Guild Wars 2

I would play content i’d not enjoy if the reward is something specific to what I want. Some sexy new gear, or something thatd make my time in game easier in the long run etc. I couldnt care less for the unenjoyable content (usually grindy or rng related) if it rewards say…loads of gold, or rare cosmetic which i detest/not interested in the looks. Yes i am a cosmeticc-centric player.

Mind you, i would play fun content without regard to rewards (example the challenging dungeons, aetherblade, new TA)

THAT said, i only do such things simply because I have no other alternatives to the game as of right now.. this is my only tweak-my-toon RPG i have right now. if the current trend for grind continues, well its only a matter of waiting till the next fun rpg for me comes up.

I practically got stalkers because of my female ranger :P and its all unique pieces, not one from same set.

Krytan Chestpiece (gemstore), Twisted Cloackwork shoulders (LS), T2 cultural Gloves, Vigil leggings, Leather (crafted) boots and if u want a hat, Temple (karma) headgear.

:D

Option A usually but if im expecting to haf friends later on thatll do dungeons with me and theres a daily dungeon/fractal, then id save up for that,

I have 3 toons that are female greatsword users and i love how they wield them, so im happy with it as it is…

morrolan.9608:

Ision.3207:

1. In regards to backtracking on Horizontal Progression, Anet gives a small mea culpa as you say. They assure us that Ascended is it, and all progression going forward will be Horizontal. They introduce Ascended Armor, and then move on to Horizontal progression for years to come>

Its highly that there will be vertical progression of the infusions, they are denoted in the same tiers as gear and we are only at masterwork level. Then there’s also the ability to infuse ascended items.

Considering the amount of mats required for say …those +5 agony resist and + other stat infusions, i shudder to think what higher level infusions would cost…

simple Q: How do ppl join TTS?

haviz.1340:

eisberg.2379:

which is kind of funny, One can get 339-445 Dragonite Ore from doing one 1 of each of the fights/activities that drop them, and the time gating is what 5 days total?

Not everyone prefers to spend hours on pressing one while roleplaying being a zergling.

There are two distinct difference between exotic and ascended gear.

• time-gating
• being forced to complete specific content to acquire it

I can live with the first one.

Definitely agree with haviz here…

Well, I’m glad though tht someone can tell me how much of that dragonite ore u can get… per day is it, thats theoretically possible. Except that some events people just dont really do it except on rare occasions. I suppose we were suppose to try soloing some of those temple events perhaps? Or solo teq? (mind u i love the new teq fight but its understandable there isnt always a group..err.. mob, thats ready to take on it all the time)

And even if there is always a mob of people running the events all the time, every day, well…. believe me i have tried going event after event for it, i got monsterously bored of it, and best part of it was i used up all my time in game for just chasing after these things that I totally didnt do stuff that i really liked in game.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

generalraccoon.3857:

In regards to grind and comparison of exotics then and ascendeds now… Personally, I didn’t mind exotics because firstly, there were so many ways to get them and secondly the requirements was not as horrifically tedious current ascended weapon crafting. For some stats, i could have multiple sources for them. Zerker stats for example, i can craft some with what few t6 blood i have, probably get another piece from Arah and a few more from CoF, and yet the ration of which source to get them is entirely up to me and what i enjoy. and failing even that, i could just do ANYTHING that gives money and buy some off the TP. I get them as I please and not funneled mandatorily into specific activities I dont want to.

Would ascended be as bad if it were available in all the same ways as exotics, just more expensive?

Would ascended have been viewed as poorly if the game had launched with it in place, including all its time gating and limitations?

The list of what ifs is a long one, I’ve only listed a couple. The fact still remains that exotics are VP. For those that don’t like dungeons, it was grindy to them. For those that never had the temples open, they had to go out of their way to find a place where they were. While you had no issue with the grind for exotics, others have no issues with the grind for ascended. VP existed before ascended, but the gripe was far less, people simply accepted it as part of the game.

Been busy, didnt know this would grow so fast :p

My personal take:

1. Would ascended be as bad if it were available in all the same ways as exotics, just more expensive? – It will be better, on my opinion. Bored of method 1? try method 2! I always liked that approach.

