Guild Wars 2

Rauderi.8706:

TheGrimm.5624:

Rauderi.8706:

I’m not seeing a Queen Jennah Devourer in the wiki entry. I will be very cross if that’s the case.

This so funny and oh so wrong on so many levels that I must leave you with a +10.

More like a +24. That’s how many I have. :\

I hear you, 23 mains and 9 more spots opened for PoF. But I fear my mind is over imaginative in the image you have created. More coffee I think and back to work lol.

Have seen games in the past, example the Civilization series, that would let you select which opening page you would see when you started the game. Not sure how much priority I would put on this over other changes though. You really only do see it for the time it takes to enter you password after all, but I do appreciate where you are coming from since your brain will associate that as the branding aspect.

Rauderi.8706:

I’m not seeing a Queen Jennah Devourer in the wiki entry. I will be very cross if that’s the case.

This so funny and oh so wrong on so many levels that I must leave you with a +10.

Still testing and am running out of time. Was testing via dummies, PvP and WvW. So that’s were these opinions are based from. I also play all classes and have multiples of all, some set as core and some HoT elites.

Some of the new elites seems to be able to pull off high burst with less effort than others. And by burst I mean attacks that are those of 10K-20K hits. Now these are at the end of some rotations. These include Soulbeast, Deadeye, Holosmith.

Couple of the classes do micro bursts to get closer to that but over more attacks. I would drop the Renegade and Spellbreaker in there.

Classes more difficult to get those numbers out of so far are: Weaver and Firebrand. Love the Weaver mechanic and think its well done but will expect its not for everyone, but have run into some exceptional ones in WvW.

Mirage and Scourge bring up the end in a DPS perspective. I know that some classes were being targetted to get more of a utility/support role so that’s got to factor in as well but was basing this pass more from the damage perspective.

Will play them all but some have more hard counters than others so far. In some cases it more advantageous to use existing weapons over new class weapon due to DPS. Example of this is the Soulbeast where using the Greatsword and Maul can bring some serious damage to the fight.

Also seeing differing results on some where the environment plays a bigger difference. Examples here, Deadeyes are more effective in WvW than PvP to me where as with the Spellbreaker works better in PvP and is ranged down pretty easy in WvW.

Lastly not all utilities are the same, some will probably need some love to up their value. An example of this to me would be the Firebrand’s heal. Running in PvP and in WvW this had some additional value in a large WvW fight but anything smaller and it just doesn’t add up as a heal even if it can trigger additional synergies.

Still more balancing is needed but assuming ANets been collecting a lot of stats on performance over this weekend. Back to testing. Good gaming!

Ashantara.8731:

Where can you test the new elite specs? I couldn’t select them in the PvP lobby…

Not in game yet but I think the notes said you need to select one of the demo spots and create a toon. Are you on one of those or one your existing toons?

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

I’m seeing entitlement on both sides of this argument but don’t mind me, I’m just enjoying the theatrics.

Add in your account name and this will keep me smiling all day.

Rauderi.8706:

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

I’m seeing entitlement on both sides of this argument but don’t mind me, I’m just enjoying the theatrics.

Right?
All I can really ask out of the PUG community (which I’m not specifically a part of because omg guilds in Guild Wars how to they happen) is that they label their groups to attract the right people in the first place.

If you want to dictate how people play, join/create a “meta, ArcDPS required” group. And don’t be a jackkitten when someone joins the group that happens to be sub-par.
“Hey, sorry, but our group said meter required and you don’t have one, so we’re going to remove you from the group.” Vote-kick, done, but with due diligence to some basic kittening humanity.

If you want a Fun Run, join/create a “non-meta, teaching, all welcome” group. If peopl pop in with a case of the meter-jitters, just let them know that’s not the focus of the group, and they’ll either bail or chill out. If they continue to rage: “Hey, sorry, but you’re WAY too angry for this group, so we’re going to remove you.” Vote-kick, and lesson learned.

Because there are markers of entitlement all over this argument, and have been for a long while, not just in this thread:

“I can kick people for whatever reason even though I didn’t say anything or tell anyone why.”
No, that’s being cowardly.

“I demand people adhere to my play style and can join whatever group I want, that’s what LFG is for!”
Yer probably the kind of person who ignores warning labels, too. Don’t be that person.

