Guild Wars 2

Not being locked to the Prophecies section of the world would be pretty fantastic, especially with the little snippets of world building relevant to the other areas we’d gotten before -- just enough to keep us wondering what’s going on down in Elona or Cantha.

I’ve been wanting to be able to see my own character name/title display on-demand for a while, almost as long as the game has been out, so that’s nice that it’s there.

Interesting that you folks haven’t noticed alt’s other use since launch -- alt has always been the key for viewing player and NPC names. Most players probably don’t notice, though, and have them set to always show. This is how it was in GW1, as well. (just as ctrl is for objects)

Making it a map-able shortcut key certainly would be nice, of course, to give folks more flexibility. I am dumb and, while noting it’s mapped to the same key as Show Ally Name, I didn’t, as Just a flesh wound.3589 did, point out the latter is in the Control Options.

Does Twitch viewership really have any significant relevance to the number of active players/accounts? I don’t know anyone who follows Twitch, among the folks I know playing.

You can copy the whole GW2 folder, not only the .dat. Then you won’t need to re-download the client .exe.

Randulf.7614:

Sent you 100 Quartz towards the upgrade. Consider it my good deed to restore some Karma to my pitiful week

Enjoy

I love when I get to see/read about these kinds of things in game communities. Thanks for putting a smile on my face this evening.

joneirikb.7506:

@ PopeUrban + synk

Do you think it is bad to want to have some more group content ? Even in the Open World ?

No
Not at all. I was only noting that the tendency of open world content is to balance it toward the single player character moving through as they level (or farm). GW1 was certainly more akin to an online, cooperative version of, say, Baulder’s Gate with respect to world exploration than your typical MMORPG, making it far more relevant to design towards group play.

This post was longer, but it kind of rambled without making a point.

This thread caused me to go through my earliest screenshots.

Oh man, the first time(s) I saw champ fights and world bosses, the amount of people trying to sell crappy low-level greens as we all played during head-start, the disappointment when the Shiverpeaks zones did not assault me constantly with groups of mandragors, taking screenshots just to show off how the game engine handles player characters standing on uneven ground by raising or extending legs...

Three years down the road it’s easy to sometimes put that all to the side and just want to get a cool item to drop or make some gold, but I do keep playing in part because I keep having fun slinging spells/skills and drinking in the visuals.

I was thinking that, as well: that GW1’s map zones were based on a full party, whereas GW2 and most MMOs are based on solo players leveling independently.

Heylel.2109:

Good ’ol Charrs, and good ’ol 55HP Monks, how I miss them.

To be fairly honests, I feel they had more personality before than now in GW2, to make them a playable race (And allied with humans on top of that.) kinda turned them bland.

Not to derail too much, but I find this an interesting opinion - in the sense that it does surprise me a little. Prior to Eye of the North, the charr were mostly the villains that blew up Ascalon. Thanks to Pyre and Gwen and the expansion’s content they begun to be fleshed out, and now we have multiple legions, political opinions, and history.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The problem might be more in how the forum is set up.

They originally had a contractor who set up the coding for the forums. There was a parting of the ways and from what they said, he is not available to fix or change the forums and the people working for ANet don’t know the coding, or don’t know it well.

hahaha
For real?

Archive this one and launch one that can be updated with working features.

I’m thinking your best bet may be to pursue the Marauder shoulder skin (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Marauder_armor) for that look.

Noble is a flatter-than-most medium shoulder, too, but I think Marauder may be closer to Archer’s look.

On a side note, I hadn’t realized Stalwart was no longer in the game. I suppose I am lucky I’ve got it unlocked. Does anyone know why-- or was it merely a victim of the wardrobe updates back when it was expanded beyond the PvP locker?

I think heavy armor looks great on charr, and I like the race overall. However I am worried that with Rytlock returning we’ll see mostly charr revs (and human female, of course).

That said, everyone should play whatever they want, statements like mine above should hold no sway -- just making an observation; I’ve decided to go with a sylvari (unless I change my mind after the beta).

Given your post, it sounds like you like charr and heavy armor, too, so I’d say you’ve got your answer! For the legions!
edit: but I might be bias! Asura are cute, but charr are fierce!

Those dull two-person PowerPoint slideshows were awful. This is a vast improvement.

Hopefully we’ll see more scenes like what we’re shown here married with the LS’s dialogue interactions with the NPCs.

