Guild Wars 2

One way or the other, I suspect we will get answers to some of the mysteries surrounding the Pale Tree and the Sylvari over the next year.

It’s possible that Malyck was lying the whole time.

Of course while you may be correct about the final location, to me the animation seemed vague enough that it could be just about anywhere.

Also, I don’t think the Nightmare court are corrupted. If they are corrupted, why not just go live with whatever corrupted them? The nightmare court seem clueless.

@Wookie:

Volstag.6371:

Could the new back piece be a play on the feathers of the Mursaat?

Incredibly unlikely. The “feathers” of the mursaat span in a full 360 directions, while these are closer to traditional wings.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

This. This x 10.
I feel like they’ve somehow managed to fail at the very basics of writing and it’s simply spiraled off into oblivion.

I agree, although I can see that they are trying to improve. It’s not all bad. The problem is, that you need very little writing to make a character likable, but it takes only a little in the wrong direction, to make players hate a character.

For example, in GW1 we originally spent very little time with Gwen. But for some reason, just by having her follow you around in Presear, and finding her flute and cape, people really were drawn to this character.

But then take someone like Logan Thackery, a character that is deeply woven into the personal story, and is mentioned in dozens of towns, and people tend to really despise this character. He’s just so flat, and one-note.

It’s not difficult to write fun characters. All you need to do, is make them a bit flawed, and let them do something. Had Logan been a complete drunk, and a failed washed up has-been, he would have been a far more likable character. Have some npc’s refer to him negatively in towns (instead of positively), and then allow the character to have an arc, where he rises to become a hero again. Don’t have him start off as the commanding officer of the Seraph, but have him climb to the top.

If they needed to have some character be the commanding officer of the Seraph, have it be someone else, someone intentionally unlikeable. Not the pet favorite Mary-Sue from the novels, but some delightfully slimy weasel. Done.

But there are people who dislike Logan… A LOT of people because he’s a backstabbing kitten who betrayed his friends and allowed Kralk to survive because he had to kitten out and go somewhere he wasn’t truly needed…

Granted the NPCs that dislike logan for that reason aren’t humans… but that’s because Logan went and saved Humans and has always been The Knight in Shining Armor for Kryta, so why would Kryta dislike him? They wouldn’t for the most part…

However, you also get the whole “kitten the Seraph!” npcs who i’d imagine hate Logan just as much, if not more than, the other Seraph. Granted most of these ones are seen in the Human PS, and then a few NPCs will make negative comments about the seraph and ministry guard, but those aren’t very common (especially on the former) but that’s for obvious reasons…

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It’s not difficult to write fun characters. All you need to do, is make them a bit flawed, and let them do something. Had Logan been a complete drunk, and a failed washed up has-been, he would have been a far more likable character. Have some npc’s refer to him negatively in towns (instead of positively), and then allow the character to have an arc, where he rises to become a hero again. Don’t have him start off as the commanding officer of the Seraph, but have him climb to the top.

If they needed to have some character be the commanding officer of the Seraph, have it be someone else, someone intentionally unlikeable. Not the pet favorite Mary-Sue from the novels, but some delightfully slimy weasel. Done.

Your ‘a bit flawed’ turned into ‘one huge gaping collection of flaws waiting for redemption.’ And its not that Logan isn’t flawed to begin with, given his serious attachment issues.

I think the problem lies in showing, not telling, and not being so hilariously obvious when they do show.

Nick.6972:

Where it goes from here?
Well, certainly not Cantha.

Maguuma, obviously :p
Mordremoth is there, isn’t he/she?

its mordremoth, didnt u notice the Thorn-like Teeth ?

Mordremoth, Bubbles is already awake

Once you finish all your achievements there isnt really anything to do other than the Scarlet Fight. If you fail to kill the three Knights to open the portals to Scarlet there is nothing to do except log out for an hour and hope you win next time. At least in the previous update you could rescue citizens during the entire hour or just farm bags.

I liked Trahearne. It was the pacing of the personal story that was off, which in turn made him feel bland. We also never got to see much of his personality, outside of his interaction with Sieran in the Sylvari personal story.

[SPOILERRR] He accomplished the most so far I believe. Cleansing Orr and all…

What the kitten kittening kitten, god kittened kitten. Ok, first off great job Anet, this LS thing you guys did is amazing. It really is going to bring MMO’s into an entire new generation. Making events that have the entire community come together and fight as one is amazing.
Only thing is now the map doesnt get purged every hour leaving the majority of people stuck on overflow 15 million no chance of doing anything. I realize you dont want to be GW1 anymore, and by all means I agree this is heads over heels better then anything you ever had in the first game…..wait no, thats not entirely true…..you guys really had something there with allowing us to choose our districts – barring that it wasnt full anyways, all you did was grey out the option making it un-clickable. Districts…overflows…isnt it all really just the same thing?
Listen, the bottom line is that I dont really care if I cant easily get into a main server at any given time, just at least give me the option of please choosing a different overflow. And I may be pushing it here – it would seem just having this basic option is pushing it too – but it would also be cool if we could keep our spot in waiting for main as while being able to do a overflow hop.

