Guild Wars 2

Oh thank you dear Lord the way it’s working now isn’t by design! I’m fresh to Orr even though I’ve been playing since launch (yeah, I know, been taking my sweet, sweet time) and I was wandering around Malchor’s other night, saw the Risen Chicken event pop up and thought, eh, what the hell. Went in, cleared out the chicken infestation, no worries, no problems, and then, after they were cleared out, the Vet Giant Risen Chickens popped up. I’ve soloed vets before (my 80 is one of the many, many, MANY zerk warriors) and it hasn’t been much of a problem — some need to be dodged more than others, but in the end, it’s not usually a question of being one-shotted. Until that Vet Giant chicken got me in its sights and BLAMMO! On the ground, down and out seconds later … and of course with it being Orr, I had to find a waypoint all the way hell and gone across the map … fixing these wayyyy overpowered denizens of evil would be most appreciated. Hard to brag about being a bad motherkittener when a chicken takes you out with a single blow.

Vulpis.8063:

Pifil.5193:

Whattman.5841:

All I can say is that I am glad that the non-dungeon people seem to be a distinct minority. If you want a game that you play by yourself, then by definition an MMO is not for you. Play a single-player game like the Witcher or something. I hope they have a dungeon in this storyline and all of the others….the more the merrier.

What makes you think they’re a distinct minority? I don’t know what gave you that idea. Wishful thinking I suspect. Only ArenaNet will know if they’re a minority or the majority as they’re the ones who have the figures (or at least I hope they have).

If most of the people who completed the previous part of the Living Story completed the Dungeon then that’s fine but if most of the people who completed the rest of the Living Story didn’t complete the dungeon and most of the people who completed the dungeon didn’t complete the rest of the Living Story then they would do well to ensure that any future dungeons are not required to “finish” the story or if they are required that they scale or at least offer soloable story and a five man dungeon modes. Then everyone would be happy.

Personally, I did the Molten Facility dungeon once with a guild group for the story and I felt no need to repeat it, I would have preferred if it was an optional extra or (preferably) if there was a soloable mode. And I play with others all the time, in open world PVE, in WvW, I just don’t enjoy the five man dungeon model that much.

Indeed. I really do wonder just how much of the player base has never finished a Personal Storyline—and how many hit that last mission and haven’t ever logged into the game again.
And I’m quite in agreement with you—provide solo and group content..though I am compelled to point out that the vast majority of the ‘solo’ content is quite easily done as a group—formal 5-squads or not—as well. The reverse can’t be said about the dungeons, unfortunately.

And this exact issue has been brought up time and time again — the concept of scalable content. I don’t believe anyone, myself included, who prefers enjoying content by soloing it, is suggesting that all content be set up so that is mandatory for the player to handle it solo. Much as you said, all of the solo content that currently exists can be done as a group. But the flipside to that is that dungeons cannot be. If DEs and other events can be set to scale to the numbers of players present, there’s really no reason that dungeons can’t be as well. City of Heroes (RIP) handled this perfectly, and even included options for how you wanted to handle an instance — you could set them so that they scaled as if you were a higher level than you were, a lower lever than you were, as if there were several players in group, so that way it could be as challenging as you wanted it to be. And much as other folks have mentioned, the loot could be scaled to drop accordingly as well.

In the end, no one is suggesting that group content be removed, but that a greater degree of flexibility is introduced to accomodate players of all styles.

NF was my first GW campaign and I wasn’t entirely sold on it, but I loved Factions when I picked that up … Shing Jea was absolutely beautiful, from the visuals to the music. Going from there to Kaineng City was like a culture shock, and despite its twists and turns, there was definitely a unique atmosphere to it. And from there, out to the Jade Sea, which to me had some of the most stirring music in the entire game. It would be disappointing if we never have the chance to return to Cantha in GW2.

I’ve seen threads like this all over the forums, and people are swift to jump on anyone mentioning the desire for the end of a soloable chain to be soloable and not a forced dungeon experience. I’m one of those — I enjoyed the F&F storyline, but have no interest in completing it with it being a dungeon. Same with the personal storyline once I came to know to complete it would involve a dungeon run. I don’t feel like I’m losing out — I liken it to legendaries … never going to spend the time/resources/etc., so I’ve accepted they’re something none of my chars will ever have, and so be it.

