Guild Wars 2

tigirius.9014:

Oh I played Aion my friend I was there for many a year from beta, I know the mechanics and they were wings. You can flap them you can hover, they are wings. Please stop trying to make them something they are not.

Read my post again. The things you’re describing are visual elements. Not mechanical. Flapping is just an animation. My point, when I say they’re equivalent to mounts, is that mechanics that exist already (Golem suits, Flame Thrower, etc.) and mechanics that are on their way (gliders) would become mounts with nothing more than a visual change. Therefore, the standard objections to implementing mounts are, from a mechanical standpoint, meaningless. For some reason, a significant number of people can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that a mount does not have to be a toggled speed buff. It can be a mechanic that already exists, simply presented in a different way, visually.

Lunarhound.7324:

Okay, so they’re gliding mounts, then.

They are mounts only as much as wings in Aion are mounts. And, funny thing here, i have never heard of those wings being referred that way.

Devata.6589:

It’s really smart how they introduce flying mounts but don’t name them mounts to keep the anti-mound people happy.

What is more interesting for me is that with the introduction of these flying mounts instanced maps would be a problem so that means we might see an end to that.

The only reservation I have is that I hope we will be able to unlock many different looks of these hang gliders all over the world. That’s the type of end-game I like. I don’t hope it’s going to be more cash-shop stuff again you buy or grind gold for. We will see.

Wow. There are a whole lot of assumptions in so few sentences.

Sparrow.8423:

To everyone arguing whether WoW, Arch Age or Aion had hang gliders first… does it really matter? If they made a game with mechanics that were based solely on being NEW instead of fun, generally likeable or just good… yikes! What a disaster that would be!

There was btw. also another MMO, that flopped badly, that had gliders before.
People also called it the world biggest wander simulation .. however i can’t
even remember its name.

I loved gliding in aion, it’s literally the only reason i thought of going back to that game. (and no i don’t have to .=p) i was super happy when i saw the gliders in the promo! like, we’re going to fly guys! (sort of anyway)

3 tiers of the jungle , how high is the jungle top , if each section is the height of a tall jumping puzzle how long would it take to fall from the top to the bottom , a good amount of time to scream in your head then stop and think are we there yet xd.

this gliding stuff is going to be amazing

I was hoping for sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads… Next time I guess. Perhaps when we go after Bubbles. A man can dream.

I imagine Collin pitched the idea with the team, but alas, priorities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

Lol sorry but I had to make this.

When I saw Hang Gliders in Arche Age video demo, it looked discusting. So, are GW2 skies filled with gliders? I hope drawing distance is short that not everyone screenshot is ruined with them. In clear sky nothing hides the gliders….

Hopefully they are restricted to certain areas – partial maps. Tomb Raider style way to find a way.

Next, player houses to PvE maps…

Beldin.5498:

Sparrow.8423:

To everyone arguing whether WoW, Arch Age or Aion had hang gliders first… does it really matter? If they made a game with mechanics that were based solely on being NEW instead of fun, generally likeable or just good… yikes! What a disaster that would be!

There was btw. also another MMO, that flopped badly, that had gliders before.
People also called it the world biggest wander simulation .. however i can’t
even remember its name.

Might have been Dark and Light? I vaguely remember flying in that game. In the few seconds between disconnects, anyway. There were many solid reasons for that game to flop.

That doesn’t mean gliding = flopping. I’m very interested in how ANet will set it up and I expect players will find fun things to do with it. Like, if you can cancel the glider while in the air … those who love to leap off Rata Sum may find new lemming heights. Can you glide in formation?

I’d say my one worry is if mastery points are scarce enough that you can’t master all the mastery lines you really want. Having to choose character-bound things, all well and good. If there are three Specializations, I can make three of a profession to try them all out. But they specifically said Mastery is account bound, so I’d hate to have to choose between gliding, learning languages, combat, and crafting. (I don’t mind having to choose at the start, and set priorities, but I don’t want to be permanently frozen out of content due to choosing other content).

The new mastery abilities were said to help us in the jungle. So that should rule out the hang gliders being used in other maps. Can you imagine, everyone gliding their way into Stone Mist Castle.

