Guild Wars 2 thread

I don't like change for the sake of change, and this looks exactly like it. It's going to fuck over people who don't log in every day and it also appears to be another sop to the Chinese market, which was the reason why the game went through such severe changes a few months ago, like you mentioned.

It won't fuck people over if they don't log in every day though - it explicitly says that your progress isn't reset until you claim your 28th reward. Yeah, it's intended to ENCOURAGE you to log in every day but it won't go "fuck you!" and take away your rewards if you don't.

I'm not the only one on the forum for the game who's annoyed, to put it mildly.

Anyhoo, big update kicking off tonight - it's currently downloading as I type.

Quick swatch at the game's website and it's for the Wintersday festivities.

edit

Here's a link to the subReddit page for Guild Wars 2 that has a list of the new and glorious changes made to the achievement system.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2phvfd/datamining_list_of_daily_achievements/

edited 16th Dec '14 3:53:33 PM by TamH70

Why is people bitching about some of the achievements being in fixed regions? Those have been in the daily list forever.

I was going to say something about the "log in for prizes" thing, but then read this: "Missed a day because of work, vacation, or a work vacation? The next time you log in, you’ll pick up where you left off. The system will only reset once you’ve claimed the 28th and final reward.". Well, fuck my complains then, it's a bland system but at least it's not bullshit like in most other MMOs.

And why is people complaining about having to do weird things to get the daily rewards now if the old daily rewards are given to you just for logging in you don't have to do anything to get the old daily rewards now why would you fucking bitch about having to do things you don't want to do if you don't have to do them.

Note: I do think it's a change for the worse because it's mainly taking away one of the few good and interesting things the game did well to keep you playing.

edited 16th Dec '14 4:39:59 PM by 2Zak

Because the achievement system they had before wasn't broken. It worked. I like it. I don't like the new one. And you can say I'm bitching all you like with as much bold type as you care to use, I couldn't care less. Have a nice day now, y'hear? Bless your heart.

I wasn't talking about you, though. I was talking about that Reddit thread. I didn't make it clear, though.

Also: I added a note at the end of my last post.

My point is: Is it unnecessary and stupid? Yes. But now you can just not do them and you will get the same thing you got before, so it's not like "I now have to go out of my way to do things I don't want to do" is an actual point (god, the old daily system had crap like "daily reviver" and "daily condition remover", for fuck's sake).

edited 16th Dec '14 4:58:18 PM by 2Zak

Well, I liked Condition Remover, (bah. Daily Reviver. Learn to type, Tam) since it was on the way to the only title I think I will get in this game. Combat Healer. /flex my medical muscles. These other ones? Fuck doing daily events in Silver Wastes, for example. To do any of the ones in there you need a group because the mobs hit like trucks and since I'm not in a guild, I don't have one of those I can rely on. And I don't want to be in a guild.

edited 16th Dec '14 5:22:46 PM by TamH70

Just finished the first iteration of the Wintersday dailies.

I had more fun with the final two things I had to do when I got my last molar removed from my lower right jaw.

The other general dailies weren't too horrible apart from the one where I had to go to the Silverwastes. AKA the zone where every bastard hits like a truck and if you ain't in a group for fighting a veteran, you WILL die.

Overall grade 5/10.

Well, I just finished the Living World season 2 finale. The first instance was a but meh, but then it was apparently one huge reference back to GW 1, which I never played. I'm sure long-time fans got a buzz from that,

The second instance was also a little meh from a gameplay perspective, but it had some nice moments between (now voiced again! yay!) Zojja and logan that pointed towards some character development there.

The third instance... hoo boy. A very cool boss battle and a big story reveal. The oft-suggested theory is true, the Sylvari are/were supposed to be mordemoth's minions. Personally, I've been subscribing to this theory since before the living story, so it's nice to get some confirmation.

And now all signs point to wards some sort of expansion being announced on the 24th, and the trailer for it has shit getting increasingly real. I usually try to keep my hype train firmly in the station, but this is getting kind of exciting.

Seems the rumours were true after all:

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/en/

New expac revealed at PAX South.

Not only that, they put out their deepest discount yet for this game: 75% off, taking the standard "Heroic" edition down to $10 and the Deluxe edition to $15. I just bought the Heroic edition.

Hopefully, I'll have a good time with the full version.

Heart of Thorns looks sweet. About the only thing that disappoints me is the lack of playable Tengu I guess we'll have to wait and see how the new class and new progression stuff plays out, but it looks pretty interesting on the surface.

I'm curious- does anyone know where the best RP is to be found in Guild Wars?

I have a friend who sometimes R Ps in GW 2, and I've been meaning to get into it too. I think the best way to do it is to find an RP guild and put in an application.

Apart from that, I've heard that Divinity's Reach is an RP hot-spot.

edited 26th Jan '15 1:18:43 AM by Gaunt88

Did the discount end? And I heard Anet did something bad with progression?

Edit: that wording didn't sound right.

edited 27th Jan '15 12:34:45 PM by googlebot

I think the discount is probably over, yeah, unfortunately.

