Guild Wars 2

GranspearZX.5624:

Hey, if people want to throw $50 at a title with no release date, well… this is why Steam’s Early Access program gets away with so much. As of June 17th, 2015, is it worth it? Probably not.

That’s something else to consider. We don’t have a release date yet. It could be in the next few months, it could be late 2015, early or late 2016, or even later. In my opinion, without knowing all the details about everything in the expansion, you’re taking a risk. Whether or not that risk ends up resulting in a good or bad investment is up to the player to decide.

I had originally been frustrated about the price of the expansion for current and veteran players, but I’ve changed my perspective after thinking it over a while. Maybe you’ll take these things into consideration before making your decision of purchasing or not purchasing the expansion.

In regards to the price…
To be honest, I was fully expecting a $40-$50 price tag for the expansion. I personally don’t have a problem with that price. If the issue is with the price, then that’s fine – it’s your opinion, and you should let Arena Net know you’re not interested in paying that much for Heart of Thorns based on what we currently know the expansion contains. If you don’t feel $50 is an appropriate price for what we currently know the expansion contains, then wait for more information to be released and decide for yourself if $50 is worth it. The only benefit you get from pre-purchasing now is a title and full beta access to all HoT betas (as far as the standard package goes).

In regards to new players getting a “free” or discounted base game…
Arena Net has had sales for Guild Wars 2 at $10 before (I believe twice), and this really isn’t any different. Arena Net has had sales for GW2 at lower than launch prices before as well. If someone’s argument is that new players get the base game for $10 (the current price for the base game alone is $40) and that it is unfair for current players, then those same players also have to bash Arena Net for the $10 sale weekends, or for any sale they’ve done in the past, and for reducing the base game price from $60 to $40 a long time ago.

Discounting the game years after release to draw new players in is a smart business move, is logical, and it completely makes sense. Products at Best Buy, or Walmart, or GameStop, or at your local grocery store do exactly the same thing. Gyms and phone companies have discounts for new members that apply during certain periods. Should you qualify for that same discount just because you’ve been with them before that deal? If you’ve ever bought a product on sale, then for that product you are that new player getting a great deal.

In regards to Arena Net not appreciating veterans…
Personally, I think this is a separate topic, in reference to the expansion price. Arena Net isn’t obligated at all, whatsoever, to provide benefits to veteran players, despite what many may think.

Is it a great business move to value long time, loyal customers? I personally think so!
Does the value a company places on its customers say something about a company, and is a consideration new customers take into account when doing business with them? I’d agree with this also!

But just because we think long time customers deserve benefits doesn’t mean a company is obligated to do so. If you feel a company doesn’t value their long time, loyal customers, then you can make that decision on whether or not you want to keep being a customer. Take this advice into consideration for every company you do business with, and this includes Arena Net.

TLDR: You need to make the decision on whether or not the content in Heart of Thorns is worth $50. You need to make the decision on whether or not Arena Net values you and/or veteran players and whether or not you want to support them or leave them. If a company sells their product(s) at a discounted price, they have a 100% right to do so, and it is completely legal. A company isn’t obligated to provide long time customers benefits just because they have discounted offers for new customers.

Not at all. Think about it this way:

Could Anet face legal issues for selling the game to new players for $10 a piece during those 2 sale weekends?

Nope, none of us did. We all know it’s B2P. Regardless, we all know an unfair price when we see one.

New players get the base game for free with the expansion purchase. $50 gets them that.

Players prior to pre-purchase prices have to pay another $50 on top of their initial purchase price to just get the expansion.

That means for me and many others, who pre-purchased the base game or paid later for $60 or $40, it’s going to cost $110 or $90 for the same content that new players get now.

It doesn’t add up. It’s not an issue between B2P or F2P or subs, it’s an issue with unfair pricing.

EDIT: Also, I really don’t mind paying $50 for the expansion. I just don’t want to pay that $50 if ANet lowers the price for an unbundled version. This is similar to people who had purchase the game last week, but now could have paid $10 more for the game and the expansion.

Mooncaller.9634:

By including the game in $50 for new players a new player gets the expansion, 5 character slots, the original game, and 2 bank slots.

At current gem store prices five character slots and two bank slots is roughly 5200 gems or around $65 USD.

A new profession is being added, which just about everyone who has been playing will likely want to make. But, because of the way this is packaged for established players the established player has to pay an additional 800 gems / $10 USD if they want to have a slot open to play the new class, or they have to delete a character that they’ve put time / effort / possibly gems / gold into.