I just hope the mastery system won’t be a grind to lvl up. As stated, it will become more powerful the longer you stay in the jungle. I’m thinking experience bars, linked with achievement points.

Glide away, and grind away.

Donari.5237:

I’d say my one worry is if mastery points are scarce enough that you can’t master all the mastery lines you really want.

That’s an understandable worry, considering they’re account bound, but I walked away with the impression that you’d be able to get all of them. Gliding seems like a pretty central mechanic to the expansion, to the point that they’re building an entire layer of the expansion zones that sounds like it may require it (the canopy). Languages sounded almost as important. I doubt they’d build the system in such a way that you can screw yourself out of being able to use mechanics that directly impact whether or not you can see huge chunks of the world.

So far, based on what we know, I’m thinking of masteries like finding tools in a Zelda game. Get the hookshot, you can grapple to remote areas. Get bombs, you can blow up walls to find hidden areas. Get the power bracelet, you can lift rocks to reveal secrets. That kind of thing.

Hang Gliders will only be able to use when there is a wind stream so no use in old maps and stuff, they will make windstreams to use them like in Aion, these where only certain areas where you could flight in all the other maps you could only glyde to. but they will add windstreams of hot air to go up high again and start gliding trough to areas you need to discover like PoI or vistas even story mode, you need to put more xp in hang gliding to have the condition to hang glide further, example: lvl 1 hang glide 10 meters far, lvl 2 50 meters. this will be the same system als they use for WvW xp to put in XP in special abbilities. this is how i think about the hang gliding! also i hope to dye them

Astral Projections.7320:

I wonder if someone who has this ability can hang glide in present area. I assume that they will be able to.

You’d cross the current maps too quick unless the hang gliders are walking speed (yawn!). I suspect a convenient forget mechanic or they wither when outside the range of the new zones or something.

That said Vistas are bloody base jump points that reeked of things like this, hope I get proved wrong but unless the are walk speed it’ll feel like flying a plane but you can’t leave the airport of invisible walls.

Paul.4081:

Astral Projections.7320:

I wonder if someone who has this ability can hang glide in present area. I assume that they will be able to.

You’d cross the current maps too quick unless the hang gliders are walking speed (yawn!). I suspect a convenient forget mechanic or they wither when outside the range of the new zones or something.

That said Vistas are bloody base jump points that reeked of things like this, hope I get proved wrong but unless the are walk speed it’ll feel like flying a plane but you can’t leave the airport of invisible walls.

They might depend on wind currents that are not available in the older zones. Causing them to drop instead of glide.

As I said countless times already: GW already has mounts.

But there’s two kinds:
- Vanity
They are called “travel” consumables, and merely change your idle and movement animations.

- Mechanics
They are forms or other map mechanics you cant bring just anywhere you want., but have specific purposes limited in time and space. So you can’t bring them anywhere you want, and you can’t go anywhere you want with them.

These hang gliders are an example of the second. Other examples are WvW golems, and the mecha siege devourer.

Zanshin.5379:

rapthorne.7345:

tigirius.9014:

Zanshin.5379:

Guild Wars 2: ArcheAge

Actually WoW MoP had them before AA.

and Aion had this mechanic for years, air currents and all.

Yeah and where’s Aion now?
ArcheAge is GW2’s current competitor.

NA Aion’s fairly decent, it seems after the haemorrhaging of players they realised they really needed to change things up. Easy to lvl to max now, they are removing the failure to slot manastones = remove all manastones. Easy to get a basic pvp set to get started through quests, easier to obtain AP.. etc, etc.

The glide mechanic in Aion is really nice, I hope it’s adapted to well in GW2.
Aion has both a flight and glide mechanic, personally I like both but happy to at least get one of them in GW2.

Donari.5237:

Beldin.5498:

Sparrow.8423:

To everyone arguing whether WoW, Arch Age or Aion had hang gliders first… does it really matter? If they made a game with mechanics that were based solely on being NEW instead of fun, generally likeable or just good… yikes! What a disaster that would be!

There was btw. also another MMO, that flopped badly, that had gliders before.
People also called it the world biggest wander simulation .. however i can’t
even remember its name.

Might have been Dark and Light? I vaguely remember flying in that game. In the few seconds between disconnects, anyway. There were many solid reasons for that game to flop.

