Guild Wars 2

I generally don’t mind the Guild Wars 2 interface, even though I sorely miss the drag-and-drop customization of the original Guild Wars. However, the new Daily section of the “quest log” has become the proverbial last straw. I’ve tolerated it for a while, but I’m complaining now. Even when I minimize it, there are some areas on some maps (such as regions where multiple events can be active at once) where the sheer volume of crap spilling down the right side of my screen is utterly distracting. I do not like it, and I want it gone.

For that matter, I would prefer to see the entire quest/event log reworked into a more traditional journal-type feature that I can open and close at will, or at least a GW1-style dock-able window that I’m not forced to look at. Sure, give me the audio cue whenever I’m within range of an event. Even a subtle text notification that fades wouldn’t be so bad. If I’m interested, I’m capable of opening a journal, or looking at the map/minimap, and going there of my own accord. I do not need NPC voices blaring through my speakers even though they’re dozens of meters away, and I do not need text spilling down the side of the screen. I also don’t need a constant reminder about the status of my Daily or Monthly achievements, because I simply do not care about those things. If I do care at some point, then I’m, again, more than capable of manually opening a window to check for myself.

TL;DR
In an aesthetic sense I find the current quest/event log unsightly and immersion-breaking. In a utilitarian sense this feature is, in worst-case scenarios, distracting and disruptive when there’s a lot going on (e.g. large battles, with multiple nearby events + story progress). In short, it’s in my way, and I would appreciate ArenaNet reconsidering the current system in lieu of giving the player more control over his or her user interface.

chedder.6302:

Heroes killed gw1. You ask fora party and the common response was get better heroes. In addition outside of dungeons this game faceroll easy to solo. So i’m completely against them

I seldom cared to play with other people except occasionally those I knew, so I actually liked heroes. I was only annoyed that it took so long to be able to form a whole party with them.

Guild Wars 2 being “faceroll easy to solo” is both a subjective judgment and highly variable relative to where you happen to be.

However, I lean toward “no” regarding heroes in GW2. It’s a different animal than NF/EotN, and I can think of a lot of other things I would rather dev time go toward.

Dark Jackson.3417:

…you have the casual player like me ( average 6-8 hours a day And by far not an Elitist.)

Casual? For “6-8 hours a day?”

As for your guild members quitting over bugs — why put so many hours into a game that is allegedly so bug-ridden that you’re driven to quit? That doesn’t make any sense to me. I have no shortage of GW2 criticisms and still encounter things that I wish would change, but the game has improved significantly since release.

I’m kind of with you on the new content, as all that I’ve experienced has been underwhelming and/or lag-plagued, but you and your pals seem to be going overboard. Maybe you’re burned out. At “6-8 hours a day,” I would strongly consider that possibility.

Star bug notwithstanding, the Daily UI section is utterly annoying and in the way. It’s bad enough not being able to close quest/event entries, but this is over the top. Please remove it, or at least provide an option to turn it off.

Rick.1378:

Why do people like time sinks? If there were no waypoints the game wouldn’t feel bigger, just more tedious and annoying. What’s fun about running across a zone full of mobs? I never really understood this way of thinking.

It’s not that I’m so thrilled with time sinks. It’s just that I’m thrilled less by money sinks. Waypoints fees are tedious and annoying.

As mentioned above, I did enjoy the necessity of running to many major locations in Guild Wars, but GW2 is a different game with an entirely different mode of exploration and travel. Fewer waypoints would likely have a direct and severe [negative] impact on how players come together for dynamic events and such.

No I think it’s fine. You just have to stop using them, if you want the world to feel bigger. The only time I use waypoints is when other players are waiting for me at a dungeon, or when I am defeated. Other then that I always run from place to place, and collect mats/nodes on the way.

With travel costs approaching absurd as your character levels, that’s exactly how I approach the game now. Waypoints are for getting to events, meeting people, and last-resort reviving. I’ll use the free asura gates for city-to-city travel sometimes. Otherwise, I run.

I kinda miss the idea of getting from A to B in Guild Wars, which could be a challenge unto itself sometimes. Don’t know how many times I made a low-level suicide dash to Lion’s Arch from Ascalon, or from Beacon’s Perch to Drok’s. Eh, could be just the nostalgia talking, but the “instant-access-to-everywhere” in GW2 is a bit of a downer even with its practical uses.

Nicely written, Humor.

