Guild Wars 2

These are some really solid ideas. I would really miss the awesome aesthetics of the moves though. I know that a later specialization could add them back as suggested which would undoubtedly alleviate this complaint, but if there is any way to keep the book as part of the animation until that spec releases I would appreciate it.

A year ago today, the (very excellent) feature pack tragically removed regular town clothes and made them tonics. In doing so, players lost the ability to dye them. This thread is here to commemorate this loss for those who had use of it.

Been nearly a year and my army of toons and fashion has grown ever larger. Figured I better update my rather crowded wallpaper before HoT makes me add a couple Revenant to my ranks. Keep making cool/cute/awesome characters everyone!

Leah Hoyer.9382:

Hi folks! Now that I’ve settled in a bit at ANet, I wanted to check in again on this thread. The first Living World episode that I was involved in, “Echoes of the Past,” has now been live for a few days. We’ve all been really pleased that people seem to be enjoying the story and content a lot. But I’d love to ask you all for more specifics. What were your favorite narrative moments? What did you like about the content? About the way it was told? And of course, I want to hear what you think we can still do better on.

Thanks in advance to everyone for their comments. I’m very excited to be part of such a great game, and to work with such an excellent team of creative people.

The fact that NPCs recognize my past achievements through ambient dialogue and emotes is a huge deal. It really makes my character feel like a part of the game universe. Also, your initial efforts at redeeming both Trahearne and Canach are pretty good and hopefully will continue to develop them into more faceted characters. This hope also applies to the player characters. I really hope you will continue to take the extra efforts to make the player characters reflect the players. More divergent dialogue choices to reflect our individual toons are very welcome. I want to feel like MY hero not a generic one, dialogue is a part of that. Finally, one of my favorite bits of living story has been when the NPCs who are close to me converse and banter. PLEASE let the banter and humorous dialogue that occasionally occurs involve my character. I am aware that involving the 16 voice actors used for player characters is expensive, but if my toon laughs at a joke that Kasmeer makes or chides Trahearne for his absence when fighting Zhaitan that makes a huge impact on creating a cohesive universe that my characters exist in. Ideally, you can plan your episode dialogue in larger batches and justify hiring your full cast back to record multiple episodes worth of banter/dialogue. (Adding some player voice over to the past living story episodes would be a welcome addition as well) Regardless of what you choose/can afford to do, I really enjoyed the last episode. I trust you can continue to craft an intriguing tale that will continue to let characters drive the plot through the mountain of entertaining and rich lore.

I can confirm, it makes the wurm fight REALLY unwieldy. Tons of eggs. Please fix it when you can! Thanks

Yeah. Kraag’s post sums up my (adjusted) findings rather nicely. Hopefully, whatever Anet opts to do will keep that easily accessible design that can benefit all players more readily.

Thareen.5471:

I have to burst this bubble again (take a look at my signature, the new colors i would have unlocked in less then a day). We also like to work often enough with different commanders in close proximity to each other also in wvw, not only on tequatl, this is where the squad comes in play. Having two good organized public squads working hand in hand one with melee and one with range can even get some guildzergs into trouble (proved that^^ ).
The proposed boon would engourage more of these dreadful farming zergs in wvw and we actually try to get people away from that practice.

For a defensive commander however such a boon would actually make sense, because most people avoid the defensive because of the lack of loot and wxp.

I am aware that many commanders would unlock the new colors very quickly, in fact, they don’t NEED to be locked as its a form of cosmetic progression that the rank and file do not get. If Anet went full bore they could easily create a full commander ranking system that unlocked specific colors, passive buffs, and benefits for a squad. I find that however, would increase the number of players who would feel its unfair commanders actually HAVE so much extra progression for the low cost of 100g. That said, I included the minor level of “unlock colors, by doing stuff” in my proposal because its easy fun. Yeah, any good commander could unlock all of them in a week but this proposal isn’t REALLY for adding a ranking to commanders. Sure, you could have a color unlock for completed X many defense events in WvW. A commander who was particularly dedicated to defense could run with that tag and people could see visually he has spent a fair amount of time defending. Heck, maybe players would see the “prestige” behind it, but that’s hardly the point. The point of the system is diverse looking commanders, the color progression is just for kicks. If Anet wants to make a true commander progression system it will need a lot more than colors. As for WvW farming zergs, its still quite possible to have the multiple commanders for different purposes be effective with the proposed momentum buff. It all depends on said buffs range. If you are splitting your group for catas and trebs you needn’t worry. Furthermore, if the commander really truly needs to tag up in close range to the established commander (lets say within 2000 range to keep your example of a range stack relevant) it would just be the second commander who would be opting out of the buff, and only while he is tagged. A commander who is willing to to do what is necessary (in this case temporarily sacrificing a non combat buff) is a good WvW commander and every commander I know would do that without hesitation. Its just a buff, sure it would be nice, but if the situation calls for a split group to take Garrison a second commander tagging is a minor issue. As commanders, we put ourselves on the line every time we tag up. I personally like to think that a commander is there to help the people (our subordinates if you will) do what needs to be done. If a noble sacrifice is needed, who better than a commander? Commanders choose their course the moment they tag (and more often than not, before that) if my being useful requires me to tag up and lose a boost to magic find, so be it. Its no different than any time someone fails to join in on capturing the lord room, because they were out fighting the enemy so that the cap would succeed.

