Tag: Guild Wars 2

It’s Fixed, It’s Really Fixed! #GW2 #GuildWars2

Malchor’s Leap. The broken zone that caused the completionist in me to scream in pain every time I thought about Guild Wars 2. See, there was this single skillpoint that I just couldn’t get. Actually, very few people could. The NPC would move slightly each time you defeated it (it’s not really an NPC so much as it is a bow laying on the ground) and after a time or two it would vanish completely into the geometry of the zone. There it would stay, stuck, until the server restarted and it would rest in the proper place. I tried to log in right after a server restart in order to get this final skill point I needed for zone completion, but alas, it eluded me. For weeks.

I found it hard to move on to the Cursed Shore, a level 80 zone right next door and next on my list of ‘places to be’ for my story quests. I kept being lured back to Malchor’s Leap. Finally, this week the glitch was fixed, and I was able to log in and complete the zone. My little Asura is pictured above, cheering.

I understand that games have bugs and glitches and things go wrong but this one was a personal annoyance because it stood in the way of not only a large reward, but finishing something I really wanted to complete so I could (in my mind) move on. I’m glad I was finally able to.

More people are reaching 80 and I’m curious about how they’re spending their time. Completing the map? Playing alts? Crafting? PvP? There’s always lots to do, but which is your preference? I admit, since MOP came out (has it only been two weeks?) GW2 has become a less frequent visit for me – but I knew that it would since I’m comforted by the fact that I’m not ‘wasting’ money monthly if I don’t log in. Even if I were to never log in again, I’ve gotten more than my $60 worth out of the game so far (don’t worry, I’ll be logging in plenty, I’m a nomadic gamer remember).

I’m still not certain if I want to play an alt. I’ve been trying to harvest supplies for other crafters but I’ve found that if your character is above the level range of items you need to salvage (ie: leather and cloth in specific) it’s better to play an alt so they’re getting the actual items you need. Having looted gear scale to the players level is both a blessing and a curse, depending.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Guilds, Legendary Weapons, and other Goodies #GW2 #GuildWars2

I’ve been alternating with my guardian between doing Orr zones and lower level zones. I find Orr very bug-ridden lately, and actually a number of the regular zones are developing bugs that are quite frustrating in nature too. I was in the human starter with my mesmer alt when I happened upon a skillpoint that was broken – but it was only broken in the overflow, not on my actual server (Sanctum of Rall) so I left the overflow and was able to complete it.

Normally I can ignore a number of issues before they start to get to me. I have pretty good patience and I can wait it out. There’s a few issues that are getting me quite frustrated these days. Last night the game randomly went down without any explanation (for everyone, not just me) and while there was thankfully no roll back this time, things didn’t work properly when I returned. It wasn’t recognizing that I was doing any events with a guild mate, and there for no influence was being earned. I couldn’t stand down or represent any new guilds. Mail wasn’t working. The trade post was lagging. Just little things that made game play difficult.

I’ve been trying to stay on  a ‘main’ – mostly because one day, I want a legendary weapon, and if you look at the list of supplies required you’ll see that it really is best to stick with one character:

Each legendary weapon requires at least the following:

In addition to the above, the player must also gamble the following materials to obtain Mystic Clovers. One success results in a single Mystic Clover and 77 clovers are needed. The chances of success are currently unknown, therefore depending on the final chances, the recipe could require anywhere from 77 to 1,000 attempts.

That is the grocery list for ONE legendary item, and I would like at least two. A shield and a sword. I understand that this is the ‘end all be all’ of items in-game, and that it’s supposed to take a LONG time to achieve this, but still, eyeballing that list is daunting. Actually, only parts of it are.

Karma, over a million karma saved up. If karma was account bound instead of character unique, I wouldn’t have such a difficult time playing alts. In fact, why isn’t it account bound (dye too, for that matter). The 250 craft components doesn’t bother me that much, although the globs of ectoplasm will be difficult as those come from salvaging exotic pieces.

What does seem difficult (aside from the 120 gold) is the 500 WvWvW tokens. I’ve done world vs. world vs. world a handful of times now, putting in maybe 10 hours, and I’ve only earned FIVE of those tokens. 500 is an enormous amount if you’re on a server that perhaps doesn’t fair too well in PvP situations.

I’m also not a fan of the 77 random chance bits that players need to collect, listed at the end. I’ll do it, but it seems more of an annoyance than any skill required.

