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Like has been mentioned above, it is very difficult to push patches through on consoles. Microsoft and Sony make that very difficult and expensive. But that’s far from being the only issue.
The market for MMO’s on consoles in small. Games like Final Fantasy XI/XIV and DC Universe Online have brand identities that fit consoles and can get a sustainable player base there, but a game like Guild Wars 2 – as huge as it is – wouldn’t make them any money.
The game would need to be almost rebuilt from the ground up. The task would require an enormous amount of resources that would have to be diverted away from everything they are doing to make the game better.
There are very few people in their target market who own a PS or XBox but no PC, so porting wouldn’t even expand the player base. The best they could hope for would be for a few players to install on an additional device.
Since they charge for account activation – not copy or device access – players wouldn’t be paying them a dime for this little boon. Not only would it not get them a profit, or cover costs, but it wouldn’t even make them a penny. They would be spending all that hard-earned money for the fun of it.
I would love to have the option of playing GW2 on a console as well, but it would only waste resources and shift a handful of existing players over to a system that can’t be reliably patched. Sorry, but as a business decision, it is a guaranteed loss. A very, very substantial loss.
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There are actually 5 chests in Queensdale that aren’t jumping puzzle related. Each can drop up to 4 shards and can be obtained daily by each of your toons. The run takes about 5 minutes to do with each character. It’s an effective farm.
Thanks for the video post. I got 18 fragments on my mesmer and 14 fragments on my thief . I just wish I had more high level characters to do this with.
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When making a point, it is preferable to edit out any generalizations. Experience of the game is very subjective. The way you see a particular mechanic isn’t necessarily the way it is, or even the way most others see it. Your view is still valid, but it carries much more weight when presented as the personal experience it is, rather than bluffed in as a generalization.
Also remember that the development teams have people working full time just collecting and analyzing hard data about every category of thing that happens in the game. They know the overall scope of things much better than you can guess, but what they don’t know are the details of your specific, personal experience relating to how they carry out their ideas.
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1) You don’t need to beat him to get rewards. There are multiple tiers of rewards based on how low his health gets.
2) All your boss are belong to ANet.
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“To stop this rampaging beast, you’ll join forces with old friends and new allies in a desperate battle where failure is a very real option.”
This strongly implies that it will be worked into the Living Story, with lore and dialogue and whole shebang. I expect we’ll see Braham and Rox, at the very least.
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I remember the first time I ran into the Fire Elemental, shortly after launch. Dead players were everywhere. Stopping in one place to res someone was suicide. Summoned mobs were literally swarming over the place, and the ground was littered with so many red AoE rings, you could barely get across the bridge to even approach the ele’s chamber.
It was a beast, and it was glorious.
Yes, some of the details were badly handled, but the shared feeling of astonished and utter defeat made me feel more connected to the players around me than any conversation in guild chat will ever accomplish.
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I agree that Ice Skale is not the most attractive venom, but there’s nothing stealthy about lighting someone on fire.
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@Merendel If the goal was to almost instantly bring everyone to the same Magic Find level and have them abandon salvaging low gear for Essences after a very short period, (being the longest period players will put up with low MF), the solution would be to make that higher level the default and not create Essences at all.
Making them temporary achieves the goals that Essences were created for both immediately and in the long term.
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I assume they will have a duration, but a longer one, (e.g. 24hrs). This allows players to jump right into having a fair MF rate, and maintain it as they play. Important: this keeps the economy stable.
If they are permanent, we will see an unceasing inflation in MF as the game ages, with likely a zero-value start point. I doubt they want everyone’s MF to be minuscule for the first few months, forcing them to wait and grind to get back to where they were. I don’t even want to think about what this fluctuation would do to the Black Lion.
Eventually, permanency would either make MF too high, or – in the case of a cap or diminishing returns – make Essences of Luck useless and undesirable.
