Guild Wars 2

Eugene is Brazil.
Whether Eugene is his real name, Eugene is Strife’s real name and he is making fun of Strife, or it is just a name he randomly picked we don’t know.

Someone commented about it and he replied,“It was my Grandfather’s name,” but I think he was joking.

btw, if you liked that video you should watch his Ranger one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sxrPoXdtZM

EDIT: Wrong link /fixed

Would someone do me a favor and edit the wiki? A while ago I made a thread about magic and mists and I said my understanding was magic was like the lifeblood/essence of the planet. I finally found where I got that impression: http://esprits-dorr.fr/node/261

Angel McCoy: Magic is the lifeblood of Tyria. The entire world is infused with it, and it flows through everything via ley lines that criss-cross the planet.

And the wiki page says…

GW2 Wiki: Magic is a still-unclear force of nature in the world of Tyria.

This really frustrated me because I thought I had the right understanding then the wiki page confused me. Turns our I had the right understanding all along. Magic is the lifeblood of Tyria. It permeates everything in it, including the people. When we cast Magic we’re tapping into Tyria’s “soul” so to speak.

Magic being the “lifeblood/essence” of a planet is a pretty common theme in fantasy universes too. It seems like someone on the wiki page was over-rationalized things a bit, especially since the page on the Mists goes off about multiverses of all things (as if ArenaNet actually incorporates theoretical astrophysics into their lore writing :/ )

I’m always drawn to the Templar/Paladin archetype. When I saw the Guardian I knew right away it was the class for me.

Are new Collaborative Development threads starting today, and if so what are they?

I couldn’t find this information anywhere.

Piscore.6934:

She want to manipulate the magic of the elder dragon’s, I think this is the final plan.

The Asura already are manipulating Elder Dragon magic in the Thaumanova reactor and the Infinity Coil/CoE reactor.

I think Scarlett wants to build her own Chaos reactor too (which is why she is teaming up with all these random races —to get the technology to build it), but I think her end-goal has to do with the Pale Tree. The Short-Story makes it pretty clear that the Pale Tree is her nemesis. We don’t yet know what she intends to do to it though… Maybe the Toxic Blooms have something to do with that?

Imbune.5497:

…as a matter of fact pve is now removed from the game-upon logging in you’ll be ported to lion’s arch where everyone stacks and auto attacks the training dummies in the most efficient order for exotics (and of course the obligatory elitist bragging of how I can press ‘1-2-3’ like a boss from the kids).

I Lol’ed at this. That sums up my PvE experience pretty well.

These aren’t my tests, but here you go.

Meet the might Finn Felagund!
He is inspired by the Crusader in the Diablo 3 expansion, so I included a picture of that too.

To help make my point about customizing character’s appearances I uploaded a screenshot of my Guardian. I’m not really an role-player, but I like making “thematic characters” (i.e. characters that follow a theme) in any RPG I play.

This is my main, Finn Felagund. He was inspired by the Crusader class in the Diablo 3 expansion. His appearance is a mixture of T3 cultural, Karma, and dungeon armor.

Wallace MacBix.2089:

[snip]

There is so much to reply to here I am not sure where to start.

And I’m just curious about what constitutes a “farmer” and a “casual”.

In terms of farming, my Guild leader kills world bosses at server reset every day, and has since the game launched. I enjoyed this for the first few weeks, but got bored of it because of the repetition. I don’t mind farming or doing dungeons 2-3 times a week, but I don’t want to do it everyday. This why I call myself a “casual farmer.”

Wallace MacBix.2089:

But I don’t understand this:

Right now, we’re not getting our value out of the game but we feel driven to the gem-store anyways.

How are you (and people that share your interests) being driven to the gem store?

Well, I am PvE focused player, and I’ll just by saying the main things I buy from the gem-store aren’t skins or QoL items, they are transmutation-crystals, make-over-kits, and name-change-contracts.

I expect some level of character customization/progression in an RPG. In GW2 this comes in the form of creating a unique appearance for my character. But almost every skin in the game is related to gold; whether it be bought in the gem-store, or crafted in the Mystic-Forge. I also need transmutation-crystals and make-over-kits, which are also bought with gold.

Some of these skins are so expensive I can’t unlock them regularly enough to feel like I’m progressing. For example: FoeFire’s Essence costs almost 200 gold to craft; that would take me 4 weeks of farming to get, and it’s not the only skin I want. This makes me feel like I’m wasting time if I am not farming gold. While I enjoy champion trains, killing world-bosses, or running dungeons periodically I don’t enjoy doing them everyday. A lot of these have repetitive boring content.

