Guild Wars 2

Hi,
I briefly skimmed the article about the economy, magic find, and ascended weapons from Lindsay Murdock and John Smith.

From it, I gather that there are only two ways to obtain ascended items: Drops from areas that drop ascended items(fractals), or crafting.

So if someone doesnt craft and doesnt run fractals, they cannot obtain this gear? Are these really the only places you can earn them?

I guess we need to now level up one of the three crafting disciplines, or hop in fractals.

Lame.

Gele.2048:

i cant play game for cosmetics only i need gear progresion the combat is shallow as it is i cant do dungeon for skins ill go play barby game if i like that :P

First, use punctuation and spell check.

Second, did you do your research on the game? This was hardly supposed to be a gear grinding game.
If you didnt want to play for cosmetics only you should have stuck with WoW or whatever treadmill you were on. Instead, our game has been polluted.

I really thought this was the first real modern MMO that would provide me with a cosmetic gear treadmill. Cosmetic only. Skins. I guess I have to keep waiting.

Gele.2048:

o grow up u had 1 year whit exotic only what do you like to play this game 10 years whit the gear from day 1 that u made ? no progres at all in gear ? shallow thing for mmo dont u think

Actually… yes. This was the idea that the majority of the playerbase had going into the game. Get your max stat set, and acquire new skins over time. Cosmetic grind, cosmetic treadmill. Not statistical. Its people like you that whined on the forums that there was no gear progression in the game.

Major Reveal at PAX: Now you can earn a new tier of gear….called..TRANSCENDED GEAR. One piece of gear per quarter(thats three months folks), and will cost you 75 laurels, 75 ectos, 75 mystic coins, and 75 obby shards. Each.

Kidding.

Im looking forward to Monday or maybe Sunday night when I pull up a chair, grab a few beers, turn on Star Trek Voyegar, Karma boost up and click my karma pots and spend all karma over and over again on orrian jewel boxes..even the karma from those boxes as well.

Tuesday..eh We will see. Right now Im barely logging in to play, maybe I won’t even log in for the next few days. And if Tuesday seems to be more negative than positive…I’ll be taking a break.

I don’t think the game is dying. Far from it. Lions arch is littered with people. And there are a lot of people across other areas.. But those areas ARE feeling a drain of players, being funneled into the LS events.

Is story the strong point of an MMO? No. Do I think if LS had a better story that I/anyone else would stop complaining? No. LS is an umbrella term for story, events.minigames, achievements, fluffy things, temp things. When I say LS sucks, I don’t mean the story(which does suck too). I mean, every patch with LS and every themed patch, as whole…has been bad in the eyes of many. Not just the disgruntled folks on this forum. Listen to map chat. People aren’t exactly saying “Wow this is really exciting, Ive never seen this in a game before”.

No expansions. Instead, you’ll get LOADS of living story.

Arenanet, I’d pay for an expansion. Id pay 50 dollars for an expansion. If it meant meaningful content rather than the stuff we have been getting all year.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

“Robert Hrouda
August 20.
“Today marks the release of the last bit of content I built for ArenaNet. I had always hoped my last hurrah would be an epic dungeon that would stand the test of time, and provide entertainment for players to the very end… but instead it’s an instance that will only persist for two weeks, and then go away”.

Well there you have it… he wanted the game to have actual permanent content (the horror!) and Anet fired him for it. Guess we know what direction this game is going at least..

The direction anet is on is why I was logged in for 15 minutes last night to complete my daily..and promptly logged off.

If you put extrinsically rewarding content in the open world, zerging won’t go anwhere.

If you place equally rewarding content in instanced areas, or other aspects of the game, the zerg reduces in size.

Chuo.4238:

Vayne.8563:

The problem is, if they change this game so you like it, I’d probably not like it. lol

I strongly suspect that there are ways this game could be improved for both of us. And a few other folks around here, too.

Only if Vayne is made a mini for the next LS arc
KIDDING!!!

1. sad to see someone lose their job.
2. No I dont think this is indicative of any downward spiral within arenanet. Stop being naysayers.
3. SAB brings nothing to the game than a side game.. much like all of the other side games added to the game instead of..I dont know, actual content?
4. The game morphing toward a wow clone. Gone are the days we play for fun and cosmetics. Hello to the days we play for currencies, minis, rewards, rewards, rewards and smiley faces.

Gah.. our last beacon of light for dungeon revamps.

