Guild Wars 2

You’ll see it.

And it will still be as bad/good as it was the previous two years. Your mileage is almost certain to vary.

Totally looking forward to getting my hands on more Mad King transformative tonics.

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.

Bellizare.5816:

HandOfKane.5409:

Behellagh.1468:

felessan.9587:

Suggestions:

• Unlock personal story at level 1 and every 10 levels after, and re-insert “My Greatest Fear” at level 60

Except that violates the reasoning behind the change, to unlock a chapter only when a player can binge it in it’s entirety.

Assuming, of course, that the change is a good one that should be kept.

HandOfKane. Warhammer?

I was thinking Command and Conquer.

NYG.2568:

Ceridwen.6703:

Aww, don’t be mean, now! The chap stands well for what he believes in. I don’t always agree with what he says, but he has, seemingly, the courage of his convictions. Gotta have some respect for that.

I consider it trolling, and a blatant disrespect of others opinions…

That’s a little harsh, and a lot curious how you feel that way. It’s also strange the people who like to show up and claim being disrespected aren’t clear on how they feel disrespected. Like his opinions or not, Vayne has rarely engaged in the same sarcasm I tend to employ (and get thumped on the head for, more than once) to detractors.

The closest he gets is listing why they think a piece of argument doesn’t hold water, or isn’t a reasonable position.

And no, I’m not defending them because I like them. I’m defending Vayne because they’re meticulously careful trying to phrase things to be incendiary.

Anyway, moving on.

Guhracie.3419:

I don’t know if your last paragraph was directed at me or not, truly. I’ve tried to be really clear that I don’t want more communication, I want better, more consistent communication, so if it’s not directed at me, let me just apologize in advance.

It’s not directed at you or anyone directly, and it’s not necessarily meant to be one of my sarcastic cuts – it’s meant to be some “talking aloud to think it out and have it heard”.

We can’t force them to communicate answers they aren’t ready/willing to give. Pestering them for it is more likely to get a “non-answer” than actual communication. At the best what could be expected is Chris to add it to the pile of CDI topic potentials he has to work from.

(I’m sure there’s about a couple hundred by now.)

That’s how things stand currently from where I am looking at it. It might change if they do get a team together to bring up forum presence, but at the same time I expect certain things will not change. They’re not going to comment on things which aren’t ready to be commented on (lesson learned from “so we are thinking of a Precursor scavenger hunt thing…”), or may substantially change between the first and the last communication about it . . .

Or just silly things they want to be a surprise.

I honestly wish they would communicate a little earlier on things they have in development rather than to put up a blog post detailing things going live in a week or two, such that the community can weigh in. However, if that gets done then it behooves the community to not flip its collective lid over the announcements or if ANet decides not to change anything.

Presumably, we’re all mature enough to handle giving feedback with some grace. If we can start doing that consistently, I could definitely see ANet becoming more consistent with communication . . . you know, since they wouldn’t feel like they’re just being punching bags or shooting range targets by posting something.

Vayne.8563:

I don’t the think the personal story was as well received as Anet wanted it to be. We all know what people thought of Trahearne and the Zhaitan fight. We’ve all seen people talk it down. While it did have people who liked it, many many people disliked it. The open world has always been the strength of this game.

I talk a lot of things as “not all that bad as people say”. Trahearne, and by extension Kormir, would be one of the things I like to sit down and go on at length about. He’s a lightning rod for it because he is the only persistent character to be dealt with when the story before his entrance at Claw Island didn’t have persistence as a big deal.

But the Zhaitan fight . . . no. That should have been what we would have gotten in November 2012 instead of Lost Shores. Not a rushed encounter.

The Personal Story is/was a mess of stand-alone chapters getting welded together poorly, up until Trahearne entered the picture. Then we get what resembled a GW1 storyline – fairly straightforward and generally not getting bogged down in junk.

I think Anet really wanted to shift the focus to the world and away from the story.

I think they aren’t quite ready to drop the axe on the Personal Story and wholesale re-work it as they probably need to. And they will continue to have it be an albatross around the necks of players who want to care about the story at all.

I’ll take a shot here, why the heck not. Time for “Bad Idea #1”

Proposal: Individualized Guild Hall Building

Proposal Overview
Allow the players in a guild to donate specific resources to alter parts of a guild hall model, or to add specific furnishings. Furthermore, let it be possible to ‘personalize’ each guild hall so guilds can potentially have their own hall which is unlike others.

Goal of Proposal
To attempt to add a bit of flavor to the guild halls rather than let them remain simple, cookie-cutter experiences.

