Guild Wars 2

Pyros · Jul 3, 2014

But the Zephyrites have made contact with Cantha already(or so I read), could have an air route and shit. Mordremoth also was a non factor until they decided to make it the most pressing threat. Even if we assume we don't go to Cantha until the undersea dragon is dead, shouldn't their efforts be directed towards Kralkatorrik then to reunite with Elona. Or to go north and defeat Jormag. Or find out what the fuck is going on with Primordus before he fucks everyone up? It makes more sense for the story to stick to the known threats first than add more. Now it's added and it's the prime focus, fine, it's just weird to decide to add a new dragon when they already had a bunch of them doing shit.

How's leveling atm in the game, was it ever made faster or is it still the same as release? I don't really feel like picking up the game with my old 80s(guardian engineer and elementalist) so I'd like to level a new one, however the lack of new leveling zones makes it quite a boring prospect if the leveling speed is the same as the old one. I leveled like 4 chars to 80 during alpha/beta so I've seen the zones quite a lot of times already. Thinking pet necro might be decent nowadays, is it? Or is it still complete garbage?

Ukerric · Jul 3, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
so the way to Cantha should be open. Why aren't we going to Cantha?

There's apparently some kind of ultra-high-level Lich lording it there, if I understood the story right.

Pyros_sl said:
But the Zephyrites have made contact with Cantha already(or so I read)

They're made chiefly of Canthan and Elonan refugees.

Pyros · Jul 3, 2014

The lich lord stuff is in Elona, to defeat Abaddon you had to resurect some crazy ass dead king mummy lich guy(Palawa Joko) to help you get there and yeah he apparently conquered most of Elona before the dragon cut it off. And yeah I know zephyrites are refugees but when I was reading up on them it said they also made trades with Cantha and some of the ingame lore suggests that Cantha has changed a lot since last time(obviously it's been 250years or whatever) so it hints that there was actual contact with Cantha recently. So yeah they could have went with a Cantha arc instead, with the undersea dragon being the threat they wanted to eradicate(granted that's still a new dragon instead one of the older ones).

Defeating Jormag and getting the bear guys as a playable race would have been nice. Going to Elona via a secret route with the Order of Whispers support and mounting a 2pronged assault on Kralkatorrik(from each side of the desert) would also have been an interesting developement. Primordus I assume they keep for later since his real awakening is going to destroy most of Tyria(kinda like Deathwing in wow cataclysm).

Miele · Jul 3, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
But the Zephyrites have made contact with Cantha already(or so I read), could have an air route and shit. Mordremoth also was a non factor until they decided to make it the most pressing threat. Even if we assume we don't go to Cantha until the undersea dragon is dead, shouldn't their efforts be directed towards Kralkatorrik then to reunite with Elona. Or to go north and defeat Jormag. Or find out what the fuck is going on with Primordus before he fucks everyone up? It makes more sense for the story to stick to the known threats first than add more. Now it's added and it's the prime focus, fine, it's just weird to decide to add a new dragon when they already had a bunch of them doing shit.

How's leveling atm in the game, was it ever made faster or is it still the same as release? I don't really feel like picking up the game with my old 80s(guardian engineer and elementalist) so I'd like to level a new one, however the lack of new leveling zones makes it quite a boring prospect if the leveling speed is the same as the old one. I leveled like 4 chars to 80 during alpha/beta so I've seen the zones quite a lot of times already. Thinking pet necro might be decent nowadays, is it? Or is it still complete garbage?

Levelling is the same, which is to say it's quite fast and with a very flat curve as you certainly know. I'm not sure I ever timed my levelling speed, but it slowed only when I started fucking around blindly, when I focus on map openings (hearts, poi, vistas, skills) it goes very fast.
Necromancer: I levelled as power necro, it was faster, safer and well bombing never gets old, but today is 100% viable playing minions and having fun. Given that you can change spec everywhere in the world for no coin, swapping back and forth requires just a different gear set, so go minions and try it out.
This guy has a build that works just fine, it goes into a detailed explanation about what to expect and how to play it, it was recently updated:Chunxs Minion Mastery Guide - Necromancer - Guild Wars 2 Guru
Short version: play the build for fun and not for efficiency, it's a defensive/support oriented build, it kills quite fast when levelling, it's clunky for dungeons. I swap to it every now and then, but I don't play necro very often to be honest.

Pyros · Jul 3, 2014

Cool thanks for the link I checked the forum a few days ago and didn't really see anything that popped up on the first couple of pages other than sPvP builds and a power build. I didn't expect MM necro to be like super top tier or whatever, it's just it wasn't good last time I played at release and for all the year or so I played the game in alpha/beta, and about a year ago when I last checked, so was wondering if it ever got improved to not be mostly crap. Was the same in GW1, the build wasn't top tier but it was pretty fun to play and also very useful to not have to tank shit(in fact having a MM was almost a necessity for hard content soloing, since tanks weren't so great and especially the AI was awful at playing them so it was a lot of micromanagement or playing your main as a tank which was boring).

