AnClar.1304

I've been playing since beta GW1. I haven't noticed a particular change in the community over that time. It's pretty much better than a number of other MMOs in general. That said, a lot of ppl's impressions can be skewed depending on what happened to them in particular. Many of us beef and moan about the various RNGs IG...well, the ppl any one player will interact with are sort of like a human RNG (unless you're with guildies or know the other players in your group). Example: many folx complain about GW2s snobby and pissy raid community. How much of that is because of human RNG related to the PUG or other group that that particular player interacts with. My experience has been exactly the opposite. I finally decided I was going to try raiding. I kept an open mind about who I was going to meet. Bear in mind, I'm a pretty casual player...even worse for me, I was playing my ele. I went to the Aerodrome and joined a PUG with some other beginners who were also wanting to try raiding. Out of nowhere, a really friendly, helpful guy joined our squad. He asked how many of us were new to raiding. Most of us were. So he called on some of his guildies, all experienced raiders to join us, patiently explained the mechanics of Vale Guardian and we started out. Most of us noobs figured we'd be happy just being introduced to how to raid. What we got from these great guys was a full W1 clear with patience and explanations. So my impression of the raiding community will be different than others. My overall point is that in a community as large as GW2 there are all kinds of people. In my experience in GW2, more of those ppl are decent and fun to game with than not...key words here: In My Experience. How did that old acronym go again...oh yeah...YMMV.

Maybe a concept of "homelike" possibilities on all maps. Like if you're out in a remote outpost, there's a place you can go/setup/unlock that would be like visiting, but across the maps. As in, I have cousins living in a remote outpost in Snowden Drifts...sure overdue to visit. Maybe the cousins would be so happy to see me, they might give me a gift for showing up...a unique boon, or buff, or item...whatever. Just some random thoughts. This might be totally impractical, but it sounds like it might be fun if it could be implemented, and it would give ppl an excuse to visit older maps and maybe find something else worthwhile to do in those maps while they are there "visiting" the cousins.

Let me be clear...I'm a casual player, I don't raid, I've done strike missions, although I'm not the best at it by a long shot. I own all the expacs, and I currently stand at 430 mastery level. In all the years I've been playing, I've seen the griping about what are, basically, QOL items. Sure, mounts are a great addition to the game, and GW2 does them pretty well, IMO. Some ppl equate effort with grind, and grind with not fun. Then there are those folks who think that everything should just be handed out to them like candy. Not necessarily saying the OP is that, but there are many like what I've described IG. To me, it's a game, and as such, I play it...emphasis on play. If I don't like some content, or the process of getting a shiny becomes not fun, I stop doing it. If the game overall becomes not fun to play to me, I'll stop playing. In the over a decade since I began playing GW1 I still find the games fun to play. Are they perfect, nope. Are they still fun to play to me, yes. Do I, for example, wish the Permanent Bank Access Contract cost less than 5k because the drop rate is so low, sure, but can I live without it, sure. Getting the Skyscale was fun to me. It was a quest chain and yet another adventure. I got it when it originally came out and I don't regret getting at all. It is the most versatile mount to me, and as others have said, it relegates the other mounts to niche status. But griping about the process to acquire an optional item or mount just doesn't make sense for me. If things get bad, I won't gripe, I'll move on...life's too short.

Agree mostly. And it goes back to GW1. I remember a time or two that I was standing around waiting to get favor, and some kind soul was hanging around just giving valuable stuff away to new players for free. Also the many helpers in the starter zones were really appreciated. The one thing I wish was different is for some in the raiding community to be less annoying and obnoxious. Sure, I know there are great groups like Raid Academy to learn from, but beginning raiders are often run off by the crummy attitude of some veterans in that community. Other than that, the GW community is one of the best in the MMO universe, IMO.

Yeah...that is weird. Sorry you're having the issues. I've been running GW2 on my W11 setup with zero issues. There are so many things that can mess with the client running, OS patches, GPU driver issues, wonky overlays, etc. Still pretty poor that ANet isn't supporting an OS that's a year out from release.

I still wish they'd codify a new elite specialization for all professions: "Faceroller". I know it sort of already exists, but making it formal would allow the Faceroller crowd to now boast about it as their Elite Spec. I actually began as a faceroller, and eventually graduated to semi-organized rotation keystroker for my Tempest. 🤣

Absolutely enjoyed the drops...thanks Anet! (I'm sure the streamers loved the huge audience jumps, follows, and subs as well.)

As others have said, R eport B lock M ove O n. I understand your unhappiness tho. Some ppl suck by nature. That said, in my fifteen years of playing the GW franchise, while I've run into a goodly number of a-holes, I've met a lot more really great folks. The number of good ppl I've met far outnumbers the other kind. The GW2 community is overall one of the best I've encountered in my gaming travels, IMO.