This is happening for new characters created out of beta on accounts, as well (there have been threads about it in other forum sections). When you log back into your beta characters or one of these new characters after logging in on a regular character (I think most of us did this to make sure we still had everything), you should find that it’s all there again.

In short, the mail message is being sent when it should not, but your account is fine.

Given Caladbolg’s origins and the nature of Trahearne getting it, I’m inclined to stick with assuming that’s more symbolic than having anything to do with reapers (let alone any discussions if anyone on the team had even thought of greatswords on necros back when the original story was written). It seems more to me that Marjory’s representative of the necromancer HoT additions just as Rytlock is for the Revenants.

The heavy should be "Verata’s Greaves".
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Recipe:_Verata%27s_Greaves

I don’t recall getting one of the books to drop, so I cannot confirm or deny if it’s missing from the list when you select which recipe to learn. Is that what’s happening for you? Unfortunate, especially if it’s all you need!

I’ve found it amusing, but not necessarilly in a good way, that I can more reliably get cores, for example, from champ bags than from actually farming the appropriate mob.

Edit: to be fair, though, other things are pretty straightforward (e.g. vials of blood, karka shells), so I suppose it depends on which material it is.

The TP is definitely the easiest method.

Yeah, it’s pretty fun. Long, and frustrating if you fall, but I was glad that they made use of all of the rooftops and such.

I will miss the underground puzzle that it replaces, though.

Pillows.1306:

I was just wondering if Eternity is worth it or not or if I should make a different legendary.

I would note that its worth is entirely up to you.

For example, if the duality of Eternity as a skin is appealing to you moreso than just Twilight or Sunrise, perhaps its worth is greater than other legendaries for you.

If you, say, really like Sunrise and not Twilight, then maybe you’d prefer to sell Eternity and pursue other skins.

Sometimes these threads appear to be about learning what the most other people think looks good and just doing that, like some kind of fitting-in need or a desire to do whatever others are doing. Instead, like the skins you like, put effort into the parts of the game you want!

I also recognize that people like to get others’ opinions, so take the above comment with a heavy grain of salt, of course!

The new AA options: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Please-Post-7-28-Bug-Reports-HERE-merged/page/6#post5327390

They exist (you can go into %AppData%\Roaming\Guild Wars 2\" and set it via the XML settings file there), but they are not shown via the options UI.

I can’t claim it’s the same issue, but one night several months back my client would crash after character selection with an error screen similar to the one in your last post.

For me, after running repair and even re-installing the client, I went to "%AppData%\Roaming\Guild Wars 2" and deleted the local.dat file. This worked for me. It may work for you, it may be completely irrelevant.

TheGrimm.5624:

Did you happen to notice impact on framerates between the settings?

I haven’t seen much, if any, of a difference between SMAA and FXAA (i7, geforce 970), with respect to framerates. I feel like it looks quite a bit better, though.

To be fair, I haven’t been in the game much today — just tinkered with the XML file and ran around LA while reading about new bugs.

This is a great idea and a good thread. Thanks for sharing!

Now I have something to do with mine.

The Personal Story is such a hot mess in Orr.
It would be nice if "NPCs dying" wasn’t the go-to plot device, especially since it’s often done awkwardly and quickly.

I feel bad for Elli, though.

I have been missing my toggle button since it disappeared. RIP, toggling outfits/clothes. :(

What is your favorite UNLOCKED title you don in this game (optional: why)?

The Blazing Light, since the gauntlet was both fun and challenging, and I do feel a bit proud to have bested her. I continue to wear this title on the character I use despite typically picking a title that fits whichever theme my current character has.

If you could choose to wear ANY title what would it be?

"Choose"? Legendary Champion. However, I certainly have not earned it.

Maybe Twice-Told Legend if it meant I’d get two legendary skins as a result. ;)

Pick a title you genuinely respect when you see a player with it and give a reason why this title reflects a positive feeling.

See above, or most of the sPvP and tournament titles -- Despite the fact that I am a PvE/WvW player, I have the most respect for the folks who dive into their builds and face human opponents in sPvP, so their titles (and the rank emotes/finishers) have my envy, for whatever that’s worth.

I wouldn’t call it respect, but I like the GW1 carry-over titles and knowing a lot of players have enjoyed the first game, as I have.

Pick a title you dislike seeing on a player and provide a reason why this title impacts you negatively.

I don’t think this applies for any of them. People wear what they want.

