Guild Wars 2

Galmac.4680:

The longer you play the more textures will fail to load. Seems there is a memory leak that the client can’t load all textures with increasing time. And the performance will decrease after 2 or 3 hours of play.

What I’ve seen with the textures makes it appear to be tied to when the game is loaded. Sometimes, when I log in and get the character select screen all the character texture files are fine. Other times when I log in 60-70% of my characters have some texture glitch. The glitches follow the character into the game (but not always) and then seem to be dependent on the direction the character is facing (weird). The glitch will be there but then if I turn the character (not just the camera) the glitch will disappear and the normal texture will be present.

Hope this helps.

Hello, I love the Mac client – I haven’t crashed in days!!! Not even when playing the HoT maps without turning everything down. I have a bunch of screen shots of texture malfunctions from the character select screen. These follow the character into the world. There are more than these three but these are representative of the things I’m seeing.

Also, when we were on the new PoF character select screen the characters faces were kind of squinched (technical term) up. Hope these help.

First Thank You for the Mac Client!!!!!

I’ve only been playing it a short while and other than things that have already been pointed out – slow frame rate sporadically – the only thing I saw was a weird texture glitch- on the left sleeve of the character. Please see the attached screen shot. My characters was in the skritt cave in the north west of Brisban Wildlands.

Me too! Me too! Thank you so much for the new Elona style haircuts. I LOVE ’em!!!! Kudos to the designer(s)!

That did the trick. That you very much!

Hello all, I’m not sure this is the right place for this but…I keep buying the Eggs Beetletun recipe after the event with Chef Victor and I’m not getting the collection item unlocked for the Minstrel. I’ve done it with a level 80 chef and then later with another character that was not a chef. Is there some other piece of magic that I’m missing?

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

vier.1327:

… So, Hot is like a beautiful cake that tastes weird.

I love this and absolutely agree. It’s like wasabi peanuts – once you get over the initial shock of HoT not tasting as expected you can’t stop putting it in your mouth. I think my simile fell apart but I’m sticking to it.

I absolutely love the Tangled Depths. Coming out of a tunnel lousy with mordrem and seeing gigantic trees stretching to the sky is wonderful.

Edit: metaphor != simile

To the developers and artists:
I just made it to the Tangled Depths and it’s AMAZING! Let me say again, AMAZING (yes I’m shouting). It’s huge and scary and complex and gorgeous! I couldn’t believe when I entered and there in front was this enormous tree with mushrooms on it’s trunk with the light hitting it from the side and tiny birds flying by high above.

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Well done! And I still haven’t seen everything yet.

Mac Client
Processor: 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 (64 bit)
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIAGeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB
OS: OS X 10.9.5
The game started crashing regularly after the HOT update. I’ve been getting by by changing my video settings to “Best Performance”. After this patch that doesn’t work for long and I’ve been crashing every 10 minutes or so whether I’m in the world or in a city.

I just crashed while doing nothing but standing at the bank (c00000005 error).

Mac Client
Processor: 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 (64 bit)
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIAGeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB
OS: OS X 10.9.5

The game started crashing regularly after the HOT update. I’ve been getting by by changing my video settings to “Best Performance”. After this patch that doesn’t work for long and I’ve been crashing every 10 minutes or so whether I’m in the world or in a city.

It’s very frustrating especially considering that there are no plans to update the Mac client to 64 bit.

FrouFrou.4958:

Orangensaft.7139:

i think this is my time…

Wrong thread my friend since you are absolutely fabulous, not ugly.

I couldn’t agree more! Fabulous indeed!

Btw, Rip Taylor wants his rabbit ears back

I agree with the OP that the cutscenes can be a little disorienting with regard to characters I’ve already adventured with. I’m playing through again to see the restored content and it seems to work much better.

spartan.9421:

Personally, i don’t understand all the hate towards Trahearne…

1. Trahearne has A LOT of knowledge of elder dragons, their minions, and regions. he’s a scholar and dedicated quite alot of time into studying elder dragons and their minons.

