Guild Wars 2

Dear Veteran Risen Subjugator

I feel your pain. Though I do not have quite the same issue of instant spawn kill as you seem to have, my similar issue is less fatal yet extremely more embarrassing.

You see, I live very close to the Maw pre-event spawn point and I tend to get taunted every time Daily Dodger is active. The annoying characters run just close enough to me to force me to spit my chilling knockdown projectile at them. They dodge and can you believe it, they then just stand there. Sometimes others come into the area and they all stack up in one location and wait for me to spit again. Then to add insult to lack of injury…they dodge as a group.

The kicker is, after a few more taunting dodges I hear the sound of a bell and those ungrateful ‘kittens’ just run away, without even having the decency to kill me. Leaving me stand there to await my next humiliation. To be honest I wish I had the same issue of insta-death as you, because this deep-seated disgrace is bound to leave me with emotional scars for years to come.

Yours in spirit,
Veteran Ice Wurm
Hunter’s Lake
Wayfarer Foothills

Oh yes, Veteran Risen Subjugator, I am watching you.

As soon as your first inkling of a respawn, I am all over you. Don’t you worry about what my master is doing, you Will suffer me. My master is surely in deep thought contemplating an in-depth plan for defeating the scourge of your brethren or some such, which he has yet to divulge to me. I know because he has been standing at his last chopped cypress tree for nearly an hour allowing me to solo you to your 3 minute oblivion.

Its about that time…
Growling Regards,
Juvenile Brown Bear

- Moved Shatterer to Claw’s spawn location so when he entraps players in crystal, it looks pretty on the ice blue background.
- Moved Shatterer’s crystal drops to Tequatl so that he can drop something different from his wings.
- Moved Claw of Jormag to Shatter’s location so he has nothing to almost fall off of.
- Rebuilt the Watchtower in Lions Arch and moved Tequatl to Lions Arch so he still has a Tower to wipeout when he arrives and we can finely reenforce that dang tower in Sparkfly Fen.
- Changed the line "There’s something in the water to There’s something ‘else’ in the water
- Temporally increased Waypoint Cost, as due to the Sequester initiated by the Queen, Asura Portals are now just too costly to operate.
- One Rabbit in the game will now drop a Voltaic Spear but only after killing it over 250 times. Justiciar Rabbit’s name is not viewable until his death and he sometimes hides in bushes.
- Voltaic Spear will be the only Dye-able weapon in the game but can not be dyed any color resembling Black
- Adjusted Asura children’s faces to look more like a Fig and less like a Raisin
- Apples are now available in the Gem Store, since for some reason the Supply is down on Apples.
- Added new currency: Porous Bones redeemable for Spider Legs
- Started recycling program across Tyria due to an excessive amounts of Glass Bottles lying about
- Halon Extinguishers now available from Karma Merchant outside the Thaumanova Reactor

LION’S ARCH, A PHOENIX REBORN!

Smoldering and broken, what was once a great city is now lifeless wasteland. Not for 250 years has Lion’s Arch seen such devastation. It’s Citizens have fled to whatever haven they could find, as all seems lost. With desperate hopes, the three Orders call out for assistance and from all corners of Tyria, a new power rises and the call… is answered!

GUILDS OF TYRIA UNITE
In the April 1st release: With Scarlet gone and her minions defeated the time for rebuilding is at hand. The Guilds of Tyria have harkened to the desperate call of the three Orders and more swift than could ever be dreamed, assistance is rendered. Like a phoenix reborn, Guild Halls of all shapes and sizes begin to spring from the ashes of the once great city of Lion’s Arch. Under the leadership of the fledgling guild Destiny’s Child; Braham, Rox, Kasmeer, Marjory and Taimi rally the vast influence and power of the guilds, to lead the charge in the rebuilding of the heart of Tyria.

LION’S ARCH IN TRANSITION
Over the next several months Lion’s Arch will be in a state of rebuilding. Starting with this release we will be redesigning LA into a more grandiose and exciting adventure than it has ever been. The city’s instance has been optimized to encompass a much larger number of people without any adverse effect to Frame Rate, in fact we expect Frame Rates to increase.

NEW IN THIS RELEASE
Revised Guild Interface – A new Guild Interface has been created to be similar to other recent UI revisions. Some of the changes will include:

• A change in the guild roster allowing member’s last log on to be displayed
• Numerous features enabling Guild Officers to manage their respective members more easily
• The Guild Panel has been completely revamped to accommodate the addition of Guild Hall construction.

Guild District – Establishment of a Guild District to set the groundwork for Land Parceling allowing guilds to buy a Guild Plot for Guild Hall construction

• Guild Deeds can now be purchased by the Guild Leader to reserve a plot in the new Guild District for future Hall construction
• Guild Hall construction can begin once the guild has assigned its Guild Deed to a specific Guild Plot

Guild Bank – Bank structure has been updated to allow for new development levels and features

• Guild Stash, Trove, Cave and the new Vault are now all separate areas of the Bank each with their own Rank security settings. Each of the above can be broken down by tabs to further refine deposit groupings
• Deposit boxes (small, medium and large)can now be purchased by each guild member for Guild specific storage

Guild Merits and Guild Missions – Will be revised in a future release to allow for participation of small and medium sized guilds

New Guild Ranks, Revised Security Levels, New Guild Armor and so much more coming in this huge Guild specific release.

On April 1st We put the Guild back into Guild Wars!

No matter what ANet does… somebody is not going to like it.

If they gave everyone 10gp for nothing, just to give some of the poorer players some cash to work with:

• one person might say “I already have 5000gp what do I need 10gp for? ANet is cheap.”
• the next might say “ANet is trying to inflate the Gold Market.”
• I would say “Thanks ANet” and move on

For the ANet employees, I would think that reading these Forums has to be the most depressing part of their job.

With the possible exception of Gaile Gray, who seems to have the armor of a dragon and the patience of a Saint.

As for the Reasons for the change, I agree wholeheartedly that the reason is a much needed addition.

Why is a Personal Advertisement for a streamer being permitted to continue in this forum?

Shouldn’t this be merged with the other Sodapoppin advertisements in the Community Creations Forum? Or better yet, deleted entirely?

Continuity of Story

The biggest thing that I see missing from the Living World experience is story interconnection. The continuity between each two week release is either not there or oblivious to the player base as a whole. Players seem to be floundering thru the releases in a mad scramble to get the achievements for each one but missing the background storyline the release was built around in the first place.

There is two different versions of connectivity I would like to address here, within each month AND across all Living Story releases.

Monthly Inter-connectivity:

I would propose you continue to make your huge beginning of the month Theme Release. In that patch have most of the long-time requirement items and let them run for 4 weeks.

Now 2 weeks after that do an Update Release, using a “similar variant” theme as the first patch but with the less time requirement stuff. This way you have a month long theme but continue with your 2 week content updates. This will allow for a longer time to complete the content and tie the whole theme together inundating us with plot fortification the entire time.

Stream of Consciousness:

This would be the way to tie ALL of the Living Story monthly releases together so we can see a progression of events that makes sense over a few releases and across all releases.

Instead of a Living Story of stand-alone chapters we would have a Living Story of interconnecting plot building installments, each standing on the framework of the story to date, locking previous, present and future content into a interwoven tale epic and intriguing adventure.

Tie Living Story into the original Guild Wars

I personally played GW1 for 6+ years. That was the one and ONLY game I played over that time. The story was full in both depth and breadth. It was both intriguing and thought provoking. It engaged me daily for 6 years straight, which is pretty darn impressive. Now granted towards the end it was just a matter of grinding to get my titles ready for GW2 but the anticipation of the upcoming game kept the drive alive.

Now that I think of it the grind that lead up to the release of GW2 seemed to carry over into the new game but the fleshed out storytelling style did not seem to follow.

I think it is time for the Living Story to get back to basics. Let’s start tying into the rich content base that is already ripe and ready to be picked from the well-stocked archives of GW1.

