Guild Wars 2

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

It’s funny that some people didn’t like killing her because they don’t like killing someone. This is an mmo, the entire economy is build on killing people/monsters…

A character’s PoV is different from a gamer’s PoV sometimes.
My character doesn’t enjoy killing, but personally I’d respond with “Now get me some villains worth something.”

How far back are skins going to be rewarded?
Will we only have access to the ones we currently have on characters and in bank? Or can you track what skins we’ve used since our first login?

My human Guardian replies (in Optimus Prime style voice):
“I take little joy in ending someone’s life.
Especially one whose life was robbed by whatever malicious force that absorbed Ceara. What matters is Tyria will now be safe. We must rebuild, mend wounds, and restore households.”

BIMBLE.7952:

NOTE Do not bother to exert your precious energy to try to tell me to cheer up – or some such nonsense as it would only be meaningless and judgmental drivel. Cheers.

Well as one of those who would have spent precious energy telling you to cheer up, I’ll simply redirect it.
You’re wasting precious energy griping about something that will last only one day.
One. Day.
Please utilize that towards the two week releases or something that will last longer.

The Queen looks like she belongs in Viewtiful Joe, perfect!

Meglobob.8620:

Honestly, I prefer they keep repair costs and way pointing, rather than nerf loot.

Though I agree loot nerfing is a bother, I am glad they did away with repair costs.
For one reason, it might help entice others to try out that zerg blob fight ‘o’ rama known as WvWvW.

The ratio of men to women characters doesn’t bother me too much.
Though i will mention that yes there’s one guy to four women, but such a thing can be changed by introducing more characters later.
Even the old Destiny’s Edge had more women in the ratio, 3 to 2 (post Snaff), either way it isn’t that much of a factor.

What I’m concerned over is how each are portrayed.
Out of the group I’d probably say Rox is the most developed at this point.
Jory might be the second most, with Kasmeer getting honorable mention because she stood up to Scarlet.
Braham seems to be stepping back a bit now, which isn’t a great representation of the Norn.
Taimi is too early to tell, but I’m glad even she recognizes that Scarlet wasn’t totally worth emulating.

If I had to complain about one thing in the epilogue, it wouldn’t have been the “Uh-huh”. It was how Braham is essentially crying over his supposed dead legend all because of an injury.

Seriously?! This is the Bro-ham I’ve been traveling with now? I don’t mind the “Wreck it Ralph” comedy a bit in this scene. We need a humorous moment or two. I, however, call total Dolyak spit on him… whining about how his legend is in the water closet because of this.

Skaalds can gloss over that, people retelling his legend won’t fixate on it.
He helped take down a giant drill of Doom and took on the Scarlet Army.
Those deeds alone will get him free drinks from Queensdale to the Grove.
The injury will just be a conversation starter, he’s a blasted Norn! He should know this!

I hope he does grow out of it and realizes it isn’t such a big deal. We don’t need our new Norn representative being a crybaby. He’s shown growth, moved on from Ottila, and even thought about Rox’s needs over his own. Let’s not have him slide backwards.

BobbyStein.2315:

Part of the development process is prioritization, so I’d like to know what you feel are the highest impact items you think would improve our storytelling delivery. What are your top three requests?

1. Have the villains grow with us:
Scarlet’s main problem to me, right off the bat, was the fact that her story was thrown in well after she made her debut. If she were a higher ranked flunky to the true evil mastermind, I wouldn’t have been upset. Then when we depose of the main baddie she could have climbed the ranks and been a true threat.

I kept looking for a new thread to be built alongside this existing story.
Yes we’re dealing with Scarlet, but who else is coming along for the next season?
Who am I supposed to look out for in the future?

At the moment I can only think of Mai Trin, maybe Canach but he’s turned over a new leaf. Please pardon that pun.

2. Tell within the medium:
As the later parts of the story came along, I began to see this and it was good.
You put in strange probes, they built up some mystery, then we found out their use.
Before then we would read a blog, maybe something outside the game.
That isn’t good storytelling and we know you can provide good stories.