This is why it seems like a money grab.
The disparity between what $50 buys a new player and what $50 buys an established player is tremendous.

THIS. Thank you.

I can’t see why people keep saying “Price is fair! Vets, stop being greedy!” It has nothing to do with vets not wanting to support the game, because we do, but it has everything to do with unfair pricing for vets and those who had already purchased the game prior to today.

Vets paid $60 for the base game. The base game now is currently $40. I don’t have a problem here, the price of the game goes down over time to bring in more players. That’s all good. The $10 pricing on those 2 sales isn’t a problem for me either. They’re sales. The issue is with the actual price of the expansion.

New players now can pay $50 for the base game and expansion, but vets have to pay an additional $50 on top of the cost of the base game to get the expansion. At minimum, vets must pay $90 for their expansion, and at maximum (and in my case) had paid $60 for the base game, and that purchase now totals $150 to get the expansion

Let’s put things in perspective:
Total Cost for New Players to buy the Game + Expansion = Minimum $50
Total Cost for players prior to today buy the Expansion = Minimum $90 or $150 (at $60 or $40 initial purchase, respectively).

William Bradley Knight.2609:

I don’t know what ANet should or shouldn’t do or whether or not it would be more profitable to make bag slots account wide at a slightly higher price. But I can say that I have personally never bought a bag slot and will never buy one, not even with gems from converting gold, as long as they are character bound. It is a very cost ineffective purchase for the way I play since I play a lot of alts. Instead, I will just live with the default slots. But I would definitely buy (using gems bought with real money) account bound bag slot(s) even at a much higher (3-4 times) price than what they currently charge for character bound ones. I suspect there are quite a few players with views similar to this, though I do not know how many. Not sure how ANet would make the determination of how to price bag slots and/or whether account bound or character bound is more profitable. But they have surely done analyses of not only that pricing but of all their other gem store prices. Of course their analyses may not always be correct. They have changed some of their pricing on certain gem store items in the past, right?

Yeah, this.

Tirien.1326:

Uhm no, i can see storage (Bank) being account wide, but why on earth should bag slot be? What i have in my bag slot on one char, i don’t have on another. Bank on the other hand is shared among all my characters.

So no, i just don’t see it.

I just don’t get this, I don’t get it at all. The “what i have in my bag slot on one char, i don’t have on another” part. It kills me.

Your Bank is a place to store items across characters. All good fine and dandy, I understand it, support it, I’ve paid for more bank tabs because it’s account wide and benefits me as a person. My whole account. Every character. It’s great and convenient and it works.

Inventory Slots are slots that you fill loot with for a character. All good fine and dandy. Got it. The ONLY DIFFERENCE between additional Inventory Slots and Bank Tabs is that your Inventory isn’t a place to store items for different characters. Although it has the ability to do so for non-character-bound items, it’s main purpose is to increase how much potential loot your characters can hold, all depending on what bag you fill that slot with.

So let me re-state your question again.

Uhm no, i can see storage (Bank) being account wide, but why on earth should bag slot be?

Are you saying it would be a stupid idea to allow players to buy an account upgrade that increases the inventory slot of all characters on your account by one? If that’s the case, then it would be a stupid idea to allow players to buy an account upgrade that increases the bank slots of all characters on your account by one tab.

Oh wait! Bank tabs work that way! And it’s awesome and great and people love it because it makes sense!

Guys, for the people arguing that they make more money. I get what your saying and the angle you’re approaching this debate from. But I want you to stop yourself and think! Have you considered that sales for inventory tabs MAY INCREASE if they were account-wide?

Think about it this way. I wouldn’t have ever bought any bank tabs if they only increased the bank tab for one character. Why? Because I have 5 Maxed 80s and 2 other additional alts. I don’t play on only ONE character.

Currently, I know myself, many of my RL friends, and many of my guild mates refuse to buy inventory slots because they are not account wide. The benefit they bring to your account is very little. For me personally, I am not going to pay $5 to get an extra inventory slot for one character. If I’m not going to do that, then I’m DEFINITELY not going to pay $25 to get an additional inventory slot for 5 characters. I might as well pay for 2 character slots at that price and with that system, each granting me 5 additional inventory slots.

But I WILL 100% WITHOUT A DOUBT pay $10-15 for an inventory expansion slot upgrade that applies to your whole account, and I know many of my RL friends and guild mates would do the same. That means more money coming in! This may not apply to the majority, and if it doesn’t then it’s better to go with the 1-slot 1-character system. But it doesn’t hurt at all to provide players with this option.

