Guild Wars 2

Don’t want to pull this off topic, very quickly: I was expecting the other wvw forums to be, as you said, a cesspool. What I found was a lot of ribbing back and forth, some good natured and a couple of trolls (appears to be one or two at most) from each server that only end up trolling each other. Most of the other posters understand who they are; the trolls do a very bad job and are too easy to ignore. Also found a lot of “thank you”s for good fights. All servers have folks that try to spread lies about them… we’ve seen that too often even here. Gets old.

Back on topic: yes, off-season is happening. There are less folks on. In the height of seasons (1 and 2), I think our guild never waited more than 10 minutes (closer to NA prime time) in a queue for any of the BL maps (other than reset night of course.)

The infamous rumors about 24/7 queue times still persist?

Other than reset night, between 11:00 PM / Midnight and 4:00 AM (PDT) on BG, my guildmates and I can almost always slip into WvW without queues. The most we have ever seen was maybe 12 person queue for EBG. And that’s pretty rare.

We will often land on a BL map with no commander (at that particular moment), as the commanders are hopping from map to map in a coordinated fashion. (<3 for KnT.) If JQ is fielding a zerg at that point, depending on map, we might find ourselves with a temporary outnumbered buff. Not saying it’s empty, there are plenty of good fights to be had and defense that needs to happen.

ANet wants you to spend money/gems to transfer to another server to be able to complete your world explore.

Try a T1 server. Temporarily.

And then spend more money/gems to transfer back.

That seems to be the essence of anything related to WvW.

Otherwise, you will need to wait more than one month.

-NO comment otherwise on some of ANet’s design decisions.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I know this may not be the best place but nowhere else did i get an answer and wildstar forums won’t let me post as i haven’t bought it yet.

Now just about everyone and their mother know about Wildstar’s non tab target combat and telegraphs…but that’s a critical point for me.

What i want to know, yet got no reply so far, is how id the combat depth? Any good gw2 player knows that one skill can do many things at once (like guardian’s sactuary the pulses knockback, prevents projectiles, heals and is a light combo field). And there are traits and combos. That leads to tons of synergies between skills and different setups. In short lotsa depth and experimentation.

Does wildstar also provide such deep combat style customisation and true ability to “fight your way”? Or is it just down to movement with fairly standard mmo rpg skillset?

Yes you can customize and on the fly as long as you are out of combat. (sound familiar?)

I find the combat fun, and am soloing (some of the harder mobs that should take more than a solo player at level that I probably shouldn’t be), so there is definitely room for skill there. Combos of cc, knockdowns, shields, etcetera make a difference, knowing when to use them and choosing them on your skill bar in the first place is part of the game’s tactics. see comments below

The telegraph graphics are annoying. You can decrease the opacity. I much prefer them however, to the overkill particle effect in GW2 which I cannot adjust.

You can choose which skills you want, how much to invest in them, how to arrange them on your bar, and swapping those out will determine how you play your role. I can go from DPS to heal/support mostly by switching out my skills. Yes gear affects that. There is a customizable stat boost system (AMPS) that goes with that. Your choice of how you spec those makes a difference.

You can say the combat is simplistic. And it can be if you treat it that way. All depends on playstyle. If you want to just stand there, dodge, and shoot or melee you can. Not as effective as a playing it all out.

I can say that about GW2.

Can your abilities affect other players, such as shielding others, putting down a healing field? Yes.

The game has PvP (you can level there as well), as well as GvG, raids, outdoor bosses (they mean business) and dungeons as well as outdoor quest-leveling. Also events.

Unlike GW2, it’s a return to the trinity: healer/dps/tank which may delight some players, others not so much. Again, customizing skills/AMPs (basically builds) will allow for customization until the customary optimized “best practices” is determined. We’ve seen that happen in GW2 as well.

Leveling gets harder as the levels go up. There is a step curve around level 25, and not too many folks have hit that yet. So grain of salt everything you hear, including my post.

I have a guildmate that finds the combat too simplistic, however he’s an old-time FPS as well as MMO player, and unlike the rest of my guild that are WvW players (we are a 4-man swat team), he also enjoys PvP.

However, if you know anyone that is playing it, or have friends in game, Carbine has passed along guest passes for play, so you might be able to test it out.

