Guild Wars 2

I forgot to ask or suggest this – I don’t know if it has been asked before – but can we please, please get a no animation mode for legendary armor?

The heavy set looks half decent in “out of combat” mode – but once you go in the combat mode state and those horns grow on the helm it just kills it for me.

How hard would it be for them to implement a toggle that says “Disable transformation” for the legendary armor?

Wouldn’t this be a massive QOL improvement?

Same here – I dislike it.
I would have liked to join him in his quest.

phys.7689:

Harper.4173:

So I finally made the armor – Heavy Legendary on a human male.
I have to say – seeing the screenshots I wasn’t expecting much but the actual armor – in game – is breathtakingly disappointing. It took me less than one minute to realize I want to reskin over it. It’s that bad.

The animation looks “cool” but turns something that’s a bit flashy and over the top ( but workable) into something horrendous. The protrusions that come off the helm make me look like a ridiculous beetle. The shoulder pads floating around don’t help either.
I’d comment on the rest of it but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

I made it because I had already invested SO much into it – i had almost everything good to go with the rest of it costing me around 100-200 gold today to make. I don’t regret spending the money as I feel it has some prestige associated with it but…I regret the hope and hype.

It was supposed to be good and it isn’t. It looks like a mess – and it becomes an even bigger mess once it goes into its combat form.
I could and maybe would wear the non-transformed style for a while. However the “combat mode” is insufferable.

It’s really really sad – that after nearly 4 years of GW2 the best human heavy armor set remains the cultural T3 armor, followed closely by Phalanx Heavy ( a gemstore set).

I weep for the future of SkinWars 2 if this is the “best” and “most prestigious” skin in the game.

maybe you can mix and match some pieces.

I’ve done that to some extent – but the sets don’t flow together as well as you’d like.
There’s an overarching theme to most of them and you can just tell it doesn’t work.
Best I’ve done is the Caudecus Manor heavy helm with the rest of cultural T3 human heavy.

Carighan.6758:

Now that I’ve seen them ingame, there’s one entirely unforgivable thing IMO:

• You again screwed up Charr and Asura.
• No tail flap/hole for Charr.
• No toes for Asura

I mean yeah we get it, the message is clear, play a human-type race. I already deleted two of my characters and remade them as Norn, I do get the message loud and clear.

But could you be just a tiny bit less obvious with the whole “nudge them off the races which are annoying to develop for”? This is legendary armor. This was supposed to be the grand big thing. The epitome of armor.

And yet like 90%+ of them in the game, I can’t even use the shoes it comes with and will be using the same 2-4 skins of all in the game which actually work. Well done. I’m disappointed to a degree I didn’t think possible.

GW2 being multi-racial was a mistake.
They shot themselves in the foot from a development standpoint – having so many character models that you need to make the armor fit and work for means every piece of armor is going to take a LOT more time to make.
And in a skin-driven game – that’s a problem – and a big one at that.

Nikkinella.8254:

Harper.4173:

I take it you don’t really get the state of WvW back then. It was not that easy – but you missed my point entirely. The amount of effort required to get your badges back then was not minuscule. I remember grinding for about two weeks – although I didn’t play WvW only.
The reward system back then was radically different – there were no tracks, you couldn’t “afk” and you only got badges from killing players which was NOT easy considering how big zergs were and how populated WvW was. Not to mention that not all players dropped them. In a large zerg vs zerg fight you were lucky if you dropped around 5.
Did I mention there was no autoloot? so you had to manually pick them up? If you couldn’t – you lost them.

So yeah – I got what I wanted from WvW in about 4-5 hours per day for about two weeks.
A full raid run with a good team will take you 3-4 hours a week. It gives you 13 LIs. You need to do this about 12 times to get your armor. That’s comparable as a time investment in time but not necessarily in skill and dedication – I will admit.

Mate – you don’t get it – it’s about wanting that item – not the rarity. Not the function – that specific item.
If you want something but it’s gated behind content do that content – it’s THAT simple.

You’re telling me that if i wanted THE PVP BACKPIECE I should have done the PVE one? How does that work? Are they the same item with the same skin? You dismiss my argument in an absurd way.
It’s the same as you wanting the legendary armor and me telling you – “just get ascended lel”. it’s not the same thing.
Regardless of “options” if you want something behind gated content – you have to do that content.
Go ahead and complain all you want – if I could I would gladly give you a set of LIs to make your own armor – it’s that bad.

The point being you have the option of having a legendary back from PvE. I guess youre one of those players that cares about the skins. I don’t I just want it for the functionality. WvW should have an option of having legendary armor as well. Give it a different skin so you pvers wont cry about your exclusive skin, i dont care. The point is you have a way of getting a legendary back from pve without ever having to do pvp. WvW and Pvp do not have the option of getting a set of legendary armor without doing pve, and that is not the least bit fair.

And yes, I understand perfectly how wvw was back then. I’ve been playing since beta and have been a wvw player this whole time. Which is why i find your statement utterly ridiculous. It was and still is incredibly easy to get badges. Most wvw players who arent just casual pvers that pop in during reset are sitting on 10s-100s of thousands of badges by now.

All modes deserve their own legendary set. There is a PvE back, if you want that skin, you do pve. There is a pvp back, if you want that skin, you do pvp. But you still have the option of getting a legendary back playing your preferred mode. That option does not exist for legendary armor for those that dont like pve. PvP and WvW deserve a set of legendary armor as well with different skins than the Pve version so everyone can get it in their preferred mode and not be forced to play content they hate.

Honestly – I would love more unique WvW and PvP centered Legendary Armor skins. Maybe if they make more the chances of some of them not being terrible improve.
Yes – the badges are easy now. I don’t see how you can’t recognize they were difficult then.
My point is – at one time there was a non-PvE task to get legendary weapons that was hard – and I did that task without complaining.

All modes deserve their own legendary set.

I agree – on paper that sounds fine – but in reality they give assets to different areas of the game in an unequal manner.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

The mercenary thing is strange, as is the use of non-human forces. As far as I know, this is left unexplained.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Why not just appear in DR and conscript humanity as a whole because he is their god? I honestly am baffled by it too. The only answer I can think of is “he was too weak, and needed to absorb magic from the bloodstone to appear godly in the first place”. He definitely says he’s been weakened by someone.

