Guild Wars 2

Knote.2904:

Again this is fine as long as rewards get moved away from mobs drops, right now that’s where 90%+ of the loot comes from, and you get situations were the fodder gets farmed for it’s loot.

And I never said the fodder mobs kill anyone, hell no one actually dies in a zerg, zergs trivialize content that way.

And no lol, people don’t run out of aoe’s. Axe warriors spam massive aoe dmg non stop, Staff Guardians do too, lots of aoe’s have small cooldowns.

Again I don’t have a problem with this as long as they remove loot from mobs and put all of it in victory of said event.

Player reward is always a hard subject to tackle. The solution that I thought up is a “Drop Rate Timer” (DRT). Its actually similar to the current kill experience system that GW2 have. Basically you get a bonus for killing mobs that you hasn’t killed for a while, and that bonus decreases as you kill more.

Let’s say you haven’t killed any mob for a while. The first mob you kill have a 200% drop rate (double the normal). Now you are in DRT level 1, which reduces the drop rate by 20%. Then a 5 second timer starts.

If you kill another mob within this 5 seconds, that mob would have 180% drop rate, and you reach DRT level 2. The next mob you kill in the next 5 seconds would have a 160% drop rate, and you reach DRT level 3, etc.

Let’s say after DRT level 3, you did not kill any mobs in the next 5 seconds. At the end of that 5 seconds, you go back to DRT level 2. etc.

The highest level of DRT is level 10, which means the drop rate on mobs will be only 10% normal (The final DRT level 10 only decrease the drop rate by 10%, instead of the 20%. This ensure that the player still have 10% drop rate at least.) At DRT level 10, it will take 10X5=50 seconds to fully recover back to DRT level 0 (200% drop rate on the next mob).

Boss drop rates is not affected by DRT at all. It is totally separated to ensure that the player get 100% chance at the loot.

This should fix the “mob AoE tagging” problem in terms of rewards. A possible side benefit would be that this counters bot farming.

Going of topic, sorry.

Please make the fight Tequatl + 6 Lupi + 100s of undead. Please make the players lose and fail the event. Please make us mad and break our monitors. Yes I want to see the player zerg destroyed. Pretty please. ;D

Knote.2904:

This is fine for smaller scale content, like 5 man groups, throw them more fodder, for zerg content? No thank you, it was one of the biggest problem of zerging back in the day.

Perhaps you don’t remember Orr event farming?

Mob kill = Money.

Zerg = More Mobs.

More Mobs = AoE Tagging.

AoE Tagging = Mob Kills.

Mob Kills = Money.

It was incredibly flawed, if you want this to happen again, sure, but mob drops need to no longer be rewarding then, which is also something I’d like to see happen.

Aetherblade events were good because all the mobs were vets and didn’t die instantly, despite that, most of the time the vets died in 5 seconds, back during Zerg Event Farming, the 50 mobs that spawned died INSTANTLY, before they could even be seen via culling, it was a joke.

ArchonWing.9480:

The OP reminds me of why the Diablo series was fun.

Makes me think of how fun Dragon Nest was. Only for solo or small groups though, a massive zerg of 50 people and 5000 mobs that die instantly? With ridiculous particle effects? No thank you, the game is too focused on zerg content to behind with.

Hi Knote. Since the 200 mobs will be attacking from 6 directions, what would happen is the players would used up too many AoE in some areas, and not enough in others. And since most players used up their most damaging attacks within the first 5 seconds, there would still be around 100 mobs for the players to deal with. That said they won’t post much of a threat until the 2 bosses arrives to reinforce them.

The job of killing lies with the boss. I doubt the cannon folder mobs can kill anyone. But that’s the point. Their job is to annoy the players, and the occasional snare from them might prove fatal.

“Oh fire wave! Let’s dodge.”
Trash mob immobilized you. You have no condition removal.
“Oh boy…”

Hi Anthony. I just want to clarify what I envisioned as an epic world event for 50 players.

First Wave: 200 Aetherblades (AB) + Molten Alliance (MA) mobs attack the players from 6 directions. 30 seconds into the fight, a pair of Molten Firestorm+Berserker (MF+MB) appears. They are both in their final, upgraded form right away.

Second Wave: 2 minutes into the fight, 100 AB + MA additional mobs will arrive regardless of the progress of the players. Captain Mai Trin, First Mate Horrik joins in with this wave.

Third Wave: After another 5 minutes, 150 AB + MA mobs will be added, and with them comes 2 pairs of MF+MB (4 in total).

Fourth Wave: After another 5 minutes, 150 AB + MA mobs will be added, and with them comes Scarlet. After this wave, 150 AB + MA mobs will be added every 5 minutes. This continues until Scarlet is defeated, at which point all the mobs would retreat.

