of the ridiculously generous loot.

If the small expansion is nothing more than frenetic bouncing around, it may not be worth my while.

Others may feel differently, but I bought GW2 to explore a large world with others, not play hummingbird.

Mireles Lore.5942:

IThe announcement of the xpac has brought about what I always feared. A burn it and drop it content style MMO just like all the others.

And that, precisely, is why I’ve gone from “excited” to “pessimistic” in recent weeks.

Compared to GW1 expansions, compared to the “Living World” updates, this promised “expansion” is, so far, weak sauce. With Factions and Nightfall and Eotn, we got huge world expansions, new classes (note the plural) and stories (albeit weakish ones).

With HoT, we get character “fixes” that should be patches, a handful of new skills, no new weapons, and the notion that a new zone equals three real zones if stacked. No more exploration, just constant “action”; no real organized content, just a few group encounters. If they give us all the class fixes in a patch, this expansion is going to be very light.

Either ANet is really holding back on the announcements, or this is an over-hyped feature pack for money.

Aimed not at long-time loyalists and big cash store spenders, but impulse buyers who spend some quick and move on. I’m not their audience, apparently, after a decade of loyalty and a lot of financial support buying all their products and spending copiously in the cash store.

I’m not sure what to think anymore. As a guy who very actively supports GW2 thru the cash store…

I love GW2. I loved GW1. But to wait 3 years for a GW2 “expansion” that looks vastly smaller than GW1’s Eye of the North — well, “disappointed” is all I feel.

It’s not that what’s in HoT is bad — there just isn’t very much. A few new maps, a few new skills — interesting and maybe fun, but that’s not a real expansion.

I suspect what happened was a slow-down in sales, leading ANet to bundle a series of feature / living world updates into an “expansion.”

No, I’m not hyped. I want a real expansion like we got in GW1 with EotN.

Very hyped, still. Can’t wait for ranger to get its week.

TJgalon.5012:

till we really know everything that will happen is it worth all this fighting?

No.

But people enjoy being paranoid fantacists, apparently.

If ANet is wise, they will answer you and say WvW gives complete unlocks.

The removal of WvW from world completion strongly suggests ANet will not require PvE for WvW characters to have all skills.

Really, this is a silly thread filled with people making as many negative assumptions as they can just to be kitten.

Rym.1469:

Maybe preview of some, ya know, content? :P

The updated LA is content. Hours of it if you explore the entire LA zone and talk to all the new NPCs. It’s content lots of people have asked for continuously for months. It may not be the content you want, but is content others want.

I don’t WvW, but I also don’t complain when ANet adds WvW stuff.

Beyond that, I expect something else this week, as LA is living story, not expansion.

selan.8354:

phys.7689:

Sytherek.7689:

I don’t believe ANet is as evil and insensitive as most posters here think. The pessimism here is so… internetish.

My main has had map completion since soon after game release. My other level characters range from 1 to 65% with between 0 and 90 skill points above everything unlocked. I’m working the characters I enjoy toward map completion, but am not panicking and inventing unsubstantiated theories.

Do you folks honestly believe that ANet is going to screw over PvP and WvW players? If your opinion of ANet is that low, why do you even play this game? Lotsa stuff to play if GW2 goes south, ya know.

its not a low opinion type thing, its a question of what anet thinks is fair and within their game design.

First of all, as far as SPVP anet never intended SPVP people to be able to fully progress their charachters in pve. That came later, when they decided to unify the armor systems and what not.
There is no requirement that spvp people be able to fully progress their charachters for PVE mode, in fact it is imo a very bad idea. PVE is mostly about progression, your levels, experience, and skills are awarded as per the game design to encourage you to enjoy what pve has to offer.

Now, as far as WvW, that is problematic, they do actually need the skills and traits to progress. This essentially comes down to whether they see WvW as an extension on PVE, or its own separate thing.
As it is now, i would reccomend that they do allow people to progress their charachters skills/traits in WvW, or at least minimize the effort, however if they decide that WvW is supposed to involve some amount of pve, thats their decision.

+1 from me…………….

