Cuddy.6247

> @"necromaniac.7629" said:

> > @"Black Wolf.7348" said:

> > play the game to get ingame gold, use gold to buy gems and then gems to buy whatever you want. simple, easy and cheap.

>

> you mean simple, but time-consuming and expensive any way you take it, but i manage to carry along because i play one toon 90% of the time so i get to focus on expenses for one toon. (although i wouldn't mind giving my other few toons attention)

I feel this. I pretty much have one of each race and a few spares as i try to at least make one of each class. 9 classes is a juggle on its own, timewise. gw2 is 'alt friendly' but just like any game the more consolidation you have, the farther you'll get.

> @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > > @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> > > > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > > > > @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> > > > > First of all, you need to pay sub money on mount skins, because the original ones are ugly. After that, the character slots are just too expensive, costing $10 per slot. You realize there are people who want to play every race and sex combination? That's a lot of $10 bills. And with the expansion coming out, we'll need to upgrade our PC hardware. I think Guild Wars 2 is too expensive for me... which is a shame, because this is the best online game.

> > > >

> > > > You can do this with the basic 5 slots make a human warrior play through the story delete.

> > > > Make a asura warrior play through story rinse and repeat until you done all of them.

> > > > About the mount skins that is subjective would still have all the basic ones if I did not splurge on branded pack awhile back.

> > > >

> > > > About upgrading your pc that is needed for every game mate.

> > > >

> > > > You wont be able to play current wow on the 2004 computer you had when it released.

> > > > Any game releasing in 2021 would be hard to play on a 7-8 year old computer so why would gw2s next expansion be any different?

> > >

> > > Why would I create characters i wanted to delete?

> >

> > Oh read wrong well all race and sex would be 10 slots not to bad mate, just cut down a few drinks a month and you will have 5 more slots easy.

>

> I think you still don't understand. I want every race/sex/class combination. That's hundreds of dollars in slots. People do spend that much, though I am hesitant to.

With that kind of agenda I say good luck getting out of the 1-15 zones, nevermind worrying about buying a mount skin.

Why is this a new set of chapters? I'm just curious.

sus levels of gambling. how did this roll out in the EU given their anti-gambling laws?

> @"Teratus.2859" said:

> I completely disagree.

>

> LW4 is some of the best story content in the entire game imo.

> Yes there are some parts I am not fond of such as the cop out Joko magic excuse with Aurine but overall season 4 is great, Joko is a very entertaining villain and Kralkatorrik is by far the best Elder Dragon conflict in the game.

> Mordremoth and especially Zhaitan don't even come close to the epicness that was put into the Kralkatorrik encounters, granted these were made in a different time and a whole bunch of reasons involved and that's totally understandable.

> Point is though.. Elder Dragon encounters have gotten increasingly better since Gw2 released, Mordremoth was a big step up from Zhaitan and Kralkatorrik was a big step up from Mordremoth.

> I cannot wait to see what's going to happen with Jormag.. and Jormag so far has been my highlight with Icebrood saga (Not played the recent relsese though nor will till the VA comes in)

>

> Honestly the only season of living world I don't look forward to replaying is Season 2.. it has some moments but there is a lot of dull time wasting involved in season 2 that gets really tedious.

> Having to run back and fore to Omadds Machine and doing the Caithe Missions etc are some that get criticized a bit about season 2 for good reason.

> But since HoT came out I've personally been of the mindset that the story has gotten progressively better over time.

> At least overall, with a few bits here and there which are exceptions but not enough to drag entire seasons down.

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Is it Living World Season 4 that the OP is dissatisfied with, or the IceBrood Saga?

It was a topic merged by mods. The OP of this thread doesn't care for Icebrood saga but I liked Icebrood, LWS4 is a mess that desperately needs some refinement (Idk about the story, I don't care, I'm talking purely from gameplay it's just...bad, like, it's not very fun as a video game bad, I'm not watching a movie here). I've come back during quarantine and isolation and catching back up on LWS4 is about as much of a tragedy as any. Maps are dead, metas go uncompleted, bosses are obnoxious, the amount of identity you're carrying in your profession for basic story and open world is utterly too much.

Also I'll use this as a plug to remind that Thunderhead Peaks is still ridiculously broken. Like, if this is the kinda love they're going to show LWS4 I wouldn't encourage anyone to go around giving them your money any time soon.

> @"Loesh.4697" said:

> I probably enjoy the bosses this season the most. They are mechanically challenging rather then just being a dps sponge, my biggest grievance with previous bosses was the fact that they just took forever to kill rather then actually threatening my character with death.

Icebrood Saga is ace compared to LWS4, I hate that the topic got merged because I think Icebrood is definitely going the right direction. LWS4 needs a massive polishing imo. In icebrood there's some challenge but I'm not feeling like I should be swapping classes for a fight...

> @"battledrone.8315" said:

> apparantly, they are not made to be fun, but CHALLENGING. given the huge variation in class- and player performance, it went as one could expect

Well, I get that some classes are more fun than others...but when it comes down to story mode I shouldn't have to be like "oh this boss was more fun on my scourge than my engineer, or this boss was more fun on my deadeye than my guardian."

