Mungo Zen.9364

As Anet has let us know that this series of Episodes/Chapters will be 'lite' releases due to the teams working on the Expansion I have changed my mind about DRM. As the DRM releases have been improved upon with each release, I am holding out hope that they will polish the set of DRM and story experiences when it has all been released. As such, I have done the minimum to qualify for the Rush Week events and am waiting until they either give the DRM some polish, or they state that it is 'done' to decide if I care to grind the Achievements.

I played SWTOR during the release of their housing system. Overall the systems they employed were both awesome and terrible. I liked the vast range of items they added to the game for placing in housing and that they released several very different houses to build in (and that you could own 3 at a time). I didn’t like that they tied some bonus to your account of having a ‘fully decorated’ home. It meant you jammed as much as you could in and all aesthetics went out the window. SWTOR has housing decorations in the cash shop that do sell to augment the I game items they can be found. No one ever complained about these and many people were happy to buy them. Overall I would engage with a housing system but wouldn’t spend any real money to decorate it. I would dislike it if it was anything more than optional.

I like the framework for the Thief and Ranger ideas. I really do not get the Mesmer idea. What happens to all the Illusion skills we would typically have? What about the Shatters? How would all the Traits that empower Shatters and Illusions be utilized with your new idea? The Necro feels a little too all in on the Lifeforce to DMG conversion, perhaps something similar to Warriors Adrenaline where you get 2-3 bars to fill and can spend 1 or all to empower a specific skill or F1-F3 types ability. Going a step further, why not have them include party support of some kind?

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said: > > @"Mungo Zen.9364" said: > > There have been some catch-up mechanics applied, most obviously Eternal Ice shards being traded for LS4 currencies. While you can exchange Eternal Ice for LS4 currencies with no limit today, the first few months there was a daily cap for this exchange. > > This was an alternate source but I wouldn't call it a "catch up" mechanic. They provided an easier way to farm currency after the content had aged. They did so by first adding the conversion and second by making the conversion unlimited a few months later. For someone who didn't play during LS4 this feels like a catch up mechanic as LS4 is slower to grind currency than Bjora Marches. > > They have also gone back to adjust some content to balance the Time and Effort required, as an example, recently Rylands Conversations with IBS Drizzlewood 1/2 had the time gate drop from Weekly to Daily. > > I assume that you're referring to Bangor in EotN as I don't recall any time-gated conversation with Ryland. This was programmed from the beginning. The release of further conversation steps was timegated but there was no timegate on already released conversations. You just needed to re-zone or re-log to progress to the next. That was my mistake, the Achieve is Confer with Bangar and there are many threads from summer 2020 referencing the time gating on the conversations. It appears that they released the conversations every week or two, but made it possible to have all conversations with Bangar after they had been released using the method you described.