Proposal Functionality
Add in a panel to the Guild menu to show the status of the hall and allow access from anywhere (as long as not in combat), as well as to view “rennovation projects”. When a guild hall is purchased, an NPC architect can be spawned by anyone with the proper permissions set by the Guild Leader. Here, the rennovation projects can be queued up, but rather than being timed they are open for guild members to contribute to. Each rennovation project alters part of the guild hall by using crafting materials or other items.

For instance, the guild leader can begin a rennovation to “replace wood” from a default appearance to one determined by the type of wood donated. Each tier of wood would have its own appearance, and the more wood gets donated, the more the effect is on the remodeling. If a small amount of wood is donated, then the appearance of wooden items changes slightly to show the different wood was put to use. If a large amount is donated, then accents are visible around the guildhall like support beams exchanged for pillars, or wood floors change patterns and color.

For lesser rennovation projects, let it be possible to collect trophies from exploration or killing Champions. The guild leader can see a list and the requirements for the trophy to be developed, and can pick one of them out to display. The guild members can find a list of required events to complete, or targets to hunt down in order to fuel progress towards the trophy. Once it is done, the trophy is displayed and work may begin on another one.

Associated Risks
If the requirements are set too high for the materials to rennovate, it could be punitive towards guilds who don’t want to “farm” nodes for the required materials, or for guilds with members intensely interested in crafting. This could, as well, cause spikes of certain materials in the Trading Post if it is decided one particular look is desired above others. Furthermore, the “trophy” system might drive players to congregate at easily completed events rather than spread out and complete a more varied selection – there could be a backlash if it was forced they complete a list, rather than progress.

Tachenon.5270:

I’d like to see the person who is ultimately responsible for GW2 in the proverbial hot seat answering the tough questions. He or she is the one with the answers we want.

Quite possibly they have the answers . . . but will they actually give them? Or will people not like the answers being given to the point of crying foul about it over and over?

At first glance I thought the idea had merit, but after ten seconds it sounded ludicrous. Now after about a minute, I think . . . I think it sounds impossible to do in a way which is actually going to please people who want answers to “the tough questions”. I mean, realistically, what do you expect them to answer?

- Is SAB coming back? “Sure, eventually we would love to bring it back.” Nobody’s going to like the answer, but we all know that’s the answer we’d get. Probably the people who would work on SAB World 3 aren’t working on it currently so we’d just get old content turned back on . . . which I guarantee would start a firestorm just as hot as it not being turned on until World 3 got done.

- What about traits? Ranger pets? Guild halls? Duels? Mounts? Cantha? Precursor scavenger hunt? “We’re looking into these issues/options/additions, and I really don’t know what to say other than what’s been said already.”

I don’t know, sometimes I don’t think players who loudly want more communication aren’t aware it’s a monkey’s paw wish. You almost certainly aren’t going to get what you want out of such a wish.

draxynnic.3719:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

draxynnic.3719:

Ahhh, Argo. What WERE you putting in the smoke beacons, that you kept imagining Kurzick attacks when there was nothing in sight but corpses?

Mind you, if you’re not fussed about getting Masters, the non-cheating way probably is more fun. But cheating the frick out of it was certainly more fun than missing out on Masters the seventh time because a couple of the wrong type of Kurzicks got through your guard at the final hurdle.

Haha, yeah there were a lot of missions in GW1 where everyone cheated to get the bonus. It was a really weird thing, where everyone including the designers were aware how people were abusing flaws in the game to get the bonus objectives. But it was never the less perfectly accepted.

I doubt it was “perfectly accepted”, more “grudgingly accepted”, since the meat on the bones of GW1 was definitely its PvP modes rather than PvE.

. . . GW2 swung the other way. So they have to pay more attention to sequence breaking.

It might also be a case that they figured it wasn’t an exploit worth going to the effort of fixing. Initially, you only had to get masters once per character and after that it didn’t matter, so why put effort into closing a loophole in old content when you could be making new content? Later, when Zaishen missions became a thing, the focus was on GW2 and, again, closing a loophole wasn’t a priority.

Mmm, also a valid interpretation.

Penarddun.6827:

Now, my new character just got over level 12, but it took me days to accomplish. Thank goodness I was able to do the PS at level 10 (wish it had come sooner) to break up some of the monotony. These time comparisons are not universal for all players.

I found DEs helped with that monotonous feeling, as well as exploring around. But then, that’s my nature – an explorer and someone doing things because they’re there.

Honestly, I almost think if the DEs were denser in the starting zones . . . it might help alleviate the problem. I know Queensdale/Shaemoor was pretty dense with events for a time, don’t know if it still is. (Seriously, almost all of the area right there around the river from the western dam to the eastern lake has events around it.

I found a small amount stashed away on an alt I had been half-heartedly playing so . . . yeah

Pockets.3201:

I just want spears to be usable on land.

