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Does fractals really have an issue with sellers? I know raids do, but fractals get run quite often by pugs. As for a guild, you actually have multiple guild slots. You can stay in your current guild and join another. That has its own set of problems I don’t like but that’s the way it is. You can also join a discord like Mistlocked that posts runs for finding groups. More generally speaking, a party finder doesn’t work with GW2. There are thousands upon thousands of build combinations. You could have healing gear but offensive traitlines, or a wrong weapon. You could be a condi dps Druid or a weaver in soldiers gear. How do you properly assemble a group? It’s not like in FF14 or WoW where you have very defined roles that don’t leave room for confusion on gear or purpose.

It would make the most sense to just show the strikes you have access to. The message could be useful I guess if the player is confused on how they can access a specific strike.

I don’t see the value Arborstone provides the average player. Maybe it has value, but you need to show it! They can’t keep trying to hype people on “probably” and “maybe”. It’s crazy. Why do I care about this space. Why should I bother leveling a mastery. For crafting, and cats? Strikes operate through a portal, so I see no reason why EoD strikes couldn’t be accessed from EoTN, or old strikes through Arbor. Any utility the area has is already covered by EoTN or absolutely floored by paid spaces like Mistlock. Please prove me wrong Anet.

The Gen 2 legendaries are a higher visual fidelity than Gen 1 so it makes sense that they cost a bit more. The issue with Gen 2 cost is the mystic tribute, specifically mystic coins. Having the legendary cost be so centralized on a single item was a bad idea. A stack of mystic coins, really? No wonder the price has surged over time. The condensed gifts were good ideas because they distributed the cost over more tiers of trophies, improving the value of the previously worthless trophies and making the prices more stable. I doubt we will see a similar recipe for Gen 3 just because the price of a mystic tribute is way too volatile and attached to MCs. It’s a quick and dirty way to slap cost on an item.

If you don’t even know what it is then how do you even know you’re being spoiled? The Whisper of Jormag was the main antagonist for a story episode but if you just saw the strike fight would you know that? No, it’s just a large icebrood Norn. For HoT, should they reveal the Mouth of Mordemoth fight? No, but they can show off fighting one of his lane bosses. Revealing some gameplay is not revealing all gameplay no matter how much you conflate the two. Anet spending entire streams running around empty zones giggling about how the content is actually there and looking at walls and cats is not exciting or marketable, end of story.

It’s an interesting idea and I’ll try to collect them but I still am in the camp of wanting Canthan legendaries for my Canthan expansion. Feels like so much potential got lost for more dragon stuff again.

I believe the content is there, but their “spoiler-free” policy is reaching far past the point of absurdity now. A new customer who doesn’t play the game and doesn’t have any reason to trust Anet has no idea what this expansion offers them gameplay wise! It’s just all wordy promises and running around empty maps! Anet, you have to actually show us something repeatable. What are we doing after week 1 of this expansion. Their marketing strategy is like a restaurant menu that just says “food”. I just cannot believe that every meta, every strike, every piece of actual gameplay contains a massive spoiler that players right now would understand. Teasers aren’t wrong when we don’t have the context to even understand what we are seeing!

I view the matter as less of a internet bragging right and more as a matter of "advertising". A new player enters a game and sees a cool shiny reward a player has. How did you get it? I did X content. You are giving your players attractive billboards to encourage people to do content in the game. If the answer is always "I swiped for gems then converted to gold and bought it", people will be turned off from the game as they view it as an illegitimate and unsatisfying way to get rewards. This turns reward-driven and achievement-driven people away from your game.

I agree. The 1st gen being purchasable through a credit card was a major fault of the game at launch and set up this pattern of rewards consistently being undermined by those willing to swipe their way to a reward. It is hard to attract people to the game when they learn that pretty much anything can be bought with real money. "Guild Wars 2 reveals new legendary weapons that can purchased with your credit card" is hardly a headline the game needs right now. That being said, the variant skins look to be obtained through actually playing the game and I think it would be neat to have a title or something for collecting all the variants. That would be a nice reward for the completionists and devoted achievers.

I'd be more excited about the Guild Hall if Anet treated Guilds as more alive and having more content. Alliances could be big for guilds but they haven't pushed Guild Content in any real way in a long long time. We've been stuck with Guild Missions for years.