If there was going to be a big Clock lady in the game, maybe the earlier releases could have some events where resources were stolen from areas on the map.
Have us ponder why the (insert Faction) needed so much metal?
Then when big Momma Clock drops in there’s that sudden “oh…there’s where the metal went…drats.”

This goes along with the “grow the villain” point because sometimes the story just didn’t feel connected.

3.Spin from GW1’s lore, GW2’s books, or the Personal Story:
You have so much to work with from either pool, don’t be scared to dip from the well!
A good example is the Zephyrites. I love them more than anything else you made from all these releases. Want to know the secret? They connected us to the dwarfs and the death of Glint!

That gives old hands like me a nostalgic shiver plus newbies a chance to go back and read up on what the fuss is all about. Maybe they’ll start falling in love with the lore a bit more as a result.

Tower of Nightmares had a decent tip of the hat. We fought our comrades from the order and the Pact leader Trahearne. Also there was mention of Scarlet’s comment about the Infinity Ball for those who took that path.

These are good touches. They help remind us that Living Story is another continuation of the overall story you are trying to tell.

We need more of these. Have the bandits rise up against the Queen using the Ebonhawke seps as cover. Let us find some ancient relic from GW1 that old hands remembered well.

On a separate, but funny, note in the Personal Story there was a nice nod to Kormir at one point. When the Asurans were uncovering some artifacts they found a Kormir head statue and decided it was junk. That was humorous and a nice nod to the past.

To be completely honest, yes.
I would send it back. Heck I’ve even sent back money that people tried to give me just because I helped them somewhere.

Clear.8512:

I’m glad we were wrong and solid foundations was not a glorified tutorial for people.

I wanted it to be about Housing, but this is still a welcomed blog.
Also I do hope it entices people that weren’t initially into sPvP to try now.
GW2 seemed like three different games.
At the time, it made sense that folks like me screamed each pillar should stand on its own and be strong.
Now ANet is making motions to actually unifying the game a bit.
As a ardent and zealous PvE fan, I probably won’t make that plunge.
Though it is good to see that what benefits PvP’ers will have effects on PvE’ers and vice versa.

Now the game hopefully will feel like one game with three avenues of entertainment, instead of three games under one banner.

Also fact is the PvP crowd was constantly shafted with nearly every release out there, save the Edge of the Mists. Now they can experience some rewards with these tracks.
This will also give loot hounds yet another thing to chew on if they want to gain stuff.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Wait, the fisherman was still running during Toxic Tower? His family died LONG before then. It’s kind of weird, cause it changes the context of the event.

As best as my memory serves, yes it did.
I’m not sure if he’s still around now though.

Backward Sass.6791:

Crude scrawls fill the paper. “I can’t find my mommy or daddy.”

RIGHT IN THE FEELS.

T___T

My Guardian wants a dynamic event where I help that kid find mom or dad.
Make it a “Last of us” style of mission if you have to ANet.
I want to give that kid some closure, after all we had something like that for a fisherman during the Toxic Tower events.

Okay so now my cook will drain all my resources to make dyes.
My non cook characters will hunt down anything that moves for the sweet unidentified dye drops.
Also there go my laurels I was saving up, but that also means I’ll be doing dailies more often!

In honor of this system change, I’ll make up a new warrior much like the one they posted in the blog.
Since he reminds me of Lee Christmas from Expendables, I’ll need to come up with an appropriate name.

This new development is pretty much what I wanted from them when it comes to armor. For months I was so scared to not pick up any new designs because I didn’t want to lose the look of my other armor. Now that fear is pretty much gone.

I may have different armor sets based on stats now.
I won’t feel the need to keep hoarding lower level armor just because I might use that look later!

Free resets, more traits, ability to earn or simply buy off a new trait, and no more running to a trainer so I have to buy a book.
I’m pleased by these changes and it does remind me of how GW1 worked with their skills. I applaud ANet on making this possible. You are going forward in a cool direction while keeping older touches alive.

