They’ll ignore us anyway, whether we’re wrong or spot-on. They only pop in to throw us some breadcrumbs – “Yeah, we’ve come up with some stuff for that,” “Unfortunately, resources are being directed elsewhere,” “Yeah, that’s getting fixed,” “Oh, we’re buffing that anyway.” For months, we had a nonfunctional trait that, seemingly, no staff member knew was broken, and probably a thread a month about it.
They can say all they want about reading threads but not having time to reply…I’ll never forget that they couldn’t be bothered to say a word about the Scope issue until it was posted on the sPvP boards, and then tried to say it was working.
Quoting a single change to Spirit Rangers without noting the rest of the changes is disingenuous.
All spirits can now be launched, knocked down, and knocked back.
Storm Spirit, Frost Spirit, Sun Spirit, Stone Spirit, and Spirit of Nature will now begin their recharge when the spirit dies instead of when the spirit is summoned.
Storm Spirit, Frost Spirit, Sun Spirit, and Stone Spirit: Recharge has been reduced from 60 seconds to 25 seconds.
Spirit of Nature: Recharge has been reduced from 240 seconds to 180 seconds.
Solar Flare: Fixed a bug so this skill no longer applies a duplicate infinite duration blind.
I am attempting an objective response. Everything said after this point is, to the best of my knowledge, fact. (Except for sentences marked with [Opinion]:.)
So now the spirits are vulnerable to being knocked around.
They also, unless they changed it, can block the passage of enemies and enemy projectiles through their space (at least, as far as I am aware). [Opinion]: This is likely why they decided to have them be knocked around.
Turrets have never had that power, certainly not that I am aware of. [Opinion]: They likely never will, unless they also receive vulnerability to crowd-control knockarounds.
Their cooldown now starts when they leave the field.
Turret cooldowns have always started when they left the field.
Their cooldowns are now all 25 Seconds, except for Spirit of Nature’s 180-second interval.
I could quote the Turret cooldowns, but honestly, “That would be pretty nice” is all I have to say about the idea of having shorter cooldowns on Turrets.
(edited by Anymras.5729)
Yep. It was exploitable, so they prioritized it – but if it’s a crippling issue, well, sucks for us.
The issue was put in for review, though, along with the World Boss issue; if there’s nothing in the next two patches, and no official word, I’m going to start thinking they’re just straight-up are ignoring them, as I have records of a QA team member replying to those two threads. This patch was within a few weeks of the reply, and I honestly didn’t expect anything in it. It’s thin on bugfixes anyway, so at least we aren’t left in the cold this time.
The lack of bugfixing, though, all the way from release, is why I’ve put nothing into the gem store. Why I never will, at this rate – they don’t fix problems, I don’t give ’em more money than I did when I bought the game to begin with.
I’m not sure if you’re saying it’s something that’s in the game already, or if it’s something they should do. Can’t find it, myself, so I’m inclined to think the latter.
I know, right? I mean, it kind of makes sense (as Ranger spirits don’t directly do a whole lot, as far as I’m aware, whereas our turrets are…supposed to be threats), but…it’d be nice. Maybe they’ll throw us a bone when they finally fix our Turret bugs.
Yeah, thought the difference seemed a trifle minute.
As tooltips haven’t had too much trouble with basic attack power calculations, I’m…actually not sure of the likelihood of it being wrong. If you want to test it, of course, Lion’s Arch has dummies.
Grenade 1 with random low level green rifle 216 damage
Grenade 1 with Predator 232 damageIt seems kits do know the difference between Ascended and non-Ascended. Anything that isnt Ascended prompts the kits their default stats, which is set at Exotic level. Anything that is Ascended/Legendary prompts a higher stat.
Is this accounting for stat bonuses which may increase Power?
I ask because I’ve seen a conflicting report in another thread, saying that Kits haven’t been updated, based on Attack Power display in the Hero Panel.
So i just tested it.
I set my quip to zerker and put an exotic zerker in my off hand and it looked like this.
with quip = 2585 (taking into account my gear ofc)
in nades = 2548
deductions = 37now i remove quip, keep the zeker exotic in my off hand, no changes to my gear then equip a zerker exotic pistol in my main hand.
with the exotic pistol = 2556
in nades = 2544
deductions = 12nades (quip) – nades (zerk exotic) = 4
4 equals the increase in power from having an ascended weapon equiped over an exotic. (this is applied while in kit)
This implies that kit base strength has not been increased.
furthermore as shown above there is a base str differential of 25 over an exotic weapon and a 33 (deducting the plus 4) point differential while in kit.
