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Guild Wars 2 |OT2| Funding An MMO Entirely On Quaggan Backpacks
- Thread starter Teknopathetic
- Start date
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I used to feel that way about TA. Many bad experiences (the most gutwrenching PUG I have ever encountered, for one). Didn't touch it for months. It's actually a lot better now, though still my least frequented dungeon.
Oktarb, you don't get tokens from story. But if Atrophis isn't coming I can take you guys on an exp path, lol. I like CM a lot, it's such an unusual vibe for a "dungeon." Can't wait for it to get the AC treatment.
Oktarb, you don't get tokens from story. But if Atrophis isn't coming I can take you guys on an exp path, lol. I like CM a lot, it's such an unusual vibe for a "dungeon." Can't wait for it to get the AC treatment.
I really like the first TA boss, the wurm. If you know what you are doing (either durable enough to stay within melee or have the reflexes to stay ranged and avoid damage), the boss is cake. If not he can destroy you. I mean, most experienced groups will kill him no problem but it always feels good to be able to easily defeat a boss that was once somewhat challenging.
New Kholer is similar, easy once you know what you pay attention to and how to prevent being tripwired.
New Kholer is similar, easy once you know what you pay attention to and how to prevent being tripwired.
I do like the Wurm too. The Norn Wolf boss on HotW 3, also. And shotgunface in CM (when you fight him in the outdoors and can use his range against him; in other paths he should just be skipped as he can just wreck you in close quarters and the time saved is pretty valuable). A lot of the dungeon sub-bosses are way better fights than the final boss of that path.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
The new jumping puzzle, is made by sadists. But just like Wizard Tower, it was immensely satisfying to complete. Im playing with low framerates which made it extra hard. Some people were trolling by activating group-wide speed buffs. that sucks.
Anyway, I got both my backpieces now! Had a lot of fun. When Lost Shore came around last november I didn't think too much of the area. I mean, it looked okay but it was just beaches and landmass. Now they have made a solid blueprint.
Anyway, I got both my backpieces now! Had a lot of fun. When Lost Shore came around last november I didn't think too much of the area. I mean, it looked okay but it was just beaches and landmass. Now they have made a solid blueprint.
The JP isn't new. It's nice that so many people are just now doing it for the first time because of this new content though (and sort of making the gears in my head turn with the possibilities for future arcs). It's one of my absolute favorites and very satisfying to portal people through that need help.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Kos Luftar
Member
I'm guessing there won't be any incremental updates between updates (NPCs saying new things, closer to the next updates).
Hope the pve culling fix comes on May 28th.
Hope the pve culling fix comes on May 28th.
Just a heads up to all the officers, I will be representing a different guild for WvW purposes for the foreseeable future. I'll still be around for guild bounties and such on Saturday though...or whenever we decide to do that.
And I know you guys don't really care. This is more just to let you know what's going on, especially since my name is alphabetically at the top of the guild roster(edit: wait, is that not how it works?), and you'll be seeing me on a different server repping a different guild 90% of the time.
Ya know, so I don't get culled out randomly, though I doubt you'd do that.
This is Chasecs btw, if anyone still didn't know
edit: Oh and btw, Tier 1 WvW is everything I ever wanted and more, I'm so happy I switched. Take everything you've ever seen in SBI and amplify it by 10, and that's your average battle. 70 man zerg collisions, 3 tier line formations with a commander for each line, scheduled skill wave rotations for each class. It's sooo much fun and infinitely more satisfying. Sanctum of Rall is streamrolling the tier right now too. +500 ticks last night, up by 30k Looks like JQs run is over.
And I know you guys don't really care. This is more just to let you know what's going on, especially since my name is alphabetically at the top of the guild roster(edit: wait, is that not how it works?), and you'll be seeing me on a different server repping a different guild 90% of the time.
Ya know, so I don't get culled out randomly, though I doubt you'd do that.
This is Chasecs btw, if anyone still didn't know
edit: Oh and btw, Tier 1 WvW is everything I ever wanted and more, I'm so happy I switched. Take everything you've ever seen in SBI and amplify it by 10, and that's your average battle. 70 man zerg collisions, 3 tier line formations with a commander for each line, scheduled skill wave rotations for each class. It's sooo much fun and infinitely more satisfying. Sanctum of Rall is streamrolling the tier right now too. +500 ticks last night, up by 30k Looks like JQs run is over.
No worries just please remember to represent us anytime you're in a party with gaffers.
Some guild missions will remain on Saturday but we will soon be changing up the schedule to spread things out a bit more and have more chances for people to get their commendations during the week.
Some guild missions will remain on Saturday but we will soon be changing up the schedule to spread things out a bit more and have more chances for people to get their commendations during the week.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Awesome, thanks
oktarb
Member
Me to. I guess I just don't get the goal. Seems everything just constantly changes hands. So unless I'm hunting for badges for my legendary I just don't feel a huge draw.
