Guild Wars 2

Ok first of I did not play it yet so I can’t say anything about performance, although I hear mostly bad things about it.

But there is something I can say about it based on the other “Legends” the Revenant can use.
For those who never played GW1 to your information these characters the Revenant draws power from are all characters from GW1, except for “Kalla Scorchrazor”. Now that doesn’t mean she is not a Legend, but there is another reason why I find choosing her strange.
To start I will tell you about my reactions toward all the “Legends” I had when Revenant and their Elites were introduced:

- Legendary Assassin Stance (Shiro Tagachi) – "Ah the main antagonist of “Factions” if you could use his skills for real then you could wipe the floor with anyone in the game."

- Legendary Centaur Stance (Ventari) – "Oh yeah the centaur you meet in “Prophecies” and “EotN” who planted the Pale Tree along with Ronan."

- Legendary Demon Stance (Mallyx the Unyielding) – “Oh give me a break the final boss of the Domain of Anguish, you could also wipe out anyone in this game if you had access to his skills.”

- Legendary Dwarf Stance (Jalis Ironhammer) – "Yeah the King of the Dwarves before they did the whole ritual thing in “EotN”.

- Legendary Dragon Stance (Glint) – "Yeah Glint the dragon prophet, although I don’t get how can she be the “Elite” since Shiro and Mallyx are way more powerful than her."

- Legendary Renegade Stance (Kalla Scorchrazor) – “Who?????”

Yes I had no idea who that was when I first heard it so I had to look it up on wiki. Which told me she is the grandcub of Pyre Fierceshot, so I guess that’s ok, but why not use Pyre Fierceshot himself then?
Pyre Fierceshot was one of the hero’s you can get in “EotN”. He was the first to rebel against the Flame Legion. The Charr quote “The charr have no gods!” is in fact first spoken by him. And even Rytlock Brimstone says it right before fighting Gaheron Baelfire at the end of CoF Story mode.
So Pyre Fierceshot would make a far better “Legend” than Kalla Scorchrazor, even more so Pyre Fierceshot was a Ranger so his primary weapon was also a bow. So the new Elite Spec would not even require any real changes if using him instead, except maybe some skill names.

So yeah strange choice if you ask me given there is a far better choice closely related to her.

A lot of people seem unhappy with this feature so let me explain the true purpose of this process and why it’s actually a good idea.

The Elonian weapons and Sunspear weapons which we can get from the Piece of Unidentified Gear are in PoF what Plated weapons and Machined weapons are in HoT.
In HoT we need the Machined weapons to get the Specialization weapons.
And as you know it’s a whole process with them:

First we had to salvage Reclaimed weapons for Reclaimed Metal Plate (later added to map rewards) which only have small chance to drop except from rare versions which are guaranteed to drop them. Then we have to use 2 or 3 plus all 3 map currencies from HoT to buy Plated weapons which unlock the Machined weapons collections and only after finishing that we get the Machined weapons so we can complete the Specialization weapons collections.

So yes the PoF Specialization weapons will require the Sunspear weapons for their collections.
However in this case the process becomes different as there are multiple paths:

While we cannot choose the Elonian/Sunspear weapons as we can with Plated/Machined weapons we have the option to skip many steps in getting the Specialization weapons. We can go all the way starting from Piece of Unidentified Gear and hoping we get the right Elonian weapon from them. Then once we do we can upgrade it through crafting into the Sunspear weapon we need. But we can also get the right Sunspear weapon from the Piece of Unidentified Gear if we are lucky enough.
But because these weapons can be traded then people who do not want to waste time on the whole thing can simply buy the right Elonian weapon and upgrade it or skip even that and just buy the right Sunspear weapon if money is not an issue.

So as you can see the “Identify Gear” thing is the equivalent of the Reclaimed Metal Plates. However unlike in HoT we don’t have to do everything step by step to get the Specialization weapons as we will have the ability to get the required weapon instantly if we want to.
So while you may find the process annoying at first it does save a lot of time once you decide to get the Specialization weapons.

As a side note I will mention that the new Specialization weapons will likely require the correct Mystic weapons too. Which means that Necromancers have a slight head start at this as the Torch is the only Specialization weapon from both HoT and PoF. So those who got the Wild Abandon will have an easy start to get the Guide for the Lost. Of course those who have all Mystic weapons unlocked in the wardrobe will have that head start for all the new Specialization weapons.

Timo.1065:

Mostly you get me wrong.
Main intend of my proposition was make harder to get Comander Tag for people who don’t have any exprience in big events. Not for new players.
Second intend was to reward players who attend in this events, by let them buying CT cheeper.
Now CT cost 300 g. Player who do only PvP can but it for the same price as a player who have all achievemts from maps like VB, TD, DS ect, who killed all world bosses. The most welcome players with CT is players with knowleage.

And who doesn’t have experience in those? hmmm……. could it be new players?
I think you are talking about some rare occurrence where a veteran does an event chain he never did before and decides to take command there because he believes he can do anything without any knowledge of it.
How often does that happen for it to be a real problem?

Hahahaha a while back before Legendary Armour came out I mentioned that if this keeps up then characters with full Legendary gear will look like a christmas tree with lens flare generators. And now with Aurora’s effect it seems I was right all along.
So let’s make it happen: Once a character has full Legendary gear they will need to dye the whole armour green and white except boots which they will have to dye black/brown. Or better yet skip the white dye and instead have Winter’s Presence as shoulders.
And then talk to Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs for which you will get “Legendary Wintersday Tree” title.

Moi.5013:

but the trinkets from the other maps are the same so that doesn’t make sense at all, and not everyone PVPs.

They are not. The trinckets bought with Blood Rubies can be reset with the Bloodstone Capacitor so they are almost Legendary gear.
I do realise however that it is a problem when buying the Gift of Bloodstone Magic as the other 2 trophies are more easy to reach a full stack with.
But what can we do? I guess ANET could lower the required Bloodstone Rubies from 250 to 100, but given this could be the only use for these gifts I’m not sure it’s necessary.

Now this is just plain wrong. OP is simply saying new players should be punished for being new. What next? You will want auto-kick from dungeons/fractals for players who die that have less than 10k AP?

I happen to have the cheapest commander tag of all as I bought it back when it was per character instead of per account so I only paid 100g so a total of 250g now with Catmander tags included. And while I rarely use my commander tag there are times I do find use for it.
But I do remember how it was when I first started playing the game, I thought I will never reach the “Golden” title as 200g was a truck load for me back then.
Eventually I reached +500g which I had to spent all on Ascended Armour when it was introduced. Fortunately I got my first precursor “spark” from MF which allowed me to reach my first 1000g.
But as you can imagine even 100g was a lot to me back then.

So I don’t see any reason to make new players pay 10 times more than I did even though gold is more easy to come by now. Because new players are not really interested in the commander tag anyway, as they have other expenses.
They need to get their first Ascended sets which cost more than before and other things they need to play along with us.

So no I don’t see any reason for this other than OP being a self-centered pseudo-pro.

First of I’m surprised that Lion’s Arch Rebuild Dye Kit was never added to any of them.
But even more that the Jormag Dye Kit was not added to the Exuberant Dye Kit. This caused a real mess as Permafrost Dye now costs 1 kilo and it was obvious it would happen with no alternate way to unlock it.
And I find that slightly hypocritical as these Birthday Packs were added due to complaints many players made that some dyes cost +600g.

But what do I care? I have all dyes unlocked.
However that does create other problems for me – I have no use for them except salvaging the dyes I pick for pigment. And thats such a waste, I mean each of them are worth an average 300g so I just can’t get myself to get rid of them.
I see 2 solutions to this:

1) Let me give them away. No I don’t mean sell, just giftwrap them to someone else.
I have no use for them, but I could make someone else happy with them.
Like the Wrapped Gift thing with Orphans during Wintersday. I could use the Roll of Wrapping Paper on them and I could mail them to someone then.

