Guild Wars 2

I just had my thief standing there in DR. I wanted to get map completion on her in AB, but the meta was starting…again…and I couldn’t be bothered trying to find a map with enough people to do it (and so I could navigate the map). So I thought I would check out Wintersday. However, since I’d already done the Ornaments chain last year, I can’t, of course, this year. I don’t give a crap about the shoulder piece, so….

I just had my thief standing there in DR (redux from above).

Not me! I want more “adventures”! I want to be able to choose between fighting an end boss in a raid OR playing a Tyria-inspired game of Candy Crush™. Oooo Tetris!

And I think we should have some sort of…I don’t know…place where we grow crops and such and we can have our “friends” help us out. Call it the “Place-where-you-grow-your-crops-Ville”.

Sicarius.4639:

misterman.1530:

Sicarius.4639:

GUN EM DOWN.4078:

Pretty sure everyone on the forums feels like this.. Wheres all the gem money going? Obviously not wages ayylmao feels like Anet consist of 5 people who don’t have enough time to talk to their players. Must be drowning in all that content devlopment

I’ll have you know about 4,000 people are watching the Pro League right now!

Is that a good number? I mean, I have no frame of reference here. That sounds less like a “pro” turnout and more like a crowd at a high school football game.

Though, it boggles my mind that even 1 person would want to watch someone play a video game for any length of time.

Well, it gets them to about 21st spot on Twitch, despite the claims of them being a Top 20 mainstay. If you want to compare it to say LoL, Dota or CS:GO they usually get anywhere between 150,000-250,000 people watching.

Let’s just say there are around the same amount of people watching one person play H1Z1 right now.

Holy crap! I had no idea about those numbers. Wild.

NumenorLord.6539:

misterman.1530:

^^ A red post!

You are so fried if you try to buy gold now from your “friend”. Banhammer is gonna hit so hard it will send you back to 1975 to play pong instead of GW2.

Who…me? I’m not the OP.

Sicarius.4639:

GUN EM DOWN.4078:

Pretty sure everyone on the forums feels like this.. Wheres all the gem money going? Obviously not wages ayylmao feels like Anet consist of 5 people who don’t have enough time to talk to their players. Must be drowning in all that content devlopment

I’ll have you know about 4,000 people are watching the Pro League right now!

Is that a good number? I mean, I have no frame of reference here. That sounds less like a “pro” turnout and more like a crowd at a high school football game.

Though, it boggles my mind that even 1 person would want to watch someone play a video game for any length of time.

^^ A red post!

pdavis.8031:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/devtracker

There has been some. However, with Thanksgiving in the US it is likely that this past week they took off of work (which is not uncommon). But they are and do remain active,

I would like to think they are active, but they don’t appear to be. Not in these forums anyways.

I read through many of these forums. I wish there was a way to do this quickly, but I’ve resorted to skimming through the various sub-forums and eyeballing the topics.

My concern, and what I find disturbing, is that for the past few weeks there has been little to no Anet response/comments in these forums. As far as I can see, anyways. Not even Gayle.

To me, that doesn’t bode well. Maybe I’m just being pessimistic. I hope so. If I’m correct, however, there’s a major shake-up coming.

Gets my vote.

Extra characters for 15

What happened? You will have to experience that and come to your own conclusions. If you read enough of the posts in here, I would say the new BLs are currently around 45% or lower in terms of acceptance. Your mileage may vary, however.

I’ve been on the new BLs a dozen or so times. In that time I have seen one enemy, and a small zerg…once. That’s it. Might be different for you.

Ashern.5328:

It’s very saddening for me to come to this revelation. I don’t understand what’s going on. Everything that has been implemented since the expansion has completely stabbed everyone in the back. Ascended crafting has practically tripled in cost; we now have to salvage multiple pieces of those pricey gears for a ball of dark energy for a collection or three.

They talk of keeping Legendary stats the same as ascended because they don’t believe in the “new tier of gear,” yet they practically contradict themselves directly by successfully draining gold and items from the economy and then requiring additional gold and items to be spent on gear that has always been available.

