Guild Wars 2

I actually find it amazing how the community works together to scour and solve even such minute puzzles like these.

I’m pretty sure some dev out there must be feeling a little disappointed that their little hidden surprise got discovered and cracked? in a short amount of time, but hey, that’s what makes us great. Haha.

Lol. I don’t normally enjoy outlandishly loud armor designs on my characters, but I’m going to say I really like the heavy armor on that Charr.

Heavy breathing It looks like some sort of kitten Charr/Gundam thingy.

Well… If you think about it, many things in GW2 are cosmetic and for personal enjoyment. Things like armor or weapons can be shown off, but IMHO, the one who will derive the most pleasure out of your fancy bling will probably be yourself.

In that same vein, I think being able to pimp up your home instance with nice stuff is probably going to be a hit for most people, since you don’t even have to be in a guild to decorate it (great for antisocial gamers!) It’ll also expand the usage of Scribing.

I really like the ideas suggested above. I feel that it would be nice if we could make expansions to the map – say a pre-programmed waterfall room or a pit of lava, where the usual NPC paths won’t enter.

Of course, I also like to fantasize about the day when they’ll add a Bank inside the home instance, so I don’t have to port back to LA to drop off mats when my inventory is full. Lol.

First and foremost, I have to applaud Keenan for even bothering to take his time to investigate this issue. It means a lot to me as a customer, knowing that our thoughts are being heard.

However, my vote would be to have some sort of dropdown menu (or slider, as others have mentioned) that will allow you to select from several effects levels (e.g. all effects, personal effects only, no effects). This would be advantageous for several reasons:

1.
While it’ll be great to tone down on the shrill, repetitive SFX from the weapons, how would your team be able to define what sounds are annoying and what aren’t? The number of player opinions are myriad, and what sounds ‘decent’ to your sound team may be ‘intolerable’ to some players. Unless you intend on letting the player base preview each and every sample of the new sound clips, then doing a poll to choose which sounds would make the cut before implementation, you’d still end up having some people complain about sounds (because you can’t please everyone).

2.
The effects filter will be a long-term solution. In the event that another item is judged to be causing unnecessary flashy (fireballs, for example) or shrill sounding effects, they can be quickly blocked at will by the player with a simple change of the menu. I get that it totally blocks out sounds from other items as well, but as people above have mentioned, I believe the only people who would really enjoy listening to the incessant neighing from The Dreamer would be the owners of the ponybow themselves (although if you’re feeling really generous, you could even set the filter to even allow sounds to fire through once every three cycles, or once every five cycles).

3.
The filtering of effects might also remove a bit of load from graphics and sound cards processors. I’m not a computer person, but I think if you can toggle the amount of FX that’s going on your screen, things should render faster?

As much as I’d sell my left kidney to get a new, more brooding sounding voice for my male human thief… I highly doubt that that will ever happen.

ANet has chosen a pretty good voice-acting cast for their script so far. I guess it must be pretty expensive on their time and budget to keep hiring a-list voice actors. I think it’d be sad if they got too ambitious by trying to squeeze in new voices and end up having the quality of the game go down.

IMHO, this mission, along with the ‘avoid the guards’ mission with Demmi Beetlestone stand out to me as being refreshing breaks from the typical ‘chop people in half for laughs’ ones. I guess it gves a bit more flavour and insight into the motivations of the characters in the world?

Although they really could stand to place more Skip buttons on cutscenes. Lol.

More long hairdos for female Sylvari or riot.

I don’t have any strong feelings against having a tiny bit of stat power, but as I understand it, ANet is trying to avoid power creep in their game.

You might remember the particularly huge furore sparked when the Ascended range of weapons came out. Players were enraged by what they viewed as ANet reneging on their promise not to allow power creep in. This makes sense, since it means that new players coming into the game will increasingly have a harder and harder time catching with ‘elite’ players.

