Guild Wars 2

We do it just to annoy you, and only you. Nobody else.

. . . no, seriously? I don’t know about the rest of rangers but I do try to use Point Blank to shave stacks of Defiant. Sometimes if everyone is spamming CC skills, that means I will actually have Point Blank do knockback as it interrupts.

I mostly switched to shortbow now unless I really want to remain at range (Golem MKII).

As I usually only get one day a week anymore?

- Log in and say hi to folks, figure out if anything is going on I can get in on like dungeons or something.
- Failing that, start finding a world boss about to come up and go there. Follow the chain down the list, and this usually cleans out my Dailies.
- Sit back and ponder what materials I want/need and go gather some things. If I don’t feel it’s critical, I’ll craft a few things for skins.
- Realize I probably spent six hours playing when meaning to play for two and log out as I got work in the morning.

To add to my last point – if all I wanted was social interaction? I’d go back to a MUD or IRC room or something where I am not really so limited. Or I’d just go draft MTG again :P

KarlaGrey.5903:

Sorry, but how does being surrounded by random people in a world translate to social? I can easily say GW was by far more social in that regard, as it was designed in a way you actually had to play with others to achieve your goals – you were supposed to worked together with others to get somewhere. It is a team-oriented game by definition, and as such the very opposite of GW2, which is HIGHLY individualistic (every player is a one-man army), and thus the very opposite of social.

GW1 was less social for me most times – I had to learn in the beginning to make do with Henchmen because I couldn’t always wait for a group which wasn’t going to go “ew, ranger, ew, roll something else”.

At least in GW2 I can actually interact with people a lot more just running around doing stuff. It’s not as fun as when I was in a big alliance where we could chatter away while doing whatever, but that’s somewhat replaced with being able to do random fun-silly stuff like seeing who has the most non-repeating ice puns while we do the Claw of Jormag.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Moreover, many would argue that GW2 is childish, and that without reference to hello kitty.
However just because a media is aimed at a younger audience that does in no way mean it is, or that it ought being childish.

Of course not, but there’s really a lack of things which are aimed at a demographic under adult age without getting . . . hmm, simplified and sanitized, I suppose we could say.

Last thing I remember watching which was aimed for kids and was decidedly not pulling its punches probably had to be one of three properties: Gargoyles, Batman the Animated Series (by extension, much of the DCAU with Timm in the mix), and what little I saw of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.

Currently, I would almost add RWBY to the mix, except it’s definitely aimed a bit higher age-wise without falling into the other trap of blatant fanservice for the draw.

I wasn’t referring to your post in particular here, but rather the criticism of some posters that ppl want to be’ special snowflakes’ or ‘show off’, which clearly indicated said posters were bothered by players ‘flashing’ their a high-end set of gear/weapons. If this is a problem in-game, I can but wonder how they cope with such things rl.

They do cope with such things in RL, and don’t think it’s beyond reason to avoid such things in their leisure time. Why go through a day trying to ignore everyone apparently having greener grass on the other side of the fence to sink your mind into a fantasy . . . and have it shoved in your face there too?

I deal with it, and encourage others to do so, in the only sensible way. “Cool gear, bro.”

Fair enough. I admit I am more the type that wants to see an item drop for them, rather than cough up raw cash. Simply buying (the cool) stuff in a game somewhat kills the charm for me, but I can’t say I never did it, especially around the time before GW2 came out.

Agreed. I’d rather earn it than buy it, but I like having the option to buy it.

On the part about challenging and the associated difficulty – firstly, as many posters before me pointed out, challenging does not (have to) equal difficult.

I’m going to have to ask how you divorce the two things, because a challenge without difficulty is . . . to borrow a phrase from ZP “having to wade through a corridor of balloons”. A challenge which doesn’t have difficulty for a person is just a hoop to jump through, and that winds up flowing into the issue of “why do I have to grind with these things?”

Honestly, I rather think there are three distinct types of difficulty you can put into a game:

Skill based: This is based on your mastery of a certain element in the game. Jumping puzzles, combat, I suppose you could throw trivia and logic puzzles into there too. Essentially, this divides those who can beat the challenge into those who don’t, and those who will. Those who don’t, and either can’t or won’t improve, are going to feel burned. That’s one of the more important risks here.

Luck based: Random number generation to proceed, such as . . . well, Precursor drops to get your Legendary. I think we can all agree “luck based challenges” should stay minimal and locked up in a closet somewhere, taken out for a quick show for some fancy do-nothing shinies, and kicked back in the closet where it puts the lotion on its skin.

Time based: Another one people hate, this is a challenge where it’s not about mastery of skill or luck, but of memorizing a pattern and waiting for the pattern to open up so you can get through. Some jumping puzzles are like this, and some are a different kind of “time based” (gods blast you Mad King’s Tower!). Then there’s the “challenge” of earning Ascended gear – which relies a lot on time more than money or skill.

So, three ways of making things “challenging” through “difficulty”. And this is without touching “fake difficulty” (see: “Kaizo Trap”). Of these three, one is probably the one to go with for what you mean by “difficulty/challenge” – and it’s one where you really have to be sure you’re not going over the line and leaving most of your players unable to complete it.

I disagree “Event Scaling” is what’s harming the game so much as the usual “let’s farm champions” mindset of approaching it. I’m playing another MMO without event scaling and I’m sad to say . . . I really miss it when I see 25 people swoop in and clean house, leaving everyone else to just stand there futilely trying to target one of the four mobs which spawn before it’s moshed out of existence.