Hate to turn this thread into a bash HoT one, so I’ll stop. Thanks four your input, and I’ll know not to look at another precursor collection. I halfway want to drop Colossus but since I’ve already spent this much on it -.-.

You’re a trailblazer.

Thank you for posting that and doing what needed to be done. We should all float you some gold as a thank you. Seriously, no sarcasm intended. I had looked into precursor crafting, but wanted to research it a bit and get feedback from someone who had done it. Your comments reinforced my initial thoughts that it was, ultimately, a gold sink.

SirBlunticus.4258:

Not to mention collections being hidden behind them.
Seriously!?
Anet says “can’t have your weapon unless you play pin the tail on the donkey. Can’t have your mastery point unless you make a ring around the bottle.”

The roleplayers must be having fits with these things.

Here they are, in the midst of a grand adventure to explore a new region of the world and save some of their compatriots from Mordremoth. They delve deeper into the jungle, threats behind every vine and then…wait….is that a shooting gallery? Someone set up a shooting gallery in the middle of a war zone? How does that make any sense…I just don’t…wow

I tried cleaning it up a bit for the OP. Up late with acid reflux, so tired and I’m a bit sloppy, but I hope this helps. Some interesting points in there:

TheMightyNewb.6789:

Before HOT came out guild wars 2 was a 10 out of 10 for me. I played countless hours of this game and had 100% map completion, full ascended gear, and a legendary weapon. I really loved this game, but ever since HOT was launched this game, or its expansion rather, has truly been a let down.

Why on earth did Anet make areas of the map, hero points, vistas, etc. mastery gated when a simple Mesmer portal avoids all of it completely? People tell me that Mesmer portals are a part of the game, which is true, but then why make certain things mastery gated if players can avoid that gate with a simple Mesmer portal?

Plenty of players work hard to earn their masteries, yet there are the sandbaggers that just tag along for the ride and hop into Mesmer portals to earn the same hero point that would take other players hours to be able to unlock? Now i know this is very small percentage of players but it is still out there and it’s extremely frustrating when I hear people are using or asking for Mesmer portals to certain hero points or vistas they normally can’t get to without a certain mastery. It enrages me that people defend this subject completely at all, telling me “Well, I worked hard for my mastery to get my hero points so why should I care?”. That is exactly it! I am working hard and putting in the time to EARN THE MASTERY required to get to certain areas of the map in order to progress father or complete hero points etc., while others just tag along for the ride and get the same 100 map completion as I do or the new elite spec. Now I do understand that it is a small amount of people, but it still has happened and it’s flat out not right.

Another reason why I am disappointed with the mastery system is pointless, or rather working hard and putting in the time to earn your mastery’s I should say. It’s because of these so called farming exploits, that make it extremely easy to gain exp and in much much faster manner than it normally would in playing the map.

A huge issue with Guild Wars 2 from what I have experienced is, people for 3 years have complained about there being no true end game content and Anet said they have been working on it and working on it and now its finally here! Then these expoits come out to earn them so fast its not even funny. Two issues i have here. The first is, people are going to complain that Anet screwed up and didn’t make it hard enough or put enough end game content in the expansion because they already filled their mastery to the max since they exploited these farms to level up their mastery and they will either stop playing or just give Anet crap for making a bad expansion or something negative. Now, I am not saying there are not players that earn them legit and have just played a lot. But you all can’t deny that there are loads of players that do exploit these farms, just open LFG and you will find one!

My issue ties back into one of my points from earlier. It gives new players that are buying HOT, or players that have yet to really play HOT, or just maybe don’t have that much time on their hands and play every now and then, it gives them less incentive to play the game as it was meant to be played by the devs. Instead of taking X amount of hours to complete your mastery by playing the maps and grinding the events out, and adventures and world bosses, you can sit in one spot and earn them just the same. Why did Anet not address this? Why did they say they don’t care? Why would I have respect for someone or think he worked hard to earn that 100 mastery level. I just think “Man, that person sat in COF or at Verdant Brink’ss spider farm for ever to get to level 100 mastery rank”.

