DoctorOverlord.8620

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

>

> You can argue that **but it is still optional**. Of course I would also say that you *should* do it if you like playing GW2, its a given. But no one is forcing the LS on people. Dont people start the LS to... kind of complete it? Whether it contain a DRM, a dungeon, or whatever is irrelevant.

I think we're talking about different things. You're talking about gameplay while I'm talking more about essential foundations for the game that should be shared among the community.

I'm just saying there are some elements to any MMO that are basic parts of the experience. Character creation and customization. Combat. Exploration. And I would rank Story as essential as any of these, but that's just my opinion. I suppose there are those who don't care about the story and ignore all dialog and lore, just like there might be people who play RPGs like Mass Effect and ignore the dialog choices and just want to grind to the boss fights. You can certainly play RPGs that way, but it would be like playing GW2 to only to farm nodes and sell mats on the TP to see how much gold you can gather (Which you could do and even eventually reach max level weirdly enough). To each their own....

>This argument that its not optional would be the same as saying raids arent optional. Dont they do exactly what you say?

>

Raids don't really tell the story. They give (sometimes important) pieces of background lore, but they won't explain why undead are running around Orr or why Lake Doric is a mess. To share and understand the background and lore that is familiar to the GW2 community, you need to do the LS.

> @"Firebeard.1746" said:

> Also if some of the longer ones were 5-10 mins shorter the pacing would be way better.

>

Or as much as 50% shorter (or more) :)

The reason I say this is the point to the story missions should be to present the story in the most dramatic and entertaining manner possible. It has been pointed out that players don't do story mission for the loot, they want to see the lore and story.

Nothing kills a good story when watching a movie worse than drawn-out, tedious scenes, and nothing kills a good story in an RPG than drawn-out, tedious timesinks, whether they are too many waves of enemies, too many steps in a puzzle, or boss fights deliberately designed to drag on and on. I have no problem with timesinks in other content like Dungeons, Fractals, Guild Missions etc. I get the reason for having timesinks in MMOs, but they absolutely ruin good storytelling, and GW2's story is good enough that it deserves to be told well.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> Yet the entire storyline *is* still optional no matter how much you want to compare dungeons to DRMs.

I would argue the story not optional if you look at it from the point of building a strong community around a game. An MMO can have a wide range of players from hardcore raiders to light casuals to RPGers. The one element that can unite all these players and bring them together as a community is the setting and the lore. Any GW2 fan should be able to talk to another GW2 fan about Tyria. That means understanding the history, races and regions, it means knowing the differences between the Legions of the char or why you never make a Snaff joke around an asura.

The story is what accomplishes this. The story allows a diverse range of players with widely different play-styles to find common ground so they can share and connect with each other. And that means the story should be accessible to everyone from Legendary harpoon gun-owning, basement-dwelling tryhards to the most casual of gems-to-gold buying, filthy casuals.

The story to an RPG, whether single-player or massively online, is not optional. It's an important foundation of the fan community.

This was a very entertaining thread. Now I want to try a mangosteen.

Thank you very much for the replies! It's a little confusing not being able to see where the XP is going.

Do you get a level-up animation or a UI pop-up that another spirit shard has been gained? Maybe that's happened and I haven't noticed.

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said:

>

> Did you go arms/tactics, arms/disc, or arms/strength?

I'm trying arms/tactics and that is very fun. Wintersday interrupted trying the other builds but I plan to see what they are like as well.

Thanks for the reply on the gear and signets!

I wanted to ask for a clarification on the Mastery Point/Spirit Shard mechanic. I understand that if all Mastery Tracks are completed then any experience gained afterward is shunted to a hidden, invisible track that awards spirit shards for each level. (There is any way to see/monitor this amount?)

What happens if you do not have enough Hero Points to complete a Mastery Track but the Experience Bar for it is full? Is any extra experience you gain being wasted or does it shunt to the hidden Spirit Shard track?

Also out of curiosity, what happens if you just finished a Master Track but you do not click 'Train' on the next one (say because you have no interest in pursuing it)? Is any experience you gain next then wasted or does it go to the mysterious, invisible Spirit Shard track?

And this mechanic is the same for each expansions since the game treats PoF and HoT experience as separate from Central Tyria experience?

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said:

>

> You will be squishy though so be careful.

This build has been interesting to play! I wanted ask what do you think about using Marauder armor rather than Berserker? All Berserker gear really seems very squishy. Like too-overripe fruit squishy and I thought Marauder might be a good compromise.

Also should one be popping the Signets of Might and Fury even out of combat just to keep the Ferocity up in case of surprises? I've been hitting them at the start and saving the Signet of Rage if things get rough (and saving the Dolyak Signet for stun breaks)

Thank you very much for the information! I have alts who I don't use in WvW so I'll spend the ability points on them :)

I am seeing two blank pages for HoT recipes in the Heroics Notary, have they been disabled? (Sorry if this is old news, I only recently returned)

Is there any way to get HoT recipes through WvW?

