The Guild Wars 2 Thread

[subotaiy]

I really wish they'd speed up the leveling, pve is just too mind numbing.

 

[Dire Roach]

I really wish they'd speed up the leveling, pve is just too mind numbing.

You don't need to level up, get gear, or learn traits if you want to play sPvP. Your level is maxed, you choose your gear, and all traits/skills are unlocked for you while you're in there. You also get tomes of knowledge to level up from pvp reward tracks if that's what you want to do.

If you want to level up for WvW, then the fastest way is to go into Edge of the Mists and join a commander's zerg. You will also get much more badges of honor there for gear than in normal WvW.

 

[JustMyOnion]

Lesbian NPCs everywhere and changing armor so that it wouldn't sinfully show too much skin.

Guild Wars 2 is incredibly schizophrenic in its SJW ideals.
On one hand you have shit like Sylvari, lesbians all over the place, transgender NPCs, and Destiny's Edge 2.0 consisting entirely of minorities (one low-intelligence black norn, two lesbians, a cripple and a female Charr)
On the other, the lesbians are actually not ugly so it seems more like fan service than anything else, one of them even fits the stereotype of the dumb pretty blonde in pretty much every aspect, also their armor/outfit artists seem to be mostly korean and we all know how korean character art looks like:

I guess the SJWs just have their own domain inside ArenaNet without a lot of power because after all, sex sells. (Especially when the dumb blonde's armor is in the gem shop)

Regarding the factions, this quote from BioWare Social Network (of all places) summed it up pretty well

The writing in GW2 is so shit that even Biowarers can rightfully think themselves superior. There's no nuance. Racism is baaad. One certain race has only ever achieved genocide? Doesn't matter, here's a peace treaty, now go help slaughter your fellow humans. Not even modern-day Bioware would go that way.
However it also means the SJWs didn't get to destroy something good so there's that.

 

[Average Manatee]

I guess the SJWs just have their own domain inside ArenaNet without a lot of power because after all, sex sells. (Especially when the dumb blonde's armor is in the gem shop)

Nah, I think its just that all SJWs can exhibit a selective blindness whenever its something they want to like rather than something they want to attack. There's always been huge gaping contradictions in the ideology.

 

[Stokowski]

Seeking intelligence or coherence in Guild Wars 2 setting and lore is like trying to decode messages from the mothership in the arrangement of your macaroni.

 

[Avellion]

I remember a person I talked to back then (who is a huge fanatic of this game) gushed about the lore and especially liked the fact that magic was lorewise something in finite supply, a non renewable source of power. I always thought it was stupid though, considering how nothing in the game gave off that impression, considering how combat for half the classes or so are nothing more than magic fireworks.

The rest of the game, well it kinda messed up the few things I felt like Guild Wars 1's lore did right.

1. All members of the same race did not share the same city and culture. All humans are Krytans, all charr belong to a belong to ascalon, Asura all belong to Rata Sum and so on. It was partially justified for Sylvari, but sylvari is still one of the worst fantasy races I have come across.
2. With every member of every major race (save for the bad guys) united under one banner. There was no hint of politics. Politics wasnt huge in Guild Wars 1 either, but there was at least some resembelence of it.
3. Lore that focused on the struggles of humans as opposed to the pushing of 'original race do not steal'

 

[Hobo Elf]

I was feeling experimental enough to give this game a look, but reading through this thread and some other places it really sounds like the game is a boring piece of shit. Kinda unfortunate but oh well.

 

[Average Manatee]

I remember a person I talked to back then (who is a huge fanatic of this game) gushed about the lore and especially liked the fact that magic was lorewise something in finite supply, a non renewable source of power. I always thought it was stupid though, considering how nothing in the game gave off that impression, considering how combat for half the classes or so are nothing more than magic fireworks.

The rest of the game, well it kinda messed up the few things I felt like Guild Wars 1's lore did right.

1. All members of the same race did not share the same city and culture. All humans are Krytans, all charr belong to a belong to ascalon, Asura all belong to Rata Sum and so on. It was partially justified for Sylvari, but sylvari is still one of the worst fantasy races I have come across.
2. With every member of every major race (save for the bad guys) united under one banner. There was no hint of politics. Politics wasnt huge in Guild Wars 1 either, but there was at least some resembelence of it.
3. Lore that focused on the struggles of humans as opposed to the pushing of 'original race do not steal'

One of the best things for GW1 lore was to only let players play humans, which definitely went against the grain for MMOs. Any non-human playable race immediately becomes just a LARPing costume. Even the Norn were sufficiently distinct enough to be somewhat interesting in GW1 (arguably letting non-humans be henchmen and heroes went too close to making them feel non-foreign). In GW2 any sense of foreign culture is immediately lost as soon as you talk with a player playing another race.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

In GW2 any sense of foreign culture is immediately lost as soon as you talk with a player playing another race.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What?

 

[Average Manatee]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What?

You know what the average MMO player is, right? How am I supposed to take something like an Asura or Charr seriously when 90% of them speak the same mind-killing MMOtalk everyone else does? They aren't non-human's, they are http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RubberForeheadAliens played by a human. GW1 avoided this by limiting interaction with non-humans, most of the time they didn't want to be around you or at least acted differently with different goals. In GW2 it's like the justice league of races with everyone basically being the same.