I see no reason to believe ANet will screw over WvW loyalists by forcing them to PvE. They’ll likely unlock everything, like upscaling.

They haven’t told us everything yet. It’s months away. Why play a game from a company you distrust?

I don’t believe ANet is as evil and insensitive as most posters here think. The pessimism here is so… internetish.

My main has had map completion since soon after game release. My other level characters range from 1 to 65% with between 0 and 90 skill points above everything unlocked. I’m working the characters I enjoy toward map completion, but am not panicking and inventing unsubstantiated theories.

Do you folks honestly believe that ANet is going to screw over PvP and WvW players? If your opinion of ANet is that low, why do you even play this game? Lotsa stuff to play if GW2 goes south, ya know.

Leodon.1564:

Dungeons are horrible in this game and offer no challenge whatsoever. There is no synergy between party members, other than a simple combo system and group-wide buffs/heals that aren’t engaging.

Running past/invising through the majority of the dungeon only to occasionally stop and stack tightly in a corner while spamming your abilities on cooldown is what the average dungeon-runner can expect to do in this game.

Right on the nail, sir.

I stopped playing dungeons years ago because they really weren’t fun as played by the majority of the game’s population. Speed runs bore me, and it takes forever to find a non-speed 5-man group in LFG.

I’m disappointed. In beta/early days, I really wanted dungeons to be fun.

Make them scale, and I can play them with whatever friends and family are available, in non-speed-run mode.

Draknar.5748:

I would effing love dungeons that scaled from 1 to 5 people, or even more. Only have 2 people? No problem! (I’m talking about running the dungeon normally, I realize there are some people who can duo a number of dungeons in GW2, that’s not what I’m talking about here)

Scaling, please!

I’d love to 2-3 man some of the dungeons with friends and family.
Or even solo (without the limited scope that can be scaled now.)

If they can make Arah soloable, please do the other dungeons as well.

Neox.3497:

We need instanced content. But not dungeons, we need raids. And actually I would qualify most world bosses as raid bosses but they are far too easy and the fact that randoms can ruin these for you (by upscaling/interacting with wrong objects) makes “challenging” world bosses no fun.

No. “You” need raids.

“We” don’t.

Seven years of WoW and an active real life make raids a no-go for me. And the recent failure of raid-focused games indicates I’m not alone.

Not that I’m against other people playing raids, so long as ANet doesn’t kitten the rest of the game to add raid content.

But “we” don’t “need” raids.

That said,

Morfedel.4165:

Leo G.4501:

PookieDaWombat.6209:

OK, I am really getting tired of this belief that if you are not somehow actively buffing everyone around you that you are somehow a selfish class.

Condi-cleanse and redistribution, boon stripping, area CC and conditions all help a group during group play. Can we please stop labeling Necro as a selfish class simply because they don’t play like the other classes already? Not everything in this game revolves around dungeon speed runs. I could make the argument that thieves are the most selfish, but it wouldn’t be entirely true either.

I like the direction the Reaper is going in since they seem to be about both keeping with what the Necro does well (in direct team support) while also delivering better on the damage front.

This.

There’s so much boon spam, there isn’t a NEED for an entire spec dedicated to it! If you really want a bunch of might, get a War or an Ele. If you want Aegis and Protection, get a Guardian. As it is, either barely anyone wants defensive boons like Vigor, most have Fury coming out their ears and people outside of WvW don’t even know what Retaliation does. So even if this spec was ‘supportive’ to a team, if it didn’t give might or aegis, it’d be labled as trash anyway.

I agree with you two. I’ve really scratched my head wondering where all this kitten about selfishness in a class or build comes from? It seems rather stupid to me.

“This” indeed.

I completely agree with this train of thought.

These forums are loaded with a very singular perspective based on a very limited limited perspective on the game. I got bored of dungeon runs two YEARS ago. General group-play in Guilds Wars 2 is by far more diverse and complex than the stacking-boon-spamming or rushing thru the game in a frenetic fashion.

Thank the gods ANet isn’t driven by these loud, myopic folk.