Leveling wasn't particularily slow but it wasn't particularily fast either. I might have some gem leftovers for an xp boost if they ever improved these though, I remember during alpha they were pretty strong and dropping often and then they went the other way making them rare(from locked boxes only mostly) but also making them garbage and stacking.

Zindan · Jul 3, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
The lich lord stuff is in Elona, to defeat Abaddon you had to resurect some crazy ass dead king mummy lich guy(Palawa Joko) to help you get there and yeah he apparently conquered most of Elona before the dragon cut it off. And yeah I know zephyrites are refugees but when I was reading up on them it said they also made trades with Cantha and some of the ingame lore suggests that Cantha has changed a lot since last time(obviously it's been 250years or whatever) so it hints that there was actual contact with Cantha recently. So yeah they could have went with a Cantha arc instead, with the undersea dragon being the threat they wanted to eradicate(granted that's still a new dragon instead one of the older ones).

Defeating Jormag and getting the bear guys as a playable race would have been nice. Going to Elona via a secret route with the Order of Whispers support and mounting a 2pronged assault on Kralkatorrik(from each side of the desert) would also have been an interesting developement. Primordus I assume they keep for later since his real awakening is going to destroy most of Tyria(kinda like Deathwing in wow cataclysm).

About the Zephyrites and Season 2:

The way this Season 2 starts out makes it seems there are going to 2 threads too it, exploring what Scarlet did in the West, and something dealing with the Zephyrites past with Glint, the Master of Peace(?) mentions that he is on a secret mission once you find him. Taking the long view, it might be setting up Season 3 already, with the Zephyrites leading up to either Cantha or Elona. Btw, the new outfit in the gem store is a ninja outfit, and someone was linking a datamined Katana greatsword.

Faltigoth · Jul 3, 2014

I have to admit, I saw possible links to Elona (and my beloved Dervishes?????) and immediately started patching this. I loved the story of the original Guild Wars and would love to see Elona and even Cantha (which I wasn't too into) continued on.

Drakain · Jul 3, 2014

Been quite a few months since I last logged in (nightmare tower I think). Popped over to start the quest and was wondering why the hell I was getting my ass handed to me by scrub mobs. 80 guardian with karma gear... Turns out they reset all the damn traits! Guess I should have paid more attention to those emails.

Miele · Jul 4, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
Leveling wasn't particularily slow but it wasn't particularily fast either. I might have some gem leftovers for an xp boost if they ever improved these though, I remember during alpha they were pretty strong and dropping often and then they went the other way making them rare(from locked boxes only mostly) but also making them garbage and stacking.

There are scrolls that take you to level 20 right away, not sure how you get them, maybe from random bags, to be honest I never paid attention. I know I collected more than I can use and they are not tradeable

Ukerric · Jul 4, 2014

Miele_sl said:
There are scrolls that take you to level 20 right away, not sure how you get them,

You get them on the first anniversary of any character.

There's also a Tome that gives you one level that you could get on some Living Story events, and there's now a tome of 5 levels, but don't know how you get those.

Zaphid · Jul 4, 2014

If you mix food, boosts and crafting bonuses, I'm pretty sure you can level up ridiculously fast. Maybe look into event chains, I'm not sure which ones are active or popular. If Queen's pavilion is still a thing, definitely head there, that place was powerleveling paradise. Crafting was nerfed, now 1-400 only gives 7 levels and 400+ is ridiculously expensive.

Check all your characters for random chests you might have received for some anniversaries and see what you got.

Dmitry · Jul 16, 2014

New Content went live yesterday. Opened up more of the Dry Top zone including a really beautiful oasis area. A bunch of new events in the new area and some changes to the last area opened due to the changes wrought by the events of the story. Personal story type stuff added.... it's pretty good... maybe a couple of hours worth. Two new weapon skin sets in game. In all it's a very solid update. Wish other games could keep up a two week schedule with this much interesting content.

Pyros · Jul 16, 2014

I've been playing the game a bit these past few days, while I do like the story stuff they added, it's just not nearly enough imo. I cleared both patches in like 1h30 or so and that's pretty much it. I can grind for new skins which kinda look cool but I have to grind repetitive events then somehow get on a map with a high tier unlocked to buy the shit at a good price, and that's pretty much all they've added in these 2weeks. I hadn't played the game in 2years and I'm already done with it in a few hours because almost nothing new was actually added, a few zones have different stuff going on, Toxic events, Lion's Arch is all fucked up, shit washed up, Karka island, etc. I checked out the classes but it's more or less all the same I played back then so I don't feel like playing them again.

