Guild Wars 2

The “SE” is referring to where the map of Dry Top itself connects to the other map – not how to get there. If you go to wiki page for Brisban Wildlands, it tells you that THAT map connects to Dry Top from the SW.

I know that sounds confusing when it comes to trying to figure out “how do I get there” but that content is intended as a description of the map itself – not directions how to get to it.

I genuinely liked that introverted, depressed, anxiety-ridden twig.

Chrispy.5641:

It took everything that was good about Lord of the Rings, removed everything that was good about Lord of the Rings, mixed equal parts boring politics and extremely descriptive sex drive, then threw dragons in there to claim it was still fantasy.

Are you saying it needs more Bible fan fiction in it’s lore ? ;p

GoT/ASOIAF might not be what you like in a book or TV show, but that’s why there are many different ones out there (it’s not my favourite series, and I’m not really a fan of the “fantasy” elements in it, but it IS “Fantasy” even if you personally don’t like what elements of storytelling the series focuses on). And since I’ve been reading Fantasy since I was a kid, it’s nice to have a series that does it a bit differently even if I don’t think it’s always successful in everything it’s trying to do.

And, really, GW2 is not going to stop having ridiculous things to wear in it, I don’t think that’s an issue here at all. GW2 is more like Discworld than GoT or LotR. Lord of the Rings is itself pretty light on actual magic. LotR certainly did not have and would never have had anything like Holographic Dragon Wings. Even when LotR used “magic” or “mythical elements” they were presented in a very natural way. I mean, we can now turn into furniture, Douglas Adams would be proud. GW2 is very, very far from the very serious approach that LotR took. And that’s not a bad thing, either in the same way it’s not a bad thing that GoT didn’t do the same things LotR did. If everything took the same approach using the same methods that would be really quite boring.

Really, you have nothing to worry about. This is a game where one of the Legendary Weapons is a disco ball for heaven’s sake, there’s no reason to worry it’s going to become too realistic.

I understand why they’re doing it once, but I very sincerely wish that unlocking achievements on one character did so for all (if they’ve changed this since I’ve been on last, cool).

Like, I’ve already experienced the story once and I’m happy about that – but if I want to do achievements, maybe I want to give it a shot on a different profession without having to do another “story run” – which to me devalues the experience since I’m rushing through it and no longer really “getting into it” like I did the first time – it makes me dislike it and leaves me with a bad taste to remember it by.

Plenty of children fought in wars over the course of history. In this case she’s more than pulling her own weight and clearly invaluable from the perspective of her companions.

And this is clearly not a realistic strict military setting, anyway. It’s a group of people with not much real official capacity apart from “name recognition” bumbling around who happen to be able to get to the right places at the right time to get things done.

I was thinking earlier today, actually, about how much I like Braham. While I do wish we had more male characters that effort was put into, I don’t think Braham is a “feminist stereotype” (what ? Feminism would say that men DON’T have to be masculine stereotypes – like, the exact opposite of what you say you have a problem with).

Also, when it comes to Taimi thinking she’s so smart that she can rush into the machine and be okay – I feel like we say exactly that kind of stuff in the asura personal story and that it’s a completely “asura” thing to do. Asura are as much, if not more, driven by “fame” as the Norn are – they are just “fame for intelligence” not “fame for brawn”. All over the open world as well we see “smart” asura doing things that are going to get themselves or others killed in the name of “data” or “knowledge”.

It’s not necessary or good for a character to fit 100% into the stereotype of their people – but what Taimi did isn’t really an outlier in “bad choices that smart asura make”.

If anything, thinking about this is kind of cool because the Asura and Norn are the same side of a “personal glory” coin, but the Norn have more room for intellectual growth since they don’t start off assuming they’re super-smart and right about everything. Her great intelligence but lack of awareness is actually a weakness, in a way. If she wants personal growth, she would need to go against everything her people stand for and admit she DOESN’T know everything. If I pity her for a weakness, that would be the one – that she cannot see beyond the views of her culture and that not being able to could literally destroy her or others.

I agree that they could do more with her disability. If Scruffy is so great than why aren’t all asura in one all the time ? I think they’re starting to address that, but barely.

