Guild Wars 2

I thought this was weird when HoT first came out but I thought they’d update it. But did you guys notice that on the Professions page on the GW2 website there is still no Revenant?

You’d think they’d feature more HoT content front and center to advertise.

I’m not sure what the lore is, but the closest thing I can think of are the Celestials of Cantha, which are ‘spirits of the stars’. You could become ascended (“closer to the stars”) by defeating them, granting you the ability to see the spirits of the dead.

So the only thing I can guess is that it is somehow related. Maybe the Celestial Avatar form is almost like tapping into the power of Celestials like Revenants tap into the Mists. If Celestial power has some connection to spirits in the Mists like it has in GW1, then perhaps that is why it is so focused on healing.

That’s just a random guess, however. I don’t really know anything.

Good point. I guess by destroy I meant consume.

We get much more personality from Mordremoth than we did from Zhaitan. And Mordremoth is all about everyone ‘serving’ him, and disdains any attempts to resist him. He suffers from a cliché villain god-complex.

Zhaitan has minions that speak coherently, such as the Eyes of Zhaitan. And they taunt you with a similar god-complex attitudes, boasting about their master and reminding you how weak you are.

So I think they both do still have the same personality, we just got more personal with Mordremoth.

And so it seems that Kralkatorrik has a similar god-complex. The Branded don’t speak, however. And so right now it seems like he is a little more bestial – the creation of the Dragonbrand almost seemed accidental.

Some might be different. A conversation that NPCs can have in Verdant Brink has a norn saying he would rather fight Jormag than Mordremoth because while Jormag simply corrupts, Mordremoth twists and controls. And it seems like Primordus doesn’t even use flesh: he simply creates his own minions and destroys. (Hence the name…? Haha.)

But they all so far share a god-complex. They all boast about their invincibility and taunt you with your mortality and weakness. And all of these giant world consuming creatures have the same kitten voices. How disappointing would it be to meet Primordus and he just tells you he can’t be beaten, reminds you you’re mortal, and has the same deep, bellowing voice that EVERY other big boss has in this game? So I guess that is more what I meant.

So early descriptions of the Elder Dragon’s depicted them as ‘forces of nature.’ The Wiki says that their consumption of magic “isn’t their goal or intention” and is simply a side effect of how they function.

And yet when the minion of the Dragon speak for them – or when the dragons themselves speak directly such as in the case with Mordremoth – they seem to be very personally vindictive, prideful, aloof, and greedy. All of them have the same bellowing voices, declaring that the heroes cannot defeat them and that everyone should submit to their power.

I really think this ought to change in the future. Having the dragon’s spitefully interested in the destruction of the world already goes against the lore that was established for them. But it’s too late to fix that.

But maybe other dragon’s could have different personalities? Maybe a dragon who thinks what it is doing is good for everyone? Or one that is literally a consuming force of nature that doesn’t notice what it’s doing? Because that’s what the destroyers felt like from GW1.

Or maybe a dragon voiced by a woman or literally ANY voice that isn’t an electronically modified baritone rambling about how all should kneel before their unstoppable power.

Zhaitan and Mordremoth were basically the same person, just with different powers. Variety would be nice.

I’ve soloed most of the content in Maguuma. It’s rough – and most of it is by dying frequently and readjusting my builds for each situation through trial and error – by it’s all totally possible. There are some events that are balanced towards groups, but even those can be done solo if played smart.

Maguuma is harder than other areas, and that’s been great for me. Some of the hero challenges are super difficult, which makes it extra rewarding when I complete them.

But some of the hero challenges don’t feel like they were designed to be soloable at all. And it’s not that I’m dying – because I’m not – it’s that there is no way in the time limit given I can come close to taking down the boss’s health.

There are some hero challenges that feel like difficult single player experiences, but the ones I’m talking about I think were designed to be completed by groups. So what usually happens is that I fight them, and I whittle at their health for 8 minutes (or however long that timer is) and then the event fails with neither of us dead and only a slight chip in their health. The moment a group comes in, these bosses get transformed from difficult solo challenges to easy group zerg festivals.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have these be more focused on groups completing them, but maybe they could be rebalanced so that if there is only one person there it can completed by them, albeit much more difficult than with a group.

This forum still says it’s for the “upcoming” expansion, there is no Revenant on the professions page, and no real announcement in game of the release. To get into the expansion, you have to navigate through a menu to activate the story release, and then the object marker guided me through portal after portal instead of directly to the Silverwastes to start the story. There was barely anything on the GW2 home page to mark the occasion aside from a text only announcement.

Come on, Anet. What’s with the whimpering release of the expansion? It’s cool stuff, make it look like it. I remember when stuff came out for GW1, the entire log in menu changed (added a few thorns doesn’t really count). Make everything green or something. I dunno. It feels like it should be a bigger deal. It kind of is, isn’kitten

I understand that the base game is included as a “bonus”, but the issue is that Anet already shafted original veterans once with the initial release. We prepurchased the game once and then a month or two later, new players get all sorts of bonus content for buying the game at the same price tier, and for a lower price. (The price part makes sense, but not giving late comers by a few weeks a bonus and prepurchasers nothing.)

It may make sense on a business end, but this decision was a poor one on several levels: it continues the trend of Anet coming across as out of touch with their player base, it continues the trend of Anet changing their promises without commentary or apology, and it continues the trend of Anet rewarding newcomers while ignoring their core player base that has been with them for longer.

If someone can buy the game and expansion for $50, then I would pay $30. Right now I really don’t buy into the idea that it is $50 for an expansion with a bonus original GW2 thrown in because there is no other purchasing option for GW2 right now: just the expansion, making it the definitive edition.

