Support NeoGAF

[Jira]

Well I specifically mentioned "big changes" I wasn't asking for a complete patch note list since launch or anything, as that'd just be silly.

That list is only five pages and you don't even have to look at the gem store stuff. That's about as high level overview as it gets for what has changed.

 

[Dice]

Man a lot of stuff in this game is so confusing. LOTRO was grindy as fuck but at least it was easy to comprehend where to go and what to do. I found the crafting town but it makes zero sense where I am supposed to get materials from, but it says buy on the trading post, so I do, but then I half to travel halfway across the region to find one, then it throws me out saying I need a pass, without communicating at all where to get one.

At least I got some decently swag stuff for my girl.

And this game is just pretty all over.

 

[Seil]

Man a lot of stuff in this game is so confusing. LOTRO was grindy as fuck but at least it was easy to comprehend where to go and what to do. I found the crafting town but it makes zero sense where I am supposed to get materials from, but it says buy on the trading post, so I do, but then I half to travel halfway across the region to find one, then it throws me out saying I need a pass, without communicating at all where to get one.

Divinity's Reach has a trading post on the upper level. There's also a portal in the far east of Divinity's Reach that takes you to Ebonhawke. Not a good zone to explore at a low level, but it has all of the crafting stations, bank and trading post lined up in a neat row, so it's useful so long as you don't leave the crafting area.

The area you mentioned was added during an event and requires a pass that now occasionally pops up on the gem store.

Edit: Also, you can get gathering tools and salvage kits from some merchants. Salvage kits let you break down equipment and salvage-items for ore, leather and cloth. Tools let you gather ore, plants and wood from nodes in the world. There are other crafting materials that are obtained from drops. And some materials can only be obtained from one of the crafting discipline trainers, like thread or coal.

Edit2: There's also trading posts just outside of Divinity's Reach near where you first start in Queensdale.

 

[UltimateIke]

Seil and I did the Obsidian Sanctum jumping puzzle together! I think we were both afraid of getting attacked the entire time, but thankfully things were uneventful the entire way to the top.

We stood around chatting for a while until two more friendly people showed up.

And that of course led to a dance party. (As all things typically do.)

 

[Dice]

One hilarious thing happened tonight. I went into this bandit cave and there was some event to kill this bandit guy. As I was being careful about it, one guy comes in and starts rushing a lot so I had to keep pace with him and help keep him from dying by killing the bandits running up behind him. We reached the boss and the guy was really hard! We held out for a while but I eventually ended up fighting for my life and died. He fought a bit longer but died too and bailed. I was just about to bail out when suddenly like 30 people came running in, revived me, and we all killed him in 10 seconds. Dat clutch random guild!

Now I'm lvl10 and have no idea what I'm doing. Is there a way to turn off the display of the main story objectives and guide arrows? If I just want to do other things for the moment it's fairly annoying.

P.S. I'm dicetrain.8754

 

[UltimateIke]

One hilarious thing happened tonight. I went into this bandit cave and there was some event to kill this bandit guy. As I was being careful about it, one guy comes in and starts rushing a lot so I had to keep pace with him and help keep him from dying by killing the bandits running up behind him. We reached the boss and the guy was really hard! We held out for a while but I eventually ended up fighting for my life and died. He fought a bit longer but died too and bailed. I was just about to bail out when suddenly like 30 people came running in, revived me, and we all killed him in 10 seconds. Dat clutch random clan!

You just met the Queensdale "Zerg Train." A group of players are continuously warping to points around the map (typically in a set order) to kill and loot Champion level enemies just as they spawn.


Along with this encounter, make sure you watch for the names of enemies when you engage them. The bandit that killed you is a powerful Champion!

"Veterans" are a little tougher than normal mobs but something you quickly learn to fight alone. "Elites" are even tougher but doable solo, depending on where you are. But most of the time when it says "Champion," you should think twice before fighting without experienced backup!

 

[Kos Luftar]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=110660590&postcount=217

I do admit, I laughed.