Our guild has never really been about WvW. we're more of a PvX guild, meaning we just do whatever comes our way.
That may frustrate people like Chasecs or other WvW focused members of the guild, who want a challenge and/or some weird strategy randomness of Tier 1, but where we're at suits us just fine, the rest of the members of our guild.
We have people more into PVP, but I'd say most of the guild is into PVE.
I lead the charge on the lore and the story of the game, and follow it along closely with a magnifying glass. This lends itself to building PVE groups and such, so that may be my problem with not playing much PVP or WVW.
Anyway, hope you enjoy your battles Chasecs, and definitely rep us when rolling with GAF, we need the influence! (Time to stockpile for the inevitable Guild Missions being added)
That may frustrate people like Chasecs or other WvW focused members of the guild, who want a challenge and/or some weird strategy randomness of Tier 1, but where we're at suits us just fine, the rest of the members of our guild.
We have people more into PVP, but I'd say most of the guild is into PVE.
I lead the charge on the lore and the story of the game, and follow it along closely with a magnifying glass. This lends itself to building PVE groups and such, so that may be my problem with not playing much PVP or WVW.
Anyway, hope you enjoy your battles Chasecs, and definitely rep us when rolling with GAF, we need the influence! (Time to stockpile for the inevitable Guild Missions being added)
I have to do a WvW rant - sorry guys:
We are really hurting in WvW right now. I am fairly certain that CD and SoS have made an agreement not to attack each others' Borderland maps in an effort to bring Ehmry Bay into this tier and drop us down a tier.
You are probably thinking `I don't do WvW who cares! I'd rather the guild spend influence on something that affects me.`. Well here is why you should care: There is a Guild buff where you spend 300 influence for +5% gold for 24 hours. Thats great, but helping in WvW can raise Scavenger Buff (Bonus gold per kill +X%) too. And that buff is already at 6% on a wednesday while we are in 3rd place and will increase higher if we do a good job in WvW. The payoff for influence is much better. And thats not the only buff, just open the WvW pane and look at all the bonuses that bleed into PvE (defense against monster, maximum health, endurance regeneration, additional gathering node usage, etc).
GAF also schedules the weekly Makeup Missions on the exact time WvW resets. Thats the time the server needs us the most to be there. Doing these events now can take up to 2-4 hours: Bounty -> Puzzle -> Challenge -> Rush. If servers get a strong lead on friday we are struggling to catch up and our WvW participation numbers plummet for the entire week. We are one of the biggest guilds in SBI, why is our presence in WvW so weak? While I understand that WvW reset was moved 3 weeks ago from 8PM EST to 9PM EST , has there been any discussion to shift the scheduled makeup missions to not conflict with this time or is everyone else not interested in SBIs WvW performance?
Anyway, what i'm trying to say is I feel GAF is doing a bad job catering to the WvW crowd. There is a disincentive to represent GAF in WvW since we don't have any buffs, and SBI can really use the GAF presence on friday nights. We are a big enough guild to be able to cater to PvE, PvP, and WvW - especially now that major unlocks are out of the way.
rants done. Thanks.
We are really hurting in WvW right now. I am fairly certain that CD and SoS have made an agreement not to attack each others' Borderland maps in an effort to bring Ehmry Bay into this tier and drop us down a tier.
You are probably thinking `I don't do WvW who cares! I'd rather the guild spend influence on something that affects me.`. Well here is why you should care: There is a Guild buff where you spend 300 influence for +5% gold for 24 hours. Thats great, but helping in WvW can raise Scavenger Buff (Bonus gold per kill +X%) too. And that buff is already at 6% on a wednesday while we are in 3rd place and will increase higher if we do a good job in WvW. The payoff for influence is much better. And thats not the only buff, just open the WvW pane and look at all the bonuses that bleed into PvE (defense against monster, maximum health, endurance regeneration, additional gathering node usage, etc).
GAF also schedules the weekly Makeup Missions on the exact time WvW resets. Thats the time the server needs us the most to be there. Doing these events now can take up to 2-4 hours: Bounty -> Puzzle -> Challenge -> Rush. If servers get a strong lead on friday we are struggling to catch up and our WvW participation numbers plummet for the entire week. We are one of the biggest guilds in SBI, why is our presence in WvW so weak? While I understand that WvW reset was moved 3 weeks ago from 8PM EST to 9PM EST , has there been any discussion to shift the scheduled makeup missions to not conflict with this time or is everyone else not interested in SBIs WvW performance?
Anyway, what i'm trying to say is I feel GAF is doing a bad job catering to the WvW crowd. There is a disincentive to represent GAF in WvW since we don't have any buffs, and SBI can really use the GAF presence on friday nights. We are a big enough guild to be able to cater to PvE, PvP, and WvW - especially now that major unlocks are out of the way.
rants done. Thanks.
