Guild Wars 2

Paradox.1380:

But the sample sizes are so small that its almost impossible to tell how it will be affecting them in the long term which is what these changes are for, and mostly for leveling players to gear up as they level.

I for one play a couple rangers for the NPE one with a friend and one on my own, and for some reason I cannot for the life of my find a weapon drop that I can actually use on the one I play with my friend.

That’s why I say there would need to be a much bigger example and test done to determine whether it was RNG, a Fluke, or the actual Smart Loot system at work.

The biggest reason I say this is because lets face it, if you are going to criticize something you don’t know the inner workings of, you better test it like they do before you say something “doesn’t work.”

It’s impossible to test it like they do – we don’t have debug tools.

And I’ll admit it, I took part because it was something to do while completing events and doing my part in the Orr Deforestation Project at the same time. I’ve been playing for almost a month since 9/9 and the “Profession Loot” has yet to notably alter what I get.

But second confession – my definition of “notably” and someone else’s is almost guaranteed to differ.

Still waiting on that Leaf of Kudzu drop.

phys.7689:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

phys.7689:

magic find is irrelevant its supposed to only effect the quality of the goods not the frequency. IE, low magic find, less blues, greens rares etc.

And I’m supposed to have four Precursors and 100k Gold, but I don’t

even frequency is irrelevant, the only thing that matters for this test is armor/weapons obtained from monster kills, and what ratio of them was job specific.

I know, still it amuses me to hear how terrible the test is when . . . let’s at least be honest with ourselves . . . it’s pretty much one of the few viable methods without really going out of the way to normalize everything over a large enough sample size. Which would be at least 100 people . . .

. . . and I bet there would be some who would say that sample size is not enough, without thinking of the logistics needed to normalize 100 characters to a point where the only variable would be Account MF through Achievement Bonus, race, and class.

phys.7689:

magic find is irrelevant its supposed to only effect the quality of the goods not the frequency. IE, low magic find, less blues, greens rares etc.

And I’m supposed to have four Precursors and 100k Gold, but I don’t

Ravion Hawk.4736:

phys.7689:

Heres how the scientfic method works, you come up with a hypothesis, you test it, then you analyze your data.
Thats what he did
If you oppose his findings, the burden of proof is now on you as a scientist to disprove his data.

Using the Scientific Method while you can not even use spell check on your own post.

First, the OP needs a control character. This control character needs to be on an account with 0% Magic Find and the character needs to be wearing armor, trinkets, and weapons that DO NOT increase Magic Find. He CAN NOT use ANY Magic Find buffs except for what is given to PvE from the WvW standings.

He did not use a Control and therefore is findings are a moot point. We don’t even know his total Magic Find on his account combined with the buff to PvE from WvW combined with any trinkets he had that might have increased his Magic Find combined with the Magic Find buffs from food and/or utility potions.

We don’t even know if he didn’t clean out his bags to match what the loot would look like for both the Engineer or the Warrior just to get everyone here riled up over it.

I could do it for you all and have my bags look skewed and none of you would know the difference. And I wouldn’t even have to use photoshop. Just clean the bags, make them look the way I want them to look to get a rise out of everyone, then log out to clear the on screen chat and log back in and sit for about 5-10 min to get a chat log.

I myself see some difference and I can now restock all my materials without paying the bloated prices on the Trade Post. I’m sorry you all are losing your cash cow. Adapt or rage quit already.

It’s all moot – there is no way of a Control Character since everyone is DPS oriented these days.

Sorry, that was sarcasm again.

It’s really nigh impossible to get a valid Control set up with 0% magic find and duplicated items down to the exact digit. Why? Achievement bonuses which apply across the account.

You can try to start working on the doubtfulness of the method but there is the second option, which is to have 100 people with varying characters (at level 80) collect data in the same zone in a set batch of results. Such as saying “farm in Cursed Shore until you hit 25 equipment loot items, post screenshot of your results”.

Without having debug-level control over variables, this is really the best which can be done. And it is valid for scientific study, since that is usually how blind tests are run.

Paradox.1380:

They recently put in a whole set of new weapons to obtain. The Amberite set. Sure you have to “work” for it… I mean play the game but they are not at all hard to get.

I play the game on average 12-18 hours a week around a full time job.

