This misnumbering is a bit of an annoyance so I hope it will be fixed.
Level 68 is the only one I still need, but it’s troublesome to get people to play it. On Daily Underground Facility days, people will freak out because they’re getting Snowblind instead and then it’s a no go. On Daily Snowblind days, people freak out because the number (68) isn’t listed in the daily achievement. More freaking out and no-going.
Well, I guess you’re willing to swallow excuses for a ramshackle story. I’m not.
Not “swallowing” anything.
If you cannot accept that something is done for rule of cool and not for some hidden lore purposes, and accept such “hidden lore purposes” (that do not exist) as fact, that’s simply not canon. That’s fanon.
Why do you keep up bringing the “rule of cool”?
Rule of Cool: “The limit of the willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to the element’s awesomeness.”
A: There wasn’t any stretching of my willingness to suspend my disbelief, there was just a lot of inconsistent nonsense going on.
B: There was nothing awesome going on at all. Monsters appearing in the center of pentagons is among the most tired and most old of tired old RPG clichés. If you really need to go down that well-traveled road for whatever reason, you better make sure everything else is at least adequate.
I’m not mistaking anything for anything. Mechanics trump lore every time, because mechanics are what we see with our own eyes.
Most definitely no. Otherwise you have dozens of contradictions throughout games. Because suddenly no one was capable of jumping 250 years ago. And events across the world repeat again, and again, and again, and again.
Have I ever told you the time I killed Drakin Cinderspire? I did. About five hundred times.
Except no such thing as resurrection exists in the world anymore.
Surely the fight could’ve been triggered through dialogue with Kerida, if you want to argue mechanics.
And they could have had Livia place the objects herself, but then there’s the rule of cool that exists – they wanted to put a design in the room. So they did. Simple as that.
And I was told that by a dev. I asked Linsey Murdock a few questions on release day, one of which was the pentagram. She said “there is no lore explanation” for it being there. They just wanted to put it there.
As unfortunate as it is that there was no lore for the design, that’s what it is. Besides, it would be completely nonsensical for that pentagram to be directly tied to the “Lazarus Resurrection Ritual”. And besides all of that, here’s a question for you:
Also, why did Balthazar put the one aspect on a pedestal?
Because the pedestal was there?
If you’re taking a place for safe keeping, are you doing to put it on an empty spot that it waist high, or are you just going to toss in on the ground? If you have to pick it up later, it’s easier to pick it up from a waist high height rather than off the floor.
Well, I guess you’re willing to swallow excuses for a ramshackle story. I’m not.
They did need to be placed on the 5 pedestals, regardless of what Livia stated. They were pretty much nearby each other after Livia dumped 4 of them on the floor, and nothing happened.
You’re mistaking mechanics for lore.
Having players put them on pedestals had served two purposes:
First, giving players time to adjust their builds if they needed or wanted, and allowing them to act as the trigger for the fight rather than the fight triggering for its own reason. This is pretty 101 in game design, especially for RPGs – unless the purpose of the fight is to act as an unexpected ambush, you want to give your players a chance to prep for it.
Second, it acts as a stalling device, to let the dialogue roll out. No matter how fast a player is, they still take time to move all four aspects to a location.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was also a factor of “rule of cool” playing in, that the pentagram was there because it looked better than a barren room.
I’m not mistaking anything for anything. Mechanics trump lore every time, because mechanics are what we see with our own eyes. I believe what I see before I pay attention to the words of a duplicitous NPC. There’s senseless rubbish going on and no amount of excuses will make that right. Surely the fight could’ve been triggered through dialogue with Kerida, if you want to argue mechanics.
Dialogue like this: “Let’s spread the aspects out so we can watch them. Would you mind?” is absolutely nonsensical. The best way to watch them would be to toss them on a single pile, not putting them meters apart.
Also, why did Balthazar put the one aspect on a pedestal?
What I believe is going on is that the story went through dramatic changes after the art assets were already finished and they had to make do.
Why was there a “Lazarus Resurrection Room” in Abaddon’s reliquary?
