Guild Wars 2

Mt finger is itching to buy but I’m holding off for now.

At least it’s not Howler.

Maximum Potato.5923:

I’d rather not have the looping sound effect back. I tend to use my 4 and 5 at the same time and with the old Howler sounds that would cause intense bleeding of my ear-holes. Bringing back the moon animation, would be a great idea – they’ve been working so hard to make current legendaries more flashy, so why would they take effects away from the more subtle ones?

Apparently it was removed because there was a bug. Every other legendary that’s had bugs has been fixed. Why is this one being ignored? Seriously if this was Eternity they would fix it right away because the masses would be crying.

Can’t we get a little service?

Similar topic going on at reddit right now: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2v62ji/question_will_the_howler_effects_ever_return/

Saw yorr post on reddit or one similar and I agree that it needs to be fixed. It’s underwhelming for a legendary currently and it’s had half it’s features removed.

I’m pretty close to completing mine but I’m holding off in hopes it gets tweaked. In my opinion the moon needs to return to the horn at night and the wolf image needs to last a second longer when you use the horn.

Not having a glow feature on the weapon is a huge disappointment. Not to mention the Adventure Box and Layline horns both have unique sounds and Howler sounds like a wolf with asthma.

People have asked for it to be fixed before but it’s not a super popular legendary so it didn’t get a lot of attention.

IF YOU READ THIS BUMP.

Any word if this is going to be fixed? I’m pretty close to making this but I’m going to hold out till I know it gets all it’s features back again….

It’s like buying a new car only to be told the sweet dash board lights don’t work.

They should fix Howler first….

Deli.1302:

There are also three other maps each with three exits.

Fa can pretty much have every map queued. I know on reset they do and on prime-time the have a pretty large map hopping group.

Coyote.7031:

lordkrall.7241:

There are multiple ways out of spawn.

With FA fielding those numbers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other exits are also locked down.

They are all locked down, unless we muster about 25 it’s very difficult to get out.

We’ve managed to push out several times but it’s not very fun when you don’t have the numbers to flank or fight.

I know everyone server has done this, and it’s more a fault of the map for allowing to happen but it’s pretty ridiculous when the server doing is 6 rank’s higher than your own.

A server should never be forced to play a server 6 ranks higher.

I’m sure a lot of players on the server aren’t enjoying this match up, and many of you are trying to prevent this spawn camping from occurring. I can’t imagine it being fun for them either, I know you guys are bored but can’t you just log off for a few hours?

These kinds of matchups are the last thing this game needs. There are numerous new players joining WvW for the first time, and this is the experience they are welcomed to.

I keep getting asked, “Why do they have so many more players then we do?” I don’t have an answer and it’s been 2.5 years and Arenet hasn’t found an answer either.

I can tell you that FA outnumbers SBI pretty freaking badly. SBI is a rank 10 sever playing FA who’s a rank 4 server.

FA queues every map on reset, SBI only queues EB.

If Anet is going to force servers into kitten matches vs. server that are in tier 1 they need to put some kind of balance system into the game.

I played warrior pretty much exclusively in WvW. I’m looking for little tips and tricks for the class or just things that really helped you play your class better, even if they’re not necro related.

What spec do you think is the most noob friendly?

Which is why I want a one time purchase for an extra character slot. I know a lot of people are going to buy an extra copy for the slots but I just can’t be bothered due to the pain it will be.

So a lot of my guild mates were talking about buying another copy of Guild Wars 2 this weekend for the extra character slots. You get 5 character slots for about 10 bucks vs. 1 character slots for 10 bucks which is around 800 gems.

It would be really nice if we got a discount on the character slots this weekend, maximum one purchase of course.

It’s just inconvenient to have to switch accounts, but I know in the end this is what a lot of people are going to end up doing.

The populations are so bad in the lower tiers that a rank 10 can easily out populate a rank 11 by hundreds of players in a given night.

They goal for 2015 is to close WvW as a game mode. At the rate people are quitting I would say they’re doing a great job.

It’s been 4 weeks in a row that we have faced DB, a server that vastly outnumbers us in both players, large guilds and coverage.They have attracted several guilds to their server in the last few months, including several from SBI.

The matches aren’t fun, being out-numbered in prime time is not very good for server moral nor is getting annihilated four weeks in a row vs. a server with more players, better coverage, and larger guilds.

Kudos to DB for rising in the ranks, but this game is awful when the matches are not balanced and a rank 11 server is forced to play a rank 7 server for an entire month.

Blockhead Magee.3092:

For the third week in a row, we’re matched up with a server rated 120+ points over us. They owned the match-up. Three weeks in a row….

