Official Suggestions Thread - March BWE

[Aladdar]

Add an autofollow option

There is, select the person you want to follow and hit your space bar. It doesn't work great, if the person stops you quit following but it helps some. Here's my suggestion, don't make me stop following just because they stop.

Did auto run get taken out?

No, it's now bound to your R key. Just hit R and your guy will run, hit it again to stop.

[dobu.sycdan]

just a couple of points i'd like to air ..

1: i miss the 'target nearest item' key, sorely. for someone like me who much prefers to use the keyboard over the mouse for as much as possible, having to chase each item down and click on it is time-consuming and annoying. is there any chance that the option to map this function to key will be brought back?

2: it might be my imagination, but it appears that there's now a limited range in which you get a feedback message when an item drops .. that couples with having to track each item down with the mouse could mean much missed loot ..

oh, just one more little thing .. in the ranger quest from ivor trueshot, he tells you to 'follow the ridge south' to find the plague worms, but you actually have to go eastish, if i remember correctly, according to the compass ..

[MoldyRiceFrenzy]

i think the money drops should lesson and the money pricesshould lesson its sorta like not worth as much and hard to keep track of when u get like so much gold then all the other prices go up by like 10x too i likedit when the money drop were low and the item prices were low

Also i think their should be a jerrel tamer outside of yaks pass because there are snow wolves there and i wanted to try to kill my guy so i had to go all the way bac to ascalon and whihc took hour to download cause i got 3kb/sec download

[Dragonne]

Identification kit price was just reduced (WEWT!), which made me think to post this idea from last night.

Now that prices/values have jumped, make "small" versions of the kits. 5 uses, 1/5th the cost. Simple idea for those that my need a few quick uses and don't have the gold handy. Resell would be 1 gold.

[SoTzuMe]

Please, please tell me the design for the character creation interface is placeholder art? The new functions and every mechanical element are flawless, I mean just the art and design itself are really out of place.

It is jarring to go from the naturalistic bluegreen and golden brown tones of the opening to the harsh contrast of strong reds against greenblue in the pvp vs. pve selection screen. And the sinewy, almost high tech lines of the backgrounds are more suited to Star Wars Galaxies than the unique fantasy look we've come to love about Guild Wars. The actual character creation screens are a saturated screenshot under an ambiguous and unfinished looking metal blob with none of the filigree and delicate fantasy ornamentation we see on all the introductory interface up to the point of character creation.

On another note, kudos to the decision to enable all skills for pvp characters. Bummer to have wasted the first day grinding skills, but thanks nonetheless for doing the right thing.

[LordFu]

Please, please, please allow numbers in Guild Tags. I'm begging you. I don't want to be one of the half dozen DIE guilds. I need to be D1E.

[Makarei]

One thing which really annoys me with guild wars is the clutter in battles, its always very hard to target monsters when they are moving about as well as your mates. the only option which ive seen to fix the targeting issue is "pless press T to target my enemy" option. Cant you figure out a better way for which people can target a monster more easily in big battles. Even a button which you can push to cycle to next monster, provded its in a certain circular radius of your player. bcos that will prevent targeting monster afar from the players location.

[Shrapnel_Magnet]

Mak, they have that... look under the keyboard controls... I use TAB for selecting nearest enemy and F for cycling though enemies... I never click.


Anyway, I'd like to see the Guild Roster panel display not only the names of the people who are on, but also the Character Class Combo's... That way a Guild Leader could take a quick look at who's on and see if he can put something together. Save that, it's just nice to know who's on and what they're playing as, in the guild.

[Gaile Gray]

Originally Posted by JGTheSpy

This is my first time playing since that first E3 test. I'm definitely having a blast.

Welcome back!

I was pretty confused through the pre-searing area. I don't think I even placed any attribute points until level 6 or 7 when I realized that my spells were sucking. It's not impossible to figure things out but I found myself asking my guild a LOT of questions all night.

I won't be able to explicitly respond to each thread, but I need to with this one. Your feedback about KoA is very valuable. If you've not experienced The Kingdom of Ascalon and we're not telling you everything you need to know to make it a valuable and fully-enriched experience, then we need to increase the messaging. I'd appreciate if you remember, exactly what you didn't know to do. Attributes is very significant, anything else?

