Guild Wars 2

Perhaps Tequatl is not really a dragon. Perhaps your character’s mind is not equipped to understand what Tequatl actually is, and therefore is creating a mental construct of a flying undead dragon as something your character can ‘experience’ without being driven stark raving mad. As fantastical and illogical as a flying undead dragon may seem, perhaps such a thing is less harmful to your character’s model-dependent reality than the truth: that Tequatl is a figment of the universe’s imagination. Or a miniature giant space hamster. From space.

Are Necromancer Marks treated like traps?

Perhaps instead of being called ‘traps’ these new guardian skills could be called Ordainments, Seals, Writs, Decrees or something along those lines. For a more guardianly flavor.

Like how the Necromancer’s trappy skills are called ‘Marks’.

…they were called Ordainments or Seals instead? Just to help differentiate them from, ya know, those other longbow guys.

Examples:

“It is so Ordained that if one of Evil intent steps upon this spot, Ka-BOOM! Er, I mean, woe betide the evil-doer!”

-or-

“I place upon this locale the Seal of Sanctuary, which, upon being broken, shall heal the faithful, and the wicked shall be subject to the attention of a thousand and two angry bats. Yes, bats. Because they are cool, dagnabbit!”

Anyway, just an idea that came to me while I was waiting for the coffee to brew this morning.

Knight Light. Or Lite. Sorry. It just came to me and I couldn’t resist. Knightlighter. Ahem.

Someone’s already mentioned Defender. I like Templar, too.

Digging around, let’s see what turns up…

Hierophant
Mystagogue
Pontifex
Cleric (heh)
Advocate
Envoy
Adherent
Campaigner
Champion

Dragonhunter… just doesn’t feel right. “Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. I’m hunting dwagons.” Dragonrider would be cool! How come no one has made a Pern MMO? Epic open world events — dragonriders & dragons vs thread!

Puritan
Pilgrim
Pursuant
Lawgiver
Broadcaster
Hawker
Archer
Crusader
Pathfinder
Wayfarer
Missionary
The Larch
Visionary

Dragonchaser. Like stormchasers, those guys that chase storms. ’Cept these guys chase dragons.

Dragonskinner. Like muleskinners. Well, maybe not. /e subliminal mount message.

RabbitUp.8294:

At least it’s not another instance of abusing “mancer”. Does anyone involved in fantasy even know what the word means..

Trapmancer! Trapdancer?

I like the longbow. The virtues thing not so much.

Not sure how well traps are gonna work when hunting dragons of the sort we see in this game. Aren’t most of them immune to that sort of thing, anyway? Hey, Teakettle, step in this! I dare ya!

/e Teakettle steps on trap and guardian, doesn’t even notice.

So, dragonfodder, more likely.

Nice work, evlover. Whether they agree or disagree with the opinions expressed, I think everyone here on the forums would benefit from reading it.

What purpose does it serve to make people wait for this information? One paragraph. A couple of sentences. Five minutes. Positive and constructive. You know, like how they say we should be.

Goose, gander.

Why not provide an answer to this today? What excuse is there for not doing so?

Seems to me it would take very little effort for the devs to allay — or confirm — the concerns expressed here and in similar threads. It would be a constructive and positive thing to do. Why hasn’t it been done?

spoj.9672:

Plus its only 65 skill points.

Is that account wide? If not, then it’s 65 skill points per character. I have 14 level 80s, of which only 2 have world completion. So that’s 12 level 80s without world completion.

12 × 65 = aw hell no.

Once I found out HoT would share many of the features previously presented in Dry Top and the Silverwastes, my enthusiasm for the expansion died. Those zones were fun when they were new, sure, (except for the aspect skills in Dry Top; didn’t mind them in the Labyrinthine Cliffs, but didn’t want to see them elsewhere — or anything else like them — a la HoT’s jumping/bouncing mushrooms) but once that newness wore off, the fun wore off with it. I do still go back in every once in a while, more to the Silverwastes than to Dry Top, to test a build, or tag along with a guildie, or just to grab some loot, but it’s not something I can stand for very long at a time.

So I’m in no hurry to buy HoT. I’ll wait. Let the newness wear off, see what people are saying about it then. Considering how anet has handled GW2 since launch, especially in this past year with the trait system redesign and the NPE, my expectations are high that I’ll only be disappointed.

Well, they did reference Dry Top and the Silverwastes pretty specifically in a HoT news article a while back (see link below). So I guess it makes sense the beta thing drops in those zones.

