Guild Wars 2

Amok Threeohthree.8501:

YES! Megaserver in Orr is exactly the right thing to do! Finally Orr won’t be a ghost town anymore!

I disagree, Orr will always be a ghost town.

Badum tish

I have to voice my opinion on this ‘new trait system makes it easier for people to understand’ argument. It’s rubbish.

Seriously, to whoever though this up, what time and age do you think we live in? Were you raised in the Sierra games period perhaps, where forgetting to pick up an inconspicuous piece of cheese would result in permanent game over 3 stages later, all the while without any hints or online guides to help you?

Because we don’t live in that age any more. We live in the now, the now in which there is a tutorial for every trivial, menial task one could ever come across. And we know it, because most of us spend over half our day online, via pc or smart-phone.

It’s downright insulting to think that a large percentage of players would have had trouble figuring out how trait points used to work. And even if we assume that this is so, which is asinine, then giving us the choice to change our traits at any time, free of charge would have been the fix all along.

I’m sure there are reasons for these changes, but the ones I’ve been given are really lacklustre.

Also, I have to wonder how large this group of struggling people must have been for you to change the trait system for, considering you apparently care diddly-squat for the significantly sized RP community.

Upgrade extractors, which are so ridiculously overpriced. Better off buying new runes most likely.

Oh dear, did the update take away all your dyes too?

As far as I can see, the “Zerker” nerf is the least of the complaints.
Even so, the nerf was not even a solution to the problem. People will still play Zerker, they will just do less damage. It won’t change the mentality at all, just lessen it’s effectiveness to ‘still a little better than all other options’.

Indeed. Full refund for me as well. If I can’t get it precisely the way I want it, then I don’t need it any more.

Mr Bimble.2764:

All the hints were that we would have a big improvement with this update

Really? I would say all the hints were against it. The way they were hyping trivial changes, even using the same change multiple times to add “body” to their blogs was a clear sign to me that this would be a pointless update.

They totally lived up to my expectations.

It was clear from the start to me that this would be a glorified niche option to change a look once in a blue moon.

My sentiments exactly BFS. I used to be a most fervent supporter of this game, forgiving so much out of sheer nostalgia. But those days are long gone now.

I’ve been bored out of my wit for a long time, hardly forking over any cash at all any more. What’s the point when there’s nothing to do? I barely logged in to kill Scarlet, and that was only because it felt I should finish what I’ve been slugging through all this time, not out of excitement.

I haven’t even logged in for this patch either. It really doesn’t interest me at all, in fact I’m more annoyed that when I finally do log in, I’ll have to go and redo all my characters’ gear because of these pointless changes.

But I digress. Since I don’t pay any subscription fees, I’ll just let it sit there until there’s something refreshing to experience. If that never comes, then so be it I suppose.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Wanderer.3248:

I’m thinking of the tree in the movie poltergeist. I doubt that minions of the jungle dragon will look all flowery and nice.

Plants with vibrant colors can easily be very deadly. If you’ve seen the movie Jamanji then you’d know. :P

Way to bring me back to my teen years.
Aah Robin Williams, you used to be such a great hobo and cross-dresser. Bless the 90’s.

Also Jumanji </nitpicking>

Nage.1520:

Evans.6347:

Well, my opinion is that they should spend less time advertising their wonderful “features”, most of which should have been implemented ages ago, and instead entice people with “content”.

Instead we consistently got little to no information on each and every LS update, and now we get 2 bloody weeks of “OMG guys, we’re going to do so much completely new and totally never mentioned before changes for you!!!”

So yes, “yay” we’re getting QoL changes. Never again will I have to sit in front of my screens for hours trying to figure out what rune X would do if I add it to my armor along with rune Y. Such troublesome times we’ve had indeed.

But that’s just my opinion, one apparently a lot of people share, but also a lot of people don’t.

I guess you don’t consider the living story content.

Considering I specifically mentioned the Living Story as content for which we hardly got any information beforehand, i’m just going to assume you didn’t really bother reading/comprehending my post.

Also, in calling the LS “content” I was already very generous towards it.