I would say a better choice would be a refinement of your A option. Crank up the generation of Elite mobs (which are tougher than veterans and don’t drop Champion loot) when events scale up and limit Champion generation per event through scaling. Don’t eliminate it, but throttle it so there’s only so many which will spawn.

. . . then, be evil. Since doing this runs the risk of players just milking the Champions and letting it fail? Champion Bags only can be collected on a successful event. Or heck, just code Champion Bags for completing a major event chain once per day and give randomized other loot other times, then remove Champion spawns altogether and replace each would-be Champion with two Elites which complement each other.

I really don’t like it how admitting I enjoy playing this game is tantamount to saying I want childish things.

KarlaGrey.5903:

It honestly seems the ppl who are the happiest with this shadow of a game are the types that just wanted an elaborated version of Hello Kitty Online Adventures, devoid of any kind of real competition and challenge (innate, not self-created).

Like this, right here. Really? I feel like pretty much anything I could say about what I enjoy is just going to be dismissed now, so why bother trying to say what it is I like?

What I also notice a lot is this odd inferiority complex – if someone is wearing cool looking/expensive gear, why the need to hate on it or be bothered by it, or even say ‘ooh but me no care’?

I never got it either . . . but then I don’t know if this is about how I said I found Obsidian ugly, or how I think the endgame rewards for GW1 weren’t enough to really compel me to do any of it.

But I don’t care about it beyond two things: I think something might look like it wouldn’t fit with the character, or I think it’s ridiculously expensive for something marginally “cool-looking”. It’s an aesthetic choice I make in the first case, and in the second case it’s “it’s not cool enough for me to jump through those hoops”.

Please don’t look down on me for that or try to deride me for saying that.

The only problem is when good(-looking) gear and weapons are attainable in ways other than directly from the encounter in question. Prestige in and off itself is not something you should be opposed to (live and let live), gear grind on the other hand…and lack of meaningful team play outside pvp (and even there, it’s questionable), lack of a pve that won’t be just spank and tan- …dodge. A pve that will actually give a feeling you ‘matter’, and that you’re not just another drone in a zerg, or one that gets zerged.

I highly disagree with the comment on what the “problem” is. In fact, that’s how a lot of the “prestige gear” could be earned in GW1 – buy yourself an Armbrace with farmed platinum or ectos, trade for a Tormented weapon without ever doing Domain of Anguish. Or buy Shards and Ecto off the trader steadily and get a run to get your Obsidian Armor . . .

And the rest of this paragraph meandered into a slam on the PvP and PvE aspects of the game. The problem is, the open world makes almost every encounter likely to devolve into “shove more people at it until it wins”. (Though I understand that is actually not the way to do the Great Wurm.)

Would I like more challenging stuff? Sure. I commented earlier this week on how I want to go back to Monster Hunter and go fight some of the stuff at G-rank because it’s fun and mostly challenging. (Of course, even in that game it’s child’s play to “cheese” a fight so it’s got no challenge at all.) But I don’t think the majority of the players would agree with bumping up the challenge, because they’d then feel it removed their access to the game.

You know what happened when they made some of the bosses more difficult or shook up events slightly? People stopped doing them. Especially Temple of Grenth, and Tequatl unless there was word going around there was an organized effort. Then people show up just to make it a loot pinata again.

We can talk back and forth on this, but it comes down to what’s honest and simple – when things got harder, people gave up rather than try. Push it harder, and you’ll probably drive GW2 into a game where there’s only the hardcore players hanging in there. That’s not entirely a healthy atmosphere for an MMO.

So I was all set to reply to the OP, then I noticed the thread hijacking going on . . . nope, don’t think that’s worth touching at all.

Really, from what I can tell . . . they did away with the “town clothing” system which had been in at launch since it was one of those things barely utilize. It was a little restrictive, and lacked a lot of punch . . . and they weren’t willing, or didn’t possess the time/money to put into expanding on it.

It was clear earlier this year they had almost no plans to really work on Town Clothing too much. So they did probably a wise/stupid – rather than ignore it, they rolled it into the wardrobe system when they did that update.

Your mileage may vary on how you like the effect, but I’m mostly okay with it . . .

Now, in favor of ‘mix and match’ . . . how difficult is it to make a NPC in the home instance (gods that thing is under-utilized) who can make a tonic for an appearance you set up through putting skins together and then generating a code recognizing “Pieces of the outfit: this is this chestpiece with dyes X, Y, and Z; this are these leggings with dyes A, B, and C . . .”

I’m not making an accusation or anything, simply asking – what would it take, tech wise, to do such a thing? I know there’s a way to get chat codes into preview of items, is there a way of adapting that as pointers for a tonic item? Is it possible to add dye schemes to those chat code pointers? Is this something you can drop on a couple interns for bonus pay?

Ashen.2907:

Devata.6589:

How is convenience and looks any better then selling something else? Especially in a game focused on cosmetics?

Because they are subjective.

Right now, in my opinion, the cash shop is filled with the ugliest cosmetic options in the game. One hundred percent of the best looking, again IMO, options are only acquired in game through game play.

My personal sense of aesthetics agrees, save for a handful of Black Lion Ticket skins. I’m more content to toy around with combinations of gear skins I can get in the world and the rather broad spectrum of dyes I’ve worked on.

I really don’t know. Personally? Irish wake is the way to go for how to handle things

“Life goes on. We have wept. We have prayed. We have laid our friend or loved one in the ground. Now we eat. We keep up our strength. We go on. In essence, that is the Irish wake.”

