Curse

Griff Mon · Jan 05, 2006, 07:42 PM // 19:42

Gosh I love PvE let me offer my 2 cents about some of the complaints I've heard:

Farming and Drops: I've been going crazy trying to collect low level junk to trade for candy canes. In the meantime, I've been picking up inkdrops like crazy (including a black), char hides which I trade for fur, and regular lumps of charcoal. This is all solo and boring but I am gaining a lot of bonus wealth in my quest for Candy Canes.

PvE Missions and Locations: ToA and Sorrows Furnace with my guildies often finds us in a position where we have to bring along other players. We always ask for skillbar from people we bring along, and we insist on a res sig or a res spell if they have it. It just makes sense in those areas. And we feel if we are bringing an outsider into our group, we want to make sure they are cooperative. Having them tell us their skills they are bringing and asking they make adjustments is just part of the privelage of running with us. UW and FoW are still great fun for me and we see a fair share of drops, but not as many as in times past. A lot of people hang out there for extended periods of time so to go with a group that work together regularly is a privelage and we expect certain things.

The storyline missions are getting old for me, but I still do them with new characters I am bringing along, skipping them when I can.

To me PVP players are incredibly rude and I only go into tombs or Team Missions with my guidmates. I find Tombs to be incredibly eclectic and snobish, and I don't want to deal with the attitudes in those places except with the backing of my guildmates.

As far as the AoE nerf goes, I don't really care. It made it just too easy anyway, and it makes sense. Who stands in place while they are being bombed from the sky in a little circle? Some of the crying and whining that came about from this was comical.

Lord Scoopula · Jan 05, 2006, 08:47 PM // 20:47

I think PvE is great. For us people who suck at PvP, PvE is a great alternative. I think it's a great way to enjoy gametime, and there's more relaxation in the PvE world in my opinion. I don't care about drops or gold. I just want to have fun and kill some stuff

Shen Xi · Jan 05, 2006, 09:00 PM // 21:00

I like pve, did it for the longest time before i moved over to pvp completely but there really is nothing left for me to do.
Just for a laugh i satrted my 5th and 6th character but the peopel around just annoy me far too much, as stated, simple things like wait for regen can't be that hard to follow can it?
So glad i made my monk when game first came out and not towards the end of my pve period as even a few months back the quality fo the average pug was getting atrocious.

Cronos Khan · Jan 05, 2006, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Scoopula

I think PvE is great. For us people who suck at PvP, PvE is a great alternative. I think it's a great way to enjoy gametime, and there's more relaxation in the PvE world in my opinion. I don't care about drops or gold. I just want to have fun and kill some stuff

and also meet some cool people killing things as well.

AoE issue: It's about time the enemies get out of that circle of doom, people in PvP practically avoid AoE, so I'm glad they made the enemies do so as well (while still taking a bit of damage).

Farming: It's funn, especially with a group of guildies. I won't do UW or FoW without my guild, I just don't like/ can't trust all the puggers who are there. And I've had horrible experences there as well with pug groups.

Areas in game: I'm still in love with all the areas of the game even if I have been playing since WPE, Lion's never gets old..well with the exception of spam, but that's another thing.

D/C during mission: I hate this, people just get up and leave at random times, it's happening more than ever! Maybe Anet could try and get a player rating system where people can rate other people on the mission and have a disconnect history as well (along with a percentage).

PvP players: Meh, that's all I can say. Either they are looking for IWAY groups or rank 3+++ groups.....it's all really silly IMO, thus Tombs is a waste of my time. Dunno if they should put fame in GvG and in SOME parts of PvE(?)

Drops: They should really bump up some of the enemy's drops with some more purple and golds..nuff' there.

Henchmen: Anet needs to give these guys some newer skills to reflect off the RoF area...throw an elite on these guys, make the healers heal more...so on and so forth. If done right, I'm sure we will see more henchies in groups.

Mister Overhill · Jan 05, 2006, 10:36 PM // 22:36

I've been in the game from day one, but my all family guildmates just don't have too much time to play, what with work, school, and families. I just parked two characters in Drokners after ascending, deleted one,and he is just sitting there waiting for someone else to ascend (two are in the desert) before taking the game any further. Did the ascension missions alone with henchmen, but it's more fun with teammates.