Nage.1520:

It’s a big update because of the amount of stuff changing. You change 2 little things and it’s not big. You change a hundred little things and it is.

I think people, in general, underestimate how much work goes into a patch like this.

Like Kaiyanwan said, it doesn’t mean diddle-squat how much work goes into their patch. A consumer couldn’t care less how much work it took to make a product, a consumer only cares about the quality of said good and wants it as soon as possible.

Well, my opinion is that they should spend less time advertising their wonderful “features”, most of which should have been implemented ages ago, and instead entice people with “content”.

Instead we consistently got little to no information on each and every LS update, and now we get 2 bloody weeks of “OMG guys, we’re going to do so much completely new and totally never mentioned before changes for you!!!”

So yes, “yay” we’re getting QoL changes. Never again will I have to sit in front of my screens for hours trying to figure out what rune X would do if I add it to my armor along with rune Y. Such troublesome times we’ve had indeed.

But that’s just my opinion, one apparently a lot of people share, but also a lot of people don’t.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Grumpdogg.6910:

Added FEATURES would be things like additional weapon options (even just existing weapons transposed to off-hand/main-hand/another class), <-CONTENT
new zones, <-CONTENT
new skills, <-CONTENT
new class/race?<-CONTENT

Do people really not see the pattern here? Granted, if people are this willfully blind, I suppose there’s no point in this thread. People will just believe what they want even if it’s wrong.

It’s all interpretation Aidan. You can call it whatever you want, the end result will still be the same. We get to wait for almost a month filled with little information trickles, hyping up what will be a completely unmemorable update after a couple of days.

Sure, some people will love it, but really it adds very, very little to do to the game, and that is arguably what long time players are interested in.

It’s all nice and dandy that we can use a new spiffy menu to blow out our cash on looks, but what’s the point if there is nothing to do after we do so?

And thus I find 2 weeks of advertising for these changes quite over-hyping.

Grumpdogg.6910:

Repair costs, account-bound dyes, PvE skin locker, anywhere trait resets, etc are issues that have been heavily discussed since beta and always rejected by Anet. Now China is coming and they all get fixed? Not a single mention of something like ‘thanks for your loyalty playing GW2, here are the changes you’ve called for’, no all we get is “With the China launch coming up, there is no better time than now for us to improve the economy of the game.”

Added FEATURES would be things like additional weapon options (even just existing weapons transposed to off-hand/main-hand/another class), new zones, new skills, new class/race?

This patch is simply a QoL improvement that takes some of the annoyance out of the game. We’ve already fought/worked around/dealt with these issues for 1.5 years. We’ve already got skins on all our characters.

There is nothing in this patch that gives me a goal to work towards, or a reward to look forward to. If anything – it speeds up my completion so I can tick off a few last remaining pieces and quit the game…

Exactly, it adds nothing for the long time players. It’s just dumbing down the game and putting expensive options in a new coat.
“Quitting the game” however is such a redundant statement to make. As the game has no subscription fee, you can just put it aside until something new and interesting gets added.

That’s what I’ve been doing at least.
I’ll be excited when something changes for me. These “features” don’t.

You can wear medium armor without looking like a tramp or superhero reject.
Picture from MesmersFromHouseElara and thus not mine, but I’ve always adored that simple, down to earth look.

The back pieces still drop from sanctum sprint after all.

bloodletting wolf.2837:

No – and this thread is beating a dead mount.

Would that be a skeletal horse or a spectral one?

They said the FSP is in a good place last legendary update, so I doubt there will be any update for it now or in the future.

Simply put, we don’t know.
How we’ll acquire them and how expensive they will be will make our break their wardrobe for me. They can’t expect people to change their look on a daily basis if they ask a significant amount of cash for it.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Evans.6347:

Though there is absolutely no proof or evidence for this whatsoever, I would very much enjoy a story where Scarlet’s possessing entity is the/an other pale tree, whether tainted or not by Mordremoth.

