[Research Notes are antagonistic to players]

I understand why such a system exists. It is a material sink. There is no subtlety in its intentions. The problems with Research Notes are that they are:

 

1. Unintuitive for regular gameplay, particularly for new players.

2. Playing whack-a-mole of constantly updating what can’t be salvaged, causing confusion.

3. Extra hoops to jump through to acquire a currency.

 

Every other salvage kit in the game is used with your inventory as you play. The player is trained to understand this as the core of inventory management. Research kits instead can’t interact with 99% of a player’s inventory. This is incredibly confusing to a new player. Particularly when new updates create a constantly decreasing list of things they can salvage. This system is now also affecting holiday bag drop tables, ruining easy food and utility access for players rather than change a flawed system.

 

This system is blunt and doesn’t mesh with regular gameplay. It has been forced upon the game to sink materials. I can’t present a better picture of how absurd this system is than the recent update to let you automatically salvage things you craft. Building something…. To immediately salvage it. What is the point here? Is there not a method here that doesn’t feel at complete odds with players?

[October 4 Balance Update Preview]

4 hours ago, Lord Hizen.5918 said:

I really disagree about the change to Tactical Reload to be applied in PVE because bladesworn have no CC skill and taking away the only option to recharge ammunitions like Electromagical Pulse 2.0 is brutal, also this change will ruin the idea of shout support warrior in strikes and raids so i hope you can leave this change to be applied to PVP and WVW only.

Shout support Warrior (in PvE)  is a taped-together horror anyway that won’t be a real feasible thing unless Warrior gets an elite spec or a new weapon designed around support. Defense and Tactics are there as trait lines waiting, but warhorn has been the only support weapon for 10 years. 
 

People should stop trying to shove 3 DPS pegs into a support-shaped hole. Nothing will change without a massive shake up to the profession. Especially when we live in a heal+boon world and banners cannibalize utility slots.

The effect on EMP is an odd side effect. I see it as harmless to let it benefit EMP.

[Quick Update on the Skills and Balance Team]

4 hours ago, Josh Davis.7865 said:

The October 4 balance update was originally planned to be our final ‘major’ balance update of the year.  However, we’re changing course a bit now that its focus has shifted to addressing issues in competitive play. We’ve added an additional balance update to our schedule for November 29, and with this update we’re aiming to get back to having our major balance updates include changes for all game modes, rather than a focus on a single area. Cal and team will share the updated balance philosophy with you prior to that release’s balance preview.

Huge congrats to CMC! cmcW for sure

 

Grouch, you mentioned recently that the team is looking at mechanist smothering PvE. Should we expect to see action on that in November, or will a targeted change sneak by before then?

[August 23 Balance Update Preview]

I’m happy to see so much excitement over the build potential after this patch. It does feel like half the conversation though without the balance philosophy blog post we’re still waiting on.

What is the end goal for Anet? What part of balance are they satisfied with? Where do they want to improve? These are important answers to frame balance patches like these.

 

In particular, I’ve played warrior since launch and have felt like the profession is lacking in many areas. Our support options are few. Our traitlines could use some retouching. Our non-banner core utilities are a total joke. Where is Warrior supposed to go?

 

They gave quick on banners which is a band aid fix. Can we ever get alac when you put full quick uptime on core Warrior? Can we ever heal when you make banners clog up the skill bar? Can we adapt to more mobile fights when you’ve dumped all our support potential into these immobile flags? Warrior is floating along, for now. There are elephants in the room that Anet should cover.

[Design Notes for June 28 Professions Update]

1 hour ago, Josh Davis.7865 said:

These are reasonable questions. I just want to clarify that this post wasn't intended to lay out the overarching balance philosophy for PvE, PvP, and WvW. That'll come later. I posted a breakdown of our next steps last week: 

 

At a bare minimum, I should expect these notes to cover every change, especially with how controversial this patch was. Seeing something like OWP for SB being excluded from the discussion, it makes it even more obvious that the change was not in the best interest of the class. Frankly, there is a lot in this commentary that is simply not defensible. The warrior section should have just been "These changes were wrong. We will be rectifying them and taking a serious look at overhauling Warrior. These are the goals for the profession and these are the areas we will look to improve." 