“PUGs are so irritating but I just want a [fast|fun] group that does exactly what I want every time!”
Have you considered a guild? Seriously, do it. Remove your toxicity from LFG.

“I’m afraid to make my own group…”
Don’t be! Just be sure to communicate what the group is for. And as extra insurance, only use LFG to fill in up to two spots. Bring two friends along so your group doesn’t get hijacked.

tl;dr – Communicate!
It’s not hard to be nice and still get what you want, folks.

I think you hit it on the head. Shocking to talk to people you are grouping with or just get your own group or take 2 seconds to communicate. Amazeballs this. Good gaming to you!

Harper.4173:

TheGrimm.5624:

*Tools that empower players to be kitten to others to me are a bad idea. The fact that this thread was started already proves this was an issue. *

Nobody needs a tool for that. If I want to be a kitten I can do it without any dps meter.
If I want to kick I can kick based on anything I want – LI, AP, “you went down too much”, etc.

If you think the addition of a dps meter changes anything – you’re just wrong.
Bad players get kicked. It’s been like this since 2012.

People will attempt to kick for whatever they want since groups no longer have a super user of sorts.

But I am quite right when I say to me DPS meters will empower rude behavior in some others. Since I stated my own opinion I have zero chance of being wrong unless my split personality has manifested itself again but I think it was in check when I posted my own opinion. Thanks though always good to double check.

Stand The Wall.6987:

this would be really nice. I have been slowly accumulating tomes across all my toons and 2nd stacks are starting to appear.

at least make them needed in some sort of high end recipe. then I wouldn’t feel so bad about deleting them.

You know something about what you said about deleting them tripped the mind. Maybe we are thinking about it wrong. I think a lot of us packrats hang onto them in case we need them (full bank row of stacks a little bit ago). But if we use them and are not leveling then they become their currency form as a spirit shard. So why not just have them be instant spirit shards on acquire and then allow players to spend spirit shards if they want to use them to level. Trying to think if there are any crafting/guild upgrades that need them, I think some were used for the guild hall so that might need some thoughts of ways back.

DeShadowWolf.6854:

Because no one reads LFG descriptions. It’s not uncommon to put in “80s exp” on a dungeon LFG and get a lvl 50 who has never done it before.

Yeah, but again, if they joined your group and didn’t read what you put in there, that’s on them and a different story. Putting words in the OP’s mouth so they will have to forgive me for making assumptions, but I think this thread would be different if it started with joined a group that said it was doing gear checks and using a DPS meter and then they kicked me for not having certain gear.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Assuming there are still “allowed” DPS meters (which seems like a safe assumption), how about a toggle when you make an LFG group? It would say, “DPS meter in use.” That way, anyone who likes them could join, and those who dislike like them could opt not to.

I’m going to assume people will say, “No!” to that suggestion. Why? Because I believe the real issue is that people want to be able to jump into any group that happens to be forming when they look at LFG. Impatience and entitlement are the real issues, and they occur on both sides of the divide, whether it’s someone joining a requirement listed/metered group or someone joining a casual run group and kicking the group starter because his DPS is sub-par.

That’s the real issue, not meters. Good luck getting people to drop the idea that their personal convenience trumps everything else. However, this would be a better game and a better community if we do.

I am not certain why people don’t put more into their group description if they have issues with others. No reason your idea wouldn’t work today with just dropping that in the text. Forewarned goes a long way and anyone joining that group should know what to expect. Never been big on people joining a group and then expecting everyone else to change for them, if you are looking for that, create your own or once again go with like minded guildies. 5 guilds…..don’t saddle yourself with 100% rep papertigers or yell at pugs find a raid/fractal/dungeon guild or make one and you will be happier.

Zenith.7301:

No. There is no outlasting PvE mobs with 10 times your HP that autoattack you for 7-10k damage with defensive gear.

You wear defensive gear, you screw the group over by allowing those mobs to last longer and melt.

This game is not a trinity game. You don’t get higher healing per second to counter the sustained damage of mobs.

It’s why you maximize DPS. So you kill them in the span oc cc and blinds before you run out of them.

Selfish kittens who don’t care about helping the group because they want to play how they want should go play open world and spare people the insult of having to struggle to carry them and making their usual fractal of 15 minutes take 10-15 minutes extra.

This is not WoW where you with your 20 sec cd heal skill can outheal all the incoming damage indefinitely.

PvE veteran mobs on higher fractals will win the outlast game 100% of the time.