In order to progress my character l feel like have to play content I don’t enjoy, or pay $10 a month in the gem-store and convert the gems to gold. This is how PvE focused player like me feel we are being pushed towards the gem-store. While I don’t mind buying gems as long as I’m having fun. Right now I’m not having fun and that is partly because of the Living Story, and partly because there is a lack of ways to “progress” my character without spending gold.

BTW: They have confirmed they are working on a way to replay old content. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to earn the achievements retroactively, but we should see this system patched into the game in the next 3 months or so.

Hello, Lzmira.

This is a topic which many players have touched on before in the forums. It’s a design decision that frustrates a lot of players (and potential returning players).

That said, they have gotten better about achievements. Since September, most Living Story updates have given you 4-6 weeks to complete the achievements and content instead of 2 weeks. Yes, this does mean we sometimes have two Living Story updates happening at once. They’ve also said (in an informal discussion, so this isn’t gospel) that they want to decrease the number of required achievements in Living Story updates, and work more achievements into the daily-achievement system that are related to the Living Story.

To answer your question: Why temporary content?
Because Guild Wars 2 makes money from microtransactions, ArenaNet feels they have to give players a reason to log in regularly instead of playing for a brief period of time and then stopping (like when an expansion comes out). Their method for accomplishing this is to (1) release patches every two weeks (2) make patches temporary, so if you don’t log in you miss it.

Again, this is something a lot of players have gripes with. So you’re not alone here.

This build has been around a while, but maybe “casual” builds deserve their own stickied guide on the forums.

btw, last I heard Battle Presence and Absolute resolution do not stack.

EDIT: Sorry, wrong link.

People spend more time on the forums then in game when they are bored with the game but unwilling to move on. The only game that spending time on the forums ever got me back into the game was Diablo 3 (ironically).
When forums are filled with people who are as bored and unsatisfied with the game as yourself it’s unlikely to help.

^^ Take it up with ArenaNet.

Immensus.9732:

Not bad idea but i still dont like the fact that they have to remove or replace the new zones, i mean i dont understand their philosophy , you are doing so much effort to make a new content every 2 weeks and after a while you remove it? :/ and even though when ppl like the content you still remove it?? why??

In my idea, the zones aren’t being replaced. They are temporarily removed for 4-6 months. When they return they have new dynamic events and the environment is slightly changed. (as if the zone actually changes over time)

To answer your question, there are TWO reason why ArenaNet insists on temporary content:

1 ArenaNet doesn’t want to spread players out too much. When they release temporary content all the players flock to one zone. This way, new players always have someone to play with and the game never seems dead.

2 It keeps players logging back into the game. GW2 doesn’t have a monthly fee so it only makes money from players who buy from the gem shop. Having bi-weekly updates gives players a reason to log back in every two weeks.

Phy.2913:

I’d rather not keep track of a different currency every few weeks, and there’s enough complaints about temporary content as it is.

I don’t think you read my post very well. I’m proposing they introduce a new currency every 2 months instead of every two weeks. This way players have time to get the skins they want, and they have a reward to work towards that doesn’t required gold.

Players ask for new maps a lot, but this seems to contradict GW2’s philosophy of temporary content. I think they can to do both.

Imagine:

• Every 8-10 weeks a new, full sized zone opens up in some part of the world. After 8-10 weeks it closes and is replaced with another zone.

• Each zone has a unique currency while it is open which can be traded in for exclusive skins. Bi-weekly patches are released telling a story in the new zone and releasing new skins on the Gem-Store.

• We continue to cycle through the same 3-4 zones: opening a new one every 8-10 weeks and returning to an old zone after 4-6 months to see how our actions have evolved the story.

• When we return to a zone it has completely new Dynamic Events, and the environment has slightly changed because it has evolved over time thanks to the players’ actions. It also has a new currency and skins for us to work towards.

I think this end-game would be a sustainable. We would 8-10 weeks to acquire the skins we want, and we would be able to explore content at our own pace because these zones would be open for 8-10 weeks at a time.

Plus, whenever ArenaNet wants to add a 5th or 6th zone they can reuse the assets they acquired from doing the same zones over and over again.

Thoughts? Do you want new zones in GW2? If you had to purchase an expansion to access this end-game would you be willing to buy it?

Wallace MacBix.2089:

If you felt you got more value you can throw money into the gem store to help support them. If you feel that something is “worth it” in the gem store than you can throw money at it and help support the game.

