Guild Wars 2

darkace.8925:

“We’re now updating Guild Wars 2 about five times as often as the typical MMO.”

Too bad the updates feature one-fifth the meaningful content as the updates in the typical MMO.

The typical update in the typical MMO was a raid I would never play due to lack of gear. As such, that content might as well not have existed.

Sleuth.7964:

1. It’s your opinion that raids are bland. Not everyone else many like raids because they are not cluster f*&ks like Guild Wars 2 “dungeons”

2. Don’t compare jumping puzzles to real content for hardcore players

3. Its easier to make 5 man hard but also boring and not as hard as if it was 10 or 20 which is why hardcore players like large scale instances

4. Trinity is not bland trinity gives people roles I love to heal and I heal in every game I play Though I cant do that in GW2 because there is no reason to try to support my team when we can all zerg with zerker gear and kill bosses in less then a minute.

5. In raids like 25 mans or 8 mans in SWTOR or any game with raids 1 person could wipe EVERYONE so it is about YOU even if it is in a large group EVERYONE has to work together.

You cant understand this because I honestly think you’ve never experienced a real raid with a guild and killed a boss to were it was killing you over and over again and learning from your mistakes and finally taking it down feeling awesome.

6. I want that feeling in GW2 and sadly it lacks it as of now. Its not fun shooting fireworks at the elder dragon

1/ I like the current clusterfks more than the raids I did back in Vanilla, TBC and WotLK.

2/ Of course not, because jumping puzzles are hard, not hardcore. Repeating a raid isn’t hard content, it’s hardcore. I’m trying to be very clear about that.

3/ Untrue. Onyxia in vanilla was hard. kitten I’ve wiped quite a bit on that little bugger. The thing that made her hard though, was the stupidity of other players, not the boss herself. And that’s why large group content isn’t hard because of the content but merely because it’s a large group. Truly hard content would be nigh impossible with raids.

4/ I do not agree for many reasons. I think WoodenPotatoes explains it fairly well. Find his video on the healers on youtube. Trinity makes for boring content, once you see the matrix

5/ And that’s why raids can’t be too hard. Too many players who are f’k ups. The more people you add, the lower the bar has to be for the content to be accessible. Mad King Clock Tower was extremely hard because it is a single player experience. For one player, Onyxia is rather simple in comparison yet it’s the raid that makes it difficult.

6/ I didn’t like the final boss either, and it should be reworked. But that’s another discussion entirely.

I accept your apology regarding me not having done raids. I’ve done quite a few, and I’m done with them. Please don’t be that insulting next time, it’s not fun discussing people who make stupid assumptions like that. I’ve wiped over and over one Onyxia and Ragnaros. It was fun the first time I killed him, not so much the 1000 times I killed them just for loot. Booooring. Why can’t I have all the loot I need on the first kill, the only one that was actually challenging.

Sleuth.7964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Oooh, that’s not fair. Complex issues require complex answers.

That is not complex at all

Its a simple yes or no

Let me ask you a very simple yes or no question, to show how wrong you are:

Are you going to continue to play this game you obviously hate?

Just a yes or no. If you feel the need to elaborate, please understand your question wasn’t a simple yes or no question either.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Oooh, that’s not fair. Complex issues require complex answers.

That is not complex at all

Its a simple yes or no

It is a complex issue, and wanting a simple “Yes/no” answer makes me want to answer “Blue” just to spite you.

Not just that, but it was a loaded question, and therefor dishonest.

Sleuth.7964:

There will always be elitism in every MMO game i’m sorry theres no avoiding it.

And my definition of hardcore content is extremely difficult GROUP content 5+ please that offers rewards worth the effort.

And i’m fine with being able to sell those rewards on the TP to casual players who will want to farm. (This is what they did in GW1) And if your saying a long raid or so would be bland that is arena nets fault because many games with large raids are not bland at all.

1/ raiding by default must be bland, because it’s not possible to create hard large group content that can be completed by a 51% majority of the playerbase. If less than half the players can complete it, it’ll negatively affect the game as a whole. Therefor, all raids in all games are bland by necessity, but they use clever tactics to hide that fact, such as trinity.
It’s easier by far to make small group content extremely hard, because you’re limited primarily by your own lack of skill. Clock Tower is a very good example. There’s only one person to rage against when you fail.

