Guild Wars 2

I’m certainly glad they aren’t letting people keep them, as it would punish those of us who have chosen not to spoil the new content for ourselves before release, or it would pressure us to spoil it for the sole purpose of grabbing those points before they are gone. No thank you.

AMD was working on Mantle. Mantle work translated almost seamlessly to Directx 12. So seamlessly in fact, that there has been a great deal of conjecture that mantle was actually based on pre-release knowledge of Directx 12. Just FYI. The whole reason Nvidia was kind of silent about the whole Mantle thing beyond a few vague comments about it not being needed was that they also had access to the same early DirectX 12 documentation.

Again, I’m not saying Vulkan doesn’t have potential to EVENTUALLY become a standard of concern to game developers and graphic makers. I’m just saying that it is currently years down the line, while DX12 is here to stay.

I’m also not arguing for a DX12 port of Guild Wars 2, as it would do nothing for the game in its current state. This game is entirely CPU bound, and the kind of threading optimization that it would take to make a new API make any difference would go way, way beyond simply adding that API to the game.

RNG is RNG. Seriously, I sometimes get almost no ectos from a bunch of rares. The other day, I bought a bunch of crap rares and exotics to finish out a bunch of the collection achievements. I didn’t have them because I leveled my crafting on all my characters back well before they or the wardrobe were added. Anyway, I was expecting to be throwing gold away, since I was literally just buying and salvaging them to put the skins in the wardrobe, and buying immediately at that, no buy orders. I ended up pulling in enough ectos by the time I was done to pay for every single thing I purchased. Every single thing and then some…

I’m not saying that to brag, I’m just pointing out how crazy random the results can be in an RNG system. I could just as easily have ended up with 2-3 ectos and a bunch of missing gold.

Other’s have suggested Vulkan and I’ll tell you what I told them. Vulkan’s future depends entirely on the success of Steam OS. They will get zero support from the biggest hardware manufacturers until Valve convinces them it is worth their time. They are already working hand in hand with Microsoft to support DirectX 12. Right now, no game developer in their right mind is going to touch Vulkan. They can hit the largest user group, and get the most 3rd party support, by using DirectX 12. If they want to support Mac they’ll build an OpenGL render path, not the newest OpenGL either, because they have to pick one that has as much hardware support as possible. If they go to the trouble of developing an OpenGL render path, they may then choose to release a Linux client as well, since they are already putting in much of the coding work for Mac.

What they won’t be doing is touching Vulkan. If Valve does much better with their Steam Boxes and Steam OS than I think they will, that may change. I certainly wouldn’t bet on it though.

This is the type of Korean MMO cosmetic junk that totally breaks immersion and ruins any unique art design a game might have. So why not? They already ruined everything forever with those huge wings.

Fenom.9457:

Yea it’s your fault for not playing because you used to play is it my fault for not searching for a new game? was it my fault for not hearing about this game AND deciding to play it?

Is it supposed to magically be someone else’s fault? Their were (bad) ads for it on TV. There was tons of hyping on all the gaming news sites. There are dedicated MMO sites that were talking about it for months, even years before release. There were huge pre-order campaigns at game stores around the world. The fact that the game existed was easy to come by, so why didn’t you? Was there a conspiracy to deny you the joy and wonder that is Guild Wars 2?

Not trying to be a total jerk here, but yes, in as much as it is anyone’s fault, it is definitely your fault.

Router may be compromised, but it sounds like you probably need to find someone to help you make sure that has the proper security features and a strong password. Beyond that all I can recommend is running an anti-virus scan and a malware scan, and then changing passwords on accounts you care about, starting with your email accounts.

Kimyrielle.3826:

Heh, they might as well have a look at Vulkan if they are interested in better graphics.

Chances are bad for that happening. No serious developer is going to use anything but directx at this point, with a possible opengl render path if they really, really want to do a Mac release, and a possible Linux release if they already are doing the work for Mac. If Steam OS does a whole lot better than I expect it to, that might change, but right now why would a developer waste their time with Vulkan when they can hit the vast majority of users using an API from a company that already works hand in hand with the major graphic card manufacturers? Vulkan’s success as an API hinges entirely on Valve’s success with their current Steam Box gamble, and won’t get major support from hardware manufacturers until Valve proves to them that it’s worth their time to worry about it. Directx is here, now, to stay, and will be regardless of how Vulkan pans out in the long run. I know which one I’d pick if I was a game developer. A year or two from now the answer might be totally different, but not right now.