I don’t even want to take the time to calculate the odds of us getting them three weeks in a row.

DB was only 80 points below FA, but did that happen. Of course not. Why have even remotely even matches right?

This is how you get people to stop playing the game. I tried to play reset for 20 minutes. It’s impossible to defend anything when you are that out numbered. There is no viable tactic when a zerg can just PvD a gate down.

Why. Why does my rank 11 server have to face Dragonbrand three weeks in a row?

What fun is this? This is the most broken match-up system I’ve ever encountered in a game.

At the beginning of a season, or after a mass exodus of players leave our server we require everyone on TS be re-verified.

A player must ask in map chat to be verified by a moderator. If we suspect a player of Teamspeak spying we will ask that the player put an X in map chat, if they do not they are booted from the TS server.

I play on SBI by the way, we have a very active community teamspeak server.

ROFL! You want to show us we are the target audience? The best way to show that is to punish a server by making them face a server 6 ranks higher then them.

This week did it for me. Forcing servers to compete with servers that vastly outnumber them is a sure way to alienate your player base.

I’m tired of playing servers that outnumber mine on every map, I just want an even fight.

It’s no longer fun, it’s repetitive and punishing. The maps are not large enough to split a massive server properly and removing swords from objectives will just punish the smaller servers even more.

Seriously, a rank 7 servers should NEVER play a rank 13.

A rank 9 should NEVER play a rank 15.

It’s an absolute joke.

I love this game, and I play to WvW but when the game I love so much does nothing but burn me week in and week out it’s a pretty good indicator that things won’t change.

The potion of wolf transformation from the heart vendor in Wayfarer Foothills is missing! Please put the potion back into the game!

Shaman Vigmarr used to the potion for karma but he no longer has them.

A lot of these issues can be found in the other tiers, not solely Tier 1 but very good post.

As a WvW regular and someone who visits these forums weekly to criticize the problems I have to say I have no problem with these ideas.

Let’s all take a deep breath.

The last month alone we have seen more hands on discussion with WvW than we have in the last year, this is a good thing.

If you’re as hardcore as I am you should remember a very long time ago the mention of the WvW rule-set possibly changing certain weeks. This would allow different strategies and offer a new challenge to current strategies.

I’m really surprised at how many angry posts I’m reading. You need to understand that a magic wand can’t be used. The problem needs to be fixed and they are making an attempt to finally, all be it slowly, fix it.

Anet, I love you, but you treat your customers like children.

No one has any thoughts on upgrades?

Filovirus.6258:

pdavis.8031:

hmmm interesting…So essentially you are saying that it’s not that WvW is broke (or rather the matchup system) but the players are. That actually makes sense. I can fully agree with that.

But to answer your question, “Are server transfers healthy for the game.” I would have to say that yes, they are. However, just like everything, if it geta abused it can become unhealthy and begin to cause some majr issues. I am glad I was able to transfer servers. I started with a small group of friends in DB, however shortly after I started they ended up quitting, and playing less and less. So I got some of my other friends to play, but they couldn’t get on to DB, so they all joined SBI. (Now this was in the days before megaserver, and guesting). So I hopped over to SBI and been there ever since. I’ve found an awesome guild, and good friends. Now I believe this is what transfering was originally intended for. But as I said, it got abused. I don’t think the match ups and server stacking issues are caused by transfers though. As you said, it’s more the players who are looking for easy wins, or “better” rewards.

The problem isn’t transfers. It wasn’t really a problem till S2 hit.
Anet broke WvW in a way it won’t ever recover without Anet’s intervention with S2, and the free/low cost transfers for ultra stacked servers, wich meant allowing already stacked servers to be stacked more, meaning the less stacked couldn’t get the players they needed, the low ranked ones lost a lot of players, and reached the stage where basically, if you don’t play during prime time, you don’t belong anymore (because PvD is funny a couple of hours, not all your play time long, all week long, for months, where you have so little fun moments you can name them all over a 3months period outside prime time (and i’m large with primetime, basically it’s 18 to 00 UK time in EU)).

They did it again with the reduction of transfers price post S3. Most of the ultrastacked servers are open again for transfers, with a cost that is the same/less than half the bottom 6 servers, and there is no logic behind it, since it’s still only PvE population making that population (oh and i doubt overnight, all the ultrahigh/full pop servers became very high/high/medium at the same moment.. it’s Anet manipulating pop lvls for transfers prices to milk players that are basically forced to move to compensate for Anet’s HUGE failures).

