Guild Wars 2

Oh! I almost forgot…

Get yourself some exotic or ascended gear. It also helps to raise your achievement points too.

From my personal experience, I noticed that these type of PUGs tend to respect squishy players who use high level gear. Some of those aggressive, rude players are coming from games like WoW where owning high level gear is a mark of achievement. Yeah, I know…. that’s st___ thinking. But those folks have been conditioned to think that way for a number of years.

I notice that alot of rude PUGs quit harassing my Engie & Ranger when they see the characters ascended gear as well as my achievement points. That’s one of the things I do to limit bullying in this game.

If someone has a better solution to this problem. I’d like to hear it!

Irrledd.3508:

… I literally got 3 PM’s from 3 different people on 1 day, telling me how bad I was at mesmer, ranting about just everything I did wrong, and that PU mesmer is the most noobish class ever, you get the point. Now I’ve never had a simular situation in this game before, so I just thought this was just a rare scenario. These people are just all over the interent. Too bad for me, it didn’t end that day. Ever since I got like daily people ranting about my class and my playstyle. …

Which server / world are you on? What is your gameplay style? What parts of the game do you like most? What is your GW2 gaming goal? What time do you normally log on?

All of these are important questions. It sounds to me that you have 2 problems:

(1) You’re on the wrong server
(2) You are also hanging out with people whose playstyles don’t match yours.

Some servers tend to attract certain types of players. For example, it’s no secret that Blackgate has alot of hardcore players. BG is the place to go if you’re looking for a hardcore guild. Jade Quarry and Sanctum of Rall servers are both PvX (which means they do a little bit of everything in the game). Tarnished Coast (my world) is a Roleplaying / PvX server.

The Megaserver system tends to group players with other people based on home world, guild, and friends list. Whenever you meet someone you want to see again, add them to your friends list.

If people continue to be mean towards you in chat, right click on their name and select the Block command. If they are typing mean things in /ME chat (grey chat), press Y to open your Contacts window, click on the Blocked tab on the window’s left side, and add their name to your block list.

I added you to my friends list since I’m in a friendly community. That should help pull you towards folks in my groups.

If you’re not part of a guild, look for a guild that will help you master the Mesmer and thief classes. Make sure the guild caters to your playstyle too. It will definately be helpful if you join a guild that has people who log on at the same time as yourself. If you’re on a NA server, consider trying to join a friendly PvX guild on the Jade Quarry, Sanctum of Rall, or Tarnished Coast servers. There are alot of friendly, knowledgable folks on those three servers who can help you get up to speed with your favorite classes.

If anyone wants to recommend other friendly servers, please feel free to add their names here.

If I could give you a million +1s, I would do it! As an RPer, I wish there was this option in the game. I love the idea of clicking on a PC and reading their story.

Vayne.8563:

So what exactly is Anet doing besides making it easier for everyone to get into their game?

Delaying the Downed State to level 5 doesn’t solve the problem. If there are confused players, there should be an interactive tutorial that teaches people about the game mechanic. Once the tutorial is created, it should be put back in front of the focus group for testing.

When people enter PvP for the first time, they’re sent to a starting area where they learn game mechanics like using a finisher and claiming territory. I don’t see why the devs couldn’t add a similar tutorial for PvE.

Vayne.8563:

Bobby.3721:

Because you know, no one can learn the simple way we all did, and instead of putting a tool tip in the game that explains what to do to clear out this “confusion” we just decided to remove it until your a certain level…..because again its apparently “confusing and overwhelming”.
Honestly if you didn’t put two and two together when you first went into your downed state then I don’t know what to say.
Yet another pointless update in this fail of a feature patch.

First of all, this was one component of a major structural redo, given as an example that was extensively tested. You may think it’s pointless and indeed it may be pointless to you. What isn’t pointless to me is that more people who start stay with the game. That helps me. Therefore it’s not entirely pointless.

Anet went through the effort to test this stuff. How can you think you know better than the testing?

I think Bob was just being sarcastic.

About your question: This game has done a very good job to attract alot more than just teens. I’ve met and talked to alot of college educated adults during my first year in this game. With knowledge and experience, alot of us are able to see through what Anet is doing. The one gift that a college education can give you is the ability to think for yourself and question what others do esp. when their actions are suspicious.

Myself and others aren’t questioning to be mean. We think that Anet made a bad decision that will hurt their game and destroy their innovative product.

Egg Shennn.6240:

On that note, I love dry top and the buried chests and hope those kinds of chests become available in other areas too..

Same here! I love the DT scavenger hunt for those buried chests!

Goldberg.4831:

While I may have had my ups and downs in the last 2 years of this game, and may not always agree on the changes within the game or the gem store. I have to say as a consumer and one who has tried a wide range of MMO’s (I get bored easy), Areanet has the best subscription model hands down. Thank you for respecting me as a gamer first and a consumer second. If you don’t believe me check out what Trion is doing to archeage, 15/dollars a month for patron status, and locking crafting mats behind the p2w store.

So let’s hear it for all those happy the b2p model.

I bought GW2 because I loved GW1 (and all its expansions & bonus missions). I think b2p is a great money-making model. I also don’t mind the gemshop either. I’ve spent about $15 per month on gemshop stuff over the past year.

I swear p2w needs to be outlawed in this country. P2w is not a game. It’s a scam IMHO.

Astral Projections.7320:

Actual quote says that they simply didn’t understand and that a tutorial didn’t work as well as delaying it.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2etzxq/a_fresh_start_the_new_player_experience_in_guild/
Yeah we thought so too. After tens of thousands of usability testers and interviews with players who tried Gw2 and left leading up to China launch both in NA/EU and in China – we learned we were wrong.
Honestly, we were kind of shocked how many systems, downed included a surprising number of players just didn’t understand. For downed, we tried a downed tutorial, building downed into the level 1 tutorial, etc. We found after usability testing with numerous different groups, the best rate of people learning and understanding it came from having it be layered complexity and the solution we went with above. Intuitively that wouldn’t have been my guess either initially, but we found people understood it better this way than all other options we tried.
This same level of testing led to the other changes as well. At the end of the day the biggest take away I’d say is: all of us, especially people who go to a reddit to discuss a game, probably know games (and Gw2) really really well. We have millions of users, and a tiny % of them frequent game forums or reddit. Just because all of us, me included, learned those systems well and thought it was all really easy doesn’t mean we are the norm

I’m skeptical about that focus group. I would like to know the demographics of these testers. What countries are they from? How old are they ? What is their education level? How often do they play games? What kinds of games do they normally play? I know I’m never going to find out that information, but these tests results make me wonder about the testers themselves.

