Guild Wars 2

I’d like to add that I still can’t purchase gems using my credit card. I have tried using the direct method of using my credit card by actually inputting my CC information, and tried using PayPal.

The first attempt, it said “failed.” in a red box.

The second attempt with PayPal, it said “We are sorry. We are currently encountering a problem with our payment partner. Please try again later. Thank you.”

This is on the Windows client using Windows 8.1 64-bit.

Out of the 100+ tourney games I have been in, I just realized every game has always started from the very beginning. I’ve never been tossed into a game that is currently in progress.

I know this might seem kind of weird, but I think if someone has disconnected mid-game and hasn’t reconnected after about 30 seconds give-or-take, they should be replaced by the next person in queue. The DC’ed player may or may not get dishonorable conditions depending on the current situation of the match. I guess you would need some kind of funky algorithm to determine if the DC was in the form of a ragequit or just the odd case of having a crappy internet connection.

This would only apply to solo-arena. Team arena might have a different system in place.

I’m also aware that some people may not want to be tossed into a game that’s currently in progress, so this should just be an optional thing for those who don’t mind filling in those gaps.

Although, in most 4v5 cases, they’re usually found out about at the very beginning of the match. This really shouldn’t happen. Instead, if a person has disconnected after a short period of time, they should be removed from the queue and replaced by the next person in line long before the match has even started.

Otherwise, we just end up with queue-trolls— those who queue up, but then disconnect soon after as their non-existent self occupies the fifth spot.

I was reading the blog post regarding to upcoming changes to the grand scope of the PvP scene and I’m kind of curious out the achievements.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/player-vs-player-rewards-roadmap/

Achievements

Another thing to look forward to in the December 10th update will be new daily achievements for wins in Solo and Team Arenas. These will give players the chance to earn up to four additional total achievement points per day. Along with this change we will be rebalancing the Slayer and Conqueror. The points will be spread out more and additional tiers will be added.

I don’t mind additional achievement points I can get everyday (I love achievement-hunting), but my concern right now are the Champion title achievements (eg. Champion Legionnaire, Champion Genius, Champion Shadow, etc). I know it’s not specifically mentioned in that block quote, but I figured I’d bring it up since I’m currently trying to progress through my first Champion title myself. I’m about halfway there, but knowing my pacing and luck (especially when tossed in a 4v5 situation, which is another topic all together), I could see myself earning my first Champion title shortly after first anniversary of the Flame and Frost events; but that’s only assuming that the requirements to earn them don’t change (currently 150 tournament wins).

Anything I should be concerned about when it comes to the Champion titles? Would they still be earnable when ranks and glory go away within the next few releases?

The music is obviously different … but I do think it does seemed wedged into the scene instead of meshing well with the content. If anything, I would have expected a metal-style tune to be used for Charr or Asura-themed content. Though, it may be possible that the music itself could project a bit of Scarlet’s character and interests.

After playing Final Fantasy for years, I’ve learned and grown accustomed to drastic musical shifts in RPGs in general. I have basically expected just about any genre meshed in with every other genre in a RPG’s sound track.

Does it make sense? For me, it does … then again, I listen to everything and manage to find some sort of appreciation, big or small, in it.

Of course, now I have admitted to committing a “musical war crime” by finding appreciating certain musical undertones of Justin Beiber and Nickelback … but my likes aren’t binary. I still have the sorta-like and sorta-dislike in the spectrum of auditory tastelessness.

At the end of the day, musical taste all boils down to one thing: opinion. Some might find them bad while others might find my tastes interesting, but like everyone’s opinion, we all have different tastes.

With that said, I’m probably the same kind of nutjob judge that would rate competing bands 8 to 10 in a Battle of The Bands competition.

I think it’s somewhat interesting that humanoid mobs should have a down-state. It might an additional strategic element to completing an encounter.

It makes you ask a few questions. Should you:

• Finish them off with a stomp?
• Finish them off with more DPS?
• Poke them whenever you see them use their #4 ability, and possibly letting them die from bleeding?
• If it’s a Warrior, should you let them Vengeance?

For now, it looks like their #4 could only be interrupted by an actual interrupt skill instead of just poking them with an auto-attack, but the possibilities are there to make certain fights more interesting and less predictable.

At the same time, it might also be interesting if some mobs could also stomp you out if you go down. In a group setting, it might be wiser to use control abilities to prevent mobs from stomping your allies instead of rushing to res them back up. Other times, trying to get your downed teammates to rally could be a better solution.

Honestly, I’ve always wondered why mobs in the outside world (at least the named ones anyway) never had a downed-state to begin with. For certain champions and legendary monsters, it could make sense.

