Neva Eilhart.5347

Here before one of these players come in to tell you how the "fun" comes directly from the amount of gold they're making per second, and not from actually enjoying playing the game. To each their own I guess. As I've said I wish Anet did things differently while they could have, by countering this min-maxing farming mentality in the early days (champion loot boxes, the very first Queensdale trains...). Problem is, nowadays, you can't blame it all on these players because Anet willingly chose to cater to them and to implement grindy mechanics. Anet chose to embrace this farming mentality probably because it keeps people busy in an easy way, so it makes for a more stable player population and it allows Anet to throw a couple collections to work towards for a very low development cost (just come up with a map with a couple events, tie a new specific ressource to them, and make the new item sell for like 1000 of this new ressource : it will keep these min-maxers busy enough). Because of that, players have to farm terrible amounts of ressources to get their new shinies. So they (and by they I mean even your casual Joe) get into zergs and try to min-max profits too, because they want their piece of the cake. And because they try to min-max their profit, Anet feels compelled to keep them even more busy with new shinies to get, so they introduce yet another ressource to be farmed. See the pattern here ? The point is : if you make something more rewarding, given how the game is designed and how the player base works, chances are players will find a way to maximize the profit and play it in a way which will guarantee them the most profit, because the game "requires" them to have enough ressources if they want to get the new fancy item. So if the meta pre events are more rewarding, chances are these players will only stay for the pre events and zerg their way out to another pre event (you'll see commander tags organizing the thing and even telling people to stop playing the event for it to fail like in Orr). If you put all the rewards on the meta, you'll end up with what we have now with zergs fast jumping and leaving a trail of desolation behind.

Funny how the people blaming and flaming back then in Orr for completing the event are the same entitled players who want to fast farm metas in order to get the most out of their precious time of playing and will flame the map if it isn't going fast enough. I wish Anet hadn't catered to these players, as the core game wasn't all a zergfest at first. The game was actually the opposite : you could take time to do chain of events and even were encouraged to stay after the event was completed in case another one would start. The very beginning of the champ trains and farming of the champ boxes out of the Aetherblades (when you could scale events enough so champs would come up and drop loot boxes) was the first incentive towards zerging and maximizing the farm in the minimum amount of time, ending up now in people not playing the meta from beginning to end but quick jumping via LFG from one to another. Seems to me it will be very hard for Anet to backtrack now. They've built an entire game economy and design around this farming mentality (eg. selling you portals to meta event bosses in the gem store, or how the new legendaries grind is designed). I wish it was different but still.

I realize now I should have been more careful in what I was saying because it might have caused some confusion. I apologize if this didn't came through as intended. By "other Mmos have done that", I meant that these other games (I'm playing regularly Wow and FF14 fyi) have used the same content for both casual and hardcore players, just tuned accordingly and with rewards matching the difficulty. Wow has used LFG for many xpacs as a story mode device, while FF14 has always been story oriented in its normal/brutal modes. The big thing here being that it allows the devs to produce content which is relevant to more of the playerbase of the game and to reuse it for both story content at first, and long term hardly obtainable rewards in harder tiers. In the long run, my point of view is that it keeps the game rather healthy because these game modes (raids) are always relevant and the lowest difficulty always works as an incentive to higher tiers of difficulty for new players. In other terms, I am advocating for the raids being used in a way they can be played by more players, but I am also advocating for keeping the meaningful rewards gated behind difficulty. I'm stating this because it saddens me to see Anet struggling with the same issues over and over : releasing new content, like instanced dungeons, then raids, and years down the road forgetting it even exists and starting anew reinventing the wheel with new content (strike missions) instead of building on what's already existing and finding ways to improve it and get more players into it.

Oh feel assured I don't need someone to tell me to "learn the content and get the reward" to know how it works. I'm glad some are still enjoying it on a weekly basis, and get what they should rewards wise. Doesn't mean that the game as a whole couldn't be improved by using what's already made inside in order to make it relevant for more players in the long run. Read my previous comments, you'll see it's really not in my case about "learn to get good lolz" and more about not letting old modes (because Anet won't produce more raids, fact) die because just 1% of the playerbase plays it. I couldn't care less about the rewards so to speak.

