Guild Wars 2

Side note: had to shrink it down to fit all in one post :P

Arghore.8340:

On the ‘creation’ of water
Water is created by the chemical binding of Oxygen en Hydrogen, this is an exothermic reaction (aka energy is also released when the two combine) that needs either a ‘start up energy’ (spark of something will do) or a ‘reactant’ (which is platinum). The reaction takes place when the concentration of both Oxygen en Hydrogen is high enough for it to take place (hence we find both Hydrogen and Oxygen on our planet, even though the planet contains platinum and loads of places that are plenty hot).

A Geyser does NOT create water! A geyser is a geological process caused by underground volcanic action. It works like a pressure cooker: An underground cavity is constantly filled with water (likely from the top, so that the water flow also seals off the cavity), this water is then heated by the volcanic action and starts to boil. Once the pressure is high enough to break through the inward flow of water, the pressure is released. OR, like a thermal syphon, which works in almost the same way, though it would involve a ‘tube’ that filled with water, the water boils and from expansion pushes the water out of the tube.

This is different from a spring, which is a geological process where water gets to the surface either due to gravity and an impenetrable rock layer (the water penetrates the soil -> hits the rock layer -> flows downward with gravity -> exits as a spring), OR, by a process that can best be described as the ‘Connected vessels’, where the water level is corrected by a connection between two points of elevation, which are caused by impenetrable rocks. (the water penetrates in one area -> flows downwards in a tube of impenetrable rock -> due to the tube being U shaped, with one ‘shorter leg’ on one side -> the water then flows out the short side.

Seeing as Ley Lines are described like rivers, all these processes ‘may’ take place on Tyria if the conditions are right, and magic behaves like water. One hint of this might be seen in the CoE area, where there seems to be an ‘Eternal Faithfull’ geyser of magic being propelled into the air (unless there is another explanation for this ‘eternal’ flow of magic into the air).

On dark-matter
Dark matter is up until now an Unproven hypothesis to explain the rotational speed of the matter in the disk of solar systems. If you want to use an analogy for aether, use ‘The Higgsfield’, while discovery of the Higgsboson is still somewhat up in the air (‘we’ (as in mankind) are not sure what we found), and is only so far been suspected to be found in LHC. Aka. to be truly acknowledged as existing it needs to still be confirmed by an independent second control experiment!

But seeing the Higgs field is related to the Higgs Boson, where the interaction between these two in something that I can only describe as ‘friction’, is the reason for the existence of Mass. Which gives particles a way to interact with Gravity, to results in weight. This whole process can truly be called ‘magical’ in a sense, and the higgs field Omni presence can (from my point of view) truly be called ‘the aether’….

All true, however in their defense the analogies used are an over simplified version.

On water: Of course a geyser does not creat water, anyone with even a basic understanding of chemistry knows that. However, likening magic and ley lines to rivers and geysers makes it much easier for the average person to understand. In this analogy, a geyser would be something that produces water/magic (although we know that it doesn’t, technically speaking) and a river is the channel in which magic flows. But the main point is that magic is flowing along the ley lines, and is not produced by those lines. How or where magic is produced is yet unanswered, but given the Chi/Ki/The force example, magic just IS. It doesn’t have to be produced from something.

On Dark matter/Higgsfield:
Even as a non theoretical physist, I can understand dark matter much better then a Higgsfield. Dark matter is what lies in the empty spaces of atoms/space/etc. While the technical aspects are much more complex then that, this analogy works much better because most people will understand that better than having to take an advanced physics class just to understand what what they mean by Aether.

In short, rather then using complex analogies/language and examples to describe the complex nature of magic within Tyria, they used more abstract and simpler methods. While trying to educate a group of people on the nature of magic, it wouldn’t be wise, or helpful, to use complex devices assuming your audience understands those same principles.

Wow…I was not aware of a hologram recording…Will definetly have to check it out.

Welcome to the game!

First off, this isnt like other MMOs that you may have played. Its very casual and soloing most everything in PvE is VERY doable regardless of profession. Also combat works very differently than what you may be used to.

I would reccomend checking out the combat 101 guide and the tips for new players.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/GW2-Combat-system-101-Guide/page/4#post3883422

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/page/5#post4001511

Just remember to explore, find a guild or three and have fun. Although when asking about professions to play, keep in mind that ALL of them are viable and useful. Here in the forums you get a wide range of why you shouldnt play one over the other, and how much better this one is then that one etc. Dont worry about builds/gear types until lvl 80 at least. Just get what you can at your current level. Servers? Dont really matter except for WvW. But im sure theres a list somewhere that has the rankings.

I play a warrior, necromance, elementalist, and working on a mesmer. I have found that each can do very well in solo PvE and in groups for dungeons and such. Much of the game is built around play how you want and group activities. But dont worry, even the biggest group bosses take about 1.5 hours tops (and thats including the 1 hour coordination time before the actual event, it takes time to coordinate 150+ people) and are not required to be in a party to do them. Dungeons can take anywhere from 15-20 mins, and the harder ones a couple of hours if the whole party doesnt know what to do and are expecting to be carried.

Overall though, have fun! Because thats what its all about.

Rimmy.9217:

It’s hard to respect PvErs in WvW since, if they’re on your server and are anywhere near a fight, they become total rallybots. They don’t listen to what people say, especially when what they’re doing affects other people. The reverse isn’t true.

It’s not like a WvWers can come in when people are doing an event in PvE and single-handedly screw everything up resulting in the event failing and time being wasted.

