Guild Wars 2

AllNightPlayer.1286:

They definitely changed it. The bracelets always vanished, if you stowed your weapons.
This changed makes me rage. I already disliked the arm effects on Revenants and always wished, they would change it, so the effects would disappear, if the weapons are stowed. Now, they did it the other way round. If I would love my character to bling bling, I would build legandary weapons and armours.
Please, change it back. And while you are at it, change Revenants, too.

True. That’s really sad. Both elemental bonds and revenant ‘hand auras’ are annoying as hell, especially on smaller characters.

I now doubt more and more if buying an expac would be a good idea.

I don’t like that change at all.

And I really hope it’s unintended.

Yes, change it to male varitant. Be consistent. That’s what professionals do.

And please consider fixing it to be as compatible as possible with older armor so there are no missing/invisible body parts when we mix and match.

nottsgman.8206:

does it only happen in the make over interface?

It happens everywhere. Character select, in-game and makeover kits.

Also, same happens with sylvari males.

Stumbled upon this just now.

Same problem with every other light hood with these red stripes and skin visuals.

Edit: happens everywhere, not only in makeover kit interface.

Logged in just to say that I like skyhammer as it is. That being said, there is something to be improved.

I see the problem others have with this map being the fact that falling into holoplatform pits means instant death, that jumppads are a bit unreliable, and that this map’s gimmick, the skyhammer cannon, isn’t very helpfull, compared to other maps’ objectives. If there is a possibility for a good change, then the cannon should be contestable in certain periods of the match and the impact it does should be greater.

CrazyEyeDon.2649:

lordkrall.7241:

CrazyEyeDon.2649:

NO….no we are not……

we all PAYED money for the right to play this game.This event makes the game unplayable for me

it was funny for 5 min but I am not a child.After 5 min it got annoying.
They need to have the abilty to turn it off. it is that simple

Nowhere in the “contract” you signed did it ever say that you would be able to play 100% of the time.

And no, it does not make the game unplayable.
You might not WANT to play it, but it is still fully possible to do it.

oka go to McDonalds and get a burger you payed for with silly putty on it instead of …what they call meat. you bring it to the counter and they say april fools…….and then don’t give you your burger you payed for……you would not stand for it. same aplys here

You compare media to food, brilliant. I will screencap this.

One year later, the history repeats itself. Boy, do I love this day for these rage comments.

True, turning off the postpocessing solves it. Doesn’t make it less relevant, though.

And other things. Just imagine it in pvp. Hopefully it’s not widespread and will be fixed soon.

Conncept.7638:

At least that one has animations, there are still hairstyles from the latest batch added to the game that do not have any animations at all.

I’d rather have no animation than this. Hence the desire to have an option or a fix.

Hazelaar.5720:

As a newer player, I’ve found it very enjoyable and reasonably usable (a couple things could be explained a little better in-game, but it’s nothing insurmountable).

I don’t know what weird games you’re playing that give you all the abilities and access to all areas right from the start.

You find it fine because you haven’t got anything to compare it to. Original system allowed you to learn weapons skills by actually using weapon, not by leveling, for example. Every 1-15 zone and early experience in general was dumbed down. A lot of things, like golem mini-game in Metrica province, was cut out. You can no longer feed cows in Queensdale with a cow food you need to pick up (teaching new players to use bundles!) and instead you “entertain” them somehow. And so on and so forth. The list is huge, but let’s stop there.

daimasei.4091:

I reported a clipping issue with my character’s hair like 2 years ago. They never fixed it so don’t hold your breath (I’ve been using low animation ever since.)

Unfortunately, things like this are in the “idon’tgiveakitten” tier on their list of priorities.

Clipping with a hair is a different story. Unless you will add to my gallery and prove it’s something that I couldn’t think of.

Frankly, I don’t get why certain spell animations (gunshots, as prime example), hair simulation and certain asura gates animation complexity (some remain on “high” quality no matter what) are controlled by single option. I sincerely believe it could be separated without losing resources to the point where it’s not worth it. QoL changes are always welcome.

I have no idea why they are not permanently in gem shop in the first place, alongside other pretty neat looking skins. Oh, wait, yes. Profits.

Note: I didn’t find any suggestions for my issue on the web, so my last resort to find it here and bring any attention to it in hope that Arena.net will one day will press their favourite “fix it!” button. This might be wrong subforum to post this, but still.

As seen on the attached pic, some hairstyles go nuts when paired with medium and high animation setting. But I wouldn’t like to sacrifice Asura gates animation (SOME Asura gates, which is most irritating) to avoid this madness.