Abbehemoth.2471:

piano man.1672:

Eh… I have no problem supporting GW2. I payed $60 for 2.5-3 years / 1500+ hours of game time (and counting!)….blah blah my quote shortened because I can’t have more than 5001 characters.
In the case of bag slots, I don’t feel like paying $5.00 for 1 bag slot for 1 character. For another added $5 I can get a character slot with 5 more bag slots. I’d pay a bit more money for a bag slot expansion across all characters than pay $5 for one.

So are you supporting the game at all? Or are you just leeching off of other people keeping it running? You do realise that you 60$ hasn’t kept the game runnig for the last 2½-3 years, right? It might have payed for some of the development costs.

Yes and no. Yeah, in a sense I’m leeching off of everyone else. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. And I’m sure lots of other GW2 players are as well. To be honest, I’ve spent maybe $150-$200 on things within the gemstore, and that price includes my $60 preorder purchase. With the current GW2 model (Box-2-Play), GW2 allows you and everyone else to do the same. Many have paid just $60 to play the game for 2/3 years. I’ve paid a bit more to play the game for 2/3 years. And I know of people who have spent over $1000 on the game. Players have the freedom to choose whether or not they want to invest into the game and in return, receive benefits/items/stuff/ability from the gemstore, and every player using cash to buy things through the gemstore KNOWS they are investing and allowing the game to run for players who only paid the box price, or only paid $10 for the 2 weekends they had that sale on for.

And with you questioning me whether I am leeching on the game, are YOU leeching by having others pay your way? Or are you leeching off of other people keeping it running? Have you paid your fair share of server/data space? Have you earned your keep? That’s a really, really stupid question in my honest opinion. Unless you can answer for these questions with evidence and proof, you really don’t have a place to ask me those questions without saying, “I’m doing the same thing you are.”.

I could care less if you supported the game more than I have. I’ve supported the game with what I can provide every so often without going overboard. You know, with going to college and paying for a car and insurance and all. GW2 has graciously created their game with a model that involves players supporting the game so other players can play it, and I give my respect and thanks to ArenaNet and the players who invest a lot of money into the game.

Abbehemoth.2471:

It’s about ‘convenience’ for you and you wallet. Anet need a way to make a constant stream of money how do they do that by changing the inventory space pricing and model?

I’m simply voicing my opinion that I WOULD DEFINITELY 100% WITHOUT A DOUBT BUY extra inventory slots if they were account wide and cost the same or slightly higher than buying another character slot (currently $10 I believe). I understand it makes sense for GW2 to have people purchase inventory slots per character, as that’s one option to make money. But personally, I believe more people would buy the item (and they would make more money in return) by increasing the price on inventory expansion slots and selling them as an account-wide package. I know for a fact that many of my guild mates and friends would buy inventory expansion slots if they were an account wide upgrade. Currently, they are not buying and have not bought inventory expansion slots because they’re for one character only.

phokus.8934:

People just want to believe what they want to believe which is understandable. But that does not mean this is any step closer to any dedicated healing role in this game. On paper, their healing is ridiculously high which will most likely be scaled down after a few iterations. Their staff and specialization skills are that of Guardians and Elementalists – knowing this one true and hard fact does not mean that any type of dedicated healer is going to be the startup of the class trinity or a dedicated healer.

The core of this game is to be able to spec into whatever you want and still be able to play the game how you want to play it. That aspect is definitely not being changed, modified, or going away – which they’ve made clear. Anything that points to a dedicated healer, damage, or tank role is a step in the wrong direction for GW2… as pointed out by the many posts when the subject is brought up as new posts.

I think you misinterpreted what I was trying to say. Either that, or I didn’t say what I wanted to clearly enough. I apologize if that’s the case. I understand what you’re saying. But in my posts I’m not talking about “starting up the class trinity” or creating “a dedicated healer”.

First in foremost, I believe GW2 is continuing to head into the direction of “any class = any role”, which is what they’ve always done (or attempted), and according to Specializations are trying to continue (or attempt). I’m all good for that, and completely support it.

Within this “new trinity model”, we still have (or are gaining) the roles/archetypes of “DPS”, “HEALER”, and “TANK” – so within this sytem, professions are now exploring the roles they haven’t fulfilled in the past. So when I’m saying GW2 is heading in the right direction of a healing role, I don’t mean the Revenant is now becoming the dedicated healing/support class. I’m saying the Ventari/Salvation Revenant is a step towards fulfilling a [singular] healing role for the Revenant – an option for the player to decide how he wants to roll their Revenant. We’ve got DPS role (Mallyx) and Tank (Jalis RIP) for him, and Ventari/Salvation Revenant fills the Healing/Support role.