Plus, PvErs benefit from all of the powers of the mist that their WvW crew gains them by playing – what have the PvErs done for the WvWers lately? Certainly nothing to warrant an automatic ceasefire from opponents so that they can get a few POIs and skill points.

No, if you want these, play WvW. It’s usually the only way you’re going to get the POIs inside structures anyway.

Good point. But either way getting the WvW completion isnt difficult, it just takes time, and people dont like doing anything that resembles work to get what they want.

Also on this: "what have PvErs done for the WvWers lately? " just reminded of Monty Python’s life of Brian:
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace – shut up!

Also you’ll never get a response on this forum from the devs on this matter. Talking about other games, even gw1, is not allowed and this thread will be closed shortly. Thank you for participating. Have a nice day.

When out of combat there is a little white arrow that appears over the slot. Just click that and select which utility you want to trade.

Eggman.1405:

pdavis.8031:

In short, it’s not about “anti-farming” it’s about protecting the economy from botters and exploiters.

I’m not really concerned with any of that. If I have a bad streak, I’d just like to know if it’s just RNG or I’m now wasting my time.

Well, every drop is based on RNG so have a long bad streak is just because the fickle RNG gods are feeling especially fickle toward you that day. But if you were farming the same area for say, 4 hours or more, than it’s probably DR.

Fyrebrand.4859:

Some (embarrassing) real-life ones for me:

• I’m watching a gameplay video of GW2 and I try to hover my mouse over their skills to see more info

I;ve done somethign similiar. But trying to change the camera view because I didn’t like how it was on the video :P

Although, as a primarily PvE player, I also found the mapping WvW to take the longest. Having to wait for the rotation took forever. However instead of trying to kick WvWers out of their domain, or changing the requirements for map completion, (as one who had to to wait forever for the color rotation I would be VERY put out) how about agreeing that a /sit, or other emote is the standard “Mapping” signal, and should leave them alone. Of course this or any other WvW mapping device could easily be abused by spies under the pretense of mapping.

When I finally did complete WvW for mapping, I used /sit whenever an enemy came near. Sometimes they were cool, would /wave or /bow and leave me be. Other times they would gank me. But if something like that would be universally understood as the mapping signal, and respected, I think that PvEers wouldn’t have so much of an issue of mapping WvW.

maha.7902:

1. Leave game on over night
2. Turn monitor on and log in to character
3. Go afk

that’s literally my gw2 experience

LOL! That actually made me laugh out loud, and now my co worker is looking at me funny :P

Obtena.7952:

Raven.3248:

How can you buy a legendary on the TP but not ascendant gear????
I do not understand your logic!!!!

Have you put any thinking to why they might have done this? If you do, it’s evident. Either way, they don’t want people just easily buying their way to endgame gear.

If this was the case many more people would be crying that GW2 is becoming “Pay to win”. Even so, both legendaries and ascended gear are optional and not required in order to play “end game” content.

From what I understand is that it is based on “diminishing returns” the longer you farm in an area, the less the drop rate becomes. Now changing maps, doing other activities and time all play a large part in “removing it”

Here is the wiki on it and how it works:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Diminishing_returns

Also this from Jon Peters: “We thought we should put in our 2 cents as well.

Guild Wars 2 is a game about freedom. We want you to be able to explore the world and engage in a huge variety of activities, focusing on whatever best suits your tastes.

Some players have run into “diminishing returns” thresholds we put into the game to provide a safety net against unanticipated economy-breaking issues. We do have these thresholds in place, but it’s not our intention that normal players should ever run into them. We’ve recently had bugs and imbalances that have caused normal players to hit thresholds, and we’ll fix those.

These systems are put in place to protect the economy from botters and exploiters. We will close exploits as quickly as we can. These thresholds help create a safety net to keep the economy safe when we aren’t there to deal with the offender. It’s important to have a safety net in place. It would be bad for everyone if, for example, a group of players learned how to speed-clear a dungeon in 5 minutes, with full rewards each time, and then repeated that continuously. When one activity emerges that’s order of magnitudes more profitable than anything else in the game, it forces everyone to either engage in that activity or get priced out of the economy.

While we need a safety net to stop unanticipated economy-breaking exploits and botting, we have no desire to stop farming. Farmers are a part every online economy and when they are doing normal game activity they do not cause any harm. If a player finds a normal game activity fun and would like to keep doing it, that’s fine with us.

Initially we have to rely on smaller data sets, instinct and some guesswork to find the correct cutoff. What this means is that some players are going to bump into the edges of these systems for a while as we get them sorted out. Please bear with us while we gather more data and lower the safety net until it’s only providing critical economy protection. Looking at the numbers this morning, we believe some of the threshold systems are just too harsh empirically and we’ll be adjusting those systems within the next few weeks to ensure that fewer legitimate players are being impacted.

I hope this helps to explain why a game like this needs systems such as this to protect its economy. I also hope it gives some insight into our philosophy about botters (BAD) and exploiters (BAD) vs. farmers (GOOD). Thanks for your support and we will see you in game.

Jon”
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Let-s-Start-the-Karma-DR-Dialogue/page/5#post338355

In short, it’s not about “anti-farming” it’s about protecting the economy from botters and exploiters.

RedStar.4218:

Aycee.9162:

If they do add new paths to AC I really hope they don’t remove the old ones.

I’d be kind of dumb if they do. Aside from Kholer and Grast, you don’t really encounter ghosts in explorable mode.