First allow me to clarify, I am not new to WvW and I am fully aware that frequent players know the good commanders by name and that TS is used to organize multiple groups at any one time. The addition of colors/flair on tags are meant to make it so a player can look at a screenshot of their WvW map see three tags, and know exactly whats going on by the tags alone, no hovering, no TS. Being able to differentiate a KNT zerg from a ONS zerg by a tag color alone is a useful addition. Furthermore, it allows the hectic mega server open world content to coordinate better on bosses like Teq and the triple trouble wurm. When four commanders are ranging Tequatl and a 5th is in melee, it helps to be able to spot the commander who isn’t being an idiot for the cleanses.

Regardless, you all have made it abundantly clear that negative feedback is not the way to provide incentive for good commanding. Allow me to adjust my proposal accordingly. I will edit my initial post to include this proposed method shortly.

To recap:
-Commander tags should have several colors available to be selected by commanders
-Additional colors should be able to be unlocked via some method (be it POSITIVE feedback or events)

Proposal Method 3.) Positive Reinforcement
Rather than making a negative method via downvotes to discourage bad commanding, I realized we should do it the true ArenaNet way. A system that would rely on a system to encourage GOOD commanding. What I propose is this, when a tagged commander successfully completes an event (probably group event or higher in PvE to discourage excess tagging), takes a camp, a tower, or even so much as takes guard post, they gain a stacking non-combat buff called momentum (for now). Each stack of momentum, is given to all players near the commander within a generous range. Now what momentum should be is essentially the birthday booster buff, split into a bunch of stacks. As the commander successfully completes events or takes/defends objectives in WvW, the stacks of magic find, gathering efficiency, world exp, and exp gain grow until capping at a reasonable percentage. The buff would remain on the commander and their squad as long as the commander did not release to waypoint after dying (or D/C or tag down). This provides a bit of forgiveness should the commander somehow manage to die, but have his squad save him. As a final touch, I would recommend making any tagged commander following within the radius of another tagged commander, unable to build the new momentum buff, and unable to receive its benefits until tagging down. This way momentum would encourage groups to be efficient and use a single commander, but not affect two commanders with momentum crossing each others paths (as infrequent as that might be)

Well, there is my updated, no negativity edition to encourage better commanders. Have at it you cynics!

Taj Tiger.2630:

Colors, sure. Giving power to players to up/downvote a commander? No, thank you.

I think you’re relying too much on the ability of non-commanders to vote objectively, and if such a tool were available to rate commanders, that same tool should be available to rate all players. There are probably more bad players than bad commanders; fair’s fair.

If you want a rating system, it should be determined by the game mechanics, i.e. number of objectives captured in a week, average number of other players present during said captures, etc. Multiple commanders capturing the same objective would probably have to split the rating (to avoid “boosting”), but anything to correlate a commander’s effectiveness independent of player opinion or bias would be a better option.

Hmm. this is a fair point. But where you like the objectivity of controlled ranking, I see it failing to address the potential for bad commanders still trolling. Perhaps specific colors could only be unlocked in WvW? Regardless, I would like some sort of system in place to discourage ineffective commanders. If good commanders got consistently caught in the crossfire it would have to be changed, but in my opinion, I think any commander worth their salt would end up with more upvotes at the end of a day than downvotes resulting in a net gain. Net gain at reset would require a negative number to merit a penalty tag, so any commander supported by his guild, friends, and comrades would be unlikely to face the wrath of the community and fair weather players. As such commanders and their value would be determined by the players and the integrity of the system is as only as good as those who would value it. I suppose its effectiveness depends on how understanding your average player is.

Thareen.5471:

With the ammount of trolls in this game i would rather not take the first option.
Especially with the language filter, about 60% will not read what you write anyway because they don´t know how turn that off or are just intolerant of different languages used. Some say a bad commander is one that does not write in the chat. This way you would get a lot of negative votes just because of that filter.

Also are you reffering to PvE only or WvW only commanders or are you taking it into consideration that some do both?
How about just let the commander itself choose what to do and decide for him/herself on the color?
It would help a lot especially in WvW when there is more than one commander on a map for whatever reason.

The thing with the map chat at least is a good idea.

Suggestions for new colors: yellow, green, red and of course for Chiiwii pink

The first method is actually intended for commanders to chose their own colors. Additional colors with more “prestige” would be unlocked by consistently high reviews. Additionally, the negative colors and eventual inability to tag are temporary inconveniences. So a great commander might get nuked in his reviews one day, yet still be able to achieve the “highest” rank of commander color if players like what he does most days. Also, the method would allow players to discourage multiple tags when players deem them unnecessary, like a guild run Tequatl or three headed Wurm.

As for the tooltip suggestion, its good, but by making it so you have to have the commander targeted it ensures negative reviews aren’t pouring in from players who aren’t even with you. Though it might be a necessary evil depending on how many “troll” commanders there are.

