Guild Wars 2

In storywriting, there are two types of retroactive continuities:

Turning a believed-truth (read: second-hand information) to be a cover up, lie, or subjective truth, and turning an objective truth into a different objective truth.

The Bloodstone lore, like the lore on Abaddon versus there being only five gods, or Glint’s true origins, is the former – taking lore and turning it into a subjective truth. These are nothing to get upset about – sometimes better ideas come, and these require changing the lore a bit. If they’re done well, then there’s no reason to be upset.

Other things that I, personally, have been upset about (such as the lore around Scarlet) is when the writers change an obviously objective truth and inserting a new obviously objective truth (like the fact that we were explicitly told the Secondborn were born 6-7 years after the Firstborn, but then Scarlet came and Secondborn were born 2 years after). Now, sometimes – like said Secondborn example – the change makes sense. I mean, in that case, could we really believe the twelve Firstborn existed in the world for 5+ years without being known (the first contact between sylvari and another race happened after the Secondborn were born).

The mursaat tablets are another objective truth being retconned – but not so much in the “mursaat were misunderstood good guys” as there’s obviously going to be some bias therefore the tablets aren’t 100% accurate off the bat, but rather the retcon comes in the claims about what the other races are doing. Or rather, I should say, it is either a retcon or a blatant lie from the mursaat that was very poorly telegraphed by ArenaNet.

One of said retcon/bad-writing-lies was the actions of the dwarves, as we know they did not go into hiding until all races did, and we know that they fought Primordus and Jormag – despite the mursaat claiming they fought none.

I see no problem with the supposed Mursaat “retcon”.

All it gave is more info on the timeline of events, which brought a bit more development to the race, instead of portraying them as flat out evil.

You know, Black and White thinking. GW2 tries to go away from there as much as possible. Even Scarlet, misguided as she was, actually had some rediming qualities (even if they weren’t much).

I don’t get it actually.
All it says, that the Mursaat fought in the war and weren’t happy with the idea of putting their faith into the next cycle, going against the other races at that time and in their eyes “abandoning them”.
Sounds like the things we allready heard before, so i don’t really see that much change to the overall lore, just to the flavour of it.

Same goes to the bloodstones. GW1 was based on a human viewpoint and the gods were the biggest things out there. If they claimed they made them, then the humans followed.
They don’t even have to claim to be the creator, just that they used them to do their stuff after they arrived.
Humans, guilible as they are, just fill in the gaps.

I think most of these retcons aren’t as problematic as some make it out.

However if they come out and completly change the things that happened and we were clearly able to see happening (like a group human heroes killing the lich changed into Skritt), then I call bullkitten, because we were there…

So honor the old lore by leaving it the way it was and construct new narratives that USE the old lore without changing it.

I’m not blaming the lore writers of GW1 – they did a good job. It’s the lore writers of GW2 that are making a muck of everything.

I’m not even sure ethnocentric is something real – but that’s not why I’m upset.
I’m upset that by retconning things you’re basically saying nothing is really relevant and that getting invested in the lore, the story and the world of Tyria is stupid. Because it will be changed in the future on a whim.

Also how am I biased ethnocentrically?

Narcemus.1348:

I’m surprised that this discussion is happening now, so long after the creation of Guild Wars 2. I mean all of this information about the Seers and the Elder Dragons changed Guild Wars’ Lore years ago. Why is this piece of information suddenly such a huge problem?

1. Because I’ve recently seen it pop up again as a major thing in the current events thing.
2. Because the Mursaat thing just happened.
3. Because I’m sick and tired of having good, well-established lore trampled by a team of writers that is simply making a mess of things.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

I’m more upset with the lack of resolution of plot holes and unanswered questions left behind by HoT. I’ll be more than happy to get worked up over the possible retconning once we get some actual, in-depth stuff on the Pale Tree, Zojja, Logan, the Nightmare Court, and if Treesus is gonna have an actual memorial like Eir got. :x

Yes that too, the fact all these important plot lines are completely dropped and unresolved drives me crazy.

The Pale Tree, Zojja and logan almost died and were in critical condition last we saw them. That’s kinda important to follow up on (this happened several times in the PS as well). I really don’t get what’s wrong with these writers. I would love to spend a day at Anet’s writing department and see what kind of weird things transpire there.

I doubt it’s the same team that did GW1’s lore.

Story quality has really really decreased – and I was okay with it – but changing very strongly established things like this means that we can’t really take any lore or story seriously anymore since they might decide to change it again tomorrow.
Who’s to say they wont’ give us another dragon. Because why not.

