Guild Wars 2

[steelcity_ballin]

I don't know if the changes to my system or a recent patch, but I didn't crash even once last night. I managed to hit 28, 2 more levels until my first elite skill

I was disappointed to see botters/scripters on my server. They were hanging out in Kessex Field near the bridge event and had a script executing to just AOE Nuke everything around them. This ensured that they continually got exp from the event when it was completed. ANet is pretty harsh on that sort of thing, it's cleaerly defined that "unattended" play isn't permitted and is ban worthy. I just don't get it - why even play the game if you're not going to play the game? I know they were botting because there's nothing else of interest there and when you see 25+ people in one are AOE Nuking absolutely nothing, it kind of looks suspicious.

I bought the toolkit skill last night - kind of disappointed with it. It feels really really weak unless you're healing turrets in which case, there's no way a heal of ~25 to a turret will outlast a mob beating on it. I guess it's more of a later game thing where you have major +heal available. Oh well, skill point areas are easy enough. I did 2 events last night that ended with a champion fight which is the closest to an actual boss I've come to. They take a ridiculous beating and only scale more when more people show up - There was a Champion overlord Centaur that I came across and man did he take a pounding from 35 of us or so. Same complaints about large scale rights remain, if I use something like my grenade kit where I must target every skill with the mouse, it's very very hard to do because of all the ability effects displaying on/near the boss. Still a freaking blast.

[rogue426]

I don't know if the changes to my system or a recent patch, but I didn't crash even once last night. I managed to hit 28, 2 more levels until my first elite skill

I was disappointed to see botters/scripters on my server. They were hanging out in Kessex Field near the bridge event and had a script executing to just AOE Nuke everything around them. This ensured that they continually got exp from the event when it was completed. ANet is pretty harsh on that sort of thing, it's cleaerly defined that "unattended" play isn't permitted and is ban worthy. I just don't get it - why even play the game if you're not going to play the game? I know they were botting because there's nothing else of interest there and when you see 25+ people in one are AOE Nuking absolutely nothing, it kind of looks suspicious.

I bought the toolkit skill last night - kind of disappointed with it. It feels really really weak unless you're healing turrets in which case, there's no way a heal of ~25 to a turret will outlast a mob beating on it. I guess it's more of a later game thing where you have major +heal available. Oh well, skill point areas are easy enough. I did 2 events last night that ended with a champion fight which is the closest to an actual boss I've come to. They take a ridiculous beating and only scale more when more people show up - There was a Champion overlord Centaur that I came across and man did he take a pounding from 35 of us or so. Same complaints about large scale rights remain, if I use something like my grenade kit where I must target every skill with the mouse, it's very very hard to do because of all the ability effects displaying on/near the boss. Still a freaking blast.

Your spoiler alert news, yes I found that too last night and yeah its a bitch targeting with all the effects going on at once but still a blast.

[tanker27]

I was disappointed to see botters/scripters on my server. They were hanging out in Kessex Field near the bridge event and had a script executing to just AOE Nuke everything around them. This ensured that they continually got exp from the event when it was completed. ANet is pretty harsh on that sort of thing, it's cleaerly defined that "unattended" play isn't permitted and is ban worthy. I just don't get it - why even play the game if you're not going to play the game? I know they were botting because there's nothing else of interest there and when you see 25+ people in one are AOE Nuking absolutely nothing, it kind of looks suspicious.

Yes they were the on Henge of Denravi. Took me a second to realize what they were doing and frankly I was pissed to see this. I took a second to write down the toon names and guild tags and just this morning submitted a ticket reporting each of them.

As for the Engy and its mobility. I find it difficult to properly kite and use the grenades. I also find it difficult to react when in a group when using a rifle, by the time I (tab) target and get my shot off everything is aoe'd down. Whereas if I use the pistols I can effectively (tab) target and get shots of on multiple mobs. Also the pistols have to AoE shots thus I can compete with the casters.

Right now I am essentially leveling two toons at the same time my Human Engineer and Nord Guardian both of which are on the cusp of 30. I am also 2 zone leveling them.

