Guild Wars 2

So I can farm trick-or-treat bags to my heart’s content? I’m…totally okay with this!

I’ve been playing off and on since beta, but most of my friends and guildmates have moved on. While I am currently the leader of my old guild, I simply don’t have the time or energy to build it back up, so I’m looking to join another guild. I’m based in the Eastern US, so I will be most active evenings and weekends eastern time. (I’m currently looking for work and have more time to spend in game, but will have less time once I find something.)

This is basically a rundown of what I’m looking for:

• a mature guild (largely 21+)
• TS3 for coordination
• does a variety of content
• no/low drama
• preferably based on Stormbluff Isle

I really enjoy a lot of different content, from dungeons to meta events, to world bosses and more. I haven’t yet been able to do raids, since I don’t have a group, but would like to give it a try. I am also happy to help other players with whatever they need.

Representation requirements are not a problem. Guild size is also not an issue. It doesn’t bother me if you’re small, so long as you have a fair number of your players active when I’m playing. If you think I’d fit in with your group, reply here, PM me, or contact me in-game!

It’s also worth noting that you’re not a known entity to most/all of these players. I guess Epic Gamer Radio went kaput, but they used to do a lot of giveaways on SBI before megaservers became a thing. They got quite a few people participating in a number of things (from hide-and-seek to trivia) and I got a fair amount of gold from participating over time.

I’d actually like to see something like that again. If I had the time and people, I’d love to do more. My guild used to do a lot of little parties around holidays. A lot of other guilds did things back in the GW1 days as well, come to think of it.

I’ve always figured that Chosen actually refers to descendants of King Doric, who by virtue of his legacy are capable of having their souls sealed into the bloodstone. It also seems that the Exalted may have ascended, as they referred to having passed the Forgotten’s tests in order to attain their current forms (I like to think they are our characters from GW1, but that’s just me).

As for how ascension pertains to our characters, you could possibly make the argument that our characters already ARE ascended. We’ve seen the Eternal Alchemy, the underpinnings of the Tyrian universe. This could conceivably be equivalent to ascension for all intents and purposes.

As for Lazarus, I think he needs us, though I’m not sure what for yet. Revealing himself must play to his goals somehow. I’m hoping that we’ll wind up finding other Mursaat still alive, potentially ones who are opposed to Lazarus. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that some Mursaat had no interest in humans or manipulating them, and that the Unseen were merely one faction of the race. I really hope we’ll have some Mursaat allies this go-round.

Insect swarm glider, possibly with a green or black aura. Perfect for necromancers.

Gaile answered in the official thread that yes, if you buy Deluxe/Ultimate you will get 2 slots total.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

If by ‘many’ you mean ‘one, with sects from three others’ then you’d be right. Aside from humans, only the Forgotten worshiped the Six in full; there were a few centaurs that worshiped/revered Balthazar, one naga that was named for Dwayna, and churches of Grenth and Dwayna among the dwarves. But the Six were primarily – and always – highly restricted to humanity in faith; hence their other name “the Human Gods”.

Yes, I did mean that some races worshiped ONE of the human gods. We have Melaggan who may or may not have anything to do with Melandru, and I recall some source claiming that the early Charr worshiped Melandru (I can not for the life of me remember where that was stated). The Prophecies manuscripts also says that the druids may have worshiped Melandru. Melandru seems to be the one human deity most often worshiped by other races.

The gods are not only absent now, they’re also distant. In GW1 times, people were able to enter their realms and they also communicated with humanity via their avatars. In the Cathedral of Silence story step, the Avatar of Grenth asks the player to kill the undead priest of Grenth because he is too weak to do it himself. One wonders if the avatars are weakened due to the gods’ distance from Tyria. We know the Seven Reapers were once mortal, but I don’t know of any lore about the avatars of the other gods.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Abaddon lost his body when he was defeated in Year 0, and was recreating it from the landscape of the Realm of Torment throughout Nightfall. His original appearance (the appearance he gave to Malchor, at least) was very much human-like.

As for Abaddon, yes, the statue makes him look as though he’s just wearing a cowl. Still not quite human (his hands look rather bestial), but certainly humanoid.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Nothing actually says that Saul went into the Maguuma. Just sayin’.

The Manuscripts say that Saul was blindfolded and ridden out from Kryta for three weeks before being dumped there. I imagine that would leave him in the Maguuma somewhere, but if someone wants to try to calculate where he may have ended up, by all means.

