BlueJin.4127

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> snip

Aside from the 2 I listed, all other JP’s in the collection can be skipped with mounts and gliding because that’s how I did them. The Metrica Province one, for example, can be skipped completely with springer and gliding. There’s a video online you can use.

There are only 2 that require good jumping skills and can’t be skipped with mounts and gliding. One is in Lornar’s Pass and the other is in Timberline Falls. Fortunately, there are a lot of players helping out in LFG so you can look there for help.

For all other JP’s in this collection, you can skip anything even remotely challenging by using mounts and gliding. I completely, absolutely, terribly suck at JP’s, but I was able to finish these with absolutely no trouble because I simply skipped them with griffon, springer, and gliding.

IDC, but gave a yes vote.

I started doing LWS4 maps due to Skyscale and so far have between 150~180 of each. Personally, I don’t think 250 is a lot. Just doing map completion gets me between 50~70 each from gathering nodes, heart vendors, and map completion reward itself. Metas also reward more currencies. I can get about 100 without repeating, so 250 isn’t too bad, for me.

I won’t tell others to be OK with 250 just because I’m OK with it, but I can give some tips to help make it less of a chore. This is something I started doing when I was doing WoC HM for all 10 professions in GW1.

1) Don’t rush. If all you think about is wanting it now, it’ll be a chore, no matter what. This isn’t a sub based game. A saying I hated in WoW, but isn’t an issue in a no-sub game, “Slow down.”

2) Don’t think about how much you have left to do. Like above, this can put you in a bad mood. You can’t enjoy the game while in a bad mood.

3) Listen to music or something to help you focus on something else. If you have dual monitors, watching a video also helps.

4) Do whatever you feel like at the moment. Feel like map completing? Feel like gathering? Feel like playing a certain profession? Feel like experimenting a build? Only go for these when you feel like it. When you don’t feel like grinding, don’t.

5) Not related to gameplay, but continue to voice your opinion in the forums. State what the issue is and why/how that is a problem for you. This way, others who never thought about this from your perspective may learn why it may be a problem for some. It’s unlikely change will happen immediately, but by letting the devs know of your opinion, they’ll be more considerate in the future. Despite what some believe, devs do read the forums, they do listen, and they do discuss player opinions in their meetings.

I must say, I don’t understand the point of the time gate. For most people, the collection is so long, I doubt they can even get it in the minimum number of days. And if players hit the time gate when they just started playing for that day... ouch.

Only a small percentage of players would obtain the Skyscale in 1 or 2 days without the time gate. And if they get it a few days earlier than they would with the time gate, so what?

> @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> Can you provide evidence of this? If you have an article or something where the devs have stated that they don't think flying is an issue please share it.

No, I cannot. Like I said, employees are not allowed to say certain things out in public. Even without inside info, I’m sure everybody knows that not everybody on the same team agrees with a design.

Also, I recommend taking articles with a grain of salt. I used to work at a game company and had some connections to other companies, as well. Sometimes, game publishers push complete lies as facts to the public, and I’m not making it sound dramatic or exaggerating. Some of the stuff I know is just... disgusting... Not saying that this particular article people are referencing is BS. Just a general advice. I’m sure this isn’t specific to the game industry.

> @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> Snip

This is their current direction as a team. However, not all devs on their team agree with this because “flying being an issue from a design point” is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Some devs wanted to take advantage of flying by designing around flying. Devs at Blizzard. Devs working on WoW. These devs just cannot individually say this out in public because they’re not allowed to say so.

> @"Kodokuna Akuma.9570" said:

> snip

First of all, I was talking about WoW in the post you quoted. I agree, I'd prefer not to have flying in current GW2 maps. But, again, I'm not talking about GW2. :smile:

Second, again, you're comment about flying is not a fact. Flying is not a design flaw. It is not an issue to level design. It's not a redundancy. Flying is no more of a flaw than a 3D game is a flaw compared to 2D games. Flying simply results in different types of game design and experience. A game world designed with flying is not redundant because of flying. It creates an experience that simply cannot be mimicked by just being grounded.

