Guild Wars 2

Old promise repaid in due time.

So, a question for you guys:

What do you think about the writing around Scarlet’s character? Do you think she was well written, or poor? Does she fit the current lore of GW2? Does she enhance other characters?

Do you think she was a good idea, from a story writer’s perspective?

If you were to rate her character from 1 to 10, what score would you give her?
(obviously we’ll just be analyzing what we have actually seen from her character, ignoring future character development)

Personally, I’m a bit so-so (4/10)
It sorta feels to me as if they just combined Joker’s twin sister(if he had any), Time-traveling Space/Air Pirates and the Cyberpunk version of Skynet’s evil robot army from another dimension.

They get a 1+ for their imagination, nonetheless
I still can’t say she fits the current story(or stories), and have a hard time to take her character seriously, unlike something like the dramatic Charr vs Human conflict for instance(just one example).

You have to say what you want to be doing.

Solo PvE?
Solo PvP?
TPvP?
Dungeon PvE?
Farming?
WvWvW(solo or group)?

Gizmo.9178:

SinerAthin.2374:

I actually enjoy the small scale fights in GW2 quite a lot.

However, the problem becomes when people zerg and we reach a so called ‘critical mass’ where people simply tap W to move forward while spamming AoE skills with no sense or meaning.

Summoning a big firestorm when dangerously close to your own allies or yourself has no consequence, the abilities have no real weight behind them that punish stupid or careless use.

I love chaotic fights, including big fights in games like Chivalry or Planetside 2, but in Guild Wars 2, it’s just a button mash :/
It’s not like I risk accidentally chopping the heads off my teammates on my Charr warrior if I swing my sword around like a maniac, there’s no real ‘danger’ to using any of my abilities(unless you charge off a cliff) which encourages me to spam to my heart’s content, creating a rather ‘brainless’ large scale PvP experience.

We CANNOT have friendly fire though. Can you imagine the massive amounts of trolling and accidents that would occur? that would be total chaos

I know, friendly fire would not work in GW2 unless it underwent a large change :P

Either due to changing the gameplay or introducing an advanced anti-grief system, or both.

But I think FF might be unsuited because of the gameplay engine(we simply have too many large scale effects).
You can’t really compare a Warrior in Guild Wars 2 to the 2handed Knight in Chivarly. Even though the latter is notorious for accidental TKing, the range of its attacks is still nothing compared to Warriors(or elementalists) in GW2, hah xD

I really love how the combat works in Guild Wars 2 when it’s small scale.

But when it becomes large scale, I can’t help but feel that the combat loses its depth or complexity.
People generally tend to simply reach a critical mass of players and then steamroll over anything, spamming AoE, or buffing/healing without aiming.

There’s no crowd mechanic(limited mobility if people stack up), no friendly fire(no fear of hurting/killing your friends), no blocked LOS.
(P.S I’m not saying that any of these should necessarily be in Guild Wars, or that they would fit)

The only actual tactical downside is being more prone to AoE, but with more people you should be able to AoE down the enemy first.

To sum it up, it seems like by grouping up, you enjoy all of the benefits that a higher number of people would bring, but none of the downsides.
And this in turns makes large-group play feel like a giant spam fest.

Personally, I love BIG & CHAOTIC fights, but when it comes to Guild Wars I just get the feeling that the devs; while they definitely put a lot of thought into small scale fights; didn’t put as much thought into what actually happened when a large group of players came together.

P.S I won’t complain about the FPS because that is a technical issue and not a gameplay issue. It’s only natural that FPS decreases as the amount of players increase in any game regardless of the actual quality of the gameplay itself, and this will be a discussion primarily aimed at the gameplay.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to voice your opinions and thoughts on the topic

Erasculio.2914:

SinerAthin.2374:

But when all I see of the enemy is a giant, shining ball of light, flame, lightning etc, it goes from being “Cool!” to being ridiculous.

This, mostly.

I like how the combat looks in small scales. Playing as a guardian, you can feel the hit of your hammer strikes. Playing as a necromancer, there’s a very cool looking dagger skill in which you use the weapon to slice your hand, effectively making a blood sacrifice to entangle your target.

When we get more people, though… With 5 players, the particle effects starts becoming too much to actually see what’s happening (and it’s worse if the players have a lot of effects themselves, I hate those wings). With anything bigger than that, combat becomes a massive shiny explostion of blindness.

