So.. I *want* to come back..

So I've been waiting for ... something. Some sort of "change" or "update" to this game that I've been so valiantly rooting for.. but seriously.. we've had nothing. I'm sorry if I'm behind (and after searching and only finding what seemed to be rant threads and massive arguments here) I can't tell when or IF we're supposed to be getting any of these updates/changes.

All I want are some updated/re-worked skills.. something to mix up the game... even if it's bad.. just.. something..

Any one else feel this way?

I think we all do. :/

GW1's man power is being stretched too thin.

We did get some neat new Celestial Summoning Stones, though! /endsarcasticenthusiasm

Nope, more or less the same as it has been for ages!

I wish Anet would just mess with skills, constantly, not taking ages to balance them, just stirring it up frequently so that we get an interesting game.

I'd also settle for a log-in message explaining why elemental damage sucks in Hard Mode and why a tank is useless.

I actually gave up! Been playing this game since it came out, but IMO SF has ruined all the fun elite areas and the title grinding is boring now. Codex IMO again is failed. Everything, or area we fight or do something in requires the same professions and classes with certain builds. Elite areas (UW) you either have to be a necro, Rit or SF. FOW the same concept. I actually miss the old balance teams and not doing the super fast SF clears. It made the game more enjoyable and you had a sense of accomplishment when you beat that area. I very much enjoyed playing GW and ANET just seems they have forgotten about the game, or gave up, or they just busy with upcoming games. Right now I have started Aion and very much enjoy that, just passing the time until GW2 :P

It would be nice for another news bit on the progress of the skill changes. Tactics buffs better be changes, not tanking buffs. If they were to tone down a lot of the skills (EotN/NF PvE only skills especially) it would be nice.

You can take the time to build a good friends list and to join a guild that feels and plays the same as you. May take some searching but it works.

Target audience may have difficulties with reading comprehension.

Feeling exactly the same. I log in and try find something to do but eh. Snowball AT gave me all the money I need, so no need to farm, all my PvP friends don't play so no way to PvP (rofl pugs) and PvE is terrible.

QQing hard here.

My little cousin wanted to play the game so I decided to re-install and join him.

To my surprise I had to deal with the whole "=045 you're banned you got hacked you suck at security" insult after not playing for 3 years. I did manage to get my account unblocked a few days ago and of course I lost Kuunavang AND Varesh minis that I got from buying this oh-so-covetted collector's editions. Unded ones, at that. And of course I also lost all money and crafting mats too.

My characters are all still there. But I don't really care much about them at this point. This is the first time I get something stolen from me. And it wasn't even my fault!

As for coming back to this game or GW2? No way in hell.

Lol, at least you got the collectors edition box and stuff to sit on your shelf. Sucks at the 045 after no playing for that long though, just prooves further that their end was terribad @ security.

yep i know how you feel. I log on and im just bored.. i usually just end up running around in circles in my guild hall of kamadan jsut to talk to ppl in my AC ;p.

never got on the perma bandwagon so till they get nerfed my ele/rit are being left out of all the pugs.
the UW update was a nice change but i at that time was planning on making a perma so i could at least get into groups for the UW. (turns out the day before i get all my money for mats and stuff so when i get to kaineg and stuff i can buy all the stuff/cap the elite/get the armor and such. guess what? UW nerf bomb so no more UWSC.. had fun w/ that ;p)

but i mena other then that i only find comfort in my obi ele and my UW solo rit... So, until Anet gets their act together(they are probably building a speech so that when they drop the nerf bomb they can give us a heart- wrenching account of how hard they worked(similar to what they gave us guru ppl after we helped them fix a secruity hole in their site ;p)).
So, perosnally my vote is some of the ppl from this site get elected for the team for secruity, and new inovative ideas( i mean heck u get regina/ anyone from the team here once a month to post some new doomsday object ;p) and how many tims do u thik they looked at the ideas thread? i mean it might be a good idea( and these guru ppl can keep on top of stuff and script little patches in their secruity holes xD.)

so overall /sign for some new INTERESTING content( the last stuff was nice but we all know it was in the intention to nerf not b/c we are a great community ;p)

Dartboard buffs please. Introduce some totally broken stuff that's different from the current broken stuff for a good mixup.

I love broken stuff... makes the game fast-paced. What'd actually make the game way better though is actually making the game more skill-based. ex: d.chop, d.shot, magebane, any mesmer interrupts/disables, WoH, etc..

You know how many times I've been flamed on these boards for saying the same thing ;P



At this point, I'm all about a crap-load of random buffs and reworks (and hopefully the ladder) to keep this game interesting.

You know, that's what led to this stale, broken meta in the first place, right?

Dartboard buffs would just create a new problem to replace the old. That's why actual balancing is preferable.

Sadly it takes "effort" to balance things.

