Guild Wars 2

Yargesh.4965:

When everyone has ascended armour sure.

The problem is when that happens, the price drop for Damask caused by less demand will be offset by less people farming cloth because it’s high in price at the moment.

Damask will only drop in price if Anet gave us a mean to reliably harvest cloth, like we can harvest wood and metal. For example being able to harvest flax, cotton, etc. from the ground and then craft it to bolts (because crafting into scraps makes no sense).

Fixing their mistake of requiring 100 bolts of silk instead the standard 50 would obviously help some.

lordkrall.7241:

Alright, so lets say that bag and bank-space starts costing gold instead of gems:

What should ArenaNet add to the store in order to counter the losses from no longer selling bank and bag space?

You’re trying to reason with people who wanted everything free, remember?

Sounds like someone’s been sloppy with rounding functions.

Welcome to the world when girls can play video games, too

Can you think of a girl who would willingly be called “Easy”?

At least engi nades fly right through it while players can still stand there. I would assume it’s the same for all ground targeted projectiles.

I assume this is because the platform is dynamic and crashes down when the champ is damaged enough.

Could it be fixed so I can blast trolls off the platform?

Well at least he traited for that.

I’m in T3 and roaming still is a hit or miss. 1v1 fights are very uncommon and most of the time you’re better off going in a group of at least 2. Unless you’re a thief or a high mobility warrior who can just run from any fight that turns 1v3+

Also keep in mind GW2 does not support moving platforms, so your images of people standing on a deck of a moving airship ain’t gonna happen without a major overhaul to the game engine.

katsubo.9875:

Tom Gore.4035:

If you want to kill people in EotM, go with a fearwall necro or siege up a tower with ACs, a few friends, and let the loot bags roll in.

that kind of attitude makes me sad

It’s called realism. Once in a while I find a commander who actively seeks fights in EotM. Unfortunately said commanders usually get a lot of crap from the people there because he’s “not doing the rotation right”.

You should try stopping the 30+ enemy zerg with just a couple of necros and ACs. It’s priceless

A commander that stops for 5 minutes to camp the enemy in EotM will be an ignored commander. Sad but true.

If you want to kill people in EotM, go with a fearwall necro or siege up a tower with ACs, a few friends, and let the loot bags roll in.

Looking again it looks like they plan to put Stronghold into the normal queues. Then it definitely will be available for all regardless if they purchase the x-pac or not. There’s no other way it could work.

moony you’re trying to change the Internet. Save your effort and just ignore them. You’ll spare yourself from a lot of grief and frustration. Life’s too short to try to tame all the idiots plaguing PvP.

It’s not announced yet what parts of HoT you can access without buying the expansion.

If I have to guess, I’d say any major parts like Stronghold, Specializations, Revenant, new WvW map and the Heart of Maguuma area are all locked if you don’t buy the expansion.

But as said, we don’t know.

This is one of the reasons I play just hotjoin to get dailies and then get my PvP fix in WvW where you cannot (without kludges) speak to enemy players.

Another thread full of crybabies expecting to get everything in an MMO with just paying the box price. Wake up. That’s not how MMOs work. Get over it or quit playing. We don’t care either way.

Your problem is you went with AMD, which has a terrible single-core performance compared to Intel. GW2 is a very CPU intensive game, especially in WvW and large events and it is using the CPU mostly at 1-2 cores.

So upgrading the CPU in that system would entail replacing the motherboard, too. I’m assuming you don’t want to do that, so here’s what you can do to improve performance.

Reduce the details in the graphics options, especially the player model count and detail (two last options). Those should already bring a big difference.

Upgrade your graphics card. The R7 260X is a very entry-level gaming card. I would invest in something like Nvidia GTX 960 or even GTX 970. You should check though that the power supply has enough power (~450-500W) and enough additional PCI-E power connectors (1×6 pin for GTX 960 and 2x for GTX 970) to support the upgrade.