Agree with OP pretty much across the board. Better AI and increased PRESSURE from PvE enemies would also potentially help to make pure glass cannon builds less attractive. It’s one of the reasons I think the attack rate of NPC enemies could be basically doubled, and I agree that any of the charged attacks should be something that actually matter enough to evade. I remember starting out that those huge windup animations were really scary, and I was always super careful to say, get out of the way of Etin power bashes, etc. Then I realized just how little it mattered if they actually connected, and it was just sort of meh, auto attack cruise control.

On the plus side, I’d somehow missed the skin that OP used as an example, and now have a new favorite GS skin, thanks OP.

Dear Anet,
These people all seem like very nice people. Please ignore them and never bring any more awful, enormous, screen blocking wings, for anyone, ever.

Sincerely,
Imsoenthused

P.S. If you wanted to get rid of all the wings that are already here, that would be pretty cool too.

As far as I know, that’s all done with third party macro programs. I don’t think you can do it with the in game ui.

It’s also the most populated area of the map. You would lose more time in the loading screen using a WP than you do running there. Heck, I often travel to the mists and then go through the lions arch portal and walk all the way to the bank and TP, because it’s faster than the load screen using the WP next to the bank.

I don’t think anyone was attacking you OP, just saying that huge over-sized weapons are more for Anime and Cartoon Caricature(Games Workshop, and everyone who stole from them, especially Blizzard, mostly Blizzard) style games than for GW2. Also, lots of us see a whole lot of influence from those in just how BIG weapons in this game already are and dread the idea of seeing a whole legion of folks running around with blades twice as wide as their torsos. It’s not so much that we don’t want it for our characters, it would also conflict with the whole world design, and we’d be forced to see it everywhere there were other people. For every one person like me who’d try to shrink their weapons down to something a human being could actually carry, there would be 30+ 14 year old boys slamming the slider all the way over to the largest size.

That cracks me up, because I’d love to see every weapon in the game about half the size they are now.

runeblade.7514:

imsoenthused.1634:

runeblade.7514:

The only reason to not implement them is: “I don’t want it. So I absolutely don’t want other players to have them ever.”

No, close, but no. See I don’t want them, and I don’t ever want to see them in game. I could give a crap about other people having them, as long as I can disable ever seeing them, and as long as it gives absolutely no in game benefit whatsoever. I say fill the cash shop with enormous, ridiculous mounts and charge $50 worth of gems a piece for them. Just make sure you add a graphic option to disable ever seeing them, and we’re all good.

Just like with the enormous, obnoxious back items.

Looks like I am spot on correct.

No, I just told you. You said people against the idea didn’t want anyone to have them. I was showing you that, at least in my case, I could care less if you have them as long as I’m not forced to put up with seeing your monuments to bad taste. And as long as they are purely cosmetic like the existing mounts, that’s a big one.

Maja.6372:

nacario.9417:

P2W in terms of getting awesome skins, not so much for gearstats

but if I am not wrong, there already are sinister and nomad stat items (e.g. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Forgotten_Band) you only can get from buying and playing living story 2 and who knows what new stats you will get only when you have bought HoT

sure it is not like in this other mmo where you have to upgrade your armor and weapons for money to be strong enough to actually play the dungeons on your level
and hopefully it will never be like that in gw2 but yeah that you have to actually pay for living story 2 to get some items you otherwise can not get is still there

I also find myself unable to aquire items in games that I don’t own…

Devata.6589:

It really depends on what you consider P2W, many people consider Pay2Kill, P2W and in that case I guess you can’t consider GW2 really P2W.

However, for me for example, winning is getting a cool skin, or a cool mini. In that case you could consider the game P2W as for getting those items you have a clear advantage when spending money. In fact for many items the only way to get them is spending money, or grinding gold. You can’t get them in-game as a drop.

