Guild Wars 2

In short, “here are some things we can show that you’ve seen already. BE EXCITED!”

Just like that other mastery that will allow you to get precursors! Oh man! AWESOME. We know you’ve been wanting that since 2013! We even shopped it originally as a QoL type thing, but hey, now you get to pay for it…right.

Grimwolf.7163:

Big wind-up attacks from enemies you’re supposed to dodge place a big glowing marker on the ground that both makes it obvious the attack is coming, and shows you where it’ll hit.
Enemies can dodge sometimes, just like the player.

The first one has been introduced through most of the Living Story. I think I first noticed it during the Queen’s Jubilee, when the watchworks simulated enemies out in the world. It could have happened before that, I just didn’t notice it sooner.

The second one isn’t new at all. I’ve seen baddies dodge a few times out in the world, but it’s not that common. I think you need to be in at least a 40 level zone before baddies consider dodging. There also needs to be a certain amount of self-preservation involved, too. Pirates, for instance, are more likely to dodge than Branded, for instance.

Otherwise, that does all seem to be new. I’m glad at least a few people noticed that there was new information, even if it was highly restricted and minimalistic.

TL;DR I read Rubi’s posts and want to add something.

For me Heart of Thorns is like a feature pack but larger and more story driven content. So when we talk about announcing the content I expect something like you do with the feature packs clear blog posts that go into depth about the new content about to be released.
The blog posts were in between all the marketing content clear in what they want to explain and did it. However the Point of Interest following up on these blog post were not as clear. While in my opinion the blog posts explain me what the masteries are the Point of Interest trivialise the content as the show a very very small portion of what it can be. This makes them feel very lackluster and indeed gives people an icecold shower.

I can understand that the expasion is much bigger than a feature pack but you should try and take the same aproach in how you show and explain new content and systems. Think about what you want to explain and give it clear borders and go some what in depth about this. Like yesterday you showed us the mushrooms and explained us what you would get further onto the mastery track, this was clear and made this track feel usefull. However the gliding track seems to me to be an prolonged falling to death without any real usage. When you had maybe shown us how it worked with updrafts and had glided to some remote place you can only reach this way people would have a bit more understanding about what gliding is.

It does not need to be much you show us but please show us something a bit in depth so we understand what you can work towards.

Ack, I posted a similar topic just now before noticing this one, deleted it and now it’s just sitting there without any kind of post content to it. x_x OoOOOooops…

But as I was saying…

I was watching the latest PoI episode where we got to have a good look at how gliding works in practise.

Now, I understand the content is not final and things will change from now on, but I thought the way the character’s body wasn’t reacting to Nellie moving her left and right while gliding looked a bit jarring. You know how your character moves really beautifully when underwater? I would like to see similar care taken with the gliding animations. If the glider turns or strafes (not sure if strafing is possible or if you’re locked to right mouse click/keyboard left+right) it would seem natural for the character’s body to sway with the momentum.

Similarly, when Nellie activates the glider it sort of just appears without any animation transition happening with the character. Currently it doesn’t give that “whoa!” effect when you dramatically launch off a cliff and pull out your glider.

The basic functions are there, but I would be super happy to see the animations be given more polish!

Can we get a new host to POI yet? Someone like Josh or Hugh who are actually comfortable in front of the camera? Is there really nobody better at this than Rubi (who looks like a nice person but is really ill suited to the job)?

Please!?!

KyreneZA.8617:

Can we get a new host to POI yet? Someone like Josh or Hugh who are actually comfortable in front of the camera? Is there really nobody better at this than Rubi (who looks like a nice person but is really ill suited to the job)?

Please!?!

I’m really going to have to disagree with you here. I think Rubi is a fantastic host for the type of show that PoI seems to be. Its not a formal feature discussion show. Its a pve oriented informal show that highlights community things as well as whats going on in the game. Could be wrong, but thats the style that seems to be how they are proceeding. And for that, Rubi is doing a great job. I think everyone who is mad at the recent PoI was expecting it to be like the old blog posts during Beta. The ones that gave us in depth looks at features with commentary from folks like Colin. That doesn’t seem to be what PoI is about. The only reason we are seeing HoT stuff in PoI, I think, is because they think it would be cool to give us a little sneak peak.