Dry Top

“The ever-looming threat of the sandstorm in Dry Top is more representative of the dynamic, shifting nature of Guild Wars 2—not only for its destruction, but also for its progress. During the sandstorm, the whole of the map enters a secondary phase. This phase affects the map in ways that make it unique from all other maps.

In the deep jungles of Maguuma, you’ll run into similar stories of an even larger scale that occur in secondary phases."

The Silverwastes

“Outposts are content structures that broadly explain and contextualize the consequences of localized groups of dynamic events. If you’ve been to the Silverwastes, you’ve seen a forerunner of this concept at each tower. In the Silverwastes, each tower helps the Pact prepare for its assault, and your successes and failures at each tower affect the sort of events you’ll see around you. In the Heart of Maguuma, you’ll have a similar experience with outposts, which are always vital to preparing for the secondary phase of each map. They may even continue to play an important role during that time.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/journey-into-the-heart-of-maguuma-in-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns/

runeblade.7514:

HoT is destroying useless diversity so that there can be balance.

- Presenting the Banana Split Analogy -

Once upon a time one could have a banana split with a useless but glorious diversity of items like nuts and cherries and pineapple chunks and whipped topping and chocolate or caramel sauce, and of course a banana and some ice cream. Alas! Some felt this was unbalanced, and so…

Changes were wrought! And now the banana split consists of a banana and maybe, if you’re lucky, some ice cream. But it will be better, you see, because it’s balanced.

Or not.

People keep saying it will be balanced. People don’t know it will be balanced, any more than the people saying it will be awful know it will be awful, but least the people saying it will be awful have a year’s worth of awful precedent upon which to base their opinions.

Is it possible to not have extra forum accounts if one has extra game accounts? I have two game accounts — and two forum accounts to go along with them. I never use the other one, but it’s there available to be chosen whenever I log on to the forums.

maddoctor.2738:

So which one is the restricting system here? In GW1 you were restricted to 8 skills for any given run, in GW2 you have access to all your skills at any time, PLUS way more than 8 skills available at any given moment. GW1 was way more restricting for builds.

Hmm, let me see your GW2 elementalist whip out some ranger skills. No? How about some warrior skills. Okay, fine. Let’s try skills from some other caster profession. How about… mesmer? Not even that, huh? Forget the skills, then. Let’s see that GW2 ele equip a dry land spear and a shield!

Well, shucks.

What else ya got?

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

So what do you want them to do, OP? Churn out a bunch of skills that nobody will use?

I’d rather that they built the game to accommodate more build variety than reduce the variety of builds to accommodate the game. How about that?

BakiSaN.9281:

I’m not sure how can anyone see this as lack of diversity. I mean, anyone who is trying to actually be useful and optimal in this game sees this game has NO diversity right now. Every serious PvE guild has meta builds expected for every class and there are also many PvP guilds that DEMAND that everyone runs meta for their profession. Every warrior I see joining my parties for PvE is either deeps or Phalanx, every ele is staff or d/f, every thief is S/P and D/D, and there are some professions that are completely excluded from a lot of content. I see people kicking rangers just because they’re playing rangers (PvE-wise), I see people kicking mesmers from fractals because they have nothing to offer. This game is everything now but filled with diversity considering builds. Every thief I see in PvP is either S/D or D/P. Every mesmer is either halting strike shatter or traditional, every guard is either bunker or Medi, every warrior is shoutbow. And if you disagree, you’re probably in a lot more of a casual circle of playing. This game has NO diversity right now and changes as huge as we’ve seen on the stream can only bring positive impact on the game. Wow…

Perhaps instead of limiting build options further, the developers should consider adding DEPTH to the game to make a place for more builds.

I’ve been pondering this very topic for a couple of days now, but instead of writing a thousand words about it, I decided to devise a very simple image to illustrate precisely and without question how I feel about GW2’s development, particularly over the past year. I hope you all enjoy it.

How many hero challenges must we undertake to finally defeat the forum bug!

Guhracie.3419:

Tachenon.5270:

Will previous successfully challenged challenges apply to the 65?

Given that the mastery system will be applying retroactively, I don’t see how they could exclude challenges you’ve already done. If you’ve done all the challenges already, that seems like a pretty major disadvantage, if not, anyway. So I would certainly find it to be mystifying if they didn’t. I do wonder if hero points will be account-wide, given that map complete will leave you with an excess of points.

Also, I could’ve sworn that the 65 points above and beyond leveling would be used in the HoT elite specialization trees, not the base system. I’ll go do some research and update with what I find. It’s 465 for the base system. But they did say that the numbers are not set in stone.

Hmm. Well, if for some reason the already completed challenges don’t count, and the 12 of my 14 level 80s who haven’t done world completion wind up needing 65 points each to get back to where they were before… that would be 780 hero challenges.