Hope that answered/helps. If not, keep asking.

With this announcement, ANet has managed to deliver a lot of what customers were asking for:

1) Replayable content

2) Hooked into personal story – where your character continues to be important

3) more challenging content

4) access to the content if not able to be present during a 2 week window

5) ability to play content on personal schedules

=====

How all that actually works out will be interesting. How that impacts open world zones, etcetera will be fun to view.

I’m sure the forums will be active. Both now and then.

2nd in a thread already expressing concerns about the new LS concept!

As I see it, this is a return to ANet’s comfort zone: e.g. campaigns. This moves GW2 further away from a classic MMO and back towards GW1.

I am not commenting on whether I think this is a good idea or not.

And obviously, if you miss anything, feel free to buy access.

-Back to W* for PvE.

Hopefully WvW will continue to provide fun.

edit: see my 2nd post below for positive assessment

/inserts video of a 4-man PuG successfully taking SM week 9 season 2 (guildmate, one tagged down commander, another player and me.) We went uncontested, and unmolested, didn’t have enough supply for the door and ran out the open wall, grabbed a camp, came back totally unimpeded.

/shakes head over memory

That was one of the saddest moments of WvW this season.

It was epically sad.

Epic fights?

Find a rom-com movie clip of two people arguing and dub over with old match-up thread posts. :p

I’m sure this has been suggested before: An instanced arena for GvG (no balance required). Use a subset (e.g. condensed/trimmed set) of the current maps (including EotM) which are randomly spawned when entering. Set a limit of 20 players, 30 players, 40 players each (pick a tier). Set a timer, at the end of 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, (again tiered), calculate the GvG points based on number of players and time <waves hands here mathematically>, take scored points (use multiplier or percentage) and add to PPT.

Means taking GvG off of the maps which will have a different impact on WvW. GvG battles will still contribute however.

Allows for balanced GvG fights.

Impacts ANet’s servers (for those instances) and requires investment.

/top of head simplistic post off

Implication of course is that GvG is still server vs server.

CU will probably have a different set of problems.

Yes, my guild and I are looking forward to it as well; I’m realistic though.

Broad paintbrush: “all T1 stacked, blob-centric servers only play for PPT and no one there knows how to fight or is skilled.”

Realistic photo: many good players on all servers (including T1) have a lot of experience from other games as well as GW2, enjoy fights and are skilled.

Balanced view: WvW players have different expectations about how they want to play their particular type of WvW.

Hope: there is room for diversity.

Current state: none of the WvW players are being particularly well served at the moment. (Broader paint brush.)

Carry on.

I’m not sure why anymore. The game has morphed into a gem-store grab without much in the way of quality development, attention (especially WvW), communication… I’d say more but the OP wants the thread to stay on the right side of positive.

I’ll just say I’m struggling to find even 3 reasons to log on:

1) because humans are creatures of habit and the daily only takes 20 mins

2) because for a few hours now on the weekend, my guild still enjoys what is left of WvW and what is left of our server community in spite of the megaserver change. That has more to do with the WvW community on our server than actual gameplay. Megaserver has ruined PvE for us. So without a community feel, this becomes a tenuous reason at best, because most of my guild is shifting to WIldstar.

3) No matter how hard I try, I can’t get past the feeling that GW2 reminds me of solitaire: easy to play, easy to ignore and only good for some mindless downtime but not compelling otherwise.

This post makes me sad.

At least they have not closed this thread as a match-up, because there are several factions here, all valid.

Latinkuro.9420:

You’re forgetting something very important OP.

The sense of server & community pride

I have bled, raged, endured, learned, adapted, laughed, cried and even suffered sleep deprivation all for the glory of my server, I would never transfer.

Even if somehow someday my server falls from T1 I would still be there fighting the good fight.

This, so much this. (Spent S2 playing with double vision, from the couch with a keyboard on my lap because doc said I had to keep my injured leg up.) Won’t talk about constantly playing during hours that aren’t natural (I hear that sleep deprivation.) My choice. Why? Because my server isn’t just a collection of people, it’s a community, a family of WvW players. When I’m out on the maps, or anywhere in Tyria, those are folks I know and trust who feel the same way. I’ve said it before, if we were T8, I’d feel the same way. I won’t transfer as long as I’m playing this game.

