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[Shanlei91]

After briefly going to the forums and reddit (the toxic comments are easier to ignore than I thought), I found none.

I can't imagine why they would remove it. The Greatest Fear story arc was legit great lore building and one of the few instances where I cared about a character's fate.

 

[nataku]

very nice. It goes in line with my experience of talking to people who gave up on GW2 after 30 minutes because it was stupid. Gamers who play games often underestimate how cumbersome the most basic tasks are for a lot of people who are not constantly playing these games.


I can understand a lot of the changes like removing bundles on the ground to avoid confusion, but why they removed alternative progressions for hearts was a bit strange.



Everybody seems to want more individual skill choie. I am not sure this is going to go away. It seems that adding new weapons won't be enough. People simply want to swap out main and off hand weapon skills.

If so, I would suggest that they try to make specific weapon skills unlock-able for other weapons, changing their function, and looks, but keeps the basic idea in tact. That would be interesting and force people down many different roads within the same class, while still confining people to the balance of the original skill.



For example, your a warrior and you liker hammer. though you decide to take Greatsword #2 Hundred Blades and put that skill in your hammer, as Hammer #5 as you don't like the original Hammer 5 skill. Now you have a fast paced burst hammer skill in your arsenal.

Restrictions would apply, every skill carried over to a new weapon would need new effects and animations, name changing and changes to its stats.

I always thought it would be interesting to let us choose between damage, control and support versions of all existing weapon skills, so we could spec for specific ways of fighting and playing the game.

Basically give each skill 3 variations that fit into ANet's trinity they originally outlined way back before the game was released.

 

[Ashodin]

I liked the Tonn storyline.

 

[Retro]

Good blog post; http://whyigame.wordpress.com/2014/...eature-patch-and-the-new-leveling-experience/

The biggest mixed feelings I get from this new player experience is the distinct sensation that we’ve moved over from stressing an Explorer experience to focusing on an Achiever one.

. . . .

Somewhere in Diessa Plateau, I overheard mapchat complaining bitterly about compass arrow, how it was hand-holding and so on, while another person asked if it was possible to turn it off, and the complainer went ahead and said something like, oh, I don’t think it’s possible until you hit level 80 or complete the Personal Story or something.

Rolling my eyes with the utter INCORRECTNESS of this, I had to speak up over mapchat and pointedly “handhold” the map into looking at Options => Content Guide, whereupon they realized, OH, we -can- turn it off, after all, while other people went, oh, these other options might be useful for map exploring, etc.

. . . .

The only sadness I get is that it’ll be a bit trickier to guide an Explorer down this Achiever centered road now. Gone is the “world is completely open and ripe for the plucking” feeling from having weapon skills unlock from use, from having a wealth of skills and traits and options at an early stage. What is “overwhelm, too many options, too little direction” to an Achiever or a newbie is the “world is my oyster, ooh, so much complexity and depth” discovery feeling for an Explorer.

We somehow have to get the message out that it’s still going to be okay to turn off the Content Guide and strike out cross-country, immersing into the world, poking one’s head into every nook and cranny.

I know I will, on my other alts when I want the exploration and world immersion feel, but I’m used to the old way of doing things and can figure these things out for myself.

Maybe I guess it’s better to trust that the Explorers will know how to tweak settings to match their preferences over the Achievers. Maybe.

Did we want to risk losing the Explorer cohort in favor of the Achiever crowds? I guess one subset pays better than the other? Or many of the Explorers are already here and past the lowbie experience… the novelty of new content is still pretty far away in November, though.

Dunno. Certainly there’s still one thing Explorers can explore. The entire new level up system, its rewards and the whole ‘feel’ of taking a character through it.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see on how it plays out over time, once the knee jerk reactions to sudden change are done.

From the same guy, pre- Feature Pack but still semi related; http://whyigame.wordpress.com/2014/...one-sure-will-try-collecting-them-all-anyway/

The first three paragraphs there are a must read, so... one more excerpt;

I wonder if the disconnect comes from semantics, or merely wishful thinking.

When your average player hears the word “feature,” they think of content. They want their new dungeon, their new zone, their new shiny reward that usually comes in the form of better stats or better looks. They want what’s labeled on the box as “features” – new class, new race, new skills!