There are popular games that have more complicated gameplay, and the average player didn’t give up on those games. WoW has complicated mechanics, and there are many different kinds of players (from casual to hardcore) that enjoy it. ArcheAge, Final Fantasy 14, and MapleStory also have mechanics that requires that players take time to learn them. Even uber-casual games like Angry Birds and Super Mario Galaxy have a learning curve. Instead of dumbing down the game, the devs for those programs just created tutorials. And guess what? People still play them.

GW2 needs depth. It doesn’t need to be dumbed down. Here’s a video that talks about what I mean in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWFzFsHc75U

(NOTE; This video starts talking about video game tutorials at 3:23)

BTW… A game is not a game if it doesn’t have a learning curve. Learning and mastering stuff is what make a game fun.

EDIT: Oops! I forgot about this video that talks about making really good video game tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCPcn-Q5nKE

Illuminati.2431:

Hi there,

I’ve been reading alot of the topics posted on the forum and I notice a lot are about players who complain there is no ‘endgame’ content….

…So my point here is just to clear up those 2 types of groups. I disagree with the people that want the WoW gear treadmill stuff, but I strongly think this game needs end-game the way group 2 sees it.

@Illuminati

You hit it right on the head with the first two groups.

You did leave out a third group, the Sandbox Crew. These are the people who want events the require that the player interact with the world as if they’re living in the world. The guys tend to request player housing, guild housing, make / build their own stuff, etc. Think Minecraft & Archeage.

Like you, I’m part of group 2, and I want to see more challenges, dungeons, maps, etc. I really want to see mini campaigns like Nightmare Tower. LS2’s storyline is good, but it’s alot like Personal Story atm. NT (from LS1) was perfect. NT had a self contained story that contributed to the main storyline. It was also an event that could be enjoyed as a solo run, a small group run, and as a zerg run. The monsters would scale up depending on how many people were inside the tower. Plus, there were 9 different chambers that had their own enemies (esp. mini bosses).

Lazuli.2098:

This is a picture of my sim, Jan, who is based on my Norn guardian.

Very cool!

Karizee.8076:

I remember 2 years ago when Blizzard was all over this forum predicting they were going to kill GW2 with MoP but that plan kinda backfired in their face and they lost 3.5 million players. Looks like they are setting up to lose another 3.5 million with their next expac fail.

Blizzard has 7.8 million subscribers
Anet has 460,000 active players (as of Aug 2013)

Just saying…

(NOTE: Anet hasn’t announced how many players have been playing GW2 in 2014. I only have last year’s numbers. )

Lazuli.2098:

Dumbing down the game for the Chinese market stinks of racism. They are just as smart as Americans or Europeans. Granted originally there were problems with the way GW2 introduced players to the game. That could have been fixed by including a real tutorial and making available an index of basic concepts in game but there was no need to mess with the game play.

China is known for its media censorship. It could be due to the government’s interference. The government there watches artists like a hawk.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

kta.6502:

So that leaves the question: What have the NA / EU devs really been up to?

Eating cupcakes?

ROTFLMAO!

Maybe they’re expecting us to feed them with our cake guns?

Vayne.8563:

I’m sure part of the problem is that the China launch took a huge amount of work and everyone is playing catch up. Pushing the devs to work harder and harder isn’t actually going to get us new content faster. It just means more burnout, which affects the speed at which stuff is released.

Even without the extra pressure, game development and specifically MMO development is just brutal at times. Like it’s almost always crunch time.

People want what they want now, without really understanding why they can’t have it on their schedule.

I disagree. I would be very surprised if the devs from NA & EU are working on content for the China server. The government there is suspicious of all foreign media workers. Foreign companies have to link up with a Chinese company to sell their wares on China’s mainland. Ryan Budish, a member of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, told the Washington Post in today’s article on business in China, “You can’t exactly just move in there and do business.” (Quote comkes from here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/03/linkedin-thinking-twice-about-its-adoption-of-chinas-aggressive-censorship/)

There is a long process that foreign game companies have to go because of the the government’s “famous” censorship policies. All companies from the West have a separate team that communicates with their Chinese counterpart. I would be very surprised if Anet’s devs are doing the work that a specialized “China business team” would do.

I don’t think the devs are training their Chinese counterparts either. China is has alot of already trained software developers and game artists. The Chinese have also been making their own games for at least a decade. Perfect World, the infamous pay-to-win MMO, comes from the People’s Republic of China.

Links that give an overview of the Chinese game industry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_gaming_in_China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_gaming_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_China#Video_games

There’s a very high chance that the Sept update was most likely created by game devs from mainland China, not by the NA / EU devs. It’s illegal to show images of death in China, and that’s why the Downed State was censored until level 5. For sure, the company is testing to see if the censored down state would be accepted here. I’ve seen this political / social move before (FYI: It’s helps to be part of a family that has been doing international business for 500 years!). It’s also why we don’t also have a tutorial for the Downed State, most of the changes in the feature pack are cosmetic, and why we’re not seeing any much needed content updates.

So that leaves the question: What have the NA / EU devs really been up to? Just something to think about.

The Sixteenth.2561:

…I feel it, a World boss is comming, my WB sense is tingling ! Harder than the silly three headed wurm would be nice…

I hope so! Teq has become another weekly farm. If they do add more World bosses, it has to be something that requires coordination for advanced players & groups. As for Triple Wurm, I"ve never been in a group that has beaten the monster.

I would love it if Barradin’s Statue and Shadow of the Dragon could become world bosses. Just put them in the open world and scale them up for guilds & large pug crowds.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Nope, you’ll get a mini Logan stabbing your calves!

And then he runs away.

(Sorry.)

Then an angry mini Smodur and a mini charr army takes Logan’s place. His people financially, politically, and socially benefited from the treaty with Jennah.

They might even go about making a Puppet Jennah so they can keep the treaty going.

SLthethird.3562:

This brings me to my question; has the game dipped in quality over time? If so, what is it that’s going wrong, and what would you suggest to fix it?

One last thing I’d like to know: If you’re one of those who plans on migrating to another game soon, which one are you moving to? I plan on clearing out some time for Kingdom Under Fire 2 after seeing Angryjoe’s interview.

No, the game is not going to shut down. You can still get through the Personal Story and map completion. There are still people running dungeons, Fractals, and Dry Top. Alot of the complaints in the forum are from veteran players who maxed out everything or at least finished most of the game. Those are the folks who are yearning for new content.