I might devote my entire life gathering gallery of all broken hairstyles and pray to Colin Sohandsome for inevitable fix. Or a separate option for hair simulation. You know, expansion, new options, that kind of thing.

Don’t need it, don’t like it.

Housing in general is a nail into the coffin, like it was with Wildstar. After all, the whole point of MMORPG is player interaction, not sitting in your instanced “home”. Plus we already have home areas in main cities, which could be visited for certain things you get for getting achievements/buying with laurels/gems/name it, that are not required in any way, which is okay by me.

Wolfe.9850:

Honestly, and I know a few people won’t agree with me, I’d kinda like to see the current Cultural Armors not restricted to that race. There’s some parts from Human, Norn, and Asura heavy that I’d love to see on my Charr and visa-versa.

I can’t help but disagree. The whole point is in the fact that it’s exclusive. How can charr wear a tiny asuran boot with three holes made for toes?

Electro.4173:

Aethelbert.1497:

maybe as a gold sink (again)

Oh my god I can’t even imagine how expensive T4 cultural armor would be if they actually increased the price comparatively. 500g? A thousand? Please no.

150-200 gold for full set would be okay, in my opinion. Optimal, I would say.
And of course prices for t3 should be reduced. Jump from 7 gold for full of set of t2 to 110 (somewhere around that number) for t3 is insane, especially for a rare quality gear set.

It would be nice to have new cultural armor. The shots with NPCs Baktwerel attached to the post are not necessarly what I believe people desire: these are town clothes of the sort, after all. But new designs would always be a welcome addition, considering how few there acrually are. It would be a logical step forward to introduce tier 4 cultural armor, maybe as a gold sink (again) or as a reward for something else.

But of course it will hardly be implemented. There are ton of new visual styles that could be used for armors with comeback of Mursaat and introduction of new friendly races. And, of course some obligatory barky jungle-themed armor.

Lilyandra.1465:

As far as cold or hot, it’s probably close to that of a humans levels. Normal plants wilt when it’s too hot, or freeze/die when it’s too cold, so I wouldn’t expect Sylvari to act differently. On the wiki it says that a sylvari in the grove complains that Hoelbrak is too cold.

According to Explorer Syllia in Snowden Drifts, Sylvari are not affected by cold.

So, it probably means that Sylvari experience cold in some other way, or affected by it less than, say, humans, yet they feel it and may form an opinion on it, like it or dislike it.

Twonineone.3490:

Pandaman.4758:

Only problem is that instances load the current map instead of the time-appropriate map. It was weird when Destiny’s Edge met up in toxin-and-Aetherblade-filled LA during Scarlet’s attack, think about how weird it would be to go through the last arc of the personal story with people going on about how everything is corrupted and needs to be restored… when everything is already restored.

ANet really needs to make the personal story load its own maps instead of whatever is currently live.

The problem is that even the Revenant class will start in the same “old” way, there will be always people that need to see Orr infected and people that want to see Orr cured. So yes, ANet neet to create a new map to load just for people that already ended their PS

And what do you propose they do there, exactly? These players, I mean. There is a plenty of content in the current state of Orr. If it is removed completely, there must be other means to aquire rewards for priest events and so on. Even in current state of the game, it sometimes hard to find people to do Balthazar priest. Will it become harder if there will be two “states” of Orr? Maybe. So, as a developer, you need to fill it with content, which is very time-consuming to create. I would rather have more areas in Maguuma and Magus Falls than revamped Orr that I will visit once in a new moon. Unless they will make it relevant and make phasing a thing.

Myxam.2790:

As a Sylvari Player… No. Are you out of your kittening mind? How about we leave the mature content out a game that’s accessable to children, we already have enough of them running around screaming about murdering people over their skin color and sexual preferences (ala COD and DayZ).

And it was a Gods kitten ed bad idea to give into the Sylvari are Dragonspawn Theory because now you’re just going to see more of this crap in chat about how “Sylvari are less than people.”

If this is the friendliest community in gaming, then it really paints a bad picture.

#dragon_minions_are_people_too
#stop_destroyer_genocide
#check your spinach
#risen_have_spillings
#swag_on_dragonbrand

Also, on an unrelated note, Sylvari were always dragon minions, like it or not. Denial won’t help.