Jas · Jan 05, 2006, 11:31 PM // 23:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyote

The quality of PvE players is still just as bad.

Quality of players may be bad, but it seems that you have had some pretty bad luck with the groups. For me, I've been to various groups with one of each possible category of people, and I think the irritating ones are quite rare. You will eventually meet "bad" players there, but the same would definately go for PvP too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyote

Even at the highest level many players have no idea what they're doing and cant follow simple instructions.

I know how you feel, but those who don't understand given instructions are mostly the ones that have been rushing through the game, they just use runners to get the missions done, they get power-leveled by their Guildees etc... and they hardly know the basics of the game.
But still, I dare say, there's like thousands of lvl 20's playing PvE and most of them are decent and mature players, who can follow given instructions, if they are given in mature way (i.e. drawn on the radar, typed in Team-chat or in TS - - - without references to things that get censored).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyote

Drops are so bad that recently even the most difficult areas dont give you max damage white weapons. Anet seems to have only 1 direction at the moment, to make all random loot useless.

They did a great job on the xmas content. Everything else is basically the same as it was.

Yes... I agree that the drops are kinda poor, but can we expect that all the stuff we got as a loot would be max dmg clean weapons that we could put our weapon upgrades on? I just pick up everything and sell them to merchant... done some big money with that

And Snowball-fight was fun... the most fun I've ever had on PvP. The only time ever I wasn't called N00b or flamed for choosing wrong targets or anything. 1st time ever I enjoyed PvP

Lasher Dragon · Jan 05, 2006, 11:51 PM // 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyote

Drops are so bad that recently even the most difficult areas dont give you max damage white weapons. Anet seems to have only 1 direction at the moment, to make all random loot useless.

LMAO /signed

Oh how I miss the old days, when a monster might actually drop something worth a shit. Or my awesome chest runs. I have yet to EVER get something out of the new chests worth more than the damn key I had to buy in the first place. Also, what's the freaking chance on a key drop from a monster? 1 in a thousand? Sure seems that way.

Yogi's Pain · Jan 06, 2006, 12:47 AM // 00:47

I'm not sure where you guys are fighting, but drops have increased dramatically it seems over the past few weeks. Dye is a common sight and usually 2 or 3 per trip, including black dye. Took me 860+ hours to get my first black, less than 10 to get my second and about 5 more hours for my third. Gold drops are common as well in the later areas. And while chests usually give items that aren't worth using, its hard to say that a Gold Max Weapon isn't worth the 750 gold you spent on the key. Its just that we all want perfect mods.

PvE is as it should be exploitable and rewarding for the lucky ones.

HardoreHom · Jan 06, 2006, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baratus

I have been playing PvE since the release of the game and I miss it. The constant nerfs and drops that aren't for shit are my biggest complaints. Primarily on a character I spent ages building up and then getting Drok's armor for, my sword-warrior. For a while he dominated and was very useful in parties. Now sadly, most monks and elementalists can dish twice as much damage from a distance. The biggest example is that when my Mo/N was lv13, I was soloing around Lion's killing off those lv10~13 Caromi. My warrior can't handle more than two or three at a time because he can only dish around 20 damage average with a max damage fellblade and everything in strength and swordsmanship. Now he just sits collecting dust.

Somebody mentioned whites earlier, and those are something that I have never seen. I regularly get blue and purple drops, but it is insanely rare for a gold and I have yet to get a green. I did get a gold last night while capping SoJ for my monk, the first in ages. I also have not recieved a dye drop in over two months, outside of pre-searing.

My final big quarrel with PvE is lack of rewards, as mentioned already. I have explored many areas way outside the scope of what the story or even farming requires. I did it because I like to explore in hopes of finding a high-level item, random or not. ANet doesn't reward you for exploring though, or going the extra mile. That alone disappoints me. I mean why not put a random exceptional drop for said areas in places like the area behind Althea's Ashes? I spent an hour or more exploring that area with my warrior when he was comming through, and I didn't get JACK for it! A Kryta-level item in there woulda' been awesome to have drop off of one of those hydras, for instance.