Just wanted to say there are a group of elite ghosts as a “hidden” bonus event in AC explorable mode….I leave it up to you to find it :P

@OP

As said before, running level appropriate dungeons is great for leveling and gearing up, and traits. And as you said, you are creating your own LFGs, which is the best way to go when PUGing at any level. But the main reason you are seeing lvl 80s in dungeons, even with lower levels, is that running dungeons for many is considered “end-game”. My guess that these level 80s doing the story runs, are generally alts, leveled up by swapping out and the end of a dungeon for the EXP, and need to unlock the explorable mode so they can do dungeon tours for gold/tokens/loot.

Of course doing dungeons at their level (ex. AC which is lvl 35, with a 35 character) will be a bit harder, as you won’t be fully geared, 1 trait point, and if your first character, or an alt, you may be unfamiliar with how your profession works or the dungeon itself.

There are some who will kick lower levels on sight, and others who won’t. I am not one who kicks unless AFK for long periods of time without notice, and even sometimes do “noob only” LFGs to help out those lower leveled or new to the dungeon.

I’ve also been look for a new PC, and/or upgrading my laptop for GW2. During my research I’ve come across a couple of sites that have been very helpful in what to look for, and can help in my financial planning for such a machine.

http://www.gw2guide.net/best-computer-for-guild-wars-2-getting-a-deal-on-a-new-pc/

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2227764/500-budget-gaming-build-play-gw2-ultra-sets.html

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/owismail/saved/zrgQzy

-wake up
-shower
-go to work
-get on forums until 4pm
-get off work, go home
-wait until baby goes to bed at 8pm
-log in
-try farming for T6 mats, until bored
-maybe run a dungeon or 2
-buy a few T6 mats
-log out

Love it!! However I would also like to see something like the build calculator that includes DPS. I wouldnt mind trying to work out something like that. Just my netskillz are on the low end. :/

Over 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Purple Miku.7032:

pdavis.8031:

I like off hand axe. Granted I mainly solo PvE, but its great for it

http://i.imgur.com/WoRNpdt.gif

Lol. Love it!! Anyway haters gonna hate, I don’t care, I love my axe/axe thank you very much.

Chaba.5410:

pdavis.8031:

If you have a group of people, and say 20% are not participating in an activity, and some feel that they should, there is still 80% of the group willing to participate. The job is still getting done. Does it make it more difficult for the 80%? Sure. Can it still be done? Of course. Also throw in another group who sole function is to destroy what the 80% is working on does make it harder. But that means the 80% needs to change its strategy to compensate. Thus the 20% don’t really matter because they have no desire to participate.

OK, first off I don’t agree with what Sirbeaumerdier is arguing regarding being part of the score or not so I have no interest in talking about that.

I only want to point out that your argument makes the assumption that the 80% is always free to participate. In the case of what happened one night on FABL, they were not free to participate due to the queue.

Also, for those not playing T2 NA, the percentages are more like 80% GvG guilds and 20% the rest. Most of the time guilds are doing scrims or staring at each other and taking turns engaging then pulling off, not officials.

I was pulling arbitrary numbers for an illustration. Even so You can’t count those not logged in, or engaged in GvG. You can only count the number of people you have that are on the map, AND are not invloved in GvG. So whatever number that would be is the only number of people you can count on and plan accordingly for.

@Sirbeaumerdier

I never stated it doesn’t have an impact. In fact I’ve shown it DOES have an impact. Also I never said I do GvG. And if you have a portion of the group unwilling to participate, the only thing they do is take up space so you cannot consider them in any of the “war efforts”. You can effectivly remove them from any calculations/strategies because they are null. If you have 100 people, and 20 people are not invloved, you effectily have 80 people to work with, and must plan accordingly.

I’m not trying to rationalize GvGers in BLs. I am trying to point out that there are ways to work around the GvGers, and with the GvGers, without enforcing or prefering one playstyle over another. I am trying to offer solutions to a percieved problem.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

First sure sign a game is not as popular as it once was, the forums are very busy. If the game was popular, we’d be playing it.

(Waits for people to chime in they are posting from school, work, Dennys, etc.. so they can’t be playing or they would be.) :P

Posting from work otherwise I’d be playing :P

(seriously…this is what I do at work….)

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

pdavis.8031:

Yes, and it would appear that GvG in a BL map, while the others are doing stuff isn’t really an issue, as the others are helping increase the world score. And the GvGers are temporary, so it’s a minor set back, but nothing that I would consider game breaking, or should be stopped.

I’m sorry but people who play GvG have no intentions of increasing the world score. They couldn’t care less about it. Many are quite vocal, and proud, about it actually.

Beside, what you say doesn’t make a lot of sense. GvG not being an issue because “others” do the job you won’t is plain nonsensical. If 2 servers bring 20 people plus friends + random spectators the third server has that BL served on a plate and any possible reinforcements are being given the middle finger.

I’m not saying it’s an issue all the time, but it has and if the trend grows, it will again. Denial is not a solution.

So my argument is nonsensical? How? If you have a group of people, and say 20% are not participating in an activity, and some feel that they should, there is still 80% of the group willing to participate. The job is still getting done. Does it make it more difficult for the 80%? Sure. Can it still be done? Of course. Also throw in another group who sole function is to destroy what the 80% is working on does make it harder. But that means the 80% needs to change its strategy to compensate. Thus the 20% don’t really matter because they have no desire to participate. It’s similar to having to carry a semi AFK bearbow ranger in blues and greens in Arah. They are pretty much useless. You can still do the full dungeon, but it’s going to be a bit harder. (of course this is not considering the kick ability)

displayname.8315:

Don’t forget there is a 3rd server that can enter the BL and they have a perfecly free queue to fill and zerg down everything while the core WvW players are trying to get in to defend. Which is what happened in the case of FA.

