Guild Wars 2

Gem RMT store. Save yourself some pain and chip in on the salary of one of the devs/artists, maybe some server rental, better testers. Or just think of it as giving the Anet hobo a buck to stop doing that thing you hate ever time you walk past.

Of course you could just grind and grind, but its getting pretty clear that anyone is still grinding:
A) Can’t afford to pay in RMT store.
B) Is in fact suffering a serious obsessive disorder.
C) Doesn’t actually care about their legendary (whoa – how bad kitten ).

And probably a few others that take “out there” and “who cares” both to new levels.

Vayne.8563:

Corpses despawn a lot faster than loot chests. There are events in Orr where you’re just not going to see stuff, before it goes away forever.

THIS is where all the precursors are – burried beneath an ever fading pile of corpses in +MF-zerg-grind piles of never collected loot. The RNG is fine, it was all due to taking too long tagging and not enough looting!

Wow… hard platforming is hard… make it less… less optional?

Really – feel like people are driven from a game because they don’t like a single example (or three) of an optional component being tricky and requiring time/effort investment from the player to complete.

Wait until you see ascended jumping puzzles – you can’t even ENTER THE NEW MAPS unless you can finish jumping puzzles into them, no waypoints!

Almost spelled correctly.

Almost had a point.

Almost realised a legendary in GW2 is generally “mid term goal” (in MMO years) and it requires more than the flick of the wrist than other time fillers.

Almost…

Further to my sarcasm, two groups of players here – one lot who couldn’t see what was going on with the encounter and mistook it for bugged/broken, and are still there now demanding that people prove to them it is not. I will not call you the “DBM conditioned”, nor “Void Licker” as it is offensive to people who do spend large amounts of time licking things for a passtime to be grouped in here.

Then the other group who saw the encounter and the single slightly out-of-the-norm mechanic built into it, and worked it out. I will call you anything excepting “Muppet” today.

Wasn’t there a bug where you can’t kill either of the bosses if they are in each other’s AOE auras that needs to be fixed in some dungeon?

Jumping in with what might be slowly turning to a mantra – you don’t pay a subscription, you are trying to circumvent a clear solution so you can circumvent RMT, RMT is the revenue source for this game…

One is not only discussing how hard it is to rip off Anet, but one also has the audacity to complain about how bad one is at doing so and expect the vendor to investigate. You can still buy into the TP without breaking the RMT bank (assuming average income adult player) so inflation is not at a dangerous level from a revenue POV.

If I can’t solo boss/champ content I can’t get my legendary weapon.

I log in for ten minutes a day to an hour a day, there is too much content I will never see and I can’t ever reach the top of the imaginary leader boards because those who play more than me can accumulate more of everything (except loot, and I hate DR).

When I do play I see that almost everyone I party with, run past, or see in town with a TP’d welfare legendary, are just noobs and a drain on my time. It is much better for my time and playstyle to just run solo.

Anet – please remove any remaining group requiring content or nerf it down to solo’able, also fix RNG/DR/Precursors and implement an inspect button ASAP (don’t make me party up to inspect kthnx).

Stop whining about the precursor, learn a little about economics, pump a couple of bucks through the RMT store, win.

“I just keep trying to do the same things and just keep getting the same results! WAH!”

Ever considered the farming guides you have been following are just meta-game for the people TP’ing up a fortune off the masses? Stranger things have happened in MMORPGs…

I would never do some things so I believe it is ridiculous that other people do those things willingly. My point of view is correct and will even make up statistics to give the impression of actual thought!

There is a long list of things I’d like to see turn up in the RMT store yet, but y’know – I think they can leave all the other money spinners in the shop too, makes little/no difference to me in the end.

The other day I walked into my grocer and blasted him over how bad apples were and how much I hated them, BEST WAY TO ASK FOR AN ORANGE EVER!!!!

Wait for it – once enough people agree with the general idea floated this thread will be flipped into…

“So as I see it, X boss should be carrying around lodestones/whatever other item I sook about, and only that item because I saw a concept sketch where a guy that looked like that boss was naked but holding that item.”