In my case, my gameplay has been affected by people leaving. I might be able to recover from the loss, but I don’t know what the future holds for me in this game. I don’t like the idea of leaving because I really love my GW2 Sylvari, Mawdrey, and the quaggans (esp. Shashoo). I would definitely miss all of the quaggan jokes and salad jokes that made this game very good for me. The last time I got attached to video game characters was back in the 1990s when Final Fantasy 7 came out.

For your first two questions, those questions have been answered by players responding to this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-anyone-happy-anymore/first#post4355988

Regarding your last question: I recently re-opened my MapleStory account and I’m trying out FF14. I’ll be joining ArcheAge’s Open Beta on September 4th because a few of my GW2 friends and allies will be over there.

I’m also saving up for WoW’s Warlords of Draenor because my guildies have bought it. My main in WoW is a Draenai, and the lore in the new expansion involve them. There is some comfort that the Draenai are very similar to the GW2 Sylvari in some ways.

I will still be logging in to GW2, checking out the new updates, and playing with my guild at least once a week. I’m still an officer in my guild after all. Plus, I haven’t played the Norn storyline, so I’ll be starting a new Norn character on September 9th. I’m hoping the current situation with the game is just a bump in the road.

RavenFlame.1430:

If you make a Sylvari you fight the shadow of the Dragon in the dream the pale tree tells you it means your ment to fight and kill an elder dragon. The dragon in the dream is there because the nightmare are atacking the dream so why is it a dragon? Because the Sylvari are aculy connected to Mordremoth much like the branded and risen are to the dragons that made them. the Sylvari who have acted in ways that helped the dragon were not under the protection of the pale tree and so Mordremoth could very easily control them. the nightmare is most likely a result of Mordremoth corruption. And as such the wild hunt of all player made Sylvari is not to kill Zhaitan but to kill the true enemy of the pale tree Mordremoth

I’ve always interpreted the Shadow of the Dragon at the beginning of the Sylvari PS as a symbol for all Elder Dragons & their allies. It’s definately the job of the Sylvari PCs to take down or at least quell the Dragons.

Nah… we just need to make a sport out of punting Phlunt off the side of Rata Sum!

This is how it would work:

(1) We bind Phlunt with rope & bungee cord.
(2) Next, we tie the really long cord to a secure, strong object like a wall.
(3) Then one person gets to kick him off the side of Rata Sum!
(4) Once the bungee cord stop bouncing, we reel him back into Rata Sum!
(5) Repeat steps 3 & 4

I call this game “Punt Phlunt”.

Remember, he has to be alive for this work! Killing Phlunt would take the fun out of this!

I lovingly call Mawdrey a baby honorary sylvari (aka Scarlet’s baby) :P

Dondarrion.2748:

Great story – and crafting Mawdrey/Mawdrey II seems like a good prototype for precursor scavenger hunt, so go ahead and follow this format, Anet

Both in terms of requiring components from fresh content to tie in with current story, but also leading you on a merry go-round the old block to revisit all those old places to complete events, mini dungeons, etc.

It really works. Of course, the time gated crafting is annoying me because I have to portion this out across 21 days just because Anet say so, not because of the exhaustive task. But still, it “teaches” patience and works so that die-hards don’t farm themselves 24/7 to death and complete their precursor in 3 days.

I agree with you. I prefer building weapons, armor, & items too.

The time gated stuff doesn’t bother me. It just requires that I log in for a few minutes a day to make stuff.

RubiBayer.8134:

pdavis, for what it’s worth, I’ve seen quite a lot of value in this thread over the past day. Reading through, it seems that a number of people are giving the OP’s question consideration and replying with both their own feelings and their thoughts on the general population’s mood and communication.

It’s nice to see so many players having a real discussion about the things that they both like and dislike, and I’m finding it personally helpful.

Thank you for the response! Glad to be of service!

Here’s to hoping that all the devs (and the CEO) will hear our responses in this thread and keep our views in mind as they create future updates!

laokoko.7403:

Right but do you think this type of post go on the Wow or FF14 forum that often.

Sure people on the other games complain too, but usually not about this topic.

Anet simply pushed too much effort on LS, and ignored many things other people want.

I agree with you 100%.

As for the LS, I have an idea on how it can be fixed so the devs can worldbuild while doing LS updates. See this thread for more info: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/The-Biconics-cannot-carry-the-GW-Franchise/page/4#post4354780

(NOTE: Inspired by Shirklaton’s post here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/The-Biconics-cannot-carry-the-GW-Franchise/page/3#post4337780)

Anet should turn LS into a campaign system like D&D Online and GW1 (esp. the Eye of the North expansion). That way, every part of the game could be addressed instead of one tiny section. LS’s focus should be world events instead of the Biconics.

There could be Mordremoth-related campaigns on:

—Jennah loyalists vs. the Separatists (Perhaps the White Mantle could get involved to mess things up too!)

— The charr legions create a dangerous alliance with the Flame Legion in order to get rid of the Mordrem. The human Separatists would use this as proof that Jennah’s treaty can’t be trusted, and it could start a war between the Vanguard, Jenna’s loyalists, and the Charr again! Once war breaks out, the players would need to choose which side they would be on! This campaign could easily introduce new strategy-based WvW maps that look alot like the open world, and it would be complete with wars between Factions instead of servers! .

— The Sylvari would be busy trying to find way to help Mama Tree heal. A member of the Priory would mention tree healers among the Meguuma centaurs, and the PCs would be off in search of these healers.

We could also meet up with the Master of Peace once more!

— The Norn really need to claim their identity back. They’re too domesticated in this game. Knut Whitebear’s reaction to the Shadow of the Dragon was just sad, and the Spirits really need to confront him over it. Their shamans could discover the White Stag in the Grove, have a vision associated with it, and feel the need to help the Sylvari save the Pale Tree as penance for Whitebear’s cowardly actions. BTW, the Stag is still currently in the care of the Kahedin and the Cycle of Dusk Sylvari.

— The Asura need another Central Transfer Chamber incident. Why? The current leaders (like Phlunt) have gotten too proud. It obvious that they don’t see the threat that Mordie poses to their advance society. The plant dragon could easy eat up all their supply, destroy all the wps, demolish the golems, and destroy Rata Sum (like in the Uncategorized Fractal). I would have Mordie devour CoE before taking on Rata Sum. Then the PCs would do damage control and rescue missions.

— The destruction of Lion’s Arch means that the pirates and thugs that used to live there are causing chaos everywhere else. Campaign missions and open world events would involve rebuilding the city, controlling the chaos caused by the gangsters, and re-establishing LA’s political presence.