I think GW2 combat doesn’t really work above 5 players.

Indeed.

I think GW2 does a good job at small scale, but just because your combat works well in small scale won’t guarantee that it’ll work so well in large scale.

I think blobbing up should have its disadvantages as well.

However, in a game where you can walk through allies, not worry about friendly fire and can still have LOS through 10 of your friends, large-scale fights are also going to become bad.

Calae.1738:

Wether you’re in WvW or PVE it’s just zerg content. A massive blob of players devouring content like a swarm of locusts.

This is bottom of the barrel game design; in my opinion.

I personally like games that aim to create a playing field for a high number of players to participate in.

But I think Guild Wars 2 messed up when it came to large amounts of players forming up in the same place.

Now, I won’t complain about FPS issues. It’s natural in all good battles, regardless of type or quality.
But the problem lies with the fact that; as you said, zerg play lacks depth and quality, essentially just being a big herd of players spamming buttons.

Organization is lacking in large groups on the tactical level.

I’m okay with his character; I just don’t know why he is a Necromancer, of all classes.

I think he’s too sensitive of a person.
I have a hard time imagining him cutting up and sewing dead corpses, conjuring up dark spells & horrific curses or commanding undead, walking monstrosities, using rot and disease to wither his enemies.

I know he’s a student of Orr, but then I’d expect him to simply have knowledge or the occasional artifact lying around; not that he’d be a Necromancer himself.

Technically, everyone’s aliens if you go far enough back.

I actually enjoy the small scale fights in GW2 quite a lot.

However, the problem becomes when people zerg and we reach a so called ‘critical mass’ where people simply tap W to move forward while spamming AoE skills with no sense or meaning.

Summoning a big firestorm when dangerously close to your own allies or yourself has no consequence, the abilities have no real weight behind them that punish stupid or careless use.

I love chaotic fights, including big fights in games like Chivalry or Planetside 2, but in Guild Wars 2, it’s just a button mash :/
It’s not like I risk accidentally chopping the heads off my teammates on my Charr warrior if I swing my sword around like a maniac, there’s no real ‘danger’ to using any of my abilities(unless you charge off a cliff) which encourages me to spam to my heart’s content, creating a rather ‘brainless’ large scale PvP experience.

CuteLilKittenHugz.2064:

+1
But I’ve noticed a lot of mmorpg players seem to prefer plain boring graphics and effects. Thus the “get all these particles out of the way” crowd. Guess some people want their war without all the chaos. Me personally – I live for those huge zerg fights where you have to really concentrate and stay sharp to see what’s going on while lightning bolts, explosions and magic particles fly everywhere around you.

I hope Anet comes out with skins that have more unique animations and effects when channeling skills. Bigger effects would be cool too.

I love a good explosion.

But when all I see of the enemy is a giant, shining ball of light, flame, lightning etc, it goes from being “Cool!” to being ridiculous.

To me, Scarlet seems like Joker’s twin sister turned space-time-pirate with an army of robots under her command.

Gathslan.1870:

Anet has said their playrbase is going up, not down
Anyone saying the game is dead is wrong : p

(and yes i dont mean you guys, this thread clearly is not saying that)

I suppose they can’t really lose players because nobody has a Subscription :P

Once you buy the game box, you’re a player for life, even if you don’t play.

BrunoBRS.5178:

once it’s “cured/regrown”, it will still be a desolated wasteland full of ruins, bodies, and oversized sealife.

I highly doubt that.

Ruins, yeah. They’ll remain.

But nature has a way of disposing of corpses, so they won’t be an issue.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘Oversized sealife’ though, unless you are referring to the occasional bones.

nica.5829:

I really like the emotion and the combat conversation,

“Receive this light!”
“Receive this light!”

“Might makes me right!”

Advent.6193:

Funny would be if the pollen functions as their “waste,” solid-wise. “Aw, look at the Sylvari and that cool pollen of theirs! Squee!” (Meanwhile, said Sylvari just took a fat dump on your head…)

Would make the Sylvari an allergic’s worst nightmare.

“Do you get to the Cloud District very often?”