I got into GvG fighting a couple hours in and it was amazingly entertaining. The only thing I think it's lacking is some sort of entertainment in the guild halls when nothing is going on. When we were all waiting around for a couple more people to show up, it got pretty boring. I really wanted some 1v1 or 2v2 skirmishes against guildmates while we waited.

Understand, and many agree. Guild Wars isn't really a "dueling" 1v1 type of game. It's built on the notion of layered abilities, skills, specialized item use, defensive and offensive combinations, etc. I think, judging just from this thread and in-town feedback alone, though, that dueling would be popular. We'll see what the Designers come up with. Definitely your feedback will be passed along.

Finally, the post-searing area bored me to death. I didn't really like the E3 test last year because of the zone and I still don't really like it. It's just so bland and confusing.

Oh, heck, I love The Ruins of Ascalon! Ah well, to each his/her own.

Anyway, awesome work with the game. I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to see it kick the ass of all those mindless grindfests out there.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by LordFu

Please, please, please allow numbers in Guild Tags. I'm begging you. I don't want to be one of the half dozen DIE guilds. I need to be D1E.

Fu, I think the reason we've disallowed them is to avoid the proliferation of Leetspeak-ish names. I will ask about it, but I don't think this will change.

Originally Posted by SoTzuMe

Please, please tell me the design for the character creation interface is placeholder art? The new functions and every mechanical element are flawless, I mean just the art and design itself are really out of place. It is jarring to go from the naturalistic bluegreen and golden brown tones of the opening to the harsh contrast of strong reds against greenblue in the pvp vs. pve selection screen. And the sinewy, almost high tech lines of the backgrounds are more suited to Star Wars Galaxies than the unique fantasy look we've come to love about Guild Wars. The actual character creation screens are a saturated screenshot under an ambiguous and unfinished looking metal blob with none of the filigree and delicate fantasy ornamentation we see on all the introductory interface up to the point of character creation.

Interesting. The change was extremely dramatic, I agree, and there are other concept pieces about which I'm much fonder. I hadn't analyzed the harsh edges and the modernistic "tilt" of those images, but your comments certainly have a good subjective insight, and thanks for sharing those thoughts.

Originally Posted by IAmMarauder

Something I thought of: a button or command to say whether you are looking for a team or not. Maybe an icon can appear abovwe your head or something?

I am strongly recommending a party hat icon.

*pause*

*notices funny looks*

You know, "looking for a party? Ok, fine, well, Katy (artist) and I are crazy about the idea, but they'll probably go with something more borin... standard like a flag or something.

[WolfpackEE]

- Provide a method to see my character information (total amount of armor, regen, etc.)

- Quest log managment (delete, share, sort)

[neoflame]

Originally Posted by WolfpackEE

- Provide a method to logout of the game and change characters as opposed to have to quit the game and restart it.

There's a logout button in the start-menu-like-thing. It's also F12.

I agree on the quest log management thing, though.

[Zeal]

YES! Quest Share, Abandon buttons would be VERY nice.

And when you make some Quests like you have to talk to someone and take him back to town or take some bottle to someone, it's annoying that all players have to do it different times, you can't like share the quest item of that gyu that all partymembers Guest would be updated.

and you some window or little spot under inventory where you can see youre ocerall defence and so on.

[JYX]

I had a little discussion in the New Changes thread, I understand that wasn't really the place to raise issues with the new changes, so heres a transcript of the major arguments. My clan and I feel quite strongly about this, a problem we see now is that as builds get more and more streamlined, more skills are simply being forgotten about, remember the first time you cast firestorm? We'd hate for a perfectly applicable skill such as Hundred Blades to be relegated...but more so we're worried about this as a general trend for where Guild Wars is going. I'd be grateful if someone could spare a few minutes to skim over whats below.

Originally Posted by Everous

but erm...hundred blades is elite?...I really don't see...how 1 extra attack, which for sword users means what...35-40 damage max can be an elite skill. Some illusionary weapons characters are gonna have to reconsider their choices...

