Guild Wars 2 Catch All

Sway wrote:

Yeah, I'm Sway.5972 on Northern Shiverpeaks.

I'll fire off an invite when I get home tonight. We're not active as a guild anymore, but it'll be a good jumping off point to meeting other GWJers in gw2 and getting invites into the more dedicated guilds.

Sway wrote:

Anyone still play this at a lower level? I picked it up, but the newbie areas are deserted. I don't think I want to fight through 50 levels of content before anyone will group with me. I know high level people can play with lower level in GW2, but it doesn't mean that anyone wants to. :)

I'm leveling a thief (26 at the moment) and I'm still in the GWJ guild. Look me up if you want to quest...usually on after 7, est.

mindset.threat wrote:

I'm leveling a thief (26 at the moment) and I'm still in the GWJ guild. Look me up if you want to quest...usually on after 7, est.

Beauty. I played through the weekend and my elementalist is 18 and has nearly perfected the art of dying. I heard from a few people this weekend that the ele tends to die a lot at lower levels. I wish I had known that going in, but I think I'd be frustrated to start again with something new. So would you still get decent XP if you came back and grouped with me in a lower area? I don't want to slow you down.

I keep hoping the game goes on a flash sale and the servers get a fresh influx of new people.

The population issues are due less to a lack of active players and more to their distribution.

There's usually 2-3 big things going on (Living Story chapters and whatever is giving the best loot/time(certain dungeon paths and champ trains)) and that's where the vast majority of players are, with everyone else spread out across about 40 maps/activities... which is why the game often looks empty unless you're in one of those hot spots.. and then the problem is that there's WAY too many ppl around.

Unfortunately the activities that are a big draw are often made for 80s. While some will upscale you, if your natural level is under 30-40 it's going to be a real struggle. That being said, it shouldn't stop you from checking them out anyway.. worse that will happen is you die and someone raises you =)

Anywho, it was fun to dive back into an old zone with you this weekend, got to see part of a storyline I haven't played through which is always nice =)

Sway wrote:
mindset.threat wrote:

I'm leveling a thief (26 at the moment) and I'm still in the GWJ guild. Look me up if you want to quest...usually on after 7, est.

Beauty. I played through the weekend and my elementalist is 18 and has nearly perfected the art of dying. I heard from a few people this weekend that the ele tends to die a lot at lower levels. I wish I had known that going in, but I think I'd be frustrated to start again with something new. So would you still get decent XP if you came back and grouped with me in a lower area? I don't want to slow you down.

You won't have to worry about that, characters automatically have their level scaled down to the max for the area.

Stengah wrote:
Sway wrote:
mindset.threat wrote:

I'm leveling a thief (26 at the moment) and I'm still in the GWJ guild. Look me up if you want to quest...usually on after 7, est.

Beauty. I played through the weekend and my elementalist is 18 and has nearly perfected the art of dying. I heard from a few people this weekend that the ele tends to die a lot at lower levels. I wish I had known that going in, but I think I'd be frustrated to start again with something new. So would you still get decent XP if you came back and grouped with me in a lower area? I don't want to slow you down.

You won't have to worry about that, characters automatically have their level scaled down to the max for the area.

Plus the loot still is tied to your level. So they can still get Green/Blues for their level while teaming up with you at the lower leveled area. It's one of the best things of the game in my opinion.

Stengah wrote:
Sway wrote:
mindset.threat wrote:

I'm leveling a thief (26 at the moment) and I'm still in the GWJ guild. Look me up if you want to quest...usually on after 7, est.

Beauty. I played through the weekend and my elementalist is 18 and has nearly perfected the art of dying. I heard from a few people this weekend that the ele tends to die a lot at lower levels. I wish I had known that going in, but I think I'd be frustrated to start again with something new. So would you still get decent XP if you came back and grouped with me in a lower area? I don't want to slow you down.

You won't have to worry about that, characters automatically have their level scaled down to the max for the area.

And they still gain XP and (sorta) phat loots for their level too!

I just got the game yesterday, in celebration of my new computer. I am Aristophan.3275. I'm still figuring things out, and I only have a level 4 (soon to be 5) Asura engineer. I'm on northern Shiverpeaks. I'd love to get an invite into the GWJ guild as I am getting my feet wet.