2) Give them a new mechanic which makes them work like a Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock but they would only unlock a random dye you don’t have then.
They would still have the same dyes available as always, but those who like me have all dyes from them already unlocked would still find use for them.

Ok for this I will use the Druid for comparison a bit due to the whole barrier requires healing power thing.

The people working on Scourge sat down one day and said “you know that life force thing necromancers use? Why not give it more use than just for shroud?”.
So they wanted to make the new utility skills use life force too but instead decided to drop shroud and turn it into 5 additional skills, kinda like the engineers tool belt except the skills are always the same.

However as we all know shroud has many traits related to it and it’s skills so now they will work in odd ways. Now I know the whole “while shrouded, when entering/leaving shroud” will now be on F5 but I don’t see how this will be much use.
Desert Shroud only lasts 7 sec each time so the “while shrouded” traits lose a lot of their duration. Also Desert Shroud recharges 20s instead of 10 so the “enter/leave shroud” traits trigger less often.
And now we have traits that trigger when using Shroud skills 1,2,4. Now as I heard Dhuumfire is suppose to work well with the sand shades (or so they think). Now I’m not here to argue about that, but I know that for them to trigger you need to spam F1-F5 and those use up life force. So if you can’t keep restoring life force fast enough mid combat it’s not going to work so well in the end. And mostly from what I heard people say it will make an excellent condi build due to Dhuumfire spam, but it seems they are forgetting that the scepter is probably the worst weapon for life force management.
So unless there is a way to restore life force really fast regardless of weapon used spamming F1-F5 is not really an option for the most part.
However worst of all is Transfusion because Garish Pillar is not a skill that channels, but is instead instant effect. And Transfusion can be a life saver when needed, I often used it to pull downed party members out of AoE field. Now it probably still will be able to pull out but because the other 2 skills were channeled I had often time to get close enough if the downed player was too far away when I first activated it, with instant effect however I will just have to hope I am close enough.

Now let’s get to the Druid. It is pretty much what players were hoping Necromancers will be some day. (NO I DONT MEAN BECOME HEALERS) I am talking about their mechanics being similar to Necromancers i.e. Celestial Avatar is similar to Death Shroud.
However a Druid does have the ability to use utility skills when in Avatar form while Necromancers cant. Which was a request since forever, but never came to pass. (Maybe we should just request the developers working on Rangers and Necromancers to swap?)
Anyway if you think the barriers are any competition for the Druid think again.
The Druid as a whole is so self-synergetic that it’s simply impossible to compete with it.
It is in fact the ONLY Elite spec that uses it’s new weapon religiously so to speak. Why?
Well because they can trigger 2 of their trait’s just from spamming their AA. Solar Beam alone will trigger Live Vicariously which heals the Druid and Natural Mender which increases outgoing healing by up to 20% and since healing the Druids Pet works too it’s nigh impossible for it not to work. And then you have Grace of the Land which can increase other players damage by up to 10%. In fact the Druid does not really need the other 2 trait lines to work, Quick Draw is a good trait for them as entering Celestial Avatar counts as changing weapon which allows using Rejuvenating Tides twice in a row.
How can Scourge and their barriers compete with that? The barriers don’t last long and decay. If the decay added to the health bar then it would be worth investing in Healing Power. As it is it would be much better if it used Vitality as it would also increase the Life Force pool – remember the Druids self-synergy I mentioned? Yeah that would be kinda the same thing right?
As it is I only see it used as an extra form of protection in condi builds if they do work well. But hardly anyone is going to use Healing Power to buff it and it certainly is not going to be competition for a Druid.

What Necromancers need is to become more like the Druid when it comes to the mechanics. They also need the ability to use utility skills when shrouded only with some limitations.
The way I see it it could be done through use of related trait lines. Each skill type is related to a trait line as we all know. So for example if someone wants to use Spectral skills when shrouded they would need to use Soul Reaping as one of their 3 traits as it is the one related to Spectral skills, Corruptions would require use of Curses trait line and so on.
They could also gain additional or alternate affects when used while shrouded, however they would cost some amount of life force then.
This could be achieved through the directly related traits i.e. Spectral Mastery would be required for the additional/alternate effects when using Spectral skills.
In other words the original idea behind Scourge was much better.

Seriously why is it that Guardians constantly get crappy Elite Spec names?
“Dragonhunter” was the worst name of all the 1st Elites, as it really sounds stupid due to the fact everyone “hunts dragons” regardless of their profession.

Now worst name of 2nd Elites is probably “Weaver” as first thing you think of when you hear it is someone who makes fabrics. But “Firebrand” comes in 2nd place, I mean what does it even mean? It makes me think of a brand on a cow made with a heated iron.
And how does it even relate to the tomes? “Dragonhunter” at least does relate to the traps, as trappers are a type of hunters.
You would think “Sage” would sound much more appropriate or “Scholar”, but I know it can’t be used as the light classes are called scholar.

I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “Zealot”.
So why do they constantly get such abhorrent names?

Pretty self-explanatory, yes give the option to merge Mawdrey II, Star of Gratitude and Princess into one. But what could be the 4th converter? Doesn’t have to be it could just be a Gift of Ascension or something like that.
But if it has to be a 4th converter then I guess best would be Karmic Converter – because it’s completly useless. Seriously I only buy something from it once in a blue moon. Unlike my Fractal Reliquary from which I buy almost daily, but using it as the 4th would be a bad move obviously.
The Karmic Converter seems most similar to the Sentient Singularity as both use a common and easy to get currency. Except the part that the Karmic Converter can only be used once per day, while Sentient Singularity up to six.

Now I know what you are thinking; What about Herta? Well can’t do that because it’s a HoT only converter while those are from core game, so it has to be another core converter used.

Since the addition of Aurora it’s pretty clear a Legendary Amulet will come eventually.
However something occured to me, what if the Triforge Pendant is in fact the precursor? Why would I think so? Well it is the only item that made a transition from Exotic to Ascended. The Fractal Capacitor and others like it don’t count as they did not exist before Ascended items were added and they were designed to make the transition.
I remember when it happened all Crystalline Dust got sold out from the TP. Because it was the only way to get an Ascended Amulet other than through Laurels and people wanted to get the extra +5 resistance as fast as possible. This is exactly why ANET added the ability to salvage Globs of Ectoplasm into Crystalline dust. However since then the usefulness of the Triforge Pendant had diminished greatly. As eventually everyone got enough Laurels to get as many amulets as they want and we now have more ways to get them. Most notably the LW3 and Raid Amulets which allow us to select stats. And the only stats the Triforge Pendant has is always Celestial and it’s not the only one as Syzygy, Eye of Janthir and The Eyes of Abaddon do too. Currently the best amulet in the game is the Blood Ruby Pendant as it almost is a Legendary Amulet since you can reset it’s stats.

However it is the most expensive Amulet to get, by current market prices of all the materials required to make it, it costs around 550g. So the cost of making it is comparable to precursors. And the Triforge Pendant has a deeper meaning to it as “Triforge” was the original name of ANET.

So I really think it will have something to do with the Legendary Amulet once it is introduced, if not a precursor it will probably be needed for the collection or as an unlock item. However given it’s cost it would work well as a precursor.
But you can say that it won’t happen because then we could make multiple Legendary amulets. Not really no, because the situation would be same as with Ad Infinitum, you can also craft Unbound again if you like, but you get Gift of Infinity only once so you can’t make Ad Infinitum more than once. So Triforge Pendant would also have some unique gift required to turn it into a Legendary Amulet.

