BlueJin.4127

The OP is saying he, firstly, wants the griffon. And he’s turning to crafting to make gold for the griffon. I’m saying since you need to invest to make money with crafting, it may be better to just use that gold for the griffon instead. People don’t get the griffon to make money. And some players don’t care about fractals, wvw, raids, etc. Getting griffon is my highest priority since I like playing open world contents. I, too, started about 2 months ago. I, too, want griffon, first of all. I, too, had about 60g when I started going for the griffon 2 days ago. And since the OP sounds like me, I’m saying he may be better off skipping crafting for now, like me. I'm simply stating my suggestion so that the OP can read different methods and decide for himself what the best method is for him.

My feelings exactly. We already have to fight a LOT in this game. When we simply want to travel or explore, let us do so without so many forced fights. All this forced crap is why I quit WoW. I don’t want to see it in this game.

Wow, the OP seems to be in a similar situation as me. I, too, started about 2 months ago. I started armorcrafting to get some armors, but decided to shelve it for now to prioritize getting the griffon, since it costs 250g. My advice is to hold off on crafting for now. Getting the griffon doesn’t require exceptional gears. Plus, crafting uses up gold that you may want to use for the griffon. I’m currently using the guide from dulfy that tells you how to get the griffon. I don’t remember the page name, but googling should work. As for getting gold, I do dailies and sell excess crafting materials that I won’t need for a while. I’m still far away from 250g, though.

EDIT - You may want to look at permanent rich iron ores. This is how I make a lot of easy money.

Yeah, it’s weird that the last boss of PoF does more predictable damage than random regular enemies. Anyways, I’m taking everybody’s advice of just using my defensive skills against regular enemies, rather than saving them. Fortunately, most controlled pulls end with 3 or 4 skills. Though sometimes, PoF enemies will chain pull one after another for like a minute... ugh, that aggro range.

Thanks for the advice, all. Now my focus is on getting the Griffon. ^^

Pretty much what Tora said. Also, there are times when I can see enemies just fine, but I lose a huge chunk of my HP in like half a second, and I swear there wasn't any special animation. This is more of a problem with small enemies rather than big enemies. The example I mentioned in my original post was during a PoF story mission that Urud mentioned, against a human sized ghost, with 3 NPC allies fighting with me. The ghost is already hard to see since it's small and somewhat transparent, then I have all these special effects that impede my view even more, and even when I can see the enemy, I don't notice it doing any special animation before I lose a huge chunk of my life in less than a second. One second, it hits like wet noodles, then randomly, it just eats through my HP. O_o

I guess some attacks aren’t telegraphed like ninja said. I do use a scepter and focus as my 2ndary weapon, it's just that I prefer to save skill 5 for when I see a big attack coming. Except... apparently, big attack already came. :tongue:

Royal Treasury Guard critically hits you for 4000 damage using Ambush.

Royal Treasury Guard critically hits you for 4000 damage using Ambush.

Royal Treasury Guard hits you for 380 damage using Flurry (this happens like 10 times).

Royal Treasury Guard critically hits you for 1300 damage using Double Slash.

Royal Treasury Guard critically hits you for 1300 damage using Double Slash.

Now I'm dead.

Am I supposed to know what Ambush, Flurry, and Double Slash are? I don't see any big red circles saying I need to dodge. Even if I do see a big red circle, I can only dodge twice before I have to wait to dodge. My friend says enemies telegraph before big damage, but all I see is blue light special effect, fire effect, yellow flash, Fiery Dragon Sword effect, special move effects, etc. covering 90% of the enemy's body, preventing me from even seeing the enemy's animation.

Basically, I lose 90% of my HP without having any clue why I'm taking damage and THEN I move back/dodge/heal, etc. I look at the damage tab, but I have no idea what to make of the info above. As a Guardian, I do have a lot of blocks and what not, but since I have no idea when enemies will do big damage, I just use them randomly for the most part. I thought I will learn naturally, but I'm currently in chapter 8 of PoF (started at personal story, went through LWS in order) and I still have no idea what to make of all these move names and have no idea if they're unavoidable regular attacks of if they're special attacks that are telegraphed with enemy animation.