I am nowhere near close to an Ambrite weapon. This is despite having spent nearly every LS release farming the crap out of Dry Top for at least 3 cycles a night. Currently I’ve been doing WvW since Dry Top doesn’t want me . . . I mean, Dry Top isn’t as productive with a night shift job leaving me midnight to 3am to play :P

Paradox.1380:

This is not a large enough sample size to dictate really. I play mostly Guardian and I still roll in the Silk from doing my every day things.

When you do an experiment like this to determine if something is noticeable or not in the long run you would have to use something almost 100x the sample size and more than just one person doing it to even come close to being accurate about it. Also, RNG makes it even worse to be accurate with such a small sample size.

Well consider the few people actually posting images to be valid input. I mean, until someone decides to be cheeky and post an image of all Light armor.

This took me a while, with an abundance of trash level drops (Porous Bones, Dull Claws…) and Fine materials (Viscious Claws, Large Claws, Potent Blood, et cetera) . . .

But here we are.

Breakdown by type:

2x Light Armor
9x Medium Armor
1x Heavy Armor
(Total: 12 Armor)

2x Staff
1x Spear
2x Speargun
1x Pistol
1x Mace
1x Shortbow
1x Greatsword
1x Scepter
2x Hammer
1x Trident
(Total: 13x Weapon)

And I won’t ask you to guess my class since that’s obvious and anyone who sees my posts knows anyway. So breakdown:

For my profession, 14 usable items and 11 non-usable items.

So, 56% of my loot is profession based, but being as how I’m a ranger and have a whopping 10 valid weapon types out of 19 . . . I think this might be skewed in my favor even normally.

SKATE.1394:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Okay, hmmm. I’ll run this a couple times since “once” seems like a small sample size.

Also, I might still kinda sorta have DR from last night.

It’s ok to only do it once, the desired effect is to have multiple people contribute small sample sizes so a large burden isn’t on any one player.

And lastly, 25 different items or 25 drops? Because I am getting some Fine materials . . . quite often actually

Tken.1986:

I don’t care whatever reasons are behind this change. What was given shouldn’t be taken away.

I’m afraid I can’t agree with that, universally and without any qualification.

SKATE.1394:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I haven’t seen this drastic a change in my loot, enough to be notable. However, if it is requested I keep track of it tonight when I go to play . . . what would be a good time slice to use beyond 30 minutes, because I actually idle a lot rather than grinding through enemies ASAFP.

I will note, I am getting almost equal Light and Medium armor drops, just my salvaging is being stingy on Tier 6. (Sigh). I am also seeing a lot of weapon drops I could . . . in theory . . . use.

See my post above, the time spent playing really doesn’t matter. Empty your bags, then aim for at least 25 pieces of equipment, from doing nothing but killing random mobs in the open world, no loot containers, no chests, no champ bags, no level rewards. Once you have at least 25 pieces of equipment or more sort them in an organized fashion that makes sense, and post your screenshot. No need to show your materials or harvested mats, equipment is the only concern here.

Okay, hmmm. I’ll run this a couple times since “once” seems like a small sample size.

Also, I might still kinda sorta have DR from last night.

I haven’t seen this drastic a change in my loot, enough to be notable. However, if it is requested I keep track of it tonight when I go to play . . . what would be a good time slice to use beyond 30 minutes, because I actually idle a lot rather than grinding through enemies ASAFP.

I will note, I am getting almost equal Light and Medium armor drops, just my salvaging is being stingy on Tier 6. (Sigh). I am also seeing a lot of weapon drops I could . . . in theory . . . use.

Sariel V.7024:

Blude.6812:

Aedelric.1287:

Astralporing.1957:

Bloodstealer.5978:

I would say this kind of thread warrants a CDI.. but that of course wont happen

There was a CDI about rewards already. Didn’t help any, of course.

Has the CDI ever accomplished anything?

I respect Chris and his attempt at communicating with the fans, but I have never seen anything substantial implemented in game as a direct result from the CDI.

Exactly! +1.

He promised a top 10 list of additions resulting from the CDI.

When it came time to deliver, he put it it off for a day.

A few days later, it was put on permanent hiatus until after the Guild CDI.

In other words, we’re never going to see it.

And we’ll never see SAB either despite them saying they intend to bring it back in the future.

It’s also equally likely they’re secretly planning to have Canthans invade from asura gates they seized and take over Lion’s Arch to rebuild it as New Kaineng. And thus we will have Cantha at last . . .

RiverSong.5067:

Thanks.

Removing the hint system though? What possible benefit could there be to it?