I know there are many players on other servers who feel the same way.

I guess that makes me, and them part of the problem.

I do agree that at this point, none of us has heard anything from ANet that indicates they are planning to address the population imbalance. It would be easy to default to the belief that this is in the hands of the players. There is some control there. However, given the number of ideas and concerns voiced on this forum, and others, we know that isn’t the total answer.

thaooo.5320:

BG: 24/7 4 queues all time zones.

We can’t spare players.

Mama said to mind my P’s.
She also said my Q’s.
But I can’t find the big long lines
no matter which BL I choose.

I’ve tried so hard so many times
to see 24/7 queues
I guess the face of reality
has opened up my views.

Dear Mama I am sorry
I can’t mind my P’s and Queue’s.
I know that it’s ill-mannered
to point out this constant ruse.

“We are pleased with the results of our first Swiss style tournament for season 2”.

Will probably be one of their opening statements.

Hope for all those interested, that there actually is some detailed info provided, and that the questions raised on the forums regarding previous rewards are also answered.

Not expecting much else to be addressed, as I am sure they will be focused on Tournament results/rewards and only those things specific to that topic.

That’s reasonable, for the moment, even though the WvW community has larger concerns.

Agreed, ask again tomorrow after reset.

Right now, I can’t think of any server I would actually recommend and still keep my integrity intact. S2 has been a clustermuck, er, difficult for all servers in a variety of ways.

btw, welcome back.

ICEing.9237:

Because look. Feature patch came and went. Sure there was a kitten storm about how bad megaserver was, and all they had to do was wait and hey look! Everyone likes it now and no more complaining. Now we move on to Season 2 and everybody hyped.

I assume you are being sarcastic because obviously not everyone likes it.

Complaints are being deleted and ignored. That is standard operating procedure for ANet. It’s their game, they can do what they want with it. Not necessarily good business. I’ve posted about that before in numerous ways, including my last one here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/What-happened-to-my-way/page/2#post4046490

I agree that S2 will be the new distraction complete with a lot of hype.

See my other post regarding that here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Start-July-1st/page/2#post4069414

Yes, I am feeling particularly skeptical today <liptwitch> Might have to do with the fact that megaserver ruined what was left of my customer experience with PvE in this game.

If it’s nothing but more disposable LS “content” with a tie-in to the gem store, I will be continuing to merrily level my way in another game… about a month in by that time and probably thoroughly immersed.

e.g. LS is not enough to pull me back to PvE and the gem store. Even with the cliché “you must play now or lose out forever” marketing hype, which we have discovered isn’t necessarily true. That is almost entirely what has been driving me out of the game.

I’ll be here for WvW as long as it is still reasonably working. That is the only draw left.

I will admit, ANet could conceivably surprise me with new permanent, explorable content… nothing is off the table.

-Not holding my breath

arjeidi.2690:

Confirmed: People who complain about too much skimpy (light armor) and not enough modest armors, are nuns.

edit:

This would be a lot more useful if you define “skimpy” and seperate it by armor class.

Light: Fine as is.
Medium: We need more skimpy.
Heavy: We need generally more lighter looking choices which includes skimpy.

^ This x10000000000

Voted not enough modest outfits. Although the use of the subjective words “skimpy” and “modest” are obviously designed to elicit specific responses.

In a game that is supposedly all about looks, I’d like to actually have my characters in armor that is armor. I’d like to see more creativity in designing something appealing that isn’t just another set of bikini tops and thigh high slits for females and nothing but a chest strap for males. Too cliché.

-57 years old, married with kids, art major, lived in Europe in the era of nude beaches and has no problem with the natural human body

Sorry I don’t fit the stereotype

Whispers would be stacked because for some reason, a lot of players think the buffoonish Tybalt is wonderful.

Story only requires going through level 30.

Make ‘em live through at least the finish of Trahearne’s story arc. By then they will really be ready to kill anyone and everyone.

Implementing factions would kill WvW’s only revenue: server transfers.

Sure, you could charge for faction transfers. And it may take longer, but you could end up with a dominant faction. Then you run into the same population imbalance problem all over again.

I agree that making transfers harder/cost steeper would help as a speedbump.

There needs to be some restoring force (provided by the game/developers) to balance the sides, and I and the folks I’ve talked with about this in an on-going manner, aren’t smart enough to figure it out.