I know that what I'm about to post is more about game balance and less on the QoL side. Also, it's unlikely that what I'll post will ever be implemented, but I just wanted to post in a place where somebody from Anet will see.

I'm not a dungeon or a raid player who enjoys doing nothing but fight after fight after fight after fight... I'm a world player who enjoys exploring the world in casual and relaxing environment, meaning I like less emphasis on constant forced fights so I can have more variety. Unfortunately, the aggro behavior in PoF means that in some situations, all I'm doing is being forced to fight a dozen enemies that chain pull one after another. PoF enemies have ridiculously big aggro range, have big density in a tight space, respawn too fast, and chase for too long.

I was doing PoF story yesterday. I'm too upset to bother to look up the name of the story mission, but it involved me looking for clues in a small village in the Crystal Oasis. Because of the aggro behavior I mentioned above, I constantly ended up fighting half a dozen enemies at a time. After begrudgingly chain killing all enemies in the village (about 20 enemies), I continued to look for clues, only for enemies to respawn. Again, due to the aggro range, I ended up constantly chain pulling respawned enemy after respawned enemy after respawned enemy. After clearing the camp for the 2nd time and continuing to look for clues, enemies respawned AGAIN and I again entered chain respawn fight after chain respawn fight. Needless to say, eventually, I was out of healing and died. I cannot even begin to explain how annoying this was.

Later in the story, I was in a mission where I had a Charr and a Sylvari NPC as my allies. I'd see that there are a lot of enemies clumped together. Since it's not smart to pull everything, I tried to pull the closest enemy with my ranged weapon. Oh, hey, my stupid NPC allies dash into melee range and pull all the enemies in the entire area. After disposing of the melee enemies, I tried to pull the remaining ranged enemies by moving away. But look, my NPC allies are charging in toward the ranged enemies, which in turn, aggroes even more enemies due to the ridiculous aggro range of PoF enemies... The entire mission was an effing mess where I constantly had to deal with like a dozen enemies at a time that constantly got pulled by my NPC allies due to aggro range and density of mobs in PoF...

Yet later in the story, I was navigating looking for crystal shards of a dragon. I got knocked off my mount and was surrounded by more than half a dozen enemies from the right and left. I took down the melee enemies, then moved toward the ranged enemies on the left side to finish them off since my melee weapon set is better for quickly AOEing enemies down. Again, due to the big aggro range, moving to kill ranged enemies on the left side aggroed enemies that were further off to the left. After killing the ranged enemies to the left, I couldn't run towards the enemies further off to the left, as doing so would aggro even more enemies that are even further down to the left. So, I had no choice but to let the newly aggroed enemies pound on me while I went for the ranged enemies on the right. Of course, getting in range to attack the enemies to the right meant I aggroed enemies that were further off to the right. Eventually, I had no more healing and had no choice but to die, and run all the way back from a waypoint 1/3 of a map away...

Needless to say, I am beyond frustrated by my experience in PoF. This just isn't fun. The ridiculous aggro range is ruining the game for me. I had so much fun in Core Tyria with mounts that I spent more money in 2 months of this game than I have ever spent in any other game. 1 hour in PoF with some bad luck makes me completely regret spending all that money on this game... I have no problems with some areas or some maps being combat heavy. However, having all of PoF have such ridiculous aggro range just ruins the fun of exploring the world. Players already have to fight a LOT in the game. Is it such a crime to be able to explore PoF maps with less forced fights when the player is not in the mood to spend so much time with forced chain fights after forced chain fights after forced chain fights?

Ironically, I find shortbow to be the most awkward, and longbow to be the most boring, to play on a ranger. And I’m shocked we don’t have GW1 Barrage when using a longbow on a ranger. I really wish skill 2 was like GW1 Barrage.

Oh, and my ranger’s main weapon is a sword...

