Guild Wars 2

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Akari Storm.6809:

Have you played this one game called, um…hmmmm, oh yeah…Guild Wars 2.

Yes, I have. And i remember a situation very close to this that came up on release when you’d have large groups farming that cave event in Gendarran.

I’m remembering this event in Kessex Hills at the centaur war camp where that Champion was dogpiled down so fast it was hard to get anything higher than silver if you weren’t there when it started and were beating on it regularly.

Also, about ten minutes away there were twenty (!!!) engineers dropping turrets and healing fields around the bridge and just auto-attacking in the direction centaurs would spawn.

Want to avoid griefing or farming for gold-making? These unique weapons soulbond or account-bond on acquire.

TheFug.5278:

Maethril.9586:

Treeline.3865:

You do not farm for days and not see a rare.

hoy, no offence but in normal maps you can farm days without getting even single rare. I had once 2 weeks when I didn’t even see rare while I was running in orr and frostgorge, also doing some dragons, while I played 8-10 hours day.
So honestly it was really really unrewarding.

In dungeons though I get them at least one rare in 3 runs. But I don’t count them as normal map event etc running/farming. Since they are “DUNGEONS”.
Thus I love new dragon loot system, at least something in this game rewards me for actually doing it.

Sorry, but that is a lie.

You are exaggerating to make a point. Stop it.

I’ve actually averaged one rare per dungeon run myself. That’s an average mind you, there was a time when in three runs back-to-back of Ascalonian Catacombs I got two rares.

Customization was ever so much more useful to explain away than “soulbound”. Armor generally is sized to fit the individual, or else you run into very real problems with it beyond comfort. Weapons can be customized to suit an individual’s fighting style or grip preference . . . or just to look “awesome”.

The concept of “soulbound” though . . . it seems to occur in the more magical and higher-quality goods you see in the game. So what it suggests is those open-world items you get which ‘Soulbound on use" mean that until you essentially get it customized, it’s just a generic equipment piece. Once you get it sized to fit, though, or once you actually get to using it . . . it’s yours. The magic in it has bonded to you in a way which won’t work for anyone else.

This is just a very “that’s the way I’d describe it” way of me handling it.

Why are trophies soulbound? To quote Calvin and Hobbes: “Go ask your mother.”

Treeline.3865:

But if you are all pleased, please argue your case and contribute to the discussion, or leave it to die if you have no input.

I’m sorry but why should people argue their case to you? Why should we have to specifically seek your approval?

It’s a small subsection of events which have been changed now to always give at least a rare of the player’s level (without scaling). Why? Because there were consistent and valid complaints about people doing these events and not getting anything for it except blue (“Fine”) items and maybe a green Medallion or gemstone. I had that displeasure many times at Tequatl, and some of those times it wasn’t the entire server packed into one spot, it was maybe 10-20 people which meant we lost the laser and had to help each other up a couple times.

Telling me I should be happy with three blues, a Sapphire Crystal, and a Medallion of the Shaman because twelve hours earlier the event was mobbed by 100+ people isn’t fair. Telling people who put up with the fight against the Claw of Jormag being borderline grueling in length they don’t deserve rares isn’t fair.

There are people, and this is actually really true, who I met at a Shatterer fight who were trading off their rares so they could get rare heavy armor back to store for gearing up later. This isn’t just a case of “greedy players”, this case has been far from simply one thing or another.

Obsidian.1328:

What I got was a cutesy, hand-holding, Disney world that is obviously catering to a new, younger audience. Stuffed-Quaggan backpacks, Princess doll mini’s, a Rainbow&Unicorn shooting bow…?

We’re not in Tyria anymore, Toto.

Had I known the game was going to be so teensy, I probably wouldn’t have bought it.

- People like quaagans. They joke about them. They’re an unofficial mascot of the game. That’s why you got the backpacks. Blame the players. In contrast, GW1 had “chibi Gwen”. It also had warriors in pink-dyed gladiator armor which resembled a leather bra and skirt. If they wore anything at all.

- One item shoots rainbow unicorns, and that breaks the game? In comparison, there are how many items with a grim appearance? Or a tech one? Does the existence of “Super Hyperbeam Alpha” mean I should be complaining the game is too sci-fi? How about Final Rest and Twilight meaning the game is too dark and gritty?

- The princess dolls were part of Wintersday along with toy soldiers, plush gryphons, miniature golems, and toy centaurs. In comparison, over in GW1 we had Kringle wanting you to rescue Rudolph from the Grintch, er Grentch. We had Dwayna and Grenth treating the population of two cities like little kids at an assembly “line up and let’s see who has the most votes!”.

maddoctor.2738:

I never asked for full inspection so people can view if you have optimized stats or anything, that’s not good at all.

Try not to take this the wrong way, dear neighbor.

It’s not what people are asking for this function for, or say they want it for. It’s how it could be used by the impolite. You have to keep things like that in mind when you design something in a game. “How are the players going to abuse this? Can they use it in ways which we didn’t intend?”

I mean, if you don’t ask that question you get the pleasant experience of finding out two days after launch they are using things in unusual combinations to do things they should not be able to do or that you didn’t anticipate because they’d only use it one way.

Still only AR and MF visible will take care of the majority of problems, plus some reading comprehension from those joining groups.