This also has gameplay implications, where non-humans could have huge differences from Humans in GW1, while in GW2 all playable races are completely bland with only minor distinguishing abilities. You'd think a 2 foot tall Asura would have different stats from an 8 foot tall Norn, but no. In GW1 all races had very distinguishable fighting styles and stats. A lot of this is also due to the fact that there is just so much fewer skills in GW2 than GW1.

 

[Avellion]

One of the best things for GW1 lore was to only let players play humans, which definitely went against the grain for MMOs. Any non-human playable race immediately becomes just a LARPing costume. Even the Norn were sufficiently distinct enough to be somewhat interesting in GW1 (arguably letting non-humans be henchmen and heroes went too close to making them feel non-foreign). In GW2 any sense of foreign culture is immediately lost as soon as you talk with a player playing another race.

Well, I wouldnt necessarily agree that races just boil down to LARPing costumes. Some of the older mmorpgs actually had differences between races. The lack of night vision for humans in EverQuest, meant nights were DARK for them. And they would probably have to carry a torch. And larger races might have troubling squeezing through some areas.

But modern mmorpgs have definately hamfisted races. With them being as you said, different LARPing costumes. With Guild Wars 2 probably has the second worst approach only behind SWTOR,

Spoiler

 

[Hobo Elf]

Those swtor models triggered me.

 

[Zetor]

To be fair (heh), the concept of different races in Star Wars pretty much boils down to 'humans in silly masks and differently-colored makeup', with like 3 exceptions.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

You know what the average MMO player is, right? How am I supposed to take something like an Asura or Charr seriously when 90% of them speak the same mind-killing MMOtalk everyone else does? They aren't non-human's, they are http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RubberForeheadAliens played by a human. GW1 avoided this by limiting interaction with non-humans, most of the time they didn't want to be around you or at least acted differently with different goals. In GW2 it's like the justice league of races with everyone basically being the same.

This also has gameplay implications, where non-humans could have huge differences from Humans in GW1, while in GW2 all playable races are completely bland with only minor distinguishing abilities. You'd think a 2 foot tall Asura would have different stats from an 8 foot tall Norn, but no. In GW1 all races had very distinguishable fighting styles and stats. A lot of this is also due to the fact that there is just so much fewer skills in GW2 than GW1.

It's your own mistake for expecting anything othert than that from MMO players.

Honestly I get the mechanical criticism but this is borderline retarded MUH IMMERSION argument that holds no grounds in generic multiplayer enviroment.

 

[Average Manatee]

It's your own mistake for expecting anything othert than that from MMO players.

I don't expect different. That's why MMO players should be restricted to humans if you want non-humans to feel non-human.

Honestly I get the mechanical criticism but this is borderline retarded MUH IMMERSION argument that holds no grounds in generic multiplayer enviroment.

If you don't want to make a generic multiplayer environment then MUH IMMERSION is important. GW2 didn't.

 

[Rahdulan]

Looks like core game went F2P. I bet it sure feels good for people after paying $50 for "vanilla game bundled with the expansion, guys".

https://welcome.guildwars2.com/en/Play-For-Free

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Information on F2P account restrictions:

• Free accounts will start with 2 character slots and 3 inventory bag slots
  
  
• Free players can only start a new whisper conversation every 30 seconds.
  
  
• Mailing items to other players will be restricted.
  
  
• WvW is locked until a one character reaches level 60. At this point, it is unlocked account-wide.
  
  
• F2P players will not be able to use map chat.
  
  
• Characters are restricted to the starter maps until level 10
  
  
• Lion's Arch is locked until a character reaches level 35
  
  
• No guild bank access
  
  
• No masteries
  
  
• There are no leveling restrictions All F2P accounts will be able to level to 80.
  
  
• Squad Chat locked until level 30
  
  
• LFG locked until level 30
  
  
• In PvP matches, all chat modes except for team chat are locked, including emotes
  
  
• Chat in PvP lobby locked until level 20
  
  
• Daily Login Rewards are disabled
  
  
• Gem-to-Gold exchange disabled
  
  
• Trading post is limited to a select list of items (List unreleased as of now)
  
  
• Free accounts are unable to post on the forums
  
  
• All gem store items that are usable by F2P players are available to be purchased (ex, Glider Skins are purchasable)
  

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

it's swtor "pay to hide the helmet" all over again.
you won't be missed.

meanwhile, guild wars still survives.
when are these people going to die? it'll never be soon enough.

 

[Black]

Yes, GW1 is still b2p. UO still has subscription.
TOR, TESO and GW2 are f2p.
It's like there's a message here.

 

[Riel]

They should probably have been more straight forward with this. But all in all I don't see is as an "insult" at all. They are not the first nor will be the last game to go F2P. Games lose value over time, "it is known" ... or should be.

 

[Rahdulan]

Yes, GW1 is still b2p. UO still has subscription.
TOR, TESO and GW2 are f2p.
It's like there's a message here.

Yeah, it's not 2005 anymore.

 

[Black]

I know, the decline is steady.

 

[Shammy]

GW2 has only been going up, and this will only boost the climb. It's a perfectly fine business decision.

 

[Zewp]

Oh yai, endless gold seller spam and back to Anet's old ways of dealing with gold sellers - just hamfistedly ban anyone moving over X amount of gold between accounts.

This is going to end well.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Reading is hard.

Free players can only start a new whisper conversation every 30 seconds.