I want to get the ascended trinkets from LWS3, which require Unbound Magic and 2ndary currencies. Will I naturally have all the UM I need by the time I have all the 2ndary currencies I need? Or would I still need to farm more UM by the time I have all the 2ndary currencies? I'm a casual who only has 60g so it'll take me a while to afford the Unbound Glyph, and even then, I can only get one. I would really like to know if it's worth it before I invest in it.

EDIT: Edited for clarity.

I know what you mean. I have 3 accounts. So far, stuff I want are mostly appearing on my 3rd account (only used for daily log-in rewards). I just got a BL Claim ticket on my 3rd account (about the 3rd or 4th BLC ever opened on my 3rd account), but never received one on my main account after dozens of BLC’s. The irony.

I encountered this same issues several times and it is incredibly frustrating being forced to redo because of a bug. A workaround is to clear all the enemies before you talk to the NPC at the beginning. It can take some time to clear eveything alone, but if you don’t want to wait for a fix, this will help you get through.

It looks like a lot of players are not really reading beyond the title. :disappointed:

I'm not talking about a hero system like GW1. Maybe I shouldn't even use the word hero since that may instantly make it sound like I'm talking about a system like GW1's heroes. If you played with heroes/followers/whatever they're called in games like WoW and Diablo 3, the system I'm talking about is more like what you see in WoW and Diablo 3 when you're playing alone.

Some classes have glaring flaws that make it inconvenient when playing solo. Heroes can help mitigate some of these flaws. For example, if your class is very squishy, a tanky hero can help absorb some damage. You're still responsible for negating majority of your damage. But a hero may grab an enemy's attention for 2~3 hits. If you want CC but your class lacks any kind of CC, you may want to take a hero with CC. It's not going to stun an enemy for 3 seconds every 10 seconds, but it'll give you something if you need to interrupt something critical against a difficult enemy. If your class has no healing, a healer hero may give you some healing. It won't heal you for half your health every 10 seconds, but it can save your life in some close situations. If you want a hero for damage, you can take a damaging hero, but heroes are meant for "features" so a DPS hero will give you like 10% extra DPS at most.

The heroes are not powerful enough to do things on their own. They're mostly cool customizable additions so that when you're playing alone, it can help to create the feeling that you're not playing alone.

Heroes won't break fractals, raids, etc. They won't be usable for fractals, raids, etc. They're for doing soloing world contents (and story instances, preferably).

Heroes can't be used for inattentive farming. They're not powerful enough to kill things on their own.

There is no need to balance older world contents any more than new skills, new attribute combinations, etc. require rebalancing old world contents. The heroes I'm talking about are not powerful like GW1 heroes.

There will be no change to turn GW2 story instances into group instances. As I said, I'm not asking for a hero system like GW1.

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> The items offered through the Black Lion Vouchers will not be rotated or changed. They will remain as presented through the end date of the sale, September 4.

Wait, the 2nd sentence is kind of ringing an alarm. It could imply that after September 4th, the Black Lion Vouchers will stop functioning and any vouchers players haven't used yet may become unusable. Please tell me this isn't what you meant.

As I said, there are already open world MMO's and other games that have heroes that give players a minor boost and they don't cause balance problems that you're concerned with. I also have some experience with balance and game design and have created similar stuff with no issues. In any case, I apologize if it sounded like I was accusing or sounding condescending.

I personally wish this game adds its own DPS meter. It’s just too useful for improving my builds. For me, the benefit of having a DPS meter far outweighs the negatives that come from some annoying players.

Maybe have a DPS meter that just shows my damage and not others. I just need something that tells me which of the builds I’m trying and enjoying equally are more useful.

Oh, wow. Tons of replies. I need to catch up in reading them all. ^^

I disagree with Anet’s mindset that mounts make Waypoints useless. I use both for different reasons that generally don’t overlap too much. I really wish that the newer zones have more than 2~3 Waypoints.

Also, to clarify, when I said I want Anet to make maps as if mounts don’t exist, I mean don’t create maps that try to negate what mounts can do. For example, the enemy aggro behavior in PoF zones negates some of the benefits of mounts. I’m all for maps that let us use mounts in cool ways.