• Bring on the Mursaat
• Crumble a wall of the Eye of the North and let us wander into the wild overgrown and untamed experience of Gwen’s Garden
• Allow the Jade Sea to start melting and run off into the Echovald Forest
• Imagine how majestic The Falls have become not to mention how they would have been affected by Zinn’s Secret Underground Lair
• Palawa Joko has surely turned the Desolation into a veritable lush Garden of Joko by now

There is just so much history just waiting for the right storyteller to pick it up and run with it.

Remember – It’s not cheating building on a well thought out premade platform. Heck… it was your idea in the first place

We already have fishing in the game.

Required:

1. Underwater Breathing Apparatus
2. Harpoon Gun

Process:

1. Jump in water
2. Shoot the fish with the white text

Hours and hours of fishing fun

Absolutely and unequivocally NOT!

Giving one player the power to control the actions of another player is the worst idea I have seen on these forums to date.

If you want to control other players go to PvP.

As I have said time and time again… 100 gold does not a leader make!

Now that said, I agree that making a mechanic that someone can sit in a Turret and Troll the entire event for 100 others is just a poor game mechanic and should be changed. On the other hand, everybody who has been in a Turret so far had to learn by doing.
Heck there is even an Achievement for using the Turret, so there will be Newbies in the Turrets all the time. Should the Commanders be kicking them too. Who’s to say if they are trolling or learning.

1. Change the mechanic by making the Turrets not subject to Trolls
2. Well there need not be any #2 if you change #1.

As I have not experienced Dueling in previous games, I am having a problem understanding.

• A duel is between one player(or team) and another aka Player vs. Player. Isn’t that what the PvP part of the game is all about?

• Why should they bring the game type of PvP into PvE? Isn’t that what WvW is all about?

To me, PvE is about helping your fellow player not smiting her bones to ashes and dancing on her grave.

I guess I just see it as a conflict of the idealistic purpose of the individual game types.

kuben.9826:

Never saw such topic, so don’t bite if it’s here already.
The game wouldnt be “p2w” for most people. You’d have to do everything by yourself-no shortcuts for those who “don’t have enough time to farm money for legendary”.
What do You guys think?

• Person A – Has very little Real Life time constraints
  - Can farm for many hours a day
  - Has lots of gold to get a Legendary
• Person B – Has many Real Life time restrictions
  - Can’t play for more than an hour a day
  - Has barely any gold but lots of RT money to get a Legendary

Question: Which one wins the game?
Answer: Neither, because obtaining a Legendary has nothing to do with winning the game.

Veteran Risen Subjugator, supplemental

By the Star of the Ranyhyn I may have erred in judgment. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Ignore those who blindly tell you to move from your designated spawn point. As I enlightened you previously, my farming key farmers days are over and I have moved to the Hinterlands. As it turned out this may have not been a prudent career move for me.

Though I am no longer plagued with scores upon thousands of first level human fledglings, fate seems to have taken yet another turn and I am now in fear for my tail. It seems the farmer has become the farmee. I came up to a long-secure Modniir stronghold, only to be confronted by droves of level eighty rabble. A literal zerg of two legged flesh, almost as if on a timer, appears out of nowhere to make my life and sadly subsequent death a living nightmare. Legendary weapons, a dime a dozen, as far as the eye can see. Swinging, thrusting, bashing, poking, hell unicorns… they are shooting bloody unicorns at me.

Even with Elemental assistance, cause really, how does one fight the wind, it is pandemonium. They pounce on my champion triumvirate like a pack of risen Thralls to a roamer, tearing, rending and rainbows. It is a ghastly sight. Yet, in the end I am left alone with the breeze. Locust, yes a plague of locust they are, may the Great Stallion trample their souls.

And so I lay, mangled and broken. What the… my tail, the bloody ‘kittens’ took my tail!

Be careful for what you wish for… I know I am.
Modniir Ulgoth the Tailless
Champion
Modniir Gorge

Answer: As one who received a GreatSaw drop back in Halloween 2012, I would have to say No to the re-release.

Perspective: the GreatSaw Skin is the best weapon skin in my inventory across all 5 L80 characters. It is MY Legendary Weapon. I like it not solely because it is an uniquely impressive skin but equally as much because it is very rare indeed. I have lost count of how many people have come up out of the blue, to complement me on how good it looks on my character. In contrast “Twilights, Kudzus, Bolts etc.” are a dime a dozen. I have lost interest in pursuing a Legendary because they are no longer unique. The whole reason something like The GreatSaw is so expensive is because it is so rare.

The GreatSaw is the ’57 Chevy of Guild Wars 2. Why?

1. Because it has an impressive look
2. They only made so many of them. They did not re-release them in ’59 and again in ’62, why, because when they were done making them… they were done making them!
3. And they are a very sought after commodity

Please, don’t cheapen the value of my only, true shiney just because someone else wants one!

As a side note: Though it does not apply in my case, lets just say someone has one of these up on the Trading Post for oh lets say 2999gp, it cost them 150gold to post it there. Now you re-release the skin and the price will plummet and they will lose their listing fee because the price will not come back up to that level again. Some of you will say hey that is the chance you take on playing the market but introducing more of a previously finite product to the market is blatant market sabotage not speculation.

tl;dr: No thank you to the re-release

I consider a Legendary Item to be the biggest prize you can get in the game but…

Farming
Let me start by saying:
1) I don’t do dungeons. Haven’t done a one and don’t intend to.
2) I don’t do WvW. Well in all honesty, I did WvW to complete the 4 maps required for the PvE World Completion achievement. Yep, you guess it, I ran like the wind from POI to Vista to Skill point, avoiding every conflict I could find till I finished them off. Surely that is not legendary. Legendary Chicken maybe? Caught 10 times, killed 10 times; thou in my defense, there’s never been less than 3 of you.

Don’t get me wrong. I am dedicated to the game. I have played pretty religiously for over a year now (from the April ’12 Beta). It is just that I play the game the “way that I like”, as we were encouraged to do. I currently have 5 characters, 4 × 80’s and 1 × 73 with over 4500 Achievement Points to date. Thou I may be considered a slacker by those with over 8000 points, I consider myself a dedicated casual player.

So why is this relevant to the topic? Because to get a Legendary, you need: in my case 500 Shards of Zhaitan (dungeon only) 500 Badges of Honor (WvW only). So because I don’t do Dungeons or WvW…I can’t be legendary? The only way at present that I CAN be Legendary is to take up farming. While in real life being a Farmer is quite a respectable profession, not everyone is a Farmer. That would be just silly, wouldn’t it, as we need many other professions to make the world go round. But in this game, if you want to get the big prize, you have to be a farmer.

The other requirements: 200 Skill points, 500k in Karma, 100% World Completion, Stack of Ectoplasm, 110 Laurels; yep got all those thru my standard PvE play. So that can’t be legendary.

There is a requirement for about 120 gp. Now for the farmers, that is in no way legendary, just a repeated walk in the park. For me thou, that is a ton of money which would require me to sell everything I own. But I could do it and then be in the poorhouse. Is that legendary I wonder?

Gambling
Now comes the Precursor. We’re just playing the numbers for that RNG drop fairy to visit our door. No, I did not get that drop from the Lost Shores Finale. Nor did I get it from the 300+ World Boss Chests that I have opened. Or the Jumping Puzzle Chests, thou I still have some of those left to do. Or even a random drop from the thousands of nasties that I killed over the 230 days that I have played since Pre-Launch. So I guess Legendary Lady Luck is just not with me.

Then comes the Mystic Forge. I think that poor horse has been beaten dead many, many times already but you get the idea.

I guess you could always counter with: Hey, how did King Arthur get Excalibur? Why he pulled the sword from a stone – I guess that could count as a random drop. Or you might add, from a mystical lady in a lake – Mystic Forge? How about Bilbo, he found the One Ring on the floor by an underground lake – both random drop AND Mystic Forge. Enough, enough already, yes I know my position has a few holes but I will let others, who come after me and are wiser then myself, fill in the gaps.

LEGENDARY
The first Legendary item was crafted in LESS THEN ONE MONTH from launch date. ONE MONTH! What in all of what the 6 Gods deem holy is legendary about that, outside of the amount of unbridled dedication that was required to complete in that short period of time. In contrast, the way that Legendary items are laid out, I could continue my dedicated play for the next 6 years and still not be able to get one. Legendary amount of time invested with no Legendary outcome.