And I also know I’m ranting about unimportant stuff here, but I just wanted to share my thought on this.

Hyrai.8720:

4×365+366=1826
so the 5th birthday of your character will be, when /age tells you its 1826 days old.
:P

The game does not take leap years into account, so it’s always 365 days which is why last year I got my 4th birthday gift a day early.

TheFrighteningFrenchFry.3275:

Rikimaru.7890:

I don’t even understand why so many players wanted them, are they suppose to compensate for something? But anyway here are the reasons why they are useless:

1) Waypoints are faster.
Which I point out with insufferable smugness is something I said since the leaks came out and for a fact even ANET agrees with me here. How do I know that? Simple the Crystal Oasis is only about 33-50% bigger than Frostgorge Sound, however Frostgorge Sound has 16 waypoints while Crystal Oasis has only 3. So it’s obvious you need a source of fast transportation when you have so few waypoints in such a big area, but it doesn’t really give much use in the old areas as they have a high concentration of waypoints. So in other words it’s a forced necessity.
Now someone is going to pull out this BS argument that there can’t be so many waypoints in the Crystal Desert because the Asura didn’t have time to set the WP network there properly. Well ok but what about the newly discovered places in Heart of Maguuma like Tarir or Rata Novus? They obviously had no link before their discovery either yet they have their own waypoints.
Still regardless of the argument on the lack of waypoints their lack is the main reason the mounts get their use from.

2) They do nothing new.
Honestly we already have lots of masteries that do exactly the same stuff as them i.e. jumping over gaps, reaching high places: Updrafts, Leylines, Bouncing Mushrooms, Nuhoch Wallows, Rift Traveler, Explosive Launch, Thermal Propulsion, Oakheart’s Reach. We can already do all that the mounts can do ok? Heck even normal Gliding would work if this was for real, because how often do you see gaps which have edges on both sides that are level? But if they were not the Raptor could only jump over them from the higher edge, while from lower it wouldn’t make it just as Gliding can’t.
The only reason we need them is because HoT masteries are useless in the Crystal Desert.
And I find it a real lack of creativity that all 4 mounts will have separate masteries.
Why couldnt we instead have a mastery that is focused on the magic portals from GW1?
I mean even one of the mastery points requires solving one of these nostalgia puzzles. These portals however would work in a way that they have many different exit points and our mastery rank would decide which exits we can and cannot use and be required to solve higher tier puzzles for the portals.
Which would also be a good replacement for the waypoints as it would work kinda like the temple waypoints in Siren’s Landing.

3) It’s not a realistic approach.
If there is one thing that the battle with Zhaitan taught me is that thechnology is the answer. And I know for a fact that mobile vehicles do exist in this universe – there is a mission in Orr where you guard tanks and the HoT adventure Drone Race is where we drive vehicles.
So if this was for real I would ask the Pact to get me a Desert Buggy or something like that for my upcoming trip to the Crystal Desert.

4) They don’t fly.
Really if we got a mount that flies that would not only be far more exciting, but that mount would be able to get around all the obstacles the other ones can.

So no I’m not excited for the mounts, I’m just really curious why would ANET give in and listen to the community on this one? Because there is really no point in this game for them.

1. There’s less waypoints in the PoF maps.

Furthermore, even in the old maps you still have to run from a WP to your final destination, even if it’s not a long distance. Whether your running to a world boss, guild missions, etc.

2. Mounts can perform their mobility skill whenever, while updrafts, leyline gliding etc. are only at certain parts of the map. The raptor’s leap isn’t only used to cross canyons, but just as a general mobility skill to go faster. Also, mounts have a base movement speed boost.

Additionally, mounts bring new visual customization. It’s a new way to tailor your character’s style and look.

3. Lore reasons, really?!? Why would someone bring a dagger to a gunfight? How comes I can hide my helmet but still get the extra protection? It’s a game, don’t expect it to be realistic.

4. Flying mounts are really hard to balance and develop. It would be like complaining about gliding: How comes I can ONLY glide, and not just fly? Because that could easily break the game!

It’s pretty clear you only read the main points and none of the explanations, as I mentioned to lack of WP’s in new areas being a forced necessity for the mounts.
So how about reading the whole thing before you reply next time?

The changes I want to suggest are minor, but I think necessary.

First I think they should have Spiritwood Plank’s added to their list as it’s the only T7 material they don’t drop. While we are at it Xunlai Electrum Ingot’s could be added too, however since their only use currently is for Aurora II collection that might not be necessary. But it’s obvious they will have more use in near future so I see no reason not to add them too.

Second and most important we need a slight change to the Ascended Armor Chests dropped from daily rewards. Please make the ones that are dropped from the Fractal Master’s Chest have the ability to select the armor piece you want. Currently the Fractal Master’s Chest has shoulders, gloves and boots as uncommon loot, while coat, leggings, helm are still rare. Because of this we often get some parts more than others and have to wait a while before we get the piece we want. So make the chests from Fractal Master’s Chest have the ability to select the armor piece you want, but make them rare drops instead. As a result all Daily Fractal Chests will drop Ascended Armor as rare loot, but only those from Fractal Master’s Chest will have the ability to select the armor piece you want. I really don’t think it’s too much to ask.

A while back I mentioned that Barriers using Healing Power instead of Vitality is a bad move:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Healing-Power/first#post6676425

However now I got to try them out and I’m even more disappointed. As many of you probably noticed by now they begin to decay almost instantly.
However I’m thinking that maybe when they decay they add to the health bar if it is not full, as that would justify the use of Healing Power instead of Vitality.
So I decided to see if it works that way, but nope it doesn’t, so the mechanic is pretty lame.

So I see only 2 options here:
1) Either give it a 3-5 sec delay before it start’s to decay AND make it run on Vitality as it has nothing to do with healing the recipient.
2) Make the decay add to the health bar of the recipient as I thought it would. It could be done through one of the traits even if it has to, but it would be much better.

If not I don’t see a bright future for this mechanic

I don’t even understand why so many players wanted them, are they suppose to compensate for something? But anyway here are the reasons why they are useless:

1) Waypoints are faster.
Which I point out with insufferable smugness is something I said since the leaks came out and for a fact even ANET agrees with me here. How do I know that? Simple the Crystal Oasis is only about 33-50% bigger than Frostgorge Sound, however Frostgorge Sound has 16 waypoints while Crystal Oasis has only 3. So it’s obvious you need a source of fast transportation when you have so few waypoints in such a big area, but it doesn’t really give much use in the old areas as they have a high concentration of waypoints. So in other words it’s a forced necessity.
Now someone is going to pull out this BS argument that there can’t be so many waypoints in the Crystal Desert because the Asura didn’t have time to set the WP network there properly. Well ok but what about the newly discovered places in Heart of Maguuma like Tarir or Rata Novus? They obviously had no link before their discovery either yet they have their own waypoints.
Still regardless of the argument on the lack of waypoints their lack is the main reason the mounts get their use from.

2) They do nothing new.
Honestly we already have lots of masteries that do exactly the same stuff as them i.e. jumping over gaps, reaching high places: Updrafts, Leylines, Bouncing Mushrooms, Nuhoch Wallows, Rift Traveler, Explosive Launch, Thermal Propulsion, Oakheart’s Reach. We can already do all that the mounts can do ok? Heck even normal Gliding would work if this was for real, because how often do you see gaps which have edges on both sides that are level? But if they were not the Raptor could only jump over them from the higher edge, while from lower it wouldn’t make it just as Gliding can’t.
The only reason we need them is because HoT masteries are useless in the Crystal Desert.
And I find it a real lack of creativity that all 4 mounts will have separate masteries.
Why couldnt we instead have a mastery that is focused on the magic portals from GW1?
I mean even one of the mastery points requires solving one of these nostalgia puzzles. These portals however would work in a way that they have many different exit points and our mastery rank would decide which exits we can and cannot use and be required to solve higher tier puzzles for the portals.
Which would also be a good replacement for the waypoints as it would work kinda like the temple waypoints in Siren’s Landing.

