Also the question regarding the release date being given 1 month in advance had the in the answer, directly quote, "we are not that far off"
They also said this
Our engine and content programming teams made a number of improvements since the last weekend. Ideally you should see at least some increase in performance, but we're not even close to done yet so don't be too discouraged if you're still having performance issues. Please be sure to leave feedback on our forums over the weekend and let us know how it feels!
-Ferg
You can be close to release and still be far away from completion of a milestone.
It's a matter of scale.
Mostly just huntin' monsters.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
In this BWE we are introducing tournmaments which will allow you to PvP with friends. We have also made some improvements to the hot join games allowing you to follow friends into games via a chat link and will continue to improve these now and after release as well.
Will the guild cap. remain at 100 members for BWE2? If so, any plans to increase the capacity at launch?
The plan for guild cap is that guilds will be able to gain influence to up their cap. How this will work is not exactly determined yet, but the current limit of 100 is lower than the maximum a guild will be able to achieve.
Jon P
Just got a message from the guild guys that it isn't influence, but will be some other factor that determines guild size allowed. Also it is not in the next BWE.
Ok I saw this analogy on the GW2 thread on Penny Arcade so I will steal it.
Imagine an ice cream shop has 100 flavors but 3 of them taste good and the rest are terrible. This is probably because they spent time making each one instead of making them all good.
Now imagine an ice cream shop with 10 flavors. They are all good because they took 10x as much time improving each flavor as they did in the other version where only 3 were good by chance because its too time consuming to make 100 ice cream flavors.
Anyone else like Strawberry ice cream?
Jon
Ok I saw this analogy on the GW2 thread on Penny Arcade so I will steal it.
Imagine an ice cream shop has 100 flavors but 3 of them taste good and the rest are terrible. This is probably because they spent time making each one instead of making them all good.
Now imagine an ice cream shop with 10 flavors. They are all good because they took 10x as much time improving each flavor as they did in the other version where only 3 were good by chance because its too time consuming to make 100 ice cream flavors.
Anyone else like Strawberry ice cream?
Jon
World transfers will be free until 6pm PDT Saturday. After that point they will cost 1800 gems, so if you want to switch, do it early! -Ferg
Useful info if people are on the wrong server still (PA is "Fort Aspenwood" server)
The gap between T1, T2, and T3 should be noticeable but not game breaking. There are plenty of builds that I currently run that do not use T3 traits despite going 30 points in a specific line.
One of the ways in which we accomplish this is to make the T1 traits more generic, T2 traits a bit more specific, and T3 traits more specific, so you tend to use T1 in later lines if you want to go that line but be more general.
Interesting further info on the new traits design/system.
Can we get an out-of-combat weapon switch for Elementalist? Right now they feel just right as far as weapon balance, but it's really obnoxious to have to go to my inventory to switch weapons out of combat when the functionality is already in the game.
This is really a problem for everyone, and not just weapons. We want to have a template system so players can move between different weapon, skill, trait, and item builds, but we want to do it right so it will likely not be until after release.
Jon
Geod on
0
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Woah jon quoted me and ironzergs arguement? Great now he will never let me hear the end of it.
Also, jon has had a small conversation with me in response to my comment about the traits.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Ok I saw this analogy on the GW2 thread on Penny Arcade so I will steal it.
Imagine an ice cream shop has 100 flavors but 3 of them taste good and the rest are terrible. This is probably because they spent time making each one instead of making them all good.
Now imagine an ice cream shop with 10 flavors. They are all good because they took 10x as much time improving each flavor as they did in the other version where only 3 were good by chance because its too time consuming to make 100 ice cream flavors.
Anyone else like Strawberry ice cream?
Jon
If each trait tree has 12 skills (and each class has 5 trait trees) and they have to gate us to access the "best flavors," does that mean they went with the 100 flavors approach? Seems to me if you put 30 points into a tree just to access that final trait, it's kind of like the rest are terrible and just those last traits are any good.
The level cap for this BWE is 80 (just like release). It just might be a little harder to earn experience once you've played through Gendaran Fields. However you can continue to level in WvW. I was able to get my thief up to level 39 in BWE1, and I know there were players who broke the level 40 mark.
~z
They still haven't answered my question about adding more models to the character creator! How are us Norn supposed to fight Jormag without an arsenal of awesome beards!
Ok I saw this analogy on the GW2 thread on Penny Arcade so I will steal it.
Imagine an ice cream shop has 100 flavors but 3 of them taste good and the rest are terrible. This is probably because they spent time making each one instead of making them all good.
