XP Fast Track is Excellent

[Cataphract.5841]

As someone who was very big into Guild Wars 1 and played all the expansions, I did not enjoy GW2 on launch.  In general I don't get to end game in MMOs, due to it taking too long to get there and me spending all my time in non-leveling activities.  I didn't even know I was on this boosted XP when I started GW2, but now that I know about it I think it should be the default experience.

 

Also, make action camera a more core part of the game!  Give it a default keybind and tell players about it!  The game is 10x more fun/playable for me this way.  Tab targetting is a relic of Everquest that is poorly suited for fast paced gameplay, at least in my opinion.

[kharmin.7683]

Yes, to the first paragraph.

No, to the second paragraph.

[DeanBB.4268]

I agree with the XP fasttrack. I've been playing a F2P for a few days and am like level 75 already.

Sure, make the action camera known, improve it if need be, but don't make it default or any such thing.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I don't like Action Camera, at all.  But, for those that do, it could be added to the level-up tutorial tips.

I hope new players that 'fast track' leveling up pay attention to the tutorial tips when leveling, and 'fast-tracking' doesn't cause even more laments about clueless L80s. 

[DeanBB.4268]

You do out-level your gear incredibly fast. Including gathering tools. I just bought Ori tools while still having Iron in use. 

Not a problem for vets, may lead to confusion for newbies, giving them less time to figure things out before reaching level 80. But just reaching 80 doesn't mean you have to start raiding, you can still take the time to learn the game. Hopefully?

[Cataphract.5841]

just remember that there is confirmation bias when established players say they prefer the standard camera

ive been playing tab targetting since everquest, and IMO its a relic that doesnt fit in modern gaming.  i think a lot of new players will agree if they get their hands on the action cam

Edited April 29, 2022 by Cataphract.5841

[DeanBB.4268]

Isn't that just plain old preference? PC vs console, keyboard vs controller, 3rd person vs 1st person. An established player could certainly prefer action camera.

[Cataphract.5841]

you could prefer text based games too but that wouldnt make it very typical

[Cataphract.5841]

they could move auto run to tilde and make action cam toggle R, thatd be pretty good

how come tilde is never a used keybind in games? its prime real estate!

Edited April 29, 2022 by Cataphract.5841

[Cataphract.5841]

i see a lot of confused reacts and i wonder what's confusing here

i actually assume its some sort of stand in for a down vote but whatever

Edited April 29, 2022 by Cataphract.5841

[Andy.5981]

35 minutes ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

just remember that there is confirmation bias when established players say they prefer the standard camera

ive been playing tab targetting since everquest, and IMO its a relic that doesnt fit in modern gaming.  i think a lot of new players will agree if they get their hands on the action cam

Just remember you may well be projecting your own bias and overestimating the degree in which others may agree with you.

BTW I played Everquest from release. TAB targetting suits me quite fine. It falls quite nicely when using ASWD keys to move

[Reborn.1738]

All I've seen about the A/B testing of the XP gains is people getting confused as to why their friends are gaining levels at different rates. Hopefully they gain enough information and make the boosted xp gains the default soon so that everyone can enjoy it.

As for your action camera comment. I tend to agree they should make it more visible. During the intro tutorial there should be a selection between action and classic camera mode so the player can make their own decision instead of it being hidden in a menu somewhere

[Freya.9075]

1 hour ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

i see a lot of confused reacts and i wonder what's confusing here

i actually assume its some sort of stand in for a down vote but whatever

Since there is no thumbs down or disagree emoji  ppl tend to use confused emoji instead. Since you come off as a bit sharp in the way you write,  it’s understandable why they would do that. It’s better to understand that ppl have different opinions and be fine with it. Discuss in a proper manner. 

[DeanBB.4268]

1 hour ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

they could move auto run to tilde and make action cam toggle R, thatd be pretty good

how come tilde is never a used keybind in games? its prime real estate!

Or you could just remap the key bindings to suit your preference.

[Danikat.8537]

I like action camera sometimes, but I wouldn't want to use it all the time and certainly not the default. (And yes I've played several games that use a similar targeting system.)

I agree it should have a default keybinding and should be introduced to new players, but I think it makes more sense to keep the current default as what you start with and then let players choose.

