Guild Wars 2

I did Mystery Cave achieves last night with my guild, as I wanted to finish my Lumi collection before traveling this weekend. I’m not sure how effective anyone will be with their alts next week for a while until we adapt to the new system

I didn’t offer aid to you because I will be away from the game for the next 4 days. However, I always enjoy helping out with things like this, so if you (or anyone) has a need for assistance later on please ping me. I am generally available from early afternoon eastern time until midnight eastern, on NA.

I dunno, I think there might be Season Three following the starting events of HoT, or other instanced content free if you log in during the window. So it’s a good question: will logging in during the window without yet having HoT unlock the instances once HoT is later purchased, or will you only be flagged for unlock if you have a HoT account?

And then if you realize after launch that you really do like it and want it, you can’t get the pre-purchase bennies like the title and the beta access and any of the digital items that are only for pre-purchasers. The gem discount might also be only for pre-purchase as well, though I’m unclear on that.

I’ve bought CE’s in most every MMO I’ve played precisely because if I want it later, it’s too late.

The topic seems pointless. The answer is obvious, the premise is already demonstrably false. You might as well ask “how would you react if you learned that your bedroom full of furniture only has one doll sized chair in it and you only imagined sleeping in your bed?”

I guess … dumbfounded that I’d fallen into a parallel universe?

I thought it was a rational video. He even pointed out right at the start that there would be people who didn’t believe a word he said because of his sponsoring from ANet even though they have no control over his comments and said that if you believed him a corporate shill you should likely just stop watching the video.

Yes, he may well have some bias in their favor just because he likes the game enough to spend his time playing and promoting it, and because he has met many ANet people in person and had a chance to see that they aren’t faceless demons out to savage us all. That doesn’t mean he’s going to sing praises he doesn’t believe.

But hey, apparently having a good opinion of anything ANet does makes those of us who enjoy what they do shills, white knights, and fanboys/girls without volition of our own.

Note: I do think the price is ten dollars higher than it should be. I do think it would have been a classy move to add another character slot to all versions. I do think they absolutely should give not refunds (which would mean closing the account) but discounts to those who bought the game to prepare for HoT based on the FAQ as it was written. But I also think the amount of vitriol over all this is a mind boggling example of how lynch mobs form and how they develop mental shields impervious to rationality.

BogOtter said he’s not one to go into rages, he likes to see all sides. Anyone looking for a frothing demagog to confirm their own bias against ANet had fair warning their views would not be catered to. ANet made some mistakes, BogOtter pointed them out, and he did it constructively. He’s a good example, not a sell out.

It does look fine now, though it also sped up last evening and then got bad again in the morning.

/crosses fingers for tomorrow

That’s already how tabs work. What we’re asking for is for a means of easily customizing visibility of chat channels within one tab to suit what triggers our individual attention. Ergo, color choice and swapping around assigned numbers, neither of which yet exist.

Hurray, another chance for me to lobby for custom chat channel colors! There should also be an identifying number or name at the start of the line, yes, but ooooooh how wonderful it would be if we could assign preferred colors to each guild. And to all our other chat channels because I cannot stand the dull faded grey of emote text.

Another keen thing would be the ability to re-order the guild number assignments later on. I might be heavily involved with two guilds and not with my other three, for example. Then one of those two big ones fades away, and my little-touched guild five becomes a bigger use of my time. I’d like to be able to move that to /g2 and shuffle the faded one to /g5.

(This may not be an issue in ANet’s implementation. But in TESO it drives me nuts that every time I visit the guild bank or pull up the guild panel it defaults to the first guild I joined and I have to tell it to swap to the active one I’m in. This matters even more because the guild bank there doesn’t always load after a swap and then I have to relog which is a very long process there … grrrr … yet I don’t want to quit my /g1 guild because it’s made of my GW2 friends).

There was a tweet linked on Reddit, they know they have major forum problems and are working on it. I hope it’s fixed soon or my time in airports tomorrow will be extra tedious. Not that I’ll be able to post during my trip, I only log in to the forums from my PC. But I need these forums! They are active enough to give me plenty of reading in short bursts when I can’t focus enough on a novel.

No beta events are currently announced as pending.

My hope as stated in another thread is that they’ll make it like guild missions now, where a guild starts the mission and then anyone in the map can join in. Then mercenaries can slug it out with the Mordrem for pay, or communities can do a “barn raising” where everyone helps out, taking turns who starts the run. This would even let personal guilds get the hall if enough friends join the assault.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

Now, let’s not make it too big…

BRILLIANT. And yes I had to caps lock that. /saves for posterity

I have the same question. I’ve avoided leveling my only non-80 or doing any PS on any of my alts. I’d love to know when I can dive back into that

Right now they seem to have cleared up just fine.