3) It’s not a realistic approach.
If there is one thing that the battle with Zhaitan taught me is that thechnology is the answer. And I know for a fact that mobile vehicles do exist in this universe – there is a mission in Orr where you guard tanks and the HoT adventure Drone Race is where we drive vehicles.
So if this was for real I would ask the Pact to get me a Desert Buggy or something like that for my upcoming trip to the Crystal Desert.

4) They don’t fly.
Really if we got a mount that flies that would not only be far more exciting, but that mount would be able to get around all the obstacles the other ones can.

So no I’m not excited for the mounts, I’m just really curious why would ANET give in and listen to the community on this one? Because there is really no point in this game for them.

You cannot be serious right now ANET. How can “barrier” potency depend on Healing Power instead of Vitality? It’s not healing in traditional sense of the word, as it doesn’t restore the health bar, but instead extends it, which is exactly what Vitality does. More over Vitality also effects the Necromancers Life Force pool, so using Vitality would be a win win situation for the Scourge (maybe that’s exactly why it isn’t so).
And let’s be serious the attribute is currently considered dead last, so this would shine a new light on it.
And yes I realise the recipient’s Vitality is suppose to effect it, but is anyone actually going to turn to Vitality just because they have a Scorge in the party? Because I think not.

phokus.8934:

They’re completely different from the original tomes. How about you actually read into them first before making such silly posts?

You are missing the point, I know they are different. What I mean is that the new elite spec is not exactly introducing a new feature for the Guardian, but rather bringing back an old feture that was removed from them.

Not to spoil the fun, but tomes are actually an old feature of Guardians. They used to have 2 tomes which were elite skills: Tome of Courage and Tome of Wrath which were replaced by Signet of Courage and “Feel My Wrath!”.
So it kinda feels like reintroducing an old feature rather than introducing a new one.

ElectricGoat.8253:

Yes paying as much as another currency, in your own currency, is how you make prices equal. What exactly is the problem here?

ROFL OK currently 1 USD = 110 JPY. So you are saying japanese should pay in yen as much as americans do in dollars for same product? Wow I’m sure Japan would love that.

Ok back when GW2 came out the euro to US dollar ratio was almost the same, but we live in different times now where to US dollar had dropped significantly.
Yet we still pay as much in Euro as americans do in Dollars for micro transactions.
In fact currently even the brits are getting scammed as obviously the dollar to pound ratio has changed as well.
Current ratios are 1 USD = 0.85 Euro and 1 USD = 0.75 GBP.
Yet brits pay in GBP as much as it should be in Euro currently, while we still pay in Euro as much as americans do in USD.
That is not fair, as we would save up money by paying in USD even after exchange fees.

From what I understood it kinda works like the thief’s skill 3 mechanic where it’s different depending on what main-hand and off-hand weapon combination they use.
However since it’s 4 attunments 2 of which are active it makes 12 different combinations depending which attunment is used for main-hand and which for off-hand.
It would look like this:

- Fire/Water
- Fire/Air
- Fire/Earth
- Water/Fire
- Water/Air
- Water/Earth
- Air/Fire
- Air/Water
- Air/Earth
- Earth/Fire
- Earth/Water
- Earth/Air

Of couse the skills would be the same regardless of combo use like Fire/Water and Fire/Air skills 1 and 2 would be the same. Or Earth/Water and Air/Water would have the same 4 and 5 skills. Also skill 3 will probably be the same when using same attunment combinations in reverse, like Air/Water and Water/Air will have same skill 3.

However I am wondering how the Glyphs will react to this, as they give different effect depending on the selected attunment, however I suspect the main-hand attunment will be their effect selection then.

So we finally killed the real Lazarus, umm, hmm, you know we could have done that back in GW1 quest where we meet him. Really there is no need for this charade if we bring him back just to finish him off. So much for cool plans for the Mursaat.
I mean back in Bloodstone Fen Balthazar could have just absorbed the energy and do a runner, so he can operate from the shadows. By revealing himself he just put his plans in danger. You would think a God of War no less would be better at strategising.
I am really disappointed, am I suppose to cheer just because I got to see Livia again?
I really don’t know what to say, except it’s another broken promise by ANET.

themillwater.5846:

Want really for sure where to put this one. I fed the cat in the new fractal what was listed on the wiki and it is still mewing at me “expectanly” . Is it bugged out is there an item not listed?

I made a guide a while back you can go check it out here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lwd/Simon-new-cat-guide-SPOILER/first#post6655838

Simon is the new can found in the Shattered Observatory Fractal. You can reach him right after the first boss fight by using the right path on the crossroads. The right path is locked, but you can unlock it by using the control panel next to Yokko. However, to get the option to open the right gate you need to find the 5 data keys in the left area first (at least I think thats the requirement). You will find Simon on a cliff next to a gravestone, problem is he has to be fed multiple times. I have managed to discover all 5 items he needs to be fed. The items I fed him are:

- +9 Agony Infusion
- Integrated Fractal Matrix
- Golden Fractal Relic
- Unstable Cosmic Essence (Gained for finishing 100 CM)
- Cube of Stabilized Dark Energy

After feeding him all 5 talk to Simon again and your character will ask him to come home with you, after that he will react like all other cats that have been fed. I will add now one last screen of him in my home instance.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Rikimaru.7890:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Rikimaru.7890:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

A while back when Shared Inventory Slots were introduced many players thought you could use them for infinite gathering tools, but as we know they don’t work when put inside them, so it is not much better than using the bank.

They are a lot better than using the bank

Using the bank
1) waypoint to nearest bank
2) run to bank
3) unequip tools, put in bank
3) switch chars
4) waypoint to bank
5) run to bank
6) take tools from bank, equip tools

Using account wide slots
1) open inventory
2) click on non permanent tools in account wide slots which places permanent tools there
3) switch chars
4) click on permanent tools in account wide slots which equips them

Now account wide slots may not be perfect for this but it’s certainly far better than using the bank to switch.

I come up with a solution to the whole problem, yet instead of writing critique on that you argue on how much shared slots are superior to using the bank to move gathering tools?

Then don’t use hyperbole to make a false point. Stick to true statements and you won’t have people pointing out that what you said was false.

Otherwise I don’t see a problem with your design. It could work as stated.

I’ll give you false statement. I said “not much better” which can mean anything. As for you, your rant only applies if you have 3 free slots, if you have less you would have to do multiple relogs. Unless you remove some items from other slots, but then you would have to relog anyway to put them back in place. You also forgot about going to WvW to reach the bank. Finally some people have a little something called Permanent Bank Access Express, in which case the bank becomes superior to the 3 free shared slots.

1) it’s part of your OP and it’s part of the argument you were using to say that account bound slots are insufficient
2) since it’s part of your argument for the need for this item then it’s fair game to point out that it’s false for all who don’t own a permanent bank access and not necessarily true for those who do (I own a permanent bank access and for me the account wide slots are still better than using it).

May I suggest that in the future that you don’t bring up points in your OP that are both not true and that you do not wish to discuss, as everything that’s in your opening post is fair game for discussion.

Aha I knew it you are trolling. Because I do in fact have a Permanent Bank Access Express and I know for a fact that the bank is better than a Shared Inventory Slot. Because you can move things in and out the bank by double-clicking which is much faster than pulling it from one slot to another.
So you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. You just came here to annoy me, which I suspected from the start.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Rikimaru.7890:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

A while back when Shared Inventory Slots were introduced many players thought you could use them for infinite gathering tools, but as we know they don’t work when put inside them, so it is not much better than using the bank.

