Guild Wars 2

Server: Tarnished Coast
Zone: Brisban Wildlands

Near Hidden Lake, there is a Seraph Observers camp (including the helpfully named “Seraph Observers Waypoint”) that is constantly—and I do mean constantly, with no hyperbole—being overrun by bandits. Every time I’ve gone there, all of the NPCs are dead and there are 5-6 bandits standing around. There’s no point in trying to clear the bandits, as new waves of bandits immediately spawn, run in, and start beating on PCs. There’s no point in rezzing the NPCs, as they are quite weak and will simply die again in a matter of seconds to the infinitely respawning bandits. Mind you, there is no indication that this is a broken dynamic event.

This is a bit of a problem. The waypoint is never marked as “contested”, but I have teleported to that point and been slaughtered before my client finished syncing up. As unclean as it makes me feel, I would almost LIKE to see a couple of bots in attendance to wipe out the endless bandit spawns.

Is this working as intended? Is this camp actually supposed to be a meaningless destination?

(It is all the more bizarre to note that there is a pack-beast escort quest that takes you from the Seraph Protectors camp to the Seraph Observers camp . . . and when you arrive at the overrun Observers camp, the NPC and pack beast calmly walk in amongst the bandits, completely ignored, to quietly despawn.)

Cantha. Cantha. Cantha. Chants

Cantha was by majority, heavily Asian themed. ArenaNet drew inspiration from the many Asian cultures and created something outstanding and unique from that. That doesn’t change the fact it still mostly draws from Eastern Asia. Not everything was Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean in nature. There’s still the Philippines, there’s still Vietnam. There’s a lot of vastly different Asian cultures, and having grown up very closely with families from many of these places and taking trips with them I can tell you that there’s almost nowhere in Cantha that isn’t drawing from at least one of them.

Even when you get to the factions in Cantha, which draw from Russia and other places near by where Asia and Eurasia converge, thus directly influencing each other to varying degrees. So even there you’ve got the influences and themes very present.

Almost everything artistically draws inspiration, or a theme from somewhere in the real world, that doesn’t equate to a lack of originality by any means, the originality comes from what you do with it and what you can create with that influence that makes it special, unique, and memorable which is what ArenaNet did with Cantha, and all the other regions they created for that matter.

TwoWaysyaWowT.3160:

Weeeell, such work would be necessary to truly create a “living world,” wouldn’t it?

That’s the core of the oxymoron that is GW2, isn’t it now?

ArenaNet doesn’t have a “living story” they have a mixture of an evolving and a stasis story. The core release being the stasis, everything since being the evolving.

Sort of the same kind of issue that the personal story is – you make decisions, but those decisions don’t affect anything in the long run. Similarly, the “living world” changes, but the original story is still there. And to truly make the game a living world, they’re going to need to start removing/reducing/changing the open world’s core story.

But they’re not going to do that. Not for some time, I’m sure. Maybe in 2014. Maybe. But my hopes aren’t up.

And this is part of the main reason why I hate the temporary content. By ArenaNet’s “living story” ploy, the original content shouldn’t be available anymore. So why the hell are they limiting players of the newer content but keeping the older content unchanged (and not even improving it at that!).

Ah, but excuse my rant. That’s not lore.

Oh my this is in-tents.

>.>

I can’t believe no one has said it yet.

“IT’S A TARP!”

Thank you to all the kind people who helped me. I made it to the top and voted.

More importantly my faith in gamers and people in general is restored.

I won’t go into how I am able to type since some people are not aware there is speech to text programs that are quite proficient nowadays.

In any case, for those others out there who have issues like me, if you need any advice or a shoulder to cry on in game when you have tried the same jump a kajillion times I am more than willing to pay this current kindness forward.

Oh and Arenanet, for the record I am very impressed at the efforts you have made on my (and others) behalf to include new and innovative skills to assist us up those pesky JP’s. If I did not care, I would just silently fade away, I would not come here and pound my flippers.