Really sad.

I’m more upset with the lack of resolution of plot holes and unanswered questions left behind by HoT. I’ll be more than happy to get worked up over the possible retconning once we get some actual, in-depth stuff on the Pale Tree, Zojja, Logan, the Nightmare Court, and if Treesus is gonna have an actual memorial like Eir got. :x

it wasn’t retconned? it was exactly that.
If you’re going to make a new story – don’t center it on the old lore. The lore wasn’t biased – it was human-centric because it was the lore of a game where you could only play as humans.

That doesn’t make it biased or wrong. You have no proof that it was “biased”. It was the lore.

Why change old lore? Why not make new lore? Or create tie-ins with old lore without changing it.
I find it difficult caring about the story and becoming invested when I realize that this current lore might just as well get disregarded and re-written into whatever suits them in the future.

Why bother establishing a universe for a franchise when you’re just going to change it all up to suit whatever your whims are anyway?

How exactly were things “wrong”? Where is the evidence for it?

The story of Ascalon is well known to me – and I am well aware Humans pushed the Charr from Ascalon – what you might not be aware of is that the Charr pushed southward towards what is now Ascalon and fought the Forgotten for dominion over the area in the Blazeridge Mountains.
If anything – Ascalon belonged to neither humans nor Charr. Upon defeating the Forgotten they took the lands – which were later taken by the Humans.

They were certainly not there first and have about as much claim to the lands as any other conqueror has.

Maybe read up on your lore a bit better. Charr-lover.

The Charr were once a primitive people, filled with rage and a primal drive to dominate and control. They fought everything that threatened them – even one another – only surviving this brutal period by evolving into a strict hierarchical society. Disparate, fierce, and independent warbands unified under a single leader, the Khan-Ur, for the good of the race, and a golden age of Charr dominance began.

No longer clamoring over the same territories, the unified Charr spread throughout the northern reaches of their homeland, and down into the lands east of the Shiverpeak Mountains. The Charr subjugated or destroyed any and all who dared defy them within their territories; they were masters of all they surveyed.

With dominance, however, came the inevitable problems. Internal strife, reckless power-mongering, and brutal feuds threatened to tear apart this otherwise secure empire. Only the strong personality of the Khan-Ur kept this ferocious and, yes, still-primitive race unified.

Other than internal conflicts, the only real threat to the Charr at this time was the Forgotten, who dwelled within the Crystal Desert far to the south. But, through judicious use of the mountains dividing their lands from those of the Forgotten, the Charr continued to maintain undisputed control over the northern lands. And, as the Forgotten pulled back, called to duty by some other power, they ceased to threaten the Charr.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Ecology_of_the_Charr

This is official – established lore.

Now after reading that – look at :
https://wiki.guildwars.com/images/9/9b/Tyria_poster_map.jpg

See that big place that says “Charr homelands?” That’s where your Charr are from. That’s way north of what we call Ascalon today.

So yeah – the conquerors got conquered – Boo hoo for the charr.

Amaimon.7823:

I support the complete removal of all effects that don’t originate from me. I want to fight bosses, but lately, all I see is discoballs surrounded by fireworks. And yes, thats with the toned down setting

This. It’s long past time that this is an option.

The current control in-game does little/nothing to make the problem better.

We need to have a mute option for all particle effects originating with another player.

Amaimon.7823:

lately, all I see is discoballs surrounded by fireworks

Next world boss: John Travolta

Wow, thanks you guys. Yeah, I think I’m gonna give it a go. I really want to see the progression of the story. And honestly, I usually play healer in other games, so Monk as a second will be interesting. I do wish I could find a good sale, but getting the game on Steam is a plus to me.

Many people already said it’s very different so I’ll skip that.

Sadly, there is no demo. but iv’e seen bundles all over the internet and hardcopy stores which were really cheap (cosidering) so it should be doable.
There are four chapters:
1. Prophecies (Only has Henchmen without other expansions)
2. Factions (Introducing Heroes for Henchmen. Introduced the Ritualist and Assassin)
3. Nightfall (Introduces the Dervish and Paragon)
4. Eye of the North (introduces no new classes)

For the story, you’re recommended to play them in that order.
Next up, there are bonus/side campaigns.
A) War in Kryta (after Prophecies)
B) Saul d’Allessio’s story (before Prophecies)
C) Winds of Change (after Factions)
(some more which I can’t pull from the back of the my head)

Differences between GW1 and GW2 that I consider major:
A) less mobility, there’s no dodging and jumping and whatnot. instead, you’re to rely on your skills to block and evade attacks.
B) Group Play design. All content is designed to be played as a group. You’ll receive Henchmen at first for this task. Later (with Factions and beyond) you get heroes, which are stronger henchmen which you can customize
C) Missions and Quests: There’s a quest log with secondary quests, primary quests and Missions. Missions are marked locations which tell a story and has an objective. Death/defeat during a mission is absolute, you don’t respawn. Primary Quests are like normal quests that bridge between the missions. Since missions are fixed locations, Primary Quests take you between those points, and tell story along the way.
Secondary quests aren’t an obligation, but most of them add so much to the story it’s worthwhile.