That’s just it though. When people like me bought this game we expected to buy things in the gem store because we were getting value out of the game. Right now, we’re not getting our value out of the game but we feel driven to the gem-store anyways.

There is a general lack of rewards that take time to get that are not linked to gold. Every PvE reward in GW2 is linked to gold, and pretty soon PvP rewards will be as well. But gold is also needed to buy commodity items in the gem-store. This makes it feel like you have two options in GW2: farm gold all day, every day; or spend $10 a month in the gem-shop. GW2 does not have a literal monthly fee, but it might as well for casual players who don’t want to farm consistently.

This is a great article that anyone who has gripes with the Living Story strategy should read.

The quote I identify with most:

Aside from time constraints, another issue with the temporary content is its close ties to the game’s gem store. Many players see this relationship as a ploy on ArenaNet’s part to get them to spend money and considering ArenaNet’s not a charity, those players are probably not wrong. This wouldn’t be a problem for most of us though, if we felt we were getting quality content for the money; at the moment however, that’s not really the case.

This sums up my personal gripes pretty well. I don’t mind spending money on GW2 as long as I am having fun. Right now I am not having fun, but I feel like I am being pushed towards the gem store anyways. That makes GW2 feel like a money-grabbing, experience-monetizing game rather than one that is genuinely F2P.

The way the LS is working right now it feels like GW2 has gone back on its promise to be a genuinely F2P game. It releases shoddy content that pushes you towards the gem-store to sustain your enjoyment of the game.

ArenaNet previously confirmed Jormag would be next. Some of the dialogue at the end of the Living Story also hints that Jormag is coming.

That was over a year ago though, so I don’t know if it’s still what they would do.

Vexander.9850:

I think she’s targeting other races because they’re more complex and defined in terms of being systems, compared to the Sylvari. The Sylvari are still a child race in a lot of ways, while Humans, Charr, and Norn are very old races that have well defined, complex cultural systems. Taking them out, or damaging them, might just be more of her testing her abilities in preamble for what she hopes to do with the Sylvari.

My theory is she is making these alliances to gain their technology/resources, and in return she is attacking their rivals.

Some people think Scarlett is building her own Chaos Reactor, like Thaumanova, and The Tower of Nightmares IS that reactor. I don’t know how a Chaos Reactor fits into attacking the Pale Tree though. We will just have to wait and see…

I wish they would move Champion Farming to a different zone. I have literally met new players, with level 16+ toons, who didn’t want to leave Queensdale and experience the rest of PvE. I’ve also seen guilds start up just for farming Queensdale.

I wish it is was moved to a 15-25, or 25-35 zone so players have an incentive to explore the rest of the game. Gendarran Fields is a great candidate because any race can access it by porting to Lion’s arch.

I still think Queensdale should still have an event train though. In fact, all the starting areas should. It was really convenient to be able to WP back to Queensdale if I ever became underleveled. But a starting zone shouldn’t have 5 Champions like Queensdale does now.

TL/DR: Move Champ Farming to Gendarran Fields. Replace Champion train with different event chain for low-level toons.

Dreadforce.6980:

I don’t watch much t.v and to compare you get just about as much story in each episode of a t.v series as you do in a patch

I disagree, because in every TV episode you have conflict and resolution. The Living Story sometimes introduces conflict in one patch and resolves it in the next one. Also, purely looking at the amount of dialogue there is not nearly as much dialogue in one patch as there is in a 30 minute TV series. Sometimes there is not even as much in two patches as there is in a 30 minute TV episode.

I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just felt like sharing my own opinion.

I’m excited by the prospect of new areas.

I think making Dragons the villains again is a mistake. For one thing: the Elder Dragons are not evil. For another: they have no personalities.

The problem with the “Living Story” isn’t the villain, it’s ArenaNet’s bad writing and pacing. Until they learn to write better, the story will be bad regardless of who the characters are.

ArenaNet uses TV as a comparison for the Living Story. But right now each Living Story patch arguably has less “story” than a 30 minute TV episode.

Q. Would you follow a TV series if it only had one new, 30 minute episode every month?

Q. How much “story” does each bi-weekly patch need to have in order to keep you interested? Use a TV series as a comparison.

Louveepine.7630:

first card:
point gw1 gw2 superimposed

second map:
Racial maps explored, according to my dreams xD:

Red: next charr
Yellow: People
In Blue: Norn
In Green: Asura and Sylavi.
Violet in: Advanced in the desert crystal with the pact.

