Support NeoGAF

[Retro]

ok i bought it

One of us, one of us, gooble gobble.

Seriously though, we had a thread not too long ago about the best multiplayer communities and not only was I surprised to see GW2 mentioned so often, but lots of people mentioned the GAF Guild specifically.

We played on the Stormbluff Isle server (North American, but even if you're in Europe I'd roll there as the latency is a non-issue). If you have friends who play already, you can guest to their server for PVE purposes without any kind of fee or penalty, so don't worry that you can't play with people.

Post your username (it will be name.####) in the Community OT and someone will invite you. There's also some useful beginner's tips there in the OP if you want to read something while you wait for it to download.

Meh. The look of devastation and upheaval without the feel and realities of it.

I suppose, but if they had inconvenienced people by not providing the same services in another location, the reaction from the community would have been overwhelmingly negative. It's just the reality of it being a game.

 

[Hawkian]

Okay, with that answered, one more question: Are dungeons really required for the majority of content in this game as it stands? I honestly felt that they just did not work very well in the game itself but I enjoyed most everything else until life got in the way. I liked grouping but I think the lack of real aggro management and such hurt the play of dungeons.

So, are they even required for a player?

Reading this sorta blew my mind apart; I don't mean it in a critical way at all, I was just flabbergasted at the question, it's not something I'd have ever considered. Nothing is required.

 

[Instro]

I wish I had been able to stick with this game, but it would honestly take me forgoing any other video game to keep up with it since my gaming time is limited. I've vaguely been following bits of news about it, ArenaNet continues to do great things.

 

[Arksy]

No, I haven't done a dungeon since launch. I agree, five mans in this game are terrible, you don't have to do them.

 

[shysaursoft]

No, I haven't done a dungeon since launch. I agree, five mans in this game are terrible, you don't have to do them.

How are they terrible?

EDIT: Ah, you want the trinity. Nevermind. Forget I asked.

 

[Hawkian]

All the familiar landmarks are either collapsed or completely gone

They blew the damn roof off our bar :'(

How are they terrible?

nbd, arksy just wants trinity > *; all the things he dislikes about gw2 dungeons are virtues from my perspective

 

[speedpop]

Time to hop back in I guess. Haven't touched the game in months...

 

[BeekleMatter]

If there has ever been a time for you to come back to Guild Wars 2, or to start playing Guild Wars 2, the time is now. Put your judgement and internet-based opinions aside and try this out. Lion's Arch is an absolute warzone, it is incredible the transformation that happened.

 

[Retro]

Reading this sorta blew my mind apart; I don't mean it in a critical way at all, I was just flabbergasted at the question, it's not something I'd have ever considered. Nothing is required.

If there's one major failure that everyone can agree on for Guild Wars 2, it's that the marketing hasn't done a good enough job convincing people just how different the game is from the rest of the genre.

I wish I had been able to stick with this game, but it would honestly take me forgoing any other video game to keep up with it since my gaming time is limited. I've vaguely been following bits of news about it, ArenaNet continues to do great things.

I know that feeling, I expected to be dumping a lot of my time into Starbound but Guild Wars 2 keeps dragging me back in every two weeks. Just as I'm wrapping up what I want to do in the game, they're never more than a few days from something entirely new.

The only advice I have is, don't play for completion and just play to enjoy the events. If you spend all of your time obsessing over achievements for each update, you'll end up not only be playing longer, but burning out faster. I find I get 90% of the achievements from just doing the content, and I don't actually have to hunt them down or do anything special, but they still require you to do the content.

At the very least, you can install the game, check out every update, and decide if you want to do it or not. Without a gear treadmill, the only reason to log in constantly is if you're having fun or there's a specific reward you want. You can always skip the updates that don't look interesting (though the last time that happened was.... um......)

No, I haven't done a dungeon since launch. I agree, five mans in this game are terrible, you don't have to do them.

