tim.4596

> @"Rauderi.8706" said:

> Anyone with enough alts definitely needs an improved character select screen.

>

> * More characters visible per page (or all of them visible, like in a MOBA)

Please, yes this is a serious issue after 10+ characters

> * Smaller character image so it fits on the screen

> * List of the day's daily quests (would be helpful, but now that Daily Class Winner isn't in PvP, not heavily necessary)

> * Sorting functions (Recently played, Least played, Crafting levels, Race, Profession, etc.)

I just love your post

thank you for those info

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> > > @"starhunter.6015" said:

> > > if you don't want to play then leave, kinda getting tired of all of the bad attitudes and doom and gloom from players about the layoffs.

> > >

> >

> > I'm sorry, but... how can you reply something like that? Can you elaborate a bit more? You've got players seriously concerned about the storyline of the game and your answer back to them is that?

>

> It's one thing to be concerned about the story line and such but quite another thing to advocate the end of the game.

Okay, but I think it's pretty clear that the OP is contradictive on its own, one hand that person is talking about the layoffs and on the other he/she is making a point about the game storyline. I can't see, how both coincide in the first place. So the first comment made on his post is just plain 100% negativity for no reason at all.

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> > Let me make it a clear statement here 'OPEN WORLD IS NOT PVE' it is something else altogether.

> I'm sorry, but you lost any credibility you might have had at this point. You may not like that part of PvE, and be more interested in organized group/instanced content, but that doesn't stop OW from being the very quintessence of PvE definition.> @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> > > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > > Wow. I _did_ read all that, and frankly found that was unnecessary; could have just read the conclusion.

> > > Not sure the Devs will take the time to read all that...

> > >

> > > I guess the tl;dr is that you are suggesting more Guild activities. ...I guess.

> > >

> >

> > In a way, yes I am suggesting more Guild activities but not only. I'm suggesting Guild activities as a way to bring people together to play the game, as I feel there isn't enough content to bring people to play the game together.

> >

> > And yes, I guess you could just read the conclusion in order to get it all, I must assume, I have been repetitive within some paragraph. But you do get a better scope of what I am talking about by reading all

>

> Very repetitive..

> Guild content is definitely needed, I wont argue that but the last time ANET tried emphasising guilds it ended up alienating masses of small guilds and forcing them to either upscale drastically, killing their own reasons for being a small guild or ignore the content/rewards entirely... some may of taken alliances but how long does that really last once certain content is completed.

> Guild Halls have been a complete hash up, poorly thought out, rushed to the point it made the mere thought of trying to go higher than certain levels just too much time, effort and cost.. once again culling the smaller guild desire to see the GH content for anything other than a few tokens to spend at a vendor every now and then.

> Scribing .. so tiresome in levelling, extremely expensive unless your a larger guild willing to throw some morsels to your scriber.. which in turn lessens the need to players to be scribes in a guild and want to craft stuff for them.. no need for more than 1... perhaps being able to sell decos like in other games would of been a good call and certainly making guild halls scaleable based on guild size and choice... there was simply no credible thought placed into guilds other than "it made a good SP" for HoT… and then they simply killed guild content and guild progression soon afterwards.

Thank you for pointing this out, I had not think of small PvE Guilds, that might indeed be an issue. Scribing is indeed a major issue, which I didn't address here. I myself tried to level up scribing but quickly ended up forgetting about it altogether. I am just sad to see so much unexploited potential.

> Twitch should not be your yard stick for anything here, they will be biased views borne from the twitch streamer hoping to gain wider audience appreciation.. I mean lets be honest how many even bother tuning in to see PvP gameplay in GW2 especially in the wake of all the issues it has been and still is plagued with.. yeah win trading, hacks, balance, queue times.. sorry I would rather go watch an old episode of Dads Army.

I wouldn't disqualify Twitch streamers altogether, even though there are some controversy about them, they still represents the game in some ways. I don't say that they should be looked at seriously, but that they should at least be given some credits too. I mean, I am extremely thankful for the creation of godsofpvp.net which was first brought up by twitch streamers. Peachy and bogoter, even though they are not playing that much Guild Wars 2 anymore, brought an overall good representation of the game. MMOINKS always has some amazing insights about the game. Now, as much as I don't like high end Raider streams, SC did make the website snowcrows.com and qT before that.

> As for GvG stuff space.. that would only serve to harm other game modes like WvW and PvP as the community begins to fence itself off to others rather than what Openworld and WvW are supposed to be.. community focused (one reason I dislike the idea of Alliances because servers gave community identity). Granted ANET have done all they can to kill that idea by pushing xfers so hard which served to only ruin tourneys, which added to long term festering of some modes has pushed a lot of serves to the point of obscurity.

> Adding GvG will also isolate those smaller guilds from content unless they alliance, which kind of defeats the object of it...

Regarding GvG, I honestly don't know. I get your point that it might end up bringing more negativity than good, but I like to think that we can't fully know, until it has happened. And GvG due to its high number of people required, would still have to remain a pre-organised community thing. As much as I want to believe that 6+ millions of people are playing GW2, I don't think we will see 15v15 automated queue any time soon. Anet could as well include it as a manual feature rather than an automatic one.

> @"steki.1478" said:

> Off note: wvw is also 1+ man content because roaming is also a thing. GvG is in majority of the cases 15 man content (actual gvg, like in tournaments), it's guild raids that tend to be around 20-25 (with additional pugs sometimes) - it's better to just put it as 15+.

Thank you for pointing this out, I have amended my original drawing.

> @"Cyninja.2954" said:

> Your entire section on the economy is plain incorrect or worded incorrectly. You are mislabeling issues and calling this "not contributing", using a way to general term. I understand what you are going for, but your approach, analysis and conclusion are plain wrong or faulty.

>

> First off:

> Not having content unique loot is not the same as not contributing to the games economy. As a matter of fact, the goal was always to allow players to acquire wealth via any means they enjoy. Yes, this leads to overall generic and low value rewards (those couple of rares/greens/blues and silver per event). It also leads to constant wealth acquisition (almost everything can be turned into materials and/or traded on the TP, aka you always increase your wealth in some way unless you spend it, in which case you hopefully get something you desire in return).

>

> While PvE is the main and most forward method of acquisition for wealth, Spvp and WvW have their own approaches with the reward tracks which need to see balance along the lines of for example semi afk ppt farming in WvW and semi afk Spvp players.

>

> Finally, there is an item which requires WvW participation to some extent in regular demand by the PvE community: the Gift of Battle. The reception to being forced to play WvW content or spend weeks getting chests is not great.

>

> While I personally agree that incentives could be made to encourage players to try other game modes (see the Warclaw). These must be carefully balanced against players desires to play or not play a game mode.

>

> The rest of your analysis can be summed up as: we need more repeatable group content.

Thank you for pointing all this out. I truly appreciate. I was indeed referring to "unique loot" more than the overall contribution.

> I'd leave out the qualification and keep it simple: we need more content.

