6101

An email I got indicates 5 free charges today only:

“To get everyone started with the Wardrobe system, we’re giving out five FREE Transmutation Charges only between now and 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, April 16! Log in today and visit the Black Lion Trading Company to get your free items!”

6102

As a returning player after a few months away, I don’t think trashing the main city was a brilliant idea. I guess I’m expected to read patch notes to figure out what the hell happened to the bank, auction hall, etc? Yeah…

It’s not a huge deal to sort it out, but at the same time it’s one more hurdle to getting a player back at a time they’re already trying to remember the various details of your game.

6103

I wonder how many people would be happy if they started some legacy world servers, where they start over from the beginning. I only played for a couple hours many months ago, so I don’t really understand all the changes that have taken place, but I think I would like to experience it from the start if I were going to dig in.

6104

If it was suicidal before how is it now? How’s even NO DIFFERENT?

It’s not that they reduced the number of talent points from 70 to 14, that’s one aspect. The other aspect is they distributed those points so that now they are all clumped at the highest level, instead of being spread evenly along the whole leveling curve.

So explain me why making levels 1-79 GREATLY underpowered is a welcome change. What’s the purpose of this? Why they haven’t even tried to explain all this?

They could have still reduced the talent points to bigger tiers every 6 levels, exactly as it is now, but without packing all of them to the highest levels. That would have matched the distribution pre-patch without opening this huge gap in power between level 80 and everything else. Was that power gap not big enough? Nope, it was already huge. So what have they accomplished making it even greater?

You can’t just dismiss this with an hand wave. Either there are clear motives to do all this, or this is just a stupid change.

6105

It was perfectly possible to compete in WvW before, I leveled up 4 toons to 80 via WvW. From all accounts this will be significantly different now.

6106

Except for the mystic fountain, what did you need that you couldn’t easily get at one of the racial capitals?

I thought wandering through the ruined and abandoned Lion’s Arch was a uniquely haunting experience, since I didn’t realize it was completely gutted. And the new refugee camp set-up, which is just to the north in the Gendarran Fields, is super convenient to navigate.

-Tom
6107

That’s a great idea, but also kind of counter to how MMOs work. And even though I’m bummed to have missed out on whatever happened – something about a drill? – I like the idea that this world has a history that happens with or without me.

-Tom

6108

Since you leveled in WvW, can you tell me what kind of progression mechanics are there (if any)?

I mean, can you actually get equipment to use, armor or whatever else, or everything is unlocked only at level 80?

All I know at the moment is that I can do the heart quests in PvE for Karma and that gives me access to some items (though I have already 5000 karma points unused). What else is there for a lower level character?

6109

I got to level 34 as a Ranger and occasionally load it up to continue and just seem lost, not sure how to progress and also don’t want to start over. Any suggestions to get over this issue.

6110

I was there with my elementalist - didn’t really know what to do at a certain point. My advice is to pick one or two things to focus on, and don’t worry about the rest. I made it a goal to just explore, participate in group events when I stumbled upon them, and tinker around with crafting. I think the best way to level is to just play the game and don’t even pay attention to the level bar. Completing heart quests, discovering vistas, and just roaming around will get you to 80 before you know it. Let me know if you want me to tag along - I get a warm fuzzy out of helping people in lower level areas.

6111

Open the map, find a zone you are interested in that is around your level or lower, go there and explore away! :)

6112

Likewise. I don’t find a changed landscape off-putting at all. In fact, what I do find off-putting in MMOs is to come back after a year or two and everything is exactly as it was. It rather breaks any sort of illusion that it is some sort of “online world”.

If I’ve been gone for a year (or two, or three), make me feel like it. I think it’s pretty cool to log in and say “Wow, what did I miss??”.

6113

I get what you and Tom are saying and I can understand the appeal of a world that moves on without you. Is the current content just as friendly / interesting / etc to a new player as the original content? I really don’t know the answer to that question, because as I’ve said I only dabbled for several hours many months ago. My only experience with MMOs is back with the original Ultima Online, so it has been a while.