I just want my Sunspear back.

Vayne.8563:

Or just nicely in map chat tell the zerg that you need the achievement. My wife and I both did that at separate times and it worked.

Vayne, I’m sorry, you’re entirely too reasonable to be playing this game.

Maybe it stopped because people here stopped asking to overhype their stuff and . . . in typical fashion, they went too far the other way?

Healix.5819:

Show up late to Jormag in an attempt to get a fresh map.

Or call in about 5-10 guildmates or friends. Should be enough to run the rest of the events if you can swing a success on Coiled Watch’s start.

shadow.6174:

Malkavian.4516:

But I am thinking that instead of locking the story missions, why not just make them more difficult to accomplish if you are not at the ideal level much like before the patch?

Even before patch story steps already was a somewhat hard to complete if you were lower level than the step.

Again, really remember a lot of “Doc Howler is impossible” talk going on before (I tried it and noticed that it pretty much was a wake-up about not trying to tank conditions all the time and ignore them.)

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

draxynnic.3719:

Ahhh, Argo. What WERE you putting in the smoke beacons, that you kept imagining Kurzick attacks when there was nothing in sight but corpses?

Mind you, if you’re not fussed about getting Masters, the non-cheating way probably is more fun. But cheating the frick out of it was certainly more fun than missing out on Masters the seventh time because a couple of the wrong type of Kurzicks got through your guard at the final hurdle.

Haha, yeah there were a lot of missions in GW1 where everyone cheated to get the bonus. It was a really weird thing, where everyone including the designers were aware how people were abusing flaws in the game to get the bonus objectives. But it was never the less perfectly accepted.

I doubt it was “perfectly accepted”, more “grudgingly accepted”, since the meat on the bones of GW1 was definitely its PvP modes rather than PvE.

. . . GW2 swung the other way. So they have to pay more attention to sequence breaking.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

What I don’t get is how people can be confused with “kitten , I failed that mission, maybe if I gained one or two levels I would be able to pass it…”

Now they have to be told “Nah, you’re too weak and unskilled to be able to continue. Gain 10 levels and you’ll be able to continue”…

Still better than Factions’ very strict story progression, and inability to skip any steps along the way. Even if it’s to get the outposts for missions opened so you don’t have to slog there again.

. . . Six Gods how I hate Cantha.

phys.7689:

which kind of points out exactly what the OP is saying.
Its a way of shutting down conversation.

“I disagree with you, and i am not going to say why, i will just say you should leave the game.”

On the plus side, i guess its an easy way to make it clear to any reading devs that you are in opposition to the entire principle of what they are asking for.

perhaps that would be a better response.

Maybe this topic isn’t for us.

flyingcats.6194:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

When suggestions pop up for things like “open world PvP” or “remove all waypoints, then add mounts” . . . no, I’m still going to respond with that statement. Because this game is clearly not the one they’re looking for.

When you reply to this with “this game is not for you” to this, you’re showing one thing: Your deep-down reason for not wanting to have those features is the same as their reason for wanting them: because it would make the game more similar to WoW.

Ergo, you’re being just as narrow minded as they are. Instead of replying “this game is not for you”, it would be more useful to explain why those features would be out of place in Guild Wars 2, in your opinion.

I would, except more often than not I find myself being derided and picked apart over avoiding those changes. I gave reasons, repeatedly, and even shifted my stance on mounts for instance. Doesn’t matter, me saying “I don’t think that’s a good idea to shoot for” means “you’re incapable of logic”.

Your response pretty much encapsulates why I stopped posting two-post replies to things and just keep it short and snarky. I don’t have the time to waste trying to lob arguments back and forth with people who don’t want to listen (and those who do listen and I can hold a good conversation with are a casualty for this, yes).

You immediately decided I didn’t want this game to be WoW. You’re . . . mistaken, and you tried to tell me what it is deep-down I want. You tried to tell me what objections I have, rather than asking me to provide them.

Ergo, you’re exactly as narrow minded as you claim me to be. Either that, or you just want to score points off me in some game nobody is keeping score over anyway. I really don’t care.

I reply “maybe this game isn’t for you” usually because I really think they’d have more fun playing something else. It’s the same thing I tell people who want to see Roguelike games like NetHack without permadeath.

. . . even if the gnome with a wand is a sneaky son of a skritt.

Mitch.4781:

Woljnir.7810:

DPS meters are just wholly unnecessary for this game. Games like WoW with 25 people raids and enrage timers and what not then yes. There’s a considerably larger chance that someone/several people are mooching and not contributing. The 5-man dungeons in this game are, in all honesty (don’t mod me Anet D=), a joke by RPG dungeon standards. So many paths can be completed in less than 10 minutes. I’m not going to throw around words like elitist, but people need to calm down in treating dungeons like they’re serious business.