THere’s support for this, actually. The red vine is described very similar to the Pale Tree’s Circle. If you go into her lab, one of the drawings of her dream has the two drawings next to each other (touching) and the red lines almost line up completely, and on th eother end of the red-vine-only drawing there’s a very vague tree-like shape (though I may have just been seeing things). And there’s the Tower of Nightmares which was 1) sentient and 2) able to produce sylvari-like krait-like creatures, making it a possible third “sylvari tree”.

Honestly, “another sylvari tree” which told Scarlet the location of the cave (thus “Caithe’s secret” would be Malyck) was one of my longer-standing theories that kept around until Battle for LA. Though I don’t think it being tainted is needed – just innately hostile.

Evans.6347:

Whatever invaded Scarlet’s mind, the Pale Tree probably knows of it and tries to shield all Sylvari from it’s influence.

I do not think the mental protection mentioned is unique to sylvari. Vorpp says “our minds” – so he’s including asura minds as well for his observations. Meaning, at least from Vorpp’s studies, whatever broke in Scarlet’s mind exists in asura minds (if not other races too).

Honestly, that line makes me think of the Voices and the Rage of Koda. The Voices’ minds are always connected to the Mists, and as such can slowly go insane due to said connection – especially under stress. What if that is the protection removed? And Scarlet’s mind entered the Mists (this would fit perfectly with the “Dream of Dreams is part of the Mists” theory). And then you have a powerful ancient spellcaster (race) capable of entering the Mists (Lazarus/Mursaat if you didn’t figure it out ).

How interesting, thank you for that

And remember, it was broken for the longest time.
I fought it once in beta, then didn’t see it for almost a year. If anything, it knows how to make an entrance.

Ah well, I’m sure they could change it somehow so it can only be taken down on a few servers on a weekly basis. Give it time.

Shonie.5297:

You didn’t answer my question, what were you expecting it to be?

What’s your point?

I didn’t expect anything more. Being able to swap ascended and legendary equipment is very trivial and not something I’m going to do a happy dance for.

What did I expect from “removing restrictions”? Well a lot more than removing repair costs and free traits, which I already knew about.
What about the “Looking for group”? Oh yes we can choose our preferred language now, that fixed everything there.

Heck even the wardrobe is pretty much the same thing in a new dress. Tell me, is anyone going to swap their looks 2-3 times a day now? This isn’t more freedom than before.

So I’m being cynical, what of it? After almost 2 years this is the stuff we need to draw out two weeks of trivial blogs for? Well it’s not bring back my excitement.

And that aside, my point was that they did intentionally over-hype this QoL shenanigans.

Nage.1520:

I’d like to see some of the quotes where Anet “hyped this up”.

They didn’t even have to say anything. The format and time window they chose to trickle out this information served as hype by itself. Surely you can see this? If not, just read their announcement on the pack, it’s pretty much lyrical.

Shonie.5297:

Evans.6347:

I just had to comment on all the “it’s your own fault, not the company”-posts.

Good lord, how horribly naive can you be? It is blatantly obvious that these little titbits of information are way over-hyped and yes this is most certainly done intentionally.

And why wouldn’t they? I bet most of you here, myself included, have waited impatiently for each new blog expecting the world out of the insinuating titles, only to be left with a bitter-sweet feeling after reading the incredibly trivial information they give.

You can call people spoiled all you want but it is a fact that this whole week of shenanigans is just one giant publicity stunt. In the end negative attention is still attention.

As for myself, I’m rather disappointed yes. You can say that these are all positive things (to which I disagree, because I feel really cheated out with townclothes), but that doesn’t mean we should sing songs of praise about it, especially when they are deliberately hyped up as the next best thing, evar!

As far as I’m concerned this has been one giant pile of ‘simplifications’ on matters which hardly challenge the brain, making me wonder how high they estimate the general IQ of their players. Or maybe it’s for the “massive” influx of new players I’ve seen nowhere.

I’m not usually a negative ninnie, but I just can’t be excited about new systems that don’t fix any of the underlying problems or extremely trivial simplifications.

So today with post entitled ‘account bound’, what were you expecting?
They made awesome changes to account bound legendaries and ascended items and wxp. That’s pretty awesome!
Stop crying or the wahhhhhhmbulance is gonna show up.

I respect your level of excitement, I just simply don’t share it.