You don’t get to do this. The term has an actual meaning, you don’t just get to decide that it means something else because you feel like it. For a game to be pay to win, there must be an exclusive advantage that you can only get by buying it with cash. Skipping grind does not, has not, and will never qualify as pay to win. Purely cosmetic items have not, do not, and will never qualify as pay to win. It’s not a matter of perspective or opinion.

Games that are guilty of being pay to win exist, they are abominations, and using the term loosely just weakens its proper usage.

Pay to win, by definition, can not exist in a game where cash shop currency can be obtained with a method other than spending money in real life. Secondly, to be pay to win, the advantage would have to be unavailable by any means in game other than the cash shop.

How to make Guild Wars 2 pay to win:

First, remove the ability to buy gems with gold.

Second, add a new tier of gear, let’s call it Super Ascended +1, give Super Ascended +1 gear say a 50% stat advantage over Ascended gear. Release it exclusively in the Cash Shop. They can get bonus horrible people points by making it an item rental rather than a purchase, so that for only $40 you can have the best gear in the game for 7 days!

^THAT IS WHAT PAY TO WIN ACTUALLY MEANS. By all means, say you wish it were easier to obtain cosmetics without spending money. Say it takes too long to grind gold for gem store items, say whatever complaints you want, but please, please, please stop using the wrong words to do it. It just invalidates your complaints.

I feel like anyone who tries to use the term “pay 2 win” incorrectly, say for Guild Wars 2 or a similar clearly not P2W game, should be forced to play non stop matches of Combat Arms for about 3 months without being allowed to spend money. When they finally stop crying at the end of those three months, I bet they would never use the term incorrectly again.

DragonflyDusk.6582:

imsoenthused.1634:

Menadena.7482:

That is the problem. Different cultures feel different ways about all kids of things. In general, I would say whatever the standards are where the company hangs its hat should rule. Which makes it interesting here since NCsoft is based in South Korea while anet is in the US … two completely different cultures and legal systems.

A lot of people will object if only MF marriages are allowed but other people would object if they were not the only option. You need some way of settling the debate rather than trying to please everyone.

The debate has been settled by educated, intelligent people a long time ago. You don’t need to pander to idiots. You just ignore anyone who objects to same sex coupling for the very simple reason that they are wrong, and probably religiously motivated. Bigotry based on outdated fairy tales doesn’t deserve serious consideration, by anyone. If they get offended, you shrug and move on.

big·ot·ry

noun
intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.

Irony.

Tolerance in no way equates to acceptance. Only someone completely deluded and trapped by political correctness and pedantry would think otherwise. I will tolerate a neighbor being a KKK member, but I wouldn’t accept his ideology being propagated anywhere near me, much less let him make attacks or hate speech against others unopposed. That completely ignores the fact that tolerance should be practiced with discretion like most things in life. My tolerance of people with differing ideas and/or education levels than my own, people who believe angels are real for example, does not mean that I am automatically required to tolerate thieves or murderers. The very idea of justice requires that there are things which we as a society have declared intolerable. The Paradox of Tolerance is a fascinating subject, but you don’t get to use it as a stick to beat people with.

runeblade.7514:

The only reason to not implement them is: “I don’t want it. So I absolutely don’t want other players to have them ever.”

No, close, but no. See I don’t want them, and I don’t ever want to see them in game. I could give a crap about other people having them, as long as I can disable ever seeing them, and as long as it gives absolutely no in game benefit whatsoever. I say fill the cash shop with enormous, ridiculous mounts and charge $50 worth of gems a piece for them. Just make sure you add a graphic option to disable ever seeing them, and we’re all good.

Just like with the enormous, obnoxious back items.

Yes, they’re all viable, they’re just not all efficient or fun. I’d personally argue that specializing for healing is currently pretty similar to going naked because of healing powers broken scaling, but again, still viable.

Menadena.7482:

That is the problem. Different cultures feel different ways about all kids of things. In general, I would say whatever the standards are where the company hangs its hat should rule. Which makes it interesting here since NCsoft is based in South Korea while anet is in the US … two completely different cultures and legal systems.