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said:

> It works. But you'll be a one trick pony. Which is fine, such ponies are fun to play. If you have to mount up use your signets as soon as they appear and then F1. double tap F1 if you are a Berserker. I really wish the stacks of Signet of Ferocity did not go away when you mount. It greatly inhibits the trait in PvE and WvW. Like I said above though with Runes of Speed and Warhorn you should run fairly quickly. Bonus condition cleanses from the horn as well.

>

Thank you!. I really appreciate all the helpful comments and example builds. I'm more concerned with having fun, so a one trick pony is fine by me : ) I can also switch and play my ele in WvW for a change of pace.

Time to start crafting some of that gear.

> @"Lan Deathrider.5910" said:

> > @"DoctorOverlord.8620" said:

> > I just recently returned to GW2 and I was disappointed to learn I missed the meta for the Rifle Warrior/Berserker build.

> >

> > Out of curiosity, is a Berserker Rifle build completely useless now or is it still be fun to play even though it was been nerfed?

> >

> > > @"Hannelore.8153" said:

> > > For WvW Diviner's gear works better than Berserker's. Slot in some Commander's if you need some armor. Rifle builds have a hard time stacking Might so you want to make it last as long as possible when you do, otherwise you'll just shoot pebbles.

> > >

> > > Rifle's main strength is the nearly instant 25 Vulnerability, so practice your rotation accordingly.

> > >

> > I appreciate these points. I know Rifle Warrior probably isn't the best for WvW, but I'm having fun trying it.

>

> Arms for signet mastery. Use signet of might, fury, and rage. Pew pew. Take a stun break in the last utility slot.

Thanks! I like your alternate build of run runes of speed and an axe/horn set with the rifle. That sounds like it would be fun.

I just recently returned to GW2 and I was disappointed to learn I missed the meta for the Rifle Warrior/Berserker build.

Out of curiosity, is a Berserker Rifle build completely useless now or is it still be fun to play even though it was been nerfed?

> @"Hannelore.8153" said:

> For WvW Diviner's gear works better than Berserker's. Slot in some Commander's if you need some armor. Rifle builds have a hard time stacking Might so you want to make it last as long as possible when you do, otherwise you'll just shoot pebbles.

>

> Rifle's main strength is the nearly instant 25 Vulnerability, so practice your rotation accordingly.

>

I appreciate these points. I know Rifle Warrior probably isn't the best for WvW, but I'm having fun trying it.

The latest BL Universal Outfit tickets says it is good up to the Queensdale Academy Outfit. I am guessing this means outfits released prior to the Queensdale Academy Outfit but where is a chronological list of outfits? This isn't something I track. Was the Queensdale Academy Outfit the latest outfit so this means the ticket will open any of the gem store outfits?

> @"Hannelore.8153" said:

> The Personal Story missions keep collecting bugs over the years due to changes in other areas of the game and the devs show no interest in going back and fixing them. My most recent playthrough was the buggiest yet.

>

> What's become especially common is noticeable timing issues in dialogue and events.

To be fair, I have seen evidence of ArenaNet streamlining the old content of the Personal story missions. There's a great example of Magister Sieren providing a very helpful shortcut around a jumping puzzle that was part of a Personal Story mission for some insane reason. Dwayna bless the people who neutralized that mistake.

The weird thing about the Forging the Pact bugs is that they remind me of ones from Guild Wars 1. In GW1 you would be standing where the game was telling you to be, and the mission would just sit there doing nothing rather than advancing or spawning mobs. Which is crazy since the code is completely different, but it is somehow replicating the same unfortunate experience. Timers and mob wave counts are used in dynamic events in the open world, those would be very useful to have in this (and any) Personal Story missions.

This scenario is still very buggy. I saw many of the issues in the above post particularly the timing in the Search for Survivors phase where you enter the green circle and nothing happens even after interacting with all the object, the scenario refuses to progress forcing you to restart it. There is also a timing delay in the mob waves spawning when you are defending the first group of survivors outside of the mine. There is no timer so you have no idea if they are approaching or if the scenario is just bugged.

I've had to replay the scenario multiple times to complete it, which might not be bad except this is a tediously long one (not to mention an incredibly poorly designed as far as instructions and the overall map). The length of this should have been cut in half even without the bugs. This could be done by cutting the number of trash mobs and even without the the bugs the number of mobs should be reduced to make it less tedious.

> @"Jimbru.6014" said:

>

> The core Longbow Beastmastery "bowbear" hasn't changed much in GW2's history. While it's certainly not meta for raids and fractals, it's still reasonably effective for casual players in most content.