Like...isn't content where you actually have to think about your build a little more often meant for the strikes and fractals? why are you plugging this into my campaign as if my holosmith and tempest are on the same page?

Like, super bad. Replaying through HoT, replaying through LWS3, even PoF, and then doing Icebrood afterward?

Wow. Like, every single boss is just a massive headache. None of these story missions are fun.

ArenaNet better not look at LWS4 for any inspiration for the next expansion, it's utter garbage and only meant to be played through with a handful of classes, that much is evident.

This discussion has been merged.

It's moderately balanced around like 2-3 people. a zerg just obliterates the map to kingdom come.

Hi all, so I've completed the entirety of the Forsaken Thicket raid...and that's about it. However, that makes me almost the most qualified person to command raids in my guild. Speaking of which, if any DINOs see this - hi! I'm watching some videos to get re-acquainted, it's really like riding a bicycle. But I was wondering if anyone could give me some fun tips on commanding. I'm not a terrible communicator, but that's more about being shy - I'm not shy at all, I'm just an idiot.

I was wondering if anyone had a phospholuminescent and ember infusion they could show me a screenshot for the mix of, for one. and also wanted to know if there was a way to mix any/all three of them together to have it be like a green felfire type of thing.

I voted greatsword because honestly I'd love to see another concept using it for casters. Like fire could be akin to Balthazar's skills. Could even make water DPS skills too that are reminiscent of reaper.

Hopefully without nullifying reaper.

So I haven't really put much time into the game since they nerfed scourge, and it hasn't gone unnoticed the times where I wish I was a little more OP with the shade skills being on myself and my shade. Anyway, is it worth switching to reaper? I didn't care for reaper as much as scourge prior to the update so idk if it'd make a difference now.

I know build templates are a thing, but I'm mostly asking so I can start determining priorities.

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > @"Cuddy.6247" said:

> > > @"Chichimec.9364" said:

> > > > @"Chyanne Waters.8719" said:

> > > > Save the statuettes for when it comes back and it will just take a bit longer is all

> > >

> > > Generally I like the rotation. It would be boring to just have the same stuff endlessly available. Still, it can be frustrating if there is a particular item you want and have to keep waiting for. It would be even more frustrating to just miss the item you wanted by a few days. I know, I've been there. Sadly, Chyanne Waters has given the only practical response in that situation. Though I have to say, when life gives me one of these little lessons in "patience", I do wish I could take life out behind the woodshed and kick it in the butt.

> >

> > ArenaNet uses this feeling specifically to make people buy something hastily. It's a super predatory marketing gimmick to leverage natural human behavior into buying stuff even if they can't afford it at the time. Banks be banking, yo.

>

> I wonder if it's worth it though. Versus leaving it up and letting people buy it on their own time. Same as the black lion chest. Is suckering in those gamblers attempting to get an outfit more profitable than just selling the outfit? Seems like they're really narrowing down their opportunity to sell an item by relying solely on sense-impaired consumers. I mean, I have been one of those sense-impaired consumers, but I doubt my gambling made up for the people that would have probably bought the outfit if it were just a direct, honest sale.

Yes, it's worth it. Artificial scarcity works wonders to sell low shelf items. If they left everything up all the time, people would only buy what they want and not really pursue impulse buys. IMO it just goes really far to show how messed up the gem store is though. In an ideal world all of the quality would be similar enough that there'd be no need for sales or discontinuations (see: GW1's cash shop, where you can get anything you want at any time). This game is more store front than game though, so you need to look at it from a retail perspective.

> @"Chichimec.9364" said:

> > @"Chyanne Waters.8719" said:

> > Save the statuettes for when it comes back and it will just take a bit longer is all

>

> Generally I like the rotation. It would be boring to just have the same stuff endlessly available. Still, it can be frustrating if there is a particular item you want and have to keep waiting for. It would be even more frustrating to just miss the item you wanted by a few days. I know, I've been there. Sadly, Chyanne Waters has given the only practical response in that situation. Though I have to say, when life gives me one of these little lessons in "patience", I do wish I could take life out behind the woodshed and kick it in the butt.

ArenaNet uses this feeling specifically to make people buy something hastily. It's a super predatory marketing gimmick to leverage natural human behavior into buying stuff even if they can't afford it at the time. Banks be banking, yo.

> @"JackassTheX.6351" said:

> > @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > I think it's more likely it would be a single player game set in the Guild Wars universe rather than a new MMORPG, the Guild Wars brand is unknown to console players, it would be good (for the game) to tap into that potential. Of course since it's UE4 it can perfectly run on PCs too. Whatever it is, it shouldn't be GW3, that would be a terrible move.

>

> A SP title with KoTOR/Dragon Age-like gameplay mechanics would make a lot of sense given GW's story always centering around a group of characters. I'd buy it in a hearbeat.

One can dream. GW1 team building was spot on, the 7-hero update was an incredible change that definitely improved the game since player participation was dwindling. If they actually went full hog with that, I'd be a happy camper.

Yeah man this Wintersday content is lit. They worked so hard on reskinning the corsair shirt.

