-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Guild Wars 2 Second Expansion: Path of Fire - September 22
- Thread starter Ashodin
- Start date
Nemesis121
Member
in 25 days game will turn 5 years, not a lot of people are leveling after 5 years..
hence why i believe they should redo the leveling of 1-80 at least.........would be a breath of fresh life.
It's a great game and should get attention to older areas as well as new.
Isaac Otherworld
Member
I would personally really like to see leveling focused on teaching players how to really play. Run them through the motions of dodging, stats, skills and stuff. I remember when HOT came out and there was this massive backlash against the difficulty because players were so used to the old world which was braindead.
Of course the problem is doubly compounded on by the fact that once a player hits 80, the game throws free levels for their alts at them like crazy.
texhnolyze
Banned
Pretty sure it's Sylvari's problem.
I've just leveled up a couple of characters in the past few months (Human & Norn) and I still saw people running around.
Though I do agree that they should revamp the early levels. Give people more exp early on so that they don't have to events grind to reach minimum level of the next map.
Silly bear! You can only head NORTH to Vabbi. Circumventing the globe is troublesome, but these are the way things are.
Nemesis121
Member
They need to focus on current content and leave the old content alone, they already messed with the old zones they made leveling in the 1-15 areas slighter faster, since they changed how you access the story, you no longer gain a story mission every 2-3 levels, you gain them every 10 levels...
That's the problem, in that old content is so stale that it is difficult to get through to the new content to enjoy the QoL changes that an expansion brings. It is why WoW works so well in that mindset because it makes previous zones quicker to level through so you can get to the new content relatively fast. And on the other side of the spectrum why FFXIV is so damn bad because going into old content is so out dated and slow.
Souless Squirrel
Member
Ya think its sylvari's zone itself I was just in charr's starting area yesterday and plenty of people at each heart. Lots of them were in basic lowby armor as well so wasn't like it was old players doign map completion.
This seems counterintuitive
Hm, I always see people around in the core Tyria maps. Certainly enough to do the most challenging group events and I'm on a medium populated server.
Yes, paying over $20 for a bundle of Season 2 was fucking bullshit
It's speculated to include HoT for even base game upgrades? I haven't played since before HoT dropped, but some of the changes, plus the inclusion of Elona, have piqued my interest.
Elona is maybe my favorite Africa/Middle East-inspired game region. Vabbi armor on warrior was my favorite armor in that game--totally worth the ruby/sapphire/diamond grind
Elona is maybe my favorite Africa/Middle East-inspired game region. Vabbi armor on warrior was my favorite armor in that game--totally worth the ruby/sapphire/diamond grind
texhnolyze
Banned
I need more weapons for ranger, like dual pistols and rifle.
LumpOfCole
Member
It's speculated to include HoT for even base game upgrades? I haven't played since before HoT dropped, but some of the changes, plus the inclusion of Elona, have piqued my interest.
Elona is maybe my favorite Africa/Middle East-inspired game region. Vabbi armor on warrior was my favorite armor in that game--totally worth the ruby/sapphire/diamond grind
It's going to have to include HoT if gliding is to be accommodated in any way. It would be a bit cheap to recycle basic masteries like Gliding into the new expansion's masteries.
Then again, the new zones might not allow for gliding and instead only allow mounts, so anything is possible.
When your god is blind, stuff like this happens.
Im ready for some new elite specs! I wanna see how having a choice between them finally hashes out.
And as a Guardian I patiently await the return of my tomes in a much better form.
spleenpoker
Member
What makes Raids more accessible then ever now? I was just watching WoodenPotatoes HoT review and he mentioned if you don't have a Guild or Ingame friends, finding a group for Raids can be difficult.
I posted this in the OT but I think I'll ask here too as it seems more active for the moment but what are the needed classes for group content like fractals and raids? Revenant aren't wanted from what I hear, which would make me think twice about rolling one.
While there's no matchmaking in the raids (though obviously there's no matchmaking for anything), it's quite easy to find a guild to do raiding. In Lion's Arch there is always guilds advertising guilds that do raiding.
Just be forewarned that you likely won't get any mount speed beyond what is currently available.
Also it's probable that mounts will work only in the new maps, before expanding the system to the rest of Tyria in future updates.
staticneuron
Member
Agreed. That is why I didn't go back to game. And if the lower levels are still a barrier then I can choose to play other titles.
Isaac Otherworld
Member
I answered you in the other thread just now : )
Anyway with the LWS3 maps Ascended trinkets and back pieces are a breeze to get, especially for the harder to obtain Heart of Thones stat sets. The caladbolg current event is almost a free Ascended weapon if you can get a vision crystal.
I think if you explain in LFG that you've studied the fight thoughoughly even though you don't have direct experience people are pretty understanding. Plus there's always a ton of guilds in chat advertising that they do Raid Training for raid newbies. It's how I joined my current guild.
Also WP has said that Raids are not that hard to get into and went through going from absolutely 0 to getting raid ready.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFPK_A8vosw
Negative. It would generate way more interest if you could use them immediately.