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There is always a hidden mastermind another layer up. That’s the nature of GW1, and I see it finally making a return. At first, you fought the charr. Then found out they were controlled by the flame shamans. Who were duped by false gods. Who were being manipulated by x. Which was a pawn of y. Who were then revealed to be z, working for ohgodsmakeitstop
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Scarlet is Trahearne’s sister.
Well, yes. All sylvari are siblings.
(Unless she’s from a different Tree, which is unlikely.)
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The presentation of her background bothers me, but the character can be salvaged. Assuming she has been insane for a while, I think the odds are heavily against her having complied with the Colleges’ rules to graduate legitimately.
As for her having “studied” with the other races, we have no idea what that means. Rumors have a way of blowing things out of proportion, so I’m going to ignore this part until/unless we hear more about it.
She has been hinted at since Flame & Frost, but is so far detached from the players’ experiences that she has been irrelevant. This is the biggest problem.
Players could have met her early on as a slightly broken but non-evil savant of interest, watched the emerging Aetherblades make promises to her that they couldn’t keep, followed her as she pushed herself through experiments to expand her capabilities, rescued College heads she kidnapped when they wouldn’t give her degrees in subjects she barely understood, stood by masters from all the races as she challenged them one-by-one and was beaten.
We could have come to care for her, and been saddened whenever a new crack appeared in the facade of her sanity as she was pushed further and further by the Aetherblade Admirals who kept making more and more promises.
It could have been SO MUCH STORY, and all we got was a maniacal laugh.
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You may need to talk to Vorpp’s projection in the Pavilion, not Vorpp himself.
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Hmm. I’ve just started having a problem where I have to hold the right-click for 2-3s before it lets me turn the camera. Very aggravating.
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If you’re sub-80, just pop some experience boosters and run around with the mob in the Pavilion pits for a few hours. You’ll be amazed how quickly you rise up! Just be careful to equip any loot that’s viable, as your equipment will rapidly become outdated as you fight.
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I’m hoping it functions similar to the mesmer portal. Dependency on mesmers for transport is a problem the devs are aware of, and this could be a great fix.
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I’m praying PowerPrecisionHealing, but knowing ANET it will probably be something stupid again like VitalityConditionMagicfind.
They’re getting rid of Magic Find as a gear stat by the end of this year, so keep your chin up!
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The late Captain Ashford was human. Sorry.
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There have always been grawl refugees in LA. They were there before the events in Flame and Frost and those in South Sun. I remember seeing them back in October and wondering why they were there and talking to them hoping they’d say something interesting. They never did. The grawl leader saying they weren’t going was probably added to draw the line and not confuse them with the other refugees. As I recall from F&F the only races affected by the Molten Alliance were the norn and charr.
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Agreed, the GW1 undead were the result of ambient necromancy, more connected to Grenth than Zhaitan. However, they were abundant in swamplands, as the modern risen notably are. Possibly, the existing undead forces were usurped by Zhaitan during his initial rise, not replaced.
Regarding the next arc, I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one Elder Dragon gets attention. It would be interesting to see whether the ED’s view each other as partners or competition. Regardless, I would expect this to be a gradual extension of the Personal Story, tied in with whatever permanent content – including new territory – is released through the Living Story during that time.
Hopefully, the Personal Story will branch after the creation of the Pact, so new characters don’t have to push all the way through Arrah before approaching the minions of Jormag, Kralk, Primordus, or Bubbles.
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It is the same effect happening when you flip a coin 10 times and get only tails. It is statistically normal (albeit not common), but people expect 5 tails/5 heads from any sample, because the odds are 50/50. Statistics don’t work like that.
(tangent): I knew someone who claimed coins aren’t balanced, almost always come up heads, and proceeded to demonstrate it, getting heads 90%. He honestly believed it was the nature of coins, and everyone else was just wrong. After watching his hands, I told him to start the coin off on the other face. Suddenly it was tails 90%. The amazement in his eyes was priceless.