So if GW2 introduces 10 man new FOW or Underworld, would u the think it would be a good idea to have meters?

Not if they do either of those right instead of just lifting them out of WoW’s playbook.

Or, well, EQ’s playbook to be fair. They had the whole “race against the clock” with Plane of Time.

ShadowPuppet.3746:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Harper.4173:

The whole problem is social – and some people don’t have the social skills required to realize you’re not supposed to just breeze on through a party if you have no business there in the first place.

It’s all about decency and respect for other people’s rights to play.

~snip~

Except asura. They can all burn.

My understanding is that Asura are naturally flame resistant. -_-

That just means you’re not using enough.

Bump the champs out and throw in two Elites for each champion.

There.

Harper.4173:

The whole problem is social – and some people don’t have the social skills required to realize you’re not supposed to just breeze on through a party if you have no business there in the first place.

It’s all about decency and respect for other people’s rights to play.

All is fair, and right with what you said, though I do take some affront about the potential implication of someone “breezing through” if they’re not 100% awesome . . .

Our right to play the way we want is fine, and I have no quarrels with it. But to paraphrase . . . the right to play how you want begins and ends when it impacts someone else’s fun.

So, to try a little conciliatory attitude. Shall we all dispense with the “you’re playing it wrong” attitudes and the idea of needing to “solve” elitism? The elitism isn’t a problem to be fixed, it’s just a symptom of human nature which will inevitably crop up when you get enough people in one place. That’s never been the issue, nor has it been “carebears” trying to ruin the game for everyone of the “real players”.

The issue has been the concept of “Group X doesn’t belong”, and the derogatory attitude towards those who choose different play. Be they “carebears”, “elitists”, “hardcore”, “farmers”, “speed runners” . . . the game is in fact big enough for all of us to coexist and not have to bump elbows and set off snarling fights over nothing. There’s no need to try throwing someone out of the game if they’re not actively ruining other peoples’ fun.

Except asura. They can all burn.

ShadowPuppet.3746:

Well, the team who only wants the high DPS and nothing else, from what I’m reading here.

If I join a group, it is, up front, with the explicit understanding I am not top tier ranger and you’re not getting the elite. So far, more groups than not have been okay with this so long as I’m not just continuously dying in each encounter or actively messing up things (through ignorance or through really bad timing).

Again, I could care less about the existence of DPS meters themselves. I care a lot more about how they might be used less as a tool and more as a weapon.

Here is the real kicker, for some people it is “fun” to speed clear and skip mobs. The enjoyment comes from seeing just how fast you can go. I happen to be one of those people from time to time, other times I am perfectly content to just float along. But if I make a group on lfg, I always state what the intention for the group is. It used to surprise me when people would message me saying something to the effect of “I don’t meet what the clearly stated purpose is but can I come anyways? No? Well expletive off”. Conversely, I have joined lfg groups that say “first time runners welcome, or no skipping etc etc”, and inevitably some clown wants to come into that group and start barking orders. In a perfect world (virtual or not) where everyone actually respected other people and their differences we would not need dps meters or better lfg tools. Unfortunately, this Shangri La still eludes us.

[/quote]

See, we’re not that really opposed here. I’m perfectly fine with speed clear groups, with DPS obsessions, and “how fast can we burn down Subject Alpha today?” type stuff. . . well, existing. I’m perfectly fine with giving a pass over groups which advertise for it – I won’t fit and they don’t want to mother me.

I just want to play my game, try to do my best, and walk out of there finishing it. (And no, don’t really care about the loot – I rarely get awesome loot anyways and came to peace with that a while ago.)

But . . .

I’d be lying if I didn’t say the thought of a tool existing which would allow someone to calculate my DPS, and giving them the “right” to go “you’re making it harder for us to clear, so we’re going to boot you”.

Sure, nobody should run into that problem if they just group with friends and guildmates. And nobody should be able to get their group hijacked by two friends who want to mess with a dungeon/fractal run for the lulz, nobody should be yelled at for playing a particular class/build, and nobody should be made to feel ashamed for their opinion.

. . . unfortunately, as you say, enlightenment eludes us. I like to think our community of players is, overall, better than average. Doesn’t mean there aren’t rotten eggs in it who manage to slide by through not directly violating the code of conduct. I don’t feel a need to loan them another weapon.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I did, and I think a lot of other GW1 players did as well. However, Rurik had the ‘benefit’ (in massive air quotes) of being the target of many jokes regarding his warrior mentality of charging blindly into battle. Togo and Mhenlo were pretty terrible. Evennia was rather forgettable.