Originally Posted by Alex Weekes

As has been pointed out, Hundred Blades was an issue with combos. It's not just one extra attack - it's potentially an extra attack on your main target and potentially 4 (or more) free attacks on other enemies if you know what you are doing.

This made Hundred Blades an awesome skill to combo with Illusionary Weaponry or any damage add skills (eg Conjure <element>). It's also an excellent skill for powering up your big Adrenaline attacks; a single attack can net you 2, 4 and sometimes 6+ strikes worth of Adrenaline.

As noted by others here, if you look into the details you'll see that the skill itself received some buffing up as well. The weapon damage on each hit is no longer reduced, for example.

Play around with the skill, let us know how it affects your builds. And ... might I suggest that IW users try Cyclone Axe as an alternate?

Originally Posted by Everous

Cyclone Axe isn't possible, axes attack considerably slower than swords, and I'm sure you know that IW is all about the speed. I don't actually have a pass so I can't "play around" with hundred blades as such. All I can do is sit and hope they made the right decision.

Heres my take on it, basically theres two main reasons why Hundred Blades should not be elite.

1) Yes it lets off attacks on all angles, and you can hit 4 people with 2 attacks each, making 8 strikes total. But to be honest, its not about how much you hit, but where. For a warrior, all you'd get are 4 annoyed guys staring at you. I'm assuming cooldown has not been changed, and even if the cooldown is 5 seconds, I would still say that those extra two attacks do not go a long way. The swordsman is very much focused on 1v1 combat, with the inclusion of nice burst attacks and conditions. To put is simply, after you do your 80 damage to everyone around you...what then?...Theres nothing to follow it up with, and I daresay the enemy is quite capable of healing at a rate of 10hp a second...negating its usefulness.

2) What we're getting here, is a variation on an AoE attack thats quite toned down. This is not what fighters are all about. Their job is to deal out high DPS to one character or to soak up high quantities of damage. The Hundred Blades skill simply does not synchronise well enough with their job to be considered in a Guild vs Guild match where everyone is specialised. 2 more attacks per 8 seconds to 1 guy and perhaps some bystanders was worth a skill slot in some builds, if only because they had nothing else to put in there...but I don't believe it deserves an elite status. Also this shuts off possible builds by making Illusionary weapons impossible to use with it...while obviously the conjure stuff still works. Elementalists are much better equipped to deal out this kind of AoE damage, I'd feel much more comfortable if I had a nuker dealing out Rodgort's Invocation than some warrior with Hundred Blades. Invocation deals more damage...and isn't an elite.

Rellok's comment about taking flourish as an elite in order to take advantage of Hundred Blades is a demonstration of one of my points. As a basic attack it had certain combos which were very interesting, for example flourish and Hundred Blades meant 4 hits on everyone next to you. Thats some good nuking. But none of that is possible now.

It is true that Hundred Blades was not perfectly executed before, but making it into an elite also makes it completely out of place. Perhaps it could have been toned down. As an elite, its completely out of place. I'm not saying its a bad skill, but look at the other elites such as Illusionary Weapons (creating entirely new playing styles), Water Trident (coupled with arcane echo is devastating)...or even Energy Drain that can give you 18 energy while taking a Warrior/Monk out of the game. Next to those, Hundred Blades seems weak, if the developers are ABSOLUTELY intent on keeping it as an elite (which IMO is a bad choice) then at least beef it up more, and actually make it dependent on the Swordsmanship skill.

MY FIX

Simply making it dependent on the Swordsmanship skill would fix a lot of the feeling that it was overpowered. Previously you had ele and mesmers bringing along swords and using it without any skill in swordsmanship. Something like giving it a 60% chance that any guy standing next to you is struck twice, with the percentage chance increasing by 3% with every level of swordsmanship. Suddenly people find that as a Mesmer Primary or an Elementalist, they must invest in swordsmanship to compete. This would make the skill harder to use, deter the people who want to simply exploit it for cheap shots while keeping open the strategic choices, and keeping the builds balanced.

Originally Posted by Zrave

Also, as of the last chronometer test, axe and sword were identical in speed, at 1.33 seconds each.

Originally Posted by Everous

The base attack speeds are the same yes.

