Guild Wars 2

I’d be in favor of this, only if it was something that could be disabled. I don’t really want an IM ding breaking my immersion any further than the existing stuff does.

I noticed this too.

If you like added challenge, having people randomly jumping around in the DEs rather than doing something useful is fun I guess.

Crica.1503:

traveling faster feels mandatory, i agree

i personally wish there were no way to do so with class abilities or traits, only consumable buffs via professions/RNG drops/cash shop

No. Just No.

jobah.7241:

You are correct.

HOWEVER, you have to do something to get your gear, right. You cant have everything at lvl 1. There must be a challenge and some kind of achivement – AS LONG AS ITS FUN. There must be som kind of development and progres and there must be drawn a line to this progres somewhere – this somewhere is Ascended gear right now, and it will be for at least the rest of the year.

You have to have AS LONG AS IT TAKES A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME and AS LONG AS YOU CAN PLAY ANY OF YOUR ALTS AND STILL BE MAKING PROGRESS for this to work for everyone. Well, except for the people that want better gear than anyone that doesn’t play their way. For them you have to scratch those and AS LONG AS IT IS FUN too.

If it doesn’t make me do something I don’t want to do or require too much time to keep my gear at the top of the chain for all my alts, then maybe. But there has to be stuff added that is worth paying (and playing) for. And nonsense like not being able to get a freaking quiver without running fractals has to stop.

Including some Tacky Armor of Overcompensation for people that grind for hours so they can feel they’re better than other players is OK. But staple items that a wide variety of players would want should be acquirable through a variety of reasonable means.

Time Glitch.2460:

Get the mats yourself?

Seriously. It’s possible (didn’t say PROBABLE) to just play the game and eventually get all the mats you’d need for a Legendary. You don’t HAVE to buy anything off of the TP.

Fixed that for you. It is possible, just highly improbable, and practically impossible. Especially if you want a specific legendary or, you know, at least one your class can use.

Thanks and I hope this gives you an honesty check.

Setting aside the whole “people are afraid of change” thing that is just a way to make it uncomfortable for people to voice legitimate concerns over bad changes, the actual reason is simple.

Players enjoy using a certain power or skill. Devs see a lot of people using a certain power or skill. Devs assume power or skill is broken. Devs make power or skill that people enjoy ineffective. Players then have the choice of being ineffective, or switching to a power or skill they don’t enjoy using as much.

Or, forum poster doesn’t like a power or skill. Forum poster writes long, well-written, post that convinces devs that power or skill is broken. Devs nerf power or skill. Move on to next power or skill a forum poster doesn’t like and repeat.

Or, devs see players having fun with power or skill in way they didn’t intend. Devs change power or skill because it is better for the players to not have fun and do things the way the devs intended.

It isn’t just MMOs that do this. FPS games and even tabletop RPGs have the same issues.

Warriors have dodged this so far, but their rifle abilities are probably soon to be nerfed because they’re supposed to be a melee class. Fewer options for everyone! Yay!

I was running about 2 hours a day, with longer stretches on weekends to average about 4. But now that the inflation on all the high-end stuff has put even bleh pre-cursors up to 90 gold (for The Energizer, to make a disco ball, really?), I’m having trouble staying motivated to put in that much time. The amount of time to get things I’d like in the game, and the fact that I have to grind the whole time to do it has taken a lot of fun out of the game.

I had been leveling alts, but now that the power traders have started to force up the prices on low level gear as well, you not only make less per hour, but have to spend more to get low level gear.

Might as well change the name to U.S. Economy 2.

I’d remove the whole getting rich off the Trading Post thing. Make anything bought off the trading post account bound. Let people get rich off being productive, not leeching off the players that are actually out in the world doing stuff.

Things measured by metrics are also the things that most directly translate to generating wealth within the game. By nerfing those things, the only way to get nice stuff is Gems (purchased with cash) to Gold.

Not that devs in all games don’t eventually seem to suffer from the issue of, “You’re not having fun the way you’re supposed to.” At some point they seem to forget that the important part is players having fun, not doing what they’re supposed to.