While the topic is Currencies and I endeavor to stay there, this is part of Achievements in general as Currencies and Rewards are tied to Achievements so I post with that in mind. There have been some catch-up mechanics applied, most obviously Eternal Ice shards being traded for LS4 currencies. While you can exchange Eternal Ice for LS4 currencies with no limit today, the first few months there was a daily cap for this exchange. They have also gone back to adjust some content to balance the Time and Effort required, ~~as an example, recently Rylands Conversations with IBS Drizzlewood 1/2 had the time gate drop from Weekly to Daily.~~ If you read through the patch notes over the years, you will see many inclusions for subtle changes to how we receive rewards, usually making it a little easier. I believe that the developers have been very deliberate in costing the Time and Effort required for the rewards. While Episode to Episode might not appear consistent, we can see how they have refined some aspects while also trying out new ideas. When they have gone back to adjust the Time and Effort required it has been fairly subtle and not devaluing the reward for doing so. So why would a game company gate rewards behind Time and Effort? Would you play a game that launched some DLC that was basically "here is a story, but before you go, here is some new armor and weapon skins, a title, and a bag full of coins and mats, now go enjoy that story! (ps, there are no further rewards)" I would bet that most players would skip the story, or likely not even engage in the game because the rewards have _no value_. It sounds potentially preposterous, but at some point there is a minimum level of effort required by the player for the rewards to have value and to work towards those rewards. For those that have done it. we all shared in the Time and Effort required for the Skyscale collections. We all know how much time and effort went into earning the Skyscale. We see someone on a Skyscale and we know that person spent days or weeks collecting everything, doing the events and such. In fact, if you are online enough you have probably helped other players work towards the Skyscale because it is a relatively big undertaking. So we can understand the Time and Effort to get the Skyscale and can understand the perceived value of it. We value it for it's utility, but also value the sense of accomplishment for attaining it. We might forget that moment of "Oh yeah, I did it!" when completing a collection but that is why most players are playing. When I see a bunch of players on Skyscales, I think about a bunch of players who had that "Oh yeah, I did it!" moment as well. Would it have mattered if we were having to farm 10k nodes or slay 10k mobs or, hey, press one of 104 keys on your keyboard for a total of 10k times.... Probably not, although given the diversity of options we have for attaining the rewards in this game it masks the fact we are just pressing buttons over and over to get a virtual reward. So why would the developers put all this effort into making challenges and then time gating them? To incentivize players to log in day over day, knowing that the more we play, the more we stay, the more likely we are to spend money. This game isn't made for us the players, it is made by a company trying to make money. The company is providing us with a fun diversion from whatever else our lives have, and if they can sell us a dopamine hit by offering us fun activities with the perception of valued rewards (lots more "Oh yeah!" moments), people will continue to pay/play them.

> @"Lousian.4927" said: > Hi,i want to return in gw2 world after 2-3 years .I dont know which class to main.I want to focus on farming,fractals and open world.Raid later.I want easy class,before i played reaper power.Now i made it scourge with viper sts but i dont like it.I want something new.Classes i like and i need help to choose is: Ranger,Warrior ,guardian and engineer.Which one from all 4 it is better for fractals,farming,world exploration and pvp for daily.Ty and sry for my txt,english is not my matern lng. > @"Lousian.4927" said: > i like warrior .It is good for solo? And i like holowsmith with rifle. > From this 2 which have more survivability ? > I would give Warrior a shot given the information you have provided. It can play solo or grouped, and can be effective in all play types (PvP, WvW, Fractals/Raids, everything Oper World).

Sylvari have a great storyline that doesn’t really borrow from other fantasy races. Asuran are pretty funny to play in general. I would suggest listening to the characters speak for each race to decide what voice you want to be hearing during play. Running them through the intro story should be enough to get a feel for them. That is the primary reason I don’t play Norn or Humans. As for the Profession you choose, Necro and Elementalist are not typical staff with cloth armor like other games. They can be, but both have strong ties to melee range combat. Necro is a lot beefier then Elementalist as well. Put another way Staff is a good weapon but rarely the best weapon for those professions.

> @"Veprovina.4876" said: > It would be easier to just buy a character slot, unless you're already full. > But yeah, better not delete a character. I am betting there is a discount on character slots in the next few weeks.

I really dig Beetle races but think they are the easiest of the group. When you realize that you only need to power slide the smallest amount in most races and it is all about the correct lines everything gets a bit faster. I also like the collected rewards for racing Beetles. Griffon Adventures are fine, I find them harder than Beetle for the 3D aspect of it. However most of the courses are just easy, while others are way tighter than expected. I have only done these for the achievements and never gone back. JP have the most variety of difficulty, which is why they are my preferred of this group. I like that some of the newer JP like Draconis Mons or Sirens Landing are quite creative and have checkpoints to help along the way. I will hop into a JP for giggles whenever the mood strikes.

Have them start at the beginning, and go at their own pace. Do as much Core as they want (to 80 or beyond) and then see if they want the challenge of HoT or PoF. Too many new players get turned off the game by being overloaded by rushing through the content. Let them enjoy the stories and content and push the pace at their speed. Unless they wanna PvP, then get them in the lobby and forget about the rest of the game.

