Kill Ten Rats

All joking aside, I think ArenaNet is making Guild Wars 2 work for its business model. Lost Shores is going to introduce permanent content, but ArenaNet wants fanfare. They want a crush of concurrency to surround the unveiling of that content. This is not a mistake either. ArenaNet is one of the few MMOs that can sustain itself on waveform player concurrency.

Conventional MMOs do have waveform player concurrency too, but it operates usually on huge expansions. It takes months to build up the excitement, and then it takes a month or so to go back down as players eat the expansions content up. Filled, they wander away. Most seem to rely on a plateau concurrency, especially subscription MMOs. Some players call it “grind”; some call it “end game treadmill”. Either way, conventional MMOs want consistency. They want a plateau of player activity even if it is always going to be slanting downhill. Continue reading [GW2] Player Concurrency – Water Level Vs. Waveform

Before working on my WvW exploration, I tried to work on my personal goal of working through every story mode in the Guild Wars 2 dungeons before hitting Zhaitan. I joined a party of two that had been sitting in Lion’s Arch for half an hour trying to get people to join them for Sorrow’s Embrace. We exchanged pleasantries and the group leader starting saying that I had been the only bite for the mid-level dungeon’s story mode in quite a while. She was clearly depressed at the thought of working for another hour to pick up another two party members at that rate. I decided I might not have time for the party wait plus the dungeon and excused myself.

ArenaNet has been adamant against creating a “LFG” system that would bring people looking for the same activity together. There is a lot of confusion both for ArenaNet’s decision and their definition of a “LFG” system. Continue reading [GW2] The Underflow – Bringing People Together

There are a few ways to run around in Guild Wars 2 World vs. World (WvW) mode. Everybody’s favorite to love and hate is the zerg, which is just a critical mass of players rolling over objectives and against other zergs. It’s disorganized and powerful at the same time. The skilled players not in zerg siege mode tend to join smaller strike squads which requires significant communication and directives to disrupt and slow the enemy as much as possible. Last night I realized that a solo player could be particularly useful as well.

Selfishly I was running around Isle of Janthir’s borderlands with little intention of helping the cause. I had a goal to complete the map. Right now in our matchup the Isle is the whipping boy while my server, Sanctum of Rall, is trying its best to stop Sea of Sorrows from winning too much. It seems like next week us three will be at it again too. Since I had completed Sanctum of Rall’s borderlands, I decided hitting up the losing server’s borderlands would provide easier exploration than elsewhere. Continue reading [GW2] Solo in a World War

I tried writing a post to mirror Zubon’s great post on elementalists, but I seem incapable of writing “guides”. I write more how I feel since I usually ignore things like builds, micromanaging stats, etc. in the actual game anyway. Here’s how I feel about a class I have spent 95% of my Guild Wars 2 time playing.

Open World

In the open world, I am a cockroach tank spreading diseases at my whim. I laugh as the crippled enemy finally gets up to my face weakened from the burden of my conditions to get a single hit off me before bleeding out their life. I snatch that orb of life away never having moved from my spot. With my health and extra Death Shroud lifebar, I feel impervious in all but the most perilous situations. I see allies drop against the Claw of Jormag, and I still stand.

Then a greatsword warrior runs up to a nearby enemy and appears to drop it in a quarter of the time it takes me. Snicker-snack. I can’t help but feel jealous. Continue reading [GW2] Necromancer Thoughts

I finally finished all PvE zones in Guild Wars 2 with my main. 100% across the board with only a handful of points left in WvW before I get my Gifts of Exploration. I feel like now I can “just do whatever”. It’s an odd feeling, but I love hitting exploration achievements in any MMO. They call to me. I had to hit every heart, vista, and waypoint in every zone.

Each MMO, including Guild Wars 2, has driving factors. Sometimes they are called “carrots”. Sometimes they are “sticks”. Some of the driving factors are so ingrained that it’s considered that thing to be done. When that mark is checked is it a loss of drive or a release of pressure? Continue reading [GW2] Pressure Relief / Pressure Cooker

Presentation affects perception affects enjoyment.

Guild Wars has 8 dungeon options. I have run them all. I am pretty much out of things to do rather than re-do, and do I really want to grind a dungeon 19 times to get an armor set?

Guild Wars has 33 dungeon options. Every dungeon has story mode plus three exploration paths (four in Arah). I have run 15 of those 33. I am less than half-way through. Most of the endgame lies before me, and having run all 8 story modes, it is all immediately accessible.

How you count matters. If you think of the three explorations as the same dungeon, doing all three in a night is a groan-worthy grind. If you think of the them as different dungeons, doing all three in a night is quite a varied experience. Some dungeons will lend themselves more and less to either interpretation; some have a choice of paths before you see the first enemy, while others have significant overlap.

The November monthly achievement set includes “run 5 dungeons.” Some forum-goers are up in arms about this. Do they really believe that of 33 dungeon options, they cannot find 1 or 2 worth running weekly? ArenaNet is batting 0 for 33? They more likely see 8 dungeons, all of which will have at least 1 problem on at least 1 path, so all the dungeons are borked. How you count matters.

: Zubon

I understand the angry soloers, but hey, you lose that argument. MMOs will have some achievements that encourage and reward group play. It’s kind of a thing, you know?

Rangers’ Healing Spring is amazing.

I leveled a ranger, and I unlocked Healing Spring for his first dungeon run. It is a medium-sized, 15-second water field with a 30-second cooldown. Water fields combo for healing and regeneration. The base healing is nice, but the ability to proc regeneration and area heals is what makes this great for a group that uses finishers to exploit fields.

Staff elementalists get two water fields. One has a medium duration but small area of effect. One has a huge area of effect but tiny duration, along with a long cooldown and the rare “must stand still to cast” induction. In either case, you need to be in water attunement, which involves either using both in succession or managing your attunement cooldowns. They can, however, be used at a range, while the Healing Spring happens at the ranger’s feet.

50% uptime on a healing field is great, and that first dungeon group had two rangers. Placement options are worse than an elementalist’s fields, but you can hit “6” anytime without attunement issues. Staying in the field while I attack, I can stack enough regeneration to last until the cooldown ends.

You play a ranger for ranged DPS with condition stacking and a pet. I did not expect to get a great support ability as an unadvertised bonus.

: Zubon