But at the last Beta Weekend I attended I noticed that there were far more swords offering a + attack speed enhancement. I'm not sure if this makes a difference at level 20, as I may have found an axe that offers the same. But it sure makes getting to level 20 a lot easier for someone relying on illusionary weapons.

Originally Posted by Zrave

I think that hundred blades is fully deserving of its elite slot. The fact that it can compete with frenzy for extra damage with no detrimental effects shows you its power, nevermind the potential for hitting more than one person and hitting a windfall of adrenaline. The fact that people will continue to use Hundred Blades is a testament to its power.

Originally Posted by Everous

Using frenzy you can get in 56.3 shots per minute. Using hundred blades you can get in 52.6 shots per minute (or 60 if it dosen't interrupt the standard attack), with the old system it was only 75% damage. Considering the standard sword does 45.1 shots per minute...thats an increase of 5 hits worth of damage per minute (or 10 per minute if it dosen't interrupt standard attack). As a stand alone skill as I've said before, it dosen't fit in with the warrior repetoire and dosen't do enough damage to be considered used alone.

The windfall of adrenaline is redunant, as PR have said, the main reason behind this change is the devastating illusionary weapons combo. With illusionary weapons you didn't gain adrenaline anyway.

[Galatea]

EDITTED and extended:
Rather than starting a new post, I've just decided to elaborate on my current one:

Already mentioned, but I'm also in support of:
Chat Filters
Have the option to toggle on/off various chat elements such as emotes, all chat, guild chat, whispers, etc.

/follow <username> or /follow <target>
Yes, I know there is the target & space procedure, but it doesn't continue following if the target stops. There should be a hotkey for auto-follow, as well as a text command for those who would like to just type for example "/follow Galatea Nereid" if the person isn't targetted and the user does not want to cycle through TAB to find the person.

/invite <username>
Also good if you either do not want to waste time tabbing to find a person, or if the person is off somewhere else in the area. Typing "/invite Galatea Nereid" for example would send an invite to me.

Seeking Party
A button of some sort to seek for party. Perhaps it could have that exclamation point "!" icon, as we see on the quest members, but in a different color, or an asterisk "*" next to their names.

Randomize Characters
I would love to see a random name generator. Sometimes I'm a little stumped what name to choose or get frustrated when one I want is already taken. A "randomize" button that would randomly select hairstyle/face/hair color/etc. would also be cool in character making process.

Dual-wield
I'm a mage, so I obviously don't need this really.. Can I hold sheilds? I've forgotten.. Dual-wield would be great though for other classes, like warriors perhaps. Would be fun.

Other things I've suggested in the February WPE thread:

Town/Area Maps
Individual town/area maps, perhaps in addition to the overall area/zoom options and mini-maps. These maps only show terrain. I'd like to see an actual map with marked grids, with areas of the map labeled (such as "Crafters Corner") so we would have an idea as to what direction to run to when we need something. Also, moving markers on these maps that showed: a) my own character, b) party members, c) shared markers that any party member could tack on the map, as to designate a meeting point, etc.

Area Switching Confirmation
Some sort of confirmation or notification that a party member has left the area. I've accidentally walked into new areas while a party member was still doing business in town. Annoying stuff.

Personalized & More Emotes
When having a person targeted, typing an emote such as "/clap" would then print the text, "[My_Name] claps for [Targetted_Name]" or similar; example: I target "Iris Hope" and type /clap, the screen would print: "Galatea Nereid claps for Iris Hope." Same goes for other emotes like /cheer and /dance. Maybe also include the super-personalized "/emote [text_here]" which would allow characters to type any text emote they want. So "/emote is sleepy." would print "Galatea Nereid is sleepy."

Other emote suggestions: /rest (lay down or lounge) /hug (this could be a text-only), /smile, /cry, /angry, /poke, etc. etc. etc. I love emotes.

Auction House or Trading Post
Self explanatory and brought up a number of times. I'd really like to see this implemented.

Collector's Requests in Quest Log
I played mostly PVP so I don't know if they changed this, but if they didn't.. I'd like to see them in the Quest Log, or in a separate tab.