Girion.5483:

Valento.9852:

If these seeds come from Mordremoth (which is likely),[…]

That’s just speculation. We don’t know where the seeds come from.
What we do know, however, is that Ronan stumbled across them by accident und planted one of them without even knowing what would come of it. Ventari didn’t know either and most certainly Mordremoth didn’t have any influence on whether and where this seed would be planted. Mordremoth can turn and use Sylvari, yes, just like Zhaitan can turn and use members of the other 4 races, but that doesn’t mean that Sylvari were meant to be dragon minions all along. The only thing that hints in this direction is Wynne’s dream prior to her awakening and it’s not like dreams couldn’t be misinterpreted. You could also say, that she dreamt of the Sylvari being vulnerable to Mordremoth. Small difference, big effect.

Directly from 8th episode.

Wynne: I can’t tell her what she’s asking for, Caithe. You’ve seen what Faolain’s capable of. She massacred those centaurs.
Caithe: They attacked first. She had to defend herself.
Wynne: She struck first. He was unarmed.
Caithe: I… I… No. I don’t think she’d…
Wynne: She’ll torture me until I tell my secret. That will be the end of our kind.
Caithe: The end of sylvari? What do you mean?
Wynne: We come from the jungle dragon. We belong to it. We’re meant to serve it.
Caithe: You’re lying!
Wynne: I saw it in my Dream. And if Faolain knew, she wouldn’t keep it a secret.
Wynne: She’d use it against Mother. When word got out, the world would see us as monsters.

Living world: Point of Unending Cringe: Edgy Edition: Teenager Fanfiction Quotes.

PsiQss.6927:

You selfish racist fool..

Don’t you really see it? If you wouldn’t have been treating us like this from the beginning, most of us would not be so susceptible to dragon’s influence. And now that we are trying to resist its power, now that we have to face such a burden, struggle to change our destiny.. Now you turn your back on us? After all we’ve done to help save this world? YOUR world?

Fine. But know that we’re not your enemy. And we shall keep trying to restore balance, with your help or not. Before you raise your sword, make sure it doesn’t fall on you.

Roleplayer in a nutshell.

Casuals these days…
I liked the fight. It was challenging, but to an extent. Nothing trully hardcore, but still very much engaging and interesting. Only thing that I would change is how small the number of follower quotes there are. “HEY BAWWS!”.

Ronnie Hu.1694:

We, Sylvaries will conquer tyria now.

Start with learning the plural version of word Sylvari.
Hint: same as the singular.

Candy.6835:

Seriously stop it. I’m tired of having only male options. If you’re going to Unisex EVERYTHING for charr and asura then at least unisex the female version. I’m TIRED of only having the male options (for major example is the Carapace outfit, I LOVE the butterflies for shoulder armor BUT because I’m an asura I only get male stuff.

If Asura/charr don’t care what type of armor they’re wearing then Unisex the female version too (or Choose the female version instead of the male to move over). I’m tired of pants or pant/skirts. I want dresses and other lovely things.

If them being male/female DIDN’T matter their swimsuits/undergarments would not be covering what they do on the females so give us options.

I’m just getting really tired of this. You know how many actual dresses Asura have options to? Like 3 for armor skins.

3.

Out of HOW MANY armor skins? It’s seriously lacking.

Charr are militaristic felines with but war on their minds. Asura are subterranian nerds with over the top egoism and childishly egocentristic, and more than sometimes have mean attitude towards other races. They are not cute. Not supposed to be cute. Even if, to an extent. Is Oola or Gadd cute? Or, perhaps, Pyre Fierceshot? Or, if we take most recent characters, Rytlock? Or any female charr NPC found in the game, are they anywhere cute, in general, most common meaning? Also, gender dimorphism is almost non-existant for at least charr according to lore. And as it seems, cultural traditions of asura doesn’t imply they have very different clothes for different genders. The different underwear these races use is different, most likely, for one simple reason: to avoid controversy. We have several standards and we base everything on human culture, simply because there is nothing else we seen. In terms of creating the fictional cultures, we can’t create something entirely new, but we can combine all we’ve experienced throughout history. Some things are strictly taboo, and staying within norms set by human culture is the best way to bring franchise to broader audiences.

So, no. It’s too late to change it, and it’s common sense. It’s just your taste that is factor here. They will never change it, my bet.

Bordak.6519:

Kuldebar.1897:

Bordak.6519:

“The thing is, there is no good or evil……”

lol. lolololollollol. mwhahhahahahhahaaahaa. BAHAHAHHAHHAA.

I shouldn’t laugh as it’s kind of sad. To each their own.

It’s rather empowering, isn’t it though?

The shackles of all sentient action being struck off by such a liberating philosophy!

See, son, there’s not really good or evil, it’s just a preference thing; one man’s evil is another man’s ice cream and cake.

I made a mistake by posting my laugh. In response to:

“The thing is, there is no good or evil……”

I should have simply said this:

You are wrong.