2. He isn’t part of any order but every order looks up to him and relies on his information.

3. He has the personality of a leader. He is likeable, (by the npcs not the haters) stern, but also soft-spoken if needed. (don’t get me wrong his lines and voice acting are a bit bland and need improvement) …

As for Trahearne I agree with Spartan – and I even like his line delivery. It totally works for me. He’s a scholar of Orr, used to digging around in old libraries and leafing through moldy tomes to get information when he’s not investigating Orr directly – a pretty solitary pursuit. Then, on top, he’s a necromancer -

“Practitioners of the dark arts, necromancers summon the dead, wield the power of lost souls, and literally suck the life force from the enemy. Necromancers feed on life force, which they can use to bring allies back from the brink or cheat death itself.”

So, while dealing constantly with the dead doesn’t preclude being a great orator, I’m guessing that it doesn’t provide much opportunity for sparkling conversation either. I like Trahearne’s understated delivery, as if his mind is on other things but he’s trying. He’s someone that’s been placed in a difficult situation and is dealing as best he can. Maybe being the life of the party is expecting too much.

niea.7504:

What?

^ This. What exactly is your point? You’re free to role play the game in any way you please as long as you don’t ruin someone else’s enjoyment.

Thanks for the response Aaron. I should have searched a little more thoroughly because I found this thread from about a year ago where you answer the same question.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/The-Grizwhirl-s-Origins-Spoilers

I wonder if we’ll ever get to see one.

Hello all, can someone clear up this minor point for me? Who created the floating grizwhirl? In the Asura player story Teyo presents a floating grizwhirl as the Inquest entry for the Snaff Prize. I’m guessing the rules for the Snaff Prize indicate that plagiarism is not allowed (Teyo was not above outright thievery, though she’d never admit to it) unless some significant improvement or advance had taken place for a piece of older tech to qualify for entry.

Then everyone knows of Uzolan’s floating grizwhirl/kidnapping mess.

So did the Inquest steal from Uzolan ( unthinkable, I know )? Or did Uzolan steal from the Asura?

Or third possibility – is “Floating Grizwhirl” a generic name for something that each improved upon to make it uniquely their own – like a car vs a Jaguar or a Buick?

It seems like Andrew, the tavern owner in the Human “commoner” personal storyline, is unique. He’s heavy, has a large nose and has a mustache and muttonchops. At least I haven’t seen his model used elsewhere.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Andrew.png

What an amazing, thoughtful, inclusive thing to do! Thanks Anet!!!!

Cyninja.2954:

Killthehealersffs.8940:

PookieDaWombat.6209:

This means that people what already have the core game should have been getting this expansion at a reduced price. Why is this so hard to grasp???

Newer players wont be able to eploit the lack of DR to maximizse their rewards in specific maps (like human starting area) :P
(or the ghost pepper exploit :PP)

New ppl wont benefit for the lower gold>gem cost , like we do from the start of the game) :P

Newer players wont be able to see the Marriornete fight or the Tower or the LA fight (and if they see it it will be in a personal istances with 5 other npcs (or protect one lane) :P

And what about the new players who got lured into buying the game in the last 6 months thanks to false advertisment? That being that the core game is required?

They got none of the above too and get shafted.

Why should people that bought the core game in the last six months be compensated in any way? Did they get to enjoy the core game in that six months? How were they lured? It’s true that the core game is required to play the expansion. If they got the game during one of the sales then they’ve done extremely well in terms of cost. If they haven’t played the game during that time well – their problem – the world turns.

Why does the discussion keep coming down to greed and the price of the expansion? For the number of hours of entertainment you get for your $50-$100 the price is very reasonable.

