Guild Wars 2

It seems at present the game is lighthearted with dark interludes. I think this is the wrong way around. It should be dark with moments of lightheartedness and humour to break up the despair. Taking cue from the ancient tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles etc when performed they took the form of a trilogy with a satyr play afterwards which acted as the comic relief to break up the depressing and gloomy atmosphere. It worked spectacularly well.

Time gating is a way for the devs to limit how fast players acquire things. It can be used arbitrarily or it can be used to minimise the impact of certain types of new content such as stat increases.

Red Falcon.8257:

Knote.2904:

Charr Armor :

Not sure how you can be sure that low Charr pop is due to armor clipping.
Usually, it’s not a good idea to base one’s criticism on an assumption; since you like analogies, it would be like building a castle on unstable terrain.
Clipping is also very present on other races such Asura, but you see a ton of Asuras around, which pretty much proves this theory wrong.

Actually theres not that many asuras. They’re only marginally more popular than Charr, probably due to their small size which people consider an advantage in pvp. According to Anet 16% are Asuras, 13% are Charr. Thus i don’t think it proves the claim is incorrect although i suspect it’s not correct anyway.

source: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/

Im not that knowledgeable so others on here will probably offer better suggestions but this is what i like

0/20/30/0/20 is my trait allocation (forceful GS in arms, dogged march, cleansing ire and last stand in defense and mobile strikes +sig mastery/vigorous focus (depending how i feel at the time) in discipline) only i use sword instead of mace for the added mobility and thus immobilise instead of stun.

in sPvP i’ve been running with eagle runes to bump my crit chance up but in wvw roaming i just use the same as my normal dungeon gear that’s predominantly zerker + ruby orbs but with some valks here and there for a bit of vit.

The utilities i use are berserker’s stance, balanced stance and endure pain with SoR as elite and healing signet as my heal that i never use the active of. My condition removal is my burst ability thanks to cleansing ire.

I absolutely love berserker’s stance it is awesome in pvp thanks to the condi meta it pretty much guarantees that the fight starts in your favour against condi builds.

I’d suggest just trying out different runes. Melandru’s quite nice too btw as it reduces condis and stuns on you while providing added toughness

Ameepa.6793:

sinzer.4018:

I don’t have any problems with time-gating or anything, my problem is the limited ways to acquire it. It arbitrarily reduces player choice.

The sad thing is that there is no player choice in gear treadmills. There may be different options but it is never “play how you want” like it has been here so far.

Gear based games are always “play this way or don’t play at all.”

You are right it’s why i stopped playing MMOs for ages.

This would make it better but i still think it’s not enough.

I don’t like crafting and i don’t want to sit there relying on a slim chance for a weapon to drop and an even slimmer one for it to be both a weapon i can use and stat combinations i want. I’d much rather through dungeon tokens or something.

Ascended should be available from as many different ways as exotics. Yuo should be able to get it from dungeon tokens, WvW, karma etc.

I don’t have any problems with time-gating or anything, my problem is the limited ways to acquire it. It arbitrarily reduces player choice.

roachsrealm.9284:

I like the idea, but it should be a separate goal. Legendary Sigil. That way you can go for that instead of the weapon, or both, or neither. The cost of course should be part of everything you’d need to make every Sigil. That…could be a lot..

I prefer this tbh. My problems with legendaries is that i don’t really like the look of any of them even though i’d love the ability to switch stats out of combat.

Turbo Whale.1738:

Elementalists get evasive arcana. reckless dodge should be changed to something like that evasive arcana that heals 2k + .8 x healing power, does around 5k damage, and does some condishuns like blind or chill. keep it where its at on the trait line (either 5 or 15 i don’t remember) so all warriers can have

except evasive arcana’s effects are determined by your attunement at the end of the dodge roll. I’ve no problems with warriors having a dodge ability that varies based on equipped weapons but for it all to be combined into one is OP.

Healing surge for PvE, signet for PvP/WvW. It’s interesting how unpopular mending is.