So, if I understand this properly, when I’m running around soloing in PVE and 2 of my 5 skills are AOE on my skill bar, only 3 will be worth using on the single mobs I encounter most of the time, so I’ll press 1 pretty much all the time after accounting for cooldowns on my other 2 single target skills. And, when I aggro multiple attackers and get swamped, and I use the 2 AOEs, they’ll be doing less damage to the multiple mobs, which will all be hitting me for their full damage.

That sounds like fun.

hharry.1967:

So it barely glows? Not sure if it would be good paired with a corrupted one

I like them, but a little more of an effect would be nice. On an Asura, the effect is barely visible. On larger characters, they’d probably show up more. It does seem that even accounting for size, the effect doesn’t show up as much on daggers as it does on greatswords and longbows.

I miss when people played the games they bought instead of buying games and then lobbying constantly for them to be changed into different games.

I don’t miss being forced to play with people I don’t like just because they were playing an arbitrary role from a system that made you play one-third of a character.

Most of the additions requested that get negative responses fall into two categories:

1) Change some fundamental aspect of the game that would remove an aspect of the game that people currently enjoying the game like – and often an aspect that was a key selling point for the game.

2) Give me some advantage and reward for doing the things I enjoy that is better than someone else gets for doing what they enjoy.

How about random people who don’t know each other stopping in the middle of an event and reviving someone even though it costs them a chance at some loot to stop and do so? That counts as teamwork right?

Same with running out of your way to help someone that is down rather than ignoring them and continuing on your way.

Or a warrior equipping a warhorn on switch rather than a bow or rifle so he can buff other players rather than picking up a few extra kills for himself.

Or having your thief run/evade rather than stealth and break aggro to keep the mobs off the enchantress or necro you’re playing with and at the same time kite/herd the mobs into zones for their attacks – and then unload on the mobs yourself.

That and a bunch of other teamwork happens in these so-called mindless zergs all the time.

Is it just me or did the OP at some point shift from bringing the Trinity back to wanting to see numbers to determine who was best or not pulling their weight?

The problem with all those numbers is they don’t mean much in the complete context of the game unless you have simplistic roles like DPS and healer, and those roles essentially stand in one place and do nothing else.

The minute you’re responsible for your own defense, damage, movement and healing those numbers are impossible to calculate in a way that gives them real meaning.

The skills (chosen by weapon) and traits selected allow you to make your character play the way you want it to within that class. Every choice matters, if you use it to accentuate your play style. If your play style is to sit and do one thing, well sorry, but you’re probably out of luck, unless you’re hiding at the back not contributing much.

I can’t make my Engineer play like my Warrior when both of them use rifles. My Ranger plays nothing like my Warrior despite both of them using great swords. And, when both use great swords and long bows? Still different. My Mesmer with a great sword? Different from the others. Even my Thief with a short bow and Ranger with a short bow – different. There is plenty of differentiation between classes, just in what weapon you choose. And then you get to select which of the trait lines you focus on (which gives you up to 12 selectable traits per line you can change to suit your whim). You get a bunch of skills, and you can get every one available to your class if you want since you can always get more skill points.

If you want a role, pick a class, that defines your role. But there is no one best way to be that role, no best build for it, and no magic number you can point to that tells you who is best at it.

If you want to be support, choose to be what is needed most at the time, don’t demand that nobody have a choice but to need you.

If you want to be appreciated, play well in all aspects of the game or play well at what you like and/or do best or play well at some aspect that is needed in a specific situation. Someone will appreciate it.

If you’re playing well and aren’t feeling appreciated, maybe you need a friendlier server. Some servers seem to be full of people who aren’t afraid give you a pat on the back regardless of what class you’re playing for doing something well. Some seem full of people that want numbers and a specific class and build before they’ll group or party with you.

Gehenna.3625:

What I believe the underlying issue to be in GW2 is the lack of choice on a few elemental levels and there’s nothing that replaces this. Role division is one of these elements and the one that is relevant to this thread.

I am not saying that we need a trinity as we see in pretty much any other game of this type, but when trying to innovate or change habits, just taking something away doesn’t really work. You need to put something else in its place or people will continually feel something is missing.

They did put something in the place of the trinity – freedom to play your character the way you want without being forced in an arbitrary role. I’m feeling that the trinity is missing and it is a good feeling.