Taidha’s door. It’s been a long time coming. Let’s see what happens.

I am excited to try these changes but the Virtuoso is still severely limited by not having any access to unblockable attacks and projectile blocking just hard counters their entire kit. Also enough with the condi traitline! Just let it be a power dps and let mirage be the condi spec. Harbinger sounds a lot more active now except for the GM traits are still a very passive and boring set of traits. I don’t see this spec playing very differently depending on which GM trait you take. Just like with Virt, the power line on this spec seems irrelevant when reaper exists. I am cautiously optimistic for Vindicator! Let’s see if it’s actually worth playing now.

I agree, the game has enough visual issues as is. A bright jarring green plastered all over a map isn’t very pleasing, especially if this is the end game map as predicted and we will be spending a lot of time there. I look at the EoD Jade Sea concept art and the GW1 jade and I like it so much more. Not because it’s old or nostalgia or anything. Just because it’s more aquatic. It’s not ugly. It’s not bright and in your face constantly. Unless Anet plans on changing the map for story reasons later, this will be the permanent look of the Jade Sea. Is it really worth it to use story justification to make a permanently ugly and unappealing part of your game?

No week has shown much. They don't have to show anything but I question why the half measure on everything. Shing Jea, Echovald, now Jade Sea. The content exists but they seem hell-bent on not showing any of it.

The livestream today was the most drastic case yet of them refusing to show things off due to the risk of spoilers. I understand that some people do not want to have story content spoiled for them, but Anet has increasingly been hesitant to show off anything of substance and it has hamstrung their marketing of the expansion. They talk a lot about what we can do. What have they shown? What can we actually SEE? Fishing, and some light map exploration, is all we have received so far. Considering the vast majority of consumers have not actually played GW1 Factions, selling the nostalgia of Cantha is a limited appeal at best. For most people, they want to know why we want to go to this region. What will we be doing, what will happen. Where will our investment into the gameplay pay off and what content is there to do. Anet's approach to this expansion has been to keep as much to the chest as possible, and it has made for an incredibly lackluster presentation. Today's showcase revealed nothing. Strikes get no more than a blog post. Map metas are a mystery. The masteries are still unclear. The idea that story spoilers are so prevalent in every inch of the expansion that they can't show off anything at all without ruining everything just isn't believable. Show us content. Show us things to do. Stop running around empty sections of a map with no UI or anything at all.

I definitely liked the old GW1 jade color because it looked more aqua in color which was fitting as a frozen ocean. A very cool aesthetic unique to the franchise. EoD Cantha seems obsessed with neon green and plastering the same aesthetics across the entirety of Cantha and I really don’t get it. Why smother a wonderfully diverse region with the same look?

Queue the "but everything" response. The game is unrecognizable to the 2012 version. It is ludicrous to use that as a justification for why something won't happen. It's not even a real reason, it's just saying it won't happen because it won't.

Nothing, which is an irrelevant question to ask as you might have read from my proposal that a race change should only be useable after the character has completed the first 3 story chapters of race-relevant story. At that point onwards the players race doesn’t matter so what would be the issue? Where would there even be room for error?

The quote you are posting is another player referencing a dev comment from September of 2012!! Consider how ridiculous it is to base assumptions off of that, of just how many things Anet said would NEVER be in the game that are now in it. That predates mounts, predates expansions, raids, even predates the wardrobe system! and so again, I ask you, what are the actual issues with a race change in GW2 in the year 2021? We know that after level 30 story it literally does not matter what race you are. It’s the same story. Yes, sylvari get some need tidbits in HoT but since the level 40 story encounter I listed on my proposal the story does not care if you are a charr, norn, or whatever. If you want to call out my proposal as untenable then present the actual reasons why instead of falling back on a statement made almost a decade ago.

Such as? Would you be kind enough to list them or continue making vague allusions?