There is always the Trading Post, sure. Just let me drop down 2500gp and bam, you got yourself a Bifrost. Legendary?
Oh and by the way…toss in one of those Kudzus. And while you’re at it, give me a couple of them Twilights over there. Those things must be good; I see those bloody things at almost every Dragon event I go to.
For perspective, since I don’t farm I only have about 50gp saved up since Pre-Launch (yeah all 5 characters are outfitted with Gold Rares or better, but still), I’ll let you do the math.

The point that I am so laboriously trying to drive home is: let’s take the Farming and Gambling out of the process and make obtaining a Legendary item require a dedication to the game in a player’s own game style. Let us put the LEGENDARY back in Legendary.

Oh and all of you who already have a Legendary Item…You can all burn in Moto’s fiery Continue Room. Naaa, no sour grapes here… Continue Coins for everyone.

Yes for the fine upstanding members of the community, this would be a nice addition.
However…
For all the Griefers in the game who click on you and say “I’m coming to help you!”, then run the other way giggling, knowing you are just sitting there waiting for them.

Title: Guild Missions

Proposal Overview: A QoL Change to the overall system of the Guild missions.

Goal of Proposal: Allow small/medium size or guilds without a current large representation participate in the events.

Proposal Functionality:
Our Guild is small with only a few daily active members of our 20 or so roster. So the Guild Missions as they currently exist are just not something we can participate in. The Missions take more of an active force then we can muster. Now I understand that some missions should require large groups to be successfully completed and that is just fine but we many Guilds, are not all cut from the same cloth.
There should be some things that the small and medium sized guilds can do to contribute to the grand guild brotherhood.
Yes I know there is Guild Bounty Training but that does not yield any Merits only influence. If we need to contribute influence, we can currently just buy it.

Guild Alliances Would be a possible way to circumvent the current mission feature but I think that Alliances fall more under New Content not QoL or Logistics so I will reserve further iteration until we get to the New Content Phase.

Associated Risks: There would have to be some sort of scaling system put in place so that the Large guilds could not take advantage of doing a mission slotted for a Smaller guild.

Sorry I don’t have more to contribute on this one but as I don’t do them, I just don’t have much to suggest.

Title: Managing Guilds
Proposal Overview: Various logistical topics pertaining to guild management
Goal of Proposal: To try to get a better handle on the ranks and permissions for guild members

Guild Security by Guild Rank

Proposal Functionality: There are currently 10 ranks available (a few more would be nice). For our guild that is 4 officer ranks (one leader and 3 officers) and 6 member/non-officer ranks (one new-member default and 5 standard member ranks). Moving up thru the Guild Ranks is done by being promoted for your dedication to the guild and receives more security/responsibility as they do so. The current generic rank structure. For Example:

Leader, Senior Officer, Officer, Junior Officer, Senior Member, Member in Good Standing, Standard Member, Junior Member, Probationary Member, and New Member

So in the current guild structure with the features available, that may be acceptable but if we are going to bring in some new features and flesh out what a guild stands for or throw Roll-playing into the mix, then more would need to be made available, for example:

Treasurer, Master at Arms/ PvP Instructor, Social Director, Guild Master Crafter, Blacksmith, Chef, WvW Master Commander, Event Coordinator, Membership Coordinator, Dungeon Organizer and so on…

The problem is there is barely any security to differentiate the middle 8 ranks excluding New Member (no access) and Leader (All Access). By that I mean, if someone is promoted up a rank, there is little rights to be granted for the new position outside a limited Guild Bank security level.

Guild Guest – this would be the lowest rank available even below New Member. The guest would not have any bank access with the possible exception of Public Storage

An example of a revamped Guild Bank will be presented in another post.

Guild Leadership
Guild Tag
I am aware that changes were just made to the Commander feature but a further change to have it reflect Guild Leadership might be in order. Having the option for another Icon to differentiate between the Guild Tag and the standard colored Taco would allow officers to lead without contributing to the current Tag blight. If Commanders could tag-up for guild events they may be less likely to make it for all to see.
Now instead of having to purchase the Guild Tag as you do with the Commander Tag, you would instead have to unlock it via Guild Upgrades like you have to do for the ability to wear the Guild Emblem on your weapons or armor.
For Example:
For x number of influence the guild would be able to unlock the Guild Tag for one rank (default the Guild Leader), for y number of influence 2 ranks, and so on. Since it is granted by rank you could even use the Guild Rank Icons as your map tags and with at least 4 colors to currently work with, that would separate between same rank tagged individuals.

Guild Leader
There should only be ONE Leader. With the possible exception of Ettins there is a reason why things only have one head.
Who ever made the guild, is the leader. She can have one or many ranking officers but only one Prime Minister/King/CEO/Guild Leader.

Now what about if it not ‘Great to be the King’ and the Leader wants to step down?
Voluntary replacement: A 3 step process. The Leader would request to step down, it would have to be accepted by the potential new Leader and finely confirmed by the old leader… done. No voting, not polling just the Abdicator out and the Assumer in.
Involuntary replacement: Now if the Leader does not log in for some predetermined period of time then the leader would temporarily swap places with the next highest ranking member who becomes Pro Tempore Leader until such time as the old leader returns, at which time both are swapped back to their original rolls. This swap would become permanent after an extended period of time.
Mistaken Replacement: If the Leader mistakenly hits the Leave Guild button, there should be a way to undo. I am not sure what happens when you hit this button but at the very least there should be an “Are you sure?” and even an “Are you REALLY Sure?” question, because making this mistake could potentially be very costly. For standard guilds it could be an issue if your ranking officer does not play for a period of time but even more of an issue if you are in a Solo guild and all the stuff in your guild bank vanishes.
Guild Officers
Unfortunately there is not much pertaining to the guild for the officers to do. I mean other than managing the Bank, maintaining membership and building upgrades it’s kind of snoozesville for the officers. Anything they need to do currently is pretty much Player generated.
The future addition of guild functionality would facilitate more of a need for officer security.

Edited for formatting

MShp.3429:

… Even when utilizing the fastest cooldown heal, there is absolutely NO way (as an ele) to survive parts of the Jormag fight.

As an Ele Main, I must respectfully say, this is just not true. I run this event all the time and it has been years since I have been downed much less defeated in this battle.

During phase changes, the boss retreats to positions where it is readily able to damage the raid, but yet almost all of my abilities (except for auto attack) can’t even reach him, unless I would consider suicide running into the frost areas to land a few attacks.

Here are a few hints

• Hopefully you are an L80 in at least Exotic Armor. You don’t call that out so I will assume you are.
• If you are running full Zerker gear that is your first problem. Zerker is worthless verses Claw. Add a Soldier Chest piece and Amulet, maybe a ring and/or accessory. It will help your survivability immensely.
• Use a Staff and attune to fire for the Phase one Wall attack. Your Skill 1 hits it just fine without using a Charrzooka.
• After he spikes you with the dreaded Dragon Bomb from above use Ether Renewal . If you start taking a lot of damage, switch attunement to water for your Skill 3 & 5. The Minor Water Trait Soothing Mist is very helpful.
• Once the wall goes down, find the spot between his head and left claw and focus all your AoE damage there for Triple damage. Once the NPC says Eyes, run away, rinse/repeat till his health gets below the letter (g) on his bar.

That should stop you from going down in Phase 1

• For Phase 2, Even though your Fire Staff skill one will hit Claw without being in the Icy Grave zone, do not attack Claw directly. Instead, Stay in Fire and go for the Ice Crystals with Skill 1 & 2. This gets the Golems to him faster which is the main purpose of this phase. Like phase one when the Icy Grave goes away, give him everything you got.

MShp.3429:

…
I am also bothered by the fact that I am forced to write this in a way that wouldn’t hurt a child’s feelings. Knowing that Anet can sack my account if I were to actually say what’s on my mind is quite frankly, crap. I wanted to come in here and absolutely torch devs and QA teams, who, for the most part, hide behind a service agreement and use it as an excuse to ban people who do not believe that they are doing a good job.