However, I did feel it worth pointing out the apparent subjectivity of the MM aspect of GW2, and other games, for that matter. It’s an online world, right? Similar to the cities we all live IRL … now, I don’t need anyone’s assistance to get to work, go to the store, etc. … there are tons of people around, sure, but I don’t need them for anything. I won’t turn a blind eye if someone trips and falls — I’ll be right there to help them up. Someone’s stranded on the side of the road, hazards flashing? No harm in stopping and asking if they need a hand. If I want to group up with a handful of friends and hit the bar, I can. The difference is that I’m not being required to join up with four other people to do anything.

The same applies here, to a certain extent. See someone struggling with a skill point, veteran, etc.? I’ll jump into the fray and help out. DE going on and it’s something that seems like it’d be fun to participate in? I’ll join in on the action. But I’m not being required to form a 5 person party to do any of that — I can just do it.

I personally don’t have a problem with dungeons being party-centric. I’d be happier if they were soloable, sure, but meh, if I never get to do them, I never get to do them. Kind of like the jumping puzzles — I’m an epic failure at those, so I’m not going to spend an hour or two frustrating myself to the point of heaving the keyboard out the window. But I do think that char’s personal stories shouldn’t end in a dungeon, since it is a personal story and everything leading up to it was soloable. As for F & F, I think if everyone had known it ended in a dungeon upfront to begin with, there’d be fewer threads expressing the dislike with being able to solo everything up to the end. Sure, there’d be threads of those expressing their dislike for it ending in a dungeon, but it wouldn’t have taken anyone by surprise, and those who don’t enjoy being required to form up parties wouldn’t participate in the first place.

Yes, it is a massive multiplayer game … but having a massive number of people playing the same game does not equate to being ram-rodded into 5 player groups to complete content. To me, and again, subjectivity here, it just means I’m part of a huge online world … one in which I go about doing what I’m doing, but not needing anyone else to do anything.

Logan Thackeray
Professional Skritt Burglar trainer.

I think this applies to all aspects of life? People, like myself, who work week after week, 8-5, day in, day out, come home, cook dinner, go over homework with the kids, clean the house, do the laundry, mow the lawn, etc. … get burned out after awhile. We go on a vacation for a week or two, come back, and feel refreshed, at least to a certain degree.

I played GW2 for a couple of hours everyday and then marathoned a few weekends here and there from release to around the Wintersday event. Mind you, I only have one lv 80, never completed the map, never set foot in a dungeon (no interest, really), would love a legendary, but pffft, not worried about it, and have about a dozen alts ranging from lv 20-50, so it’s hardly like i’ve been everywhere and done everything. But I was still feeling burned out. Had no interest in doing anything once I logged on. So I just gave it up for a couple of months. Logged back in a month or so back and it just felt fresh and new again. And I’m back to playing a couple of hours or so everyday, for the most part.

Will I burn out again in a few months? Most likely … but after a vaca, I’ll come back, and it’ll feel fresh and new yet again. And you could do the same — certainly no harm in doing it …

The only other game I think had the same enjoyability factor, for me anyway, was City of Heroes — there was nothing like stomping around as a brute, destroying everything that got in your way and just getting more powerful with every blow you took in response. But since that’s gone the way of the dodo, GW2 for the win!

Is there a PvE equivalent for the PvP Wizard armor?

Been reading posts about how zerk gear is the best (in a lot of opinions and for a lot of reasons anyway), given the mentality of kill whatever’s facing you quickly and defense becomes less of a concern … but what would be the best rune set to go with and what jewelry, etc., would best compliment zerk gear?