Also on topic, thank you for reworking the wonderful Hunger Games Beta Weekend event into Evon’s mini game. It was my favorite Beta Weekend end event.

Yall try to be kind to one another. And thanks to all the kind people who offered to help.

You are what makes me stay in Guild Wars.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

If you can type a post on these forums you can get to the top of the sanctum.

If you are having trouble with the 3 jumps required then try using the lightning move instead of jumping.

OMG, you are so ignorant! Have you never heard of speech to text software? Do you not think that even with one knuckle and a bunch of time, anyone could post a response?

The level of insensitivity and ignorance in this thread is unbelievable.

… You HONESTLY think Evon Gnashblade, a charr, is going to try to open up communication/trade with ultra-xenophobic Cantha? The Continent that actually BANISHED and possibly executed all non-humans from its boarders?

Yeah. Keep dreaming.

Personally, if I get to the finish line first, I’ve won. I don’t need to cross it to prove to the other 11 players that I’m super awesome. I’m fine handing 1st place to someone because 2nd is a pretty good accomplishment too, and it doesn’t hurt my ego to see my name in 2nd place if I know I’ve done it intentionally. Now if the 2nd place player happens to be someone I recognize as having already won, I’m gonna cross that finish line first cause that’s 2 extra silver.

As I’ve said before in other threads, some people have crappy connections due to where they live an they couldn’t win the race honestly if they tried.

OP, there’s no onus on anyone to not try as hard as they can. But that doesn’t mean that a person can’t be nice and allow someone to win if they want.

I beat the race, but I STRONGLY suspect people with me saw me struggling and intentionally finished behind me. The lag I get makes some of my jumps just go bad. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

In the Living Story section of the forums, there’s a thread with people from other countries complaining about the behavior of the skills in the game due to latency. I don’t have the same problems many of those people do, but I still get enough to make certain things difficult. Crab Toss from my house was almost impossible. It’s not like I can move to the US.

So if you want to help people, there’s nothing wrong with it, but you’re not obligated to do it in any way. Honestly if someone demanded it or whined about it, I probably wouldn’t help much either, but if I saw someone struggling, coming in last race after race, I probably would just sorta slow down.

I admit seeing the same person win over and over again can be annoying. However, it is a competition, although there are obvious tiers of competence among the participants. (and of course, those of us with less than stellar pings have no hope of first…..ever)

One would think that some people, that continually take first, would get bored – feeling like there isn’t really any competition. I kind of think that perhaps a ranking method might be helpful, similar to the hot join pvp – if you continually win, you get matched up against others that continually win (can take number of wins, time to finish, vs time of other participants to finsh, etc into the calculation here). Make it more competitive, in a sense.

The only time it bothers me, is when they start rubbing it in your face. But then again, I take issue with poor sportsmanship of any kind.

ZBeeblebrox.4928:

I never buy Black Lion Keys. I always use waypoints. The choice is pretty easy…

This.

Hi! I saw a lot of people having trouble with this ability, and so to clear up any confusion I’ve created this handy guide on reliably reaching your destination, with no hassle!

Hopefully this guide will prevent any troubles you may have had in getting some of those pesky crystals, and may even teach you how to be a better player!

I did get a ticket from the normal ones (opened about 700 up to now) but I do not think it is well done. This is temporary content, so you need to be lucky and on top you need to be lucky now , not in a month. I do not mind RNG in other games, where I can farm the boss/mobs until I get the desired drop. But RNG on temporary content, with no alternative way of obtaining the item is not well done at all, unless the drop rate is high, which is not the case here. It means you can farm all you want but still not be able to get your desired item EVER, because the content will disappear.
If the tickets were tradeable, or the gem boxes were 100% it would had been very well done. As it is, no.