I went to the movies last night – $10.50 a ticket. So one movie: 2 hours = 5.25/hr. If I go to 5 movies in the evening (most expensive tickets), when I usually play GW2, then I’ve spent $52.50 for ~ 10 hours of entertainment. So – if I only spend 10 hours playing the expansion then I’ve done at least as well financially as going to see 5 movies. Renting does only slightly better if I watch the movie by myself. And that’s not even counting the intangibles like hanging out with friends in chat while playing or the fact that an MMO is an interactive experience vs a purely spectative one.

Arena Net is made up of people that are passionate about their game AND they are a business. Anyone that runs their own business will tell you that you shouldn’t undervalue your product. So why ask people that are passionate about what they do to sell their product at ridiculously low prices or complain that you haven’t seen the product yet? If you’re concerned, wait to purchase it.

It’s also a game – entertainment. Buy it or don’t buy it. Nobody owes you anything for participating in the past. It’s nice if your past support is honored in some way but if not – again nobody owes you anything. Frankly, as has been said before by others more eloquently, the amount of free content that I’ve enjoyed since my original purchase easily makes my original purchase insignificant. I haven’t seen the expansion, NOBODY has seen the expansion but based on history I’m guessing the same will be true.

Do as you will.

These are great!

My absolute favorite is the conversation between the two gate attendants in Rata Sum about a practical joke:

Attendant 1: “And he bought it?”
Attendant 2: “Totally. He entered the gate holding up his pants!”
Attendant 1: literally rolls on the floor laughing – I love his laugh.

That is a really good question. One of the sylvari racial elites is to summon a sylvan hound as well. I wonder if this means that corrupted sylvari will be able to summon nightmare hounds? The mordrem wolf doesn’t seem to really be the evil counterpart of the sylvan hound just because it seems more like mordrem plant material animating a deceased animal where the sylvan hound is an all plant creature. Or is that confusing any, as yet unknown, link between Mordremoth and the Nightmare Court?

Also, on a relate note, is there any lore as to why there aren’t any other analog creatures created by the Pale Tree – like moa or drakes for example?

Yes! A thousand times yes! A memorial to all three would be wonderful – the other heroes of Claw Island. I’ve battled Zhaitan’s minions on Claw Island with all three and loved then all! The memorials could be in the different order’s areas to avoid immersion conflicts.

Draknar.5748:

Reanne.5462:

Its all a matter of perception.

Go get all the lost coins in the Silverwastes, then go back to the original JP, and tell me they are still hard.

Can confirm. Some lost coin locations make every JP in this game seem like running across a dewy meadow.

OMG yes, and that stinking Llama that’s on that sheer cliff. There is a rock at the bottom of that cliff with a permanent imprint of my poor character’s face on it and I still haven’t made it to that llama.

Why not? You might as well ask why we play a charr, sylvari, asura or norn since we’re human (sorry if there are any AIs reading – you’re exempt).

I have characters of both genders in all of the races because they each have unique art and animations and it’s just fun to have a huge variety of characters to play.

Mikhail.4961:

1. I don’t think your reading comprehension is quite up top date today if you inferred that being gay leads to misogyny.
2. Have you played the game in question and met the NPCs I referred to? If you had, then you wouldn’t make such a disparaging comment that shop keepers aren’t amazing enough for you.

Thank you for your reply Mikhail.

1. Perhaps my reading comprehension is off today. Please explain how your comment:

" I’d wager a guess that a lot of the Sons of Svanir are, perhaps not mated for life, but at least in homosexual relationships."

in response to the OP’s request for major gay NPCs does anything but imply that a bunch of one dimensional, female hating goons must, by definition, be homosexual as well? This is a well worn stereotype.

2. I have played Dragon Age Origins. I’m surprised that my comments came off as disparaging to shop keepers. My point was that gay people come in all shapes and sizes and occupations. There are many depictions of gay people, in various media, running shops and dressing hair and designing interiors. These are great professions and there are a lot of gay people in them – but gay people do lots of other things as well. To have one more gay couple running a shop in a game where heroes combat enormous magical dragons is stereotypical.