My 80 necro is parked at the moment, mostly so I can focus on world completion with my Mesmer. The “Reaper” might make my necro more interesting; it’s a good idea from what I’ve seen so far.

Well, now I’m uncertain again.

Will being 80 plus doing 65 skill challenges be enough to unlock everything?

The responses herein are inconsistent, leading me to believe that the issue is not clear and that ANet hasn’t been precise in their explanations.

Scratch.9852:

This is one thing I’m genuinely concerned about. The Elite Specializations are nice and all, but at this point I feel like everyone is going to strive to be that. We won’t see diversity in class builds anymore.

For the first month or so, diversity will suck as people will want to explore new toys.

And then it will fade. And people will either stay with play-styles they like or not.

My daughter’s guardian, for example, won’t be going “Dragonhunter.” She doesn’t like what she’s seen of the new stuff for Guardian.

I’ll try out Chronomancer on my Mesmer, and use it if I like it.

Snow.2048:

My final issue with the name at this point is how it applies better to other professions. You could easily say new Ranger spec: Dragon Hunter, new Warrior spec: Dragon Hunter, without anyone blinking an eye (still some muttering about it being generic and unimaginative I’m sure but what can you do). These are profs who you can see hunting Dragons for a living, being an offensive force against Dragons. Guardians protect others, are pillars of strength and virtue that you can look up upon, not obsessive hunters who will stoop to anything to kill their prey, as I personally assume a Dragon Hunter would.

The “Dragonhunter” sobriquet indicates a worrisome homogenization of the classes. When I think “Guardian”, I think “Protector” and “Defender”, not “Aggressor.” In my mind, this heralds a shift toward making all the classes interchangable and generic, giving each some aspects of the others. Taken to an extreme, what point is there to classes if they all do the same things?

I’m expecting the Ranger “druid” to be a healer/buffer, taking on aspects of the Guardian.

The new Chronomancer gave me great hope that classes would gain enhancements reflecting their base design.

The Dragonhunter erased that optimism.

But we’ll see.

Inimicus.7162:

LS2 lacks all the epicness of LS1. No other way to put it, they wanted this one to be repeatable as this was the largest single gripe about LS1, so they chose to instance it all into a story arc that ultimately landed in an expansion. The story is a nice shoe-in and hopefully the expansion will be epic. But LS1 and LS2 were not designed with the same goals in mind at all. For what LS2 is, however, it was done well by the end and my own major gripe about that is that I would have preferred waiting until the entire zones were finished instead of having the weeks of cooling off with only snips of the zones coming in at any time.

LS1 was disjointed and erratic in quality and was very weak on cohesive story telling. It had grand scope and world-affecting events, though.

LS2 had far better story-telling, but felt smaller and less grand.

I enjoyed LS1 more than LS2.

A combination of the two approaches in HoT is what I’m hoping for, along with a good “fix” to make LS1 available again.

lordkrall.7241:

If you have completed more than 65 skill challenges on those characters they are good to go when the trait update comes.

It is worth pointing out that the core specializations and such will come BEFORE HoT.

Yup. Which is why I want to be sure my girls are ready.

I’ll probably do map completion on the mesmer just to be certain. She shouldn’t have too much trouble getting 100% in 6-8 weeks.

I’m very stoked for the chronomancer.

lordkrall.7241:

Skill points gained from books will not effect the amount of HPs you will get in the slightest. They will get converted to the new currency.

People claim a bunch of stuff, but none of us KNOW how much the Elite Specializations will cost, therefore we have no idea if it will require 100% map completion (it seems rather unlikely though).

“None of us know” is exactly what I’m trying to address.

My inquiry is entirely based on whether or not I need to pursue 100% map completion in order to have a complete mesmer. If the answer is “yes”, I’ll be doing map completion on my mesmer. If the answer is “no”, then I’ll play with different priorities.

All I’m looking to do is better plan my current game time in light of HoT trait changes.

On day 1 of the trait changes, I want both my ranger and mesmer ready to rock their new traits. 80 Ranger has been 100% for well-over two years; 80 mesmer at 60%, 80 necro at 65%, other characters beyond hope.