Other than those, nothing short of switching to Intel will bring you significant performance boosts.

roxybudgy.8205:

If you are one of those who propose a server merge, then answer this:

How would a server merge be any different to what already happens now?

A server merge is essentially a transfer of players from one server to another. Except noone would have a choice in the matter.

The way things are now, you can move to the server of your choice. Yes, there is a fee involved, but it is still your choice to make.

The way things are now, those who are content with the way things are on their server can choose to stay.

All a server merge does is take away our choice, that is ultimately the only difference a server merge would make. And bandwagoners will still flock to the “winning” server, so any population “balance” would only be temporary.

So take your blinkers off before spouting server merge as the panacea of WvW.

Server Merge would reduce the total amount of servers, which would inevitably lead in more population per realm on average. There is a limit of how much people can stack to the “winning” servers. For example at the moment transfers to the most populated realms is pretty much closed 24/7.

Keep in mind that GW2 engine does not support moving platforms, so airship combat would mean both airships would be stationary. Not very exciting.

Ashen.2907:

Vepo.4208:

Dear, PulsarianDevil (Mike),

On behalf of the rest of the World, I want to apologise that we have events on a yearly basis, that do not exist within the United States.

We do hope you will find it within your heart to understand, that there is more outside the borders of the United States. Please allow us to enjoy our regional celebrations and that Arena.net wish to share in those celebrations with the rest of the community based all over the World.

However; I do find it difficult to understand why you would say that the Lunar New Year was possibly from Afghanistan, when the Lunar New Year is a Chinese celebration.

Afghanistan has Islamic holidays, as I’m sure you know that they are located within the Middle East and not Asian.

I’m 33 and we were educated to understand the different cultures/religions/national holidays around the WHOLE WORLD and not just the country we were born/live/educated/work.

So it is a holiday for a region which does not play this version of the game ? How does that justify the inclusion of a Chinese holiday in the non-Chinese version of the game ? Do games that are released only in China include fourth of July festivals or something ?

I am glad to see the holiday included as it is a continuation of a tradition started in GW1.

Well if it’s any consolation they didn’t spend much development resources on this particular festival.

Bubi.7942:

If selfish k-train zergling or EotM player then yes.

If not then:
- Use it for siege/traps
- Gift siege to people (commanders) who are actually in dire need of badges
- Just convert it to gold

Badges are very far from useless.

I didn’t say they are useless. Just that most WvW players will end up with more than they need, unless they are commanders or other tragic heroes who deploy ginormous amounts of siege.

Plus regular siege costs next to nothing on TP. You can buy easily what you need from there without spending a single badge. It’s the superior siege that is costly. Too bad we cannot purchase those directly with badges.

OP is probably one of those guys who wonder why the hell people in EU are working on 4th of July.

Looks like GW2 is still steadily churning money, which is a good thing. Should be secured to have updates in the future, too. And the expansion will undoubtly boost sales for Q3 (or whenever it launches).

The popularity of Lineage and AION are baffling, but I guess we just don’t understand what makes the Koreans tick.

Bubi.7942:

What? There is a game mode called WvW. It’s pretty useful there I heard.

To be honest if you don’t care about buying tons of golem blueprints odds are most players are going to end up with a lot more badges than they need.

I agree that doing something to increase total WvW population across the servers would be a good first step towards revivifying the best game mode in any MMO, anywhere.

Increasing rewards, as stated, carries with it a risk that it will draw a large population of players who are not interested in PvP and will do anything they can to avoid it, just to get the maximum return of rewards?

The solution? Simple.

Make the best personal rewards in WvW come from killing enemy players, not capturing objectives. There should never be a situation in WvW where two large groups of enemy players will deliberately avoid engagement in PvP because they don’t want to disrupt their “karma train”.

