Guild Wars 2

There are a couple of possible reasons:

1) January was when the Heart of Thorns expansion was announced. This could have triggered several players to start crafting many items in preparation for it, including Obsidian Shards and superior runes.

2) A player attempted to flip the trading post by buying out a large majority of the putrid essences in order to drive up the price and make a profit by selling them at the higher price.

One time, I thought I had the same issue as you and that I could not join others’ Fractals as when I went up to the Mistlock portal, a text box opened up and asked me to create my own Mistlock instance as opposed to joining my party’s instance.

It turned out that this was actually the text box asking me to join my party for some reason, and that if I clicked to create my own, it would put me in with my other party members’ instance.

Perhaps that is the same issue happening with you?

Your best bet is to wait until Halloween and hoping that they return to the gem store then. That is when it is most likely to return.

That is not an exploit.

rogerwilko.6895:

WvW:
How do WvW rewards work?
I am alone (no party) and I follow our army. Fight begins (aoe and stuff) and I hit a single enemy for 50% of his HP.
Will I get a reward only if that guy dies or will I also be rewarded for being near my fellows and for their kills?

PvE:
I need to decide what to stick to: ranger of thief (dungeons / world events).

WvW: You only get credit for the foes that you attack; you won’t get credit for the foes your allies kill.

PvE: For dungeons, Thief will likely be the preferred choice (as Rangers are in a bit of a pickle with dungeons at the moment). For world events, either profession will work – so whichever you are more interested in.

Vephar.8475:

Wouldn’t next fall mean in 2016? If it was fall 2015, wouldn’t it just say “this fall”? Thank you for the reply.

That source I linked was from back in June this year, which is in Summer. So one would assume it meant Fall this year as we weren’t in Fall at the time of its posting.

(Edit: The original poster deleted his post; this is the response to said original post)

Since you already have the Deluxe upgrade, I would have thought it was not possible for you to buy the upgrade again (even if it appears in the store), just like how you can still see the bank tab expansion even if you have all of the tabs already bought.

However, I have never tried buying the Deluxe again, so I can’t say that for certain – perhaps someone else has tried it.

With that said, those skins are expected to be returning this Fall, which is expected to be rather soon, possibly with the 3rd anniversary. Here is the quote:

“…and the following items will no longer be regularly available in the Gem Store until next fall…” – Source

So it might be worth waiting just a few weeks until the anniversary to see if anything returns.

There was just another thread on this same topic.

Shovels still drop, perhaps you are just getting unlucky today with RNG.

Have 5 players instead of 3?

That’s the main thing that is making it difficult for you.

That would still be exploited for farming, even more so because of the mastery system.

Chezha.1456:

Glox, I had them in my bank. I was told by guildies to log into each of my alts, and I was able to get 20? more shards in my bank. However the scrolls I had in my bank are just gone. Not converted over.

Just a quick clarification; are you sure you aren’t confusing Scrolls of Knowledge with Tomes of Knowledge? (The latter went unchanged).

If not, then it certainly sounds like a bug has occurred, and I would submit a support ticket describing as much detail as possible, because they should have been transferred with a 1:1 ratio from skill points to shards. And if you had 2 and a half stacks, you should have about 600 spirit shards.

Edit: Adjusted to reflect Inculpatus’ post below.

You can transfer it into gold (or maybe, 2 silver) by clicking the bottom right icon “Custom Exchange/Amount” when on the gold to gem transfer page of the gem store.

Etien.4601:

I wonder which one will be harder to do. Implementing S1 episodes as journal chapters or as fractal levels. As a veteran player I’m willing to accept them as fractal levels more. Obviously both ways will be simplified of course especially for the journal. Most of the episodes were group content so fractals sounds good to me. Can’t wait to replay The Tower of Nightmares, The Battle of LA and few others.

I would be rather pleased if they re-introduced the Marionette fight as a boss for fractals – there are already 5 lanes that need to be defended, so part of the functionality is there.

Gah, I just want that Marionette fight to return; it was so much darn fun.

Iason Evan.3806:

New Legendaries, killing Mordremoth, story content leading up to Mordremoth aren’t coming in this “x-pac”.

Where did you read that? As far as I know, we don’t have any confirmation about whether or not we will be defeating Mordremoth at the end of this expansion.

stambogalizi.8356:

getting them from fractals

I believe the OP is talking about weapons as opposed to trinkets.

In that instance, the cheapest way to obtain an ascended weapon is through getting lucky at Tequatl and having an ascended weapon chest dropping. Alternatively getting lucky with random champions (or possibly any mobs) dropping ascended weapon chests, but of course this is quite rare.

I would recommend you buy the ascended materials from the trading post (Deldrimor Ingots, Spiritwood Planks etc) as they are rather cheap. I don’t think weapons require Bolts of Damask, but if they do, I recommend you craft those yourself as they are 3x more expensive.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Actually, a tiny fraction of people do hit Diminishing Returns, which are mechanics in the game designed to make it difficult for botters.

