Curse

MelechRic · Mar 09, 2006, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Took my MM out for a run up to the rare materials crafter today and noticed a huge increase in the number of Avicara between me and my destination. Usually I can fight one mob and skirt the rest to get to the crafter. Today I was lucky if there weren't 50 Avicara in my way. I re-zoned thinking I got a bad spawn and low and behold -- they were still there.

Maybe I'm just getting bad spawns, but it seems like it's been adjusted. I don't know if that would require anything more than just a streaming update to that map.

TideSwayer · Mar 09, 2006, 11:05 PM // 23:05

Count me in with the group that loves the Troll cave as a spot to farm XP points. The problem with the endgame content as it is now is that it's really hard to level up and gain skillpoints through just playing the game. Being level 20 means there aren't too many areas you can go and kill monsters in and still gain experience. Of course, due to the bots and various farming nerfs that have taken place over the life of Prophecies, in mostly any area where you can actually gain XP from killing monsters at Level 20, you need to take along a party with you, which means the XP gets split up.

Sure, you can join a quest group in UW/FoW/Sorrow's for GREAT xp, but let's be totally honest here - quest groups for those areas are few and far between. Besides, not EVERY character can quickly find a group for the underground areas, so that eliminates the first two right off the bat. Also, UW parties are full of one-man/two-man farm runs and many FoW parties these days are simply chest run groups. Too much Oro farming going on in SF for people to actually want to repeat the escort XP quests very often. (As an aside - how about ANet actually nerfs the keg/gear/book tricks?? Why don't they consider this an exploit and deal with it accordingly? Get with the freakin' program ANet!!!!!) While we're at it, why isn't there a repeatable XP quest reward for completing PvE Tombs? There should be.

Replaying PvE shield missions isn't worth it because the XP rewards for completion and bonus completion are one-time only. This totally sucks, IMO. I wish ascended characters - ie. not low-levellers just trying to self-power-level themselves in Old Ascalon Nolani or something - would be able to regain those rewards. (Just the 1,000 xp for mish and bonus completion - I do feel that the skillpoint given for doing the mission should be a one-time only thing.) It would make a nice incentive for people to show up in some random mission and help out groups even though they've already done it. I don't think allowing the mission XP rewards to be repeatable is such a bad thing. Most missions past Old Ascalon (I'd disqualify Old Ascalon quests from repeatable XP rewards, since they are all pretty quick) take longer than it would take to farm 2,000 xp from the Ice Cave trolls anyways, and this way it would give players VARIETY in choosing how they want to acquire that XP. Without that XP reward, it takes multiple shield mission replays to gain a skillpoint (ie. just from killing the mobs in those missions with a mish & bonus party), which is too much grind IMO. Why would I want to replay Ring of Fire, or South Shiverpeak missions with a mish & bonus party at ALL, considering skillcaps for many of those missions, which at this point are the ONLY reason to replay shield missions after they've been completed, aren't even on the path to the mission completion??

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of using scrolls, but I would never use them in a party of eight, even in a late-game area. The 8-way split XP you get isn't worth the price of the freaking scrolls, especially considering the absurd conditions the scrolls require (kill foe in 30 seconds, boss in 5 minutes, etc.).

Bottom line is, I really wish XP was easier to acquire throughout the majority of the game after Ascension. Levels stop at 20, but skillpoints are still a very precious commodity even after that point. I like the idea of repeatable quests that SF, UW, and FoW offer. I wish there were more of those. The hell with drops. (I'm of the opinion that gold adds up over time anyways.) Give us easier access to large amounts of XP and you can nerf every melee-only mob in the game for all I care. At this point XP is all I really farm those spots for anyways (and I'd certainly appreciate the added difficulty of having mixed mobs everywhere too).

brawnylad · Mar 09, 2006, 11:12 PM // 23:12

"Gold farming, It's like boxing ya gotta stick...and move kid."

jciardha · Mar 10, 2006, 12:08 AM // 00:08

I'm not able to login to GW too well at the moment, and have been like this for several days. So I've got a question about Elona ... are the bots farming the mission, or the explorable area outside of Elona, Diviner's Ascent? I'm just curious, because it'll doubtless effect my mesmer and warrior in time, both of whom regularly farm those places for collector drops.

Diablo™ · Mar 10, 2006, 12:16 AM // 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Count to Potato

Then how would you get to ice caves of sorrow ????? From droks?

A suicide run!

lol, jk. nah pretty sure that'll never happen. I would love to see more wurms around Tyria though, such an underrated creature of guild wars. Wurms are cool!

Toben_Hexx · Mar 10, 2006, 12:25 AM // 00:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakb

nerfing the game because of botters very directly punishes alot of people that arent bots and cheats. Not at all good for the whole. Best and only real decision is to ban those accounts. Start with a warning, if these warnings arent heeded. Then ban.

Dont punish the masses because of the few!

No kiddin'! When I found out my griffon farm had become infested because of robots,I was, well, not mad, it's a game, but I thought it sucked!

koneko · Mar 10, 2006, 12:40 AM // 00:40

Augury Rock International District 1, former home of the Chinese sweatshop farmers and the Asian Guild Wars virtual marketplace.

(click to enlarge)

A virtual ghost town.

ArenaNet should just ban all users with Asian-sounding bot-names. Oh wai-

Pan Sola · Mar 10, 2006, 01:00 AM // 01:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by koneko

ArenaNet should just ban all users with Asian-sounding bot-names. Oh wai-

Lol that's funny (-:

D.E.V.i.A.N.C.E · Mar 10, 2006, 01:06 AM // 01:06

Dont nerf my trolls, I'm going to see if I can get 1,000,000xp from them in one day(tomorrow)

Unnamed challanger will eat thier words, plus motivate me to get the rest of the points I need 169 by april 28th then maybe 300 more after six months

I am mad they turned my safe haven of no spam into what it is today... the old Augury Rock

koneko · Mar 10, 2006, 01:36 AM // 01:36

I'm finding the the bot-sweatshop-farmer-people to be a lot more aggressive in hawking their wares. Now some of them will walk up to you, open trade and ask if you want to buy the items (unlike Augury International D1, where it was just spam, spam, sham).

I liken it to a Dim Sum place where they wheel around the carts with the food inside. Except it's not as tasty. Or amusing. Like when you get the little umbrellas in your drink.

Diablo™ · Mar 10, 2006, 01:52 AM // 01:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by koneko

I'm finding the the bot-sweatshop-farmer-people to be a lot more aggressive in hawking their wares. Now some of them will walk up to you, open trade and ask if you want to buy the items (unlike Augury International D1, where it was just spam, spam, sham).

I liken it to a Dim Sum place where they wheel around the carts with the food inside. Except it's not as tasty. Or amusing. Like when you get the little umbrellas in your drink.

HAHAHA, ROFL!

Nice diagram.