Guild Wars 2

Kudos to the audio team! I always wanted to hear charr singing jingle bells and now I have!

You audio/music guys in this game ROCK. I love discovering little crazy easter egg things like this.

Thank you for all the work you do, and Happy Wintersday!

On launch, I regretted pre-purchasing. I found map content very confusing, too much of it group-based and the difficulty level a little too harsh.

Now, I’ve almost done a complete 180 on my impression of HoT. After going back into it two weeks after launch, I find if I take my time (the key here being don’t rush) and enjoy each little area for its events, it’s really not so bad. The difficulty has been scaled down to a reasonable level for me and I’m actually able to navigate pretty well. Granted, I’m still in the first zone and haven’t moved on from there, but it’s going pretty good. I’m looking forward to see what happens in the story.

I’d suggest anyone who had difficulty with the expansion at launch go back now and give it another go. The big key here is don’t rush through the content. I find that helped me extremely.

So a few weeks into launch, I’d now give HoT a pretty good review. I don’t regret buying it anymore and feel like I will get my money’s worth of enjoyment out of it.

Give it another go – if you’re like me and take your time, you’ll enjoy it.

1/10

I bought the ultimate edition that came with the gems; I should have learned my lesson preordering with Diablo 3, but alas, a mistake again. So for my money, I got a Tyrian mastery system to grind out. I mean running fast in cities and autoloot has got to be worth $99, right?

I’m staying out of the jungle for now. I’ll take a wait and see approach. After all, Diablo 3 started out a stinkbomb too and after three years, it’s improved a lot. Maybe HoT will too.

Not sure if this is a bug or if I’m just missing something, but it seems the exotic Mini Bloody Prince Thorn is currently selling for 6 corn cobs from Sonder (the Festival merchant in LA) and 9 corn cobs from the regular Halloween vendors.

I didn’t want people to spend more than they needed to or get confused, so I’m submitting on the bug forum. Let me know if it should get posted somewhere else.

Side Note: Awesome job on Halloween! Every year it’s great, and this year is no exception.

I like the Festive Citizens!

If you listen carefully, the song they play is “The Great Toymaker”, the 5th round song in the bell choir game – my favorite one of all of them!

As for the “ONE”, “TWO”, “THREE”, “FOUR” they yell before starting their music (it’s random which one they pick to yell), I believe it has to do with the way a conductor directs musicians in an orchestra and 4/4 time signature.

Keep being festive, little NPC guys!

:)

I wouldn’t bother with the tools. It seems they only harvest tiny snowflakes (at least right now unless they fix that) and tiny snowflakes are worth nothing.

Just my 2 copper.

:)

My background – I’m a casual player. I never completed the Mad King Clock Tower. I’ve never done any dungeons or fractals or anything of the sort (my personal story will be forever sitting on the final storyline Victory or Death). I don’t do WvW or PvP, just PvE (and I’ve only fought two world dragons).

So I’m a really casual player.

I didn’t find this content too hard. I died once at the end, but came back and picked the battle up right where I left off.

In comparison, the Grove dragon fight was much harder for me to complete, but even I also completed it, broken armor and all.

Coming from a casual player, I thought this content was extremely good and fair. I really liked the healing NPC if I was downed.

Just my take on the difficulty level.

So much good nostalgia in this storyline from GW1…Ogden…Glint’s Lair…a baby dragon egg…seeing these really made me remember how much enjoyment I got during my years playing GW1.

I like flashbacks…and this was a really good flashback experience.

Thank you.

:)

This trailer! I’m trying to glean every little piece of story information in it.

Next Tuesday can’t come fast enough for me.

Dry Top in GW1 was very small, if not the smallest zone. Possible they tied the size to GW1? Just something to mull over.

I liked this new “episode” style living story. It gives everyone a chance to complete it, even casuals like me, or I can just simply log in and complete it later. No race to try and squeeze everything in. Bonus – it’s repeatable! It is indeed like watching a weekly TV show. It is a nice change to the system imo. I like the style a lot.

I’d be hard pressed to find something I didn’t like about the new Dry Top zone. Sandstorms, quicksand, utilization of zephyr light/sun/wind skills (I really liked these when they were first introduced in the sanctum last year), quests (even the three-toed tootsie), cactus harvesting, exploration – they all added up to lots of fun for me.