We do need more content, however players have been asking for this for ages, and I do believe that GW2 is already trying their best to deliver upon that.

Therefore, what would be the solution in-between patches to have an overall better game experience? While keeping in mind that each player may have different interests within the game?

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

>

> > There is a competitive PVP sphere in GW2 why can't there be a PVE one ? The content is there, it just isn't being exploited.

>

> Competitive PvE?

I think we are trying deviating from the point which I was trying to make within my OP. But yes, the immediate visible solution, would be:

1. Scalable difficulties within one of the game modes (harder dungeons; open up fractals up to 125 just for the enthusiasts).

2. Farmable items, which can then be sold at the trading post from raids, fractals and dungeons.

3. More Guild activities, and allow the drop of Guild Hall items, which could then be sold at the trading posts.

> @"starhunter.6015" said:

> if you don't want to play then leave, kinda getting tired of all of the bad attitudes and doom and gloom from players about the layoffs.

>

I'm sorry, but... how can you reply something like that? Can you elaborate a bit more? You've got players seriously concerned about the storyline of the game and your answer back to them is that?

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> You should have said you wanted more 'Challenging Group Content' in the first place. I didn't get that from the OP, at all.

> Unfortunately, that's not that popular with the playerbase.

>

> Good luck.

It depends what you are referring to by 'challenging group content', if by that you mean more raids, more fractals (with challenge mode), then no. Asking Guild Wars 2 for quarterly raid release, or more bosses per wings isn't realistic I guess, as it is a non-subscription game. What I want is scalable (or challenging in whatever way), repeatable content, with some kind of leaderboard (to make it competitive), if possible.

There is a competitive PVP sphere in GW2 why can't there be a PVE one ? The content is there, it just isn't being exploited.

> @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> "Inexhaustible guild content" sounds a lot like "group oriented grind-fest" to me. That's the sort of stuff that GW2 purposefully tries to avoid. The thing about dynamic events and daily content is that it is convenient. It is casual. It is optional.

> @"IndigoSundown.5419" said:

> The more I read these forums, the more I am convinced that there's something out of whack with a segment of the MMO fan base. At a guess, some people play MMO's too much, and invest way too much importance in their play time. If I'm reading the OP correctly, he's calling for more stuff to do in a game that offers a bewildering and varied array of things to do -- unless you play an enormous amount of time.

>

> I know it's way too late, but I there are time I wish that ANet had not entertained dreams of drawing some of the MMO market share that was "kind of a big deal" back when GW2 was in the formative stages.

What's wrong with "group oriented grind-fest" and why is GW2 avoiding it, if people are currently getting frustrated (unless I am the only one, but that's not what I'm hearing on reddit/forums/twitch/in-game conversations) with high end PVE content. Also I don't believe that Raids/Fractals/Dungeons falls into the same category as Open World. So as it is right now, the game is currently asking those players (me included) to play/farm legendary or other 'exotic fashion wars items'. While I see the value of having a legendary item, I however do not have a particular interest to do achievement oriented grinding for account value purposes. In other words, I'd rather have fun 'playing' and 'enjoying' the game, instead of unlocking 'pixel items'.

I know that this is a very blunt and very harsh comment to say, and it is a very subjective point of view. So I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, which is completely understandable. The bottom line is, the game does provide, good high end game content, but it's exhaustibility is just too fast. I have sometimes done daily Fractals of the Mists, two or three times a day, as well as repeating weekly raids clear. While, this does have its fun (testing out new class/builds), you just reach a point when you feel like you are wasting your time, and this is not cutting it out for you anymore. This is pretty sad in my opinion, as the amount of time you invested perfecting bosses mechanics, classes rotations, seems to go to waste at the end of the day. The only 'appearable 'options, which you are then left out with are: 1. Sell raid (I've been there, done that – it is pretty sad, and time consuming) or 2. Start exploring the other contents (PVP, Open World) the game as to offer. A 3rd option would be: change game, which isn't a solution at all. Thus, you are 'forced', in a way, to do Open World content and/or PVP. And here is my point, Open World/PVE and PVP/PVE are just too different from one another.

Open World is mostly solo player based, with the impression that you are playing a multiplayer game. You are surrounded by other players, playing with the same goal, completing that meta-event, or killing that boss for a bounty, or farming a collection, etc (...). But the game doesn't ask you to either communicate with those players or form a group. You can simply, get by, playing single player mode. Every time I ask a Guild member or just an in-game friend, if they want to join you to farm that item, or do this meta event, is most of the time a straight on "NO", as they have either already done that collection, or did their daily meta event today, etc...

So, YES, when the game seems strongly dedicated to stop me from playing with other people, or simply do not have "group oriented grind-fest", with no 'apparent reason, I start asking why.

I have attempted, to link it to the "Global Game Economy", and analyse how maybe this could be link to ArenaNet fear that, this may impact the Community, destroy the game economy or else, and ultimately get people to leave the game. But, nothing has to open over night. In other words, ArenaNet wouldn't need to implement changes over a single patch, it could be incremental and removed. While the game appear to offer a lot of promising platforms: Scalable Fractals, Bounties, Dungeons, Speedclear strats. They do not seem to take advantages of that.

> @"particlepinata.9865" said:

> Twitch is irrelevant for 99 percent of the gamers and games (casual). Why would i want to see other people play when i can use my precious time playing the same game. Its only a platform for a select range of e-sport games, which i personally don't count under entertaining (nor i call them real sport) , more annoying and immature with all the bad language drama kids in the chat and competing each other. Wheres the fun in that?

Alright, I agree. But I do think that there are steal some really good streamers. MightyTeapot TeeTime for example is extremely intuitive on game content. MMOINKS also has really good insights on the game, as well as many other Twitch streamers... And I would still say that compared to other MMORRGs such as World of Warcraft the community in GW2 is far better.

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Wow. I _did_ read all that, and frankly found that was unnecessary; could have just read the conclusion.

> Not sure the Devs will take the time to read all that...

>

> I guess the tl;dr is that you are suggesting more Guild activities. ...I guess.

>

In a way, yes I am suggesting more Guild activities but not only. I'm suggesting Guild activities as a way to bring people together to play the game, as I feel there isn't enough content to bring people to play the game together.

And yes, I guess you could just read the conclusion in order to get it all, I must assume, I have been repetitive within some paragraph. But you do get a better scope of what I am talking about by reading all

Hello there,

Here is a small post, about some current in-game aspect, that may or may not need addressing. Please do let me know what you think.

