Guild Wars 2

I posted about it in the Humans forum a while back. The code gives the whole outfit, with a different skirt treatment. Thus it’s either like the Bloody Prince’s Armor, or is meant just for an NPC.

[&AgECWQAA]

Like I said, wait a couple of weeks if you can. If they haven’t said anything in that time, and you can manage the expense, go for your new shiny. But oh how you’ll hate yourself if you buy it now and next week they put in a blog about crafting it (not that you’ll be able to craft it in minutes, but you might have more fun and more disposable income during the process).

It’s one of the TA paths. You go to the nw corner of Caledon to enter it (or be anywhere in Caledon when a party member enters). It’s level 80 and fairly difficult, with its own set of achieves which you can see in the Dungeons section of the achieves tab.

After you complete the dungeon there are a series of bonus events you can do if you want. One is to get to all 5 Aether Chests (I think you have 15 minutes to do the bonuses, so you need tight logistics to do all of them). The chests themselves don’t hold much of interest, but it’s a fun race.

Some beautiful (and funny) shots already. I think the best composed one thus far is the Seasons Greeting LA. If I did Twitter I’d totally participate.

Actually you can get a white back strap to transmute appearance onto. You can’t keep stats, though, any more than you can on other skin transfers.

The question is whether stats should be transferable. I don’t see why not. You can only use one alt at a time, after all. But it might be a game gold sink to make people duplicate effort to get similar high end items for more than one alt. (This only works when you -can- get more than one. I’m looking at you, gas mask).

BlackCabs, it certainly comes down to personal preference. I don’t want to have to fight to keep what’s mine, when it comes to player housing. I don’t even want to have to pay rent. Bottom line, I don’t want what I’ve built to decay just because I step away to do other things for a while. That being said, your proposal sounds like an interesting addition to the game so long as it’s not the only way to have a customizable personal space.

Chris, I do feel that subclassing is its own discussion. I’m not worrying about balance issues because I’m no theorycrafter and anyway I seem to always build the weakest possible character in MMOs and tabletops because I go for what looks fun. What does concern me is that it seems nearly impossible to add on specialized builds that don’t involve alterations in the power balance in some shape or form, which takes it out of this thread’s focus on more interesting things to do and see and shifts it to game mechanic alteration.

Conski Deshan, I concede the point to you. I think I was unclear or even rambling a bit, conflating various housing posts including those who want bonuses from it (usually the same people want competition for real estate).

I would want the conveniences you mention to be part of the home’s landscape, though. Not some creepy person standing in the living room, or random nodes in bizarre locations like the skill point in the norn home instance. Make a garden look like a garden, with harvestable spots. Have a personal banker sitting behind a desk in a side office. Let the home’s kitchen be a chef station but look like a furnished kitchen, not a stand alone oven surrounded by bare tile. Go to a wardrobe to open it up to pull out skins, and have that wardrobe vary in design, preferably crafted by players.

Not that I want to have to always go to a spot to get at my skins, the skins wardrobe QoL in this game means instant access to all learned skins wherever one is in the world. That was just an example of blending services into the surroundings.

Which items do you mean? The Fancy Winter Clothing was still there a day or two ago.

Mail is the only way to send the items. It’s cross server, that makes no difference. I’d be surprised if one could get in trouble for sending mats, beyond the suppression for too much messaging if you send them too quickly. (That seriously needs toning down, when I can’t send pretty dyes to three different guildies without a five minute wait, something’s wrong).

One: No all caps! The mods will yell at you.

Two: I hardly go to WvW though I am working on a second world completion and soon will face that dreaded beam myself. In general, though, the trick to getting on a beam is to back up from it and aim diagonally towards the spot where the beam emerges from the wall. Steer mid-air to correct, with your camera tilted down so you can see when you’re over it.

I also find that some impossible jumps become much simpler for me with a speed boost as long as that doesn’t make me overshoot. Since letting go of forward motion makes me drop in place, I can control my landing far better if it’s not at the far end of my jump arc.

Now, if it turns out you’re mistaking the first beam and it’s not where you should jump at all, I can’t help until I’ve seen it myself. If you’re on Tarnished Coast I could join you with my mesmer and we could see if combined effort makes it work.

I agree with most of that, Mirelitkitten (is kitten actually part of the name? D’aww). But extra bonuses for forming relationships turns that into a vertical power up, so any such thing should remain cosmetic rather than game mechanic advantages.

That’s one of the problems I’ve had with Orpheal’s beloved subclass system. More than once, Orpheal, you’ve commented that more power could come with adding subclasses. Boom, you’re talking vertical game revamps. So while it’s certainly worth discussing, I’m not sure it fits in this particular CDI.