And while the theory that the Elder Dragons are born of pure magic was once a thought I had, the implied existence of a dragon race through the lore on Glint, to me, hurts this theory. If there was a race of dragons, then the Elder Dragons were likely of this race, and mutated from the great concentrations of magic they’ve consumed.

As for the origin of dragonkind on Tyria, we honestly don’t have enough information. Since Glint was corrupted, not created, by Kralkatorik, it’s possible that the elder dragons are merely the oldest of some ancient dragon race. Whether or not the dragons are actually born of magic itself, I still think their locations coincide with the largest amount of ambient magic on Tyria. It makes sense, after all, for them to stay by a ready food source.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In the end, we get the conclusion that magic is finite, but indestructible – just changes shape.

I have suspected that magic works like this: ambient magic flows through the ley lines. The Forgotten sealed as much of that magic as possible into the bloodstone to keep it away from the dragons. Abaddon allowed mortals to tap into the bloodstone, the gods got mad, chaos ensued, and the bloodstone wkittentered into pieces and locked with Doric’s blood. Previously magic was separated into different schools with no overlap because of the bloodstone configuration. But as magic was drawn from the bloodstone, it returned to the ley lines. So much magic has left the bloodstones that they are likely nearly depleted; the dragons have a lot of magic to devour. The rise in ambient magic has also broken down the previously separate magical schools; the kind of advanced magic used by the asura and the Priory simply wouldn’t have been possible when most of the magic was locked within the bloodstones. Some magic returns very quickly to the ley lines, some of it more slowly. Enchantments are magic held in the items enchanted, hence why the Mouth of Zhaitan was devouring so many magical trinkets.

We don’t know that the gods brought the humans to Tyria; it could have been some other powerful being(s) or a fluke of the Mists. The gods could have been from some other race and assumed a human-like appearance in order to appeal to a ready group of worshipers. Abaddon certainly did not look human. Many other races worship the human gods or very similar deities. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the gods predate the arrival of humans on Tyria, if in some other form.

Aaron, you make a good point. It could be that humans created that story themselves to explain their presence on Tyria.

Regardless, I only have theorized a connection between the gods and the dragons as a possible explanation for the gods’ absence. It’s not a central point of my theory, and I’m open to other ideas as to why the gods have been so distant.

If you think of the dragons’ spheres as some corrupted opposite of the gods, you could tie Dwayna with Zhaitan (life vs. unlife) and that leaves Grenth with Jormag (both ice).

It’s also entirely possible that any connection is more indirect.

That doesn’t mean that the gods made the humans nor does it answer any questions about the gods’ own origins, though.

The gods claimed to come from elsewhere and to have created humans, but we don’t have any outside confirmation of either. Even in-game sources are highly skeptical of those claims, so we shouldn’t take anything the gods say at face value. Also, it is heavily implied by the text of the King’s Watch Monument in GW1 that Doric was actually slain by the gods upon the bloodstone:
“Founded: Season of the Phoenix, 1 A.E.

To endure is greater than to dare;

To keep heart when all have lost it;

To forego even one’s own life when the end is gained;

Who can say this is not greatness?

On this site, more than one hundred years prior, the first king of the new Republic of Ascalon was crowned. It was dedicated, on this, the ninety-fifth day of the year, in the Season of the Phoenix, in honor of the passing of the greatest of all kings. This stone stands in memory to the first of all sons of Ascalon, King Doric. For it is through his sacrifice that we now live on. May his blood have been spilled for the good of all. "

Furthermore, I don’t think it was ever confirmed that the Chosen have magical potential – that was the excuse the White Mantle gave when they were hauling them away to be sacrificed.

The ideas presented here have been rolling around in my head for the better part of a year now, so I decided now is as good a time as any to get them written down. A large part of this is connecting the dots, and another fair portion is my own speculation.

Established facts so far:
- Magic flows through Tyria in ley lines
- The Elder Dragons consume magic
- The bloodstone was created by the Seers to seal magic away from the dragons
- There are six Elder Dragons: Zhaitan, Kralkatorik, Primordus, Jormag, Mordremoth, “Bubbles”

Not specifically stated, but hinted at:
- Conservation of Magic: magic can be neither created nor destroyed, and it is not infinite

Now for some theorizing. There are areas throughout Tyria where the ley lines form eddies, and large concentrations of magic are gathered; these coincide with the locations of the elder dragons. The elder dragons are forces of nature, born of this accumulated magic. This means that it doesn’t even matter if we kill them, others will rise to take their place in the next age.