I have mixed opinions on the “cinematic” dialogues. They were interesting at first, but the more I see of it, the more I find myself wishing for something a bit more substantial. That said, I consider it a minor shrug-worthy point at most, and I think the voice-acting is quite good.

Dynamic Events do have mini-story chains, depending on whether the initial event succeeds or fails. These are relatively simple, straightforward affairs, but they do exist. Here, too, I like the idea and find most events fun, but the whole “changing world” thing that was touted in advertising and asked about in beta weekends is very transient, at best. Makes things seem ultimately inconsequential, and some of the “decisions” you make in the story suffer from the same ho-hum sense. No matter what you do (or don’t do), everything comes out in the wash.

Danikat.8537:

Minor point but it’s impossible to get out of pre at less than level 2. I’ve tried several times. (Although if I remember correctly you can get Obsidian armor at level 7.)

But in general you’re right. As anyone who got to Beacon’s Perch and thought “Hey, I wonder where this other exist goes?” can tell you.

Point stands, but you’re right. I have a lvl 20 character still in pre-Searing, but I haven’t actually moved a toon out of it in a long while.

My first clueless trip into Lornar’s with a vastly under-leveled, under-equipped character resulted in my permanent hatred toward ice imps.

Dro

The trick to make a second version of a named game is to mix new aspects with old.

Er … according to whom? That said, ArenaNet pretty much did. They took the lore of the first game and made something new with it. If I want to play GW1, I’ll play GW1. I don’t need a clone with better graphics.

and in guild wars 1 it wasnt about the level. it was about how you sorted your gear and weapon mods and attributes. here i can throw max armor on and get level 80 and go anywhere i want in the game. and oh yeah if u die in a dungeon u can just map back to a waypoint. sooooo challenging.

You have to level in Guild Wars. It’s just a slower affair (at least in Prophecies and Nightfall) that caps at 20. Attempt to travel from Old Ascalon to Lion’s Arch at level 1, and you’re unlikely to get very far without a runner, regardless of what you equip.

Death penalty in Guild Wars isn’t a challenge. It’s a pointless annoyance that caused me to leave a significant portion of the game’s post-campaign content unfinished. Its demise is more than welcome.

…no real gear progression like in WoW…

Yet another person buys the game with this expectation, in spite of years of advertising to the contrary, and complains when this wish isn’t reflected by reality. ’Tis baffling.

Mortifer.2946:

I did not play WoW… but your argument is absolutely irrelevant. They promised us “When it’s ready” …it is obviously not and I see that every day it is just worse and worse, because they don’t do daily restarts, so everything is stuck and dead.

That argument is completely relevant. Believe it or not, despite its issues GW2 has had a reasonably smooth first month, insofar as MMOs tend to go. No matter how much fine-tuning a dev does or how many beta events they hold, a live, for-real launch simply cannot be effectively simulated. “When it’s ready” simply means “when we’ve tested to the fullest extent possible.” This isn’t a promise to deliver a bug-free product. That would be silly. And due to the nature of the product, it’s entirely possible that some changes will make things worse before they get better. You either accept this and trust your investment will be justified by a company willing to make their game the best it can be, or you don’t. If the latter, why did you even spend your money?

Addressed here.

:)

Ronin.8095:

I’m no fly-by-night Chicken Little
…
You’re basically inferring that most of the problem lies with me and not the game and that GW as a title has been this way since time immemorial and shouldn’t have to change.

I’m not inferring anything. Your own words tell me you bought GW2 expecting one thing, when all of ArenaNet’s marketing since announcement day should have told you something else. I think you kinda are a Chicken Little in this case, making a lot of speculative claims that are seemingly rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the game you purchased. Farming isn’t part of ArenaNet’s paradigm. You can farm if you want to, but they aren’t going to reward you for it. If enough players hue and cry, maybe they will change their stance. As of yet, I have not seen the desolate servers that you people keep citing as evidence of this alleged mass rebellion.

Apos

Then you refuse to see the patern, it’s not that you don’t understand it. You just refuse to accept it.

Wow, what an unassailable argument. Just paint your opponent as a closed-minded brick. QED.

it’s about how a bunch of developers tried to force the players their way of how a game should be played

You seem to be of the opinion that the game is effectively an on-rails shooter because it doesn’t make farming profitable. I truly don’t understand that type of thinking.

and then the players reacted and abandoned them.

If ArenaNet sees evidence of this happening, I suspect they will react accordingly.

You know what your problem is?

I have a few, but something tells me you’re about to propose one I’m not familiar with.