While WoW didn't have much gameplay mechanics that took advantage of flying, it still created an experience for some players that cannot be mimicked by being grounded all the time. Also, players could already skip enemies* in WoW without flying. Flying simply increased what players could skip. Flying was a flaw in the opinion of players who believed that you should only be able to bypass (to use number as a scale) 2, but it was a solution to others who wanted to bypass 4. Neither side is right, neither is a fact. They just have different preferences on the same scale.

*I don't think WoW had any actual mechanics you could skip with flying. It simply allowed you to skip more enemies than you would if grounded, and let you move around faster. I think they do have some jumping puzzles and stuff now, though.

My recommendation is don’t level up crafting... until later if/when you want/need it. You can max it in less than an hour if you use an online guide.

I’m a casual player who only does “easy” stuff. I still maxed all crafting because I like being able to make ascended and legendary weapons. Just a preference.

> @"kurfu.5623" said:

> That's not flying, it's falling with style.

I upvoted you. Are we old?

One thing I want to comment on. Some posters are claiming that flying mounts creating problems for WoW is a fact. This, actually, is not a fact, but an opinion. I, too, am guilty of just passing off my comment as fact in my previous post, so I'm not making excuses. Just wanted to clear things up for those who may not have played WoW.

Flying mounts in WoW let players skip some enemies on their way to their objectives. For players who believe being grounded results in just the right amount of combat and engagement, flying mounts are a problem. However, for players who believe that they're fighting too often while grounded, flying is a solution. For former players, yes, flying mounts are a problem. But flying mounts being a problem isn't a fact because it is these players' opinion that the amount of combat they encounter while grounded is acceptable and flying results in too little combat.

To explain another way, imagine if they increased WoW's aggro range so that grounded players must fight all enemies within render distance. Would these players still think flying over these enemies is a problem? No. So if the aggro range is reduced little by little, at what point does flying over enemies go from a solution to a problem? That's an **opinion** that varies by player and no one player's opinion is any more right than another's.

I'm sure some anti-fliers will say flying broke more than just skipping enemies in WoW. But again, that's just an opinion because for pro-fliers, flying created an immersive experience and new design that can't be mimicked by being grounded. No matter how some people claim their side as fact, it is not a fact.

I loved flying in WoW. When I play GW2, I sometimes wish that I can fly like WoW. However, in the end, I think it's better not to have WoW-like flying in GW2.

1) The center of the reason I quit WoW is the whole flying debacle from a few years ago. Open world in WoW is very annoying without flying mounts. Many areas are densely populated and enemies can easily knock players off of ground mounts with 1 or 2 hits. Upon being knocked off, players are repeatedly crippled and are basically forced to fight because they can't even just run away on foot. This made ground traveling a pain, so many players were outraged when Blizzard (WoW devs) tried to remove flying in future contents, forcing players to waste time fighting unnecessary enemies just to get from one area to another, in a game with monthly sub fee. After the outrage, Blizzard made a sacrifice where players can use flying mounts, but only after ridiculous grinds and such. Many players just quit altogether.

I really don't want to see this kind of debacle here (and we actually have a somewhat similar issue with long PoF aggro range).

2) In WoW, ground mounts are nothing but speed boosts. Levels designs are boring and not creative, not making any particular use of ground mounts or movement skills. Levels might as well just be flat 2D designs with tall walls like a maze that players must run around. Honestly, despite some people's claims that flying negated WoW's design... it didn't. The only thing flying did is allow players to skip unnecessary enemies since level designs weren't creative enough to make use of being grounded.

GW2's level design is nothing like that. This game actually makes good use of players' movements, HoT masteries, and PoF mount masteries. With full flying, many of these designs would **actually** become obsolete, unlike WoW.

