Guild Wars 2

1: No she’s not. (A good thing.)

2: She in no way hints to the other tree, in her story it’s made clear that she was born from The Pale Tree and she met the same Mender that all of us met after stepping out of our pods.

3: The “other tree” is solidly confirmed and doesn’t need to be hinted to, as Qawsada mentioned, by Malyck’s storyline for “Where Life Goes”…

4: I will never hate Scarlet any less. I don’t care what they do at this point. I was holding onto the hope that she was being controlled by Mordremoth (still possible), but if / when that’s revealed to be true, I’ll only be slightly more satisfied with ANet’s decisions, never will my hate for Scarlet actually decrease. EVEN if it turns out that underneath the mindcontrol she was a really great, nice, sweet sylvari who wanted to care for sick fernhounds, she can still rot in history as one of the worst characters ever slapped together and flaunted in front of thousands and thousands of disgusted players.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Scarlet is a terribly written character and the Living Stories have been terribly written. However, I doubt getting rid of Scarlet is not going to solve the problem.

The Scarlet plotline no doubt had to pass many peoples’ approvals — and the fact that it did pass means that Anet does not have the ability/good taste to properly vet storylines.

So even if Scarlet were removed from the game, her replacement would likely be another terrible storyline with terrible characterizations.

Oh god-…

I hadn’t even thought of that… BUT… I don’t think I can imagine many things worse than Scarlet, it has to be up hill from here, it just has to-… Unless there is no hill and we’re stuck in a never-ending pit of Scarlet…

…Anyway, I’m glad I kept reading, even though the people defending “free manure” were a pain to read through. I know I’m not just a spoiled brat stomping on the ground, I know that Guild Wars 2 is turning into something that is actually offending it’s fans and vomiting all over the setting that has been established.

It’s so true, that since we’re not getting expansions, these Living World updates are our only form of new content, and yeah, they may be free, but no game should dump manure on their fans and say “Well hey if you don’t like the smell you can just stop playing now, we know you spent a lot of time leveling up those characters and decking them out in gear, but we’re doing something new and terrible with the game, where we literally pump manure into your computer, her name is Scarlet, and you will love her or you will leave, and we don’t really give a rat’s @$$, deal with it.”

We deserve an apology for Scarlet’s existence and inclusion in / invasion of the Living Story all year long.

We payed for a game about the Elder Dragons.

We did not buy a game with Scarlet’s face on the cover, yet we may as well have.

I won’t be logging in again until we get a formal apology and are assured that Scarlet is done with or very soon to be done with. If she is all we have to look forward to for another year, I am so far past done. That is all.

Final Fantasy 9 Fanfare anyone?

After many unsuccessful bounty hunts, my guild finally nailed the two targets within the timeframe and people were talking about wanting to hear the fanfare. I don’t think I need the whole thing, just the start would be fine. :]

I’m also in full support of getting Border Village Dali, or ANYTHING from FF9 really. I loved the music in that game.

Maybe Vivi’s theme?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Pi7MC_6bE

OR… This is the song I REALLY wanted to hear when I first considered buying the flute:

Conde Petie (HOME OF THE GREEN DWARVES!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYDVYav1aA

(Would also be fine with just the start of this song.)

I also put Terra’s Theme (even though I haven’t played FF6) into my keybinds and played that for some people, it went surprisingly well, and was really beautiful. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed your musical expertise. I’m sorry to say I never did well with anything musical… :[ Didn’t help that I thought my music teacher (in 4th grade) was a vampire. Had the accent and everything, lol.

Any chance of getting You’re Not Alone (FF9 Soundtrack)?

So the Sylvari are a very alien race, and a lot of us players prefer to dress them up in leafy cultural gear, because it seems so much more natural than heavy plate or stiff leather on them. They do, after all, have bark for skin and leaves for hair… It might just be me, but I imagine putting a set of chainmail on an actual tree and it just feels wrong in my head.

SO… Obviously, to start with, our options are pretty limited. Tier 1, 2 and 3, as well Twilight Arbor dungeon gear for whatever armor-type we wear. (That’s another thing, one I won’t be focusing on, but I REALLY wish we could mix light/medium/heavy to give us a wider range of customization. Also crossing my fingers for more cultural gear to be released, I feel like the racial identities are being lost in all of these hoodies, quaggan backpacks and Aetherblade steam/clockpunk gear…)

BACK TO THE POINT… This is, in fact, about a glitch / bug and not just my hopes / frustrations with the game.

Mixing Sylvari Cultural gear with Twilight Arbor dungeon gear (the only other leafy armor) produces some pretty awesome and yet disappointing results. For one, in the right lighting, I can have my character look like this:

(Warden Dhiirin, “Right Lighting”)
http://assets-cloud.enjin.com/users/514422/pics/original/1752109.jpg

But… In the WRONG lighting (…also MOST lighting…) I get this, much different result… Which actually leads me to be constantly seeking the “right” lighting, which I find incredibly tedious… I’m slightly OCD about my character looking perfect to me, so you can imagine how frustrating this is.

