The Guild Wars 2 Thread

[Zewp]

Yeah, I guess everyone else reporting how shitty and unoptimized this game is also just don't know how to PC.

This game is shit and the only redeeming quality is that at least you don't have to pay a sub for it. If you had to pay a sub, this game would have been dead two months after release because there would be no way people would pay to put up with these technical issues and problems.

 

[Avellion]

Yeah, I guess everyone else reporting how shitty and unoptimized this game is also just don't know how to PC.

This game is shit and the only redeeming quality is that at least you don't have to pay a sub for it. If you had to pay a sub, this game would have been dead two months after release because there would be no way people would pay to put up with these technical issues and problems.

It is also fast to uninstall.

 

[Riel]

Average Manatee: I think we hold similar ideas and I just want to clarify that my point is that GW2 is action-NONrpg while GW1 was (is) action-YESrpg.

In regards to the performance: optimization has not been a priority of ANY developer since the turn of the millenium, probably before, the time when programers had to poke text characters to fit a game's graphics into a 16 Kb machine are long gone, programers are lazy now. That said M&B didn't have have horrible graphics just because it sucked in the art department -they did suck in that being a tiny studio btw- but also because they knew they had to properly and quickly represent a large battlefield with many characters ... Anet well just hoped you had a top gear machine, WvW else sucks.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Yeah, right.

HD7850 2GB
i5 3444 3.1Ghz
8GB RAM
Win7 64bit

The problem is clearly my computer, not Anet's lack of optimization

It's just bullshit. My computer is objectively worse than yours and I don't get ANY lag during WvW.

 

[Zewp]

Then your computer is objectively magic or you are objectively lying, because I get tons of lag and half the people are invisible.

It's not exactly a state secret that GW2 is poorly optimized.

 

[Terpsichore]

Welcome to AMD.

 

[Wilian]

If my PC can't run WvW flawlessly, I'll call you a bullshitter.

 

[Zewp]

If your PC can run WvW flawlessly, I'll call you a bullshitter.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Err, what's the point of comparing specs if you don't compare graphics settings too?

 

[SerratedBiz]

Then your computer is objectively magic or you are objectively lying, because I get tons of lag and half the people are invisible.

More like you're subjectively mouthbreathing. Hurrdurr must win argument over the internet, I'll lie to prove my point.

Now that your shit's getting called out you're trying to switch. "No it's not so much the lag, it's the culling! But this time it's the truth, I swear!"

 

[Zewp]

Who says I'm switching? The game automatically culls entities after a certain amount. Go to the Shadow Behemoth fight on a Friday night and watch as your framerate takes a nosedive and half the people disappear.

This game is optimized like shit. Anet has never cared about proper bugfixing or optimization.

 

[Night Goat]

I feel like I got my money's worth from GW2, but I'm still disappointed. I'd come back to it if they made a real expansion, but their refusal to add meaningful and permanent content has driven away a lot of people. Cantha and Elona were much more interesting than Fantasy Europe, and I really wanted to return to those places. I don't know anyone who still plays this game, but they're still churning out Living Story shit, so I guess the five people left are big spenders.

 

[Avellion]

I feel like I got my money's worth from GW2, but I'm still disappointed. I'd come back to it if they made a real expansion, but their refusal to add meaningful and permanent content has driven away a lot of people. Cantha and Elona were much more interesting than Fantasy Europe, and I really wanted to return to those places. I don't know anyone who still plays this game, but they're still churning out Living Story shit, so I guess the five people left are big spenders.

This is a very common stance people have with the game. The game launched while it had a lot of potential, it reeked of issues such as bad optimization, uninspired and unsatisfying combat and some of the worst writing I had to witness. The game could have ironed out a lot of these issues to become something great, but instead they just squandered it after focusing on temporary content and forgetting to fix the optimization and gameplay issues.

It was still a fun ride though when and only when playing with friends. I tried returning to it a few weeks ago and I could only stomach an hour or so before I uninstalled.

