Guild Wars 2

I feel bad for NOT spending any money in the gem store and buying all my gems with ingame currency.

Erm… I have a confession….
Level 80 here and my storyline says level 26….

Its not that I dont like the story, what I have played is good, its just I LOVE the rest of the game and pvp way too much.. :P

Ignoring a sign that said ‘Greed is Dangerous’, and clicking ‘Open Chest’….

Social is as social you make it.
Last night I came across a champion guarding a chest. I tried to take it down solo but it was to tough. Nobody I have met so far in game was online, so I used Map Chat to request help.
One person replied, and brought his mate who he was already partied with. The three of us were then joined by a 4th and we had a laugh with good banter and a good fight.
Loot sucked.
Thats social to me, unplanned, spur of the moment, but social none the less

170,000+ Karma earned so far. Never suffered DR on Karma.
Not saying the DR doesnt exist, not saying its fair some people hit it. My point is the typical gamer is NOT effected by this, so its kinda working

Must just be the Aurora Glade server, but….
map chat is full of questions every 5 mins on ‘how long till Dragon spawns’, with so many answers its impossible not to know when the dragon is coming!

Check out the official GW2 wiki, it lists the events in the areas and the meta events.

Seriously? Thx!

Or… cool stuff the NPC’s have that we dont have.
Anybody ever seen this shield for sale, I would even pay in gems!

Invoking the mighty ‘twitchtv’ again…
Didnt we nail this in a post a few days ago? Viewers are down for a multitude of reasons, none of which spell doom for the game…

Interested in what ‘community’ you are moving in. Places I go to read/watch, all speak highly of GW2. Yes they acknowledge the games problems, but generally the feeling is good.
But if you look for and surround yourself with people who dont like the game, you will find what you are looking for.

Glad its positive feedback. I really hope someone reads this and keeps writing and developing these amusing little quirks. It really gives the game character

…does it take to change a lightbulb?

One to change, 39 to ‘tag’ it and claim they changed it, 3 to complain the lightbuld was op in the first place

Here is what I am thinking…

Any game, no matter the size of the studio has a limited team size, which can only produce a limited out put.

Any content created, therfore is usually for the wide player base. Making something that only 1% of the players will experience isnt much good. So I wonder how much time went into creating the stuff nobody finds unless they explore, if this was time well spent, and if in future expansions we will see more of it?

What I refer to (without spoilers) is the kind of mini events that are not marked on the map and dont have a DE, and the tons of caves you can explore.

There is no reason for the majority of the ‘grind’ type of player to even bother walking off the beaten track let alone explore.

I personaly have found, a ‘Indiana Jones’ style dungeon with traps to avoid, a mysterious old journal that summons a ghost, and a mini event that actually requires you to type in an emote!

I think these are excellent as I love exploring, but I am sure many people will consider it a waste of dev time writing them.

Where you from? What server you on?
I am tending to play more off peak (UK) as the DE’s are much better when they are balanced for fewer people.
Infact I just posted about this a couple of days ago, how much better the game feels to me now areas are not a total zerg.

I wasnt in the beta but I watch a lot of streams and vods and saw the Hunger Games event. Would love if they brought it back so I could try it!

You have a good point.
But Im sure they have lots of graphs and a scientific calculator
Plus I doubt they make decisions without first checking them

Path of Exile has an interesting system in which ‘items’ serve as currency, but also retain their primary focus (used to do stuff). So you have to make a choice, do you use the item for its game effect, or do you keep it as currency.

Whichever way you look at it, gold is the easiest form of exchange, the common denominator. Just like real world money

Cant comment on the Rift situ, but I’ve seen plenty of games where people return. Heck people even return in droves for a paid mmo, just to check out one update.

That plus the game will always have players, so there will always be organized PvP teams. If it takes off and they throw money as prize, more people will return.

I dont think its that much about time frame, I dont see any other third person mmo like this looming on the horizon, but I do think its about quality, you gotta get it right, especially balance wise

Balancing the universe…
I’ve logged on for the last 2 days, DR has never hit me/
I dont feel cheated, just puzzled, how my game style could be so different form anyone elses.
Cant even see anything unethical about the so called problem
Suffice to say, dont worry, I got money enough to cover myself and that dude

Risen zombie kicking a rabbit!

Im guessing Warrior v Guardian

I like the fundamental of the game. That isnt going to change.

The only updates I would really pay attention to relate to pvp, then its important to note the tweeks.

Aurora Glade server, 3pm today, so not peak.
Region was Harathi Hinterlands (35-45), came across Kol Skullsmasher (big champ cyclops). Took us about 10 minutes via map chat to organise maybe 15 folks to take him down.
Given the time of day and the region level, I wouldnt say there is any kind of major population problem

Yes.
Based on the fact that there is an opening for this type of game.
Most genres that have a competitive scene are lead by one or two large popular games, RTS has Starcraft 2, FPS Halo etc with a lot of smaller games following behind them.
As far as I am aware there is no 8v8, 5v5, mmo 3rd person. So GW2 has the oppurtunity to deliver. When I played SWTOR we had a forum discussion about the possibility of making ‘Huttball’ and esport.