Eh, once more I’ve seen games which were “nominally free” until you hit a certain level and then you had to VIP or cash shop . . . aggressively. There’s a far cry from this system here, where it’s not remotely required to play the game . . .

kta.6502:

GOT’s underlying theme is that power makes people crazy and the terrible consequences of searching for power over others. GRRM has a Christian background, so it’s not surprising to see him write an old fashioned Christian allegory.

Not to nitpick this point, but I seem to recall hearing the whole “War of the Five Kings” was more or less drawn out of rather real succession troubles in much older times. Also, the underlying theme isn’t about power making people crazy . . . it’s that every person has their flaws and are defined by how they behave with those flaws. And he has allowed mostly heroic characters to exist in Westeros – look up “The Hedge Knight” short story.

This happened with the biconics to a lesser degree because they were rushing it – only Rox and Braham’s connection to my character feels “real” due to how they were there in Cragstead and the Hatchery. We fought with those two, and we got to know them more than we did the later additions.

We had more to rely on with Canach than Taimi . . . why didn’t we have them go another cliche route and have Canach offer to work his imprisonment off – you could have had him show up in the Tower of Nightmares inspecting the spores since we know he worked with that sort of thing before, and come up with a counter-agent instead of Marjory. We could have had him decide Scarlet Briar is too close to home (an example of what he almost could have become on Southsun) and throw himself all-in to stop her by working more botanical miracles to create counters to her forces. Then he could have made filters capable of making the miasma useless rather than “oh no, it’s been adapted to the antitoxin”. Finish it off with in the final confrontation with Scarlet, lambasting her for putting her faith in creations of metal instead of remembering some things can grow stronger than others can be built.

We could have had Marjory and Kasmeer have the second LS season devoted to showing why these two are important to us, choose a different dragon to focus on rather than Mordremoth (who still came out of freaking nowhere) . . . why not Kralkatorrik? After all, you could sell it as starting with a talk about extending the ceasefire and the treaty meant to give some of Ascalon to human settlers and work the Branded in while Marjory and Kasmeer are investigating strange occurrences like we’ve seen them do. Then it turns out Kralk is active again, and we retake the Crystal Desert (utilizing many of the same mechanics we have in Dry Top, like sandstorms!) league by league trying to get there. We learn about Belinda and Marjory, Kasmeer and her family, why the two families don’t look like they would get along, and let them hoist the spotlight for the first half.

And we have Destiny’s Edge fretting about whether they have what it takes to assist again and finally deciding to assist at the mid-season break by dropping in to explain everything they know about Kralk from the last time. This lets us call in the Pact and our friends from last time, and . . . and this is important . . .

We have the climax build because our character called for aid and it came. Can’t get any closer to “this is my story” than that.

nexxe.7081:

The early Living Story characters were alright too. We had Ellen Kiel, Evon Gnashblade, Lord Faren, Kasmeer, etc., but then we started getting the DE 2.0 cast, and it’s all been downhill since then.

It’s as if they didn’t learn from the mistake of Trahearne.

You listed Kasmeer in there but she is part of the biconics cast you mentioned. Also, Lord Faren is from the personal story (Human, Noble). I would say the story “went downhill” when they had to introduce Scarlet and fumbled it. Then they did it again with Belinda’s introduction (“Hi, you can call me Red Shirt”) right after they picked up the ball from Scarlet and managed to make it work.

Trahearne isn’t a mistake, and how he came into the plot isn’t a mistake, but a symptom.

The Personal Story plot moved too fast from chapter to chapter, and bounced through so much so fast there wasn’t much attention paid to building characters so much as putting them where they needed to be.

With the exception of early Personal Story chapters, which was better about it since it was introducing the world and fleshing it out. This was okay to start with, but they just kept it up and things came and went quickly without having time to mature or settle in.

You could have had Benn Tenstrikes, Sergeant Bigsby, the Gear Warband, or any other characters make interesting threads which could turn up. Heck, Demmi Beetlestone was a plot thread which had nowhere it went and it could have gone places. But due to the pacing, we didn’t get any chance to really deal with any of these things beyond “hi, help us out, okay bye”.

That, in my estimation, is where the biggest flaw is in both the Personal Story, and the Living Story – it’s rushing, way too fast, trying to develop something artificially (forcing us into a position) instead of naturally (making us care about being in the position). As much flak as people want to give Nightfall just for Kormir’s involvement – by the end, the companion heroes actually felt (for the most part Norgu and Goren) like we’d been on a journey and bonded . . . not just been pushed in there and “here you go”.

[1/2]

I like reading Shriketalon’s posts, and he does think a lot about this when he does his analysis posts. But I don’t think that necessarily translates into being a good choice for a writer for the game.

If I had to wish anyone else into the position, and it was guaranteed they’d be available, I have several other names I would put into the process. And I’d probably start with Tad Williams or Timothy Zahn. Barring that, maybe Matthew Corey, Phil and Kaja Foglio, Aaron Williams, or Chuck Sonnenberg.

nexxe.7081:

It wouldn’t make sense to take an extra Tank or Healer in a 5-man group, in traditional MMOs. It would slow the group down, due to lack of DPS. The same is true for GW2. Bringing another role just hampers the group’s efficiency.

The last traditional MMO I played had six people in the group, not five, and there were a few camps where two tanks (the off-tank) really was a good idea. In raid content, a “primary” off-tank was really kind of expected . . . as well as “as much DPS as we can have healers for”.

. . . which is why my cleric was almost always accepted for raids when I was doing EverQuest. And after I built him up, my ranger actually wound up being useful though it took a very specific build to let him work. (Trueshot was so fun.)

In reality, GW2 is worse than Trinity MMOs, by excluding other roles, and only needing one. It’s the homogenization of the self-reliant class.