Now I know you can argue you need to play the map to actually get the mastery points to unlock the trait once you get xp, but I have the first 2 zones at 100 percent completion and I’ve done maybe 40 minutes worth of story and i have over 40 mastery tokens so to speak for HOT not including Tyria mastery tokens. I just don’t understand why I should work hard at this game anymore. I feel like I don’t get rewarded for working hard, well I do I shouldn’t say that I don’t get rewarded because I do, but others get what I get for doing less work than I am and that just really depresses me and has extremely ruined my experience so far. Please I do understand that it’s not everyone but it is a big chunk of players that exploit these locations and it really makes me sad.

Anet said they don’t care that this stuff is out there in the game. I hope that they choose to take a different path with future maps or additional mastery’s that will be added on.

Misguided.5139:

Most of the time I think this kind of complaint is silly, but I have to agree in this case. I understand this is important to them and they want to promote it. But I could care less. An option to not see a given message again would be appreciated. I would prefer not to have it cluttering up the screen the entire time I play and every time I zone.

You “…could care less”, which implies you care a little. Or did you mean you “….couldn’t care less”?

Blaine Tog.8304:

misterman.1530:

Do I want things in a game? Yup. Do I want to essentially work at it for hours a day, grinding mats and re-running content over and over again, to accomplish it…not a freaking chance.

But why is that a problem? Why should the game give you what you want without requiring work? I believe there’s a song that might apply to this situation…

Sigh. I didn’t say I didn’t want to work at it, I said “…work at it for hours a day…”. I do not want my game to be a full time job. I have a job, I work upwards of 50 hours a week. I have children.

There are people out there who, the only light that touches their pale, pale skin, is the muted colors of their monitors.

I beat Zhaitan three times before they made the whole PS event solo-able. Did I expect a fantastic reward for that, you’re freaking right I did. What I got was like a coupon to get $10 off when I purchase something for $200,000 or more.

RNG and farming be kitten ed – if you complete challenging content, you should be rewarded. Period.

Cyninja.2954:

misterman.1530:

Really? That’s your analogy? People who want to get things in a game…a GAME – you equate that to real life?

Do I want things in a game? Yup. Do I want to essentially work at it for hours a day, grinding mats and re-running content over and over again, to accomplish it…not a freaking chance.

A valid point. You won’t like the solution though: this game isn’t for you. Try sticking to single player games and stay away from MMOs.

That. That right there is what will kill this game. The attitude that someone who wants half-decent rewards for completing challenging content should stay away from MMOs. So, all MMOs are about constant grind and repetition? Why? Is the reason simply: “That’s the way it is”? If so, that’s some shortsighted thinking right there.

Kayberz.5346:

Rofl once again ohoni never fails in the entitlement department

your argument is essentially that you want to receive top tier rewards for logging in and doing ANYTHING and that its “unfair” if another players playstyle is more profitable or effective at receiving those rewards than what you personally LIKE to do.

Its essentially the same thing as demanding to make money for watching tv and eating cake because thats what you like to do and saying its unfair people WORKING a job get paid to do something you dont consider “fun”

Really? That’s your analogy? People who want to get things in a game…a GAME – you equate that to real life?

Do I want things in a game? Yup. Do I want to essentially work at it for hours a day, grinding mats and re-running content over and over again, to accomplish it…not a freaking chance.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

So basically… people are lazy and jealous of people who are hard working…

Well that isn’t exactly a shocking revelation is it?

“Hard working”? So….a game meant for fun should be something you need to work hard at to be successful? “Video game” and “hard working” should never be in the same sentence. Challenging <> necessity to work hard.

I already work hard, I don’t need or want to play a game that requires me to add more work to my already overflowing plate.

Vayne.8563:

Anet has gone silent again? You must live in a bubble. Let’s talk about the “silence” of Anet for a second.
…

Since those changes, have you heard anything from Anet? Those changes were, what, 2 weeks ago? Look at the forums. Especially look at the WvW forum in which there’s been a resounding silence from Anet almost from the release of HoT. Point me to one post in the last week in which there’s an Anet response on the major forums? There might be one or two, but nothing substantial.

