Blaeys.3102

Timegated materials for something like guild hall decorations seems like a poorly thought out concept. My guild is going through it now, and we are a pretty big guild with several max level scribes. I can only imagine the pain that small guilds have to go through to make even a small handful of the new decorations.

I think end game is an outdated concept and really doesn't fit with how GW2 plays. Back at the game's launch, the developers even said they wanted the entire game to be "end game" - a statement I fully understood and loved.

No single element of the game should stand above the others as the pinnacle of achievement in the game. You log in and simply do what you enjoy doing with your friends - whether that be dynamic events, wvw, jumping puzzles, small group content (fractals, raids, pvp), explore the newest (or even older) map, etc.

As for what I enjoy personally, it really is tied directly to my guild. I usually log into teamspeak even before logging into the game. From there, we usually just do whatever the first person blurts out - or we help each other with some little thing like hunting down new ranger pets or some tricky collection. And, of course, we schedule activity 4-5 nights a week to add even more fun to the game.

I think people are overstating how easy the bounties are. I still see many people struggling with them - even in large groups.

The only minor problem I see with bounties is that some of the random abilities they can acquire are overtuned and/or boring - specifically healing mist that only makes the fight much longer with no real way to counter.

Also, while not necessarily a complaint about bounties - their need to be placeable bounty boards for guild halls tied to new guild missions. It amazes me that this obvious mechanic was not the first thing the devs thought of.

You will get a lot of back seat advice with a question like this, ranging from "find a guild" (even if it means abandoning one you enjoy being in now) to "start your own group" (even if you know nothing about the raid fights) to "you just don't know how to play" (a phrase that needs to be banned in game and on the forums), but none of it changes the fact that the HUGE disparity between professions and builds makes it very frustrating to play many professions that you enjoy - to the point that many just give up on raids completely.

Raids create an exclusive environment that perpetuates a "play the one true way or gtfo" mentality. And while it is at least partially player driven, the fault - and ultimate responsibility to fix it - rests with the developers. It is time for them to set aside their stubborn shortsighted concepts of what a raid "has to be" and fix this.

I used the map to measure and compare it to the others after we first captured it. Believe it or not, it seems to be very close in size to the other two - but it does feel much smaller. The difference is in the vertical nature of the others - and the lack of "hidden" areas and actual rooms or flat surfaces in the new one. It makes it hard to decorate in meaningful ways.

While my guild will be keeping the new one (we worked hard to capture it), it is painfully obvious that considerably less effort went into designing it. The guild dev team is either gone or has been gutted in favor of other content.

In general, guilds seem to have been neglected with both this expansion and the past few years of content (as Ive said too many times already with no response whatsoever - 4.5 years with no new guild missions is disgraceful).

Guilds make up the backbone of this game, imo. It's time to refocus at least a little energy on them. For example, maybe give us our own bounty boards to build and place in the guild hall - and give us the tools to place rudimentary building or flat surfaces in the guild hall (with some kind of concession regarding the decoration cap) so we have areas worth decorating.

As an individual player, it is fun and provides a lot to do - story was engaging; specs are fun; maps are beautiful and fun to play on.

But shouldn't there be some new guild missions after 4.5 years - new bounty system is screaming for a guild version (bounty boards in guild hall, maybe). Guilds got a new hall and a handful of new decorations. Seems kinda thin.

There are meta events on a few of the maps - and I believe more will be added in the future. Since they aren't quite as structured as those in HOT (which can be a good thing), they require players to actually find them and take it upon themselves to organize - which is the reason there are people posting about a lack of events.

Right now, most players/guilds are pushing through the story and exploring the maps. Give it a little time and you will see more organization at the events that require them - both through LFG and guilds grouping up to do them.

I expect these maps will turn out to be pretty popular for things like that moving forward.

in min max groups (and raids specifically), you wont see many mirages, most likely. The double punch of alacrity + quickness sharing for the group will probably remain too good to replace.

In other groups, we will just have to wait and see. Given that condition damage will probably be the go to for mirage, I plan to play around a lot with the axe, torch, pistol, scepter and staff for the next few weeks.

I would look at scepter/pistol as the primary ranged option (albeit mid range) and axe/torch as the primary melee option. Staff may be useful on some fights (and definitely for those wanting a long range option) - and, as others have said, having a focus for the heavy cc fights might be a lot of fun too.

Unfortunately, you wont find any "serious discussions" about this, because of the min-max culture in MMOs and its growing presence in this game. People shouldn't let that stop them from having fun with the new stuff though.