I preordered GW2 and played in the original betas. I am not going to prepurchase this and I am not going to play it at launch. I’m going to wait for the cheap version with the bonus stuff added later to come out, because that’s what Anet does.

Was going for a bug theme instead of just all death. Plus the frog hat.

Long story short, I think it would be nice if they updated the passive animals in the game to behave more realistically and more consistently. It’s nothing game breaking, but I think it would breathe so much more life into the world. They feel kind of weird and stiff right now in behavior.

Right now, deer are very inconsistent. In some areas, they appear white and can be killed in a single hit. In others, if you are level 5 it’s possible to get beaten by a level 10 deer. My suggestion would be to make them all passive animals, but move in herds like mobs in GW1. Have them grazing and, if players get too close, they get worried and eventually run off as a group.

In water, much of the large expanses are empty, interrupted only by occasional giant fish that don’t react at all to you. Make the fish swim away and add small schools of fish that move as a unit that hurry to get out of the player’s way.

And it would be cool if the small animals scurried to get out of the way as well.

The only thing this would negatively impact would be the passive animal slayer achievement (it would just make it take longer instead of accidentally achieving it in a month) and the few renown hearts that require the killing of rats. But what it would add is life to otherwise unbelievable creatures. With the added difficulty of bringing them down, perhaps you could gather things like red meat from deer or something, so there would be a natural node in the wild from which to attain it. (Probably not possible, and not really needed either. But could be cool.)

Anyways, there’s my two cents.

This is a glitch that has been around for two years. Maybe not a glitch, but it’s still kind of stupid.

As you gain adrenaline, your warrior shouts things like “Gaining Adrenaline!” or “Almost ready!” This happens whenever you reach a new tier.

But then, as I lose adrenaline, my character shouts the exact same lines. So my adrenaline will be draining, it will drop below one of the bars and suddenly I shout “Gaining adrenaline!” when, in fact, the exact opposite is happening.

Not a game breaking issue. It’s just kind of silly. Maybe record some new lines for losing adrenaline? Cause I think it’s nice to have the cue there so you know audibly what’s happening without looking, but it just doesn’t make sense.

Two final points before I say goodbye to this post. Just some things that seemed odd to me.

1) If all five utility skills are tied to your legend, then does that mean that the Revenant is the only profession without access to racial skills or the Mistfire Wolf? Which is weird.

2) There was still the option above all of the utility skills to swap them out (indicated by the transparent gray bar with the arrow). Considering how proud they are of their GUI design, I really doubt that it was just an artifact that they accidentally left in.

I’m thinking that the skills will be able to be swapped out. But there will be a set of Mallyx skills and a set of Great Dwarf skills. So you would be able to slot, for your Great Dwarf stance, any four skills out of a selection of Great Dwarf skills or any racial skill.

That’s just a thought.

Let me see if I interpreted something the same way you guys did…

When they say that the legend you channel changes your utility skills, does that mean it simply changes to a Great Dwarf version of skill A, or a Unyielding version of skill A, not that your skills are tied to your legend like a kit or weapon swap. Right?

I just wasn’t quite clear on the wording, and thought I’d check what other people thought.

Ignore Nutjob. He’s only being a git because he is sad and lonely. Unlike you.

Congrats! It took me forever, but I completed it a few weeks back. Got stuck on trying to get the blue WvW map done. Never came up in rotation, and my server sucks at WvW. Putting it towards a disco-ball mace. B-)

yolo swaggins.2570:

I am just going to say this: This fascination for Cantha is inching closer towards schizophrenia….

…But kitten , use a little common sense instead of screaming “CANTHA?!” at the slightest and most indirect hint of Asian culture.

…No need to be so angry and rude, man. O_o

For me, Cantha is just something special. I’ve always loved the aesthetic of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture. So when I played GW1 for the first time years ago, and I bought Factions years ago, that place was absolutely magical to me. Everything about it capture my imagination, and it was in Cantha that I spent almost all of my time. I only had one Ascalonian born character. The rest were all from Cantha, and the moment my Dervish and Paragon were able to get on the boat, I sailed them straight to Kaineng.

I never said anything about wishing for Cantha in this expansion. And I currently like the idea of them building up two seasons of living world to an expansion and new dragon as a trend. That means that Cantha and Elona are far off. At the very minimum, 2 or 3 years. My hopes aren’t unrealistic demands for Cantha right now. My hopes are that Cantha is not gone forever, and perhaps that Bubbles and the land of the Kurzicks and Luxons might be next in a 2+ years.

I would really appreciate it if you would not bring the biting, cynical tone your previous posts have had to this topic. I know people will disagree – I’m not looking for a crowd of people agreeing with me. But I like civil, well meaning discussions.

I don’t think I’m freaking out or being unreasonable. I’m just a long standing fan who has hopes of jumping around Kaineng and swimming in the Jade Sea.

No, they were were not Western born. The Korean roommate finished his education here and then had to return for mandatory military service, and this is my Chinese roommate’s second visit to the US. Both times for educational purposes.

Azrael.4960:

Many Chinese youngsters these days carry the grudges of their forebears. I worked with a Chinese lady some years ago. A few years older than me, absolutely hated the Japanese for what they did to her grandparents’ generation. She’s not alone. Anti Japanese sentiment flares up every now and then in both China and Korea. Japanese youngsters don’t know what the big fuss is because successive governments have tried to whitewash it all. My late grandparents lived through the Japanese occupation and one of my grandmother’s had an understandable hatred for Japan.