It’s things like these that make me feel that they’re ruining the lore. For things to make sense they have to have a certain way of progressing – starting from known elements into unknown ones. I’m not saying don’t have any new elements or plot twists but things have to have a sort of logical predictability in order to achieve suspension of disbelief.
I feel things like this really ruin my capacity to become invested in the story because I can’t really take anything at face value and because I can never hope to fully “know” or “grasp” what’s going on. It seems at every turn they decide to pull something out of thin air instead of just setting a narrative frame and then working through it step by step without doing an “anime-like” twist that turns everything 180 degrees every LS episode.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Balthazar’s actions hold nothing on the other gods. In fact, of all the non-fallen gods, Balthazar had been portrayed as the most volatile of gods, what with the story of Kaolai from Factions.
But Balthazar seems to be more apathetic now rather than evil. He seems to be on a personal vendetta and needs power to go through with it, and he sought that power in the form of bloodstone and elder dragon.

I’m looking at this from a meta-point of view. If they could do this with Balthazar – does this mean that they can “rework” any of the gods like this?

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Balthazar’s reveal was definitely done poorly, with everyone immediately taking a historically good guy as a villain immediately. Yes, he lied to the commander, but other than that lie had Balthazar made any attempt to show himself as evil?
No.
Our initial distrust was because he was Lazarus, a mursaat known for betrayal. Knowing that he wasn’t Lazarus just meant he lied to us to gain the White Mantle’s favor for unknown reason, so we had reason to begin trusting him. Instead, the writers just took this as reason to distrust someone who should have been at least somewhat trustworthy.

Exactly – and the way they immediately write it off like “he’s bad we gotta stop him go team” is absurd.
We’re completely ignoring the fact that he spared us when he was initially revealed, that he’s not acted hostile towards us at all until We initiated a hostile action towards him.
I mean we don’t ask him “who’s under the mask” – we rip the mask off his face and then consider him a villan when he defends himself.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Yes and no.
At face value, definitely no. But his dialogue shows that something happened to him. Something that created massive backstage character development.
Until we know what that “something” is, we cannot say if this development stays true to “who Balthazar is”.
The Lazarus and mercenary bit is very much… out of place, all the same.

Fair – I can get on board with the “broad backstory that will get explained later” but I do feel certain elements – mercenaries, Lazarus are really out of place and these elements give me little hope that what’s to come is any good.

Ultimately I find myself sad and disappointed – I love GW1 lore and that in theory should make me go over the roof that GW1 lore is coming back into the fray. In practice though I feel my heart sink – and can’t look forward seeing how everything is twisted and convoluted to make it something else.

I also really dislike how things that were ambiguous and gray in GW1 are now being “dumbed down” and made palatable black and white situations.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In GW1, the lore of the gods definitely did “evoke feelings of awe, terror, and mystery”. GW2 has made them suffer by diminishing them a bit, as making all human history and their gods less significant was ArenaNet’s answer to making the story multi-racial rather than human centric, when what they should have done instead was adapt the other races to give them a different perspective without reducing importance.

Balthazar is one of the more awe and terror invoking gods from GW1 lore, just under Grenth, Dhuum, and Abaddon.

Agreed fully. The six human gods aren’t really properly depicted in GW2.
The GW1 gods felt really powerful and awe inspiring. The GW2 route of making everything human “less” for the sake of “diversity” was a mistake in my opinion.

Baldrick.8967:

It’s basically a set for the people who can spend 3-4 hours in game at a time at least once a week for at least 12 weeks doing raids. And probably on ts too.

For the majority of the people playing the game, it’s just not going to be available. Which is a shame, as being able to switch my armor without having to either collect items and stand at the MF changing ascended (and then wanting to change back ten minutes later….) or craft multiple sets (some of which now cost 500 gold as items are only available in pve) would be of most use to those that frequently change build- wvw players.

But it’s Ok, we’re used to being ignored by Anet now.

At least we know what it looks like now, so it’s brightly painted X on your head if you’re wearing it in wvw. As we know you didn’t earn it there.

I’d happily do a similar collection to making legendaries (just no JPs, please, Anet) for the armor set even if it meant map completion again.

Sorry to burst your bubble but just because not all skins/rewards are aimed at you doesn’t mean something wrong has happened.
Also if you can afford legendary armor you can probably afford a few sets of ascended too – so the switching argument only holds if you really switch a lot.

As far as marking in WvW – I’ve already reskinned over it – as I assume many others have.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

He no longer cared about the humans for some reason.

That’s honestly something upsetting for me.
The whole concept of the gods – being not exactly impartial gods gods but powerful entities that cared enough about the humans to shelter them, transport them through the mists and help them settle and conquer Tyria was what first made their concept so interesting to me.
They were the guys that were “in your corner” so to speak.

“For weeks did the battle rage on, and those who had taken up the mantle of war grew weary and their courage began to falter.
Then did Balthazar, god of war and fire, appear to the soldiers, carrying with him a grand sword that did glow with such brilliance it blinded any who looked upon it. When he spoke, His voice was like thunder, and it shook the ground with force.
Then saith He, “Lift up thy weapons. For you are my soldiers, and must you be steadfast, strong, and brave of heart. They who neither hesitate nor stumble shall be rewarded. Then shall you have glory. Then shall your deeds be remembered for eternity.”
And then did release from His sword a hundred thousand flames, which encircled the soldiers. For this was the fire of courage, and forthwith did they follow the god into battle without fear or hesitation. Thence was the enemy struck down."

Do you feel this current iteration of Balthazar stays true to the original? Does the text describe an entity that would use deception and “mercenaries” for his goals?
I would have accepted him being part of the story – but somehow leading Krytans or humans into the fray – not armies of mercenaries from every race.

Okay – so I don’t really get this. I feel the lore has been changed so radically.

First Balthazar is Lazarus. Alright. I don’t get how some things work though.
He’s the human god of war – and yet he’s raising mercenaries from what I could only tell were all five races. Why?
Couldn’t he more easily just reveal himself and lead the people of Kryta?

On top of that – are the human gods evil now? Have they renounced their patronage of humans? I found it odd that Balthazar would so easily discard human lives (even while posing as Lazarus).

As a human player I felt the immediate need to join Balthazar in his quest – and I can’t because GW2’s story is not complex enough to offer race-based branches and “multicultural” enough that I need to be buddy buddy friends with all the other races.
Normally I’d be happy to see such a huge part of GW1 come back to the forefront of the game’s lore but with the way things have been handled recently I have many reasons to fear they’ll just ruin established lore more.

