Guild Wars 2

lordkrall.7241:

It is also made rather clear in the story that Taimi seems to have a way to fix the WPs so that Mordy can’t use them anymore, which would make this all issue rather moot.

But that would get in the way of his dream of riding mounts through those dredge tunnels and having his head clip through the ceiling every stride . . .

perilisk.1874:

Maybe when the queen is killed, an ancient human magic is broken allowing demons from the Mists to begin invading Tyria, and then we have take the Locket to the Blades… err Shining Blade, and help them track down the heir before the demons. Then the heir uses the magic of the locket to turn into Glint’s baby or something, I don’t know. Then, Glint Jr. gives us the power to head north and yell at Jormag until he dies.

Too much skooma, this one.

Though if people keep insisting to me there are only five human gods, I might have to wonder.

8/10

It’s Rainin’ Direhearts, hallelujah! Jokes aside it’s a nice enough name, the Rainin to me sounds like it would fit well enough with the whole Guardian theme, but I’m somewhat iffy on the Direheart bit; still a nice enough name though!

As fern my own name, it’s Nelle Borus; not very imaginative, I know, but the several I tried were taken!

Necromancy is her calling… I tried to give her a wintery theme, name included, ah well.

9/10

I REALLY like how you put thought into it and the race as a whole. Really well done and creative! The second part of the name is the only reason I felt a bit iffy (at a 9), just didn’t feel like it fit with how well thought out the first name was.

My Sylvari Guardian is: Rainin Direheart

I don’t really want to go into much explanations other than Rainin has been a name I’ve used for a long time when naming my main characters and it felt a little fitting of the race and the class. Direheart has a lot to do with my personification into this character..

As I see it, there are several issues underlying the problem here and none of it has to do with Scarlets age. Scarlets age is just the topic that brought this problem up, it’s not the problem itself.

First, in game lore is often presented from a first person perspective; this means that the npcs are participants in the lore, not omniscient, and error prone. Any lore we get from them is suspect but generally recognized as being in the same realm as true. However, if the npc is integral to a story any information gained must be tempered with the knowledge that it may be falsified for the story. So relying on just in game npcs for lore is problematic.

Second, games (both MMOs and Non MMOs) deal with this in one of two ways; a factual codex in the game or out of game codex or dev run wiki. Information in these sources is generally considered canon and factual because it is delivered from an omniscient third person perspective. This can be extended to player run wiki’s but because players never have 100% of the correct information it’s not always reliable.

Third, Anet has deliberately not created a codex or dev run wiki and instead guided players to outside game sources such as interviews and blog posts for in game lore. When devs do this with the intent of giving players factual lore it should be considered canon. In every game where the devs release information in this manner it is considered canon. This is fine, it is a legitimate form of providing information for players.

The problem with what Bobby said is in two parts. Part 1 is that there is a scarcity of factual in game lore. However they are trying to rectify this.

Part 2 is where the issue is. Bobby has just invalidated Anets preferred method of giving lore to players. At best he just cast suspicion on the lore for a gmpc, at worst he’s just invalidated everything out of the game including books, wikis, interviews and dev posts. Where on that spectrum you fall is up to you.

Regardless of what you think about the lore, for Bobby to state such a thing is…unusual. That kind of comment can only have negative consequences in the community and everything the lore team says from this point forward will be tainted by it. He has just made it so we can trust nothing they say. Which is just so very, very sad. My only hope is that it was a joke that came across badly.

The first thing to really catch my eye about the new living story is a conversation about the player character being the pact commander. Really makes the “living world” thing seem dynamic and connected. Nice to see that Anet is paying attention to details in the story.

Quick question: what resources have the people who missed ‘’key parts’’ of the first season, or are just new to the game (or are Chinese) to know these characters?
I really don’t know, and I thought they would have added some kind of introduction or something, but i really have no idea.

Kenrid.7859:

I think what Mr. Stein is trying to say here is things change. The interview and blog being quoted are from more than a year before the game was released. They changed the whole look of the sylvari during that time. A month after that interview they could have decided, you know, let’s make it so a whole crop of sylvari are about to be born. But the asura come in and experiment and kill all but the 12. We will call them The Survivors instead of First Born. They could have done that if they wanted, if they did, you still going to hold them to what they said a year before when still in the creation process?