It won’t take care of the problems. Those problems will still be there, just in a different form. The problem isn’t that AR or MF exist as statistics, the problem is that people want a specific level of AR (and they should, in many cases) and a specific level of MF (notably, none) and want to get the bulk of the players to behave as they want to.

Gear inspection shouldn’t be in this game, and I pointed out a couple reasons why earlier. Foremost reason? We have a game here where for 99% of it, your stats and gear aren’t as important as knowing what you’re doing. Adding the ability to look at gear says, quietly and subconsciously “gear is important enough to require a way of seeing what other people have”.

Second reason? No matter what people are saying now, it won’t be used exactly as a lot of them are suggesting it would be.

RakaNishoo.6071:

I have a mixed feelings about dailies.

It’s strange, it seems like your “Bad Things” is really just one thing reiterated three times in different words. I mean, it is a legitimate point but . . .

Having done a Guild Bounty or two tonight, I found it entertaining but there was an intense amount of familiarity required. On the positive side, the weekly reset time means that a guild pulling the same bounty NPC as another can help out a fight and do it again later. Why?

- Taking part in the NPC kill rather than standing there means at least one side will get it done. Besides, cooperation will mean you will get some back when you go to do your Tier 3. Note you will still have 15 minutes to kill several targets, and you won’t know what they are until you activate.

- Each Bounty takes 12 hours and a few hundred Influence. You can literally set up for over a dozen before the weekly reset. With the quick time you can get in several attempts in a night if you must.

- Even if you don’t get your Commendations chest on one kill, you can get it later in the week. If you decide you don’t care about Merits, you can seriously just focus down one Bounty NPC for Commendations alone.

That said, I still think the timer is a bit tight for Tier 2 and Tier 3. Especially since some of those targets can be such trolls. (Diplomat Tarban, I’m looking at you.)

Trashman.8596:

Poplolita.2638:

“Because its pretty much the most hardcore grind of any game ever”
Seriously, did you really try other mmo? I would like to a make constructive post, but when your thesis is basically a lie and a freaking huge one by that, I can’t help but /facepalm.

I can name three off the top of my head that are so much worse then this “grind” that people whine about. I think they enjoy complaining and giving everyone a headache at this point.

I can name ninety percent of the games I have just on my iPad. I can name three games off the top of my head which are single player games and thus the grind winds up being really puzzling. And I can name four more games which have grind as people define it here, but a lot of people would call “fun” even with that being present. That’s not even the issue though.

No, you see, it’s that they think that GW2 was advertised to have “no grind at all” when that manifesto video was released. It probably would have stood for a longer time and allowing more refinement of the points, but it was a short trailer about what ArenaNet was aiming for with this game.

And the maddening thing is, without any grind, a game hits market and people blow through it quickly and toss it aside. It gets forgotten, and they don’t go back. That’s not going to work out for an MMO, even one with no subscription fee. They need you to play, otherwise the game is a dead wasteland of new players coming in and nobody being around to help them except maybe some altruistic players who want to. So they need something for you to do once you finish with what is the bulk and meat of the game.

Enter the optional grind. You never really need to be doing it, but you will for some reason or another. Soon as you realize you don’t need to, you will probably stop doing it. So what has to happen is the grind has to be carefully calibrated to not be overbearing, the rewards not overpoweringly good, and the path at least engaging enough to keep you working for it.

One out of three isn’t that bad in this case.

Anyway that’s my thoughts on this, from an entirely unprofessional perspective, that of a consumer who’s played way too many videogames.

Elm.8169:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it….

Cool story, but it absolutely does nothing to answer the question.

I never saw an explicit mention of where some races learn their arts. Heck, it’s hard to find a note of where the classes learn their material . . . it’s not like Guild Wars 1 where there were institutions of training/learning present around the world. Your character just starts with a weapon and the knowledge of how to use its most basic function (and strangely, any other weapon type they pick up which their class can use).

Sylvari can be said to understand it from the Dream, where they are infused with basic knowledge. Charr definitely are said to learn their art of war while in the fahrar as cubs and their adult lives is honing the basics. Asura can be assumed to be taught all of it from a very young age.

But norn and humans aren’t shown being in training explicitly. Norn children are taught from shamans about the Spirits of the Wild and their place in the world . . . but not how to use magic. And humans get even less to suggest where they learn their stuff. Claypool has a militia training ground but your character already apparently knows everything they do.

I don’t have much else left to say on any of these matters, really. I run the risk of sliding into territory I’d rather not dip into. Now if you don’t mind, I have some sleep to catch and some work to do, not necessarily in that order.

Peace, love, and hand grenades.

I think . . . you’re wrong.

I think “Guild Treks” are the thing. Consider! You are challenged to go find specific locations in a time limit and are rewarded with 2 Rare or better. (So I have been told.)

stobie.2134:

Myste.3291:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Myste.3291:

I have one more question – When the Mission starts, are you supposed to run blind through 15 different zones, to find where your mob is … or is it supposed to say “Your NPC is somewhere in whichever place” ?

From looking it up on Dulfy’s site?

You get a riddle about where your quarry was last seen or what they do. Such as a pirate “seen hiding amongst ale casks” which translates to “he’s in a barrel somewhere in a region with pirates”. Another specifically calls out “he’s with the karka” and there’s NO mistaking where you can find him then.