In total, the 50 players would have killed over 600 cannon folder mobs (10 times their number, at least). The main challenge in the fight is actually provided by the 9 bosses in during the fight. So the fight is epic because many mobs died, and this provides a good challenge to the players. (Numbers to be adjusted depending on the # of players actually involved.) This gives the players a feeling of Lord of the Rings. (The players are stronger than the mobs 1 on 1. The mobs just have more men.)

Imagine fighting alongside 50 player allies against these bosses with 100s of foes. These world events would be super epic.

Dahkeus.8243:

Fighting smart mobs is always more fun than strong and/or numerous mobs.

Unfortunately, the AI of enemies seems to be pretty stagnant in the MMO genre. Some of the ideas with Everquest Next mobs sound pretty promising though.

The AI was pretty good in some fights, like Captain Mai Trin and the Molten Firestorm+Berserker. But that was for 5 players.

Imagine 50 players fighting against 150 Molten Alliance mobs, 3 Molten Firestorms, 3 Molten Berserkers, Captain Mai Trin, First Mate Horrik and Scarlet at the same time. That would be an epic fight.

I look forward to meeting Verata once again. And I hope the Master Wizard fights like a god.

Tom Gore.4035:

CHIPS.6018:

Tom Gore.4035:

CHIPS.6018:

For example, let’s say a Scarlet Invasion fight usually have 20 Strong Mobs. Why not replace that with 15 Strong Mobs and 60 Numerous Mobs? This will be a good balance between challenge and an epic fight. The players would be killing 75 mobs instead of only 20.

Because those 60 numerous mobs would be incinerated in literally 5 seconds. Go play Melandru event chain and see how trivial the “numerous” mobs are when there are 10+ players around.

That’s fine though. Those Numerous Mobs are cannon folders for the players. It gives them a reference point.

“Hey my character is still a hero. He is strong. He can melt no name minion mobs.”

It is those Strong Mobs at the back the provide the real challenge to the fight. The cannon folders are just there for show. Winning against 75 mobs feel better than winning against 20 mobs, even with the same difficulty. Hope this make sense.

Why does it feel better? For me it just emphazies the triviality of the encounter. Compared to the Veteran Aetherblades in Scarlet invasions, who actually would down you if you tried to sleep on your computer and just press 1.

Because it is much better for the enemies to outnumber the heroes, than for the enemies to outpower the heroes.

Think of Lord of the Rings. Most orcs are super easy to kill (by their standard). They are just there to show how strong the main heroes are. It is when we get to the likes of Ring Wraths, Ogres and Mumakil that the fights became harder.

Now let’s change this around. Instead of 10,000+ orcs, there were 20 orcs there are almost gods. And each of them killed like 1,000 human soldiers, with our heroes running away from them because they cannot stop them. How would the story flow?

Now look at Devil May Cry. The main character fights many trash mobs before getting to the final boss. Now imagine all the trash mobs disappear, and are replaced with 2 bosses per stage. So each stage the player fights 2 medium boss, and then the final boss. How would the player feel about this?

In a game the players want to achieve something. And to me nothing beats killing 100s of cannon folders before getting to the final showdown.

Of course at the end it is about balance, so players of all types can enjoy GW2. Right now the balance is simply leaning way too much toward Strong Mobs, and not enough on Numerous Mobs.

Tom Gore.4035:

CHIPS.6018:

For example, let’s say a Scarlet Invasion fight usually have 20 Strong Mobs. Why not replace that with 15 Strong Mobs and 60 Numerous Mobs? This will be a good balance between challenge and an epic fight. The players would be killing 75 mobs instead of only 20.

Because those 60 numerous mobs would be incinerated in literally 5 seconds. Go play Melandru event chain and see how trivial the “numerous” mobs are when there are 10+ players around.

That’s fine though. Those Numerous Mobs are cannon folders for the players. It gives them a reference point.

“Hey my character is still a hero. He is strong. He can melt no name minion mobs. The Aetherblade are not all on drugs. Only their elite troops are on drugs. "

It is those Strong Mobs at the back the provide the real challenge to the fight. The cannon folders are just there for show. Winning against 75 mobs feel better than winning against 20 mobs, even with the same difficulty. Hope this make sense.

Those the played dungeons and LF will notice that the mobs there have much superior stats when compared to the players. It is common for these mobs to have 20 times the health and 4 times the damage of a regular player.

Let’s call these “Strong Mobs”.

Back in the normal world, when we were leveling up our character, the world was filled with mobs that had similar stats as the player. They are only difficult when they outnumber the player.

Let’s call these “Numerous Mobs”.

I feel that right now the game is focus way too much on Strong Mobs, and not enough on Numerous Mobs.

Now there is good reason for that. Strong Mobs produces less lag (less mobs on the screen).

However when overused, every single fight becomes a DPS test. The test is just to see how fast the players can burn that hugh hp pool of the mob to zero. And there is a lack of epicness, since at the end of the day only ONE mob went down.