Hahah – yes ban everyone who has done this, they need to pay, one deserves one’s pound of spikeroot flesh! RETRIBUTION AND VENGANCE FOR THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX (or emulating those who did).

Wouldn’t just fixing the issue suffice? – These actions are not going to have a long lasting and significant effect on the core game, economics or mechanics, once removed from certain types of PvP.

Cosine.1786:

Life is based on RNG.

There is a reason I play video games.

Just putting it out there – you may want to read Steven Hawking’s book The Grand Design – apparently it is quite possible that nothing is random at all.

Just sayin’…

Pure Heart.1456:

SUGGESTED SOLUTION:

Keep or improve/adjust the current RNG, but in addition, add logic to the code resembling something like this;

When player has exceeded X time and has received 0 ~ 1 rares/exotics, drop them a rare or exotic on next monster kill.

This should alleviate some of the frustration where players feel they are not getting good drops despite great effort.

So basically encourage people away from RMT (no revenue), into grinding (which the game wasn’t supposed to be about, and doesn’t have to be about now), encourage botting and mindless farm zergs, and support the assumption that if you do something wrong enough times over the game will reward you for your persistent poor play?

Just throw a three year old in front of the keyboard and drop them off to zerg farm, get them used to success via mediocrity early so we can have the gamers of the future ready to grind.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

thisolderhead.5127:

I think we have both misinterpreted out posts. My intention was never to imply it is not random enough. What I meant was that the RNG is based on an algorithm, which effectively makes it pseudorandom.

So as such what is the point of the statement? You are not saying it lacks enough randomness, so what – just wanted to make it clear to everyone you know a basic computer science principal or trying to undermine the concept of “random enough”?

Was my statement incorrect? NO. /FF

thisolderhead.5127:

Furthermore, wheneve you have gotten the BSOD (blue screen of death) on your Win OP, it was spitting out RNG-based values because the computers algorithm resulted in an illogical output. Basically, the computer could not compute.

This is so incomplete/innacurate I am having trouble addressing it, I hope you do not work in the ICT industry. You really do just make kitten up for the internet in your spare time, its true.

In simple terms, computer code requires logical input which then gives logical output. Any illogical output gives a nosequential anwser, thus it can be interpreted as RNG.

/FF x2

thisolderhead.5127:

Go to hardware random number generator on the good old Wiki and begin your research again from scratch.

Ahh I may have found something about this – http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/behind-intels-new-randomnumber-generator/0 – Analog-based CPUs.

Oh and I give you /FF x3 for suggesting wiki.

Have a nice day[/quote]

You really should have gone back to the Wiki and STARTED again – its a completely acceptable starting point for learning something one knows nothing about.

The example you posted uses thermal noise, much like a microscopic heat based version of my radio static example, not thermal faults (or in fact ANY fault – those chips are quite fault resistant).

Again has no revelvance to whether or not GW2 uses a random enough technique for its RNG.

Thanks – my day looks great.

phys.7689:

thisolderhead.5127:

Dante.1508:

Gibson.4036:

Some people like gambling.

Some people like working toward a goal without being at the mercy of chance.

One is never going to convince the other that their way is best.

That’s why BOTH should have an equal chance at getting what they NEED from the game, not one or the other both should be able to enjoy the game as much as the other.
Sadly at this time the game only appeals to Gamblers..

What?

So what you suggest is that there is NO manner in which you can plod through the game and progressively and slowly build towards… whatever – probably a legendary weapon based on the “hard stuff is hard” link between drop rates and getting hard to get stuff.