No problem, anytime!

I agree with Docbon when it comes to Ash but Jest could hold his own. As a thief he does way less then Hawkian.

Also notice how Doc doesn't include me in that group. This his because he can recognize true skill.

I put the most time on Medic in TF2 and yes I am a bad person.

You might be the exception to the rule because you were very nice when you played GW2.

P.S. I'm dicetrain.8754

I assumed you wanted an invite to GAFGuild so I sent you one. Welcome.

 

[spiritfox]

Are there enough skill points to unlock everything? I used some on skills that I didn't like, so I'm worried if I'm stuck with them forever.

 

[markot]

Are there enough skill points to unlock everything? I used some on skills that I didn't like, so I'm worried if I'm stuck with them forever.

Yes, you get loads and keep getting them at max lvl.

 

[Ceres]

Are there enough skill points to unlock everything? I used some on skills that I didn't like, so I'm worried if I'm stuck with them forever.

I have over 300 skill points on my ranger and think I'm around 150 on my guardian. They become a "currency" once you've unlocked skills that can be used for other items and at least 200 are even required for a legendary if you make one of those.

Between constantly getting more after level 80 and scrolls from champion bags, they start adding up quickly when you don't need them any longer to unlock skills.

 

[Trey]

Are there enough skill points to unlock everything? I used some on skills that I didn't like, so I'm worried if I'm stuck with them forever.

More than enough. There are 202 skill challenges in the world, and you get a skill point every time you level up. When you're at the max level of 80, you never stop getting experience: once you fill up the exp bar, it gives you a skill point.

Skill points are used as currency for more than just skills. You use them to also buy materials necessary to craft a legendary weapon, so you come to find yourself with a lot of skill points, eventually.

 

[Skyzard]

Welcome to the guild.

Thank you!

 

[Trey]

thuway just tweeted this...

Since when did retro work at 343?

 

[Kos Luftar]

Thank you!

You are welcome.

Since when did retro work at 343?

I don't get it.

 

[markot]

Zeesh, still no patch news.... Did blizzard buy anet?!

 

[Kos Luftar]

Zeesh, still no patch news.... Did blizzard buy anet?!

Lol we got spoiled with weekly news. The wait seems extremely long.

 

[BraXzy]

Man a lot of stuff in this game is so confusing. LOTRO was grindy as fuck but at least it was easy to comprehend where to go and what to do. I found the crafting town but it makes zero sense where I am supposed to get materials from, but it says buy on the trading post, so I do, but then I half to travel halfway across the region to find one, then it throws me out saying I need a pass, without communicating at all where to get one.

Both me and my friend both agree. I understand that they don't want to hand hold you or force you down specific quest lines, letting you do what you want but.. in an MMO you've never played, it's overwhelming as hell. There should at least be some compulsory quests at the start showing the basics like combo attacks, how crafting works, what to expect in a main town, how skills and traits work etc.

Sure you can jump on the net and read through wiki's or whatever but that's irritating when you first jump in.

 

[Noisy Ninj4]

"Veterans" are a little tougher than normal mobs but something you quickly learn to fight alone. "Elites" are even tougher but doable solo, depending on where you are. But most of the time when it says "Champion," you should think twice before fighting without experienced backup!

And if you get really good, you can solo champions too. I do it for the challenge these days but the loot is nice too.

 

[Hawkian]

The lack of direction can definitely be overwhelming if you're used to any kind of explicit guidance as to where to go and what you're "supposed" to be doing. GW1 was much the same, ultimately, it just sort of set you loose without explaining its systems very much. Crazily enough, their original design philosophy provided even less direction to new players throughout the game and was tweaked in a few ways due to feedback. But the China launch is apparently bringing with it a new tutorial segment. I don't know what it covers, but it seems like a good idea and hopefully it'll get propagated soon to the other regions.

Just to offer some perspective, I actually really like not being told what to do, being able to set my own pace, and focus on or even ignore aspects of the game completely as I see fit. I took things very slow at first and asked lots of questions and answered just as many- I like looking to the community for information in an MMO. Please never hesitate to ask questions to the guild, plenty of us really enjoy answering them.