> @"Bellbirds.1679" said: > I'd like a bit more transparency from Anet about the size/workload of their bug fixing team. It's easier to be patient when you know the team working on the issue a) knows it's an issue, b) the size of that team and c) their workload. That way if it's taking a while and you know the team is small with a high workload a player can be understanding and confident that since the issue is flagged on the known issues list that eventually the team will get to it. If you have no idea about the size of this team and no accurate way to know/find out if a bug is known about it is extremely frustrating to play with the bug and very easy to become impatient. To be fair, most software development teams I have worked with don't have the clarity internally that you are asking for. They likely have a list of issues and bugs in the hundreds that is always shifting in priority, and outside of the project managers or team leads, most of the team doesn't actually know what most of the issues are. In fact, most bugs or problems rot until they have time to investigate the issue to determine can it be fixed, how long to fix it, impact of fixing it to define the scope of work required. Once the scope has been assigned it will be given a priority and queued for someone to actually work on it, but, that could be never if the priority is low enough. Those fixes are usually competing with new updates to the software (such as the LW stories) and the updates are usually assigned a timeline to be completed within as part of their scope, whereas bug fixes are not. Given that there is always more work than developers, they will work through Priority 1 requests, new updates and then fix requests. Unless a fix becomes a priority 1 request, it can, unfortunately, wait a long time to be looked at. That doesn't mean the bug that bugs you won't ever be looked at, it does mean it would be very hard to say it will be looked at until, well, it has been fixed and released. ...and I say that having had this experience working within software development companies, not even as a customer of one.

> @"Cleopatra.4068" said: > > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said: > > Is it really that long, over an hour? > > I don't remember it taking much time, but it's been awhile. > That first mission is pretty long. First you fight Balthazar’s herald, then you fight her some more, then you fight Balthazar’s hounds, then you stop the city from burning and save the raptors, then you get a raptor and go kill stuff in the caves with it, then you go meet up with your guild mates at the city. The first time through, I can see how it could take an hour. Is all of it in the same instance, though? I never realized that. It felt like multiple instances while doing it, but I guess it might be the same one the whole time. > Yup all the same instance.... I joke about it as I have been booted from Story instances for all manner of reasons, the worst being during cut scenes at the end of a story step (because idle disconnects are a thing). > @"Joote.4081" said: > > @"Mungo Zen.9364" said: > > Are you really playing GW2 if you haven't been booted from a story instance for seemingly illogical reasons? > > No it's my first time as I usually avoid the story missions like the plunge. My only reason for doing is this time was to gain access to POF. > Saying that, the POF story mission seemed much better then the early stuff. I want to say that you can use a TP to Friend to get into PoF without doing the story, although that might not apply to the first character you take through. I do know it can be done with alts on the same account for sure.

Are you really playing GW2 if you haven't been booted from a story instance for seemingly illogical reasons?

> @"Tekoneiric.6817" said: > Seeing some defeated players on Verdant Brink gave me an idea for novelty signs. Ones that say: > > Rest In Peace > No Loitering > Bad Spot To AFK > Defeated Players Will Be Ignored > Broken Event > I like the concept of this idea, but the visual clutter would be a detractor from it. Having them as PvP finishers would be an easy way to use this idea, but let's think about PvE too.... I would have them controlled by the downed player, the easiest being to have one automatically pop up after death and lasts a few seconds. You would want to avoid excessive visual clutter, and the ability to get to clickables under the sign (like your dead character, or a chest). Completely unnecessary but a fun idea.

I am primarily a solo player. I do like that I can play with other people and that there is content that requires grouping. I will group with my partner on the regular to do shared content like stories or dailies. As well, I will use Mentor tags to alert others on a map to an event/bounty/collection I will be attempting. I also use my Comm tag and LFG to get people together for larger events (recently Bjora Marches and Path to Ascension metas as examples). I also appreciate that when I do run into players 'in the wild' that I can jump in and help them and I don't mind if others come and help me. So while I do say I am primarily a solo player, I do group with friends and randoms about half the time I am logged in. As there is little to no competition between players in PvE having other players around, in my opinion, is a nice thing to have but not required.