2/ The second part of your suggest is nice. All gear from raids should be available on the TP. GW1 did that with Obsidian.

Sleuth.7964:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Sleuth.7964:

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Oooh, that’s not fair. Complex issues require complex answers.

That is not complex at all

Its a simple yes or no

It was a very vague question. That’s why I didn’t answer with a simple yes or no. Not only that but it was actually 2 questions. Should GW2 introduce hard content? Should GW2 introduce hardcore content?

I had to explain the difference between both, before I could answer each question, and they both had a different answer. Furthermore I’m not a black/white type of guy which is why I added nuance.

Sleuth.7964:

marnick.4305:

Diviner.7405:

So I never really understood this logic.

Why cater to casuals?

I have heard claims and claims that there is a larger casual base than a hardcore base…. but is this really true?

Simple mathematics can prove this beyond reasonable doubt.

First, we must acknowledge the playerbase does no longer consist merely of kids and nerds like it did back when I was a nerdy kid. Nowadays, those kids are young adults on the track of making something of their life.

Secondly, it’s important to define what the word Hardcore means. To me, it means playing at least 5 hours a day on a 6 days a week basis minimum. A casual is defined as someone with less than 2 hours to play on any given day. Anyone between is … between.

Third. When we take young adults and assume for sake of argument that everyone, casual or hardcore, has a job to pay for their hobbies, it’s very clear that one group simply can’t exist.

Conclusion #1: from the facts it’s evident that casuals are the largest group by default, because having a job, family, friends or other hobbies directly impacts the ability to be hardcore. At most, those people could be willing to be hardcore, but not really. To me, three hours in a day is a luxury that only happens when my girlfriend is not home.

Conclusion #2: Casuals usually have a job because that’s what forces them to be casual, yet they want to make the most of their hobby. Much like a guy who only bikes twice a year yet has a 2000 euro racebike, a casual will spend a lot of money on his favourite hobby … gaming.

That adds up to the double fact that not only are casuals the largest market by far, but they do have more money to spend on gaming, are willing to spend more money on gaming. Therefor, even with an 80% casual public (low estimate), it’s very likely to have casuals generate 90% of your revenue.

I do want to state that hardcore gamers with jobs and partners exists, but they are a very big exception.

Now I might be wrong here, but I would imagine casuals are the people more likely to move from game to game after 1 month or so then a hardcore player.

You’re wrong. Hardcores were done with GW2 after a few weeks. They had legendaries and practically every achievement. Casuals are still trying to get their stuff. In the end, casuals are the public you can most easily keep because they don’t devour content like that.

So what I see Guild Wars 2 doing is:
Most casuals move on to other games in 1 month or so no matter what you add to the game. It is just their nature.

That’s only the nature of casuals in games that cater to hardcore. For a game like GW2 this definitively doesn’t fly.

So the outcome is that you are losing on both sides. Would it not be better to keep the hardcore fan-base, so you are at least winning on 1 side?

Maybe Im missing something here…. hmmmm

From my perspective, it’s easier to keep casuals. They’re the largest market AND they have more disposable income per capita. As such it’s probably the best to be winning on the casual side.

Feel free to comment, but I’m almost sure this is the correct way to do business in the current time where the average age of gamers is 32(!). Try catering to such an average age with hardcore content ….

Okay let me ask you this its a yes or no question

Should Guild Wars 2 introduce more hard content for hardcore players?

Very vague question that can’t be asked with a simple yes/no.

Hard content, yes. Definitively. But it should be accessible to casuals too. They’re already doing that. Getting every achievement in Queens Gauntlet is really hard. Yet a good casual can theorycraft tactics during lunch break and one shot the boss at 19:05 after coming home from work.

Hardcore content … not sure. I’m not convinced 4 hour raids with 30 people and VP are going to do good for the game. Such content is usually extremely bland and leads to an ugly form of elitism. In the end, it could turn away the casuals which are 80+% of the market and 90+% of revenue. I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

Hard content should not be hard because it’s arbitrarily long but because it is genuinely hard. Doing a solo 5 minute kill on a boss is much harder than spanking a boss with 40 people for 2 hours, yet most people think of the latter when debating “hard” content. It’s not hard. Furthermore, repeating said boss kill a million time is considered hardcore, yet the hard part was killing him the first time.

So please define what you mean with “hard” content for “hardcore” players and I’ll be able to answer your question.