Not sure what to say to this one. Having a legitimate grievance, expressed in a well thought out, mature and respectful manner would not hurt anyone’s feelings let alone a child. Flaming the Devs and QA team or anyone else for that matter would be unacceptable with or without a Service Agreement. Hopefully it is just the frustration talking, maybe once you get the hang of the intricacies if the fight you will see that this event is pretty easy (though granted, somewhat long).

Edited for spelling

Title: Guild UI

Proposal Overview:Changes to the User Interface to more closely reflect the recent changes to various other interfaces and to add new UI features.
Goal of Proposal: Increased functionality of the UI will assist in the management of information to the guild members from the officers
Proposal Functionality: It would integrate directly with the current interface after it is reworked to match other in game UI’s

Guild Mission Statement
On the opening page of the Guild UI there should be a spot for the Guild’s Mission statement. It would be an area maintained by the Guild Leader/Officers in which when the (G)uild UI window is opened, they are able to see what the guild’s purpose is.

For example:
The Pious Knights are a predominately PvE, fun-loving, laidback, good humored, small to medium sized social guild. We exist to promote comradery, conversation and community in the GW2 world.

Guild Chat
As was in GW1, If when a character logs in s(he) is repping a guild, the guild Message of the Day would pop up in the chat window. This would also happen when someone chooses to change guild representation.

Guild Mail
A system to mass email various groups of guildies would be quite nice. Some possible options:

• Email all officers
• Email all members of a particular rank
• Email all non-officers

Last Represented
With the addition of the last logged on feature(many thanks for that), also being able to see when a player last represented the guild would also be a worthwhile feature.
Leave Guild Button
Please move this button and or make it harder to hit by mistake. A mistake like this could be devastating, especially for Single person guilds and Guild Leaders
Associated Risks: Like with any communication between two or more people, the officers could abuse via making mass visual off color statements but then why would you be in that kind of guild in the first place?

Kamara.4187:

I remember reading that “small guilds will be respected” when they were talking about the Hot guildhalls…

Now I’m thinking “wow if that wasn’t just like a campaign promise in the end.”

Quote: In the interview by Mike Foster with Mike O’Brien and Colin Johanson at the PAX South 2015 event, the following was asked:

We pressed ArenaNet for more information on guild halls — especially on how small guilds will fare compared to massive ones — but the studio didn’t spill. Smaller guilds are in the discussion, however. Johanson elaborated, “It is important to us that our guilds feel like they are all important in our world, and we’ll make sure they are treated respectfully.”

Please note: they did not say specifically that ‘Small Guilds’ would be treated respectfully but that ALL Guilds would be treated respectfully. Now granted the key word here is ‘respectfully’. A somewhat ambiguous choice of words but since that is all we have to go with.

Definition:The adverb respectfully describes the way you treat or interact with someone you hold in high regard, admire, or perhaps simply have been told to treat with politeness.

Synonyms for respectfully: attentively, politely, considerately, courteously, with due respect.

So with that said: I don’t think anyone can affirm that ANet has treated small guilds(defined by ANet as a 5 person minimum) disrespectfully or discourteously.

I do unfortunately think that they did not address the problem that, before the update you needed to run missions to advance your guild through Merits and now with HoT, you now need to run missions to advance your guild through Favor. Missions for small guilds are problematic at best, due to the shear lack of bodies.

Influence, which allowed for small guilds to at least gain some semblance of legitimacy by playing together outside the mission system, has been removed and replaced with ‘nothing comparable’, except the mission reward currency, Favor noted above.

In the 32 pages of the CDI – Guild Halls forum from over a year ago, it was made abundantly clear by the mass of small guild posts, which suggestions would make having a small guild in the expansion enjoyable. Granted there were tons of suggestions made but from my recollection most of the suggestions have not yet come to fruition.

Please note: ANet did say that there was specifically a Guild Team now and they will continue to produce content past the HoT release date; Sooooo maybe the cool stuff for us little guilds are yet to be released. This would make some sense to me, complete the stuff for the big boys first and once that is up and running THEN bring the stuff for us little guys online once everything is tested out.

Remember: there are more of us little guilds in the game than big guilds. (please don’t ask me for a source because I cannot produce one)

The battle for small guilds wages on.

Have faith, we have heard not a peep about Alliances yet!

I posted this over 11 months ago.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/story/Forced-from-solo-to-group-for-final-story/first#post1674529

So what has changed since then?

I now have 5 L80 characters NONE of which have finished the Last Personal Story Mission.

Well folks, prepare to be amazed.

I think I found the solution to the Mount Debate. After 20 pages of back and forth with the constant reitteration of the same old talking points from so many other threads, you may rest your weary head, I have solved the problem.

We allow Mounts in the game but only the Invisible Horses from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

• Now anybody who wants a mount can have one.
• There is no swiftness balancing issue as the mounts can not travel any faster then the rider.
• Those who don’t want mounts in the game are happy as they can not see them anyway.
• There is no problem with the Pay to Play crowd because there would be no cost for this new mount in gems or gold.
• ANet would have to add 2 new emotes into the game though /mount & /dismount, hopefully this is not too much Dev time

So there you have it problem solved for everyone in one fell swoop of an unladen swallow.

Now, where did I put those coconut halves?

Galen Grey.4709:

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Some major reasons why people don’t like Scarlet Brair aka a serious problem with the Living Story
snip

Its a valid argument but consider a few things.

first in the short story it says she completed dynamics and statics in under a year each so its 24 months for both not 54 months. It took a bit longer for synergetics I would say that means a few months more not years longer.

Secondly and perhaps more importantly her experiments with Omadd allowed her to see the fabric of reality itself. She emerged from the chamber understand things like, the nightmare court, the pale dream and how all fits in a grand design. The same could be true for all races and all people in Tyria. That might have enabled her to form alliances in mere days not months because by knowing each people’s design, each time she could have offered them exactly what they were looking for. Her brokering the alliance between krait and nightmare court seems to support this.

Not just this but all of it could have been happening in parallel. Ie she might be negotiation with all 3 groups from day 1.

Also we do no know how much time has passed since launch.

strictly speaking going with the day night cycle. 12 years has passed since the living story started. (2hrs for a single day in tyria)

Plenty of ways how they fit this and make it work.

Why yes, I agree there is plenty of ways to make it work (the easiest being a flux capacitor and a Dolyak Cart that can travel 88 miles an hour) but that is in no way the issue I was presenting.

My point is it’s just not believable. Most people could not fit that much education and mischief in an entire lifetime let alone a mere 18 or so years. And yes I get it she is the once in a lifetime exemption to every rule:

• Smarter than the Asura
• A better Engineer than the Charr
• A better Blacksmith than the Norn
• Makes Trahearne look like a sapling
• She is an expert in firearms, artillery and Hylek Alchemy
• A master of Dynamics, Statics, a phenom of Synergetics
• A criminal, terrorist and assassin
• Controller of the Watchknights
• The leader of the Molten Alliance, Aetherblades, and Steam Creatures
• Realizes that The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is in fact, NOT 42
• Did I forget anything? Oh yeah… Is a stark, raving, nutty as a fruitcake, lunatic criminal mastermind

Come on now, that’s just not cricket!

Leave Destiny’s Edge to deal with the Elder Dragon irritant. We need a new Guild, one that can handle a Supervillain the likes of Scarlet Briar, and I have just the group:

• Asuran Mesmer: Velma Dinkley
• Norn Warrior: Fred Jones Jr.
• Charr Necromancer: Norville “Shaggy” Rogers
• Human Ranger Daphne Blake with her pet Great Dane

Yes my friends, I give to you the next saviors of Tyria… The Scooby Gang

I was expecting Paragon.

fuyuko.3705:

Alright so I guess a little back story on my part. I am 18 at the moment. I have been playing MMORPG games for a very long time. (since maybe 13 years old) Through that time I have met the majority of the people on each game who are aged from 13-22 years of age.

I must admit that the OP really made me smile. The comment of
“I am 18…been playing…for a very long time”, just forced a reply out of me.

