Guild Wars 2

Koolthulu.9682:

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.

Yes I think the greets on the vendors could be muted without losing too much ambiance. Also, someone get that poor woman in Hoelbrak some help. Or an audience. Maybe she’d stop saying the same thing over and over if someone was listening to her.

By FAR the worst NPC I have come across is the female norn by the leatherworking station in Hoelbrook. She says quote.. “Take heed, I haven’t taken leave of my senses. I’ve seen creatures of metal and steel.” By FAR the worst. She will say it and sometimes cut herself off, and repeat it again, and again, and again. Like 5 or 6 times in a minute.. Terrible

Please don’t erase the random conversations between NPC!

I agree though that the greetings can get pretty annoying. Is there any way to configure it so that everyone only hears the greeting directed at themselves?

I mentioned the “more violets, less violence” earlier, but to be clear.. for me….I do like the NPC-NPC dialogue, its just when youre standing around crafting, you do tend to hear the same thing many many times.

So if anything, I’d say just tone it down a bit in the areas where people congregate (crafting stations, trading posts, etc).

For me its the random things spoken by NPCs. They keep saying the same thing over and over and over again. If I am standing in an the Norn city, this one chick npc repeats the same thing without pausing more then 10 seconds at times, which drives me crazy.

I wish there was some way to mute just the random things NPCs say when not addressed directly.

For me, it’s D. All of the above.

When I play with my chef, for instance, I’ll be standing in one spot for a long time. I’m experimenting with discoveries, and this process takes a while. Less time than it used to (now that I don’t have to do the inventory shuffle, thank you ArenaNet) but still a fair bit of time. I could recite a lot of these conversations from memory, and not because I was trying to memorize them.

I love these random interactions. I really enjoy walking through the city and catching part of a conversation. The conversation in the Grove near the gate to Lion’s Arch (“Your golem is strange. Was strange, rather”) cracks me up every time.

But near a crafting station, it happens far too frequently. I know it’s supposed to be a busy, bustling city, but the repetition kills it. Voice acting is an expensive part of the game from what I understand, and sadly even if the number of lines were tripled you’d still run into the repetitive nature considering how long people stand at a crafting station sometimes.

The best solution I can come up with is that if a crafting station window is open, disable voices. Including other players, so the warrior with “For great justice!” on auto-cast is also muted.

(for the trading post, I don’t understand the issue at all. I can buy and sell from anywhere, only have to visit the NPC for pickup. Maybe it’s just that I’m not buying as much as other players are, so don’t have frequent pickups)

Btw, for the people that are annoyed: In Rata Sum at the crafting parts of the city, there are no idle conversations at all

It’s mainly the greets where you can hear the same greets for 76 other players.

Maybe in internal cooldown client-side for the same greet more than once per minute, or simply cutting “non-me” greets.

LittleZoe.4970:

Btw, for the people that are annoyed: In Rata Sum at the crafting parts of the city, there are no idle conversations at all

“Are you currently looking for krewe members with a background in Synergetics?”
“Not at the moment. Those types of positions tend to be very fluid. Check back later.”

“How is the Eternal Alchemy treating you this fine day?”
“Like a cog wedged into the broken tooth of a main flywheel.”

“You look exhausted. You’re working too hard.”
“You know what they say, a rotating cog amasses no sporophytes. (sp?)”
“You’ve not spent a lot of time in the jungle, have you?”

“Incinergen Labs is actively looking for krewe members.”
“You’re not the ones responsible for that huge reactor leak, are you?”
“Absolutely not. Reports of lab explosions are exaggerated.”

…all of those from memory. No guarantees on the accuracy, but there are plenty of idle conversations in the crafting areas.

I’m a huge fan of the idle conversations that I’ve seen. The random call-outs haven’t bothered me at all.

I think a handful of very heavily used NPCs have this problem with greets. There are probably a few idle conversations that are a bit too close to the heavily used NPCs, judging from the other commentators (none have bothered me personally).

Would it be possible to include an option that tones down or mutes NPC voices if you stand still for a couple minutes? I’d rather keep all the vibrant NPC chatter, but I can understand it grating on some players.

when i craft for long periods of time i turn ingame audio off and listen to my own music
problem solved

I love the idle conversations. I love the greets. I love how the merchants call out to you in the cities.

