Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Svifnymr]

Rewards are iffy, really. Loot doesn't hold a lot of meaning for me, but opening the special Khan Ur thing with a chance at 5-6 special skins and getting a generic yellow every time seems... bleh.

Same with the new skin for Jackal (which I don't need, I get so many jackal skins it's silly already), available from black lion chests. Converted some gold, bought a few keys, and didn't even get a Rare unlock at all, let alone the one I wanted. Certainly doesn't make me want to buy more keys to try again.

The Ash event chain seems glitchy, but most of them are enjoyable.
For 5 silver you can also rent a derby tank and drive around in it all over the zone until it blows up.

[Svifnymr]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/l...ent-templates/

Build templates coming Oct 29th.

[Edge-]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/l...ent-templates/

Build templates coming Oct 29th.

Not a fan of them giving only 3 free slots before monetizing, wish it was at least 5 and/or there was a way to expand to more via in-game currency : /

But I dig that you can share templates with others via in-game links, that'll be super nice.

But holy shit...

Items you add to Equipment Templates will no longer take up space in your character’s inventory, and you can reuse them across each of that character’s Equipment Templates.

SWEET BABY JESUS, that's like...up to a free 20+ slots of bag space right there. You can even just make bullshit "fake" templates to store unused gear. That almost justifies having only 2 free slots (damnit, I'll need to buy at least one more for my guardian -_-)

Bummer it won't be available for PvP yet, but this is coming a lot sooner than I expected. Not perfect, but it's a definite improvement.

[Svifnymr]

Not a fan of them giving only 3 free slots before monetizing, wish it was at least 5 and/or there was a way to expand to more via in-game currency : /

Especially as right now, I think Wv and PvP builds are stored and used when you enter those spots. So today you hop into pvp and it loads the build you made for pvp, and same for Wv. Once this is active you will put that pvp build in a slot, that Wv build in a slot and your world build in a slot.

Unless I'm mis-remembering current pvp/Wv build stuff.

So for myself that rarely Wv's and never pvp's, I've got 3 slots. For folks that do all three currently, they gain nothing, really. That said, it also depends on what they cost. Some stuff on the market isn't bad, but some things (like Upgrade Extractors!) just seem way more gems than they should be.

Likewise, TOR has a lot of "account wide" vs "character only" unlocks, while GW2 usually just makes it a single instance.

[PACOX]

While I'm not 100% onboard with them selling slots, some people on the subreddit are whiny.

You don't need 10 slots per character, not even for Mesmer. I have a like 6 variants of my ele in WvW, most are just a single trait or utility change. I don't need 6 build template slots to change a single trait or utility.

Someone on reddit said they have '10 builds' for their warrior. This is possible if you make a 'build' when you simply equip banners instead of two non-banner utilities.

Ideally, we should have enough slots per spec (core, HoT, PoF), + 1, per game mode. Then they could sell more slots for convenience , for those people who feel like they need 30 'builds'.

[Sevyvia]

Yeah, the subreddit threads on build templates have basically become a competitive whinefest with people trying their hardest to categorize more than the next person as a build. Switch a trait? New build template, clearly.

Honestly, this is the side of F2P games I don't like. It comes off as childish whining. Wanting free shit for nothing. Realistically, some people do have more builds than the standard slots will allow for, and some of those people won't be able to afford it. Okay. Sucks. But what changes? They already don't have build templates. Come the end of October, they'll... have a few build templates, and be where they are now for the rest. Seems like a net positive to me.

I don't begrudge GW2 for trying to monetize in this way. It's not like they're locking equipment templates away behind a paywall and only allowing builds for free, or the like. And if I end up wanting more template slots, I'll throw a bit of money their way. They keep running the game, I keep getting to play it.

[Svifnymr]

Watching a facebook stream thing now, it doesn't seem like it will be hard to populate from the account wide storage, which is 3 included and 3 free from store for first month. Does seem like a good system overall.

You can also copy/paste builds from external sources, so while it wouldn't be optimum, you could have a document with some build links in it and just copy-paste to swap things too.