Probably to avoid its information popups clashing with the NPE after revision. That’s my theory.

That thing wasn’t in the hint system anyway.

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Yes you have.

Care to elaborate?

I’ll name two:

Wardrobe, Story Journal.

Care to elaborate? Which precise CDI affected change and what was the direct changes? Also two changes out of tons of CDI’s not really much to be proud of. Now if Guild housing is implemented as a direct result of the current CDI, that would be impressive.

No, I don’t care to elaborate, and this time I’m not going to go trawling through the CDIs for the exact post which suggested it. I do know the Wardrobe was offered up by more than one person.

And I don’t care if you don’t think it’s impressive. That’s not what you implied. You implied there weren’t any.

I am not saying the CDI’s are useless, but the impact they cause on Arena Nets plans seem minimal and opinions are often misinterpreted. (For example trait changes and mismanaged wardrobe implementation)

Honestly, if you had to nail me to a solid opinion right now today?

The CDI program is a waste of time and energy, and should have been scrapped before starting this latest round. It should have been choked into nonexistance before it began in favor of something different, since this conversation we’re having right now illustrates just how bad an idea the CDIs were in the first place.

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418:

Gulesave.5073:

Hrmm, I really like the idea someone mentioned of linking the Guild Hall to GvG. Build a long, narrow map with a place at either end for a Hall to slot on. Aspects of the greater map are influenced by upgrades to your Hall. Set up a start time and duration, check a few boxes for rules and victory conditions, and fight your way into the enemy keep for glory and loot!

Aside from that, I think a special room in the Hall could be the perfect place for dueling.

This just makes me think of Facing Worlds.

http://www.pcgamer.com/why-facing-worlds-unreal-tournament/

https://www.google.com/search?q=unreal+tournament+facing+worlds&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9UosVLbwINKHsQTmyYLgCw&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=963

And wasn’t “Facing Worlds” a terrible map due to the relatively easy ability to just kill anyone trying to come across?

Might as well set up Coagulation, for giggles. Hmmm . . . actually not a bad idea.

Gnat.9405:

You know there are some great platformers out there…

I highly recommend “I Want To Be The Guy: The Movie: The Game”.

Or if that’s not quite your cup of tea? “Prinny: Dood, Can I Really Be The Hero?”.

Aedelric.1287:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Yes you have.

Care to elaborate?

Not really, but I will anyway. Supposedly Chris had a topic he was working on of “Top 10 things which came from the CDI” but I’ll name two:

Wardrobe, Story Journal.

There’s others, naturally, but those are the two easiest to point out.

Aedelric.1287:

Astralporing.1957:

Bloodstealer.5978:

I would say this kind of thread warrants a CDI.. but that of course wont happen

There was a CDI about rewards already. Didn’t help any, of course.

Has the CDI ever accomplished anything?

I respect Chris and his attempt at communicating with the fans, but I have never seen anything substantial implemented in game as a direct result from the CDI.

Yes you have.

Gene Archer.8560:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Well, if people bought more Gems, they could afford to turn the lights back on . . .

Maybe people would buy more gems if SAB were active and the SAB items were brought back.

I really doubt it.

Maybe one day pigs will fly of their own accord without the use of man made devices or strange combinations with avian creatures.

Define “fly” . . . is that throwing it at the ground and missing? Because I can totally have that happen.

Piogre.2164:

Silvercyclone.1462:

Lets hope he turns purple and starts singing and gives out candy.

By the logic stated above, if he turned purple, he could probably kill anyone just by looking at them.

No, no, see, that’s if he turns yellow.

If he turns purple, you just need to not make eye contact or-

All glory to the hypnohylek.

Gene Archer.8560:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I hope the above comment reassures you,

It really doesn’t.

Because “the future” isn’t saying anything of consequence. It could be 3 months or 30 years.

I thought the communication thread had changed things, but you guys are still playing the same kitten game with us all. Nothing can truly change until you stop leaving us in the dark.

Well, if people bought more Gems, they could afford to turn the lights back on . . .

IndigoSundown.5419:

I like the idea in general, but would ask for the following changes.

• With Ascended as BiS, there is already too much assigned to crafting for my tastes; ergo I’d suggest calling for a Legendary Foe’s weapon to maybe drop in 2-4 pieces that could be combined — and leave crafting out of the equation.
• While I’d like to see rewards shifted more to event completion instead of Champions, I am not in favor of reducing Champion numbers unless that happens — which I doubt ANet will pursue
• As for Elites… I’ll only be happy if ANet deletes every single one of them from the game. Every. Single. One.