2. Would ascended have been viewed as poorly if the game had launched with it in place, including all its time gating and limitations? – I’d still say the requirements are annoying, but having seen that from my earlier days, id be more likely to shrug it off and begin acquisition of those annoying mats from the start. character level 20? well while we are here in a lvl 15-25 map might as well gather all those silly soft woods while we’re here! Hence when im a bad kitten lvl 80, i can spend less time doing this mundane task and do more kitten stuff. ALSO, having seen what a grind it is for BiS id limit myself from making alts and would therefore feel less annoyed

Please note my views are my own TY!

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

IndigoSundown.5419:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Technically speaking, so long as they do not add any further tiers beyond ascended, similar could eventually be argued here. Just depends on what happens in the future. I fully expect them to add infusions up to ascended level, I expect that as part of the ascended tier, but if they stop there then GW2 can be said to have no progression beyond that point as well. It’s the same difference.

Of course, a key difference between the GW1 playerbase and the GW2 playerbase, is that the people that stayed in GW1 did not ask for gear progression (at least no where near as loudly), we did for GW2, and Anet complied. The games are different animals, catering to different demographics.

Ascended and infusions are a compromise between the GW system and the tier system employed in games like WoW. It remains to be seen whether the portion of the GW2 demographic that wants VP will be satisfied with only one tier plus infusions.

What saddens me is that HP was not given a fair chance to replace VP. The only prestige armors are the dungeon and racial sets. Exotic karma armor all has the same skin. The cosmetic HP options were nowhere near robust enough to stand in for the lack of a chase for higher stats. Maybe the new HP initiative (once it rolls out) will be, maybe not. If it isn’t, we’ll be back where we were last fall once people have Ascended armor on their main.

Like I said, it depends on what happens in the future.

Although, exotics are VP as well and required a certain amount of grind to obtain too. Yet nobody had an issue with that only because it was that way when the game launched. Exotics should have just been skins, since there are lvl 80 rares. There was no need to add higher stats to exotics, but they did, and very few groused about that, practically no one even bothered to mention that lvl 80 rares even exist (and can be crafted relatively easily or purchased from the TP and require no dungeon grind and no additional karma grind – you’d get plenty just leveling your character to purchase the insig).

Just sometimes its interesting to see how the masses will ignore 1 thing to shout down another, when they are essentially the same.

In regards to grind and comparison of exotics then and ascendeds now… Personally, I didn’t mind exotics because firstly, there were so many ways to get them and secondly the requirements was not as horrifically tedious current ascended weapon crafting. For some stats, i could have multiple sources for them. Zerker stats for example, i can craft some with what few t6 blood i have, probably get another piece from Arah and a few more from CoF, and yet the ration of which source to get them is entirely up to me and what i enjoy. and failing even that, i could just do ANYTHING that gives money and buy some off the TP. I get them as I please and not funneled mandatorily into specific activities I dont want to.

I’d love my pet more if i can get a combat capable raccoon

But seriously, I do love my pets. That’s why I take time to think of fancy names for them. And I personally don’t agree on the sentiments of removing pets as ranger class mechanics; in part due to the reasons stated. (unless they decide that ranger class mechanic is that they can drive a 2000 ton mech that can solo fight kaij…err..dragons… Yea too much pacific rim here :P )

And I do love the boost in pet HP, im more inclined to use more damaging, less tanky pets now.

But you got to admit theres so many times we get our class mechanic shut down, largely due to AoEs and those 1 shot kill abilities from bosses. Of course finding a fix to that while keeping the pet mechanic isnt easy, but i do hope they find ways to do so anyhow.

Xae Isareth.1364:

I very much doubt people get Legendaries for the stats. You can max out every profession to 500 with a fortune to spare with the money needed to get one.

Well I did.

Friend of mine wanted to move on to Final Fantasy, he got Dusk from mystic toilet and gave (free, can u believe that?) it to me because he said among our groups he felt i was closest to get it (i barely had more than 20 of any t6 mats so try imagine what others in the group had )

I was not dedicated to the idea of getting legendaries until they announced ascended weapons. Then I worked and spent more than 2/3 of my gold to getting the Twilight done. Why? because i want an item that will remainBiS regardless of how many vertical progression tiers they add. Also, I had a hunch, gut feeling… that ascended weapons will require an annoying grind. Granted twilight looks fancy enough, but the truth is is still prefer the design of my AC greatsword.

