Guild Wars 2

These are things I have a dedicated bank slot that are basically crafting materials or currencies in all but name.

• Blood Rubies / Petrified Wood
• Tenebrous Crystals / Shimmering Crystals
• Reclaimed Metal Plates
• Chak Eggs
• Amalgamated Gemstones
• Blade Shards
• Mystic Crystals / Philosopher’s Stones (and maybe other MF reagents, but those are notable for only being purchasable in bulk so you usually have some left over)
• +1 Agony Infusions
• Vision Crystals / Lesser Vision Crystals

And I know the OP specifically says this is not about keys, but those are as pressing an issue if not more so than the above items. The wallet was a wonderful addition to the game and I don’t see why it couldn’t be expanded to include those (unless it’s some technical issue that’s not immediately apparent).

Wasn’t this update also supposed to update the map for the missions that take place in Lion’s Arch? Playing Forewarned is Forearmed now and it still takes place in pre-Scarlet LA (I don’t know if that whole sewer section still exists in 2015 LA).

Not that I’m complaining too much- the original LA has a lot of sentimental value and it’s cool to be able to revisit that map, if only in part.

Looking forward to your continued reports.

How was using a ranger pet from level 5 onward? Another poster said you don’t get access to all the F keys until level 24.

The recipe for the wooden sword is missing from its vendor in Foothills.

I hope this doesn’t mean even more skins are unavailable to new players (though at least this one can bought on the TP).

I used to play a F2P MMO called Perfect World. At one point in the game’s life cycle they added fairies, which were basically minipets which gave you access to a couple extra skills. The problem was that 1) they were available straight out of the door, so EVERYONE had one, 2) there were only four different varieties so they got boring to see real fast, and 3) there was no way to turn them off. And in a game where the central trading area had literally several hundred players and NPCs in visible proximity, a hundred extra minipets to render really did not help game performance. That game would have really benefited from minipet culling.

I am perfectly fine with the culling of other people’s minipets if there are enough out to affect game performance. Like Eternity and Spinal Blades, I don’t really care about other people’s gaudy bragging rights gear.

However, if you activate your own minipet, you should always be able to see it. No exceptions.

SirJack.4760:

Also, for Elementalists:
F1 (Fire): Unlocked by default
F2 (Water): Level 4
F3 (Air): Forgot, but it was 12-13 I think
F4 (Earth): Level 20 and still locked.

…seriously? The elementalist’s entire selling point is “master of the four elements”. Just about everyone who goes into the game wanting to play an ele has in mind what element they want to focus on (we even get a forehead gem declaring our devotion to the world). So what about that poor guy who has his heart set on an earth user but has to wait a third of the way to max level to play it? That’s like saying warriors can’t use greatswords or rifles until that level.

WatchTheShow.7203:

I really think level gating the profession F1-F4 skills was a terrible idea. Rangers will not have control over their pet until level 24. So every time a mob hits the ranger and the pet begins attacking, there is no way to recall it. When the ranger begins fighting something else, the pet will disengage, drag the previous mob with it, and engage the new target. Because most pets can’t handle 2 mobs at a time as a low level, it will die. Since rangers can’t switch pets until level 24, the ranger will become the new punching bag for the mobs.

And that’s like saying a profession can’t jump until 24th level. It’s not advanced class features, it’s basic character controls.

On a sidenote: I know nobody likes underwater combat, but that doesn’t mean they should stripmine the underwater content in the newbie zones just so new players aren’t accidentally exposed to it.

A couple questions:

There are a few weapon and armor skins for which the Personal Story was the only way to obtain them, such as Marauder armor, the Apostle chestpiece, and the Studded helm and shoulders. Unfortunately, data regarding how the Personal Story rewards were changed is still spotty. Are these skins still available through Personal Story? If not, are there any plans to make them obtainable again?

The 8/27 news post claims that the feature pack changes item drop rates so gear unusable by your profession have a lower chance to drop, but the patch notes make no mention of this. Was this change implemented or canceled?

I’m in the camp that believes the Pale Tree is connected to Mordremoth specifically (and that her prominence in this story is simply because Mordremoth is going to attempt to kill her), and she’s not any sort of central force connecting the six dragons.

I believe the answer is that the orb in the center represents Tyria, with the implication that the dragons are connected to Tyria in some primal manner. Consider Ogden’s words from one of Scarlet’s books: “Dragons have long been thought to be as much a part of Tyria as the sun, moon, land, and seas.” And according to Omadd we’re seeing a vision of the Eternal Alchemy, i.e. the underlying structure of all existence.

I’ve tried matching up the human gods to the Elder Dragons before, and it doesn’t really fit- Grenth (god of death and ice) could match to either Jormag or Zhaitan, and there aren’t really any strong arguments for Kralkatorrik and Lyssa other than their magic are both purple. Besides, it’s been fairly well-established that the dragons are far more ancient and powerful than mere gods.