I have been:

• Playing Guild Wars 1&2 for 7+ years
• Playing PC games for 18 years
• Roleplaying for 38 years
• Heck, I even played Pong when it first released in the early ’70s

Ahhh youth, doth display such honest naivete to raise a smile and warm the soul.

A heartfelt Huzzah goes out to you Fuyuko… you made my day.

Rye,

While I truly empathize with your condition, I am not sure that your proposal will solve your problem. If your compulsion is as strong as you say, just locking the mystic forge, most probably won’t stop you anyway.

There are tons of ways to gamble in this game, in deference to you, I won’t bother naming them but a few come to mind that could easily clear out your bank account. Shutting down the Forge would only force you to find another path to fulfill your urge.

You say that you were close to buying Spark, which makes me assume you were looking to craft Incinerator. If you turned off the Forge you would not be able to upgrade from Spark to Incinerator, invalidating your reason for buying Spark in the first place.

A possible solution for you in the future would be to find a trusted friend in the game(yes they do exist). Example: I have a friend in the game who loves to spend their money, it just burns a large hole in their pocket. So from time to time they give me lump sums of GP to hold for them. That way it is harder for them to just blow it on a whim. Now this plan is not foolproof either, since I am just a buffer that they have to surmount to get their money back. If they ask for it they can have it but they have to explain why, just so they can hear how silly sounds out loud.

Best of luck in your chalanges.

CC Danicia.1394:

And for Pete’s sake…very clear thread titles is a must.

Ya mean like “Many Questions so Dev”

A wise man’s Mamma once said “Stupid is as stupid does.”
I forget his name but for some reason I think he was a Sylvari.

Guild Halls…Oh to dream

As the leader of a small guild myself, I look forward to Guild Halls with both hopes and fears.

I oh so hope they institute “Guild Halls” that the small guilds could also enjoy, which do NOT require as much as ONE Guild Merit.

Our guild’s expectation was that they were going to embed the guild halls somewhere in the Architecture tree so guilds of ALL sizes would be able to enjoy them. Let it cost Influence, and/or Gold or Karma, heck even skill points for that matter but please, please, PLEASE, keep Merits out of the equation.

Our vision, was not of the static environment of the first Guild Wars. Thou it was helpful to have a Personal Bank and all the various Merchants and Henchmen in one place; oh no, our vision was much more grandiose.

A meeting place for like-minded individuals. Filled with fantastical wonders both great and small. A place to spur the imagination in whimsical delight, touching the very soul of all who enter. A bastion of hope and embodiment of dreams. Where even the 6 gods would envy to tread… (Too much?)

Yalora raises hand timidly. Aye, my friends…Aye.

Title: Qualifying numbers?
Summary: In order for us to get a better handle on the scope of our proposed undertaking, maybe ANet could provide some general metrics around the following :

• How many guilds actually exist right now?
• Of those, how many are active? Guilds that have had a character log in and represent in the last week.
• And of those how many are (1&2 player), (3-30 players Small), (30-250 Medium), (250-500 Large guilds)

This will give us a better understanding of the size logistics as they are related to the vast numbers of guilds and individual souls which we will need to deal with.

TChalla.7146:

Nodo.6907:

While I won’t comment on whether or not I think this is P2W, do people really feel entitled to a refund for their previous purchases and if so why?

I bought a TV one time that was HD and large…now they have new ones that are thinner with a better picture for cheaper than what I paid originally for my TV in the past but I don’t feel entitled for a refund or an updated TV. I bought the original iPhone for $400 bucks but then soon after they released a new version for $200 and it had 3g and more features so should I be entitled for a full refund or an upgraded version for free?

Using the examples, why do so many people feel they deserve a refund or an update to their existing pick? Please no trolling or flaming, I am just curious on the communities thought on that.

There is no difference between your example and what is going on with the picks. I’d love to see the look on a Best Buy employee’s face if someone went into the store and demanded that their TV be upgraded because a newer one came out a month after they bought it.

The problem with your analogy is TVs are not infinite use. They have Planned Obsolescence. You know that the TV you buy is built to fail otherwise warranties would not have much value. You know that you will have to replace it some day.

These picks were bought with the understanding that they were the Best in Slot(Orichalcum) AND Infinite use and therefore we would never need to replace them again.

Now we have a new pick that makes our previously purchased pick obsolete. This is the kind of Vertical Progression that so many people expressed negative reactions to in that particular CDI.

BTW I only purchased the Bone Pick 2 months ago. If I am going to have to replace an infinite harvesting tool every 2 months… I call Shenanigans!

JonPeters.5630:

/snip

Guild Attachment
Question: How we could create greater attachment to a single guild without taking away the current value of membership in multiple guilds?

Let us first qualify, what is the reason that someone is in a particular guild?

For me, there are 3:

1. Personal Guild – for storage purposes Only. Now technically it is not only me in my personal guild. I also have my multi-guild senior officer as the only other member. His only function is to reinstate me should I hit that dreaded Leave Guild Button by mistake, he has no other access. Kinda like exchanging keys with your neighbor.
   If I would have had greater storage options from the get go I wouldn’t have even made this guild at all. Now that said, if you are going to take it away: 1) Make sure you add all the influence I used for my own private guild to a pool to distribute to another guild of my choosing. And 2) Reallocate my 250 inventory slots to my Standard Bank.
2. Paired Guild – (see above) I also hold the keys to my senior officers private guild too.
3. Multi-player Guild – for access to the benefits of the guild and comradery. I am a member of only one multi-player guild so that is where I spend all my non-storage time.

So I wonder if the lack of attachment is somewhat self-inflicted?

• Either by the individual, spreading their selves across multiple guilds
• or the guild of which they are a member, due to guilting or forcing them to represent their particular guild.

Now as a guild leader it pains me when I open the Guild roster and see my children wearing another guilds colors. However the pragmatist in me says “Get over it Yalora you must be bigger than that”.
I realize that my charges have other enjoyments beside what our guild can provide, whatever that might be. You can’t be everything to everyone which I think our friends at ANet are painfully aware.

1. I hesitate to offer up a suggestion for taking anything away, as removal of things from the game is sadly, way to common (My first /cough cough ever. Sorry it just had to be said)
2. As for changing content – as stated above, the need for a personal guild bank. I wonder how many single person guilds could be closed if the Guild Bank functionality moved to the regular bank. I know mine would.
3. Adding content – Alliances come to mind

Removing, Changing, Adding – Although as the amount of ease of implementation increases so does the general enjoyment of the player.

• If you take my stuff, I am gonna get mad.
• If you change my stuff for the worse, I am gonna get mad, but for the better, I am gonna be glad.
• If you give me more stuff, I am gonna be ecstatic.

Keep your dam hands off my stuff and while you’re at it, get off my yard!

Title: Guild Bank – another long one, sorry
Proposal Overview: Making QoL changes to the Guild Bank’s form and functionality.
Goal of Proposal: Increase the usability and security
Proposal Functionality:The Guild Bank is currently broken into 2 separate pieces, the Stash and the Trove/Cave. We need to have more separation in the Bank Structure.
Break the bank into at least 3 separate areas: Storage, Currency Exchange, Bank, maybe set up with Tabs

Guild Storage:

• Public Storage – This would be a small number of slots area that could be accessed by any security level (including invited guests) so you would generally only put the most inexpensive, basic items here or items specifically for guests as this would be their Only access
• Materials Closet – Guild material storage
• Siege Storage – Guild Siege Recipe and Trap storage
• Lost and Found – Not sure what to use this one for, maybe someone else can come up with an idea.
• Personal Safety Deposit Box – Small space for maybe 5 items that only 1 guild member could use (not available for guests). Only the guild member who purchases the PSDB would be able to view/deposit/withdraw from here(this security can Not be overridden). An upfront fee would be charged in Gold for the box, half of which would go to ANet and half would go into the Guild Reserve (useable only for guild updates). If the owner leaves the guild any items in the PSDB would automatically be mailed to them.
  