What I DON’T love is hearing the traders greet other players, and NPCs that run around a small area screaming at you, like crafting criers and that norn lady who hasn’t taken leave of her senses.

I spend a lot of time cooking in LA. All I hear for hours is
“Sieze the mo-MENT”
“Tree song go with you” (excuse me? I’m not Pocahontas)
“It’s nice to see you”
“Ideas are like cream, good ones rise to the top!”
“My ears, how are you?”

Oh, and:
“I need an expert blacksmith, and money is nooo object.”
“Well, you have a lot of choices.”
“I want high quality, low prices, and a minimum of egotistical banter”
“In that case, you DEFINITELY want Sylvari.”
^ What? He just said he wanted an expert and money was no object, why is he now asking for someone humble and cheap?

Personally I like the charr girl – human girl dialogue. I think it’s important for the character of LA and there’s nothing wrong the volume – they’re kids playing a game. Kids are loud.

My suggestion for the call monologues (like the norn lady) is to have them run around the whole city yelling that, not just one small area. My suggestion for the vendors is to only have the player hear greetings to themselves, not other people.

Oh, and “more violets I say, less violence” is quite possibly the worst thing someone could say to an adventurer that has to brutally murder 60 different creatures in cold blood to get a DAILY achievement :P

What.

Out with it…

Speak.

“It’s a bad day to travel” – Over and over and over and over…
Ambiance and funny conversation good, repetition bad…

I really want to hear the salad joke… but the guy outside the TP in LA never wants to tell it!!

There’s other issues. one that comes to mind is in decider atum

I spent some time there doing cooking, and while there and the raptor egg event was active the guy wouldnt shut up about “any plan involving raptors is by design fool proof” or something like that.

And yeah, the vendors talking to players is so anoying, theres so much “dont let a wrong de rippen into evil” i can take

The ambient yelling, screaming and laughing in Divinity’s Reach is too much.

The Busted Flagon Crier is on a short loop.
The woman that will kill for Bean Cake loops in like 5 minutes.
The Two Children playing Tag at the artificer station loops every 60 seconds.

However…
I have recently discovered that all of the crafts have tables deeper in the shops in Divinity’s Reach that are out of range of the vocal town loops. But you are still subject to the NPC’s greeting of players.

I think, while you are inside a building such as the bank or trade post or crafting shops, the outside world should be muted, including the pointless ambient yelling screaming and laughing in Divinity’s Reach.

On a side note, realistically, what do the people really have to laugh and cheer about? Centaurs are invading their lands causing a lot stress and strife. Zhaitan’s Minions are on Divinity’s Reach’s doorstep being present in Kessex’s Hills. And at some point, actually make it to the Queen’s Throne room. The introduction talks how the human race is beaten and driven back. The only haven left is Divinity’s Reach. And that is seriously being threatened. This is not a formula for merriment.

C. Idle Scenes (spoken by two or more NPC’s, conversing back and forth)

The “rotating cog amasses no sporaphites” rephrasing of “a rolling stone gathers no moss” was amusing the first couple of times I heard it, now I have to turn the sound off or I fee like punching something.

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<<<<<<<<********To Make everyone happy it should just be included in as a slider in the options or something, not force everyone to suffer from OP’s post***********>>>>>>>>>
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MatthewMedina.5419:

Hey everyone! I was one of main the city designers for Guild Wars 2. So for those of you who are concerned about this issue, could I get you to clarify, are you talking about:

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

NPC’s in the cities do a combination of these four types of vocalizations. Around the vendors and crafting areas I tried to keep idle scenes (which I had the most control over) to a bare minimum, and when they are there, I have them on fairly long timers (although I recognize some of you are standing in the crafting area for a long time, so you’re more likely to hear them). The other audio would require a bit more massaging to make any changes, which is why I’m asking for this additional information.

Based on the quotes you all have pulled and included in this thread, it sounds like it’s the greets that are most audible and most annoying? Given the popularity of crafting, I’m not surprised by this, but I understand the frustration it can cause. I’ll follow up with this and look into potential solutions. Please feel free keep this thread going, and to include more examples or particularly troublesome spots.