Will previous successfully challenged challenges apply to the 65?

lordkrall.7241:

Indeed, but that is just the thing. The Ranger in Guild Wars 2 is built completely around having the pet. Therefore they would need to completely rebuild it if they go with the suggestion here.

This would be the perfect time for them to knuckle down and get it done.

As mentioned in another thread, I have 14 level 80s. 2 have world completion. Of the remaining 12, 11 were level 80 before the trait system redesign, and were grandfathered in; several of these are missing some XIII grandmaster traits. The other, my NPE ele, has only a handful or two of traits unlocked.

So, what will I have to do to maintain the status quo?

lordkrall.7241:

Tachenon.5270:

It that account wide, then? I have 14 level 80s. 2 of them have done world completion. What about the other 12?

Why would it be account wide? The current system is not.
Do those other 12 actually use every single trait available in the game right now?

They were all 80 before the trait system redesign. Thus, they have all traits except maybe for a few of the newer XIII ones.

Edit: except for my NPE elementalist, that is. That one has enough traits unlocked to run a few builds, but nowhere near all of them.

lordkrall.7241:

Ok I Did It.2854:

I was STUNNED you have to run YET again threw old content to get mastery points ( old skill challenges ) 2 1/2 years and they still want us to recycle old content, this is not the same team whom made GW1.

Except that you don’t.
If you have already done them before the system goes live they will be given retroactively. So if you have done 65 skill challenges (and are lvl 80) before the update you will have enough HPs to unlock everything of the core specializations.

It that account wide, then? I have 14 level 80s. 2 of them have done world completion. What about the other 12?

Useful diversity? Useful? To whom?

Some folks don’t care if one of the ‘new’ builds hugs corners better, or some other ‘new’ build can go from 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds. They’d rather drive the one they customized themselves from parts they scrounged from the junk heap out back. So what if it gets poor gas mileage and the windshield wipers don’t work. Is this game some sort of race? Is the EPA running Anet? The point being, these individuals paid for the game just like everybody else. Their money is just as (insert appropriate color here) as anyone else’s. Why are they the ones whose vehicles are being crushed into neat, easily stackable squares?

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” ~ Henry Ford.

Mo Mo.1947:

Khisanth.2948:

maddoctor.2738:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Perhaps Anet should just make 3 set-in-stone (non-configureable) builds for each profession that you can choose from, give each of these builds a unique name and advertise to the masses that “now there’s 27 professions!”

I’m sure everyone will gobble that up: “even more choice now!”

Actually this new system looks like it will be much better balanced than the old one. A game that is easier for the devs to balance can lead to better content too.

The same was said for reducing the number of skills available in GW2 compared to GW1 yet this is being brought up again. At what point will the system be small and simple enough for the devs to handle?

Do you actually want as many skills as they had in GW1? You need to read up on skill balancing in MMOs if you really don’t understand how over the top and out of control GW1’s skill pool was.

See also: ‘off the hook’, ‘awesome’, and ‘glorious’.

Rauderi.8706:

You hit the nail on the head, Diogo. Where other players kewkew about “dumbing down” and “removing options,” actual game designers are aiming for more elegant designs that give actual, useful choice instead of the illusion of choice.

Elegant design, is it? I can think of very few finer examples of ‘elegant design’ than the currently implemented trait system and the NPE. Ascended gear comes to mind. The fractal reset. The way guild missions were implemented. Non-seasonal temporary content. Outfits. How many times have dailies been elegantly designed now?

I said it before, I’ll say it again: what an awful, horrible, virtually unplayable game GW2 must have been at launch, to warrant such elegant design improvements over the course of its relatively short life.

To all those saying don’t judge this harshly before we see it, I say: by the very same token, don’t praise it — elegantly or otherwise — before you see it. All we really have to go by is what’s been done so far, and what’s been done has not been elegant.

Remember when they said:

“We want it to be much easier to experiment with and learn new builds as you explore the world of Tyria.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/

Remember what we actually got with the trait system redesign? Remember the big thread about it? Remember the dev responses in that thread? Remember the new thread about it, and the dev responses there? Remember how NPE was subject to ‘over a year’s worth of testing’ and yet still managed to wreak havoc on the personal story, among other things? Remember how long its taken for them to get around to doing anything positive or constructive about any of this?

Why would anyone here think this is going to be any different?

Dondarrion.2748:

Am I missing a vital piece of information here?

Historically speaking, history is only as accurate as the historians recording it, and so the past is as subject to change as the present.