Point being, if I’m reading this right, now they’re not just screwing the pooch cosmetically, they’re screwing the gameplay, too, by not updating Kits to match Ascended gear base stats.
They’ll probably update Kit damage to match Ascended gear around Halloween or Christmas, I imagine; long enough for everyone else to get Ascended gear, and get us worked into a right lather about the bullkitten of it all. Who needs to actually make sure that the Engineer’s skills are working right and being scaled properly?
The reign of the hobosack continues. Figured I’d spare you folk the trouble of digging through the patchnotes.
Welp, they’ve improved Legendaries:
Changes to Legendary Weapons
Legendary weapons now have increased stats to keep them in line with the new ascended weapons as “best in slot” items.
Legendary weapons now have functionality to allow their inherent stat combo to be changed to any other stat combo when out of combat.
The Bifrost: Updated the effects and texture to be more detailed and vibrant, enlarged the footfall effects, and added a new projectile.
Adjusted the position of the golden arrow on Kudzu and updated the effects on the Kudzu projectile.
Meteorlogicus: Updated the texture, effects, and animations; added a day/night cycle for the effects; and added a new footfall effect.
Frostfang now has larger, more impressive footfall effects.
The Juggernaut, Bolt, Incinerator, and Rodgort now have larger footfall effects.
Quip now has more impressive footfall effects.
Updated the texture and effects on The Moot.
Updated the effects on The Minstrel to be larger, more impressive, and more frequent.
Updated the pommel on Eternity and added a unique footfall effect.
Added a new footfall effect to The Dreamer.
Added a new projectile to Frenzy.
Added a new skill effect to Howler.
Updated the effects and texture on Kraitkin.
Checked the patch notes twice, though, and couldn’t find anything about Kits or Bundles. Nice to feel like they actually care, isn’t it?
I’m going to be checking to see if any of the easier-to-test ones have been (fire rate, particularly).
Fire rate unchanged on Rifle Turret.
I’m not getting paid for this, so I’m not going to test all the turrets just to make sure they’re still broken, if the first one I check continues to malfunction.
(edited by Anymras.5729)
Alright, new patch is live, and not a thing’s been fixed. Not unexpected, considering the timeframes involved. However, whether they fix anything or not, they probably broke something, so.
If you find a new turret bug, bring it here, for testing, confirmation and addition to the list.
Okay, it’s that time – the new patch hakitten. No bugfixes, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t broken something.
If you find a new turret bug, post it here so I can test it, confirm it and add it to the list. Bring me your bugs.
At least it functions now.
…sure, it still sucks, but now it sucks functionally.
Oh, that. Man, I barely noticed that there was a background graphic. Feelin’ real observant right now.
Would be a neat helmet, yeah.
Strangely enough, Turrets count toward weapon kill achievements.
Only, well, they count funny. I got the Staff Master by using the Flame Turret.
I’d say neither is the problem (and this is coming from somebody who’s pretty open about their dislike of Kits and the emphasis placed on them) – although I suppose it’s possible that they considered Kits so integral to Engineer gameplay that they simply didn’t bother figuring out Legendaries for us, that doesn’t explain why they didn’t figure out a way to have Kits display Legendary qualities. Why they haven’t. Why they’ve completely disregarded us and our issues with cosmetics, as far as any of us can tell.
And that, I think, is the problem – they simply ignore that one of their classes relies heavily on something that overrides their Legendaries (which require an extraordinary, concentrated effort to obtain at all), not that they bothered to give said class a fitting Legendary to begin with, instead having Joke Popgun, Holy Magic Shield, and Sci-Fi Sniper Rifle to pick from.
The only update we’re likely to get is “We understand your irritation, but the resources are being dedicated to other projects.” I think, as a matter of fact, that Colin pretty much said just that, months ago.
Nobody’s said a word about the Legendary/Kit situation since – we’ve had more luck getting responses on Hobosacks. I know for a fact I ain’t the first to say this, but for a game that revolves so much around cosmetics, Anet’s really dropping the ball here. Now that there’s actually going to be a functional reason to desire a Legendary weapon, it’s even worse – if we decide to get a Legendary, we have to spend months of effort for one of three weapons that don’t, in any way, fit the Engineer to begin with, and then never even see the kitten thing if we use Kits.