[JohnC]

Oh well, skill point areas are easy enough. [/spoiler]

Yes, they are, also don't forget that you can always go to other race's starting areas to easily get skillpoints (as well as map completion achievements) there.

[JohnC]

Also, on a topic of people using bots:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comm ... august_30/
"Botting - Yesterday we applied 72-hour account suspensions to 500 players who were running bots. We're continuing to detect and ban bots. Soon we will ramp up to our normal policy of applying permanent account bans to anyone who runs a bot"

Oh, and if someone will tell you to try and (intentionally) exploit some feature that currently doesn't work as intended - don't do that, it's not worth an account ban:
"Exploits - If you discover an exploit in the game, do not exploit it or publicize it, but instead notify us immediately at this new email address: exploits (at) arena (dot) net.
This morning there was a widely-publicized, newly-introduced exploit in which specific cultural weapons were selling for one-thousandth of their normal price. We fixed it with an emergency build this morning. We want to thank the vast majority of players who became aware of the issue, responsibly reported it, and did not exploit it. However, a smaller group of players did significantly exploit it, each purchasing hundreds or thousands of these weapons. We permanently banned 3,000 accounts of players who substantially exploited it, and applied 72-hours bans to another 1,000 accounts of players who mildly exploited it"

[tanker27]

First of all, I heard in map chat about the Norn T2 weapons....I went and checked it out. Yeah I bought 3. (no ban for me) As I am new to this game I am trying to figure out what a lot of things are, apparently there something object of thingy you can use to combine items to get better gear...... I dunno, anyways those that know about this bought several hundred of these to use in that thingy.

The botting is really out of hand, last night in Kessex hills again I found no less then 5 groups of people botting events. Coincidentally its most engineers that I see botting as they throw out all their different kinds of turrets and just stand there.

[steelcity_ballin]

I'mg glad to see ANet taking such aggressive measures against people who want an unfair advantage. The Trading Post came back online last night, worked like a charm. I could have finish my night by hitting 30 but I had some sleep to catch up on. I'm finding myself getting really drawn into the lore and the world in general. It's hard to stick to workouts and what not with gw2 so readily available. I'm going to get into some dungeon content this evening as a dry run, my buddy isn't quite 30 yet so probably need to help him nab that first. It's only 8am and I'm at work, Y U NO ASCALON!?

[tanker27]

So where are these dungeons?

[steelcity_ballin]

So where are these dungeons?

Catacombs is in the Charr territory of Ascalon.

[JustAnEngineer]

Caudecus's Manor is the one in Beetletun on the eastern edge of Queensdale (the human starting area).

[JohnC]

my buddy isn't quite 30 yet so probably need to help him nab that first.

Get him to WvW area-lots of XP/karma in a much more fun way! I had a blast last night on my server-more than 100 kills, lots of loot and a quick few levels just from defending stuff (most of the area was under our control the whole time). We also killed that big, bad grub boss in Eternal Battlegrounds area-the person with highest damage got like 30k XP from that kill (plus some loot from the chest that dropped). Even if you don't want to kill anything-simply escorting supply dolyaks can give you around 500 XP each time dolyak reaches a drop-off point. Only drawback is WvW queue can be extremely long if you're on high populated server...

So where are these dungeons?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dungeon
All the dungeons, including map locations.

[tanker27]

So where are these dungeons?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dungeon
All the dungeons, including map locations.

Thanks. Every time I go to the wiki for it to answer a question of mine there no entry for it or if there is its blank.

[tanker27]

Hmm getting frequent DC's today 2 in an hour, so far.

So whats the verdict on Karma? Spend it as you level or hoard it?

[JohnC]

So whats the verdict on Karma? Spend it as you level or hoard it?

Well, from the prices I've seen for cultural weapons, it takes a lot of karma points to buy such stuff at high levels:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Categor ... al_weapons
On the other hand, there are always ways to earn it and sometimes spending karma on items from the vendors is better than relying on a very random loot generation. So, not really sure about that thing...

