I wonder what all the community managers at ANet are doing. We know there are several of them. Technically, spreading info should be their job, but they’re rarely seen on forums. Of course, you could say they’re doing interviews and other non-forum stuff, but most of the time it’s the developers who do that. You’d think they’d want to address the largest concerns, like the various megaserver/trait threads and the hobosack thread on the engi forum, but nope.
But yes, more communication is needed. I liked the one year long plan they posted back when the game was new. There was some backlash a year later, but most of it was not because they didn’t fulfill all of their… promises, plans, whatever you want to call them, but because they didn’t post an update for the next year. A simple “sorry we couldn’t finish all of that this year, but here are some things we’re working on now” would’ve calmed a lot of posters.
Woah, the engineer version transforms?! That’s so cool. I’m tempted to use it on my engi, but his jetpack looks so good with his flamer… tough choices.
The issue with punishment is that it works differently in PvE and PvP. This was true to a degree in GW1, but GW2’s simplistic mobs that don’t use player skills make it more apparent. For example, a skill that punishes dodges would be nearly useless in the majority of PvE, because very few mobs dodge.
I feel like LS2 reward quality isn’t as good as LS1. In LS1 u have tentacle, yellow flower, and robotic 6 arms backpieces ……… In LS2 u have bunch of champ bags, wow.
And a whole new set of weapons.
The weapons aren’t really comparable to the LS1 rewards mentioned above because of how random they are.
I don’t know anyone in my guild who hasn’t wanted and gotten one yet. They’re rare…they’re not ultra rare. People are getting them all the time.
As for the LS 1 rewards, each chapter usually had one reward, not a whole weapon set. And it was often just a back piece. I don’t know about you, but I only have one back.
I’m not sure I want a bug weapon, but I’ve opened around 40 chests already and haven’t gotten the necessary drop. That’s not a huge deal, but still a lot of chests. Time commitment wise, these seem to be more in line with the Dragon Festival weapons than the backpieces you could get from completing the LS. Actually, the weapons aren’t even LS rewards as much as they are random drops in the new zone.
As for backs, I’ve got one back per character.
I’ve got one back per character too and a whole bunch of weapons per character. Which is more the point. I mean how much did you have to farm to get all the color variations of the backpiece from the LA story arc. While 40 chests is a bit, it’s not really all that much, particularly since, unlike the first season, this content isn’t going away.
Well, the first season of LS tened to have two reward tiers. You got something for completing the basic story and something for grinding a bit/lot. LS2 gives you very little for completing the basic stuff, even less for the achievements and the only rewards are hidden behind rather stupid RNG. Out of the 40 chests I’ve opened, I’ve gotten no Dry Top -exclusive loot whatsoever. It’s bad luck, of course, but I’d be annoyed if I wanted any of the armor pieces or weapons.
Mobs that don’t give XP or loot need to stop. Not because XP or loot are needed, but because the mobs break several traits.
I feel like LS2 reward quality isn’t as good as LS1. In LS1 u have tentacle, yellow flower, and robotic 6 arms backpieces ……… In LS2 u have bunch of champ bags, wow.
And a whole new set of weapons.
The weapons aren’t really comparable to the LS1 rewards mentioned above because of how random they are.
I don’t know anyone in my guild who hasn’t wanted and gotten one yet. They’re rare…they’re not ultra rare. People are getting them all the time.
As for the LS 1 rewards, each chapter usually had one reward, not a whole weapon set. And it was often just a back piece. I don’t know about you, but I only have one back.
I’m not sure I want a bug weapon, but I’ve opened around 40 chests already and haven’t gotten the necessary drop. That’s not a huge deal, but still a lot of chests. Time commitment wise, these seem to be more in line with the Dragon Festival weapons than the backpieces you could get from completing the LS. Actually, the weapons aren’t even LS rewards as much as they are random drops in the new zone.
As for backs, I’ve got one back per character.
Mobs that don’t give XP or loot need to stop. Not because XP or loot are needed, but because the mobs break several traits.
I feel like LS2 reward quality isn’t as good as LS1. In LS1 u have tentacle, yellow flower, and robotic 6 arms backpieces ……… In LS2 u have bunch of champ bags, wow.
And a whole new set of weapons.
The weapons aren’t really comparable to the LS1 rewards mentioned above because of how random they are.
If you’ve got a nice guild with GW1 veterans, you could ask them if they’re willing to part with their GW1 wealth. I know (/think) I’ve got a whole bunch of it I’ll never use.