And he was a nice fella too. Sorry to hear of his misfortune.

Oh theres no reason to make me believe that EQN or TESO won’t fall short on hype. But this is a fact: EQ and EQ2 shaped the MMO industry to what it is today. People can say Ultima and such were the fathers of the MMO, but the EQ franchise paved the way for WoW. WoW catapulted the MMO name. You now have the birth of many MMOs.

So I think that EQN can and will re-shape the face of MMOs, again. I had hoped that with GW1’s success, arenanet was up to the task with GW2. Painfully, not so, in my opinion.

And if these other games fall short, it’ll be the same deal Im sure. Maybe I’ll give up gaming for good, have been burned by one too many games in recent years.

What would be fantastic is if an MMO dev would query players, masses of players, and ask them “what do you want in an MMO…Fantasy, real world, gear treadmill, features, QoL features, end game systems, what kind of PVP, graphic style, etcetc”. Sounds like a good idea…that way you get a lot of feedback on what we truely want, rather than spending 5 years in dev developing a game you THINK we will want. I also think that SOE is doing as close to that as it comes with EQN. Weekly polls which will determine if female dwarves get beards, and EQ landmark..where we build zones that WILL make it into the game.

Then GW2…they give us forums, and create threads and encourage feedback, but seemingly listen to none of it. Arenanet needs to do a 180 and march back to Q3-Q4 of 2012.

Edit: I want to add that I hope this post is not shortsightedly removed and infracted because I talk about other games in it. The OP wants to know why theres so much negativity. Talking about the hype of GW2 and comparing the development direction of this game to others in the same genre has relevance to that discussion.

Hold on Vayne, let me strap on my Mithril Armor and my Orc glow blade…

I’ll comment when I read

Edit: Ok I’ve read.

Thank you for not associating me with haters. I believe in the game, but Im very critical of it.

I agree most MMO players don’t care about story. So why would a developer try to thrust this down our throats? Even if it coincides with “content”, if they want to call it that…they are wasting time and resources on story. The fact that most people want loot, well..that goes alll the way back to November 15. Prior to November 15 people were complaining that theres no endgame, nothing to do, etc. No character progression, item progression, etc. Whether or not if the reason Anet gave us for ascended gear is true, Ascended gear(and thus most every other decision made after) is based around character progression in some form. Whether it is statistical or cosmetic. And if thats true, then playing the game for intrinsic fun is just a bitter memory. True, acquiring crap is fun. But PLAYING the game to have fun…where has that gone? Guild Wars 2 was an amazing game for a few months, until that patch. Ever since, it seems that the direction is more toward reward reward reward reward reward without any attention into what we as players consider “fun”.

And I think that people log in for the 2 week updates because theres nothing else to do. Its more carrots to chase after. I personally don’t like LS. But like all the lemmings and drones, I’ll log in, get my AP, get my minis, get my loot, and log out. Its not that I enjoy any of it really. There are parts that make me stop and say “Yeah, now this is good stuff..liadri and the gauntlet!”. But the majority..just a time killer. Time filler. They are concerned with quantity over quality. Their numbers show our activity drops after 2 weeks, so they push out more (quantity) rather than quality. We can debate quality, but even compared to personal story(which many feel is weak), Living Story pales in comparison. Orr is abandoned during these events. And glitches/exploits/zergs ensue. I don’t call any of this quality.

I log into do everything I listed above… until the next game or two on the horizon…sadly. Unless GW2 takes a turn back to the months of August, September, October.

Interesting to see that more people find Living Story to be grindy, zergy, boring, and no impact…vs Fun and impactful.

What is the sample size? How many different surveys completed?

I wouldn’t hold your breath. Id bet most of arenanets resources are tied up with the four living story teams and trying to propel this game as an esport.

Ravenmorghane.9287:

I’ve been reading these forums for a while, and responding to a few, and it seems the general consensus is that Anet can’t do right and there’s a lot to complain about.

Personally I really enjoy this game, I’ve tackled the content that took my fancy and ignored that which didn’t. I’ve more than got my money’s worth from what I paid and I really enjoy the social aspect since I joined a guild.
I come on here to share opinions with other players and I find it really disheartening to see constant negative threads. I do see the occasional positive/constructive one and I appreciate those, so thumbs up to those!

So really it boils down to one query from me:
If this game is really so bad then why are you people still playing ? It makes the forums less enjoyable for players like me who genuinely like the game.