Even DAoC had this problem, and what they did, short term, was offer insta-leveling to level 20 and even 30 (for lower realm populations) on specific servers to help motivate players to balance out population there. That was a big deal when level 50 was endgame and it was time-intensive grinding to get there.

First, I would not trust ANet to do DF justice.

Second, given the current economic model of GW2. DF as it was implemented in DAoC does not make sense… there would not be enough incentive. Part of the draw, besides the great fights, was the economic/leveling advantage of owning DF. And the lower Princes were fantastic for farming, the plated hulks, the Princess as part of the loop, the butler, etcetera….

Yes, those could replace the PvE champ loops. ANet would nerf the loot, Legion would probably go the route of Teq (on a timer)…

The armor / weapons / hinging would all go towards MF sharding.

The amount of PvErs that would try to cram in there would be funny. IF and that’s a big IF the rewards and leveling were some of the best in the game. It’s ANet, they would not be.

Would I like to see WvW in a dungeon map? Complete with PvE mobs? You’d hear non-stop complaints that the PvE mobs have no place in WvW.

Could there be a corridor set up like PoC? Sure. But again, you’d hear complaints about PvE mobs.

DF worked because leveling was difficult and the economy of owning it provided a huge incentive. GW2 doesn’t have the need for leveling and ANet nerfs rewards, limits gold farming and promotes the gem store.

Without the context that DAoC provided, all you would have is a map that is a dungeon. Not sure that’s enough of a draw.

Asgaeroth.6427:

I stopped WvW after I listened into some discussions on planning who was getting what place this season in tier 1 on TC mumble. Tier 1 season 2 was staged from start to finish. It wasn’t a fight, it was just trying to maximize how much prize tickets Anet had to pay out. Literally nothing else to it. Shocking twist: the plan I heard proposed on week 1 is exactly how the season played out. Not exactly interesting unless you’re more entertained by middle school math texts than The Silmarillion.

Guess it’s not really shocking since Anet’s long game for keeping WvW alive was adding virtually (or literally) impossible to earn achievements. Don’t think WvW will ever really work in GW2 until they take a closer look at the system they took so much inspiration from. If Anet wanted an arcade shooter on rails version of world PVP they should have designed their own system. There’s a lot of things they chose to ignore from RvR that really hurts the experience and is keeping any actual fighting from ever happening. Here’s just a few things that stand out to me:

In DAoC RvR levels much more meaningful, you actually gained a bit of character power instead of being able to carry 5 more boards and set doors on fire.

Structures and sieges had considerably more health. In DAoC they were literally hundreds of time higher than they are in GW2. This made sieging a structure feel like sieging a structure, and not knocking on a door for 45 seconds to get 20 silver of salvage.

Really my biggest problem with WvW is how realm match ups work and how they are so easily influenced by the players. There’s no war when the enemy is usually just the loot pinata you picked. Take away the player influence in match ups and you take away the reason to collude with the enemy to fix match ups. Fluid realm match ups just sours the whole pot, shows that Anet will never consider WvW serious content. They seem afraid their players couldn’t handle real pixel wars. In their design the real conflict is trying to game the system, not trying to game the enemy.

The only thing I think they got spot on was EotM, reminds me a lot of Darkness Falls from DAoC except no one loses access so there’s a lot more chance of running into big old zerg fights of PVErs vs PVErs, which is endlessly amusing.

I know it doesn’t show from most of my posts, I actually like GW2, at least the GW2 that released in 2012; that is, the game with potential.

I bought the game understanding it was very casual. Especially PvE. I think that casual feel was carried over into WvW as well. It’s easier to get into, there aren’t long wait times (haven’t had over a 10 minute at most queue since last year), players can easily PuG just by showing up. You can bust into a keep/tower and cap it so easily that 2 to 4 people can do it in under 5 minutes. Five to six players can easily defend a keep from a zerg. Everything is fast and easy, like microwave dinners. I know, hardly good selling points for old-timers, especially those of us from DAoC.

However, that’s the just way most games have gone these days. And GW2 more than most.

Your post raised some good points. Especially regarding “meaningful”.

I agree ANet copied the RvR concept but missed defining details.

