maddoctor.2738

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said: > Dude you can turn it down a notch. I didn't claim vanquishing in GW1 opened portals. It's in the part I quoted, that you also quoted: > Blocking players from map access could be as easy as removing the portals that would normally take the players to other maps, until they kill some designated boss which would open the portal or **maybe they must "vanquish" the area first before the portals would open, like in GW1.** As I said earlier I'm not a mind reader, I only respond to what's written and that's exactly what you claimed. > The ideas presented in this thread would just be giving all of the old fractals boys A LOT more to do and aspire towards, concerning utilizing the AR system. What ideas exactly? "Start in LA", "gets more difficult when you move outwards", "will be insanely difficult", "extra rewards", "vanquish like in GW1", "will put the build system to good use", "players will split up", "no waypoints", "back to LA if you die", that's all presented so far, in one sentence. There are no ideas presented so far in this thread, just assumptions and claims. I even specifically asked for an example how would this all work, but alas so far got no answer, just wishful thinking. > Anet could give them all permanent Quickness, Alac, Super Speed. That would fundamentally change a lot about how the mechanics felt. I'm sure fighting those Moas in Queensdale while they have Quickness, Alacrity and Super Speed is gonna make them super challenging.

If the idea of "challenge" and "difficulty" for someone is about increasing mob stats, like health and damage, they are free to play in the current open world maps with white gear, or no gear at all. I personally find damage sponges that deal big damage not be challenging, or fun, I'd rather be challenged by actual mechanics. But I guess anyone can have their own opinion on the subject.

> @"Yggranya.5201" said: > > @"maddoctor.2738" said: > > What you describe is not a real challenge, nor extreme difficulty, it's real boredom and extreme tediousness. It might've looked great in your mind before you typed it, but seeing your suggestion written makes me only fall asleep. > > Not to mention that the "difficulty" or "challenge" isn't the goal here, just the great rewards. As per the usual with people who have something to prove, they need something to flaunt. The tediousness is just so other people wouldn't be willing to go through with it. > Indeed. When someone goes out of their way to repeat "challenging", "insane difficulty" but provides zero ways of how to accomplish this (other than extra health, extra damage, and addition of higher agony damage) then you are probably right

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said: > Blocking players from map access could be as easy as removing the portals that would normally take the players to other maps, until they kill some designated boss which would open the portal or maybe they must "vanquish" the area first before the portals would open, like in GW1. That's not how vanquishing worked in GW1, there were no "portals" you could leave a zone any time you wished. So this idea is a boring "skip to the boss", "kill the boss", "get rewards", "open portal to next map", rinse and repeat. Just mindless mob killing in open world maps fighting so called "insane difficulty" enemies. What makes Fractal CMs and Raids challenging is the fact that bosses have mechanics and require teamwork. The OP stated: > With a minimum of extra programming, ANET can recycle ALL maps, but expanding a lot of content and a new mode (already tested in a small version). If every open world boss, or at least those required to open up the portals to the next zone, must have entirely new mechanics, then the idea of "minimum extra programming" goes out of the window. And since Anet releases Strike Missions and Fractals so rarely and Raids are dead, I don't think it's reasonable to assume they'd invest so many resources to "upgrade" (or rather create from scratch) so many ex-open world bosses. And that's to actually be challenging, just increasing their health and damage isn't "challenging", it's tedious. Doesn't really deserve any extra rewards

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said: > 1. Yes, a new type of asura portal near fractals that is a mega fractal, pretty much alternate reality of Tyria where there are no waypoints and you progress outwards into Central Tyria maps that are full of insanely difficult combat encounters. Can you provide an example of how that's going to work? Once you use that portal, where will you end up? How exactly are you gonna "block" players from moving about and ignoring fights? Open World maps aren't simple one path maps like in Fractals or Raids, they are large and expansive. There are no "blocks" in place, like bosses to kill in order to open up a new path. Let's say I'm in Queensdale, outside Divinity's Reach, and want to reach the portal leading to Kessex Hills, how are you gonna stop me?