None of the specialty dye sets stay there permanently. They do come back now and then, either directly or via Black Lion Chests, and however the price soars it does dip when that happens … maybe not lower than it is at first release, though.

You can have others come in to help. They just need to be in the same zone as you when you start the instance.

If it is like a Guild Mission, though, then maybe just one guild person can kick it off and a lot of others can join to help without having the tag themselves. Then if you have enough friends, you can help each other make the claim with your various personal guilds.

We could have “barn raisings.” Or, well, mercenary companies charging to help clear out the Mordrem.

Jaxom is right, they aren’t separate units, it’s one mob that just looks like rider + mount (and I think when it dies they “split” but that is just a death animation). Being able to combine various riders and mounts is a whole different ball of wax.

Teratus.2859:

the only reason I haven’t pre ordered HoT yet is simply because I am waiting to hear about a HoT Collectors edition or get confirmation that there won’t be one..
once I know then I’ll be pre ordering either the Ultimate or Collectors edition if there is one coming

Go to the HoT FAQ and check it out, it has a lot of changes, including that there will not be a physical CE (or at least something along the lines of “we have no plans for one, the extras will all be digital.”) You’re go for purchase

An excellent reminder. During the stream Josh and Roy were commenting on parts that we could expect to go live and parts that they thought still needed attention. Then Twitch failed and Josh had to convert all his Power Point slides to something he could post, while editing out anything that was dev-eyes-only and post it asap after hours of work. Of course some errors got in.

Plus they also commented they were eager to see all this get live in the hands of players and they’d be monitoring to see what was broken and needed adjustment.

Complaints may well be valid and based on reasonable inferences but people shouldn’t assume that what we see in the OP is the permanent set in stone for years set up we’ll be getting.

In a post titled TANSTAAFL which will likely be merged:

Mightybird.6034:

“To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.” -Regina Buenaobra
Content Marketing Team Lead

No. Nothing is free. This isn’t the 1950’s. We all know buy one get one free, is really pay double for one, and the illusion of the second free.

Your customer’s aren’t stupid. If the new player’s aren’t paying for it, then the veterans are.

If its truly free then make the core game free to download now. Or more realistically give vets a second account key with purchase of HoT to do with as they please.

So many kudos for the Larry Niven reference. Mods, please leave the all-caps title alone, it’s a classic acronym that needs to be in caps.

Though I think TANJ might be more along the lines of the general thrust of your post

The thing is, I think they just phrased it poorly. The price is what it is (and is ten to twenty dollars pricier than I expected) and they decided to bundle in the core game for those who need it. TANSTAAFL applies to the fact that we have to pay for the expansion, not to the inclusion of the core game — likely coding was easier this way than to do split up package variations.

These do look tremendous. Some RP will have to bend to explain them, as there isn’t the variety of style that would suit a plethora of guild themes. Still it looks like ANet has designed it so you can swap to a new style when it comes out, at the price of having to rearrange all the decorations, some of which might not suit the new place.

I do have a question that will hopefully be answered in the coming blogs this week: Once a decoration is donated to a guild, is it permanently available no matter what? As in, removing it just puts it in storage for easy later retrieval? I could see some people being real jerks and deleting decorations that can’t be replaced, such as the preorder items. Sure, the comments will be “careful who you give permissions to” but it would still be heartbreaking. Besides, having a constantly expanding pool of decoration resources would be a big part of the feel of growing the guild.

I’m super happy that thus far they haven’t said there will be upkeep costs. We’ll see what this “Favor” is for.

You should get them now, though some people are experiencing a delay. Mine showed up right away last night along with a mail containing the items.

I’m a little dubious because I know how readily I spend gems. I’m going to have to be careful to keep them banked as best I can in anticipation of cool new things when HoT launches.

I saw posted in another thread that you can get refunds within 30 days after buying the game from ANet. I can’t link it because the forums are loading super slow for me today and I can only handle but so many games of Hearts between thread loads.

But that means everyone who bought in the last month should be able to (politely) request a refund, get it, and then decide whether to buy HoT along with the game. Though I suppose they’d be undoing whatever leveling and account unlocks they’d managed thus far.

Besides the purchase, did you put the serial code in and use the Link Account page?

Normally I can click around these forums in the blink of an eye, but today they’re positively glacial. Is anyone else seeing slow loading times for them?

My other sites such as Enjin are working fine so it’s not my FiOS connection.

I saw in the FAQ, I think, that the glider and the guild hall item won’t be useable until HoT launch. They should have a popup that prevents it from being used, in that case. I stuck mine in my bank precisely because I was afraid they’d vanish as you posted yours did.