Imagine Tequatl having a down-state— you might need 20+ people to spam their PvP finishers until it officially dies.

I’m actually lead to believe that this could be the first PvE-only skill we would get and that this shouldn’t severely skew the WvW meta in a bizarre way.

GW1 has had its share of PvE-only non-seasonal abilities: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_PvE-only_skills … it would only make sense that GW2 could have some of those as well.

1- Guild Cohesion and Management — This could also include the Guild Mission and Multi-Guild Membership systems. Guild Missions could only go so far.

2- Revisiting “Temporary” Events — For those who have missed out due to real life or other things beyond their control, or those who happen to be new to the game.

3- Dungeons — Maybe it’s me, but it feels like the recent dungeon content has gotten better, especially with the new Aether path in TA. However, I do wonder what else is in store for the other dungeons. I suppose the concept of large-scale “Raids” could also be lumped into this subject.

For me, Temporary Content sort of works in a mentality that you play through it and then trade it in for something else at your local GameStop. I guess this works for some people— I know a friend that constantly blazes through as many achievements/trophies as possible and then trades that game in for another one.

Content-wise, if I’m getting this right, I understand that each Living Story release is suppose to feel like a bi-weekly episode of our favorite TV shows. It’s an interesting concept, but if that’s the case, then there should be a way to at least relive those events in some way. This would be akin to using a DVR to play back previously missed episodes. Or (if ArenaNet wants to capitalize on this) like buying a box-set of previous episodes on DVD or Blu-Ray. Of course the big difference is that most TV shows are static where the outcome is not reliant on user interaction (exceptions to certain reality and game shows), while video games react heavily to user input.

For new players, they could visit a Living Story Herald and get a recap of what has happened in the previous episodes, and maybe even short flashback scenes of what went down during those events. They could even get some, if not all, the achievements related to it. This would be similar to using the Scrying Pool in the Hall of Monuments in GW1.

The iffy part would be the Rewards. I think the time-exclusive rewards such as titles, minipets, and armor skins could stay exclusive to that point of time so that those items maintain their prestige for a given length of time. They could remain exclusive for X amount of years, then they could be earned again through other sensible means (as in: not on the TP for over 900 gold). For instance, many of the holiday hats in GW1 were originally only available for that specific year until recently when you would get a token as a quest reward that would allow you to purchase a holiday hat once available from previous years.

Personally, I play to be rewarded for the virtual heroic feats that I do, which for me is what I find “fun” which I guess is another one of those funky words that carries certain mutual exclusivities amongst certain activities in the game.

Back on track, Temporary Content can be interesting, but there needs to be a suitable balance between Temporary Content and Permanent Content. There should also be some way for new players to jump in and fit in with those who have been there since the beginning.

I’m with Josh here, but mostly for PvP— I too might play around with HGH.

For PvE, nothing much has changed from my usual build— my grenade-loaded hobosack is still here and I still throw electrical wooden frisbees instead of my Flameseeker. Same-old same-old.

If you’re trying to destroy a stack, you might also have to include the amount. See attached screenshot. I was able to destroy the Scarecrow finishers like that.

I think they sort-of fixed Berserkers already with Tequatl 2.0— this is a boss that is immune to crit damage. Therefore, Berserkers effectiveness in the front line is diminished because they can’t crit the boss. If zerkers are hell-bent in wanting to even damage Tequatl, they either need to adapt to his attacks, or just stick to the back and defend the turret users where it actually makes sense.

If anything, I’m lead to believe that we’ll get more encounters that may require different criteria to even damage the boss. Maybe we’ll need to maintain X amount of Might or Vulnerability stacks, or perhaps only use Condition damage, or what whatever (barring any technical limitations of course).

I find that I do best up front with the zerg while wearing PVT.

Healing bombs is quite nice in keeping the zerg topped off, but if you’re familiar with the people in the front line, then you could probably shift to something a bit more damage-centric.

During my last Tequatl kill, I just stick with my usual Grenade build that I use almost everywhere. The only difference is that I put on PVT gear on instead of Zerker gear. The primary reason is that you can’t crit Tequatl so Precision and Crit damage is pretty much useless. I was also aware of the waves and dodged through them, but PVT gear does give you a little bit of breathing room in case you forget to dodge or jump over the wave.

What it boils down to is this: you do what you’re comfortable with. If you like getting on Tequatl’s foot like a total BA, then go for it. If you like defending the turret users, then go do that.

With that said, if you’re going to stick with the zerg, I’d recommend Toss Elixir R to help the zerg get back up before they become defeated. It’ll save them run back. Elixir U also helps for warding off the projectiles from the fingers, while it could also be useful as a stun-breaker during Tequatl’s fear attack. The third Utility would be a kit that you like using or another skill of your preference.