Bank or Storage House
Somewhere to keep items/money that we don't want to carry around, etc.. since our bags can only hold so much, and we may want to hang onto some items for whatever reason.

Postal Office / Mailbox
Someway to send messages with attached items to other players, whether they are online or offline. These would be delivered to their mailbox or some sort of Postal Office where they could pick up mail. There could be a fee to send mail too, like 5-10 gold per message or something.

Party Window
I'd like more information regarding party members. In the party window, all the information that is available (from what I recall) only displays their name insides a healthbar. There should be an abbreviation for their classes and level next to their name, so for example "Galatea Nereid E/Me8" but for all the party members. Perhaps also designate the leader's name in a different color, so the party will know who has access to invites and starting missions, etc. There should be tiny icons next to the healthbars (or underneath) that show the hexes. And perhaps, double-clicking their name in the party window could toggle a little pop-up window that shows details as to what skills they are carrying, how much more experience points to their next level, whatever other info is necessary.

I was playing PVP for majority of this WPE. I would have to target my individual party members to find out what jobs they had, and I'd rather just see it in my party window.

Macros/Personalized Hot Keys
Would love to be able to set personalized hot keys/macros. Maybe like a combination of keys, like "ALT+1" would trigger a series of spells that I like to cast one after another. Text macros would be nice too. For example, if I am dying and need a heal, it would be much quicker to hit something like "SHIFT+1" to print the text, "Health is low! I need a heal!" or something, rather than trying to survive & type "need a heal!" and attack all at once.

Saving Skill Set-ups
As mentioned here, maybe a way to save the skill set-ups (up to five or ten). I play an elementalist/mesmer, so it'd be nice to say.. set-up one with just fire, one with half elemental/half mesmer skills, etc.. depending on how I feel like playing. I can switch to these set-ups without having to individually place each skill in. Saves on time.

Passing Items
If an item drops and is assigned to a party member, he/she should have the option to "PASS" on it (say they don't want it, don't need it, or their inventory is full) so that other party members will be granted access to the item.

Neckpieces and Other Accessories
More accessories. ;D Perhaps they could be for adding stats/attributes, rather than armor. For example, necklaces/scarves, bracelets, rings.. could add +1 to +3 FIRE for elementalists, or other such stats. There could also be negative effects, for example.. +1 Water, -1 Fire. They could also serve just for looks. As a female gamer, I like the option of customizing and having a variety of accessories to choose from. These could even fall under the "Secondary" category, where we carry sheilds and scrolls.

Yeah.... I'll post again if I think of anything else. Great job on the game though, honestly. PVP is tons of fun, and I like the way the game flows, and how there is no pressure to have to play for hours and skip meals ha ha.

[Nommad]

Now that pets give a death penalty when they die I'd like to see some pet commands, like guard this spot and back off.

It would make pulling and spliting groups of monsters easier, having them "stay" and not attack the monster I'm trying to pull, as well as give them the chance to get out of harms way if they're getting close to death.

[RealityDesign]

I posted this in the last "suggestions thread" and never really got a response. I talked to some alpha testers and they said it was being considered, but here is what I would really like to see:

1) A 4v4 arena where you can select your team mates
2) A reward of some kind for winning in the current arena
3) A 4v4 arena where you can place some kind of wager / bet

Here is my post from last month with a lot more details:

Originally Posted by RealityDesign

Levels 1-10 the arena is fun because it's a way to gain experience if you enjoy PVP.

At level 20 however, the arena is fun for a few hours but becomes pointless and boring after a while. Now I know most of you would just say, "OK noob, if it's so boring go do the tournament or do guild vs guild."

That is definitely an alternative, but I know when I was playing in the arena my team and I had some runs of over 40 straight wins. After about 15 we starting saying, "Man, this is just too easy...I hope we get a challenge." By win 30 we were saying, "Holy crap, 30 wins a row?? We should be getting paid for this LOL." Now, wouldn't the arena be a whole lot more fun if you got some kind of a reward? I can assure you that it wouldn't have been boring nearly as fast for me or my team if we had earned something (even something as little as a gold or two).