As you can see, Legendaries have added abilities, as compared to Ascended weapons – but do not hit harder. In that respect, they aren’t more effective in combat than Ascended weapons, which is working, as intended.

Sadly, adding more power to Legendaries will mean new players needing help in dungeons and story instances (which are very much a part of PvE) will have to encounter “LF 15K AP+MIN3LEGENDARY + POTIONS+ FOOD + BOOSTERS.” in the LFG panel (again), as elitists capitalise on the extra power boost to hack through monsters even quicker.

In short, it’s a really nice (and tantalising) idea, but I can foresee a lot of potential headaches ANet will have to resolve if they choose to make Legendaries hit harder or heal better.

New lines of weapons can have extra nifty functions like teleporting you to home cities or whatever, but it really shouldn’t allow players to be any more efficient than they are in combat.

Lol, in that case, the debate shouldn’t be about how wacky male Norn physique is, because according to canon Guild Wars lore, male Norn are biologically designed to be hulking, and their in-game models are accurately portrayed.

Instead, the request should be more that you want more diversity in body types, which is then, a fair request. In which case, it just means that ANet will have to schedule their project time management (amongst the hundreds of minute requests put forth by other players) and decide whether to put this request in to motion in their next update.

Hmm… this thread should probably go in the Lore forum, but anyhow, as you guys have rightly pointed out, Norn aren’t genetically related to Humans at all.

In terms of design, I think ANet’s graphic artists have done at least some body proportion tweaking on Norn characters. It seems to me that in the character creation screen, Norn women generally have wider shoulder to hip ratios and a wider skeletal structure overall as compared to Human females – giving them a more… robust physique. Norn men, on the other hand, also have wide-set ‘barrel chests’ and really huge neck muscles – muscles in the right places where real strongmen (or strongwomen, as it were) should have.

That aside, LOL, yes! Norn stride speed does make them look like they’re wading through molasses. I know they have to make the run speed equal for all characters, but still… ugh!

Ouch… that must given you a mini heart attack. Yeah, but the service team at ANet are generally nice people. They’ll sort it for ya.

Here’s my To Do list, maybe it can give you some inspiration:

To Craft or Get
1. Meteorlogicus
2. Rodgort
3. The Bifrost
4. Ad Infinitum
5. The Grove Portal Scroll
6. Yggdrasil
7. Nevermore
8. Infinite Aetherized Tonic
9. Envoy Armor

To Buy
1. Permanent Bank Access Contract
2. Shadow Abyss Dye
3. Buy or find Endless Fractal Tonic

Misc Points and Crafting
1. Raise Weaponsmithing to 500
2. Raise Huntsman to 500
3. Attune ascended armor
4. Central Tyria Mastery Points
5. Map Completion on all characters
6. Map completion on HoT and PvP

To Experience
1. All Arah paths
2. Personal story on all alts
3. Raids
4. Kill Mordremoth

Just create an Internet node, and we’d never get out of the house again.

@Vanye: A fair point. I just wonder if we can really create a pure objective checklist of things that ANet can go through before they decide to roll out a new release. :/

I’m not a musician by any stretch, so I know my opinions don’t count for much, but I think the music for HoT had a lot more… character than vanilla GW2.

I liked the music for Auric Basin, but I especially loved the piece used in the final boss fight. Original GW2 used a lot of orchestral (choral?) sounding melodies, in my opinion, while HoT had a wider range of instruments, making the music sound less dreary and a lot more exotic.

Add a whole bunch of beards for men, a set of makeup (or warpaint, if that’s your thing) for women, and package it as ‘Human Week’. Lol.

Please let it be an enclave of Rata Novans who’ve managed to survive isolated from the outside world! I’d willingly give an organ or two to hear (yes, with audio) Asurans speak in… Asura.

GW1 had Nika speaking in Canthan. I really hope they do something similar in GW2. I mean, isn’t that what epic RPGs are about? Visiting new lands, exploring new cultures?

Plus points include increasing the depth of in-game lore, and saving money on having to translate those lines of text into French, German or Spanish.