If I would have to guess, it would be to discourage the glassy types in the front line, while those in Soldiers gear are more likely to survive the tidal waves without having to jump or dodge through them.

With that said, I’d imagine we could end up with certain encounters where bosses could only be damaged by Criticals, or Conditions, or having X amount of Might stacks, or X amount of Vulnerability stacks on them, etc etc …. barring any technical limitations like the bleed caps of course.

It might be interesting to see how the community would react to that.

Personally, ever since Tequatl 2.0, I’ve been in the habit of building multiple sets of gear with different stats on them. Previously, I had four different sets with Berserker stats on them for mostly RP purposes.

I suppose that’s one way for Anet to bank on the idea of selling more bank tabs.

Okay, the haze is very noticeable (actually, I think it’s a bit more obnoxious than I’d like, but that’s a different topic), I’ll agree with that … but shine isn’t that noticeable unless you’re in a very very dark area, like the dark room area in the EB jumping puzzle or the flickering lights room in the Ghost Pirate’s jumping puzzle in Lion’s Arch. Otherwise, the feature doesn’t POP out like most others. Maybe it’s my graphics settings, but I don’t notice it much, except when the pages are turning … even then the brightness isn’t as noticeable, especially during more heated situations.

Also consider that today is a patch-day, meaning a lot of people are more likely going to go out and actually do the content instead of idling in Lion’s Arch. I think the best time to try doing this would be on a weekend when more people are on to make a statement.

That and I couldn’t make the rally because I had to work tonight. … Sorry about that.

I think to better organize this would be to create a guild specifically for this purpose and to even coordinate over voice chat.

There would need to be a set universal time that everyone would appear to make this happen.

If you have 1500 range, the fight is trivially simple. You just have to dodge the knock-down when you start hearing the banging noise to minimize downtime. Aside from that, I’ve stood near the barrels for just about most of the fight.

Which is actually kind of sad to be honest.

If it isn’t, then it probably is a precursor to what to expect for raid-level bosses.

If you’re willing to burn some dungeon tokens, you can also salvage exotic armor pieces from them. That’s how I normally get mine … but like all things RNG, your mileage may vary.

Fafnir.5124:

if you click join commander squad you only see one commander icon i think this would solve all your confusion.

That is true— however, it would also be nice to know the actions of the other commanders so that communication is much more easier. For instance, perhaps Blue Commander’s squad is too big while Red Commander’s squad is too small. Those in Blue’s can easily point out Red’s position and rally at that point.

Well … lets look at Eternity since you just brought it up.

Eternity has:

• Footfalls: Yes, galaxy paint
• An aura: Yes, faint white glow
• Visibility as a projectile: No— possibly bugged since the two swords before it show their own unique models when thrown.
• Day/Night Cycling Skin: Yes
• General Attack effects: painterly trails
• Unique features: a glowing ball

Let’s talk about a legendary that is not Eternity, Twilight and Sunrise, the two swords required to build Eternity

• Footfalls: Yes, galaxy paint
• An aura: Yes, faint colored glow
• Visibility as a projectile: Yes, present during Whirling Wrath and Bladetrail and others
• Day/Night Cycling Skin: No
• General Attack effects: painterly trails
• Unique features: aura burst when drawn

Really, the only thing remotely different, aside from color, is the Day/Night Cycling Skins. The lack of projectile effects on Eternity could potentially be a bug … but if it’s intended, then all Legendary greatswords have at least five unique effects tied to it. One could say that ArenaNet are biased towards greatswords, but I think that would branch to a totally different and potentially unrelated topic.

Now let’s look at Flameseeker Prophecies:

• Footfalls: No
• Aura: No
• Visibility as a Projectile: No (Shield Toss still throws a wooden shield)
• Day/Night Cycle Skins: No
• General attack effects: Glows when drawn
• Unique effects: Pages turn after every attack.

Besides the unique skin, FSP has only two defining features. Three if you count “Lore” but when you’re comparing that to everything else that seems “hip”, Lore doesn’t carry much weight except maybe to other Lore buffs … and how many people play this game for the Lore? Lore isn’t something the average joe can see with the naked eye. Instead, Lore is something that is often sought after looking to become more knowledgeable in the world around them. For the average joe, they just want to play the god dang game! If they want knowledge, they’ll probably read a book or attend a training class.

Let’s look at a recently updated Legendary: Meteorlogicus

• Footfalls: Yes, clouds and lightning
• Aura: No
• Visibility as a Projectile: ??
• Day/Night Cycle Skins: Yes
• General attack effects: Trails created when running and attacking
• Unique effects: Orbiting planets and clouds with intricate floating stars.