I take it you don’t really get the state of WvW back then. It was not that easy – but you missed my point entirely. The amount of effort required to get your badges back then was not minuscule. I remember grinding for about two weeks – although I didn’t play WvW only.
The reward system back then was radically different – there were no tracks, you couldn’t “afk” and you only got badges from killing players which was NOT easy considering how big zergs were and how populated WvW was. Not to mention that not all players dropped them. In a large zerg vs zerg fight you were lucky if you dropped around 5.
Did I mention there was no autoloot? so you had to manually pick them up? If you couldn’t – you lost them.

So yeah – I got what I wanted from WvW in about 4-5 hours per day for about two weeks.
A full raid run with a good team will take you 3-4 hours a week. It gives you 13 LIs. You need to do this about 12 times to get your armor. That’s comparable as a time investment in time but not necessarily in skill and dedication – I will admit.

Mate – you don’t get it – it’s about wanting that item – not the rarity. Not the function – that specific item.
If you want something but it’s gated behind content do that content – it’s THAT simple.

You’re telling me that if i wanted THE PVP BACKPIECE I should have done the PVE one? How does that work? Are they the same item with the same skin? You dismiss my argument in an absurd way.
It’s the same as you wanting the legendary armor and me telling you – “just get ascended lel”. it’s not the same thing.
Regardless of “options” if you want something behind gated content – you have to do that content.
Go ahead and complain all you want – if I could I would gladly give you a set of LIs to make your own armor – it’s that bad.

Nikkinella.8254:

How would you pvers feel if roles were reversed and legendary armor required you to do nothing but play pvp and wvw for months on end rather than your preferred game mode? it wouldn’t be very fair would it

Yeah – nah – I did that.
Back when I made my first legendary it required 500 badges. This was month 6 of year one since release. Farming those was hard. I WvWd a LOT for them and you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t complain on the forums.

I dislike GW2’s PvP – mostly because of the maps and the team balance throughout the seasons. (the combat is fine – the maps and balance are completely bad in my opinion).
I wanted the PvP backpiece – you know what I did? You guessed it – I did PvP without complaining that I can’t get my skin in PvE.

So yes – you’re wrong. I didn’t come on the forums to complain – it was * fair*. You want the PVP Backpiece – you do PvP. I dislike PvP – but I did it. Why can’t you do the same?

So I finally made the armor – Heavy Legendary on a human male.
I have to say – seeing the screenshots I wasn’t expecting much but the actual armor – in game – is breathtakingly disappointing. It took me less than one minute to realize I want to reskin over it. It’s that bad.

The animation looks “cool” but turns something that’s a bit flashy and over the top ( but workable) into something horrendous. The protrusions that come off the helm make me look like a ridiculous beetle. The shoulder pads floating around don’t help either.
I’d comment on the rest of it but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

I made it because I had already invested SO much into it – i had almost everything good to go with the rest of it costing me around 100-200 gold today to make. I don’t regret spending the money as I feel it has some prestige associated with it but…I regret the hope and hype.

It was supposed to be good and it isn’t. It looks like a mess – and it becomes an even bigger mess once it goes into its combat form.
I could and maybe would wear the non-transformed style for a while. However the “combat mode” is insufferable.

It’s really really sad – that after nearly 4 years of GW2 the best human heavy armor set remains the cultural T3 armor, followed closely by Phalanx Heavy ( a gemstore set).

I weep for the future of SkinWars 2 if this is the “best” and “most prestigious” skin in the game.

Bunter.3795:

The problem with Legendary Armor being locked behind raids is that this is not the case of a skin. This is the best armor in game. Some will argue that the stats are the same as ascended but the Legendary armor has functionality that ascended does not have and that is the ability to change stats and runes as needed. You cannot do that with ascended. Yes, you can change stats on ascended armor but the cost is prohibitive to do this “as you want” as the current price to change a full set of ascended is at least 91g52s12c (based on current TP buy now and using the cheapest t6 mat) This cost doesn’t include changing an air breather, backpack or the cost of the spirit shards or the cost of runes. Depending on the runes, it can easily add another 1-12g or more to the cost to change the stats as changing ascended destroys the rune. This can easily put the cost over 100g just to change stats once. The small raiding minority gets to do this for free? As many times as they want? This is what I have a problem with in the design of the Legendary Armor system as currently announced.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for locking skins behind content to get people to take part in the content but this goes far beyond a skin. This is a game mechanic that is now locked behind raids. If it was just a skin, very ugly as currently depicted, I wouldn’t have a problem, If I want the skin, I have to do the content.

People compare this to the gift of battle being locked behind a wvw reward track and to a point, I agree, but the big difference is that I can complete a wvw reward track on every character (no matter what their build) and I can do it solo. I don’t need to find 9 other people who are willing to teach me or let alone allow me to learn the raid. I don’t have to find 9 other people who play at the same time I do and want to do the raid at the time I want to do it. I can do that when I work on my gift of battle. I can jump in and work on it for 5 minutes or 5 hours WHEN I WANT TO, not when 9 other people want to do it.

In addition to locking the best armor behind raids, they have also insulted every single person who has played WvW and especially those that have played since launch. SPvP and Fractals have their Legendary Backpacks and have Ascended Armor Vendors which is ironic considering that SPvP doesn’t even need armor yet WvW doesn’t have any of those things. WvW has been in the game since launch and should have at least gotten a Legendary Backpack before Legendary Armor was added as a benefit to a small percentage of the overall game population. Instead WvW gets “blast light fields”. The lack of respect to the WvW community by the game developers is truly appalling.

Like I said earlier, if you want to lock a skin behind content, go ahead, do so. If I want the skin, I’ll do the content but this goes far beyond a skin as the functionality is something of great value that only a small percentage of the population will get. A good example of this is both dungeon and fractal weapons/skins. The original dungeon weapons had weapons that were not better than anything crafted and if you wanted the look or ease in obtaining that stat combo, you did that content. A CoF zerker greatsword functioned no different than any other zerker greatsword whether it was a drop, crafted, whatever. The only difference was the look and ease of obtaining it. This is not the case with Legendary Armor. It is the only armor that functions like it does and is locked behind raids. This should not be locked behind content designed and implemented for a small percentage of the game population.