See also: first there is a retcon, then there is no retcon, then there is, and eventually even the retconners have trouble keeping track.

All by 80? Or maybe… post-80 ‘stacked progression’.

KorbenDallas.6729:

If you read at all the quests and discuss with the NPCs and do the events in the Norn lands, you will see they are NOTHING like the Humans.

Hath not a norn eyes? Hath not a norn hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a human is? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh? If you poison them, do they not die? And if you wrong them, shall they not revenge? If they are like humans in the rest, they will resemble humans in that.

Cazamar.7148:

Anyone who says that Norn are just tall humans is ignorant about the game they play.

Humans are just short norn.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Lol. We haven’t seen either the ice (Jormag) or water (name unknown) dragons so how do you know if they are almost the same or not?

Having never seen them, and, more to the point, having never seen them in the same room together, how do we know they are not the same dragon? That is, one dragon — with two forms! Maybe Jormag is the form this dragon takes when he flies north for the summer, and Bubbles the Good, Friendliest Dragon of All, is the form this dragon takes when she flies south for the winter.

Come to think of it, have we ever seen two or more Elder Dragons in the same place at the same time?

Lyp Sao.1375:

DanteZero.9736:

I think OP meant all the events occurring in the map instance you are in should appear on the world map instead of flashing the “nearest” event to the player.

nooo!

Speaking of events, this might explain a few things…

I have long suspected that the Tyria in which our GW2 characters dwell is not the same Tyria our Guild Wars characters knew and fought to protect 250 years ago, but I had not considered gateways and waypoints as factors in the ever-increasing divergences. It does, however, make sense. /e +1

A while back I was playing Guild Wars, and one of my necromancer/whatever’s heroes said something about not liking necromancers because of them either being dead or having been dead — or something! I forgot about it until I saw this thread, and then of course I couldn’t remember exactly what was said or who said it. Until today! After a little digging, I found it on the Guild Wars wiki.

It was Hayda, a paragon hero from Eye of the North. She said, “I don’t like Necromancers, people who come back from the dead don’t have the same value system.”

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Hayda

So there’s that. Whether she knows what she’s talking about is another matter.

Bat people would have been great.

For me, the trait system redesign takes the booby prize. That it got beyond the ‘hey, what if…’ stage remains one of the era’s greatest and most troubling mysteries. NPE is a distant second. Considering that the people who came up with these sins against gaming are the same people who are working on HoT, the future of GW2 does not look at all bright.

Beyond that: the questionable decisions began in earnest on November 15th 2012 and have continued with unquestionable regularity ever since. And yet, the core of what the game was and might have been remains a candle flickering in the darkness, so bright and lovely…

Invictus.1503:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Well, they should have never called it a Ranger in the first place. It should have been called Beastmaster, cause that is what it is… It’s our base class, so Anet Devs making a Specialization that replaces the mechanic completely (not just changing it) would be the easiest route to go. If they did that with a 2nd expansion pack, I’d preorder four within the first 10 minutes they are available.

The “original” RPG gave their Rangers pets. Check out Dungeons and Dragons, the pen and paper game that inspired in some way most of the fantasy games we play today.

Might want to review that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29

PookieDaWombat.6209:

Gliders people. You’re already getting gliders.

Well. The gliders are just for HoT, right? Over there in the Maguuma Jungle. Can’t use ’em anywhere where it would make sense to use them.

Anyway, I don’t want a glider. I’ve never asked for a glider. And furthermore I think using gliders in a jungle is just plain dumb. What makes a jungle a jungle? Is it all the trees? The vines? The lack of open space, which, if it was there, would make the area something other than a jungle?

What I want is a horse. Of course. For my characters to ride to and fro across the landscape, whilst enjoying the fresh air and all that other good stuff. Mount Mastery — master different gaits, jumping, jousting, racing… ah, just think of all the fun we’re missing because someone thought waypoints would be better.

Waypoints, scattered as they are all across the landscape, were a mistake. Especially establishing them as actual devices that exist in the game world instead of nudge nudge wink wink game mechanics. How much energy does it take to power those things, anyway? What kind of energy is it? How reliable is it? How much does it cost to generate it? Where is it generated? How is it distributed? Who inspects the individual waypoints to make sure they’re functioning properly? Who keeps them repaired? What if something goes wrong? More to the point: who do we SUE if something goes wrong and what went in doesn’t come out the other end in the same shape it went in? Or doesn’t come out at all?

Waypoints: a disaster waiting to happen. Already compromised once by an elder dragon!

Mounts: not just a means of transportation, but boon companions and potentially one heckuva gold/time/$$$ sink.

Mounts: the only logical choice.