Now if this same couple figured prominently in the saving of Tyria – that’s something else entirely.

xXMapcoXx.9614:

Can we stop making everyone GAY!

Who is this “everyone” you speak of?

Mikhail.4961:

DarcShriek.5829:

There are the Sons of Svanir.

This, pretty much. An all-male faction of huge, muscular and angry men that have an extremely anti-female view point, and are repeatedly shut down and ousted out of their traditional society? Man, that reeks of frustration and we all know how to deal with that. So yeah, I’d wager a guess that a lot of the Sons of Svanir are, perhaps not mated for life, but at least in homosexual relationships. Or giant orgies. w/e.

If they introduce a gay male couple, I would most likely prefer it to be something simple… like those two dudes in Dragon Age: Origins who run a shop together.

There seem to be some stereotypes here:

1. Just because one does not want to have sex with a member of the opposite sex does not make them a misogynist moron.
2. Run a shop together…really? There are gay teachers and doctors and dock workers and toll collectors and police officers and soldiers and pilots and crane operators and programmers and grounds keepers and florists and hair dressers and anthropologists and artists and shop owners and … you get the idea.

One of the things art (and yes Virginia a computer game is art) does is hold up a mirror for us to see ourselves. This is what the OP is asking for: to see a fully fleshed out, well rounded character, flaws and all, that he can see himself in – not a flat, stereotypical, non-threatening place holder written for non-gay people.

Edit: I changed some words that were overly aggressive in tone.

@Casia, that’s an interesting point. There is the Krytan locket (Living World2:Entanglement:Concordia Incident) that supposedly shows the next heir to the Krytan throne – which is constantly being carted around by doyak to keep it secret. I wonder who’s in the picture in that locket?

@Dragoon, @jgcd and @Aaron, ya’ll are right! And thanks Aaron for the accounting. I should have counted my firstborn more carefully.

So, I’m adding sylvari back in to my non-speculative speculation. As a firstborn hiding out as a human mesmer they would probably have the power to hide their true identity from a secondborn.

Has anyone checked Queen Jennah’s bare feet to see if she has toes?

MarkoNS.3261:

First let me say im not trying to be rude to this player or anything off that nature ( i didnt even show his name ) its just that the armor he chose is so kittening weird lol. I am wondering if you saw similar stuff in game post for fun

Wow! I love it. That must have taken a lot of time and energy on someone’s part to put that look together. I applaud their commitment!

For Ton it’s about comfort and style.

Red Jay, that would be a hoot if the gods were sneaking back to help out the humans on the sly. And Lyssa is actually twins: Ilya and Lyss, Anise and Jennah – hmmm. There is another instance of one of the gods actively helping Tyrian denizens – in the player story the Avatar of Grenth (one of the seven reapers) comes at the bidding of a priestess of Grenth.

Anise is written very familiarly (she has a specific personality) though – not arch and grand and mysterious the way the avatar of a god might seem. It’s a fun idea.

Ande, I never take my tin foil hat off – just isn’t safe.

I would love it if Countess Anise turned out to be a Sylvari hiding out in the Krytan court. So many possibilities. She could certainly be one of the secondborn since all of the firstborn are accounted for and if so would make a nice balance to Ceara/Scarlet Briar. The Pale Tree would want to ensure that the treaty between the humans and charr is successful (if only for the sake of defeating Zhaitan, et al) and Queen Jennah is driving that for now.

Edit: Nah, now that I think about it Canach is a second born – wouldn’t he know the others? Or at least be able to spot another secondborn? The sylvari seem to be able to “feel” each other. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Thanks Aaron, you make some good points.

You mention Logan and Rytlock but I don’t see them as direct comparisons with Anise – just through the personal story we find out about them in greater depth and Logan has history and family that go back to Ebonhawke. We know absolutely nothing about her personally in-game.

