Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Flarelaine]

This is the best approach to take. Seriously. Take your time and explore. Go to lower level zones you haven't seen and check them out to see what's around. There's all kinds of goodies to find, with secret events, jumping puzzles, actual puzzles, and all kinds of things hidden in nooks and crannies. Plus, you get to see a ton of different open world events.

I'm glad I never "rushed" through GW2, I feel like you really miss a lot (at least when first starting) if you're not taking some time to smell the roses.

It's actually worth the time to just stop and listen to NPC chatter.

[Coldkil]

There's a few outdoor mini-dungeons (that's aren't considered jumping puzzles) to discover as well.

Nice i'm going to enjoy the story and world first, then hunt for all these things.

[Edge-]

I just discovered a zone with a jumping puzzle involving a chest and 4 elemental canteens - i found 3 out of 4, clueless about the last one But not watching guides or asking, until i get very frustrated XD

Hasn't been updated since she stepped back for personal reasons, but Dulfy usually has great guides for pretty much everything in classic/HoT and quite a bit of PoF stuff.

I try to figure some out myself sometimes, but often I'm just looking to clear it out and will look to a guide for some pointers.

There are a handful of those where you need to actually find stuff/solve some sort of actual puzzle (other than a jumping one), they're a lot of fun and I know I've still got a bunch that I've come across and never cleared but totally forgotten about by now.

It's actually worth the time to just stop and listen to NPC chatter.

I've done this from time to time. It's surprisingly good! I usually just mosey on through with loud music/podcasts in the background (outside of actual story dialogue), but the game has both a pretty awesome soundtrack (when I actually turn it on) and a lot of great ambient noise via stuff like animals/NPC chatter etc.

Can just get a bit repetitive if you hang around some of them for too long. Some of the event NPC can get really bad and I wish we could mute them and just leave them talking via text : P

[Rogalicus]

It's actually worth the time to just stop and listen to NPC chatter.

Roelski's channel is good for that, he has a big collection of ambient dialogue.

[Flarelaine]

Hasn't been updated since she stepped back for personal reasons, but Dulfy usually has great guides for pretty much everything in classic/HoT and quite a bit of PoF stuff.

Dulfy has very good guides! I often marvel at how much time must have gone into uncovering all that stuff.

Roelski's channel is good for that, he has a big collection of ambient dialogue.

Thanks for the hint! I'd like to think I've heard most of it, but I'll check.

[PACOX]

Dulfy has very good guides! I often marvel at how much time must have gone into uncovering all that stuff.




Thanks for the hint! I'd like to think I've heard most of it, but I'll check.

The wiki team also puts in a lot of work. It's one of the most robust MMO wikis I've seen. From boss times to achieve guides to 'how do I gear'. A lot people spend a lot of time keeping the information updated and easily searchable with the in-game /wiki command.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

• Raids development is currently on hold due to low population, team is focused on Strike Missions as raid introduction content and will move forward depending on how it works

What a shame. With the game's declining population, at this point we will never get another raid.

I really hope I'm more worried about that one line than I have a right to be, but considering the "hardcore" HoT expansion almost killed my interest in this game permanently I have reason to be concerned. I like this game and my character and very much want to see it remain the same "casual" game that I've enjoyed thoroughly over the years.

HoT's systems and mechanics were great. The overtuned numbers were quickly fixed.

The problem was the content drought. After LWS2E8, we went 10 months without a content update before HoT hit, and then another 9 months without a content update when LWS3E1 hit.

I think this was meant as appeasement for game's subreddit that turned into one big pile of vitriol since the end of season 4 with something along the lines of "no fractals and raids in sight, ded gaem lul" spammed in every single thread. The way I read it, ArenaNet rightfully thinks that diverting all resources from harder content was a mistake, as it sent the wrong message to veterans and potential new players, but Living World releases will remain the focus, just with more repeatable content as opposed to one time cool things like Sun's Refuge or mount collections.

That's the problem with paying attention to insular communities like subreddits. The upvote system means that - rather than each poster reading through the thread and posting their own opinion, you have people who just default to upvoting one of the first posts they see that somewhat aligns with their view (the top posts) and moving on. Dissenting opinions are buried. Eventually, the normies begin to leave, and what you are left are a subsection of the playerbase who share the same sentiments about the game. That's not a good representation of the playerbase as a whole.

[Coldkil]

Hasn't been updated since she stepped back for personal reasons, but Dulfy usually has great guides for pretty much everything in classic/HoT and quite a bit of PoF stuff.

I try to figure some out myself sometimes, but often I'm just looking to clear it out and will look to a guide for some pointers.

There are a handful of those where you need to actually find stuff/solve some sort of actual puzzle (other than a jumping one), they're a lot of fun and I know I've still got a bunch that I've come across and never cleared but totally forgotten about by now.

Managed to solve it - it was "simpler" than expected (just a matter of finding where there was a climbing/jumping path).

[Edge-]

HoT's systems and mechanics were great. The overtuned numbers were quickly fixed.