Here are some general tips surrounding some of the questions asked:

• Always carry one of each gathering tool type on you- a pickaxe, axe, and sickle. Gather everything you see, as it also gives you XP beyond the mats. These can be bought from any basic Merchant.
• Always carry a salvage kit. Salvaging items gives you mats, and salvaging blue and green items gives you Luck too which permanently increases your Magic Find.
• If you're interested in crafting, there are crafters in all the major racial cities, Ebonhawke (in Fields of Ruin), Mabon Market (in Caledon Forest), and a handful of other places. You can have two active crafting professions per character, but if you switch, you don't lose your progress in the others. Use the Discovery pane- you'll get the hang of it quickly and it's great XP. You can craft from the materials in your bank, so never hesitate to "Deposit Collectibles." However, if you aren't interested in crafting, be aware that it is totally optional.
• Press "O" to access the trading post; you can sell anything (removing it from your inventory) and place orders for things from anywhere. The actual NPCs are found all over the world, but the main racial cities and Vigil Keep are easy to access.
• Speaking of Vigil Keep, there's a purple swirly asura gate in your home city that will take you to there. From there, you can get to any of the other racial cities and access lots of useful functions. It's the main "neutral hub" right now.
• While stuff like combo fields, traits, boons, sigils, runes, and skill selection can be overwhelming to try and keep track of in the early game, you aren't punished for taking it slow. You're not expected to have a real handle on these things until you reach 80- if even then. Personally, I didn't start really playing around with trait builds and going after specific armor sets at all until reaching 80.

Really, beyond that very basic stuff it's all what you make of it. You can follow the personal story quests closely as you level or do them in big chunks once overleveled (or ignore them entirely). You can 100% zones before moving on to the next or hop all over the world map just exploring. Literally just uncovering new places gets you substantial XP. Gather and craft if you want, or just sell the mats and keep your equipment current from drops, hearts and the TP. Once you hit (or near if you're confident ) level 30 you can do the first dungeon. WvW and PvP are also available to you at any level. Again just don't hesitate to ask questions in guild chat.

One thing that I don't think is typical of MMOs or well known is that leveling basically accelerates the closer to 80 you get. So definitely try not to worry about getting there as fast as possible. Be more concerned with enjoying yourself along the way.

 

[shysaursoft]

Sure you can jump on the net and read through wiki's or whatever but that's irritating when you first jump in.

Slow down a bit. Explore. Experiment. And if you're unsure about anything ask in guild or map chat.

EDIT: And what Hawk postbombed.

 

[Teggy]

Much thanks for the guild missions on Saturday and my first ever CoF path 1 and 2 runs (despite having the game since launch and still having never done CoF story mode).

No thanks for discovering I am an old dude in this guild

 

[Kos Luftar]

Much thanks for the guild missions on Saturday and my first ever CoF path 1 and 2 runs (despite having the game since launch and still having never done CoF story mode).

No thanks for discovering I am an old dude in this guild

You are older than Retro or Xeris?
Their combined age might be approaching 70!!!

 

[TwofaceTomahawk]

I've never really played an MMO before, but with the game being half off I figured why not try it out. It looks interesting enough. So any advice would be awesome.

 

[Teggy]

You are older than Retro or Xeris?
Their combined age might be approaching 70!!!

There was some conversation about Roxy being one of the oldest and it was revealed she was 31. Being I am 41 I suddenly felt a little ancient.

 

[Kos Luftar]

There was some conversation about Roxy being one of the oldest and it was revealed she was 31. Being I am 41 I suddenly felt a little ancient.

She gained 3 years in over a week? I thought she was 28.

 

[Teggy]

She gained 3 years in over a week? I thought she was 28.

I thought it was Roxy? It was a female.

 

[Kos Luftar]

I though it was Roxy? It was a female.

That is who I am talking about as well.