> @"Aavataris.5720" said: > > @"maddoctor.2738" said: > > > @"Aavataris.5720" said: > > > Seeing that the **Draconic Response missions work very well** > > Read everything again (learn to read, the better), the idea is to reach the outer maps (their mega-fractal versions), fighting and overcoming bosses in very high difficulty. EVERYTHING you said has nothing to do with it, and you make up a lot of things that have nothing to do with it (it is not a speed race, the mounts have nothing to do with it and hopefully if they are used in this mode, it is a series of combats taking advantage of all the current maps in maximum difficulty). > > How unpleasant that you made up anything (that I DIDN'T SAY) just to find defects where there were none. > > I read everything just fine. You should explain your idea more, what does > fighting and overcoming bosses in very high difficulty. even mean? What bosses exactly? > EVERYTHING you said has nothing to do with it What I said was a response to what you wrote in your opening post, based on what it explained (or rather what it didn't, as there wasn't much in it) as I'm no mind reader I can't possibly know what's in your mind and what you actually mean. Only what I read. If you had something else entirely, than what I said, then you should take some time to flesh out your suggestion, instead of complaining that I made up anything (which I didn't)

> @"Aavataris.5720" said: > Seeing that the **Draconic Response missions work very well** They don't work very well though. > This Azura allows you and your team (from 1 to 5 people) to enter this mega-fractal (a **version of the previous Lion's Arch, like another dimension**) **with all the other maps that already exist** (maybe with a filter that makes them look more gloomy and dangerous), but **without the NPCs and with an ¡¡insane difficulty!!**, that increases as you move away from Lion's Arch …and **no Fast Travel Points (no fast travel and no revival)**. > > So, the objective is to travel in all this maps (public), from the center to the edges (increasing the difficulty), **without being able to leave** (except to do MvM and PvP), having to plan strategies, build groups, meeting other players who **try survive**, to reach the edge. A **true adventure** that can take days, **organizeing teams or meeting new allies**. That sounds incredibly boring. Can you even imagine how the maps of this game would feel if they had no NPCs, no events (since they require NPCs) and are just boring empty lands. I guess in this "mode" of yours you wouldn't be able to use a mount either, or swiftness of any kind, or use a Thief, because you know a clever player could reach "the edge" (as you call it) without ever fighting anything. So much for "insane difficulty" and "organizing / planning". > - If your entire team dies, they have to **start over from Lion's Arch** (they can revive each other, if at least 1 survives). How would a team die though? What would the objective of this mode be? > - You have to advance in extreme difficulty, and with a **real challenge**, but with great rewards. What you describe is not a real challenge, nor extreme difficulty, it's real boredom and extreme tediousness. It might've looked great in your mind before you typed it, but seeing your suggestion written makes me only fall asleep. > - **Meals, armor repair, potions and teamwork take on real importance**, having to stock up before starting. Starting... what? As I asked above, what's the objective? What does "Travel in all the maps" even mean?

You can create your own playlists and have the game play those instead of the game music. You create a folder named Music in Documents\Guild Wars 2 (where the Screenshots folder is if you take pictures), put a playlist you can create on most media players, give it proper name and voila the game will play that music. Unfortunately the playlists available aren't in any way comprehensive. For example, you can't have separate lists for the different zones, or cities, it was a suggestion back at release to improve this feature but it never happened. As for the thread's topic, the playlist you are looking for is called "Defeated", make your own playlist with that name, put it in the Music folder and you will listen to that instead of the vanilla sound. You can find more information/details on the wiki: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Customized_soundtrack

> @"Stormcrow.7513" said: > I love GW2 I really do, but I am starting to notice the bad textures and horrible fps, even with a new rig. > > GW2 can look spectacular but you need injectors. > > Let's hope EOD will have some performance and textural enhancements I'm sure EOD, just like the previous expansions, will have a much higher graphic/texture quality than the core game, but I doubt they will make any kind of change to the core game. As for performance, we'll see if there is anything new on that front.