It wasn’t a “Lazarus Resurrection Room”. Balthazar just chose that room to place the aspect artifact, expecting no one to think of looking in a dead god’s secret vault for a modern artifact.
The pentagram being present is unexplained, but honestly, has no need to be related to Lazarus’ five aspects in lore. It could be representing the five other gods besides Abaddon or something for all we know.
After all, Lazarus’ aspects didn’t need to be placed on five pedestals that were equidistant from the adjacent artifacts. They just needed to “be nearby each other” according to Livia.
They did need to be placed on the 5 pedestals, regardless of what Livia stated. They were pretty much nearby each other after Livia dumped 4 of them on the floor, and nothing happened.
Logging off and back on again is sometimes the only way to get rid of combat mode and its speed decrease in that puzzle, unless you want to jump back down to kill the problematic enemy and lose all progress you made in the puzzle.
Is that why Legendary items require the Gift of Battle? I was under the impression that the reason was that the items are legendary and that they are meant to demonstrate active participation in multiple aspects of the game.
Participation in multiple aspects of the game have nothing to do with that word. It’s just what ANet decided legendaries should represent, apart from just buying them for a hefty sum of gold. It doesn’t cover the “why” of it. Why should legendaries represent that?
Stimulating people to play game modes they otherwise wouldn’t want to could very well be the answer to that question. We just don’t know.
Randulf is correct. I’ll just add that if you misplaced some of the needed items, you can buy replacements from the unbound magic merchant at the start of Draconic Mons.
Edit: I posted this advice before reading the question, what are the chances?
Play WvW for however much time you need to hit tier 6 participation and finish the easy dailies. After that, go afk to do something actually entertaining. Once in a while check back, pick an easy objective and cap it to halt participation decay. If you can, avoid switching maps when you have the outnumbered buff. Bigger pip rewards lead to faster skirmish chests that come with extra reward track progress.
Don’t forget to dismiss those annoying squad join requests.
If you can’t find enjoyment in the game mode, look for it in gaming the system.
Well, this is part of the reason for adding the unid items to the game.
If it is, it’s a massive failure.
First off, they don’t replace all drops so you will still get them off the other drops. Second, when you ID and salvage afterward, you still get them. Probably in amounts that’ll make you sick to look at if you saved more than a few unids.
…this will not be true for people who don’t have good Magic Find which is most of the players.
In which case they can salvage the unid directly for more materials than they would get from regular drops or sell them on the TP to those with high MF to make more gold profit. Where’s the issue?
As far as I can tell, salvaging unidentifieds gives no luck essences, so low magic find people will stay in the low magic find ghetto longer because they’re discouraged by the system to pick the option that will increase their magic find.
I have no inventory issue. In fact, this new system will put more of a burden on my inventory space. I’ll have to sacrifice a single spot for the stacking unidentifieds that I might want to identify. Regular gear drops I can process in seconds, anywhere, any time.
People seem to think it’s an advantage they stack to 250. How’s that an advantage when you’re finally sitting down to ID that stack? Getting hundreds of useless blues and greens at a time and more green sigils and runes than you’ve ever seen before?
It solves nothing. It just postpones the misery, plus it adds a fee and a few extra steps of busywork for good measure. It’s an absolutely awful prospect.
That doesn’t make any sense, it is more convenient.
1000 gears comparison
Old system: salvage all 20 times-go to merchant 20 times
New system: Wait until 4 stacks and go to merchant 1 time-salvage all.
How is that not more convienient?
Why would I go to a merchant? I don’t have to go to a merchant. That’s something the new system appears to introduce for me.
Old system: process small amounts of loot whenever I’m doing something that requires no significant input, like walking to the next fight, listening to NPCs, or rezzing people. Never have to go anywhere to do any of this.
New system: occasional visits to merchants, pay fees and STILL HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I NEED TO DO IN THE OLD SYSTEM ON TOP OF THAT.
There’s not a single way in which the new system will improve my “loot experience”. There just isn’t.
People seem to think it’s an advantage they stack to 250. How’s that an advantage when you’re finally sitting down to ID that stack? Getting hundreds of useless blues and greens at a time and more green sigils and runes than you’ve ever seen before?