Capturing objectives should still be the primary team objective, and it should give a decent reward to everyone on the winning realm (and diminishingly towards the 2nd and 3rd server) after the scores are tallied for the week. This weekly “WvW reward chest” could even be applied a coefficient depending the player’s personal contribution to WvW and track for example the number of captures, NPC kills, enemy player kills, etc.

So in summary.

• Reduce immediate personal rewards for capturing an objective (or killing enemy NPCs).
• Increase immediate personal rewards for killing an enemy player.
• Introduce a weekly WvW reward chest, the contents of which will depend on both your realm’s and your personal performance in the past week’s WvW matchup.

Tren.5120:

Tom Gore.4035:

Terrahero.9358:

Also the Mastery system replaces skill points when you hit lv80, meaning experience after lv80 awards mastery experience. It would seem unfair for non-HoT players to also lose the acquisition of skill points, as for them that would leave no purpose for post-80 experience.

Their purpose post-80 should be to buy the expansion. And it looks like Anet also thinks that way.

Wait, you’re going to severely kitten their means of level-80 character progression (acquiring skill points, to buy traits, skills they didn’t get while leveling up) and a major reason to run dungeons (they aren’t running them for gear, the drops are the worst I’ve seen in any MMORPG to date – “raid” the TP instead) for those players simply to make them buy the expansion?

I’m sorry, do you actually believe what you’re saying, or are you just maintain the status quo elitist attitude that seems to infest these forums?

Are you seriously insisting that people are running dungeons for the skill points? Seriously?

I mean, really seriously?

Wow… Just wow.

Yeah like said already, the specializations will probably blow the whole meta apart, so a big balance pass before HoT is unlikely to happen.

Ravenmoon.5318:

P.S2: You probably think of me as some kitten that wants to solo 5 guys and whatnot. Let me make something perfectly clear, as a thief every now and then i engage 2-3 enemies at a time and I keep them occupied while my PuG team captures the point. I’m not even aiming at killing. Do you know how easy it is to keep bunch of warriors eles and guardians in check? Throw a ranger into the mix and you have to run the f*** away…

So you’re mad because there is now a counter to you being able to engage 2-3 people and sometimes actually need to run from 2-3 enemies? Wow that does sound really unfair.

B-hurt thief is b-hurt. And no, I don’t play power ranger in PvP.

Wanze.8410:

Tom Gore.4035:

Wanze.8410:

While adding a feature to automate forging, just like crafting, would be nice, i think its not implemented for technical reasons. Most outcomes from the forge are rng based, with promoting cores to lodestones actually being an exception to that rule.
An automated process of rng based outcomes (just like an option to open a full stack of any container like loot or champ bags)will most probably lead to personal and map lag.

A bunch of people clustered around a hub opening loot bags in bulk plus another cluster of people mass forging automated rng based outcomes at the forge next to them, propably involves way more calculations per second than a 3-way zerg fight in wvw.

Probably not, unless their loot RNG algorithms are incredibly more complex than their damage/effect RNG algorithms. The reason why the 3-way zergs in WvW lag is that the number of calculations and data transfer increase exponentially as more players are involved.

On the other hand opening bags, forging, etc. does not need to take account of other players’ effects around the person doing it, nor does the data need to be sent to anyone else but the one player opening it.

So no, I’m pretty sure lag is not the reason they’ve not allowed mass forging.

I am not a programmer but i dont see much rng involved in combat, just crit chance and glancing blows.

I usually use my mouse wheel to open containers and sometimes i open several thousand at once. And if I open them too fast, i get severe lag.

Well every damage effect is randomized, for example. That’s quite a lot of calculations already.

The lag from opening so many bags causes lag for you, but it doesn’t lag the server for others. It just won’t process your client’s requests as fast as you send them. This “culling” is there so that players cannot rig their clients to lag the whole server by sending absurd amounts of commands via macros etc.

And yeah, I am a programmer, although I don’t do that for living (any more).