Remember guys; the question remains about what’ll happen once Orr is cured/regrown, not what it looks like now

If the Sylvari manage to cure and heal the land of Orr, who will rule it?

Its denizens are long gone, killed by the charr & their own magic.

I can imagine it being a hot debate between Charr and Humans.

Humans because it was Humans who ruled Orr, and there might still be many humans around with Orrian heritage.
Charr may argue that they own Orr because their forefathers would have conquered it if it hadn’t been for the Orrians submerging both themselves and the Charr invaders into the sea.

Or maybe the Sylvari will claim it themselves so that neither the humans nor Charr can ruin the land again?

I’m not sure what the other races will think. The norn will most likely not even care since it’s so far from home.

What do you think will happen to Orr?

Amadan.9451:

also don’t forget that when you can shoot lasers from a greatsword they hardly go out of fashion. i mean even in star wars with all their technology, the finest military force of them all still used magic and swords

Well, those lasers are the product of the wielder’s magic, not the Greatsword’s technology xD

It’s like saying a spoon is a viable weapon because it is wielded by a Mage who can burn people alive, lol

I’m guessing there’s ups and downs to having flower or bark skin.

Sylvari with bark might be naturally more resistant, but will also be more constricted and restrained in mobility than a Sylvari with more flexible, flower like skin.

Dustfinger.9510:

SinerAthin.2374:

The reason why Fire Shamans are susceptible to fire are due to Gameplay reasons, because it would be harder to balance otherwise and make certain builds less viable.

Ehhh. .. That doesn’t factor in the destroyers.

Actually, it’s the same rule

Maybe the problem would be solved by eating less cookies?

smeen.4237:

I bet those with fungus-heads will make you trip.

Getting high on Sylvari sounds pretty interesting to me.

Just imagine a Sylvari sitting in a meeting, and shortly after; everyone else around her starts hallucinating and trippin’ balls, while the Sylvari is left utterly confused.

Maybe if they gather up too much waste inside; they trigger a emesis event, and a forceful expulsion of the contents of their stomach?

Advent.6193:

I’d argue they need to vent waste somehow.

By making more oxygen?

So, there’s been one thing that have made me curious.

What does the Sylvari skin feel like, if you touch them?

Are they tough as a tree or soft as a flower?

And when cut, do they ‘bleed’? When opened up, do they leak like Charr or Human, losing their important nectar? Do they have organs?
If you cut a Sylvari up, what do they look like on the inside?

I’m just curious, sorry if I come off sounding like a crazy Asuran doctor xD

Exosferatu.2961:

Can someone explain why are Flame Legion legionnaires are not immune to fire unlike Destroyers? Especially Fire Shamans who are imbued with flames are still susceptible to fire attacks. Thank you.

Well, most of the Charr in the Flame Legion are still just normal Charr.
They burn just as easily as any Iron Legion or Blood Legion Charr when put to the torch.

The reason why Fire Shamans are susceptible to fire are due to Gameplay reasons, because it would be harder to balance otherwise and make certain builds less viable.

So, while I was wandering around the straits of Devastation, I overheard a little Asura commenting on an Orrian Risen ship and mocking their use of windpower.

And that made me wonder;

Exactly how are wars fought in Tyria?

I mean, on one hand; we have Humans. They use bows and swords, very primitive tools of war.
Then we have Charr, who have mastered explosives, gunpowder, fully-automatic weaponry and advanced machinery & mass production.
And then we have Asura, who are arguably more “advanced” than even humans IRL due to the ability to use magic for everything.(if you replace technology with magic)

Is Tyria undergoing a massive technological revolution?
Are we going to see a big clash between Old and New?(maybe something reminiscent of the Fall of the Samurais?)

Is it given any real attention in the lore, or is it ignored for the ‘coolness’ factor(so we still have an excuse to play around with Swords)?

I mostly play for a little PvP and the social experience.

What I love the most about this game is that I don’t have to worry about falling outside of the ‘gear progression’, like in WoW. I can come and play whenever I want to.

knives.6345:

I play because i don’t feel burdened by the game. I can literally take a break for 3 months and come back to see that the thing I missed are a few skins.

Game is very casual friendly.

Will that last?

I’ve heard talks about more Ascended gear coming up, though I don’t know the whole story.

Hey guys.

I’m currently trying to make up my mind whether or not I should go with a Power or Condition focused PvP build, or a mix between the two.