Whether or not it excels at a particular role is up to the decision of the development team and players. In this case, I’m not talking about how well it fulfills these roles, only that these roles are available to the Revenant and the Revenant has the decision to decide what role he wants to play at a certain time. The “DPS”, “TANK” and “HEALER” roles are joining other Professions with their Specializations (or future Specializations), allowing other professions the ability to do the same.

“Anything that points to a dedicated healer, damage, or tank role is a step in the wrong direction for GW2”

Please correct me if I’m wrong:
When you say, “dedicated healer, damage, or tank role”, do you mean a 100% dedicated, strictly healer, damage, or tanking Profession? If that’s the case, then no duh! GW2 isn’t heading in this direction. Their philosophy from the get-go is the “All Professions = Ability to Fulfill All Roles” mentality. Not heading in this direction breaks their original plan for the game’s class mechanics.

If GW2 heads toward the direction of giving all professions the ability to fulfill a support/healer, tank, or dps role whenever they choose to spec into one, is GW2 heading into the wrong direction? If so why?

“Their staff and specialization skills are that of Guardians and Elementalists – knowing this one true and hard fact does not mean that any type of dedicated healer is going to be the startup of the class trinity or a dedicated healer.”

Are you saying here that, for example, if a Guardian plays the role as Support/Healer though his skills, traits, and playstyle choices, that Guardian is not fulfilling a support/healer role? I’m not saying that the options Professions will have to fulfill a specific role is causing a profession to be designated a “dedicated healer”, but allowing professions to fulfill any role still creates roles similar to that of the Trinity (DPS, Healer, Tank) and depending on what the player chooses, can fill a role as they see fit.

TLDR: If you’re saying that I’m saying that Specializations are causing Professions to turn into a 100% dedicated role, then you’re wrong. I’m saying Specializations are allowing professions to fulfill roles they haven’t been able to in the past. Specializations aren’t changing Professions into a 100% dedicated role (like Revenants aren’t the dedicated Healers for GW2), but Specializations are giving Professions the option to fulfill any role they choose to (like Revenants can fulfill the role of DPS, or TANK, or SUPPORT, or anything inbetween as they choose, without forcing them to become a dedicated something.)

Abbehemoth.2471:

A couple of questions.

Do you like the game?
Do you want to continue to play the game?

If you said yes to these then you better realise that nothing in the world is free. It’s definitely not free to run an MMO.

Eh… I have no problem supporting GW2. I payed $60 for 2.5-3 years / 1500+ hours of game time (and counting!) of fun and enjoyment and wouldn’t mind paying for things in the gem store like armor, weapon skins, gems to gold, etc. and I don’t even mind paying $100 for the expansion. But I also want to pay for a good investment, meaning if I buy something I want to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible.

In the case of bag slots, I don’t feel like paying $5.00 for 1 bag slot for 1 character. For another added $5 I can get a character slot with 5 more bag slots. I’d pay a bit more money for a bag slot expansion across all characters than pay $5 for one.

EDIT: Bank slots are account wide, bag slots should be too. It’s mainly about convenience here and whether or not this purchase/price of the product is a wise one.

Blood Mist Mirage.5610:

Why can’t you guys just keep scrolling and go about your business? Report it if you see fit.

Why come up here and cry about an issue that has already been beaten to death?

Why come up here and cry about people having discussions about issues?

The forums are a place for people to discuss subjects about the game. This is a subject. About the game.

As for your first statement…
Because the issue should be beaten to death. Issues that are beaten to death usually, for the most part, get fixed. Things get done when lots of people have an issue with it.

Julie Yann.5379:

So, what is the difference between selling someone a spot in your home instance and selling a spot in a dungeon run that makes 1 OK and the other not?

I also want to know this.

They haven’t released anything on the GW2 website about the price or date of release for the expansion. No one outside of the development team knows when it’ll be released or what the price will be.

Zenos Osgorma.2936:

well its not liek your forced to go Healer ect ect the content does not need it , its by choice and going as support or healing has no effect on the content but it does effect other players.

so no , no trinity..

also Ventari is a legendary stance not a role or a Class your forced into and that goes against the classic Knowledge of the common Trinity set up.

But choosing Ventari as one of your legendary stances defines the type of Revenant you’re playing. It may not be your “classic Knowledge of the common Trinity set up”, but it doesn’t throw away roles altogether. In my opinion, each legendary stance is a mini-class on its own.