You realize that those interviews and questions came out during ‘sylvari week’ – when the redesign was revealed, and they told us about the Firstborn and the Secondborn and so much more, right?

That was the big reveal of sylvari lore spread throughout multiple sites, revealing the big change and new direction of the sylvari from their earlier ‘pseudo-elf’ look.

And it is generally very poor form to change released story, because if they admit that they altered what was stated multiple time during the biggest reveal of sylvari lore via asking if it was in-game or not, that’s no different than saying “anything not in the game is subject to change.” And that’s a lot of the background lore we’ve been given over the years. Hundreds of interviews, hundreds of forum posts, dozens of livestreams, hundreds of documents released to give a sense of the lore of the game for potential customers. To say that all of that can change at the drop of the hate removes a hell of a lot of credibility from the writers at ArenaNet.

And if that’s the case, we might as well dump all the lore we get out of game, and as I said, that’s a kitten lot. Given how the lore is presented in GW2, in fact, most of the more enticing tidbits come from out of the game. Reasons for the gods’ leaving, reason why sylvari look humanoid, how and when the Flame Legion came upon the titans, the entire history of Shiro Tagachi that was never touched upon in-game. Because ArenaNet lacks a means of providing paragraphs of text without humongous dialogue trees – even in GW1 – most lengthy lore comes from out of game. To say that all of that is subject to change?

Then what’s the point of having all those forum clarifications by Angel and Scott? Why bother even accepting interviews that focus on the story? Why even release those “<race> week”s? There is no point, because hell, any of it can be discarded at the drop of a hat!

Kenrid.7859:

Jeff Grubb gave an interview on norn and was asked how they pick a mate. He said they are about their story, their legend, and look for a mate whose legend matches their own. I have not seen anything in game to confirm this.

Actually, this is shown in Eye of the North, the background around Knut Whitebear and his wife (though we never met her, there are a few NPCs who talk about how legendary she and Knut are, and how while Knut lives in Hoelbrak she’s out there still building her legend), this is also brought up with Eir and Bjorn (whom lived a similar life – the husband settled down while the wife continued to build her growing legend).

It’s also shown that it isn’t universally the case, however, such as the event chain in northern Dredgehaunt Cliffs.

Kenrid.7859:

In a small way this is kind of why companies don’t like giving out too much info during the design phase. And I don’t mean just lore, but skills, professions, whatever..

“Two years before the game came out you said there would be Wardens and Marksmen, where are they!”
“We took them out, didn’t work, we didn’t like them.”
“You can’t do that, you ruined the game!”

It’s one thing to change the mechanics and story before release, it’s another thing to change such after promising them. Because then you’re breaking promises. And in the case of lore pieces like this, when you present the same fact multiple times during a period which is emphasizing the aspect of lore you’re providing pieces of, and then go about changing it with no story reason, that’s just sloppy storytelling. They should know what they should reveal and not, and work around that which they revealed – whether it’s keeping it in place but making new stuff work out (like your “The Survivors” idea, though even that wouldn’t work due to the sylvari week reveals) or by explaining why it’s false via in-universe explanations (like why the History of Tyria from the Prophecies manual is mostly proven false now).

This can be pretty lame when it happens.

However, the wolf pups in TA give no loot but do give xp and on kill benefits. So the code is there to fix this, if they just want to avoid loot farming.

As someone who appreciates art and regularly attends art galleries, I have to say I like it a lot. No it’s not a realistic representation of the zone, as others have said, it’s an abstract one. It makes you study the elements in the image, which in a way tricks you into appreciating the brush strokes instead of what they represent. That’s a connection to the artist that’s not present in realistic artwork. The color palette is bold and represents the zone well. In a way, the style represents it well, too. Elements in the image are broken and don’t fit together perfectly just as the airship no longer fits together as it once did. The abstract style makes it hard to depict what the image is. In the zone, Dry Top, during the sandstorm it is also hard to make out things in the distance. The image and zone share this uncertainty.

The image itself and what it depicts forms this monumental form towering above. Through the shadows and highlights one is able to understand the landforms. When I first saw it, I thought it was a great loading image as it keeps your curiosity high. It waits until you’re in the zone to see what the real thing looks like. You can sit in the zone and take all the screenshots you want to get a realistic image of it, but the loading screen is a little more flexible.