Oh Arksy

<3

They blew the damn roof off our bar :'(

We'll need a photo, taken from roughly the same angle as the ones from Saturday's Guild Missions. It's funny that we took that photo joking that it'd be the last time we could all hang out there, and it ended up being true. Now I'm sad.

Time to hop back in I guess. Haven't touched the game in months...

I love stories like this. Imagine "hopping back" into a sub-based MMO. You've gotta break out your credit card and then pray the endgame treadmill hasn't left you so woefully under-geared (never mind that you're still good at playing the game if your stats are off by even the slightest margin) or that your guild hasn't dissolved in the interim or your server hasn't died.

If there has ever been a time for you to come back to Guild Wars 2, or to start playing Guild Wars 2, the time is now. Put your judgement and internet-based opinions aside and try this out. Lion's Arch is an absolute warzone, it is incredible the transformation that happened.

I'd say the best time was a month ago when the Twisted Marionette was around. That was such a damn fun fight, even when people screwed it up it was still rewarding... and knowing your lane could save the day was just... epic. And I try not to throw that word around too often since it's absurdly overused, but it's actually fitting in this case.

 

[cdkee]

I played a lot when it first came out. When I came back though I had no idea what had changed so I ended up leaving, lol. Good game though.

 

[Arksy]

Hey, I like this game. Mass events or pseudo-raids are friggin' awesome.

I just can't stand the small scale dungeons.

So to that guy, who also didn't like dungeons, come back man. You can avoid them like me.

 

[Dec]

This is really truly living world that they wanted to create and it is awesome. They are the only gaming company doing stuff like this right now. Can't wait to see what they have next in store.

Runescape has already done world events exactly like this since the release of RS3 last year. The first event destroyed the village every player starts in, Lumbridge. A few months later there was an event in which players restored the town, and resurrected a monument.

 

[Nordicus]

Was there any one-time event with this patch? I tried waiting for it and hop on asap, but the content patch was few hours late so I went to sleep instead

 

[Barack Lesnar]

How long will t his event last?

 

[BeekleMatter]

I'd say the best time was a month ago when the Twisted Marionette was around. That was such a damn fun fight, even when people screwed it up it was still rewarding... and knowing your lane could save the day was just... epic. And I try not to throw that word around too often since it's absurdly overused, but it's actually fitting in this case.

Hopefully that comes back asap because it was amazing. Or add a new one following the same formula that can be permanent as is the wurm.

 

[Ashodin]

How long will t his event last?

Two weeks.

 

[Retro]

Runescape has already done world events exactly like this since the release of RS3 last year. The first event destroyed the village every player starts in, Lumbridge. A few months later there was an event in which players restored the town, and resurrected a monument.

And Guild Wars 2 has been doing them since March of last year (~4 months earlier than RS3), not to mention you only get access to Runescape's updates if you're a paid member (GW2 has no subscription). I'd also add that Guild Wars 2 is a larger, more complicated game, but neither I nor anyone else I can recall has bothered with Runescape since it was a browser-based curiosity a decade ago, so maybe it's gotten less unbearable.

Was there any one-time event with this patch? I tried waiting for it and hop on asap, but the content patch was few hours late so I went to sleep instead

No, they don't do one-time events because then people don't get to see them. When you log in, you'll get a cinematic and everything before you jump in.

How long will t his event last?

2 weeks. (Edit: Beaten.)

Hopefully that comes back asap because it was amazing. Or add a new one following the same formula that can be permanent as is the wurm.

One of the developers commented that it was popular enough they'll definitely bring it back, but they don't know how. Personally, I'd love to see them drop it into the Queen's Gauntlet in Divinity's Reach. Anything would be better than the giant farm that ended up happening down there. Plus, you know, celebrate the defeat of Scarlet by beating up her wrecked toys...