I may find that some of them just reflect grinding or really, really easy PvE content or the like, but who am I to say what titles others should like? I can hardly imagine any in-game title affecting me negatively (plus so many of them are easy to get, far easier than in GW1, so I have most of them).

I suppose, if I’m honest, the higher achievement-based ones might make me roll my eyes a bit, since it does seem that there are players who see AP as some sign of... well, anything when it’s more an indication of /age.

Make up ONE title you would like to see implemented into the game and provide a brief description/objective on how to obtain it or why you would like to see it as a new title to obtain.

Profession Master (or something less lame) -- for leveling and unlocking all skills and all professions, kind of like the ones for max crafting

I dunno, kind of dumb. Titles.txt

I just updated mine; had attempted a kind of bounty hunter look, but I haven’t been satisfied with helm choices and tail clipping issues.

Went for a more mechanic merc look, I guess?

Incidentally, even if you bought what’s available to buy you won’t get Season 1, which is where you’d learn about Scarlet and why LA is all jacked up currently.

You can also think of Silverwastes as WvW, only the players are facing Mordrem with boss events spawning at times.

Charr tails still clip through almost all armor that’s not Charr racial. Shoulders are also borderline absurd in size, and I guess some helms are bad (I usually hide helms).

Pawprints are still backwards when walking around on all fours, too.

But don’t let that get you down. Charr and charr culture are terrific.

Try this:

Go to "%AppData%/Roaming/Guild Wars 2" and delete the Local.dat file.

A couple of days ago, whenever I tried to log in to an existing character the game would crash out. Running the repair, deleting the Gw2.dat in the game directory and re-downloading, deleting it and copying it from another machine that could log in fine, and also re-installing the client all did not work. But once I deleted that file and allowed the client to re-create it, I could load any character fine.

I cannot say this is what will fix it for you, but it’s something to try.

"You no take candle!"

This is a good observation. Previous discussions of downscaling, many in the early days of the game, sussed out the details and highlighted how keeping your armor up-to-date, even if it’s just blues, is quite important for scaling, both up (e.g. WvW) and down, throughout the leveling experience. Having gear 6-10 levels below your current one and getting scaled made you comparably weaker by significant amounts. I can imagine the effects are more notable when combined with how stat boosts are clumped together.

Each level should bring about increased character strength, not every several levels. And the game mechanics sure seem to support that, making the change a little head-scratching.

The system for collections is in place now, at least, so it should be quite easy to add new collections as we move forward.

Short answer, no there is no penalty.

With respect to the stats of the weapon itself, putting it in an offhand slot does not reduce them (e.g. a one handed sword).

With respect to the damage of your attacks, it is based on your overall power, weapon strength, and the any inherent modifiers in the skills used. Dual-wielding provides you both skills for the mainhand weapon (1-3) and skills for the offhand (4-5) that are separate from one another -- equipping/un-equipping one does not modify the impact of the other.

Oh, nice thread. I hadn’t seen it when I tried to put together a similar kind of reflection of the leveling process. I agree with you that it’s not as "bad" as it first appears, with many things not blocked but just not mentioned or shown to new players until later levels. I still find that illogical, and I maintain that there are other ways to introduce new players to the game mechanics that would be less frustrating for everyone else involved.

It sounds like you were more forgiving of these things.

I’ve got to get to bed so that I can get up for work in the morning, but you might also find aid by using the in-game LFG tool.

Open the Contacts/LFG dialogue (by default this is bound to the Y key) and select the LFG tab (icon that looks like a magnifying glass next to two people). Here you can select the "Arah" dungeon and create a new "LFG" listing, wherein you should probably note that you are looking to do "Arah Story Mode", which is where the fight with Zhaitan takes place. Then four other players can join you in the quest to vanquish the elder dragon.

Alternatively if you see someone else’s listing for the story path you can join it and get credit as well.

I noticed this, too, and have assumed it was removed to avoid new player confusion. The sylvari were the only race to randomly be naked at the beginning.

That said, even if you didn’t talk to the NPC all you had to do was move far enough from that area for your clothes to appear on you anyway. Some people panic when things are different and post questions rather than explore or, you know, take two steps and talk to an NPC.

Interestingly Arondele will still talk to you about your gear despite the actual interaction of you being naked and getting gear never happening.

This is just lazy adjusting to fit the vaunted NPE/feature patch. It was probably the quickest way to alter the game to fit the stratification of leveling and story unlocks, with considerations to logical progression and lore ignored.

