Guild Wars 2

I couldn’t help but notice in the personal stories, the allies you get and choose throughout them seem to be weaker then melted butter. So… is this intentional? I mean… it seems like way to much when a small group of mobs Rolfastomps two of my Allies who have the veteran status on there name bar. Half the time I end up ressing them, only for them to be two shotted by a mob that is SUPPOSED to be weaker then a Vet.

Is there somthing I am missing? Can you.. upgrade skills or armor in the Home instance? Or is it intentional that NPC’s you group with can be knocked off in two hits while you stand fighting (And die… alot)

I support this option, +1 from me!

Ah, BWE1 Loggin Screen. How I dream about you at night. It was the best way to start off GW2 imo… I literaly cride tears upon looking at the screen, days before the first BWE even opened!

Please, ArenaNet. Bring it back in a Update. If you want a news media for players when they log in/patcher. Just keep the current Launcher, only have it with a “Play” option. Then use that screen for logging into Charector Select.

PS: I don’t want to scare anyone, but I remember one Beta Tester saying the current login is easy for Hackers to breach. Rather then a In-game login. Just somthing A-net might want to keep in mind.

Hmmm, well if that is the case. Arena could just make it easy to get Ascended gear. As I mentiond, open it up for Crafting or Dungeon Tokens, or hell something else. Just don’t force a player into FotM to get the gear. It then basicly deamnds that the player do the dungeon, rather then have a choice in the matter.

And from what I can tell, we all have choices and multiple paths that you can follow to get to level 80 and be maxxed gear. So, it is jarring to say “Only this” after getting alot of freedom.

Part Two

Essence of the Mists

This would be a legendary item that drops from the currently hardest boss of the FotM dungeon, every time you update the game with somthing like Lost Shores (Of course, you would still keep Monthly Content updates for more the FotM i’m sure.), you add a few new Fractals that are harder then the current ones. What would the item do? Simple, you would put it and only it in The Mystic Forge, and get a Legendary Item in return, random, of course. But what these would be is recollored or remoddled items of the current Legendarys. Like take Byfrost: Right now it is a white staff with a rainbow essence around it. Let’s say the essence creates a clone through the Forge, only this one looks twisted, a staff of thorns surounded by necromatic aura. This would give the “Hardcore” players somthing to do, and a reward to boot, while keeping the people who worked there butts off for the Crafted Legendarys still feeling acomplished and ….well legendary.

Slayer of Mists Boss Title

Some people don’t seem to care for “pretty” items. No offense, but I am sure to them they could be playing the game with white boxes on a superflat white plane, and be happy as long as there stats are still there. So, what do you give them? A Title. Somthing like God Walking Among Mere Mortals in Guild Wars One, only this one is more of a Slayer Title. It would show people they worked long and hard to fight in FotM to become legendary in there own right, not by getting a weapon.

Force of the Mists

Now, this reward might seem crazy. And next to impossible to do. However, hear me out: This item would function just like the essence at the Mystic Forge, however, rather then a weapon. It gives you a new skill. NOW HOLD EVERYTHING DON’T GO SHOOTING OFF ALARMS AND YELLING ABOUT BALANCING ISSUES!!!!! Ok, the skill would do nothing stat wise. It would be like Transmutation for your skills, only visual, not statistic. Like, you know the Ghosts in Ascalon? There Elementalist can shoot Ghostly Blue Fireballs. Why not have a item that turns a Elementalist Fireball into that? Or somthing that gives a Mesmer effect to a warrior when he swings his weapons? You could, of course, switch back to your normal looking skills at any time out of combat. It would just be a dropdown bar that holds the recollored skills like with Utilities.

Well, these rewards sound cool and all, but what about us players who don’t want to do FotM? Are we stuck in the dark with our normal stuff while the Elite get all the cool toys?

Why, not at all! This was a issue I came up with while thinking. And the only thing out of all of it that would be exclusive to FotM is the title’s. Everything else could be obtained by the player. However, it would involve a invest ment. Not a investment like running the Dungeon and getting Infusions, more of a time invest ment. Hear me out: Say some Asura set up ub lab in Ruins of Ahra, there they found Mist Power seeping out via tiny cracks. You could go on a solo questline to help make a machine that will absorb this power, yet… it’s very minute power. It’ll take a long time to get enough to make somthing like a Essence or Force item. I don’t have a exact frame, but it should take 3x as long as it takes a runner of FotM to get the there Essence or Force. So the trade off goes like this: Work = Time and Time = Work. If you don’t want to put in the work, you’ll have to wait longer to get it. In my opinion, if you’re a casual player that is simple. Just set up the machine in Arah, aaaaaannnd wait. Eventuly you’ll have Essence or Force of the Mists and can make one of the rewards! However, you can’t do both. Once you start FotM, you can’t use the Machine in Arah and Vice Versa. It’s one or the other.

So, that compleates my ideas. I hope the people reading this like it! If you do or don’t, please feel free to put down constructive feedback.

Note: Constructive does not equal “This sucks! Horrible idea, I hate it, you know nothing about the game!!!!”

So with ArenaNet’s new update. I’ve been seeing alot of backlash from players. Mostly alot of “BEEETRAAAAAED!” comments. (Where is spoony when you need him, eh?) My initial reaction was one of meh, didn’t really seem like a bad thing. However, thinking deeper into this I have found why many people feel betrayed and why the update is a bad idea…. so let’s fix it!

