Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure if the karka are really a threat anymore, other than in Southsun, after we killed the Ancient Karka. They’re somewhat intelligent, but without a clear leader they seem to be content to just stick to SSC.

If I had to guess, it’s either a Consortium plot, like others are guessing, or those baby karkas are simply stole aways that attached themselves to the passing boat. Scarlet’s Toxic Krait showed how susceptible LA is to underwater assault, and I can see the dev writing in and adding a small friendly karka colony to LA as an added layer of defense.

Might come in handy if the DSD and its minions ever attack LA.

If we’re demanding silly things, I demand that Chronomancers get a huge obscuring clock floating behind them at all times because “reasons”.

Ralanost.8913:

Sorry, but everyone knows about Grenth’s reapers. Hell, we barter with one in the personal story. These aren’t things that are lost to the ages. They exist.

I know, but not all the races have such a deep and implied connection to the word like the humans do. If a Charr warrior got the Reaper title, people aren’t going to say, “Wow! I didn’t know a Charr could be a necromantic servant of Grenth!” They’re saying, “Wow! That Charr sure did kill a bunch of people!”

That’s why I said that technically same can be said about Reapers that’s said about Dragon Hunter. Anyone can become a hunter of dragons and their minions, and anyone could also be considered a “Reaper” (and even get a title proclaiming that fact) if they kill enough people.

Ralanost.8913:

It really can’t. Reaper has different connotations. Reapers are servants of Grenth, the god of death. They symbolize much like our own grim reaper. There are lore reasons that make Reaper make sense for Necros. Dragonhunter doesn’t make sense at all for Guardians, no matter what Anet says. I’m generally fine with the spec, the name is just nonsensical.

It would have that deep connection to Grenth and his Reapers for humans in Tyria, sure. The other races would probably just connect the word “reaper” to a general (non-Grenth related) bringer of death, and that could be applied to anyone who kills a bunch of people/things. Like the pvp title implies.

Ralanost.8913:

The problem is more with what dragonhunter symbolizes in Tyria. We are all hunter of elder dragons and their minions. Yet Guardians get a specialization that makes them extra special at fighting them? It just doesn’t make sense. Reaper for Necro? It makes all the sense in the world. How can you even compare the two?

The same can technically be said for Reaper as well. Especially since it’s already a title in-game that any profession can get.

Rebound.3409:

I hope ele gets the Gandalf spec.

It was accidently revealed in the preview when they were showing the new trait lines and stuff. The ele’s new spec is called Tempest.

Blah. Ninja’ed by a minute.

Since they already revealed two lights and a heavy, I would imagine we might be getting a medium next week. Though, I kinda want engineer’s spec to be revealed next myself.

It seems Dhuum got a fan club now. I kinda hope they might reference some of his skills with the new abilities, and I’m crossing my fingers that their elite shout is something like “THE VOID BECKONS!”.

Possibly, but if they are going with the more Ritualist-y feel that Jory seems to be foreshadowing, I can easily see necros getting Conjure. Whether or not that would be good or horrible would be determined.

Sadly, when/if they ever decide to add in ritualists, I very much doubt they’ll get spirits. Necros already have minion as pets, and that play style is already taken by engineer’s turrets. I could easily see them giving necros the ritualist’s item spells in the form of conjured weapons/items though.

Jelle.2807:

Highly unlikely, Revenant is already doing the channeling spirits of the dead thing.

Somewhat. They handwaved that as them channeling the legend’s mistborn copy/avatar/something or another from the Mists lorewise though.

Veron.8645:

Some of the principle reasons are that it seems very disconnected from the guardian’s “holy knight” core theme and that lorewise, dragonhunter generically describes basically all playable characters and most of the NPCs involved in the primary storylines.

