Some people pride themselves in completing the new elitist wurm event. Others pride themselves by farming people who farm the wurm. Welcome to the real jungle. Now deal with it.
I’m sure spawn camping people who are more interested in doing something other than fight you is something to be real proud of.
You know where you are? You’re in tha jungle, baby.
You’re gonna diiiiiie!
THIS is exactly what ANet needs to be doing with the living story. This would get me excited about things again. We need to be using the LS to resolve things that in other, more static MMOs would be stuck in time forever, when sensibly they should be moving forward.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
I opened this topic expecting another terrible NU GUISE LEAVE SCARLET ALONE post from one of saladhead’s incoherent defenders, but instead I get the best written topic I’ve seen on this forum in as long as I can remember. I had to log in just to +1 the OP.
Not only do your points perfectly sum up all of my issues with Scarlet as a character, but you also wrote a really well thought out and interesting character analysis of Joker as a special bonus. So yeah. I agree on all counts.
Personally, I think of Scarlet as a flat cardboard caricature of Harley Quinn more than The Joker. Clearly whoever wrote Scarlet was a big fan of Harley but did not understand the fundamentals of her characterization. (Mainly, the fact that her rabid devotion to “Mr. J” is a huge defining aspect of who she is. She’s not just some crazy wacko with pigtails, and I don’t think she would work as well without being a supporting character of The Joker or else having some alternate/additional depth.) Then they also decided to make her an all-powerful Mary Sue fan-fiction author self-insert.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
My gf has a character she named “Disco Dolyak” because she thinks yaks are cute and it’s a funny name. I decided to make her a friend, who I named “Mambo Moa”. It only got sillier from there.
Attachments:
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
I’d be willing to bet the dungeon is a “climb the tower” challenge where you have to get through X amount of floors, and each floor is randomly selected from a greater number of possibilities.
So yeah, like Fractals except inside a tower. This actually sounds like a pretty cool idea! Especially if the randomly selected rooms are strung together into one continuous piece, so you don’t have to load them each time like Fractals. My only complaint is that Scarlet is involved.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Don’t forget that the Aetherblades make extensive use of hard-light hologram technology, which they stole from SAB / Moto sometime around Dragon Bash when they first appeared. Seems like a pretty solid link to me.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Using MedKit #5 and Elixir B = 100% uptime swiftness, no speedy kits required. One of the two will always come off cooldown before your swiftness runs out.
How did nobody else mention this?
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Exactly. I don’t know this ‘Scarlet’ you’re talking about. But it’s a dye variety, right?
Surely there has never been a ‘Scarlet’ in the living story, and never will be again.
(PLEASE ANET)
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Another great thing I noticed is that when I’m trying to self-combo in a Zerg it actually works now. This is the one I’m usually doing:
Black Powder + Heartseeker = Stealth
But before the last patch I’d always end up triggering somebody else’s field and getting Flame Shield or something instead. Now it seems to prioritize my own field first, so I can consistently get stealth even if there’s a mess of other fields around.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
This is a good idea, but should come with a confirmation prompt.
Imagine how horrifying it would be if you accidentally ate a whole stack of 15s/each food.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
A THOUSAND TIMES YES.
My thief SB infiltrator’s arrow and shadowstep would thank you.
My engineer’s rifle jump would thank you.
My mesmer’s blink would thank you.
I would thank you.
+1
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Well the Mad King is a king no more…so what is he the king of? King of the mad realm…..so yes, he is the KING OF MADNESS!
Mad King is going to have it in for you this year!
At risk of being pedantic, I’m going to point out that the Mad Realm is just named after the Mad King. It’s not actually a realm of madness, per-se. It’s a realm containing the Mad King’s minions where weird stuff happens sometimes, more like Buton’s Halloweentown than D&D’s Pandemonium.
(For those not familiar, Pandemonium is a Chaotic-Evil / Neutral afterlife in Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a large cavern complex constantly filled with a cacophony of crashing winds which drive anybody who stays there a while completely mad.)
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
This happens because Anet uses one map for all three game modes. The game just checks what difficulty you’re in and hides / makes intangible all the objects that shouldn’t be in your current mode. You can see this happening right after the level loads.
I suspect that each object is doing this check individually, or at least they’re checking in small groups, so it’s possible for some to glitch but not others.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Not having good visual feedback is really damaging to the experience.
We have something that’s a pretty close equivalent. Right before you fall of a ledge, your character model starts to move downwards but it’s still possible to jump. I’ve always found this to be a very reliable means of getting maximum jump distance.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
If they’re smart they will just move it out of the way and cover that spot with something less expensive during the festival. They already have that huge Halloween-themed seal from after we closed the rift last year.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
The only interaction I would like to see between these two involves the Mad King, his favorite choice of salad dressing, and Sporkcalibur.