 

[Proven]

For the main event, just don't follow the commander. The only real worry is the miasma deployment fights, but the zerg is always going to head there so you can ignore them. There are a lot of places a solo player can continually send streams of 10 survivors every few minutes. If you have a few friends you can push into areas that never have an event circle (therefore, hardly any players) but have elites guarding a lot of downed citizens. Go help them out. And then there's a scavenger hunt for an achievement that requires you to explore all over the map for 30 heirlooms.

I'm doing what makes GW2 the most fun for me. Doing my own thing to make an impact, running into some other players doing the same, then doing an impromptu team up to take out some bigger enemy before splitting off or possibly continuing the team up across the map for a while if it feels right.

Okay, with that answered, one more question: Are dungeons really required for the majority of content in this game as it stands? I honestly felt that they just did not work very well in the game itself but I enjoyed most everything else until life got in the way. I liked grouping but I think the lack of real aggro management and such hurt the play of dungeons.

So, are they even required for a player?

I know someone already answered but here's my two cents: I spend 99% of my time out of dungeons. I primarily do them now when GAF guild needs an extra and I'm feeling benevolent, although GAF guild makes things very pleasant. Still, there's nothing at all in dungeons that makes doing them required for being viable at anything. I haven't set foot in the final story dungeon even once yet and I've been playing this game from the beta weekends.

 

[lmpaler]

I regret never getting this game sometimes. This is one of those times

 

[Hoo-doo]

Will jump back in soon. This sounds cool.

 

[Retro]

I regret never getting this game sometimes. This is one of those times

Well, it's not like you'd miss it if you picked it up now. You can participate in this content with a new character (the lack of skills might be a problem, of course, as they're not all unlocked until Level 30), and it rarely gets cheaper than $40.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Time to finish leveling my other characters. I may relevel a thief as a Asura. My female Norn thief is so tall, and I need a Asura.

It's always nice to take a break from this and come back to it with all it's crazy changes.

Hey, I like this game. Mass events or pseudo-raids are friggin' awesome.

I just can't stand the small scale dungeons.

So to that guy, who also didn't like dungeons, come back man. You can avoid them like me.

I did dungeons about 5 times with my old FFXI friends. I really like the game and played it a ton. I haven't got into the wvw and pvp much. No fractals or anything, just pure pve.

 

[Retro]

Time to finish leveling my other characters. I may relevel a thief as a Asura. My female Norn thief is so tall, and I need a Asura.

As a general rule, if you're not an Asura, you're just another Bookah.

 

[Sophia]

The new content is a whole lot of style and not much in the way of substance, from what I've seen. It is pretty cool that the developers had the guts to do something like this for a patch, and put a world event around it tho.

 

[Ashodin]

It's interesting because the main place where you hang out is gone.

 

[Retro]

The new content is a whole lot of style and not much in the way of substance, from what I've seen. It is pretty cool that the developers had the guts to do something like this for a patch, and put a world event around it tho.

Depends on what you consider substance. In terms of rewards, there's an interesting backpiece you have to gather the blueprints and components for, and there's some useful items (Tomes of Knowledge, Obsidian Shards and a lot of old Living Story reward currencies) you can get by trading in Refugee’s Belongings. Supposedly there's some items from previous Living Story chapters that drop as rare rewards, so that's something too.

In terms of gameplay, it's a really engaging event, going through a demolished city as it's being invaded and trying to evacuate citizens out; it's been done before but I doubt at this scale, and certainly not a setting that is so familiar to most players. What I played tonight has been fun as hell, a little on the frustrating side difficulty wise, but it being the first night nobody has really figured out the best way to handle it. The variety of things to do, from large-scale attacks to solitary escorts seems right on the money; when there was a clump of people, I stuck with them and we did things, then when I wanted to break off and do something else I wasn't overwhelmed by enemies or forced to run back to the herd. I'm pretty sure there's other stuff to do outside of Lion's Arch too, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

In terms of story, this is the culmination of almost a year's Living Story, so it's a big payoff. It's also interesting to go through familiar streets and see things have been uprooted so violently, but that's more of a style thing so I guess it doesn't count.