Yeah … Dark and Light .. thats it ^^
Also i didn’t wanted to say it had flopped because of gliders .. i only wanted to show
that there were even other games with that already before AION.

Haha .. there is also still a website up :
http://www.darkandlight.com/en/

Sparrow.8423:

Games SHOULD borrow from eachother. I’m glad they do.

Aye.

Too bad they borrowed the wrong thing.

The gliders in Archeage is fun but the map design in Archeage is completely different. Its huge, wide open with no invisible walls. You can literally go anywhere up a mounting and you need a glider to do so. This is also why there is mounts. In GW2, its going to be pretty darn pointless.

What they should have borrowed is physics engine and naval combat. That would have improved the potential gameplay value of GW2 100 times over. Well, assuming the new borderland is 20x larger than your average GW2 map and had oceans. Which I’m guessing it dont.

While some people heard “Hang-gliders”, I heard, “New Mechanic to break out map”

Hang gliding skillz, nunchuck skillz, computer hacking skills

Roda.7468:

tigirius.9014:

rapthorne.7345:

tigirius.9014:

Zanshin.5379:

Guild Wars 2: ArcheAge

Actually WoW MoP had them before AA.

and Aion had this mechanic for years, air currents and all.

Uhm those are wings, very different things. You can actually flap those there is a difference.

Someone didn’t play Aion. :P
You could barely fly in most zones. (in the beginning of the game’s life). All leveling zones were 95% gliding 5% flying (in the main quest hub town)

Lunarhound.7324:

Gliders are flying mounts.

Gliders aren’t flying mounts because they have no way to maintain or gain altitude without relying on outside forces. :]

They’re more falling-with-style mounts.

Well… even then, the gliders are on your back.
You aren’t mounting them
They’re mounting you.

YOU’RE the falling mount!!

“because they have no way to maintain or gain altitude” So you need special winds and can’t maintain altitude. To me that still makes it a mount but with some special mechanics. You have a similar system (without the wind) in AA. There you also jump from a higher point and then glide, you can gain some altitude (Just as you will in GW2 if there is wind) but eventually you will come down.

Anyway, enough about the ‘mount / not mount’ discussion. To me it are mounts.. mounts with special mechanics. If the mount-haters are happy if they tell them-self it are not mounts and that’s why they can be fine with these gliders be my guess.

Back to the more important part. I want to see the ability to unlock, collect, hunt down and be rewarded with skins for these gliders. All over the world without gold, without boring endless grind for most of them, without a cash-shop. I will not complain if there are 3 skins in the cash-shop but the other 50 skins including the best looking ones (well thats personal), the most special ones, the ones with most visual effects should be in the game, the harder the content, the better the look. The guild glider(s) that I fully expect to be available at some point, should not be in the cash-shop (like with some of the guild things like finisher, backpack and so on now) but be rewarded for doing guild related stuff or be an unlock for all guild-members when the guild completes something.

I want this to be part of the game-play and not part of the gold-grind or cash-shop.

Many people say WoW is a vertical progression game but even there by far most people like to go for these visual things. For example for the 10th reverser they put a special mount to be rewarded in a raid only available during this 10th anniversary. (Usually I am against temporary available stuff but I guess a 10th reverser is a good reason;) ) Anyway, from a skill perspective it’s not even a great thing as it’s just a ground mount but many people wanted to go for that mount just because of the looks, and just to proof they where there at the 10th anniversary (so the game value of the mount).

Why this WoW example.. To show that even in a game like WoW that people consider a gear treadmill as if that is the main thing, what keeps a lot of people busy, what is the end-game for many people is collecting these sorts of things and they have value also because of the content that rewards them. Unlike the cash-shop or buy-able (gold grind) ones.

For a cosmetic heavy game like GW2 this is even more important and the reason so many people did leave the game has imho a lot to do with this not really being a part in GW2 at this moment. The many skins (think mini’s, finishers, toys, weapon skins, hairstyles, instruments) exist but mainly as cash-shop items. kitten, by buying gold from the cash-shop or brainlessly grinding gold you can even get the legendary weapon.