[JohnC]

Well, today was an... "interesting" day on our server when it comes to WvW areas. Seems like a few large guilds decided to not participate in WvW for some reason, so WvW areas were filled with a bunch of random people who, after several unsuccessful attempts at attacking the Stonemist Castle, decided to give up and simply do "yakking"... Was kinda sad and amusing at the same time watching bunch of people simply trying to escort supply dolyaks from whatever supply camps that were still under servers' control into the single leftover castle, basically "farming" the easy XP/Karma points without any danger...
P.S: I wonder if I should also use the "free server transfer" option while it is still free...

[Bensam123]

Yeah, WVWVW is fun, but it's definitely not a fast way to earn levels or coin. You level about 25% as fast in wvw vs tranditional PVE. Especially if you're fighting in a area that doesn't have an objective for what you're doing (like attacking enemies slightly outside of their keep). This results in getting little to no experience and the same goes for loot. The rewards system for wvw needs to be tweaked so you get equal rewards for being in the general area of the action, even if you don't get a hit on someone.

Like I spent some time doing support as a guardian and I got zero rewards for doing so as I never hit a enemy. I also had a lul yesterday where I got maybe a half a level out of six hours of gameplay due to the way our team was playing and where the battles were taking place.

People also say that it doesn't matter what level you are in wvw and what gear you have, that is completely untrue. About two hours ago our group got completely raped outside of acension bay by a couple people wearing high level gear. You definitely get leveled up so you aren't completely worthless in wvw, but your gear still blows so you are basically functioning like someone at 80 wearing no gear. You also don't have points you would normally put into traits and skills, which make a big difference.

WvW is quite fun, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go level to 80 through pve and then play WvW so I can actually make a difference in combat. While some abilities like a wall that causes all projectiles to bounce off has the same potency at 80 as at 21, that doesn't apply to how much damage/healing you do with abilities. I've actually found the best way to play WvW at lower levels is to take completely utility based abilities as they don't change over level.

[tanker27]

The botting is seriously out of control. Every zone has two to three toons botting events. Yesterday I stood and watched for about 10 minutes this engineer run through his skills and the event hadnt even started yet.

The leveling is starting to be bothersome, this past weekend I completed all 30-45 zones and some zones that went to 50; and I am only level 44. The two next zones I see are rated 50-60 and I am seriously under-level for it. So I dont know what to do now. For a game that prides itself about not having to grind its looking like I am going to have to do just that.

I looked at a few leveling guides and there was one that stated that you should finish all starter zones and the 1-15 zones before moving on. I wish I would have known that a week ago.

(also to note, I have completed all starter zones and their 1-15 zones.)

[steelcity_ballin]

As far as leveling goes, I'm almost 42. I'm currently hanging around the Lorn's passage trying to get 75% or better. I find that if If I do that, I'm usually outleveling (despite being down-leveled to the content) and don't have any issues leaving and moving onto the next area. I haven't hit any snags with this idea in mind. It keeps the game grind free. Heck, I earned 3 levels just cooking for that matter. I like how easy it is to just explore and fine lots of heart quests and dynamic quests as a result. I feel like Im playing in the universe rather than playing a game.

I ran my first dungeon in AC and qualify for a second dungeon now too. I haven't done explorer mode yet, only story. It was tougher than I expected but that's also factoring in a PUG and un-ideal party composition. Still love my engineer a lot, very fun to play in a variety of ways. I haven't given in to alt-itus yet but I did make a warrior to level 5 heh.

Still no luck with the trading post, getting annoyed. It's a major game breaker because now I am of the level to receive my master manual from my engineer trait guy, and I cannot afford the gold it costs to purchase it because I can't sell extra mats, or other items I can make from my cooking profession, which are actually really nice. It's not game-breaking but it's been down far more than it's been up, I would go as far to say as it's been 80/20 down-to-up. Hopefully they can fix it soon because it's such a crucial part of the game!