I just had to comment on all the “it’s your own fault, not the company”-posts.

Good lord, how horribly naive can you be? It is blatantly obvious that these little titbits of information are way over-hyped and yes this is most certainly done intentionally.

And why wouldn’t they? I bet most of you here, myself included, have waited impatiently for each new blog expecting the world out of the insinuating titles, only to be left with a bitter-sweet feeling after reading the incredibly trivial information they give.

You can call people spoiled all you want but it is a fact that this whole week of shenanigans is just one giant publicity stunt. In the end negative attention is still attention.

As for myself, I’m rather disappointed yes. You can say that these are all positive things (to which I disagree, because I feel really cheated out with townclothes), but that doesn’t mean we should sing songs of praise about it, especially when they are deliberately hyped up as the next best thing, evar!

As far as I’m concerned this has been one giant pile of ‘simplifications’ on matters which hardly challenge the brain, making me wonder how high they estimate the general IQ of their players. Or maybe it’s for the “massive” influx of new players I’ve seen nowhere.

I’m not usually a negative ninnie, but I just can’t be excited about new systems that don’t fix any of the underlying problems or extremely trivial simplifications.

Thaddeus.4891:

I don’t agree. I think that these runes will be more easily available. You needed transmutation crystal to gain access to these rune. But after the path you will only need transmutation charge.
…
So in the end, i think the new system will help people to get more of these runes and not making it harder.

I think you’re missing the point. Transmutation stones were used to transfer the rune on the temple armor onto a different armor set (like berserker for example).
The new system will only allow you to put a different armor skin onto the temple armor, thus fixing the runes to the stat combination found at the temple karma vendors.

You will actually need an upgrade extractor to remove these runes after the update, significantly increasing their cost. Expect the prices to explode even more.
Unless they make the karma armors salvageable, or add the runes as separate items in the vendor screen (which they really should).

Awbee.8405:

I’m even more interested what “A Solid Foundation” might be about. There’s a tiny, overly optimistic part of me that hopes it might be about Housing … if only

Introduction of make-up kits obviously.

Though there is absolutely no proof or evidence for this whatsoever, I would very much enjoy a story where Scarlet’s possessing entity is the/an other pale tree, whether tainted or not by Mordremoth.

If anything, if another tree is sentient just as the Pale Tree herself is, then surely they must have made contact already? The Pale Tree apparently has to power to speak to the land itself (as she talks about the fall of Claw Island being told to her by the land weeping), then surely another being of the same kind must be able to make contact with her. Yet She never mentions this, at all. Not even in Malyck’s storyline. That makes me wonder why She deems this such a secret.

Whatever invaded Scarlet’s mind, the Pale Tree probably knows of it and tries to shield all Sylvari from it’s influence. It also seemed to inhabit the ‘spiritual connection’, by lack of better words, which connects all the Sylvari and the Pale Tree(s).

It could even take the “creator” mention up a level to the origin of the Pale Tree species.

At the very least, I have a hard to accepting the voices in her head being Mordremoth, there just seems to be so much going against it.

I’m on Aurora Glade and I feel it’s a pretty active server. We’re pretty mediocre for WvW though, for what I can tell.

I’ve never felt the urge to change server.

AlexEBT.7240:

Evans.6347:

Don’t be so dramatic. There is no indication you’ll have to do dungeons or whatnot for the traits. In fact there are plenty of powerful monsters/bosses in the open world to add a trait to their defeat.

This might actually be a reason for people to kill a specific spawn or do a specific event chain for a change.

How many times you think ppl are gonna kill them after they get their traits from them? Do you think ppl will be running trait champ farms or that the areas will be just as deserted as before, now with the added necessity for you to kill the mobs, etc by yourself cause you need the trait but nobody is around? I mean, my server barely does the Arah meta chain once in a blue moon and if you look at the ranger trait screenshot they provided, one of the traits is aquired by killing the High risen priest. Yai for guesting i guess. Also double yai for gw2state.com/temples.
But a new player won’t know how the circumvent this or have the resources to buy them off. Eh this sytem may have worked in gw1 (somewhat, it was horribly annoying there as well) but gw2 is a different beast all together and all i’m seeing here is a source of fustration for new players if they don’t balance out the aquisition.