Legendary armor is not the “best armor”. It has added prestige and functionality over ascended but guess what – you’re not locked out of it.

You say you’re forced to use get it because of the extra “gameplay” function but here’s a catch – Legendary weapons are the same.
So what about a PvP or WvW player – isn’t he forced into PvE content in order to unlock those features for his weapons?
The same way you’re “forced” into raids. This isn’t something that’s new.
You want something – you have to work to get it. Maybe you dislike what you’re doing – but if you want it bad enough – you still work for it.

That’s how I got my PvP ascended backpiece in spite of Anets terrible season balance.

Finding 9 others is a requirement for raids – sure – but you can’t make only solo content for this game.
The idea of locking it behind raids is to give a reward for those players who play raids. It’s locked behind a time/game investment wall.
Just like a dozen other mechanics are locked behind a HoT paywall.
What’s so difficult to understand?

phys.7689:

Harper.4173:

@Balaeys.
Different play styles in this game mean something else.
You can play different modes and be rewarded – but if you’re bad at one mode you’re definitely going to not have fun in that mode.

The difference between casual and hardcore is the time investment and how much the game means to them.
If you have someone that can’t raid ( because of low skill) – if they’re hardcore enough about the game they can get the armor – they can buy the runs with gold.

The casual is the one that can’t get the armor because:
1. He doesn’t play the game enough to earn the gold to buy his runs.
2. He doesn’t play the game enough to be good and gear up and find people to actually do raids.
3. The game doesn’t matter to him enough that he would spend that much money getting gems to buy gold and buy his way to legendary armor.

That’s how I draw the line.
If you care enough about GW2 and Legendary armor – you can get it without much hassle. It will cost you money. Alternatively you can get it for free but it will cost you time.

That’s the difference between casual and hardcore.

some people are opposed to the very concept of buying raids/dungeons. Some people like to do content to get things, just not raids.

imo buying raids/dungeons feels like a trashy way of obtaining anything in a game. Which i admit is subjective, but its a bit myopic to say why are you complaining about game design decisons when you can pay me to play the game for you.

Well you can’t be opposed to everything now can you?
You’re opposed to spending the gold.
You’re opposed to spending the time.

How can you get something if you don’t work for it?

@Balaeys.
Different play styles in this game mean something else.
You can play different modes and be rewarded – but if you’re bad at one mode you’re definitely going to not have fun in that mode.

The difference between casual and hardcore is the time investment and how much the game means to them.
If you have someone that can’t raid ( because of low skill) – if they’re hardcore enough about the game they can get the armor – they can buy the runs with gold.

The casual is the one that can’t get the armor because:
1. He doesn’t play the game enough to earn the gold to buy his runs.
2. He doesn’t play the game enough to be good and gear up and find people to actually do raids.
3. The game doesn’t matter to him enough that he would spend that much money getting gems to buy gold and buy his way to legendary armor.

That’s how I draw the line.
If you care enough about GW2 and Legendary armor – you can get it without much hassle. It will cost you money. Alternatively you can get it for free but it will cost you time.

That’s the difference between casual and hardcore.

sorudo.9054:

Harper.4173:

Blaeys.3102:

According to this article, they spent “hundreds of hours” to solve the clipping issue on an armor set designed specifically for a small percentage of the playerbase. They redesigned the core engine behind the game for runes for an armor set designed specifically for that same small percentage (which obviously took a really long time as well). Then there was the aesthetic design, armor animations and collection chains associated with it.

This was no small project (at least 2 years of development by most accounts) – all to develop armor sets for a small subset of the GW2 population that likely cares less about the look of armors than any other – and develop features that (specifically addressing clipping) that others in the game have been BEGGING for.

And, to add insult to injury, they have the gall to say that raids do not take resources from other parts of the game.

This was a colossal waste of time and a very clear indicator that Anet has lost any concept of who their players and long term supporters really are.

You do realize that one raider is equal to many casuals in terms of hours put in the game right?

People that raid usually invest and have invested a LOT into this game. I think they deserve the extra effort put into the content.
And it’s not like the armor is even made FOR the raiding community and nobody else. YOU can raid as well and get it – everyone can.
The armor is made as a reward for a specific part of the game that anyone can access. Yes – at this moment only very heavily invested players will get it – but that’s OKAY. It’s alright that not every casual gets every reward. You want it? Go for it. Nobody is stopping you.

wrong, only the most dedicated can, a casual will never ever get it period.
it’s not “okay” that only the most dedicated ones can have it, it’s okay if anyone can regardless of dedication.

You do realize you can buy it right? I explained how in a different post.
Anet have designed legendary armor as something that costs a lot to get in this game. And you’ll have to pay.
Either with your time and sweat – getting good and playing a LOT to get it through raids.
Or with your money – bust out your credit card – get some gems – get gold and pay for runs where hardcore players will carry you to the armor.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Fatalyz.7168:

Pretty sure that Anet isn’t attempt to compete with hard core raiding games. Rather I’m pretty sure that they aren’t competing with anyone, rather trying to do their own thing.

Raids were added to this game with the idea to fill one role: Challenging Group Content. Which is something that the base game sorely lacked. If you are someone who loves Guild Wars 2, and wanted more of a challenge, then raids are for you. If you aren’t that person, then raids weren’t for you.

It’s also pretty safe to say that Raids have been successful, in this game. At the very least, they have been very well received, by the people that they were intended for, and that’s all they needed to do.

We have dungeons and fractals for group content. Anet decided to abandon dungeons instead of adding new and more difficult ones, but there’s still fractals.

He said challenging group content. Challenging.
If dungeons and fractals are challenging to you…well that’s just you. The hardcore players need something MORE challenging. Heck for the top tier raiders even the raids themselves aren’t that much of a challenge.

Anet abandoned dungeons because they realized how badly they dropped the ball with them. Dungeons were designed to be hard – and when we were new and inexperienced with poor gear – they were hard.
But they also failed to realize how fast players would get good at the game. Also for the sake of variety and story-elements dungeons were incredibly easy to bug. So a new thing had to be brought in.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Fatalyz.7168:

It is far more likely that those players don’t fit Anet’s concept of the people that play this game or the type of player that they are trying to attract to this game.