Tseikk.9032:

Prysin.8542:

Tseikk.9032:

Before making up new ideas for WvW, remember that they should NOT favor the server with more population! This is another idea that would just make the higher population servers stronger and smaller population servers weaker!

So, until ANet fixes population unbalances i say
HELL NO!

I think even low pop server got a thief or warrior to spare to run caravans from time to time.

This would actually favor the smaller servers as they usually struggle to secure supplies vs bigger servers. Bigger servers are also, from my experience, more prone to zerg then roam or escort, they consist modtly of pugs with no interest in server performance. If these pugs get a harder time shutting down supplies, their sheer size will be less of a problem.

This change greatly help servers which are outmanned, as even ONE players initiative can have a much greater effect on the game.

A single player will have less impact if they can’t kill dolyaks anymore.

You do have a point, but I don’t think that would impact so much. How often do you actually attack a well-defended dolyak train alone? How often do servers that have a big lead actually defend the supply runs to towers that are already T3?

Sure, after this change there would be more incentive to defend the train because there could be a chance to actually keep the dolly alive should there be a lone attacker coming to it.

So maybe make it so you’ll have to stomp the dolly if you want to finish it off before the 1 minute time runs out? This would also negate the need to stick around if you’ve already killed the guards and downed the dolyak.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

If you have permanents jst running by is a waste of your actual buy… anything you harvest is a return on your harvesting tool…

Well the seconds you will spend on harvesting the mostly worthless node is seconds away from doing something more productive. Apparently many people think harvesting the cacti just isn’t worth the time.

TaCktiX.6729:

Tom Gore.4035:

It’s a two-edged sword. Giving less incentive for players to buy the expansion will also act as a fracturing element.

Well it could work, as a “gate theory”. It could also backfire, in a way that people who are on the edge don’t buy the expansion because they don’t feel compelled to do it, and then quit playing and never get that “itch” enough.

I unfortunately don’t have any solid statistics, but I’m guessing that an overwhelmingly large portion of the expansion buyers will buy it on day 1 and the following ~1 month. As Anet I would want to maximize that hype and “frenzy” as much as possible.

Agreed on the two-edged sort aspect. The problem is that neither of us know which edge is sharper to ArenaNet. They do, I assume.

Either way, thank you for the good points. It’s refreshing not to get a one-sentence writeoff.

Well Anet doesn’t know either, so they’ll have to do what they think will bring them the best results. At least they know what they consider to be the “best results” when looking at revenue vs. player count, etc.

I believe they’re making the right choice. In a non-sub game like this they really need to get as many people buying the expansion as possible, and as soon as possible to avoid the playerbase to be split too long and too much.

Considering that every content update up until the expansion has been free they really care about not splitting the customer base. Expansions do that whatever they do, so I guess they’ll rather get everyone hopping “to the other side” as soon as possible.

As a related note, they haven’t published their beta testing plans yet. Maybe we will all get to try out the expansion stuff before buying?

Nah. It’s just that the cacti have little else valuable to get from the harvesting. If they dropped foxfire people would stop to harvest them and thus the supply for prickly pears would increase a lot.

Spooksie.4930:

Is this mode all about coverage and that’s it?

Yes.

They tried PPK and it did actually even out coverage differences. Then they removed it and now we’re back at Coverage Wars.

So you saw the enemy team with 5 rangers and did not slot any reflects?

TaCktiX.6729:

Tom Gore.4035:

I did read the first post, although it was so long I admit I didn’t read it all in detail. I disagree with you. I think with a paid expansion, as much as possible should be locked behind the paywall to entice as many customers as possible to buy the expansion.

As I mentioned, this opinion applies solely to games without monthly subscriptions. If there was one, I would be very careful of putting things behind a paid expansion, as I would then risk losing customers who are currently paying me.