I have to agree with the points made here — since the game is designed for hundreds upon thousands of viewpoints, the more flexibility available the better. I’m a solo player as well and have steadfastly avoided dungeons since day 1 because I’m not able to solo them (and while some may say with the right amount of skill that’s possible, I’m also not talking about going through a dungeon a few dozen times to learn every nook and cranny so I know which spots to avoid because as a solo player I will be squished). And I thoroughly enjoyed the fact I could complete the F & F content without spending time looking around for a group. It would be greatly appreciated if future content allowed for the same options (solo or group w/scaling), and would be even more greatly appreciated if existing content could be reconsidered for those options as well.

I hadn’t partaken in any of the F & F content until yesterday, and completed all the achievement categories in a few hours, and while I did truly enjoy it, I can certainly see how it would have been found lacking for an extended period of time. But, by the same token, I didn’t consider it to be a major release or game update or anything of that nature — more along the lines of something else to add a lil flavor to the game, and it did do that. I hadn’t even known what a sonic periscope was until I ran past one and got knocked flying. So, in the end, if folks were looking for something that would have occupied them for days or weeks on end, yes, I could see how it would be disappointing. But we haven’t even hit a year yet … any additional content at this point I think is frosting on the cake.

TheMightyAltroll.3485:

I keep feeling like our Lich is actually a green Macho man Randy Savage

Would be alright if when you switched to Lich form, the dialogue was, “Ohhhhh yeahhhhh!”

I agree completely with the quote you posted for a player from CoH, and the day that game shut down was a loss to the gaming community …

“I wish more games went the City of Heroes route. It doesn’t matter if you solo a mission or go in with a full team of 8, the thing scales up, so it can always be a challenge – there’s even a difficulty setting where you can say I’m going to solo this mission, but I want it to spawn as though I were a full team.”

That was one of the best aspects of the game — if you were playing a “brute”, which was your stereotypical go in and whomp on things class, you could set the encounters to spawn as if you were a higher level than you were, as if there was more than just you in the party, so you could customize the event to your play-style, interest, etc. And, by the same token, you could set it so that you were a lower level if that particular encounter was proving to be a little too challenging.

Scaling should def be something considered. I filled numerous dungeon tomes in GW1, but haven’t gone into a single dungeon in GW2 because I have a solo play-style. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, and not complaining that it’s not designed to accomodate solo players, but as a suggestion, sure — opening up dungeons to scale to the number of players, 1-8 would certainly engage more players in checking them out initially, or even on a more regular basis.

I’m on Anvil Rock, with chars ranging from 1-80, and every zone I wander into, with whatever char, there’s at least a few folks running around doing hearts, I bump into other players at almost every vista, there’s always a good number banding together to take down champions, etc. I think it truly is a question of the server you happen to be on.

To wooklar’s point, though, I’m going to assume the reason they added all of the additional skills after Prophecies, even if they hadn’t added the expansions of Factions/NF/EotN, was because they realized that less isn’t always more … GW2 was in development for more than a few months … and while I’m confident more options will become available over time, could there not have been a few more available at the get-go?

And, of greater concern, are further race/profession expansions going to suffer from the same limitations when they’re first rolled out?

Let’s say Kodan is the next playable race. Based off the current model, you’ll get a half-dozen racial skills and that, aside from visual differences, will be all that separates you from an Asuran.

And let’s say another heavy-armor class is added that perhaps centers on martial-arts. Based off the current model, you’ll still only have the same 1-5 skills no matter how many chars you roll, and perhaps 15 or 20 skills to pick from to fill slots 6-10. Or 7-10, rather, because the healing slot is limited to 3, maybe 4 tops.

I’ve seen so many threads about new races and new professions … I think that could be set on the back-burner for now for future, major expansions, like Factions and NF (EotN really didn’t introduce anything new along those liness) and greater focus could be placed on expanding the skills available for the current professions.

I’m a warrior who uses a sword … what if there were different skills available dependent upon the type of sword I opted to use? A rapier and a cutlass and a broadsword would all be utilized in very different ways. And for two-handed, a claymore would be utilized very differently than a katana would.

Rifle … shotgun or sniper?

Dagger … dirk or poinard?

Just tossing out a few possibilities there, and I welcome thoughts on types of staves, scepters, horns, etc.

Point being, with a game so long in development, there could have been more options available at day one, and then, as a plea to the devs, don’t devote the focus on rolling out an expansion that introduces a new race/profession. I think people like those we have already … they’d just like a little more variety to choose from.