Sivarson Greyfur (Warrior): “The treaty? Pfft let the little mouse girl run her little mouse holdings. At the very least they are strong enough to fight off Branded and Ogres to keep a place at the table. If they make any more movement into our lands we should fight back. The Seps though, flay them and feed them to skelk if possible. I’ve no time to deal with such politics, I’m needed back on the Brand to shatter more of these crystal demons.”

Melophites Dethklok (Engineer): “The treaty is serving a purpose though technically we should own all of the lands. With Scarlet’s actions and the Molten running around are causing enough problems as it is. I’m still learning things in the Priory and over in Rata Sum. Believe me if the Legions call for Human blood I’ll cook up a mean little tool to cause trouble at their doorsteps. Its just at the moment they aren’t a huge priority.”

carabidus.6214:

I’m surprised no one mentioned the kodan…

I didn’t get to the thread fast enough

Yes it was satisfying.
Kasmeer tried to be helpful, even goading Scarlet.
I managed to put a stick straight into that pain in the asparagus.
My armies..fellow zerglings crushed her toys, broke her holograms, and had her pull back weakened and angry.

No more taunting, no more giggling, no more “ta ta for now”, and no more exit portals for her as I clean up the mess she’s made.
She’s dead, finally, and with that the beginning of a Dragon awakening comes forth.

Pretty satisfying if you ask me, though I will go to Cragstead and SLAP Broham for interrupting Scarlet’s possible explanation. For all I know though she was stalling for time, who knows what she could have gained if she were alive and the drill hit the energy.

Ventauri’s Refuge, assuming that it wasn’t incorporated already into GW2.
Also Bloodstone Fen, I just want to see how that is now.

7/10 for the Scarlet Arc

If we count Flame & Frost as the beginning it was weak, then got a little better around Dragon Bash/Sky Pirates. Quality dipped for me during Tower, but mostly from a lore standpoint. The gameplay was fun though. Eventually the last two releases were big, destructive, and fun to play with.

This arc is done for me. Hopefully whatever Season or arc we get next will be a bit stronger, with better villains, and branches out more. ANet learned quite a bit with this learning exercise, now let’s get the actual Living Story going.

On the topic of Jory/Kas
I really can’t give a Shaman’s flaming spit about lesbian romances, but I’m glad Jory made it out okay. I say this because Kasmeer has dealt with so much pain in her life in the past that she should get a silver lining once and a while.

Now for Ms. Delaqua I ask that ANet allow us to help her solve the mystery from her introductory story. I want to delve into that a bit and explore the back story now that Scarlet is dealt with.

Rox and Braham
He wanted her to join her warband and she made the decision on her own. It showed that even though Norns are very different in social constructs compared to Charr that at least he listened to her needs. In fact the dialogue they have in the middle of the Lion’s Arch fight shows, to me at least, he is a good friend to her in ways she won’t know just yet.

Ottilia can go kiss a Dolyak for dumping him, poor guy.

The big fight
Holy Six that was a thick soup of confusion and zerging.
Don’t get me wrong! It was fun and I saw plenty of folks looking out for each other.
The problem was that could have been pruned to a 8-10 man dungeon and had a more intimate impact for the player’s experience.

Scarlet
I would comment that I finally feel satisfaction knowing she’s dead, but I’m too busy lining up the Quaggans for the victory parade we’ll have in Divinity’s Reach.
Though I wanted to slap Bro-ham for his ‘Shut Up, Hannibal!’ trope moment, because I really did want to hear at least some inkling as to why this made sense in her head.

Ah well there’s always raiding former bases to get information like that.
She’s dead thank goodness now I can move onto stronger villains and hopefully that Dragon which woke up.
I will say I loved her voice work in this release over her happy giggly Harley moments.

What lies beyond
Here is where all my excitement and enthusiasm is going.
Now we can see the story really get moving!
It won’t have to be a “What’s Scarlet up to this week?” story.
We can have so much going on while we work towards this new Dragon.
Will the alliances stay together? Will they get hunted down by their parent organizations? Will we have new creatures from the tech later in older villain groups?
How will Lion’s Arch rebuild? Will they have an air force that rivals their navy?!