—Meanwhile, Mordremoth takes advantage of the chaos (after he eats all the energy in CoE). The invasions return, and we meet new major players on Mordie’s team!

See? No need for biconics. All of these ideas could easily be played out by PCs from any race since the PCs are well-known Pact commanders. I would give the option of letting the players choose which campaigns mean more to them tho. The devs just need to focus on creating world events that can make players feel proactive in the game.

(continued from last post)

pdavis.8031:

Rewards? with a RNG system rewards are subjective at best. So yeah, you may not be getting tones of rares or exotics, but gold is far easier to get now then ever before, and you can buy just about anything on the TP.

I have explained my situation in more detail in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Smart-loot-system-death-to-med-and-heavy/page/2#post4349962

Others have experienced what I have experienced. I have heard similar stories from guildies, former guildies, friends, and RL neighbors since January 2014.

I’m beginning to wonder if the RNG is based on when a player buys and installs GW2. Meaning that older players see less rewards over time while newer players get tons of goodies (like the situations we see in the Ally commericals).

Like I’ve said before I got lots of stuff in LS season 1 and my magic find was 50%. My MF is now 115% and I’m not getting a whole lot of loot at this point.

pdavis.8031:

Killing off the plae tree? Causing all the Silvari to kill themselves? Not likely. Removing an entire player race, and a huge component of the PS, is just dumb, and makes absolutly no sense, story or game wise to do so. However there is much we don’t know about the pale tree and its nature. But to think that it would be killed off? yeah no not so much.

I forgot to mention that I’m familiar with the work of 2 major writers on the Anet writing team, Jeff Grubb and Angel McCoy.

Jeff Grubbs is the founder of Dragonlance and co-founder of Forgotten Realms. If you ever wanted to know why Braham & Taimi are reminiscent of Caramon & Raistlin? Now you know. His pen&paper modules introduced teens & college students to the AD&D universe during the 1990s. I had a college classmate who forced me to read the Dragonlance Chronicles & the Twins Trilogy during the early 2000s. I only joined DL & FR campaigns if they had the Planescape elements in them. Anyways, as I explained in the Biconics thread, D&D campaigns tend to go into GM vs gamer mode depending on the person leading the game.

Angel McCoy is registered with the Horror Writers of America. Her work helped shape Forgotten Realms, Mage: the Ascension, Changling, and the most popular RPG game of my teen years, Vampire: the Masquerade. Her genre specialties are horror and steampunk.

My prediction is based on what I’ve seen in the game’s story as well as the writers’ backgrounds. At this point, I have an idea which direction the story is heading. and I’m very disappointed.

pdavis.8031:

I get that you are basically tired of the game, and it is going a direction you don’t like. Thats fine. But spelling out certain doom for the game without any real evidence for it, doesn’t offer much in the way of suggestions to perhaps improve the game or guide it back on a path that you’d like to see.

I’m very upset with how others are being treated. The poor treatment has chased away folks that I normally game with. For me, the group-oriented MMORPG is akin to social media tools like Twitter & Facebook. If Anet keeps chasing away players, Guild Wars 2 won’t be playable. Simple as that. Group oriented games like GW2 and Final Fantasy 14 depend on players regularly logging in to take part inthe group events.

No or limited players = an unplayable group-oriented MMO

Unlike GW1, I can’t solo this game while playing my favorite class, Engineer.

When alot of the powerful guilds left GW1, I was still able to solo the dungeons and do the quests without anyone’s help. My only character for that game was my ele. I had to add Mesmer as her secondary class in order to finish Eye of the North.

In GW2, dungeons like TA & Arah have chained enemies that require a group to fight. You can’t pull the enemies one at a time or kill them from a safe spot while ranging the monsters. Fractals like Mossman require a group.

pdavis.8031:

@KTA

First, in the guildmag interview, it was never once said that SAB would NEVER return. It was said that SAB didn’t fit into what was going on with the current living story, so they weren’t working on releasing it right now.

I’m already aware that SAB is on a long hiatus. I don’t like how the current Anet team has handled the problem. I’ve already explained my view of the situation in the previous post.

pdavis.8031:

This is game is built on horizontal progression. Which means no chasing after the next BiS gear set, having to have the most powerful items in the game, etc. Post level 80 progression in this game means the LS. Thats how it’s been since the beginning. (Of course you can argue about ascended gear, but you know thats not what I am referring to as Ascended gear is not needed, and is mostly niche)

Post-level-cap progression doesn’t have to mean getting the best gear. It’s possible to progress after level cap without that stuff. Let me pull examples from GW: Eye of the North and 2 popular MMOs.

In GW: Eye of the North, there were new skills to learn and master. There were also new skills that people could obtain from boss monsters with a signet of capture. There was a new campaign for level 20s only (which was the top level of the game). There were builds and combinations to try out. Then there was the reputation system where your human PC had to build rapport with the Norn, Asura, and Ebon Vanguard to get special buffs, armor, and weapons. I also remember having to fight the Norn guards at each ressurection shrine to get access to the shrine and buffs.

In Maplestory, players who have hit the 250 level cap can progress by rolling a new character class. Notice I didn’t say character & class. Each class in the game has its own storyline & quests based on the character it’s named after. There are different skills that are unique to each class unlike the one-size-fits all classes found in GW2. Like this game, there is no holy trinity in MS. Each class starts in a different area, and characters travel to different areas in their storylines. You can even travel to different planets now! And no, you’re not playing the same story over and over like you do here in Guild Wars 2. Each MS story helps the player slowly learn about the Maple Universe’s lore. There is a special class called Zero if you have at least one level 100 character on your account. You can see all the classes here: http://maplestory.wikia.com/wiki/Classes

BTW, MapleStory is a true free-to-play game. You don’t have to buy anything to enjoy the game and gameplay content is not locked behind a paywall. Moving on…

It’s a myth that Raiding and Gear progression are needed once you reach level cap in WoW. People can enjoy the game without it. There are RP servers (Wow is RP friendly). There are guilds and people who enjoy the game by questing, crafting, socializing, and doing professions. Some players start a new character on the opposing team. For example: If a person played Alliance, they can choose to play Horde. Like MapleStory, you can also make multiple alts that have different storylines. WoW also has a giant community that makes it possible to have player created events and fun without the stress and commitment of the Raid guild. Here’s a recent example of what I’m talking about: http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/31/players-cancer-diagnosis-unites-world-of-warcraft-community/

Progression is about mastering new things, socializing, and having fun. That’s what post-level cap progression is all about.

(to be continued in the next post)

Jornophelanthas.1475:

@kta:
You are not being helpful. A returning player wants to know what changed in the game. He/she is not asking for your vitriol or your shameless self-promotion. If you don’t like recent developments, that’s fine. But your opinions are off-topic to this discussion.

