Guild Wars 2

Hi Anet,

This isn’t a bug or a feature request but please shut up at least crafting vendors. Standing in Hoelbrak or any other place you’ll hear at least 10 repeating NPC statements per minute (I counted).

You’ve done an excellent job keeping crafting from being too dull or monotonous but I have to mute each time I do crafting because it drives me literaly insane.

Should be an easy fix with great value add.

I do love the random conversations and things NPCs say, makes the game far more alive. I also understand what you’re saying, as it can get annoying after a while.

How about a mute environment sound while crafting option? While the crafting window is open, all background environment audio is muted, if the option is checked in your settings.

Maybe a little elevator music option while crafting too? =P

Yes I have to agree with this… the female Asura in Lions Arch at the tailoring area was driving me insane. There’s only so much of “Idea’s are like cream, good ones rise to the top” that I can take. I would prefer not to mute Jeremy Soule’s beautiful music

You break it, I break you.

more violets…less violence..

Agreed.

Love the lively feel of towns, but when you stand in one place for a while the frequent repetition is brutal.

I don’t mind the NPCs saying stuff once in a while but what needs to go is them blurting out something every time someone ELSE talks to them. I don’t need to hear it every time the 20 people around me talk to an npc.

C.)

The NPC in the trading post building in Lion’s Arch who complains about prices to a nearby skritt. I don’t mind the conversation, I just wish it would occur less frequently the more times it repeated in the same area.

I’m probably a minority on this one, but same goes with the two sylvari talking about Caithe at Caer Shadowfane in Cursed Shore. I got a portable mystic forge so I spend a lot of time at the Caer Shadowfane trading post, and that conversation gets annoying the 10th time I hear it.

I don’t think your conversations need to occur less frequently all the time, just occur less frequently if the player has been near them for a while.

Matthew, it’s the greeting for the tailor in Lion’s Arch. When there’s a crowd of people working on the trade skill someone is almost constantly buying thread from her so there’s a constant stream of ‘Ideas are like cream, good ones rise to the top’ for everyone standing there. I’m pretty mellow, but even I found it bothersome after awhile.

I should mention that, in my opinion, many of the other greets are not as bad, I think the Tailoring Master is worse because it’s longer than ’How can I help?" and her voice is pitched higher which causes it to cut through the background noise and music so it becomes more noticeable.

You can actually disable voices specificly in the sound options, if it bothers you that much..

Might want to remember to up the slider back up before you do story quests, though.

The lady in the middle of the Hoelbrak crafting area who has “..seen creatures of metal and Steam” says that line about every 30 seconds. Maybe the timer was supposed to be 300 seconds, but a zero was left off?

Yeah the greets. I’m getting tired of hearing “Lets see the color of your money” in Divinity Reach. I don’t know if they say it every time a player interacts with them, but less often and, if possible, more variety would be nice.

I’d like to add a suggestion, as I believe the issue is that whenever a vendor near a crafting station is being talked to (by anyone), they will be prompted to speak. If this speech was instanced to the player that is talking to the npc, then I believe it would be easier to live with them.

D.
I do not like hearing the NPC’s talking to other players, or NPCs talking to NPCs UNLESS I am interacting with them.
Simply making them talk “only to the person that clicked on them.”

The Asura Master Tailor in Lion’s Arch constantly says, “My ears, how are you?” or something along those lines. It makes me believe that it’s what she says when someone goes to purchase materials/recipies/etc. I’ve wanted to cut those ears off. I’m one who likes the dialogs overall but only as I’m passing by not static.

Edit: this asura is getting all the hate in this thread.

May be unrelated however some of the crafting areas have noises to simulate an actual crafting environment and quite a few of them happen to often or are far too noisy.

Primary example would be when I went to go train my artificer in the charr area the adjacent crafting pod (not sure what else to call it) had a constant banging noise that drove me insane.

The one that Laeir mentioned bothers me the most. She absolutely drives me batty – it seems like she shouts every time that someone walks by or is in range.

It would also be nice if the Herald didn’t try to shout at me on every single character tht hasn’t gotten a craft yet. I know that it’s nice to think that everyone will want to craft on every character, but honestly… I don’t know that I will and sometimes it takes me to endgame to decide what crafts I do want to have.

Other than that the others don’t particularly bother me (even the greets).

D.

Running back and forth through LA the guy that wants to insult sylvari gets annoying, and the chatter in Rata Sum is endless. How often can someone ask for a job? And, she never wanders away either.