> @"artcreator.4859" said: > It's just too easy, been playing with new people and they wanted to quit due to the first leveling maps, its just a steam roll, walk up, press 1 on key board, move on, It's a great game, but man the level of quality from the new stuff and the old is massive, almost 2 different games. love the game though and looking forward to next xpac, hopefully it can fix this so the game can have a better future. Combat in this game is only part of this game. There is a wealth of stories and world development that the game drives you towards right from the start of your character. This world immersion might not be for everyone but, if you aren't paying attention to the stories being told then you might be missing out on one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. For a lot of newer players I have met or brought into the game the combat was irrelevant to why they kept playing, but rather the connection to the stories, characters and locations was the drive to keep logging in. I can appreciate this might not be the world for everyone to explore, it would be a shame if a game was too easy to play to enjoy the story.

> @"Lily.1935" said: > PvE is mine and many other's preferred game mode. And from that perspective it often seems that PvE is largely ignored when it comes to balance which I feel is a mistake. A lot of classes under preform and the dominant builds tend to stay dominant for years. This creates a rather stale format. Although some like the consistency of it never or rarely changing, I don't hold that position at all. In PvE you can play pretty much anything though, and don't _have_ to play the dominant or meta builds. In fact, some of the more enjoyable builds are not Meta or even close to being "dominant". > > Tackling new content with the same exact build I've been using for 4 years leads to long periods of fatigue with the game and short bursts of interest. Why are you using the same build for 4 years? There are hundreds of unique build options per Profession, let alone 9 Professions you can choose to play. Many of them are 'good enough' for PvE. > > You could tell me to do PvP or WvW more. But those formats are extremely stressful for me. I don't like killing other players, I get no enjoyment from being killed by them myself. I prefer spectating those. And my involvement with spectating is directly linked to my enjoyment of PvE. > > So this post is more personal feels on the issue. From my perspective, PvE is the most important part of the game. And new content is soured for me when the gameplay has stagnated for me. I enjoy a PvE experience that is evolving. And without new skills being added, balance is where I turn to to find my thrills with experimentation and adapting. So you do enjoy experimenting with builds? If you do then why use the same build for 4 years or complain about a stale format? Perhaps you are thinking specifically of high end Strikes, Raids and Fractals? This I can completely understand since there is a community expectation to have a 'meta' build for that type of content. However even there you can alter your build to both suit your playstyle and the needs of the group. Your build flexibility in this type of content requires your build meshing with the builds of the other players to optimize the encounters, and as such, meta or not, you will need to accommodate the group needs to find success. This does create some limitations in how you approach you characters build. While I think it would be awesome to have better balance across the professions and as many builds within each, the variance for the majority of builds is a lot closer than the best and worst builds would lead you to believe. It feels to me that the high end PvE content could use more options for group support (Alacrity, Quickness, Fury, Might etc) to allow niche Professions to have more flexibility in what they bring to the group.

> @"Touchme.1097" said: > Dear Anet, > I am pointing you in the direction of a change into how leveling currently works when interacting with POI, vistas, doing hearts, discovering maps and killing monsters. > I find it very annoying when leveling up with friends to slow myself down to let them catch up with me because I am a very fast paced player and I get things done quick. > Can you change the way players experience leveling by sharing the contribution in a map when they are both on the same instance of the same map? > This way leveling with friends would feel much more enjoyable and less frustrating and selfish as it is now. At the moment every contribution to map and hearts is totally individual even when partying with friends and it doesn't feel right to me. > Regards Let's ignore PoI, Vista, HP/MP or anything a player needs to interact with in the game world. It wouldn't make any sense to allow a player to get inclusion for something they need to be present for to click an object. As well, let's ignore XP gain, since we would want to avoid any kind of XP leeching. If you don't perform an action that nets an XP gain, you shouldn't get the XP. Same as if you didn't tag the event champ, you don't get XP or loot. We can also throw in anything Achievement related, if you didn't actually perform the actions to net the achievement, then you don't get the achievement. So making this specifically about Heart completion now, what would be the minimum inclusion for someone to benefit from your desired changes? Let's assume that my members of the party need to be standing in the active Heart area at least. If I am in a party and I do nothing to contribute to the Heart but stand there, should I still get Heart completion and access to the associated Vendor? If I didn't do anything other than stand there, then I shouldn't be getting XP or Loot nor progress towards Achievements, so just the Heart completed cause my party did the hard work? And, how is any of this more or less anti-social than the current system?