I still think there would be enough interest in having a small percentage of servers dedicated to a ‘reset’ back to the beginning, but that feeling really isn’t based on anything other than my own opinion. Between new players and people starting new characters there may be enough interest.

6114

I like the idea of the game world changing over time. I personally don’t like major revamps to main hubs when I come back over a long break. It’s an extra point of confusion as I am trying to remember what’s going on in the game, and it delays some of the immediate actions I want to take, like visiting a bank. For me, they could have blown up a racial city and I’d barely notice in the first few hours back, as in GW2 LA was the only real hub. Blowing up the main hub is an extra point of confusion immediately upon returning. I’d rather explore and encounter a changed world as I ease back into the game.

The replacement hub is at least well designed, in that it’s very compact and easy to learn.

It’s also possible to revamp a primary hub, but still have it keep the same essential layout as before, like Stormwind in WoW. That city is rather changed from vanilla, but the essential services are still in the same approximate locations. Of course, storywise that would have been weird for Lion’s Arch, but my first thought on coming back wasn’t “How has the story advanced” but “Where is my stuff?”

From what I can tell, the change was well received my a majority of current players, so it sounds like a success for the living world.

6115

“they could have blown up a racial city and I’d barely notice in the first few hours back”

So what would have been the point? They blew up the city with the most impact. Kudos to them.

6116

I’ve had this EXACT problem whenever I’ve revisited this game in the past, as I got an elementalist to the late 30’s or so and then each time I would return in a few months, would spin up a new character and peter out in the early teens, and wonder what kind of stuff lives in the later-level areas I’ve never gotten to.

It’s initially extremely daunting, but I think this time I’ve actually come back for good (and on my original elementalist). I think it’ll be even better once the megaservers are rolled out everywhere (though I know some diehards are staunchly against them), as that was one of the problems - it doesn’t matter if you’re still finding your feet if people wandering around step in to help you (and the game itself gets way better that way), and those mid level areas were really underpopulated at least for me. So you may find it’s super easy to get back into it now so long as there are groups along to lift you up. But here are some more general tips:

  1. Find an area you haven’t done that’s a lower level than you and wander around doing heart quests and dynamic events. You’ll scale of course (as you know) but it may be a little easier as you’ll have more traits and skills than you should at that level.

  2. Simplify the game. Basically mimic how it is when you start out - pick one weapon and stick with it until you’ve relearned it rather than worry about any weapon switching (or whatever rangers do). Select some passive skills that you can safely ignore but will still help you along until you’re ready for those to be active skills again. Make sure you know your healing spell and don’t be afraid to run away. In general, remember to keep moving rather than standing WoW-style. As you experiment with your skills you may find some muscle memory coming back - I certainly did - but if not, it shouldn’t be too long until they’re learned fresh anyway.

  3. Ignore crafting. Relearn the combat first. Collect as you go (it’ll net some more XP after all, and materials that’ll be there when you’re ready - remember the “deposit crafting materials” button!) if you like but stick with exploring. Feel free to ignore the personal story quests too. Definitely stay away from dungeons unless you’re running with some knowledgeable buddies until you’ve got your sea legs back.

  4. Most of all, don’t be worried about failure. In most games dying is a big deal but it really doesn’t matter here unless you treat it as such. If you keep dying say “screw this” and wander off somewhere else - there’s no critical path and so no reason to keep retrying something, and there are plenty of zones with content you haven’t done.

Anyway, these are my tips - hope to see you in game! I’ll definitely be playing again, I’ll post my username here in a bit if anybody wants to hang out (do we have a general list of that somewhere? I am in the Qt3 guild at least, so there’s that). It’s always more fun with some buddies.

6117

Thanks for all teh advice, im going to give it a go and see what happens.

6118

So the megaserver stuff has managed to make Orr as awesome as it’s supposed to be. Bravo, ArenaNet!

-Tom
6119

Fantastic! That alone might be reason enough for me to come back for a bit. Temple zergs are so much fun.

6120

What I’d really like to see from GW2 at this point is an expansion. New zones, new world bosses and events that are going to stay in place.