Problem is, I think people like it that way now. Or rather, they’ve invested enough into their damage role they’d rather not see it be less than “always needed”.

Ashen.2907:

I will concede that it is entirely possible, though unlikely in my opinion, that Anet spokespersons were not aware of the content of the company’s marketing efforts.

Not what I said, since we’re playing this particular game today . . .

I said they didn’t pick their words carefully, and I really think in the last year players have substituted words, terms, and such since “it means practically the same thing” until we hit a point where it no longer means the same thing. When these statements were made, Best-in-Slot was Legendary and not Exotic, by most people’s lexicons.

So when they said people acquired Legendary way faster than expected, people interpreted that as “Best-in-slot” and now you can see why this topic ticks me off anymore: it’s not spoken of accurately, and ANet spokespeople and devs didn’t phrase their words very carefully.

Which leads to them having to filter and craft responses so they don’t get called out for “that’s not what you said” when what the accuser is really saying is “that’s not what I understood”. And that, in turn leads into “they must be lying or being dishonest since they’re resorting to PR speak”.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

. . . said best stats not being remotely necessary to playing roughly 80% of the game

Not necessarily accurate but sure lets say, for the sake of argument, that for most people and for the most part ascended gear is not necessary. I did not claim that the gear was necessary.

Well no, I’m sure 80% isn’t accurate but I backed it down from 95% when I realized more people think gear means something in WvW.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

, but hey why quibble over most of the game being completely able to be handled in greens when we can continue the fiction of Ascended being “necessary” because it’s best-in-slot?

Which is of course completely irrelevant to the point that the claim was made and is not true. If I promise to give someone a hundred dollars to buy groceries then choose to not follow through on my promise the fact that the stated recipient does not need my money to buy groceries does not make my statement true.

That’s a pretty analogy. What does it have to do with what they said again?

chemiclord.3978:

You don’t quell toxicity by running away and letting the trolls dominate the dialogue. Running away only encourages the trolls, and makes them think they’re right. If someone is kittening on your furniture, leaving the room isn’t going to make them stop.

. . . if I come back with a loaded shotgun and say politely “please stop jumping on the couch” then leaving the room probably did make them stop.

One way or another.

Ashen.2907:

Not going to search out the links again, but:

It was stated before launch that it was expected that we would have BiS gear by level 80.

It was subsequently stated, post launch, that it was never intended for us to have BiS gear that fast.

Yeah, I remember this chestnut. I also remember reading very very carefully over it and determining they really need to be more careful what they say and how they choose their words because then things like what you just said happen – and aren’t accurate.

Changing their mind by saying, “we have determined that our original intention is not going to meet the needs of the game or the player base,” is one thing. To deny that the first statement was ever true means that either the first statement was a lie or the second one is.

Or neither are, and it’s a complete fabrication of people who feel deceived without actually having a deception pulled on them. Happens all the time, and I deal with it at work a lot . . .

We were told that grind would be reserved for cosmetics but not for stats.

The best stats are now gated behind grind.

. . . said best stats not being remotely necessary to playing roughly 80% of the game, but hey why quibble over most of the game being completely able to be handled in greens when we can continue the fiction of Ascended being “necessary” because it’s best-in-slot?

“McDonalds is delicious,” isn’t a falsehood, its an opinion.

Which is demonstrably false. Ask anyone who has a good palate.

Ashen.2907:

I have, however, seen blatant falsehoods stated as truth by company reps. Maliciously ? Probably not. I am sure the goal was not malice but rather self interest.

Are we talking “we are increasing the chocolate ration to 2 grams from 4 grams” type falsehoods, or “McDonalds is delicious” type falsehoods?

Still don’t recall them out and out lying maliciously to the players, but hey, since the perception is apparently already there . . .

It’s like trying to explain how Kormir didn’t “steal” anything from the player in Nightfall. All I get is that darn Youtube link over and over.

Morsus.5106:

The difference is that the characters in Monster Hunter actually hold their huge weapons as if they weighed something.

Still unrealistically huge for some all-metal weapons. Some of them are made of bone, fangs, and such . . . then you have, well, others which look like they’re a boat rudder with a sword grip. I don’t get the aesthetic attraction.

. . . I need to find my PSP now, I have to go kill some Nargas for fun to remind me what it’s really like to fight a “dragon”. (I wish they had the Shatterer more like the fight against a Fatalis-family dragon, rather than Lao Shan-Lung . . . or Shen Gaoren.)

All seriousness, if battles could have that level of activity and response time required, I’d be having a blast. Just . . . don’t copy Plessy’s hip check hit zone.

Vayne.8563:

You don’t think people farmed to get stuff in Guild Wars 1? Not just big stuff like Voltaic Spear farming or raptor farming. Feather farming. Vaettier farming. Decayed Orr emblem farming on kitten monk. And they went to Kamadan and sold the stuff they farmed, and they bought what they wanted, including the mats to get the best armor and weapons in the game.

Feather farming, was that the one where you load up a ranger with a ton of traps and pretty much auto-kill tengu in Shing Jea? I tried that, it bored me to tears . . . was pretty profitable too when 10 Feathers would get you something like 390 Gold.

And there was farming for other stuff too, mostly for Nick gift trophies for the people who didn’t want to bother or who got desperate by the end of the week. I knew at least one person who did that – I bought from them a few times because I ran out of time to farm them up.