There is part of truth in what the op says. Yes lots of players moving don’t realize what it entice (ie : you are moving to a new place, and will be forced to rebuild relationships, reputation and such, and it’s hard, and takes time), but the problem isn’t “only” with the WvW state.
It’s just that a good chunk of the players transfering do so as a last chance type of move, and when they get to their new home, they realize the game isn’t worth putting in that sort of effort/work torebuild what you lost.

It’s like in every game, it’s people/relationships/efriends that keeps people playing (that’s how WoW kept that many players for that long, most of them stayed for their friends, and numbers started dropping a lot once the exodus of people organizing guilds/with an e-rep that gave “cohesion” left, like in any other MMO).

It’s not the transfers that are the problem, they are just a symptom, and most of the people transfering now aren’t there for an easy win (unless they are the ones moving to the few ultrastacked servers in their tiers that basically have a free win all the time, like BG/SFR), most are trying to find again what they miss, and the activity they liked, but they can’t force themselves to redo the work they put in 1-2+ years ago.

Guilds moving, is usually something else, specially if they don’t move alone (if it’s not bandwagooning to it’s finest, usually around season, it usually works quite well and they stay, because erep comes faster, and players are in a “familiar” environement of sort while discovering new people).

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Since there seems to be a lot of good, constructive discussion going on these days I thought now would be a good time to discuss upgrades in World vs. World.

I feel upgrades have always played an important part in WvW, but I always wished they offered a bit more.

So let’s have ourselves community discussions, we know the developers are paying attention to these forums, so stay constructive and provide some feedback.

Let’s look a camp upgrades that could use some work.

Tier 1 – Hire Caravan Guard: Currently has no importance, it’s irrelevant and provides nothing to the game. When a caravan is destroyed the guards immediately de-spawn, so they don’t really offer any protection. It would be interesting to see the guards provide a passive speed boost to yaks, or perhaps a defense bonus to them while the guards remain active.

Tier 2 – Hire Additional Guards: Added guards is helpful, I would love to see the final upgrade offer a radius alert, alarming players on the map if a group over 5+ people begin to attack it. This would provide relevant task for havoc groups, and help break up the current blobs that plague WvW.

Now let’s look at towers and keep upgrades that could use some work.

Tier 1 – Hire Merchants/Hire Outfitter: Offers very little, is there some kind of unique item they could offer? Maybe hiring them allows the guards and NPC’s to be better equipped? I don’t feel like guards offer any difficulty and most often they are ignored. Good examples are the archers placed along the walls, they don’t do much.

Tier 2 – Hire Siegemaster: The siege master sounds cool, but he does nothing. It would be amazing if he placed free siege, similar to what siegerazor does once you purchase him. Keep in mind the Seigemaster is only available for towers, an asset I think it very easy to lose before it’s fully upgraded. Free siege placement might provide extra incentive to actually defend a lowly upgraded tower and would provide small squads something to do. An interesting thing to notice is the icon for siegemaster/services is an Asura working on a siege golem, as if repairing it. Maybe golems could regenerate health very slowly if they are stationed next to one? This would allow towers to play a larger role, damaged golems would be kept inside towers instead of at spawn or inside keeps.

Tier 3 – Hire Patrol: A patrol us used to scout an area and report on any enemy activity or to secure a perimeter. Patrols should put X on the map if they encounter a group of players larger than 15 attacking a keep or tower. Again this allows small groups to have purpose, allowing smaller guilds and havocs to play an important role in WvW. Clearing patrols before assaulting a keep would be an important tactic, and if they were taken out by a small group it would prevent the main force from being spotted within the area of the keep.

Finally, I would love to see unique upgrades. Maybe offering 3 options at the end of a tier that could only be chosen once while holding the objective, perhaps one upgrade could be the time required to capture the objective doubled, while another could allow reinforcements to be summoned every 2 minutes while a structure is under attack. (Similar to how the waypoints function now.)

What are your thoughts on upgrades?

What changes would you make?

What additional upgrades would you like to see?

scerevisiae.1972:

It’s worse than that. Every time you transfer you are rewarding anet for their lack of changes to address the reason why you want to transfer in the first place.

While this might have been the case I believe Anet has the numbers to support the theory that WvW is not currently holding the popularity and numbers it used to have.

There are two things going on here, one is a businesses model and the other is game design.

It’s time Anet focuses on game design and accept they earned a pretty penny for transfers in the past.

A server loyalty buff would be a helpful way to prevent transfers. Maybe some kind of bonus the longer you stay on a server that caps at 3 months time?

I can’t speak for everyone but the developer that I played with was for kind, and actually asked for player feedback. Several times during the week we would have at least 10 people from the server discussing ideas and possible solutions.