They don’t give much thought on just how much this new stuff might imbalance or invalidate the old stuff. They don’t care, the designers better have figured it all out beforehand, because players will be players and will optimize towards the most efficient path, and WoW has already shown that the way ahead is to just say ‘fuck the old stuff’ and pile on the new shiny on the next rung of the ladder to keep climbing forward. New players? I guess we better just fast-forward them past all the old bad stuff so they can catch up. Instant level 90, here we come.

Urgh.

Yep. Responses to posts coming shortly.

 

[Thorgal]

Levyne must be rubbing off on me .

I am startinto really like ranger .

 

[Retro]

For example, instead of slogging through the entire length (and taking in lore along the way) of Cursed Shore to meet Romke's ghost and his crew, now I just board the airship at Fort Trinity and bam, I'm suddenly in the corridor with Romke's party and traveling north to find the map. I again board the Fort Trinity airship and bam, I'm now fighting at the Source of Orr. No travel, no exploration; I'm apparently a HALO orbital drop shock trooper by the end of the personal story. This change is baffling, to be honest.

Orr has to remain in its corrupted state as long as the personal story has you constantly trekking through it, otherwise when you went to do the story the disconnect between "Personal Story Orr" and "Present Day Orr" would be jarring. Even though the Living Story behaves as though Zhaitan has been dead for over a year, Orr remains frozen in time. By having the airship port you, you're effectively being dropped into the past, away from anything that might ever change in the future. It seems kind of obvious that the changes made to the Personal Story are to bring it in line with the Story Journal, but this seems more like they're taking the opportunity to make sure the game world isn't hamstrung by previous decisions. If the Living Story needs to go to Orr, there's no reason it can't now.

Pretty sure the Apatia/Tonn story is just bugged, as I've seen just as many comments that it's still working as I have that it's gone and nobody can really say why.

I do find it semi amusing how there's this huge wellspring of concern over the Personal Story when we've spent two years hearing how godawful it was.

Edit: To clarify, I'm not talking about you, I'm referring to Reddit / Official forums where it's being used as fuel for the mob even though 3 weeks ago nobody gave a rat's ass.

The update from Colin was an interesting read.

Kind of want to roll another alt just to see how I feel about the changes first hand. As someone that obsesses about zone/world completion though I really hate that things like points of interest are hidden initially.

I created a new Charr Engineer the night the update went live and from 0-10 took about an hour or so and was incredibly smooth. Skills unlocked quickly and it actually feels less tedious now (once you unlock a slot, all weapon skills for that slot are unlocked; no need to go through every single weapon to unlock them now).

POIs aren't hidden if you already have a high level character, same with Vistas and gathering nodes and all that. Those being hidden is literally for the 100% GW2 virgins and no one else (despite what you may have read in all caps to the contrary).

I always thought it would be interesting to let us choose between damage, control and support versions of all existing weapon skills, so we could spec for specific ways of fighting and playing the game.

Basically give each skill 3 variations that fit into ANet's trinity they originally outlined way back before the game was released.

The rational behind tying specific skills to specific weapons is two fold.

First, it allows you to equip a new weapon and instantly change your role. "Does this fight require single target damage instead of AOE? Swap to rifle. Would you benefit from more support? Grab your staff. Would it be helpful to get more control-oriented skills? Go Hammer." Every weapon is essentially a new set of tools, useful in some situations and less so in others. Each profession's tool set is also balanced against each other for flavor and balance reasons, so that even a Thief with the optimal setup for Support will never be as good as a Guardian doing the same thing. That's the "Guardian Niche", so to speak, and this goes into whether you think homogenized classes is a good thing or bad thing; given the setup of GW2, it skews towards a bad thing even though my own preferences veer towards classless systems.

And yes, I know that the way traits currently work pushes you towards using specific weapons, and that's a complaint I've voiced many, many times before. (Also, every weapon suddenly having three sets of skills means three times as many things can now break.

The second reason specific skills are tied to specific weapons is silhouette (mostly a PVP concern). You can readily identify what weapon your opponent is using and change your tactics to suit. You don't fight a Hammer warrior in the same way you fight a Greatsword warrior, right? It remains important that enemy silhouette never becomes muddy, where a Greatsword Warrior only looks like a Greatsword warrior but plays like something completely different. It's the same as spotting a Sniper in a FPS because he has a Sniper Rifle on his person.

The better solution: more weapon choices for each class, with each new weapon adding in new tools. The weapon assets and animation are all available (obviously new spell effects and icons are required), it doesn't require an overhaul of how skills are assigned and it doesn't conflict with the two points above.