The potential here is kitten near limitless. Think of SKY TRENCHES! A flying Claw Island of sorts! This is where the game really has a chance to get going in a stronger direction.

Fears for the future
I just hope next Season we don’t have just one villain.
I’m tired of that, I understand the focus will probably be the jungle now. That doesn’t excuse the Brand for being quiet or the Shiverpeaks laying low. For this world (and story) to be truly living we should have things popping up in multiple places.

I’m glad her death has opened the door to bigger possibilities.
Now I have more interest in what falls out from all this compared to the story building up to it.

Yeah even I’ll admit that I wanted to slap Braham at that moment.

1. I believe it was established last release that Kas hiccups when she’s nervous
2. They’ve been a couple since Nightmare tower if I remember right.
3. Rox tried to join Rytlock’s warband.

CHIPS.6018:

Emiko.3217:

Atlas.9704:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Speaking of which: The Living Story Needs More Side Plots!

I broke the +1 for this part of your post.
We do need side plots, after all it isn’t like Rata Sum is doing nothing or Hoelbrak is sitting on their thumbs while Scarlet goes around.

Side plots would help seed the next villain for the future season.

..and plot twists!!

Yeah, like Demmi Beetlestone is actually a spy for her father. ^^

My wish: she backstabs her father and takes his place.
“You taught me the family business all too well father.”

Meanwhile Jennah whistles nonchalantly and ignores it so long as Demmi is loyal to her.

Heh, what do you know I finally got my wish.
In some post long ago I asked that we get to put a spike right through that crazy cabbage just before the end.
I’m guessing others had a similar fantasy and wished along.
(satisfying laughter after watching that video)

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Why you kill Scarlet??? She was the best thing to happen in GW2!!!

Her death then only served to make it the better thing in GW2

Delvoire.8930:

Well you should like everything moving forward then. They have said that the Personal Story style of cinematic has been retired.

Really?

If so well that’s a shame for the 1 to 1 scenes, those it worked well for in my opinion.

The concept of her was, and still is, interesting.
The implementation however was lacking, the build up was not that dramatic at points.
Her back story had elements that made me face palm at times.

Overall I liked the idea of Scarlet, but I’d rather see another type of villain come from ANet in the new Season. Actually I’d like to see more than one next season, but that’s just me hoping big.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Speaking of which: The Living Story Needs More Side Plots!

I broke the +1 for this part of your post.
We do need side plots, after all it isn’t like Rata Sum is doing nothing or Hoelbrak is sitting on their thumbs while Scarlet goes around.

Side plots would help seed the next villain for the future season.

Angel McCoy.1832:

Krait: They’ve been warped by Scarlet and the Nightmare Court. By the end, the scenario had changed. Scarlet proved she could bring back a prophet to their satisfaction (whether it was actually a prophet or not, no one really knows, but the toxic krait believe it was). And they can’t exactly go join other normal krait. How do you think regular xenophobic krait would feel about these toxic ones?

Flame Legion: They want technology and power. This group of FL is taking a huge risk. If they can go home with awesome swag, then they’ll be welcomed, but if they can’t, then they’re likely to be killed the moment they arrive. A large body count (especially the charr and human ones) along with whatever weapons technology they manage to acquire is an inspiring reward for them. And, they get to say they helped bring down Lion’s Arch. They hope to be lauded as heroes when they return to the FL.

I know you can’t reveal much, but these made my heart glad.
The potential that the splinters be eradicated by their own because they flubbed up feels right.

1. Templar Armor from GW1 available.
2. WvWvW is removed from game
3. SPvP is more akin to GW1 Codex arena
4. Engineers can use all non magical weapons (Swords, Knives, Hammers, etc)
5. Living Story has more than one villian going at a time.

BobbyStein.2315:

The Fancy Cat Competition stuff is one of many bits that didn’t get used. The performances from Yuri Lowenthal, Kirk Thornton, Kari Wahlgren, Sam Riegel were spot on. Maybe we’ll get to it one day….