What do I gain from going with Power, in contrary to Condition Damage?
And what do I gain from going with Condition Damage, in contrary to Power?

Or should a Necromancer both mix Power & Condition damage in PvP?

I am thinking about a build to use mostly in small group fights/solo and skirmishes, such as in unorganized sPvP and WvWvW, with an even focus on damage, survivability and mobility.

I do not like how ‘spammy’ or ‘zergy’ the PvP combat is.(although I realize it is probably too late to be changed).

Essentially, PvP is often about amassing a critical mass of players and rolling over everything, spamming abilities.
You don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting your allies, you can run through people, there is no disadvantage to having a large group(other than FPS issues).

There’s simply too many AoE abilities that can be so trivially thrown around so carelessly.

I kind’a like how Chivalry: Medieval Warfare did it. Mindlessly swinging a huge greatsword when standing next to allies should be a risky move xD(although it’s a different game entirely)

Or, what is your favourite Player Character Voice Actor?

Post your preferences in this thread!

Personally, I have to say that my two favourite voiced PCs have got to be the Male Charr and Female Sylvari.

Whereas the Male Asura gets points for its smart lines.

But the female Norn… she’s just terrible all around :O

What about you?(s) Which PC do you think is voiced best?

I had of course expected the Norn to have a deeper voice than a Human.

However, the Norn voice is just a bland and boring version of deep voice.(if you want good voice acting, look at the Charr).

The lines are spoken with an almost monotone and completely un-involved voice, even when you are fighting for your life.
The way she speaks lacks character and personality, there’s nothing exciting or kitten about her VA.

Pretty much her only good line is when getting poisoned, because then sounding sluggish is actually the purpose, lol

I’m all for being able to have more variety in the different models.

The current Norn male models are all really, really big. It’d been nice with something else, more healthy looking as well.

And I think the Norn Females are suffering from the opposite. Their models are too small, lol

Is a potato Sylvari theoretically possible?

Any Necromancer here with any PvP experience? :P

7/10
Sounds like a mentally insane pirate, not so much a norn… but norns can still be pirates

Sigrid the Unwise
Engineer & Demolition ‘Expert’

Hey guys, I’m planning on doing some PvP again, and I wonder if someone could explain to me the ideal builds for PvP so far.

So I have a few basic questions:

1. Which build is overall best for 1vs1, in terms of damage & survivability?
2. Which build is the tankiest?
3. Which build is the best support-damage build for group fights?

Thank you for your time.

SpeedFiend.4521:

Zhaitan has successfully “stolen” Grenth’s own priest, I’m pretty sure if he can raise things the god of death doesn’t want raised then he’s probably got a good hold on his own minions and anything else that’s dead where he has influence.

Not really.
Zhaitan relies either on his plague, himself or his minions to reanimate bodies. Things within his domain don’t just come back to life automatically under his command.

If you strike down one of his followers, reanimating it should be more than possible. Most of Zhaitan’s minions, except a few, have a tendency to stay dead after being undone.

I’m not too impressed that he managed to steal a priest of Grenth.
After all, in Necromancy, the hard part is killing the person/acquiring the body, the reanimation part is simply a matter of time and energy.

arka.8456:

The point of the charr you made is good, it is an example to show that even with the time they had, a-net still couldn’t develop kick-kitten skins for the charr without cutting corners in order to stay in budget.

My opinion is simply that it is not worth the cost.

I’d disagree on that part.
Changing just the model of the character has been proven a small enough task for even a freelancer modeler to do over a weekend or week, provided the right tools and access to the files.

I do not buy the clipping issues either. The game has so many clipping issues already; on male characters as well; that I would not believe that clipping alone would ever be a reason enough for A-net to decide not to create model Y.

Yeah, I saw the title.

But I assumed it was on a separate topic, being their cuteness factor overall or pretty faces; not so much a discussion of how the male and female norn forms mesh with each other.
I only saw a limited number talk about the actual body, most seemed focused on the faces and cleanliness of the norn female, almost as if the thread contained two separate discussions :P

But personally, and back on topic; I’m not sure if I buy the argument that the Devs were going by the philosophy that every female had to look like a model, regardless of race.
The reason why I believe so is because we have both Charr and Asura that are both proof that the Devs don’t necessarily believe that all female characters must look like anorexic catwalk models, while we already have two other females looking more like models with humans; and to a lesser extent; the Sylvari.