True, but thats the nature of the game. Just like large zergs coming on in odd hours of the night, when WvW population is low and capping everything with little to no opposition. Yes it happens. I’ve seen a whole map controlled by our side, change literally over night. But one could argue that such tactics should be stopped because it’s not fair because there was no one to defend.

In the end I don’t see it as a major issue. More of a minor annoyance, that can easily be reversed with a little coordination and effort.

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

Are your actions aimed at helping increase your world score? You have your answer.

[/quote]

Yes, and it would appear that GvG in a BL map, while the others are doing stuff isn’t really an issue, as the others are helping increase the world score. And the GvGers are temporary, so it’s a minor set back, but nothing that I would consider game breaking, or should be stopped.

I like off hand axe. Granted I mainly solo PvE, but its great for it

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

pdavis.8031:

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

Wait, I’m confused. You don’t mind that people are playing how they want, you don’t mind they are having fun, but their way of having fun is interfering with your fun and would like them to take it elsewhere because of queing issues? I’m just trying to understand your point…

Is it something in the water?

I don’t mind them playing how the hell they want as long as they play for the kitten puck (war score). What is so kitten confusing about it that it has to be told and retold in every possible ways?

However I would say that GvG even in BLs would actually be helpful. They are specially quipped and trained to deal with zergs. So instead why not work WITH them? If they are intercepting zergs, other guilds or not, you can go and take points. Gather a point capturing group and go cap points while the GvGers deal with the other zergs/GvGers? If the enemy zerg is occupied, they aren’t capping points, or defending, making it easier for your group to capture them. It seems that in general you are upset, not about server ques, but that others aren’t playing how you expect them to. Go get a commander tag, and organize WITH the GvGers and go do what you have fun doing. And in the end everyone wins.

Oh for crying out loud will you ppl learn to read…

The point is they won’t try to intercept any zerg at all. In fact if you so much as approach the sacred zone where GvG is “hosted” you will swiftly be told to go away and mind your own business. Woe to anyone who would drop a meteor in the middle of it… As if the enemy being a hitable target with capping potential was not “my business” in that context.

I bolded the part wherein the confusion lies. You don’t mind how people play how they want as long as they play for the score. It’s a major contradiction. You’re saying (my intreptation) that you can do whatever, BUT it must be according to how you believe it should be done.

Also as far as guilds telling you off, it may have been your approach. Based on this thread, I can only assume it came across as hostile. Something along the lines of “If you aren’t going to cap points, then take your GvG elsewhere.” I would suggest, again, maybe working with them instead of against them. Maybe something like “Hey, I get you are doing your GvG thing, and thats fine, but would you consider also running zerg interferance when you are finished? It would really help our server out and maybe we can win this one.” Out of the larger guilds I’ve encountered, the leaders (who would likely be heading up such events anyway) aren’t general kittens, and are actually very reasonable people who might respond in kind.

Well, to retake my hockey game analogy, as long as you play the puck and ultimately help it get closer to the goal in a respectful way I don’t mind if you choose to escort Dolyak, repair stuff, zerg, roam or whatever new innovative, but in line with the spirit of the game, way you think of. It’s when the number of ppl who refuse to play the puck become so great that I’m starting to feel like the game is being hijacked.

So large scale battles as a guild, vs another guild, is not in the spirit of WvW? But zerging to a point, capping it, zerging to the next point, capping it, ad infinitfum, while an enemy zerg (or 2) follow behind and retake those same points is? While I can see why you would be frustrated while a GvG is going on and messing up the map que, you have to remember that the same thing is happening on the opposing server. If there is a guild fielding say 100 people for GvG, that leaves 50 others to do whatever. Same with the opposing server, if they are fielding 100 GvGers, then they only have 50 to do whatever. Why not take advantage of it? Theres a much smaller chance of running into a large zerg, so you can quietly and quickly take multiple camps/towers/etc. while the GvG is going on. Then when it’s finished, people come back on and Hey!! you already have half the map claimed! And now you can rain hurt upon the enemy.

Sirbeaumerdier.3740:

Wait, I’m confused. You don’t mind that people are playing how they want, you don’t mind they are having fun, but their way of having fun is interfering with your fun and would like them to take it elsewhere because of queing issues? I’m just trying to understand your point…

Is it something in the water?

I don’t mind them playing how the hell they want as long as they play for the kitten puck (war score). What is so kitten confusing about it that it has to be told and retold in every possible ways?

However I would say that GvG even in BLs would actually be helpful. They are specially quipped and trained to deal with zergs. So instead why not work WITH them? If they are intercepting zergs, other guilds or not, you can go and take points. Gather a point capturing group and go cap points while the GvGers deal with the other zergs/GvGers? If the enemy zerg is occupied, they aren’t capping points, or defending, making it easier for your group to capture them. It seems that in general you are upset, not about server ques, but that others aren’t playing how you expect them to. Go get a commander tag, and organize WITH the GvGers and go do what you have fun doing. And in the end everyone wins.