Regarding mesmer illusions not changing the recipient’s sex – I can think of two examples right off of this happening: Lady Wi tranforms Tybalt into Demmi Beetlestone in the “Thrown Off Guard” chapter of the player story and Anise herself transforms the PC into “Big Nose Ted” (whether the PC is male or female) in the “Commander” chapter of the lvl 10 story.

I don’t mean to be argumentative but it seems interesting to me that Countess Anise is poised to play some bigger part in HoT. We know that Canache is going to be active somehow and Countess Anise has him on a leash of sorts. I was really just wanting to know if there was more info out there that I didn’t know about.

If I were going to speculate, which I’m not, I would find it very interesting that:
1. Queen Jennah was crowned in 1316 at which time she appointed Countess Anise as Master Exemplar.
2. We already know that Anise is hiding at least her age.
3. The Sylvari have been around for ~25 years (firstborn emerging in 1302).
4. Countess Anise has already been a Sylvari and seems to know how to push Canache’s buttons.

Just for fun

I mean, I know what she is the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade and protector of Queen Jennah but she’s also a mesmer and it’s been revealed that she may not look her true age.

This makes me wonder – how much power does a mesmer really have? Could she be hiding everything about herself? Maybe she’s not really Krytan (Elonian, Canthan?), or maybe she’s not really female, or maybe she’s not really human. Could a mesmer maintain that level of power and illusion? The wiki is uncharacteristically sparse when it comes to her.

Is there lore from any other source that gives more info on her, her origins, family, etc?

Thanks!

This has probably been suggested before but a search returned nothing.

As a new elite skill for the engineer I would LOVE to see the ability to drop a steam minotaur. After our engineers have gone through Dry Top and rummaged about in Scarlet’s secret room it only makes sense. Any engineer worth their salt would have, at the very least, thumb wrestled Taimi for the chance to reverse engineer the one in Scarlet’s room. There may have even been schematics lying about.

So lorewise there is room for this and there are already other pet like elites.

Thanks Aaron for the information re Primus. I have seen that mentioned by ambient dialog in the the Black Citadel or in the town just inside Diessa Plateau and wondered about it. So knowing is great. I’ll have to pay more attention.

@Leo, yes that’s true. I’ve read stories about women that have done extremely heavy work in an agricultural setting, rice paddies, farms etc and work until they go into labor, give birth and then go back to work.

Great topic!

Thanks for the information/thoughts Aaron and Oreithyia.

I have a follow up question regarding the fahrar – if it’s an organizational category and not a place then is the implication that cubs of an age to be in the fahrar take care of themselves in and around the Black Citadel or are there adult charr charge with their upbringing? And if so, are the caretakers considered gladium? This would seem like an odd place for an adult charr to be. The status of gladium seems to be ultimately undesirable to the point of being a derogatory epithet within charr society, but a warband of caretakers doesn’t seem very plausible because they could be called away to fight at any time. An honorary warband seems like it would be as bad as being a gladium. Is there a third class of citizen that I’m missing?

How funny Oreithyia, I was thinking about this the other day because I have a female Charr guardian and I was wondering what kind of maternity leave the warbands have (does that make me weird?).

Anyway – lorewise – do pregnant females become gladium until they give birth or are they considered inactive members of the warband? Also, are there any actual farrars in game? There is a devourer hatchery in Diessa Plateau but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a farrar. Or am I thinking of it in the wrong way – is the farrar an organizational category like “warband” or a place like “school”?

Cirian.8917:

… Isgarren’s tower is the same as the door. It exists to make people wonder what’s inside.

That’s wonderful Cirian – and I absolutely agree. I love looking up at the castle from the vista and wondering what’s going on up there. I’m glad there are still opportunities to use out imaginations and create our own storyline as we go along in the game.