So I hope your account is flagged as having used it so once glider skins are part of the UI you will see it. Meanwhile you may wish to a) keep this thread link available so you can show it to Support and b) maybe even file a ticket now to document the issue in case it doesn’t appear in HoT.

That sounds phenomenal, BluJasmine. I hope it goes well. I’ve had an emergency come up and will be flying out of town for the weekend and sorry, a Nexus 7 is not an MMO gaming platform … I look forward to the Tuesday celebrations, though!

Ahah, no regrets. From the updated FAQ:

Is there a physical collector’s edition planned for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns?

There are no plans for a physical collector’s edition for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. Heart of Thorns will be offered in Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Editions (all of which are available for pre-purchase and include digital in-game bonuses only).

In this article it says once the hall is claimed you get a button on your Guild panel to travel to it. I’d hope they could, and maybe just hit “strong currents” if they tried to head out into the jungle from the hall.

I’m not clear on it, as I rushed to add it to my one and only account and have no interest in managing a second account. But I did have to specifically link it to my account and I think there was a New Account option on it. So I think you can start it all brand new (but then your main account still won’t have HoT access).

Oh wait, you’re asking if you can get it linked to your current account and get another non-HoT-enabled account? I don’t think that would work based on the interface I saw.

I’m happy. Also note that if you get a lesser version than Ultimate you cannot upgrade to Ultimate later. My only regret might come if there is a physical box with physical items I want.

I needed this boost tonight, badly, and I’m pleased to have something fun to distract me from a terrible thing happening RL.

That’s a great article! Check the end, small guilds will be viable! Loads of info in that.

There’s a video here.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-is-available-for-pre-purchase/

The mail looks like this:

Your email confirmation should say, but go to http://register.guildwars2.com/ and put in the code, then click Link Account and use your current account email/login. It will work.

At least, it did for me and I got the in-game items in the mail right away, as well as the title.

What exactly do you need a steady supply of spirit shards (previously, skill points) for? Serious question. Do they actually get used up that fast that it is crucial to get one every time you ding a level? I don’t use the Forge much at all. I have hundreds of the suckers on my alts, and hundreds more stacked in my bank in the form of scrolls I’ve gained from various sources just by playing the game — and that playing is maybe an hour or two a day in terms of really going at it in PvE (I don’t PvP), mostly by doing one round of SW.

I am very curious as to why people feel the level-ding-point is so incredibly vital to their well-being.

Mo Mo.1947:

Donari.5237:

Remembering isn’t the issue. I have a Word document listing all pet names, including some IC mini names for reference during RP., and I can bring that up on a second monitor The issue is having the name reset so you can’t quickly swap around between pets without ending up with Juvenile Whatever roaming at your side if you’re pressed for time.

It’s a QoL thing.

Even if you were coming from an RP perspective, I can’t see how this is a severe QoL issue. How often do you change one or both of your equipped pets? I’m not sure how changing your pets continuously is necessary even in WvW. In PvE of course it’s so easy you shouldn’t really need pet changes all the time.

Hey though, it would be nice to save names. But I just don’t think it’s a big deal.

I didn’t say it was a “severe” QoL issue. But then, I don’t play my Ranger. I got her to 80 and stopped, other than some recent skill challenge completions. Part was my finding the profession boring, part was my long time dislike for pet classes in MMO … and part was that I never RP’d her. RP fuels my interests in characters. Having the pet constantly lose its identity was a bar to easy RP.

It was also a bar to using a variety of pets. Once I had a named one, I didn’t want to swap out to a random Juvenile even if it would better suit the immediate situation, so I wasn’t finding very effective play if a wolf and a raven weren’t useful.

A minor change, yes, but one that would make many Ranger players happy. Take a look at Engie hobo sacks. No game play mechanics were affected at all by having forced back coverings. Yet the hobosack was something that lessened a lot of players’ enjoyment of their profession and now finally it’s getting reworked. Pet names are the Ranger hobosack.

ZilentNight.5089:

Randulf.7614:

ZilentNight.5089:

I guess Anet had a rocky start this year but are getting back on track with all these changes and this new mini. They are definitely getting boulder by the minute.

Stone me that was bad….I’d wipe the slate clean if I were you

I appreciate the sediment!

I like seeing people be gneiss to each other on the forums. It’s too easy to start taking the mean posts for granited.

Thanks for the videos, there’s no preview in the Hero Panel for them.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Feedback works on anything in or out of the bubble. Placing it on yourself/ally on rez means that no projectiles can hit you while you’re reviving. Medics feedback has always placed it around the Mesmer, and its great in group fights.

