4601

Nothing you really need.

4602

As much as I am opposed to cash shops, as of right now it is EVE-style, where you a) don’t really need any of it to play b) can convert in-game currency into out-of-game currency back and forth and still participate without ever spending a $.

4603

Yup totally correct. Nothing in the Gem store that you “need”… but that said, if there is something you want, you can actually buy gems with in game money so you never really have to spend real money if you don’t want to.

Do NOT let that prevent you from playing- it is a fantastic game.

4604

Completely and totally non-essential. The way it works is that you can buy “gems” for cash and then use the gems to buy cosmetic stuff, minis, packs of consumable buffs, keys to unlock the occasional Black Lion chest you get as loot, etc… The thing is, none of that stuff, even the keys to unlock the chests, is neccessary to play the full PvE game or be competitive in PvE/WvW. In fact, the keys can be found in game as loot, and gems can be purchased with in game currency as well, so technically with a little patience and effort you can get almost anything you wanted from the cash shop without paying an extra cent beyond the purchase price of the game.

4605

Glad to hear it. Thanks folks :)

4606

You get the title after you’ve carved 150 pumpkins. You carve them once, then after a time they reset and you can carve them again. They’re all over the place, most frequently in friendly npc settlements and a ton of them are in Lion’s Arch. Not so many in other cities like Rata Sum or Divinities reach.

4607

Well, Orr now seems to be slipping into the inevitable state where 90% of the zone is contested, even on high population servers. I really do wonder how they thought that would work out. I just ran through Straights, and every point past Fort Trinity on my run was contested. Not a single temple was open in Straights or Malchor’s. Peak hours are better, but overall it’s only going to get worse.

4608

All of which adds to server hopping as some folks migrate to servers that actually are trying to run the content.

4609

Orr is such badly-designed zone. Tangled mess of twisted passages. Fun to visit once, to never return again.

4610

Yeah. I haven’t even gotten out of the first Orr zone yet, because I have no enthusiasm for it at all. I suppose they will have to prune the spawn density if they want people to go there at all. This will be doubly and triply true if they ever add more conventional high level exploration zones.

4611

Hm, I agree with the first part, not with the second. For me it was TERRIBLE the first time there, and I hated getting 100% map completion. But once I knew the zone it was easy to avoid the worst parts and grind events and mats.

4612

So what are the awards for hoarding candy canes and ToT bags? Weapons? Because I have zero interest in weapons and if so I’ll just sell them all to make a decent profit.

4613

Not a big fan of the Halloween Update. Scavenger hunt alone is annoying, confusing and tedious.

4614

Wife and I did the hunt last night. We liked the hunt itself, and managed to figure out all but one of the clues on our own (the one we didn’t was spoiled by someone in chat). The things we didn’t like was having four different scan options (should have just been one), and the suspicious objects should have been much more noticeable, like a column of light or minimap marker. As it was, there were a few that I never would have seen if it weren’t for the other players running around.

Looking forward to seeing what they have cooked up for the next 3 phases, and hoping I get to do the phase 4 stuff. I think the events will run until November 5th (at least that’s how long Halloween items available in the store).

If there’s one thing I’m disappointed with so far it’s the Costume Brawl stuff. It’s really just not that much fun. I also wouldn’t mind them toning down the number of pumpkins required for the carving achievement. For a game that’s not supposed to be that grindy, 150 is a lot of pumpkins.

4615

The problem I have with the costume brawl (aside from the fact that I don’t find activities like that particularly fun) is that some of the forms appear to be much better than others. For example, there’s at least one form that has a fear of sorts and a there are some that have ranged options. Whereas the pig (which is what it seems I keep becoming) has 2 melee options only. Also, more than once I’ve used a tonic and gotten feared into the water within about 10 seconds (which removes the tonic).

Plus I’ve seen people climbing the jumping puzzle about halfway, then transforming up there and shooting down at people on the ground. Many people can’t hit back, so that seems a bit unfair.

Since it’s just a silly title or achievement I don’t care a whole lot, however. I just decided it’s not something I’m going to spend my time doing.

