Guild Wars 2

Fellow Commander of the Pact,

The corruption in Orr shows little sign of slowing since Zhaitan’s defeat. Their armies are still strong, still fighting against us with a very real threat to overwhelm, and mobilizing the Pact now to face ancient dragons in a faraway land will give the hordes of Orr the window they so desperately desire to take vengeance on our kingdoms as recompense for sending their master to the dirt. As Marshal Trahearne said, the extermination of the undead will take time. But it will also take effort.

These undead armies will not “diminish over time”, nor will “others” be there to take Orr; they’ll be culled not by clocks or calendars, but by sword and flame, our sword and flame, because as we have proven with Zhaitan, we of the Pact are the only force in Tyria strong enough to end the undead threat and restore peace to Orr and its surrounding areas. No nation or order alone can do what we have to do.

Kralkatorrik and Jormag will see their time come, and I eagerly await that day as much as you do, but today is not that day. Let’s finish — truly finish — the mission we were sent to do first. We owe as much, to all those who aid us in our mission, and all those left behind by their fallen sons, wives, husbands, daughters, and friends.

-Jaswinder Eventide, Commander of the Pact

onio.6403:

This is what we expected for guild wars 2

Not if you were reading the blog posts on the matter up until release.

Honestly, I feel like the event would be a lot more bearable and more active with more downward scalability.

Just to drop this in here: The smoothest dungeon runs I’ve ever done are with a guildmate of mine, who mains a guardian in all cleric’s gear. Swaps between staff and mace/shield, does damage when he needs to support and control very well when we’re up. I main a guardian in knight’s gear, soldier trinkets, zerker greatsword and cleric’s staff, taking hits when I can (bosses love me with dat toughness) while dealing a rather respectable amount of damage, and bouncing back to support or kite when I can’t take anymore hits, which isn’t often. Nobody ever greets the waypoint. Bosses go down fast and smooth like a glass of moscato.

Gear doesn’t determine how well you play. Skill does. Kick a guy because he’s bad at his class. Kick a guy because he keeps going AFK. Kick a guy because he, after the 4th wipe, still can’t understand the fight mechanics. But don’t kick a guy just because he’s wearing gear that falls outside of your closed-minded, elitist views of what “optimal” is, and if you do plan on doing that, please, please specify your elitist intentions in the description field so that the rest of us “filthy casuals” can be spared the frustration of dealing with people like you.

I keep seeing guys in Aetherpath, dropping every fight. I ask ‘em what gear they’re using. Always zerker. As if they’re gonna be doing much of that “optimal” DPS from the downed state. Meanwhile, use “bads” in knights or PVT gear are finishing bosses off.

I had a lot of fun with it the first time. It was definitely my focus leveling up.

I wish there was more variety for additional playthroughs, especially near the end. I had initially hoped that there wouldn’t be a “Pact”, and that the later parts of the story would revolve around taking down Zhaitan in some way that was dictated by your order. I’m also not a big fan of Trahearne, solely for one reason: His rather bland, boring voice acting.

I didn’t feel like the story was inconsistent or some such, as I’ve heard some people say, and I by no means think it was any worse than the GW1 storylines.

Despite a few disappointments, I still feel that the storyline did more than any other MMO I’ve played ever did in making my character feel like a hero, and make me care about the game world. If later content, however it’s presented, continues the personal story, I’ll definitely be all over that.

Anyone else notice that the same people saying that the only viable gear is zerker gear are often the exact same people complaining about specific content because it kills them too fast?

Jordo.5913:

Ellen Kiel wins the election, now what?

WE DON’T KNOW!

It’ll probably influence a future Zephyr’s Sanctum event.

Jordo.5913:

Why did Tequatl get stronger even though Zhaitan is dead?

WE DON’T KNOW!

Canonically, he’s only dead in your personal story. Living World events have virtually nothing to do with that.

Jordo.5913:

What is Scarlet’s motive for going bat kitten crazy?

WE DON’T KNOW!

Nor do we need to. She’s insane and she’s trying to shatter the balance of power in Tyria. That much is obvious. More will be released about her motives gradually, as we saw with her alliances in the past few LW releases.

Crysto.7089:

Not even in the same class as Cantha. Nightfall’s flavor and environments were the weakest.

There wasn’t a single place in Nightfall or Prophecies as bad as Kaineng City. That place was gross.