Anyway not to veer off the OP topic, with the exception of the ascended grind, i think they followed the statement more or less fine enough. I will not argue abt “do you need ascendeds?” but as far as cosmetic grind goes, my chief annoyance is only in those super massively low 0.0000000001% chance RNG crap. That aside, i cant argue if they want to add a skin/cosmetics thatll take months to get, so long as it isnt a massive RNG fest. And it shud be permanent, so no pressure to spend money on gems etc becoz of temporary period of acquisition.

1. How is making everything easier to get almost killed the game? Is this about people complaining “i have nothing to do”?

2. 10,000 hmm? How do you get 10000 of this stuff? I’m seriously curious. I dont really bother with it, but I want to check this because everyday, I dont think I get even near 100. its probably closer to 50 and even then, thats likely on days i really indulge onrelated event activities.. (most days i just do random dailies and run a few dungeons) If course I dont farm for this but hey thats why im asking. What sort of behaviour/playstyle can get this much?

I think its likely one or two toons will be somewhat neglected. Should you delete them? maybe ..if u need the slot… or if u really cant refrain.

If you have to focus, of course pick the one that’s most fun for you. don’t do things just because the general consensus is that its the most optimal (unless being optimal really is the most fun thing for you).

of the choices u picked, OP, the guardian seems to be the most often used in many regards.

Engineer – hammer

… because id like engis to have a real melee weapon without resorting to not-often-used kit…

I personally feel that with the intent the OP quoted, rewards (most probably ascended crafting mats, but why not include direct rewards of the weapns itself thru a non-RNG means, like dungeon tokens) should be present in as much activity players would indulge in, though of course only one or two are more optimal than the rest. Viable for me, is sufficient. but of course ‘viable’ is subjective. My take on viable is if the most optimum path gives … say…. 50 of X items where u need for ur goals HUNDREDS of X, then other paths should give, 20-30 of X items. If the ratio instead for optimum path drops to other path drops are like 50 : 2, then i really don think thats viable.

Taking the case of dragonite ore, so as to get ..BiS weapons… as an example…

I like dungeons and occasional WvW. In WvW i hate mindless zerging, i prefer small scale stuff for personal and practical reasons which extend to pvE as well (my internet line often (but not always) suffers badly in massive zerg events, the number of times I dc-ed at world bosses when their health is like veryy low, only to relogin and find the boss is dead and i missed the rewards). Now if I stick to the activities i like, i would hardly ever see dragonite ore, and even then the likeliest place is from storming WvW keeps (usually need zerg though its somewhat possible with smaller group), which gets you…what…3-5 ores? So if you were to ask me, what id like is for dungeons to have dragonite, or dragonite is accessible thru wvw stuff that does not need, or attract a zerg.

And equally important if they do drop in other places, again, dont make the amount drop to amount required ratio be stupid. Its just as frustrating in this case, if they add more sources for dragonite, but those sources give 1-2 each when u need 500. In the end, id still be forced to go join zergs (and probably suffer dozens more time of frustration as i dc and miss out on the rewards) or wait a stupid long time as it slowly accumulates by doing stuff id prefer but which gives a sloths pace of progress.

I think its like because the idea is that different weapons function differently, and some weapons are just not intended/designed for certain functions?

1. Best in Slot gear/Ascended Gear Grind
2. RNG, specifically ones on gemstore
3. Alt Friendliness

Vayne.8563:

Avatara.1042:

Vayne.8563:

Avatara.1042:

Vayne.8563:

GoldenTruth.2853:

Vayne.8563:

While I can sympathize with you, there are usually two patches, and the second patch is usually only around until the next one. It’s been like this for a long time.

You had SAB for a month, but the Boss week achievements didn’t stay around as long, during the SAB month. It’s been going on for a long time now.

I, at least, was aware of how long the achievements would be around for.

What Anet needs to do on temporary achievements, I think, is to have a countdown timer on the meta screen or something like that.

At least all the other achievements and the mini can still be attained.

Well the TA path would fit into being the 1st patch (even though Halloween is staying for 1 month instead).

Like you said countdown timer would be nice (though they cant be specific about when next patch hits).

Not in my way of thinking. The first patch usually occurs early in the month, the second later in the month. SAB was clearly the first patch…because boss week before that was the short one.

Drop your fanboyism for 1 minute and actually read what people are typing.

You missed the part where I said there should be a count down timer on events, so people wouldn’t have to go through this?