  Guild Currency Exchange:

• Reserve (officers only) – This would be a configurable gold holding area set aside for specific things (i.e Upgrade reserve, Event reserve, Siege reserve, Dye Purchase reserve, Membership Fee reserve…). Once money is put into a reserve it can Not be removed. Maybe it can be moved to a different reserve but it cannot be used by any individual player, only for the guild. If a guild is disbanded the cash is split equally amongst all remaining members at time of disband.
• Coffer (officers only) – this would just be the total amount of gold the guild has which is not dedicated to the Reserve or Coin Fountain. Each separate guild bank separate area(see below) would have its own separate coffer (i.e. one for the Cache, one for the Chest etc.)
• Coin fountain – Gold deposit and withdraw area Not restricted to just officers
  
  Guild Bank
  The following would be an expansion on the current Stash, Trove/Cave structure
• Cache – 25 slots
• Chest – 50 slots
• Stash – 100 slots
• Vault – 100 slots (officers only)
• Treasure-trove – 200 slots (officers only)
• Cave – 200 slots (leader only, this security cannot be overwritten) Why leader only? Because it can be reserved for the most expensive items that the guild owns and if something disappears from here then there is only one person to blame.
  
  Guild Bank Security
  By default, withdraw rights for Any part of the bank is limited to Guild Leader Only! (She may later grant the rights to other officers). Why you might ask? Because then only the rank/people who you as the leader trust the most can rob the guild bank. If the leader grants rights to a person who rips off your bank it is the leaders fault for bad judgment/management.

For example: I (as leader) have only 2 officers who have access to the Stash. I have been to both of their houses (one in the US and one in Australia) and I trust them implicitly. Nothing has ever vanished from our Guild bank. If a guild member wants something they ask an officer and they give it to them. Neither of my officers has access to the Trove/Cave. If they want something I move it down to the Stash for them. The reason for this is if either of my officer’s accounts get hacked, the guild’s most valuable assets are safe. This has actually happened. One of my officers was hacked, he called me and I pulled all of the stuff in the Stash up to the Cave all safe and sound.

Currently there are only 3 security options that you can grant for the bank: No access, Deposit access or Deposit/Withdraw access. I group the last 2 together as there is no sense having withdraw access without deposit access.

Additional Access
So let’s look at some additional security options depending on Rank. Along with No Access, Deposit and Withdraw let’s add:

• View Only – Member can see what is in there but cannot deposit or withdraw (though they could request an officer for the item)
• Hide View – Not only can the member not get into the area but they can’t even see what’s in there
• Transfer rights (default for Officers) – Allow moving items from one area to another
• Purchase rights (default for Officers) – Allow purchasing items with Guild funds to go directly to a guild receiving area (i.e. Stash or Vault)

Associated Risks: None as it actually removes risk to the guild assets.

So there you have it. Tight top down security for all the guild’s shinies.

Author’s Note:

This is the beginning of the Forsaken Soul Novella. This first Book I of the series is entitled “A Path to Enlightenment”. The entire story will consist of three separate books of which I very much advise that you read in order.

Chapter 4, directly below, IS the opening chapter, so you have not missed anything.

If you like the story, please put your +1’s on this first post as opposed to my subsequent submissions.
___________________________________________________________

Table Of Contents:

Chapter 4 – Beginning
x21.0001-.0004
Chapter 5 – Alone
Chapter 6 – Friend
Chapter 7 – Dawn
x21.0005 -.0018
Chapter 8 – Survival
Chapter 9 – Exploration
x21.0019 – .0039
Chapter 10 – Sleep
Chapter 11 – Soliloquy
Chapter 12 – Confusion
Chapter 13 – Deep
Chapter 14 – Fall
Chapter 15 – Paradox
Chapter 16 – Dark
Chapter 17 – Light
Chapter 18 – Threshold
Chapter 19 – Destiny
Chapter 20 – Reckoning
Epilogue
_______________________________________________________________

Forsaken Soul: A Path to Enlightenment

Chapter 4 – Beginning

Pitch dark pierced by the occasional silvery shards filtered down from the opaque canopy above. The deep rich air of loam with every breath was near overwhelming. A high pitched trill seemed to emanate from everywhere. These were my first experiences, ever, or so it would seem.

Lying comfortably, staring at the forest ceiling, my inventory begins. Legs, check, arms, two, so far so good. I roll my head right then left, head uhhh, connected. Slowly I sit up. Torso in working order. In the faint silver light I give myself a rudimentary examination. Bones unbroken and no unexpected leaks to be found. Overall body condition, satisfactory. Thank the powers that be for small favors.

Scanning my surroundings left, straight and right, all yield the same, lush and overgrown. As I stand and turn, I am plunged into silence. It seems that the trilling whine only tolerated me low to the ground. Behind me mimicked my previous evaluation, foliage, foliage everywhere with nary a path to tread.

Looking down where my head had lain, a small bundle presents itself. Closer inspection reveals an oiled backpack with working shoulder straps, just waiting to be explored. A spare outfit, some food and water, a coil of jute rope, a small book and a dagger. Well dagger may be an overstatement, more so a small tool better suited for applying nut spread to scone, than functioning as a weapon. My entire worldly possessions, for all I know.

Being too dark to safely navigate, I back up against the course bark of nearest living skyscraper, for a bit of personal reflection. Ok, so who am I? Well I am Me of course, but a name, a name, my kingdom for a name. What am I doing here? This turned out to be equally as revealing as my previous question. In fact, when, where, why and how stand also, without clue. Wonderful, I have just given ‘screwed’ a whole new meaning.

Running my hands across my skull yields neither bump, nor bruise. I guess that’s something. No knock to the noggin is always a good thing. On the bright side, so far as I am able to ascertain, I seem to be sporting a clean bill of health. Let’s count that one in the plus column; cause if you have your health, you have, well, let’s just count it in the plus column.

So, ummm Me, what now? I don’t appear to be in any imminent danger, though this thought gives less comfort than one might imagine. When faced with my myriad of current options, sit and wait seems to be the best course of action.

A nice comfortable looking rock planted at the base of my tree is as good a spot to relax as any. In a small shining pool, created from a single shaft of moonlight on its final journey from on high; I pull over my pack to reexamine my current assets. A hand full of nut/seed mix and a few swigs of water later, it was time to take a closer look at that book.

It was not a weather worn gilded tome with reinforced spline and a fancy embossed title, as one might find secreted away in some dusty old library; more so it looked like a somewhat thin binding of a researchers notes to be lovingly cherished as one’s fount of insightful ramblings. They’ve been known to trap these kinds of things didn’t they? A firetrap explodes in the face of the idea stealing interloper, reminding them of the cost of purloined research. Yeah, that would surely ruffle one’s feathers and ruin their day. Hey, I got nothing but time here.

I crack the cover slowly, impending doom averted. Ah, the first page has both title and author, go figure. It reads: Abridged: The Seer’s Scrolls Vol 327 by Scholar Rolla. Turning the page, my adventure begins.

Post edited: to add table of contents

Is there anyone who disputes that APs are NOT a measurement of skill?

Example: I have around ~12,000 APs personally. I have never stepped foot in a dungeon or fractal. So am I skilled? Well maybe in some parts of the game but in dungeon running… Absolutely NOT.

Anybody who would let me in a non-noob dungeon run just because I have over 7000+ APs would be just plain foolish.

Fear not oh ye leet dungeon runners, I won’t try to sneak into your groups

keenedge.9675:

Like Shatterer, it’s a big wait long time, spam 1 event. It’s time to make it harder like it was before.

Thanks for your support

I am sorry but I can not support your opinion.

1. Shatterer is a Lev. 50 Boss, Fire Elemental is Lev. 15
2. The wait time between the end of the preevent and the start of the FE event is about 15 seconds.
3. As you say it was harder before, they changed it because it mowed down most of the non L80 players.

You can’t have the difficulty level of a substantially higher level map in a starter map, because it will frustrate new players. Not a good plan for keeping player population.

If you are complaining about long wait time I think it is safe to assume you are just sitting up on the platform letting everyone else complete the preevents for you. Otherwise there is parctically NO wait time.