Now imagine an ice cream shop with 10 flavors. They are all good because they took 10x as much time improving each flavor as they did in the other version where only 3 were good by chance because its too time consuming to make 100 ice cream flavors.
Anyone else like Strawberry ice cream?
Jon
If each trait tree has 12 skills (and each class has 5 trait trees) and they have to gate us to access the "best flavors," does that mean they went with the 100 flavors approach? Seems to me if you put 30 points into a tree just to access that final trait, it's kind of like the rest are terrible and just those last traits are any good.
The traits are the ingredients, the flavors are the builds you get from the traits. Instead of giving you access to every single ingredient, and you just pick and choose, running very high chance of getting a crappy flavor, you're given more structure so that...well fuck it...enough of the ice cream.
The idea is to gate what you have access to and when so that you can focus on giving players a system that gives you TRUE freedom of choice by creating layers that promote more viable builds. If you have access to everything all at once, then there is NO reason to find a use for certain skills, and the number of viable and used builds diminish as players immediately gravitate towards "the best" skill, versus creating builds that make full use of everything available along a specific progression.
It also creates a system where you can have a layer of more general traits, another layer of more targeted traits and then a layer of even more powerful, but very specific traits.
0
World as Mytha breezy way to annoy serious peopleRegistered Userregular
Are there plans to allow persistant grouping in casual pvp? (That is, staying on the same team with certain people in structured PvP, match to next match)
This is something we are strongly looking into and should be in before ship, just not this weekend.
Jon
Ok I saw this analogy on the GW2 thread on Penny Arcade so I will steal it.
Imagine an ice cream shop has 100 flavors but 3 of them taste good and the rest are terrible. This is probably because they spent time making each one instead of making them all good.
Now imagine an ice cream shop with 10 flavors. They are all good because they took 10x as much time improving each flavor as they did in the other version where only 3 were good by chance because its too time consuming to make 100 ice cream flavors.
Anyone else like Strawberry ice cream?
Jon
If each trait tree has 12 skills (and each class has 5 trait trees) and they have to gate us to access the "best flavors," does that mean they went with the 100 flavors approach? Seems to me if you put 30 points into a tree just to access that final trait, it's kind of like the rest are terrible and just those last traits are any good.
The traits are the ingredients, the flavors are the builds you get from the traits. Instead of giving you access to every single ingredient, and you just pick and choose, running very high chance of getting a crappy flavor, you're given more structure so that...well fuck it...enough of the ice cream.
The idea is to gate what you have access to and when so that you can focus on giving players a system that gives you TRUE freedom of choice by creating layers that promote more viable builds. If you have access to everything all at once, then there is NO reason to find a use for certain skills, and the number of viable and used builds diminish as players immediately gravitate towards "the best" skill, versus creating builds that make full use of everything available along a specific progression.
It also creates a system where you can have a layer of more general traits, another layer of more targeted traits and then a layer of even more powerful, but very specific traits.
More simply:
it's not about more options, it's about more viable options
Having access to a million builds doesn't mean anything if 999,998 of them suck.
Yes, it's about you building a Greatsword build with your Ranger, saying, "Hey! This looks cool." And it actually being cool.
Instead of having to spend hours outside of the game scouring message boards and FAQs to find out what is actually good.
That's the heart of the ice cream analogy. A store with fewer choices that ALL taste awesome, so you can try something you've never heard of and still get a tasty treat, versus an ice cream store with a huge selection, of which only a few of them are actually edible.
In GW2, we want everything to be awesome. Everything.
And it will be.
EDIT: To think about it another way, it's joing a group and having people see you're a Greatsword wielding Ranger and go, "Cool." Instead of "lolololo noob every1 knows GS Rangers suck."
According to the devs you still may want to do a build using three "tier 1" traits, even if you do go 30 pts into a trait line. It's not like the "tier 3" traits are ultra-powered, so depending on your build, it might make sense to skip them. There are still thousands of possibilities anyway.
I guess I fail to see how the new change does anything about making more viable options. The system they have now is very much a parallel of previous MMOs; put lots of points into one tree to get the best skill and a few points in other trees to get mediocre skills. In the end, they all end up with a few cookie cutter builds.
Given the analogy about ice cream, and A.Net agreeing quality > quantity, why not instead reduce the number of traits and spend more time making them all great, instead of filling the lower tiers with less than great, filler traits? It was A.Net who said they found a lot of people going 30/10/10/10/10, which one would assume is because they feel the benefit of most traits is lacking. Why not make less traits, but them all good instead?