If only you could just play away and build up some form of currency or another, then you could use that currency to allow for the purchase of the things you want, all the while having a slight chance you could just find an item you want in a drop, or some other item of value you could trade or sell to speed up your own journey…

Anyone got any ideas what we could call a currency like this if it got implemented?

you theory might be sound, except for the fact that the highly desired items will always be marketed to the top 5 to 10% of earners, who make way more money than people can save through normal pay. Precursors dont cost a fix amount, they cost what the top earners can afford to pay, what they can afford to pay will continue to rise at a geometric rate.
you will never buy a dusk saving 1gold a day, because by the time you get 400 gold, you can bet that it will have gone up. In the 180 days since the game came out, dusk has gone up from what like 20 gold to 600-700? i think last month it was 400-500,

regardless its a bad game design mechanic to reward primarily on long shot odds, even vegas knows its better to have people win and lose constantly than to have them lose all the time.
Id rather play roulette or blackjack for high end items, its far more gratifying.

You do realise a “geometric rate” can include negative growth, deflation, etc, its like saying “things happen over a rate of time” – I suggest you were after a term more like “hyperbolic”, “exponential”, or even “steep”.

You’d rather gamble because it is more gratifying than… gambling…

Comes down to the same thing I said before (and we are saying similar things in principal) – if you are trying to gamble on a big win from a tiny chance of occurance you will be dissapointed more often than gambling on progrssive smaller wins.

In the context the smaller wins result in a revenue, which is subject to inflation in the same way as the item you are after. Arguing that economic markets are difficult to break into and subject to change doesn’t really negate anything, especially when you can enter that market without too much pain/RMT investment.

In the simplest sense – do you think all of those thousands of items people are feeding to the MF are self crafted/looted? How many people do you think are laughing to the bank while other refuse to short-circuit their cycles of misery?

Dante.1508:

Gibson.4036:

Some people like gambling.

Some people like working toward a goal without being at the mercy of chance.

One is never going to convince the other that their way is best.

That’s why BOTH should have an equal chance at getting what they NEED from the game, not one or the other both should be able to enjoy the game as much as the other.
Sadly at this time the game only appeals to Gamblers..

What?

So what you suggest is that there is NO manner in which you can plod through the game and progressively and slowly build towards… whatever – probably a legendary weapon based on the “hard stuff is hard” link between drop rates and getting hard to get stuff.

If only you could just play away and build up some form of currency or another, then you could use that currency to allow for the purchase of the things you want, all the while having a slight chance you could just find an item you want in a drop, or some other item of value you could trade or sell to speed up your own journey…

Anyone got any ideas what we could call a currency like this if it got implemented?

yeah i got 600+ and I spent 12 months worth of subs ont the game… now I want my 12 months of proper loot, ty.

You spend around $300-400 USD in the store and DON’T have the equiv. of 12 months of loot value? So which is it – loot is worth more than people are attempting to imply or you just have no idea how to turn a profit from RMT/TP interaction?

All I see is a whole pile of anecdotes presented as evidence, misaligned expectations and the woes that brings, a bit of bad-luck disappointment, a few shill/trolls (nice try), and a whole bunch “give me things now kthanks” presented in a variety of ways.

I think we have both misinterpreted out posts. My intention was never to imply it is not random enough. What I meant was that the RNG is based on an algorithm, which effectively makes it pseudorandom.

So as such what is the point of the statement? You are not saying it lacks enough randomness, so what – just wanted to make it clear to everyone you know a basic computer science principal or trying to undermine the concept of “random enough”?

Furthermore, wheneve you have gotten the BSOD (blue screen of death) on your Win OP, it was spitting out RNG-based values because the computers algorithm resulted in an illogical output. Basically, the computer could not compute.

This is so incomplete/innacurate I am having trouble addressing it, I hope you do not work in the ICT industry. You really do just make kitten up for the internet in your spare time, its true.

P.S. I’m still trying to find that CPU test example, but I think it had to do with overheating it.

Go to hardware random number generator on the good old Wiki and begin your research again from scratch.

I’ve played 600+ hours and my highest priced item sold was 35 silver… O_O

I get all my gold (just 50 in total) from selling low level mats, not the worthless drops. But I don’t do FOTM so I guess it’s my fault for not doing what Anet want’s me to do.

600+ hours, and how much did you pay (excepting the original disc/box investment) in that time?