(I don't think it matters to me what the default keybindings are, I'm left-handed so they're never comfortable and I always end up changing them very early on, not just in GW2 but in most games.)

Edited April 29, 2022 by Danikat.8537

[Cataphract.5841]

8 hours ago, Freya.9075 said:

Since there is no thumbs down or disagree emoji  ppl tend to use confused emoji instead. Since you come off as a bit sharp in the way you write,  it’s understandable why they would do that. It’s better to understand that ppl have different opinions and be fine with it. Discuss in a proper manner. 

what im hearing is you still havent rebound tilde to something useful

you should work on your keybindings, its a good thing to think about

[Freya.9075]

21 minutes ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

what im hearing is you still havent rebound tilde to something useful

you should work on your keybindings, its a good thing to think about

I did rebind my keys to what I want them to be. As anyone who wants to change them. Everyone has their preference and my usage for that button is weapon swap. That ppl disagree doesn’t mean they don’t change their keys to their preferences 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Freya.9075

[Donari.5237]

10 hours ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

just remember that there is confirmation bias when established players say they prefer the standard camera

ive been playing tab targetting since everquest, and IMO its a relic that doesnt fit in modern gaming.  i think a lot of new players will agree if they get their hands on the action cam

I do think the tab targeting could use some work, as it's too easy to acquire the wrong target and too easy to lose the desired target just from moving around.  However, action cam is much worse for me.  It means if I move my cursor, say to check something on my other monitor, or to right click a name so I can send mail, instead of the cursor moving my camera swings wildly.  And I get motion sick.  ESO is no option but action camera and any time I want to move the cursor to the other monitor I have to hit . to free the cursor which is flat out tedious.  But at least in ESO they designed it that way from the beginning.  GW2 action cam was a hobby project by a dev and has some clunky interference with the UI.

There are occasions where I do want action camera, eg the Shooting Gallery adventure or balloon targets in Grothmar, but those are for focused moments of play.  When it comes to running around and looking about and dropping aoe, I want cursor control that only swings my camera if I'm holding down a mouse button to make it happen on purpose.

It definitely should be made known to new players as a thing that exists, as should a number of features that seem to be word of mouth only.  Will "a lot" of new players prefer it?  I have no idea, and I hope that along with informing the players that action cam exists there will be clear directions on how to avoid using it if so desired.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Donari.5237

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

12 hours ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

just remember that there is confirmation bias when established players say they prefer the standard camera

ive been playing tab targetting since everquest, and IMO its a relic that doesnt fit in modern gaming.  i think a lot of new players will agree if they get their hands on the action cam

Does tab-targeting mean clicking on a tab key?  I'm not sure what that is.  But, I do not like the reticle, at all.  It's tiny and difficult to target with.  I think FPS players would like it, though. 

[Naxos.2503]

13 hours ago, Cataphract.5841 said:

they could move auto run to tilde and make action cam toggle R, thatd be pretty good

how come tilde is never a used keybind in games? its prime real estate!

Maybe I know why : As an Azerty keyboard user, we do not have a tilde key 😛 we have ² at that spot and only that. Maybe it's to avoid confusion. 

I should add that we can and Indeed I do keybind that key to weaponswitching. It works well enough.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Naxos.2503

[Zyreva.1078]

@ Action Camera

The combat is not designed for action cam and using it does in fact limit the player. It might not matter much in PvE (certainly not in OW), but for harder content and especially in PvP it does. And as objectively subpar option it should never be default or actively encouraged.

[loregnum.3619]

On 4/29/2022 at 3:13 PM, Cataphract.5841 said:

i see a lot of confused reacts and i wonder what's confusing here

i actually assume its some sort of stand in for a down vote but whatever

 

"I see something I don't like and it bugs me enough that people are doing it to make me actually comment on it but I will end off my statement by saying "whatever", implying I don't care when I do, otherwise I wouldn't have made the comment in the first place"

That's the translation of what you said and boy does it trigger me when people do this. Don't complain about something and then say "but whatever", either completely invalidating the complaint and wasting the time of people that listened to or read the complaint or implying that you don't care when you clearly do because one would not waste their time making a complaint if they didn't care. IE, me here with this. I do care about this stuff given how big a pet peeve it is of mine which is why I am venting about it. Furthermore, the actual definition of the word whatever is not "I don't care"  regardless if some people have sadly decided to think that is what the word means. May as well just say "but banana" if people are going to make up what a word means. 