Though I guess the conundrum is, should Anet make future expansions with mounts in mind? I’d say definitely don’t require PoF mounts for future expansions as it would screw over players that don’t have PoF mounts (remember Urgoz from Factions). But they can create fun optional stuff that PoF mount users can do in future expansions. Just, again, don’t create maps that try to negate the mounts players earned.

EDIT: Skimming over some replies, I'm all for having some areas that don’t allow mounts. Some players don’t like mounts, why not have more stuff for different types of players? And while it’s easy to say don’t use mounts, I’m sure even for people who don’t like mounts, it’s not always easy actually fraining from using them.

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> I have more information about the vouchers and voucher dealer:

>

> The Voucher Dealer is not a permanent feature, which makes sense because the vouchers themselves are available only for a limited time and the dealer’s primary function is to allow players to preview items before making a purchase. The dealer may remain present in Lion’s Arch for a couple of weeks after the vouchers stop being available, but I’d imagine no longer than that.

**So once the dealers are removed, are the vouchers useless junk?**

Some of us don’t have the vouchers yet. We don’t know how they work. We want to know they can be used later even once the dealers gone. I want to buy the 10 pack, but will only use 5~6 right now. If the remaining vouchers become useless junk, there is no point in me getting 10 vouchers.

> @"TheGrimm.5624" said:

> Snip

As a gamer, I completely understand a desire to see something cool added to games that you will enjoy. As somebody who used to work in the game industry and have some experience with balancing, I can tell you it's also understandable why game companies want to stay away from too many variables.

Balancing something linear in a more controlled environment is much easier than balancing something that crisscrosses. By adding racial elites, you're significantly multiplying the amount of balancing work. I'm not talking about double the amount of work (though double the amount of work is not to be taken lightly). I'm talking like 10 times more, at the very least. Also, consider the fact that games are constantly evolving and changing. Even if you do get a perfect balance, change one skill, and it'll have a ripple effect that breaks everything. This requires tremendous amount of resources, in an endless fight, which means money that can be spent on something else. This is why many companies start out going for a challenge, only for vast majority of these companies to throw in the towel once they get more experience dealing with the endless fight. There's a difference between reading about this challenge and imagining what it's like, and actually tackling this challenge. Tell, the balancers some other game seems to be doing it right, the balancers will want to throw something at you because what you don't know is that behind the scenes, they're doing the best they can while trying to keep their sanity. And the community... give one spec a 5% increase over other specs, and a small group of vocal minorities will freaking explode. It's just too much of a headache.

Hey, Opo. That’s what I’m saying (though not flat like a board). It's not a fact that if you have mounts, you HAVE to have maps designed for them. Some people believe you need maps designed for mounts since that’s their preference. As you mentioned above, I would like maps designed like normal, so that when I gain mounts, I can do things that I couldn’t before. It’s the kind of progression I look for in RPG’s. If Anet gives us mounts that allow us to do special things, then make maps that negate the specialness of mounts, then to me, that defeats the point of adding mounts. It’s like giving me a bite of my favorite food, then blending it with my least favorite food. I know, weird analogy, but I have to go soon.

If we get Core and HoT like maps, people who don’t enjoy mounts can enjoy them without mounts and people who enjoy mounts can take advantage of mounts. If we get maps that negate mounts’ advantage, people like me just lost what we paid and worked hard for. That’s why I’d like to see Anet cater to both, because it is possible to have both by having different types of maps, or have some sections of maps act different. I have issues with both HoT maps and PoF maps. But I love the variety of catering to different needs and letting players choose how they play, instead of forcing others’ style on me.

Huh? Acknowledging what? Your OPINION that mounts cause problems is not a fact. They’re opinions that apply to players like you, in your own mind, because you make them into problems for yourselves, no disrespect. If you stop using mounts, everything you said can be avoided for you. To players like me, there is no problem with the existence of mounts, no matter how much you claim they are. Mounts enhance the game for players like me. If you prefer blondes because you like light colored hair but dislike dark colored hair, a partner with dark color hair may be a problem for you. But if I prefer dark hair over light hair, that “problem” you mention, is my boon. :) Your opinion is just an opinion that applies to you.