I thought so.

So you have finally actually looked at a calendar and figured out the date?

My short term memory definitely isn’t as good as my longer term memory. Sue me. I remembered it one way…and yep, I got it wrong.

That doesn’t make me a blind fan boi. Glass houses and stones and all. I can admit I got it wrong. Can you admit that I’m not a blind fan boi?

You’re not a blind fanboi! Woot! Do i get a prize? :P heheh…

but really kidding aside, lets not derail the thread. Obviously its mostly expected the TA thing should have lasted a month. SO why was it removed like this, and is there anyways we can bring it back for a bit, because some people, (one such poster far above, i can see :P) have yet to get that slick backpack.

If the LS patches alternate between ones that last whole month and ones that last 2 weeks, (and putting aside the whole early or mid month thing) Halloween would have been the one that gets 2 weeks and TA the one that gets a whole month. And TA did start early month, and this one clearly in the middle of the month so in that terms, TA should be one month as well.

I finished my TA achieves, but I do think this is really unfair for most players. There should have been a notice or warning as it deviates from regular LS pattern we’ve seen thus far.

Yes to expansion. Yes to Cantha. And definite yes to new professions and races, even if the game has gottena a tad bit alt-unfriendly

I can’t say for Spvp or WvW as I do none of the former and not enough of the latter. In PvE, dungeon runs especially, there have been countless times where team mates die (not down) and I usually have to get them back up again. And quite a number of such happens with me being last person standing and somehow trying to get the rest back up.

And to be perfectly honest, I love it. And yes I’ve been dead a few times as well with people bringing me up, so not to say i just love showing off that im always the one left standing. My personal opinion is that mistakes is something we learn from, yes, but also something that with some effort we can recover from. I enjoy that some times, those rare times, on the brink of failure, we can come back up again and somehow win through. For that in itself is a challenge. Seeing people drop one by one with no chance of them getting back up again is boring for me. It feels like an…outdated concept.

So I’ll leave the pvp and wvw aspects to ppl who know better, but i love this mechanic in PvE.

Yes generally im just a soldier. I get on Teamspeak just to listen orders (having no mic). I did read somewhere you dont need to kill Teq to get it though. might look into it. As for TTS joining, hey that sounds fun. Problem is I recall the guild im in is one of those 100% rep guilds (which i never really mind because i only ever join one guild at a time thus far). I’d feel bad joining another guild just for one thing then leave it.

…the Sunbringer.

I have one thing left in my way for that; Flawless Defense.

Call it RP or personal preference; because I don’t normally care for titles, APs, minis or such, but for some reason this one sounds nice to have and seems to fit my idea for what my toon is.

I’m not gonna whine about how hard or stupid design idea etc, I just want to know how people do it or any such ideas to obtain this.

I’m on Dragonbrand server and we usually do a Teq raid every reset or so, and i’ve been dillingently on most of them, joining in server teamspeak and following orders and all. WE killed Teq several times already and I even got an ascended weapon box once, but tht kitten achievement remains elusive. I just… cringe everytime i see Hylek Turret drops to 5 in a fight and have on occasion did what i could to defend them but hey its a team thing, not much can do solo right?

WvW, Dungeon running, no trinity, friendly cooperative play in PvE (mostly), some visual aesthetics (skins, environs etc), sexy chick toons, easy levelling and ease to get second best tier items (exotics) in game, in which is sufficient to do almost any content with.

Same here! Bugged! dammit…

Gibson.4036:

It’s just too bad that the people who desperately need stats to constantly chase didn’t stick with any one of the large number of games available that offer it to them.

Those of us content with endgame “progression” consisting of cosmetic rewards and horizontal development would just like one MMORPG to call home.

^ yea.. u know i was happy being able to easily obtain different BiS gear to experiment on builds and mixing and matching armor looks

As for the OP, well I sure would like it if there are more fun and direct ways for ascendeds but really when devs already said how they didnt like how ‘fast’ we got exotics, i guess its likely we wont get these kind of implementation.

Wudnt knw how much it would affect the economy though, given that ascendeds are account bounds…

DusK.3849:

Just to drop this in here: The smoothest dungeon runs I’ve ever done are with a guildmate of mine, who mains a guardian in all cleric’s gear. Swaps between staff and mace/shield, does damage when he needs to support and control very well when we’re up. I main a guardian in knight’s gear, soldier trinkets, zerker greatsword and cleric’s staff, taking hits when I can (bosses love me with dat toughness) while dealing a rather respectable amount of damage, and bouncing back to support or kite when I can’t take anymore hits, which isn’t often. Nobody ever greets the waypoint. Bosses go down fast and smooth like a glass of moscato.