I don’t even use Kits, myself, but this got ridiculous months ago – the issues with Kits and Back Items both. At least we’ve seen one of the people say that they’d come up with an idea on how to handle the back items.
Yeah. Josh Davis commented in the firing rate thread to say he’d sent it in for review, though – so theory, we should get word on whether it’s intended or not.
Going by the ‘lore,’ she probably could, but she’s enough of a Joker ripoff that she’d turn them all into Quip.
so tell me, how is it far if anet lets players ruin the game for others?
How would it be fair if they punished them for other people following them around? Are they supposed to /map I’M JUST FARMING DON’T MIND ME every sixty seconds (so as to minimize people following them unawares)?
To their credit, it’s been less than ten days since this thread was acknowledged. If they pumped out a bugfix in that short of a time, I think I might quit out of simple “It was that kittening easy and they let this kitten be broken for this kittening long by just burying their heads in the sand?”
Here’s hoping the next big patch has some good news – or the one after that, as it’ll still only have been about two weeks before the next release update.
Bug added 8/29/2013, 8:14 PM EST
Thumper Turret is only affected by Rifled Turret Barrels’ range increase until Overcharge is activated; Overcharge and following attacks are not affected.
Bug added 8/29/2013, 8:14 PM EST
Thumper Turret is only affected by Rifled Turret Barrels’ range increase until Overcharge is activated; Overcharge and following attacks are not affected.
Before I go into this one: Man, I hate that 45-character-limit. Hard to be any kind of explanatory with it. End up with a cryptic series of acronyms and abbreviations.
Thumper Turret’s Thump still turns Rifled Turret Barrel’s range increase off after firing.
Steps for reproduction:
- Equip Rifled Turret Barrels and Equip Thumper Turret
- Place Thumper Turret outside of untraited maximum range
- Overcharge Thumper Turret on any firing cycle, at any point
- At conclusion of Overcharge, Thumper Turret will no longer be affected by Rifled Turret Barrel’s Range increase.
Thought this was fixed. Turns out it wasn’t.
(edited by Anymras.5729)
New Bug Discovered 7:31 PM EST, 8/29/2013
Rocket Turret Overcharge only lasts for four seconds, tooltip says it lasts for seven.
Bug added 8/29/2013, 7:31 PM EST
Rocket Turret Overcharge has been found to only last for four seconds, instead of the seven the tooltip purports.
The Engineer’s Rocket Turret skill has yet another bug – this one to do with the Overcharge.
Details:
The tooltip of the Rocket Turret’s Overcharge (Explosive Rockets) states that it has a duration value of 7 seconds.
With a stopwatch and an eye on the visual indicator (the red smoke-effect that emanates around Overcharged Turrets), I measured it to be about 4 seconds.
I will be adding this bug to both my turret buglists (the one here and on the Engineer boards). Thanks to GuilguiS.2738 for reporting it.
Stupid question, I know, but what image is this?
I’ve listed the issues with Net and Rifle turret overcharges in my bug compilation thread; the entire list was acknowledged by Josh Davis, so in theory it (and the mass of other issues) should be on its way to being fixed.
Other than that:
- I’ll investigate the Rocket Turret Overcharge duration issue (it’s supposed to last 7 seconds, with the Rocket Turret’s fire rate being 4 seconds, likely so that it can only fire one Overcharge shot anyway, but if the OC is only lasting 4 seconds, that’s a bug). If I can corroborate the issue, I will.
Scratch that. You can mark that one Corroborated. I’ve added it to my Turret Bug Lists. Will now investigate Thump radius.
- I’m also pretty sure the Thumper Turret’s OC is only supposed to strike once. Is the radius smaller than the tooltip indicates it should be, or does the tooltip also indicate that the radius should be small?
Checked this one using the dummies in Lion’s Arch. My conclusion:
Rifled Turret Barrels isn’t affecting Thumper Turret Overcharge radius. I’ll need to do some more testing to see if it affects Overcharge ranges at all.
(edited by Anymras.5729)
Provide a link? I think you can assume that if there’s zero discussion on this forum about it, then…
This was a while ago when they announced new weapons and traits for all classes coming before the end of the year.