How many people out there have the 600, 700, 900+ hours of game time, cry about the game not being customised to their imagining, and have paid NOTHING for the experience?

RMT and drop rates will be tied together in GW2, you can grind and pray or shortcut the situation by paying for the services you are using.

Grinders use more resources (more time on the servers) than a paying customer, DR encourages them to either engage more with the world (moving around) or to stop leeching resources.

Turgut.4397:

I don’t want to see major kitten contests going on 24/7 outside of Divinity’s Reach. Sorry.

Which is why you limit it to some areas outside of normal traffic, for those of you so offended by the idea it is out of sight and mind.

Actually there is a simple enough solution for most parties – add dueling however tie it down to only a handful of locations that are specifically designed for it (mini-arena type setup perhaps), and out of the way of normal traffic.

Everything this doesn’t address doesn’t warrant address, except the investment of time into actually coding it – /holdbreath.

Ah I see – thank you.

In some cases RPGs have the effect you are referring to – where trying to reduce the deficits in a percentage, or increasing modifiers to the point where die/RNG becomes irrelevant (0% miss chance is a very common one), but to many ways of thinking they show an system/algorithm that “fails to scale” and can be broken.

Some devs leave them in the game as a way of gating – “yes you can break the RNG on this, in fact to proceed you MUST”, the most laughable recent example of this being WoW tank block/dodge/parry sum, and its DPS hit values.

Minimizing the effect of RNG in a game is smart play, in good design you cannot completely make the RNG irrelevant however – even via RMT, just reduce its impact.

ValiantWolf.6059:

I myself would LOVE to see longbow for guardians.

I would like to see Guardians be able to shoot beams of pure SCIENCE out of their eyes, it would also Confuse and Freeze enemies with its SCIENCE LOGIC effect.

I don’t think that would make for too much in one profession – most people would still just run AH/Hammer builds anyway…

I would like to believe trolling, and very good trolling… Sadly I am leaning towards “honest-aspy just doesn’t understand”.

Did you know there is no real Mars in a Mars Bar?

Can you elaborate on what you are referring to by “designed around reducing varience”?

The rest of your post seems to be a preamble to making that statement however it is vague and seems to lack and support.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

thisolderhead.5127:

Death Reincarnated.3570:

GW2’s Random Number Generator (RNG) is not completely random per say (i.e. pseudorandom), because it is based on code; an algorithm. The only true RNG, in terms of spitting out random values, is when you CPU fails and gives errors. Instead of giving zeros and ones it starts to give other numbers. I forgot what the test was but it involved physically failing the CPU so it generated errors which gave random numbers – this was a true RNG.

Did you just honestly try to say that a pseduorandom number generator as is used by GW2 lacks the randomness required for a GAME?

By the way – most true random number generators are not “broken CPU” based, do you just make kitten up for the internet in your spare time?

LOL I suggest you read into pseudorandom generators and algorithms, specifically look up the term pseudo.

Also, computers are based on logical inputs which give logical outputs depending on the parameters set in the algorithm. Have a read:

- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question697.htm
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/13/windows_random_number_gen_flawed/

Oh and here is good old wiki:

“There are two principal methods used to generate random numbers. One measures some physical phenomenon that is expected to be random and then compensates for possible biases in the measurement process. The other uses computational algorithms that can produce long sequences of apparently random results, which are in fact completely determined by a shorter initial value, known as a seed or key. The latter type are often called pseudorandom number generators.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_number_generation#.22True.22_random_numbers_vs._pseudorandom_numbers

Siiighhhhh… /FF

Read more carefully.

I am well aware of how computer based pseudorandom generation works (and further to that how it relates to real crypto and not just games), and again will ask you – is it your opinon that pseudorandom is not random enough for use in games like GW2?

As far as a true random generation method – a lot of them use radio static, point a camera at a lava lamp, or grab cloud shadow patterns from satellite images, not a broken CPU.

Or it’s meant to do exactly what they said – to get people to not just farm one area over and over and over and get them to change zones.