UPDATED
To recap:
-Commander tags should have several colors available to be selected by commanders
-Additional colors should be able to be unlocked via some method (be it POSITIVE feedback or events)

Proposal Method 3.) Positive Reinforcement
Rather than making a negative method via downvotes to discourage bad commanding, I realized we should do it the true ArenaNet way. A system that would rely on a system to encourage GOOD commanding. What I propose is this, when a tagged commander successfully completes an event (probably group event or higher in PvE to discourage excess tagging), takes a camp, a tower, or even so much as takes guard post, they gain a stacking non-combat buff called momentum (for now). Each stack of momentum, is given to all players near the commander within a generous range. Now what momentum should be is essentially the birthday booster buff, split into a bunch of stacks. As the commander successfully completes events or takes/defends objectives in WvW, the stacks of magic find, gathering efficiency, world exp, and exp gain grow until capping at a reasonable percentage. The buff would remain on the commander and their squad as long as the commander did not release to waypoint after dying (or D/C or tag down). This provides a bit of forgiveness should the commander somehow manage to die, but have his squad save him. As a final touch, I would recommend making any tagged commander following within the radius of another tagged commander, unable to build the new momentum buff, and unable to receive its benefits until tagging down. This way momentum would encourage groups to be efficient and use a single commander, but not affect two commanders with momentum crossing each others paths (as infrequent as that might be)

Well, there is my updated, no negativity edition to encourage better commanders. Have at it you cynics!

Below are my initial proposals, before I added the in the feedback. I left it here for context

So with the latest QoL Patch from Anet I figure I would make a proposal on the eventual changes to the commander system before it actually goes through. In my opinion, there are two effective methods that will add commander differentiation and assure commander quality. Both are simple systems that rely on color.

Solution 1.) Customized commanders

In the customized Commander system, commanders unlock additional colors for their tags through player feedback. A commander under this system is appraised by right clicking their portrait while their tag is active. You can either like the commander, dislike them or don’t vote. At the daily reset, these votes are tallied, and a set sum of positive votes will work toward unlocking a color. Unlocked colors can then be applied to the tag, making it easier to differentiate a commanders purpose or location on the map. If a commander has a set sum of negative votes they are relegated to a predetermined color for the next 24 hours until the next reset. This will inform players that a commander has trolled, been inefficient, or was just irrationally disliked. 3 days of poor player feedback will disable tagging up for the rest of the week. This will ensure that players wont tag frivolously, but will make a conscious decision when they want to tag.

Solution 2.) All commanders are different colors
With this system you don’t unlock colors by amassing positive feedback, instead commanders are automatically assigned a basic unique tag color upon tagging up. My proposed feedback system would instead be seen directly through color tone. Negative votes would slowly fade and tarnish the tag, making it darker and grimier until it disappears. Positive feedback would gradually lighten the tags color until it shines vibrantly.

If either one of these solutions is chosen I have one additional proposal.
-Make a commander tags appear next to the commanders name in map chat when tagged.

These systems along with the previously suggested increased supply check range and account bound tags, would greatly improve the utility of commander tags. I sincerely hope Anet can make these systems work as they continue to improve this game. Feel free to suggest improvements to my system all.

Personally, there is more I enjoy about the mega servers than I hate. That said, many things need to be adjusted. The new world boss system is my least favorite addition as it breaks the world’s immersive nature. Having an event spawn with no resolution is a terrible solution to avoid having several world bosses up at the same time. While it IS neat to have them spawn at set intervals, it breaks all immersion to have the Scholar Brogun run up to find out whats bothering the grawl then disappear wordlessly after destroying the totem. If you want to make it so only a single world boss is up at a time and keep this system (something I find slightly ridiculous and unnecessary) you should adjust the pre events with dialog and redirected events. As of right now, doing almost any world boss spawning event feels broken and incomplete. Oh, what’s that Gamarian? You just wordlessly gave up on your quest to find the darkness in the swamp? At least say something like “Oh, I was mistaken, Whatever darkness dwells here is still dormant” Please Anet, take the effort to make events feel complete when they don’t spawn the boss.

Oh, and make it so the megaservers can read which WPs temples and whanot are ACTUALLY open on other maps. I understand that there are multiple maps open at any given time, but at least run the checks on the oldest existing map instances. Stupid to have to double WP for no reason.

I can “store” a skin with a free transmutation to unlock it. The windcatcher for example, if not yet skinned, will have that option available. You lose the free transmutation though by using it.

Yes, This disappoints me greatly as well. I can mange the tonics, I cannot manage the bland colors… These looks meant something to me, I will miss them immensely

Beldin.5498:

Elitist.8701:

Hamstar.9421:

My thief :P Just made her 3 days ago.

OMG. What medium armor is this??? I MUST KNOW! THE FATE OF ME MAKING AN ENGINEER DEPENDS ON IT!

Top is Krytan Armor, Pants i think are from Magitech Armor.

Pants I think are Viphre. Still gem store though. They use em for the Tifa and Jill Valentine look alike toons a lot.

I made a wallpaper to show off my toons! Got 4 new ones on their way to 80. The wallie is at the bottom of my post but as an added bonus here is a link to my big gallery if anyone is feeling bored. (its huge)
https://plus.google.com/photos/116720401650472568824/albums/5977819394817209105

Cerai.9741:

Budchgon.2108:

My Valkyrie …

Scriniel.2930:

Cerai.9741:

Wow, your guys are pretty neat. A lot of armor blends. I tend to use full sets and go color schemed, with only a couple exceptions… Couldn’t really say who is best looking though. I have too many toons and tons of armor sets, I so I will humbly submit my “family photo” of all my toons and you guys can pick for yourselves. Sadly, no back slots or weapons shown, but to get them all in a row like that would be hard anywhere but the login screen.

Hey! I decided to make a family photo of mine too!

o.O

How can you make such awesomely high-res close shots in the character selection screen?