I fully endorse and support this option. Make it happen, ANet. Scarlet needs to go.
It sounds like a joke, but wouldn’t that be AMAZING if it actually happened? Like, just completely out of left field the Mad King kills her off like it’s nothing. It makes more sense than you’d think:
(1) Scarlet received a great deal of player criticism and in my opinion has been largely ineffective as a convincing villain. (She’s very Mary Sue, honestly.)
(2) She arrived with little to no buildup. Having her depart in the same way has a nice symmetry to it.
(3) Who the heck doesn’t love the Mad King? Having the star of GW2’s best-reviewed patch kill off the worst-reviewed villain would be a master stroke, and nobody would expect it because holiday characters usually never get to have a lasting influence outside of their yearly event.
I mean, realistically it will probably never happen. Heck, I am doubting there will even be any Scarlet <—> Lunatic Court connection at all, because that’d be way too cool and tidy to end up in a Living Story release. BUT I CAN DREAM
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
I came here to be cynical about “OH GOD MORE TURRETS WHY”, but looking at the video this actually seems pretty awesome. I especially like the “haha too many people busy swinging 1 and ignoring the mechanics HE’S INVULN NOW” effect that Bone Wall has.
I could care less about the mini / wings / etc, but if this is a sign of things to come I am excited for the updated bosses. ‘Course if it all ends up being more “throw rock at boss” / “kite boss onto circle” nonsense I’m going to be way dissapoint.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
The problem is though, if you put in unique rewards of any kind, people will QQ that the category has now become 100% MANDATORY no matter how inconsequential said unique rewards are.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Thanks for answering. Sounds very……..unpolished. Not your answer, just having an item that isn’t anything but fodder. They ought to just name it that: “merchant fodder”.
Naming it that might be a little bit on the nose, but I would applaud them for their honesty if so!
At any rate, it’s a wonderful feeling to click the “Sell Junk” button after opening a bunch of jewelry boxes and see the huge stack of gold filter in.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Living Story is fine in my opinion. Could the writing be a lot, lot better? Yes, probably. But that’s not what this topic is about. Here’s my issue with the achievements:
They don’t just guide you through the content, like ANET keeps saying they’re supposed to. They also try to set a minimum for how much you play the content. Wouldn’t it be far more enjoyable if the achievement checklist was just there to make sure you find everything ok? Then you could decide for yourself how much to play the content.
I know people are going to say “you aren’t forced to get every achievement”, but honestly I’m a completionist and if I can’t someday check off every box in the game I don’t even feel like playing at all. Missing temporary one-time achievements isn’t an option for me. (I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.)
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Yeah, the gameplay for this LS was great, aside from all the grindy achievments. The problem with Scarlet is she was introduced way too fast to be taken seriously.
This should have been a long build up like Flame and Frost. We should have had subtle hints for a long time before actually meeting her. She should have been a scheming, cunning opponent rather than a childish ninny.
And the fact that she just has ALL these bad guys behind her for no real reason is nonsense. How did an incompetent child like Scarlet win out in rank above Mai Trin, who seemed far smarter and more dangerous? It’s nonsense.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
This, this, a thousand times this.
The Living Story is campy and fun, but the achievement grind is KILLING ME.
WvW used to be my favorite part of the game, but I haven’t played it in months because I feel like I need to constantly work on my checklist instead or run out of time. I don’t have enough time to get everything done in this game!
Slow down the Living Story!
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Is there any chance this is going to get ACTUALLY addressed, ANet? Because expecting all your players to just grind more until the system decides to throw them a bone is not acceptable. I have a job, and I can only play this game a few hours each day. I already devoted my entire day last Sunday to this nonsense and am still stuck at 12/13. Seriously, just lower the requirement for the achievement to 11 maps and be done with it. The playerbase should not suffer for your shoddy implementation.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
The Living Story has been nothing but GLOOM AND DOOM THE WORLD IS ENDING for months now. I think lots of people, myself included, could really use a break for something a little more lighthearted.
And it’s not like Scarlet is going away. She’ll still be invading zones after the current LS ends, just with less frequency. The point is she’s still at large.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
They are probably going to keep it as a recurring temporary thing until the whole game is finished, and that won’t be for awhile as Lord Vanquish has confirmed his castle is at the end of World 4.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
This is a good idea, but it should only refresh your buff when you enter combat. Otherwise you could eat through several items just being away-from-keyboard in town! A second slot for Oils / Sharpening Stones / Potions would be nice too.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Has Anet mentioned anything about removing karma jugs and the like? Now that it’s account bound and not effected by boosters, what’s the point of having a consumable instead of just adding that amount directly to our wallets?