May be unrelated however some of the crafting areas have noises to simulate an actual crafting environment and quite a few of them happen to often or are far too noisy.

Primary example would be when I went to go train my artificer in the charr area the adjacent crafting pod (not sure what else to call it) had a constant banging noise that drove me insane.

This gets me also, Huntsman and Artificer are very loud. Louder than a blacksmith smashing a hammer.

With the exception of the Tailor, I actually like all of the sounds and random interactions and enjoy the fact that I am in an active place. Sure that guy down on 2nd street with the peanuts keeps singing the same peanut song over and over, but it makes that location what it is. Besides, some of the NPCs may have OCD and just simply cannot help repeating themselves after stirring the pot 50 times clockwise.

I’ve never even notice any of this. Sure, I’ve heard their various vocalisations but it’s never annoyed me.

The greets are the worst part… If I had to hear that bloody Master Chef in LA say “It’s nice to see you.” one more time…

That said, the NPC interactions are too overplayed as well… Have had to hear the difference between outhouses and water closets more times than I’d care to remember. Just don’t ask me if anything live down there…

Why are you guys getting so “annoyed” by this? The current design is just perfect and adds to the variety, and liveliness of areas within a game. I don’t know about you. . . But I CERTAINLY do not want a static and dead city.

A) Greetings on NPCs selling materials for crafting are very annoying. They get repeated every single time a player talks to them. There are MANY players in LA crafting so you hear their greets A LOT. They should just be removed. Or the NPCs replaced with a vending machine :P

B) In the Lion’s Arch bank, there is a child screaming AAAAAH! A MONSTEEEER! It’s volume seems way higher than the normal value. She does it frequently as well (while managing my bank I’ve heard her 3 times).

Also, in Hoelbrak, there’s a woman screaming that she’s seen steam creatures. She does this EVERY single time a player walks close to her. Moving away a bit and then returning to her makes her shout again. It’s incredibly annoying.

@Beltronz: There’s a line between having variety and exasperating players. If you can’t see it, you might be a drone.

BTW MatthewMedina, thanks for looking into this. Respect

I actually really enjoy nearly all the NPC vocalizations. And the market places and crafting areas having a lot of banter really adds to the feel of a busy town and adds life to the setting. I like that I can hear the NPCs talking to other players characters as well because makes the world feel that much more real.

That said, I’m really tired of the woman in Hoelbrak that keeps shouting “I haven’t taken leave my of my senses!” every 30 seconds. I swear if there was combat available in towns, I’d have relieved her of her senses long ago…

The Master Tailor in LA? Really? Sorry to be the one dissident here but I think she’s adorable. ^^ She says her lines with so much personality, it makes me grin every time.

That said I agree that instanced greet dialogue, if not too much of a headache for the programmers, would be a great solution. It keeps the vibrancy of the world, because the NPC responds when you interact, but spares nearby players from hearing it over and over.

And perhaps we could also stand to hear the idle scene about the sewers a little less often.

Also want to add, many thank to Mr. Medina! We appreciate your interest and patience with our suggestions. Those of you who worked to create such life and ambiance in the towns did an amazing job.

Also I want to add big thanks to Mr. Medina. We appreciate your interest and patience with all our suggestions!

Take heed! I haven’t taken leave of my senses! I’ve seen creatures of metal and steam!

…. /facepalm

Seriously though, it wouldn’t be so bad if the NPCs had a choice of 5 or whatever things they could say… but a lot of them repeat the same ONE line of dialog over and over again. It’s bad.

I wanted to chime in and say that I find the background dialog between NPCs adds an ambiance to the cities I really love. I agree that vendors however really need to only be audible when the player speaks to them rather than when every player speaks to them.

Id say A. Id be disappointed if the general activity of the NPCs in the game got alot quiter. Perhaps the solution would be to have less dialog in areas where people craft or have ‘quite’ zones in the city for people who just want to avoid the dialog while they sit around the cities.

It is the greets when someone interact with them. It is specially noticed at certain points like the armorsmith’s nearby asuran and sylvari on Lion’s arch.

“Ideas are like cream, good ones rise to the top”
“Seiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiize the moment”

Over and over and over x_x

On an unrelated note, i love the skrit and man dialogue in the TP of Lion’s Arch. They have like 6 different dialogues and the skritt says “No” in such a cute voice.

Also the dungeon greeters, but that seems to be fixed already, at least in crucible of eternity.