My Necromancer glows bright with toxic green light.
It really does mesh well with the color and style of her spells as well.

7/10 Timberya, I like it, although I cannot help but think about “Timber” whenever I hear it xD

Malizia the Fallen
Sylvari Necromancer,

Carlin Sanders.3587:

^ 9/10 very fitting for his armor.

I have two here, you can decide on just one.

Onyx Keensteel (iron legion warrior) and Khage Darksteel (Ash legion engineer) – twins.

7/10
I like Onyx, it’s very unique, but Keensteel reminds me more of an Azura. Darksteel is also a pretty good lastname, albeit often used, although Khage lacks the fluid ferocity of a charr name, and sounds more like a ogre/brute/giant name.

Zarr Hateforge
Iron Legionnaire & Warrior

alamore.1974:

Omfg norn males can have all the human bishes and not worry about kids!!!

You just mad my norn verry happy
…wait can norns get human stds??

Yes, STDs can be transported with sexual interaction between any race, even animals & humanoids, as long as the two races can ‘support’ the disease.(certain diseases can be race specific)

However, I’m not sure where a Norn Male would ever find a human female who was strong enough to have fun with.
Human Male & Norn Female? Feasible, but Norn Male & Human Female would be painful, if not dangerous(for the human) :P

Bandit.6384:

I rolled toons of every race, but I had a real problem with the Charr just for storyline reasons. I mean, they’re evil, or rather the Legions are. I was frankly disturbed and a little sickened by the fascist hell of the Legions,

Actually, this is one of the reasons why I like the Charr.

Too many times, in too many stories, I see characters needlessly be made to be politically correct even if it doesn’t fit the story or is completely out of time.
In order to create a “realistic”, living, breathing & unique race that can seem somewhat credible, you to go out of the safety box and use your imagination.

Everybody can come up with a fantasy race, but few can give said race a soul.

While I’m wholly opposed to it in real life, things like corruption, racism, dangerous ideologies, religious fanatics and other crazy stuff like that, it can really add color to a fantasy race.
Even humans are not perfect :P

Humans have pretty huge criminal issues.

I’ve seriously lost count of all the bandits I’ve killed o.O

So, one thing I couldn’t help but notice was how very few Necromancer NPCs we actually encountered in the game.(friendly ones).

In the war against Zhaitan, wouldn’t Necromancers be an extremely valuable asset?
I mean, if we had used Necromancers in organized groups, we could bring all our dead back to fight again, and again and again. The word ‘casualty’ would lose its meaning.
We could even reanimate the enemy’s own troops to use as fodder, and send the mindless husks to fight zhaitan’s husks, or craft huge monstrosities and linebreakers.

Why do so few factions use Necromancers, despite their seemingly endless military benefits?
Who could ever say no to legions of never tiring, undying soldiers who need no food nor rest?

Or are they simply too feared/shunned by most societies?

Malizia the Fallen
Sylvari Female

I decided to go with something not too overly fancy and more down to earth, but still adding some depth to it(e.g the title Fallen, and Malizia actually being a word for Malice).

So this is something I’ve noticed, and it seems rather unique to the Norn race in particular.

Size-wise, both genders in most races look proportionate to one another.
Humans, Asura, Charr and Sylvari male & females look the same race, but when you see a Norn male & female next to one another, it is almost as if you’re looking at two completely different races.

Is it just me, or is the size and proportion difference between male & female significantly more noticeable for the Norn in particular?

- Do Norn Males need to be scaled down?
- Do Norn Females need to be scaled up?

(I’m not talking about height, but broadness/grit/width, whichever you would use)

I just find myself distracted by this particular difference whenever I see a Norn character and can’t help but think of how hilariously disproportionate they are to one another, and often find myself joking about it :P

The Norn Male looks like its own race entirely, while the Norn Female simply looks like a taller human female.

Palador.2170:

I would like such an option as well.

I know some people will abuse it, but I’ve seen people going around shirtless (and pants-less) already. I doubt we’ll see anything we’ve not seen before.

REAL NORNS DON’T NEED ARMOR!

What are you hiding!? :P