I agree, I think it goes against the “classic, common Trinity” and rightly so – GW2 isn’t looking for that type of system. They’re creating a system where any class can fulfill any role, and Specializations are allowing these professions to do so. (At least that’s what my hopes are.)

NecroN.8306:

That better not be the price. I will never pay $50.00 for add-on content. EVER!

I agree. I wouldn’t pay $100 for add-on content, let alone $50. $50 is quite expensive for an add-on content.

But for GW2, I don’t have much of a issue with it. I’ve paid $60 (preorder) for 2.5-3 years (somewhere around there) of enjoyment, and counting. If that all adds up to $60, that’s a total of around $400 less than what I’d have to pay to our competitor World of Warcraft.

That’s a crazy awesome price when you think about it. When putting it in that perspective, $50 is very little, and I don’t have a problem supporting GW2. In fact, I’d pay the $100 for the expansion – to me, it’s worth it to support them.

phokus.8934:

I am having a hard time seeing this as a step closer to a dedicated healing role.

People forget that this same thing was being said about elements talists and engineers when the game first came out.

I didn’t forget. I never saw anything like this being discussed when the game first came out. Nothing to forget

I think you’re wrong on your first point. I definitely see this as a step closer to a dedicated healing role. If a Salvation, Staff-Wielding Ventari Revenant which screams healing for themselves and allies isn’t a step forward to a dedicated healing role, then I’m not sure what is. A step is a step, and I think this is a step in the right direction.

I don’t think I’ve used ‘step’ as much as I have in one post than this one.

meeflak.9714:

Bearhugger.4326:

piano man.1672:

Belenwyn.8674:

If all classes can fill all roles with the same efficiency – it could be the goal to be reached with specialisations – we will not have a traditional Holy Trinity.

You’re right. We’ll have an untraditional, unique holy trinity that not only fulfills GW2’s goal of “all classes = any playstyle” , but also fulfills the hopes of individuals who want to see this system in play while still having a system that promotes roles.

If the specializations cause every profession to go this route, I’m all for it.

I’d love to see the day where any profession can fulfill any role.

Amen to that!

Although I’m a bit worried that revenant will be the only class to truly support all roles this well. I have no interest whatsoever into the revenant but I happen to love playing tanky characters in groups so I might be forced to play a rev. Revenants get to be tanky AND get a taunt; not even guards get that.

I Don’t see revs being the only class that will be able to take advantage of the “all roles, Any class” idea, taunt is just one of many tools that can be used, other forms of cc could be a big player too.

Regardless though. I’m excited to see if a gw2 spin-off of the holy trinity will be coming to the meta, I’ve been waiting for that sense launch!

I’m also very excited to see GW2’s spin-off of the holy trinity!

I also don’t think Revs will be the only profession that will be able to take advantage of this idea, but I do see them having a lot of build diversity from the get-go. We haven’t even seen its Specialization yet, and already they can go Support (Vent), DPS (Mallyx), and Tank(Jalis) no problem.

I think currently, Revenant has the most diversity in roles but not necessarily in builds (In the sense that, if I’m running Support I am most likely running a Salvation Revenant with Staff and Ventari.)

Specializations are meant to open up new roles and build diversity for every profession, so hopefully we see that each professions gets a Specialization added to them that gives them another role to play with. We do know that there will be more Specializations in the future. If we don’t see the type of variety Revenant has in roles in the professions now, hopefully future Specializations fix this.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean. Let me know if I misinterpreted you

Current Trait System: Investing in a grandmaster trait prevents you from delving further in other lines, so it’s a tradeoff. In this system, there’s a decision you have to make to either invest into these grandmaster traits, or not invest in a grandmaster trait and get the ability to invest in lesser Adept and Master traits that aren’t (arguably) as powerful.

Specialization System: There’s no investing into a grandmaster trait because it’s given to you when you select a trait line. This means it costs me nothing (there’s no tradeoff) to invest into these grandmaster traits, and no reason to call them grandmaster because they’re comparable to adept or master traits.

I think that with the specializatiom system, there is still a tradeoff, but it doesn’t sit with the grandmaster traits. Instead of deciding whether or not to invest into a grandmaster tier to gain or lose access to more or less lesser traits, you now just have to decide what trait lines you want to use.

What I’m noticing with the Specialization system is that the updated Grandmaster traits, for the most part, are more build defining than they are now. Although we lose the ability to decide how far into a traitline we want to go, the Grandmaster trait makes up for it. Not sure on how many, but some of the Grandmaster traits are a couple Master/Adept traits mushed together.