Oh for crying out loud will you ppl learn to read…

The point is they won’t try to intercept any zerg at all. In fact if you so much as approach the sacred zone where GvG is “hosted” you will swiftly be told to go away and mind your own business. Woe to anyone who would drop a meteor in the middle of it… As if the enemy being a hitable target with capping potential was not “my business” in that context.

I bolded the part wherein the confusion lies. You don’t mind how people play how they want as long as they play for the score. It’s a major contradiction. You’re saying (my intreptation) that you can do whatever, BUT it must be according to how you believe it should be done.

Also as far as guilds telling you off, it may have been your approach. Based on this thread, I can only assume it came across as hostile. Something along the lines of “If you aren’t going to cap points, then take your GvG elsewhere.” I would suggest, again, maybe working with them instead of against them. Maybe something like “Hey, I get you are doing your GvG thing, and thats fine, but would you consider also running zerg interferance when you are finished? It would really help our server out and maybe we can win this one.” Out of the larger guilds I’ve encountered, the leaders (who would likely be heading up such events anyway) aren’t general kittens, and are actually very reasonable people who might respond in kind.

@OP

Wait, I’m confused. You don’t mind that people are playing how they want, you don’t mind they are having fun, but their way of having fun is interfering with your fun and would like them to take it elsewhere because of queing issues? I’m just trying to understand your point…

However I would say that GvG even in BLs would actually be helpful. They are specially quipped and trained to deal with zergs. So instead why not work WITH them? If they are intercepting zergs, other guilds or not, you can go and take points. Gather a point capturing group and go cap points while the GvGers deal with the other zergs/GvGers? If the enemy zerg is occupied, they aren’t capping points, or defending, making it easier for your group to capture them. It seems that in general you are upset, not about server ques, but that others aren’t playing how you expect them to. Go get a commander tag, and organize WITH the GvGers and go do what you have fun doing. And in the end everyone wins.

“Offline”? what is that?

Sytherek.7689:

pdavis.8031:

In any case, while RNG may be frustrating, and causing people to QQ about it, there is one thing it does well: It keeps everyone on the same level of playing field. Of course you can increase your odds with higher luck, but obtaining higher luck is something everyone can do simply playing the game. It fits in perfectly with Anets goal of horizontal progression. Adding in special items for completing special tasks, throws in vertical progression. Once something like that gets implement (if ever) it will cause even more people to QQ about that. That with “their play schedule they can’t do those events”, “it’s become a gear grind” and/or “it’s unfair that I am forced to play certain content just to get X item.”

I disagree. Random is random. It levels very little except over the extreme long term. The “luck” attribute does not apply to chests or boss drops.

While “Luck” doesn’t apply to chests, or boss chests, it means that No matter how high or low your “Luck” is you still have the same chance of finding a rare/exotic item as everyone else. But I still maintain that adding in this form of “Vertical progression” would only be a catalyst for players feeling that they are forced, or unable, to participate incertain content just to get X item. Of course random is random. But if everyone is operating on the same level of random, everyone has the same chance to get X item as everyone else, instead of locking X item behind something not everyone would be able to participate in.

Extra coins to make an achievment easier? No, not so much. It’s an Achievment, it’s supposed to be hard. But there are guides for the OCD, impatient, and AP farmers. But they are, as been said multiple times, not required. I’ve found a bunch as a casual player while looking for buried chests, and passed over many more due to time constraints in the dust storm. Want to know a secret? On the default keyboard settings, if you press “CTRL” you can see where they are on your screen, same with nodes, chests, etc. So while running around searching for chests, I can hold down “CTRL” and see where they all are within a respectable range. Use a guide, or not, but either way they aren’t all that hard to find, and adding more is just an excuse to get AP faster more than anything else.

Well if you want the sword, and dont want to buy it, and want to spend the least amount of money, then Farming CoF would be the way to go. But it will take a really long time. But if you are in more of a hurry, farming all the dungeons, fractals, and world bosses, and have the time, then buying the mats would be the way to go. But if you are just looking for money, then the absolute best way is use your credit card to buy gems and convert to gold. The second best way is the dungeon route along with the WvW/EotM trains.

Edit: I figure it will cost about ~350 gold to make it, and to sell it at 500 gold would only be about 150 gold profit. (Not including TP fees). So the question is, do you want to spend possibly a month (depending on your play style) to make 150g, or just run the paths and keep the gold?

kntz.1420:

Raf.1078:

How about…No.

Never ceases to amaze me that some people are so enamored of their own opinions that they think everyone shares them.

I agree, read more

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/So-where-is-GW2-sit-about-today/first#post4219309

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

2014
http://caas.raptr.com/most-played-pc-games-june-2014-wildstar-on-the-rise-steam-summer-sale-aftermath/

2013
http://caas.raptr.com/raptrs-most-played-games-july-2013-steam-summer-sale-edition/

Interesting links…but I fail to see how they relate to anything you are talking about. The raptr ones require a specific program for users to use in order to track their play time and gaming habits. Even so there was only a ~ 0.3% drop since last year. Which is to be expected with the anticipated launch of wildstar amd other games. But all just shows that ~0.3% of raptr users stopped playing GW2 in favor of a new game. That information shows nothing about removing a paticular game mode in favor of another, which is what you are suggesting.

Swagg.9236:

John Smith.4610:

If by “really perceived” you mean that you mistakenly perceive a fantastic and functioning system as broken, then no… I don’t care.