 

[LumpOfCole]

I think one reason new players don't dodge a lot is because the default dodge button is just not commonly pressed ('v' key) in other similar games. Double tap to dodge doesn't feel good either - too many accidental presses and double tapping is too slow for well timed last moment dodges.

I have had dodge bound to the middle mouse button from the beginning and always thought that should be a default bind.

 

[Ashodin]

I really like that guy's blog. He shares a lot of sentiments about the game as I do (being both an Explorer and Achiever).

I have had dodge bound to the middle mouse button from the beginning and always thought that should be a default bind.

Gross! Mouse Button 4 always

 

[sackboy2197]

I really like that guy's blog. He shares a lot of sentiments about the game as I do (being both an Explorer and Achiever).


Gross! Mouse Button 4 always

Naw, shift to dodge is the best. I think I have mouse 4 for f2.

 

[nataku]

I think one reason new players don't dodge a lot is because the default dodge button is just not commonly pressed ('v' key) in other similar games. Double tap to dodge doesn't feel good either - too many accidental presses and double tapping is too slow for well timed last moment dodges.

I have had dodge bound to the middle mouse button from the beginning and always thought that should be a default bind.

Shift is my dodge key of choice. My pinkie is always on it, so I don't even have to move a finger to dodge.

I always found I accidentally scroll instead of press my middle mouse key sometimes, so I quit binding things to it. Though I'm sure that depends on your mouse.

I really wish they would let us re-bind camera zoom so we can bind things to mouse wheel up and down.

 

[Ashodin]

My pinky is too busy hammering the 1 key.

Yes you heard right, I rarely use auto attack.

 

[sackboy2197]

My pinky is too busy hammering the 1 key.

Yes you heard right, I rarely use auto attack.

I have auto on but I keep pressing 1 anyway. Because I'm smart that way.

 

[Retro]

I have had dodge bound to the middle mouse button from the beginning and always thought that should be a default bind.

My middle mouse doesn't 'click' nicely enough for me to use it, but I have a couple other buttons so I don't mind. That said, Dodge for me is my left shift, where my pinky rests while WASDing.

Shift is my dodge key of choice. My pinkie is always on it, so I don't even have to move a finger to dodge.

 

[Shanlei91]

Left trigger dodge 4 life.

 

[Ashodin]

Just want to say: Bow of Truth is legit as fuck. If you have a high healing power, you heal SO much. I was rolling around Dry Top making it rain.

oh and F1, F2, F3, F4 are on X,C,V,B (X being F4). I can move my thumb to those keys while playing off the spacebar.

 

[hockeypuck]

Orr has to remain in its corrupted state as long as the personal story has you constantly trekking through it, otherwise when you went to do the story the disconnect between "Personal Story Orr" and "Present Day Orr" would be jarring. Even though the Living Story behaves as though Zhaitan has been dead for over a year, Orr remains frozen in time. By having the airship port you, you're effectively being dropped into the past, away from anything that might ever change in the future. It seems kind of obvious that the changes made to the Personal Story are to bring it in line with the Story Journal, but this seems more like they're taking the opportunity to make sure the game world isn't hamstrung by previous decisions. If the Living Story needs to go to Orr, there's no reason it can't now.

I see little difference lore-wise between "Present Day" Orr and "Personal Story" Orr. And if that's Anet's rationale, then I hope they've changed how you access all the PS missions that occur in LA.

I do find it semi amusing how there's this huge wellspring of concern over the Personal Story when we've spent two years hearing how godawful it was.

Do we have to bring up the shitstorm attitudes of the official forums or Reddit this often? The examples I brought up earlier were of my own without any prior knowledge of what was happening on other sites. I finished the PS for my thief yesterday and these were the changes I encountered. Why do my observations have to be juxtaposed with the attitude of the other sites?

 

[Retro]

I see little difference lore-wise between "Present Day" Orr and "Personal Story" Orr. And if that's Anet's rationale, then I hope they've changed how you access all the PS missions that occur in LA.

There isn't, but that's the point; they can't change Orr if it has to remain frozen because of the Personal Story. Say that they announce an expansion tomorrow and the human gods return and wonder what the fuck we did to their house while they were on vacation. If they ever "purify" Orr, transitioning from Living Story to Personal Story would be quite a change.