In GW2’s case, as I stated, I believe the ones unwilling to pay for the expansion are also those unwilling to pay for gems (with real money). Their only value for the game now after their initial purchase is that they boost up the population, which is always good for an MMO. Anet’s goal is to move as much of that population as possible to the paid expansion so that not only they will get lots of revenue, also lots of population on the new maps which are locked behind the paywall.

One of the key things I said late in the post is the community aspect. ArenaNet is rightfully fiercely protective of the community. Splitting it on a core system should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Hence, my suggestion that only the release core masteries be available to all. All expansion masteries and any future masteries get the lock, meaning that as time goes on the enticement to buy only grows, while at the same time not splitting the core gameplay experience for the playerbase.

Also, based on the announced feature list, the mastery system is unique in this problem (or perhaps guild halls, too). I’m not suggesting a chain reaction of “little tastes,” only keeping the experience after level 80 similar for all players at the basic level.

It’s a two-edged sword. Giving less incentive for players to buy the expansion will also act as a fracturing element.

Well it could work, as a “gate theory”. It could also backfire, in a way that people who are on the edge don’t buy the expansion because they don’t feel compelled to do it, and then quit playing and never get that “itch” enough.

I unfortunately don’t have any solid statistics, but I’m guessing that an overwhelmingly large portion of the expansion buyers will buy it on day 1 and the following ~1 month. As Anet I would want to maximize that hype and “frenzy” as much as possible.

Hroatgar.5814:

AdaephonDelat.3890:

Hroatgar.5814:

This is not progression since it dosent make your character stronger. But i just thought i could lvl up at least 1 character of every profession lvl 80 full exotic (since i cannot get ascended at the moment). Thats progression, im happy now.

The WvW ranks do make your character stronger. You deal more damage to guards and mercenaries. You deal more damage with specific siege. Take less damage from siege and NPC’s.

I know. Thats why like 90% of the mats i farmed comes from eotm and im already lvl like 75. But when i tried the silverwaste i completely overflowed my bags with mats and im sad i cannot craft anything good with it. Which is shameful in my opinion.

You’re right that Silverwastes went totally overboard in the abundance of Ascended crafting materials. Before it, the Vision Crystals were for me the most time-consuming part of the ascended crafting. Now they’re just trivial to get so the gating moves to something else, in your case, laurels.

Aeolus.3615:

Lots of npc at EOTM was what turned it into a farm ground.

What? Please explain.

The amount of rewards vs. effort compared to other parts of the game is what turned EotM into farm ground, along with removing any realm pride with the megaserver technology.

Ok some of those rewards come from the champion bags and in EotM there are more champions to kill per door bashed than in normal WvW.

Still, it’s not the NPCs fault. It’s the designers’ fault of putting too many rewards into a map that should be just a queuing map for “real” WvW.

Terrahero.9358:

Also the Mastery system replaces skill points when you hit lv80, meaning experience after lv80 awards mastery experience. It would seem unfair for non-HoT players to also lose the acquisition of skill points, as for them that would leave no purpose for post-80 experience.

Their purpose post-80 should be to buy the expansion. And it looks like Anet also thinks that way.

TaCktiX.6729:

Tom Gore.4035:

Snip

I’m buying the expansion personally, but again I must stress you are attacking a straw man and I doubt you read the post I wrote.

I did read the first post, although it was so long I admit I didn’t read it all in detail. I disagree with you. I think with a paid expansion, as much as possible should be locked behind the paywall to entice as many customers as possible to buy the expansion.

As I mentioned, this opinion applies solely to games without monthly subscriptions. If there was one, I would be very careful of putting things behind a paid expansion, as I would then risk losing customers who are currently paying me.

In GW2’s case, as I stated, I believe the ones unwilling to pay for the expansion are also those unwilling to pay for gems (with real money). Their only value for the game now after their initial purchase is that they boost up the population, which is always good for an MMO. Anet’s goal is to move as much of that population as possible to the paid expansion so that not only they will get lots of revenue, also lots of population on the new maps which are locked behind the paywall.