Here’s some of the problem. The theme behind the Guardians in gw2 isn’t “holy knights”. That’s simply the common player perception of them since they slip so easily into the Templar/Paladin archetype from other fantasy games and storylines. The dev went to some lengthens to try and distance the profession itself from too many holy motifs, because while the profession has faith in something, it isn’t to a higher power. It’s to the different virtues of battle and the ideals of defending others.

And while I do think the “Dragon Hunter” name is a bit cliché at this point, I don’t think Arbiter really fits how the Dragon Hunter spec turned out either. An arbiter is usually someone above or outside the conflict itself, and they simply judge in either direct to settle something. The Dragon Hunter it seems, while being a ranged spec, in still in the middle of combat. They still have to get their hands dirty by laying down their traps, and they are still switching to other weapons to provide additional support to others.

They have to save something for whenever they get around to the Elona expansion.

Though, I reserve the right for everyone to complain if the necromancer gets the Ritualist spec outside of a Cantha expansion.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

It is possible that it’s a skin, but it’s also possible that it’s part of the specialization itself, as an animation of sorts perhaps when using skills, or as part of the new class mechanic (an F4 skill perhaps). Look up GW1 Paragons to see what I mean.

In fact, chances are, this is a Paragon specialization.

I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they turn out to be a recolor or reskin of the Shattered Dragon Wing Skin.

I want them to bring back free hats for Wintersday. I know they want to try and milk gems from us, but hats on Wintersday is a tradition. One that they only brought over for a single year in gw2.

arthurobenzi.2619:

There is some romantic relations , but they are few. A homosexual charr would be frowned on because it is counterproductive for his legion . You shouldn’t see them with a human specter of view.

When the time comes for a gay Charr to do their duty to their Legion and produce cubs, and they do it, how would that be frowned upon and be considered counterproductive? Just because they might be gay, that doesn’t mean a gay male couldn’t sleep with a female (or visa versa) if he felt he needed to for some greater cause he believed it.

The Charrs who do no follow any legion are deviant and no representative. Even the Charrs in the Pact ( and the order ) belong to a legion.

How are they not Charr anymore? They left their nation and culture, but they can’t leave their species. Whether or not you’re in a Legion, if you’re a furry cat person with four ears, you’re a Charr.

warduke.1780:

Also, not surprised to see the usual fanboy/shill posts defending any and all changes. Honestly, I believe that if Anet removed all classes except one from the game permanently, there would still be a sizable crowd of sycophants shouting down any opposition.

It doesn’t really help your argument when you stoop to their level and start calling anyone that disagrees with you “fanboys” and “sycophants”.

Some of their resonances were in bad taste, I’ll agree, but you also have to admit that a good portion of your own argument is based on a lot of half revealed information and data that is in no way final yet and subject to change.

warduke.1780:

How will conditions be MORE useful with the advent of condi immunity as a boon? It really seems to me like they want to kill condi roamers altogether.

From what I’ve read, resistance doesn’t remove the conditions when applied. It just makes you immune to their damage and effects when it’s active. The boon itself will probably only last for a very short amount of time as well.

arthurobenzi.2619:

Charr’s culture is more about short-terms relationships due to their militaristic life, and it is frowned to have inter-warband relation. Breeding is a duty to fulfil the legion with a new generation of soldiers more than for “social or romance”.

Outsiders living in LA or in anywhere else can, but they aren’t reprensentative : they left their family ( warband = charr’s family ) and are even at a lower rank than a gladium ( the lowest rank in legion ) since they quit the legions.

The Charr’s culture might be more inclined to short-term relationships and military advancement, but doesn’t mean long term relationships don’t happen though. They’re just rarer. Breeding falls under this as well. It’s a duty on their part to populate the Legions, but that still doesn’t stop physical and/or romantic relationships (both hetero and homosexual) from happening in the ranks. They aren’t mindless or sexless drones in-between breedings after all.

The Charr living outside of the Legions are still representative of the race. They are still Charr. They are just living outside of the Legion’s culture.

arthurobenzi.2619:

If there is at least, one race that should be exclusive heterosexual, it is the Charrs. Because they aren’t like human or sylvari with all the romance and those things. Charrs are a militaristic race, if they mate, it is to make new cubs for the legions.