EDIT: I got the invite. Pro-Tip: press "Represent" in order to join guild chat

Aristophan wrote:

I just got the game yesterday, in celebration of my new computer. I am Aristophan.3275. I'm still figuring things out, and I only have a level 4 (soon to be 5) Asura engineer. I'm on northern Shiverpeaks. I'd love to get an invite into the GWJ guild as I am getting my feet wet.

EDIT: I got the invite. Pro-Tip: press "Represent" in order to join guild chat :oops:

Engineer is an awesome class, it is actually my only character type in game!

So is this still worth getting all this time after launch?

I recently tried the ESO beta - being pretty much a complete MMORPG beginner, and I quite enjoyed what I played. However, I can't get down with a monthly subscription fee, so I started looking around for alternatives, most of which appear to be Free-to-play.

It looks like the cheapest place to get a key for this comes in around £22 also, which would amazingly make it one of my more expensive purchases, such is the way of PC gaming these days...

Or, should I just try a few of the free ones and see if they scratch the itch without spending anything at all?

Good question. Yes, it's totally worth picking up, however I will warn you of one thing: There is a metric s***TON of currencies in this game that may seem super confusing. New players won't need to worry about laurels and things like that, normal money (ie. gold) will still rule the day.

tldr Don't be scared off by the multiple currencies.

As far as where you should go next, it might not hurt to try a couple F2P games before you come to GW2 just to see how much better it is. GW2 isn't going to be for everyone, but it's my themepark of choice.

Alrighty. Appreciate the comments, I have next to no MMO style RPG experience, and in single-player, mainly Elder Scrolls or similar style (opposed to Dragon Age). Any suggestions as to which I should give a whirl to? I realise there's probably a more appropriate mmo-encompassing thread somewhere, and will look it up when at home.

omnipherous wrote:

So is this still worth getting all this time after launch?

I picked GW2 up recently and, as garion said, it's an excellent theme park. You actually like seeing other people because grouping for events is fun. You get experience doing pretty much everything so you just log in and do whatever you're in the mood for. Obviously this late in the game, the player base is skewed pretty strongly toward the max level. Some of the starting zones can feel downright abandoned. But the game lets high level chars group with low level chars and it automatically downlevels the higher char. It's a pretty nice system.

I've also been playing Neverwinter occasionally because I've got friends who don't want to drop coin on an MMO. It feels well populated because it drops you in the main city as soon as you come out of the tutorial. The free-to-play reminders are all over the place, but the core gameplay and grouping is still a good time. Now that I think about it, I'm a little ashamed at how much time I've spent on it without dropping a penny.

One of the best things about this game, and one that can potentially make it easier to get into than other games (or tougher, depending on how your brain works), is that for quests outside of the main storyline you don't have to talk to anyone in order to start and finish them. You enter an area, it tells you what quests are there, you do them or you don't. It's beautiful.

Grouping is seemless too. You can do group events without being in an actual group, you get rewards based on your participation. You can form parties, for sure, so if you're in there with people you know you can group up with them.

omnipherous wrote:

Any suggestions as to which I should give a whirl to? I realise there's probably a more appropriate mmo-encompassing thread somewhere, and will look it up when at home.

Those threads pop up from time to time, but it's tough to keep them current.

Frankly, play World of Warcraft. It's free up to level 20. You should just give it a go and say you did it.

Lotro I find boring, but okay. It's awesome to visit the Shire and whatnot, but the pace is too plodding for me.

Neverwinter has a cool combat model, but that's about it.

I stay away from free Asian MMOs. They don't hold much appeal to me.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of F2P models so I'm happy GW2 is pay to pay with no sub.

Thanks again for the input. I also don't particularly like any F2P models - some are worse than others. I don't mind paying for a game if I enjoy it, and tend to look at a 50p per hour success line for what I consider value for money. I just can't sign up to a subscription model, as I can't know in advance how long I'll be able to play in said month. My concern is, I've never really been an MMO player, so I can't tell how long it would hold my attention. I picked up an ESO beta key from a Goodjer, and gave it a whirl, which is what brought me to this stage.

Maybe I'll fire up Neverwinter and see what's what, even just as another indication towards the fantasy MMO genre, rather than the particular game. I'll also keep an eye out for some form of sale on GW2, but from the looks of isthereanydeal, id doesn't appear to drop by all that much.

Well, not having a subscription fee means you're not going to find the game dirt cheap for some time.