Toughness and vitality are useless when the best forms of mitigation are blinds, CC and killing mobs quickly while they’re disabled.

The difference with your toughness gear is you take 20-25% less damage but do half the damage in return because you give up way more offense than what you gain defensively.

Congrats, the mob that could 2-shot you now 3-shot you on toughness gear and you now take 1.5x as long to kill it.

Already said wasn’t going into gear discussion since that’s a different discussion. As far as needing a meter to build/run a group. Still not seeing it here. You already know what you want in your group so you get your guild group to agree to that else if you pug you advertise for it upfront when you create your group. If joining a pug group and you don’t like someone else’s build, you have the right to leave and find another. Have done that before, works fine, its not worth getting into a bother over it. Its a game even if we all probably spend too much time in it.

Jemmi.6058:

Indeed, as you say, it’s just an assumption. I think that most arguments that suggest the effects of parsers on toxicity are rooted on many assumptions, though.

At the very least, if parsers were allowed, I could have spoken up in defense of the player.

I have less experience in GW2, unfortunately (I just returned after a lengthy break), but in my experience in other games, the better players tend to be less toxic. Usually, the toxic players are good enough to enter difficult content, but are on the poorer end of players who do so.

I think it has to do with a relation between being (almost) good enough to do content, but then failing at said content due to their own failings. They then project those failings on other players.

There are also studies that link aggressive behaviour to frustration in video games. It could be that these players who continue to fail at the content become frustrated -> become aggressive -> become toxic over time.

They can be used for a positive sense and your example is a good one. It just comes down to how often for good versus ill and as stated above there is no good way to measure this if used for one or the other.

Also agree if ANet does want one in game, they should build ones themselves to prevent different people from coming up with different numbers. We already have examples of this in the PvP aftermatch scoreboard so there is some architecture in place if there was more of a demand for this. I could see something like this in Fractals/Raid/Dungeons. People could share if they want to this way. Now I know this doesn’t address it before spending time but it might be a middle group especially if it tallies along the way and doesn’t add lag. Never want to add more purposed in game latency to things for the sake of someone chasing numbers though.

Zenith.7301:

There’s nothing toxic about me not wanting to deal with a knights stat greatsword reaper who doesn’t break cc bars let alone allows trash mobs like in snowblind final boss or dredge/fire elementals to live for so long that your group struggles.

It’s even worse in Cliffside where you’re trying to clear the arms but mobs take so long to die that the veteran cultists tear apart the team because you’re not clearing fast enough.

Not even going to talk about Shattered Observatory or Nightmare fractals.

There are still a lot of people that still don’t get breakbars, a bit surprising at times actually. Stopped to explain them to a player the other day, but they did say in the end they had been gone a long time so that made sense.

This isn’t about meters though based on your statement. Your issue is DPS versus defense. Having to stop and rez people that dropped because they aren’t in proper gear irks on some people as well. Dead peeps do no deeps. Again different mindsets, your planning on killing them faster than they kill you. Did you advertise your group as full zerk or condi?

One day I would like to see ANet change the aggro logic to target squishiest first and go from there. Paper builds are awesome for those that fit their play style, but some people shouldn’t be based on the number of times you have to rez them.

But there are strong feeling on that on both sides and this is about meters so will leave that alone from there.

Feanor.2358:

TheGrimm.5624:

There are champ trains that have been removed from the game in the past since they were deemed by ANet for creating negative environments. Denying that is wrong.

Then why are there still champ trains?

That’s the point, things that have created toxic environments in the past have been removed. ANet is here to have players entertained, when something didn’t pass muster after a while it was adjusted if it continued to provide a negative impact on that entertainment value. Hence why we don’t have some champ trains now that we did in the past. Those not deemed so stayed where others are no more. If you don’t think those were changed due to what it was impacting go back to the threads at the time and look up the Anet posts. In some cases people defended them not to be removed because it populated those zones and made new players think the game was teeming with players where others said the cons outweighed the pros. ANet sided with more cons then pros and a change was made.

Feanor.2358:

First and foremost, it’s jumping to conclusions to state dps meters are a cause for anything. Again, toxicity existed before dps meters. And it will exist after them, if they become illegal at some point. You’ll have very hard time proving an actual causality between dps meter usage and an act of toxicity. Just because someone had a dps-related issue with another player proves nothing. Because when you’re underperforming, it shows. And the elitists are both good at spotting it and quick to become toxic about it.