I’ll just keep my less used weapons as exotics. It’s what i did when i get to 80 but with rares due to my then lack of money.

I do have alot of weapons though. I carry every single one we can use.

I do care how my characters look. Why would you want to play a character that you think looks terrible? As soon as i find a look i like i stick with it and then my time’s devoted solely to my number one aim: messing around.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Orion Star.3651:

i would love to know how often i die ALOT, (elemetalist btw)

If you want to know how often you die type /deaths in chat. Then you can type /age and figure out how many times you have died per hour sort of. An average of sorts I suppose. Hard to tell for sure because of time you spent in cities and what not.

You say that like you can’t die in cities

Maybe we should look at ascended trinkets and how them being unique affects us… There’s multiple different items with the exact same stats. Them being unique doesn’t mean we have to accomodate different stat combinations what makes you think it’ll be different when the weapons are released?

I’ve not played all the professions so i can’t really rank them. I do, however, consider elementalists really fun due to its versatility and you can do some hilarious combos, some more difficult than others.

Sigils and runes would be used on legendary/ascended equipment if they can’t be then sigils/runes might as well be deleted from the game. I doubt Anet would do this. They’re not that foolish.

Bri.8354:

However a problem arises when it comes to “stacking”. Since enemies have single target focused attacks or very predictable AoE attacks that can easily be dodged by the entire party, players can huddle together and if anyone goes down the group is already next to him and can instantly bring him back up.

Because of this the downed state removes any risk that stacking would cause otherwise, and in the end stacking is less risky than spreading out and keeping your distance from the boss. This causes some major issues in the risk vs reward system, which is what certain things like melee vs range damage were balanced around.

Removing downed state will not affect this. Even without downed state stacking would still be more preferable due to the range of support abilities.

Btw, i quite like downed state. Being downed chucking rocks at a boss only to kill it and thus avoiding a complete wipe feels awesome.

Oh and it’s not that much harder to solo small groups of other players you just can’t forget that they’re still alive which loads of people do. The amount of times i was ignored while downed and then got back up from using bandage is astonishing. Stability stomp, invuln stomp, stealth stomp, simple damage and CCing their allies are the order of the day.

As for rallying off mossies in wvw… yeah, they should be ambients or vets.

As i was reading the posts from 10 months ago(!) i was thinking to myself that some of these people must have been living under a rock but then i saw when it was posted.

Mace offhand is good and works brilliantly with axe mainhand. 4 vuln and a 1200 range knockdown! 1200 range! Our maces have more range than our longbow (untraited)!

My elementalist spent ages in rares while in wvw. I didn’t have any problems

Deamhan.9538:

Wolfheart.1938:

Deamhan.9538:

I’m also beginning to see that in game cash shops in addition to the B2P model makes the content released even worse since, not only does the cash shop have to be managed, the content designed and released is done so with the shop in mind.

What about content released with subs in mind? As in, arbitrary time-gating and artificial extension of whatever you are trying to do? I think that’s as bad as content released with the shop in mind (which generally means less shinies for people).

Well, I believe that the best route to take for P2P is to make the content worth paying a sub for since the “well it’s free to play anyway” mentality doesn’t apply. As for time gating, we’re seeing that in GW2 now anyway.

wolfheart did say arbitrary time-gating. The time-gating of ascended, imo, is needed for its successful implimentation. If it weren’t time-gated you’d end up in situations where those with higher ingame wealth or far more free time will drastically overpower other players. Imagine when ascended weapons and armour are released what would happen if not time-gated? You’d have the farmers decked out in full ascended on the first day of its release and stomp everyone in wvw through the power of numerical values. Time-gating is a necessary tool in the fight against power creep.

now this thread looks weird

It differs from other boosts though. It’s not like MF affects chests or XP boosts XP from events, why should karma affect pots?

I’m drinking all mine on the 2nd btw as i don’t trust Anet’s timekeeping.

These two responses contradict one another:

Adinay.2589:

You need to have purchased every unique cultural armor item once. That means you need one character of every race (but not every armor type, as the race can purchase all three armor types, but can only equip the correct type.