Anet is trying, they are listening. Now we need to wait and see if they are willing to fix things.

pdavis.8031:

hmmm interesting…So essentially you are saying that it’s not that WvW is broke (or rather the matchup system) but the players are. That actually makes sense. I can fully agree with that.

But to answer your question, “Are server transfers healthy for the game.” I would have to say that yes, they are. However, just like everything, if it geta abused it can become unhealthy and begin to cause some majr issues. I am glad I was able to transfer servers. I started with a small group of friends in DB, however shortly after I started they ended up quitting, and playing less and less. So I got some of my other friends to play, but they couldn’t get on to DB, so they all joined SBI. (Now this was in the days before megaserver, and guesting). So I hopped over to SBI and been there ever since. I’ve found an awesome guild, and good friends. Now I believe this is what transfering was originally intended for. But as I said, it got abused. I don’t think the match ups and server stacking issues are caused by transfers though. As you said, it’s more the players who are looking for easy wins, or “better” rewards.

I’m certainly not saying WvW is not broken. It is flawed in it’s core mechanics (PPT and Coverage). What I’m suggesting is these mechanics force players to leave a server in hopes of fixing them, when the only way to fix these problems it to play on a high tier server that has coverage and a good foundation.

Server transfers prevent many servers from establishing a solid foundation needed to compete in WvW. Without a proper, broad based WvW community a server has no chance in rising in tiers or attracting new players to their server. People get frustrated, get tired of trying to fix problems and look for an easy solution, which currently means transferring to a “better” server. If they don’t find what they like, which in my experience many don’t, they end up quitting the game.

In my opinion transfers are largely the result of players seeking a solution to flawed WvW mechanics, I believe they are currently causing more problems for lower and mid tier servers and do more harm to the community and player base than good.

Keep in mind I’m discussing players leaving for the purpose of finding a better WvW environment, not leaving for the desire to play with friends, or join a better guild.

One of the most common requests I’ve seen for WvW is unique items and armor. Many of the champions in PvE drop unique loot, I would love to see some unique items drop in WvW. These items could always be sold on the trade post, giving PvE players a way to obtain them, but I think having maybe several weapons drop in WvW only would be fun.

You could even add a collection achievement to it!

I have often questioned why we don’t have more Seigerazer events in WvW. I know the big worry is the potential problem for server’s to abuse it by suggesting players not log onto the map but in the current state of WvW I feel larger numbers will always trump fewer numbers.

I would love to see the ability for guilds to claim objectives and spawn their own champions in to help defend it, perhaps only if they were currently outnumbered.

Also, the current champions in towers and keeps are really slacking in the scaling department, and could use with a buff in my opinion.

Pocket.2740:

I agree with a lot of the things you’ve said. The only people I would say this doesn’t apply to is people or guilds who move for fresh fights, GvG or a new environment to roam in. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that just validates your point even further, because those people are not moving in search of a better holistic WvW experience and in a sense have already given up on the intended WvW mechanics.

Disclaimer – I’m someone who has been on SBI since day one. But I gave up on the ‘ppt game’ a few months ago and my WvW experience has been a lot more fun since. That’s probably not the way things are supposed to be.

I think that’s precisely what many guilds and players end up doing when they are forced to play on servers that lack proper coverage. In a sense you know there’s nothing that’s going to prevent an apposing server from de-capping your tier 3 objectives you’ve worked so hard upgrading. If a server has more coverage there’s very little a server with less people can do, no matter how organized you are. (Unless the 3rd server is focusing one server in particular).

People stop worrying about it and focus on features they should be at the front of WvW, which is actually fighting other players in the open field, proving your group or guild is better than the opposing faction where it counts: Tactics, maneuverability, and player skill.

Sadly, it take time for players to realize this, and by the time they do they’ve most likely left their home server, leaving it with fewer WvW players who share the same ideals and goals as you, so you’re left with a smaller group to enjoy the game with.

This is a personal opinion, but one based on factual data based on my playing time.

Over the last year I have seen many guilds come and go to Stormbluff Isle. I’ve seen players leave for no reason, and others leave in hopes of finding a more “stable” environment, or perhaps better structure. Why this might be the case for servers in higher tiers, I can assure you many of the lower and mid-tier servers have the same problems you might be seeing on your home server.

I have over 200 contacts on my friends list, many of them former members of Stormbluff Isle who have left seeking a better WvW environment. I’ve started to notice these players log on less and less, and even heard they’ve left the game entirely after not finding what they were hoping for.

The flaws of WvW go well behind server structure and environment. Every server will have jerks, drama, and squabbles, some more than others, but the core mechanic forcing people to transfer seems to be the desire for better WvW, more coverage and the desire to win.