You guys continue great things. I can’t wait to tune in for the next episode!

Okay, I’ve been meaning to send a huge compliment to the GW2 sound effect guys since I started playing GW2. Now is my chance. Me, my fellow bassheads and my subwoofer all thank you!

In Gendarran Fields if you go and kill Wolves, when they summon their ally, the audio effect that occurs when their twin is summoned contains extreme low bass (I’m guessing its fundamental note is well below 40 Hz).

Go try it if you haven’t already – but watch the subwoofer volume.

I also at times wear Bose QuietComfort15 headphones when playing and they love the sound effect too!

It’s little details like this subharmonic (well, not really subharmonic, definitely audible, but you know what I mean) sound effect that really make you guys shine.

I like.

I’ve played the Boss Blitz just enough to get the kill variety achieves for the meta and then I was done.

I haven’t been back.

I play GW2 to relax, not have people from a particular guild shouting orders at me such as stand over here, stop damaging the boss, if you don’t have teamspeak go play something else, etc. The idea of one guild ordering EVERY player around in there turned me right off. Right off.

The content was fabulous…the social environment not so much. I don’t want to be whispered insults and yelled at for not having teamspeak or playing the content “the wrong way”. It’s not my cup of tea.

I got done and out as fast as I could.

I think you’re just being selfish. That’s pretty sad.

There is nothing prestigious about the items you mention. Whatever your mind makes them out to be (elite, prestigious, hard to earn, whatever) is pure nonsense. Your own mind is your downfall in looking at them this way.

These items are intended to be awarded, used and enjoyed by ALL players at the time of the event (I want to stress ALL players). That’s the purpose. When the next event’s item is available, the old item goes out and gets replaced by a new item by ALL players.

I personally like my old 8-track player, cassette deck, VHS VCR, etc., even though they just accumulate dust on a storage shelf in my basement. Would I ever haul them out and use them again? Probably not. Are they prestigious because I was one of the first to buy them when they came out? Certainly not. Would I object to someone buying the same one I have at a rummage sale down the street? Of course not.

Your mind is what is making you think they’re prestigious. They’re not. As another player, I’m just thinking you’re selfish for not wanting others to enjoy these items.

I’m so excited to see the Living Story come back that spawned Sanctum Sprint! The Crown Pavilion is just gravy on top of that.

This is going to be fun! Get your kites ready!

:)

I really think a “rebuilding” LS update where all characters could help rebuild a portion of LA (either in collecting and turning materials into NPCs, assisting NPCs in tasks they need done, etc.) would be exceptional and well received by all players.

I know I’d certainly appreciate giving a helping hand where needed and after the two-week update was finished, I sure would feel good knowing I had a hand in rebuilding THE grand city.

Anet has a huge opportunity here to make the community feel good about being part of the rebuilding process.

I can’t wait to see what lies down the road. I know it’s going to be good.

It really does feel sad. I also felt like walking through the ruins and not running – running just didn’t feel appropriate.

While standing at one of the memorials, there was a pause between music where nothing was playing. It was a really quiet and eerie. Very moving.

Then I heard a lone bird chirp. I took it as a sign there’s hope of renewal/rebuilding.

The pieces of metal everywhere are a really nice touch. I hope the pieces left the harbor water will rust and make an excellent home for a brand new underwater coral reef. More signs of life returning.

I really liked this Aftermath LS. Quite emotional and fitting end.

New living story starts, new items start dropping/appearing, you collect items, hang onto nonspendable items for that living story event until it’s over. You’d still have your blade shards if you did that.

If items are spendable during an event, why the heck would you hang onto them? What purpose does that serve but only to make you look like a chronic hoarder? Spend them.

Problem solved.

I bet you’re the type of person who would buy THE winning lottery ticket and win 400 million dollars with it…

And after finding out you won, complain because you really meant to take the annuity option or vice versa and got screwed out of some of the winnings, or you won’t be happy paying your portion of taxes on it and complain about that.

Heck, you’ll find something to complain about or be unhappy with. I don’t doubt that for one second. Never mind you just won 400 million and could be happy…instead, you’ll be sad and complain.

Don’t do that to yourself.

Yes, the scaling is a little funky.

My guess is it isn’t based on number of people or their damage, but rather time. I think time is the major factor in the scaling of the knights.