I'm a longtime gamer in what I would call not the main demographic for GW2, let alone MMOs in general, that is older gamers. I've been aware of Twitch for a while, but never really approached it in a serious way. Because of the Twitch drops I've now gotten more involved with Twitch and streamers that I probably ever would have done w/o the drops. I've followed a few content creators, and subbed to a couple. Why? Not directly because of the drops, but because after watching some of them for a while, I found them to be informative, helpful, and entertaining to watch. Sure, the drops were the hook that got me to watch in the first place, and that obvi benefitted the streamers, who commented all day about how huge their audiences had suddenly become. But still, I have to believe that if the drops resulted in my getting more involved with Twitch, they also made me and many others more familiar with areas of the game that they, and I haven't really approached much...raids, PvP and WvW.. Because of that, I'm now more likely to at least try those areas of the game. All this to say that Twitch drops have the potential to do two things 1. Get players familiar with areas of the game they might not have ever tried. 2. Introduce GW2 to more potential new players than might have happened without the drops. So, IMO, Twitch drops are a good and useful thing to the health and longevity of GW2. They are a relatively inexpensive way for ANet to increase the player base. I hope the drops continue.

This pretty much sums up my experience with the DE meta. I began by reading all the posts that complained that the meta was too hard and close to impossible to beat. My reaction was to first read the mechanics of the meta and of the boss fight carefully. Next, realize that this was going to be a two-hour or so time sink and plan accordingly. What I came up with was this: Understanding that an organized group on a meta map would improve my chances dramatically. So I identifed groups that ran this meta regularly (Hardstuck, for one) and joined those organized runs. Listened to squad commanders and those who had done the meta before me, and learn from them what was expected at any given step. Screwed up some the first time or two I did the meta...stuff like mistiming my CCs, or not focusing on exactly when to get to the side islands for the mini boss phases. But continued to learn, whether we beat the boss or not. I looked for reasons why we'd time out and identify what they were and how I could contribute more efficiently next time. So with a bit of front-end prep work, the groups I was in, especially early on, only failed occasionally. As I said, they were still all learning experiences to me. Now, I really enjoy the DE meta. I agree with those who say the loot is not commensurate with the time and effort involved, and would sure love to see that addressed. Still, I find this to be one of the metas I really enjoy.

I enabled the AlienFX option in settings and nothing seems to have changed. I know there are probably not many users still running Alienware rigs but It's what I have, and it seems to be working fine for GW2, other than not seeing any RGB differences whether the option is on or off. Just wondering. Thanks.

How about a selection of 10th Anniversary titles for toons that have made it this far: "Old AF" "What is this IRL you speak of???" "Wait! I'm moving as fast as I can!" "I should have made a left turn at Lion's Arch"

Kind of liking the Tempest changes. I've run ele/tempest/weaver main since beta, as the different elite specs have been introduced because I like the class. Have watched and endured many ele nerfs over the years, and still managed to come up with playable PvE builds. Still there's been a perception, and somewhat of a reality that ele has taken more than its fair share of hits with the nerf bat. The class has always had low survivability and required a lot of creativity to stay alive. The class is harder to play well, IMO, but that's part of the fun of it to me. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to these changes.

Add my +100 to those who are unhappy with ANet...yeah for the totally unnecessary remap, but even more...way more for them to just stuff it in the patch notes, and not call attention to it. Sure, it takes two seconds to redo the keybinds, but for goodness sake...let veteran players know about it BEFOREHAND...not after you make the change. Thanks for a solution in search of a problem in this one, devs! /facepalm

ANet further borked the meta when they allowed getting the turtle egg for writs of Dragon's End. It was well-intentioned, but not well-thought out. You don't have to do the meta...great, for those not wanting to do it...but again, you then have ppl in maps just farming writs and screwing up those who want to complete the meta. Not fixing fishing stacks is yet another example of a not well-thought through issue. I'd love to see both of these issues addressed by the devs...and this time thinking through all the collateral effects their actions might have.

Well, Kate Pfeilschiefter, one of the ANet supervisors on the Skyscale project said in a Guild Chat Twitch broadcast when Skyscale was released, around three years ago, that the Skyscale was in concept, a "heroic" mount, as opposed to the other mounts at the time Skyscale was released. So she did set it apart from the other mounts.

These gripey threads that start out by saying...but...but...but you mean I can't just haz a shiny just 'cuz I want it, I'll even pay RL $ for it make me wonder why these folks are even playing the game. Not being nasty here but really, IG accomplishments that require a quest chain, a bit of gold, and mats but reward a distinctive and useful mount are part of what this particular game is about. As has been said about a zillion times, GW2 is not P2W. There is a ton of content that you can get just by playing the game. Skyscale was always meant to be a prestige mount, and a QOL thing. A Skyscale is not required to play, but it does make navigating the maps easier, and is great to look at. I got my Skyscale when it was first introduced, and IMO the quest for it was fun, and the sense of accomplishment I got was well worth the time and effort I spent getting it. I'd love to know how many players and what percentage of players have a Skyscale. I'd bet the numbers would be higher than many think. All this to say, no, I'm not in favor of putting the Skyscale in the gem shop. If you feel the effort is too long, or too difficult, then just play without a Skyscale.