Reivaxe.1358:

And the best part is, we see SO MANY good suggestions on how to fix RNG from the players! From “make opening 1000 coffers a achievement that gives you one ticket” to “have a consolation ticket for people who buy 5+ rich coffers and don’t get anything” to “make the rich coffers actually greatly favor the player so that they should realistically have a good chance of getting one or more skins from the gem coffers” to just flat out “allow people to buy these skins on the gem store”.

You forgot: “allow people to get one guaranteed weapon skin for completing achievements”.

You told us your story OP … let me share mine.

I got the ’Sooo Life LIKE!" achievement and went well over it. Heck, the first day I had over 300 something coffers (ya know, before the stealth nerf to coffers dropping). The first day of the event I got 7 rich coffers from the GEm Store because the released info made it sound like you were guaranteed a ticket (ya know, before they edited that part hours AFTER the event to make it clear that it was a RARE RICH coffer drop).

What do I have to show for this after all this time?
Maybe 10 Minis, 2 holo-wings (as mob drops, NOT coffers … I’m pretty sure they simply don’t drop from coffers) and a ton of candy/ food.

Never again will I spend money on RNG in this game. That rich coffer deal was a scam if only because they decided to change the wording AFTER the damage was done.

RNG worked out for you … that’s good … for YOU … right NOW. For the people willing to spend Real World MONEY on this? To both support the company/ game AND get something for their investment? Is it good practice to screw over loyal customers? Maybe in the short run … but something tells me that the reason they keep trying to find the “right way” to do RNG is because they know they’re walking a thin line with a time limit.

And the best part is, we see SO MANY good suggestions on how to fix RNG from the players! From “make opening 1000 coffers a achievement that gives you one ticket” to “have a consolation ticket for people who buy 5+ rich coffers and don’t get anything” to “make the rich coffers actually greatly favor the player so that they should realistically have a good chance of getting one or more skins from the gem coffers” to just flat out “allow people to buy these skins on the gem store”.

No, it’s not done well…

Halloween had the best system in my opinion. Chance at a skin, but could be bought on tradepost. This gave people a greater incentive to buy the chests because they could actually make an ingame profit doing so.

You were just really lucky. There are a lot of people who have put a lot of time or/and money into it and have nothing to show for it. No, its not well done. RNG is a horrible system. It needs to stop. I will give praise to the things A.Net has done well, but this is not one of them. It is the opposite of well done, its horrible.

Vol.5241:

It is unreasonable to expect a new map every 2 weeks.

The 2-week schedule is something Anet has imposed upon themselves. I can’t say I’ve read very many endorsements of that schedule either, most people seem to feel it’s too much and I agree with them.

I would personally prefer more of a 4-8 week schedule with ‘beefier’ content instead of run around for a week spamming “F” on objects, grinding mobs for achievements, and maybe a 5 minute story instance. It feels like filler with no real substance or enjoyment. I don’t want or need that every 2 weeks.

Right now, Guild Wars 2 is new, it’s thriving and players are still eager to see what’s around the corner. But with any game, newness wears off and quality content that is new is what keeps players biting. Throwing in fast paced content I think will only deter a good portion of players. Especially when new large MMOs come out to the playing field.

Just because they are releasing content every two weeks doesn’t mean its attracting. Kind of like Call of Duty updates, new maps with the same objective, after awhile new maps don’t matter because the mechanics are the same. That’s why that franchise is in a rapid 1 year game release, to change things up. Even then they have a hard time adding new exciting features.

All I’m trying to say is, games that last are the ones with quality content. That’s what an expansion is all about, a large amount of content that is released like a new game. It’s been pounded with QA and has new voice overs, mechanics, themes, etc.

It also creates a “bandwagon” of players who are hopping from one content to the next, following the speed train of content, whats left from previous updates is deserted maps, lonely mini games, etc. I think many players are all ready caught up in this, including myself. Trying to slam all these achievements out so I can be ready for this next slew of content. It creates a fast burnout on players. I would rather be able to take my time and enjoy content at ease.