Meteorlogicus has 4 defining features. By using your definition of “tier” of legendaries, that would mean that Meteorlogicus would technically be in the same tier as every other Legendary that has at least four defining features the separates it from your typical exotic weapons. Now why does Meteorlogicus have four defining features while FSP has two? And no, “FSP is an off-hand only weapon” doesn’t count. After all, The Minstrel has three noticeably defining features: purple aura, musical notes, and harp sound effects.

Ideally, all first-tier Legendary weapons should be upgraded to have the same amount of noticeably defining features amongst each other. The only second-tier Legendary that could have more should be Eternity … in reality, even Eternity still faults itself with the other legendaries released at launch.

I believe that most, if not all, my suggestions a few posts back are within reason and would still maintain the same tier of cosmetic display as non-Eternity legendary weapons. I know I didn’t ask for a Day/Night Cycle Skin that’s for sure, but it would be nice to have.

I actually enjoyed most of these invasions— it’s kind of refreshing and sort of engaging when you lead a zerg from point to point to get the event done … well … if it weren’t for those farming Aetherblades (but that’s another thread all together).

After the Scarlet story arc has concluded, could we expect zone-wide invasions from other opposing factions?

Technically-speaking, our hobo-sacks are “Utility Skills” instead of “Weapon Skills” so I wouldn’t bust out to Guile’s Theme just yet.

But if the hobosacks are really going away, then sweet! I guess the next step is improving cosmetic compatibility with legendary weapons.

I say: wait and see. Those notes aren’t official yet and are subject to change before release. Maybe they’ll turn us into a brand race: The Hobosack which resemble sock puppets. Who knows!

Another thing— once everything gets set in stone, you can post the expected gathering here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/events

I don’t know the general traffic of that forum, but it could make sense.

You can also spread the word to other GW2 fansite forums like GW2Guru.

You could also post on the main general forum, though I’d imagine that thread would be moved to the events forum—- but you’ll get some sort of initial exposure before moderator action.

Hello!

I recently started doing solo queues recently after earning over 9000 achievements almost exclusively from PvE. I figured I’d do something about that and start doing some structured solo-queue matches … but since PvP is very dynamic of how the playing field changes, I’m usually left a little bit confused regardless if I win or lose. And after 70+ matches, I’m still a little confused … but I guess I made some progress towards my Champion Genius title, right?!

Seriously, the part I’m having a hard time with is trying to find my “niche” into this strange new world for me.

Currently, I’m running some sort of bomb-bunker build but I’ve always felt kind of bored holding a control point for so long that I find myself wandering elsewhere … or just simply dozing off to the point that my opponent simply gets a free kill.

I’d like to use Grenades since that’s what I use in PvE … are there any interesting grenade builds that work well in Structured? I guess that means I would have to be some kind of Roamer then— as a roamer should I stick with someone like glue and help them capture points?

At the end of the day, I guess I’m a bit noobish when it comes to PvP. Any insight would be appreciated.

Interesting--

And yet he doesn’t work for ArenaNet anymore.

I guess that rules out some of those theories I had ... but hey! It was fun thinking about it.

Still-- I will be working on my cardboard look-a-like while making a fool* of myself on YouTube.

* = Yes, I call myself a fool so that others don’t have to.

I noticed a strange anomaly regarding the “kitten” filter.

It doesn’t appear to censor naughty words in people’s signatures. I tested this by temporarily placing naughty words in my signature, and it could be shown in their uncensored glory.

I know you guys want to make sure the forums remain family-friendly, so I thought I’d mention that.

The bank around Divinity’s Reach would be a great spot to hang for this rally.

The area near Super Adventure Box in Rata Sum could be another hot spot.

I really can’t think of popular areas to hang in Black Citadel, Hoelbrak, and The Grove.

I disagree that it’s not up to par. So there’s my opinion.

We can keep going in circles and keep bumping the thread with repeated circles and so on … but at the end of the day, it all boils down to this: You have an opinion. I have an opinion. We all have opinions. Conflicting opinions generally drive a conversation; but most of the time, you and me end up as grumps in the end. Are you going to seriously waste your time trying to dissuade the people in this thread that FSP is “fine” and “up to par”? Really, what you’re fighting against is a bunch of people who are very annoyed yet passionate who demand a bit more so that they feel to be on par with other legendary holders.

This thread was created because someone disagreed with ArenaNet’s art team and wants to start a revolution. I and a few others happen to share this guy’s opinion and demand the same treatment to be placed on my legendary of choice. Other legendary holders don’t have to pay for their upgrades and we shouldn’t either— that means your paid upgrade analogy post doesn’t make sense nor does the one about new car models every year.