There was no mathematical oddity at work: he just had high dexterity leading to a really consistent flip, and subconsciously always held the coin with the same face up. (end tangent)
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I don’t understand why they can’t slowly increase your odds based on how many hundreds or thousands of coffers you’ve opened without getting a ticket. Once you get your first ticket, the variable would reset and never rise again, leaving you with the rate we have now for all tickets after the first.
That could make it a lot less likely for people to get screwed when they actually put in the resources and effort, while not making tickets common enough to ruin their being special.
So far I’ve opened 5k+, with a lot of gold and time that could have been put to better use. The idea that I could be doing all this work for nothing is sickening.
I just feel…defeated.
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If they’re going to increase counters to blocking, I would like to see our block recharge times cut down whenever the block is broken.
They also mentioned that they are looking into more ways for us to spend adrenaline. Some form of adrenaline-based block, or burning adrenaline as backup endurance for dodging, would be amazing.
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May or may not be intentional. Generally, only piercing attacks should pass through objects.
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As if quick-fire muskets aren’t ridiculous enough. I’ll give my vote to crossbows and their insane firepower, IF every bolt you fire puts the whole weapon on a 20s cooldown.
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Frack yes. Omitting this makes no sense.
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Recognizability can still be maintained. Color is only one factor out of many that make a profession identifiable. Outside the mesmer, necro, and guardian, professions only color-code a slim minority of their skills in the first place.
I like the idea of putting themes in the gem shop. They could also be temporary, like the finisher themes.
Sadly, the only current way to personalize your skills is with a legendary weapon, which most players will never acquire.
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Having an alternate theme for some professions’ skills could add a lot of variety to the game, giving people a better way to associate with their characters.
For example: mesmers could switch to a theme of darkened effects with bats replacing butterflies; necromancer minions and skills could be ghostly instead of fleshy; engineer devices could look like asuran tech instead charr/human; and gender dimorphism for animals could enrich the ranger experience.
(On a general note, even letting characters be left-handed could be a fun touch.)
Any other theme options come to mind for your favorite class?
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The signet-like F1-3 skills, along with everything else, basically make this a light-armor guardian.
I miss the ritualist too, but there is there is no room for them in GW2. The best deal – as I see it – would be for an expansion to add a few ghostly summons and some other rit-like abilities to the necromancer, making them a true master of the dead: body and soul. This would be more than enough for me.
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My asuran characters often have problems with their ears not dropping down for periods of time. It looks like reverse gravity; they point straight up toward the sky, even as I run around.
Does anyone else have this problem?
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I’m on the side that thinks the new look is an adorable improvement.
Aside from aesthetics, though: the simple orb didn’t have much of an attack animation, and that can be a problem with gameplay. Now you can actually time the attacks out for dodging and other actions, putting them in balance with the other elementals.
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Can something done about how the flame and bottle profession icons for Elementalists and Engineers look so much alike? Even with good eyesight, I need to look closely to see which is which.
Perhaps a wrench for the Engineer?
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I’ve started working on a system of my own as a creative exercise. I want to include the essence of GW gameplay, which means drifting far, far away from D&D. The original GW game was based more heavily on MtG than D&D for functionality, so it’s going to take a lot of work. It’ll be fun, though.
As for the setting, I think picking a time between the two games would fit best. It lets you include pieces from either game, blending them together in a story about the world’s transition. To me, that sounds exciting!
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And yet a berserker shatter build will do what your gimmick confusion does, but consistently, with more damage, and it doesn’t rely on fast attacking opponents or gimping your other attacks by stacking condi damage and condi duration on a profession that does no good condition damage compared to actual condition classes.
Who implied that you would rely on it as a primary function? Confusion is unavoidably integrated into the class at multiple levels, and making good use of it is just part of being an effective mesmer, regardless of build. Where do you think most of your shatter damage comes from?
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Did I mention that confusion is an absolute joke? No, I didn’t. Confusion is an absolute joke.