But..
But..
He…he was so fannncccyyyyyyyy!
(breaks down in tears)

For the love of the Six Gods at least have him lead a parade in DR or something!
(sniffle cries)

Maybe after Scarlet ends there will be fallout between these alliances and their respective parent organizations.
Which would be kind of neat seeing regular Krait hunt down the ‘heathen’ Toxics or see some Flame Legion soldiers try to re-recruit a Molten ‘deserter’.

I guess we won’t know until then, but if something like that were to show up then that would show real growth in a story for me.
She’s put together these groups that normally wouldn’t work, it stands to reason some won’t continue after she’s no longer a factor.

The Aetherblades maybe could stand on their own, after all Pirates like money and power and Inquest love free experiment fodder—-er I mean volunteers.
Molten could crumble unless they consolidate their leadership after Scarlet is gone.

The Dredge females probably aren’t too keen with the Flame Legion side of it telling them to ‘get back to the Dredge kitchen’ so to speak.

As for the Toxic, I just can’t see the Krait sticking around with the Nightmare splinter after Scarlet is no longer a factor.

I’m not to keen on the idea of putting relationship bars on friends lists.
After all we are playing Guild Wars 2, not The Sims 3 but I do like the idea of parties getting some advantage over non grouped.

Perhaps a some sort of buff like “Camaraderie” and it gives a random boon or increase to damage or vitality to represent the cohesive nature of the group versus going at it alone.

It still won’t solve the problem of people grouping for grouping’s sake and zerging a map with no coordination. That will take alterations of mobs and maps to get some results.

Angel McCoy.1832:

As to your second question—the krait are evil. I don’t see them joining the Pact any time soon.

The krait are still xenophobic. But, xenophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia) is a fear of or hatred for any person or group that is not like the accepted group. It’s racism. In the same way white-supremicists are xenophobic.

They’re not so xenophobic that they won’t even consider taking slaves. They do take slaves. A lot. So they do deal with other races on a regular basis. No, this isn’t an alliance with them, but it is using them. They have proven they’re willing to use other races, if it suits their purposes.

I guess my next question would be the following:
How do the “normal” Krait feel about the Toxic Krait?

Yes the Krait are up against a wall, the Elder Dragons moved them out of their homes, and they are desperate. Apparently a splinter faction was willing to take this risk, but now with the heroes stomping down on their homegrown god will the normal Krait look kindly upon these Toxic versions?

Angel McCoy.1832:

They may have wished they could do it a different way, but this particular group of krait agreed to Scarlet’s offer of obelisk shards and the chance to “grow” a prophet.

Thank you for the information, but even after reading that I still can’t enjoy this splinter group of Krait.

My personal hope is that they die off, leaving the really black hat versions still around until their inevitable decline like the Jotun.

fadeaway.2807:

Can I suggest a mini taimi available to all with a portion of profits going to a multiple sclerosis related charity?

This post right here.
I broke the blasted +1 button hitting it so many times.

Lore is important to me, but I also understand the need for a sequel to do their own thing for the sake of story.

250 years have passed, things have changed. I didn’t anticipate GW2 to exactly jump right out of EoTN’s stuff or GW:Beyond and keep up with old characters I liked in the first game.

I liked how the Charr grew and beat down the Flame (Gold) Legion.
The Asura adjusting to the surface was a nice touch.
The Humans losing Ascalon and holding their lines at Divinity’s Reach made for decent beginning drama.
I loved how the Norn were pushed back, but still they think there’s a chance to win against the Dragon.
Finally I was somewhat curious about the Sylvari, especially considering how they were formed.

Yes I miss the Five Gods…and Kormir maybe, but I also like the potential story in them leaving our world.

(eyetwitch) Certain things like the Krait and Scarlet’s involvement with them raise my hackles, but I’m willing to overlook such things until it gets to be too much.

Keyboard and Mouse, sometimes with my son on one arm while the other hand presses 1 – 0 keys or using the directional keys when needed.

Then eventually the rugrat is asleep and I can use my other hand for the mouse and actually complete a Jumping Puzzle!