(Warden Dhiirin, “Horrible Bad Disgusting Obnoxious Lighting”)
http://assets-cloud.enjin.com/users/514422/pics/original/1935064.jpg
http://assets-cloud.enjin.com/users/514422/pics/original/1935062.jpg
http://assets-cloud.enjin.com/users/514422/pics/original/1935063.jpg

I’ll admit, I don’t know what kind of work it would take to fix this issue. But, just looking at my first screenshot, aren’t you a LITTLE eager to encourage that? Isn’t it worth the effort to expand the available “looks” for Sylvari players and make sure that they’re done flawlessly? Personally I think this combination of pieces is perfect for a Warden character, the massive TA Shoulders and T2 Helm work together in a way that the T2 Helm and T2 Shoulders just don’t. So having my character’s chest and shoulders blacked out, while the rest is colored perfectly is REALLY disappointing, and it actually makes me feel unable to play my character sometimes. Please, please, please, take a look at this issue and see if anything can or will be done.

I can’t log in either.

I was also checking the Trading Post, which didn’t work, so I logged out, deleted my local.dat file and tried to get back in. Not working.

Alright, now that I’m done nitpicking about visuals…

GUILDS…

We need guilds to be more cooperative, more unified, more interested in playing together. I’ve seen some steps toward this, but they largely ignore smaller guilds, and even larger ones are struggling to “unlock” all of the activities. Personally I don’t understand why we need to unlock activities at all, it almost sounds counter-intuitive. Working so we can eventually work together, rather than working together to get rewards.

Guild Bounties are painful, especially for smaller guilds that don’t have 15+ people online at a time. My decent sized guild has managed to barely succeed at some, but this recent week we ran out of time as we were fighting the human that was inside the Karka in Southsun Beach.

I would LOVE to see Guild Fortresses (from WvWvW) take a different (PvE) direction. The ability to unlock racial structures, units, turrets, etc. Maybe even decorate it to some extent. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, I think it would be incredible if our fortresses could be attacked by NPCs (of our choosing). For example, imagine this:

-A guild centered around Sylvari, The Dream, The Tablet, etc.

They unlock a guild fortress and select a Sylvari-themed building design.

They unlock / purchase Seed Turrets, setting them up around their base.

They unlock / purchase a healing root structure like you see around Caledon, Brisban and such.

They unlock a Fortress Assault and select Nightmare Courtiers.
( List could include: Courtiers, Inquest, Bandits, Sons of Svanir, Ghosts, Risen, Branded, Icebrood, Destroyers, Karka, etc. )

They gather everyone at their new fortress, and Courtiers begin attacking the place in the style of a Group Event. Veterans and Champions should be tossed into the mix. Special units, like Corrupted Mosshearts, Jungle Siege Wurms or Husks.

There could be ways to react and respond to the flow of the battle… Turrets could be locked down, assassins could sneak into the fortress and require the defensive to split into groups. There’s no end to where it could lead to, and I honestly think this would be a major thing that would draw guilds together and keep them having fun.

Done… For now…
…Anyway, I think that’s all I have to say. Literally have zero interest in people taking issue with the fact that I have an opinion and perspective, so I am not going to partake in any discussion or debate. This is directed at the devs, and as such their opinions and perspectives are the only ones (aside from my own) that I really care about right now.

I say issues in quotes because they may only be issues in my opinion and through my perspective. Hopefully, though, I’m not the only one who would benefit from these changes. I’d just like to say, first of all, that I do love this game, it’s an incredible MMORPG, with the best Free to Play option out there despite the fact that it could easily charge the standard monthly fee and still thrive. That said, I do have to speak up about some of the things (however small) that are bugging me.

Masquerade Mantle (Light Shoulder Armor)
Awkward dark patch on the back of the collar, brightens in the dark. Seems unintentional. Would like to see the dark patch removed, as it is the only fitting mantle for my Sylvari Elementalist’s theme.

Glowing Sylvari Armor
In lore it says “SOME sylvari have luminescent cells in their skin, causing them to glow in the dark.” I play non-glowing Sylvari. Lore doesn’t seem to say WHY some have these cells and others don’t, but that’s beside the point. My Sylvari Warrior’s T2 Cultural Armor glows at night, and is (like lots of other Sylvari gear) grown out from his body, so the luminescent cells realistically shouldn’t be there, and I don’t want them there.

Very simple fix (I hope), just give us an option somewhere to turn on / off Sylvari armor glows. I would suggest applying this to body glows too, but we do have the Makeover Kits now, so that might be less likely.

Underwater-Only Weapons
This, to me, is just a waste of beautiful weapon skins. I was leveling my Norn Guardian recently, checking out the Warden weapons. (He uses the Staff and Scepter + Wisteria) I noticed how AMAZING the Warden Spear looked and instantly wished I could I use it on land. Because really, spears are land weapons too, and awesome ones at that.

Not going to go into the specifics of how this could work, but I really really really hope to see it. I love spears, I don’t want to have to be wet to use one.