Zoid.2568:

Zhaitan’s minions will disappear from Orr etc.

Don’t be so sure. Have a source on this, or are you assuming?

Echou.1923:

Game mechanics and lore don’t usually mix well. Lore-wise Guardians are the ones who protect their teammates. They are supposed to take more beating than a dead summoning spellcaster who rarely engage in physical combat.

I’ll never capitulate!

Anyway in all seriousness, you’re probably right, but I still have a problem with it.

DarksunG.9537:

Traveller.7496:

DarksunG.9537:

I don’t see why people are “blown away” by it.

I would bet you that people who give it praise are ladies (bless them) who are a bit more suspectible to cheesy romance stories.

That wasn’t a romance. It was just sexual. There was almost no actual romantic interaction other then petnames & “I care about you baby” dialog. At least Koss & Melonni actually had sexual tension denial, dealing with pride, conflict & acceptance. Romance isn’t just two people who like to do it, it’s complex. all this “what a great love story”… I have no idea what it’s based on.

Well I guess it can’t be helped if people see it that way, since it was pretty easy to miss on a lot of conversations.

They actually DO have meaningful conversations in these last 2 patches, talking to each other as regular people, expressing interest for each others past, revelations of what it means to be with one another, how they wanna better themselves as people (actual quote) It’s not just sexual. I always stick around NPC-s to listen , and to me, there definitely is a progression in their relationship.

Now about the whole thing:

Gj!

The overall delivery was satisfying imo. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t disappointing either. The only thing I dislike is the zerg that needs to be completed before the actual story stuff starts, and with the recent bug, it makes it impossible to complete.

- Thank you for letting us personally kill Scarlet :P I was sort of afraid that she’ll have some lame death via zerg.

- The fact all bionics (except Taimi) were there makes it even better. My guess that Rox wil join the warband anyway? Poor Braham, feed him some ham to heal his leg

- Heh it sure looked like you killed Marjory, and Kasmeer seemed genuinely kittened at Scarlet with the taunts and all. It just made killing her of more satisfying. Was happy when Jory was alive and well, and for the record, start improving your cutscene animations, to appear less wooden, but overall, a very sweet scene.

- The end cinematic was awesome. Did we just see all ley lines activating, and awakening some kind of dragon? Mordremoth?

That being said, there are STILL some questions left I hope we get answers too:

- So why exactly did Scarlet wake up the dragon? Was the dragon controlling her mind? Even when asleep? We need more answers here, Anet.
- What happened to the Mai Trin and the Aetherblades in EoTM?
- In fact, what will happen to every other alliance now that Scarlet is dead? Will they fall apart?
- Where was Taimi in all this?
- Will we ever find out who is this “E” person?

I have more questions but I can’t think much now…hopefully we will get more answers in the conclusion patch in 2 weeks? There are still questions that need answering, and I really really don’t want to wait another year to find out all the answers.

All in all, good conclusion, still has loose ends but i felt myself genuinely invested! Keep up the good work, and listen to our feedback and take it to heart (the constructive ones, at least)

The story good, the gameplay…. WTF

I am sorry, but i actually dozed off in the massive holographic zerg fight.
While i was expecting that, it was actually worse then i thought. No challenge, no rhyme or reason. No introduction. Just here have some gamemechanics and have them zerg away for an hour…

Okay, to be fair, there are some really nice mechanics there, but not for mass players…
Seriously, These were great dungeon bosses. But here they were just damage sponges.

Awesome Cinematics I liked the camera work in engine and for the cinematic… nothing to add here. Thumbs up, etc…

Story was… unexplained… seriously.. thats it? We as players know what is coming… new ED, but the people of Tyria again get now answers… they even tell her to shut up…
Good grief.
The couples kiss, someone is injured and yeah… i hoped for more…
It was well done. Some light hearted but predictable bad implemented extra “drama”, which was okay, given the mediums limitations (okay, here the camera was bad. Her shockwave was kinda odd… suddenly all were injured.. okay?), but otherwise…
In the end the only thing we as players got was just the big reveal in the cinematic.

Sidestorywise Not much actually. We got Ellen staying out of the way… okay… sure.. Heal-O-Tron saving our butts in battle which was awesome and Magnus staying around. Oh and Taimi, showing some kind of emotions as we talk to her after the fight…
Otherwise not much has changed as far as i know off… kinda disapointed.

The loot.. great, i think. Got nothing awesome, but i can work on my ascended armor now a bit with the lesser vison chrystals. Otherwise most went to the venodor ot getting escavated… in the end two gold and a nice mask…
I see potential here for people who stay with the event..

Replayability? I honestly am not in the mood to go brain afk for another hour. Seriously the payoff isnt nearly enough for me, to do so… It is easier and more stimulating to do everything else.

In the end i can say it was a nice one time experience for me.
Putting Scarlet down was satisfying, even though they could have seriously revealed that “twist” a lot earlier… so yeah, new ED. whoopdidu… next…

She was trying to kill you. The time for questions ended when Braham decided to shoot first and ask questions… well, he doesn’t ask questions other than who to hit.