 

[Rahdulan]

I feel like I got my money's worth from GW2, but I'm still disappointed. I'd come back to it if they made a real expansion, but their refusal to add meaningful and permanent content has driven away a lot of people. Cantha and Elona were much more interesting than Fantasy Europe, and I really wanted to return to those places. I don't know anyone who still plays this game, but they're still churning out Living Story shit, so I guess the five people left are big spenders.

I have a feeling their logic behind the no expansion policy, aside from the obvious one which is that microtransactions are obviously making them enough money as it is, is that they don't want to splinter their already existing community into haves and have nots. And subsequently further with more possible expansions. I don't know, that's kinda what the logical angle is telling me.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

How about they don't have the resources to develop and support it?

 

[Infinitron]

"GemGate":

Guild Wars 2 Players Angry Over Currency Exchange Changes [Update]

Guild Wars 2 players have long enjoyed the ability to easily exchange gold for gems used to buy nifty cosmetic items in the game's Black Lion Trading Company store. Yesterday's game update changed all of that, and players are not happy. Update: ArenaNet has responded, and will be reinstating the ability to purchase gems as they see fit.

Previously Guild Wars 2's currency exchange worked like this: players would enter the interface and exchange the exact number of coins required for the exact amount of gems they needed, based on current currency exchange rates. Say they wanted a Black Lion Chest Key, used to get rewards from special chests awarded during their adventures. They'd pay the amount of gold needed to secure 150 gems, the price of single key, and that would be that.

Here's the new interface.

See the problem? ArenaNet has Microsoft Pointed the currency exchange. The lowest denomination of gems players can now trade for is 400 gems. That means if players want just a single Black Lion Chest Key for 150 gems, they'll have to purchase 400. It also means that if they want to purchase a five pack of keys, a much better deal at 450 gems, they'll need to purchase 800 gems to do it.

Here are the update notes, explaining the changes.

Improvements: New Currency Exchange UI
The Currency Exchange UI has been overhauled to be quicker to use and easier to understand.

• Quick exchange options for both currencies are now visible on the front page of the Currency Exchange.
• The comparison between Exchange for Gold and Exchange for Gems prices is much more obvious.
• Fixed exchange amounts have been set to simplify the exchange process and remove confusing rounding points.

There was nothing confusing about the old exchange. You entered the amount of gems you wanted, and the interface told you how much gold you'd need to spend to get them. In the words of one of my Guild Wars 2 playing relatives upon seeing the changes, "How the hell is this simplifying anything?"

Guild Wars 2 forum goers are similarly confused and angered by the move. Here are a few comments from the lengthy forum post on the subject.

The whole point of gems was being able to get the exact amount you needed. This new system is just awful and means people will have a hard time using all their remaining gems

I am FURIOUS about this change. Only need a few gems to buy some transmutation charges? Guess what? You're forced to buy 70g+ worth of gems to do it. This is a disgusting system that pretty much forces you to throw away needless amounts of gold or pay up with cash. The rehashed content for halloween was bad enough, but now you force this crap down our throats? Switching around my look was my favorite thing to do, and i just needed a few gold to do it if i was out of charges. Now? I need to throw away nearly 100g on gems i don't even need or want. I can't even put my frustration into appropriate words. You just effectively killed the gem store for me anet. G freaking G

This is completely unacceptable. How did this even get approved?

There's been more than a few times when I've used the exchange to get just 100 gems to be able to afford something. With all the odd/varying prices, we need options in buying amounts of gems.

It's bad enough that we are stuck with a minimum real cash purchase of $10, now this has spread into the exchange too.

This comment refers to the game's real cash store, where players can buy gems for actual cash.

Lewis Burnell of TenTonHammer (via NeoGAF) has posted a lengthy editorial speaking out against the changes, where he also details the replies to player outrage by ArenaNet communication team lead Gaile Gray.

Ok, guys. Some of you are unhappy about this change, I can see that. BUT… quite honestly, most of you are sort of (I hate to use the word) ranting (sorry!) instead of offering suggestions.

That is not the way to calm an angry mob. Gaile later returned with some information from the developers regarding the changes.