Agree, people will find a way to be toxic to each other and that’s an ongoing fight. Also agree that when people are under performing you can spot it without a meter. So why need the meter? Again, personal ones can pass muster and I appreciate someone wanting to be effective but as far as proving they can be toxic, again we wouldn’t be in this thread if one hadn’t been abused by a player. Does everyone abuse them, no wouldn’t go that far either.

You want meters, I don’t like group meters. We can have differing opinions. Telling someone how to play to me is out and the potential cons of people abusing a tool outweighs the pros in this case. IMO.

Side note: I didn’t have a problem with the trains that were removed to me it was a good way to help new people level and it could be a fun mini-game to race from boss to boss. And when I first came to game it was a wild sight to see so many people running these events. But its ANet’s game and therefore their call but players should provide feedback.

Feanor.2358:

TheGrimm.5624:

Champ trains were eliminated since they created toxic environments.

Wrong. Champ trains are alive and well, in both CS and FGS. Champ trains were eliminated in starter zones, because excessive farming isn’t something you want to promote to new players. That’s something for the vets. The decision has nothing to do with the supposed “toxic environment”. If you decide to solo a champ on a champ train map, prepare to get flamed, even now. Rightfully so, if I may add.

TheGrimm.5624:

DPS meters in the same light create a toxic environment on their own more often than not.

Wrong. All the examples of supposed toxic behaviour created by dps meters are actually phenomena that have been in the game for ages. Except now they have some valid objective reason. Remove the dps meters, the toxicity will be just the same, except assigned to random other metrics, like AP or mastery level. Again, tools do not create toxicity, players do. And believe me, players are very creative in it. No matter what you do, they’ll find ways to be toxic.

There are champ trains that have been removed from the game in the past since they were deemed by ANet for creating negative environments. Denying that is wrong.

Tools that empower players to be kitten to others to me are a bad idea. The fact that this thread was started already proves this was an issue. I can respect that you feel differently, but you have not shown me anything that makes me believe the opposite. Personal meters, fine, group meters, no thanks. If I feel the need to tell someone else how they should play means I should move along unless I want to cut them a check and have them play my way. I didn’t pay for their game nor am I paying them for their time.

Champ trains were eliminated since they created toxic environments. DPS meters in the same light create a toxic environment on their own more often than not. ANet needs to come out and ban these outright. Personal meters would have been fine but if the data that these tools pull also include data for other players than these need to be blocked or that data needs to be unreadbale by third party software. A lot of people were against raids due to issues like this and this thread re-enforces those concerns. And yes this issue was around before raids as well but was even further reinforced with raids.

I appreciate people wanting to be efficient and not waste time they may hold dear. I too like speed runs at times of fractals. That said I think its an error in thinking to apply your own play bias to pugging. If I pug I don’t expect things of others, if I feel like a group isn’t going to make it adjust or move along and find another.

If a player wants to push their bias on others then they should apply that culling logic to a guild group. The point of guilds is to find people you like to play with and might play in similar fashion. If you want to blame issues on pugs you are just denying that the issue is your own since you choose to go that route.

Kite.2510:

1. Yes, it’s expensive! I’m actually with you on this one! If it costed Karma, they could charge as much as they want. I’ve got tons of it. But given the quantity you get of them, it shouldn’t cost more than a silver unless rares had a higher drop rate.

Was focusing on other things during preview weekend so didn’t look into loot. That said if we are back to identification kits then yes ways to buy these via alternate currencies like zone currencies, karma and such would be greatly appreciated and here’s hoping that auto-salvagers have an option that says all or identified only else that would be step in an unfortunate direction.

Orion Templar.4589:

A right-click “consume all” similar to what we have for stacks of luck would probably be simpler to implement.

That could work as well.

+1 here for roll up scrolls.

The advantage to allowing the scrolls to roll into 80s though also reduces inventory space for the current stacks. I know its a personal choice thing but having the back stock helps for things like expansions where you might want to suddenly add 9 new toons.

Would also be good with if the level 80 booster skipped all the unlock chests. Actually would almost prefer personally since we can’t salvage a majority of that gear anyway. But I could see others that might use the gear in the chests though I think vets that are doing this already had intended gear ready to be made.