Also, I still don’t get why people want to revel nostalgic in the awesome endgame of GW1. About the best thing I can say about it was . . . you didn’t need to do it for top tier gear or anything like that. You weren’t going to be penalized by not being as effective as the other person because you didn’t run Underworld until your 2 key stopped working. The only thing which you got was pretty (and that’s debatable) weapons which, push come to shove, you could acquire without ever setting foot in there.

You know what else is positively presented? Scientific experimentation with the safeties off.

. . . I’m still not doing it.

Leo G.4501:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

It is a chore, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, or that it can’t be made fun. I do that most of the times when I have long tasks at work I have to do.

A chore (or at least my definition of chore) is an unpleasant but necessary task. Pleasing your customers shouldn’t be a chore. In this context, helping to put out a product that pleases your customers shouldn’t be a chore…a chef shouldn’t consider cooking up a meal to impress and satisfy his customers a chore…if it is, he’s probably overworked and doesn’t like his job.

Here’s where we’re not going to quite mesh – my definition of a chore is more simple: “a necessary, repeated task”. No position if it being unpleasant, or fun, or entertaining. It’s a lot like when I pointed out a while back it is possible to have grind and have it be pleasant and interesting as opposed to “kill 100 rabid pygmy marmots”.

The analogy, also, is kind of flawed because he may not consider it a chore . . . but it is his job, which is itself a chore by the nature of “job”. As in “you are paid to do this thing”. Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your job (the best chefs usually do).

Fixing bugs though, that’s a chore…and a never-ending one, at that.

And it’s sometimes like the mythical hydras, or the campy Captain America version: “kill one, watch two more come up”.

I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean here.

The vibe I’m getting is, not everyone is pleased by the same sort of content and if what you are aimed for isn’t a top priority, then you’re just beating a dead horse and wasting everyone’s time?

Probably not so bluntly, but that’s the basic direction I’m getting.

No, not really, but . . . not everyone is going to be pleased by whatever content is being picked to be focused on. And, being honest, I suspect they’d get more done if they focused on one thing rather than trying to background a half-dozen things. My suspicions feel well-founded since it’s kind of what they’ve been doing for two years and for all that we got it’s more likely we could have gotten more if they’d been focused on something in particular.

Speak honestly now.

Do you think development of anything should take a pessimistic approach like you’re thinking when approaching expansion-like content?

“Speak honestly now” implies you think I’m not actually speaking honestly the rest of the time. I mean, that’s a good pessimistic assumption of your own, because I’m not 100% serious 100% of the time. More like 50% serious 90% of the time, unless I’m doing catapult testing. (Then it’s 100% serious – can’t afford to be wrong when testing asura for catapult ammunition.)

Also, that’s not pessimistic what I said there. That’s just how things go sometimes., especially when you consider a “simple fix” might have the consequences of making things worse overall. A decision you make when you design something may look to be good when you do it, however . . . in practice? Turns out to not be the right choice.

Do I think that should stop you from trying? No. I think you should be acutely aware it’s likely this cool thing you made is going to stink. Not destined to, but likely to. It’s a gamble, and when you gamble with something like the future of an MMO . . . don’t do it on a whim.

IMO, I think the devs could keep balancing until they’re blue in the face but it’s unlikely Rangers will be satisfied until they can scrap their pet completely. As a Ranger player myself, I don’t look forward to rebalancing…it just makes my pets weaker, ultimately leading me to question why I’m not playing my Warrior then.

I would be happier if the pet was more useful, and less likely to fall over in a stiff breeze. I don’t want to lose my pet because even in GW1 where pets could be turned off (and many rangers didn’t use them at all) . . . I stuck with them about 99% of the time.

Becka Williams.4978:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Becka Williams.4978:

Belinda’s death didn’t do it for you?

Not really. Neither did Tybalt’s.

And what I want to see is tragedy more of a purest sort, not just killing off someone to reach through the screen and hit a player in the feels. No, I want it to be . . .

. . . I want Oedipus Rex and Antigone level tragedy.

So, essentially what you’re saying is that it doesn’t have your personally approved level of tragedy. Which is a different thread title, but I guess it’s too late for that.

I’m not the OP, but you need to read more carefully beyond just what was there.

If we’re going to go mining for tragedy in the storyline, it needs to have impact and it needs to have soul. Not “hey, here’s someone’s sister and oh no they’re dead”, or “here’s a lovable goof of a charr engineer and he’s going to teach you almost nothing and then die pointlessly”.

And if you want to understand tragedy? You have to go to the originators, not just what cheap player punch you can set up so anyone can see it coming from a mile away.

Warning: There may be a TVTropes Wiki link in there.

Miku.6297:

Since we can walk with them up on our shoulder… Don’t see why running would be a problem

There is so much more wrong in that picture than having that on your shoulder.

. . . I mean, those shoes?

Also, can I say how glad we don’t have these:

Rathalos Firesword

Brunhild

Akantor Broadsword

Note, though, those seem to mostly be bone. Or other “organic” materials, still probably pretty darn heavy.

Curae.1837:

Okay I see people here saying greatswords are really heavy and big lumps of metal. If you’re talking about surfboards with a grip. Yes.
If not: greatswords weigh approx 2 to 2.5kg with about half the weight in the grip/crossguard/pommel. So no, they are not heavy. Carrieng an unwieldy, heavy weapon into battle is like buying a ticket to a certain death.

Yes.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, I have a long rapier with a basket hilt I got when I thought it’d be a cool thing to add to my ren faire outfit. It’s pretty heavy to hold out at arm’s length let alone to swing it. I’m not sure on the weight, want to say about five points but not any more than ten.

If your sword’s balance point is incorrect it will be unwieldy and difficult to swing around, a sword should be an extension of your arm. Also I assume you are talking about a onehanded sword?

