Guild Wars 2

I just watched Dracula untold the movie…
and the main character the dracula can blink and teleport and move at high speed by transforming into bats briefly…

Can we have this skill for the new necromancer specialization please?
Necromancers need some movement skill love!

Bats transformation to blink and move!
Go watch the movie to see what I mean!

slamfunction.7462:

Stuns, knock downs, fears – unacceptable.

With all the HoT locations the game starts resembling some weird ‘simulator of immobility’ (a Steam user would say). I totally agree with you: it is unacceptable. Too many mobs with crazy amounts of CC [located in long&narrow places (roads, corridors, tunnels, bridges, etc.)]? — no, that doesn’t look like a promising adventure to me. It’s more like an unwanted sado-masochistic experience.

I can only hope that Anet introduced such design by mistake. The vanilla version is all about wide zones with a number of hidden/tricky/dangerous ‘sleeves’, and i’m absolutely in love with that design.

So,

Neox.3497:

Maybe they should try to make areas designed for multiple players (more and harder mobs) while leaving the main “roads” balanced for solo play.

— pretty much THIS.

Crossaber.8934:

My main just entered Bitterfrost for the first time couple hours ago, i must say the map is very well done.

The amount of CC and conditions require better player awareness, also bring some stun breaks. It quickly became one of my favorite map now.

same, when you become familiar with encounters, you do not have to change even a single trait.

The only annoying thing about the new map is that sometimes you can get ice cube’d mid glide/mid air. Apart from that, everything is pretty easy to dodge and I just swap in some utils for chill removal.

My main just entered Bitterfrost for the first time couple hours ago, i must say the map is very well done.

The amount of CC and conditions require better player awareness, also bring some stun breaks. It quickly became one of my favorite map now.

Ashen.2907:

What would the point be of the ability to dodge, have stability, stealth, and stun breaks if there were no attacks worth countering or avoiding?

This, very much this. Killing mobs with the same rotation all the time while their abilities don’t actually require one to do anything is kind of boring.

So far enjoying the map. This map has the best mix of damage, hitpoints, amount of mobs, CC etc I’ve seen in a pve map yet.

Been playing on a Guardian/DH Meditation/trapper, and found that I had enough condi clear, but felt I wanted a little bit more, just to get rid of some of that Chill. But if I add more condi clear, I’ll lose something else. Love that I actually have to make choices in my build.

If ANet keeps this up, I might finally be able to put WvW on the shelf for good

Vayne.8563:

There are places where I think CC against the player is overdone. and it can get a bit annoying, but over all I don’t see much of a problem.

This.

What would the point be of the ability to dodge, have stability, stealth, and stun breaks if there were no attacks worth countering or avoiding?

I am not saying that it cannot be overwhelming at times, but overall it seems appropriate to trade dps for defense at times.

So you can’t traverse a very inhospitable wildernis filled with dragon minions and hostile wildlife while running a sub-optimal class cannon build without any stun breakers or condi cleanse.. and that’s somehow unacceptable?

I, for one, like the new map for the very challenges being complained about.

Yeah.

It’s totally unacceptable that I can’t run M4X|MUM-DPS!11!I|I!!II|||!!!11ONE!!!111|||III!!11!, have awesome stunbreak/quickness/swiftness utility, be condi-proof and a heal-tank at the same time – unacceptable. I paid for this game and therefor should be able to be everything at all the time with all classes without spending another dime – unacceptable…

btw. Can I have your stuff?

Indeed. DPS? What do you need that for? Are you in some kind of hurry? Equipping condi cleanse is easy.

But granted, dying is even easier. I run PvE in my rabid WvW build and laugh every single time I see people drop like rocks on bosses that barely tickle you.

Also, the zones HoT and later is supposed to be endgame. They have always been endgame. Its all about bumping up the numbers, more veterans, more champions and more difficult events across the board.

What, you want to go back to baby difficulty zones like Orr?

“… and without sacrificing abilities needed to DPS – unacceptable.”

This is exactly what balance is. It’s the most vital part of literally every MMO ever. You can max your damage, or you can increase your utilities, or you can be durable, or you can break things down with damage over time (i.e. conditions). To be good at one thing requires you to sacrifice another thing. A lack of variability was what caused the Berserker meta to strangle the gameplay for the first 2 years of GW2 before they finally made other builds actually useful.