Keep in mind that, outside of WvW, you will likely find yourself mixed in with players from other serves due to how the "Megaserver" system works. So even if Anvil Rock has a low population on the map you’re visiting you should run into other players. This can save you some hassle if you don’t want to deal with a transfer.

As GW2 is a very CPU-dependent game, I would shy away from any i3 systems unless no i5/i7 options were within budget.

Having no personal experience with the listed machines, I would first give reviews of their GPUs a read-through, perhaps looking at GW2 performance charts (e.g.: [urtl=http://www.notebookcheck.net/Guild-Wars-2-Benchmarked.81604.0.html]notebookcheck[/url] - scroll to the bottom to see the graphics card FPS reports, which you can restrict to laptop-only GPUs).

For example, on low settings the 840M card is listed as getting good FPS.

Just playing the game has already gotten me most of the trash-item collection. Doin’ a daily Teq run got me that spoon. I can see myself taking a few minutes to re-craft gear I’ve already made for those collections and then hunting hylek and krait to pass time. I like these additions.

STO has (had?) a feature where you could add your own description or text about your captain/general/admiral. When you pulled up info on a player you had targeted, the default information about their profession, what class of ship they commanded, their rank, gender, and species were accompanied by this text. Many players used this space both to describe their character and/or background as well as to advertise guilds or grouping preferences for the end-game content and PvP.

So your mention of the MRP profile sounds similar, and that could be a fun way to further customize yourself.

Some Conclusions
The use of level-gating for some activities doesn’t seem to follow a logical pattern. The use of level-ups to discuss features available from character creation makes even less sense, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a user experience study provided evidence of overload if the elements were all introduced at once upon tutorial completion. In any case, there are aspects of this that I think reveal the good intentions behind the new system’s implementation, but it falls short of being a powerful tool for learning the game. Control of character progression is taken away from the players -- rather than a player progressing a character at his or her own pace, engendering an environment of exploration and evolution, the game arbitrarily decides when he or she is ready to advance, imposing a more draconian, static leveling path (worse if a player prefers WvW and wishes to level up in that area).

Ultimately, awareness of what the game mechanics are and how the UI operates are probably the primary goals in helping new players. To that end, I would encourage continuing to work this system into one that adopts the characteristics of the Mists introductory area and explicit tutorials. Instead of hiding the downstate and its skills behind later and later levels, for example, have the players enter combat and get downed in a controlled way. Direct players to a resource node as one of their first activities in the open world, perhaps with a temporary harvesting item, to get a feel for gathering (and this can be used as a natural segue into crafting AND the bank!!). Use more than some red circles on the ground to encourage the use of dodges -- start with a single strike, chain it into two with pop-up text to note the endurance meter and its recharging nature and speed. Doing these things un-muddies the UI and eases players into the game world. I know, this game hates the idea of quests, but that’s what hearts are, so it shouldn’t be the end of the world if a couple brief introductory activities like these are introduced.

As I couldn’t divorce myself from my dislike of this new system as a returning player, I also remain very eager to see how much of this will NOT apply to veteran accounts (which I think has been mentioned a few times by ANET folks). Ideally, none of this would apply to my alts, but I suspect the skill slot, weapon swapping, and profession-unique skill unlocks are here to stay for everyone. This on top of the awful trait system (level 30, really? Almost halfway through the game we finally get to experiment and customize builds? And we have to go to specific areas of Tyria to unlock them?) does not encourage alt creation and leveling, and I can only offer my condolences to new players.

----

Edit: I would like to note that I believe I had accidentally left the new compass feature on "off". I had meant to re-activate it for this process, so as a result I might have missed when it would have directed me to the dodge tutorial, for example.

Harvesting nodes have been all over on the map and in the world, but I have had no direction about them at all. This is not new, but why are the skillpoints and vistas hidden from new players while these remain wholly visible and available for interaction? This appears to be more arbitrary execution of what is presented.

Level 8
Sweet, underwater gear. There’s underwater combat in this game? I actually had forgotten that we wouldn’t have been able to do anything underwater before. Fortunately Caledon is laid out in such a way that it’s easy to get to this level before hitting any of the water-heavy areas of the map. I wonder what new players in Metrica Province’s southern areas or who go poking around in the lake in Wayfarer Foothills think about this level requirement. Perhaps there should be a means of introducing water mechanics, and maybe this unlock/gear reward is a first step -- a bad first step, but a first step in the right direction nonetheless.