Cross posting my proposal on why this topic is not as big a “waste” of resources as people tend to believe: That’s right. It’s everybody’s favorite, definitely not controversial topic: playable Tengu. No matter if you love or hate the idea, it is a fact that implementing a new playable race would take considerable dev resources. The criticism of this is that it would be a waste of resources as a new race isn’t “content”. You make a bird and that’s it. I am making the case that such an argument does not rule out playable Tengu. How? Pair it with the release of another long requested feature: RACE CHANGE The arrival of playable Tengu could herald a new gemstore upgrade, race change. For the price of 800 gems (the equivalent of making a new character and cheaper than a FFXIV race change for comparison). Here is my proposal for how this all works: Tengu: - A new Tengu character starts at level 80 and has an extended tutorial section. This is much more robust than the other races tutorial and continues into the shiny new Shing Jea training grounds. - New collections and quests encourage the Tengu player to stay in the training grounds for a longer time. Collections and quests across Cantha provide unblockable cultural armor and weapons for Tengu players. - Tengu who wish to replay old story content are morphed into a standard human male/female model with human voice acting. A message such as “you are experiencing the history of the Commander of Tyria” appears when doing old story content. Race Change: - 800 gems, unlimited amounts able to be purchased. - A player character must have completed the lvl 40 personal story step “Setting the Stage” to be able to race change. This puts them past any relevant race-related story steps. - A player character must be level 80 to race change to a Tengu. - A player character must either unequip all gear, all racial gear/skills prior to changing or the system automatically normalizes the gear skins and skill bar after changing. - The player selects what race-specific character creation and Order selection they wish during race change. - Special hairstyles/faces/etc are not available in race change. Or maybe they should be? But OP, how does this affect the content argument? It adds a little content, but that’s okay. Anet adds things all the time that aren’t content, to the gemstore. A new race and a new upgrade could in my opinion be a fair reason to justify the dev costs of this proposal. You would be generating a new source of income to cover the dev costs and possibly more as we have seen race change be extremely popular in games such as FFXIV. Isn’t it bad to add an easy way to get to level 80? No. Veteran players already find leveling a joke. If you don’t want to play as a bird, you spam your stacks of level scrolls, tomes, or maybe a boost. For new players it is better as well. Level 1-79 is severely outdated content for the game. The Shing Jea training grounds are far superior as a tutorial as you are introducing the player to actually relevant mechanics in relevant content. The worst thing you can do to sell new players on the game is toss them into 2012 starter zones. They won’t even witness the actual modern state of the game and what the game truly has to offer. TL;DR: Playable Tengu can do two things. First, it can be a big hype change to encourage players to buy race changes or new character slots. Second, it can provide a fast access to EoD training and offer the chance for a much more detailed tutorial for new and returning players. Embrace the bird.

Specter: This spec is fun and different from old thief. Since you are introducing ally-targeted skills with this spec, it could use better UI and keybind options to improve the gameplay. I know other MMOs let you manipulate party healthbars and selection to make the process of monitoring and selecting the proper ally less painful. Untamed: This spec is pretty sad. Being stuck to hammer is not very fun. The pet is very passive now as it needs to be micromanaged to do anything impactful. The damage isn't very impressive and it's role in WvW will be better accomplished by other specs. Unleashed skills should be available on other weapons to make the mechanic more useful. Integrate the pet more into the traits. I noticed a lack of a stun break as well. Also change the name! Awful name. Even the devs on the live stream were avoiding using it. Mechanist: This spec is far too reliant on the mech. There should be more interplay between having the mech active and not. The mech seems fairly weak yet when it is gone you are even worse off. The mace should be improved without the mech and the mech should be beefier and stronger when it is present. Bladesworn: This spec feels very static and boring to play once you get past the big damage. Since you'll adjust the numbers anyway, what does it really offer? It's terrible in competitive modes and warrior REALLY didn't need a new power dps in PvE. Losing a weapon set wasn't worth this. We also lose an entire weapon set worth of cosmetics, severely limiting our options for designing a look. Catalyst: This class is equally as sad as Untamed. What is this class supposed to be? Is it supposed to be a fast swapping bruiser that builds up auras? Is it supposed to lay down totems and provide boons? These ideas clash, they do not work together. You can apply quickness on air but as soon as you swap your quickness application is gone. Weaver already does fast swapping dueling quite well. Tempest provides lots of auras. This class is also yet again tied too much to hammer. The hammer 3 is cool but the hitbox is janky and it is super reliant on this skill to do any damage. Vindicator: My contender for worst elite spec this expansion. Just rebuild it from the ground up please. Greatsword is okay but not particularly interesting. Everything else is bad. The damage is bad. The F2 is expensive and boring on any other legend. The utilities are awkward to use how you want because the F2 binding them is so expensive. The traitlines are too focused on the dodges and are uninspired divisions of damage/boons/healing. The dodges are super committal and not worth the cost. Did rev REALLY need another support option? No! What it needs is a power dps. Just make this spec a power dps. Give it a single line of defensive and offensive skills based on the legends. Make the dodges operate more like daredevil so you're not sacrificing your best defensive option for a lackluster attack. Please overhaul this spec. Extreme spec makeover: Rev edition. Virtuoso: This class feels so close yet so far to being good. I understand what it's supposed to be. A duelist and strong offensive presence. The issues are that it has a useless condi line and a full projectile kit. Toss the condi line and add a line focused on WvW gameplay. Let it be a mobile artillery cannon in PvE and WvW, a true offensive threat. Give it access to some unblockable bladesongs so that you can punch through people. Harbinger: This class feels the same no matter how you play it. That isn't very interesting. The trait differences are so passive and the elixirs are too basic. Just like with Virtuoso, toss the useless power line for Harbi. Make elixirs more interesting, even just tossing the empty glasses at people for extra bleeds, Life force, shroud CD reduction, etc. Necro isn't a very complex profession but I hate how the grandmasters are literally the same thing, just with different passive effects. Boring! Willbender: This spec needs some damage love to actually do its job properly. If you want it to be a roaming threat, let the off-hand sword not get outclassed by focus. Also a contender for worst elite spec name against Untamed. I understand that PoF specs ruined the game balance and you wanted to be conservative with these.... but these are just bad. Like REALLY bad. Some of them on a conceptual level, not just numbers. Vindi, Cata, and Untamed need the most love. Mech, Harbi, and Virt after that. Willbender and Bladesworn need some changes. Specter is pretty fine and I find it hilarious that the thieves get the best designed spec. I am hopeful the Nov beta will reveal wonderful and thoughtful changes to each of these but there is some serious anxiety in the air over the state of the EoD specs.