Danikat.8537:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It’s a bit of local color. I would have preferred to see the characters appear in the game, but I like the idea of having more stories appear (the original Living Story was partly meant to do this, see e.g. The Modus Sceleris)

That update still frustrates me. They added a whole load of new Dynamic Events, many with little storylines to them and others, like these ones, which could have been built into something really interesting.

Then later they said they weren’t going to build on it or do it again because their data showed players were only completing them if they happened to be nearby when it started and weren’t showing any interest in seeking them out.

Which could be an understandable complaint if it wasn’t for the fact that we had no other option. The patch notes literally just said “Added over 30 events across the game” and the game was only 2 months old – the Wiki didn’t even have info on all the hearts, let alone all the events that had been in the game since launch.

I’m still not sure of all the events that were added in that update (and I’ve spent a lot of time looking), some were easy to identify as being new, others might just be rarely seen and hadn’t been documented before then.

It’s a classic example of relying too much on quantitative data and not considering other factors which can’t be documented that way.

Yeah, I thought that they didn’t really give it enough of a chance. People who find those events now are often really pleased to find the odd event.

I agree with you that ANet (especially Mike O’Brien) relies too often on quant alone, without enough qualitative analysis to disaggregate our diverse community.

Still, that’s a big digression from the OP’s question: why do they write/publish this stuff? Because some people like it and it’s very low cost for the warm fuzzies.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It’s a bit of local color. I would have preferred to see the characters appear in the game, but I like the idea of having more stories appear (the original Living Story was partly meant to do this, see e.g. The Modus Sceleris)

That update still frustrates me. They added a whole load of new Dynamic Events, many with little storylines to them and others, like these ones, which could have been built into something really interesting.

Then later they said they weren’t going to build on it or do it again because their data showed players were only completing them if they happened to be nearby when it started and weren’t showing any interest in seeking them out.

Which could be an understandable complaint if it wasn’t for the fact that we had no other option. The patch notes literally just said “Added over 30 events across the game” and the game was only 2 months old – the Wiki didn’t even have info on all the hearts, let alone all the events that had been in the game since launch.

I’m still not sure of all the events that were added in that update (and I’ve spent a lot of time looking), some were easy to identify as being new, others might just be rarely seen and hadn’t been documented before then.

It’s a classic example of relying too much on quantitative data and not considering other factors which can’t be documented that way.

It’s basically fan fiction written by someone at Arenanet, a story about the world of Tyria and the people in it (although I don’t think Vikki and Momo are actually in the game).

I enjoy reading it, especially for the descriptions of different places as seen by someone on their first visit there, it reminds me of the first time I encountered some of the same landmarks, and places I still like to re-visit now (like the aquarium tunnel in Divinity’s Reach).

I especially liked the previous chapter where she briefly visited the Mad King’s Labyrinth. It was an interesting firstly to realise that to someone like Vikki who seems to have little/no combat training ending up somewhere like that would be absolutely terrifying, and then that she found our characters (who were mentioned in the story) nearly as frightening – seeing all these people armed to the teeth rushing eagerly into a maze filled with deadly monsters.

But if you’re not interested you don’t have to read it, you’re not going to miss anything except the story itself.

Gryphon.2875:

Way to convert aura trinket jewels to infusions, so I’m not stuck with one gold trinket just to have a Ghastly Glow.

even better, Add auras to wardrobe with some kind of just checkbox for each one you have so you can pick as many or few as you want on all your characters without having to wear specific gear or get a 1000g+ item for every character you want it on.

Danikat.8537:

Whilst I agree it would be nice to see more new armour sets I think it’s unlikely to happen for exactly the reason you gave.

Designing weapons is relatively simple because the models are universal – a sword held by a human thief is identical to a sword held by an asuran mesmer etc. So they come up with a theme, adapt it to the shape of each weapon and maybe add some individual details if it’s appropriate and they’re done – 16 new weapons for everyone.

Armour is not universal and therefore requires a lot more work. At absolute minimum they have to create 4 versions of each set – one for male humans/sylvari/norn, one for females, one for asura and one for charr. And that’s assuming they can stretch the human/sylvari version to fit the norn (which players complain about) and use the male version on female asura and charr (which players complain about). Ideally they need to create 10 versions – one for each race/gender combination.

