So who read the box?

Err.. have you seen the ridiculous builds that some people use? I have even given my Guild mates my exact healer build, and half of them still suck at healing. Skill is required, although its not skill in the traditional sense, such as aim or knowing the key combos in a Mortal Combat game. It's more a sense of when each skill is best used and knowing what to do in situations that you havent come across before. I know you covered this next point by saying anyone can be given a build, but it also takes a lot of skill to figure out good skill synergies and builds that don't run out of energy in a PvP or Guild Fight (excepting, of course, when those nasty mesmers interfere)

Edit:
ComMan, you don't have to farm very long at all to get best weapons, decent runes and etc. to get a good PvP char. Simply write down what skills your build needs, take some Signets of Capture, check out xennon's elite skills list (http://www.xennon.co.uk/eliteskills/) and hunt em down. In fact, excluding just going through the missions and doing quests (which i dont class as farming) i reckon i ahve spent about 2 hours getting necro and mesmer elites using my N/Me and about 3 hours getting my important monk and warrior skills using my W/Mo. you pick up good weapons with max damage in the later missions, and if you keep the sword pommels etc.then you can make some damn fine weaponry. also, if you can't find a good weapon quickly in PvE, thats the point of the Trading system! i mean, the constant spam does my head in and thus i switch it off unless selling or buying something, but you can get max damage weapons easy as anything in Lion's Arch so unfortunately, the answer to your farming problems lies in what irritates you about the game :S

Why, you can! You go girl!!! In fact, I think GW should have an official penis drawing competition. Maybe a town devoted exclusively to the fine art of noob baiting as well. Whaddya think?

--Nokomis

Agreed, every game requires skill of some type. The debate really is if that skill is useful in the real world or not. I guess it can be argued that it assists with creative thinking.

I believe that the skill and character buildout is similar to that of Magic: The Gathering. I used to play that game and build all types of great decks but one of my buddies could destroy any deck I built. I could give the guy the worst 50 "crap cards" I had and he could figure out how to build them to a deck of destruction. However he dropped out of college his freshmen year for failing to do homework, or show up for class. He also tends to be a fairly lazy guy with very little known skills (although he builds a kick ass MTG deck). He's got his place, as everyone else in the world....some just haven't found it yet.

Some folks play GW more like diablo: pick the skills that deal the most damage and run out of town. That doesn't always play out to work in anyones advantage and you end up dead most of the time (unless your party members contain a few "skilled" players).

Mix & match, pick skills that work well with each other (enervating charge + stoning for instance) and try to build a group of adventurers that complement each other skills (mesmer w/ hex shatter and a necro for instance). Anyone can kill a few mobs, but an efficient group can kill them faster and will prove useful in higher level missions.

Some of those that just think "high damage is the best" will be those that get frustrated with difficult missions, claiming GW made it too hard, and log out or stop playing the game. That's a generalist statement, and only meant for those few high tempered "kill'em all let the corpse collector sort 'em out" type of folks.

CodeMOnkey

Uh? It decreased drop rates, right? That means farmers can do even more fun fun fun farming before they have to return to town to clear out their inventory. And the rune trader makes the later much simpler than before.

I think the box says "only applies to beta period" in fine print or something.


A team with as many superior runes as they want has a large advantage on a team without, if all other things are equal. What does this mean? Time farming = Advantage in PvP.


When I bought the game, I thought it would be much like the beta... Man...

Arenanet didn't destroy the play-style of people who love to farms. They just fixed something that shouldn't have happened in the first place since the game is not about farming.

So yeah.. they are trying to remove Farming and Grinding. And i'm very happy with it. They also said there was farming bots wich is even worse than actual people farming.
IMO farming is good in other MMORPG where there's nothing else to do anyway. Not in Guildwars when you should just have to "Jump-in and play" like they advertized since 2003.

I think its weird that people who were farming complain that they can't anymore.. They were the one posting "How to Farm: For Newbie" and "My farming video!!!" "Farming and you" posts in every forums they could.

Edit: I'll just add a quote because my friends wait me in-game and i don't want to make them wait for hours.. I write slow >_<

I know a lot have changed since the E3 for Everyone.. but their main point probably didn't change at all.

Dude! That would totally r0xx0r my b0xx0rz! I feel I've mastered about three different kinds of penises! The head is the most intricate part, IMO!

I smile sometimes when I farm. Because it's funny to see all those monster death animations/sounds and hear the WHUMP you get from twenty monsters hitting the ground.

And to think...my cute little monk did it ALL BY HERSELF! That brings a smile to my face.