A lot of newer players had trouble with the interface. That doesn't apply to you, you're veterans who have been around the conversion block a time or two. But newer players will benefit from the updated system.

The goal was to make the Gem Store more like other shopping experiences, and if you think about it, there is more of that feel to it now.

You may be surprised to know this (I know I was) but very few people bought gems at smaller denominations than the first one offered in the new system. That's not to say they never did, nor that there wouldn't be the desire to do so. But overall, the current options were selected based on player purchases in the past.

The team is going to listen to your feedback and, if and when it's practical and desirable, they can look towards adjusting the new system to better meet your needs.

​

Newer players having trouble with the interface? I've got a character that's been around since the game launched, and I've not accrued enough gold to purchase anywhere near 400 gems. Granted I've not put in very much time over the past year, but I can't see new players coming into that much money anytime soon.

From what I've seen of developer response so far, it doesn't seem like reversing these changes are high on ArenaNet's priority list. I've reached out to the developer for comment on the situation, and will update this post when I hear back.

Update: ArenaNet has responded with plans to update the Currency Exchange so players can use it as they wish. They offered the following statement:

"It's clear that quite a lot of you would like to have greater flexibility in using the Currency Exchange. Our intention when we designed the new interface was to streamline large volume purchases, which make up the majority of transactions.

In light of your feedback, we will update the Currency Exchange so that you can decide how you want to use it. We will keep the new streamlined system and also offer a new "Custom" button on the panel that you can use to exchange any increment of gems or gold.

We anticipate rolling this out soon. Stay tuned!"

 

[RK47]

.....uh. How about we don't play at all.
Would that be fine with you ArenaNet?
OK.
Bye.

 

[Rahdulan]

It's been reverted or at least the old way will be returned alongside this one, which made the whole thing just a PR stunt.

 

[Zed]

People still playing GW2 deserve to get ripped off.
The game lacks any kind of progression. You're done when you hit max level.

 

[Zewp]

Have they announced the much-needed expansion yet?

No? Okay. Continue gathering dust, GW2.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Wish they would just scrub the event based pve and just go with normal quest structure. Only thing that would bring me back into the game

 

[Avellion]

"Dynamic" Events were not a bad idea. But they were so poorly executed.

And honestly, the quest design in World of Warcraft is far superior to the sloppy, repetitive quest structure in Guildenburg 2.

How to design a game according to Neo-Arenanet

1. Take what works
2. Remove it
3. Replace it with something different, even if what they replaced it with doesnt work
4. Pull out a word from your buzz word hat
5. Attach said name to your new feature
6. Dont worry about making it good. Its not about making good mechanics, it is about standing out from the rest.
7. Just call it fun to hype it. Dont explain why it is fun, or why it will work out. Suckers will buy into it anyway.

How to design a game according to the original WoW team (which contained several ex-Arena Net employees)

1. Analyze market trends
2. Look at what works
3. Expand upon it so that it works even better.
4. Look at what doesnt work.
5. Figure out a way to remove the tedium out of it
6. If that isnt possible, remove it and replace it with something that does work.
7. Look for ways to smoothen in the experience for newcomers.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

People still playing GW2 deserve to get ripped off.
The game lacks any kind of progression. You're done when you hit max level.

One is done way before max level actually. I stopped feeling any sense of progression around level 30.

 

[Avellion]

People still playing GW2 deserve to get ripped off.
The game lacks any kind of progression. You're done when you hit max level.

One is done way before max level actually. I stopped feeling any sense of progression around level 30.

Let me guess, the fact that you were fighting the same enemies as you did on level 1. Further helped curb any feeling of progression.

Edit: They fucked up the levelling even more. So now you only get stat boosts at every 6 levels, and they added a lot of unnecessary gating, cant even interact with the skill point challenges until you reach a certain level. Unless they changed their shit.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Nah the big one was the sense that you just stopped growing stronger during the level 20's, and the Elite Skills themselves turned out to be just a huge letdown. At that point it just felt like a bore to continue when even your personal story quests needed a massive amounts of grinding in-between quests.