**edits:**

-04/03/2019 deleted section about theorists (was not relevant)

-04/03/2019 deleted _Raids_ 10man content (general knowledge information) that took too much place and were unnecessary

-05/03/2019 changed PVP sphere image (GvG 40+ to 15+)

-05/03/2019 edited some section of the text, to make it clearer

I am writing this post, due to recent event, and also out of growing frustration for a game that I loved, but which fail to conceptualise it's competitive projects or just to bring player together to play the game. And as of right now, my Guild Wars 2 experience looks something like that (see below)


I believe there is a serious lack of content during the 'dead time' and this is what I would like to address here. What I call 'dead time' is in between two patch or rather two major patch when player are just (and I don't think I'm exaggerating here) suffering through game content until the next content comes out. I therefore want to discuss the following content and highlights some of the problems which I think arises from them:

* PVE sphere

* PVP sphere

* Global Game Economy

* Content Exhaustion and the notion of Guild

# 1. The PVE sphere

**Key ideas**: DFR (Dungeons/Fractals/Raids) needs more inexhaustible content, Open World doesn't offer 'Guild playable content'


I don't claim to have the answer to 'making PvE better', but I think one can see some pretty self explanatory flaws from this drawing.

In term of PVE content, Guild Wars 2 offers three different dungeon/raid type game mode: Dungeons (3-5man; daily reset), Fractals (5man; daily reset), and Raids (10man; weekly reset). And it's open World Content, which includes World Discovery, achievement completion, farming resources, Meta-events, Jumping puzzle.... etc.

While we get it that there is a lot of content available for players to play, it would however be a mistake to think of those game modes as 1, and that they should be viewed as extremely different and specific content. And that while it is an MMORPG, and that players are thus expected up to some extent to cross the boundaries of those different game modes.

Now, let's be realistic here. Guild Wars 2 is a free to play MMORPG, as it doesn't have a monthly paid subscription as compared to other game such as World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy Online. On that basis, I believe, it would be wrong to assume or expect Raid or content release to be as good as monthly subscription game. It just isn't realistic, the numbers don't work. Guild Wars 2 can't have enough developers working on raid content to match other games. And this is fine. Dungeons and Fractals on the other end could and should be done better. The lack of competitiveness available in the Raid content due to the lack of patch release and game mode difficulties shouldn't be representative of Dungeons and Fractals.

Dungeons and/or fractals should have their own competitive game mode, which should make up for the slow release of Raid content.

Raids reset are probably what make the most sense and items acquisition (while skins could be better) is great too. And let's give some credit to Anet here, while the content release is fairly slow, raids content which has been released has been outstanding. Boss mechanics appears to be different on every single boss fights, which would arguably contribute for few boss release but new mechanics all the time.

Then, on to the next set of problem and this is a fairly complex one: Open World. Open World is.... interesting, obscure, promising. To be fair when I started this article I wasn't even sure, whether or not 'Open World' should have it's own section, or not. And by that I mean it is a completely different game mode than DFR (Dungeons/Fractals/Raids) and while players are expected to play both game mode (depending on how much you play), you can get around enjoying the game playing only DFR or Open World.

My initial interpretation of all that, is that I understands Anet prioritising some game content over others, that totally make sense, and the game is well balanced that way I would say. I do however think that some section can be bonded together, such as Guild Missions + Bounties + Meta Events. As the game is looking right now, the only Guild based for the game in open world are the Guild Mission, Meta Events and Bounties, but arguably, there should be more Guild base clearable content, for example modes which if you do that content with a Guild, you could for example farm some currency for Guild Hall rewards or other.

As it is right now, the content is exhaustive, once you've acquired the items that you were looking for, repeating the content is not rewarding and becomes boring, even though not all content should be rewardable, the game should at least introduce ways to keep players interested, get them to form groups and play the game together.

---

# 2. The PVP sphere

**Key ideas**: GvG scene needs spaces; Conquest 'season 5v5' non-full team availability is problematic


Arguably, Guild Wars 2 PvP content in terms of repetitiveness and competitiveness, is better than its PvE content. I say arguably, because GW2 PvP content is inaccessible or extremely hard to comprehend for new players. Due to its character animation based gameplay, it is harder for players to know when to block or execute their chain combo skills, and until, arguably, Platinum II (for Conquest) and GvG (for WvW), players are struggling to know when to execute their skills. Twitch players also took the opportunity to create their own community content, while making GvG content for massive player vs player and has it's own tournament comment for the monthly tournament created. as well as hosting their own 1vs 1 on twitch which brings the community together.

However, my goal here is to highlight the lack of content playable by players as a community. Conquest which appears to be the most accessible PvP content doesn't offer much opportunity for players to form a group and play the higher end tier content. It is weird that, the off/on season appears to be changing everything within the conquest game mode. There simply are more players during the pvp season playing the game while off season, and while this is normal and make sense as rewards are higher it is also problematic. I am in no way saying that Season and off-season should have the same rewards, no. I am referring to the fact that Guild Wars 2 has shown inconsistency of the amount of players that can form a group for the Season PvP scene (it's generally been caped to 1-2 players). Now it seems that Arena Net countered this by now offering a better tournament system with better rewards to urge players to form a group and queue for Tournament match. But this simply isn't working. Queue times are simply not working. And in most cases 5 completely random players join together to form a group. Hence I do not understand why the game is not offering alternative options for 5v5 competitive modes or any other competitive mode that could fix this issue.

I would also like to highlight that GW2 is not a MOBA game, and as its failure upon delivering a competitive PVP scene has shown us, it doesn't work the same way as MOBA PVP scene nor should it be interpreted in the same way. They are different game type and it wouldn't make sense to try and take one game mode to apply it on Guild Wars 2. Therefore my point here is that. The current 5v5 (non-season) playable game mode available is just not an option. As opposed to the MOBA scene, in which every single player in the game is playing a competitive player vs. player game, Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG and simply doesn't have enough player interested in that game mode to make the 5v5 (rewardless) game mode interesting enough.

I would suggest 3v 3 content to be created, however, I am positive that Guild Wars 2 thought about this, and if they didn't go forward with it, I am curious as to why. Maybe the shift was too scary. However things can be incremental, and removed if they turn up to be a complete flop. But, I think, if the multiple PvP seasons have shown us anything at all, it is that GW2 aim to reanimate the PvP scene, while working, is working slowly. And due to the relatively difficult accessibility of the game, I do think, that a Full Team (3v3 and/or 5v5), immediately accessible content, would be beneficiary to players learning experience. I will talk about it later in section 4, but there seems to have been an interest by the player community to push certain content, in an attempt to 'revive/make it more accessible' to the rest of the community.

I will not pronounce myself on the WvW and GvG, I have very little experience within that field. Overall, it seems to be doing fine. The player community is really pushing for it, and the Devs seems to be responsive and hearing towards players comments. The only thing ,which I could have to say, is that, as the GvG scene is developing at a fast-paste, GW2 should provide spaces for it to happen more easily.

---

# 3. Global Game Economy

**Key ideas**: DFR and PvP scene should have more impact on the Global Game Economy; Guilds too; ANet appears to be controlling players activity through the Global Game Market; Fashion Wars shouldn't be the END GAME content


Here is when things start becoming interesting, because this drawing (see above) gives us some idea about how GW2 dynamics might be at work here. So on the one hand you got players contribution to the global game market and on the other hand, the illusion that they do. Players, through playing the game, acquire items, craft skins and therefore, contribute to the game economy. However, this is only an illusion, as the game is in someways forcing you to play 'Open World' in order to farm specific items, to be able to craft legendaries. And the end game content provided through the game is Fashion Wars. The acquisition of skins, and while this make sense and Guild Wars 2 being a free to play (non-subscription type) game, they have to get some money somewhere. Why am I now arguing that players contribution to the global economy is inexistent? Is because it is simply an illusion. The PVE and PVP spheres are IN NO WAY contributing to the global economy.