It solves nothing. It just postpones the misery, plus it adds a fee and a few extra steps of busywork for good measure. It’s an absolutely awful prospect.
You are losing something though. There’s an opportunity cost here that not everyone seems to understand. That is (lemme get a definition from wikipedia):
“the opportunity cost, also known as alternative cost, is the value (not a benefit) of the choice of a best alternative cost while making a decision. A choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives; assuming the best choice is made, it is the “cost” incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would have been had by taking the second best available choice."
So there is an opportunity cost associated with choosing to salvage and also an opportunity cost associated with choosing to ID it (and probably then salvage the results). To say you’re not losing out on anything by choosing one of these mutually exclusive paths is just not true. It’s more accurate to say that you don’t care about the opportunity costs but not everyone feels the same way.
But it’s the same thing when you dump them in the mystic forge.
You lose out on the salvage mats and might get one useless green instead of 4. And if you salvage them you lose out on the chance of getting a rare. There is never such a thing as best of both worlds.
The real question that makes the difference is whether or not we get rare and exotic drops regardless of the unidentified gear drops.
You’re not making a case for the whole system by comparing it to throwing stuff in the mystic forge.
The best way to avoid the whole “no such thing as the best of both worlds” situation, is to only have 1 “world”. Give me a regular, pre-identified piece of loot every time.
So I do decide the type of loot I get despite you claiming I don’t?
Considering you can’t control what the outcome of the identification process will be, nor what the salvage will provide you, I’m rightfully telling you can’t decide the type of loot you’re getting. With that focus, you can’t chose what you get ; only what you do.
Now, if you’re considering that the choice between going straight for mats (without any control on the outcome) or for identification (with no more control on the outcome) is a sufficient focus to qualify for “your personal decision of what you get”, then it’s up to you.
There are some items that can only result from one of the choices, so I posit that I am deciding to maybe get those or not get those at all. I don’t want that. I don’t want to have to decide to give up a decent deal for a small chance at a better deal but more likely just a loss. That’s gambling.
Basic loot stuffs shouldn’t work like that. I want the game to make all the decisions for that. I don’t mind randomness in drops, but I do mind putting up stakes to stir up extra randomness. I find it objectionable. Also, I wonder why my character suddenly can’t tell a dagger from a pair of leather breeches anymore. Is it the desert heat?
In the current game, there’s a certain level of inconvenience with the loot system, sure. It never bothered me at all though.
This new system fails because of the following: you can chose to have even more inconvenience (ID it, then go through every step you currently have to go through) or less inconvenience paired with loss of potential income (salvage it). You can’t chose to stay at the current level of inconvenience.
Anyone who doesn’t have an issue with the current system will be worse off with the new one.
The unids are trophy drops that are converted to loot when you pay 1.68s, nothing more. You get TONS more materials by salvaging them directly.
I’d rather have regular, pre-identified pieces of loot instead. Ones that don’t clutter up my inventory because I can salvage, sell, or store them, whichever I chose, wherever I am, without the aid of NPCs.
Really? So you miss out on like 50% more materials and have your inventory cluttered by minor sigils and runes? Because you can just salvage the stacking unid items without seeing an NPC ever. Like, you can have 40,000 of them in your inventory at once and then just salvage the entire lot at once and your inventory will not be full of anything but materials.
Don’t project your own issues on me. My inventory doesn’t clutter because I manage it with all the options already provided by the game.
This abomination adds a new layer of inconvenience. Instead of just processing my loot, I will first have to go somewhere and pay for it, and then I WILL STILL HAVE TO DO THE EXACT SAME THINGS WITH IT THAT I ALREADY HAVE TO DO NOW.
Sure, I could just salvage it, but what I really want is to just go on doing what I do now. I don’t want to have to decide between gambling and salvaging. I want the game to decide what drops for me.
If your inventory doesn’t clutter, then you don’t play GW2 enough.
What you mean inconvenience? With this system you can go to merchant less often, its added convenience.
I never go to merchants, I eliminated that inconvenience ages ago. I process my loot wherever I find myself and whenever I feel like it. Sometimes while walking or rezzing someone.