Cant you preview items from the PVP locker?
Thats how I have been doing it and it has worked so far for me. I just match the colour and symbols.
Besides you can preview the gem shop stuff. Pretty sure I did.

Lie – everyones jumping ship

Anyone else seing the true gem of this game playing through events again? Or playing with alts?

I started playing on release, and everywhere was packed. All events had a mass zerg of 40+ players all beating on one mini boss, and individual effort was hard to see. Drops from big events were rare (especially for a support build like myself).

Now its completely different.

I dont tend to spend much time in Cursed Shore as I hate the mass of folks stood in one gateway spamming aoe on charging hordes, over and over, what I do is spend most of my time in different areas playing events.

What I have found now that areas are levelled out better is the mechanics of the game are actually really good, and the fights are exciting.
Things like wave 4 of 8, are challenging as you wait on cool downs for your much needed skills. Final mini boss, whose attacks may knock down 5 people, in a zerg of 40 means nothing, now in a 1v5 fight, if 3 or 4 of you go down, its tough on the solo to stand and fight. Res’ing now requires good judgement and timing.

Found a new love for the game now things have settled down

Aurora Glade has a nice community. Like the op says, use /m and talk/inform/ask for help. A think a lot of people who see the game as a bit anti social, just need to get the ball rolling for themselves and speak first

Good idea, but yeah ‘Suggestions’ is a more appropriate place.
Bonus exp with bonus drop rates would sure help move the players around.

The only problem I have found is revisiting some lower level areas. As a decent kit 80 I feel the downscale isnt strong enough, the pve isnt that much of a threat.

Part of this is down to practice and confidence in skills, knowing the game and attack patterns, being able to dodge etc But I think they could downscale a little more

I’ve gone from recieving maybe 3 or 4 spam emails per session, to perhaps 1 every few days. Havent had one for a while now. Good work Anet, youre doing something right somewhere

Anyone on the Aurora Glade server who needs help with DE’s can whisper me. I spend most of my time doing DE’s across various zones as I dont like Cursed Shore much, too many people just stood in one place abusing the system.

I think I know the answer but would appeciate if someone could help me out.
I have a friend who will be starting to play the game soon, when he gets a new pc. Like many of us he has a favourite name he uses for all his characters. I am not talking forum/account names, but in game character name.

If I make a character on my account with this name, then delete it when my friend joins the game, will this effectively ‘reserve’ the name for him?

thanks in advance

I have always wondered why games that have a setting where resources would in great demand, always have merchants that have unlimited gold to buy endless streams of junk.

Surely a better system would be to reward people for gathering and donating to the war effort?

AoEO has a great mechanic for this. You join an alliance and can donate items/crafting materials to this Alliance, and score points, which are used to by faction/alliance items and gear.

This could be easilly replicated in GW2. Instead of dropping all your unwated items at the nearest merchant for a handful of copper, you could give them to a faction (Vigil/Whispers/etc) and gain points to spend on unique items.

One part of game development these days that worries me is the ‘We (company) listen to feedback, monitor forums and sites’ etc. and base decisions on this feedback.

We have seen it with the recent reduction in the DR mechanism, now the article on sPvP claims,

‘We’re always listening to our player base, and taking their feedback and ideas into account. We watch the forums on multiple sites. We read the comments on Guild Wars 2 articles. We take off our guild tags, sit in crowded maps in game, and eavesdrop on your conversations and unfettered opinions’

On one hand this is great, players are the ones that play the game. We find problems and we offer solutions. Its the way the game grows.

On the other hand it is also clear that those who shout the loudest about the problems, are the stressed minority. They are often very opinionated, exagerate, and in rare cases out and out lie.

I have seen games go sour because they put to much stake in this vocal minority, no doubt anyone who plays several games, over the last few years has also had this experience.

Why not issue surveys/questionairres if you want genuine feedback from a large player base?

Why do people, even when they feel they have a genuine complaint, seem to think that grossly exagerating everything will get people on their side?

Not sure where to post this, I tried looking at ‘Support’ but all I could find was account issues, which this isnt. Im not even sure if any action could be taken. I post it here in the hope it reaches the relevant people.

Like the title says, there I was on youtube watching a bit of classic Elvis and up pops an advert related to GW2.. but it wasnt for the game, it was a gold seller!

A gold seller advertising through the pop up adverts that appear on youtube as you watch the video.

In very small print on the right hand side of the advert it says ‘Ads by Google’, if that helps.

Cant even watch Elvis in peace without dam gold spammers, what is the world coming to!

Aurora Glade is fine. We tend to use map chat a lot to alert people to DE’s, especially the Champion events.
I’m level 80, but spend a lot of my time exploring all the zones so usually pop up anywhere and I always find people.

I cant help but feel, if it was just a quick easy fix, that the problem wouldnt exist and wouldnt be as wide spread throughout mmo’s as it is.
I think the botters are a little more savy than you give them credit for.