Vis a vis housing, same issue with those asking for game bonuses from building up the house. In every MMO I’ve been iffy about turning a house into a convenience center for banking and such. Here that in particular might not be such an issue given how easy it is to get to banking and crafting throughout the world. But I want a residence to feel like a residence. I saw the video of WoW’s new “housing.” Excuse me? That looks like a military fortress with no choice of architectural style or furniture customization, holding must-have services to power you up in other parts of the game. No thanks!

Horizons had open world housing (to which I remain adamantly opposed), so adding services made sense. You could set permissions building by building as to how large a set of the population could use things or rearrange things. Personal > Friends > Guild > Everyone, as I recall.

Given GW2’s structure, I’d ask more micro control of permissions. You could pick “Friends,” or name individuals by character/account to get specific permission. After all, a Friends list here can include “that random person I offered JP help to from the forums.” That doesn’t mean I want that person able to carry away my fancy Canthan rug.

That is the safest, I’d agree. But you said it’s a loan. So you’ll need to find a way for him to safely pay you back. Maybe in installments over time? Or he could buy a similarly valued item on the TP and send it to you for you to list for sale?

No player can answer that for sure. However, he should include text in the mail. Title something like “Farewell to GW2, This is For You” and text along the lines of “Przemek, you’ve been a good friend, now that I’m leaving the game I want you to have this gold.”

Screenshot that before you withdraw the gold. If ANet gives you grief, you have proof it was a one time gift, and they can review his account to observe that he isn’t logging in (that can take time, a few days hardly shows permanent departure).

Then hope that your friend legitimately earned that gold in game play so he’s not handing on ill gotten gains.

That was one day only. There’s a different sale today, 35% off all the Aetherized armors. I’m sorry you missed the tools

I’m curious, how is a controller better for playing the game? I ask because I am a fuddy duddy who grew up before controller systems. A joystick with two whole buttons, one on the stick and one on the base, was a huge deal. When Portal came out I tried playing it and ended up having my husband handle the controls while I helped figure out the puzzles.

My main query, though, is what the heck you do when you want to type in chat. With keyboard/mouse I can quickly switch modes between movement/combat and text entry. I’m sort of imagining you flinging down the controller so you can /say something and then fumbling to pick it back up as a Risen jumps you.

Turtle Dragon is right, people who’ve been on hiatus will have missed access to many things. But look at it this way — many more such things will be coming. There’s always something to do. It does help to have a good group of people to do it with. This game is meant for playing in company.

Since you have the rest, while the Lover might go up in price I’d recommend waiting a tiny bit longer. We should get a blog post about the year ahead (not a guarantee, it just seems likely to happen).

No one expects it to be much easier than spending the money. Still, why not wait a couple more weeks just to see?

Hmm. Government worker. Well over a decade from retirement. I’m not on social security yet.

Generalize much? Miss the point much about why it’s ok to wait for things?

Also, no need for personal attacks.

/dies laughing

Oh yes, I’m long spent. No one could possibly want to entice me to spend my money. Poor ancient me, two decades a lawyer, my money’s no good no more.

My dad just turned 75 and my mom 72 and trust me, the airlines and hotels and computer manufacturers, the FiOS providers and luxury SUV sellers, oh how they love my parents’ moolah. Oh, and real estate! They’re looking to buy a nice second home for their winters away from the snow.

Nope, no demographic over 23 years old is worth anyone’s time.

Oh gawd I’m laughing ’til I tear up.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/new-years-weekend-sale/

That is a good question. And one that for once makes me call out for a fast dev response.

Maladon, back at the beginning of December ANet announced that anyone buying 4K gems or more in the gem store during December would get a thank-you gift of a green quaggan backpack and a mini Mr. Sparkles (the latter previously available only to a few people that attended a specific convention). They said the gift would be given to us in January.

If you happened to buy 4K gems via cash or gem card (not via game gold) between Dec 1 and 31, you will get these items shortly.

edit: a lesser amount could still get you the backpack. The mini is at the 4K level.

I think this should be hate/love or dislike/like, actually. The term disparity is prejudicial.

If you have to choose, I’d take the tools. The kits will come in game, if rarely. Some come from milestone achievement chests, some drop in Black Lion Chests. Also you will use the tools daily and the makeover kit is a more occasional fun thing. I do always keep one kit in my bank so I can quickly consider new looks but I think I’ve only bought 5 ever (maybe 10 if there was another sale?) and the rest came from drops.

Then again I’m careful in initial creation to get just the look I want. So to me the kits are specialty items for rare actual use.

Wow, how has this been going all December with no one mentioning it until now?

Hate: Dull grey text for emotes/lack of personal customization of colors of all channels.

Like: …. so many …. let’s go with core design aimed at cooperative play.

Sirendor.1394:

Rin.1046:

I would love to have henchmen or followers, and I would love scalable instances, but I do not think they will be easy things to implement.