I noted that I was told about the BLTC here, but I had already used it on this character. So this is an example of how this system doesn’t always "lock" elements behind levels, but it hides them or doesn’t mention them until later. I don’t get this mentality, though I think it’s silly to quibble about it -- all it does is ensure new players are made aware of things at a slower pace and has no ill effects on veteran players. HOWEVER I can’t help but wish the skill slots and things like weapon swapping and skill point challenges were likewise just mentioned at level-ups rather than truly unlocked.

I see that it tells me Level 9 will bring about banking and gathering. I can already see nodes on the map and interact with them, as I noted, so why the wait until level 9 to even mention them to a new player? ESPECIALLY considering that, at this point, new players haven’t been able to do any story and have been forced to wander around their starting area map to level, likely coming across various resource nodes already. This is an illogical hesitation on introducing a game feature accessible from the beginning. Gathering is even a great activity to encourage, as it awards XP to a character and highlights how GW2 does not treat resources on a first-come-first-serve basis, a fantastic fact about how the game world operates.

I still can’t even access the story. Those visions I had sure seemed important, and Caithe mentioned that there was a lot to do to safeguard the lands. But I guess wandering around the forest is a lot more important for now. If I progress on this character to continue exploring the NPE, I am apprehensive about the personal story’s pacing and its logic, especially given how later elements have been re-ordered (with some content even cut, based on what I’ve read here on the forum).

I shudder to think what would have happened in this hour if I had taken this guardian into WvW. Would I have been able to do anything other than spam 1 for a while? I doubt it.

Level 5
I can finally use a guardian virtue! It’s about time -- the weapon skill unlocks have been slow but steady, but now I can finally get a taste for what the guardian’s unique ability is. Unfortunately, it’s only the first of three -- while a new player would not know that, it’s kind of limiting. I would assume here warriors, necros, and thieves are good to go having just the one thing to unlock, rangers can finally direct their pet to a target but can do nothing else with them, mesmers get just their DPS shatter, and elementalists maybe get nothing (I had read their third and fourth attunements come much later)? And do engineers only get their toolbelt skills once the utility slots are unlocked, or does something appear here? Confusing and inconsistent, it seems, across the classes. It feels like another arbitrary wait.

NOW I can rally. If I was not a veteran player, would I have any idea what that even means? Presumably if I had taken enough damage prior to this point I would have just died and had to waypoint. Now suddenly I sit on the ground and have new skills to look at in a system not mentioned to me before. Again, the tutorials in the Mists handle this far better and could be looked to for adoption within the PvE environment.

At this point I had wandered into Morgan’s Spiral, completing events with my fellow adventurers. I discovered the Skill Point challenge at the center only to find that while I can see and interact with it I can do nothing but select, "I’ll come back later." Why? As a new player, do I know what this means? Why can I interact with it and see it but not do anything with it yet? Also, it shares the same icon as the "Slot skills" tab of the hero panel, so the connection is easy to make. And yet it suggests that I, the player, have maybe missed some action or process in order to make this object available to me. While this is technically true (I have not leveled sufficiently), this seems rather arbitrary. Even though I haven’t been told about PoIs, waypoints, or vistas, I can use those.

The jumping puzzle here works as usual -- we never were told when we found one until we got to the chest at the end, and that makes total sense given that it’s a self-guided exploration activity. So other elements of the game are being hand-fed but these remain fun and rewarding activities unrelated to leveling and story. It was upon entering the Dark Enclave and fighting things a couple levels higher that I finally went down. So at this point I saw that I can only use down skill 1 and 4. Limiting, but at least it’s consistent with how skills are unlocked in this system.

I remain ambivalent about the lack of conditions from enemy attacks. I cannot truely say if it feels appropriate for a new player or not, or if it will have any impact on how much more difficult combat seems to a new player once conditions are inflicted upon them later.

Level 6
At this point, dyes and the wardrobe are shown to me. I’m guessing this wasn’t an actual unlock so much as it was just pointed out to me explicitly? I honestly did not attempt to use dyes or the wardrobe before. Given that, it might be good that these elements are directly noted for the player -- character customization is a big draw in GW2. I also had seen that I could already use the BLTC, which is why I assume that these were not "unlocked" here but are just mentioned. (since BLTC is a "reward" for level 8 ).