The point is to waste more of our time when we’re converting karma to gold via Lost Orrian Jewelry Box grinding.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
‘Macro’ is a misused word these days. The way they’re saying it, macro is just “an extra key you can bind to do the job of another key”. If you were to do anything more, that’d be against the rules. :-/
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
I didn’t even hate Trahearne that much. I hate the way the living story converges after Claw Island, so it feels like your previous choices don’t really matter anymore, only choices you made one or two story steps ago determine your mission path. I’d rather have less branching later on and have a different story for each of my characters start-to-finish. As it is now, ALL ROADS LEAD TO TRAHEARNE. There is no escape.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Anybody notice that despite being cute and fluffy and babyish (no chitinous armor to speak of, yet), he’s LARGER than other normal-looking devourers?
I propose that normal devourers look like this as hatchlings, but are also tiny little bugs. (But have we seen devourers hatching in person before? I think we may have.. that may throw a wrench in this..) The next logical step from that theory is that if Frostbite is so large as a hatchling, he’ll be HUGE as an adult. So maybe he’ll be a siege devourer someday?
Or maybe not. Maybe Anet just wanted to make a cute and fluffy companion for their cute and fluffy Charr because baby baby cuddles rainbow googoo. BUT I CAN HOPE!
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Lol yes. I am wearing the geenie pants right now because they were the only non-skirt I could find for my (male) mesmer. I don’t expect everybody to have access to heavy plate, but maybe I don’t want to wear a skirt to battle!
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Wait, wait-wait-wait-wait-WAIT!
Were the gemstore portable crafting tables permanent!?
I avoided buying those BECAUSE I thought they were crappy one-shot items.
Oh er, oops no. I misspoke. Crafting tables were temporary consumables. Which made them even more useless. I’m of the opinion that they would have been largely useless even as permanent items, though.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
If so, it will probably be prohibitively expensive, just like all the other “quality of life” permanent items we don’t actually need. RE: Portable crafting tables, bank access, merchants etc, all of which are made moot by the ability to go straight to WvW from anywhere.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
although the boring answer in tyria is not “a wizard did it” but “an asura did it”
“Magic!” doesn’t need to be a boring answer, becuase where the Asura are concerned magic is just a type of science. (They aren’t conjuring this technology out of thin air, they’re like artificers. There’s a specific internal logic and methodology to it.)
So the best thing we can do isn’t to try and shoehorn Asuran magical devices into real world physics, but instead understand them in terms of what we know about other Asuran magical devices.
The problem isn’t saying “it’s magic”; the problem is saying ONLY that without further elaboration. Fact of the matter, it is magic.. but there’s more to it than that.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
When I was using Pistol Whip spam to kill Plunderers, I really only had to interrupt them twice before they died. So if you have a couple interrupts it should be fine, especially if you DPS them as they’re leaving and returning to the extraction point. For example with my engineer, Overcharge Shot & Flamethrower #3 come to mind.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
Certain gate technology is actually quite flexible as far as placement / positioning / destination goes. In Edge of Destiny, Snaff had a portable (coin sized, expands when activated) gate that could connect to various other places from anywhere. Granted, all of his tech was pretty advanced compared to what other Asura have though, which is likely why gate positioning / tuning tends to be a bit more rigid with the run-of-the-mill ones.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
I feel you guys are over complicating this a bit. In the Asura concept story “That Old College Try”, we see that Asura technology is able to target specific lifeforms. In this story, Dlixx’s wargolem preforms a massive Death Blossom attack that kills everything in range except for his krewe; the shots go right through them, harmlessly.
I would imagine that the same technology able to exclude specific lifeforms in this manner would also be able to do the opposite, and in a more general fashion. Rather than “shoot everyone except my crewe”, you could do “exclude all matter except living organisms and their possessions”.
^This vid looks like it was pre-patch as the plunderers only spawned on the left side.
Oh, I didn’t notice that. I only watched bits and pieces of the video, and mainly used it to see what build he had. When I did it plunderers were spawning on the right side as well. What I did was (1) use traps to slow down the left side, (2) use Scorpion Wire to bring the right side plunderers closer, (3) Pistol Whip spam.
I occasionally had vets hang out near the lifts, but usually if I ran far enough away they would head closer to the treasure. Who knows if this still works though, as last I heard there are now bugged vets with “near infinite” aggro range in there.
Dear lord, what have I done? – Matthew Medina, Gw2 Content Designer