Guys what about this: every npc you completed a heart for, will be in your debt. You may call upon the npc for dungeons in the zone. Problem is, would only work for instanced, because the npcs still need to be in the world for other players to complete their hearts.

I am amused by the possibilities involved in calling Farmer Eda in to help in CoF. “But but … I only like heat inside a pie baking oven!”

What I always worry on these sales is that there will soon be something extra nifty added and I’ll have spent my gems on the sale so then I have to buy more gems if I want the cool new thing. Which I can, but I’ve started hesitating to use up my gem reserve when a new patch is coming.

They did give a date, Zeivu. January. They announced that at the start. Anyone who knew the bonus items would come for 4K gems also knew that “January” was all that was promised.

Maybe it’s because I’m 48 years old, I dunno. I live in terms of years, not days. My life isn’t ruined by having to wait a tiny little bit.

Naga HEX was my salvation on that. Right hand does almost all the moving, left hand hits the keys.

It’s very hard to choose, as I think the art direction is superb on so many. But I at least have an old screenie of my thief dancing with daggers (Elite), from September 2012. It caught the painterly look of it quite well:

Competition for real estate leads to the worst in online behavior, I’ve seen it in game after game. Whatever system comes in needs to be inclusive, not exclusive. I say that as someone that is in game an awful lot, and likely could pounce some choice land as it became available. I don’t want to feel I burned someone else out of a chance at their dream spot, or be blocked from forming a neighborhood with my guild (though if we can do a different house per alt, then I would love a large variety of architectural style and scale).

Nor do I want some players to be able to lock up the real estate market and charge beyond legendary prices for those lucky few who can then have a hovel if the speculators feel gracious.

Open world housing or player control of who can afford it is asking for a lot of pain. One of this game’s big selling points is its cooperative nature.

However, I’ll concede one aspect of open world housing that works well — cooperative building. Horizons (now Istaria) caused flame wars over the subdivision plots it threw out in the world as people camped the purchase spots for hours to click them first before another camper could. But once you had a plot, you could lay it out to the design you liked (with large building blocks, buildings were on an oppressive scale) and your crafting friends could come along and apply materials to it. Once enough were applied, a new phase of the structure showed, up to completion.

I still think open world is wrong for many reasons. But cooperative large scale building really can be fun so long as it’s not a grind. Horizons world events included building a causeway out to the new subdivision island. Dragons pulled sleds of bricks through the air to hand to masons to build walls and foundations. Teams of foresters collected the lumber needed, with more dragons (playable race) transporting it. It was a big enough project to take a server full of people.

So why not have a guild full of people team up to make their hall? (Or airship or manor or mini fortress or grove of trees or laboratory or mead hall …. ). Go beyond merely gathering influence and time gating it in the guild panel. Have crafters of all disciplines making bits and pieces. Have little Dynamic Events for building with a team relaying key elements to a final spot.

I … suppose my faith in ANet’s vision means I should trust them to come up with viable cooperative open world housing. I just think keeping it instanced among friends will prevent a fractured community.

We’re 3 days into the month, it’s been a lot of holidays, and the next big patch isn’t until the 21st. If February comes and no rewards went out THEN scream and rage. Until then surely a few more days for pixels will not be something you even remember caring about a year from now.

Unless you hold petty grudges, I dunno.

Anyway, that’s one of many tricks to keep calm about trivial things. Ask yourself how long from now it will be before it stops mattering to you. It’s amazing how many things really have no long term impact and aren’t worth the ulcers.

Welcome aboard!

As to humans, that’s the thing about this game’s lore. They are sort of the ancient race in decline, the Elves as it were. While they remain optimistic in enclaves such as Divinity’s Reach — the human spirit being what it is — many of them are keenly aware they are the dying race of Tyria, that vast kingdoms have been lost, that other races are out-inventing and out-fighting them.

I happen to like that twist, it gives my characters a tapestry of reaction suited to the underdog rather than swaggering top of the heap sorts.

Someone mentioned it in the misheard phrases, or another forum thread. If that wasn’t you, you’re not first

You mean for auto-swapping, or just for swapping? The very bottom option in keybinds is to “Toggle Town Clothes.” No need to open the Hero Panel.

I never even used the pass I got when it first came out, beyond stepping inside and touristing. It seems easier to use the amenities elsewhere than to go to an isolated corner of DR.

How does the Royal Terrace become significantly more convenient than other spots such as Ebonhawke or Rata Sum?

timmyf.1490:

As somebody who owns a house in real life and spends plenty of money and time repairing and upgrading it, I can’t fathom why anybody would wish to do so in a game. I play this game to get away from that trouble…

…but if we’re going to have housing, we should maybe look for an apartment in Kaineng City. I hear they have plenty of space there… ;-)

I also own a house. Which is why I keep campaigning against game houses requiring rent/mortgage/logins lest they vanish. That’s real world drudgery, keep it out of my fun place! However, one reason I own a house is that I like having a place to live that is comfy and safe and mine. My characters feel a bit rootless even though Donari can snag the noble house in Salma District for small RP gatherings and Jin can sell tea and silk in a “shop” that is just a room with a counter in DR and Mouse can nestle in the hay of an LA barn … The world will feel more alive if there’s a place to live in it.