Sleuth.7964:

Vayne.8563:

Sleuth.7964:

DarcShriek.5829:

eisberg.2379:

Guild Wars 2 brought in $25Million in sales in the last 3 months, going by the quarterly, after all expenses and taxes, that is ~$6-7 Million in profits in 3 months.

Financially the game is doing great.

I don’t see as many GW2 is dying posts anymore. They always make me laugh.

if this game is doing so great then where the hell is the content PERMANENT content.

Arguably if you’re doing badly you’d want ALL your content to be permanent, because you don’t want to keep making stuff. Making stuff costs money. Having four teams working on 2 week release schedule costs money. You can’t afford to do that if you’re not doing well.

In fact, many MMOs when they are doing badly, introduce an expansion (which is all permanent content) to get some money back into their coffers. Apparently Guild Wars 2 is doing well without having to have that permanent content.

That said some content is always permanent. For example the current invasions won’t be leaving the game when the event ends (though they will be less frequent).

Sigh there is just no convincing people like you

Maybe that’s because Vayne is correct. Expansions are times of huge press, lots of spike income. MMOs time these for a moment when their game does badly or to counter another game (Mists of Pandaria specifically countered GW2). The fact that GW2 doesn’t need an expansion currently proves beyond reasonable doubt it’s doing extremely well.

How about the opposite. There’s no convincing people like you.

You don’t need a single piece of gold for full BiS.

The only value of gold is cosmetics, and I like it that way.

Mystic.5934:

if you have a surplus of ascended rings, you also have a surplus of mist essence.

It is very annoying how RNG works.

There’s a very simple yet elegant solution.
Ring salvages into 1 Vial of Condensed Mist Essence
Vials are no longer bound and can be traded on the TP.

Given that upgrade recipes exist, this is enough to eliminate the annoying RNG coupled to these items.

Diviner.7405:

So I never really understood this logic.

Why cater to casuals?

I have heard claims and claims that there is a larger casual base than a hardcore base…. but is this really true?

Simple mathematics can prove this beyond reasonable doubt.

First, we must acknowledge the playerbase does no longer consist merely of kids and nerds like it did back when I was a nerdy kid. Nowadays, those kids are young adults on the track of making something of their life.

Secondly, it’s important to define what the word Hardcore means. To me, it means playing at least 5 hours a day on a 6 days a week basis minimum. A casual is defined as someone with less than 2 hours to play on any given day. Anyone between is … between.

Third. When we take young adults and assume for sake of argument that everyone, casual or hardcore, has a job to pay for their hobbies, it’s very clear that one group simply can’t exist.

Conclusion #1: from the facts it’s evident that casuals are the largest group by default, because having a job, family, friends or other hobbies directly impacts the ability to be hardcore. At most, those people could be willing to be hardcore, but not really. To me, three hours in a day is a luxury that only happens when my girlfriend is not home.

Conclusion #2: Casuals usually have a job because that’s what forces them to be casual, yet they want to make the most of their hobby. Much like a guy who only bikes twice a year yet has a 2000 euro racebike, a casual will spend a lot of money on his favourite hobby … gaming.

That adds up to the double fact that not only are casuals the largest market by far, but they do have more money to spend on gaming, are willing to spend more money on gaming. Therefor, even with an 80% casual public (low estimate), it’s very likely to have casuals generate 90% of your revenue.

I do want to state that hardcore gamers with jobs and partners exists, but they are a very big exception.

Now I might be wrong here, but I would imagine casuals are the people more likely to move from game to game after 1 month or so then a hardcore player.

You’re wrong. Hardcores were done with GW2 after a few weeks. They had legendaries and practically every achievement. Casuals are still trying to get their stuff. In the end, casuals are the public you can most easily keep because they don’t devour content like that.

So what I see Guild Wars 2 doing is:
Most casuals move on to other games in 1 month or so no matter what you add to the game. It is just their nature.

That’s only the nature of casuals in games that cater to hardcore. For a game like GW2 this definitively doesn’t fly.

So the outcome is that you are losing on both sides. Would it not be better to keep the hardcore fan-base, so you are at least winning on 1 side?

Maybe Im missing something here…. hmmmm

From my perspective, it’s easier to keep casuals. They’re the largest market AND they have more disposable income per capita. As such it’s probably the best to be winning on the casual side.

