Fleabite.7528

The DRMs - both grind and rewards - are so uninspiring I've stopped playing GW2 for the first time in ages. I have no high hopes for the third instalment, since it's likely more of the grindy, misery-inducing same.

I've pretty much given up on DRMs and indeed the wider LW game now I have the /stretch emote.

The devs have completely messed up the balance between input and reward, imo. To get the last two Dragon Slayer weapon achievements, for example, requires an insane number of daily grinds, in an otherwise reward-poor and majorly slow environment. How is that supposed to be enjoyable??

Other companies have made a mint during Covid, because they invested in their games in recognition of the free time so many of us have had. Anet has instead starved us of content over much of the past year - and I suspect their revenues have suffered accordingly (or at least not increased as much as they might have.)

Me? I'm off to find more rewarding content in other games, til Anet remembers that GW2 is supposed to be fun!

> @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> Thanks for the spoiler!

Ironic that since he fixed his post, your own anti-spoiler comment is now, ahem, the spoiler.

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> : The new mastery tier doubles the crystal drop assuming you have the opposite dragon's buff.

Even doubling the drop, who in their right minds would spend 75 days grinding this tedium.

I ALREADY HAVE A BORING DAY JOB ANET!!

This. Just got the new Mastery, unlocked the vendor and... nothing!

Release page says "An additional faction will float your way on February 16, along with new upgrade options for your Dragon Slayer weapons."

So I guess not til then. So why the fug add the achievements now? ?? And what are we supposed to do til Feb 16th???

On the final day of DRMs before Champions: Power (after what feels like endless runs), I finally got my first Volcanic Stormcaller weapon box. Had I sold it, I'd have got 800g for the shield I chose. If I want the other 15 weapons for that Mastery point, then the current TP cost is 9,000g more. This. Is. Broken.

There are some great suggestions for improvements in this thread and others. If Arenanet again drags out the second instalment with miserable rewards, over-long instances and dull bosses, then I fear for the game. What's the point of a new expac, if half the player base has gotten bored and wandered off?

The Volcanic Stormcaller weapons are such a rare DRM drop that the TP presently only has 9 of the 16 models on sale - at an average price of 404 gold each.

So there you have it: unobtainable current content, including a Mastery Point. Nice job, Anet.

DRMs are looking like dead content right now, despite being the current 'episode'. Zero in looking for groups in either Tyria or Champions after 30 mins of waiting. Other maps and LS episodes still busy.

This needs an urgent fix. Because if the next instalment is as poor, I fear people will start drifting off - myself included.

> @"lare.5129" said:

> not insane. Normal gold value.

>

4,800-6,000 gold for the Volcanic Stormcaller set is the TP equivalent price of 3+ legendaries. I can't recall them ever putting AP and a Mastery behind such a high gold cost wall.

On a Saturday afternoon just a few weeks after DRM launch, and almost noone is grouping for the new content. Reward-to-play incentives are surely putting people off. Too much hassle for too little benefit. Four changes could I think immediately be made to incentivise people to play DRMs more:

* Significantly increase the droprate for the Volcanic Stormcaller weapons. Nobody I've run DRMs with has ever received one, reflected in the 300-400g TP price - valuing this collection (complete with Mastery point) at an insane 4,800-6,000 gold. So please double, or even triple, the present pitiful drop rate.

* Change the Prismatium Crystals home node drop to 3 a day like every other node, not the present 2.

* Having Prismatium Crystals account bound is probably fine - but forcing players into a glacier-slow daily grind is not. Each of the 16 Dragon Slayer weapons takes 30 crystals. That's 480 crystals in total needed for the collection. Just relying on the daily node (if you can afford the 50g upfront) would take eight months of grind. Even adding the (capped) crystals from daily DRM runs will still take you more than 30 days of tedious grind. Again, consider boosting the DRM drop rate - or give an extra bonus for running three a day (whether regular or CM)

* Allow craftable Prismatium Ingots to be sold on the TP. Players should be abler to grind for profit, if they choose.

What else would incentivise you to run more DRMs?

Before we move on to Champions, something has been nagging at me.

At the start of A Simple Negotiation, both the Commander/ PC and Rytlock have a clear view of the ledge overlooking the camp. The guards on that ledge - from which Ryland will shortly assassinate Smodur- have already been murdered, with their corpses visible. Check for yourself.

So who killed the guards? And in that context, what are we to make of Rytlock's opening words to us? Plus his later laconic comment that the killing of Smodur was simply "inconvenient"? Did Ryland have inside help from dad (and mom)? Or is this all just foretelling?

Rytlock Brimstone: Commander.

: What are you up to?

Rytlock Brimstone: Not killing Smodur.

: That bad, huh?

Rytlock Brimstone: He and Braham are going toe-to-toe on strategy. Neither one's a bad plan by our standards. But...

Rytlock Brimstone: We were this close... This close to getting Ryland back.

: I know.

Rytlock Brimstone: So yeah, not killing Smodur? Harder than it looks.

Will a humanoid Champion for Primordus also emerge?

Each Elder Dragon manifested by a rational and skilled champion is interesting: maybe also removes the need to kill the EDs themselves - which we know is a Very Bad Thing.

According to a sister Reddit thread, open logins can still happen in French and German. It's an annoying glitch or change - and if it's the former, the failure of Anet to fix it after several days maybe talks to the low value for them of these fora right now.

Phew - thanks

Eep - left my festival achievements til the last minute, and still have 2 Mad King Says... to do to get the 50 AP.

I know I can get the 2200hrs one server time - but will he still be there at 0001 ??

Which story are you half way through? The personal? One of the Living Seasons? Or the Icebrood Saga?

We know you've had the virus to contend with (haven't we all) but now it's time to tell us what your plan is moving forward. A fractal and an old festival aren't really going to keep us interested in the weeks ahead, certainly not enough to splash the cash. The expansion is just a dot on the horizon.

Talk to us, please.

Am hoping we will hear today that we'll see the next Vision or Episode in two weeks' time

> I've been told it's 5 otters and 10 shards of jormag

Great! Can we also have an update on the PVP track, which is still only a one-time giving a Bear piece of gear.

Just finished a match with the worst cheating I've ever seen - a necro using invisibility, full map ports, which turned an easy win for us to a loss. Bots are bad enough - but raw hacks? This is nasty. Please dust off that mass ban tool Anet.

Echoing previous. S3 and S4 maps have been challenging for weeks. Thunderhead keep is presently unplayable (really), due to a lag time of c1.5 seconds.

Very disappointed to see this continue.

Would be handy to know:

- What are the daily zhaitaffy caps, per character and per account?

- As I still get daily rewards (eg 100 zhaitaffy) when I appear to be capped, what's the most abundant way to gather zhaitaffy daily?

Great to see that the new Stormcaller weapons are clearly flagged for later upgrade. However, because they're bind on equip rather than account bound, it's impossible to unlock the skin on some weapons unless (a) a crafter who can't wield de's or (b) another character equips, though this will then prevent the original crafter from upgrading later.

Account-bound would fix this.

Not sure on this. Certain nodes (rich mithril in Malchors; VM and oysters in Siren's) were previously I thought on server reset, but now seem to be on player's 24 hour cycle. But maybe it's just because I'm grinding more at the mo?

> @"Thereon.3495" said:

>I love GW2 but just feel that this is a terrible decision and I'd rather have the episode postponed.

Those who want to play, can. Those who want to wait, can. It could be many months before some sense of normality returns. Til then some adaptability is surely needed.