However, on your last note, I do somewhat agree. What ANet learned with Teq, Mark II Golem and Shatterer was that they cannot allow a well known safe spot to exist. As soon as the Fire Elemental realizes that a mass concentration of people on a pedestal allows for the opportunity for a massive pile of crispy bits, then this battle will change drastically.
How about if FE spawned a comparable amount of Embers on top of the pedestal as players… like rats from a sinking ship.

It seems that I may be the only one who has seen “Ghosts” in Tyria. What does it matter if he is dead?

I imagine his ghost would still be trying to unload all the Mursaat Tokens he collected in GW1!

notebene.3190:

Draugl.8079:

What would be the use of this option?

Well, it doesn’t seem like it would be terribly expensive to implement. I could be wrong, but I ‘think’ the only place it really shows up is in the friends and followers lists? A check box where it might make intuitive sense, like around where ‘show player names’ is. If it’s checked, just hide the values there.

Nothing sinister. It’s a bit like people that wanted (or maybe ‘needed’ is a better word) to have the field of view changed because it would actually make them dizzy to play (in my case, I prefer the old version, so I still use -useOldFoV), only for other reasons.

I think for those that understand why I asked for it, it might make for healthier game play. For people that don’t really understand it, I would just hope that you respect that it would make for healthier game play for some of us, and not impact anyone else’s play style choices.

Ok, so now I am confused.

The OP quotes Draugl, asking what the suggestion be used for.

• Notebene then proceeds to tell us how inexpensive it would be to implement.
• Then where it shows up
• Then how to turn it off
• Then an example of how the PoV makes people dizzy
• Then expressing that people who understand what the suggestion is for, it might make for healthier game play.
• Then for those who don’t understand, they are to take the OP’s word for it.

I am sorry but at no point was Draugl’s question answered. So far the question seems to have been skirted, obfuscated, misdirected and subsequently ignored.

This reads like a non sequitur which tends to put my head in a spin.

So might I ask, why do you not want to see my AP’s yet allow me to see yours? Because that is what an optional check box would do. Could you please tell us what benefit this would bring to the game by you turning off another’s APs?

Soleil: You suggest that “Mounts will save this game”.

Question:

1. What do you propose the game need saving from?
2. How will the introduction of Mounts facilitate this redemption?

Quagga the Hutt

Before someone hops in here and admonishes you for playing a “Social Game” solo, allow me to support your position. I am still astounded that you can “play the game your way” for 99% of the ‘Personal’ Storyline and in the last 1% needed for completion, you are required to NOT play the game your way.

So now I have 3 × 80s all whose personal story line stops at varying points in the 70s of the Personal Storyline, because I got that far and found out I had to do a dungeon to complete it. When I found that out I thought, you have got to be kidding me. I have to join a party and do a dungeon to complete MY Personal Storyline? Progress halted on all characters…Next.

How do you do Dungeons and Fractal for all that easy money you may ask?
Simple, never did a dungeon or fractal, nor do I care to.
Sure I got hosed for the first 6 months of Monthly Achievements because of that and when they took those requirements OUT of the monthly’s for March, I finished it in 4 days.
What about sPvP thou?
Nope, have not done that either.
Ok, but what about WvW?
Well yeah I do WvW, but only to get the last 5 POIs I need to complete the Blue map which we have not occupied for 8weeks now.

So will this hurtle change in a future update?
I don’t see how.

My advice, it’s a really great game with a few really big flaws…hey, nobody’s perfect. Just go on playing the way you want within the parameters of the system and have as much fun as you can, without getting arrested.

The reward that you get for completing that LAST 80 storyline, is just not worth worrying about.

Moving on…

Because in GW2 it is about cooperation not comparison.
Its not the size of the pencil… but how you sign your name.

So I question?
It has been a long time since I did this part of the Personal Story but I don’t ever recall that our Mentor was ever proven to be dead. Yes I can believe that they might be declared dead but I don’t recall seeing the body.

Also, as I recall, you can even resurrect them if you are at the other side of the door when the mission ends. So maybe our Mentor’s were only ‘Mostly Dead’.

Maybe, just maybe…
“It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do.
What’s that?
Go through his clothes and look for loose change.”

Case in point:
Having an important character ‘assumed’ to be dead is a plot complication used throughout literary history for bringing a surprise twist later in a storyline. And even if there is a dead body found, sometimes they still, get better.

All I am saying
Never Assume!

The Elder Dragon Verses

Destroyer force, to crush the weak
Forcing dwarven fate
Next awoke in Shiverpeaks
With summoned Claw to crush the meek
Even Norn, were forced to seek
A more, southern, take

Ice will creak, in trouble, deep
Forgotten force ensure
Dreaded thoughts and troubled dreams
Silent nights of stifled screams
Destiny, remains unseen
A Glint of hope endures

A call to arms, heroic souls
Races join as one
Orders band, to dragon bane
Sally forth without refrain
A battle cry in Jenna’s name
The struggle has begun

Branded life falls in sway
Friendly forces turn
Heroes rise and heroes fall
Bleak is future’s hope

Battles ebb, companions die
Serpent reign in darkened sky
Risen laugh and widows cry
Malice shall deny

In The Jungle

Night doth breed with fast contempt
Beneath the jungle soil
An Inquest failed experiment
For knowledge search with evil bent
Spewing forth from containment
And rend reactor coil

Branches creak, ‘ware troubles deep
Blossoms bloom as foul
Nightmare vines like spider snare
Odious stench of stagnant air
Merging to a dream nightmare
And taint Sylvari bough

Another rears its scaly crown
A plague of dragon scorn
And with a look of vile distain
A glimpse of woe without refrain
Dealing death in Elder’s name
Forsaken and forlorn

Time stands still, relief, no sound
Prior fear it pales
Flesh crawls as bones chill
Fickle the wurm turns

Many folk shall fear to tread
Distorted life and risen dead
Sanity, has duly fled
Rivers running red

Beneath The Waves

Within the depths, Unending Sea
Corruption’s schemes take hold
For tenfold score, forgotten deeds
Sprouting husk of hellion seed
And with the whim of Elder freed
Tyrian fate unfolds

Timbers creak, ‘ware troubles deep
Crystal waters turn
From icy keep in lost profound
Disgorging forth without a sound
Tentacle horror, unknown abound
Life of Freemen spurn

Prick of needles under skin
On the neck it stands
Forgotten fear of human kin
Bubbles up from depths within
Puckered hands and slimy skin
Adulterated Lands

Chaos reigns, as panic wells
Presence dark invades
Sickly sweet like rotted meat
Sanity refrains

Pustules ooze corruption flows
Masses sloughing as it grows
Whispered cry, your mind it goes
The Elder Beast, oh god… It knows

Been saving up for this one!

Title: Guild Halls – If you thought my last ones were long, heh. Sit back, relax and kick your shoes off, cause there is No, tl;dr.
Proposal Overview: Guild Hall Construction and Implementation
Goal of Proposal: To allow for a meeting place for like-minded individuals. Filled with fantastical wonders both great and small. A place to spur the imagination in whimsical delight, touching the very soul of all who enter. A bastion of hope and embodiment of dreams. Where even the 6 gods would envy to tread…
Proposal Functionality: As stated in the previous CDI Guilds thread, it could be part of the rebuilding of Lion’s Arch or be part of an instanced map like GW1.

This post has 3 parts
Part 1
The Guild District:
I initially thought that the Guild District should be located in Lion’s Arch (see previously posted example titled Guild changes in Lions’s Arch). However, with the implementation of the mega-server, either the inability to keep guilds together on the same map would have to be solved or population per map would have to be drastically increased; if not, the stress on the frame rate might overtax poor LA. So maybe the Guild District in its entirety should be an instanced area of LA(most favored idea). Or maybe each guild specifically has an instance somewhat like one’s home instance in Divinity’s Reach or good ole GW1. This would hopefully alleviate that problem.

So why LA? Well with Scarlett’s destruction of the city, it is now a perfect clean slate with which to build. The only thing which would be more flexible would be to claim a new bit of map space in open world or yet to be introduced area. But since ANet originally made LA the hub of Tyria, putting the guilds there would bring LA back as the center of the known world.