Case in point – the Champ Wurm Queen in the “Escape from Lion’s Arch” LS patch ALWAYS died at the same minute on the hour every hour – no matter if 5 people were attacking it or 50. It just seemed to “time” its death at an exact minute every hour, so it always died no matter what and people got their loot.

Time – just my theory on the funky scaling.

I am also confused/bewildered by this Living Story update. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on or what I’m supposed to do in it.

After the excellent “Escape from Lion’s Arch” LS update which I really enjoyed, this is just too confusing for me.

However, I was grateful I could bypass the whole thing by creating a spine backpack and using it at the teleport thingy in LA to just watch the end movie (thank you person in map chap who told me about this) to see what happened to Scarlet. At least I got to see the movie and Scarlet’s death. That’s really enough for me.

For the rest of the update, I’ll just work on the one daily achieve they offer and hopefully rack up 15 at the end of the two weeks (enough to complete it).

The rest of the what color knight first?/prismatic what?/what color do I need on my head?/what are we supposed to be attacking?/stand where? stuff I’ll be skipping.

Who cares what others are doing inside the burning Lion’s Arch? Honestly.

Play your own game and do what you enjoy. Don’t worry what others enjoy doing in their game.

Rest your mind in the fact that you saved lots of civilians and enjoyed doing it.

I never understood this mentality, and probably never will. Do what you think is fun. Let others do what they think is fun.

End of story.

Christina, I am proud of you. You are exactly the type of player I think the Guild Wars community wants and needs.

I am honored to have you in this wonderful game with me. Stay strong!

When you see a zerg in Guild Wars, it truly is impressive to watch and experience. It’s like one second you’re fighting single monsters by yourself and suddenly this HUGE wave of people come (and I mean HUGE) and help you kill what you were trying to kill by yourself and basically destroy everything in their path. It’s like one huge giant ant army killing everything in its path.

I love it! It’s glorious! Unstoppable! I feel mighty!

It definitely makes me feel part of the group in accomplishing something.

Once you experience the feeling of being part of that and working together to bring down enemies, there’s no returning to solo play in an MMO open world Living Story event. It just doesn’t compare. It’s like me going back to play Skyrim…I keep asking myself where are all the other people like in Guild Wars?

I say keep the HUGE ant army rolling. I enjoy it a lot.

This is probably a nonissue not worth worrying about. Lion’s Arch may be rebuilt into the once grand city it was.

If it’s such a huge time waster for you to go to other cities besides LA for your business (which obviously are readily available and just as valid), what is the time you spent posting this on the forum considered? Time well spent?

You could’ve been playing the game instead.

This new trailer has me really intrigued. Truly a shocker – LA burning was the last thing I expected to see. My mouth fell open.

This story just keeps getting better and better. I can’t wait to find out what happens.

Just skip the achievement that requires entering that place.

It only took me one try and one repair bill to learn that.

Problem solved. Onto next LS update.

Princess dolls (although they look all cute and cuddly, they are mean!)

Happy Wintersday!

I love the bell choir game just as it is!

It’s addictive, social, fun and presents, presents, presents!

(And I got an unbreakable bell this year!)

Happy Wintersday!

I love Wintersday.

There’s something to be said for all the familiarity and being able to help people new to it.

It kind of reminds me of GW1 tradition – everyone knew candy cane shards, the rift warden, etc., would return and what Wintersday games/quests would be available. Everyone happily took their place on a red or green circle every year to get presents. You knew the process, what districts supported dwayna/grenth, and liked helping others who were new to it.

It was a great social atmosphere. Not unlike Wintersday in GW2.

My favorite part – the bell choir. And I actually earned an unbreakable one this year.

Happy Wintersday!

Well, I’m not “genuinely shocked” as the original poster is (I tend to look on the positive side of things beforehand), but yes, I do like this update, especially the chambers (fun to instance through and reward chest at the end) and also the big chest at the top requiring a key.

I’ll be happily replaying this content until it’s gone.

Yep, follow a blue guy and stick to him like glue. If everyone does this, nobody is gonna die and be left behind. It’s usually the ones running solo that I see die a lot.

No blue guy in the area? Make your own little party and stick together. This is a multiplayer game after all.

I finished the tower running up it with little “groups” also on their way to the top. All story instances were easily solo’d – just takes time.

The mazes are fun – reminds me of being a rat in a rat race maze trying to find the exit. Really enjoyable.