The announcement was done in March 12 2020, I'd say we can wait another month for the 1 year anniversary. Especially since Anet doesn't usually announce things during Festivals, but either before or after them. Lunar New Year ends next week, so we'll see what happens.

> @"kharmin.7683" said: > Can't you also get them using Black Lion statuettes? Right! There are those too. Added them to the post.

As a PVE player, you can get transumatation charges using festival currencies, Candy Corn (Mad King), Snowflakes (Wintersday), Jorbreaker (Dragonbash), Festival Tokens (Festival of Four Winds), Bauble Bubble (Super Adventure Box) and as of 2021, Essence of Luck (Lunar New Year) All of them currencies you can actually farm in the game by playing PVE. No need to complete maps if you don't want, no need to play PVP or WVW if you don't want. Other sources: You get 3 every 28 days from the Login Rewards, 5 as a Common drop in Black Lion Chests, 1 randomly chosen from the 500 AP achievement chests, up to 2 from the Large Achievement Chests (every 1000 AP) and up to 3 from the Heavy Achievement Chests (every 2500 AP) Edit: You can also get them from Black Lion Statuettes, which are guaranteed drops from the Black Lion Chests. There are a LOT of sources for them.

No it shouldn't. Instead of asking the game to change to your needs, you should try to change yourself. For example, why do you always play alone in PVP? Did you try finding a guild for Raid newbies?

> @"Ashantara.8731" said: > Actually, just making the person who started a party of five the "squad commander" would easily solve the problem. This mechanic should have been introduced a long time ago. That's how the game used to be until it was changed... Fun times when party leaders where demanding payment to keep the instance active. Or kicking whoever they like since they couldn't be touched.

> @"Kodama.6453" said: > > @"KidRoleplay.3615" said: > > I feel like HoT and PoF difficulty is similar, though I've been told HoT was nerfed and used to be more dangerous. Can't confirm; don't remember. > > > > The only obvious difference to me seems to be where hero challenges are concerned. But, I mean, where HoT had frogs, PoF had veteran djinn. Where HoT had big dinosaurs, PoF had Canids. They seem similar, though PoF I'll admit often had aggro ranges about as far as Melee Marth's grab range. > > > > Also, helping newbies with HPs is always fun. :) Either in showing off while soloing or all aboard the train!!! > > Enemies early in HoT had many mechanics which made them harder to deal with or more dangerous. > > Mordrem wolves used to deal tons of damage if they hit you from behind (I think it was something like 300% damage or something like this). > Mordrem thrashers were immune to damage from the front, you needed to flank them to be able to deal damage to them. > > Mechanics like these made them pretty frustrating for some players to deal with and therefore they nerfed them across the board... Mordrem Wolves and Mordrem Thrashers were among the mobs that were nerfed when HOT launched, not afterwards. They were introduced during Season 2 and got nerfed when HOT launched to make Season 2 content easier, since there would be less players playing there after the launch of an expansion. Mordrem Wolves used to 1-shot players when hitting from either the side or behind, because the game counts the sides as "flanking" too. They could also buff themselves ith retaliation, now they use Swiftness. Threashers were completely immune to damage from the front and the sides, you had to hit them from behind, while spinning, to do any damage. Other notable nerfs with the launch of HOT were beetles, that were also immune to attacks from the front, you had to bait them, dodge them, and then attack from behind, or use hard CC skills which would flip them and make them vulnerable. There were more Season 2 mobs that were nerfed when HOT launched, but the key to remember here is that those mobs were nerfed when the expansion launched, not during the "nerf" patch that came afterwards, which means players entering HOT zones never encountered those versions of Wolves, Thrashers, Beetles and so on. PS: The only mob that was nerfed during the HOT nerf pass was the Itzel Shadowleaper. That mob used to evade all ranged attacks constantly, which made him immune to direct ranged attacks. They nerfed them to instead only evade while using their actual evade skill. That was the single mob change during the so called HOT nerf.