And worst of all, the stats of the mob are no longer relevant to the players’ stats. When overused, the players would feel that their character is inferior because the mobs are so strong. Think about it. When a “regular” mob have 20 times the health and 4 times the damage, the player can only win by being smarter than the dumb AI. Yes of course the player would still win. But the fight is not really a “fair” fight. The player starts questioning what kind of training and drugs those mobs got, since even their no name minions have better stats than our hero. Hope this make sense.

Now don’t get me wrong. It is perfectly fine to have mobs that have better stats than the players. But not the no name minions!

I think the game should find a balance in the fights, between Strong Mobs and Numerous Mobs. I played this game called Super Robot Wars. What they did was to have many Numerous Mobs as cannon folders. Those mobs have similar stats as the players, and are just there to be easily killed. The Strong Mobs at the back is the real challenge.

For example, let’s say a Scarlet Invasion fight usually have 20 Strong Mobs. Why not replace that with 15 Strong Mobs and 60 Numerous Mobs? This will be a good balance between challenge and an epic fight. The players would be killing 75 mobs instead of only 20.

I guess anyone part of the Ebon Vanguard is considered “famous” for people in Ebonhawke.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ebon_Vanguard

And I imagine the leader of the Separatists would be famous amoung that crowd, whoever he/she is.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Separatists

If we get a melee weapon, I hope it is heavily involved with spirit summoning. Stuff like cursed marks that draws spirit attacks, spirit portal attacks. etc. Don’t just give us cleaving please.

I want music to be separated by the type of fight you are involved in.

Menu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAlMaVYIzqw
Origin: Rome Total War.

Magic Battle (mages, creatures, etc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzAhP1iAsRg.
Origin: Final Fantasy Series

Hi-Tech Battle (golems, twisted clockwork, airships, etc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUjwTLm2Qg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd4VmW0pl9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moVYfvT6XGA
Origin: Gundam Series

Large scale fight, Army vs Army (Humans vs Centaurs, Sylvari vs Nightmare Court, etc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPJnvPrv8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNGl6czDCBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_qb89uGi0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KbXHIjKUBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRXfFemc6Oo
Origin: Gundam Series, Lord of the Rings, Rome: Total War, Ace Combat 5

Ancient Enemies (Elder Dragons, 1,000 years old mages, etc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPR0STAvMJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUrMAC1w8ns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv26S-0eHaM
Origin: Naruto Shippuuden, Super Robot Wars

To make necros useful in dungeons, one need to look at where a Necro’s strength is.

1) Debuffing
2) Snaring
3) Surviving against DOT damage.
4) Condition damage.

Right now the mobs:

1) Strong without any buffs.
2) Never kites. Immune to snares.
3) Blast one hit kill attacks. One hit kill favours blocking and damage avoidance, which necromancer do not have much.
4) “Protected” by the 25 bleeding stack limit.

To make necro useful, mobs need to be changed so that:

1) Mobs in dungeons are nerfed stats wise, and this new thing call “Mob Normal buff” “Mob Veteran Buff” etc should be added. Basically mobs are strong with buffs and weak without their respective buffs. This gives room for necromancers to debuff them, making them weak.
2) Mobs needs to start kiting to avoid dying, but at the same time are no longer immune to snares. This puts a need for snares in a dungeon, and give necromancers a way to snare them.
3) Reduce the direct damage from mobs, and at the same time introduce more heavy DOT damage. This would make necro’s degen/regen game variable in dungeons.
4) Increase the 25 bleeding stack limit to 50.

Its the same thing for other underpowered classes in dungeons. The mobs have to be designed according to each of the 8 classes’ strengths.

To make necros useful in dungeons, one need to look at where a Necro’s strength is.

1) Debuffing
2) Snaring
3) Surviving against DOT damage.
4) Condition damage.

Right now the mobs:

1) Strong without any buffs.
2) Never kites. Immune to snares.
3) Blast one hit kill attacks. One hit kill favours blocking and damage avoidance, which necromancer do not have much.
4) “Protected” by the 25 bleeding stack limit.

To make necro useful, mobs need to be changed so that:

1) Mobs in dungeons are nerfed stats wise, and this new thing call “Mob Normal buff” “Mob Veteran Buff” etc should be added. Basically mobs are strong with buffs and weak without their respective buffs. This gives room for necromancers to debuff them, making them weak.
2) Mobs needs to start kiting to avoid dying, but at the same time are no longer immune to snares. This puts a need for snares in a dungeon, and give necromancers a way to snare them.
3) Reduce the direct damage from mobs, and at the same time introduce more heavy DOT damage. This would make necro’s degen/regen game variable in dungeons.
4) Increase the 25 bleeding stack limit to 50.

Its the same thing for other underpowered classes in dungeons. The mobs have to be designed according to each of the 8 classes’ strengths.

The Flame Legion is doomed when they joined the Molten Alliance. They are now slave to someone else.

lordkrall.7241:

And make it completely impossible for pre-lvl 80 people to ever get the dungeons done?
If a dungeon is labeled as 80 people won’t (in most cases) take people under level 80, even if they scale up.