For a culture is as old and as long lived as China’s they carry their grudges for a long time.

Europe has largely gotten over Germany because they accepted their responsibility. If Japan would do the same, China and Korea could move on

I actually have a Chinese roommate right now, and he literally does not give a kitten about any of that stuff. Very open minded about that, and takes an interest in the foods, traditions, and music of all neighboring cultures. Same with a Korean roommate I had a year ago. Maybe they’re exceptions and I just got lucky, but it seems at least some people are moving on. (I don’t mean that in a “get over it” sort of way. Trying to not be insensitive here.)

But what were the cultural blends in Cantha that people found offensive – if any – anyways? Just curious. Did they mix names, architecture, lore, and fashion up? I know in music, they tended to use scales more similar to Chinese music than Japanese, but that’s all I know for sure.

Azrael.4960:

@Tai Kratos Anet couldn’t just do a purely China themed Cantha because NCSoft is Korean.

I guess that kind of makes sense. :-/

But anyways, I just want to say that I’m glad we haven’t had any flaming here. Yay, friendly GW2 community. We can discuss things on the internet without getting unreasonably angry.

lordkrall.7241:

Tai Kratos.3247:

As I said earlier, Kryta is a mix of all things Western. And if mixing Asian cultures (which why they don’t include India is beyond me) is a bad thing, then why not just pick one? Like, only theme it after China?

Because the western world is not the same as the eastern world? Completely different cultures and such.

Mixing some culture doesn’t mean they have to mix every single culture. There are massive amounts of different cultures in that general area.

Because that was not how Cantha was back in the days, and it would be rather weird to suddenly revisit it with it being completely different (such as a whole other culture) from before?

But most Western players actually would not notice the difference is the thing. And if we’re honest with ourselves, do Krytans and Charr resemble anything of what they did in GW1? But we’re okay with the change now. It wasn’t jarring, it was just evolution. It’s been 250 years, they would have changed as well.

And what I meant by the “blend of Western culture” comment was that blending cultures is not a bad thing. We mix all sorts of Western influences together, and nobody has a problem with it. Even though I know some Germans who still feel past history loom over them, or European relatives who are still bitter about 20th century events.

The three biggest cultures we primarily associate with Asia are already a natural blend and evolution of each other, and it’s beautiful and fascinating to see where they deviate. I studied Chinese music for a short while, and it was cool to see how many of their instruments (ie, Erhu) were imported, and then exported with variation to Japan and Korea. Blending of neighboring cultures is natural. If it isn’t liked, then don’t do it and just do China, the originator of most of their cultural similarities. I guarantee Western players will not notice, and Asian players are already being subjected to it through the updates I listed in the original post. If it isn’t a good thing to subject them to, then why has Anet already done it?

Sube Dai.8496:

Behellagh.1468:

Asia is not one monolithic culture with similar architecture. I sense that the three predominant cultures there, China/Japan/Korea would be upset if whatever style used didn’t reflect their own. If Cantha had too much Japanese influence, I can understand why Korea and China would be upset. There is still a lot of bad blood between those countries and Japan over WWII (Japan thinks everything is peachy). The current year of the lion event is very Chinese/Korean being that what we call Chinese New Year is actually centered around the Lunar New Year cycle.

This.

Considering that NCSoft knew that they were launching the game in China, I think the Japanese influence on Canthan style in particular would not have been received well.

As I said earlier, Kryta is a mix of all things Western. And if mixing Asian cultures (which why they don’t include India is beyond me) is a bad thing, then why not just pick one? Like, only theme it after China?

And, historically speaking, most of Japanese and Korean culture was derived from China. I know Korea doesn’t like to think so, but it’s just historical fact. So it wouldn’t exactly hurt them to limit Cantha to Chinese influence.

I messed up…. :/

Behellagh.1468:

Asia is not one monolithic culture with similar architecture. I sense that the three predominant cultures there, China/Japan/Korea would be upset if whatever style used didn’t reflect their own.

I understand and sympathize with being sensitive to cultural differences, but isn’t Tyria a mix of all things Western? And if you’ve taking any Western history, then you know that all of those countries have done horrible things to each other, even within the 20th century.

If it is too much to ask to blend their cultures together, then why not pick just one? If they are already introducing themes to cater to a Chinese audience, then why not just make the entire place Chinese themed? If we’re honest, most Western players would not notice the difference, and then you would not offend anybody. If they would find it offensive that Cantha favors one country exclusively, then aren’t they already crossing the line with their Chinese themed content they’ve released?

Food for thought.

Maybe I’m being a little bit too optimistic. BUT, people said the exact same things to me when I said that multiple times that an expansion was going to come and that the Sylvari were meant to serve Modremoth. And both happened. At the same time.

I wasn’t disappointed then, and so I’ll stay optimistic.

But if they are adding Chinese themed content in the game, doesn’t that go against their “cultural-neutral” feel they wanted? Because that was the entire point of cutting Cantha in the first place. Which was BS, and we all knew it. (Because there is clearly Western and African influence elsewhere.)

So if they CAN add Chinese themed content, why can’t it be just as easily translated into Canthan content? Do you see what I mean?

So NCS complained, and Anet was forced to remove everything Cantha related from the game, with the fate of Cantha eternally TBD. They started that official “support Cantha thread”, but with no promises as to whether it would return or not.

I know it’s pointless to ask whether or not they are planning on releasing Cantha in the future – they have that “we-will-not-discuss-plans” policy because they don’t want to disappoint.