Gear doesn’t determine how well you play. Skill does. Kick a guy because he’s bad at his class. Kick a guy because he keeps going AFK. Kick a guy because he, after the 4th wipe, still can’t understand the fight mechanics. But don’t kick a guy just because he’s wearing gear that falls outside of your closed-minded, elitist views of what “optimal” is, and if you do plan on doing that, please, please specify your elitist intentions in the description field so that the rest of us “filthy casuals” can be spared the frustration of dealing with people like you.

I keep seeing guys in Aetherpath, dropping every fight. I ask ‘em what gear they’re using. Always zerker. As if they’re gonna be doing much of that “optimal” DPS from the downed state. Meanwhile, use “bads” in knights or PVT gear are finishing bosses off.

Haha this… ^

I regularly run with a guildie who uses cleric gear guard as well. In fact our (now ex) guild mistress insist on always running dungeons and stuff with him (and myself when around) because we always get things done successfully.

I’ve seen a lot of zerker party members ‘lazing off on the dungeon floor’ but we don’t kick them though. I dunno, maybe…just maybe… we could try being a little tolerant. not so kick-happy… (and to the opposite end, ’report-happy).

oh, to be certain, i dont hate zerker people. i saw this one zerker guy, he was insane, killing stuff here and there. dang thats skill. so yea, skill at playing ur class, not gear, should matter more.

Vayne.8563:

generalraccoon.3857:

I hate RNG as well, but I have to say, I don’t mind so much the fractal/ascended rings mechanic right now. I got lucky a number of times with them, I stored some and heyy, eventually when refining my alts build i can actually use some of those rings. Otherwise that pile of pristine relics would do just the trick.

Fractal weapons are a different matter. You have to go through ALL the stuff to see if u get a chance for it or not. I got 2 so far after countless running, but neither are the ones I really want. I got a focus, which a good friend of mine wanted but since these are account bound, i cant give it to him. Similiarly 2 guildies that ran with me got my one true fractal holy grail, the Fractal Rifle, and NEITHER of them really use rifles. They would have given it to me in a heart beat, if they could… but of course, account bound.This for me is the 2nd most annoying RNG in the game, and its quite close to the 1st.

Top spot for annoying RNG for me, by principle, were those karka/sclerite skins and those jade dragon skins. Not only were they temporary, but even their gemstore method of acquisition is RNG. on the gemstore. where real money could be involved.

See this game really is like Guild Wars 1.

Voltaic spear, frog scepter, celestial compass, mini yakkington, mini polarbear, zodiac weapons, hell even just ecto and lockpick drops. Black and white dyes.

People who play Guild Wars 1 say there’s nothing in Guild Wars 2 like Guild Wars 1. I submit that they’re wrong. lol

lol, wasnt really there for GW1. Wish I had but oh well… I guess things were bad back then too huh?

Dc-ed almost everytime i login, at least once per day, like its a daily or somethin..

I hate RNG as well, but I have to say, I don’t mind so much the fractal/ascended rings mechanic right now. I got lucky a number of times with them, I stored some and heyy, eventually when refining my alts build i can actually use some of those rings. Otherwise that pile of pristine relics would do just the trick.

Fractal weapons are a different matter. You have to go through ALL the stuff to see if u get a chance for it or not. I got 2 so far after countless running, but neither are the ones I really want. I got a focus, which a good friend of mine wanted but since these are account bound, i cant give it to him. Similiarly 2 guildies that ran with me got my one true fractal holy grail, the Fractal Rifle, and NEITHER of them really use rifles. They would have given it to me in a heart beat, if they could… but of course, account bound.This for me is the 2nd most annoying RNG in the game, and its quite close to the 1st.

Top spot for annoying RNG for me, by principle, were those karka/sclerite skins and those jade dragon skins. Not only were they temporary, but even their gemstore method of acquisition is RNG. on the gemstore. where real money could be involved.