There are six gods, and six elder dragons. I suspect this is not coincidence, and that there is some tie, direct or indirect, between them. We know that the gods were once mortal. I suspect that they found some way to tap into those vast stores of magic in order to ascend. Their absence may be due directly to the rise of the dragons: as the dragons gain power and devour magic, the gods’ power is weakened dramatically.

This leads us to some dire conclusions for Tyria: as the dragons consume more magic, the pool available for the various races is drying up. Once the bloodstones are depleted, we’ll be in a very bad position. We NEED to get the fight against Mordremoth ramped up because we don’t have all time in the world to raise a resistance. The dragons are in a sense eating up our main weapon against them. Once we pass the point of no return (the amount of magic needed to defeat one of the dragons) we will be out of luck.

Now, I’m something of a Mursaat apologist. I make no claims otherwise, and I know this will be the most controversial part of my theory. The Mursaat know how to use the bloodstones; is it possible they were also locking more of the ambient magic into the bloodstones with their sacrifices? I have always suspected that the Chosen are simply the descendents of King Doric, and thus their blood was needed to activate the stones. They were preventing the return of the titans, yes, but I see no reason they would not also take the opportunity to delay the return of another threat to their survival. I also believe we never saw or defeated all of the Mursaat; most of them remained deep in the Maguuma where Saul D’Alessio found them, or hid themselves in a dimension out of sync with our own. We may not trust them or even like them, but I think it would be in the best interest of Tyria to seek them out again. They know how to use the bloodstones, and if we could convince them to aid us, they may give us the time we need to mount an attack on the remaining dragons.

I think the simplest answer here is the one Charr NPCs are fond of saying: “There are old Charr, and there are bold Charr, but there aren’t a lot of old, bold Charr!”

Might be a problem on your end? I haven’t experienced any audio bugs with that story step.

Well, we know at least some of the original druids are around. There’s an event to protect one; I can’t remember if it’s in Kessex or Brisbane.

I was expecting it to be around $30 because in my opinion, we’ve been told about maybe $30 worth of content by ANet. GW:EN was $40, and it wasn’t a standalone, so I could’ve seen it going as high as $40. I was not expecting $50 because it’s not standalone, and it didn’t seem to be worth $50.

I don’t know if/when I’ll be able to get the game because I am unemployed and my husband is the one with the job…and he is very antagonistic towards the game, in large part because he felt ignored during the betas and the dialogue sequences in the personal story give him motion sickness. But that’s neither here nor there.

I like the original DE members with the exception of Logan; he can go die in a fire. I’ve hated him since Edge of Destiny came out, even before the game was released.

That does not change the fact that their omission was a particularly glaring one. And I made NO comment about the amount of time GW2 was in development.

You will have access to an instance in LA which will have some of the things previously accessible on the guild panel, whatever that means. I would like to know who needs to have HoT in order for a guild to have a hall. The leader, an officer, or any member?

Didn’t they say staff was going to be a melee weapon for the revenant?

Correction: you cannot upgrade to ULTIMATE from either, because Ultimate is essentially just $50 of gems for 50% off.

Guild halls should have been available at release. Same with everything we’ve gotten in the Feature Packs. The game was very unpolished at release, and it’s taken some time to get it caught up. That feature alone is not worth $50 to me.

ANet’s community participation and openness to feedback from the playerbase has been pretty bad since GW2 beta. I was very wary when they refused to listen to constructive criticism during the beta, and it’s only gotten worse since. I’ve said again and again, they need someone to fill Gaile’s old role as the point of contact for players. Even if all they said was ’I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to tell you anything more,’ that would be MUCH better than the silence we’ve been getting.

The devs did a masterful job with the game. But corporate policy seems to have changed since GW1’s heyday. Back then ANet seemed to really be in tune with the playerbase. I honestly wonder what changed. Change in management, or is NCSoft keeping everyone quiet with a gag order?

I really hope whoever is responsible realizes what this current stance is doing for ANet’s reputation.

Zalavaaris.5329:

Actually it’s about numbers AND quality. They knocked it out of the park with the base game st $60 so if we don’t get at least 83% of what the base game offered then it’s not worth $50. (50/60=83% for those wondering what that percentage was)

I’d agree with that assessment. From what we’ve seen, I think 20% of the content level of the base game would be optimistic. Again, I’d be very happy for ANet to come out with more info and prove that wrong.