Quickly...as in 6 months after launch (the "easy mode" update hit in the summer). I had pretty much quit entirely by that point and barely came back to finish the campaign after that. It didn't "fix" it entirely by any means, at least not for me, because a lot of the same problems exist when it comes to mob density and issues getting around (and fuck pocket raptors forever).

The problem was the content drought. After LWS2E8, we went 10 months without a content update before HoT hit, and then another 9 months without a content update when LWS3E1 hit.

In terms of their revenue, the damage was already done. Predictable revenue spike at launch, but it dropped off hard after that, to well below pre-HoT levels (IIRC it was around 22M a quarter, even after a long drought, and then 15M a quarter after HoT) and it's never recovered. It wasn't the drought, but the big shift in design compared to the old world.

Managed to solve it - it was "simpler" than expected (just a matter of finding where there was a climbing/jumping path).

If you buy HoT you can get gliding. Not usable in all JP's, but it helps make quite a few much easier.

[Flarelaine]

Quickly...as in 6 months after launch (the "easy mode" update hit in the summer). I had pretty much quit entirely by that point and barely came back to finish the campaign after that. It didn't "fix" it entirely by any means, at least not for me, because a lot of the same problems exist when it comes to mob density and issues getting around (and fuck pocket raptors forever).

Fuck pocket raptors indeed.

I still think one of my best decisions was skipping ahead to PoF, unlocking the first two mounts and only doing HoT after that. These days when I'm in Maguuma I just cannonball into packs of pocket raptors.

[Edge-]

Fuck pocket raptors indeed.

I still think one of my best decisions was skipping ahead to PoF, unlocking the first two mounts and only doing HoT after that. These days when I'm in Maguuma I just cannonball into packs of pocket raptors.

I had tried to force myself to clear those zones during HoT but couldn't do it even after the update. It was really only after I got PoF mounts (including gryphon) that I went back and finished them up. Made things SO much easier, especially with how dense and vertical those zones are.

And may whoever concepted pocket raptors always find loose Lego's scattered around when they are barefoot.

[Svifnymr]

I had tried to force myself to clear those zones during HoT but couldn't do it even after the update. It was really only after I got PoF mounts (including gryphon) that I went back and finished them up. Made things SO much easier, especially with how dense and vertical those zones are.

And may whoever concepted pocket raptors always find loose Lego's scattered around when they are barefoot.

I completed the zones, but not all on one character since they're irritating (especially Tangled Depths) to complete.
Amusingly there was a bug that ticked off "completed a zone with a Blah" for most of my characters just for logging in, for the collection for the class weapons, so I never really cared.

I don't raids, fractals, or PvP, and barely any Wv anymore, so basically the newer Legendaries are locked out to me, so it's not a big draw whenever they add a new thing that I won't get, so didn't need the completion tokens either for the HoT zones.

PoF zones are more fun overall, but too big and the meta events never took off other than Ascension.

[Edge-]

I don't raids, fractals, or PvP, and barely any Wv anymore, so basically the newer Legendaries are locked out to me, so it's not a big draw whenever they add a new thing that I won't get, so didn't need the completion tokens either for the HoT zones.

I'm in the same boat pretty much, though I do fractals periodically. It's a shame and I get why they want players engaging with diverse content, but I just have so little interest in most other modes that even working towards legendaries isn't enough to motivate me. The only thing I may grit my teeth through is the warclaw mount in WvW, but even then I doubt I'll bother.

PoF zones are more fun overall, but too big and the meta events never took off other than Ascension.

Agreed. I think they course corrected a bit too hard from HoT and ended up with zones that weren't "active" enough for their size. And it doesn't help that there's no boss/meta teleport item like there is for HoT/Classic (and now S5) zones.

That being said, IMO they've figured that out since then and the S4/5 zones were much better designed overall in terms of allowing for plenty of "open spaces" where you could safely travel while still keeping them pretty densely packed with pockets of enemies and frequent events. S5 zones in particular have been exceptional IMO - Charr one is great overall, and both halves of the Norn one have come together far better than I expected them to.

[Svifnymr]

I'm in the same boat pretty much, though I do fractals periodically. It's a shame and I get why they want players engaging with diverse content, but I just have so little interest in most other modes that even working towards legendaries isn't enough to motivate me. The only thing I may grit my teeth through is the warclaw mount in WvW, but even then I doubt I'll bother.

I got my warclaw a couple weeks late because the queue times were so high. It's a royal pain in the behind.
Everyone had warclaws, so the groups all take off a trot and you're left behind trying to snag some events. I must be worse now. On one hand, warclaws suck, on the other hand, if you don't already have one you are now a second class citizen in Wv.
IMO at least.

Sometimes guilds may coordinate to capture/ lose a castle or something to help out members.

Agreed. I think they course corrected a bit too hard from HoT and ended up with zones that weren't "active" enough for their size. And it doesn't help that there's no boss/meta teleport item like there is for HoT/Classic (and now S5) zones.