Let me further explain, PVP while giving you gold for playing the game, doesn't give you any specific type items that makes a significant change to the game economy (and here the critical point 'significant'). In other words, you do get some items and boxes for playing the game, but those are general items, and there are no items that let's say are only providable by Guilds playing WvW. Now, the same occurs for PvE – there are no 'Raid only' or 'Dungeon only' items which Guilds or Groups can farm and then sell. So what this means, is that, while you actually think that every game mode is profitable to the game economy it truly is not, as the game is mostly forcing you to go Play Specific Game Type controlled by Guild Wars 2, and in this instance, the game is pushing players to constantly go and play Open World in order to farm significant amount of Gold and craft their legendaries or other items faster.

Now, here is my understanding of it. First,. I do understand that Guild Wars 2 needs to control the game market, in order to get people to buy skins/lootbox, account upgrades.... you name it. Second, I also understands that implementation of such items can have major impact on the game economy. However, and here is my point I do believe that it can be controlled, and beneficiary in some ways to both get people to play some contents together and get Guilds more significant representation or a specific market share within Guild Items creation, would Guilds wish to pursue that route. I do not want to get into detail, but I am sure that a lot of ideas, can be found to push into that direction, and thus make PVP and PVE sphere market contribution within the context of Guilds or outside much more significant.

Let me give you an example. I was arguing that as the community is taking GvG to the next level, and that the only things I could see was that specific spaces for the GvG to happen should be 'sponsored' by the game. Within that in mind, Special competitive halls, within Guild Halls could be manually editable by players and thus display some nice craftable items in order to provide interests for the players. What I am suggesting is NOT to suddenly have PVE an PVP sphere providing an insane amount of different items, that can be acquired through those game modes. But to have some specific items, which would bring players from the same Guild/Communities to play the game together. Fractals are already doing that up to some extend with Matrixes, but I'm talking bounties, WvW siege, Conquest, Raids, specific game content that may or may not required a Guild to clear them.

I do realise that such of those proposition seems utopic, those are only examples of suggestion, and can also be incremental within the game. No major change is required. This then takes us to the next section.

---

# 4. Content exhaustion and the notion of Guilds

**Key ideas**: Content exhaustion is categorising players and not respecting players interests diversity; More 'inexhaustible' content; More Guild or Group activities


This brings us to the last section of this article. The main argument, that is that: now looking at an overall picture of Guild Wars 2 game content, with the idea of Global Economy in mind, one can see the impact which favoritising one game play may have on the other ones. Pushing the Raids content, may displease some players, that may not enjoy and that wishes not to have to play that gameplay. However and here is my argument that, currently, Guild Wars 2 has too much exhaustive content – that is only repeatable / rewarding once a day or once a week. In other words, exhaustive content is creating effect within the game that is: players are 'surviving' through the game, farming the different items available while waiting for new content release to then farm new items and enjoy the game again. While the PVP scene is arguably fine. PVE players are waiting upon new fractals, new titles, new difficulties and new raids, while Open World Players (and everyone falls into that category up to some extend, as the GW2 economy 'forces' to go back to it would you wish to farm legendary items or other items, and this is fine, it's an MMORPG after all) are waiting for new LWS content to be release. Which create the effect of MEGA patch contrasted with the 'normal' patch which brings a different level of hype as I have demonstrated in the graph in the introduction section.

Now, this is totally fine, however it is also important important to remember that players cannot be categorised. PVP players don't only enjoy PVP content and sometimes appreciate some Open World content, or WvW content. And the PVE players don't only/or enjoy all form of PVE content 'Open World included'. Every player is very different and have different interest within the game. This may seem pretty straight forward however it can easily be forgotten, as the game is at-the-moment asking players to cross boundaries between the different game type and that is problematic within itself. While some players may enjoy a cross type experience (and in my opinion fully enjoy the game) others may not. And this is in-my-opinion what categorise for most of the 'seeable' player frustration on Reddit post, twitch discussions, and Forums post within their respective category. If we now go more in depth, and hence my argument to say that Guild Wars categorise players. While PVP players may enjoy an Open World Free (up to some extend) through it's repeatable content, PVE players may not and are currently forced to either cross boundaries to the PVP section or the Open World Section. Let me make it a clear statement here 'OPEN WORLD IS NOT PVE' it is something else altogether.

Hence my argument here that more 'inexhaustible content' should be created for players to enjoy 'together' within the context frame of a Guild or else. I guess that this quickly brings us up to a World of Warcraft: Mythic 'Dungeons' with different level of difficulty type. However this is not how it should be looked at. It is better viewed as new way to create 'inexhaustible' PVE/PVP/PVX content for a better competitive game play and create potentially new Global Economic market within the game.

Another point, and here is why the title 'What Twitch is telling us about the game?', there seems to have been a community response to the issue of 'exhaustible' / lack of competitiveness content within the game. And hence why I think that the 'exhaustible content' currently present here needs urgent addressing. Players who have responded to that exhaustion would be:

-**MightyTeapot** with the creation of Raid Elitist tournaments and TeaTime [https://twitch.tv/mightyteapot](https://www.twitch.tv/mightyteapot "https://twitch.tv/mightyteapot")

-**Jawgeous** with conquest PVP [https://twitch.tv/jawgeous](https://www.twitch.tv/jawgeous "https://twitch.tv/jawgeous")

-**Roy** with current GvG organisation [https://twitch.tv/roy__](https://www.twitch.tv/roy__ "https://twitch.tv/roy__")

-**John Freeman** helping the community with _free_ raid sell [https://twitch.tv/johnscfreeman](https://www.twitch.tv/johnscfreeman "https://twitch.tv/johnscfreeman")

-**ROM** various PVP tournaments [https://twitch.tv/roms_hut](

-**Lord Helseth** with personal commentary of GW2 monthly tournament [https://twitch.tv/thelordhelseth](https://www.twitch.tv/thelordhelseth "https://twitch.tv/thelordhelseth")

-**Wooden Potatoes** with amazing and very insightful various content review [https://youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes](https://www.youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes "https://youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes")

-and many more active twitch/youtuber who participate to the community contribution

I am definitely forgetting many other active twitch/youtuber dedicated to the GW2 community, please do let me know who I am forgetting and I will update the list.

I also want to highlight that each of my drawings had Twitch and YouTube section within them, although I have not addressed them in the previous section I will address them here. The reason for those logos is because as well as being present within each section of the game. Twitch streamers are streaming various aspect of the game. Twitch can also be deceptive, give you the illusion that everything is going well in the game, or give you the exact opposite effect that people are getting frustrated. When, in order to under the truth behind those twitch representation is to look at it on the multiple levels. I have therefore incorporated within each of my drawings and let you make up your mind on that section. Or how those twitch/youtube could be use to boost the game, game mode representations.