Personally, I can’t be “reasonable” anymore. I try to be reasonable back when things were still new, but when I’ve felt like being left behind for way too long, I get a little extreme with things. I get that my requests could sound “demanding” but they are usually categorically within their bounds in comparison to other things like it. In my head, I place everything in a spreadsheet that mentions common characteristics along with unique effects and since FSP is missing some of the characteristics that are common with other legendaries, I could say that statistically speaking, FSP is not on par. Artistically speaking? I guess that’s a bit trickier to gauge.

I guess playing as an Engineer does add to my grumpiness as well since most of us feel like we’re a bit lacking while still too stubborn to reroll into something else. At least Engineers have decided to plot a large-scale revolution. FSP users could do the same … it’s just a matter of gathering enough of those users to make a dent in the art team’s decisions.

Personally, I’m just going to mail ArenaNet a cardboard look-a-like of FSP along with a long letter about it. What would that accomplish? Beats me, but at least I’d feel proud about it.

Weeeelllll …

In that case, I would have to believe there’s some sort of “With All Due Respect” Clause involved somewhere. Could be some sort of artistic terms and conditions that prevent modifications to said shield for X amount of years. Breaking the contract could mean the artist could press charges.

But that’s assuming this artist only designed FSP as far as Legendary weapons go.

I highly doubt that though. If anything, I’d imagine this artist has designed other Legendaries as well. Regardless, in most cases, art produced for the company (in this case, ArenaNet) usually becomes full property of the company; therefore, they can do whatever the fudge they want with it, hopefully within good taste and they still credit you in some way shape or form for it.

Anymras.5729:

Posting a link to this on Reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1m5kqg/engineercharr_rally_in_lions_arch_9172013/

It’s great that this issue is trying to spread itself into Reddit, but one thing I have learned when it comes to starting a rally on Reddit is to get a bunch of people together on voice and have them burst up-vote it before the cynics, pessimists, and the 1-dimensionals downvote it into oblivion.

I upvoted but it looks like the don’t-cares came by and downvoted it thus lowering the potential exposure of it.

Vol.5241:

Fine, you want to talk about digital products?

How about when it comes to software that gets released in one year and a new version comes around? You don’t get free upgrades.

You don’t get a free upgrade from Word 2007 to Word 2010. Nor do you get a free upgrade from Cubase 6 to Cubase 7.

You committed to purchasing an item that time because you were enticed by it’s current features.

And now that there is a no version, you think it’s fair to go to the company and demand your version gets free upgrades as well? Well at what point does this stop? What if I had Cubase 1. Could I demand upgrades each time they had new editions, all the way to Cubase 7? It’s unfeasible.

That would be more like going from GW1 to GW2 for free, which unless there’s a very big sale going on, that probably wouldn’t happen. Likewise, I don’t expect to get GW3 for free ten or so years later. However, going from GW2 to GW2.5 could be a free update. If I know most software, usually incremental decimal updates are generally free or low-cost, while a full-version upgrade usually requires you to pony-up.

But that’s a broadly different analogy. I think you’re just exaggerating in a desperate attempt to get a point across. What you’re talking about is a “major software upgrade” which is to be expected for end-users to pay for upgrades whereas “minor update patches” (in GW2’s case, Living Story Releases) are generally free. Updates to most of the legendaries are free, so if I have to pay Anet (or anyone for that matter) to upgrade the look of FSP, someone’s going to have a mouthful of angst and rage.

With that said, if equally-valued (as in rarity, not market value) Legendary items, get upgraded, I should expect all items within that classification to get some form of cosmetic upgrade. Leaving one out of the current refresh could make users of said item feel somewhat left out. Especially when the cosmetic upgrade to other legendaries are free.

This is the purpose of this thread— FSP didn’t get upgraded to the same specifications of most of the current legendary weapons. Therefore creating aggravated players. Some players would just simply leave the game. Others who feel very very passionate about their progress would demand answers, post petitions, rally others who share similar views, and go to the very extreme to set things straight.

If I were to speculate with my handy dandy tinfoil hat, I’d say that the artist who designed the Flameseeker Prophecies shield must be a very defensive person in an artistic sense. He/she probably said, “you touch my shield and I’m quitting my job!” and that person is probably much higher up in the corporate chain. This is probably a person that doesn’t appreciate artistic derivatives very well, even those made from his/her fellow co-workers. If that’s the case, then I’d have to say that he/she shouldn’t be part of a company that can and will take their own artwork and transform it into a different style to fit the atmosphere of the game. I hate to see this person’s face if Anet decides to make 8-bit derivatives of their current legendary weapons to be available to those who religiously play the SAB component of the game.