This was not introduced with the September patch, but I did note here that I really, really like how the heart system was updated from a mail message to a direct UI notification to deliver some cash as a reward, the NPC’s thanks, and explicitly noting the vendor unlock. That was a good change, in my opinion, and a good example of the UI clearly pairing with game activity.

Level 7
Offhand slot is finally unlocked.
I took the greatsword that was offered as a level-up reward and swapped to it. Suddenly the center of the screen filled with notifications about skills 2-4 of the greatsword being unlocked, to bring it up to par with the weapon set I had and the unlocks appropriate for level 7. So that’s 3 new skills (4 if you count the first skill, which all weapons start with unlocked) that I might have no clue about that I have access to immediately. This presents an interesting trade-off: there is no learning-via-use anymore that encourages exploration and learning of new weapons via use, but at the same time there’s no need to go through a slow process of fighting with multiple weapons to ensure that all skills get unlocked. I can see arguments for either. However I still feel that the former system awarded player-driven character progression while the new one promotes game-dictated progression.

I also noted that I have to wait until level 15 to unlock my second weapon set. Talk about boring.

I still cannot do that skill point challenge, and at this point I have run past it a few times.

Due to the personal story not beginning until level 10, I could not follow up on the visions I had in The Dream. What seemed like an urgent calling is put on hold. Also, the personal story used to require the player to complete at least one heart before progressing at this point, providing a very helpful heart tutorial in the form of a heart icon, an objective like, "X people helped", and directly pointing the player to the scout initially. Immediately, the relationship between exploring the map and completing hearts was presented. Currently, I was directed to explore the map but did not have the experience directly linked to hearts and player progression. It is my opinion that the tutorial-like nature of the previous system should be shifted off of the personal story (I assume it was actually cut form the initial stages of the personal story, as the latter is moved to level 10) and inserted here, right after the completion of the tutorial boss fight and initial NPC cutscene setting you on your path.

At this point in my early exploration, I had looted a focus. However, red/pink text on the item’s tooltip informed me that I could not access off-hand weapons until level 7. So not only was I prevented from pursuing my personal story and forced into exploring the world, doing what comes naturally in the latter faces arbitrary limitations.

Early fights are underwhelming. This is likely great for new players, as it keeps the amount of difficulty down as they ease into the fluid nature of GW2 combat. While I found it boring, I’ve known people who needed easing in to MMO combat, things like more than one enemy attacking at a time causing stress. Not having to deal with conditions is probably a boon for this kind of player, and it’s no big deal for the rest of us. I did chuckle at the enemy descriptions, with text like, "frenzies, poisons" under their health bars, having no actual weight anymore. The enemies basically spam 1, just like the players, at these levels.

That new icon on some maps, I finally went to check one out to see that it represents dodge "tutorials". The icon is not straightforward nor are we directed to it in any way, so it’s just this thing that MIGHT motivate a player to check it out if he or she HAPPENs to wander over to it -- at least PoIs, Skill Points, and Vistas have a legend for them on the main map view. Granted, a new player will most likely complete it when reaching one, but I can’t help but feel that dodging would be better served with a more explicit tutorial. For example, consider the intro section of the Mists, where players are introduced to downstate, reviving, stomping downed enemies, and capture points. These are very straightforward, clear, and helpful in explaining the game mechanics. Why not have one of the first objectives of PvE exploration be this kind of tutorial, including the use of dodge, the heal skill, and getting downed? In another thread, danakin.3294 had suggested forcing the player into the down state during the tutorial but letting them get out of it without danger of death, affording an immediate understanding of the system and example of how it works. This is a GREAT idea -- if the aim is to reveal mechanics and make them readily understood by players from the get-go, using the slow, introductory pace of the tutorial to present these kinds of situations could be an ideal solution. It would capitalize on the openness and eagerness of new players, and it wouldn’t feel like a chore to veteran players who might be waiting around for the final fight of their race’s tutorial to open up and let them in anyway (i.e. how if you don’t get there when someone else heads in you have to wait for them to finish the fight).

In Caledon, the dodge "tutorial" is just rolling through two areas of effect to open a chest. This introduces the danger of red circles, but it does nothing for the visual cues of enemies about to strike or toss weapons/magic at players. Why not have a friendly NPC offer to train the player, or a captive enemy fight you in a controlled environment? Remember the Township of Claypool in Queensdale? That is actually a great example of PvE tutorials. Here, the heart-related activities include learning how to wait for an opening to strike a shielded opponent, how to block attacks, and waiting for the right opportunity to fire a rifle. The latter might not carry over to anything, but the others are fairly relevant to GW2’s combat system. An interaction like this would be a fantastic way to introduce dodging and healing for new players.