Basically, every time a PvP player rages about a character being unbalanced, they're gonna' nerf that effect and PvE will suffer. Don't go out of your way because you won't get shit for doing so, and good luck getting a decent drop. I can deal with the immature players. See I either play alone, or with friends on TS. Problem solved!

I play monk most of the time, and I can say the monk sees EVERYTHING. If anyone knows who is doing what, its the monk. I can easily say, the reason that most of the time it is the monk that disconnects ... is because they can tell from the way the group is playing, they wont make it. Instead of wasting time trying to calm a dispute, bark orders left and right, or continue to heal a hero ... its just wiser to just leave and get another group. Though I don't do that

Effendi Westland · Jan 06, 2006, 01:15 AM // 01:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardoreHom

I play monk most of the time, and I can say the monk sees EVERYTHING. If anyone knows who is doing what, its the monk. I can easily say, the reason that most of the time it is the monk that disconnects ... is because they can tell from the way the group is playing, they wont make it. Instead of wasting time trying to calm a dispute, bark orders left and right, or continue to heal a hero ... its just wiser to just leave and get another group. Though I don't do that

Yea, so true, I generally don't leave a party, but with my monk i get so frustrated sometimes that i do...... You notice the good and bad about a party real quick.

So when after a fight i say "wait sec rgen" spam my energy, and one person rushes off to aggro the next group and the rest follows, I give a warning, saying that if they do that again I'll leave...... I find that most of the time they don't stop, so I leave.

And when they get mad at you for not healing, or not rezzing in the middle of the fight, that really ticks me off.... as if i have time to stop healing for 8 secs and rez them when everybody else is getting hurt..... but I don't leave for that, cuz such a group can still make it, the above group won't even if I stick with em.

I find the missions after thunderhead keep quite good, even if there are alot of bossy ppl around, everybody there has finally gotten the hang of a basic concept... if you don't work as a team you won't make it.

Mostly I play with friends or the few who I meet during the making of a new character. by the time I get to the desert I have ussually added 3 or 4 ppl to my friends list and when alot of them are online we all continue. Yer sometimes I have to do a mission twice or three times to get them to the same part as me, but I like that, as long as I know I'm not playing with some imbicel.

Keyote · Jan 06, 2006, 02:18 AM // 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yogi's Pain

Dye is a common sight and usually 2 or 3 per trip, including black dye. Took me 860+ hours to get my first black, less than 10 to get my second and about 5 more hours for my third.

I've only ever seen 2 black dyes drop since the game released. Both were in UW and both for other people. As you say there a lot of luck involved, but drops certainly have got worse and worse for most people.

I hunt everywhere and I've made a lot of money, but I've put enough time in that I should be one of those people finding good items yet I rarely do. If I got serious about farming then I probably could, but thats exactly what Anet is trying to stop (not that I agree with nerfing solo farmers) and it's only hurting the people who already have trouble getting any items.

kvndoom · Jan 06, 2006, 02:42 AM // 02:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by twicky_kid

Griffs outside rock are the only good drops left on game.

There is one, and only one, truly unnerfed area left that I know of, where max golds with perfect mods and decent purples drop like flies. Unfortunately 90% of all the gold drops are hammers, which are worthless in themselves since nobody buys hammers, so it still evens out to the suck. I swear, if swords and axes dropped from these creatures instead of hammers, I'd be a trillionaire.

Jas · Jan 06, 2006, 02:47 AM // 02:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effendi Westland

Yea, so true, I generally don't leave a party, but with my monk i get so frustrated sometimes that i do...... You notice the good and bad about a party real quick.

I agree... totally. A monk usually gets to know what skills each party member is using, without them spamming them. But what was said that monk knows it all, for me it doesn't count. After playing a monk like a lot, I still have trouble to find my way around in Ascalon because when healing, I have no time to watch the way (the red bars are just flashing in my eyes

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effendi Westland

So when after a fight i say "wait sec rgen" spam my energy, and one person rushes off to aggro the next group and the rest follows, I give a warning, saying that if they do that again I'll leave...... I find that most of the time they don't stop, so I leave.