They are a lot better than using the bank

Using the bank
1) waypoint to nearest bank
2) run to bank
3) unequip tools, put in bank
3) switch chars
4) waypoint to bank
5) run to bank
6) take tools from bank, equip tools

Using account wide slots
1) open inventory
2) click on non permanent tools in account wide slots which places permanent tools there
3) switch chars
4) click on permanent tools in account wide slots which equips them

Now account wide slots may not be perfect for this but it’s certainly far better than using the bank to switch.

I come up with a solution to the whole problem, yet instead of writing critique on that you argue on how much shared slots are superior to using the bank to move gathering tools?

Then don’t use hyperbole to make a false point. Stick to true statements and you won’t have people pointing out that what you said was false.

Otherwise I don’t see a problem with your design. It could work as stated.

I’ll give you false statement. I said “not much better” which can mean anything. As for you, your rant only applies if you have 3 free slots, if you have less you would have to do multiple relogs. Unless you remove some items from other slots, but then you would have to relog anyway to put them back in place. You also forgot about going to WvW to reach the bank. Finally some people have a little something called Permanent Bank Access Express, in which case the bank becomes superior to the 3 free shared slots.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

A while back when Shared Inventory Slots were introduced many players thought you could use them for infinite gathering tools, but as we know they don’t work when put inside them, so it is not much better than using the bank.

They are a lot better than using the bank

Using the bank
1) waypoint to nearest bank
2) run to bank
3) unequip tools, put in bank
3) switch chars
4) waypoint to bank
5) run to bank
6) take tools from bank, equip tools

Using account wide slots
1) open inventory
2) click on non permanent tools in account wide slots which places permanent tools there
3) switch chars
4) click on permanent tools in account wide slots which equips them

Now account wide slots may not be perfect for this but it’s certainly far better than using the bank to switch.

I come up with a solution to the whole problem, yet instead of writing critique on that you argue on how much shared slots are superior to using the bank to move gathering tools?

A while back when Shared Inventory Slots were introduced many players thought you could use them for infinite gathering tools, but as we know they don’t work when put inside them, so it is not much better than using the bank.
However, an interesting fact about Shared Inventory Slots right now is the maximum number we can have atm i.e. 17, yes maximum is 16 you purchase, but everyone who has HoT get’s 1 additional slot. Which means we are exactly 3 slots short to 20, which is maximum amount of slots for bags. So I was thinking, why not make the last 3 shared slots ones that do indeed allow all our characters to share gathering tools?
These 3 slots would be 1 time purchases each. There would be 1 Shared Foraging Slot, 1 Shared Logging Slot and 1 Shared Mining Slot. Any gathering tool put in these slots could be used by any character.
However, what about the normal tool slots? Well the way I imgined it, it would work like this: If a character has tools equipped in their normal slots and the shared slots, then the ones in the normal slots take priority. So the character will use their own gathering tools before the ones in the shared slots, until the ones in the normal slots are used up or unequipped, only then the tools in the shared slots will start being used by that character.
And yes I know there are players that have multiple infinite gathering tool sets and they would not be happy about this, but hey, same thing happened when normal Shared Inventory Slots were introduced and some players had multiple Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic’s.
And I also know that there could be more than 20 Shared Inventory Slots, but I think these 3 special slots are a good idea regardless of how many Shared Inventory Slots there will be.

I will add my guess on who it is.
With the mention of a “prophecy” I’m thinking it might actually be Aurene. Glint after all spoke tyrias language and foretold the “Flameseeker Prophecies” in GW1. So perhaps Aurene will now be able to speak our language too and will foretell her own prophecy for us now.

Oh come now, it seems no one noticed it, but look at the character in the trailer at 0:35.
Thats clearly a human female in heavy armour that appears to be a mixture of Avenger’s and Barbaric sets. The character is whielding an Inquest Staff and is using fire themed magic. Neither Guardian nor Revenant do firey attacks when using a staff. So there are only 2 options left either it’s new class entirely or this is a new Elite Spec for the Warrior, who as we know is related to fire.

I have been thinking about it for a while. The fact M.O.X. is in such bad shape really saddens me and I really want to repair it now that it belongs to me (again). But how?
Well I got an idea from it’s music playing option. What if we give M.O.X. the Super Boom Boxes? We could first ask Moto for help in rapairing it and he would give us instructions on what to do. Then we would use the parts from Super Boom Boxes to repair M.O.X. and also add their music to it’s database. The Super Boom Boxes are also Asuran technology after all so I think it would work.
It could also be made so that only 1 Super Boom Box is required to repair M.O.X. while others will only add more tracks to it. Also M.O.X. in return could give us a new gizmo that contains all tracks it has in it’s database, so we can play them anywhere we like.

MachineManXX.9746:

It’s a free gift. To be honest, you sound a little entitled. I mean, if someone gives you a real birthday gift and it’s something you already happen to own, do you ask them to upgrade it? It’s not Anets fault that you bought EVERY SINGLE dye.

Maybe you could be happy that you own EVERY SINGLE dye and not worry about the free gift without needing more more more?

Well I’m sorry for being a dye collector, I had no idea that is such a bad moral decision.

Ok they are nice and all, but what are you suppose to do with them once you have all dyes unlocked?
In time I will receive more Jubilant Dye Pack’s and Celebratory Dye Pack’s with which I won’t be able to do anything except turn the dye I choose into pigment. I mean I can’t sell these dyes so no matter what I choose it’s no real use for me.
Yes I have all dyes unlocked so sue me, but I also know I’m not the only one and so others have this problem too.
I remember when I got one of my Jubilant Dye Pack’s was when the Vibrant Dye Kit came out, so I thought I could unlock dyes from this pack too, but no this is post 4th birthday not pre, so not happening. Back then I still had some other dyes I could unlock, but now I don’t and I also buy the new dyes up to date now.
Of course I could wait for 5th birthday, but do I have any guarantee there will actually be a new birthday pack? Also I can’t know how many new dyes ANET will release each year.
Another thing is the 5th birthday dye pack will have much fewer dyes to choose from. Celebratory Dye Pack has exactly 60 exclusive dyes to choose from – 10 sets each with 6 exclusive dyes. Jubilant Dye Pack however has much fewer, it has 43 in total and 6 of them are from Taimi’s Dye Kit which you can get from the Celebratory Dye Pack too.
That’s because the Jubilant Dye Pack only has 6 sets to choose from, 2 of which have more than 6 exclusive dyes – Shadow Dye Kit has 10 and Blue Shift Dye Kit has 9.
So how many will the 5th birthday have? Currently 24, perhaps 30 if they manage to squeeze in another dye pack in July. But I won’t have any dyes to unlock with it anyway, so it won’t be much of a birthday present to me.

I have a solution to this problem, give the Birthday Dye Packs an additional option to choose from which will make them function like the Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock.
What I mean is using this option will unlock a random dye you don’t have, including ones you can’t choose from normally. And by that I mean it can also be a non-exclusive dye if those arent all unlocked yet. As a result players like me who already have all dyes unlocked will be able to still find use for these packs when new dyes appear, only the result will be random then.
It could also be made that Jubilant Dye Pack unlocks 2 random dyes and 5th birthday pack could unlock 3 – but that probably would be overkill and I think I’m being too selfish right now. So maybe regardless of which one is it they all unlock only 1 random dye.