Really sounds like we're talking about very different topics of the game. I agree on the mindless zerging, and pretty much all of the open world game has ended up like this but... this seems a core design problem spreading all over the game rather than a specific one tied to raids being opened to less strict builds. I'm not saying making raids easier would not result in mindless zergs. I'm saying opening up old content to new players would result in more players playing this content, meaning giving them something "new" at a very low cost (because everything's already made assets wise). Yet the raids becoming mindless zergs in an easy mode difficulty setting would be a non issue to me : players wanting to play it will go in anyway. Let them play however they want. If players on GW2 hated zerg mentality we wouldn't have so many players logged in everyday. And just to be more precise, I'm one who wishes the game wasn't a huge zergfest and I still hope one day they could take us back to times where we had meaningful abilities granting just one boon or one attack, before the champ trains and champ loot bags were a thing. Playing an easier mode should yield lesser rewards - I think that's a given in pretty much every game there is out there. Legendary armor should stay gated, albeit it's already fairly easily obtainable (with enough patience) in other game modes. But I still think there could be something difficulty-wise between mindless zerging and higher difficulty which requires you mostly to play one specific meta build and comp. Opening up the old raids a bit with an easy mode could end up in introducing more instanced content to usually open world minded people and eventually would draw more players into higher level raiding. I mean, the game has so many great old instanced content which devs spent hours of work on, like old dungeons, and now old raids. It's such a waste to see these contents no longer relevant for the majority of players. There has to be some way to make something out of it to provide us all with some alternative to the mindless zergs.

This seems to pinpoint why raids in GW2 aren't working as well as in other MMos. I don't see where it's related though to old raid content of GW2 being opened up to more casual players with an easier difficulty and accordingly lesser rewards, which has been the thing I was advocating for. I'm not here saying it will be a fun experience for everyone, but I find it sad for the game to have huge chunks of content (and by content I mean boss skins, unique assets, cutscenes) still locked years after their release behind a mandatory build/gear as you're rightfully stating.

Why exactly ? Why giving old raid content (which is no longer relevant to most of the elite players who have farmed it already) a new life by opening it up to more players, while tuning down the rewards to keep elite stuff gated behind difficult modes, wouldn't be working on GW2 ? How would that "break" the game ?

All other major Mmos have done this. Wow with LFR. FF14 with roulettes. It's not about not delivering content to elite players, and it's not about giving "casual" players every rewards without effort. It's about hitting two birds with one stone by ensuring the content you've made isn't just relevant for 1% of your playerbase. It's about optimizing the use of assets you've worked on so that it can be a feature for everyone in your game. Elite players will have something to work on in the long run, while more casual players can enjoy the content at a slower pace and make it relevant years after its initial release.

UW combat and exploration joined the long list of half baked overlooked features the game has. I'm not saying this to be negative about the game (I love Gw2) but rather as a neutral statement. The game launched with too much on its plate and Anet wasn't able to handle everything perfectly. The personal story and branching stories, the Underwater Combat, the Personality system, come into mind when I think about it. So many features they could have chosen to build upon, if only they had enough time, ressources, and a strong vision (it's not easy to be really innovative, especially in the Mmo market, and GW2 has always been struggling in its early years between pushing for innovation and providing classic Mmo tropes to its playerbase). The game eventually took another direction and now has found its way into regular quality content, but if you think about it it's pretty far off what it had to offer when it first launched. Underwater combat is a remnant of this. That's why it's pretty heavily featured in the core game, be it areas or story missions, and non existing in expansions.

It's funny to see how some collections are a pain to some players while being a great experience for others. I've loved every bit of the Skyscale collection, and I as a player usually don't like collections as a system (I find it boring and tedious to track every step and I hate when the game pushes me into using third party guides to make decent progress). Yet the Skyscale being related to season 4 had me to replay some of the best maps overall of the game in my opinion, so it made it way easier to complete. The overall great quality of season 4 meta events did help in that regard. I have not so good memories of the Griffon collection in comparison because I found it to be way harder. Finding your way in PoF maps where you have environmental hazards as well as hard hitting mobs everytime you go to secluded areas was definitely not that enjoyable, especially when you're not able to fly over danger. As for the Skyscale, I wonder how mileage may be varying depending on whether or not you have unlocked the griffon first when you start it. But I'd still recommend every player to do the Skyscale collection. If there's one collection you need to do, even if it's not fun for you, it's this one. Just because the Skyscale enables you to drift peacefully across the maps without worrying about getting into fights. It opens up a more leisured way to enjoy the game and its beautiful sceneries and locations, which is a blast when doing full completion of a new map. Moreover, thanks to the Skyscale, I'm able to handpick which events I really want to engage in. I fly over the ones I don't like/want to do.

