Vedras.5602

Hello all! I'm a bit of a helicopter player, having always enjoyed the game at a fairly surface level, however I feel my lack of a more in-depth understanding of building is preventing me from realising a classes full scope of potential. Now we have the the Steam release and the attention of new players, this may be the time for this rather loaded question. Buildcraft....where does one begin? When we look at "the Meta" its a way of building (traits, weapons, armour runes, infusions, sigils, etc etc) synergistic/complimentary play which yields optimal results. I'm not looking for Meta, I'm looking for a way to understand where to begin. With so many game modes and activities, what sort of mindset does someone adopt to understand where to begin with so many variables when trying to create something of their own? Thank you for reading and responding in advance.

In all sincere honesty....I don't think I've ever been so happy playing Gw2. Slap on the Beastslayer rifle skin and you have peak Engineer class fantasy. This is absolutely what the fruits of your tinkering should yield 🙂

I just want to thank everyone who has posted their point of view and guidance. In a relatively short space of time this thread has received a lot of supportive and well-meaning feedback which has been frankly awesome. As I've only ever seen the pre-80 experience, this has definitely grounded my perceptions and expectations. I'm also looking forward to the post-80 game much more now I understand the nature of the content ahead of me.

I'm afraid that was not the over-arcing point I'm making, and I'll present/categorise my posts in a way which best helps me convey what I am trying to say thanks. Honestly the spacing looks more sensible in creation/editing but really spreads out after posting. If there's a way to tighten that up I'm open to feedback. As a counter-argument, I'd ask you what the point of numerous zones of varying levels really means if everything just falls with little change to the engagement curve during the levelling phase? (I've actually cleaned the spacing up a little in hindsight. You raised a fair point. Thank you)

Thanks for the reply @Vilin.8056. I get that and realise its pretty typical. I just feel there's more that the baby mode could potentially teach/deliver. So far the range of reactions on the matter is quite varied so....I guess I may need to forge on to see the bigger picture.

(Disclaimer - A bit ranty, but trying to encourage discussion) I enjoy this game and always have. I decided to come back to it because I wanted to experience everything instead of getting bored at around level 30 then put it down again. So one fresh warrior and 50 levels later...I'm feeling conflicted. My issue is one of feeling as if I am being rail-roaded to the level cap far too quickly. I've played other MMO's and I suppose I am used to level grinding. Bit of a dirty word these days, however it means you've more scope to experience the content available to you more organically in order to progress to the the next area instead of out-leveling them outright. This may be a frustration for the few and not the majority. If so that's fair. In MMO's I like to change it up now and then. My problem is everything give you experience to the point of anxiety. For example Gathering: I feel like crafting, lets take a time-out and do some chill gathering. While a gentle source of EXP drip, it's still there. Why is this adding to my adventure level instead of contributing to something more appropriate like crafting level, or some sort of general gathering perk/efficiency? Crafting: Its nice to visit you favourite city, hole yourself up in a crafting area then work on a separate facet of your char development. For me this typically serves as break away from the grind allowing for a different kind of immersion. This too is slowly but surely feeding level experience. I'm trying to take a break here to get my gear up to date (inefficient or not) but the game is pushing me. I'm here to craft not to continue gaining adventure experience. Seems most players wait unill they are 80 to begin crafting these days. Kinda takes the point and fun out of the idea surely? Events: I genuinely really love the attention and care ANET put in to their events. Dragon Bash popped up the other day. Great, sounds like another change of pace!. Again in my mind this should sort of be a jolly away from the main experience - the ring/arena event is pissing experience and levelling me like mad. I'm enjoying it, but again I'm worrying that this is throwing off my 'level/content ratio'. Dungeons: Yep these SHOULD give experience, but my point is I am trying to engage with many facets of the game and I'm just being pushed up faster before I even begin a basic story mode dungeon. Vistas & POI's Again quite generous exp being thrown at you. You can get the best part of a level just by running around a new area. Tomes of experience Why? Why is this a big deal to me? It feels like I'm racing toward the cap too quickly. I COULD systematically experience each map area by level tier, restricting my gear for that area and ignore my actual level, but that shouldn't be the intended experience. If I just go ahead with current gear I feel like I'm just steamrolling things without really engaging the map areas fully. It devolves in to next area, tying to get a few waypoints and see the scenery....oh, I've just reach the level for the next and so on. While doing this, I'm unlocking abilities and specialisations but there's nothing challenging enough that is making me stop to question or consider my class mechanics, interactions, synergies, what I use or how I use it. It sort of feels like no matter how much you slow down to take it in, you are still being forced along. This can be frustrating when you KNOW there are lots of quirky things that can happen in each map area if you take the time to explore and have a look around. There's a lot of hidden and not so obvious things new players would simply not see. Yes, you get down-levelled but the difficulty scaling isn't meaningful when you are still 1-2 hitting everything. I've not experienced the Xpacs yet. Nothing that remotely resembles end game. But there's enough feedback on the forums to suggest that once you've unlocked the elite specs you may as well forget the core class. You still need a fundamental understanding of how your class works though, it's strengths/weaknesses etc. At this rate I feel that once I hit genuinely challenging content, it's going to be a baptism of fire and I'm going to be laughed out of a group for not having a clue what I am doing, where in truth I'd really like to engage in the hard stuff when I get there. and can definitely foresee a point the game will abruptly shift gear. This may be a potential flaw and breaking point for many who are neither familiar with any MMO tropes/conventions or used to what the game may later demand of them. It has certainly been implied on these forums that the Devs want players to hit the cap to reach the latest content ASAP. Does anyone else feel that this has let the core experience (even base classes) suffer? I feel by being allowed a little more control over my level gain I could be enjoying this more than I am. I'd rather be put through my paces, be more involved with building my character along with feeling a bit of accomplishment in my progression given breathing space to do it. Or maybe as a gamer in his 30's with a lot of prior MMO experience I need to adjust my expectations *shrugs*. A lot of the frustration comes from a genuine love of the game, knowing it could be further refined and evolved in to something really amazing. I needed to post this a it has been on my mind for a while. Anyway, thanks for reading this. I'd love to get the points of view from players both new and well experienced. Narf