They talk about changing runes/sigils with gear builds, but not sure if that is everything or just legendary. It seems like just legendary but I didn't see the specific statement.

[PACOX]

I might finish my legendary runes and sigils now.

[Swnem]

Mike O abandoned ship. :x

Man... i kind of see Anet going under in the next 2 years. Not optimistic at all. No expansion and they have been agressively monetising GW2 with each passing year.

[PACOX]

MO abandoned ship? He built the ship. He is moving on.

Memeing is the new trolling and its all basic.

He's a founder of and has been there for 20 years. He became the game directer because of seniority after Colin left and immediately passed off most of his responsibilities to Mike Z. That was was like 3 or 4 years ago. He then had to layoff half his staff. Anyone who has ever been in a high leadership position knows the weight of all of that on your shoulders. The man has been in a bad headspace regardless of the status of the game...which is still financially well regardless of the memes. He should have retired a long time ago.

[Swnem]

I know who he is. Wich is why it's a big deal. He has been the face of Arena net since Guild wars 1. He was the studio head and he has passed the director torch to Mike Z after path of fire launched, not 4 years ago.

Why should he have retired? He did not retire now either, he is founding a new company, like he founded arena net in the past. So, he literally abandoned the company he founded when it's in a tough period.

Btw lets not assume the company is well financily after having to had lay-offs and restructures. Those happened cause it wasn't doing well.It's not Activision. GW2's metrics have been one of the lowest for NCsoft games and we know what happened to turbine and Wildstar. So, there is no meming here. We can hope Anet turns the page but this sure isn't a good sign.

[Edge-]

Mike O abandoned ship. :x

Man... i kind of see Anet going under in the next 2 years. Not optimistic at all. No expansion and they have been agressively monetising GW2 with each passing year.

"abandoned ship"? He's been at the company for decades since he founded it, took over GW2 at multiple times, and hasn't been working on GW2 for a while now. And we have confirmation of earlier reports (via Kotaku) that he and a small team (who are apparently also leaving) were working on pre-production for GW3.

He's leaving because he likely wants to actually create games again, which isn't remotely surprising given that his job for nearly a decade has been running a studio of 200ish+ employees rather than actually making games.

Anet's financials are still pretty solid, and there's no indication of any impending death in the slightest.

[Swnem]

Why are you guys so fixated on the "abandoned ship" expression? It means he left, and he did.

I would be happy if their financials were good, but i have seen nothing of the sort.

[Edge-]

Why are you guys so fixated on the "abandoned ship" expression? It means he left, and he did.

When one "abandons ship" that's inherently negative as it implies the ship is going down.

Anet isn't riding high, but there's no indication that the studio is in jeopardy or seriously struggling, they still have 200ish staff working on GW2 and any other projects.

I would be happy if their financials were good, but i have seen nothing of the sort.

Their revenue is pretty stable and still around the levels they were throughout HoT. PoF had a nice spike before settling back down, but there's no indications their financials are in a poor state.

Layoffs hit across NCsoft and weren't specifically just about GW2 struggling.

[Swnem]

Fair enough, i thought things were worse.

The abandon ship expression, i didn't mean it like that specifically, i meant like he left. Though it has looked rocky with how they have doubled down in the monetisation and the lay-offs. I think not having a new xpansion release, wich as we can see has a good effect on the revenue is a weird decision. I also don't think this was the best time for Mike to leave given this uncertain future. The revenue might be stable, but i wouldn't say the game is in a good place when it's NC's second worst performer being beaten by the likes of Blade & Soul.

I just hope they are working on guild wars 3, I want to see them bounce back to the top.

[Edge-]

Though it has looked rocky with how they have doubled down in the monetisation and the lay-offs.

What does this mean? Doubled down on monetization? They haven't really done anything differently that I've seen. And how would they double down on the layoffs?

I think not having a new xpansion release, wich as we can see has a good effect on the revenue is a weird decision.

Agreed, the GW2 community has been pretty mixed/concerned about this. I'm not going to complain that I don't have to pay for another expansion, but expansions on a regular cycle are a good showing of success and consistency for a company. Plus, as you say, it's a nice revenue spike.