CreativeAnarchy.6324:

I believe you need to buy 1 piece of each cultural armor of each tier for each part. So I understand you need to buy a full set of either Heavy, medium, light, armor pieces from each tier from each race. I don’t believe it needs to be a specific set but you can’t buy a medium chest t3 and a heavy chest t3 to have it count.

So, 6 pieces of each tier, Tier 1, 2, and 3, for each race for each part(head, shoulder, chest, hand, leg, feet.) 18 pieces total per race.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fashion

Adinay is implying you need to purchase light, medium and heavy and all 3 tiers of all 5 races (270 items total) while CreativeAnarchy is stating you need to purchase light, medium or heavy of all 3 tiers and 5 races (90 items).

CreativeAnarchy is correct according to the wiki which states “Soulbind 90 unique pieces of cultural armor.” for the title. Don’t purchase all armour types, only one of each tier.

Deamhan.9538:

When I found out that ESO was going to be subscription based it brought a major smile to my face.

As the OP said, ANet is a company interested in making a profit. When your on going source of income, after initial sale of the game, is ‘macro’ (the RL cash value on the virtual items is too big to be considered micro) transactions in the gem store, then you want to try and convince people to spend their money on what’s available there.

I believe the quality of the content takes a huge hit as new content is designed with getting people to spend real money in mind.

Quality becomes even more important when you are trying to successfully run a P2P model along side F2P models like GW2. If the quality of the content of the P2P model game is on par with the F2P model game, then why bother going with the P2P model game?

A sub model also gives the company a more reliable and stable source of income to work with. The company can better plan future content because the future income is more easily predicted.

Also, having a monthly sub in a free to play market helps act as a player base filter. Ensuring that those who don’t think it’s worth it don’t make up too large of a % of the in game player population. Seriously it works out to be 50 cents a day. If you don’t think the game is worth playing at 50 cents a day, then don’t play. You’ll be better off by not playing and those that do think it’s worth it will be better off by not having you play.

However, there is this….

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/821/view/news/read/28426/Elder-Scrolls-Online-Item-Shop-News.html

Sounds like they might be double dipping. I certainly hope not. I hope they abandon the online shop before release. They’ve said by having the sub that people won’t have content gated behind a cash shop, so what could they possibly put in the cash shop besides Account Services (Name changes, sex changes, faction changes, etc.)?

Vanity items? How is that any different than what GW2’s cash shop then?

Part of why I left Aion, aside from cheap combat mechanics, was how the game was basically Dress-up Doll Online. With the plush back packs, little minis, and some other items, it’ll be one of the reasons I’ll leave GW2. I fear, however, that ESO will have the same crap which doesn’t stay true to the TES titles at all.

In DH there is a player in LA. They’re often found dancing in their underwear with boxing gloves on, bunny ears, and a plush quaggan backpack.

I’m sorry but if I’m entering into an Ayleid ruin, I don’t want to come across another player wearing a plush mudcrab backpack followed by a mini flame atronach I’ll uninstall the game right there.

I’m not a role player but I like games that enforce a certain atmosphere and crap like that would absolutely kill the Elderscroll’s atmosphere.

As a fan of TES, I’ll buy the game to both check it out and support the title but if they have a cash shop filled with the kind of crap that my 5 year old daughter would find most appealing (much of what’s found in GW2’s cash shop), then I won’t play beyond the 30 days that come with purchase.

This is interesting as i’m also a big fan of TES but i won’t be getting ESO. I like the lore and everything (the amount of books i read in oblivion and skyrim was insane!) but it’s already going to be a huge break from the previous TES games that i think it’s going to be TES in name only. And so i wait for TESVI.

iFocus.3781:

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

There’s a bit more to it. In multiplayer games, the players themselves are part of the content of the game. It is important to have a strong, vibrant community in game, both to play with and to play against. The player that sticks around for the game and isn’t mean spirited is adding to the quality of game, making it more appealing to the public at large and making buying the game a more attractive investment. Players who don’t buy a thing from the gem shop are contributing to the profits of the game indirectly in this manner, both with new sales and with making the game enjoyable enough for players to want to spend gems in it.