First point, I can agree but the idea sprung while I was doing Wardrobe-fishing on my main character for skins I missed out on. So no real objections to that re-location . . . except it then might get a point where the parts don’t drop in sequence and people get stuck with parts 1-3 and can’t get part 4.

Second point, I just am fresh off the former CS farm where champions were a big thing to farm in defense events, and now Coiled Watch . . . I think it needs to be looked at carefully.

Last point . . . I REALLY like the concept of elites and would point them to a good replacement for champions in upscaled events. They were kludged into the game but they are, in fact, perhaps quite useful if ANet steps back and re-evaluates how the hierarchy goes.

So here I go, presenting a few changes in mind to try to get some life and variety into the crafting and the reward structure. Assuming what we would like as endgame loot is along the lines of interesting looks as well as some challenge, let’s tackle the first since it’s by far the easier one to look at.

One: Revise the idea of enemy ranks. Legendaries should remain unique and special enemies, such as the World Bosses. I’d suggest ranking up those which are Champions to Legendary accordingly. Champions should be reserved for a few open-world monsters and not created through up-scaling events, though it’s fine if they remain for events focused on one sole “boss”. For example, we should see less Champion Icebrood Elementals due to events, but Gargantula the Champion should remain untouched, as should the Champions who don’t have unique names. Let Elites slide into the spot currently occupied by Champions in the event upscaling, adjusting the number so there’s roughly 3 Elites exchanged for every 2 Champions. This will not be a popular idea since it dries up the easy Champion flow for crushing an event with overwhelming numbers and forcing it to spawn Champions.

Two: For each Legendary or otherwise unique enemy, give them a weapon in accordance with their affiliation to wield. Example: Admiral Taidha
Covington uses a Pirate Weapon with a slightly different appearance or alterations to the model which are unique to her. Such as the blade being more polished and not dull metal, or gold inlays on the blade. The reason for this is twofold and important; it will give an impression these are not just tougher and stronger mooks, and it will also dovetail into the next point.

Three: Each of these Legendary or otherwise unique enemies now have a chance to drop one piece of their weapons, which is the part most changed to differentiate it. Take the example of “Taidha’s Sword” being gold-inlaid on the blade, which means she now will sometimes drop “Taidha’s Sword Blade”. You take it to a crafting station and can have it turned into a weapon by attaching it to a Sword Hilt crafted, along with some third or fourth component to make the weapon (Account Bind on Acquire). This can give people something to show off which should take only a moderate amount of time to refine through the the art department, as well as letting crafting get a punch in the arm to be useful. Each weapon type should have . . . minimal . . . seven of these weapons to collect and create.

Four: Refinement of Three, which is . . . to make it possible to acquire the NPC gear we see and can’t acquire. Such as, for instance, being able to get pieces derived from outfits we see. For what? Why, to make Outfits from! Four parts which can be collected (from defeating enemies or perhaps completing events and trading Karma to a vendor) and put into the Mystic Forge, dropping from those enemy groups to generate an Outfit. Such as being able to make a “Nightmare Courtier Outfit”, or “Bandit Outfit”. This is purely for the cosmetic-oriented players who also might enjoy getting something new to play around with.

I suspect these ideas could be interesting as a means of adding cosmetic life to the game, as well as adding a bit of complexity to event and enemy reward structure. Sure, it might not be a big massive change and possibly could be a fair amount of work, but it could be interesting to play around with.

I’m going to hold my second bits and pieces for a little later, reading all these got me thinking my proposal wasn’t too far off. I also think maybe games like Terraria somewhat spoiled me on the idea of “making the space owned by the people who use it”. But . . .

I have another suggestion I’m working on which is entirely unrelated to this topic anyway.

@Basaltface

Okay, so I understood how the kits and hobosack work then . . .

Yeah, I can see the point of the annoyance. And from an amateur perspective of looking at what would need to be done, I think it is a change on the level of ranger pets -

As in “we’d have to rebuild a system (in this case bundle weapons) to fix this”.

I hate to talk negatively but I don’t expect it’s something you can expect fixed soon

Teon.5168:

windyweather.1238:

On a similar note, I never had any fun with all the Toxic content we saw last year, and sill remains in a few places. It was all so difficult that you apparently needed ascended gear. All I have at this point is level 80 exotic, so I was out gunned by so much that it wasn’t even a starter. Hey that’s fine. They build it and I can decide whether or not to participate. So far there are still places that I’ve found where a poor level 80 with only exotic gear can have fun.