Thanks. As much as I use it I never realized it was two-ways. Always something to learn

Season One is not available to anyone. It was meant to be part of the evolution of the game that once finished became part of history. Enough people expressed concerns that Season Two was created in a replayable fashion. However, Season Two takes it as a narrative given that your character was part of Season One, whether or not your character even existed at the time (this affects alts of people that were here for it as well as new players).

You don’t need to worry about it until max level as Season Two is level 80 content. You can also play Season Two without doing any of the Personal Story, though again the narrative will assume you have been through the story arc involving Zhaitan.

You do have to buy Season Two if you never logged in while it was active. They have a bundle in the Gem Store. Now, you don’t have to buy it if you just want to experience it. You can have a friend who has it open each chapter for you and play it through for you. This will mean you can’t solo it, you can’t get any rewards from it, and you can’t do the object and NPC interactions, but you will at least see the story.

This matters because when HoT debuts the story will continue, again with the narrative positing you as someone that’s been through the previous stories, and you will be quite confused as to who everyone is and why they’re doing what they’re doing if you haven’t experienced it. There are videos and summaries of the story available online; I don’t think they give the real flavor or help as much with understanding and remembering as actually playing through.

You know when you are in the content because you go in your Hero Panel to activate the chapter you want to play and you get a green star guiding you to the content (if you have bought it yourself. If you haven’t, and are doing it with a friend, you know because you accept the join-instance popup when they start it while you’re in the same map as them).

I posted this in the main thread in General but I think it got buried. If anyone answered it there I missed it in the pages of posts that appeared overnight. Does anyone here have clarity to offer on this for me? Have I completely misunderstood how things work?

Mesmer question: Given that Feedback now requires a target, and that Feedback can be cast when reviving an ally, where will it appear during revival? I may just misunderstand, but I thought it was only useful when placed over a foe firing missiles. If it appears over your ally, is it any use at all if no mobs are standing there firing point blank?

This change is an unsubstantiated claim by a third party site. I suggest waiting for ANet to confirm it before bringing out the torches and pitchforks.

I do agree that it would be a crappy move on their part even though I don’t care about min-maxing. I do care about their philosophy of not having gear make a serious enough difference to fret over maxing it. However, I remain skeptical that this is actually happening. Don’t let a hoaxer troll you guys. After all, if it’s really happening, it’s happening soon enough that no one needs to change their game actions based on it in the interim.

It’s entirely possible that the third party site claiming to have the full notes is hoaxing people. Such things happen with almost every MMO major game-changing patch. I find it hard to believe that ANet with its extreme loose-lips-sink-ships policy would send out the notes to anyone before publishing them itself.

So please don’t go foaming at the mouth about the Ascended/Exotic gap increase until ANet itself says it’s a thing.

You left out Thief.
Cloaked in Shadows: Gaining stealth blinds nearby foes for 5 seconds. Release a blinding powder when take falling damage. You take 50% less damage from falling.

This is a Grandmaster trait in Shadow Arts. Grandmaster.

Though I suppose if you combine it with the other effects of the line that go with being stealthed, it does get fairly strong. I just … I just really wanted falling damage traits to be severed from trait line choice since I consider them the very first thing I want equipped while leveling via exploration. Not put off until GM level unlocks.

I googled for “E3 Countdown” and found http://www.e3countdown.com/ including a timer to the PCGamer show. However, it claims the show starts at 5 pm PT, which doesn’t match what others are saying.

Still, it’s a timer, and better an hour early than an hour late.

Mesmer question: Given that Feedback now requires a target, and that Feedback can be cast when reviving an ally, where will it appear during revival? I may just misunderstand, but I thought it was only useful when placed over a foe firing missiles. If it appears over your ally, is it any use at all if no mobs are standing there firing point blank?

They said they’d get the notes to us asap, but I imagine it will take a while to collate them into a forum-shareable format especially as apparently there were dev notes they had that they couldn’t share, at least during the Engineer segment. Hundreds of slides, after all.

Twitch chat was moving too fast for me to screencap the June 23 announcement (I’m a noob at Twitch, I don’t know if there’s some way to freeze the scroll) but someone got it and posted it on Reddit at http://i.imgur.com/P9yF4t7.png

Twitch broke halfway through the stream so they stopped it but in Twitch chat they said we’ll see the changes on June 23.

They’ll post all the profession notes we didn’t get asap. Alas that won’t include commentary on their thinking behind the changes or interesting synergies between skills, but it’ll be something. Covered before Twitch crashed (wasn’t just for ANet, it was all Twitch, apparently): Ele, Warrior, Eng, Ranger.