The riches are a pleasant by-product of monster ownage. In Diablo II I was first obsessed with creating "cool" and fun characters. Then, I was obsessed with getting all the "good" popular cookie-cutter items. Then, I was obsessed with researching builds and statistics. Then, I was obsessed with putting my data into use and having fun in PvP. Finally, when it was all said and done, I ocasionally enjoy playing a bit of Diablo II just to blow up tons of monsters. Yeah, it makes me smile.

WOW i hate those frigin people who always get quite in the middle of ur mission or pvp battle

Ok, lets be honest. You can sell a major rune to the rune trader for 25gp. So if that's making it "simpler" for them then all the power to 'em! Just makes buying them cheaper for everyone else I think anyway (trader ends up with more runes).

If your going to farm runes to sell them to the trader you're better off farming grawl for grawl necklaces or something and salvaging them into plant fibres and selling them to the crafter....

CodeMonkey

Heh, you can sell some runes to the trader for 25gp, other go for a lot more. I sold her a minor last night for 1.5plat.

True, anything with "vigor" should catch a good price, but when your "farming" as its been stated you're not going to really gain a huge advantage from the Rune trader unless you get lucky with a few clutch runes. Overall it seems its always more profitable to sell them to humans.

Now, other stuff like rare materials is slightly different in my experiences. I can get 289gp for a fur from the rare items trader. That's not half bad for an "instant sell", but that moves around too. Last night I sold a monsterous eye for 539gp, and today the rare item trader only offered 100gp. Needless to say I'll be waiting to sell that a little longer

CodeMonkey

this game has 2 types of people and only 2 types of people, pvp players that wine and pve players that wine.

That rocks. My kids aren't old enough to play these types of games with me yet. Although my son does like to whoop-up on me on Super Smash Brothers Melee. Yeah, he's 5.

Actually, I like it and think it works rather well. Then again, this is the first time I've ever played using a headset, so I have nothing to compare it to. It could fit better, though, maybe an adjustable behind-the-head thing could've helped.

Personally, I don't care how anyone else plays the game. Want to <insert play style here>? Fine, knock yourself out. Everyone is free to get what they want out of the game within the limits set by ANet.

That pretty much sums it up (read the "nerf drops" threads). Although I believe they whine, not wine

CodeMonkey
PS: It may be more specific to people that play AND post to message boards. If you're not complaining your not doing it right!

Unfortunately this problem has plauged almost all the MMO's I have beta tested. In beta players are given experience, money and items at an accelerated rate to test out all aspects of the game. Consequently, when experience, skills, money, etc., is harder to obtain upon release some feel like "What Happened to the game I know?" The problem is the game you knew wasnt the final retail release, it was a beta test for the devs, but players become accustomed to the way they have been playing. I guess its just the gift and the curse of having a constantly updateable game. *shrug*

Not sure about that, I recall when one BWE had everything listed for 1gp, no matter what it was I could sell it for 1gp ;-)

Seriously, that's pretty much the truth to it. A beta in gaming sense isn't really ever going to be 100% release-realistic. The users do, however, provide stability testing (don't crash in any areas), AI testing (do henchment/npc's do what they're told), stress testing (lots 'o users at once), and general coverage of the gaming system. You cannot expect the economics and everything to work out, but you can expect feedback about UI, game play mechanics, and overall login rate (if 2 people login your game probably sucks, but if all the testers are hammering away the game has an addictive quality to it).

The beta constantly got better, but the release game had many more options. It did take awhile to get used to having material traders, a million districts instead of 5 and an influx of items due to influx of folks playing. Ya just can't sell tanned hides for 60gp anymore... ;-)

CodeMonkey

What's funny is that on the screenshot, the warrior has sword skills equipped, but doesn't have a sword, anywhere.

i dunno what people are talking about farming isnt destroyed i still run arround alone with no henchys and farm areas for things i get pretty good drops consistantly usually i get 3+ purples and at least one gold every farming run hmm maybe im jus lucky or someone doesnt know what thier doing..

Maybe he simply dropped it because he got the "inventory full" message, or (more likely) he accidently salvaged it when he was trying to clean up some space in his inventory ;-) I've done that before!

CodeMonkey

My friend also bought 2 games, but b/c one of his friends was always logging on his account.

Although the hamstring/firestorm might not win it everytime, it's still something good to use, you just have to learn how to complement and master your skills you use.

Yeah, farming still works fine for me, too, haven't noticed a difference. I don't farm much (it's rather boring for me), but I have no problem raking it in when I do.

Actually, it's not so much deciding I want to farm as it is wanting to see if my character is strong enough to solo tank a certain area yet. The drops are just a bonus. And usually pretty good ones.