I was going to touch that subject originally, but then I decided against it because I seriously doubt many skills will be “locked” behind world bosses. In fact, those would be all the easier to get because people already farm these for loot.

I don’t expect it to be a big problem to be honest. I expect people will find help to take down the few bosses they can’t handle by themselves fairly easily. Perhaps even via the new LFG tool.

As for server populations, well that’s an issue Anet will have to address I suppose.

Don’t be so dramatic. There is no indication you’ll have to do dungeons or whatnot for the traits. In fact there are plenty of powerful monsters/bosses in the open world to add a trait to their defeat.

This might actually be a reason for people to kill a specific spawn or do a specific event chain for a change.

I’m a fan! I wouldn’t wear the whole thing of course, I never do, but I really like the cosmic texture on this one.

Pretty much restricted to blue Sylvari, but luckily I happen to have one of those

My beautiful Technaflora is truly out of this world. Just stare in her deep, glowing… erm… eyes and embrace eternity.

I’ll probably share with some poor refugees though.

Anet is royally shrewd and all the others get royally …

But seriously I don’t really care. I never did find LA the most user friendly city.

lordkrall.7241:

Evans.6347:

Destroying the city is all good and well, but quite a few of the personal story quests happen there.

I suppose they can move the “meeting your mentor” quests around, but what about “the attack on claw island”?

I applaud the balls but I have some serious questions for the implementation of this.

In the massively article (http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/11/prepare-to-escape-from-lions-arch-in-guild-wars-2s-next-conten/) they state that they have already fixed that.
You will simply have to enter the Personal story from another way.

And to be fair the Personal Story itself is “locked in time” so the Personal story can still take place in LA even if the current LA would be destroyed,

Yes I read that. Though truth be told, that’s a far from elegant solution in my humble opinion.

But whatever, no need for nitpicking, exciting things are finally going to happen.

Destroying the city is all good and well, but quite a few of the personal story quests happen there.

I suppose they can move the “meeting your mentor” quests around, but what about “the attack on claw island”?

I applaud the balls but I have some serious questions for the implementation of this.

So I would like to say too. Syryn. However, if, and a surely hope not, but if Mordremoth is behind Scarlet’s actions then we need to look at the warning the Pale Tree gave her in that light too.

That warning being “In seeking to comprehend the forces that shape us, you will unleash them.”

…please let it not be so.

The greatsword.
Not only does it have a grand design, it’s the glowing hearts that give it such a deep layer of kitsch.

Truly, how can one not enjoy rushing into battle with a magnificently tacky leap of faith yelling “I believe in the heart of the sword!”

I have a really hard time tying any of Scarlet’s actions to Dhuum. It sounds very far fetched to me.

The method of twisting Caera and orchestrating a major apocalypse has Abaddon written all over it, but we know he’s gone for good. So out of his two partners in crime, I would very much link all of this to Menzies rather than Dhuum. He’s called Menzies the Mad after all, Lord of Destruction. He’s also associated with darkness isn’t he?

So what did Scarlet say in her journal? Running in a sea of darkness, images of death, destruction, destiny and finally ending the madness.

Yes you have death in there too, but more emphasis on madness and darkness. Also, Menzies appearance is long overdue.

(As a bonus, conflict with Menzies could introduce the Eternal Forgemaster to Tyria in order to make legendary armor )

It is heavily implied at the end of Tower of Nightmares that the tree does in fact realise it’s going to be destroyed and reacts to it.

Communication between the tree and the toxic hybrid would also explain much of it’s behaviour.

But yea, it’s not confirmed. Regardless, the point remains that Scarlet had more interest in the seeds than in the toxic. I’m also not under the impression that the Tower is of the same species, just similarly engineered.

Thinking back on the Tower of Nightmares release, specifically the end, there are a few cogs that fall into place, but one significant blank still.

In order to remove the barrier defending the tower from the anti-toxin, we had to do a few tasks, each seemingly explaining the purpose of her actions.