A warm and friendly hello to all! So I've dipped in and out of this game since it first released, done a load of alt-hoping and only once made it to around level 72 on a character I no longer play. (Currently seem to be settled on on a new-ish Mesmer though). The thing is, I do really love this game and would like to get somewhere. I'm looking for a guild that doesn't mind someone slow-boating their own way through the content gradually. About me: My home Server is Piken Square (EU) Geographic region/timezone: Scotland (GMT) Character name: Narf Shatterfang I have PoF & HoT expacs (one day I'll clear the core game and step foot in one of them lol) I like playing Charr. Me and my wife are cat people - though there seems to be some sort of fury association with this race. I find the subculture a little cringey. Just because I find angry diesel/steampunk cats bonkers, and utterly meme-worthy in a vacuum, should not mean or infer anything else. I prefer to speak and communicate in my native tongue, being English. Unfortunately I have not learned other languages. (all hail google translate!) I'm a pretty laid back kinda guy for the most part. I treat other how they treat myself and just looking to enjoy this game through a friendly community. When I get to 80 it would be nice to know there's possibility of inclusion to high-end content (fractals/raiding). Right now I'm probably a more casual but consistent player, active during week days typically around 19:00-00:00 GMT give or take. Weekends i'm potentially more active. Not a big PVP sort of player but I do really enjoy WVW. A guild that also participates in this mode would be amazing. I'm quite adjusted to dieing horribly -a lot- on my 20 Mesmer but on a good night with a good Zerg you can get a few things done. Took a me a while but I do have my Warclaw unlocked 🙂 I'm not sure what else to mention. Possible further Edits to come, but thanks for taking the time to read this. Kindest Regards, 'Narf'

Long time lurker and first time poster here. I hop between alts all the time and have not experienced the mid to end game in any shape or form. So unfortunately I'm not qualified to comment in any way technical or meta. I do have a soft spot for warrior though. So from an early core (1-30) perspective what stands out to me is lack of fields. We get light fields through banners. Light fields are for cleanse. That's it. Unimaginative. Boring. Its the same for our elite banner. I want to be a one Charr wrecking crew and that does not particularly do much for the class fantasy. We have so many weapons with field interactions with little means to generate them - unless you play longbow for that infrequent F1, no dice. I feel there is something fundamentally missing. For a class that, in my opinion, should be a walking armoury, there needs to be far more engaging skill interactions (catering for both Condi & Power) allowing to fight in ways with more fluidity than other classes perhaps. If the only thing you can rely on is your martial training/discipline then you need to be extremely proficient in your trade of war. Mace animations aren't particularly stimulating either I want a Torch main hand/shield combo. That's what, 3 things? Still. The fields stand out to me at least. Sorry, that turned out more ranty than intended 😞