Galtrix.7369:

About a week ago I was in Queensdale farming when I started questioning what the point of even playing GW2 was when I reached max level. Because there was no gear treadmill, I could not improve myself to be better than others. Because I already bought all ascended trinkets and and ascended weapon as well as exotic armor, there was no goal for me to do.

We knew a long, long time before release that Guild Wars 2 wouldn’t be that kind of game, so you really only have yourself to blame for your disappointment. Be an educated consumer next time and learn about the games you’re planning on buying before you buy them.

Galtrix.7369:

That’s when I took a break and started playing other MMOs such as Aion and WoW. Playing those made me realize that certain aspects of GW2 need to be improved. Combat was one of them. I could never see who was hitting me in PvP in GW2, and when I did, I could never hit them because they would swerve in and out of the reach of my character. When I played PvP in other mmos, I was able to stand there and take them down purely with the build I was using that I thoroughly researched, and it was extremely satisfying knowing that I didn’t have to swerve back and forth so they couldn’t hit me. I could take their damage head-on and still beat them.

In summary, you’re mad at PvP because it’s skill-based and not gear-based or build-based. Once again, this is another thing we’ve known would be this way pretty much since the game was announced.

Galtrix.7369:

It finally occurred to me why people leave Guild Wars 2. They are not satisfied with the combat, the “Everyone’s a dps” system, or the living story. They needed something more to achieve.

Basically, they stop playing because they, like you, decided to just opt out of research entirely and pick up the game thinking it’s B2P WoW.

And more people are coming into the game than leaving, btw.

Galtrix.7369:

The combat is probably the biggest reason people move on to other games. To start, it is clunky, jerky, and glitchy to put it nicely. I recently tried out a healing build on my Guardian with cleric armor

LOL

Galtrix.7369:

and I was insulted constantly, bullied, and laughed at because of the damage I was doing. It is extremely sad when I cannot create a build of my own and use it. I must go with berserker gear or stop playing the game.

You don’t have to roll zerker. You just have to stop intentionally being useless. All players are expected to handle the support, control, and damage roles. You can’t pidgeonhole yourself into a single role. This isn’t that kind of game. Again, we’ve known it would be this way since around… 2009, 2010. Around the time they released that first combat article.

Galtrix.7369:

In short: Improve combat, improve the “support” stats so they’re viable in PvE, and give something to the players to make them feel like they’re getting more powerful, whether it be new armor, new weapons, or a new hairstyle.

Pretty much everything you’re complaining about, if changed to suit your desires, would change the game at its core, completely destroying the reasons most of us bought the game. Like adding 8-way run to a Street Fighter game, or a blue turtle shell to Forza.

Next time, learn about the game you’re buying before you buy it.

Monkey Fritz.9052:

DusK.3849:

Monkey Fritz.9052:

The final defense of any irrational argument is complete dismissal of opposition.

Exactly. So why are you doing it?

Oh come on, the tin foil hat was a better comeback than that. (surprisingly.)

Surely you can do better?

I did. You didn’t bother to quote it. Maybe bring something to the discussion next time you respond?

Monkey Fritz.9052:

The final defense of any irrational argument is complete dismissal of opposition.

Exactly. So why are you doing it?

This thread is full of people, yourself included, attempting to rationalize data not meaning anything, and you can’t even do that rationally; you have to resort to heaps of purple prose, bad analogies, etc.

The data, according to ArenaNet, says more players are logging in concurrently and consistently, and putting in more playtime. The only way that could mean “zomg the game’s not enjoyable” is if most of those players are the masochists some of you seem to be. I shouldn’t have to even begin explaining how hilariously unlikely that would be.

Look, I get that some of you guys don’t like the game, where it’s headed, whatever. But you’re an extremely small minority. Most of us do like the Living World stuff. Most are having fun, because that’s why your typical gamer plays a game. If it’s not your cup of tea then maybe try, I dunno, not playing? Is it really that crazy of an idea to not play a game you apparently don’t like?

From some of the posts in this thread, you’d think peoples’ livelihoods were on the line or something, like Guild Wars 2 is literally all they have left in their lives. It’s kind of funny, actually.

Lemaign.3529:

I thought I’d just take a moment to acknowledge this sweet burn since the noisy, misguided, objectivist fanbase doesn’t seem interested in doing so. Good form.

Does his tinfoil hat give him the ability to make “sweet burns”? A Carrion Tinfoil Hat of the Elementalist?