The one that gets me is the background conversations near the strip in Divinity’s Reach. It’s a bunch of people laughing on a near-infinite loop and one of the guys has this really annoying laugh.

Also, the crafting people like everybody has been saying. Main problem is it’s the same quote. And does one say ‘for great justice’? Or is that just random warriors being annoying around crafting stations because that -really- bugs me.

It is just warriors that set the attack to auto shoot to kitten off people.

Everyone’s forgot the crafting crier in the grove.

Every-time someone goes near here she runs up to them saying to ‘speak to one of our master craftsman’

Must have heard that 30+ times in the first day doing all the grove quests.

Whoever is the voice actress did that line really well and Its a brilliant voice etc but it can get abit too much to hear over and over.

The problem would be solved for me if I could have a hotkey to toggle muting the game voices. I’d love to keep the music on, but I’d rather have a mute everything hotkey than none at all.

I really like walking past folks and catching bits of conversation, so I’m a bit nervous about the repeat rate changing. I might miss something! I am after all an initiate in the order of … well you know. Don’t cramp my intel gathering

If I hear about creatures of metal and steam one more time while crafting in Hoelbark I am going to throw my computer out the window. (I’m being hyperbolic for those that are going to tell me to calm down). Also the ‘less violence more violets’ sylvari is incredibly annoying. I find it’s the phrases that rhyme that are the most annoying because they get stuck in your head after the millionth time.

Yes! lets reduce the atmosphere for everyone. I certainly don’t want to change the volume at my end while I stand crafting.

Honestly I don’t think some posters have ever been to a public market.

“A. the greets (spoken by an NPC when someone interacts with them)
B. the random talk lines (these are usually just a single line spoken by a nearby NPC on their own, unrelated to player activity)
C. Idle Scenes (spoken by two or more NPC’s, conversing back and forth)
D. All of the above”

A. I am personally fine with, but there might be some value making these only audible to the player talking to them

B. The ones in areas where players are likely to stand still for long periods of time needs to be made less frequent e.g. near crafting stations, banks etc. All others I feel needs to be made MORE frequent, but only if the NPC has multiple lines. If the NPC only has a single audible line, it should be made relatively infrequent.

C. These should be made more frequent IMO. It adds to the atmosphere, anybody who hates hearing them speak really needs to get out more, people talk all the time. It would be weird if you’re walking through a market and absolutely nobody is talking except when you approach them.

And I think you’re missing one thing: “NPCs who talk when players pass by them”. For example, the guy in Hoelbrak who gives out warnings to people about the Sons of Svanir. If three people pass by him not at the exact same time, but within seconds of each other, he will speak 3 times. I feel that if a player is within a certain distance from him(and other similar NPCs) when he first starts his line, he shouldn’t count them again when they get closer.

Cina Reas.6938:

Yes! lets reduce the atmosphere for everyone. I certainly don’t want to change the volume at my end while I stand crafting.

Honestly I don’t think some posters have ever been to a public market.

Have you ever been to the crafting stations in Lion’s Arch? How the hell would it “reduce the atmosphere” if the crafting vendors, which use GENERIC lines spoken by every single members of their race btw, would shut the hell up? Do you really go to them to hear their greets?

NO, no one wants to “reduce your atmosphere”. What about our convenience?! No one is asking to delete the “flavor” NPC dialogue. NPCs that have special dialog won’t vanish. They’ll be moved / their volume reduced if needed / the frequency will be reduced in places where the player is most likely to hear them repeatedly.

Are you SERIOUSLY suggesting that everyone that’s annoyed by this actually go into their options tab and mute voices every time we go into town? What about OUR atmosphere? We’ll mute all the flavor lines, all the dialogue just so you drones can hear your Greet spam? Are you that selfish that you think only of yourself?

It would be awesome if this sort of dialog could be “phased,” so that it would play once, and ONLY once to each player who enters an area, over a matter of time (they could repeat on a daily basis or something, but never more than once per hour or so). That way, while an NPC would greet you as you approach him, you would never hear him greet the next guy who shows up, only he would hear that. And while a few minutes after you show up, a nearby NPC has an amusing conversation with her friend, you wouldn’t hear that conversation again for a while, but another player might hear it just minutes later.

This would involve a lot of stat tracking, but it’s stuff that could be done entirely client-side, since it would have no potential gameplay impact.

I’m sorry man, but if you spent a half hour within hearing range of any vendor and most npc’s in this game, you’d know it.

“You have gold?”

“Some have to fight so all can have freedom.”

“You break it. I break you.”

“Hail weapon bearer.”