You think that we bash GW2 just for the sake of bashing it

Wrong. I think you’re genuinely frustrated. I just also think most of you are being Chicken Littles about it, which is neither beneficial to the community nor conducive toward helping ArenaNet solve the problem.

and that you feel the urge to defend it, which is wrong.

I have defended ArenaNet in the sense that “we’re only a month in, they’re juggling a lot of pins, give them some time.” I don’t think I’ve defended the DR itself even once, because I don’t really agree with it.

No, we just don’t want to see the above example happen again, doesn’t matter whether it’s different genres or not.

That’s fine, and there’s something to be said for that. However, there’s a difference between coming on the forum with a sensible argument as to why something should or should not be, and the arm-flapping hysteria that pervades many of the posts here.

Apos.5184:

Actually, D3 is the perfect example of the fate a game has when the developers decide to invoke how its playerbase should play the game.

Actually, D3 is a perfect example of what happens when a classic ARPG franchise turns into an online-only cash shop.

Not only was the drop rates crap on their own, but the developers decided that they wanted their playerbase to kill the rare/elite packs instead of bosses in order to get decent loot. Packs that had random affixes and were insanely hard,oftenly one shotting people.

True, ’twas garbage.

Then the playerbase abandoned the game. A lot of the playerbase. And they never returned, even when they reduced the difficulty of these packs.

See the pattern? Some mistakes are better fixed back, otherwise they are not reversed easily, if at all.

No, I really don’t. You said that “D3 is the perfect example,” but then went off about something else.

Ronin.8095:

I’m good at games and succeed in MMOs, but I have more fun in the forum than the game. I’ve discovered this after 2 weeks of playing.

That’s the death-knell and it really appears to be the case for lots of people.

That definitely seems like a fundamental issue to consider. I’m not on these forums much. The only reason I was here to find this thread is that I wanted to make sure it was safe to take the attached copper now being sent by gold spammers, so I could delete the message. I’d much rather play the game than fight about it.

It plays like a stand-alone single player console game just that there’s bots in it and some other people.

I’m not even sure what this means, or what you think an MMO is or should be.

The other areas of the game are desolate.

I’ve played almost every day since release, and I have yet to observe this.

It doesn’t mean I can’t walk away disappointed and feeling lied to. Which I do right now.

You weren’t lied to. ArenaNet’s philosophy has been abundantly clear for years, and I don’t think they’ve done anything to go against it. Maybe you expected one thing and go something else. If that’s the case, you simply didn’t learn enough about the game before diving in.

You’ll probably say, “Good riddance!” when I say I’m going to leave, but I know it’s going to be a very similar pattern in the next few months.

While I think your dissatisfaction is probably your own doing in large part, I’m not inclined to say “good riddance” to a non-troll. In general, I prefer players in the game to not.

Drastic changes need to be made and ANet are far too rigid in their stance on things like DR and anti-farming measures.

Possibly. I’m willing to give them more time.

You can never punish your players because of a tiny minority of other players that exploit your game.

Forcing you to relocate after farming the crap out of one area isn’t a punishment.

DR is a lazy, blanket, easily-applied, low maintenance, cheap way of appearing to try to do something about botting.

Possibly, but it isn’t a punishment.

What it really actually does it move the bots elsewhere and to places where they really get in our way.

Report them. If you don’t think ArenaNet can/will eventually solve the problem, or at least mitigate it, then I don’t know what to say.

That’s so badly though out, I want to laugh.

I disagree, but okay.

Imagine if they introduce a storyline or a quest of some kind that means getting a item that drops from a specific mob. It’s very common in MMOs. Where’s your DR then?

You’ll be stopped from farming that essential storyline item effectively.

Story missions are contained within instances, so that isn’t an issue.

Renown missions and events do sometimes unfold in this manner, and the necessary quest items will drop from the specific enemies in the mission area every single time.

It hasn’t happened yet, but that’s a massive oversight with DR. It’ll affect every else except the bots and turn the game into a laughing stock.

If ArenaNet introduced a mission or event that required an item that has been nerfed by anti-farming code, then I agree, that would be extremely stupid. Of course, if that were to happen, you could type “/bug” in the chat window, tick the “Blocking Progress” box, and report the issue.

I doubt they would deliberately do such a thing, but I suppose there’s a remote chance of them being pure evil as some of the people on this forum seem to believe.

I keep saying this, I’ve seen it happen, have first-hand experience of it happening and the longer a dev team ignores the problem they bigger the hole becomes.

You do keep saying it. That much is true.

