tetrodoxin.2134

Not gonna lie, this feels like they only read feedback on reddit, not their own forums. Doesn't mean all changes are bad (some of them are quite nice, actually), but I feel sorry for the people that posted quite detailed feedback posts in their respective class subforums. Curious about Untamed ambush skills (and if they wil be enough). Catalyst still seems underwhelming. Vindicator now seems less clunky to use, thats good. Virtouso will still be a very dull, dumbed down core-Mesmer spec with nothing new to offer.

I mained Mesmer for a very long time (since release, basically), but eventually swapped to Revenant. My hope with EoD was that the Mesmer elite spec would be interesting enough to make me swap back, but Virtuoso is literally the opposite. It is the dullest, most uninspired spec I have seen across all classes if you look past the flashy sparkly FX animations. Saddest part about Virtuoso is that it will possibly be the last elite spec being released for GW2. Just my guess, but I don't think more expansions will follow after EoD. Is Virtuoso salvagable? Maybe, there are lots of good suggestions in the forums (primarily some more impactful choices with the traits that I have seen). Some of the other specs can easily be tweaked by changing up numbers. Virtuoso is so frustratingly dull, no matter how good the numbers will end up. Will Anet drastically overhaul the spec? I don't think so. So yeah, your video is spot on imo, kudos.

The simple answer to this is that there are already a few dozen threads dedicated to giving feedback for those elite specs. Why should all the EoD feedback be just about elite specs? It's just one fraction of the expansion. No, the reason why people mention the visual design of EoD is actually the visual design of EoD, believe it or not. On a sidenote; giving feedback to Arenanet always felt like talking to a brick wall, but the past has shown that some of the feedback actually gets through that wall. There's always hope 😉

I'm glad I am not alone with this. The color palette in EoD is an eyesore. "Radioactive grass" is a term I've seen floating around some times now, but it's not just the grass. All the colors seem off and oversaturated. The color edit above is much, much better - good job. Really hope someone at Anet takes a good look at that. I won't even mention how recycled and lowres most of the environment in the guild chat looked like, because it's very unlikely that they have the ressources to give it a proper overhaul. Well, I guess I did now.

God dammit, anet 🤣 Waited so long for it to be available and then this 😛

I think Anet lacks the resources at this point to make a full sized new WvW map. I'd think if it was planned for EoD we would have already heard about it. Alliances will be the next big WvW thing, and possibly the last big thing if EoD doesn't do well (in NCSoft's eyes). Might sound a bit harsh, but let's be realistic here.

I don't think the models themselves are the issue, its more a combination of outdated textures (low resolution on a lot of objects) and the lack of proper, modern shaders and shadowcasting that makes this game look worse than it probably could look. One of the first things you'll notice switching to a game like FF14 is how crisp all the shadows look - and that adds a lot of visual quality. If you look closer though, I would say that the polycount of FF14 playermodels is equal to, if not lower than GW2. Really hope DX11 is brining some much needed visual upgrades, eventually.

Just to clarify - I just gave infusions as an example out of many. It's the overall sum of things that makes this game look overwhelmingly blinding (to many). Few days ago I invited some friends to come and try GW2 (free account of course), and first thing they mentioned was just how incredibly overtuned all effects and colors are. It's a matter of taste of course, but at least the visual effects are something that could (and should, imo) be looked into. Other games give you that option too, I don't see how this would affect their bottom line. If you leave the visuals "on" by default, most of the players would probably not even notice that you could turn them off.

Thats completely fine, and an optional setting wouldnt affect you.

I would encourage anyone feeling similar to voice their opinion here, to keep this thread active and in vision as longas possible.

That would be enough for sure. Remember: If everyone is shiny and special, nobody is shiny and special.

I guess i have to install Reshade and desaturate this game by 80%, apparently.

After trying it a bit (mostly PvE and WvW), I got some first impressions. I do like the greatsword skills. Balancing and numbers are probably not finale, but in general the skills are all useful and offer something (be it utility, mobility or damage) Utility flipping certainly takes a while getting used to. I agree with a lot of people here in that I'm not sure if the current implementation (flip on use, F2 to swap) is the best one. I really wonder if Anet had some other approaches in their design. Utility skills in general felt a bit lackluster, but mostly in numbers and performance. Most of them had their usecases Urn Elite felt a bit weird when running around solo. It's completely useless unless you are in a group. The Dodge. Oh boy. I already got annoyed after a few times using it. I'd much prefer it if this worked more like a Mirage Ambush skill - a regular dodge that gives you the option to do the jump: Give the Vindicator its 2 dodges back and return to the regular dodge mechanic At full endurance and after you dodge, you may press "F3" to do the jump, spending the second half of the endurance bar That way, the jump still has its full cost, but becomes player choice. I know that current balance policies are talking about tradeoffs, but I'm sure there are other ways. Slower endurance regen, or anything else that feels less clunky. I haven't done a deep dive into the traits so far, tho I did like the ability to "adjust" the jump dodge in the grandmaster tier.