Feel free to comment, but I’m almost sure this is the correct way to do business in the current time where the average age of gamers is 32(!). Try catering to such an average age with hardcore content ….

Pure Heart.1456:

Living Story is a great idea. The current pace of release is questionable, but the feature additions and bug fixes that happen along with it are all welcome. However, “Living Story” is essentially what should happen with almost every game created—and it is even expected by the players. Therefore, it will never spiritually replace the tried and true, Expansion.

And yet no other MMO bar Eve has ever really created a living world but merely the next raid to grind. By doing so, it’s not even a massive game anymore but a 5-25-40 man hub game. I’m extremely happy that A.net focusses on the open world for their content, and it sure looks like it’s improving.

Considering a piece of content for two weeks, Bazaar, Queen’s Jubilee and the current Clockwork Chaos were definitively worth release. Didn’t play much of Cutthroat but it looked extremely solid. So if they keep the current pace (SAB), I can only agree with OP … the Living Story is worth releasing.

Full blown and permanent realm of the gods.

Zacchary.6183:

You mean these things?

Yes.

Please remove a particular word from the kitten filter. The word is a female body part with 2 t’s in it. The words this and that are heavily impacted, especially with the verb “is”. This makes a lot of posts into meaningless garbage.

Furthermore, this particular body part is beautiful and doesn’t belong on a swear word list. Remove it.

The swear filter isn’t a license to swear, so it shouldn’t impact the quality of the forums, especially not with a harmless word like kittens.

Also the 481,000+ players only, is that a constant at any time, or the peak number at one point? It’s not very clear.

Nice to see we’re a friendly bunch too, always rezzing others.

Like the infographic but just one detail is wrong:

Wikipedia is not a source but rather a collection of sources. When taking numbers from Wikipedia, the correct thing to do is click the little blue number between [] and use that source instead.

Just saying. The numbers are awesome.

You have such a soft, nice voice. Like the genuine good guy type of person². I’ve got the feeling you’re constantly trying not to cheer out as a rabid fanboy

² (as compared to the frustrated misogynists that usually self-identify as good guys)

Avatara.1042:

Celestial gear is good only in theory. In practise, it is inferior to other setups.

At least with celestial I’m alive doing DPS while the zerk warriors are defeated on their first hit. Not only that, but I do more DPS than a purely defensive set. All in all, it gives a very healthy balance to balanced players.

As for the DPS stat spread … almost every weapon has both a condition and direct damage part. It’s never bad to have 2+2 = 5.

ProxyDamage.9826:

Eh… Too hard to tell from just that. RNG is RNG. Etc.

First of all, there is no such a thing as true “random”. The concept of “random” is ultimately a human construct to define things for which the causes are unknown or too complex to understand.

Quite the contrary. There’s a whole lot of things that are inherently random.

You’re currently claiming that every random number is pseudo-random, which is patently false. You’re logic only holds merit with mathematically generated pseudo-random numbers. Even if that were the case, for a game on the scale of GW2, pseudo-random is as good as random for all intents and purposes.

In games this remains very much true. There is no such a thing as true “random”. The formula behind any “Random Number Generator” is always a “ghetto hack” including several variables that are almost impossible for a human being to control. However, in order to manage probabilities (e.g..: creating loot tables where different things have specific chances of dropping), you always have to make the random a little less random, otherwise you lose control of how often things like exotics or trakittenems drop from a mob.

The first line needs a huge correction. In offline games, random numbers do not exist. It’s perfectly possible to control all variables and generate the wanted item on any “random” drop. GW2 is an online game, therefor this part is not applicable to this game.

There are many ways to do this, and some arguably more effective than others, but ultimately, it’s never really truly “random”, and you can simply get lucky and hit the right window.

Which is exactly the same as saying: it’s entirely random for all intents and purposes.

So you’re making a huge wall of text, merely to claim that true random numbers don’t exist (they do) and GW2 does have random numbers but they’re not truly random yet for all intents and purposes they’re as random as it gets.

It is blatantly obvious that the RNG is GW2 is random enough. And that’s what counts in the real world, not long texts about the philosophical implications of having pseudo-random numbers vs true random numbers.

Remove defiant. That’s the primary reason the soft trinity doesn’t work as intended. Simply remove it. If people specc control to make bosses into dodgeballs, that should be a perfectly valid build.