> @"Veprovina.4876" said: > > @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said: > > > @"Sobx.1758" said: > > > > @"Veprovina.4876" said: > > > > > @"voltaicbore.8012" said: > > > > > > @"Veprovina.4876" said: > > > > > >You can only stunbreak when you're stunned but there's nothing against being knocked on the ground as far as i know. So once you're insta kncocked down, you're dead. > > > > > > > > > > This is very, very wrong. Any stunbreak recovers from knockdown/stun/daze, basically any condition that is indicated bu the purple debuff icon and lays your character out on the ground. The whole list of things that stunbreak solves is at the wiki page [here](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stun_break). > > > > > > > > > > I'm not sure at this point if we need to look at the game's design, or individual players, when it comes to figuring out how so many people can make it so far into the game without learning important information like this. For me, stun breaks are among the first abilities I make sure to hotkey on every class for every game I play, and I very quickly found out that abilities marked as stun breaks got rid of all hard cc's. This also taught me the utility of soft cc's like cripple, chill, and immobilize - I knew that I could throw those at targets in pvp who were using stability and stunbreaks, and find ways to pin them down regardless. > > > > > > > > > > EDIT: oops had this page open for too long, didn't see that someone basically made the same response already. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Then let me repeat myself. If all my skills go on cooldown, what do i use then? Doesn't happen with "normal" stuns, but some enemy abilities knock me on the ground, all my skills 1-0 get on a 5 second cooldown so how am i supposed to "use a stunbreak" then? > > > > > > > > I know what sutns are, i use them every day in WvW, and i know how to get out of them. > > > > But you can't get out of some stuns and CC effects. Especially if they don't have a tell like some mobs do. > > > > > > > > Besides, i don't know why you're all arguing with me, if you read my post (thouruogly this time), you'll see that i have no problem with this. don't just read the first thing i said and have a kneejerk reaction, read and understand the whole post. > > > > > > People aren't "arguing" with you. You've made a false claim about stunbreaks not working on knockdown, so people are correcting you so you don't spread information that's not true. > > > > > > I would also like to address this part: > > > > @"Veprovina.4876" said: > > > >So far i know which mobs do that and i approach them differently so that problem kinda fixes itself. I still think it's an oversight that shouldn't happen, but you CAN deal with it. > > > > > > If you can play around it, then I don't see how that's oversight. Having a need to actually approach certain mobs differently seems like something that's desirable, so the mobs don't feel like just reskins of the same thing with same skills and effects. > > > > I can actually explain this. **There is a very small number of enemy skills in the game that completely bypass all stun breaks.** These skills, however, are quite rare. The only one I can think of that does this off the top of my head is the Icebrood Trolls in Bitterfrost Frontier. They have an AoE stun that locks you in place for 5 seconds, and it puts stun breaks on cooldown. To extrapolate this to be the norm, however, is incredibly misleading. However I digress. > > > > ------------ > > > > The OP hasn't provided any further information on what their situation is, and we know that the starter zones are definitely not a CC fest. So either one of two things is happening here: > > > > (1): Troll Post > > (2): The OP has blundered into and end zone, but knows so little about the game that they can't articulate what is going on or what is happening. > > Yes, that's exactly what i'm talking about! Thank you! That's what i meant for those knockdowns. Cause i know you can't do anything about them like you can with "normal" stuns. And i don't even mind those as well. That troll skill isn't a knockdown though, it's a freeze. The skills that bypass stun breaks are NOT knockdowns, you can easily recover from a knockdown by using a stun break skill. Edit: Can you give an example of knockdown that you cannot recover from with a stun break?