The only reason why people hated Togo, Mhenlo, and Rurik were due to mechanics – them running off and dying, forcing the party to restart the entire mission.

The hate on Kormir, however, comes from the story, not (entirely or mostly) the mechanics.

Probably because for Nightfall they opted to make your “non Party NPCs” invulnerable and inactive, to prevent it from being a secret escort mission. (Escort missions suck skritt toes by the way . . . Vizunah Square still haunts my dreams.)

So, mechanic shifts caused the story shift which people despised, because they needed a reason she wasn’t actively helping and also thus vulnerable to being killed and seeing “Return to Outpost” again. And again.

I say that mechanic shift was the point where I decided I liked Nightfall’s construction more. But my favorite straight-up escort mission still is the one with the turtles.

. . . yes, it’s because I could cheat the frick out of it.

XApocalypse.8739:

Totally agree so many people are on the forums defending everything the developers say and do and can’t stand any criticism at all. This is what the game needs criticism so that things get fixed but obviously that’s not what is happening usually when theres criticism there are deleted posts.

Yes, but there’s “criticism” and then there’s “ANET you suck unless you fix X”, or threads which start off fine but then devolve into personal attacks, and potentially Vayne being involved somewhere . . . which brings out all the people who find this burning drive to prove him wrong any time he opens his mouth. Or to take jabs at “the secret ANet employee” bullcrap.

There’s two things right there which get posts removed, and the third is when people feel the need to make one more topic on top of a half-dozen others to say the same thing instead of just sticking to one topic. (Understandably – one lone topic is relatively easy to derail over and over again, so starting another is sort of insurance to get the message out there.)

Yenn.9185:

Algreg.3629:

Yenn.9185:

Algreg.3629:

as always the adequate reply to this request is “other people´s stats are non of your kitten business”.

If you are in my party, then it’s my business.

nah, even though I usually follow mmorpg´s “metas” and try to max out my characters in the best way and I am not a friend of “flower sniffing”, it is still not your business. I also consider joining parties when not fulfilling their requests really rude. Still, “your” party does not “belong” to you, my stats are none of your business, period. Pay me RL money, maybe I work according to your wishes then.

With that self-centered attitude, it is apparent working in team is not your strong suit. And no, you do not have to pay me or the party organizer any money. You do not work for him or her, you work for the team.

Well, the team who only wants the high DPS and nothing else, from what I’m reading here.

If I join a group, it is, up front, with the explicit understanding I am not top tier ranger and you’re not getting the elite. So far, more groups than not have been okay with this so long as I’m not just continuously dying in each encounter or actively messing up things (through ignorance or through really bad timing).

Again, I could care less about the existence of DPS meters themselves. I care a lot more about how they might be used less as a tool and more as a weapon.

Scipio.3204:

Total number of weapons released through gemstore: 216

I do believe I forgot some stuff, feel free to correct me.

I’m a little confused about which Halloween skins are which. I was told during “Shadow of the Mad King” the gemstore skins were dropping very-very-very rarely out of the dungeon instance.

Harper.4173:

ipan.4356:

Mitch.4781:

ipan.4356:

This is the very thing I hate in games like this.

why though? It can help you improve ur skills

Because I primarily play MMO’s for immersion and exploration.

I improve my skills through practice – not spreadsheets.

But want to play with people who spreadsheet away in order to get good loot fast without them knowing you’re not one of them.

That way you can still play the way you want but make more in the end because you’re being “helped” by these kind people.

I like your style.

. . . I fail to see how the loot I get is impacted in that manner, since most of it is World Boss loot

Global warming.

. . . no seriously, climate change due to things like Jormag’s freezing over of the northern Shiverpeaks, and Mount Maelstrom along with other destroyer nests warming things up? The change of where water is after Zhaitan rose Orr?

Probably changed quite a bit.

I miss hunting down and filling my Menagerie, even though I only ever used my faithful wolf pet for most things. And sometimes the Black Wings of Death which chase the scrub rangers away from the Sunspear Great Hall any time I take them out for a spin

I miss bounties, hunting down and killing particular targets.

I miss the simplicity of times when the alliance would “pick a target and go” for a night of fun. Someone names a mission or something to do and we either go “neh, not now” or “that sounds cool, I’m in”. Though that is probably due to me working more nights

I don’t know how I feel about this tool. I mean, I should be clear:

I do know how I feel about the tool. It’s just a tool. It’s the interpretation and use of the tool which I’m not sure how to feel about.

Labjax.2465:

Vayne.8563:

See this is how I feel about the statement “everything you loved about Guild Wars 1”. What if we all loved different things. One if some of the things you loved, I couldn’t stand. I mean there were people who loved standing around in Kamadan, hawking their wares, but I couldn’t stand it.