That’s half true I guess. The Charr still have relationships, but they are usually more casual and/or take a back seat to their military career. So if there are homosexual Charr in the Legions, I’m sure at some point of their lives they would probably “do their duty” as it were before going back to whatever possibly relationship they had before hand.

There is also the fact that not all Charr are part of the Legions. Those that live in let’s say Lion’s Arch or as adventurers would be able to have whatever type of relationship they would prefer.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Isn’t that 1 in 19, almost 1 in 20? That doesn’t seem too bad. I thought it was much worse. Ha.

I wouldn’t totally trust those numbers. The players that actively read visit reddit, much less actually voted on that poll, are only a small percentage of the actual players grinding for the portals.

I don’t think many people can grasp the idea that Anet doesn’t want everyone to be able to get into the beta. If they wanted everyone to play it, they would have made it an Open Beta. Which they didn’t.

That means the drop rates of the portals are going to be extremely low by design. I’m not going to put myself through the grief of endlessly farming DT and SW on the extreme off chance of one dropping for me and giving me the ability to play the beta for a short while.

If it drops, it drops, but I’m not going to crying if it doesn’t.

Harper.4173:

I don’t see how this is a relationship. I’ve never seen them interact romantically. Ever.

It’s a chaste relationship really. They both love each other, but they can’t be seen interacting romantically because Logan is a commoner. That type of relationship would be considered impropriate/scandalous considering Jennah’s status as queen, especially since she hasn’t created or named an heir to the throne, and that sort of connection could be used by Caudecus and the Ministry in their ongoing power struggle with the Queen.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kellach%27s_Attack

Queen Jennah: I never doubted you for an instant, Advocate. Kryta has no finer heroes than you and Captain Thackeray.
Player: Speaking of Captain Thackeray… it doesn’t bother you that he’s going to Lion’s Arch?
Queen Jennah: I’m worried, I’ll admit. Caithe has never been trustworthy in the best of times, and lately… please, tell me you’ll watch over him?
Player: You know that you could stop him, right? One word from you, and he’d stay.
Queen Jennah: No, Advocate. I have enough servants — I want a partner. Logan must be free to make his own decisions. I made such a mistake once before. I won’t make it again.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-heart-thorns-specializations-and-jon-peters-qa

The main overview as to why ArenaNet are so excited about Specilizations is because of the following:
•They separate stats from traits, opening up builds by trait choice rather than stat choice.
•You now get to select nine major traits instead of seven, including three grandmaster traits.
•Each trait offers more impact so choices are more meaningful
•The new unlock system is friendlier to new players and much less of a burden on alternative characters.
•This new system is one that ArenaNet can continue to expand on.

My body is ready!

They use square maps because it’s simpler, and the maps feel square because they want to use as much available design space as they can in the area.

If they really wanted to, I’m sure they can take a map and fill in the outer ring with mountains even more so than they do now to make the area into a circle or whatever weird oblong shape they wanted. That is something that most MMOs do already, but it still doesn’t change the fact that map is still going to be square in the end of the day or a smaller part of a larger square map.

Don’t the shovels expire after a couple of minutes after they’re used and you can’t find a dig spot? Sounds like a bunch of wasted shovels and a stupid bot to me.

Sirius.4510:

I have to admit, after I got to the “charr on motorbikes” bit, I didn’t really see anything else. Mostly because I couldn’t really see anything else.

Coming this summer… Rytlock as Mad Max!

Rognik.2579:

As for nachos, those are traditionally made with corn chip. No idea if you could make corn chips without the idea to make potato chips, or the exact process involved, if it was more complicated than just deep-frying sliced potatoes. However, thinking to melt cheese over them isn’t all that outrageous.

