Guild Wars 2

Dusty Moon.4382:

Why do people need a carrot? I play games for fun. If you need constant rewards, then playing games isn’t for you…

This exactly.^^

I’d prefer no mounts for sure, it makes the game a little more unique. Also, consider how a mailbox or vendor looks like in most online rpg games, ten thousand immersion breaking undead flaming sparkle dragons in a tiny space. :P

Nope, I don’t have all the skins. I have 6 points currently, which unlocks all pieces of the heritage sets. I’ve discovered (if a bit late!) a game that I also really like, I’m not playing it for the skins but for the fun of it. I see it as a nice bonus, that progressing in GW1 also gets me shinies in GW2! I didn’t put any “effort” in to get those heritage pieces unlocked, just normal gameplay and I’m currently halfway in the Factions expansion, having finished Prophecies before that.

Phantasmal.5631:

I would love to have “The Fabulous” title if there ever is one. That would be AMAZING!!

Hahaha yes! As an avid fashion collector, I’d say that would be brilliant! :P

But even if it wouldn’t incorporate a title or extra points, I’d like to see how many I collected after hitting the 1000 mark.

I think the home instances are very atmospheric looking and it would be cool to be able to customize them further. The personal story already did some things with that (such as the refugees, dependant on which race you chose to aid) and it would be nice to see some more things like that in the future. Currently, a Slayer achievement gives some points. But what if Boarslayer gave you like, a boar head to hang on the wall somewhere? I think such a feature is definitely something that makes players want to do achievements to collect certain things out in the world. It also fits very well with the cosmetic-based endgame concept of GW2, where people can “show off” their characters’ accomplishments with more than an abstract points value. Also, I think that additions like this are very liked by roleplayers, who are generally the most appreciative about the small details of the world and setting.

Yep, you’ll even get a great game bundled totally free with your skins. :-D

Yeah, the thing already exists and looks great, so just stuff it in somewhere.
I don’t really mind if it’s obtained from PvE or PvP, as long as I can reasonably earn it.

I always find the joy of exploration and discovery in the actual exploration itself, not in the potential rewards. Though I think it would be a really cool idea, to do something more with the hidden chest concept from Dry Top. Hide things like those throughout the entire world! Maybe it’s a psychological thing, finding a chest is cool but finding a -locked- one is way cooler!

I would like to hide them as well, or at least have that circlet skin restored.

My main Guardian wielded a Krytan sword skin since like Queensdale 2012 or so. :P
I prefer more regular (but still finely crafted) ones as well, such as indeed the Krytan Sword, the Rinblade from the Aureate set, the Ascalonian Catacombs sword, the Honour of Humanity, and even the regular crafted swords. While I think that a lot of sword designs look quite nice, I would definitely appreciate some more pretty-but-not-flashy Krytan-like weapon designs.

SnowHawk.3615:

ELONAAA Cantha is great and all- but gimme Elona.

Those are neat.

Agreed!

Though I’d love to see a Ritualist outfit for my faux-ritualist-necromancer. I’ve made her quite a nice Ritualist-looking set, but nothing beats the Luxon one.^^

Cameirus.8407:

Why take a good skin and make it like that on female characters? are you artists juvenile sexually charged teenagers that all women costumes need to flash as much skin as possible?

Hahaha flash skin? It’s just a little leg and a little cleavage! For all I know, showing skin stopped being the ehm .. unholy tool of the devil’s temptation a long looooong time ago.

By the way, the male costume has .. bare arms! Yes, quite shocking. :P

True, most of the stuff becomes available at level 80 – if you see players around your level with unique looking sets, they likely unlocked it on another character.

Though don’t despair: check out the Cultural Tier 2 vendor when you reach level 60, it features a great looking heavy armour set, very Guardian-like. In your wardrobe, it’s called Avenger. The armour is of rare quality, so it’ll last you some time as well. Plus you’ll unlock its appearance in the wardrobe! :-)
The total set costs about 8 gold, I remember it was a fortune when I started, but I think it’s more affordable these days, at your level.

I actually think your current set looks quite nice (if you match the scale colours), flashy isn’t always better!