>

> More builds for various situations here: https://metabattle.com/wiki/Ranger

Just wanted to say thank you, I'm in the same situation - returning after a long hiatus and going to try a Ranger. It's good to know 'bowbear' is still the good old reliable build. Metabattle came up first on my Google search, but it's nice to have confirmation this is a good GW2 build site.

Now just have to get used to the changes. They didn't even have a Build tab when I stopped playing....

This thread seems mostly comprised of two sides - people voicing their dislike of GW2's Story Missions and others telling them to 'Git gud'. Personally I agree with OP and the other negative opinions of the Story Missions but rather than argue, I would like to offer suggestions that ArenaNet could implement which I believe would improve the quality of life for **all** GW2 players.

A basic problem is that every player has a different opinion on what they consider an acceptable level of difficulty. Single player RPGs developed the solution to this decades ago:

1. **Offer the ability to choose difficulty levels for Story Missions**

ArenaNet has already shown they can offer the same content with different levels of difficulty through the dungeon Story Modes and Explorer Modes. The same thing should be done for Story Missions.

Naturally, there should be better rewards for those who choose to play at the higher difficulty settings. The people saying how easy the Story Missions currently are can try them at harder levels and get rewarded for it. This would allow for additional replayability.

But for those who simply want to relax and see the kittening story and not die, there should be a less lethal setting. I always play RPGs on the easier modes in my first run to see the story, then I replay them at harder settings if I like the gameplay.

Another solution ArenaNet can offer is more radical for MMOs but I think it might be possible.

2. **Manual save points in the Story Mission instances.**

This means saving at ANY point in the mission (outside of combat), not just saving at the end of a chapter. This would make the Story Instances much more player friendly and also address the recurring problem of disconnections causing players to lose all of their progress (There are numerous threads regarding this issue).

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/486535

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/479342

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/471995

Being able to manually save is a standard feature in most modern, single player RPGs. Each game may vary the ability to save, but they offer this convenience for their players because it is imporant. I may be wrong, but I would think this is technically possible to implement in single player instances of an MMO. Single player games are already so connected online, it seems like it would be something that could be done.

The MMO industry has ignored this feature but ArenaNet has innovated in the past and this is would show they are willing to push the entire genre forward for the sake of their customers.

Story Mission are vital for everyone to do. You need them to truly advance your character and even access new zones. More importantly, the story and lore are what unites a game's community. The lore is a common background and the familiar foundation that all players can share. It is vital for the health of a game's community that this background is accessible for every player regardless of the level of difficulty they want to experience.

Most games rely on comics or cinematics or such to share their community-binding lore. Guild Wars 2 has decided to do it solely through the Story Missions and so these should be offered to customers with as much flexibility as possible.

> @"zinkz.7045" said:

> No one that wants quality PvP is blobbing around in WvW (especially 6 years in and in a game mode on life support), it is casual, trash tier PvP, which also pretty much sums up the playerbase and what makes people that tryhard at it so amusing.

>

Certainly sPvP is about a direct comparison of skills - that's why it is so structured and constantly being balanced. But complaining that WvW doesn't offer an equivalent gaming experience is like complaining that a Mario Bros game doesn't let you decapitate zombies. Quality PvP in gaming is not just limited to eSport style arenas.

WvW offers moments you do not get in sPvP. Coming over a hill and seeing a massive red wall of enemies heading right at you, and somehow managing to escape by the skin of your teeth. Standing on the ramparts of a keep as the attackers below gather together for an assault like a Helm's Deep scene. Seeing catapult fireballs flying in the distance and knowing that's not just an environment effect but an attack being lobbed by other players at other players.

One of the reasons I like PvP is for the ridiculous, crazy things that can happen in it. Those surprises can happen just as easily a large group PvP game mode like WvW as they can in an arena-style game mode. Large group PvP games have been growing in popularity as the industry realizes there is a range of gaming experiences they can offer. I am glad that ArenaNet is managing to provide players with such a range in their MMO.

This issue with the TP becomes incredibly annoying when you're trying to green and blues from 250 stacks of Bags of Gear from Silverwastes. I remember this issue from years ago and it's disappointing to see it is still an issue.

I suppose this is why PoF drops Pieces of Unidentified Gear which can be sold in stacks. It's good ArenaNet found a band-aid for this issue since they can't seem to fix it, but why have they only implemented it in PoF drops? Bags of Gear in Silverwastes should be replaced with Pieces of Gear (Or just make the kittening Bags of Gear sellable like the Pieces of Unidentified Gear)

The odd thing is I don't see this issue as often when selling green gear while going through all the champion bags from Silverwastes farming. Probably because it seems that the TP algorithm makes offers for that green gear less often, so you simply don't sell on the TP as much and don't slam against the limitation.