Furthermore, many boss attacks should be slightly above the health level of zerker geared players and with a cooldown that’s exactly the time needed to regenerate a dodge. This would give less merit to damage except for the extremely skilled.

Third, conditions have to be buffed by tripling their damage in PVE and dividing their duration by three. This way, condition damage remains approximately the same per character yet allows for more players to stack their conditions.

Is Scarlet dead or alive? Chronologically the invasion is done before the Funhouse. During the invasions we kill Scarlet as evidenced by her (dying chucke).

After 6 necessary invasions you’re bound to have killed her at least once. That’s the point when the Funhouse becomes accessible. Yet at the end she merely teleports away.

So what actually happened to her?

Because winning is more gratifying.

Inefficient. Phone credit goes about 50% to the phone company. If paypal and credit card are bad with about 5-7%, do you really think A.net is going with an ever more greedy company?

It’s one of those pieces of content I assume to be for the self-proclaimed hardcores wanting extremely time gated content.

Antiriad.7160:

During one of the Scarlett events, someone got the same exotic twice.
Either he managed to hit that REALLY slim chance, or, more likely, the rng has weak code.

Millions of players playing vs a 1 in a million chance of something like that happening makes it almost inevitable.

Current price is still too low. Maybe 5gp/100gems is more like it.

Those who think 1gp/50gems was reasonable obviously don’t buy gems for real money. They have absolutely no idea what the €€ price on these things is.

MUST HAVE STONE

I ignored it. Got the meta and I’m done with it.

Let’s be frank. Extremely hardcore people wanted an excruciatingly hard achievement to get, and they got it. Those with jobs and/or families can’t get it without resorting to XTC or speed. Not getting it is the real achievement imho.

I’d wait until the third anniversary. At that point, having a mini-3rdbirthdaything will be more unique.

On the long term, this route is superior, because account bound minis like this really allow you to prove your age. Short term it’s disappointing, I agree. However, I invite you to look at the big picture.

Klawlyt.6507:

Yaki.9563:

I’m glad they are releasing Ascended gear. This game isn’t compelling enough to play just for the sake of playing. An MMO without progression is laughable.

Here’s what you’re missing. They already made a game like that. It’s called Every Other MMORPG On The Market. And guess what? That game has never been able to hold my attention. EOMMORPGotM has sold well because lots of folks like that style of play, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But a huge part of Guild Wars 2’s marketing was to people who were burned out by playing EOMMORPGotM. I log in and run off to WvW and revel in the fact that I can play in a massivley multiplayer online space and not have to worry about running on the gear treadmill. Part of why I don’t like leveling alts is because I have to start looking at gear again instead of just vendoring it.

As soon as a game starts feeling like a job, I stop. I have a job for that purpose, except it gives me actual money. I am not alone in this sentiment, and GW2 was supposed to be a little paradise for those with similar mindsets to mine. We were the folks who kept GW1 alive, and that’s why we generally feel so betrayed by this pandering to the target audience of EOMMORPGotM.

“Guild Wars 2 is about having fun, not grinding to the fun reward.”

Fully agree to this post. I also played EOMMORPGotM and totally burned out on gear progression. I also have a job that’s both more fun than EOMMORPGotM and gives me real money at the same time.

So please, A.net, don’t cater to the playerbase of EOMMORPGotM because that’s the game your playerbase ran away from. Those who’d rather play EOMMORPGotM can do that. EOMMORPGotM is still available, and often f2p too.

xrecxtrogdor.4723:

kokiman.2364:

The thread title is kinda weird because GW2 does aim towards casuals, there is no question about it. 99% of the games are doing that because they want to generate money and the biggest demographic are in fact casual players.

This game would generate more money if it didn’t base its game around just casual players. An MMO also shouldn’t just be treated as a business thats pitiful. A developer should take pride in their own game, but this game has literally just recreated farmville on a 3d scale. Literally the only playerbase this game has left is like 25% White Knights and 75% Roleplayers RIP

Not convinced. In massive games like GW2, one doesn’t have the luxury to hedge bets on two horses. And with hardcore being a sure loss, and casuals being a relatively sure win, it’s pretty obvious to go for the larger gaming population with the average higher income level.