People cant beat an afk range fight. This is the new low.

Right before the final fight the game teaches you how to handle his shield with sun aspect (target him, use the skill to hit him, OBVIOUSLY) which spawns just right behind you, so take two steps back, press 2 and range afk until he is dead. Gosh … People are just … arrrgh ….

Feelm.1938:

He’s still a sponge for those of us who aren’t lolzerk hugedps classes. My necro has a choice of close range axe or melee daggers. This guy zips around platforms, dropping these massive bombs which can’t be dodged on the smaller ones and my axe can’t always be in range of him from the middle.

Can we fix the zerker meta yet?

You have a staff, scepter and death shroud, not to mention Lich form which is the 3rd highest damage option in the game after elementalists and thieves. A 900 range weapon can reach it anywhere, both staff and DS is 1200, your scepter is 900 and you can trait your wells to become ranged too. L2P
I found it funny how you despise zerkers, while running tanky build and not even know your class.
There is nothing to fix since nothing is wrong. It always boils down how uninformed players are.

Wow, good find Horst! Checked it for myself just now. Makes me wonder if there’s anything more hidden info like that. Just checked the Vigil HQ for any new text but nothing there.

Tho…

Horst Hortensie.5420:

Priory Durmand library
“Scarlet Briar: a Brief”

“Scarlet Briar: a brief” by Priory Scholar Donn
(read on)
Scarlet Briar: 1304 – 1327 (Sylvari, Cycle of Day)
(read on)

…ow.

ElysianEternity.6215:

Tho…

Horst Hortensie.5420:

Priory Durmand library
“Scarlet Briar: a Brief”

“Scarlet Briar: a brief” by Priory Scholar Donn
(read on)
Scarlet Briar: 1304 – 1327 (Sylvari, Cycle of Day)
(read on)

…ow.

“Ow” indeed. Cycle of the Day, aka Cycle of the Noon are the warriors, yet there’s a cycle for diplomats (“silver-tongued” Scarlet’s claimed to be) and one for scholars (engineer she’s claimed to be).

And then we know from the novels’ timeline that the sylvari came into being in 1302 AE. And per Ree Soesbee the Secondborn came to be 6 or 7 years later.

Yeah. “Ow.”

This thread is to leave new in-game information that are written down (books, logs, etc).

Please leave a note where to find it.

Yeah, I had a bit of a discussion about this skill with Konig. The weird thing is, I introduced the concept of a bone bridge skill back in GW1 with one of my Horrorween trailers, and I was really staggered to now see an npc conjure one up in GW2. I really wonder if it is perhaps a reference, or just a case of sheer coincidence.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpvKzREwu4

HHR LostProphet.4801:

The stability on Lich Form does last longer than the actual skill, atleast for me. However, when Lich Form ends, the stability gets removed aswell.
Is this intentionally or a bug?

Warning: sarcasm approaching

Well it wouldn’t be very elite if you could gain that much stability whenever you wanted without having to be a giant undead reindeer. This is the necro we’re talking about…

I’ve seen at least 4 threads calling for an end to jumping mechanics in GW2 due to frustration with this release and it’s auxiliary mechanic; aspect crystals. I just want to remind Anet that many of us love the jumping in this game.

Environments in GW2 have real physical depth and consequences. A mountain actually means something because you can climb it and jump off of it. A cliff actually means something because you can fall off of it. 3D is pointless if you don’t actually make use of the 3rd dimension. Jumping is pointless if there is nothing to jump on, over, around, through, etc. Without jumping, GW2 would be a flat, boring, 2D landscape full of punching bags for us to auto attack until we fall asleep from the monotony.

If you remove auxiliary mechanics from existing or future content, you will be removing the flavor that brings the content to life. You will be dumbing it down. Lowering the bar to the lowest common denominator. Every time this happens in a game, it diminishes the entire industry. See Call of Duty as an example.

For every one person complaining about it, there is another person who thoroughly enjoys it and is willing to learn to press 1, 2, 3, and space bar from time to time. Please don’t curtail “fun” from the game.

Also please bring back SAB! :P

Actually, yes, there IS a music track from the OST called “Zhaitan”. Unfortunately I’m still not up to the Orrian stages of the Personal Story, so I can’t say where it might play in the game.