The problem with the bigger zones is that you still have X people in a zone. So if a zone is 3 times as big, even if you have the same number of folks running around, you're a lot less likely to see anybody. Mostly I think it's the meh-ness of the metas though, since Bounties still occur.
I've never completed some of the meta's in PoF because there's no interest. (Though, I don't coordinate anything myself of course.)

That being said, IMO they've figured that out since then and the S4/5 zones were much better designed overall in terms of allowing for plenty of "open spaces" where you could safely travel while still keeping them pretty densely packed with pockets of enemies and frequent events. S5 zones in particular have been exceptional IMO - Charr one is great overall, and both halves of the Norn one have come together far better than I expected them to.

I sort of hope they move giant meta's to the seasons overall, where they are usually more thematic and keep expansions (assuming we ever see more) with big changes and don't bother with a meta event per zone.

[Edge-]

I've never completed some of the meta's in PoF because there's no interest. (Though, I don't coordinate anything myself of course.)

I'm in the same boat. Which is why I like how they've shifted away from them with S5 and back to timed zone events. Never liked needing to wait for the meta to be "active" and then hope I was lucky enough to be in a map that had enough folks working to trigger it. Tons of "wasted" content in those zones that I'd love to see them go back and take a pass at updating to work better with the existing designs.

And considering I never really play WvW I guess I'm not missing out on much with the warclaw. Kinda wanted "just to have", but at the same time I've already run out of "easy" keybinds for my mounts without the skyscale and I'm not sure how I'd fit in two more (unless I can shift-modifier them, which is still mildly annoying). They really need a better system to handle mounts in the game, especially since they've now added 3 new ones since launch (beetle, warclaw, skyscale)

I still like that they all have their own "purpose", even if some like the gryphon act as an "all purpose" mount. And I'm in no way opposed to more cool ones, they're fun to use, can be fun to unlock at times, and they're easy to monetize...when they're not creating nightmare fuel skins.

- - - Updated - - -

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/disc...bruary-11-2020

And patch notes for changes to the Drakkar fight...I hate them.

Damage increase - yay, more time spent ressing people that can't jump!
Defiance bar increase - yay, more time begging people to use their active ability and not waste time!
Health scaling down - thank fucking god, he's a fucking HP sponge
New abilities - I'm open to this, the fight was pretty basic.
Spirit champion buffs and longer debuff on entering portals - great, so even if we're slow we can't rotate in all the knuckleheads that rush the first portal without thinking.

I'm not looking forward to trying this out.

[Svifnymr]

And considering I never really play WvW I guess I'm not missing out on much with the warclaw. Kinda wanted "just to have", but at the same time I've already run out of "easy" keybinds for my mounts without the skyscale and I'm not sure how I'd fit in two more (unless I can shift-modifier them, which is still mildly annoying). They really need a better system to handle mounts in the game, especially since they've now added 3 new ones since launch (beetle, warclaw, skyscale)

I haven't used warclaw since getting it, it's only use is being a mount in Wv. It's slow and pounce sucks and everything.

I use my number pad for mounts. 7 is raptor, 8 is bunny, 9 is ray, 4 beetle, 5 jackal, 2 griffon, 1 skyscale, 6 warclaw. It's not as quick as the default single mount for each alt (which is the x key for me), but it's fine for stuff. I've seen a radial menu in Woodenpotato videos, but it seems realllllly slow to me.

I still like that they all have their own "purpose", even if some like the gryphon act as an "all purpose" mount. And I'm in no way opposed to more cool ones, they're fun to use, can be fun to unlock at times, and they're easy to monetize...when they're not creating nightmare fuel skins.

There are times when a jackal is not optimum, but it's my default mount and I love 'em. Along with skyscale, which has largely replaced griffon and bunny. (I only use bunny or raptor for their demounting attack really, even though raptor is faster in many circumstances.)

Beetle is mainly useful for scouting out a new zone, the new mod to make it start with a full endurance feels like it changed something else and I don't even get the range out of it I used to. Otherwise just some races when I'm bored.

[PACOX]

The Drakkar changes felt good when I played it. I believe its bugged right now though. Feels like a more rewarding if you're trying to do your best DPS, trying to support others, playing the fight and not just pressing 1.

The group I was in was semi-engaged and cleared it a lot faster than most of my times before the patch.

[Edge-]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ7HzONV0u0

Teaser for upcoming content. I'm fine with going back in time and dealing with less dragon stuff, but I don't like playing "not my character". It'd better at least leave our class along like in the char fractal, because if we have to play another "class" a la Caithe in S2 then I might nope outta this content.

[Svifnymr]

It doesn't really detail anything, so it might just be short minigames and stuff. I'm not interested in a lengthy false-character mission though, yeah.

I noticed they added a Tutorial achievement, so wasting time doing 1-10 stuff to get some achievement points...

[Xilurm]

I'm downloading the game and I'm trying to make an account but all I get is this "There was an unspecified error. Please try again." Do I just wait a while and do it a an hour or so later or is there some sort of fix for this? Been trying for 10 mins now.

Edit: Nvm, it seems I already had an account with that email, must've been from when the game first came out.