I honestly don’t miss GW1 since I played the crap out of that game. I don’t think I spent as much time on any other hobby ever. It’s literally game over, but with no regrets. I sincerely enjoyed every second, but it’s over. Like that ex gf who’s still a very good friend and always down to be there for you.

And that’s the whole point. GW1 is still online. If I want the old features, I can play GW1 any time I like.

What I’d like though, is an open realm of the gods, a blend between the mad realm and FoW for example.

The MF was always a nice extra. I’ll keep using the celestial because it’s just a good combat set.

PMilkos.9103:

DaMunky.6302:

The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now.

Are you entirely sure you’ve been playing GW2? Because with this update we complete 4 straight months of nothing but parties and festivals.

I think you might have missed the different invasions going since January. Especially June and August were harsh.

People in Tyria are living on the edge. You must be selectively blind if you don’t see that.

Smith.1826:

Sleuth.7964:

Smith.1826:

More challenging content with difficulty settings, please. “Pro” players are happier and easy-going players still get to see the content. Win-win.

hardcore players are not pro players

Call whoever you want whatever you want, still make hard content with difficulty settings.

What do you think of the current content, with skill achievements in the Gauntlet and funhouse? The no-dying run or 8 orbs are some of the most difficult content in the game. Same for the 15 minute speedrun in Aetherblade retreat.

I think A.net is on the right track, making some achievements extremely difficult to get, therefor rewarding the skillful players. Don’t forget these achievements are actually not time sensitive to get, which means skilled casuals can theorycraft during lunch break and one-shot them after work. I support such content.

Which leads to the model used in Zelda and Mario. Make the main game easy to complete, but make 100% completion Nintendo hard to get.

minbariguy.7504:

I love it when people who have their own “complaint posts” in their post history criticize other people for complaining about the game. It’s sort of like: “When I complain, it’s perfectly justified, but when you do it, you’re ruining my fun and wanting the game to cater to how you feel”.

Bottom line is that everyone who bought this game is entitled to give their feedback. Anyone who is tired of reading other people’s feedback should take a break from the forums. Go outside. See the sun. That kind of thing.

Opinions are like posteriors. Everyone has one, everyone thinks those of other people stink.

I support the flexibility option … make them able to swap stats.

As for their stats, they should be scaled to exotic in WvW, because that’s where they really matter.

Neural.1824:

mtpelion.4562:

1. Go to the TP
2. Check the price of item you have (mithril, silk, etc.)
3. Check the price of dust.
4. Check the price of item you want.
5. Multiply price from 2 above by 250.
6. Multiply price from 3 above by 5.
7. Add 5 & 6 above together.
8. Multiply price from 4 above by 17
9. If 7 is greater than 8, do not convert. If 8 is greater than 7, convert.

You can put together a quick spreadsheet that uses the method above in formula form so that you only need to do steps 1-4 each time and the math will be done for you.

Oh god, you said the ‘s’ word. LOL.

I’m beginning to think that Excel and other similar spreadsheet software programs are starting to see more use in MMO’s than business.

As an engineer, I hardly, if ever, use Excel. Estimations and a 5 euro calculator are all I need to count, and notepad is my default text editor.

However, as a gamer, I use excel on an almost daily basis.

GW1 had a max price of 100k and the only thing it did was remove a lot of items from the market. Price control doesn’t work. The very first successful communist Lenin found out the harsh way and was practically forced to reintroduce capitalism. Stalin removed that again and single handedly created the holodomor. Mao managed to have millions die in the Great leap Forward.

Price control does not work.

I’ll definitely do it again once I’m going for my third legendary =() currently still working on my first.

I’d love an optional gem subscription. I pass for a sub that gives a mere right to play the game. That simply doesn’t cut it.

At first I didn’t like the increased pace because it takes away from the core game. At one point I felt like doing a fractal, to get those last few tokens for my back. I was torn between LS and FotM.

I realized though, that I really like the invasions, and that I’ve done over 250 fractals. I like the new content far more than the old. Why should I do the lesser content?

Something has to be done about the temp stuff eventually, but currently I like that stuff more than the “real game”. Only a the dragon bash, that one I didn’t do because of the grind.

10k achievement points. Valuables to give away just like that. I’d guess over 1500 hours played. That burns out anyone. Living Story has nothing to do with that. He just played too much.

It’s a sub free game. Take a break, take some time. Everything’s gonna be allright.