Best:

- Adding new open world maps with periodic living story updates

- Guild halls and tying missions to both personal and guild rewards

- Gliding (and Mounts) - pretty much the mastery system as a whole really works for me

- Specializations instead of vertical progression

Worst:

- No new guild missions in 4.5 years (by FAR the biggest issue in the game for me)

- Putting interesting GW1 lore-focused storyline in content they admit is designed for a small percentage of the game population

- Single difficulty mode raids

- Lack of updates/support for EOTM (always saw it as a place to test potential new wvw improvements before pushing them to the competitive maps, but they seem to have forgotten it is there)

> @"vesica tempestas.1563" said:

> > @Helbjorne.9368 said:

> > > @Blaeys.3102 said:

> > > It is much deeper than just dps meters. Recent developer decisions have moved GW2 away from being a game about creating a unique character and having fun to one about min-maxing and shaming anyone who doesn't play the "one true and accepted way" to play their profession.

> > >

> > > I have to think that it has something to do with the mass exodus of developers and team leaders we saw last year. It really does feel like the game has changed directions away from the community focused friendly experience that made it so popular, and that is just sad.

> >

> > I've always been a min-maxer, and just because someone wants to be a competitive player, whether it's through PvE or PvP, that doesn't make them an inherently "toxic" or unfun player. The issue is that given the current state of most professions there are clear cut BiS builds that are objectively more efficient than any other build, and not by a small margin either. This falls onto profession balancing, or the lack thereof. Due to poor balancing and outdated traits, skills, and weapons, players are no longer able to 'play their way' and still be relatively competitive. No one's going to care what build you're running if you're pulling 25k+ DPS, but unfortunately the amount of builds that are capable of pulling that for each class are limited to only one or two, and that's a design issue, not a player issue.

>

> Nothing wrong with being a min-maxer if thats what you enjoy. The only issue is the pressure on people to do meta i.e glass cannon by others who cannot see beyond their own goals. 99% of content does not need glass cannon/meta build, and many players couldn't care less that the build they enjoy is not at 25K, but yet even though viable, many players who focus on meta will be rude to others because to them its all about the numbers. If a player does not want to play glass cannon then that should be respected as long as the build is viable. Diversity is healthy, respect is good.

> @Helbjorne.9368 said:

> > @Blaeys.3102 said:

> > It is much deeper than just dps meters. Recent developer decisions have moved GW2 away from being a game about creating a unique character and having fun to one about min-maxing and shaming anyone who doesn't play the "one true and accepted way" to play their profession.

> >

> > I have to think that it has something to do with the mass exodus of developers and team leaders we saw last year. It really does feel like the game has changed directions away from the community focused friendly experience that made it so popular, and that is just sad.

>

> I've always been a min-maxer, and just because someone wants to be a competitive player, whether it's through PvE or PvP, that doesn't make them an inherently "toxic" or unfun player. The issue is that given the current state of most professions there are clear cut BiS builds that are objectively more efficient than any other build, and not by a small margin either. This falls onto profession balancing, or the lack thereof. Due to poor balancing and outdated traits, skills, and weapons, players are no longer able to 'play their way' and still be relatively competitive. No one's going to care what build you're running if you're pulling 25k+ DPS, but unfortunately the amount of builds that are capable of pulling that for each class are limited to only one or two, and that's a design issue, not a player issue.

I agree completely - there is nothing wrong with min-maxing. I hope my response didn't come across as derisive or critical of those that do.

And I also agree that it really is a design fault more than a player fault. There is still an amazing community in GW2.

But recent content and design choice by ArenaNet have, unfortunately, empowered the uglier side of the community (no matter how small) - giving them the tools and justifications needed to create the elitist environment many of us hoped would just forget about GW2. And, while it has always been a small part of the game (exclusion of certain professions from some dungeon groups historically), there is no debating that, in the past year, it has reached a very unhealthy and destructive level.

While some blame can be handed to the players, I primarily hold Anet and the developers responsible due to VERY bad design decisions and encouraging tools that actually give the trolls and elitists more power.

It is much deeper than just dps meters. Recent developer decisions have moved GW2 away from being a game about creating a unique character and having fun to one about min-maxing and shaming anyone who doesn't play the "one true and accepted way" to play their profession.

I have to think that it has something to do with the mass exodus of developers and team leaders we saw last year. It really does feel like the game has changed directions away from the community focused friendly experience that made it so popular, and that is just sad.

We can safely assume that guild missions aren't currently on another schedule, unless that schedule is a few additions once every 4.5 years. Hopefully they are fixing that.

The rest will probably continue on the schedule we've seen the past year.

For me, it really is about support for guilds in the form of missions and other ways we they can deepen and improve upon guild focused systems.

No new guild missions in the past 4.5 years is a real issue for me. They are the one big thing I will be looking for most between now and the next expansion.

For the past month, my guild has been using our Sunday open world PVE event to go through all of the hero points in HOT zones with various alts - to help us unlock the new elite specializations faster next week.

I would go ahead and do it. That way you can actually use it while unlocking everything on your Weaver in PoF. Profession specific ascended weapon unlocks typically come at the end of the chain and require collections across all maps.