 

[Parakeetman]

Oh damn that sounds crazy cool.

 

[Sophia]

In terms of gameplay, it's an really engaging event, going through a city as it's being invaded and trying to evacuate citizens out; it's been done before but I doubt at this scale. What I played tonight has been fun as hell, a little on the frustrating side difficulty wise, but it being the first night nobody has really figured out the best way to handle it. The variety of things to do, from large-scale attacks to solitary escorts, there's a lot of variety. I'm pretty sure there's other stuff to do outside of Lion's Arch too, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

That's what I mean right here. Sure it's pretty awesome that the city is being invaded, but the actual in game events aren't any more creative or challenging then the ones that shipped with the game. Or much different then the ones from the Twilight Assault four months ago. It's a whole lot of style, and not a whole lot of substance.

I'll give them credit at least. Blowing up a city is a pretty gutsy move, and the fact that they'll actually make it stick to some degree is impressive because most MMORPGs just invoke Status Quo is God. But I shouldn't be fighting the same enemies I fought six months ago using the same strategies because they have the same abilities.

 

[Chris R]

That looks really cool but GW2 never really grabbed me for some reason. Got one character up to like 17 and just got tired of the questing. That and I'd have to redownload the huge game files again which would destroy my data cap

 

[etrain911]

That looks really cool but GW2 never really grabbed me for some reason. Got one character up to like 17 and just got tired of the questing. That and I'd have to redownload the huge game files again which would destroy my data cap

Off topic, this is what scares me about net neutrality's future
On topic, I started to get into the game, but I stopped playing for a while and in that interim, my account had apparently gotten phished. I managed to recover it and guard my password through the iphone app thing, but my character is now a level 80 with decent armor. It's funny. The hacker didn't even touch my backstory quest stuff. I don't know whether to delete him and start fresh or to roll with it.

 

[Arcayne]

That looks damn cool. I wish I jumped aboard launch day of GW2; the screens never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Shiokazu]

We'll need a photo, taken from roughly the same angle as the ones from Saturday's Guild Missions. It's funny that we took that photo joking that it'd be the last time we could all hang out there, and it ended up being true. Now I'm sad.

well...

the damage.

 

[Hawkian]

That's the roof. A picture facing the bar like we took last week would have aetherblade in it trying to kill you unless you clear it. It's more intact than it could've been... it's at least fixable. There are even a couple bottles left intact in the cabinet. The laser can chase you all the way to the entrance though.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

the last 4 hours went by so fast, it's 3:45 am
so yeah gw2 rocks Loving this event.

 

[Shiokazu]

That's the roof. A picture facing the bar like we took last week would have aetherblade in it trying to kill you unless you clear it. It's more intact than it could've been... it's at least fixable. There are even a couple bottles left intact in the cabinet. The laser can chase you all the way to the entrance though.

it was such a good place to chill, now its a deathtrap.

from outside this is what it looks. fire, wreckage, a sad quaggan.

 

[K.Sabot]

For me, the mechanics never caught up with the content.

Game is just boring to play for me now on a base level. No amount of kickass content can change a boring combat system (unless that content was directed at the combat system)

 

[Fattony12000]

Time to jump back in!

 

[Twinduct]

Oh well, no reason not to jump in.

Quick question, have they added any new weapon types (skills) yet? One of the more annoying aspects of the game for me was the limited amount of set skills you get per weapon class. So ending up playing with only one type made the game slightly boring.

Also do chest keys drop more often now? I remember playing the first event and ending up with like 20 times the chests vs keys.

 

[Shiokazu]

Oh well, no reason not to jump in.

Quick question, have they added any new weapon types (skills) yet? One of the more annoying aspects of the game for me was the limited amount of set skills you get per weapon class. So ending up playing with only one type made the game slightly boring.