But then they keep dropping hints of Cantha into the game at a fairly consistent rate, more so than they hint at Elona, which has not been officially removed from the game like Cantha was.

We have the Shadow Assassin outfit, the Hexed outfit, the Ancestrial outfit, and now the Imperial outfit. There is also the character of Marjory, who is of Canthan descent and wields a rather large katana-style blade. (This was added post-Collapse.)

There is also the Dragon’s Jade weapon skins, and now the slightly-Asian themed Crimson Lion weapon set. Plus, there is always the Mystical Dragon finisher.

Also, before it got KO’d, the Zephyr Sanctum had some Canthan inspired designs, both in its use of paper lanterns and also in its sails, seemingly styled after Chinese Junk ship sails. I know they’re mostly of Canthan or Elonian descent, but as nomads and traders, they might have come in contact with Cantha, even as secluded as it is.

So I guess I’m curious what Anet’s game is with this. (Obviously we can’t know for sure. But speculation! Right?) Because they don’t like to talk about stuff like this in the open, but they have also openly expressed their fondness of Cantha. If they really wanted to let Cantha die a quiet death, then why do they drip feed new Canthan content in the game regularly instead of Elonian content, since the Elonians are still in the game for sure right now. Are they trying to slowly build up enough Canthan rep in the game to justify creating it fully? Or are they just fond of the aesthetic that they aren’t allowed to develop, so they add it in for its own sake?

Wishful thinking: I hope we return to the liquid jade sea and the renewed stone forest.

Back when Soule first left the GW franchise, the quality of music took a bit of a dip with the release of the MIDI shanty music for the Bazaar of the Four Winds.

But towards the end of Season 1 – and especially throughout Season 2 – the music has improved so much! Not just compositionally, but if I remember correctly, Anet had released a video about how they were recording the music with an actual orchestra. Which is awesome!

So congratulations to the new composers! There is a whole list of them, and I’m not quite sure who did what, but it’s all very fun to listen to. I love video game music, and it’s nice to hear this higher quality of music being created for this game.

Hi! I’ve been playing since GW1, and back then was on a guild with family and friends that long since dismantled. I’ve played GW2 fairly casually, and now log on for dailies and PvP on weekends. I got bored with most PvE content and do some dungeon runs every now and then. I almost never do WvW because without a guild it’s pretty lame. (I started doing some of it recently, but only because I need it to make my legendary. I want The Moot for my Guardian!)

I am on the Borlis Pass server. Just sayin’.

My main characters are:
– Zia Maras (lvl 80 Asura Guardian) (main)
– Eleyn Azgaroth (lvl 80 Human Warrior)
– Tai Kratos (lvl 80 Human Elementalist)
– Jun Maras (lvl 80 Sylvari Mesmer)
– Akumai zan Aihmos (lvl ~40 Sylvari Necromancer)
– Zannen Biidel (lvl ~75 Sylvari Thief)
– Benson Earthkeepr (lvl ~30 Charr Ranger)
– Amaya Maras (lvl ~40 Human Engineer)

I mainly use Zia for PvE, but do PvP mainly on Mesmer, Thief, Ranger, and Engineer. I haven’t quite gotten the groove with the Elementalist or the Necromancer.

I’ve joined a few guilds here and there, but usually leave them because they are either rude about representing (I was going to represent, but the guild leader would send me a new message every time I logged in on a character that wasn’t representing yet. I told him I would and asked him to stop and he didn’t) or they were friendly, but inactive.

So I’m looking for a group of people to do PvP, dungeons, and possible WvW with every now and then. Reply here or message me in game when I’m online. Usually on every few days or so, depending on college load.

With all the hype building over HoT, it reminds of the hype when GW1 was slowly being put away as GW2 came up. Then I remember how disappointed and angry many people were with the initial impression of the new game.

I think that Anet had a vision of what GW2 should be, and that first release of the game was probably far from it. But I also feel like GW2 is finally becoming as exciting as I always wanted it to be, and most likely more like what Anet had in mind in the first place.

Aside from just better looking graphics recently, the dramatic improvement in the music in season 2 (congrats, composers!), better writing, and more interesting lore. Plus now when I play, I feel like the game appreciates me being there and just rewards me for enjoying the game. The sheer amount of rewards it gives you for just logging in and doing a few dailies is enough to make me feel like they want me to have fun, not grind. I’ve even gotten the courage to work towards getting The Moot, and am a good portion of the way there.

I have been increasingly optimistic about GW2 the past few months, and with this new (and very exciting announcement) I am as excited as I was before the first launch again. But I doubt I will be disappointed, because GW2 already became great. And you can’t have too much of a good thing.

Disclaimer: this post may seem pessimistic, but I swear it has a hopeful message!

That said, I have been continually let down by the writing in GW2 since launch. In GW1, while there were small jokes hidden on occasion (mostly pop culture references in skill names) and much of the writing in that was not the greatest either (I’m looking at you, Togo), it still felt serious. There were some pretty gritty things in there, such as zombie Rurik or the human sacrifices in Maguuma. In contrast, the glue that holds the writing together in GW2 is a sort of teenager-grade flippancy that even manages to color the drama. Many people liked it, but it made me sad.

So I played the game for the beautiful world and fun gameplay. I start a cutscene to see if the writing is any better, but most of the time I just end up skipping it after a few moments. I did like the new first born that was introduced, though.

With all that in mind, did you see the Heart of Thorns trailer they posted on the GW2 Facebook page? Because that looked amazing. The story finally looked compelling! It seemed much more sombre in tone and introduced real conflict with the Sylvari. In the Zhaitan story, we were promised that you would have to bring together races that otherwise held animosity for each other, but that really didn’t manifest itself at all. But in this, we get this real tension with the suspect loyalty of the Sylvari as a race.