As for progression - do you mean the changes to low-level content and personal story they a while ago? While I was initially skeptical about those, and there are a few aspects of it that I think were a bad idea (like the level-gating of certain features and the absolute mess it left the endgame in), after levelling a few new characters from scratch since then I'm actually pretty happy with how things work now.

I've just recently started playing, and so far(Level 13, so still very early) I haven't found anything particularly grating about the early game. There's definitely stuff that's gated which can be frustrating, like skill slots only unlocking one at a time, but it gives me something consistent to work towards(As opposed to having all my skills by level 20 and wondering what the hell to do next), and the tradeoff is a level of customizability with skills that I haven't really seen elsewhere. Plus, while a lot of things seem locked off initially, they aren't - they're still accessible, but they don't show up on the map. Skill points are an example of that; I was initially wondering how rare they were going to be until I hit level 13, and then a dozen skill point icons popped up in my area, and I stopped worrying so much.

... that in mind, a question: My 'main' character that I'm playing with friends is a Thief. The party so far seems to be my Thief, an Engineer aiming for utility, and either a Mesmer or Guardian(Depending on the guy's mood), so I'm looking to fill out a damage role. The Deadly Arts path seems like it's the most consistently damge-dealing path, but it also seems... kinda straightforward and boring, which I'm not really into(If I'm gonna have a straightfoward attacking class I'd like to be able to just wade in with no fucks given. I've been trying out a warrior for that purpose; greatswords seem fun). Critical strikes seems like it does spiking damage, but I don't like relying on RN Gesus and I'm not in love with pistols...

Basically I'm leaning towards Shadow Arts. It seems like it has the best level of careful, strategic gameplay that I like, but I just can't really get a read on how consistent the damage is, so far. Stealth attacks do pretty solid damage, but at the moment(Thief is level 10) I only have a single way of consistently getting stealth and I'm pretty single-target. Does anybody have any experience with that?

I've been levelling my first thief lately, and I know what you mean. There are some more reliable ways to get stealth later on, but they take up utility skill slots that I've found I prefer filled out with other things.

I can't remember the name of the trait path I'm using, but I've found that running with double daggers and some of the poison skills (while also specing for condition damage) can deliver a lot of damage-over-time to 2 or 3 targets at once.

Especially the poison that delivers 3 stacks of torment. That's probably the best/worst condition in the game (depending on whether you're dishing it out or receiving it )

edited 3rd Feb '15 1:19:44 PM by Gaunt88

Yeah, that's... Skale venom I think?(Surprisingly only a tier-2 skill, I'd have guessed tier 3. I guess it's no Hard CC).

I know Deadly arts focuses poison and daggers, so I guess maybe that? I dunno. I definitely want to get a poison in there, and Skale will probably be it, but choosing what effect your next attack will have doesn't scream 'strategery' to me. I was excited for a while to learn about combo fields and finishers, and there's still room for that(Leaping strike will stealth me if I do it into a smoke feild, which is one more avenue to stealth once I get something that creates smoke)...

mostly I'm just torn because according to the wiki, shadow arts focuses toughness. Which - still thinking in terms of more traditionally classes MM Os, mind - seems like kind of a silly thing for the Rogue archetype to emphasize. I'd have figured class canon would be the best route, which makes me worry that emphasizing stealth, while fun, won't really put out as much damage and will therefore leave me kind of pointless. After all, I'm never gonna be the tank.

I play a Thief too, but most of my playing has been done dual wielding Pistols because burst damage. There are a few really good guides on the class which I tend to ignore because I leveled to 80 without paying much attention, but if you want I could dig them up?

Eh, I tend to resist guides. If someone is clever enough about the game that they can make a solid build, there's no reason I can't. Especially since I'm a game designer myself; the 'rules' of the game are readable, and I can work based on that. It's just a matter of experience. I don't yet have enough experience with how certain things play out to be able to estimate.

Anyways, point is, I appreciate the thought but I'd rather not rely on a guide.

More Heart of Thorns info.

Looks like Dry Top and the Silverwastes were testbeds for the new systems they'll be putting into the expansion's maps - maps that switch between phases and a system where a map's events all work towards unlocking bigger events later on.

It sounds really cool, although I do worry that the new events system will mean that people playing the maps in a few months time, or people (like me) whose timezones mean the game is less populated when they're on, won't be able to unlock the higher-tier events.

Even now, you need a fairly well-populated and organised Silverwastes to be able to fight the Vinewrath. Although, I guess in fairness you need a lot of people to have a chance to actually beat that thing.

edited 4th Feb '15 5:03:53 PM by Gaunt88

I bought this thing on sale today, looks pretty fun. Anyone recommend a North America server?

I wish I could, but I honestly don't know what the difference between each server is at this point. I picked mine (Anvil Rock) because that was where my friends were

Besides, with the megaserver system they have now, PvE isn't segregated by server anymore. It only really seems to count for Pv P and World-vs-world.

edited 8th Mar '15 12:25:22 AM by Gaunt88

Oh, cool. I'm not much of a PVP person anyway. I just went with one at random.