Guild Wars 2

I realize this is a very minor issue, but I happened to come across it while writing about the dragonhunter. The guardian focus skill Ray of Judgment uses “judgment” with one “e” while one of the new dragonhunter utility traps, Light’s Judgement uses “judgement” with two. It can be found in-game and on the official wiki.

Both spellings are technically correct, although “judgment” is still considered the older and preferred usage. Either way, I thought it’d be worth tossing into the bug chasm.

I’ve attached a screenshot with the focus skill tooltip and pasted in the trap skill tooltip screenshot from the internet.

Leah Hoyer.9382:

So, don’t expect the Elder Dragons to break into song anytime soon.

If only…

Seriously though, welcome to the team!

ColinJohanson.2394:

So an interesting challenge we always face when trying to make any type of dungeon content more lore heavy, is they are by their very nature highly repeatable content. Historically our design philosophy around group content that falls into that category is to try and provide enough context for the experience to make sense, but not heavily attempt to tell deep story in these instances.

While the core concept of using fractals to continue to show great moments in the history of Tyria is indeed totally in line with our own thinking as well, the struggle we always face is how much of that story we can really put there. Once you play it once or twice, you really just want to actually play the content and not wait around for all the story moments, scenes, cinematics, etc. This can lead to a problem we used to run into in Gw1 where some people in the party really wanted to see the story, and others had played it before and wanted them to hurry the heck up.

Our work around for this for Thaumanova for example was to provide a story version of it that was around during the living world release with far deeper exposition, and the current fractal version today that tries to focus on the game play. Similarly, story dungeons are really intended to be played a handful of times to get the story, and explorable mode dungeons are very story light since they are intended to be re-playable based on the core content.

What kind of fun ideas can you come up with to help allow us to get more story into the fractal experiences, without the cost of slowing down the core re-playability of the game play that is at the heart of the fractal content?

Honestly, cut-scenes aren’t even necessary. Use Dessa or introduce another NPC to FotM who’s able to make some sense out of the fractals to narrate as the players go along. Dessa, on multiple occasions, will make comments about what’s going on over her “fractal loudspeaker”. Perhaps that could be expounded upon?

That way, you don’t really have to pause player movement through the fractal. The best thing I can compare it to at the moment is listening to an audiobook while taking a walk.

Thoughts?

This is super touching. It’s awesome to be able to have that one NPC character you can resonate with.

Taimi is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Proposal Overview

Offer more lore specific fractals that have a more defined narrative such as events out of the original Guild Wars series or events in-between GW1 and GW2.

Goal of Proposal

While I find many of the fractals mysterious and entertaining, I always wish I knew more about them, where they fit in history (if they even happened at all). I believe that players would be more willing to run fractals if they got to experience a vignette in Tyria’s (the world) history. Things like the Ascalonian Fractal, Thaumanova Reactor, Aetherblade Retreat, and Molten Facility do just that. They sell nostalgia or just a very interesting story.

Proposal Functionality

I imagine it as something akin to the Bonus Mission Pack from the original games. Small but important chapters of lore with a narrator (probably Dessa). Of course, these stories would have to be built around a five-person team rather than a solo experience.

Associated Risks

New fractals would mean that new art, voice/sound, and design assets and resources would have to be created and diverted to the project.

A friend and I started swimming around Viathan’s Arm in Kessex Hills, and we quickly noticed that sharks had begin swarming around us, even ones that were still some distance away.

Unless someone’s been shoving fish chum in my inventory, this doesn’t seem like something that was intended. Plus it’s a possible hazard for lower level players.

1. Engineer
2. Ranger
3. Mesmer

Necro could use some love in the minion pet department. Also, PvE condition damage and stacking needs some attention.

When female sylvari elementalists switch to fire attunement; at least, I think that’s when it happens, they shout a very accented “Ferocious fire!”

The first few times I heard it, I thought I heard “Baroosh’s Fire”. Baroosh is a quaggan NPC out of the minor race arc for the Orders.

Ref: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Baroosh

It works either way. Baroosh is pretty ferocious.

-Are there any plans for future Wintersdays to showcase how each of the races celebrate the holiday differently or has the holiday become mostly homogenized?

-As a player of Guild Wars, I’ve also been curious about Grenth and Dwanya and whether they still play any part in Wintersday since the holiday was originally centered around their competition. Even though they’re physically absent, we know that some of the gods’ magic/presence lingers in the world through their shrines and their followers.

I don’t believe I’ve posted in here yet.

My humans:

Archaes Iomhar
Amanda Carlisle
Jie Tian

Figured I’d just pop in here last minute before the deadline and give my two cents. I’ve been following the thread since its creation and I’m glad to see a number of good ideas being thrown around.