Nice map! I’ve always wanted to see GW1 map overlayed over GW2.

I think Scarlett’s intentions are quite clear in the short story.(Bold where emphasis is needed.)

Were the lives of all sylvari so easily encapsulated? Birth, travel, experience, death, all played out under the dictates and philosophies of the godlike entity that created them?

She refused to accept that. Everything she had learned said that no system, no matter how complex, can perpetuate itself indefinitely. Those that did not evolve inevitably failed.

“So much makes sense now. The Pale Tree, the Nightmare Court, Caithe and Faolain…it’s all part of a grand design.

“But I see the flaws in that design. My people don’t have to take what we’re given, or be what we were “born to be.” No people do. We can change the rules…well, I can. And I’m going to.”

Scarlett was born with a natural fascination with complex systems. She sees the entire life-cycle of the Sylvari as a system, and one that is flawed because it does not allow the freedom of choice. She intends to mend this system, apparently by evolving the Sylvari race.

This next section foreshadows what she will do to the Pale Tree, and where her story arc will climax.

It was then Ceara saw the thorn vine. It emerged from the roots at the base of the tree and began to climb, wrapping itself around the trunk and scoring the bark with its dusty red barbs. Green-black ichor oozed from these wounds, and the great tree shuddered.

Then Ceara was the vine, squeezing the great tree’s trunk like a desperate lover. The tree struggled against her: she was meant to be part of it, to participate in its grand purpose. Instead, she was no more than an irritant, a provocation.

Now do you see? The Pale Tree’s voice was faint and distant, but it snapped Ceara back to viewing the tree from a distance. If you are not one with what you were born to be, you are lost. Worse, you are dangerous.

Scarlett isn’t going to literally destroy the Pale Tree, but she will “choke” everything it represents. She will take the Sylvari outside the limitations of Fate and force them to evolve as a species, possibly evolving the mother of the Sylvari, the Pale Tree itself, in the process.

Something I’ve always wanted to see from Living Story updates is new zones. But ArenaNet hasn’t added any (except Southsun). Do you want to see new zones added to the game? If you don’t, why not?
Post your own suggestion for a new map.

EDIT: Another question: Would you rather we get one new zone very couple months, or 3-4 zones all at once?

It would be huge. The biggest zone added to the game yet! It would have 3 zones: 1 L70-L80, and 2 L80 zones.

One of the L80 zones would have Dynamic Events that changed every couple days. It would have over a hundred different event chains, and they would change every couple days so you would always have a reason to come back and explore.

The other zone would be like the Orr temples, with multiple Meta events in one zone and areas of the map that could only be accessed once these meta events were completed.

New Karma armors would be added with the map. Maybe even race specific or class specific armors.

The best theory I’ve ever heard on Scarlett is that her goal is to create a Chaos reactor, like Thaumanova in Metrica Province or the Infinity Coil in Mt. Maelstrum, and use it to mutate the Pale Tree and free all Sylvari from the influence of the Dream.

That still doesn’t explain why she is sending toxic seeds all over the world though. The theory I heard said the sprouts were imbued with magic, but I don’t know if that’s still plausible.

Speaking of “Meta-game” at large, and not just about GW2’s meta-game. Really, it’s not created by buzz it is created by performance. Everyone else sees that a build/strategy works well and emulates it.

People who switch classes, heroes, or race, everytime there is a balance patch are kittens because you will never evolve as a player unless you learn from your losses.

Case in point: For the first 6 months of SC2: Heart of The Swarm everyone complained the Widow-Mine unit was OP. They have not released any balance patches effecting the unit, and now everyone complains it is underpowered and needs a buff. Players simply evolved their play and learned counter it. Now, professional players don’t use it any more.

I’d have to pick the Quaggan.

FACT: Quaggan are so dang cute, they’re too polite to SAY THEIR OWN NAME.

FACT: When Quaggan become enraged, they TRANSFORM.

FACT: Quaggans who can control their rage are SHUNNED by Quaggan society.

Beware: RISE OF THE QUAGGANS is coming.

IMHO, FoeFire’s Power is one of the coolest hammer skins. But there are plenty of others that are cool.

What do you mean by “cost”? Anet can’t lower the cost of items in the Trading Post because those are sold by players —not Anet. They could reduce the requirement of Soulbound/Accountbount crafting materials though.

My problem isn’t that I don’t have enough time to spend in game. It’s that I feel like I have to farm even though it’s boring, because every reward is linked to gold.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Husks being used to power chaos reactors? This is news to me. Please explain.