Also do chest keys drop more often now? I remember playing the first event and ending up with like 20 times the chests vs keys.

i don't know... im a guardian player, one of the most boring class of the game and i love it. simply because i made my traits work in a way i can really make this class not be boring. plus you don't need to stick to the same skills all the time, and yes, you need, specially for this content to change skills depending on which area or enemies you are facing.

but, i have two sets of armor just for my guardian and almost every single weapon that my class can use in my bag, i swap them often. you know... guild wars 2 is a game that gives you a real nice degree of freedom. it doesn't tells you where you should go and what you should do, instead it gives you options, its up to you to take upon the challenge or not.

maybe, maybe this kind of freedom is not what you seek in a game.

keys you mean, black lion trading company keys? oh no, i rarely see those.

 

[Twinduct]

i don't know... im a guardian player, one of the most boring class of the game and i love it. simply because i made my traits work in a way i can really make this class not be boring. plus you don't need to stick to the same skills all the time, and yes, you need, specially for this content to change skills depending on which area or enemies you are facing.

but, i have two sets of armor just for my guardian and almost every single weapon that my class can use in my bag, i swap them often. you know... guild wars asks is a game that gives you a real nice degree of freedom. it doesn't tells you where you should go and what you should do, instead it gives you options, its up to you to take upon the challenge or not.

maybe, maybe this kind of freedom is not what you seek in a game.

keys you mean, black lion trading company keys? oh no, i rarely see those.

I get the freedom and I liked it. Think my biggest gripe was more to do with that I started playing with a friend and once he got bored and stopped I mostly looked for reasons not to continue.

Sad to hear about the keys. I understand the idea behind it though just wish I didn't have to pony up money just to potentially get a nice item.

 

[BeekleMatter]

Sad to hear about the keys. I understand the idea behind it though just wish I didn't have to pony up money just to potentially get a nice item.

Black Lion Chests/Keys have become sort of a joke. You can get way better loot from world event/dungeon chests and you don't have to waste money on keys. I got 2 keys very early when I first got GW2... 500 hours later and I haven't gotten another. It's as if they don't drop anymore (maybe they don't?) Something Anet should probably address in the future.

 

[Shiokazu]

I get the freedom and I liked it. Think my biggest gripe was more to do with that I started playing with a friend and once he got bored and stopped I mostly looked for reasons not to continue.

Sad to hear about the keys. I understand the idea behind it though just wish I didn't have to pony up money just to potentially get a nice item.

aw, come on then, jump in, get into the gaf guild. i bet you'd have fun.

we do dungeon, content, we run groups, we have a guild event every saturday night/sunday afternoons, people go to mumble and talk stuff. if you want to come back surely you would be welcome in the guild.

 

[akaoni]

I've been considering jumping back into GW2 lately regardless and I imagine this is a last ditch attempt before the China release. I think about jumping into the game but then it dawns on me that I've done before and found nothing of note, the gameplay is just dull, even more so from a visual standpoint as nobody wants to watch the game. I really doubt there's more than 15-30k concurrent players at this point and the game is probably not turning any real profit, the reason there's no expansion on the horizon is not because they don't want to but rather because they can't. It's almost like they're trying to save face at this point, by that I mean GW2 was the next big thing that only ended up being something people wanted to succeed to justify the purchase model, I mean we all heard the news about how 'successful' the game was, and then that conveniently fell off a cliff after the launch. They'll do metrics about returning players or new ones after this event and continue to not make the game actually fun because it's rotten to the core and can't be done at this point. I'm not that bitter I just have to counteract the attempt to sell the game here by GW2GAF who seem to almost have some sort of persecution complex about this thread. I do wish you luck though, sincerely.