 

[shysaursoft]

There was some conversation about Roxy being one of the oldest and it was revealed she was 31. Being I am 41 I suddenly felt a little ancient.

Roxy was never the oldest - though you do take first place for now. I'm only trailing behind by a few years.

I've never really played an MMO before, but with the game being half off I figured why not try it out. It looks interesting enough. So any advice would be awesome.

Have fun, take it slow, enjoy the sights - and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them either in guild chat or here.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Roxy was never the oldest - though you do take first place for now. I'm only trailing behind by a few years.



Have fun, take it slow, enjoy the sights - and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them either in guild chat or here.

Xeris got you all beat.

 

[Teggy]

They need to find a way to make minis dance.

 

[Thorgal]

25 year old whelp reporting in

@ Hawkian . i just realized a tiny problem with your controller setup for Xpadder :

In the instruction.txt :

Z to "Stow/Draw Weapons".

The problem is that Z is linked to "FORWARD " already . (AZERTY keyboard user )

So if i change it . i can move every direction fine but when pushing the left stick up to go forward , i draw or holster my weapon .

 

[Levito]

My god that trinity thread on gaming is a nightmare.

 

[Kos Luftar]

My god that trinity thread on gaming is a nightmare.

Some gaffers want another wow clone that they won't play and complain MMOs are dead.

 

[Hawkian]

(AZERTY keyboard user )

Whoa. I've legitimately never encountered this issue before.

Due to the complexity of thinking about all your other keybinds too and considering that Stow/Draw weapons is fairly unimportant, I would just set it to something in your in-game settings that won't interfere with your controls. You won't have the ability to do it with the gamepad, but at least it won't mess with your movement.

If you want it, you'll have to change the setting in Xpadder too. To do this, you'll have to hold the right bumper down to see the set that has "Z" assigned to the d-pad, and click that to change it to whatever you switched Stow/Draw weapons to.

 

[Levito]

The only big thing I do really agree with from the people roasting GW2 is I don't think the game does a very good job of defining how you should play in a dungeon early on. That is the game doesn't do the best job of defining how you should play while you're out in the world, it's why you see so many people say it's all a mindless Zergfest.


Granted, every MMO gets a label like that. EVE is just a spreadsheet simulator, WoW is just one shitty raid after another, etc.

 

[Shiokazu]

hmm im thinking on creating a newcomer reception program for our guild.

like if its your first time with guild wars, some of us, or just me, can give remote guidance on what each thing does and how they work, while keeping then away from the cancer metas in the game.

i'd love to give guidance to anyone who wants it, i would attend the matter personaly in person( character :v ) ingame.


what you guys think?

 

[shysaursoft]

This is neat: a redditor has made a PDF that's basically a handbook for Jumping Puzzles.

The link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/klmwj5daqh66ue4/CEPHUS' Jumping Puzzle Handbook.pdf

If you have a tablet, this is a rather useful guide to keep on it. I like that it has additional info on good consumables to keep with you, and techniques to consider, for example:

 

[Retro]

Since when did retro work at 343?

I already posted what my ideal Halo game would be before Halo 4 came out. I even made concessions for some features I disliked because they had become expected of Halo games. Nobody listened.

What makes you say that, though, in relation to that tweet? Is it my overuse of the term "more or less"?

Zeesh, still no patch news.... Did blizzard buy anet?!

If the Living Story starts up in June and they're sticking to the same two-week schedule, then the next update would be on the 10th. I wouldn't expect anything like a preview or a trailer until the 3rd, but we may start to hear rumblings of news via the press before Memorial Day. I hope, at least. We've absolutely been spoiled by the rapid-fire pace of news-update-news.

Here are some general tips surrounding some of the questions asked

Some good tips here too.

I've never really played an MMO before, but with the game being half off I figured why not try it out. It looks interesting enough. So any advice would be awesome.

See the link above!

There was some conversation about Roxy being one of the oldest and it was revealed she was 31. Being I am 41 I suddenly felt a little ancient.

Nope, I believe that was my wife.