It’s a relationship between 2 people. Should it matter whatever the sexes of the 2 are? Claiming to not be homophobic when making a homophobic point does not absolve the OP from being homophobic.

Race used to matter to people when it comes to relationships. Do you think it’s acceptable to question the race of 2 people in a relationship today?

My favorite hetero relationship in the game is the bandit man and the seraph woman, hidden away. I don’t remember where it is, but when I found it I sat with them for a while.

I agree with what Arosche says, there are plenty heterosexual relationships. Only, we tend to not register those.

And that’s sort of interesting in itself. Plenty of games present us with 100% heterosexual relationships. No one ever even notices that. At least not without actively looking for it.
But here we have one lesbian relationship on main NPCs, and one which couuuuld be interpreted as overtly lesbian (it’s difficult to say, Sylvari have sexual dimorphism but no actual gender identity much). And it’s… special?

Sure, it stands out in a way I guess, but only by standing out less than other games.

I will also agree that I’d love to see male homosexual romance as accepted as female one has become recently, but well… I think society has a bit to go before most people will no longer find it awkward. Still, good effort.

And without wanting to sound personally criticizing, isn’t it more telling that you even noticed the “abundance” (it isn’t) of primary-NPC lesbian relationships, Morfedel? Why is it even something of note?

(Sidenote, we have a golem/golem couple in the personal story, and that part was one of the saddest moments of the PS. Beat out Tybalt, for me. “The things we do for love”, Asura… I think Dynamics.)

First of all; your point is not homophobic. Anyone who says so should be used as a footstool.

I believe you’ve made a valuable point. Female homosexual relationships are a bit more acceptable ( for absolutely horrid sexist reason as “men like it so it’s okay”) and I absolutely think Anet is trying to push an agenda. A good agenda! The more homosexual relationships in the spotlight the better!

I disagree about the inequality though. There are a ton hetrosexual relationships in gw2, they just fly under your radar because they are so normalised to you. I can count five off the top of my head in personal story (even a married couple!). So a ton of normal hetro sexual relationships for 2 homosexual relationships in the spotlight… seems okay to me.

I would have liked to see more male homosexual relationships but my gut feeling is gw2 player are just not going to take a male relationship as well as they will take a female one. It’s horrible but true I wish it was different.

Thanks again for taking time to answer questions, Angel.

Angel McCoy.1832:

1. No really, what happened to their ability to shape-shift?

They can still shape-shift. This was one of the features about them that drew Scarlet to them. Their ability to shape-shift makes their forms more malleable and thus a better subject for the transformation in the nightmare plant.

Then why do we never see this?

Or are you saying that the Toxic Hybrid was one such “transformation” (despite the appearance and skin texture being that of the sylvari).

Angel McCoy.1832:

Why did the krait agree to work with Scarlet? Why did they not just take the obelisk shards, perhaps enslave some of her minions, with the ruthlessness that they are known for? More so after their “prophet” died? Why do her alliances (krait, dredge, and Flame Legion particularly) continue working for her?

That’s actually 4 questions. Can’t fool me. Hehe. Konig, we devs walk a fine line between giving too much lore, thus spoiling players’ in-game discovery, and not giving enough. If I’m cagey about something, it’s because I don’t want to give you spoilers, and I’m confident that when you activate your superpowers, you’ll find the right conclusions yourselves—and have a lot more fun than if I had spoon-fed it to you in a forum post.

Twas more of a single question (the last one) reworded in many ways to try to get the desired response. I know how you folks at ArenaNet work!

And when it comes to “spoiling players’ in-game discovery” – to be a bit blunt… avoiding that is pointless when we don’t get the information at a reasonable point in the game’s story. Why the krait, Flame Legion, and dredge (if not NC and Aetherblades too) continue to work for Scarlet is something that should have been explained either with the Marionette or with this update, maybe with Battle for LA. But even then it feels a bit late…

Angel McCoy.1832:

1. Why did the krait agree to work with Scarlet?

Warning: The following is paraphrased in out-of-game language and doesn’t even pretend to be polished writing.

-snip wordy word words-

That actually makes it feel a lot better because, until your non-polished explanation, it felt (read: was presented in-game) that the krait didn’t do the “you’re lying” or -kill manyaslave in fury- bits.

That kind of thing is something you should have had presented somewhere in-game (not the actual conversation, but mention of the conversations).

Angel McCoy.1832:

3. More so after their “prophet” died?

As you may have noticed, these krait were profoundly changed during their interaction with the nightmare plant and Scarlet. They are no longer the same creatures they were. They acquired a new look, new skills, and new behavior. Scarlet gave them their prophet, as promised—and may be able to do it again one day. Who was it that killed the prophet? Hmmmm.

See, one may come to this conclusion, but that “new behavior” bit never really seemed to translate to many people in-game. That actually sounds perfectly reasonable, but there’s no showing of this in-game. Just a bunch of voiceless mooks to farm bags for – and that doesn’t feed imagination.