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> So.... you were able to play just fine before templates and now? If they are cost prohibitive, then don't buy or use them. Go back to the way you were playing before templates were released.

You could. But I don't think it speaks well about the health of the game or the goals of ArenaNet if they deliver build ~~templates~~ loadouts that are prohibitively expensive. Alongside a weak first episode that was considerably shorter and less engaging than the prologue after renting a stage to tell us how this time it'd be different.

Insult to injury. Implement a feature everyone's wanted in a way that's a slap in the face and then release content that should supposedly justify the price but...simply doesn't.

Can't fault people for being tired of ArenaNet asking us to dig into our wallets but giving us no reason to feel like our money's being spent on anything but their retirement.

Don't worry guys we got capes, so build templates are no longer an aggressively monetized grift.

> @"susana.7814" said:

> > @"Rubi Bayer.8493" said:

> > Hi all, I have some more news for you. Like I mentioned in [last week's post](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1099265/#Comment_1099265 "last week's post"), we had a list of updates we felt confident we could start working on and planned to give you an update on that list early in the new year. That has changed because one of the updates to build and equipment templates will be ready earlier than expected.

> >

> > We've been working on an update that will automatically switch your build and equipment templates when you enter or exit PvE, WvW, or PvP. The game will remember which build and equipment template tabs were last active when you return to a game mode.

> >

> > Also, PvP equipment will be integrated into all Equipment Templates, which will bring all of your equipment management into one convenient place. Our current plan is to add a new button to the equipment menu to view the PvP equipment slots in each template. By doing this, it means you to be able to manage your PvP equipment whenever you like, even outside of PvP game modes. Because PvP equipment is very different from normal inventory items, it will not take any space away from your standard equipment.

> >

> > This update to Build and Equipment Templates will go live on December 3. We'll still follow with another update early in the new year.

> >

>

> This still doesn't address the over aggressive monetization models put in place.

I think the plan of action is to blatantly ignore it until everyone who's against the policy leaves. I mean, it's not like games like Clash of Clans or Age of Magic are seeing dying days with aggressive monetization. ANet wants in on that pie instead, obviously.

Like, I get that the saga isn't finished, and there's more, but IDK. I'm still so salty about the price gouging mobile-esque build templates. And then they go and follow that absolute slap in the face by releasing one of the most underwhelming updates content-wise to date? After renting a stage in August and pumping up how the saga would be different.

Like...it's just bad. It's really bad. I've uninstalled the game and returned to Guild Wars 1 which at least had the heart of what a MMO is all about. It's dated, the graphics aren't as good, I miss the trait system and some of the weapons and the combat in general. But at least they didn't release a string of unpopular updates making the game feel like Clash of Clans.

What a super non-answer from Rubi. They basically cherrypicked the least common complaints to address. And this got unstickied. So Guild Wars 2 is just a freemium mobile game now? Where character progression is just spending oodles more money than an expansion's box price in an in-game store? Cool, sign me out. I used to like Guild Wars because it was worth my time for the amount of money I spent. But with every release cycle they make it more and more ridiculously expensive for gem-store items that I'm starting to ask myself why don't I just go play WoW with some of my other friends? The subscription fee buys me an expansion every 6 months, and it's still cheaper than build ~~templates~~* _loadouts_.

*Templates TBD

> @"amnessa.6154" said:

> Imagine anet lifting a finger to type a letter in this topic. Wow don't give me hope. Now I expect to see more updates like this to forcefully milk players instead of adding content. I hope I am wrong about this.

Legit. Before there were some practices and prices and I just went "eh, that's the MMO genre for you."

The way templates were rolled in are straight up a play by play in mobile freemiums where they make a system incredibly obtuse because they want you to buy your way to happiness. And I expect they think they're clever, and they'll probably thrive like mobile games by milking just enough whales that they won't be able to tell the difference in operations and will assume it's a success.

I fear the trend continuing, especially after the lootbox fiasco. And by the end of LWS5 it might be unbearable.

As a pretty casual player, I don't entirely mind the system as it was implemented. For someone like me it's probably actually a really good improvement to the system. However, I definitely see some gripes with it - it's kind of bad PR to eliminate the way WvW and PvP builds were more or less saved to those modes and then talk about how you're giving people "3 templates" - you just gave us exactly as many templates as we had before. Only now there's more choice in there. For me that's kind of nice, but you could've raised the bar a little and aimed for like 5 templates. Or better yet, retroactively add 2 templates per expansion, with a base of 4. So people who bought HoT and PoF would start with 8 free templates. Then some very dedicated players might want to buy some more, but it also doesn't feel like a cheap cash grab.

Another gripe I have is how many bugs have come out of this update. Was there no QA done at all? Like what the actual QoL. I literally couldn't join half the squads doing lab farm? I have no idea how it's related to build templates at all, but it's certainly not a problem I experienced prior to the patch! I've read about other bugs on the forums and Reddit too, so it doesn't sound pretty at all.

My closing statement would be something akin to...you took something that hardcore players really wanted and delivered a product that only casual players could really relate to as being QoL. And then you didn't QA it nearly enough.