The lower leveled dungeons are built for lower level players. Don’t change them based around max-leveled player.

Low level players can still enter those dungeons and their stats would be scaled up.

When people won’t even take a level 80 PUG who isn’t a Warrior, Guardian or Mesmer, this isn’t really an issue. This grimick is more designed for guildmates who want to help their low level guildmates out.

It doesn’t make any sense for those low level dungeons to scale players down to their level. It mess up many player’s build big time.

Please change all dungeons to level 80 and scale the low level players upward instead. Thanks.

Say /signed if you support this.

Its simple, we solo the dungeon.

-Joker

Can you still do Scarlet’s playhouse right now? I thought it is over.

As for the topic, yeah everyone knows that Scarlet is poorly written. We get it. Hope the next villain is better.

Summon giant spiders.

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/190737/giant_spider.jpg

I want The Darkness.

Alright let’s do a Hypothetical scenario to give the developers some examples:

In the next Aetherblade attack, they almost successfully captures Queen Jennah. Suddenly BAM, all 20+ Aetherblade members were blown away. And standing in front of the queen were Anise and 2 other witches.

“Your life and blood is important to be lost right now, Queen Jennah. Daughter of Doric.”
Queen Jennah: “What…who are you?”
“We are friends of humanity. You might call us the Sisterhood of Thirteen.”

The Aetherblade resumed their attack. The witches picked up one of the dead Aetherblades nearby, and turned him into an undead minion.
“What? I am alive?”
“Yes. And now you are our servant.”

The undead aetherblades charges into his former allies, and then explodes, killing all nearby. The remaining Aetherblades ran off in fear.

The crowd were shocked:
“They…they rose an undead. Not a minion, an undead!”
“That’s illegal!”
“They must be the witches in legend. Thieves of the Night. Eater of Children!”

The witches replied:
“The few must be sacrificed for the need of many.”

Scarlett was kitten ed.
“You might be able to beat those useless Aetherblades. But you have no chance against my Twisted Nightmares.”

A Veteran Twisted Nightmare charges at the witches. One of the witches calmly stand in front and, growing a pair of purple energetic wings, swept the Veteran Twisted Nightmare aside.

“Purple wings???”
“Abaddon’s servant? But he is dead!”

The witches replied:
“Abaddon is dead, but his magic lives on forever.”

Scarlet then retreated:
“kitten these new fools! I will be back after more research. You won’t be so lucky next time.”

Anise: “Sisters, is this really ok?”
Witches: “We didn’t have a choice. And it is about time we come out into the open.”

When the witches turn to face Queen Jennah, Logan is already in front of her, sword drawn.

“Stay away from the queen, you monsters!”

The witches were silent for a moment, and then blasted out laughing.

“Monster? Haha we get those a lot.”
“My queen, the Sisterhood of Thirteen wants to offer our alliance to you.”

Logan: “Don’t listen to them! These witches are full of tricks. They eat children and practise the dark acts!”

The witches answered:
“To clarify, we do indeed steal children, but we don’t eat them.”
“The human lifespan is too short, no matter how talented you are, to become powerful. And power is what we need to save humanity.”
“What we did was transfer our power, spirit and knowledge into the next host. The children is perfectly alive, in us. And our power eventually grow from training and learning over hundreds of years.”
“Abaddon’s corruption is nullified each time we switch bodies. That’s how we got around it.”

Logan: “Nonsense and twisted logic!”

“My queen, here is our offer. We will assist you kingdom and people with our powers, under 2 conditions.”
“Firstly, the old Order of Mages must be disbanded. That means all magic of all kind will be legal from here on out. Humanity must no longer be limited by useless laws and honour. From here on, humanity will embrace the full power of magic.”
“I remember the fall of Ascalon like it was yesterday. And it was due to The Order preventing the use of forbidden magic, even after the devastating Searing. Remember our history, my queen.”
“The Order used to hunt down and burn our kind. We are being very tolerant to simply ask for them to disband.”

“Second, the each of the thirteen of us requires a new child every 20 years to renew ourselves. The children must be magic prodigies. If you accept our alliance, this will be on your responsibility.”
“The next renewal is in 3 years. So you don’t have to worry about it until later. 13 children every 20 years, to save lives of thousands. You do the math.”

Anise: “Think hard my queen. Look at the power of just a team of three of us. The other three teams each have different talents, but just as powerful. And the Thirteenth…”
“Don’t talk about the Thirteenth, my sister. The world is not ready for it.”

Logan: “My queen, don’t listen to their madness! Evil and dark powers are never free. They always want something in return. Not just those child prodigies.”

“We always keep our promises, my queen. What we ask of you right now is all that we will ask for.”
“If you do not ally with us, don’t worry we will still serve humanity. But if you do something foolish, you might not be part of that picture. Humanity will endure, with or without you my queen.”