Oldest active person in the guild is either you or Xeris. Oldest person in the guild at any time was my old man at 62. He's doing the whole goofy snowbird thing / selling his house so he hasn't played in a while.

My god that trinity thread on gaming is a nightmare.

It is what it is. Even without arguing the merits of one system over another, the point still stands that the genre has been swollen with a metric fuckton of same-y Diku-clones for years and it was well past time for something different. I have a hard enough time getting back into the mindset of someone who can still play Trinity based MMOs, let alone trying to figure out why some people are so adamantly against anything else.

It really comes down to just being too damn busy enjoying the game to waste time arguing with people who don't. If I responded to every snarky comment about Guild Wars 2, even just limiting myself to GAF, I'd never get a chance to play (some people, that's all they want to talk about, even in unrelated threads).

Maybe if the MMOs those folks seem to cherish so much were better games, they wouldn't have all that free time to waste on the internet making sure everyone knows how much they hate things they don't like and why we should all hate them too.

hmm im thinking on creating a newcomer reception program for our guild.

I'd be okay with doing this, maybe have some kind of weekly event where new players are shown some of the tricks and such that a lot of us take for granted. I mean, the way the game downlevels players makes it ideal for going back to starting areas and helping out.

 

[Thorgal]

hmm im thinking on creating a newcomer reception program for our guild.

like if its your first time with guild wars, some of us, or just me, can give remote guidance on what each thing does and how they work, while keeping then away from the cancer metas in the game.

i'd love to give guidance to anyone who wants it, i would attend the matter personaly in person( character :v ) ingame.


what you guys think?

I would be ok with this .

 

[Gothos]

Hm, so I'm level 30. How do I access the first dungeon?

 

[Kos Luftar]

Hm, so I'm level 30. How do I access the first dungeon?

Should have gotten a mail from a destiny's edge member saying you should go to Plain's of Ashford, to Ascalon Catacombs waypoint.

 

[Moondrop]

If you have a tablet, this is a rather useful guide to keep on it. I like that it has additional info on good consumables to keep with you, and techniques to consider, for example

The first point is wrong; the reason the angles in the first image are better are because they maximize the length of the landing platform along your direction of travel. It has nothing to do with muscle memory.

The second point is absurd too. There is no momentum in Guild Wars 2 physics. The "momentum" to which they refer is an exploit of 3D slopes as old as the N64 (at least).

 

[shysaursoft]

The first point is wrong; the reason the angles in the first image are better are because they maximize the length of the landing platform along your direction of travel. It has nothing to do with muscle memory.

The second point is absurd too. There is no momentum in Guild Wars 2 physics. The "momentum" to which they refer is an exploit of 3D slopes as old as the N64 (at least).

On the first point: The combination of visuals and muscle memory most certainly impacts my own play when I do jumping puzzles. If I do a lot of JPs using my Charr, and then do them again using a tonic like the Watchknight, even though I'm doing them the same way, there is some adjustment that needs to take place because my muscle memory tells me "x visuals plus y natural jumping distance should equal z landing spot". Change the x variable, and the whole thing goes out of whack. It's obviously idiosyncratic, but it's not "wrong". You're right though, having a longer landing spot is far safer, and would have been the better example.

As for the second point, I think they're referring to perceptual momentum, imaginary momentum basically - not actual "in game physics engine momentum". I see what they're trying to say, but they're just not saying it well. There's something to be said for being in a jumping 'groove', maintaining a certain perceptual speed that, if broken for whatever reason - be it sudden in-combat slowdown or hitting an edge wrong which bounces you on a different vector, really ruins your chances.

Judging by the original post and the language in the PDF itself, the creator may not be a native English speaker, so there's some lost-in-translation going on. But the spirit of the guide is useful, and does contain helpful lists of JPs and maps, which sure, you could just look up on dulfy.net - but I brought it up just out of interest, not to rock civilzation.

 

[Moondrop]

Miktar, not trying to come at you personally for posting this. I just care a lot about game mechanics so I get annoyed when I see people make guides I interpret as "wrong."