I think it’s hard for writers to really succeed at writing disabled characters, but I want to give GW2 credit for trying and for doing some things right even if she’s not perfect. You might not agree, but I prefer that they ARE trying, rather than just not giving a disabled character a shot at all. I hate seeing writers use “impossible cure” on characters that I share attributes with, so I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t think there’s any perfectly right way to handle this – because on one hand fantasy and science fiction are one of the greatest ways to talk about these issues, BUT some people are here for “escapism only” and actually WANT a “fantasy everything that is a problem can be fixed with magic and stuff !” view. I don’t think either party is wrong for wanting what they want, escapism might seem empty but I don’t think the hope it can give people is completely “false”. I would also mention that there was a thread where a disabled girl literally sent the devs cookies because she appreciated Taimi so much – Taimi might not be perfect, but I do believe she’s a step in the right direction and she means a lot to many people already.

Taimi reminds me of Newt from Pacific Rim (and Annie from LoL) and I don’t necessarily want to see her go darkside. What I want more is for her to start to think outside the box of “being an asura” so that she can really develop as a being. However, this is the kind of fantasy story where I really don’t expect that to happen, although maybe.

So… what if Margie the necromancer (who we were also just reminded can raise undead) who is by herself with her sister’s dead body and not thinking clearly brings her “back” ?

Taimi reminds me of that dude from Pacific Rim who was the “kaiju groupie”. Neither are evil, but both prone to geeking out about the thing that wants to destroy the world and also making questionably safe choices.

I think the cutscene was supposed to convey an “impossibly big and beyond understand dudes I just saw EVERYTHING on a new level of experience beyond our own” feeling – so things were seen in abstract/higher terms that show the world more as in terms of a math equation/system than a photograph.

Saying “I saw the dragon” was our characters interpretation of that – however, they could have FELT that it was the dragon, not just interpreted visual data, they might have simply KNOWN it – although if these experiences are all truths is itself open to interpretation.

Sounds like someone’s been watching too much Hannibal. ;p

Not having traits at first really isn’t that big a deal, I pretty much ignored them out of ignorance on my way to my first 80. If you have the extra gold and don’t care – sure, pay it for him – but I feel like he’d be fine on his own and would probably learn more about the game if you didn’t.

So you’d rather never have a chance to see it, period ?

You know, like last year.

When I’ve missed LS stuff it’s because I was too busy with school to play on a regular basis – and it will be easy for me to just LOG ON even if I’m not able to actually play right then. And even if I was so swamped that I couldn’t even log on I’d rather be able to unlock that with money than never have a chance to play it, period.

Levelling in this game is pretty quick, I wouldn’t really worry about it.

Since Ranger and Engineer are both Medium armor classes if you ever bother to make ascended gear you can trade it over if ever that day comes that Engineers get stabby weapons. If you don’t bother with that it will be pretty cheap to just buy a set of exotics gear for the Engineer (you can also save any good drops your Ranger won’t use in your bank). Since this is likely quite a while in the future you should have enough gold without really trying by then.

And if you make a legendary weapon you’d be able to share that, too.

So, just play what you like NOW and if you really want to you can make and play an Engineer and get them to level 80 as a side project for if they ever become something you’d want to spend more time on.

idk what’s up with Traits and if that changes any of this because I haven’t experienced whatever the new system is. Looks like it might take a bit of time or gold but it doesn’t seem like it would be a dealbreaker especially if you plan ahead.

I have a regular HDD, everything set to highest and I’ve timed the load screens and even the time I thought it was taking “really long” it was only like 17 seconds (which was entering Old LA during a holiday).

I just use KeePass. I generates 20+ random strings for me and I don’t have to write anything down or remember anything.

The database is encrypted with highly secure ciphers so I feel like if someone was able to get into it I woulda been kinda screwed no matter what. I feel like it’s more likely some kitten-hat (;p) would find a paper with hand-written passwords and decide to be a jerk. That’s how most people get “hacked”, anyway.

I’d secretly hoped for bunny ears or a hilarious giant bunny boss.

I don’t think decorated trees would be a “problem”, but I also don’t really care that they’re not there. The area looks fully decorated and cohesive.