I think one of my personal problems with WvW is how much time you have to invest in it compared to anything else in the game. It literally takes you over 4 hours to cap multiple points, with no guarantees you'll hold it because the commanders I run with are just moving from place to place. The other problem being zergs are too easy to gather and take down a spot. Even with the new traps, which cost 15 badges (how fast are you getting them? 2 an hour?), it is impossible for a squad who wants to bolster a keep and keep it from the zerg unless they have a source of badges they can farm to keep traps on hand and siege.
And then, guarding a tower takes ages. No one might come in hours, or a zerg shows up and takes the tower just for points, and you flip it right back.
For me, personally WvW is very bad for short term excursions, which most of the guild does NOT have the time for. Most of us are only online around the night time, and the nature of life means that dinner is being made, SOs want attention, or kids, or whathaveyou. WvW is way too time intensive for someone like me. Some nights I can pull it off, but other nights I feel like my time could be more productive elsewhere in the game.
And then, guarding a tower takes ages. No one might come in hours, or a zerg shows up and takes the tower just for points, and you flip it right back.
For me, personally WvW is very bad for short term excursions, which most of the guild does NOT have the time for. Most of us are only online around the night time, and the nature of life means that dinner is being made, SOs want attention, or kids, or whathaveyou. WvW is way too time intensive for someone like me. Some nights I can pull it off, but other nights I feel like my time could be more productive elsewhere in the game.
Lone_Prodigy
Member
So Flames & Frost is completely over right? I still have some refugee items and sonic audio logs in my inventory... guess I'm stuck with them?
- The schedule for the weekly makeup missions is being changed. This Friday, one way or another, will be the last one held at that time. If you would like us to consider weekly WvW events (exactly at reset?) on Friday nights, of course that is something we can do. I just frankly don't feel that any of the guild leadership, myself included, is qualified to host such an event in a way that wouldn't frustrate the WvW-centric players who are more hardcore about it. In this regard it would be great for someone to step up and claim the responsibility for hosting such an event!
- People who do not want to do WvW should not feel pressured to because of the potential for buffs in PvE, and our influence spending has been highly regulated until last weekend to accommodate unlocking and undertaking guild missions. We need to build up a stockpile again now, but otherwise we are going to be freer to spend influence. WvW buffs may be part of what we schedule.
- Our presence in SBI is limited because the majority of the guild is composed primarily of either PvE-only or PvE-primary players. Additionally, very few WvW events have been scheduled at any point. Doing so and announcing it clearly would be a good way to attract people for this purpose.
- GAF is not doing a bad job catering to the WvW crowd; GAF is not catering to the WvW crowd. We simply aren't a WvW guild, even though plenty of us like to do WvW.
There is nothing stopping anyone in the guild from taking the lead and fostering more WvW within the guild- it doesn't have to be the officers and the leaders scheduling and hosting events. I would like to increase my skill and eventually command but I do not feel anywhere near comfortable doing so yet, as I find commanders taking shortcuts I didn't know about every other session I play. But those of you who are comfortable leading should feel free to do so and be vocal about it.
Kvothe is taking the most initiative I have seen in this regard. He is hosting a group on Monday, May 20th at 7:00PM EDT to attempt to coordinate small-scale strategy and possibly make it into a recurring thing. Unfortunately, he does not post on GAF so visibility is limited, but it is discussed in this thread on GAFguild. - If your primary mode of play in Guild Wars 2 is WvW you may feel free to represent another guild for this purpose. There will be no hard feelings about it. We want to leverage the flexibility of the game so that the most people can play the way they want to as much of the time as possible.
I don't want to speak for anyone, but I know that we were talking about moving the make-up events to a different day because the reset cuts into participation for both the events and wvw. If we move the makeup events to a different day, I don't see why we can't designate friday as a WvW centric day.
Kos Luftar
Member
Ill be away Saturday to Monday because of the long weekend but ill be playing a lot on Friday evening and ill be in WvW the whole time to try and get those important after reset points.
Goddamn, Varix dropped a fucking knowledge bomb in the Angelina Jolie thread.
(Sorry if that is random. I guess I just notice it more when I see guildies posting in other places. I feel safer posting here, too)
I dooo need some badges of honor so MAYBE I'll WvW soonish...but just a little bit.
(Sorry if that is random. I guess I just notice it more when I see guildies posting in other places. I feel safer posting here, too)
I dooo need some badges of honor so MAYBE I'll WvW soonish...but just a little bit.
Ha beat you to it. The officers need to meet about this, but generally, expect things to be more spread out and for there to be more chances during the week to get your comms.
Again, I see no reason why we couldn't do so either except that I wouldn't personally feel comfortable leading it. Eventually I really wouldn't mind taking that responsibility on, I just have had many other goals in the game and get easily distracted, and raising my skill at advanced WvW play has not been a priority for me.