My guild (green side) was having this problem last night (Sunday). We were getting multiple DC’s. Don’t remember having problems Friday or Saturday.

Restarting GW2 usually fixes this, after crashing. Didn’t this time. We finally had to abandon the map.

Noticed it most particularly when entering new structures that needed to be rendered, particularly Keep and Tower Lords with clusters of NPCS. (Missed a few caps- that’s not a complaint; that’s an observation..)

Glad I’m not the only old DAoC player who looked at the WvW concept that ANet borrowed from RvR, looked at server transfers and wondered how the heck those two opposing concepts could co-exist.

See post here: for my comments about not allowing WvW character transfers.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/What-started-the-WvW-decline/first#post4053474

Easy transfers, whether free or not, with a fully decked level 80, complete with WvW ranks earned elsewhere just corrupt the entire server vs server concept.

Like I said, I’ve never understood that, from day 1.

Be careful not to advertise that leveling can occur very quickly anywhere. You will have posters extremely concerned that the new players to the game will become traumatized by map chat and not learn to do anything beyond spamming 1 (which isn’t even necessary since 1 = autoattack.)

Seriously though, if players are funneling themselves into easy-to-level-get-rewards areas, there probably will be an adjustment at some point.

shocking.3269:

goldenwing.8473:

My goal for S2 has been accomplished. I managed to stay with this game long enough to make it to the next game releasing. I had fun out in WvW. Season went a little too long. If it had been shorter, I could have spent more time in beta. That would have been amazing!

/salute

That’s funny because I feel that BG is the winner. Why?

Because, despite the TCJQ pairing BG still turned up in numbers and still had a chance of winning season 2 until Thursday next week. I defy any other server to try and even come close to matching that spirit, determination and coordination. It took 2 Tier 1 servers to stop us winning Season 2 and despite that we are still as strong as ever.

I lost beta hours.

Like I said the day after S1 ended, and multiple times since, there was no guarantee BG would win S2. I have no problem with that.

Still part of a good community.

And like I’ve also said since the day after S1, I will heartily congratulate the S2 winners.

Least wanted feature: (not on your list)

/inspect

Followed by temporary content.

The rest I don’t really want either, but I could tolerate.

If GW2 had been a subscription game from the beginning, and that had actually pushed design decisions more along the lines of an MMO, instead of what it currently is, I would have happily paid a monthly fee.

Hi,

I am sorry to hear that some of your friends have left. It must not feel good to be down to so few in game.

As far as WvW and anything happening, the WvW community understands your concerns as we are also waiting for the same answers.

-We don’t really know.

My goal for S2 has been accomplished. I managed to stay with this game long enough to make it to the next game releasing. I had fun out in WvW. Season went a little too long. If it had been shorter, I could have spent more time in beta. That would have been amazing!

/salute

One last comment:

I saw a Norn elementalist in WvW with a set of ascended gear in pale blue/white with the dragonwings and a zodiac staff that looked spectacular.

The problem with female norns is that the torso is stretched.

I feel your frustration, trust me. I’ve gone through so many transmutation stones.

I end up putting my norns in midnight ice/white gold combos to help achieve a more “elegant” look by smoothing out/covering out the textures on a lot of gear.

I’ve tried combos of:

cabalist top/guild leggings/AC shoulders. – midnight fire/silver for my necro . Very old fashioned look that works with the new upswept hairdo from the latest makeover kit

HoW top/priory leggings/priory shoulders. – midnight ice/white gold. Also looks very good in white/gold.

cabalist top/acolyte leggings – the long ones/feathered boots – in midnight ice/white gold/white

Trickster’s top (the one with the silk scarf) and priory legs in white with a dash of gold also looks good on a Norn with a braid or upswept hairdo (to accentuate the shirt collar). This also looks elegant in a dark contrasting color with gold trim and white scarf.

I’ve found that proportionally, the long skirts create a more elegant line, counterbalancing the longer torso and look right. Short skirts make the Norn look frumpy.

And it’s just a matter of finding a top long enough to meet the top of the skirt.

Good luck!

PS: I wish some of the light gear could look like the medium. The medium gear from HoW and CM look right on a female Norn, because they are long lines in the back that smooth the torso/curves into an elegant form.

Chadramar.8156:

Conski Deshan.2057:

For the people against any form of limited items/prestige items, what motivates you to play the game?