We didn’t get anything at all … just a timer.

Really? Well, maybe your bounty was the one that lingers invisible in that place where your character goes when you use a leap or pop back & suddenly find yourself embedded in invisible terrain! (thanks to my mesmer, thief, & guardian, who tend to get lodged in terrain rather frequently)

Which one did you get?

I have to admit – I LOVE tracking things down. It’s like Easter. I should hire myself out as a thief to go scouting. (in the sense that they could say, ‘you can do it,’ & I’d probably pay them…) But it might be nice to have something more to go on than “Name… Go!”

It’s . . . buried, you need to go into Guild > Upgrades and look. It’s in there, and it’s clunky. The UI needs a tweak.

I read on the wiki it won’t trigger unless the event with the two clearing the isle with the Champion Risen Captain is done. And nobody wants to do that one, so it is perpetually up when I poke my head in.

Myste.3291:

I have one more question – When the Mission starts, are you supposed to run blind through 15 different zones, to find where your mob is … or is it supposed to say “Your NPC is somewhere in whichever place” ?

From looking it up on Dulfy’s site?

You get a riddle about where your quarry was last seen or what they do. Such as a pirate “seen hiding amongst ale casks” which translates to “he’s in a barrel somewhere in a region with pirates”. Another specifically calls out “he’s with the karka” and there’s NO mistaking where you can find him then.

Myste.3291:

Thank you for saying what many of us who do not wish to become a number in a huge faceless corporation feel. Small Guilds engender fellowship, friendship, and above all, a community that works together. A community that approached other small guilds which are all going to die now, to do things together.

I’m going to stop you right here for a bit, and point out a small problem. And it’s a small one because it’s something you overlooked.

Small guilds/companies =/= “better” than large guilds/companies.

Yes, they can engender fellowship, friendship, and community. They can also engender exceedingly cutthroat behavior and competitiveness. It really does depend on the people running the guild/company and how the members/employees take their cues from what they say/do.

I’ve been in small companies. Like, basically two families who were working together. I’ve been in large companies, like “across the country, our parent company owns pretty much half the restaurants people stop in within a certain price range”. I can tell you at least once I felt more like a valued member of a team at the large company and much more like a wage-slave at the smaller one.

Star Ace.5207:

Whether it is 5 Rangers, 3 Necromancers and 2 Engineers, any content can be conquered-don’t let the misinformed convince you otherwise.

I’m remembering hearing all the time how Rangers stunk on ice way back in Everquest, and then seeing “team kill-steal” on raids which was 5 rangers and a wizard. Wherein we would pop “Trueshot” when the target hit 10% health and the wizard would just empty his mana all at once as fast as he could.

I’m remembering Guild Wars 1 where everyone was laughing about rangers and pets and I had a group of 8 rangers do all the Crystal Desert missions and reach Droknar’s Forge about two hours after starting. (Including one of them who proclaimed a new record time on beating down the Doppleganger.)

I’m remembering grouping with a bunch of rangers on week one in Queensdale overflow and just tearing apart the whole of Altar Brook Vale from the waterfalls to the garrison and having an absolute blast.

I’m remembering being the last person standing at Grenth (several times, but not every time) a couple nights in a row now because I wasn’t standing in the red rings of gravity-based death.

I love it

You know, my ranger tried asking the charr smoking the meat about where it came from but he looked over, noticed my ranger was a human and leered before asking: “You sure you want to know?”

I don’t go to Butcher’s Block anymore.

Blackwolfe.5649:

Wait what? Every boss chest drops a rare? Im thinking the op has been lucky. Most of the time I just get blues and greens from boss chests, both in fractals, dungeons and open world bosses (including dragons).

Only some of the “World chests” have been upgraded. Not all of them, so yes . . . some of them will still be giving you “at least” a blue.

Or in my case, a green gemstone every time. (I think I’m up to 100 Sapphire Crystals.)

laokoko.7403:

You know what you sound like? You sound like those pvp players in Ultima Online. Oh wait there shouldn’t be pve server. It segregate the population. Since if those pve players left they have no people to gank. So those pve players should be forced to be ganked even if they dont’ want.

Except I wasn’t, I was in favor of not having to watch my back to be sure it didn’t spontaneously combust due to a stealthy spellcaster dropping Harm, Flame Strike Paralyze, Energy Bolt on me. Usually in that order. I was almost always the gank-ee in that game.

But even I can sit back and go: “yes, that separation really did split the populace quite a bit”. However, this was an inevitable result of allowing open-world PvP where people who were skilled and preparedd could pretty much kill with impunity and not be punished very much.

Ultima Online and the game preceding it (Meridian 59) are why I have a psychological block against actually being good at PvP in games.

If people dont’ want to play with you that’s their choice. And listen to me, class balance is out of the players distriction. If you think your ranger isn’t getting a group tell Anet to balance the class. If people dont’ want to play with you because they think ranger is inferior, that’s not their problem.

I don’t care if people don’t want to play with me because I’m a ranger. I will usually find a group anyway. Much like I will eventually find a group with magic find on (if I still had that gear), or if inspect is put in and “gear check” becomes a norm.