I love reading peoples opinion, but thats all it is..
Sure the game needs fixing up in places, same for lots of games, and these things get fixed in time. Games these days, especially mmo’s are constant works in progress

Unless you work in the Anet office or have insider info, you cant claim ‘nothing’ is being done. They have even posted a sticky thread at the top of the page informing us of their plans.

As for other games not having the problem…. lol

Eve has the ‘Council of Stellar Management’, which is a player elected council that deals with the devs on behalf of the players

Edenknight…

Thx for posting photos.
Maybe we are closer to solving this problem… by looking at the clock on your post it only shows 3 minutes have passed, yet you score multiple DE’s over this time. Perhaps its all in the method, I assume you are tagging then moving on, looks like this behaviour could trigger the DR.

It would also support my claims, that doing DE’s one after the other (after the first has been finished, and not tagging multiples) shows no sign of DR.

This would seem to be an abuse of the designed system and would support the heavy handed, and not all that well thought threw, approach we have now.

Morgeth… good find, I have just seen that myself. Hopefully this does indeed mean we may hear something official soon

I have tried.
I have looked at DR on items and DR on Karma. I found DR to exist on items, but no DR to exist on Karma from Events.
I tested bases on doing as many of said in 1 hour of gameplay.
I kept all my screen shots as evidence. I have yet to see anyone produce any evidence to show DR on Karma

Seems every other thread on the subject is getting locked and everyone moved to here. I think this has been discussed back and forth for a long time now with no official response.

Its good to move everything to one thread, and consolidate the discussion, but its time I feel for a response from the big dogs

Everyone knows, or should know that the bots exist simply to farm for items to sell for gold.
This gold is then sold to players for real cash.

If there wasn’t a market, if there were no buyers, then the bots would have no reason/point to continue do what they do.

To the players who buy -
Anet provides an excellent service. You can buy gems and convert them to gold. If you are buying from bots, its clear you enjoy the game and want to progress. Would you really damage the game you enjoy for the sake of saving a couple of bucks?

To the bot masters -
Its a sorry world we live in where the difference in money makes this a viable way for you to earn a living, there is nothing we can do about this. What is clear though is you have great programming skills, to write and implement these bots takes a level of talent the average person doesn’t have. Why not put this talent to good use and develop a program to identify and eliminate bots? The prestige from players, and the possible money you could earn selling this to a company would be far greater than chasing the average Joe for $5.

To Anet -
We appreciate your attempts to control and eliminate this threat. The game is beautiful and many of us enjoy it. As a company you won my respect from calling out people who falsely claimed why they received temporary bans and suspended accounts when you posted real transcripts on the subject. I cant help but feel another no-holds-barred post is desperately needed on the subject of Diminishing Returns.

Whatever happens I think, we as players, just need to relax a little and give people time. Yes they could predict this, yes they could plan for this, but until the exact script is wrote for the attack, you cannot prepare an antidote.

This whole DR thang is dragging on way to long, so this will be my last post on the subject.
All my personal findings show some DR on items, but no DR on Karma. I have plenty of screen shots to support my claims, yet still there are those reporting being hit by harsh DR.

I have seen next to no evidence from any of them to support their claims, but rather than call a whole bunch of players liars I got to wondering why some people are hit and others are not, assuming everyone involved is100% honest with their claims.

As we know the system was implemented to combat Bots and their farming, but seemingly hit legitimate players as well, while leaving others unaffected.

This leads me to believe one of two things may have happened,
Firstly that a players behaviour mirrors that of a bot, i.e. they farm the same area over and over, do nothing in between, do not relocate. Or,
A player has been wrongly tagged as a bot. A lot of us see the bots in action, a lot of us report the bots. If the actions of a legit player mirror that of a bot, perhaps they have been reported as such, and tagged as such?

Now I believe Anet will have some kind of identification tool, but there is always human error, and lets not forget this feature was implemented later in the game, perhaps there are bugs, or kinks that still need to be worked out.

Regardless of ones view on the actual DR system, it is clear some of us are not effected (or not effected to the extreme). People love to rant and rave, but there has been a distinct lack of investigation by the players on the how and why the system kicks in. Without an official announcement by Anet on the subject we can only speculate.

Kerri…
The first time I ran this was in Sparkfly area, in the centre, defending the toad peoples base. It gets attacked by Risen in 3 areas almost constantly. There was a couple of other events thrown in (Champion Shark), but it was mainly the key 3. Of which I ran 2 of them 3 times, one of them I managed to do 4 times in one hour. All enemies were Risen.

Second (this) run was through Queensdale, mainly Bandits and Centaurs, starting at the pipes, working my way to the centre bridge (defend and escort) back down to the fields and Champion Troll, back up to the pipes. Repeat

Fozzik.. thanks. Yes, my trial at DR for items was to kill the same 6 Trolls over and over again. Completed over 100 kills in 1 hour. That was a chore, the DE not so as I love the DE’s

Toggles… np.
All the photos save to my pc, and they show my name. Once I edit out that part anyone is free to view them.
As for the experiment itself, I agree its not the most scientific, but I am the only one to produce anything concrete on the subject and my photos show what they show. Still waiting on peeps to post anything that contredicts my findings