I won’t touch upon whether or not the OP’s true gender is male or female, or whether he/she is truly 26, 36, 56, etc … irrelevant …

I WILL say well done — a very intelligently written piece, and one I hope the devs happen upon, read over, and take into consideration.

That being said, however, I will move to my point in responding, and that is the forcing of so much content in GW2 to be group-based.

To provide a bit of my own background, I’ve been gaming, both online and otherwise, for over 20 years now, harkening back all the way to 2nd edition AD&D (still have the hardcover books, taped spines and all). I’ve played City of Heroes/Villains, LOTR, POTC, Lineage, AoC, and probably a dozen others the Coors I’m enjoying is causing me to forget. I’d love to say I’m a casual gamer but that’d be a bald-faced lie — I’m a gaming addict, and attend regular meetings. No I don’t — I blow those off to game. And I, too, have been playing GW2 since BW1.

But I digress …

GW2 is a multi-player game, I get that, I do. And it’s all the more flavorful because of the thousands of others people playing at the same time I am. My suggestion, though, is that for the content to be also available for those who choose to solo it. Every single dungeon is set-up so that it requires at least a couple of players, if not the “recommended” five, to manage it. I know — I’ve tried several on my own, and while I haven’t been slaughtered straight out of the gate, the objectives simply weren’t achievable. Example 1 — Mad King during Halloween. I went in with my guardian, waded through the mobs, and managed to take the Mad King himself down several notches, but after an hour, was never able to seal the deal. Example 2 — Tixx’s toyship. I went in with my warrior, laying waste to skritt and tar elementals alike. But by the time I had a few of the ooze globs into the machine, it was already resetting.

Again, I get the fact the game was designed for interaction — if i wanted to play by myself, I should just be playing Skyrim, right? Yeah, I’ve heard those points before. But I think there is a fair number of the GW2 community that enjoys being an independent member of that community. If I’m running through a zone and the map chat blows up with, “Wasp Queen up”, or “Anyone around that can help with skill challenge …”, if I happen to be in the area and in the mood, I’ll be there in a heartbeat. If I see a downed player on the map, I’ll drop what I’m doing to try and find them to rez ’em.

Do I do dungeons, though? Not at all.

Would I if the mobs scaled to the number of players in the party? You betcha. I’d have run through them all, and this is coming from someone who filled dungeon tomes in GW1 multiple times, with multiple chars, in both modes, INCLUDING Duncan. Who wasn’t so bad if you had a rit and set some spirits on him.

So, while I agree that there is a helluva lot that can yet be done to foster group-based activities for guilds, bands of drinking buddies, families that play together, etc., I think an equal amount of focus could be given to those folks who like the online world, but still want to do most of the content on their own.

I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but I like knowing there are other players in a zone, chatting away idly in map, and that I can ask them for a hand or lend my own, whichever the case may be, but do not dig that I also have to accept that for certain aspects of the game joining with a PUG is going to be a necessity.

Communities consist of many different types of people — some are naturally gregarious, some the spotlight-hogs, some the wallflowers … some speak volumes and never make an ounce of sense, some speak a few words that are absolutely profound … and, to point, there are some that wish to foster a familial environment while others wish to play the role of the uncle or cousin the rest of the family only dicusses in hushed tones.

Should there be more content that develops and enriches the communal aspects of the game? Absolutely. But for the devs, please also take into consideration those in the player-base who want to strike out on their own.

One could argue that by naming them “town clothes” alone specifies the limitation of their usage … but I do have to agree. The warrior I played in GW1 wandered around almost exclusively in the tux I picked up from Gwen’s wedding. I had a necro in the Lich outfit. My ranger was decked out in the Shining Blade ensemble. It just allowed for a greater degree of possibilities.
I like what they’ve done in GW2 with the arguably limited number of town clothes available, but by the same token, it would certainly be a plus for my warrior to be able to wander around in the pirate captain’s outfit … if he were an adventurer-class, I could just get pirate armor, but since he’s heavy armor, well, c’est la vie, non?
So my vote’s in on this — let’s have the town clothes be transposable over your armor … and for kitten’s sake, not revert your back to your armor every time you stumble down a hill and take 5 damage.