NO YOU. And et cetera.

Actually, there is no good, nor there is evil. If it was that simple as you think, we could have avoided many destructive episodes of human history. But truth is, everything is in the eye of the beholder, as said. I doubt if there is a sane person that trully thinks of himself or herself as a bad. Every and each thinks, be their actions considered “bad”, that their actions are justified and for the obscure “good”. That being said, your first reaction shows how sophisticated you are and my whole post becomes pointless. But that is only my opinion. Dem opinions.

Anyandrell.6238:

I think in all this debate, people actually forgot the scope of the whole journey. We are to figure out where Caithe went with the egg, and why. That is the reason why we are going through all those memories.

The story is poorly written not because of the syrupy love dialogues – because, after all, we’re dealing with Sylvari, they ARE all lovey-dovey – but because it contradicts so much of the lore and history to date.

Let’s see the “sins”:

1. In this memory it’s not Rhiannoc who died first, like the PS (and the wiki itself) describes. But other 3 first born and Rhiannoc is getting ready to go on his journey.

2. The Asura, after capturing and torturing Malomedies, realize he is a sentient being and release him and apologize; then they turn around and capture more sylvari for their experiments? Also, Sylvari powering up golems?

3. The second born only now are awakening, and haven’t really gone beyond “Mother’s roots”, the first ones doing so are kidnapped by the Asura. Neveretheless, Faolain comes to the Silverwastes with a full platoon of assorted Sylvari fighters. Who are they and where did they come from? The answer some people gave me was “oh it’s been a while so they had time to get all trained and stuff”. Doesn’t seem at all like “it’s been a while” at least not long enough.

Feel free to add.

IRRC, Golems tied heavily with necromancy. Souls can be bound to golems and et cetera. Powering up golem with a living being’s life force or magic, if Sylvari are, say, contain much magic, it makes some sense to me.

Different asura, different ethics. How fast does information spread? Can we 100% be sure that by that point everyone knew about Pale Tree and Sylvari?

Sylvari are born with some knowledge and skills that they gain through the Dream. It’s not like it takes a century to gear them up. Also, it takes time to get from Pale Tree to Metrica Province and back. And then to Silverwastes. There is definetely some period of time that is between these points.

skullmount.1758:

Well here’s the teaser image from todays POI. Can’t remember exactly what Faolin looked like, but it might be her on the right, with Caithe being on the left.
i.imgur.com/Wmnj26Q.jpg

I bet it is some kind of vision from the past. To me, it is obviously Caithe and Faolain on the picture, but their outfits look kinda different, more subtle. The picture has some blurry filter applied to it, which adds to a “vision” thing. A-a-and I just realized that I repeat a post above. Though I must add that during one of the asura storylines you encounter a sylvari “test subject” or simply a slave to some Inquest goon in that exact spot, in that exact cage behind the golem.

Mitch.4781:

Or to be hoenst, make up any old crap…I mean how different is a death knight in wow from Warrior…its another take on melee.

The chronomancer idea was good..But it seems pretty clear that a new class would be heavy and have some sort of casting ability. A modernised version of the ritualist or some kind of Shaman would fill that role.

Death Knight is very different, actually. A hybrind between ranged spellcaster (with a side note that he doesn’t cast any of his magical ranged abilities – they are all instant) and a melee damagedealer with/without pets or a tank with vampiric powers. But wait, you must be professional game designer, what am I saying. Pardon my manners, sir.

Heavy armor? How comes it’s pretty clear? The fact that there is three light, three medim and two heavy classes doesn’t say anything aside from their numbers. Must I remind you that engineer was originally planned as a heavy class? I’d say it can be anything.

Underdark.3726:

you practically copied my dialogue so or: a) you didn’t read what I wrote or b) you irony is flawed.
peace.

If your sense of irony is flawless, then it must be your taste, for which I can not judge you. But it makes me wonder what makes you think that this kind of pointless dialogue bit is essential and, most importantly, a good thing to do.

Underdark.3726:

Aethelbert.1497:

Is THAT what you want?

If you have read my posts then you know the answer.

Well, I can’t judge people for their taste, nor for inability to understand irony.