I play MMOs for the big persistent world, the setting and lore, the environments, the teamwork and friendly banter, the ability to customize characters and stick with a favored one for years, the enjoyment of how a particular class or role plays (sigh I miss tanking). Not a single shred of my enjoyment hinges on “status”-jockeying or excluding people (rude or abusive jerkwads aside).

If I enjoy something, why would I not want others to enjoy it too? If someone would really like to have a certain item, why should I stop them from getting it? Hell, I might help them if it isn’t too much of a pain for me.

And if another player wants “respect”, they get that by being friendly, helpful, fair and a good teamplayer, not by stroking their ego at me. The more obnoxiously someone demands attention — either verbally or by jumping around me like a flea on crack or by swinging their flashy weapon at me or by parking their bigarse mount on an important NPC — the faster they get blacklisted.

Well said, sir!

To identify when I’m on the WvW board that those inform my playing perspective. I don’t know what it’s like to transfer and the problems that come from that. That I only have experience on one server. My experience is limited.

To tell the devs the game is stupidly easy to level.

To indicate I’m bored and keep track of my alts because I’m getting senile.

Having that many alts as a WvW player will be viewed as someone who is not really hardcore. There is no prestige there. There is only some experience with different classes/builds.

Two responses here: yes if I cared about “prestige”, I would agree there are problems. And two, not everyone will agree this is important.

I belong to the 75% of the world’s population (backed by scientific research) that does not care about “prestige”.

I don’t care what the item is, or how you got it. I don’t look at another player and think “oh wow, he got that accomplishment”, whether it’s gear or title. I’m focused on other things.

My motivation and the motivation of 75% of the player base has nothing to do with “prestige”.

Do I think TP-bought Legendaries cheapens the item? Yes. I believe Legendaries ought to be account-bound, and have said so for as long as the game has been out.

Does anyone swinging their particle-effect producing legendary all over my screen engender respect, awe or envy? No. Normally it produces annoyance.

I respect the fact that you value what should be the on-going developer-created “prestige” of particular items. I acknowledge that some of those have been devalued by the revenue-motivated decision (items on gemstore, making LS items available again.)

I support the fact that this would cause a sense of anger/distress/betrayal.

And I understand that other players will not see this as an overriding issue in the face of so many other problems with the game.

No obvious, visible rewards providing incentive (outside of server pride/bragging rights)… see: DAoC DF dungeon. Moot point now with Megaserver structure.

From day one, I never understood how the concept of transfers was allowed to co-exist with a server vs server design. I understand folks wanting to join friends if they rolled on a different server. For PvE. It’s an established selling feature in multiple MMO’s now. If ANet had allowed PvE account transfers, but any character that had stepped foot into WvW was prohibited from joining WvW on another server, forcing a reroll/re-gear and removing all the accumulated WExp, including what is now account bound everytime someone tried to transfer, might have helped. Somewhat.

/shakes head

edit: for explicit zeroing of Wexp when transfer occurs.

Like your concept. Would love to see a combination of tiers fighting against other combos.

I’d already suggested a 3-server combo (one from each tier) against 2 other 3-way combos as a way to help balance population issues/coverage/etcetera but the logistics for getting people into maps, and enough maps spawned a creative headache when considering details.

Would mix it up, with temporary alliances while still trying to preserve server identity (what’s left of it). Then again, that alliance concept moves it closer to red/blue/green teams.

Which is the reason why I can’t make my own posts seriously: designing in a vacuum without wiser. experienced, customer heads collaborating and a focus team challenging the concept as alpha testers on an developer-invited board…..

Hmmm, that’s how it should be. <cough>

Please note, that is not aimed at you or your post.

Dear Lawd, please leave that poor dead horse alone!!!

Royale.5863:

There’s no OP build. There’s only OP players. You need to settle on a class/build and play the crap out of it. You will start to reap the rewards.

Agreed! Problem is finding that “fits like a glove” – this one feels right – base class to start doing that with. I think that’s what he’s trying to find.

The other part of being a solo roamer is a pattern-recognition instinct for when to move in and an awareness of what is happening on the map so you can move out.

It is possible that the class that you want, or could be very good at playing, is not in this game. I’ve had that happen before.