So yeah, it’s not even possible for that statement to be true. For one thing, it would involved Anet being psychic to know specifically what it is that I love.

I am a bit curious if there is any consistency to the GW1 love. I never tried it, but I hear so much “GW1 was amazing” talk. I imagine some of it is just rose-colored glasses.

I have seen games that are highly ambiguous in that way before. SWG in its original form was open-ended to such an extent that peoples’ reasons for loving it probably varied a ton. But if I (somewhat painfully) take off my SWG rose-colored glasses, I know that it did have some problems.

I’ll chime in for what may be the last time on this topic, since it’s gone REALLY far astray.

GW1 was exactly what I was looking for at the time I was looking for a new game to love, and that is why I played it for a long time and kept telling friends how awesome it was, and why I bought my brother and father copies despite it not really being their type of game. My brother was happy with it for what it was but he continued to keep me more or less grounded with his sentiments.

GW2 is almost exactly what I’m looking for in an MMO right now, out of the current crop. It’s not sucking away my free time to keep up with it, it’s not making me regret having a full-time job, and it’s not making me crazy over needing to be on at particular times or else.

So, to twist the thread title: “it’s good, and that is enough for me; it could be better, and that would be awesome”.

. . . I also am keenly aware my idea of “awesome” doesn’t mesh with others’ ideas. Mostly because they’re almost entirely rooted in PvE rather than the other two facets (which really need more gods-be-darned love)

I swear if I watch another thread derail because of the “let’s all imply Vayne is sekret ANet Employee” theories, I’m going to ragequit the forums for another six months.

NewTrain.7549:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

You certainly can build a wall with good intentions.

No, you cannot. You can build a wall with bricks and mortar. Structures are made up of actual physical material, not wishes and dreams.

Way to go literal on me to make me wrong. Stop that, it’s not funny.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

And you just dropped in “the ends versus the means” into the conversation, which is a tricky thing to handle. Mostly because often you can’t tell what the result of something is really going to be until after it’s done, especially when we’re talking about things with social components . . . like an MMO.

True. You don’t know the end result of changes until you try them. That doesn’t mean changes shouldn’t be attempted. If everyone took the view of “change is scary and might have unforeseen consequences” we’d still be nomadic hunter-gatherers.

Also fun for you to go for “reductio ad absurdum” for bonus points.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also worth considering is not all changes are positive (you just admitted it in your post, things with good intentions can still turn bad) and now you can understand it when I say: “change for change’s sake is not the answer we need to be embracing”.

I stated very clearly that not all changes are positive in my first post. The beautiful thing about feedback is that not all of it has to be implemented. Furthermore, if someone harmful is implemented, it can be reverted. The wonders of software. However, simply because not all changes are good doesn’t mean that people who suggest changes should be silenced.

Now, you should stop right now and go back because I never suggested that at all.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I mean we could, and if we have the absolute best of intentions, nothing could go wrong, right?

I’m not sure where you got that from or how it adds to the discussion. I never stated good intentions equal good results. My very first sentence in the post you quoted made it very clear I don’t care about intentions, I care about results. Specifically that the result of dismissing suggestions for change is far more harmful than that of dismissing defenders of the status quo.

It’s called sarcasm, and I got tired of bottling it up through the entire post and had to let it out.

I only get one thing?

I want “Impending Dhuum”.

Vayne.8563:

You just can’t compare these two games on any level. This is a much larger and more ambitious undertaking. Everything is going to take longer to produce.

Well, and the notice of how this game is lacking instancing in all the overworld like how GW1 had. This makes it significantly different to design for, since . . . well, you don’t have control over how many players there are in, say, Queensdale: Altar Brook Creek versus how many players there could be in, oh, Nightfallen Jahai.

Then there’s the notice of how some areas in this game rival the old Talus Chute for size. Lornar’s Pass is still the touchstone of “that’s a big stretch to walk through” but it seems . . . bigger in GW2 than it was in GW1. Probably due to so much more of it being traversed rather than funneled through a couple choke points where enemy groups were seeded.

Honestly, I think that’s part of what took so long. GW1 could throw down invisible fences anywhere they pleased by adding cliffs, chasms, rocks . . . GW2 can’t do it that exact way.

Galen Grey.4709:

which part of the story have you acting chaotic good or chaotic neutral? I mean I can see the asura feeling chaotic good cause well 1/2 of what they say sound nuts really

Okay, time for geeky alignment talk then.

“Chaotic” isn’t about “woooo chaos rules!”, technically. It’s about eschewing the constraints of laws. It’s not outright anarchy (that’s Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Evil), it’s basically refusing to follow the establishment except when it serves your goals. Members of the Order of Whispers run towards Chaotic more than others. I could definitely make a case for Tybalt as “Chaotic Good”.