No, what I said is not off-topic. The OP asked about changes to the game, and I’m saying the truth. I’ve played this game for 12 months straight because of my guild’s attendance requirements. Gw2 is still the same game in terms of content and gameplay with changes that decimated the community.

Well, I did forget to mention that we have a new map called Dry Top that makes use of the Zephyrite crystals, Scarlet died back in April, and all 4 LS episodes will cost $2.50 each to unlock since this player missed the free unlock period when the episodes were initially released.

I would love to say great things about the game, but I’ve got to be honest here.

Sarabande.8260:

I am returning to the game after a few months away on a retreat in Europe. I had to get my life straight. <3

NOW, I am interested in getting back into GW2, but wonder how much has changed over the past 9 months. Is everything pretty much the same? How is the community? I played on the Tarnished Coast is that still a crowded server? You can tell me to log in and see for myself, but I and on a computer that would melt if I tried running GW2…. I ordered a new comp but it’ll be a few days before it arrives so here I am.

Anyway, how is the game looking, what classes are hot (I will always love me thief), what are the biggest changes over the past 9 months?

You’ll find your answer in this post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-anyone-happy-anymore/page/2#post4357068

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-anyone-happy-anymore/page/2#post4357641

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-anyone-happy-anymore/page/2#post4357645

Those posts pretty much sum up the game. The game’s content is pretty much the same as it was 9 months ago. There haven’t been any new additions since Anet launched the China server.

Oh… Anet is still putting all of their resources in Living Story, so Super Adventure Box is on hiatus for who knows how long.

(Continued from the last post)

Then there are the issues with rewards. In LS Season 1, I got a little bit of everything and received 1 exotic a day. Dungeons used to give between 2 to 5 gold in addition to greens, blues, yellows, and exotics. I had to stop and salvage everything after a run. Nowadays, my bags are rarely full after a run. I don’t rarely get rewards from PvE except experience and karma. To this day, I’ve never gotten Teq’s horde or a precursor either.

Then there is the fact that the Pale Tree got massively injured at the end of Living Story 2: Episode 4. Based on what I’ve seen in PS & LS1, the writing team is going to bump off Mama Tree, destroy the Grove, cause all of Dreamer Sylvari to commit suicide against the players’ will, and obliterate the player community associated with the Sylvari. How do I know this? The dying mother trope is one of the biggest cliches in animation history (http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/know-your-feature-animation-cliches-the-dead-mother-101158.html). Plus, it was stated in LS2: Episode 3 that the Pale Tree is the only defense the Dreamers have from Mordie’s influences. Yes, this game’s writing is more predictable and cliched than Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.

Let me explain: There is death all over the Sylvari PS from beginning to end. Nightmare Tower was like D&D’s Tomb of Horrors. Marionette was alot like Cthulu despite the fact that it had good game mechanics. The moment our Players meet and get attached to an NPC, that NPC dies like a Star Trek ensign.

Finally the game’s mistakes are similar to what was seen in Tabula Rasa. You can read more about that right here:
(1) https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Completely-Pointless-Revamps/page/4#post4354359

(2) https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Completely-Pointless-Revamps/page/4#post4354752

TL;DR: Yes, I’m unhappy because…

1. Anet’s faliure to apologize for dashing players’ hopes for the return of SAB AND the lack of refunds for the now useless $10 Infinite Coin.

1. My friends and allies are leaving due to lack of post-level 80 progression, maxing everything out, the SAB incident, or lack of game challenge.

1. There are less people on the maps these days. Joining a new guild or making new friends is out of the question at this point.

1. I’m not receiving the gold and rewards that I used to get

1. The Pale Tree will most likely die in a future update and leave the Dreamers defenseless. Then the characters will go crazy and commit suicide because she was their only defense from Mordremoth.

1. Guild Wars 2 is making all the mistakes that Tabula Rasa made.

Kythan Myr.4719:

TL;DR: So are you happy with the state of changes in GW2 for the past two years?

Am I unhappy? Yes.

My views of Anet and Guild Wars 2 have forever changed after the SAB Riots.

Before the riots, I was just another GW2 fan patiently waiting for more content. I’m a RL animator, and I do know it takes time to make content for game. Hours after the Guild Mag interview was released, I got a message in my guild’s chat that said, “There’s a riot in Rata Sum!” Curious, I dropped what I was doing in Dry Top to check out the said riot. That’s when I heard the stories from the players about the Infinite Coin.

Here’s a little something to think about: What kind of a company purposely sells kids a $10 item KNOWING that they won’t be bringing back the event that’s attached to the trinket? No other game company has ever pulled a fast one like that. Just so you know, I never played SAB or bought the $10 Infinite coin. I was shocked at what some of these kids were telling me during the riot in Rata Sum.

Worse, Anet (esp. the company CEO) won’t apologize for their cruel actions. They knew SAB was one of the most requested events, and people were patiently waiting for the event’s return since last Christmas. I know NC Soft can’t apologize on their behalf because they are a South Korean company whose culture doesn’t allow that action. NcSoft never apologized for the mess-ups on Tabula Rasa or City of Heroes btw. Anet, on the other hand, is an American company, and they know better.

Blizzard apologized to their players when they messed up on the Catacylsm expansion and lost the trust of their customers. SquareEnix apologized for their actions regarding FF14, listened to their worldwide customers, and are still working to get their customers’ trust back. So you can’t say that MMO companies never apologize. The responsible companies do apologize and back up those apologies with action.

On top of this mess, alot of folks on my friends list have left the game over the SAB issue as well as the post level 80 progression issue. What those two devs said to GuildMag did more damage to this game than Scarlet, Abaddon, the White Mantle, & all the Elder Dragons combined. I had people on my friends list who maxed out everything and got every legendary in the game. The WvW team I was on for last two tournaments has slowly fallen apart because the players are bored with the lack of challenge in the game (esp in WvW). There are no challenges after level 80.

I’m seeing less and less people on the maps everyday. Map chat, say chat, and guild chat aren’t busy. Lately I gone a few hours in-game without seeing any chatting going on. That’s not a good sign….

(To be continued in the next post)

I agree with everyone who said the Downed State needs a tutorial. I also agree that the Downed Skills should be listed in the Weapons Skills section on the Skills & Weapons tab.

Me Games Ma.8426:

What if they’d completely remove downstate in PvE?

What do you guys think? I did not ask if you like this idea but what you think would happen to the gameplay!