I’ve had very little in faith in ANet’s betas because they tend to be hype machines rather than actually being designed to improve the finished product. I really hope they’re listening to player feedback this time around, but I’m not counting on it.

Here’s the information I want ANet to release in terms of HoT content:
- A highlighted area on the current map of the new areas we’ll be able to explore.
- The number of new armor and weapon skins available (NOT black lion tickets or gemstore)
- The number of world boss-level fights
- The rest of the elite specializations, and a better explanation for all of them.
For example, my main is a ranger and I know that the elite spec for ranger is druid and that it uses a staff. I want to know how this fits in with the ranger’s play style/traits/other skills. At the moment, my feeling is that if I want to use a staff, I’ll play a caster.

I don’t have have the luxury of not thinking about this; this is my reality.

‘ArenaNet supporters’, as you seem to enjoy calling yourselves, here’s the deal. We’re not telling you not to buy HoT. We’re not talking smack about ANet. So please, just listen for a moment, because we’re not on the same page.

$50 is not a financial burden for you, I understand. Your opportunity cost (what you’re giving up the opportunity to buy by purchasing HoT instead) would be another game, or maybe some other form of entertainment. You’ve enjoyed GW2 a lot, and so you’re happy to use that money to buy HoT. Congratulations on your financial security. It’s nice that you don’t have to give that a second thought.

But spare a moment for those of us who do. We’re not balking at the price tag because we’d rather buy another game. There are those who have the money, and just don’t see it as a worthwhile investment; it’s their money to do with as they please. But for others of us, our opportunity cost is not another game. It’s a bag of groceries, or a tank of gas. It’s rent money, tuition, or medication. $50 is a financial burden for some of us. We were expecting the expansion to be a little cheaper. The only thing feeling light right now is our wallets. And we would just like a little empathy from you. So please don’t put words in our mouths, or make assumptions about us.

As for myself, I was in a much better financial position when the game was released. I bought the Collector’s Edition and have probably spent about $300 to date on gems. I have supported the game plenty. I would just appreciate not being priced out of a game I enjoy. Thank you.

I currently don’t believe HoT is worth $50. It’s also worth noting that there are a LOT of MMOs out there that are currently F2P that regularly have large (much larger than GW2’s Feature Packs) content updates for FREE. Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, Tera, etc. ANet needs to justify having us pay for the expansion at all, let alone $50 for it. Their silence is very bad PR, and they should be addressing these issues.

For me personally, $50 is a lot of money. I’m unemployed and my husband doesn’t make a lot of money. He will not be getting HoT, since his concerns with the game were NEVER addressed, and he stopped playing a couple months after release. Essentially, if I don’t get a job soon and he doesn’t allow me to purchase it, I won’t be getting it either.

With GW1, we got an entire new continent and two new classes for $50. With this, it looks like 1 or 2 maps and one class. Eye of the North was $30, as it was not a standalone. I think there’d be less uproar if Heart of Thorns were $30. ANet needs to either justify this price to the player base or lower the price. Most of my friends with GW2 are NOT planning on getting HoT.

I just want kitten -10 discount for already owning the game and JUST purchasing HoT. I’m not asking for that much.

I just want a few bucks off for ALREADY owning the core game. It doesn’t seem fair that players coming in for HoT get access to everything while the rest of us have to pay $50+ for JUST HoT.

The HoM rewards are account-based, and you can continue to work on it after linking accounts as well.

The heart in that area used to be mostly around the underwater Inquest base, but was moved to the Hylek village to facilitate the removal of underwater combat until lvl 8. There were a couple of events there, including defeating a crazed shark. To my knowledge, no new events have been added to make up for the removal of the old ones. As for the skill points, I’ve found you can actually do them before lvl 15 if a lvl 15+ player comes over and starts it. You can then join in and get the skill point, though the only skills you can unlock at that point are healing skills.

I use the TP to offload lots of unwanted items at one time and was VERY glad to see it default back to matching highest buyer.

munkiman.3068:

Vayne.8563:

Nick.6972:

But honestly, what’s going on at Arena Net?
How come Colin no longer posts here? How come he’s no longer attending these major events like Gamescon?
What happened to Looking Forward 2013 Blog Post which was made year ago?
What happened to regular skill updates?

All this makes me think that there’s just something quite “bad” going on at Arena Net.
Maybe they’re not doing great financially? Maybe NCsoft it taking too much money from GW2 and investing it in other products?