Ok, it is pretty obvious now that you’re just trolling.

No. No he’s not really about how rough Toxic events were. I had a lot of problems with some iterations of the events, since it seemed a large amount of the mobs spawned were Veteran and if a group so much as ran past I’d see Elites.

I was a ranger, in full Exotics. The Toxic Alliance kicked my tail regularly and would make it relatively hard to beat the events by the time limits.

I suspect this is because they’re not balanced so one solo player can take it. Much like how War in Kryta was balanced almost entirely with HM capable people in mind.

Bellizare.5816:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bellizare.5816:

How do I join this great guild?

First, got to make sure you’re on the right server to do the WvW alongside them. But there are some guilds who would likely be more than willing to organize “let’s get the Grub for our members on X night” if you talk about needing it.

. . . it worked when I commented about needing to finish Ascalonian Catacombs path 2

It is a bit unfortunate, in my opinion, that one would require guild intervention to obtain a trait.

Running a dungeon, yes. That makes more sense.

I required guild intervention more than once in GW1 to master some missions. Or, in the case of Vizunah Square, to proceed at all on some of my alts.

So, yes, I know the pain.

Basaltface.2786:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Basaltface.2786:

The engineer forums still wait for something like an answer if\when the hobosack issue gets fixed… or ignored to have SOME knowledge about that issue. A simple " yea is coming arround (enter month here) and we fix it like (enter how here)" or a “nope dun caaaare, lol suck it engies, l8tor loosers” would already do a lot at this point. Sure.. it IS without a doubt not everybodies issue.. but i do think after a topic reached 1127 replies and 94829 views atleast some dev should go and read wtf is going on there and then ask his\her fellow devs\coders\whoever knows wtf if they gonna do something about it and then tell the community. Thats atleast my humble opinion.

If the engineers can get some update on their dirty sack issue, can we rangers expect something about exactly what needs to happen for pets to get an overhaul other than “we’d have to redesign the AI”?

Though at this point, I’d just quietly suggest a Trait Mastery to reduce AoE damage a pet receives.

yea stuff like this should be just answered with a simple “yea or nope” by the staff and have stuff off the table. Cause to know if or if not already is a LOT.

Bear in mind, on the pet thing? They explicitly said they didn’t want to allow the pet to be totally removed, and there were hints the AI was a problem they didn’t want to touch during the time of the CDI.

So, in a way, we knew it was “off the table”, but rather only so it could go on a shelf to look into later.

I suspect the “hobosack” issue is likewise something they aren’t prepared to take on . . . correct me if I’m wrong, but these weapons which cause the backpack are bundle weapons for just the Engineer right? And the hobosack appears when you pull out the kits?

That suggests it’s part of the bundle and not something which can just be reskinned by planting a Transmutation on it.

Basaltface.2786:

The engineer forums still wait for something like an answer if\when the hobosack issue gets fixed… or ignored to have SOME knowledge about that issue. A simple " yea is coming arround (enter month here) and we fix it like (enter how here)" or a “nope dun caaaare, lol suck it engies, l8tor loosers” would already do a lot at this point. Sure.. it IS without a doubt not everybodies issue.. but i do think after a topic reached 1127 replies and 94829 views atleast some dev should go and read wtf is going on there and then ask his\her fellow devs\coders\whoever knows wtf if they gonna do something about it and then tell the community. Thats atleast my humble opinion.

If the engineers can get some update on their dirty sack issue, can we rangers expect something about exactly what needs to happen for pets to get an overhaul other than “we’d have to redesign the AI”?

Though at this point, I’d just quietly suggest a Trait Mastery to reduce AoE damage a pet receives.

Bellizare.5816:

How do I join this great guild?

First, got to make sure you’re on the right server to do the WvW alongside them. But there are some guilds who would likely be more than willing to organize “let’s get the Grub for our members on X night” if you talk about needing it.