And then they have to do that again for the other 2 armour weights. That’s a minimum of 12 models and a maximum of 30 for what players will see as only 3 new armour sets.

It seems they are experimenting with ways to offer new armour skins without it being so much effort – every Living Story episode this season has included at least 1 piece (head, gloves or shoulders) with the same skin used for all 3 armour weights. Even if they just stick with that it’s an improvement, but they might be able to expand on the concept in future.

Also I assume the next expansion will include new armour like HoT did.

The problem with their current approach is that the main reason people ask for armor sets instead of just armor pieces is because chest and leg armor only comes with sets. There are plenty of gloves/feet/head/shoulder armors being added, but there is a severe lack of chest and legs, which are the most important pieces when crafting your appearance.

I don’t think that they need to make sure that every armor weight gets a reward in every season of LW3. For example, they could just add different chest weights in different episodes. I wouldn’t mind that at all.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Amaimon.7823:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Amaimon.7823:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Amaimon.7823:

“Not like” is a complete understatement. Quaggans are the worst things designs since the berlin wall. I hoped and prayed to the six gods they would never be incorporated in the story. Looks like ill have to start praying to rodgort if i want some results.

What a bizarre comparison. Quaggans are a cutesy race in a fantasy game; the Berlin wall was a tool used by a RL repressive regime to keep people from escaping to a less hostile environment.

Quaggans are from a biological, evolutionary and design point of view complete random mishaps that shouldnt be able to survive in any world. Theyre ugly, theyre annoying, and as a biologist i. An say theres nothing about their survival skills thats slightly optimal. Clearly magic has kept them alive because the chaina of evolution wouldve eradicated them by now

I’m curious, oh great biologist, what about them would impair their survival? Their ability to swim well and breath underwater as well as on land, survive in arctic temperatures, opposable thumbs, ability to construct and use weapons and buildings? An ability to actually alter their physical shape, reducing their size rather significantly. These seem like useful evolutionary qualities.

Okay, I’ll concede that opposable thumbs and the knowledge to wield weapons compensate for their biological failures.

As for the biological failures:
1) Their physical form is not made for swimming, despite being an aquatic species. In their forms they would requrie tremendous amounts of energy to stay afloat, and not sink to the bottom oor float helplessly, depending on their body density. (a quick look at their limbs also tell you they’re not made for swimming)

2) Society: they have a useless means of survival, HOWEVER the use of this means is considered taboo, and they lose all hope of ever procreating. They live in a society where the survivors aren’t allowed to breed. Thats like a kick in Darwin’s skritt-bags.

Their cutesy form is basically an anthropomorphic manatee. Manatees seem to survive just fine on their own, when people aren’t murdering them with motor boats.

I don’t know what you’re talking about with the procreation though. There are plenty of instances of Quaggan children, so obviously breeding is occurring.

An orca can swim just fine. A quaggan lacks all of that design, it’s literally a ball with an orca or manatee skin pattern. When was the last time you saw a ball gliding through water without resistance?

As for the children: those are the children of the quaggans who don’t use their power-mode. If a quaggan uses his power-mode, the others will view him as corrupt or inferior, and wont breed with him anymore.

Ashantara.8731:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Their cutesy form is basically an anthropomorphic manatee. Manatees seem to survive just fine on their own, when people aren’t murdering them with motor boats.

Speaking of their form and looks: Why did the devs decide not to stick with this (pic #1), but instead with this (pic #2)?

The former (dolphin/wale-headed quaggans with sharp teeth and fish-like bodies) I loved, the latter (cutesy balloon-like quaggans) I truly despise.

Maybe it’s because humans have a drive to prefer small creatures with rounded features (babies) and this creeps into art (intentionally or unintentionally) when the artists want to make a creature more sympathetic to a large group.

Far example, the evolution of Mickey Mouse over the decades from sharp rodent features to rounded babyish features.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Their cutesy form is basically an anthropomorphic manatee. Manatees seem to survive just fine on their own, when people aren’t murdering them with motor boats.

Speaking of their form and looks: Why did the devs decide not to stick with this (pic #1), but instead with this (pic #2)?

The former (dolphin/wale-headed quaggans with sharp teeth and fish-like bodies) I loved, the latter (cutesy balloon-like quaggans) I truly despise.

Essence Snow.3194:

Imo Quaggan are the Jar-Jar Binks of the GW universe.