How do you like to play? Are you more comfortable with melee or range?

Two things: there will always be counters, no matter what class you play. And two, solo roaming you want to be able to vanish/run. The key is being able to get away. That’s why people are saying thief/Mesmer/warrior.

Small group is more forgiving.

And are you using PVT gear? Also, a one-size-fits-all set of gear may not be the correct choice for you. You may need to mix/match different gear sets to get the overall stats that work best with the build you’ve chosen, assuming it is not a cookie cutter spec.

Sent you a PM, hope it helps, if not, write back.

Play what fits your playstyle best. The only way to figure that out is to experiment, sounds like you are doing that.

Solo for me, it’s a necro that has a synergistic balance with skills/build/gear that stand up in WvW and has been tested in Explorables and Fractals. I know, not a PvP spec. It works for me.

Group, I run an ele. Matter of fact, our swat team (4 of us) runs 2 Elem, 2 Necros. Again, my ele is balanced synergistically to take advantage of my specific playstyle, skills in combination with build/gear. I am not a zerker. I am not a bunker. Thiefs and warriors hate me because they cannot 1 or 2 shot me. Once the thief has blown his cooldowns, I can power them down. The 4 of us can take keeps as well as towers (plenty of fire power individually and as a group). We can lose to a very good set of PvP players. We aren’t PvP players, but we can stand up against a group of 12, 15 and sometimes 20 and come out ok. Again this class, works for me in Explorables/Fractals. And ok, I admit I am fully decked in ascended. That was not always the case, and the class/build still stands up because it designed for how I play / think.

So, I am sure this post will be dismissed as “noobish”. This is how I have played/speccd even back in DAoC days in RvR and doing with 4 people, what normally takes 20 in raiding. I play what works for me, tailored to me. Otherwise, I’m just not effective.

IndigoSundown.5419:

It stands to reason that no game design can foster a sense of, “This game was tailored for my desires and expectations.” There are just too many players, many of whom have different expectations.

ANet expressed a vision for the game that included many component parts. Some of the aspects of that vision have been compromised (“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game.”), others are still a focus (“We think of GW2 as the first MMO that actually has a cooperative PvE experience.” and the emphasis on large events involving many players in the persistent world), while still others were never meant to be taken literally (the infamous, “GW2 takes everything you love about Guild Wars and puts it into an MMO format.”).

Without sitting in on game direction meetings at ANet, it’s impossible to know with certainty the underlying dynamics behind the direction the game has taken since launch. However, since we can observe the results of that direction, it’s possible to guess what those factors might be. The myopia that you’re postulating seems like a likely reason for some of what’s happened. I don’t think it’s the only one. As with any business, costs and profit (and thus cost effectiveness) are likely to be significant factors. Then there’s “trying to please as many demographics as possible.” ANet has pretty obviously done this, with notable exceptions being the small-group content and explorer demographics.

It may be no coincidence that certain game play aspects (i.e., large content with herds of players doing the same thing) are featured much more frequently than other types of content. As a former developer, perhaps you know whether herd content — which clearly attracts many players — is easier to produce than other types of content, such as new explorable zones with all the bells-and-whistles that come with them, or regular additions of small group content that provide new challenges and rewards. It certainly seems likely to me, but my experiences with programming were not in a game design environment.

Excellent post!

And yes, there are business factors that many of us can speculate about.

I have to clarify, I am a retired software systems developer, and have only done a small amount of game development. (Career spans operating systems, business systems, research systems with a smattering of gaming systems. There is no way I can ever claim to be an expert on gaming development.) In my experience, customers never use the product the way it is intended. A developer (of any software system) needs to be light on their feet in response to those situations.

The comment regarding “not your game”, is in reference to the standard gaming textbook concept that holds that the minute the game is released and is placed in the hands of customers, it moves out of the developer’s control and belongs to the customers as well. The collective of customers will be so much smarter about the game at that point than the smaller group of developers can envision.

(See: Developing Online Games by Jessica Mulligan and Bridgette Patrovsky, 2003: chapter 11: “Probably the most frequent mistake I’ve seen live teams make is they don’t listen to their player base when deciding what new features to add. Live teams are under the delusion that the game is theirs, as opposed to that of the player base, and often they will try to muck with systems that are just fine, thank you very much.” By the way, that’s a quote from Damion Schubert.)