Maybe Colin doesn’t post here because he sees what a pointless task it is…or he’s busy with other projects, and has a lot on his plate.

Maybe people took everything in the blog as gospel even though it said clearly in the blog that it was all subject to change…oh wait that’s not a maybe. That’s a demonstrable fact.

The game is healthy because we’ve seen the quarterly reports and we know it’s healthy.

We know that NCsoft doesn’t really have many games to pull money towards. Lineage pays for itself. Wildstar isn’t nearly as popular as most people thought it would be (because raids are a very niche market), and Guild Wars 2 is going along just fine.

People expect more than is being delivered. I think most people expect too much.

They could always invest in a few liaisons, some people with tough skin that can answer questions or address concerns. You know, some people that aren’t invested in design and development.

This is exactly what I meant when I said they need someone in Gaile’s old position. Since they bothered to make official forums this time around and keep getting people pestering them for interviews, it makes no sense NOT to have a dedicated liaison.

Honestly, what ANet needs is to put someone in Gaile Gray’s old position. Someone capable of being the public face of the company, able to answer players’ concerns, and be well-versed in enough of the goings on to actually answer questions. Interviews like this really highlight the need for a dedicated PR person. And certainly, the rest of the devs are busy with their actual job duties and we can’t expect them to answer all of our questions. I know not everyone liked Gaile, but she always did right by me.

Yes, please! I so badly want that tribal armor for my necromancer. And the completionist in me is going nuts over the fact I can’t currently get these into my wardrobe!

The Guild of the Blade and Rose is in the midst of an overhaul and is looking for ACTIVE players (at LEAST one day per week) to join us. We are tier 4/5 and are currently unlocking guild missions. All servers, skill levels, ages, considered. Join us and help us restore BaR to its former glory!

Wow, those are ugly. They also look very…flat. You can complain about the types of back skins we have, but you can’t really complain about ANet’s quality. Makes me glad I don’t live in China.

Don’t buy that useless rock; just go to EB and sell, then return.

I use LB/GS on my ranger. I’ve never used bears. At release, there were a lot of people saying that bears were the only good pets; I always knew they were wrong, and time has proven me right. Personally, I prefer cats. With 6 points in Beastmastery, cats are plenty survivable, and will do pretty good damage to boot. I mostly use my greatsword in dungeons or for Teq. Longbow is great for general PvE though: I do plenty of damage and I don’t die.

I never kick people for running/not running a particular build in a dungeon. I always advertise my groups as ‘inexperienced’, and am much happier playing with less ‘leet’ players and helping them improve rather than having some zerker-geared speed-clearer breathing down my neck. Those players always leave in a huff, while the inexperienced ones are happy to have someone guide them through the dungeon; typically, many of them are first-timers.

I have the Naga and have the EXACT same problem. I was worried maybe my mouse was starting to go (I have the original version, and it’s over 3 years old now)! I’m glad to know it’s not just me, but I would REALLY like to see a fix for this.

Rurik may not have held the sword the longest, but he WAS the last Ascalonian heir to do so. Rytlock entered a portal to the Mists, which includes ALL of the gods’ realms and the Underworld. I do have a strong feeling that Rytlock will encounter Rurik’s spirit in the Mists. I’d love to see that meeting. Perhaps we’ll finally find out how the sword came into Rytlock’s possession as well!

As for why he failed, I suspect Rytlock needs more than just the crown and Sohothin. He needs Magdaer and someone of Ascalonian blood as well (HINT HINT: Logan, much as I hate to admit it).

There was crabmeat in beta, but there were so few recipes for it they just ended up removing it before release.

I don’t have zerker’s gear on any of my characters.

I generally assume that people who play as humans are bad at the game.

I think all character names should either be lore-appropriate or really good puns.

If you use bad grammar in map chat, I will totally judge you.

Black Lion Salvage Kits. I use those, and I usually get enough of those from dailies for removing runes/sigils.

Call me crazy, but I’m going to keep using my ascended Knight’s armor on my ranger, even for dungeons. You don’t do any DPS when you’re dead, and I spend a lot of time having to pick the other players up off the floor. When I do CoE and it’s Subject Alpha time, I often end up soloing him because I’m the only one left alive.

I’d be totally in favor of this. I’ve already completed all the Dry Top achievements and grinded out two ambrite weapons. I’d love the opportunity to get more stuff by doing something else.