. . . it worked when I commented about needing to finish Ascalonian Catacombs path 2

Gaile Gray.6029:

Guhracie — Yes, I do understand you, and I appreciate your position. I feel you make very valid points, some of them related simply to common courtesy (which is what I was thinking as I read what you wrote, and which you then said, so two minds and all that). Some want dev posts everywhere. Some, like you, have a reasonable expectation. I am truly hopeful that we’ll be moving that way and I’m doing my small part to help. (For instance, flagging a post to specific devs to see if an answer is possible. Not hourly, not every dev or every team, but selectively and, I hope, with some level of wisdom. We’ll see how that works out — I might drive ’em nuts. )

Can’t do that, Ms. Gray – they’re already mostly there.

My sense is that many would be forgiving, but many others would not. I don’t drive the Revelation Train, but I’ve seen a “We’re going to do this… uhhh… no, never mind” scenario work out poorly for game companies, from cancelled titles to reduced features or simple delays. (Won’t name names, but I’m talking broadly, not specifically to Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 or ArenaNet.)

Which is why I understand the policy of “let’s not talk about it until we know we will/can do this thing”. Unfortunately, it also creates a sort of bubble of silence which frustrates players who want to know there’s something being worked on instead of allowing imagination to picture devs using Gem Store money to have lavish parties.

Emtiarbi.3281:

I Think something like this would be appreciated.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/looking-ahead-guild-wars-2-in-2013/

Yes, I like that, too! I’ll pass along the suggestion.

Cautionary point: some of this stuff in the blog post? I haven’t seen it yet, such as the “new crafting material” segment – if that’s supposed to be the Ascended quality items then that’s not clear there . . .

And then there’s this

“We aren’t quite ready to go into all the details here, but what I can say is you will see a specific way to build precursor items on your way to a legendary. On top of this, you’ll also see new legendary weapons and new types of legendary gear in 2013. Building your precursor will require a large amount of the new crafting material rewards listed above, 500 in crafting, and likely a combination of other items earned for completing more specific content in the game.”

. . . which I know is getting tiring to hear mentioned but . . . this passage right here? This is the sort of thing which drove people nuts, demonstrably, in that it was talked about and didn’t materialize . . . at all. And we’re in late 2014. And I know it likely got back-burner’d due to something not working or an idea being better on paper than in execution. (I’ve had similar things doing tabletop for many years now.)

But those kind of announcements are what get people excited, and then angry when they don’t turn up with any explanation at all about why not.

Anyway, I have to get back to trying to complete some bits and pieces of wardrobe

Nkuvu.2570:

IndigoSundown.5419:

There are more than one Imp veterans that spawn something called an “altar” (though it’s more just a stick with something on it). When they do, they go invulnerable. That’s been in since launch. The one the OP is talking about is a wee bit more complicated, though. The “altar” can be destroyed very quickly.

And it should be noted that the invulnerable imps continue to attack. Just like the Gravelash.

Honestly I think the biggest problem with fights like this is due to the players not seeing that “invulnerable” icon. And yet they continue to attack even when all the damage numbers they are seeing are things like “immune” and “haha” and “no, stop, that tickles.” And ignoring the extras (altars, minions, vines, whatever) entirely.

But I’m not sure how you can get players to notice the obvious.

You find Dan Castellaneta to start shouting “get up on the hydra’s back” like in that one game, I forget which one . . .

Of course, you run into the risk of giving birth to another “Watch the ledges!” type thing.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Tron.3471:

Doesn’t spam knockbacks during group events indicating that they are not just mindlessly mashing keys….

Bear-Bow # 4 hating are we? (I agree).

I tend to have it happen but I use Point Blank to shave off bits of Defiant . . . sometimes, though, it drops quickly when it gets under 10 stacks and . . . oops. There it went.

Bloodstealer.5978:

I would say this kind of thread warrants a CDI.. but that of course wont happen

Not in the near future – after Guild Halls and GvG, I hear NPE is next on the list.

It’s relatively simple. Anyone other than myself is skilled. I’m just a trained monkey who can dodge.

Ayrilana.1396:

He’s talking about the one that spawns the vines that you must kill in order to remove the boss’ invulnerability. The event notification tells you what to do.

I’m sorry, I hadn’t actually been through that event recent enough to remember it.

Harper.4173:

Play how you want in GW2 didn’t mean every build would be viable or good if the player was skilled.

It meant you could do any activity in the game and still have access to the best statistical gear.

It had nothing to do with builds.

I thought it meant I could level by dancing for cows all day, silly me.

