Guild Wars 2

Changa Zarkourian

It started with my usual glossolalic namemaking, but after I read a little about Kourna, I adjusted his name to include an echo of that for some RP integration with the world.

Later in the game I made a point of visiting the Ossan Quarter in Div Reach and decided to use that strong blue you see on some of the dwellings there in Changa’s outfit.

“By the banks of the Elon I lay down my lute and wept.”

Toranga – Juvie Jungle Stalker

Just created my first ranger today and have had so many laughs about the behavior of my fine cat companion, e.g., the time I stopped at the fishmonger and my cat had his face buried in one of the boxes of fish on ice.

Thanks again for all your replies. It was great just to learn that you can try it out without committing to it or expending it. Until I learned that I was afraid of accidentally clicking on it in my inventory.

I did give it a try a couple nights ago and now I think I want to take a character or two up to their first specialization the normal way so I can get a better feel of how that aspect of the game works (I only started playing a couple months ago).

Thank you all for your replies!

I think the races are already meaningful, albeit in ways not related to combat stats.

A free level 80 boost came with the purchase of Heart of Thrones.

I have a couple of characters that I’m more invested in and would rather level them up naturally.

I have one or two others that are cool enough to play, but I don’t play them often. I’m thinking of giving the level 80 boost to one of them.

Is that a typical approach among other GW2 players?

Thanks!

Can we have jumping spiders as pets or companions? I think that would be nice.

Hurrah! I found this thread again in my Chrome history. I have been bursting to say something in appreciation of GW2 ever since I started playing the demo at the end of July. And there are so many things to appreciate!

When setting up my first couple of characters I was moved by the poetry in the process, even to misty eyes in one case.

The painterliness of the preludes and interludes.

The variety of settings, the attention to detail and decorations, the buildings, the terrain, the fields and forests*, the flowers and grasses, the backstories, the open-endedness.

[*and yes, I was thinking of “Watching and Waiting” by The Moody Blues when I wrote “fields and forests”]

All the critters and how they move! Last night I saw an eagle glide to a landing and fold its wings — awesome! The water and the ability to swim on and in it!

There’s also something about the ethical ambiance and options that I can’t quite put into words, but which I have noticed and appreciate.

It’s nice to be able to venture into multi-player events without formally joining a party. I’m by temperament a little skittish about the social aspects, but am getting into the shallow end a little.

My only other experience with an MMO was playing SWTOR for a few months last year. (I wasn’t much of a video game player before that.) It was by searching for SWTOR alternatives recently that I found out about GW2 — and I’m glad I did!

Within only a few days of playing the demo I was convinced to pay for the full GW2 HoT game, directly from ArenaNet.

Thank you, everyone involved in making this! It’s obvious that a lot of love has gone into GW2.

And thank you fellow players, for participating and keeping this beautiful world lively. May the Mists catch you gently when you perish, and cough you back up if it’s not your time to go.

As an NPC sitting under a tree with his dog once said in the full blossom of a peaceful evening, “I like it here.”

Try looking for “Maximum Processor State” in Windows’ Advanced Power Settings. If it’s set at 100%, try setting it to 99%. [Not sure, but I think “100%” gives Windows permission to “turbo-boost”, i.e. overclock, your processor.]

In GW2, also try turning Reflections and Distance Blur off, which I think are more CPU- intensive, if I recall [sorry for the iffiness and vaguery! hoping the forum’s tech boffins will clarify and correct].

I only have an FX-4100 which started overheating after I upgraded my video card to a GTX 750 ti, but doing the above allows me to have most GW2 graphics settings on high and still get around 60 fps most of the time, dropping to 35 or 40 at worst, with my CPU temp staying safely between 50 and 55C.

Do you have a discrete graphics card, i.e., not just the video chip on the motherboard? That would have an effect on the more GPU-intensive options.

Hoping this helps!

Hello! I’m someone who only discovered GW2 within the past couple of weeks when searching for “SWTOR alternatives”. If there had not been a free-to-play option, I probably would not have explored GW2 for a few days before purchasing out of appreciation for its many beauties, even though I had missed the deadline for the HoT release discount.