Oh this… really, the only real solution is to play with like-minded people. If someone wants to chastise me for not following the current meta, for not wanting to do stuff as he prefers to, MOST especially if my own way of doing things has achieved success many times before, then I stay the heck away from that guy. It’s just not worth the aggrevation.

Wasnt GW1 also B2P? As i recall expansions are not compulsory, ppl who bought it can experience new stuff, otherwise other ppl can still play the game as before. I have no issue against that model, though I have to admit I’d be quite cautious now on whether to spend money on it or not. It’s not the price tag or the model of payment thats an issue for me, its where the game as a whole seems to be going…

I whole heartedly agree to this. Balancing should always be on exotic level, which is easy enough for most people to access.

+1 weapons, though I might add not all weapons are too my liking. Most are good.

-1 to Armors. I am inclined to think, on top of all the grind they want you to do to get these, u’d need to get transmutation crystals too. :P

rather have lots now than needing lots later but not enough. Kinda like karma, where i am glad i stockpiled a lot back when it was so easy to get in abundance.

Interesting topic but I’d really rather not have too much…‘realism’.

From my point of view, the only problem with Berzerkers is that some Berzerker equipped people take using said gear like a gospel or sumthin and as such would actively try to make public his/her ‘ideologies’ and belittle anyone who does otherwise.

Not every zerker ppl does not mind you. majority likely dont anyhow. Just like not all zerker people are godlike in PvE stuff all the time. Quite a number of times during some dungeon run or boss fight, they’ll be lazing off, lying on their backs in the middle of the room or such. As someone said up there, its a high-risk-high-reward thing. I personally don’t use full zerker gear but I don’t really mind if anyone does either. So i dont think it really needs a fix.

Hmm my thoughts on the matter…

No offence meant but sometimes, most calls for enacting the ‘trinity’ roles is seems to me is because someone doesn’t feel they are important, ie. anyone else playing anything else can replace them. Do we really need to be so irreplaceable tht the group must fail if we die? A soft trinity is still a maybe for me, im still thinking abt it in detail because I always thought we already have it in this game, but any limitaition of roles to a specific class is definitely a big no for me.

Is the game simply a group of individuals doing their own stuff while in a group content? Perhaps some content makes it so, but definitely everyone in party needs to play their part well enough in some of the higher difficulty content. its just that its not always a clear cut healer-tank-dps kind of roles. Quoting zeromius waaaayy up there "I think though that ArenaNet wanted to make dungeon groups less like sports groups and more like a squad of soldiers. While one soldier getting killed could greatly reduce the effectiveness of the squad, the remaining members could still complete their mission. " I prefer this kind of approach. Sure it sucks to be the guy downed while the rest of the squad finishes the fight, but seriously, u want ur team to fail just because you went down?

What I will never like about ‘trinity-esque’ roles is that it makes class/builds a factor in a group run. I much prefer what matters most and preferably, only is the competency of the person/player. I dislike the idea of “LF1m Healer” or “LF1m of specific class”. I rather like the current “need 1 more person to fill spot for dungeon X run” which we currently have (at least for me in my guild and friends) and if anyone ask “what class u want me to bring”, we’d just say" whatever you like to play"

A line from the OP…

“This is done because of math. With the healer/tank/dps system, you know exactly how much healing or dps, tanking etc, somebody is able to do, and calculate this out as a clear mathematical value.”

I’m somehow thinking of Leeroy Jenkins here :P hehehe…

I want a raccoon! :p or make into like a…. dire raccoon or sumthin. I mean come on, its furry, has a mask and stripey tail.

Fun thread I like some of the things here.

Rifle Ranger: I do sooo like this, since ranger is my second most used toon, and i freakin love rifles in general. However as a long range weapon, rangers already have longbow, with traits it can go excess the usual 1200 range. I dont wanna kill the idea, but what are anyones thoughts on balancing with this?

Engineer Melee: I have to go for Hammer over mace, sorry :P I’m just too inspired by Torchlight 2’s version of Engineer

Pistol Mesmer: Main hand pistol? With the already existing off hand pistol, a dual pistol mesmer…. YES please! we cant let only thieves and engineers the only ones that can go all John Woo on people :p

Just finished all the achievements for the dungeon last night. I have to say it was a blast. I enjoyed it well enough even if some mechanics were a bit annoying.