I know, it's just the spoiled-PC-brat that has grown in me over the years

Oh please, you've got a Star Citizen account.

Hah. Fair point.

You know what annoys me? Downloading a game on Steam, which then launches a 'launcher' which proceeds to incredibly slowly download multiple Gb 'patches'. 0_o JUST ADD IT TO THE MAIN DOWNLOAD.

Jeez.

The next Guild Wars 2 update is targeted for April 15th. It's being called a 'feature pack' and the first information is linked here:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/t...

This looks pretty intriguing to me:

Engineer: Fortified Turrets

Engineers will be getting additional support and survivability with their new turret trait, Fortified Turrets, which is part of the Inventions line. Each time an engineer with Fortified Turrets equipped spawns a new turret, that turret receives a defensive bubble that reflects projectiles for four seconds. This works with all turrets, including the Supply Crate.

So no update for April 1st? I was kinda hoping for the return of the Super Adventure Box...

Not sure how I feel about the trait rework.. yay for new stuff I guess but it seems like a lot of focus is on the unlock process which doesn't really matter to ppl that have been at 80 for over a year.

Plus, on-the-fly retraits in WvW is something I'm dead set against. We're short on details but if they implement hot swappable build templates in a pvp setting.. I'm out.

I'm not against reducing the number of trait points specifically, although going to lv30 before getting even adept traits seems ... off. And I'm also unsure of having to unlock traits through achievements. I'm glad I already have three 80s as it sounds like the levelling process could be more tedious and time-consuming (not to mention harder on some professions) with these changes. And I tend to agree that instantly resetting traits in WvW/PvP isn't a good thing, but there might be limitations on that.

The new Grandmaster traits they described seem focussed on patching perceived deficiencies in some professions. But build diversity is dependent on where they put the traits. If Force of Will is really going to be in the Guardian's already strong Honor line, for example, I don't know how many people could justify taking it over Pure of Voice in a shout build. And most DPS-oriented builds such as meditations won't go 30 in Honor.

Over/under on when they start talking about the first expansion?

TESO needs to launch.

News?!?!

Wildstar launches.

And then ... news?!?

GrandmaFunk wrote:

Plus, on-the-fly retraits in WvW is something I'm dead set against. We're short on details but if they implement hot swappable build templates in a pvp setting.. I'm out.

I agree they shouldnt be swappable mid match in PvP, but I dont think it'll be that big an issue for WvW. Then again I havent spent that much time thinking about it. The idea of being able to switch between a roamer vs. zerg spec on the fly seem like it would certainly have some appeal to me.

So why are you dead set against it?

I actually see that as an interesting idea and may load in to try it out. Adds more depth to a boring system.

The impact of hot-swap builds on solo-roaming is like playing rock-paper-scissors except you get to pick after the other guy reveals.

here comes a necro -> swap to anti-condition build; here comes a guardian -> swap to boon-stripping.

with the growing number of hard counters, the meta will push towards whichever classes have the better toolkit of counter options and away from the less versatile classes.

net result is build diversity goes way down as there are no more actual builds and characters just become template holders.

It's just not a meta I'm interested in participating in.

I think that managing the impact of trait swapping in WvW would be as simple as making it only possible to swap if you were in the radius of your home waypoint on the map. I definitely do agree that allowing an instant swap anywhere on the map would have a negative effect on WvW diversity and fun.

GrandmaFunk wrote:

The impact of hot-swap builds on solo-roaming is like playing rock-paper-scissors except you get to pick after the other guy reveals.

here comes a necro -> swap to anti-condition build; here comes a guardian -> swap to boon-stripping.

with the growing number of hard counters, the meta will push towards whichever classes have the better toolkit of counter options and away from the less versatile classes.

net result is build diversity goes way down as there are no more actual builds and characters just become template holders.

It's just not a meta I'm interested in participating in.

I think you are overthinking it a bit.

A) Since we do not have macros or mods for new UI's, there is a time factor of opening the UI and getting the switch inm. How fast one could switch to a template before combat sets in and you can't switch ( I suppose given that templates are theoretical?.
B) Not all necros are condi (been playing Power/DS alot lately myself.), not all guardians are heavily boon dependant, etc.
C) Builds need gear support, so if you do not have the right mix of stats or if a proposed template does not include gear swapping then there is little point to it except around the edges.