I am. It’s blade is roughly . . . thirty-five or so inches long (I may be longer by an inch) and it’s not thick really – less than a quarter-inch for most of it. I haven’t weighed it yet but the length of the blade is what makes it hard for me to really hold out for very long.

I can’t speak for balance so much, but personally . . . I can’t really use it. My arms are not ‘built’ for that yet, and I’m decidedly untrained in how to really hold or work with it. Most of the problem is the weight is focused near the grip but the length means I still have to watch an extra eight inches or so of blade and that messes me up more.

Right now, it’s waiting for me to give it a cleaning and it’ll probably be used as a costume piece. I’ll carry my wooden sword if I really want to use something or get practice. I’ve thought about having a big hand-and-half sword but after trying to hold one and then seeing how I’d have to carry it? No thank you.

Most of this is just me going “yes, I know what swords usually weigh and have looked into a little casually on how they’re handled”. Seeing someone hold a sword off to the side like that seems plausible if they’re having to be moving often or moving with speed – it keeps it out of the way

Manasa Devi.7958:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Manasa Devi.7958:

Greatswords shouldn’t be weighing a few hundred pounds of course. Historically, they were considered heavy and impractical if they went over 8 pounds.

And historically, they weren’t necessarily used for the edge but for the point. Sort of like a spear with a potential cutting edge along the blade . . .

But that’s not what people expect so that’s not what we get.

Actually, it is what I expect, and that’s why I consider the vast majority of GW2’s greatswords complete and utter worthless dreck.

Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer.

That’s what the majority of people who see a sword 5 feet long think of.

Becka Williams.4978:

Belinda’s death didn’t do it for you?

Not really. Neither did Tybalt’s.

And what I want to see is tragedy more of a purest sort, not just killing off someone to reach through the screen and hit a player in the feels. No, I want it to be . . .

. . . I want Oedipus Rex and Antigone level tragedy.

Manasa Devi.7958:

Greatswords shouldn’t be weighing a few hundred pounds of course. Historically, they were considered heavy and impractical if they went over 8 pounds.

And historically, they weren’t necessarily used for the edge but for the point. Sort of like a spear with a potential cutting edge along the blade . . .

But that’s not what people expect so that’s not what we get. Also, I have a long rapier with a basket hilt I got when I thought it’d be a cool thing to add to my ren faire outfit. It’s pretty heavy to hold out at arm’s length let alone to swing it. I’m not sure on the weight, want to say about five points but not any more than ten.

Unless females have really brawny arms I don’t expect them to be swinging a big hunk of iron vaguely resembling a sword like Cloud Strife does.

Fyrebrand.4859:

There is already ample opportunity to support the game through the gem store.

Which I do pretty much semi-regularly out of my small budget for “fun items”.

. . . the bulk of it still goes to Wizards of the Coast.

nexxe.7081:

Wrong. There are multiple roles in other MMOs. The usual one is the infamous Trinity (tank, healer, support), but there are also hybrids, that don’t require a tank or healer.

You also forgot DPS, because you can tank all day long and if you’re not doing “the deeps” then you’re cutting down a pine tree with a hatchet. You’ll get it done, but you’re taking a lot longer than if you had the right tool. And, notably, that’s probably seen in groups and guilds I was in for other games . . . as the top requirement: “if we can burn down things much much faster, then we can do more kills, get more loot, get better XP”.

(And before you ask, yes, was a ranger in that game and switched to straight healer so I could get a group because . . . it’s a known thing that rangers in any game suck._

In other MMOs the trinity approach (I’ve always heard) is DPS/Heal/Tank, support being a non-essential role which can often be sacrificed while the other three usually cannot. And you don’t want too many healers in your party or too many tanks . . . usually two tanks (main and off tank), one healer (optimistically with one hybrid healer for backup or “patch” healing), and the rest DPS. You can slide a “support” or “hybrid” in if your off-tank is decent at DPS, but for the most part if you’re not confident you let those slide in favor of sticking with 2/2/X

But then, that’s how it was played last time I touched an MMO with the trinity, which has been a while. Strangely enough, it’s been applied to D&D since 3.5 also . . .

This isn’t just about roles either. It’s mostly about encounters, and how they favor DPS over the others.

They always have – if you can get a group which can burn down things fast enough, why bother with the rest of it? Also not restricted to GW2 or MMOs, seen it in CCGs too. That’s why “burn decks” exist in MTG after all . . .

phys.7689:

The game has been being tightened down for 2 years. Time for new stuff.

Well, yes, the game has been. But there’s still plenty of issues which should be addressed with particular classes. Like how my class, the ranger, is pretty much screwed up and over

Leo G.4501:

Who said owe? I simply asked if as in “I’ve been out of the loop for a year and want to know if there’s news.”

Right, and at the same time, we’re not owed that. Hopefully, and please if anyone’s reading this from ANet consider it, they can do a stream-cast or something for two hours weekly with some people who come off good on the medium rather than grabbing random people and putting them in front of the camera.

Of course, I’m spoiled. I watch “The Patch”.

You make it sound like trying to please their playerbase is some chore. They should WANT to appease us in some way (I’m actually quite positive they DO).

It is a chore, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, or that it can’t be made fun. I do that most of the times when I have long tasks at work I have to do. (“Say, why don’t you rearrange the items on the shelves again for the whole 21 foot section there? While you’re at it, can you find anything past the expiration date and check to make sure we actually have the amount our system is reporting we have?”)