---

# Conclusion

While overall the game provide a very wide range of playable content, I however want to highlight that due to it's exhaustible PvE or PvP content, there is an overall growing community of players experiencing in-between patches frustration. Twitch streamers, players, and communities alike have tried to respond to those issues by any mean that they could, but there is only so much that they can do, and I believe Guild Wars 2 should respond to those communities by offering more content which 'brings players together' by the creation of more inexhaustible content.

Arguably, the 'Global Game Economy' is dubious, as only some extremely specific aspect of the game (mostly Open World) seems to have a major contribution to it, while the PvP and PvE sphere could have further contribution of their own.

The notion of Guilds should be looked at in further detail, I believe there is a current unseen potential within them as to bring player together. After all Guilds are community of players and there should be repeatable content for players to play together.

Last, I understand that Guild Wars 2 seems to have adopted a Patch Release (peak player interest) / Achievement based (keeping player interested during 'dead time') course of action. However as my graph at the beginning, and as the twitch representation is ultimately showing, player frustration within the sphere of players that do not necessarily appreciate every aspect of the game appears to be rising.

> @"Vinceman.4572" said:

> > @"Draco.9480" said:

> > i joined 200+ kp groups without kp by telling people I've sold my KP and bring confidence to my gameplay. on the first boss they see good dps or good boons/cc or good banners depends on what i play.

>

> What's the point? Most of those groups still won't let you run with them without showing kp or are anywhere near to beat CMs without a heal druid. The exception proves the rule.

> Additionally, for a daily "grind" it's way more comfortable to have more support instead of living on the edge every single day. I consider gaming as a hobby after my work. I don't need to prove my skill every new day in a video game. I'd rather beat the clock when doing sports. That's where people are different, have a different mindset and want to play different without being trash at all. And since we are talking about fractals which are made to be done on a daily basis the intention of Anet is clear on this.

I must agree with Vinceman there, when you join a daily fractal run with pugs, you will prefer a support class to a 3rd DPS, there are too many variable which will make a third DPS not viable. CC being one of them and ultimately reliability on people that you don't know (what can you expect of your pug chrono haha).

Also what people are not precising here is that the chrono often runs minstrel gear with monk runes in a 3 DPS setup. How many chrono can run that setup on the go?

I have written a post about this and healing firebrand is actually viable in fractals and can take on the druid role. However, you cannot expect it to replace the chronomancer, as it doesnt give alacrity.

> @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> > > @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> > > Im going to say the same thing everyone says to the "New race" Issue when it's something that seems irrelevant to them. "I'd prefer to have them focus resources of something of more worth." I have raided and I mean it's great and all and it definitely is niche, It follows the meta (an Automatic no no in this game.) And goes against the core principles this game was built on. You can whine and complain all you want about how you're bored and how you don't have content, but your literally like the 10% of the player-base, you don't make up the vast majority and believe it or not ALOT of people did not even want raids to begin with.

> > >

> > > Can't be bothered to give a kitten about a mode I rarely if ever play, and have basically written off because of how pissed I Was that they turned the underworld into a raid. WvW and PvP are much larger game modes with a larger following and they NEVER GET CRAP. Be glad you even receive anything and sit in your corner, wait your turn for christs sake mate. I personally would rather them focus on bringing back GUILD WARS, and Alliances/alliance battles than focus on a small niche game-mode that has never and really probably really will never have a massive relevance in the game.

> >

> > I feel like I'm reading more and more posts like that, but I really don't understand, because even though @"maddoctor.2738" post above shows that Raids are appreciated by only a very small part of the community.

> >

> > -The great thing about this game, is precisely its fight mechanics and how dynamics it makes both Open World PVE content and Raids.

> >

> > -I'm not too sure about your comment on PVP. PVP, in my opinion, is _seriously_ lacking in this game despite all the effort put into it by ArenaNet. I could talk about it at length, but I'll just quickly say that ESL completely disregarded it, most of the GW2 twitch focus is based on casual content looking at twitch, and that without some individual in the GW2 community who strongly picked up this game mode and made it understandable to more player, it would have died a long time ago.

> >

> > So what I fail to understand is that: Do only 10% of the community of this game see the great potential of raids and min/maxing? Am I too optimistic about how great GW2 raids are? or do people just can't complete raids, because their difficulties is too great and therefore, should Anet, as it's been strongly discussed since on a "hot topic "on the forum , find ways to make it's high end content more accessible ?

> >

> > Also, you say that "ALOT of people did not even want raids to begin with"; what do people want then? Can you really make a game interesting if it only contains non-challenging content? Isn't challenging yourself, the very essence of what makes you better at something? I'm confused with what you are saying...

> >

> >

>

> Raids in this game are no more challenging that raids in any game, alot of people came to this game because it promised to be different and it failed. We have a "Soft" trinity, with one tank and a few heal specs. Point is that the raids being designed around either being Vipers, or Zerker (If you're doing anything but healing, and viper druid is still prefered by most high end raiding parties) Is horrible by default. Im not saying they are bad and I have enjoyed them for what they are worth, but they dont bring anything to the table that dungeons, fractals or any other form of group content couldn't. It's A ten man let me kitten off to how I drop 40k dps and how beast I am, at a target that stands there and typically outside of its specific mechanics is just a over-sized damage sponge.

I'm afraid, I'd have to agree with that, raid players do get a bit too enthusiastic at how well they are performing in this game, while all they truly are doing is throwing out big numbers by executing a rotation the best they can, and completely disregarding all other mechanics. Even though, the truly elitist community can actually execute both really well, but that's an even more niche community.

> This game has failed and continues to fail with the majority of the things it has potential in, and it will only be continuing down this path because the dev's are too ignorant to see that we the playerbase know more so what is best for the game then they do. Raids should have had a more accessible form so you could go in and see the STORY as there is alot of lore in there, but no they didn't do that. The whole white mantle/lazarus storyline really had a good kick-off in there and when the living world tied into that we had a huge issue of "If you don't raid you wont know the entire story." Im glad that the new Wing did not go forward with that, but im still mad that the underworld is a raid wing and not a living story/guild hall. Mounts, raids... they were never needed to make guild wars any more than it was before and Id argue both go against alot of what the game was built toward. Fractals were the high end pve end game, and now they take a back-seat somewhat which is fine ( I don't want elitists in my fractals anyhow.)

I think, MMORPG's are slowly starting to drift towards 5man content more than 10man content any way, since forming a 10man party is tedious and often seems to bring a lot of unnecessary requirements, which in my opinion should be left alone by discovering the content and thinking of ways as a group to defeat the boss. I remember when console games where a thing with RPG's, I would not play the game to follow a Guide.... where is the fun in that. So hopefully Fractals will slowly become more high end content.