There are plenty of posts about what is not working for people about Guild Wars 2 but there are so many things that I love about the game that I felt like I needed to list those things. Feel free to join in with what you really like/love about it as well:

- I love that there isn’t the traditional trinity. I love being able to fill any roll.
- I absolutely love the combat system which is active and interesting.
- I love that I’m reminded by the patching going on lately that the game is made by ordinary people. People who are working for a living and trying to make something enjoyable, people with feelings. I’ve enjoyed the bug where my character says random things from other classes – because it’s funny, it reminds me of the above and because it’s part of the adventure. I’ll be able to remind friends later – remember when…
- I love the variety of races and face models which allows for a huge variety of customization.
- The same for the wardrobe and dye systems – amazing amount of variety!
- I love that each race isn’t just physically different but has a unique personality of it’s own. Great place to start roleplaying from.
- I love the humor in the game – from the way the Norn, Charr and the Asura are written to the way the different races interact. That conversation between the Asura gate keeper and his protege in the Grove alluding to “Blade Runner” gets me every time. And the ironic Asura “fist to face” method of problem solving – what at hoot. I also love the way players find the humor in unique “looking for group” posts and in how they individually relate to the game. And candy corn elements and mining nodes!
- I love that there are multiple levels of story telling and lore going on at the same time – the renown hearts, the personal story and the living story. Each adds its own depth to the story telling and a richness to the game.
- I love that the world does actually change with the events. I was reminded of this last night when I was in the Morgan’s Spiral area and couldn’t get to the jumping puzzle because an event had failed.
- I love the way the game’s writers don’t spoon feed us all of the information giving us pieces of lore from the each of the races’ beginning story lines, random NPCs in the world, dungeons, etc so that the unfolding storyline becomes a kind of scavenger hunt in itself creating yet another way to play the game.
- Along with the last point, I love that there is an active lore community that is always ready and willing to debate lore points and answer questions.
- I love the way there is a never-ending variety of things to do: maddening jumping puzzles, events and dungeons, WvW, map completion, crafting, scavenger hunts, PvP, exploration, etc – each having to be created and coded to fold into the world.
- I love the beautiful world of Tyria – the mountains of the Shiverpeaks, the glowing plants in the Maguuma, the rocky plains of Ascalon, the farms outside Divinity’s Reach. And Orr! It’s beautiful and terrible at the same time. I could stand at the vista SW of the Drowned Brine looking back over the gorgeous ruin for hours.
- I love that the game creates an environment that supports cooperative game play – from the universal resource nodes to events, and everyone can rez.
- I love that none of the game is exclusive – anyone can do anything at any time.
- I love that there are NPCs like Trahearne and Caithe that inspire strong feelings in players. Whether we like them or not, we remember them.
- I love that there are things like these forums and “Points of Interest” going on outside of the game.

So in broad strokes these are some of the things I love about the game. What about you?

Hey all

This may have been posted before but I found this concept art of what looks like another “Pale Tree” with possibly Caithe and Faolain? in front. I love that it’s got “Heart of Maguuma” in the name. Is this a sister of the “Pale Tree” as the “Heart of Maguuma”? Very exciting!

http://press.ncsoft.com/artwork/2015/02/na-1-20150227114234/d578b139ad21ba56/GW2HoT_02-2015_HeartOfMaguuma_1.jpg

If that link doesn’t work click this one and go to the Artwork tab:

http://press.ncsoft.com/product.asp?s=61

I stand at the bottom of the Dark Reverie jumping puzzle or the one in Dry Top and rez people – mostly because I like to be there for the splat. I’ve died more than a few times that way myself.

I absolutley can’t give up on a jumping puzzle until I’ve beat it – which has lead to dizziness, queasiness and anti-social behaviour.

Just thinking about the Winter Wonderland puzzle makes me…well I’m not gonna say.

I kill every risen chicken I can find just for the explosion. Exploding undead chickens, who knew?