Now, to the talk about my Charr from Blood Legion – who immediately bucked Lawful tendencies when he told his rightful superior to “go shove it” with about as much respect as one can. Then he proceeded to beat him down in the arena and take over leadership, rather than follow orders. That’s Chaotic in a nutshell – and he’s not doing it for “good” reasons, so much as “you kitten me off and I’m not going to let you belittle me for your own ego”. He’s solidly “Chaotic Neutral” and anything he does which is Good is almost by accident, up until the threat of Zhaitan comes calling.

but at the end of the day story always forces you to be lawful good. We never really act in the end justifies the means matter to get the job done for example and we always do the best we can to do good.

While it’s currently excised from the Personal Story, I present to you:

Two words: Krait Orb. We doomed the Krait to becoming Risen so we could secure that artifact to protect Fort Trinity, and also abandoned Apatia so we could escape rather than go down fighting. We did do the “ends justify the means” on that one.

I guess it is technically possible to have a chaotic neutral / evil character if you play and do 0 story and just kill a few mobs during dynamic events and walk away without helping any npc / player .

I’m sorry. You’re very narrow-minded on that score and I feel the need to correct you. You very well can be Chaotic Evil without needing to drown puppies and eat kittykat hearts. (Sometimes, I want to collectively gather all the tabletop gamers who perpetuated the idea of “Chaotic Evil means Stupid Evil” and kick them in the groin.) It means doing whatever you feel like, and who cares of the consequences so long as it doesn’t fall on you.

. . . if what you like happens to be killing an Elder Dragon for the lulz, you can totally put on a righteous face on it and fake your way through it before giving Trahearne a big ol celebratory hug with a dagger in the back, before running off to join the Mist War for fun and profit.

It’s all malleable, and just because you’re “evil” doesn’t mean you can’t pretend to be “good” just to get the job done. That kind of thinking belongs with the paladins.

(Don’t ask what those are.)

Vayne.8563:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Chrury.4627:

Collections are great for bolstering the endgame BUT they aren’t something I can show off, which is a shame.

Now if we had a collections armory in our home instance, that would be grand. It would be…well like the HoM now that I think of it. I’d have more reason to fill collections, as I could poke my buddy and say “Hey man, you HAVE to see my complete spoon collection!” It would be an actual THING that fills up as you progress. Something that you directly change in the game world, if only an instance.

I’ll say this is a good idea, having something to show off.

Some collections have unique skin rewards, don’t they?

I don’t know yet, haven’t had a chance to poke extensively at it. Don’t think they have unique skins at all . . . I recall one gives a Champion bag skin but . . .

I approve of these since I spent all weekend and a better part of last week sick and working when not sick, to a point where really time-consuming achievements would have been impossible to achieve.

Also, with me picking up all the extra hours I can so I can feed my savings account? Yeah, I appreciate not needing to use all my time not working or sleeping doing WvW and hoping I can get enough Stonemist captures to tick an achievement box off.

And this is from a SBI player, so not tier 1 or bottom tier.

I think you can recalibrate it better, but really . . . this is about a good start.

Chrury.4627:

Collections are great for bolstering the endgame BUT they aren’t something I can show off, which is a shame.

Now if we had a collections armory in our home instance, that would be grand. It would be…well like the HoM now that I think of it. I’d have more reason to fill collections, as I could poke my buddy and say “Hey man, you HAVE to see my complete spoon collection!” It would be an actual THING that fills up as you progress. Something that you directly change in the game world, if only an instance.

I’ll say this is a good idea, having something to show off.

IndigoSundown.5419:

I’ve certainly seen game defenders posting negatively about many different things. Some of these posts seem more like knee-jerk reactions. Others are legitimate feedback. No post calling someone a white knight is legitimate feedback. They’re all personal attacks.

Shhh, you’re not supposed to notice that. You’re supposed to pretend they have legitimate feedback and under no circumstances are you to point out they’re not addressing points raised by your posts, only addressing the person/reputation.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I like this idea. We all have guilds, so it’s great to weigh in on behalf of a guild. Naturally, guild members often gravitate to one another because of shared interests, so if a guild called Ranger Raiders said “we need more powerful Ranger skills” I might look at them a bit skeptically.

On the other hand, guilds also have people with a wide variety of opinions, so feel free to ask your guildies about this question if you wish.

I’ll try but they tend to stay out of the forums.

munkiman.3068:

I think some of you are going to get smote for going over the 100 word challenge :P

I was reading this in reverse order and as I scrolled up I couldn’t help but notice that there’d be quite a few smited bodies littering the forums if we held to the 100-word limit.

So I could have made my post longer?