Unless you plan on transferring to a high tier server, that has a well-established foundation and proper coverage; chances are you won’t find what you’re looking for.

When you transfer you are giving up your identity, you are essentially giving up all the knowledge your local player base had on you and starting over. People won’t recognize you and they might not even listen to you and soon you will find the same issues that forced you away in the first place.

I’m worried, and I fear that these transfers are the final nail in the coffin for many players. They hope for a solution to a problem, they spend actual cash, or a large sum of gold to hopefully find a solution and when they realize the problem doesn’t lie with the server, but with the mechanics of the game they are finally forced to accept it. Based on the dwindling number of contacts showing up on my friends list I think many of them end up quitting all together and that is not a healthy thing for WvW or Guild Wars 2.

Why are your thoughts on server transfers, do you think they are healthy for the game?

TL;DR: Unless you plan on transferring to a high tier server there is a good chance you won’t find what your looking for. The mechanics of WvW are the underlying reason people transfer, every server has issues, especially low and mid tier servers. If the undying mechanics of WvW are not fixed, people will likely transfer as a last resort before quitting the game entirely.

Now we wait another year for a new map and a new WvW mechanic to be released. We wait and hope!

I think you should actually need more than 5 to take a Keep, I know it’s rare to have them flip to lower numbers but it happens a lot on lower populated servers.

WOW! That’s unreal.

I recently noticed that I can no long see the white rectangle outline after placing traps in WvW.

I also don’t see the cake object that fires from the birthday cake gun.

I’ve checked my drivers and graphics settings.

Anyone ells having this problem?

They’ve yet to go down in rank yet, can anyone explain why?

Planetside 2 had a great idea for merging servers. They had a massive battle to determine the new name of two servers that were going to merge.

gennyt.3428:

grifflyman.8102:

They could make unique golem models….

Gem shop siege skins has been suggested a while ago, a good long time ago. Commander tag skins, all kinds of cosmetic stuff.

---

Other than WvWvW, I don’t find anything else in GW2 enjoyable. I used to buy gems quite a bit but that has come to an end. My roaming account on BG has been catching dust(we are now playing AA), I log off my TC GvG/Raid account as soon as I know there are no GvGs. Hubby’s two accounts are also catching dust. It’s become depressing to log in.

There are those among us who’d like to believe that since these Anet employees are now on their roster and voice comms that somehow after two years they’re the special snowflakes that are in the loop about all the great and wonderful things in the pipes for WvWvW. GW2’s combat is great, hands down and I’d love to eat crow if it receives steady, well planned and executed updates(major changes, not another 3 tag colors in a year) but I have a pretty good idea what’s in store for WvWvW.

I think depressed is how WvW has made me feel lately. I don’t care about losing, but matches like this week just kill the game for a lot of people.

They could make unique golem models….

Valik Shin.9027:

Yeah I think wvw players are more likely to buy gems with real money cause they don’t have any gold to buy them with.

If that’s the case shouldn’t more time spent on WvW be made?

I hear a lot of people are getting ready to leave GW2 because of this.

I would appreciate some communication on the WvW forums.

The developers need to communicate with us. It was only a few weeks ago we saw the big post, “Communicating with you” basically saying they need to do a better job. So here’s your chance to make waves in the WvW community.

All you have to do is say, “We are working on something.”

The current state of WvW has never been more apparent. The numerous posts on multiple forums, including these official forums, reddit, and other WvW sites clearly indicate the displeasure of the current matches.

It’s not fun for the lower and middle tier servers to face opponents who vastly outnumber them on a daily basis. This week has once again forced the main issues of WvW to the top of the table.

The only answer to this problem seems to be to transfer to a server that can field numbers at all times of the day.

What about the communities WvW has gutted? The communities that are left desperately trying to rebuild, to try and hold onto the great community they worked so hard to make?

I’m tired of not having any answers of what the future of WvW holds. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything on the development aspect of WvW. We’ve had small content added here and there but nothing about possible ideas to fix problems, or new content that will overhaul the mechanics of the system.

Players are getting tired of the repetitive nature WvW offers. We cling to the hope that something new will be around the corner, but is it worth clinging to a future that’s not clear? Over the last year I’ve seen multiple guilds leave WvW for other games, or just quit because they’re tired of the same flawed mechanics popping up again and again.

As a loyal fan of WvW, I ask…no, I BEG that a developer please come forward and shine some light on what the future of WvW holds.

Many of the WvW communities need a future to fight for, something we can cling to, and that tells us the game we all love to play might have something around the corner that will keep us interested.

Please, talk to us. The communities need to hear from you.

Thanks.

Green is usually always the higher ranked server in the matches.