I have to agree with this. While traits do provide a certain degree of flexibility, in GW1, the choice of skills alone defined the build. Take your necro for example — there were the minion masters built around AotL, curse necros, blood magic necros … you could conceivably have several different necros all set-up differently — I did, and allowed me, when logging in, to consider which of those I wished to play at that particular time. And that’s just one profession, without taking into consideration the secondary. There is an old addage about variety and it being a spice … this is very true. And the more limited amount of skills available to each profession, and the limitation to a single class, denies a certain degree of that spice.
Do we need a hundred skills, the majority of which are useless except in very specific situations? No, not really. But with GW2, if I’m a necro using a staff, would it be horrible if there were more weapon skills available other than the 5 provided? And would it not but add a little more depth to the game that if I wished to unlock further skills for that staff to have to seek those skills out from a specific trainer, or to capture them as GW1 did with the capture elite functionality?
Do not get me wrong … I enjoy the kitten out of GW2, and have over a dozen chars, but at some point, they begin to feel like carbon copies of one another …

Rainy, it took me half an hour of trying before I was able to get past the connection error … more time to drink rum and play with the lint in my navel.

Mine is up to 2% at 200 mb

ok if no screenshots, where have people been able to see it? I wanna seeeeeeeeeeee …

Anyone have a screenshot of the new costume?

After a six pack, you head into the nearest bathroom and shout, “Ready to unleash!”

LOL, no, i didn’t check out the Dreamer — don’t have a char that uses a shortbow often enough for me to even consider it … but haven’t checked it out now, I don’t even know if I would toss that one a female char … well, maybe an Asuran one … but that’s my point exactly — I have no issue with the immense amount of collection involved in getting the materials, gold, etc., to craft a legendary, and fully expect it to take me months since I’m only playing 2-3 hours a night, with a few “marathon” weekends here and there, but if there’s only one shortbow available, and I’ve got a male thief, i really don’t see myself investing the time/effort/money in getting something that looks like it’s been torn off of a merry-go-round.

Perhaps a system could be designed so that if you’ve already gotten yourself a legendary (say, Quip or Kudzu, which do look sweet, but on a male char? really?) and if/when new styles are released, you could “trade-in” your existing legendary for a different one, so long as it was of the same weapon type?

I was going through the wiki page on Legendaries, and holy kitten is THAT going to take awhile to obtain the necessary mats and everything else … but then I checked out the various legendaries and while they ARE cool, there only appears to be one of each weapon type … the lore of the game is vast and deep, so in Tyria’s entire history, only one weapon of each type was so singular it acchieved that status?

And, my point in this — what happens if you don’t LIKE the one that’s available?

For example, the char I have closest to 80 is a dual-sword warrior … and while Bolt does look awesome and the effects sound equally awesome, what if wandering around with lightning crackling around me just ain’t my thang? (not to mention, for it to be symmetrical, I’d need two of them)

I know the easiest answer to this “if you don’t like it, then don’t get it”, but I wouldn’t mind laying my hands on a legendary at some point. I was just curious if anyone had heard whether or not other legendaries are out there/will be coming/etc.

While technically not a Wintersday event, it’s kind of wintery … I would love something like the Lair of the Snowmen … that dungeon was always fun to do!

I think this is a question of perspective — does the end justify the means? If I want to take an extended vacation on some secluded Pacific island and need $5k to do it, and I really would like to go, then I’m going to have to put in overtime at the office, cut other expenses, etc., so that I can save up the funds needed for that vacation. Is that vacation necessary? No. But I’d realllllly like to take it. And while I’m chilling on that beach with drink in hand, all that OT will have felt worth it.