You have to take into account that it’s a mobile i5 you’re talking about, though. The mobile i7 that actually has 4 cores (some don’t) is basically like the desktop i5. When I think of “an i5” I think of the desktop version – because for video games and computers in general the unfortunate truth is that the desktop hardware is the “standard” and the mobile versions are less powerful and watered-down in comparison (for unavoidable reasons, although they could market things with more clarity – though I guess the hype is what sells to people who don’t know very much about the hardware*).

I’m just saying this so that people who are buying a new system or thinking about it can be aware – so that they too can buy or build a system that gives them that “wow” experience.

When it comes to a laptop a QM i7 is probably the only way to go for video games that you don’t want to play on lower settings.

*I’m thinking of a person buying a laptop with an i7 “because it’s better because it has a bigger number in the name” and things like that.

I have an i5-3450 and an HD 6870 and I play on the highest settings and get 50-60 fps in most places.

How were you NOT able to play on even medium before ? O___o

I’m guessing that Envy was a laptop ? (I don’t know anything about laptop models any more since I’ve stopped using them) I guess a laptop i5 would be a significant downgrade from the desktop counterpart – and the “7750” would be weaker if it was an “M” designation for a laptop, but it still doesn’t look bleak enough to not have even been able to play on medium settings. I mean, I initially played GW2 on a MUCH worse laptop while I was building my desktop and it still played it on lowest reasonably enough – and that laptop was so much worse than what you had !

I highly encourage anyone who wants to play decent-looking games for cheap to build a desktop if you can. I spent less than a low-end laptop to build mine and the upgrade potential means that it won’t be entirely junked when it starts to fail me.

I friggerty love jumping puzzles don’t take them from me I burn everything to the ground.

/am I joking AM I

It is useful because that way people who are in different locations can use it as a point of reference for coordinating events.

That way they don’t have to specify time differences for time zones – someone can just state server time and everyone can see what it is in relation to themselves.

I’m on TC, but I’m not sure about server population and time of day. When I used to work nights, I vaguely remember an Australia-based guild advertising that it was looking for members.

Maybe search something like “GW2 TC Australia” and see what comes up ? (or things like that) It might be a good way to find out what communities exist – maybe there is a very big AUS guild somewhere ?

I would also advise you search for a guild based on what you’re looking to “do”. If you’re not sure, maybe just look for a guild of friendly players who do a little of everything. You can join more than one guild at no penalty – so if you want to join a WvWvW or dungeon-specific guild later you can.

Um… I did the JP quite a few times on my Asura and didn’t have a problem with making the jump without the blue presents. I don’t think anyone “needs” them. I can understand if a player (with any character race) isn’t comfortable making that jump – but they could either wait until they are alone or explain the situation and ask others to wait. As the JP becomes less popular I’m sure there will be more chances to be “alone” when the presents spawn.

As for the wind, I usually just wait for it to stop if it’s going when I get up there and I still end with 1-2000 HP.

When you wonder if it would be “worth it” – what kind of FPS do you get now and what would you like to achieve ? In what situations ? (LA vs less populated open world vs zerg – et cetera) ?

A while ago I took two months off because I really wanted to make a Game of Thrones costume and needed to dedicate ~5 hours a day to it instead of taking up time with GW2 and other video games. I had been playing the game for several hours a day – but something in my life was more important to me than experiencing whatever was going on in GW2 that I made that choice and I don’t have any regrets (why should I ?).

I had previously been participating in the LS ankitten ow. I had also missed the start of the time when the LS started – way back when. I remember coming in at the end of Flame and Frost and being like “???”. On one hand, yes I was sad that I “came back” on the last day of it and was definitely not going to be able to get all the achievements – but… on the other I had been doing stuff with my life that I wanted to do instead. If my priority was GW2 and never missing anything in it I would have to make that my choice instead – and some people do and I don’t judge them – whatever makes someone happy as long as they’re still getting by in life.

I don’t have a problem with how the LS is. You are looking at it from a pessimistic point of view – yes, you “missed” a year of content – that was your choice you were doing other things you wanted to do instead ! But since the LS isn’t stopping you can come back and play if you want to. There will be something happening. Don’t get focused on having to do “everything”. I feel like the LS has done some decent “recaps” as well throughout to try to explain things to people – and you can always look up “what happened” if it’s of particular interest (when I was gone Kiel won the election, not sure what else, some stuff ?).