Tears.5627:

Just imagine what the coding looks like if the grammar is this bad.

Accurate spelling in most areas of programming matters not, as long as everything is consistently misspelled throughout the code.

I find Jeremy Soule’s music to be very… Jeremy Soule.

He makes pretty music, don’t get me wrong- but it’s the same music in every game he does. You can transplant TES music straight into GW2 and it doesn’t feel out of place, for example, and I’m worried that he’s kinda generic simply because he’s so popular in fantasy RPG space.

I agree with no new race in Season 2. That’s too big to not hint at, especially at this stage. However, about “no room for tengu,” I disagree. See attachment (it’s part of an old suggestion for expanding Southsun and how to fit tengu in as a new race that I never got to finishing).

And why can’t it be with a lot of water? Here’s your solution: aerial-based vertical-shaped zones. Most of the gameplay would be based on chunks of lands in the air, tengu-made contraptions that relate to their avian selfs.

A level 1-10 or 1-15 zone could be made inbetween Kessex and Lion’s Arch, stretching down to include the Wizard’s Tower and Claw Island if the latter, and tengu leveling for 10+ or 15+ can be done in Caledon and Kessex Hills, which we already have entryways for. The starter zone would also have access to Garrenhoff and Lion’s Arch, perhaps even Bloodtide and/or Southsun if desired.

its in an area where we could expect anything from 20 to 60
its not even next to a sterter zone.. its next to a zone after a starter zone

cough and even starter zones can lead into lvl 80 areas.. cough

karka island is lvl 80 as well
and if they handle it the same way
then during the event youre going to be upscaled
story is instanced anyway..
and after the event is over youre not going to be upscaled

at least i think its going to be this way
(if they add a new area remember maybe they just make brisban wildlands a bit larger and add a event that will in a few weeks be the pre event to enter the new zone..)

something like 45-60 would e nice..
but i think its going to be 80

I predict that we’ll get….

wait for it…

waaaaiiit for iiit….

Wait, what?

The talk between the Sylvari and the Asura in the Grove by the gate, I don’t know the whole thing so here’s a sample:
“After that question about turtles in the desert you crossed its wires. I don’t know how you did it but you wierded out my golem!”

“Your golem? You created it? So does that make you the mother or the father?”

“Well I guess that makes me the- oh no, you’re not getting in my head…”

It’s only a line but I can’t help but be amused every time. The Judging Quaggan that hangs out in Jorand’s Sluice in Snowden.

“Where did you learn to swim? Did a rock teach you? Quaggan thinks it must have been a rock.”

And it’s not exactly ambient but two lines you get entering the explorable AC dungeon cracks me up every time:
Tzark: “See? This is why we need a cohesive plan. People just wander in here and get attacked.”
Detha : “No one’s arguing about the need for a plan. Your plan is just stupid and won’t work.”

The problem with hearts is that they are pretty much traditional quests, with the only advantage of being more seamless, and the major disadvantage of being too simplistic to the point that they are unable to create interesting gameplay and storyteling scenarios.

I’d rather have they go back to GW1’s heavily story driven quests, but with the seamless of the hearts, than the addition of new generic, bar-filling hearts.

EDIT: I do agree that a system like this is important to guide players and give some interesting structure to the game. Without such thing, the world feels a bit fragmented, where you can go anywhere, do anything, but everything feels purposeless. But hearts are just way too boring/ bland.

webtoehobbit.4201:

First of all, the Sanctum does get destroyed, did you watch the trailer? Second, it is one of the most beautiful zones in the game. Third, why does it have to get destroyed? If we’re going to Maguuma, why did they go way out of their way to the Sanctum to destroy it…. Someone at ANet has a love of explosions almost as much as Michael Bay does.

You seem to be confused. What gets destroyed in the trailer is indeed the Zephyr Sanctum. However, the Sanctum is not the zone that you’re referring to. That’s the Labyrinthine Cliffs, which we were already going to lose access to at the end of the month.

In the trailer, the Sanctum was flying through the sky, no longer docked at the Cliffs. Presumably flying west, and then crashing in Maguuma. There is no indication that the Cliffs themselves (which I agree is one of the most beautiful zones) are going to get destroyed. But we are losing access to the Cliffs regardless, which a lot of us have already protested.