Anet has not been touting the success of HoT at all. They haven’t released any notices about how well it has been received. They haven’t spoken to any of the issues that people have raised SINCE they applied the band-aid patch early on.

It’s like they’ve bunkered down. Bunkered down from what, I wonder?

I don’t want something for nothing, but what I do want, and what I think should happen, is a legendary weapon (or ascended armor or weapon) giving as a direct reward for finishing things like the Personal Story. Seriously, you kill Zhaitan and you get a thing to possibly help make another thing.

Rewards should be substantial for completing something substantial (ok, they nerfed that chapter of the PS, but still). I have no idea why rewards aren’t something worthwhile.

Nope. Never pre-purchase anything. I did jump the gun and eventually caved and got the expansion – but am regretting it now. Only playing so I can at least delude myself I got my $60 worth.

Krag.6210:

The adventures are great and there are many other ways to get your mastery points.
Even then, if you can’t get at least silver after a couple of tries, you really should consider stepping up your game.

There always has to be one. Always.

I have a suggestion. Why not a mini-game in which you have to answer advanced math questions – and you have a time limit? How would that fit in? When you fail at it, should I say “…you really should consider stepping up your game.”?

I don’t like arcade-style games. I don’t. I don’t play platform games. I don’t want to do these adventures, but if I want the mastery point, I have to. Horrible, horrible design decisions.

And the absolute silence coming out of Anet? This should worry us all. From the lack okittennowledgement of the overall design issues to a clear lack of announcements about the success of HoT (numbers, etc.). This is the kind of silence that comes before a company goes belly up or has a major shake-up.

Tommyknocker.6089:

I keep a pretty close eye on the LFG tool and I can tell you that the postings very greatly between time periods.
…
The new maps are designed more along the lines of a boss fight with a set time schedule. Being on at the exact right time means the difference between playing or not playing the content you want and thus gives the disconnect of many players feeling the maps are empty all the time.

And that is the issue I am facing. So, what should I do? Change my sleep pattern? Quit my job?

Yeah, this is going to be even more horrible when fewer and fewer players access the HoT maps, regardless of time period.

Couple these issues with the absolute destruction of WvW, then I really so no reason to continue playing. I regret purchasing HoT. I really do.

I solo all the time with my reaper. I can run around a BL for hours and never even come close to dying. Of course, I never see an enemy player and am only taking camps and shrines or what not, but I am certainly doing it solo.

I think I could solo a bl with a naked character wielding white scrap weapons.

From the white knights who appear on these forums defending HoT, it would appear that LFG refreshing is a valued part of their gaming experience. For them, it must be like playing slots at a casino, with less of a chance of decent rewards.

Yup. AB is doable, but not with only 5-10 people during the liberate Tarir event. As for other maps, not one LFG entry.

One of the worst examples of problems in AB is the HP below Tarir. To get to it, the Octavine meta event has to be completed and the map level must be at max tier. I haven’t seen that happen, not once. It has, I know, but not when I’ve been on. So, how should I grind constantly in AB hoping for the moment when the meta is achieved? Or just say screw it?

The only way they will get more involvement on these maps is to offer better rewards. I don’t know, maybe an elite daily that has a great reward for successfully completing a map meta. On top of the map meta loot, you get something like 10 ley line sparks. Or some really rare mats. Or…anything.

Seriously, if you make the grind attractive, people will do it. If the grind ends up not being worth it, people will just avoid these maps. Which is what I am seeing.

Right now, in the LFG there was one for the Auric Basin meta. Went there and map was no where near full enough. That was the only meta LFG I saw that wasn’t a person LOOKING for a full (-ish) map.

PopeUrban.2578:

That is the best organized fight against a door I’ve ever seen.

Could you imagine a person who knows nothing about GW2 seeing that?

“What are they…hey, are they fighting a door? What the heck is this game all about?”

Soon to the TP near you: Auto Loot booster (30 min timer) – only 2000 gems for 5! A bargain.

FogLeg.9354:

Our raid leader is loving the squad UI. Even for 15 people its better then anything we had before.

Don’t think whether or not the UI is any good was the point the OP was trying to make.