Jest Chillin
Member
Well the Guild is PvE focused because the leadership is PvE focused. I didn't agree with some of our previous WvW centric members that moved on to other guilds/servers but Gaf guild isn't PvE focused by happenstance. When all of our vocal Officers focus more on PvE than WvW, that provides group events for the PvE centric players so they're happy and they stay. However the lack of group events for WvW causes the WvW centric players to at the very least pull double duty with a second guild or in more extreme circumstances change servers and guilds entirely.
Don't take this out of context either, I'm not criticizing the way the Guild is run or the PvE events. I'm just pointing out how we came to the makeup that we're at.
If there is a desire from our leadership and there's a member willing to step up the best way to bolster WvW participation would be for there to be a WvW Officer. They would need to be on equal footing in decision making in all areas of the game as the other Officers as well (to make sure there's no signals being crossed or overlapping events planned). As easy as it is to say "Well anyone who wants to can lead WvW groups if they like" the reality is the majority of the guild will not respond to a call for WvW unless there is an Officer involved. Obviously anyone who was put in that position would still need to have the qualities of an Officer. In fact I think it would be awesome if someone from our current cadre of Officers simply donned the WvW Officer role. However, if no one is interested (current Officer or not) then there shouldn't be an pressure to create the role.
Whether our guild is comprised of people who play PvE primarily or not, when our current Officers have joined WvW and made the call, they show up and we do quite well even without using advanced tactics. WvW doesn't require massive amounts of time to be effective. Even the big WvW guilds on our server don't spend hours upon hours out there. There are a few who do of course, but most of them are just like us in that they spend a bit of time here and a bit of time there. Hell even if we just coordinated blitzkriegs around Tick timers, grabbing towers and camps for the tick then abandoning them to play other areas of the game again, we could be very effective for the server.
That's my two cents on it anyways.
Don't take this out of context either, I'm not criticizing the way the Guild is run or the PvE events. I'm just pointing out how we came to the makeup that we're at.
If there is a desire from our leadership and there's a member willing to step up the best way to bolster WvW participation would be for there to be a WvW Officer. They would need to be on equal footing in decision making in all areas of the game as the other Officers as well (to make sure there's no signals being crossed or overlapping events planned). As easy as it is to say "Well anyone who wants to can lead WvW groups if they like" the reality is the majority of the guild will not respond to a call for WvW unless there is an Officer involved. Obviously anyone who was put in that position would still need to have the qualities of an Officer. In fact I think it would be awesome if someone from our current cadre of Officers simply donned the WvW Officer role. However, if no one is interested (current Officer or not) then there shouldn't be an pressure to create the role.
Whether our guild is comprised of people who play PvE primarily or not, when our current Officers have joined WvW and made the call, they show up and we do quite well even without using advanced tactics. WvW doesn't require massive amounts of time to be effective. Even the big WvW guilds on our server don't spend hours upon hours out there. There are a few who do of course, but most of them are just like us in that they spend a bit of time here and a bit of time there. Hell even if we just coordinated blitzkriegs around Tick timers, grabbing towers and camps for the tick then abandoning them to play other areas of the game again, we could be very effective for the server.
That's my two cents on it anyways.
Why did I click on that thread? God damn that is a high concentration of shitposting, even for OT.
WvW is still a tough topic to support despite all the time I've spent in there... but then again, rank 14 isn't exactly a lot compared to those in their 40's.
Edit: There's also a lot more to go "ohhh... shiny" at in PvE compared to WvW. WvW is much more fast paced so people are just constantly scrambling around doing something or another but requires much more commitment. Maybe it's just how the times have changed and that most of us have something slightly better than goldfish memory. Additionally, I don't recall if it was Strike Force that said it, but each time ANet has put out new content, the WvW population significantly and then picks up a fraction of the "casuals" it lost after the new content becomes normal business. It was also said that even just having the bodies in there was helpful since they'd be contributing in some way (if they were to begin with). In short, there's not very much driving people towards WvW.
Edit: There's also a lot more to go "ohhh... shiny" at in PvE compared to WvW. WvW is much more fast paced so people are just constantly scrambling around doing something or another but requires much more commitment. Maybe it's just how the times have changed and that most of us have something slightly better than goldfish memory. Additionally, I don't recall if it was Strike Force that said it, but each time ANet has put out new content, the WvW population significantly and then picks up a fraction of the "casuals" it lost after the new content becomes normal business. It was also said that even just having the bodies in there was helpful since they'd be contributing in some way (if they were to begin with). In short, there's not very much driving people towards WvW.
I will blame myself for not actively recruiting for WvW participation in guild when theres some of us there already, so I will do more of that in guild chat. I appreciate Kvothe's commitment to expanding interest in WvW - I have spoken to him about participating in this event.