For me it’s not the greets but… Divinity’s Reach for instance, while I’m at the armour station all I hear is, “HA HA YES!!!!!” “HO HO!!!”. This goes on incessantly while I’m crafting. I attempted to run around the area and find out actually who was creating this audio but couldn’t pinpoint where this was coming from. I’m guessing it has to do with some kind of celebration or maybe the carnival? Gets really annoying in any case, because it just keeps looping.

“Take heed! I have not taken leave of my senses! I’ve seen creatures of metal and steam!”

I typed this from memory. I should not have that memorized.

Other than her, the only other issue I have with the NPC audio is all of the giggling and laughing in Divinity’s Reach. What is so funny in that city?

Try doing some cooking discovery in Lion’s Arch. You’ll leave somehow certain that you should never let a wrong ripen into evil.

Nkuvu.2570:

LittleZoe.4970:

Btw, for the people that are annoyed: In Rata Sum at the crafting parts of the city, there are no idle conversations at all

“Are you currently looking for krewe members with a background in Synergetics?”
“Not at the moment. Those types of positions tend to be very fluid. Check back later.”

“How is the Eternal Alchemy treating you this fine day?”
“Like a cog wedged into the broken tooth of a main flywheel.”

“You look exhausted. You’re working too hard.”
“You know what they say, a rotating cog amasses no sporophytes. (sp?)”
“You’ve not spent a lot of time in the jungle, have you?”

“Incinergen Labs is actively looking for krewe members.”
“You’re not the ones responsible for that huge reactor leak, are you?”
“Absolutely not. Reports of lab explosions are exaggerated.”

…all of those from memory. No guarantees on the accuracy, but there are plenty of idle conversations in the crafting areas.

You forgot the girl at the bank getting chased by her golem, calling for help, which you can’t give, every 5 minutes.

The Lion’s Arch kids make me want to be able to a craft a “Leather Belt of Child Discipline” and beat their annoying, repetitious butts.

I respect the vibrant, alive city design. Problem is, with this and every other game, is that EVERY NPC needs at LEAST 10 unique dialogues/conversations, and the timer on each needs to be LONG. VERY LONG. AKA: I’m in one spot for 4 hours and I finally hear all of them.

You gotta realize that, in an MMO, I’m in these same spots for a LONG time MANY times. A ton. All the time. Even if you lengthen the timer on the 1 conversation, I’m still going to hear it infinity times and it’s going tokitten me off. These games are designed to hold my attention for months/years if you do it right.

Want to really throw me for a loop as a city designer? Add/remove conversations/greetings/happy mouth noises on semi-random patches. Drop the content in via patches, and simply flip the dialogue switches on and off with patch pushes, since this game gets them often. I’m no programmer, so I have no idea what level of depth this would take to implement, but it would be awesome. The best compliment you could get was no complaints (unrealistic) but man, you’d come close to perfection.

Koolthulu.9682:

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.

Disagreed. I like to hear and see what other players are doing, and not feel like an NPC is not only there to serve ME. Plus this is the first game i’ve played where it isnt just self greets

yeah, i don’t exactly tune them out and it’s not that bad because all my characters craft in different cities (usually la but not always). i think the idles and the 2-npc conversations could repeat less frequently.

i do kinda miss crafting in the grove:

“it’s the mint that makes it TINGLE!”

i can never hear what it is they actually are talking about eating but i like it.

“I pray to the animal spirits but they rarely answer.”

I am so, so tired of hearing that.

If there’d be guilds HQ, there could be a Lab Room upgrade, so crafters may just go to their guild lab to craft quietly, it may include a seller without idle talks. Wouldn’t be cool to have your own lab?

Ok i ve decided to log in and write down my opinion……
Most of the people have made it clear that when u stay for too long in one place it can REALLY affect ur sanity. For instance try to spend some time at the discovery tab while u r cooking in LA ….and u will start screaming to some pixels to kitten or else u would gladly cut their tongues in order to have some quiet…..Not pretty at all….

Of course u have the option to mute the game….but…..why?
Why the only option to keep ur sanity is to mute a beautiful game….????
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY GAMING LIFE WHEN I VISIT A TOWN IT FEELS LIKE….A TOWN…IT FEELS ALIVE———————-> AN I TOTALLY LOVE IT
And the sounds play a HUGE part to that .