Been running around in new PvE maps and getting my 7 characters (I am only missing a ranger) their elite specs. Drop into WvW occasionally to see if they’ve fixed it. Still hate it. Will only play on the EB map, if at all.

I started a topic about the lack of Anet responses in WvW. It got infracted. Apparently, they don’t enjoy being called out. At least, on the upside, deleted posts/topics means SOMEBODY is reading through this forum at least.

I finally buckled and got HoT. I thought, if I couldn’t enjoy WvW because everyone was PVEing, then I would at least get elite specs for some of my characters. But PVE seems like it’s dying too. HoT maps that are less and less populated as the days go on. People getting tired of the same events over and over in an unending cycle of Candy Crush-like repetition. Go read some of the topics in the HoT forum. Sad.

Based on the seeming lack of interest from Anet, I would assume they wouldn’t mind at all if WvW just up and died off completely.

Enh…can’t be too upset about something that is entirely optional. To me, they’re like playing Candy Crush or some other mindless game. I can’t be bothered, so I don’t worry about it.

Timelord.8190:

I agree! Anet needs to start listening to the WvW community about what they want. Not do the opposite and waste 3 years on a map that almost everyone hates.

On my server we have only ques to EB, and anet even made that map worse to!

What did they do to make that map worse? You referring to the auto-updates?

Shoe.5821:

this happens not because noone isplaying but because you are playing when populations are decreasing

ie if a map has 800 people divided into 15 maps, and over an hour the population drops to 400, you’re going to get a lot of maps closing.

Ah. That makes sense. Though, I was playing at around 6:00 PM EST. So figured it would be busier.

Ok. The new maps (at least the two I have explored – VB and AB) are beautiful, and gliding is a blast. However, the whole meta event is draining, to me at least. It happens too quickly and much too frequently. A constant grind of protect this, take this back, fight the legendary wyvern, rinse and repeat. No sense of progression – nothing changes. If the loot was better, it would be like early SW with more foliage and less sand. As it is, I am simply trying to do the Living Story so I can get away from the maps once and for all.

And the fact you need people on the map has me a little nervous. Yesterday, was looking for POIs and Vistas I had missed in VB and the “Change to a more populous map” dialog came up. I switched. Five minutes later, it came up again. If we can’t get a map with enough players now, how will the metas and Hero Challenges with Champs going to work when the new map is a virtual ghost town, like WvW new BLs are now?

Also…I had a thought about the removal of the Necro’s ability to drop a distance, pop Spectral Walk when close to the ground, then pop recall and land on the ground safely. Anet didn’t remove it because people were using it in ways they didn’t mean for them to use it, they removed it because of these maps and the new BLs.

Ashreon.2840:

What a shame. Listening to casuals, just because they have to work to continue their story mission. HOW HORRIBLE IT MUST BE.

I would bet that “casuals” outnumber the hardcore geeks. Democracy wins.

Mitch.4781:

markot.3946:

In what univserse does having to take time to do something equals a challenge?

Driving a formula 1 car around a track for one lap is a challenge.

Driving a toyota on a 10 hour car journey is a chore.

That depends. If you’re driving your Toyota through beautiful scenary and stopping off at nice places on the way, it’s not so much of a chore……. Hot works in pretty much the same way.

Actually, to take your analogy further, and make it more accurate: you drive through the beautiful scenery, you stop at nice places on the way, but when you get to your destination, you are forced to turn around because you need to go back and get a spoiler for your Toyota and some new mag tires. Then you have to turn around and drive through the same scenery, stopping at the same places, with the same people and events progressing in exactly the same way, before you area allowed to actually enjoy your destination. Then, as you begin to explore your destination, you find out you need to get a red spoiler, not the blue one, and you have to go back and do it all over again…and again…and again…

Where’s your “question”?

Yeah, you should report this in the bugs forum.

hardy.7469:

Don’t worry. There is no level grind guys! And the mastery system is totally not a new level system. Totally not.
I mean I understand it can be confusing because your mastery level… err rank, takes over on your character info rather than your level… But it’s totally not new levels.

Even though the storyline makes you grind out some leve….ranks before you can progress.

Not levels!