It's obviously idiosyncratic, but it's not "wrong". You're right though, having a longer landing spot is far safer, and would have been the better example.

No, I will maintain that the reasoning surrounding these pictures is "wrong." Muscle memory is a huge part of jumping puzzles, undoubtedly, but I doubt this method does anything to affect an individual's muscle memory. Rather this strategy maximizes the chances for success despite individual variation in muscle memory- which is the opposite of the strategy the author describes.

As for the second point, I think they're referring to perceptual momentum, imaginary momentum basically - not actual "in game physics engine momentum". I see what they're trying to say, but they're just not saying it well. There's something to be said for being in a jumping 'groove', maintaining a certain perceptual speed that, if broken for whatever reason - be it sudden in-combat slowdown or hitting an edge wrong which bounces you on a different vector, really ruins your chances.

While you are describing a real phenomenon, there's still enough here for me to say the author is wrong in what they were describing. I was referring to a very particular way of coding that seem to check whether or not a character is moving or not when determining if they can stand on or slide down a piece of sloped terrain. I'm sure we've all experienced this phenomenon- by continuously running, we can prevent a character from sliding down a hill, and by jumping to various other slopes, we can scale otherwise inaccessible mountains.

It seems to me the authors are referring specifically to this exploit when discussing "momentum." So I feel justified reiterating that there is no momentum in GW2.

 

[shysaursoft]

Fair enough - no worries.

 

[Seil]

It seems to me the authors are referring specifically to this exploit when discussing "momentum." So I feel justified reiterating that there is no momentum in GW2.

I'm pretty sure, judging by the accompanied image, they mean keep jumping, even if there's a spot you can walk on, in order to maintain your groove.

The image shows jumping to another platform in one jump that could just be walked to. I believe this is what they mean by "maintaining momentum". You aren't stopping and thinking about where you can jump or walk, you just jump.

Don't think they're talking about actually jumping along slippery surfaces to avoid the slide, but rather if you're jumping past these surfaces instead of trying to walk in the first place, you'll avoid them. Though that advice is very situational really, as someone who does JPs regularly x.x

 

[Moondrop]

Don't think they're talking about actually jumping along slippery surfaces to avoid the slide, but rather if you're jumping past these surfaces instead of trying to walk in the first place, you'll avoid them.

The first paragraph under "Hopping" is just nonsense. Check out the second: "Another way this helps is that you naturally avoid unnoticeably ridged or slopped (sic) edges in terrain. Such terrain can slow your movement or even cause you to slide off and fall."

This is to me a direct reference to sloped surfaces that can only be traversed via the exploit. It is the opposite of "natural avoidance," and why the language used here annoys me so, even accounting for the ESL issue. But this is all pretty boring so I'll drop it.

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

harathi hinterlands finally complete. Wow, that actually took less timer then expected. Now to decide where to take the ranger form here. Logically it would be south, but i've done those zones way too much for my tastes. I'm actually thinking of instead going to Ebonhawke, and working my way up towards FG.

I've, quite literally, never completed any of the ascalon zones before. Could be interesting.

 

[Seil]

The first paragraph under "Hopping" is just nonsense. Check out the second: "Another way this helps is that you naturally avoid unnoticeably ridged or slopped (sic) edges in terrain. Such terrain can slow your movement or even cause you to slide off and fall."

This is to me a direct reference to sloped surfaces that can only be traversed via the exploit. It is the opposite of "natural avoidance," and why the language used here annoys me so, even accounting for the ESL issue. But this is all pretty boring so I'll drop it.

Yeah, but avoid. Not prevent it from slipping. If you jump over the log in the picture, for example, you don't risk slipping off it, because you cleared it entirely. I don't think they're talking about hopping along slippery surfaces, but bypassing them by jumping to another ledge instead of crossing them in the first place.

But that's just what I take from it I guess from the word choice and image.

 

[shysaursoft]

From reddit: official Chinese version of Fear Not This Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1NYy7ebflU