Sorry for gravedigging, but I see no point making a new thread for exactly the same topic. It has gotten worse and worse, with stackable infusions, armor/weapon/mount skins getting shinier and shinier. Please give us an option to reduce or remove visual clutter on other player characters. Maybe with the DX11 / EoD release?

Not what I expected honestly, but still excited to try. Looks fun as hell.

+1, yes please.

I very much agree with this. Was excited about Virtuoso and it had/has potential to dust off my Mesmer, although after the beta weekend my hopes were drastically lowered. The drawbacks (especially losing the misdirection part without any sort of compensation) make the Virtuoso a very slow and clunky class in my eyes. When you balance a class around having clones for survivability for 9 years, any elite spec without clones will start to fall apart unless you compensate that somehow. Clones not only have a damage component (which got compensated with the blades, obviously), they also covered the survival aspect - especially in PvP/WvW. The Aegis trait is a nice solution, but it already felt like I was forced to use it. There needs to be much better trait and skill synergy with the base Mesmer stuff to make Virtuoso work/fun to play. I tried some Virtuoso PvP - any time I tried a (more or less) "full" Virtuoso spec - utilities, elite skill, dagger - I usually felt like a sitting duck without any cover. I'm not sure if that was intended. Curious if (and how) Anet reacts to all the feedback. Virtuoso atm feels like a simplified base Mesmer with more drawbacks than benefits. As i don't intend to only post negatives, here's what I liked: - I do like the overall concept and style. The visuals and animations (besides the auto-attack air wiping, please update that) are wonderful. - Sword 3 rework for Virtuoso was a great idea. Virtuoso needs more of that! - It's nice to finally have a proper onehanded power weapon for Mesmer.

... and don't forgot not being able to run down the slightest slopes. 😛

That sneaky "... instead of dodges." line at the end, though... Anyway, Vindicator got my curiosity now. It's a real shame that they are recycling so many animations, I hope some of them will get updated. They aren't bad, but I'd be awesome to have some more unique styles.

You are misinterpreting observations. I am not referring to players logging in once next to a resource node, and then disappearing. Of course people do that. What I'm referring to is, while moving across the map, seeing the same characters seemingly port out of nowhere from node to node within a fraction of a second (often times just floating above the nodes). If that's not botting, I absolutely agree with you. Yes, I assume those are bots. Because it's not possible to port from node to node with the same characters, unless there was a new gemstore item that allowed that.

Returning player here. I've decided to reinstall the game since I had some weeks off work - everyday life nowadays usually prevents me from playing time-intensive games (like MMOs). Luckily, GW2 is a bit more forgiving in that regard and returning to the game usually is quite easy. Anyway - after catching up with the living story and figuring out all the new stuff that was introduced to the game since I left (shortly after PoF, so it's been a while), I decided to use the few days I have left and try to get one of those fancy Skyscales everyone seems to have now. I've found some guides on how to farm those ressource nodes most efficiently and ran my route, spending a few hours every day. Felt like college time all over again - I don't even mind the grindy nature of farming the stuff. I noticed pretty quickly tho - players popping in and out around resource nodes within seconds, clusters of obviously afk/farming characters (mostly minionmancers) and other odd behaviour. Some online "research" revealed pretty quickly that this has been and still is an ongoing problem that is seemingly ignored? I've seen dozens of threads; frustrated people venting that apparently nothing is done about the botting. The weirdest part for me was - those botting characters weren't even some free accounts; many of them had very high ranking, wearing legendaries and all. So I guess using bots is tolerated and common in GW2 now? Am I the stupid one not using them? I'ts painfully easy to find resources and guides on how to do it; I obviously won't link any of that stuff here. I've reported some of them initially, but after reading more from people that apparently reported (the same) bots for weeks with no action from anet, I also decided to stop. The amount of bots I saw was just too staggering and reporting them all would have been way too time consuming. As you might have guessed, I am playing this game very casually. But if botting in this very casual part of the game is so common, I really wonder how it goes in other aspects of the game. One might say "it doesn't affect you in any way, why even care?" and I guess that might even be a point, but in the end it's the sense of fairness that lurks in the back of your head and makes this still quite demotivating to see. And again, I don't even know the extent of botting in other aspects of the game that aren't as "casual" (but there seem to be a lot of complaints in the PvP section as well). Very disappointed to see this amount of bots in the game, and I'm glad I probably don't have much time to play GW2 in the near future again. This is probably nothing new to any of you guys here on the forums. Back when I played more actively (long before PoF), I rarely noticed any bots. Now they seem to be everywhere. I know that bots are a common problem for online games, and MMOs in particular. But seeing nothing done about the problem makes me kinda lose faith in this game. I just needed a place to vent my concerns, and I am seriously wondering if (and why) arenanet is tolerating botting (and to what extent). Thanks for reading.