That’s not what I think is bad. What I think is bad is giving people reinforcement to say “yes, it’s absolutely okay to kick people because of their gear, because it’s important” which is one silent thing that the ability to inspect and directly check gear says. Yes, it can also be “look at that cool sword, what the heck is it?” but that’s not the only thing it winds up saying.

By the way, I really do rag on the ranger only because:

• I play one, and understand the basic functionality of roughly 75% of the class.
• I actually don’t have problems with everything people says I should be.
• I kill krait and Risen Nobles for sport and lolz.

Salacious.7358:

next youll want us to show you our skin color….

The charr will likely agree with me, that doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not there’s enough meat for smoking over a fire later, and whether the rest of you is useful for anything.

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it.

(It was most certainly not delivered with a promise to demonstrate this mystical technique on me so as to prove it is truly magical and wondrous.)

I have been assured it is most certainly magical in nature and not special training which can be understood and countered by knowledgeable people to the point where thieves can be dealt with once you know you have one around.

Stealth is not overpowered, and the last person who managed to make a successful argument to the contrary was found face-down in Lion’s Arch behind the Black Lion Trading Company’s headquarters.

So to reiterate, thieves and stealth are awesome, please be sure to tip your thief after a dungeon run and be kind enough not to tell them to empty their pockets of anything which may or may not have been acquired in semi-legal ways (the illegality of which can’t be proven in a court of law).

laokoko.7403:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

KazNaka.4718:

Salacious.7358:

no people need to not be segregated based on the gear they choose or the items they use or the skill set. thus, its what would happen if this stupid idea was EVER considered by anet…

so you can wear full MF, leech off the party, and get away with it riiightt?

people who wear MF gear or sigil of LUCK in dungeons disgust me. Like, get the hell away from me or my party. I’m not about to spend my time and effort knowing that things could’ve run much faster had you NOT worn MF gear.

Next up, people who have the Sigil of Life also told to “GTFO” from parties since it only helps them heal. And since most heals are self only, it’s not helping the party.

well if those people dotn’ want to play with other people that use sigil of life they have to?

It’s like me telling a good looking girl she should date me because I said so. Ya I mean she shouldn’t discriminate me because I’m a 60 year bold guy or something.

I mean she can do whatever she want. She can date who ever she likes. I mean if she want to date only old guy and not young guy that’s her choice too right?

Here’s the point. Here’s you missing the point. Here’s me trying laboriously to bring it back to show you.

Here’s the horse, isn’t he nice? We don’t actually have horses, but that’s okay, run with it I’m working on a budget.

Here’s the slippery slope, which has happened in every MMO ever when you started making it socially okay to segregate based on gear. Here’s where we started doing that already with “Berserker only, 3 War, 1 Mes, 1 Guardian” runs. Here’s where we start giving people validation they’re correct by inspecting people they think are inferior and using the gear they see to formulate the argument of why the person stinks.

Here’s where “inspect” comes in and I have to deal with more people trying to argue that because my gear isn’t top-shelf I must not be useful. Here’s where I point out I’m a ranger, that’s our default mode. Here’s where they laugh and I don’t get a group, and so I decide I need to go kill something. Here’s where a Risen uses my head for a bowling ball. It gets a strike.

Here’s where people tell me “slippery slope” is a fallacy and arguing from innocence. Here’s where I point out the argument has been used tirelessly in regards to Ascended gear so much it’s taken as fact, so if it’s taken as fact it’s fair game. Here’s where I’m told it’s not the same thing at all, even though it really is.

Here’s where I shake my head slowly and sit back because arguing over the internet is an ultimately pointless debate. Here’s where I sell the horse to Hasbro for their new show by convincing them it’s a unicorn and retire for the rest of my life. Drinking from glasses which have fruit on little sticks in them and something highly alcoholic.

Myste.3291:

Excuse me how elitist you come across “Big Guilds” … so you feel that Small Guilds will not run out of content??? When we have done everything, and we have run WvW as well, JUST LIKE YOU … and we have completed the map on 5+ characters … and we end up often having 2-3 people sitting out because the groups are 5 man only … We ALSO want to partake of the NEW content, just like you. Lord that is so upsetting that people go “just live with nothing because you are a small guild”.

You know, you should really read the rest of his posts. And avoid just replying before it sinks in what he said. He was saying that before this update there wasn’t anything earmarked for “larger guilds” which could field more people than one five-person party. “There’s nothing for us to do as a guild!”

And it was a complaint which was valid. The solution works. Now there is something for them to do as a larger unit.

Now the problem comes in with implementation and how smaller guilds are having a rough time to reach the content, or in some cases do it. This is where the problem is showing up and what people are talking about. The idea, and it’s been said a lot, wasn’t a bad one. The implementation is where it became messy.

Please, people, stop trying to push some of the people arguing onto one side or the other. A couple of us just want a discussion instead of a fight.

KazNaka.4718:

Salacious.7358:

no people need to not be segregated based on the gear they choose or the items they use or the skill set. thus, its what would happen if this stupid idea was EVER considered by anet…

so you can wear full MF, leech off the party, and get away with it riiightt?

people who wear MF gear or sigil of LUCK in dungeons disgust me. Like, get the hell away from me or my party. I’m not about to spend my time and effort knowing that things could’ve run much faster had you NOT worn MF gear.