I usually inform the team what I do mean by spamming my energy (for example "My energy is 4 of 40"). I simply tell people that when a monk calls for energy, it means same as STOP and wait. If they don't believe, they get no heal as I don't have energy to heal. Simple as that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effendi Westland

And when they get mad at you for not healing, or not rezzing in the middle of the fight, that really ticks me off.... as if i have time to stop healing for 8 secs and rez them when everybody else is getting hurt..... but I don't leave for that, cuz such a group can still make it, the above group won't even if I stick with em.

That would give me similar thoughts too, that nagging for not healing. Healing monk has some limits too, and if the spells won't recharge fast enough, it impossible to heal fast enough. I have said to few warriors some pretty bad words for that... as they had Starter armor at LA (or somewhere around there).
Also... I get very annoyed when tanks run, sometimes using Sprint, to a fight and die before I get even a slightest chance to heal them. And then they start blaming me for not healing at all, ever... So do those peeps assume my healer would be in the front row with them at all times? For me, my place is in the back where no-one hacks me with an axe.

Maiyn · Jan 06, 2006, 03:06 AM // 03:06

The AoE nerf made the mage henchmen completely useless.. and outright dangerous in later missions (monsters running off into other groups of monsters, major aggro nightmare, leave Orion or Cynn at home) Air or water magic ftw...

Um.. farming is great. We've adapted. I think pvp is more balanced but I quit after the SS nightmare. I hear IWAY is "fun"

I really like the variation in builds I am seeing in small party farm teams. People have really spread out over lots of skills and created builds that are both unique but similar and what not. It makes for very interesting gaming and requires you to be very flexible in PVE.. which is actually nice. You need a few different characters with many different abilities to play different areas and team styles. I appreciate that because it isn't the boring hack-n-slash.

Hmm... something that is really driving me nuts, and is sorta related to my last point... is the fact that I've had 4 pve characters for quite some time now, and I really want to make a new one but I play all my characters.. so I can't really delete one, so much time effort. I dunno, I really wish I could make more. I would PAY to make more, but I just think it would be stupid to buy a second account and then have to get two expansions and what not, totally dumb. If Anet would let me buy more character creation space, I absolutely would in a second ... sigh.

The halloween/winter events were pretty fun I must say. I definitely love GW, I haven't been this addicted to a game since Diablo.. :P

wilebill · Jan 06, 2006, 03:32 AM // 03:32

I got my monk full up this last weekend, players are ok for the most part, and some of them are really a pleasure to work with. I've been playing since retail release, and the problem with PvE is not with the players.

1. There has been too much nerfing of skills. Skills should operate differently in PvE than they do in PvP. PvP can be a summer camp pillow fight, but PvE needs some skills that make a difference.

If you have a copy of the old paper strategy guide it is informative, and depressing, to compare its skill descriptions with the current skill descriptions.

2. Drops are very poor at present. We all know the problems with professional farming corporations and bots, but the solution adopted by ANet is like keeping the whole class in after school because of the misbehavior of a few.

My monk is my fourth character, so I could supply him with funds and a nice Yakslapper that I got when greens were still dropping, which they do not seem to be anymore at the moment. The monk completed all missions, explored the desert a moderate amount, did what a new player would do. And the total amount of loot he collected was not enough to buy Forge armor, including purchase of materials.

Save up salvaged materials you say? The salvage drops are way down too. I don't think there were enough.

Baratus · Jan 06, 2006, 04:24 AM // 04:24

I finally got a dye drop. You apparently have to solo to get dye now. Wasted a few hours but I got a yellow followed by a red outside Lion's. Henchies nerf drops to the max and usually if a dye drops when I am playing with friends, they get it. Had four drop one night, each one was for my buddy. I got a bunch of blues. He also got a gold. I swear my account has something modified on it to make it more difficult.

PvE is too much of a grind anymore, that's my quarrell. Nerfed warriors, drops suck almost everywhere (found some decent ones in mineral springs), if you want anything good, you better go farm up 100plat or more thanks to the unbalanced economy, and the only way to deal real damage seems to be with a smiter monk. It's a constant grinding cycle until you have the cash to get what you need to advance or do what you want.

