Guild Wars 2

Not sure what to say about a hot air balloon ride that doesn’t really do anything. Is the game just not able to produce actual moving objects you can ride in? It was a pretty big disappointment that it went straight to a loading screen instead of actually flying to its destination..

I know right? AND it didn’t even have unique art for the screen!!!

crappy balloon,crappy success,fast food “temporary content”

I, too, was hoping for a majestic hot-air ballon ride… but really, got what I expected, a boring loading screen!

This was a missed opportunity for sure.

I think almost everyone who read the description felt they were going to ride a balloon. The marketing jargon was very misleading, and the first time I clicked on a balloon and it sailed off without me in it….well, I was like, “pfffffftt…..lame!”

I think this is just another result of the “Living Rush” content.

Part of me was a little bit disappointed, but then I thought that it probably takes a lot more time and resources for very little benefit to us.

There’s no way in the mists that they would create a unique path for each hot air balloon in each map before sending you to a loading screen. That would take a while, and comes with its own set of problems. They didn’t design the maps to be seen from high-up, so they’d probably have to go back in and fix any ‘end of the world’ visuals you get from being high in a balloon.

The only feasible way I can think of them doing it would be for them to send you to a separate map where you can see land below and Divnity’s Reach in the distance and THEN to Divinity’s Reach, but that’s then two loading screens and getting devs to create a new instance that, while nice the first time you see it, probably has very little pay off to players for the time it would take.

I am not a game developer, though, so the above is complete guesswork.

I thought the point of the balloons were that you can get to Divinity’s Reach for free from anywhere?
I never expected to go for an actual ride- how would that even work?
think of the lift at the Grove- same thing really

It would have to fly through the zone borders, that would give multiple loading screens anyways. it’s fine as it is right now i think.

Here is how I would have done it (working within the confines of the game).

I would have given the players the choice to fly in a balloon as it is now. If the player chooses to take the balloon, they are placed inside, with the pilot, the people you just escorted, and perhaps a few more players.

It would travel along a path towards DR at a height that wouldn’t break the game (we can go pretty high in this game on most maps.

After traveling for a bit, it would hit a loading screen (clouds, sun shining, the balloon breaking through), and you would find yourself sailing over the clouds.

This would give a chance to talk to others, listen to the NPCs give additional information about the story, and such.

Now….here is where I think this would be cool! AIRSHIP ATTACK!

Sometimes (not all times) the pirates could attack. They could slide down ropes on the sides and start shooting the balloon/basket. Your goal would be to fight them off using ranged weapons (everyone has ranged weapons). Some could get close to the basket to allow for melee attacks as well.

The airship could circle around, creating some amazing visuals while the fight goes on. If you are successful, the airship takes off, and a loading screen lands you in DR. If you’re not successful however, the NPC says, “We’re going down!” and a loading screen puts you on a random map, in a random location where you now must escort everyone to a new ballon (two on every map).

This…to me anyway would have been much more exciting.

Remember the ship rides in FF10. The balloon ride could of been like that. But 10,000 feet in the sky with a low detailed painted landscape below.

Yeah! I was waiting for flying balloon, or even cut-scene…

And yeah, we’ve got balloon ride… which is … LOADING SCREEN :P
I dont want to be rude or something, but I just fell off my chair ^-^

~~

Remember the ship rides in FF10

Yeah! Final Fantasy is great! By the way, imho IX one is the best one Games should learn more from these, old games, and even make cool cutscenes like that.
Btw thats why i loved Bazaar, cause this flying ship reminded me Final Fantasy IX <3

I used it today expressly to get back to town. I still think you should be able to WP back to a capital city for free without having to proxy through PvP or WvW.

You know the elevators in the Grove? That’s what I was expecting…

A short, pretty cinematic of my character in the balloon before the loading screen to DR. Now that shouldn’t have been very difficult.

And to make things worse, there is no prompt window asking if you are sure you want to use the balloons. Double tap the F on the chest and you will find yourself in Divinity Reach -_-

you can’t even step into the basket
yeah, disappointing.. i was thinking there would be a tyrian balloon ride
then i thought, that’d take too much data.. some of you are thinking way too much

a simple cut scene would have been nice.. anything would be better than that piece of —-- Marjory Delaqua Diary.. worse video game cinematic Ever!
anyway, a simple screen of concept art would have sufficed

ironically i went to look up what the basket was called, it’s mostly referred to as a basket.. and on an air balloon website there’s a nice screenshot of air balloons! is that so hard arenanet

there, fixed..

/agree
Massive disappointment after the hype created by the way they described it in the patch notes! As said, a cinematic would have been lovely.