Bad ideas need more bad ideas, and what I propose is a bad idea. An optional monthly sub that provides you with gems. That’s it. They bill your CC and you get gems every month without having to think ‘did I spend enough on GW2 this month???’ Terrible idea, would anyone want a recurring Gem sub?

If you are buying something from the current generation of CPU and GPU you should be fine GW2 doesn’t require the best of the best hardware by any means. Your 1050ti is equivalent to the GFX card I am using and getting 60fps on at 1080p. What I would consider is are there other games or applications you run that might be harder on the system. As well, do you want to run above 1080p or dual monitor etc that might warrant getting a beefier GFX card.

Are there any other items in the game that have continued to gain value over the past 3-5 years the same way as MC? At a cursory glance I am seeing that most items have become cheaper over time until they flatline. Some items have notable swings up or down due to seasonal events or new content requiring specific mats or items be used, but generally most appear to be stable. The interesting thought about MC is that they have nearly doubled in price from last year at this time, which is the greatest inflation over the past 5 years (when looking year over year). As well the post Wintersday period is usually a decline for MC but this year it kept going up to it's current position. I would think, given how Anet has recently changed the drop rate for various Infusions that were super rare and overpriced as a result, that they would also monitor this situation. I doubt they would do anything yet as this is still relatively early for this new trend of continual growth, but perhaps later in the year we will hear something from them. Lastly, a thought on why this could be happening. This could be a result of players pre-purchasing and holding mass quantities of MC for new Legendary items that might come with the Expac. Not saying they will use these for themselves as I am sure there are some prospectors out there waiting for the crest, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are many hundreds or thousands of MC being held by players just to work on whatever Legendaries are coming with EoD.

> @"Oxstar.7643" said: > So, first of, I'm not a fan of the biggest event zone taking place in Jennah's garden. While it is a beautiful locale, I feel like its a bit of a nightmare to navigate and it's way too easy to get stuck. This ultimately rewards people who have spent a long time memorizing all the best paths and routes for each event, which is not very friendly to people who have not - after all, for what reason would anyone spend time there outside this event? At least I merely wanted to have some fun and instead struggled with getting stuck at lips and bumping into wall sections juuuuust too high to jump over. > Also, why is it even a competition? What is with the "most contribution thing"? Wouldn't it be more fun if we worked together and got rewarded based on teamwork rather than competing with the winners being those who did it many many times? And - since some of the events are races, is it not a bit unfair that classes with movement skills can have a crushing advantage over classes with less so? Not everybody has every class. I think weapon and utility skllls should just be disabled for races. A much superior example is the aspect race years ago, where players raced across a custom map using just the aspect powers that they picked up on the run. Very fun and fair thing. As you get a key for just being there for each event, you don't have to overwork yourself and try and compete for the second key. The incentives help complete the process of finishing the events in a timely manner. As noted, in prior years it was not engaging for the players when there was no incentive. If someone wants to spend multiple rounds learning how to optimize the event, let them. There is no reason to make it even easier than it already is given how little you actually need to do to get the final award. > > The there is the race around Divinity's Reach. Do we just assume everyone has a roller beetle? And if so, it's still not the best racing course, with its winding streets and packing buildings. Here too, a custom area would have been better in my opinion. This is a Raptor race, not a Roller Beetle race. As you can attain Gold in the Time Trial on a Raptor relatively easily, and there are no bonus awards for placing top 3 in the actual race, anyone using a Roller Beetle is likely doing it for a personal challenge, or to rank against other Roller Beetle Racers.