True, though I was only referring to the lack of Diminishing Returns with obtaining precursors, as per the topic of the OP.

(Though, I didn’t know you will hit DR if you attack the same foes repeatedly in the same area – good to know).

One note I forgot to point out, is that the veteran character slots are given out in weekly batches (with some taking up to 10 days to appear). So if you don’t see the 2nd extra slot appear instantly, give it about a week.

If it doesn’t appear after 10 days of applying the serial code, I would contact support to get it added.

There is no such thing as “decreased returns”, only luck – I have been playing for nearly 3 years, and have only ever had one drop from a mob.

With that said, Heart of Thorns is introducing a new method of acquiring precursors; through that of a tyria mastery scavenger hunt which will award a specific precursor after completing each one.

Although, these scavenger hunts can only be completed once per type of precursor, so you will only get one of each type.

Correct.

If you pre-purchase Heart of Thorns Deluxe or Ultimate (or buy the standard and upgrade to Deluxe with gems in-game) you will get 2 slots; one for the pre-purchase bonus, and another for having bought the game before January 23rd 2015.

Just make sure you apply the serial code you receive to your account, rather than create a new account.

You still can only get them from events – you were just unlucky. It is usually the fort defense and capture events that have the best chance of awarding shovels.

There is no possibility to acquire shovels through vendors in the Silverwastes.

With regard to the calendar, Guilds often use the “Message of the Day” to write out a calendar of upcoming events, particularly those Guilds focused in Events and such. So that feature is sort of already in place, just depending on whether the leader uses the MotD to write out a calendar.

The in-game journal idea sounds nice, but how would you prohibit trolls from using it to frustrate other players? Perhaps you can only send the drawing to those whom have each other on their friends list? Or in a party/guild only? Some suggestive solutions.

With regard to the time suggestion; I am not sure on this, but I think the server time is a universal time that is always the same for everyone (again, I might be wrong on this), in which Guilds can then choose a server time to display upcoming events with. If I am wrong and it doesn’t work like this, then I agree there should be some form of universal time we can display in-game that is the same for all players.

They are planning to add more Elite Specializations in future updates/expansions. On the release of Heart of Thorns, each profession will be getting one new Elite Specialization.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2wv9x0/gw2_hot_preparation_guide/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2tnd7q/what_should_be_done_in_preparation_for_hot/

With the recent refurbishment to Lion’s Arch, I see it to be relatively likely that we will see a refurbishment of Kessex Hills. Although, if they do decide to refurbish it, it will be some time after the release of Heart of Thorns.

With regard to armour, Berserker’s stat set has always been a common choice for dungeons, as it gives out the largest boost to physical damage output. However, if you prefer dealing condition damage, you might want to try something else such as Sinister stat type.

For WvW, the choice is much more up to your personal preference; if you like roaming with large zergs, then anything will be viable (just remember that you will likely be taking a lot of damage as a Warrior in a zerg, so perhaps some toughness or vitality will benefit there).

For runes, it depends on your budget; Superior Runes of Strength are powerful for their increased might and power, but are incredibly expensive (and as a Warrior, you will already have a lot of might from “Forceful Greatsword” if you use that trait).

So I recommend you skim through the trading post looking at all of the runes, and pick which one you like the sound of and that is not out of your budget.

(Also note, hopefully another player will post in this thread and give their own opinion, as going off of solely mine might not be in your best interests).

Valento.9852:

We’ll be seeing a clusterkitten of purple stars in mini-map.

The purple star icons were also placeholders. The true mentor icon is yet to be revealed.

The people are everywhere, although the cities tend to be packed more than surrounding areas.

Ever since the megaserver system change, none of the areas are dead.

There have been recent issues with fraudulent purchases of the Ultimate edition, and to counter this, the gems are taking longer to be given out, often up to 72 hours after purchase. Here is the developer’s input on the topic:

“Over the last week we have seen an increased fraud purchase attempt rate for our Heart of Thorns Ultimate edition. Because of this increased fraudulent attempt rate, gem delivery for Heart of Thorns Ultimate may be delayed up to 72 hours after purchase.”

Source

If you don’t receive your gems up to about 6 days I would reckon, then I would definitely submit a report ticket about the gems.

For all of the large-scale events, I always lower my Character Model Limit – that causes hellish frame rate issues if I don’t. That still doesn’t guarantee a crash-free Tequatl run though, as I still occasionally crash near the end of the fight.

Everything else I keep the same.

At the current time, there is not – only the dialog will mute your character, but that will also mute every other character and NPC. I am not sure if there is anything else you can adjust to solely mute your character, but I could be wrong.

You could possibly attempt to not use certain skills such as “shout” skills (which will have the character yell some dialog), but that would not be very viable to simply remove dialog.

You could also add the Activities to the list, as some can be quite a challenge to win (and most of the time incredibly fun) such as Southsun Survival (Hunger-Games styled mini-game) and Sanctum Sprint (Mario Kart in Tyria).