Anet has a clear picture of the game that they are creating at this point, and sticking to it. Of course people are going to be left behind, maybe even people that considered themselves diehard fans. So the thing that ends up mattering, is the audience that Anet trying to reach satisfied? If the answer is yes or close enough (and only Anet will really have the answer to that, anything that we could provide would be anecdotal at best), then don’t expect many changes or if there are, they will be geared towards the audience that Anet wants. Even if it comes at the cost of current players.

I have a hard time believing that a game that wasn’t originally designed with raids in mind, that has scared away raiders for years, and that does not have good reward systems to support hardcore raiders, is suddenly going to find massive success through raids, to the point that hardcore raiders would rather leave MMOs entirely dedicated to that to get back to GW2, and to the point that it’s worth sacrificing the entire playerbase that has existed before raids were added.

But hey, I’m not Anet!

So because they added something that’s not necessarily to your preference that means they sacrificed the whole player base?
GW2’s hardcore crowd needs something to do too. The rest of the game is still 90% casual.
You can complete almost any content in blues and greens. What more do you want?

Heibi.4251:

Feanor.2358:

Heibi.4251:

I’m not disappoint in the looks of the armor as much as I am in the method to obtain it. It is basically a Raid only armor. This means ANeT spent years developing something that only the elites and those who pay the elites can obtain. At least with PVP skins you have a decent way to obtain them.

Oh wow, the most prestigious item in the game is only available if you put in some effort, what a shock! On a side note, I’m apparently elite now. On a different side note, I likely won’t ever get The Ascension because I dislike PvP, but I’m not complaining about it.

Typical answer instead of a way for ANeT to actually make sure everyone in the game has a actual chance of obtaining it. And the armor isn’t the most prestigious part of the game. It’s a tool that many players, most of whom do not like or join raids, would like a chance to obtain it. And with an attitude like yours – yes, that makes you an elitist. And to berate someone just because they bring up a perfectly reasonable complaint makes it all the more so.

In PVP all you need to do is play it to obtain Ascension. For Raids you actually have to beat the boss to get what you need. And the current set up of raids excludes players who are good, but just can’t get past that final hurdle.

All this can be fix if ANeT loses its fixation on content for elites and finds an amicable way to make it available to all. PVP doesn’t need to worry about it since they have amulets for stats and there is no uniqueness to players(Not to mention that you can get a Legendary Back Piece in Fractals already – very doable). Like I said WvW players are completely excluded from this new item because they spend most of their time in WvW. I split my time, but would love to have one set of armor I could adjust the stats on so I don’t need multiple sets for different content.

1. If you’re good that “final hurdle” isn’t a hurdle. You can’t be good and be unable to kill things. If you’re good you’ll find other good people that you can raid with and beat the bosses.
2. In PvP all you need to do is play. In Raids ( unless you want to actually work on it) all you need to do is Pay.
There are teams out there that are selling full runs right now. Don’t want to put in the effort? It’s even easier than PvP.
Bust out your wallet – buy gems – get gold and pay for your spots. There are dedicated teams out there that will get you every achievement needed for the armor collection for simply a payment of gold.

It’s basically buying your set. So yeah – you have the two options:
-be hardcore – it will cost you time, dedication and work.
-be casual – it will cost you money.

Still seems inaccessible?

Blaeys.3102:

According to this article, they spent “hundreds of hours” to solve the clipping issue on an armor set designed specifically for a small percentage of the playerbase. They redesigned the core engine behind the game for runes for an armor set designed specifically for that same small percentage (which obviously took a really long time as well). Then there was the aesthetic design, armor animations and collection chains associated with it.

This was no small project (at least 2 years of development by most accounts) – all to develop armor sets for a small subset of the GW2 population that likely cares less about the look of armors than any other – and develop features that (specifically addressing clipping) that others in the game have been BEGGING for.

And, to add insult to injury, they have the gall to say that raids do not take resources from other parts of the game.

This was a colossal waste of time and a very clear indicator that Anet has lost any concept of who their players and long term supporters really are.

You do realize that one raider is equal to many casuals in terms of hours put in the game right?

People that raid usually invest and have invested a LOT into this game. I think they deserve the extra effort put into the content.
And it’s not like the armor is even made FOR the raiding community and nobody else. YOU can raid as well and get it – everyone can.
The armor is made as a reward for a specific part of the game that anyone can access. Yes – at this moment only very heavily invested players will get it – but that’s OKAY. It’s alright that not every casual gets every reward. You want it? Go for it. Nobody is stopping you.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Good-looking armor sets in Guild Wars 2 is a rarity.

I’m not sure if it is either Anet’s artists who can’t design armor (most of the sets are over-designed, with no coherent theme and filled with random spikes or blades), or if it is the graphic engine that is greatly restricting the artists.

Nonetheless, GW2 is out for, what, 4 years? That is more than enough time to set your expectations right. Ascended armor was threashed by the community. HoT’s armors (except revenant’s) were thrashed by the community. The legendary armor is being threashed by the community. And you know what? Future sets will get the same fate as well, for as long as Anet keeps repeating the same mistakes.

They’re either:
1.Masochistic.
2.Indifferent.
3.Unable to learn from mistakes.

Palador.2170:

For those upset that the medium is another trenchcoat, let me ask you this: How much of an uproar would there have been if the Legendary Medium armor had come out looking good and NOT been a trenchcoat?

Relatively few people are going to get this armor. If they gave us a good non-TC medium and locked it behind massive raiding, non-raiders and even casual raiders would have had a meltdown.

So they made the sets ugly to not upset anyone who can’t get them?

Ashen.2907:

Harper.4173:

It is objectively ugly. It has no cohesion. There are spikes and tidbits flying everywhere.
It doesn’t look like something rare or special. It looks like a 12 year old that likes things with “X” in their name ( Xtreme – Xtastic) designed it.

No offense but ugly is always subjective. If that 12 year old Xtreme Xstatic, and others like him, find it attractive then it is, by definition, not objectively ugly.

For what its worth, I dislike them as well.

Fine – you’re right – but who did they design this armor for? What’s the average age of GW2’s players? Is it 12?

Is the actual armor shown in the posts a joke?

Honestly – in my time in game and on the forums I have never heard the complaint "This armor is bad because it has too few spikes/tidbits tacked on.
I’ve heard the opposite many many times over.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Pick a skin, any skin. 10% of people hate it, 10% love it (if not more of each). There’s literally no way to please everyone, some people are never pleased. All each of us can do is describe our own preferences.