As far as I’ve seen, feathers and wings in general are a popular motif amongst GW humans. For example, take a look at the cultural T2 medium armour, it has a coat shaped like feathers. The heavy T2 includes wing- and feather-shaped decorations, the T3 as well. The coat from Caudecus manor includes a wing motif on the back. The Queen’s Pavillion is shaped like a bird, its wings enveloping the arena itself. The many references to wings and feathers are likely due to the depiction of Dwayna as being winged. There are many more instances of feather decorations on humans throughout the game, it’s quite a common theme though I’m not gonna list them all. :P

And well .. at the moment I couldn’t care less what a Tengu would think .. they shot me in the Lion’s Arch battle!

Dull? Absolutely not! I don’t feel like I “level” in this game, I wander around, run into things and explore! It hasn’t gotten stale to me in the slightest, and I have a looooot of alts. :-P

Both of my Norn warriors almost exclusively use the bear form elite skill, it might not be “optimal meta omg” but it’s surely awesome! I’d gladly sacrifice those precious extra seconds/minutes/years it takes me to kill stuff, to play builds that I enjoy thematically.

Yep, it will probably come back. I think it’s silly to have them available only periodically, if I don’t have a character that’s perfect for the weapon I won’t buy it anyway.

When Kasmeer’s staff came out I really liked the look of the weapon, but it didn’t fit my Norn mesmer (with shamanic look) at all, so I let it pass. Since then I’ve also rolled a human mesmer, for whom it would be a good fit, but now it’s not available, pffft! I would way prefer everything (except maybe seasonal stuff, but on the other hand hey, why not) to be available all the time, rush offer strategies don’t affect me. :P

Aethelbert.1497:

Gaebriel.3754:

Though which characters in the living world are inappropriately dressed? Braham is basically dressed in furs, like a proper Norn. Kasmeer’s outfit looks elegant and alluring, very appropriate for a mesmer I think. Marjory sports somewhat of a trenchcoat/long skirt, also appropriate for her investigator role. None of them are on fire or covered in skulls and spikes – well, Braham’s shoulder armour kind of does, but then again he’s a Norn so it fits.

Let me give you an axample of classic mesmer design. Check the pic related. This is waht mesmers used to look like. It’s clothes, not parrot-dress, which Kasmeer wears.

On a side note, if Marjory had no feathers on her coat and gloves, it would have looked ten times better.

To determine if armor set is good or bad you can ask one simple question: would you wear such a thing if you were them?

Yep I know the classic Mesmer designs. It’s not what they “used to look like” though, you can make a variety of similiarly styled outfits in GW2. Though I don’t see what’s off about the feathery theme of Kasmeer’s dress, it looks elegant and suits the GW style, it’s not over the top either. There are several sets with a feathery theme in the game, for all we know they might be a popular fashion accessory in Tyria.

I think that the majority of the weapons and armour designs never even go close to “obnoxious flaming raid weapon with 100 skulls and spikes” territory. Sure, “impractical IRL” is kind of a staple of the fantasy genre, but I think that especially compared to some other fantasy RPG’s, GW’s more otherworldly designs are usually very tastefully done. Plenty of more realistic looking armours too, for example check out the various lower level chain mail sets.

I disagree on the overtly cute character designs (with the exception of a handful of faces), I mean sure you can make your character look like pretty dolls, but that’s just one of the options available to the player. I mean personally I dislike pink princess characters as well, I prefer to make my own more serious and fitting with lore – I’ve never felt restricted in my options in doing so.

Though which characters in the living world are inappropriately dressed? Braham is basically dressed in furs, like a proper Norn. Kasmeer’s outfit looks elegant and alluring, very appropriate for a mesmer I think. Marjory sports somewhat of a trenchcoat/long skirt, also appropriate for her investigator role. None of them are on fire or covered in skulls and spikes – well, Braham’s shoulder armour kind of does, but then again he’s a Norn so it fits.

This game has only very few armour sets that I find truly hideous and on par with “raid sets” in some other MMO RPG’s, and that’s that .. Sorrow’s Embrace set, and to a lesser extent the Citadel of Flame set. But then again, I’ve also seen 1-2 pieces from those sets used in very nice armour combo’s.

The Kodan silly? No way, they’re one of my favourite non-playable races in the setting! I think they look awesome, and I mean .. they’re armoured philosophical polar bears! <3

I give all my characters appropriate names and back stories to fit with the lore, that’s half of the fun of creating a character! Those backstories don’t always follow the personal story, since that’s of course the same for every player.

With profession/race combinations, well I think every race can easily justify every profession.