Another that is not preferred by a lot is actually Commanding. As in, using a commander tag to organize large events such as Tequatl and Vinewrath or WvW zergs which can be both intense, and a challenge. But of course, that depends on whether or not you enjoy leading other players.

I might also point out that with Heart of Thorns, there will be a new specific mode of the game that is currently known as “Challenging Group Content”. We will find out all of the details as to what this is on 29th August, but I presume it will be a form of challenge that you might like.

Otherwise, good luck, and enjoy the gameplay!

The remaining Elite Specializations will be revealed once they have a bug-free enough build for it to demonstrate on a Points of Interest livestream.

That is how they have revealed them so far, and it is how I expect them to reveal the remaining ones, so patience is the key. There is only so much left of 2015.

Did you log in on the conclusion of the WvW Season 1 event? I think it is possible that you wouldn’t have been given the chest if you had not logged in on or after it’s final day, especially if it has been for a long time (nearly 2 years, isn’t it?).

Also check to see if you have the Mini Dolyak, just in case you somehow have magically opened the chest and retained the key.

When you purchase Heart of Thorns, you are receiving one single key; if you apply that to an existing account, the account is upgraded to Heart of Thorns with no extra account. If you apply the code to create a new account, a new account is created with access to Heart of Thorns (when it releases) and the base game.

So unfortunately, you won’t be able to give your friend the free base copy as you are only given the single key to use for yourself to upgrade your account, or your friend to start a new account.

There is no longer a method of purchasing the core game on its own from the official Guild Wars 2 website, however it is still possible through 3rd party retailers such as Amazon (stocks may be going down fast though).

The discounted bundle from the store was indeed removed from the most recent patch, however Anet have not yet stated whether this was intentional or a bug (more likely the latter). As such, hopefully there will be a fix soon – I see no reason as to why Anet would take something away from the store that was giving them profit.

You can read through a larger discussion on the topic here if you wish.

Judging from their past releases, they seem to be quite popular around mid-November, so hopefully they will return to the gem store around that time – keep an eye out.

There is a thread open and actively discussing the topic over here.

Then the only other thing I can think of is that the very old and rare bug is returning (or was never fixed!)

I would then submit a bug report about it saying which food you used and for which dungeon.

UmbraVictor.9842:

Dear Arena

Could you please return back our Karma Booster which I have been diligently saving over these 2.5 years! And suddenly in your ninja nerf without warning, you removed all my 90+ ready merge boosters. I save and merge those with the powder enhancement just for the Karma Boosters!!!!!

It’s not like we are cheating or anything. This is a major turn off.

Please bring back the Karma Boosters.

Find more ways for people to spend their karma. Don’t chop things off like this. This is not cool and shows limited creativity.

Already a huge thread debating the topic on the first page of Guild Wars 2 Discussion.

The only thing I can think of is that you had less time left on your buffs than you thought you had.

But with regard to player-made events, isn’t the commander tag just as viable (or perhaps more so) for helping players follow player-made events?

This has been one of the many primary suggestions throughout GW2’s existence, and while it would be so darn nice to have such a feature implemented, it just doesn’t look like it will be implemented any time soon.

With that said though, we are getting the QoL auto-loot with Heart of Thorns through the mastery system, so it might not be too much of a stretch to suggest that we might be able to get an “open all” through the same mastery track in the future (although I fail to see how they could justify putting it into a mastery line).

Apophis.2498:

Here are some details about the Revenant’s Elite Spec:

http://massivelyop.com/2015/08/12/exclusive-guild-wars-2-revenant-elite-spec-is-the-herald/

There is already a large discussion taking place in the Revenant forums on the information, with Roy’s input as well.

Aww, that title had me disappointed – I thought a new blog had been released (Might want to change it to avoid similar instances ).

An issue would come with some weapons already found in the game, for example, ascended weapons of a different stat type, but of the same weapon type.

In that case, the weapon already has a different colour depending on which stat type it is associated with, so unless all ascended weapon types are then given a baseline colour, it would bring some issues.

“Breaking out of an map is not something we would normally ban for unless it was being maliciously used. That being said, some breakouts require useage of a bug to perform them and may look overly suspicious to a GM that may be trailing you. I’ll look into it.”

Source

It is not against the rules unless you are using 3rd party software or hacks to do so. Further, it would be against the rules if you use the map break out to be malicious against other players in any way.

As such, if you are trying to break out of a WvW map, I would not risk it, as that will have the most likely suspicion of being malicious to other players (especially with a known “WvW hacker” on the loose).

Don’t worry about it; several players have reported this and there are already countless threads on the same topic, the most recent being here.

1) I doubt it was intentional, and is more likely a bug.
2) I doubt that as well, although no developer has confirmed the bug yet.
3) Again I personally doubt it, but no developer has spoken on the matter officially.

This suggestion has cropped up several times over the years; the closest we got to an answer was a developer post a year ago. Though, nothing ever came of that.

https://www.gw2tp.com/

PvP Leagues were the main thing announced from Gamescom. We also had confirmed that it will be a 2015 release.