Agony = Good. Ascended Armor = Bad.

First, let me make my reasonings clear. Fractals of the Mists should be treated as a Elite Side Quest. Some examples of Elite Side Quests: Final Fantasy bonus bosses, like FF7’s Ruby Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Ultima Weapon. These bosses kicked your butt 12 ways to sunday, they needed the best armor and weapons to kill. And once you killed them you could brag to your friends you did it. Yet, they didn’t -need- to be killed. It didn’t advance the story, it wasn’t part of the final fight, you could still finish FF7 without killing the Weapon bosses. THAT is what Fractals of the Mists should be. So, let me explane the title now…

Agony: A good idea. It’s a grading system for the dungeon. It means you can go on deeper and deeper and deeper. Just, keep it exclusive to FotM. It makes the dungeon harder and harder giving more of a challange and heavy hitting end game + bragging rights to people who can acomplish it.

Ascended Armor: A bad idea. This is not a good idea at all. It took me a while to understand but I realize this is a terrible idea. See, Arena, here is why: Ascended Armor at the moment can only come from FotM, where as Exotic can come from multiple sources: Crafting, Dungeon Tokens, ect. Basicly, you’ve turned the game into a Pyramid: The bottem has many paths to take when getting better gear, yet, the top has only one obvious path if you want to reach it. That is not good. Players shouldn’t be funnled into somthing they may or may not like. Now, you could say to your selves: It’s just a minor stat increase? Well, maby, maby, yet even a Minor one is still a stat increase. Example: The MMO That Shall Not Be Named had a endgame with alot of undead, A Class Similar to the Guardian was good at killing them, even had items that could increase damage to them by 1%. Even though it was just 1%, some people demanded the class use it. Just to make things go faster. That is what a “slight” stat increase will do. No matter how small. It makes anything lower obsolete. This is why Ascended armor is bad, it can only be gained from FotM at the moment. And people will demand you get full ascended as it comes out, just to be at the pinnical of your game.

Solution: Remove Ascended armor, or lower it’s stats down to Exotic. Make Armor with two upgrade slots: One for a Rune. One for a Infusion. Just don’t make it slightly stronger then Exotics. Keep the stat wall at Exotics. However, if you really want to keep Ascended armor the way it is: Open up different paths to get it, destroy the Pyramid Cap. Make it craftable or Dungeon Tokens from Arah Explorable.

Hold on, now what would the reasoning to do FotM be then? Some people want rewards not a challange?

I’m happy you asked Billy! See, there are many rewards you can give players for doing FotM, here are a few I came up with (Continued in part two)

@Astralporing. Could you post a offical link to that? The thing about saying Infusion and Ascended gear will be the basis for new content??

Again, these are my opinions. It just seems to early to jump to conclusions. Who knows, maby after all the slots can be filled with Ascended gear, Ascended gear can be crafted by respective Armorsmiths, Leatherworkers, Tailers and such. Effectivly rasising the gar line to Ascended and making FotM optional content (By then more content should have come out.)

I honestly think people are just over reacting to all this. We don’t even know if FotM will become the next big dungeon to do. From my point of view, it’s just somthing that the people who have been complaning about endgame want, with some minor state upgrades as rewards, and Agony as there difficulty progression.

Also tell me: When has stats really mattered? Really? Do you think 14% more stats will make you a God Slayer who can own a mob of players in WvW without even loosing 5% HP? Do you think it’ll make you into the ultimate Dragon Slayer who can one shot Shatterer or Claw of Jormag? From my view point? No, it’s just a little reward for people who want to fell more powerful. In a 1v1 sence of WvW, yes it’ll make it unfair, but from a 40 v 40? and 10 players on each side have ascended? I don’t think it’ll be the winning or loosing decider.

Again, just my opinion. NOT FACT.

No, no. You misunderstand me. I know how the game mechanics works. But what does the Lore say? Can Norn in Lore change into any Animal Form, or are they stuck with the one they venerate. Bear Shaman may only become the bear, Raven Shaman may only become the raven, ect. Or can they change into any Animal Totem? Like: Somone Somthing Norn follows Bears Strength, but today decided to hunt like a Snow Leopard.

That is what I am asking, not Game Mechanics. Reason why this is in the Lore section.

So, for a while I’ve been thinking of rolling a Norn. Yet, somthing about there Totem Spirits bugs me.

What does it take to gain the power of transforming? Is it inherant? Can Norn just transform into a Snow Leopard one day then Raven the next? Or is there some kind of rite they have to do with a Shaman of that Spirit to gain the power?

So, one of my friends wants to get interested in Guild Wars 2. I showed him a few things from the game and he likes it, but what got him the most is the rewards for owning a HoM in GW:EN. He told me he wants to buy and play GW1 series so he can get the rewards and learn the Lore of the game first hand, however, there is a issue.

See, this is the first time my friend is getting interested in GW1 and GW2, he has no accounts with either game yet. And I am sure during GW2 development, ArenaNet stated accounts made after GW2’s release date will not be able to accumulate points for rewards in GW2.

Now, here is the question: Is this true? Can accounts for GW1 or GW2 not earn any points to HoM rewards, if they where made after 8/28/2012? Or did ArenaNet change this? Honestly, I hope they did. Because it may make or break my friends choice on playing this amazing game.

Feedback would be awesome!