 

Laying out the balance philosophy of the team is important. It should be discussed as soon as possible. If patches like these are the fruits of that philosophy though, then a lack of communication isn't the only issue here. The balance philosophy of the team is straight up wrong. There is no clarity here that will help things like Warrior. There is only more fuel for the fire.

[How can they actually fix Warrior? "Balance" Feedback Discussion]

2 hours ago, SourceRyan.7814 said:

Here's an idea that I've posted elsewhere regarding fixing banners:

If they really want to stick to the mechanic of carrying banners, I can imagine a way to make them useful by adapting existing skill mechanics:

• First, make the banner utility skills act like Ranger spirts. Give warriors a new skill once placed to teleport the banner(s) to you and give another pulse of alacrity
• Next, reenable the old Banner skills and have them act like Tomes when picked up. Update the skills to give Warriors some strong support or DPS options.

Basically, choose between pulsing boons on group, or grabbing & consuming them to fuel stronger banner skills

That's an interesting idea. My concern would be that it would implement a bit too much variety, making another Firebrand situation and making banner the only good pick for utilities. One thing I have considered is if banners should be rolled into just a single banner. Like a giga Battle Standard elite skill and you have some customization of it through traits (and through pick up skills like you said).

[How can they actually fix Warrior? "Balance" Feedback Discussion]

Warrior is a class that has always had problems in PvE:

1. It has always had a hard time with crit capping.
2. It has never had good options outside of DPS.
3. Its only party value has been CC (so easily covered elsewhere its barely mentionable) and banners (overcentralized, boring, and not meaningfully different in the playstyle from going DPS).
4. It has been very melee-focused.

 

The crit capping seems to be the easiest fix (outside of arms traitline memes).

Just buffing some rifle skills might make ranged power builds more viable.

 

What about expanding roles and party value? There are two things to fix here.

1. Warrior needs to have roles in PvE squads besides being a DPS
2. Warrior utilities, banners in particular, need to be touched up to make them more useful.

 

Regarding Issue 1:

The two clear avenues are boon support and healing. Shout healing is technically a warrior build that exists, but it isn't very competitive. Anet is trying to give boon support utility through banners (fantastic job Anet 🙃). A big issue is that banners and shouts both take up utility bar space. You can't effectively compress these roles due to this. There is also the issue that quickness access is given exclusively through core utility. If we assume that Anet wants war to be a quick provider (ignoring the reality of current uptime) exclusively through core utility, then any future elite spec can't provide alacrity (Because they want to keep the boons separate). That severely limits future design space.

 

If Anet wants to give warrior boon support and healing roles, then two things need to happen:

1. Shout healing should be a viable source of healing. It should have access to boons to compete with other supports, which means that 2-3 banners can't be the avenue of boons.
2. Anet needs to decide what to do with Warrior Elite Specs. Three DPS-focused specs is too rigid design. Spellbreaker lacks PvE presence. Giving it greater boon access could open up boon support without undercutting future specs.

 

Regarding Issue 2:

Banners are in their worst state ever. Picking them up is a terrible idea. Warrior's strength is in it's simplicity. Introducing something you have to pick up and carry around, even if the banners had skills, is not in the spirit of the class. Outside of deleting them from the game, my idea is to take away their focus as the source of boons. Instead, banners should become "territory where things can happen". What I mean by this is you can design traits and skills to operate around being inside a banner. It isn't terribly complicated, and it allows Warrior flexibility in what they can do while also giving them area control. For example, a warrior trait could allow shouts and warhorn skills to provide quickness inside of a banner. While I don't think that core warrior should be the source of these boons, it would be a more active, flexible improvement to the current focus on banner.

 

Feel free to share your own thoughts on warrior. We need a lot of perspectives here if we want the class to improve. Clearly, leaving the state of warrior up to limited perspectives has not helped. The devs do not understand this class. 