And by “fantastic and functioning system,” you mean “a system that makes us money.” Your GW2 economy is as broken as the current world debt-based economy on exactly the same levels.
- It has the capacity to generate money from literally nothing.
- It has the capacity to destroy money instantly for no concrete reason in order to curb inflation.
- Most of the wealth and movement of the market is focused into the hands of a select few that often have inside information on upcoming market changes.
- Constant inflation over time eventually drives people to accrue debt (in GW2 this comes in the form of putting real money into the game in order to receive gems; by losing real world money, the player creates a set amount of in-game money from literally nothing) in order to pay for popular and expensive items.

Your economy is about as alive or vibrant as the scene of a middle school science student drawing shapes in a petri dish culture. Nobody fixes it or questions it because it was created with the sole purpose of generating money for NCSoft. I’m not saying that a company that’s making money off of a game that they are producing is bad, but let’s not lie about whether or not the economy of that game is broken or not.

John Smith.4610:

Conncept.7638:

but there is no way you have the numbers to claim that the players think so, from a psychological perspective.

You’re adorable.

Economists have ways to measure how much your parents love you and the scariest part of all… it works.

So you’re telling me that all along the TP data could have told you guys that people on the official forums could have designed a better GW2 than you guys ever could have dreamed? Seems like a wasted resource to me.

Wow…So JS has been lying to us this entire time? And those who understand economics, and game economics, who can accuratly deduce whats going on in the in-game economy don’t know what they are about? or are lying to us as well? Just wow….

The only part of this I will comment on is: " Constant inflation over time eventually drives people to accrue debt (in GW2 this comes in the form of putting real money into the game in order to receive gems; by losing real world money, the player creates a set amount of in-game money from literally nothing) in order to pay for popular and expensive items"

Gold bought with gems bought with real world money is not created from nothing. It’s been discussed at length many times, but I’ll summerize it for you. Gold bought from gems is finite. There is a pool of gems, and a pool of gold, that was established from the very beginning of the game just for gold/gem conversion. Everytime you purchase gems and convert to gold, you add gems to the pool, and remove gold from the pool. Gold is not created from nothing using gems. It’s already there.

If there was a level cap for dungeons (and I assume you mean that players higher X level can’t run unless they have a specific Y level path) the only thing you are really accomplishing is segregating level 80s from the rest by giving them a “special” version of the dungeon to play. Yes I agree that the LFG is mostly groups looking for lvl 80’s or specialized groups. However, there are still many “any welcome” groups that any level can join. I occassionaly do “teaching run, newb only” LFGs to help out those of lower levels. There are plently of opportunities for lower levels to do or join in a dungeon group as it is. And figuring out the LFG tool isn’t that hard, and I believe they give a tutorial on it as well.

KarateKid.5648:

pdavis.8031:

So as long as we are asking questions…what about champ trains and event trains “ruining the economy”? I’ve seen this argument as the reason that the champ trains and event trains were nerfed. Apparently, according to some, that they were nerfed because too many people were making too much money, and that was bad for the economy as a whole. Can you shed any light on this? Or were they in fact “increasing inflation” as has been claimed. Thanks!

I gotta think that since they left FGS (and other map-wide concentrations of champs the player community just hasn’t really organized) that it wasn’t a threat to the economy – just bad business to have the toxic immaturity that resulted from the QD train in an area that would primarily be populated with the newest players in game.

With the exception of the occasional kitten (usually on the weekends), FGS’ train is still calmer and more disciplined map chat than QD was on its BEST day. I will farm FGS (not on the train) for tier 6’s and “listen” to map chat – that train is usually only 1) lost/scattered 2) telling jokes or 3) asking if trio is up 90% of the time. A lot better than the spittle-filled soul-crush that QD map chat “sounded” like.

I’m thinking the same thing, and have stated such in response to the “too much money” theory that was/is popular. But without any official comment on the matter from anyone about it, it’s just a matter of personal opinion. :P

So as long as we are asking questions…what about champ trains and event trains “ruining the economy”? I’ve seen this argument as the reason that the champ trains and event trains were nerfed. Apparently, according to some, that they were nerfed because too many people were making too much money, and that was bad for the economy as a whole. Can you shed any light on this? Or were they in fact “increasing inflation” as has been claimed. Thanks!

Edit: I’m not questioning the decisions of Anet in this matter, whether it was right or wrong, but more curious as to whether or not it was economic or gameplay reasons for the change. Just for clarification. Thanks!

HHR LostProphet.4801:

John Smith.4610:

Conncept.7638:

but there is no way you have the numbers to claim that the players think so, from a psychological perspective.

You’re adorable.

Economists have ways to measure how much your parents love you and the scariest part of all… it works.

His conclusions are wrong but his reasons are not. Atleast from a casual customer perspective. You’re right if you say that the economy isn’t flawed. But that doesn’t mean that it’s optimal. Let’s take the precursors as example. The economy is balanced, precursors are in demand, thus they’re expensive. The problem now is that there is a minority of players that are extremely wealthy. The supply of precursors on the TP is smaller than the minority of such wealthy players. That’s the reason why they are so astronomical expensive. There are enough players that can afford a precursor for that price, yet there are myriad more players that can’t afford that.

So as conclusion, yes, the economy is balanced. But it’s not fair, it leaves the possibility for a small amount of players to dictate the prices for the majority of players and the possibility to gain wealth with only the economy itself as limit.