A while back I posted that there is no “true white” dye in the game:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/There-is-no-true-white-dye/first#post6457997

However today is the day all of that changed and we finally got the “true white” dye i.e. Permafrost Dye.
Yes I confirm that it’s hex code #FFFFFF is the code for white color.
So yes just as Shadow Abyss is “true black”, Permafrost is “true white”.

So yes main PvE Necro builds from GW1 simply have no place in GW2. However there is another meta build in GW1 which is the Necromancer Healer build. It’s not a build for players mind you, as it’s mostly used by Hero’s. Hero’s are allied NPC’s in GW1 which you can costumize just like your own character. However Hero’s have limited AI and thus they will not manage their energy properly, thus Necro hero’s are used as healers because they never run out of energy. Of course a player healer will almost never be a Necro in GW1, but maybe that’s what they should do in GW2.

Ok the main problem here is that Necromancers are suppose to “gain power from death” and that’s what they do, but it’s mostly good for survival, which is actully bad in this case. You see it means that by the very concept Necromancers cannot be as good at doing damage as Elementalists because they would be too OP then. If Necro’s delt damage comparable to Ele then why would anyone use them? Since Necro does about the same damage, but can also survive a lot more punishment than Ele who needs them then? So if you still have hopes that Necro’s will ever deal damage comparable to Ele you can forget it.
However Necro’s could become healer’s instead through a new Elite spec like say “Vampire Lord”. Where they don’t exactly heal but instead grant effects which cause party member’s to steal a lot of health, which would be both healing and bonus damage. The Shroud would also gain new effects where it rips life force from enemies and feeds it to party members to restore their health.

So yes I vote for a healer elite spec. Necro’s will never replace Ele’s but they could replace Druid’s.

In GW1 Necromancers were a force to be reckoned with, so how did they fall so low in GW2? Don’t try to make excuses now because I heard it all.
Let me explain how it happened, it’s because the builds they used back in GW1 have no way to appear in GW2. Other classes like the Elementalist or Warrior remain similar in playstyle as their GW1 counterparts.
Necromancers however had very specific builds which arguably were the most powerful in the game, however they had 1 loophole which made them unfit for team builds. I’ll get to that soon, but first I will mention a few of the most popular ones and why they would not work in GW2.

- The SS Nuker i.e. Spiteful Spirit, there are several skills with SS initials, however when someone said “SS” it nearly always ment “Spiteful Spirit”.
Spiteful Spirit is an Elite hex spell which causes enemies to take damage when they attack or use a skill. Basically a hex is something like conditions, only their effects are unique and much more deadly. Spiteful Spirit only targets 1 enemy however the damage is AoE so by casting it on multiple targets the damage stacks. Even better is the fact it’s damage ignores armour, so it is a “good for all” skill. In GW1 this build could melt legions of enemies in seconds, which is why it was often used for Duo Underworld i.e. 1 tank 1 spiker. However we can’t have it in GW2 because there are no hexes here and even if we did it would probably have 180 sec recharge instead of 10 as in GW1.

- Minion Master, ok, ok we can do that too here, but it’s nowhere near the level from GW1. For starters in GW1 you couldn’t have just 1 minion per skill, you can summon multiple minions of each type. There is a limit of how many minions you can have at once though, mostly it’s up to 11 with 12 being the absolute limit. In GW1 minions require corpses to summon and they die over time, which is why a MM would constantly recycle them. The build worked far better in GW1 though, for starters GW1 minions can function as pseudo-tanks. Because the AI will cause enemies to attack the “weakest” opponents first and minions were nearly always the weakest. So while enemies are playing with the minions the rest can blow them to kingdom come and once they start dying the MM starts producing new minions. The build also has far greater tricks to it, like the MM can cast “Death Nova” on their minions to make them explode when they die or a Monk can cast “Dwayna’s Sorrow” on the minions which causes all party members to gain health when they die or you can do both and more.
The build cannot be so great in GW2 however, because for starters we cannot rely on corpses and thus the build has to be nerfed. In GW1 you fight platoons not single enemies 1 by 1 so there aren’t enough corpses in the game to make the build so elaborate. And so we have a “skill limit” instead of a “corpse limit”.

- BiP i.e. “Blood is Power” yes this is a skill in GW2 too, however in GW1 it was used to give other classes what they wish they had when they think about Necromancers.
Necromancers in GW1 regain energy when something near them dies so they almost never run out. Blood is Power is an Elite enchantment which a Necromancer can only cast on someone else and it causes the target to regenerate energy much faster than normal. Which is why BiP is often called a “battery” as all they do is keep casting that 1 spell on everyone over and over, so the party never runs out of fuel. However again we can’t do that in GW2 because there is no energy in GW2 …. ugh.

Now what is that “loophole” I talked about? Well it’s simple while the Necromancer builds are practically unmatched they cannot be mass used i.e. if you have 1 Necro with such a build you don’t bring more. The SS can possibly cause more damage than any other build, however 2 or more SS Nec’s would only get in each others way. Casting SS on same target twice would do nothing so 2 players using this build would often just cause conflicts. So it works like this:

SS Necromancer > Elementalist
4 SS Necromancers < 4 Elementalists

Yes Elementalists using their nuking builds together will stack their damage while SS Necromancers not really. Exception to this rule is the Elite mission “The Deep” where people sometimes do take multiple SS Necro’s as the pro’s outweigh the con’s there.
Next the Minion Master is also usually only 1 because more would not have enough corpses to build their minion army. An exception to this rule is Bogroot Growths dungeon as there are so many corpses there that more than 1 MM can actually work, however even then most people only bring 1 MM there.
And as for BiP it’s pretty simple, 1 battery is enough, 2 would just be dead weight.

IndigoSundown.5419:

If I read the OP correctly, a player would still need to make the various pieces of gear needed for different stat combinations. As long as that’s the case, a more elegant solution might be the implementation of build slots, in which a player could store not only the gear but also the utility skills and traits for a given build. That would solve the storage issue as well as allowing the player to switch gear and everything else related to a build with one click. A plus here would also be that players could incorporate exotics or even lower tiers of gear into a build as well as Ascended, guaranteeing a more universal applicability.

Yes changing the build at will is a good idea, however I doubt even if it happens it will solve the gear problem. The gear still has to be stored somewhere and I doubt the build tool would have unlimited room. And I don’t think exotic gear will work for it even if it’s implemented, because it’s soulbound and a tool like this would likely allow you to share same gear among multiple characters.

No I don’t mean new gear with even higher stats. What I’m talking about is a solution to a problem we now have with managing inventory space.
You probably know what I’m talking about right? People using multiple Ascended gear sets and swaping them when they take on a different role. And it’s just the beginning, as there are more Elite specializations coming. Take the Ranger as example, obviously their 2nd Elite spec is not going to be another one that is healing focused, like the Druid is.
And the new Elites are obviously not going to be “better”, no they will simply fulfil a different role, so obviously the current ones will not be replaced.
But even so the Ranger can be a condi or a healer right now, which means they need 2 different gear sets. However I also know that some people use even 4 different sets on 1 class, which makes 30 to 40 slots (depending how many alternate weapons are used) filled by extra gear.