A lot of people will object if only MF marriages are allowed but other people would object if they were not the only option. You need some way of settling the debate rather than trying to please everyone.

The debate has been settled by educated, intelligent people a long time ago. You don’t need to pander to idiots. You just ignore anyone who objects to same sex coupling for the very simple reason that they are wrong, and probably religiously motivated. Bigotry based on outdated fairy tales doesn’t deserve serious consideration, by anyone. If they get offended, you shrug and move on.

I used to do them without even thinking about it, I’d log in and hit 66% or even 100% just playing the game and working leveling or map completion on alts. Now, I rarely finish it unless I just happen to be in zones that has it going on that day. I mean, the game actively penalizes me money for fast traveling, something of no concern if I was spending my time farming SW, but I’m always in short supply since I’m usually leveling a character. So, bouncing all around the map to do events in one map, resources in another, and a world event in yet another? No, thank you. I suppose I could do the PvP or WvW ones, but the first I don’t play at all, and the second I have had zero luck with actually completing any dailies in a timely fashion. And if the PvE dailies happen to be fractals? I ignore them like they don’t exist at all.

The complete separation of PvE and PvP was a core design pillar of the original Guild Wars. It was one of the things done intentionally to set them apart from the pack. GW2 holds to the same philosophy. This isn’t going to change. Not ever. It wasn’t some last minute idea, or something tacked on to the core of the game, it’s an actual core design pillar. If that disappoints anyone, then they are operating under some incorrect assumptions about what the game they are playing is. If not having it means you won’t buy the expansion, then you won’t be buying it.

You’re forgetting the hidden price of having your entire account banned. Not much use getting your gold cheaper from thieves if you keep losing it along with all your other stuff.

It’s a lot of work when you think about it. They’d have to animate all five of the skritt together so they moved and idled as a single unit, and model and rig armor x 5. There’d be all the work to make Skrittsburg in to a starter city. There’d be lots of voice acting, what with it taking five voices for a single character and.. What’s that? Not Skritt? Well who cares then?

I can see it now, “Show Radiant or Hellfire skins Only!” You think those kind of jackholes won’t find some way to be elitist? Because if you do, I think you’re wrong.

http://wesslen.org/ICM/
Not sure if that’s what you’re really looking for, but it’s the only way I know of to get a crosshair.

Raptr tells you nothing. It used to have users, because they had good giveaway promotions, but it’s new Raptr Point system is terrible and it has lost many users as a result. The only thing keeping people using it at all is that it’s included as bloatware with AMD drivers, and if they’re leaving GW2, well, we already know they make bad decisions…
;)
Seriously though, Raptr is dying off because they decided to stop giving cool stuff away. Any interesting promotions they have these days tend to be so far out of reach for average users that nobody can get them, and most people didn’t need a “Social Network for Gaming” to begin with. I know I didn’t, I just wanted cool free gear for Warframe and Blacklight: Retribution, etc.

Any way to hide the terrible junk that doesn’t fit in the game, like those enormous flappy wings, gets my vote. Actually, I don’t even care about hiding a single other thing, just give me a No Wings option and I’d be happy. As to the fact that people paid for them? Kitten them in their kittening tacky, kittening kitten. They can all run around with their monuments to bad taste fully appreciable by other strange people who don’t use the option. Maybe they can form a support group, where they give each other positive affirmations. “You are a Special Snowflake, with beautiful wings!”

/hyperbole

but seriously, if they sold the ability to unlock such an option in the gem store, I’d totally buy it.

Since nobody has mentioned the obvious, buy the season 2 pack, so you can experience that story and get access to that gear. The rest is really up to you, although as others have mentioned the watchwork mining pick is a very strong choice, so are bank slots and character slots(assuming you like multiple characters).

I literally get almost no gains going from 2715×1527 with everything on to 720p with everything off. If you have a decent graphic card, there’s really nothing you can do. It’s entirely CPU bound, and because it’s written only to dual thread most modern processors perform about the same on it, because clock speeds have all stayed relatively static while cores have expanded, but GW2 can’t take advantage of more cores.

So the short answer is no you can’t fix it, that’s awesome performance!