1. The dungeon on my opinion isn’t too difficult; it can be a challenge for sure (unless ur one of those elite “everything here is too easy” people. It definitely takes time to get used to it. I ran with my dedicated group of guildies, and let me tell you the first time round, I knew we did quite badly tht if it were pugs, ppl would have ragequitted. The last time we did it however 4/5 members have ran it a few times already and one was a first timer. The difference was quite visible as the first-timer got downed a lot, did things wrong etc.

2. Rewards. Well, sure dungeon rewards could aways be better. could always be more. I would support that. But the more and more grindy direction ANet likes to go now would seem tht its likely they will never really give the players too much. (unless a player gets a lucky RNG drop for some really rare thing like precursors, but thts another matter)

3. Mini Clockheart. I love this pest :p

colesy.8490:

Fixing Arah in ANet’s eyes means destroying it and replacing it with aetherblades, scarlet and annoying steampunk tech.

So no, don’t fix Arah. Please.

I never minded aetherblades much, and I love steampunk. But I have to agree with this

Personally, I find the dungeon not too difficult. It was somewhat challenging, and defnitely will kill you the first few times as you get used to it, but the aetherbalde retreat some time ago was harder than this. I don’t find any of the task particularly annoying but then I always run with my usual solid group.

All in all this has been quite fun. But I do agree its kinda silly that in the ooze run, the ooze we escort can be killed by us as well…

seems… odd.

I dunno bout new players, but im seeing my karma drying up with so much obsidian shards being used for ascended crafting :P I stored enough jugs for another legendary if i so chose though, and im gonna be really careful before using those.

speaking of which, where can we get jugs of liquid karma now?

Nikaido.3457:

Ascended gear is the antithesis of exotics. You could get exotics through a great variety of means and didn’t have to do bad content just because anet wanted you to do all content. Ascended gear is always introduced with the purpose of forcing you into playing a part of the game you didn’t always intend to play. Ascended weapon’s focus were crafting and open world.

I like that part. It’s true though, I so enjoyed exotics with its many ways to get them. My main toon got her exotics through dungeons, karma vendor at temples (good luck with tht now though, with karma nerf), crafting (someone else crafted for me, can u do tht with ascended weapons hmm? ) mystic forge crafting and bought one last weapon through TP. Recently also got a nice bow I am using on her from random drop.

Ascendeds has so many restrictions its really annoying.

Yes, I want my Fractal Rifle skin! 2 guildies got it and yet I get OTHER skins (mace and focus).

Anyhow, while I like the idea because I too sort of run out of thoughts on what to do with my pristine relics, I also worry on how they (you knw who) tackle such matters. I distinctly recall another ‘currency’ that players had lots and lots of and were asking for something they can use it for and now said ‘currency’ has been so nerfed it’s really hard to get lots of and most are surviving just because they stockpiled it pre-nerf.

Dungeons and Fractals. I keep telling myself it’s for the rewards. Need gold for this and that. Need fractal relic for backpieces, etc. But it happens a few times that some runs were so fun, coz we either goof around alot (run with guildies, i dont pug, for obvious reasons) or try to challenge ourselves with various things just for the fun of it, that sometimes after the runs i totally forgot about the piles of loot in my inventory till the next day.

I do enjoy jumping puzzles as well, i keep doing a few long or chalenging ones (skipping stones, Obsidian scantum etc) just to see if i can do it without making any bad jumps. Finishing is reward itself and i rarely ever care whats in the chest at the end.

World bosses and such events are fun enough to do when they are there, but because they areon only for specific times, and you happen to need something from them (dragonite ore) it annoys me to have to keep tabs on them and wait for them, so much that their fun factor feels a little diminished for me…

Mr ProxyDamage, sir. I enjoy reading through all that. Really. It kind of sums up my own sentiments. I’m not one who is fond of the whole MMORPG thing anyways. I always equate MMOs = grind. The only other MMO I ever played aside this was EVE and I left that because RL imposed economical restraints that made monthly subscriptions a burden. Otherwise I’d have stayed there.

But I digress. I too came to GW2 with a couple of other friends with the… hope, that this was different. It certainly was, at the beginning. I liked that BiS gear was easily attainable. I liked getting that out of the way so quickly so I can focus on other fun things. But things changed. OH well…

but really, nice read. Thanks for taking time to write it

Interesting read. Thank you OP for posting. I enjoyed D&D based pc games like neverwinter nights, but i so despise RNG in GW2… :p