I’m very sure they don’t just want to appease us, they want to make us happy. The issue is, and this is a big one . . . not all the players agree on what should be “top priority”, and if their choice isn’t shown to be top priority, it’s more than likely to be used as a bludgeon on the devs who speak up and say “hey we have this cool idea about X”.

Cool beans. That’s your opinion. My opinion is add new shiny skills/weapons/etc while also working to tighten down the existing game as well as meshing the existing game well with the new implemented game and future additions they plan to make.

I don’t think it’s a wise decision, is all. I used the word “opinion” (hey, thanks for pulling semantics on that too ) because I don’t know enough about development, balancing, or whatever else needs to be looked at to know if new weapons or skill would help the game or hurt it.

I mean, adding a new weapon . . . say the two-handed axe example? . . . sure, fine, it gives options. But if it’s not as good at a task as an existing weapon, or if it’s only situationally useful . . . why use the resources to develop the weapon, the skills, the animations for the skills and attacks, about thirty skins for it . . .

Similarly, with less load, is a utility skill, because you’d have to look at it and not just figure out if it fits with the overall feel of a class . . . but whether it would unbalance other things to a point where that skill is more useful than anything else the class could use.

As short-sighted as I may be, I have faith that they can do more than one thing at once while having fun doing it…but then I’m also not a jaded ex-player/current-player. I’m playing your game, A-net…for now

I’m jaded, but that’s from having been around MMOs for a while (before there were graphics, in one case) and having seen a lot of things which should have been a win/win turn rapidly into a lose/lose once instituted.

I only have one pressing question currently, and it’s not even on my behalf:

“Why is the Mac Client progress either not there, or stalled?”

Nerelith.7360:

Look Up " WTF?? No Trinity?" On youtube. It describes the " Trinity" in Gw2. BY Gw2.

I think you got the title wrong if you’re talking about an official video. I’m looking for it now, will edit in a link if I find something.

Closest I found so far – Link . . . Isiah talking about how they wanted the classes adaptable, and it proceeds into the same talk you might be thinking of. Just the word “trinity” does not come up at all.

phys.7689:

i dont think they should really post JUST to see we hear you, but they should post with overall plans, and try to understand the nature of the feedback being presented.

I disagree with this sentiment, primarily because of the above comment I made. I don’t think the forum will be any more pleased if they do this, because there’s already people who aren’t pleased Living Story is still being continued . . . who aren’t pleased X isn’t on the radar of upcoming material . . .

Leo G.4501:

They aren’t constantly working on these projects in the background? If not, then they should. If they are, have they mentioned anything about a time-line and the type of stuff we’re likely to be getting? Like alternate skills or just different weapons? Ulitities? Etc…

First, they don’t owe us a breakdown of what they’re working on and their progress towards everything. If we were shareholders or such, then we would be owed such (not that there’s a guarantee we’d get it even then).

Secondly, I . . . personally . . . would rather they work on what they want to work on rather than what we tell them to do. SAB is a prime example of something nobody asked for which most players enjoyed, and was worked on in spare time mostly.

Lastly, I would present the opinion we don’t need new shiny skills/weapons/et cetera . . . what we really need is for the existing game to be tightened down and tweaked a bit more.

Leftover data codes mined from files. Not actual items which can be obtained.

Probably for internal testing purposes, a lot of those things do exist in games to do things beyond what a normal player would do.

It’s not a matter of money they don’t have more skills, or whatever. It’s a matter of time and work – and what you’re demanding (very nicely but demanding nonetheless) would mean they would pretty much need to drop everything and rush it out.

Now, this is important so I need to bold this.

. . . we do not want ArenaNet rushing out content.

Shriketalon.1937:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’d dissect this point but I think it’d be a waste of space since you’re already dead set on taking it this way. I’ll leave it at “I strongly disagree with your reasoning”.

Tobias, my friend, one cannot simply dismiss an argument like that. ’Tis not logical! While I respect your opinions and agree with you on many circumstances, you will have to do more to prove your side of the case.

Okay, if you like . . . but I’ll need some time to review the original post and think on it rather than being sarcastic and snarku.

Allow me to succinctly put it thus, with a comparison. Odysseus is the main character of the Odyssey (Captain Obvious statement of the day). He is the driving force behind the plot, he is the one who confronts and solves the dilemmas they face, and the narrative revolves around his adventure.

In the story of Jason and the Argonauts, Hercules joins the crew of the Argo on its journey. Despite being more renowned and powerful, his role in the story is secondary to the protagonist. Jason is the one determining their course of action, and Hercules is simply the brawn tagging along (until his friend and lover Hylas attracts the affections of some water nymphs who pull him into their spring to drown, causing Hercules to wander in anguish in search for the lad and the Argo to sail on. Standard Greek myth stuff).

So tell me, do you think we are playing the role of Odysseus in Season 2….or Hercules merely assisting Jory and the Biconauts?

I’m only passingly familiar with the two stories you quoted . . . yeah, I had to read other stuff through High School literature, like “Great Expectations” and “Antigone”.

(Who, by the by, may have had the play named after her but there was a considerable amount of story which only involved reactions to her choices rather than actually being about her.)

On the other hand, let me pull out other “english literature classics” since you did also. But to be nicer, I’ll sum it up in one sentence for the TLDR crowd:

I think we’re D’artagnan to the Three Musketeers.

Undoubtedly skilled, and the one who gets most of the story done, but most of the “cool heroics” are handled by the Aramis, Athos, and Porthos for most of the book. While D’artagnan is the main character, and the story is driven by his actions . . . it’s soul is formed by his companions and the story could not exist without them. It’s the unity of their company which is the heart of the book, not the adventure itself. In the heart of it, I’m hard-pressed to find one instance in which D’artagnan truly did something amazing and worthy of being the central character. But without him being in the story, nothing would have actually happened and the Three Musketeers would not have had the adventure they did.