Wait, I remember two Quaggans in one of the human zones discussing that they wanted to/had to travel to/through Kessex Hills, fearful that some of the toxicity still lingered, or something. I don’t remember if they were those two specific Quaggans, but it was a day or two before E2 came out. I remember the talk clearly, since I really liked it that the living story affected NPC conversations like that!

I’ve seen quite some NPC’s references LS events throughout the zones while leveling alts, really lovely.

I hope we’ll see her again, it was so nice to see a character from my main-alt’s personal story again!

Why is everything that the Asura say automatically the truth? Oh sure they act as if everything they say is the absolute truth and everyone else is dim witted, but such arrogance in ‘scientifical/magitech’ subjects is just an Asura trait, nothing more I think.

Regarding the cutscene, I think that it was assumed to be the Eternal Alchemy because that is exactly what the machine (made by an Asura) supposedly did for Scarlet, according to her journals.

Human cities are full of statues to the Six and Norn lands are full of shrines to the Spirits, no sight of Eternal Alchemy in there. :P

The mention of that locket totally surprised me, its presence just can’t be a coincidence! I think the target might be Jennah. Since with that in mind, that random ‘muahahahaa!’ Scarlet appearance on the Jubilee might have been not so random at all! I love it that this season has made me think ‘hmm wait a minute’ more than once. I’ve always felt that there was some sort of hard to explain mysteriousness over the GW setting, that gives it much of its appeal to me – I’m glad that they finally really started to bring that into the personal story!

Though they’d better not pull a Lion’s Arch on Divinity’s Reach, I think it’s the most beautiful city in any fantasy RPG ever.

I loved that as well! Being tribal in organization, I imagine that centaurs pass down their tales and legends by word rather than script, so this made it seem as if the original teachings were gradually changed over time in exact wording, like .. Chinese whispers (if that’s the correct English term).

Awesome to see a world boss that does Giants justice as being terrifying enemies, also extra mysterious that he only appears in sandstorms!

Belinda hands down, since she was an actual dutiful Seraph who just happened to be Marjory’s sister. Quaggans are okay, but overrated. Drooburt was just some drunk that tried to make you part with your coins. Storywise I’m way more moved by the death of someone who has actively fought for her people’s survival, as opposed to some freeloader amphibian near a shady bar. :P

I like it, it’s a zone specific drop, I wish all zones had thematic skins like this! Reading some of those CDI topics a while ago this was something that I saw requested quite often, including by myself. I much prefer fighting the actual enemies to fighting the merciless TP boss. I think that doing stuff in a certain zone for zone specific skins is way cooler than having everything available to buy (or drop everywhere).

I hope they sneakily expand on this for ‘common’ drops as well, such as the Rinblades etc. dropping from Ascalonian zones, while Krytan stuff only drops in .. Kryta. From my experience stuff like that looks like it actually already has a higher chance to drop in those zones, but it would be cool to see the normal specific skin drops tied exclusively to zones.

But then again the skins don’t suit any of my characters, so I’ll probs just sell the ambrite.^^

I haven’t properly roleplayed in GW2 for ages, such a shame! To my pleasant surprise (I’m from Piken Square), I actually encounter roleplay fairly regularly in the open world while prancing around with my alts. Like many others I think it’s a shame that there’s no RP tag for the megaserver (yet?), but based on what I’m seeing it actually looks wau less bad than I thought.

I think a purchaseable ‘second hair slot’ would be nice. A bit like that third profession choice from the gem store. Then you could choose between two styles just like you would disable your helm or shoulders. The slot would give you the selection of a standard hairstyle with the purchase, able to be changed into exclusive ones with kits as normal. That would also potentially solve some clipping issues with certain hairstyle/shoulder armour combinations, since if your hair is getting entangled, simply put it up in a ponytail!

I admit that this is an elaborate justification for my newfound ‘argh that new hairstyle looks excellent on my elementalist but juuust a little bit less good than my current one’ first world problem.

Anyways, if that option existed, I would absolutely buy that and a few kits as well. :P

People actually look at others’ achievement points to decide if they’re ‘worthy’ for a dungeon run? Wow. Now I must say that I’m absolutely inexperienced with the dungeon finder since I mostly only do dungeons with friends, but what you describe is quite a ridiculous behaviour.