So you do not have to take out of the game anything. U have already done the job…..u ve put some effort and workhours in order to make something beautiful….no reason to degrade it….

According to my opinion in order to keep everyone happy…..would be
to increase the time between repetitions (increase it alot, like someone suggested here)
and give us some options if it is possible to disable or enable npc lines

When it comes to which kind of talk drives me crazy i would say A & B
Greetngs and the catchy phrases are the ones that really really drive me insane

The Preacher in Hoelbrak going on about the Human Gods is highly annoying…but, you know, it’s exactly the sort of thing that a human would do.

The other is the Asuran kid in LA talking to the Charr “your face is funny”…“no your face is funny”

“What’s complicated mean?”
if you don’t stop asking that ever 2 mins it’ll mean the next time a centaur comes by I’m going to chuck you at him or her like a football.

“I pray the spirits but they rarely answer”
Maybe…just maybe…I dunno they’re as sick as I am of hearing you rattle on the same thing over and over. OR I dunno maybe you should try running faster then a centuar.

The only thing thats worse is then they’re saying chatter from other MMOS with ALMOT the same accents and the exact same inflections…

Not sure if it’s been said before, but I would find it nice if the greetings from an NPC were only played for the character that activated said NPC. The Asuran tailoring master in LA does get kind of annoying when a lot of people are crafting.

I don’t mind the random conversations much. It would, however, be kind of nice if these varied more. I don’t know how they’re programmed currently, but I could imagine different sets of topics for certain NPC group sizes (i.e. a single NPC might say things from one list of topic, a pair would have different topics, and groups of 3+ would have still different ones). This would make it easy to add/remove topics for groups of NPCs based on flags, and could work globally to some extent – after all, with the Asura Gates, news from LA, for example, would realistically ‘reach’ the other cities in a short amount of time, so all city NPCs could have the same lists.

I think it’s only annoying in the places that people frequent, like lion’s arch, or the bank in Hoelbrak. I have dreams of some drunk lady lady saying “boy, hey boy give me a kiss” LOL, other than that I love the chatter.

somehow I cannot quote from page 1 of this thread… anyways:

the NPC dialogue was something that really stood out to me in a positive way the first time I explored cities. While completing the Lion’s Arch map I went semi-afk a few times in the middle of nowhere to enjoy the scenery, and every time I would hear NPC dialogue, sometimes far away, sometimes near. This made the city feel very alive and real to me (as does the well with the fish who make these funny sounds when spouting water, such details are just lovely).
After some time though, the lines of NPCs, who are at places where you go to often, become really annoying. I now hate the constant “WUT…… SPEAK” of the bank Charr and the two Skritt near the Trader’s forum waypoint can go live in the sewer and explore there for real. I also have the feeling that Charr faces look funny and Asura child faces like a little raisin, but as long as ideas are like cream, I will keep drinking my wine with that alcoholic girl near the Mystic Forge.

I would love if they made it so I didn’t hear the NPC greet when other players click on on an NPC. I can handle the ambient conversations, and the greet when I click on them… But standing at the bank for any length of time makes me want to turn off the sound.

I like the sense of realism those audio clips add to the scenario, so I would just introduce an higher amount of them to avoid to hear the same pattern over and over

“YAWWWWWN” every few secs is very very annoying, i cant stand it

It’s the greets. Now granted, after spending a couple of hours in the crafting station crafting items, even the background noise can get annoying, hell even the sound of my own crafting can get annoying, but that’s what the volume button is for. But mostly yes I say it’s the greets. There’s so many people running up to NPCs at a constant basis and conversing with them, they sound like a broken record. It’s really not just the crafting area either. Standing anywhere in any major metropolitan area can be the same way, as I’ve found out going afk occasionally, but since the art of crafting typically causes you to stand in one spot for a lengthy time with a high traffic flow, I think it can push it over the top. I like the suggestion made if there was a way to make the greets audible to only the player conversing with the NPC, that would be a good solution imo if that’s not too much trouble. That said, I really like the way the NPCs converse with each other. You have a lot of underlying stories going on with their conversations with each other. I’ve even just walked around Qeensdale stopping just to listen to the NPC chatter to find some of the little nuggets of story line you’ve in bedded in them. That and the background sounds really do make it sound like you’re in the middle of a bustling, thriving city.