• District Assets: Strewn out over the entire Guild District area(all guilds in one instance) would be permanent guild related Assets that might attract guilds to build near that particular location (to spread out the “good spots”) For Example:
  Proximity to Asuran portals, Guild resource nodes, Cliff top vistas, Instance exit portals, the Guild Marketplace, Way Points, Cheaper real estate prices and so on.
• The Guild Marketplace: Central hub of the Guild District. This would be a central meeting area for congregation outside of the guilds proper for intra-guild, inter-guild members and non-guild members of the community. I kind of think of it as a sort of huge Bazaar. All kind of nontraditional vendors coming and going (here today, maybe gone tomorrow, maybe not?). Guild recruiting could be done here but it could not go to general chat, because of the spam factor would be overwhelming. Mystic Forge, Shops, Pubs, Hawkers, Performers, Bards, Criers, Beggars, NPCs… It would be a RPGer’s paradise.
• Communities: Then branching off the Marketplace, the Guild District could be further broken up into Communities depending on what the guild sees itself as being best known for(PvP, WvW, Crafting, Dungeons, PvE Open World, Guild of All Trades, etc). These Districts could also be instanced if need be.
• Neighborhoods: Next it could further be broken into Neighborhoods if you wanted to refine the groupings even more.

Real Estate: Mechanics consideration
The guild would then need to pick a street and a plot of land on which to build their Guild Hall.

• Real-estate pricing would need to be set prior to anyone claiming any land since the huge guilds with the most resources, would naturally monopolize much of the desired locations leaving the smaller guilds pushed to the outskirts. Maybe make some advantage to spreading out, possibly a higher value for being closer to a certain resource.
• Malls could be set up for small guilds to share space, for example: Let’s say that a large guild would take up an acre of land but you have a Mall prebuilt on the acre and 50 small guilds could take up the same space.
• As there is going to be a crazy rush when this is first made available, you will need to come up with some variables to who can build what, where and when. All guilds will need to start from equal footing to make it fair for everyone. So some ‘gates’ will need to be established that cannot be circumvented with preexisting gold, influence, merits, etc.
• No guilds can be built in the first two weeks so that everyone can go into the District and survey where they would like to build and to allow other guild members to agree on a location.

continued…

Part 3
The Physical Guild Hall Structure:

Time Gating Required: Yes my friends, construction takes time. Now I know this will drive the “Race to 80” players bat guano crazy but to have buildings just pop up overnight ready and raring to go just doesn’t sit well with me. Acquisition of funding, availability of materials, labor availability, number of members contributing resources etc. could all be factored into time to completion.

Currency to be used for building? I am struggling with this one.

1. Gold has the disadvantage of catering to more farming and there is enough of that being rewarded already.
2. Influence makes a little more sense as it has some tie in to dedication to the guild, but influence can be purchased with gold, which then taints it somewhat.
3. Merits are a big NO, as that system already penalizes the smaller guilds.
4. Guild Credits are a proposed new guild-wide currency that could be accumulated thru guild representation (your guild is repped that day by anyone, 1credit), world event representation (your guild is repped by anyone that day during a world event, 1 credit up to 5 max), etc. This way there is no advantage to being big or small as long as someone reps the guild regularly.

Building Materials: What is the structure going to be made of? And now that I think about it, with the following option, there really is no need to charge for building a Guild Hall as it could be entirely covered by the system below.

• The cost for building a guild hall equals cost of materials. So let’s say a small guild wants to build a basic Hall out of green wood with iron fasteners and paint it with carrot colored paint. Well those are all starter area harvesting nodes and thus would be very inexpensive to build. If it costs a stack of green wood, 10 iron ingots and 2 stacks of carrots to build the structure, as soon as the members come up with the materials, that part is built.
• Now let’s say a large guild wants to build an opulent Hall out of Orichalcum overlay Ancient wood structure with darksteel fasteners and Omnomberry paint, well that will be ridiculously more expensive. It is kind of a materials/gold sink (quit licking you lips ANet)

Hall Size: Bigger is not always better

• The roster size of the Guild should predetermine the size of the Guild Hall itself. A three person guild should not have the same size structure as a five hundred person guild. Only certain size halls can be built on a certain amount of land. So, a 500 person guild could not build a huge guild structure on a 5 person plot of land. The smaller the guild the smaller the hall so a 3 person guild would have a small one story, one room building where as a 500 person guild would have 5 story(1 floor/100 members) and many rooms.
• Building a Guild Hall should Not be available to Personal and Paired (1&2 person) guilds.
  Ohhh Yalora, you sure gonna pay for this one!
  I belong to a Personal, a Paired and a multi-person guild but I think that one and two person guilds should not be able to build a Guild Hall. I expect this to be an unpopular consideration by some but logistically, realistically and to facilitate game mechanics; I think the restriction is required.
• What if a Guild outgrows its current structure. Then they could find a new location, buy the Deed, pay a moving fee, pay an upgrade fee (gives you a basic hall for that particular size, further upgrades in materials would be possible) and everything they already achieved would be transferred to the new location. If a guild roster shrinks below the allotted size for that particular plot of land then the guild will be evicted, their previous costs refunded(less security deposit) and they can move to a smaller plot or put the Hall status in stasis, to be moved/built later.
• No matter what happens, the accomplishments of the guild must always be retained, regardless of what its size is, for as long as the guild (not the Hall) exists.

The Mechanics of Building the Guild Hall: How best to build a guild hall so that guilds of all sizes can access them?

Our guild’s expectation at launch was that they were going to embed the Guild Halls somewhere in the Architecture tree. Though since guilds might be due to be revamped, maybe a new branch ‘Guild Hall’ should be added to the structure.

Whatever is decided, and I cannot stress this enough…*PLEASE*, unless you completely overhaul the Merit system so as to include the little guys, keep Merits out of the equation. Segmenting the guild community into Small/Medium vs. Large guilds would further fracture the already divided guild community into the Merit haves and have nots.

Associated Risks:
I imbedded a lot of the possible negative opportunities of this proposal in its body. The biggest I see as, how do you make it fair for all guilds from a size, cost and plot location perspective?

Oh woe is me. Though I feel for you dear Alt, truly I do but I could only dream of an existence as wonderful as yours. You see, my name is Character Slot #6 and this is my story.

Now you might think, Slot #6, how special could that distinction be; there were 5 others before you. And yes you would be right but I was truly unique amongst my Slot brethren. You see, Slots 1-5 were common. They were created all at the same time when the world was new but I, the 6th slot, I was chosen. The Puppet Master spent Gems on ME! I was unique and I had a different purpose.

I was born about 2 years ago and for the first 15 months of my existence my life was very fulfilling. I was first filled by a Human Warrior; she was beautiful and powerful amongst her peers. Centaurs paled at hearing her name. She cut through a huge Earth Elemental nearly single handedly within the first few minutes of her existence and I must say that was quite impressive. Then without a thought for her wellbeing after such a glorious battle, she was immediately off to start adventuring. With blinding speed, sword and warhorn in hand, she cut through Bandits like butter. It was a beauty to behold but then something happened, she hit level 10. She jumped to Divinity’s Reach, to unload her inventory and vanished.

I was stunned, flabbergasted actually. Did I do something wrong? Did I not fulfill my obligation? Was I a bad Character Slot? I was empty inside. But fear not good folks the story does not end there; for not more than a few seconds later, she was back in all her glory. She looked exactly the same as she did before. She followed the same path and in the end after hitting the bank in Divinity’s Reach she was gone again.

This repetition went on day in and day out and I learned the meaning for my existence. I… was The Clone Slot. For over a year, every day was the same and all was right in the world. That is until that black day back in September 2014 when my whole life changed.

The day was known, in Character Slot circles as, Key Farming Nerf day, a day that will live in infamy. On this fated day, my world was torn asunder. The beautiful Warrior was reborn that day and started running through her routine but something had changed and she never completed her circuit. She vanished and that was the last I have seen of her. It has been 9 months now and I am just a shell of the Character Slot that I once was, cold, empty, without purpose.

So buck up little Alt and count your blessings, things could always be worse and remember, if you irritate the Puppet Master you too could end up just… like… me!