I, for one, hope that this expansion keeps this more serious tone. The story so far has seemed a little bit kiddish to me. Not because of the core conflicts, but because of how they are handled. (Like putting up Power Ranger wallpaper on a concrete wall. The essence of it is solid, but it looks like a child’s toy.)

But this trailer gave me chills, and I hope that this (expansion?) continues to do so.

I remember twice in GW1, ANet ran concept art contests and the winners of the contest had their designs put in game. This resulted in some of the coolest skins, including awesome weapons like the Draconic Scythe, or the Straw Effigy which even made it into GW2 by the name Mojo.

I think it would be a great thing for the community if ANet ran these sort of competitions again, perhaps more regularly. (As in more than twice in two years) I know it’s probably a pain to try and sort through, rank, and pick certain designs. But I really felt like it was a great thing back then.

I think that, while the addition of entire matching sets of skins is cool (you know, for coordinating a look), I think that some of my favorite skins have come from the unique weapons in some of the champion loot bags. (I’m looking at you, Genesis and Entropy.)

So maybe these weapons that come out of this could be like that. As a reward for winning, ANet could give winners their skin they designed in game and, like, 800 gems or something. Nothing huge and fancy, just a thank you for contributing.

There are probably some issues with this idea, but I thought I’d put it out there.

To get straight to the point, I think that there are good implications that the land of Cantha may not be too far in the future, relatively speaking. I’m not saying this for sure – obviously we can’t know I’m guessing that western Maguuma will open for Mordremoth first. But hey, thought I’d bring this up.

So my understanding of the Cantha issue is that Anet loves it, but they had some complications with the blending of Asian cultures and NC Soft told them it was a no-go, and so the great collapse was created to quickly patch up the now erased Canthan district. Picture: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/4/47/2010_May_Divinity%27s_Reach_Canthan_district_Polished.jpg

But Anet has still shown quite a bit of love for that land and so has the community. Anet has expressed a desire to bring it back if they are able to.

So then we get keep getting Canthan styled gear available to us: Dragon’s Jade weapons are clearly Asian in style, with the rifle looking like a Chinese cannon. Then we get the Ancestral outfit which is clearly in the style of Canthan clothing. But then we also get Zodiac armor and weapons which, although they are not in Canthan style, were originally from Cantha in GW1. (Not the armor, but the weapons.)

Also we have Marjory Delaqua taking a major role in the story, and she is of Canthan descent. So while NC Soft may have officially stepped in to prevent Cantha from happening, its influence is still obviously in the world.

So then we have the Zephyrites returning: their decorations and architecture are obviously heavily influenced by Asian architecture and style, that much is clear. I think these assets were probably available to them because they had created them for the Canthan district and decided to recycle them.

But what new information do we have? Aside from the relatively recent addition of the Ancestral outfit, there is a conversation you can find in the Labyrinthine Cliffs where one NPC observes that, while the Zephyrites are genuinely eager to help, they have another goal in mind, and seem to be gathering large stores of supplies as if they are preparing for a long journey. But the NPC doesn’t know where they might be going.

It’s most likely not Elona because, while we do have an Elonan district in DR, there has been no other influence from the Land of the Golden Sun otherwise (unless you count the Pearl gear? Maybe?)

So the way I figure it, there has been a recurring theme of Canthan styled content slowly being drip-fed into the game, and now the Zephyrites are planning to travel far away, so somewhere not in the core of Tyria. So either around to Cantha or over the Crystal Desert to Elona. But the Zephyrites are traders, so they would have no reason to go the Elona, which is under the control of the undead. And historically, Asia (Cantha) has been of interest for trade to the West (Tyria) and since they are right now having Cantha close it’s gates to the outside, mimicking the isolationist Kaikin policy of Japan, so it would make sense to continue this historical imitation and have trade open up. (Different reasons for the actions, but still. Imitation.)

Not sure if any of this is valid. Thought I’d throw it out there for you guys to comment on. Let me know what you think.

I have to agree, I don’t like either. The male gear is boring, and the female gear is insulting when put next to the male gear.

If Anet is so progressive as to have homosexual relationships, can’t they treat women with more dignity? At least the paragons of GW1 were equal in their revealing armor designs between the genders.

I thought I would just point out that starter gear, such as engineer backpack, necro makeup, guardian helmet, etc, are now available to all professions within the wardrobe if you unlock it.

So, if you have a spare character slot, I would suggest deleting and recreating a character with each new piece of gear to get the full collection.

That was cool! Maybe try a little bit more polyphony in the electronic part? Some parts that were homophonic were a little bit dry, but otherwise it was cool.

Also, when you bounce the file, be careful, because there were some glitches towards the beginning. A sort of crackling or stutter happened in the piano part that was audible enough that you could see it in the visualization. Something to watch out for.

That is good…

And I agree with you. The Factions trailer with the ritualist was what sold me on the franchise years ago.

Thanks for the reply! I was beginning to think nobody was interested. O_o

For the next update, I’m working on painting and programming the overworld, programming new characters to switch between, and adding new enemies. I’m also updating the color palette for Ascalon and adding details such as searing crystals and parallax scrolling in the background.

UPDATE

Added new screenshots: one of the game over room, and one of Taimi with Scruffy. Very proud of that sprite.