Never thought of it that way. Masteries are like levels. You can’t get a trait point unless you hit a certain Level…and in this case Masteries = Levels! Brilliant. Puts that into perspective.

Dawdler.8521:

misterman.1530:

I don’t know, maybe this was by design?

Dont think so. If I recall correctly, the waypoints are supposed to always be built, but when taken by the enemy side it would of course not be active (ie always contested).

Having them active when an enemy holds the keep is… stupid. I think its just a bug.

Actually, I was being sarcastic

Brimstar.9036:

You expected it to be all handed out to you? My mind is blown.

Always has to be one that just doesn’t get it. Always.

Dawdler.8521:

OneKlicKill.4285:

My issue is when you spen 20 minutes navigating to a hero point and then its a 5 man minimum group challenge which when attempted you lose and cant get back for another 30 minutes of climbing agian.

If they just simply made the Hero challenges soloable the game would be fine as is. I shouldn’t have to have 4 people minimum to play the game.

… Unless of course, its by design.

GW2 is an MMO after all. Not a singleplayer adventure game. Is it really that odd that you cant complete some challenges alone? You should easily be able to take 80% of brink alone for example. What if the other 20% is meant to be a little harder group content? Like, I dont know… a challenge of some sort?

Yeah. They could call this group content…I dunno…Basements…no…no…oooo…how about Dungeons? Then they could also have things where lots of people get together to do an even bigger Dungeon…let’s call them…um…Raids. Yeah. That works. Then Anet could also devise a unique sort of Dungeon called “fractals”. /sarcasm

I don’t know, maybe this was by design? Coglin, when you and the rest of the white knights were involved in discussions with Anet regarding the maps, did these kind of WPs ever come up?

Trancid.8514:

There is a learning curve, but this is by far the best expansion I’ve seen in any game. It’s not even about the amazing new maps, it’s about how much good all the new systems do for the entire game.

The entire game? The masteries only work in the new map areas. So, except for the elite specs, what good did it do for the entire game? Please, I really want to know your thoughts.

Brilliant idea. I only know about VB from these forums, but even I can see that your idea is much more palatable, and fun, than what we currently have. Frankly, each mastery should be like a renown heart. Do a bunch of related quests, scavenger hunts, etc. Then the mastery is unlocked.

Take the frogs, for instance, first they don’t trust you…then you gain their trust as part of their quest line. Then they send you to get a book or something so you can begin to learn. Eventually, through a series of mini-quests, you get the mastery.

But now, it sounds like you just kill mobs until you get the xp. How…um…“clever”?

Khristophoros.7194:

BIGHARSHNESS.3510:

Sorry, everyone is just spoiled. You’re use to insta leveling a bunch of toons without any work required. Now that you cant tome or EoTM your way to something, you’re mad.

It’s not even that much work. Once you get all your masteries an reach the hero points you need, it’s pretty much a breeze with the rest of your characters.

Because you have 20+ alts with 3% map completion each, isn’t a reason for anet to lower the required hero points.

I can’t even GET the hero points if I’m being totally honest. It’s too hard. Am I supposed to be able to solo a champion frog assassin thing with 2 adds? Actually I almost did but then I fell through hole in the floor.

I managed to 2 man another champion hero point challenge because I was lucky that somebody else even showed up. And it was only 10 of the 25 points needed for the next skill… a skill I’m not even planning to use but I need to unlock anyway.

This is sadistic.

It’s funny. People are saying that the crappy WvW maps are empty because everyone is in PvE. Yet, people in the new PvE map are saying that they have to try and solo things or hope someone shows up. So, if the PvE maps are empty-ish and the WvW maps are definitely empty…where is everyone? PvP?

That laser event is a joke. We did it (3 or 4 of us – took about 10 minutes). Got this big popup saying that enemy gates were being hit. Went to an enemy-controlled tower – and the gate was at about 75%. Wow. All that time doing a cheese event for 25% damage to a fortified gate? That’s a big laser to do so little damage.

Galandil.9641:

No worries, use that £850 desktop to player witcher 3: 100 hours of gameplay, all in good fun.

Or Fallout 4!