That’s another weird thing about Tyria it seems. Even though we have Corn silk dye and an almost seemingly magical mineral of candy corn that grows from the ground when it’s exposed the Mad Realm’s energies, we don’t actually seem to have much if any mentions or representations of actual corn in-game.

papryk.6273:

I will rephrase it for you: There is dungeon rdy gear in the store. Happy now?

Since the original question was how Rift was able to do a free expansion and not GW, yes.

Even if it’s not raiding gear, the dungeon gear just being in their cash store alone proves the point I was trying to make. They helped pay for that expansion through catering to their patrons/subscribers, the lazy people that bought that gear off their cash store instead of getting it the old fashion way, and the whales that have to get all the new mounts, outfits, recipes, and crafting materials.

For GW2 to offer free expansions as well, they would have to dive even deeper into their cash store like Rift did when they went FtP. Offering perks to some sort of new subscription programs, even more weapon and armor skins, outfits galore, all sorts of unique glider skins, and possibly different instant leveling scrolls for easy and quick progression since they aren’t based around gear score.

They might offer different ways to obtain the stuff on their cash stores, but games who’s income in centered around micro transactions, like Rift and GW2, are banking on people either too lazy or not having the time that would rather swipe their credit card or appealing to whale’s “Oh Shinies!” mentality.

Casia.4281:

Consider.
its also dead center of all the dragons. Dead center between Lions arch, southshore cove, and the Tower of Nightmares.

Not really. Kralk was last seen far to the southeast in the Crystal Desert, Bubbles is somewhere in the deep ocean far away as well, and Primordus is who knows where.

I’m surprised they haven’t added chips to the chef’s recipes. They aren’t all that harder to make than fries are. Though knowing how cooking works in GW, if/when they do add chips in the game, it’s going to be a long list to finally make the nachos.

Handful of Chips
1x Potato
1x Vegetable Oil
1x Salt
1x Lime (For that added flavor)

Bowl of Cheese Sauce
1x Cheese Wedge
1x Buttermilk
1x Flour
1x Salt and Pepper

Plate of Nachos
1x Handful of Chips
1x Bowl of Cheese Sauce
1x Chili Pepper (to spice the cheese sauce)
1x Ghost Pepper (to garnish each chip before sauce is added)

/sigh. I’m hungry now…

papryk.6273:

Please try to prove that somehow…because this just sounds like a fanboyish statement

Complexity = time= money.

The higher quality graphics takes more time and money to produce, and building areas and encounters around a more mobile movement and combat system tacks onto the cost as well.

ps. there is no raid ready gear in Rift store. There is..let’s say “dungeon ready gear” which is obtainable in many ways in the game and the rift store way is just for the lazy ppl.

“Let’s say”. Such a dangerous phrase.

Does the “dungeon ready gear” give the player a nice enough dps to be possibly allowed into the first tiered raids, thus being able to skip any previously needed dungeon grinding? Even if doesn’t, how much grinding of lower lv content does the dungeon ready gear allow you to skip so you could move forward?

Either way, no matter the other grindy ways to get to that point, it’s still available in the cash store for quick and easy purchase.

papryk.6273:

then so please tell me… if Trion can make enough money from the gem shop they have in Rift and are able to make huge amount of content…then why Anet isn’t able with their gem shop (beside the fact they have an income from the sales of boxes)?

For one, GW probably costs more money to product than Rift does because of the graphics and different styles in their gameplay.

Secondly, Anet probably could make any future expansion free if they wanted too, but they would have to sell their souls to the cash store to fund it all to do so. Anet already has one foot in the cash store grave with their outfits, BLCs, new faces/hairstyles/colors, and boosters, but a quick search through Rift’s store shows they have ALOT more than that GW has on theirs.

They both share the basics: outfits, lottery ticket items, character customization, mini-pets, etc. But stuff like the different recipe, crafting items, mounts, and raid ready gear in a game with tiered raiding? I’m sure that’s a big cash flow on their part, especially the mounts and the gear. They even have the whole, “You can get this stuff through grinding as well” part, but that’s as much of a cop out answer to the cash store as the gold to gems conversion it.