I doubt Elder Dragons have genders, in as much as a virus or a whirlwind has gender.

I’ve always thought of them as being male though.

As a graphic artist myself, I believe I know firsthand the pains of having to sell an emotion. Can you imagine having that masterpiece you worked on for months being crushed in 3 seconds by a customer who skimmed over your work and felt ‘it just wasn’t good enough’?

Nonetheless, I think for an MMORPG, HoT should have been priced based on the ‘number of hours of gameplay relevant to the core storyline’.

I love the game a lot, and GW2 definitely has a team of top-notch graphic artists, musicians and level designers, but I feel that for HoT, ANet veered away from an RPG’s basic focus – telling a story – and placed too much emphasis instead on visual fluffery.

But as some of you have already pointed out, ANet is learning (ever noticed the increased frequency of Gaile and other Devs’ replies after people said they should have improve on their PR?) and I’m pretty confident that ANet is trying their best to refine their work continuously.

There’s still hope, people!

(Edit: Just wondered if we should also include the Living World stories under ‘number of hours’?)

I’m still waiting for a full-blown Meatoberfest.

I think it’s a great idea to revive some of the old festivals during this lull period. ANet made so many beautiful new maps during the Queen’s Gauntlet, Festival of the 4 Winds and SAB… it really is a shame that we can’t get to see these again (except maybe SAB?).

Timeline-wise, we already have a lot of inconsistencies in the game anyway (Case in point, the original plot with Zhaitan), I’m sure we’ll get over it eventually (give or take a number of complainers).

Anna.7845:

I really wonder what he would’ve looked like in game though.

Heh, well… I guess he could totally appear in a fractal, and if you’re writing a fan-fic, you have free reign over resurrecting dead characters from the past, since ANet has already shown that the Mists is capable of throwing out random stuff like that.

Plot wise, dead characters should probably stay dead. Otherwise the whole drama of character deaths would be cheapened.

Trahearne resurrection, anyone? XD

+1 to you guys for making me laugh like a madman.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

She doesn’t look a day over 21.

She’s also a plant. We can’t really tell. Lol.

It’s not so bad. I find the new events interesting lorewise (possibly?) for me.

Now we know that Bandits have named champions and are accompanied by Executioners in their ranks who use attacks that reek suspiciously of White Mantle magic.

We also learn that the Consortium are still very much an active power in Tyria, and they haven’t given up on their shady ways in acquiring profits. Also, I’m curious to know what future events might occur based on the current three way struggle for ley energy.

In the meantime, as a completionist, I get a sense of satisfaction knowing I’m slowly (but surely) checking achievements off my Current Events list, and that I’m earning something on the side. :o)

In the meantime, I’m going to run around, taking screenshots to compile in my Travelogue of Tyria.

Like, my toon was there when ley line energy caused things to glow brightly.

To be fair, the Star Wars, Star Trek and Final Fantasy franchises have been around since the 1980s, while GW2 has only been around since 2005.

With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised to know that games created today based on these franchises would have the financial resources, fanbase following (to create positive hype) and time to refine content, as compared to Guild Wars 2.

I love my multiple Mini Queen Jennahs! Don’t judge!

Why would you ask to take them away??? :C

Jahroots.6791:

Engineer is probably the most boring, at least in PvE. It’s a jack of all trades, master of none kind of deal. Lots of neat little abilities but nothing that really stands out or packs a punch.

IMHO, the Engineer is the master of CC (Crowd Control). Equip yourself with a handy rifle and some turrets and prepare to watch your enemy be knocked back, immoblised, blinded or otherwise be tossed around for fun times all around (Disclaimer: Doesn’t work too well on large mobs, though).

Also, in this game, HOW you’ve set up your armor and weapons is slightly more important than the class itself. If your motto is ‘Live fast, die young’, you might want to get armour with Berserker (Zerker) stats later on in the game.