Exactly-- Ludo makes it clear that physical products are a very bad analogy when it comes to comparing to this situation; whereas digital goods could constantly become upgraded through various means.

In the case of your Porsche, I can’t simply download a new firmware for the car’s ECU and it magically turns into a better Porsche with more horsepower, better handling, and faster launch speeds.* It simply doesn’t work that way. I could _buy_ aftermarket parts to make it a faster car (usually at the risk of failing my yearly emissions inspection), but that’s not the same thing as anticipating a free digital update for existing products.

* = Actually, I probably could but that’s usually an aftermarket thing, which is probably not covered by Porsche’s warranty policies. Of course, if we’re going to drag on the subject of tweaking the performance of cars, I think there are other forums that specifically discuss that subject.

Anyway, by buying any physical object, I understand that the product is as advertised, and is subject to becoming less efficient (or even obsolete) when newer, physical, more advanced products are produced. For instance, a car, a computer, and assorted pieces of hardware.

A digital product, however, can change, transform, and evolve over time. In terms of GW2, the GW2 we’re playing now surely doesn’t feel like the same GW2 that was released over a year ago. With the inclusion of Living Story, Fractals, Ascended Gear, and other features, players’ preferences may have changed over time. Some may have left for other games due to certain things they don’t agree with that Anet has added into GW2, such as the perceived "treadmill" from Ascended Gear (which is a totally different topic altogether) or the "collapsing of the community" with the inclusion of the LFG Tool next week (which is also another different debate altogether).

I’d say the best analogies would be pieces of artwork since everyone has different tastes of art with preferences that constantly change over time. I know back in my college days, I was hardcore into J-Pop, anime, foreign Asian films, and cosplaying. I was like the weabooist of weaboos. Today, I might enjoy a good foreign film or a well-made costume, but I don’t watch as much anime or listen to as much J-Pop as I used to. If I were to go back and listen to the same stuff I used to listen to, I’d look at my past self and say, "Holy crap! I can’t believe I actually tolerated listening to this stuff back in the day."

quaniesan.8497:

“I would really like a dev response.”

I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. They purposely avoid thread like these, i.e. threads that clearly points out their shortcoming and to which they have absolute no persuasive comeback. The silence is a clear admittance of flaws. Let’s just hope they get a hit on the head by a meteor or something and start get things right.

Then we make them notice! ArenaNet has many forms of social networking. If all else fails, there’s always the extreme (hopefully, still-civilized) method of getting the message across.

At this rate, I might as well mail ArenaNet a cardboard look-a-like of FSP to go along with the potato sack from a different issue all together. Saves me the postage. What would that accomplish? Well, if it doesn’t get improved, then at least I have the satisfaction that I actually decided to put forward my actions instead of leaving my words empty; unlike 99% (exaggerated) of the people who say they’ll press legal charges for bad customer service, but never actually do.

Vol.5241:

If you decided to make FSP before the update then you were obviously satisfied with the skin. I’ve had FSP since January and I can say that it is already an epic shield.

I was satisfied at the time … things have changed. Preferences change. When one thing changes, then everything that seems remotely related should change along with it. When something gets left behind, many things associated usually doesn’t sit well.

It’s kind of like an old piece of work that satisfied your tastes back then. I could say five years ago I was a big fan of J-Pop music … today, I rarely ever listen to J-Pop music.

Back to the scope of this game— I cycle through four different armor sets. Sure they have the same stats on them, but if I’m not satisfied with that set, I piece together another set and wear it.

Don’t make me spew examples because it would go way beyond the scope of this thread.

What the removal of the trinity opens up, in my opinion, is the capability of going way beyond the box of tank-n-spank. I know in most MMOs I’ve played, I’ve always boiled down encounters to tank-n-spank with a funky gimmick tossed into it just to make it “interesting”.

Instead of those three simplistic roles, you could be lumped into encounter-specific roles. For instance, you may be asked to utilize environmental weapons, NPC interactions, or even control some sort of remote device.

Honestly, I find it somewhat interesting once I find a better understanding of it. Although, I do wish for more variety in the first 5 abilities.

I find to lessen the monotony of running dungeons for Empyreal Fragments, I just simply hunt down the chests all over the world. The wiki has a list of these chest here:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_basic_chests

I find this to be less grindy because you’re mostly going out into the world to search for these instead of one or two concentrated areas. For me, I like seeing different places whereas if I kept doing CoF p1 or similarly easy dungeon paths over and over again, I’ll get real bored quick.