They aren’t banking on everyone farming gold to buy want they want. They’re banking on everyone either being too lazy to farm or having enough money that spending something like $10+ on a fancy outfit means nothing to them.

papryk.6273:

Erukk.1408:

And while I’m sure Rift is an ok/good game, but for them to be able to put out a totally free expansion that would mean they’re probably sucking up to the whales hard to pay for it all.

probably…not. but hey , I’m sure you played it and you know what you are talking about… -_-

Hence why I said “And while I’m sure…”.

I never played the game, and I only have an outsider perspective on the matter, but Rift had to get a lot of money from somewhere to pay for an entire free expansion. So unless they have a secret grove of money trees somewhere they aren’t sharing with anyone, all that cash probably came from milking the whales in cash store purchases since they’re FtP.

A bit off topic, but do they really sell raiding gear? That’s boggling my mind right now since they’re a gear treadmill MMO.

papryk.6273:

and it was totally for FREE

and now look at the amount of content of HoT with the knowledge that it will be NOT for FREE

Which amount of HoT content are talking about exactly? The general outline of future features that the devs gave us or the tiny corner of a map that we played in the barebones version of the demo? Because it’s kinda ridiculous at this point to be comparing a finished product to one that’s still very unknown and unfinished.

Not to mention, the continuation of the LS after the launch of HoT will most likely be quickly building onto whatever storyline that HoT finishes with and possibly adding in new areas to fit the story as well.

so…seriously…why do ppl even have to pay for this HoT when other companies can do bigger expansions for free?

Again, kinda hard to say Rift’s expansion was bigger when we haven’t even seen much of HoT yet.

As for why I would pay for it, it’s because I understand that something can’t come from nothing business wise. And while I’m sure Rift is an ok/good game, but for them to be able to put out a totally free expansion that would mean they’re probably sucking up to the whales hard to pay for it all. That much bending over backwards for a tiny portion of the community can only lead to bad things in the end.

GW2 already has a problem with all the outfits, BLC chests, and those tiny misc. items in the cash store. I’ll admit I don’t spend much money on this game, either between the lack of it and I don’t see much point in the outfits and whatnot, but I don’t mind spending $60 every once in awhile to help support a game I enjoy.

(That and I hope that a strong injection of cash from the community will make them back off the whale feeding for at least awhile.)

I doubt it will happen, but by this point I’m kinda hoping they’ll just roll up the dungeons into the different LS episodes.

The “Challenge Mote” at the start of the mission would scale the instance to dungeon lv difficultly: increase mob density, increased health, possibly mini bosses, and more mechanics for the finale boss. As for rewards, they could add in a token system like they do now for a vendor related to that LS season’s skins and a chance for rare specific skins/toys/junk, possibly related to that episode, from the final chests.

As long as it’s instanced, has challenging content that can push people, and the rewards as worth it, I really don’t need “dungeons” per say.

My guess, given that the different legends being supported by the different trait lines..

Shiro: Power and Condition Duration
Mallyx: Precision and Condition Damage
Jalis: Toughness and Healing Power
Ventari: Vitality and Boon Duration
Glint: Class Mechanic and Ferocity

I can easily see Ventari being the support legend. Time will only tell if we’re going to be able to spam boons with his trait line though.

Shanna.4762:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Well to be fair, I seem to recall Kiel calling for more defenses in the city but the rest of the council was like “meh”. So it’s not really her fault. Let’s not forget she is not the sole ruler of Lions Arch, she is part of a council.

Maybe she should be.

I’d support the tyrannical tag team of Kiel and Evon the Co-Captains of Lion’s Arch. Just let Kiel be the figure head that deals with all the defenses, management, and “nice” politicking, and Evon could be the one behind the scenes doing the nitty-gritty stuff.