In the end, I'm just begging for a weekly 200 influence buff to keep members representing the guild who WvW, but it seems much easier to just spend gold and buy influence for other guilds than convince the officers to provide support for an aspect of the game that GAF Guild originally advertised to "have our hands on". Sure we are mostly PvE (apparently), but we are also a 450+ person guild and we can't afford 200 influence for +5 supply where we can help our server for 12 hours but we can afford 30 minute banners where only 1-5 people use.
Regarding dropping a tier so users can get world completion: Our rating is 1,562 points and EBs rating is 1,489. Last week we dropped -3 and EB dropped -18 points. It could take weeks or months of 3rd place and EB first place to drop a tier. But fear not! Anet is discussing a new method that adds a bit of randomization to the weekly matchups.
For Ash, they increased badge drop rate a few months ago. Badges are more common now. You can even get them from camp/tower/keep veterans! It's more effective of your time to be offensive in WvW and rush to defend something being attacked. Usually, when you are defending it kills the group because people get bored and start wandering off for action. If you are really bad at PvP just follow a zerg and swing at a downed person and you can farm your badges (don't stomp - but attack).
In the end, I'm just begging for a weekly 200 influence buff to keep members representing the guild who WvW, but it seems much easier to just spend gold and buy influence for other guilds than convince the officers to provide support for an aspect of the game that GAF Guild originally advertised to "have our hands on". Sure we are mostly PvE (apparently), but we are also a 450+ person guild and we can't afford 200 influence for +5 supply where we can help our server for 12 hours but we can afford 30 minute banners where only 1-5 people use.
Regarding dropping a tier so users can get world completion: Our rating is 1,562 points and EBs rating is 1,489. Last week we dropped -3 and EB dropped -18 points. It could take weeks or months of 3rd place and EB first place to drop a tier. But fear not! Anet is discussing a new method that adds a bit of randomization to the weekly matchups.
For Ash, they increased badge drop rate a few months ago. Badges are more common now. You can even get them from camp/tower/keep veterans! It's more effective of your time to be offensive in WvW and rush to defend something being attacked. Usually, when you are defending it kills the group because people get bored and start wandering off for action. If you are really bad at PvP just follow a zerg and swing at a downed person and you can farm your badges (don't stomp - but attack).
I would love it if an officer would step up and take that role as well, but it hasn't happened. Of the lot of us, I think I'd probably be the closest but I'm simply not that focused on WvW. It's something I want to devote more time to longer term and I very much want to command one day but I just know I'm not there yet. I'd legitimately feel like I was holding us back by asking to lead one at this point.
And when you say "when our current Officers have joined WvW and made the call, they show up," I mean, they do and they don't. It just depends on the day. You're talking about spontaneous, unplanned things when one of us felt like jumping into WvW. Sometimes it's an awesome group of 10+, sometimes it's 3 of us flipping a few camps and picking off stragglers. We change the scope of what we're doing on a whim and generally are just there having fun, not really aiming to do anything in particular.
That's not what I meant by having events. The events hosted by the guild are well-attended not because they are conceived and hosted by Officers, but because they are planned in advance, organized with their own event threads and repeated announcements of the date and time here, in-game, on Mumble. They have a specific purpose and those attending are doing so to aid in that cause. I think that is what the WvW crowd needs in the context of the conversation, because lol51 did not approach the situation from an angle of "hey I think it'd be fun to have some GAF groups in WvW sometimes" but a direct appeal for us to help Stormbluff Isle's chances in WvW. He began his post "We are really hurting in WvW right now." If the desire is to actually have GAF make a regular impact on that level, it will take organization.
You don't need to be an officer to host an event or do any of the above, and we've always been clear about that. I feel like you very much glossed over this fact in your consideration. It hasn't happened that someone other than an officer has hosted an event yet, but I've been okay with that because everyone seemed happy for the most part and the events we've thrown ourselves have been very successful. But lol51's post indicates that there is a desire for something more with regard to actually making a competitive impact for our server.
If that's the case, someone has to step up, and I have no qualms with the concept of a WvW officer to oversee operations in this area (though I disagree that they would necessary have equal say in other areas of guild administration). But there's no need for that, all that's necessary is for a member to be vocal and take the initiative. The officers will be happy to support anyone who wishes to host one, and even help with logistics and announcements to encourage attendance. And on that note, I will again mention Commander Kvothe, who has taken the initiative to lead a group on Monday, May 20th at 7:00PM. Be there!
Yeah that is not good stuff. Props to hockeypuck.
Prockeypuck.
I do WvW weeky with my friend-guild. There's usually about 4 to 8 of us. Its mostly fun cause we're all on mumble and joking around. I also do it a bit on my own since its fast xp. But the thing is, WvW doesn't feel all that fun on its own.
Like, as a small group we can take supply camps, and maybe sneak in a tower. But all of that means nothing when a SoS or CD zerg can just plow over whatever and us in few seconds. Its the same with our big zergs. Yes, we can take a good chunk of the map during prime time, but then as soon as we log off - bam - SoS just grabs it all back.