Traveller.7496:

Gnat.9405:

Inb4 Marjory is an illusion

I like this. Maybe Kasmeer’s tragic past made her jaded and she conjured up an illusion to be her perfect companion to escape her loneliness and pain. All this while we thought that arguments about curtain color were bad writing, but it was just a window into Kasmeer’s demented mind. Bravo to the writing team!

I’m interested in this notion too, because it has a St. Elsewhere/Donnie Darko/Far Scape flavor to it.

GW2 now with Freakazoid’s “Scream-o-Vision”!

(Scream)
AHHHHHHHH!

To that cute redhead Norn chick that walks by with the scruffy looking Norn guy.
Yeah those two other ladies were looking at him instead of what you were wearing.
(raises keg in their honor)

If I were to rewrite Scarlet, it wouldn’t fit within the context of what we have from the game as it is now.

Ceara would still be inquisitive and bright, but also lacking in empathy to some degree.
Not quite a Nightmare Court, but more akin to Soundless like the current version.
There would some slight differences though in the story.

She wouldn’t have traveled all of Tyria yet, at first she would have been a disciple of Malomedies. Since he was the first to meet the Asura, and suffer from it, he grew private. Ceara is interested in them academically. Thus travels to Rata Sum and becomes a glorified lab assistant to all the colleges.

She learns a lot from them, their culture, and eventually the Inquest.
Ceara then begins to tinker within their system. Sabotaging samples, experiments, and overall causing some pain to krewes around.

The Inquest recruit her, initially underestimating her potential due to racial bias.
That’s where we come in as players. The Living Story would begin looking into this growth of the Inquest with her inside. Eventually she would disappear at long stretches of time “performing experiments”.

Eventually it would lead to Rata Sum being harassed by a Scarlet Krewe.
Inquest, Bandits, and some Nightmare Court all working for this character named Scarlet Briar.

Ceara would be tracked down and captured. Interrogated because of her Inquest connections, eventually asked who this Scarlet Krewe is and she would plead ignorance.

As a plea bargain she offers to help take down elements of the Inquest to find out more about this krewe for the players. That’s when her big plan comes into play.
She manages to round up head researchers and members of the Inquest and kills them with the Scarlet Krewe.

The Inquest is weakened, but so is Rata Sum because this attack showed how influential that faction was in their society. Head members we never thought had Inquest ties die that day, shocking the Asuran culture.

Ceara then dons her new name: Scarlet Briar. All leading figures in the krewe must adopt a new name, prefixing Scarlet to it. She steps out to the damaged city of Rata Sum and addresses the people. The Asura hurt Malomedies, experimented on him, hurt her people, allowed corrupt elements within their halls to exist still, and now they are shown the depths of this due to her results.

We would then have a Scarlet Guild/Krewe who would experiment on all the races of Tyria. Thus beginning the Living Story chapters and Scarlet Briar’s work.

No race is safe, Tyria needs heroes now more than ever.

Sneak peek on future characters and concepts.

Ceridwen.6703:

Dag dag! I’ll have you all know Sims speak Simlish. It’s kind of adorable once you get used to it.

My wife would say “Soo Soon” to me and “flicka flicka” when calling the cats sometimes just to mess with me.

Substance E.4852:

She’s drilling straight to Zion.

Keep going until you hear the barely decent techno!

She’s going to drill to the heavens.
Problem is currently the Dragons would take her down considering where they are positioned.
So the only way up… is down!
Doing the impossible, Scarlet plans on drilling straight through to the other side of Tyria. Then burst through and up to the sky!

Kick logic to the curb, that’s how team Scarlet Quaggan rolls!
Guild Wars Drill Breakaaaaaa!

Atlas.4509:

The title of this post made me sad :-(

I know the feels.

As for this latest release, I found the hidden stuff fairly easily.
Hopefully we’ll still have the release pages as well.
The map does look rather nice, but I wish they incorporated some stuff from the Personal Story in there as well.

I’m okay with this, so long as she doesn’t summon Kazam
Poor Shaq, that was a horrible film.