[Follow up to the June 28 Balance Update Preview]

If a balance patch is so poor that it would be straight up better for the game to not release it, then don't! I don't want to wait till mid fall to see the damage of this patch wiped away, especially given that the balance team making this patch has damaged my confidence in their ability to resolve this!

[ANet Update Announcement Feedback]

38 minutes ago, Wielder Of Magic.3950 said:

Me: If someone is doing something that is very complex and hard, it should be rewarded with a stronger or better result than someone who is doing something similar but on a very basic or easy level.  
Anet dev: Unwilling to reward complexity or difficulty, but wants to make everything easier instead to the point that something easy with 3 button presses should have the same outcome as something hard on a different prof that takes 50 button presses.

I do not argue that there is a need for simple builds for those that cannot handle a complex class or 50 step piano rotations. Rarely anyone does. This is why LI builds and simplified rotations exist, where you get a big chunk of the result for a substiantal lower amount of effort. But mastering your class and rotation SHOULD ALWAYS be rewarded with a better result. Higher DPS, better heals, better boons, you name it. Improving yourself (horizontal progression?) should matter. Because if not, why would people try? Why learn a 50 step elementalist rotation if I can do the same by pressing 4 buttons on Mechanist?  This design philosophy is worrying. A spec should have a LI option and a, for the lack of a better words, 'try hard' option that is harder, and thus gets rewarded with a better result. How much better can be up for debate.

To further your point, not only is motivation hurt when complexity isn’t rewarded, but it’s simply a reality of encounter design that you can’t have equal balance across varying complexity. 
 

When content gets harder, simpler builds inherently perform better. It’s easy to look at damage on a golem and say “these numbers should be equal”. The reality is that the complex builds will always struggle more in actual gameplay, and their performance should be comparatively rewarded. The simpler builds don’t need the same damage. They already are getting the advantage of simplicity.

[ANet Update Announcement Feedback]

I want to give my feedback on Warrior:

- The fury trait being in Arms is an obvious flaw. It should be in a traitline actually used by power.

- Warhorn change is fine. Warrior getting more boon access is good in general.

- Spellbreaker doesn't get any PvE improvements? While Bladesworn gets a DPS buff? The priorities are off here.

- Banners:

So this is the meat and potatoes of the warrior changes. Banners were really bad back in their original form where you picked them up and carried them around. That we would return to that form of Banner is baffling. The big problem with warrior is it has been defined by Banner buffs. That is all it really has beyond DPS. Deleting that means that now warrior is left to compete with other quickness providers and has zero benefits to convince you to take it over a far better quick like FB.

 

The worst part of this is that the Banner isn't actually gone! It's still there! We will likely need 2-3 of them on our bar to provide even passable quickness. This means that they are still taking up space while being an even worse utility than they were previously. Support options are super limited because of the real estate taken up. DPS is hurt because you have to carry around Banners again. Rather than make Banners the source of boons for warrior, I would like to see traits which make Banners a space in which other utility skills (and weapon skills like warhorn) can provide boons. Choose your Banner and choose the utilities to determine what you provide (giving the new warrior synergy with shout healing that it currently lacks). Give warrior some actual flexibility for once. 

[The Launch of the Hardstuck Website and Legendary Scavenger Hunt!]

A team of hardworking gamers have revealed today the fruits of their labors: A brand new website dedicated to helping GW2 players with buildcraft, content guides, and creating a greater community within the game. 

 

In celebration of their efforts, a new scavenger hunt has been announced for a Gen 3 legendary and Zhaitan variant:

https://hardstuck.gg/hardstuck-launch-legendary-weapon-contest/

 

As the site continues to grow, it is the hope of the Hardstuck community that this becomes a key resource for players!

[Suggestions: Good Rewards for Dragon's End Meta Besides the Egg?]

10 minutes ago, Yanosh.2631 said:

Simple, make the meta more accessible to an average skill-less, non-optimized build, casual player by nerfing it further and further. Which will happen in a few weeks once stats show how few people play it regularly. Then I come back to it, lol.

A brain dead 2 hour long meta with no rewards isn’t going to get anyone there because there are no rewards! Rather let’s give people a reason to do it than further nerf the meta and expect people to do it.