Getting the first ten or so HoM points should be easy and fun. Play through the campaigns, maybe get the campaign-related achievements. Then you’ll have to buy some weapons and elite armor, but the first 20 points come rather naturally. Then you’ll have to buy some stuff you probably don’t need to get 30 points, but it shouldn’t be awfully time-consuming. After 30-ish points it gets much harder, but you only get achievements as rewards.
GW1 is a really good game, though, especially if you can find some people to play with. Eye of the North’s dungeons are the reason why I was so disappointed with GW2’s dungeon design. They’re complex, non-linear and challenging in the right way.
Necro’s transformations are great, but suffer from the disabled AA. It’s just a minor annoyance, though. Warrior’s Rampage is also decent controls wise, but it’s very weak.
The classes I’m currently interested in “maining” would be Guardian, Ranger, Mesmer.
Of these three, where would you rank their general effectiveness in:
Solo PvE
sPvP
Dungeons/FotM
Don’t know about sPvP.
Solo PvE:
Ranger 8/10: decent AoE skills, great survivability, and a 25% speed boost signet.
Guardian 9/10: great everything, but lacking in speed boosts.
Mesmer 5/10: painful leveling that depends heavily on traits, bugs everywhere, awful speed boosts, the worst AoE damage skills of all professions. Portal is great in jumping puzzles.
Dungeons:
Ranger 7/10: you lose some points for the pet AI, but melee rangers are quite decent in dungeons.
Guardian 10/10: long-term speed boosts don’t matter much anymore and you’re awesome otherwise
Mesmer 6/10: dungeons’ slow pace suits you well, but you’re mostly good for Portal and reflects. You’re not bad, but everyone else is better.
FotM:
If you mean the karma train, everyone’s good enough for it. Mesmers get some extra points for Portal, but it’s mostly useful to others.
He sounds the same to me, although it’s hard to identify a voice from the few lines in the trailer.
Mesmers are a bit weaker than other classes, that’s for sure. However, the reason why they’re the worst class to play is how bugged they are. Many of their skills don’t work properly, so playing as a Mesmer is more annoying than fun.
1. iWarden
2. iLeap
3. Blink
It’s the rare loot syndrome. Elegant skins tend to be smaller and not as flashy, so they don’t stand out as much, so they’re not as “prestigious”, so they are mostly used as low-level loot. As far as GW2 goes, I think Krytan weapons have some of the best skins in the game. They stand out and are fairly elaborate, but still look like weapons and not huge, glowing blobs of stuff.
It’s definitely much better than the standard UI. Most of all, I’d like the ability to remove the “quest log”, but unfortunately we’ve been asking for that for ages and ANet doesn’t seem to want it for some reason.
I do remember as I played Guild Wars (along with other more traditional MMOs) that the vast number of “useless” skills and the clutter of them was considered a NEGATIVE by much of the MMO “community”, and not a positive like the GW1 veterans consider it.
No one considers it a positive. However, even with the large number of useless skills, GW1 had more useful skills than GW2.
But the reason people remember GW1 being all super diverse is because back then concepts as ‘theorycrafting’ ‘meta’ ‘optimal’ and the like were not nearly as important as they are now.
Nope. If anything, GW1 had a more active build-making scene, because its PvP was more popular. It even got the nickname “Build Wars”, which was quite accurate.
We’re not talking about 1998 here. GW1 is a relatively new game, too, especially its later chapters.
The thing that bothers me the most about the new trait system is that the tasks you have to do to unlock traits are the same for each profession. In GW1, each profession had to hunt different bosses, so the system improved replayability. In GW2, you’ve got to do the same – sometimes very tedious – tasks, so replayability is worsened instead.
I’d be potentially ok with unlocking these things once – as I’ll do, because I created one character post-changes – but unlocking them multiple times would be an enormous chore.
Your uber 30s protection could also just get removed, stoled or corrupted.
The main problem with shattering in OW PvE is that you often don’t have enough time to shatter. The (relatively) long recharge of Mind Wrack, the speed at which clones and phantasms get destroyed and the speed at which mobs get killed all contribute to the issue. However, it’s fine in solo PvE.
Well, I got to play with my Mesmer back when they were still good and not completely broken, so yes. Now I ckittene one of my other characters.
I stand near a crafting station and sometimes make Ascended stuff for my alter egos. Funny story: I played through the first S2 story with my Mesmer, using mostly zerker Exotic/Ascended equipment. Then, I played through it with my Necromancer and his lvl 20-60 selection of random greens. I think my necro did almost as much DPS between his dagger attacks, Vulnerability stacks and Well of Suffering. It’s more than a bit depressing. I don’t think I suck that much as a mesmer.