With high Condition Damage/Duration and some well-practiced timing, Confusion can be one of the most damaging tools in the mesmer kit. It has the highest DPS of any condition in the game, but requires genuine skill to use properly. Combine it with Retaliation and your enemies practically commit suicide.
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That only applies for combat, of course. I would like to see Signet of Inspiration’s passive split two ways: In combat, it grants the current random boons; out of combat, it alternates between swiftness and aegis.
K, so I can start sending my clones to activate vistas and unlock waypoints? Or do I still have to run there?
Classes should be equal as explorers. Keep reading to the bottom part of my post, (cropped above).
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I’m not sure a mantra is right for swiftness. The advantage to mantras is the multiple instant casts for emergencies, and swiftness just isn’t an emergency boon.
But if you must, perhaps just build it into Mantra of Resolve: If the skill does not remove any conditions, you get a few seconds of swiftness.
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Having targetting drop every time a mesmer dodges would be infuriating, but a random chance to switch targetting to the clone – that I could handle.
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Regarding swiftness: I do not believe mesmers are supposed to be good at running. Every class has their strengths and weaknesses, and of course: theme. Sprinting around like a sweaty non-clone is neither baffling to opponents nor stylish to potential admirers. Our weapon-based teleports are reliable, utility teleports are good in a pinch, and we have clones and stealth to reduce the need for performing public scenes of leggy exertion when in the heat of it. For a mesmer, it is not so much about where you are, as it is about where you appear to be.
That only applies for combat, of course. I would like to see Signet of Inspiration’s passive split two ways: In combat, it grants the current random boons; out of combat, it alternates between swiftness and aegis.
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I would go for Mantra of Immortality: grants brief Distortion and extended Protection and Regeneration.
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I think the “early Spanish influences” comment refers to Spanish-Moorish blending, and could also entail cultural bits such as clothing style.
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Tengu are where it’s at for me. Honorable, efficient, cool-looking. I can’t wait to see what’s in their secretive homeland west of LA.
The kodan have a neat culture, but I just don’t see them as adventurers.
The skritt are fun and adventurous, (and have cities), but I don’t think they can use magic. I certainly can’t picture a skritt joining the Priory or having important dialogues with Trahearne!
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That being said, this is currently the biggest thread on the Mesmer front page. Any sort of dev acknowledgement of what’s going on would be appreciated.
VERY IMPORTANT: If you believe this to be a bug, file a bug report!
Look up a few posts on this page to Drunken Mad King’s post and you’ll see a quote about what’s going on…
Thanks, I didn’t see that.
Anyway, it sounds like the high damage we saw before was the bug, and the current value is closer to their intentions, so I’m curious why he would say that they are going to bring the damage back up, (and how much?).
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That being said, this is currently the biggest thread on the Mesmer front page. Any sort of dev acknowledgement of what’s going on would be appreciated.
VERY IMPORTANT: If you believe this to be a bug, file a bug report!
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(edited by Gulesave.5073)
Through the history of the Guild Wars franchise, there have been myriad Builds of the Moment. (55 Monk, anyone?) They are usually minor exploits that use an unbalanced combination of skills, and then they get balanced so people try other builds. Nerfs happen, and so do bugs. If they respond nicely to your complaining and give you your build back, (note: this is rare), then hooray for you: you don’t have to adapt or learn anything new, or be balanced with the rest of the players.
No other builds besides this one? Rather, try ANY. Conditions, shattering – these are still popular, but also not your only options. The mesmer does well at balancing boon application with conditions, and the whole point of clones and teleports is to keep your opponents on their toes. Mantras let you respond quickly to attacks, conditions, and control effects. Mix things up. It’s only useless if you’re not using it right.
Have fun playing around with unique builds. Develop a broader skill base as a player. Find the NEXT BotM if you want to. Or quit; the rest of us won’t miss your bully-when-up/whiner-when-down mentality.
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