Then there's the nature of WvW itself. Its doesn't seem very beneficial to do actual player vs player fighting. The rewards are better, and its more effective to ignore players and take objectives. Which means beating on a lot of fucking doors or Dolaks, and that quickly grows old.
To be honest, a lot of the commanders I've seen the last week or two have came off more as morons or trolls. Literally building siege golems in front of zergs. Tagging up to stand around and fire a single catapult at the keep, and whisper-bombing the few good commanders that show up until they rage quit.
Like, as a small group we can take supply camps, and maybe sneak in a tower. But all of that means nothing when a SoS or CD zerg can just plow over whatever and us in few seconds. Its the same with our big zergs. Yes, we can take a good chunk of the map during prime time, but then as soon as we log off - bam - SoS just grabs it all back.
Then there's the nature of WvW itself. Its doesn't seem very beneficial to do actual player vs player fighting. The rewards are better, and its more effective to ignore players and take objectives. Which means beating on a lot of fucking doors or Dolaks, and that quickly grows old.
To be honest, a lot of the commanders I've seen the last week or two have came off more as morons or trolls. Literally building siege golems in front of zergs. Tagging up to stand around and fire a single catapult at the keep, and whisper-bombing the few good commanders that show up until they rage quit.
Ivogar, Docbon, TheShoes, andI invaded the twitch stream with Robert Hrouda
fixed for accuracy
whaaaa? I get ~50 in about 30 minutes on a bad night. If you are worried about badges you should give it a shot again; they fixed badge drops awhile back. A usual night(assuming it's relatively balanced and we aren't yak walking) nets me 200-250 badges, so it is actually pretty effective for gearing alts.
I'll admit I haven't been on SBI since ~ early December, but if it truly takes multiple hours to take a few locations(keeps/towers/whatever)...wow. Is it that dead there?
It's too bad there isn't a way to cluster servers for WvW only(ie: take a server with great Oceanic and pair it with strong NA and Euro servers). Sounds like the issue you're experiencing is coverage/inexperienced commanders more than anything else.
I agree that it takes a time commitment and honestly my biggest gripe is that there still isn't a true "reward". Sure, moving up to 1st place in your tier is nice, but aside from titles(lol @ the time commitments for some of those) there isn't much you "earn".
That said, it truly is a TOTALLY different experience in the higher tiers, especially on servers with balanced coverage. PvE is fun and all(I LOVE making gold), but it doesn't even remotely compare to multi-hour keep battles, huge open field sieges, etc.
I'm actually excited to see this, honestly, because we've had an officer meeting planned for tomorrow night, specifically to re-do our schedule for missions now that we've unlocked them. Hawkian and I were just discussing this after the Guild Puzzle wrapped, and one of the points that come up is that we have all of these people on for missions who just disappear when they're over. We actually see mumble clear out within 5-10 minutes.
That energy could be focused into dropping into WvW and steamrolling the shit out of anything in our path. I disagree with Ash; while holding stuff takes a long time, flipping things quickly and in a really scary, intimidating way does not. Imagine how much easier it would be for the overnight crew on SBI to hold things if they didn't have to fight tooth and nail for all of them in the first place?
I can't imagine how it feels to be a hardcore WvW fan and see the GAF Horde, 40-50 strong (well, with culling, you don't actually see the horde, but you get the idea), just hammer through bounties, treks and puzzles, but never see it out in force, earning that server pride. I'm not a huge WvW player, but it is a part of the game I want to enjoy. The intimidation factor is high though, so when I do play it usually turns into "Follow the commander". I'd like us to have a presence.
Our plan from very early on, even before launch, was to keep an eye on members and offer those who organized things or stood out officer positions. For a long time, we wanted Arken to be our "PVP Officer" since he was excited about it and played it a lot. Likewise, we've had a Commander's Book in the bank for months now. None of us current officers want to touch it for the reasons Hawkian posted; we just don't know what we're doing and we want someone who does to step up. I agree that we haven't had any non-officer led events, but we've always offered to help anyone who does. We've always said that anyone who wants to step up and organize something would have our full support... maybe it's just buried in mega-posts like this.
We'll discuss it at the officer meeting, because we haven't really covered that aspect of the game (All the people we were watching / approaching jumped ship and it kind of turned us off to the whole affair). If anyone wants to be considered, nobody will be annoyed if you speak up... and yes, a WvW officer (or PVP officer, or anyone else we make an officer) would have the same access as the others. There's really not that much TO it anyways beyond inviting people and chatting in the officer lounge.
Maybe I feel differently from the others, but I see no reason why anyone who wants to step up and lead the charge into any aspect of the game, be it PVE, PVP or WvW (or even stuff like jumping puzzles like Keoni / Jepsen were doing). The officers in GAFGuild are really only officers because we know our shit and nobody else spoke up; that's really all it takes. Maybe they disagree, but that's how it's always felt to me.