@OP, Gw1 is very heavy lore game and much better than gw2 >:P

if u really like the gw2 lore, imo gw1 is a must have, sometimes older games can be better than new games that have pretty graphics.

Its combat is a gutted/simplistic dnd rule set.

*You get attribute points that augment their skill set and also for martial weapons their basic ability to deal dmg.
*You can choose a secondary class but it doesn’t lock you from further progress on your primary. Its an aside.
*Chance to hit isn’t determined by a dice roll. You always hit unless a skill or the blind condition prevents it. Generally spells always hit.
*Wasd and/or click to move, no jump, attacking and spell casting root you for their activation. You can strafe to avoid projectile attacks/spells.
*Monsters generally are ~your lvl and have health/energy/energy regeneration/armor rating respective to any class that the player character can choose. This goes for skills and attributes they may have aswell.
*All campaigns and EoTN have preset henchmen freely available to you in towns and outposts to compose your party. Only Nightfall/EoTN give primary access to heros that are preset in appearance/primary attribute but they belong to you and are customizeable in gear/attributes/skills. Mecenaries are available for $ in the store and are heros with customizeable appearance and primary profession based on the player character you use to register them.
*Towns/outposts are community instances where you can freely change secondary profession/attributes/skills, setup a party and access services available in the town (storage/various merchants and so on)
*Instances are party only zones that reset on exit/re-entrance. There are many towns/outposts ingame but all the rest of the game is party only instances.

Its a great game, and I’m not just saying that because ive been playing it for 11years. I really don’t understand why they completely abandoned it as if it suddenly became obsolete. There isn’t another game like it where the monsters are actually under the same mechanics and rules as the player.

It’s very different. It’s best to think it as a completely other game that happens to have shared lore. It’s a lobby game with instanced maps where you can’t move when using skills and there’s no jumping or gliding. It’s a good game and based more on strategy and set up, since maneuverability is more limited. You either party up with others to do missions (that games storyline) and quests or you get and gear up heroes or mercenaries (copies of your alt characters) or use pre set up henchman to do content with. Unlike this game you can duo profession. For example you could be ranger primary and necro secondary.

If you do play it I suggest playing it for its own sake. Not with thoughts of gw2 and any rewards for that as except for the 3 points in the HoM for linking accounts it will take a bit if you’re starting completely from new. For the HoM rewards you’ll need Eye of the North (EOTN) and one other campaign.

It’s very different, play-wise, mechanics-wise, but well worth playing, imo. Some of my fondest Tyrian-universe memories are from Guild Wars, especially Prophesies.

Though, I’m sure it’s not exactly the same nowadays with the reduced population. Still, with Henchman and Heroes, it became a more solo-centric game a couple of years after the initial launch.

Many game stores have Guild Wars for a very reduced price. It is, of course, up to you.

Good luck.

I read it somewhere but have not really gone through the 85 pages so here is my Gemstore Items Proposal:

Housing Instance (### Gems)
- Ability to purchase a house in PvE or cities (i.e., Divinity’s Reach).
- Design, basic and simple core house.
To make it doable for a start…that is if Arenanet is counting if this endeavor is profitable against the time spent of their developer, start with a small house instance, 1 floor (i.e., pad). Programming should be easy since it is just a matter of adding entry points scattered through out the PvE and cities. Since the housing instance, for a start, is just one floor and is the same size whichever house in PvE one choose, coding is easy. Floor area can be just as big as the inside of the tavern in Guild Hall but bare and with windows and door (access).

Housing interiors (### Gems)
- Ability to choose a different interior (i.e., human home, asuran lab, sylvari lair, norn hearth, charr workshop)
- Ability to choose a bigger floor area .
This can be phase 2 if Arenanet thinks Housing is gaining market demand. (Verifiable indicator: items purchased in Gem store).