Gehenna.3625:

It seems to me that when you say the trinity goes out, that it would be best to replace it with another role division rather than none. In the end people want to play their part and say I am good at this or I enjoy this.

I don’t want to play a part, or be a cog in someone’s machine. I am good at playing a Ranger and Warrior. I enjoy playing a Ranger and Warrior and Thief. I’m only OK at playing a Thief, but I’ll get better. I also enjoy playing a Necromancer, Elementalist, Engineer, Guardian and Mesmer. I haven’t played them long enough to know how good I am at them. But they are all different and distinct.

Gehenna.3625:

When you build an organisation, you need certain jobs to be filled. The jobs are created based on need and this makes sense to the organisation. If you create a community, people also fulfill differnt roles. It’s natural.

I don’t want to be a lackey in someone’s organization. I don’t want to know my know my place. If I did, I’d be playing Thomas the Train.

Gehenna.3625:

Role division is lacking in this game. Call it good or bad, it is missing and this is something that makes GW2 “not the game they were looking for”. The lack of role division is clear by the absence of a trinity but only because nothing was brought in to replace it. Skills, classes, traits…also these do not really support a role choice.

They don’t support a role choice. They support a wider variety of choices rather than a few limited choices. I have plenty of choices in real life. None of them are which prison to go to for the rest of my life. Adding the choice of which prison I want to go to for the rest of my life would result in fewer choices other choices and less freedom.

They’re pretty much useless for use outside of dungeons. I went through a few of them I got from chest drops. Death upon resurrection unless you happened to run to an area outside any mobs normal area – and there aren’t many of those in places you’re going to get killed.

Hawkmoon.5849:

shrug Agree with the OP. Valid points are valid, regardless of how people feel.

lmko @ the amount of hate in this thread.

Now, let the flaming continue because clearly the OP and I are not entitled to our opinion and need to leave… /eyeroll

You’re entitled to your opinion. The valid point is you and the OP don’t like those things, not that those things are wrong. Roll your eyes all you want. It is easier than actually supporting the opinion you want others to take as fact. Maybe you can look up the perfect winning tactic for your argument on YouTube, get a group together, give them explicit instructions, and win your point.

There should be a variety. If you don’t like the skimpy armor, don’t wear it.

Plenty of cultures run or ran through the woods or jungles or plains without being covered head to toe.

Thief isn’t just burglar or ninja.

But all that aside, you’re complaining about realistic clothing on people’s thieves and rangers when my Asura Engineer is running around with one of her three laser rifles, trailing her toy golem and randomly changing into a toy golem herself?

I think Guild Wars 2 PVE is great. I have a lot of fun with it. I’m glad the trinity is gone and that, so far, ArenaNet hasn’t gone back on that promise.

Plenty of people seem to be enjoying PVE when I play. Zergs can be fun, and it isn’t like they’re the only things available. And a lot of time when things seem like a chaotic mess, it is because there are a wide variety of experience levels in the event. It isn’t like WoW where one guy looked up what to do on YouTube and tells everyone where to stand and what to do.

Play an event often enough on a given server, and you’ll see people develop knowledge of the event and each other and implement group tactics in that event organically. It is teamwork, it just isn’t boss and flunkies, cog-in-a-machine teamwork.

You can still get together with your friends and/or guildies and make a super-special plan, but everyone doesn’t have to.

I don’t like fractals, or any dungeon that forces you into a 5-person group. I don’t want them removed. I just don’t want to have them be mandatory for me to complete my personal story or get ascended gear.

I don’t really get why people want things they don’t enjoy removed rather than having stuff they like added. Does it really bother people that much that some people are enjoying something they don’t personally like? Does every single piece of a game have to only contain things that cater to one audience?

If so, that audience should be fans of Bioware games and the entire personal storyline should be focused on pursuing intimate relationships with all the NPCs. Then my character’s risen lover and I can have angsty conversations about how were going to kiss when she has no lips. They could cut out Fractals and replace it with a Tunnel of Love.

I don’t want to be mechanically dependent on a specific type of character so the player that runs that type of character can feel wanted, needed and/or important. I play the game to have fun, not to be someone’s therapy.

At least we know which race runs organized crime in Tyria. Next there will be Asuran RC Golem Chess machines in all the pubs and taverns.