The Molten Alliance terminal now clearly represented the power and control mechanism of the drill.

The inquest computer produced quantitative results based on effectiveness. This could mean many things, but very possibly was used to calculate the number of forces she would need in her assaults to overcome the defences.

The clockwork guard simply showed us how she has control over her clockwork forces.

But then there’s the toxic spore sample. The new instance has the characters speculate that Scarlet counted on us to make her poison even more potent, but that is not what we saw in the tower. What she seemed to do was trying to strengthen the seeds, making them more resistant to heat as that seemed to be their glaring weakness.

So, did she create the alliance to produce a toxin, or is the toxin a side effect of creating a sentient tree capable of producing sentient offspring? And what happens when you root such a being in a highly magical location?

I’m just having trouble assuming Scarlet grew a giant, sentient tower to create an airborne toxin for which there was a purifying technology already. Gas masks have been invented now, so regardless of how powerful the toxin gets, it’s useless when it doesn’t get inside the enemy. That coupled with the fact that her own researched focussed on the seeds, not on the toxin, makes me believe that the detective squad might be wrong on that part.

Zaxares.5419:

Lion’s Arch is in desperate need of air defences to fight off Scarlet.

A bird-race living right next to LA who will probably suffer major fallout if the city is attacked?

Hmmm…

As adorably convenient as that sounds, Tengu are flightless birds so no more efficient at aerial defence as any other land dweller.

As for the dominion opening up, it might. I would personally love to have a Tengu character, but I’m not hoping for that any time soon.

So, who would our character know that wields such power and yet does not have any significant role in the personal story?

So in light of the now even more blatant fact that Ceara is being manipulated by something bigger, and the hint long ago that the nemesis would be someone/something we know, any ideas about what/who is actually controlling her?

It seems unlikely to be the Jungle Dragon really, considering she’s having ‘conversations’ with “it” on a seemingly equal level. Furthermore, we don’t really know that dragon.

I’ve seen Glint’s baby as an option, but I consider that one linked to the Zephyrites and something to come into play in a later story.

With the new link to the mists, and Scarlet’s apparent fetish for anything related to time, I’m putting my money on Lord Odran. He was a powerful arcanist who specialized in the study of temporal distortions, after all.

Don’t be silly, you don’t need to do anything between spawns. If you try you’ll get shut outside of a decent overflow.

Clearly you’re just meant to stand there for 2 hours in a row to get a small shot at victory. I suppose you and the game have come to a standstill. Ha!

Svetli.4276:

and fail
fail fail fail 2h and fail
i am sick of this ! can you stop doing that ???? why not 20-30 min ? you know what i am sick of this game i will go play tf2 GL !

Such fun!

It’s unreasonably hard, so it’s bound to get a nice slew of zealous followers.
I mean, people are already claiming it’s “fine” and “perfect”, while it hasn’t even been defeated once! Imagine what’s going to follow after it has.

Sigh, at least I’m not missing out on anything either way. I’m not exactly hopping with excitement over wearing a heavy green glowing mussel over my head anyway.

Well, it first has to be killed in order to really know it’s loot table :p

(luckily for me I think it’s hideous again, so I needn’t bother doing the impossible here)

Konig Des Todes.2086:

That doesn’t change the fact of why they kept working with her after getting the shards (which we know they did). Or why they still work with her at the Marionette area. Their promised prophet is dead, why still work with her? The Molten Alliance failed in their assaults against Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel, why stick around?

That is assuming they have a choice. It’s not far-fetched to assume whatever has ‘infected’ Caera and is ‘guiding’ her would have been voluntarily spread through her followers.

Scarlet herself is proving less and less of an individual threat, yet all her factions seem to follow her, in great numbers, out of fear. So what do they fear when they seem to be the bulk of her strength? Maybe they too can hear the whispers… They might not fear her as a person, but whatever she stands for.

I expect she starts out with promises which enticed the factions she made. Then by giving them power, she also exposes them to the influence of ‘the powerful entity’. After the failure of her experiments, which she didn’t care about in the first place apparently, those ‘infected’ by her influence will be broken to aid her cause anyway.