Underdark.3726:

We could get an mail from someone on how the search is going on, if there is actually a search. We have a bond with Rytlock, he thinks of us highly so someone could have send us a note on that. There are blood legions charr in camp Resolve who could have some ambient conversation in the instance.
“Did you heard anything new about our tribune?”
“The last thing I heard was that they were doing some research in the old Ascalon catacombs about the foefire, but they didn’t find anything useful.”
That for me would have been enough.
But, my initial post was not only about Rytlock, he was only an example.
How many time has passed since the attack on the grove? Do we have any information on the health of the Pale Tree? Was the dream damaged? Are the new born sylvari “damaged good”?
They can always find and/or create an opportunity for giving us hints. Just one line of conversation for me should be enough (if done properly )

What kind of search, if nobody has a single clue about where he might be?
“Oh, hello there, writing you just to inform you, we are looking for a single needle in an endless number of haystacks. Not much progress, but we are working on it”. Is THAT what you want? On a side note, it was mentioned already by Rox.

Regarding Pale Tree, we had enough of it in chapter 4, and we are no longer in the Grove. It’s steampunky fantasy world, not high-tech cyberpunk, information spreads on a less lower rate even than in our real life. And Trahearne actually touches on that topic specifically.

So far, everything comes back into picture when it’s actually relevant, if we talk about season 2. If it wasn’t mentioned, it’s most likely because it will be mentioned when the time comes.

“That’s what fuels my strength. Let it also fuel yours. We’ll be victorious.”

Oh boy, how did I miss the cheesiest line of the season 2? That’s an award winner.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Mesmers get a unique line with Braham about the Mesmer Collective that Kasmeer’s a member of, but the PC isn’t.

I think my sylvari got a few unique lines.

I’d be shocked if Doern didn’t give Whisper members unique lines.

The wiki is missing a lot of dialogue – about all that isn’t tied to progressing the story. Which is rather usual when it comes to story steps.

I have a single character I play with, atm, and it’s an engineer, so I mostly have the info I gathered myself or on the internet, and you’re first to mention that mesmers have some unique lines. That’s a good sign, I guess.

Underdark.3726:

Rox doesn’t have any interest to talk about Rytlock? Oh, my (supposed) brother fell in a hole. Hope he sends a postcard.
the PC (especially if is charr blood legion) have no interest in speaking of him?
As far as i see we tend to “forget” part of stories “until the right time comes”.

Two major points, I noticed a few posts ago.
There is no real reason to mention it. Also, Charr prefer acting to speaking, and they can’t do anything about Rytlock’s disappearance. It seems you don’t realize that their psychology and behaviour patterns are very different from humans’. That may be a poor excuse, yet there is no real opportunity to talk about Rytlock, for kitten sake. There was no situation as of now, where this discussion (between whom, actually?) would fit anywhere. Braham and Rox could discuss it, during some mission that doesn’t invole fighting, say, like the one we had in the beginning of the season, in Scarlet’s lockout in Dry Top. They could mention it, for example, in background, while player character is reading something, for example, or when everything is done and they are left to themselves. But there, as far as I remember, was no such opportunity.

Second point, whish was mentioned, is unified dialogue, and this is an issue, indeed. That would make sense if you are Blood Legion and Rox may mention it during dialogue, totally agree, but so far we only had unique lines while interacting with something for engineer profession. Sigh.

Underdark.3726:

My only criticism is that I never feel like the episodes are connected. Not one episode started where the first one ended. For example: last episode ended with the Pale Tree badly injured and in this episode there is barely any info on that. We don’t know if she is doing better, or is she still in the state we left her. When Rytlock jumped in the hole, the next episode started with some treachery in DR with no mention about Rytlock. Tho hole episode nobody said anything about him. A member of Destiny’s edge, a tribune of the Blood legion goes missing and nobody talks about it?
Connect more the episodes, don’t just throw new questions and mysteries with no further hints, speculations, even gossip (what’s happening to Minister Estelle?).

How comes that an issue? Even with Rytlock missing, you think any characters outside of Black Citadel would be interested in his whereabouts? Hardly. That’s how most series of that kind work to keep the interest: raise more and more questions, slowly solving the puzzle. To hear or read these things you want, you need a reason to hear them or stubled upon them – to be in particular place and particular time that is relevant to the storytelling. Story must progress, it shouldn’t start the same place it ended, taken in account that supposedly there is some time between those episodes, both real-time and game-time, technically speaking. If story takes place in, say, Black Citadel, there is a reason to talk about Rytlocks disappearance, as a, say, random conversation between blood legion soldiers. Otherwise, there is no reason to mention it, untill the right time comes.

Not making any conclusions yet, but some interesting points, for me, at least:

Master of Peace headed somewhere safe with the Glint’s egg.

That “somewhere safe” is in the direction of Maguuma.

The Mursaat, which we last saw in Maguuma is only known race to hide even from Elder Dragons themselves. They are tottaly know much about safety.

Oh, and don’t forget the Bloodstone. High concentration of magic. Dragons feed on magic, grow in power with it.