House items (## Gems, drops)
- Can be functional or just aesthetics.
- Functional (## Gems)(i.e., bank, wardrobe, armory, showcase of collections and achievements, waypoint)
- Aesthetics (#Gems, drops).
To make it doable for a start, start with the functional and aesthetics (bundled theme) item that are Gems items. Use existing codes (i.e.,looks/aesthetics: use existing items, functionalities: use existing codes to call out specific window instance (like bank, wardrobe, waypoint to home) to minimize coding and maximize return of time-spent of programmers/developers on this endeavor.
Phase 2 can be items that showcase collections, achievements, etc.

For those who are not interested in housing instance, this proposal should not bother you since this is a Gem item (i.e., you are not oblige to pay for it) and this endeavor can generate income and return time-spent of developers.

A link on the player housing i found is here – https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Player-Housing-anytime-soon/page/3#post6352987).

For this upcomming Halloween event I expect real new things…
Where are good ol’ GW1 hats? It would be wery nice to have pumpkin head, skeleton head, zombie head, etc head armor skins

Options → Check “Target Health Percentage”
Boons have a bar around them that shows duration without having to hover. Other buffs do not.

Combo information:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

Ya ya All the latest changes for Gears of Battlefield Grand Theft Auto Forza 44 that came out yesterday, yada yada yada. You know I am really sick of downloading like 20GB of new video drivers every week just because every new game needs a tweak or two. Sigh. Now I have to log in to use the Nvidia Experience? Next I’ll have to LOG In to use the dang driver. Oh. Just had to log in to use this keyboard. Where does it all end? I guess when we block cookies they just make us log in so they can track us. HERE I AM Hello Track me! And 60hz everywhere makes not a whit of difference. Like I said, just happy it’s already been reported. Rant Off.

It’s a singleplayer story mission. Why are there veterans with a billion health? Why is the open world full of mobs with three times as much health as they need to have? They don’t even have phases. I’m literally throwing and dodging the same attacks for the entire duration of these over-long fights. There’s a difference between challenge and tedium, you know.

Like, I don’t want to instakill everything, but I don’t want to have to whittle down an enemy for five minutes. That’s just bad design.

It’s a challenge to fight tricky mobs with attacks you have to counter and avoid. It’s not a challenge to fight some random grunts for ages because they have so much kitten health. It’s not a challenge to spam at a humanoid for half an hour and not even come close to dying.

The way I understand the whole closing map mechanic to work is that 1 hour prior to closing anyone currently on that map will get a message that the map will close in 60 minutes with an option to swap to another map..
The problem I keep encountering is that if people taxi others to this closing map, the people joining will receive no warning or timer on how long the map will remain open.
This leads to situations where people use the LFG tool to put a group together after receiving the message, taxi people to a closing map, do an entire event chain, get to the final part, only to have the map close “surprisingly” once things get interesting (mid Vinewrath fight last time it happened to me).

Would it be possible to have the warning about the map closing pop up even if you join the map after the initial message (as in, during any time from the 60 minute marker to when the map will actually close)? Would be nice.. Thanks! :P

I’d want some way to just sell all the garbage to the tradingpost that I have in my bags. I normally sell 1 copper below the lowest or sell instantly, but I’d be willing to just get rid of all of it to the TP.

Laugh 2 (because the current female laughs just sound like witch cackles, or males drunken brawl laughs)

The name of this puzzle needs to be changed to:

“Mesmers Only”

At least two are suggested. That way if one makes it across a hard section you can just port the other and leapfrog your way through the puzzle.

This way ports are useful for more than just recovering a fall.

I always hated that they’re called Jumping Puzzles, because that implies that with wit or intelligence you can beat it. You can’t. lts not a puzzle, its an ordeal, a challenge. You win either by luck, skill, or sheer force of repetition and trial and error.

Thank goodness for a friendly Mesmer. She put on a tag, invited all in chat to join, ported all to every checkpoint and token, then to the end.
Done with it.

Become “sick”

Can the Halloween events last longer this year please? Or next year can it come sooner and last longer? Some people don’t get to experience it too much because of work, school, etc

LoL NooBs.5076:

Finally! +1 for this thread.
Guilds dead. Builds dead. What is there to do in this game? Glide? Chat? Wow. Such features.

Your guild may in fact be dead, but you can’t speak for all guilds. My guild is definitely not dead.

I’ve never used a meta-build in my life. Never seen one, and frankly, I don’t care to.

If you feel pressured to use some cookie-cutter build, perhaps you could create your own party/team/squad for whatever content, and use any build you desire.

Good luck.