Like other veterans, I have 1000s of skins unlocked and I really only like a tiny handful. ANet’s design team has a different aesthetic than I. They love skulls and spikes and nekkid armor, and all sorts of other things I dislike.

But that’s doesn’t mean the skins they do release are ‘bad’ — some of the designs are tremendous; they just aren’t ones I’d be caught dead in.

The problem is that the majority of armor in this game has those elements highlighted in your post.
Skulls, spikes and other sharp tidbits are ok as variety – but it’s almost all we get. We don’t have more down to earth traditional skins.

Which in my book is a problem.

Also I feel like all 3 designs aren’t worth it for me. I’ll make the heavy and probably skin my T3 cultural human over it after a week or so.

It is objectively ugly. It has no cohesion. There are spikes and tidbits flying everywhere.
It doesn’t look like something rare or special. It looks like a 12 year old that likes things with “X” in their name ( Xtreme – Xtastic) designed it.

Balance is fine.
It’s not the game’s balance’s fault that some classes perform better than others in certain encounters. Just learn to switch class.

Also – the first W4 kills I got when it came out was literally done by stacking necros – so I don’t really see the problem.

vesica tempestas.1563:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

vesica tempestas.1563:

Ever wonder why there wasn’t the same level of anti social behavior in GW1 raids?

Mostly because GW1 didn’t have any raids at all.

If you’re referring to GW2 raids, there have been constant accusations of “anti social behavior” since before their introduction.

But the thing is, there have long been jerks in GW2; it’s simply too big a community not to have a bunch. I get that people don’t like DPS meters for a variety of reasons; that doesn’t mean there’s evidence that they have been, are, or will be bad for this game.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Urgoz's_Warren.

12 man instances, takes up to 2 hours, did not need damage meters, raid like mechanics.

GW games are not about being competitive dps races, if it was then we would be playing wow, rift etc, that niche in the market is well covered.

These were not raids. And they had speed clears for them.
You could cheese them easily.

Also I find it amusing to see you talk about what GW is as a franchise. Because you’re wrong.
GW2 promised no gear grind, no level grind, that sort of thing. IT was never promised GW2 wouldn’t have challenging content.

DPS meters are fine – the only reason you’re against them is that they would probably quickly point you out as a reason things aren’t going well.

Dawnbreaker.6215:

Lahmia.2193:

It’s almost as if words evolve to gain new meanings or are used in different ways.

So you’re saying that the term “Damage per second” has evolved to mean something else than damage per second?

To think about how ridiculous this is, imagine you’re talking about km/h, as in kilometers per hour. Any car dealer would ridicule you for saying “how km/h is this car”. Go around flagging it under “words evolve” and the scientific community would also laugh at you.

DPS is what it is, it’s damage per second. It’s a calculation of how much damage an attack is dishing out on average per second based on its raw damage and cooldown. Saying “DPS means to do high damage”, is as silly as saying “km/h means to go very fast”.

Some words evolve, yes, because they’re used very subjectively, abstractively or loosely. But words that stand for scientific measures don’t evolve, because a second will always be a second and a meter will always be a meter.

He’s saying that the association of the three letters: DPS ( which stand for damage per second) has also begun to mean something else in this game.
DPS can mean damage per second but depending on context people use it as a synonym for just “damage” or “high-damage class” ( DPS class).

Where you actually get things wrong is the part where you believe all people (players) are scientists or care about being correct in how they express themselves.

People – when communicating are interested in getting a message across – and generally try to do it as fast and concise as possible ( as to not waste much effort). If the term is “misused” or not is irrelevant – since even in its “misused” form it is still facilitating communication – and that’s what most people misusing it care about.

I could write “damage” instead of DPS – but that would take me longer.
I could write “high damage output class” instead of “dps class” but what would the point be? People get what i’m trying to say with dps class. The message gets across.

Look at this example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_

Before “google” was a verb it was the name of a company. And now it’s the name of a company AND stands for “search for something on the internet using a search engine”.

Language evolves.

Amaimon.7823:

BrettM.9062:

Harper.4173:

Agreed completely.
Old Lion’s arch had character and actually looked cool. The new nautical theme is a sorry attempt.

The new LA has character, too. It’s the character of the Consortium. What else would you expect from a bunch of superficial, shallow corporate pirates? Certainly not coolness! If you follow the LA tour guide around for a bit, you’ll hear a few bitter comments from her concerning the change, so it has clearly been done deliberately for a particular effect, not because the ANet designers have run out of imagination.

You mean the character of a disney waterpark parking lot?

And this “effect” might be a good thing if this was a story instance but it isn’t. It’s something that’s in the game for a long time and all it’s managed to do is to make me avoid that city as much as possible.
I understand changing things “for the worse” to drive a story point but if the updates are so far between you’re not really going to achieve much.

How is it confusing?

azureai.9764:

Ardid.7203:

The Char fight against Ascalon ghosts out of hatred and stubbornness. But the ghosts are very contained and can’t normaly move freely outside their place of haunting. Charr could easyly withdraw from Ascalon to attack other enemies. Similar can be said about the branded.
The ogres are a minor threat, more similar to an annoying guerrilla than to a real battlefront.
The Flame Legion and Ebonhawke, however, are a totally different matter. They are real opponents no Charr could turn their back on.

I agree with this. The ghosts of Ascalon are a largely contained, but long-term problem. The charr can move resources away from them. The ogres are such a minor problem for the charr that I forgot about them, and I have exclusively played charr characters.

The branded are a problem for both the charr and for Ebonhawke. Probably more a problem for the charr, but let’s not forget they’ll attack anyone.

The big problem for Ebonhawke is charr technology has advanced quite a bit in the peace period. They have HELICOPTERS now. Human anti-siege technology hasn’t kept pace with the siege weapons of the charr. Ebonhawke isn’t going to be able to deal with a charr aerial assault.

And the Flame Legion may not be the issue most here assume it to be. When the other Legions approach the Flame with an announcement that the charr have war with all humans again – you don’t think the Flame will want in? Gaheron Baelfire is dead and so are several of his Tribunes. Flame is in disarray to the point where they were willing to work with other races – and the leaders of those groups are dead or gone, now, too. Why wouldn’t the remaining Flame wouldn’t take the opportunity to stop getting their kittens beat and go kill some norn and humans?