Sorry – I should have stated that what some players feel is an unwanted side effect may in fact be “working as intended”, DR making targetted grinding far less viable and RMT more attractive again.

BTW – I am OK with RMT and paying to support devs/artists for their work.

Only if you are bad at it… which humans generally are.

Gamble for a 5% win from most popular games and you will be able to obtain it relatively consistently. That doesn’t help those gamblers who are trying to turn their $100 into a fortune, but for those who are looking at making an income from $1,000,000 it can be quite easy and safer than stocks or money markets.

helladoom.4317:

alcopaul.2156:

I see many people hating on RNG.
Life is based on RNG.

No.
Random numbers is just a cheap way to fake complexity.

No.
See my earlier post regarding human psychology of rewards.

Though if you replace the word “complexity” with “variety”, and “cheap” with “simple and effective” you are closer to correct, but again all of this is moot – the RNG implementations in most parts of GW2 is designed to nudge you towards RMT and being a contributing member of the community.

I’m going to go one further here too – DR (in part) also punishes players for being cheap and attempting to grind their way around chipping in a few bucks for the upkeep of game.

If the casual players would accept that an account does not afford them the right to every piece of every content, nor the rewards of those who invest more…

If the real hardcore players… well real hardcore players don’t really notice this in game, they are too busy playing the game at the highest level…

But the elitists – ah you are a special bunch, generally not any better than a casual player in terms of skill, put in more hours than the real hardcore people, want all of the best stuff but don’t want any percieved lesser player having your stuff.

The elitists are the best guys in the game, nay – the world! If it were not for the elitists my coffee would have to make itself, my car clean itself, and my kitten suck itself – let us get a special shout out to the “BEST OF THE BEST!” lol.

I would love to hear from a developer on why they feel that so many RNG elements within the game enhance the player experience.

You don’t need a developer of this game to come out and explain anything.

The devs are working within research by behavioural psychs that (a cursory search of the internet could point you to) an accepted truth is humans gain a better dopamine response from occasional and inconsistent rewards than they would from predicable and regular rewards. This also works well establishing Stockholms… and probably “hardcore fanbases”.

I’ll translate for the slow: GW2 RNG = more happy juice in your brain than constant kittens for a month, though still probably less happy juice in the brain than regular exercise and good diet lol.

The fine line between P2W and microtransactions is actually a false line if ANYTHING you can RMT can be sold, AND the game system allows you to trade the “Winning Items”. So if a definitition of “Winning” is an in game item chances are one can already P2W.

What is the problem with stating that anyone who uses a service without paying for it is being subsidised by those who do? I can up the ante on that and say a RMT store user should also get queued ahead of those who don’t pay at every opportunity in this game, they are better than the chunk of the population that generates no revenue while using resources, and complaining about the free stuff they are getting.

Actually your comments about filler players pretty much sums up the non-paying grinders, though it is nice to have all of the frothing ginders line up for an invite – you guys are so keen it is in fact clouding good judgement.

Genre suicide… it is the basic premise of a “Free to play supported by microtransactions” MMORPG at the moment – basically the only even nearly working business model. I know of people spending far more per month on mainly cosmetic items (STO is coming to mind, also LoTRO) than I used to on PLEX in EvE, which was still more than three WoW accounts, etc.

It is present in this game NOW, there are only a handful of things you cannot acquire via RMT paths – frankly all of us who support RMT as it stands today are subsidising the cheap grinders free game play.

I could argue that accepting the RNG is tilted against the grinder is the problem, the logic and economics behind that make more sense than paying ANY attention to a non-paying complainer.

Two groups of unhappy people are in this pile, each with their own axe to grind…

Group (A) Doesn’t want an RNG based solution at all – they would prefer reward be more linked to performance and their interpretation of “Skill”. I am yet to see any RPG that has this sorted out well – just a couple of niche e-sport contenders that are so noteworthy I can’t recall their names.

Group (B) Just doesn’t like the balance of the RNG – and I will go as far as to say that the RNG is designed to be somewhat frustrating. There is a RMT store competing with the RNG for your attention – and we don’t pay upkeep fees on the systems we use.