TheHiTmAn.4738:

its proven true now

Necroing your 2 year old thread just to say you were right after you already made another thread saying the same thing?

For Shame!

It depends on just how much of a change specializations are compared to the original class.

• If they take the class in a different direction mechanically and they add some nice support skills? Very much so.
• If they only really give a class a new weapon that doesn’t really improve or change the class at all, and the new skills are a bit mediocre? Not so much.

Malkavian.4516:

The trailer does imply that Faolain may ally with us in the defeat of the mordrem, but I am still curious as to why she would do such a thing. What does she hope to gain from this?

Really? When I saw her impaling what seemed to be a Pact soldier with a spear, I kinda though it implied bad things.

Ya, the White Mantle kinda had to stage his funeral and build the whole tomb to keep their followers in the dark to what really happened. It’s kinda hard to promote a religion to people and have them accept their suppose “new gods” if they actually knew their “Unseen Ones” dragged away their champion because he outlived his usefulness.

I certainly hope that one of their idle animations is them licking their own eyeballs.

It’s a fine balance. The fight is a bit bland atm, with the wyvern not moving while on the platform, but the fight itself would be horrible if the wyvern chased players around.

Can you imagine how they fight would go if over 50% of the platform was covered in the fire aoe AND the wyvern chased the players around? Add some cleave damage and there would be nowhere to run in that fight.

I’m leaning towards the faction idea myself, because “The Exalted” doesn’t sound like a name a race would actually give itself. It sounds more like a group or organization.

Though, as Foefaller said, I wouldn’t put it past the Mursaat to have their own race’s name to mean “Exalted”. They are holier than thou SOBs so I could see them doing that.

webtoehobbit.4201:

So am I the only one worried about this? Or is this completely unfounded?

Southsun, Labyrinthine Cliffs, EotM, Dry Top, and The Silverwastes.

They can, and will, add in more areas later. It’s one of the whole points of the LS. Plus, we still don’t know the large the new areas are, or how they compare to the other areas. On top of that, each area will be split into the three biomes. So even if each new areas would be the same size as the older ones, the sheer height of them would make them much larger than they actually are.

Thanks for the info. Guess i’ll just go and put some pointless lowball bids on some precursors then. At least ill know that my money is safe from any of my possibly spending urges there.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

I think the name “revenant” should be interpretation in a metaphorical sense. They embody long-gone legends and bring them back from the “death”. That doesn’t mean the revenant himself is someone who returns from the death.

Or to sum it up in a single quote, “Heroes get remembered but legends never die.”

I never have more than 10g-20g in my wallet at all times. Whenever I get anything more than that I put it into my gbank at the end of the day.

It adds up fast.

Orpheal.8263:

The whole thing around the Revenenant remembers me basically being inspired/stolen from the Anime Fate Stay Night/ Fate Zero, where summoned manifestations of legendary heroes battle against each other.

The idea of calling upon spirits/legends of the past to give one strength in battle is hardly new. Literally using the spirits or legends in a supernatural battle isn’t new either. Heck, I kinda thought they took the general premise of Shaman King and just ran in a different direction with it when I first saw Fate Stay Night/ Fate Zero, and I’m sure Shaman King took the idea from somewhere else as well.

But I guess Mark Twain said it best…

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

jia li ng.8415:

A character who summons spirits from the mists .. Not quite dead yet .. Sounds vaguely similar to the mechanics of a Ritualist but that “name is already taken” …

Shiny eh not so much

The devs have seemingly going to great lengths to not say spirits when describing the Rev’s skills, instead using “Legends”. So the revenants aren’t actually summoning spirits from the Mists, but I would probably describe it more like a manifestation of a legendary figure and his/her/its deeds in which the Rev draws strength from.

I kinda think of it as the Rev summoning the Mists’ copy of the cliff notes version of that person/legend, but like most Mists related thing in GW though, it a bit hard to describe.