So here’s to something changing, but I already have a feeling, from all the feedback from people supporting the game, sanely or insanely, that it won’t change and ANet feels like it’ll never need to change.

ArenaNet is going to keep their cash cow alive. If they see definitive evidence that the player-base is waning beyond expected norms, I suspect they’ll change as necessary.

That’s fair enough. You’re entitled to your opinions and to express them as much as I am.

Don’t expect to have a popular title to play that will last any amount of time, though. That won’t change.

I think Guild Wars 2 will be around for a long time, as was the original Guild Wars. These same sorts of discussions came up surrounding the first game, at various points across its [continuing] lifespan. For whatever reason, MMO players are such a flighty bunch, with Chicken Littles around every corner.

Soulwatcher.2604:

Undead if you want to see a dead f2p game look no further then D3! Like I said just because a game is free doesn’t mean people will keep playing;

You said games start to die in a month without catering to a list of nebulously-defined demands. I asked what you base this on, and you gave the “example” of SWTOR (which we can dismiss for my stated reasons).

You said to look at the level 1-70 areas to see the ghost town GW2 is becoming. I replied that I have spent nearly all of my in-game time in those areas, and I don’t observe any such thing.

So now you’re invoking D3? Really?

I never said people would play a game just because it’s free. Nobody here has said that, as far as I can recall. Why do you find it necessary to continue countering a position that no one has actually taken?

Soulwatcher.2604:

@Undead look at Star Wars Bioware spent $300 million developing the game and by 90 days it was a ghost town and now its going free to play. That’s just one example! Just because a game is free to play doesn’t mean players are going to keep playing if there unhappy.

Yeah, that’s one example, and SWTOR also happens to be subscription-based. I wouldn’t have paid monthly for that game even if it had been good. So not a very good example. In any case, you’ve run into the same wall that Ronin inadvertently built with the FF parallel.

P.S. if you want proof of a unhappy player base go to the 1~70 zones they are ghost towns which means lack of new sales and people not happy enough with the game to make new alts!

I have five characters, all of them still in lvl 1-70 areas. I haven’t found myself in a ghost town yet, so I have to say that my experience doesn’t square with your prophecy o’ doom.

Gauradan.8361:

No, Guild Wars 2 is about playing your way. If I want to farm hundreds upon hundreds of gold I should be able to do so in a manner which doesn’t make me feel like I’m wasting my time.

If your play-style goes against the core design philosophy of the game, then I see no reason why ArenaNet should endeavor to entertain it. If enough people decide they don’t like this, and the numbers reflect widespread dissatisfaction among the player base, then of course they miscalculated and will need to reexamine this approach. Personally, I’ve yet to be bothered by it. A mere month in, I don’t think we can jump to any conclusions except that there is a bot/spam problem, and ArenaNet is seeking a long-term solution.

Southwatcher

@Undead your right were a month in and that’s when people start to give up on a game and by they 90-day mark they are ghost towns. Now is not the time to upset your player base

I don’t think it’s been conclusively established that ArenaNet has “upset [the] player base.” I think some people are upset, and the forum rage is evident, but then that’s going to be the case every time a skill is changed, a boss is nerfed/buffed, or just about any other change is implemented.

I’m curious as to what you’re basing your give-up / ghost town claim on. I suspect that any game, regardless of its success or long-term viability, is likely to see a steady or even abrupt drop-off after a month or so. The shiny wears off. Humans are rather skritt-like after all, it would seem.

Ronin.8095:

UndeadRufus.6832:

It’s dictatorial and quickly ensures the demise of a game shortly thereafter.

That must be why the original Guild Wars up and died.

Oh, wait….

That doesn’t mean this game won’t be affected.

Of course not. I was merely offering a counter-example to the claim that if X, then Y. However, if we’re going down the path of logic you adopt here, then your point about FFXIV is equally moot.

There’s far too much wrong with it right now.

Here you proffer yet another unqualified statement. “Too much” relative to what? Frankly, I’ve found Guild Wars 2 one of the smoother month-in MMOs, early trading post and server load issues notwithstanding.

It’s bugged so very badly.

There are bugs, some worse than others, but I wouldn’t rate the status of the game as “bugged so very badly.” That’s just arm-flapping histrionics.

Bots are everywhere and the presence of bots severly restricts the amount of loot and rewards you can get in a busy DE, as they’re all sword swinging melees right at the front.