Personally, I really like the mounts we have now. Traveling on mounts in GW2 is fun. With full flying, I'd just be watching a video while alt-tabbed.

> @"Strider Pj.2193" said:

> I really didn’t.

You really did. It doesn’t matter what excuse you post later. Your excuse is completely different from your initial post.

> @"Strider Pj.2193" said:

> Wait wait.... so you want to wander around without having to deal with enemies?

>

> Pick your battles?

>

> Maybe you could try WvW or.. better yet, EOTM to explore without having to fight anything...

>

> It’s... an unfriendly zone. It’s not a city or town...

I never said I want to explore without fighting anything. I/we are talking about constant aggro.

Not wanting constant aggro =/= not wanting to fight anything.

Don’t put words into people’s mouths to insult them just because you can’t handle different opinions.

> @"Strider Pj.2193" said:

> Was responding to the OP not yours. Which is why I didn’t quote anyone. Hope you have a good day.

You did completely misinterpret my posts.

> @"Skotlex.7580" said:

> Due to mounts, there needs be an increased sight range or overworld enemies will just be for decoration.

>

> The problem lies in being stuck "forever" in combat because enemies keep coming from far away.

>

> I can think of two possible solutions to this issue:

> 1. spread out enemies more in maps, if the space between packs of enemies is greater than 1200, then it becomes much easier to mount back up as it'll be harder to drag in more unwanted enemies.

> 2. Split sight ranges, so mobs will sight you while in a Mount at 1200 range, but if you are on foot, that range is reduced to 900.

>

> Any other ideas? Anet can't just blanket reduce aggro ranges due to mounts, so some other solution is needed.

I disagree that mounts require longer aggro range. Playing pre-PoF with mounts every day, I still fight plenty. I can’t simply run past everything and expect to map complete without fighting anything.

As for reducing enemy density, it’s not a bad idea. I map completed Sandswept Isles and Jahai Buffs for the first time these past few days and I was pleasantly surprised. The aggro range is still annoying 900, but due to the low density of enemies, I rarely encountered a chain of aggro after aggro (though this may be because I now rarely gather regular nodes in PoF and later maps). Just dispatch the initially aggroed enemies, and I could go on my way. Some parts were densely populated, but these were usually heart areas where I would be fighting anyways, so it made no difference. Domain of Kourna was a bit more annoying, but not as annoying as main PoF maps or Istan. Still, I disagree with long aggro range. 600 is just fine for me.

If you turn off post processing, it turns off the blinding contrast of PoF maps. Unfortunately, it also turns off a lot of effects that aren’t blinding, so it’s a double edged sword. :disappointed:

> @"mauried.5608" said:

> Adding mounts to the game makes the world smaller as players can now travel everywhere much more quickly.

> Something has to be done to counteract this , otherwise players will simply run thru all the content much more quickly and then complain thats theres nothing left to do, and that more new content must be added.

> Whether increasing aggro range is an ideal method for doing this I dont know , but I cant think of many other options.

Yes, we know this is one of the reasons for the increased aggro range. We’re simply saying that we think this is a terrible idea. Artificially increasing playing time slightly like this is merely a band-aid. Players who play a lot will still run out of stuff to do, no matter what. Players who don’t complain about amount of content suffer for no reason. Not only that, by making the game less appealing when we are playing, it makes us support the game less. Due to the PoF aggro range, overuse of flashing effects, and too much visual clutter, I stopped spending money in this game months ago. If I didn’t make the mistake of spending hundreds of dollars when I first started this game, I’d have just quit months ago instead of bothering to post here.

In terms of players running out of things to do, while that is a valid complaint, there’s just no solution for it. Players who play a lot will consume content faster than these can be created. But when game companies artificially drag out contents whether through too much grinding, too many forced fights, etc., they simply make the overall experience worse. A shorter, but fun experience is much better than longer, but awful experience. That is, assuming players don’t just completely quit because they don’t want to bother with long awful experience.