For the most part runes and sigils are things that we can craft. Today most of these are turned into loot that you only sell to the vendor and you have to do that by selecting each one since it is not considered junk though it is treated as such even if once upon a time it wasn’t. That said, is there any reason we shouldn’t be able to salvage them and potentially get back some of the material that was used to craft them? Normal salvaging rules would apply so material lose would still occur to remove materials from the world. But considering that the lower sigils/runes are also made from lower materials that have higher demand it would once again create more demand and value for these items. They would be seen as less burdensome and might be considered to have more value.

Thanks for reading.

Yeah, would wager a week or two. And thanks to the wiki freaks. They have the recent anni sales posted so take a peek.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gem_Store/Anniversary_Sales

The addition of the portal scroll book that contains all of your accounts portal scrolls was a welcome and positive addition to the game. A next step in this concept would be to allow vendors in all zone that have currencies to allow the sale of a scroll for that zone. That way as new maps are introduced and people potentially introduce new toons players will have a way to port to those zones first waypoint if they are playing older maps with newer toons. Not sure this could be done with base Tyria but starting Drytop forward all zones have the newer zone currency logic and could support this structure. This saves players from crossing the world to get to an event with a newer toon, creates a temporary currency sink, adds something for collectors and a potential for future achievements for those zones.

Food for thought from an alt-o-holic.

If you have HoT now but haven’t gone down the elite paths yet, I would recommend gathering the HPs, but don’t spend them. Try the HoT elites in PvP where you can test each out and see what you like. If you find one you want to lock into and are ok with leaving it in place then go ahead. But can’t see gathering the HPs in HoT and Tyria as being a bad idea unless they completely scrap that idea on us, which I hope we will be able to tell come this upcoming beta weekend. So make sure you check that out then and that might help in your decision.

Ashantara.8731:

And what does that tell you? Correct: There is something awfully wrong with the whole concept of elite specializations.

The meta is as rigid as an iceberg, and with each addition of a new elite spec the only thing that is changing is the one build that is considered proper for your profession. There is no flexibility in the way Anet has designed the elite specilization mechanic — and unfortunately, I don’t see them changing it anytime soon.

Ah meta, how we hate that word. When is a class balanced, when they have multiple viable builds and people can’t agree that one is superior over another. Players are their own worst enemy. One class to rule them, if enough people are playing the same build then that is a sign its needs re-balanced and causes the most heart ache when that occurs. Elites allow for a framework where ANet can provide those multiple options since doing it in single elite would be considered OP by players playing against that class. If they had gone the route of just new classes then we would be in the same boat as people would migrate to newer things and then due to that fact alone people would say they are OP. This way a given class is always 2/3 the same regardless of which 3rd tree is taken, that’s a good way to keep some balance in place on its own. I liked being able to mix and match when we had 5 lines to choose from but see the logic in how they did it. I hope that ANet uses internal queries to compare build combinations across classes and then weighs and measures the mixes to target which classes and builds need adjusting even if those same queries impacts builds I have created. We should never end up with just 1 build else go situations. Good hunting!

I travel for work so I get a mix of connections since I am connecting using different carriers and networks and laptops as I move about. Some locations I can blame for their remoteness but others not so much. I have also been seeing a lot of latency of late in PvE and WvW. Can’t pin point the exact time it started but its is noticeable. Not certain if its related to anything in prep for PoF and the servers in the background or what. But +1 here for some rubberbanding going on.

I think the reception of any balance patch will always be meet with the rock paper scissors thought process. No one like it when a build they have created no longer functions as it was built. Especially when you factor in people customizing gear to fit that build. So someone will always be impacted.

I think alt-o-holics are hit the most and most sheltered since in the lotto of impacts they will have some hits and misses. I fall in that boat. IMO the last patch was more of a bolster to core classes and it made them even more viable compared to elites.

There were some shifts in the elites to allow room for the new ones. I know some people see it as a scheme to encourage people to buy PoF but it didn’t feel that way to the people I game with. So no not concerned.

What ANet doesn’t want I believe is people to just feel, oh this is a copy of that, why did I pay for this. The key with elites is they should feel unique since they are effectively new classes so they need to have distinct feels. Now GW2 players will run into some issues if they main only certain classes since that class may morph and under PoF we will probably get some “thats not my class, what did they do”.