You don’t pay for gems, do you?

Sure, everyone contributes in some manner. But, you lurking about isn’t going to pay for Anet’s employees unless you actively recruit friends to join.

Actually it is even without actively recruiting people to join. A larger playerbase an MMO has the more people willing to check it out and the longer people stay around thus not only increasing box sales but potentially increasing gem sales too while also providing data for the devs to use to improve their game and potentially increase income further.

Have you tried changing your graphical settings since culling in pve was removed? Maybe that’ll help.

Load times for me are similar as to before.

I’ve been planning on trying out a build that uses axes due to my boredom with GS. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAnXDGAQKAoKjihCS9AA3iD-e

It’s axe/whatever and longbow. 30 in discipline for burst mastery and sharpened axes, 20 in strength for dual wielding and axe mastery with 20 in defense for cleansing ire. The aim is to blow your burst abilities as often as possible and rebuild the adrenaline with axe crits. The cleansing ire is just because ive grown fond of it and it’s strong condition removal that works nicely with longbow as you don’t even need to hit anything. If you want to use shouts you can take inspiring shouts for more adrenaline or could take signet mastery or something.

As of yet i’ve not tested this out. Was planning on doing it some point over the weekend.

BlackBeard.2873:

3. Lightning flash+Fire grab is a great combo for landing the firegrab if a foe is already on fire

There’s another of this if you’re d/d/ LF in the middle of burning speed then fire grab. It’s alot harder to get right but the bonus is if you can do it you’re guaranteeing burning on the enemy. Even though it’s added time usually the fact you ported to them tends to throw people off. You do hit with firegrab far more often than the novice move of burning speed → firegrab.

As for the topic at hand… lightning flash is always on my bar no matter what. I use it defensively, offensively and even to support my allies. I’d rather the damage removed for it to be on a shorter CD though,

I don’t think eles are weak but that pic doesn’t really tell us anything.

Kivot.7516:

I have a few concerns about the new ascended gear coming out and hopefully they respond.

Less Customization
Am I the only one who liked having exotics accessories more than ascended as the top tier? I would rather have the runes/orbs/jewels for exotics because I could choose my stats more decisively; especially with orbs. If the ascended gear isn’t going to have runes/orbs slots, then it’s going to become less interesting and even more gear setups are going to be the same.

If the armour and weapons follow the trinkets then Anet might as well remove sigils and runes from the game. Personally i don’t think they will. I think they’ll include normal upgrade slots.

Wasn’t the entire reason why ascended trinkets not having normal upgrade slots so that you can include AR without a drop in power?

Different armour for male and female Charr would not work not only because of the limited dimorphism but for social reasons. For anyone to try to impose differing gender roles on the Charr would be met with great suspicion and resistance due to the fact that under the Flame Legion the women were subordinated and reduced solely to domestic labour. You try to assign differing roles or norms and they’d think you’re part of the flame legion which continues to be the only legion that is patriarchal.

Ehragus.5843:

My kitten engi! even tho I barely play him..

I’d have to go 7/10

My issues are the mask which imo doesn’t look right on a Charr’s head, the box on your right arm looks odd and i think you could do with better looking leggings

Anyway, here’s my Charr elementalist (blood legion). Wearing T1 helm, chest, gloves and boots, T2 shoulders and legs. I’m not too happy with the legs tbh but its murder trying to find ones without any clipping.

Brew Pinch.5731:

Go to The Heart of the Mists and preview:

Charr T1: Shoulders, pants, coat.
Charr T2: helm, gloves, boots.

Enjoy, you’re looking at the only light gear that is legitimately excellent on Charr.

Interesting, my Charr ele is nearly the reverse of this.

T1 helm, chest, gloves and boots,
T2 shoulders and legs.

Electro.4173:

As for being seen as a “coward” I certainly don’t see that as being the case. The Charr have no issues using machines or war beasts in combat, so I don’t see why they’d have a problem with magical illusions either.