The question doesn't have a "correct" answer because I don't think there is any difference between the two expansions. The northern part of desert highlands, the dwarven area and the harpy area, the east side of Vabbi, with the brandstorm, and most central parts of the Desolation, full of awakened are as challenging to play at as the hardest areas of HOT. On the other hand most of Tangled Depths (it's hard to navigate, not challenging to fight in), but the Nuhoch, and SCAR areas are very open and easy to play at, Verdant Brink's northern area and eastern are also easy to play in as there are only a handful of hard/challenging mobs there. To put it simply, both expansions have hard and easy areas so picking one over another isn't going to work. A few things to note regarding difficulty: a) Assign most of the difficulty/challenge on Veteran mobs, like POF does with Awakened Canids, Awakened Abominations and any type of Djinn. That way, even brand new players will instantly know a fight is gonna be hard, if it's with a veteran, and a fight is gonna be less challenging, if it's a normal mob. b) Have at least one expansion zone (ideally the starting zone) be very easy to play in. Verdant Brink isn't a good starting zone. Crystal Oasis is. Many players talking about how easy POF is compared to HOT are probably comparing their worst experiences in HOT to Crystal Oasis c) Make areas of varied difficulty within the same zone. As I said in my first paragraph, the harpy infested north of Desert Highlands and the Brandstom in Vabbi are an excellent contrast compared to the rest of their respective zones, expansion maps need more of this and not having the entire zone be too hard, or too easy. For example Elon Riverlands is probably the easiest expansion map in the game, as it lacks any areas of at least some moderate challenge. My 2 cents. PS: the only answer in the poll that is irrelevant is "Lower than PoF-difficulty", we've been playing at this difficulty for more than 5 years, 6 years when EOD launches, so dropping the difficulty now would make no sense. If the game wasn't up to your difficulty for 6 years, then what are you still doing here?

Some context?

> @"Teratus.2859" said: > The problem is that nothing prepares you for HoT.. that's why the spike exists and always will exist, and that's a flaw with the Vanilla GW2's end game content. Season 1 and the original (pre-nerf) Season 2 did a very good job preparing players for HoT. The problem is that the first doesn't exist anymore and the second is behind a paywall plus it was nerfed when HoT launched. This means a player that buys POF, gets HOT free and moves from Orr into Verdant Brink and gets hit by a massive difficulty spike. I don't think Orr is the problem, remember that new players will play around Orr, including Cursed Shore, with green and maybe rare gear and some assorted exotics from playing the personal story, so buffing the difficulty of Orr isn't going to work. What is needed is the content between core and expansions become completely free with purchase (Season 2) so players are directed to Dry Top / Silverwastes once they are done with Zhaitan, instead of Verdant Brink. I know those maps are available without purchase of Season 2, but the story doesn't lead you there.

> @"Milkshake.4370" said: > I know that the Scarlett content was important and a crucial aspect to the early game and the early GW2 player experience, however it is a huge setback and turn off for newer players. I think a lot of players agree with you on this one, not having a crucial part of the game available is a huge turn off. However, the key phrase you used: > I believe that the game "takes too long" to "get good". If you found the core game and season 2 boring, then more than likely you'd find Season 1 boring too, especially since it will be missing it's most fun and engaging aspects (the big open world events). Also part of the charm of Season 1 was not knowing the big villain behind it all and speculate. In other words, although missing Season 1 is bad, for players that disliked the story telling before Heart of Thorns, Season 1 has the potential to do more harm than good. As you essentially trade hours of boredom for a more cohesive story. I'm on the fence on this part myself. > Literally omitting the majority of Season 2 and only keeping the crucial storylines that lead up to HoT (Glint's Labyrinth, dragon eggs, dragon magic) would be better than what it is now. (Sorry original players or anyone who played through Scarlet's War, don't hate me). To be honest, Season 2 is a waste of money for new players anyway. Remember that you need to buy it to unlock, at a very high cost considering it's just the story, the maps are always available. Compared to any episode of Seasons 3, 4 or 5, Season 2 is just a bad buy, only for completionists.

> @"Randulf.7614" said: > We don't have access to Anet's metrics, but the impression I've had is that the game generally does OK attracting new players and the personal story doesn't seem to put anyone off. We don't have access to Anet's metrics, but NCSoft said back in 2015, when the core game went free to play, that the conversion of free players into paid players wasn't the expected one, thus leading to lower revenue than was projected at the time. So at the very least, NCSoft told us that the core game wasn't able to convert players, was this also true before Heart of Thorns we obviously don't know. The game does struggle to keep new players interested at the lower levels, although how much of that is due to the personal story is anyone's guess.