Belenwyn.8674:

If all classes can fill all roles with the same efficiency – it could be the goal to be reached with specialisations – we will not have a traditional Holy Trinity.

You’re right. We’ll have an untraditional, unique holy trinity that not only fulfills GW2’s goal of “all classes = any playstyle” , but also fulfills the hopes of individuals who want to see this system in play while still having a system that promotes roles.

If the specializations cause every profession to go this route, I’m all for it.

WAIT, HOLD UP

Are you saying that if ANet hasn’t released a price or release date yet, that means they haven’t released the price or release date yet, and all other sources that say otherwise are false?

UGH, my life is in ruins now! I need to go and make another thread asking when the release date is or what the price of the expansion will cost me….

(I hope everyone gets the sarcasm.)

Must be your first time browsing for game-related stuff online.

They’re just placeholders. Wait for Anet to release the date, they’re the only ones that know.

Yeah, if the “This isn’t by Guild Wars 2 Staff” message appears below the mail, then it isn’t legit. Not one bit.

Hello,

Not sure where else to post this. I sent in my votes through Wickr during the voting period for the App contest. How do I know if I’ve won any prizes for voting? I’ve forgotten my Wickr account information, and for security reasons Wickr will not allow me to retrieve my account information. (Email was not asked during signup).

That’s what I thought, but couldn’t really find anything on this..

Heart of Thorns page mentions “challenging group content”. Not sure if this is open world boss fights with anyone who is in that map, or if it’s content for a small number of parties…. we don’t really have much information on it right now.

Every profession gets access to core specializations immediately when they enter the game.

Will characters from an account with the Heart of Thorns expansion immediately get access to their elite specialization as well? I tried searching this on the GW2 Wiki and couldn’t find anything on it, and can’t remember if ANet has talked about this.

Still hyped.

Anyone who isn’t simply isn’t looking forward to the expansion

Obviously we haven’t seen new content, but for me it doesn’t change the fact that there’s still an expansion with new features coming out, and I’m looking forward to playing it.

I’ve got a Mac Mini, and the mac client works somewhat ok. It’s no optimized for gaming, so you have to run it on the lowest settings, and it’s laggy in WvW and PvP. May not apply to all macs, and I haven’t used the client on any other macs, so not sure what works and doesn’t for you.

They have a setting for mac’s special mouse, but it doesn’t always work for me.

The trading post works fine, just takes a bit longer to load (at least on my mac). Whatever @oxtred.7658 is saying may only apply to him, or others with the same/similar mac. In general, take everyone’s input about the mac client on a case by case basis, but take everything into consideration. It’s definitely not perfect, and I’d say still in the beta stages despite being out for around 2.5 years.

Any time’s a good time to start, because GW2 doesn’t release a new armor tier every few months. You can get a character to 80 and purchase your Level 80 Exotic armor and be on par with every other level 80. (Not counting Ascended Armor/Weaps and Legendaries, but those boosts aren’t huge.)

I’d say now’s a better time than ever, considering that the expansion is [probably] coming out within the next 3-6 months. Having a level 80 character is good to have for the new content.

kitsune.3741:

please note that they said they where reworking the blood tree to be our support tree

I forgot about ANet mentioning on the stream about the Blood Magic line having more support, thanks for mentioning it.
- – - -

Bhawb.7408:

We don’t need to throw uninspired and frankly mediocre support onto every ability. The point of Reaper is not to be a source of support, it just isn’t meant to do that. We need support yes, it doesn’t mean we need to throw it at every single skill that has some semblance of ability to be forced into support.

“We don’t need to throw uninspired and frankly mediocre support onto every ability.” Well firstly, they can be updated/changed to better suit the class and have better support. I’m not on the skill balance team, I’m just a dude thinking out loud if you will. And having at least mediocre support is better than no support at all.

“We need support yes, it doesn’t mean we need to throw it at every single skill that has some semblance of ability to be forced into support.”
I only listed/updated 5 skills and traits above, a very small percentage to the total amount of skills on the Necromancer, and all of the skills and traits I listed do not change the effects they have on the Reaper himself.

Honestly I couldn’t see Reaper being a support class either, but I figured adding something into the spec that helps out Necro in the group-support department would be, in some way or another, beneficial. Maybe these skills/traits can give ANet or other players ideas as suggestions? I also don’t care if Reaper gets support stuff. Maybe these suggestions can trickle over to other Necromancer skills and trait lines? It doesn’t hurt to provide input for the developers, and the playerbase, to read and to discuss.