“Nothing sings as sweetly as my hammer.”

“Welcome traveler.”

“May xyz bless you.”

“I haven’t taken leave of my senses!”

“You have wisdom to share?”

And on and on and on.

I may be misquoting them, but if so it’s only for the same reason I can’t duplicate the sound the overly loud air conditioner in my office. It’s always there and I’ve managed somehow to tune it out but deep in my mind, it’s there, scratching away, always.

"

Since the problem seems to be toning the vendors down, while maintaing a genuine “busy city” atmosphere, let me offer some fixes, ranging from insane severe fixing to light adjusting:

• There can be only one: As mentioned before, you only hear vendors if you and only you talk to them. Since this heavily impact the city atmosphere it should come as checkbox.

• Work in progress: Image yourself crafting, melting down your copper and forging hilts, blades and whatnot… Is there sound involved? Now imagine all those people around you crafting with you, more sound? Yes, there are “crafting sounds” ingame, but make everything else – besides background music – much quieter while you are crafting.

• Voices in your head: Yes, this will require voice actors. After all in a real market situation you would not just say the exact same thing over and over again. Have every vendor have about 10-20 different possible lines, and make the rotation random, or tailor it to the players interacting with him. For example when being talked to by a necro, a vendor could say: “Hello, have you been using death shroud properly?”

• This workshop is too small for the two of us: Make a core crafting hub inside your “home” part of the city, or separately, but make it an instanced area. Add optional dialogue, so you can finally tell those pesky vendors to go home and have kittens play while you craft. Also if you take too long, some random dragon will descend from the sky and kill you. Yes, this is totally insane will definitely make it into a future patch.

• Hulk, Smash: Make every vendor “yellow”. City too loud? Just gently apply your greatsword/mace/fireball multiple times on every side. Actually, just make them lv 90 champions, so every time you are annoyed by vendors they will you just destroy you until you change your mind.

Please don’t remove any of these idle scenes or voices…. they don’t bother me at all, even if i hear the same thing over and over. It still gives more life to the city than if it would be quiet.

A.

The idle lines are nice, as they’re random and you don’t usually hear them too frequently (and are often quite funny or interesting).

The main problem for me is when I spend a great deal of time standing still. This is either while crafting or the Black Lion Company. Perhaps just remove the quotes from happening around the crafting areas, or make them character specific.

LittleZoe.4970:

Please don’t remove any of these idle scenes or voices…. they don’t bother me at all, even if i hear the same thing over and over. It still gives more life to the city than if it would be quiet.

I agree. It’s the mint that makes it tingle! Yes i’ve heard the hundreds of times, but that’s because i spend a lot of time in the sylvari craft stations. I don’t know all the other quoted lines because I have yet to really BE there at least for long. They don’t really bother me, better than silence

La:

Which way to outhouse?
WE dont have outhouses. We have wc
Like latrines?
No they are flowing into the sea ….

Every 2 minute while u craft is so annoying.

another one “I pray to …” is new “i took arrow to the knee”

At the lion’s arch bank..

Little girl screaming “AAAH! A monster!” very frequently.
Little girl conversing with a charr, “You’re face looks all squishy…your ugly…etc.”
Conversation in the bank –
“Great, a city run by pirates”
“Ex-pirates, but I take your meaning”

I wonder if it would be possible to put in a timer… so for each player, once they had stood still for more than a few minutes, the voiceovers in that area would fade and then stop playing. Once you start moving again, they would come back to full volume. Make it a toggle. :0)

Somehow I have managed to mute out the vendor sounds for myself when crafting. In my head that is. I really do like the idle conversations and all the voice, it does make the world seem more alive.

However, “Take heed,… Take heed, I have not taken leave of my senses” My dear lady, you have taken very much leave of your senses as this is the only sentence you say, every few seconds >.<

“More violets, less violence” is also something I have heard quite a lot, but I think the issue with it is that there are lot’s of Sylvari saying that one. It doesn’t bother me to the same extent as the take heed one though.

For me, it’s the greets.

I’m standing at the Charr banker in Lion’s Arch, there’s 100 other people all clustered around, and the banker is constantly going on, “good day”, “yes?”, “for the legion”, good day", “for the legion”, “good day”, “yes?”…. on and on and on and on.

I shouldn’t hear the greets NPCs give other players. Only the ones they give me.

Agree with Tallenn, I hate constantly hearing the greets (A) for other players. There needs to be a way to only hear them when I greet a character and not when other people do.