Full on information is likely going to hit during or after the demo at Pax East. I expect to see a lot more formal style information dumps during that time. I don’t expect to find it on PoI and that is ok. I know people are starved for info right now and its frustrating, believe me, I know. But we can’t take it out on Rubi and her team for not providing what we think she should rather than what she is supposed to be providing.

Magoslich.6857:

KyreneZA.8617:

Can we get a new host to POI yet? Someone like Josh or Hugh who are actually comfortable in front of the camera? Is there really nobody better at this than Rubi (who looks like a nice person but is really ill suited to the job)?

Please!?!

I’m really going to have to disagree with you here. I think Rubi is a fantastic host for the type of show that PoI seems to be. Its not a formal feature discussion show. Its a pve oriented informal show that highlights community things as well as whats going on in the game. Could be wrong, but thats the style that seems to be how they are proceeding. And for that, Rubi is doing a great job. I think everyone who is mad at the recent PoI was expecting it to be like the old blog posts during Beta. The ones that gave us in depth looks at features with commentary from folks like Colin. That doesn’t seem to be what PoI is about. The only reason we are seeing HoT stuff in PoI, I think, is because they think it would be cool to give us a little sneak peak.

Full on information is likely going to hit during or after the demo at Pax East. I expect to see a lot more formal style information dumps during that time. I don’t expect to find it on PoI and that is ok. I know people are starved for info right now and its frustrating, believe me, I know. But we can’t take it out on Rubi and her team for not providing what we think she should rather than what she is supposed to be providing.

Agreed. Rubi does a fantastic job. I think people project what they want to see from the show and ignore what the show is about. Heck, the show gets outlined as to what’s gonna be in it and twitch chat blows up that they won’t say a release date for HoT. Even if Rubi were to announce that HoT was available for download and free, people would complain about something. It’s ludicrous.

Magoslich.6857:

KyreneZA.8617:

Can we get a new host to POI yet? Someone like Josh or Hugh who are actually comfortable in front of the camera? Is there really nobody better at this than Rubi (who looks like a nice person but is really ill suited to the job)?

Please!?!

I’m really going to have to disagree with you here. I think Rubi is a fantastic host for the type of show that PoI seems to be. Its not a formal feature discussion show. Its a pve oriented informal show that highlights community things as well as whats going on in the game. Could be wrong, but thats the style that seems to be how they are proceeding. And for that, Rubi is doing a great job. I think everyone who is mad at the recent PoI was expecting it to be like the old blog posts during Beta. The ones that gave us in depth looks at features with commentary from folks like Colin. That doesn’t seem to be what PoI is about. The only reason we are seeing HoT stuff in PoI, I think, is because they think it would be cool to give us a little sneak peak.

Full on information is likely going to hit during or after the demo at Pax East. I expect to see a lot more formal style information dumps during that time. I don’t expect to find it on PoI and that is ok. I know people are starved for info right now and its frustrating, believe me, I know. But we can’t take it out on Rubi and her team for not providing what we think she should rather than what she is supposed to be providing.

You are correct I had hoped for more in depth explanations about something meaning a small part of Heart of Thorns like show us only some gliding but show us a bit off the evolution it will make unlocking new levels. I also don’t expect these explanations to be big but more like an in depth sneakpeak.

Concerning Rubi she sometimes seems not totally relaxed presenting but she is a good host on the right place. You can indeed look at Point’s of interest as a more informall show they have always communicated that Ready Up is the show for balance updates and skill changes. What bothers me to some extent is how they either overhype or trivalise the new updates and always seem to do it to the wrong updates. I however also understand that the developers have been working on this three years so are very exited to finally show what they are working on. This seems to clash with how much they are allowed to show and what we expect the to show.

Your reasoning about to giving us sneakpeaks first and give us the big in depth blogposts at a later time sounds interesting and makes sense.

I have a criticism about the PoI show in general, especially as we are heading into more episodes focusing on specific aspects of Heart of Thorns. As I read the forums and Reddit responses to these episodes, I am seeing people complaining about not enough information being provided, or about how certain things aren’t being covered despite the description adequately covering what will be shown.

One constant argument I have heard people make is that they need to show the UI for masteries. While I would like to see that myself, the presenters did talk about the mastery tree and how it worked. This is the problem which PoI is actually facing right now for many viewers.