The revenue might be stable, but i wouldn't say the game is in a good place when it's NC's second worst performer being beaten by the likes of Blade & Soul.

It's still their most successful western title by miles (far ahead of GW1, CoH, and WildStar), and it's not surprising that it's seeing lower revenue than titles like Blade and Soul as NCsoft put a MASSIVE push behind that in both Korea and China, which are their primary markets. $15M+ quarterly is plenty stable revenue for a studio of 200ish employees.

I just hope they are working on guild wars 3, I want to see them bounce back to the top.

Honestly, I kinda hope they aren't. I don't want another sequel, at least not yet. I'd rather see them keep supporting GW2 for a while and then work on either another IP or create a new spinoff title (MMO or not) that's a bit different.

[Swnem]

What does this mean? Doubled down on monetization? They haven't really done anything differently that I've seen. And how would they double down on the layoffs?



Agreed, the GW2 community has been pretty mixed/concerned about this. I'm not going to complain that I don't have to pay for another expansion, but expansions on a regular cycle are a good showing of success and consistency for a company. Plus, as you say, it's a nice revenue spike.



It's still their most successful western title by miles (far ahead of GW1, CoH, and WildStar), and it's not surprising that it's seeing lower revenue than titles like Blade and Soul as NCsoft put a MASSIVE push behind that in both Korea and China, which are their primary markets. $15M+ quarterly is plenty stable revenue for a studio of 200ish employees.



Honestly, I kinda hope they aren't. I don't want another sequel, at least not yet. I'd rather see them keep supporting GW2 for a while and then work on either another IP or create a new spinoff title (MMO or not) that's a bit different.

We are talking about monetizing the upcoming build tabs and the not too distant future of mount lootboxes. They have doubled down on them btw, though they removed the possibility of getting the same one, i believe.

I disagree on GW3, because i have always felt like Guild Wars 2 was a disappointment. Honestly, i'd be fine if they'd want to make new expansions for the old GW1 too. But, i don't think GW2 is recoverable to me and it's really heartbreaking, cause i love the world of Guild Wars and i wish it was the game i can log in daily to again, rather than to just check out the story episodes and keep up with the story.

Though i admit, i'd like to see Cantha again before they wrap up. Or maybe have GW3 take place in Cantha. xD

[rips]

i cant get into this game. it feels so laggy compared to wow or other games

[Edge-]

We are talking about monetizing the upcoming build tabs and the not too distant future of mount lootboxes. They have doubled down on them btw, though they removed the possibility of getting the same one, i believe.

Mount lootboxes have existed for ages, they're not new. As for monetized loadouts, while I'm not pleased that they are giving us so few tabs for free but it's totally reasonable that this would be a monetized feature in a game like this. It takes quite a few resources, and they need a way to recoup some of those costs knowing that the overwhelming majority of payers will use their free slots and that's it.

I disagree on GW3, because i have always felt like Guild Wars 2 was a disappointment. Honestly, i'd be fine if they'd want to make new expansions for the old GW1 too. But, i don't think GW2 is recoverable to me and it's really heartbreaking, cause i love the world of Guild Wars and i wish it was the game i can log in daily to again, rather than to just check out the story episodes and keep up with the story.

Fair enough. I'm on the other end of things where I've enjoyed GW2 since it launched (though quit during HoT and don't play consistently and haven't since classic), but I totally understand that a lot of GW1 fans haven't been in love with the sequel since it launched.

Though i admit, i'd like to see Cantha again before they wrap up. Or maybe have GW3 take place in Cantha. xD

Cantha spinoff game, GO!

[Tenjen]

I'm trying to understand the whole build templates thing but it seems to be going over my head.

I assumed it would be like wow, switching between templates you made for gear and spec traits.

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i cant get into this game. it feels so laggy compared to wow or other games

I think the feeling of movement and action in the game is better refered to as "organic" rather than lag. its in player movement and actions but is best representated by the mounts, which have their own movement and feel compared to wow mounts turning and moving on a dime.