I don’t know the theory well myself, but others have speculated on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPfF1ezyvzo&feature=youtu.be&t Watch/listen from 6:00—8:15. Then skip to 8:40—10:32.

The other reason is the Clockwork Oakheart at the end of TA Aetherblade path (they think Scarlett sapped the Oakheart’s magic).

Finnway.2183:

The Arena Net devs said “Kitten it! We’ll make one more update with the craziest ideas we can think of. If the players don’t love it we’ll make an expansion.”

And that’s why the Tower of Nightmares is…

• Dynamic events that must be completed to even enter.

• Multiple Jumping Puzzles on your way to the top.

• Two Dungeons along the way.

• An epic Zerg Boss Battle at the top (think Orr rather than Teq)

• A portal opens to a brand new Zone where ascended armor drops.

• No WP’s. At all.

• Meta achievement resets daily and has scaling rewards.

Basically, they said “Let’s just take the hardest version of every type of content and mash it all together.”

EDIT: This post is in the spirit of fun. It’s not based on fact.

NOTE: I added the disclaimer at the end because people actually thought this was leaked information.

There is lot’s you can buy with Gold.

• Legendary items cost anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 gold.

• Mystic Forge skins cost 200-300 Gold.

• Leveling a crafting discipline to 500 (to craft ascended weapons) costs 200+ Gold in crafting materials.

• T3 Cultural armor costs 120 Gold.

• Each L80 character costs 60+ Gold for Exotic gear.

Plus, you can convert Gold to Gems to buy useful things like Bank Space, Bag Slots, and Additional Character Slots for your account. Not to mention the “useless” things you can buy like cosmetics and quality-of-life items.

blackoil.2673:

But now I find myself with tons of gems and gold that I will not use. And I’m not even close to endgame

Are you sure you’re not even close to end-game? Your post history implies you have at least two L80 Characters, and a lot of game experience…

blackoil.2673:

When i finished my story with my ranger, there was “Fear not this night” with voice in the ending of the story (the quest in fort trinity celebrating the death of the dragon).

Now 4-5 months after, I finished it with my mesmer, and there is no music at all. Just some credit text scrolling in my screen (which I can’t actually remember).

One of my biggest problems with Guild Wars 2 is that it has great build system, but it does not require you to use that build system to beat most PvE content. You can literally just run around naked slapping things with a limp noodle.

Pandabro.8743:

While I agree, you are unlikely to get any traction on this. As stated the ability to not have “soulbound” items was a big selling point and seems to be one of the core ideas in this game.

I have to agree. I think if ArenaNet wanted more Soulbound/Account-bound skins they would have added them already.

coglin.1867:

Wait. Let me get this straight. You guys are complaining that the Copper Coin, Silver Coin, and Gold Coin we can earn, are being used as currency?

I think you took my post to an extreme. I’m not complaining about gold being a currency, or the existence of the TP. I’m complaining about a lack of rewards not tied to Gold, and rewards tied to Gold (Legendary items, Mystic Forge skins) take too long to get. It would be nice to have rewards in between Dungeon armor and Mystic-Forge skins in terms of how long they take to get.

Stooperdale.3560:

The last few updates include more grind for account bound crafting components such as empyreal and dragonite. That’s loot that can’t be bought from the trading post. If that’s what you’re wanting then there will unfortunately be more of that to come.

Ascended gear still costs money to craft though. Going from 400-500 level crafting costs 180g in crafting materials. So again… more “gold is the only thing that matters” mentality.

CreativeAnarchy.6324:

I have never liked RNG.

I would much rather be able to craft or buy stuff that I want. I don’t mind dungeon tokens because you can figure out how many runs you need to get what you want from that selection.

This was along the lines of what I was thinking. Maybe Karma could be traded for unique skins too.

CreativeAnarchy.6324:

If we are going to farm for something that is RNG, the person may or may not get what they want in a reasonable amount of time. Doing a quest the first time is fun, maybe a few times after, not after I’ve done it 10 times and all I want is that stupid item that I may get the next run or may take another 100+ runs.

Items that can be bought and sold on the TP have their drop rates balanced around that concept. My vision is to loot a “gift box” you can exchange for the skin you want, and the drop rates would be tuned so that it takes about 6 weeks to get complete the armor set you want.
An alternative way of doing it would be to make the skins bought with Karma. That would eliminate the RNG aspect.