> Personally Id rather a new race for the cosmetics, the headcannon and even just being different to be a thing that gets looked at more than raids because its a selling point. You can't sell guild wars 2 expansions riding on raids, because alot of the playerbase who are here don't seem interested one bit and the ones who are will already be doing it even without the actual support of marketing. Anyone from other games will probably just ask why bother, because why would I come from WoW where raiding is designed to be the whole premise behind the end-game to a game that does not even know what it is trying to be? Raids help nothing, they bring nothing and I doubt they will ever be more than they are right now. They are Niche and they have a place with the try-hards and the people that make gaming unfun, those people can continue to kitten off to themselves when they get content ( Which I honestly could care less if you have to wait two or more years, as niche as it is I Don't see it as a priority.)

I see, I feel like that "selling point" as you say so is becoming more and more an issue. I think that making content based on WHAT SELL is understandable, but that it pushes back creativity. So sure, make content about what sells, undeniably, but don't put all your resources on that please.

> @"Thornwolf.9721" said:

> Im going to say the same thing everyone says to the "New race" Issue when it's something that seems irrelevant to them. "I'd prefer to have them focus resources of something of more worth." I have raided and I mean it's great and all and it definitely is niche, It follows the meta (an Automatic no no in this game.) And goes against the core principles this game was built on. You can whine and complain all you want about how you're bored and how you don't have content, but your literally like the 10% of the player-base, you don't make up the vast majority and believe it or not ALOT of people did not even want raids to begin with.

>

> Can't be bothered to give a kitten about a mode I rarely if ever play, and have basically written off because of how pissed I Was that they turned the underworld into a raid. WvW and PvP are much larger game modes with a larger following and they NEVER GET CRAP. Be glad you even receive anything and sit in your corner, wait your turn for christs sake mate. I personally would rather them focus on bringing back GUILD WARS, and Alliances/alliance battles than focus on a small niche game-mode that has never and really probably really will never have a massive relevance in the game.

I feel like I'm reading more and more posts like that, but I really don't understand

**First** of, because even though @"maddoctor.2738" post above shows that Raids are appreciated by only a very small part of the community. I feel like the great thing about this game, is precisely its fight mechanics and ultimately how dynamic it makes both Open World and Raids contents. Open world fights are great and Raids allow you to take it up a notch.

**Secondly**, I'm not too sure about your comment on PVP. In my opinion, the PVP scene is _seriously_ lacking despite all the effort put into it by ArenaNet. I could talk about it at length, but I'll just quickly say that ESL completely disregarded it, most of the GW2 twitch focus is based on casual content, and that without some individual in the GW2 community who strongly picked up this game mode and made it more understandable to players, it would have died a long time ago.

So what I fail to understand is that: Do only 10% of the community of this game see the great potential of raids and min/maxing? Am I too optimistic about how great GW2 raids are? or do people just can't complete raids, because their difficulties is too great and therefore, should Anet, as it's been strongly discussed in a "hot topic" on the forum , find ways to make it's high end content more accessible ?

Also, you say that "ALOT of people did not even want raids to begin with"; what do people want then? Can you really make a game interesting if it only contains non-challenging content? Isn't challenging yourself, the very essence of what makes you better at something? I'm confused with what you are saying...

> @"Saint Sated.2698" said:

> > @"steki.1478" said:

> > Most of people will always want to fastest possible clear and they'll take whatever classes can achieve that.

>

> I profoundly disagree. Most players will take whatever class they enjoy the most, and most players are not speed clearers.

>

No I think he's right, each mob should have the potential to wipe your entire team :) ! It's fractals of the mist after all :D

> @"DutchRiders.2871" said:

> Topic starter you are wrong, some of us dont use druids anymore in cms+t4s. Also the reason alot of players list for meta comps is just to attract highly skilled players. The clearing times dont very alot unless you have no chrono. If deroir joins on holo he does crazy dmg for example.

Thank you for highlighting this, I did consider it, but however did not write it down, as I wasn't sure whether or not it would be too confusing. Maybe I should add it, as an additional option. It is however in the link to the google spreadsheet (see below).

> @"tim.4596" said:

> # T4 clearing times & the 5 different group levels

>

> I will only talk about Tier 4 fractal group and how I think there are different group level and the difference between them. Most players who do fractals daily are doing T4 fractals, and those who aren't there yet, will reach it fairly quickly, as it is now relatively fast to acquire Ascended Gear and infuse it with +9 infusion in order to get 150AR to do all different fractals level.

>

> In my opinion there are 5 different fractal group which you can find while doing daily CM's / T4 / Recs (link to Google spreadsheet [here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-9ljssZhPga76Dw6595lxAMCFgF0-mmCGurinUnGDcI/edit?usp=sharing "here"))

I'm assuming that you would run at least 2 Weaver to have a 'consistent' amount of might throughout the fight, hence why, I did not add it to the other categories. However, you could swap the third DPS for whatever you want. Maybe perma 25 might, would work with only 1 Weaver but I'm not entirely sure. Have you tried it ?

> @"zaw.6741" said:

> t4: 15-30 minutes? really? with solid, molten and cliffside and some rubbish instabilities you can reliably do them under 30 minutes?

Yes, as multiple people indicated, you can easily clear below 30min with portal skip from Chrono and GG. Although 15min is much harder and you will most likely only be able to achieve that with a very experienced static group, or be extremely lucky with daily Fractals and not have anything too time consuming.

> @"Kam.4092" said:

> I do whatever groups, and still clear in like 25-40 minutes. My boyfriend and I rarely get Mesmers and Druids. We always pug, and are always fine. I run support Firebrand, and use this.

>

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApeWnsADFBjtDBGCBEEhlBCDLDUCuB7L0IaG1KAMtKAA-jxxGQBk7UAAgnAwSV+lm9Hup+AoqEMoq/EA4A49u393D8+7v/+7v31v/+7v/+7v/+7vHA-e

>

> A lot seem to not know about how support Firebrand shares Signets for Damage and support. You can give 432 Condition Damage, 216 Power, 216 Healing Power, and -10% damage taken.

I did not know that you could share signet, however only on activation, and it requires you to take the Radiance specialisation instead of Valor or Virtues. But arguably only Honor and Firebrand are important to that spec and the third specialisations is the swappable one anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter much.

Nonetheless, thanks a lot for pointing this out, I've added it to my main post.

I'm quite interested though, how much damage can you output with firebrand, while running Harrier gear and what comp do you generally run if you do not have a Chrono and a Druid ? 4 DPS + Firebrand ? Also, why run full Harrier ? Do you run raid too with this build ?

> Support Firebrand is a weaker Mesmer and Druid combined. It excels at massive healing, blocks, Stability, Might, and Quickness, while doing other support Boons. All of its utilities are usable, and it's very powerful in Fractals. It hard carries through so many fights with blocks, and absurd healing. It's a support build that is getting overlooked at the moment.