Next up, people who have the Sigil of Life also told to “GTFO” from parties since it only helps them heal. And since most heals are self only, it’s not helping the party.

. . . are we still doing this? Has it been a month since the last “Pale Tree is an Elder Dragon Minion” thread? Wow time flies.

Let’s just see what we know so far.

- We know the Pale Tree grew from a seed which was held by the White Mantle.
- We know for some reason that Ventari’s tablet influenced their way of thinking.
- We know the sylvari are immune to becoming Risen, Icebrood, or Branded. (Primordius does not seem to corrupt, but favors destruction instead.)

- We do not know the origins of that seed for certain before the White Mantle had it.
- We do not know how many other seeds there were which reached maturity, only that at least one did and the existence of another is hinted at. (But not explicitly stated.)

This does not mean “The Pale Tree is an elder dragon minion”. It means they’re perhaps one of the last things left in the game for which we really have no complete explanation for.

Cora.9745:

Chuo.4238:

The point is, people who are in small guilds are there because they prefer it to large ones. This is no more right or wrong than preferring yellow mustard to brown.

Lots of food items being mentioned tonight….I must be very suggestible. Now I am hungry..

And I am still baking. The things you do to heat the house when the furnace is out . . .

I would agree to determining which Daily actions got picked (Four from Overland, two from WvW, one from Crafting, one from Dungeons, and one Wildcard) . . . provided we never ever hear about it and it’s a purely internal script.

You know, I’d almost wager if we start keeping track we will see a pattern on how much of what gets picked and it follows this somewhat closely.

This is probably going to get moved to the “Suggestions” forum, so you know.

I’d like to see this. It could even be expanded upon a bit to reflect other choices.

• Personal Story titles. You’re asked one question which defines what you are, but it doesn’t seem to play into much. For a sylvari, it’s what cycle you’re in, but it doesn’t seem to play much into the story. For the humans, it’s which of the Six you follow most. For the charr, it’s which High Legion you offer allegiance to. Why does this not get shown?

• Personality-based titles. You can find it in the dropdown menu at the top and put it on so everyone knows you’re “Noble” or “Brutish”.

• Titles showing up as a reward for clearing meta-events. “Tequatl’s Bane”, “Clawbreaker”, “Champion of the Six” (For doing all temple meta-events.)

kash.9213:

At that point we’re putting aside reasons we chose this game over others. We’re scrapping the idea of guilds and creating factions or mini servers which everyone will have to join to have access to the content to obtain gear stats. Join large guilds to run scheduled raids.

Has someone said that? I mean, that’d be true in the old days when you wouldn’t have more than 1000 people on a server. I know I didn’t say you would be forced at gunpoint into this, and I feel the need to reiterate once more that the trinkets aren’t worth the headache of doing it that way. Skip them. You can skip them. It won’t make that much difference if you don’t have the earrings on.

I don’t think they even work for Agony Resistance so really they’re just for the prestige and the small edge in stats. Which doesn’t matter except in a single situation. You want the prestige of having them? Go do the content for them. You wanted Obsidian Armor? Go spend the money or swallow doing endless runs of UW/FoW for the materials.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Maybe it’s not about pride. Maybe it’s about preference. As a member of either a large or small guild, I would not be comfortable with not representing. If I’m going to be a part of a group, I’m going to participate with that group as much as my game-play preferences allow. I won’t say that all who are reluctant to be in two guilds feel the same way, but it might be that, or something like that, for some of them.

It definitely may be about preference instead of pride. But pride is what I hear a lot of. Pride to be part of a small guild and not the “server-killing monoliths”. Pride to “not be one face in 500”. Pride to be “a member, not a number”. They’re the people who should really look and see how badly they want to do this.

There are three options right now. Get over the limitation and know you’re not going to get access to everything. Get around the limitation by getting help and giving help when it’s needed. Or join a large guild you find not objectionable to do the content.

Technically, there is a fourth and fifth: come here and ask either politely or not for ArenaNet to pretty please revisit the system so more people have the hope of doing it. Or quit the game.

I’m a big fan of #2 then #1. And I’ll resort to #3 before #5.

Sovta.4719:

DOW Mageski.2097:

I am against this as everyone has there own build and might have odd stats on there gear , but if it works for them then it is fine.

If it works for them they can play solo.

This is a terrible attitude to approach this with.

Honestly, I couldn’t care too much about inspect. I survived games where it existed, and the truly . . . spectacularly . . . driven can still get around it if they really want to. There are three reasons I wouldn’t want inspect, and none of them have to do with the feature itself.

- People wanting to inspect before they invite me to see if I have any Magic Find and kicking me if they found any one piece with it. Because I bought the Ascended Amulet with the generalized “all stats” which includes some Magic Find, and because my warhorn is a Traveler’s so I get the condition damage to go with the axe it’s always paired with.

- People who want only a specific narrow build and don’t want excuses. Full Zerk or out. Given that I never group with groups asking for it . . . and they generally say it up front . . . this problem would come up much less I think.

- People who are willing to heckle me over my choices of gear. “LOL Heal Power?! Get a real sigil dood!” “WTF? Balthazar temple armor? WHY? Ur a ranger, go zerker.” Mostly because I don’t want to grow my block list too much in the first month of this feature going live.