On the P2W front, there are many games that people can compare to that defines P2W for them. My example will remain the differences in free tanks to Premium tanks in WoT, I don’t see expansions in G2W as P2W in my book. I also use the bench mark of how many toons can I play with as core against elites in WvW and PvP and that’s still quite viable in my own experience. Will the new elites have an edge in the beginning, yes because until people play them people won’t know how to counter them. Will they need balancing, yes, balancing is a never ending game.

Anyway, 2 cents, good gaming. and is it 9/22 yet?|

nosleepdemon.1368:

Donari.5237:

The better reason not to buy from the site you listed (and likely you should edit it out, since you just gave them free advertising) is the probability that their keys are cheap because they are bought with stolen money/credit cards and accounts using said keys will rapidly be permabanned once the original purchase falls through.

What utter nonsense. I know plenty of people who have purchased from that site and never been banned. Frankly, you have no idea what you are talking about. That site buys cheap keys from distributors that need to meet a quota for units sold.

As for preorder bonuses, no you shouldn’t expect to get them. That’s fair enough; if you want those you will need to buy from Arena Net.

Agree, have used this site as well in the past without any issues so far so don’t think the OP was out of bounds giving them a shot for this. I think this is more of a question from ANet on how pre-orders and bonus’s work if purchased via 3rd party.

Understand its too late now for PoF but this is a suggestion for mounts later on. In the future consider thinking about mounts as mobile weapons. Image that each mount changed up the abilities of a character regardless of race/class. Those mounted on the same type of mount would have the same abilities. While mounted those abilities would be available in combat with cooldowns and recharges similar to what we have now. On taking any sort of CC/damage the player would be dismounted and could not remount and use those abilities until out of combat and remounted. I appreciate the concept that the mounts will have different movement abilities but giving players also options for mounted combat would add in a different layer not often seem in MMOs and also fight that niche where players are asking for expanded weapon options for some classes. No CC, use a CC mount, no DD, use a DD mount and such.

Thanks for your time. Good gaming.

Like the change. Has been adding a nice bit of mobility in. Makes the DBL really shine and has been better than expected on ABL and is meeting expectations on EBG. +1 here.

zengara.8301:

Just me, or does anyone else fell like Gw2 starting, or have already gotten pretty over complicating?

This reminds me of the game “Bambozzle” in the show Friends. The idea is simple, if you are get enough into the game, like use a lot of time in it, the complicating factors get understandable, but the newcomers wont really want to get into a game like that, thats why they changed it to a more simple one.

I think that some of what you are see as complicating is to give new comers more of a chance. Example if new maps did not have new currencies than anything new that came out vets could insta buy on day one but newer players would have a while before they could acquire. That keeps the playing field a bit more level and prevents people from stock piling and having everything as soon as its released. This does mean a large amount of kizmo’s as we go. Not saying I am fan, I stockpile myself in case I can use something later, but I also understand that I will need to put the same time in as everyone else when new things are introduced and am good with that. And on top of that if new maps were just the same as old with nothing new, less people would be inclined to go there since they could continue in the areas they are in now.

You also have to remember that the new player experience was introduced a couple of years ago to assist new players with all the ingame nuances and systems. To vets it seemed overkill but listening to new players that needed it, it helped quite a bit. When I first start GW2 before that introduction it was a lot to take in, but as you played the patterns became more clear and figuring out what these things were was a game unto itself.

Just 2 cents.

First off welcome back and good timing too.

Since different people will see HoT differently based on their expectations your best bet with PoF is to give it a spin during this open beta weekend and use the initial map as directional concept on how they went with the new XPac. Just get your client patched and you should be good to try it out.

Personally I enjoy the differing levels of HoT and it did take time to gain the masteries to access everything, but that meant more exploration and new things to find. ANet has indicated that they want to continue to expand on movement options and joy of travelling. I think this has represented itself in gliders, and some of the other movement methods we saw in LS3. If you didn’t encounter it since you were away we had one new map in LS3 that allowed a line and grapple/pull system (“spidey”) that by itself was a lot of fun, but also worked well in-conjunction with gliding that gave even more freedom in motion.

I would expect less legacy flat maps but bigger more multi-level maps moving forward, but potentially not to the extent that HoT were. LS3 seemed to try and find a balance between the two. New zones will require masteries though to explore all of it, so if that was an issue I think that might still be present in PoF. As I said, spend the time for the client update and try it for yourself. Either way, welcome back and good gaming to you!