[JohnC]

Trading post was up and running after this morning's new build... Did they disable it again?
Also, try getting into WvW area - just queue up for Eternal Battlegrounds and do other quests while waiting for it... WvW can be a fun experience even at lower levels...unless you have too much dolyak shepherds on your server

[JohnC]

...also, here's the funny video (might contain a quest spoiler!) that shows a n00b Charr heli pilot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Himq7tjiA

[tanker27]

As far as leveling goes, I'm almost 42. I'm currently hanging around the Lorn's passage trying to get 75% or better. I find that if If I do that, I'm usually outleveling (despite being down-leveled to the content) and don't have any issues leaving and moving onto the next area. I haven't hit any snags with this idea in mind. It keeps the game grind free.

But I am completing each area for the 100% reward. (I know some say to wait because the rewards scale with level, but I am having a hard time as it is now without it) I probably think crafting is my issue. I havent actually looked to see what each offer and I have yet crafted anything. For the most part you have pointed out why and that the TP. If it isnt readily available crafting may just be that money sink, money thats not easily obtainable.

Also what are you guys doing with your Karma purchased gear that you have out-leveled or replaced? I havent found a vendor that buys the stuff back, are you storing it or just destroying it?

This past weekend I was able to purchase 2 - 15 slot linen bags for my character. But I havent figured out a way to expand the bank space. I dont see where you can drop bags into it.

[steelcity_ballin]

As far as leveling goes, I'm almost 42. I'm currently hanging around the Lorn's passage trying to get 75% or better. I find that if If I do that, I'm usually outleveling (despite being down-leveled to the content) and don't have any issues leaving and moving onto the next area. I haven't hit any snags with this idea in mind. It keeps the game grind free.

But I am completing each area for the 100% reward. (I know some say to wait because the rewards scale with level, but I am having a hard time as it is now without it) I probably think crafting is my issue. I havent actually looked to see what each offer and I have yet crafted anything. For the most part you have pointed out why and that the TP. If it isnt readily available crafting may just be that money sink, money thats not easily obtainable.

Also what are you guys doing with your Karma purchased gear that you have out-leveled or replaced? I havent found a vendor that buys the stuff back, are you storing it or just destroying it?

This past weekend I was able to purchase 2 - 15 slot linen bags for my character. But I havent figured out a way to expand the bank space. I dont see where you can drop bags into it.

For karma, at my peak I had about 8k. I've been doing the hearts and picking up some green upgrades here and there with mine thus far. Also, you need karma for materials for recipes. For example, I learned how to make a cherry tart by earning the heart from a dude in Kessex fields and who now sell me cherries for karma. It's that easy. I imagine I have slightly under 6K karma now, but I've also gained 4 levels just from cooking. Gathering is also a huge chunk of exp daily if you complete the 'daily gatherer' every day, plus you earn tokens and money too. Crafting can be a sink if you let it, but using the discovery tab you earn some HUGE chunks of exp quickly for learning a new recipe. I think I earned 2K exp for making a cherry tart recipe. Then you earn additional exp while crafting the actual item. Rewarding and fun. The item itself is actually damned useful too (+Magic find, + buff + exp/kill). I'd highly recommend you look into the crafts. Be sure to use the discovery panel.

For bags, you can just drag the larger slot bag onto the bag that current exists, it'll swap it all over for you. I bought a 15 slot linen for 75s, probably a bad price but I had no way to compare. I know a rune that is needed for it runs 50s so honestly 25s isn't too bad. I will complain that basically we had to use the honor system to make the trade happen.

[Mightyflapjack]

Well I took the week off, so I have ~90 hours in the game so far.

- Leveled an Elementalist to level 80, and a Ranger to level 20.
- Leveled 3 tradeskills to 400. (Jewelcrafting, Tailoring, Cooking)
- Earned about 3-4 gold on the TP (would have made a LOT more, but in total I have had ~1.5 hours of the TP being up in my 90 hours played).
- Killed a dragon (twice)
- Taken my personal storyline to ~50 level.

Overall I am very pleased with the game, I do not feel like I 'rushed' at all. The 3 tradeskills did get me about 20 levels (I did cooking after I hit level 80, so no extra levels).

Mostly I am looking forward to doing some dungeons and finally being able to fully take advantage of my tradeskills to earn some early gold.