HoT can be extremely frustrating at first. However, I recommend that once you have at least the raptor and springer, give HoT a chance. :smile: No need to pressure yourself to stay in HoT for lengthy periods. You can just jump in for a few minutes here and there. With all masteries (both HoT and PoF mount masteries), HoT is simply amazing. It’s probably one of the most unique level designs I’ve experienced in any game. A LOT of players hated HoT at first, but loved it after sticking with it.

Griffon isn’t flying. It’s falling with style.

Pretty much. I love HoT. Enemies in Dragonfall are actually fun to fight, too. It’s just that CONSTANTLY being forced to fight a horde of enemies when I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT AT THE MOMENT, is just annoying. We have to fight when doing hearts, events, world bosses, metas, dungeons, fractals, raids, etc. We still fight plenty when exploring pre-PoF zones. When we’re not in the mood for chain aggro after chain aggro, letting us take a break from the constant aggro and explore PoF in relative peace is actually healthy for the game and player experience.

I was so pissed after this that after creating this post, I didn't touch Dragonfall (or anything PoF) for 2 weeks. Well, I decided to resume and... yeah... this is definitely one of the worst and most annoying experiences I've ever had in any game, ever. Seriously, I don't know what the heck Anet is thinking with this retarded aggro range. This is equivalent to playing a JRPG where you get a random encounter every step, except I've never played a JRPG this bad. If I so much get off my mount to gather something, commune, or trigger a Vista, a dozen enemies aggro from out of nowhere, respawn on top of me, and force me to clear them before I can interact with what I came to do. This is pure garbage.

I read about the Skyscale collection and I don't mind that it's time consuming nor that it requires 250 of each LWS4 currency. I would actually enjoy it. But the fact that I have to deal with this ridiculous aggro throughout all of PoF really makes this experience furiously annoying at times.

Core Tyria maps are designed for leveling characters. Since enemies die if you just sneeze on them, it’s not a good place to learn to play a profession solo.

For players who want to actually learn to play their character solo, I recommend doing all story missions solo and all PoF HP’s solo. Once you can do those, you’re pretty much set for all solo contents and casual group contents. If you want to take it a little further, you can try all HoT HP’s solo. I think these are technically group contents, so learning to solo HoT HP’s isn’t necessary for playing solo or casual group contents.

The problem with leechers is that they scale things up. What takes actual participants 30 seconds to complete now takes more than a minute to complete due to selfish leechers. The actual participants don’t get any additional rewards and are forced to work harder for the benefit of cancerous leechers who don’t deserve anything.

There is no defending leechers.

If Anet had the resources, they can create an AI algorithm to differentiate between leechers and actual players.

If a player uses certain rotations when playing solo, but uses completely lazy “rotations” when doing metas, that player is probably leeching.

If a player uses poor rotation at all times, compared to other players using the same weapon, then that player is probably not leeching.

If a player rarely afk’s in towns or when playing solo, but afk’s often in metas, that player is probably leeching.

If a player frequently afk’s during the early phases of metas and don’t participate until near the end, that player is probably leeching.

Add more algorithms like above and it’s not hard to spot actual leechers using AI algorithms.

What I'm seeing is not random, but a pattern.

Marauder Ornate Guild Armors: Probably all reset. Some armors I have didn't reset, but they may not have been Ornate Guild Armors. I can't say for sure.

Carrion Ornate Guild Armors: None reset.

Marauder LWS3 Trinkets: All reset.

Viper LWS3 Trinkets: All reset.

LWS3 Ascended Breathers: None reset, regardless of stat (Berker and Viper).

Carrion Ornate Guild Armors were the only ones I needed reset, so all this reset did was waste my time, forcing me to reselect hundreds of items I didn't need reset.

Ornate Guild Armors (Marauder): All reset.

Ornate Guild Armors (Carrion): None reset.

According to various reports, it seems core stats are generally not reset.