If that was supposed to be in this:
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/7597/Guild-Wars-2-ArenaNets-Master-Plan-for-2013.html
There are two mentions of the Engineer between the article and the comments thread below – one is “Engineer plus Hammer? Check.” and the other is somebody talking about leveling their Engineer to 80.
So, OP…how about a link to the thread? If this is true, then it’s something we should actually be aware of.
That only helps Asura engineers, does not improve the class’s dearth of unique, useful Elite Skills (seriously, the only one I ever see used is Supply Crate, and that’s a pack of buggy Utility skills in a box – our other Elites are a conglomerate of three other class transformations, and a Mortar that gets outmatched by a strong throwing arm), and they pretty much wanted racial skills to suck anyway, from what I hear. If they did give it (the Power Suit) a rebalance and made it good, I might use it, but I’d hope for a unique Engineer Elite in any case.
Hahah, hey, if you want to drop it in, go for it. Who knows, maybe it’ll inspire me to make Veirkan an actual character.
Where did you hear this?
I actually wouldn’t mind if it replaced the weapon skills, but as the Engineer is more heavily reliant on their Utilities and Toolbelt than most classes…I think it’d be fitting for the Engineer’s Transform skill to allow continued access to Utility Skills and the Toolbelt.
The issues with the Power Suit, in my opinion, arise not from the skills being replaced, but from how the skills replacing them are handled (the global cooldown prevents fluid transition from one attack to another, the long cast times make most attacks terribly easy to predict and counter).
Thanks for the feedback, everybody.
Tobias: Yeah, I had it formatted properly (indentations and all) in OpenOffice, but it broke when I copy-pasted it. Tried to pseudoformat it by putting a few spaces in front of the first word of several lines, and it ended up ignoring it. Bit of a pain, that. Will have to look into sorting it.
Getting the characters mixed up is something I definitely need to work on, though.
As for the question: Nope. Okka’s a character I came up with entirely for this story idea, which also became the Living Story idea I had. Thinking I might write more Okka stories, though – and probably incorporate some ideas I’ve had for Asura Engineer Turrets into them if they ever get actiony.
My actual GW2 character’s Veirkan, who I named before I knew anything about Asura names besides that they seem to be short and sharp. Never bothered ascribing a personality to him, likely never will, so there’s not likely to be any Veirkan Tales or anything.
…you know, I’ve tried to summarize this a few times. I’m going to try…one more time.
If I’m reading this right, you’re asking for action to be taken against players who:
- Have Commander tags
- Are choosing to farm rather than finish the event
- Get snippy when people tell them to stop farming and finish the event
- Aren’t telling people following them that they’re only farming
because: - It’s hard to get Living Story completed and/or related Achievements
- People are following them around without knowing they’re only farming
- And they give you kitten when you ask them to participate so the event can be cleared
despite: - They choose to play the game how they choose to play the game
- Presumably, nobody asked if they were farming, or they’d say so
- They may well have thought the people following them were trying to farm, too
- Commanders tend to be foci for zergs, so they’re probably used to people following them
- Somebody just told them to stop doing what they wanted, and to do what the other person wanted, probably not very courteously.
Do you realize just how nonsensical that is? I don’t even have a commander tag, but this is basically going “How dare Forrest Gump not tell the people following him unprompted that he’s just running for no reason when there’s a Run For [Cause] in town!”
I like this idea. I have one reservation, though:
I’m concerned they’d do it like the Asura Power Suit Racial Elite. You know how many times I’ve used that?
Four. Because it sucks. It lasts longer than a few seconds, but it’s also not very good – everything it does triggers a very short global cooldown that’s just long enough to slow down the user’s actions, in particular.
Also, I’d really hope for this mecha-armor to have some good skills. The powersuit just ends up being kind of clunky, with long cast times on skills that makes the issue of the GCD even more annoying.
Well, they’ve already got it in Fractals. It’d give them an easy option to start branching it into non-Fractal content, which would help force people into crafting Ascended gear for the Infusion slots.
, and the dialogue (of particular characters, such as Delaqua or Scarlet) painful.
Dialogue is always hard.
Tobias: Hey, that looks pretty good. Brings existing lore back into the limelight, which is always a bonus.
It’s a slow start with no real payoff, and I approached it under the idea there would not be many new art assets to work with, and only one new temporary zone (the dungeon). It expands on potential if . . . for instance . . . I decided it was okay to use that broken bridge in Lionshead Outcrops? Or if there was indeed a green light to bring back a Mursaat.