I just toggle off the interface and shoot at my native resolution. The people who I know in game that are more into screenshots than myself use a little trick to make it save bitmaps but I never learned the trick.

Cerai.9741:

Scriniel.2930:

Cerai.9741:

Wow, your guys are pretty neat. A lot of armor blends. I tend to use full sets and go color schemed, with only a couple exceptions… Couldn’t really say who is best looking though. I have too many toons and tons of armor sets, I so I will humbly submit my “family photo” of all my toons and you guys can pick for yourselves. Sadly, no back slots or weapons shown, but to get them all in a row like that would be hard anywhere but the login screen.

Hey! I decided to make a family photo of mine too!

I salute you sir! Isn’t having lots of characters great!

Yeah, I absolutely love the character creator. It is an added bonus to have all the utility of so many toons. Nice to see another alt-o-holic! Lots of well dressed ladies.

Sirendor.1394:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Scriniel.2930:

Cerai.9741:

Wow, your guys are pretty neat. A lot of armor blends. I tend to use full sets and go color schemed, with only a couple exceptions… Couldn’t really say who is best looking though. I have too many toons and tons of armor sets, I so I will humbly submit my “family photo” of all my toons and you guys can pick for yourselves. Sadly, no back slots or weapons shown, but to get them all in a row like that would be hard anywhere but the login screen.

Hey! I decided to make a family photo of mine too!

I salute you sir! Isn’t having lots of characters great!

You have entirely too much money on your hands. o_O

Lol, I can’t speak for Windu’s awesome collection of toons, but Scriniel and myself play together as a gaming couple. It’s definitely easier to sink the time and money into the game when the it becomes a part of your social and love life too. When a date night occasionally means playing guild wars for an evening? That’s a win.

Serelisk.6573:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Scriniel.2930:

Cerai.9741:

Wow, your guys are pretty neat. A lot of armor blends. I tend to use full sets and go color schemed, with only a couple exceptions… Couldn’t really say who is best looking though. I have too many toons and tons of armor sets, I so I will humbly submit my “family photo” of all my toons and you guys can pick for yourselves. Sadly, no back slots or weapons shown, but to get them all in a row like that would be hard anywhere but the login screen.

Hey! I decided to make a family photo of mine too!

I salute you sir! Isn’t having lots of characters great!

Agreed.

My favorite of yours is the frosty Sylvari Guardian. That said, I love the variety in your classes, though admittedly a couple aren’t my style, but to each their own! Nice stuff.

Zanshin.5379:

Mine all look great!

Excellent wallpaper and good looking toons to boot! You have inspired me to make a wallpaper style collection of my own toons. (see attached) My family has grown so I don’t have as much room to make a wallpaper that really shows them off, but I will save that project for another day. Nice stuff though, seriously.

xsquared.1926:

Why post one when you can post 5!

Nice, I like the collection. Good looking as a wallpaper too.

Zeefa.3915:

NinjaChris.9340:

Erukk.1408:

NinjaChris.9340:

In terms of Faolain and Caithe, keep in mind that gender distinction with Sylvari are almost arbitrary, since a: the relationship is never sexual and b: gender roles are not present in sylvaren society, as there is no difference between genders (as far as we know). Introducing “genders” to the Sylvari was basically just to make the race feel a bt more familiar.

From what I remember of the old dev posts and interviews, the Sylvari do have genitalia, and they do engage in sex as well.

Feel free to link to those blog posts you’re speaking of.

This is from before the game released:
“Do sylvari have romantic relationships?
Sylvari fall in and out of love, just like other races do. They have a romanticized view of devotion, and they’re curious about passion in all its forms. There are male and female sylvari, but none has ever produced a child as other races do. Because of this, traditional human-style gender roles have no meaning to sylvari, either in their society or in their romantic relationships. Often, a sylvari’s ardor is expressed with courtly zeal—emotional, empathic, personal—and is not necessarily defined by gender.” – by Angel McCoy
http://amd-icbm.com/icbm/anet-blog-the-sylvari-soul-angel-mccoy-on-writing-the-sylvari/

I don’t know where the blogpost is (unfortunately) but I remember reading it too. I think the wording was that they can still have “fun times” but cannot reproduce.

I don’t see how Majory and Kasmeer’s relationship is taking such a big role. I mean they are not that big in living story, and if not for the last one, and their talk outside of any instance, which you could easily miss I would not have guessed they were actually flirting.

Hethero relationships in PS aside from Logan and Jennah that I remember at the top of my head is Tonn and Ceera which is a married couple and really quite sweet though you never see them together. And Snarl Backdraft and Galina Edgecrusher, charr from different legions in a love/hate relationship, love them actually, their dynamic was the most amusing thing in Orr. Then there is Tiachren and Ysvelta from early sylvari story. Now I know it is more of a friendship but I kinda feel like mentioning Braham and Rox I am not sure why.

There is prolly way more, maybe also more samegendered, that just isn’t as noticeable.

Yeah, I find it unlikely that the Sylvari would be without genitalia. After all, they have mouths to eat, belly buttons, noses (mostly) among other human traits. I believe its so they can relate to the other races. To have commonality with their fellow peoples. Baby making, at least for now, is for the mother tree to do. Sylvari are in the first 20 years of what could possibly be 1000 year lifespans. From the Pale Tree’s perspective, they are still just children. Sweet and naive, not ready to make families of their own. 500 years down the line? Maybe then they will hit “puberty”. Until then, they are likely going to have “fun times” and fleeting relationships. I could be wrong, but I still feel that the Mother Tree gave her children human traits to be relatable. What is more human than pleasure?