I still play the game for four reasons:

1. I have invested over 1100 hours into the game, probably around 200 US dollars into it..The amount of hype leading up to the game, and all of the hype I bought into was so high, that it is hard to let go.

2. There is nothing else better on the market at the moment. I could go back to WoW for true gear/character progression..they do it better. But I don’t want to. I can play a completely sandboxy game like Defiance, which I am starting to… I could go to a game with better combat like Tera or Neverwinter, which I do on ocassion. But I come back to GW2 because overall across all facets of an MMO, it IS the better option on the whole.

3. After southsun and the birth of enormous zerg farming began in GW2, I realized I needed a better machine. I spent 900 dollars on a new rig. I want to get use out of it at the moment.

4. I am waiting for Everquest Next(possibly TESO as well). Once that drops, Im gone like the wind. The amount of hype and the magnitude of letdown this game has given me, and its current direction and seemingly future direction of the game, I do not want to be a part of.

Those are the reasons I still play.

Avatara.1042:

‘More than the Czech Republic voted in their last Presidential Election!’

I really hope no one there voted hundreds or thousands of times, or sold their votes…

That was actually my thought too..that number is so skewed. You could have had 500 tickets..500 for one person. Where as any real election, a person casts only one vote.

So of course there were more votes.

phiplayer.2865:

I find this thread funny with all the haters trying to mock the game as hard as they can.

And i find this funny too, because of people (mostly haters) aske anet to show off their big numbers. And now, when we got the answer, people:
-don’t believe them,
-think those are advertisments,
- that they are too small,
- that even with alive, healthy, think that community of this game is dead.

You know what i’m going to tell you ?

You are wasting your time, dear hater. Go do something for christ sake, by posting in this thread you didn’t gain anything. And if you think that your efforts damaged, somehow, GW2, you are totally wrong.

I dont think any of us “haters” believe that… I don’t deny the stats, whether or not it was a big AD I don’t care, the stats are “small”..wut?, and no one said the game is dead. I don’t know how you came to these assumptions. And Im not a hater of the game. Otherwise, I wouldn’t play it. I just wouldn’t bother with it. It is because I am so passionate about the game and so passionate about its potential that I still fight the good fight.

What we “haters” are saying is that these promos, these interviews and blogs, and articles…they all prop up the current state of GW2 saying that LS is a huge monumental success when most people will say they would rather the game go in a different direction. From the forums to in game chat, most people I talk to and most people I hear talking about are not huge fans of the LS. Its barely an opinion anymore.

You might have the handful of people saying “Im enjoying the LS”. Sure, and they honestly might be…against all odds. Thats their business and good for them! I wonder how being another number in a zerg for monetary reasons(loot/cash/mats/karma) is “fun”. I want to know how having one or two sentences to tell the story(aside from the last month) is “fun” and good story telling. I want to know how the living story changed tyria. We voted ellen..ok. Who cares? Where is she now? And what is she doing, besides dropping WP costs. We stopped some loony sylvari in Southsun. Ok, but who cares? Where is he now? What has happened to southsun since? Nothing. So some zephrytes that lived in skyships came down to pay us a visit. Great! Who are they again? How are they contributing to the game world?

I’d love to hear Mike O’Briens answer to any of these, or simply answer: What impact has any of these LS events had on the core of Guild Wars 2. Detail it for us please, I’d love to hear this.

Sirendor and erasculio couldnt have said it better.

I die a little more inside with each new LS patch.

But for real… not too often. Sometimes I fall off a cliff or something or graciously slide down some rocks to my death.

T2 + T5 = T7.

Unless this content is instanced, this will be no different than the zerg fests today and no different than the guild missions. Just different things to do.

Snore.

Would need to be instanced to avoid zerging, and like someone said, it needs to encourage strategy, communication, build diversity rather than 20 people running zerker or knights gear.

I have little faith

Erasculio.2914:

I think SAB is one of the few kinds of content left in which the main goal is to have fun, not grind achievement points or exploit the game to become rich quickly.

That should be most, if not all parts of a game. Not some mini-part that seperates you from the real game.

mtpelion.4562:

cesmode.4257:

Well, is that anything new? In WoW, I could log in, get to level cap, run some dungeons and queue up for LFR and see all of the end game content.