Scratch really is solved by setting things to run in windows 7 or 8 compatability mode. Not sure what causes it, but if it’s bothering you it’s easy to fix, albeit on a case by case basis.

logitech gaming mice drivers are working perfectly in windows 10, all my gazillion buttons and the shift button, as well as the macro editor, all working just like they did in 7 and 8, and 8.1

But, in GW1 my emotes all have sparkle hands, why would I care about non sparkle hand emotes?

Forgotten Legend.9281:

Windows 10 shipped with DX11.2. DX12 won’t be released til around the holidays, earliest.

on my old AMD phenom2 x4 965, 8G DDR3 1600 RAM, with GTX 480, and a 10k rpm HDD, 1600×1200 LCD monitor, i haven’t noticed any difference in framerates, but load times are considerably faster after the initial loadscreen for each character. all my load screens in Win 7 used to be minimum 45 seconds. now they average 15 seconds or less.

i have not upgraded the win8.1 machine yet, and i won’t be for some time.

my current directx diagnostic panel shows directx 12, so you are mistaken. I also gained a few FPS, like 2-3 on average, haven’t really noticed a difference in loading times.

edit: I just want to mention, the FPS gains I’m pretty certain are purely a result of windows 10 having less overhead for the system than Windows 7 or 8.1, Guild Wars 2 being a primarily CPU bound game.

You know, I’d honestly have no problem with them releasing a completely free PvP only version of GW2. GW1 had great PvP, and I’ve always thought it was kind of a shame that GW2s isn’t nearly as good. They could knock out a free PvP only client ballooning the player base for that mode by massive amounts, and probably make enough money off gem store purchases to fund all kinds of PvP development. Bring back the Hall of Heroes, organized Guild vs Guild, and new maps, etc. Sure, the PvP community is likely to go as toxic as League of Legends, but we’d always be able to leave and go play WvW or PvE if we get tired of the trash talking and misogyny.

As cool as dynamic trade traffic would be. And it would be, do you really want to make LA slower than it already is? That airship is never moving…

I wouldn’t mind seeing some more docked shipping though, that huge lobster with all those cranes and no boats at the slips is just sad.

McWolfy.5924:

Biohazard.7523:

I dont have Energy Efficient Ethernet on the options… but the lamp is blinking on and off

i dont have as well this option

it depends on your chipset/lan card. Some have the feature, generally for use in mobile applications, it just happens that Windows 10 turns it on by default even on a desktop. If you don’t have the option it’s not a concern for you.

Wait, doesn’t meta really just mean theory crafted instead of common sense? I mean, common sense from a new player would tell them that they would want to have balanced stats, where as the meta, having been theory crafted, says no, damage mitigation and self healing mean that the common sense approach is actually a sub optimal way to complete the PvE content, you will finish content far faster if you learn to dodge, maximize your DPS through gear and might stacking, and memorize all the skips and corner stacks. It’s playing games by way of spreadsheets to maximize efficiency and rewards, with no consideration for story or lore.

I imagine it translated in to computer games by way of table top RPGs, as “meta gaming” in that situation was usually about players choosing traits to optimize in game effects rather than choosing them for role playing reasons. ie “No, Tom, I don’t think all your characters were raised as survivalists because you love role playing survivalists, you just want the free +1 to fire arms and first aid.”

I never worried too much about rare dyes, and sell them if they have any real value. Early on I bought all the Ice and Midnight dyes cheap for instance, and never felt a lack from not spending hundreds of gold to get true white and black dyes. With that small investment I can get close enough to black or white in any color scheme I want that I can’t really notice a difference, just have to pick them for contrast against other colors. There are so many color choices that you can pick up for next to nothing that I’ve never felt like I was missing out by skipping gem store or regular rare dyes. The only exception I could imagine would be if they released a bunch of glow in the dark dyes. I would want those. I would want them real bad… Please Anet, never add glow in the dark dyes.

Eragon.8537:

Maybe this is purely my cosmetic-oriented mind when playing, but what are your thoughts on you being able to see your character’s back piece skin (if enabled to be visible) while on Character Select?

Arena.net will never do it. It was a conscious decision on their part to leave it out, for fear that anyone with enormous wings would see it blown up on the login screen, realize how ridiculous they look, and promptly quit the game in shame.