XD

The event goal is “Stop Scarlet and her minions.” It’s not “Kill as many big bads as you can in x amount of time.”

People should be playing an event with the intent to complete it. Anything that detracts from that goal-oriented play of events needs to be retooled.

The incentive to kill champs is still there: a bigger reward depending on how many champs you kill, if you keep the goal of the event in mind and see it through.

Silent The Gray.3091:

I’m hopeful that Arenanet will listen. Living story was once touted as additions to the main storyline.

Unless I skipped something, I have never, ever seen a Living Story update that had anything to do with the game’s main storyline.

Feel free to correct me with an example.

Antara.3189:

Completely removing drops from champions is ridiculous, as then you have the problem which now occurs in the Claw of Jormag event, majority wait until the 2nd phase.

I’ve never seen a Claw fight happen like that.

Nobody’s talking about removing champ loot: My post merely suggested it gets moved into end-of-event rewards, turning it into an incentive to clear the event.

Linuxotaku, I seriously doubt every player, or anywhere close to a majority of players, or even anywhere over 1% of the players, are so masochistic as to log in to a game that they really just don’t want to play. Maybe you guys are like that, but you guys are so small of a minority in that regard compared to the player base at large that it really makes this whole thread kind of a moot point.

Really, 1% (once again, being generous) is a statistical irrelevance and wouldn’t offset, in any way, the increase in player concurrence that results from people actually firing up the game because they enjoy it.

These same anti-statistics arguments I’m seeing you guys post are used in many other conspiracy theories as well. There are very good reasons why they’re not taken seriously by any rational person.

The bottom line is, you may be dissatisfied, but in no way is the player base at large dissatisfied. That’s what the numbers show. The only way the general hypothesis of the OP could be true in the least is if there are more “glutton for punishment” players such as yourself than there are players who log on because they actually enjoy the game. And that just doesn’t happen, no matter what game it is.

Simple solution to this problem imo:

1. No champ loot when event champs die.
2. Buff initial rewards per stage of event, including event completion.
3. To encourage enough players to play the event that champs end up spawning, as was one of the original intentions of champ loot in the first place, figure champ loot into end rewards in some way. I feel this could work best if, given these multistage events, champ chests were rewarded after the event based on how many champs the player helped kill.

Example: Scarlet invades at midnight. Not enough players there to get the event scale for champs, but enough players are there to complete the event. Event finishes, players are properly rewarded.

Example 2: Scarlet invades during the afternoon. A ton of players show up, enough to spawn champs throughout the event. No champs drop loot on death. Players complete event and kill Scarlet. Players are rewarded for event completion, and one champ box for each event champ the player helped kill during the event, scaled to exotic because they finished the event.

Example 3: Scarlet invades in the afternoon. Players are plentiful enough to cause the events to scale and include champs. Champs drop no champ loot on death. Players fail the event on phase 3. Players are rewarded based on that phase completion, and are given champ boxes according to how many champs they took down scaled to rare or masterwork for not being able to complete the event, but still being able to complete stages.

Example 4: Scarlet invades during the afternoon. Players are plentiful, but instead of attempting the event, instead try to champ farm. No champs drop champ loot. Event fails during phase 1, and no rewards are given except maybe minimal karma and coin for participation.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Yes, of course, but wanting to play, and enjoying the game are not the same thing. You’re proving my point here. You’re assuming that there are no other reasons that players would be logging in, other than because they enjoy playing.

I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that many players have logged into the game not because it is fun, but because of other pressures. I myself have logged in many times and grinded out some achievement because I felt a need to complete the meta achievements.

Simply put, just because a player logs in, doesn’t automatically mean they enjoy what they’re doing.

In so many words, you just explained how you fired up the game because you wanted to play the game.

It doesn’t matter what the motivations are, be they achievements, a sense of personal accomplishment, a willingness to explore the game world, socialize with people in Lion’s Arch, or whatever else; when you clicked “log in”, it’s because you wanted to do something in the game. You got some degree of satisfaction for the game that you felt merits the time spent.

Something in the game was actually satisfying enough to make you log in and play the game for a while. ANet’s mission: Accomplished.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

No, I’m attempting to make sure that statistics are not misinterpreted by using possible faulty logic.

“Players are actively choosing to smash 100 piñatas, therefore they must enjoy these events.”

“Players are fighting Tequatl multiple times, they must enjoy the new mechanics.”

“Players are farming resources for legendaries, they must think this is a fun way to aquire new gear.”