After playing the game it's pretty much what I expected when they announced Maguuma and I checked out the improvements, there's just not much that's been added in what I'd consider to be worthwhile content. I'll just log in to unlock content and check the story every now and then I guess, since that's the way they seem to have designed the game.

Dmitry · Jul 16, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
I've been playing the game a bit these past few days, while I do like the story stuff they added, it's just not nearly enough imo. I cleared both patches in like 1h30 or so and that's pretty much it. I can grind for new skins which kinda look cool but I have to grind repetitive events then somehow get on a map with a high tier unlocked to buy the shit at a good price, and that's pretty much all they've added in these 2weeks. I hadn't played the game in 2years and I'm already done with it in a few hours because almost nothing new was actually added, a few zones have different stuff going on, Toxic events, Lion's Arch is all fucked up, shit washed up, Karka island, etc. I checked out the classes but it's more or less all the same I played back then so I don't feel like playing them again.

After playing the game it's pretty much what I expected when they announced Maguuma and I checked out the improvements, there's just not much that's been added in what I'd consider to be worthwhile content. I'll just log in to unlock content and check the story every now and then I guess, since that's the way they seem to have designed the game.

I don't really play it like an MMO much these days. I log in for a few days every two weeks and do the new content. There are some fun new events to try. I am a bit of an explorer type so I also like to learn all te nooks and crannies of the new zones. I do all the events once at least and do the living story stuff all the way through once and then play something else. It still beats any other game out there for new stuff to do.

TheYanger · Jul 17, 2014

Dmitry_sl said:
I don't really play it like an MMO much these days. I log in for a few days every two weeks and do the new content. There are some fun new events to try. I am a bit of an explorer type so I also like to learn all te nooks and crannies of the new zones. I do all the events once at least and do the living story stuff all the way through once and then play something else. It still beats any other game out there for new stuff to do.

Doing literally the same shit for 2 years is beating any other game? You're on crack son.

Ukerric · Jul 17, 2014

TheYanger_sl said:
Doing literally the same shit for 2 years is beating any other game? You're on crack son.

Well, in GW2, you do new stuff for 3-4 hours every two weeks, then repeat it. Compare to WoW where you do new stuff for 1-3 weeks every two years, then repeat it for 4 months, then brand new stuff that fills an evening of raid, repeated for 3 months, and so on, until finally some new stuff that you repeat for a whole year.

Of course, it beats any other game on the activity/price ratio.

Dmitry · Jul 17, 2014

TheYanger_sl said:
Doing literally the same shit for 2 years is beating any other game? You're on crack son.

Huh? New story, new areas new events every two weeks. It takes about three days for me playing in the evening to see it all. Then I am bored and log out for 11 days. All for free.

Not sure how that is the "same" stuff. Unless you mean in the general MMO sense. If so, then the same could be said of any game - every few YEARS you do the same stuff in WoW. When the WoW expansion finally does come out, you run through the same boring quests to kill eight million foozles to get a piece of green gear with a new i level. You do the same dungeons to get a new blue with the new i level. You do the same raids to get a new purple with the new i level. And then you get bored for two years. And that costs you a hundred bucks or so.

We are all mice on a treadmill. Just GW2 has a little treadmill every two weeks and it's free and games like WoW have big treadmills every couple of years and it costs.

Dmitry · Jul 17, 2014

Pyros_sl said:
After playing the game it's pretty much what I expected when they announced Maguuma and I checked out the improvements, there's just not much that's been added in what I'd consider to be worthwhile content. I'll just log in to unlock content and check the story every now and then I guess, since that's the way they seem to have designed the game.

They have improved a few things. The content is permanent. The story itself is better. The zones have an overall cooperative goal. I kinda like the sandstorm effect. The Drytop zone is beautiful and has a nice backdrop in the lore.

My big problem continues however, there is no good reward. I like skins but I don't really play for them.

TheYanger · Jul 26, 2014

Ukerric_sl said:
Well, in GW2, you do new stuff for 3-4 hours every two weeks, then repeat it. Compare to WoW where you do new stuff for 1-3 weeks every two years, then repeat it for 4 months, then brand new stuff that fills an evening of raid, repeated for 3 months, and so on, until finally some new stuff that you repeat for a whole year.

Of course, it beats any other game on the activity/price ratio.

Dmitry_sl said:
Huh? New story, new areas new events every two weeks. It takes about three days for me playing in the evening to see it all. Then I am bored and log out for 11 days. All for free.