Events are like hypnotic magnets to me – I just can’t see the big orange circle on the mini map and not participate. This leads to erratic map completion, sudden U turns and tired legs.

I spend far too much time in the wardrobe and dye tabs.

I hate killing any of the big cats in the game. They try so hard with their stealth attack but then usually just reappear dead. Makes me sad.

I will carry a torch on my guardian even when I probably shouldn’t because I love setting myself on fire.

I have characters of all races/genders.

I laugh every time my Charr makes the coughing up a hairball sound when jumping – you Charr players know the one I mean. If I could make it make that sound on demand I’d have a new hobby.

I somehow feel compelled to watch the cut scene for every vista, every time. The developers spent so much time and effort making it it just seems wrong not to.

Fun thread!

Thanks all for the info, I’m looking forward to how all of this works out!

Hi all, someone may have already discussed this but I can’t find any mention. Once Mastery points replace skill points (after lvl 80) with HoT what will happen to the items required for legendary crafting we buy from Miyani that cost skill points (e.g. Bloodstone Shards)? Is the whole legendary crafting system being overhauled with precursor crafting? Anyone know?

Thanks!

Wonderful to meet all of you! Thanks JustTrogdor for starting this thread!

- I’m a 49 year old male.
- I’m a web programmer by day and a wanna be artist by night (about to finish my MFA – yay! )
- I’ve only been playing GW2 for about 6 months but I absolutely love the game. The people that play it have been the friendliest and most helpful of any game I’ve ever played.
- My partner, Daniel ( also male ) and I have been together for 25 years this December. We live with a very rotten cat and two hens we keep in the backyard. I think of them every time I come across a risen chicken in Orr ( I love it when they pop ).
- I am an avid reader of non fiction and a rascal of an armchair traveler. I would love to travel more to see more of the world but battle social anxiety.
- I enjoy all kinds of music and film, but am an especial fan of all of the great recent animated films coming out.
- This is the very first personal post I’ve ever made anywhere, ever.

I have to say Yay! Yay! Yay! Thank you for working on restoring this great PS plot. I got the game just in time to do it once. Then I created other characters so I could see the content for the other fears and missed it. I thought I was doing something wrong. So glad to know it wasn’t me and REALLY glad to know it’s coming back. Like the OP says this was great character development and I cried for Apatia when I had to go back and let her people know she was gone. Thanks!

I absolutely love the ambient dialog in the game. In Rata Sum one of the gate attendants is telling another about a joke she played on a human – “He totally bought it. He entered the gate holding up his pants”. I sometimes just loiter there until it comes around again. Also, the gate attendants in the Grove – “… you weirded out my golem!”

Asuran gate attendants must get really bored.

Lots of good advice above. I love the Mesmer but almost quit playing it for the same things you mention OP. I was dying all the time and mobs were taking forever to die. Then I started doing some things that really helped and might help you as well. And all of these things were suggestions from posts like this one. I now have lots of mesmers from level 12 through 80 because it’s so much fun.

I read tons of posts about what traits to use and what weapons to use and what stats to use and got hopelessly confused. That’s not to say that that information isn’t useful – there’s just so much of it. So what I do that has really helped and improved my PVE leveling experience (regardless of traits, stats, etc) is:

1. Keep my weapon as up to level as possible. If things seem like they’re taking forever to take down check the level of your weapon – what ever your weapon of choice is – and buy a new one if need. Like someone above says – the TP is you friend here.

2. Throw out a phantasm first thing. They often do enough damage on their first attack that they act like a tank. When I first started playing my impulse was to begin with auto attack (#1). This just gets the mobs attention and then it’s hard to lose it. The phantasms that work best for me come from the great sword, sword, pistol and focus.

3. Move child! As with any profession in GW2 movement is expected and often the key. I find that even in situations that seem hopeless I can run around while continuing to whittle away at the things chasing me and eventually I’m all alone again, and alive.