One thing we don’t know is whether any new races are slated in the future since ANet ’s current business decision is keep it quiet till its done or near done. To that point if something like this was in works a nod to that point would be a great thing to communicate even if its a vague, we are considering this.

There is a lot to be said to adding a new playable race and since the expansions are targeted as level 80 zones it might be a good to place to bring new races in and set an area up as their anchor point. One of the big blocks people see is back fitting them into the pre-existing story arcs and the fact that they don’t have a connection into that story line. To that point, its ok, they don’t need to. For those looking for a new race I don’t think they would mind that their race wasn’t present in more than in passing in the Zhaitan story arc or in the LS seasons that have already occurred. It actual fits quiet nicely into the “living” world concept that they wouldn’t be backfit. Travel to new lands, see new places and meet new people…

Now the reason why one of these expansions makes sense is that it would also explain why that race wasn’t present at the previous story arc. At the time their race were in these other areas and it just so happens that the players’ toons were adventurous and were out to see the world. Their home map could be brought in and accessible from one the new areas. Portals can be added anywhere if needed to link this new home map, not sure if more than one would be needed in this case since their “higher” tier maps would be regular/pre-existing ones or new ones associated with the expansion they are released with. This pattern/concept has already been proven when you consider how the new races in HoT were worked in. The application here would be the same but with the added logic that its also an option for players to choose to play.

Now forums are a limited audience, but it can provide directional data. To that end ANet could try and gather some sample data with one their forum surveys to get a feel for interest and also use statistical information to gauge account upgrade potential and weigh that against potential project costs.

Elites cover players’ interest for new classes and the architecture that was setup is a good platform for this. A new race on top of that would also extend replay-ability and considering how many alt-o-holics this game seems to have could add another layer in for long term vets. Alts are a good source of revenue because account upgrades and good in game material/gold syncs since you still need to get them set up for whatever game modes the player chooses as well.

Anyway, food for thought…good gaming!

True on both counts, mats and conversion to gems has yet to be a bad idea and typically pays off in the long run.

Gaile Gray.6029:

That’s a fair question. The Preview Weekend is a chance for anyone to experience the first part of Path of Fire. Even if they’re not a Guild Wars 2 player, they can dive in an see how things look in Tyria. However, the Preview Weekend is not an early start or anything of that nature, and naturally attainments and acquisitions will be wiped before the launch of Path of Fire on September 22, 2017.

I hope you can join us for the Preview Weekend. I can’t wait for you to see the Crystal Desert and have a look at some of the starter content!

Thank you for the reply and clarification. Good gaming to you!

Clarification here would be nice. Do we get to keep the shinnies? In an MMO progression is everything and the answer may make a difference in how much time is spent there.

So ANet, thoughts?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I don’t particularly like this addition to the store, and I’ve always felt this away about such ‘instant leveling’ kind of items. We already have too many people that level the ‘normal’ way(s) to 80 and have no fricking clue what they are doing, or what to do next. How many threads have we had with people asking “what do I do now?” I feel we may see more of those with this item available for purchase.

As a vet, and an alt-a-holic, I don’t welcome the change. I know some will, and thats fine. Not everyone likes or enjoys the leveling process; I can understand that. But tomes of knowledge are ludicrously easy to obtain. Not to mention birthday gift scrolls. Any vet should have a very easy time of swiftly leveling an alt without this item.

For newer players, like my son, this could be potentially detrimental to their long term enjoyment of the game. For some, it won’t make much of a difference, they’ll pop the level boost and go about their day. It allows them to get bored that much quicker because they’ve “done everything” and move on. For others, they’ll pop the boost and end up having no clue what to do. How should they go about getting armor? Where should they go next? How do they access ‘x’ part of the story. Etc, etc. We’ve seen this with people without the darn level boosts.

My greatest fear is that we’re going to see a lot more people (as we did with the lvl 80 boost that came with HoT) that haven’t a clue how to play their class or how basic mechanics work.

Agree, I think if new players use these they will end up with a quicker burn out. The counter problem though is if new players are drawn in and PoF is there first entry point they will not want to start in base GW2 if they re-roll since everyone else will be off on the new maps so its a catch 22. But I agree I think new players that go this route will be “where/what now” potentials. That’s also why I favor a higher price tag on these from the gem store.

On noes, the cat’s out of the bag now. Though agree skull tags….I do fear screen clutter though in the future if this goes too far.