I'm very aware of the hard carry with blocks though, in fact I tend to think that Firebrand is a better pick than Druid with average group, as you consecutively reduce your chance of wiping by at least 50%. However I generally don't do so, as most CM's + T4 Fractals groups require a Druid, and although Firebrand is a 'somewhat descent' pick for T4 FotM it is pretty bad in CM's–you can still run them, but Druid is just so much better for long fights.

> I don't really understand the reasoning behind your long post. I group with some really confusing builds. I saw a Power Firebrand once. We still cleared dailies in under 40 minutes. My boyfriend plays Power Reaper. When we pug we see Reapers too. Are you trying to be informative, saying how certain classes are useless, or trying to ask for buffs for certain Professions and Elites?

I'm trying to be both. Informative, as in, _at the moment_, support classes other than druid, despite your post are still 'not playable'. Some power class still have a really low damage output compared to other (power reaper, staff thief, not even talking about power herald/revenant). And therefore _urge_ the developers to look into it.

> I think the "Meta" is cool and all, but it's not mandatory for casual content like Fractals.

I think that's the issue haha, it can be both casual and non-casual and depending on how you like to go through that content you may not be able to play some class :(

> @"Vinceman.4572" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> > Well, 4 scourges and 1 druid, would be fine in my opinion, because of how they synergise with one another, and possibly running a support firebrand instead of a druid might even be better. But this might be the only scenario allowing such things. Support/boon Firebrand can provide up to 11 boons on his own and 4 different conditions, so since you'd be lacking quickness from removing the chrono, it would be better than the druid; 100 precision and 5+10% damage modifier.

> >

> > But you would have to test this against:

> > -Chrono, Warrior, Druid and 2x Scourge

> > -Chrono, Warrior, 3 Scourge

> >

> > However this 4 scourges comp because of epi bounce synergise well, but I don't think you could say the same of let's say 4 random condition class without quickness and alacrity, it would just be awful to play. And warrior add (270 power, 170 condition dmg, 170 ferocity, 170 precision), so I can't really imagine a group going through main boss of the fractals without those. And as GW2 has demonstrated, higher damage makes everything easier, because it allows you to shorten boss fights (less mechanics to dodge) and in some cases even skip boss mechanics altogether.

> > For instance on the 2nd boss of 99CM if you have two weaver in your group and pre-stack 25 Might, you are able to skip the add spawn entirely. So.... no need to do dodge, no chance to spawn add, generally he won't even have time to spawn poison and you have already divided your chance of wiping by 50%.

>

> And again you're making the wrong assumption and bring 99 CM into the discussion although we were talking about clearing T4s. CMs are way above average. They are less played than a lot of raid bosses and these are the most challenging content in the game. In T4s it doesn't matter if you have meta, the scourge comp or some unbalanced power & condi group. General T4 fractals can be done with a lot of classes and you don't even lose that many minutes if you have the players executing their stuff properly. They need to know how to lead the elemental/dredge in underground below the barrels, dodging the hammer attack from Archdiviner and stack on him, dodging tentacles in Solid Ocean, throw shards back when loaded, use the special action key at Amala and don't stand in her aoes. If people can do that you don't struggle and you don't have any risk at wiping. The important word here is: "if" and that will vary a lot, of course.

Well, when I created the post, I tried to make it for everyone and include all possible dailies which you may do in Fractals if you wish to do so. However, my point was that: If you remove Druid or Warrior from the comp, you would fall into a level 4 or 5 clearing group and potentially even worse if you choose to remove Chronomancer. That if fine, I guess, if you are doing T4 only. If the players are _experienced_ as you say, you should be able to clear your daily T4 Fractal below 1h. However, you will run into serious trouble if you are doing CM's and the people who may join such group, may not be experienced players, which would undeniably reduce your fractal time. So my point was that, while I'm sure that everyone running T4 fractals have some basic knowledge of how team comps works. That they shouldn't run more than 1 healer/support class, and have a minimum of 2 dps, with another boon/support class, there are _ATM NOT MANY_ alternatives to what you can play in Fractals.

> @"ErgoProxy.9074" said:

> Necro no where to be found, lol nice class diversity. kitten trash

I've edited my original post and added Necromancer to the section "Recurring and Forgotten class" , I agree that beside _Condi Scourge_ you can't really play Necromancer in Fractals, while other class gives you the possibility to play a power class, with the exception of Revenant, but arguably Healing herald should be a possibility, while Healing/Support Scourge is not really. Saying that, I did W4 the other day with a support Scourge only (I'm not too sure how it came to this). But we realised on Deimos, that we had been running without a druid or any other healer. We couldn't kill it boss as we had mechanics and might problems, but I'm confident that we could have. However, it's interesting to note that, he had no problem at all, with both "black kitting" and supporting the group middle with heals. :D

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> How long should it take to clear daily fractals?

> * Considering you are talking about non CM T4s, 25 minutes is a good run and 45 minutes is a slow run. Anything over 45 minutes is too long.

> * Considering you are also talking about recs, 15 minutes is fast, 20 is slow. Anything approaching 25+ minutes is too slow.

> * Considering you are talking about 99/100 CMs: If a strong group with one shots, 30 to 40 minutes. With a good group that has a /gg or two, 40+. Anything approaching an hour is too long.

>

> A group of experienced veteran players who know mechanics, that may have to /gg once during a full run of Recs, T4s and CMs, should complete them all in about an 1:15. If one of the CMs is also a T4 daily, it can reduce that time to a little under an hour.

>

> At least, this is usually how it is for me.

I'd say that's pretty much the same for me, when I join a LFG group. And I think it shouldn't take more than 1h-1h30 to clear everything including recs.

> @"mortrialus.3062" said:

> > @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > > @"mortrialus.3062" said:

> > > > @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > > > > @"Roxhemar.6039" said:

> > > > > They don't. You raid because you want the challenge and the thrill of besting some of the hardest content that the game has to offer, if that's not your cup of tea, then try dungeons or open-world.

> > > >

> > > > I agree that the current raids aren't for everyone and shouldn't be, but they *are* the only way to explore those instances, and the only way to earn those rewards, and so long as these things remain true, "they just aren't for you" cannot apply. There need to be *alternatives* balanced for players who do not seek out "the challenge and the thrill of besting some of the hardest content that the game has to offer."

> > > >

> > > > >World of Warcraft, made the mistake of 'easy mode' raids, and while it included more people, it allowed those already outside that circle to belittle those in the new one and thus, create an even more toxic experience for all involved. In other words, it was a failure, a flop.

> > > >

> > > > I would rather be "belittled" by existing raiders for playing easy mode (which I already am), than to not be able to participate in an easy mode at all.

> > >

> > > And when WoW added easy mode to raids they lost 2/3 of their audience over the following years, largely to private servers where the older less accessible versions of the game are run.

> >

> > Lol, no. They lost customers since their prime, yeah, but to other MMOs that were newer and fresher (or to mobile games). That they've held on to as many customers as they have for as long as they have is *miraculous,* not a sign of failure. The amount of people playing on *free* private servers is a drop in the bucket when compared to the numbers still *paying* to play WoW, which should be taken as a sign that they're doing something very right.