There are Asura snow-making machines flying around in Hoelbrak.

Risingashes.8694:

Undercutting is not the problem, competition is not the problem. 1c undercutting is the problem, as it provides a benefit to the 1c undercutter at no real cost, to the detriment of the buyer who isn’t benefiting from competition, and the original seller who has to wait longer for their item to be sold when their price was clearly reasonable to whoever bought the 1c undercut item.

It isn’t clearly reasonable in a lot of cases. People buy unreasonably priced items when they have no other means of getting an item or because they’re spendthrifts. So, if the guy who buys stuff that is reasonably priced and re-lists it at unreasonable prices – effectively gating that content off from a bunch of people and extorting money from others – gets buried behind a bunch of 1c undercutting while someone else picks up the few desperate buyers and spendthrifts, that is a good thing. It dissuades people from trying to corner the market on something and price gouging.

Again, everyone that plays the game uses one Trading Post. If your item sits because of 1c difference, it is overpriced.

Foor all the talk of how much more skill is required in WoW, it still seems that everyone I know falls into one of two categories. The guild leader and a maybe a couple other people who look up how to do something on YouTube, and a bunch of people who do what they’re told.

The Trinity just makes the instructions for the people doing what they’re told easier to convey. It gives the few people giving orders nicely categorized game pieces to play with. I don’t want to be telling other people where to stand and what to do to get things done, and I don’t want to stand where I’m told and do what someone else says either. There is a line where things move past teamwork into being a cog in a machine, and the trinity and all that goes with it crosses it.

Being a cog isn’t fun for a lot of people. And assembling and maintaining a bunch of cogs isn’t fun for a lot of people either. Making people do those things when they don’t enjoy them to get the best items in a game is still a grind.

Mapache.4852:

The underlying issue is that allowing arbitrary prices allows for huge market spreads. In a healthy, mature market, the bid and ask for an item are very close—everyone agrees on how much the item is worth at the moment. A huge bid-ask spread shows that no one really knows how much it’s worth, and this discourages transactions. If you post it too high, it won’t sell and you’ll lose your listing fee, and if you post it too low, you’re leaving money on the table people would have willingly paid. Thus, many buyers wait to post until the price converges and they’re more confident they’re selling at the correct price.

Allowing tiny adjustments to the bid and ask delays how long it takes them to converge. By posting an item for sale for 1c less than a 10g price, you’re not making any statement that you think it’s overpriced—you’re just gaming the system to sell sooner for a trivial reduction in profit. If the market requires reasonable-sized bid increments, then buyers and sellers either have to commit to the current price or move the bid and ask closer by an amount that matters, so they eventually converge.

To do this in a way that isn’t dependent on the current prices and prevent shenanigans, just limit prices to two significant digits. That’s easy for people to understand—you can only have two numbers that aren’t zero in your price. If the item is up for 10g, you either have to get in line at 10g or go down to 9g90s, no 9g99s99c nonsense. That way, the market spreads converge and people will have confidence in prices.

The underlying issue is that some players want to play stock market, with all the protections for their investment and advantages for the wealthy that that implies. But the other players want to play retail, wholesale and discount and get their items or money changed over as quickly as possible so they can play running around the world or dungeon or whatever as their character doing stuff.

Every single player in the game uses the same trading post. There is a spread on buy/sell orders because people do know the value of most things. If your item is sitting long enough that 1c undercutting is a problem, it is overpriced. You’re either taking a risk to catch a sucker or artificially driving up prices by trying to corner the market. In either case, there shouldn’t be changes to the Trading Post to help you.

A nice change would be charging a fee over time for listings, so there is some impetus to move stock. It costs money to store high end items properly and securely. Maybe have food items degrade over time in storage too. At the moment, it is too easy to buy something up, removing it from the game for the people that want to play, and tuck it away in the Trading Post waiting for the inflation you’re helping to create to catch up.

I was just about to post this suggestion myself. Not only would it solve the problem of seeing small things on your hip and having big things clipping into your back, it would also show the animations and effects.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more stuff to do at 80, though I haven’t even completed everything available now. I’d like more quest lines in future expansions. Add some more areas to explore through the gates under construction in Lion’s Arch (which is probably why they’re there).