4. Once you’ve hit level 15 swap weapons often and find ways to make your weapons work together.

Then traits and stats are icing and just improve what you’re already doing. One other thing I’ve learned is try to make friends with melee. The mesmer is actually capable of doing lots of melee damage with great survivability.

Hope this help and enjoy playing the Mesmer!

Zania.8461:

While poorly worded, the original concern is a valid one. A new player would have played through PS (introduces you to Pact, and Trahearne), then you suddenly dropped into S2 which talks about the fallout of Scarlet’s invasion. The game also assumes you know your team at least to some extend (and talks about the consequences of their actions during S1).

Having played through S1 myself, I can easily see how a newer player would get horribly lost. Just sitting in Silverwastes listening to people ask ‘what is the Marionette people keep talking about’ can really drive the point home.

I hope they will add some sort of ‘into’ cinematic for the players starting S2 who never played S1. It need not be a large one, but a few slides that recap the story of how you met your team and defeated Scarlet would be very useful.

Yes! The idea of an intro cinematic is excellent, especially if it also introduced you to your team! I’d love to see the Tower of Nightmares fall and the defeat of the clockwork marionette in the Shiverpeaks. But please don’t remove Scarlet.

I’m a new player also, been bumbling around Tyria for about 6 months and I understand the OPs confusion. But I like that confusion personally! It’s like moving to a new city and getting to learn all about the new neighbors, the new politics, discover new locations. It’s a challenge at first but eventually bits and pieces are filled in until you feel comfortable. When characters mentioned something that I hadn’t heard of I just consulted the great god Wiki (she’s actually an aspect of Kormir) and found out all about it.

I do have to agree that it is weird coming into the S2 storyline the first time with Braham, Kas, Jory, Rox and Taimi talking to you about things you have no way of knowing. Since that first time though I’ve learned a lot more and the second play through was more enjoyable.

One of the things I love about this game is the depth of the storyline/lore.

Ronin.7381:

Well, she does. The Dream is a form of protection conjured to “install” morals on her sylvari. The Nightmare is likely Mordremoth testing those defenses and slowly breaking through. Prior to his awakening the Nightmare was but a compelling whisper probably inciting rebellion but it didn’t have an individual to rally to so it was like a call made by an unknown number. Once he awakened however, he became the manifestation of the Nightmare and thus we have what is spilling out in HoT.

I like what you’re saying here Ronin and I definitely agree that the Dream is a construct of the Pale Tree. I’m starting to subscribe to the idea that the Dream is an extension of the Mists idea. There are a couple of things (and maybe I’m missing something so please feel free to correct me) that are confusing but seem to work if the Dream is just a viewport into the Mists.

1. In the beginning of the Sylvari PC story you meet Caithe as a “phantasm” and then are directed to leave the cave and cross a bridge. As you get to the bridge you see a phantasm of a Norn fighting a boar and he has dialog (I’m sorry I can’t quote it at the moment). Given that the developers/writers often place things in ways that they’ll get noticed it seems odd that this would be a “throw away” for atmosphere especially since there aren’t representations of other races (again correct me if I’m wrong). I was wondering if that Norn (as opposed to a human or asura or charr) was there because they have (lore wise) a close connection to the mists. Then later the Pale Tree allows Caithe to be made material to fight the shadow dragon (read ‘enter the mists’) like entering a fractal from Mistlock Observatory.

2. In the Sylvari PC storyline in which Malyck is encountered the Knight of Embers, says that she has been dreaming of finding the “Harbinger” since she was born (paraphrase). If the Dream is just the collected experience of the Pale Tree and all of her children this doesn’t really make sense because presumably the Pale Tree would have no knowledge of other trees. But if the Dream is a window into the mists that the Pale Tree makes and then shares with her children this makes more sense. That would also explain why the Dream can show the past AND the future.

Forgive me if this is a well trod path. I’m fairly new to the game but am LOVING the lore discussions!