As for the original topic, my buddy is on the xp fast track while I am not. He's done probably not even half as much as I have in time and actual content and is only 3 levels behind. It'd be nice if everyone was at the same pace and I feel like either the default should be the fast track or somewhere in between him and what I am getting.

For the action cam, I am a new player and am a big fan of it since I play with a controller and my brain did not like the regular camera movement where it'd always swing to be behind me when I pushed left or right on the left thumbstick. Gave me a headache. Now it is more like a regular 3rd person type camera control and that works well for me to the point I wouldn't have bene able to keep playing this game without it. I could see it not being preferred for keyboard and mouse users that also keep the camera zoomed out and can hold a mouse button to control the camera. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by loregnum.3619

[Luthan.5236]

So this "fast track" is one of those things they test - for new players? Well ... I'm a veteran player and I can only say that I liked the normal progress in Guild Wars 2. But that said: I also have tried other MMORPGs. Not that many.

WoW back then at release and GW2 from release until end of 2013. (Then I came back in June 2019.) The normal progress (not with that "fast track") already felt a lot smoother than other MMORPG. At least in WoW I managed only to get a char to level 40 and then I got bored cause getting gold for the mount there felt so tedious. GW2 I have 9 chars on level 80 - leveled regularly through the core personal story when I did not have mounts yet.

I think here it also is important to note that the events give experience and that the story steps also give experience as reward. Feels a lot "smoother". You do not have to grind mobs. Big plus for GW2.

That said I would not mind if they gave faster experience gain - for the newer player.s They advertise latest content and everyone probably wants to get to the latest content ... but not everyone is willing to buy a level 80 boost. (Or that one might be "tooo fast".)

Action cam - I do not know about this. Barely used it. I think tab-targetting has it's flaws. But on the other hand. I try to click the mob I try to target as an alternative. I only know that I dislike the camera where you have it centered on the middle of the screen and it moves while moving the mouse. (Cause for selecting stuff then you'd have to center it on the screen.) Afaik this is the action cam? (Like the mode you get in Grothmar for the shooting contest?) Would not want this in open world for general play when having to also target ore nodes or stuff (when someone else is nearby and the f button would select them - people sometimes spawn a merchand nere selectable stuff like farming nodes).

Things I have enabled (where I sometimes wonder if disabling them might be better): The dodge on double tab (can get annoying when accicdentally double tapping in a JP) and auto-targeting - where it sometimes instead of moving forward into the direction I face ... targets a foe close and moves me into a different direction. (When using a attack-skill with also movement associated. Also does this when a foe that is out of range is selected - switchtes to a closer one in range.)

Having the other targeting options selected might be better here. (And might be better if they were the defaults if they are not already.)

Edited May 3, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Cataphract.5841]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:17 PM, loregnum.3619 said:

As for the original topic, my buddy is on the xp fast track while I am not. He's done probably not even half as much as I have in time and actual content and is only 3 levels behind. It'd be nice if everyone was at the same pace and I feel like either the default should be the fast track or somewhere in between him and what I am getting.

For the action cam, I am a new player and am a big fan of it since I play with a controller and my brain did not like the regular camera movement where it'd always swing to be behind me when I pushed left or right on the left thumbstick. Gave me a headache. Now it is more like a regular 3rd person type camera control and that works well for me to the point I wouldn't have bene able to keep playing this game without it. I could see it not being preferred for keyboard and mouse users that also keep the camera zoomed out and can hold a mouse button to control the camera. 

so you agree with me =p

[Ledi.9742]

On 4/29/2022 at 9:59 PM, Cataphract.5841 said:

they could move auto run to tilde and make action cam toggle R, thatd be pretty good

how come tilde is never a used keybind in games? its prime real estate!

chances are that they are considering the fact that in lots of keyboard layouts its not well accessible, or it does not exist at all. for example im using keyboard with scandinavian layout, and in this keyboard layout tilde is accessed by ctr+alt+¨