Yeah, dialogue can be difficult. I think the voice acting in those parts may have something to do with it, as well – but the pseudonoir airs they tried just didn’t work anyway.
Hey, a slow start is still a start – and not every Living Story has to have some great world-changing payoff. If they okayed bringing back a Mursaat, that’d definitely be a “Oh, crap.” moment for people who’d played GW1.
They fixed Adenaline Pump not working with Turret toolbelts a while ago. I can personally confirm that Surprise Shot does return endurance.
Tathar: Yeah, I don’t any of us are saying that Living Story needs to be War and Peace, the Lord of the Rings, a Song of Ice and Fire, or anything. I just think the plots have been crap, the villains flat (even with the short story attempting to add dimensions, she still seems to have just always been a bad sort), and the dialogue (of particular characters, such as Delaqua or Scarlet) painful.
I actually like the idea that you’ve got for a Charr-centric Living Story segment, too.
Tobias: Hey, that looks pretty good. Brings existing lore back into the limelight, which is always a bonus.
Oop, I got another one to add:
It would be really nice if Turret Overcharges would reinitialize the firing cycle, and thus begin doing whatever the Overcharge was supposed to do when the button was pressed.
While there would be a potential concern about timing it so that the Turret’s Overcharge would reset the firing cycle immediately after firing to begin with, it would make most Overcharges more reliable.
There’s also an issue with Deployable Turrets, where activating the Overcharge while the Turret is in midair will cause the OC to go on cooldown without activating it at all.
Golem Uprising, End Scene
[Scene takes place in the Rata Sum holding cell area; Zojja, Gezzi, and Okka are present, as are SEN7 and SEN9; the latter two are in holding cells. Okka is crying.]
GEZZI: I’m sorry, Okka. That one instigated an uprising, and that one’s a thief. Their intentions are moot.
OKKA, pulling herself together: I know, I know. I just…
GEZZI: It’s alright. We’ve just about fixed everything we could – Zan’s dead, we’ve confiscated any Sedition Engines and Suppression Guns we could find.
ZOJJA: And the Council decided to help the golems build whatever city they’re trying to build, too.
GEZZI: Yeah, like I said, fixed everything we could.
OKKA: What’s that supposed to mean!?
GEZZI: The golem city’s built on stolen property. If I had my way, it’d be returned to the Luminates krewe – but the Council says it stays. So it stays. Hmph.
ZOJJA: It’ll be fascinating to study a sentient golem society, at least.
SEN7: Then the golems will be left free?
GEZZI: Yes. We won’t be freeing any more, but we won’t be resuppressing those that are unsuppressed – as long as they don’t cause trouble, there won’t be any, at least not from the Peacemakers. The Inquest will probably keep attacking it, but that’s the Inquest for you.
SEN9: You will protect our people?
GEZZI: That’s my job, for better or worse.
OKKA: I’ll see if I can help them stay together, Nine. How long is the sentence for the kind of stealing Nine did?
GEZZI: Long. Good behavior, they might get out early. Well, the thief, anyway.
ZOJJA: The other one did help the Inquest try to overthrow the Arcane Council and take over Rata Sum. He’s not going anywhere.
OKKA: I…see.
SEN7: I’m sorry, Okka.
OKKA: I know, Seven. I know. I’ll visit.
End…uh…Ending Scene. End Golem Uprising.
This bit really feels like the weakest of the segments, to me; any feedback is, of course, appreciated.
Aaand done. From 7:15 PM to 2:48 AM, EST, three scripted scenes (though I feel they may be a little short, to be honest, and this last one feels a bit weak to me).
[Several of the Inquest construct a temporary one-way gate from a prototype from the Ulta Metamagicals Krewe, and the rest rush through; some, of course, aren’t able to make it out in time, and get stuck when the temporary portal collapses as the low-quality, lightweight materials of the frame give way.]
ZOJJA: I am getting really tired of that guy getting away.
GEZZI: Likewise. Peacemakers! Detain these Inquest, and that mismatched golem.
SEN9: Please, no – my people need me here. We only seek to be left alone, without fear of subjugation.
GEZZI: Be that as it may, you still stole some very important objects. Cooperate, and this will go easier on you.
SEN9: …Very well. May I have some time to organize my people for when I am gone?
GEZZI: Guess so. Not like you’re going anywhere, with us controlling your gate.