No need to call me "selfish" for casually commenting on a forum about a feature which is underused by the community as a whole (ever wondered why Anet is promoting strikes instead of raids now and hasn't released any new content in this format in years ?). And as for legendary armor specifically ? I've grinded my fair share of the WvW one so it's pretty much irrelevant since I've got it already. Don't worry, I won't steal your little toy away from you. It doesn't mean though that using "old" raids content for players who aren't usually doing raids (by content I mean mostly encouters and cutscenes) wouldn't be a good idea to revitalize this specific part of the game. Not everything in the game has to be about rewards (though elitist mentality is very narrow minded on this). But don't worry, I will selfishly leave your precious content alone and I won't ruin it. Though you'll have to explain to me how exactly I would be able to ruin it in the first place by reacting positively to the idea a fellow player had of opening old content to other parts of our community. I'll wait, I just hope you know how to step off your high horse and come down with us mere mortals to grace us of your explanations.

Couldn't agree more with everything you've said. Not only that, but some players would like to do raiding but won't engage in the content because they'd be shoehorned into playing a specific class and build... which is absolutely the opposite of why I've been playing GW2. Having open world minded raid tier would probably mean more build diversity and would make use of the old content people don't even play anymore.

I hate the nerf on Lush Forest. The whole mechanic is now basically waiting for your skills to charge up to max charge. Tying Lush Forest to the max charge only is a bad decision, and here's why : It becomes incredibly clunky for 3 charges skills : you have to use the charge once (down to 2 charges - grants a Lush Forest proc), and then be careful not to use it again, but rather have to wait before it's back to the 3 charges max to use it again in order to get another Lush Forest (because the 2 to 1 charge wouldn't proc it since it's a 3 charges skill)... So, the 3 charges are useless because you have to use only the first 2 charges in order to maximize the Lush Forest procs. Plus, if you use that 2nd charge (down to 1), you'll be punished even more because not only you won't get a Lush Forest proc, but you'll have to wait twice the time to get it back to the max charge count to get a Lush Forest proc... Which is completely counter intuitive and works against the general gameplay. This is a bad design. It's the same, albeit not as noticeable, for 2 charges skills : you'd rather wait for the charge to get back to its maximum before using it again, than depleting your skill and having to wait for the entire two charges to be back before using it again...

My top 3 maps ever designed by Anet are : - Silverwastes - Verdant Brink - Dragonfall

I didn't try it on the competitive side of things (well, I did in WvW but that's hardly a great way to compare to PvP) so I'll go along with what you say on this, and I think it should either be easier to land or be really deadly if landed. I also agree on build diversity as a whole ; I just think the new mechanics are a way to bring up reworks in these trees eventually. If SwB works even remotely, my guess is we'll see more interactions with other branches down the line, as we've had with all the other specs (I mean either Hot and Pof specs at lauch weren't working as good as they're now). Now I totally get why you wouldn't go on an expac because the work isn't done yet, or because the class you enjoy doesn't provide you with enough fun. Maybe wait till the next patch note, this one seems fairly packed with changes so the next one will probably change things a bit more.

Changes seem good, but my biggest grip with Untamed was how I had to micromanage everything in order to deal damage and survive. Getting access to your whole pet abilities, having the untamed mechanic, having a weapon swap, having your skills, and now getting Ambush, means 4 different sources of abilities (Pet / Unleash-Ambush / Weapon swap / Skills) to deal with, track and manage. Since we're playing a dynamic combat oriented game where you just can't stand still and go through a whole rotation (like in FFXIV for SAM or BLM for example), it sounds overly complex and doesn't really fit the fast paced fights. Sounds like some very busy work in order to eventually do the same thing a Core Ranger, or even better, a SB can do with just pressing a few buttons. Not sure if I'm the only one feeling this way but I'd like a more streamlined design for Untamed. Right now it feels too much to track for no real impactful benefit.

I agree with you on the power creep side of things. Which quite puzzingly got me excited for new EoD specs, because they seem far more down to earth. I still secretly hope for an overall balance patch which would tune down the power creep and stop merging skills with each other (I fondly recall the time when our skills were just doing one meaningful function instead of buffing while damaging while stun breaking). I'm a bit more optimistic on the matter of BsW because I had a great first experience with it. I especially liked the way it felt when toying with Lush Forest and Shouts + Tactical Reload. And landing a huge Dragon Slash felt really rewarding because of all the setup required to do it. I'm pretty sure it won't be for everyone to enjoy playing because its mechanics are fairly special and might be offputting to some. But I find it extreme to uninstall a game just because one spec out of 30+ isn't just to your taste. I feel like innovation should be rewarded, even if the result is meh. For example, I find BsW in a far better state than Catalyst because it tries to go for something really new game-wide. Catalyst sounds just like some new spec for auras and fields which doesn't really bring anything new to the table, which is a bummer to my eyes. Again, I'm more eager to play a spec which has a good gameplay feeling over a spec which deals great dps but doesn't feel as fun so...