So they said it was a love story? I can’t find the livestream, but I would be surprised and a bit dissapointed if it were true. Marjorie and Kasmeer felt a bit like Elsa and Anna from the new Frozen movie. Strong but definitely considered sisterly love. (as much as fans would like it to not be) Could they have meant that kind of true, unbiased, sisterly love? Again, I can’t find the stream so I can’t read into it but its not like they couldn’t go either way with the love story. The lesbian story just feels… a bit overdone in my opinion.

Hey Chris, I know I am a bit late to the party here, but I do have a couple suggestions to keep the game healthy and entertaining via horizontal progression. A progression with no level increase, and no new tier of equipment beyond ascended yet can still be fun and rewarding to experience. The “easiest” method to keep expanding the game is to add character progression with your content.
1. New skills, or alternate animations: unlocked in a variety of ways
One thread in the forums right now is discussing new ways (aka gw1) to unlock skills. While I do not think this ideal for the upcoming patches, it would be fantastic for potential new zones. While adding new skills to the base 1-5 weapon bound attacks might not be feasible for balancing reasons, varying animations for weapon skills and new utilities could be a lot of fun to hunt down and acquire. Skills that can only be unlocked at 80 via new event chains, new dungeons, and new achievements could all flesh out the progression of “post 80” content without actually bumping the level cap and would be a welcome diversion for player with 300 skill points and 20 alts.
2. Additional weapons and movement skills
As you guys add content, new weapons and skills to accompany them are a natural evolution of the game. The trick is to properly add them so they have both utility and manage to maintain DPS as a weapon. For example, let’s say that you introduce a new zone at the bottom of the sea, and make it so players can walk on the seafloor with some “weighted boots”. Having your weapons and therefore skills change while underwater is a great way to make it a different and unique experience worth exploring. Even better is when your weapons have utility for exploration much like in Metroid and Zelda. If you make it so a Elementalist can make an ice bridge across a chasm, a Warrior can grapple across, and a Mesmer can portal, you have a fun little sense of group exploration. If new abilities add new ways to explore, its a major plus. Traversal is fun.
3. New Zones with new ways to get around
Now I have talked about potential new zones quite a bit, but I have yet to mention the Zephyr Sanctum. The Zephyr sanctum was an incredibly clever idea. it had new abilities that were ALL about traversal. Movement was the name of the game and it was really quite fun. With future zones I would hope that similar new methods of travel would be an option. Let’s say you make a zone, much like the zephyr sanctum, but high up in the sky. All classes in this zone would need to have new ways to navigate from blimp, to sanctum, to wizards tower, to mountain top etc. An elementalist could ride the wind, a engineer could use their rocket boots, a ranger could perch atop their immense griffon pet (etc.) and as a result this zone and only this zone would be given methods of flight. As such, there would be class specific new skills for both movement and attack. People would love it. As new zones are added, new methods of combat to match could be utilized in future dungeons, events, and stories. This also adds new gear sets to find and collect. When in the air, you want a set of exotics plus the new weapons to go with it. When under the sea, you will want a set built for your time under the waves. Each time you add a new zone, with new weapons and armors designed for flight, or swimming, or whatever you add a new but familiar grind to customize your toons. You don’t need a higher tier of gear, you just need more gear to obtain, more ways to obtain it, and new ways to use it.

Anyhow, these are my ideas. They would require quite a bit of work admittedly, but they preserve the ability to keep our builds balanced and won’t bleed the community dry on a gear treadmill. I hope you can use them.

Run some dungeons, work on getting some full exotic sets if you haven’t already. Check out fractals once that’s done. Run world bosses and try to complete the map 100%. In the meantime, level up a new lowbie class/race that interests you. Also, set a goal. An armor you want (ie : t3 cultural) a weapon ( ie : legendary, ascended), an achievement, heck even a mini. This will stretch out the game beautifully. Finally, find someone you like to play with. Guild, real life, whatever. People make it fun.

Yeah, naming can be a pain nowadays. I have a buddy who likes to have the commonality in his character names like you though. He started as Dolnar, then came Necnar, Stealnar and so on and so forth. You might want something more serious but you could easily go with a changing surname as was suggested earlier. Tomer Deathtouched, Tomer of Hoelbrak, Tomer Flamekissed etc.

I have a whole bunch of cool weapons and backpieces too, but the " family photo" here captures the gist of it quickly. Pretty simple most of the time, but I like em. Feel free to weigh in.

I wouldn’t want it yet, but this idea could do really well in whatever type of expansion they plan. Rather than inflating the level cap, require skills for the new 80+ expansions (for lack of a better term) to have some new methods of acquisition. That way there is still significant progressions to be made past 80 without making me buy 20 new sets of armor. New skills, quests, weapons, classes (and mounts?) blended within new “post 80” zones could greatly broaden horizontal progression.

Louveepine.7630:

my prettiest character, it is my Asura!

Wow, she is pretty cute! I have been waiting on making my Asura female but there are so many cute ones…. Me jealous…

Cassandra Nea.2507:

I think my husband really likes that set of armour, at least he’s offered to give me the gold necessary to buy it. I’ve declined the offer, because I do in fact agree that showing underboob is tacky and I have no desire to prance around Tyria with half a boob on public view.