Definitely open the invitation in guild chat and on Mumble, and when you want to get a group to show up in advance, post here and on the GAFGuild site, and remind people. You want to raise awareness everywhere that you can when you want to get people to attend something, and do it with increasing frequency as the event approaches. And of course the officers can assist with this aspect. It's the actually creation and hosting of the events that I would love it for someone else, who is highly WvW-centric, to organize.
edit: i DO want that Commander's Compendium Retro! :>
You're referring to getting one 12-hour buff, once a week...? That will be well within our budget going forward. Please tell us the timeframe that would be ideal and I bet we can make that happen. You may have wanted to open with this, if that's really what this was about.
Yeah, no chance it's happening this week.
No fair >:[
Edit:
Just want to go ahead and confirm what Retro said in the end there. There is no barrier for entry for anyone who wants to take charge of any area of play in an organizational sense, nor position themselves to be an officer if they so choose. It's in exactly the same sense that no one is at all required to participate in any particular guild activities or do anything other than play to be a part of GAF. We have always wanted this guild to be a large, laid-back group capable of great things without making great demands. So far it's been very successful as GAF guilds go. I wouldn't mind adding WvW (or organized PvP) to our repertoire one bit; it just takes initiative.
edit again: also yeah ash is crazily wrong on badge drop rate. Must have just not noticed the boost last few times he played!
Jest Chillin
Member
When an officer actually makes a statement in Gchat that "Hey we're doing X activity in Y location" people show up. This has happened whether it's WvW or chain event running. Of course when an officer simply decides to go do X activity and doesn't announce it in Gchat, people don't show but that's because the inherent difference in the reception. People show up for activities not just because they're planned but because if an Officer says "We're doing X" people believe there will be a substantial group attending. It's not that Officers are demanding people join or even telling people to join but it's the effect that being a leader has.
Organization and planning helps bolster attendance but Officer involvement is what is generally key. There's plenty of times that normal members have mentioned "hey we have a group out in WvW and we could use some more bodies to do stuff" and they get largely ignored. That plainly never happens when the same statement is made by an officer. The closest I've seen to that happening with non-officers is when Easy, Doc, Wallach, Tross, etc.. are in a PvP server having a blast and others join them because they hear how much fun is being had over Mumble. And I believe Wallach is an officer anyways right? He just doesn't wield it very much.
I didn't gloss over it, I just don't think that member made events get the same attention as officer made events and I think I've shown enough examples of that thus far. This isn't the first time that Kvothe has tried to organize WvW activity for Gaf either and he's generally only received lukewarm attention in the past.
As for a WvW Officer being on equal footing, like I said I think it's necessary to avoid scheduling conflicts but also to give actual weight to the ranking. People don't tend to respect a Paper Tiger. Just ask any of our members who have Commander tags how difficult it is to lead without weight being associated with the rank. That being said, I can understand hesitance in regards to giving someone that rank. It's a lot of power to hand someone even if, like Retro said, there's not a whole lot of actual "power" to be wielded.
Well I'm not really saying there needs to be more officers in general just that I think if Gaf Guild is interested in legitimately putting effort into WvW the lead needs to be an officer. Without a clear cut leader things tend to fall apart. To use bounties as an example.. everyone gives their input on strategy and we all discuss the merits of different plans but in the end Officers come to a consensus on one specific plan of action and everyone follows. If there were no official leader(s) then deciding on one specific plan of action becomes difficult to say the least.
And yeah.. I'm aware of the growing pains we've gone through with our WvW and even our SPvP members so I can imagine how problematic things must be with regards to appointing someone to lead in those aspects of the game. I have no illusions that it would be an easy selection to make. And heck, if there isn't enough genuine interest it would be too troublesome to even bother with. My point with my posts is only that for anyone who wants to lead to have a chance to do so meaningfully, they need to have the tools to do so and being an officer is the key tool for multiple reasons.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Was fun to do that JP again Got my back items, Mesmer needs to go 40 more levels to actually use the flower thingie and dunno what to do with the tentacles, but hey! Now waiting for the next update.
Got my back items, Mesmer needs to go 40 more levels to actually use the flower thingie and dunno what to do with the tentacles, but hey! Now waiting for the next update.The officers can talk about that - I think it was already on the table. We've been hoarding influence and only activating a specific few things because we needed the influence to unlock new guild content. Now everything is unlocked and we can use up some of that influence freely. I don't think it's out of the question for us to run WvW-oriented buffs more often.
Yep definitely now with all the guild missions unlocked we will be refocusing what days and when we will be doing guild missions.
I'll definitely say that it's clear that doing T3 Bounty no longer is necessary - we have all the merits we need now, and the challenge is not worth the effort to get commendations.