Discussing these things with my guild mates made me feel incredibly… lonely. I consider myself to be casual hardcore. A casual, with a lot of time to play. But I’m all for bettering my character. I enjoy being good at a game, knowing my class, and obtaining the gear and items that are required to do so. I don’t mind PUGs, and I alternate between exploration and discovery and simply getting things done. I take pride in having goals that include getting as much ‘done’ as I can. It felt like when I was discussing bettering my character and this type of ‘progress’ that I was completely alone, and I suppose in the end I’m more hardcore than casual. Keep in mind this is NOT bashing anyone in my amazing guild, I adore the Combat Wombats and everything they represent. I firmly believe that everyone has their own style and I embrace the fact that we’re all different. I wouldn’t pressure anyone to play “my way” if they didn’t want to. There’s been a bad connotation added over people who enjoy the “min/max” game, and I am one of those people who enjoy it, so I try to avoid speaking about it lest anyone suddenly decide that I too am some elite jerk unworthy of their time.

Anyhow, just a few of the thoughts bouncing around my head lately. I hope everyone had a great weekend, no matter where they found themselves! Happy gaming.

Ascalionian Catacombs, Caudecus’ Manor, Twilight Arbor, and Combat Wombats #GW2 #GuildWars2

Saturday night was ‘dungeon night’ for the mighty Combat Wombats, and we had THREE full groups of people, even with a few of our members being unable to join. That’s amazing! What started out as a very small casual ‘lets start a guild!’ idea in G+ has grown to friends and family and friends of friends. We’re still keeping it informal, but it’s been quite a nice experience having so many people around.

Two groups of guild mates headed off to the Ascalonian Catacombs, which you may recall me doing not that long ago with our first guild dungeon run. For those who find this dungeon leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, I beg of you, at least try the second dungeon before giving up completely. I’m not exactly sure what ArenaNet was thinking by placing such a difficult dungeon as a persons introduction but out of all the dungeons I’ve done so far, that one was by far the hardest (keep in mind I have only done story mode so far). While those two groups headed to the catacombs (man, I wish I could have heard them on vent, but I was in my own group and needed to pay attention after all) our group headed to Caudecus’ Manor. I had been there before with a PUG, and already knew what to expect. The dungeon is a fairly simple tank-and-spank type dungeon, where you need to do simple things like ducking behind fountains and putting up projectile resistant wards in order to ensure you lived. There’s fewer names, and less loot as a result. It’s also quite quick, so once we were finished with that dungeon we replaced the one person who had to leave and decided to take on Twilight Arbor.

I had never been to Caledon Forest before, so I had to walk to the dungeon. What a pain that was. Not because getting there is difficult, but because I knew I was holding my group up and wish I had of unlocked the waypoint at the doors earlier.

I didn’t get to see all of the dungeon because my power went out and I had to call it an early night, but I did enjoy the parts we managed. A huge spider, some exploding flowers, and many conditions that needed to be cured. This dungeon seemed easier than Catacombs, but harder than Manor, so it was a good fit between what we had already done.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even those who were in the dreaded Catacombs. There were reports of it taking 2.5 hours, and 3.5 hours for each group respectively, but they didn’t give up. That’s my Wombats! Have to admit, I’m pretty proud to be sporting this guild tag.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

TGIF

It’s been a long stressful week, and that’s not about to diminish until after Tuesday of next week, so I leave you all with this awesome image of my Asura hacking away at a Risen. I absolutely love her little motivational speeches that she gives about herself constantly. Makes me smile.

Have a great weekend!

Alts? We Don’t Need No Stinking Alts! #GuildWars2 #GW2

Unable to bring myself to playing an alt when there’s still so much to do on my ‘main’, I’ve been completing the lower level zones and collecting craft goods for those unplayed characters so that they may at least level up crafting (and gain regular experience from that). So far it’s gone quite well. Yesterday I completed the Charr starter zone, which I found incredibly pretty, decked out in fall colours. My human mesmer picked up armoring and tailoring, which is of course a huge pain in the behind because both skills use the same materials to level up. I’ll get through it, I’ve really got nothing but time on my hands now that my guardian is 80 so collecting lower level supplies is not too rough.

I’ve only completed two of the starter zones now, the Asura and Charr. Today I’ll probably do the human zones, and then the Sylvari tomorrow. We’ll see. That should get me enough craft materials to at least level either one or the other to 75, and prepare me for the next round of zones. I’m slowly saving up skill points towards the 200 required for the legendary weapon, and while I’m certainly not saving up any money (yet) I know it will come with time (or at least that’s what I hope).

I’m pleased that I’ve almost completed the monthly achievements for September. All I need is to salvage 500 items, I believe at this moment I’m at around 375, and running through the lower level zones has certainly been helpful, as I’m just salvaging everything I loot. I’ve made sure to keep the magic find food active on my character too, after all every little bit helps.

I hope everyone else is having a pleasant week so far, no matter what game you find yourself in. Happy gaming!