Randomly increasing/decreasing some numbers like they usually do, however, doesn't.

Why else do you think they keep doing it?

See everyone wants actual balancing, but it's never going to happen. In an ideal situation I'd love balance changes that fix the game and promote good gameplay. But apparently thats too much work. I'd rather have random dartboard buffs now to keep the game somewhat exciting than wait 6+ months for a balance patch that changes 3 out of 200 skills that need changing.

Changing 3 out of 200 skills that need balancing is still more balanced than randomly overpowered 2 more skills without fixing any imbalances. In fact, the latter is even worse than doing nothing.

Functionality changes and balanced buffs keep the game interesting and fresh imho. Ofc, "dartboarding" buffs suggest unplanned random number changes, and that in itself is bad. However, if skills are changed to offer synergies with other skills it'll open up the opportunity to play something new, breaking the monotony a bit for a few more months at the very least.

I'm not sure about that to be honest. I mean, some of the skills we have now are actually at the right power level. But when you look at the big picture, the imbalance skills always stick out, to the point that any kind of balance doesn't really make any impact.

I come from Magic The Gathering background. And in such case, one broken card pretty much ruins the entire playing environment. One. I'd imagine it's not that different here.

On the other hand, it is very, very easy to revert a single skill to its previous functionality, thus removing a single bad egg from the batch if something is broken.

The reality is we both know Guild Wars has more than 10 skills with inappropriate power level. MtG's cards are rarely broken simply because they actually CARE about balancing them not only because such physical product is hard to fix later, but also the fact that the entire game is based on the premise of everything being equal between you and your opponent (minus luck of course).

meh, I'm split on the dartboard buffs idea. Most of the buffs break game mechanics such as unyielding aura and signet of spirits and though they are fun as hell to play, it dumbs down the game.

To be honest the game is already dumb. Might as well make it fun.

ArenaNet could just go ahead and nerf them right away, but they don't want to for two reasons:

1. A lot of people enjoy a stagnant game where they never need to change their build beyond an occasional adjustment and more or less just repeat the same thing over and over.

2. Laziness.

With a proper dartboard system, overpowered skills would be nerfed to hell, while other skills get random and sporadic buffs, thus altering the game significantly. These nerfed skills would get buffed eventually, once the cycle returns to them.

Not happening.

If buffs are desired, one first needs to trash pretty much the whole game so that a new desired level of power is created. And after that, you buff/change the crappy skills to reach that level.
Otherwise things will just continue to spiral out of control.

I think the solution to your problem is to continue staying away from Guild Wars for quite some time. Because there will never going to be truly new content (say a big new area) for us to play through, simply because Anet hasn't got the manpower to change that, and waiting for a skill update for months isn't going to make you enjoy the game more.

Or Anet actually might surprise us for the 5th year anniversary update, but even then you can just hop in any time you wish.

I've been playing on and off for quite some time now, and it makes the game far more enjoyable than logging in every night, just to stare at your character desperately trying to find something that is fun to do.

You guys do realize you were going to move on to something else eventually, right? No matter how good this game was. The only reason people still play WoW is because they feel inclined to for spending so much money on it every month. GW is basically f2p after you buy the retail price.

Really, it'd be more sad if you didn't play other games besides this.

And five people dedicated to fix the problems that Izzy and the rest of the main GW crew created isn't really enough manpower. Still no reason why they decided to make the Test Krewe; that was just time wasting.

Would you rather they force you to pay $50 every six months for new content?

don't like it, don't run it. seriously. the only impact SF had on the community as a whole is that ectos and highend items were cheaper. and guess what - it's only bad for the part of the community that run SF. the more stuff they produce, the lower prices they get for it in the market. i agree that this+inflation leads to getting stuff much easier than 3 years ago, but since nothing gives you real advantage over other players, what's the problem?
i've never run a permasin, joining a balanced guild teams or doing doa with a friend and six heroes instead. on a neglected mesmer. and i don't feel that the fun of elites areas is spoiled.
don't get me wrong - i don't defend SF. i believe it should be killed with dozens of rocks and never get up, but not because it spoiled any fun or destroyed the economy; just because it's seriously imbalanced and sins rather weren't designed for godmode.

it's also false that you have to be rt, n or sin to get into a group. just join a fun pve guild that doesn't run speedclears but invite people to balanced events. i've never taken part in any speedclear but DSC and i don't whine, as no one forces me to get a sin.

was it different in 2006? i thought that grind is grind.