I’ll just be happy if I hear the conversations near the tailor in Rata Sum less.

“Are you currently looking for krewe members with a background in Synergetics?”
“Not at the moment, but those kind of positions tend to be highly fluid. Check back later.”

Also, the conversation about water closets in Lion’s Arch is driving me almost equally insane.

I’m still mostly enjoying all the idle talk, but a simple ‘mute’ key on the crafting screen would suffice.

I still love “Through imaginary combat?”

I don’t know what they’re called but I have stood by the tailor and the artifactor in lions arch for ages and by the time I’ve heard the asura tailor say “My ears , how are you?” I about ready to explode at her and say “omfg what is wrong with your ears”
The artifacting guy says something about his relay transltor revolutionizing something-or-other.

Thodrin.7924:

By FAR the worst NPC I have come across is the female norn by the leatherworking station in Hoelbrook. She says quote.. “Take heed, I haven’t taken leave of my senses. I’ve seen creatures of metal and steel.” By FAR the worst. She will say it and sometimes cut herself off, and repeat it again, and again, and again. Like 5 or 6 times in a minute.. Terrible

OMG, this. SO much this. hate her so much. lol by far the biggest irritation in the game so far. She makes me nerd rage so bad. >:(

She is so irritating that I logged off and spent time with my wife. now THATS bad.

“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”

That’s about 30 seconds in.

I like the conversations. Of course they become repetitive while crafting, but when running around the cities I often stop to listen to them.

And even for the repetitive ones, it’s that thing where the first time you hear a joke it’s funny, the fourth time it’s annoying, and the fortieth time it has a charming familiarity. Before I left Divinity’s Reach for Lion’s Arch I had started chanting “…through imaginary COMBAT??” in unison with the voice actor every time that conversation rolled around.

It would be pretty great if the sound files were changed up periodically, though – maybe temporarily replaced at seasonal events with season-appropriate chatter.

Don’t retire the current conversations entirely, though. It would be neat to have them pop up occasionally even after new content is introduced.

I absolutely LOVE “More violets, less violence.” Since it’s obviously a slogan, it even makes sense that multiple different Sylvari merrily blurt it out in various locations across the world.

Tallenn.9218:

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

I will specifically disagree with this. When you are walking around a city, you will hear people talking to other people. You’re living in a shared world. Trying to replicate a single-player experience in a multi-player environment is a dead end for MMOs, and one of the best things about GW2 is how it makes it easier to interact with other players without griefing or competing for resources.

There is this one kid in Divinity’s Reach that just screams “OOOOHHHHHAHOHAHOH”. If I ever find that little kitten I’m going to rip his throat out. It’s the only one that gets to me.

I love the interactions and background chatter too. Adds alot to the game IMO. But there are those few that I could choke the heck out of and not feel the least bit bad. =P

Gideon.2071:

“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”
“I heft hammers bigger than you”

That’s about 30 seconds in.

lol yea. and;

“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”
“I haven’t taken leave of my senses…”

almost soothing after the 100th time in 10 minutes. lol

I guess I mentally just shut those voices out b/c i’ve done a bunch of crafting, I may also just lower overall volume when crafting in bulk. However, I would like to say that I love the random conversations that I’ve overheard in game, and let’s not jeopardize some of those, they really make the game special. I remember fondly in my story quest stopping on the steps to listen to children playing at being destiny’s edge, or the asura talking about sylvari and the salad joke on the way to the trading post. If anything I’d love to add more random things to npc’s and have less repetition but still keep the world so alive.

The greetings can be a bit much, but not nearly as bad to me as some of the escorts where a guy repeats the same thing like every second, forget which that one was, but even halfway through i was thinking he was a drama queen and I’d just as soon feed him to the wolves as put up with him enough to save him.

Personally I like all the greets and conversations and stuff the NPCs say. It gives life to the areas and what not and makes them feel more alive and not just some digital area I’m in for completion of a task (crafting since this is the focus of the thread). So if anything is done to alter this it should be done as an option in settings. This could be a slider that controls the frequency of these NPC flavor talk.

B)

There is rampant YAWNING everywhere. Annoying beyond belief.