Same applies for dungeon armor — is it necessary to play the game? Not at all. It’s a luxury item, so if there’s a particular set you want, I don’t see anything wrong in needing to work for it, and for it to take time to earn it. In GW1, if you wanted the Obsidian armor set, it cost around 100 ectos, 100 obi shards, assorted crafting material and around 60k. So you’d go wandering around FoW, the UW, etc., to farm the ectos, obis, so you could get it … I don’t remember hearing half as many folks deem it “grinding” in GW1 — I don’t remember hearing anyone call it “grinding” — it was just what needed to get done/obtained to get a set of armor you wanted … which was no more necessary to play the game than dungeon armor is in GW2.

Now that’s changed slightly with the FotM, since as I understand it, in order to progress through further levels of the dungeon, you need the ascended gear. But that being said, if you don’t intend to journey into the FotM, the fact that you need specific gear to do it is completely irrelevant and doesn’t change the game at all.

Again, this boils down to a question of whether or not the end justifies the means — if there’s a specific armor set you want, or if it’s the best kitten stats on an armor set possible, or something similar to that, than just like anything else in life, it may take hours of mind-numbing OT …

Man, pour me a mug of that journalistic integrity … it’d go down well right about now.

For the hair kit, are they all the same styles/colors you could pick from initially?

I’ve got a total of 9 chars, one of each, including a Mesmer, that I cycle through, depending on the mood I’m in, and none of them are even level 40. I’ve been able to solo everything for map completions except a few a of the skill point challenges, and there are usually folks around trying to do it at the same time, so it still gets done. I haven’t tried dungeons yet, but since none of the dungeon armor or weapons blow me away, I’m not really worried about getting them done. I don’t feel like I’m being left behind by anyone or for not having comparable gear to anyone else and I never viewed it as a race of who can get to 80 the fastest or who has the biggest exotic/legendary/etc. … I think it’s just straight out fun … feel like missions? Go fill a few hearts … feel like hunting/gathering? Go mine/gather mats … feeling industrious? Go craft for awhile … feeling like taking in the scenery? Go check out the vistas … Need some excitement? There’s usually a few different DEs going on … and on almost every map i wander to, there’s someone asking for a hand in the chat, so it certainly never feels empty like i’ve seen some folks describing on other threads … i can be as active or as laid back as i want to on any given night …

Exactly! I explained it to a few folks I used to play GW1 with who haven’t made the switch yet … fell like missions? Go fill a few hearts … feel like hunting/gathering? Go mine/gather mats … feeling industrious? Go craft for awhile … feeling like taking in the scenery? Go check out the vistas … Need some excitement? There’s usually a few different DEs going on … and on almost every map i wander to, there’s someone asking for a hand in the chat, so it certainly never feels empty like i’ve seen some folks describing on other threads … i can be as active or as laid back as i want to on any given night …

I’m not sure why any of the changes over the past couple of months make the game unplayable. I’ve got a total of 9 chars, one of each, including a Mesmer, that I cycle through, depending on the mood I’m in, and none of them are even level 40. I’ve been able to solo everything for map completions except a few a of the skill point challenges, and there are usually folks around trying to do it at the same time, so it still gets done. I haven’t tried dungeons yet, but since none of the dungeon armor or weapons blow me away, I’m not really worried about getting them done. I don’t feel like I’m being left behind by anyone or for not having comparable gear to anyone else and I never viewed it as a race of who can get to 80 the fastest or who has the biggest exotic/legendary/etc. … I think it’s just straight out fun … and if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be logging in every night for a couple of hours. Perhaps you’re looking at it from the wrong perspective?

Seems to be hitting email now. I think they realized the sheer number of folks raising issues and concerns over the release and are looking for insightful info on how to improve for future content releases.

I agree. Let’s not roll half-thought out content every month trying to maintain a player base — the core of the game is exemplary, it just needs some tweaks. You want profits? Roll more armor/weapon skins into the gem store — folks will buy them. Don’t try to jam out new content in the hopes players won’t get bored and wander on to a different game.

I’m going to toss this in, though it’s not completely on topic, and I have a thread going on the dungeons section for this too, but whether the PUG is decent or not, wouldn’t it be equally enjoyable to be able to run the Fractal solo? Scale it to the number of players in the group — got 1 person willing to hook up with you? It scales. 3 people? It scales. Half an hour before the sun rises and no one else is online and you want to run it on your own? It scales. Then the questions of the armor, weapons, skill level, etc., of other players becomes irrelevant. It’s just you vs. whatevah.

