Guild Wars 2

Thank you for adding a musical instrument to the store. I’ve purchased one, though I am not sure the price point was really quite right for me.

In using the item, I have two questions; one aesthetic and one practical.

Animation
When playing, the character begins to remove the horn from their mouth after every single note (if not played very quickly) which creates a sort of jerky motion when multiple notes are played in succession. Is this on purpose? If yes, a suggestion would be to create a timer where the character keeps the horn in a playing stance (by their mouth) as long as notes are being played. If no notes have been played for a brief duration of time, they return to the stance of simply holding the horn. The little notes coming out of the horn would of course only show when a key is actually being held.

Accidentals
There doesn’t seem to be any accidentals available? This significantly limits the music that can be played on the horn. Would it be possible to add a feature where if holding a modifying key, a sharp or flat would be played? A great deal of music can’t be played without the use of accidentals.

It is difficult enough (for someone with limited skill like myself anyway) to shift the octaves quickly enough to make meaningful music, so even a key that temporarily makes the notes shift to a higher or lower octave would be helpful. Right now hitting 9 or 0 shifts the octave until either is pressed again rather than simply released.

For $10, which is a good chunk of the entire game’s cost (and more expensive than some music applications), it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me that we should be able to play accidentals or maybe have an interface that is different from the ability bar to facilitate easier playing. If you plan to add more instruments, this would definitely be a most welcome feature. I’d like to be able to jam out with a bunch of other people on different instruments, but I can understand if some are on the fence given the price point and feature set available here.

I agree on both of your points. The animation just looks funny when playing a lot of notes. Also like you said with the current set of notes/keys it is hard/impossible to play a lot of music correctly. Hopefully they correct these two points with this the bell and all future instruments.

I had some weirder stuff with that horn’s animation. Was fooling around with in while running a Guild Puzzle, and i may have been in town clothes, when something happened to either transform me or set me into combat.

It bugged.

The net result was me locked with the horn use, weapon switch not working, and no way to drop the horn. The horn was acting as a two-handed weapon too, being dropped on my back to carry while not in combat, and quickly wielded in hand while in combat, to allow me to play music at my foes. As badly as i can play though, it still didn’t damage their ears.

Even funnier was the behaviour of the horn while on my back when out of combat. If i pushed the keys to play it, my norn would put his right hand near his mouth like he was holding the horn, and blowing air into his fist, while the horn was still safely tucked on his back. The best bit of it though, is that the notes were still playing, and coming out of the horn on his back. X-D

Had to log out to character screen and relog back in to fix it.