 

[Ferny]

Just to touch on some of the things you've brought up here. As someone who doesn't really play the game as often anymore (usually for a bit every now and then) as I once did at launch and for a number of months afterward, I can agree with some of your points. Someone else touched on the point that they didn't like dungeons all that much, and I agree. I don't like them really at all. To me, they just don't seem fun and I've done them all with different groups, pubs and guildies alike, but I just did not find them all that fun. That's more personal preference though, as I think they are fine within the frame of what the game is built to be.

I disagree that combat is boring, far from that actually. I find the combat engaging, more so than some MMOs, and it does require decent skill to be truly effective. I also think your number in regards to players on at once to be pretty low. The game still has a very good community that play it and are passionate about the game and that's a good thing. You can see it right here in this thread. Now I will agree that the 'selling of the game' can come on a little strong in most GW2 related threads on here, from knowing most of the guys heading up the GAFGuild for a year or so, it speaks to that passion more than anything else. Sometimes Retro can't help but morph into PRetro and you gotta love him for it.

Beinging it back to the event though, loved what they did to the area for the event. It hit you as soon as you log in with that cutscene and then you enter the event and all hell breaks loose. It did have a "zergy" feel to it, but that could be attributed to the fact that an insane amount of people were on and this was on an overflow server so that's saying something. All in all, it was cool, and refreshing to see something like this in the game.

Well that's my one GW2 related post per year, take care!

 

[Forkball]

Updating now. Gonna guess I got kicked out of the GAF Guild for not playing the game in a year. Such strict requirements!

 

[UnrealEck]

Looks very interesting.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Well, probably will try to start the game again, didn't get very far though.

 

[Drazgul]

Tried the game back at release, hated the gameplay but gotta say that's really cool.

 

[Arksy]

As the self-appointed king of the NeoGAF guild I welcome everyone to come play with us. We have fun!

 

[Atrophis]

I've been considering jumping back into GW2 lately regardless and I imagine this is a last ditch attempt before the China release. I think about jumping into the game but then it dawns on me that I've done before and found nothing of note, the gameplay is just dull, even more so from a visual standpoint as nobody wants to watch the game. I really doubt there's more than 15-30k concurrent players at this point and the game is probably not turning any real profit, the reason there's no expansion on the horizon is not because they don't want to but rather because they can't. It's almost like they're trying to save face at this point, by that I mean GW2 was the next big thing that only ended up being something people wanted to succeed to justify the purchase model, I mean we all heard the news about how 'successful' the game was, and then that conveniently fell off a cliff after the launch. They'll do metrics about returning players or new ones after this event and continue to not make the game actually fun because it's rotten to the core and can't be done at this point. I'm not that bitter I just have to counteract the attempt to sell the game here by GW2GAF who seem to almost have some sort of persecution complex about this thread. I do wish you luck though, sincerely.

It feels like you are basing your ideas on how popular the game is on Twitch stream numbers which is a pretty dumb thing to do honestly. Also pulling the very common "I don’t like the game therefore everyone else must dislike it too." I don't doubt the game is dull for you but it's not dull for everyone. You are not the arbiter of how much fun people have with a game. I don't disagree that people just aren't interested in watching/streaming the game but that’s mostly down to the failure of sPVP (an undisputed disappointment for Anet and a total dropped ball in terms of growing the game as an esport).

Facts are if the game wasn't making any money then there would be no bi-weekly Living Story updates. Who would pay for it? There is no expansion because they would have to stop Living World updates to work on one. The regular updates are their cash cow as box sales naturally decline as the game gets older. It's not that they don't want to it's that there is no need to at the moment. I'm sure they will eventually, they will need something to replace box sales at some point but that point isn't now.

Oh and you do sound pretty bitter mate, sorry to say. You are pulling a lot of stuff out of your ass with this post, stuff that is factually inaccurate. Like I say it doesn't offend me if you don't like the game. There are plenty of things I don't like about it but lets not make shit up just to "counterbalance" the more zealous GW2 fans in the thread. Yes they are here and it does get annoying but there is no need to play devils advocate by trolling.