Of course a full legendary set solves most of the problems here, but the trinckets are still a problem and no one should be forced to get legendary gear.
So I propose a new tier of gear i.e. Transcendent, which has same stats as Ascended however functions “almost” like Legendary. What I mean is it would also have the ability to change stats, but not to any you want like Legendary.
It would work like this: Transcendent gear would be obtained by merging 2 piecess of Ascended gear with different stats in the forge. So for example the Ranger can merge Viper gear with Magi gear and obtains Transcendent gear that can alter between the 2 stats now at will. Transcendent gear would lose the Asceded gears ability to change stats in the forge using exotic insignian/isncriptions, however it would instead gain the ability to have even more stats added to it.
So now the Ranger’s Transcendent gear, which can alter between Viper and Magi stats, can be merged again with a 3rd ascended set with say Berserker stats and now the Ranger can alter between all 3. The process could be repeated as many times as needed up to the point it has all types of stats just like Legendary gear.
It would also gain the ability of replasing upgrades without losing the previous just like Legendary armour does – it wouldn’t be much of a solution if it didn’t.
In other words all the players that have +3 gear sets on their characters can go back to 1 that has all their stats to choose from.
However what about losing upgrades when adding new stats? Well yes all ascended gear that already has upgrades would lose them during the merger, but as for Transcendent you could always replace the current upgrades with worthless ones before adding new stats to it and thus your upgrades would not be destroyed anymore.
And the Ascended gears ability to change stats would still be useful, as you would still use it to get the stats you desire before you add them to the Transcendent gear.

This process could be done with trinckets too, more over I doubt there will ever be Legendary trinckets, because unlike the rest it cannot be seen. I know that it could create auras, but as far as I know you can only have up to 3 and there are 5 trinckets.
Unless maybe we only get an Amulet that has all the stats, but then it would need to have 8 infusions slots added to it, so like I said I doubt it.
Also Transcendent gear could have cyan colored names, so you can tell the difference between it and Ascended gear.

So yes more roles will mean more alternate gear sets, thus I think this is a thing that must happen.

Title says it all, but here have a look:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I think the OP is confused about what a Deus ex Machina means for storytelling. It was used in Greek performances when they rolled out an actual machine that would get the hero out of trouble, a machine that had never existed in the story line.

In contrast, technology of some sort has existing in the GW universe for a long time. Zhaitan’s weakness was introduced early in the personal story, which is why we defeat the Mouth & the Eye before confronting the actual dragon. The Zhaitan fight was… weak because the devs ran out of time before the game launched, and thus implemented a watered-down version of the originally intended battle — but the tech was introduced well before.

Similarly, Mordemoth’s weakness was foreshadowed early on, as was the idea that the dragons have weaknesses that the Pact and the Commander could exploit. Primordus’ and Jormag’s strengths are well known; their weaknesses were foreshadowed.

And although Omadd’s machine has been repurposed beyond its ability to show the dragons and the magic they consume, it’s consistently been a tool in the fight & understanding of how magic & dragons exist in the GW universe. It’s not that much different to me from how a battery can absorb energy.

I understand that one might not enjoy the way in which the story was told. That doesn’t mean that there’s a fundamental flaw in the ideas used to tell it.

Actually it seems that you are the one who doesn’t know what a “Deus Ex Machina” is. It means “God from the Machine” which is a cheap plot device that usually saves the main character in an unexpected way. In Greece they used “divine intervention” to save the main character when they found themselves in a situation they cannot solve on their own. And the actors that played the Gods would be lifted using machines when they made their devine intervention, hence “God from the Machine”.
This plot device now refers to anything that the main characters have no control over, but allows them to find a solution to their problem. Hence the Elder Dragons having a “weakness” is a Deus Ex Machina. Same goes for putting Primordus and Jormag back into slumber, as it is a convenient and unexpected result, because it solves both problems of them eating everyone and that we can no longer kill any more of them.

Honestly ever since they came into existance I wondered something: How are we suppose to fight something so gargantuan? Well we got our answer in “Vicrory or Death”, where we fought Zhaitan and we hated it.
I even made a topic once on why do we even bother fighting them when technology seems to be the answer? I wrote that we could just build something like a nuclear silo and blast the dragon lairs into oblivion. Considering they are corrupted and uninhabitable anyway who cares about things like radiation?
So then we got Mordremoth and it turned out he would “regrow” if we just destroyed the whole jungle. But fortunately for us we got the “weakness” deus ex machina and we killed Mordremoth by destroying his mind. But it only raised questions like what was Zhaitan’s weakness? Battleships? I know people say it’s “unity” or that we weakened him before the fight etc but really give me a break with all that.

So when episode 2 came out I made a topic that we will probably fight another dragon during season 3, as there isn’t much material to work with at this point. Well it seems I was kinda right, but the result was the worst one yet.
It turned out Jormag and Primordus cancel each other out and again we got a machine to do the job of destroying them both. Only this time it was literally a deus ex machina.
Since we got an actual God attached to it.
Oh ANET don’t you know a literal deus ex machina came out of style in 2003?

Well I guess they simply gave up on the main antagonists and how to fight them at this point, as we got rid of 2 of them in one go.
So 2 Elder Dragons are dead and 2 are asleep and since we can’t kill any more of them, we will have to put the remaining 2 to sleep too. Or you know what? Forget it, let’s just go full nonsense and befriend them. I mean Snaff was able to control Kralkatorrik with his invention, so let’s just do the same only we will go full pro with it.

I seriously think that even the game mechanics suffered because of the Elder Dragons.
Back in GW1 we had lots of types of damage, but if they existed in GW2 too it would be problematic. Take Jormag and Primordus being each others “weakness” as example, some classes would be better or worse at fighting them. However Elementalists would have the unfair advantage as they could use all 4 types of elemental damage in GW1 i.e. fire, cold, shock, earth. In Gw1 cold damage was effective agains fiery creatures such as Destroyers, while fire damage was effective against icy creatures. Other classes usually could only do 1 type of elemental damage, like Necromancers could do cold damage too, so they would do well against Primordus but not Jormag. On the other hand they were also masters of armour ignoring damage which was a “good for all” thing.
But the biggest offenders would in fact be Guardians at the beginning of GW2, because they evolved from Monks. And Monks could use holy damage, which not only ignored armour too but also delt double damage against undead. So yeah the Arah dungeon and rest of Orr events would have been “Guardians only” as other classes would have been a joke compared to them.
So yeah best solution was removing damage types and merging everything into one, but because of this we lack creativity and all we do is compete in who has the biggest DPS. In Gw1 it was situational as many other things had to be taken into account. Not to mention in GW1 you could hit unlimited amount of foes with your aoe attacks, which is also why we fought platoons instead of thin lines which we kill off one by one.

But yeah it was a bad idea from the start, their size and the fact they each represent an “element” only created problems. Thus the whole plot is a failure and if you are still hoping it will get better at this point you are just delusional.

Donari.5237:

Thanks, I did finish phase 3 and thought I would get a thing or two for phase 4. I test-slew a small number of elementals and did not get the drop. I understand RNG — my question is whether the collection is completely disabled right now, or just the seed planting part.

If completely, will I still be able to get seeds? I currently only have 3 and would like to gather up the other 12 while waiting for the collection to be reinstated.

Actually that achievement can be completed in 1 day using different instances, 4 are enough to reach 50. Also you obviously didn’t read what I said, I said Ember Bey had a good reason to return to i.e. the new trinckets.

Because there is no other good reason to return to Draconis Mons after doing all the achievements.
The first 3 areas from LS3 had good reasons to return to on a daily basis. What was it? Simple, they gave us the first non-raid trinckets for which you can select any stats possible.
Bloodstone Fen gave us a back item, amulet and ring. Ember Bay gave the 1st trincket (and a 2nd ring if you did the scavanger hunt). Bitterfrost Frontier gave us the 2nd trincket, 2nd/(3rd) ring and even an aquabreather.
So after that we didn’t need any more new trinckets as a whole set can be acquired with just these 3 areas, unless someone needed more than 1 set and thus farming the nodes in more areas made it faster, but even then you could farm same area with multiple characters.
So then came Lake Doric and it’s Jade Shard’s, which many players found no reason to farm as much as the previous, except for the new mini’s perhaps, but a lot of people never bothered with those either. The only thing it really kept people coming back for is the leather farm, which now became an AFK festival.
As a result ANET knew that the 5th area will suffer from the same lack of interest as Lake Doric, so they invented a time gated achievement chain to keep people occupied for at least half a month.