Lion's Arch is different because it being destroyed doesn't tie into the actual substance of the Personal Story. You can have LA in any shape you want when you go there, but Orr needs to stay in its corrupted state if you're fighting Zhaitan.

Edit: They will have to change it if Season One is ever added to the Story Journal, though.

Do we have to bring up the shitstorm attitudes of the official forums or Reddit this often?

Probably not, but it is highly amusing that suddenly folks are up in arms about the Personal Story being changed when it was nothing but a punchline for two years. Any excuse to keep the fires going, even when it's a complete reversal of positions.

I should probably mention that I follow politics for exactly the same reason. Watching people flip-flop and concern troll and cut off their noses just to spite their faces... it's good stuff.

I'll knock if off, I guess, even though the way the community behaves is kind of important in a community-oriented genre.

 

[hockeypuck]

I'll knock if off, I guess, even though the way the community behaves is kind of important in a community-oriented genre.

And give this "vocal minority" more attention? Are we or are we not acknowledging that the pervading attitudes from the other sites do matter? I don't see any gaffer disparaging the personal story in the last few pages, at least. My post history doesn't mention it (Edit: if I did put down the PS in the past, I welcome being called out on my hypocrisy).

Your theory on why Anet made those story changes was more useful for this thread's purposes than any throw-away comment made at the official forums/Reddit's expense. They're practically throw-away comments at this point.

 

[Nemesis121]

I really like that guy's blog. He shares a lot of sentiments about the game as I do (being both an Explorer and Achiever).


Gross! Mouse Button 4 always

I am old school gamer i can't get used to the newer mouse and all their fucking buttons, I have the standard 3 button mouse all other stuff is done with the KB, my left has mastered from tilda key to number 7, down to N, and back to CTRL, everything in that area i have full control with no problems..

 

[flyinpiranha]

G13+Naga = too many buttons! But it works out nice, it really comes down to just memorization to whatever you use.

I will say, having my right thumb for Jump, Dodge, Utility 1-3, and Elite is nice. And then using a stick for WASD and having my primary 1-4 fingers always on my 1-4 attacks makes battling really easy. Just a slight move up or down for other commands.

 

[Shanlei91]

Pretty sure the Apatia/Tonn story is just bugged, as I've seen just as many comments that it's still working as I have that it's gone and nobody can really say why.

I think it's kind of disappointing that the devs don't acknowledge it at all, whether it's a bug or intentional.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/My-Greatest-Fear-Plotline/first#post4392311

In that thread a rep only says that if you were already on the quest, you can continue it. But basically ignores the entire discussion and speculation as to what's going on. (In his defense, he might not even know what's going on.)

Edit: I wouldn't be surprised if the reason there's little dev discussion about the subject is because there isn't nearly as much talk from players about it as, lets say, there is talk about being unable to key farm as quickly.

 

[Levyne]

I use v for dodge. I have 7-10 on the mouse. Think I need to map heal there, too.

Also two mouse keys for push to talk, one for ts, one mumble

 

[Retro]

They're practically throw-away comments at this point.

I know they're empty calories, but they're still delicious. I'll cut back on the Schadenfreude Snacks, promise. Too much sodium.

Edit: Just so it's not ALL bitching about Reddit, I actually kinda like this: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2g4v4m/my_equipment_tab_redesign/

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

I use a gs700, so I think I have one of the four side buttons assigned to dodge. Also bound one of them to heal.

Works out pretty well for most setups.

 

[Katoki]

I like shift to dodge as well but I find it a problem because I capitalize the first letter in sentences and sometimes roll off a cliff or something when I decide to chat mid-jumping puzzle.

 

[Hawkian]

Naw, shift to dodge is the best. I think I have mouse 4 for f2.

Before putting together my gamepad setup, I was all about shift to dodge

 

[Ashodin]

the top posts on reddit today are significantly less vitriolic.

 

[Moondrop]

I use the A button for dodge, and then the same button for 3 (often an evasive weapon skill) and 7 (where I deliberately slot my stunbreaker). Boom.

 

[Hawkian]

right, you have more than one set switcher... crazytimes

 

[Retro]

I like shift to dodge as well but I find it a problem because I capitalize the first letter in sentences and sometimes roll off a cliff or something when I decide to chat mid-jumping puzzle.

This is me, all of the time.

the top posts on reddit today are significantly less vitriolic.