I know how it would affect gameplay:

1. Engies wouldn’t be able to rez downed people from a distance with Elixir R. This elixir doesn’t work on dead players. It only works on downed players.

1. Elixir R will be useless to the Engies too. Why? If a player drinks Elixir R prior reaching 0 hp, they will immediately rally shortly after reaching the downed state.

1. It would prevent people from rezing during major fights like Tequatal. Why? A downed character is alot easier to rez than a dead character. It could take up to 3 min to rez a dead character while rezzing a downed player takes only a few seconds. During a major fight, you don’t want to rez for more than a few seconds or you’ll risk going down too. The downed state is very necessary part of the game’s mechanics (esp. at the higher levels).

new dungeons, adding paths to old dungeons, fixing exploits in Arah, adding new maps & areas for level 80 characters, more solo content, etc.

Okay, that’s not 10 words, but at least I pared it down a bit. ^^;;

Behellagh.1468:

The Eurogamer article pretty much outlined why TR failed and NCSOFT interference wasn’t one of them. $100 million cost, 7 years of development, 50K copies sold at launch with dismal subscription retention. It had income south of $15 million when it was up. The ROI on the investment was terrible so NCSOFT cut and ran.

The Eurogamer articles does imply it at the beginning of the article. According to Richard Garriott himself,

""We started the game by bringing on a lot of staff by our Asian partner, and we decided to create a game that we believed could be popular in Asia. And we spent the first couple of years trying to create a game that had Asian style and Asian influence to make sure that we could be popular in Asia. But we kept getting feedback – accurate feedback I believe – from our Korean counterparts that said, ‘You know what, when you guys try to do Asian pagodas or Asian armour or weapons, it never feels domestic, it always feels like a foreigner making stuff for us.’

“The way it was phrased to us was, ‘Look, imagine we were going to do a European castle: instead of making the stone walls nice and straight, we’d make them sort of like an inflatable castle, slightly curved, like a marshmallow castle. We might not notice that it doesn’t look like a good castle, but you would immediately notice that it was cartoony versus strong and powerful.’ "

Translated from Asian business-speak to layman’s English: No, you can’t make your Asian themed game, Mr. Garriott. You have to make the game we want in our way.

That’s how TR went from being Asian themed-historical fantasy game (Garriott’s speciality) to a sci-fi game (which was way out of Garriott’s league.) I’m familliar enough with how business is done in South Korea.

How does it tie into Guild Wars 2’s Pointless Revamp situation?

There are times when I think that the pointless nerfs and revamps are Anet’s way of communicating that they don’t have control over their own game. It’s almost as if the devs are waiting for some high-top NcSoft person to give them the okay to add real content (new dungeons, adding paths to old dungeons, fixing exploits in Arah, adding new maps & areas for level 80 characters, more solo content, etc.).

Most game developers in other companies take initative to add stuff to an MMO, make a new expansion ASAP, or they start making a new game. Blizzard puts out an expansion every 2 years. Nexon has continuously updated MapleStory over the last 9 years with new maps, monsters, events, dungeons, etc. Most devs make tons of new content for games. It’s not a job for the lazy and people who win awards can’t rest on their laurels like movie stars. Taking initiative is a soft skill that is taught to all new students at the 2 commercial game dev schools in the Seattle area. I’ve met many game dev students who work the 12 to 16 hour days just focusing on their projects and homework.

The Anet team who worked on GW1 had 2 expansions out in GW’s second year (Factions & Nightfall).

With the GW2 team, it feels as if the devs are maintaining the game instead of working on adding new content (just like TR).

The problems with GW2 are similar to another failed NcSoft product: Tabula Rasa. People blamed Richard Garriott for TR’s problems. But with all the problems GW2 is having, I’m beginning to think the blame was misplaced.

What was TR’s problem?

1. unnecessary nerfing and revamping (Just like GW2)

1. not enough content (just like GW2)

1. too many status effects on player characters and no counters for the effects (We’re seeing something similar in GW2 with the combined torment, poison, and stun statuses from the Mordrem monsters. There are no counters for the torment attacks at this time .)

1. NcSoft calling the shots in how TR was made (We don’t know for sure if NcSoft is doing the same thing with GW2, but it’s possible.)

The following two articles talk about what happend to TR in more detail:

http://www.alteredgamer.com/other-mmorpg/28629-history-timeline-and-post-mortem-of-tabula-rasa/

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-garriott-what-went-wrong-with-tabula-rasa

Palador.2170:

kta.6502:

If this game goes the way of Perfect World or Aion, my money will go back to … Nexon …

I … uhh… I hate to tell you this, Sunshine, but a lot of people feel that Nexon’s involvement with NCSoft is what caused ANet to get pulled down into the state it’s in right now. You might want to rethink that part of your plan.

I do play MapleStory for fun and nostalgia purposes. The most I pay for in that game are the pets and the magnet for picking up loot.

Nexon only owns 14% of NcSoft’s stock anyways. They’re not calling the shots in how GW2 is being created. Anet only had 1 person from Nexon in the past, but that person dealt with the gemshop, not game development.

Ravion Hawk.4736:

Lheimroo.2947:

Why are they trying to turn everything they gave us previously for free without hassle into the new mode of ‘progression’?

This “feature pack” is porting functionality from the China version which is Pay-to-Win.

Everyone just let that sink in and think about it.

Tell me about it. I’m going to be keep an eye on this for awhile. If this game goes the way of Perfect World or Aion, my money will go back to SquareEnix, Nexon and Blizzard. Plus, I will never, ever buy another NC Soft game after this. I refuse to support Pay-to-Win games and the companies that make them.

Anet doesn’t want my money after all my years of supporting them through thick and thin? They want to destroy their own brand name by mistreating players, doing pointless revamps, censoring content, and refusing to add much needed content? Fine. I’ll go somewhere else. Blizzard also has Sylvari-like creatures in their upcoming expansion. This Sylvari fan might just want to go over there and check it out.

Tanef.7284:

Seriously, I stopped playing about 8 months ago and i am still checking every update email hoping that there will be some EndGame content released for veterans that does not involve WvW or pointless Living Stories so I can come back and play.

What is going on? what is the point of bringing new players if the old ones are leaving? =\
Besides making all my characters look kitten, I have no point of actually playing the game anymore. I have all the characters with maxed out armor, and now there is simply nothing else to do.

I think that what everyone is Really looking for is either an Expansion or/ and some actual end game content like Rides, bosses etc for veteran – non pvp – players to do.

Seriously, think about it. That’s probably the only thing that keeps WOW alive today so you can’t say that it’s not worth it or that people don’t like it.