I’m curious about the technical limitations of instanced areas like that. I also feel like it could easily get “out of order” and be difficult to nagivage without a new UI/system entirely. Some of the content doesn’t make sense without the others – you’re right – but having all it of available would also be a lot to sift through. And if it’s a requirement to continue on you’re going to have people who are essentially “stuck” back in time and who would be angry that they are not able to progress fast enough to catch up to everyone. It also splits players up and cordons them off – which I think wouuld be one of the bigger issues. It was great having SO MANY people in Kessex all doing the events – if you split people up, there might not be as many to do the “current” event – or not nearly enough to do past events that rely on group content (even just trying to get enough people to enter an instanced area to do a dungeon). I remember “coming back” at one point during Dragon Bash. It was cool and I had fun despite the fact I wasn’t even done my Personal Story and hadn’t actually experienced any dragons being bashed. It’s like a 24/7 party that you can join if you want to – that will keep going on without you but that you can always come back to. And if I’m going to be pessimistic, I don’t think it’s like we’re losing out on replaying something of masterwork quality. Some of it is pretty solid, but it’s largely not to the same quality as the permanent world – I’m not sure it could really “hold up” against that or be a huge selling point. A lot of the stand-out moments would be hard to offer as a “re play” and require significant work to be made able to be so – and would be potentially missing important content, et cetera. Some wouldn’t make sense to always have available, anyway – such as the fantastic Zephyr Sanctum – it wouldn’t make sense or serve its purpose if it was always accessible – but it will be back so if someone wants to make visiting it a priority they can check the releases page to make sure they jump in game when it’s back.

I don’t think your idea is essentially bad and might be able to be applied to some situations (I’m just not sure which/how) ! Not at all, I just want to think about it – feel free to address any issues if you’d like.

Lag or death from cold.

Where are you located (in general, even just country or state/province/et cetera – nothing identifiable) ? Have you tested your ping ? How fast is your internet ?

A person in another thread reported that when they turned off all background programs (they mentioned Skype specifically) that it went much better and they did not have the problem any more. This might also be a cause of problems.

Just trying to give you some ideas.

Usually when you do a repeating one it doesn’t count again to fill up a pip in the Meta – only the first time. I’ve done the Bell Choir one more than once, but it still only counted once – for example.

However, I finished the Meta yesterday and I didn’t even do any of the Snowball Mayhem or Toypocalypse Achievements – I just did Dailies to account for the discrepancy. I also finished the Nightmare Ends without doing the Loot the Chest 5 Times Achievement (I did everything else because it was fun for me – but if I had been having trouble I wouldn’t have had to – I could have done dailies instead).

Conceivably you could do it entirely through dailies, even.

I agree in advance that they should make this clearer for people who haven’t figured it out – that the specific LS Dailies now count toward the Metas (the icon of the Daily is the same as the LS icon). It’s a great thing and means you can play how you want and still get the Meta done. While I love the JP, many people hate it – but they don’t have to do it to still finish the Meta ! – just like I didn’t have to do things I wasn’t particularly interested in.

“Followers” were a thing in GW1 that were like NPCs in your “party”. I forget the exact details but there were some you couldn’t control (kind of like NPCs in story dungeons now) and some you could (more like ranger pets).

Actually, I see people make it past the “stuck” presents more often than fall and have to start over. I had always wondered, “if they’re not going to make it, why would they do it – don’t they know they’re going to die ???” – but then I realised that they weren’t and they were making it past and were fine. I can understand being to “afraid” to do that, but once you know it’s not certain death it’s actually not any harder than jumping on a “perfect” un-exploded set.

The Dailies are super easy (but do require playing potentially more days total) and let you avoid any of the others you aren’t interested in.

ibuypower and their sister site(s) or whatever are pretty notorious for taking advantage of people who don’t know what parts they’re selecting – lots of low quality PSUs that were never going to be able to handle what was hooked up to them.

The PSU is, in my opinion, the most important part of your system. If it dies it can take everything with it. You want a high-quality PSU that will be as safe as possible with quality parts and that will support what you want to hook up to it and have the quality materials to have the best chance of not taking everything with it if it fails.

I would highly recommend NOT going with their “standard” option if you do go with them. Research the PSU a little and make sure you are picking one that is not going to crash and burn. If anything, that is the one part you really need to pay attention to – that is so often overlooked because people get caught up on making sure the CPU and GPU are “good enough”.