Gamble? Really? That doesn’t even make any sense, “I want the game to decide what drops for me”, id is the game deciding the drops for you, what is the difference between regular gear drops.
That doesn’t even make any sense. No, really, it resembles written english, but it’s completely incomprehensible. So sorry, I can’t respond to that.
In the current game, there’s a certain level of inconvenience with the loot system, sure. It never bothered me at all though.
This new system fails because of the following: you can chose to have even more inconvenience (ID it, then go through every step you currently have to go through) or less inconvenience paired with loss of potential income (salvage it). You can’t chose to stay at the current level of inconvenience.
Anyone who doesn’t have an issue with the current system will be worse off with the new one.
The unids are trophy drops that are converted to loot when you pay 1.68s, nothing more. You get TONS more materials by salvaging them directly.
I’d rather have regular, pre-identified pieces of loot instead. Ones that don’t clutter up my inventory because I can salvage, sell, or store them, whichever I chose, wherever I am, without the aid of NPCs.
Really? So you miss out on like 50% more materials and have your inventory cluttered by minor sigils and runes? Because you can just salvage the stacking unid items without seeing an NPC ever. Like, you can have 40,000 of them in your inventory at once and then just salvage the entire lot at once and your inventory will not be full of anything but materials.
Don’t project your own issues on me. My inventory doesn’t clutter because I manage it with all the options already provided by the game.
This abomination adds a new layer of inconvenience. Instead of just processing my loot, I will first have to go somewhere and pay for it, and then I WILL STILL HAVE TO DO THE EXACT SAME THINGS WITH IT THAT I ALREADY HAVE TO DO NOW.
Sure, I could just salvage it, but what I really want is to just go on doing what I do now. I don’t want to have to decide between gambling and salvaging. I want the game to decide what drops for me.
In the current game, there’s a certain level of inconvenience with the loot system, sure. It never bothered me at all though.
This new system fails because of the following: you can chose to have even more inconvenience (ID it, then go through every step you currently have to go through) or less inconvenience paired with loss of potential income (salvage it). You can’t chose to stay at the current level of inconvenience.
Anyone who doesn’t have an issue with the current system will be worse off with the new one.
The unids are trophy drops that are converted to loot when you pay 1.68s, nothing more. You get TONS more materials by salvaging them directly.
I’d rather have regular, pre-identified pieces of loot instead. Ones that don’t clutter up my inventory because I can salvage, sell, or store them, whichever I chose, wherever I am, without the aid of NPCs.
In the current game, there’s a certain level of inconvenience with the loot system, sure. It never bothered me at all though.
This new system fails because of the following: you can chose to have even more inconvenience (ID it, then go through every step you currently have to go through) or less inconvenience paired with loss of potential income (salvage it). You can’t chose to stay at the current level of inconvenience.
Anyone who doesn’t have an issue with the current system will be worse off with the new one.
How is this supposed to save me time? I have everything I need in my shared inventory slots to quickly deal with loot. Also, bags that order what’s coming in. Whenever there’s a 10-15 second break, like when capping something or waiting for an NPC to stop yammering, I clean up my inventory. Cluttered inventory? Never happens.
How will I not still be doing everything I need to process my loot right now, with the added time of getting the stuff identified? Sounds like a load of smelly kittens.
Hey, Taimi, can you explain the whole thing and build a machine to deal with it please? Meanwhile, I’ll be sipping alcoholic beverages on Southsun beach.
The map looks pretty but it bored me an hour into it. There’s little else to do than trying to navigate it. Apart from the event champions, the mobs are all just boring, minor speed bumps you’re better off avoiding by means of the many alternatives to walking. I only killed to fill hearts, avoided everything else, without ever feeling threatened or breaking a sweat.
The story? I’m so fed up with the ever present magi-technobabble, sensor, machines, anomalies and energy whatsits, I don’t even read or listen to it anymore. I just go through the motions, chasing green stars in my mini map until they stop popping and I know I’ve finished another chapter.