It’s funny how you mention you say I’m changing your responsibility because of my preference. YOUR suggestion to gate mounts COMPLETELY PREVENTS players like me from using mounts during the gating period because of your preference. Your suggestion is the one forcing stuff on others because of your preference. But in the current system, you don’t have to use mounts if you don’t want to. And I can use my mounts because I want to. We can both play our way right now. I’m sorry if you feel that you can’t control your responsibility (not really sure why you’re calling it responsibility). Unfortunately, it is unreasonable for me to be penalized because you can’t control your free will.

What I mean by making maps as if mounts don’t exist, but ensuring mounts don’t break maps is... Don’t create jumping puzzles that require mounts, for example. But ensure players can’t jump out of map boundaries with mounts, for example. If you think mounts make maps less fun and require specialized maps designed for mounts, that’s your opinion, and you’re welcome to it. But it’s not a fact. I want maps just as they are, so that having mounts creates advantages that I wouldn’t have, giving me more fun ways for me to play that would be impossible without mounts. Creating mounts then negating the advantage of mounts is pointless for me. That’s not why I play RPG’s.

Sorry for the spam of edits. :tongue: I’m not great at getting my point across and I also like to proofread and edit to make sure I get my points across without sounding like a jerk.

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> Yes, I understand there are two questions: duration of the voucher availability and how long the vendors will be in place. I had the one answer and will post the other when I get it.

Thank you for the clarification.

I didn’t purchase the Vouchers yet, but it sounds like you can use the Vouchers without using NPC’s based on your sticky on another thread. I'm guessing double clicking on the Vouchers or something will let players use the Vouchers. Then the more accurate question will be, “Can we use these Vouchers later even when they’re no longer purchasable? Or do they stop working once Vouchers sale ends?”

If they don’t rely on the presence of the NPC’s to be used, I’m guessing it’s safe to assume these Vouchers will not “expire” as there really is no reason for them to.

Sorry for being impatient, but some of us have been waiting a long time to be able to purchase unavailable items. I’m not in that group, but I’m impatient and want these outfits ASAP. :tongue: So, Gaile, if you don’t give me an answer soon, I’m afraid I’m going to have to send you an irresistible kitten every 2 hours with a note asking for updates. I will train the kitty to tilt its head and ask, “Meow?” You will not be able to ignore them.

My question is regarding the ability to “trade the Vouchers,” not the ability to “purchase the Vouchers.” I know “purchasing Vouchers” is a limited time offer. However, if I stock up on Vouchers now and save the Vouchers to use later (say, 3 months from now), will the Voucher Dealers remain in the game so I can use my Vouchers in the future? Or will the Dealers be removed soon, meaning it’s pointless to stock up on Vouchers for later use, since they’ll be useless if the Voucher Dealers are removed.

Basically, we don’t want to buy 10 Vouchers, save half for later, and have the Vouchers “expire” on us.

No update, eh? This isn't looking promising. :(

I would say GW2 community is definitely better.

For one, there's a lot less toxicity in forums. Some forums are just pure trash. All I see is "zomg, your opinion is different from me, I'm gonna call you all sorts of names and throw a tantrum that makes me look like a lunatic raised by aggressive monkeys!" I don't see nearly as big a problem here. Of course, I don't know if mods are actively getting rid of these toxic posts.

In game, I see a lot of players trying to help strangers, even more so than in other games. I created a post a few weeks ago about not being happy with constant forced fights every time I dismount in PoF. Strangers were trying to send me gold and gears to help me gear up so that the forced fights are less of a drag. I don't think I ever experienced anything like that in other games. I always consider myself a nice and helpful player. There are so many players in this game that make me feel that I'm not as helpful as I thought and I need to be more helpful.

Yes, there are always toxic players, wherever you go. But it seems much less severe in this game.

Yeah, what others said. But if/when they do these for mounts... my wallet is going to go on life support. I only started about 2 months ago, so I sure would like to be able to buy some of these mount skins (but I'm not gonna buy RNG bags).