Cmon. Quaggans don’t destroy the whole game just by being there.
In fact, they are much more interesting than most other races in Tyria. I’ll put them in the same level as humans: Annoying, funny, a little unnecessary, but overall good to have.

Imo Quaggan are the Jar-Jar Binks of the GW universe.

Amaimon.7823:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Amaimon.7823:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Amaimon.7823:

“Not like” is a complete understatement. Quaggans are the worst things designs since the berlin wall. I hoped and prayed to the six gods they would never be incorporated in the story. Looks like ill have to start praying to rodgort if i want some results.

What a bizarre comparison. Quaggans are a cutesy race in a fantasy game; the Berlin wall was a tool used by a RL repressive regime to keep people from escaping to a less hostile environment.

Quaggans are from a biological, evolutionary and design point of view complete random mishaps that shouldnt be able to survive in any world. Theyre ugly, theyre annoying, and as a biologist i. An say theres nothing about their survival skills thats slightly optimal. Clearly magic has kept them alive because the chaina of evolution wouldve eradicated them by now

I’m curious, oh great biologist, what about them would impair their survival? Their ability to swim well and breath underwater as well as on land, survive in arctic temperatures, opposable thumbs, ability to construct and use weapons and buildings? An ability to actually alter their physical shape, reducing their size rather significantly. These seem like useful evolutionary qualities.

Okay, I’ll concede that opposable thumbs and the knowledge to wield weapons compensate for their biological failures.

As for the biological failures:
1) Their physical form is not made for swimming, despite being an aquatic species. In their forms they would requrie tremendous amounts of energy to stay afloat, and not sink to the bottom oor float helplessly, depending on their body density. (a quick look at their limbs also tell you they’re not made for swimming)

2) Society: they have a useless means of survival, HOWEVER the use of this means is considered taboo, and they lose all hope of ever procreating. They live in a society where the survivors aren’t allowed to breed. Thats like a kick in Darwin’s skritt-bags.

They sound awfully similar to humans and their “very fast and efficient” walking method, and all their control taboos around sex and reproduction.

Quaggan are to feed the krait

Ardid.7203:

How could you hate them?

They talk, that’s how.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Amaimon.7823:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Amaimon.7823:

“Not like” is a complete understatement. Quaggans are the worst things designs since the berlin wall. I hoped and prayed to the six gods they would never be incorporated in the story. Looks like ill have to start praying to rodgort if i want some results.

What a bizarre comparison. Quaggans are a cutesy race in a fantasy game; the Berlin wall was a tool used by a RL repressive regime to keep people from escaping to a less hostile environment.

Quaggans are from a biological, evolutionary and design point of view complete random mishaps that shouldnt be able to survive in any world. Theyre ugly, theyre annoying, and as a biologist i. An say theres nothing about their survival skills thats slightly optimal. Clearly magic has kept them alive because the chaina of evolution wouldve eradicated them by now

I’m curious, oh great biologist, what about them would impair their survival? Their ability to swim well and breath underwater as well as on land, survive in arctic temperatures, opposable thumbs, ability to construct and use weapons and buildings? An ability to actually alter their physical shape, reducing their size rather significantly. These seem like useful evolutionary qualities.

Okay, I’ll concede that opposable thumbs and the knowledge to wield weapons compensate for their biological failures.

As for the biological failures:
1) Their physical form is not made for swimming, despite being an aquatic species. In their forms they would requrie tremendous amounts of energy to stay afloat, and not sink to the bottom oor float helplessly, depending on their body density. (a quick look at their limbs also tell you they’re not made for swimming)

2) Society: they have a useless means of survival, HOWEVER the use of this means is considered taboo, and they lose all hope of ever procreating. They live in a society where the survivors aren’t allowed to breed. Thats like a kick in Darwin’s skritt-bags.

Is evolution established as actually existing in this setting? The gods (deities often being represented as creators of life in mythology) are confirmed to exist (or have existed) in this setting.

Amaimon.7823:

Quaggans are from a biological, evolutionary and design point of view complete random mishaps that shouldnt be able to survive in any world. Theyre ugly, theyre annoying, and as a biologist i. An say theres nothing about their survival skills thats slightly optimal. Clearly magic has kept them alive because the chaina of evolution wouldve eradicated them by now

Ah, real world science. I like that!

And I don’t like Quaggans.