It seems this is what is being aimed for, because there is a grain of truth in how the biconics lack qualities . . . however, those problems are covered up because they work together, and because we happen to be there to keep things from going wrong. Are we the ones doing everything? No, but without us nothing would succeed.

. . . and, notably, Dumas’ writing style also suits. There’s a lot which happens “off-screen” in the two works of his I read (the other being The Count of Monte Cristo naturally), and the latter actually requires most of the character work to happen barely on-screen and only very specific parts happen on the page.

So, if Braham, Rox, et al had been Pact investigators, this wouldn’t be as bad?

Been playing another MMO on a trial week, and you know what? I really miss the following, flawed as they are:

- Dynamic Events and how they scale. Nothing like watching 20 people dive into an event where the monster is splashed into oblivion in 15 seconds. I was standing there when it started and no credit?

- Level downscaling so your friends can actually spend time with you. Bonus points for it, more often, not being a total waste since there’s actually some need for lower-level crafting materials these days.

- Active combat, where I don’t need to stand still for a two-count to be absolutely sure I don’t self-interrupt. Or where I can dodge roll out of an AoE cone/ring/strike.

- Crafting where I can tell it “make me fifty Wood Planks” and don’t have to do it manually.

- Hitting an attack skill and having the closest target to my center screen pop into targeting. As opposed to needing to specifically find the enemy in a crowd of "allies’ while trying to get credit for the event.

- Actual useful quick-travel.

- Not needing to rely on 0.5% drop rates to gear up for “the endgame”. Or to gear up at all.

minbariguy.7504:

I worked in retail management for 10 years. I had a lot of contact with customers. Sometimes, when you are trying to help a customer out, they misinterpret what you are trying to say and have a negative reaction. It happens. Sometimes it was the way I phrased something. Sometimes it was just that that particular customer was, well, kind of a jerk and would have been unhappy and complaining no matter what I did or said.

But I never said to myself, “Hey, you know what? Since a few customers react negatively and treat me poorly, I’m just not going to interact with any of my customers at all.”

Yet there are CS reps who do slide right into that berth and call it home. Because it’s a whole lot easier to deal with people when you put that distance between you and them and only interact with them when the job requires you to. I’ve had people teaching me how to do CS say quietly, and without stepping on corporate doctrine, how it was imperative you not get remotely attached to the users you’re talking to. “To them, you aren’t even a person.”

I keep seeing in various threads ad nauseum that ANet can’t possibly tell us anything because then people will take it as a “promise” and get mad if anything goes awry. And some people so, no doubt about it. But be honest, it is a small percentage of people that do this, and that does not justify excusing yourself from communicating with the rest of your customer base.

Hey, you know what? It is a small percentage of the forum posters or Reddit users. But do you want to know what else? They still show up every time to remind people about ‘broken promises’. There are people who still post here who have nothing better to do than slip in and remind people about “The Manifesto Lie” let alone how people always love to bring up the “scavenger hunt” . . . which was little more than a “that sounds like it could be cool, we’ll see what we can do”.

Don’t engage with the hostiles. Let the mods delete their posts and ban their accounts if necessary. Problem solved.

Not really, the really bad problem cases move to Reddit or elsewhere and wear “banned from the official forums for criticizing the game” as a badge of honor. Most just take to other platforms and decry how terrible the game has become because Nexon/Cash Shop/Living Story/Trahearne . . .

But using a small percentage of rude people to justify not communicating with everyone else is a flimsy excuse that I could not see working in any other kind of business/client relationship, and it shouldn’t be here, either.

Let’s step back and also note nobody from ANet said that’s why they don’t communicate more often. It’s a supposition from people here on the forums, which is a slightly reasonable one.

If you take a look at a timeframe though, you’ll see they pretty much didn’t talk much for the last block of time because they were launching China. I think I saw a dev comment to the effect of “been really busy with getting China done” . . .

And all this said, I still disagree with them “needing” to designate a target . . . I mean, an envoy to come to the forums and communicate. Why? I’ve seen too many times where one face gets to be the company’s rep on the forums and they get crucified for the job they have to do.

See the individual I referenced up-thread or his later replacement for an idea of what I mean.

Rhaegar.1203:

Yes. The current “development cycle” we’re seeing heavily reminds me of the last updates in the original GW. They were about 2.3 developers working on it and you COULD tell.

Now it feels the same. Where is QA (Look at how bugged the last patch was)? Where are the more experienced writers?

Guild Wars Beyond wasn’t bad, honestly. It worked really well, and had the tough job of trying to further a storyline (ANY storyline). And despite that, it sort of worked – the missions involved were some of the ones I recall fondly as “this was suitably difficult and not for stupid reasons”, and I liked the characters I got to meet.

I wish they’d had the effort to do a third one for Nightfall but, alas.

This last patch here? I can tell why it bugged – they switched from instanced to open world and like always . . . the bugs crept in because they just don’t have the capacity to test something under “real open world” conditions.

I do not think ANet should have someone dedicated to talking to the forums, or even just dropping “we are aware of it” on things. Why?

I seem to recall someone who went by the name of “Abashi” once upon a time . . .

I think Scarlet isn’t the standard for high-ranking Mordrem, I think Scarlet is the standard for Scarlet.

Stooperdale.3560:

Kill the cheerleader. Destroy the World.

If only we had Zachary Quinto to play a human character in LS3.