I almost don’t worry about “you’ll never find a group” . . . I’m a ranger, we’re practically never taken along unless someone just needs a fifth to round it out. And if I want to do dungeons I’ll ask my guildmates if they feel like experimenting for a night.

Cora.9745:

Shonie.5297:

It’s your own preconceived notions about large groups and your inability or unwillingness to join that is the problem.
A little bit of research into joining a guild will go a long way. I did before launch and am currently in a wonderful and helpful guild full of great people. We finished bounty tier 3 earlier this evening and had a great time.

I’m sure if I had joined just any random guild spamming chat with recruitments, yes I suppose i’d be rolling the dice. A little effort and research goes a long ways. But in the end, it’s a YOU problem that is not enabling anyone from joining a good larger guild.

What is this venom you seem to have for small guilds?

I have had experience dealing with/being in large guilds to know they are not for me. I fail to understand how a small guild wanting to see game content takes anything away or hurts you (large guilds) in anyway.

There seems to be this odd, childish…glee in doing something someone else can’t. Like a small child enjoying taking away something from someone else.

Simply because someone else can get a “shiny” does not make yours any less special.

I didn’t see venom for small guilds in there, which means you’re probably projecting. I can see exasperation with the reactions, and notably a fatigue of getting the answer “but I don’t want to” back to his seemingly reasonable solutions.

And yes, I put it like that not because they’re unreasonable,. You shouldn’t have to abandon a smaller guild to do this, and you shouldn’t necessarily have to conform into a larger guild atmosphere. But we’ve got some events now where listening and comprehending what’s going on is key, and at least one entire area full of meta chains where it is vital to at least communicate what’s going on.

There does come a point where you have to dial back the pride of being a small unit and work with someone else. And there comes a time when a bigger guild has to either decide they want to remain “100% rep required” or if they want to put an effort in to help other people get to the content and enjoy it if they want. We’ve seen a couple times that smaller guilds will band together if they feel okay about it, and I’ve seen at least one ad for a large guild going “We’re mission-ready and we don’t require 100% rep. We don’t bite.”

Chadramar.8156:

I don’t think there’s anything that can realistically be done about the “personal story”, because it is neither personal nor a story, so it’d have to be completely reworked. Who’s going to pay for all the writing, scripting and voice acting? So, yeah, they irrevocably dropped the ball on this from the very beginning.

I would agree. However, you are correct about the cost problem and that cost is probably why things . . . well, were very minimal. It’s also possible it was written to be three different acts joined together rather than one story with three acts going on in it. Potentially written at different points in development, which would explain the disjointed effect.

(I’ve been there personally, I know how easy that is to happen.)

On the other hand, I don’t know if completely tearing it out and doing it over would work. Nor the idea of splicing into the middle.

If I had to change something in the personal story . . . it’d be very simple in statement but very hard in execution.

“Make the home instance matter.”

Give it the polish to reflect what’s going on for the first half of the story that you spend coming in and out. Someone mentioned the one human story part (of six) and that’s a very valid choice. Deborah on semi-permanent leave until they clear up what happened with Falcon Company, a minor celebrity due to being among the survivors. She can even get a conversation about how horrible it was until you rescued her. If you have people on the street, they wave as you walk up, or bow. Maybe there’s a kid who wants your autograph or to be shown how to use a toy sword.

For the charr, have your warband hang around and take questions about themselves so you can either refresh what you “already learned” or learn new things about their pasts. They have a background same as you, right? Learn it! And later when you pass over command to your sparring partner, you can come back and they’res training rookies. Heck, have them snap to salute as you walk up to talk. You earned that.

For the norn, have friends or rivals drop in and chat with you about moots long past. “Hey, this last Great Hunt was fun, but you know what I remember? When you were chasing that stag and you wound up disrupting some dredge.” “Say, you remember the time Johan drank too much mead and wound up in an argument with Svelna over why Raven would lose to Wolf?” “Did you know Loka tried taunting an asura and wound up running for Bear Lodge with his pants on fire?”

shimmerless.4560:

In thinking about it, I actually say it wouldn’t be impossible to rescue Trahearne, and this isn’t an old-school console game that prohibited patches… wink wink.

For example, say after your mentor dies and you (or most players) see Trahearne for the first time, he could gently offer:

“I’m sorry for your friend, Lightbringer/Recruit/Scholar. If it’s some consolation, your astonishing talent and grace on the battlefield did both him and the Order/Vigil/Priory a great service”.

A simple, sincere compliment that doesn’t sound forced or reactive. This could even segue into a conversation or a sequence where Trahearne expresses his doubts about his worth in combat, then with a little bit of nosy prodding (from you, not him) he briefly discusses what he’s been called to do. Then he could politely ask that, while this is not the time, perhaps you could give him some help or training for the coming fire.

Trahearne’s sternness can work, but the fundamental problem with characters that are always stern is that they’re just a chore to be around. (Characters that are over-the-top comical or extroverted are as one-dimensional but at least they’re rarely as dull). So, perhaps you could also have a sequence where Trahearne lets slip his mask of stone-cold level headedness, tells you of his deep doubts about himself and everything, opening himself up emotionally. In lieu of anything better to say, you (the PC) make a stupid joke, and he laughs, partly to try and please you, someone he considers a rare friend… but both of you know he can’t escape his serious mantle due to his duties.