> @"Luci.7018" said: > Oh you mean the first Raids was tested by a top guild , internally . No. They were tested by multiple guilds so as to have a better quality product in the end. The guilds that got banned from breaking the rules weren't involved in future raid development anyway. Are you saying every single one of them broke the rules so during later POF Raids there was no guild involvelment? I highly doubt so, there were bad apples, but that wasn't all of them. And even if a guild said "easy" after having experience with raids during development, who cares?

> @"AgentMoore.9453" said: > You're saying raids, in their entirety, were purposefully made for a small amount of players? To me, that seems _unlikely_. That's a **lot** of effort for a niche. Raids were made as the ultimate challenge, how many would be up to that challenge was anyone's guess when they launched. Keep in mind that the game always advertised as having this "challenge" for players but unfortunately the challenging content of the game proved to not be really challenging in the end. > I think they had every expectation that far more people would raid than the amount that actually do, and they're doing all the wrong things to try and make it happen. Or rather, Raid participation exceeded their expectations and instead of following on that success they decided to send the Raid team to build 2 of the living world episodes of Season 3. And then make LOADS of design/management mistakes with Raids. The lack of rewards in the POF raids, the disastrous release cadence, the mistake of releasing the harder Raid wing before the easier ones, the complete neglect and miscommunication with the community. The first Raids were released after being tested by actual players, the community play-tested and helped developed them, then that partnership stopped. After ALL that neglect and gross mismangement, obviously participation rates plummeted, and we arrived where we are now.

> @"Camniel.7238" said: > > @"maddoctor.2738" said: > > > @"Camniel.7238" said: > > > As I said, I'm running on the thesis that OTHER players DO want a playable race and I want to discuss how that CAN be introduced without breaking story. > > > > I'm quite sure most players that are asking for a new playable race want a specific race, like Tengu or Largos, or Skritt, or Dwarves or whatever, and very few are saying a generic "please add a new race". So bringing up a new race that most players never asked for in the first place and calling it a "solution" to the desire to add a specific race, isn't going to work. > > > > There is this thread here with suggestions and discussion over the topic of races: > > https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/21242/new-playable-races-study-choose-your-favorite/p1 > > You linked a thread that just offers races you might want. It has nothing to do with how that race can be implemented into the story without causing retcons. Do you have a race or method of story implementation that would cause say the Tengu or other requested race to be introduced without retcons or similar story confusion? The easiest solution is when they add a new race, to start their story from that point onward. So if a new race is added with the expansion, it will only take part in the expansion content and forget the previous living world seasons and of course the previous expansions. For example, a playable Tengu will start from the Dominion of Winds, then move on to Cantha. Same with Largos, they'd be in their water city and find a reason to move to Cantha. They will never fight Zhaitan, Mordremoth or Kralkatorik. And this isn't even a new idea, especially for Arenanet, it's how the story of Guild Wars Factions (and Nightfall) worked, players that started in Prophecies and players that started in Factions had a completely different story up to a certain point, interacting with different characters. Tyrians will have Dragon's Watch and be the champions of Aurene, Canthans will have a new story to become the champions of Kuunavang. In fact, disregarding a new race, I'd really love it if I could play a Canthan HUMAN (yes human), with a brand new Canthan exclusive storyline, that doesn't know anything about what's happening outside Cantha. No need for retcons, no need to mess the story.

> @"Camniel.7238" said: > As I said, I'm running on the thesis that OTHER players DO want a playable race and I want to discuss how that CAN be introduced without breaking story. I'm quite sure most players that are asking for a new playable race want a specific race, like Tengu or Largos, or Skritt, or Dwarves or whatever, and very few are saying a generic "please add a new race". So bringing up a new race that most players never asked for in the first place and calling it a "solution" to the desire to add a specific race, isn't going to work. There is this thread here with suggestions and discussion over the topic of races: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/21242/new-playable-races-study-choose-your-favorite/p1