It’s the whole standing in the rear that gets you the title of coward. I don’t think you’d be seen as a coward in the frontlines wearing nothing but cloth.

Dustfinger.9510:

sinzer.4018:

I don’t think the difference is real nor is it counter productive to use a general term, we already do it in the real world. Take a ship, for example, whether it has a sail or an engine it’s still a ship just a different kind. The general term remains the same just the specifics, those relating to how it functions, differ.

Technology is the making, modification, usage and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, systems etc in order to solve a problem, improve on a solution whatever.

I’d like to emphasise systems. Magic is itself a system within Tyria like the tides or the wind. To use it makes it technology in the same way our ancestors created simple technology by using stones.

Asura do use technology. All races do. The thing is that asura make extensive use of one force of nature (magic) while the charr are more likely to use another (e.g. chemical reactions)

And when discussing the difference between the two kinds of ships, we also have two different terms because it is productive to conversation and exchange of ideas. in a conversation where both ideas aren’t present, the general term is fine. In a conversation where two or more different ideas are present, two or more terms is only beneficial.

As i mentioned the general term stays the same. Of course we need specific words for differing forms of technology, even if it’s a similar type but thats not what we’re discussing though, is it? We’re discussing the general terms, not specific ones. Thus the use of the word ‘technology’ which covers a huge range of things from a simple hut to a tank.

My claim is that the use of magic is technology.

I think we’re in a bit of a peculiar situation in discussing this. We see a huge distinction because magic isn’t real but we should be looking at it like it’s electromagnetism or another force because in Tyria that is exactly what it is.

Dustfinger.9510:

Well, we know it isn’t constant. Not like natural laws. And for the sake of defining terms to further the progress of catagorising the elements of Tyria, distinctions are nessesary. So whether you choose the labels of “magic” and “technology” or “Oo” and Aaa", either way there are definitely distinctions between the two ideas.

So no ones saying that magic can’t be used in technology. We see the asura do it. We are simply sayng that there is a difference when you do. And labeling everything with the same term is counter productive to discussion.

I don’t think the difference is real nor is it counter productive to use a general term, we already do it in the real world. Take a ship, for example, whether it has a sail or an engine it’s still a ship just a different kind. The general term remains the same just the specifics, those relating to how it functions, differ.

Technology is the making, modification, usage and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, systems etc in order to solve a problem, improve on a solution whatever.

I’d like to emphasise systems. Magic is itself a system within Tyria like the tides or the wind. To use it makes it technology in the same way our ancestors created simple technology by using stones.

Asura do use technology. All races do. The thing is that asura make extensive use of one force of nature (magic) while the charr are more likely to use another (e.g. chemical reactions)

Please no. I’ll have to find new shoulders and gloves to go with the rest of my armour and it was a nightmare finding shoulders that i liked in the first place.

VOLKON.1290:

That trailer they have… gorgeous, is it not? I love it, especially where the guardian is about to be hit…

That is an awesome scene.

plus there’s no evidence that mmos would take off on consoles. I know, both FFIV and ESO are planning on console releases but it could very well be a giant flop.

Then we have to look at elitism that will inevitably spawn. A friend of mine’s been in the FFIV beta and there’s alot of PC players that just do not trust the capabilities of console players due to the control system and Square Enix struggling with targetting on the PS3.

iirc akitteng in a pvp match isnt allowed.

Only 4. Human warrior (level 80, exotics/ascended), Charr elementalist (level 80, exotics), Norn engineer (level 15) and asura necromancer (level 8 ).

Im Mudbone.1437:

sinzer.4018:

Im Mudbone.1437:

CryxTryx.9208:

Several months until they started putting other things in them. Like event currency. There is nothing that says these share the rare loot table.

Your move.

Like I said look it up(I did) and no I’m not going through all that searching again just to appease you, do your own investigating or just go on with your cluelessness and/or belief. Now it’s your move, are you going to do the leg work or wait on others to do it for you.