+1
i've found lots of similarities in building a deck and a skilltab. that's half the fun from the game. and even though i can run echo/pve skills on my mes and got heroes set to deal with everything in hm, including psycho stuff like aurora glade/eternal grove/jennur's horde, i still meddle my builds, still change them. to keep my game entertaining.
it's the same as if you were playing just one deck, simply because it's powerful. you may win usually faster - that is, if you get good draw - but eventually you'll get bored as hell. changing your own deck or building completely new one is the way to go and it's something you have to do, not wotc.


even though i agree that hoping to play only one game for five years is idiotic, i still enjoy it after being everywhere and doing everything. same as fallout 2, diablo+hellfire and all the good games that i've enjoyed. not that interplay/black isle will release anything new for f2 and not that the fan community released anything interesting since f2 restoration project. so f2 is a static game. but it has dozens of various possibilities which may keep you entertained only if you let them. and there still is some point of randomness, even if you know the game by heart.


my point is: if you run SF or discord all the time and got bored, it's your own fault. if you played long enough and got bored, move on to something else. there still are people playing for years and still enjoying every mission and location they visit.
and don't get me wrong - balances or improvements are all welcome and necessary in some cases, but it's a free mmo game. find a better f2p mmo or embrace the reality of gw. while asking for more and merithorically pointing out what's there to fix, enjoy what's already given.

I'm sure that anet is working for more updates. We just have to be patient and wait for another "wow" moment.

Since there are only one or two people working on skill changes you need to make the most of your time.
When a skill becomes "The Skill" leading to it overshadowing all others and allowing one build to be used to the exclusion of all others.

Make a fast change even if its a bad one and do that in days rather than months.
Either revert it to previous settings or make a new change whatever is the quickest.

There are many thousands of players that will unbalance the game again and they are working 24/7 to do just that and the "Balanced game" is a Holy Grail that you will never achieve.

Put the time saved into working on skills that are ignored because they just do not have a decent use in the current game.
That way you can use us to give you feedback on what works and what doesn't, that information can only improve this game and GW2.

We will benefit because we will have to use new builds to beat the game which I for one will find more interesting than just running what everyone else runs.

They have the man-power, they are just way to scared to do anything.

They don't want to pay for you to use their servers. Killing GW1 slowly was their way of telling you.

So, is Shadow Form the equivilent of something like Black Lotus? Only way to fix it is KILLITWITHFIRE!!!!!!!!

Ill echo the OP, except im still playing....but waiting, hoping, longing for a shake up..

Cant bring my self to roll a new toon atm, but was kinda hoping for the shake up to give me a blast of inspiration (pun intended) to really get back at it..

Only Shadow Form isn't considered rare these days.

So im guessing your a codex kinda guy? Randomly mixing up the skills is why Codex is relatively dead and a failure as an updated new area. If they did that to pve there would be relatively no active farming builds spared. Thats like if 2maro they just killed shadowform, 600s and Hundred blades. I mean what would people do? Im sure theres a weaker OLDER alternative like Obby Flesh tank or 55 or Whirling Axe but there would not be any NEW content just worthless pvers running back what they know still works at least a little successfully. We cant drastically change an already dying game, as seen by ursan coming into Pve and many quitting and when it left even more quitting (lol.)

Isn't that more or less explainable, though?

Bad things happen, people who can't tolerate them leave. Those who like these bad things stay.

Bad things get removed. Those who like these bad things get angry and leave as well. People who've left over the bad things are long gone and it's just too late for them to care enough to come back.

Logic.

Granted, bad things can happen in a game unintentionally. The trick is to make sure they get fixed ASAP so that people who'd like these bad things don't have the chance to get into the habit of living with it, and people who hate these stuff don't get too upset.

Again, logic.

I take it you've never played that game then, or at least not Vintage. The "standard" format is somewhat balanced because it leaves out all but the latest few sets (and even of those, only a pathetic percentage of the cards is played). I'm sure GW would be easy to balance if only Derv/Para and Para/Derv characters were allowed in PvP.

One of the problems MtG has that GW doesn't have, is that they can't change cards. In GW skills can, and should, be changed. But GW also has a problem that MtG doesn't have: In PvE, your opponents can't meta against you. If monsters could say "Right, this time I'm going Me/N and fast-cast a Well of the Profane as soon as one of us dies," then SF sins would be a lot rarer, but they can't. As such, it is insane that the PvE-version of SF is stronger than the PvP-version.

good point Nechrond, though i still think that mtg connection is valid. wotc has their way to balance the tournament game - standard is balanced because it uses just a bunch of cards, but it is somewhat stable. as you pointed out, we can't allow only dervishes and paras in pvp, so gw needs alternated skills, not restricted ones. but it's easy to 'restrict'/'ban' a skill in pvp by nerfing it beyond use.
i still think that only superb overpowered aka broken stuff should be nerfed, while useless skills should be buffed to be at least useful in certain occassions/builds, so that the playerbase has more options to choose from and metagame isn't necessarily metabuild. but then what we had so far - nerfs on working skills, broken skills left alone, buffs on stuff to get new overpowered shit, no buffs on the useless crap... totally the other way around.