NewTrain.7549:

Well meaning doesn’t help anything. You can’t build a wall with good intentions. What matters is the end result and the end result is that stifling potentially positive changes to the game is far more harmful then calling someone a “white knight”.

You certainly can build a wall with good intentions.

And you just dropped in “the ends versus the means” into the conversation, which is a tricky thing to handle. Mostly because often you can’t tell what the result of something is really going to be until after it’s done, especially when we’re talking about things with social components . . . like an MMO.

Also worth considering is not all changes are positive (you just admitted it in your post, things with good intentions can still turn bad) and now you can understand it when I say: “change for change’s sake is not the answer we need to be embracing”.

I mean we could, and if we have the absolute best of intentions, nothing could go wrong, right?

TrOtskY.5927:

How the new trait system should have worked

> Go to map X and complete Y number of Heart quests

> Go to map Z and complete W number of Vistas

> Complete a total number heart quests across all maps

> Unlock all your tier 2 utility skills on your character

> Kill 1,000 enemies in PvE total

ETC

How it works

> Go to this obscure place and do this obscure quest

> Complete an entire specific map that is at the opposite end of the world to where your character starts

> Go to WvW and kill the absolutely huge boss that takes an entire zerg like 15 minutes to kill

Basically what I am saying is that the direction was ok, but the application was god awful.

I think your system would have been terrible too, for the record. I mean, sure, it doesn’t include the Grub from what I see but . . . still looks bad.

Galen Grey.4709:

I agree with you, it is a pity we can only be lawful good players practically.

. . . no, no, no.

Despite how much good intention my characters had, they were obviously not lawful good, especially the asura and the charr characters. The asura fell squarely into “chaotic good”, the charr into “chaotic neutral”, and my ranger almost always “neutral good”.

Unless you want to define “lawful good” as being about a greater good, which is more “neutral good” than “lawful good”.

Gah . . . alignment matters.

Also, no, there is absolutely no interesting things in playing chaotic evil, which seems to be the only evil game writers tend to leave in when adding a “good/evil” choice system. If I had to be evil, would rather take “lawful evil”, thanks.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I agree with you. Suggestions would be wonderful: Practical, reasonably expressed, and clear. Here’s the challenge, and we’ll see if it’s possible and reasonable: Share your opinion about how to improve the end game in (roughly) 100 words or less.

I’d like to see this because I believe the effort could increase the value and focus of this thread. Doing so would give the devs a concise resource that they could evaluate, and that’s always helpful to them.

Well, how to improve the endgame largely depends on what people want the endgame to be. Not many people seem to agree on it, after all.

Personally, I say just take a clue from GW1 and mesh it into GW2. Let there be an area which you must be 80 to enter, and is semi-instanced. It holds a fixed amount of players at a given time, smaller than usual open-world maps, and there is a timer for how long the instance is active. Add gathering nodes, Events, chests, random elites/champions, and a meta-event to finish within the time limit for a bonus chest.

See how long it takes before everyone complains about it being nothing but a grind. Whomever wins the pool on that gets to design the next one.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I agree with you. Suggestions would be wonderful: Practical, reasonably expressed, and clear. Here’s the challenge, and we’ll see if it’s possible and reasonable: Share your opinion about how to improve the end game in (roughly) 100 words or less.

I’d like to see this because I believe the effort could increase the value and focus of this thread. Doing so would give the devs a concise resource that they could evaluate, and that’s always helpful to them.

I’ll get back to this later tonight after I let my brain chew on things. Also having it chew on the CDI for Guild Halls too, so I can have something ready to post when it starts.

X T D.6458:

the bigger prob with champs is during p1, ppl attacking them instead of the ice wall, making it take longer, I remember many many times telling ppl they dont drop loot, and they would keep attacking it anyways…then ofc the champ farmers come to “help” at p2…

If by “help” you mean try to DPS the Claw despite doing almost as much damage as flinging pebbles one by one at a dog? Yeah.

mage.3570:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

When suggestions pop up for things like “open world PvP” or “remove all waypoints, then add mounts” . . . no, I’m still going to respond with that statement. Because this game is clearly not the one they’re looking for.

But we get the same reactions when we request features in GW1 that are absolutely missing or lacking in GW2, such as more skills, templates, guild halls + battles, elite dungeons (8+ team), etc etc – things that made GW1 fun even 6+ years since it released. On the contrary, GW2 got stale after just 2 years!!!!

Not from me. And that’s the only person I can legitimately speak for here.

The last word on this is really simple from my perspective.

Nobody should be telling people to go away.

. . . however, there is definitely a right to tell people “we don’t want X, Y, or Z in this game”. If it’s followed by reasoning about why not? That’s better, but it’s not strictly necessary.