Overall, I’m really enjoying this update. The chambers have turned out to be a nice surprise – nice loot chest at the end!

I’ll be repeating this living story until it’s gone. Well worth it.

The first time I heard the kitty, I liked it immediately. It’s the meow of a kitty that’s hungry or wants attention. Very cute addition – it caught my ear immediately.

I must say – the music/sound people they have working on GW2 are pretty amazing at their job. I really like what they’re doing.

I say no also. It’s just wasting my time. Maybe it would work on champions and big bosses that actually take time for me to kill, but against everyday enemies, it’s just annoying me and slowing me down.

No, please. I found the finish thing in this PvE update entirely new, having not played PvP at all. At first I was like what the heck is this, I’ve never had to do this before on enemies, and then after having to do it 20 times, I was like enough already, get on with it, you’re wasting my time.

I say a big no. The only possibility I might be able to tolerate it is on the occasional champion or big enemy. Other than that, I feel it’s just slowing me down.

I wish I knew you needed crab meat – I just merched 75 of them. You could’ve had them for free.

Halloween this year was fine, and I’m sure Christmas will be too. Even though I wasn’t able to earn much of anything except achieves (and we all know everyone earns those), I did thoroughly enjoy the labyrinth zerg fest and had fun just playing the Halloween content.

As for candy corn on the TP, I refuse to “buy” my way to an item. If I can’t earn/find it on my own, I’ll simply go without and move on. No big deal.

I hope they bring back choir bells.

The boombox! It’s all about the boombox for me!

I’m in love and so happy about getting this item!

The music in SAB is really, really great and so true to form for retro game music.

In a way, the boombox kind of negates all the evil feelings I had towards World 2 and the dig site change.

I’m really happy to have this boombox!

:)

I like this idea! I know I’d be wearing it.

Crise.9401:

Icealen.3802:

Yes, retro games had no rebalancing. What you got on the cartridge/disk is what you got. For example, if the game gave you 100 lives to start with, that’s what you got, no matter if you played the game in April or later on in September.

As for fixing or not fixing bugs, I have no opinion/comment on that either way and cannot help you on that. I encountered no bugs in SAB while playing. You’ll have to ask someone else about that.

Correct, SAB however, is not an old game. All I am saying is that the reason you gave for why they should not rebalance rewards is silly. As for bugs, I didn’t really pose a question at all, just pointed out that yes it is good to to get rid of some of the old tropes, while keeping others… bug fixes and by extension the inability to change game balance are not one to skip just because it is more in line with how games of that era used to be.

Also, as for the not living world argument, story wise SAB is an incomplete game in development by the Asura known as Moto, so the fact that it keeps changing is perfectly fine narratively and even to be expected.

You’ve totally lost me in all of your fine details. I’m moving on.

Crise.9401:

Icealen.3802:

Crise.9401:

Essentially what you imply is that they are not allowed to fix bugs or change content to adapt to the shortcomings of an engine that was not designed for platformers.

I said nothing about not fixing bugs, nothing about the game’s engine, or platformer games. Where you came up with those, I’m not sure. The entire paragraph you quoted was in reference to dig site farming.

Yes, and my point is why should they let you get infinite bauble’s for almost no effort and by extension bauble bubble’s. You very specifically said that because SAB is an omage to to old games that they should not rebalance rewards, and your argument was that the old games that it is influenced by couldn’t be updated like that either, more or less.

Just pointed out, that going by that logic, when in fact SAB doesn’t suffer from that restriction of old games is ridiculous because it would mean they should also leave all bugs intact, if you think about it a bit longer.

Yes, retro games had no rebalancing. What you got on the cartridge/disk is what you got. For example, if the game gave you 100 lives to start with, that’s what you got, no matter if you played the game in April or later on in September.

As for fixing or not fixing bugs, I have no opinion/comment on that either way and cannot help you on that. I encountered no bugs in SAB while playing. You’ll have to ask someone else about that.

Crise.9401:

Essentially what you imply is that they are not allowed to fix bugs or change content to adapt to the shortcomings of an engine that was not designed for platformers.

I said nothing about not fixing bugs, nothing about the game’s engine, or platformer games. Where you came up with those, I’m not sure. The entire paragraph you quoted was in reference to dig site farming.

Okay, here are my observations after a week of playing the new SAB.