Lian Olsam.9541:

DX is not the only way!!!!

The truth you are ignoring is that DirectX has won. You are fighting a battle that is already over. If Steam OS gets miraculously successful, and it may as it’s still too early to call one way or the other, then they’ll be forced to step in to the same regulatory space for 3D APIs in Linux that Microsoft currently fills for Windows. You’d start seeing video cards that were Steam OpenGL 3.2 Certified, or some such. That’s what it would take to change the current landscape. Until something like that happens, game devs will continue to use DirectX, because that gets them the most guaranteed compatibility and the largest user base. The question isn’t why don’t they use Vulcan instead, it’s why should they bother.

Dinks.2478:

imsoenthused.1634:

I’d be very surprised if earned XP beyond level 80 doesn’t get back credited for mastery points. Just because there’s no reward at the moment doesn’t mean you won’t see one later on.

That isn’t how mastery points work.

Mastery points are interactive objects in the world similar to skill/hero points. Once you get them you use them to unlock a mastery track. Then you activate the mastery track and you level up the mastery by gaining experience int he game.

The reason we get nothing right now is because we’re between systems. The old skill system has been removed but they’re going to be adding the new mastery system and it would be a waste of work to remove the exp system and then readd it later.

In that case, well, I don’t know what to say. Seems like they probably should have kept giving spirit shards then.

I’d be very surprised if earned XP beyond level 80 doesn’t get back credited for mastery points. Just because there’s no reward at the moment doesn’t mean you won’t see one later on.

Yep, the sharing of credit for party members towards heart completion leaves a lot to be desired. They ought to give full credit towards the heart for anyone killing a monster or using an object. At the very least, partial, say 50% or 75% for your partners would make it less tedious. As it is now, there is very little reason to play together with anyone outside of instances, and for personal story the people helping out don’t get any reward beyond experience, since they don’t get the story rewards and there are no drops. Definitely room for improvement.

Dinks.2478:

ITT: People who think microsoft collecting random data is a crime. Just go to your privacy settings, turn everything you don’t want off and done.

The bigger issue with Windows 10 is that they seem to have killed the idea of turning off windows update or choosing not to install certain updates. That is actually the only real issue I have with windows 10 right now.

As an IT professional I’m ambivalent about this. On the one hand, I’ve been around long enough to have seen some bad updates roll out, but the corporate and educational licenses DO allow you to turn off updates so they can be controlled by the admins. On the other hand, I’ve fixed a monumental number of peoples personal computers that hadn’t had very important needed updates installed in a very long time or ever. The truth is, although professionals and many power user/enthusiast level users have the knowledge needed to choose when to install updates, it’s probably a good thing not to give Grandma or Joe Blow college student a choice in the matter. Just from my personal experience.

Danikat.8537:

I find it much easier to find people to play with and reasons for them to play with me in GW2.

In GW1 almost every time I asked for someone to help me do a mission I’d get a mix of 3 responses:
1) You can do it with henchmen/heroes.
2) Sorry I’ve already done that one. But I’ll do the hard mode version with you when it’s the Zaishen mission.
3) You can do it solo, you just need to switch to a completely different profession.

Whereas in GW2 there’s decent incentives even for people who have done everything once to do it again (except maybe playing through someone else’s personal story) and it’s much easier to meet people who are doing the same things you are because you can actually run into them out in the world instead of hoping to catch someone using the same outpost when they’re just about to start.

I love GW1 but this is one aspect I absolutely don’t miss.

He’s talking about a version of GW1 you never got to play. Back when there were no Heroes, and Henchmen were truly kittened last resorts for the desperate. People teamed up because once you got out of the most basic areas of the game you had to if you wanted to progress. Later on the rebalanced henchmen so they actually had 8 skills and one of them was a decent elite, and you could actually use them for most of the game as you mentioned, but it didn’t start out that way.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates/20091022

found, it, the henchmen balance pass 3 years after launch.

Love the idea, doubt it will ever be implemented, but I dig it, and the thought behind it. I wouldn’t mind seeing instanced vanquishes come back either.