Yep, it's a mixture of "Hey, I tried it and it's pretty good / not that bad!" and links to dev posts. The kneejerk ugliness is starting to fade away until the next minor, insignificant Worst Thing Ever™ comes around.

 

[Zeroth]

My mouse buttons are set only for healing and elite. This may scare some people, but I use my skills through mouse-clicking. My left hand is constantly on the movement keys (which I double-tap to dodge), so I never really have the opportunity to click away for my skills.

 

[Taffer]

I use my skills through mouse-clicking.

What?

I double-tap to dodge

WHAT?

 

[hythloday]

Yep, it's a mixture of "Hey, I tried it and it's pretty good / not that bad!" and links to dev posts. The kneejerk ugliness is starting to fade away until the next minor, insignificant Worst Thing Ever™ comes around.

In my experience in many other MMOs, big changes are nearly always met with a vocal outcry and a lot of sky-is-falling, "I hate this game now," "you'll RUE the day," etc posts. And in the end, the ruckus dies down, the game isn't horribly ruined and people still play. I think this is just one of the few times there's been a major change with GW2 that affected all characters (except not really, because there were bugs, that will be fixed!) so the ruckus is louder than the community is used to seeing.

My mouse buttons are set only for healing and elite. This may scare some people, but I use my skills through mouse-clicking. My left hand is constantly on the movement keys (which I double-tap to dodge), so I never really have the opportunity to click away for my skills.

Hi, fellow clicker! I use a side button on my mouse to dodge though. My thumb is right below it.

 

[Ashodin]

WARNING

MOUSE CLICKERS SPOTTED

 

[Hawkian]

i've been in parties with them

i hope it isn't contagious

 

[spiritfox]

I use Mouse 5 to dodge, 4 for Interact. Shift is for weapon switching, which I need cause Engie.

 

[Moondrop]

Counter-programming: recently I bound M to one of my thumb mouse buttons for GW2. Works well with Weltall/Hawkian's temporary camera release button on the controller.

 

[xeris]

Double-tap 4 life, yo!

 

[Zeroth]

.

 

[spiritfox]

Double tap has caused me to roll off many a jumping puzzle. Screw double tap.

 

[Remfin]

Yup, when in a jumping puzzle, turn off the double tap!

 

[Hawkian]

using a controller during a jumping puzzle, double tap to dodge is no big deal, it just makes me want to murder all living matter close by to me

 

[LiveSpartan235]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-events-in-guildwars2/

Halloween: Blood and Madness return October 21st

 

[Ashodin]

So is it the same event? Hrm.

 

[Retro]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-events-in-guildwars2/

Halloween: Blood and Madness return October 21st

I wonder how that's going to work with Lion's Arch in shambles. Last year they seemed to direct a lot of it towards the Black Citadel, maybe they're going to continue that trend and just make Halloween an Ascalon-centric event.

(I still want Meatober to be a thing)

 

[Levyne]

Yeah, since they teased the weapons from Shadow of the Mad King, was wondering if they'd swap back and forth (or another slightly tweaked for this year)

 

[spiritfox]

What can I expect for Halloween for someone who's never experienced it? Hypeman me, someone.

 

[Ashodin]

What can I expect for Halloween for someone who's never experienced it? Hypeman me, someone.

Expect some spooky story, a whole area dedicated to crazy halloween minions, like plastic spiders, skeletons, candy corn elementals, and such

Themed skins you can craft, as well as unique events you can partake in.

Oh hey, they can probably add new achievements + collections now to that update.

 

[Retro]

What can I expect for Halloween for someone who's never experienced it? Hypeman me, someone.

A lot of laid back activities, mostly. The Lunatic Inquisition is a PVP minigame that's sort of like "Zombie" mode, where one player starts as a zombie and tries to turn the Villager players. Fun stuff.

There's also the Mad King's Labyrinth which kind of turns into a farming / grinding area, but it can be fun in small doses (especially when there's not a ton of people in it). I'm not sure if they'll change it this year, since they've done away with Meta Achievements and such there doesn't seem much point to the old way it worked.

Oh, and the worst (read: best) Jumping Puzzle ever, the Clock Tower.

Last year had some story missions, nothing amazing. The year before sort of had a Mini-Dungeon that I'd LOVE to see return even though it was really short.

 

[Ashodin]

Ascent to Madness was the best mini dungeon evar