[I dont understand the fascination with Cantha]

I really liked the region in GW1. It was fantastical and diverse in its settings. The Jade Wind was a wonderful world building element and it was my favorite game setting.
Now I don’t really care as much about Cantha. The devs are pushing the brand name of Cantha hard, but the region has lost a lot of its charm. They’ve used the passage of time to homogenize the region and make it meh. The interesting cultural differences and story threads of the region are all gone. Tossing the ministry of purity and “integrating” the Kurzicks and Luxons removed a lot of the story potential I saw in Cantha.

It feels reminiscent of the greater issue many GW1 players have with GW2, that the game isn’t so much a continuation of its predecessor as it is a game inserted into the same setting but fully committed to tossing any past worldbuilding that doesn’t fit with their dragon storyline.
For Cantha, that means tossing Winds of Change and focusing on glowing green junk everywhere. It’s not the Cantha I liked anymore, I’m just hopeful the content is at least interesting.

[Anet has wasted their opportunity [Merged]]

Here I am, remembering all the people saying the livestreams were fine because Anet was going to do a big advertising burst in the 11th Hour. Every piece of media is an important point to push and advertise the expansion. I hope the Kaineng stream actually shows off things.

[In-Game Housing [Merged]]

Reasons for housing I could see:

- The obvious monetization

- something to do and pursue in the game

- a gold sink

 

Reasons against housing:

- Player housing is often used for extra storage which we have covered fine by the bank.

- Player housing is often used to showcase achievements, but being able to buy pretty much anything in GW2 makes this meaningless. Nothing is impressive.

- Anet wants to sell you special area passes, a house that provides a lot of utility would cut into that

- People seem to believe home instances are enough despite them being glorified node farms with zero customization or personal attachment.

- People seem to believe guild halls are enough despite them not being personal and guild content being more dead than Zhaitan.

It could happen, but it would have to address some of the reasons against first.

[EoD Legendaries: Remove Account Bound for Gen 2 weapons.]

On 12/24/2021 at 4:11 PM, obie.6017 said:

I am not here to right previous wrongs in your eyes - just hoping for some consistency.

I understand your point. Consistency would be nice, but I’d like them to at least work more on adding more rewards that are not directly connected to gold and therefore to credit cards.

[How did you experience the past expansions?]

I leapt right into both expansions on launch day. I didn’t worry so much about exploring or spoilers. I just worked my way through the story as fast I could. As I went, I had to pause at times for unlocking an elite spec or doing events to farm for masteries. I took in the scenery and sights as I went. Guild Halls didn’t really spoil anything. Anet doesn’t treat them like serious zones, they are unfortunately very ignored content. If you want to avoid spoilers outside the game, stay off social media and YouTube of course. I plan on doing the story strikes as I hit them in the story and the Strike CMs as they release after launch.

[Should Anet fix the oversaturated green jade like it was in GW1?]

If they just made it more muted to look like the concept art and had the glowing jade be the “powered” version when you run a current through it I don’t think anyone would be unhappy here. You could still retain all the work they’ve done on items and NPC models since those are powered jade.

[Oh Gods! "Blade Runner" Kaineng City is real :(]

We’ll have to see how it actually looks in-game, but I see this as the best looking use of the Jade so far. It actually has contrast with the darker city. Compare it to the Jade Sea where the jade parts of the map are garish and dominating or Shing Jea that looks irradiated.

[Prestige items GW2 vs other MMOs]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Like i said, the prestige is not associated with the item, but with the deed that is behind it. It's not the gold olympic medal that is prestigious. It only signifies prestige that comes from taking first place in olympic competition. The former is meaningless without the latter. The latter confers prestige even without the former.

You’re right that the deed itself is prestigious, but isn’t this a meaningless distinction? Like you can’t really separate the two. Unless you record literally everything you do, how do you prove you did the deed? The reward confers proof. Trying to splice the two is just pointless semantics. 