Which mats are we talking about? I would bet they don’t have a noticeable hump over the long term. Oh sure short term a few silver more, but nothing substantial.

DarcShriek.5829:

Panda Shepard.1248:

I really think guys just learn to deal with it. Women have been through it for decades and longer. We had to deal with it, why can’t you?

Is that what you consider equality?

Equality would be you making the same thread if all sexes in the LS were reversed. I somehow doubt you would have. So reconsider your own notions of equality.

Gehenna.3625:

I like engaging story and atmosphere. When I play a game where the human world has been driven from Ascalon and fighting to hold on while various dragons come alive and threaten the very existence of all living things, then that’s what I want the game to breathe.

The game isn’t dark at all, it doesn’t breathe threat in Orr even and all we get is shooting rainbows and party all day. It’s just like children’s movies where the bad guys are all dumb and can be defeated by children and everything is still upbeat and all’s well that ends well. Adults can also enjoy a movie like that, but that’s because we can still appreciate some childish things and I imagine it’s because we were kids at one point.

Not necessarily. Take the Lion King. It is a “childish” film with upbeat and happy themes. Kids love that stuff. At the same time, to an adult, there’s a very clear World War 2 backdrop and the implications of the hippy lifestyle. That’s not a joke but the actual strength of what makes Disney such a successful company.

In the same vein, we can’t always be slaying dragons and that’s exactly what makes the Dragon Festival what it is. A well deserved break after saving the world before doing it again. That means something. While the Queen’s Jubilee is equally festive, it does show the kind of world we live in a rather direct and bloody spectacle. It takes a form of maturity to see that.

Even Harry Potter is darker than GW2 really and there’s lots of childish things in there also, but that’s ok. Maybe Anet should’ve kept the background story a lot lighter…would’ve made more sense to me then.

And yet Harry Potter is exclusively catered to the 12 to 16 years old demographic, the kind of kids that have to be mean and cool and dark. I didn’t like the story because it was so uninspired, blatanly cliché and catered for kids without considering adults as a potential audience.

Just as a matter of perspective. The darker a story is, the less mature it usually is. Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0 blows down a helicopter with a car for christ’s sake, merely because he was out of bullets. His side kick cries like a baby to a car to start it. That’s as childish as it gets and yet Die Hard is a mature movie and Harry Potter isn’t.

Laken.9018:

Personally I think it’s a good thing. Just don’t want in the process of trying to be changers in the industry overcompensating so much you do so in reverse. Kinda like how people overcompensate the way they act around people with learning difficulties so mark work higher but somehow lower in doing so.

It’s one storyline. Come one. Let’s point out a few of the reasons why this is so fallacious …
1/ Personal Story. Like it or not, but Trahearne is a man.
1.1/ So are 2 out of 3 of the Mentors
1.2/ not to mention 3 out of 5 races having a male teacher
2/ Destiny’s Edge and the main plot there is about male rivalry
2.1/ the Caithe side plot is about a girl in mad love
3/ Flame Legion is expressly only-male
4/ same for Sons of Svanir
That leads to the non Living Story plot being dominated by male centered plotlines. There’s nothing wrong with that per sé, but it also leads to the inevitable conclusion that nothing’s wrong with the current Living Story plotline when it comes to females.

It is so rare for a plotline in any game to have even 50% women, let alone in a positive light, that an exceptional case as the Living Story is getting this kind of threads … or should women be limited to the damsel-in-distress role like the SAB princess?

Vayne.8563:

People who call Guild Wars 2 childish are probably misusing the word. A bow the shoots unicorns isn’t childish…there may be another adjective you’re looking for, but childish isn’t it. I’d call it creative…maybe artistic. My son is 25, and he liked the Dream enough to get it. He’s many things, but he’s not childish.

I think you might be confusing a style decision with what constitutes maturity. I assume some people feel unicorns are for children. I know quite a few grown people who like unicorns too.

Light be be for grown ups too. And I can also point out that many of those who crave darkness all the time are teenagers anyway.

Appeal to all ages may be more like it. Like a good Disney movie. Even adults can enjoy them. Nintendo games are some of the best games despite their “childish” art style. It takes a sour teenager to not appreciate the superior gameplay of Super Mario 3D or The Legend of Zelda.

One can have complaints about the art style, because naturally nudity, gore and %^&# constitutes mature gameplay (sarcasm).