In Guild Wars 2, there are extremely few challenging monsters after a person gets to level 80. People at level 80 need their own areas with monsters that are at level 81 and above. We also need more solo content esp. dungeons that have enemies that can be soloed. We’re not asking for anything that requires commitment to a guild or requires a group to complete (like Triple Wurm, Fractals, and Arah explorable paths).

For all those who claim this game is for casuals only: The term casual game means a game with “simple rules and lack of commitment required”. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_game).

Guild Wars 2 has group oriented events that require commitment. That’s not the mark of a casual game. Triple Wurm is good example. This monster requires that players log in at certain times to play the content (even if it’s inconvenient for the players). A solo player can’t fight Triple Wurm by themselves. A group of pugs have to wait for certain times to fight the monster too. Most people who have conquered the Wurm are in guilds and the fight is often coordinated over a voice program (like TS3 or Vent). Coordinated fights do require commitment on the player’s part to log on and be available during a scheduled time.

There are alot of other areas in GW2 that require groups. Bosses in some open-world group events don’t take damage if a lone player takes them one. Fractals and dungeons require groups at certain points. The Mossman Fractal requires a group in order to place the orbs in the tree trunks and open the gate to another area. In TA forward, Leurant is chained to his allies. I can’t pull and fight them one at a time.

By contrast, MapleStory’s dungeons and open world enemies don’t require a group at all. A person can create a hero class character that has the ability to take on multiple foes at once (perfect for soloing dungeons and maps full of enemies). Then the player can make a solo party to enter a dungeon and destroy all enemies (including the bosses). Whenever I’m defeated in a MS dungeon, I just level up a bit more and then I return for revenge. MapleStory’s dungeons and bosses don’t require pugs or even a guild. The guilds in the game are optional and strictly for social reasons.

Guild Wars 2 is not a casual game by any stretch. It’s very dependent on guilds and pugs to get through certain parts of the game. True casual games don’t require commitment of any kind (esp. commitment to a group).

Also, there are plenty of casual games have repeatable content regardless of genre. Angry birds, Diner Dash, MapleStory, Guild Wars 1, and Super Mario Brothers are excellent examples of casual games that have more challenging, repeatable content than Guild Wars 2. Casual game doesn’t mean that it’s devoid of challenges.

On this forum, I keep seeing posts about how the downed state is freaking out new players. How? Why?

For those who don’t know, I’ve played MMORPGs for 17 years. I’ve been playing video games for 29 years. Never have I heard that a downed state or defeat is scary to mainstream teens and adults.

I felt that the downed state made this game unique because it presented the possibility of your character heroically bouncing back from the edge of death (much like the action heroes in American & Japanese stories). It’s even funny that the downed player can still damage an enemy by throwing junk, rocks, and dirt at them!

This game is a T-rated game that teens and adults can play. It’s not an E-rated game for little kids. There is no reason to “sanitize” the game by slowly removing the downed state.

*EDIT: To clarify, I see the slow removal of the downed state as a form of censorship. Downed State doesn’t need to be censored for people who are ages 13 and older. Teens these days see more violent things in their history books and on CNN. This goes double for adults. Censoring this stuff is treating the teens & adult players as if they’re kids again. If people are confused by the downed state, put an in-game tutorial on it. Don’t censor the downed state! Anet, if you’re concerned about how violence and death affects players, leave that to parents, teachers, and religious leaders. It’s not a company’s job or place to protect people from certain images. *

SmilingBandit.8079:

I just came back from a long pause and i recognized:

Leveling got the shaft big time!

Traits got delayed to later levels. Which makes you feel totally noob and weak if you were used to the old system.

I rather not imagine how bad this must feel for any new player! Totally sucks to level up right now!

Was there any explanation why the heck did they decide to kitten leveling and discourage new players from playing this game that way?

I can think of one explanation. Last year, it was way too easy to level. A person could go from 0 to 80 in a few days. The easiest way to level was bypass the Personal Story, go to WvW, and join the karma train. When the player got to 80 there wasn’t a whole lot to do except level WvW and PvP ranks.

With Lapis, I discovered that GW2 made it way too easy to get him from 0 to 80. He got 0 to 40 on Personal Story and open world events. Then I went from 40 to 80 in WvW. He quickly outgrew the loot I took my time with this character too. I got from 0 to 80 in 2 weeks. I couldn’t enjoy the process of leveling, and the story was going way too fast. Lapis outgrew his gear before I could discover or craft it.. I really wanted to take my time but the game wouldn’t allow it. Worse, there weren’t a whole of challenges for people after level 80 at the time (except Orr & the extremely boring Southsun map). There is no hard mode in this game either (Something I hope Anet fixes in future updates).

After April’s update, I started 2 new characters (a human ele and a charr guardian) and I spent three weeks leveling them via Personal story and open world events. I discovered that I didn’t need the traits below level 30. At the low levels, I was too busy learning new skills. I also noticed that I couldn’t level up via crafting anymore. I got my ele to 500 jeweler/ 400 tailor, but the crafting barely affected her regular level. I haven’t put either character in WvW to see if they can still leveled that way. So far, it takes a long time to level these new characters.

I love the leveling changes. The game needs it to maintain its player base. If people level too fast, they’ll get bored of the game and go somewhere else.

I’m going to be creating a Norn character after Sept 9th so I can try the new system.

FYI — I’ve been playing for 11 months, and I have 4 characters on my acct. My main and second character (both sylvari @ lv. 80) were created near the end of last year. My human and charr are still at level 20 because RL has gotten in the way of the game.

Chris Cleary.8017:

We are already working on a fix for this event chain. In the mean time, please report players that are being overly toxic (chat) during these events for “Verbal Abuse” as this is a violation of the User Agreement and Rules of Conduct.

Could you guys let us know when this exploit is fixed? I purposely avoid areas of the game that have known exploits. I won’t be participating in this event until it’s fixed.

gobax.6185:

Are you on drugs? Hahah

Zerg train in cursed shore you can make 30gold per hour by selling loots and salvaging weapons and armors you get from events.

Champ train in fgs gets you a lot of champion bags and once again salvage it for materials you can sell on tp.

Train in dry top is also the same.

Are you even playing gw2? All you have to do is tag the mob and you get loots. Each and everyone of you who tags the mob gets loots.

A lot of people farm via pve. You might mistook this game for another game.

DarcShriek.5829:

Actually, that’s not entirely true. There have been numerous times where I have repeatedly tagged a champ and not gotten any loot. Other people have mentioned this happening to them on the forums. In large zergs, there seems to be a limit of around fifty people that can tag a champ.