Not sure how that is the "same" stuff. Unless you mean in the general MMO sense. If so, then the same could be said of any game - every few YEARS you do the same stuff in WoW. When the WoW expansion finally does come out, you run through the same boring quests to kill eight million foozles to get a piece of green gear with a new i level. You do the same dungeons to get a new blue with the new i level. You do the same raids to get a new purple with the new i level. And then you get bored for two years. And that costs you a hundred bucks or so.

We are all mice on a treadmill. Just GW2 has a little treadmill every two weeks and it's free and games like WoW have big treadmills every couple of years and it costs.

How did I miss these fucking stupid posts? If every wow raid consisted of Patchwerk with a new graphic you MIGHT be on to something. But they don't. If every wow raid took 2 hours the first night you saw them you MIGHT have a point. But they don't. If every wow expansion consistedly SOLELY of kill x quests you might have a point. But they don't.

Let's flip it around again though: GW2 EVERY SINGLE FUCKING UPDATE the majority of its content was the same shit. It's not broad generalization like you're doing with wow, it's literally 'escort x around for event' 'hit f on these for event' 'kill x of these for event'. Wow has at least SOME quests that are innovative and cool. Know how many GW2 made in that time frame? Sanctum Sprint. holy shit that's a lot. What a good use of 2 years!

You can't seriously be dense enough to compare the amount of actual gameplay the living story season brought to the table compared to the amount of content in something like Mists of PAndaria, and that's WITH mists having an entire fucking year of one patch at the end. Just the levelling content in a wow expansion alone dwarfs the amount of compelling things to do in Guild Wars 2, throw in shit like dungeons, pet battles, raids, pvp, whatever else you want, and it's ridiculous how much better a value proposition it is, even with GW2 being 'free'. Because one is actually fun and the other is not. GW2 content updates are like if wow had every patch simply add 50 new 'kill 20 bear' dailies. THAT would be horseshit. They don't do that though. Heck, most of the population of wow can't even clear all of the content they put in prior to the next update coming out, even if you only consider the people that 'try'. The only reason anyone doesn't finish GW2 content (in terms of grinding the coolest back piece!) is because they get too fucking bored to continue. There's no challenge, it's literally just 'I am more special than you by attaining this back piece because I VALUED MY TIME LESS.'

Ukerric · Jul 28, 2014

TheYanger_sl said:
If every wow raid took 2 hours the first night you saw them you MIGHT have a point.

If every WoW raid took 2 hours to beat the first night, you bet I'd pound on Blizzard for not making a new one every two weeks. But it's still close to the same ratio.

Unless you're one of the relatively tiny minority of heroic-level guilds, most of the new content consists of a standard-mode raid that takes you between three or four weeks of 2-3 evenings a week to beat. Then you farm it for three months until the next content. Lets say 15 4-hour evenings of new content (and calling it new content is debatable once you're on your fifth attempt of boss X) for 3 months. If you bring it back to a two weeks ratio, you're looking at 6-7 hours of "new content" per two weeks. That's more than GW2's usual average of 2-3 hours per same, but it's not an enormous difference. And most of that difference comes from the fact that you're going to fight the same boss half a dozen to a dozen times before finishing it, then fighting it again each week until you're done with the overall content.

Of course, for a larger chunk of the players, the new content is about 5 hours of LFR, which they're probably going to down the second time they run through the instance, and only the fact that the wings are locked prevent you from finishing the entire 3/4-month raid content before the weekend past the patch.

Just the levelling content in a wow expansion alone dwarfs the amount of compelling things to do in Guild Wars 2

How long is the levelling content? I was almost done with leveling content after one and a half week of moderate post-launch casual play (i.e. at 25h a week). The only zone I hadn't done was that Klaxxi-stuff. I'm generous, so I'll say it's 50h of content. Plus a few dungeons (which represent about 6-8h of new content; heroic mode farming does not count as new content). And that was it for TWO FUCKING YEARS. You end up with 2h of brand new (non-raid) content per two weeks... just all bunched up at the start of the blizzard two-year cycle.

throw in shit like dungeons, pet battles, raids, pvp, whatever else you want, and it's ridiculous how much better a value proposition it is,

Oh, it is. I'm going to resubscribe to WoW for the expansion. And after two-three months, I'm going to do what a large number of people in this forum do: I'll unsub, and wait two years for interesting content to come back.

Because one is actually fun and the other is not.

Yep. I'm playing GW2. I'm not playing WoW. Sounds like an answer. They're actually about as fun to play; one is free and I play as much as I want it, the other is pressuring me to feel like I have to log in as much as I can to get the most out of my sub. Now, if I was into hardcore heroic-level raiding, I'm sure I'd be playing WoW. But I'm not.

Heck, most of the population of wow can't even clear all...

And that's the main difference between GW2 and WoW. GW2's content is designed to be beaten. WoW stretches its content by making sure you need to play thru the beginning dozens/hundreds of times before seeing the end.

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