While I agree 150 pumpkins is a bit grindy, they do reset quite often in Lion’s Arch, so I bet if you did 20 a day you could get the title. And that’s not a terrible grind. The only reason it’s a grind for some people is that they feel compelled to do these things the day it comes out. So instead of thinking “I have a week to kill 150 Halloween mobs” they think “I have to kill 150 Halloween mobs today” - and then they complain what a grind it is.

4616

I actually like Orr zones, I really enjoyed getting map completion in them and enjoyed coming there afterwards. From time to time.

My problem with Orr is that there is too much of everything. 3 zones with generally the same style is too much. Too much ruins, too much undead. I wish these zones were more diverse style- and mob-wise.

Maybe it’s because I am playing Guardian but I don’t mind the mob density - it makes it feel like a dangerous place it should be. I appreciate a bit of a challenge, so you can’t just autorun through the entire zones like everywhere else, too bad most of the general population doesn’t need challenge, they need easy farming. I just don’t like the fact that pretty much all mobs are undead and I hate undead in GW2.

They should have made those ghosts visible only to the people that scanned for them. Most of the times when I got to the place, the ghost was already there. I had to use the scanner thingy only once I think.

If there’s one thing I’m disappointed with so far it’s the Costume Brawl stuff. It’s really just not that much fun. I also wouldn’t mind them toning down the number of pumpkins required for the carving achievement. For a game that’s not supposed to be that grindy, 150 is a lot of pumpkins.

I think it’s time to let go of the notion that GW2 is “not supposed to be that grindy”. It’s not that grindy in terms of accessing the content, which includes leveling.

In terms of rewards though, it’s extremely grindy. 1,380 tokens for a dungeon armor set. 1,889 badges for the WvW armor set. 119 gold for the cultural armor. 252,000 karma for the karma armor. Some ungodly amounts of everything for legendary stuff. Everything you set your eyes on (except for the basic stuff that allows you to access the content, see the paragraph above) is going to take lots and lots of grind.

Which BTW is not necessarily a bad thing IMO. But we kind of need to adjust our expectations. Some quest or a piece of story, etc.? Yes, everyone will be able to experience and complete it. Some reward, like achievement, skin, etc.? Be ready to grind a lot for it.

4617

Well, I think GW2 has done the grind right… in that, there are things you can grind for if you feel like it, but you don’t really NEED any of that stuff.

4618

If you need to do something for several hours every day for a week, it IS a pretty big grind. :) I got about 18 pumpkins yesterday (without really concentrating on getting them, of course) and I won’t be able to do that every day for a week, so I guess that achievement is out of reach for me.

Of course, “it’s not a terrible grind” if you compare it to the legendary grind or some other grinds in the game but it will be hard to get for a lot of people.

Which is not a big deal and IMO the way it should be, otherwise it wouldn’t be much of an achievement. :)

4619

Yep, I agree 100%, I really like this approach. You can choose your goals and mix and match (or ignore) them if you want. Plus you are getting rewards along the way, it’s not like you need to grind the entire 250K of karma until you see any reward.

4620

Had a blast doing Halloween stuff last night. Carved many pumpkins, completed 4 of the 5 books for the Mad King event (planning to get #5 tonight) and mined a ton of candy corn. Also fought many things that came through haunted doors. I thought you were supposed to have a chance at getting “treats” from those, but I’ve knocked over a dozen times and all that ever happens is I have to fight a handful of critters or I spawn the CandyCornpocalypse event. I got killed in one of those last night, and then a naked ranger train came along, wiped out the remaining candy corn critters, and I got rezzed during the loot frenzy. I don’t think anyone was at the helm of the bot train, they just rezzed me in the flurry of “F” while looting the corpses. Guess they’re occasionally good for something! ;-)

Once I finish the Mad King thing I want to work my way through the list of special reveals with the scanner that reward you with multiple treat bags. There’s a list of them on reddit. This whole thing has been a pretty cool way to kill a few nights in game, and I love that I’m still fighting, exploring and earning experience while I do it (since I hadn’t uncovered much of Lion’s Arch or the human lands yet).