Hroatgar.5814:

This is not progression since it dosent make your character stronger. But i just thought i could lvl up at least 1 character of every profession lvl 80 full exotic (since i cannot get ascended at the moment). Thats progression, im happy now.

I didn’t even think of that when I compiled my list.

Good for you

TaCktiX.6729:

Tom Gore.4035:

Lol. Another thread of complaining about not giving everything in a paid expansion free to players who don’t want to pay for said expansion.

Listen to yourselves for a while and try to find the error in your logic.

I have listened to myself, and if you wish to complain about my perspective, I suggest reading the full, linked post. I’m not asking for “everything free”.

No but you are asking to remove parts of the paid expansion and put it into the core game so that you could find more excuses of not paying for the expansion.

Seriously, for any given paid expansion, the players who are actually interested and invested in the game are going to buy it anyway. The small fraction of players who are not willing to pay are not very invested into the game anyway. It’s highly unlikely they would buy the expansion even if they were given some bits of it free, and if they’re unwilling to pay for the expansion, they’re also likely unwilling to invest any money into the game altogether (via gem store).

Give me one solid reason why a developer would want to make buying a paid expansion less lucrative by offering bits of it free to everyone? In a game that has no monthly subscription? In a game that has a very fair and mostly cosmetic cash shop?

It’s pretty clear that if Anet would be getting enough of “voluntary revenue” from the playerbase, i.e. cash shop purchases with real money, they would not be releasing a paid expansion at all.

Dwarves are not extinct. They just changed to another form and “melded into stone” to battle Primordus.

Lol. Another thread of complaining about not giving everything in a paid expansion free to players who don’t want to pay for said expansion.

Listen to yourselves for a while and try to find the error in your logic.

Would be nice indeed if the world bosses would actually try to kill the players that are trying to kill him. You know, an algorithm that looks for concentrated masses of players and targeting them with massive AoE. Like, at the magnitude of 2-3 superior arrow carts, but with a small forward warning so players who watch for the clues can get out before getting downed.

Silverwastes bosses are a good example of bosses that can wipe groups that don’t think with their brains.

Bubi.7942:

Tom Gore.4035:

Hroatgar.5814:

Olvendred.3027:

Hroatgar.5814:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Hroatgar.5814:

Just loging into a game to get rewards is casual play in my book.

Then you should have over 1,000 Laurels by now if you didn’t spend any. The system is working as intended.

I can’t agree more that the system is working as intended, for casual players yes.

I’m sitting here just waiting for replies because i have nothing more to do at the moment. I’m craving to get into the game and farm those amazing events and world bosses but I have too much of the farmable materials… I just need those laurels but I can’t progress because of the time gates! Please Anet let play your game! I want to swing my sword, play RP and slay those Alien-looking plants in silverwaste but you guys don’t let me progress! :’(

TAKE MY MONEY

Well, no. From what you’re saying you have a self-imposed ‘gate.’ You seem unwilling to go and do anything until you get the ascended gear you want. There’s really nothing stopping you from doing any of the things you want.

Tell me another progression i can devour then.

Here’s a checklist for you:

[ ] Reached 10k achievement points
[ ] Reached rank 500 in WvW
[ ] Reached rank 80 in sPvP
[ ] Reached 100% world completion
[ ] Crafted a legendary weapon
[ ] Maximized all crafting disciplines to 400/500
[ ] Finished all jumping puzzles
[ ] Finished all Living Story Season 2 achievements
[ ] Crafted Mawdrey
[ ] Finished the Luminescent Armor collection
[ ] Finished all Tequatl Achievements
[ ] Finished all Triple Trouble Achievements
[ ] Finished the Dive Master Achievement

Come back when that’s done and I’ll make you another list.

I’m done.

Yeah but this list wasn’t for you. I bet you have a bit more hours in the clock than the OP.