A few weeks back when extra character slots were on sale, I purchased one for a potential project and to putter around with the character creator and also in case I could refer a few friends to the game as new players. This has afforded me the option to test out the New Player Experience. Upon release of the patch, what I read was not heartening, and obviously the discussion(s) here on the forum have left a distinct negative impression among what appears to be a significant amount of players. However it is fair to note that to better judge something one should experience it, so to that end I created a new character to give the new system a spin.

I created a sylvari guardian and decided to make notes as I played for a little over an hour. I recognize the following two facts: i) I am a population of 1 and, therefore, not statistically powerful, and ii) I have been playing GW2 since headstart/launch and as a veteran player am inherently biased toward comparing the new system with the old. That said, my goal was to approach this with a focus on what the new player might feel, trying to fairly evaluate what was presented to me. Unfortunately elements of the system clash so with the previous system that I found myself unable to avoid comparisons. Therefore, I have tried to offer constructive criticism rather than just note displeasure.

The Dream and Early Levels in Caledon
First off, the intro cinematics still put a smile on my face. They were superbly done, and I am glad the style has continued throughout many of the LS sections.

Due to the way weapon skills work now, I was only able to spam 1 all over the place. There is insufficient XP off the nightmare hounds here in the Dream to level up to unlock the next skill, so unlike prior experiences in the Dream wherein I was able to enter the end fight of the Dream with a few skills I just auto-attacked to victory all the way through. Not really a big deal, however; very similar to the “kill X of this baddie” quests every MMO gives you at level 1 with just one skill. The dialogue with Caithe was fine, as she pops up multiple places to keep the player moving forward (I believe this has always been the case, anyway).

On a side note, I was saddened to note that I could not see any trace of the two asura who used to be milling about on the way to the bridge to the final fight. They had some dialogue about experimenting on sylvari, giving a taste of the early (and perhaps still present in some forms) relationship between the asura and the sylvari. This meshes well with some of the young sylvaris’ dialogue when you first pop out of the dream (wondering about how to relate to the other races, being different from them; the player character offers assurance, such as noting that “we feel the same as them” and that’s enough). These bits may seem insignificant, but elements like this scattered throughout the world give Tyria more depth and realism, and we are all worse off for their absence.

After exiting the Dream, I noted that I was still in my gear. For a new player, this is probably a good thing — the sylvari are (were) the only race to NOT appear geared for players, so it could have served as a point of confusion. I, personally, really liked that element and the fact that you could talk to a nearby NPC after taking a mere handful of steps to get the gear that you Dreamed you had to start you off on your Hunt. And if you failed to talk to her, walking past her granted you the gear all the same. Now, however, you already have your gear without this interaction, and if you talk to her she will still say something about how the gear should do for now as if the first half of the conversation, which is now gone, still occurred.

As you exit that starting area, one of the first NPCs is still the scout, which is great. I have always felt that the scouts are an excellent means of both introducing the concept of exploring a map and aiding NPCs as well as giving a player direction when they are wondering where to head next (especially when a scout can point you to part of the map you haven’t explored for more hearts).

Ah.
I overlooked a thread that has already pointed this out when I scanned through thread titles in the first several pages of this section. I am sorry -- my above post should probably just be merged with the following bug report:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Black-Lion-Collections-Progress-without-skin

Hello!

While I was perusing the new collection achievements, to my surprise I saw that I was awarded a point for having unlocked a Chaos weapon skin. Having no recollection of getting one of these skins, I was immediately curious — but when checking my wardrobe, I confirmed that the skin is not unlocked. Screenshots to show this are attached, the first being the collection progress and the second from my wardrobe.

So far I have not been able to determine what player action could have triggered this — for example, had I talked to a vendor about the Chaos pistol, cancelled at the confirmation screen, and somehow gotten credit? However, doing that for other skins has not resulted in falsely earning progress on the achievement, and my wardrobe remains clear of Chaos weapon skins. Browsing them on the trading post likewise does not have any effect, of course.

It’s certainly no big deal, and it’s not a collection path I foresee myself ever completing, but I did want to note it.

"Hey, you know that game you’ve been playing for two years and its UI? Hahahaha, no you don’t. Here’re some popups and hints."