Although, I do admit that the amount required to make one Ascended weapon does seem somewhat absurd, but if you mix it up a bit everyday, then it doesn’t feel too bad.

Exactly— just saying it looks “good enough” is just asking me to smash someone’s nostalgia glasses.

Just having the strongest link to Tyrian lore simply isn’t “good enough” any more, especially for those who simply does not care about the lore of the game. For those people, lore means absolutely nothing to them and will go for the legendary that simply looks like prettiest. Flameseeker desperately needs to be graphically on par with every other legendary out there so that it still remains competitively appealing in comparison to the other legendary weapons. That means including some sort of footfall, an aura, and special modifications that cosmetically change the effects of our skills.

With that said, I’d like to make some suggestions while we’re on topic.

The book is the most prominent feature of the shield so it should be greatly emphasized, so lets play with the concept of magic books for a bit:

• For footfalls, it would be nice to see some stray pages fall out in some way, and fizzle into ashes as they hit the ground.
• For an aura, perhaps random pages could be flying around, orbiting around the wielder.
• While running with a Swiftness boon, the pages on the shield could rapidly flip.

Skill wise—

• Generically speaking, any pages that burst out of orbit from the wielder’s aura would burn into ash in midair.
• Shield of Absorption and Magnetic Shield : the orbiting torn pages could expand a bit to emphasize the effect of the aura. Furthermore, Magnetic Inversion could make the orbital of pages explode momentarily— more orbiting pages will respawn a few seconds later.
• Shield Bash : a large burst of pages could appear upon successful impact.
• Shield Stance and Gear Shield : small scraps of paper could be chipped away for each successful block.
• Throw Shield and Shield of Judgment : the book itself could be seen as a projectile.

Modification of Engineering Kits—

• Grenade Barrage : exploding pages could appear upon impact.
• Big Ol’ Bomb : a huge burst of pages could appear upon detonation.
• The book portion of the legendary could also attach itself the Device Kits, while the Weapon Kits might adopt some of the intricate features of the shield like the ink bottle and glowing properties. For instance, the liquid contents of the Flamethrower and Elixir Gun backpacks could glow while in combat, then turn black like ink when exiting combat.

See— I just tossed this shield into the Pimp-My-Legendary machine. I’m not sure what made you guys think that this shield is “fine as it is”, but if you’re comparing to other legendary weapons, Flameseeker is definitely NOT fine. Again, using lore as your strongest reason simply does not count anymore.

Funny/sad thing— it’s still like that with a legendary.

It’s so bad that it sort of turned into a running gag now.

But it does bear repeating … which I’ll probably do with each new graphical weapon glitch thread that sprouts around.

I wish I could make that night, but I’ll be at work when that happens— unless you guys do this some time in the morning then I’ll be up for that!

If all else, I think I’ll just mail Anet a sack of potatoes.

Well, you could always salvage Ectos for Crystalline Dust. Though Legendary-wise, I suppose you need more ectos if you’re running short on dust.

Every time I look at my hobosack, I feel tempted to mail ArenaNet a sailor’s sea-bag full of potatoes.

I mean, I get that the reason why hobosacks exist is because of PvP but I think most engineer weapons can be identified without the visibility of a kit. For instance…

Tool Kit: Wrench on main hand. Sometimes, a gear or magnet on the other hand. Main attack is mostly melee, but has a magnet to pull you close. Sometimes, they may be near turrets since their #1 ability can heal them.

Grenades: Usually nothing in both hands but chances are that the engineer will be at mid or far range chucking grenades at you so that can easily be seen from a distance before they get into your face.

Bomb Kit: Usually nothing in both hands, however they would have to be in melee range to do meaningful damage to you. Often times, they’re usually bunkering or supporting their group using the heals from their explosions.

Flamethrower and Elixir Gun are obvious enough that having a backpack on is a bit overkill.

In sPvP, I find myself using the Zephyr Rucksack since it’s big enough to overlap my kit but enemy players can still identify what kind of kit I’m using.

But if you guys are really hell-bent in keeping the hobosacks, I think these sacks should at least adopt visual characteristics of whatever back piece we’re wearing. Smaller back pieces could simply be tacked on, while larger backpieces (especially ones that look like backpacks themselves) could change the theme of our sacks. Alternatively, you can put the sack on our chest or limbs. The arms could work with minimal clipping issues. Legs might be tricky since almost all our armor are coats. The chest could make sense but it might make us look like we’re wearing kevlars vests which could potentially shift the problem to another part of our body instead of getting rid of it.

Nike.2631:

Weapon Art issue~

Engineers throwing their shield while having the Flameseeker Prophecies equipped are seeing a wooden shield as the projectile.