Trehearne isn’t awful. He’s just really boring, as is the Orr part of the PS. He’s more interesting in the early Sylvari PS missions. Could be because he’s interacting with Caithe back then, while the later parts of PS don’t give him lots of well-characterized NPCs to interact with.
Just tried to do this on my ele and gave up not long after the thrasher showed up. I feel like Anet is REALLY trying to discourage soloing this instance. I mean Aerin was a pain to solo for sure, but it was at least doable. This….this just isn’t.
It’s not easy, but not that hard, either. As mentioned, you’ve got to CC the wolves. As an ele, you can use D/D for Magnetic Grasp, Updraft and Earthquake, then Signet of Earth if necessary. The boss doesn’t regen or heal, so it may take a while, but it’s not particularly difficult.
Marjory and Kas disappeared on me, too, but you don’t really need Kas’s help, as the Thrasher’s attacks are easily avoidable even without it. I think it may not be a bug, but a deliberate event due to what happens after the fight.
It’d be a pretty weird plot twist. Even though it doesn’t happen in-game, normally people would recover and bury the dead ASAP.
“Momma, I don’t know how to say this, but Belinda… she died, momma. What? Oh, the body? Uh, we left it there, hanging upside down. Oh, I should’ve taken it down? Oops! I’m such an airhead sometimes!”
Maybe in an expansion pack, if one ever comes out.
Yes, I remember this guy. It’s amazing how well-written some random conversations are compared to the dialogue in the main story.
Yep, my bald asura wondered that, too.
I think the characters aren’t what people are praising. Generally speaking, at least. The characters are bland, although IMO the VAs of Kasmeer and Taimi do a good job considering the lines they’re given. However, the environmental design of the new zone is top-notch. It’s one of the prettiest places I’ve seen in a video game.
If you care about characters and dialogue, this patch is far from great, but many of us don’t. I care in some cases, but frankly I’ve given up on GW2’s writing already, so the not-awful quality of the release is a positive surprise. I just play for the exploration and combat. It’d great to have Torment-quality – or at least BG2-quality – writing on top on that, but it’s not mandatory.
i’m not letting the leap nerf affect me, i just switched to gs/staff. i can still beat the classes, granted im fighting more off point now that i use two ranged weapons.
Yes, you switched to the two power-based mesmer weapons that still work alright. Build diversity? Hah! The iLeap nerf wasn’t a huge deal, though. It’s just the final nail in sword’s coffin.
You could say playing a mesmer feels more like playing a classic RPG with dice rolls, because whether your skills work or not is up to the almighty RNG.
(edited by dekou.6012)
You can see which parts are animated by moving the head in the preview window. It appears to move the character instead of the camera, so the animated parts shake a bit. Of course, if you don’t have a kit you can’t preview the hairstyles.
And yes, the ponytail is static.
Concordia is, by the way, an ancient Roman goddess of social agreements. IIRC it’s also “harmony” in Latin.
That was really awkward. I had to stare at the screen in a mix of amusement and disappointment. ANet’s writing has improved a bit this season, but the death was painfully obvious and pointless.
Sadly quantity is different in people’s perspective.
In the end no matter how big the content is people will still blaze through it and then start complaining again the content wasn’t big enough.
This is a rather typical response to these threads and I feel it misses the point completely. Yes, rushers would be done with the expansion in a few weeks. Why should we normal people care? Playing GW2 until it had very little content left took me over half a year and an expansion would probably occupy me for just as long. However, even for me, the new content in LS tends to take a day to complete. It’s a very small amount of content, unless you’re really fond of farming.
I have no idea why they’re building a space port on top of Kessex Hills.
Good to know I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a space port.
The main thing I dislike about the new art is how it clashes with the old. It doesn’t fit the game’s art style.
The fight is ok in my opinion, but he needs more DPS and lower HP. He’s very easy compared to some other fights in this LS, but has a ton of health.
FOTM have a specific format that doesn’t appeal to everyone.
The issue with dark areas is that few of GW2’s professions can use torches. Those who can’t are forced to use environmental weapons and they’re pretty ineffective.
As for snowstorms, yes please.
I wouldn’t blame ANet for this fix, but I do blame them for a lot of other things remaining not fixed. If you’re a mesmer with Sword/Focus, two out of your five weapon skills don’t work right. I can even understand not being able to fix some things, but then you have to work around the limitations, not ignore them for almost two years. Not that workarounds are good practice, but they’re better than the mess mesmers are in right now.