Elendur.9342:

I still think the easier fix for that would be a trait that buffs the ranger when the pet dies or something…

Then people would just get the pet killed so they could play with the buff.

What they should do, but won’t, is make rangers with pets a specialization: the Beastmaster. And let those of us who don’t want pets be free of them.

Elendur.9342:

Though I will admit that getting rid of the following pets and using them as some sort of summons could be cool (you set buttons f1 to f4 with skills involving pets and you can call a moa to heal, a wolf to howl, an owl to chill, a bear to clean conditions, or something like that)

That would be cool indeed.

I think the female charr mushroom cloud hair would work on an asura.

Random person: Your hair… why?
Asura: Why? Why, because I have so many bright ideas the continual flashing of light bulbs over my head was giving innocent bystanders headaches. Which, by the way, has just inspired me to invent a new type of sunglasses! (hair lights up)

lukejoe.1592:

I’m not sure why people who want to play a ranger without a pet are playing a ranger at all.

Why the heck do rangers have pets anyway? Did Strider have a pet? What about the Lone Ranger? Heck, he had a mount! Anyway, aren’t rangers supposed to, ya know, range around in the wilderness, living off the land while keeping an eye out for bad guys and stuff?

/e sings

What’s pets got to do, got to do with it?
What’s pets, but a limiting mechanic?
What’s pets got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a bear when two swords would be awesome!

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Tachenon.5270:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Tachenon.5270:

Waypoints should be in the major population centers and nowhere else. Waypoints have made the game world feel small. Waypoints have made exploration an exercise in moot-ality (take that, English language!), even in the unreleased new zones, because wherever we go, the waypoint installers have already been there. And on top of that, the waypoint installers are a bunch of jerks, because they they’re all like, hey, there’s this waypoint over there where you want to go that’s been part of our network of waypoints for like forever, but you can’t use it until you ‘discover’ it, bwahaha.

Who installs these things, anyway? It’s a sure bet they’re the ones keeping us from having proper mounts!

Wait…. waypoints make the world feel small….

Yet, people want mounts with speed boosts because otherwise its too tedious to get around?

Think that one through for a bit….

I have thought it through. Now you try it!

Waypoint = instantly there! Well, depending on your PC, you may be looking at a loading screen for several seconds… but that’s beside the point. Ahem.

Mount, even speed-boosted = travel the countryside! See the scenery! Enjoy the fresh air and monsters!

Mounts make the world seem small too, regardless of having the ability to “see” the countryside and monsters because people don’t pay any attention to them. They just run right one through. Go take a gander at WoW and tell me people pay freaking attention. They don’t.

The only difference is how much time is wasted getting from point A to point B.

People run right on through even without mounts. I know I do! I’m like, go away, stupid monster, I’m in too much of a hurry to mess around with you! If I had a mount I’d be all like, go away, stupid monster, I’m in too much of a hurry and I look too darn cool on this way cool mount to mess around with you! Especially if it was a skale. I hate those things. So annoying.

Of course, the smarter monsters would have hard to see wires and stuff strung up at a rider’s neck height to catch unwary riders and make them fall down and go boom. They might even have mounts, too. Imagine a centaur riding in a chariot drawn by speed-boosted skale. /e shudder.

Plus anet could have people optionally working on getting ascended wisps, picks, currycombs for their mounts, as well as saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates, among other things.

Still saying neigh to mounts?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Tachenon.5270:

Waypoints should be in the major population centers and nowhere else. Waypoints have made the game world feel small. Waypoints have made exploration an exercise in moot-ality (take that, English language!), even in the unreleased new zones, because wherever we go, the waypoint installers have already been there. And on top of that, the waypoint installers are a bunch of jerks, because they they’re all like, hey, there’s this waypoint over there where you want to go that’s been part of our network of waypoints for like forever, but you can’t use it until you ‘discover’ it, bwahaha.

Who installs these things, anyway? It’s a sure bet they’re the ones keeping us from having proper mounts!

Wait…. waypoints make the world feel small….

Yet, people want mounts with speed boosts because otherwise its too tedious to get around?

Think that one through for a bit….

I have thought it through. Now you try it!

Waypoint = instantly there! Well, depending on your PC, you may be looking at a loading screen for several seconds… but that’s beside the point. Ahem.

Mount, even speed-boosted = travel the countryside! See the scenery! Enjoy the fresh air and monsters!

Endless Soul.5178:

Master Blaster.

One man enters, two men leave. Wait… uh… embargo on!

Asura should be able to spin on their heads. This maneuver should be available as an emote and as part of a special dance routine. Guaranteed $$$.