T2 Bounty is more likely to be a regular occurrence.
I've been thinking of making the Comm make up days on Sunday, where a lot of people missed Saturday's stuff. That would leave Fridays wide open to be all WVW all night long, to get GAF into taking things back and kicking ass.
Secondly, I think a "power hour" of WVW every night would be pretty awesome to schedule, and it's something I'll talk to the other officers at our meeting tomorrow.
I'll definitely say that it's clear that doing T3 Bounty no longer is necessary - we have all the merits we need now, and the challenge is not worth the effort to get commendations.
T2 Bounty is more likely to be a regular occurrence.
I've been thinking of making the Comm make up days on Sunday, where a lot of people missed Saturday's stuff. That would leave Fridays wide open to be all WVW all night long, to get GAF into taking things back and kicking ass.
Secondly, I think a "power hour" of WVW every night would be pretty awesome to schedule, and it's something I'll talk to the other officers at our meeting tomorrow.
Complistic
Member
I think we should start activating guild buffs for weekends. Like mf and such.
It's not a good idea to just state that this happens. I'm one of those officers making those statements and it doesn't always work let alone work with consistent levels of attendance. Sometimes people will come out in force within 3 minutes; sometimes no one will show up except Xeris. I am not speculating, I know this because it was me asking and it happening. Sometimes it's WvW and we can't get a full party of 5, sometimes it's PvP (same, for tourneys), sometimes people are just busy and don't feel like going out of their way to do a more obscure group event (though Fire Shaman with 3 people has its own charms). Most recently, I had an enormous amount of trouble summoning people to help others get their commendations for a makeup Guild Challenge (and, if you were there, you'll remember our ragtag group failed three in a row). I'd love to believe that any of us can just throw up the bat signal and instantly have a group of 30 surrounding us, and it's fantastic when it happens but it just isn't reliable, especially for something like what lol51 is talking about where he'd like GAF to help legitimately impact our server's chances in WvW.JestChillin said:
We simply must agree to disagree; these occasions of "hey we're doing x, if anyone wants to come help" are unrelated to what I'm talking about and cannot possibly have the same impact.
It's great when just making a spontaneous announcement of something already occuring in-game works to increase the numbers participating. But organization and planning is important not just to bolster attendance but to ensure that the people who happen to be on when you mention that something is occurring aren't the only ones who know that they can take part. Planning in advance allows you to reach everyone who might possibly be interested and enables people to log on specifically to participate. People can plan errands around it, so that they have an open window at the start time. It is absolutely crucial to give time in advance, make multiple announcements and frequent reminders up until the event commences. Our largest scheduled guild events, like Tidal Sword, our first T3 Bounty, Mission, and Puzzle, and Occupy Orr, have had over 40 members in attendance in a single location. Please believe me that this wasn't simply because it was an officer putting them together. I say this not only as an observer of other guilds from the perspective of a member but as the officer who has organized the majority of this guild's events.
I hate to disagree again, but it's not that they don't get "the same attention," it's that they have not existed. I am absolutely not criticizing our guild membership and I honestly have no problem with the number and frequency of the events we put on ourselves, so it's not even close to a big deal. There just haven't been any. With regard to WvW specifically Monstadon, Kvothe, and I believe Moondrop before transferring had attempted to ask around about support before and gotten positive responses, but stuff just fell through. Monstadon, for example, made a thread about having a Weekly WvW event where he would rep GAF, very early on. At the end of the post it says "I'll edit the top of this thread with the official details for the event in bold." This never occurred. All three found, one assumes, other guilds (and/or servers as in Moondrop's case) where they could find the WvW-centric organization they wanted without having to put it together themselves. And that's really good- that's exactly what the guild system empowers players to do.
But if we want more out of it as a guild, we need actual organization and initiative. Kos Luftar's post about Kvothe's event (Kvothe doesn't post here himself, which isn't ideal for what we are talking about here, but this is a start) was the first, literally the first time, I'd seen a non-officer post that they were hosting a scheduled event, with date and time, in this thread or on gafguild. It just hasn't happened. Informal stuff can be a lot of fun, but that level of planning is necessary to make things happen on a larger scale. And like I said, the officers are totally willing and happy to assist with that aspect.
But I like T3 Bounties :'(Ash said:
I was thinking a general anything-goes makeup session on Sunday afternoon too, but more scheduled stuff during the week. The missions themselves generally take up so little time (a half hour at absolute most for a Rush) and except for T3 bounties and to a smaller extent challenges, not much preliminary planning is involved. I'll give you guys an idea of what I'm thinking tomorrow (doesn't look like I'll have my PC running but I'll work something out to attend the meeting either way).
theMrCravens
Member
We should already start saving up influence for Guild Hall upgrades.
Because we all know it'll happen (hopefully soonish).
Because we all know it'll happen (hopefully soonish).
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