I’ll apologize upfront if this has already been brought up on the forums, but wouldn’t it be better if the dungeons were set up so that they could be done solo? I enjoyed the kitten out of filling the dungeon books in GW1, but I could run through them when it was convenient for me to do them, regardless of who else was around, how many people might be looking for pick-up groups, or anything like that. I would just head in, clear it out, even if it took me hours, and enjoy myself immensely.

In GW2, though, I’m being forced to accept that I need to join up with 4 other players to go in and run through a dungeon. I know I don’t HAVE to do the dungeons, so realistically I’m not being “forced” to do anything, but the point is, I’d be much happier being able to jump into a dungeon whenever I wanted to and just run through it. If the DEs can be scaled to the number of players involved in them, why can’t the dungeons be equally scaled? I’m even cool with the rewards from the dungeon being scaled to the number of players doing it — the more players, the more rewards, so that if I do it solo, I’d have to run it five times to get what I’d earn from doing it once with 4 other players.

I know this is MMORPG, but kitten sometimes it’s just bragging rights — I did this on my own.

If Cantha is going to be the first major expansion, then maybe a third heavy armor could be added … something along the lines of a samurai class. Or better yet, a sword-saint. Either way, if a comparison must be made, it could be combination of the warrior and the ele class, similar in ways to the way that the derv was designed with the various wind, earth, etc., boons and spells. And there are armors already usable for it (Minsitry of Purity/Dragonguard). Weapons choices would be similar to that of the warrior, but the skills themselves would have different effects (burning blade, hammer with a thunderclapbow that fires shafts of lightning). And the profession mechanic could be something like honor — built up for every noble action or deed (reviving allies, healing, etc.) that could then be unleashed.

There is the exotic duelist armor — aside from human cultural tier 3, this is about as skimpy as you can get:

Maybe it’s just something I haven’t been able to figure out yet with the settings, but in GW1, you could ctrl+C to snag the closest target, decimate it, ctr+C again to snag the next nearest target, and if it happened to be behind me, the camera would automatically swing around so that I was facing that enemy. When playing a warrior especially it made things soooo much easier when charging into a mob because I wasn’t constantly trying to swing my mouse this way or that way to be able to click on the next target I want to whomp on. Is this functionality not built into GW2, or is it just something I’m missing on the settings screen?

Or a town crier … remember the guy from Tanished Haven — Shing Jea Sherman? It could be a NPC who wanders around shouting out the news of the day, but also touting random achievements for players in the area …

“That Legendary Vanquisher is one bad mother… Shut my mouth! But I’m talkin’ ’bout <Character name>. Can you dig it?”

“<Character name> is in the house! Give it up for the <Party Animal rank> and shed your armor, people. It’s a Canthan toga party! TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!”

Whew! What’s that smell? Oh, why it’s <Character name> the <Drunkard rank>. Hide your ale, people."

And if you missed it, you could Press “F” him and be able to get a recap of the news …

Even Pirates of the Caribbean Online has a tailor shop, a barber shop, a tattoo shop and a jewelry shop … these, while Lend perfectly stated is not a must-have item, would certainly be a fun little addition to the game, and I’m venturing to guess it would be easy enough to set these up in each of the major city areas!

I must admit, I’m always confused by these posts when I see them. I’ve been playing since release, have a total of 9 chars, and the highest level I’ve gotten any of them to is 35. Now I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not grinding out 8-10 hours of game time a day, but I do play pretty much everyday for several hours, with a few weekends dedicated to what I call “marathoning”, so I’ll be in-game for 15, 20 hours straight. I’ve never felt the need to rush through the content to get a char to 80 because, as many have already posted, once you get there, then what? While I mosey along at my snail’s pace, new content is being developed, rolled out, etc., so that by the time I do get a char to 80, the level cap will likely have been raised.
I dunno, I kind of liken this to the kid who gets up in the middle of the night to open every one of his presents under the x-mas tree and then gets depressed and surly when everyone else in the house is opening presents together and the aforementioned kid is kinda left to watch, thinking about how much it bites that he doesn’t have any presents to open.
But unless you’ve leveled up a char from each of the races, with each of the background choices, with each of the professions, there is content yet that can be discovered … there could still be more presents under the tree … just don’t rip through ’em like the tasmanian devil.