Does that mean I think the armour shouldn’t be in game? Not in the least, seeing others wearing it doesn’t bother me at all – at most it gives me an opportunity to stick my nose in the air and feel superior because I have standards – sticks said nose in the air and wrinkles it delicately

I agree completely with what another poster said: Don’t ask for armour to be removed, ask for more to be added!

Louveepine.7630:

I am a woman irl. And this armor does not shock me. By cons I do not find it sexy, but vulgar.

But this is only a game, I do not see the offense here.

me it is rather light armor, below.
I find it a bit too daring, this is no longer the suggestion.

but this is just a game ^ ^

See? These are fair opinions. Expressions of personal taste and distaste. Thanks for sharing.

Seveleniumus.5973:

There is that one mini-dungeon, where you need to run with a torch, can get pretty creepy. Don’t really remember where it is.

I think it was Lornar’s Pass, if not it’s in Timberline. Neat little place. Actually pitch black and the mini boss inside is almost scary as a result.

Ashen.2907:

For what it is worth I rather dislike the armor myself. I am not, however, at all offended by it. Being offended is a choice. If someone chooses to be offended by something it is a measure of them not of the thing.

I tend to not like armors that don’t look like they could actually protect the wearer.

I am actually in the same boat myself. Particularly about medium and heavy sets. Exposed midriff seems a bit counter productive, lol. Not worth 119 gold in my opinion, but I have always been fine with those who like it. I don’t feel like it cheapens the experience in my opinion.

Sitkaz.5463:

Cerai.9741:

Depending on your local area in real life, it is likely socially “questionable” to wear this outfit out on the streets to say the least. You would get a few looks to say the least and even more cat calls. That said, the attire’s risque nature is hardly quantifiable. You can’t measure sexiness, inappropriate content, or any abstract concept objectively. It’s determined by society. A group of people rather than the individual. So far, all the participants in this thread SEEM to think you are being ridiculous, and frankly, you are. The clothing is clearly liked by the large and varied community who play the game. I could cite every post in this thread and then go into Lions Arch for a half hour and spot hundreds who shelled out the money for this particular tier 3 alone. Many nationalities, genders and alignments find the armor suitably tasteful despite it’s inclusion of underboob. Most of those who would shake their head in disapproval in real life, aren’t even part of the audience. You claim that people are offended. Please cite some examples. Bring some people in here who dislike the armor besides yourself. Then you are representing a part of society. Then we can have a intelligent discussion on the pros and cons of this armor, social decency, and free will. Until then all your opinions are simply that.

I loathe the armor. There, now you can have an intelligent discussion. Apparently.

Do tell. If you want to contribute to the discussion tell us why you dislike it. Are you with OP? Is it tacky? Too sexy? I have a thread full of people who seem to disagree, so please share your opinion if you really think that you have something to add.

The norn and asura by the asura gates are great.

Norn: “So if I was tracking a wounded animal, and the animal went through the gate, would the energy from the gate cauterize its wounds?”

Asura: “I… I… I don’t know. My ears! What an intriguing question!”

Norn: “What do your ears have to do with it?”

Also:

Grawl: “PLEASE THE EYE!!!”

Depending on your local area in real life, it is likely socially “questionable” to wear this outfit out on the streets to say the least. You would get a few looks to say the least and even more cat calls. That said, the attire’s risque nature is hardly quantifiable. You can’t measure sexiness, inappropriate content, or any abstract concept objectively. It’s determined by society. A group of people rather than the individual. So far, all the participants in this thread SEEM to think you are being ridiculous, and frankly, you are. The clothing is clearly liked by the large and varied community who play the game. I could cite every post in this thread and then go into Lions Arch for a half hour and spot hundreds who shelled out the money for this particular tier 3 alone. Many nationalities, genders and alignments find the armor suitably tasteful despite it’s inclusion of underboob. Most of those who would shake their head in disapproval in real life, aren’t even part of the audience. You claim that people are offended. Please cite some examples. Bring some people in here who dislike the armor besides yourself. Then you are representing a part of society. Then we can have a intelligent discussion on the pros and cons of this armor, social decency, and free will. Until then all your opinions are simply that.

Armor sets made by each race, as a sign of goodwill to the other races.

While not the same as cultural armors, these essentially would be a cultural gift set. Armors that are inspired and influenced by some of the fictional craftsman’s cultural armors, while still maintaining a distinct visual identity. After all, who wouldn’t want an outfit inspired by Eir’s wolfborn? In this method, the cool bits of each culture could be represented on any character without sacrificing the uniqueness of their actual sets.

MisterEction.9382:

Well, I may as well join in and post it while it lasts.

I still can’t believe they’re taking this out of the game. I feel like someone just walked up and stole something from me.

Happy Thanksgiving?

As you can see in my post above, My mesmer has the same skin tone and I was THIS close to getting the armor despite my qualms. It truly is a shame to lose such a beautiful look. I hope the new skin does you justice.

Khendros.7915:

My ranger. The best looking character I ever had ^^

Really consistent look thematically, yet pretty unique. Nicely done.

Defora.3694:

My “best looking” is never ending process. Currently I think it is my necro with her new armor.

I like it. Curious as to what you are using. The dress is very pretty.