That doesn’t mean it should be an all consuming grind. Fun is key! LotRO had a good start on it, though the hooks for objects were far too sparse (whoever heard of a hobbit house with acres of unused floor space?) especially with player crafted decorative items, the recipes for some of which required higher level faction rep. Housing in an MMO gives a whole lot of diversion and things to work on at one’s own pace.

I recall seeing a picture posted of someone’s apartment they’d lovingly put together in one of the Star Wars MMOs. It was astounding (and from the comments, they’d done a stellar job with the tools available, above and beyond the norm). It’s a creative outlet.

Yes, I RP. No, I don’t think housing is the only horizontal addition the game needs. I do think it will add a whole new dimension to the GW2 experience and I have faith that ANet can come up with creative new ways to implement it that really make people happy.

You can also use the Argos gallery at
http://argos-soft.net/GW2/ArmorGallery/index.php?lang=en&color=0&sex=1&race=2&w=3

morrolan.9608:

How about some of the more egregious vertical progression imbalances get fixed before implementing purely horizontal progression suggestions such as the fixing ascended armor crafting so that it is more equitable instead of light armor taking 36 days to craft, medium armor 24 days and heavy armor 25 days due to the time gating on bolts of damask.

That was part of the Vertical Progression thread. This thread is about ideas on improving the horizontal experience. So it’s not about priorities and which is better/more preferable, it’s about addressing each area in turn.

There’s no need to say “I don’t like your suggestion because I think something else is more important.” We see that too much in the Suggestions forum as it is ><

A bit too late for you but the safe way to go on bank or character bag slot expansions is to buy directly from the panel. If you have a little padlock on the next tab down you can click it for an option to buy another one. Once you’ve maxed, there’s no little padlock.

If you are just keeping the skin you don’t need a splitter. You simply transmute to a white item so the alt can collect it and re-transmute to the desired stat item.

I’m all for the sociopolitical part myself, as I do want a robust highly customizable housing system complete with player crafting of decorations and furniture. I cannot see any way for this to work open world, you simply will not have enough real estate for everyone to have equal opportunity to find a place.

On the other hand you do need all architectural styles available. LotRO does that via instanced racial neighborhoods; I’d rather let people have a melting pot of styles. And there needs to be room to expand. I can’t tell you how much I want a Caudecus Manor of my very own

As to zone progression that sounds wonderful. With this caveat: That requires pure dev work, nothing can happen you guys don’t spend the man hours to create. More events, more npcs chatting in intriguing ways, it’s all on ANet to put it in and thus add more filigree detail to our theme park. New places to explore, new reasons to see old places anew, all well and good — but it really needs to have some way to be player generated as to what’s going on.

(Note — I pick sociopolitical, with housing and factions etc, because wardrobe management has been declared QoL and thus likely to come with whatever focus is applied to the game. It is crucially important to me to get easy access to my skins and not have to pick just one alt to get a unique look).

Remember it wasn’t built sunken. The Vizier got all petty and said no one plays with my toys but me and sunk it so enemies couldn’t have it. Which does beg the question of just how you sink a large land mass that is presumably an upthrust of the ocean floor … anyway, nothing says it’s floating thanks to Zhaitan, just that the dragon gave it the upward boot to undo the Vizier’s spell, albeit with plenty of leftover sea damage.

I doubt it will be a code. It will show up in your mail like the thank you kites did. Let ANet have a day off, though! It’s a national holiday today and more better they should get time off than burn out and start to hate their job.

They just removed a slew of items from the store to “streamline” it. A lot of us are hoping this presages more items coming. Also the CDI going on in General Discussion is full of requests for many more appearance options.

For now, what you see in the Fashion tab is what there is.

I prefer it as a toggle hotkey, since I’ve bound it to numpad minus. So easy to tap that, and I always look exactly as I intend.

Though adding an option for others is fine, of course

Read the sticky at the top of this forum for all the omg if only I knew that tips. Don’t get caught up in the Queensdale train, it’ll be there a long time. Explore, do the events, get to know the place.

Big help: Assign chat tabs to separate out types of chat. I give Map its own tab and only look at it when trying to coordinate with people.

Twice I can go for. I was past the 5237 by the time they put in this system for easier tracking. Less than 100 points to 10K now!

Another drawback is you can’t get at your guild bank or bonuses, that’s local to your home server. So if you join a guild on another server in order to hang out with them, you’ll have a tiny bit less in perqs.