Now you have a bond, he seems like a real person, and the rest of the story becomes much easier to swallow.

Part of the issue is that the sylvari are . . . odd. They’re not human and their emotions don’t always mesh up. As a Firstborn, it can be waved off that he’s had the time to develop and mature emotionally. After all, Caithe has few problems handling more complex emotional relationships.

(I’m not talking about that one. I’m talking about the fact she can feel mixed emotions about something rather than one single strong emotion.)

Still, there’s the notable hesitation when it comes to that side of life. Knowledge they can handle very well, but emotion? Being secure in feelings? Harder for the sylvari. Look at the younger ones who roam around, they’re not quite sure sometimes what emotion to emulate.

Someone once likened the sylvari to Vulcans, but there’s one critical difference. Vulcans understand emotion but suppress it. Sylvari need to learn what emotions mean, and yearn to experience it at first.

From a writing perspective, all of this is golden material to work with. But as an actor, director, and video game writer? This is really hard to work with and still have what you want to come through or be apparent work out. Someone being reserved can come off flat, someone being eager can come off childish, and someone who is naive can come off as a moron . . . in the wrong hands.

In the case of Trahearne, while I can see what they were going for, and it’s possible the script writer, the director, and the voice actor were acting in concert . . . it obviously didn’t come off as they hoped. The fact there is an overwhelming amount of complaints about him coming off as “dull/flat” (even from people who liked him), means something didn’t work as expected.

At this point, if they’re not going to patch a text dialogue into the game (so they don’t have to call the voice actor in again) then maybe Trahearne should retire to handle the revivification Orr with some other sylvari and let the Pact be led by a council of three with the Commander serving as tiebreaker in a case they can’t reach a decision.

Players get the feeling of being important, the Pact retains its nonpartisan leadership . . . mostly . . . and hopefully we can put this behind us like Rurik.

Sps.7862:

My first thought when the story started revolving around Trahearne was that he pretty much is a non-charismatic Ned Stark. He’s the tactician of the war, calls most of the shots and comes up with the big plan to take down Zhaitan.

For those who read those books, um, try a different comparison. :P

So, my ranger moved to Cursed Shore today for the first time with the sole intent of testing these Risen Nobles. I took on two at once, and aside from needing to micro-manage pet switching? Not significantly more difficult than other things in Orr.

Just don’t stand in their wells.

Flamenco.3894:

Compared to GW1, GW2 is a much easier game and obviously aimed at a younger audience.

No argument it’s aimed at a younger audience. As for “easier” vs “harder” . . .

Nothing has gotten as hard as “Eternal Grove, Hard Mode, full bonus, H/H only” for me. On the other hand, only one thing was as easy for me in GW1 as some of the encounters open-world in GW2.

. . . and that was making the Great Destroyer kill itself with a Pain Inverter and two interrupts.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

I actually like to play with the idea that dancing in front of Abaddon made the other five gods facepalm and go “blessing revoked!”

I mean, Abaddon will dance off with you, and Dhuum dances when he wipes the party. Its pretty obvious the evil gods like to dance.

More proof that John Lithgow in “Footloose” was RIGHT!

Sovta.4719:

Let’s face it, how many players would still be here if there was some kind of subscription fee?

. . . I would not because I don’t do that anymore. I just can’t afford to. But that’s not really what you were going for, was it?

Lord Kreegan.8123:

Okay, let’s get real for a second…
At a fundamental level, every class has a basic attack (skill 1); other attacks are comprised of a weakening attack, a knockback attack, an AoE/multi-target attack, and a longer cooldown “large damage” attack. That’s basically it.

Please, let’s get real, as you say.

— Ranger, Longbow —
Skill 1 is a direct damage simple strike which gets stronger the further you are away.
Skill 2 is a rapid-fire volley of weaker attacks.
Skill 3 applies Vulnerable (10 stacks)
Skill 4 is a knockback and interrupt. Sometimes it’s an interrupt only.
Skill 5 is a moderately-sized Area of Effect which applies Cripple.

— Warrior, Longbow —
Skill 1 is two arrows which hit the same target, each separate.
Skill 2 is a short-range spread of fire which causes Burning
Skill 3 is a long arcing burst which detonates in a moderate-sized Area of Effect. It causes Burning.
Skill 4 causes Blinding.
Skill 5 is a single-target arrow which Bleeds and Immobilizes.

I see absolutely tons of overlap and no differentiation between these two at all. (/sarcasm) Shall we go on, because I could do this for a while in fact. A class of weapons usually, but not always, is similar in the hands of all the classes. With a notable exception here:

— Ranger, Axe; Main Hand —
Skill 1 is a bouncing axe which can bounce twice. It can hit one target only, two targets, or three targets.
Skill 2 is a short-range spread which causes bleeding.
Skill 3 is a short-range throw which causes Chill, and your pet’s next attack causes Weakness.

— Warrior, Axe; Main Hand —
Skill 1 is a chain of strikes at melee range.
Skill 2 is a spin in place, at melee range.
Skill 3 throws the axe and cripples foes it hits.

These are not only not at all the same, they are fundamentally different.

My point being that there honestly isn’t a lot of difference other than some classes being squishy, some being not so squishy, and some being hard-armored; some doing more DPS than others; and variations on the hit points and healing abilities… corresponding — it seems — with the classes’ squishyness.