I wish you could bottle marketing classes into a quick paragraph. One of the simplest ways of making a sale is to hype the item and then immediately put it into a persons hand. The hype isn't for players who are already going to buy the expansion, it's for the players who are on the fence or have never heard of the game. This isn't like a subscription service where you are trying to maintain a customer base every month. Subscription games need a reason to keep hyping the game to avoid losing players. This expansion will be a one time purchase, and teasing it aggressively would potentially waste the hype they are building if there is no product forthcoming. Why would a company hype the product with no way to capitalize on that marketing? I would anticipate that when they start announcing the expansion features there will also be a way to pre-order it with a launch date within a few months.

> @"judeobscure.2537" said: > > @"Mungo Zen.9364" said: > > > > I found that at level 80 in Zergs I wanted to do less DPS to allow more players to get involved in events. Sometimes events end very quickly as players are maxing their DPS which has led to community Mentors and Commanders during these events to call out for "Auto Attack Only" to extend the time an event or champion is available for players to tag. By creating 'Zerg' builds focused around providing more utility and less DPS I found a nice balance between enjoying the combat mechanics for my profession and overpowering the mobs. > > > That is interesting, mz, not something i would have expected to be happening out there in the wild. > > > Having observed how combat is developed for games, one consideration is Time To Kill (TTK). This can be measured in seconds, in button presses, in actions taken or others. I have found that in GW2 solo combat that feels 'good' for me lasts a 3-5 seconds or about 1-2 rotations through my main offensive skills (perhaps up to 10 actions/keystrokes). I don't really care about shorter combat, swatting flies is an annoyance more than an enjoyment. > > This is something I've been thinking about as well. I'm trying to marry the weight of the story/lore/world with the combat, and I'm having diffculty with this part. I feel like killing thousands of sentient beings and monsters, each within a few seconds or fractions of seconds leaves me feeling hollow. When I think what something like that might be like irl, and then to look at how it's represented in game, it's just not appealing. I'm trying to think how I can change my mindset about combat to make it more enjoyable within the fold of experiencing the story and world. I'd like the warring and fighting to have an emotional aspect or payoff to synchronize with the arc of the story. But I feel like there's a disconnect there. How could I frame the actual experience of the combat gameplay so that it integrates better into my experience of the story? This is why I really don't like the Diablo or Path of Exile franchises. Running through mobs with the best 'lawn mower' build is only fun for a few minutes. I don't mind if it happens occasionally in games but like you, I don't want it to be the running theme. > > > On the other end, soloing Champs for a couple minutes where I get to run through all my tools and rotations multiple times can be very enjoyable. Over time I learned that it is harder on yourself to avoid self-sustain abilities, traits, skills and gear if you want to take on greater challenges solo or in small groups. > > One question I have about combat skill rotations is, are you responding dynamically to what the enemies are doing, where you may choose different skills in different sequences, or are you always going through your skills in the same order? Dynamic all the way. I call them rotations but they are just combinations of actions that group well together. The core DPS rotation which will be the thing you typically open and work with. Some skills work better before/after another skill such as Combo Fields (if you haven't yet, go read about them here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo ). As well some classes have 'ramp up' effects like Warriors Adrenaline or Necromancer Life Force that allow you to build towards a bigger effect or ability. If you consider that most classes have 15-25 available actions during combat (weapon and utility skills as well as class special skills), you won't be using them all to just beat stuff up. There are heals, buffs, cleanses and mobility that focus on your character or group that are situational but, in my mind, important tools to be aware of how to use properly (or at least that you can use them and that they are good to use some times). > > > The relevance here is that at level 80, there is no gear grind or escalator, rather this game offers horizontal progression. You won't be looking for the next most powerful piece of gear every new Release to upgrade to, but rather, alternate stat combos to augment how you play your chosen profession. > > Do you change your build depending on the environments and enemies you're fighting? Does the game allow for that type of flexibility, control, and response? Is that an enjoyable way to play? I'm wondering if alternate stat combos are more for the sake of variety, or if they're necessary to respond to and defeat various enemies? All the time......literally. I have 3 primary builds for my main character based upon different encounter and grouping types (Full Power, Full Support, Hybrid) and within those I am always tinkering with which utilities I want to use for a given moment. In any given play session I will swap my build several times and adjust my utilities many more. Whether it be pausing for a second to adjust them before entering combat, or even running out of a zerg to change the build and come back in, I do it all the time. Case in point, I was just fighting Tequatl (overworld squad boss) with 50+ players and between the first and second phases I went from a healing/support build