Navigating maps has never been an issue for me. My problem is, I find the map to be boring. Navigating it is all there is to it. Hardly any challenging mobs to be found anywhere, except for the big event champions. What little combat challenge there is can be easily avoided. I find myself just running all over the place with hardly anything interesting to do.
I should note that I’ve never found the egg hunt achievements interesting. And now there’s one with 60 objectives? I guess they needed to throw in something to make people want to walk around.
There’s a passable explanation for it to be her, actually. She’s killed in the Breachmaker while it’s digging into the ley line intersection. Her “dying essence” gets swept up in the streams of energy that radiate out from the drilling point. That essence washes up in the Maguuma bloodstone. Some idiots accidentally resurrect her instead of Lazarus. She takes form and some powers from the correct aspects used in the ritual.
1) Time is a commodity is that is universally valued by all players. Nobody wants to spend any more time on a fight than is necessary. This is why zerker gear is the goto for open world players and not just raiders.
Rubbish. My time in the game is time I already gave up on. If I want to use it “efficiently” I wouldn’t be spending it on light entertainment. Time I spend on gaming only needs to meet 1 criterion for me to consider it well-spent: it needs to be time spent enjoying myself. Shaving seconds off of fights doesn’t even rank in what I find enjoyable.
Tell me, do you deliberately draw out mob fights? Or do you kill the mob asap and move on?
What does that have to do with anything I said?
I have deliberately drawn out fights, to allow late comers to the battle time to get some hits in for credit.
1) Time is a commodity is that is universally valued by all players. Nobody wants to spend any more time on a fight than is necessary. This is why zerker gear is the goto for open world players and not just raiders.
Rubbish. My time in the game is time I already gave up on. If I want to use it “efficiently” I wouldn’t be spending it on light entertainment. Time I spend on gaming only needs to meet 1 criterion for me to consider it well-spent: it needs to be time spent enjoying myself. Shaving seconds off of fights doesn’t even rank in what I find enjoyable.
I am noticing the same stuff happening with raids. You start playing on autopilot on the easier bosses.
I don’t see why this can’t be done by others.
If you can arrange that I can be raiding along with 9 compatible people a few minutes into my gaming session whenever I happen to find an opportunity to log on, I could probably do it. My skill level won’t be the problem.
For me, the game changed by moving to a much worse ratio of adding content I find desirable to adding content I have no interest in whatsoever. Resulting in the simple fact that I went from playing almost daily to a few minutes whenever there’s been an update, with very infrequent peaks when a new LS chapter is released.
The game’s direction most definitely changed. Whether or not that means its ‘identity’ changed is an inconsequential matter of semantics.
Well, I think it’s cool, and I can’t get it (because I choose to not participate in Raids, and even if I did choose to participate, I probably would not be welcome, as I don’t subscribe to any kind of ‘build’). I don’t feel that makes me a second-class citizen, nor do I feel like a second-class citizen.
We all make choices, and suffer the consequences of those choices. /shrug
This was a choice made by ANet that clashed with a choice I never consciously made.
Horses aren’t popular in Tyria because no one can get in the saddle. Horses are too high on their legs to jump onto, and no one has figured out how to use their hands for climbing yet, instead using the popular ‘mountain goat’ style of ascending steep things.
That’s only true if you just consider the issue from a comparative perspective. Many people actually don’t. Many people only see their own progress stunted. Whatever it is they progress toward, be it a fancy “achiever” title or an ugly weapon, it’s not my place to judge.
I’ve seen those arguments before. Still waiting for reasonable ones.
If catering to people with limited self control were a valid issue, we wouldn’t have had gaming. Tetris wouldn’t have hit the market. Not a reasonable argument.
Creating a tiny handful of new cosmetic rewards on a yearly basis shouldn’t be an issue. It pales in comparison to the amount of new content they should be offering on a yearly basis anyway.
But let’s suppose it is an issue, for the sake of the argument. Even then, there is absolutely no obligation to actually offer new cosmetics at the same rate past the point where the existing ones will run out. Saying “you can’t have daily AP because we can’t include one particular thing to go along with it” is like saying “you can’t have a pizza because we ran out of one particular topping”. It’s a non-argument.