Also, new information about the game:
– The game will take place as a simulation created by Moto. So now I am replacing the gold, silver, and copper coins with baubles and continue coins for lives.
– The game over screen is your chance to return to the game without penalty for losing all your lives: answer three questions about lore, and you get out of the room. Answer wrong enough, or take too long, and you get sent back to your last save point.
– The game will no longer be strictly 8 bit. It was too constraining on visual appeal and color choice to portray all of the characters.
- Naming the game Super Guild Wars. So, yeah.

As a final note, if anyone wants to let me know what characters they would like to see in the game that are not on the list, I’d be happy to take requests and suggestions. Right now, there are 25 so that you unlock them when completing bonus objectives, but I could add more and just have a variety of ways to unlock the extra characters outside of bonus objectives.

I agree that the work Soule did for GW2 wasn’t really great, especially compared to past works of his. I noticed that none of it really set off any good vibes with me; the only time the music caught and pulled me in was when the game would play tracks from GW1… but that might be nostalgia speaking. I started playing that game when I was 14… I’m 21 now. O_o

Oh, and @ the person who said that they need to "hire better woodwind players "that’s not how sampling works. Sampling is where you take clips of instruments doing different things like starting and stopping and then you map them out to different MIDI messages so that you can MIDI sequence them, but get the timbre of an actual instrument. Most games cannot afford to hire an orchestra.

I also like how this discussion is attracting the musicians of the fan base.

I’ve been thinking about what people have been posting, and I have changed my stance a little bit I think. I think it may be a good thing that Soule is gone, for a few reasons. First of all, because it lets new blood take the scene, which is always good. Secondly because Soule treats his audience poorly, and therefore does not deserve their respect or support. Thirdly because Soule has been stagnating in style for a while now, and his new tracks have not lived up to his older scores.

That said, I still miss the consistent quality of Soule’s music. Sure, most of his new music for GW2 didn’t live up to the past works of his, with a few exceptions. But I was never put off by it; I only became apathetic to it. But with some of the new tracks, I am put off by them either for their lack of orchestration and development or by the timbre of the instruments.

While the soundtrack may be enough to please most people, I think that it’s the responsibility of game composers – especially ones in such a great position to compose music to bring a world like Tyria to life – to compose music that both appeals to a general audience and to trained musicians, like some of the people who have been commenting.

Because right now, when I try to argue for music in games, I tend to hit this wall where I lack a body of quality works to refer to. If the composers don’t care about the intellectual qualities and artistic value of their music, then this entire topic won’t matter to them. But if they do, then it is their responsibility to create more artful music, and then find an audio aesthetic to match in quality.

Maybe I am being to picky about this, and maybe it seems a bit mean. But criticism is part of putting artwork in public, and I believe that soundtracks in games should be held to a higher standard.

Fishing for replies, eh? Sure, I’ll bite.

Yes, absolutely yes this should be a thing. All too often I’m hopping from soloing, to dungeon, to WvW, to soloing and I have to reselect traits, skills, etc. I liked the system in GW1 where you could save a build with a name and then just select from a drop down menu. Would like to see that again.

But please, not the build code system. Maybe that is the best way to do it, but I thought it was annoying. But if that’s what it takes, then I will deal with it.

@Twyll

I’ve actually studied Chinese classical music and theory before, and there is a big problem with that track if it is trying to imitate Asian music. Because that music is all about tone color and manipulation of tone color, and the sampled flute (sounded like a flute run through some filters or something) lacked any of those subtleties.

The fight with scarlet is basically four chords over and over again, with choir and brass walking stepwise between chord tones. The ending part with the piano is kind of cool, but still it’s just fast arpeggiation. So there isn’t much intellectually going on there. Maybe emotionally there is enough – and that’s usually enough for people – but I find that the emotional content is that much richer if there is a strong intellectual support underneath it.

And there is nothing complicated, intellectual or detailed about four chord songs. The piano part was cool, but the chords left much wanting.

EDIT
Hahaha, Phillip Glass…. never really understood the hype over him and his music. Or minimalism in general… kind of seems like an easy out for composing hours of music, right?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I am a great fan of Jeremy Soule’s music, but not so much a fan of the person.

He’s gone, and although I feel he did a great job in Guild Wars, I wasn’t so impressed with his offerings in Guild Wars 2.

Maybe he is past his prime, or lost his passion for this franchise. No idea. I do believe our in-house composers do possess that passion, and if it’s just a matter of equipment, then maybe time will alleviate the problem you feel the current soundtracks possess.

You could always compose some music you feel better represents Guild Wars 2, and send it in to ArenaNet. Maybe they would use it in-game! =)

I actually am studying composition at a university right now, and while this may seem hypocritical, I don’t presume to be a good enough composer yet to put myself out there like that.

That said, I still think that the music of GW2 currently deserves critique – harsh critique even. Because it seems to me that currently, they are right now being arrangers rather than composers, and there is a very big difference. Their best themes were already written for them, and as far as orchestration and development, they seem to be trapped in this imitative style. It’s an easy trap to get into while composing to write music that works, but isn’t necessarily what is best. It is easy to go I-IV-V-I, and it works. And we all know what that sounds like and it makes sense. But as a composer, you have to question if that is really the best music you could have written for what you want to accomplish.

Because pieces like battle with Scarlet music get the job done. It’s intense and conveys a slight tinge of madness. Great. But how they accomplish that is done with cliché film motives for the strings and cliché film motives for the percussion. And if he truly does have a degree in composition, then I guarantee he knows better, and he should make use of what he knows.

But it’s not impossible for a game to have good soundtracks, and this is something I fight with my professors and colleagues over all the time at school. But that requires moving beyond clichés (I keep using that word) and creating real artful music.