Queen Jennah: “What do you classify as foolish?”
“Rely on these Charrs for your defense and protection, for example. Have you ever considered what would happen once all the Elder Dragon dies? The war between humans and Charrs will resume, and you will be killed.”
“Think my queen. How would humanity endure?”

What would Queen Jennah do?

Fafnir.5124:

So you arn’t counting the 100-1000 people who died when scarlet bombed the exits. Through dugion we only saved 3 people. Not really an accomplishment in any respect. Because of the dark undertone it is necessary to vibrant entertainment to counteract it. Otherwise everyone would lock themselves in their rooms and slowly starve to death. The community has to think we are winning; hence dragon bash and other festivals. I expect bubbles to resink ore and claim the magical hot spots for himself.

The main characters doesn’t need to be winning, until the very end. Why do you think phases like “Face the giant” and “Fight the power” exist?

Eluveitie.1290:

The problem with killing off someone, like Faren, is that it would interfere with the personal story and would make no sense whatsoever to the new players. Also, if that character has a role in it that creates conflicts with the cohesion, it’d be a mess. Faren was well played during this arc and devs have said the will start to blurr the line between PS and LS. Hopefully we will see more.

PS was really a BIG mistake for this game, in all senses, in my opinion.

Actually it would be alright. The whole PS is in the past already. Zhaitan is already defeated (maybe still alive, but defeated).

Dark story and comedy need to both exist. All dark is too depressing. And all comedy is too light.

That said….

Innocents need to die in mass. Bad guys need to win multiple times. Characters and players need to feel fear, anger, pain, sadness and frustration. Only then can GW2 have a good story.

There is a reason why so many players misses the likes of Sieran. We need more of those. Give a NPC some character development and then kill him/her off.

Here is what a necromancer like my main would say to Scarlet before stabbing her in the heart: “You know why you lost? Because a prodigy like you would never suffer as much pain as I did.”

Who said that we are the good guys? We are just trying to kill all of our enemies, including the likes of Scarlet and Elder Dragons, with whatever means necessary. Our own survival is at stake.

If we don’t start acting smarter and putting pressure on our enemies, we are doomed.

Its the same reason why Ascalon lost to the Charr. The foolish “Order” banned all forbidden magic, even after The Searing. Those magic could have turned the tide, but they were not allowed to be used. Now the spirits of Ascalonians suffers a fate worst than death.

I voted for Evon because he is obviously the smarter person. Ellen is another hero type that are bounded and limited by the idea of honor. It is ashame that Ellen won. I fear for our future.

Norm necros are huge. Male ones looks like monsters. :P

Obviously magic pistols or magic rifles with magic bullets, for obvious reasons.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/345/8/3/alicia_the_bulletwitch_by_thedrunkdevil-d4iv6wk.jpg

http://t.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/games/1600x1200/bayonetta.jpg

Rainbow, it is true that we cannot do much against unforeseeable future threats. But threats like the Dredge threat against Bloodcliff Quarry’s mining operation is very real. It is happening everyday. The Alliance should gather its forces and end this threat once and for all.

The way I see it, the likes of the Dredge treat the Alliance like a joke because the Alliance is way too nice. We let them come and kill our miners, and we never go after them to seek revenge. Many children became orphans and wives became widows. Now with Zhaitan out of the way, it is time to teach the Dredge a lesson that they will never ever forget. The Alliance is bigger, and we will wipe you out if you kitten us off. Surrender or be destroyed, its that simple.

Unless you are claiming that the combined forces of Charr, Humans, Norn, Asura and Sylvari, with all of our new advances in magic and technology, cannot take out the Dredge. Then yes we cannot do anything. May the 5 gods save us.

Playtime is over. The world is become more dangerous everyday. It is time to end all these minor annoyance so the Alliance can face bigger threats when they do come.

And for the record, the Bloodcliff Quarry problem is far from the only one.

Look up preemptive strike for more details. May fortune favors the bold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preemptive_war

First, let me list the number of times the bad guys took the initiative, and the good guys then respond to them.

-Karka invasion, then the good guys took over Southsun Cove.
-Molten Alliance attacks, good guys defended and then strike back.
-Canach caused trouble, good guys strike back.
-Aetherblades attacked, good guys defended and then counter attack.
- Scarlet Briar attacked, good guys defended and then strike back.

See a pattern here? The good guys has always been on passive defense, while the bad guys always have the first move. That shows how smart the bad guys are and how dumb the good guys are, which only got balanced because of the player’s overwhelming skills.

It is time for the good guys to take the first move.

“OMG no way that’s too hard! Everything was great before these new bad guys from the LS story. "

No it wasn’t. There are tons of existing trouble just from the original story. There are so many things the good guys can do. For example Bloodcliff Quarry is under constant attack from the Dredge. That reduced the potential mining output by, let say, 70%.

With the Scarlett invasion and her new war machines, it become obvious that Bloodcliff Quarry must produce at 100% capacity in order to supply the Alliance’s own war machines.