People will do a lot of things beyond reason, especially the more financially and emotionally invested they are. Simply assuming people will stop when it stops being enjoyable is a very narrow way of looking at things.

Players wouldn’t be doing any of those things if they didn’t want to. If they really found zero satisfaction with doing those activities, as you’re trying to let on, they simply wouldn’t do them.

Being “financially invested” has nothing to do with it. People stop playing games when they get bored of them. If they’re still playing, then there’s still something in the game that they find worthwhile. The game fullfills some sort of desire that is relevant to the player’s interests and is a worthwhile tradeoff for that player’s time. Again, in your case:

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

I felt a need to complete the meta achievements.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

I never once said that people can’t enjoy the game. Many do.

What I do know is that despite what you, or ANet wants to believe, player concurrency does not necessarily equal satisfied players.

All do, to some degree. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t log in. Players, at zero satisfaction with any given game, will stop playing it.

The fact that more players, not fewer, are seen logging into the game every day says that more and more players are motivated, once again, for whatever reason to play the game. There’s really no other way you could possibly read that data unless you slap on a tinfoil hat.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Your straw man argument doesn’t really help here. Let me try putting this to you another way.

Can you think of any time since you’ve started playing this game that you logged in, and completed content you didn’t really enjoy, but did so simply because you felt a desire to complete it?

No.

If this thread’s still being watched, I’d love an invite.

http://itstartsatdusk.bandcamp.com/album/hardcore-adventure-box-world-1

A FREE six-track EP of metal covers of various tracks from World 1 of Super Adventure Box. Enjoy.

This is amazing.

So, after discussing my previous covers with a certain dev, and with the interest my previous covers managed to garner, I decided to just buckle down and finish the job, doing an entire EP of SAB metal covers. I didn’t release it as fast as I’d hoped, but it’s nearly done, so I decided to release another track to tease it.

Enjoy.

GOSU.9574:

TL;DR – If you don’t do it, why complain? It isn’t impacting you.

Until you and a couple of buddies see champ boar spawn and decide to down him on the spot.

Conncept.7638:

But I don’t want more tequatl, every build I like playing is completely worthless because I either focus on (useless) condition damage or (useless) support stats. Because that’s the way I like playing. And I will continue these tequatl fights, contributing to their failure because ANet insists on neglecting my playstyle, and all I have to say to ANET is screw you! I will play the way I want! And you should stop adding content that forces me not to.

How is support useless? Keeping people alive, condition-free, and buffed with might and stability is kinda important in a fight like this.

Lord Kuru.3685:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Morrigan.2809:

I have wondered what the point of making these things account bound is.

ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly.

That’s a lie Anet has told us in order to justify Ascended gear. Refer to the infamous quote that stated players should have exotics by the time they reach level 80.

I’m still waiting on my AI sidekick and potions. #AnetLied3MillionPlayersSolo’dTheGame.

Okay, lemme rephrase that: Have you ever seen a horse that wasn’t previously dead at some point?

Remember when everyone was complaining, right around the start of the ascended gear release, that they’d probably never have enough time to get the mats necessary to gear their characters?

Because it doesn’t seem that long ago, and man, am I glad this thread popped up now.

Ah, brings me back to the days of WoW, just before I quit. “LFM Gearscore 5k+”

Yeah, no thanks. ArenaNet should be finding ways to get rid of annoying speedclear elitist metas, not giving elitists the tools to further that elitist attitude within the community.

Have you ever seen a horse in Tyria?

korelg.7862:

i’d say increase player limit for dragon maps

ANet can’t just up and go “yeah, let’s let more players in this map”. It just doesn’t work like that. The limits exist because limits on tech exist.

Randulf.7614:

That’s OK Andrew. You can make it up to us all by revealing what “other things…”

;)

<rumor>

Apparently, some players on their datamining expeditions uncovered what seems to be a bone pick.

</rumor>

I wasn’t aware you need minis to play this game.

I hope I can do Arah or Tequatl with the minis I got without gems.

Yak’s Bend got to the lazer events just now.

Daywolf.2630:

Ash.2175:

I mean doing more damage is always good, but at this point I would only go for an ascended weapon for cosmetic reasons. What do you guys think?

Ascended trinkets + Ascended weapons + Ascended armor set =
lfg tool: lf1m only full linked ascended need apply!

I’ll take Crappy Groups I Should Be Avoiding In The First Place for $500, Alex.