From my perspective, the Living Story has had a bumpy first year, but is, at least I hope, starting to hit its stride. Part of what of what I hope to see in the future is Tyria’s horizontal expansion (not necessarily to be confused with an actual expansion) along with its vertical (building on existing space). Let me explain. The Living Story has, up until now, focused mostly on building stories in already existing space, which is fine; the world doesn’t stand still (Examples: “Flame and Frost” and “Tower of Nightmares”). However, it is my greatest desire to see the world spread outwards. We’ve already seen this in the form of Southsun and the Labyrinthine Cliffs (now somewhere in Tyrian limbo).

When I think about the things I love about the game, it was walking into a new zone and thinking “This zone is massive; it will take forever to explore.” Wanderlust is one of those feelings I crave for in MMOs, but it’s something the Living Story hasn’t really been able to do. Southsun Cove is about the same size as the Lion’s Arch, half the size of a normal zone (still a nice size), and has about less than half of the activities too if you don’t count the Karka Queen meta events that often go untouched. The Labyrinthine Cliffs, for being a temproray zone, makes up a for its lack of size with vertical exploration and its unique movement magic. If such a thing were expanded into a full zone, it would have a lot of potential. What I want most is for the Living Story to lead us into new areas on the map, and I also want Renown Hearts to make a return. A few of them would drag on from time to time, but I liked how they brought an overall flavor to an area of a zone, and how dynamic events would interact within the space to help to complete the “Heart Meter”. It was certainly more interactive than always having to check the achievement panel to see how much of “X” I still had to collect/kill.

My fear is that the Living Story doesn’t have the resources/time to bring back big zones into the picture, and that we’ll be (for a good amount of time) grounded to the already existing zones until an actual expansion occurs. I’m hoping the Living Story teams prove me wrong.

As much as I love the idea of an explorable forest floor below the city, I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to be explored as of now, especially in this seperate zone. :P

Previously, I discovered that I was able to to enter the Arcane Council zone with my necromancer, leap from the cube, pop Death Shroud, and survive the fall to the empty Rata Sum below. From there, I could slide down the side of the cube and fall into the lake below.

Naturally, the “asura” fixed this. Eventually, they made it so death shroud wouldn’t protect the player from immense amounts of fall damage; however, I found a loophole that any profession can use. A revive orb consumable item can resurrect the defeated player to their feet, allowing to freely explore the empty Rata Sum after falling to their deaths.

In this instance, I would suggest that this zone be changed so that when a person jumps and falls from the Arcance Council cube, they get insta-teleported back to the entrance, perhaps in the downed state for being naughty.

On a side note, the weather conditions this time of year are great for swimming in the asuran capital.

TriggerSad.2597:

Iarkrad.8415:

I do not dismiss the idea that this is a political power play for Magnus to gain unfair power from, but, theoretically, if it was, wouldn’t Magnus deserve this extra leverage? He is the (lead) defender of Lion’s Arch, a longtime supporter of Destiny’s Edge, and a silent supporter of Anti-Dragon groups I.E. the Pact.

#TeamKiel

While yes, it does seem that giving Magnus more power would be the right choice, would it be the morally correct choice? Also you need to take into consideration how far he is willing to go to protect Lion’s Arch. Vizier Khilbron unknowingly sunk the nation of Orr in an attempt of protecting it from the charr. Though it could be debated that his worshiping of Abbadon could have played a bigger role in the Cataclysm. Still, if Khilbron had been corrupted by Abbadon, or simply a man pushed over the ledge, what’s stopping me from saying that the same could happen to Magnus. He very well could become, or is, a Son of Svanir. We don’t know his full story, just the front that he puts on display. It still stands within reason that giving Magnus more power in the Council is a bad thing.

The Sons of Svanir are a sexist and male-dominated fanatic group. Magnus has great respect for heroes such as Eir and Ellen. Hell, the female members of the Captain’s Council too. To accuse him of something so low…especially after he killed Morgus Lethe and hosted a festival reveling in the defeat of the Elder Dragons. That’s a rather disgusting claim.

((Shame on you Trigger! :P))

Tanek.5983:

ktbenson.7935:

Evon Gnashblade is a conniving monopolist and radical capitalist who essentially controls the entire market. Up until now, his method of making change has been all through underhanded business practices.

But then, what can you expect from a sneaky and super wealthy charr? ((Oooo, this is fun! ^^))

A vote for #TeamKiel is a vote for the betterment of Tyria!

Your argument against Gnashblade is invalid. We all know he is a “conniving monopolist and radical capitalist”. Who better to have on the Captain’s Council right where you can see him?