Are you referring to the final quest that has you go kill Zhaitan and used to require a full party to do the dungeon instance? Because they changed that a long time ago to be solo-able. Go kill Zhaitan!
deadscreensky
Member
I won't be surprised if mounts remain exclusive to the new maps, and maybe only some of them. Guild Wars 1 actually pulled the same trick with their mount. There's just too many good reasons not to allow mounts in the traditional Guild Wars 2 game flow. Gliding works because it supplements existing platforming mechanics, it doesn't fully replace the game mechanics like mounts traditionally do.
Anyway, I can't wait for the expansion reveal. Guild Wars 2 has really hit its stride this last year, releasing improvements and (free) new content at a great clip. Anet really seems to have a solid flow now, and just the new specializations alone have the potential to really explode PVP, Fractals, and other existing content into radical new directions.
The major feature I'm hoping for is some kind of build management. That remains the biggest obvious hole in the game's structure. I want to use totally different builds for say, Fractals and general open world, and the game should let me manage that easily. GW1 had this problem basically solved, so all I can figure is they have a better concept for how they'll do it in 2 and that's why it's taking so long.
(I don't understand any of the complaints about leveling alts. Newbie zones are always filled when I play them, and early intermediate zones earn you ridiculous money while going through them, but more importantly the game hands out leveling tomes like candy. I admittedly play the game a bunch, but right now I could easily and immediately max level something like 14 new characters. And masteries being account-wide, combined with account XP bonuses, means you do actually level up a lot faster than you would with a new account. Combine the tomes with that and maybe 30 minutes of easy crafting and you'll be at the level cap in no time. The complaints I'm seeing are totally incomprehensible to me.)
That final quest was bullshit at launch. Spend the entire game with a story that can be done solo and then throw a final mission that requires a group and no matchmaking.
Even when running it solo after they patched it out it seemed to be more balanced towards multiple players.
JSoup
Banned
Oh, nice. Might jump back in for that.
I remember what happened now. I got to it, it was late, I was tired and then the instance glitched or something, my client crashed and I just never got around to trying again.
It's true that Season 3 has been good through and through although you could nitpick here and there, but the core of what makes HoT is still a mess and has a lot of bodies hidden in the closet in the form of gutted/forgotten/cut content.
As much as I want to believe them when they say that they have their shit sorted-out it'll take more than that to convince me this time around.
And tbh, being someone that hasn't played GW1 they're already off to a bad start after the last episode's story.
One other thing that might hurt this announcement is how they've declared that everything PVP / WwW wouldn't be part of expansions anymore but part of live updates when the content is ready.
I mean, if they don't announce anything new on that front, don't announce new Legendaries because they still haven't finished the second set, that's already some major possible key features that are off the list especially for people that may not play the game anymore.
Should the leaks be mostly true (which seems more likely than ever) I hope they have some big things on top of that to really surprise people otherwise this is going to be some salty desert.
Now that you have 2 to 3 months gaps between episodes to just log-in to unlock them for free when they are live, if you even remotely care about the story it's really not asking much.
Sales and bundles need to happen on that content though, on that I agree.
The game really spits a ton of things at you that make leveling easier these days, just in the form of daily rewards you get a steady stream of level/Xp scroll items, if you mix a bit of PvP and WwW in there when you unlock access to it it's easier to level than ever.
Plus HoT these days gives you a lvl80 boost to use on one of your characters should it be your thing.
I'm just going by what happened with gliding, but we'll see I guess. I'm just sceptical because going by the leaks, the mounts will have combat capabilities of some sort, so you gotta wonder how integrated those mechanics are in the new maps.
It's ridiculous how build templates are not yet implemented in the game. The game is crying for it. The players want it. I'm sure as hell the devs want it when they play the game. I'm expecting it to be one of the things announced tonight, it's long overdue.
And so true about the tomes. Before I quit, I was basically destroying them to clear space in the bank. I think I have about enough for 7-8 max level characters.
Isaac Otherworld
Member
I don't disagree with you it is really easy. I've never had to use gems to unlock an episode. I just disagree with the philosophy entirely. A while ago I got my cousin into the game and after completing the Personal Story there's no season 1 to play and he has to pay for the continuation of the story and I know that definitely rubbed him the wrong way.
Meanwhile I'm sitting here with 111 rofl.
Freeman76
Member
Haha!!
One of my favourite things is flipping the TP. I find there is a lot of waiting around for events or world bosses so I bought a permanent TP NPC and started flipping the most profitable runes etc. Its surprising how fast the cash builds up.
deadscreensky
Member
I don't understand why they haven't at least given us something like GW1 where you can copy and paste some code to get the build you want. I'm sure it's harder than I would assume, but after five years lacking even a hacked approach like that for the 'experts' is bewildering. I basically expect an announcement too, but at the same time the fact we haven't gotten anything like that yet has me really leary. I cannot understand why we didn't get it years ago, so if anything I worry Anet for whatever reason doesn't want it.