Music for games is kind of a passion of mine, so I get a little fired up sometimes.

Maybe people aren’t fans of Soule. And I get that: I keep saying this, but I do acknowledge that he is a one trick pony.

But… just listen to the sampling in this. Especially the lead woodwinds. It’s really terrible. And there is little to no orchestration: it’s just bass notes with variations on themes by Soule. Oh, and a bass drum on downbeats. In the last third you get a little orchestration, but while Soule did compose music that was samey, it was well orchestrated, and he understood how to compensate for the shortcomings of sampling.

Huh.

Kind of a schmuck thing to do, isn’kitten Found the quote. Kind of funny how he justifies it by saying he’s Jewish.

Well, I have to say that is a bit disappointing.

LumAnth.5124:

I don’t know about you but I got sick of hearing Soule’s work and it’s a little repetitive now that I’ve played music since GW1 Prophecies (GW Factions theme, however, makes me tear up because it’s so great and nostalgic)

I love Battle on the Breachmaker especially the last part where the music is very hectic.

Marionette (Origins of Madness) was excellent. Top notch in my opinion!

Also, if you haven’t heard, Soule is under controversy. Be it the comparison of the Holocaust and DirectSong “scam”

I guess that’s what I was trying to address, was that while his music is repetitious (one-trick-pony composer) he at least outputs higher quality. The Four Winds music was low quality. It got better from there, but for that release I had to mute the music. It was bad.

Once again, I find that the piece is comprised of clichés. It’s nothing we haven’t heard in soundtracks before, and the main melodic content uses the GW2 theme that Soule composed.

…And what is the controversy? And where can I read up on this? I found him to be a difficult composer to follow: website was nonexistent and found few to no interviews. Jack Wall and Austin Wintory are much more open, it would seem.

Kain Francois.4328:

Personally, I think the new composers are even better than Jeremy Soule!

It’s not just a matter of opinion. They have something Soule did not: Atmosphere.

Take Lost Shores for example. Its theme conveys something dangerous and forbidden, as if it were an abandoned, lost cause. It’s unsettling, and the foes are appropriately powerful.

Another example is the Tower of Nightmares theme. It also conveys the feeling of something dangerous and unsettling, but it also felt toxic and venomous.

Of course, who could forget the Scarlet Holo boss fight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC1xopc4TXs

Soule might have a big name associated with him, but I say give the new composers a chance. They know how to create atmosphere, and it really brings out the character of Guild Wars 2.

You do make a good point; and I guess I didn’t think about that last part. It is a good thing to get new names on the playing field.

But on my end, I’m more of a classical musician, and I enjoyed the orchestration of Soule’s music, while the new music feels just like soundtrack composing.

For pieces like the one you posted, it suffers a bit from low quality string samples. String samples can get SUPER expensive, but it’s really important I think. In Soule’s music you can hear low quality sampling poke through every now and then, but he covers it up with mixing techniques, or at least that’s what it sounds like.

I listened to the Lost Shores track, and I wasn’t really a fan. It might just be a preference thing, but I really prefer the richer orchestration of Soule, personally.

At the very least Anet should by them better equipment. String samples that sound like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWe_nJ7sQ0&list=PL9u7rbRjJmqD_qh-WXX7zSftvxOL5nUhI

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’m sure Leif and Maclaine will be sorry to hear you are disappointed. I think they are quite talented, and enjoy their work.

I know it is a bit of a knock against them, but it is true. While they are composing part time (from what I can tell) Jeremy Soule is a full time composer with a decade of experience, many huge titles under his belt, and a master’s degree equivalent in composition. While Leif has a bachelor’s degree, he lacks the experience – and my guess is, the equipment – that Soule has.

I’m a big fan of video game music, and I follow the different composers and see who’s up to what.

EDIT
Kain made a good point that it is good to get new names out there for composing. And I actually agree on this, and think that it might be a good thing to have Soule out and new faces in. But it still stands that their sampling needs to be higher quality (it’ll cost Anet a few thousand dollars, but big deal) and I think it would be beneficial for them to up their game in orchestration, instead of relying on film scoring tricks and clichés to create atmosphere. (Example: four repeating, dramatic chords over and over again, with strings playing a repeating, cyclical pattern on top for half a minute. Soule did this as well, but usually with decent taste. Not all the time, but most of the time.)

One of my favorite composers is Jeremy Soule. He has a huge résumé, with games such the Knights of the Old Republic, The Elder Scrolls, and Guild Wars under his belt. His music characterized by rich musical texture, high quality sampling and mixing, lush melodies, and simple, but effective, harmony.

The original Guild Wars had him on as the composer for the entire ride of three campaigns and an expansion. He also composed the original release soundtrack for Guild Wars 2. Although his music can be seen as somewhat samey after a while – he’s kind of a one trick pony as far as aesthetic – but the aesthetic he puts out is at least high in quality and is highly atmospheric. And nobody else sounds like him, so while he may have only one sound, that sound is his sound.

Why I bring this up is because the new music since the initial release – so the music that has been composed and mixed for the living world – is obviously not by Jeremy Soule. The only distinctive melodies are the ones taken from the tracks he already composed, the sampling is of horribly noticeable lower quality, and the aesthetic is derivative from game soundtracks and film soundtracks everywhere. There are a few gems here and there, but for the most part the soundtrack I find to be bland and lacking when compared to the sound of the soundtracks by Soule. I don’t know who the composer is, but he needs, first of all, to buy better woodwind samples at the very least (or just don’t use them) and then write better melodies.