[Prestige items GW2 vs other MMOs]

3 hours ago, Chichimec.9364 said:

Threads like this one often leave me scratching my head in puzzlement. Personally, I play GW2 because I enjoy it, not to show off to people I don't know, nor to demonstrate my "prestige" by displaying my shiny whatever. I don't pay much attention to other players' shinies or titles and don't even notice whether they pay attention to mine or not. Except for guildies of course. We love showing off our new shinies to each other. 🙂 But these are people I know and like, not nameless, faceless randos on the streets of Tyria. And we are not trying to impress each other, we're just oohhing and aahhing over a friend's new pretties. The GW2 players who really impress me are folks like Dulfy, Jen, and AynMaiden who do (or did, in Dulfy's case) so much for the GW2 community. Whenever I get stuck on something in the game, those are the people I go to, looking for help.

Still, that's just me and my own mindset. I think @Rasimir.6239 makes a good point by highlighting that there are two different mindsets at play here.  It would be good if Anet could provide something for both mindsets. That only broadens the player base.

I’d say it’s actually three perspectives:

1. Wants rewards with prestige and external value (players care that you have it and recognize your effort)

2. Specifically doesn’t want rewards with prestige/exclusivity

3. Doesn’t really care and only internally values rewards. 
 

This thread, and general debate, often attracts those in group 3, such as yourself. It’s not really a debate on caring or not caring though. The presence of rewards that are exclusive and prestigious are irrelevant to your gameplay. It’s about should we appeal to group 1 or 2, and 3 gets what they want anyway, more rewards.
This entire discussion is a moot point since Anet has designed their game to not appeal to players like the OP and that won’t change, but it’s helpful for everyone confused to consider that MMOs attract a wide variety of players. Going into content to get a sweet reward is still another player doing that content. Best to recognize that and ask what can Anet add that appeals to multiple camps.

[Prestige items GW2 vs other MMOs]

6 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

There's no such item, because items do not confer prestige. Neither in this game, or in others.

Well, no, that is false. You are clearly projecting your own lack of interest in items as the non-existence of prestige. 
 

“Prestige” has value for items because they are adverts. Billboards directing players to do X content if they want Y reward. That is useful for a video game. It is useful for players who might need the extra push to see if they’d like content. This has been proven in plenty of other games. People see prestigious items in games like WoW or FFXIV and it is communicated to them that they need to do something different to get it.

[Arborstone: A Complete Waste of Space]

2 hours ago, Pirindolo.9427 said:

Can anyone explain what's the meaning of the "confused" emoticon? Because I receive a lot of them, even when I post something like "2+2 = 4". So it obviously doesn't mean that the person reacting to my post is confused.

It’s just an unofficial downvote/dislike button on here. 

[Prestige items GW2 vs other MMOs]

If you really want rewards with extrinsic value (prestige) you will have a bad time in GW2. The game does not cater to that population at all. It can’t actually. The payment model for the game is based upon selling you shiny things in the cash shop. The end game progression revolves around gathering shiny things. They can’t sell you things if in-game items are equally as shiny and have more prestige.

 

It’s a contradiction that can only exist if you don’t really care about the extrinsic. I do care, but not solely and I also get other things out of the game. If rewards mean nothing to you, or only matter to the intrinsic value you get from it, then it’s a great game for you.

[A group finding pug system would be nice for fractals]

1 hour ago, xo wayne.6045 said:

Appreciate the response 😄

 

I do need to highlight some points however.

 

-Might be my personal problem but i am loyal to my guild and I dont want to focus having 5 (honeslty where does one belong haha).

-It is a strong argument that guild wars is very unique in that all roles arn't really set in stone (tanks, healer, dps). Nonetheless, my guild and i were able to run up to fractal 20 (not saying thats high) having no concern of who had what build/gear. In my opinion, i would rather fail and find a new group within a few minutes than seek another manually for hours.

 

Just looking for the freedom to enjoy other content while i wait to be grouped with others and not deal with the in between.

Gotcha yeah for T1 you can basically beat your head against it with any build and probably get through. My suggestion would be just reconsider the hours you’re looking since one unfortunate part of the game is a lot of activity seems to be populated around daily resets. I also noticed you mentioned looking for a group rather than making one. Try posting your own group and you might be surprised.