There were a lot of people complaining that Necro doesn’t have the support that is on par with other professions, and there were a lot of people complaining that Reaper didn’t fix this problem. This would cater more to those who agreed with these than those who don’t.

Thanks for the thoughts/comments.

Necromancer is really lacking group support like others classes have, and I feel the Reaper was an opportunity to help Necromancer’s out. From what we’ve seen about the Reaper so far, ANet didn’t do a very good job at giving us some group support.

Looking over some of the skills/traits for Reaper, I updated a few skills to provide at least some group support to the Reaper/Necromancer.

Updated things to add group support will be in [brackets].

“Your soul is mine!” Heal yourself and strike foes around you, absorbing life force [and applying regeneration to nearby allies. Life force gained and the duration of regeneration is increased] for each foe struck.

“Suffer!” Damage foes around you and chill them. Transfer a condition to each foe you strike, [and cleanse a condition on each nearby ally.].

“You are all weaklings!” Damage foes around you inflicting conditions on them and giving you [and nearby allies] boons per foe struck.

Traits
Cold Shoulder Chill lasts longer, and chilled foes deal less damage to you [and to nearby allies].
V Chilling Force Striking a chilled foe grants might [to you and nearby allies] and life force [to yourself].

Just some ideas for ANet and the community. Feel free to share your thoughts….

People who want to run dungeons as fast as possible may not take Necro’s because they feel it does not bring as much to the table as other classes do, as far as group support goes.

But I don’t have any issues running in casual pick up groups with my Necromancer. Just because they don’t bring a lot of group support, doesn’t mean they’re horrid in dungeons. I think a lot of people have this in the back of their heads, and even in casual runs they may remember this and kick.

It’s very frustrating to pick a class, level it to 80, and then be kicked from every dungeon group. It’s not right.

Looking over some of the Reaper skills and traits, it would be very easy to change them to apply to allies as well. Not sure why they didn’t do this, but it’d be great if they did.

Maybe not include legendaries and SAB weapons? (Just because there are multiple SAB weapons with different colors).

Many of the weapons are pretty unique themselves, and I think it’d be tricky to set those up to by dyed. But weapons such as the Fellblade and Chaos Weapons can easily be dyed (and very desirably, too! )

I’d love being able to dye weapons, but I’m not sure it’s possible with every make and model.

The thing with GW2 is that most of the content you can do while not being 80. So when you hit 80, nothing much really “opens up” for you to do, except finally get the highest tier of weapons and armor.

You can try map completion if you haven’t, make some alts, invest in TP stuff, or wait for Heart of Thorns.

GW2 has probably the best leveling system around. Takes the same time to get to level 3 from level 2 as it does to get to 80 from 79 (if, of course, you’re leveling where you’re supposed to). Not many MMO’s can say that.

I’ve got 5 80’s, 4 of them I leveled, and my 5th I used tomes for about ~30 levels. For the other 4 characters I leveled normally, I enjoyed the first two or three. The rest weren’t so fun (hence the level tomes on the last one), but I think I’ll run into that in other games as well.

I don’t think it’s the leveling itself that is painful, it’s doing the same content over again. Doing the same exploration/events/hearts for each character is a pain in my opinion, but it’s not as bad as other games.

It’s a good time to rebuild. Also keep in mind, not all Sylvari are evil. In any case, I’m sure the lion’s guard are keeping watch.

I really hope so. Right now we have around 50 skills, spread across all professions, that remove conditions. It’s pretty easy to get rid of them. Conditions themselves aren’t really seen as a threat because, in my opinion, they don’t deal enough damage and they can easily be cleansed. I think the only exception to this would be Burns from Guard spikers and D Ele’s.

Conditions should either be stronger and able to be cleansed, or have weaker conditions that are harder to remove. Having weak damage-dealing conditions that are easily cleanse-able are useless.

The game looks really good, in my opinion.

Personally, I think the UI could be updated a bit. Although the “painted” theme is fitting with the initial GW2 style, to me it looks unfinished, like they were using everything as placeholders until they get something better. I wouldn’t mind seeing an updated UI.

You’re right, in 3 years we’re getting an expansion. Don’t forget the
41 or so content releases in that time. I have yet to see an MMO hit that mark.

Stop complaining.

Guild Wars 1 had 4 new classes after the base game prophecies, 2 for Factions (Assassian, Ritualist) and 2 for Nightfall (Dervish, Paragon) and you had to pay to unlock these expansions. They could be used in every aspect of PvE and PvP. Now, is it pay to win if people are able to use these 4 classes in PvP formats against others who do not have these expansion packs? I’d say not.