. . . also, far as I can tell every build is viable and playable in PvE due to how remarkably simple enemy AI is over much of the world. I mean, if my undergeared Engineer can still handle things without knowing what the heck he’s doing . . .

windyweather.1238:

Are you suggesting that I didn’t RTFM?? kitten kitten kitten [sic] I’m often caught reading wiki pages, but not usually before I starting killing a foe. Not even in dungeons. I usually go there and learn from others that are doing the dungeon. Sure damps down the immersion of the experience if you have to stop to read the manual don’t you think?

You mean, stop from re-enacting Leeroy Jenkins’ infamous moment so you don’t wind up frustrated and posting here? You’re right, it’s way more fun for us to watch people “not RTFM” and fail, then wonder why.

So, mind expanding on this event boss you’re talking about, because I bet once you start you’ll understand what exactly was going on.

Note: Tequatl also goes invulnerable as part of the fight if you’ve got people not doing the right thing in the turrets or if the turrets go down. He still attacks. There’s the “Corrupted Gaze” mechanic of the Risen High Priestess of Lyssa. There’s even the invulnerability phase of the Shadow Behemoth.

So . . . what are we talking about with this particular boss?

I also have not heard anything about plans for a solution to “the asura problem” . . .

HHR LostProphet.4801:

I didn’t like Fatalis, never had someone to play with so that fight was rather hard. But Tigrex with GS is a nice one, although I prefered Katanas. And I really miss Gunlances.
My favorite armor was the Nargacuga one, which let you dodge longer and more often.

I’ll semi-translate the question I put out there for those who don’t know:

“Plessy hipcheck” is an attack with an incredibly deceptive hit zone and it is part of the challenge of the fight. Fighting the aforementioned monster in melee is made all the more dangerous due to this move and its hitbox. Coupled with a monster which is incredibly annoying to deal with, well . . .

“Tigrex with greatsword” is talking about a particularly aggressive monster which is one of the first ones to be physically overpowering around mid-game (normal game, that is). The greatsword weapon is primarily more powerful by rooting you and charging an attack, and you can fight something which can pounce forward in an attack, and then almost directly reverse it . . . damaging or knocking down at least once out of the two times. So using this weapon is a matter of timing, skill, and knowing exactly when to let go, or to dodge and wait for another opening. Oh, and you also can’t block with impunity . . .

“Fatalis” is an end-game monster which dishes out one-hit-kills without mercy and can be a serious contender for “high challenge, low reward” most times. You need to beat it roughly three times before you can reap most of the rewards . . . fighting with a specific subset of weapons lest you simply not have time to kill it. There are three types; one is predictable and uninteresting except for the arena itself. One is incredibly difficult to deal with due to releasing high-damage attacks, turning on a defense for a period of health which blocks 90% of incoming damage, and also having the thing with dishing out OHKOs. The third one . . . is much more interesting, as most attacks will OHKO if they land, but they’re telegraphed with enough time to dodge most of the time. It is also perhaps the only one whose rewards lead to a useful set of armor (but by the time you can get it, you won’t really need it).

I’ll add my favorite though:

Nargacuga. See, here is a monster which is tougher than the aforementioned Tigrex in every way, and is much more agile. Normal methods of cheesing the fight don’t work too well for solo players, though groups can cheese it relatively easy. But it’s still incredibly easy to get overconfident and wipe. More interesting is when you have to fight it without having access (or simply denying yourself access) to the cheesy methods. Coupled with giving rewards which create remarkably useful weapons (for general use) . . . good risk, good reward, and good challenge.

Hey, you play monster hunter too, huh?

So when you talk about more challenging combat, are we talking “Plessy hipcheck”, “Tigrex with greatsword” or “Fatalis”?

There is a method to making puzzles challenging without allowing walkthroughs to take the sting out of it. There’s this one puzzle in Bloodtide Coast where you have to make the numbers on a console readout get to an exact point by tweaking them via randomly generated/placed dialogue options.

I think it’s Professor Portmatt’s Lab . . .

While it’s easy to get a cheat sheet to make it through, it’s also possible to structure a puzzle past this to where there’s no simple “follow the FAQ to win”. I know because there are puzzle games which manage it even now.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

@Vanive

If you read it carfefully the problem is not the champion bags, but the fact the farmers have been mean to others not doing the champ train, in other words for killing “their” champs.

The reactions of trying to get bags banned is just a reaction to this. The issue isn’t the champion bags, but people not willing to share an MMO with others…. And being mean and rude to other players.

The fact you do not see this and didn’t read the OP’s thread seems to show you are only here for the bags as well… Just think about it.