I knew nothing about any of this before I built my own PC. I started to research and it took me a month or so to learn what I needed to know. If you are curious and willing to read a little it is not impossible.

I paid $500 to build my computer last year and it runs GW2 at +60fps except in zerg vs zerg and such.

I had never built a computer before, but it was easy and fun – I really recommend it.

If you don’t want to I would highly recommend becoming friends with someone who will help you do it so that you can save money and get better performance.

I agree – try a password manager. That way you can have all your passwords in one place – you don’t even have to give THAT a password itself (or a difficult one) if you aren’t worried about it.

I use KeePass, which works on both my desktop, tablet, smartphone, and anything else I could want it on – I keep it stored on a cloud server so that it is automatically updated no matter where I changed it from.

Or write it down on paper, even – if this is that important, write it on a post-it note and stick it to your monitor. I am not trying to be “smart” or sarcastic or anything – it’s something that people do when a password is not super secret and it’s a decent enough idea if you don’t live with people who are jerks and would mess up your stuff just for fun.

I’m sorry that the nomenclature on the forum is frustrating to you, but once you know how it works it is the same every time.

If someone can’t make it to an event before everyone else completes it – due to something the people able to get there bought in the gem store… you don’t see the problem ? Map chat is already filled with people who take champ farming and such very seriously – do we need a way for “serious farmers” to make the game unplayable to new players ? Or for it to be something people require for dungeon runs so that players can get places in-between combat faster ? There are many situations where this would provide a distinct “advantage” and cause other players to get the short end of the stick – which is what “P2W” is.

At least try to be constructive instead of loling in chatspeak – I gave you that respect instead of just trash-talking your idea.

Edit : And I’d also like to say that I’m more than willing to change my mind – I would just need to see more logical implementation or arguments that address the issues that come to mind when considering this.

I’m pretty sure that constitutes “P2W” and I don’t like the idea for that reason. Even if it was only out of combat, it would still mean that people that bought it would have a significant advantage over others when it comes to PvE – because gaining rewards and being able to even just participate in events often has to do with “getting there” when it comes to open-map PvE – if everyone got there significantly before you, you’d constantly be missing out. I don’t think that would be “fair” and would create a hostile atmosphere in-game very contrary to what we have now (and make problems between people even worse).

Sorry, not trying to be a downer, just thinking about this from another perspective.

^That last paragraph is exactly how I feel.

It’s not a “need”, but you can work toward it if you want to.

OP, if you don’t like the process to get it… don’t do it. You’re not really missing anything – all you’re “missing” is part of the game that you’ve stated you don’t like.

Why I don’t like Scarlet has to do with the fact that anything possibly interesting about her is not conveyed to us – it’s a product of my speculating and grasping at straws.

There is no challenger or rival or companion or bystander to function as a lens to her character – to be an “in-between” or “opposite” or anything to give us more information about her and who she is “as a person” or what she might have “seen” and what Grand Plans she wishes to disrupt or control. There are no seeds planted in our minds that perhaps she is being used, herself – an impossible, unbelievable girl that was created as a means to an end of someone much more powerful.

There is nothing. We are shown actions and a shallow personality that conveys little. I’m not saying that she was created as a shallow, hollow character – but that’s all I’m getting. If there’s more, we need to experience that.

That is possibly becoming interesting. That is opening the door for knowing more about her and to character development.

Perhaps there will be a “reveal” and it will be that someone has been pulling the strings (which many seem to suspect) and like Winston Niles Rumfoord or The Master from New Who (both similar concepts that were executed well – the person that “saw everything” and went cocopuffs (and in their cases turned out to be a pawn to a far larger scheme than they could have imagined)) we will watch her character flounder, destruct, or evolve when this becomes known to her. Watching the one who thinks they are all-powerful suddenly know they are a pawn can be interesting and satisfying – and watching how they take it and what they choose to do next.