Ranatoa.4869:

As it stands currently you need 465 hero points to unlock all of the core skills and traits again (no word yet on numbers needed for elite specs)

You will get 400 points simply from leveling to 80, leaving 65 more that you need to get from the hero challenges (previously skill point challenges)

With 60% map completion you will have plenty to unlock the core (current) skills and traits. You will also have extra to spend on the elite, but they have not said how many we will need for that.

As for knowing the source of skill points? They don’t need to know where you got them. They can just add 400 (from leveling) + the number of hero challenges you have completed and the refund anything above that amount.

That does not account for skill points gained from books.
Hence my question.

Many folk in other threads are saying 100% map completion is necessary to unlock the elite traits.

lordkrall.7241:

The only skill points that gets converted to Hero Points (the thingies used to unlock traits and specializations) are the skill points you have gotten from leveling (to lvl 80) and Skill Challenges around the world. Skill points gotten via scrolls or by leveling past lvl 80 will be converted to a new currency used to buy Mystic Forge stuff.

And how will they know which skill points come from which source?

Dadnir.5038:

They said that there will be plenty enough heroes point (?) to unlock every specialization. Most likely just by leveling to 80, you’ll be able to unlock all the base specialization.

You’ll maybe need a bit of exploration when there will be more “elite” specialization released.

I know this. But “likely” and “maybe” are indefinites; I want clear, precise answers.

For example: My mesmer is level 80, has 60+ skill points unused, 60% map completion.

When HoT trait changes roll in, will she be able to unlock all basic trait lines and her elite traits?

Or do I need map completion?

And do skill points from scrolls count toward unlocking her elite traits?

What I want is a clear clarification of what’s necessary to unlock the complete character in the new design.

I’m not looking for complaints, editorials, or diatribes. Just facts.

Ralanost.8913:

As a returning player, season 1 is an abject failure. Unless there is a way to catch people up to things that have happened, the story becomes white noise. “What’s going on? Who are these npcs? Are they important?” I missed season one so all I have to show for it is a messed up world and a season 2 story that I couldn’t care less about since I have zero context for it. Removing story from a persistent game is BAD. There are no ways around it. People take breaks, new players join all the time. Having them be completely out of the loop for the story and uninvested in the lore is unacceptable.

I missed most of Season 1 trying to die in a hospital. I also missed a couple of family birthdays, a really cool astronomical event, and some good times with friends. Can’t get any of that back, but I move on. Bitterness and focusing on missed events serves no purpose.

The “Dragonhunter” label is cliched, misleading, and even a bit silly in a game where we’re all hunting dragons.

That said, it’s a silly tempest in a teapot, and won’t affect my desire to buy and play the expansion.

The ranger specialization had better be fantastic. I’m sick of ANet “fixing” the ranger by giving its abilities in improved form to another class.

This is the first thing ANet’s done that makes me angry.

Zietlogik.6208:

I have noticed that Anet loves changing things for absolutely no reason (cough THE ENTIRE NPE cough)

The NPE wasn’t a random development.

ANet has stated it was created in response to feedback other than that in forums.

If ANet designed the game entirely around form posts, GW2 would suck donkey… well, I’ll just say suck.

This article is an excellent exposition of the serious problems with Necromancers in GW2. (I have no association at all with the site or author.)

article

My 80 Necro is largely retired at this point.

If ANet does not address these numerous and serious problems in the expansion, they will have failed in their much-vaunted class updates. It’s sad to see the Revenant gaining what the Necromancer should always have had.

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

I know many things so far have been rewarded retroactively as a progress for Vets, but can you not do this with Masteries system? Let everyone start from scratch.

Reason I say this is because everyone complains that they don’t have much to do and if many of us (including myself) get enough points to unlock all the Masteries we won’t get to experience the progression like someone who’s new would. Thanks.

Bad idea. I’ll stop spending money in the store if they follow your suggestion.

I’ve got map completion on two characters, my mains. They should have credit for that accomplishment, and get the equivalent mastery points. Or do you expect my characters to redo map completion?