I probably have half a bank tab filled with leveling stuff. Again, I do play the game a bunch. (I just spent a few hours going through s3e3 with a friend who hadn't done it before). So I know I'm not normal here, but it is not hard to level up alts in this game. Use a level boost and some tomes, spend some small amount of gold on Cooking (add some Jewelry for another ~8 levels), and you're at the minimum well past these early leveling areas people are complaining about here.
I agree it's kind of a bad look, it can deter people from jumping back into the game after an absence. But at the same time there's big advantages in encouraging players to keep playing GW2, even if it's only every couple months, for both players (more population) and developers (more potential to sell extra stuff). I'm not sure what sort of approach they can take that would work better.
Isaac Otherworld
Member
man
i never even hit max level in the base game
Living World Season 1 is the only thing you've truly missed the boat on, and it wasn't anywhere near as cool as everything that came after.
Seriously, there has never been a better time to get into the game. The game is better than it's ever been and we have an expansion coming up. Now is the perfect time to jump back in, get your character to max level and pick up the expansion when it releases.
They've implemented a half-step in that the game saves your build per game-mode so that when you set your build in PvP / WwW / PvE it remebers it the next time you get back into that mode.
With new elite specs coming they need to have that more than ever I agree, but then we're talking about the game that shipped with no LFG tool at launch ¯\_(ツ
_/¯I came back after not playing for like 4 years rofl. So I've just been doing tarir and stuff to level up masteries. No lucky drops for me so far.
They've implemented a half-step in that the game saves your build per game-mode so that when you set your build in PvP / WwW / PvE it remebers it the next time you get back into that mode.
With new elite specs coming they need to have that more than ever I agree, but then we're talking about the game that shipped with no LFG tool at launch ¯\_(ツ
heh, reminds me of camping outside CoF asking for anyone to teach me how to glitch P1 and P2 because I was so hungry to get the COOLEST ARMOR EVER
¯\_(ツ
_/¯This is actually why I haven't bothered to buy HOT still, it's frustrating that you get penalized for not 'being there' when the episodes come out and then have to pay more money (on top of the full priced expansion) to unlock them. Instead I just opted to not get the expansion at all and played something else.
It will likely factor into the next expansion too - I'm not desperate enough to throw money at them for an extra story or two, but also don't feel enough incentive to buy without the story episodes at the same time.
Ultimately I'm more bothered by the fact wvw has barely changed over the past few years from what I played on release day, rather than the story microtransactions, which is disappointing to say the least. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll get the latest expansion+HOT in one package but maybe it'll be more convincing than just the Heart of Thorns package and I'll change my mind.
Do it!
Build templates will come eventually, the elite specializations will necessitate this once they get into 3, 4, 5 specs.
Help a brotha out.
If I'm not mistaken, doesn't WVW now have a reward track like PVP? Pips and everything? You get pips for roaming around and having banding groups of players and defending and stuff?
Yeah, this thing: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/updates-to-world-vs-world-skirmishing-and-rewards/
Well, I'm not saying it hasn't improved at all, just that gameplay wise it hasn't changed for me (I never played wvw for rewards). I would elaborate but I think wvw gameplay is set in stone now by the look of it.
As for said rewards, I have to say that it is quite ridiculous, I must have spent half my time clearing my bags in wvw, which is hilarious if you ask me. I probably get more loot there than any other pve activity (and quicker levels). Even more hilarious is that people are asking for more/better rewards, instead of actually making wvw more fun in the first place..
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Last time I played wow is very fun, if your in a cranky server and not part of any on going community for them yeah it's shit, but that not really the way it's meant to be played with the commander system. Long form coronation on voice chat extra is the most fun part of it. Ir's basically like an rts but your herding around people rather than AI.
Used to play this with GW2-GAF and really enjoyed it for the most part.
Reached level cap but bowed out when the devs just started blowing up/destroying every landmark as a means of "plot development" - didn't stick around for HoT. But interested to see what this is nonetheless.
Reached level cap but bowed out when the devs just started blowing up/destroying every landmark as a means of "plot development" - didn't stick around for HoT. But interested to see what this is nonetheless.
deadscreensky
Member
To be fair all players get the episode if they log in during those 2-3 months after release. You can't actually play the episodes until you buy the latest expansion, but even F2Pers still get them permanently added to their account. There's a good reason for this expansion restriction even beyond story, as the new maps are designed around the latest mechanics. Something like Bloodstone Fen, a region torn apart into floating islands by an uncontrolled magical explosion, would be utterly unplayable without gliding from Heart of Thorns. The episodes are true expansion content.
It's only a microtransaction if you can't log in once during a 60+ day period. (And even then you can unlock them through gold earned via just playing the game, they aren't inherently something you need to spend money on.) I agree it's not a perfect approach, but if you spend literally a few minutes every two months to log-in then Anet is effectively giving away enormous amounts of content for free. It's an extremely generous policy by any reasonable standard.
I do hope they offer some sort of episode bundle with the expansion, maybe as a way to encourage preorders.