Breathing Mask Toggle
We can toggle Head items off while we’re on land, why not while under water? Surely there’s some other explanations for not drowning, like magic. : P

Guardian Aegis Animation
This has been frustrating me to no end. I just don’t like the Aegis animation, it’s too simple, gimmicky and ever-present. 9 hours? Who needs an Aegis to be up for 9 hours that refreshes itself every 40 seconds? I can’t take my weapon out (in or out of combat) without this annoying shield on my arm. I just don’t like it, and that’s my opinion, my preference, others may differ. So here’s how I suggest “fixing” this.

Remove or redesign the animation. It doesn’t look good enough to be a constant addition to Guardian characters.

Redesign Virtue of Courage, so that Aegis appears ONLY when you enter combat. That way you still get the initial block, and while in combat you keep getting Aegis.

Norn Hair / Beard Colors Not Matching
While creating my (male) Norn Guardian I realized how many of the hair styles + colors didn’t match the beard styles + colors. For example, I have the hair that’s pulled back into eight braids. I wanted the beard with (I think) three braids. I would set them as the same color, yet there were slight but noticeable differences in the color displayed. Ended up going with stubble because of this.

…

Because of Ventari’s teachings and because of his influence on the Sylvari, I feel like they would have hope of pacifying the centaurs and ending the war between them and the humans. Whether this is possible is debatable, and likely it would take many many years for the conflict to cool down.

Still though, I think it would be amazing to see at least one tribe of centaurs come into Caledon Forest and be welcomed by the Sylvari. I do think there’s SOME chance of it happening, but I don’t really know. Just the fact that a peaceful human and centaur are responsible for the Pale Tree’s growth and the Sylvari emerging, it makes sense to me that their efforts might go toward mending relations between the two races. One day, at least.

Most Sylvari NPCs: They just look thrown together and (in my opinion) completely terrible. I wonder if the people who made these NPCs just randomized everything and didn’t bother to look at the mess of vomit-colors they created. Looking around the Grove, you feel like a lot of the messily designed Sylvari NPCs don’t belong in this beautiful, bright, verdant haven.

Customization Options: Too much and yet too little. Too little in the way of subtle and enjoyable differences, too much in the way of in-your-face and awkward differences.
-Some completely inhuman facial options that are too different from each other. The Sylvari were made in the image of man-kind to relate to them, to make them approachable.
-Mushroom head, spike-head, branch head… I feel like the Sylvari would have been better off with more leaf/grass hair-types.
-Way too many coloring and detail options (skin pattern, eye-burning glow that looks weird when all but your head is covered in armor…).
-Way too many skin and hair colors, and not the right ones. Would have liked more shades of green and brown to keep the general appearance more natural and less supernatural. Bright and dark blues, reds, purples, oranges, yellows and pinks just make the Sylvari look like multi-colored aliens or demons instead of a race of nature-spirits.

I really would have liked a more unified appearance for the Sylvari, because to me they just don’t feel as mystical and dignified when they’re visually scattered all over the place and SO different from each other.

Available Armor: The Sylvari should have been my favorite race from the start (yet I really had to struggle to embrace the end result). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to bring myself to level one until I had the gold and transmutation stones to keep a Sylvari character in T1 from level 1-80. The fact is, all other armor looks ridiculous on Sylvari. You don’t dress trees and plants in leather, cloth and metal. That’s one reason I was worried about the extreme new direction that the re-design took. If they had stopped just short of plant-alien and left more humanoid in the mix we wouldn’t have this problem. But we do. Our Sylvari characters just plain look awkward if they’re not in Cultural Armor (tier 1, 2 or 3) or the Twilight Arbor dungeon-gear.

And you know, that would have been okay, if they’d given us more options and made them more available to us. Why should one race have to be bogged down by not being able to look “right” while they play the game? You want us to enjoy our gaming experience, but when we don’t have a look we enjoy at all, we sometimes can’t enjoy the world around us. I just think that there should have been more of an effort to give the Sylvari more options, especially when this redesign made it so difficult for human-styled clothing to “flow” with the concept of the Sylvari.

Since I got the game I’ve been running into the issue where “Buy” is greyed out, and where I can’t sell anything on the Trading Post. I can, however, log out, go to my GW2 file, delete my Local.dat file and then restart the game with “Run as Admin”.

This is a little bit of a hassle though, especially because this deletes my saved setting preferences. So I have to go back and turn the sound way down, turn graphics down, and put the game into windowed mode all over again. It’s just becoming a chore, so I’m wondering if there’s a way to fix this for good.

I don’t even know how much money I had, I’ve been stingy leveling to 16 on my Charr Elementalist. I was stockpiling it. But then I go to the Black Lion Trading Post and try my hardest to buy a Malign Steam Scepter of Agony, clicked it many times and failed many times to receive the item… And yet, when I finally go look at my funds… It’s all gone. I have three silver left. THREE SILVER.

How does something like this happen? I was so completely happy with this game until now… Please tell me it’s going to be refunded and I’ll eventually be able to use the BLTP as intended…