Lol, that’s the selling point of the outfits: first we infiltrate the White Mantle, then we storm their fortress and defeat their bandits.

Oh. Well.

I thought the bandits revived the Twisted Marionette. My bad. That would have been cool though.

I can’t wait to get off work to see this!

Yeah, all you have to do is walk casually (or maybe jog hastily) over the updrafts.

Side topic: Some people have trouble dodging the hurled rocks. I find that not using lean techniques helps a lot. Again, the trick here is not to panic while combating the enemy. Ol’ Big Bad knows how to get under your skin and make you frantically buttton mash. Mind tricks at work.

While the tendrils don’t make you land face first when you stray too close, they still knock you back. So I guess that kinda counts?

Lol, not a very important feature, but cute nonetheless.

I guess if the devs have some spare time and are in the mood, having any sort of extra character customisation would be nice. Also, I believe it might be slightly easier to just reanimate the existing rigged up skeleton (provided the new emote doesn’t contort too wildly), as compared to other sorts of customisation, say like new voices (which would be terrific, but too time consuming and expensive to carry out).

Ensign, you said it better than I could.

By the Pale Tree, these are beautiful!

I actually think the Elite Specs were kind of clever.

Anet can potentially make hundreds of different types of professions based on the existing 9 class archetypes, while keeping the amount of work to a minimum.

Yeah, chak are especially annoying because most of the time, you’re engaging hordes of them in the confines of a tunnel or some other narrow walkway.

That, coupled with the hard-hitting, movement slowing chak goop means you can’t just run past them to reach your destination, which is why I always make it a point to exterminate them whenever I come across them.

SO satisfying.

A female sounding name like Scylla would be cool.

I’m sure Elder Dragons don’t really have gender, but Zhaitan and Mordy have always seemed male to me.

Wow, Riku. You said everything I wanted to say.

I was going to say Centaur, but can you imagine how ridiculous Jumping Puzzles would then be?

“Gadkitten, I missed that last floating rock because I couldn’t see where my legs were landing again!”

Dawdler.8521:

free snacks in the office

Sounds like heaven.

This is such a beautiful idea. :oD

kamedin.4698:

Personally I went back to Gw1 and found a good guild group that is still in the game. I find it is more entertaining over there than on GW2. Maybe one day Anet can actually follow through on their obligations but until then, probably going to be playing gw2 minimally

Ah, it’s good you’ve managed to find something suitable for you. For me, GW2 gives me a greater sense of freedom – in both the expansive open world maps and the freedom of movement (I can jump AND swim).

But then again, maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a loner, so I can still enjoy even without a guild. :/

I tend to be a little skeptical of Glassdoor, since the people who have the most to say are the ones who have the most negative views of a company.

That said, I’m actually pleasantly surprised that there are quite a number of positive reviews on the company.

Personally, I want ANET to succeed. I sort of grew up on this game, so while I know the people at ANET probably have no idea who I am, I kind of feel like they are family.

I get what you mean, dude. Guild Wars 2 is going through a bit of a dry season now as the devs put (what I believe to be) their full focus on Season 3.

And I think that’s a good thing.

Nonethless, they’ve been busy inserting a couple of new events recently. Also, it’s just as well they’ve given us a bit of a breather. I can now take this time to round up more Hard Wood Logs so I can craft The Bifrost. Whee!

Astralporing.1957:

Peril is one thing. Having someone die to the screenwriting equivalent of slipping on something and bashing your head in is another.

I lol’ed.

I don’t know what elite spec should appear next, but it better have Illusion-based skills for the Heal and Elite skills, so I can finally die in peace knowing my slot skill bar has its full set of Illusion-based movesets.

Also, more purple butterflies and crystals.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Never pass by a ‘yellow’ creature/foe. They can be worth lots of bonus XP. Use all available XP boosts (from food, guild boosts, banners, boosters, etc.)

-Snip-

But…but… how can anyone have the heart to kill those innocent deer and happy pink moas by the beach?

THINK OF THE RABBITS!