End Midway Scene
If we’re supremely lucky, we might see some bugfixes in the next major bugfix patch – if there’s one in the next couple weeks, I’ll go ahead and guess we’ll see any fixes to Turrets that’re coming any time soon in the patch after that.
I’d ask for some staff input on an ETA, but I know it wouldn’t get a response.
Golem Uprising, Midway Scene
[Scene occurs in the Snaff Memorial Laboratory; Zojja will have joined the Living Story during the first event dungeon, and thus is present. Shortly after the Starting Scene, it would have been revealed through dialogue with Peacemaker Gezzi that SEN9 and the golems working with him managed to abscond with city cubes from the Luminates krewe’s incessant testing. Okka is also present, though guarded by Peacemakers; her cooperation with the Peacemakers after the initial friction has earned her the opportunity to help them find the stolen cubes and vanished golems.]
ZOJJA: Hah! I did it. I found the stolen city cubes.
OKKA: How? Reverse-engineering magical trace frequencies from the city-cube’s levitation matrix and running it through that scanner, then double-checking the results with trace frequencies from my SEN series?
ZOJJA: Yes! I simply set this scanner to look for -Zojja realizes that Okka already explained the method.-… Well, I guess they can’t all be inscrutable works of ineffable genius.
OKKA: I have been right here the entire time you’ve been doing it. Would never have thought of that, myself.
ZOJJA: Oh, true. Good deduction, though, all things considered.
OKKA: …You kind of talked about it. A lot. Explained the whole idea a couple times.
ZOJJA: Did I really talk about it that much?
GEZZI: If you two are done attempting to pat each other on the back…
ZOJJA: Fine, fine. Anyway, if you’ll look up at this display…wow, they really didn’t go very far.
GEZZI: …They’re in the sea, south of Rata Sum. How has nobody reported that? Do they have some kind of cloaking abilities?
OKKA: They didn’t take enough city-cubes to make an entire city, did they? Perhaps a floating village – see how it’s sort of roughly rectangular, with points of greater intensity spread evenly throughout the area? They probably intend to keep coming back and getting more cubes every so-often. Most of the golems used to be Rata Sum golems, so it’s not like they’d be particularly noticeable doing so. If they spread the cubes out properly, they could probably create a low-profile, makeshift platform, supplemented with other materials, like lots of wood. They also stole the materials for a gate from the Ulta Metamagicals krewe. Not one of the one-way gate prototypes, so they have to have a two-way gate…
ZOJJA: And I bet that the gate is that point of energy, right there, meaning we may have the coordinates of their gate. Shouldn’t be too difficult to orient a gate to connect with it.
GEZZI: I’m sure the Inquest is close to finding them, too. We’d better get a move on – that crazy operative was no slouch.
[Zojja and her assistants calibrate a gate, and create the connection between the Snaff Memorial Lab and the Stolen Cube Construct. Upon stepping through it (accompanied by Zojja and Gezzi, though Okka remains under guard in the SML), the player is plunged into the middle of another Inquest assault, this time atop a conglomerate structure of city cubes and walkways made of felled tree trunks lashed together, with the Inquest doing battle with the golems. Several of the Inquest agents are using a bizarre new weapon that resuppresses the sedition inhibitors of golems struck by them, turning the golem into an apologetic ally of the Inquest. OPERATIVE ZAN is leading the assault. He does not appear, initially, to notice the adventurers. SEN9, the ISOLATIONIST, is also present; he is a mismatched collection of golem parts with a rounded Defense golem torso piece]
ZAN: Quickly, resuppress the inhibitors! Our first attempt may have failed, but with all these extra golems on our side, the probability of our next attempt meeting failure approaches zero!
SEN9: You little monster – you’ll never succeed, even if you enslave us all. Leave us in peace.
ZAN: Might makes right, and there’s strength in numbers. By my calculations, victory will be all but certain.
ZOJJA: Your math is terrible. Your mother must be ashamed.
ZAN (surprised): What? You! Oh, this will never do. Agents! We have company – let’s put these subjugated golems to work! Golems! Attack!
[Subjugated golems are sent to attack the party, mixed with Inquest agents; once enough have been defeated, the scene progresses.]
GEZZI: Stand down, Zan!
ZAN: Oh, blast it all! Agents, it’s time to cut our losses – fall behind and be left behind!