That’s terrible. In any discussion the moment you’re relying on evidence you’ve found you need to share it not tell others to go find evidence themselves.

This was evidence found WEEKS AGO and I’m not going through the trouble of finding it again for the nay-sayers, do as I did and research it.

So? When you came across the evidence is irrelevant. The only way to back up your claims with evidence is to provide it not vaguely allude to its existence.

Jrunyon.3012:

Im Mudbone.1437:

This was evidence found WEEKS AGO and I’m not going through the trouble of finding it again for the nay-sayers, do as I did and research it.

I simply don’t believe you Mudbone, no matter how many times you bold your statements. I found a quote that said quite the opposite (go find it) and it is just common sense. I have found multiple rares alongside the support tokens, and there is no way that would happen as often as it did if support tokens were sharing the same loot table. They are not taking the place of rares I assure you.

Could you do the decent thing and provide this quote? I know, Mudbone isn’t going to provide anything at all and i know it’s tempting to do the same thing in retaliation (not to forget the broken search function on this forum) but it would put the whole discussion to an end.

Caramel Ham.4891:

I still remember the first and only time I finished the “killing Zhaitan” dungeon. I literally was like “that’s it?”

I think that’s more to do with the terrible fight mechanics though. Never felt like i was in any real danger from Zhaitan… Risen chickens are stronger!

Im Mudbone.1437:

CryxTryx.9208:

Several months until they started putting other things in them. Like event currency. There is nothing that says these share the rare loot table.

Your move.

Like I said look it up(I did) and no I’m not going through all that searching again just to appease you, do your own investigating or just go on with your cluelessness and/or belief. Now it’s your move, are you going to do the leg work or wait on others to do it for you.

That’s terrible. In any discussion the moment you’re relying on evidence you’ve found you need to share it not tell others to go find evidence themselves.

Ashen.2907:

sinzer.4018:

The whole finding out if generals trust Trahearne was necessary due to him being a scholar and never been in any leadership role.

Which makes you not trust any general, organization, or individual who would trust him with the fate of civilization and life as we know it in Tyria. From an RP standpoint its almost impossible to take my own character seriously now that I know he is an idiot.

I managed to get around this problem of not taking my character seriously because of Trahearne… Just pretend your character is using him. The pact couldn’t be officially led by anyone in the 3 orders because the other orders would be concerned of the vested interests. So, your character, knowing this, decides to use Trahearne as a public face (and also a scapegoat if things go sour) while you make the decisions and do everything. Afterall, all Trahearne actually does is give speeches and performs a little ritual.

Unleashed.6195:

- Nearly everything about Trahearne’s story. From the line at Claw Island, “You’re a scholar, not a general, why should we trust you?!” to “You’ll find with unity that many impossible things can be accomplished” to his acting like a middle school child sending you out to ask for candid reactions from his generals so he can see if they “Like/Not Like” him. His lines. His motivation. His “stirring” speeches (which, by the way, for whatever reason the NPCs feel compelled to tell him were stirring speeches.).

I’m glad you raised this. The whole finding out if generals trust Trahearne was necessary due to him being a scholar and never been in any leadership role. However, it was done poorly. There should have been a series of missions devoted to the unease of his command, possbily including mutinies, as this could have helped his characterisation greatly and tbh, he needs it. He’s an NPC you spend a lot of time with, he shouldn’t be so one dimensional.

Atherakhia.4086:

ANet said in the past that they’re increasing crafting to 500 and that the way you’ll get mats is by breaking down level 80 gear. I have 4 guild banks on 2 accounts filled with yellows and I had over 50 mails of blues and greens before the last patch deleted them all. I probably have about 100 mails of blues and greens between accounts now.

I hope they don’t delete the mails again…

You’re screwed ’cause they probably will..

No difference. I play to mess around, i don’t play for little shiny pixels nor do i play for a sense of achievement, i get that from my union and being an active member of my community.

I do find it interesting that loot is seen as a fundamental aspect of MMOs… It’s not, the fundamental aspect is it being online and involving tons of other players.

If this irritates you you should take a look at my bank