Farzo.8410:

THE MIGHTY GODRIC ’’GOLDRIC’’ HOLT.

Awesomely hilarious. I salute you

Milop.6943:

Yes…, exactly

Nice mix, cute, yet practical

Wintel.4873:

Probably my Asura engi. Name is “Yay”, some people have said she looks kinda cute :P

This… is… cheating… No one could hope to compete with that. My god she is cute.

Wow, your guys are pretty neat. A lot of armor blends. I tend to use full sets and go color schemed, with only a couple exceptions… Couldn’t really say who is best looking though. I have too many toons and tons of armor sets, I so I will humbly submit my “family photo” of all my toons and you guys can pick for yourselves. Sadly, no back slots or weapons shown, but to get them all in a row like that would be hard anywhere but the login screen.

It’s hard to say, My proposal has been stated in a couple other threads but I will reiterate it briefly here:

Make a 4th set of “cultural” gear for all races in some future update. Use previous designs to inspire these sets, don’t merely plagiarize it.

These sets should be essentially a “gift” from one race to another. A sign of cooperation and respect, from norn to asura, charr to human, and so forth. Dungeon gear essentially fills this role, but fails to capitalize on two counts. One, it doesn’t help Anet financially. Two, instead of representing the 5 great races of Tyria, many dungeon sets have other themes.
So, say for example I really like the amazing design of human t3 light armor. As a designer I want other races to have something similar, something to represent some fictional human tailor’s appreciation of his female Norn elementalist friend. First I take the cut of the top, the cut of the cloth into a bikini top is acceptable for both races without sacrificing the uniqueness of actual existing t3. The gems that hang from it however, will be changed. A single large gem now hangs in its place. For the pants, I keep the long flowing robes, but change the swiss cheese like holes to another pattern and cover the tiny spot of visible hips. In this method, I slowly warp the design to a new albeit pleasing aesthetic that still looks like a human designed it, but is a gift to all races. In this method, you can take any of the neat cultural armor designs and create a new armor set that honors the race that wears it rather than plagiarizing it. After all, what human ranger wouldn’t love a set similar to Eir’s wolfborn inspired clothes? Cultural gifts, available to all could celebrate what makes Tyria so cool and make Anet some good money. (It would be great for Wintersday, but I doubt they have time to make that many sets so soon.)

I’ll just move this here as my thread is empty.
Thanks for listening

I am very glad that ArenaNet has been kind enough to listen to their fans and keep Racial Armors exclusive to their respective race. It shows that they do, in fact, value their players time. Thanks for hearing us. That said, there is no reason ArenaNet shouldn’t make some good money off of some nice skins. Here’s how:

Make a 4th set of “cultural” gear for all races in some future update. Use your previous designs to inspire your work on these new sets.

These sets should be essentially a “gift” from one race to another. A sign of cooperation and respect, from norn to asura, charr to human, and so forth. Dungeon gear essentially fills this role, but fails to capitalize on two counts. One, it doesn’t fill your coffers. Two, instead of representing the 5 great races of Tyria, many dungeon sets have other themes.
So, say for example I really like the amazing design of human t3 light armor. As a designer I want other races to have something similar, something to represent some fictional human tailor’s appreciation of his female Norn elementalist friend. First I take the cut of the top, the cut of the cloth into a bikini top is acceptable for both races without sacrificing the uniqueness of actual existing t3. The gems that hang from it however, will be changed. A single large gem now hangs in its place. For the pants, I keep the long flowing robes, but change the swiss cheese like holes to another pattern and cover the tiny spot of visible hips. In this method, I slowly warp the design to a new albeit pleasing aesthetic that still looks like a human designed it, but is a gift to all races. In this method, you can take any of the neat cultural armor designs and create a new armor set that honors the race that wears it rather than plagiarizing it. After all, what human ranger wouldn’t love a set similar to Eir’s wolfborn inspired clothes? Cultural gifts, available to all could celebrate what makes Tyria so cool and make you guys some good money. (It would be great for Wintersday, but I doubt you have time to make that many sets so soon.)

At any rate, Thanks again for listening!

Thanks for listening, Anet.

Hm. Not sure if I read it in there, but would I be able to buy say, Zojja’s armor as a human? If you haven’t addressed it you should. I doubt they have human sized iterations for both Asura and Charr cultural sets. It would mean a whole lot of work on anets part and therefore is worth mentioning.

MAUS HOUS.8047:

Raven.9603:

Agree with the OP, this is rediculous.

By basically retouching human T3 and putting it up for sale, they have:

1) Insulted every player that worked hard to afford human T3 by making it available for gems

2) Insulted every player that worked hard to afford human T3 by making a just-slighty cooler looking version – that will cost them $10

3) Insulted every player that rolled a human just to have good looking cultural armor

Whats next, for 1600 gems we can buy other races elite skills? SNOW LEOPARD FOR EVERYONE!

Make good looking armors Anet, but keep exclusives exclusive. This was a terrible idea. I’ve been disappointed with class changes in every game (being mad about class balance is part of every game); but this is the first time i felt like a company spit on a players hard work and racial choices.

Literally couldn’t have put it better myself, well said. (P.S Class/skill balance in this game is abysmal to put it lightly.)

Exactly! In a largely cooperative game like guild wars, our differences are what make us strong as a group. Diversity in both skills and appearance set us aside and make each player feel special. When you release an armor that was a challenge to get for cash you are breaking one of gaming’s golden rules. That rule is:

1. Respect the players time.

By taking what WAS a significant effort and trivializing it you are being outright disrespectful to my efforts. It’s not welcome.