FFXIV balance is fantastic and it's one of these very few games where I can't settle on a job from one xpac to another because they're all (except a few ones due to personal preferences) appealing. The animations are among the best ever created for a Mmo, and the mechanics are so precise and buttery it feels rewarding when you're able to go through your rotation. But GW2 is just as innovative, if not more, in how they're implementing the professions. It's still beta and the mechanics are overall very interesting, I'd rather have a "broken" new warrior spec but which tries to bring in something different (I mean, having you to channel a long attack in a game with such high mobility as GW2 sounds fairly interesting). Sometimes, with enough work what was broken at first will land on an amazing product (remember how much Weaver was hated when announced...? and how much it's loved now). I love the different feels the professions bring in GW2 and they're far ahead the competition in terms of pure creativity I mean, FFXIV launching reaper is giving me strong HoT vibes. They even brought in the shroud and lifeforce mechanics. Sounds like most developers, even the very clever Yoshi-P from FFXIV, know to give credit where it's due. And Anet trying to bring in some of the SAM mechanics of FFXIV is great too. These are two fantastic games which I hope people could enjoy alongside each other, and not trying to constantly find "one game to rule them all".

This is so awesome and strong, I don't know if I should be happy about it for making the class even more fluid or to be worried about it because it sounds like the kind of fancy toys that will be taken away from me by the time launch comes.

How exactly do these changes affect the way the virtues proc ? The major clunkiness of WB comes from the fact that unless you have enemies standing still in your flames + some access to Quickness or field aoes, your virtues won't proc nearly enough to be relevant and provide you with enough sustain. You'll hit like a wet noodle if you're fighting a mobile single enemy (which sounds like, on paper, what should be WB best case for a fight) and you'll be godlike when fighting in zergs with enemies standing in your virtues proc'ing everything all the time and showering you with perma aegis/heals/alacrity/whatever fancy boon you wish. What needs to be looked into in top priority is the way our virtues trigger, and then mobility and quality of life changes can be brought in once the core mechanics are done properly. Not the other way around.

Because you really think there are challenging fights coming from aggroing one annoying beetle or snake while you just stay idle for a few seconds just to enjoy the vista ? You really think this would qualify as challenging, and would need you to master your class ?

To make my point clear, it's not a matter of difficulty- at all. It's a matter of breaking the peaceful moments the game can provide when you enter beautiful places and you want to start digging into how the world was built, what the devs threw in as for details and such, only to find countless enemies bothering you with annoying skills. I mean, look at the streams. They told us numerous times "look at the beautiful art on this wall" or "look at the beautiful shaped mosaic". Problem is, in game, if the place is filled with enemies spawning again and again, you won't have time to settle and enjoy the area. I have the strong feeling GW2 went overboard after the core game on enemy spawning to make the game artificially more difficult. I'd rather have less enemies but more impactful ones (think, Hydras for example) and in places which make sense rather than useless foes which only are there to annoy me over and over while I enjoy taking a break from combat oriented activities. In PoF it's even to the point that sometimes you just want to listen to what NPCS are saying, only to find yourself in the middle of a fight with a forged patrol or something. That's like throwing the beautiful map design and lore building to the trash bin to me. MMOs usually provide players with ways to engage social and leisure activities outside of combat, and I feel GW2 should improve in that regard. The new set of maps for EoD could be so great if they're going a bit more in that direction. Yes to challenging content and cool enemies, but not everywhere. I'm pretty sure everyone has wonderful memories of Shing Jea in GW1 because it wasn't filled with combats at all time and let you catch your breath to enjoy the vistas.

I couldn't help but thinking during the past two streams (Echovald and Jade Sea) that the maps were looking beautiful in part because of the lack of annoying enemies being there every two inches. The vistas are gorgeous, the textures look overall amazing (I'll let people complain about the Jade look in the specific topics related to this) and it's nice to get some time to enjoy such sceneries without having mobs running around. IMO, GW2 open world would benefit greatly from having less mobs out in the open, or at least more sanctuarized areas where NPCS live their daily life without running into anything. Take for example POF : if you just take a few steps away from Lily of Elon, you run into things immediately (annoying beetles just a couple meters away). Right in the middle of a city. It really brings down the level of immersion. And more importantly, it forces players into engaging combat all the time, while some just want to roam around relaxing while chatting or just admiring the beautiful textures and details the art team has put into the game.

To keep it simple : Mechanist is the funniest class I've ever played on this game. I love being able to toy around the spec choosing range/melee, boons or dps burst, shadowstepping with my mech so he can grant me protection. The variety of builds is very nice too and pretty much all engineer weapons are valid (my pref to mace + shield if going melee or pistol / shield).

I guess to get to the bottom of this, let's just get rid of Elites all together and only keep spamming goold ol' #1.