That doesn’t require making me buy another set of gear with the number X+Y rather than the number X I have now. It doesn’t make rational sense to add a number to gear and add a number to the monsters stats and call it progression.

I want to work toward exploring all the content, not work for a couple numbers on my gear.

I’d like:

Golem Pilot – And I want the Golem to GW2 fly – hover above the ground when swifted.

Shapeshifter – Change into good stuff, not pigs and moas.

Minimancer – Able to have 3 to 5 minis up at once and have them function in combat.

Golemancer – I want an always on Mr. Sparkles kind of thing.

Belorn.2659:

Would 3hrs vs 1 hrs waiting really effect how fun trading in the TP is? Would it even be noticable for the causual player?

Yes. The difference between 1 hour, though most buy orders I’ve made come within 15 minutes, and 3 hours is the difference between getting the item that day and waiting until the next day. Again, if you even get it, or else you wait another day to see if you get it, then maybe start over.

That system essentially forces people actually playing the game rather than the market to buy or sell at the prices of people playing the market or wait an indeterminate period of time to enjoy content (either the items themselves or the areas for which they want better gear to explore). And it does it just to reduce risk and increase profits for the people playing the market. It is a straight up awful idea.

Belorn.2659:

In other games which had a player based market, I have seen some choose to solve this issue by adding a random 2-5 hrs delay to buy and sell orders.

This meant that you couldn’t just put something with 1 point less than everyone else, because by the time other players would see the order the market would likely look slightly different. All this is achived without adding taxes or put arbitrary restrictions on prices.

That has to be the worst idea ever. You go out and earn gold by playing, then you have to wait hours to use the item you want to buy, if you get it, which you also won’t know for hours. That is the complete opposite of fun. What games do that?

I got my ranger to 80 solo. I went with Short Bow and Greatsword. It feels pretty balanced – I use each about half the time depending on the situation. I tried all the other weapon combinations as well, but they weren’t as much fun or as effective for me.

It is more enjoyable solo than the other classes for me.

I like the traits on my Ranger and my Warrior. I like traits that grant me better movement, let me do things faster, decrease cooldown on powers I like and such, along with damage boosts. I also don’t mind dropping points in a less popularly optimal area to get a trait I want.

For my Warrior I have:

Reckless Dodge – Berserker’s Power Building Momentum – Slashing Greatsword
Precise Strikes – Furious Speed – Critical Burst – Forceful Greatsword
Versatile Rage – Warrior’s Sprint – Fast Hands – Signet Mastery – Versatile Power – Sweet Revenge

For my Ranger I have:
Opening Strike – Beastmaster’s Bond – Alpha Training – Piercing Arrows – Precise Strike – Remorseless
Tail Wind – Agility Training – Furious Grip – Quick Draw
Natural Vigor – Vigorous Renewal – Companions Defense – Martial Mastery

I enjoy playing both those characters a lot, which is why they’re at level 80. The traits/lines I picked fit how I enjoy playing, and in selecting them they made the character play the way I want it to, so they achieve the purpose of making the character feel like my own. If some level of additional doo-dad was to be added to existing traits I wouldn’t mind. But I wouldn’t want to give up my traits for something others feel is more fun.

I think the better path would be to add new classes with different traits and/or add more possible traits for classes. Nothing is going to please everyone, and taking away or changing something some players like to replace it with something you hope someone else likes has never seemed like a good idea in a game. It doesn’t really cost much if any more to keep things you have and add new things rather than throw things away and replace then with new things.

Got the golem on my 15th try. It was the only one I wanted, and I really wanted it, but that was about 9-10 gold in materials.

The little centaurs are surprisingly difficult compared to the skritt that pop out. They’re like an invasive species – they dominate the area into which they are introduced. The best way to deal with them is to not kill the other creatures in the area before opening the present. Open the present, grab the gifts, then run away a bit and come back and kill the toys after the other creatures wore them down a bit before dying. Or try to catch the other creatures right before they die, but that is a little riskier.

Risingashes.8694:

…

I know others sell orders don’t matter to you- but take yourself out of your selfish position for one moment. I benefit greatly from 1c undercutting, but we should all be willing to put aside personal gain and correct injustices for the good of the market.