So for clairification, you are saying that even though the economy is balanced it is unfair because casual players can’t afford a high priced luxury item? Didn’t we have this discussion before? There is no reason a “free market” should be fair. If it was designed to be fair, then everything on the TP would only sell at the vendor price so everyone would have a chance to get it off the TP. And also the “small amount of players dictating the prices” just isn’t true. As JS already explained before, it’s “willingness to buy and willingness to sell” The current prices are what they are because people are willing to pay that much for it. If you are looking to buy such items you don’t have to buy it at that price, you can place a buy order for what you think it is worth. But it’s up to the seller to sell at that price.

Actually I fired up GW1 awhile ago, and there is still a surprising amount of people who still play. Many of them haven’t even got into GW2. However discussions of other games, including GW1 is against the ToS and will get this thread deleted.

Fluffball.8307:

You’re just listing character development or suggesting mental trauma for the LotR characters, other than Frodo’s finger, and it was a complete cheeseball move that he lost his finger instead of sacrificing his life like all the foreshadowing lead us to believe he would.

Don’t get me wrong, LotRs is a great series that I loved as a child and I own all the movies, but literature has moved beyond that bubble gum cheese. If you’ve heard JRR talk about GoT, he says basically the same thing. He too loves LotR, but it should not be copied. LotR is black and white, GoTs is interesting.

We can’t go anywhere close to the extreme of GoTs for this game, but we can learn something from it. Anet is definitely not afraid to kill people, they do it constantly with brutal regularity. They just have to make sure it has impact for us. And I will be a happy camper.

No the mental traume wasn’t suggested for the LotR characters. Frodo was definetly scarred, he was never the same, kept having fits and periods of severe depression for years. Sam, Merry and Pippen all experienced traumatic events, and were regarded as “odd” and more “serious and somber” at times. I think we may see the same type of things play out with Marjoy. Either way I feel it adds more depth to the characters, and of course is more character development, which is important, and I felt was lacking a bit with season 1.

Fluffball.8307:

Ya ya ya, lol. You know what I mean. It’s incredibly frustrating that out of the 100 most prominent characters going to war where they’re outnumbered and fighting in brutal hand to hand combat against inhuman beasts wielding two handed axes who ride on wolves the size of rhinos, while be peppered with countless thousands of arrows and thrown weapons, 99 of them return home without so much as a broken fingernail.

Yeah, not so much, Frodo lost a finger, Sam, Merry, Pippen were all scared for life and possibly had PTSD something fierce, Legolas and Gimli were changed, and Legolas, having seen the sea, would never know peace in Middle Earth again. While this is getting WAY OT, to bring it back in, this game is going nowhere NEAR GoT. So a secondary character dies. But it plays into the story, makes it seem more “real”. While nothing physically happen to Majory, we know she is hurt by what happened to her sister. How is this going to impact her in the next portion of the story? She went back to be with the rest of her family, but will she return? Or if she does will be even more protective of Kasmeer? Or be more hesitant about taking action? I think having a death now and again of secondary, or even a main character, can do a lot for the “Living” world that Anet is putting together. It makes it seem more real in that not everyone is uneffected by our actions, and the actions of the BEBG. We get to see those in the story as their lives are torn apart, their friends and family die, they get injured, etc.

Eggman.1405:

Fluffball.8307:

NO ONE dies in LotR…

Boromir dies. Bam! Denethor also dies, but he has far less of a role than Boromir, who at least gets most of book to spend time with us.

EDIT- and Theoden, but you can also argue he has too little of a role for us to count him.

Don’t forget that Gandalf “dies”, Gollum dies, and Saurman dies as far as those who actually have a major impact on the story….

Also Belinda dies!?!?!? Thanks for the spoiler…. :P

I just realized why these threads keep getting started. Because the other mount threads usually get deleted, and the forum search function isn’t the greatest. So when a new pro mount person comes on searches the forums, and doesn’t find any threads, starts a new one. And if anyone was trying to use the number of mount threads as evidence that the players want them, well 95% of the responses to such threads are: “beating a dead horse.gif”, “NO!”, “Go play the other games that have them”, and “only if they are cosmetic”. So while these threads get started ALL THE TIME, if the devs were to read them, they would find that no one wants them.

kntz.1420:

Fear not, friends.
I’m not a developer.
I’m a player just like you.
The only difference: I am a critical person.
Far from being just a yes-man.
I believe in GW2, you don’t?

There is a difference between being critical and offering reasonable suggestions and feasible solutions to an existing problem, and making wild and ridiculous claims about an aspect of the game that one personally finds lacking. These suggestions almost border on trolling. I can appreciate that GvG would be a desirable aspect to the game, I am in favor of that. But making claims based on ZERO evidence to support such claims and suggesting a well loved and high traffic aspect of the game (WvW) needs to be done away with in favor of a game mode YOU prefer only serves YOUR intrest, not the interest of the developers or the majority of the player base.

Unless you can produce ACTUAL evidence that WvW is dying, that “no one plays it anymore” and that the games population has dropped dramatically to the point of concern for Anet and NCSoft, please consider that GvG, or even open world PvP, may be a viable ADDITION to the game but not as a replacement for WvW or PvP as it is.

I believe this is what mtpelion and I was refering to:

“When a player adds velocity or liquidity to a market, the result is often lower prices and often prices closer to equilibrium.
Given recent feedback let me try also this in other terms (I’ve tried this before and failed so bare with me).

Supply and Demand curves can also be called Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Sell curves. Essentially they are the shape of what people are willing to pay or how much people are willing to sell for. If everyone is will to pay $5 then the “demand” curve would be a flat horizontal line at $5.
In real markets the curves end up being curves because people have different preferences or costs. I might be willing to pay $100 for a new video game and you may be willing to pay $50 and yet another person $30. When you extrapolate this out you get a smooth curve of what people are willing to pay (it works the same way for the willingness to sell).