Posts
You can be close to release and still be far away from completion of a milestone.
It's a matter of scale.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
Very nice.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
Will the guild cap. remain at 100 members for BWE2? If so, any plans to increase the capacity at launch?
Overflow it is. Good to have some confirmation on the whole thing.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
Seriously, let me into your studio to shake hands and I'll be buying some beers.
Who made that analogy?
Edit: (@ironzerg, http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/23281043#Comment_23281043)
Awesome.
Guild Wars 2: Tyreh, asura Warrior
Some major traits can only be used if you put 20 or 30 points into a trait line.
10 pts = traits 1-6 unlocked
20 pts = traits 1-10
30 pts = traits 1-12
Obviously this means traits 11 and 12 are going to be stronger, etc.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
WATCH YO'SELF SOMETHING AWFUL, WE COMING FOR YOU.
Dudebro.. we have an Anet employee who posts here regularly!
Yeah. I just. Wow.
These guys seem like some swell folks. I'm happy to have given them my $60 whether I stick with their game or not.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
Someone needs to be beaten with a sack of doorknobs over this shit.
Well yeah I know about WaM, but she is part of the PA community anyway, so it's more coincidental I guess.
Maybe loads of ANet employees lurk here though, while we are unawares. You never know :shock:
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
Go here:
http://www.reddit.com/user/ArenaNetTeam
Then any comments made you want to see a question or full context, click the "context" link. Easy peesy.
Guild Wars 2: Tyreh, asura Warrior
Always watching...
Never posting...
Ever in the shadows...
Terrifying...
Maybe they are all Internet Batman.
Internet Justice League?
I feel sorry for Internet Aquaman.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
And all of us scoffed about using proper capitalization!
We could have been playing now if not for the casual disregard over proper nouns.
Useful info if people are on the wrong server still (PA is "Fort Aspenwood" server)
Interesting further info on the new traits design/system.
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
Wow I missed an opportunity to do something interesting with my post... time to edit!
You are a king among men sir.
/salute
I tried to round up some of the best questions/answers on the previous page but then had to leave for dinner
Also, jon has had a small conversation with me in response to my comment about the traits.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
If each trait tree has 12 skills (and each class has 5 trait trees) and they have to gate us to access the "best flavors," does that mean they went with the 100 flavors approach? Seems to me if you put 30 points into a tree just to access that final trait, it's kind of like the rest are terrible and just those last traits are any good.
The traits are the ingredients, the flavors are the builds you get from the traits. Instead of giving you access to every single ingredient, and you just pick and choose, running very high chance of getting a crappy flavor, you're given more structure so that...well fuck it...enough of the ice cream.
The idea is to gate what you have access to and when so that you can focus on giving players a system that gives you TRUE freedom of choice by creating layers that promote more viable builds. If you have access to everything all at once, then there is NO reason to find a use for certain skills, and the number of viable and used builds diminish as players immediately gravitate towards "the best" skill, versus creating builds that make full use of everything available along a specific progression.
It also creates a system where you can have a layer of more general traits, another layer of more targeted traits and then a layer of even more powerful, but very specific traits.
(My avatar is probably going to give me away.)
PETERS, WHERE'S MY T-SHIRT. WE SHOULD HAVE ICE CREAM TOGETHER, TOO!
(I'm having trouble controlling the volume of my posts).
Lol I just assumed you told him about our argument
More simply:
it's not about more options, it's about more viable options
Having access to a million builds doesn't mean anything if 999,998 of them suck.
Instead of having to spend hours outside of the game scouring message boards and FAQs to find out what is actually good.
That's the heart of the ice cream analogy. A store with fewer choices that ALL taste awesome, so you can try something you've never heard of and still get a tasty treat, versus an ice cream store with a huge selection, of which only a few of them are actually edible.
In GW2, we want everything to be awesome. Everything.
And it will be.
EDIT: To think about it another way, it's joing a group and having people see you're a Greatsword wielding Ranger and go, "Cool." Instead of "lolololo noob every1 knows GS Rangers suck."
Steam (Ansatz) || GW2 officer (Ansatz.6498)
Given the analogy about ice cream, and A.Net agreeing quality > quantity, why not instead reduce the number of traits and spend more time making them all great, instead of filling the lower tiers with less than great, filler traits? It was A.Net who said they found a lot of people going 30/10/10/10/10, which one would assume is because they feel the benefit of most traits is lacking. Why not make less traits, but them all good instead?