But if this is anywhere on the right track, we need to know this in-game. We need hints. We need to hear her more than just giggles and taunts and nothings. I want to hear about her philosophy and what she thinks she’s doing and why she thinks she’s right, and who she thinks she’s up against – who is the shape in the dark that she might awaken ? If we are all in danger because of her poking around in things – give us hints. Show us something to be afraid of. Make us fear her philosophy and drive, but show us why we must stop her, because of what her actions could unleash. Have her empower her followers with knowledge that under her they too can have a piece of what she’s grasping for – make her someone to fear because of what she inspires in others, not just selfish ambition without any real given reason behind it. Give us enough that we want to know more, that we can start to really sink our teeth in – give us enough that we care and feel apprehension.

I think she has potential – certainly, I just dislike that her execution is as like a full character as a cardboard cut-out is to being an actual celebrity.

I’m sorry. I love this game and the LS – I’m just saying this because I want to provide feedback so that maybe it can get better – though I doubt a post buried in this thread will really “reach” anyone, it’s nice to just let off a little steam, too.

I’m not quite sure I understand what happened ?

Are you saying you clicked on something too many times and bought too many of the same thing ? Sorry, I’m just trying to understand.

It took me over an hour to “learn” the puzzle (wasn’t around for most of Wintersday last year), but I have since done it the 20+ times. It seemed almost impossible, but I kept trying and eventually made it and then it was very easy !

If you live far away from the servers, you might be having lag issues – or issues with too many background processes. Someone mentioned that they had had a lot of things open and were seeming to die from “wind” a lot – but it was actually lag issues from having other programs open – so they didn’t know they were about to die before they did and it seemed “random”.

I have only done the Gingerbread Path, just because it was the one I tried first. If you’re having trouble with the Snowflakes part, maybe practice by doing Spekk’s Lab ? – basically the same concept, but easier and you’ll most likely be alone if you think that would help. If you haven’t done many JPs at all – maybe do some of the easier ones, I know that learning how to do them with mostly the mouse really helped me. I used to think all JPs were almost impossible and awful, but now that I’ve been doing them, I really like them !

I agree with “don’t rush” – yes, it’s timed – but what helped me most was knowing which jumps I needed to take longer on – I usually pause on the tiny snowflakes so I don’t accidentally run off them and pause at the thin candy canes.

While I did it mostly with my Sylvari, I also did it with my tiny Asura – most people fall before them being in the way becomes an issue.

I found the “Exploding Presents” to be the most reliable and easiest part. I would jump right when the CF box appeared and just jump up and avoid any pre-exploded patches. I only died once or twice at this part after learning it – I would always pick “carry the present” because I felt pretty confident that I’d make it. I have done it with pretty large groups, too – and never experienced presents exploding so badly that we couldn’t make it – it wasn’t like I was the only one getting through, there would be small groups of us getting past !

When it comes to the AOE, once you know what you’re looking for it is easy to dodge them – but once you know the path I found I was running in front of the AOE and didn’t even need to dodge 90% of the time, even when the two AOE appear near the end – because I was already almost on the next peppermint by the time the second one appeared – if I was still in it quite a bit, I’d dodge forward and zip back to the peppermint, wait for the snowball to pass and go on.

Mangi.8907:

I’m really trying with this puzzle, but by the time I reach the peppermint discs I’m at low health and usually drop dead there. I don’t know what affects the rate of frostbite but when you only have about 10,000 HP and you lose 193 each second, you don’t get much time.

We discussed this in the JP map chat once and it seems to just be a percentage – so having less HP to start with will not hurt you. You probably know that, but I just want to say it for anyone who is worried.

I think it was well done – it’s totally optional and not necessary to complete the Meta. A nice little gold sink with no pressure and no one feeling left out (if you complete 100% as said 3 gold shouldn’t be an issue).

^ yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

By the way, I really do like gruel. Tried it once and was pleasantly surprised after it being the butt of so many jokes.

Have they fixed the issues with the NVIDIA cards ?

I like gruel !

^ I really like it. Good sounds, very fitting, I would smile if I saw the name in-game (good RP names get me). 10/10.

My two asura (both female) are :

- Hrixxa
(Engineer, created first day or second of the headstart – for that I am surprised that I was able to come up with a name that doesn’t make me totally facepalm now (like the Sylvari names I picked early on eventually did))

- Pritta
(Elementalist, I haven’t played her enough to say much more about her, but really should !)

^8/10. I like it, but the “y” is throwing off the flow for me (and introduces doubt into the pronunciation), I think an “i” would have worked more for me – but that’s just me personally and I don’t know how anyone else would feel reading it !