900 hours of my life for an in game weapon (example people keep coming back to) would make it worth more than most of your cars, 900 hours of “your time” might equate to whatever 1.3 months of welfare payments is valued at in your area.

And there is the crux – you can circumvent the RNG reasonably by PAYING TO PLAY THE GAME, problem solved and all the RNG-Grinding scrooges can fill out the spare slots in paying players’ groups.

Has your compulsive grinding helped me enjoy my night of fun gaming? Possibly!

Dante.1508:

Heijincks.9267:

lisamee.2408:

RNG is a game breaker, especially if the majority of the game play is based on the RNG. Then add the lack of items to play for…and the RNG really is annoying plus no fun. Then add the diminished returns on top of that.

Only a game breaker if you’re building a legendary.

No its a game breaker in all aspects of this game…

Loot drops
Item creations (mystic crapper)
Crafting
Dungeons Rewards
Fotm Rewards
Laurel rewards
Karma rewards
wvw badges
World chests
Cash shop chests

List goes on…

A) Your presentation is misleading – saying some of those CAN be affected is different to ARE affected, nice try though.

B) RNGs exist in almost every form of game – computer or otherwise (with a few notable exceptions), if all gamers harden up an accept that and everyone will sleep better.

C) Would one prefer to trade the dice for capability, RNG for knowledge and skill? If I’m not mistaken most people play games to avoid real life (where most are losing, and not due to a RNG).

C2) Those who are avidly unhappy on this one are playing the wrong game – there are pure skill/knowledge games, this is not one.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

GW2’s Random Number Generator (RNG) is not completely random per say (i.e. pseudorandom), because it is based on code; an algorithm. The only true RNG, in terms of spitting out random values, is when you CPU fails and gives errors. Instead of giving zeros and ones it starts to give other numbers. I forgot what the test was but it involved physically failing the CPU so it generated errors which gave random numbers – this was a true RNG.

Did you just honestly try to say that a pseduorandom number generator as is used by GW2 lacks the randomness required for a GAME?

By the way – most true random number generators are not “broken CPU” based, do you just make kitten up for the internet in your spare time?

Statistically every player has come up as the “1” not the “375000000” at least once.

Based on the RNG sooking on this forum the player also believes that level of initial luck should confer entitlement onwards for the next one to one hundred years.

Anyone on here with a half a brain no doubt marvels that many posters were in fact the smartest/fasted of the batch at conception – I see in utero alcohol as responsible for almost every RNG whine post.

hharry.1967:

A trade system would be the best, i dont know why would they stick to RNG, it just favors lucky people and frustrates unlucky ones.
Allowing to obtain these items with a trade system, at least, gives you a goal, run fotm xxx times and get your prize, instead of run fotm xxxxxxxx times and maybe get nothing.

Rare and hard to get things are rare and hard to get, you may never get them.

Working as intended, makes sense to most other people – still can’t see your problem (school holidays perhaps?).

This argument goes around in any economy eventually… so lets just skip ahead..

Those of you in the trailer park did miss your chance, now you are poor. You can work your way out of that hole, no you will probably never “catch up” – you already missed that chance. Keep your eyes open for another chance and hope this time you are the winner!

At least you can short circuit game poverty by buying at the store, real poverty you are stuck with.

(Posted from my desk, of my six figure job, during my scheduled lunch break, where I have probably beaten you at economics IRL).

I keep saying that the game should be free, but posting on the forums should be microtransaction driven.

“Vibrant community” is watered down by the pay-one-troll-forever malcontents and shill accounts, and whining vocal minorities.

Related – if you haven’t used the gem store you are NOT playing as intended.

This thread is amazing… if you go back through and read it very carefully with head outside one’s self and with an eye for real economics.

Yes it will take a little time investment in between dungeons/pvp but nothing like the precursor/RNG direct path.

What am I talking about? Well look again – if you can see the opportunity jump in and make that gold now before some idiot savant reveals it!