Whether or not it will matter is not the issue. Because it hardly matters in other AAA games. Its a question, will I need to catch up, in a time gated environment, to everyone else if I want to be competitive in WvW, or simply have the BiS gear like I do now? Like I have spent time and resources on for what I have now?

In WoW you are excluded from content based on your gear. You can’t do a current raid unless you are at the cutting edge of the gear treadmill. We haven’t had any new content that is designed to be completed with better gear yet.

I’m actually thinking that the only difference in Ascended weapons and armor from Exotics will be the presence of an infusion slot and not a stat increase. This is based purely on my own opinion, but it seems to be the most reasonable outcome.

LFR my friend, LFR. Doesn’t require cutting edge gear, you see all the fights.

I dont really care or have an opinion. This is the general forums and this belongs in the sPvP.

We are struggling for survival here in these forums, trying to make PVE as strong as can be. It is hard enough with the fluffy weak LS updates, dont need to infuse the e-sport mantra on us.

mtpelion.4562:

If it is time gated, then you will absolutely be “behind”. The question is actually “will that matter?”.

I’m not sure what the intention is with Ascended gear, but no content in the game requires it right now so you will not be at a disadvantage by not having it.

Well, is that anything new? In WoW, I could log in, get to level cap, run some dungeons and queue up for LFR and see all of the end game content.

Whether or not it will matter is not the issue. Because it hardly matters in other AAA games. Its a question, will I need to catch up, in a time gated environment, to everyone else if I want to be competitive in WvW, or simply have the BiS gear like I do now? Like I have spent time and resources on for what I have now?

Hi,
So I am thinking of taking a break from the game for my own reasons to which I will not get into.

If I take one or two months off and come back…will I be “behind” in terms of ascended armor and weapons? I mean, I won’t have all the charged quartz and whatever other T7 materials that are to be released.

Will I be behind everyone else, or can I come and go as I please without fear of missing out, being behind, or gear being out dated…like people once told me I can.

Welcome to the new guild wars.. where we champion farm, LS farm, and AP farm and no longer have fun.

Galen Grey.4709:

Come on people, its a one year press release, what do you expect them to say?
Do you think something like

“we think we did okey, people seem to like it, the game has been updated a little bit too so its still evolving. We can do better but we’re trying…”

Wolves will be on to them that they must really be doing badly if they say something like that dont you think! I mean they’re saying what great numbers they did and all that and some people still say they’re doing badly imagine what humble will get you!

They worked hard for it, they diverse a little spotlight once a year.

I agree that the numbers look good and are interesting.

But saying that they deserve spotlight..or some special recognition? Sure, the minimal amount, for creating a good core of a game. Then once they began to mess with it, they lose that recognition. Especially after the big gem store sales they are racking in. Its not like they are pumping this stuff out complete free of charge and asking us to pat them on the back. They are taking money from a lot of people. They are getting rewarded themselves. So I do not have a ton of pity. Especially with the LS garbage they are pumping out.

Lol @ poor yaks.

Agreed for quality over quantity. I thought that this was the universal thought chain that could be applied to anything in life. Kind of like, common sense.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/

I liked the stats at the bottom. Interesting to know, statistically, how the game faired and some comparisons.

But I think this was an il-timed promo of Living Story, making it seem like the saving grace of the game. I disagree and believe it promotes nothing more than checking off boxes for AP, minis, and now farming for $$. Playing for fun is all but gone, unless these things are enjoyment.

However, happy birthday Guild Wars 2.

So, through rose-colored glasses eh? Nothing about empty zones, lack of dungeon attention etc?

Legendary/Ascended is a concern for any WvW focused player that has no interest in PvE. I myself play both so Im sure at some point I’ll acquire an ascended weapon or two. I just hate the fact that this stuff is being forced upon players that only want to live in WvW.

Im getting the feeling that lately, arenanet is battling larger and more vocal mobs about their design direction than ever before, even more so than the november 15 patch. Kind of makes me uneasy about giving this game anymore of my precious time.

I think Martin answered all questions. Thanks

I dont care for minis… but I seriously would love to get a mini that is one of the lead developers of Arenanet. As a joke though, you know? Nothing innately mean or negative. I think it’d be hilarious! How funny would it be if you saw mini Colin’s or Mark’s running around or something…skittering and scattering their little feet as you run to the trading post. Then you pull out another mini while you make your trading post transactions… John Smith

My “retired” characters are on the Pavilion-Invasion pension system.