to a power/buffing build as that is what helps the group the most in my opinion. Not everyone does this, and I could be 'overthinking and overplaying' the game but, there are a whole lot of "power" players who just focus on the DPS and allow others to pick up the support. > > > So I think, after that, I am answering some of your questions. I enjoy feeling the combat in this game, I expanded my understanding of Utility and Support skills to increase my sustain, which in turn reduces my DPS and allows me to experience the flow of combat in a manner I enjoy. > > This is interesting, are you talking here again about intentionally underperforming in combat so as to lengthen the engagement with the enemy as well as your own abilities? I have a partner and friends who I brought into the game, as well as having played with many newer players from guilds I have been in or just randoms picked up along the way. I don't _need_ to melt faces, but I do want my friends to be able to engage and learn about the game while I offer some support to their gaming experience. > > > And I apologize since I am looking at this primarily from a level 80 standpoint. After getting all 9 Professions to 80 I didn't see the need to invest into the 1-80 again. > > That's quite alright, this is invaluable insight for me. I'm learning a ton. You guys are saving me a ton of time and frustration I would have dealt with going in blindly. > > > Now that said, what I have told friends or guildies that are new to the game is to try out all the weapons and utility skills your class offers. You can go to the PvP lobby and try out all the skills and utilities to get a feel for how they work in game on a target dummy (Caution, PvP and WvW have slightly different takes on about 800 skills in this game, some have different CD which will be the most notable effect when testing, most are damage or coefficient related however). > > Great, I hadn't even considered doing this. I am playing around with different weapons and skills to see what I enjoy. I'm torn between the elementalist, the ranger, and the warrior. I doubt I'll have time to play the game through more than once, but it's difficult choosing between melee and traditional combat and magic. You might be able to find a comparison of the different classes and their pro's and con's somewhere. I will add that Elementalist was one of the harder classes to level for myself, while Ranger and Warrior were pretty much as expected to get into. The design of these three classes has Ranger and Warrior a lot closer to what you would expect from an MMO, while the Elementalist is unlike anything I have played in another game. That said, if you fall in love with how the Elementalist plays, who am I to suggest otherwise! > > > Don't just look at what the skills do but feel them. Some skills you can be cast while moving, some force you to stop, some stop casting when you move. Some skills can be cast while another skill is being cast even. As well there is the pre-cast and after-cast animations, and travel time for ranged skills. > > I hadn't considered this either. There are so many options and combinations. Are we able to interrupt pre and post cast animations just be initiating another action/movement/skill? In some cases yes, some no.... I will add in that this game does have some skill queueing so if you have one skill activating you can hit the next skill and it will queue up for activation when the first has completed. However, given the variables I noted above, not all skills will work the same, and it is best to play around with them yourself to feel how it flows with your style of gameplay. > > > My favorite MMO have been SWtoR and GW2 as I enjoy flowing combat, similar to a dance. The pacing of CD's on some professions and builds in GW2 creates a very dance like rotation. Referring to myself above, 3-5 seconds of dancing, or chain pulling mobs into the dance to keep the fun rolling is really enjoyable for me. > > I've caught myself watching animations and trying to position mobs too since I read your post. I think combat is the biggest hurdle for me in choosing GW2 as an RPG to invest in. I've always been more interested in story, lore, characters, and details more than combat. I like what I've learned about the story and lore of GW1/2 so far, I'm just wondering if I can sustain through so much combat, even if it's fun but feels disconnected from the story I'm playing through. > > I think I misunderstood just how differently different games and studios approach RPG design. I didn't realize combat was the dominant focus of the game. I see there is a lot of exploration too, but slaughtering thousands of mobs and enemies, without ever the threat of really dying, equates in my mind to my character essentially being a god. A god that doesn't make many decisions and only has to kill enough to see the end. Any thoughts on how to approach that? What is it you look for in how you receive and experience the story? How does combat fit into and define the experience of the GW world and stories for you? You aren't always in combat, you can choose to be as involved as you like. The open spaces in GW2 allow for a lot of free movement around the maps, but do expect more combat as you head into enemy areas of course. There are a lot of Way Points (the method of fast travel) dotted around the Core maps as well (way too many, but, that is to your advantage). As you get into HoT and PoF expansions you gain access to additional movement options in the form of Gliders (HoT) and Mounts (PoF) which some feel trivializes the content but, it does let you skip by, or escape from, a great many threats. As well, there are stealth options mostly via Thief and a little bit Mesmer, but they are not the common play patterns and I don't know how that would work out in all circumstances. You can use them to bypass a lot of junk or escape from gaining agro which might be a thing you like. > > Thanks so much for your responses, mz. :smile: > > > > >