So, the puzzle is starting to get together.

Welcome, Leah, hope you enjoy your work at Arena.net. And am really glad that you actually read what playerbase has to say. Not that devs should always listen to us, but still.

I couldn’t read through all the thread, but suggestion and thoughts I have read, I mostly find agreable or understandable, unless it’s a Trahearne hate-train. The direction of the story is more than acceptable, it’s enjoyable most times, but the writing and the means of expression could be improved here and there. Little annoyances like “unified” dialogue for whatever race you are playing, completely disregarded personality choise during the character creation (charm, dignity and ferocity) result in a bad experience, I’d make an assumption, for players like me, who actually pay attention to the dialogues, be they written or voiceover. And, as said, any character you play as and experience living world chapters with sounds like a girly human, be it arrogant asura or brutal charr. I am sure there is no tech difficulty in creating some unique lines and reactions for each race and/or personality, taken in account there are not so many.

Also, I am tired of repeating this whenever I discuss GW2’s writing, it’s kinda wierd feel that random NPCs added with each living world chapter have more depth than biconics, with their broken leg dramas, out of place flirting and et cetera. I believe, subtle is a friend of good, but what we experienced in season 1 and the beginning of season 2 is downright terrible, in my humble opinion, and far from subtle. The only character among biconics I never had problems with and never wondered “what the heck is (s)he talking about, who wrote this line?!” is Tiami.

As someone said before me, GW2 still needs more cowbell.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Aethelbert.1497:

Torsailr.8456:

Aethelbert.1497:

In terms of writing quality there is no such thing as “point of view”.

Um…what? Writing quality is not a 100% objective assessment, it is always influenced by your point of view. If you think something is good or bad, that is your point of view and not a universal fact.

Nothing is an objective assessment, unless it’s a science. Nonetheless, there are bad, unmemorable writers who made little to no impact on human cultere (if not damage), as well as examples of genius, forever to be remembered. Dare I ask you why?

I’ve read some masterpieces of literature in college, and I thought them to be dreadfully boring and horribly written. And yet there are people who love non-masterpieces that are horribly written (case in point: Twilight).

Whether one likes or dislikes a story, writing style, narrative, etc. is fully subjective. It’s a preference. Masterpieces of literature are merely pieces of literature which has had a majority of liking over disliking in a long enough time period that they survived the annals of time.

This being said, I find the problems with Guild Wars 2 currently being three-fold:

1. Writing.
2. Scheduling.
3. Economy.

This is ignoring the issues of things like unfixed exploits and design flaws (stacking, running past mobs in dungeons, zerker being exponentially overpowering), of course. The artistry – with some rare exception (Dry Top loading screen) are superb. The animations are fantastic. The music is glorious. The voice acting is… hit or miss, really, and the miss times tend to be an issue of writing.

I just cannot agree with the “biweekly releases for two/three months then break for two months” schedule we’ve been seeing. I’d rather have expansions that wouldn’t have middle-of-the-storyline breaks. I cannot agree with the continuous cases of “in hindsight, we could have worded that better” that I’m constantly seeing with the writing and the “apparent but not actually” contradictory lore that we’ve been seeing since Scarlet Briar’s reveal. And I certainly am finding it hard to agree with the apparent cases of ArenaNet’s management desiring “fast bucks over a long-lasting game” (the opinion I’ve formed from seeing many things in Anet’s economical decisions).

ArenaNet has made some great improvements with Season 2, but the writing is not one of them. The only improvement the writing has gotten, is open world dialogue and delivery.

Wait. Preferances aside, masterpieces of literature aren’t praised for their narrative, nor are they liked by the majority. They majority haven’t read these masterpieces.
It is much more complicated than one short sentence.

Other than that, agree with you.

Fluffball.8307:

The hole takes it to an entirely new level. It’s not buggy, its just a player sized hole directly next to the crystal. Anet was 100% aware of it; it’s impossible they put a player sized hole in plain view and weren’t aware you had to exit the game in order to get out.

They sometimes will do this with hidden falls, and it’s like ‘haha now you have to WP to get back because we threw you down a hole,’ but in this case you have to actually quit the game to continue.

It seems you know too little about how geodata and pathing works.

Crimsonjr.4708:

Also to top it off. Rytlock has gone looking for his Sword (I am hoping the Mists). What is the chances of him seeing Belinda there and trying to return her? As you can see her stood on top of the wall at Fort Salma, looking over at the Player.

Really? No, really?

Torsailr.8456:

Aethelbert.1497:

In terms of writing quality there is no such thing as “point of view”.