Im Mudbone.1437:

We need to all get together and sing a few rounds of “Old McDonald Had A Farm”. {:-þ

And Guild Wars was his name-o

oh wait..wrong song.

MrRuin.9740:

Calae.1738:

It keeps the casuals happy; which is what the target market for GW2 is. Spam 1 or 2 skills and be rewarded.

I’m a casual player…that doesnt play much anymore because this is what everyone is doing. Other places and instances are barren because people are doing this. The majority of my guild is doing this whenever I log on. If i wanted to be a zombie pressing the same button repeatedly with no effort or thought process, I’ll go lay on the couch and channel surf. I’ll probably get more mental stimulation from the commercials anyway.

And at this point I don’t know whats more mind-numbing……the zerging itself or the people who are whole heartedly endorsing this as an engaging gaming experience.

I made a post about this exact thing. These LS events take people out of WvW, dungeons, other zones, and zerg in pavilion or invasions.

I don’t want to say it is time to look for a new game completely..not yet. But maybe its worth considering.

OP gets 100 internets for the day. 150% agree.

Once, we had Guild Wars 2.
Then Ascended Wars 2
Then Grind Wars 2
Then Nerf Wars 2
Then Grind Wars 2
now Zerg Wars 2.

Soloing those champions is completely feasable. I soloed nearly all of the ones I had to take down. Take a look at your utilities, try different things. Sounds cliché but trust me, sometimes you need to alter up your playstyle just a bit.

I never retire..just shelf for a while.

I used to play 3 or four classes. Now Im down to two…thief and mesmer. Thief for PVE, mesmer for WvW.

Looking at this thread exhausts me. But I will try to place my points concisely.

DEs are good, but mask the same old run of the mill type of quests.
Invasions are a poor copy of Rift’s Rifts/Invasions. The adds sit there and don’t even attack towns.
Living Story is a poor substitute for actual story telling and substantial meaningful and impactful content.
The trinity was removed, but slowly most people(not all) flock to more berserker builds because it is straight up more powerful and useful.
While there is no traditiona treadmill, having new ascended slots released every 3-4 months is the same thing as a new raid tier. It takes as long to obtain one or two new ascended slots compared to an entire raid tier in WoW. Masked, again, but the same thing.

Unique snowflake? No. They get a B- for effort, the game is fun. But stupid decisions are stupid decision and Im really getting tired of it.

Great, SAB…more fluffy kitten

silvermember.8941:

It doesn’t matter because off-hand stats never contributed to the stats in the first place.

I think I see what the OP is saying…and you cannot be sure.

I think hes asking if duel wielding ascended weapons, each with lets say +5 agony resist on it…will be superior to wielding one two-hander with only +5 agony resistance. 10 AR compared to 5.

I agree with most. We need to know what they are doing with our stuff. Should we salvage? Or will the MF portion of the stats be replaced, and by what? Or will we have a choice of stat combination?

1. Announcement that Living Story is no more.
2. All dungeons trash mobs now will not stop chasing you until you fight them.
3. All dungeon bosses have their mechanics revamped./
4. Dungeon trash mechanics revamped.
5. World Boss/Dragon mechanics revamped.
6. All currencies removed from the game except dungeon tokens, gold, karma, XP.
7. All ascended, T6 mats, skins purchasable by one of these methods.
8. Add in more Dynamic Events to the world.
9. New Perma dungeons/
10. All DEs are worth running regardless of level.

Sorry, anyone who thinks that they can leave the game, come back and pick right up where they left off is delusional. (this is not directed at the OP, but in general). Unless you simply run dungeons, sprawl out into the world or level characters…you will be left behind. You will mis out on lots of content, lots of temporary dungeons, lots of GOLD and currency farming(ahem pavilion and invasions), lots of minis, etc.

This game wanted to be a game where you can pick up whenever you wanted, so badly. It is the exact opposite.

I still enjoy the game, but if I dare take one month off and miss one or two LS patches, Im so behind in terms of the gold farming that has become the flavor of the month.

Ahh.. someone has a case of “I feel very behind in Guild Wars 2”..the game where you can quit and come back, and not be behind! Well, this game has one of the largest feelings of being left behind if you dare leave the game for a bit. I hear you man.

And as others have said: retro achievement point rewards = chests.

With Karma.

Its the most widely rewarded currency in the game.

I have heard rumors that their dungeon team is no longer. I hope this isnt true.

Would be nice to get an arenanet post clarifying any of this.