Oh, and for some helpful tips:
* Make sure you use 'discovery' as a main way to get lots of tradeskill experience. (meaning it give x10 the xp to discover new recipies rather than make the same item over and over.. Discoveries are usually easy to figure out as most of the 'item' tradeskills have base components + insignia, so you can just make 1 insignia for each of the item type (shoulder, chest, axe, sword, etc.) as a discovery.

* Do NOT try and level 2 item crafting skills at one time and think you will have enough mats... each skill requires "FINE' quality items like blood, totems, claws, etc and you will run out. Best tradeskill combos would be anything + cooking OR anything + jewelcrafting (some metals will be used by both, but this is easier to compensate).

* Currently cooking is an easy and cheap skill to get to 400 so long as ONE of your characters is at least level 50 to buy materials from karma vendors around the world. Once that character buys the materials and puts them in the bank, any of your characters can use them to get skill up to 400.

* Sadly, once the TP becomes stable, most people will be better off buying gear (and selling gather materials) than leveling a tradeskill... Prices are horrible right now as most sellers do not understand opportunity cost or 15% auction fees.

[JustAnEngineer]

What are you guys doing with your Karma purchased gear that you have out-leveled or replaced? I havent found a vendor that buys the stuff back, are you storing it or just destroying it?.

I'm not spending karma on gear. My characters can craft the same sorts of weapons, armor and jewelry that you can buy with karma, and they gain more crafting experience by doing so. I have spent some karma on ingredients in bulk so that I can craft some cooking items.

[JohnC]

...well, this is the good reason to NOT be on a same server with the "zerg guilds" or "zerg alliances" who can easily dominate the whole WvW area - when the whole WvW area is captured and the enemy just gives up, the only "fun" activity left is to escort our hairy, bovine friends:


And no, these people were NOT bots, they were just bored. And no, I'm not on that server - I was just "hopping" around while the free server transfer is available

[tanker27]

What server was that?

So last night I stumbled upon an new area that was rated 30-40 level, thing is the only way I can see to get to it was through another area that was level 40-50. (and its surrounded by level 50-60 zones) I thnik this are was called Ebonhawke, the city reminded me of Helms Deep from LoTR as it had mountains toward the back as a natural barrier. Up until this point the flow of the lands were pretty much in order for all the races. But there has to be some sort of person or marker that tells you to go to this place.

So yesterday the TP was up and useable for the most part. I didnt see any sluggishness in it. Query returns were relatively fast and posting didnt hang up like it used to.

[Fighthouse]

I picked up the game last Friday, and have put about 10 hours into it. I chose Eredon Terrace as my homeworld, but I see that TR folks have picked Henge of Denravi for their homeworld. I went to transfer just now, and Henge of Denravi is full! Does that mean that future TR members who pick this game up are going to be cut off from the others?

[JohnC]

I picked up the game last Friday, and have put about 10 hours into it. I chose Eredon Terrace as my homeworld, but I see that TR folks have picked Henge of Denravi for their homeworld. I went to transfer just now, and Henge of Denravi is full! Does that mean that future TR members who pick this game up are going to be cut off from the others?

It's not "full" all the time - try it at different times of the day, you will get in. The "full" status also only applies to creating new accounts and for things like server transfers, once you'll create account on this server-you will always be able to get in.

Edit: right now it is listed as "high" so anyone can create new characters or transfer to it.

[JohnC]

What server was that?

At first, Northern Shiverpeaks was like that. Then for some reason it lost a single WvW battle to other servers, and "zerg" guilds/alliances here (like http://www.ruinnation.com and also Ascension Alliance which includes guilds from http://www.teamlegacy.net, http://www.lotd.org and http://www.fistoftheempire.com), disappointed in such loss, blamed the "non-guilded n00bs taking up the space in WvW areas" and decided to move to different server, Eredon Terrace. This screenshot was taken at Eredon Terrace. Sooo... yea, if you want to have a slight chance to ever getting into WvW area and do something fun in there - make sure that you won't be on the same server with this "zerg"

[JohnC]

B.t.w, just saw teh ugly elementalist named "Fiero Reanne"... Which one of you people made this alt and what was it doing in Asura's starting area?