Compare this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dHRaBIE-Y

To this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqAhc2yVcbs&list=PL9u7rbRjJmqD_qh-WXX7zSftvxOL5nUhI

I mean, can you hear it? I know some people like the new tracks, but it is indisputable that the quality has severely suffered. The first example sounded trite, like a cheap track composed for some children’s show. The second one, by Soule, has a richness and a nobility to it that gave the world of Tyria a life that the new tracks can’t compare with. Their vapid quality leaves a hole in their world that I’m sorry to see go. I know I compared apples and oranges between the two tracks, but go listen to the entire Jeremy Soule playlist, and then go listen to any of the new music to hear what I’m talking about. When the new soundtracks try to sound epic (like some of the Scarlet release tracks) it usually relies on cliché Hans Zimmer-esque tools-of-the-trade technique to achieve it’s result.

I don’t know if Soul was cut from it for budget constraints or if he just stepped down from the position, but I’m sorry to see him go. And if there is any way to bring him back, then that needs to happen.

That is all.

Generally, if you want dependable classes for both PvE and PvP, I’ve found the soldier classes – Guardian and Warrior – to be the strongest. Thief also seems to be fairly strong in PvP, but I’ve struggled a bit in some PvE with it in areas where the soldier classes breezed through.

I know this isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but almost every class can do both exceptionally if you take the time to really hone your skills with it. I thought mesmer was terrible and weak until I really gave it a stronger go, and then I enjoyed the class.

But, in general, Guardian is going to be the most stable class, both in terms of balance and consistent ability. In PvE you can put out enough DPS to solo well, and in PvP you can make a bunker build, which allows you to hold capture points well and support your team that way. It’s the class I eventually settled with as my main for those reasons.

Hello! I’m making a Guild Wars theme old-school styled platform game, and I’m coming here to share it with the community and possibly get some help.

UPDATES
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I’ve designed more sprites and fleshed out my plans for gameplay a bit more. Below are two new screenshots! One is of Taimi with her newly sprited Scruffy, and the other is of the Game Over room.

In classic games, when you lose all of your lives, you get booted back to the beginning of the zone and lose all progress. In this, there are a few sparse save stations along the way, but if you do lose all of your lives, you get sent to the Game Over room. In that room, you will be asked multiple choice questions about Guild Wars lore. If you answer three correctly, you get to return to the game with three lives. If you answer questions incorrectly, the rate of the lava rises, the bombs blow, and the spikes squeeze increases. If they reach you, you lose all progress since the last save.

Lore questions won’t be obvious necessarily; they can range from simple questions like who was the god of death before Grenth to choosing which year the Forgotten first arrived in Tyria.

ABOUT THE GAME
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The game will follow the story missions of the Prophecies Campaign. The game will have 4 zones, and around 5-8 levels in each zone. The levels will each be based off of a mission in Prophecies, so that makes a total of 25 levels.

Each level will have a primary and bonus objective. The primary objective is just beating the level, the if you complete the bonus objective, you unlock a new character. These characters all have their own unique ways of moving and attacking.

The first time you play a level, you play as Prince Rurik. After that, you unlock Free Play mode. In Free Play you can choose a party of up to three characters that you have unlocked and can switch between them while playing.

Characters come from both GW1 and GW2, so you can fight as Eir with Garm by her side, Taimi riding Scruffy, or Master Togo summoning Spirit Rifts.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
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I don’t have a whole lot of time on my hands normally since I’m in school right now. So if people want to help out, they can do that by pixel painting tile sets, bad guys, whatever. Or even just by showing interest here: a little encouragement goes a long way.

If there is enough interest – and if I finish the project – I may continue on to do more games like this, building off what I have in this one. So I would continue to do more GW1 content, such as the Factions and Nightfall campaigns, Eye of the North expansion, and GW2 content. But that’s more like a stretch goal. Right now I just want to get the basic game done.

Below is a screenshot of some old gameplay (working on making the basic functioning parts right now), a close up of Rurik, and a sheet of characters that have been painted so far. The only characters missing are some charr (they’re harder to do and need to be done piecemeal rather than as whole chunks like these).

Characters in order from left to right, top to bottom:
– Shiro Tagachi
– Logan Thackery
– Prince Rurik
– Caithe
– Zojja
– Snaff
– Razah
– Mhenlo
– Devona
– Cynn
– Eve
– Aidan
– Master Togo
– Braham
– Eir
– Scarlet
– Taimi
– Kasmeer Meade
– Marjory Delaqua
– Koss
– Palawa Joko
– Sieran
– Forgal

I used to play GW2 off a laptop and recently got a full sized, desktop computer, and I have had this same glitch on both.

The game will randomly freeze and play a constant loop of a last tiny bit of audio, which makes it sound like a loud grinding sound. On my laptop, when it did this, it would display random bright colors all over the screen. This does not happen on the desktop, but the random freezing and grinding sound are still there.

I say random because the timing of it is not predictable: it does not have to do with play time, because sometimes it will work for hours, and other times it will freeze the moment I get on. It does not have to do with heat of the graphics card, because my card on the desktop is kept much cooler than that of the laptop, but the desktop is more prone to this glitch than the laptop is. This also has nothing to do with the age of the graphics card, because the card in the desktop is only a little over a month old.

The laptop card is NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M.
The desktop card is NVIDIA GeForce GT 640.

I know neither of them are powerful (the desktop wasn’t built for gaming, but for other work) but they are powerful enough to run the game. The only thing I can think of is that I just happened to buy two graphics cards that are somewhat incompatible.

Anyone have any advice? Thoughts?