I played Guild Wars 1 for years and knew this game would be very different. Far fewer skills, no secondary profession, no GvG, less PvP modes, much higher level cap, and yes, I knew there would be optional grinding, because there was optional grinding in Guild Wars 1 as well.
[…]
But I find it hard to believe anyone could have paid close attention to this game and not realized how different it would be.
While everyone who cared knew those changes were going to take place, the way they were handled was rather awful. For example, the reasoning behind fewer skills and no secondaries was that they were too hard to maintain. That’s completely true. GW1 had skill bloat, lots of bugs and poor balance. The thing is, GW2 isn’t much better.
For example, I used to main a mesmer. They’re fun… when they work. Last time I checked, around 1/3 of my skills didn’t work properly. After two years of GW2 being out. Mind you, some of these bugs have been there since release and are huge. Like iLeap only working half of the time. I decided to switch to my necro and make a build… oh wait, I want to PvE, so I can’t use any condition damage abilities without shooting myself in the foot, because half of GW2’s attack skills don’t work properly in PvE. So, now I’m playing with my guardian and he’s pretty fun, but seriously? The condition this game is in is horrid.
Being different isn’t a problem by itself. However, you’ve got to be different in a good way. GW2 was supposed to be more balanced and e-sport-friendly than GW1. Instead, we got a game where PvP is barely alive, PvE is full of bugs and gets barely any new content and the focus of development is on… oh wait, what is it on? I remember a dev saying they’ll post a road map for this year, but that’s nowhere to be seen. And please, spare me the “they’re so afraid” commentary. A studio has to communicate with its clients properly even if it’s not fun, because it’s what their PR department is paid to do.
GW2 was an excellent game with tons of potential when it came out, but the complete failure to develop it further is apparent. It’s still a fun game to mess around in from time to time, but that’s it. A fun game instead of a great one.
Caithe looks different from that concept art now. Note how she has normal hair in the art and leafy hair in-game. The redesign isn’t something I made up, but a documented fact:
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/17066-guild-wars-2-sylvari-redesign-takes-more-plantlike-qualities/
Unfortunately, the blog post itself got removed for some reason, but here’s a pic of the original sylvari:
https://d1nneesl1sywb9.cloudfront.net/global/includes/images/screenshots/sylvari/sylvari-03.jpg
One thing I’d take into consideration is how broken the class is at the moment. For example, I find playing a Mesmer rather frustrating right now, because so many of their skills work half of the time. Ranger is equally annoying with its bad pet AI. Other classes work relatively well, although their AI reliant skills can also get quite annoying.
ANet has been extremely slow at fixing the bugs, so I wouldn’t count on any changes. Mesmer’s iLeap has been broken since release, for example.
Sylvari got redesigned at some point. They used to look more human. I guess this is the old design, which is sometimes seen in-game. For example, this is what Caithe used to look like:
GW1. Degen had a cap of -10. or -20 health a second. poison/bleed was already -7, Conjure phantasm was -5? Burning was -7 byitself I think. So long story short, its always worked this way in their games.
Cause honestly, if they removed the cap, GW1 would be degen wars, cause -30 degen would be easy to nab on Me/N for example, and would net you HUGE dps. And honestly, if we could stack 200 bleed on a mob, it would be kittenED how fast we could down it.
GW1 degen and GW2 Conditions are fundamentally different in that you didn’t have to specifically spec for degen in GW1. You just took a degen skill and it worked.
As for stacking 200 bleeds on a mob, it would require eight optimized appliers. It’d probably still deal less DPS than eight optimized Power characters pounding on it.
What I don’t understand is how between these two scenarios:
1) Necros A and B attack monsters C, D, E and F, stacking 25 bleeds on every one of them
and
2) Necros A and B attack monster C, stacking 50 bleeds on it
2 is disabled because of its taxing nature. After all, in 2 the server has to keep track of 50 bleeds, while in 1 it has to keep track of 100 bleeds. It doesn’t make much sense.
Elementalist. Both are fun, but Mesmer is way too buggy and it looks like those bugs won’t be fixed anytime soon.
“Wow, that guy killed 3794714178427801 skelk! He must be awesome!”
2. Block anyone who has been blocked by X users before.
That way any gold selling char will become useless after pming 2-3 ppl
This is a great idea. I guess they’d have to make a feature that removes all blocks you’ve gotten when your account is restored after getting hacked, so it’s not quite as easy as it sounds, but probably still easily doable.