Thank you, DarcShriek!

I have had plenty of guildies reporting the same thing.

I have a hunch that the current system is intended to limit the size of zergs on PvE maps as well as fight against bots.

Shockwave.1230:

Prices will equalize due to supply and demand, there is no issue.

I don’t think there is an issue either. The smart loot system just means that characters below level 80 will get more class-relevant loot.

Examples:If your character is an Engie, they will most likely get pistols, rifles, and harpoon guns. If your character is a ranger, you’ll get swords, longbow, shortbow, axes, daggers, greatsword, warhorns, torches, spears, and harpoon guns.

gobax.6185:

Why would you put wvw in this discussion?

EDIT: You can’t farm in PvE. There’s no way to make tons of legit gold off of stuff in PvE without cheating or exploits. The megaservers have made it really hard to farm monsters because there are so many people killing monsters for mats (esp. in Orr). If I’m lucky, I’ll end up on a map that has a few mobs to kill. Even with a high magic find and farming those few mobs, monsters don’t always drop salvagable stuff. Alot of times, the monsters will drop junk these days (mangled talons, goop, etc). The only exception to this rule has been Dry Top.

The only place where anyone can get tons of armor to salvage for silk, ectos, and high level stuff is in WvW. My magic find is 115%. I get tons of greens, blues, and yellows. That’s just from playing the game with a medium-sized guild group that is willing to fight battles. If you kill enemy players, you get armor. It’s that simple. The only catch is that one has to be a skilled, high powered player to get bags of loot.

Zaxares.5419:

I would like to say that I have seen a LOT more red posts throughout the forums. It’s very refreshing and I’d like to see it continue. Being able to bounce ideas and feedbacks back to you guys, even if not all of them stick, is a great change from before.

I agree!

Keep up the good work, Anet!

Neve.7134:

You miss an important point. If there’ll be more elementalist/necro farming and getting their armor, for example, silk scraps will not remain at 2silvers, because more people will be able to farm it.
Also, I think Anet play the game like you and me, and they’ve already said that this new way to loot items will be very little noticeable, if not at all.

If silk scraps become more common, it will be alot easier for folks to get their ascended medium & light armor. Right now, it takes a very long time to earn the silk scraps to make the stuff.

For everyone who says “Just buy the scraps!”: I hate buying mats from TP. I perfer to earn my mats by salvaging the loot and doing events (like Dry Top).

BTW, if people start playing ele and necro more often, that will be a field day for all Engies, Rangers, and Rifle Warriors in WvW & PvP! You guys do know that the light armor classes have lousy defenses. Right? A high powered character can snipe them easily.

High powered thieves will also be able to take those guys out ASAP.

Pixels.6532:

… I love this game, and I want to keep playing. I want to see the Guildies that left come back and play with us again and I want more content. Not for free, I feel I’ve gotten my GEM’s worth so far, so I want to pay. Pay. Pay. PAY. For expansion level content.

thanks,

Pixels

I feel ya. You’re not alone. I love this game too, and I esp. loved the changes Anet made in LS. It’s just very hard to watch fellow guildies and other veteran gamers leave GW2 because of the game’s post- level 80 progression issues. Their gaming goal is progression over everything else. Many of the people I’ve hung out with for the last 10 months are folks who maxed out every part of the game (including WvW and PvP). There is no challenge left for these folks, so they leave.

It’s great that there are more newbies in the game. That’s a good sign. Sadly, it does take a lot of time & patience to help them during Dungeons and Fractals. Every time I do a dungeon run, I have to put aside 2 hours in case the pug group are a group of inexperienced gamers. I’m finding less & less speed runs. Worse, the newbie teams go down so fast, and I’m almost always soloing the bosses now. I try to resurrect the new players, but sometimes that just isn’t possible.

For me, MMORPGs are a social media tool like Twitter & Facebook. Watching people leave the game is akin to having an FB friend close their account and never saying where they’re going.

On the positive side, I learned everything I could from my GW2 friends, and now I have a chance to pass on my knowledge!

obastable.5231:

So I really love a gun that shoots cake.

Who WOULDN’T love a gun that shoots cake???

They should really make two versions of the cake gun and give them legendary status. I play Engie as my main, and I would love to see this happen! This would be perfect for WvW!

Suggestions:

—Cake pistol (main hand)
ATTACKS:

1. Cupcake Shot — This would have the same damage as Fragmentation shot. The player would see a birthday cupcake being shot out of the gun.
2. Stomach Ache — The attack shoots out multiple cupcakes at once (Think Poison Dart Volley with cupcakes!). Each attack would give one enemy 3 stacks of immobilize and 3 stacks of torment.
3. Creme Filling — You can’t have a cupcake without the cream filling! This attack would do the same damage as the regular pistol attack, Glue Shot. The animation would look as if the player is covering the enemy in Silly String.

—Cake pistol (off hand)
ATTACKS

1. Chocolate Lava — This would be a combination of Blowtorch attack and Slick Shoes. The enemy slips on the chocolate and takes burning damage!
2. Icing — Simillar to Glue Shot. This attack gives one stack of immobilized, one stack of blind and 3 stacks of chilled to the enemy. This attack would look like someone spilled Strawberry icing on the ground.

—Cake Rifle
ATTACKS:

1. Cake shot — This would be similar to the birthday cake gun EXCEPT the cake explodes in the enemy’s face for 1 stack of blindness.
2. Fondant Shot — Same as Net Shot attack except it looks like a giant, pastel colored sheet of Fondant icing covering the enemy. Don’t know what Fondant icing is? See this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fondant_icing
3. Gum Drops — This is the Blunderbuss attack with colorful candy bullets! It causes Stomach Ache on critical! (See Cake pistol [main hand] for more details)
4. Overcharged Shot — Same as the regular rifle attack except it fires a giant cake a the enemy!
5. Jump Shot — Same as the regular rifle.

Gemshop items

1. We’ll need a Baker’s Outfit to go with our cake guns!

CyClotroniC.4957:

… Concerning some recent “ups”: I’m REALLY happy that you guys started to react to forum feedbacks more.

Same here!

Happy birthday, GW2!
Happy birthday, GW2!
Happy birthday, dear Guild Wars!
Happy birthday to you!
And many more!

Let’s wash that cake down with a bottle of Courage!

Oh, and I brought omnomberry bars too! Enjoy!

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

The Feature Pack announcements will continue next week and some of them will definitely contain information that’s relevant to those of you who’ve been playing the game for long. We won’t tell you about them until the articles are live though, to keep the element of surprise!

Thank you. I’m eagerly waiting for more good news!