And so let’s initiate a full offensive against the Dredge underground in that area. The Alliance would find an opening, and attack the Dredge though their cave system. The Dredge must either surrender, or be exterminated to the last man. Show no mercy.

There are many other examples. But point is, it is time for the good guys to show that they are also intelligent. It is time to think and take the initiative.

-Good guys attack, bad guys get slaughtered.

Perhaps worshippers of Giganticus Lupicus (flesh and blood) or Colossus (stone) builts those a long time ago.

4/10. Those are not your final armors, so it is hard to judge.

Here is my witch queen. I want her to look at big as possible. ^^

Thanks Konig for clearing that up. That means we will see more undead Giganticus Lupicus when we do go to the Crystal Desert. They will probably be much bigger than the one we saw in Arah.

As for Margonites, they are capable of individual thinking. Even when Abaddon was alive, the likes of The Lost and Apostate decided to ally themselves with the players. When Abaddon died, surely many more switched sides. Others joined Mallyx to continue fighting against Komir, until Mallyx too were killed.

There are probably 3 factions:
1) Masterless, but hates Komir.
2) Masterless, and doesn’t side with anyone.
3) Allied themselves with Komir, the new goddess of Water, Secret and Truth.

To make LS actually alive, players need to be given choices along the way. And those choice, in turn, affects the story in the long run.

“Player election” is not a new concept. It happened during the “Bazaar of the Four Winds”, when players got to vote for either Ellen or Evon to seat on the Captain’s Council. This in turn affects the story of the future.

What I am asking for is more of this.

For example, after the Molten Alliance dungeon, the players would be allowed to choose between “focusing our forces against the Flame Legion” or “focusing our forces against the Dredge.” Picking one or the other would change the story.

Other that actual election (by voting), the players can also vote though action. For example in Clockwork Chaos there were four bombs in Queen’s Pavilion. There are multiple NPCs around each bomb. For example bomb #1 might be full of civilians. Bomb #2 have Shining Blades. Bomb #3 have Lion’s Guards. Bomb #4 have Asuran Ambassadors, etc. The last bomb the player picks cannot be stopped, and would kill whoever is in that area. So the players “voted” when they decided on who to save first.

Let’s say 40% of the players picked bomb #3 last. 20% for each of bombs #1,2 and 4. By “player election” the story will go though with the people around bomb #3 (Lion’s Guards in this case) being killed. The story will change accordingly.

I got my ascended gear for my main and I stopped doing dailies. Sorry but I just can’t do anymore of that kind of grinding.

Karma nerf? Is this real life???? O_O

The whole idea of karma is to allow players to get items without all that grinding. It is the best balance currency for casual players. Why would you guys nerf this???

Ricky, the idea of having a LS in GW2 is awesome. Its just that, right now, the story and execution is done pretty poorly. Issues include too much grinding and not enough time to finish them, story not polished, characters not polished, Scarlet is a Villain Sue that have nothing to do with the GW2 universe, etc.

And seriously way too much land battles against the sky pirates. When will we get to fight them in the sky?

The biggest problem with the Scarlet Sega is how unattached it is to the rest of the world and story. It feels like one of those boring Naruto Fillers.

Living story should revolve around the characters and enemies in the existing world. Don’t just create something out of nothing. That’s the definition of a Filler.

e.g. Some well known GW character’s daughter, some well known GW character’s former student, Fanatic Cult of Komir, etc

Scarlet=new woman who was trained by new characters leading a new organization. This is unrelated to the rest of the world and story, and hence we don’t feel any attachment.

To clarify, the Molten Alliance was just fine. They are related to the GW2 world.

The Aetherblades would have been fine, if its members were linked back to the GW2 world somehow (e.g. war orphans abandoned by Queen Jennah during the Risen invasion, or a centaur invasion, can be anything). Linking the Aetherblades to Scarlet is not ok, because Scarlet herself is not related to the GW2 world at all.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crystal_Desert

1) Crystal Desert is now a grassland because Palawa Joko diverted the rivers from Vabbi to this region.
2) Palawa Joko’s Awakened undeads are there.
3) Zhaitan’s Risen undeads are there.
4) Kralkatorrik’s branded are there.
5) Possibly there: Undead elder dragons and undead elder Giganticus Lupicus (those huge giant bones got resurrected by the undead lords), Dhuum’s minions (from the now undefended Chaos Rift in the Tomb of the Primeval Kings) including Aatxes and Shades.
6) Possibly “still” there: Giant wurms, Junundu, Hydra, Scarabs, Forgotten, Losaru, Abbaddon’s demons (from the same Chaos Rift), masterless (or now Komir following) Margonites.

Long story short, its Total War over there. Until our level cap gets increased to 100, I won’t bother going there. :P

SirMoogie.9263:

I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. I fell in love with the dynamic event system at release as the chaining ones usually tell a little story about the zone you’re in. I signed on to Guild Wars 2 based on the manifesto and its promises of player actions affecting the world, and I feel the dynamic events at release mostly accomplish this; some to a lesser extent than others.