Hannelore.8153:

Gold being useable for everything is one of the positive aspects of this game. Its what mostly keeps it from benefiting only gemstore users, because even gemstore items can be bought with gold, and the trading post keeps gold having real value, so it is not simply forgotten like the main currency in some other games. In fact, I would say that Soulbound and Account bound are more of a poison than anything.

Oh, I agree about its positive aspects. I’m not suggesting removing the emphasis of gold. I’m simply suggesting adding some rewards that are not linked to gold. When almost every reward in the game can be purchased with gold you farmed from champions, world-bosses, or dungeons it creates a mentality in PvE where farming gold is the only thing that matters.

Warrior does well in every game mode. Other classes are good at certain things, but no class excels in every game mode like Warrior does.

Thanks for sharing, Konig. Personally, I’m not a fan of the “Sylvari are linked to Mordremoth” theories, but we will have to wait and see to learn the truth.

I have a question: If your theory is true, does it have any impact on the theory that Husks are used to power Chaos Reactors, like Thaumanova and the Infinity Coil?

A lot of PvE players in Guild wars 2 feel like the only thing that matters is Gold. Gold can be traded in the gem shop for transmutation crystals and new skins. You need Gold to level crafting to get ascended gear, etc.

My solution to this problem is to add more Soulbound/Account-bound rewards that cannot be bought on TP with gold. (a.ka. they are RNG drops).

Of course, we already have Soulbound/Account-Bound rewards in the form of Dungeon Armor, Mystic-Forge crafts, and Cultural armor.

• The problem with Cultural Armor is that it is bought with Gold (more of the “gold is the only thing that matters” mentality).

• The problem with Dungeon Armor and Mystic-Forge crafts is the time-frame it takes to get these items. When the game launched it might have taken a while to get a dungeon armor-set, but now that everyone knows the dungeons you can get dungeon armor in about two weeks.

• Mystic Forge gear, on the other hand, takes too long to get. If I played 2-3 hours a day it would take me 4-6 weeks to make the money to craft a skin in the mystic forge (and it’s more of the “gold is the only thing that matters” mentality").

My solution is to add new Soulbound/Account-bound rewards that take an “in-between” time to get. I was thinking maybe new Cultural or Class-based skins that are traded for “gift-boxes” that drop from specific events or types of content (like dungeons, fractals, or even daily activities).

This could be a method to filter people a way from gold farming by giving them a goal they cannot buy with gold. We wouldn’t feel like we have to solely focus on gold in order to progress our characters.

I was thinking maybe they could add a new armor set for each Class, and two new Cutural sets for each armor class. Once you loot a “gift box” you could take it to your race’s home-city and trade it for the skin you want.
It would take 4-6 weeks to complete a set, but it wouldn’t seems as long as a Mystic Forge skin because you’re getting it in pieces rather than all at once.

EDIT: In retrospect, this whole write up now seems pointless because this is essentially what Karma could be. Too bad they don’t have more cool things to purchase with it. And generally, things that get you Gold also earn Karma so you still have the “Gold = Everything” problem.

Like or Dislike? What’s your solution to this problem?

Personally, I would like to see more support in the form of CC in PvE. It would be nice if certain bosses were vulnerable to certain types of CC.

Why don’t you list his criticisms in bullet points and edit your thread title? You might get more replies, instead of making us watch a 10-minute video.

Yes. End-game = Gold.

Gold can be converted to Gems, and Gems can be converted to Gold. You need Transmutation Crystals to customize your characters cosmetics. You can also convert Gold to Gems to buy the unique skins they add with each patch. So yes:

Gem-Store = an extension of End-Game.

I imagined the “ley-lines” as continuous lines that circled the entire planet —not as segmented lines that stop and changed direction. We know both the Thaumanova reactor and Orr are built on top of crisscrossing ley-lines.

EDIT: OP’s map is incomplete. Here is all known locations in case anyone cares.

Ping.5739:

Leveling is totally useless imo. People who seek lore will discover them no matter questing exist or not. People who desire end-game will rush through low level content. So what is the point of leveling? To force player spend more time in game.

I don’t know… Leveling was some of my best experiences in GW2. It only really got to be a drag around level 70. But now that I am at end-game I just want to get alts to 80 as fast as possible.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

This would be horrible. You basically want to not have to play the game.
The game is not equal to the end game, it encompasses everything that happens before. They aren’t going to let you bypass all of that really good content just because you are so ridiculously lazy that you can’t fathom taking a couple of days to level a character up to 80 and actually be a part of the game world…

You’re still a part of the world at level 80 because you’re down-scaled to the level of the zone. You just have access to all zones and can kill things faster because of better gear.