So, the solution to the Flame Legion is largely political at this point. A politically expedient détente could be reached, and that’s very bad news for the humans.

---

Also, in the proposed scenario of “each race has declared war on the others”, I find it disingenuous to just write off the asura and sylvari with “they’d just run away.” If the asura and sylvari have declared war – then they obviously have some battle plans to win it.

In the proposed scenario, I still strongly believe the humans have major problems. Though it’s cool to hear viewpoints as to why their technological disadvantage isn’t going to completely undermine them.

The Flame Legion – at least to my understanding with to RULE the Charr more than they wish to destroy the humans.
They feel themselves the ruling caste of the Charr and as such would only enter such an “agreement” if it wasn’t an agreement and they ended up reverting the entire Charr race to its GW1 state.

Which the other legions won’t stand for – the betrayal in GW1 and the ultimate abandon of any gods stands at the core of what it means to be a Charr in GW2 – they would never go back from that.

Any GW1 and GW2 lore enthusiast can pretty safely state that the Charr and Flame Legion will never realign and come together again. The ideological schism between them is too great.

I also didn’t say that Asura or Sylvari are written off. Simply that Sylvari are not war-like enough to actually put up much of a fight ( consider their weakened state after HoT).
Asura wouldn’t go to war to begin with – they would wait it out.
If they went to war it depends on how the writers want to make things – realistically they could just teleport bombs inside the other race’s capitals and just destroy everything that way.
Most likely they’d be written as creating vast golem armies that march and do whatnot.

I still don’t think they’d ever go to war.

Ardid.7203:

The Char fight against Ascalon ghosts out of hatred and stubbornness. But the ghosts are very contained and can’t normaly move freely outside their place of haunting. Charr could easyly withdraw from Ascalon to attack other enemies. Similar can be said about the branded.
The ogres are a minor threat, more similar to an annoying guerrilla than to a real battlefront.
The Flame Legion and Ebonhawke, however, are a totally different matter. They are real opponents no Charr could turn their back on.

So it all would fall down on the strategy taken by the high commands in the Charr army. If they decide to go with all the force against the humans, they are done. But that would meant to sacrifice the Black Citadel to the flame legion, to gain Divinity’s Reach instead. Hard call for them, really.

Even in this situation – the risk is immense.
What if DR holds? Not forever – but long enough to exhaust the attacking Charr while the Black Citadel falls to the ghosts or Flame Legion.

What do they do then? Even if they manage to breach DR and slaughter the humans to a man how do they sustain themselves?
A siege of DR means the destruction of the areas around that produce foodstuffs to support it. Either by attacking Charr or retreating humans.
They would win DR only to find themselves completely open, undersupplied ( if supplied at all) and weakened.

It’s not a real call unless you’re suicidal.

Agreed completely.
Old Lion’s arch had character and actually looked cool. The new nautical theme is a sorry attempt.

Donari.5237:

And then when you have the skin on your back, as well as the actual shield, you draw your weapons and are now holding the shield while still wearing it?

I can see people wanting the option even when they can’t wear shields on their profession, though I personally do not, I like seeing my character’s armor rather than a large disk. But I can also see a lot of potential problems such as the one above, and perhaps in PvP making others think you are using a shield only then you pull out another weapon set entirely.

The people that want to wear it even though they can’t wear shields can wear it as a backpiece skin.
If you get the shield skin you unlock the backpiece skin as well. Or perhaps you have to do something to that shield to unlock the backpiece function.

Also – I get the problem with having your shield both on your back and in your hand from a PvP perspective but Standard Enemy Models fix this. Also- you can’t really say you didn’t expect them to have their weapon out when you can clearly see what weapon they have in their hands in PvP.
PvP has bigger issues in the form of crazy weapons that look way over the top taking up the entire screen.

Imagine a 4 man mid fight where everyone has a Twilight or Sunrise.

So I don’t think it would be a huge issue.

To me the issue boils down to Humans vs Charr – because Sylvari and Norn are not militaristic in nature and wouldn’t become organized or strong enough to field a fully functional military machine.
I’m also counting the Asura out as well because I believe that they would rather hide/evade/sit it out and try to let the other races fight then deal with the victor or they might attempt to influence the fight but I doubt they would ever field armies to fight the other races head on.

So – in a Human vs Charr conflict I’m going to look at two situations:

1. The two races fight with things we have on the in-game map currently.
In this situation I believe the humans would have the advantage as they are currently fighting only ONE other real front – the war with the centaurs.
Their other opponents ( bandits and separatists) would most likely align with the rest of humanity in order to survive the conflict ( the separatists will certainly do so because after all they want to fight the charr).

The disadvantage of the Charr is that they are fighting on multiple fronts.
They are fighting the Ogres, Flame legion, the Branded and last but not least they are fighting the undying ghosts of Ascalon.
So they would have to fight the humans on top of all these other 4 enemy factions. One of them being against an endless and undying enemy.

Even if they could overwhelm the Ogres and Flame legion and contain the Branded all humanity would have to do to win the conflict would be to draw it out. Simply “contain” the Charr instead of fighting them head on and watch them crumble because they would eventually collapse from losing supplies and men every day trying to deal with the undying ghosts right outside their door.
Eventually if they are weakened enough a push could be made to finish them off.
I also feel that humans have an advantage because they field magic users – while as far as I can see in game there aren’t many ( if any) charr magic-user NPCs that aren’t Flame Legion.
I also don’t see the Flame Legion ever aligning themselves and making peace with the rest of the Charr because of their fundamental religious differences.

2. The two races have “outside help” from places we don’t see on the in-game map. This means the other Charr legions. But it also means humans could have support from Cantha.
Let’s not forget that the main thing stopping travel to Cantha were the undead ships under the command and influence of Zaithan. Zaithan is dead now – so by my reasoning communication and travel between Cantha and Tyria should be possible again.

Given Cantha’s xenophobic regime ( last we know of it this was the case) I believe they would support Kryta in their efforts against other races. If not for the benefit of Kryta then at least in order to take over and expand into Tyria as well.

In this case – I believe things might be balanced between the two races with maybe a small edge on the Charr side of things.

cyberzombie.7348:

The Ascolonians reclaim their province.

I would absolutely love this!