Believe me, I don’t mind the RNG boxes at all. I’ve defended them in the past, and place the blame firmly on the shoulders of the players who can’t control their buying impulses. Many of whom are adults, by the way, so this isn’t even an age thing. Anyway, I digress…

I can’t exactly say i’m on board with this larger plan.

I love expansions because they represent a whole, large infusion of content. There’s just a lot at once, and they have the liberty to change major things. Entire quest lines, new classes, new abilities, new continents, a whole revamped trait system, skill system, etc.

This little trickle of content is currently nowhere near that of an expansion, even if you add it all together. If you consider what permanent content has stayed in GW2 from release till now… does it even equal half an expansion if all added up? I seem to recall the words “whole expansion worth of content” used in a ANet post describing these patches long ago, which I assume must be a bad joke. 0 new skills, 0 new classes, 1 new map. Same 3 WvW maps, same 1 sPvP mode. The only significant (again, permanent) additions are a few sPvP maps, fractals, guild missions and a WvW trait line. The rest of the gigantic patch notes have been 1) temporary content, 2) balance changes, and 3) bug fixes. Even the new items (ascended) were added in an extremely lazy manner (i.e. plopping them all into one vendor for daily completions) – I would’ve loved to see these tied into some rare world boss drops, some rare dungeon drops, with names befitting where they come from.

I love the frequent content of course, I do all the living story things, I like it! I show my appreciation through paying a self imposed sub fee by purchasing gems, and want these to continue. However, I stress that none of this matches the feel of an expansion. Not even close. These 2 week patches have not yet scratched the surface of content i’d want in an expansion. Can you imagine one of these patches releasing a new class? Can you picture one releasing Elona, or Cantha? I can’t even imagine it without a proper boxed expansion, which I would be more than happy to pay for. If this is written out of GW2’s future, that would really make me a lot less optimistic about this game.

What I’ve loved about expansions in the past is getting 3 or 4 new zones open and released at once. It really was a breath of fresh air, and gave me a new perspective on the game as an adventurer, rather then just re-visiting old zones with slightly different mobs.

The problem, I think, with the living story updates is that there’s no real ground breaking change. It’s like 1 small area, a couple of small events and then waiting a couple of weeks until the next update. There’s no brand new sweeping forests to explore, or new towns or villages, or no new castles/mountains/jungles. And for me that makes the new content just seem a bit hollow.

An expansion would change everything.

Eh. If that’s the case then I’d really like to see them focus more on adding new zones, which is the main reason I’ve been hoping for an expansion. Real zones too, not half-arsed ones like SSC. Likewise, I would accept a complete overhaul of certain existing zones (so that they’re practically new zones), like Orr.

My enjoyment comes from alts and map completion and right now there’s a definite dead end to that content, especially with no expansion. I really don’t care much for what they’ve done with the Living Story so far and I hate all this temporary content.

My gripe with only focusing on fast paced live story content is the amount of QA (Quality Assurance) that goes into each update. The faster you push out content, maps, weapons, armor, etc. the less time you have polish, review, etc. The idea is great, but the product might not be up to par with what they are promising. Take for example players receiving all the dragon helms a week before the finale. A huge bug that got through, something that isn’t as common in slower paced updates. Also note the accidental achievement section ((DELETE ME!!)) that found its way through to the live client. They are working very fast paced and have increased workloads. Broken Content isn’t good content. As players, we shouldn’t be the “ultimate” testers. We want to enjoy the content that the game has promised us. People who take up the testing role should be doing that, not us.

So Kasmeer Meade comes to LA for her “special talents” and then you never see her till you get back to DR.

So unless her “special talents” was entertaining Marjory in the bedroom, what was the point of having her involved in this storyline?

It’s not just global players they’re forgetting, but players in their own time zone! I live in ArenaNet’s backyard (Seattle) and had the story spoiled via their Facebook feed. The content was released at 9am Pacific…and that spoilertastic pic was posted to their FB feed at 3pm Pacific. I’ve been at work for the whole 6 hours between content release and Facebook spoiler.