What is more fun and more end-game? Buying your instrument from the cash-shop or with gold or having a craft that sends you all over the world to level it and let you do content to unlock the instruments? (For another example)

HoT will be the moment many people who left will come back but if they get bored after half a year again I assure you most of them will not come back for the 2th expansion, so Anet, please get this part right this time. Make these things (and now gliders are just the example but it’s the same for nearly all skins or other fun items in the game) part of the end-game. It is what this game needs.

SpyderBite.6274:

Devata.6589:

It’s really smart how they introduce flying mounts but don’t name them mounts to keep the anti-mound people happy.

What is more interesting for me is that with the introduction of these flying mounts instanced maps would be a problem so that means we might see an end to that.

The only reservation I have is that I hope we will be able to unlock many different looks of these hang gliders all over the world. That’s the type of end-game I like. I don’t hope it’s going to be more cash-shop stuff again you buy or grind gold for. We will see.

Wow. There are a whole lot of assumptions in so few sentences.

It are more like questions, not really assumptions.

I don’t assume the maps are not instanced anymore but it is a possibility as it would usually be a problem for something like gliders. So the question then becomes… are maps indeed not instanced anymore or did they fix this problem in another way?

Do you know what would be hilarious?

Hang gliders aren’t actually something you can control. They’re like a vista, except they move your character over to the next checkpoint. You just watch your character fly from one spot to the other in a predefined pattern, all the while enjoying a cinematic view.

Khisanth.2948:

PookieDaWombat.6209:

It would only have to be in the new maps. Doing it in current maps or game modes would completely break the game.

Hmm …

Capture Stonemist
-> build upgrade for hang gliding platforms
-> fly into enemy keeps :P

Maybe in the new borderland map.

Anti-air defenses! Shoot them all down and what the enemy team falling to their deaths.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Who said they are going to be skins? The gliding issue was described as an ability.

Since they skin-ed mail carriers I wouldn’t put it past ANet to sell skins for any and everything.

Astral Projections.7320:

The basic ability and skin can be unlocked in game yet still have the cosmetic skins thru the gem store (black lion chest RNG anyone?)

This. Just hope they don’t put it behind the RNG-fest that is BLC

so im wearing a pants, is it considered a pants? technicially if a glider can counter as a mount
then my pants can be one as well

Hopefully the player can control the hang gliders, I’d rather not just have a set path. I’d love to explore this way.

Lunar Sunset.8742:

Hopefully the player can control the hang gliders, I’d rather not just have a set path. I’d love to explore this way.

Yeah .. better grind 6000 Bandit crests than 100 gold .. that is sooo much better ^^

I guess hang gliders will work like a parachute unless you ‘find’ those gusts of winds they talked about. This way it could be used everywhere in the game without too much map problems.

So this new video is out, and noticed this? It was mentioned that leveling that mastery would increase control, and speed, but maybe the looks also?

PAX/today

PookieDaWombat.6209:

Nyquest.1583:

Could you imagine seeing a zerg of hang gliders flying into your Keep in WvW. I would be in awe. Lets hope they are active in borderland.

Only if they introduce new anti-aircraft siege.

Weather control devices to futz with the air currents~ I just imagine a crew of hang-gliding shock troops getting blown off course to their deaths: a wall, a hungry sea monster, an Elite centaur camp.

Wetpaw.3487:

So this new video is out, and noticed this? It was mentioned that leveling that mastery would increase control, and speed, but maybe the looks also?

PAX/today

To me that looks more like seeing it from a different angle. The second is from behind and you can see the separate layers, which aren’t showing from a front/side shot. You can see the layer seams but not how they are lifted up and spaced.

I hope you can de-activate the glider mid-air. Every so often, you would get players just falling from the sky after they fat-fingered the glide button, and it would be amusing.

As a follow-up, I hope you can also re-activate the glider mid-air. Could become a decent technique to rapidly drop altitude in order to either avoid enemies, avoid branches, or just getting to an event below you quickly.

Astralporing.1957:

Lunarhound.7324:

Okay, so they’re gliding mounts, then.

They are mounts only as much as wings in Aion are mounts. And, funny thing here, i have never heard of those wings being referred that way.

Probably because Aion has actual mounts?
I think there is even a stat that affects your chance of being knocked off your mount.