Hroatgar.5814:

Olvendred.3027:

Hroatgar.5814:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Hroatgar.5814:

Just loging into a game to get rewards is casual play in my book.

Then you should have over 1,000 Laurels by now if you didn’t spend any. The system is working as intended.

I can’t agree more that the system is working as intended, for casual players yes.

I’m sitting here just waiting for replies because i have nothing more to do at the moment. I’m craving to get into the game and farm those amazing events and world bosses but I have too much of the farmable materials… I just need those laurels but I can’t progress because of the time gates! Please Anet let play your game! I want to swing my sword, play RP and slay those Alien-looking plants in silverwaste but you guys don’t let me progress! :’(

TAKE MY MONEY

Well, no. From what you’re saying you have a self-imposed ‘gate.’ You seem unwilling to go and do anything until you get the ascended gear you want. There’s really nothing stopping you from doing any of the things you want.

Tell me another progression i can devour then.

Here’s a checklist for you:

[ ] Reached 10k achievement points
[ ] Reached rank 500 in WvW
[ ] Reached rank 80 in sPvP
[ ] Reached 100% world completion
[ ] Crafted a legendary weapon
[ ] Maximized all crafting disciplines to 400/500
[ ] Finished all jumping puzzles
[ ] Finished all Living Story Season 2 achievements
[ ] Crafted Mawdrey
[ ] Finished the Luminescent Armor collection
[ ] Finished all Tequatl Achievements
[ ] Finished all Triple Trouble Achievements
[ ] Finished the Dive Master Achievement

Come back when that’s done and I’ll make you another list.

Shiyo.3578:

Tom Gore.4035:

Not catering to content locusts is the best thing Anet ever did (although they caved in a bit in the form of Ascended gear). I hope they never change their target audience (which is casual gamers who spend an hour or two per day on average in the game).

Yeah, because we need another casual MMO in the oversaturated casual MMO market.

“Content locust” is an awful word, can people stop using it?

You mean one quality casual MMO in the bunch of dime in a dozen asian ripoff “casual” P2W MMOs?

Content locust is a very suitable term for the ravenous hordes of MMO players who jump from MMO to MMO every month, consume all content within a week (usually skipping all optional content and all lore/text because their goal is to max progression) and come crying to the official forums for more.

You still haven’t answered why any MMO developer would let players blast through all the content they’ve created in weeks or a couple of months and then quit? How would that make sense business-wise?

Not catering to content locusts is the best thing Anet ever did (although they caved in a bit in the form of Ascended gear). I hope they never change their target audience (which is casual gamers who spend an hour or two per day on average in the game).

Hroatgar.5814:

Make Laurels farmable without limits like everything else so that devoted players will be able to progress [b]as fast as they want[/n].

Laurels are not the only time gated stuff in GW2. Charged Quartz, for example, is another. There are also more time gated items, but most of them are tradeable, so one could skip it with enough gold (and the amount of gold I’m making with the daily crafts tells me people have way too much gold and way too little patience).

Wanze.8410:

While adding a feature to automate forging, just like crafting, would be nice, i think its not implemented for technical reasons. Most outcomes from the forge are rng based, with promoting cores to lodestones actually being an exception to that rule.
An automated process of rng based outcomes (just like an option to open a full stack of any container like loot or champ bags)will most probably lead to personal and map lag.

A bunch of people clustered around a hub opening loot bags in bulk plus another cluster of people mass forging automated rng based outcomes at the forge next to them, propably involves way more calculations per second than a 3-way zerg fight in wvw.

Probably not, unless their loot RNG algorithms are incredibly more complex than their damage/effect RNG algorithms. The reason why the 3-way zergs in WvW lag is that the number of calculations and data transfer increase exponentially as more players are involved.

On the other hand opening bags, forging, etc. does not need to take account of other players’ effects around the person doing it, nor does the data need to be sent to anyone else but the one player opening it.

So no, I’m pretty sure lag is not the reason they’ve not allowed mass forging.