My humans(sssss) are :

- Lilith Fontaine
(Necromancer, cheesy, I know !)

- Robert Courcelles
(Warrior, was on medieval name site for a few hours until I finally came up for air and picked that)

Both were going for an Ascalonian bent with the English and French-based names. I really hate picking out names, it’s the hardest part of character creation for me to find something I can live with.

To answer a few at once – I like what they did with Kessex Hills – it’s given the area history and made it no longer Another Very Krytan Landscape. I love that. I love that something happened and left a mark on the world and I do very much wish for that sort of thing to continue – even if it’s not as often as other updates. It does feel more believable, natural, and as if it is “evolving”.

I do think temporary content of that nature is important and valuable to create this feeling of a world with history and changes.

Creating real history is indeed an advantage. Southsun is pretty dead, but anyone who levels through Kessex will see this mark left on the world and I think that’s cool and good and the right direction.

I agree with most of what you’re saying, although I never had a problem with Trahearne. I found him at least moderately interesting and endearing in a Marvin the Paranoid Android sort of way. I don’t really understand the need for the story to be all about “ME” – I found it more realistic and satisfying for it to not be. I suppose I’m just tired of “Chosen Lone Hero of the World” stories, and at least this wasn’t about just one lone special hero (even if the story does come close to that).

While there are many issues with the plot that I could go into, I have to say first that what is done well is still incredibly refreshing when compared to other MMOs I’ve played. I can pick this apart, but I am still grateful that we have what we do when compared to some that are downright offensive to the core. I dislike the “Orders of Tyria” in general and they seem like awful plot devices to me, they’re one of the things I like the least from the story. I understand what they’re trying to do, but I don’t particularly like the way they did it – the world seems so small and condensed and I really dislike that. I dislike not having real dialogue options and how basically pointless the “Personality” system is. I dislike that apparently no one can be saved from Nightmare. I’m supposing it’s that way so we don’t have to feel guilty about killing them, but it feels forced and unrealistic – even Darth Vader was able to realise that going full Dark Side maybe wasn’t the best life choice after all.

But… back to the good! I have told my friends about certain characters/things/plotlines and they’ve been impressed for what is being done compared to other games. And there’s all the little things – like the quaggan and skritt and kodan and Wizard’s Fief (one of my favourite places in the game) and more. When it comes to a “living world” I wish they would add more life to the world itself – more dialogue options, more chances to have an impact on your character (have “Personality” actually do something, et cetera). I wish there were more places in the game that inspired wonder and awe – or even just made me laugh. I love the skillpoint in QD where you fight the Don Quixote skritt – his dialogue is priceless – I want more moments like that.

My biggest issue with Scarlet is that there’s no reason to care about her. I loved Halloween because you get a real sense of the characters. I was expecting to hate The Bloody Prince, because I am a cynical jerk – but the back-and-forth in the Labyrinth really won me over. Just those few strands of dialogue imparted such character and told you so much about their history, relationship, and motivations. That’s what I want from Scarlet or anyone. The “Mad Family” has so much potential – so much more than I can see at this point with Scarlet. I am genuinely interested in seeing what they do with it next year and really hope that they can continue the storyline with at least the same quality as this year.

Collaborative writing doesn’t have to be a bad thing – many great movies and television shows with enjoyable plots were made by a team, not just a lone visionary. I don’t think either way of working is a sure path to success or failure. I’m not sure if this is what you’re saying or something else, though.

You don’t have to be male or female to be a terrible writer. I’ve seen things in this game that I think are good because of what I suspect to be involvement from non-stereotypical-male perspectives (or simply catering to them blindly and dumping the old barrel of cliches on us over and over – Scarlet might fit that, but at least we have character who admirably are not her). I think that’s great. However, anyone can write something terrible, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. You can have Twilight but there’s also The Da Vinci Code (I have no issue with the plot material, the quality of sentences and such in it is just so bad as to be memorable in and of itself).

^ how do you even play the game normally, then of your keyboard is such a problem ?

If you’d splits between 6 and 7 you just have to hop one finger over two keys every once in a while – and even if you always missed that note you would likely still make it through the song.

I press keys with a larger gap between them during normal play on a normal keyboard. You could also use a number pad.