Which points more to the problem not being the bags themselves but the structuring making the loot desirable enough to draw the attitude out for people “spoiling the game for others”. In either direction.

It should be simple – a few tweaks come to mind. Applied only, of course, to DEs where Champions can be spawned en masse instead of being the sole goal of the event.

1a. Event-spawned Champions reward bags on success only. Add a cap so you can only get ## bags per Event. Bags do not drop but are now part of the reward structure.

1b. Remove Champion reward bags as loot in events. Remove the ability to resurrect all but X NPCs during an event, and if all die then auto-fail. NPCs still standing at the event have a dialogue option to hand over a Champion Bag.

2. Replace Champion spawns from upscaled Events with more Elites instead. No champs, no bags, and adding more elites can make the event harder and gently nudge people not to overcrowd events lest they become . . . difficult.

3. Remove Champion loot from event-spawned Champions only.

vana.5467:

Fair enough, maybe a slight exaggeration

But if they really did just mess up the location, their failure to fix the issue is massively disheartening.
If it’s intentional, it’s a douchy move but at least it doesn’t make them come off as completely incompetent.

Hmm, somewhere buried in this thread is a red post about them looking at alternatives to this current and the older method. I suspect they’re a lot more focused on trying to figure out another option than trying to just patch over the cracks in this one . . .

Personally, I think there could have been a good hybrid of the two which could have been rolled out. Some Trait Masteries are default unlocked at certain points/levels which are easily accessible, and some others by doing things or similar to Skill Challenges.

But then, I expect there’d be just as much complaining if that system had gone live.

Ehh, is it weird I still play games like the Etrian Odyssey without excessive spoiling of things? Or the first time through the re-release of “Shadowgate” I only had to use a walkthrough due to having trouble locating where they hid an item?

I like to be challenged, and while I don’t necessarily care about whether the tangible reward is worth it, I’d like something to show for the efforts. Which is right about where “challenging content” meets “risk vs reward” and things turn a bit difficult to work with . . .

vana.5467:

Tulki.1458:

The juxtaposition between these two things makes me sincerely believe the new trait system was just an on-purpose gold sink to make people panic and buy gems -> gold so they can actually fill out their build without massive tedium.

This really is the only sensible conclusion. Especially considering that some of the events are either bugged out and can’t be completed, or simply pop so rarely you’d need to be unbelievably lucky (or patient – sitting around for hours is fun, right?) to catch it.

. . . “only sensible conclusion”?

I dunno, it’s more sensible to think they just plain goofed on the placement. Not like it wouldn’t be the first time really desirable things of this nature got stuck in the middle of nowhere or were incredibly frustrating to get. Go take a look at where some of the Elite Skills used to be located . . .

Specifically, “Feast of Corruption”, from what I recall . . . was really annoying to track down.

Sube Dai.8496:

Before champ bags people farmed events on cursed shore and got angry at anyone who interfered and you know, tried to do the event.

Which is, hmm, pretty much what goes on at Coiled Watch.

. . . I don’t think the problem is with the bags.

Bellizare.5816:

shadow.6174:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Hmm? I must have thought you meant “swap weapon” effects happening on bundles. Such as getting swiftness when I pick up a “bone” bundle weapon.

Oh? I never heard about that, sounds like some bug or something.. if my slow mesmer would only knew that.. goodbye unreliable TC… :P just joking.

For PvE Mesmer I always equip a weapon slot with sigil of speed and murder everything in sight to maintain acceleration.

Have a look at what I mean about swapping weapons . . .

It does happen on picking up a bundle, or a conjured weapon.

Bellizare.5816:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bellizare.5816:

The feed bundles were abused as speed boosters.

Of course that does not answer why they just didn’t take the speed boost away. On the other hand, I bought a dancing with cows t-shirt at the Tillamook factory in Oregon this summer.

The speed boost happens that way because it then manages to work with Engineer kits, presumably. Taking it away then breaks Engineer.

. . . well, breaks it again.

The feed bundles at the ranch were speed boosts. The bunnies by the Asura gate to DR also gave a speed boost, but I have not noticed that event up lately. You used to be able to buy rabbit foot accessories from the nearby merchant for a short time if the bunnies all got returned before they ate all of the melons.

But the bunnies were not up all of the time, and I never passed the ranch without grabbing a feed sack.

Hmm? I must have thought you meant “swap weapon” effects happening on bundles. Such as getting swiftness when I pick up a “bone” bundle weapon.