Um…what? Writing quality is not a 100% objective assessment, it is always influenced by your point of view. If you think something is good or bad, that is your point of view and not a universal fact.

Nothing is an objective assessment, unless it’s a science. Nonetheless, there are bad, unmemorable writers who made little to no impact on human cultere (if not damage), as well as examples of genius, forever to be remembered. Dare I ask you why?

RedStar.4218:

Aethelbert.1497:

I’m starting to think that these praising comments are made by bribed people or something. That’s how unbelievable they sound.

Oh come on, not everyone shares the same point of view. Visually the game does look nice.

And if you don’t spend too much time on the forums, especially the lore section, you probably don’t experience the story the same way some of us does (as a checklist of our old complaints).

In terms of writing quality there is no such thing as “point of view”.

CureForLiving.5360:

Why do people visit graves?
You see you’re thinking too factually about this, the facts don’t matter when we’re dealing with living emotional beings who ascribe value and meaning to things which might not (if one views them factually) have value. Like putting a piece of rotting meat into the ground, putting a nice headstone on it, and then routinely visiting it.
Just because the pale trees avatar is only a illusion does mean that sylvari don’t think of it as being a thing, as being their mother.

Are you really asking me that question? Because I do not visit graves.
It’s not an argument anyway.

Bazzoong.7145:

Angel McCoy.1832:

Electro.4173:

I think she’s still just a manifestation. Her gasping and getting hurt represents the tree itself getting damaged.

This is true. The avatar is a visible representation of the Pale Tree that allows her to interact with her visitors and children. When she was injured, it was represented visibly by her avatar. In many ways, the avatar is her “face”. It’s not her entire body or being.

When sylvari run to the avatar, it’s because that’s their point of contact with the vast creature that is their Mother Tree.

Good thinking too, Electro, about the chamber being almost like the “heart” of the Pale Tree.

I hope you get to read this.

Personally I think the whole storytelling you have been doing is really nicely done, I really enjoy picking up pieces of a story here and there and gathering them to a large picture all the way speculating on the implications of the pieces.

The way the information is spread in visuals, sound and text is really nicely done, the games strong side is the artwork in narrative, visuals, sound and how that interacts with the actual gameplay and mechanics.

I really enjoy the art in this game, keep it up.

Omphalos means “naval” though if you take it literally but “heart” as the “centre of things” is close enough I guess.

I’m starting to think that these praising comments are made by bribed people or something. That’s how unbelievable they sound.

Ravenhunt.2735:

I felt so sad in this moment.

I m a Roleplayer, so i know about the story, that the avatar is a physical image of the spirit of the avatar, like the most players know.

But all in one, her cry let Meme (One of my “younger” sylvari PCs) run instantly to “her”, feared and worry about “her” mum, the pale tree.
And that the dragon attack the heart of her mum.

Then Meme fight against the biiiiig shadow like a little dervish to save her so beloved mum. ;_;

And yet the paly tree lies down… the entire tree hurt in pain and faded away.
Meme is now a sad young sylvari but she will fight Mordremoth with all her powers. \o/

She fight the dragon in mind to save her “mum”, the pale tree, so she can return to the tree in the future, see the pale tree in her full beatuy as before the fight.

(x___x i hope my english is understandable >_< )

Are you here to discredit dem roleplayers? Or is it some kind of super-thick trolling?

Angel McCoy.1832:

Electro.4173:

I think she’s still just a manifestation. Her gasping and getting hurt represents the tree itself getting damaged.

This is true. The avatar is a visible representation of the Pale Tree that allows her to interact with her visitors and children. When she was injured, it was represented visibly by her avatar. In many ways, the avatar is her “face”. It’s not her entire body or being.

When sylvari run to the avatar, it’s because that’s their point of contact with the vast creature that is their Mother Tree.

Good thinking too, Electro, about the chamber being almost like the “heart” of the Pale Tree.

That doesn’t really explain why are menders are trying to do something with this so-called manifestation. I am agree with Konig – there is no reason to rush towards the avatar since Sylvari could communicate with it without the avatar and ask her what help she needs and where. IIRC, she said her roots are torn up by Mordrem. Why not head there first?
On a side note, though. Why is it it’s heart? Because of Ventari Tablet? If so, that confirms it has some magical influence on Pale Tree. That rings a bell, actually.

Rhaegar.1203:

That started with Scarlet using “DR” [dee-ar] to refer to Divinity’s Reach.

Cringe-worthy.

My sides. I didn’t remember such a thing. Although come to think of it, I do remember someone reffering to Lion’s Arch as LA, yet I am not sure if it was a member of biconics.