Nice to see some reason and fact-finding in this sea of tinfoil hats and hyperbole. Good post, Ash.

Another metal cover! Enjoy.

Glad there’s no trinity. Complain about how GW2’s combat is a “mess” all you want, but it’s still loads better than a game full of mobs that go, “Man, these guys with daggers and stuff are really hurting me, but I’m gonna attack this guy in the armor because he keeps making fun of me, even though that dude over there in the robe keeps healing up all the gashes I put into him.”

Chickenshoes.6250:

JDGumby.7685:

Well, if my experience today on Borlis Pass is any example, there is now no chatter allowed on Queensdale /map chat if it doesn’t pertain to the Champion farm. Not at all a pleasant atmosphere.

Not allowed says who? Sounds like an opportunity more than a problem. Talk anyway. Construct a 3 sentence long controversial opinion based on gross misinformation and watch hilarity ensue

“So, they’re apparently nerfing champ loot in the next update…”

Made this lil’ thang for National Video Games Day. Enjoy.

That really doesn’t sound like the “henny penny the sky is falling” stuff you guys are making it out to be. It really sounds a lot like what they’ve been doing with World Ability Points.

Irrodesia.3907:

What they plan on doing instead is, as time goes on, players will be upgrading their Ascended gear through infusions and the like for more stats. By their definition a ‘low power curve’.

So in reality it is a gear treadmill in disguise.

Does that make sense?

Where is all this coming from? I’ve haven’t read/heard about ANet saying anything like this. Source?

Irrodesia.3907:

DusK.3849:

Dyno.9467:

DusK.3849:

Dyno.9467:

DusK.3849:

Colin Johanson explains in a PAX 2013 interview about how Ascended came about, because they miscalculated the effort that would be required to get exotics, and states that he intends to ascended to be the only additional equipment tier they add to the game.

Makes no promises, as he states “7 years from now we might turn around and put another tier in, maybe someone else will be in charge of the game”, but really drives home the point that “this should be it” as far as equipment tiers are concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Jy7CcwnfUdU#t=107

My opinion: Big load off my mind. I’m glad that they’re not planning to implement a gear treadmill, and it’s nice to see an official explanation for why ascended happened in the first place, and it’s definitely a reasonable explanation.

Discuss.

What you mean is…….I really cant be bothered to play a game, I want anet to post me new gear.. Your the type of person who ruins these types of games, the reason wow went downhill, after The Burning Crusade, so people can get gear just for logging on

…The hell are you babbling about? Rephrase in something that’s actually coherent English, please.

Im sorry, i didnt realise you couldnt read

I can read fine, your post just doesn’t make any sense. “I want anet to post me new gear”?

He’s being cheeky because he is assuming a lot about you and other players.

In other words he is saying this:

“All you simply want to do, is log in to the game and be handed your gear for not doing anything. You (and others like you) are the reason that World of Warcraft went downhill after the ‘The Burning Crusade’ was released.”

I know what you’re saying DusK, it is clear he does not.

Thanks for the translation. You’d figure being a part of forum communities for nearly a decade would help me understand posts like… that.

And no, Dyno, that’s not what I’m saying. Not wanting a gear treadmill =/= “wanting anet to hand me my gear for not doing anything”.

I do have my disagreements with your points as well, Irrodesia (I read your huge post in that other thread), as well as some of the people swinging that old pre-release quote from Colin around like it’s holy scripture (they said we’d all have NPC sidekicks before the game was released too, guys). I can see where you’re all coming from, but I really don’t see ascended weapons as in any way unattainable for casual players such as myself.

If they were to put in a gear treadmill — an actual gear treadmill, as opposed to what some of you guys are trying to redefine the term to entirely — I’d have my pitchfork and would be marching right along with you, especially if that gear treadmill occurred in such a way that made it time gate content like dungeons a la WoW. But a gear treadmill is not what this is; ascended gear is (apparently, judging from the interview) merely what Anet had planned exotic gear to be on release.

EDIT: To clarify, I’m not saying that people opposed to the time gating on ascended gear or even ascended gear in general should simply shut up about it; I’m merely suggesting that you guys stop strawmanning and misinterpreting the issue. ANet’s probably not going to listen to people that don’t even know what a gear treadmill actually is (yes, if you’re calling ascended gear a “gear treadmill”, you don’t know what that is), but they may listen to people who feel that the requirements and time commitment for getting an ascended weapon are too steep for casual players and pose solutions for solving that issue.