This weapon/class combo needs to have the same courtesy applied to it as the greatsword/guardian and many, many other combinations where the Legendary is respected by the skill.

I second this. Attached are some recent screenshots of this strange anomaly.

Race: Any*
Gender: Any*
Profession: Engineer
Weapon: The Flameseeker Prophecies

* = Assumed. So far, all the Flameseeker wielding engineers who I have bumped into on Sanctum of Rall have been strangely human female.

Honestly, I think instead of posting messages, we should go the traditional route: snail-mail objects that bring across a message. It’s obviously a bit more costly, but I believe the message would be more clear and “to the god dang point”.

I have at some point considered mailing ArenaNet an old “hobo-sack” that I got from my Marine Corp friends along with a multi-page letter printed single-spaced, 10 point, on legal-sized paper, complete with a dramatic reading of said message to those who prefer an audio version.

Well, maybe that could be borderline overkill, but something needs to be done.

Although, it may be possible that whomever designed the Flameseeker Prophecies is also very defensive about his/her design and doesn’t want other Anet artists to “destroy” it with more glitter and fluff.

Thanks for having me on your show. It was pretty fun talking to Rose and Dceased about the different aspects of dungeon-running as well as general PvE.

With that said, I have yet to trust my own PvP build for anything— I’ve only been doing solo queues for about three days now but eventually I’ll get my Champ Genius title … I got like 30 wins so far out of 70-something matches … lol!

But I do love experimenting— maybe something might come out of it in progressing through PvP.

I was somewhat bummed out when I heard that tidbit … I almost punched through my brand new monitor, but I kept my cool.

I’ve had this shield for about 5 months and chose to craft it mostly because of the lore behind the shield, but it would be nice if it had more flash to it. Lore-wise, I suppose that could be “legendary” on its own right, but if a watcher has never played GW1 and/or has never really cared much about the lore of Tyria, then the lore aspect of the legendary shield wouldn’t hold much weight to it where as other legendaries like Bifrost and Eternity would be like “Oooh shiny! Skritt likey!”

Still— my image that I have reposted occasionally is still relevant.

If I would have to guess, the Legendaries would probably have the effects of the sigil that was used to build that weapon. For example, Superior Sigil of Battle is used to craft The Flame Seeker Prophecies … meaning the Ascended version of that shield would already have the respective sigil attached to it. That would probably make some kind of sense.

WhiteAndMilky.2514:

I think it should just throw the book part.

HIT THEM WITH SOME KNOWLEDGE YO.

Now that would actually be kinda cool. A little silly, but still cool!

Maybe I’m having some high-hopes, but according to the next patch:

Legendary Weapon Updates
Legendary weapons are getting a stat boost and an Offensive Infusion slot to align with the new Ascended weapons! Legendaries are also receiving additional functionality: When out of combat, Legendary weapon bearers will be able to choose between different stat combinations for your weapon. And to top it all off, many Legendaries are getting some aesthetic upgrades!

Could that mean my shield toss would look like I’m actually throwing the legendary shield instead of a generic wooden plate?

Sure, there’s like four (that I know of anyway) other Engineers on Sanctum of Rall that has Flameseeker, but it would be nice to see us expand on the effects shown since we can actually use our shields offensively.

I do agree that Scarlet’s personality seems kind of Sue-ish, but I think more of the How? when it comes to it. Often times, there is usually some kind of logical explanation to someone’s unrealistically perfect job resume.

First of all, she’s a sylvari. How does she end up attending the same colleges that are normally exclusive to the asura? Or rather, are these colleges now accepting non-asura applicants? Could a brand new non-asura character one day branch from their personal story to attend an asuran college?

Second, even if the Asuran Colleges accepted a non-asura applicant, how did Scarlet graduate from all three of them? Is that even technically possible? For most asura, they generally graduate from one college and go on their merry ways.

Although Scarlet displays some of the characteristics of a Sue, I think there’s some sort of back-story that we have yet to hear about which would then reveal some of her faults and shortcomings.

I theorize that she might have been “carried” by the Inquest, sort of like how a low-performing “baddie” tags along in high-level raid content in other MMOs, and some how magically sticks around and pretends to be awesome-by-association … but in reality, Scarlet is nothing more than a common con. However, instead of being put down by the Inquest, they decided to turn Scarlet into something more sinister and thus create the non-asura version of the Inquest known as the Aetherblades, with Scarlet being the leader.

If anything, I’d imagine Scarlet to have some sort of involvement in the Thaumanova Reactor explosion.

That’s my take on it anyway.

Maybe it’s a little nit-picky but wouldn’t it make more sense if the graffiti was in New Krytan instead of plain English?