When everyone’s special. No one is

I want Zojjas armor. Don’t even rescale it. I will wear it as a bra and panties with a sweet Gauntlet and ridiculous ear coverings.
End sarcasm
That said if they did make asura armors for humans at least it would take more work than pillaging the unique armors for humanoid races. Shame on Anet for taking something that signified a races unique background and giving it to everyone. Cause remember kids, when everyone’s special… no one is.

Amadan.9451:

or maybe they could add cities or outpost in the open world to set as guild halls… or just a map dedicated to it where you can see all the guild halls in the server (without the permission to access it unless invited or allied) but just for the show. like wvw maps were there are keeps claimed by guild

edit: maybe mine it’s a lame and stupid idea, but i like the idea of having neighbours

Right, its a fair point. While you could certainly have guild fleets be in set locations in the ocean as neighbors, its more than likely allied guilds would be able to visit their fleets at best, (so both guilds would share a merged instance with both fleets) rather than have a permanent location. Having an area for guild housing in the mists however, could definitely do that for guilds and would have more traditional halls. Think the real issue there would become the limited real estate. Still, its a nice thought.

Tom Gore.4035:

Doomshot Cindy.4019:

I like the thought,Just not the ships.
Why not add Guild Halls like back in GW1 ?

• The Guild Tab (Hotkey:G) will teleport you to the Guild Hall.
  Guild Leaders & officers can pay for Guild Hall upgrades (Merchants, craftsman,
  Dye seller “Common dyes”)
• GvG with in the Guild Halls. Just like Guild Wars 1 with islands where 2 guilds can battle it out. And monthly GvG Tournaments.
• 5/6 Diffrend Guild halls. (Snowy, Jungle, Magma ect.) Old Gw1 members will know.
• A Fun place to meet up with each other, And Quests can be invited with a small fee of 10Silver (Was 100 coins back in GW1)

A little preview of what the GvG map could look like. http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/7/71/Imperial_Isle_map.jpg
What a Snowy guild hall could look like.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/5/5b/Frozen_Isle.jpg

Because instancing the Guild Halls would truly be a crime against the most beautiful game world ever created.

I’m afraid that’s all ANet is willing to cook up, but I’ll still be disappointed if the Guild Halls are not set in the open world and the cities.

Right. I think that instancing them is a sad fact of life at this point, this idea however is my idea of a compromise… Being able to have a guild ship be flaunted off in the harbor is a great way to tie the many guilds into the fabric of the world without jamming them into the harbor all at once. Plus, I would hope that Anet would have crafted a variety of potential flagships with all the motiffs the hard core GW fans could want. A fleet of connected ships would be a great place to visit, and an awesome flagship would look sweet in the harbor.

Distilled.9041:

There would be literally thousands of ships clogging up the harbour. I can’t really see any way to have something physically in the game like this, it would just be unmanageable. If they introduce guild halls/housing then yes, it would be cool if it were an airship/boat, but it will definitely be instanced.

Yeah, I fully expect it to be instanced. There are simply too many guilds. So while one guild is docked at the harbor, you could simply go to the docks and transport to where your guild’s fleet is at sea. (instance) The whole bit about the ships is that they could visit Lion’s Arch and be seen by all, while NOT clogging the harbor. I wouldn’t want more than a single traditional ship and Airship in Lion’s Arch at the same time myself. But paying an influence fee to enter your Guild’s Flagship (not entire fleet) into a queue to visit Lion’s Arch is an obtainable goal. Unlikely, but I can dream.

Hey all, Been enjoying the game a lot since launch! Thanks for making such an enjoyable and accessible MMO. That said, I have a couple suggestions that may help your game. While playing, I have heard several players in the more active and larger guilds mention a desire for Guild Housing in the future while I wandered the streets of Lion’s Arch. Then it hit me, The perfect Guild Housing. It’s not a house, but a ship.

1.) Guild Housing Should be in Ships-
Simple enough right? Accessible from the dock at Lion’s Arch, Fits the style of the game, and upgradable to make essential a guild fleet of galleons, crafting rafts, and even an airship or two. Furthermore, a guild could essentially pay an influence fee to queue a slot for docking their Flagship (not the entire fleet with all the upgrades) in Lions Arch Harbor (or overhead if an airship) as free advertising for their guild. It would be so cool to enter the harbor and see a Galleon’s sail emblazoned with your emblem, or visit the tiny houseboat of another guild. Plus as I mentioned earlier, guild housing would be easily upgraded by adding ships, features, and minigames to your guilds fleet. It’s easy, modular, and really cool.

2.) Underwater Gear could be a fun cosmetic addition….
…with fair amounts of utility too!
I was using diving goggles the other day and thought… “I wish my swim trunks weren’t my underwear” Considering that we already have an underwater headgear, adding traditional swimsuits for fun, and aquatic armor could be a great way to add some extra oomph to underwater activities. I would consider adding a slight movement boost to underwater gear as a solitary perk for having a set. Lightly enhanced endurance regeneration underwater would be a great way to implement this too.

I’m sure I had a couple of other suggestions, but honestly, the game is so simple and enjoyable right now, I keep forgetting them. At any rate, I hope this gets to some of you dev guys. Keep up the good work all.