Except some classes don’t have access to some status ailments normally. Rangers do not get Confusion except in two ways: Throwing Gunk (an environmental item) or with the Reef Drake’s shriek. “Big deal.”

Elementalists don’t get to swap weapon sets in combat, only elemental attunements. Any other class can switch between melee and ranged, or two different melee/ranged types. Elementalists are stuck with whatever they’re holding until combat is over.

Thieves can go into stealth. Check the forum, I’m really sure you can find how this sets the class apart from any other. I won’t waste any more time on this one.

I’ve got five 80’s that I’ve leveled up together. Quite seriously, I don’t find a lot of difference in their gameplay. I just have to remember whether I press 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 for a given general capability… and I can do that in my sleep.

I’d take this a lot more seriously if it weren’t for the next part.

The only exception is that I have to be careful with autoattack on my ranger when he is using a sword since he likes to run off the edge of cliffs and platforms to his death (stupid, stupid, stupid implementation of “pounce”, and since it’s autoattack, he’s screwed).

Since it’s apparent you have a Ranger, I’m mystified you didn’t remember the difference between their axe use and a Warrior’s axe use. Similarly, I suppose it’d be worthwhile to note that swords in a Ranger’s hand is not the same as a sword in a Warrior’s hand. Rangers’ sword use is about evasion, Warriors’ sword use is about hitting something with lots of cuts and Bleeding.

Richard Nixon.6573:

Ascended gear is down the line, I’m more than willing to delay getting them for gaining the influence.

But my question is not whether i should spend Laurels, but rather will spending them on tradable materials net me more gold than the cost of the Commendation letters?

If the answer is yes, then it is better for me to spend the Laurels on whatever profitable item, sell that, and then buy from the Promoter. That way, I don’t spend any of my gold, and even get a slight relative profit.

If the answer is no, then it is more efficient for me to just buy the Commendation letters with Laurels.

The answer isn’t going to be something simple. Check the Black Lion going rate (I cant right now, I’m actually away from that computer and I have a problem with getting BL to actually recognize my inventory lately) and see what you think.

interpol.2397:

You should look into the Commando profession. That seems to be right up your alley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PKFNV9h_wXo

Am I the only one who thinks that would be a very fun Fractal transformation?

Narcemus.1348:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

While there was no mechanical blessing, there was such a thing. I presume that it was this blessing mentioned that prevented Abaddon from just giving you an Evil Eye of Death.

Unless they danced. Somehow the players being “Served” worked around this blessing and allowed him to Evil Eye you :P

No, you just were served so badly you killed yourselves in shame.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Yeah, ranchers. Silly typo.

Hey, it got me laughing

Richard Nixon.6573:

You can buy 2 Letters of Commendation with 16 Laurels. That amounts to 2k influence. If you were to buy it from the Guild Promoter, it would cost 4g.

My question is: Is it worth spending the 16 Laurels for this? Are there better ways to spend the Laurels for the same effect? Would buying 16 heavy crafting bags, as an example, cause me to end up with more than 4k, at which point I’m better of buying them and spending the profit to buy influence from the Promoter?

Thanks in advance!

Do you want or need Ascended gear? Do you want the minis or tonics? Do you have anything else you want to spend Laurels on?

Of not, then go for it.

Hey, going to share another non-link here:

Go find the people behind “Extra Credits” and look up their season 4 “Perfect Imbalance” and season 5 “Balancing for Skill”.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Furthermore, those being attacked are rangers and individualistic norn – they’re not fighters, on the whole.

Hey! I think you mean ranchers. I mean I know us rangers have a reputation but . . .

Arikyali.5804:

Give a finer description on human descendants for the dead sister storyline. Now I have a Canthan thief and an Ascalonian Seraph for sisters.

They’re totally blood related. Honest.

It’s okay, we know the Seraph was adopted.

Sumii.2845:

In a job where you’re put in front of a generally large audience it is accepted and known that you will have both positive and negative feedback. If you are insinuating that the complaints, trolls, flames on the forums are one of the bigger reasons behind why Anet can’t seem to keep people employed I’d argue otherwise.

No, it’s not my sole point, it’s more along the line of you listing the site advertisement on the forums. And if I had to walk past protesters on my way to apply for a job, I would probably . . .

I’m not gonna lie, if the pay was decent I’d probably still apply right now today. But if I already had a good stable job i’d probably give it a pass.

What I’m getting at is this: If you had to walk past protests on your way to apply or a job interview, I’m betting many people would probably turn around. And also that there’s a drain on your enthusiasm to do your work when you see people who don’t like you for it.

. . . and yes, I am speaking from experience. When you are told you are the scum of the earth for working at a certain place? It doesn’t make you feel good to work there.

Sumii.2845:

Anet has had the ‘looking for new staff’ slide up for months…

I am sure people seeing how ArenaNet employees en masse are put down, called names, accused of anything and everything except killing their pet goldfish . . . I’m sure that has nothing to do with why people coming to the forums would think “hey I want to work there”. I know I wouldn’t want to work at a company where people who don’t even know what it I work on and don’t work on will continue to belittle me for the sole reason of who it is that signs my paycheck.

Just saying.