…

I benefit greatly from 1c undercutting, as do most power traders. I’m here because 1c undercutting is unfair, and rewards those who prey on good faith traders. A healthy market benefits all over the long run, I’m willing to give up the advantage so that others have faith in the system.

You’re being disingenuous. 1c undercutting benefits everyone. Removing it only benefits the power trader. The power trader is going to have the most established listings, have stocks of items to undercut at larger margins if necessary and have the capital to sit on a high original price.

The casual trader, or avid player who just wants to turn his items around and get stuff for his character and keep playing loses out, needing to work harder for more income if he sells at a reduced price compared to the prices established by the power trader or his listing sits in queue tying up capital he needs to put into improving production.

I get that you want a market that mirrors that of real life, where those at the top of the economic chain make more and more doing less and less, while everyone else works harder and harder for less and less.

1c undercutting in no way harms competition. Plenty of listings fly off the shelf when they are 1c apart, even at higher prices. If you don’t want to be 1c undercut, price your items originally at an attractive price rather than extorting as much as you can out of other players.

Unidentified dyes are one justification. They sell like mad as the price fluctuates up and down with people putting them up singly or in stacks of hundreds in 1c increments.

The fact that you’ve written several pages of text just indicates there is some advantage for you personally in getting 1c and 1g undercutting removed.

Anyone know a server that keeps the Orr temples up most of the time. Or at least has a good number of people playing the area on a regular basis?

Braxxis.7062:

I’ve tried this. Anytime I transmute something, it becomes soulbound automatically to my character.

So how is it working for you guys?

Are you doing exactly this?

1) Buy the order item with a character in that order
2) Acquire a white item of the same type
3) Use a transmutation stone and put the name/picture from the order item and the stats from the white item into the fields and transmute.
4) the item should now be Account Bound
5) Transfer the item to the character you want to wear it.
6) Use a transmutation stone and put the name/picture of the order item and the stats and rune (if any) from the item you want to use and transmute.
7) Equip the item.

I’d figure there is a chance you’ll see candy cane skins for staves, spears and/or scepters.

I don’t know if that is helpful even if it does happen. I’m not big on lugging a candy cane around on any of my characters.

Open world.

I wouldn’t mind dungeons if they could be soloed and scaled to match the number of participants or if there were a checkpoint system where you could join/leave a long dungeon mid-stream. If you had a guild or regular group, you could join it in group mode. But if you didn’t, you could it in LFG mode and run through with people joining or leaving at checkpoints as other commitments demanded.

Wow, now I need to go check this on my Charr. That’s a real downer if that is the way it would look.

It is stuck in its cage. It can be damaged by striking through one of its walls and it can’t or doesn’t attack back. It seems this event affects interactions with the Ascalon heart quest. Is hacking at it through the wall so things can continue an exploit or solving a problem?

Transformation tonics are the Tyrian equivalent of lumps of coal.

Robbyx.1284:

In all my years of gaming i have never, ever seen a company lay the responsibility of botters and farmers squarely on the shoulders of legitimate players.

DR is without a doubt the stupidest way to deal with botters i have ever seen…and to me is further proof that Anet has no idea what they are doing and that this game is headed for oblivion.

I think Blizzard’s IP bans in Diablo 2 for entering and leaving X number of games in Y amount of time beats DR for stupidity. Bots just run on timers, real players have to sit out of runs to cool off.

The other races are just jealous that the Asura got the best script and voice acting.

DevonPaul.7495:

I see I am in the minority then, you all happy with 4 items from 50 mobs, that’s ok, play the game.

Peace, coming soon to a theatre near you………

You aren’t the only one. The drops in the area you’re in are freakishly low, even lower than the reduced rates in Orr in my experience.

Yes, you shouldn’t have to run in a dungeon and find four other people available to commit the same 40 minutes, and be able to commit to each of them when they need 40 minutes, in order to make money in game.

Ideally, you should be able to spend 40 minutes of open world farming and earn similarly to any other form of wealth generation. But with the loot nerfs, DR and fewer/broken event spawns, it isn’t working out that way.

I’m hoping one of those various ways to get ascended gear will be completing personal story events and world completion. I’m hoping even more that the ascended gear from world completion, if any, will be tuned to the player character rather than the staff and light armor piece my ranger got the other day.