I would like to see a Save at Will function in the Story instances and/or a Difficulty setting for those of us who just want to relax and see the story the first time through rather than wasting time with trash mobs and tedious mechanics.

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

>

> **Hide Chest-option**

> Yeah I want to go Conan the Barbarian with my Norn main and show off those sick tribal tattoos in the process. You can already hide both Gloves and Shoulders, let’s do the Chest too. Come on Anet. Come on...

> **More focus on the non-human races**

> Other than Sylvari getting their time in the spotlight with HoT, the non-human races are shoved to the sidelines in the overarching story. Like, what do you know about the Norns other than they are basically giant Vikings? They’re begging to be fleshed out more!

Both of these are good ideas too. Maybe rather than 'Hide chest' option they can have an 'Emperor's New Clothes' chest piece which is just invisible.

> @"TheAgedGnome.7520" said:

> Stop griefing your playerbase with stunlocking mob mechanics.

I would also vote for this.

> @"Neural.1824" said:

> A $15/month sub fee, but that's probably "too broad".

My initial reaction to your post was this is a kitten-ing ridiculous idea. But then I realized you might not be suggesting removing the Free to Play or even the expansion model. If that is so, that might be intriguing. Do you envision some kind of sub fee where players would get certain benefits but the game could still be played without subbing? This would allow the option to stop paying for a period, perhaps because a player knows they will not be able to play that often during this time, even while allowing the game to be played without the sub benefits which could be renewed when they have more time again.

Or do you mean changing the entire business model of abolishing the sale of expansions and free to play option in which case, back to kittens.

> @"Deluvian.1068" said:

> Can we please have them? I know this has been discussed in the past and from what I remember the clipping was a sticking point. I get it...but honestly the difference would be huge. So much of the endgame is about appearance, and this would go such a long way. Also, can they tone down the amount of "sexy" armor? It seems like all of the gemstore armors have been more spring break, and less battle protection. The balth skin is amazing though.

While I wouldn't mind seeing cloaks, we have to acknowledge the gem store is meant to make ArenaNet money and sexiness sells more than non-sexiness. That's really never going to change. Boring battle protection will be meant for non-gem store obtainable gear.

I don't mind the selection in the game, GW2 is a good example of an MMO where players have the option of covering or exposing their characters as they choose unlike many MMOs where there is little or no choice with high-tier armor. Personally I think there should be more choices for either more or less covering options for both genders. I've seen suggestions for a way to have bare-chested Conan the Barbarian/'300" Spartans-style Norn males for example.

I really like this idea. I would also vote for a "Memento crate" which wouldn't need to be a shelf, although that would be cool, but rather it could be an non-bank container for junk where for us hoarders who keep useless crap like Ellen Kiel Support Tokens you forgot to turn in or the Refugee Child's Drawing (I don't care if its worth 5000 karma, that drawing is just too darn cute to consume).

And to prevent such an extra container from being used as extra bank space perhaps anything placed into it could become a "memento" and all game functions of it is disabled. It could no longer be sold or used - it would basically becomes the item icon and description. A nice touch could be a short text entry players could type describing why they are keeping or how they got this junk :)

> @"hugo.4705" said:

> Thanks you Anet, for my ingame mail, I will remember that, really, thank you from my heart mysterious guy who sent me a mail in game.

There is a story here, and I'm interested in hearing about it :)

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"hugo.4705" said:

> The way to handle this, as a bargain hunter (such as myself) or an infrequent purchaser (such as you seem to be) is to convert gold to gems regularly. That way, when something shows up that you really, really want (or need?), you already have enough gems.

I like this idea, I may start doing that myself though I will likely spend the money to make up the difference when there is something on sale I want.

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> The Story is pretty much the major Asset for this game. Everything else is pretty great, but without the story, without the episodic LW stuff, this game would have died in 2014.

The story was the final thing that made me uninstall the game back around 2014. Not that I didn't want to follow the plotline, I just had become sick of being made to jump through hoops of mostly bug-ridden timesinks just to turn a page. And don't even mention the NPC AI scripts. There were other issues why I uninstalled, but the story content design was a big part of it.

I have returned to the game to see the mount mechanics and these are as entertaining as I have heard. I also wanted to see the evolution of the game and there are many worthwhile improvements. But the first few chapters of the PoF story made me stop playing that part of the game.

The instanced story needs the same basic mechanics that have been standards in RPGs for decades - the ability to Save Progress at will (or something close to it) and variable Difficulty settings. MMOs have clung to the idea they can be different from other RPGs because of their online element, but companies have been making single player games requiring online connections for years. A modern MMO should offer solo instances with these basic mechanics that are expected in any single player RPG.

I wanted to add something that may be too specific to the Deadeye profession, but other professions could wear it too.

A poncho!