Sure, he will be looking to increase his wealth, but he is a smart charr who knows that his own success is tied to the success of Lion’s Arch. Also, if there are disagreements over some decisions, isn’t that the purpose of the Council? We want members with different views to get a better discussion. (If you try to claim Gnashblade can just buy votes, well, then he could do that now couldn’t he? If your Council is that corrupt already, you have more troubles than just a business-minded charr.)

Not to mention he has chosen to back fractal research that could be very important. Look at Abaddon’s history and how much he has affected the shaping of Tyria (literally and figuratively). Knowing more about the moment in time when he was defeated by the other gods will be of more use than some asuran experiment gone awry. I mean, those “geniuses” are always blowing up one thing or another.

Vote Gnashblade for a more prosperous Lion’s Arch (BLTC is part of Lion’s Arch, kinda ). Vote Gnashblade for proper fractal research priorities.

Ironically, Evon Gnashblade’s “investment” in Lion’s Arch is also what keeps him there. It doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t voted to the Council because there’s nowhere better for him to go and conduct business. With Kiel on the council, there may finally be someone willing to keep a heavy hand on Evon and his outrageous business practices rather than giving him actual political power.

As for the fractal issue, I believe it was also the asura and their “boom-boom, ka-choo!” technology that discovered the Elder Dragon, Primordus, around 250 years ago. To say that nothing exciting happens around the asura is a massive understatement. Besides, part of the fractals’ charm is the mystery surrounding them and “The Fall of Abaddon” is nothing more than a rehashed lesson in human history, something we already know the outcome of.

A vote for #TeamKiel is to explore the unknown and truly mysterious!

Evon Gnashblade is a conniving monopolist and radical capitalist who essentially controls the entire market. Up until now, his method of making change has been all through underhanded business practices.

But then, what can you expect from a sneaky and super wealthy charr? ((Oooo, this is fun! ^^))

A vote for #TeamKiel is a vote for the betterment of Tyria!

Actually, I didn’t find the cutaway scenes to be “terrible beyond all belief”.There were moments in the personal stories I’ve experienced where the dialogue felt robotic and “disconnected”, but there were moments where I snickered at a scene (and no, it wasn’t just for the asura), teared up a little, and even flat out laughed.

In some ways I feel like the issue may be the mode in which dialogue is delivered to us. Rather than invest a ton into “moar voice-acting!”, I’d rather see some of that go into the cinematics department. Most times, the voice-acting in the cutaways were fine; the problem is the cutaway cinematic format doesn’t often do the writing and VO justice.

For example: At the end of the human story arc for the missing sister the scene...where the main character and his/her sister are reunited is emotionally intense. In that kind of moment I expected my character to drop his weapons, stumble forward slightly before sprinting to his sister's side. Hugging ensues. Right? Wrong, my character and his sister are separated by the impersonal wall that is the cutaway format.

Looking back at where cinematics were in GW: Nightfall and GW: Eye of the North and where they are now, I feel like ArenaNet took a big step foward in the animations department. The characters actually have expressible emotions, smoother gestures, etc. I was and am still thrilled by the progression. The problem is that I feel I lost the cinematic experience of watching my characters interact with much of the story in the open world (while talking, that is).

Of course, cinematics can be expensive (probably one of the reasons Nightfall and EotN didn’t get their own shiny CGI trailers like Prophecies and Factions did, though they did a good job on the last two games’ trailers anyway) and animating cutaways looks less time-consuming than it would be to script out cinematics that take place in the actual game world. Lack of time and/or money are always two unfortunate and limiting factors; the trick is finding which needs more love, cinematics, or the actual voice-acting?

BobbyStein.2315:

Also, the game is made in America, we write it in American English, and most of our actors live in Los Angeles. That stated, I agree that we could use some more vocal diversity in the game, but I don’t want Guild Wars 2 to sound like every other fantasy title out there with the standard British accents on every character. So aside from more British accents, what other types of voices would you like to hear?

And yes, some of the pronunciations are a little janky. That sometimes happens. We fix what we can, when we can. I’ve also named a clear owner of our pronunciation guide, which should minimize these kinds of gaffes going forward.

If you’re actually taking voice suggestions, I wouldn’t mind hearing some more Elonian sounding voices. Unless Elonian dialects were washed out by a dominating Krytan dialect though I hope that isn’t the case.

And while there may be future plans to change this anyway. Is there any chance that not every single tengu has to be male and voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (not that I don’t like his acting, it’s a little weird that they all sound the same).

And for an even more ridiculous request, if we ever meet the tengu emperor, can he be voiced by George Takei? It’d be awesome! \o\

BobbyStein.2315:

For the record, Nolan doesn’t show up to VO sessions in a codpiece.

My group also came upon the “invisible floor” bug and non-existent final boss problem for the “Butcher” dungeon path.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the Plunderer path; it was difficult but manageable. Still have yet to try the Zealot path.