Dyno.9467:

DusK.3849:

Colin Johanson explains in a PAX 2013 interview about how Ascended came about, because they miscalculated the effort that would be required to get exotics, and states that he intends to ascended to be the only additional equipment tier they add to the game.

Makes no promises, as he states “7 years from now we might turn around and put another tier in, maybe someone else will be in charge of the game”, but really drives home the point that “this should be it” as far as equipment tiers are concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Jy7CcwnfUdU#t=107

My opinion: Big load off my mind. I’m glad that they’re not planning to implement a gear treadmill, and it’s nice to see an official explanation for why ascended happened in the first place, and it’s definitely a reasonable explanation.

Discuss.

What you mean is…….I really cant be bothered to play a game, I want anet to post me new gear.. Your the type of person who ruins these types of games, the reason wow went downhill, after The Burning Crusade, so people can get gear just for logging on

…The hell are you babbling about? Rephrase in something that’s actually coherent English, please.

Vol.5241:

Not sure why you thought otherwise

I honestly didn’t hold any definite speculative viewpoint on the subject until an official response could come about; I didn’t want to fall into the same speculation trap that a lot of people here did and start making wild claims that could end up being false.

I know what I hoped would come about, and I’m glad it did, but I didn’t want to be all like “yeah, they’re definitely not gonna add a gear treadmill” when everyone else is shouting “zomg they’re adding a gear treadmill” here on the forums, because what if I ended up being the one that’s wrong?

Colin Johanson explains in a PAX 2013 interview about how Ascended came about, because they miscalculated the effort that would be required to get exotics, and states that he intends to ascended to be the only additional equipment tier they add to the game.

Makes no promises, as he states “7 years from now we might turn around and put another tier in, maybe someone else will be in charge of the game”, but really drives home the point that “this should be it” as far as equipment tiers are concerned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Jy7CcwnfUdU#t=107

My opinion: Big load off my mind. I’m glad that they’re not planning to implement a gear treadmill, and it’s nice to see an official explanation for why ascended happened in the first place, and it’s definitely a reasonable explanation.

Discuss.

In an MMORPG, it’s a given that PUG groups can go wrong, including the examples you provided and more. However, people such as myself who do PUGs do so knowing full well that there’s a risk that it will not go well. It’s a risk we come to terms with.

An LFG tool such as WoW’s makes it a bit more convenient for bads to grief, yes. But it also provides a lot more convenience to honest PUGgers such as myself who aren’t complete pricks.

Really, the only way you can be actually 100% sure your dungeon run won’t go badly is if you don’t PUG at all, and instead roll with a premade group, and LFG tools don’t erase one’s ability to do exactly that.

The pros outweigh the cons here. An LFG system would really only help this game.

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that a bunch of the world bosses are being changed.

I actually agree for the most part. I say “for the most part”, because I find the Claw of Jormag fight to be pretty fun, and a good example of a world boss done right in this game.

Hopefully, after a year of observing the player base, ANet’s content designers have a good idea about the kinds of things they should be doing when retooling these fights. These world bosses are supposed to be a major draw of the game, but right now, too many people are treating them as daily loot pinatas and nothing more.

I’ve been experiencing this bug for a year, so maybe it’s time to remind ANet it exists.

Sometimes, when I attempt to move from a stationary state, the animation will start, and then lock, and my character will remain stationary until I make some other movement (change direction, strafe, whatever) or stop pressing the forward (W) key.

This has messed me up countless times during platforming/jumping puzzles during the past year.

Here’s what it looks like when it happens.

I fully agree with an “End it” skill, and believe it should be treated exactly as being defeated would, complete with all the consequences that would arise as a result of being defeated.

I feel like it hasn’t really been long enough yet to start showing signs of a victory against Zhaitan. I feel like that what you’re describing would best be saved for the impending release of an expansion or major content update (and I still speculate that all upcoming expansions or other major content updates will spell out victory against Zhaitan and shift the game towards the fight against another elder dragon).

Another possibility could be maybe figuring the percentage of players that have finished the personal story on their accounts, and once it reaches a significant number, the game world will start showing the signs of victory against Zhaitan noted in your post.

These are great ideas, but the war against Zhaitan from a community perspective shouldn’t be that fleeting. It should last a while, regardless of how quickly you got through the personal story on your own character(s).