> @"BCPrhys.7230" said: > As Guild Wars 2 is currently structured, I can see why new players would be lore confused. Being a player of the GW franchise since 2005, please forgive my opinions of the game flow as it stands. I do realize most people will not agree with my views. > > The first Guild Wars always felt, to me, as though the player was moving forward through time in Tyria with all the events spread through the three games and one expansion. That was until you hit the end of each game and finalized with the announcement of Guild Wars 2. At that point all new content ceased. Okay, channelling of production resources into the newer chapters of Tyrian history was acceptable. In that announcement, what intrigued me the most, was the possibility to actually move forward through history as it was being made. No other game out there was doing that. WOW was a juggernaut for MMORPGs at the time, but it was stagnating. Why? Because there was no forward momentum, nothing new in the worlds' history. The characters were going no where. The players were simply repeating over and over again the same old content. BORING! > > Let us switch up to the present, 2021. Guild Wars 2 has been chugging along nicely since its introduction in 2012, but now, it's floundering. Why? Same old content, people! Yes, the developers do periodically offer the players new content through the Living Story chapters, but the old content hangs around. Why? In real life, can we talk with people who are dead and have died hundreds of thousands of times over because they've were defeated that many times? This is Living Story in the game. That means the history of the game moves forward as the characters live through it. Why are we as players continuously rehashing defeat after same defeat of our multiply vanquished enemies? Zhaitan is dead; allow Orr to heal, for goodness sake! I'm sick of still having to fight undead. Mordremoth is gone as well. All of those minions should have returned long ago to the ground from whence they were formed. For once let the Maguumas Not be a headache to traverse. (I have hated the Maguuma from GW1 and 2, really) The only good I have seen is Living Story Season 1 be allowed to rest. Yes! > > That is what Living Story means. You as the player take your character through history-making events, the events conclude, then you as the player move on to the next chapter of Living Story with your character(s). Any rewards earned from the previous event(s) are yours. Someone missed out, oh well, they missed out, and they cannot have them because they weren't there to earn them. And the flow of new content keeps the game fresh. Currently, Guild Wars 2 has old content available since 2014. How fresh is that? Why is it still there? As for the new players – in real life do we interact with people who are long gone before us? No, we have history books for that. So in the game, we have that fantastic library under the custodianship of the Priory which just takes up space. Why are we not using That to inform new players of what has gone before them? If they want to play through that earlier content, why not have new players, or older players, access a book to play through a LS season or the expansions? Anet devs, did you even contemplate that possibility? That way the world can continue changing, the players' characters can live through Living Story, and we as the players see the impact of our actions on the greater outside world. > > **To actually See the Impact we the players make! That is a place where no game has gone before.** > > > > I am done. I have said my piece which has been pressing for some time now. It is a given people will offer their opinions. That is your prerogative. Just know it will all fall on deaf ears as your opinions are yours and you're welcome to them. Not an opinion but, have you heard of Season 1 of Living World? It did change the game world, permanently, and in a way the devs couldn't reconcile which is why they stopped going down that path after that season. I agree that these types of changes over time would be very cool to implement in a game but, at the same time very challenging to maintain over time. Something that might have to be implemented from the initial launch of the game. I believe AoC will be trying an approach similar to what you are interested in, a constantly shifting landscape based upon the actions of the players, with each server shard having different results in how the world grows.