In my opinion, it’s harder and not as much fun as last April. World 2 is crazy. I’m not sure what those little ninja guys have against me. I hate them just as much as they hate me. The ice skating ground – didn’t like it. And I was just in infant mode. I’m going back to buy some huge torch I need to burn an ice river down now – my candle isn’t powerful enough I just found out. I hope I’m almost done with the frozen level – it already seems too long.

I’m just going to try and complete World 2 infant version and call it done. Anything else to me in World 2 is just too long and putting myself through torture for no reason.

For the rest of the month, I’ll go back to playing World 1. It’s playability is still very much enjoyable to me and I’ll finish out the month farming there. I do HIGHLY resent them nerfing the bauble dig sites to once a day (my brain’s reward center was basically stomped on and snuffed out when they did that) but there are still the hidden rooms and chests that I can farm for the remainder of the time SAB is open.

Why, oh why was dig site farming nerfed anyway? The SAB is supposed to be an 8-bit retro style addition. Last time I checked, when I went back to play Pac Man, Dig Dug, Legend of Zelda, actually any old retro game, none of them were nerfed or altered in any way. All of the chests, rewards, etc., were still located in the same locations. Nerfing of retro games just doesn’t happen. If the SAB is supposed to emulate old classic games, then it’s NOT a living world – preexisting content and rewards should not have been changed/altered in my opinion.

Overall, World 2 was a disappointment for me (too long, too hard, bauble rewards minimal, etc.).

I did try tribulation mode for World 1 just one time to see what it was like, and won’t be trying that again either. It’s too crazy for me, but I’m fine with that.

I’ll be farming normal mode World 1’s hidden caves and chests the rest of this update, hopefully collect enough bauble bubles to get a few of the new skins, and call it a day.

There’s my one-week review. I’d like to give this update and the new World 2 as much praise as I did for the original World 1 back in April, but I can’t.

I did not need the infinite coin to play SAB, but I did buy it anyway. I like novelty items like the coin. So in my opinion, it’s not pay to win at all.

And honestly, the cost of it isn’t bank breaking like I’ve heard some people say. Just skip going to the movies for a night, pass on the McDonalds cheeseburgers for day, whatever it takes. I know I’ve spent the seven dollars or whatever it costs on way more foolish things (the cost of my monthly cell phone bill for one – now that’s outrageous). And if I still thought I couldn’t afford the seven dollars, I would probably start thinking about getting a part-time job in place of playing Guild Wars. Seriously.

I just can’t wait! September 3rd can’t come fast enough!

I can’t wait for the return of SAB!! Hurry!

Treeline.3865:

Icealen.3802:

Yes, skip the mini. The sun will still rise tomorrow.

If you don’t use an item and it just fills empty space in your inventory, why keep it?

Clearly you have never collected minipets.. They do not fill anything except the collectible slot designed for the mini. It does not take up any bank space.

And yes, the sun will rise the day i stop collecting minis, the day i stop doing achievements, the day I stop playing GW2. Does that mean I can’t care about the minipet??

I hope you obtain your minipet.

Treeline.3865:

Icealen.3802:

Yes, it does seem there are players with OCD out there.

My advice: Skip the mini. Leave an empty spot there. It’ll be good therapy for your brain.

As for the game item hoarding issue, buying bank tabs is readily available and painless. Maybe automatic deletion of items if you haven’t touched them within a certain period of time?

Dude.. What are you even talking about? OCD != Collecting.
Skip the mini? Sure. But then I might as well skip any other minipets as well. Look at it like this; What if that SWEET armor set you want was completely available ingame, but the chestpiece was only available if you were at gamescon? You can suck it up, but since you couldn’t know before you had the rest of the pieces you are just still left with a missing piece that you can’t obtain.

Also.. Item hoarding? What? Dude, there are collectible slots for minis, none of us were talking about banks space. Deletion of.. Items.. What? Just what?

Yes, skip the mini. The sun will still rise tomorrow.

If you don’t use an item and it just fills empty space in your inventory, why keep it?

Yes, it does seem there are players with OCD out there.

My advice: Skip the mini. Leave an empty spot there. It’ll be good therapy for your brain.

As for the game item hoarding issue, buying bank tabs is readily available and painless. Maybe automatic deletion of items if you haven’t touched them within a certain period of time?