Golem Uprising, Starting Scene
[As the scene opens, Rata Sum is in chaos. Peacemakers fight a losing battle against the Inquest, lacking the golem muscle they’d come to rely on while the Inquest brought a numbers advantage. The reason why the Peacemakers have no golem support becomes apparent moments later, as a group of golems, led by the INSTIGATOR/SEN7 (a hodgepodge golem with parts of many colors and designs, with the torso patterned after the Attack golems) runs through the gate to Metrica Province, a bizarre machine (the Sedition Engine) in tow. As the golems approach the gate, OKKA (a female Asura with bright green eyes) and two hodgepodge golems, SEN12 and SEN13 (each the other’s mirrored opposite) enter, chasing the fleeing golems.]
OKKA: No! Get back here!
[The fleeing golems ignore Okka, and pass through the portal – all but one, a Defense golem. It bars Okka and her twin golems from passing.]
OKKA: Please, you have to let us pass!
Golem: Negative. I…refuse.
OKKA: Twelve, Thirteen, get it out of the way – we need to stop Seven!
[SEN12 and SEN13 batter down the Golem, but before the trio can enter the portal, more Peacemakers arrive through it, led by Peacemaker Gezzi.]
GEZZI, seeing SEN12 and SEN13: More of those walking scrapheaps! Detain them! They might know what’s going on here – Gezzi spots the battered Golem near the portal – and they’ve damaged a keeper of the peace, besides.
SEN12 and SEN13 both take a combative stance.
OKKA: No! Twelve, Thirteen, stand down – we can’t catch Seven if we have to fight the Peacemakers, too.
GEZZI: I suppose Seven is the one that attacked the Luminates plant with another group of hijacked golems? Or is that the one that smashed its way out of Soren Draa?
OKKA: What? Luminates-… Okka sighs. So that’s where Nine went. Listen, I can explain-
GEZZI: I bet you can. Livvi, Tezzik, and Vakka, detain her, and her golems, too. The rest of you, go join the battle – we can get to the bottom of this later, but right now, we have an insurgency to quell!
[The Peacemaker reinforcements turn the tide against the Inquest, who are soon routed, their numerical advantage lost. A few Inquest are taken prisoner, but the majority of the force escapes. Most of the Peacemakers, accordingly, give chase.]
GEZZI: Bring me the girl. She seemed to think she knew something, and those strange golems of hers are interesting enough that I’d like to hear what she has to say.
[Okka is brought before Gezzi, escorted by two Peacemakers.]
GEZZI: You wanted to explain? Explain. And make it superlative. Where did those golems come from?
OKKA: I made them – the ones that look strange, I mean. I’ve been using scrap supplies -
GEZZI: Fine, you made them. What are they doing, and why are they doing it?
OKKA: I don’t know! Seven’s been sullen lately – whenever he sees a golem taking orders, he just gets angry, and I think he convinced Nine to help him do something stupid -
GEZZI: Golems don’t work like that. Who gave them their orders?
OKKA: Mine do work like that – they can feel, they can think.
GEZZI: …are you telling me you build sentient golems?
OKKA: Yes.
GEZZI: Their sedition inhibitors should still prevent things like this from happening -
OKKA: Theirs don’t work! They never have. I’ve been trying to figure out why for years, that’s why I made so many of them.
GEZZI: …How many?
OKKA: Twenty-three.
GEZZI: Great. Twenty-three sentient, sedition-capable golems.
OKKA: Only two have ever caused trouble, and they only started doing that lately – Seven and Nine. The others have been peaceful.
GEZZI: Do you know what your golems are trying to do?
OKKA: No! If I did, I would have told you, I swear!
GEZZI, sighing: That’ll do for now. Vakka, Tezzik, take her to the holding cells for now. Somebody get fresh golems on patrol – looks like we’ve lost most of them.
[Okka is marched off to the holding cells to await further interrogation, as Gezzi continues trying to organize the aftermath.]
End Starting Scene.
Player involvement notes: When approaching the gate to Rata Sum, either from Lion’s Arch or Metrica, a ‘Do you wish to enter this instance?’ dialog should appear; throughout this scene, some Inquest goons (which would deal negligible damage and be dispatched with ease, even by very low-level characters – though they should not give XP or loot) should be available for fighting, in order to add ambience without causing too much in the way of issues for low-level characters. After Okka is initially detained, the scene’s focus shifts to routing the Inquest’s forces.
(edited by Anymras.5729)