If you colour that hair/thing red or orange, the wielder of that grande coiffure would make a terrifying fire elementalist! :P

Heaven forbid that I would play any class that doesn’t have the optimal theoretical damage numbers, wearing gear that doesn’t have the optimal damage numbers. Obviously survivability or support is not needed ever, since if I were adequate/sufficient/optimal/pro I wouldn’t ever get hit even in my training-wheels-for-true-omgdps gear. Gasp, I might even kill an enemy in 10 instead of 15 seconds, or run a dungeon in 15 instead of 20 minutes! Please note that the times I give here are purely fictional, I realize well that professional players are several nanoseconds faster than that! On the plus side, I have a rather fantastic meta wardrobe and dye collection.

Maybe I have a supreme tolerance for soppy romance, since I don’t find Kas and Jory annoying or drawn out in the slightest. For me, the weakest character from the companions is Braham. Admittedly that’s mostly because he’s young and has a weird emo hairstyle. If we have a Norn with us, I’d rather have a gruff stereotypical one with a beard that turns into a bear at frequent intervals!

Nothing but love for this update! Slowly uncovering the Dry Top map really feels like the adventure aspect that the living story was missing. The difference in story delivery between S1 and S2 is really night and day, well done. I loved all the GW1 references I saw so far, especially the vine bridges (including the garden with the seeds), the book by Nicholas and the centaurs. And this season I’m actually continually curious what happens next! <3

I wouldn’t mind some more GW1 armour conversions! Also, nostalgia sells (though I can’t really say that in this case, since it was GW2 that inspired me to check out GW1). :P
Especially the Ritualist set with the coloured beads, and the Elementalist set with the translucent parts.

Haha, actually I wouldn’t mind if they took out almost all the waypoints! With the reasonable exception of 1-2 in every zone as well as 1 at each dungeon entrance. While waypoints are convenient, for me this game really shines with the gorgeous landscapes which just invite traveling and discovery. Though then again, just like me you can achieve that already, by using them really sparsely.

Nicely done, looks very regal.

Here’s my glorious human Guardian in two different armour sets.

My human Guardian in two of his armour sets.

Ascended gear is super optional, in fact I just crafted my ascended greatsword about .. a year after its introduction. Funnier yet, I crafted it with a stat set that’s not useful in my build, just because the colour suits my character better! My plan was to transmute it over an exotic greatsword with useful stats for my build (though with the new wardrobe system destroying the ascended weapon in the process wasn’t necessary anymore)! As a player since the start, that’s how much importance I give to the marginal ascended stats increase, I only craft it for the fashion! I think the ‘treadmill’ mostly exists in people’s heads. :P

I think there’s plenty of choice to make either revealing or covered outfits. Actually I don’t consider half of the outfits listed in the skimpy category above, as being truly skimpy. I mean sure, the Winged or Sorcerer set definitely are, but showing a bit of cleavage or leg on a light armour here and there really isn’t super revealing in my book. Though more styles in both ways are always welcome

I quite like him, a solid character despite the sliiightly over referenced (by players) running away joke, he portrays his role of Seraph captain well in the PS and he’s never gimmicky or annoying. I hope he makes a cameo appearance again in this living story, like .. coming in with the Seraph reinforcements from Fort Salma!

There’s just something about the Seraph in general that I really like, I really enjoyed it when the storyline took us near Divinity’s Reach and they made an appearance in the Kessex Hills episode from S1, and again at the start of the Dry Top S2. :-D

Actually, I would like it if they could redeem the character in some way with their much much improved story writing these days. Now I disliked Trahearne as much as a lot of players, but he didn’t steal the player character’s victory over Zhaitan.

Sure he was an annoying know it all, with a deus ex machina for everything. He knew everyone, rallied everyone and everything he did in the past was super super important. He was shy, insecure and introverted one moment, and super charismatic (well at least in the minds of everyone except us!) warrior leader the next, like an anime character. He had the voice of a sleepy librarian with the power of He-Man and Merlin combined.

But what if the improved writing manages to take the cool things about the character (mysterious firstborn sylvari with a quest to restore a corrupted land not his own) and makes him come across better, what if they make him step down from his position of Pact leader after achieving his Orr quest and return as a scholar and advisor instead, a role that would be so much more suited to his voice and character? If they did something like that, I might even like him in the end, depending on the writing quality. I’m sure they have noticed the huuuuge amount of negative feedback Trahearne has gotten since GW2 release, so redeeming the character at least a little by virtue of improved writing and storytelling would be an excellent move.

