Q&A Session is over;
Will be editing their comments in as it streams:
Professions / Balance
- They have separate balance numbers for PVE and PVP.
- Still work to be done to bring all the classes up to par.
- Classes may get more weapon choices from the existing pool later on. They seem kind of coy about it. The question specifically mentioned elementalists getting swords. No, Arken, SCYTHES FOR GUARDIANS WERE NOT MENTIONED.
- Ele bunker is kinda strong, they are watching.
- Portal Mesmers give them problems because they've become vital to certain kinds of content. They think it's kinda cool though.
- One solution is to give these things to other classes or available in other ways.
AOE "Nerf":
- AOE changes are not a quick fix, they are looking at a lot of data. They want to make sure it is not the be-all-end-all for damage.
- AOE builds are too powerful against downed players (too easy to hit downed target and those trying to heal them).
- It is not going to be done quickly, they are looking at everything carefully.
WvW
- Defining Progression in WvW: they are encouraging people to defend, break away from the 'zerg mentality' and spread out.
- Try to reward the players directly rather than Server score being the metric for victory.
- WvW specific skills; can only be used in WvW. Example; more guard damage, carry more supply, Siege skills, move speed. Very sketchy in the details, just experimenting.
- Culling changes should go in WvW first, but they want to do it in all game modes.
- They do not want player nameplates in WvW, they want it to focus on World vs. World. Maybe pay to display your name, but they are concerned about harassment.
- Advancement in WvW will be similar to advancement in other areas of the game.
- Ascended gear is being tossed around as available via WvW, but nothing definite yet.
PVP
- Custom Arenas will cost money to host, where you rent the arena from them. Lots of things can be turned on and off.
- They are looking at Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, 1v1 duels. These things come up all the time in meetings. These are things they really want to add to custom arenas.
- Guild vs. Guild is something they want to get in.
- They have tested and are looking at CTF, but Conquest is the 'bedrock' of their PVP for now. Everything they add works within that framework.
- Some things sound good on paper, but don't play very well.
- Tried MOBA and Dodgeball game types (lol)
- They still want GW2 to be an e-sport, but admit that the things needed for it are not there, but they are working on it. Spectator mode and stuff is required and they understand how frustrating it is.
- The current Metagame needs expansion; more roles being introduced (Trying to scale back Bunker builds, but not remove them entirely).
Dungeons
- More environmental fights
- More fights that change as they go on.
Fractals
- Reconnecting and "Tier-ism" in Fractals will be fixed in the next build. Tier restrictions removed, you can scale to the highest tier that a group member has completed.
- Fractal rewards are based on your level, not the level the fractal is.
- They want to add more Fractals, they built it to scale with players and add new content quickly.
Content changes
- Next build will change Orr, adding new effects, environment zones, events. New rewards as well.
- The Profession-specific chests we saw in the 2013 Update can include armor and weapons specific to those professions. It did not sound like they will have new skins.
- Crowns are a new currency for achievements.
- Achievement crowns will be for daily and monthlies for now, later on they will retroactively apply them to other stuff.
- Daily and Monthly achievements are tied to new content to get players to go into them.
- January monthly achievement will not give crowns, just do it now.
Development Process
- ArenaNet prefers to fix things first rather than reiterate or create new content.
- Prefer to reiterate rather than build new content. They seem to have learned a lot from Fractals that they want to apply to the original dungeons.
- There are lots of specific teams that focus on all areas of the game; there is always constant work being done in all areas, nothing gets left by the wayside.
- Better scripting tools will allow them to improve content more than they could before.
- They want to say more, but they can't because they don't want to be seen as lying to the players.