PS: I left a post regarding vision earlier:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Do-you-want-us-not-to-farm-champs/first#post4042107

There has never really been a “my way”.

There appears to be a game created by developers for next-bench players (e.g. created by developers who wish to play the game they created. see: pre-release videos). There appears to be this concept that the developers being gamers themselves understand the kind of game that others would enjoy, because they enjoy playing it a particular way. There appears to be a lack of awareness/understanding of customer experience, and a mature business need for marketing segmentation and the rigor involved with both.

Underneath all the apparent freedom with hearts and events and versatility in builds, looking beneath the surface, it appears that a campaign-driven style of directed gameplay is at odds with the freedom of exploration/replayability inherent in an MMO. In other words, it feels like the developers’ transition from single-player gaming concepts to a real MMO gaming model was not totally complete.

ANet has made it very clear, that this is not “your game”, it is their game and they have and will do anything they wish with it.

timmyf.1490:

Harper.4173:

So who exactly is this event for now ?

I get the feeling this is built to train players how to PUG their way to success in upcoming LW content.

If so, this is a bad omen.

Psssst.. you forgot to say “in megaservers”.

The event is there to put a “content checkbox” in the game.

Expect more recycled content to take players through December.

Using Dragonbash, then Halloween and finally Wintersday, ANet can stretch “content” out through the end of the year for very little investment. Toss in recycled rewards, sprinkle in recycled or retooled skins on the Gemstore, and the game is set through the end of the year.

Not quitting, just playing a different PvE MMO and looking forward to spending less by using a subscription.

Staying with GW2 for WvW until they break that beyond repair.

Well, here’s what’s funny (see my other post about ANet not properly analyzing consequences)….

in both Queensdale and Wayfarer’s: someone would announce the previously champion mob was up and less than 30 secs later it was dead.

Changing the champions and leaving them as events did not help the new players.

It only allowed the high level players to kill the veterans solo.

And then someone solo’d the remaining Champion (Oak) in Queensdale and the map chatter that apparently was the cause of most of the complaints was back in full force.

Did ANet solve anything?

Or is it too early?

Or was that not a fully bug-free implementation?

Kythan Myr.4719:

snip…

So what ANET is your vision about champs and farming them? What is your opinion of zerging and trains? Why encourage them through game design and then nerf?

I’m so confused??? 0_o

Been almost 2 years, and the vision that existed before release has become muddied and lacks cohesion as erratic changes are implemented with apparently no mature understanding of marketing, no obvious indication of analyzing potential consequences, and apparently aimed at no particular customer segment.

Add in no statement from ANet regarding any vision.

Not convinced one exists anymore other than the obvious need for revenue. Usually “visions” are held by business leaders, who then promote and share those visions, while ensuring that their product, or in this case, their services, act in a way that maintains the integrity of that vision.

Right now, it’s hard to get past the overriding perception that “floundering” (at multiple levels – design/business decisions) is the new “vision”.

I think this change which supposedly benefits new players, is just one more indication.

That was a good question though.

Would love to see a real answer before the very last of my interest in this game is gone.

PPS: If the intent was to move players to a more “organic” play, spread throughout zones in the game, all they will do is force more PvE blobs (huge amounts of players) into following the scheduled Boss Timer, which means, hordes of players descend into a specific waypoint for 15 minutes, kill boss and move to the next zone.

-Again, hard to take this game seriously anymore

Well, I hope ANet removes the need to do champions for the monthly. Especially for those players who who are new to the game below level 30.

We had a new guildmate join the game, not sure how they are going to be able to do champions at a low level (if the previous requirements for numbers remains the same.)

-Chalks up just one more alienating change to a game that is getting harder to take seriously

PS: I used to help new players out in QD on at least a weekly basis, if not daily. Wondering how many complaints we will start to see regarding lack of people in those zones, even with the Megaserver. /shrug

edit for bold

Karizee.8076:

Relics of Orr interview with Chris Whiteside posted yesterday ~~

http://www.relicsoforr.com/p=3256

Thank you for the link.

The interview explains a very great deal. More than I think Chris intended. Oh, nothing at all regarding content, I agree, but it certainly reinforces some unfavorable perceptions. Will leave it at that.

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