Gold, a ranking system, even something that just tracked your stats in the arena (wins / losses, damage done / taken, saves / combacks, etc.) would make it more worthwhile. The tournament is fun, but more often than not you get grouped with a bunch of idiots that don't know how to play the game. Guild vs Guild is also fun, but only if my 7 other good players come on and play with me. I am just looking for a way to have fun by myself or with a friend .

I also think it would be a lot of fun to have an arena type of match where you can select your team mates. Not all of us are lucky enough to have 8 solid players on 24/7 that we have developed good teamwork with. I know for me, I have 3 friends that are always on with me and we are always trying to get on the same arena team. Sometimes 2 of us get lucky and get on the same team, and we have a whole lot of fun, and generally win 30-50 matches in a row.

The combination of a 4v4 organized team battle and a reward system for consistantly winning in the arena would really make the game a whole lot more enjoyable, atleast for myself.

As for what the reward is, here are some suggestions:

1) Gold. Everyone needs gold. Set up a system where winning more matches nets you more gold. Something like 1 win = 1 gold, but 5 wins = 10 or 15 gold. It doesn't have to be a lot, just something to make it feel like there is a point to playing after your 30th win a row.

2) Skill points. From what I hear, after winning enough in the tournament you get a skill point. Make some kind of rediculous goal here like 25 wins in a row gets you fame, and x fame gets you a skill point.

3) Random drop. After each victory everyone in the group gets a random drop. Consecutive wins increase the chance of getting a rare item. For example, after winning your 30th game in a row, the odds of you getting a skill ring or a rare sword would be significantly higher than your first win.

4) Special skills. The only reasoned I played DAoC for almost 3 years instead of a few months was the PVP reward system. A good reward system is crucial for pvp to be worthwhile and work in the long term. In DAoC they had realm points, killing players got you realm points. The better (higher ranked) players got you more realm points. X realm points got you a new realm rank and realm skill point. With x realm skill points you could get a special skill that made you more effective in battle. If this game had skills you could only earn via the arena or tournament it would be awesome. The ladder for guild vs guild is a great alternative to a reward, but it doesn't account for the tournament and arena.

You could also design some kind of an organized single or double elimination tournament. The idea being that say 8 or 16 groups of people all put in an enterance fee and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams recieved a prize based off the enterance fee. Single elimination would be the easiest, and would just run like the playoffs in any professional sport.

I'm sure most of you think it's a stupid idea, but I thought it would be fun .

Edit: One thing I just noticed, since it was written last month, when I spoke about gold that was before it was infated 10x .

[Lord Fox]

Allot of good sugestions here. Nothing has been bothiring me more than the stupid camera jumping all over guild war creation. Everytime I'm running along and see a monster, i stop to attack and WHOA!!!! where did he go? Oh wait ill have to adjust my camera view so I can see him. next thing you know youve been hit several times and near dead. Pray to the guild there is not a second monster.

Why not just have it looking at your back while you are running, and slightly above while fighting, and have it adjustable for looking around.

[Gaile Gray]

Originally Posted by Lord Fox

Allot of good sugestions here. Nothing has been bothiring me more than the stupid camera jumping all over guild war creation. Everytime I'm running along and see a monster, i stop to attack and WHOA!!!! where did he go? Oh wait ill have to adjust my camera view so I can see him. next thing you know youve been hit several times and near dead. Pray to the guild there is not a second monster. Why not just have it looking at your back while you are running, and slightly above while fighting, and have it adjustable for looking around.

That is how it works for me, exactly. I use arrow keys. Works like a charm. The camera is behind me, always, slightly over my shoulder, and if I want to zoom into first person, I simply use the mouse wheell. So I'm confused by the comments I've seen about camera movement and so forth. Can you tell me how you're moving? I'm not disparaging your comments -- I read something similar on another forum. I'm trying to get an accurate view of it so that I can report it to the team. Thanks.

[Muddy]

One thing I would like to be added to Guild Wars is an option to be either a lefty or a righty! Wouldn't it be cool to wield a sword with your left hand? Or even shoot arrows with your left. I think so.

[Astaroth]

We should be able to salavge custom items for a small amount of stuff instead of just junking them. Even if its just going to be a single hide and a bolt of cloth.
And is there going to be voice enabled stuff or do we have to type everything.