Talked about this one with some other vets and it got mixed reviews. For vet players they are ok with it. For new players that’s where mixed results come in. On one hand there is the bit that PoF will be a 80 zones, the other is allowing a new player to insta bypass the leveling process. Yes they will have issues ahead of them in learning a new class at max level with cookie cutter gear, but they also didn’t put in the time to get there. Personally, good with a higher price tag on this.

To Vyrulisse’s point would like to see some way to mass apply ToK versus to get screen blasted with the level ups and all those clicks when insta-leveling a toon that way. An ingame option to roll the ToK’s into an account bound item like this would be rather nice QoL change. Or at least remove the “Are you sure” dialog box that was added to the item use.

Rauderi.8706:

TheGrimm.5624:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

In GW2 you’re not truly rich until you can buy the ’I’m Rich You Know?’ title without giving a kitten because the amount of gold it costs means nothing to you.

( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Contract_of_Patronage )

That’s a nice one. I admit I think I have seen only one person run around with “Golden” but hadn’t seen this one yet.

Personally, I’m not sure I want to use Golden or I’m Rich titles. Call it paranoia, but I don’t want gold spammers or hackers thinking I’m an attractive target. :P

If I had one I hear you there and agree. Also always surprised when people publish their gw2efficiency.com keys. Asking to be account targeted then if you have a shinny account. I appreciate the geekdome and bragging rights but….

raykor.6723:

I love the idea of a new support utility but why did it have to come at the expense of the only affordable precision utility?

I think that is the crux of it, why not introduce a new one versus re-purpose. The trend is usually an adjustment versus full replace which is what this situation out of the normal.

OriOri.8724:

The change made sense. There was too much overlap between sharpening stones and oils. Does it suck that some players lost a lot of money? Yes. But making them very distinctive is ultimately a good move, otherwise there wouldn’t even be a point in having different types of utilities.

I saw that in the notes, but oil precision, stone power, not sure I saw the overlap. For power builds it came down to what stat needed the buff in the build. These didn’t fit the same niche. Hence why I think there is something we aren’t seeing yet, but its only been a night so might be missing another change that offsets this.

Have two personal guilds and a real one. Real one had less than 10 players working on it and are at 60. Its a heavy resource sync but do-able. I don’t think they planned on solo guilds, but small guilds its quite achieve-able.

That said, they do need to change missions to remove limits required members. This helps all size guilds as well as people that are in guilds but have to play at off hours and may not have people on in their timezone. Whether the mission can be completed should be based on ability to do mission versus user count.

Assuming that this was removed due to new armor sets that will be arriving with PoF and this pushed something over an edge of some sort.

DakotaCoty.5721:

Atonement.8021:

DakotaCoty.5721:

You also cannot return to your previous position.

Apparently that’s no longer the case – release notes from yesterday say this:

The Mistlock Sanctuary’s portal to Tyria has been updated with additional teleportation options. Players may now choose to return to the location where they used their Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh!

Yeah, hadn’t gotten a chance to test this yet but it was in the notes and after that addition this does make this pass quite awesome.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

In GW2 you’re not truly rich until you can buy the ’I’m Rich You Know?’ title without giving a kitten because the amount of gold it costs means nothing to you.

( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Contract_of_Patronage )

That’s a nice one. I admit I think I have seen only one person run around with “Golden” but hadn’t seen this one yet.

New tag is funny, and since WvW is often like herding cats its all the more so. That said, which dev moved into position that cats are popping up everywhere.

Badgermilk.7289:

Though I’m a little curious about the wealth aspect as I find the Trading Post to be alsmot a game in itself.

lol, TP is the game inside the game, just not everyone plays it.

Badgermilk.7289:

Hi,

What gold amount is considered rich in this game?

I’ve noticed certain items in the trading post in the thousands of gold, to me that seems like a vast amount of gold.

So when are you wealthy?
100 gold? 1000? 10000?

This is a subjective one, since currency is used to purchase things from others you might ask that question in the terms of is there anything that you want to buy that you don’t have coin for. If the answer is no, then you have reached that point. If yes then you have more coin to make.

Add another to this post. Support any word on how we can gift these via CD Key? TIA.

+1 Here, this would be a good change. Expand groupings as needed but start all minimized. This might be a simple Boolean flag on that interface.

OP, your subject might be a bit broad to get peeps to take a look.