My guess would be that Arena.Net still needs time to develop further chapters. I’d imagine that season 2 is complete and ready to air, although some necessary preparations are required, as well as development of the s3 and et.c. Or, a wild thought, of an expansion or bigger feature pack in future, with promised new weapon sets for every class and so on and so forth.

Now that I remember, another point that needs to improve in terms of writing.

During the last Bazaar of Four Winds there was a dialogue between Kasmeer and Marjory, in which Kasmeer says one particular thing that made me feel a bit strange about it.

The phrase was, IIRC, “… like good cop/bad cop”.

Does that word even exist in Tyria? It real life, it, as some say, has roots in American history, back in times when policemen were wearing a copper eight-pointed starts in New York city. But in Tyria there is no such thing or anything related to it. How did that line find it way in the game? I’d assume because someone’s too lazy to invent an original line instead of cliche, but that’s jsut my humble opinion.

So, the point number 6. Vocabulary that characters use in context should not consist of words that are non-existant or haven’t originated in this world. Can you imagine characters of Lord of the Rings having word “Iphone” in their lexicon? I can’t.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Aethelbert.1497:

And how does Trahearne know that this was a Shadow of the Dragon and why he calls it that way? He couldn’t know it’s name, nor does player character. It’s just a more or less inspired name to identify it out of game context. A game mechanic.

You fight Shadow of the Dragon in the starting instance of the sylvari PS. It’s called Shadow of the Dragon there. Provided everyone knows mostly everything among sylvari because they’re connected to the Pale Tree (except for the Soundless), no wonder we know the name.

Apart from that, agreed on most things.

Sigh. I do know what this dragon is. Every player is aware of this, I’d assume. Are you taking me for a kitten or something?

Who gave it that name? A developer, not player or some other characters. Ergo, it’s a mechanic.

And, most importantly. Must I remind you that Dream of Dreams is not a hivemind?

Dear Arena.Net, as a consumer, I want to improve this game, and here’s what I think is wrong and/or should be improved in future.

1. Do not disregard player character’s personality. It was already almost destroyed in personal story, with all lines feel like they are made exclusively for human characters and just applied to other races after you beat your 1-30 experience, and I can understand that, although with silent protagonist, which we have now, you can add the required variety in dialogue.

An example.
My asura character replies to Kasmeer in ep.4 something like “… that lie-detecting thing you do… wow.” I can imagine human or maybe sylvari saying such a thing, but not a brain on steroids that got the Snaff Savant prize. He just sounded like a half-witted skritt. I wonder who made that line.

2. Race of the character must be reflected in the dialogues. May sound related to my first point, yet it has it’s own spot here. Ep.4, during the summit my asura character talks to councillor Phlunt, and says “Are you? Like you were safe underground?”. Why is it “you”? Shouldn’t it be “We”?

Again, is that so hard to code? Somehow you do put some time and effort into engineer-exclusive lines/options, but disregard race choice completely.

3. Do not overdo so demanded “I want to be the center of the story!”
The fisrt part of the summit with you, the player, talking to the leaders was tedious and uninspired. Without voiceover it felt plain awkward, rushed and inessential. Why should we talk other this subject if it’s already a common knowledge – that Elder Dragons will consume everything if not stopped? The whole scene, as others mentioned, was structured like:

-Oh, we are <race x>, we have problem <y> and problem <z>, we can’t spare any more reinforcements to fight elder dragon!"
-But Elder Dragons are bad and will come for you!
-Oh, yeah, you are right, okay.
Repeat.

Was that really that important to the plot or were you just playing to playerbase’s demand to be more relevant to the story? I would be much more happy to hear Trahearne talking to the leaders and discussing the strategy, as he is the actual leader of the Pact, and inviting me during his speech to adress some topics, as we are more experienced with Mordrem, for example.

4. Innacuracy in everything. I understand that it’s very hard to make everything one hundred percent accurate to the lore, but. What is Pale Tree’s avatar? An etheral manifestation or a shining wooden body? Why the Shadow of the Dragon is trying to hit Omphalos chamber? Was it after the Avatar? After the player? Or the world leaders?

And how does Trahearne know that this was a Shadow of the Dragon and why he calls it that way? He couldn’t know it’s name, nor does player character. It’s just a more or less inspired name to identify it out of game context. A game mechanic. Can you imagine any of leading characters mentioning something like “champion destroyer troll” in context of the story? No. Same goes for Shadow of the Dragon. Kinda.

To be continued, I think.
No TL/DR, sorry. You are free to call it an opinion. You are not forced to agree with me.