Balance (or equilibrium) occurs when those two lines meet, and people are willing to pay the same amount people are willing to sell. This price is decided by the market as a whole. Given the “freeness” of our market in GW2 people can sell for more or less than this price. In a textbook this would never happen because people always want to be in that balanced state. In real life though, especially in video games, people have different preferences outside of that market equation. Time is a major factor of this equation in real life. Imagine you could instantly sell items to a vendor for 1 gold or you could place them on the TP for 1gold 5 silver; some amount of player would be willing to sell straight the the vendor and save the time because their preference for time or convenience makes that a good trade off for them and that’s awesome, people should be allowed to make that trade off if they want. Now let’s say people instead just place everything on the TP for super cheap instead of vendoring because it’s easier. The prices these items are placed at are often placed below that equilibrium price which leaves room for someone to purchase those items and sell them at equilibrium price earning some profit per item. The person who purchases and resells values that trades and so does the individual selling easily, in this case both parties match what they want. Now the market has items placed at the equilibrium price for the standard buyers/sellers that sell at that equilibrium. Those sellers cannot change that equilibrium price and placing items above that price will result in the items not selling. They cannot raise the price, the market has decided the price and other people have decided their willingness to sell.

The first question to ask here is, “Isn’t the profit of the reseller directly equivalent to how much people are willing to trade off money for time or other preferences?”
The answer is yes, and more than that, the potential profit is split between all the different individuals attempting to buy and resell. Since the profit is finite and will become distributed between players, why wouldn’t people begin doing that until everyone only made little to no money? If everyone was the same person they would, but there must be some barrier to entry to that activity, there must be something that stops people from jumping in and distributing some of that profit to themselves. The most common and the most correct (but not complete) is that it takes time and skill, if it did not there would be almost no profit in the activity because the potential would be split between too many different individuals.

(Hello again econ and business people, I’m aware that this is very simple, but I’m attempting to introduce people to the ideas and attempting to explain complex concepts right away turns out poorly)

HHR LostProphet.4801:

mtpelion.4562:

phys.7689:

if you define rewards as something newly created in the game world sure, but i think its clear that he is talking about gaining items of value. to which one can say a tp player of moderate success will be able to obtain (should they choose) a lot more items of value in the same time frame, as a player of similar success level in another playtype.

Right, because the TP guy isn’t creating anything, he’s simply trading things. Creating things has to be limited in order to keep the game economy in check. Trading things can’t be limited without harming the economy as a whole.

You’re way overestimating the impact TP flippers have. Let’s say all TP flippers were gone and all people would’ve 15% more gold. What would they do with their gold?
Right. They spend it. At best on NPC merchants, which means that 100% of this gold gets “destroyed”, at worst on the TP which means that 15% gets “destroyed”. So we would see an impact on the prices, because we always see reactions to actions we make. But that doesn’t mean, not even in the slightest, that the economy would go to hell if all TP flippers would been gone.

I thought John Smith addressed that very thing in the last TP flipping discussion?

kntz.1420

Let’s lighten things up here.

PvPers don’t play GW2 any more.
Only PvE tower farmers stay up in WvWvW.
sPvP is a kind of F2P shooter FPS.

GW2 has the best combat system. Period.
GW2 has the best graphics. Period.
GW2 has a reasonable PvE system. Period.

GW2 has the worst PvP system. Period.

1) sPvP will be better if GW2 just follow the scheme of WoW BG and arenas. PvPers like.

2) WvWvW will be better if GW2 just follow the endgame scheme of ArcheAge. PvPers like.

It’s that simple.
It is just a marketing thing.
For now, ArenaNet has low cost and high income.
Nothing will change.
But hope dies later.

1. PvPers don’t play GW2
I play PvP in GW2, I know of many people who play PvP in GW2. There are actual guilds who are dedicated to PvP. Many of my guidlies play PvP. Everytime I log into PvP there are MANY players, talking about, and partcipating in PvP.

2. Only PvE tower farmers stay up in WvWvW.
Actually no. There are many people dedicated to WvWvW, and play strictly that. Again, whole guilds of people who do nothing but WvWvW. They organize, strategize, and use TS to coordinate. To say “Only PvE farmers” are in WvW is clearly not true.

3. sPvP is a kind of F2P shooter FPS
Ummm ok? first of all sPvP isn’t F2P, just like the rest of GW2. And it’s nothing like an FPS. First of all, there is no First Person mode in GW2 at all. And secondly, it functions NOTHING like a shooter. Yes it’s about players going up against players, but thats what PvP is all about! Whether teams, solo, structured, hotjoin, etc, It still has NOTHING in common with an FPS in the slightest.

Also making this game, or any aspect of this game, like WoW would be a terrible idea. THIS ISN’T WoW! If Anet wanted GW2 to be another WoW clone, they would have made it like that. But they didn’t. Also the same for WvW. Don’t make it like any other game, keep it as it is. (aside from fixing the bugs and whatnot)

Just because YOU don’t like the way things are doesn’t mean that those aspects are wrong, and need to cater to YOUR idea of how they should work.

The OPs point? He didnt seem to have a point aside from making demands to Anet (which basically ensures that this will never be read by them) and QQing about precursors being too expensive. Which it is be expected, as they are in more demand.