So yes thats the secret of the Druid Runestone frustration, it’s all to keep players returning to Draconis Mons for as much as they did to the first 3 areas when they came out.

For starters trying to explain any of this is nigh impossible, as nothing makes sense anymore. I mean ANET had “cool plans for the Mursaat” so I find it strange they decided to pull the rug from under “Lazarus”. Even if the real one does appear now it will make the current charade rather pointless. But I guess ANET is just starting to give up, as there is just so much you can do with the story material.

But anyway you came here for an explanation and not to hear me rant.
Right so for starters the Gods can be overthrown, as Abaddon was defeated in GW1 and Kormir took his position as Goddess of Secrets. However in GW1 one of the quests reveals that Abaddon was in fact not the first God of Secrets either, so there was at least 1 other that preceded him. Another example of this is Grenth who was a Demi-God at first but overthrew Dhuum with the help of 7 followers, who are now known as the 7 Reapers.
Which for starters would mean that Balthazar is no longer the God of War, but someone else is. Who you ask? I don’t know, but primary suspect would be his half-brother Menzies, who wanted to overthrow Balthazar since the events of GW1.

But why does Balthazar need the magic of the Elder Dragons? Well it’s probably because only the “Six Gods” can draw power directly from “The Mists”, but now that Balthazar is no longer one of the six he can no longer do that. Thus he seeks to reclaim some of his old power elsewhere and what better place than living magic vacuum cleaners.
I mean we had seen Mordremoth eating rocks made of condensed magic, but the Mists are all made up of magic, so nothing Tyria has to offer can compete with that.
So while Balthazar is still a “God” he is nowhere near the level before he was dethrowned, as he can no longer draw power from the infinite magic of the Mists.
As proof of that is Dhuum who returned in GW1 but was obviously weak as he could lose in a fight to mortals.

In simple words it’s time for sculpting new statues of the “God of War” as Balthazar is no longer it.

Yup I can’t live with myself anymore because if it, so I’m here to confess what I did.
It all happened when I was selling some Hard Wood Logs, they did disappear from my inventory and my money was transfered, but my transaction screen froze. So instead of waiting for the usual “success” screen I closed the window and tried selling some Venom but all I kept getting was Error screen. Soon after a lot of people kept getting the same thing and you all know the rest.
All because of my impatience I ruined the lives of so many people, so now I’m ready to be judged and receive my rightful punishment.

Shared Training is my idea of a new mastery that would change the trait system.
I noticed that since the release of HoT all profession are beginning to share more types of weapons and skill types. So this mastery would work by having different classes share their experience in using skills and weapons types they all use.
For example Warriors and Rangers can use Longbows, Elementalists and Rangers(Druids) can use Glyphs. If 2 different classes in a team both use traits related to the same weapon/skill then shared training would kick in and they would gain additional buff to those weapons/skills.
So if the Warrior is using “Burning Arrows” and the Ranger uses “Lead the Wind” they now gain additional buffs by sharing their knowledge, so instead of having 20% faster recharge rate they instead both have 33%. Same goes for the Glyphs, if the Elementalist is using “Inscription” and the Rangers(Druids) is using “Verdant Etching” their Glyphs will also have 33% faster recharge rate instead of 20%. They could also gain some additional boosts apart from faster recharge rate, but I’m not going to invent every effect on the spot, if my idea were to be implemented I would leave the ballancing to ANET. But I will explain some other things like what happens if 3 or more classes share a skill/weapon type or what happens if 2 party members are same class.
Well if you have 2 Warriors in a team and they both use a Greatsword and both have “Forceful Greatsword” activated nothing happens – they are same class so they don’t have any knowledge to share among one another. However if we have 2 Warriors with “Forceful Greatsword”and a Guardian who has “Zealous Blade” then all 3 will have 33% faster recharge. Now if only 1 warrior is using “Forceful Greatsword” while the other isn’t then the one who isn’t has normal recharge rate. I’ll write it down to make it more simple:

Warrior A with “Forceful Greatsword” has 33%
Warrior B without “Forceful Greatsword” gains no benefit
Guardian with “Zealous Blade” has 33%

But now what if we have a Warrior, Guardian and Necromancer(Reaper) in the party and each is using their Greatsword related trait? Well the for ballance reasons Shared Training would give no additional bonuses in such a situation, however all 3 classes would need to have their trait activated to gain the Shared Training buff. Same goes if we go to the extreme and have a Warrior, Ranger, Guardian, Mesmer and Necromancer(Reaper) all use a Greatsword and each of them uses their Greatsword related trait. All 5 have 33% faster recharge and additional bonuses, if 1 of them does not use their trait they will have normal recharge rate while the other 4 have their bonuses.

So of course a party could just have 4 Warriors and 1 Guardian and all 5 have the buff too. However there are many other skill types and weapons that could create combinations with other classes for more powerful team builds.
In other words we would no longer select skills, weapons and traits based only on our role but also on our party formation.
And yes I know there is one problem – Engineers and Revenants share no skill type with anyone. But the shared Training could works with any “relatable” traits, like those that have effects when reviving, boon and/or condition bonuses, dodging, falling damage.
There would always be something a specific class can add to the team.

Right I’m done and ready to get ridiculed by others.

For starters ANET could just be pulling our leg. Kasmeer saying “no it can’t be” could actually mean anything. The trailer is focused on Lazarus thus our first instincts make us believe she is referring to his identity when saying that line. But in reality she could be commenting on anything else she may find disturbing.
It could be that the identity of Lazarus may not even be revealed yet in this episode.

If she is referring to his identity then it’s clear she knows the person behind the mask.
Some people think it’s Kyle Meade since it’s Kasmeer who states her shock.
But could he really have the power to do all that “Lazarus” did? Maybe, but I have doubts someone so powerful would fall victim to something as simple as debts.
In fact I’m worried it might actually be Scarlet Briar.
But how could she be alive? Well as much as I don’t want her to return I have some explanations. For starters Scarlet was a “Holomancer”, ever since Elite specs were announced I thought that will be the Engineers elite spec, but we got Scrapper instead.
However it doesn’t mean the holomancer will not be added in the future and regardless if she returns or not the origin of the spec would be related to her.
Her specialization is one of the explanation of how she might still be alive i.e. we did not kill her but a hologram which looks identical to her. It’s like the Mesmers clones and phantasms – the holograms we encountered were like phantasms, but she may have also developed ones that are like clones i.e. look exactly the same.
Another explanation is that Mordremoth revived her soon after we killed her, just like he did with Faolin, as a reward for awakening him. She was after all his first Sylvari minion.

Based on the collection for Ad Ifinitum I wouldn’t surprised if it was a gift which you have to empower somewhere. Since Ad Infinitum collection required wasting a Gift of Metal and Wood, my guess would be nothing less than a Mystic Tribute. I mean armour is obviously a much bigger deal than a back item.
So yeah one last slap in the face before you are done at last.
I could be wrong of course, but since it’s only 1 item left it probably is something “special” rather than related to killing a raid boss again.

Amaimon.7823:

I’m just curious about something, why the spoiler tag? it’s just a cat..

Well actually talking about anything new to the game can be considred a spoiler. Most notably that is hidden from sight and you have to find it.
However truth is I just added the spoiler warning due a previous post I made on Lady Wisteria Whiskington. Next day when I fed her Bloodstone Ice Cream and came to update my post with the news that the ice cream worked my title had [SPOILERS] added to it by the moderator.
I also thought a new cat won’t need any warning like you back then.
So this time I just posted the warning on my own.