Jas · Jan 06, 2006, 06:16 AM // 06:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cronos Khan

Henchmen: Anet needs to give these guys some newer skills to reflect off the RoF area...throw an elite on these guys, make the healers heal more...so on and so forth. If done right, I'm sure we will see more henchies in groups.

I'd like to say "Make Alesia pure heal". She is like 1/3 healer, 1/3 protector and 1/3 smiter... and she is bad in each area of monking

She would be quite a useful companion if she just would be pure healer.

JiggyFly · Jan 06, 2006, 07:21 AM // 07:21

When trying to buy something, do people still offer me completly different items then I was shouting for? Yes (i.e. some guy offered me a black dye when I was trying to buy an +hp axe mod)

Do players in pvp still have no idea what it means when I say I need a shutdown mesmer? Yes (some guy who claimed he was a shutdown, just ended up being a IW Mesmer)

So both categories have there...less than average players (to put it nicely), but although I'm alittle disappointed with the simplisitc aproach taken on the PvE aspect of Guild Wars. I don't think it has gotten anyworse, and every aspect of any game is going to have it's ba dapples (some more than others), but as soon as you dwell on it the game stops becoming fun and you have to ask yourself why even bother playing if it's not going to be fun?

Sister Spice · Jan 06, 2006, 12:09 PM // 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardoreHom

I play monk most of the time, and I can say the monk sees EVERYTHING. If anyone knows who is doing what, its the monk. I can easily say, the reason that most of the time it is the monk that disconnects ... is because they can tell from the way the group is playing, they wont make it. Instead of wasting time trying to calm a dispute, bark orders left and right, or continue to heal a hero ... its just wiser to just leave and get another group. Though I don't do that

That's curious as I would say the opposite.

I play a monk pretty much most of the time - currently bond monk.
I frequently say I am the WORSE candidate to lead, as a monk I am so busy watching peoples health bars, and my blessed signet, and that Im not running into agro myself, that I really DON'T see what's going on or what needs to be done to complete the mission.

What I tend to do is *form* the groups in the first place, I'm fairly good at picking patient team oriented people - and I have a bias for people who are cheerful and will cope in the face of adversity. We then pick someone else to direct the actual mission. I then have a group of people I am committed to and I have NEVER intentionally dropped, and equally I have never got loads of abuse. I suspect my humility about my own failings prevents me getting monk abuse.

Because of my skill at picking good group members - I now have an epic list of friends and a guild group of people who work together which means less need for random PUGS - but I still recruit for odd slots and it's a way of making new friends.

The one time recenty that I considered quitting a group (before we went into the mission) was when another member joined our group (made up of friends and guild members) - he joined our group, didnt answer any of our questions, and started laying down the law about what we had to do.
Guess what, that person was a monk. I was apoplectic at their lack of manners and told them (politely) that I didnt think they were right for our group, and whispered to my guild mates that I wasn't staying if that person didnt leave. As the other monk in the group I don't need to put up with spoiled brat monks.

Spicecat

Tenaciousgreen · Feb 05, 2006, 09:22 AM // 09:22

First post so go easy guys - I only play PvE. I have no lust for PvP at all. I am also relatively new to the game and the whole online gaming thing really.

The one thing that at times disappoints me is the attitude to some people towards us 'noobs' and our lack of skill. I am level 15 W/mo (Boring apparantly) and am still learning a lot of techniques particulary my secondary skills. I am occasionally guilty of rushing in, but am open to advice and want to learn. Last night was a example, whilst on Frost Gate Bonus only mission, I got a team together one of whom dropped within 5 minutes. I was probably the weakest link in the team and died a couple of times (as did a couple others) but I learnt a lot. No-one got angry with me and we all helped each other and completed the bonus. I realised that I was not making the most of my secondary skills and can now work on that.

My point is that some of you experienced guys really should help some of us noobs to make us worthy team members. As a thirty something I understand that our younger comrades can sometimes be a pain in the rear end, but they will learn (well some of them).

I am really enjoying this game and want to continue enjoying it and I want to get better so help me if i am doing something wrong. Just an observation at the end of my first month playing this game.