The problem I see is the appealing to the ways in which people absorb information. In Education circles, we refer to this as the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences). The basic idea is that people learn in different ways. Some need visual aids, others can just listen to things and pick up all they need, while others need to actually do it, etc. I feel that there are aspects of the PoI show, especially during the segments on HoT that does not appeal to the way people absorb information adequately and this is the source of the criticisms.

Take the segment about the coloring book as an example of what went really well. During that segment, there were visual examples, stories told of the coloring book and there was a flow which made things informative.

Compare that segment with the segment on the flying mastery. During that particular segment, there was significantly less flow. For those who were listening, you heard about the full mastery line and about several other masteries as well. For the visual learners, the saw a dev driving a character off a cliff multiple times. This is why people have complained about lack of information on the mastery system, in my opinion. What might be advantageous to those visual learners is to either prepare a graphic about the glider mastery (either showing the line, or demonstrating the different aspects of the line). The entire UI does not need to be presented to give the player the idea of the mastery track. I am not saying that the same amount of work/detail needs to be put in as was done with the class videos prior to the launch of GW2, but even powerpoint-level presentation of the line would be nice for the visual learners.

These criticisms being said, I do greatly enjoy watching these livestreams and look forward to seeing more in the future! I hope that these criticisms are considered, though, in the future as new information is presented to us.

Magoslich.6857:

KyreneZA.8617:

Can we get a new host to POI yet? Someone like Josh or Hugh who are actually comfortable in front of the camera? Is there really nobody better at this than Rubi (who looks like a nice person but is really ill suited to the job)?

Please!?!

I’m really going to have to disagree with you here. I think Rubi is a fantastic host for the type of show that PoI seems to be. Its not a formal feature discussion show. Its a pve oriented informal show that highlights community things as well as whats going on in the game. Could be wrong, but thats the style that seems to be how they are proceeding. And for that, Rubi is doing a great job.

I think you misunderstood (or assumed reasons on my behalf) my reason for the criticism. I’m not saying she’s not trying to do a good job, or indeed that the format of the PoI episodes is wrong or anything like that. I’m saying she’s not very good at being a presenter of a “televised” show. She seems constantly nervous or ill at ease, and her enthusiasm for each segment therefore comes across as forced, or false, or fake. Compare that to a presenter like Josh, where while I personally despise PvP, always manages to make me believe exciting things are happening around balance and eSports and such in the Ready Up episodes.

Anyway, we are both entitled to our opinions, I suppose. Just thought I’d clarify.

Kate was really great and seemed very relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera.

If I were to give any constructive feedback to any of the Twitch LiveStream presenters and/or guests, it would be to look into the camera more often. No one seems to spend much time doing that (they often seem to be looking at something just right of camera, a lot). It would help connect the viewers with those on-camera.

Otherwise, I enjoy both shows very much. =)

I think Rubi looks tremendously relaxed, in a bouncy energetic way. The last PoI her two guests, in contrast, looked stiff and nervous, not that I blame them, one doesn’t generally go into video game design expecting to do a lot of public speaking. Some of that is me projecting, because I know how cameras affect me. Still, Rubi doesn’t stammer or hunch up, she keeps a flow of chatter going so there are no awkward silences, she doesn’t keep repeating herself or using odd stall phrases (Mike O’B’s constant almost diabolical “yeeeesssss” had me grimacing a bit at the PAX livestream, though he was otherwise doing great). She shows genuine enthusiasm and perfect control over what she says, as it’s clear that despite her efforts to avoid personal spoilers she still does know more than we’re allowed to.

I do feel the PoIs could present a bit more meaty info. ESO Live is a good example of giving solid looks at upcoming features and gameplay, with hosts no more slick than what ANet offers. I’m glad PoIs aren’t slick, though. Slick salesmanship is a fast way to drive me away from a product. Give me real people talking about something they love any day.

Donari.5237:

I do feel the PoIs could present a bit more meaty info. ESO Live is a good example of giving solid looks at upcoming features and gameplay,

see, i think that’s the problem. people don’t “get” what PoI is about. it’s not an informative show, it’s a community show. it shows community projects and some behind-the-scenes stuff of already-released projects (usually living story chapters). since there are no LS chapters in the near future, but lots of expansion talk, the show’s been repurposed to give a more visual demonstration of the already published blog posts. there won’t be any extra info in them, you’ll just get to see what was talked about (and nothing more) in-game, with dev commentary over it.