In this case (and in the case of GW2), it’s not P2W if no one is paying to have an unfair advantage over another. Those who pay are expanding their options, giving them more classes to play with and opening up new build opportunities. If they do it right, which I’m sure ANet will, these new specializations shouldn’t be OP as compared to the current skills and traits.

In GW1, the new classes were heavily worked and balanced after release to try to even out the playing field. I’m sure they will do the same here.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Retailers had dates for GW2 long before the betas started. The only date that will matter is the one that ANet gives.

Mmmhmm. This. ^

Jordo.5913:

this game is nowhere close to release or they would already have a pre-purchase/pre-order through Anet

Pre-purchase was in April for the launch of GW2 in Aug…so we’re still 4 months out.

It’s an expansion, I’m sure it’ll work a bit differently than the whole GW2 game. It’s not like they’re making a GW3 and plopping it into GW2.

I’m estimating (and really ,really hoping) anytime between August and December 2015. That’s not an unreasonable estimate, considering GW2 Living World is currently on hold, as well as other content updates, until [possibly] the release of HOTS. Not only that, but considering Storyline Spoiler...the ANet devs knew about the Sylvari from the beginning and [ArenaNet] has been planning this expansion shortly after release,
I don’t think they want us waiting a year for this expansion, and it’d suck for them to tease us for a year.

lukejoe.1592:

Now my next pie in the sky UI request? I’d love to be able to customize what I consider to be “junk,” I could include minor runes, white gear not worth salvaging, and mats that reliably can’t be auctioned (like harden leather and some gemstones…or all the gemstones but sunstone).

These suggestions could really “expand” my game play experience.

This works for me. +1

I played a little bit of Marvel Heroes 2015 a while ago, and they had a really nice system in place. You can eventually get an item (a “pet” in MH) that would, on a key press, suck up certain items that you designate in the settings and in return, you received bonuses and some coins for the items.

I think it’d be cool to have a similar system, where you designate the highest rarity you want to loot, and everything below it automatically sells to merchants or salvages into magic find for you if you have some salvage packs in your inventory.

This would free up a ton of space in inventories and save you a ton of trips to the merchants.

I’m seeing emphasis on group content for the HOTS release. Now what that actually means, I have no idea.

I’m buying anyways. I’ve played since headstart and have only payed $60, and a couple of gemstore purchases. That great price has lasted me for 2+ years and many more to come. I’ll gladly support them.

Well I don’t see much point in it, honestly. Unless the range was somewhat large, to be 100% effective you’d have to stack, or at least be in touching range. I’d like to see other’s opinion on this as well, since I’m on the fence about this.

Haha, sorry about that. I do agree that it’d make sense, but then they should add the Wings back so I can get them for my Guardian.

Shoot, I’m really sure I read something about chill in the Reaper article. Could be wrong, though.

Oh wait.

Chills. Chills. More Chills.

That seems to be the theme here.

- Shivers of Dread inflicts Chill when you fear.
- Cold Shoulder increases duration of chill
Not only that, but the GS has a pull to bring ‘em back in, and Necro’s still have plenty of their fears. I see control here, and anyone trying to avoid it will definitely have a hard time.

I think they release it every Halloween, I got mine in 2014 Halloween.

I’m really digging the new hood, though. Must have.

Sabre.8627:

I don’t even give a kitten about group support if we do insane DPS and tear up team fights. I’m a sucker, jumping on the hype train now.

Exactly, my same thoughts.

The hood is different.

I’ve been wanting a hood like this for a very long time for Necromancer’s. We have some hoods for light armor, but none of them cover the face in darkness like this does (I’m hoping this hood does so, and it’s not an effect from the video).

It looks really, really good.

I know people are complaining about Necro’s lacking in the group support department, but if Reaper does a ton of damage on his own, there’s no need for groups support. I play a Warrior and when I run dungeons or fractals, I provide very little group support and deal a ton of damage on my own. I run with a group of friends for dungeons and fractals (of a variety of professions), and we all run builds that have very little group support. Because each of us deals a ton of damage on their own, there’s no need for group support – we finish the dungeons/fractals quickly and efficiently, just as if we had group boons.

IDK, I guess we’ll wait for the live stream tomorrow to find if they get some group play. It’s something Necromancer lacks and it would open up more build diversity, but having good group support isn’t an issue if they have a high damage output.

I really like this idea as well. Turns your class/specialization into something new.