However, I can’t say this about the dynamic events added in Scarlet’s Invasion, Queen’s Pavillion, Secret of Southsun, or even Flame and Frost (their best release in my opinion, despite how long it took them to complete it). These events were so disconnected from the zones they occurred in. There was no lead up, such as NPCs discussing the events and then performing some action that triggers a dynamic event; once the events started they didn’t affect the zones as the enemies just sit there waiting to be killed; the enemies aren’t actually performing the actions the dynamic event says they are; when the event concludes there are no effects on the world. Essentially, the zones as a whole act as if these events are not going on.

These events do not meet the quality of other events in the world and they definitely are not what was promised in the manifesto. If the two-week release schedule is causing content to be released that is substandard, it needs to be reevaluated.

I got to agree. The Aetherblades are not related to the area that they appear from at all. A much better LS would be Centaurs attacking Ascalon Settlement for 4 weeks. This makes much more sense because the Centaurs actually do have a base there.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Gendarran_Fields_map.jpg

It was the same feeling I got when I did Winds of Change in GW1. Somehow this new Ministry of Purity raised an army much bigger than the Canthan army. Where did they find these people? How did they provide enough food to feed them? How did they train up so many men? How did they provide enough equipment for them? Where did all this money came from?

sAdam.5876:

I made similar rant few days ago

sAdam.5876:

Every story needs heroes. We like them, or at least we are told we should like them, because they are good or just because they are heroes (I’m looking at you Trehern and Kormir). But story need also villains. They got it harder, because to be compelling they actually need to be interesting. And that’s a point where GW2 is seriously lacking. We have Dragons, but they are just forces of nature. Tsunami given shape of dragon. Bandits and other factions evil for the sake of being evil are boring. Centaurs are like xenophobic indians(native americans) without any redemption values. Only interesting antagonists so far (in my humble opinion) were Dredge and Canach. First got quite tragic backstory being slaves for Stone Summits. It’s kind of understandable that they overreact on any attempt of outside influence. Canach is extremist with a cause. He got his own twisted agenda, but he is more force of self-serving and moral gray area than force of evil like Scarlet. Now what I think about Scarlet. For me she is copy-paste Duella Dent. For those unfamiliar with DC comics imagine steam-punk dressed female Joker. Like it was pointed out in other topic, she is villain sue.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/speech/Is-Scarlet-a-Villain-Sue-Merged

And villain sue is usually boring and lazy design.
So to sum up, I believe GW2 needs more interesting, multidimensional villains for it’s stories. It can only help.

Great post. I had always thought that it is the villains, not the heroes, that drives the story forward.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilIsCool

“There is a reason actors fight for the chance to play the bad guy. The lines are great, the costumes are awesome, the songs are spectacular, the villains often look much sexier than the heroes, and they don’t have to spend the whole shoot pretending they are nicer than anyone they’ve ever met.

Plus, there are all those wonderful toys!

Why is all that true? Why does the bad guy get all the cool stuff? The more interesting the bad guy, the more interesting the story. It really is that simple. You don’t have a story unless you have conflict. The bad guy in most cases is the conflict: The Villain Makes the Plot."

For example, I had hoped that that Aetherblades were some war orphans left behind by some mistakes made by the queen or the Pact. An army of sky pirate driven by hate and pain against Tyria. What can be more cool than that?

Then we got Scarlet, who just wants power and show the world who is boss. T_T

For example:

“6 years ago in 1319, Mai Trin and Horrik were a pair of cheerful teenage friends in the village of Amber. They were both child prodigies and as a pair were set to become great engineers for mankind. That was when Zhaitan awoke and his undead minions overran their village. In order to preserve her forces, Queen Jennah made the hard decision to retreat her army back into fortresses and abandoned the small towns and country side.

Amber was one such abandoned village. In their haste to retreat, the army left behind many civilians to their own fate. Mai Trin and Horrik both survived, but they lost their whole family. Their group of villagers saved whoever they could, but many died right in front of their eyes.

Fighting with the undead weeded out the weak, and only the strong survived. The surviving villagers soon form a pirate group called the Aetherblades, with Mai Trin and Horrik designing weapons for the group. They rely on robbery and salvaging to survive, and have a great distrust on any authority, specially Queen Jennah who betrayed them."

Quote:

“Your so called peace, so-called kingdom, was build the the corpses of our helpless family and friends, who trusted you with their lives, which you betrayed.”

“I know we will win. Because we suffered more than you!”

kRiza krimos.1637:

BilboBaggins.5620:

I would argue that Scarlet would view herself as type 3. She is fighting to destroy the world as it is and create a world where she (and by default, all sylvari) would not be constrained to either follow the pale tree’s visions or the nightmare’s visions but freely determine their own destiny.