Report them. ArenaNet is working on the problem. I’m not fully on board with the diminishing returns they’ve implemented, but the doom and gloom on this forum is just silly. Again, we’re a mere month into this thing.

As for all the other complaints you decided to shoehorn in there, you’re welcome to have your opinions. I think there are already umpteen threads about those issues. Guild Wars 2 isn’t built around collecting bundles of pixels with labels on them. You can strive for that end-goal if you so choose, but the driving philosophy of the game is centered on an overarching experience, not gear treadmills, dangling carrots or what have you.

Apos.5184:

Might have something to do with why the original Guild Wars never became big despite having some good ideas behind it.

I’m not sure how you’re defining ‘big,’ but that’s a hand-wave secondary to the point anyway.

It’s dictatorial and quickly ensures the demise of a game shortly thereafter.

That must be why the original Guild Wars up and died.

Oh, wait….

I’ve noticed this as well. Frame rate dips drastically when entering the cavern. I filed a bug report some days ago, because it wasn’t happening until recently. If they increased the bomb spawn, that might account for it. I’ve never had FPS drop anywhere else, not even during huge boss encounters with a horde of players.

Same issue here, and this is an extremely irritating glitch. It’s so irritating, in fact, that I’m about this close >< to throwing in the towel with my Warrior.

Fun class, but jeez…. This is even worse than the Necromancer’s constant fretting over his minions.

Lol you don’t get it, the skill stuns before bursting lol other then that we move arround alot

What’s so funny? There are numerous counters to the stun condition. Sounds to me like you were simply outplayed.

Gave.9408:

I’m still waiting for a response to my “NO LEVELS, NO STATS” pitch.

If this game is simply about “fun”, then what better a way to get rid of that no-no mindset of rewards = fun? After all, this is the revolutionary Guild Wars 2 we’re talking about.

I’m pretty sure someone earlier in the thread made the same claim that you have, and the original poster has addressed this multiple times already, including in his/her first post. It was never claimed that rewards/progression aren’t “fun.” It was noted that the game isn’t reward-centric, which several people (including you) have somehow confused with an absence of rewards and progression, or at least suggested this for whatever reason as a logical extension of the game philosophy. It was also noted that a wide variety of things can be “fun,” and it is not necessarily incumbent upon ArenaNet to facilitate all of them.

Any official word on this? I’m on the level 24 Norn story instance, and I’ve recently encountered numerous cases of missing voiceovers with Eir and other NPCs. Filed a couple of bug reports already, but apparently the problem is more prevalent than just a handful of lines.

Shelledfade.6435:

I think you better stop spreading falsities if you want our class to get fixed anytime soon. If you get that attitude from me then the poster probably deserved it for saying something really idiotic.

So your response is to call me a liar and justify your nastiness with circular logic. I strongly suspect at this point that you’re not here for redress, but merely to take your frustration out by belittling others. It’s sad. People are typically more receptive to your ideas when you aren’t insulting them.

I don’t think the Necromancer class needs to be fixed. I think some aspects of the class need to be balanced, like the trait minion discussed in another thread, but I think much the same about every other class. This is still a very new game. Things will be buffed and nerfed throughout the life of this product, just it’s been in Guild Wars for the last five years. Classes will rise and fall from favor, probably many times over, in the coming years.

If the Necromancer is half as horrible as you contend, I’m left to wonder why it took you 200 hours to realize this.

Shelledfade, the general attitude you’ve conveyed in your two identical threads seems to be that everyone except you is an idiot who doesn’t understand the game. Regardless of your intent, is comes across as needlessly hostile.

Clearly, people can and do utilize the Necromancer effectively (myself included). Maybe you’re just behind the curve?

Second character, lvl 24 Thief.

In the Norn story instance “The Semifinals,” arena opponent Caheris fails to turn hostile after the introduction. As a result, the mission cannot be completed. My character has been standing around for probably close to ten minutes now.

Will try restarting, but this is pretty annoying after getting through the first round with the charging centaur guy, only to get stuck on a bug here.

Edit:
Restarting allowed the instance to be completed. No idea what bugged it the first time. I put down a trap during Caheris’ pre-fight dialogue, but I did the same thing the second time when it worked.

Max Lexandre.6279:

Sometimes I hear “SpaceShips Landing”, for some mad reason I didn’t recorded it yet, but I will if I hear it again.

That’s the sound of gates to the Underworld closing, very common in Godslost Swamp. Though the gates are confined mainly to this area, you can hear them all over Queensdale. They’re definitely too loud, cover too much area, or something.