I don’t think it does. I’ve hit 80 on my first (main) character back in .. late 2012 or so, and it certainly didn’t get stale for me. Since then he has progressed in other things than numbers, I’ve come up with different builds with different armour sets and of course hunted down specific items for different looks. I really like it that once you hit max level, you can craft your end level gear right away. True you can go for ascended after that, but the stat difference is fairly minor when compared to say, the fine/masterwork/rare/exotic numbers. While I would love individual ‘trials’ for skill lines as described above to test my mastery of a profession, I think that such things should not feel mandatory to ‘finish’ a character. Titles or skins would be a better reward for that.

I think that the overall look of a weapon contributes more to a matching appearance than the exact colour. Even if the colour might not be exactly the same, a weapon using strips of leather, feathers or other such ‘savage’ decorations looks way more appropriate on a Norn than for example a Charr style weapon. I don’t know what kind of weapons you’re using, but for example a Bandit Demolisher (my example here is a hammer, since Norn with huge hammers are awesome) looks excellent.

Actually I think the T2 set (also available on TP, called Norn) looks great with dark brown, since it’s mainly a contrasting silver/steel. But the Norn symbols, feathers and decorations make it fit very well.

You might also like the Godskull weapons, some are nice while others might be a bit too much skull. As mentioned above, some Etched, Bandit and Modniir weapons also look very nice, though then again it depends on which ones you want, since I think some of them look a bit -too- savage.^^ There are also various weapons which look like they’re covered in ice (contrasting, but looks great with dark browns), though I think most of them are high level ones. Hope you find this helpful!

I have a Norn mesmer Raven shaman. I think that makes excellent sense, since Raven symbolizes trickery and guile.

I agree, those shaman sets look fantastic! I’ve been eyeing Gretchen’s bear shaman set since the start of the game. :P I’d love to see all of the currently unused sets available for us to dress up, I mean we have a lot of choices but there’s quite a few models that haven’t been released yet.

I don’t think NPC’s use the same system for dressing up as players – it sounds logical that they should, but I bet there’s more work to converting them than just simply clicking a ‘make available for players’ button. Nonetheless it would be awesome to see more iconic cultural style armours, they should release a Fashion Patch and just give all sets already seen in game! I think the GW setting has about the best looking armour design of all fantasy RPG’s ever, so even if no one might see this request, it’s worth a try.

Because of GW2 I bought GW1 last year, I’m slowly going through the campaigns, at two thirds into Cantha now. Unsurprisingly it has the same kind of style, atmosphere and feeling that I love in GW2, so I guess I love both!

I agree, really great pacing in the new episode!

On a sidenote regarding the (old!) discussion above, I’ll also chime in for the ‘one of many’ crowd. While of course I think it’s nice to be the story hero sometimes (though difficult in a game with lots of players!), I enjoy it way more when my character is one of many (and that’s also how I subtly change it in my head, haha – roleplay habit!). For example, instead of being always best friends with the Order/Pact/something commander, I actually prefer to be ordered around sometimes! To me, that feels way more like being part of something greater. “Go here, do this!” It makes me feel much more immersed into the atmosphere of the world. And I think that within the story, it makes players feel more like ‘brothers/sisters in arms under captain such-and-so’, instead of each being refered to as The Hero. Now GW2 already does this way more elegantly than most MMO RPG’s, but there’s always room for improvement.^^

Also somewhere in this topic I saw someone suggest various ways to address the player. I really like that idea! It could work a bit like titles, where the chosen ‘story nickname’ would be filled in (in the text parts, not necessarily the spoken part) in the place of where ‘the commander’ (or something) would normally be. That would be a nice little customization option that does a lot to enhance immersion. Nicknames could be unlocked depending on story or background choices, or achievements. So for example if you did the Vigil storyline, you would unlock Crusader, Warmaster, etc. Also, often players identify their characters with various organizations from the setting (and dress them up to look like them!). It would be nice if the game could recognize such things. For example, human players could be recognized as being with the Seraph, Ministry Guard and so on. Or perhaps Norn players would find more references to their chosen totem spirit. Yes, I really like such (perhaps unimportant on the larger scale) little things! Anyway, I derailed this way too much, whoops. :P