With attack speed that high it is possible that the crit number is also high enough (at that chance level) that the returns from AH and ZB are able to significantly offset the low HP somewhat…

The counter to this build is to stop it hitting things while still hitting it I would guess (at a glance), fairly vulnerable to ranged once the reflection CDs are popped?

Flipside – not counter argument or rebuttal… different things.

Happy people don’t have the same need to discuss how they could be made unhappy, as those with the opposite sentiment – so its also refreshing to see a “joy post” instead of a “rage post”, a flipside even.

J.I. doesn’t land on friendly targets now… hmmm must have somehow mixed up the behaviour of 1HS#2 and it.

What I’m trying to highlight here is that “3 seconds of effect” type abilities often have a secondary which is as useful (if not more so) than some of those primary ones… or lead to interesting combinations.

I would love to hear, and think that many Guardian players would also benefit a lot from hearing, about what “creative” or “unorthodox” uses others have found for traits and abilities.

We have such an amazing tool set with a lot of potential for secondary uses, it is easy to assume we have worked out the intent and limits of our tricks.

A general example to get things started – we have around eleven hundred interrupt type abilities, hiding inside various shields/bubbles, if an opponent ability has a cast time they should rarely be able to complete it.

Specific example – JI to a friendly while casting (racial) healing seed, targetted MI with a better heal and an AoE enemy burn – ready to be followed up with an area denial ability to maximise the recovery potential.

As has been noted – it increases the number of stun breaks available to the class, while allowing you to slip half (or 2/3) of your meditations in between chain attacks.

This discussion is occuring in a thread which is exactly one above another discussion where a key point raised was that guardians don’t have enough stun breaks, which is interesting and perhaps indicative of how much there is still to be gleaned about some abilities and traits.

Consider the following…
You are running with some mates and as the AoE Guardian you are at the front of the pack grabbing initial attention on multiple mobs, whirling through them those projectiles are great for hitting the initial on those that are trying to skirt you.

As has been picked up on before the profession doesn’t have much in the way of movement control, these bolts are one of the ways to apply a weak control to multiple mobs, then GS.#5 to regroup them, GS.#2 again and stragglers are collected again. I consider them a range increase on the whirl and as such feel they do quite well.

I don’t really understand the problem, if you are whirling you are attacking multiple opponents already – the fact they might be a step or three further away and you still hit them is a positive thing I would think.

I would love to see an XML output tool or something comparable to the API system from EvE available…

Just so I can stop having to alt-tab/type from my character sheet.

Maybe a way to pipe the combat log to file too…

“Hardcore” lacks any decent definition – doesn’t matter if you are looking at games, music scenes, or crack heads, the term is useless to base conversations on.
The “treadmills”, making content that only targets a top percentage of players but trickles through via progressing gear a little behind the content challenge (ideally) works for some games/people – even managed to keep my (and most of the current player base’s) attention for a couple of years.

Personally – and this points out how subjective the term is – hardcore players to me are the ones who strive constantly to improve their game play with regards to what stands in that game at any given time, accepting that games evolve and evolving with them. Probably not many others opinion.

The point is that players love bigger numbers and shiny things, a “treadmill” provides rails to that end. Despite being a “theme park” game GW2 in many ways resembles the “walled sandbox” like GTA (which market test better than linear games usually these days) – as such I’d like to peek into the “hardcore raider yo” player type’s consoles and confirm my suspicion that they have unlocked the Lambo, mini-gun, and chainsaw before playing another ten hours and moving on to a different game without seeing the final cutscene.

Finally I’ll throw in an opinion/observation – people looking for constantly progressing, grind-able, gear cycles are common – but generally not “hardcore” by my definition – they are chasing the top percentage of “hardcore” players capacity, capability, and results…

(Arrogant Disclaimer – I’ve been a top theory crafter and content completion player on another MMORPG, and stopped because I feel a little responsible for the mindset we might have encouraged, then game to GW2 to avoid it and relax/enjoy games again.)