The more variety the better … if it can be done, why not do it? Dye everything! I think there’s the potential for a ton of different outfits, styles, etc. There could be dye shops and/or clothing shops in all the major cities, just like the armorsmiths and weaponsmiths. And if ANet is concerned about the $, I’m sure enough folks would be willing to buy skins off the gem store if they could get a Dapper Tuxedo or the Riament of the Lich, the Vale Wraith, the Lunatic Court Finery, etc. …

Since this is a game and not RL, the fees for the waypoints could be removed without it truly affecting much in the game itself. It’s not as if the fee is a tax being imposed that is then used for repaving the highway or for repairing a bridge or anything of that nature, and if it were a vital factor in the in-game economy, then somehow I think it would have been implemented in GW1 as well. But it wasn’t, and much as others have mentioned, you could roam far and wide in GW1 with nary a thought about expense. Not sure what the reason or motivation was for that to be changed in GW2 …

chronus.1326:

Absolutely agreeing with this.

Also, the Profession-Specific system gave more longevity to Guild Wars 1. Each armor could only be aquired by that specific class, which made each class a new experience and a gave each new alt a new set of goals. The profession-specific armors were thematic, which created ‘atmosphere’. You could tell a necromancer by looking at it. Last time I was doing a jumping puzzle I have mistaken a necro for a elementalist.

Along with the fact that aquiring all skills and elites was so hard that there was a title for it, this was what made people play Guild Wars for so long.

I couldn’t agree more! Having profession-specific armors provided a goal for each new char I played, and definitely added a much needed degree of variety. I have one of each char profession in GW2, and it’s gotten to the point where my ranger/engi/thief are all wearing the same armor, my ele/mes/necro are all wearing the same armor, and my war/guard are both wearing the same armor. Sure, they can be tweaked with dyes, maybe changing an armor piece here or there so they each have a more unique appearance, but overall, it’s still kind of meh. Plus, in GW1, there was the whole task of getting to Drok’s Forge, or the Granite Citadel or the Grotto, etc., for the merchants selling the armors — not quite a journey of epic proportions, but challenging enough, unless you wanted to pay a runner. While they could certainly add GW1 skins into the gem store if they wanted to cash in on the more than obvious interest in obtaining them, I think it would much more challenging/rewarding to have to find the recipes and then craft them yourself … perhaps because the particular skills and techniques in forging such armor types had been lost over the past 250 years and need to be relearned, or something like that … but whether it be gem store, crafting, karma merchants, etc., would be awesome to see some of the GW1 armors available …

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Necromancer_Elite_Scar_Pattern_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Necromancer_Obsidian_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Warrior_Silver_Eagle_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Warrior_Elite_Templar_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Ranger_Elite_Druid_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Ranger_Elite_Sunspear_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Monk_Star_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Monk_Labyrinthine_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Mesmer_Elite_Enchanter_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Mesmer_Elite_Canthan_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Elementalist_Elite_Sunspear_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Elementalist_Asuran_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Assassin_Luxon_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Assassin_Imperial_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Ritualist_Monument_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Ritualist_Elite_Luxon_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Paragon_Vabbian_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Paragon_Elite_Sunspear_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Dervish_Vabbian_armor_f.jpg
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Dervish_Elite_Sunspear_armor_f.jpg

Just to list a few suggestions, lol.

I’ve seen a ton of posts about the scythe, chainsaw, etc., but I think The Crossing is a pretty sweet skin. Any words on crafting it? 4 hour timer is not my thang, so really not interested in buying it off the candy corn dude.

The Wiki says various NPCs have town clothing available — anyone know which NPCs and what clothing they have?

Yep, thanks! Of the exotic variety because apparently there are two kinds.

Adding the Rune of Life onto the low-level armor pieces allowed me to complete the transmutation.