Where did you get this things about Scarlet? Afaik there is almost nothing known about her motives, and very little is know about her background besides what was presented in short story.

You can usually tell a type 2 villain by how they disrespect their foes. And they usually love doing evil laughs. Scarlet clearly have zero respect for her enemies, and she loves to tease and evil laugh at them.

http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Evil_Laugh

Type 1: You are weak and I am strong. So you die. Its that simple.

Type 2: Wahahahahah I am going to kill you for money and to test out my new warmachines. That will further strengthen my evil army. Its all about me, myself and I.

Type 3: To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to kill you. But your sacrifice is required for a better tomorrow for everyone. I will make sure you are well remembered by everyone afterwards.

I made this thread to point out there there are 3 types of villains. In GW2, only the first 2 types were used on a consistent bases. The 3rd one (the best type in my opinion) is seriously lacking.

1) Ancient and Powerful Villains: Beings that are ancient and powerful. They are simply purely evil and beyond any kind of reasoning. Their followers are usually worshippers, corrupted/brainwashed by them or people who are too scared of their power to resist. This is the most boring type of villain.

Example:
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Elder_Beings

2) Greedy and Power Hungry Villains: These people wants money and power for themselves. They will kill anyone to achieve those aims. They are very simple to understand and usually enjoy doing the evil laugh. Their followers are usually after their money and power, or are too scaried to resist them. This is the classic “evil for the sake of being evil.”, which makes them fairly boring.

Example:
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/M._Bison

3) Anti-Villains: These people fights for their version of self-righteousness. They often view themselves as good guys, or even heroes. They usually have some sort of respect for their foes. They might have followers who follows their point of view. This is by far the most interesting type of villains because they have a philosophy.

Example:
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Nagato/Pain

As you can see, type 1 villains are the Elder Dragons. Type 2 villains are the likes of Scarlet. Type 3 villains, as of today, doesn’t exist at all in GW2. It is my hope that we will see more, much more, type 3 villains in the future.

This is a must read:
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Villain

“Evolution Of Villainy
In the early days of media portrayal of villains (during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries) it was common for a villain to be portrayed as the archetypal “cackling madman” with little to no redeeming qualities. However, as audiences and society in general, matured villains became a less superficial in nature and the idea of villainy was evolved. It became popular for a villain to share similar qualities to a hero. This gave birth to the anti-hero and anti-villain as well as the tragic villain. In fact in modern times many writers are encouraged to steer away from outright villainous individuals and instead are inclined to create antagonists that are more three-dimensional so as to serve a wider audience. It is worth noting many villains in cartoons and children’s media however retain the stereotypical villain. This is due to children’s shows and cartoons being geared toward younger individuals who are unable to fully understand deeper, more philosophical concepts associated with anti-heroes and tragic villains."

I agree that the LS is moving along too fast, and with too much grinding in each of them for a casual player to get all the achievements. And I also feel that the story is often rushed, and lack polish and character developments.

So:

-Slow down the LS releases. Tell the story at a much slower pace but tell a better story. This isn’t a race.
-Reduce the grinding needed for achievements and rewards. For example doing those “Scarlet Invasions” just once (which takes an hour) should be enough to get all the achievements and rewards for it. Extra grinding is only for extra rewards.
-Spend more time on story polish and character developments. This isn’t a race. Slow things down and make them better.

You are:
[ ] Married
[ ] Have Girlfriend
[x ] Employed
[ ] Have Pets
[ ] Have Children
[x ] Are an Adult
[ x] Have a Life
[ ] Have no Manual Dexterity
You Think Living World is too:
[ ] Hard
[x ] Time Consuming
[x ] Temporary
[ ] Full of Jumping Puzzles
You are Currently Threatening to:
[ ] Quit
[ ] Uninstall
[ ] Kick Colins’ Dog
[ x] Tell the Internet That You are Upset
Thank you!

I got bored of pve a while ago, and had been playing only WvW. For a while I gave up RL for this game. But now I got to say I am indeed suffering from a mix of boredom and burnt out, and RL (social dancing, comedy clubs, drinking, theatre, etc) is slowly taking over again. I guess I just need a break.

This was a fun week. ^^

Torque.2948:

Don’t worry JQ you will be losing again next week to BG and SoR. Enjoy the victory while it lasts. In the meantime I am enjoying the loot bags keep em coming.

This week is far from over. TC weekdays is our greatest strength. JQ’s weekday is known to disappear. That was how TC defeated SBI (and later on, Kaineng) when I was still there.

I am not saying we will win. But don’t take things for granted yet.

T1 here we come. ^^

The battle for that 3rd place tier 1 spot has begun.

PAXA huh? I remember you guys recruiting player to tier 8 for small scale combat. I am very surprised to hear that you cannot find it down there. Tbh I don’t think what you are looking for is available in GW2 at all.

The only way for a 5v5 fight is if you challenge another guild to a 5v5 fight.