I generally don't post a lot here, but I've been playing GW games from the beta days of GW1 so I'll add my voice to this thread because it is a thing, and it's only getting worse as time goes on, even with DX11. ANet has always prided itself on making the GW franchise games accessible to players with less than ultra-elite h/w. The goal of universal accessibility is becoming harder and harder to achieve IMO. Couple that with the increasing number and flamboyance of the shinies, and players wanting to, as someone said earlier, "peacock" strut around showing off how pretty they are. The concept is fine, but what it creates is a visual experience that seems to only be focused on the shinies, not good gameplay. I've had to lower my graphics settings in order to play some of the metas, but even so, many times I just cannot see to be accurate in targeting, or kiting, or evading, or whatever I need to do to survive at any given time. Bottom line, it just isn't fun to do that. ANet, please add a way for us to control the level of other player's visual effects. Please.

The devs (FireAttunement) stated on the other thread about this sale being limited to US, that they were going to have a sale for countries other than the US in the near future. Also, it seems as though while you can only purchase two codes per Amazon transaction, you can do multiple transactions at two codes per transaction. I can't imagine this would be an issue, as ANet did not specify a quantity limit for discounted card purchases.

Thinking back to mount unlocks, and masteries, and what I thought then vs. now. I enjoyed the griffon scavenger hunt. It never really occurred to me that it was particularly grindy or boring. OTOH, I found the Skyscale more tedious to unlock, even though it is now the mount I use most. As for the UW skimmer unlock, I found that trivial overall. I tend to just play the game (I consider myself definitely a 'casual' player). I've never raided, and I just like the story and exploring the world and the amazing artwork. I used to think I'd never unlock all the masteries, especially the HoT ones, mostly because I suck at the mini-adventures. But by just playing, I now have all the masteries done, minus the raid ones. Overall, I think ANet have done a fairly decent job with the mounts. Some are better/more useful than others, but overall, they integrate well into the storyline and maps and I think they add a bit more variety and fun to the game. Now...what I'd REALLY like to see ANet develop is aerial combat! The idea of using Griffons and Skyscales like fighter planes would be epic, IMO.

I dunno, you could argue it from both sides I guess, it really depends on what QoL items you like and want. For me, it worked out well...especially since I like to collect mount skins. I wanted the new skimmer skin, but was not willing to pay the 1600 gems they wanted for it right now, so I figured I'd wait a bit. I went ahead and bought the 8th Anniversary Requisition, and, as it turned out, the RNG Gods smiled on me and the first Black Lion Chest I opened with one of the keys in the Req. gave me the skin anyways. So, the way I look at it, spending the gems on the Req. and getting the skin I wanted, plus another two mount adoption licenses to come, brought the effective price of the Req. down to 0 gems. I would prolly have spent 4000 gems on the skins I wanted at some point anyways. The rest of the stuff coming in, including the Mount Adoption Licenses wound up making the purchase a net personal profit and worth it to me. YMMV

Thank you ANet for opting back in! And here's another question. I see that SteamLink and GeForce NOW are allowing sorta cross-platform streaming. This would be really helpful to those of us in the iOS world as GeForce NOW doesn't support iOS, only Android. But if ANet would allow GW2 to be one of the games that could be accessed through that alliance between NVidia and Valve via SteamLink, it would allow us to play remotely on our iDevices. What do y'all think?

Things that improve morale in any way during this miserable pandemic are good things IMO. There are also impactful things that we gamers, in particular, can do where we not only get to feel good about it, but also are really contributing to the science of discovering a cure. Since many of us have gaming rigs with considerable power (CPU and GPU), there are a few distributed computing efforts going on now that will greatly improve the chances of developing drugs and vaccines to end this scourge. Folding At Home, Rosetta Stone BOINC, are really worthwhile efforts. I'm not an employee or scientist, but I figure, as long as my rig is sitting idle for large parts of the day, why not contribute those otherwise wasted computing cycles to the effort. Because there are now hundreds of thousands of people folding, we've created the word's first exaFLOP scale distributed supercomputer. I'd encourage you to at least check these projects out, if you haven't already, and consider joining.

THANK YOU! for a safe, sane approach to the virus that's scourging the world. And thanks for still delivering new content in the face of the new reality we're all living. I'll happily do without voice acting, knowing that the actors are staying safe. Lives are at stake here, and the temporary absence of voice acting is a sacrifice I'll gladly make to know that people are safe. I've actually been playing less lately, but only because I'm using my CPU and GPU to help the Folding At Home effort. I figure my computer cycles are needed more in the race to find drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 than for me to just game. Hopefully, we'll all be able to go back to doing the things we enjoy very soon. Once the world has a handle on this pandemic, I'll be back to GW2 in full force. In the meantime, thanks again!

All up and working for me now, including Friends list, LFG, and Guilds. Thanks for nailing this ANet!