>

> Again, if you look at the number of active players there **are more people playing** on **the less accessible** WoW, BC, and WotLK private servers than current live World of Warcraft. This isn't just losing players to other games over time. They've lost players to the harder versions of the _exact same game_.

I'm not entirely sure what you are talking about, I would say that if you are willing to take it up to Mythic challenge, World of Warcraft is harder than ever. People felt like the difficulty was hard during BC was mostly because, 1. You couldn't access the later raid if you had not clear the end Boss of the previous Raid. Black Temple, was only accessible if you had killed T5 Boss, who were extremely hard at the time. 2. there were less addons existing, people were getting into MMORPG mostly (well that's not entirely true, Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot and so on existed but they were very different to WoW), and to be fair, most players didn't know how to play their class very well.

Same for Wotlk, 10Man Heroic Ice Citadel was okayish, 25Man was where the real challenge was at, but it's still easier than the current Boss fights. It's just that people are used to most mechanics by now as they seemed to repeat themselves in WoW. Like Kungen was talking about in one of his twitch, the main problem with WoW is that the game has been existing for too long and developers fail to create any _NEW_ mechanics.

GW2 on the other hand, is having a lot of interesting mechanics that developers come up with. I'd say up to some point it's quality over quantity content. Even if I believe there should be a bit more raids :D

> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> > @"tim.4596" said:

> >I think, you're slightly deviating from the context of WHY exactly, you wish to have an easy mode. In my opinion, you should make a new post on the forum.

> I've been consistent as to why I think an easy mode is necessary. 1. To provide players a more casual access to the story and gameplay of the current raid instances, and 2. to provide players with more casual access to Envoy Armor and other rewards currently gated by raid participation.

> >However, I'm still pretty strong on my idea that an easyMode would be wrong for the following reason. Your "No training" idea, is in my opinion a bit unrealistic. Players who do not have a basic understanding of how their class work, should definitely fail miserably.

> I agree, *for the hard mode.* The easy mode would be different though, with different expectations of the players. I believe that players who want "training runs," who want that sort of experience, should have that experience as an option, but I don't believe that it fits all players, and I don't believe that all players should *have* to be fit into it.

I think, I'll make a Guild and show you guys how easy the raids actually are and how fast we can potentially clear them. There has been an increasing amount of new players, and I'm sure a lot of them may want to start raiding at some point so it might be a good idea to make a Guild haha.

Just like tag me in a comment and I'll add you hahaha. Or send me a mail in game :)

> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> As I've said, I intend to put in just as much effort in acquiring the armor as any of you have, just in an easy mode rather than in the normal mode. And again, nothing entitles you to be able to determine that the effort you do is somehow "more worthy" than the effort I do. If the developers say that it is a valid amount, then they are right, because they decide who to gift with what.

I think, you're slightly deviating from the context of WHY exactly, you wish to have an easy mode. In my opinion, you should make a new post on the forum.

> Yes, yes, and yes. ;)

> I want easy mode raids that are as casual to hook into as dungeons were back during their prime. Just pop up an LFG, find a group that's running the encounter you want, and stand a very solid change of clearing the encounter as simple as that. No training, no "static group," watching tutorials and the such might be helpful, but wouldn't be strictly necessary, even a handful of players knowing what they're doing should be able to tip the outcome into the "win" column.

I understand a bit better now, why you wish to have an easyMode. I do believe that Raid should be accessible to ALL players, and not only those who had at some point the TIME to join a GUILD and farm 200+ li to now be able to complete Raid Boss. However, I'm still pretty strong on my idea that an easyMode would be wrong for the following reason. Your "No training" idea, is in my opinion a bit unrealistic. Players who do not have a basic understanding of how their class work, should definitely fail miserably. If your entire team is aware of what are their HIGH PRIORITY SKILLS and use the most efficient way to use them during a boss encounter, I assure you that raids are EXTREMELY easy. And would you not wish to read every single one of your skills, and go through some serious theory crafting about what is the best gear to use for that particular rotation, like 90% of the _raiding_ community. You can just go on [snow Crows](https://snowcrows.com "Snow Crows") website, read their guide, get the gear and watch the rotation video on YouTube. Then you just need to practice a bit the rotation on the Golem (30min or more, depending on your class), and there you are, READY TO RAID :)

GW2 on the contrary to MMORPG such as WoW is not bonded by GEAR. And I think this distinction shouldn't be forgotten. WoW, both entry level difficulty "LFG" and "Normal" mode, with the right gear are easy. And it should not be forgotten that in GW2 you have the option to enter a raid with the BEST IN SLOT gear to complete the raid. The difference then lie in your ability to perform a rotation and as in WoW, if you have better gear or better rotation in GW2 the raid just gets easier.

> @"Brobeansqt.2640" said:

> Hey there! Trying to choose a proffesion but i know very little about the classes. and what suits my playstyle. I mostly pvp and wvw. I have tried thief but found them too squishy when caught and to much hit and run. Warrior was fun but still feels like smth is missing. I like melee characters that can fight face to face but still have mobility options and a more "skillfull" approach than just all out brute force. High outplay potential would be great.

"face to face but still have mobility" As I read this, the class coming to my mind would be Holosmith, Spellbreaker, Thief, Mirage possibly (it's a bit like thief gameplay).

I would say Warrior is still your best option, as it is "face to face with a lot of mobility" and "not too squishy" either. I would suggest that you try out various weapon set, and explore what each particular does, and which ones best suit your playstyle, as well as what sigils do you like best. My guess is that, if you are still new to GW2, you may have rushed through some weapon set, and not explored their full potential.

> I liked windwalker monk in wow, and yasuo in leauge if that helps.

Also GW2 PVP is fairly harder to get into than WoW PVP, since GW2 allows you to dodge and have specific combos, while having a lot of playable specialisation, it makes everything fairly difficult.

I would suggest that you watch some video, about the class Vannss has amazing PVP and WvW roaming Spb video on his [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/xXGiJoNXx "YouTube") channel.

Also, I've seen that someone mentioned Metabattle for builds. Metabattle is okayish. WvW builds are great however PVP (Conquest) builds are generally outdated. I would suggest to rather look at Frostball discord https://discord.gg/QcsQYx and another website whose name I cannot remembered created by some GW2 twitch streamer.

> @"Ohoni.6057" said:

> This may all be true, and yet the fact remains that raids are not as casual pick-up as many players would want them to be. The existing raids can be left intact for those that enjoy that sort of thing, but there is still value in having an alternate experience for more casual players.

>

> I'm well aware that I could train myself up to be capable in the current raids, my point is that I *do not want this outcome.* I want the content *itself* to become more casual and pick-up friendly.

I don't understand, what do you mean?

-Are you saying that you do not wish to put up the investment of joining a raiding Guild and having to be online 1 or 2 evening per week and therefore would want an easyMode for raids.

-Or are you saying that you should be able to do raids whenever you have time, and not be bound to have obligatory connection time to do them?

-Or is it something else?