The Winter Roadmap appears to be missing info on Strikes yes? That’s going to be a pretty big part of the expansion content right? They dedicated a section to it on the First Look. I understand that they are keeping it close to the chest for spoiler reasons, but is that really as big a concern? Is every strike boss a massive spoiler? Is there no boss that would be fine to show out of context? Would most spoilers be a concern when we don’t even know the context? Out of context reveals are fairly common in advertising for that exact reason. i don’t want to keep seeing bits and pieces of only the safest information to share. I like harder content and I would like to know what I’m paying for. I’d like to know more details on the reward restructure. We don’t need to know everything, but this radio silence on the roadmap is concerning.

I think there are three options here: 1. Variants refers to the precursors and the legendaries. 2. Variants refers to the varying weapon types of a singular theme. 3. The weapons have more visual variation than the shiny Aurene nonsense. Option 3 would be exciting but I’ll temper my expectations.

Catalyst: Hammer 3 is far too quick and the hit box is poorly spaced. This is an issue given it’s a primary source of damage for the spec. I also think the spec has clashing themes. On one hand, you encourage fast swapping around for combos and auras. On the other hand, the orb wants you to stay in an element so you get actual value out of the boon application. This forces you to choose between actually applying quickness by camping Air or doing any sort of damage. Vindicator: This class is janky. The GS skills are good. I don’t agree that you should have designed so much of it around dodges. The dodges themselves are awkward and the power dodge is a joke for the damage. Isn’t a hugely committal move for big damage the bladesworn’s niche? Why compete? Why is the best build to come out of this spec a support build. Did Rev really need another support build? The traits are bland and focused entirely on the dodges as well. The utilities are not fun to use and the F2, the button designed to make it all work, costs 25 energy on a spec already starving for energy. This spec needs way more than some numbers changes. Bladesworn: This spec is in the best shape out of the three. Where I see room for improvement still is the pistol and the gunblade as a whole. The pistol is mostly just used in the opening burst rotation. It could use some more functionality outside of those beginning seconds. The gunblade itself feels like a poor trade-off. We lose unique bursts on our weapons and an entire second weapon set. We should be able to access the gunblade through weapon swap and put Dragon Trigger on F1. Keep it consistent with other Warrior builds where F1 is the big damage burst. If you’re going to act like Gunblade is something special, a spec-specific weapon rather than a kit, then treat it like a weapon!