I hate them and would slaughter them to the last one if I had my way.

I’ve seen the idea tossed around these forums before but though it would be worthwhile to bring it up again.

Why couldn’t we have shield skins work for the backpiece skin slot as well? Some (if not all ) shields would look fantastic on the back of characters.

What do you guys think? I’m hoping if this gets enough traction it might be implemented as a feature.

Knight please! what does it have on?

Thermaltron.6829:

Duke Nukem.6783:

i just want marjory and kas to die

Yay for bigotry!

I want them to die too – I simply despise them. And get this – it’s not because they’re lesbians. They’re literally ANNOYING.

I don’t want couples in my group – I’m not here for the romance.

Bio Flame.4276:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Building off of old lore without retconing it.

I just had to login to say: auuuuch!

(I do agree 100% with you though)

Exactly that.
I would be honestly surprised if they could add old lore elements without ruining it somehow.

I would be INCREDIBLY surprised if they could capture the spirit and atmosphere of GW1 with their next expansion – at least lore-wise.

Amaimon.7823:

Harper.4173:

I dislike the name.
I dislike the design.
It looks too cartoony and the name fits that look I guess but it’s not what I feel this should have been.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Baby_Dragon

I feel this was the superior design – it’s a small dragon that I can take seriously and actually believe is powerful and worth my allegiance.

I’d call it Aldragar or something. Or Aeseria.

That model is just a scaled down mature dragon. its design is far too refined and mature for a baby. Its a hatchling, its supposed to be a bit fat, cute and round. baby crocodiles are just as cute..

they don’t seem fat, cute or round to me.

You’re not getting me – of course dragons are not real.
That doesn’t mean that the well-established ideas of what a dragon is and isn’t can go right out the window. Of course there is variation – but it has to fall within a certain range to maintain the suspension of disbelief.

Your argument that they aren’t real doesn’t mean that you can have a cat with dragon wings tacked on running around and you can suddenly call it “a dragon”. It doesn’t work like that.

Just because it isn’t real in OUR universe doesn’t mean it can defy fantasy conventions. The classic archetype of dragon does not appear or behave the way this one does. By calling this creature a dragon you create expectations which are not met by the creature itself.
They could have called it something else and had it be something else.
It might be a wonderful “pokemon” for example but the way it is constructed it does not make a good dragon.

Felahr.9830:

Harper.4173:

I feel it is too “light hearted”. We could have had the same sequence done in a different theme.

Instead of “look I’m training this puppy” it would have been more like “look I’m fighting alongside this fearsome creature and through that we will create an unbreakable bond of trust and respect and become fierce allies”.

I fully agree we need to shape the way the small dragon sees the world if we are to have it fight on our side.
I disagree with the way it was handled.

It’s supposed to be a powerful being of great power – and it is portrayed in game like a puppy or some other cuddly creature.
That’s sad and immersion breaking for me.

shes a BABY. shes not a fearsome creature, shes an overgrown scaley kitten.

And this is a problem. It is a baby dragon.
It is not a baby cat, not a baby dog, or a baby mammal.
A dragon is a lizard-like creature – do you know what baby lizards look like? They look like adult lizards only smaller.

That’s what I’m saying – the design was wrong from the get-go.
It’s supposed to be a dragon – not a plushie. It breaks immersion for me when I’m told it’s a dragon but looks like something I’d get with a Happy Meal from McDonald’s.

They’ve made it too much like a dog (puppy) and too little like a dragon.
It looks like a mammal and behaves like one too. It doesn’t feel dragon-like at all.

Rod.6581:

Ashantara.8731:

I find the name Aurene a beautiful choice for a baby dragon who is destined to help protecting and saving the world.

Also, she is super cute and whoever wrote she was ugly: For real, dude?

She’s supposed to be a baby dragon not a plush toy. So, yes. For some of us she is fugly.

Precisely.

Oh wait – I agree with that but it’s been 4 years and Anet has barely done it.

RandomWolf.3986:

The last cutscene felt rushed and out of place. Did they also darken Braham’s skin colour?

It seemed like that to me too.
Can’t have too much diversity can you?

Ophidia Moonstone.2587:

I enjoyed it. I didn’t feel it broke with immersion. I wondered if women would like it more than men… maybe I am being a tad sexist in thinking women would like it because it felt nurturing.

I think that would be a fair assumption to make – why would it be sexist?
Biologically women are inclined more towards things that make cute noises, have big eyes and look the way the dragon works.
That trait is there because women are the ones that take care of young humans early after they are born and for a good time after that.
It’s a form of biological conditioning created to ensure that young humans have the best chances in life.
All mammals do this in fact.

Danikat.8537:

She’s at most a few months old, maybe even just a few weeks (I’m not sure exactly how long there is between story chapters in lore as the only date given is the year).

A lot of animals start out seeming more silly and playful. The contrast between the adult dragons we’ve seen and Aurene reminds me of the difference between one of the big cats (lions, tigers, jaguars etc.) and their cubs.

The cubs look small and cute and fluffy and they spend a lot of time rolling around, attempting to pounce on things and falling over, making absurd squeaky noises when they try to roar, chewing their parents tails and all kinds of other undignified things you’d never expect from a majestic big cat.

And yet doing all of that is vitally important for them to grow up into one of those majestic big cats (and completely realistic). Play is how young animals (including humans) learn and they have to enjoy it or they wouldn’t do it.

Also we fundamentally don’t want Aurene to only know how to fight, or to only associate us with violence. We saw from the moment she hatched that she instinctively knows how to fight (although she doesn’t seem to have full control of her magic yet), we don’t need to teach her that. We do need to teach her that there are alternatives to fighting and that there are many problems which cannot and should not be solved through violence.

It’s obvious from the training we did with her that Anet (and therefore players and the Exalted) are not shying away from taking her into combat – even at this age. But we are teaching her the difference between things you attack and things you speak with, heal and defend.

That’s not wrong – the tone of it was just off for me.
I don’t disagree that teaching it a wide pallet of experiences is correct – i’m just saying the way it happened felt silly.
I think Anet doesn’t really understand what demographic they want to cater to.

Sometimes this game tries to be serious and dark – other times it feels like a saturday morning cartoon.

Pick a tune – stick with it.
There are times for fun and games and tongue-in-cheek moments – GW1 had those. But they seem be seriously poorly place in GW2.