Some further thoughts on the cutscene… The orbs ignite in the following order: Red, blue, white, green, purple, yellow. This correlates with the order the dragons awoke in, and their thematic colors: Primordus, Bubbles (whose time of awakening has been unknown til now), Jormag, Zhaitan, Kralkatorrik, and Mordremoth. (Z and M are black and green in the Crucible, but I’m willing to make the stretch.)

However, if you watch the orbs closely, it’s not Mordremoth’s yellow orb that crashes into the central orb as one might assume, but Zhaitan’s green orb. The obvious interpretation is that the event represents Zhaitan’s recent death. If that’s the case, and if the central orb truly represents Tyria, then it’s possible that slaying dragons damages Tyria.

That leads into speculation that if Tyria is a living organism, then the ley lines are its veins, magic is its life blood, and the dragons are just keeping the planet alive, but so far there’s too little evidence for that for my taste.

Interestingly, I tried interpreting the diagram as a literal map of the ley lines. Using the Pale Tree as a central point doesn’t really work, but if you shift it to where the Breachmaker landed, and put the awakening spots of each of the six dragons at the points… the resemblance to Scarlet’s diagram is uncanny. (see attachment)

This even matches up with the cutscene at the end of the Battle for Lion’s Arch. The cutscene shows the leyline passing through some Krytan farmland, followed by the Thaumanova Reactor, then into the Maguuma Jungle. The diagram on the Breachmaker’s control panel even shows two sets of three ley lines branching from the centerpoint underneath the Breachmaker (though the top two fork for unknown reasons). Of course, in this cutscene the ley lines are depicted as jagged, whereas I’m treating them as straight lines.

I did have to use guesswork for some of the dragon locations:
Zhaitan: Central Orr
Kralkatorrik: In the middle of that big lake in Dalada Uplands
Primordus: Approximately where Dragon’s Gullet used to be (it’s a bit off from where the Central Transfer Chamber marker was in EotN, but Dragon’s Gullet is more logical thematically)
Jormag: Somewhere off the map, north of the Far Shiverpeaks
Bubbles: Probably also off the map, extending Kralk’s line through LA brings it to SW of the Ring of Fire
Mordremoth: Somewhere in Magus Falls

Of course, this could all just be pure coincidence, if ANet just put the dragons where they did because they wanted the dragons to be on the outer edges of the known world, spread far enough apart that they aren’t interacting with each other.

Zipper Fairy.9804:

What about when it comes to the Prototype Fractal Capacitor? I want to transmute my Capacitor (Ascended) to have the Mad Memories book skin.

Would I then still be able to place my Ascended back piece, with the Mad Memories skin on it, into the forge to infuse it? And if so, will I get back the Infused Capacitor skin, or would it still have the Mad Memories skin?

Basically, i want to have an ascended back piece, with the Mad King’s Book skin, and still be able to infuse it later on, without losing the Mad King skin.

Any word on this?

The Transmutation wiki article says if you transmute an item, it will no longer be compatible with any Mystic Forge recipes requiring that specific item. Transmuted items are considered to not have any of the properties of their component items. As far as I know infusion recipes aren’t an exception to this rule.

So, I would infuse first, then transmute.

I had been hoping to learn this as well. I’ve heard her do a few different sylvari in the new content; I admit I am a little bit infatuated with that voice <3

Bardes.1870:

]Yeah, 1 day to gain backslot asc gear, Anet’s wonderful plan would allow those boring guys to enjoy 20 more days ….

The problem is:

1) Sure, it may be easy for you to get one ascended item, but how long will it take once ascended items are fully implemented and you want 6 trinkets, 6 armor pieces, and 2-4 weapons, plus infusions? Per character?

2) Not everyone is rich enough to afford 250 t6 crafting materials and 50 ectos in a day, especially if the ascended with the stats or skin they want requires one of the more expensive t6s. In typical MMO fashion it’s likely that they’ll become easier to obtain down the line, but right now one ascended piece is as expensive as a full set of exotic gear.

I’ll be sticking with my exotics, thank you very much. I just hope the infusion/agony mechanic is going to be for FotM only.

It’s frustrating how GW1 has gone seven and a half years without raising the cap on item stats, and GW2 has done it in under three months.

Tremayne.6734:

MF gear isn’t optimal stats-wise from your group’s point of view, but being an optimal player is more important than optimal gear.

And yet an optimal player with optimal gear will be better than an optimal player with sub-optimal gear.

cerulean moth.2743:

Why should the people on teams with the least overall stats, when playing at the same level as those with no MF, be the ones that receive more loot?

This is probably the best one-sentence argument I’ve heard for why MF should be eliminated.

I too really hate the idea of Magic Find. If it exists at all it should be as a stat independent of equipment, like the MF bonuses from cooking items. While I can understand it being in a single-player gear game like Diablo, it just doesn’t seem to belong in an MMO where you’re expected to pull your own weight.

I have been building my character gear sets with the intention of using no Magic Find on them, since I hate the idea of sacrificing combat efficiency for it even while soloing. Still, it sucks to run around Cursed Shore with two MF-equipped guildmates and watch them get four or five rares each while I never see anything more than a masterwork.